Author: Andres-Papazian

LE PARTI AU POUVOIR > DES PROTESTATIONS DE L’OPPOSITION

ARMENIE

Le parti au pouvoir ne voit pas comme une menace serieuse pour son
emprise sur le pouvoir les rassemblements dans tout le pays organises
par les trois principales forces de l’opposition a declare un depute
du Parti republicain (HHK). Gagik Melikian, secretaire du groupe
parlementaire du HHK, a affirme que le parti Armenie prospère de Gagik
Tsarukian (BHK) ne luttera pas pour la demission du president Serge
Sarkissian et ne va pas opter pour des rassemblements a l’appui de
cette demande.

a-t-il dit au
service armenien de RFE / RL (Azatutyun.am).

Contrairement au HAK et Zharangutyun, le BHK, qui contrôle la
deuxième plus grande faction au parlement de l’Armenie, a jusqu’a
maintenant refuse d’exiger le depart de Serge Sarkissian. Pourtant,
certains de ses membres durcissent de plus en plus leur rhetorique
anti-gouvernement dans les rassemblements des trois parties qui
se deroulent dans differentes regions armeniennes en vue de grande
manifestation de vendredi a Erevan.

> a declare Mikael
Melkumian, un membre important du BHK, a des centaines de partisans de
l’opposition dans la ville d’Ararat. >.

vendredi 10 octobre 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

A L’OCCASION DU 100EME ANNIVERSAIRE DU GENOCIDE, 100 MAISONS OFFERTES POUR LES FAMILLES EN PRECARITE EN ARMENIE PAR LA SOCIETE >

GENOCIDE ARMENIEN-100 ANS

A l’occasion de la celebration du 100ème anniversaire du genocide
armenien en 2015, la societe de construction> s’apprete a offrir ou renover 100 habitations,
maisons ou appartements a 100 familles d’Armenie, vivant dans la
precarite sociale. Selon le journal > paraissant aux
Etats-Unis, ce projet presente depuis près d’un an a deja recueilli 68
dossiers, des familles qui furent ainsi aidees par >. 32 autres dossiers de familles en precarite
d’habitation sont en cours, les projets etant menes jusqu’en 2015.

From: A. Papazian

WE HAVE A LOT TO DO AHEAD OF GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL, SAYS US-ARMENIAN HISTORIAN

11:48 * 10.10.14

Richard Hovhannisian, a US-Armenian historian and scholar specializing
in Middle Eastern and Armenian history, has addressed the outcomes of
the recent Armenian studies conference and the activities and events
he considers important ahead of the Genocide centennial.

“We have a lot to study, but unfortunately there are very few people
specializing in Ottoman and Turkish studies. They [Turkey] will
prepare for the centennial better then we, arranging everything on
a higher state and institutional level. We must attach importance to
such events. We have to add new spirit to what has been always done,”
he told reporters, sharing his impressions of the meeting.

The historian said he regrets that the potential of the Diaspora’s
progressive youth is not fully used to make the Armenians’ demand
stronger. “In the United States, France, Argentina and other countries,
we have young generation who are skilled and already highly experienced
in their country’s media and other sectors. But those young people’s
potential isn’t used, as they do not maintain ties with the Armenian
community and are not organized. So we have to attract the new
potential to add a fresh spirit to the Armenian Issue instead of
conducting the annual memory events or scientific conferences which
are, of course, always important. But the occasion has now arrived to
attract a new potential. That’s a difficult question, as those people
are supporters of old manners and do not feel particularly enthusiastic
about the idea. But I find it important,” Hovhannisian added.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA VS. SERBIA: MKHITARYAN, MOVSISYAN URGE FANS TO SUPPORT THE TEAM

16:35, 10 Oct 2014

Armenia will face Serbia on October 11 in a Euro-2016 qualification
match. The match will take place at the Republican Stadium and will
kick off at 8 p.m. Yerevan time.

The Armenian team is struggling with injuries to key squad members.

Spartak Moscow teammates Movsisyan and Ozbiliz, and Borussia Dortmund
midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, are all absent from the squad, and
although Gevorg Ghazaryan and Hrayr Mkoyan were invited to join the
team, neither are expected to play a part against Serbia through
injury.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Yura Movsisyan have both called on fans
to support the team. Henrikh Mkhitaryan said in a video address he
regrets he will not be able to help the team because of injury. “But
I believe in our boys, my friends and teammates. I believe they will
play with dignity and achieve a good result,” he said. Mkhitaryan
voiced hope that fans would visit the stadium to support the team.

