Author: Andres-Papazian

POLICE JOSTLED AND QUELLED PROTESTING STREET VENDORS OUTSIDE CITY HALL (VIDEO)

Tert.am
28.02.11

Police have jostled protesting street vendors who had gathered
outside the City Hall to voice their criticism over Yerevan Mayor
Karen Karapetyan’s decision to ban street trade.

The police urged the crowd not to gather immediate in front of the
City Hall but rather on pavement at the opposite side of the street
and were trying to quell the crowd.

Tert.am’s correspondent says that during the jostling a woman fell
down, injured her leg and was later hospitalized.

“Don’t stand here, go and stand over that corner,” the police officers,
headed by the Deputy Commander of the Guards-Patrol Service Regiment,
Khachik Avetisyan, would tell the protesters.

With emotions running high, on the scene of the protest were also MPs
of the opposition Armenian party Heritage, Stepan Safaryan, Anahit
Bakhshyan, Armen Martirosyan and Zaruhi Postanjyan, whose brother
was recently arrested on “bribery” charges.

Stepan Safaryan told reporters that prior to that incident Khachik
Avetisyan provoked the protesters and jostled them. “He would say [to
the police officers] in a scabrous tone ‘clear them [the protesters]
off from here’,” said Safaryan.

“We are dignified citizens, and demand that our rights not be
violated,” the protesters would say.

Stepan Safaryan further said that the police officers were literally
beating the protesting women with their elbows.

“Gang rule which is implemented in the day time … Such people cannot
be considered representatives of law-enforcements bodies,” said he.

Later in the day the police released a statement in which it denied
the use of force against protestors.

From: A. Papazian

OPPOSITION HERITAGE PARTY CONDEMNS AZERBAIJAN’S GENOCIDAL POLICY AGAINST ARMENIANS

Tert.am
28.02.11

On the occasion of the 23rd anniversary of the Armenian pogroms
in Sumgayit, the opposition Heritage party has issued a statement,
condemning the Azerbaijani authorities’ genocidal policy against the
country’s ethnic Armenian population.

Below is the text of the statement.

Today marks the 23rd anniversary of the Armenian genocide that took
place in the Azerbaijani town of Sumgayit. Using as a pretext the
peaceful and lawful struggle of the Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) people
who had stood up for their right of self-determination and security,
the Soviet Azerbaijani regime organized and carried out a horrific
operation geared toward the physical annihilation of its Armenian
residents. As a result, hundreds of Armenians were killed and maimed,
and tens of thousands were deported to Armenia and the other countries
of the former Soviet Union.

But this crime committed in Sumgait in 1988 was just the continuation
of official Baku’s unrelenting policy of persecution against, and the
ethnic cleansing of, the Armenian population which, in the aftermath
of Stalin’s illegal decision, had found itself-and its indigenous
lands-within the administrative structure of Soviet Azerbaijan.

Indeed, it was because of this policy that the ancestral Armenian
heartland of Nakhichevan was left completely devoid of its native
Armenian population, whereas in Artsakh the absolute preponderance of
the Armenian majority had rapidly decreased. Yet, this policy marked
only the beginning of a continuing genocide, which resulted in the
large-scale killings and exile of hundreds of thousands of Armenians
throughout the land-from Baku to the Armenian Gandzak.

Together with Sumgayit and its military aggression against Artsakh,
the now-independent Azerbaijan once more demonstrated its genocidal
policy and proved that Artsakh can never, and under no circumstances,
be a part of that country because that will simply jeopardize the
security of the Armenian population. This kind of country has no
right to lay hegemonic claims upon Artsakh.

As for the international community (and the grand powers in particular)
which left the people of Artsakh all alone against Azerbaijani state
aggression, today it has no right to demand that Artsakh give up its
political independence and territorial integrity which it gained
in a lawful manner. Instead, it is obliged to recognize that the
sovereignty and integrity of Nagorno Karabakh are in full compliance
with the letter and spirit of international law.

