Month: February 2012

LOI DE PENALISATION
Jack Lang « Cette loi braque les Turcs »

Après Jean Daniel, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, voici l’ex-ministre de la
Culture, Jack Lang, proche du groupe « Liberté pour l’Histoire » de
Pierre Nora qui porte une nouvelle charge contre la Loi de
pénalisation des génocides ! Dans une interview au `Nouvel
Observateur` du 09 Février 2011(n° 2466)-sans doute commanditée par le
triste Jean Daniel qui à ce jour est l’un des seuls « intellectuels »
français à nier le caractère intentionnel du génocide arménien- Jack
Lang affirme « Cette loi braque les Turcs ». Jack Lang qui affirme «
je n’ai pas voté cette loi et je m’associe à ceux qui l’ont déférée au
Conseil constitutionnel. Comme Robert Badinter ». A la question «
Pourquoi avez-vous voté en 2001 la loi sur la reconnaissance du
génocide arménien ? » Jack Lang répond « je souhaitais accomplir un
acte emblématique de reconnaissance du génocide arménien. C’était une
déclaration forte. Il n’était nul besoin d’une autre loi plus
punitive. Pourquoi alors, cette nouvelle loi répressive ? D’autant
que, paradoxalement, elle risque de fragiliser la déclaration de 2001
: il n’est pas impossible que le Conseil constitutionnel, en se
penchant sur la constitutionnalité du nouveau texte, réexamine la
valeur juridique du précédent ». Donc selon Jack Lang cette loi
déclarative de 2001 suffit pour pénaliser…ce que les juristes en
doutent bien évidemment. Mais Jack Lang ne maitrise pas le sujet car
il déclare « je soutiens des initiatives comme celle de l’Union
européenne, qui fait figurer parmi les conditions d’entrée de la
Turquie, la reconnaissance du génocide ». Faux ! Car lors de la
réunion de Copenhague en 1999 dans les conditions de l’entrée de la
Turquie au sein de l’Union européenne, il était question des
conditions du respect des Droits de l’Homme par Ankara, le droit des
Kurdes, et la question chypriote. Le président Jacques Chirac et son
Premier ministre Lionel Jospin avaient signé cette déclaration qui
omettait le génocide arménien…Mais Jack Lang n’est plus depuis
longtemps à un détail près.

Nous présentons ci-dessous à nos lecteurs la totalité de l’interview
de Jack Lang au « Nouvel Observateur ».

Krikor Amirzayan

Interview de Jack Lang dans “Le Nouvel Observateur” du 9 Février
2012samedi 11 février 2012,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

There is a chance of breakthrough in the Karabakh issue, ex-US Envoy
Matthew Bryza says

armradio.am
11.02.2012 14:27

`It’s a huge mistake to explicitly say there is no connection at all
between Turkish-Armenian normalization and a settlement to the Nagorno
Karabakh problem. I always believed that the two issues will help each
other; as there is progress on the Turkish-Armenian front, that will
help create progress on Karabakh and progress on Nagorno Karabakh will
help normalize relations between Turkey and Armenia,’ ex-US Ambassador
to Azerbaijan and former Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Matthew
Bryza said in an interview with Hurriyet Daily News.

`The Turkish leadership realizes that by opening the border with
Armenia totally outside the context of Nagorno Karabakh, Turkey was
moving in a new direction because Turkey closed the border in the
context of the NK conflict. Azerbaijanis will never forget that.
Azerbaijanis have significant political influence in Turkey,’ he said.

Bryza said he believes there has been an evolution in Turkey’s
approach to the Armenian genocide. `There has been a progression.
There is more acceptance of an open discussion of what happened. I
think the Hrant Dink murder was a huge awakening for millions of
Turks. It’s not just the government, it’s society that has moved
forward to consider that terrible killings were committed by Ottoman
troops. But what has not changed at all for legitimate reasons is the
firm Turkish view that this should not be recognized politically as
genocide.’

Matthew Bryza says there is a chance of breakthrough in the Karabakh
issue. `There has been huge progress. The sides are extremely close to
a breakthrough. There are a couple of core, key details that can only
be agreed upon if the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan make a very
difficult and risky political decision. They would not do that until
they feel they receive political support from the U.S. and France.’

Sitting of the Armenian-Belarusian Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation
Committee to be held in Yerevan

armradio.am
11.02.2012 14:09

The sitting of the Inter-Parliamentary Committee on Cooperation
between the National Assemblies of the Republic of Armenia and the
Republic of Belarus will be held in Yerevan.

