Author: Babajanian Karo

RUSSIA SAYS ITS SOLDIER SUSPECTED OF KILLING ARMENIA FAMILY WILL STAND TRIAL IN ARMENIA

Daily Journal, IN
Jan 21 2015

YEREVAN, Armenia — The head of Russia’s main investigative agency
says a Russian soldier suspected of killing a family in Armenia will
stand trial in that country.

The soldier, who served with a Russian military base in Gyumri, is
suspected of shooting six family members dead in the Armenian city
last week and stabbing a six-month-old baby to death. He was captured
and is held at the Russian base.

Alexander Bastrykin, chief of Russia’s Investigative Committee told
Armenian President Serge Sarkisian Tuesday that an open trial in
Armenia reflects a shared “desire for justice.” He didn’t specify if
the soldier would be tried by Armenian authorities or in a Russian
military tribunal.

Bastrykin’s visit followed rallies by thousands in Gyumri demanding
that the soldier be handed over to Armenian authorities.

AZERBAIJANI ENVOY RESPONDS TO NYT CRITICISM

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Jan 21 2015

21 January 2015, 13:56 (GMT+04:00)

Azerbaijan’s ambassador to the United States Elin Suleymanov responded
to the recent criticism over the country in the US daily newspaper
New York Times.

“While a January 12 editorial rightly underscores Azerbaijan’s
contribution to European energy security and promoting intercultural
dialogue, it shows little appreciation for the changing realities in
Eurasia,” Suleymanov’s article says.

Earlier, New York Times expressed criticism over Azerbaijan, referring
to WikiLeaks, which publishes the information taken from anonymous
sources.

“Should America’s partners relate to Washington based on what they
learn about the United States from WikiLeaks, a source that you quote,
or through the prism of individual cases, where the American view
of justice differs from perceptions abroad? If so, the conversation
would be reduced to counterproductive mutual accusations,” he wrote.

Suleymanov said that instead, focusing on a positive agenda and
working to address real challenges — like the humanitarian needs of
hundreds of thousands of displaced victims of Armenia’s occupation of
Nagorno-Karabakh and the territories around it — is a more productive
approach. This would certainly fit both American values and interests.

“Finally, although the article seems to dismiss assertions that a
coordinated campaign is waged against Azerbaijan, the sudden increase
of one-sided criticism of my country in the American media speaks
for itself,” Suleymanov wrote.

TURKEY PM CALLS FOR ‘NEW BEGINNING’ WITH ARMENIANS

Agence France Presse
January 20, 2015 Tuesday 5:33 PM GMT

Istanbul, Jan 20 2015

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Tuesday called for a “new
beginning” in relations between Turkey and Armenians scarred by a
bitter historical dispute over mass killings during World War I.

“We call on all Armenians, and invite all those who believe in
Turkish-Armenian friendship to contribute to a new beginning,”
Davutoglu said in a statement marking the eighth anniversary of the
murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who campaigned for
reconciliation between the two neighbours.

Armenians accuse Ottoman forces of carrying out a genocide against
their forebears during World War I that left an estimated 1.5 million
people dead.

But modern Turkey has always vehemently resisted terming the mass
killings as genocide, saying there were heavy casualties on both
sides as Ottoman forces battled Russian troops for control of eastern
Anatolia in 1915.

Last year President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then premier, offered an
unprecedented expression of condolence for the massacres of Armenians.

But this month Erdogan said he would “actively” challenge a campaign
to pressure Turkey to recognise genocide during the 100th anniversary
year.

“Only by breaking taboos can we hope to begin addressing the great
trauma that froze time in 1915,” said Davutoglu.

Dink, 52, was shot dead in broad daylight outside the offices of his
bilingual newspaper in Istanbul in January 2007 in a killing that
shocked both countries.

Despite the cautious overtures of the Turkish government, many
Armenians remain deeply suspicious of Ankara’s intentions during the
centenary year of the 1915 tragedy.

Armenian commentators have angrily accused Turkey of trying to eclipse
its commemorations of the tragedy by apparently moving forward by one
day Turkish ceremonies to mark the 1915 Gallipoli landings in World
War I.

The resistance by Ottoman forces at the battle is seen as their
greatest hour in World War I and a key moment in the foundation of
the nation state.

Although the anniversary is usually marked on April 25, the Gallipoli
ceremony has been brought forward to April 24, exactly the same day
as major commemorative events are planned in Yerevan.

Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian has not accepted an invitation from
Erdogan to attend the Gallipoli ceremonies, accusing him of trying to
“divert world attention from the activities marking centennial of
the Armenian genocide.”

“DOCUMENTS SAY THAT PERMYAKOV MUST BE JUDGED IN ARMENIAN COURT ACCORDING TO ARMENIAN LAWS” (VIDEO)

10:44 | January 22,2015 | Interview

Interlocutor of “A1+” is former Foreign Minister, NA Deputy Alexander
Arzumanyan.

