Author: Andres-Papazian

L’ARMENIE POINTE A NOUVEAU L’AZERBAIDJAN POUR SON > DE DISCOURS DE HAINE ET DE PROPAGANDE DE GUERRE

ARMENIE

Le discours de haine et la propagande de guerre contre l’Armenie et les
Armeniens au plus haut niveau en Azerbaïdjan se traduit souvent par
l’escalade de la situation et la perte de vies innocentes, a accuse
le ministre armenien des Affaires etrangères Edouard Nalbandian lors
d’une declaration faite a partir d’une tribune internationale.

S’adressant a la reunion de haut niveau du Conseil des Nations Unies
pour les droits de l’homme a Genève, Eduard Nalbandian, en particulier,
a mis l’accent sur l’irrecevabilite de la propagande de haine sur la
base raciale, ethnique ou religieuse qui cree des risques menant a
ce qui existe de plus dangereux.

> a declare Edouard
Nalbandian.

Le diplomate armenien de haut rang a rappele que la Commission
europeenne contre le racisme et l’intolerance (ECRI) dans son rapport
sur l’Azerbaïdjan a note avec une profonde preoccupation la version .

Le ministre armenien des Affaires etrangères a egalement parle du
droit des peuples a l’autodetermination. > a-t-il souligne.

S’exprimant sur la situation en Syrie, Edouard Nalbandian s’est
felicite de l’adoption a l’unanimite par le Conseil de securite de
la resolution qui parle de la necessite urgente d’accroître l’accès
de l’aide humanitaire en Syrie, appelant a cesser immediatement les
attaques contre les civils et lever le siège de zones peuplees. > a declare Nalbandian.

Le ministre des Affaires etrangères armenien a rappele que le 7 Mars
au Conseil des droits de l’homme se reunira un panel de haut niveau a
l’occasion du 65e anniversaire de la Convention sur la prevention et la
repression du crime de genocide. Il a note que le groupe est organise
en conformite avec les exigences de cette resolution et a appele tous
les Etats membres a participer activement a ce debat important.

lundi 10 mars 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

SARKISSIAN VEUT UN ACCORD AVEC L’UE COMPATIBLE AVEC L’UNION DOUANIERE

Cooperation

Serge Sarkissian a reaffirme son engagement declare a un partenariat
plus etroit avec l’Union europeenne, mais a laisse entendre qu’il
doit etre > avec l’adhesion prochaine de l’Armenie a
l’Union douanière.

Sarkissian est reste prudent : il n’a pas utilise le terme > lors de son discours a un sommet du
Parti populaire europeen a Dublin jeudi soir. Il a plutôt parle de
” politique pour completer et harmoniser les interets ” de son
gouvernement dans des partenaires etrangers.

” Nous apprecions l’aide que l’Union europeenne et ses Etats membres
ont donne a l’Armenie pour son developpement socio-economique et
institutionnel, le renforcement de nos organismes gouvernementaux,
la reforme du secteur public, la lutte contre la corruption et la
reduction de la pauvrete “, a declare Sarkissian. ” Il y a environ
deux semaines, le Conseil de securite national de l’Armenie a approuve
un plan d’action pour la cooperation entre l’Armenie et l’UE en 2014
et 2015. ”

” Nous sommes determines a poursuivre nos efforts vers la recherche de
mecanismes de cooperation efficaces avec l’UE, qui seront le reflet de
l’essence des discussions precedentes que nous avons eues avec l’UE
et qui seront compatibles avec les autres formats de cooperation “,
a t-il ajoute dans une reference claire a la Union douanière.

Sarkissian a decide contre toute attente de rejoindre le bloc dirige
par la Russie en août dernier et est depuis desireux d’accelerer le
processus d’adhesion. Un fonctionnaire armenien a declare la semaine
dernière qu’Erevan repondra a toutes les exigences legislatives et
administratives a l’adhesion a l’Union douanière d’ici un mois.

Ce changement de politique etrangère a dejoue un accord d’association
de grande envergure entre l’Armenie et l’UE, qui devait etre finalisee
en novembre. L’UE a propose de signer des accords similaires avec
cinq autres ex-republiques sovietiques couverts par son programme
Partenariat oriental.

