Author: Babajanian Karo

RUSSIAN SPY WHO SAVED STALIN PASSES AWAY

India Today

Jan 13 2012

Legendary Soviet intelligence agent Gevork Vartanian, who had in
1943 foiled a Nazi plot to kill Allied leaders Stalin, Churchill and
Roosevelt at a conference in Tehran, died on Wednesday in Moscow at
the age of 87. Ethnically, Vartanian was of Armenian origin.

Announcing the death on Thursday, Russian foreign intelligence service
(SVR) said Vartanian died of an unspecified illness. But the Armenian
media said he died of cancer at the Botkin Hospital in Moscow.

Vartanian was born on February 17, 1924, in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. His
father was a Soviet intelligence agent, sent to Persia in 1930,
to work undercover as a wealthy merchant. It was under his father’s
influence that Vartanian became an intelligence agent. He was not
even 16 when he joined.

BELARUS LEADER CALLS FOR STEPPING UP COOPERATION WITH ARMENIA

ITAR-TASS
January 12, 2012 Thursday 02:52 PM GMT+4
Russia

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko called for stepping up trade
and economic cooperation with Armenia, and developing relations with
it within the scope of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

“We are in the same military and political alliance – the CSTO. We have
no closed themes; we’re ready to discuss any theme of our cooperation,”
Lukashenko said at a meeting with Secretary of Armenia’s National
Security Council Artur Bagdasaryan on Thursday.

The president noted that Belarus and Armenia have a coordinated
position in international cooperation.

Lukashenko pointed out at the necessity to step up trade and economic
relations between the two countries. He noted that by the results of
2011, two-way trade decreased by one-third.

“One can talk about objective and subjective reasons. But the
potential of the two countries in trade and economy is considerable,”
the president said.

In this connection, Lukashenko said Armenia had brought forward a
number of proposals to expand economic ties. Fro example, it proposed
to supply Belarussian agricultural machinery, foodstuffs and consumer
goods to Armenia.

“We are ready to find opportunities to arrange the supply of our
products to Armenia, and set up joint ventures in Armenia to assemble
certain kinds of cars and equipment. I see no obstacles here,” the
Belarussian leader said.

Bagdasaryan underlined that Belarus is Armenia’s ally and that
Armenia intends to develop strategic partnership with it. He expressed
confidence that the visit would help boost Belarussian-Armenian trade
and economic ties, as well as contacts in military cooperation.

CHRISTMAS IN THE IRANIAN PLATEAU
Afshin Majlesi

On Line: 02 January 2012 16:31
In Print: Tuesday 03 January 2012

Detail showing religious celebrations of Christmas at the Vank
Cathedral, Isfahan Decorated Christmas trees might not be seen
in every corner of Iran these days, but joy and merriment reigns
supreme for the Christian population all over the country. This year,
the Iranian Christians once again celebrated the birth of Christ
in their homeland by decorating Christmas trees, exchanging gifts,
and attending services.

Predominantly a Muslim nation, Iran has a sizeable Christian population
including Assyrians, Armenians, Catholics, Protestants and Evangelical
Christians. Although a minority religious group in Iran, Christians of
Iran are free to practice their religion and perform their religious
rituals.

Christmas in Iran is known as the “Little Feast” to the Assyrians
compared to the Easter which is called the Great Feast. For the first
25 days of December, a long fast is observed by the Assyrians. During
these days no meat, eggs, milk or cheese is eaten. It is a time of
peace and meditation, a time for attending services at the church.

After the church service of December 25, Iranian Christians enjoy
Christmas dinner which they call the “Little Feast.”

In fact, Christmas Eve is the last day of the fast. Almost before
dawn on Christmas Day, the people attend Mass to receive Communion
and it is not until they have received this Communion that they are
permitted to break their fast. The main dish for Christmas Day is a
kind of chicken barley stew called Harrissa. It is cooked in large
quantities and lasts for several days.

Nowadays Gifts are less exchanged, but children get new clothes which
they wear on Christmas Day. According to Dr. Ahmad Nourizadeh who
has done a lot of research on the history of Christians, particularly
Armenians in Iran, although Iranian Armenians who make up the majority
of the country’s Christian population take January 6th as the birth
of Christ, large numbers of Iranian Christians also celebrate the
25th of December along with other Christians in the world.

HELSINKI CITIZENS ASSEMBLY IN ARMENIA’S VANADZOR CITY CONDEMNS ARMENIAN POLICEMEN ACTIONS

NEWS.am
January 13, 2012 | 17:37

VANADZOR. – Armenian Helsinki Citizens Assembly (HCA) Vanadzor office
made a statement, claiming that Armenian law enforcement agents
continue to make pressures and threaten the citizens.

