Les Minorites En Turquie Toujours Sceptiques Quant A La Nouvelle Con

LES MINORITES EN TURQUIE TOUJOURS SCEPTIQUES QUANT A LA NOUVELLE CONSTITUTION
Stephane

armenews.com
vendredi 3 fevrier 2012

Les representants des diverses communautes minoritaires de Turquie
ont exprime leur scepticisme quant aux efforts en cours sur le projet
d’une nouvelle constitution pour le pays.

” Considerant les conditions politiques actuelles en Turquie, je ne
crois pas que la nouvelle constitution sera celle d’un egalitarisme qui
embrasse toutes les sections de la societe ” a declare Arev Cebeci,
un armenien de Turquie qui etait candidat au poste de depute au nom
du parti du Peuple Republicain (CHP) au journal Hurriyet.

” Les quatre premiers articles de la constitution de 1980 seront
refondus dans la nouvelle constitution qui est en marche. Ce ne sera
pas a l’avantage de la Turquie. Chacun est un Turc selon les lois de
la Republique Turque ; cette clause ne pourra jamais pour etre amende
” a declare Mari Loker-Gormenazano, un Juif de Turquie.

” Je veux voir la Turquie comme une societe [composee] de citoyens de
la Republique Turque, sans la moindre reference a la race, religion
ou langue ” a dit Mari Loker-Gormenazano.

En attendant, Arev Cebeci a aussi exprime des reserves quant a la
nouvelle loi sur les Fondations religieuses ordonnee par le parti
Justice et Developpement (AKP).

” Par exemple, pour nous pour recouvrer nos cimetières qui sont
enregistres dans la declaration 1936, ils ont toujours besoin d’etre
ouverts afin d’etre employes pour des buts d’enterrement. Comment
pourrions-nous employer toujours nos cimetières qui ont ete saisis
et expropries ? ” a dit Arev Cebeci.

Turgut Alaca, le president de l’association Culturelle et de Solidarite
Meopotamienne de Turquie, association Syriaque, ” Nous ne pouvons
pas nous servir de nos droits, soit comme des citoyens normaux ou
bien comme les membres d’une minorite. Nous ne pouvons pas apprendre
notre langue a nos enfants. Qui sommes-nous ? Et qu’est qui changera
avec la nouvelle constitution ? Je voudrais le demander “.

” La constitution actuelle declare que tous les citoyens de la
Republique Turque sont egaux, mais ce n’est pas que nous voyons en
pratique ” a dit Turgut Alaca.

” S’ils veulent vraiment faire quelque chose, soit un nouvel
etablissement doit etre etabli au lieu de la Direction des Affaires
Religieuses, comme un Conseil Supreme de la Foi. Nous avons presente
aux autorites appropriees a Ankara un fichier qui a ete en consequence
prepare. Tous les groupes religieux doivent etre representes sous
cette structure autonome ” a declare Metin Tarhan, le fondateur de
la Federation des Associations Alevis.

Malgre tout le pessimisme et l’attitude tiède envers la nouvelle
constitution certains membres des minorites grecques et bulgares
restent pleins d’espoir.

” La nouvelle constitution est preparee dans la bienveillance. Je
n’ai aucun doute en cela. Je suis certain ce sera une constitution
egalitaire couronnee de succès ” a declare Dimitri Zotos, un des
managers de l’Association des Fondations Anatoliennes grecques
(RUMVADER).

” Nous attendons la liberte et la democratie. Bien sûr, tout ne
sera pas impeccable, mais l’idee d’une nouvelle constitution est
une idee positive. Le travail est un espoir-inspirant ” a ajoute ”
Luben Chalmov du Conseil de la Communaute bulgare.

Un Ministre Armenien Met En Garde Contre Une Baisse Du Prix Du Metal

UN MINISTRE ARMENIEN MET EN GARDE CONTRE UNE BAISSE DU PRIX DU METAL
Stephane

armenews.com
vendredi 3 fevrier 2012

Les incertitudes economiques en Europe vont probablement mener a une
forte baisse des prix internationaux des metaux et frapper ainsi la
source la plus importante des revenus d’Armenie grâce aux exportations
a declare le Ministre de l’Economie Tigran Davtian.

La statistique officielle montre que le cuivre et les autres metaux
non ferreux ont represente 58 pour cent des exportations armeniennes
et ont grimpe de 23 pour cent en termes absolus entre janvier et
novembre 2011.

