Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun: Economy Minister Deeply Depressed

CHORRORD INKNISHKHANUTYUN: ECONOMY MINISTER DEEPLY DEPRESSED

11:43 03/10/2013 ” DAILY PRESS

It is hard to find Armenian Economy Minister Vahram Avanesyan in his
office. The Minister is said to be showing up for work from time to
time. Rumors say he is in poor health and that is why he is often
absent from work. However, recently he has been seen participating
in various events. He attended a wedding lately, where he was seen
dancing. So, the fact that the Minister is in poor health is not
proved, Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun reports.

According to the paper’s sources, the Minister is deeply depressed
about Armenia’s decision to join the Customs Union. The point is that
Avanesyan is known for his pro-Western stance, and has been appointed
Minister to prepare Armenian documents for the Association Agreement
with the European Union. Following the U-turn, Avanesyan is facing
a fait accompli.

Source: Panorama.am

Haykakan Zhamanak: Samvel Alexanyan, Taron Margaryan Discuss Covered

HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK: SAMVEL ALEXANYAN, TARON MARGARYAN DISCUSS COVERED MARKET

11:07 03/10/2013 ” DAILY PRESS

Armenian oligarch MP Samvel Alexanyan paid a private visit to
Yerevan Municipality yesterday, where he met with Yerevan Mayor Taron
Margaryan, Haykakan Zhamanak reports.

The paper says that the visit was perhaps connected with Yerevan’s
Covered Market which has been turned into Yerevan City supermarket. It
will be opened in the near future and it is supposed that the MP and
the Mayor discussed possible ways for avoiding any kind of actions
during the event.

Source: Panorama.am

Soutenir Pinar Selek Contre La "Democrature" Turque

SOUTENIR PINAR SELEK CONTRE LA “DEMOCRATURE” TURQUE

Publie le : 03-10-2013

Info Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN relaye
ici le communique de presse du Collectif de solidarite avec Pinar
Selek en France, en date du 19 septembre 2013.

Appel a solidarite pour Pinar Selek, feministe et antimilitariste.

Le collectif de solidarite avec Pinar Selek en Turquie lance une
campagne d’envois de lettres au Ministre de la justice turc. Ces
lettres ont pour but de relever le caractère politique du procès qui
est fait a Pinar Selek et de pointer la soumission de la justice aux
forces politiques.

Cette campagne est internationale et nous nous organisons, en France,
pour qu’un maximum de lettres arrivent sur le bureau du Ministre
entre le 1er octobre et le 1er novembre 2013.

Pinar Selek est devenue un symbole de lutte pour la justice et la
liberte de toutes et tous et la repression ne la fera pas taire !

L’idee est que chacun-e prepare sa lettre a l’avance et reunisse
celles de son entourage pour les poster le moment voulu.

Plusieurs exemples de textes courts, en francais, sont proposes en
pièce jointe mais chacun-e peut les modifier/reecrire, pourvu que
ce soit une lettre ecrite a la main, signee avec nom et adresse et
envoyee par la poste.

Envoyez nous un mail si vous l’avez fait, cela nourrit notre
determination et les liens qui se tissent a travers cette solidarite
internationale!

En pièces jointes:

et pour la campagne d’envois de lettres : – Un exemples de lettre
-L’exemple du journal Rebelle Sante paru fin aout.

Le site internet

Un lien vers une video sur la mobilisation feministe pendant les jours
d’occupation du parc Gezi :

Le collectif de solidarite avec Pinar Selek en France

********************

Biographie de Pinar Selek

Pinar Selek est feministe, antimilitariste, sociologue, ecrivaine
et militante.

Nee en 1971 a Istanbul, elle construit sa vie, ses engagements et ses
recherches autour de l’adage “la pratique est la base de la theorie “.

Sa mere, Ayla Selek, tenait une pharmacie lieu d’echanges et de
rencontres et son père, Alp Selek, est avocat, defenseur des droits
de l’Homme. Son grand père, Haki Selek, est un pionnier de la gauche
revolutionnaire et cofondateur du parti des Travailleurs de Turquie
(TIP). Apres le coup d’Etat militaire de 1980, Alp Selek est arrete et
maintenu en detention pendant près de cinq ans. Pinar Selek poursuit
alors des etudes au lycee Notre dame de Sion où elle apprend le
francais et rencontre des objecteurs de conscience.

