Author: Andres-Papazian

ARMENIAN FARMER GIVES FIRST-HAND REPORT OF HOW HE FLED KESSAB: BBC

03.28.2014 10:55 epress.am

A member of the Armenian community of Kassab in Syria spoke to the
BBC about how he was forced to flee from his town several days ago.

“For about the last 3 years we have civilians that keep a lookout to
protect our town. They noticed in the middle of Friday night that
the Turkish army which was on the border left the area. Kessab is
very close to the Turkish border.

“Around 4 am, trucks carrying armed militants started coming from
the Turkish side. We heard gunfire and the militants attacked Syrian
government police posts near the town around 5:30 am. They started
using mortars against these police posts. We heard lots of explosions
near the villages close to the Turkish border.

“We didn’t know at that point who these militants were. After 6:30,
people started understanding what is going on, and they started moving
away from the center of the town. We left our homes without being able
to take anything with us. I didn’t even have time to change my clothes
before leaving. We got a few clothes and took our travel documents
with us. We moved further away from town center and gathered in a
village further away with our cars and motorcycles. Some people went
straight to Latakia. But some others thought that the conflict will
be over soon and they stayed in the villages away from the town center.

There was gunfire and rockets coming from the Turkish side of the
border. I had with me my children, my 88-year-old father, and my
mother, who has cancer. We were one of the first people who left the
town. We didn’t have many problems travelling to Latakia. We went
through many villages of different ethnicities. There has never been
any conflict in our area until very recently.

“More people left Kassab for Latakia after 24 hours. The point where
we all met was an Armenian church in Latakia. Armenians in Latakia
have been hosting us in their houses.

“There are still some 50 elderly people who stayed in the town. When I
tried to contact our neighbors in the town from their landline phones,
they were answered by some people who didn’t speak local Arabic. They
were telling us ‘God is great’ in Arabic. I heard that there were
some Tunisian and Chechen militants among them.”

Kessab, an Armenian-populated town in northwestern Syria, was
the target of militant attacks, resulting in a max exodus of its
inhabitants. Earlier, Asbarez.com reported that 80 people had died
as a result of the armed incursion. There is no official information
regarding the number of Armenian deaths.

From: A. Papazian

“PERINCEK V. SWITZERLAND” CASE, GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL AND POSSIBLE IMPLICATIONS FOR ARMENIA

Friday 28 March 2014 09:32
Photo: REUTERS

Dogu Perincek, leader of the Workers

“Perincek v. Switzerland” case which has been in court for about 8
years has recently taken a new turn. Swiss authorities resolved to
appeal to the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) decision made on
December 17, 2013, which stated that the Armenian Genocide’s denial
by the leader of Workers’ Party of Turkey Dogu Perincek is not a crime.

The trial is gaining a new character due to the Armenian Genocide’s
Centennial in 2015 and Armenian experts think it a challenge for
Armenia.

According to Senior Research Fellow at Institute of Oriental Studies
of Armenian National Academy of Sciences Vahram Ter-Matevosyan, the
ECHR’s decision was unexpected for the Armenian side while Turkey
was directly involved in the court trial.

“At first, Armenia’s position was that the ECHR’s December 17 verdict
in legal and procedural terms didn’t directly concern Armenia and
consequently, official Yerevan couldn’t be involved in the process.

Taking into consideration the Switzerland’s decision to appeal the
verdict and the work done by Armenia, Diaspora bodies and particular
persons to this end, we can say now that the previous stance – not
to take part in the process – turned out to be unproductive. Before
the verdict, it seemed the ECHR couldn’t make a decision in favor
of Perincek as our stance was fair. And we again realized that only
through coordinated actions of Armenia, Diaspora and particular
persons can we reach a result”, he said to Mediamax.

At the same time, the expert noted that we should keep being alert
as first of all, the appeal may be turned down and secondly, it
goes without saying that Turkey won’t twiddle its thumbs. Besides,
it’s quite possible the process of appealing may last rather long
and it’s important not to lose control over the process.

