Author: Andres-Papazian

CATHOLICOS: ARMENIAN ARMY BEARS OUR NATION’S FREEDOM-LOVING SOUL

January 28, 2014 | 12:10

ETCHMIADZIN. – Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II issued a message
on Army Day, the 22nd anniversary of the Armenian Armed Forces.

“The Armenian Army is the great accomplishment of our independent
statehood. The Armenian Army has always been the bearer of the
faithful, freedom-loving soul of our nation.

“The fighters of our army become heroes and offer their lives to the
Homeland today, as well.

“We hope that the fighters of the Armenian Army multiply the
achievements of the Armenian Army by defending our country, our values
and sanctities,” the Catholicos’ message reads, in particular.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

From: A. Papazian

ARMY DAY: PRESIDENT SARGSYAN FIRST PLACED FLOWER TO ARMEN HOVHANNISYAN’S TOMB (PHOTOS)

January 28, 2014 | 11:44

YEREVAN. – On the 22nd anniversary of the Armenian Armed Forces,
President Serzh Sargsyan, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic President Bako
Sahakyan, ministers, and MPs visited Yerablur Military Pantheon of
capital city Yerevan on Tuesday.

They laid wreaths to the tombs of the fallen heroes, the Armenian
News-NEWS.am reporter informs (PHOTOS).

The Armenian senior officials also placed flowers to the tomb of
Junior Sergeant Armen Hovhannisyan, who was killed on January 20 as
a result of the Azerbaijani military diversion attempts.

Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, Government members led by PM Tigran
Sargsyan, National Assembly (NA) deputies led by NA Speaker Hovik
Abrahamyan, Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan, Police Chief Vladimir
Gasparyan, and the MOD staff likewise came to pay tribute to the
fallen heroes.

From: A. Papazian

HRANT DINK COMMEMORE DANS LE MONDE ENTIER

Publié le : 28-01-2014

Info Collectif VAN – – ” Des milliers de personnes
se sont rassemblées hier afin de rendre hommage a Hrant Dink,
un journaliste arménien assassiné en 2007. Si la manifestation
principale s’est déroulée devant les bureaux du journal Agos
a Istanbul, où Dink a été assassiné, d’autres cérémonies
ont eu lieu dans diverses villes, y compris a Diyarbakır, Izmir,
Dercim et New York. ” Buradayız Ahparig (Nous sommes la, frère)
”, ont scandé les participants indépendamment de la ville où ils
manifestaient. ” Le Collectif VAN vous propose la traduction d’un
article en anglais paru sur le site Bianet le 20 janvier 2014.

Photo credit: Atakan Foca

Bianet

Des milliers de personnes se sont rassemblées une fois de plus devant
les bureaux du journal Agos a Istanbul pour rendre hommage a Hrant
Dink, un journaliste arménien assassiné en 2007. Des cérémonies
ont également eu lieu dans la reste de la Turquie et dans le monde
entier, y compris a Diyarbakır, Izmir, Dercim et New York.

Beyza KURAL Ä°stanbul – BIA News Desk – 20 janvier 2014

Des milliers de personnes se sont rassemblées hier afin de rendre
hommage a Hrant Dink, un journaliste arménien assassiné en 2007.

Si la manifestation principale s’est déroulée devant les bureaux
du journal Agos a Istanbul, où Dink a été assassiné, d’autres
cérémonies ont eu lieu dans diverses villes, y compris a Diyarbakır,
Izmir, Dercim et New York.

” Buradayız Ahparig (Nous sommes la, frère) ”, ont scandé les
participants indépendamment de la ville où ils manifestaient.

La police avait pris des mesures avant la cérémonie a Istanbul,
bloquant la place Taksim and et le parc Gezi, et en installant aussi
des barrières dans les quartiers de Talimhane et Harbiye.

Dans son allocution commémorative, Bulent Aydın du groupe des Amis
de Hrant a rappelé que le prochain procès dans l’affaire Hrant Dink
aurait lieu de 12 février.

” Toute la diversité dans cette foule donnait a Hrant de l’espoir.

Malgré toutes les menaces, il n’avait pas quitté le pays, car il
savait que vous aussi viviez ici ”, a-t-il dit.

La cérémonie s’est achevée avec des chants folkloriques en turc
et en arménien diffusés via de grandes enceintes.

