PIECE OF NOAH’S ARK GIFTED TO CATHOLICOS ARAM I
hetq
August 3, 2011
The Holy See of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Cilicia reports that
Catholicos Aram I was recently presented with a piece of Noah’s Ark.
The press release says that the artifact was gifted to Catholicos Aram
I by Italian explorer Tito de Luca who scaled Mt. Ararat one year ago.
It will be placed in the Holy See’s museum.
THE DANGERS OF AN ISRAELI APOLOGY TO TURKEY
Tert.am
03.08.11
Recently, there have been renewed rumors of a possible deal to help
heal the rift that developed between Israel and Turkey following the
deaths of eight Turkish citizens on the ship Mavi Marmara as it sailed
toward Gaza in May 2010.
The broad outlines of the deal suggest that Israel would offer a
limited apology for “operational errors,” and would pay compensation
to the families of those who died. In return, Turkey would recognize
the legality of Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, and would agree not
to seek legal action against Israeli soldiers who were involved.
The Mavi Marmara set sail from Turkey as part of a flotilla whose
primary aim was to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. Israel had
imposed the blockade to prevent the importation of weapons and dual-use
material that ultimately could be used by the Hamas government against
Israeli civilians.
The Israeli Navy interdicted the flotilla and boarded the ships after
they refused to turn back. As is clear from the video of the events
that followed, the navy commandos – who were armed only with paintball
guns and side-arms – were attacked as they boarded the Mavi Marmara
by a group of passengers wielding iron bars, knives, and possibly guns.
Several commandos were wounded in the ensuing battle, and nine
members of the Turkish group IHH – which claims to be a humanitarian
organization but has long supported radical Islamic groups, including
Hamas – were killed. The boarding of all other ships was peaceful. It
appears that the confrontation had been prepared for, and instigated
by, the members of the IHH.
The UN then established a commission headed by former New Zealand
Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer, and that included representatives
of both Israel and Turkey, to investigate what happened. The Palmer
Commission’s report was scheduled to be issued during the last week
in July, but has been delayed until late August as the two countries
seek to reach a compromise agreement.
The problem with the proposed deal between Israel and Turkey is that
an Israeli apology could very well exacerbate the rift between the
two countries, at the same time causing a worldwide public relations
nightmare for Israel.
While the apology would refer specifically to “operational errors,”
the world will not recognize such diplomatic nuances. Instead, Israel
will be seen as accepting full responsibility for the deaths of the
IHH “activists.” The media and UN will be flooded with self-righteous
statements of “I told you so,” along with renewed allegations of a
“brutal response” by Israeli commandos to “peaceful resistance.”
An apology will also have far reaching negative ramifications for
the Jewish state. It will appear to contradict Israel’s repeated
assertion that its actions were a necessary response to unprovoked
attacks by mercenaries bent on “martyrdom.” Israel will find it
much more difficult to explain any military action as necessary and
justifiable self-defense. From then on, the world will see such claims
as self-serving and ultimately unreliable.
Just as problematic, the Israeli government would be abandoning
thousands of supporters who relied on Israel’s veracity and defended
its actions in the face of withering external criticism. These
supporters will be left swinging in the air – much like the Navy
commandos who fast-roped from helicopters into the waiting clubs of
the armed IHH mercenaries.
For years, Israel has criticized the PA and Hamas for providing
financial benefits to terrorists’ families. Such payments honor
murderers and serve as incentives for others to follow in their
footsteps. Just this past week, for example, it was revealed that the
PA pays more than $5 million per month, funded by the United States and
Europe, in “salaries” to all Palestinians and Israeli-Arabs currently
imprisoned in Israel for crimes of terror; How will Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu distinguish the Palestinian payments to
terrorists from the “compensation” he is considering paying to the
families of those who died on the ship? These payments could be seen
as whitewash the IHH actions and benefit the families of would-be
murderers.
Finally, an Israeli apology, no matter how limited, will call
into question Israel’s fundamental claim that the Gaza blockade is
necessary. Many more flotillas will then be planned, and “open season”
on IDF personnel who try to stop them.
