Author: Badalian Vardan

“I FEAR THAT WE WILL FACE THOSE ISSUES AGAIN”

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has offended Armenians during
the plenary session of Euronest.

The Armenian delegation in Baku has disseminated a letter of protest
to the participants of the Assembly.

In the letter it is stated:

“I would like to call back the letter that I sent to all members
of the Bureau before the second plenary session of Euronest held in
Baku today.

I have tried to warn all members of the Bureau that this Assembly
could be misused by the Azerbaijani authorities, which can make
declarations that hurt the spirit of cooperation.

Unfortunately, in Baku we witnessed something that was predicted. The
Parliamentary Assembly of Euronest turned into a field of anti-Armenian
propaganda hinged on the careless reading of the history and a
subjective interpretation of international law.

The Armenian delegation to Euronest expresses its deep protest
regarding Azerbaijan’s misuse of hosting privileges. We call on the
Assembly to select the venue for holding the session carefully so
that there won’t be any more declarations that can eliminate the
spirit of mutual understanding and cooperation that we have gained
by overcoming many difficulties.

I fear that we will face those issues again.

With respect,

Vahan Hovhannisyan

LAVROV’S YEREVAN REHEARSAL
Igor Muradyan

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 15:12:24 – 03/04/2012

Foreign minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov stated in Yerevan State
University that after the withdrawal of troops, return of “regions”
to Azerbaijan and “creation of a corridor”, the people of Karabakh
will decide their own destiny on their own. Apparently, saying “will
decide their destiny”, he means self-liquidation.

It is more than clear that such a shocking and challenging speech
by Lavrov in Yerevan was the rehearsal of his visit to Baku where he
will state that security in the Caucasus and Caspian region depends
on partnership between Russia and Azerbaijan. At the same time, we
can deduce that Russia is trying to create an extremely uncomfortable
situation for the Armenian authorities prior to the parliamentary
elections.

It would be good to learn the opinion of the leaders of the Prosperous
Armenia Party on this matter who are the closest to the Russian
interests in the political field of Armenia. It is necessary to
understand that this is only the beginning of the “honeymoon” with
the Russians. Not finding anything worthier, Moscow is trying to
undermine the image of the Armenian authorities with the help of the
Karabakh issue. There could be nothing uglier in this situation.

Russia is worried about the process around Azerbaijan, especially
with its relations with the U.S., Israel and Iran. There is a real
threat to the Russian interests in the Caspian region, and Russia
is again trying to reveal the futility of its policy to Azerbaijan
which is under the American hood.

It is high time to demonstrate again Moscow’s willingness to sacrifice
the Armenian interests. Who else needs to become the conductor of
the Russian policy or be the “puppet” in this cheap play?

No doubt Lavrov’s visit to Baku will fail, taking into account Russia’s
interests. Anyway, it will be found out that Russia will have to
resort to the fulfillment of the policy of undermining the foreign
policy and state building in Azerbaijan. Apparently, this visit to
Yerevan was a rehearsal. The visit to Baku will be the “verification”.

ALIYEV, BREAKING “RULES OF HOSPITALITY” CALLED ARMENIANS OCCUPANT AND FASCIST

Today Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev diffused all the notions of
Caucasian friendly reception, who delivered a speech at the plenary
session of Euronest parliamentary assembly in Baku.

To note, yesterday the Euronest Bureau members met President Aliyev
where, according to Armenian Delegation Head in Euronest Vahan
Hovhannisyan, there were no unpleasant surprises.

Aliyev didn’t even mention any disputable issue, he didn’t even use
the expression “Nagorno-Karabakh”. The European Parliament members
were rather interested in the issues of limitation of freedoms in
Azerbaijan.

But during today’s plenary session even the European diplomats were
surprised at Aliyev’s speech.

“During the plenary session, Aliyev made shocking aggressive
statements calling us fascists, occupants who have desecrated their
graves. Shortly, it was quite an awful speech. It is a break now
and we are not going to leave his statements not responded. We are
preparing documents now and we’ll spread them here. We’ll also address
the topic in our speeches.

Of course, we expected this, but even our European colleagues were
shocked. All expected that at least thanks would be extended for
the participation of the Armenian delegation,” Vahan Hovhannisyan
said during his phone talk with Yerkirn Aysor [The country today]
TV programme.

