OCTOBER 28, 2017 Mirror-SpeTHE ARMENIAN ctator Volume LXXXVIII, NO. 15, Issue 4509 $ 2.00 NEWS The First English Language Armenian Weekly in the United States Since 1932 INBRIEF FAST Creates Angel Karabakh Network for Startups YEREVAN (itel.am) — The Foundation for Warns Baku Armenian Science and Technology (FAST) announced recently the creation of an Angels Network. The official announcement took place on October 19, at the gala dinner dedicated to the After Azeri “Machine Learning for Discovery Sciences” work- shop, which was organized by FAST and the US National Science Foundation. Shelling Angels Network members Ruben Harutyunyan and Igor Khalatian reported that the initiative STEPANAKERT (RFE/RL) — Nagorno- unites 15 Armenian entrepreneurs, who will pro- Karabakh’s army threatened “painful” retal- vide financial and consulting assistance to iation on Monday, October 23, as it accused Armenian startups. Azerbaijani forces of shelling its frontline FAST NextGen Council was also presented dur- positions for the first time in two months. ing the gala dinner. The council comprises 15 The Defense Army claimed that they fired young Armenian scientists and engineers. FAST five mortar shells and one anti-tank rocket in signed three memorandums of understanding with northeastern Karabakh on Sunday. It released the Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia; video footage purportedly showing two such University of Southern California and Hamburg shells exploding in a field and the Israeli-made World Music for a Global Program University of Technology. Spike rocket flying over a Karabakh military facility and hitting the ground. At Mirror-Spectator Gala, Nov. 3 Meghri Free Trade In a statement, the Karabakh army warned that it will retaliate in a “dispropor- NEWTON, Mass. — The Black Sea is a world away from lands where Salsa Zone Gets Support tionate and quite painful” fashion if the music originated. But building a bridge connecting them is Black Sea Salsa, cre- Azerbaijani side continues such “deliberate ated right here and led by Dan Teager. YEREVAN (Arka) — The Russian Export Center provocations.” As the group’s website says, the band offers “six horns, five rhythms, four signed a number of agreements on the margins of Another statement issued later in the day vocals and one great sound.” the II Eurasian Partnership forum in Yerevan last said Azerbaijani forces fired another Spike The Black Sea Salsa will perform their infectious rhythms on Friday, November week, envisaging the participation of Russian com- rocket at a different section of the line of 3, at the 85th anniversary gala of the Armenian Mirror-Spectator at the Boston panies in the Armenian free trade zone in the contact around Karabakh on Monday after- Marriott Newton Hotel. southern Meghri on the border with Iran, in the noon. It said Karabakh Armenian troops The 15-piece band performs a mélange of music from Latin to Jazz and Middle development of cooperation in the field of commu- again did not shoot back “in order not to Eastern. nications and agriculture. deepen tension” on the frontlines. see SALSA, page 20 Russian Export Center leader Pyotr Fradkov said The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry dis- the group wants to promote Russian-Armenian eco- missed the first Karabakh statement as nomic projects both in other member states of the “slander.” It said that the Armenians them- Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and in third coun- selves resorted to a “provocation” by killing Ecumenical Leaders Offer Prayers tries in the field of information and communication an Azerbaijani soldier on Sunday. The min- technologies. istry did not specify the frontline section where the soldier, identified as Jabbar For Christians in the Middle East Philanthropist Levon Zeynalov, died. The truce violations were reported one Joining Catholicos Karekin II were the Hayrapetyan Dies at 68 week after a meeting of Armenia’s and By Muriel Mirak-Weissbach Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius MOSCOW (Armenpress) — Businessman and Azerbaijan’s presidents held in Geneva. In a Special to the Mirror-Spectator Aphrem, Coptic Pope Tawadros and the joint statement issued there, their foreign Indian-Orthodox-Syrian Catholicos philanthropist Levon Hayrapetyan died on October ministers and international mediators said Baselios Marthoma for a five-day visit 18 after battling a long disease, writer Zori Balayan Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev “agreed BERLIN — Among the hundreds of com- which included a meeting with the German announced. to take measures to intensify the negotia- memorative events organized to celebrate see PRAYERS, page 5 Hayrapetyan was born in 1949 in Vank in tion process and to take additional steps to the 500th anniversary of Nagorno Karabakh’s Martakert region. He was one reduce tensions on the Line of Contact.” the Reformation over the of the largest investors in the modern history of Just three days after the Geneva summit, past year — “Luther year” Karabakh. Hayrapetyan financed the reconstruc- an Armenian soldier was killed in Karabakh in Germany — was a spe- tion of