The Belarusian delegation led by Viktor Guminsky, Co-Chair of the
Committee, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of Belarus
will visit Armenia February 13-16 to participate in the sitting.
Members of the delegation will have meetings with Armenian National
Assembly Speaker Samvel Nikoyan and the Deputy Speaker Edward
Sharmazanov.

The sitting of the Inter-Parliamentary Committee will be held on
February 13. Within the framework of the visit members of the
Belarusian delegation will have meetings with members of Armenian
delegations in different international organizations, as well as with
the heads of a number of agencies. They will visit the Tsitsernakaberd
Memorial Complex and will lay a wreath at the monument to the victims
of the 1915 Armenian Genocide.

Karen Nazaryan: Azerbaijan uses the membership in the UN SC to spread
one-sided information

armradio.am
11.02.2012 12:27

Armenia’s Permanent Representative at the UN Karen Nazaryan circulated
a letter at the UN Security Council, in which he expressed regret that
Azerbaijan – a newly elected non-permanent member of the Security
Council, uses this opportunity to disseminate one-sided information
about the Karabakh conflict, which contradicts the core of the
conflict and the spirit of negotiations within the framework of the
OSCE Minsk Group.

He called on Azerbaijan to respect the activity of the Security
Council and refrain from making provocative steps and statements. The
letter was circulated in response to the statement of the Azerbaijani
representative following the briefing of the OSCE
Chairperson-in-Office, Foreign Minister of Ireland Eamon Gilmore, who
welcomed the OSCE Minsk Group efforts towards settlement of the
Karabakh conflict.

`The statement of Azerbaijan is in stark contrast with the spirit of
the Joint Declaration of the Presidents of Armenia, Russia and
Azerbaijan made just last month in Sochi, underlining the readiness of
the parties to speed up agreement on the Basic Principles offered by
the mediators.
What is the sense of the Azerbaijani attempt to open discussions on
the Nagorno-Karabakh issue in the Security Council or to change the
terminology accepted by OSCE and used for a long time in the documents
and statements of the OSCE? Using correct terminology to address the
root causes of the conflict is one thing, but using terminology to
change facts and distort the reality is a completely different
matter,’ Karen Nazaryan wrote in the letter.

`Unfortunately, such behavior of Azerbaijan confirms that the only
guiding line of this country was and remains the use of this
distinguished tribune to distribute false facts, to misinform and
misrepresent the process of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.
Despite its pledge before the UN Security Council `to the maintenance
of international peace’, Azerbaijan is continuously threatening to use
force against Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia along with unprovoked daily
war-mongering by its leadership and is dramatically increasing its
military budget, is continuing ceasefire violations on the line of
contact between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan, systematically is
employing acts of vandalism towards the Armenian historical and
cultural heritage and this list goes on.

In response to the calls of the last two years by the UN
Secretary-General, the OSCE and the Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh responded positively to the proposals of withdrawing
the snipers from the line of contact, to the consolidation of the
ceasefire, to the creation of a mechanism for investigating incidents
along the line of contact. However, Azerbaijan continues to reject the
proposals of withdrawal of snipers and consolidation of ceasefire and
continues to hinder the creation of investigation mechanism.

After the Joint Statements on the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict by the
Presidents of Russia, the USA and France at the G8 Summits in L’Aquila
(2009), Muskoka (2010) and Deauville (2011) Armenia welcomed them and
stated that we are ready to move forward on the basis of the
principles and elements made in those statements. This proves that the
approaches of the international community are in line with the
approaches of Armenia.

Why does not the Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan recall those
statements in his presentation? Simply because Azerbaijan refuses to
accept them.

Perhaps it behooves Azerbaijan, in its newly elected role in the
Security Council, to respect the work of that body and its members by
refraining from provocative actions and statement,’ the letter reads.

From: Baghdasarian

According to Armenia’s Diaspora Ministry, the Vatican is not
independent state – newspaper

news.am
February 11, 2012 | 09:14

YEREVAN. – It has become clear that Armenia’s Diaspora Ministry is
either unaware that the Vatican is an independent republic, or it does
not recognize the Vatican’s sovereignty, Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun
daily writes.

`Specifically, the official statement, on the meeting between the
Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan and Pope Benedict XVI, reads as
follows: `His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI received, at the Vatican,
Armenia’s Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan, who is in Italy, on
February 7-12, on a working visit.’ It is known that the Vatican is
geographically situated inside Italy, but it is also known that the
Vatican is an independent state, with which Armenia has diplomatic
relations. But the Ministry’s official statement leaves the impression
that, at present, the Vatican is a part of Italy,’ Chorrord
Inknishkhanutyun daily writes.