“HCA has regularly received complaints from citizens on being subjected
to violence and inhuman treatment at police departments.

In particular, the organization sent a report to the Armenian Special
Investigation Service regarding detaining illegally, keeping for 14
hours in prison and applying violence against a person on Oct 10, 2011.

The report was left unanswered, as the fact of applying violence was
not approved and people pointed in the statement have no complaints.

On Thursday, however, head of the organization was called to police for
explanations. The investigator’s questions were linked to the citizen
who was subjected to violence at the department and his mother as if
being threatened by the head of the organization.

Thus, we find that law enforcement agents in Armenia do not fulfill
their obligations under UN Convention against Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and European
Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment. Moreover they try to force the citizens,
subjected to violence, keep silence threatening to instigate criminal
case otherwise.

Hence, we condemn actions of the law enforcement agents. And declare
that any pressure, threatening or their attempts are doomed to failure.

We will be decisive and persistent to reveal all the cases of human
rights violations,” the statement reads.

ANOTHER SUSPICIOUS CONSCRIPT DEATH: TEENAGER DIES OF CHICKENPOX AFTER ARMY DISCIPLINARY ACTION
By Sara Khojoyan

ArmeniaNow
13.01.12 | 15:28

Members of the family of 18-year-old conscript Hayk Khachatryan,
who served only six months in the army and died of chickenpox disease
complication two weeks ago have vowed to avenge his death by seeking
punishment of army officers who the family says are responsible.

Khachatryan, resident of Spandaryan village in Shirak province, died
on December 30, in Nork Infection Hospital in Yerevan. The details
of his death were passed to mass media by the soldier’s grandmother
Aida Avagyan.

“During my grandson’s funeral one of the soldiers told us that Hayk
was forced to run when he had high temperature and was sent to keep
guard when tears ran down his face. Of course, they deny everything,”
Avagyan says.

Movses Khachatryan, father of the soldier, who on December 29 was in
the hospital with his son, says that till the end doctors could not
understand what problem his son had, and his son was taken to Nork
Infection Hospital only after the father insisted on it (Hayk died
in the hospital).

“In the beginning they [doctors] said that the problem is in his
appendix, then something else. My son was killed, as if my child was
a Kinder [Egg] toy for them. They opened [him], and only then they
understood what to diagnose,” Hayks father says.

The representatives of the Investigation Service of the Ministry of
Defense of Armenia told ArmeniaNow that it is not known yet when the
results of the forensic medicine examination will be ready, and only
based on them it will be possible to find those who are responsible
for Khachatryan’s death.

Nevertheless, members of Khachatryan’s family do not believe that
the examination will bring any result, and his father is planning to
appeal to international institutions.

Movses Khachatryan, a 20-year police officer, has submitted his
resignation to the police force. “I have served 20 years for this
country, and this is how they pay me back.”

PRESIDENT SARGSYAN VISITS ARMAVIR MARZ
Karen Ghazaryan

“Radiolur”
13.01.2012 17:59

President Serzh Sargsyan paid a working visit to Armavir marz today.

The President participated in the groundbreaking ceremony of the
“Noyan” fruit and vegetable processing factory in Vanand community
of Baghramyan region. The President was briefed on the results of
the company’s activity and the perspectives of development.

The construction of plant is expected to be completed by this summer.

It will produce porridges necessary for production of baby food,
as well as tomato and red pepper paste. Thanks to the quality of
production and the proper working conditions the newly constructed
factory will correspond to European standards.

President Sargsyan next visited the Vanand secondary school. He
walked about the newly reconstructed building. The reconstruction
of the school built in 1986 has been financed by the Armenian Social
Investments Fund and the community.

In the Etchmiadzin administrative district President Sargsyan visited
the “Amster Flowers” and “Biga” joint Armenian-Dutch enterprises.

ORINATS YERKIR CAN’T WIPE OFF ITS TRAITOR IMAGE WITH BLEACH, BELIEVES KARAPETYAN

epress.am
01.13.2012

People’s Party leader Tigran Karapetyan is in favor of both a majority
electoral system and proportional representation, but considers
proportional representation the better way to go.

“Our party will decide on our future tasks, and definitely we’ll
declare whether we’ll participate in the parliamentary elections with
a proportional representation or majority voting system. I don’t rule
out the possibility of being nominated on a majority ticket,” he said.

