Month: February 2015

Historian about recall of protocols. “The Turkish side can go for
provocations.”

February 21 2015

Aravot.am asked the Head of the Department of the Armenian Cause and
History of the Armenian Genocide, Institute of History at the Armenian
National Academy of Sciences Armen Marukyan about how he assesses, as
a historian, the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan’s decision to
recall the Armenia-Turkey protocols. “This move is logical and
completely fits in the spirit and letter of the Pan-Armenian
Declaration, because there was already some discrepancy between the
Declaration and the Protocols, because whenever we refer to Woodrow
Wilson’s arbiter decision and the Treaty of Sevres, and we knew what
territories and boundaries were included in this document, it is
obvious that the covert reference here towards the Treaty of Kars,
i.e. the existing border document, reaffirms this provision of the
countries, somewhat opposes to it, and it is no more logical to
continue the process of overcoming the consequences of the Armenian
genocide, given these protocols at the legislative body,” said the
historian.

In his words, this is the first move that needs to be reinforced by
the second move, also by recall of the signature. “Unless the
signature of the Republic of Armenia is underneath this document, it
is not ruled out that the Turkish side can go for provocations and
ratify the protocols after we remove it from the agenda to show to the
international community, look, how more law-abiding country I am than
the neighboring Armenia, while everyone knows that the Turkish side
was the one to violate it. Hence, after the recall, all possible
Turkish provocations will become null and void. These are the correct
and sequential moves by which the Republic of Armenia and all
Armenians should move ahead to the centennial of the Armenian
Genocide,” opines Head of the Department of the Armenian Cause and
History of the Armenian Genocide, Institute of History at the Armenian
National Academy of Sciences Armen Marukyan.

Gohar HAKOBYAN
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How the RPA-PAP fight started

February 21 2015

The subject of “Aravot” online “Face to Face” talk show is discussed by NA
RPA faction member Lernik Aleksanyan and leader of “National Security”
political party Garnik Isagulyan.

Aram Abrahamyan – To understand the current state of affairs, let’s go back
to the president’s speech on February 12. What were the reasons of this
terrible fight? Your hypotheses?

*Lernik Aleksanyan *- First, I would like to talk about the period prior to
February 12, when the statements and solid formulations were made by the
PAP, which was the Republican Party’s coalition partner. The President of
Armenia – the PAP party leader relationships were pretty amazing, and we
were sometimes addressing questions to the President of why it is so. In
all cases, Serzh Sargsyan was restraining us, especially with regard to the
leader of the PAP party, and no tough controversies were made. In all
cases, we were unhappy when accusations were voiced against the President
of the Republic, including personal insults. Eventually, we came to
February 12 where tough reaction was made, not an understanding one at
first glance, but I think it will be understood that it was a step in time.
Tolerance sometimes is viewed as a sign of weakness by people, even to your
own party members.

*1 – A*. – Do you also think so, in other words, was the President
displaying weakness?

*2 – A*. – We know, we know the President, we know that the President does
not show weakness, I think everyone knows that Serzh Sargsyan is of the few
people who always speaks of others in restrain. There happened cases of
harsh blasphemy addressed to the President, but the President himself never
shifts to personal field. To be honest, I was thinking that the move is
belated and I have said it in a few places. But now, I realized that the
move was made in time, if it was done a little earlier, other assessments
would be given, and in case of becalmed, there were indeed problems
threatening the security of our country.

*3 – A*. – The same question, tell me please why this speech happened, and
respond to Mr. Aleksanyan’s words that swear words and harsh criticism was
voiced addressed to the President.

