Author: Babajanian Karo

Kidnappings and baby deliveries: Kremlin aide makes fun of Putin rumors

17:17, 16 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Russian President’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov has made fun of the crazy
theories regarding Vladimir Putin’s lack of public appearances, saying
he was paralyzed, kidnapped by the military and just returned from
Switzerland, Sputnik reports.

International media has been abuzz on why Russia’s President Vladimir
Putin was absent from the public eye for more than a week prompting
Dmitry Peskov, the president’s press secretary, to weighed in on the
hot topic.

“Have you all seen the paralyzed president, kidnapped by the generals?
He has just returned from Switzerland, where he was delivering a
baby,” Peskov joked, naming all the wild theories regarding Putin’s
lack of public appearances.

A foreign journalist asked the press secretary to comment on one
theory stating that a foreign doctor visited Putin. Peskov smiled and
said, “Yes, he was one of the generals, who kidnapped Putin.”

POLOGNE
Le Président de la Pologne en visite en Arménie le 24 Avril

Bronislaw Komorowski président de la Pologne se rendra en Arménie le
24 Avril pour la commémoration du centenaire de génocide arménien a
annoncé le vice-président du Parlement européen Ryszard Czarnecki dans
une interview au quotidien Zhoghovurd.

“Oui, Serge Sarkissian a envoyé une invitation, et l’honorable
Président sera présent en Arménie ce jour-là >>, a déclaré l’homme
politique polonais.

Czarnecki, qui était en visite en Arménie afin de participer à la 4ème
session ordinaire de l’Assemblée parlementaire Euronest, a dit qu’il
espère représenter le Parlement européen le 24 Avril, rapporte
Asbarez.com.

Le Président russe Vladimir Poutine et le président de la France
Fançois Hollande ont également annoncé qu’ils seront en Arménie pour
les commémorations.

dimanche 22 mars 2015,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

Alexander Zinker: Israel has never before been so close to recognition
of Armenian Genocide

ArmInfo’s Interview with Alexander Zinker, Director of the Institute
of Eastern European and CIS countries (Israel), President of the
International Center for Electoral Systems (ICES)

by David Stepanyan
Sunday, March 22, 12:58

The Armenian foreign minister’s recent visit to Israel has officially
been qualified as a working visit. However, experts say that
Nalbandian visited Israel to enlist its support to the Armenian
Genocide centennial events. At what level may an Israeli delegation be
present at these events in Yerevan on April 24?

I think Israel has never before been so close to official recognition
of the Armenian Genocide. The thing is not the deterioration of
relation between Israel and Turkey, which has turned from the Jewish
state’s ally into one of its most furious critics and rivals. Nor is
it the forthcoming change of the political leadership of the Israeli
Foreign Ministry, which actively resists such recognition and is
afraid that the recognition will spoil our country’s relationship with
Azerbaijan. Israeli people have just started to understand the need to
make that step and the public has come to a broad consensus on that
matter. During his term in the Knesset Speaker’s office, Israeli
President Reuven Rivlin had repeatedly advocated official recognition
of the Armenian Genocide. The prominent figures of the right wing
Likud Party – Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, Coalition Chairman Ze’ev
Elkin, and left wing Meretz Party leader Zahava Gal-On also come out
for recognition of the Armenian Genocide. In addition, a civil
movement calling for the Genocide recognition is gaining momentum “in
the streets” and in the social communities of the Israeli internet
sector. Public opinion matters much in Israel. The Armenian foreign
minister’s recent visit to Israel has not essentially changed the
trends in development of the Armenian-Israeli relations, which are all
the same positive. In the meantime, his meeting with President Rivlin
has given a fresh impetus to those trends.

Israel will no doubt attend the Armenian Genocide centennial events in
Yerevan, but it is not clear yet whom the Israeli delegation will
include. One thing is clear: unfortunately, the delegation will not
include the top public officials. This does not mean that Israel pays
no proper attention to that event. The reasons are just technical. The
thing is that this year Israel’s Independence Day is marked on April
22-23, Wednesday-Thursday. The President’s participation in those
festive events is compulsory, so he cannot simply leave the country.
Then Friday comes and the Friday evening is the beginning of Saturday
(Shabbat), which is a holy day of rest and the Jewish tradition bans
any official foreign trips on that day. In addition, one should not
forget that Israel held parliamentary elections on March 17. This
means that the completion of the coalition talks will be in full swing
in late April and this will also keep the incumbent Speaker of the
Knesset Yuli Edelstein from leaving the country. Nevertheless, the
Israeli delegation will certainly include several politicians,
prominent scientists, historians and public figures.

