Author: Babajanian Karo

Radin Rue
10 avril 2015

Le Pape François reçoit l’Eglise arménienne catholique

L’Arménie à l’honneur ces jours-ci au Vatican : dimanche, dans la
basilique Saint-Pierre, en la fête de la Divine Miséricorde, le Pape
François célébrera une messe en mémoire des Arméniens de l’empire
ottoman massacrés il y a cent ans, en 1915.

le X – IV – MMXV, 13h49,

A cette occasion, il proclamera docteur de l’Eglise Saint Grégoire de
Narek, le grand auteur mystique très cher aux Arméniens. A trois jours
de cette importante célébration, le Saint-Père a reçu ce jeudi matin
les membres du Synode patriarcal de l’Eglise arménienne-catholique.
L’occasion pour lui de souhaiter explicitement que tout soit fait pour
guérir les blessures et que soient posés au plus vite des gestes
concrets de réconciliation et de paix entre les nations qui ne
parviennent pas encore à trouver un consensus raisonnable sur ces
tristes vicissitudes. Le Pape François n’a cité aucun pays en
particulier, mais il a souligné sans détours qu’il fallait agir par
amour de la vérité et de la justice.

Le Saint-Père a rendu hommage à l’histoire bimillénaire et au
patrimoine spirituel et culturel admirable du peuple arménien qui a su
se relever après les nombreuses persécutions et épreuves endurées et
rester fidèle à Dieu même dans les moments les plus difficiles. en Syrie, qui fut, il y a cent ans, un refuge sûr pour les
rescapés arméniens, mais où la présence des chrétiens est aujourd’hui
menacée.

Mais le Saint-Père encourage aussi les Arméniens à regarder en avant.
Les pages douloureuses de leur histoire se situent >, mais chacune d’elles >, a-t-il dit. Les pasteurs devront donc
éduquer les fidèles à porter sur la réalité un regard nouveau. Il faut
faire mémoire du passé > a-t-il conseillé. Enfin, le Souverain
Pontife a encouragé le dialogue oecuménique entre les Eglises
catholique et apostolique arméniennes.

Saint Grégoire de Narek sera prochainement déclaré docteur de l’Eglise
universelle. Le Pape François a donné son approbation samedi matin, au
cours d’une audience accordée au préfet de la Congrégation pour la
Cause des saints. Ce moine arménien est né vers 950 et mort vers 1005
dans une région qui faisait alors partie de l’Arménie et qui se trouve
aujourd’hui en territoire turc, sur la rive sud du lac de Van.

Grand auteur mystique, Grégoire de Narek est surtout connu pour son
recueil de prières, d’environ 20 000 vers, composé en l’an 1000 et
utilisé dans la liturgie arménienne. Les thèmes principaux de l’oeuvre
de Saint Grégoire, appréciée pour son expression poétique vigoureuse,
sont la solidarité dans le péché, la confiance en la Miséricorde
divine malgré la nécessité absolue du combat spirituel et l’amour de
la vie mystique. Passionné par l’étude des Pères de l’Eglise, Saint
Grégoire a passé presque toute sa vie au monastère de Narek.

Hommage de saint Jean-Paul II

En 2001, à l’occasion du 17° centenaire du baptême du peuple arménien,
Jean-Paul II avait rendu hommage à ce grand poète spirituel >.
L’annonce de sa proclamation comme docteur de l’Eglise intervient à
deux mois des commémorations du centenaire du massacre des arméniens
par les Turcs, le 24 avril 1915, question ultra-sensible qui complique
les rapports entre Ankara et une vingtaine de pays qui ont
officiellement reconnu le génocide arménien. Aujourd’hui encore les
blessures ne sont pas refermées.

Le 23 avril, les victimes de ce massacre seront béatifiées à
Etchmiadzine, ville où le se trouve le siège de l’Eglise apostolique
arménienne. A Rome, le Pape François célèbrera une messe pour les
fidèles arméniens le 12 avril prochain, en la fête de la divine
Miséricorde, dans la basilique Saint-Pierre.

Perdre la vie plutôt que de renier sa foi

Dans son adresse au Pape François, le Patriarche de Cilicie des
Arméniens, le Catholicos Nersès Bedros XIX a affirmé d’emblée que >.

Le Patriarche a souligné avec force l’importance de la célébration de
dimanche à laquelle se joindront les Arméniens apostoliques. Invités
par le Saint-Siège, le Catholicos Karekin II d’Etchmiadzine et le
Catholicos Aram Ier d’Antélias participeront à la célébration
eucharistique avec une importante délégation d’évêques. Le président
arménien Serge Sarkissian sera également présent avec une délégation
de ministres et de personnalités importantes.