Asked by us if Euronest leadership gave any response, Vahan
Hovhannisyan said there were some surprises, Armenia’s visit to
Baku was positively stressed. Touching upon Aliyev’s speech the EU
Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule said the problem has mutual
complexities.

“He spoke, rather tried to alleviate Aliyev’s attempt to blame fully
Armenia, but it is natural that when you are a guest in a country and
you receive such an attitude you mustn’t wait for others to respond. We
are all the hope and we aren’t going to give up,” V. Hovhannisyan said.

Aliyev didn’t speak about searching for the solution of the problem
in this political platform, about the inadmissibility of which Vahan
Hovhannisyan said yesterday. He simply spoke as the Azerbaijani
President and with the style characteristic of him tried to raise
this issue here, too.

We’ll be in contact with the Armenian delegation and will present
Armenian delegation’s response and the future developments during
the day.

“GRAY WOLVES” STRUGGLED AGAINST GENOCIDE BILL IN FRANCE

11:56 . 03/04

The news published lately in French press once again proved that the
demonstrations held against the bill criminalizing the denial of the
Armenian Genocide in France were not self-existing, but were organized
and financed by the Turkish nationalist elements, particularly “Gray
Wolves” organization, the existence of which was not a secret since
long ago already.

The Main Directorate of France’s Internal Intelligence published a
report, about which the French “Le Point” e-Journal published.

Reportedly, the Turkish Federation of France organized the protests
against the Armenian Genocide denial criminalization bill. This
federation, according to the Main Directorate of France’s Internal
Intelligence “is not a federation”, but in fact it’s a cover for the
nationalist “Gray Wolves” organization.

The report says the Turkish community in France is large and organized,
in some cases it gets financing from other countries, and very often
from the Turkish state and is a serious threat to the French people,
and particularly to French Armenians.

To note, it is not the first year that the Turkish nationalistic
groups fight against the Armenian community in France. In 1980s it had
a terroristic character when attacked political and public figures,
national institutions.

FOR SLOVENIA ERDOGAN IS “MAN OF THE YEAR”, FOR GERMANY – NO LONGER
Karine Ter-Sahakyan

PanARMENIAN.Net
March 27, 2012

Turkey vainly hopes that resolutions in the U.S. Congress won’t be
adopted every year.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is still considered
politician number one in some countries of Eastern Europe, and not
only. Erdogan is awarded prizes for peace, is named man of the year,
of the decade, and almost of the century. It’s difficult to find
an explanation for this phenomenon. But if you look at the list of
countries that award Erdogan, everything becomes more or less clear.

PanARMENIAN.Net – International Institute for Middle East and Balkan
Studies in Slovenia presented the award “World personality of the
decade” to Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The award was given on the occasion
of the 10th anniversary of the Institute and for a balanced policy in
the Middle East and the Balkans. But they say the award will be handed
to the Turkish Prime Minister later. The logic of the above-mentioned
actions of this Institute does not fit in the real situation in
the Middle East – hardly can Turkey be counted among the countries
that really seek peace in the Middle East and the Balkans. Recent
developments related to Syria tell of the opposite. Creation of a
buffer zone, calling for al-Assad to “leave in a friendly way” and
the â~@~Kâ~@~Knever-ending war with the Kurds have little to speak
of the peacefulness of Ankara. Not to mention Israel against which
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is ready to wage war, should
Jerusalem start bombing Iran. “We will not accept a military strike
against Tehran, with whom we have some disagreements over Syria. If
Iran is bombed, Turkey will not remain indifferent,” Davutoglu said.

In his turn, Turkish President Erdogan said that in case of
necessity, Turkey could resume military operation in northern Iraq
to kill terrorists. “Earlier, Turkey already conducted an operation
in northern Iraq. At present, we are monitoring the situation and if
necessary we may resume the operation in northern Iraq,” Erdogan said.

Currently the Turkish army is fighting on its own territory: more than
two dozen Kurdish rebels were killed in Sirnak and Bitlis last week.

Moreover, 15 militants killed in Bitlis were women.

As for the other prize intended for Erdogan – German Steiger Awards
awarded for tolerance – a decision was finally made not to award it.