Partout des slogans pour Hrant

Plusieurs cérémonies ont eu lieu dans toute la Turquie et dans le
monde. Les manifestants ont scandé ” Nous sommes tous Hrant, nous
sommes tous des Arméniens ”, ” l’Ã~Itat tueur paiera ”, et ”
Nous sommes obstinés, Hrant est notre frère ”.

Ankara

Les manifestants se sont rassemblés a Guvenpark et ont scandé ”
Nous sommes obstinés, Hrant est notre frère ”.

Diyarbakır

De très nombreuses personnes se sont rassemblées autour de la statue
Droit a la Vie de KoÅ~_uyolu et ont tenu suivi une cérémonie de
commémoration dans l’église Sourp Giragos de Diyarbakır.

” Hrant Dink était un intellectuel honorable parmi des gens dans la
douleur. En tant que Kurdes, nous partageons toutes les souffrances
du peuple arménien. Nous rendons hommage aux centaines de milliers
d’Arméniens tués pendant le génocide et a Hrant Dink lui-même,
avec notre plus profond respect ”, a déclaré Tahir Elci, président
de l’Association du barreau de Diyarbakır.

Samsun

Un sit-in de protestation a eu lieu après la commémoration.

©Traduction de l’anglais C.Gardon pour le Collectif VAN – 28 janvier
2014 –

Lire aussi :

Turquie : commémoration de Hrant Dink

Retour a la rubrique

Source/Lien : Bianet

From: A. Papazian

L’OFFICIER AZERI TUE AU KARABAGH L’A ETE SUITE A UNE TENTATIVE DE SABOTAGE

KARABAGH

L’armee de la Republique du Haut-Karabagh a refute ce qu’il decrit
comme la desinformation par la machine de propagande de l’Azerbaïdjan,
selon laquelle un capitaine des forces armees azerbaïdjanaises a ete
tue a la suite d’une violation de cessez-le-feu par le Karabagh le
23 Janvier.

Dans un communique publie jeudi, le ministère de la Defense de
la Republique du Haut Karabagh a dit que ce qui s’est passe devrait
plutôt etre considere dans le contexte de la tentative de s’infiltrer
dans le territoire du Karabagh dans la nuit du 20 Janvier.

Un soldat armenien a ete tue en repoussant le raid du commando azeri
dans ce qui a ete le plus grand engagement des forces armees entre
les forces armees du Karabakh et celles de l’Azerbaïdjan au cours des
dernières annees. Les autorites du Karabagh ont alors declare que les
groupes ennemis se sont retires avec des pertes humaines considerables
et des pertes materielles. L’Azerbaïdjan a nie le fait meme de
l’incident et a declare qu’il n’avait subi aucune victime ce jour-la.

Faisant allusion a la pratique des autorites azerbaïdjanaises de
cacher les victimes au debut puis de les rendre publiques, mais tout
en allèguant d’autres causes de decès, la declaration du ministère de
la Defense du Karabagh a note que selon les medias azeris deux morts
et six blesses ont ete enregistres dans l’armee azerbaïdjanaise du
20 au 23 janvier.

En outre, dans une declaration distincte, le ministère des Affaires
etrangères du Karabagh a nie que les forces du Karabagh auraient viole
le cessez-le-feu immediatement après une operation de surveillance de
l’OSCE le 23 Janvier comme l’a allegue le ministère de la Defense de
l’Azerbaïdjan. Il a declare que la mission de suivi a continue sans
incident “a l’exception du fait que la partie azerbaïdjanaise n’a
pas autorise la mission de l’OSCE sur sa ligne de front”.

lundi 27 janvier 2014, Stephane ©armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN SCHOOLS IN TURKEY: ‘STUDENT ENROLLMENT HALF WHAT IT WAS 30 YEARS AGO’

01.27.2014 13:44 epress.am

Armenian schools in Turkey face significant financial, legal and
logistical difficulties. Another major obstacle is the fear of
reprisal for openly discussing these issues with the press. Armenian
educators see discrimination against non-Muslim communities and their
institutions to still be deeply ingrained in the state apparatus.

Sunday’s Zaman was able to visit two schools and talk to several
teachers and principals, most of whom requested that their names
not be printed. They explained that they feared investigation by the
Ministry of Education if they consult with the media without obtaining
official permission.

“We are in an odd position, as we are considered neither a private
nor a state school,” said one middle school principal. Minority
schools indeed occupy a murky status. Armenians, Greeks and Jews,
who comprise the three “official” minorities of Turkey, are allowed
to maintain their own religious and educational facilities, but with
major caveats. Only Turkish citizens who have at least one parent of
Armenian origin are allowed to attend Armenian schools. The status of
the schools falls in a bizarre grey area that seems to maximize state
intrusion and control. The state appoints the deputy principal as well
as teachers of Turkish history, language, literature and geography.

