Month: September 2013

Religión en Libertad, España
8 septiembre 2013

Los armenios de Alepo temen un nuevo genocidio si triunfan en Siria
las milicias islamistas

Stefano Magni / La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana

Sobre Siria se publican muchos datos: cien mil muertos, dos millones
de refugiados, dos años y seis meses de conflicto. Pero se olvidan los
cien mil cristianos armenios que viven en Alepo. Y los casi seis mil
que han abandonado Siria por temor de nuevas persecuciones. Se sigue
temiendo la utilización de armas químicas por parte del régimen de
Bashar al Assad, pero si los rebeldes conquistan Alepo, casi cien mil
armenios podrían convertirse en las victimas de un nuevo genocidio.
Entre los muchos pueblos que temen una intervención estadounidense
contra Assad, los armenios son los que tiemblan más.

Los armenios de Alepo: evocando 1915
La historia de los armenios en Siria es tan dramática como
desconocida. De esto hemos hablado con Antonia Arslan, escritora,
conocida al gran público por haber escrito la novela La masseria delle
allodole [La mansión de las alondras], uno de los testimonios más
emotivos del genocidio de los armenios de 1915, el crimen cometido por
los Jóvenes Turcos, pródromo de todas las violencias totalitarias del
siglo XX.

«Los armenios en Siria existen desde siempre -explica Antonia Arslan-.
En Alepo, una ciudad antigua y animada encrucijada de pueblos, siempre
ha habido armenios. Y esta es la clave para entender por qué las
deportaciones que siguieron a las masacres de los armenios en 1915
tenían como destino precisamente Alepo. Y cómo esto salvó a parte de
las víctimas.

»Alepo, en el terrible verano de 1915 y durante el año sucesivo, se
movilizó para salvar al mayor número posible de deportados. Se
movilizaron los armenios que vivían en la ciudad, los occidentales que
trabajaban en ella, el cónsul alemán de Alepo (Walter Rossler, una
figura extraordinaria) y también la población árabe que, aunque estaba
sometida al Imperio Otomano, no compartía su odio hacia los armenios.

»El hotel más grande de Alepo de esa época, el Baron’s Hotel (donde se
hospedaron también Lawrence de Arabia y Agatha Christie) era propiedad
de una familia armenia, y era la sede del estado mayor de Djemal
Pashà, el tercero de los triunviros turcos responsables del genocidio.
También él era un fanático, pero al menos era sensible a una cosa: el
dinero. Los otros dos triunviros, Talaat Pashà y Enver Pashà, en 1916
se precipitaron para cerrar esta `brecha’ del genocidio que se había
abierto en Siria.

»Efectivamente, ese año, una serie de batidas en Alepo tuvieron como
resultado el arresto y posterior deportación a los campos de
concentración de Deir Ezzor de muchos armenios que había sobrevivido;
en estos campos se llevó a cabo una verdadera y propia `solución
final’. La comunidad que sobrevivió empezó a aumentar de nuevo en
Alepo, primero en el periodo del mandato francés, después con la
independencia de Siria».

Un régimen no hostil
La relación de los cristianos armenios con el régimen de Assad nunca
ha sido conflictiva. Y es por este motivo por el que facciones de la
resistencia ahora los consideran `colaboracionistas’.

En realidad, según explica Antonia Arslan: «Los dos Assad, padre e
hijo, pertenecen a su vez a una minoría religiosa, la de los alauita,
que constituye el 10% de la población siria. Al principio era un
régimen nacionalista laico. No ha dominado nunca la idea de exterminar
a causa de la pertenencia religiosa. Los armenios, así como las otras
minorías cristianas de Siria, han vivido con una cierta tranquilidad
hasta el estallido de la guerra. La embajadora italiana, Laura
Mirachian (de origen armenio) siempre ha confirmado que la situación
era estable, relativamente tranquila, para los armenios de Alepo. No
hay duda de que el régimen ha empeorado y que los últimos años han
sido terribles. Pero inculpar a las minorías cristianas de todos sus
crímenes es un argumento que usan quienes quieren acabar con todas
ellas».