” Ce partenariat vise a surmonter enfin les clivages “, a declare
Sarkissian lors d’une reunion du PPE de haut niveau tenue en Moldavie
en juillet 2013, moins de deux mois avant sa volte-face largement
imputee a une forte pression russe.

Sarkissian a souligne la necessite de prevenir de telles divisions
dans son discours a Dublin. ” Comme par le passe, nous croyons que
l’expansion et l’approfondissement des relations avec un partenaire ne
devrait pas entraîner l’emergence de nouvelles lignes de demarcation
“, a t-il dit sans entrer dans les details.

Le leader armenien a egalement denonce le blocus economique turc
de l’Armenie et a accuse Ankara de poursuivre une “politique
xenophobe” vers son pays. Il a continue a accuser implicitement
l’Europe de tolerer ” des manifestations du fascisme” dans les
declarations publiques des dirigeants azerbaïdjanais sur le conflit
du Haut-Karabagh.

lundi 10 mars 2014, Claire (c)armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

MSN New Zeland News
March 9 2014

Ivory auction breaks French record

French auction of legal ivory broke has broken records with prices
reaching up to 1,000 euros a kilogram, according to Alexander Debussy,
associate director of auction house Cannes Encheres.

All of the lots were acquired before 1976 – the only type of ivory
that can be legally sold since a global ban on the trade in 1989.

The top lot – two tusks weighing 120kg from an elephant that was “shot
in 1966 by an Italian fighter in Kenya” – went to a wealthy Qatari for
125,000 euros, the auction house said.

An Armenian collector paid almost 69,000 euros for another lot, which
included two tusks around 2.3 metres long from an elephant killed in
the Central African Republic in the 1960s.

All in all, 600kg of ivory, made up of 47 tusks separated into 27
lots, went under the hammer for a total of 520,000 euros.

“The selling price for these lots was around 800-1,000 euros per kilo,
compared to an estimated price of between 300 and 500 euros per kilo,”
said Debussy.

Many of the lots were sold by people who have spent their lives in
Africa but who, after retiring to the French Riviera, need to
supplement their pension, said Debussy.

“Often they are very attached to the tusks, which are souvenirs of
their life there,” said the agent, who specialises in this type of
sale.

Last month France crushed three tonnes of illegal ivory worth an
estimated one million euros in a ceremony at the foot of the Eiffel
Tower, the first major crushing ceremony in Europe since the global
ban.

Elephants are being massacred to produce ivory that is in high demand
in the rapidly-growing economies of Asia, particularly China and
Thailand.

Chinese buyers are very keen on ivory goods because “in China, it is a
sign of wealth” said Debussy, adding that “brokers from all over
Europe attended the sale”.

One Chinese buyer set another record, paying 62,500 euros for a pair
of tusks from the Central African Republic.

From: A. Papazian

Expert: Erdogan’s “support” of the Crimea policy of Russia is
conflicting with the state approach of Turkey

by David Stepanyan

Monday, March 3, 15:00

Turkish Prime Minister Receyp Erdogan’s “support” of the Crimea policy
of Russia has nothing in common with the state approach of Turkey,
Turkologist, Artak Shakaryan, told ArmInfo correspondent.

On 2 March when commenting on Moscow’s intention to bring troops into
the Crimea, Turkish premier said that Moscow was right in the matter
of the Crimea, as it protects its national interests.

“The statement by Erdogan is in direct conflict with the Kiev
statement of Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, which did not
say about observing of Russia’s interests in the Crimea. So, the
pro-Russian statements of the Turkish premier continue his
anti-American line after the corruption scandal in Ankara on 17

December around the ruling AKP and the premier, initiated by the
American secret services, as Erdogan thinks. In other words, by
protection Russia Erdogan is trying to discredit the USA and Europe in
general”, – he said.

From: A. Papazian

Western leaders cannot face a ‘looming’ war. So I guess they’ll patch
something up – and let Russia gobble part of Ukraine

ROBERT FISK

Sunday 9 March 2014

The Russkies are not going to be shaking in their boots at sanctions

For some reason, our last century’s two world wars started rather far
from home. I bet that most people in January 1914 couldn’t find
Sarajevo on a map. But then again, how many of us – really, I mean –
could have found Simferopol on a map a year ago? Or three weeks ago,
for that matter? The Second World War started because Britons simply
wouldn’t take another crooked deal like Czechoslovakia – “a faraway
country between people of whom we know nothing”, in which our Neville
at least put distance in front of ignorance. So Poland it was, which,
by awful mischance, shares a border with modern-day Ukraine.