“Ahead of the Genocide Centennial, the process linked to ECHR’s
verdict will be considered a challenge. Will we be able to really
push the process to the right direction or will we have to just make
regrets and blames? We should define our agenda by discarding our
habit of responding or acting only at the very last moment”, noted
Vahram Ter-Matevosyan.

Several days after the decision was announced, Armenia hailed
Switzerland’s initiative on the high level calling it “encouraging”.

President Serzh Sargsyan expressed confidence that the European Court
for Human Rights will make the decision which won’t offend the memory
of millions of people who fell victim to genocides.

Doctor of Law of Paris X-Nanterre University and Geneva University
Sevane Gharibyan noted in her interview toMediamax that ECHR Grand
Chamber must first make a decision on the acceptance or rejection of
the Swiss request for referral.

“This is the crucial next step as such referral requests are seldom
accepted when the cases are considered serious. For instance, since
2011 Switzerland had request a referral in 4 cases aside from the
Perincek case and only one was accepted”, noted the expert.

“From a legal point of view, the confirmation of the court decision
made on December 17, 2013 will create a serious problem: it would
validate unequal treatment of victims of genocide or crimes against
humanity in the light of distinction set by the ECHR between denial
of Armenian Genocide and Holocaust of Jews. Meanwhile, Article 261
of the Swiss Criminal Law is intended precisely to avoid this kind
of unequal treatment and any form of hierarchy between genocides and
crimes against humanity or their denials”, noted Sevane Gharibyan
talking toMediamax.

She also stressed that many NGOs , as well as international well-known
genocide scholars, and also worldwide Armenian Diaspora communities,
came forward to support the request to refer the Perincek case to the
Grand Chamber, because this support coming from around the world was
very important and has highlighted the need of a re-examination of
the case.

“If the referral request of the case is accepted, it will allow “third
parties” to intervene in the proceedings. The Turkish government which
has until now supported Dogu Perincek in this case, will undoubtedly
try to interfere. It seems to me at this stage extremely important,
not to say decisive, that “third parties” also intervene in support
of Switzerland. They may be Switzerland-Armenia Association and NGOs
struggling against racism, and / or the Government of Armenia. That
will also be a good moment for Armenia to do so and to be heard. Such
a request for intervention would be a strong symbolic and political
move, which I believe to be essential”, stressed Sevane Gharibyan.

As one of the most outstanding Turkish nationalists, Dogu Perincek
was arrested on “Ergenekon” case in 2008 and was sentenced to life
imprisonment without the possibility of parole. However, he was
released upon the court’s decision on March 10, 2014.

Secretary General of European Friends of Armenia NGO Eduardo Lorenzo
Ochoa noted that “the unfair verdict will have negative outcomes for
all those who stand for human rights and human dignity”.

“On the one hand, the ECHR was guided with the freedom of expression
of Mr. Perincek in Switzerland. On the other hand, the Armenian
Genocide is unanimously recognized by the international community
of historians as a regrettable historical fact. The unfair verdict
would mostly undermine the public trust toward ECHR as a structure
which made a decision contradicting not only the historical fact but
the Rome Statute of International Criminal Court according to which
“crime of genocide” is recognized one of the 4 most serious crimes of
concern of the whole international community”, said EuFoA Secretary
General in his interview to Mediamax.

Though the ECHR December 17 verdict contains a reference to the
recognition of Spanish and French Constitutional Courts ( in 2007
and 2012 respectively) of draft laws on criminalization of Armenian
Genocide’s denials not relevant to their Constitutions , there are
rumors in the media on recurrent introduction of the similar bill
into the agenda of the French Senate. Experts believe it may take
place before the visit of the French President Francois Holland to
Armenia scheduled for May 2014.

Dossier

In March 2007, Turkish nationalist Dogu Perincek became the first man
to be convicted of Genocide’s denial in Switzerland. During various
conferences in the country in 2005, he called Armenian Genocide
“international lie” and Switzerland -Armenia Association sued him in
court under the article on racist discrimination.

Over the court sessions, the Turkish nationalist stuck to his stance
stating that “he didn’t deny the Genocide as there was no Genocide”.

