Author: Babajanian Karo

Trend Daily News (Azerbaijan)
February 14, 2015 Saturday 5:37 PM GMT +4

Iran’s mediation not enough to solve Karabakh conflict

Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14
By Umid Niayesh, Fatih Karimov – Trend:

Iran alone can’t solve Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
other states also are important, Hassan Beheshtipour, Iranian expert
on international affairs told Trend Feb. 14.

Iran can play a key role in resolving the conflict, Beheshtipour said,
adding, “of course, the role of other countries, such as Russia and
the US should not be disregarded. The intermediation of Iran is not
sufficient to resolve the problem.”

Beheshtipour said that Iran’s stance regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict is to secure Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and wants the conflict
to be resolved as soon as possible.

“Iran says rights of Nagorno-Karabakh people should be met and
sovereignty of Azerbaijan should be secured,” the expert added.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result
of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent
of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven
surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently
holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

While commenting on the current level of the ties between the two
neighboring countries Beheshtipour said that after the visit of
Iranian and Azerbaijani presidents on the sidelines of the World
Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos last year, relations between
the two countries were improved significantly.

Visits of high-ranking officials of the two sides show that both Iran
and Azerbaijan are determined to remove hurdles and expand bilateral
cooperation, he added.

Beheshtipour said bilateral ties have been facing with problems over
the past years, especially relations between Iran and Armenia and
relations between Azerbaijan and Israel have created problems in
Tehran-Baku ties.

For the time being, such sensitive issues have been alleviated and the
two countries think about expanding bilateral relations far from
political interests, he noted.

“There was a speculation in Iran that Israel may use Azerbaijan’s
territory to attack Iran, but Azerbaijani official have stressed that
such a thing will not happen,” the expert explained.

He further noted that the volume of propaganda against each other in
the two countries’ mass media has also decreased and the media have
helped improvement of the relations.

Any improvement in bilateral relations will be beneficial for both
people and governments, Beheshtipour said, adding that in this line
upcoming visit of the Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to
Baku will be a welcome opportunity to resolve the extant problems.

The two countries should not entwine their relations to a third
country, he stressed.

The Iranian FM is scheduled to visit Baku on Feb.16 at the invitation
of the Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.

During the visit, the Iranian top diplomat will hold several
high-level meetings and discuss the intensification of the bilateral
relations.

Beheshtipour also forecasted that the lifting of sanctions against
Iran within the framework of nuclear talks with the West can give
Azerbaijan more freedom to improve relations with Iran.

Iran and the P5+1 (the US, the UK, Russia, China, France and Germany)
group have extend their negotiations to reach a comprehensive nuclear
deal, with the aim of reaching a high-level political agreement by
March 1, and confirming the full technical details of the agreement by
July 1.

After the sides failed to meet the November 24, 2014 deadline they
also extended the Geneva nuclear deal, which was signed in November
2013 to provide Iran with some sanctions relief in exchange for Tehran
agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities.

The US and its Western allies suspect Iran of developing a nuclear
weapon – something that Iran denies.

DESINFORMATION AZERIE
Les médias azéris présentent des photos de massacres d’Arméniens en
1905 en affirmant qu’elles sont ceux de turco-tatars tués en 1918 par
les Arméniens au Chamakhi

Les médias azéris, à l’exemple de leurs cousins turcs, ne font pas
dans le détail et cumulent les désinformations pour aboutir à une
déformation de l’histoire. Le site azéri 1news.az voulant à tout prix
créer de toute pièce un dossier sur >…a
même utilisé des photos d’archives qui montraient non pas des
tatars-azéris massacrés…mais des Arméniens.

Ainsi 1news.az présente des photos de corps massacrés et mutilés en
1905 à Bakou présentés comme des

Armenian National Congress: Serzh Sargsyan’s speech was a bad attempt
to remove a political opponent

by Nana Martirosyan
Friday, February 13, 22:56

Serzh Sargsyan’s speech at the session of the Council of the
Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) was a bad attempt to remove his
political opponent, Armenian National Congress (ANC) says in a
statement.

