Author: Andres-Papazian

AYF Australia gets Robertson’s book on Armenian Genocide into Libraries

Source: armenia.com.au | Wednesday, 17 December 2014

SYDNEY: The Armenian Youth Federation of Australia (AYF Australia) has
announced it has succeeded in getting libraries around the country to
purchase and display “An Inconvenient Genocide”, which is Geoffrey
Robertson’s recently-released book on the Armenian Genocide.

Over the past month, AYF Australia worked closely with libraries in
Sydney and Melbourne, writing letters and making phone calls, to
ensure this book – which unequivocally proves the legal case of the
Armenian Genocide – is available to be borrowed by community members,
as well as students who study the Armenian Genocide as part of the NSW
syllabus.

Australia’s largest Armenian youth organisation was pleased to
announce the following libraries have purchased the book:

NSW State Library
VIC State Library
Melbourne City Library
Mount Waverley Library
Willoughby Library
West Ryde Library
North Sydney Stanton Library
Macquarie University
Sydney University Fisher Library
Marrickville Library
Mosman Council Library
Turramurra Library
Parramatta City Library

From: A. Papazian

Armenia’s National Security Service is ready to resist domestic and
foreign challenges

20:52, 20 December, 2014

YEREVAN, 20 DECEMBER, ARMENPRESS. The National Security Service of the
Republic of Armenia is capable of, ready and determined to resist the
domestic and foreign challenges facing the country. This is what
Director of the National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia
Gorik Hakobyan announced during the solemn session convened on the
occasion of the Day of the National Security Service Officer. “Our
persistence to prevent and eliminate the dangers posing a threat to
Armenia’s citizens, society and the state is undisputed and
unwavering,”Hakobyan mentioned, as “ArmenPress” reports.

He assured that the NSS is currently working with a high sense of
responsibility and added that that is the imperative of the times.
“The sharp and, in some cases, uncontrollable military and political
developments in the world and in the region, the intensification of
confrontations with the special services of Armenia’s opponent are
posing several challenges at a qualitatively new level. Our security
service officers are aware of this and are ready to work with skills
and competence, using the most up-to-date strategic methods of
intelligence and counterintelligence,” Hakobyan mentioned.

From: A. Papazian

TURQUIE
Une université turque lance un concours sur le génocide commis sur les
Turcs par les Arméniens

Une université Ã Ankara a ouvert un concours controversé d’affiche
pour marquer le 100e anniversaire des événements de 1915 dans une
perspective inattendue Р`se souvenir du g̩nocide commis par les
Arméniens contre les Turcs` rapporte le journal turc Hurriyet.

`Le concours, intitulé « Alors que tout le monde dormait : Atrocités
arméniennes de l’Anatolie au Caucase,` sera organisé par le Faculté
des Beaux Arts de l’Université Gazi d’Ankara, et sera ouvert à tout le
monde` selon un communiqué des organisateurs.

Une exposition aura lieu après la compétition et les gagnants seront
admis aux spectacles organisés en Turquie et Azerbaïdjan, a ajouté le
communiqué.

L’objectif de la compétition est décrit par ses organisateurs comme
étant « de rappeler aux gens le génocide commis par les Arméniens
contre les Turcs, pour mettre fin aux revendications du soi-disant
génocide arménien et aux campagnes de dénigrement, de contribuer à la
lutte de ceux qui résistent face à l’injustice contre la nation
turque, de faire que les résistants sentent qu’ils ne sont pas seuls
et à part la douleur d’élever la conscience et l’étendre aux masses `.

Le communiqué annonçant la compétition a également été accompagnée par
une longue interprétation des années qui ont précédé 1915, affirmant
que les Arméniens ont connu un `ge d’or` de leur histoire sous la
domination ottomane, en particulier entre les 15e et 19e siècles

`Pendant le règne du sultan Mehmet le Conquérant, ils ont été reçu un
maximum de liberté de pensée et de foi. Le Patriarcat arménien a été
créé pour gérer les activités religieuses et sociales de la communauté
arménienne. La période allant jusqu’au 19ème siècle – quand ils
vivaient aux côtés des Turcs – a été enregistré dans l’histoire comme
l’ge d’or des Arméniens, ` dit le communiqué ajoutant que les
circonstances ont changé` avec les émeutes d’Arméniens, sous
l’incitation de certains pays occidentaux ».