From: A. Papazian

HERITAGE: THE 23RD ANNIVERSARY OF THE SUMGAIT GENOCIDE

Noyan Tapan

28.02.2011

(Noyan Tapan – 28.02.2011) Today marks the 23rd anniversary of the
Armenian genocide that took place in the Azerbaijani town of Sumgait.

Using as a pretext the peaceful and lawful struggle of the people
of Mountainous Karabagh (Artsakh), who had stood up for their right
of self-determination and security, the Soviet Azerbaijani regime
organized and carried out in 1988 a horrific operation geared toward
the physical annihilation of its Armenian residents. And as a result
of this action, hundreds of Armenians were either killed or maimed,
and tens of thousands were forcibly deported toward Armenia and other
republics of the former USSR.

But this crime committed in Sumgait was just the continuation of
official Baku’s unrelenting policy of persecution against, and the
ethnic cleansing of, the Armenian population which, as a consequence
of Stalin’s illegal decision, had found itself-and its indigenous
lands-within the administrative structure of Soviet Azerbaijan.

Indeed, it was because of this policy that the ancestral Armenian
heartland of Nakhichevan was left completely devoid of its native
Armenian population, whereas in Artsakh the absolute preponderance
of the Armenian majority had rapidly decreased. Yet this policy
signified a mere beginning of an ongoing genocide, which resulted
in the large-scale killing and exile of hundreds of thousands of
Armenians throughout the land-from Baku to Armenian Gandzak.

Together with Sumgait and its military aggression against Artsakh,
the now-independent Azerbaijan once more demonstrated its genocidal
nature and proved that Artsakh can never, and under no status, be a
part of that country because that will simply jeopardize the security
of the Armenian population. A state according to which the solution
of its purported citizens’ grievances and the fulfillment of their
rights lies in their physical extermination and forcible expulsion
has no right to lay hegemonic claims upon Artsakh.

And as for the international community-and the grand powers in
particular-which has left the people of Artsakh all alone against
Azerbaijani state aggression, today it has no right to demand
that Artsakh give up its political independence and territorial
integrity, which it achieved lawfully and owing to its last stand of
self-defense. Instead, they are obliged to register and recognize
that sovereignty and integrity to be in full compliance with the
letter and spirit of international law.

From: A. Papazian

GEORGY PETROSYAN HAD A MEETING WITH HEAD OF THE WASHINGTON HAY DAT OFFICE ARAM HAMBARYAN

Noyan Tapan

28.02.2011

(Noyan Tapan – 28.02.2011) On February 25, within the frames of
the visit to Washington, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic Georgy Petrosyan visited the Embassy of the Republic
of Armenia in the United States of America. After the meeting with
the Embassy staff, a private talk with RA Ambassador Tatul Margaryan
took place.

Later, the Head of the NKR Foreign Office met with Executive Director
of the Armenian Assembly of America Brian Arduni and the organization
staff. Issues related to the Karabakh conflict and negotiation process,
as well as to the life of the Armenian communities of Diaspora were
discussed during the meeting.

On February 26, Georgy Petrosyan had a meeting with Head of the
Washington Hay Dat Office Aram Hambaryan. Current situation of the
Karabakh conflict settlement negotiation process, as well as issues,
related to different spheres of life of Artsakh and regional problems
were discussed during the meeting. The NKR Foreign Minister presented
Karabakh’s official stance on some issues.

Georgy Petrosyan visited the Armenian churches of St. Mariam and St.

Cross, attended the service, and then talked to the clergymen and
representatives of the Armenian community. The NKR Foreign Minister
made a speech at St. Cross Church, during which he presented
to the members of the Armenian community the NKR stance on the
Azerbaijani-Karabakhi conflict and noted the necessity to unite the
efforts of Armenia, Diaspora and Artsakh for a fair solution of the
Karabakh problem. The Head of the NKR Foreign Office answered the
questions the members of the Armenian community were interested in.

During the visit, NKR Permanent Representative to the USA Robert
Avetisyan accompanied the NKR Foreign Minister.