En 1992, elle s’inscrit en sociologie a l’universite de Mimar Sinan
d’Istanbul car elle pense qu’il faut “analyser les blessures de
la societe pour etre capable de les guerir “. Tout en poursuivant
ses etudes, elle passe beaucoup de temps dans les rues d’Istanbul
avec des enfants et des adultes sans domicile fixe. Elle y liera
de profonds liens d’amitie, mais choisira de ne rien ecrire sur le
sujet pour des raisons ethiques qu’elle developpe dans son article
“Travailler avec ceux qui sont en marge “. En 1995, elle cofonde
l’Atelier des Artistes de Rue, dont elle sera la coordinatrice et
auquel participent des personnes sans domicile fixe, des enfants,
des tziganes, des etudiants, des femmes au foyer, des travesti-es,
des transexuel-les, des prostitue-es.

Son memoire de licence intitule “Babìali a Ìkitelli : de l’odeur
de l’encre aux immeubles de grande hauteur du quartier d’affaires ”
porte sur la transformation des organes de presse (journaux, radios et
televisions) en Turquie. En 1997 elle obtient son DEA de sociologie
avec un memoire intitule : “La rue Ulker : un lieu d’exclusion “,
recherche menee sur et avec les transexuels et travestis. Cette
recherche est publiee en 2001 sous le titre : ” Masques, cavaliers
et nanas. La rue ulker : un lieu d’exclusion”. Pendant cette periode
et au-dela, elle est aux cotes des transexuels qui se battent contre
la violence policière et nationaliste et ce livre, premier dans ce
domaine, est alors très utile pour toucher l’opinion publique et
construire la solidarite. Parallèlement, elle entame ses recherches
sur la question kurde et effectue plusieurs voyages au Kurdistan,
en France et en Allemagne, pour realiser une soixantaine d’entretiens
destines a alimenter un projet d’histoire orale.

Elle a 27 ans et elle redouble d’energie pour contribuer a enrayer
les guerres et les mecanismes de pouvoir. Le11 juillet 1998 elle est
arretee par la police d’Istanbul et torturee pour la forcer a donner
les noms des personnes qu’elle a interviewees. Elle resiste et une
nouvelle forme de torture est alors utilisee : elle est accusee
d’avoir deposee la bombe qui aurait, le 9 juillet 1998, fait sept
morts et plus de cent blesses au marche aux epices d’Istanbul.

Plusieurs rapports d’expert ont beau certifier qu’il ne s’agit pas
d’une bombe mais de l’explosion accidentelle d’une bouteille de gaz,
c’est le debut d’un acharnement politico-judiciaire qui dure depuis
maintenant quatorze ans. Elle passe deux ans et demi en prison et une
grande solidarite se met en place qui reunit de nombreux avocat-e-s,
des intelectuel-le-s et beaucoup de personnes qu’elle a croisees au
cours de ses engagements et de ses recherches. Sa soeur quitte son
travail et reprend des etudes d’avocate pour se joindre a la defense.

En prison, Pinar Selek ecrit beaucoup, mais tous ses textes sont
confisques.

En decembre 2000 elle est finalement liberee et, concretisant un
projet mùri en prison, elle met a profit sa notoriete pour organiser
une grande “Rencontre des femmes pour la paix ” a Diyarbakir. Cette
première mobilisation sera suivie d’autres rencontres qui auront lieu
a Istanbul, Batman et Konya.

En 2001 elle fonde avec d’autres l’association feministe Amargi qui
s’engage dans les mobilisations contre les violences faites aux femmes,
pour la paix et contre toutes les dominations et qui ouvre la première
librairie feministe au centre d’Istanbul.

L’association organise, en 2002, “la marche des femmes les unes
vers les autres ” où des milliers de femmes convergeront de toute
la Turquie vers la ville de Konya. C’est aussi l’annee ou la mère de
Pinar Selek meurt d’une crise cardiaque.

