Author: Babajanian Karo

AZERBAIJAN WILL FACE NO MAJOR CLASHES IN THE NEAR FUTURE, EXPERT SAYS

PanARMENIAN.Net
March 5, 2012 – 12:45 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Political scientist Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan said
the riot in Azerbaijan has nothing to do with either economic or
social problems, as “this is a national problem.”

“Azerbaijan will wait until it finds out who the riot organizers
were, and then will punish those severely using methods we all know,”
he said at a March 5 press conference.

He also noted that no major clashes will take place in Azerbaijan in
the near future; however, tensions will emerge regularly since the
political pressure of Azerbaijani authorities on indigenous population
makes them revolt.

Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan touched upon the murder of two Azerbaijani
officers as well saying this was done by Azerbaijanis themselves
because one of the victims was a Lezgian and the other Avar by
nationality. “Azerbaijan thus started to punish the locals for
the incident. Local people went to streets in the town of Guba
in Azerbaijan on March 1, most of them being Lezgians or Avar by
nationality,” the expert said.

Riots came after Guba’s governor Rauf Habibov’s statement saying that
Guba residents had sold out their motherland.

Though Habibov tried to apologize later, people were not satisfied.

They started stoning the building of the local administration, and then
set fire to Habibov’s house. After failure of the local police to calm
down the unrest involving several hundreds of people (a few thousands,
according to some estimates), security forces were called in.

Habibov was sacked on March 2.

Media reported about cases of injuries both among the law enforcement
and civilians, the exact number of victims remaining unknown.

LE CONFLIT DU HK, BIEN QUE DIFFICILE, DOIT ETRE RESOLU
Stephane

armenews.com
mardi 6 mars 2012

presse rend compte de la session du Conseil des Ministres des AE
de l’UE a l’issue de laquelle un document relatif au Sud Caucase a
ete approuve. Dans le chapitre concernant l’Armenie, l’UE souligne
l’importance de la tenue d’elections legislatives en 2012 et
presidentielles en 2013 conformes aux exigences democratiques. L’UE
affirme qu’elle les suivra avec une particulière attention. Par
ailleurs, l’UE exhorte l’Armenie a poursuivre les reformes
democratiques et, en particulier, a assurer l’independance du système
judiciaire, a stimuler le pluralisme politique et le developpement de
la presse independante, a garantir les droits de l’Homme. L’UE appelle
egalement l’Armenie a poursuivre la lutte contre la corruption, etant
convaincue qu’un progrès significatif dans ce domaine favoriserait
la croissance economique.

S’agissant du HK, l’UE fait part de sa preoccupation face a l’absence
de progrès reel dans les negociations armeno-azerbaïdjanaises et
confirme son soutien au Groupe de Minsk de l’OSCE, ainsi qu’a la
mission de mediation du President Medvedev, a l’origine de sommets
tripartites. L’UE fait aussi part de son soutien aux principes de
Madrid, tout en appelant l’Armenie et l’Azerbaïdjan a multiplier
leurs efforts en vue de parvenir a un accord sur un traite de paix
base sur lesdits principes. L’UE fait part de sa preoccupation
en ce qui concerne la recrudescence des tensions sur la ligne de
contact et souligne la necessite du renforcement des mesures de
confiance. Elle se dit prete a prendre des mesures visant a renforcer
la confiance entre l’Armenie et l’Azerbaïdjan et soutenir les efforts
du Groupe de Minsk. Dans cet objectif, l’UE souhaite, en particulier,
obtenir une possibilite d’accès au HK et aux territoires avoisinants,
sans conditions prealables, pour ses representants. Le Conseil des
Ministres des AE a en outre appele la Haute Representante de l’UE et
la Commission europeenne a elaborer des scenarios post-conflit, ce
qui servira comme base pour une implication future de l’UE. Hayots
Achkhar et Haykakan Jamanak rapportent les propos de Mme Ashton,
selon lesquels ” le conflit du HK est très difficile, mais il doit
etre resolu “. Et d’ajouter que l’UE souhaite etre plus activement
engagee dans le processus de règlement du conflit du HK. / Rapporte
par l’ensemble de la presse

ARMENIE : LA TOTALE

Les Echos

5 mars 2012
France

Le Conseil constitutionnel disposait de plusieurs terrains juridiques
pour declarer contraire a la Constitution la loi reprimant la
contestation du genocide armenien, recemment adoptee par le Parlement.

Il a choisi le plus radical : ” Le legislateur a porte une atteinte
inconstitutionnelle a l’exercice de la liberte d’expression et de
communication. ” C’est donc l’une des composantes les plus precieuses
de la democratie, selon les propres termes du Conseil constitutionnel,
qui a ete meconnue par le Parlement. Rarement une censure du juge
supreme aura ete aussi cinglante. A lire sa decision, on ne sait ce
qui l’emporte entre l’accablement et la colère.

