Month: February 2012

ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR: IRAN CAN TAKE TOP POSITION IN ARMENIA RELATIONS

Islamic Republic News Agency IRNA
feb 20 2012
Iran

Tehran, Feb 19, IRNA — Armenian Ambassador to Tehran Grigor Arakilian
said on Sunday that Iran as Armenia’s neighboring country can take
higher position in relations of Armenia with other countries.

He told IRNA on the sidelines of a meeting in Tehran to review ways
of upgrading trade relations with Armenia.

Arakilian said there are too many potentials to expand the trade
relations between Iran and Armenia.

The ambassador said that Iran and Armenia enjoy common grounds for
economic cooperation adding that Armenia is interested in enhancing
level of trade with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

He said that Iran is Armenia’s fourth trade partner and trade rose
up by 40 percent compared with last year’s dlrs 320 million.

“Had Iran joined to World Trade Organization, the two countries would
cooperate in many different fields of interests,” Arkilian said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GOOGLE SUBCONSCIOUS: GOOGLE TRANSLATES ‘I LOVE ARMENIANS’ AS ‘I LOVE TURKEY’

National Turk

Feb 20 2012

A translative glitch in Google’s translation service wreaked havoc
among Armenian Internet users over the weekend, does Google have a
subconscious?

Boston / NationalTurk – Google’s online translation service
(translate.google.com) had been translating the sentence in Armenian
‘ ÔµÕ½ Õ½Õ”O~@Õ¸O~BÕ´ Õ¥Õ´ Õ°Õ¡ÕµÕ¥O~@Õ”Õ¶ ‘ (I love Armenians) to
‘I love Turkey.’ Google translated the Armenian sentence “I love
Armenians” (“ÔµÕ½ Õ½Õ”O~@Õ¸O~BÕ´ Õ¥Õ´ Õ°Õ¡ÕµÕ¥O~@Õ”Õ¶”) into “I love
Turkey” for unspecified reasons.

The prankish mistranslation which caused fury among Armenians was
unraveled by a Lebanese Armenian activist named Serouj Baghdassarian
only to verified by The Armenian Weekly later.

The funny translation glitch issue was resolved and corrected Feb. 19,
after an active online campaign launched by Armenian activists who
read this report and got as mad as a hornet .The cause of the Google
translation error was not mentioned in the report.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

STATE WATCHDOG: FLAWS IN INVESTIGATING OFFICIALS’ NEGLIGENCE IN DINK MURDER CASE

Today’s Zaman
Feb 20 2012
Turkey

The summary of a report prepared by the State Audit Institution
(DDK) regarding the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink
has revealed that mistakes were made in the investigation of public
officials who were suspected to have acted negligently in preventing
the murder. The summary of the DDK report was posted on the website
of the presidential office on Monday.

Dink, the late editor-in-chief of Agos, was shot dead by an
ultranationalist teenager outside the offices of his newspaper in
broad daylight in Ä°stanbul on Jan. 19, 2007. The investigation into
his murder stalled when the suspected perpetrator and his accomplices
were put on trial as those who masterminded the plot to kill him have
yet to be exposed and punished. In the face of growing calls from the
public and a European Court of Human Rights ruling that found Turkey
guilty of failing to protect Dink’s right to life and of carrying
out a thorough investigation into the officers who failed to take
the necessary measures in light of early warnings and tips about the
plot to kill Dink, Gul ordered the DDK to investigate the Dink murder
last year.

The investigation that followed Dink’s death revealed that the police
had been tipped off to the plans for the murder of the journalist;
however, the police failed to intervene. The summary of the DDK
report said the sequence of negligent acts by public officials was
not examined as a whole and no investigation was launched separately
into different state institutions.

It said the method adopted during the investigation of public officials
led to the failure of not investigating all allegations about public
officials as a whole.

The report noted that as a result of this failure, the seriousness of
the actions of public officials in the run up to the murder has not
been understood and the link between their actions and the murder
could not be established, leading to the failure of all of the
investigations into public officials. Speaking to the station NTV,
Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Deputy Chairman Huseyin Celik
agreed that mistakes had been made throughout the investigation of
the Dink murder.

