Author: Babajanian Karo

European Parliament deputy appeals to respect self-determination
rights of Artsakh people

10:56, 26 April, 2013

YEREVAN, APRIL 26, ARMENPRESS: The Head of the newly established
EU-Armenia Friendship Group Eleni Theocharous has been in the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic for 20 times. `In most of the cases people have the
feeling that the country is a mother. For me Nagorno Karabakh is a
baby, a little baby, for which I want to take care and treat it well’,
– stated Eleni Theocharous during her interview with Armenpress.

The Head of the EU-Armenia Friendship Group is an honorable citizen of
Nagorno Karabakh Republic. Her 19th visit to Artsakh was last year
summer, when she was implementing observing mission during the
presidential elections. `I was happy to participate in the monitoring
procedure with some of my colleagues. I will tell you that the
democracy is priming in Nagorno Karabakh. It was quite an impressive
procedure and I admire the people of the Nagorno Karabakh not only
because of their fight for liberty or freedom but because they have
established a priming democracy in their country’, – said Eleni
Theocharous.

Eleni Theocharous highlighted the right of the Artsakh people for
self-determination, stating that all should respect that right and
take it into account. `We need to ask the people what they prefer. It
is their fundamental right to decide what they want. And we must
respect their will. If they want independence, we have to respect
independence. And if they want to be one nation with Armenia, we must
accept it and protect them’, -said the Head of the EU-Armenia
Friendship Group.

Some of the members of the newly established EU-Armenia Friendship
Group, headed by the Head of the Group Eleni Theocharous, visited
Yerevan and on April 24 they commemorated the innocent victims of the
Armenian Genocide. On April 25 the Group members were hosted by the
President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan. On April 26 the
Group will make an official visit to the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

The EU-Armenia Friendship Group consists of about 40 members, and 5 of
them are in Armenia now. By the way, the deputy of the French National
Assembly, the member of the EU-Armenia Friendship Group Valérie Boyer
as well is a member of the Group, who is the author of the draft bill
criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide in France. The
EU-Armenia Friendship Group intends to hold several events in Armenia.

The EU-Armenia Friendship Group was established on January 9 2013. The
opening ceremony was attended by the President of the National
Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan. It is symbolical
that the members of the Group along with the Armenian nation respect
the memory of the innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide.

Interviewed by Arusik Zakharyan
Translated by Syune Barseghyan
Photos by Felix Arustamyan

LE PRESIDENT BAKO SAHAKIAN A PARIS

Le President de la Republique d’Artsakh Bako Sahakian est arrive a
Paris le 25 avril pour une visite de travail. Le jour meme, le chef
de l’Etat a depose une gerbe de roses rouges au monument de Komitas,
situe au Jardin d’Erevan, rendant hommage a la memoire des victimes
du genocide armenien de 1915 . Il a egalement rencontre Mgr Norvan
Zakarian, Primat de l’Eglise apostolique armenienne de France.

Le President est accompagne par le ministre des Affaires etrangères du
HK Karen Mirzoyan, de l’ambassadeur extraordinaire et plenipotentiaire
de la Republique d’Armenie en France Viguen Tchitetchian, du chef
du departement central d’information du president de la Republique,
David Babayan, et du representant permanent de la RHK en France
Hovhannes Guevorguian.

vendredi 26 avril 2013, Jean Eckian ©armenews.com

EU FELT IMPORTANT PARTNER BY 85% OF ARMENIANS

Armenians overwhelmingly feel that the European Union is an important
partner of their country, and would like it to play an even greater
role in their country, across a range of areas. This is one of the
key findings of the recently released Autumn 2012 EU Neighbourhood
Barometer for Armenia, conducted in the framework of an EU-funded
opinion polling project for the Neighbourhood, ENPI Info Center’s
website informs.

The survey, based on 1,003 interviews conducted in November-December
2012, finds that 86% of Armenians feel the EU is an important partner,
with 73% believing the EU and Armenia share sufficient common values
to be able to cooperate – much higher than the average for the ENPI
East region.

Almost all those asked (85%) wanted a greater EU role in economic
development, 87% in trade, 84% in human rights, 74% in democracy,
and 78% in regional cooperation – consistently more than the average
across the region.

The poll found that 63% of Armenians trusted the EU – slightly less
than they trusted the UN (68%), but more than NATO (48%), and more
than they trust their own government (52%), Parliament (38%) or
political parties (37%).

Eighty-one per cent of respondents felt the EU had good relations
with Armenia, against just 13% who felt they were bad.

Armenians questioned in the poll were generally optimistic about
their lives – more so than other countries in the region – with 67%
satisfied with the life they lead, and the degree of satisfaction
rising the younger and more educated respondents were.

However, respondents were less optimistic regarding the direction in
which the country was going: just 23% of those asked felt Armenia was
going in the right direction, against 61% who thought it was heading
the wrong way. Another 72% thought the economic situation was bad,
and 31% thought it would get worse in the coming year. Only 38%
of those asked were satisfied with the way democracy works in Armenia.