*Isagulyan* – First, when we were talking about all the events, statements,
conferences and congresses prior to February 12, we must say whether a law
or the Constitution was violated. I do not hide that we had supported and
still support the “Prosperous Armenia” Party and its leader Mr. Gagik
Tsarukyan, as well as the congress, which particularly aroused RPA’s great
anger, one of the most radical speeches was mine… does the law ban of what
statement to make? Now look, let’s take February 12. The President of the
Republic, I repeat, we were in very good relationships, we were and remain
friends, but what happened? Clearly, the person was defamed, it could be
allowed by an ordinary person, but the President of the Republic has no
right. Based on the street rumors, the President is convening a Security
Council session to discuss an issue. It is also unacceptable. First, it is
necessary to conduct a Security Council session to discuss whether it makes
sense to pay attention to these rumors rather than publicly announcing
about it at the party meeting and convening a Security Council session
based on it. Who has said that the President of the Republic is authorized
to decide who has the right to be engaged in politics and who does not? Who
has seen that the man who should on the contrary try balancing the work of
various wings of the government, gives an assignment to the appropriate
wings of the government. I think that on February 12, the President of the
Republic exceeded the powers attributed to him by the Constitution, and, in
fact, this is already an unauthorized exercise of powers. No one has the
right to determine the standards of being engaged in politics, and I think
that this reaction that was followed, was just an adequate response.

Complete discussion below:

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`It was time to end up with uncertainty’

February 21 2015

Vahram Ter-Matevosyan about recall of the Armenian-Turkish protocols A
few days ago, Serzh Sargsyan recalled the Armenian-Turkish protocols
from the National Assembly, and this decision as such became the
subject of discussion for everyone. Turkey considered it `wrong and an
unsuccessful move,’ while the main opinion among the Armenian circles
was that it should be have been done earlier. Turkologist Vahram
Ter-Matevosyan in the conversation with `Aravot’ said that no sense to
talk whether the president’s decision was late or not, but the point
that it was correct, it is just indisputable. `It is clear to everyone
that Armenia in this process was left alone, except perhaps for the
United States,’ says Mr. Ter-Matevosyan and notes that on October 5,
at the time of the signing of the protocols in Zurich, the state and
the institutions backing up Edward Nalbandian and Ahmet Davutoglu in
the meantime failed to exercise their commitments; some of them over
the time got `sick and tired’, while for the others, more important
political issues emerged. `Thus, the very slow process of
normalization of the Armenian ` Turkish relations retreated in their
list of priorities and became not important. As a result, Armenia,
unfortunately, was left alone, and it was time to put an end to the
uncertainty,’ says Mr. Ter-Matevosyan. He thinks that Armenian,
however, learned lessons from this process. `It was able to sit alone
facing the Turks and to negotiate making clarifications on some
issues, and why not, also reporting more uncertainty on some issues,
but apart from this episode, I think that this attempt of
normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations and establishment of a
new platform did not work out,’ says the Turkologist. I think that
Turkey obtained some benefit from the situation. `For Turkey, this
process had created a very good mechanism to `sell’ the following
thesis to the international community: `Do not disturb the
Armenian-Turkish process, as it seems that though with difficulty, but
it is moving forward.’ Let’s not forget that on many occasions, both
Davutoglu and Erdogan repeated that processes and meetings take place,
and these assertions were followed by denials from the Armenian side,
in addition, the EU, PACE and Council of Europe, everyone seem to be
more prone to the formulation that good or bad, it seems that the
process is taking place, and it’s better to not disturb by being
silent or expressing a passive stance,’ says Mr. Ter-Matevosyan.

He also tends to believe that ratification of the Armenian-Turkish
protocols was a chance that the Turkish people lost. `When the next
one will be, how it will be and in what format, it is a question. But
the point that Turkey’s political leadership failed to demonstrate a
political will and give a solution to this problem, it is a fact, and
as Abdullah Gül said in September 6, 2008, for not leaving this
problem for the future generations. The Turkish side was unable to
keep its promise, it failed to demonstrate such a political will so
that to be able to move this promise at least one step forward and be
able to implement it,’ says Mr. Ter-Matevosyan.