L’accablement, car de nombreux juristes eminents, a commencer
par le plus respecte d’entre eux, l’ancien president du Conseil
constitutionnel, Robert Badinter, avait mis en garde contre l’adoption
de ce texte quand il etait encore temps d’arreter cette mecanique
absurde. Sans oublier tous les historiens qui imploraient le pouvoir
de ne pas confondre l’histoire et le droit. Il y a la colère aussi,
devant l’ampleur des degâts : une brouille profonde et durable avec un
pays, la Turquie, qui est a la fois un des acteurs majeurs du theâtre
mediterraneen et l’une des puissances economiques les plus dynamiques
du monde actuel ; un doute tout aussi profond et durable jete sur
la pertinence de la loi Gayssot relative au genocide juif ; enfin,
la faute de violation de la liberte d’expression jetee au visage d’un
Parlement dont c’est le devoir sacre de la proteger. C’est vraiment
la totale.

Et tout cela pour quoi ? Parce que le president de la Republique,
aussitôt rejoint par son principal concurrent, Francois Hollande,
ainsi qu’une large majorite de deputes et senateurs de droite et de
gauche ont rivalise de demagogie a l’egard de nos concitoyens d’origine
armenienne pour obtenir leurs votes lors des prochaines elections
presidentielles et legislatives. Quelques-uns, la aussi des deux
bords, ont sauve l’honneur en saisissant le Conseil constitutionnel
et celui-ci l’a conforte. L’honneur est sauf mais l’insondable betise
est consommee.

CANADIAN NEWSPAPER PUBLISHES ARTICLE ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT

AzerTag
March 4 2012
Azerbaijan

Baku, March 4 (AzerTAc). Montreal-based La Presse newspaper has
published an article about the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.

According to Azerbaijani Embassy to Canada, Laura Julie Perrault`s
article is called “Tension in Karabakh”.

The article stresses that Nagorno-Karabakh is an ancient Azerbaijani
land.

The article says the Armenian armed forces conducted an ethnic
cleansing policy against Azerbaijan, occupying Nagorno-Karabakh and
7 surrounding regions.

The article notes no country recognized the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic.

It also emphasizes that Turkey is a close ally of Azerbaijan.

TURKISH FM IN LANDMARK VISIT TO MINORITY LEADERS

Hurriyet Daily News
March 5 2012
Turkey

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu visits Turkey’s minority religious
leaders over the weekend, emphasizing regional peace and equal rights
for all

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu paid landmark visits to
Turkey’s minority religious leaders in Istanbul on March 3, discussing
regional problems in the Middle East as well as underlining the
importance of dialogue, religious freedoms and equal rights.

The visits marked the importance of dialogue between Muslims and
Christians and other religious groups amid ongoing tensions between
Muslims and Christians in the Middle East and the Balkans, sources
from the Turkish Foreign Ministry told Hurriyet Daily News on March 4.

Davutoglu first received Deir Za’faran Monastery Metropolitan Saliba
Ozmen at the Four Seasons Hotel in Istanbul. During the meeting with
Ozmen, Davutoglu stressed the importance Turkey attached to dialogue
in surrounding countries, reports said.

Davutoglu later visited Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew in the
patriarchate in Istanbul’s Fener district, and the two later held a
press meeting.

“We are going through a transformation in the Middle East. Turkey’s
peace is related to the peace of its surrounding countries. We are
giving high importance to all religious communities in the region to
be in peace,” Davutoglu told reporters.

Bartholomew, meanwhile, expressed his pleasure with Davutoglu’s visit
and said it was important that all religious minorities in Turkey
live together in peace.

“We have told Minister Davutoglu that we pray for the health of Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan daily. Erdogan’s health is important
for not only Turkey but global peace as well,” Bartholomew added.

Bartholomew and Syriac Mor Gabriel Monastery Foundation head Kuryakos
Ergun visited Turkish Parliament on Feb. 21 and made a presentation
regarding Turkey’s new charter talks.

“Davutoglu’s visit in fact focused on Bartholomew because he wants
him and other Christian religious leaders to play a role in the Middle
East. His real aim it to reach the Christian communities in the Middle
East through Bartholomew,” Laki Vingas, the spokesman for Anatolian
Greek foundations and a member of the Foundations General Council,
told the Hurriyet Daily News.

Following the press meeting, Davutoglu continued his tour and paid
visits to the acting Turkish-Armenian Patriarch Aram AteÅ~_yan, the
Ancient Syriac Community’s Metropolitan Yusuf Cetin and Chief Rabbi
Ä°shak Haleva and spoke about equal rights.

