Liana Yeghiazaryan
“Radiolur”

The international forum of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) titled “Universal values and Cultural Diversity in the 21st Century” kicked off in Yerevan today within the framework of cooperation between the Armenian Ministry of Economy and UNWTO. Armenian Minister of Economy Tigran Davtyan and UNWTO Secretary General Taleb Rifa had a briefing with journalists before the conference would start.

Taleb Rifa, who’s paying his second visit to Armenia, regrets that he has arrived without his family and is determined to visit Armenia with his family next summer to enjoy the beauty of our country. Mr. Rifa has been familiar with the rich Armenian history and culture from the age of eight. UNWTO Secretary General says Armenia has chosen the right path for the development of tourism.

“Even the perspectives of the future in this country are based on history and rich culture. Armenia has demonstrated itself in the best way in the field of tourism. Your country is known all over the world. I have many Armenian friends in my Motherland. I’m sure people in every corner of the world know about your beautiful country thanks to people who once left the Motherland. Your culture is highly estimated around the world,” Taleb Rifa told reporters in Yerevan.

About 740,000 tourists visited Armenia in 2011. The Minister of Economy promises to surpass the number this year. The tourism season still continues, but the trends allow to make such predictions. Tigran Davtyan says it’s unprecedented that the World Tourism Organization holds its conference in Yerevan. He’s inclined to explain this by the importance of Armenia in the field of international tourism. At the same time, according to Davtyan, the congress and the declaration to be signed promise new perspectives of short-term and long-term development of tourism. Armenia has already declared the development of tourism as a priority and is working to improve the infrastructures – the airport, the means of communication and the hotel network.

The international two-day conference of the World Tourism Organization features representatives of RA Government, the private sector and diplomatic missions accredited to Armenia, as well as international experts from the United States, Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland, Georgia and other CIS member states.

World famous singer Shakira caused a stir at an international soccer tournament in Beku Saturday as she mistakenly held up a Colombian flag upside down giving the impression it was the flag from Armenia.

The Colombian singer took to the stage before the FIFA Under 17 Women’s World Cup Final between France and Korea in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the first time since the announcement of her pregnancy.

She was dressed all in black and displaying what she thought was her native Colombian flag. However the flag, turned backwards, represents Armenia due to it having similar colors as the Colombian flag.

Amnesty International had urged Shakira and Rhianna a week before the concert to open their eyes to recent arrests of journalists, bloggers and activists in Azerbaijan, before their performances in the former Soviet republic this month,.

Amnesty and Sing for Democracy said in a joint letter that it wanted to draw the singer’s attention to human rights and freedom of speech issues in Azerbaijan.

“Both singers should be aware of the situation in the country post-Eurovision,” the letter said, referring to the singing contest in the Azeri capital of Baku in May, which spurred protests and rallies by Azeris demanding democracy.

Authorities in Baku arrested dozens of protesters in May and have since arrested several journalists and political activists.

Rihanna is scheduled to perform in Baku on Saturday, while Shakira performed on Oct. 24.

“Amnesty International believes that the Azerbaijani government should afford all artists, journalists, activists and ordinary citizens the right to express themselves freely without fear of reprisal. We hope that you share our belief,” said the letter to Rihanna and Shakira.

By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
ArmeniaNow reporter

Armenian organizers of a humanitarian airlift to Syria said on Tuesday they were determined to continue their efforts to help compatriots in the embattled Middle Eastern country despite some traffic difficulties they faced in operating their maiden mission.

the humanitarian aid sent to Syria through the Help Your Brother program in Armenia was checked in Turkey before the plane was allowed to proceed to Aleppo, the city where most of Syria’s 80,000-strong Armenian community is concentrated.

The cargo including 14 tons of food and medicines that had been collected across Armenia reached Aleppo late on October 15 and will be distributed among Aleppan Armenians through the Red Crescent and the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Vahan Hovhannisyan, a leading member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the party that initiated the movement for helping ethnic Armenians in Syria, said they had chosen neutral organizations for the distribution of aid so that neither the Syrian government nor the rebels accuse the movement of having a bias.

The Air Armenia cargo plane carrying out the flight had to land in the Turkish city of Erzurum and spend six hours there while Turkish authorities were inspecting the cargo. A number of international and local media reported that the aircraft was “grounded” by the Turkish authorities, but Hovhannisyan says the landing had been planned in advance and there was nothing “forced” about it.

