Month: October 2016

Europe’s Schiaparelli lander did not behave as expected as it headed down to the surface of Mars on Wednesday, the BBC reports.

Telemetry data recovered from the probe during its descent indicates that its parachute was jettisoned too early.

The rockets it was supposed to use to bring itself to a standstill just above the ground also appeared to fire for too short a time.

The European Space Agency (Esa) has not yet conceded that the lander crashed but the mood is not positive.

Experts will continue to analyse the data and they may also try to call out to Schiaparelli in the blind hope that it is actually sitting on the Red Planet intact.

In addition, the Americans will use one of their satellites at Mars to image the targeted landing zone to see if they can detect any hardware. Although, this is a slim hope because the probe is quite small.

For the moment, all Esa has to work with is the relatively large volume of engineering data Schiaparelli managed to transmit back to the “mothership” that dropped it off at Mars – the Trace Gas Orbiter.

This shows that everything was fine as the probe entered the atmosphere. Its heatshield appeared to do the job of slowing the craft, and the parachute opened as expected to further decelerate the robot.

But it is at the end of the parachute phase that the data indicates unusual behaviour.

On October 20, 2016, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the OSCE Mission conducted a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan in the direction of the Hadrut region, near the settlement of Ashaghi Abdurahmanli.

From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistant of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Jiri Aberle (Czech Republic), staff member of the Office of the CiO Personal Representative Peter Svedberg (Sweden), and representative of the OSCE High Level Planning Group, Major Christian Hirsch (Austria).

From the opposite side of the Line of Contact, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistant of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Khristo Khristov (Bulgaria), Personal Assistant of the CiO Personal Representative Simon Tiller (Great Britain), and representative of the OSCE High Level Planning Group, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Nepokritikh (Russia).

The monitoring passed in accordance with the agreed schedule. No violation of the cease-fire regime was registered.

From the Karabakh side, the monitoring mission was accompanied by representatives of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense.

On October 14, 2016 “HayPost” CJSC put into circulation one stamp dedicated to the first Armenian  writer, poet, publicist, public and educational figure, the first Armenian novelist  Srbuhi Tyusab’s 175th anniversary. She protested against the female subordination, supported the right for the education and the requirements for the labor.

The stamp has been printed in “Cartor” Printing House, France, with a face value of 230 Armenian drams. The stamp depicts Tyusab on the background of an extract from her poem.  The stamp has been designed by David Dovlatyan, designer of “Haypost” CJSC.

The official cancellation ceremony of the stamp took place at the Ministery of the Diaspora of the RA in the frames of “Our Greats” program with the start of the 8^th all-Armenian summit of journalists. The cancellation was carried out by the RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan, RA Deputy Minister of Transport and communication Gagik Tadevosyan and the Managing Director of “HayPost Trust Management” B.V., Juan Pablo Gechidjian.

President Serzh Sargsyan visited the Armenian Saint Garabed Church in Maastricht is morning, where he had a short meeting with representatives of the “Ani” Armenian community.  During the meeting reference was made to the community issues, programs, opportunities of reinforcement of cooperation with the Motherland.

The “Ani” community is actively participating in Armenia-related events organized by the Dutch authorities.

According to the decision of the Catholic Church of Limburg, the Church of the Ascension of Christ was donated to the Armenian community and was anointed as Saint Garabed in 2013 in memory of the old Armenian Church of Amsterdam.

Ukraine’s Supreme Rada has ruled to designate October 25, 2016 as the day of commemoration of the 70th anniversary of elimination of the Armenian Catholic Church of Western Ukraine, Interfax reports.

According to the source, the bill was backed by 240 national deputies at a parliamentary sitting today.

The Armenian Catholic Church of Ukraine – one of the Eastern Catholic Churches – was established as a result of the union of part of the Armenians with the Roman Apostolic See in 1742.  The Churches uses the Armenian Rite during liturgies.

In the first half of the 20th century there were approximately 5,500 Armenian Catholics in Galicia. They had 9 churches and 16 chapels. The archeparchy included three deaneries: Lviv (parishes in Lviv, Berzhany and Lutsk), Stanislaviv (parishes in Stanislaviv, Lysts and Tysmenytsia), and Kuty (parishes in Kuty, Horodenka and Sniatyn).

The deanery of Lviv existed until the end of World War II and was eliminated by the Soviet authorities.

Following Ukrainian independence, the Armenian Catholic Church has been gradually reviving, with the first community registering in 1991 in Lviv.

Luis Suarez admitted there were questions to answer when he got home from Barcelona’s 4-0 win over Manchester City on Wednesday night when his children asked why he had not scored, the Daily Mail reports. 

Suarez was joined on stage by his son and daughter as he was presented with the Golden Shoe for scoring 40 league goals last season – more than any other striker in Europe.

“I told them don’t worry, we won and [Lionel] Messi scored a hat-trick and they were happy,” he said.

Messi and Andres Iniesta also joined Suarez at the event in Barcelona as the Uruguayan won the award for the second time in three years.

The scout who discovered him in Uruguay, Wilson Perez, appeared on the big screen talking about Suarez’s early days at Uruguayan club Nacional, where some fans labelled him a donkey because he struggled to score when he first broke through into the first team.

