Month: February 2015

SITE XOCALI.NET GOES ON REVEALING AZERBAIJANI FALSIFICATIONS: HOW DID AZERBAIJANI ‘CAPTIVE’S’ EARS GROW BACK?

16:34 26/02/2015 >> SOCIETY

The site Xocali.net goes on revealing
the falsifications of Azerbaijani propaganda over the events in Aghdam
in 1992. Within the frameworks of the propaganda campaign “Justice
for Khojaly” the Azerbaijani press publishes belated “eyewitness
testimonies” containing all sorts of absurdities and contradictions.

On 20 February, 2014 the site “Publika.az” published an article titled
“They cut off my ear with knife”. In the article an Aghdam events
“survivor” Panakh Maharramov was telling a very detailed story about
the tortures he had to “experience” in Armenian captivity.

“Then they took us to a barracks in Khankendi. Many enemy soldiers
slept there. Two of them were awake, and another old man was making a
fire for them; he was an Armenian from Sumgait. We came and sat down
in the barracks. The two came up to us. I had already got used to the
tortures and I didn’t ask for mercy from the enemy. One of them took
out an enormous knife and cut off my ear. I didn’t say anything. ‘Come
what may,’ I thought. I endured the pain in silence. Cutting off
my ear, he took it with him. I lost much blood then,” the ‘victim’
relates.

However, the Azerbaijani site was inconsiderate enough to publish
Panakh Maharramov’s photos during the wartime and now, where both of
his ears can be clearly discerned.

On February 26, 1992, during the war in Karabakh, around 200 to 300
people (according to Human Rights Watch, and 600 according to the
version propagated by Azerbaijan) were killed in unknown circumstances
near the city of Aghdam. They have been deliberately withheld by the
Azerbaijani authorities in the midst of the military actions.

Population of the village of Khojalu, which was one of the firing
points shooting at the blockaded Stepanakert (among five others)
was kept in the village for months by force and was not evacuated by
the authorities of Azerbaijan deliberately, in order to use them as
human shields later.

Residents of Khojalu coming out through the humanitarian corridor,
that the self-defense forces of NKR had left open, freely passed more
than 10 km and reached the Aghdam city controlled by the Azerbaijani
troops. Later, not far from the positions of Azerbaijani troops dead
bodies of the villagers were found. The exact death toll remains
unknown as the official Baku publishes data contradicting each other.

Parliamentary Commission investigating the tragic death of the
civilians at Aghdam city was dissolved by the order of Heydar Aliyev,
the investigative materials are kept secret.

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT STILL REVIEWING PRINCIPLES FOR MANAGING A FUTURE RAILWAY TO IRAN

YEREVAN, February 26. / ARKA /. The Armenian government on Thursday
postponed for two months the deadline for the ministry of transport
and communications to present the principles and mechanisms for
management of a railway that is to be built from Iran to Armenia.

Transport and communications minister Gagik Beglaryan said the deadline
was postponed because the government was still reviewing the principles
and mechanisms in questions.

A provisional program for the construction of the railway was approved
by the government last August.

In 2012, the Dubai-based Rasia FZE Investment Company was granted a
50-year concession by the Armenian government to build and manage the
305-kilometer railway from Armenia to Iran, to be named the Southern
Armenian Railway (SAR).

By late 2013 Rasia FZE developed a feasibility study for the project.

This project is estimated to cost $3.5 billion. The high cost is
explained by mountainous terrain through which it is supposed to pass.

Specifically, the 306 km-long railway will have 19.6 km-long 64
bridges and 60 tunnels of 102.3 kilometers.

The railway is to run from Gagarin station in Armenia’s Gegharkunik
province to Agarak in southern Syunik and may transport up to 25
million cargos a year.

According to an Armenian government statement, the Southern Armenia
Railway will create the shortest transportation route from the ports
of the Black Sea to the ports of the Persian Gulf and establish a
major commodities transit corridor between Europe and the Persian
Gulf region.” .-0-

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ANNUAL REPORT: THERE ARE A TOTAL OF 23 PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE IN AZERBAIJAN

12:40 26/02/2015 >> SOCIETY

Azerbaijan proved particularly aggressive in its repression of dissent;
there are a total of 23 prisoners of conscience in Azerbaijan,
including bloggers, political activists, civil society leaders and
human rights lawyers. Azerbaijan’s presidency of the Council of Europe
in the first half of the year failed to induce restraint, the report
of the international human rights organization “Amnesty International”
reads. The report 2014/15 documents the state of human rights in 160
countries and territories.

