Author: Andres-Papazian

ARMENIAN PROSECUTOR GENERAL SAYS “THERE ARE YET NO GROUNDS” TO APPLY TO THE RUSSIAN PROSECUTOR

January 22, 2015 13:31

Prosecutor General of Armenia Gevorg Kostanyan

Photo: PAN Photo

Yerevan/Mediamax/. Prosecutor General of Armenia Gevorg Kostanyan
stated he has no adequate grounds to send a letter request to the
Russian Prosecutor General on the case of Valery Permyakov accused
of the killing of the seven members of Avetisyan family in Gyumri.

The Armenian Prosecutor General stated it at National Assembly
parliamentary hearings on Gyumri case today, answering the question
of Secretary of Prosperous Armenia Faction Naira Zohrabyan as to
whether the Prosecutor General’s statement made in Gyumri “was just
an attempt to raise the hopes of people”.

“As the Prosecutor General, I must send such a letter request and I
will do it. I must do it and will do it irrespective of the fact it
has been demanded or not. I need to have adequate grounds to reason my
request. As soon as I have them, and I will have them, I will by all
means send it – do not worry about it, we will still have a chance
to discuss that issue”, said the Prosecutor General.

He noted that the requests do not end in themselves and are sent in
a relevant phase, as a result of relevant investigation and in case
of sufficient grounds.

Gevorg Kostanyan stressed there is yet no word related to Valery
Permyakov’s handing over. “Issues related to the person’s handing
over and the transfer of the legal proceeding are in different legal
regimes. They complement each other but refer to different institutes”,
said Gevorg Kostanyan.

As to the jurisdiction of the Russian 102nd military base, the
Prosecutor General said the territory of the military base belongs
to the Republic of Armenia but by agreements, the Russian legislation
is in effect there.

From: A. Papazian

BAKU CONDEMNS RADIO LIBERTY FOR PROMOTING SEPARATIST REGIME

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Jan 21 2015

21 January 2015, 18:21 (GMT+04:00)
By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijan has slammed the Radio Liberty for promoting the separatist
regime in Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, the occupation and
the aggression.

Hikmet Hajiyev, Acting Spokesperson of Foreign Ministry said the
website of the Radio Liberty spread information about a visit of
Margot Buff, presented as the radio’s employee, to the Azerbaijani
lands occupied by Armenia and taking pictures there.

He said Radio Liberty sent its employee to the occupied Azerbaijani
territories without any official consent of Azerbaijan, and this
is illegal.

Hajiyev added that this is a violation of the law on the state border.

Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry and diplomatic missions pay special
attention to the illegal activity in the occupied areas of Azerbaijan.

The work is constantly carried out to prevent such illegal actions.

Unauthorized visits to Nagorno-Karabakh and other regions of Azerbaijan
occupied by Armenia are considered illegal, and the individuals
who pay such visits are included in Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s
“black list”.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly warned foreign officials and diplomats of
unauthorized visits to its territories that are occupied by Armenia,
calling them contradictory to international laws.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally
recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent
regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus
neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s. Long-standing
efforts by U.S., Russian and French mediators have been largely
fruitless so far.

From: A. Papazian

MESSAGE TO ARMENIANS NOT TACTICAL: TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Jan 21 2015

ANKARA

Messages from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last year and Prime
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Jan. 20 addressed to Armenians were not
“tactical” steps taken for the 100th anniversary of the 1915 events,
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgic has said.

“Those statements have sincere and functional dimensions. They
represent a conscientious stance and a humane perspective,” Bilgic
told reporters on Jan. 21.

Ankara has taken a clear position against insensitivity toward the
pain caused by the 1915 incidents, he claimed.

In a commemoration message for the eighth anniversary of the
assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink on Jan. 20,
Davutoglu called on all Armenians to jointly seek ways to resolve
their historical differences with Turkey, stressing that it is a
must for Turks and Armenians to “engage in humane relations and to
recognize each other in light of 800 years of common history.”

“It’s possible for two ancient people to have the maturity to
understand each other and to look to the future together. Turks and
Armenians, sharing the same geography and long history, can only
talk to each other about their problems and seek together ways to
resolve them. It is a necessity for us to develop mutual trust and
cooperation, to know each other again in light of our 800 years of
common history, and to engage in a humane relationship,” Davutoglu
said in a written statement.