“For us the rights of all our citizens are equal. Together we will
overcome the prejudices that are contradictory to this big culture
that Turks and Armenians built together,” Davutoglu said following
his meeting with AteÅ~_yan.

AteÅ~_yan said it was the first time a Turkish government remembered
their community and said Davutoglu’s visit was very meaningful.

The visits took place at a time when Christian groups in the Middle
East feel worried about their future during the Arab Spring, and
it is normal for Turkey to be involved in such an undertaking of
continuing dialogue with minority religious groups, the Foreign
Ministry sources said.

Daily News reporters Vercihan Ziflioglu and Ä°pek Yezdani contributed
to this report.

TURKEY MULLS INVITING FRANCE TO SYRIA SUMMIT: DIPLOMAT

Cumhuriyet
March 5 2012
Turkey

Turkey is considering whether to invite France to the next meeting
of the “Friends of Syria” to be held in Istanbul this month as ties
hit a low over a genocide bill, a Turkish diplomat said Monday.

ANKARA- Istanbul will host the second “Friends of Syria” conference
late March after the first meeting in Tunis on February 24.

“We haven’t sent any invitation to any country yet but we are
considering whether to invite France,” the source told AFP, speaking
on condition of anonymity.

The French parliament passed a law last year making denial that the
Ottoman empire committed genocide against its Armenian population a
criminal offence, infuriating Turkey.

France had already recognised the killings as a genocide, but the new
law sought to go further by punishing anyone who denies this with up
to a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros ($57,000).

Last Tuesday, the French Constitutional Council labelled the law
“unconstitutional,” but President Nicolas Sarkozy promptly ordered
his government to draft a new bill.

“The ruling of the Constitutional Council is obvious but we don’t
know yet what’ll happen in the end,” said the diplomat, .

Turkey halted political and military cooperation with France over
the law and threatened to cut off economic and cultural ties, but
applauded the Constitutional Council ruling.

The Turkish diplomat said that if it is decided to admit France an
invitation would be sent to Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, not to
Sarkozy, as the conference would be at the ministerial level.

Juppe is known to have opposed the genocide legislation.

“But ultimately this would be a multilateral gathering, not a bilateral
one,” said the diplomat, in remarks that could be interpreted as a
green light for Paris’s participation.

TURKEY MULLS INVITING FRANCE TO SYRIA SUMMIT: DIPLOMAT

Expatica.com
March 5 2012
France

(AFP) Turkey is considering whether to invite France to the next
meeting of the “Friends of Syria” to be held in Istanbul this month
as ties hit a low over a genocide bill, a Turkish diplomat said Monday.

Istanbul will host the second “Friends of Syria” conference late
March after the first meeting in Tunis on February 24.

“We haven’t sent any invitation to any country yet but we are
considering whether to invite France,” the source told AFP, speaking
on condition of anonymity.

The French parliament passed a law last year making denial that the
Ottoman empire committed genocide against its Armenian population a
criminal offence, infuriating Turkey.

France had already recognised the killings as a genocide, but the new
law sought to go further by punishing anyone who denies this with up
to a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros ($57,000).

Last Tuesday, the French Constitutional Council labelled the law
“unconstitutional,” but President Nicolas Sarkozy promptly ordered
his government to draft a new bill.

“The ruling of the Constitutional Council is obvious but we don’t
know yet what’ll happen in the end,” said the diplomat, .

Turkey halted political and military cooperation with France over
the law and threatened to cut off economic and cultural ties, but
applauded the Constitutional Council ruling.

The Turkish diplomat said that if it is decided to admit France an
invitation would be sent to Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, not to
Sarkozy, as the conference would be at the ministerial level.

Juppe is known to have opposed the genocide legislation.

“But ultimately this would be a multilateral gathering, not a bilateral
one,” said the diplomat, in remarks that could be interpreted as a
green light for Paris’s participation.

SARKOZY’S FREE SPEECH FAUX PAS

Los Angeles Times
,0,679559.story
March 5 2012
CA

The French president’s plan to revisit a failed law to criminalize
denial of the Armenian genocide is ill-considered and alarming.

If you live in a country that truly values free speech, then no
matter what opinion you hold – whether it’s rational or irrational –
you have the right to voice it. You can deny the Holocaust happened,
or that men walked on the moon, without fear that you will be brought
up on criminal charges. (Of course, you still risk public rebuke or
humiliation from people who hold the opinion that you are ridiculous.)
That freedom is generally considered a fundamental human right.