Turkey, which is having increasingly tense relations with Syria, banned Syria-bound flights through its airspace on Sunday. They agreed to allow the plane carrying humanitarian aid from Armenia only on condition that it lands and undergoes a thorough inspection. Ankara and its international partners have voiced concerns about possible arms supplies to Syria, a country currently engulfed in a bloody internal conflict.

“The inspection in Erzurum was probably the most thorough the world has ever seen. They took out all boxes, checked the contents of 7,000 of them by hand and also used detection dogs. They had fire engines and troops on standby in what was a kind of staged display of force, but we take such things calmly. It was a humanitarian cargo and had to be allowed to proceed by all laws,” says Hovhannisyan, citing eyewitness accounts.

The senior Dashnaktsutyun representative says they could announce that the plane would land in Turkey beforehand, but there was a “subtle detail” stopping them from doing that.

“A few hours before the flight the Turkish authorities announced that they banned all flights to Syria through Turkish airspace. If we made any statement in those conditions, that would certainly have led to Turkey also applying its ban in our respect. We pretended that we weren’t aware of anything to make it too late to apply the ban against us, too,” explains Hovhannisyan.

Meanwhile, the United States has backed Turkey’s decision to ban Syria-bound planes from flying through its airspace, at the same time praising Ankara’s “measured and appropriate posture” with regard to the most recent incident in which the plane from Armenia carrying humanitarian supplies to Aleppo was checked.

“It [the Armenian flight] was confirmed to be humanitarian supplies, and they were allowed to go on to Syria,” said Spokesperson for the US Department of State Victoria Nuland at a press briefing in Washington, commenting on the development involving the Syria-bound plane carrying Armenian aid.

The U.S. official added: “We are encouraging all of Syria’s neighbors to be vigilant with regard to how their airspace is used, particularly now that we have this concrete example.”

Help Your Brother movement coordinator Lilit Galstyan thinks that the civil initiative has achieved great success as it has managed to attract all sections of the Armenian people.

A total of 40 tons of food as well as 30 million drams (about $74,000) have been collected as part of the initiative. The rest of the aid will be sent to Aleppo soon. The organizers, however, do not indicate the exact date of the second airlift. Certain donation pledges have been made to the project that would help take care of the expenses to get the aid to Aleppo by air. Galstyan says that the movement will not stop its work on collecting money and food as they understand the Syrian conflict “does not have a quick solution.”

Meanwhile, officials at the Syrian Air company said on Tuesday that in light of the Turkish ban they have rerouted their weekly flights to Armenia and from now on these flights will be operated via Iraq and Iran.

October 15, 2012 | 15:45

Famous Indian director Shekhar Kapur says he may make a film about the Armenian Genocide, india.nydailynews.com reports.

“Going to Armenia to study massacre of Armenians in 1915 and perhaps make a film on it later. Going toYerevan. Is there an Armenian community in India?” he tweeted.

“I am just going to Yerevan to explore the possibilities of making a film,” he added.

Kapur became famous after shooting Hindi language movie Bandit Queen. Kapur’s Elizabeth starring Cate Blanchett was nominated in 7 categories in the 71st Academy Awards.

Armenian airplane carrying humanitarian assistance to Syria made a scheduled landing in Turkey, director of AIR Armenia CJSC said.

As Arsen Avetisyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, the planes carrying cargo to Syria must be granted permit for operating flights in the Turkish airspace.

“We received the permission with one precondition: the plane must land in one of the Turkish airports for cargo search,” he said, adding that company itself gave consent to landing at Erzurum airport.

Earlier, Turkey ordered an Armenian plane flying to the Syrian city of Aleppo to land on Monday, October 15 and authorities were searching its cargo, as Ankara steps up efforts to prevent its air space being used to supply the Syrian military, Reuters reported.

Turkey had previously been informed the plane, which was forced to land in the eastern Turkish city of Erzurum, would be carrying humanitarian aid and Armenian officials knew it would be searched, an official from the Turkish prime minister’s office said.

The plane would be allowed to continue on its journey if nothing else was found, a Turkish foreign ministry official said.

Turkey forced down a Syrian airliner travelling from Moscow last Wednesday and said it was carrying Russian munitions destined for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s military, infuriating Moscow and Damascus.

Russia has said there were no weapons on the plane and that it was carrying a legal cargo of radar. But it moved to cool friction with Ankara – Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the incident would not hurt “solid” relations.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said over the weekend Turkish air space had been closed to Syrian planes. Syria has also banned Turkish planes from flying over its territory.