As a result, on March 9, 2007, Swiss District Court recognized his
violation of law and sentenced to a penalty of 12 000 Swiss franks. In
the same year, Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland confirmed the
decision and Perincek stated that he would appeal it to ECHR. As a
result of trials which lasted for several years, the Court decided
that “Criminal conviction for denial that the atrocities perpetrated
against the Armenian people in 1915 and years after constituted
genocide was unjustified”.

Under the ECHR decision “the free exercise of the right to openly
discuss questions of a sensitive and controversial nature was one of
the fundamental aspects of freedom of expression and distinguished
a tolerant and pluralistic democratic society from a totalitarian or
dictatorial regime”.

ECHR also clearly distinguished between denial of Armenian Genocide
and Jewish Genocide noting that there are very concrete historical
facts concerning the latter such as existence of gas cameras.

Turkish Foreign Ministry hailed ECHR’s decision calling it milestone
for “the protection of the freedom of expression which is the
fundamental element of societies committed to freedom, democracy and
the rule of law”.

“It is clear that the judgment of the ECtHR is an important warning
against attempts both to politicize history and law and against
initiatives aimed at having a one-sided view of history registered
through the use of law”, the Turkish Foreign Ministry’s statement
read this.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry didn’t officially respond to ECHR’s
verdict. However, experts expressed apprehensions that it may become
a precedent for making similar decisions in future as well.

After the court’s verdict which called the Swiss law violation of the
freedom of expression, Switzerland had 3 months to appeal it and Bern
enforced the right.

Aram Araratyan

From: A. Papazian

LE PARLEMENT APPROUVE LES PLANS POUR UN NOUVEL ORGANE D’INVESTIGATION

ARMENIE

Le Parlement armenien a approuve les plans du president Serge
Sarkissian de mettre en place une nouvelle et puissante agence charge
de mener des enquetes criminelles.

Serge Sarkissian avait revele ces plans en Septembre formant dans la
foulee une commission ad hoc qui a elabore un ensemble de modifications
pertinentes des lois armeniennes. La commission a ete dirigee par
Aghvan Hovsepian, l’ancien procureur general de l’Armenie.

Il est etait initialement prevu que le nouvel organisme integrerait
les divisions de la police, du ministère de la Defense, le Service
de la securite nationale, le Service Special d’Investigation (SIS)
et le Comite national des impôts (SRC) specialisee dans la conduite
des enquetes criminelles.

Cependant, dans la version finale du projet de loi adopte par
l’Assemblee nationale en première lecture, seuls les services d’enquete
de la police et du ministère de la Defense seront integres en un
seul organisme. Davit Harutiunian, le president de la commission
parlementaire des affaires juridiques, a declare que les autorites
attendre deux ou trois ans pour voir si elle devrait etre elargie et
avoir plus de pouvoirs.

S’exprimant au cours d’un debat parlementaire sur le projet de loi,
Harutiunian n’a pas nie qu’Hovsepian, qui a demissionne plus tôt en
Septembre, est le meilleur candidat pour la gestion de ce nouveau
corps de repression. Nikol Pashinian, un depute de l’opposition
qui a ete emprisonne pendant le mandat de Hovsepian, a affirme
que Serge Sarkissian a decide de creer le corps pour s’assurer que
l’ex-procureur influent ne reste pas au chômage et ne rejoigne ses
adversaires politiques.

>,
a declare Pashinian devant le parlement. >. > a ajoute le depute sous la forme de moquerie.

> a insiste Harutiunian. >.

Le nouveau service de securite sera essentiellement calque sur les
commissions d’enquete de la Russie. Hovsepian a rejete la speculation
en decembre que Serge Sarkissian n’a aligne la structure avec ses
plans pour que l’Armenie fasse partie de l’Union Douanière et plus
tard de l’Union Eurasienne.

vendredi 28 mars 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

National News Agency Lebanon (NNA)
March 27, 2014 Thursday

Assad receives letter from Armenian counterpart condemning attacks on
Kassab village

NNA – Syrian President, Bashar Assad, received on Thursday a letter
from his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sargsyan, hereby condemning the
“Turkey-backed terrorist attacks on Kassab village in Latakia.” An
Armenian parliamentary delegation conveyed the message to Assad today.

