Author: Andres-Papazian

ISRAEL CHARNY: “THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL ABSOLUTELY KNOW THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE; THEY DO NOT DENY IT.”

Panorama
Dec 15 2010
Armenia

On december 14-15 in Yerevan took place an international conference
titled “the Genocide as a crime: Prevention, condemnation and
elimination of the consequences”.

The journalist of Panorama.am in the frameworks of the international
conference had an interview with the Executive director of the
Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem, Dr. Israel W.

Charny.

– What is the moral significance of recognizing the Armenian Genocide
in the case of Israel?

I am laughing but I am crying and I am angry and I am laughing.

Israel’s failure to recognize the Armenian Genocide is a terrible
shame, it’s evil, it’s a failure on our part and many of us are
fighting it day and night. I have one piece of good news which helps
me to laugh; culturally we have won the battle in Israel, the people
of Israel absolutely know the Armenian Genocide, they do not deny it.

The Media in Israel, the newspapers, the magazines, TV programs
recognize the Armenian Genocide, refer to it regularly and I cannot
think right now of a single article even that is ever supported the
Government for its denial, and yet the real politic, and you see my
fist, the manipulative approach to life that you look out for yourself
even when great moral principles are involved is still winning and
we have to defeat it, so that’s the significance.

– The recent developments have led to an aggravation of Turkish –
Israeli relations. In this context, many people deem it possible for
Israel to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Don’t you think that any
considerations of the political landscape in such a sensitive and
delicate issue may devalue the meaning of recognition of the Armenian
Genocide by the State of Israel?

I appreciate your question because I agree completely. I would be in a
very difficult position if Israel now recognizes the Armenian Genocide,
because the Turks have become allies of a totalitarian access of Iran,
Syria and people who are real threat to Israel and to the whole free
world. Still I want Israel to recognize the Armenian Genocide under
clear, moral bases that it must be recognized and honored. Yossi Sarid
was one of the two ministers in Israel’s history who recognized the
Armenian Genocide. Yossi was with me and Professor Yair Auron, to pay
tribute at the Armenian Genocide Memorial a few years ago. Yossi is
now a colonist for Ha’aretz and he wrote, it’s a bit funny but it’s
all very serious, he wrote a column that he is getting calls from
many people saying “Yossi ok now is the time to recognize the Armenian
Genocide and get back those miserable Turks” and Yossi writes in the
Ha’aretz “When they speak to me that way it makes me want to vomit.”

– What means do the Jewish scholars employ for the recognition of
the Armenian Genocide by Israel?

Academically of course, professionally of course, in terms of our
contributions to the culture continuously. We are all interviewed
regularly, we all give talks regularly, we are all on television
regularly. The question is whether we have any means for reaching the
political level which is our mutual enemy. And an interesting answer
is that there is a proposal in the Knesset to recognize the Armenian
Genocide, it was voted positively by the Knesset a few months ago.

This is a fine step-forward. In Israel it goes from the Knesset to a
committee. In America it goes from the committee to the Congress. The
man having the move in the Knesset is a Knesset member who is the
head of Israel’s tiny, weak, beautiful liberal party. His name
is Haim Oron. Politically we work with Haim Oron. By now there
is a significant number of Knesset members from all the fractions
including the man who is the head of the Right Wing Government party
of Knesset members who are very strongly in favour of the resolution
on the Armenian Genocide. We do not expect to win, I am sorry to say
this on television to Armenia. But we are doing our best. That’s all
we can do in any generation.

From: A. Papazian

SACRED STONES SCREAM FOR JUSTICE IN AZERBAIJAN
By Simon Maghakyan, South Caucasus country specialist for Amnesty International USA

Huffington Post

Dec 15 2010

Five years ago today, a sacred place of memory was wiped off the face
of the earth. Post-Soviet Azerbaijan’s deliberate destruction of the
magnificent medieval Djulfa cemetery wasn’t meant to make up room
for development. The sledgehammers and cranes – employed to remove
and destroy every single khachkar or cross-stone – were the tools of
purging the proof and symbol of Armenian heritage in the borderland
area by Iran.