La proclamation comme docteur de l’Eglise universelle de Saint
Grégoire de Narek, le saint le plus aimé et le plus lu par les
Arméniens, donnera à cet anniversaire une grande valeur religieuse et
nationale qui touche profondément les Arméniens.

KIM KARDASHIAN MEETS ARMENIAN PM AS VISIT MAKES WAVES

Business Recorder
April 9 2015

Friday, 10 April 2015 00:00
Posted by Shoaib-ur-Rehman Siddiqui

YEREVAN: US reality TV star Kim Kardashian on Thursday met Armenia’s
prime minister in a first visit to celebrate her family’s roots that
is causing a stir in the ex-Soviet nation.

Kardashian — along with her rapper husband Kanye West, young child
and sister — has booked up two floors in one of the fanciest hotels
in the heart of the capital Yerevan.

Surrounded by bodyguards and dressed head-to-toe in beige, Kardashian
and her entourage were greeted by a huge crowd of fans as they took
a tour of downtown Yerevan on Thursday.

“You’re very beautiful!” screamed one starstruck local.

Kardashian is reportedly in the country to make a documentary on
the Armenian genocide, ahead of events later this month to mark the
centenary of the killings.

The Kardashians, who jetted in Wednesday, had an audience with the
country’s premier Hovik Abrahamyan during which they jointly promised
to push for the recognition of the genocide, the government said.

“The Kardashians apologised for not speaking Armenian but said they
are learning their native language,” a government statement said.

“They pledged to continue the struggle for international recognition
and condemnation of the Armenian genocide,” the statement said.

President Serzh Sarkisian is currently in Italy on a visit that will
also see him meet Pope Francis.

– ‘Armenia we’re here’ –

Beyond snapping selfies with her fans, Kardashian has refused to
talk with the press but instead took to social media to express her
delight at being in Armenia.

“Armenia we are here!!!!! We are so grateful to be here & start this
journey of a lifetime! Thank you to everyone who greeted us! I can’t
wait to explore our country and have some yummy food!” Kardashian
wrote on Instagram.

“My husband and daughter came to Armenia as well to see my heritage
and learn about my ancestors! My cousins came along too! So excited
I can’t sleep.”

Kardashian’s Armenian ancestors on her father’s side emigrated to
the United States from an area that now lies in Turkey.

During her eight-day trip, Kardashian and her film crew will visit
Yerevan’s genocide memorial and Armenia’s National Archives to see
documents about her ancestors. She is then to travel to the provincial
city of Gyumri where her distant relatives live.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were killed between 1915
and 1917 as the Ottoman Empire was falling apart and have long sought
to win international recognition of the massacres as genocide.

Turkey rejects the claims, arguing that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians
and as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians rose up against
their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops.

THE NATIONAL INTEREST: STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE AND FAVORABLE DEFENSIBLE TERRAIN IN NAGORNO KARABAKH ARE UNDER ARMENIAN CONTROL

14:03 10/04/2015 >> MISCELLANEOUS

The situation in the Southern Caucasus is heating up, and the
possibility of military conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is
increasing, Jack Mulcaire, an expert on international relations,
writes in his article published on the website of the magazine The
National Interest.

The author writes that in the early 1990s, ethnic tensions between
Christian Armenians and Muslim Azerbaijanis in the area resulted in a
war, where the Armenian side won. Nagorno Karabakh has been de-facto
independent since the end of the war. The mostly Armenian population
of Nagorno Karabakh Republic is supported by Armenia. Despite the
ceasefire, the war never officially ended, and Azerbaijan still
vigorously disputes the status of Nagorno Karabakh, to put it mildly.

Armenia is also unlikely to relinquish any land.

It is pointed out in the article that both sides have significantly
rearmed their forces since the war. After the ceasefire, hundreds
have died in raids and exchanges of fire, which are increasing in
frequency. Since the summer of 2014, these dangerous clashes have taken
place almost daily. On November 2014 Azerbaijani forces shot down an
Armenian Mi-24 helicopter and there was fighting on the ground as the
Armenians attempted to recover bodies from no-men land. On January 31,
2015, the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army launched a preemptive attack
on several Azerbaijani positions and killed a number of Azerbaijani
soldiers.