“At least six prominent human rights defenders were imprisoned and
leading human rights organizations forced to shut down or cease their
activities. Independent journalists continued to face harassment,
violence and trumped-up criminal charges. Freedom of assembly
remained restricted. There were frequent reports of torture and other
ill-treatment,” the report reads.

According to the report, NGO leaders continued to face threats and
harassment from the authorities, including raids by security forces,
the confiscation of equipment and imposition of travel bans. At least
10 leading human rights NGOs were prevented from operating as their
bank accounts were frozen under a high-profile criminal investigation
from May onwards. Additional restrictions concerning NGO registration
and activities were introduced in the law and used arbitrarily to
open criminal proceedings against several NGO leaders.

It’s also noted that the authorities continued to imprison government
critics, political activists and journalists. At the end of the year,
there were at least 20 prisoners of conscience. In a major crackdown
on human rights activists, six prominent NGO leaders were remanded
on charges of fraud, illegal entrepreneurship and “abuse of power”.

Independent journalists continued to face threats, violence and
harassment. Bloggers and opposition youth leaders were typically
charged with drug-related offences.

Demonstrations remained effectively prohibited outside officially
designated, and typically remote, areas. In central Baku, the capital,
law enforcement authorities used violence and excessive force to
prevent and break up “unauthorized”, peaceful assemblies throughout
the year, the report reads.

The organization is also aware of a number of cases of torture and
other ill-treatment which were not effectively investigated.

From: Baghdasarian

DEPUTY ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES MINISTER: SAVE ENERGY SO AS IT DOESN’T INCREASE IN PRICE

16:01 February 24, 2015

EcoLur

Energy efficiency is an urgent direction in Energy and Natural
Resources Ministry. In this regard, on 20 February Deputy Energy
and Natural Resources Minister Hayk Harutyunyan invited round table
discussions. He presented the situation in energy field, “The more we
consume now, the higher probability that the electricity will go up
in its price, as cheap electricity resources are limited. The more
we consume, the more we must buy from thermal power plants, which
will be taken out of operation starting from 2018…In 2014 Vorotan
produced 150million kW/h less electricity than planned because of
lack of water. SHPPs should have produced 830 million, but factually
produced 685 million. We bought the lacking electricity from Hrazdan
TPP at higher price of 60 AMD. The less we consume, the less we will
buy, as the nuclear power plant can’t produce more, our SHPPs can’t
produce more, only the thermal power plant can produce more, so the
electricity price will go up,” Deputy Energy and Natural Resources
Minister Hayk Harutyunyan said.

INDIA TO NEGOTIATE FREE TRADE ZONE WITH RUSSIA-LED CUSTOMS UNION

Published time: February 26, 2015 11:30
Edited time: February 26, 2015 12:09

Reuters/Ahmad Masood

India is to start negotiating a free trade agreement with the Customs
Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan within the next six months,
Indian Deputy Minister of Commerce and Industry Rajeev Kher has said.

A Russian-Indian working group which was established in November 2014
will consider the negotiating of a comprehensive free trade agreement
between India and the Customs Union.

Kher said the working group would put forward proposals within the
next six months and the negotiating process would start after that,
TASS reports.

As most of the developed world in the West is suffering an economic
downturn, the developing world has been stepping up efforts to bring
their economies closer.

Russia ratifies $100bn BRICS New Development Bank

Most recently, China said it could establish a free trade zone with
a broader Russia-led economic bloc that also includes Armenia and is
expected to include Kyrgyzstan soon.

READ MORE: China and Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union may set up
free trade zone

The Eurasian customs union is a regional bloc that includes Russia,
Belarus and Kazakhstan aimed at creating a single economic space with
common tariffs. The group has a population of 168 million people and
a GDP of more than $2 trillion.

The BRICS countries which include Brazil, Russia, India, China and
South Africa will also have established by the end of the year the $100
billion New Development Bank, as a rival to the IMF and the World Bank.

From: A. Papazian

TwitchFilm (press release)
Feb 24 2015

Review: WATCHERS OF THE SKY, How To Fight Genocide

Peter Martin, Managing Editor

Raphael. Ben. Samantha. Luis. Emmanuel. All are ordinary names for
ordinary people who have one thing in common: an extraordinary desire
to stop genocide.