`Ils ont enflammé de nouvelles émeutes en divers lieux de l’Anatolie,
principalement dans Zeytun et les montagnes du Musa, et lancé des
attaques sur les convois transportant des munitions et de la
nourriture pour les champs de bataille. Afin de prévenir les activités
susceptibles de nuire à l’armée, le gouvernement ottoman décida
d’évacuer les Arméniens vivant dans la zone des émeutes,
principalement dans les provinces du sud-est [de] Van, Mouch, Bitlis,
Çatak et Erzurum.

En conséquence, les plans ont été faits pour assurer la migration des
Arméniens à Mossoul en Irak. Le but n’était pas de les détruire, mais
de maintenir la sécurité de l’État et de protéger la communauté, ` dit
la déclaration se référant à la réinstallation forcée des Arméniens
comme une« nécessité ».

`Malheureusement, les victimes se sont produits à la suite des
attentats commis par les Arméniens au cours de leur voyage vers la
région de Mossoul en 1915,` indique le communiqué, ajoutant que ces
victimes étaient maintenant `exagérées par les gouvernements et les
groupes d’une manière biaisée.`

`Alors que les décès ont été causés par des maladies épidémiques et la
faim, la majorité des pertes a été connu en raison de la guerre
russo-ottomane par les Arméniens fuyant vers la partie russe. En
outre, les dossiers d’archives montrent que près de 2 millions de
musulmans ont également perdu leur vie dans des incidents semblables
`, indique le communiqué, ajoutant que les victimes arméniennes
n’étaient pas de 1 million, mais d’environ 50000.

`Les vrais malades de la Première Guerre mondiale étaient les Turcs,
qui avaient été massacrés par les Arméniens. Les gangs arméniens qui
ont organisé les attaques contre les troupes turques au début de la
déclaration de la mobilisation ont sérieusement nui aux civils en
menant des raids sur des villages turcs `, indique le communiqué.

Pendant ce temps, un universitaire de l’Université d`Eylül à İzmir a
récemment fait les manchettes après avoir exigé que ses élèves
préparent un document sur les meurtres de 1915 et `prouvent avec des
documents qu’il n’y a pas eu de génocide arménien.`

dimanche 21 décembre 2014,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

PROBABLE GERMAN HELP IN SOLVING NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Dec 19 2014

19 December 2014, 09:05 (GMT+04:00)

By Sara Rajabova

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is finally
moving ahead – albeit at a typical slow European bureaucratic pace on
the question of Nagorno-Karabakh. After 20 years of no progress at all,
the Minsk Group, tasked within the organization with finding a solution
to the two decade old conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, over
the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh has finally decided to inch ahead
progressing from “no progress at all” to a more aggressive stance of
“mulling it over.” With any luck, this next step will see another
generation of bureaucrats accomplishing little more than collect
their salaries.

Yet all is not lost in the next phase which will include yet more
bureaucrats from the European Union, with Germany being added as a
new co-chair. Germany’s inclusion comes at the detriment of Turkey,
who some experts considered would make a good candidate.

The U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan said Washington highly appreciated
Germany’s participation in the consultations of OSCE Minsk Group
members.

“We see great value in exchanging ideas with Minsk Group members,
to include Germany as OSCE Minsk Group member, on moving the peace
process forward,” the embassy told Trend Agency on December 17. An
embassy’s spokesperson added that the U.S. was looking forward to
resumption of talks early next year.

Elman Nasirov, political expert and Director of the Institute of
Political Studies of the Academy of Public Administration said the
Minsk Group aims to win the support of the German government in
settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as the mediation function of
the co-chairs is not efficient.

He stated that there was hope that Germany’s involvement in this
process would inject new momentum to the talks.

“It seems that Germany’s cooperation with the permanent members of the
UN Security Council in P5+1 format in the negotiations over Iran’s
nuclear energy programhas not escaped the notice of the co-chairs,”
Nasirov said.

The expert, however, noted that Germany’s involvement in the conflict
resolution couldn’t be effective for some reasons.

Germany’s preference, however, seems to gravitate more towards settling
the Ukraine crisis rather than look into the South Caucasus conflict.

Nasirov said Germany’s preference to settle the Ukraine crisis rather
than Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as part of its post-soviet policy,
extremely limits co-chairmen’s hopes in Berlin.

“It could be predicted that currently Germany’s cooperation with
the Minsk Group co-chairs will not serve to the resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It will serve to the ‘mediation between
mediators’ for the sake of reconciliation,” Nasirov said.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made
territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early
1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed
forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally
recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent
regions.

Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE
Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by
the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. However,
the negotiations have been largely fruitless so far despite the
efforts of the co-chair countries for over 20 years.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on its pullout from the neighboring country’s territories.