The ANC says that the only target of Sargsyan’s speech was the
Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) leader Gagik Tsarukyan, on whom
Sargsyan was trying to exert pressure to make him leave the politics
and do business only. “This is a serious violation of the Armenian
Constitution, because any person can launch political activities and
no one has the right to hinder these activities. So, Tsarukyan has the
same rights to be engaged in politics as Sargsyan”, says the
statement.

The statement also says that in his speech Sargsyan stressed the need
to check the rumors about Tsarukyan’s tax evasion and privity to
crimes. “One can suppose that the incumbent regime has been aware of
it but has been “sponsoring and cultivating” all that for many years
and now the regime has decided that it cannot stand it any more. If
the rumors have been circulating for many years, why hasn’t the regime
checked them so far? So, Sargsyan has been abusing his office and has
become privy to Tsarukyan’s “crimes”, the statement says. The ANC also
expresses indignation at the fact that earlier Serzh Sargsyan offered
the prime minister’s post to Tsarukyan, whom he accused of a number of
crimes yesterday. Sargsyan also offered him the president’s post
after the constitutional reforms are conducted.

The ANC harshly condemns Sargsyan’s speech and qualifies it as a bad
attempt to draw the public attention away from his own sins. “People
know who is responsible for the extremely hard situation in the
country and who must be brought to account”, the statement says.

CRIMINAL CASE INITIATED IN AZERBAIJAN AGAINST CAPTURED ARMENIAN SABOTEUR

Trend Daily News (Azerbaijan)
February 12, 2015 Thursday 5:45 PM GMT +4

Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.12
By Ilkin Izzet – Trend:

The Military Prosecutor’s Office of Azerbaijan has initiated a criminal
case on the fact of the crime committed by a sabotage group member
of Armenian armed forces Arsen Bagdasaryan, said a message from
Azerbaijani Military Prosecutor’s Office on Feb.12.

Armenian serviceman Arsen Bagdasaryan was captured by Azerbaijani
servicemen, as he crossed the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian
armies in the direction of Aghdam district on Dec.26, 2014.

In this connection, Azerbaijani Military Prosecutor’s Office has
initiated a criminal case on the Articles 29,120.2.7; 29,120.2.12
and 29,282.2 of the country’s Criminal Code, according to the message.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in
1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a
result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied
20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and
seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently
holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

“GENOCIDIO DEGLI ARMENI NEL 100° ANNIVERSARIO”