As explored in Edet Belzberg’s documentary Watchers of the Sky, all
five individuals recognized that a single individual cannot stop the
systematic murder of large groups of people due to their race,
ethnicity, nationality, or religious belief. Yet they have all been
compelled to do something. And they all share the conviction that
genocide can be stopped, even as they acknowledge that it (probably)
won’t be within their lifetime.

Genocide has existed for centuries but it wasn’t defined as such until
the 20th century. The foundation was laid by Raphael Lemkin, born in
1900, who survived atrocities at a young age. Later, when he asked a
legal authority about the slaughter of more than one million Armenians
at the hands of the Ottoman Turks starting in 1915, he was told that
what the Turks did was perfectly within their legal rights because it
took place with the country’s national boundaries, as if a farmer
decided to slaughter all his chickens on his own ranch. Utterly
rejecting this notion, Lemkin made it his life course to make such
actions illegal. As the years passed, he determined that something new
was needed to make his case, and coined the word “genocide.”

Ben Ferencz served in the U.S. Army during World War II and took part
in the liberation of Nazi death camps, which left a permanent scar.
Two years later, however, he was recruited as a lawyer for the U.S.
Army because of that experience, becoming the Chief Prosecutor in the
Nuremberg Trials. He became acquainted with Lemkin and, recognizing
the power and truthfulness of the word “genocide,” used it in the
trial to define the charges against the defendants. It would be years
more before the word became accepted, however, and even longer before
it gained legal authority.

The life stories and experiences of Lemkin through to the 1950s are
weaved together with those of Ferencz and others who are active today.
Samantha Power, a new college graduate in 1992, was drawn to what was
happening in Bosnia, and reported on the atrocities committed there.
Her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, A Problem in Hell, served as
inspiration for this film. She now serves as U.S. Ambassador to the
United Nations.

Luis Moreno Ocampo was a prosecutor in the Juntas trial in Argentina
in the 1980s and in 2003 became the first Chief Prosecutor of the
International Criminal Court. The film focuses on a case he pursued
against Omar al-Bashir, the President of Sudan, accused of genocide.
Finally, Emmanuel Uwurukundo, who saw his entire family slaughtered
during the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, talks about his efforts to help
in Chad, where he is UN Refugee Agency Field Director.

Frankly, Watchers of the Sky is not an easy film to watch. Oh,
director Belzberg eases into things, with starkly animated images and
quotations from Raphael Lemkin floating across the screen. It’s a very
down-to-earth approach, keeping a balanced, calm tone as the full
realization slowly dawns. And then the cumulative weight of the
subject matter — millions and millions of dead people, children
raped, women tortured, families (literally) torn apart — becomes
nearly overwhelming.

But all is not lost, and much of that is due to the quiet courage
displayed by the interview subjects. They are not superheroes, flying
in to right the wrongs of mankind and then tucking back into bed. Nor
do they pose themselves as heroes of any kind; there is no braying and
bragging.

Rather, there is the growing realization that these people know that
they are walking on a very long path. Maybe you’ll be moved to join
them; maybe not. In any event, they will keep walking and doing what
they can, for the betterment of mankind.

The film is available to watch via various Video On Demand platforms
as of Tuesday, February 24. It will also be available on DVD; bonus
features include interviews with Lemkim family members, bonus footage,
and deleted scenes. More information is available at the Music Box
Films website.

From: A. Papazian

L’ARMENIE A DEMANDE A LA RUSSIE LE TRANSFERT DU SOLDAT SUSPECTE

Massacre de Gumri

Les autorites armeniennes ont presente une photocopie d’un document
officiel envoye par la Russie en reconnaissance de la reception de
la demande formelle d’Erevan pour le transfert a la garde armenienne
d’un soldat russe accuse d’avoir tue sept membres d’une meme famille
en Armenie le mois dernier.

Dans un communique publie hier, le Bureau du Procureur a egalement
declare que la demande presentee par le Procureur general armenien
Gevorg Kostanian dans une lettre adressee a son homologue russe Iouri
Tchaïka datee du 3 fevrier est “etudiee par nos partenaires russes.”

La publication du document en date du 20 fevrier suit une serie de
publications dans les medias en Armenie, qui avaient jete un doute
sur le fait que les autorites armeniennes aient presente une demande
officielle pour que Valery Permyakov, le soldat russe de 19 ans,
soit remis a la juridiction armenienne.