Alexander Arzumanyan is commenting on the treaties and legal arguments,
which have arisen connected with Gyumri case.

Former Foreign Minister thinks that everything is clear- Permyakov
must be judged in Armenian Court according to Armenian laws.

Details in the video

JOINT COMMISSION TO COORDINATE ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN INQUIRY INTO GYUMRI MURDER

Interfax, Russia
Jan 20 2015

YEREVAN. Jan 20

A commission will be formed to coordinate a joint Armenian-Russian
inquiry against Russian soldier Valery Permyakov, who is suspected
of murdering an Armenian family in the city of Gyumri on January
12, Armenian Investigative Committee spokesperson Sona Truzyan told
Interfax.

“At a meeting in Yerevan, the chairmen of the Investigative Committees
of Armenia and Russia, Aghvan Hovsepyan and Alexander Bastrykin, agreed
to coordinate their joint efforts in order to ensure a comprehensive
investigation,” Truzyan said.

The parties also reiterated the importance of “strictly observing
the procedure for collecting evidence in accordance with the law,”
she said.

“A coordinating body will be established in order to effectively
organize this work,” she added.

According to earlier reports, a family of six, including a two year
old child, were murdered in Gyumri, northern Armenia, on January 12.

The only survivor, six month old Sergei Avetisyan, was hospitalized
with a stab wound. He died on January 19.

Valery Permyakov, a serviceman from Russia’s 102nd military base,
who is deployed in Gyumri, was detained shortly after the attack. He
is now on the territory of the military base. Criminal charges were
brought against him on January 14 based on the Russian and Armenian
Criminal Codes.

On January 15, protests broke out in Gyumri. Their participants
demanded that Permyakov be handed over to the Armenian justice system.

Fourteen people, including five policemen, were hospitalized after
clashes between the demonstrators and police.

On January 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin called his Armenian
counterpart Serzh Sargsyan to again extend his condolences to the
victims’ relatives and all people of Armenia in regard of the tragedy
in Gyumri.

tm mk

ARMENIAN SHOGHAKN DIAMOND CUTTING PLANT MAY RESUME OPERATIONS, NEWSPAPER SAYS

YEREVAN, January 22. /ARKA/. Shoghakn, one of the biggest Armenian
diamond cutting plants, is going to resume its operations, general
director of the plant Sergey Gasparyan said, as quoted by Novoye
Vremya newspaper.

According to the newspaper, the plant’s production capacity is up to
20,000 carats per year. The number of staff in the company will be
300 people by spring, Gasparyan said.

A change of ownership took place in the company, as Israeli billionaire
Lev Levaev sold his “Armenian” business to other foreign businessmen,
Gasparyan said, yet refraining from giving the news stockholders’
names.

Gasparyan expressed confidence the enterprise will not have any staff
lack problems. About 1,800 people were employed in the company before
2008-2009.

According to the general director, the company is planning to open
a training center for young specialists.

The enterprise will be considering options of raw diamond imports from
Russia, Africa and the Netherlands already this month, Gasparyan said.

In Levaev’s times, the plant was operated under tolling terms, but now
the staff will have to master both the diamond cutting and commercial
skills, the general director said as cited by the newspaper. -0–

ARMENIANS MOURN FAMILY SLAIN BY RUSSIAN SOLDIER

Yahoo! News
Jan 21 2015

People gathered at Freedom Square in Yerevan, Armenia, on January
20 to light candles and leave gifts in memory of the seven members
of a family allegedly killed by a Russian soldier on January 12. Six
family members, including a two-year-old boy, were murdered in their
home in Gyumri, Armenia’s second-largest city and host to a Russian
military base.

A six-month-old baby, who was the sole survivor of the attack, later
died on January 19, according to the BBC.

The event triggered questions in Armenia about the country’s
relationship with Russia. Tensions flared on January 15 when angry
protesters clashed with police outside the Russian consulate in Gyumri
following the funeral of the family. Protesters demanded that the
suspect, who was being held at the Russian military base in Gyumri,
be handed over to Armenian authorities. A January 20 report by Radio
Free Europe said the trial was expected to be conducted by a Russian
military court on Armenian soil.

WATERTOWN PROGRAM TO EXPLORE LEGACY OF ‘LOST’ ARMENIANS IN TURKEY

11:27, 22 Jan 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

On Tuesday evening, Jan. 27, two authors from Istanbul will discuss
efforts in recent years to uncover the silence about Islamized
Armenians in Turkey, the Armenian Weekly reports.

At a reception at the Watertown Public Library, attorney Fethiye Cetin
and sociologist Ayse Gul Altinay, co-authors of The Grandchildren:
The Hidden Legacy of ‘Lost’ Armenians in Turkey, will present their
book, which was released in an English translation last summer. They
will be joined by historian Gerard Libaridian, who contributed an
introduction to the English edition of the book.

