Author: Badalian Vardan

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 18 2015

Slain Turkish-Armenian journalist commemorated at his grave

Slain Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, the editor-in-chief of
the Agos newspaper who was assassinated in broad daylight outside his
office on Jan. 19, 2007, was commemorated at his grave in Ä°stanbul on
Sunday, which marked the day before the eighth anniversary of his
murder.

Dozens of people, including his wife Rakel Dink and other members of
the Dink family, gathered at the Balıklı Armenian Cemetery in the
Zeytinburnu district of Ä°stanbul on Sunday to mark the eighth
anniversary of Dink’s death. Carnations were laid on Dink’s grave.

Another ceremony was also held in Çanakkale province on Sunday by a
group called Hrant’s Friends, which includes lawmakers and activists.
The group laid carnations in front of pictures of Dink.

A large commemoration ceremony will be held in front of the Agos
headquarters, where Dink was shot, on Monday.

CHP deputy chairman: AK Party responsible for Dink murder

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Sezgin
Tanrıkulu was among those who attended the commemoration ceremony held
at Dink’s grave. Speaking with the press following the ceremony,
Tanrıkulu recalled that Dink’s murder took place during Justice and
Development Party (AK Party) rule, claiming that officials responsible
for or guilty of negligence regarding the murder were promoted by the
government.

`The government is now trying to transfer its responsibility on an
issue in which it had direct responsibility to someone else,’
Tanrıkulu said in reference to the government’s recent efforts to
associate the Dink assassination with the faith-based Hizmet movement,
which is inspired by the teachings of prominent Turkish Islamic
scholar Fethullah Gülen. Tanrıkulu also claimed that the investigation
into the Dink murder `will not go beyond the arrest of three to five
hit men.’

Dink was shot and killed by an ultra-nationalist teenager. The hit
man, Ogün Samast, and 18 others were brought to trial. Since then, the
lawyers for the Dink family and the co-plaintiffs in the case have
presented evidence indicating that Samast did not act alone. Another
suspect, Yasin Hayal, was given life in prison for inciting Samast to
murder.

Stating that the AK Party government has been protecting the
perpetrators of the Dink murder, Tanrıkulu also claimed: `There is no
longer a cloak of secrecy on the Hrant Dink murder. The real faces of
the AK Party and those who have a hand in the assassination have been
revealed clearly. Nowadays, the AK Party government, which tries to
associate the murder with a certain segment of society, is mocking
Dink’s family and his relatives and friends.’

Speaking with Today’s Zaman, Turkish-Armenian journalist Hayko BaÄ?dat
said the Dink murder has still not been solved completely even though
eight years have passed since his death. BaÄ?dat says the reason the
murder has not been solved in eight years is because officials linked
with AK Party have a hand in the murder.

BaÄ?dat also said that all the bureaucrats that were responsible for
the Dink murder were exempted from the investigation into the
assassination, adding: `They were promoted and they have had the
opportunity clean all the evidence [that can prove their crime] within
this time.’ BaÄ?dat also claimed that the list of those who should be
investigated also includes ministers, police chiefs, governors and
officials in the National Intelligence Organization (MÄ°T).

Noting that President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an is trying to use the Dink
murder in his battle against the Hizmet movement, BaÄ?dat also said the
government has been trying to place blame on people close to the
movement.

TWC (Time Warner Cable) News
Jan 18 2015

Cross Stolen from Armenian Church in Iraq Recovered by Armenian Austinites

By: Alex Stockwell

After being stolen from a church in Iraq, an Armenian cross is in
Austin until it can be sent back to its rightful owner. NY1’s Alex
Stockwell shows us how the destination can be just as important as the
journey.

If this cross could talk, it would have an amazing story to tell.

“Just its presence, the fact that this cross is here, it is life,”
says Deacon Narek Garabedian.

It begins at an Armenian church in Baghdad. After being stolen from
the church, the silver cross mysteriously made its way to a pawn shop
in Florida.

A curious employee of that pawn shop asked a UT Austin linguistics
professor to translate the inscription on the back.

That’s when the professor contacted Mihran Aroian.

“I had her email those photographs to me. As soon as I opened up the
photographs, it was apparent that it was an Armenian cross,” Aroian
says.

It wasn’t just any Armenian cross, though.

Garabedian just happened to be visiting from an Armenian church in New York.

“It clearly states that this was a gift from Serop Ohanian to the
Armenian church of the Theotokos, or the Holy Virgin Mary, in 1945 of
Baghdad, in Baghdad,” Garabedian says.

As fate would have it, it turns out Garabedian’s father is from Iraq
and he recognized the name of the family in the inscription.