From: A. Papazian

SAMOSEIKO: ABSENCE OF COMMON BORDERS BETWEEN ARMENIA AND EEU WILL NOT AFFECT TRADE

Belarus News (BelTA)
Dec 19 2014

19 December 15:06 | Opinion

The absence of common borders between Armenia and Belarus, Kazakhstan
and Russia will not affect the trade turnover of Armenia and the member
states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), Chairman of the Permanent
Commission for International Affairs of the House of Representatives
Nikolai Samoseiko told BelTA.

“It will not affect the trade turnover. For example, Russia has
Kaliningrad Oblast, the United Kingdom has Gibraltar,” the MP said.

Apart from that, the integration between Customs Union member states
and the country which does not have common borders with them will
become an important precedent. “At present about 30 countries are
willing to create a free trade zone with the Customs Union. These
include India and Vietnam,” the MP said.

Nikolai Samoseiko believes that Belarus can export such traditional
goods as potash fertilizers, tractors, and dump trucks to Armenia.

From: A. Papazian

L’ARMENIE CLASSEE 79E AU TABLEAU DE LA FIFA

FOOTBALL

Alors qu’au printemps dernier l’Armenie etait au 30e rang du
classement de la FIFA, le 18 decembre la selection armenienne occupe
la 79e place des meilleures equipes de la planète. L’Allemagne
est en tete du classement, suivie par l’Argentine, la Colombie, la
Belgique et les Pays-Bas. Parmi les adversaires de l’Armenie pour les
qualifications de l’Euro 2016, le Danemark est 30e, la Serbie 38e,
l’Albanie 58e. L’Armenie est la mieux classee des republiques du
Sud-Caucase, car la Georgie est 125e et l’Azerbaïdjan 135e.

Krikor Amirzayan

vendredi 19 decembre 2014, Krikor Amirzayan (c)armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

HAVING OWN PRODUCTION OF FIRST NEED PRODUCTS TO HAVE PREVENTED FROM PRICE COLLAPSE – ECONOMIST

11:00 / 19.12.2014

Nyut.am conducted an interview with economist Vardan Bostanjyan to
find out how it was possible to stop the devaluation of the Armenian
currency.

The economist said that the devaluation of the Armenian dram was
predictable and it finally happened accompanied with panic. “The panic
now has retreated and we are gradually coming back to the real field
of currency exchange rate,” the economist said, stressing that the
balancing of the Armenian currency rate took place in a natural way.

“Till the evaluation of the USD speculative actions were already
carried out by different people. In general the economy shows
that even an individual may apply to speculative actions in such
conditions. Of course, the authorities have opportunities to limit
these strive but it is impossible to completely limit it. That is
why the exchange rate reached to 600. It all was related to the
speculative actions. Currently everything calms down,” he stressed.

Asked whether the prices for gas and food will continue growing,
Bostanjyan said, “Of course, anything be it food or gas if being
acquired in USD will grow in price,” he said.

Bostanjyan reaffirmed that it does not mean that it is impossible to
stop the inflation. “There is a way to do it. The state has reserves,
has blocking approaches by supporting certain layers and meeting some
of their issues,” the economist stressed.

There is an inter-state agreement according to which Armenia gets
gas from Russia on the border by $189 and no matter what blows takes
place the inter-state agreement remain in force. “In case of the
private companies the price grows. Another thing is that if we had
production of first need products we would have been able to satisfy
the demands of the public. In such case we would not have appeared
in such price collapse,” the economist said.

Nyut.am

From: A. Papazian

LA DEVISE ARMENIENNE REBONDIT FORTEMENT

ECONOMIE

Le dram armenien a repris 16% jeudi au dollar americain après des
semaines de depreciation qui ont ete accelerees de facon spectaculaire
au debut de cette semaine du fait de la tourmente dans le marche des
devises de la Russie.

La monnaie nationale de l’Armenie s’echangeait a une moyenne de
476 drams pour un dollar dans la soiree, contre 553 drams pour un
dollar la nuit precedente. Le dram a donc pour l’essentiel retrouve
sa valeur perdue depuis le dernier week-end. Pourtant, il etait de
13,5 % plus faible que la billet vert debut de novembre.

Le dram a fortement rebondi malgre l’absence apparente d’intervention
monetaire accrue de la Banque Centrale d’Armenie (CBA). L’ABC a
declare dans l’après-midi que sa dernière offre de monnaie forte de
4 millions de dollars par jour n’a attire aucune offre d’achat des
banques commerciales locales.