L’industrie minière locale a beaucoup profite de la forte hausse des
prix des metaux sur les marches internationaux entre 2008 et 2009
avant la recession mondiale.

Les analystes avertissent que la crise des dettes souveraines en
Europe pourrait faire degringoler les prix des marchandises. L’agence
Moody Investors Service, une agence d’evaluation des risques, ont cite
cette possibilite quand elle a baisse sa perspective pour l’economie
armenienne en novembre.

Tigran Davtian a affirme ” a l’heure actuelle ces prix sont tels
qu’ils assurent la rentabilite “.

Les deux plus grandes entreprises metallurgiques d’Armenie, qui
emploient des milliers de personnes, projettent d’etendre leurs
operations en developpant de nouveaux gisements.

Tigran Davtian a aussi annonce que le Premier ministre Tigran Sarkisian
fondera et presidera bientôt un Conseil Supreme Industriel qui sera en
charge d’executer une nouvelle strategie de promotion des exportations.

Le document du gouvernement redige par le ministère de Tigran Davtian
a appelle au doublement des exportations armeniennes a 3,5 milliards
de $ en 2015 et d’elever leur volume a au moins 5 milliards de $
en 2020. Les fonctionnaires disent que l’accent sera mis dans les
secteurs industriels autres que l’extraction et la metallurgie.

Un Parti De La Coalition Victime De " Fausses Defections "

UN PARTI DE LA COALITION VICTIME DE ” FAUSSES DEFECTIONS ”
Stephane

armenews.com
vendredi 3 fevrier 2012

Le parti Armenie Prospère (BHK), second parti de la coalition au
pouvoir, a declare qu’il examine ce qu’il a decrit comme de fausses
lettres de demission de la part de plusieurs douzaines de membres du
BHK dans la province d’Ararat.

La branche regionale du parti a recu 58 lettres ce mois. Selon son
president, Tigran Stepanian, 22 d’entre elles ont ete signees par les
individus qui n’ont jamais ete affilies au BHK. Il a dit que 15 autres
signataires ont pretendu qu’ils n’ont pas decide de quitter le BHK.

” Nous examinons maintenant ces demandes pour voir si ces demandes
ont ete ecrites par la meme personne ” a declare Tigran Stepanian au
service armenien de RFE/RL (Azatutyun.am).

Il a affirme que seulement 21 membres avaient quitte le parti dirige
par l’homme d’affaires Gagik Tsarukian.

Parmi ces transfuges se trouve Karen Khachatrian, l’ancien directeur
adjoint des structures du BHK dans les villes d’Ararat et de Vedi.

Stepanian a suggere que Khachatrian a quitte le parti suite a sa
nomination a un poste eleve dans le departement de police d’Ararat.

Le HHK a nie tout lien avec ces defections. Son vice-president,
Galust Sahakian, a insiste pour que le BHK soit ” notre rival, mais
pas l’ennemi “. ” Nous avons nous-memes tant de membres que nous
avons des difficultes pour les recevoir ” a dit M. Sahakian lors
d’une conference de presse.

Turkish-American Group Voices Concern Over Anti-Turkish Sentiments O

TURKISH-AMERICAN GROUP VOICES CONCERN OVER ANTI-TURKISH SENTIMENTS ON FOX NEWS

TODAYSZAMAN.COM
2 February 2012

Texas Governor Rick Perry is seen backstage during a break in a
Republican Presidential candidates debate in Myrtle Beach, South
Carolina on Jan. 17. (Photo: Reuters)

One of the largest Turkish-American organizations, the Turkish
Coalition of America (TCA), has sent letters to News Corporation
Chairman Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation-owned Fox News Chairman
Roger Ailes to make known its concern regarding anti-Turkey sentiments
voiced on Fox News during the Jan. 17 Republican presidential debate.

The letters were prompted by media reports that Murdoch’s News
Corporation is considering a bid to buy one of Turkey’s biggest media
groups, which owns the Sabah daily and popular TV station ATV. TCA
President G. Lincoln McCurdy explained his concerns in the letters
sent to both Murdoch and Ailes.

He stated that during the Fox News-hosted Republican Presidential
Primary Debate in South Carolina on Jan. 17, “Fox News’ anchor
Bret Baier recited a litany of out-of-context statistics arranged to
portray Turkey in the worst possible light and then suggested to Texas
Governor Rick Perry that such statistics might indicate that Turkey,
one of the United States’ most robust NATO allies, no longer deserved
to be a member of NATO.”

