Author: Babajanian Karo

WHO: 1% OF WORLD’S SUICIDES OCCURS IN AZERBAIJAN, WITH 0.15% OF WORLD’S POPULATION

Panorama
Nov 15 2011
Armenia

328 cases of suicide were registered in Azerbaijan in the 10 months
of 2011. The suicide rate grows in Azerbaijan day after day, however,
the government conceals the suicide statistics from society.

According to media reports, at least 20 or 25 people commit suicide in
Azerbaijan monthly, Azadlig reported noting that according to the World
Health Organization data, 1% of world’s suicides occurs in Azerbaijan,
with 0.15% of world’s population.

“There is no structure to officially register the suicide facts
in Azerbaijan. We can only speak of cases registered by police
departments, with criminal cases filed. Suicide facts are mostly
published in press but indeed there are far more suicide facts. Head
of the Statistics Division of the State Statistical Committee of
Azerbaijan M. Ibrahimova told Azerbaijani media that for some unknown
reasons, no suicide study has ever been conducted in Azerbaijan,”
the newspaper said.

ARMENIAN CHILDREN LIVING IN TURKEY ILLEGALLY NOT ALLOWED ATTENDING ARMENIAN SCHOOLS: TURKISH MINISTER

ARMENPRESS
November 15, 2011
YEREVAN

Turkish Minister of Family and Social Politics Fatma Sahin stated
that it is not possible to give permission of receiving passport and
education to children of the Armenians who live in Turkey illegally,
Armenpress reports, citing the Turkish “Habergech” news agency.

The website informs that Turkish authorities are drafting a program
on calculation of Armenian emigrants’ children and their education,
and relevant mechanisms have already been put into operation for
that purpose.

The mentioned department has already started cooperation on that
issue with the Turkish Ministries f Home Affairs and Education. It
is mentioned that the children of the families living in Turkey
illegally, are not permitted to attend the Armenian schools under
the Education Ministry.

“Though the Turkish Education Ministry has permitted Armenian children
to attend Armenian schools in the status of a guest, it is not a
solution to the issue, as nearly 1000 children face suchlike issue,”
informs the Turkish website.

SARKIS SOGHANALIAN OBITUARY
Michael Gillard

guardian.co.uk
Monday 14 November 2011

World’s largest private arms dealer for more than two decades

Sarkis Soghanalian leaving a Florida court in 1991. Photograph:
BILL COOKE/AP

For a man who lived his life in the shadowy, secret world of arms deals
and spooks, Sarkis Soghanalian, who has died aged 82, never stopped
talking. About his deals, his connections. To government agents,
prosecutors and journalists. In private, on television. Often to keep
out or get out of jail. Most of what he said, while well informed,
was self-serving; much of it was difficult to prove and some was hard
to believe.

Over two decades, Soghanalian was the world’s largest private arms
dealer – involved in Lebanon, Nicaragua, Angola, the Iran-Iraq war. A
short, rotund figure, Soghanalian revelled in being described as
“the merchant of death”.

“That name does not bother me a bit,” he explained.

He was also a long-time asset of the CIA, FBI and other US government
agencies. He was a “cut-out” with “plausible deniability” on covert
arms deals where the US did not want its fingerprints to be found. He
supplied arms to Anastasio Somoza, fighting the Sandinistas in
Nicaragua, and to Saddam Hussein, for deployment against Iran. He
was an informant providing valuable intelligence. “You listen with
your mouth and you talk with your ears,” he explained. His Washington
contacts were a get-out-of-jail card when deals went bad – to pull
strings with judges and prosecutors.

Soghanalian was a Lebanese citizen – he was born in Iskenderun,
Turkey, but his Armenian family later moved to Beirut. He emigrated
to the US in 1958 and ran a garage before returning to Lebanon. He
became the agent for Colt, makers of the M16 rifle.

During Lebanon’s civil war, Soghanalian supplied the Christian
militias and began his association with the CIA. He worked with
Felix Rodríguez, the Cuban exile agent involved in tracking down
Che Guevara in Bolivia, and Edwin Wilson, the renegade agent turned
arms trafficker who supplied Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. “It
takes a special type of character to make a successful arms dealer,”
Soghanalian said. “You need to enjoy taking risks. Trust and reputation
mean everything. But if you want to stay alive, you have to keep your
angels happy. You cannot afford to have governments on the other side
of the fence. You must know who’s going to be happy and unhappy.”