The author highlights that the Azerbaijani side has significantly
increased its military spending over the recent years, and this trend
has not abated, despite the global decline of oil prices. Israel
has been one of Azerbaijan’s strongest defense partners for several
years now, and as a result of this relationship, the Armed Forces of
Azerbaijan have acquired Israeli drones.

In its turn, Armenian military is also spending as if it predicts
a war. Armenia and Russia carefully preserve the uncertainty about
the acquisition of Iskanders, which could provide a way for Armenia
to hit the Azerbaijani Air Force on the ground in Azerbaijan. Since
2012, Armenia has also invested heavily in Russian-supplied upgrades
for its large numbers of existing armor and artillery and in
domestically-produced drone systems.

The author also points to the strategic and very defensible terrain
of Armenia. “Armenian forces already control all of Karabakh’s main
roads, population centers and the sources of water and electricity. To
reach them, Azeri forces would have to cross steep, rugged mountains
that are heavily fortified by well-equipped local Armenian forces. To
the north, the Armenian zone of Karabakh is accessible only via the
treacherous Omar Pass over the Murovdag mountain range. Azeri forces
entering Karabakh from the east would have to pass through a hole in
the mountains that is only about 2.5 kilometer squares wide at the
town of Askeran in order to reach Karabakh’s main city of Stepanakert.

Getting past these geographic barriers will not be easy. Karabakh’s
water and electricity originate from the hydroelectric dam at
the Sarsang Reservoir, and the main road to Armenia proper passes
through the Lachin corridor, both of which are even farther and
more inaccessible for any hypothetical Azeri operation in Karabakh,”
the article reads.

The Armenian side already controls the territory it wants, meanwhile,
Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev “is putting out a steady stream
of aggressive rhetoric, insulting Armenia” and promising that his
country will recapture Nagorno Karabakh. The frontline in Karabakh
is only becoming more dangerous, the author concludes.

Related:

Serzh Sargsyan: One cannot eliminate the consequences of this conflict
without addressing its causes

Hillary Clinton: US committed to work through Minsk Group to resolve
NK conflict

24 AVRIL 2015 : MOBILISATION GENERALE-GRANDES MARCHES POUR LA JUSTICE

COMMUNIQUE DU BUREAU NATIONAL DU CCAF

Le 24 avril prochain, les descendants des victimes du genocide de
1915 devront faire face a une echeance historique. Celle des 100 ans
de la rafle des elites armeniennes de Constantinople, crime inaugural
du programme d’extermination du peuple armenien.

Ce meurtre de masse, d’une ampleur et d’une cruaute sans precedent,
allait se solder par l’assassinat de 1 500 000 civils armeniens,
hommes femmes et enfants, et l’aneantissement de la civilisation
armenienne sur ses territoires historiques.

100 ans après rien n’est oublie, rien n’est regle.

La Turquie fait du negationnisme l’axe central de sa politique
generale. Elle touche jusqu’a aujourd’hui les dividendes du genocide
et des spoliations tout en continuant a menacer le droit a l’existence
des Armeniens dans la region.

Cette annee, ce crime contre l’humanite fera l’objet d’une attention
mondiale particulière, avec notamment la grande commemoration
internationale qui se deroulera en Armenie le 24 avril prochain, en
presence de nombreux chef d’Etats, dont le president de la Republique
Francois Hollande.

A l’heure ou l’on pourchasse encore les chretiens d’Orient, et alors
que les frontières de l’Armenie et du Haut-Karabakh sont toujours en
butte aux agressions du panturquisme, plus que jamais la France et sa
communaute armenienne doivent faire entendre leur voix dans ce grand
mouvement planetaire pour la memoire, la justice et les reparations.

Le CCAF appelle tous les Armeniens de France, l’ensemble des
citoyens du pays et toutes ses forces democratiques a participer aux
manifestations du 24 avril, en particulier a la ceremonie republicaine
qui aura lieu a 18h30 devant la statue du père Komitas a Paris, avec la
participation des membres du gouvernement. Une commemoration qui sera
suivie d’une grande marche pour la Justice qui ira jusqu’au Parvis des
Droits de l’homme, avant de s’achever devant l’ambassade de Turquie.

Nous appelons egalement a rejoindre toutes les manifestations du CCAF
centre et du CCAF sud – a Lyon a 15h30 : rassemblement devant l’eglise
armenienne, marche jusqu’a la place Bellecour ; a Marseille a 15h :
rassemblement place Castellane, marche jusqu’au Consulat de Turquie –
ainsi que l’ensemble des commemorations dediees aux victimes.