In a landmark statement on the Armenian issue delivered on April 23,
2014, Erdogan highlighted the “shared pain” endured during the 1915
events, expressing condolences on behalf of the Turkish state to the
grandchildren of Armenians who lost their lives “in the context of
the early 20th century.”

January/21/2015

From: A. Papazian

MOSCOW AND YEREVAN TO JOINTLY INVESTIGATE GYUMRI MURDER – SPOKESMAN

Interfax, Russia
Jan 20 2015

MOSCOW. Jan 20

An investigation against Russian soldier Valery Permyakov, who is
suspected of murdering an Armenian family in the city of Gyumri, will
be conducted in Armenian territory, Russian Investigative Committee
spokesman Vladimir Markin said, referring to committee head Alexander
Bastrykin.

“When coordinating the work of investigative groups, Bastrykin and
chairman of Armenia’s Investigative Committee Aghvan Hovsepyan agreed
that the parties would work jointly in order to ensure a comprehensive,
complete and objective inquiry as part of the criminal cases opened
in both countries,” Markin told Interfax.

Bastrykin “assured his counterpart that an investigation and a trial
of serviceman Permyakov will take place exclusively in the territory
of Armenia,” Markin said.

“The criminal inquiry and all procedural measures connected with
it will abide by the norms of international law, the January 22,
1993 Convention on Legal Aid and Legal Relations in Civil, Family
and Criminal Cases, the March 16, 1995 Treaty between the Russian
Federation and the Republic of Armenia concerning the presence of
a Russian military base in the territory of Armenia, as well as the
Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia
on judicial and mutual legal assistance in issues linked with the
presence of the Russian military base in the territory of Republic
of Armenia, dated August 29, 1997,” the spokesman said.

“Today, the heads of the two countries’ Investigative Committees also
met with President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and informed him of the
course of this joint inquiry. They assured him that the person guilty
of this cruel murder would be punished with the utmost vigor of the
law,” Markin said.

During his visit to Armenia, Bastrykin was also brought up to date
on the progress made in the investigation opened against Permyakov,
Markin said.

According to earlier reports, a family of six, including a two-year
old child, were murdered in Gyumri, northern Armenia, on January 12.

The only survivor, six-months-old Sergei Avetisyan, was hospitalized
with a stab wound. He died on January 19.

Valery Permyakov, a serviceman from Russia’s 102nd military base,
who is deployed in Gyumri, was detained shortly after the attack. He
is now on the territory of the military base. Criminal charges were
brought against him on January 14 based on the Russian and Armenian
Criminal Codes.

On January 15, protests broke out in Gyumri. Their participants
demanded that Permyakov be handed over to the Armenian justice system.

Fourteen people, including five policemen, were hospitalized after
clashes between the demonstrators and police.

On January 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin called his Armenian
counterpart Serzh Sargsyan to again extend his condolences to the
victims’ relatives and all people of Armenia in regard of the tragedy
in Gyumri.

tm mk

From: A. Papazian

NETANYAHU RESPONDS TO ERDOGAN’S PROVOCATIONS

Al-Monitor
Jan 21 2015

Author: Arad Nir
Posted January 20, 2015

The election atmosphere that is starting to dominate Israel’s public
discourse is having an impact on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
approach to the Turkish arena. For a long time he maintained the
vow of silence he imposed upon himself, and intentionally avoided
referring to any outspoken comments about him or the State of Israel by
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Now it seems as if Netanyahu
has decided that continuing this policy of self-restraint could
be perceived as weakness by the electorate, and that it gives his
political rivals on the right materials with which to attack him.

Netanyahu initially held back when the Turkish president condemned
his participation in the Paris anti-terrorism march Jan. 11, asking,
“How can you see this individual who carries out state terrorism
by massacring 2,500 people in Gaza waving his hand?” In contrast
with Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman quickly reacted to
Erdogan’s imagery and demagoguery. Speaking to a gathering of Israeli
ambassadors, which took place in Jerusalem on Jan. 14, he called the
Turkish president “an anti-Semitic neighborhood bully,” and spoke
accusingly of how “the silence of the lambs of cultured Europe,
politically correct Europe, toward … Erdogan and his friends,
brings us back to the reality of the 1930s.”