With too many unhappy people in Beirut, Soghanalian relocated to
Miami. He portrayed himself as a devout anti-communist. “I never sold
arms to anybody on the left,” he claimed in 2000 – after it emerged
that he had armed the Farc rebels in Colombia. To help himself, and
Somoza, Soghanalian defrauded the British arms dealer John Ralph
in 1977 over $1.15m (about £640,000) paid to supply Mauritania
in west Africa – fighting the Polisario insurgents – with machine
guns. The guns went instead to Nicaragua. The rest of the money repaid
Soghanalian’s debts.

“He’s not some sleazy, fly-by-night gun runner. He certainly is
known to high officials of our government,” Soghanalian’s lawyer had
declared in 1978 – the year he attended a White House dinner. Just
how well connected Soghanalian was would become clear.

Ralph filed a criminal complaint but no action was taken until 1981
when Soghanalian was indicted for fraud. A year later, a highly unusual
plea bargain saw him sentenced to five years’ probation. The judge
explained that the case “involved international affairs conducted by
the state department”.

Soghanalian supplied Exocet missiles to Argentina, which were later
used in the Falklands conflict to sink HMS Sheffield. “The Americans
knew what I was doing, every minute, every hour,” he claimed on US
TV in 2001.

His biggest deals, more than $1.5bn, were with Saddam, during Iraq’s
eight-year war with Iran from 1980. The US supposedly banned the
selling of arms to both sides. Soghanalian claimed he was encouraged
by the Reagan administration, but dropped when expendable. He was
indicted in 1987 for conspiring to supply helicopters to Iraq.

Described by the prosecutor as “a con-man, a master manipulator”,
Soghanalian was convicted in 1991 but, once again, help was at hand.

In 1993, his six-and-a-half-year sentence was slashed to two, and he
was released – in return for information on a counterfeit US currency
scam in Lebanon. “When they needed me, the US government that is,
they immediately came and got me out,” he explained in 2001. “I can
produce the intelligence information they need.”

Banned from US arms deals and owing the US taxman $30m, Soghanalian
moved to France, then Jordan. In 1999 he was arrested on arrival
in Miami over a $3m cheque fraud. But again, the arms dealer had
information to trade. He was released on bail after 10 months.

Soghanalian always claimed never to act against US interests – despite
dealing with Libya – but earlier, in 1999, had supplied 10,000 AK47s
to the Farc in a deal set up by the Peruvian spymaster Vladimiro
Montesinos, a CIA ally. The agency believed the guns were going to
Peru. The US was funding Colombia’s war against the Farc. Montesinos
went to jail in Peru. Because of his “substantial assistance to law
enforcement”, a 2001 plea bargain saw Soghanalian sentenced to the
time served for the cheque fraud, plus three years’ supervised release.

By 2008 Soghanalian, in poor health, was living in a low-rent Miami
neighbourhood but still being visited by FBI officials, still looking
to do deals, still talking. When he died, the man who once had several
private jets was “broke”, according to his son, Garo, who survives him,
along with a daughter, Melo.

Sarkis Garabet Soghanalian, arms dealer, born 6 February 1929;
died 5 October 2011

EP’S LAMBSDORFF: EU, TURKEY SHOULD BE IN STRATEGIC DIALOGUE ON EAST MED

Today’s Zaman
Nov 14 2011
Turkey

As tensions are high in the eastern Mediterranean — from Cyprus to
Syria and from Gaza to Egypt — European and Turkish leaders should
talk with each other more than ever as their interests and strategic
goals in the region overlap, according to this week’s guest for
Monday Talk.

Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, member of the European Parliament from
Germany and vice chair of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and
Democrats for Europe (ALDE Group), has said Europe and Turkey have a
“real interest” in having a strategic dialogue.

“We need to talk about these things and find solutions to these
questions. It’s very difficult, takes a long time sometimes, but we
must avoid developing political ideas that would lead to a divergence
of European interests and strategic goals and Turkish interests and
strategic goals,” he said in relation to challenges in the stability
of the eastern Mediterranean.

In a recent visit to Ýstanbul, he elaborated on the issue while
answering our questions.

You stress the point that the EU and Turkey need to renew their
dialogue. Would you elaborate on this idea? Why is it important?

Turkey is an extremely important country, and the European Union is
very important, too. We have had a long and close relationship for
many decades, but paradoxically, with the opening of the accession
negotiations we’ve seen a cooling of the relationship because the
process does not work well enough. That has led to loss of interest
on both sides. Therefore, I suggest to continue with the accession
process but also to look at other options for cooperation, integration
and for common strategies between Turkey and the EU because I believe
we need a positive atmosphere just as we need technical and political
negotiations.