What would Israel receive in return for an apology? Turkey’s acceptance
of the blockade’s legality would be at best a hollow victory. Most
of the world will not even be aware of this concession.
No responsible legal authority questions Israel’s right to impose a
blockade on its hostile neighbor. The Palmer Commission’s draft report
indicates that neither an apology nor compensation is required from
Israel for its legal actions.
Although Turkey may keep its promise not to pursue state legal action
against Israeli commandos, there is no guarantee that it will prevent
private Turkish citizens or organizations from filing their own
law suits.
The most recent pronouncements by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan suggest how little he is really interested in returning to
the previous warm relations between the countries. He has demanded
nothing short of a full lifting of the blockade, and, threatened that
Turkey will become a full-fledged opponent unless Israel complies with
its demand for an apology, and has even demanded an apology from the
Armenians for having been slaughtered by the Turks early in the last
century. Rather than trying to resolve the countries’ differences,
Erdogan seems bent on exacerbating them.
Offering a limited apology for deadly events that were precipitated
by Turkish IHH passengers will provide, at best, only short-term
benefits for the Israel/Turkey relationship if at all. At the same
time, it could do grievous long-term harm to Israel, its supporters,
and the Israel Defense For
By Efraim Cohen Hudson New York
PARTIES TO KARABAKH CONFLICT ACTIVELY PREPARING FOR WAR – EXPERT
news.am
Aug 2 2011
Armenia
Parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are actively preparing for
war, both Azerbaijan and Armenia, said famous military expert Pavel
Felgenhauer.
One should not think that any of the parties will sit quietly waiting
for the enemy to prepare for war, said Felgenhauer, reported RFE/RL.
The expert considers that major actors involved in the negotiation
process are trying to reduce tension.
“Both the EU and Russia adhere to the position that everything should
be done to rule out resumption of hostilities. If Russia deploys its
peacekeeping forces in the conflict zone, it will be definitely good
for Russia,” said Felgenhauer.
However, the expert considers that peace agreement on settlement
of the Karabakh conflict is out of question at the moment as “none
of the parties is presently ready to make serious and fundamental
concessions.”
“The war can easily escalate into a large-scale regional war, it
should not be allowed,” he stressed adding that the war is unlikely
to begin in 2011.
NATO’S ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL TO VISIT ARMENIA
news.am
Aug 2 2011
Armenia
YEREVAN. – Armenia’s Ambassador to NATO Armen Yedigaryan met newly
appointed NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy
Kolinda Grabar-KitaroviÄ~G on Monday and invited her to Armenia.
Armenia’s Ambassador congratulated Grabar-KitaroviÄ~G on her
appointment and wished her success in the career..
The sides discussed NATO-Armenia cooperation development in the field
of public diplomacy and raising public awareness to support Armenia’s
defense and security improvements as well as cover service of Armenian
peacekeepers in the missions led by NATO.
The process is supported by “Week of NATO” annual events since 2007
and NATO information center which has been functioning in Yerevan
for already four years. Yedigaryan invited Grabar-KitaroviÄ~G to
visit Armenia in fall to participate in the upcoming “Week of NATO”
annual event.
ARMENIA’S NUCLEAR PLANS ROUSE FEARS ABROAD
Deutsche Welle
,,6553710,00.html
Aug 2 2011
Germany
Armenia depends on an aging nuclear plant in an earthquake zone, a
situation that has raised eyebrows in Brussels. Yerevan aims to close
the facility by 2016, but wants to replace it with a new reactor in
the same spot.
Entering a little-known power plant in the former Soviet republic of
Armenia feels like stepping back in time.
Half of the huge building that stores the facility’s turbines and
generators is unlit, as only one generator is in use. A testament
to its origin, the piece of equipment is labeled with Russian
instructions.
In fact, Armenia is the last country outside of Russia that still uses
a Soviet-model pressurized water reactor that dates back to the 1960s.
The plant’s old age ~V and the fact that it is located in an earthquake
zone ~V have fuelled debate from Yerevan to Brussels over whether
the facility should be shut down.
Yet even as critics try to draw attention to alleged hazards, the
Armenian government is moving ahead with plans to build a new plant.
