Author: Andres-Papazian

Haykakan Zhamanak, Armenia
Jan 27 2011

Armenian opposition group condemns lawsuits against papers

The opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) has issued a statement
condemning lawsuits filed by Armenian “oligarchs” and former officials
against pro-opposition Haykakan Zhamanak, Aravot and Zhamanak
newspapers. The ANC believes the lawsuits to the tune of 55,000
dollars against the papers are illegal, the ANC’s statement published
in the paper said.

One of the lawsuits is a suit filed by three “oligarchs” against
Haykakan Zhamanak daily that accuses the paper of “insulting their
dignity”. The suit is unsubstantiated as Haykakan Zhamanak indicated
the source of information about the oligarchs in its report, the ANC’s
statement says.

Another of the lawsuits is a suit filed by the family of former
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan against Zhamanak daily. This suit
is also unsubstantiated as Zhamanak published a denial of the report,
which served as the basis for the suit, the ANC said.

Also, there are three similar suits against Aravot daily.

“The larger part of the Armenian public has a limited access to
alternative information, because the authorities have taken all TV
channels under their control over the past 10 years by establishing
de-facto strict censorship over them,” the ANC’s statement said. “In
this case the true aim of the authorities is the same – to eliminate
free press via making it go bankrupt or by restricting it with such
threats [of bankruptcy], and to deal with the small readership of the
print press as well,” the statement added.

The ANC condemned the “campaign against the press” and expressed the
hope that international entities like the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe, the Office for Democratic Institutions and
Human Rights (ODIHR), embassies of EU countries in Armenia and the USA
would pay attention to the issue.

From: A. Papazian

CTK National News Wire, Czech Rep.
January 28, 2011 Friday 7:58 PM (Central European Time)

Genocide witnesses may be added to Holocaust survivors database

Prague Jan 28 (CTK)

The centre of Holocaust history Malach could be extended in future
with testimonies on the genocides in Armenia, Cambodia and Rwanda,
Martin Smok told journalists at a conference on the first anniversary
of the centre today.

Smok cooperates with the Shoah Foundation of University of Southern
California that has recorded the 52,000 interviews with survivors of
concentration camps, particularly Jews, Romanies, German homosexuals,
Jehovah’s Witnesses and others, since the 1990s.

The database is now accessible at the Mathematical-Physical Faculty of
Charles University in Prague.

Smok said the survivors talk about their experience from extermination
camps as well as about their fates, emigration and the communist
totalitarian regime.

The database is visited mainly by students who need the information
for their school works and by historians.

“In Europe the survivors are afraid,” Smok said in reply to a question
whether the database could be freely accessible on the Internet in the
future.

Many of them fear that the data could be abused to persecute their
descendants. Another obstacle are laws on personal data protection.

The recordings come from 56 countries of the world and they have been
made in 32 languages.

The Malach centre offers for immediate access more than 500 interviews
in Czech, further in Slovak and Polish.

The data are physically stored at the University of Southern California, USA.

Besides, they are accessible at another two centres in Europe, in
Berlin and Budapest. The whole database is accessible at another 23
places in the world.

The Armenian genocide is blamed on Turks. The Armenians say the
massacres and deportations in the years 1915-1917 cost 1.5 million
lives. Turkey speaks about 300,000 to 500,000 people. However, it says
it was not genocide, but that the Armenians fell victim to the chaos
of the last years of the Osmanic Empire.

In Cambodia, the communist regime in the latter half of the 1970s
murdered 1.7 million people during an attempt to create a class-free
agrarian society not knowing money, the rule of law, personal freedom,
family relations, independent thinking and technological achievements.

In Rwanda members of the Hutu majority tribe massacred some 800,000
minority Tutsis and dozens of thousands of members of their own
ethnicity during a three-month ethnic conflict in 1994.

ms/dr/rtj

From: A. Papazian

Ealing Times, UK
January 28, 2011 Friday

Tree planted in Ealing to remember Holocaust victims

EALING Council Leader Julian Bell and Mayor of Ealing, Councillor
Rajinder Mann, have planted a tree in front of the council’s Perceval
House offices to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust. Yesterday
(January 27), was the 66th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz
concentration camp in south-west Poland.

The tree was planted in remembrance of all the victims of the Nazi
Holocaust and all other victims of persecution and torture around the
World, including those in Armenia, Assyria, Cambodia, Bosnia, Kosovo,
Sri Lanka, Rwanda and Darfur.

Councillor Julian Bell, Leader of Ealing Council, said: “Holocaust
Memorial Day is an important opportunity for us all to think about
what we can do in our own small way as individuals and as a community
to protect one another against discrimination. I hope our children and
grand children will commemorate this day for many years to come and
continue to challenge persecution.”