Sargsyan also thanked the Syrian state “for the efforts it is exerting
to protect all its citizens.” For his part, Assad expressed
appreciation for his counterpart’s “objective stances and support for
Syria’s stability.” He warned of the dangers of terrorism and
extremism backed by the West and some regional countries.

From: A. Papazian

Canadian Government News
March 26, 2014 Wednesday

Persecution of Christian Armenians and Alawites in the Syrian region of Kassab

Ottawa

Office of the MP Jim karygiannis, Canadian Government has issued the
following news release:

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P.
Prime Minister of Canada
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6

Dear Prime Minister:

I am writing to ask for your immediate action in regards to the urgent
consequences concerning the Syrian Armenian community of Kassab. The
Armenian-populated region of Kassab has been the location of a recent
attack in Syrian territory from Turkey by Al Qaeda linked fighters.

The region of Kassab is an ancient Armenian area of Cilicia. The area
has been populated by Armenian population for over one thousand years.
Although the region has been under disputes by various countries, the
inhabitants have been persecuted through different regimes. The people
of the area have lived there until this week’s evacuation. The
Armenian Christian had to completely flee the region.

Al Qaeda has taken control of Kassab and the surrounding Christian and
Alawite villages. They are threatening to kill all Christians and
Alawites found in those communities.

Canada must take all possible measures in its power and act to prevent
a humanitarian catastrophe. Canada must ask all sides to immediately
respect the inhabitants of the region and allow them to return to
their homes.

There are reports that the perpetrators entered from the Turkish
border into the region. Canada should ask Turkey to secure its border
and prevent any incursions into the area. Depriving Al Qaeda of its
safe havens and removing the element of religious extremism and ethnic
hatred from the conflict, this will allow the people of region to
choose their destiny without fear that a change in government would
lead to genocide of its Christian and Alawite population.

Canada should take a principal stand and assist the evacuated
population of Kassab which is now living in difficult circumstances.

Canada must act now to prevent further complications in the region

Yours sincerely,

Regards, Hon. Jim Karygiannis M.P

For further information please visit:

From: A. Papazian

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey
March 26 2014

PRESS RELEASE REGARDING RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN LATAKIA / KESAP AND
UNFOUNDED ALLEGATIONS IN THE PRESS ON THIS MATTER

The following information was released by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of the Republic of Turkey:

The allegations by some circles that Turkey is providing support to
the opposition forces by letting them use its territory or through
some other ways during the conflict which have intensified recently in
the Latakia/Kesab region are totally unfounded and untrue.

We consider the efforts of such circles, moving from these claims, to
draw an analogy between the developments in the Kesab region and the
painful incidents of the past as a confrontational political
propaganda attempt and particularly condemn it.

Turkey is the country most affected by the conflict caused by the
policy of violence and aggression of the regime in Syria which left
its mark on the past three years. On the one hand, we have been trying
to eliminate the threats and attacks against our national security as
was the case on 23 March, on the other hand, we have been mobilizing
all our capability to do what is required by international
humanitarian law and common conscience with regard to embracing all
Syrians who fled from the atrocities of the regime, regardless of
their ethnic, religious or sectarian background.

In this context, about 800 thousand Syrians are being curently
provided shelter in Turkey and efforts are being made to meet all
their needs to the extent possible.

In accordance with its humanitarian and conscientious responsibility,
Turkey notified the relevant UN bodies that Syrian Armenians residing
in Kesep region could be admitted in Turkey too and protection could
be provided to them. Also, the representatives of the Armenian
community were informed of the matter through official channels.
Contacts on this issue are underway. Necessary steps will be taken to
meet the needs of Syrian Armenians as is the case for all other
Syrians.

Bu SayfayÄ YazdÄr

From: A. Papazian

The New York Times
March 29 2014

U.N. Official Denounces Syria on Aid Access

By SOMINI SENGUPTAMARCH 28, 2014

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations chief of emergency relief was
unusually forthright on Friday in criticizing the Syrian government’s
blocking of humanitarian aid, pointing to its denials of access and
continued use of barrel bombs — both blatant violations of
international law.

