Author: Andres-Papazian

PHOTOS: HUMAN RIGHTS MARCH IN YEREVAN UNITES VARIOUS CAUSES AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

12.10.2013 20:55 epress.am

A march dedicated to Human Rights Day, Dec. 10, organized by the
Armenian National Congress (HAK), which began at 1 pm today from
Liberty Square in Yerevan, united members of various groups and social
movements, as well as a dozens of ordinary citizens.

With various signs and Armenian flags, joining the march apart from
HAK representatives and activists were Karabakh War veterans; those
protesting building construction on Sayat-Nova, Komitas, and Amiryan
streets; members of an initiative to stop the rise in the price of
(consumer) gas; and supporters of political activist Shant Harutyunyan,
who was arrested on Nov. 5. A group of youth waved anarchist flags
and walked with a black banner that read “Conquer your rights”.

Many of the march participants told Epress.am that they came out
on the street to reclaim their violated rights, and Dec. 10, Human
Rights Day, is another opportunity to raise their concerns.

From: A. Papazian

HUNDREDS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASES IN ARMENIA: COALITION TO STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

12.10.2013 20:36 epress.am

The seven NGOs that comprise the Coalition to Stop Violence Against
Women in Armenia today summed up their activities within the framework
of the 16 Days of Activism to End Gender Violence campaign that began
on Nov. 25.

The campaign to adopt a domestic violence law in Armenia was the
focus of this year’s 16 Days campaign. The RA Ministry of Justice
rejected the draft law and now the Coalition’s lawyers are working
on amendments to make the law more palatable for lawmakers.

The law was refused because it was considered unconstitutional,
said Society Without Violence NGO representative Anush Khachatryan.

According to this claim, if a court removes an abuser from his home,
it is a violation of his right to property. The Coalition, however,
will continue to push for adoption of the law.

During the press conference, Khachatryan presented statistics on
violence against women. In 2013, Society Without Violence alone
recorded 16 cases of domestic violence, 6 of which ended in the
woman’s death, while 8 were cases of financial abuse. Women’s Rights
Center president Susanna Vardanyan said her organization received
1,344 calls and uncovered 473 cases of physical abuse and 261 cases
of psychological abuse.

Hasmik Gevorgyan of the Women’s Support Center NGO spoke about the
case of Hasmik Khachatryan, 27, who was abused by her husband for 9
years. Gevorgyan pointed out if the domestic violence law was adopted,
the woman could live in a temporary shelter and be better protected.

A journalist asked Hasmik Khachatryan (who was present at the
press conference) what she did that her husband beat her for
years. In response, the NGO representative said that the question is
inappropriate: “The problem cannot be approached by trying to blame
the woman.”

From: A. Papazian

DAVUTOGLU’S YEREVAN VISIT MAY BE PRELUDE FOR NORMALIZATION TALKS

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Dec 10 2013

ANKARA

Officials in Ankara have cautioned against high expectations for
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s upcoming visit by to
estranged neighbor Armenia, but indicated that there was a chance for
“normalization” to follow in the future.

Even if it does not yield any concrete outcomes, the trip will still
mark a watershed, as it will be Davutoglu’s first visit to Yerevan
since the failure of efforts to normalize ties four years ago.

The Dec. 12 visit will take place on the occasion of a meeting of the
Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), so is not
a bilateral initiative. However, it is still attracting attention as
it will be the first meeting since October 2009, when moves to open
diplomatic ties and reopen the border failed.

Turkish officials, speaking to the Hurriyet Daily News on Dec. 9, said
it was still not clear whether Davutoglu and his Armenian counterpart,
Edward Nalbandian, would hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines
of the BSEC gathering.

“We are not going there with a specific proposal,” a senior Turkish
diplomat told the Daily News, in an apparent reference to several
news reports in the Turkish media suggesting that Turkey would offer
a proposal to the Armenian side in exchange for reopening the border.

“Furthermore, such a proposal would also be premature and wrong,”
added the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“However, if such a bilateral meeting takes place, we will explain
our vision with regard to regional peace, including normalization of
our bilateral relations. Then, the steps that could be taken may come
on the scene,” he said. Meanwhile, officials also said Davutoglu had
no plans to visit a monument dedicated to the memory of victims of
mass killings of Anatolian Armenians during World War I, while on
the visit to Yerevan.

“The minister is going to Yerevan within the framework of a BSEC
meeting. Visiting the monument is not on his agenda,” the diplomat
said.

The need for such an explanation came from reported remarks by Armenian
Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan, who recently recommended
that Davutoglu “visit the Armenian Genocide Memorial to pay a silent
tribute to the memory of the victims.”