the renowned Gandzasar monastery in by Azerbaijani sniper fire. Armenia respond- cial gathering from 2000-2002. On October 16, 2008, he organized a ed by accusing Baku of “trying to walk away” October 18 to 21 in mass wedding ceremony in Shushi and Gandzasar from the understandings reached in Geneva. Berlin. On the invitation for 700 couples. Still, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian of the Evangelical Church Hayrapetyan was arrested in Russia in July 2014 made clear on Friday that Yerevan will not in Germany (EKD), four and sentenced to four years for embezzlement of avoid further talks with Baku. of the highest representa- $700,000. In October 2014, he was placed under The joint statement released in Genevan tives of the Eastern house arrest. His defense attorney asked the court said the US, Russian and French mediators Orthodox churches met to release him, citing health problems. co-chairing the Organization for Security in the capital for a series and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk of meetings and religious Group will soon hold follow-up “working services dedicated to the sessions” with Nalbandian and Azerbaijani situation of Christians in Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. the Middle East today. INSIDE Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian Elected President Manoogian Of Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association Exhibit MEDFORD, Mass. — Middlesex Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian was recently elect- ed by his peers to serve as president of the Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association. Page 14 “From Berkshire County to Essex County and beyond, each day sheriffs across the Commonwealth are making a difference in the lives of those we serve in our communities,” Koutoujian said. “Over the next two years I will work with my colleagues to support their efforts, while striving to better engage the pub- INDEX lic about our collective roles and responsibilities, as well as sheriffs’ work in Arts and Living . 14 tackling the factors that lead to criminal behavior, including substance use and Armenia . 2,3 mental illness.” Community News. 6 Appointed sheriff by Gov. Deval Patrick in January 2011, Koutoujian won Editorial . 18 election to office in 2012 and re-election in 2016. Prior to assuming office, he International . .. 4,5 see SHERIFF, page 20 2 S ATURDAY, O CTOBER 2 8 , 2 0 1 7 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR ARMENIA News From Armenia Armenians Urged to Value Their Women As Abortions of Girls Skew Population President Presents Some new industries are taking root, campaigners say some of the women Medal to Philanthropist By Anna Pujol-Mazzini seeking to replace the old, highly cen- they work with have two or three abor- tralized economy, but unemployment tions in one year alone. Eurnekian remains high. Under the new law, aimed at reducing YEREVAN (Armenpress) — On October 12, GAVAR, Armenia (Thomson Reuters Because of the high numbers of the rate at which women are aborting Argentine-Armenian philanthropist Eduardo Foundation) — When Karina unemployed women, and a widespread girls, patients must leave three days of Eurnekian received the title of National Hero of Aghalaryan discovered she was going to belief that women should stay home and “reflection” between their initial bid for Armenia at the Presidential Palace of Armenia, dur- be the mother of a baby girl, the 35-year- take care of family, Armenian women on abortion and the procedure and attend ing which President Serzh Sargsyan presented the old Armenian was ecstatic. average earn half of what the men do. a counseling session. Order of Motherland to the philanthropist for his ser- Her family was altogether more luke- Therefore, women who get pregnant Doctors can be fined for performing vices to the country. warm. with girls face a dilemma: giving birth to sex-selective abortions, but it is unclear Sargsyan received Eurnekian before the ceremony Talk swiftly turned to what the baby enough children that one of them will how many have been prosecuted. and discussed opportunities for new investment pro- clearly wasn’t: a boy. end up being a boy — or having abor- Government officials told the jects in Armenia. Eurnekian expressed his readiness When Petrosyan got pregnant with a tions until one of them is male. Thomson Reuters Foundation it was dif- to continue his activities there. During the ceremony second girl the following year, there Worldwide, biologically 102 to 106 ficult to measure the impact of the law of presenting the nation’s highest title, Sargsyan were no celebrations. Instead, her moth- boys are born for every 100 girls on alone on the declining rate of sex-selec- referred to the past path of Eurnekian and his initia- er-in-law marched her to the doctor for average, according to the United tive abortions but the legal change tives, praising his activities and expressing convic- an abortion. Nations. alongside awareness raising campaigns tion that he will continue doing that thankful work “My husband and my mother-in-law In 2012-2013, 114 boys were born in played a big part.