From: A. Papazian

VIVACELL-MTS IS THE GENERAL SPONSOR OF “ARMROBOTICS” CHAMPIONSHIP

Noyan Tapan

28.02.2011

(Noyan Tapan – 28.02.2011) The competition aims at restoring and
developing the robot-building in Armenia, and at revealing young people
interested in the robotics, as well as facilitating their involvement
in the sphere of technologies and technology-based businesses

February 28, 2011, Yerevan, Armenia VivaCell-MTS, a subsidiary of
“Mobile TeleSystems” OJSC, is glad to announce that today a joint
press conference was held at VivaCell-MTS headquarters, presided by
the Company General Manager Ralph Yirikian and the Executive Manager
of the Union of IT Enterprises Karen Vardanyan. The press conference
was dedicated to the Armenian Robots Open Championship (“ArmRobotics”).

The championship aims to restore and to develop robot-building in
Armenia, and particularly to reveal young people interested in the
sphere through competitions, as well as to facilitate their involvement
in the sphere of IT and IT-based businesses.

VivaCell-MTS is the general sponsor of “ArmRobotics” Championship. As
a corporate citizen, VivaCell-MTS extends hands to the development
of the sphere of technology, including robotics that can positively
affect related spheres of industry in Armenia, and help developing
the country’s competitiveness in international markets.

“VivaCell-MTS commitment for excellence has no boundaries, it embraces
all spheres. Now we join hands with UITE to develop the Robotics.

Spheres of industry such as robotics should be supported and
also promoted amongst the youth. VivaCell-MTS will spare no
effort to support initiatives that strengthen country’s image
internationally”,-noted VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian.

The Union of IT Enterprises has been organizing Armenian Robots Open
Championships beginning 2008. This is a competition between a number
of teams of young engineers, who compete in the robots of their own
design and production.

On March 4 and 5, 8 teams will compete in “Robots Following the Line”
as well as “Robots Differentiating and Classifying Items” competitions.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN VARTO CLAN IN EUROPE

Noyan Tapan

28.02.2011

During the Armenian Genocide a large Armenian clan, which was called
Varto, after its leader Vardan and which inhabited Sirnak province,
managed to escape the massacres and to shelter in mountains. After
that this group of survived Armenians, isolating themselves from the
rest of the world, began their struggle for survival which had lasted
for several decades. Over that period the self-preservation instinct
impelled them to break Christian prohibition and to breed in and in.

At the same time the members of the kin were fervent Christians. As
it is known, the widow of Hrant Dink, Rakel Dink is also a member
of Varto clan. During the personal meeting with her in May 2009 in
Istanbul we asked her about contradictions between intermarriages and
Christian prohibition, and she answered that the Apostle Paul had an
idea according to which that the sin made under constraint was not a
sin. Then saying that in case of intermarriages there was a major risk
of different diseases she added: “There are no diseased or mentally
retarded people in our kin and we consider it as a grace and sign of
God who have not considered our constraint sin as sin”. The Armenian
community in Istanbul learnt about Varto clan only in late 1960s and
by the combined efforts of the then Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul
Shnorhk Galustian and the priest of the Armenian Evangelical Church
Rev. Hrant Guzelian, at first the children of the school age and then
the whole Varto clan moved to Istanbul. Of course, this initiative
of the Armenian priests faced tough reaction of the Turkish special
services which wanted to impede the revival of the splinters of the
survived Armeniancy. However, after living for about a decade in
Istanbul, Varto kin decided to migrate to Europe and today there is
only one representative of that kin living in Turkey – Rakel Dink.

It should be accepted that there are many unrevealed details of
the history of Varto clan, and there is almost no information about
their life in Europe. In this regard the article by Vecihan Ciflioglu,
Turkish Hurriyet Daily News newspaper’s correspondent of the Armenian
descent, published in January 2011 is remarkable. The article tells
about the current situation of Varto clan in Europe. As Vercihan
mentioned he had recently spent about a week in Marseille where he met
with different representatives of Varto clan, talked to the old and
young members of the clan, and as a result he wrote rather interesting
article which is translated and brought below with some abridgement.