“An absolute lie!” declared Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev
after watching video evidence of the destruction, and then banned a
European Parliament delegation from visiting the site in the exclave of
Nakhichevan. Whatever delegates were barred from observing on ground,
however, was recently recorded from space. In its satellite image
comparison of the Djulfa cemetery released last week, the American
Association for the Advancement of Science confirmed that “the entire
area has been graded flat.”

The beautiful and intricately carved khachkars (the craftsmanship
of which is a UNESCO Intangible Heritage tradition), dating from
the 9th through 17thcenturies, were seen as the latest victims of
the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict materialized in the early 1990s
war over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. But their destruction was
also a broader violation of human rights – not only against ethnic
Armenians but all citizens of Azerbaijan who were denied a chance to
explore and appreciate an often inconvenient history.

While the Karabakh war, ceased in 1994, destroyed thousands of lives
and damaged cultural monuments on both sides, the destruction of the
Djulfa cemetery in December 2005 was different since it took place
after the war in a region where no skirmishes had taken place. This
destruction was more like a war against history: a calculated act of
ruling out a future return of the Armenian heritage by denying its
indigenous existence in the first place. More than a manifestation
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Djulfa’s annihilation was a
suppression of the right to memory, the oppression of the right to
cultural expression, and the worst manifestation of a powerholder’s
perception of its own limitlessness on controlling societal matters.

To grasp the nature of the destruction, explore the Google-earth
powered Global Heritage Network. The world-known network monitors
hundreds of major archaeological and cultural heritage sites, each
color-coded green (stable), yellow (at risk), red (rescue needed), or
black (destroyed). Luckily, only three monuments on the list are black
– two of which have been destroyed by government. One are the Bamiyan
Buddhas of Afghanistan. The other one are the khachkars of Azerbaijan.

Many have heard of and condemned the Taliban’s 2001 destruction of
the Bamiyan Buddhas, but few have heard the cries of the defenseless
khachkars. On the fifth anniversary of the destruction of 3,000
khachkars, let the bare ground as seen from space be the screams for
a civilization that was and now is not. And let us tell UNESCO –
the organization charged with protecting our global heritage – to
listen to the screams of Djulfa.

From: A. Papazian

FIFA RANKING TABLE LISTS ARMENIA THE 60TH

Panorama
Dec 15 2010
Armenia

FIFA released on 15 December, 2010, World Ranking table reflecting
the teams’ performances at the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa.

Compared with November 17 edition Armenian national team yielded one
position and placed at 60th.

The ranking table starts with world champions Spain and runners-up
the Netherlands continuing to lead the way, followed by semi-finalists
Germany, who have bumped Brazil out of third place.

1. Spain-1887 (score) 2. Netherlands-1723 3. Germany-1485
4. Brazil-1446 5. Argentina-1338 6. England-1195 7. Uruguay-1152
8. Portugal -1090 9. Egypt-1078 10. Croatia-1075 13. Russia-982
20. Slovakia-854 34. Ukraine-702 36. Ireland-681 38. Belarus-660
55. Lithuania-532 60. Armenia-515 73. Georgia-449 76. Macedonia-441
78. Latvia-440 82. Estonia-426 84. Moldova-411 98. Azerbaijan-343
109. Uzbekistan-275 135. Turkmenstan-173 138. Kazakhstan-154
145. Tajikistan-126 174. Kyrgyzstan-50 202. Andorra-2 Rival teams of
Armenia for Europe 2012 selective games are marked.

From: A. Papazian

AMBASSADOR: ASTANA’S STATEMENT ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH IS BREAKTHROUGH IN SETTLEMENT
Trend, V. Zhavoronkova

Trend
Dec 15 2010
Azerbaijan

Kazakh Ambassador to Azerbaijan Serik Primbetov assesses the joint
statement adopted by the presidents of the parties to the conflict –
Armenia and Azerbaijan – as well as the heads of the delegations of
the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries at the Astana summit as
progress in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“It was not easy. The conflict lasted for many years. We understand
all of its complexity,” the ambassador said in the Trend News Agency’s
conference room today.