Como en el Líbano
Con el principio de la revolución y su degeneración en guerra civil,
las comunidades armenias «han intentado hacer lo que hicieron sus
connacionales durante la larga guerra civil libanesa (1975-1990):
permanecer encerrados en sus barrios, sin atraer la atención de las
partes beligerantes. Algo que cada día que pasa es más difícil. En
Líbano, los armenios consiguieron salvar sus distritos, pero ahora
vuelven a estar en riesgo a causa de la exportación de la violencia
siria a los países vecinos. Su `política del caracol’, la de estar
encerrados en sus propios barrios, deriva también del recuerdo del
genocidio turco: la experiencia del exterminio es aún demasiado
reciente para no sentir terror instintivamente».

Violación sistemática de mujeres
¿Y si la resistencia islámica venciese al régimen de Assad? «Me han
contado ya episodios terroríficos. Una de las dinámicas clásicas de
este tipo de `guerra’ es la violación sistemática de muchachas.
Raptadas de sus casas, violadas repetidamente y luego asesinadas
cuando están reducidas a una piltrafa. O convertidas a la fuerza al
islam y casadas con contratos de matrimonio que duran un día. Y
después casadas de nuevo con otro hombre, y con otro,… para ser, por
último, repudiadas y asesinadas. El terror ante este tipo de violencia
es enorme, y es evidente que las milicias yihadistas quieren la
eliminación de todos los enclaves cristianos».

Cuando Alepo estaba a punto de caer definitivamente en las manos de
los rebeldes, los armenios se preparaban para lo peor: «A finales de
mayo hablaba con monseñor Georges Noradounguian (rector del Pontificio
Colegio Armenio), que tiene a toda su familia en Alepo. En ese momento
parecía que los rebeldes estaban a punto de conquistar la ciudad. Él
me contaba que toda su familia estaba encerrada en casa, en el barrio
armenio. En el momento en que llegaran los rebeldes, no quedaba otra
solución que dejarse caer desde el tercer piso. En comparación con la
violencia, las torturas, la muerte lenta y dolorosa, lo mejor es el
suicidio».

En vista de una posible victoria de los rebeldes, las comunidades
armenias de Europa y América del Norte lo único que pueden hacer es
preparar una fuga en masa. Si bien: «No creo que puedan tener una
audiencia con Obama. El presidente estadounidense ha evitado siempre
pronunciar la palabra `genocidio’ por los hechos de 1915, aunque lo
había prometido en campaña electoral. Lo que los armenios intentan
organizar es, por lo menos, una fuga. Temo que piensen que no haya
nada que hacer para garantizar la supervivencia de esta comunidad en
Siria. Ahora sólo existe la idea de huir y salvarse de la posibilidad
de un nuevo genocidio».

Traducción de Helena Faccia Serrano.

From: A. Papazian

Baltic News Service / – BNS
September 7, 2013 Saturday 4:38 PM EET

Armenia wants to keep ties with EU – Lithuanian FM

VILNIUS, Sep 07, BNS – Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward
Nalbandian stressed in Vilnius on Saturday that his country would like
to continue cooperation with the European Union, despite the country’s
recent decision to join the Russian-led Customs Union.

Minister Nalbandian “said that Armenia wants to continue its
participation in the Eastern Partnership program, would like to
continue cooperation with the EU and make use of the results achieved
during the negotiations”, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas
Linkevicius told BNS after meeting with his Armenian counterpart.

“I see it as a positive message. We respect our partners’ any
decision. We value the partnership and will continue working together
in the future,” Linkevicius said.

In his words, there is still a need for legal evaluation of Armenia’s
decision to join the Custom Union but such membership is incompatible
with the opportunity to sign a free trade agreement with the EU due
differences in tariffs.

Earlier this week, Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan announced the
country’s decision to join the Customs Union after meeting with
Russian President Vladimir Putin. Armenia had been expected to initial
an association and free trade agreement with the EU during the
upcoming EU Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius in late November.

Intereconomía, España.
2 sept 2013

‘No podemos dejar de hacer arte y llorar por los recortes’

CAROLINA ISASI

Ara Malikian ha viajado por todo el mundo con su violín y ha decidido
quedarse en nuestro país. Para este músico armenio el escenario es su
adicción.