“The new one would be much safer,” Hakob Sanasaryan, Armenia’s most
prominent anti-nuclear activist, told Deutsche Welle, “but it’s nearly
madness to build a new reactor that close to the capital.”
The new plant is slated to go up right next to the old one, about 30
kilometers west of Yerevan in the town of Metsamor.
A deadly magnitude 6.9 earthquake in 1988 initially led authorities to
shut down the old plant, but one of its two reactors was reactivated
amid an energy crisis brought on by the 1988-1994 war with Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey have blockaded Armenia to this day.
Time of crisis
Armenian university student Sirush Vardazaryan was born during the
energy shortage. She holds a widespread view in Armenia that the
county has no choice but to bet on its power plant.
“People didn’t have light, proper food,” she said. “All the factories
were closed and all the country was in poor conditions. Sometimes we
are surprised how our parents, our grandfathers and mothers lived in
such conditions.”
Since then, Metsamor has come to be Armenia’s largest source of
energy. According to the World Nuclear Association, which promotes
the nuclear industry, Metsamor supplied 43% of Armenia’s power in 2007.
Hydroelectric plants and natural gas imports from Georgia and Iran
accounted for the rest.
“We do not have any other scenario than to keep nuclear energy,”
Armenian Deputy Energy Secretary Areg Galstyan told Deutsche Welle.
“To cover our base demand for electricity, we must use nuclear energy.”
Earthquake risk
Metsamor has come under renewed scrutiny since the March earthquake,
tsunami and subsequent nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi
power plant in Japan.
Armenia is also located in an earthquake-prone zone, where the Arabian
and Eurasian tectonic plates collide. Over centuries, the plates’
movements have created the Caucasus Mountains ~V as well as regular,
devastating tremors.
Mestamor’s Director General, Gagik Markosyan, told Deutsche Welle
that his facility was “safer than Fukushima” ~V in fact, just as
secure today as when Metsamor went online in the late 1970s. He added
that Armenia had invested more than 70 million euros ($100 million)
in safety at the plant since the reactivation of one of its reactors.
Those measures include reinforcing the plant’s foundations and building
two new water pools to cool Metsamor in case of an emergency.
Authorities have also installed extra generators at the facility in
the event of a power outage.
No containment vessel
However, a recurring criticism of Metsamor is that its VVER-440 reactor
lacks a shell that would contain radiation in the event of an accident.
Metsamor instead relies on a cooling system designed to prevent the
reactor from overheating and giving off radiation if an accident
takes place.
The main risk, according to Physicist Ferenc Dalknoi-Veress of the
US-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, is that an
earthquake could knock out the site’s cooling system for a prolonged
period of time.
“The question is, are [Armenia’s] steps adequate?” he wrote in an
e-mail to Deutsche Welle. “I would argue that building reactors in
a seismic area is not a good idea regardless of the protections,
which are all to buy time until cooling can be restarted.”
In response to such concerns, the European Union’s executive offered
Armenia up to 138 million euros ( $198 million) in 2000 to decommission
the plant. Armenia turned down the European Commission’s offer,
saying the funds were insufficient.
New, bigger plant
The government is waiting until 2016 to shut down the old plant~V
the limit of the current reactor’s intended lifespan. By that time,
the Armenian government wants to have a new plant near completion.
Authorities plan to install a VVER-1000 reactor, a newer model of
pressurized water reactor with more than three times the capacity of
the old one.
A joint Armenian-Russian company has been set up to build the new
power plant, but given Armenia’s limited wealth, most of the project’s
financing is expected to come from Russia.
Sanasaryan doubts the plant will solve Armenia’s energy problems,
and thinks foreign investors will benefit at Armenians’ risk.
“It won’t be an Armenian plant, a plant that belongs to Armenia,” he
said. “It will just be a plant that is constructed on the territory
of Armenia.”
Regional power?
Deputy Energy Secretary Galstyan said “in the middle term,” Armenia
could sell surplus electricity from its new, 1,000 megawatt plant to
Georgian and Iran.