How would you assess Netanyahu’s recent visit to Washington? How
realistic do you think the Iranian threat is for Israel today?

The right and the left camps, the coalition and the opposition of
Israel have no discrepancies in the matter of the Iranian threat. The
politicians, force structures and experts are unanimous about the fact
that Israel cannot let Iran acquire nuclear weapons, because in that
case the country’s existence will be set on stake. Today Iran is the
only country to say that Israel must be destroyed. One cannot even
imagine what will happen if Iran turns into a nuclear power. It is no
secret that the Israeli premier’s recent visit to Washington and his
speech at the Congress have harshly been criticized by his opponents
and the media outlets supporting them. They think that the premier’s
speech, which was not coordinated with Barack Obama, will spoil the
Tel Aviv-Washington relations and that the only goal of the speech was
to enhance Netanyahu’s popularity among the voters. I do not share
that opinion. Netanyahu’s visit could only indirectly be connected
with the election campaign in Israel, because the public opinion polls
demonstrate that it had absolutely no impact on the landscape before
the election. In the meantime, the visit was of much significance in
terms of state interests. It could not seriously damage the personal
relations of Netanyahu and Obama at least because it was impossible to
spoil them even more. At the same time, Netanyahu’s speech at the
Congress saw a wide public response and vividly made the White House
Administration to think about it. Obama’s team understood that they
could, of course, sign an agreement with Iran but this does not at all
mean that they would be able to receive from the Congress the needed
funding for the agreement. The rhetoric of President Obama and
Secretary of State Kerry has considerably changed after Netanyahu’s
speech. Earlier they said that the agreement would be one of the best
possible agreements, but now they claim that the agreement has some
problems and even say that there may be no agreement at all. So, one
can say that during his visit Netanyahu achieved the intended
purposes. The Israel-US relations are based on strategic and
geopolitical interests, and such interests always prevail over the
personal ones. Therefore, the military and diplomatic partnership
between our countries will be continued as long as we have common
interests no matter who exactly heads the country.

Iran’s new relations with Europe and the US are gradually extending
the geopolitical functions of Iran in the Greater Middle East. Can you
expect Iran to expand its role in the South Caucasus?

Iran no doubt contends for a status of a regional superpower. However,
I think it is early to speak of Iran’s new relations with Europe and
the United States. Let’s wait and see the further developments. Too
many experts are convinced that instead of recording a breakthrough
the talks in Geneva may come to a dead end again. Iran has always had
interests in the South Caucasus and it will seek to extend its role in
that region. However, now Iran has enough problems in Iraq, Lebanon
and Syria, and the international sanctions have delivered an immense
blow on its economy. Teheran obviously needs no new confrontation,
because any attempt to extend its role in the South Caucasus may lead
to clashes with both Russia and the United States, which consider the
region a zone of their own interests. Therefore, Iran is unlikely to
intensify its steps in the South Caucasus. Iran will continue the
“energy expansion” in that region as Teheran considers it to be its
foreign political goal. Without trying to oust Russia from the energy
market, Iran will seek to prevent the United States, NATO and the EU
from penetrating into the South Caucasus. Iran’s leaders are fanatics
but they are rather prudent fanatics. In the meantime, Iran is also on
the threshold of changes in its leadership and this may also cause
unexpected turns in the politics.

The West’s response to the Moscow-Baku strengthening relations (the
matter concerns not only military hardware deals but also energy
projects) is the list of the Azeri officials, who are denied entry to
Western countries. On the other hand, the United States has expressed
willingness to develop relations with Armenia not only in economy but
also in defense despite the presence of the 102nd military base in
Gyumri. Can one speak of new trends in the geopolitics of the West and
Russia in the South Caucasus?