The EU seems to have other priorities at this time other than the
accession process.

The EU is trying to stabilize the euro, and that takes a lot of energy
as this concerns the welfare of our society. Enlargement is indeed
much less of a concern to our citizens right now.

There is a belief in Turkish society that Turkey’s accession process
has been stalled because of some of the leaders in the EU — like
Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy — and there are anti-Turkey and
anti-Turkish feelings in Europe. What do you think about this?

In certain parts of Europe there are anti-Islamic feelings. I would
not call this anti-Turkish; it is different. For me, a member of a
liberal political party that advocates the strict separation of the
religious from the political sphere, this is a completely unacceptable
position in any kind of political debate. On the other hand, there is
a legitimate political argument about the merits of Turkish accession,
and there are some leaders in Europe who say it would be better if
Turkey were not to accede to the European Union. As nobody expects
that the negotiations will conclude in the next few years, however,
this is not so important, as the entire European and Turkish leadership
will have changed before a decision on Turkish accession has to be
taken in earnest.

‘It is utterly unacceptable that the EU is incapable of admitting a
majority Muslim country’ You said there are anti-Islamic feelings in
Europe. There is also Islamophobia. Which one do you think is more
prevalent? What is the distinction between the two?

I would not make a great distinction between the two. Some
conservatives in Europe think of the EU as a club of countries that
is incapable of admitting a majority Muslim country. This is utterly
unacceptable. It is a minority position, not a position that is widely
shared by citizens. If we reintroduce religion into politics, we open
a Pandora’s box. Europe has much experience with religion trying to
dominate politics; indeed, our most terrible war was fought over that
question, the Thirty Years’ War from 1618-1648. At the end, the peace
deal made sure that religion and politics were to be kept separate.

Would Turkey’s inclusion in the European Union help or not in
eliminating Islamophobia or anti-Islamic feelings?

The accession process of Turkey to the EU is a political process. It
is not a social process, and it is not a religious process. From
a political point of view, one needs to analyze whether it is
economically feasible, whether it has political support and whether
Turkey fulfills the acquis. All of those things must be checked but
people should not have high hopes that membership of any particular
country is going to change the minds of prejudiced people.

Now that the French elections are coming up, do you expect that more
anti-Turkey positions will be highlighted?

I hope not. You may hear about two issues: one related to the Armenian
question and the other to Turkey’s possible European Union membership.

On the Armenian question, everyone knows what the discussion is about,
and on the EU accession, a clear majority of the French population, not
just the leadership, is against Turkey’s accession. So some politicians
may choose to exploit those feelings by linking the Armenian issue
with EU accession, and therefore create an atmosphere that makes it
difficult for France and Turkey to rebuild a constructive relationship.

‘Strategic dialogue not replacement of Turkey’s accession process’
You also stress that Turkey and the EU need a strategic dialogue,
aiming at cooperation rather than competition, especially in the
eastern Mediterranean.

The entire issue of stability in the eastern Mediterranean is
difficult right now. We have a terrible situation in Syria, tensions
between the Palestinians and Israelis, extremists in power in Gaza,
a changing Egypt that becomes more difficult to predict, hardly any
progress on the island of Cyprus and now in addition to that we see
the exploration of resources off the coast of Cyprus. So the entire
eastern Mediterranean right now is an area where challenges for the EU,
the Middle East and Turkey overlap. Turkey and the EU member states
are nearly all NATO allies. We need to talk about these things and
find solutions to these questions. It’s very difficult, takes a
long time sometimes, but we must avoid developing political ideas
that would lead to a divergence of European interests and strategic
goals and Turkish interests and strategic goals. Therefore, starting
in the eastern Mediterranean, we have a real interest in having this
strategic dialogue. But if you look at other areas around Turkey like
Central Asia, the Caucasus or sub-Saharan Africa, you have an active
Turkish role in all of those areas, and you have an active European
role in all of those areas. So why not compare notes and see where we
can cooperate. There might be instances where we will have to agree
to disagree. But then, as allies, we should be aware of that because
if we disagree, we must be able to manage that responsibly.

Do you hear any arguments in Europe against strategic dialogue
with Turkey?

No, not at all. The only argument I hear sometimes is from Turkish
friends who are concerned that such a dialogue may become a replacement
for the accession process, which is definitely not the intention. I’m
glad therefore that the Turkish government has accepted this invitation
to enter into a strategic dialogue.