“We know that many mistakes were made since the beginning in the run
up to murder, which began in Trabzon. The detection of these mistakes
by the DDK is a significant step to see the functioning of the law.

The final ruling in the Dink case will be appealed. When the DDK
findings are conveyed to the relevant authorities, there will be
investigations again,” he said.

A majority of the suspects, including the hitman, are from Trabzon,
where police say they had informed the Ä°stanbul police about the
plot to kill Dink on more than one occasion.

The Ä°stanbul 14th High Criminal Court issued its final ruling in the
Dink trial last month, which failed to please those expecting justice
to be served. During the process, lawyers for the Dink family and the
co-plaintiffs in the case presented evidence indicating that hitman
Ogun Samast did not act alone. Samast stood trial in a juvenile
court because he was a minor at the time of the murder. He was
recently sentenced to 22 years, 10 months in prison by the court. In
a separate trial, two gendarmerie officers were convicted on charges
of dereliction of duty in the run-up to the Dink murder.

Another suspect, Yasin Hayal, was given life in prison for inciting
Samast to murder. However, Erhan Tuncel, who worked as an informant for
the Trabzon Police Department, was found not guilty of masterminding
the murder. The prosecution believes the killers are affiliated with
the Ergenekon network, a shadowy criminal network that has alleged
links within the state and whose suspected members are currently
standing trial on charges of plotting to overthrow the government.

From: A. Papazian

TURKEY CUTS SUPPORT FOR SAILING RACE

Hurriyet Daily News
Feb 20 2012
Turkey

Turkey has dropped its support for a prestigious sailing race in the
wake of France’s decision to approve a bill criminalizing denials of
the “Armenian genocide.”

Olay Nautic, the organizer of the Europa Race, has announced that
Turkey will not financially support the event, which is scheduled to
start in Istanbul on May 5 and end in La Rochelle in France on June 3.

The Europa Race, in the IMOCA class, lasts for 3,400 nautical miles
and four weeks The route of this year’s race also had stopovers in
Barcelona and Portsmouth.

Gaetan Gouerou, an executive board member of the International Monohull
Open Class Association (IMOCA), told daily Hurriyet that they were
“in shock.”

“This is a political issue and we cannot do anything about it,” said
Gouerou, adding that the boats were ready for the race but the event
had lost its major financial resource.

“We are considering an alternative race, Barcelona, La Rochelle and
Portsmouth are still interested,” he said.

Last month, the French Senate approved a bill that was later
challenged by a sufficient number of senators, who took the bill
to the Constitutional Council on the grounds that the draft is
unconstitutional.

The bill criminalizes denials of the 1915 events as genocide. The
Turkish government has promised to impose sanctions on France once
the judgment is delivered.

From: A. Papazian

TURKEY’S PRESIDENTIAL BOARD SLAMS DINK TRIAL OUTCOME

Hurriyet Daily News
Feb 20 2012
Turkey

Turkey’s State Audit Board (DDK) completed a report into the murder
of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink today, saying it found
mistakes in the questioning of government personnel which adversely
affected the efficiency of the overall investigation into the murder.

President Abdullah Gul had ordered DDK to look into the case of Dink’s
murder after lawyers for the murdered journalist’s family said the
trial was not being properly conducted.

The report said the trial was hampered by structural and procedural
difficulties even though the culprits were swiftly apprehended.

The DDK also said “gendarmerie and police intelligence units did not
work toward the protection of Hrant Dink even though they had learned
of a … threat.”

The report added that the Turkish state failed to fulfill its
obligation to protect human life as pointed out by Article 17 of the
Turkish Constitution, as well as the second article of the European
Convention on Human Rights, to which Turkey is a signatory.

Acts of negligence and abuse of office by government personnel before
and after the murder should have been included as a factor in the
main crime during investigations, the report said.

The DDK’s report concluded that the case into Dink’s murder failed
to satisfy the public and shook the reliability of the entire state
apparatus.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GOOGLE TRANSLATES ‘I LOVE ARMENIANS’ AS ‘I LOVE TURKEY’

Hurriyet Daily News
Feb 20 2012
Turkey

An apparent glitch in Google’s translation service caused furor among
Armenian Internet users over the weekend, Armenian Weekly reported.