Es uno de los mejores violinistas del mundo, armenio-libanés afincado
en España, es ante todo un hombre de mundo y su bandera es la música.
Considerado un revolucionario en su campo él, sin embargo, piensa que
`tan sólo’ es el violinista de su violín, un intermediario.

-¿Cómo fueron sus comienzos?
El amor por el violín viene de mi padre. Di mi primer concierto a los
doce años y desde entonces la música es mi vida.

-Utiliza el humor. Tal vez haya personas que no casen muy bien humor/música.
¿Por qué no? Todo se puede tratar con humor. Yo mismo intento no
tomarme demasiado en serio,no es bueno. Creo que en estos tiempos hay
que conseguir que la gente olvide sus penas aunque sólo sea un rato.

Por eso creé junto a Thomas Potiron, Eduardo Ortega y Gartxot, el
cuarteto de cuerda Pagagnini, con el que hacemos una revisión en clave
de humor de la música clásica como Sarasate, Mozart, Gainsbourg…

-¿Qué hace un libanés de antepasados armenios en Madrid?
Nací en Beirut, la capital del Líbano, aunque en realidad dejé mi
ciudad hace veinte años y luego he vivido un poco en todos los lados.
Conocí España y me quedé. Supongo que como justo antes había vivido en
Londres, cuando llegué aquí tuve la sensación de que era un país que
compartía una sensibilidad más próxima a la mía, la mediterránea.

-Regresa mucho al Líbano o a Armenia?
La situación en el Líbano es complicada y viajo mucho por trabajo. Si
te soy sincero, no me siento ni del Líbano ni Armenio. Puede sonar a
tópico pero me siento un ciudadano del mundo. De todas formas, regreso
cada tres o cuatro años. Hay mucho de estos países en mi música pero
creo que también la hay de otros muchos. Eso es lo bueno de viajar.

-¿Y qué hace para desconectar?
Viajo tanto que recargo las pilas en el sofá de mi casa.

-¿Y cómo ve la tradición musical en España?
En España hay mucha tradición, afición y amor a la música. No hay nada
que envidiar de otros países. Aquí se puede crear y hacer música muy a
gusto.

-Se le ve disfrutar mucho en el escenario,casi como si estuviera jugando…
Siempre la música tiene que parecer un juego. De hecho, es un juego.
Me gusta estar en el escenario. Es una adicción sana, pero una
adicción. Quemo mi adrenalina en el escenario.

-¿Necesita buscar ratos de silencio después de tanta música?

¡No te creas! ¡No lo necesito tanto como se supondría! Aunque es
cierto que el silencio es parte de la música.

-¿Con qué proyecto está más ilusionado en estos momentos?
Tengo mucha ilusión por un concierto homenaje que haré en 2015 por el
centenario del genocidio armenio.

-¿Conserva algún violín al que le tenga un cariño especial?
¡Sí! Conservo un violín veneciano del siglo XVIII. Pero soy de los que
piensa que no soy su dueño, lo tengo prestado. Otras personas lo
tocaron antes y otras lo tocarán después de mí.

-¿Influyó mucho su padre en su decisión de ser violinista?
Crecí con un padre bastante estricto con el violín que hubiera querido
ser violinista clásico, pero que se ganaba la vida tocando música
árabe. A los tres años tenía un violín y jugaba con él, a los cinco ya
tocaba algo, a los ocho años lo hacía `más en serio’. Con catorce años
el director de orquesta Hans Herbert-Jöris me escuchó y me consiguió
una beca del gobierno alemán para estudiar pero la música para mí es
un poquito de talento y mucha personalidad.

-¿Cómo ve la situación de la cultura en España?
La situación es difícil y lo primero donde salpica y se recorta es en
cultura. Un error pero no puede afectarnos a la hora de crear. No
podemos dejar de hacer arte y llorar.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Sept 8 2013

A Sept. 6-7 story: ‘You were so involved with that Greek girl’

by Alin Ozinian*

I was supposed to meet up with Hülya, a high school literature teacher
and the youngest daughter of an old Istanbul family; the plan was to
talk about “the image of non-Muslim women in Turkish novels.”