December/10/2013

From: A. Papazian

THE ARMENIANS AND AZERBAIJANI IN TBILISI

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Dec 10 2013

10 December 2013 – 11:46am

David Stepanyan, Yerevan-Tbilisi. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

Six Armenian and 6 Azerbaijani journalists discussed opportunities
for peacemaking between the nations at the journalist workshop
“Professional Ethics and Journalists’ Role in the Nagorno-Karabakh
Conflict” which took place in Tbilisi in early December. The meeting
was organized by the International Alert British non-governmental
organization. It was the third such workshop; the first one took place
in the UK in December 2011; the second – in Bosnia and Herzegovina
in March 2013.

According to the International Alert manager, Marina Nagai, the
Tbilisi meeting was one of components of a wider project on the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within EPNK, where Alert participated along
with four other European organizations. Two projects by Alert were
combined at the Tbilisi workshop: an expert dialogue on studying
other conflicts and working with Armenian and Azerbaijani journalists.

Journalists had an opportunity to talk to each other and put questions
to leading Armenian and Azerbaijani experts in the sphere of civil
peacemaking – Mikel Zolyan from Yerevan and Avaz Gasanov from Baku.

Experts Togrul Juvarly and Arut Mansuryan presented the film “Memories
without Borders” on refugees from Armenia and Azerbaijan. Journalist
Margarita Akhvlediani conducted professional trainings.

The Tbilisi meeting was subtitled “It is better to talk than to
fight.” Participants forgot about emotions and tried to listen to and
understand each other. For some young journalists from both groups
a meeting with Armenians/Azerbaijanis was first in their lives and
they were confused a bit. Reality was too different from a picture
painted by the propaganda machinery. The Tbilissi meeting was a rare
opportunity for a dialogue between Armenian and Azerbaijani journalists
who have similar problems in their work.

A common thread of the event was necessity of following journalist
ethics. In the end, mutual hatred in both societies is exaggerated
not only by politicians, but also journalists. If politicians do it
in their own interests, reasons for such a behavior by journalists
are unclear. Mutual hatred is clearly not in the interests of the
two nations, especially in the context of renewal of the negotiating
process on settlement of the Karabakh conflict after two years
of silence.

From: A. Papazian

ANCA STATEMENT ON DAVUTOGLU VISIT TO ARMENIA

[ Part 2.2: “Attached Text” ]

December 6, 2013 
ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian issued the following statement
on the upcoming visit to Armenia by Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutolglu (December 6, 2013):   Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu’s
upcoming visit to Armenia for a December 12th regional conference
shines a spotlight on Ankara’s continued use of its Protocols to
escape liability for mass murder, vast theft, and the wholesale
dispossession of a nation of its ancestral homeland.

  The Armenian nation and all peoples should use this visit
by a leading official of a perpetrator state to the land of its
surviving victims to strengthen our call for a truthful, just, and
comprehensive international resolution of the Armenian Genocide. 
In coming to terms with its responsibilities, Turkey must not only
end its denials and stop its obstruction of justice, but also cease
its century-long policy of anti-Armenian aggression, strangulation,
and coercion rooted in the legacy of this still unpunished crime.

  The United States and our partners in the international community,
rather than abetting Ankara by arm-twisting Yerevan into a politically
untenable and morally unacceptable policy of “normalization without
justice,” should be pressing Turkey to forfeit its genocidal gains,
to fully return all it has stolen, and to fairly compensate the
Armenian nation for its vast and ongoing losses.

  The Armenian Genocide – an act of premeditated mass murder
and national dispossession – is not a bilateral “conflict” to be
reconciled, but rather an ongoing international crime that all nations,
not Armenia alone, have a moral and legal responsibility to punish.

  ================================================

Aram Suren Hamparian Executive Director Armenian National Committee
of America 1711 N Street, NW Washington, DC 20036 (202) 775-1918
Web:  Email: [email protected]

From: A. Papazian

NAGORNO-KARABAKH PRESIDENT ADDRESSES CONGRATULATORY MESSAGE ON DAY OF NKR STATE INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM AND CONSTITUTION

22:14 ~U 09.12.13

President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Bako Sahakyan
addressed a congratulatory message on the Day of NKR State Independence
Referendum and Constitution.

The message reads:

“Dear Compatriots,

“On behalf of the Artsakh authorities and personally myself I cordially
congratulate you on the Day of the NKR State Independence Referendum
and Constitution, a holiday, which has a unique place in the life of
our nation.

“December 10 is significant for the Artsakh people due to important
state events, which have been serving as a basis and guideline for
our further development. In 1991 Artsakh chose once and for all the
path of building an independent democratic state and 15 years later
reconfirmed and fixed that historic decision with its firm affirmative
for the basic state law – the Constitution.

“Being committed to democratic norms and principles requirements,
guided by universal principles and values, the core of which is the
human being with his rights and freedom, we passed a complicated and
difficult way and registered tangible success.

“However, we still have much to do in this direction. Supremacy and
equal protection of law must become a way of life for our society,
a mandatory condition in everybody’s work and daily life. Only in
this way can we build a powerful and developed country.

“Dear Artsakh people,

“I congratulate all of us on this double holiday and wish peace,
robust health and all the best.”