And this really is, I fear, the sort of grim, only slightly understood
consciousness that we can’t let Poland/Ukraine down again, that we
can’t let Putin threaten little Ukraine as we let Hitler threaten and
invade Poland. Poland is on Ukraine’s doorstep – it’s funny how we get
upset about countries that are “on our doorstep” – that’s what we said
about Bosnia in the 1990s, as if those horrible Bosnians and Croats
and Serbs did not deserve to have our door opened for them. They were
in the backyard, I suspect, no privies, you know the sort of thing.

But, of course, Putin is not Hitler and it would be well to try to get
the Second World War out of our bloodstream – not least because we
have the First World War coursing through our corpuscles this year,
and besides the Russians were on our side in the last war and in the
war before that (for a time). So were the Serbs. But what struck me,
watching all the EU spivs looking serious in Brussels last week, is
that these people have no experience of war and somehow think that
once they have made their threats, they can all go home and forget
“the crisis”. I admit I am much moved by a newspaper headline in
Beirut last week that began: “War looms…” Well, let’s hope not.

And the “crisis” or the war “looming” in the Ukraine is of great
interest to someone who lives not a hundred miles from my home:
President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who will have been much relieved
to see Putin leap to the rescue of Russian Ukraine as firmly as he did
for Syria. Indeed, Assad, according to his government, has even sent a
telegram to Putin – do people still send “telegrams”, by the way? – in
which he “expressed … Syria’s solidarity with Putin’s efforts to
restore security and stability to Ukraine in the face of attempted
coups against legitimacy and democracy in favour of radical
terrorists”. Syria was committed, Assad said, to “President Putin’s
rational, peace-loving approach that seeks to establish a global
system supporting stability and fighting”.

Ukraine crisis: Is Russia moving in?
1 of 12

Next

And Assad praised Putin’s “wise political leadership and commitment to
international legitimacy based on the law that governs ties between
nations and peoples”. Phew. Well, we got the point. Assad liked what
he saw in Simferopol, although I notice he didn’t say anything about
the ousted Viktor Yanukovich – and I’m not surprised. The Ukrainian
leader did a bunk out of his own country. Assad did not run away.
Putin, I suspect, will have liked that, just as Putin will have
enjoyed the fact that Madame Clinton, Obama himself, David Cameron and
Messieurs Hollande and Sarkozy – all of whom said years ago that Assad
would go, was about to go or virtually gone – were totally wrong.

So what did I really think when I saw all these folk meeting in
Brussels? I was reminded of a wonderful description of a British
politician. It was written by Lawrence of Arabia and I take it from a
fine new book on him by Scott Anderson. The man in question was “the
imaginative advocate of unconvincing world movements … a bundle of
prejudices, intuitions, half-sciences. His ideas were of the outside,
and he lacked patience to test his materials before choosing his style
of building. He would take an aspect of the truth, detach it from its
circumstances, inflate it, twist and model it.” The politician was
Mark Sykes of Sykes-Picot infamy, trying to be nice to everyone.

READ MORE: MARY DEJEVSKY: F WE TREAT VLADIMIR PUTIN AS A LEADER WHO
WANTS TO GRAB RUSSIA’S EMPIRE BACK, WE WILL BE INVITING HIM TO DO
EXACTLY THAT

PATRICK COCKBURN: TO SEE WHAT UKRAINE’S FUTURE MAY BE, JUST LOOK AT
LVIV’S SHAMEFUL PAST

But lest you think Sykes was too removed from our time, try this from
the mouth of another British politician: “However much we may
sympathise with a small nation confronted by a big and powerful
neighbour, we cannot in all circumstances undertake to involve the
whole British Empire (for which read “the EU”) in war simply on her
account.” Our Neville again, of course, in 1938.