I think it is more correct to speak of the old geopolitical trends
than the new ones. The United States and West have never concealed
their interests in the three South Caucasus countries. Neither are
they going to cede their interests now. I was not surprised at
Washington’s readiness to develop the military and economic
cooperation with Yerevan despite being in Russia’s ‘zone of
influence,’ since the U.S. policy is based on the principle “losing a
battle does not mean losing the war.” The U.S. seeks to maintain and
increase its influence everywhere it can reach, to try to influence
through legal methods, and even through illegitimate ones, if
necessary. In such situation, Yerevan, Baku and Tbilisi have nothing
to do but maneuver between the USA and Russia trying to protect their
national interests and not to turn into a marionette. “Relatively
recently, we have already witnessed the West’s attempts, also
successful ones, to intervene with the internal affairs of Georgia and
Azerbaijan. There were such attempts in Armenia too. I think, they
will repeat in future, and maybe, in the nearest future. In the light
of the current situation in the region, the political figures in
Armenia, both the pro- governmental and the opposition ones, need to
show political wisdom and put the national interests above the
personal benefits. I’d like to add also the ability to make
well-thought decisions independently, and stop listening to the advice
or accepting the proposals of ‘well-wishers’ from abroad. Armenian
politicians have recently displayed such features and I hope they will
do it also in future.

Has the crisis around Ukraine strengthened or weakened the
superpowers’ positions in the South Caucasus? Has Ukraine adjusted the
positions of the USA, Russia and the EU in the region?

It appears to me that after the Ukraine crisis Russia will more than
ever seek rapprochement with the South Caucasus countries and try to
increase its role in the region. The U.S. and Europe will not cede
their positions either. Here is where we can face quite interesting
turnarounds, including an attempt to repeat the ‘Ukrainian scenario’
in the South Caucasus with some adjustments depending on the local
situation. Ukraine’s crisis must become a lesson to learn for many
countries and peoples. Undoubtedly, the U.S., Russia and the EU have
their interests in the crisis, but what is the interest of Ukraine and
the Ukrainian people? I welcome the neutral stand of the South
Caucasus countries and Israel on Ukraine as “the most competent and
right decision.” To avoid the Ukrainian scenario in the post-Soviet
area, the political forces, even the confronting ones, need to display
special wisdom and high sense of responsibility.

The establishment of an actual customs point on the border between
Russia and Belarus has once again revealed the flaws of the Eurasian
Economic Union and the gap between realpolitik and Moscow’s
integration projects. Can one say that Eurasian integration is still
relevant and that it explains Russia’s striving for a bipolar world?

I think that following continuous geopolitical perturbations the
mankind will come to a multipolar world, where everything will be
determined by the relations of the regional superpowers and each of
the superpowers will have its own zone of influence. The EEU
demonstrates further possible emergence of such a multipolar world. In
the global politics, we cannot disregard such a superpower as China. I
can also point out the Arab world, India, Iran, as well as the project
on creation of a single Europe-Asia space from Lisbon to Vladivostok.
The decisive role in that complicated political game will belong to
the common interests of a group of regional superpowers, which will
inevitably clash with another group’s interests. The creation of the
Eurasian Economic Union is undoubtedly a positive step, because it
implies integration, rapprochement and cooperation. The recent tension
among the EEU members is a quite normal phenomenon. The creation of
the European Union required decades and we have repeatedly witnessed
conflicts and clashes among its members. The EEU is a young
organization and, actually, it is still being formed. Therefore, one
should pay no attention to the customs problems between Russia and
Belarus. We will witness many such conflicts but it does not mean that
the idea of Eurasian integration was dead-born. Quite the opposite, it
means that the idea is alive and it is developing. The most important
thing is that economic interests should prevail over military and
political ones and that the EEU should meet the interests of all its
member states and their people.

÷CC9E80-D079-11E4-BC790EB7C0D21663

ERDOGAN: ARMENIAN ‘GENOCIDE’ CAMPAIGN SEEKS TO ATTACK TURKEY, NOT UNCOVER TRUTH

Cihan News Agency (CNA), Turkey
March 19, 2015 Thursday

ANKARA (CÄ°HAN)- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday
slammed Armenian efforts for greater international recognition of an
alleged genocide of Armenians at the hands of the late Ottoman Empire
a century ago, urging the Armenian diaspora to prove its claims by
bringing out documents in support of them.

Erdogan said the Armenian campaign to promote the genocide claims
was meant to attack Turkey, not to uncover the truth or commemorate
the suffering of Armenians, adding that Turkey had nothing it cannot
account for regarding what happened a century ago.

Turkey categorically denies Armenian claims that 1.5 million Ottoman
Armenians were victims of a genocide campaign during the First World
War years, insisting that both Turks and Armenians were victims of
civil strife during the period of the war. The dispute has become a
heated issue as the centennial of the alleged genocide approaches.