Valerie Amos, undersecretary general for emergency relief, spoke to
reporters after briefing the 15-member Security Council about how the
warring parties in Syria have complied with the council’s Feb. 22
resolution ordering the unimpeded flow of aid.

Ms. Amos did not say which side deserved more blame. She did say that
“the continued withholding of consent” was “arbitrary and
unjustified,” clearly suggesting that she considered it illegal. And
in a 14-page report presented to the council earlier this week, her
office cited examples of the Syrian government’s noncooperation:
Repeated requests for permission for aid convoys to enter border
crossings have been ignored, food aid has been held up at checkpoints,
and medicines have even been removed from aid trucks.

But on Friday, she also pointed to opposition transgressions. A
rebel-led offensive near the border with Turkey, she said, caused
thousands of people to flee, including members of the minority
Armenian community.

The Syrian ambassador, Bashar al-Jaafari, praised Ms. Amos for noting
violations by the rebels, but demanded angrily that they be referred
to as terrorists, not opposition forces.

Still, neither the report nor Ms. Amos’s remarks contained much praise
for the government. Ms. Amos said United Nations aid agencies had been
able to reach only 6 percent of the more than 200,000 people living in
besieged areas, and her report stated that the bulk of the besieged
had been cut off by the government.

Ms. Amos noted, too, that after months of negotiations, the government
had opened only one border crossing, and only for a few days, to allow
the delivery of food and aid to the northern part of the country, near
Turkey.

“I told the council that we need to see a significant step change in
the speed and scale of humanitarian aid if we are to save lives and
keep pace with the ever-growing needs,” she said.

Council members were less forceful on what they would do, and several
Western diplomats who had threatened to pursue additional measures if
the warring parties defied the legally binding resolution were more
subdued on Friday. Russia would veto any action that singled out the
Syrian government for noncompliance.

Samantha Power, the American ambassador to the United Nations,
expressed frustration, saying, “There’s nothing that I can do and that
we can do unilaterally to make the council do what we want.”

Vitaly I. Churkin, the Russian envoy, who had agreed to the resolution
only after automatic enforcement language was stripped out, said
before the meeting that “progress” had been made on allowing access.

From: A. Papazian

The Atlantic
March 29 2014

The World’s Post-Crimea Power Blocs, Mapped

What does this week’s UN vote say about Russia’s new place in the world?

Matt FordMar 29 2014, 12:16 PM ET

The United Nations General Assembly voted to condemn Russia’s
violation of Ukrainian territorial integrity this week in the first
vote by the body since Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula.
The non-binding resolution passed with 100 countries in favor, 58
abstentions, and a smattering of delegations not present. Fewer than a
dozen countries voted against it, including Russia. As the first test
of global opinion since the Ukrainian crisis began, what can we
discern from the tally about post-Crimea realignments in world power?

The vote gave Western countries a chance to demonstrate the unity they
have sometimes lacked as the Crimean crisis has unfolded. Every
European Union member state and most of its candidates for membership
voted for the resolution, as did the entire memberships of NATO, the
G-7, and the OECD, except for Israel.

Only 11 countries voted against the resolution: Russia, Armenia,
Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, North Korea, Nicaragua, Sudan, Syria,
Venezuela, and Zimbabwe. A veritable rogues’ gallery of U.S. foreign
policy, the “No” bloc is scattered across the globe; only Belarus and
Russia share a border.

Among the Nos, all but Armenia are longtime U.S. opponents and
authoritarian or authoritarian-leaning states. Belarus, the last
dictatorship in Europe, unsurprisingly backed Russia, with which it
shares deep economic and political ties. Cuba, Sudan, and Syria are
listed as state sponsors of terrorism by the U.S. government. The
Reagan administration fought a proxy war against members of the ruling
Nicaraguan government in the 1980s, while Venezuela and Bolivia are
staunchly leftist opponents of American neoliberalism and
interventionism. North Korea, for its part, spent most of the Crimean
crisis conducting missile tests in an ongoing campaign to demonstrate
strength and deter the West.