She was also going to suggest that I read the article by Herkül
Millas. And then what happened to minorities on Sept. 6-7, about the
possessions tossed out the windows of a Greek home in Tarlabaþý, where
she lived, about how their much-beloved and trusted butcher Hussein
was in fact among the looters and about the departure of her dear
friend Eleni, with whom her various fortunes as well as misfortunes
were intertwined… I don’t know whether she had decided in advance to
tell me her own story. But at our first meeting together, many years
ago, she told me what had happened to her. She talked, cried, talked
some more and we both cried. That day, I learned that there can be
dark corners of the past for everyone…

Though they are now rooted in a textbook history by most, the
“incidents” of Sept. 6-7 that live on in our collective consciousness
were a string of events that were triggered by the Cyprus situation
and took place in 1955 in areas of Istanbul such as Taksim and
Istiklal Caddesi. Photographs from that time show “uncontrollable”
crowds in Pera attacking and damaging shops belonging to “wealthy”
people whose “foreign” names — Greek, Armenian, Jewish — were
apparent from the signs that hung above them. These photographs have
been vital in terms of helping form general impressions of what
occurred during this period. In the end, the police were not able to
intervene in these lootings, and the crowds, provoked into fury, could
not be contained….

Of course, the reality of events on those two days was quite
different. At 1 p.m. on Sept. 6, state radio broadcast news that there
had been a bomb attack on Atatürk’s birthplace in Thessaloniki. This
news was printed that day, accompanied by exaggerated writings and
abundant photographs in the second edition of the pro-government
Istanbul Express newspaper. Later in the day, various student groups
(which had prepared themselves in previous days) and the “Cyprus is
Turkish Organization” (formed, some say, purely for the purpose of
looting and pillaging), arrived in Taksim Square in response to a
general call to organize protests. After the protests were over, the
go-ahead was given to the looters and pillagers, some of whom had come
in specially from eastern parts of the city for the acts which were
about to unfold.

But who had marked the doors of the non-Muslims so many days in
advance? How was it that thousands were able to pour into the streets
all at once? Why did the police not intervene in these events?

The state tried to push the blame onto the Democrat Party (DP) of the
time. The elected government tried to wiggle out of responsibility by
pointing to the leftists. During the Yassýada trials, which took place
following the May 27 coup, it was alleged that the events of Sept. 6-7
were the result of provocation by the DP government’s prime minister,
Adnan Menderes. In the end, though, it was concluded that it was a
deep state operation run by the “Special War Department,” and, if not
directly approved of by the government, at least something which the
government had been informed of in advance. In fact, General Sabri
Yirmibeþoðlu confessed all of this, while praising the events as an
“incredible organization” carried out by the “Special War Department,”
also known as the “Turkish Gladio.”

At this time, after it became clear that events were manufactured by
the Turkish intelligence forces, Oktay Engin (a member of the
intelligence forces who was also studying on a state loan at the
Thessaloniki Legal Faculty) and Hasan Uçar (who worked at the Turkish
Embassy in Thessaloniki) were arrested. Protected from trial by virtue
of their official status, Uçar and Engin were released shortly after
their arrests. Engin was given Greek citizenship following a decision
by the Greek state and was then protected by a number of different
loopholes. One more piece of evidence to prove that this was not
merely government provocation, but involved the deep state, was that
Engin became deputy police chief during the March 16, 1978 Beyazýt
massacres, was the head of the Police General Directorate Planning
department and later still rose all the way to governor of Nevþehir in
1992.

Since the formation of the Turkish Republic, minorities have always
been marked with a “dangerous” stamp in the books of the deep state.
An ethnically homogenous Anatolia was seen by the Kemalist elites as
an indispensable condition for success in creating a true nation
state, and despite promises made by the newly formed state to
guarantee the rights of Christian minorities, the various elected
governments explicitly carried out assimilation policies aiming to
force them out. The optimum result was to see the “enemies” expelled
while their abandoned capital and possessions were “Turkicized.” And
this too was done successfully. Campaigns such as “Citizen Speak
Turkish,” the “Wealth Tax” and “20 Kura Askerlik,” the military
conscription of non-Muslim citizens of Turkey during World War II,
were all carried out with the aim of seeing Armenian, Greek and Jewish
citizens grow weary and fearful, finishing their economic strength.
One of the most crucial operations to this end was that of Sept. 6-7,
which was a legacy left to the DP from the CHP. Minority citizens who
voted for the DP out of antipathy for the CHP, which refused to
liberalize when it came to minorities, were devastated. Thus the
events of Sept. 6-7 killed quite a few birds with one stone.