En 2004, Pinar Selek publie Barisamadik (“Nous n’avons pas pu faire la
paix “) sur la culture militariste et les mobilisations pour la paix en
Turquie. Elle cree avec d’autres en 2006 la revue theorique feministe
Amargi qui est encore aujourd’hui vendue a des milliers d’exemplaires
dans toute la Turquie et dont elle est toujours redactrice en chef.

En 2006 elle est finalement acquittee après un travail enorme
du collectif d’avocats pour faire tomber une a une toutes les
accusations basees sur de faux temoignages extorques sous la torture
et la fabrication de fausses preuves. Mais la cour de cassation
s’acharne et fait appel au verdict. Pinar Selek continue a organiser
et a participer a de nombreuses rencontres et manifestations
antimilitaristes. Elle ecrit egalement dans divers journaux et
magazines contre le militarisme, le nationalisme, l’heterosexisme,
le capitalisme, et toutes les formes d’exploitations et de violences.

En 2008 elle publie Surune Surune erkek olmak (“devenir homme en
rampant”) sur la construction de la masculinite dans le contexte du
service militaire. A la suite de cette publication elle fera l’objet
d’intimidations, de menaces telephoniques et d’articles diffamatoires
dans la presse. Elle publie aussi Su damlasi (“la goutte d’eau”),
un conte pour enfant qui sera suivit de Siyah pelerinli kiz (“la
fille a la pèlerine noir”) et de yesil kiz (“la fille en vert”).

Elle est de nouveau acquittee en 2008 mais un nouvel appel de la cour
de cassation casse le verdict et la pousse a partir de Turquie. Elle
recoit une bourse du Pen club Allemand dans le cadre du programme
” ecrivains en exil ” et c’est a Berlin qu’elle termine son premier
roman Yol gecen hani (“l’auberge des passants “) publie en Turquie
en 2011 et en Allemagne la meme annee. Le 9 fevrier 2011 elle est
acquittee une troisième fois mais, fait extremement rare dans la
jurisprudence turque, la cour de cassation refait appel, pour la
troisième fois egalement.

Le 24 janvier 2013, la 12ème cour d’Istanbul qui a ete remaniee,
annule sa propre decision d’acquittement et la condamne a la prison
a perpetuite. Ses avocats font appel et denoncent ce deni de justice
et l’illegalite des procedures. Pinar Selek vit aujourd’hui en exil
a Strasbourg et resiste a la torture psychologique que represente
cet acharnement de 15 annees contre elle et ses proches.

Elle a publie deux livres en francais, “Loin de chez moi… mais
jusqu’où ?” aux editions iXes en mars 2012 et “La maison du Bosphore”,
son premier roman, aux editions Liana Levi. Elle adhère a l’association
Chercheurs sans frontières-Free Science (CSF) dès sa creation en 2011,
pour defendre la liberte de la recherche dans le monde et proteger
les chercheurs et chercheuses menaces. Inscrite a l’universite de
Strasbourg, elle prepare une thèse sur les mouvements d’emancipation en
Turquie et s’investit au sein de l’association lesbienne et feministe
La Lune.

Elle continue son engagement en Turquie par l’intermediaire de la
revue Amargi et en intervenant dans des rencontres grâce aux nouvelles
technologies de communication.

Pinar Selek s’inscrit dans les luttes locales et internationales contre
toutes les formes de pouvoir, de violence et d’exploitation en esperant
voir un jour un monde de paix et de justice, pour toutes et tous.

Lire aussi :

Pinar Selek : le cauchemar turc depuis 1998

Retour a la rubrique

TELECHARGER : Exemple de lettre L’exemple du journal Rebelle Sante
paru fin août

http://www.collectifvan.org/article.php?r=0&id=75940
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk7P2H5Hpgs
www.collectifvan.org
www.pinarselek.fr

President Sargsyan Says Armenia To Continue Cooperation With EU

PRESIDENT SARGSYAN SAYS ARMENIA TO CONTINUE COOPERATION WITH EU

News | 02.10.13 | 15:58

Armenia is committed to developing close relations with the European
Union, said President Serzh Sargsyan in his speech at the plenary
session of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) in
Strasbourg on Wednesday.