L’homme accuse d’avoir tue sept membres de la famille Avetisian, dont
une fillette de deux ans et un garcon de six mois, est actuellement
incarcere a la base et les autorites russes auraient dit qu’il sera
juge par un tribunal militaire russe.

La declaration publiee par le bureau du procureur fait suite aux
protestations des proches de la famille assassinee, qui se sont
reunis dans le bureau du procureur de la province a Gumri lundi
pour demander une entrevue avec Kostanian. Ils ont egalement appele
les autorites a fournir des reponses definitives, y compris sur la
question du lieu de jugement de Permyakov, et ont menace d’organiser
d’autres manifestations dans la ville vendredi si leurs demandes ne
sont pas satisfaites.

mercredi 25 fevrier 2015, Claire (c)armenews.com

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

LES ETATS-UNIS DEMANDENT LA LIBERATION DE DEUX AZERIS

Justice au Haut-Karabagh

Les Etats-Unis ont reitere leur appel aux autorites armeniennes du
Haut-Karabagh pour qu’elles liberent deux ressortissants azerbaïdjanais
qui ont ete condamnes et emprisonnes l’an dernier, accuses d’avoir
commis des crimes, dont l’assassinat d’un adolescent.

La semaine dernière, les membres superieurs du gouvernement de facto
a Stepanakert avaient exclu la liberation de Dilham Askerov et Shahbaz
Quliyev, malgre l’appel pour ce genre de “geste humanitaire” fait par
la Secretaire d’Etat adjoint americain pour les affaires europeennes
et eurasiennes, Victoria Nuland, lors de sa visite en Armenie le
18 fevrier.

Askerov, 54 ans, et Quliyev, 46 ans, ont ete reconnus coupables
d’assassinat, espionnage, franchissement illegal de la frontière,
et possession d’armes illegales et ont ete condamnes respectivement a
la prison a vie et a 22 ans d’enfermement par un tribunal du Karabagh
en decembre dernier. L’Azerbaïdjan a declare qu’il ne reconnaissait
pas la legalite du procès.

Lors d’une conference de presse a Washington lundi, le porte-parole
du departement d’Etat, Jen Psaki, a declare : “Les parties ont
generalement trouve un moyen dans le passe pour ce genre de situations,
et ces gestes humanitaires ont alors reduit les tensions et renforce
la confiance entre les deux pays”.

La semaine dernière, James Warlick, l’un des co-president du Groupe
de Minsk, avait egalement exprime une opinion semblable, en declarant
que la liberation des deux ressortissants azerbaïdjanais pourrait
etre une etape positive vers un processus de paix.

mercredi 25 fevrier 2015, Claire (c)armenews.com

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AU MENU DU PETIT DEJEUNER DE CETTE SEMAINE, LA NEGATION DU GENOCIDE

COMMUNIQUE DU CONSEIL NATIONAL ARMENIEN DU CANADA

Ottawa. Le Comite National Armenien du Canada (CNAC) denonce la
manoeuvre du Conseil des Canadiens Turcs (CCT), et l’invitation de
deux negationnistes des Etats-Unis, afin qu’ils s’expriment devant des
parlementaires canadiens et des membres du personnel de l’assemblee.

Le CCT a invite des membres de la communaute parlementaire a un
petit-dejeuner leger au restaurant du parlement, pour un prix modique,
celui d’assister a une discussion titree ” Première Guerre Mondiale
100ème anniversaire d’une souffrance humaine en Anatolie de l’est “.

L’invitation ne dit pas, cependant, que les orateurs prevus au cours
de cette discussion ont fait leur carrière sur la negation du Genocide
armenien, qu’ils presenteront sans aucun doute une version deformee
de l’histoire et qu’ils condamneront la decision courageuse du Canada
de reconnaître le Genocide armenien.

Le premier orateur de la liste est le professeur Justin McCarthy. Le
professeur McCarthy a ete le sujet d’une lettre speciale ecrite par
l’Association Internationale des Chercheurs en Genocides (la principale
organisation de specialistes du domaine d’etudes du genocide), le 1
octobre 2006.

La lettre de l’AICG declare entre autres choses : Les chercheurs
qui contestent que ce qui est arrive aux Armeniens dans l’Empire
ottoman en 1915 soit un genocide, ignorent purement et simplement
un fait historique et scientifique incontestable. Très recemment,
c’est le cas des travaux de M. Justin McCarthy et M. Guenter Lewy,
dont les ecrits s’engagent dans des etudes gravement tendancieuses qui
deforment grossièrement l’histoire. Comme l’a note Deborah Lipstadt,
la chercheuse sur le genocide : ” La negation d’un genocide, que ce
soit celui des Turcs envers les Armeniens, ou des Nazis envers les
Juifs n’est pas un acte de reinterpretation historique… Le but des
negationnistes est de convaincre des tiers innocents qu’il y a un
autre côte de l’histoire… alors qu’il n’y a aucun autre côte.