From: A. Papazian

Global Insight
January 28, 2011

Armenia Ready for War with Azerbaijan to Prevent Ethnic Cleansing in
Breakaway Region

by: Lilit Gevorgyan

Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan told influential and independently
edited Russian Moscow Echo radio station on 27 January that his
country is ready for war. He clarified that Armenia is against war,
but it is not afraid of it. Sargsyan warned that if neighbouring
Azerbaijan decides to follow up the repeated threats to resolve the
conflict over the Armenian-populated breakaway region of
Nagorno-Karabakh through war, then his country would be ready to
fight. He told the radio station that, “if by some miracle Karabakh
was under Azerbaijani control even for an hour, there would be no
Armenian left there.” He concluded that Armenia has to take all
measures necessary to protect its population. The conflict over the
status of Nagorno-Karabakh broke out in 1988 when the region’s
majority-Armenian population decided to vote against decision made by
Joseph Stalin in 1923 to join Karabakh to Azerbaijan and give its
mountainous part, densely populated by Armenians, the status of an
autonomous region within Azerbaijan. Between 1998 and 1994, 30,000
people were killed in the conflict which ended with an armistice, but
there has been no final resolution to the conflict

Significance:The low-intensity conflict along the line of contact
between Armenia and Azerbaijan as well as Nagorno-Karabakh and
Azerbaijan has deteriorated in the past year. Over 20 soldiers have
been killed on both sides as a result of cross-border shootings and
minor incursions into the enemy territory in 2010, while in January
three soldiers–both Armenian and Azerbaijani–have already been
killed in similar incidents. Unlike Armenia, Azerbaijan is seeing a
surge in state income thanks to its energy exports which have helped
the country to boost its defence budget by 50% in 2011 by increasing
its spending, chiefly on rearmament, from US$2 billion in 2010 to
US$3.2 billion this year. Defence spending accounts for 19.7% of the
total budget compared to 10.7% in 2010. This figure dwarfs the
Armenian defence budget which stands at around US$450 million for
2011. The generous defence budget as well as the fact that
Azerbaijan’s population is roughly three times Armenia’s has boosted
the former’s confidence that it can launch a war and force
Nagorno-Karabakh, which has beende factoindependent since 1988, under
its rule. However, the likelihood of war remains relatively low since
it is not in the interest of the current Azerbaijani regime in the
first place. Azeri president Ilham Aliyev is mostly concerned with
consolidating his power in the country and safe flow of oil and gas
exports. A possible war with Armenia may upset both.

From: A. Papazian

Interfax, Russia
Jan 29 2011

Some 30 PACE deputies support Nagorno-Karabakh independence –
republic’s ministry

YEREVAN. Jan 28

Thirty or so members of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly
(PACE) have signed a declaration recognizing the independence of
Nagorno-Karabakh.

Copies of the declaration, entitled “The Building of a Democratic
State by the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh”, were circulated by a
member of Armenia’s delegation to PACE, Zarui Postandzhyan, on
Thursday, a spokesman for Nagorno-Karabakh’s Foreign Ministry told
Interfax.

According to the document, the current Azeri authorities proclaimed
themselves the successor to the Republic of Azerbaijan that existed
between 1918 and 1920.

However, Nagorno-Karabakh was never part of this republic, and
Nagorno-Karabakh joined the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan only because
of the Kemal-Bolshevik deal, the declaration says.

In 1991, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh voted in favor of their
independence at a referendum held in the presence of numerous
international observers, it says.

However, having denied the people of Artsakh (the Armenian name for
Nagorno-Karabakh) their legal right to self-determination, Azerbaijan
unleashed a large-scale war, which ended in 1994 by the signing of a
ceasefire agreement, the document says.

Despite Azerbaijan’s constant violations of the ceasefire, ethnic
Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh continue building their
democratic state through peaceful methods and in compliance with
international norms and standards, the most important of which was the
2006 constitutional referendum, it says.

Nagorno-Karabakh has dozens of political parties, media outlets and
non-governmental organizations, a market economy and national
legislation in line with international standards, the declaration
says.

The Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh is a well-established state, which
deserves international recognition and membership in international
organizations, it says.

According to Nagorno-Karabakh’s Foreign Ministry, the PACE deputies
who signed the declaration represent Armenia, France, Greece, Hungary,
Switzerland, Sweden, San Marino and other countries.

From: A. Papazian

Interfax, Russia
Jan 28 2011

Armenian opposition planning series of protests

YEREVAN. Jan 28

The Armenian opposition will hold a series of protests in the center
of the country’s capital starting from mid-February, Levon Zurabian
said, coordinator of the Armenian National Congress (ANC).

“Starting from February 18, we are planning to resume a season of
protests, the first one of which is due to be held on Freedom Square.
It will address all public concerns and further plans by the ANC,”
Zurabian told journalists on Friday.

The rally will address economic problems, the socio-economic situation
and human liberties, he said.

“The socio-economic situation in the country is at a boiling point,
the authorities are unable to ensure necessary budget revenues. This
is reminiscent of a war-time situation. All this could lead to a
social revolt,” the opposition member said.