He added that Astana tried to achieve progress during its tenure as
the head of the OSCE.

“Everyone is waiting for a breakthrough in such conflicts. But they
cannot be solved in one year,” the diplomat said.

The OSCE summit was held in Astana on Dec. 1-2 under Kazakhstan’s
OSCE chairmanship. The summit brought together heads of states and
governments of all OSCE member countries.

During the summit, the presidents of the conflicting countries –
Armenia and Azerbaijan – as well as the heads of the delegations of
the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries, issued a joint statement
calling for a speedy resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the United
States – are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding
regions.

From: A. Papazian

ISKANDARYAN: NO BREAKTHROUGH RECORDED FOR NK CONFLICT SETTLEMENT IN 2010

Panorama
Dec 15 2010
Armenia

No breakthrough was recorded in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the
running year, all the efforts were aimed to keep the status-quo,
political expert Alexander Iskandaryan told reporters making his
remarks for the negotiations over NK conflict.

According to him Russia has significant role in the settlement of NK
conflict and that they also made efforts to protect its status-quo,
which were protested by Minsk Group other co-chairing states.

He said the negotiations are continued by OSCE Minsk Group mediation,
and though no tangible results are recorded, the sides are not against
the negotiations.

From: A. Papazian

HANS JOHAN SCHMIDT. I AND PEOPLE OF GERMANY SIGNIFY SELF-DETERMINATION RIGHT OF NATIONS

Panorama
Dec 15 2010
Armenia

“I greatly signify President Serzh Sargsyan’s speech to Astana
Summit, where three legally equal principles were underscored – right
of nations’ self-determination, non-use of force and territorial
integrity. I totally support Armenia’s disposition, and its clear
demonstration,” Ambassador of Germany to Armenia Hans Johan Schmidt
told reporters today referring to Serzh Sargsyan’s speech delivered
to OSCE Summit.

“Personally me and people of Germany signify the right of
self-determination,” Ambassador of Germany said.

Ambassador signified the pentagonal statement, particularly the part
which urges creation of mutual trust: “Certain events happen which
are evident that Karabakh conflict is not frozen, it is asleep,”
Ambassador said.

From: A. Papazian

Plenary Statement of
RAFFI K. HOVANNISIAN
Member of Parliament and Chairman, Heritage Party
First Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Armenia

At the Sixth General Assembly of ICAPP
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
3 December 2010

Madam Chairwoman, Distinguished Colleagues:

It is my distinct pleasure to represent the Republic of Armenia in
its first official participation in the International Conference of
Asian Political Parties. This tenth-anniversary convocation is an
opportune threshold for Armenia, our ancient Christian nation blessed
recently with renewed sovereign statehood, a source at once of Western
civilization and of Eastern tradition, to join the family of ICAPP
delegates.

We seek together a better tomorrow for Asia and the world beyond.
The compelling interventions that have been offered over the course of
this auspicious meeting have duly outlined the global security,
environmental, socioeconomic and human challenges of the third
millennium. In our collective quest to safeguard equal educational,
employment, healthcare and developmental opportunities for all, it is
imperative not only to underscore the precepts of state sovereignty
and national interests but also the abiding respect for the
fundamental dignity, rights and empowerment of each and every man and
woman in national societies and international affairs.

In this connection and as the grandson of survivors of the Great
Genocide and National Dispossession of the Armenian people at the
hands of the Ottoman Turkish government, I pay tribute to its victims
as well as those of the Holocaust, the Cambodian Genocide and all
other crimes against humanity. Reconciliation must in all cases be
anchored in truth, justice and a liberating redemption. I
congratulate the Cambodian people on the recent, long-belated
conviction of a senior Khmer Rouge officer on the charge of
perpetration of genocide.

On genocide and denialism, we say NEVER AGAIN. They have no
legitimate place at ICAPP and among mankind.

