Author: Babajanian Karo

NEGOTIATIONS ON BUILDING OF NORTH- SOUTH ROAD TO BE HELD JOINTLY WITH SPANISH AND BELGIAN ENTERPRISES

ARMENPRESS
APRIL 10, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS. The regular session on North – South
Road Corridor and Sustainable Urban Development Investment Program
Management Council kicked off in the Government of Armenia headed by
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan. The council envisaged and approved the
overall results carried out by the program management consultant choice
on the basis of which “North- South road Corridor Investment (Project
Implementation Organization) Non- State Trade Organization jointly with
Belgian Safege and Spain Eptisa enterprises hosted the negotiations.

Information and public relations department of the Government told
Armenpress that the council ratified the North-South Road Corridor
Investment Program 2012 first and second tranches summery accounts
and “North- South Road Corridor Investment (Program Implementation
Organization) SNTO 2012 maintenance costs estimates.

MOST RUSSIANS SUPPORT ARMENIAN WHO KILLED 3 TO PROTECT HIS FAMILY

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 10, 2012 – 11:19 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Majority of Russian citizens approve of Armenian
businessman Gegham Sargsyan, who killed three assaulters attacking
his wife and five children in Russian Tula region.

In a survey by Russian RIA Novosti news agency, 48.6% of respondents
said Sargsyan acted lawfully protecting his wife and kids, another
45.6 per cent voted for increased rights for citizens in self-defense.

Only 0.2% think Sargsyan went beyond mere self-defense and should
face a trial for homicide.

According to Tatyana Sergeyeva, head of Tula Investigative committee
department the investigation does not rule out that Sargsyan exceeded
the necessary self-defense actions. A criminal case is filed on murder
of two and more persons, life imprisonment being toughest punishment
for this.

This incident sparked heated debates on the web; Tula governor Vladimir
Gruzdev joined the discussion pledging to protect Sargsyan.

“He is a real MAN, and we will stand up for him,” governor’s Twitter
said.

According to the Russian law enforcement, Saturday night four
armed assaulters rushed into the businessman’s house in the city of
Bogoroditsk in Tula region, attacking Sargsyan, his wife and four
junior kids including one-year-old infant.

The criminals beat his family, but Sargsyan managed to grab a kitchen
knife and stab all the four assaulters; three of them died, the forth
one managed to flee the scene.

Sargsyan is in hospital with injury, his family members were treated
on the spot. The robbers are identified; all of them had previous
criminal records.

Andrei Mishagin, acting head of Tula’s Internal Affairs department
earlier said that the attack may be linked with the businessman’s
conflict with one of his relatives. According to preliminary data,
all four criminals have come to Tula by a hint from Moscow outskirts.

SIXTEEN ARMENIAN SCHOOLS FOUNDED IN TURKEY

Panorama.am
10/04/2012

There are sixteen Armenian, five Greek and one Jewish secondary school
in Turkey where 3,070 Armenian, 201 Greek and 580 Jewish schoolchildren
study. The main part of the schools belonging to national minorities
in Turkey is located in Istanbul.

Because of peculiarities and differences of those schools special
regulations should be developed, news agency Firat said.

Turkey’s Foundation of History hosted a session on the topic and
recorded that the new bill may favor in coping with the problem of the
schools of national minorities. However, obstacles in these schools
still remain unsettled.

DON’T TURN YOUR BACK!
by Rosario Teixeira

Noyan Tapan
2012-04-10

Watertown, MA – During the month of April, 2012, Peace of Art, Inc.,
will display the commemorative billboards of Armenian Genocide
on Mount Auburn and Arsenal Streets in Watertown, MA, with the
message “Mr. President, Don’t Turn your Back! Recognize the Armenian
Genocide.” This year, Peace of Art will display a second message on
a digital billboard in Foxboro, MA, on Route 1 near Gillette Stadium
and Patriot Place, with the message “Honoring the Memory of 1.5 million
Lives. Recognize the Armenian Genocide.” This simple message is written
against an image of Der Zor, covered with 1.5 million lights, one for
each life lost. The desert witnessed the remaining Armenians who were
forced to their death march by the Ottoman Turks, and became the last
resting place for many of the refugees. This digital billboard went
up on Easter Monday, April 9, 2012, the day of Remembrance of the Dead
“Merelotc”.