Wording of the refusal was quite evasive and consistent with the best
European traditions: the Prime Minister did not attend the ceremony,
and therefore he was refused the award. But in fact, the refusal
of the organizing committee was conditioned by protests. Armenians,
Kurds, Assyrians and Alawites staged a protest in Bochum against this
decision of the organizing committee. And a day before the ceremony
of awards the Steiger Awards changed the nomination. In accordance
with the change, Erdogan was to be presented an award on the occasion
of the 50th anniversary of Turkish-German friendship, but in the end
he lost it, too.

As for tolerance, no one in Turkey has ever “suffered” of it,
especially in regard to minorities, Armenians and Greeks in
particular. At a meeting with the U.S. President in Seoul, at the
summit on nuclear security, Erdogan could not resist and chided Obama
for the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group and the Armenian Genocide
resolution introduced into the U.S. Senate. “I reminded Obama that
during the past two decades the OSCE Minsk Group has not succeeded in
settling the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. And since the
issue has reached a deadlock, I suggested that we talk to Azeris and
Minsk Group co-chairing France, Russia and the United States to try to
persuade Armenia, so that they can solve the issue,” Erdogan was quoted
as saying in the Turkish Sabah newspaper. The trouble with Ankara
is that she has not yet realized that nothing on the Karabakh issue
depends on her, and the best thing she can do is just not to interfere.

However, the Turkish premier called on Obama “not to mistake U.S.

senators, lawmakers and politicians for historians.” “I told Obama
that we are tired. Every year in April we face the same problem,
whether Republicans come [to power] or Democrats, the issue remains
the same. Bills should not appear in Congress every year,” Erdogan
said. He apparently forgot for a moment that the U.S. president
cannot sign a decree on preventing the legislature from introducing
or not introducing this or that resolution into the Congress. But
Erdogan is confident that he warned Obama about the Armenian issue
and the president of the United States in his April 24 address to the
Armenian community will say “Metz Yeghern”. However, in vain Turkey
hopes that resolutions in the U.S. Congress won’t be adopted every
year. All in vain…

CHARLES AZNAVOUR GETS 2012 TREE OF LIFE FUND AWARD

armradio.am
03.04.2012 17:44

Noted French-Armenian singer Charles Aznavour got the 2012 Tree of
Life Fund award on Tuesday, in a ceremony that held at the UNESCO
headquarters in Paris, the Voice of Russia reported.

Initiated by the Parliamentary Assembly of the CIS countries in 2007,
the Tree of Life award is annually given to prominent public figures
for their significant contribution to international humanitarian
cooperation.

POLITICAL ANALYST SAYS AZERBAIJAN NOT TO SUCCEED IN CHANGING MINSK GROUP FORMAT

ARMENPRESS
APRIL 3, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan is trying to change the Minsk
group format, political analyst Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan told a press
conference on Tuesday, adding that with the efforts of Azerbaijan
the issue on replacing France with the EU has been raised. “Baku
understands that the war situation allows hide other crimes,”
Melik-Shahnazaryan said. According to him, Azerbaijani authorities
were dealing with the formation of totalitarian system expressed in
neutralization of political opposition, keeping people in awe. “I think
Azerbaijan will not manage to change the situation as the Minsk group
format is acceptable for all super powers. For doing it the consent
of all the parties is necessary and Armenia will never agree to it,”
he said.

MARAGHA. CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY AND CIVILIZATION

12:35 – 03.04.2012

In the history of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, abounding in
numerous facts of atrocity and vandalism by Azerbaijan, the events in
the village of Maragha of the NKR Martakert region are one of the most
extreme manifestations of sadism and barbarity ever known to humanity.

On April 10, 1992, after a three-hour preparatory bombardment,
the subunits of the Azerbaijani regular army invaded the village of
Maragha from the Azerbaijani village of Mir-Bashir (now Tartar). As
a result of the aggression 100 people were massacred – mostly women,
children, and elderly persons. Scores of people were taken hostages
and later were exchanged but the fate of many of them still remains
unknown. Two weeks later, on April 22-23, the village was repeatedly
attacked and the people who had come back to their burnt homes were
forced to abandon the village once and for all.