Referring to ErdoÄ?an’s statement made recently at the symposium in
Columbia saying that let the historians deal with studying the
Genocide, our interlocutor says, `This is one of the vain and empty
theses of Turkish propaganda machine that no longer withstands any
criticism. Numerous experts, both prestigious and non-prestigious,
everyone has repeatedly expressed their opinions about it. The talks
about the Genocide are excluded because there is nothing to prove and
if the Turks do not know the history of their country, let them be
kind enough to go and explore as much as they need. Setting up a
Turkish-Armenian committee of historians was and continues to be a
crazy idea. Any manipulation and stalling around it is unacceptable,
and next time, Armenia should never take this bait, no matter in what
package it will be offered to the public or the Diaspora. And then,
even the Turkish experts are not entitled to do researches in the
archives, which contain real and fundamental information. How can you
imagine the Armenian historians’ unobstructed work in highly
important, let’s say, archives of the General Staff?’ says Vahram
Ter-Matevosyan.

To the observation of `Aravot’ whether it would not be more correct to
emphasis also the legal demand in the list of events dedicated to the
centennial of the Genocide, as some people think that `I remember and
demand’ motto does not fully reflect our desires, Mr. Ter-Matevosyan
replied, `I think there could not be a motto or a formulation that
would satisfy everyone. This motto was selected that is easy to
remember, has an advice and a content. This was followed by the
Declaration on January 29, which seems was intended to complete the
formulation. We can talk endlessly and discuss the positive and
negative aspects. But we must remember that it is a never-ending
process, the Declaration is not the final word. At this point, we have
what we have. Of course, it would be desirable to elaborate the
complete symbolism of the Genocide events as a result of more
extensive professional discussions, the core message and the advice.
It would be desirable that the experts of the sphere be involved in
it, unfortunately, I have not heard anything like that, maybe my
senior colleagues are involved, but the contacts show that their
involvement is not also too extensive,’ says Mr. Ter-Matevosyan,
adding that the important thing is that currently we have our
political position about the Armenian genocide. `We should make sure
that this `Remember and demand’ motto becomes a part of subconscious
and conscious for every Armenian, and the most important task should
be the one of what each of us has done in the series of these events
for 2015 rather than waiting for the report of what the government has
done. This is everybody’s pain, everybody’s history and memory.’

HRIPSIME HOVHANNISYAN
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Armenia MFA: Azerbaijan has rejected all proposals by Co-Chairs so far

19:41, 20.02.2015

YEREVAN. – Azerbaijan is trying to present their own ideas aimed at
simulation of the negotiation proces as the proposals suggested by the
Co-Chairs, spokesperson for Armenian Foreign Ministry Tigran Balayan
told Panarmenian.net commenting on Azerbaijani FM’s remarks.

In this context he reminded about the five statements of the
Co-Chairs: “As repeatedly stated, unlike Azerbaijan, Armenia is ready
to continue negotiations to resolve the conflict based on these
proposals”.

It is first of all necessary to accelerate reaching agreement on the
basic principles to make it possible to start drawing of a peace
agreement, Balayan stated.

Foreign Ministry spokesman also noted that in the latest statement
made by the Co-Chairs, the mediators said they had presented proposals
that could strengthen the ceasefire.

“Is Azerbaijan really ready to accept these proposals? Such proposals
have been rejected by so far,” Balayan said.

Armenia News – NEWS.am

Armenia Government gives no answer to chemical plant workers

16:55, 20.02.2015

YEREVAN. – Hundreds of employees of Nairit chemical rubber plant of
Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan, and who demand their unpaid
salaries, had assembled outside the Government building on Friday and
they were demanding the promised response.

Several days ago, the government had promised the Nairit workers that
a timetable would be prepared on the payment of these wages and this
timetable would be presented to them by no later than Friday.

The workers, however, did not receive the government’s promised
response on Friday, and therefore they marched toward the Office of
the President.

At the presidential office, the head of its Department of Letters and
Receptions, Aida Asatryan, received several Nairit employees.