“Led on by this outrageous question, Governor Perry responded in a
manner that nearly caused an international incident, accusing Turkey’s
democratically elected government of acting like ‘Islamic terrorists’
and suggesting that Turkey should be expelled from NATO,” he added.

McCurdy said taken together, the moderator’s question and the
candidate’s response shocked and alarmed Turkish-Americans and the
people of Turkey. “Though this was a single broadcast, as you well
know, in this global and interconnected world, everyone is listening.

The negative impact of this single broadcast, therefore, should not
be underestimated,” he continued.

The letters concluded that “taking into account the uproar the debate
caused among Turkish-Americans and throughout Turkish society,
as well as News Corporation’s interests in doing business in
Turkey, TCA requested meetings with senior representatives of both
organizations so that it could personally convey its concerns, talk
about issues related to Turkey and establish a dialogue between the
Turkish-American community and Fox News to prevent future incidents
which do not benefit anyone.”

Armenian Young Man Kidnapped In Aleppo

ARMENIAN YOUNG MAN KIDNAPPED IN ALEPPO

yerlkir.am
10:00 – 03.02.2012

Young Armenian man has been kidnapped in Syria due to ongoing clashes
in that country. Our sources of Syrian-Armenian community have informed
that the kidnappers demand 50 thousand USD ransom.

Criminal cases in Syria have grown recently as the authorities are
busy trying to stop anti-governmental protests. And the Armenians
that are relatively wealthy, have never had any problem till now,
but now they are victims. Many rich Armenians receive threatening
messages now. And the young man that has been kidnapped is also rich
and had just got married.

Schiff, Berman Discuss Javakhk With Saakashvili

SCHIFF, BERMAN DISCUSS JAVAKHK WITH SAAKASHVILI

asbarez
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

Rep. Adam Schiff

Rep. Howard Berman
WASHINGTON-Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-CA), lead sponsor of the Armenian
Genocide resolution, and Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), ranking member
of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, met with Georgian president,
Mikheil Saakashvili, Thursday to discuss the bilateral relationship
between the United States and Georgia and to ask the president to
focus more attention on the Armenian region of Samtskhe-Javakheti,
which borders the Republic of Armenia.

Economic opportunity, education, and development in Samtskhe-Javakheti
have lagged behind that of predominantly Georgian areas of the country.

During the meeting in the U.S. Capitol, President Saakashvili expressed
a willingness to work with Schiff and Berman to direct more resources
to Samtskhe-Javakheti and said that he would fully support additional
American assistance to the region.

“I was very pleased with the discussion we had with President
Saakashvili,” Schiff said. “He was unhesitating in expressing support
when we asked for additional efforts to aid Armenian-Georgians.”

“I will continue to fight for the fair treatment and equal rights
for the ethnic Armenian community in Georgia,” said Howard Berman,
the Ranking Member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a
longtime champion of Armenian causes.

President Saakashvili has been in Washington for several days meeting
with a variety of senior American officials, including President Obama,
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and congressional leaders.

An ongoing dialogue between the Armenian National Committee
of America and the Georgian government-both in Tbilisi and via
Georgia’s Ambassador in Washington-is exploring ways to expand the
Georgian-Armenian partnership to include broader direct Georgian and
Armenian investments and also increased U.S. assistance to promote
job-creation in the Armenian-populated Samtskhe-Javakheti (Javakhk)
region of Georgia.

“The Embassy of Georgia, in support of our government’s material
commitment to economic development for our citizens in the
Samtskhe-Javakheti region and throughout all of our Republic,
looks forward to working with our friends in the U.S. Congress
and the Administration and with all American civil society
stakeholders – including, of course, with the Armenian American
community – in encouraging the targeting of U.S. assistance to meet
Samtskhe-Javakheti’s urgent job-creation, infrastructure, technical,
and humanitarian needs,” stated Georgia Ambassador to the U.S. Temuri
Yakobashvili.

“We look forward, in cooperation with Ambassador Yakobashvili and
Georgian government officials, to broadening the longstanding ties
that have existed between the Georgian and Armenian peoples through
greater Georgian government investment in the economic development of
Samtskhe-Javakheti and by collectively supporting a robust U.S. aid
package for Georgia that includes targeted assistance to this heavily
Armenian populated region,” stated ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian.