“We have said and continue to say that Armenia aspires to be close
to Europe,” said Sargsyan, emphasizing that at the same time Armenia
also has allied relations with Russia.

“Armenia has never aspired to build cooperation with one partner as
opposed to another,” stressed the Armenian leader, who announced
in early September his government’s plans to join the Russia-led
Customs Union.

In Strasbourg, Sargsyan reiterated Armenia’s commitment to finding a
peaceful solution to the Karabakh problem. He also answered questions
posed by member of the Armenian delegation Zaruhi Postanjyan regarding
his lacking legitimacy as president to represent the Armenian people
and allegations that he gambled and lost 70 million Euros in a
European casino.

“I do represent the Armenian people, and I’m proud of it.

Unfortunately, your candidate [Heritage Party leader Raffi Hovannisian]
was not able to display the kind of qualities that one would need in
presidential elections to be able to represent the Armenian people,”
said Sargsyan.

As for the allegation about the casino, Sargsyan described it as
“another product of your [Postanjyan’s] imagination”. “I have never
been to any casino in Europe, I do not gamble in casinos.

Unfortunately, I have no opportunity to be in possession of 70 million
Euros. If I had such an opportunity, I would donate part of it to you
to be happy with your life and not to have so much evilness in you,”
he said.

http://armenianow.com/news/48880/armenia_president_serzh_sargsyan_strasbourg_pace_speech

Turning To Half-Closed Recycling Water System Endangers Armenian Fis

TURNING TO HALF-CLOSED RECYCLING WATER SYSTEM ENDANGERS ARMENIAN FISH FARMS

YEREVAN, October 2. /ARKA/. Turning to half-closed-loop recycling
water supply system endangers most part of Armenia’s fish farms,
head of the Union of Armenian Fish fish breeders Artur Asoyan said.

Under a government decree, all fish farms are required to turn to
half-closed recycle water supply to fishponds, which will ensure re-use
of 70% of the water and reduction in consumption. At the same time,
the new system implies introduction of new and expensive technologies
costing from 700,000 to 1.5 million euros depending on sizes.

“Today we face a serious problem in fish breeding”, Atoyan said.

Gross output of Armenia’s fishing and fish-breeding totaled 11.5
billion drams in January-August, an increase of 32.7% compared to
the same period of the year before. Production volumes in the sector
totaled 1,456.1 tons in August, increase of 23.2% against August 2012.

($1=405.29drams).-0–

12:15 02.10.2013

http://arka.am/en/news/economy/turning_to_half_closed_recycling_water_system_endangers_armenian_fish_farms/

BAKU: Bayram Safarov: "I Have Had Phone Conversations With Some Arme

BAYRAM SAFAROV: “I HAVE HAD PHONE CONVERSATIONS WITH SOME ARMENIANS LIVING IN NAGORNO KARABAKH”

APA, Azerbaijan
Oct 2 2013

[ 02 October 2013 18:31 ]

“As they live in hard conditions, they tell us to liberate the lands
and live together”

Khojavand. Teymur Zahidoghlu – APA. A silent march was held in
Khojavand region regarding the 21st anniversary of the region’s
occupation by the Armenian Armed Forces.

APA’s Karabakh bureau reports that residents of the region marched up
to a trench on the contact line in the direction of Khojavand region.

Heads of Executive Authorities of Shusha and Khojavand regions, former
warriors who fought in the battles for Khojavand and intellectuals
of many regions of the country attended the event.

Speaking with the journalist, chairman of “Azerbaijani Community of
Nagorno Karabakh” Public Union and head of Shusha Region Executive
Authority Bayram Safarov commented on the replacement of the U.S.

co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group dealing with the settlement of
the conflict.

According to him, the Azerbaijani side hopes that the progress will be
achieved in OSCE’s activity in this regard: “They should admit that
in this issue, Azerbaijan is right and fair. However, the co-chairs
have tried to now. But as you know, we are not satisfied with the
activities carried out by the Minsk Group.”