The intimidation of non-Muslims that was used during the ongoing
Cyprus talks in those days was also used as an opportunity to take
care of the non-Muslims in Ýstanbul and Izmir. At the same time, these
events were presented to the outside world as “communist provocations”
while presaging a trial of the DP government in the wake of the 1960
coup.

One high school teacher, Hülya, was just 17 years old in 1955. She was
engaged to a medical student named Metin. She recalled: “We had just
come back from the summer home that belonged to Eleni’s family. It was
on Büyükada, and the summer had been wonderful. We were meant to head
to Beyoðlu in the morning to do some window shopping. My father had
told us the night before not to go though. He said stay at home, in
fact he said, ‘Tell Eleni’s family to come too, we’ll all stay at
home, your mother would love that.’ She didn’t think anything bad of
it at the time, but it was only days later that she understood what
had really happened, saying that she never forgave her father for what
he knew but did not share. ‘We didn’t go, we listened to my father, we
sat around at home with Eli’s family, and at around six in the
evening, the looting and attacks began, people that we didn’t know at
all, people we had never seen in the neighborhood. My mother brought a
couple of our Armenian neighbors to our apartment; the doorman went
outside and told the attackers that “there are no non-Muslims here.”
Later we heard that other neighbors had also hidden people, like we
did… In the meantime, everything all around us was destroyed,
ruined, looted. When things got calmer my father said Eli is in the
shop, I’m going to go and see if anything is damaged there… My mother
did not let us go, so we escaped from home, we headed straight for
Pera, I didn’t want to leave Eli alone…” Two streets down, they caught
up with Eli and Hülya. Hülya yelled, “We are Turkish,” but they didn’t
believe her. Hülya was sure they would be beaten, and was scared… But
they didn’t get beaten… Hülya describes how on that day, the police
shouted, “We are not police, but Turks!” Everyone was desperate. She
said Eli and she could no longer even look at one another’s faces. Not
long afterwards, Eli’s family migrated from Turkey. The only hope
Hülya had left was her fiancé, Metin. But as she describes it: “He
gave back my engagement ring, saying it was no longer possible for him
to marry me. You were so involved with that Greek girl, my mother was
always very uncomfortable with that… After that day, I felt not
hostility towards the men who did such bad things, but rather my
parents, who had known that that day was coming… I was mostly hostile
to those who had protected some while joining in the looting masses
later, splitting up me and Eli.”

It is thought that on the night of Sept. 6, around 400 women were
raped. There are 60 cases of rape that were officially recorded. But
many believe that the numbers are this low only because many women
were too embarrassed to tell the truth. In the incidents that broke
out in Beyoðlu, Kurtuluþ, Þiþli, Niþantaþý, Eminönü, Fatih, Eyüp,
Bakýrköy, Yeþilköy, Ortaköy, Arnavutköy, Bebek, Moda, Kadýköy,
Kuzguncuk, Çengelköy and the Prince’s Islands, official records show
that 4,214 homes, 1,004 businesses, 73 churches, one synagogue, two
monasteries, 26 schools and many cemeteries and various shops were
attacked and damaged in various degrees. These events cause the deaths
of 12 people, while another 300 were injured, along with such horrific
events as the looting of graves and the forced circumcision of
religious men recorded, among other incidents. In short, these events
went far beyond the dimensions that were admitted by the DP later,
saying, “We thought that a couple of windows would be broken.”

And so these events, which constituted the largest “pogrom” to take
place in the history of the Turkish Republic, cannot be dismissed
lightly. It was not simply the reaction of citizens infuriated by
“disrespect shown towards Atatürk,” nor the result of “an uprising by
Turkish leftists against capitalism.” With the Wealth Tax having
taken away most of their possessions already, the minorities of
Istanbul were struck a final blow by the events of Sept. 6-7. They
were left no other option than to leave the country.

What followed that September was not only the elimination of Greeks,
Armenians and Jews from the country’s economic, social and cultural
life, but an underscoring of the idea that they were not accepted by
the masses as Turkish citizens, as well as a confirmation in their
minds that no matter which party was in power in Turkey, this “order”
would not change.