R.M. The representatives of Varto clan (Vardan in Armenian and Varto in
Kurdish), which used to be one of the biggest clans in South-Western
Anatolia, now live in Marseille and Brussels. The total number of the
members of the kin in Europe is 1200; the languages they speak are
Turkish and Kurdish. The only representative of Varto kin in Turkey
is Rakel Dink. Her father, Siament Aga, possessed thousands of acres
in Silop and Cizre districts of Sirnak province. The kin had moved
to Istanbul in groups by the efforts of the 82nd Armenian Patriarch
of Istanbul Shnork Galustian. Among those who moved were Rakel Dink
and her father Siamet Aga. The later, like other members of the kin,
could not sell his lands and thus, leaving them, moved to Istanbul. In
several years numerous clan tried to leave for the Soviet Armenia, but
later, in mid 1980s they started leaving for Marseille and Brussels. In
Marseille, like in Sirnak, 500 members of the clan live all together
in three settlements founded by them. The members of the clan who
has grown up in France are involved in various fields of activity –
from trade to politics. There are no more cases of intermarriage but
traditions are still preserved and daughters-in-law and sons-in-law
who become related with the clan must accept its rules.

One of the representatives older generation of the clan is Fidel
Pargev Yalic, who is the son of the uncle of Rakel Dink. Pargev Yalic
told that their clan had lived in Sirnak for centuries and added:
“there were times when we were the richest clan in the south-west; we
possessed thousands of acres”. Yalic mentioned that in 1915 they had
broken off all the ties with the rest of the world: “We thought that
there was no more Armenian in this world left except us. There were
several hundreds of us and that’s why, though the intermarriages are
prohibited in Christianity, we bred in and in, in order to preserve.

Kurdish clans in Sirnak took away all our property; we were flattened
out, besides, we were obliged to pay taxes. We suffered many privations
on behalf of Kurds”. Yalic told that from 1915 to 1968 they lived in
a kind of ghetto and only in 1968 they learnt that there were also
other Armenians in Turkey besides them, and this caused unspeakable
excitement. “There was a young man whose name was Orhan Bakir. One
of his parents was Armenian and the other one – Assyrian.

He passed his military service in Istanbul and there he found Armenians
and learnt about the Armenian Patriarchate with which we established
the relations. But for those ties, we might have been living there
isolated till today”. Yalcin said they had not had even identity
papers and they had not even known their exact age: “Later identity
papers were given only to the men of our clan, just for military
checkup”. The other relative of Rakel Dink – Samvel Yagir added:
“After the establishment of the ties with the Patriarchate they wanted
to take children to Istanbul for educating them. I was in the first
group and Rakel was in the second group. But one judicial problem
has aroused: security services interfered when found out that the
children of the clan are taken to Istanbul in large numbers.

However, the issue, though with difficulties, was settled”. Yagir
mentioned that the elders of the kin gathered and took a decision to
live their lands in Sirnak and to move: till 1977 the clan had fully
established in Istanbul. The members of the clan established in Sisli
district in Istanbul where many other Armenians lived. The privations
were left in the past; the Armenian Patriarchate took them under its
wing, but the elders of Varto again decided to change their place
of residence and in 1978 they sent a group to the Soviet Armenia
to study the situation. But the group, after returning to Turkey,
stated that because of the communism it would not be convenient
to live in the Soviet Armenia. Yagir presented the reasons of their
migration to Marseille and Brussels in mid 1980s in the following way:
“One young man from our kin took part in the military coup in 1980 and
then fled to France. When one of us is in danger we all rally round
him. You may call it identity preservation instinct, but, however,
the elders of the clan drafted a secret plan and set out. In two
groups and in different ways we reached Marseille and Brussels. Today,
though we live in different countries, but we are all united and we
are well-informed about each other”. The representative of the younger
generation of the clan Karo Yalic (37 years-old) is the only one
from Varto who is involved in politics: several years ago he entered
the party of the incumbent president Nicola Sarkozi and undertook
political activity. No matter how far is the kin from Turkey, the
strong ties with Rakel Dink are preserved. Due to the efforts of Karo
Yalcin a number of events in memory of Hrant Dink were organized in
France and one of the streets in Marseille was called after Dink. The
question whether it was possible that Varto kin would rise a new wave
of migration, Pargev Yalic answered the following way: “We have no
problems in France and Belgium, but our heart is with Armenia, and
maybe one day we will take a decision and all together will move to
Armenia”. Translated from Turkish into Armenian by Ruben Melkonyan