“We passed on our demands which they promised to transmit to the
leadership,” Nairit CJSC Press Secretary Anush Harutyunyan, who also
attended the aforementioned meeting, told Armenian News-NEWS.am. “We
decided to again stage protests outside the presidential residence,
since any response–which we get even from the ministry–will not be
without the President’s decision.”

Subsequently, the Nairit workers ended their protest for the day, and
their next demonstration will be on February 23.

As reported earlier, a total of 1,700 Nairit employees were formally
discharged as of February 6. The eighteen months of unpaid wages of
the employees of Nairit chemical rubber plant, which no longer
operates, total Armenian drams equivalent to approximately $15
million. The workers had assembled outside the Government Building and
the Office of the President numerous times and demanded a solution to
their problems, but to no avail, so far.

Literary Armenian needs special endearment today – publicist

11:42 * 21.02.15

Today marks the International Mother Language Day, an observance held
annually worldwide to promote multilingualism and cultural diversity.

On this occasion, Tert.am talked to Vachagan Sargsyan, an Armenian
writer, publicist, translator and editor who shared his ideas and
concerns over the general attitude towards the Armenian language
today. He noted with regret that the literary language, as a valuable
heritage bequeathed by ancestors, does not receive the necessary
attention and care nowadays.

Sargsyan said it is surprising to him that the local television
channels do not have any special broadcasts devoted to the Armenian
language, with no wealthy businessman or benefactor ever seeming to
think about funding such a project.

“What we received from our grandfathers is a wonderful heritage, the
literary Armenian, which is a brilliant language arousing the world’s
biggest nations’ envy. So it is the biggest omission today that there
is no state care, no endearment and reverence. Let us not forget that
the literary language is the bridge uniting us; Once it is seized from
our mouths, we will start quarreling with one another. We do not feel
the literary language’s unifying potential which makes everybody an
Armenian. It’s a very important thing,” he noted.

Sargsyan, who is the author of an Armenian ABC book for secondary
schools, stresses the importance of dedicated efforts to enrich the
language every day instead of making allegations that it has detached
itself from our lives.

“And it is important to be in contact with, and enrich, the living
language instead of reading its obituaries. We have never had
compassionateness, never preserved what we have created. We had a
motherland but did not manage to preserve it, handing it over to
others because of internal wrangles,” the publicist noted.

He further criticized the frequently occurring habit of sharing
transliterated messages in Latin letters, considering the practice
tantamount to “engraving scripts on a mound”.

In the meantime he noted that foreign nations are often perplexed by
the design and graphics of the Armenian letters.

“The Armenian letters live in the God’s heart; they were born from a
divine spirit, from the stone and from pomegranate corns,” he said,
also highly valuing the Armenian alphabets’ sound perfection.

As for the language in legislative drafting, Sargsyan said he finds it
neither good nor bad, with the State Language Inspection never issuing
special recommendation to legislators to encourage them to build a
linguistically correct language. Sargsyan said he regrets that
coarsened language traditions today do not leave room for such
recommendations or corrections.

Armenia parliament: We need to work together to fight against Turkish denialism

16:56, 21.02.2015

Armenia National Assembly (NA) Vice-Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov on
Friday met in the Austrian capital city of Vienna, and within the
framework of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for
Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE PA), with the latter’s
delegation from Cyprus.

The interlocutors underscored the role of parliamentary diplomacy and
the need for mutual visits to further advance the political discourse
between the two countries.

The NA deputy chairman considered Turkey’s occupation of Northern
Cyprus and its unlawful blockade of Armenia to be impermissible.
Sharmazanov also stressed that Armenia and Cyprus need to work
together to combat the Turkish denialism of genocides.

At the end of the talk, the parties discussed the details of holding
an exhibition in the Cypriot parliament, and devoted to the centenary
of the Armenian Genocide.

To note, Eduard Sharmazanov, as the head of the NA delegation to the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO PA), attended the OSCE PA winter session in Vienna.