Their salaries are paid by the state, while the remainder of the
operational costs fall on the shoulders of the parents, private
donors and foundations. The schools are required to admit students
regardless of their ability to pay for the costs of education,
a source of continual tension and financial strain.

Nowadays there are just 16 schools and 3,000 students. All of these
schools are in Istanbul, where the majority of Turkey’s 60,000
Armenians lives. Student enrollment today is half of what it was 30
years ago. The situation was entirely different in the late Ottoman
period, when there were nearly 2,000 Armenian schools throughout
Anatolia, comprising over 170,000 students.

To read the article in full, please click here.

From: A. Papazian

MINORITIES’ LEGAL ENTITY ISSUES TO BE DISCUSSED IN ISTANBUL CONFERENCE

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Jan 27 2014

ISTANBUL – Hurriyet Daily News

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A group of community leaders gather in Istanbul at a government-led
meeting in this photo taken from the Community foundations website.

The legal entities of minorities in Turkey will be discussed in
Istanbul on Jan. 30 at a conference hosted by the Istanbul Bilgi
University Faculty of Law, in partnership with the Community
Foundations Representative Office and with the assistance of the
Venice Commission.

The conference, titled “Legal Entities of Non-Muslims: “Problems and
Rights II,” will start at 09.00 a.m. at the university’s law faculty
building in the Dolapdere neighborhood.

The conference will open with speeches by Prof. Dr. Turgut Tarhanlı,
the dean of the law faculty, and Laki Vingas, the Minority Community
Foundations representative.

On May 13, 2013, the problems of the minority communities in Turkey
were discussed at a conference held at the Ankara University and
Minority Community Foundations’ office in Ankara.

Many institutions belonging to religious or ethnic minorities such
as churches, cemeteries, and hospitals are deprived of legal entity
rights, including the Fener Greek Patriarchate, Turkey’s Armenian
Patriarchate, the Jewish Chief Rabbi’s Office, and various Catholic
institutions.

January/27/2014

From: A. Papazian

FRANCE’S STANCE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE UNCHANGED, HOLLANDE SAYS IN TURKEY

00:06 28.01.2014

Armenian Genocide, Francois Hollande, Turkey

On a visit to Turkey French President Francois Hollande has made
it clear that France’s fundamental stance on the Armenian genocide
was unchanged.

At a joint prss conference with Turkish President Abdullah Gul
both sides stuck to their positions in a row over France’s official
recognition of a genocide by Ottoman Turks of Armenians in World War
I – something Turkey contests, AFP reports.

An attempt by French lawmakers in 2011 to declare it a crime to deny
the genocide was struck down in February last year.

But Hollande made it clear that France’s fundamental stance was
unchanged.

“Uncovering history is always painful, but must be done,” he said.

Gul for his part said that “woes of 100 years ago are our common
woes…. It is not right to pass these woes from generation to
generation.”

“What should be done, instead of reviving these woes, is to leave these
to historians. This issue can not be tackled unilaterally,” he said.

Hollande also touched on the need for “intense joint work” on the
issue on the eve of the centennial anniversary of the 1915 events,
the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

French president did not give a sign of renewing attempts to ban the
denial of the genocide, but underlined that they would be “whatever
the laws stipulated,” referring France’s recognition of the mass
killings of Armenians as genocide in 2000.

From: A. Papazian

EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS FAST TRACKS ARMENIAN JUDGES’ CASE

01.27.2014 16:14 epress.am

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decided to fast-track the
appeal of four retired Armenian judges – Tariel Manukyan, Lyova
Gabrielyan, Frunze Dzvakeryan, and Misha Asatryan, the judges’
representative Ara Ghazaryan informed Epress.am. The judges are
appealing an Oct. 5, 2010 decision which introduced a new system
of calculating judges’ pensions that sets a lower pension and is
applied retroactively.

Acoording to Ghazaryan, the ECHR fast tracks cases that it considers
contain serious human rights violations. According to the ECHR official
website, the Court amended its case processing policy in June 2009,
whereby it now regards the importance and urgency of the issues
raised in deciding the order in which cases are to be dealt with,
taking into consideration various factors.