From: A. Papazian

DAVIDIAN: THE INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP AND PARTISANSHIP
By: David Davidian

Mon, Feb 28 2011

On Feb. 8, the International Crisis Group (ICG) published a
policy briefing titled “Armenia and Azerbaijan: Preventing War”
().

It is basically an update from earlier ICG briefs that have intimidated
untrained readers into concluding that war between Armenia and
Azerbaijan is inevitable without an immediate final settlement.

The ICG stated, on page 1, that the best settlement is to agree on
the basic principles “first outlined by the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 2005.” The ICG states that the
current status quo is not in the interest of Azerbaijan, yet on
page 2 recommends that “Armenia and the de-facto Nagorno-Karabakh
authorities should cease supporting activities that make the status
quo more intolerable for Azerbaijan…” The ICG puts the burden of
conflict settlement squarely on the shoulders of Armenians. This
makes the ICG as partisan today as it was in 2007.

In November 2007, the ICG recommended in “Nagorno-Karabakh: Risking
War” (,,ICG,,AZE,,473c101e2,0.html)
the “withdrawal of Armenian and Nagorno-Karabagh forces from all
occupied territories adjacent to Karabagh, with special modalities
for Kelbajar and Lachin,” adding, “The de facto Nagorno-Karabakh
authorities should end support for settlement of occupied territories
with Armenians” and “Azerbaijan should allow Karabakh Azeris to elect
the head of their community and make a concerted effort to increase
transparency and reduce corruption so that oil revenues are used to
benefit all citizens, particularly internally displaced persons (IDPs)”
(see pages i-ii).

On page 4 of the 2011 brief, the ICG claimed, “The Armenian front-line
units that came under attack [June 18-19, 2010] reportedly ‘panicked’
and initially fled, producing some concern among military officials
in Yerevan that their troops’ training and combat experience may not
be as superior as often claimed.” This claim appeared odd; moreover,
the reference provided looked bogus. The ICG needed to explain. Below
is the email I sent to the ICG on Feb. 9, 2011.

***

Subject: Request for References: Europe Briefing N°60, 8 February 2011

From: “David Davidian”

Date: Wed, February 9, 2011 9:15 am

To: [email protected]

Dear International Crisis Group,

I have two short informational questions regarding a report you
published yesterday.

In report: Europe Briefing N°60, 8 February 2011, Armenia and
Azerbaijan: Preventing War, you made a reference on page 4:

“The Armenian front-line units that came under attack reportedly
‘panicked’ and initially fled, producing some concern among military
officials in Yerevan that their troops’ training and combat experience
may not be as superior as often claimed.14”

and footnote 14 states: “14 Crisis Group interview, military analyst,
Yerevan, November, 2010.”

However, I cannot find this reference on the ICG site after extensive
searching. Can you provide a link to reference 14?

Also, you noted on page 1: “…the country’s [Azerbaijan] oil revenues
are projected to decline after 2014.” Can you provide a reference
for this claim as well.

Thank you for your time and effort,

David Davidian

***

There has been no response to this request. A reference for a 2014
oil declination claim on page 1 was used as a control case. Actually,
this 2014 oil claim is made again later in the brief, and there it
is referenced with footnote 98.

The ICG should provide clarity when using references in their policy
briefs, considering they provided 152 of them in a 16-body page
publication. A reference that cannot be located or clarified calls
into doubt the author’s intent and questions the entire report. Even
high school term papers are required to have verifiable references. It
would be interesting to examine the entire ICG brief, but the effort
would only reinforce the partisanship exhibited by the ICG.