The monstrous crimes in Maragha followed the Armenian pogroms and
deportations in the Northern Atsakh, Baku, Sumgait, Kirovabad and
other settlements of Azerbaijan and were aimed at frightening the
people and disabling them to live in their homeland. By the depth of
human tragedy, the level of cruelty, the number of people exposed to
violence and captured, the events in the village of Maragha occupy
a special place among the bloody crimes committed by Azerbaijan in
Getashen, Martounashen, Buzlukh, Erkej and the other Armenian villages
in the northern part of the NKR in 1991-1992.

Vice Speaker of the House of Lords of the British Parliament Baroness
Caroline Cox, who visited the place of the tragedy several days later,
was shocked at what she saw. “They are not of human race” -said the
Baroness about the Azerbaijani servicemen who had carried out the
slaughter. Baroness Caroline Cox both took pictures and video-taped
those atrocities committed by the Azerbaijanis in the village of
Maragha and also described them in her book “Ethnic Cleansing in
Progress”, as well as in her numerous interviews.

“It is impossible to describe what we saw there. The village was
completely destroyed. The people were burying the dead, rather to say
anything that was possible to bury, charred human remains, tortured,
cut or sawed parts of bodies. We saw the bloody swords by which
they had done all these brutalities. After killing the villagers
the Azeris robbed and burnt the village. By the way, they told us
that the servicemen were followed by the civilians with trunks who
were going to finish the robbery, – and we saw some of those trunks
scattered all over the land, which the looters did not manage to take
away with them”, – witnessed Caroline Cox.

Seda Poghosyan, an eyewitness of the tragic events, who was saved
by a miracle told. “The women, elderly people and children were
hiding themselves in the basements and dugouts. On the third day –
on April 10, 1992, the Azeris invaded Maragha. Several people came
up to the dugout where I along with my daughter-in-law Marine and our
two children – 4-year-old Karen and 2-year-old Vigen were hidden. The
Azeris commanded us to get out of the dugout. The first was an old man
Sasha, Asya and Zabel followed him. As soon as a man was getting out
of the dugout he was immediately killed. My daughter-in-law leaving
her children with me also walked up the stairs. The Azeri, with
a knife in his hands prepared for stab, stopped and began tearing
away her jewellery. Then he tore her dress. She broke into a run,
the Azerbaijani rushed after her. The exit from the dugout was open.

People dashed for the exit. They were noticed by the Azerbaijanis who
were busy with robbery and threw themselves to kill with axes, knives
and scythes. Masya and Ruben Ananyans were overcut immediately. I
saw how my daughter-in-law’s sister Karina was trying to escape from
the executioners.

Larisa Badalyan, a resident of the village of Maragha, was held
hostage by the Azeris from April 10 till December 2, 1992.

“Women, Zoya, Masho and Tamara, were led out of the cell by turn,
and brought back blood-stained and half-naked. In an hour the door
opened, the armed soldiers burst into the cell and pulled off the
remains of their clothes and raped.

Three days later we were brought to a prison in Kubatly, where I saw
my son Apres, who was mentally ill. His eye came out, his head was
swollen. A young Armenian from Martakert was on the floor beaten up
to death… My son served as a shepherd, I did chores. We slept in a
barrack, ate leavings. My son was often beaten up before my eyes. Once
they brought a body of a dead Azerbaijani and they wanted to overcut
us on his grave…”- she witnessed.

In 1997, a number of human rights organizations conjointly prepared a
comprehensive reference on the events in Maragha and submitted it to
the UN Commission on Human Rights. The Helsinki Watch International
Human Rights Organization officially confirmed that scores of
civilians were martyrized and tens of women and children were taken
hostages. However, the international media did not cover the massacre
of the Armenians in Maragha at all and the international community
has not given yet a corresponding assessment to these tragic events.

“You have the most powerful weapon – the truth – said Baroness Cox.

You should bring it to the international structures’ notice that
Azerbaijan attempted to commit genocide against the population of
Karabakh. You must more actively present to the world the mass crimes
perpetrated against Armenians in Maragha, Sumgait, Baku, etc. These
are crimes against humanity. I support the Armenians and comprehend
that they will never be able to live under the Azerbaijani dominion, as
the Armenians of Karabakh, who lived under the control of Azerbaijan,
suffered much”.