The program is co-sponsored by the Armenian International Women’s
Association (AIWA), Amnesty International, Project SAVE Armenian
Photograph Archives, World in Watertown, and the Watertown Free
Public Library.

Fethiye Cetin is a human rights activist who spent years in prison
following the 1980 military coup in Turkey. As an attorney, she has
mounted a legal effort to find those responsible for the planning of
the assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007.

Ayse Gul Altinay received her Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from
Duke University and has been teaching anthropology, cultural studies,
and gender studies at Sabanci University in Istanbul since 2001. She
is the author of The Myth of the Military-Nation: Militarism, Gender,
and Education in Turkey.

“Lost” Armenians refers to the fact that, during and after the 1915
genocide, countless Armenian women and children were taken into Muslim
households and converted to Islam. In most cases, they subsequently did
not discuss their Armenian past, and their children and grandchildren
grew up largely ignorant of this aspect of their identity. Over the
years, these “hidden” Armenians became outwardly indistinguishable
from their Turkish and Muslim neighbors.

The first step in breaking the silence about these Armenians came in
2004, when Cetin created a sensation in Turkey with the publication
of her book My Grandmother, in which she recounted the story of
discovering the hidden Armenian identity of her grandmother.

In the decade following that groundbreaking publication, hundreds
of others approached Cetin with similar stories of discovering their
Armenian roots. Several of them have since published books and articles
about their experiences and have sought to find Armenian relatives.

Along with her colleague Ayse Gul Altinay, Cetin conducted in-depth
interviews with many of these “hidden” or “lost” Armenians; 25 of
these interviews have been published in The Grandchildren.

The book thus elucidates an important historical aspect of the Armenian
Genocide, as well as its continuing effects on survivors and their
families. This is a subject largely overlooked not only by Turkish
journalists and historians, but by Armenians as well.

The authors characterize this process of uncovering the hidden legacy
of “lost” Armenians as a necessary part of the larger movement in
Turkey to reveal the past in order to democratize present-day society.

They also point out that hidden identities can be found today in many
other nations and peoples.

“As we delve into the past,” Altinay writes, we should not remain
“blind to the many other forms of suffering taking place today.” It
is important to guard against “creating new silences, while breaking
the silences of the past.”

NIKOL PASHINYAN GOT THE ANSWER: RUSSIAN FRONTIERS MUST HAVE HANDED OVER THE TRESPASSER

14:46 | January 22,2015 | Politics

Facebook post of Nikol Pashinyan:

During today’s hearings I got the answer to two important questions.

Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan officially confirmed in response
to my question:

Russian frontiers were obliged to inform the RA authorities about
the attempt of Permyakov to cross the RA state border and the fact
that he had been taken to police.

Russian frontiers were obliged to hand over Permyakov to the RA law
enforcement bodies.

It means that Permyakov is in the territory of Russian military base
illegally and must be handed over to Armenia.

“SHOULD WE APPEAL TO PUTIN?”: PARENTS OF DEAD SOLDIERS HAVE NO RESPONSE FROM SERZH SARGSYAN (VIDEO)

01.22.2015 13:53 epress.am

The parents of 5 soldiers killed during peacetime sent a letter to
President Serzh Sargsyan back in November 27, 2014, demandeding that
the President meet them and resolve “the criminal cases dealing with
our children’s deaths.”

Nearly 2 months have passed since sending the letter, however,
the parents have still not received a response. The parents spoke
about the non-existing response during a protest in front of the
Presidential Palace today. They continually mentioned that on January
27 of 2011, the Presidential staff promised them behind the Palace
trees that the newly appointed Military Prosecutor Gevorg Kostanyan
(current General Prosecutor) would get acquainted with the criminal
cases and present a new approach. According to the parents, however,
the wagon has stayed at the same place and the real circumstances of
their children’s deaths have not been revealed yet.

“Who should we appeal to? I suppose to Putin, I guess he’s our
president,” said Irina Ghazaryan, the mother of Artur Ghazaryan who
died in 2010.

The latter also turned to the Gyurmi tragedy, recalling Gevorg
Kostanyan giving a “man’s word” to Gyurmi residents that he would
appeal to Russia for the transfer of the murder suspect Valery
Permyakov, who admitted to killing 7 members of the Avetisyan family
to the Armenian authorities.

“The corpses are laid to rest and you’re giving a man’s word. Are you
talking with the criminals, are you in negotiations, are you with the
gangsters? Which planet are you living on? You are General Prosecutor,
you have to put yourself in the people’s shoes…What is your man’s
word to their demands? What does a “man’s word” even mean? Does a
General Prosecutor have the right to do such things?” noted Ghazaryan.