“We started and even signed an agreement with a company that was ready
to supply electricity from Armenia to Turkey,” he said. “But because
of political problems, that’s why the agreement was not enforced.”
Officials in Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan have voiced concern that
Armenia’s current plant poses a threat to the region, with some of
them calling for it to be closed.
To assuage its critics, Armenia invited a team of experts from the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to investigate Metsamor
from late May to early June.
The team suggested a number of safety improvements, but concluded
that the site had no “extraordinary” problems.
Sanasaryan dismissed the findings, saying the IAEA is dedicated to
promoting nuclear power, not ensuring its safety.
Meanwhile, Armenia has agreed to give Metsamor a “stress test” with
parameters set earlier this year by the European Union’s executive.
“If it turns out adjustments must be made, they will do that,”
Marlene Holzner, a spokesperson for the EU’s Energy Commissioner,
told Deutsche Welle. “If we get a request for co-funding, we can also
co-finance” such adjustments.
Holzener said Armenian and EU officials were still working out
technical details of the test. She added that after a summer pause,
they would likely meet again in the fall, but that no date had been
set for the test.
Author: Shant Shahrigian, Yerevan Editor: Nathan Witkop
HRAPARAK: WHO’S NEXT PREMIER?
Tert.am
02.08.11
President Serzh Sargsyan seems to be disposed to approve Karen
Karapetyan’s candidacy, and Mr. Karapetyan has to gain public
confidence during a short period.
Despite the holiday season, Yerevan Mayor Karen Karapetyan is working
hard – his visits abroad are working visits rather than pleasure trips,
the newspaper writes. Some circles close to the government explain
his “diligence” by the fact of his being a likely candidate for
premiership. According to backstage talks, President Serzh Sargsyan
seems to be disposed to approve Karen Karapetyan’s candidacy, and
Mr. Karapetyan has to gain public confidence in a short period.
THE CAUSE OF ARMENIA’S DESTRUCTION
HAKOB BADALYAN
Lragir.am
02/08/2011
On Zhirayr Liparityan’s article
Zhirayr Liparityan, the advisor to Levon Ter-Petrosyan on political
issues, wrote an article entitled the Critical Moment in Armenian
History from the far away United States of America. In his article,
he expresses concern over growing emigration from Armenia.
Zhirayr Liparityan avoids direct dwell on the keys to prevention of
emigration but hints quite transparently that in order to prevent
Armenia from emptying it is necessary to normalize relations with
neighboring Turkey and Azerbaijan. For this reason, he hints that
Armenia needs to have a legitimate government able to take tough
decisions.
It is commendable that Zhirayr Liparityan, livingfar away in the
United States, after leaving his office in Armenia, still cares for
Armenia and writes long and detailed analytical articles. Of course,
the conclusions he makes, such as the Karabakh issue can be resolved
only if the government of Armenia is legitimate, and Armenia cannot
develop unless it normalizes relations with neighboring countries,
are not new and have been frequently uttered by different politicians
of Armenia.
These two circumstances need to be dwelled on. Let’s first dwell on
the conclusion that a legitimate government can resolve the Karabakh
issue because it can make tough decisions which will be acceptable
to the public. Those who think so believe that the Armenian society
is unable to think and it is composed of idolaters who do not accept
the decisions of non-idols and accept those of their idols.
For instance, if Serzh Sargsyan tells the society that the
Karabakh issue must be resolved through territorial concessions,
the society will reject, while if the same statement is made by Levon
Ter-Petrosyan, the society will accept. This is the logic.
In reality, any legitimate government which will try to resolve the
Karabakh issue the way the current illegitimate government does will
eventually become illegitimate. It’s not legitimacy that determines the
public attitude toward the decisions of the government but legitimacy
is determined by the attitude of the society toward the decisions.
At least, it is necessary to instill the consciousness in the social
and political life of Armenia in order to create a civil society rather
than a community of idolaters when the society grants legitimacy to
the authorities on the basis of the solutions proposed to it rather
than likes or dislikes.
The next issue is the impossibility of Armenia’s development without
normalization of relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan. It is beyond
dispute that with normal economic, political, social and cultural
ties and open borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan Armenia could develop
better and faster.