It seems as if this aggressive rhetoric ultimately convinced Netanyahu
that this time around he would no longer be obliged by protocol. For
the first time in public, the prime minister used his meeting with
members of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC (the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee) to publicly denounce Erdogan’s comments and
disassociate himself from them. Netanyahu even tied the “required”
condemnation in with the war on terrorism, emphasizing this by saying,
“I think the war against terror will not succeed if it´s founded
on hypocrisy.”

It was no coincidence that Netanyahu chose his meeting with AIPAC
to respond to Erdogan’s attacks. A senior diplomatic official in
Jerusalem told me, “The new Congress that will be sworn in this
week in Washington is a lot less friendly to Turkey than any of the
other congresses that were elected recently.” The statement implied
a threat as well, since on April 24 of this year, Armenians around
the world will mark the 100-year anniversary of the “Medz Yeghern”
(“Great Crime”), the genocide they claim the Ottoman Turks committed
against the Armenian people.

This year, as every year, the US president and Congress will be asked
to debate the sensitive issue of recognizing the Armenian genocide.

For many years, Israel used AIPAC to prevent Congress from recognizing
this genocide, all as a token of Israel’s friendly relationship with
Turkey. In discussions now being held in Jerusalem, however, there are
those who believe that it is time to remove the gloves and spearhead
a response that will embarrass Turkey in the international arena.

Meanwhile, the statements by Netanyahu and Liberman have hardly caused
Turkish officials to tone down the rhetoric, and the rift between the
two heads of state is only growing deeper. The Presidential Palace in
Ankara is frustrated by the fact that the Israeli prime minister has
delayed the completion of the reparations agreement over the killing
of Turkish activists on board the Mavi Marmara for more than a year
now. The agreement is supposed to formalize relations between the
two countries and lead to the exchange of ambassadors. Senior Turkish
officials spoke out in favor of the agreement last year on more than
one occasion, which is yet to be approved by Israel.

For its part, Turkey has been increasing its support more and more for
the Palestinians. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is a regular
guest in government palaces throughout Ankara, and the head of the
political bureau of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, who was asked to leave
Qatar, at least according to reports in the Arab media, is a welcome
guest in Turkey as well.

Netanyahu’s comments about radical Islam after the wave of attacks
in Paris, and his call for Europe to stand beside Israel in its war
against Islamic terrorism, figured prominently in the Turkish press.

Meanwhile, Europe has intimated its dissatisfaction with Netanyahu’s
remarks and with the linkage he makes between the threats faced by
Israel and those faced by Europe. These remarks are perceived in Europe
as an attempt to avoid a discussion about the Israeli occupation. At
the same time, Europe is also choosing to ignore Erdogan’s verbal
assaults on Israel, while he continues his increasingly extreme
rhetoric. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu accused Netanyahu of
various provocations, from the killing of innocents in Gaza to the use
of violence against Muslims in Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. This,
he claimed, was what was causing Muslims to become extremists.

Ever since the 2009 Davos incident, in which he attacked former
Israeli President Shimon Peres and especially since the 2010 Mavi
Marmara flotilla events, Erdogan has been using the protection he
has afforded to the Palestinians to position himself as the defender
of the entire “Islamic people,” the ummah — that religious entity
transcending national boundaries, once headed by the Ottoman sultan.

In order to relay this message, he organized a photo session with Abbas
on Jan. 12, with the two men standing before a grotesque formation of
16 soldiers dressed as janissaries, or the sultan’s bodyguards, in the
uniforms of the 16 empires run by the Ottoman Turks throughout history.

As someone who perceives himself as a successor to the sultans,
Erdogan allows himself to attack Europe too, even if he is still
trying, at least formally, to be accepted into their union of nations.

That is not enough to stop him from accusing Europe of Islamophobia
and racism.

Nor was Erdogan pleased with the special issue of Charlie Hebdo
mourning the tragic event. In fact, the Turkish president was the
first to attack the issue as a provocation deserving of punishment,
and to demand in the name of all Muslims, “an attitude of respect to
the Prophet Muhammad.”