Armenian MP: Russian side gave negative response to handover of Permyakov

18:19, 21.02.2015

YEREVAN. – Prosperous Armenia MP Martun Grigoryan has raised in
Russia’s State Duma the issue of handing over Valery Permyakov to the
Armenian law enforcement agencies.

Permyakov is accused of killing seven members of the Avetisyan family,
including a two-year-old girl a six-month-old baby.

The Russian side unfortunately gave a negative response, the MP told
reporters at a Gymri cemetery where family and friends gathered on the
40th day after the death of the Avetisyans.

“They are not ready to transfer him, but they are eager to work with
the Armenian side to conduct joint investigation in Armenia. There
were no precise answers on where he would serve his punishment,”
Grigoryan added.

Valery Permyakov, a serviceman of the 102nd Russian Military Base in
Gyumri, stands accused in this crime. The soldier is charged under
Russian law, with “the murder of more than two people” and “desertion
with a service weapon.”

Edward Sharmazanov pays tribute to fallen heroes in Vienna

14:32 21/02/2015 >> SOCIETY

Deputy Speaker of Armenian National Assembly Edward Sharmazanov, who
is also the head of the Armenian National Assembly delegation to the
CSTO Parliamentary Assembly (CSTO PA), traveled to Vienna to
participate in the winter session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
(OSCE PA).

On February 20, together with the CSTO member states’ delegations, Mr
Sharmazanov visited the monument of the Soviet soldier, the National
Assembly’s press service reports.

Further, they visited the Central Cemetery of Vienna, where the
remains of the Armenian soldiers, who have fallen in the fight against
Fascism for the liberation of Vienna, are buried.

Those present observed one minute’s silence for the fallen heroes.

Attitude of people toward book has changed due to social problems

15:04 / 19.02.2015

February 19, the birthday of Armenian distinguished poet Hovhannes
Tumanyan, is being celebrated as Day of Presenting Book. On that
occasion Nyut.am conducted interview with deputy director of Avetik
Isahakyan Central Library Ruzanna Barseghyan to find out how much our
public is tied to books.

– Mrs Barseghyan, how the idea of declaring book gifting day has come
up, how many years it is being marked in Armenia?

– On 2008 the Armenian Writers Union decided to declare a book gifting
day on February 19, the birthday of Armenian outstanding poet
Hovhannes Tumanyan.

– How much the Armenian public is interested in literature?

– We all know that our people are undergoing cultural crisis due to
economic, social changes as a result of which the attitude of people
toward book has changed. We have always had special attitude toward
book, knowledge, teacher. Unfortunately, in our times this attitude is
always fluctuating and it all comes from a family.

– Which is the aim of today’s event?

– The aim is to restore our kind traditions, our love toward books
inherited from our ancestors. There is not a week that we do not get
books from our citizens, on hand it is good, on the other it means
that they do not need them at home.

– What events are scheduled in the library for today?

– We invite all the citizens here where we will give them the books we
have received from our citizens. For already few years we are carrying
out this event. Last year we have donated 2000 books. Besides, we are
going to have guests tomorrow, mainly students and we have prepared an
event for them.

– How many readers does the library have annually?

– The library receives 32,000-35,000 readers annually. About 700-900
readers visit library every day as we have many services. If to view
generally, yes, the number of readers has reduced and the interest
toward reading as well, but if to view from the position of our
library it is not so. Our readers are making use of Wi-Fi service,
electronic catalogue getting familiarized to the books we have. We
have many groups which study different languages.

– What books do our readers mainly prefer, professional or fiction literature?

– As far as the 70% of our readers are students, they mainly prefer
professional literature. I must say that we are facing the issue of
translated professional literature. We are cooperating with printing
houses and are presenting them a list for them to prepare the
corresponding literature, but we are in market relations and may be we
are the only ones who make the order. We cannot order 1000 books but
they need a bigger order.
Every economist, mathematician, biologist, journalist while publishing
a book donate 2-3 examples to us. I am not speaking of writers.
We have always loved book and I call to everyone to love book and give
it as a present, and not only on February 19, but on birthdays, March 8.