“Such laws have been adopted extensively since 2006, violating the
rights of various groups – the rights of both current and retired
judges. A trend can now be seen. For example, a famous case: Judge
Suren Ghazaryan resigned due to health problems, knowing that he
will receive a [monthly] pension of 600,000 dram [about $1,481
USD], but now he receives a pension of 0 dram, since a new law was
adopted and applied to him retroactively. With such laws there is an
attempt to fill the state budget, violating people’s rights. [This]
administration consistently issues a blow to one of the weakest points
of the independence of the judicial system – the social independence
of the judge,” said the attorney.

According to Ghazaryan, such laws, which might have adverse effects
on citizens, shouldn’t be applied retroactively.

The judges who appealed to the ECHR won their case in Armenia’s
Administrative Court, but the ruling was reversed.

The Chamber of Advocates of Armenia also expressed its concern [AM]
with the draft laws presented by the government to parliament On Making
Amendments to the Judicial Code of Armenia and On the Remuneration
of Persons Holding Public Office.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTER AND CATHOLICOS TO VISIT HOSPITAL

January 27, 2014 | 09:58

YEREVAN. – Defense Minister of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan, together with
Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II, will visit Muratsan Hospital
Complex in capital city Yerevan.

The Armenian News-NEWS.amsources have informed the aforesaid.

According to our information, several senior officials of the MOD
will pay visits to the hospitals in different regions of Armenia.

The visits will take place along the lines of the Army Day, which
will be marked on Tuesday.

The Armenian Defense Minister and the other high-ranking officials
will be at the hospitals to visit the soldiers being treated in these
medical facilities.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

From: A. Papazian

ARGENTINEAN ARMENIAN BUSINESSMAN TO BUY 21 GREEK AIRPORTS

16:46, 27 January, 2014

YEREVAN, JANUARY 27, ARMENPRESSO~I Argentinean Armenian billionaire
Eduardo Eurnekian, owner of the airport management company “Corporacion
America” seems to be thinking of expanding his investments in southern
Europe, via taking advantage of the lower prices resulting from
the crisis. “Our holding will enter the sector very actively, since
the crisis has opened a lot of opportunities for us,” said Martin
Eurnekian, head of “Corporacion America” and Eduardo’s nephew, in
an interview on 22 January in Davos, Switzerland. “Our mission is to
expand in America and Europe, focusing on the Mediterranean. We have
always invested in projects which allow us to retain the control of
the management,” he added, Armenpress reports, quoting grreporter.info.

In parallel, in his statement the businessman noted that “Corporacion
America”, which has annual revenues to the amount of 1.2 billion
dollars, currently had no financial needs which should be covered
by the bond market. “In 2010, the company used its revenues from
issuing bonds worth 300 million dollars in order to renew Ezeiza
Airport in Buenos Aires. Furthermore, the Brazilian Development Bank
BNDES funds it at a low price,” he added. According to Bloomberg,
the company is expected to submit offers for 21 Greek airports to
the Agency for Public Private Property.

The Greek government is proceeding to progressive functional
independence of provincial airports via their categorization into
groups which would later be privatized on the basis of progress or will
be liquidated as a result of a transaction or series of transactions.

After such privatization, the Civil Aviation Authority will maintain
its role as a regulator of aviation services and provider of air
traffic control.

The Agency for Public Private Property is carrying out an open
international competition for two groups consisting of 14-20 provincial
airports via providing their operation to private investors. The rest
of the provincial airports will be transferred under the provisions of
the law of the Company for management of regional airports, which is
100% state owned. The sector of regional airports in Greece consists
of 39 airports, including those in Thessaloniki, Rhodes, Kos, Corfu,
Zakynthos, Santorini, Lesvos, Samos and Mykonos, as well as in Chania
on Crete. In the coming days, “Corporacion America” will acquire
23% of the airport in Pisa, Italy, and is planning to integrate the
airports in Tuscany by adding the airport of Florence. The holding
manages 51 airports worldwide.

Besides Greece, it will also submit offers for airports in Peru,
Colombia and Chile. According to Forbes magazine, 81-year-old Eduardo
Eurnekian is considered to be the second richest Argentinean with
personal wealth amounting to 1.8 billion euro. He was born on 4
December, 1932 and is of Armenian origin. He immigrated to Argentina
together with his parents, where he started expanding his business.

In 1988, he had a small cable television company which he sold for
the price of 350 euro. Part of his business also includes four radio
stations and a newspaper-“El Cronista” in Buenos Aires, as well as
33 airports in Argentina and the Brazilian airline LAP.

From: A. Papazian