While the hostility towards Armenians, Greeks and Jews that was
injected into the population did not prevent some from protecting and
shielding their neighbors, it succeeded in laying one of the most
important cornerstones of the mentality that still sees “foreigners
and non-Muslims” as enemies even today. As Hülya describes it, when
neighbors were busy hiding other neighbors, they were thinking not
about “hiding a Greek or an Armenian, but rather someone named Stavro
or Ohannes.”

Despite the fact that some 60 years have passed since these events,
they are not seen as an operation of the “deep state” that nested
itself in state institutions, or as the kind of social engineering
aimed at creating a homogenous Turkish state. What’s more, the events
of that autumn long ago are traced in black letters forever in the
memories of not only some non-Muslim peoples of this country, but also
in the minds of those Turkish people who would not reject the dream of
being able to live together and in peace.

*A writer-researcher who lives in Armenia

From: A. Papazian

La Stampa, Italia
6 set 2013

Gli Armeni con il Papa

La comunità armena di Roma si unisce all’appello di papa Francesco. Ad
Aleppo e in Siria, teatro del genocidio armeno del 1915, è presente
ancora una forte comunità armena.

marco tosatti

Quasi un secolo fa i deserti della Siria, e Aleppo, erano testimoni
del genocidio degli Armeni, voluto dal governo turco dell’epoca.

Quegli stessi luoghi che ancora nascondono le ossa delle centinaia di
migliaia di uomini, donne e bambini sterminati nel primo genocidio del
secolo dei genocidi vedono adesso altro sangue, e di nuovo la comunità
armena soffrire per la guerra nata dalla resistenza del regime ad
accogliere giuste esigenze di mutamento, e alimentata con armi e
uomini da potenze straniere, altrettanto dittatoriali e oppressive.

Una guerra che la preponderante presenza della `Legione Straniera’
jihadista islamica colora di caratteri religiosi, anticristiani e anti
minoranze non sunnite in generale. Non stupisce allora che gli Armeni
di Roma, la comunità più numerosa del Paese, si uniscano a papa
Francesco nella veglia e nel digiuno di questa sera.

`Il Consiglio per la comunità armena di Roma aderisce all’appello del
Santo Padre alla serata di preghiera e di digiuno per la pace in Siria
e nel Medio Oriente indetta per sabato 7 settembre 2013 in Piazza San
Pietro. Il Consiglio per la comunità armena di Roma esprime piena
solidarietà a tutta la popolazione siriana martoriata ed in
particolare alla folta comunità armena ivi residente ed a tutti i
profughi che a causa della guerra fratricida hanno dovuto abbandonare
le loro case ed i loro averi in cerca di serenità e di pace. Possa il
mondo capire che la guerra e l’odio provocano solamente altra guerra e
altro odio e sofferenza’.

La Tribune de Geneve
04 septembre 2013 mercredi

Bijoutier arménien: la vendetta se poursuit

Un homme a été condamné pour tentative de meurtre. Des rebondissements
liés à l’affaire du bijoutier

L’affaire du bijoutier arménien, qui avait tiré sur sa fille avant
d’être lui-même la cible d’un tireur en 2007, n’est pas tout à fait
achevée. Le vieil homme est aujourd’hui décédé mais il semble que la
vendetta continue dans la communauté arménienne. Des rebondissements
ont à nouveau occupé le tribunal la semaine dernière.

Un homme, arménien lui aussi, a été condamné à six ans et demi de
prison pour tentative de meurtre. Il aurait cherché à éliminer à coups
de couteau un compatriote soupçonné d’avoir dénoncé à la police
l’homme qui avait tiré sur le bijoutier arménien.