“That’s why I immediately contacted Mihran saying that this is a cross
that needs to be recovered,” Garabedian explains.

Mihran called the pawn shop in Florida and asked them to ship it to Austin.

“I let her know that this in fact was an Armenian cross that was
stolen from an Armenian church in Baghdad, and we would like to be
able to obtain the cross back,” Aroian says.

It wasn’t a moment too soon; the pawn shop was about to send the cross
to Austin anyways.

But because no one wanted to buy it, it was going to be melted and
sold for its silver.

“This was God’s will that this cross be found and returned back to
Baghdad,” Aroian says.

We still don’t know how the cross made its way from Iraq to the pawn
shop in Florida.

Coincidentally, Saturday’s service at the local Armenian church was
about lost sheep returning home.

“This cross–though it’s a small little silver item, has a huge meaning
for the Armenian people, and we’re just very excited to have been a
part of this,” says Aroian.

Some might call what they were a part of divine intervention.

Interfax, Russia
Jan 17 2015

Russia sends doctors to Yerevan to help treat Gyumri killing survivor (Part 2)

MOSCOW. Jan 17

The Russian Health Ministry is sending leading specialists to Yerevan
to assist the medical treatment of a child, who survived after a
Russian soldier attacked and killed a family in northern Armenia.

Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova and her Armenian
counterpart Armen Muradian held talks by telephone on Saturday, Health
Ministry spokesman Oleg Salagai said.

“After the Russian and Armenian health ministers discussed the boy’s
condition Skvortsova ordered a group of leading Russian medical
specialists to travel to Yerevan to assist the medical treatment,”
Salagai said.

A family of six, among them a two-year-old child, were killed in the
town of Gyumri in northern Armenia on January 12. The only survivor,
six-month-old boy Serzh Avetisian, was hospitalized with stab wounds
in very serious condition. The suspect, soldier Valery Permyakov, of
Russia’s 102nd military base located in Gyumri, was detained soon
after and is now at the military base. Armenia and Russia declared him
suspect in the murder case pursuant to the Armenian and Russian
criminal codes.

The killing incited disturbances in Armenia. Protests were held in
Gyumri on January 15 to demand that Permyakov be handed over to the
Armenian judiciary. Clashes erupted between protesters and policemen.
Fourteen people, among them five police officers, were hospitalized.

Russian doctors arrive in Armenia to help Sergei Avetisyan

10:12, 18 Jan 2015
Marianna Karapetyan

Leading Russian resuscitators arrive in Armenia to assist in the
treatment of Seryozha Avetisyan – the survivor of the brutal murder of
Avetisyans’ family in the city of Gyumri, Russian TASS agency reported
referring to the press service of Russian Minister of Health.

The trip was preceded by a telephone conversation of the Ministers of
Health of Armenia and Russia, Armen Mouradian and Veronika Skvortsova.
They “discussed the state of Seryozha Avetisyan and tactics of further
medical treatment,” the press service of Skvortsova infgormed.

The 6-month infant Seryozha Avetisyan was stabbed in the chest and is
now resuscitation department.

REVUE DE PRESSE
Un fait divers sordide soulève les Arméniens contre l’allié russe

Depuis 48 heures, des centaines d’Arméniens manifestent leur colère
dans les rues de la ville de Gyumri, où une famille a été décimée à
l’arme à feu en début de semaine. Le meurtre aurait été commis par un
soldat originaire de Sibérie, actuellement détenu dans la base russe
de la ville, où il travaillait. Mais la population exige qu’il soit
remis aux autorités arméniennes.

Gyumri, seconde plus grande ville d’Arménie, accueille depuis 1995 la
base militaire russe “102 “où résident 3 000 hommes, dont le soldat
Valery Permyakov qui a avoué être l’auteur du crime. La police
arménienne explique que ce dernier a quitté la base, puis a marché
deux kilomètres en direction de Gyumri. Il dit être entré “par
accident “dans la maison où il a tué six personnes, un couple, leur
fille, leur fils, leur belle-fille et leur petit-fils de deux ans. Un
autre petit fils de six mois poignardé a finalement survécu. Le
soldat, qui était arrivé à la base deux mois plus tôt, a été arrêté
lundi par des gardes-frontières russes alors qu’il tentait de passer
en Turquie. Les raisons de ces meurtres ne sont pas connues, a
expliqué la police.