After the presidential election on February 19, 2008, the Armenian
opposition was left with no possibility of holding protests on Freedom
Square. Supporters of the opposition Congress, led by ex-President
Levon Ter-Petrosian, discontent with the election results, clashed
with law enforcement in the immediate aftermath of the 2008
presidential election. Ten people were killed and over 250 injured at
the time.

No application or notification regarding protests on Freedom Square
has been submitted yet to the Yerevan authorities. “We hope that the
new city mayor will act within the law and make a fair decision,” he
said.

kk mj

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
Jan 29 2011

Armenia`s pharmaceutical industry developing

January 29, 2011 | 17:06

The economic crisis did not affect Armenia`s pharmaceutical industry
Karine Minasyan, Deputy Minister of Economy, stated at a shirt-sleeves
meeting with industry representatives in Aghveran, Armenia.

Armenia`s pharmaceutical industry recorded 8% growth in 2009, and
18.7% growth last January-November. Also, Armenia was exporting its
pharmaceutical products to Europe rather than to the other CIS states.
which is evidence of higher quality of Armenian pharmaceutical
products.

Minasyan also reported that fewer people are now employed at the 18
Armenian pharmaceutical companies. She hopes the reason is companies`
enhanced efficiency.

The industry representatives said that they receive attractive offers
to transfer their businesses to other countries, particularly to
Georgia.

Minasyan admitted that many countries have revised their tax rates
since the crisis. In Armenia, however, it is not an issue on the
agenda. Armenia is trying to create free economic zones for
pharmaceutical companies to work without paying VAT, she said.

From: A. Papazian

The West Australian (Perth)
January 28, 2011 Friday
First Edition

Media chief tried to control information in a losing war

Barry Zorthian, 90, was the US government’s chief media spokesman in
Saigon during the Vietnam War. He won grudging respect from many
reporters for the grace with which he responded to demands for a full
accounting of the American war effort but he was trying to sell a war
America was losing.

It was America’s first war without media censorship and Zorthian tried
hard to establish credibility for the fight by controlling the flow of
sensitive information rather than quashing it entirely. He believed in
the war and thought Americans would support it if only the government
could manage to explain the purpose of the bloody conflict.

Zorthian was sent to Saigon in 1964 to improve relations with
journalists, who had become increasingly disgusted with US officials
and suspicious of the government’s rosy version of events.

As media adviser to the US commander in Vietnam, Gen. William
Westmoreland, Zorthian started a daily briefing which gave reporters
an opportunity to question government officials. But the briefings
were so lacking in information that they became known as the Five
O’Clock Follies.

Barry Zorthian was born in 1920 to Armenian parents in Turkey. He was
a boy when his family migrated to the US. After graduating from Yale
University in 1941, he joined the Marine Corps and served in the
Pacific.

After the war, he got a law degree and spent 13 years with Voice of
America. He worked in India for the State Department and then headed
the US Public Affairs Office in Vietnam.

Zorthian also co-ordinated psychological warfare operations. His
agency dropped tonnes of propaganda leaflets; dampened anti-US rallies
by ordering local palm readers to tell customers to avoid crowds and
tried to frighten Vietcong troops by using loudspeakers on planes to
broadcast funeral dirges through the jungle.

After leaving Vietnam in 1968, Zorthian worked as a senior executive
for Time and headed Time’s government affairs division.

He is survived by two sons and two grandchildren. Died: December 30.

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
Jan 29 2011

Sweden’s integration minister mentions Armenian Genocide in his speech

January 29, 2011 | 21:13

Sweden’s Integration Minister Erik Ullenhag mentioned the Armenian
Genocide in his speech delivered at the synagogue on Holocaust
Remembrance Day. The speech is posted on Sweden’s governmental website
().

The Minister recalled the words which are said to be uttered by Adolf
Hitelr `Who remembers the Armenians?’

`He was referring to the genocide that happened during the First World
War, when around million Armenians and a half million Assyrians and
Chaldeans were killed in the territory of present Turkey. We should
never hear the words “Who remembers the Jews”. The least we can do to
honor the Holocaust victims is to constantly preserve the knowledge of
what happened. If the deniers are allowed to win the battle for
history, it would be an offense to the victims. And the risk that
something similar could happen again would increase,’ he said.

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
Jan 29 2011

Haykakan Zhamanak: Armenians of Belgium plan protest action

January 29, 2011 | 10:41

Rumor has it that Armenians of Belgium call to organize a protest
action near Armenian Embassy in Brussels on January 31.

`We failed to disclose the organizers but learnt that the reason is
mass deportation of Armenians from the country. According to sources
from Belgian Armenians, Armenian authorities asked their Belgian
counterparts to deport as many Armenians as possible, as migration
from Armenia has increased significantly.

This variant is also possible but newspaper’s sources in Belgium
consider the protest action is staged by 1-2 families which face
threat of deportation. Anyway calls to organize protests were
supported in the Armenian circles of Belgium and many Armenians are
likely to participate,’ writes the Armenia-based Haykakan Zhamanak
newspaper.

From: A. Papazian