L’avocat du condamné, Me Andrea Von Flüe, a fait appel. Il conteste la
tentative de meurtre et bien entendu le mobile: «S’agissant de
l’affaire du bijoutier arménien, mon client ne se trouvait pas en
Suisse à l’époque. Il n’est venu qu’en 2012. »

Rumeurs et menaces

Pourtant, à la police, la victime (le présumé délateur) frappée en
pleine rue le 29 juillet 2012 assure que son agression est un
règlement de comptes probablement «lié à une affaire vieille de cinq
ans concernant la tentative d’homicide sur le bijoutier arménien. On a
fait courir le bruit dans Genève que j’avais donné des informations à
la police concernant cette affaire ( ) Cette rumeur courait depuis
plusieurs années mais j’ai récemment pressenti que des menaces
pouvaient se faire plus précises. »

En octobre 2007, l’affaire du bijoutier arménien avait fait grand
bruit. Le vieil homme était jugé pour délit manqué de meurtre voire
d’assassinat sur sa fille Nadine qu’il avait rendue paraplégique en
lui tirant dessus. Son gendre le haïssait. Aussi, lorsqu’un ou deux
jours plus tard quelqu’un avait fait feu sur le bijoutier, les
soupçons s’étaient portés sur le gendre. Mais c’est un autre Arménien
qui a finalement été condamné.

Pour en revenir à la victime la plus récente de cette affaire à
tiroirs, elle serait considérée dans la communauté comme une balance.
Et quelqu’un aurait cherché à se venger.

Fausse piste

Me Pierre Bayenet ne croit pas à cette piste. Pour l’avocat, qui a
obtenu l’acquittement du père du condamné dans le procès de la semaine
dernière, «la victime a simplement tenté de mettre les policiers sur
une fausse piste». Mais il admet: «Les contours de cette affaire
restent mystérieux. »

Une chose est en tout cas certaine. L’homme soupçonné d’en avoir trop
dit à la police avait peur. Il a retiré sa plainte pénale, il est
revenu sur ses déclarations et a refusé de se présenter à son procès.

Le procureur Johan Droz, au cours de son réquisitoire, a souligné les
pressions dont il aurait fait l’objet. Pressions qui l’auraient amené
à modifier ses déclarations. Aux yeux du procureur, on a tenté de lui
faire peur et on a partiellement réussi.

Pressions? Menaces? Pas du tout! assurent les avocats de la défense.
Cette affaire n’aurait aucun lien avec celle du bijoutier. Il
s’agissait simplement de régler à l’amiable une histoire d’insultes
entre compatriotes. «Malheureusement, ajoute Me Bayenet, un excité
dans le groupe a sorti un couteau. » Mais cet excité, affirme-t-il, ne
serait ni son client ni son fils qui vient d’être condamné. Un autre
qui aurait pris la fuite.

Le mystère autour de ce dernier épisode de l’affaire du bijoutier
arménien demeure donc bien épais.

Chrétienté.info, France
8 septembre 2013

Premiers baptêmes depuis un siècle dans l’église d’Akdamar en Turquie

« Les Arméniens de Turquie a célébré dimanche pour la première fois
depuis un siècle des baptêmes dans l’église de l’île d’Akdamar, dans
une région de l’est du pays à la population arménienne autrefois
importante, ont rapporté les médias.

Six personnes, dont un bébé, ont été baptisées dans les eaux du lac de
Van après une cérémonie religieuse dans l’église Sainte-Croix de l’île
d’Akdamar (Akhtamar en arménien), un édifice du Xe siècle restauré
entre 2005 et 2007 par les autorités turques, a affirmé la chaîne
d’information NTV.

Parmi les adultes baptisés figuraient des personnes issues de familles
islamisées voulant renouer avec la religion de leurs ancêtres
arméniens, a indiqué l’agence de presse Anatolie.

Il s’agissait des premiers baptêmes célébrés dans cette église depuis
100 ans, a affirmé Mgr Aram Atessian, qui assume l’intérim du
patriarcat arménien et qui a présidé la cérémonie religieuse, selon
Anatolie.

L’église Sainte-Croix a été ouverte en tant que musée après sa
restauration. Une première messe y a été célébrée en 2010 après un
intervalle de 95 ans. Cette église est un des très rares témoignages
dans la région de ce que fut l’importante communauté arménienne de la
Turquie ottomane, victime de massacres et de déportations entre 1915
et 1917, que l’Arménie considère comme un « génocide », terme récusé
par Ankara.

La communauté arménienne de Turquie (environ 70.000 personnes) est
aujourd’hui concentrée à Istanbul, où elle dispose de plusieurs
églises.