Permyakov a été ramené au camp militaire de Gyumri, où il est
actuellement enfermé. Russes et Arméniens ont expliqué qu’ils
travaillaient conjointement sur l’enquête, mais sans définir
clairement qui jugera le soldat. Un flou qui a provoqué la colère des
habitants pour qui un jugement dans un tribunal russe serait une
atteinte à la souveraineté arménienne. Ils invoquent un traité datant
de 1997 stipulant que le personnel militaire russe du sud du Caucase
suspecté de crime en dehors de leur base doit être jugé par les
autorités locales.

Vingt-quatre heures après les premières manifestations à Gyumri
mercredi, des rassemblements ont été organisés dans la capitale
Erevan. Plusieurs dizaines de personnes ont été blessées dans des
échauffourées.

dimanche 18 janvier 2015,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

ARMENIE
L’ONU prévoit une croissance de la population de 0,5 pour cent pour l’Arménie

L’Arménie devrait voir sa population croître de 0,5 pour cent cette
année, un taux de natalité qui dépasse le taux de mortalité, a déclaré
Garik Hayrapetyan, le représentant du bureau arménien du Fonds de la
population des Nations Unies.

“Selon nos estimations, en 2017 la population de l’Arménie va
commencer à diminuer en raison de deux facteurs- la baisse de la
natalité et le vieillissement de la nation >>, a-t-il dit.

Il a déclaré que le nombre de personnes gées de 65 ans et plus
augmentera avec un taux croissant de décès. Il a déclaré que le taux
de mortalité est actuellement 27-28 par millier de personnes – “un
taux normal pour les pays vieillissants.”

En ce qui concerne le taux de natalité, Hayrapetyan a dit qu’il est
maintenant 1,5 à 1,6 par femme, ce qui ne suffit pas pour une
reproduction simple, surtout avec une émigration continue quand 30 000
à 35 000 personnes en ge de reproduction pour la plupart quittent le
pays pour une année.

dimanche 18 janvier 2015,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

TURQUIE
La colère des Arméniens de Turquie face à l’invitation d’Erdogan

L’invitation du Président Turc Recep ErdoÄ?an envoyée au Président de
la République d’Arménie Serge Sarkissian afin qu’il prenne part aux
manifestations commémorant le centenaire de la bataille de Gallipoli
qui se tiendront le 24 Avril cette année a provoqué la colère des
Arméniens vivant en Turquie.

Comme le rapporte le journal Agos la partie progressive de la société
turque, y compris les Arméniens, a critiqué cette initiative, qui a
été décrit comme une stratégie politique par les milieux officiels de
la Turquie. Agos a parlé Ã un groupe d’Arméniens résidant en Turquie,
qui a caractérisé cette initiative comme une étape malhonnête d’une
personne sans instruction.

dimanche 18 janvier 2015,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

14 INJURED AS ARMENIANS PROTEST FAMILY KILLINGS BY RUSSIAN SOLDIER

The Moscow Times, Russia
Jan 16 2015

YEREVAN — At least 14 people have been wounded in scuffles between
police and protesters as several thousand rallied in Armenia’s second
city of Gyumri, demanding that Russian authorities hand over a soldier
accused of killing six members of a local family.

Armenian police say Valery Permyakov, a soldier at a Russian base in
Gyumri, has confessed to Monday’s killings, whose victims included
a two-year-old girl. A younger child was wounded but survived.

Russia’s Defense Ministry has acknowledged a soldier went missing
before the killings, which it called a tragedy. Minister Sergei
Shoigu has sent condolences, promised severe punishment for whoever
was responsible and dispatched one of his deputies to Gyumri to lead
a team of investigators.

The incident has whipped up tension between Russia and Armenia, a
former Soviet republic which normally enjoys close ties with Moscow
and has signed up to a Russian-led Customs Union, a pet project of
President Vladimir Putin.

A crowd of several thousand people attended the victims’ funeral in
Gyumri on Thursday but police in riot gear later prevented protesters
from reaching Russia’s consulate in the city, some 120 kilometers
(75 miles) north-west of the capital Yerevan.

Protesters and police threw stones and smoke bombs at each other. A
medical official in the city said five policemen and nine civilians
required medical treatment.

Local media say Permyakov was captured on the border with Turkey and
is now being held at the Russian military base, which Moscow has not
officially confirmed.

“I will ask Russia’s Prosecutor General to hand over the case to
Armenian law enforcement bodies when, as a result of an investigation,
there are enough grounds for that,” Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan
told the crowd.

On a third day of angry protests, several hundred people also rallied
in the centre of Yerevan, carrying banners reading “The law is above
imperial ambitions” and “Strategic partner — be a human being.”

Russia is a key ally and trade partner for Armenia, which is locked in
a decades-old territorial dispute with its larger neighbor Azerbaijan.

Moscow, for its part, wants to beef up its influence in the
Transcaucasus region, sandwiched between Russia, Turkey, Iran and
the oil and gas deposits of the Caspian Sea.