Makes you draw in your breath a bit, doesn’t it? The Russkies are not
going to be shaking in their boots at sanctions. Punishing Russians
and Ukrainians involved in Russia’s move into the Crimea will be a
“useful tool”, said Obama – though why the US President has to use the
language of computer geeks to threaten Moscow is beyond me. But that’s
what it’s all about, isn’t it? We can’t have war “looming”. It would
destroy all our internets and computers and live-time news and
globalisation and “tools”. It might even destroy us! Read that line
again, the one from our Neville. They’ll patch something up, a
political gig to let Russia gobble part of Ukraine but still calling
it a federated republic. Pity about the Tatars. Peace in our time.

As the Armenians will testify, we have been here before

On the subject of Ukraine, you might – if you happen to be passing
through Beirut – pick up two hefty volumes by Katia Peltekian, an
Armenian researcher who specialises in publishing news reports about
the 1915 Armenian genocide at the hands of the Turks. The Times and
The Manchester Guardian gave extensive coverage to the century’s first
Holocaust – some of the young German military witnesses turned up in
the Wehrmacht in Russia less than 30 years later – and Peltekian has
captured most of these reports in 976 pages.

What is most intriguing is the way in which the Great Powers lost
interest in the one and a half million Armenian dead almost as soon as
the 1914-18 war had ended. The Times was filled with heartbreaking
letters from Armenians and the British society which supported them,
pleading with the British and French and the Italians and the
Americans – pretty much the same lot who were rambling on in Brussels
last week – to let them have a nation that included part of eastern
Turkey. Be patient, the Armenians were told. They had already been
scattered across the Middle East, but were still being killed inside
Turkey itself. Some found refuge in Russia. And some in the Ukraine

From: A. Papazian

US Official News
March 7, 2014 Friday

Washington: SPEECH OF HON. FRANK PALLONE, JR. OF NEW JERSEY IN THE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2014

Washington

The Library of Congress, The Government of USA has issued the following Speech:

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to commemorate the Sumgait pogroms.
The Sumgait pogroms consisted of the murder of hundreds of Armenians,
making it a particularly atrocious event in a long history of
hostility against the Armenian people. I would like to recognize the
anniversary of the Sumgait pogroms and remind all of us that it is our
duty to act when a people are targeted with violence. Our commitment
to remembering this injustice strengthens our determination to obtain
peace.

In 1988, hundreds of Armenians were brutally murdered, some of them
burned alive and thrown from windows. Women and children were raped
and maimed by Azerbaijani rioters. Apartments were robbed, shops
demolished, and thousands of people became refugees. Despite Sumgait’s
proximity to Baku, police turned a blind eye to this dire situation,
allowing the pogroms to go on for three days. And since that time,
authorities in Azerbaijan have sought to erase all traces of these
crimes. Yet, the Congressional Armenian Issues Caucus is resolutely
committed to ensure that those Armenians who lost their lives are not
forgotten.

I ask my colleagues to solemnly condemn all intimidations and acts of
aggression against the Armenian people. The Congressional Armenian
Issues Caucus will do its very best to ensure that basic rights to
life, liberty and security are not violated. I also ask my colleagues
to join me in calling upon the Azerbaijani government to acknowledge
Ramil Safarov as a convicted murderer and immediately take action to
bring him to justice for the murder that he committed against an
innocent Armenian man.

As co-chair and founder of the Congressional Armenian Issues Caucus, I
will continue to promote peace and security throughout the Caucasus
region. I look forward to the day when the Armenian people never have
to fear such attacks.

For more information please visit:

From: A. Papazian

States News Service
March 7, 2014 Friday

IMF EXECUTIVE BOARD APPROVES US$127.6 MILLION EXTENDED ARRANGEMENT FOR ARMENIA

WASHINGTON

The following information was released by the International Monetary Fund:

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today
approved a 38-month SDR 82.21 million (about US$127.6 million, or 89.4
percent of Armenia’s quota) Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement
with the Republic of Armenia to support the authorities’ economic
program. The approval enables the disbursement of SDR 11.74 million
(about US$18.2 million), while the remaining amount will be phased
over the duration of the program, subject to semi-annual program
reviews.

The program aims to support a rebound in economic activity, further
progress in poverty reduction, inflation stabilization, and a
reduction in outstanding fiscal and external vulnerabilities.