‘Turkey’s exclusion by France to participate in discussions over Libya
was profoundly wrong’ You emphasize Turkey’s position more than the
EU’s, especially in relation to the Arab Spring. Would you explain
the reasons behind this?

If one looks at a map, it is clear that Turkey is a very important
country in a very delicate area and has assets that it can bring to
the discussion in relation to what is going on in North Africa and
the Middle East. The Europeans should try to use these resources
as we have a role in NATO. We are well advised in Brussels and
in national capitals — London, Paris, etc. — to have a constant
dialogue with Ankara. One thing that completely baffled me is that
in the early stages of planning the Libyan military campaign, Turkey
was not invited by France to participate in the discussion. This
was profoundly wrong. Because whatever you think about accession,
denying that Turkey has an important strategic role and is a crucial
player is very short-sighted. After all, Turkey is the ally with the
second largest armed forces inside NATO.

Is the axis shift debate regarding Turkey still continuing in Europe?

There was a fear for some time that Turkey may turn away from Europe
and turn its back on NATO. In 2003, Turkey did not allow American
troops to use its territory for the war in Iraq, and then came the
deterioration in Turkish-Israeli relations. Having said all this, a
closer analysis of Turkish foreign policy in its immediate neighborhood
and in the regions with which Turkey was supposed to construct new
axes does not make us think that the fears are justified. There is
no Ankara-Tehran axis; there is no Ankara-Damascus axis; there is
no Ankara-Moscow axis. Ankara’s strongest axis is with Brussels and
Washington, D.C. Strategically speaking, that makes sense. Europe is
Turkey’s economic future if the country wants to become a high-tech
nation, and I believe it does. The US is the leading power in NATO
and Turkey’s security guarantee. Turkey’s strategic interests are
best met in the West and the North, even though the South and the
East may be a bit more interesting than they used to be.

——————————————————————————–

‘First, UN should try its best to resolve Cyprus issue’ Turkish
officials have said that Turkey will freeze relations with the European
Union if Greek Cyprus is given the EU presidency in 2012. Do you think
this would lead to a new low point in ties between the European Union
and Turkey?

Announcing a freeze of Turkish-European relations was not wise. One
should recognize that Cyprus is not the only small country in the EU
with a big neighbor who may not always like all the policies the small
member decides to pursue. For example, if Latvia or Estonia holds
the EU presidency and Russia is unhappy with some of the policies of
these countries, Russia may decide to boycott the EU, and you could
certainly expect that the rest of the EU would close ranks around
these countries. For a candidate country — and Turkey is a candidate
country — it is necessary to think through the implications of such
a statement. I hope a constructive way of handling this issue can be
found for the second half of 2012.

If there is no solution found despite all efforts of the UN to the
problems on the island of Cyprus, do you think the European Union
should assume a role in solving the problem?

We have had United Nations efforts for decades trying to resolve the
situation on the island. Let’s now have the UN try their best; they
have our full support. If there is no solution found by the end of
this year, it is everyone’s concern — the EU, Greek Cypriots, Turkish
Cypriots and Turkey — to find a new approach in solving this problem.

If that means Europeanizing the process, it may be worth trying also
because as an EU member state, Cyprus will have a special obligation
to engage constructively in an EU-led process.

——————————————————————————–

‘Turkish politicians say Europe is less important for them, but…’
You hold talks with both ruling and opposition party politicians
in Turkey and talk about the accession process. Do you see serious
divergences in their approaches toward Turkey’s EU accession process?

While there is a certain frustration with the accession process on
all sides, no responsible politician from either the government or the
opposition has indicated to me that Europe was becoming less important
in their opinion. There has been a set of developments in the Turkish
neighborhood that has led to more activities vis-a-vis the countries
in Turkey’s immediate neighborhood. However, as I said above, if one
takes a closer look at this trend, one sees that this has not always
led to an improvement, be it with regard to Syria, Iran or Armenia.

Europe is still Turkey’s largest trading partner, the largest partner
in direct foreign investment, the largest destination for migration and
remigration, the source of high tech and know-how and so on. With 500
million people and high purchasing power, the EU is the largest single
market in the world. The proximity to Europe and NATO membership are
the source of Turkey’s strength, and responsible leaders in Turkey
recognize this full well.

——————————————————————————–

‘Regardless of accession, we must continue to work together’
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan was in Germany recently
to celebrate the 50th year of the start of Turkish migration to
Germany. At a joint press conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel,
Erdoðan complained that the [terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party]
PKK was able to collect 6 million euros in Germany, and Erdoðan has
criticized Germany for not dealing with the PKK, echoing similar
remarks during a visit in February to Dusseldorf. What do you think
the German government can do to deal with the PKK?