Armenians say April 24, 1915, when a group of Armenian intellectuals
were rounded up in Ä°stanbul, is the date when the alleged genocide
campaign got under way and commemorate the date every year as a
“genocide” anniversary.

Erdogan said there “might have been tragedies at the time of war,”
but added that thousands of Turks were also killed by the Armenians
during the civil strife.

“O Armenian diaspora, O Armenian administration, our archives are
here. We have hundreds of thousands of documents, over a million
documents. How many documents do you have? Bring your documents, and
we task the historians, our historians, political scientists, even
archeologists and lawyers … let’s seek the truth here,” he said,
adding that “anti-Turkey campaigns carried out by paying money and
forming lobbies will not earn you anything.”

“The truth should be sought in archives,” Erdogan said, accusing the
Armenians of not responding to Turkey’s call to examine the archives
and uncover the truth about history.

“Our calls are not answered because the aim is not to explore the
facts. We have nothing we cannot account for,” he said. “Instead, if
we examine what our nation had to go through over the past 100-150
years, we would find far more [suffering] than what the Armenians
allegedly went through,” he said.

‘First World War not yet over’

Erdogan also slammed the post-First World War order in the Middle
East established by the Sykes-Picot agreement, a secret deal between
Britain and France that defined their proposed spheres of influence
in the Middle East.

Erdogan said the Sykes-Picot agreement, which brought nothing but
“tears and oppression,” defined boundaries to deepen, not to bridge,
ethnic and religious rifts in the region. “The order based on chaos
is still in place,” he said. “Today we see clearly that the First
World War is not yet over. The long parenthesis it has opened is not
yet closed.”

EU POLITICIAN URGES ANKARA TO REVISIT SECURITY BILL

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 20 2015

ABDULLAH AYASUN / ISTANBUL

A leading EU politician called on the Turkish government to revisit
a controversial internal security bill that grants law enforcement
officers enormous power at the expense of individual liberties,
with a sharp warning that the balance between security measures and
freedoms is in serious jeopardy.

Elmar Brok, chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign
Affairs, who was in Ankara for several days to hold high-level talks
with Turkish authorities, offered a bleak assessment about the state
of democracy in Turkey.

Accompanied by a large EU delegation, he paid visits to the Nationalist
Movement Party (MHP), the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party
(HDP) and to the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP)
after holding meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek.

“Turkey has taken great moves in the economic field over the past 10
years. But we see problems in freedom of expression and media freedom.

We asked questions [to our Turkish counterparts] regarding these
matters,” Brok said. The delegation stressed the fact that the balance
between security measures and liberties is on a knife-edge due to
pressure created by violent, terrorists acts [in Turkey in the recent
past]. In remarks made to local media outlet Ankara’nın Sesi (Ankara’s
Voice), Brok said the EU delegation urged the Turkish government to
revisit the security bill to take individual liberties into account.

The bill proposes that anyone who takes part in public demonstrations
or rallies with their faces partly or totally covered to conceal
their identity could face sentences of between two-and-a-half to
four years in prison. It also gives police officers the authority to
detain anyone on the street considered to be a public disturbance,
or a threat to security or private property.

When asked about the prospect of Turkey’s EU membership, Brok placed
emphasis on the negotiation chapters about justice and democracy,
subjects of particular importance for Brussels. “Everyone [candidate]
must complete the negotiation process and meet the criteria. We,
especially, hope for the opening of the justice and democracy chapters
[to assess the progress Turkey has or hasn’t made].”

Brok said common concerns shared by Turkey and the EU were the chief
motive for the delegation’s visit to Ankara, which sought to hammer
out coordinated responses to those challenges.

“We want closer cooperation between Turkey and EU. Turkey shares our
view. We, therefore, want to update and deepen our cooperation [with
Turkey] regarding the Customs Union,” he said. “We will contemplate
which chapters we could open during the EU negotiation process and
will seek ways to develop our defense and external security policies.”

The 17th chapter — on economic and monetary policies — is also on
the delegation’s agenda, but the current state of relations makes
any prospect of opening the chapter dim.

As the Armenian diaspora has intensified its efforts to commemorate
the centennial of the “Armenian genocide” at international level,
the ensuing debate around Turkey’s standing over the events of 1915
have once again been thrown into the media spotlight. Brok said he
welcomed remarks made by Erdogan and Davutoglu last year regarding the
mass killings of Armenians in 1915, viewing Ankara’s statement at the
time as a historic step towards normalizing ties between Turkey and
Armenia. “We hope that the 2009 protocols between Turkey and Armenia
will continue and be put into practice. That would be a critical step
in leaving these tragic events behind,” Brok said.