Most unfortunately, the presentation you are about to witness by the
delegate from Azerbaijan, whose regime differs little from the
dictator Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge, promises to give you a living
example of attempted genocide, and then its denial, and then the abuse
of august forums such as this to spread partisan propaganda and so to
blame the victims themselves. I am sure this is nothing new for many
of you here who are the survivors of colonization and genocide,
occupation and oppression.

And you above all know – and have earned through your suffering – the
true value of truth, justice and liberty. The freedom-loving people
of Mountainous Karabagh (Artsakh) have learned the same lessons and
now await the world’s de jure recognition of the identity they have
preserved and the independence they have achieved in the great
Eurasian space.

From this faith no one can shake us.

From: A. Papazian

DISCUSSIONS ON DEMINING IN THE ARMENIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY

14.12.10

First deputy minister of the Republic of Armenia Davit Tonoyan received
regional representative of the International Trust Fund organization
Mr. Luca Baghin and head of the international Organization of Migration
(IOM) in Armenia Miss Ilona Ter-Minasyan.

The ITF and IOM are implementing mine victims’ assistance programs
in Armenia.

The purpose of Mr. Baghin’s visit to Armenia is to develop the
cooperation with the ARM MoD towards humanitarian demining and
providing aid to mine victims. L. Baghin highly evaluated the ARM MoD
reforms in the sphere of humanitarian demining, stating that after
the ARM Humanitarian Demining Center becomes a State Non-commercial
Organization the International Trust Fund can closely cooperate with
the center and provide technical and professional assistance.

During the meeting an agreement was reached to sign a mutual
understanding memorandum between the ITF and the ARM Humanitarian
Demining Center about mutual cooperation.

ARM MoD Department of Information and Public Affairs

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN DEFENCE MINISTER SEYRAN OHANYAN RECEIVES THE DELEGATION FROM THE POLISH MILITARY INDUSTRIAL SECTOR

14.12.10

Armenian (ARM) Defence Minister Seyran Ohanyan received the
delegation headed by president of the Polish Chamber of National
Defence Manufacturers Slawomir Kulakowski, which was in Yerevan from
10th to 14th of December, 2010.

During their visit to Armenia the Polish delegation, which included
representatives from Polish military industrial factories, Air Force
Institute of Technology, and representatives from Polish Industrial
Optical Center (PCO), visited ARM military industrial factories and
met with executives of the sphere.

In a number of areas, which include development of technologies
for improving the means of individual protection of soldiers, and
environmental and situational awareness systems, practical cooperation
agreements were reached, which can serve the Army’s short-term and
medium term needs in increasing the defensive posture.

ARM MoD Department of Information and Public Affairs

From: A. Papazian

WIKILEAKS: MAFIA-STYLE AZERI REGIME FANNING ANTI-ARMENIAN PR
by Emil Sanamyan

Tuesday December 14, 2010

Donald Lu, until recently the top U.S. diplomat in Azerbaijan,
offered a damning portrait of the Aliyev regime. Official photo

Related Articles Aliyev seeks to remain Azerbaijan’s president
indefinitely

Azerbaijan going through electoral motions

Washington – When not busy siphoning off billions in country’s wealth,
spending fortunes on vanity pursuits or fighting domestic opponents,
Azerbaijan’s political elite is actively promoting anti-Armenian
projects, cables from U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan first published by
the Guardian and made available by Wikileaks show.

Three dossiers prepared by former U.S. Charge in Azerbaijan Donald Lu
in 2009 and early 2010 paint an unflattering portrait of Azerbaijan’s
President Ilham Aliyev, his spouse Mehriban and fellow cohorts who
are compared to a mafia that runs the country “in a manner similar
to the feudalism found in Europe during the Middle Ages.”

Lu worked in the Baku embassy since 2007 as deputy chief of mission
and served as acting ambassador from 2009 until his departure last
summer. Between 2001 and 2003 Lu was State Department’s deputy director
for Caucasus and Central Asia; he is now deputy chief of mission at
U.S. Embassy in India.