Adnkronos
13 feb 2015

Articolo pubblicato il: 13/02/2015

25 Febbraio 2015 Sala della Torre – Fondazione CariGo – v. Carducci,
2 – ore 17.30 Nel centesimo anniversario dello sterminio degli Armeni
e dell’esilio di migliaia di superstiti (24 aprile 1915-2015), saranno
la presidente dell’Anvgd MARIA GRAZIA ZIBERNA e lo storico FULVIO
SALIMBENI ad introdurre la famosa scrittrice ANTONIA ARSLAN, la quale
svolgera la conferenza sul tema “Il genocidio degli Armeni nel 100º
anniversario” per ricordare quelle vicende che tanto hanno in comune
con quelle degli italiani d’Istria e Dalmazia. Scrittrice e saggista
italiana di origine armena, laureata in archeologia, è stata professore
di Letteratura italiana moderna e contemporanea all’Universita di
Padova. È autrice di saggi sulla narrativa popolare e d’appendice (
Dame, droga e galline. Il romanzo popolare italiano fra Ottocento e
Novecento) e sulla galassia delle scrittrici italiane ( Dame, galline
e regine. La scrittura femminile italiana fra ‘800 e ‘900). Attraverso
l’opera del grande poeta armeno Daniel Varujan, del quale ha tradotto
le raccolte II canto del pane e Mari di grano, ha dato voce alla
sua identita armena. Ha curato un libretto divulgativo sul genocidio
armeno ( Metz Yeghèrn, Il genocidio degli Armeni di Claude Mutafian)
e una raccolta di testimonianze di sopravvissuti rifugiatisi in Italia
( Hushèr. La memoria. Voci italiane di sopravvissuti armeni). Nel 2004
ha scritto il suo primo romanzo, La masseria delle allodole (Rizzoli),
che ha vinto il Premio Stresa di narrativa e il Premio Campiello
e il 23 marzo 2007 è uscito nelle sale il film tratto dall’omonimo
romanzo e diretto dai fratelli Taviani. La strada di Smirne (Rizzoli)
è del 2009. Nel 2010, dopo una drammatica esperienza di malattia
e coma, scrive Ishtar 2. Cronache dal mio risveglio (Rizzoli). Nel
2010 esce per Piemme Il cortile dei girasoli parlanti. Il libro di
Mush, sulla strage degli armeni di quella valle avvenuta nel 1915,
è pubblicato da Skira nel 2012. Incontro organizzato da: ASSOCIAZIONE
NAZIONALE VENEZIA GIULIA E DALMAZIA Passaggio Alvarez, 8
[email protected] Tel. 0481.534655
Cell. 3398393205

TURKEY’s MINORITIES LAUD EFFORTS TO MEND DECADES-OLD TROUBLES

Daily Sabah, Turkey
Feb 13 2015

AYÃ…~^E Ã…~^AHIN
ISTANBUL

Meeting with PM Davutoglu at a dinner, representatives of non-Muslim
minority communities thanked the government for its efforts in
meeting their demands, including return of 1,014 properties to
minority foundations

Minorities in Turkey have suffered from decades of apathy from the
state, but now their case has been taken up by the ruling party,
which has assured minorities that they will be treated as a primary
component of Turkey instead of “visitors” or “foreigners.” Prime
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that the rights of minorities will be
given back not as a “favor,” but as part of the government’s duty.

Davutoglu met with representatives from minority groups and
nongovernmental organizations on a special occasion held in the
Ankara Palace Hotel on Wednesday. During the meeting, discussions
were held concerning the problems that minorities experience and
possible solutions. Davutoglu addressed the participants saying that
the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government has shaken
off the discriminatory attitude toward minorities by putting into
practice policies like the returning of confiscated properties, the
assigning of bureaucrats of Armenian origin and bringing life back
to their places of worship.

The government has opened a new page into dealing with minorities
residing in the country in a bid to invigorate democracy. The
government has been exerting major efforts to normalize the conditions
for minorities by giving back their rights and doing away with the
discrimination which they have long faced. As a first step, Turkey
adopted the policy of returning properties to minorities. Within the
context of reforms toward different faith groups in Turkey, 1,014
confiscated foundation properties have been returned and more have
been promised. During the meeting, almost every one of the properties
waiting to be returned to the minorities was discussed individually.

Davutoglu reportedly took notes of their concerns as the discussions
were held.

Speaking to Daily Sabah, Armenian journalist Markar Esayan said:
“There is a shift of mentality toward non-Muslims in Turkey,” noting
that opinion leaders and representatives of minorities have welcomed
the change in mindset.

Minorities in Turkey who have lived in the country since its beginning,
have previously faced difficulties securing their most basic needs
of security, having a place to live and freedom to practice their
religion. Now the needs and problems of these groups that have
long-suffered from isolation in the place they call home, are finally
being addressed.

Branding the steps that the government is taking as “leaps,” Esayan
said there has been massive progress over the last 13 years regarding
minorities’ quality of life, institutional problems and personal
rights and freedoms.

“What really counts is the message delivered by Prime Minister
Davutoglu. It revealed how a mentality that once saw some sections
as a threat to the state and in this way, they became the ‘other,’
has changed.”