The community head also said that at present, the Azerbaijani side
is ready to negotiate with Armenian community living in Nagorno
Karabakh and the Armenian side is also interested in this issue:
“You know, I have held phone conversations with them, as they live
in hard conditions, they tell us to liberate the lands and live
together. They also say that the Armenian authorities have a serious
impact on ordinary Armenians in Karabakh.”

ANKARA: Azerbaijan’s Balkan Policy

AZERBAIJAN’S BALKAN POLICY

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Oct 2 2013

by Hamza Karcic*
0 2 October 2013 /

One intriguing trend in the Balkans over the past several years
has been the new and increasingly visible Azerbaijani presence and
activism in the region.

The appearance of this new state actor in the region has been
attracting attention. The Caspian state’s Balkan policy has several
characteristics: high-level official visits to Baku and Azerbaijani
officials’ visits to the Balkans, the convening of business forums,
and the construction and restoration of parks in Balkan countries
that contain statues of famous Azerbaijani historical figures. What
are the aims of Azerbaijan in the Balkans? Based on the trends in the
relationships between Azerbaijan and the Balkan states over the past
five years, several aims can be discerned.

First, Azerbaijan is aiming to widen support for its sovereignty
and territorial integrity. This takes the shape of seeking
official statements by Balkan political leaders about Azerbaijan
or parliamentary resolutions from Balkan nations. The aim of this
effort is to garner support and political allies in the conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh. The Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina
in early 2013 adopted a resolution supporting Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity. Serbian leaders have publicly supported Azerbaijan’s
sovereignty, and Azerbaijan has refused to recognize the independence
of Kosovo.

Second, Azerbaijan aims to institutionalize the memory of the massacre
of ethnic Azeris in the town of Khojaly. This atrocity was committed
in early 1992 by Armenian troops and has left a wound of sorrow in the
Azerbaijani collective memory. In early 2012, an Azerbaijani-Bosnian
friendship park opened in Sarajevo that is dedicated to the victims
of Khojaly and Srebrenica.

Third is the promotion of Azerbaijan’s historical and cultural
heritage. A statue to Azerbaijan’s first president, Heydar Aliyev, was
built in Belgrade. Bucharest also boasts a park that bears the name of
Azerbaijan’s first president. In Podgorica, a Baku street was opened
recently and a statue of Azerbaijani poet Huseyn Cavid was erected.

Fourth is the promotion of Azerbaijani investments in the region. At
this stage, it is too early to judge this aspect of Azerbaijan’s
role in the Balkans. If the heralded investments were to materialize,
it would be a significant new trend in Azerbaijan’s presence in the
Balkans. So far, business forums have been held in Azerbaijan and the
various Balkan states. Substantially, Azerbaijan approved a loan to
Serbia worth 300 million euros for the construction of a 40-kilometer
section of highway. By far the most ambitious announced investment
is the 90-year lease of a property and the construction of a luxury
resort in Kumbor on the Montenegrin coast. There has also been talk
of Azerbaijani firms taking part in the construction of the Corridor
Vc highway in Bosnia.

Of the Balkan states, Serbia stands out in its relations with
Azerbaijan. Presidents Boris Tadic and Tomislav Nikolic visited
Azerbaijan while Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev visited Belgrade.

Leaders of both countries speak of a “strategic partnership.” Indeed,
only Serbia has so far obtained a major loan from Azerbaijan. On the
other hand, Azerbaijani relations with Croatia do not seem to have
the same impetus as Azerbaijani-Serbian relations. Over the last two
years, Bosnia has also taken steps to further develop relations with
Azerbaijan. Member of the Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic and Foreign
Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija both visited Baku. However, unlike Serbia
or Croatia, Azerbaijan does not have an embassy in Sarajevo but a
diplomatic representative. The development of Azerbaijani-Bosnian
relations will require more high-level visits by both sides as well
as the opening of an Azerbaijani embassy in Sarajevo.

——————————————————————————–

*Hamza Karcic is in the faculty of political science at the University
of Sarajevo.