Le deuxième intervenant est le procureur US Bruce Fein, dont la thèse
est la representation des interets sur fond du Genocide armenien. Les
representations de M. Fein sur ces questions n’ont pas ete exemptes
de problèmes. Le 5 août 2011, la Commission ethique de la Chambre des
representants des Etats-Unis declarait : ” En outre, M. Fein et les
autres conseils de la Representante Schmidt, les ont specifiquement
confirmes comme conseillers principaux du Fond de Defense Juridique
Americain Turc “. Cette declaration semble contradictoire avec le
fait que les conseils de la Representante Schmidt n’etaient pas des
employes du FDJAT ou de [la Coalition Turque d’Amerique], et seraient
au contraire exterieurs au conseil, dressant des factures regulièrement
a la CTA.

Telle est au fond la declaration que M. Fein a omis de faire a un
membre elu de la Chambre des Representants au sujet de la personne
pour qui il travaillait en realite, ce qui n’a pas manque de poser des
questions ethiques importantes envers la congressiste. La Commission
d’ethique en avait fait specifiquement mention en disant :

” La Commission s’etonne du fait que les avocats associes avec le
FDJAT n’aient jamais rendu public leur convention de règlement avec
la CTA a la representante Schmidt. Une telle revelation aurait rendu
inutile cette enquete “.

Il faut noter que l’invitation de la CCT au groupe de discussion
occulte la question sur l’identite de la personne pour laquelle
travaille M. Fein et sur qui paie ses factures. Le president du CNAC
le Dr Giraïr Basmajian a declare : ” la decision du CCT de salir le
coeur meme de la democratie canadienne avec l’ignominie de la negation
du Genocide armenien vient a l’encontre des valeurs canadiennes. Les
membres de la communaute parlementaire qui participeront a ce
petit-dejeuner de la CCT devraient se munir de quelque medication
forte, les deformations et omissions des intervenants pouvant etre
très indigestes.

mercredi 25 fevrier 2015, Ara (c)armenews.com

90 CHRETIENS ENLEVES PAR L’ETAT ISLAMIQUE EN SYRIE

SYRIE

Des djihadistes du groupe Etat islamique (EI) ont attaque deux villages
chretiens sous contrôle des forces kurdes dans la region de Hassake
et ont enleve 90 habitants, annonce mardi 24 fevrier l’Observatoire
syrien des droits de l’Homme (OSDH).

“Lundi, l’EI a attaque Tal Chamiram et Tal Hermoz, deux villages
assyriens de la province de Hassake (nord-est de la Syrie) et ont
enleve 90 habitants”, a indique a l’AFP le directeur de cette ONG
Rami Abdel Rahmane. L’ONG n’a pas ete en mesure d’indiquer où ont
ete conduits les otages.

Il s’agit d’une nouvelle attaque anti-chretienne d’ampleur après
la diffusion le 15 fevrier dernier d’une video de l’EI montrant
la decapitation de 21 chretiens egyptiens. Une bataille village
par village

La province de Hassake se divise entre les forces kurdes et les
djihadistes de l’EI avec une presence de l’armee loyaliste dans la
ville eponyme.

Cependant, les Unites de protection du peuple kurde (YPG), la
principale milice kurde syrienne, mènent l’offensive dans la region
et se sont emparees de 24 villages et hameaux avec pour objectif de
prendre la localite de Tal Hamis, aujourd’hui aux mains des djihadistes
et visee par des raids de la coalition, conduite par les Etats-Unis,
qui ont tue 14 membres de l’EI.

L’YPG a egalement lance une offensive dans la province de Raqa, fief
de l’EI plus a l’ouest, et s’est empare de 19 villages après avoir
reussi a repousser les djihadistes de la ville frontalière de Kobane
et des environs.

Les Assyriens sont les chretiens nestoriens, un courant du
christianisme condamne par le Concile d’Ephèse en 431 en raison de
divergences sur la nature du Christ. Ils sont aussi très presents
en Irak.

mercredi 25 fevrier 2015, Stephane (c)armenews.com