U.S. CO-CHAIR OF OSCE MG CONDEMNS ARMENIA FOR SHELLING AZERBAIJAN

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Jan 16 2015

16 January 2015 – 6:46pm

U.S. Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick has condemned
Armenia for shelling Azerbaijani territories near Horadiz (Fizuli
District).

The artillery attack happened near OSCE observers in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. Azerbaijan did not open counter-fire,
as stated by Yevgeny Sharov, a field assistant of the personal
representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office, who took part in the
monitoring mission.

KILLINGS IN ARMENIA POINT TO FLAWS IN RUSSIAN ARMY

The Moscow Times
Jan 15 2015

By Simon Saradzhyan

Like many others in the Armenian diaspora, I have been shaken by
the news out of the Armenian city of Gyumri where six members of
the Avetisyan family were killed. A conscript from a nearby Russian
military base had confessed to the killings and his gun and belongings
were found in the Avetisyans’ house.

I can only hope and pray that little Seryozha Avetisyan — who suffered
a wound in the course of this homicide and remains in grave condition
— overcomes the odds and lives on to fulfill the dream that I am
sure his parents nurtured for him when he was born six months ago.

At this stage, the information available in the public domain
doesn’t allow us to ascertain what might have caused the suspect —
who reportedly had been “on the radar” of Russian law-enforcement and
his brother had been convicted of murder — to commit such an atrocity.

When apprehended, the suspect could give no coherent explanation as
to what prompted him to shoot and hack seven people, ranging in age
from six months to 53 years.

We do not know whether the suspect — who had reportedly tried to
desert once before — had some underlying condition before being
conscripted or that appeared during the course of his service that may
have caused him to commit such a heinous crime. One way or another,
no sane person would have stabbed a small child with a bayonet,
which is what the suspect allegedly did.

Unfortunately, this is not the first case of a soldier going on a
killing spree when absent without leave within or outside the former
Soviet Union.

While a defense journalist at The Moscow Times, I wrote more than once
about uniformed killers, including one mentally unstable sailor who
had locked himself up in a nuclear submarine after shooting fellow
comrades-in-arms.

Some of these killings would have never been committed if the Russian
enlistment offices and the medical commissions assigned to these
offices did a thorough job of screening all conscripts. Others
would have not happened if violent hazing of conscripts had been
not tolerated.

Russian media have reported on how individuals with health issues or
with expunged criminal records would be served call-up notices just
because enlistment officers needed to fulfill conscription plans
assigned by the General Staff.

The Russian military and border guards should be commended for
quickly tracking down the suspect before he could cross into Turkey
and placing him into custody. However, it took the Defense Ministry
team only a few days to conduct an investigation and announce that
all those guilty have been identified. As disappointing are some of
the proposals on how to deal with the bigger problem, as they see it.

For instance, one ministry representative has stated the armed forces
might stop sending conscripts to Russia’s military bases abroad
because of the incident.

Should not the goal be to prevent soldiers from murdering people
in general rather than just people living in countries which host
Russian troops? If someone is prone to go on a killing spree, then
he should not be conscripted at all.

Russian laws bar Russian authorities from handing Russian citizens to
foreign governments for prosecution, but they also provide for life
in prison for those found guilty of committing murders of this scale
and cruelty. In my opinion, justice will be served, only, if found
guilty, the suspect is sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Armenians’ sympathies with Russia are well-known. In fact, the name of
the surviving boy — Seryozha — attests to it. One legend — that I
have read in Armenian literature — it that grateful Armenians would
name their children after Russian soldiers who fought on behalf of
the Russian empire to wrest control of parts of historic Armenia from
Persia and the Ottoman empire — that had oppressed their Armenian
subjects.

The soldiers would give their diminutive names when asked by Armenians,
and, hence there appeared numerous Seryozhas, Vanyas and Kolyas
in Armenia.

It is my strong hope that this horrible tragedy will not affect the
relations between Armenia and Russia, but it is my even stronger
hope that the Russian response will not be limited to prosecution of
the alleged murderer. Killing sprees by soldiers across the world
demonstrate that even fully professional armies sometimes fail to
weed out potentially dangerous individuals from their ranks.

But I still think there are steps that generals can take to reduce
occurrences of uniformed violence even if fully eliminating such
violence might prove to be a mission impossible.

These steps include rigorous screening of conscripts and monitoring
of active-duty servicemen to detect dangerous disorders as well as
zero tolerance for violent hazing.

Simon Saradzhyan is a researcher at Harvard University’s Belfer Center
for Science and International Affairs.