Israel, Eying Iran, Seeks Closer Ties With Azerbaijan

ISRAEL, EYING IRAN, SEEKS CLOSER TIES WITH AZERBAIJAN

UPI – United Press International
October 1, 2013 Tuesday 2:37 PM EST

TEL AVIV, Israel, Oct. 1

Israel is seeking to tighten its links with Azerbaijan, the oil-rich
former Soviet Republic that borders Iran, to secure a strategic
alliance that has already provided invaluable aid in the Jewish
state’s smoldering conflict with the Islamic Republic.

The expected re-election later this month of Azerbaijan’s tough,
pro-Western President Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his like-minded,
KGB-trained father Heydar in 2003, will be the icing on the cake.

The Americans, always looking for ways to infiltrate Iran, will likely
be pleased as well since this arrangement gives them a way into Iran,
a facility that will likely be useful as U.S. President Barack Obama
strives to develop a rapprochement with Iran’s new president, Hassan
Rouhani.Enhanced Coverage Linkingpresident, Hassan Rouhani. -Search
using:Biographies Plus NewsNews, Most Recent 60 Days Over the last
two or three years, Israeli and Azeri intelligence services claim
they have thwarted several attacks by Iranian agents and their close
allies, Hezbollah of Lebanon, to attack Jewish targets in Azerbaijan,
including Baku, the country’s capital on the Caspian.

These included alleged plots to blow up the Israeli and U.S. embassies
in Baku in 2012. Tehran responded by accusing Azerbaijan of helping
Israel assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists.

Tension was heightened with a report — denied by Tel Aviv and Baku –
that Israel planned to launch air raids from Azerbaijan in the event
of pre-emptive strikes against Tehran’s nuclear program.

But there’s no doubt that both governments are hostile to Iran and that
the tension between them and the clerical Tehran regime is intensifying
just as relations between Israel and Azerbaijan are becoming closer.

This suits the Americans, who piggyback on Israel’s intelligence
service, the Mossad, to penetrate Iran through its large ethnic Azeri
community. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hails from
Iranian Azerbaijan.

The CIA can maintain surveillance, probably once removed, on the
Iranians, and their nuclear and ballistic missile programs and engage
in a campaign of assassination and sabotage intended to wreck, or at
least impede, these programs.

Tensions have spiked in recent months. Although this is not
exceptional, it could affect Obama’s diplomacy.

With the Americans hoping for a new era of dialogue with Tehran,
Washington will not want its efforts jeopardized by friction stirred
by Israeli hardliners who suspect Rouhani’s soft words hide a harsher
reality in Tehran.

For Israel, its unfolding relationship with Azerbaijan, a Shiite Muslim
country like Iran, has meant growing security cooperation against
a common foe, a steady supply of Caspian oil and some lucrative
military contracts.

That culminated in a reputed $1.6 billion arms deal in 2012 with
state-run Israel Aerospace Industries that Israeli officials say
included unmanned aerial vehicles, anti-aircraft and missile defense
systems.

That deal alone totaled 43 percent of Baku’s arms expenditure that
year.

In 2011, Israeli defense contractor Aeronautics opened a factory to
produce military UAVs in Azerbaijan.

In return, Azerbaijan provides 40 percent of Israel’s oil needs.

As Israel’s Ynet outlet, the website for the mass-circulation Hebrew
daily Yediot Ahronot, observed, this took “sophisticated Israeli
technology to the doorstep of archenemy Iran…

“Israel has been laboring hard to form diplomatic alliances in a region
that seems to be growing increasingly hostile to the Jewish state.”

Tehran’s unease at the growing Israeli presence on the Islamic
Republic’s northern border was heightened in May this year when Azeri
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov visited Israel, the first of his
rank to do so, much to Tehran’s chagrin.

Israel opened an embassy in Baku in 1992, one year after Azerbaijan
became independent of the collapsing Soviet Union.

Baku, mindful of antagonizing Iran, has yet to reciprocate, even
though it wants to obtain diplomatic support from Israel and its
powerful lobby in Washington.

The pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy observed
that Azerbaijan feared that “Muslim-majority states in the U.N. would
vote unfavorably on its conflict with Armenia over the disputed
Nagorno-Karabakh region.”