,-poll-finds
18:40 25/04/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:

FRENCH MINISTER LAYS WREATH AT MEMORIAL TO KOMITAS

April 25, 2013 | 22:47

France’s education minister Vincent Peillon laid a wreath at the
monument to Komitas in Paris to honor the memory of the 1.5 million
Armenians who became victims of the 1915 Genocide in the Ottoman
Turkey, Nouvelles d’Armenie reported.

Thousands of French Armenians came to the Canada Square of Paris where
the minister and the two co-chairmen of the Coordination Council of
Armenian Organizations in France – Ara Toranian and Mourad Papazian
addressed the public.

The Minister said he it is necessary to remind the President of
France about his promise to work on a bill penalizing the Armenian
Genocide denial.

Later thousands of participants formed a procession that moved –
for the first time on the Champs-Elysees – straight to the Turkish
Embassy in France.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

SITUATION IN GYUMRI IS GETTING HOTTER. MINOR SON OF GODFATHER HARUT IS ARRESTED

Thu, 04/25/2013 – 18:58

Gyumri Police arrested the minor son of Harutyun Khachatryan, the
same Godfather Harut, Gevorg Khachatrayan, 1995 in suspicion of
illegal possession of ammunition. According to our reliable source,
he also handed the automat that was with him during April 23 shooting
in Gyumri.

It should be remembered that on April 23, at around 13.00. Gyumri
Police unit received a call from Gyumri Medical Center informing that
from Shirakaci 54/b address Harutyun Khachatryan and Artyom Karapetyan
with gunshot injuries were transferred to hospital. The former died
at hospital.

According to our information, G. Khachatryan, hearing the shooting
next to his house, took the automat and went out, but it is not yet
clear whether he fired or not.

As “Pastinfo” informed earlier, on April 24, the cousin of the former
Mayor of Gyumri Vardan Ghukaysan, Vahe Ghukasyan, according to the
information of the police, said that he fired on Harutyun Khachatryan
and Artyom Karapetyan on April 23.

Vahe Ghukasyan also informed that during the incident he was injured on
the right hip from the shot made by Artyom Karapetyan from “Makarov”
revolver.

As a result of searched in “Lada-Priera” car of V.Ghukasyan, the
instrument of the crime, without a factory number and without cage
“AK-74” revolver and another unrevealed revolver with cage, charged
with 3 6,55 mm caliber bullets were found and confiscated.

As a result of operative- reconnaissance and investigative steps, on
April 24, at around 23.00, the police officers found and confiscated
“Makarov” type revolver with cage charged with 9 mm 5 bullets in the
area next to Shirakaci 54/b.

Judicial and ballistic examinations are appointed.

Author: Factinfo

TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT OF ARMENIAN UNIVERSITIES IS POOR

YEREVAN, April 25. / ARKA /. In terms of technical equipment Armenian
universities fail to meet not only the requirements of employers,
but also their own requirements and those set by the government, head
of Enterprises Incubator Foundation Bagrat Yengibaryan said to ARKA.

“This is the area that needs close attention because serious results
can not be achieved by installing new equipment and staff retraining
only,” he said.

He said this task can be assisted by the national IT lab, patterned
from an engineering lab scheduled to open in September of this year.

He said he is surprised why few students choose technical specialties.

“I was surprised when I learned that economic department students have
to be retrained so as to work as programmers in order to find jobs,”
he said.

He said the leading Armenian universities in terms of IT are the State
Engineering University of Armenia, and Yerevan State University. The
top five also includes the Armenian-Russian (Slavonic) University,
and the European Academy. He said there are also high expectations
associated with the American University of Armenia, that offers a
Bachelor’s degree.

To date, the IT sector has about 350 enterprises, which employ about
10 thousand employees. According to the Union of Information Technology
Enterprises (UITE), last year this sector reported a 25 percent growth
with a annual turnover around $250 million. -0-

APRIL 24 ANALYSIS: ARMENIAN RHETORIC TOUGHENS AHEAD OF APPROACHING GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL

GENOCIDE | 25.04.13 | 10:08

Photo:

By NAIRA HAYRUMYAN ArmeniaNow correspondent

On April 24 the world marked the 98th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide committed in the Ottoman Empire. Two years from now it will be
a century since the massacres in which 1.5 million Armenians lost their
lives and a whole people was uprooted from its historical homeland.

Already now experts estimate that the 100th Anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide in 2015 may become a point that will have political
implications for the entire region.

The Armenian rhetoric in connection with the Genocide has also seen
some alternations in this regard. Ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs and
now member of the Prosperous Armenia Party Vartan Oskanian writes on
his Facebook account: “I have noticed a change in the emphasis of our
political, spiritual community and the society as a whole. It is high
time we went from recognition of the Genocide to the elimination of its
consequences. It means being ambitious in defending our own rights,
in claims for compensation for the material, spiritual, intellectual
and moral losses.”

For the first time since 1915 two Armenian spiritual leaders have
made specific material demands to Turkey.