He underscored that the mindset that sees minorities as part of the
entire nation instead of treating them as “visitors” means a lot
to them.

“There are no ‘others’ any more, you are not visitors, you are not
foreigners, you are part of a 5,000-year-old Anatolian culture, we
grant your rights not as a favor, but as part of our duty, is what
they wish to hear,” Esayan said.

Touching also upon the article by Fethullah Gulen published in The
New York Times, which was highly critical of the government, claiming
that minorities in Turkey were facing a crackdown, Esayan said:
“What he says in his article is a blatant and operational lie. It is
an apparent attempt by the Gulen Movement to engender an image that
Turkey is going through a democracy crisis.”

Underlining that Wednesday’s meeting was attended by roughly 50
representatives and opinion leaders, which he said constitute almost
the entire community, Esayan said they all expressed appreciation for
the government for its efforts in easing their lives and giving back
their rights.

Citing Davutoglu, Esayan also said Davutoglu did not even want to
use the term “minority,” and rather wanted to see the whole nation
as part of the same culture, which they mold together.

Davutoglu touched upon the 1915 incidents saying that they have adopted
a new, more humane and just perspective while analyzing the events,
Esayan said. He continued that Davutoglu deemed President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan’s message of condolence to Armenians a remarkable move.

Erdogan made attempts to thaw tensions between the two countries by
issuing a message ahead of the 99th year commemoration of the 1915
incidents last year. In an unprecedented move, then Prime Minister
Erdogan extended condolences to the grandchildren of Armenians who
lost their lives in the 1915 events.

Ara Kocunyan also underlined the significance of Davutoglu opening up
the concerns of minorities to discussion and an exchange of thoughts.

Kocunyan said: “I have been quite satisfied by the talks we had during
dinner. The new Turkey renews itself. There is always a way to go
after each blessing and maturity. The new breath to be brought to
minorities means a lot as part of our efforts for progress. We will
continue to see the manifestations of this positive movement.”

Tatyos Bebek, an Armenian representative of a nongovernmental
organization, also elaborated on what the discussions covered. He
said they had been told that minorities would be under the assurance
of the government from now on and that they would be considered a
primary component of Turkey.

An Armenian lawyer, Simon Cekem, also said compared to previous
governments, the AK Party has progressed much in the sphere of
improving minorities’ lives and removing discrimination against them.

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE A WARNING TO RESIST RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION

Baptist Standard
Feb 13 2015

February 13, 2015 By Marv Knox / Editor

DALLAS–The genocide of Armenian Christians almost exactly 100 years
ago provides a graphic reminder of evil and a call to vigilance,
since Christians across the Middle East still suffer persecution,
an expert on the atrocity told Dallas Baptist University audiences.

Artyom Tonoyan, the grandson of Armenian Genocide survivors, described
the massacre of his people and current implications during the annual
T.B. Maston Lectures at DBU Feb. 9.

Child victims of the Armenian genocide in 1915. (Photo: Armenian
Genocide Museum)Armenians, who populated part of modern Turkey,
originated as a political entity between 3,000 and 4,000 years ago,
noted Tonoyan, a lecturer at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities’
Institute for Global Studies and a research associate at East View
Information Services in Minneapolis. He is a graduate of DBU and
Baylor University.

Armenian society and culture rose and fell several times across the
centuries, Tonoyan said. Their pilgrimage to Christianity began in
the first century B.C., when the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus
traveled to Asia Minor and told them about Jesus. They became the
first to embrace Christianity as a state religion in 301 B.C., more
than a decade before Rome.

But with the rise of Islam, “Armenian civilization underwent an
existential crisis,” he added. “Armenians were forced to islamize.”

The Ottoman Empire, which fully embraced Islam and dominated the region
for most of the second millennia, discriminated against the Armenian
Christians, he said. For example, Armenians could not own firearms
and were barred from representation in court. They were not allowed to
own horses or build a home taller than their Muslim neighbors’ houses.