Venez nombreux, avec vos amis et les amis de vos amis.

Memoire, justice et reparation pour le peuple armenien !

Bureau National du CCAF

vendredi 10 avril 2015, Ara (c)armenews.com

NEW MYSTERY IN PERMYAKOV’S CASE

Naira Hayrumyan, Political Commentator
Law – 10 April 2015, 11:19

The Russian press informed without referring to the source that the
Russian serviceman Valery Permyakov is recognized insane. Besides,
the press informed that the court has extended Permyakov’s custody. The
Komersant reported that the Russian investigative committee has added
two more points to his indictment. Permyakov is facing life sentence
under two points.

The 5th Garrison Court held a sitting in the premises of the Russian
military base in Gyumri.

In addition, a justification was provided that if the sitting were
held outside the base, the relatives of the murdered families may
have kidnapped and lynched Permyakov.

In fact, Permyakov’s case is investigated by the Russian Investigative
Committee. The Armenian Investigative Committee has also launched
proceedings but has nothing to do with the investigation. The
proceedings were launched to be able to speak about “joint activities”
and other formalities.

In fact, the process of the Armenian law enforcement bodies is a
decoration, a sham that intends to distract the public attention
from the real judicial process. In addition, the mystery is that
the successors of the victims and their advocates are involved in a
“fake” Armenian criminal case. And the “genuine” Russian process is
conducted without victims, successors and of the murdered family and
their advocates.

Were the advocates of the Avetisyan family present when Permyakov’s
detention was extended? There are several advocates but they confess
that the accused and the files are not accessible because those have
nothing to do with the genuine process.

Obviously, while working on the case brought by the Armenian
investigators, the advocates cannot even speak about the interests of
their defendants. And the advocates are not involved in the proceedings
on the case investigated by the Russians.

In fact, soon the Russian press may announce that the trial took
place at the 102nd case of Gyumri, and Permyakov was sentenced for
life and taken to Russia to serve his punishment.

ARMENIAN SOLDIER DIES IN ACCIDENT

11:09 | April 10,2015 | Official

Armenian serviceman Artur Arakelyan (born in 1996) was killed in
an accident in a military unit located in the eastern direction
of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army, the press service of the
Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Ministry reports.

An investigation is underway to clarify details of the incident.

The NKR Defense Ministry offers its condolences to the family,
relatives and fellow servicemen of the soldier.

MARAGHA MASSACRE EYEWITNESSES: DISMEMBERED CORPSES WERE ALL AROUND, MANY PEOPLE WERE CRUSHED UNDER TANKS

15:35 10/04/2015 >> SOCIETY

Former inhabitant of the village Maragha, Elmira Sahakyan, lost
her husband, son and father-in-law as a result of the massacres of
Armenians there.

“The Azerbaijanis all over the world spread their tales about Khojalu,
yet Karabakh war is not Khojalu. Karabakh war is Maragha where
everything was much worse. They burnt people alive, cut off their
heads, dismembered and sawed them alive, carved Christian crosses on
their bodies and then threw them to be torn apart by wild dogs. They
beheaded a man and then hang his head on a pole. And the whole thing
happened because they were Armenians. Those are not people, those are
bloodsuckers. I lost my husband and my son during those days. I was
among those few people to be able to escape and be saved. Later when
we came back to the village we witnessed a fearsome scene: rivers of
blood were flowing along Maragha’s streets, dismembered corpses with
innards everted lay all around. It is just impossible to describe
that,” Elmira Sahakyan remembers.

Vazgen Gabrielyan, former inhabitant of the village Maragha that was
crucified by the Azerbaijanis:

“On that occasion they carried in heavy machinery: tanks, APCs, IFVs.

It is impossible to fight against tanks without anti-tank mines,
and they were able to break through the defense in some places and
enter the village. I tried to hide the youth in the cellars or across
the river. The Azerbaijanis did not mercy anyone – either women, or
children, or the old people. According to Azerbaijan’s misanthropic
policy, they were to be tortured and killed for being Armenian. My
niece’s ability to reason grew dull because of the horrible scene
of the violence. She opened the door to run towards the Azerbaijani
tanks. I shouted, ‘Where are you going?’ I was hardly able to drug
her forcefully and push her into the cellar. Then I saw our neighbor,
a 70-year-old woman. They had cut her throat. They flatly crushed
many people under the tanks, or tied them onto the tanks dragging
along the ground,” Vazgen Gabrielyan says.