“It is our hope and belief that the peoples of an ancient and unique
geography, who share similar customs and manners will be able to talk
to each other about the past with maturity and to remember together
their losses in a decent manner. It is with this hope and belief that
we wish that the Armenians who lost their lives in the context of the
early twentieth century rest in peace, and we convey our condolences
to their grandchildren,” said a statement from then-Prime Minister
Erdogan’s office in 2014.

The statement, which came on the eve of the 99th anniversary since the
start of the events of 1915, was issued by the Prime Minister’s office
on Wednesday in nine languages — Turkish, German, French, English,
Spanish, Russian, Arabic, West Armenian and East Armenian — in an
attempt to make sure the statement is widely heard and understood.

“Regardless of their ethnic or religious origins, we pay tribute,
with compassion and respect, to all Ottoman citizens who lost their
lives in the same period and under similar conditions,” Erdogan said
in the year-old statement.

Brok said the ongoing settlement process aimed at producing a lasting
solution to the decades-old Kurdish question in Turkey is also among
the topics he discussed with Davutoglu in this week’s meeting. He
stressed the importance of political efforts to find a peaceful
solution to the contentious issue.

Sharing his views on the meeting between Turkish and EU diplomats,
Rıza Turmen, a former diplomat and a CHP deputy, said EU politicians
usually exercise self-restraint when they criticize anti-democratic
developments in Turkey, with the knowledge that any sort of public
criticism would play into the hands of the anti-Turkish camp in Europe.

“European diplomats offer balanced statements and refrain from harsh
criticism of the Turkish government publicly, while they express
their dismay over the poor record of the government on the reform
process behind closed doors,” Turmen told Today’s Zaman on Friday.

Addressing the abysmal state of Turkey’s credentials abroad, Turmen
said recent reversals in Turkish democracy and the erosion of freedoms
hog the debate during joint meetings between Turkish and EU officials,
while most of the international media clings to the conviction that
a creeping authoritarianism is firmly taking root in Turkish politics.

Kessab Armenians in Diaspora remember their quaint town in Syria

15:07, 21 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

The Gulf News – It took three years for the conflict in Syria to
spread to Kessab, a town on the Mediterranean coast by the Turkish
border near the city of Lattakia. Long enough that its townsfolk
thought they had been spared by the displacement and dereliction that
came with the war.

When the sound of bombs erupted to advance from the outskirts of town
in the early morning of March 21, 2014 — Mother’s Day — the town awoke
in tumult. Where there should have been the sound of store-shutters
rattling open in the square, and the chug of tractors greeting the
acres of apricot, apple and plum farms, instead, there was the
deafening sound of firepower and panic. Terrorists from the Al Nusra
Front — an Al Qaida-linked group, had arrived.

The once lush and intimate town of 2,000 inhabitants, the majority of
whom were of Armenian ethnicity, is now a charred and desolate
landscape.

The townsfolk, who proudly identify themselves as Kessabtzis and even
tailored a creole language, Kessaberen, intrinsic to the community’s
everyday affairs, were forced to flee from a land they held for
centuries — dating back to the period of the Armenian Kingdom of
Cilicia (1198-1375). Many fled to nearby Syrian cities like Lattakia
or Tartus or left for Beirut. While some found shelter in their
relatives’ homes, many slept in church halls and school auditoriums.

However, there were those who chose to stay, finding it too difficult
to leave behind land inherited through lineage or believed the attack
to be a transient episode. Those who chose to stay saw their prized
town plucked, plundered and left in cinders.

The Jurian family, who have been residents of the town longer than
they can chart back, are an apt microcosm of the plight endured by the
Kessabtzis.

Papken Jurian lost his son, Kevork, after he was gunned down by
militants for wearing boots.

‘They killed my boy’

“He died… He was killed on his 24th birthday,” Papken said, speaking
to Gulf News over the phone.

“When the militants first started attacking the outskirts, Kevork and
the other Kessabtzi youth drove around the town warning people and
advising them to evacuate,” he said, “he was on his motorcycle.”

The town was evacuated in a few short hours. Papken said that around
20 people, mostly the elderly, stayed behind.

“The town was emptied in just a few hours, save for the elderly. I
stayed behind because we couldn’t take my mother, who is in her late
nineties, with us. And since I stayed, my brother, wife and son stayed
behind as well.