Armenians singled out as ‘cancerous’

During the final throes of the Ottoman Empire in the 18th and
early 19th centuries, “Armenians were singled out as cancerous”
and a “parasitic entity,” he said. Young Turkish leaders found the
Armenians offensive because, despite political discrimination, the
Armenians prospered financially and controlled the Ottoman economy.

Shortly after the Ottoman Empire entered World War I, on April 24,
1915, the empire launched a horrendous siege against its Armenian
residents.

Authorities rounded up practically every Armenian leader–“poets,
doctors, professors, composers, teachers”–in a purge that predated
the Jewish Holocaust by decades.

About 400,000 Armenian men were killed almost immediately. Elderly
men, women and children were rounded up, their property confiscated,
and forced on a “death march” into the same desert where the Islamic
State dominates today, Tonoyan said. The marches pushed them to the
geographical and political edges of the empire.

Five thousand Armenian villages were destroyed, he said. Hundreds
of churches were confiscated and converted to mosques, stables and
restaurants.

A family ‘cut down’

The Ottomans decimated the Armenian Christian population, he added.

One and a half million Armenians were murdered. The Armenian population
declined from 2.1 million before World War I, to 600,000 by 1918,
to 50,000 today, he added.

“Our own family was cut down,” Tonoyan reported. Ottomans forced his
grandfather, then a boy, to watch the rape of his own mother and
sister. The last image Tonoyan’s great-grandfather saw before his
murder was the rape of his wife and daughter.

Even though the Armenian Genocide occurred a century ago, Christians
around the world, and particularly in the Middle East, are being
persecuted today, he said. Some of the persecuting countries, such
as Saudi Arabia, are strong U.S. allies.

“This is the greatest ethical dilemma facing the American Christian
church,” he said. “What are we to do as Christians? Sit back and relax,
… or do something?

“Christians are dying for their faith by the hundreds and thousands. I
cannot keep silent.”

Pray for the persecuted

U.S. Christians should start by praying for their persecuted fellow
Christians in hostile regions of the world, Tonoyan urged. He also
called on Christians to insist their senators and representatives
pay attention to persecution and demand change.

“Please, whatever you do, do not remain silent,” he pleaded. “Your
brothers and sisters need you.”

T.B. Maston, namesake of the lecture series, taught Christian ethics
at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth for much
of the 20th century. The lectureship is sponsored by the T.B Maston
Foundation and Dallas Baptist University.

RUSSIAN GAS SUPPLIES RESUMED TO ARMENIA VIA GEORGIA

Interfax, Russia
Feb 13 2015

The transportation of natural gas to Armenia across the territory
of Georgia via the North Caucasus – South Caucasus trunk pipeline,
which was interrupted on Thursday, was resumed at 7:45 pm local
time on February 12, Armenia’s gas monopoly, CJSC Gazprom Armenia,
the subsidiary of OJSC Gazprom, said in a statement.

The supply of Russian natural gas to Armenia was temporarily stopped
from 1:30 pm local time on February 12 due to damage to the trunk
pipeline on the territory Georgia. Gas supply for consumers was carried
out without interruption using reserves from the Abovyan underground
gas storage facility.

The trunk pipeline, along which natural gas is supplied from Russia
to Georgia and Armenia, was built in the 1970s. For the transit of
Russian gas, Georgia receives 10% of the total volume of gas being
supplied to Armenia.

A. CHRISTIAN VAN GORDER, BOARD OF CONTRIBUTORS: IT’S HIGH TIME AMERICANS RECOGNIZED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE 100 YEARS AGO

Waco Tribune-Herald, TX
Feb 13 2015

A. CHRISTIAN VAN GORDER Board of Contributors Waco Tribune-Herald

Adolf Hitler, before launching the Holocaust against Europe’s Jews,
asked, “After all, who today speaks of the Armenians?” One hundred
years ago this year, more than 1.5 million Armenian Christians were
massacred by agents of the Turkish government.