Israel has since its founding in 1948 sought to build alliances with
states on the Arab periphery like pre-revolution Iran, Kenya and
Turkey to break their isolation of the Jewish state.

Azerbaijan was a prime candidate when the Soviet Union disintegrated.

But since Israel’s strategic alliance with another Muslim state,
Turkey, crashed in flames in May 2011, Israel has redoubled its effort
to engage with Azerbaijan because both consider Iran a major security
threat, despite Rouhani’s charm offensive.

Syria’s Armenians Risk A Winter Without Food, Shelter

SYRIA’S ARMENIANS RISK A WINTER WITHOUT FOOD, SHELTER

Catholic Sentinel
Oct 1 2013

Catholic News Service

YEREVAN, Armenia – Thousands of previously middle-class Syrians now
stranded in Armenia are rapidly running out of resources and could
soon have no shelter, food or medicine, said an international aid
group official.

“There is a big need on the humanitarian side: food, shelter, medical
needs,” said Walter Hajek, head of international disaster management
for Austria’s Red Cross.

“The highest influx (of Syrian Armenians) was in early summer of last
year, and those were mostly of middle-class status, and they came here
thinking it would be temporary, and that was obviously not the case,”
he said.

Hajek said the Armenian government was helping Syrian Armenians with
work permits and Armenian passports, free medical care at government
hospitals and clinics, free schooling at government-run schools, and
free space at several government shelters, but this aid was not enough.

“If you go to the hospital, they treat you for free, but (buying)
medication afterward is a problem for them,” he told Catholic News
Service Sept. 28. He said he had seen urgent cases of asthma, diabetes,
high blood pressure and heart conditions, medication for which was
too expensive for many of the Syrians to buy.

Hajek estimated that at least 40 percent of the Syrian Armenians now
in Armenia were children, and that many of them were in need of baby
food and baby carriages, as well as pens, paper and other school
supplies because their parents had run out of money.

“Most of the (Armenian Syrians) we met are living in apartments and
say they have no savings left, and it will be crucial to support
them,” added Hajek, who was to return to Austria Sept. 29 to present
his findings and push to get funding for a project he said he hoped
would include paying the Syrians’ rents and utility bills.

Hajek said his organization was already working with other
international aid agencies, including the Catholic charity Caritas,
to provide basic services to the Syrian Armenians. For instance, they
were pay for classes in the local Armenian dialect, legal advice,
and some materials needed to start small businesses.

The Armenians coming from Syria “want to work. They are not used to
receiving (charity) and they want to earn their own money. We provide
them equipment, such as ovens (and) kitchen utensils, tools they
need to start their own businesses,” Hajek said, adding that several
Syrians had already opened small bakeries in Yerevan, and that at
least one had a rented a farm and intended to grow and sell produce.

Armenia is currently sheltering 8,000-10,000 Armenian Syrians. They
are the descendants of Armenians who, nearly a century ago, fled mass
killings at the hands of Ottomans in what is now Turkey, then went
on to flourish in Syria.

http://www.catholicsentinel.org/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=34&ArticleID=22497

Turkey Has No Intention Of Ratifying Protocols In Foreseeable Future

TURKEY HAS NO INTENTION OF RATIFYING PROTOCOLS IN FORESEEABLE FUTURE

Wednesday,
October
02

“Armenia’s efforts aimed at establishing relations with Turkey
didn’t produce results. Ankara is not ready yet to establish ties
with Yerevan,” Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said when answering
questions of MPs during the PACE session in Strasbourg today.

“As is known, the Turkish leadership refused to ratify the protocols
on the establishment of Armenian-Turkish relations. I would not like to
speak about the reasons as everyone knows these reasons. I just want to
describe my impression. The impression is that Turkey has no intention
of ratifying the protocols in the foreseeable future. The problem is
not related to us. Each state should take a responsible approach to
the documents it has signed, but we don’t see such responsibility
and for that reason there are no relations between our countries,”
Serzh Sargsyan noted.

According to him, the proposals presented by Turkey’s government were
aimed at drawing attention of the international community. “If they
had wanted to do something, they would have ratified the protocols
and normalized relations,” the Armenian president said.

TODAY, 18:30

Aysor.am