But do you think Turkey and Azerbaijan will ever attempt to normalize
relations with Armenia seeing how our society is set to think that
without them the Armenians and Armenia are doomed? In this case,
why should Turkey and Azerbaijan agree to normalize ties and open
borders with Armenia if by not doing so they doom Armenia to death?
Consequently, as long as this idea persists in Armenia that we have
no chance without Turkey and Azerbaijan, Armenia will be condemned
to hopelessness.
Certainly, open borders and zero problems with neighbors is a
perfect condition. Indeed, it is necessary to work hard toward such a
situation. But how? What is the price to be paid for it? How much do we
need to yield? Turkey and Azerbaijan demand concessions. Perhaps, they
will always do, when they see how the Armenian political class keeps
convincing its society that without concessions and reconciliation
with Turkey and Azerbaijan Armenia will be ruined, and there will
never be development and democracy in Armenia.
In reality, Armenia was destroyed by all the national elections
since 1995, every time they were rigged. Armenia was destroyed
by unfair political competition through election fraud and other
means. Armenia was destroyed in the result of lasting degradation of
public administration, when people who are for holding on to power
through violence are encouraged and promoted. They first retained
power through violence for Levon Ter-Petrosyan and afterwards were
set to get power for themselves through similar methods. Armenia is
destroyed by the introduction and adherence to savage values, rather
than the European values. Armenia is destroyed by the deprivation of
the society of its creative potential and promotion of brutal animal
instincts. Armenia is destroyed because the failure political class
or the so-called political class is trying to assure the Armenian
society that its destiny depends on one thing, and it is necessary to
do everything for reconciliation with Turkey and Azerbaijan, instead
of inspiring self-confidence, strengthening thinking and capacities.
Similar thoughts brought about the genocide of Armenians in their
own homeland because the so-called political class was set to seek
reconciliation based on concessions with the Ottoman Empire, or the
Russians or others until it finally wasted the potential of Armenians
to resist, and the genocide ensued.
A rational man can never be against reconciliation and regional
integration. This is important and necessary. But rational formulations
of reconciliation and integration are required. For this reason,
it is first of all necessary to define the national interest,
to understand the amount of resources in place, to use them as
effectively as possible. In order to prevent emigration and promote
development, Armenia should first of all use the existing resources
in semi-blockade, it should build a modern state, a society based on
European values and it should establish Constitutional order. There
are many unused resources, and in case they are used effectively,
Armenia can improve its social and economic situation considerably
and increase its political potential. After that we will be able to
see what we can do in the regional and international relations and
what our target is.
And if we are unable to do this, to use these resources effectively,
the resources which we may have after the opening of borders will
also be ineffective.
REVUE DE PRESSE NO1 – 02/08/11 – COLLECTIF VAN
collectifvan.org
02-08-2011
Info Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN [Vigilance
Armenienne contre le Negationnisme] vous propose une revue de presse
des informations parues dans la presse francophone, sur les thèmes
concernant la Turquie, le genocide armenien, la Shoah, le genocide
des Tutsi, le Darfour, le negationnisme, l’Union europeenne, Chypre,
etc… Nous vous suggerons egalement de prendre le temps de lire ou
de relire les informations et traductions mises en ligne dans notre
rubrique
Par ailleurs, certains articles en anglais, allemand, turc, etc,
ne sont disponibles que dans la newsletter Word que nous generons
chaque jour. Pour la recevoir, abonnez-vous a la Veille-Media : c’est
gratuit ! Vous recevrez le document du lundi au vendredi dans votre
boîte email. Bonne lecture.
Talaat justifie ” l’extermination armenienne ” Info Collectif VAN –
– Le Collectif VAN vous invite a lire ce document
publie sur le site d’Imprescriptible.fr. “Il se passa quelque temps
avant que l’histoire des atrocites armeniennes parvînt a l’Ambassade
americaine, dans tous ses affreux details. En janvier et en fevrier,
des fragments de relations commencèrent a affluer ; par habitude,
on les considera comme de simples temoignages des desordres regnant
dans les provinces armeniennes depuis plusieurs annees”.