Men of all ages were shot, crucified, stabbed; women and girls of
all ages — often in front of their husbands and families — were
raped before being killed. Even children were tortured and murdered
in every barbaric way imaginable. People were set on fire and forced
to eat their own body parts. Tens of thousands of Armenians were sent
to the desert to starve.

Armenian Christians today are at the forefront in speaking up for
their Syrian and Iraqi sisters and brothers suffering at the hands
of terrorists who murder in God’s name. Their Christian compassion
springs from the searing memories of their own horrific experiences.

They know what can happen when Christians are abandoned and forgotten
while surrounded by neighbors who hate them simply because of their
faith. We are so blessed with many precious freedoms here in America.

People of all faiths in America need also to offer more vigorous
support for the persecuted Christians of the Middle East. We cannot
blindly look the other way while our dear sisters and brothers are
suffering.

Armenians formed the first Christian-led kingdom on earth. Yet
their contributions to the world’s artistic and intellectual riches
across three millennia have been largely forgotten. Today’s Turkish
government has sought to erase Armenians from the pages of their
history, yet these ghosts and legacies will not quietly vanish. Why
do we tolerate our government’s tepid unwillingness to confront these
bigoted genocide denialists?

Before becoming president, Sen. Obama publicly pledged that, if
elected, he would recognize as fact the 1915 killing of 1.5 million
Armenian Christians as an act of genocide. President Obama has yet to
keep this promise. The Turkish government, to this day, has denied that
a genocide took place. Now is the time for the United States to join
dozens of other nations (France, Canada, etc.) who have acknowledged
the Armenian genocide. It is the morally right thing to do.

The facts of history should not become political footballs to be
rationalized away by those who deny these killings as a byproduct of
war among rivals when, in fact, it was a war of extermination. Why
does our nation prevaricate in the face of Turkish denials of these
hellish atrocities? Because Turkey is a major American military ally
who hosts a huge air force base in Turkey.

None of us can solve all of the nightmarish problems of the world,
but each of us can make some concrete contribution for change. All
of us can pray and speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.

Write, call or email your representatives as well as Obama. Support
organizations are helping persecuted believers worldwide — and
especially the plights of Christians, Yazidis and the Baha’i —
who are suffering and dying for their faiths in Syria, Iraq and
other Muslim-majority nations. Remember the genocide of 1.5 million
Armenian Christians and insist that those who deny the grim facts
of their genocidal history are held to account. Do something. As
Theodore Roosevelt challenged, “Do what you can where you are with
what you have.”

A. Christian van Gorder, an associate professor of religion at Baylor
University, is an ordained pastor with the American Baptist Churches
and served as associate pastor in Burton, Michigan, and interim
pastor in Conneaut, Pennsylvania. He is the author of numerous books,
including “Islam, Peace and Social Justice,” “Violence in God’s Name:
Christian and Muslim Relations in Nigeria” and “No God but God:
A Path to Muslim-Christian Discussions About the Nature of God.”

New book about Adana Massacre has been released in Turkey

15:09, 14 February, 2015

YEREVAN, 14 FEBRUARY, ARMENPRESS. The book “1909 Adana Massacre: Three
Reports” has been published in Turkey. The book is about the massacres
of more than 20,000 Armenians that began in Adana in 1909 and
continued in Zeytun and in Kilis.

As “Armenpress” reports, citing the Turkish T24 website, Ari Shekerian
translated the book from Ottoman Turkish, edited and printed it with
Aras Publishing House. The Ottoman Turkish version of the book was
based on real life stories told by eyewitnesses. Turkish readers now
have the chance to become familiar with the memoirs of those who
survived the Armenian massacres. The preface for the Turkish version
of the book was written by famous Turkish historian Taner Akçam.