Let me start by saying that in comparison to the resources available
to the Turkish state and taking into account the wealth of Germany,
6 million euros is a very small amount of money. It is surprising that
the prime minister should even mention such a small sum. As for the
PKK, it is considered a terrorist organization by German authorities.

It is monitored by our domestic intelligence service; its activities
are followed very closely by the police. As far as I know, no terrorist
acts have been prepared, planned or carried out by PKK activists from
inside Germany in a very long time.

In an interview with the German Bild newspaper, Erdoðan criticized
Germany’s stand on Turkey’s EU aspirations, saying the EU’s largest
member state had “abandoned” Turkey on the issue of EU accession. Your
ideas on that.

When negotiations started there was no political consensus about
Turkish accession in Europe. Because of this, the negotiations were
structured in a way that each and every member state can legally
block each and every chapter of the negotiations. So now, we are faced
with a blockade in the Council. But that is not Germany’s fault. At
the time, Turkey pushed for negotiations despite the obvious lack of
support for Turkish accession in some very important member states. So
when the prime minister criticizes Germany, he should consider that
Turkey bears part of the responsibility for the current difficulties
as well. All of us must recognize, however, that mutual recriminations
are not helpful. We face so many challenges that we must move ahead
and define a new positive agenda. We need a re-launch of a meaningful
Turkish-European dialogue. Turkey and the EU must engage with one
another in a constructive and respectful manner because no matter
what happens regarding accession, we must continue to work together
as neighbors, allies and friends.

——————————————————————————–

‘We strongly favor a liberalized visa regime with Turkey’ Is there
any progress regarding visa liberalization?

As European liberals, we strongly favor a liberalized visa regime
with Turkey. We must make progress with visa facilitation for groups
of travelers like students, business people, academics, artists and
so on. In Germany, where we are in government, the talks are going on
to find a solution to this problem. We try to push the conservatives
on this.

——————————————————————————–

PROFILE Alexander Graf Lambsdorff

Member of the European Parliament and vice chair of the Group of the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE Group), he is
from Germany’s Free Democratic Party (FDP), which currently serves as
the junior coalition partner to the Union (Christian Democratic Union
and Christian Social Union) in the German federal government. He is
the founding member of both the Atlantic Initiative Germany and the
German-Turkish Foundation. He served in the German Foreign Office
in 1995-2003.

FACEBOOK MASTER CLASS FOLLOWS UP YEREVAN WEB MEETINGS

Mediamax
Nov 14 2011
Armenia

Yerevan/Mediamax/. The final master class within Yerevan Web Meetings
project initiated by Mediamax was conducted by Facebook Development
Manager for Russia and CIS Yekaterina Skorobogatova on November 12.

She presented the new Facebook options – changes on the platform,
new format of the profile and new types of applications.

“Facebook’s goal is to be the place where people may get the
information they are interested in and share content which
may be useful or interesting to their friends”, said Yekaterina
Skorobogatova. She noted that in fact, Facebook fulfills the function
of a universal media where the specificity of information consumption
is changed.

She advised media having their pages on Facebook to place 5-10 most
important links on the social network a day so as not to overload
the audience with a volume information flow.

Speaking about applications for Facebook, Yekaterina Skorobogatova
noted that social networks gave rise to social games, a sphere which
didn’t exist before but which is currently growing at high rates
opening new opportunities for business.

Yekaterina Skorobogatova also spoke about the opportunities to get
a job in Facebook noting that the company runs a student internship
program within which the students selected on a competitive basis
are sent to Palo Alto for 3 months (Facebook headquarters in Silicon
Valley in California). Several students may be offered a job in
Facebook based on the results of the internship.

All those who are interested to be aware of Facebook news, Yekaterina
Skorobogatova recommended to regularly visit the following pages –
facebook.com; facebook.com/facebookrussia; facebook.com/facebookpages
E facebook.com/advertising.

Yerevan Web Meetings project is aimed at introducing the best foreign
practice of building and promoting web content in Armenia. The
project is implemented by Mediamax owing to the general sponsorship
of VivaCell-MTS, Armenia’s leading mobile operator.

The project lasted 1.5 months covering 5 master classes which were
conducted by Wikimedia Germany President Sebastian Moleski, Founder
and Co-Shareholder of ivi.ru Anna Znamenskaya, Founder of Lenta.ru
Anton Nosik, Communication Director of Delfi Lithuanian portal Aiste
Zilinskiene and Facebook Development Manager for Russia and CIS
Yekaterina Skorobogatova.