Despite Israel’s protests and complaints, both public and through
acceptable diplomatic channels, the Turkish president and his prime
minister continue their outspoken assaults on Israel, in ways that
are often reminiscent of the behavior and language of former Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Immediately after the march of world leaders in Paris, a senior
official in the Israeli prime minister’s entourage told me that
Netanyahu didn’t even consider shaking hands with Abbas, who was
originally positioned just two world leaders from him. “His unilateral
appeal to the Security Council and the International Criminal court
in The Hague eliminated any possibility for dialogue,” he said. When
I asked him about a handshake with the Turkish prime minister, who
was also in the first line of marchers, the same senior official
answered that the chances of that happening were “even less.”

From: A. Papazian

1915 : 1,5 MILLIONS DE MARTYRS ARMENIENS

REVUE DE PRESSE

Il y a un siècle, le “triumvirat” a la tete du gouvernement turc
s’appretait a commencer le genocide des Armeniens (et des autres
minorites chretiennes de l’Empire). L’ironie tragique de l’histoire
est que c’est exactement un siècle plus tard, ces memes regions voient
se mettre en place une nouvelle persecution contre les chretiens,
menee au nom de l’islam par les fondamentalistes armes et finances
par les pays du Golfe, avec la complicite d’Ankara et l’Occident
ecrit Marco tossati dans le journal italien “La Stampa”.

lire l’article en italien

jeudi 22 janvier 2015, Stephane (c)armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

RUSSIAN EMBASSY MOURNING OVER DEATH OF 6-MONTH SURVIVOR OF GYUMRI MASSACRE, PLEDGES KILLER WILL BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE

ITAR-TASS, Russia
January 20, 2015 Tuesday 12:20 AM GMT+4

YEREVAN January 19.

Russia’s embassy in Armenia is mourning with the Armenian people over
the death of a six-moth baby who survived the massacre in the town
of Gyumri, the Russian diplomatic mission said in a statement on Monday

“Till the very last minute, we all hoped and prayed for Serezha
Avetisyan as Armenian and Russian medics were taking effort to save
his life,” the document says. “But, regrettably, no miracle happened
although we wanted it very much and believed in it.”

“The loss of a child is a tremendous grief and there are no words
to soothe the pain from the awful tragedy that happened. But we must
remain humans even in these conditions and most of us understand it.

Mourning is grief and prayer,” the embassy said.

“All of us must learn a lesson from this tragedy and do our best to
prevent such tragedies. We can reassure that the man responsible for
that and those who might be behind him will be brought to justice,”
the Russian embassy stressed.

On January 12, a soldier of the Russian military base in Armenia
identified as Private Valery Permyakov without permission had
deserted his post with arms and cartridges. Later on, he broke into
a private house in Gyumri and shot dead a family of six, including a
two-year child, and wounded a six-month baby who died in hospital on
January 19. The man left his uniform and footwear with badges and his
submachine gun and munitions and fled the scene. He was arrested on
the same day by Russian border guards while trying to cross Armenia’s
border into Turkey.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES LOST THEIR EXCEPTIONAL CHANCE

Lragir.am
Law – 22 January 2015, 16:01

Powerful demonstrations of protest took place in Gyumri for two days
demanding to hand the person accused of murder of the Avetisyan family
to the Armenian law enforcement agencies and prosecute and try him in
the Armenian jurisdiction. Unrest was triggered by the statement of
the prosecutor general that the Russian constitution and jurisdiction
apply to this case.

In fact, the Russian constitution is effective in Armenia.

Next, the RA prosecutor general gave the demonstrators of Gyumri
“a man’s word” that he will request the Russian prosecutor general
to transfer the case to the Armenia side but he has not done so far.

Although, he did not mention a date noting that there are certain
procedures which must be completed before the request.

The demonstrators of the people of Gyumri were invincible in every
aspect, which worried the governments of Armenia and Russia. Hard
though they may try to lead them astray, the people of Gyumri did not
deviate from the accurate legal claims which drove the Armenian and
Russian sides into a complicated situation. And now a performance is
staged, entitled a joint Armenian-Russian investigation. Some joint
headquarters has been set up by the Armenian and Russian investigative
committees to conduct a joint investigation.

The Kremlin has already announced that Permyakov will not be handed,
and the trial will be in a Russian court. And the Armenian side has
been instructed to prepare the setting for this scenario.

The Armenian law enforcement agencies missed the exceptional chance
not only for the job but also for their reputation. The latter is
important because the Armenian law enforcement agencies and the justice
system have been defamed and disgraced. The Armenian people gave them a
chance to clear themselves. The problem is not that people trusted this
system, the problem is that people put forth the issue of sovereign
justice which is one of the pillars of sovereignty and dignity.