Following the Executive Board discussion on Armenia, Ms. Nemat Shafik,
Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, said:

Armenia’s performance under the 201013 Extended Fund Facility and
Extended Credit Facility arrangements was sound. However, growth and
inflation remain volatile, the external current account deficit
continues to be large, and poverty and unemployment are still high.
The new 38-month extended arrangement with the Fund aims to support
the authorities in addressing these challenges and to sustain
Armenia’s access to international financial markets.

Fiscal policy will play a central role in the program, supporting
growth in 2014 and reducing the headline deficit over the rest of the
program period to build up policy buffers. Delivering planned revenue
gains and reducing the under execution of the public investment budget
will be essential for successful implementation of the fiscal
strategy. Another key measure in the fiscal area is setting up
institutional structures to monitor and mitigate fiscal risks.

Under the authorities’ program, monetary policy will continue to be
framed by inflation targeting in the context of a flexible exchange
rate regime. For the financial sector, policy will be geared towards
promoting resilience to shocks and greater financial deepening.

Growth-enhancing structural reforms will also play a central role in
the new program, given the objective of transforming Armenia into a
dynamic emerging market. In this context, smooth accession to the
Eurasian Customs Union, along with continuing growth of trade and
other links with the European Union, will be essential to achieve
diversification of markets, products, financial flows, and investors.

Risks to the new program appear to be manageable, and Armenia’s
repayment capacity remains robust. The authorities have a long track
record of sound macroeconomic policies but maintaining a strong
ownership of the program will be essential to its successful
implementation.

ANNEX

Recent developments:

Despite sound performance under the 201013 IMF-supported program,
challenges to the Armenian economy remain, in terms of macroeconomic
stabilization, reduction of vulnerabilities, and medium-term growth
dynamics. Inflation and growth remain highly volatile, as the growth
slowdown and inflation increase in 2013 have illustrated. The external
current account deficit and dollarization remain high, keeping the
economy vulnerable to shocks. Poverty and unemployment also remain
high, and the transition towards an alternative to the pre-crisis
construction-led growth model has been slow. Armenia took major
financial and trade decisions in 2013, with a 7-year debut Eurobond
issued in September, and the announcement that it would seek accession
the Eurasian Customs Union.

Program Summary

As part of the program, fiscal policy will support the growth recovery
in 2014 by providing a modest stimulus, before moving to a gradual
consolidation stance in 201517. This will place public debt on a
declining path during the program period. Revenue measures will
support the consolidation and also create room for addressing social
and investment needs.

Monetary and exchange rate policies will be guided by the authorities’
framework of inflation targeting and exchange rate flexibility, with
program policies focusing on continued improvements in monetary
operations, communications, and modeling. Financial sector policies
will target implementation of remaining recommendations of the IMF’s
2012 Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) Update, which aim to
promote resilience to shocks and greater financial deepening.

Structural reforms will support medium-term growth by targeting
improvements in the business climate, strengthening institutions,
improving connectivity and competition, creating a stronger
environment for private and foreign direct investment, and tackling
key risks, especially in the energy sector.

Barring major shocks, Armenia’s balance of payments gaps should close
by the end of the program period and the country should be able to
sustain access to international financial markets, paving the way for
an exit from IMF support, provided that balance of payments
difficulties are resolved, as expected.

Armenia: Selected Economic and Financial Indicators, 200916

2009201020112012 2013201420152016

Act.Act.Act.Prel. EBS/13/75Proj.Proj.Proj.Proj.

National income and prices

Real GDP (percent change) -14.12.24.77.1 5.13.24.34.54.7

Gross domestic product (in billions of drams) 3,1423,4603,7783,998
4,3514,2904,7145,1235,578

Gross domestic product (in millions of U.S. dollars)
8,6489,26010,1429,950 10,36510,54711,21611,60912,039

Gross domestic product per capita (in U.S. dollars)
2,6612,8383,0973,033 3,1533,2083,4053,5173,640

CPI (period average; percent change) 3.57.37.72.5 4.05.85.04.04.0

CPI (end of period; percent change) 6.78.54.73.2 4.05.64.04.04.0

GDP deflator (percent change) 2.67.84.3-1.2 4.04.05.44.04.0

Poverty rate (in percent) 34.135.835.0… ……………

Investment and saving (in percent of GDP)