TERRITORIES ADJACENT TO 60 SETTLEMENTS OF ARMENIA STILL MINED

Mediamax
Nov 14 2011
Armenia

Yerevan/Mediamax/. The territories in the settlement of Davit Bek in
the Syunik region of Armenia cleared of mines by Armenian deminers
were handed to the Armenian authorities on November 11.

As a result of the works started in spring about 21 acres of territory
is cleared of mines.

Germany’s Ambassador to Armenia Hans Johan Schmidt and Deputy U.S.
Attache Justin Budd participated in the actions. According to the data
provided by the Armenian Defense Ministry, the territories adjacent to
the 60 Armenian settlements with a total area of 322 square kilometers
are still mined.

After the ceasefire in 1994, over 400 suffered from the mines and
unexploded ammunition in Armenia and 112 of them were killed.

MOLDOVAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CANCELED

PanARMENIAN.Net
November 15, 2011 – 12:40 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Presidential elections in Moldova have been canceled
after the parties failed to agree on possible candidates, raising the
possibility of early parliamentary polls in the former Soviet republic.

The elections, scheduled for November 18, were called off after
the date for candidate registration expired at midnight on Monday,
November 14. If the parties fail to reach an agreement for the second
time, early parliamentary elections would have to be called.

The country, which has been in political turmoil since parliamentary
elections in April 2009, is run by acting president Marian Lupu,
who is also the parliamentary speaker.

The opposition Communist Party said parliament should set a new date
for presidential elections and that they should be held within the
next 30 days.

“If no candidates are chosen, parliament will have to be dissolved
and a date for early parliamentary elections established,” Sergei
Syrbu of the Communist Party said.

Moldovan experts said leaders of the ruling Alliance for European
Integration are embroiled in internal disputes and are unable to
rescue the country from the crisis.

“The alliance is unable to unblock the situation,” said Nikolai
Kirtoake, director of the Independent Institute for Strategic Research
in Moldova.

He said the country would mostly likely have to hold early
parliamentary elections again, RIA Novosti reported.

This is the third time Moldovan parliamentarians have failed to choose
a presidential candidate since 2009.

PHILLIP KOTLER PLANS TO SET UP A CENTER FOR MARKETING EXCELLENCE IN ARMENIA

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 12:39:52 – 15/11/2011

Today, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan met with Professor of
International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at
Northwestern University Phillip Kotler.

Kotler said that good precedents for marketing development are present
in Armenia and it is necessary to lead a correct and consistent policy.

The collocutors dwelt also on issues relating to the use of marketing
strategy in the spheres of tourism, education and information
technologies. The Premier welcomed the idea of setting up a Center
for Marketing Excellence in Armenia and said willing to support it.

Phillip Kotler holds workshops with Armenian businessmen and students
during his one-week visit.

LE JUGE DECIDE DE NE PAS CONDAMNER LE PRETRE PUGILISTE
Stephane

armenews.com
mardi 15 novembre 2011

Un ecclesiastique armenien orthodoxe [le journaliste parlait d’un
pretre grec] etait poursuivi pour avoir donne un coup de poing dans
la figure d’un Juif ultra orthodoxe qui avait crache dans sa direction
en 2008.

Dans un jugement rarissime, un juge de la Magistrate’s Court de
Jerusalem a rejete les demandes dans un procès intente contre un
pretre qui avait donne un coup de poing dans la figure a un elève de
l’academie juive orthodoxe parce qu’il avait crache sur son passage.

En juin 2008, le pretre orthodoxe armenien Martarsian marchait dans
la rue de l’Armenien, dans le quartier armenien de la vieille ville
de Jerusalem, quand l’elève de l’academie cracha vers le sol dans
sa direction.

Le pretre avait alors donne un coup de poing dans la figure de l’homme,
qui s’etait mis a saigner. Le pretre n’avait pas conteste avoir
frappe l’homme, mais avait conclu au rejet de la demande en vertu
de la clause d’une loi qui autorise un tel rejet dans les cas où “la
demande enfreint l’esprit des principes de la justice et de l’equite”.

Le Juge Dov Pollock a dit dans son jugement de mardi dernier que la
cour avait pris connaissance d’incidents quotidiens au cours desquels
des membres du clerge chretien recevaient les crachats de membres de
la communaute juive ultra-orthodoxe, chose qui, a ajoute le juge,
se produisait depuis un certain nombre d’annees ce contre quoi la
police n’a pas agi pour empecher son occurrence.