Maragha was founded on the spot of an ancient Armenian settlement,
and the Armenians displaced from Persia were settled here on the first
half of the 19th century. Azerbaijan’s military aggression towards the
blockaded Nagorno Karabakh was at its height by the spring of 1992. An
attack was carried out against Maragha on 26 February, 1992 at night.

It stood out among the previous ones being particularly organized and
intense. Maragha inhabitants’ testimonies leave no room to doubt: the
crime committed in Maragha on April 10 had been planned for February
26. Unable to succeed on February 26, the Azerbaijani authorities set
on intensive preparations for the second attack. Maragha was being
defended by a small detachment of volunteers from the civilians. The
contemporary Golgotha broke out on 10 April, 1992 early in the
morning. According to incomplete data, of the 118 remaining inhabitants
of Maragha, around 50 were killed and 60 taken hostages.

According to the eyewitnesses’ testimonies, every 10th fighter in
the Azerbaijani detachments was armed not only with a machine-gun,
but also with a yataghan, the main weapon the Turkish slaughterers
used during the Armenian Genocide at the beginning of the 20th century.

With the efforts of the Information and Public Relations Center of
the Administration of the President of Armenia the truth about the
genocide in Maragha became more widely-known and replicated. The
documentary “Maragha, 10 April 1992. An Ordinary Genocide was shot,
the eyewitness testimonies, photos and videos taken on that fearsome
day were compiled and published on various websites, the website
maragha.org is operating.

THE KIM AFFECT: KARDASHIAN VISIT PUTS ARMENIA IN (MEDIA) WORLD’S ATTENTION

NEWS | 10.04.15 | 14:51

Kim Kardashian and her sister Khloe posing for cameras in front of the
Mother Armenia Monument in Yerevan.

Alina Nikoghosyan
ArmeniaNow intern

Armenian-American television star Kim Kardashian’s visit to Armenia
has put the South Caucasus nation into an international media spotlight
and, among other things, has prompted references to the 1915 Armenian
Genocide in neighboring Turkey.

Kardashian, 34, arrived in her historical homeland on Wednesday
night along with her rapper husband Kanye West, daughter North,
sister Khloe and cousins.

Answering a media question at an LA airport before departing to
Armenia, Kardashian said that her visit to Armenia is related to the
commemoration of the Armenian Genocide centennial.

“We are making this trip in memory to the massacres of Armenians
perpetrated by Ottoman Turks 100 years ago. My father Robert Kardashian
was Armenian, and the visit to Armenia is very important for us,”
the TV star said before boarding the Armenia-bound plane.

Head of the Eprat center Gevorg Petrosyan, who is a specialist in
Turkish studies, said Kardashian is a strong voice also in Turkey
where she has a large following.

“Kim Kardashian is a top star in Turkish media, she makes headlines
even in leading Turkish media and generally millions of Turks around
the world follow her each step, so Kardashian’s visit is another
occasion for the subject of the Armenian Genocide to be addressed in
Turkey,” he said .

According to Petrosyan, many Turks do not even know the location of
Armenia and this is another chance to send a message to the Turkish
society.

HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK: EXTREMELY LOW LEVEL OF FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN ARMENIA

10:26 * 10.04.15

An extremely low level of foreign investments in Armenia was registered
in Armenia this January-March.

Official data on foreign investments in Armenia will be summed up
and published this May. According to the preliminary data, however,
the situation is disastrous.

Small investments were made in Armenia’s energy sector, mining industry
and agriculture. Some investments were made in retail trade, apparently
due to the Carrefour chain.

Investments total US $10m, whereas they have in recent years been
US $100-120m.

Armenia’s Statistical Service expected this situation and decided to
employ new methods of investment registration, which can by no means
be compared with the previous methods.

GAGIK MINASYAN: IRAN WILL GIVE PREFERENCE TO ARMENIA

12:42 | April 10,2015 | Economy

China’s Silk Road initiative will be advantageous to Armenia, says
Gagik Minasyan, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee
on Financial-Credit, Budgetary and Economic Affairs, Aravot.am reports.

Speaking at the Pastark Club on April 10, Mr Minasyan referred to
the perspectives of Armenia-Chinese and Armenian-Iranian relations.

One of the routes of the new Silk Road will pass through Iran and
reach the Black Sea. It will go through Armenia or Azerbaijan. Gagik
Minasyan believes that Iran will give preference to Armenia, for it
[Iran] does not have ‘good relations’ with Azerbaijan. China’s opinion
is equally important on the issue. Mr Minasyan says in this context,
China’s interests coincide with those of Iran.