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The Smithsonian: Armenian villagers monitor storks’ breeding process

August 1, 2017 By administrator

Armenian villagers monitor storks' breeding process The Smithsonian has published an article about the more than 650 pairs of breeding white storks who are hosted by Armenian villages each year, settling into numbered nests where they will hatch nestlings and teach the babies to feed.

The storks—common in worldwide folklore for bringing babies to families—use Armenia as a stopover point to breed on their long journey south from western Europe to their winter grounds in Africa. At the same time, more than 1,000 families in those Armenian villages will take pen to paper and monitor the storks’ progress as part of a program called Nest Neighbors.

The Smithsonian reveals the story of how Dr. Karen Aghababyan started the program in Armenia in 2006 as a nationwide survey of white storks, with the goal of tracking the health of the nearby wetland ecosystems. He and his team mapped every stork nest in the country, then—since white storks prefer nesting sights that are often near people, like on top of homes or electrical poles—they provided locals with questionnaires in the form of a calendar. The villagers write down important facts on the calendars and report information back to Aghababyan: the nest number they’re monitoring, what date the storks arrive, how many nestlings appear and if any incidents with the nest occur, such as it falling down.

In 2007, the Nest Neighbors program received a Whitley Award, the top conservation award in the U.K., and continued to receive research funds from Whitley in 2010 and 2014.

According to the publication, the Nest Neighbors program has made its way to schools as a model for environmental education. Also, the program led to changes in agricultural practices in local villages.

The storks are also starting to attract a small number of tourists who stop to seeing the hundreds of nest-topped houses and swooping birds on their way to visit regional monasteries. Those who want to be honorary Nest Neighbors can tour the small villages near the Ararat Valley wetlands, including Surenavan and Hovtashat.

Related links:

The Smithsonian. Each Summer, These Armenian Villages Are Taken Over by Hundreds of White Storks

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: breeding, Process, storks, The Smithsonian

Stalemate broken in Nagorno-Karabakh peace process – Vladimir Karapetyan

May 26, 2016 By administrator

f574735e5a60ff_574735e5a6136.thumbArmenian must insist that an Armenian-Azerbaijani presidential meeting on Nagorno-Karabakh will not take place in June unless the Vienna agreements are properly observed, Vladimir Karapetyan, a Board member, Armenian National Congress (ANC) party, told Tert.am.

The OSCE co-chairs’ statement on an OSCE investigative mechanism and on the expansion of the existing Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson in Office must be put into practice.

“At least we must consider the fact that in the negotiations Armenia is represented by two persons – President Serzh Sargsyan and Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian. I am sure that no information on new details of the document to be negotiated at the top-level meeting is available at a lower level,” Mr Karapetyan said.

Hopes should be placed on the Armenian leaders’ confidence and their not making steps that would pose a threat to Armenia’s interests.

“We have given our enemy some territories of Nagorno-Karabakh. I would like not only Yerevan, but also Stepanakert to understand well that they should stop calling the territories in question ‘of no strategic or tactical importance’ or ‘empty.’ It is not to our credit to justify our losses by making such assessments,” Mr Karapetyan said.

The more active negotiations are the higher are the chances to settle the conflict.

“The negotiations were stalemated. But we can now say this stalemate has been broken because an agreement on a meeting in June has been reached,” Mr Karapetyan said.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: broken, Nagorno-Karabakh, Peace, Process, Stalemate

Turkey: Free Kurd Singer Nudem Durak: Stop This Cruel Mockery of the Peace Process

May 3, 2015 By administrator

Nudem Durak

Nudem DurakTurkey:

The case of Nudem Durak, the young Kurdish singer recently jailed by the Turkish authorities, places another huge question mark over the faltering peace process between the Turkish state and the country’s 15-million-plus Kurds. Nudem, a talented young woman who is not directly involved in politics, has been thrown into jail, according to her lawyer, for “promoting Kurdish propaganda by teaching Kurdish folk songs to youth music groups”. Her plight was highlighted last week in a short film produced/directed by Eylem Kaftan and published by Al Jazeera:

Daniel Song, who is based in California, met Nudem earlier this year while travelling in the region. He was shocked by the news of her arrest and is trying to instigate an international campaign for her release.

“I don’t know Nudem well”, Daniel told KT. “I met her at the apartment of a host’s flat in Cizre some months ago, as I was traveling with two friends through Kurdistan in Turkey and Iraq. We spent a nice evening with other new Kurdish friends singing and dancing to traditional Kurdish music, and conversed with Nudem via Google translate, and she also showed us some Youtube documentary films. She told us that the police wanted to arrest her for doing something like singing in Kurdish …

“Afterwards, I have kept in basic contact with Nudem over Facebook. My impression through our interactions is that she is a gentle, good-hearted woman who was following her passion, music and Kurdish culture. She seems to me an innocent victim of a greater conflict and politics.

“The following is the information we know about Nudem so far:

  • Nudem was arrested on April 22nd and taken to Mardin Type E prison.
  • She hasn’t been eating due to being too upset.
  • She has a ‘supreme court’ level hearing due in one year’s time.
  • According to her lawyer, she has been charged with “promoting Kurdish propaganda by teaching Kurdish folk songs to youth music groups”.
  • According to Nûdem’s lawyer, there is no change in her legal status. He reported that she is allowed 10 minutes of telephone access a week. The prison doesn’t allow CDs within its facility, but Nûdem’s brother will be bringing her a guitar, so she can continue to play”.

Nudem Durak faces ten and a half years imprisonment – for singing and promoting Kurdish culture. Her plight mirrors that of countless Kurds and others jailed in Turkey on spurious anti-terrorism and other pretexts, as the state veers towards authoritarianism. How can there be a meaningful peace proces while Nudem’s beautiful voice is silenced? Her case should be taken up by freedom-loving people everywhere.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Kurd, mockery, Peace, Process, Turkey

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