“Il est inutile de le dire, cracher en direction de l’accuse alors
qu’il porte les effets de l’eglise est une offense criminelle”,
a dit le juge.

Ceux qui font cela “n’offensent pas seulement les personnes vers qui
l’on crache, mais l’image de notre pays aux yeux des touristes et
nos valeurs.

Le juge a critique le pretre pour avoir pris en main lui-meme la
justice mais a dit qu’il etait tout aussi deplorable que les autorites
ne prennent pas les dispositions qui conviennent pour mettre fin a
ce phenomène par l’education et la repression.

“Il est intolerable qu’un homme de la foi chretienne soit rabaisse
a cause de sa religion, comme il en est pour un Juif, a dit Pollock.

“Le peuple juif a subi une longue histoire d’antisemitisme chretien
qui a cause des grandes souffrances aux Juifs et au judaïsme,”
a continue le juge.

“Mais avec la realite du retour du peuple juif a la souverainete et
a l’independance, l’etat doit s’efforcer non de regarder en arrière,
mais veiller a ce que soient garanties dans le pays la liberte de foi
et de culte a toutes les religions, un etat où toutes les personnes
sont egales devant la loi sans distinction de race ou de religion. Ce
sont des choses qui sont les pierres angulaires de la Declaration
d’Independance, et le socle de la fondation d’Israël comme un etat
juif, sioniste et democratique”.

Le demandeur a dit a la cour qu’il n’avait pas crache vers le pretre
pour l’humilier, mais parce qu’il souffrait d’un problème medical
qui lui causait la production de beaucoup de salive.

Pollock a ecarte cet argument du fait qu’il ne produisait aucun
document medical qui soutienne cette demande, et qu’il n’avait eu
aucun besoin de cracher au cours de l’audience qui avait lieu devant
le tribunal.

“Le defendeur est poursuivi pour avoir, pour la première fois, donne
un coup de poing a quelqu’un qui avait crache dans sa direction, après
avoir supporte pendant des annees qu’on crache dans sa direction et
d’en ressentir de l’humiliation, tandis qu’il portait les effets de
l’eglise, et n’avoir jamais recu aucune reponse des autorites a sa
detresse”, a dit le juge.

Il a juge que l’accusation etait contraire aux principes de la justice,
et que pour cette raison, il rejetait les demandes.

Shahar Ilan, vice-president de Hiddush – Pour la Religion et l’Egalite,
a applaudi au jugement et appele tous les rabbins de la communaute
ultra-orthodoxe a denoncer le comportement des membres de leur
communaute qui crachent vers les membres du clerge chretien.

“Les dirigeants ultra-orthodoxes doivent comprendre que nous avons
etabli un etat juif comporte des responsabilites, a declare Ilan au
Jerusalem Post dimanche.

“Il nous faut montrer que nous ne traitons pas les personnes des
autres religions de la meme facon dont les juifs ont ete traites par
le passe. L’idee que nous sommes venus ici et traitons les autres
comme nous etions traites est tout simplement insoutenable”.

Le rabbin Shlomo Riskin, d’Efrat, co-fondateur du Centre pour la
Comprehension et la Cooperation entre Juifs et Chretiens, a lui aussi
accueilli le jugement.

“Le crime que cet homme a commis en crachant sur un pretre l’a
embarrasse. Cet elève ultra-orthodoxe a par la suite ete lui-meme
embarrasse ayant ete frappe par le pretre, et donc j’espère que cela
servira de lecon a cet elève en particulier”, a dit Riskin.

“L’attitude de la communaute ultra-orthodoxe envers l’Eglise chretienne
vient des pogroms commis par des foules chretiennes contre les Juifs
d’Europe, pendant des centaines d’annees, incitees par des membres
du clerge chretien”, a dit Riskin.

“Mais les temps ont change et une ère tout a fait nouvelle de relations
et de comprehension entre Juifs et Chretiens s’est ouverte dans le
monde, et les Juifs ultra-orthodoxes, comme tous les Juifs, devraient
le comprendre et agir en consequence”.

Par Jeremy Sharon

31 octobre 2011

Jerusalem Post

Traduction et commentaire de Gilbert Beguian

Un article assez approximatif. On y confond en effet Grec et Armenien
et quelques details y auraient ete bienvenus. On ne sait pas ce que
demandait le cracheur boxe, ni ce que demandait eventuellement pour
sa part l’offense.