“The militants started going from house to house, looting and
vandalising. When they reached our home, they separated the men from
the women and took them somewhere else. That is when it happened. When
they killed my boy,” he said.

Upon noticing Kevork’s boots, they asked whether he was affiliated to
the Syrian army. “They saw my rifle above the mantelpiece. I assured
them it was only a hunting rifle, every family in Kessab owns at least
one. But then they noticed Kevork was wearing boots. He often wore
them. It was good footwear for the work on the farm. They thought he
was a soldier. I tried telling them he wasn’t a soldier, he was my
only son. Sole sons do not need to serve in the Syrian army. But they
didn’t listen. They shot him point-blank.”

Papken and his brother, Asped, were then manhandled out of the house.

“I still remember seeing him there on the floor. His head cocked back,
eyes open to the ceiling. They wouldn’t let me bury him. I begged them
to let me bury him, they didn’t listen. We left him like that, on the
floor. They pushed us out with their guns

“We were taken to another house, where all the prisoners had been
gathered. My wife and mother were there already. My wife asked me
where her son was. I couldn’t tell her the truth. I told her they had
taken him somewhere else.”

Papken recalls seeing the town enveloped in black smoke.

“There were pickup cars everywhere, filled to the brim with the town’s
belongings, clothes, jewellery, washing machines, gas stoves, they
took anything and everything. The town’s churches were being
desecrated. The market square was burning and buildings that are over
a century old turned to cinders. It was too much.”

When asked whether they were fed by the militants, Papken said: “Yes,
yes they offered us food. But who had the appetite to eat? Kevork’s
mother, my wife, kept asking me if they were feeding our son and if he
was safe. How could I tell her that her only son was dead? I simply
said he was fine.”

Three days later, Papken and Asped managed to convince the militants
to take them back home to bury Kevork.

“Four of them escorted us back to the house. Kevork was still there,
lying on the floor, eyes open. They told us to ‘get it over with.’ We
dug a hole in the backyard as fast as we could with their guns drawn
on us. After we were finished, I unhinged a door to mark his grave.”

The Jurian family was then taken to the Turkish city of Iskenderun,
where they stayed until Kessab was vacated by the militants in June.

“I still hadn’t told my wife about Kevork. While we were there, my
daughter, who was staying in Aleppo with her husband, called. She had
been trying to find out what happened to Kevork. I should’ve told them
earlier, but I just couldn’t. She called saying that a few men
contacted her offering to return Kevork for $25,000 ([Dh91,828.] These
fake offers were fairly common. People would approach families,
offering the return of their loved ones for outrageous sums.”

It was then that Papken told his family about what had happened to their son.

“I took the phone and told my daughter not to value these offers. I
told her I had buried her brother with my own hands. I told my wife
that her son died in my hands…”

On June 14, 2014, the townsfolk of Kessab returned to their homes to
find their schools in shambles, churches burnt and homes plundered and
upended. Many found the sight too much to bear and returned to the
cities and towns they sought refuge in. Today, only a small fraction
of the town’s population resides there, mainly the very young and the
very old.

‘Barbaric’

“It was barbaric,” Papken’s brother, Asped, said, “there were
scimitars and malicious messages spray-painted on the walls. The
church pews were destroyed. Houses and buildings that stood for the
town’s history were decimated. Centuries were lost in months.”

On social media, Kessabtzis, scattered across the globe, post images
of the town in its heyday, wondering if it would ever become the cosy,
personal town it was loved for.

“Kevork’s friends still post pictures of him online,” Asped said,
“It’s unreal to think that little over a year ago, these boys were
sitting in our kitchens, bantering and teasing each other. There was a
saying in Kessab: One would find the true essence of community in the
marriages and funerals of Kessab. Kevork never got a proper funeral.
We moved him to the graveyard after we came back but it was not a
proper funeral. Then again, there are thousands of families in the
country who are suffering from similar woes.”