Google translated the Armenian sentence “I love Armenians” (“ÔµÕ½
Õ½Õ”O~@Õ¸O~BÕ´ Õ¥Õ´ Õ°Õ¡ÕµÕ¥O~@Õ”Õ¶”) into “I love Turkey” for
unspecified reasons.

The mistranslation was brought to attention by a Lebanese-Armenian
activist, Serouj Baghdassarian, Armenian Weekly reported Feb. 18.

The translation issue was corrected Feb. 19, the report said.

SARKOZY FEARS FOR TRANSPORT CONTRACTS AND TIES WITH AZERBAIJAN BECAUSE OF ‘ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’

Azerbaijan Business Center
Feb 20 2012

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. Receiving French Transport Minister Thierry
Mariani and French President’s Adviser for Diplomacy Damien Loras,
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in fact called conditions for the
conservation of a high level of Azerbaijani-French relationships.

The Azerbaijani Presidential Administration’s press service informs
that Mr. Mariani conveyed the message of President Nicolas Sarkozy to
his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev. At the same time Mr. Mariani
expressed confidence that his country’s partnership with Azerbaijan
would develop further.

President Aliyev expressed his gratitude for Nicolas Sarkozy’s sincere
thoughts in the message about development of bilateral links and
voiced assurance that relations would continue expanding further. At
that, President Aliyev expressed a hope that the law penalizing the
denial of the “Armenian genocide” does not come into force. At the
meeting the sides exchanged views on bilateral relationships between
Azerbaijan and France, regional and international issues.

The visit of the French delegation can be considered the first and
most serious (for now) in response to Azerbaijan’s negative attitude
to the adoption of the French law on the criminalization of “Armenian
genocide” in the Ottoman Empire in 1915-18. Most likely, the visit
had been lobbied by such giants of the French economy as BNP Paribas,
Societe Generale, Alstom, and Total, which feared the loss of lucrative
contracts in Azerbaijan. Informally, such prospects are already being
discussed in Baku.

From: A. Papazian

TURKISH PRESS: AZERBAIJAN MADE GREATER EFFORTS THAN TURKEY TOWARDS PREVENTING THE ADOPTION OF THE FRENCH SENATE`S PRO-ARMENIAN BILL

AzerTac
Feb 20 2012
Azerbaijan

Turkish Hurriyet and Haber Turk newspapers have praised Azerbaijan`s
position on the adoption by France`s Senate of a law criminalizing
the denial of the so-called Armenian genocide.

In her article, posted on the newspapers` websites, Zeynab Gurcanli
says Azerbaijan made greater efforts than Turkey towards preventing
the adoption of the French Senate`s pro-Armenian bill.

The author notes that recent rumors in Turkey alleging that Azerbaijan
has not made enough efforts with respect to prevention of the adoption
of the French Senate`s pro-Armenian bill “caused serious concerns
within the Azerbaijani society”.

“In Baku, everybody has been offended by this – from regular citizens
to officials of the Presidential Administration and Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, from scholars to journalists as well as pro-government and
opposition parliamentarians. The general opinion is that ‘we are
trying our best, and will continue doing so, but it has not been duly
noticed by Turkey.”

The article features quotations from head of foreign relations
department at the Azerbaijani President`s Administration, Novruz
Mammadov, who says: “We have made greater efforts than you (Turkey).

Our parliament adopted a relevant decision. Our parliamentarians,
the chairman of the parliament condemned the French Senate`s move
saying it would undermine the country`s relations with Azerbaijan. We
invited a delegation of the French Senate to Azerbaijan, and voiced our
protest during meetings with them. We are trying hard in this respect.

This just should be noticed.”

The author also cites head of foreign and inter-parliamentary
relations committee at the Azerbaijani Parliament, Samad Seyidov:
“Being representatives of the Azerbaijani people we unanimously adopted
a decision, telling the world that the French Senate`s law must never
be adopted. And the Turkish Parliament satisfied with chairman Cemil
Cicek`s letter of protest to his French counterpart.

Unlike the parliament of Azerbaijan, the Turkish Grand National
Assembly has not adopted any decision on the issue.”