The massacre in the village of Maragha, which is still under
Azerbaijan’s occupation, cannot be called a military operation,
as there were no military bases in the village but only peaceful
citizens, who became the main target of the aggression. The crimes
were aimed at deporting the Armenian people from their homeland.

Summarizing the abovementioned, we should state that the slaughter
of unarmed civil population of Maragha is a crime against humanity
and civilization, without period of limitation, and the perpetrators
of this crime must carry punishment to the fullest extent of the law.

LA COALITION EST ACCUSEE D’ACHETER LES VOIX DES ELECTEURS
Laetitia

armenews.com
mercredi 4 avril 2012

L’organisation qui contrôle le bon deroulement des prochaines
elections parlementaires a affirme mardi 3 avril 2012 que les trois
partis politiques representes au sein du gouvernement de l’Armenie
s’adonnent a de la distribution de nourriture et d’autres cadeaux
aux electeurs dans l’espoir d’acheter leur voix lors des prochaines
elections parlementaires. Harutiun Hambardzumian, le chef du groupe
It’s Your Choice, a declare que le parti republicain d’Armenie (HHK)
et ses deux partenaires de la coalition sont activement engages dans
des activites de soi-disant de bienfaisance, qu’il considère comme
frauduleuses.

Hambardzumian a declare que les avantages materiels octroyes aux
electeurs a travers le pays par les trois partis comprennent des
denrees alimentaires, de l’alcool, des engrais et des services… ”
La pratique est particulièrement repandue dans les regions pauvres
et rurales “, a-t-il ajoute.

” Les partis ont affirme que cela a ete deja fait mais que cette
pratique ne concerne pas les elections du 6 mai “, a annonce
Hambardzumian lors d’une conference de nouvelles. ” Mais je considère
que cette pratique est une forme d’achat de votes “, a-t-il dit.

” Cela peut etre considere comme une activite illegale “, a convenu
Karen Toumanian, un avocat qui forme des observateurs electoraux et
les mandataires candidats.

Le code electoral de l’Armenie interdit explicitement aux candidats de
fournir des biens ou des services aux electeurs. Mais les elections
armeniennes ont longtemps ete entachees par des accusations de
l’opposition et des rapports des medias qui mentionnaient des paiements
en espèces le jour du scrutin.

Le porte-parole du HHK, Eduard Sharmazanov, a insiste mardi sur
l’affirmation que le principal parti au pouvoir n’a pas et n’aura pas
recours a des pratiques illegales. Le parti Armenie prospère (BHK), un
partenaire de la coalition dirige par le businessman Gagik Tsarukian,
a egalement fait face a des allegations concernant des achats de
votes. Les representants du BHK ont a maintes reprises nie tout
lien entre une aide materielle aux electeurs (aide de bienfaisance)
et les activites politiques de Tsarukian.

Conformement au Code electoral, les dons des organismes de bienfaisance
dont les noms peuvent etre associes avec les dirigeants du parti et
d’autres politiciens ne sont pas autorises pendant les campagnes
electorales. La campagne pour les prochaines elections debutera
officiellement dimanche.

RUSSIAN FM: MOSCOW READY TO FURTHER ASSIST IN NEGOTIATIONS OVER NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Trend
April 3 2012
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan and Russia seek to find solutions to many problems and have
repeatedly proved the proximity of positions not only in bilateral
format, but also in the international arena, Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov said at a news conference in Baku on Tuesday.

“My current visit to Baku is a good opportunity to assess the practical
development of cooperation,” Lavrov said.

He said a Humanitarian Forum project, which is being successfully
implemented, has been launched under the patronage of the two
countries’ presidents.

Regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Lavrov noted Russia is
interested in resolving it and in this matter it acts based on the
interests of the people living in the region.

“We all want to accelerate the process of conflict resolution, and
we will make additional efforts in order not to delay this process,”
the Minister said.

Lavrov said Moscow is ready to further assist in the negotiations
with the consent of Baku.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said the UN resolutions
on the withdrawal of Armenian forces from occupied Azerbaijani
territories have no statute of limitations.

“We believe that they should be fulfilled,” Mammadyarov said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France and the U.S. –
are currently holding peace negotiations.

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