Armenia’s “no” vote is something of a surprise. The country recently
backed out of signing an association agreement with the EU and opened
negotiations to join the Russia-dominated Commonwealth of Independent
States’ customs union instead. Ukraine recently recalled its
ambassador from Yerevan after Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan told
Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call last week that the
Crimean referendum was “another case of exercise of peoples’ right to
self-determination via free expression of will.” In response, the
Armenian Foreign Ministry announced that the country would abstain
from voting on the UN resolution one day before voting against it.
What led to its change of heart is unclear.

Four of the five BRICS countries–Brazil, India, China, and South
Africa–chose to not take a side.

The abstentions are also worth exploring. Four of the five BRICS
countries–Brazil, India, China, and South Africa–chose to not take a
side on the resolution, as did many African, South American, and Asian
countries. Some observers argue that the abstentions show a wariness
among developing nations to choose sides in a confrontation between
Russia and the West. “India and China have deep reservations on
sovereignty and territorial integrity and in the past have not
hesitated to slam US for Libya, Syria etc.,” wrote The Times of India
after the vote. “With Russia doing exactly the same thing, the dilemma
in the developing world is acute.” Other countries avoided
participating in the vote altogether, including Iran, one of Russia’s
closest allies, and Israel, one of America’s.

While a 100-11 margin in favor of international condemnation might
seem damning, Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s UN ambassador, doesn’t see it
that way. “Many countries complained that they were subjected to
enormous pressure from Western powers to ensure that they vote to
support the resolution,” the diplomat told reporters after the vote.
“Probably, this pressure tactic, which our Western colleagues use, has
produced a result, and some countries voted reluctantly.”

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But Russia also directed “political blackmail and economic threats” at
countries within its sphere of influence in the lead-up to the vote,
UN diplomats told Reuters, including Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan,
and a number of African countries. Moldova ultimately voted ‘yes,’
while Kyrgyzstan abstained and Tajikistan did not appear at the vote.

“Nevertheless, I think the result is quite good for us,” Churkin
added. “We have won [a] certain moral and political victory.”

From: A. Papazian

US Official News
March 28, 2014 Friday

Statement of U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (MA-02) on the situation in Kessab

Washington

Office of the House of Representative Jim MC Govern, U.S Government
has issued the following news release:

“I strongly condemn the brutal attacks on the Armenian-populated town
of Kessab by al-Qaeda affiliated armed bands. I am deeply saddened by
the news of 80 lost lives and remain concerned for the fate of those
who were forced to flee the area. This massacre underscores the
particular vulnerability of Christian and other minorities in Syria
and is another example of the atrociousness and endless cruelty of the
Syrian conflict. Further, I am deeply concerned by the reports that
these attacks allegedly originated in Turkey and demand that the
United States and international community conduct a thorough and
critical investigation of these claims.”

From: A. Papazian

Targeted News Service
March 28, 2014 Friday 9:42 PM EST

‘Clara Barton: Our Angel, Too’ Children’s Book Presentation with
Varduhi Varderesyan

YEREVAN, Armenia

The U.S. Embassy issued the following news release:

On March 28, U.S. Ambassador John Heffern presented the children’s
book “Clara Barton: Our Angel, Too” at the Khnko-Aper National
Children’s Library. Armenian actress Varduhi Varderesyan joined the
Ambassador in reading the book to 40 school children from Yerevan. The
event is the culmination of the U.S. Embassy’s month-long celebration
of Women’s History, which celebrates their significant contributions
to communities all over the world.

Clara Barton was a visionary leader and American hero who shaped
American history and received international recognition for her hard
work. In addition to being an educator and nurse during the U.S. Civil
War, she founded the American Red Cross in 1881. The relief efforts of
this remarkable woman saved at least 50,000 Armenian lives at the end
of the 19th Century.

The book was developed based on Clara Barton’s biography. The U.S.
Embassy is providing this inspiring book free of charge to libraries
and schools.

From: A. Papazian