Professeur Charny : La Morale avant la Politique Info Collectif
VAN – – Le Collectif VAN vous invite a lire
une traduction de Gilbert Beguian d’un article en anglais mise en
ligne sur le site de NAM (Nouvelles d’Armenie Magazine) le 29 juillet
2011. “La Turquie conteste avec vehemence que les evenements de 1915 a
1923 au cours desquels les forces ottomanes ont tue plus d’un million
de personnes puissent etre qualifies de genocide”.
Se souvenir du genocide des Roms et en tirer les lecons Info
Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN vous propose
ce Communique de presse publie sur le site du Conseil de l’Europe le
1er août 2011. “Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretaire General du Conseil de
l’Europe, demande aux Europeens d’honorer la memoire des Roms tues
par le regime nazi pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale en s’engageant
a construire un meilleur avenir pour les generations futures”.
“Le risque d’islamisme existe en Turquie” L’armee turque serait-elle
sur le point d’etre complètement mise en retrait de la vie politique
de son pays ? Second regiment le plus important de l’Otan, elle a
vu ses principaux dirigeants demissionner vendredi pour protester
contre le refus du gouvernement d’accorder une promotion a leurs
collègues incarceres par le regime. C’est donc sous la presidence
unique du Premier ministre islamo-conservateur Recep Tayyip Erdogan
qu’a debute lundi la reunion annuelle du Conseil militaire supreme
(YAS), un fait sans precedent dans le pays.
L’azerbaïdjan contre la participation de l’Armenie a l’Eurovision 2012
Akif Nagi Chef de l’Organisation azerbaidjanaise de Liberation du
Karabakh a affirme que la participation de l’Armenie a l’Eurovision
2012 ” est inadmissible “. Nagi a menace les autorites si elle
permataient les armeniens de venir a Bakou affirmant qu’ils ”
le regretteront.
Un couple d’armeniens menace d’expulsion Installe a Chateaudun,
le couple d’armeniens a epuise tous les recours et craint d’etre
expulse. En 2009, pour des raisons politiques, Cima et son mari
Gareghin ont fui l’Armenie pour la France. En mars dernier, leur
demande d’asile politique a ete refusee et les epoux se trouvent
aujourd’hui dans l’obligation de quitter le territoire.
L’info vue par la TRT (1) Le Collectif VAN vous propose cet article
publie sur la TRT (Television & Radio de Turquie). Les articles de
ce site ne sont pas commentes de notre part. Ils peuvent contenir
des propos negationnistes envers le genocide armenien ou d’autres
informations a prendre sous toute reserve. “Les evenements perdurent
en Syrie, et la Turquie est un lieu de refuge pour les Syriens”.
” Des emanations de l’autoritarisme ” Economiste, docteur et professeur
aux universites de Galatasaray et Paris I et ancien vice-president de
l’Universite Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne, Ahmet Insel pose les enjeux
d’une reforme de la Constitution et dresse un panorama general de la
Turquie de l’après election, sa place dans le Printemps arabe et ses
aspirations d’entree dans l’Union Europeenne.
“L’armee va finir par rentrer dans le rang en Turquie” La decision
prise, le 29 juillet au soir, par l’etat-major de l’armee turque de
demissionner collectivement fait craindre l’eclatement d’une nouvelle
confrontation entre civils et militaires en Turquie.
Professeur a l’IEP de Grenoble et chercheur a l’Institut francais
d’etudes anatoliennes d’Istanbul (IFEA) depuis 2006, Jean Marcou
connaît particulièrement bien ce pays, où il a enseigne les sciences
politiques et administratives a la fin des annees 1980.
Le Conseil de l’Europe appelle a se souvenir du genocide et en tirer
les lecons Le Secretaire general du Conseil de l’Europe Thorbjørn
Jagland demande aux Europeens d’honorer la memoire des Roms tues par
le regime nazi pendant la seconde guerre mondiale ” en s’engageant
a construire un meilleur avenir pour les generations futures “.