ARMENIE-FRANCOPHONIE
L’Arménie organise près de 550 manifestations liées à la Francophonie

L’Arménie fêtait hier 20 mars la Journée internationale de la
Francophonie. Le ministère arménien des Affaires étrangères annonce
que du 3 mars au 30 avril à Erévan et dans diverses localités de
l’Arménie, près de 550 manifestations culturelles, artistiques,
universitaires et éducatives seront entreprises en Arménie. L’Arménie
qui est membre de la francophonie. Le ministère arménien des Affaires
étrangères informe également que le Parlement arménien, les ministères
de la Culture, de l’éducation, des sciences, la mairie d’Erévan ainsi
que de nombreuses autorités locales apportent leur contribution pour
la réussite de ces manifestations liées à la Francophonie en Arménie.
L’Arménie, comme le peuple arménien, très proches de la culture
française, de la France et du peuple français, expriment cet
attachement à ces valeurs par la Francophonie.

Krikor Amirzayan

samedi 21 mars 2015,
Krikor Amirzayan (c)armenews.com

Armenia MP: Azerbaijan will try to “serve” Turkey ahead of April 24

13:42, 21.03.2015

YEREVAN. – At the threshold of April 24, the centennial of the
Armenian Genocide, Azerbaijan will attempt to “provide service” to
Turkey in the form of border incidents.

The secretary of Armenia’s opposition Heritage Party National Assembly
Faction, Tevan Poghosyan, stated the aforesaid at a press conference
on Saturday.

Reflecting on the most recent act of sabotage by Azerbaijan, the MP
said this is not the first time that 18-19-year-old Armenian soldiers
prove that they are not inferior to the Azerbaijani professional
military that has undergone training in Turkey.

Poghosyan expressed the hope that the day will come when there will be
specially developed equipment, and not people, in the frontline.

“The Armenian army performs its tasks in full,” the MP added.

As reported earlier, an enhanced team from Azerbaijan’s special
military detachment launched an attack, on Thursday at around 8:30am,
on the NKR Defense Army positions stationed in a northerly (Gyulistan)
direction.

As a result of the skirmish that lasted about two hours, the Armenian
military position holders and the relief forces compelled the
adversary to flee. Subsequently, they pursued the said Azerbaijani
military team and completely crushed them nearby their own military
position.

Unfortunately, NKR Defense Army servicemen Hakob Khachatryan (born in
1996), Eduard Hayrapetyan (born in 1995), and Arshak Harutyunyan (born
in 1995) died, and four others were wounded while confronting the
adversary.

Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan leaves for Artsakh

16:28, 21 March, 2015

YEREVAN, 21 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. On March 21, Minister of Defense of the
Republic of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan paid a working visit to Artsakh on
the sidelines of the partnership between the armed forces of the
Republic of Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The Armenian
Minister of Defense visited the northeastern sector of the
Artsakh-Azerbaijan border, was introduced to the details of the March
19 diversion and talked to the soldiers and commanders having
participated in the operation to push the opponent back.

As the Department of Information and Public Relations of the Ministry
of Defense of the Republic of Armenia reports to “Armenpress”, during
the working visit, the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia
and the high-ranking commanders of the Defense Army discussed the
operative situation in the Artsakh-Azerbaijan border zone, as well as
issues on preventing the opponent’s provocations and giving adequate
responses to them.

Seyran Ohanyan also visited the central military hospital in
Stepanakert and met with the soldiers injured after Azerbaijan’s March
19 diversion and their parents, asked about their health and wished
them speedy recovery.

KARABAKH POLITICAL EXPERT: FACTOR OF NKR’S EX-DEFENSE MINISTER SERIOUS FOR ANY POLITICAL FORCE OF ARTSAKH

by David Stepanyan

Friday, March 20, 16:24

Factor of NKR’s ex-defense minister Samvel Babayna is serious for
any political force of Artsakh, Gegham Baghdasaryan, the head of the
Stepanakert Press Club told ArmInfo.

“The recently founded promising opposition party ‘National Revival’
together with that factor is becoming rather serious an opponent. The
May 3 parliamentary elections in Artsakh will differ from the previous
ones with true competition,” he said.

Baghdasaryan sees nothing surprising that Samvel Babayan’s name is
not included in the National Revival Party list.

“The Party just announced that Babayan is ready to support the only
opposition force in Artsakh. No one has said that Babayan will lead
the National Revival Party list or will be back to consolidate the
Artsakh oppositionists. As for the reports on Babayan’s suggestions to
Vitaly Balasanyan, there is no reliable data on it,” Baghdasaryan said.

Earlier Mass Media reported that MP Vitaly Balasanyan allegedly refused
from negotiations and cooperation with Samvel Babayan. Leader of the
Free Motherland Party Arthur Tovmasyan, in turn, said that Babayan
has no intention to lead the opposition of Artsakh.