People are the source of any legitimacy, people gave them the chance.

People behaved as a nation, while the Armenian law enforcement bodies
are doing their hardest to serve interests of aliens and shatter one
of the pillars of sovereignty.

The rest – joint Armenian-Russian investigation etc. – are a process
of cover-up and protraction. This is already visible and will become
obvious during the “joint investigation”.

Well, what are we talking about now when the Armenian National Security
Service celebrates its 90th anniversary, not the 23rd? The Armenian
law enforcement agencies failed to escape their psychological and
physical subordination to Moscow.

From: A. Papazian

VRAM KHOJAGORYAN. “2015 IS GOING TO BE A YEAR FULL OF SAD EVENTS AND TENSION”

January 22 2015

According to DA operative data, on January 20 and the morning
of January 21, the ceasefire regime in the Nagorno-Karabakh and
Azerbaijani armed forces Contact line was violated by the enemy
about 300 times. On January 20, the morning of January 21, close
to 03:00 a.m., an attempt of subversive intelligence penetration
was initiated by the enemy in the direction of Karvachar defense of
Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijani armed forces Contact line. During
the fight, soldier Nahapet Asatryan was killed and Hovhannes Gasparyan
was wounded. In this regard, Aravot.am talked to expert of Razm.info
military website Vram Khojagoryan. He noted that still in the end of
2014, when Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov was summarizing
the year-end, he had mentioned in the to-do list for 2015 that it will
not leave Armenia calm and quiet and will constantly exert pressure as
long as Nagorno-Karabakh lands are not liberated. “There is a clear
decision, the tactic is decided. Azerbaijan will definitely maintain
tension in the frontline. I did not associate these events with the
events in Gyumri. Even in the tensed days, we noticed that there seems
to be a bit of retreat from their adopted tactics, I do not think
it was for humanitarian reasons. In any case, a decline in tension
was observed during the days of clashes.” Vram Khojagoryan noticed
that the Armenian side has recorded combat losses during the month
of January, while the Azerbaijani side was still silent on this matter.

According to him, Azerbaijani side has come to the conclusion that it
is preferable not to report on any loss. “We follow the reactions in
the social networks. Of course, we cannot rely on the users’ records,
but in any case, when we look at social networks, there are users who
say that their friends have noted that the Azerbaijani side suffered
losses, but it did not appear in the official release.” According
to the expert, the year 2015 compared to other years is going to
be full of sad events and tension. “I rule out that we would have a
large number of combat losses and do not give at least proportional
response to them. Nevertheless, I think that time will come that
Armenian’s patience will be exhausted like in August and there will
be such a degree of disproportionate response that will once again
make them feel restrained for some time.”

Ami CHICHAKYAN

Read more at:

From: A. Papazian

EU, ARMENIA TALK UP CLOSER TIES IN BRUSSELS MEETING

Transitions online, Czech Rep.

Jan 21 2015

Armenia still could conclude an association agreement with the European
Union even as it prepares to join the Russia-led Eurasian Economic
Union, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports.

Eduard Nalbandian Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian’s talks
with EU officials in Brussels appear to have opened the door for a
slimmed-down pact with the free-trade component left out, the EU’s
commissioner for regional policy, Johannes Hahn, said 20 January.

Yerevan began negotiations on a free-trade and political link with the
EU in 2010, but the agreement was scotched when Armenia decided to
join Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan in the Eurasian customs union,
now the Eurasian Economic Union. Armenia’s change of tack was seen
as motivated by its close economic ties to Russia and by security
concerns arising from the conflict with Azerbaijan over the breakaway
region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Hahn said he hoped a few issues that require “clarification” can be
resolved with Armenia by next month. Formal negotiations could then
begin in May, when Latvia will host an Eastern Partnership summit.

Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said the EU “is not competing
with somebody over Armenia or over any other eastern partner.”

Public Radio of Armenia reports that the EU noted Armenia’s progress
in implementing political and social reforms, while also encouraging
Yerevan to step up anti-corruption, judicial, and legal measures.

Armenia is eligible to receive between 140 million and 170 million
euros ($162 million to $197 million) in EU assistance for accomplishing
these aims in the 2014-2017 period.

From: A. Papazian