Yura Movsisyan also issued an address to his fans. “I was looking
forward to this match, but, unfortunately, I won’t be able to help
the team as the injury is too serious, and playing would be very
dangerous to me,” he said.

“You all know that I have always played for the sake of our national
tem even with pains, but I can’t do that this time, as I have not
played for four months,” Yura said. He urged all fans to come to the
stadium and support the team. He will also arrive in Yerevan to cheer
for the national team at the stadium.

Following Saturday’s match, Armenia hosts France in a friendly and
Serbia returns to Belgrade to host Albania, both fixtures taking
place on Tues., Oct 14.

From: A. Papazian

BLACKMAIL ON EUROPE

16:38 – 10 / 10 / 2014

Armenian web-site Panorama.am and Times.am have presented series of
materials which told about activities of Azerbaijani President’s
administration with assistance of former human rights defender,
journalist Eynulla Fatullayev.

Especially, the administration creates dummy NGOs in the European
countries and sponsors their left-anarchic and anti-Semitic movement to
destabilize situation in the EU countries and damage the authorities
of those countries which accused Azerbaijan in mass violations of
human rights. Creation of the European Information Human Rights
protection Center (EIHRC) based on grant (sponsored by the state
assistance council of Azerbaijani president) is presented as an
example. Especially, the organization had an aim to blackmail the
European political figures (Martin Schulz, Thorbjørn Jagland and so
on). Here you can find more information on the case.

(,
)/

At the same time, “Golos Armenii” (“Armenian voice”) newspaper
published detailed article on the theme on October 7 and 9. The
article is entitled “Blackmail on Europe”.

“The situation reminds us absurd theatre: Aliyev’s regime which
for years has been under international critics for its human
rights violations and the international human rights defenders and
organizations call on to put sanctions against it, now sponsors “an
independent monitoring” about the human rights’ situation in other
countries… And then the same “independent” media gauges the European
(and not only) governments for human rights violations in order to
justify own crimes”, the newspaper writes.

The newspaper also notes that EIHRC showed its anti-Semitic and
anti-European activitiy in a short time. The organization assisted
radical Islamic moods and destabilization of situation in various
European cities, especially in France in summer and recently in Germany
(Hannover). Organization director Thomas Piltz wrote about this on
his Twitter page.

Besides this, as the newspaper informs, the organization sponsored by
Azerbaijani President not once expressed dissatisfaction towards human
rights’ organizations in France, especially, connected with “Nicola
Sarkozy case”. ().

“Golos Armenii” also writes that Hannover actions meant the beginning
of the so called “reluctant monitoring” by the Center which, according
to Azerbaijani plan, should occupy the Great Britain, Switzerland,
Germany, Norway and Denmark.

“It is obvious, that on one hand Aliyev regime signs important
contracts with the West on energy export and poses itself as the
Europe’s saver from cold and hanger and on the other hand, it sponsors
activities of various extremists inside the European Union. On the
one hand, it swears Russia and Israel “to love forever” and on the
other hand it sponsors anti-Russian and anti-Semitic actions. In the
EU countries Azerbaijan becomes the sponsor of radical Islamists
and left-anarchic movement and in his native country it assists
anti-Russian and anti-Semitic moods. One can suppose that such
activities by Aliyev regime must be examined more seriously by those
governments where it acts”, the newspaper concludes.

From: A. Papazian

TROIKA: NONE OF 12 DEMANDS HAVE BEEN COMPLIED WITH

POLITICS | 10.10.14 | 12:58

The three political parties making up the informal parliamentary
minority coalition issued a joint statement ahead of today’s rally,
saying that none of their 12 demands presented to the government
still in June has, in fact, been met.

The Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), Heritage and the Armenian
National Congress (ANC) had sought policy changes in a number of areas
pertaining to the country’s social and economic life, including the
pension reform, a number of sectors of the economy, laws concerning
a large number of citizens, such as on traffic rules fines, etc..

They said they would hold a rally after September 30 to assess
progress in the government’s compliance with the demands and based
on that assessment would decide on further actions.