ANCA has worked closely with members of Congress, USAID and others
in the administration to explore U.S. assistance opportunities in
Javakhk, including public-private partnerships, which would offer
material incentives for broader international investment in the region.

Chinese Concert In Armenia

CHINESE CONCERT IN ARMENIA

armradio.am
03.02.2012 12:42

A concert group from Lanzhou University of China will arrive in
Yerevan in the framework of celebration of the 20th anniversary of
establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and China.

A special concert dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Armenian-Chinese
diplomatic relations will be organized by joint efforts of the
Confucius Institute at Yerevan State Linguistic University and the
Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Armenia

The President of Lanzhou University Mr. Jing Tao, YSLU Rector Mr.
Suren Zolyan and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of
People’s Republic of China to the Republic of Armenia, H.E. Tian
Changchun will make welcoming speeches.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

DM Seyran Ohanyan Attends NATO Meeting In Brussels

DM SEYRAN OHANYAN ATTENDS NATO MEETING IN BRUSSELS

armradio.am
03.02.2012 12:36

The delegation headed by Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan
visits Belgium February 2-4 to participate in the sitting of the
Defense Ministers of the countries participating in the International
Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and Kosovo, Information and
Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Defense reported.

In Turkey, Life Of An Armenian Is Not As Important As McDonald’s – T

IN TURKEY, LIFE OF AN ARMENIAN IS NOT AS IMPORTANT AS MCDONALD’S – TURKISH MP

news.am
February 03, 2012 | 10:58

ANKARA. – During the Turkish parliament’s hearings on the proposal
for fight against the financing of terrorism, the Kurdish “Peace and
Democracy Party” (BDP) MP Sirri Sureyya Onder reflected on the court
ruling on the case of Hrant Dink, the founder and former chief editor
of Istanbul’s Agos Armenian weekly, who was killed in 2007.

“The person [Erhan Tuncel] who was punished in the trial was punished
for placing a bomb in a hamburger-selling company [McDonald’s]. In
Turkey, the life of an Armenian citizen is not as important as an
American company that sells hamburgers. You cannot touch a hamburger
seller, but you can kill an Armenian,” Sirri Sureyya Onder said,
Turkish Haberx news agency informs.

To note, Erhan Tuncel was found not guilty of prompting Dink’s
murder, and, instead, he was sentenced to 10 years and 6 months for
an explosion in a McDonald’s store. But taking into account that
Tuncel was already incarcerated for that amount of time, the court
had ruled his release.

EU Achieved Little Progress Towards Resolving Karabakh Conflict – Re

EU ACHIEVED LITTLE PROGRESS TOWARDS RESOLVING KARABAKH CONFLICT – REPORT

news.am
February 03, 2012 | 12:48

The European council on foreign relations issued European Foreign
Policy Scorecard assessing the EU’s performance on the global stage
across all 27 states.

The report says despite relatively unity, the EU has achieved little
progress towards resolving the Karabakh conflict.

“Tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of
Nagorno-Karabakh continue to rise and there remains the risk of an
accidental war between them,” the report says.

“Compared to the conflicts in Transnistria or Abkhazia and South
Ossetia, the EU has even less leverage in discussions over the future
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. All member states support
peaceful resolution of the conflict, yet both they and the EU’s
institutions invest less time in this issue compared to the other
two protracted conflicts.

The EU as such is not present in the negotiating framework and is
represented by France in the OSCE’s Minsk Group, the key framework
for discussions about the conflict. France, which co-chairs the group
along with Russia and the US, is not willing to give up its seat for
a formal EU representative.

As a result, while EU member states agree in their assessments of
the conflict, they remain largely absent from the negotiations. In
2011, the Minsk Group met no less than six times. But it was Russia
that continued to play the principal role in negotiations about the
conflict settlement. The EU restricted itself to supporting Moscow’s
initiative to reach a breakthrough in negotiations via a separate
track outside the group.

However, although Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met the leaders
of Armenia and Azerbaijan in February, March and June, the meetings
yielded no progress.

The agreement on the basic framework of the future political settlement
of the conflict – the so-called Madrid Principles – remains on paper
only. Both the EU and member states in general seem determined the
isolate the Nagorno-Karabakh issue from their relations with both
Armenia and Azerbaijan. For example, they did not make discussion
with the two countries on issues such as energy or trade conditional
on progress on Nagorno-Karabakh. The EU has also failed to engage
meaningfully with the other two key players, Turkey and Russia.”