La Turquie et l’Arménie ont signé en 2009 des textes visant à établir
des liens diplomatiques et rouvrir leur frontière commune, fermée
depuis plus de dix ans. Mais le processus s’est enlisé dans des
accusations mutuelles ».

From: A. Papazian

RICHARD GIRAGOSIAN: ARMENIA SHUT ITS ENTRY TO EU, BUT NOT LOCKED IT

14:24 06/09/2013 ” POLITICS

By announcing its readiness to join the Customs Union, Armenia
shut its entry to the European Union, but not locked it, and there
is still time to correct the wrong policy, Richard Giragosian,
political scientist, Director of the Regional Studies Center (RSC),
told reporters on Friday.

According to him, this decision is beneficial to Russia, but the
entire Armenian people will suffer from it.

“With the decision which was made in 4 days Armenia lost its
achievements of 4 years with the European Union. The EU was taken
aback by this decision. As a result, the EU will view Armenia as less
important, less reliable and less prepared. This is a loss Armenia
needs to retrieve,” Giragosian said.

Source: Panorama.am

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GIRO MANOYAN: U.S. MILITARY ACTION AGAINST SYRIA CAN HAVE UNPREDICTABLE CONSEQUENCES FOR REGION

14:49 06/09/2013 ” POLITICS

Our region faces stability challenge because a possible U.S. military
action against Syria can have unpredictable consequences for the
region, Giro Manoyan, Director of the ARF bureau’s Hay Dat and
political affairs office, told a news conference in Yerevan.

According to Manoyan, not only Syria, but also its neighboring
countries are in danger. “We should be concerned about this
destabilization,” he said.

Regarding Syrian Armenians, Manoyan said that the military action
against Syria will pose a bigger threat to their security.

Source: Panorama.am

ANALYST RICHARD GIRAGOSIAN: “CUSTOMS UNION HAS LITTLE NEW TO OFFER ARMENIA”
Hrant Gadarigian

15:07, September 6, 2013

Lambasting President Serzh Sargsyan’s recent last minute announcement
that Armenia is planning to join the Russian led Customs Union as
“closing the door to Europe, Yerevan-based political analyst Richard
Giragosian said there was still time for Yerevan to make sure the
door isn’t “locked”.

Giragosian, who heads the Regional Studies Center, argued at a press
conference today that the Customs Union had little new to offer
Armenia and that the country had much to lose instead.

The analyst stressed that the decision-making process itself (the
lack of prior public discourse) leading to Sargsyan’s last minute
bombshell announcement reveals more about the weakness of Armenia’s
internal foreign policy strategy than anything else.

He faulted the Armenian government for not being as ambitious as it
needs to be in the foreign policy sphere.

Giragosian said that the European Union and the West in general will
regard Armenia as less than sincere and competent and that, by entering
the Customs Union, the country’s strategic importance will weaken.

It was never a decision of choosing between the West and Russia in
terms of Armenia’s security interests, noted Giragosian, pointing out
that neither the Putin’s Customs Union nor the EU’s DCFTA (Deep and
Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement) had anything to do with security
matters in the first place.

“I have always argued that Armenia needs to maintain its security
treaties with Russia, but the issue at hand deals with economic
orientation as well as Armenia’s long-term reform process,” Giragosian
said, claiming that the possibility for future democratic reforms in
Armenia has now been endangered.

The analyst, answering his own question as to who will benefit from
Armenia’s entry in the Customs Union, pointed to the country’s
oligarchs and the system of corruption. “By denying competition
from Europe, these are the sectors that will reap benefits, not the
population at large,” Giragosian said.

He derided the claims by some that Russia was the sole guarantor
of the safety of Armenia, and thus, by extension, Yerevan couldn’t
risk upsetting Moscow. Giragosian said issues of Armenia’s security
and that of Artsakh, as an argument for entering the Customs Union,
were basically a red-herring.

“Armenian soldiers on the Artsakh front line are being killed by
Azerbaijani soldiers using weapons sold by Russia. What security
guarantees are we talking about? What leverage does Russia have over
Karabakh? It can’t even threaten to rescind its recognition of the NKR,
because it has yet to recognize it,” Giragosian noted.

He concluded his talk on a slightly upbeat note.

“To be fair, President Sargsyan signed nothing in Moscow. Hopefully,
he can maneuver his way out of this mess.”