Armenian News – Tert.am

From: A. Papazian

PASHINIAN: CIVIL AGREEMENT’S PURPOSE IS CHANGE OF POWER

“We will achieve a change of power. We will ensure that Serzh Sargsyan
and his team will not be in power,” the deputy of Armenian National
Congress (HAK) parliamentary faction Nikol Pashinian said at the
first press conference of Civil Agreement initiative today.

“Fair elections will be the result of Civil Agreement’s activities.

Serzh Sargsyan along with his team will not wield the influence they
have now. If we fail to achieve a change of power by institutional
means, we will conduct a velvet revolution,” Pashinian said.

According to him, Civil Agreement initiative will run in all national
elections.

“At our side will be those who believe in Armenia’s future,” Nikol
Pashinian said.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN CHURCH IN TURKEY TO BE HANDED OVER TO FRIENDS OF ARMENIA SOCIETY

Trend, Azerbaijan
Dec 9 2013

By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend: Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec 9, 2013: A church
in the Turkish province of Sivas located in the territory belonging
to the Armed Forces will be restored and handed over to the Friends
of Armenia Society, Turkish Sabah newspaper reported on Dec.9.

This step will be taken as part of the package of measures for
democratisation in the country, according to the newspaper.

It is expected that churches and monasteries located in the territories
belonging to the Armed Forces will be handed over to other religious
minorities in the near future, the newspaper said.

The democratisation package also envisages lifting the ban on hijab
headscarves in the Turkish state organisations, except for the
Armed Forces.

The package of measures for democratization was ambiguously perceived
by Turkish opposition. In particular, Turkish Nationalist Movement
Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli said that the package of measures
does not take into account the rights of the Turkish people,and it
is detrimental to the interests of the people and contrary to the
public interest.

It was also reported that the Republican People’s Party appealed to
the Turkey’s Constitutional Court for imposition of a ban on wearing
hijab headscarves in the public places.

Translated by lz

Edited by sm

From: A. Papazian

DAVUTOGLU’S YEREVAN VISIT TOPIC OF DEBATE IN ARMENIA

Journal of Turkish Weekly
Dec 9 2013

9 December 2013

Armenian politicians and Turkologists continue to debate Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s visit to Yerevan as reactions
continue to grow to the official visit that is planned to take place
on Dec. 12.

Davutoglu is set to conduct an official visit to Armenia’s Yerevan to
attend the regional Organization of Black Sea Economic Cooperation
(BSEC) meeting, a visit that garnered a variety of reactions from
the Armenian side. The former head of the Armenian National Service,
politician David Shahnazaryan, described the visit as part of Turkey’s
“2015 maneuver,” as the year 2015 marks the 100th anniversary of the
1915 events.

Shahnazaryan referenced a past remark made by Davutoglu on not planning
to ever visit Yerevan before suggesting the main reason for the sudden
change of attitude was Russia’s increasing influence in the region.

Yerevan State University Eastern Studies Academic and Turkologist
Hagop Cakıryan also said Turkey was trying to maneuver through 2015.

“Russia and the EU will never allow Turkey to do so, because both
Russia and the EU are in a competition in the South Caucasus,”
Cekıryan said.

Cakıryan added that protocols had been signed between Turkey and
Armenia in 2009 and continued: “Armenia’s attitude has been very
clear since the signing of the protocols. Yerevan says that relation
should be without any pre-conditions but Turkey has the Karabakh
pre-condition.”

9 December 2013

From: A. Papazian

Disclosure of Murder Case Jeopardized, Believes Defense Lawyer

12.06.2013 01:44 epress.am

Karen Kungortsev, 22, accused of killing David Hovakimyan, 15, will
remain behind bars for a longer period, after the Lori District Court
of First Instance today sustained the investigator’s request to extend
his pre-trial detention period.

Kungortsev’s attorney of the Helsinki Association for Human Rights Ara
Papikyan told Epress.am that the court sustained a motion that was
completely baseless. The investigator had based his petition solely on
legislative justifications, without referring to any specific and
valid reasons.

According to Papikyan, the court ignored the position established by
several precedent rulings of the Court of Cassation that two criteria
must be met in order for a term of imprisonment to be extended:

1. the grounds and conditions for choosing imprisonment as the measure
of restraint continue to exist or there are new grounds for keeping a
person in custody

2. the investigative body has exhibited due diligence to ensure the
investigation

“Apart from the petition, the investigator provided no facts or
evidence to justify it. Meanwhile, the defense presented irrefutable
facts and evidence that the preliminary investigative body, beginning
from the initial hours of the investigation, displayed either inaction
or improper work performance. Numerous judicial actions either weren’t
done or were done late; an objective and comprehensive investigation
is not being ensured; motions presented by the defense are not dealt
with in accordance with the procedure established by law; and chosen
for the investigation at the start and continuing to this day is a
direction that already has jeopardized the disclosure of truth,” said
the attorney.

The lawyer intends to appeal the decision at the Court of Appeal.

From: A. Papazian