On October 1, the government published a 10-page reply in which it said
that some of the demands of the parties [including Dashnaktsutyun,
which does not take part in the latest rally campaign due to a
different approach to the planned constitutional reform] have already
been addressed, while others are either part of its mid-term program
or are unrealistic and even contradicting to the current Constitution
and international legal standards.

“Thus, we can state that the authorities, in fact, almost fully have
ignored the fulfillment of the 12 points and have even failed to
adequately outline measures aimed at their fulfillment in the near
future,” the three parties said in their statement.

“Such a response from the authorities shows that the ruling political
force is not ready for a dialogue with the public and for meeting the
minimum demands of the people. The current authorities are not in a
position to overcome the universal system corruption and implement
efficient management to meet the challenges facing the country. The
ruling administration has thus exhausted itself and the society
cannot connect any prospect of the country’s development with it,”
the concluded.

From: A. Papazian

BELARUS LOWER HOUSE RATIFIES EURASIAN ECONOMIC UNION TREATY

14:48, 09 Oct 2014

Deputies in the Belarus House of Representatives ratified the Treaty
on the Eurasian Economic Union on Thursday, now due for immediate
debate in the upper house before reaching the president for signature,
ITAR-TASS reports.

Speaking in parliament, International Affairs committee head Nikolai
Samoseiko prioritised an end to barriers and restrictions within the
union, notably in the energy and automotive industries. Minsk has
linked the treaty’s ratification with settlement of a Russian tax move
in the oil industry that could have cost Belarus more than $1 billion,
according to estimates.

The two states agreed on October 7 that all export customs duties
on oil products made from Russian oil and delivered from Belarus to
third countries in 2015 would be transferred to the republican budget.

Earlier today Kazakhstan’s upper house of parliament adopted a law
ratifying the treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union.

From: A. Papazian

SAVING THE KIDS: A CANADIAN NURSE RESCUED 5,000 CHILDREN IN TURKEY

October 8, 2014

Maclean’s Magazine
By Andria Hill

Hidden away in the archives of Nova Scotia’s Yarmouth County Museum is
a collection of photographs featuring Armenian faces. One, taken early
in the 1920s, shows children arranged on a hillside, their bodies
spelling out “II Corinthians: I, 8-11.” The thread connecting the
Nova Scotian port, Armenia and the Biblical passage is Sara Corning,
born in Cheggogin, eight kilometres north of Yarmouth. Her role in
the heroic effort to rescue 5,000 Armenian, as well as some Greek,
orphans from slaughter in the Turkish city of Smyrna(now Izmir)in
1922 won her special recognition from the king of Greece. But with
the exception of the museum staff and a few family members, Corning’s
exploits are largely unknown.

Born in 1872, Corning trained as a nurse in the United States. She
joined the U.S. Red Cross during the First World War and subsequently
signed on with the Near East Relief, a U.S. charitable foundation
established to assist the displaced populations of the Balkans, Asia
Minor and the Middle East. In 1921, Corning arrived in a small village
at the foot of Mount Ararat in Turkey to take charge of an orphanage.

Years of civil strife and ethnic turmoil — in which the Turks had
driven the Armenians from their homeland — had left hundreds of
thousands without homes and starving. Nearly a million had died since
1915 as the Turks took revenge on the Armenians for allegedly helping
the Russians during the First World War.

Corning set about her work with quiet, firm resolve, according to a
distant cousin, Mary Anne Saunders, now in her 70s. Saunders, who
lives in Yarmouth, recalls that as a young girl she found Corning
formidable. “Her compassion,” she says, “was offset by a no-nonsense
approach” — a balance that allowed Corning to tend those in desperate
need, all the while in the shadow of danger.

Armenia wasn’t the only country with which the Turks had a
long-standing conflict. Historic tensions between Turkey and Greece
increased in 1919 when the Greeks captured Smyrna, declaring that
because the port city had a significant Greek population, it should
be annexed. In the summer of 1922, the Turks went on the offensive
and turned the tide against their invaders.