Si le president Ilan est tout a fait clair dans ses commentaires, il
n’en est pas de meme du rabbin Riskin dans les siens ; on se demande
en effet pourquoi la lecon ne pourrait etre retenue que par le seul
elève ultra-orthodoxe auteur du crachat. L’Eglise armenienne, et a
fortiori les membres de son clerge n’ont rien a voir avec les pogroms
anti-juifs d’Europe evoques par le rabbin. Le message porte par les
crachats qui depuis des annees jalonnent le chemin de nos pretres a
Jerusalem ne serait-il pas tout simplement politique ?

AZERBAIJANIS NEED TO WAGE INFORMATION WAR ‘UNTIL JUSTICE PREVAILS’

news.az
Nov 14 2011
Azerbaijan

News.Az interviews Yegana Salman, head of Israel’s Azerbaijani Cultural
Centre and a member of the board of the Israel-Azerbaijan Association.

Azerbaijan is promoting an image worldwide as a model Islamic
country, where representatives of many nations and religions coexist
peacefully. What is behind the disgusting reaction from Russian
journalist Vladimir Solovev to the refusal to allow a Russian company
employee of Armenian descent, S. Gurjian, to board a plane to Baku,
especially against the backdrop of positive Azerbaijani-Russian
relations?

In my opinion, this incident took place according to a scenario in
the style of contemporary journalism: a character, in this case, of
a certain nationality, provoked a scandal in order not to be allowed
onto the Moscow-Baku flight and to give journalist Solovyev something
to talk about in his program, allowing the latter to “fulfill” his
objective according to a pre-planned scenario.

Nowadays the key objective of journalists, forgive my frankness, is to
increase the ratings of the program and the company they work for. As
bitter as it may sound, people are more interested in scandal. And if
this is about a well-known issue like the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict
over Nagorno-Karabakh, there is no need to be very wise in this
regard because fertile ground has been created for anti-Azerbaijani
propaganda since Soviet times.

The word “Azerbaijani” almost acquired the meaning “a bad man”,
“a nationalist”, “a religious fanatic”, or “pan-Turkist”, although,
in fact, we know that all these definitions are not true about the
vast majority of Azerbaijanis. On the contrary, these are features
that can be found in people of your nationality least of all. But,
as the saying goes, “a lie has short legs”. The truth will triumph
one day and all the hype about Gurjian was fabricated in order to
attract audiences and carry out the “order”.

And the outcome is that everyone began to talk about this radio
station which no one talked about before. And the journalist is
already famous. You know, there’s a saying, I don’t remember whose,
“When the good fight evil, the audience often wins.” This is exactly
what the “customer” of this “show” needed.

How did Israeli nationals, who are natives of Azerbaijan, take
Solovev’s remarks?

People from Azerbaijan understood this whole situation easily from
the very beginning. Everyone remembers that “rumours ran ahead of
the events themselves” in the 1990s and anti-Azerbaijani propaganda
and sentiments were clearly pre-planned.

Therefore, it was clear for former residents of various ethnicities
from Azerbaijan that it is impossible to believe any anti-Azerbaijani
remarks. It is clear to everyone that it was one of the stages in an
information war waged solely to harm the good name of the Azerbaijani
people.

Should state agencies interfere in similar incidents to prevent this
happening again in future? Or is the response of public figures and
journalists to such anti-Azerbaijani remarks satisfactory?

I don’t think there are mechanisms able to influence such incidents.

Similarly, I don’t think it is possible to go back to the times when
there was a censor and each publication in the press was monitored
by the state. I believe journalists and public organizations and
even individuals who may have their say in defence of a person or an
entire nation should make efforts in this regard. People should simply
understand that everyone can make their own input into the defence of
justice. I do not believe that the good should win with their fists,
but they should certainly not be passive.

Armenians and their sympathizers still dominate in the Russian media,
especially on TV. Can it be said that the information war waged by
Armenia against Azerbaijan is not as bad as it was in the first years
of the Karabakh conflict?

Of course, the situation is not as bad as you described it. But the
Azerbaijani people need to work hard to continue to disseminate facts
about the history and roots of the conflict, write books and articles
on the history of the Karabakh conflict based on documentary evidence,
to create literary and artistic works on this subject, to participate
in international festivals and competitions held on all continents.

They need to use all means to promote a good image of the country
and people across the world.

Unfortunately, it is no secret that propaganda is ahead of history,
but people say that rumour runs ahead of a man and it takes great
effort to win a good name back.

Azerbaijani people believe in good and that truth will win finally.

But the fact is that the Azerbaijani people should not give up the
information war until justice prevails.