The message on the Watertown billboards “Mr. President, Don’t Turn
Your Back! Recognize the Armenian Genocide,” is a message to President
Obama urging him to honor his 2008 campaign promise to recognize the
Armenian Genocide. While on the campaign trail, Mr. Obama declared
that “The facts are undeniable. An official policy that calls on
diplomats to distort the historical facts is an untenable policy… as
president I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.” However, on April
24, 2010, President Obama explicitly used the expression Meds Yeghern,
a term used by Armenians to reference the Great Calamity, rather than
‘genocide,’ a term coined by Rafael Lemkin in 1944, and formally
adopted by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the
Crime of Genocide in 1948. The President stated in part “… The Meds
Yeghern is a devastating chapter in the history of the Armenian people,
and we must keep its memory alive in honor of those who were murdered
and so that we do not repeat the grave mistakes of the past.”

Daniel Varoujan Hejinian, president of Peace of Art, Inc., said that
“It is morally wrong for the president to turn his back on his promise
to acknowledge the mass murder of 1.5 million Armenians as genocide.”

2012 marks the 97th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Much has
changed in the last decades. However, the denial continues, despite
overwhelming evidence of its existence in the national archives of
Austria, France, Germany, Great Britain, Russia, the United States, the
Vatican and many other countries. This vast body of evidence attests
to the same facts, the same events, and the same consequences, and
all confirm the organized efforts by the Ottoman Turks to exterminate
the Armenians.

Hejinian further stated that “doubting and denying the Armenian
Genocide is to repeat the crime against humanity, and debating it is
an insult to the memory of 1.5 million Armenians who were slaughtered.”

The Armenian Genocide Commemoration and Recognition Campaign began
in 1996 by Hejinian. Since 2004 Peace of Art has
sponsored the billboards peaceful message calling for recognition of
the Armenian Genocide.

CSTO COLLECTIVE SECURITY SYSTEM AGREEMENT IS SUBMITTED TO RUSSIAN STATE DUMA

news.am
April 10, 2012 | 09:59

MOSCOW. – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev introduced for the State
Duma’s approval the Agreement on the Formation and Activities of the
Collective Security System Forces and Measures, the Kremlin Press
Service informs.

This agreement, which was signed in Moscow on December 10, 2010,
aims to take measures toward the formation and perfection of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Collective Security
System, which will react to a potential military attack and other
threats against the Treaty’s one or several countries.

The CSTO countries include Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

MINISTER: AZERBAIJAN IS PROUD OF TURKEY’S STRENGTHENING

Trend
April 9 2012
Azerbaijan

Not only Turks, but also our brothers in Azerbaijan, Crimea, and
Bosnia are proud of strengthening of Turkey, Turkish media outlets
quotes the country’s Minister for EU Affairs Egemen Bagis.

“Turkey’s successes are successes of all Muslim nations and all
peoples of the region,” Bagis said.

He also commented on the statement made by Slovakian Supreme Court
Chairman Stefan Harabin, who said if any Turkish senior official denies
the “Armenian genocide” in Slovakia, he will be immediately punished.

“It would be worth for this Slovakian official to look at the reality,
rather than deal with distortion of history,” Bagis said.

Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that the predecessor of the Turkey
– Ottoman Empire had committed the 1915 genocide against the Armenians
living in Anadolu, and achieved recognition of the “Armenian Genocide”
by the parliaments of several countries.

RUSSIA IS MASSING TROOPS ON IRAN’S NORTHERN BORDER AND WAITING FOR A WESTERN ATTACK

Democratic Underground
April 9 2012

The Russian military anticipates that an attack will occur on Iran by
the summer and has developed an action plan to move Russian troops
through neighboring Georgia to stage in Armenia, which borders on
the Islamic republic, according to informed Russian sources.

…

The Russian spearhead (from the Transcaucasia region) may be ordered
to strike south to prevent the presumed deployment of U.S. bases
in Transcaucasia, to link up with the troops in Armenia and take
over the South Caucasus energy corridor along which Azeri, Turkmen
and other Caspian natural gas and oil may reach European markets,”
Felgenhauer said.

“By one swift military strike, Russia may ensure control of all
the Caucasus and the Caspian states that were its former realm,
establishing a fiat accompli the West, too preoccupied with Iran,
would not reverse,” he said.

“At the same time, a small victorious war would unite the Russian
nation behind the Kremlin, allowing it to crush the remnants of the
prodemocracy movement ‘for fair elections,’ and as a final bonus,
Russia’s military action could perhaps finally destroy the Saakashvili
regime.”