Retour a la rubrique
LES PREOCCUPATIONS DU SECRETAIRE US A LA DEFENSE ALEXANDER VERSHBOW
Ara
armenews.com
mardi 2 aout 2011
HAUT KARABAKH
La presse du jour fait etat de la ” preoccupation ” exprimee par le
secretaire d’Etat adjoint americain a la Defense pour les affaires
internationales de securite, Alexander Vershbow, selon lequel ” un pas
en arrière s’est produit dans les efforts de maintien de la paix au HK
“. La tentative d’assurer une percee dans les negociations de Kazan,
n’a pas reussi, tandis que les tensions le long de la ligne de contact
vont croissants.
Selon lui, l’Armenie et l’Azerbaïdjan sont toujours incapables de se
coordonner sur les principes de base et l’on reste dans une situation
” non-constructive et dangereuse “. Il a fait cette declaration
lors d’une audience a la Commission americaine sur la securite et la
cooperation en Europe La presse cite aussi en parallèle les propos
du sous-secretaire d’Etat Phil Gordon, qui a insiste sur le fait que
l’OSCE joue un rôle direct dans la resolution des conflits ” geles
” dans l’espace postsovietique.
” L’OSCE doit continuer a jouer un rôle direct dans la resolution des
conflits prolonges en Georgie, en Moldavie et au HK. Les conflits
ont un potentiel dommageable, capable de destabiliser la securite
dans les regions de l’OSCE. La tâche de surmonter ces conflits doit
rester prioritaire pour l’OSCE et pour tous ses Etats-membres “, a-t-il
notamment declare. Dans un article intitule ” Sur quoi font allusion
les Etats-Unis “, Azg n’exclut pas que sur fond de la ” deception ”
du President Medvedev suite au sommet de Kazan, Washington tente de
prendre l’initiative en main dans le règlement du conflit du HK et
changer l’etat des choses.
Il n’est pas exclu, d’après ce quotidien, que l’on soit prochainement
temoin d’une certaine ” lutte ” entre les copresidents du GDM pour
obtenir le ” leadership “, ce qui pourrait se traduire, par exemple,
par l’organisation du prochain sommet dans une ville francaise. Le
quotidien ajoute toutefois que le contenu des negociations n’en
changera pas tant que Stepanakert n’y prend pas part.
Ambassade de France en Armenie
HR306 – RETURNING STOLEN CHURCHES TO CHRISTIANS POSTED AUGUST 1, 2011
Chattanoogan
Aug 1, 2011
The Return of Churches and the Armenian Genocide Resolution, H.Res.
306, introduced by Congressmen Robert Dold (R-IL) and Adam Schiff
(D-CA), safeguards Christian heritage. The Christian rights legislation
reflects and reaffirms the long and proud history of principled
leadership by the U.S. Congress in protecting religious freedom
abroad-for Christians and for peoples of all faiths. The religious
freedom measure represents an effort to highlight, confront, and
eventually reverse decades of official Turkish policy of destroying
Christian church properties, desecrating holy sites, discriminating
against Christian communities, and denying of the right of Armenians,
Greeks, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Pontians, Arameans (Syriacs), and others
to practice their faith in freedom.
The measure is consistent with many other resolutions adopted by the
U.S. House over the past several decades defending religious freedom
and protecting sacred sites and places of worship, as well as with the
International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 and America’s longstanding
leadership in supporting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Despite the fact that the bill was passed by the Foreign Affairs
Committee almost unanimously, Freshman Congressman Chuck Fleischmann
(R-TN) chose not to co-sponsor it.
Calls and visits to Mr. Fleischmann’s staff were either ignored or
hastily terminated; it is abundantly clear that discrimination against
Christians is of no importance to Mr. Fleischmann.
The bill will come before the House of Representatives within the next
several months. I encourage you to contact Mr. Fleischmann’s office and
request that he show support for our Christian brothers and sisters
abroad, and vote in favor of it. Seeing as our rights as Americans
are being further restricted every day by the current government,
it is imperative to set a precedent of supporting other Christians,
as the time may well come – given the administration that we have –
when it is the Christians of America who are being persecuted and
whose rights are being taken away.
Bearj Barsoumian Harrison