There were also words of congratulations from Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez.

President Serzh Sargsyan, who is in Maastricht on a working visit, participated in the Summit of the European People’s Party (EPP). The Summit was presided over by the Chairman of the EPP Joseph Dole. Present at the Summit were the President of the European Council Donald Tusk, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, Heads of state and government from the European Union and Eastern Partnership countries – members of the EPP.

In the framework of the agenda, the participants of the Summit discussed issues related to the preliminary works of the upcoming session of the European Council, spoke about the recent developments in the refugee crisis, issues related to the EU economy and foreign policy. At the Summit, President Serzh Sargsyan made a statement in which he spoke about regional issues and challenges.

In the government house of Limburg state, which is the venue of the Summit, President Sargsyan also made an inscription in the Golden Book of Honorary Guests.

Armenian Defense Minster Vigen Sargsyan received today Herbert Salber, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia.

During the meeting the Defense Minister presented the situation at the line of contact, the overview of the ceasefire violations by the Azerbaijani side and the latest developments in the Karabakh conflict settlement process.

The parties reiterated the lack of alternative to a peaceful settlement and stressed the importance of the international community’s support for the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the confidence-building measures.

The Armenian Defense Minister and the EU Special Representative exchanged views on a number of regional and international issues, as well as the perspectives of Armenia-EU cooperation.

On October 20, Edward Nalbandian, the Foreign Minister of Armenia, received Herbert Salber, the European Union Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia.

At the meeting, the sides touched upon the agreements reached during the Vienna and St. Petersburg summits on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

The Foreign Minister of Armenia emphasized that the unequivocal implementation of those agreements, which Azerbaijan stubbornly refuses, is imperative for the advancement of the peace process.

The EU Special Representative reaffirmed the EU support to the implementation of the agreements reached at the summits in Vienna and St. Petersburg – to the efforts aimed at ensuring the advancement of settlement process under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship.

By Harut Sassounian
The California Courier

Both Houses of the French Legislature have once again adopted a law that penalizes the denial of genocides recognized by French or international courts, or the denial, minimization or extreme trivialization of other genocides or Crimes Against Humanity, if accompanied by incitement to violence or hatred. The French Senate approved the new law by a vote of 156 to 146 on October 14, following the Parliament’s approval by a vote of 305-157 on July 6. The law will go into effect after President François Hollande signs it, which he is committed to do.

The question now is whether the Constitutional Council of France will approve the proposed law or find it unconstitutional, as it did back in 2012, arguing that it violated freedom of speech. Here is the background of this tortuous saga:

The French Parliament first recognized the Armenian Genocide on May 29, 1998, followed by the Senate on Nov. 7, 2000. However, due to intervening elections between the two votes, the Parliament had to approve it a second time, which it did on January 18, 2001, declaring that “France publicly recognizes the Armenian Genocide of 1915.” Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and President Jacques Chirac signed the legislature’s recognition into law on January 29, 2001. In response, the Turkish government withdrew its Ambassador from Paris.

Given the fact that several members of the French media and some Turks in France and their cohorts continued to deny the Armenian Genocide, the French-Armenian community sought to penalize the denialists, as was the case with the Jewish Holocaust. French-Armenians demanded equal protection under the law, rightfully contending that there should be no discrimination among genocide victims!

After 10 years of lobbying, French Armenians and their supporters finally succeeded in having the Parliament adopt a proposed law on December 22, 2011 which set a penalty of a year in prison and $50,000 fine for anyone denying the Armenian Genocide. The Senate followed suit on January 23, 2012, prompting Turkey once again to withdraw its Ambassador from Paris!

The French Constitutional Council decided on Feb. 28, 2012, that the proposed law was unconstitutional as it violated freedom of speech. The Council’s decision was highly scandalous. Several of its 11 members had serious conflicts of interest because their families had business ties to Turkey or had opposed this bill during their years in the legislature! Most amazingly, one of Council members was on the Board of the Bosphorus Institute, a Turkish Think Tank that was lobbying against this law! After a French newspaper exposed these unethical affiliations, two members of the Council recused themselves from the case.

The current Constitutional Council is now composed of 10 members — three are leftovers from the 2012 Council that rejected a similar law. Fortunately, several of the new members are more favorably disposed toward the proposed legislation.

More importantly, the newly adopted law, called “Equality and Citizenship,” is considerably different from the 2012 version. President Hollande along with the legislature and the French-Armenian community went to great lengths to ensure that the new language complies with the right to free speech.

Although the freedom of expression is a cherished right in all democracies, there are several important factors that must be kept in mind:

1. Freedom of speech is more of an absolute right in the United States than in Europe where there are many laws that restrict it. Even in the U.S., there are some limitations on one’s ability to say or write whatever one pleases, such as libel and defamation laws.
2. In countries where denial of the Jewish Holocaust is banned, so should denial of all other genocides, including the Armenian Genocide. No double standard among Genocide victims!
3. Since France has a law that recognizes the Armenian Genocide, there should be a penalty for violating it, as is the case with all laws!
4. Anti-denial laws would prevent Turkey from exporting its denialist policies to other countries.
5. In democratic France, it is now against the law to lie about the Armenian Genocide, while in despotic Turkey it is against the law to tell the truth!