Karapetyan believes that the majority system is beneficial for
oligarchs. They are the ones nominated via a majority voting system and
after being elected, they become Republican Party of Armenia members.

Speaking about other political parties, he said: “Orinats Yerkir
[Rule of Law] has been exhausted and cannot clean its traitor label
with bleach. As for Prosperous Armenia, I’ll say that it’s a party
of money and power, but it has no ideas.”

HAYPOST CASHIER COMMITS SUICIDE AFTER ROBBING MONEY

Tert.am
13.01.12

A cashier of Haypost’s branch office yesterday committed suicide by
drinking a large quantity of vinegar essence.

The PR department of the police told Tert.am that Andranik Manukyan,
the senior cashier of Haypost’s Kotayk branch, had been hospitalized
with intoxication.

A police task force arriving on the scene found out that Manukyan,48,
had drunk 3 liters of vinegar essence under a tree on the
Abovyan-Jraberd highway in an attempt to put an end to his life.

The director of the branch informed the police yesterday that Manukyan
had taken to the Armenia Medical Center at 2:30 pm local time. A
special commission formed subsequently conducted an inventory to find
out that a sum of 17,113,474 Drams (about $450,000) was missing from
the cash. Manukyan was found to have embezzled the money.

The police department of Kotayk region has instituted a criminal
proceeding under Article 176 .3 (Robbery) of the Criminal Code.

APPEL – SOUTENONS L’EDITION ET LA DIFFUSION EN LANGUE TURQUE, D’OUVRAGES RELATIFS AU GENOCIDE DES ARMENIENS
Stephane

armenews.com
vendredi 13 janvier 2012

Madame, Mademoiselle, Monsieur,

La Maison d’edition “BELGE ULUSLARARASI YAYINCILIK”, creee par Ragip
ZARAKOLU, toujours incacere, avec son fils Deniz, est mise en peril
par les multiples depenses de procès intentes contre elle en Turquie.

La maison d’edition fonctionne grâce au jeune fils Sinan et de quelques
amis ; mais pour combien de temps ?

Le CCAF lance une operation de soutien avec un double objectif :

1 – Financer les operations de traduction d’ouvrages en cours et
commander le plus grand nombre de livres edites en langue turque,
relatifs au Genocide des Armeniens

2 – Mais surtout, faire don de ces livres a :

des bibliothèques d’universites turques,

des bibliothèques municipales turques

des ONG en Turquie pour qu’ils les distribuent a leur tour.

Nous vous invitons a prendre connaissance de notre operation sur
notre page Internet :

Nous souhaitons vous associer a cette operation.

Ragip Zarakolu a ete le premier a avoir brise le tabou du genocide
armenien en Turquie.

Il en paye le prix.

Nous comptons sur vous pour traduire notre reconnaissance et notre
soutien.

FRANCE MUST REMAIN NEUTRAL AS CO-CHAIR OF OSCE MINSK GROUP

Trend
Jan 13 2012
Azerbaijan

France, as the co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group on the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict must remain neutral and not support any of the conflicting
parties, a member of the French Senate Nathalie Goulet said in an
interview with Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.

“The adoption of the bill criminalising denial of the so-called
“Armenian genocide” is really offering support to Armenia. This is
unacceptable for the co-chairs of the Minsk Group,” Ms Goulet, who is
also an assistant to the chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Group,
Turkey and France said.

She said more and more MPs in the French Senate are opposed to the
bill criminalising the denial of so-called “Armenian genocide”.

“Turkey must have faith in the French Senate. We support Ankara.

Everyone knows whose interests this bill served, so a group of senators
is campaigning to prevent its adoption. If the Senate adopts the bill
we can appeal to the Constitutional Court” Ms Goulet said.

It is expected that the Senate will include this bill on the agenda
on January 23.The French Parliament adopted a bill criminalising the
denial of a fictitious “Armenian genocide” last week.

Some 45 out of 577 French MPs participated in the voting, with 38
voting for and seven voted against the adoption of the bill.

The bill demands about a year’s imprisonment and a fine of 45,000
euros for denial of the so-called “Armenian genocide”.

MPs from the French President’s “Union for Popular Movement” (UMP)
party which has the parliamentary majority, proposed the bill which
aims at criminalising denial of the so-called “Armenian genocide” to
the legislative committee of the National Assembly in early December.

Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that the predecessor of the Turkey
– Ottoman Empire had committed the 1915 genocide against the Armenians
living in Anadolu, and achieved recognition of the “Armenian Genocide”
by the parliaments of several countries.