Investment 33.829.427.022.8 24.523.924.424.925.5

National savings 18.014.616.111.6 14.415.517.318.118.9

Money and credit (end of period)

Reserve money (percent change) 13.8-0.832.31.9 10.329.99.0……

Broad money (percent change) 16.410.623.619.6 15.915.211.3……

Velocity of broad money (end of period) 3.83.83.43.0 2.82.8………

Commercial banks’ 3-month lending rate (in percent) 19.117.720.718.5
…18.3………

Central government operations (in percent of GDP)

Revenue and grants 20.921.222.122.3 23.223.323.523.323.6

Of which: tax revenue 1/ 16.116.416.718.1 21.722.522.722.723.0

Expenditure 2/ 28.626.225.023.9 25.525.825.925.425.4

Overall balance on a cash basis -7.9-4.6-2.8-1.5 -2.3-2.5-2.3-2.0-1.8

Public and publicly-guaranteed debt (in percent of GDP)
40.239.742.044.0 43.545.445.246.046.2

Share of foreign currency debt (in percent) 88.987.486.886.9
86.484.884.484.484.9

External sector

Exports of goods and services (in millions of U.S. dollars)
1,3361,9372,4072,440 2,6992,5832,7572,9323,123

Imports of goods and services (in millions of U.S. dollars)
-3,683-4,212-4,797-4,907 -5,135-5,022-5,155-5,365-5,596

Exports of goods and services (percent change) -24.045.024.31.4 8.35.86.86.36.5

Imports of goods and services (percent change) -22.414.413.92.3 4.92.32.64.14.3

Current account balance (in percent of GDP) -15.8-14.8-10.9-11.2
-10.0-8.4-7.2-6.8-6.6

FDI (net, in millions of U.S. dollars) 3/ 725562447474 440549413432472

External debt (in percent of GDP) 56.466.471.576.2 76.079.377.077.778.1

o.w. public debt (in percent of GDP) 4/ 35.734.736.438.2 37.638.538.138.839.2

Debt service ratio (in percent of exports of goods and services) 4/
5.44.74.29.8 15.634.110.46.36.7

Gross international reserves (in millions of U.S. dollars)
2,0041,8661,8691,799 1,4672,2532,1932,2782,376

Import cover 5/ 5.74.74.64.3 3.35.24.94.94.9

Nominal effective exchange rate (percent change) 6/ -8.4-2.6-2.8-7.3

Real effective exchange rate (percent change) 6/ -7.51.30.0-6.1

End-of-period exchange rate (dram per U.S. dollar) 378363385.8403.6 405.6

Average exchange rate (dram per U.S. dollar) 363374372.5401.8 406.8

Memorandum item:

Population (in millions) 3.23.33.33.3

Sources: Armenian authorities; and IMF staff estimates and projections.

1/ From 2013, tax revenue includes social contribution.

2/ In 2013 includes 1.5 percent of GDP related to the acquisition by
Gazprom from the government of 20 percent of the shares of
ArmRusGazprom, and the transfer (expenditure) of the same amount from
the government to ArmRusGazprom to liquidate liabilities. Excluding
this transaction, the deficit would amount to 1 percent of GDP.

3/ In 2013, a credit for $155 million is registered in FDI to reflect
the acquisition by Gazprom of 20 percent of the shares of
ArmRusGazprom, while an offseting debit is registered in other capital
(net) to reflect the corresponding reduction in liabilities of the
latter with the former.

4/ Based on public and publicly-guaranteed debt.

5/ Gross international reserves in months of next year’s imports of
goods and services, including the SDR holdings.

6/ A positive sign denotes appreciation.

IMF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT

Public Affairs Media Relations

From: A. Papazian

Turkish news agency sees no Armenian trace in Ani

March 08, 2014 | 00:04

By Artur Hakobyan

The news agencies in Turkey, together with the Turkish state, continue
the policy of destruction and appropriation of Armenian culture.

This time the well-known Anadolu News Agency filed a report about the
ancient Armenian capital city of Ani, but the report did not even
utter a word about Armenians, and it pointed solely to the mosques as
the important cultural values in Ani.