Read more:

ACHADJIAN INTRODUCES RETURN OF CHURCHES BILL IN CALIF. ASSEMBLY

asbarez
Monday, April 9th, 2012

SACRAMENTO-The Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region
welcomed the introduction of Assembly Joint Resolution 34 (AJR 34)
introduced by California Assembly Member Katcho Achadjian (R-33). The
resolution calls on the Republic of Turkey to respect religious
freedom and return church properties to its minority communities.

“I believe that this resolution is an important step in a long
journey,” said Achadjian. “Religious tolerance and freedoms are
fundamental pillars of modern society. This resolution will urge
the Republic of Turkey to end religious discrimination and return
confiscated church properties back to their rightful owners.”

The resolution encourages the Republic of Turkey to ensure that
its minorities and indigenous peoples can freely practice their
religion and maintain their communities. It draws attention to the
thousands of properties that have been confiscated and, in many cases,
destroyed. Much of this occurred during and in the years following
the Armenian Genocide. Many within the Armenian American community in
California and the United States are the descendants of parishioners
from churches that are currently off-limits to the remaining Armenian
community of Turkey.

“California is home to many survivors of the Armenian Genocide and
we must address the contemporary consequences of this crime against
humanity,” said Armen Garabedian, chairman of the ANCA-WR’s California
State Affairs committee. “While we continue to fight against the final
stage of genocide which is its denial, it is also important to take
concrete steps towards justice so that we send a clear message that
perpetrators cannot profit from the crime.”

In June 2011, the United States House of Representatives introduced
a similar resolution, House Resolution 306. The following month, an
amendment to a State Department Authorization Bill, which included the
same core text of H.Res.306, originally sponsored by Ed Royce (D-CA),
passed by an overwhelming 43-1 in the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The amendment received broad bi-partisan support including supporting
votes from many members of the Congressional Caucus on Turkey and
Turkish Americans, including one of its co-chairs, who served in the
committee. That vote paved the way for the successful adoption of the
resolution by the full U.S. House of Representatives in December 2011.

“As a country founded on the principles of religious freedom,
the United States and California can take another step in honoring
that tradition by passing this resolution,” noted Raffi Kassabian,
a member of the ANCA-WR’s Board of Directors. “The passage of this
resolution helps ensure that religious freedom is respected in free
and democratic societies, especially by countries which claim to be
our allies and partners.”

Those interested in learning more about the resolution and
participating in the community’s commemoration activities in the
State Capitol should contact the ANCA-WR at (818) 500-1918.

The Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region is the
largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots advocacy
organization in the Western United States. Working in coordination
with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the
Western United States and affiliated organizations around the country,
the ANCA-WR advances the concerns of the Armenian American community
on a broad range of issues.

Special Message: On May 20, the 2012 ANCA Telethon will bring
thousands of people together from coast to coast in support of the
educational, charitable, and civic involvement programs of the ANCA
Endowment Fund. Be a part of the excitement! To learn more, visit

FIRE IN YEREVAN’S TSITSERNAKABERD FOREST

news.am
April 09, 2012 | 19:21

YEREVAN.- A fire broke out in Tsitsernakaberd forest of Yerevan,
Armenia on Monday.

Emergency Situations Ministry reported that firemen managed to
extinguish the fire. One thousand square meters of grass have burnt.

ARMENIAN REVOLUTIONARY FEDERATION TO IMPROVE SCIENCE FINANCING?

Tert.am
09.04.12

Under its election program, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D) plans to bring the financing of Armenia’s
science up to 1 to 2 percent of Armenia’s GDP.

This is ten times as much as now, the ARF-D member Lilit Galstyan
told journalists on Monday.

According to her, the party plans to implement its economic programs
without affecting the environment in any way, with the public to
benefit from them.

The ARF-D election program envisages progressive introduction of a
corporate compulsory health insurance payout system and affordability
of education.

The ARF-D MP Ara Nranyan presented the points dealing with import
and small and medium business development.

“We plan to adopt anti-monopoly laws and remove artificial barriers
to free entry to markets. We also plan to adopt pricing laws and form
an interagency antidumping commission to protect the local producers,”
Nranyan said.

The ARF-D is the only party that has been actively implementing its
programs since last elections. “The ARF-D has been much more active
than the ruling political force,” he said.

The ARF-D MP Arstvik Minasyan spoke of the agricultural, tax and
loan policies.

“Armenia’s farmers need government support,” he said.