Le gouverneur de la Banque centrale, Artur Javadian, a insiste
mercredi sur le fait que le dram etait manifestement sous-evalue
et qu’il commencerait se reapprecier bientôt. Javadian a impute sa
depreciation considerable sur les speculateurs et la >
qui, dit-il, est propagee en Russie. Mais il a egalement reconnu que la
dependance de l’Armenie aux plusieurs millions d’entrees de tresorerie
en provenance de Russie constituait un facteur d’aggravation.

Le rouble s’est apprecie de 9 % mercredi après avoir chute de facon
spectaculaire lundi et mardi. Son taux de change est reste pratiquement
inchange jeudi.

Hovik Abrahamian Premier ministre a note le rebond du dram a
l’ouverture de la session hebdomadaire de son cabinet dans la matinee.

“Une tendance a la stabilisation a ete observee dans le marche
financier entre hier après-midi et aujourd’hui”, a-t-il dit. “Je suis
sûr que cela va continuer.”

“Hier, je ai rencontre des representants du Fonds monetaire
international et la Banque mondiale, d’autres organismes competents et
des entites economiques”, a declare Abrahamian aux ministres. “Nos
partenaires internationaux appuient pleinement nos efforts pour
stabiliser le marche financier dans ce contexte de fortes fluctuations
des taux de change conditionnees par des facteurs externes.”

Javadian de l’ABC a passe quatre heures a repondre aux questions des
legislateurs sur la crise monetaire au cours d’une session d’urgence
du Parlement armenien qui s’est tenue a huis clos mercredi soir. Gagik
Khachatrian ministre des Finances et d’autres hauts fonctionnaires
du gouvernement etaient egalement presents a cette session qui a dure
six heures. A sa sortie, le president du Parlement Galust Sahakian a
declare aux journalistes qu’il croyait que le taux de change du dram
allait se stabiliser d’ici la fin de ce mois.

Les deputes de l’opposition etaient loin d’etre satisfaits. Levon
Zurabian du Congrès national armenien a affirme que le chef de l’ABC
n’a pas reussi a expliquer clairement les causes de la volatilite des
taux de change qui a affecte negativement l’activite economique dans
le pays. Zurabian a declare que la depreciation du dram a ete rendue
possible par un manque d’investissements etrangers et les sorties de
capitaux de l’Armenie.

Un autre depute de l’opposition, l’ancien Premier ministre Hrant
Bagratian, a declare que l’affaiblissement du dram a deja reduit le
niveau de vie dans le pays. “Le dram peut s’apprecier un peu, mais
l’economie nationale ne peut pas repondre a nos besoins,” a-t-il dit.

“Donc, le pire est devant nous. >>

vendredi 19 decembre 2014, Ara (c)armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

ZHOGHOVURD: SYUNIK GOVERNOR’S SON GETTING MARRIED

11:49 19/12/2014 >> DAILY PRESS

On Sunday, Armenia’s ruling elite will attend yet another wedding:
the son of Syunik province governor Suren Khachatryan is getting
married, Zhoghovurd writes.

According to the newspaper, the wedding party will take place at the
Renaissance Restaurant. Republican MP, General Seyran Saroyan will
be the best man.

Source: Panorama.am

From: A. Papazian

EDUARD TOPCHYAN: SOME PEOPLE USE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION TO IMPROVE THEIR REPUTATION (VIDEO)

13:15 | December 19,2014 | Culture

The repair work of the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra building is
planned to start in January 2015. Talking to reporters in Yerevan,
Ruzan Sirunyan, Director of the State Philharmonic Orchestra, said
the renovation was scheduled to start in December but was delayed
until January because they had to purchase certain products.

The repair work of the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra building is
planned to start in January 2015. Talking to reporters in Yerevan,
Ruzan Sirunyan, Director of the State Philharmonic Orchestra, said
the renovation was scheduled to start in December but was delayed
until January because they had to purchase certain products.

“We shall try to finish the renovation in 2-3 months in order to
able to give concerts dedicated to 100th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide,” she said.

Eduard Topchyan, the art director and chief conductor of the Armenian
State Philharmonic Orchestra, added in his turn that the orchestra
is united.

“Musicians do not rest even on Sundays. Our credo is “to play better
every day” and I think that we succeed in it,” he said.

Mr Topchyan regrets to say that some people make use of commemoration
ceremonies dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
to improve their reputation.

“I feel sorry for them. We do not face such a problem. Our tours are
already planned,” he said.

From: A. Papazian