In this connection, Agos Armenian weekly of Istanbul ran an article,
entitled “Anadolu Agency Erased Armenians from History,” and reflected
on this shameful Turkish policy.

To note, you cannot find “Armenian” or “Armenia” on the signs that are
placed near any church or any other structure in Ani, and “mosque” is
written in front of the Cathedral of Ani.

From: A. Papazian

Sen. Kirk to Azerbaijan: Halt campaign of incitement and hatred against Armenia

13:20 08.03.2014

Illinois Republican Senator Mark Kirk “strongly condemned”
Azerbaijan’s ongoing threats and violence against Armenia and the
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh, in a powerfully worded statement issued
earlier today marking the 26th anniversary of Azerbaijan’s
anti-Armenian massacres in Sumgait, reported the Armenian National
Committee of America (ANCA).

“We join with Armenian Americans, here in Illinois and across America,
in thanking Senator Kirk for his principled and powerful stand for
peace,” said ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian, of Lake Forest, Illinois.

Senator Kirk began his remarks spotlighting Azerbaijani hate-crimes
against Armenians in Sumgait from February 26 to 28, 1988, stating, “I
join my Armenian-American constituents in Illinois in commemorating
the memory of those who perished in anti-Armenian violence in Sumgait,
Soviet Azerbaijan twenty-six years ago. Dozens of people were killed
and hundreds injured during three days of horrific violence. The
entire Armenian population of Sumgait fled as a result. The
perpetrators of these heinous acts have never been brought to
justice.”

The Senator then turned to Azerbaijan’s ongoing aggression against
Armenia and Artsakh, noting, “As we remember the Sumgait victims, I
call on the current Government of Azerbaijan to immediately halt its
campaign of incitement and hatred against Armenia that threatens to
de-stabilize the region. It is deplorable that the President of
Azerbaijan would pardon and glorify the convicted murderer Ramil
Safarov, who killed a sleeping Armenian soldier while both were on a
NATO Partnership for Peace program. I strongly condemn repeated
statements from Azerbaijani officials that threaten violence against
Armenia and the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh.”

Over the past week, Sen. Kirk was joined by House Foreign Affairs
Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA), fellow Committee colleagues Brad
Sherman (D-CA) and David Cicilline (D-RI), Congressional Armenian
Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Representatives Adam Schiff
(D-CA), Tony Cardenas (D-CA), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Katherine Clark
(D-MA), Judy Chu (D-CA), Gary Peters (D-MI) and Linda Sanchez (D-CA)
in issuing similar statements condemning the Sumgait, Baku and
Kirovabad pogroms and calling on Azerbaijan to end its aggression
against Armenia and the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh.

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIJAN SAYS ARMENIAN CAPTIVE TREATED IN LINE WITH INTERNATIONAL LAW

APA, Azerbaijan
March 6 2014

The Azerbaijani Defence Ministry has denied reports on mistreatment
of an Armenian civilian who was held in custody in this country,
Baku-based APA news agency reported on 5 March.

The Armenian national was captured in Azerbaijan’s western Tovuz
District as he crossed the border between the two countries on 28
January. He was repatriated to Armenia on 4 March with the help of
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

“Hostage Mamikon Tigranovich Khojoyan was treated in accordance
with the international norms. He did not make any complaints at the
meeting with the representatives of the International Committee of
the Red Cross during his captivity. The ICRC did not record any fact
of torture. The claim by Armenia’s Defence Ministry is yet another
groundless nonsense,” APA quoted Vaqif Dargahli, head of the press
service of the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry, as saying.

The Armenian news agency, News.am, on 4 March quoted a statement by the
country’s Defence Ministry as saying that “Mamikon Khojoyan, suffering
from mental disorder, after being held in Azerbaijani custody for
over a month was handed over to Armenia with serious health problems”.

The statement also said that upon release, Khojoyan was taken to a
local hospital, where the medical examination found bruises, fractures
and other traumas on his body, News.am reported.

Earlier, APA quoted the press service of the Azerbaijani Defence
Ministry as saying that the captured man was a member of an Armenian
sabotage group and that he was armed when captured. The Armenian
Defence Ministry, however, denied the report, saying that the man was
not a saboteur, but a 76-year-old resident of Armenia’s Tavush Region.

[Translated from Azeri]

From: A. Papazian