The article also features remarks by head of Azerbaijani Democratic
Reforms Party, Asim Mollazade, who says: “Azerbaijan played a great
role in collecting signatures for a petition which was sent to the
French Constitutional Council to prevent the adoption of the law.”

Gurcanli also quotes Azerbaijani deputy foreign affairs minister,
Khalaf Khalafov, noting French Ambassador in Baku was summoned to
the Foreign Ministry two times.

“Azerbaijan considered the problem as its own. This is being continued
both on the level of foreign policy, non-governmental and parliamentary
level. Azerbaijan expressed its opposition to the French Senate`s
law by giving a note and issuing different statements,” Khalafov is
quoted as saying.

The author also emphasizes that Turkey expects Azerbaijan to demand
France`s exclusion from the OSCE Minsk group.

In the article, Mammadov says: “We also considered the exclusion of
France from the Minsk group. But this is not possible in practice. The
issue does not depend on Azerbaijan alone. This requires a consensus,
but this consensus is impossible to be ensured.”

Khalafov notes: “Linking the two issues to each other will not have
a positive impact on the process, and can cause more problems. The
issue is very complex. Azerbaijan`s most painful problem is to return
its occupied lands, so we are trying to solve this issue through the
Minsk Group. But this does not mean that Azerbaijan is not with Turkey.

There is no other country which stands by Turkey like Azerbaijan.”

The article also stresses that Azerbaijanis are happy that the
Armenia-Turkey protocol on opening of the borders has not come
into force.

Gurcanli quotes Khalafov as saying: “Turkey closed its borders with
Armenia because of the fact of Armenia`s occupation of the Azerbaijani
lands. So, have Azerbaijan`s occupied lands been liberated? This
is illogical. And, naturally, the people of Turkey did not leave us
alone, they immediately expressed their protest and the protocol was
not approved by the Turkish Grand National Assembly.”

The article`s author says Mollazade`s remarks are more harsh. The
head of Democratic Reforms Party says: “The largest Armenian lobby
is not in France or the United States. The largest Armenian lobby is
in Turkey. What does “We all are Armenians” slogan mean?”

Seyidov shares Mollozade`s views: “Turks were killed in Germany. The
Germans staged protest rallies and voiced slogans, but they did not
say “We all are Turks”.

Gurcanli completes her article by expressing her impressions of her
recent visit to the Azerbaijani capital of Baku.

“The story of protocols really offended Azerbaijan but this has
already passed. As far as the French law is concerned, Azerbaijan made
even greater efforts than Turkey, and in my opinion, will continue
doing so. The major gold of Azerbaijan, which is developing its
economy thanks to oil and gas exports, is to strengthen its diaspora
worldwide.”

“In Baku, they believe that we should work together, and that
the Turkish and Azerbaijani diasporas are capable of overcoming
everything,” Gurcali concludes.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERBAIJANI PARLIAMENTARIANS TO LEAVE FOR ARMENIA

APA
Feb 20 2012
Azerbaijan

Baku. Parvin Abbasov – APA. Members of Azerbaijani Parliament Rovshan
Rzayev, Faradj Guliyev and Azay Guliyev will be on a visit to Armenia
on February 21-23 to attend the meeting of the Euronest Parliamentary
Assembly’s Social Committee.

The Committee will discuss the development of civil society in the
partner countries, poverty reduction strategy, increase of women’s
and young people’s role in the parliaments and civil societies and
other issues, parliament sources told APA.

ICRC REPRESENTATIVES VISIT AZERBAIJANI SERVICEMAN IN ARMENIAN CAPTIVITY

APA
Feb 20 2012
Azerbaijan

Baku. Kamala Guliyeva – APA. On February 14, representatives of
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Delegation to
Armenia visited the Azerbaijani serviceman held in Armenian captivity
in Nagorno Karabakh, Ilaha Huseynova, media contact person for ICRC
Delegation to Azerbaijan, told APA.

Corporal of Azerbaijani Army Akhundzadeh Mammadbaghuir Talib, born
1990, was captured by the Armenians near Yukhari Chayli village of
Azerbaijan’s Terter region on line of contact between the Armenian
and Azerbaijani troops. Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan confirmed the
fact of captivity.