By early September, they were poised to retake the town, and its large
Greek population — along with Armenian refugees who had been fleeing
the Turks — was incapable of defending itself. Corning boarded an
American destroyer in Constantinople(now Istanbul)and headed for
Smyrna. Once ashore, she and two others opened a clinic to tend to
the sick and wounded. Turkish soldiers, now in control of the city,
closed it down and told the relief workers to move on. Their second
clinic met a similar fate. This time the Turkish soldiers advised the
team to leave, or risk their lives. “After that, the city was looted,
then they began to burn it down,” Corning wrote years later in her
high-school alumni newsletter. “Many refugees [jumped into the water
and] drowned rather than be burned.”

In the midst of the mayhem, Corning made her way to an orphanage
run by an American nurse, and was amazed to find everyone safe —
though she knew that could change at any moment. Guiding small
groups of children(most were under 12 years old, and almost all were
female)through the turmoil and the slaughter in the burning city,
Corning delivered them to the harbour, where American sailors rowed
them out to waiting destroyers. No record remains of the time required
to evacuate the orphans, but when the operation was complete, more
than 5,000 children had been rescued.

Corning travelled with the children to Greece, where she established an
orphanage for those whom war, famine and disease had not only deprived
of parents, but of a country. It was there that Corning arranged the
children to spell out the Biblical reference that reads, in part,
“For we would not have you ignorant of our trouble which came to
us in Asia, that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength,
insomuch that we despaired even of life.”

Summoning Corning to Athens in June 1923, King George II of Greece
awarded her the Silver Cross Medal of the Order of the Saviour,
an honour comparable to the Order of Canada. Corning worked at
the orphanage until 1924, when she returned to Turkey to work in
a residential training school. Upon retirement, she returned to
Cheggogin, where she lived in the home in which she had been raised,
until her death in 1969 at age 97. The epitaph on her headstone:
“She lived to serve others.”

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION OPENS CONFERENCE IN YEREVAN

14:02 * 09.10.14

The International Association for Armenian Studies (IAEA) on Monday
opened its 13th conference at the Yerevan institute of ancient
manuscripts (Matenadaran).

The event, which will run from 9 through 13 October, has brought
together around 400 participants from 20 countries.

In his opening speech at the meeting, the Institute’s director, Hrachya
Tamrazyan, highly praised the association for its considerable role in
the internalization of Armenian studies. “With its history of 33 years,
[the association] has over 400 members today,” he noted.

Tamrazyan said he wishes to involve the youth in Armenian studies and
research to make the discipline a centripetal force uniting everybody.

“I would like to speak about the centripetal power that unites and
circles us all; our task now is to preserve and strengthen it. But
the parascientific space, which is pushing its way ahead regardless
of our will, is devoid of not only that centripetal power but also
common sense. It may create the wandering image of a parasite,
an armenologist not absolutely knowing Armenian, who feeds himself
with information obtained from the Internet. Thank God, we are not
facing that threat yet, but we are observing trends of imitation,
with many not having ever dealt with classical Armenian studies and
not using originals, handwritings and publication series,” he said,
adding that the institute’s digitalized archive considerably broadens
the access to original copies.

Armenian News – Tert.am

From: A. Papazian

LEVON ZURABYAN: ALL ARMENIA HAS BECOME DISASTER ZONE

Thursday,October 09

The Armenian authorities do not want the people to live in prosperity,
the head of Armenian National Congress (HAK) parliamentary faction
Levon Zurabyan said at the joint rally that three non-pro-government
parliamentary forces held in Gyumri today.

In his words, the authorities are implementing a special program so
that people will leave the homeland and then come and forcedly slave
for these authorities.

“We again visit Gyumri and see homeless people, utter poverty… The
authorities repeatedly declared that Gyumri is not a disaster zone,
but I should say that all Armenia has become a disaster zone,”
Zurabyan noted.

The deputy said that people continue to live in only 3 out of 7
apartments in Gyumri. Some villages are completely deserted, he said.

“People are fleeing because a disaster befell the country, but it is
not an earthquake, not a natural calamity: the disaster was caused
by man if they can be called humans,” Zurabyan said.

According to him, there is no coincidence in the date of the national
rally scheduled in Yerevan’s Liberty Square on October 10 – the
deadline set for the authorities expired on September 30 and a Friday
convenient for the protest action was chosen.

Addressing the rally participants, Zurabyan declared that there is
no returning and on October 10 people must take power in their hands.

“On October 10 we start a well-considered movement led by three forces
that will result in a change of power and drastic changes in Armenia,”
the oppositionist said.

From: A. Papazian