“Corleone on the Caspian” may rule for decades In one of the more
colorful cables released by Wikileaks and dated September 18, 2009,
Lu cites a U.S. embassy source familiar with Azerbaijan’s regime
practices who likens the Aliyev family to fictional Corleones of
Mario Puzo’s classic “The Godfather.”

According to the source, Ilham Aliyev was less the “reformist” Michael
Corleone that many Western observers initially expected and more like
Vito Corleone’s other more hard-line offspring Sonny (who in Puzo’s
book eventually meets a violent death).

Lu notes that Aliyev demonstrated his “exceedingly thin skin” when
“Radio Liberty had mocked his plan to build the world’s tallest
flagpole in the Baku port area.” The flagpole was installed last
September but its record is currently in jeopardy as Tajikistan is
building a flagpole that is a few meters taller.

The cable also blames Aliyev’s “thin skin” for the widely-publicized
imprisonment of two Azerbaijani bloggers who mocked the government
in a YouTube video. The two were recently released after more than a
year in prison and amid intense U.S. pressure, including in a meeting
between President Obama and Aliyev last September.

Lu’s source who brought up the Corleone comparison suggested that
Ilham’s father and predecessor “Heydar [Aliyev] would never have
allowed himself to be goaded into [such] ridiculous reactions” when
similar situations arose under his rule and that Ilham is “not inclined
to subtlety or deliberation in his response to these kinds of issues.”

(The name of the source was not made public, but source’s description –
“witty, but somewhat past-his-prime” official who worked for Aliyev
senior – is likely to betray the source as Vafa Guluzade, who was
senior presidential advisor between 1991 and 1999. In an earlier cable
Lu identifies Guluzade (or Guluzadeh) as a source that he consults.)

But in Lu’s judgment, compared to his domestic abusiveness, Aliyev
has been more constrained in his foreign policy.

“For all his bluster about Azerbaijan’s legal right to liberate
the Armenian-occupied territories by force, Aliyev has worked
constructively on the Minsk Group-proposed Basic Principles and
developed a reportedly good rapport with Armenian President [Serge]
Sargsian – in contrast to the much more confrontational relationship
between the countries’ foreign ministers,” Lu argues.

“Similarly, even as Aliyev regards with horror the prospect of
Turkey-Armenia rapprochement ahead of Nagorno-Karabakh resolution,”
the cable continued, and Aliyev is highly critical and suspicious of
the Turkish government, he would never seriously contemplate cutting
oil and gas export through Turkey.

Lu concludes that “the rule of 47-year old Ilham Aliyev could
continue for decades,” particularly after elimination of term limits
that “strangled the hopes of any and all pretenders to succession,
including his wife (who in Azeri politics is thought of as a rival
Pashayev, not an Aliyev).”

Luxury shopping, vanity projects, anti-Armenian propaganda In
two subsequent cables written in early 2010, Lu describes two of
Azerbaijan’s most powerful groups that control much of the country’s
economic activity: the Pashayev family of Ilham’s spouse Mehriban,
and the Heydarov family led by long-time Heydar Aliyev loyalist Fattah
Heydarov and his son Kamaleddin, the emergencies minister. (Lu promised
to prepare a third in a series of “Azerbaijan: Who owns what?” about
the Mammadov family led by transport minister Ziya Mammadov.)

In a cable dated January 27, 2010 Lu describes the Pashayevs as
Azerbaijan’s most influential family commanding a “vast empire” of
business interests in real estate, including Baku’s The Four Seasons
and J.W. Marriott franchises, banking, media, and telecommunications,
as well as Baku’s so far only Bentley dealership.

But it is the Heydar Aliyev Foundation that serves as the main
promotional vehicle for Mehriban Aliyeva.

“Much funding [from the Fund] seems to be geared towards efforts to
explain Azerbaijan’s side of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, for example
in the form of books, brochures and other materials describing what
they call a “genocide by Armenia” in the town of Khojali,” Lu writes.

The Foundation has recently advanced moneys to a variety of programs
abroad, including grants to France’s Versailles Palace, the Louvre
Museum and the Cathedrale de Notre Dame de Strasbourg.

From: A. Papazian