The ICG is engaging in tactics generally associated with psychological
warfare. The function of their latest brief is crafted to pressure
Armenian and “de facto Nagorno-Karabakh authorities” to accept the
deal proposed by mediators. The ICG’s analysis and recommendations
are clearly not convincing at the expert level; however, the ICG’s
target is really the unsuspecting general public.

Azerbaijani and Turkish English-language media apparently had no
issues with the ICG 2011 brief, as they merely quoted directly from
the ICG. See a sampling: ,

,

In particular, note the article-apparently worthy
of being published in the Turkish Sunday’s Zaman-by
Sabine Freizer, the Europe program director at the ICG:
sundayszaman.com/sunday/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=234935.

From: A. Papazian

PEOPLE’S PARTY DEMANDS IMMEDIATE RESIGNATION OF ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES

arminfo
Monday, February 28, 18:59

During today’s rally of the People’s Party, Leader of the People’s
Party Tigran Karapetyan showed a red card to the Armenian authorities,
having thereby expressed his disagreement with the authorities’
policy. The People’s Party activists handed out red cards to the
rally participants. On the other side of the card there was the
Lord’s Prayer.

At the beginning of the rally, Karapetyan said that by the Armenian
authorities’ instruction all the roads leading to Yerevan were closed
in order not to let the population of Armenian regions attend the
rally. “We unambiguously state that this is a shameful step by the
regime. Shame on the democracy offered to us! There is no democracy in
Armenia, there is only a law of brutal force here”, said Karapetyan. He
called on the participants to be full of decisiveness and demand
resignation of the authorities. Karapetyan added that the next rally
of the People’s Party will take place on March 21.

To note, Zhirayr Sefilyan and Tigran Khzmalyan, members of Sardarapat
Movement, were also present at the rally. Sefilyan told journalists
that he is always beside the united people. In this context, he
pointed out that he will attend the rally of the Armenian National
Congress on March 1.

From: A. Papazian

SUMGAIT MASSACRE COMMEMORATED IN GEORGIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
February 28, 2011 – 11:47 AMT 07:47 GMT

On the initiative of the Armenian embassy in Georgia and the Georgian
diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, a number of events were
held in Tbilisi to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the Armenian
massacre in Sumgait.

A liturgy was served at St. Gevorg Church on Feb 27 morning.

Afterwards, embassy officials and representatives of the Armenian
community visited Khojivank Pantheon, where Armenian art workers and
public figures were buried.

The 3-day rampage, carried out by Azerbaijani nationals in February
1988 left dozens of Armenians dead, a majority of whom were set on
fire alive after being beaten and tortured. Hundreds of innocent
people received injuries of different severity and became physically
impaired. Women, among them minors, were abused. More than 200
apartments were robbed, dozens of cars were destroyed and burned,
dozens of art and crafts studios, shops and kiosks were demolished,
and thousands of people became refugees.

From: A. Papazian

NO COMMON BUSINESS WITH ARMENIA`S SECOND PRESIDENT, FORMER FM SAYS

news.am
Feb 28 2011
Armenia

The former Armenian FM, Head of the Civilitas Foundation Vartan
Oskanian called on the mass media to abstain from associating his
criticism against the ruling coalition with his personal contacts
with the Armenian ex-president Robert Kocharyan.

“We worked together for about ten years. It is natural that we keep in
touch with each other after leaving our posts. We meet, discuss a lot
of domestic and foreign policy issues. Bit we have no common business,
and I express my personal opinion,” Oskanian told journalists Feb. 28.

A number of Armenian media outlets claim Robert Kocharyan`s opinion
accounts for Oskanian`s criticism against the authorities. Some experts
believe it is the Oskanian-Kocharyan duet that may be a third pole –
besides the ruling coalition and the Opposition – in struggle for
power in Armenia.

Armenian News-NEWS.am reminds readers that that Vartan Oskanian was
Armenian FM from 1998 to 2008. Robert Kocharyan was President of
Armenia from 1998 to 2008.

From: A. Papazian