Armenia `suffers’ from Forbes – newspaper

news.am
February 11, 2012 | 09:45

YEREVAN. – Last year the Forbes Magazine published the rating chart of
the world’s worst economies, and in it Armenia was in second spot,
only behind Madagascar, Apaga weekly writes.

`In response to that publication, the country’s [Armenia’s] numerous
statesmen quickly criticized the Magazine’s data. Then everyone began
to forget about this publication, especially since this was
`convenient’ for many. The qualitative full value of Forbes’ rating
chart leaves a feeling of equivocalness, [and] the given publication
seems to `smell’ the scent of oil which is extracted not too far away.
Had Armenia’s economy been on another qualitative level, no one would
have dared to send our country to the world’s `economic garbage.’ The
world already has all the grounds to laugh at us, especially when we,
on the level of senior officials, attempt to prove that we are not
dashing down the abyss, as Forbes has unjustifiably written, but
rather we are just approaching the edge of that abyss,’ Apaga writes.

Armenia’s opposition examines two options for proportional election
list – newspaper

news.am
February 11, 2012 | 08:36

YEREVAN. – The opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) continues
to discuss the principles for forming its proportional election list
for the upcoming parliamentary elections, Zhoghovurd daily writes.

`According to Zhoghovurd’s information, primarily two alternatives are
brought forward: Either to form the list on the [political] party
principle, or in the order of recognized individuals. The small
parties want for the list to be formed on the principle of party
affiliation, so that man-party leaders can easily become MPs. But the
overwhelming majority does not agree with this option. ANC believes
this would be unfair, as non-party-affiliate figures, former political
prisoners, and many others have done lot more in these years than the
chairmen of some [political] parties,’ Zhoghovurd writes.

French MP hopes interested parties not to press Constitutional Council
on Armenian Genocide issue

news.am
February 11, 2012 | 01:47

PARIS. – French Socialist MP Francois Pupponi released a communiqué,
where he turned to some MPs and Senators who have appealed to the
Constitutional Council against the bill criminalizing denial of the
genocides, including the Armenian Genocide.

`I am deeply sorry that 77 Senators and 65 MPs decided to appeal to
the Council against the bill. There are several reasons: first of all,
many victims. Our responsibility is not to kill them again. Second,
for their relatives, so that their inheritors could fully be
integrated in our state.

Finally, I believe that the interested parties will not influence or
hinder the Council to consider the constituency of the bill in a calm
and impartial condition,’ the statement reads, Nouvelles d`Arménie
reports.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism supports Genocide law

news.am
February 11, 2012 | 04:06

At the end of its federal council session the International League
Against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA) voted for supporting the
French bill criminalizing denial of the Armenian genocide with a
majority of votes, the French organization informed Nouvelles
d`Armenie.

To note, this refutes the information that LICRA were against the genocide bill.

ARMENIE
L’avortement sélectif des filles se propage en Arménie

Le pourcentage de garçons nés en Arménie a considérablement augmenté
ces dernières années dû à l’avortement sélectif des filles dans cette
ex-république soviétique du Caucase, a indiqué le Fonds des Nations
unies pour la population (FNUAP).

Plus de 7.000 Arméniennes ont au recours à un avortement sélectif ces
cinq dernières années, selon une nouvelle enquête menée conjointement
par FNUAP, le ministère arménien de la Santé et l’Institut de la
périnatalogie.

Le ratio en Arménie est de 110-120 garçons pour 100 filles, supérieur
à la norme établie de 102-105 garçons pour 100 filles, selon
l’enquête.

Cette tendance risque de causer des problèmes démographiques dans ce
petit pays du Caucase, a souligné Garik Hayrapetyan, responsable du
FNUAP au cours d’une conférence de presse.

Dans dix à 20 ans, il manquera des femmes, c’est-à-dire des mères
potentielles, a-t-il ajouté.

La mentalité traditionnelle joue un rôle dans ce pays conservateur où
un fils est considéré comme héritier et soutien des parents à l’ge
avancé, a souligné Razmik Abrakhamian, gynécologue en chef de
l’Arménie.

L’avortement sélectif est considéré comme un grave problème en Chine et en Inde.

Mais le phénomène a aussi atteint des proportions inquiétantes dans
les républiques du Caucase- l’Arménie, l’Azerbaïdjan et la Géorgie, a
indiqué en octobre l’Assemblée parlementaire du Conseil de l’Europe.

Selon une résolution de l’APCE, les pressions exercées sur les femmes
en faveur de l’avortement sélectif devraient être considérées comme
une forme de violence psychologique.

dimanche 12 février 2012,
Stéphane ©armenews.com