“The Genocide victims and the internally displaced people who lived
under the jurisdiction of the Ottoman Empire in Western Armenia,
Cilicia, and other regions of the Ottoman Empire, along with their own
personal estates, also lost estates and holdings owned by the church
– churches , sanctuaries and monasteries; religious, educational and
charitable institutional centers; treasures of cultural and religious
value – cross-stones (khachkars), illuminated manuscripts, icons and
other items of value… We call on the Republic of Turkey and demand
that it… immediately return the Armenian churches, monasteries,
church properties, and spiritual and cultural treasures, to the
Armenian people as their rightful owner,” Catholicos Karekin II,
of Echmiadzin, and Catholicos Aram I, of the Great House of Cilicia,
said in a joint statement on April 24.

“The Armenian people has not received even the minimum compensation
– not only from Turkey, but also from mankind in general. I would
say that it got the opposite – the denial by Turkey, the blockade of
Armenia and the indifference of the international community are like
a continuation of what happened in 1915,” continues Oskanian.

Before the torchlight procession towards Tsitsernakaberd, a hilltop
Genocide Memorial in capital Yerevan, which took place on the
eve of the Genocide Remembrance Day, on April 23, Dashnaktsutyun
representative Vahan Hovhannisyan stressed that Armenians would
not be satisfied with only an apology from Turkey, but they needed
compensation. “The blood of our ancestors cannot be washed off with
fine words. We must make sure that the government in Armenia is strong
enough to make claims [to Turkey].”

Until now, the struggle of the Armenian people has been limited
to demanding the recognition by the international community that
exterminations and deportations of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire
amounted to genocide. However, Armenian organizations have never
filed any suits with the International Court for the recognition
of the 1915 massacres as genocide. Such recognition will inevitably
entail Armenian territorial and property claims to modern-day Turkey.

The change of accents this year is obvious to many and there is a
growing body of opinion that an apology is not enough.

Geo-strategists, meanwhile, expect that Genocide recognition by
the United States and reaffirmation by the United Nations in 2015
could entail a redrawing of Turkey’s borders that Armenia has not
recognized yet.

“I think we have come to a milestone when recognition and condemnation
are not enough. One should achieve restitution through courts, by
joint efforts of Armenia and its Diaspora,” said the director of the
Yerevan-based Institute of Oriental Studies Ruben Safrastyan.

The leading Armenian scholar thinks that geopolitical developments
also contribute to this situation. “In the next few years a new
state, Kurdistan, will appear in the Middle East. The states that
will be redrawn for this purpose will have to revert to the Treaty
of Sevres, the only document that mentions Kurdistan. Our diplomacy
should remind these states that Armenia is also part of this Treaty,”
said Safrastyan.

Under the Treaty of Sevres signed in August 1920 between the defeated
Ottoman Empire and Allies at the end of World War I Armenia was to
take control of most of Western Armenia that is part of Turkey today.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT INVITED TO TURKMENISTAN

April 25, 2013 | 14:55

Presidents of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov had a phone
conversation with his Armenian counterapart Serzh Sargsyan on the
initiative of the Armenian side.

The sides exchanged views on wide range of issues related to
bilateral cooperation, discussed regional and international matters,
Turkmenistan’s presidential press service reported.

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov expressed confidence that large-scale
cooperation between the sides will yield results in the near future.

Presidents discussed implementation of the previously reached
agreements, confirming both sides’ aspiration to intensify effective
dialogue.

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov invited his Armenian counterpart to visit
Turkmenistan. The invitation was accepted, while the date of the
visit will be reported through diplomatic channels.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

OUR TASK IS TO ACHIEVE GENOCIDE’S RECOGNITION BY TURKISH PM – ARMENIAN TURKOLOGIST

April 25, 2013 | 15:15

YEREVAN. – The geographical scope of the Armenian Genocide anniversary
commemoration events being held in Turkey expanded substantially this
year, turkologist Artak Shakaryan stated during a press conference
on Thursday.

In his words, these events are held in Turkey for the fourth year.

“The largest events yesterday [Wednesday, April 24,] took place
in Kurdish-populated Diyarbakir [city], moreover, at the mayor’s
initiative,” Shakaryan noted.

But he added that even though interesting processes are going on in
Turkey, the aforesaid remembrance events do not yet prove that Turkey
is taking constructive steps.

“Ultimately, our task is to achieve the Genocide’s recognition by
Turkey’s PM, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,” Shakaryan said.

In the turkologist’s words, in actual fact, the Armenian Genocide
was first recognized by the Ottoman court itself.

“Remember the Ottoman court hearings and the sentences. As for full
recognition of the Genocide, this assumes compensation, return of
seized property, etc.,” Artak Shakaryan concluded.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

UK FOREIGN OFFICE OFFICIAL TO VISIT ARMENIA

16:38 25/04/2013 ” POLITICS

Colin Roberts, Director, Eastern Europe and Central Asia Directorate
of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, will be on a working visit
to Armenia on April 25-27, the press service of the UK Embassy in
Armenia reported.

Colin Roberts’ visit is a demonstration of the UK’s commitment to
enhance its bilateral relations with Armenia and particularly its
political dialogue.

Colin Roberts will meet representatives of the Armenian government,
political parties and business.

Source: Panorama.am