So it was reassuring when France’s Constitutional Council last week
struck down a proposed law that would have criminalized the denial or
minimizing of the genocide of Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks
in the early 20th century. The law would have punished such a denial
with up to a year in prison and a maximum fine of roughly $60,000.

Last year, when France’s Parliament was first considering the bill,
we said on this page that we found it to be a particularly egregious
encroachment on civil liberties. The French council has now concluded
much the same, saying such a law “infringed unconstitutionally on
the exercise of the liberty of expression and communication.”

Just to be clear: There is no doubt in our minds that more than 1
million Armenians were killed by Turks beginning in 1915 in an act of
genocide. It happened. It’s history. And the sooner the whole world
understands that and accepts it, the better. Nevertheless, the way to
win an argument is not by throwing your opponents in prison. That’s
counterproductive – the strategy of dictators. Instead, misinformation
should be fought with more and better information.

That’s why it was bad news when President Nicolas Sarkozy announced
that he would resubmit the bill – revising it, in ways he didn’t
specify, to take into account the council’s objections.

This is an ill-considered and puzzling move on the French president’s
part. What new version of this law could possibly levy penalties for
denial of the Armenian genocide but not harm the right to free speech
that the French council correctly noted?

Sarkozy’s office released a statement that said, in part, that denial
of genocide is “not only an insult to the memory of victims and the
dignity of their descendants, but also a threat against our national
community.” He’s correct about the insult to the memory of the
victims. But it is criminalizing speech that poses a threat to France.

LA VERITE SUR LES EVENEMENTS DE KODJALOU
Stephane

armenews.com
lundi 5 mars 2012

Alors que dans un message, a l’occasion de l’anniversaire de la
tragedie de Kodjalou, le President Aliev a note que ” l’on se vengera
pour le sang de nos combattants “, le Vice-President de l’AN, Edouard
Charmazanov a tenu a rappeler au President azerbaïdjanais que lors
des operations militaires a Kodjalou, les forces armeniennes avaient
laisse un corridor humanitaire pour l’evacuation de la population
pacifique de ce village, dont la partie azerbaïdjanaise avait ete
informee par avance. Il rappelle qu’un mois plus tard, le President
azerbaïdjanais d’alors, Ayaz Moutalibov, a avoue ce fait dans un
entretien au quotidien russe ” Nezavisimaya Gazeta “, soulignant que
la partie armenienne n’avait donc pas interet a ouvrir le feu [en
direction de la population pacifique]. Dix ans après sa demission, M.

Moutalibov a indique dans un autre entretien a ” Novoye Vremia ”
qu’il etait ” evident que la tuerie des habitants de Kodjalou avait
ete organisee par quelqu’un aux fins de parvenir a un renversement du
pouvoir en Azerbaïdjan “. M. Charmazanov rappelle l’entretien d’une
autre haute personnalite azerbaïdjanaise d’alors, Tamerlan Karaev,
President du Conseil supreme d’Azerbaïdjan, en date du 28 avril 1992,
dans lequel celui-ci avait indique que ” la tragedie de Kodjalou a
ete realisee par les autorites azerbaïdjanaises “. M. Charmazanov
dit ironiquement ne pas s’etonner de ce qu’Ilham Aliev ignore la
realite historique, puisqu'” il n’etait pas sur le champ de bataille,
mais s’occupait de ses interets economiques a Istanbul “. ” Toute la
responsabilite de l’assassinat des habitants pacifiques de Kodjalou
retombe sur la partie azerbaïdjanaise qui a commis un acte monstrueux
contre son peuple a des fins de politique interieure “, conclut M.

POURRA-T-ON ETABLIR UN RECIT COMMUN SUR LE GENOCIDE ARMENIEN ?
Ara

armenews.com
lundi 5 mars 2012

Après la censure par le Conseil constitutionnel de la loi penalisant
la negation du genocide armenien, le secretaire general de l’UMP a
indique qu’il n’y aurait pas de nouvelle loi, comme le souhaite le
chef de l’Etat, avant les elections.

” L’Etat turc exerce sur la societe un encadrement très contraignant,
imposant une version qui nie le caractère genocidaire du massacre
des Armeniens. Celui-ci est sous-estime, explique par le contexte
des violences de guerre, ou justifie par la pretendue trahison des
Armeniens en faveur des Russes. Malgre cette domination ideologique,
des chercheurs independants turcs mènent un travail scientifique
courageux sur cette question. Trois colloques importants ont ete
organises au cours desquels le terme de genocide a ete employe pour
designer les massacres de 1915 et 1916. Ce n’est pas sans danger
pour ces universitaires, dont certains sont emprisonnes par les
autorites turques.

La suite sur : La Croix