Author: Badalian Vardan

LE PREMIER MINISTRE S’EXPLIQUE
Stephane

armenews.com
jeudi 16 fevrier 2012

La presse du jour rend abondamment compte du point de presse du PM,
Tigran Sarkissian, a l’AN. Principaux thèmes evoques :

il n’y a pas de tension entre le parti Republicain et ” Armenie
prospère “. Le parti Republicain respecte la position de tous ses
partenaires.

la loi sur ” la restriction des transactions en liquide ” qui a
ete a l’origine d’une confrontation entre les deux partis a l’AN
(cf. la revue du 7.02), ne frappe aucunement les couches defavorisees,
contrairement a ce qu’affirment les opposants a la loi. [Rappelons
que la loi preconise que les transactions financières allant au-dela
de 3 millions de drams (6 000 euros) soient effectuees via le système
bancaire]. D’après le PM, 95% de la population armenienne ne fait pas
de transactions aussi importantes au cours de l’annee. Les accusations
selon lesquelles cette loi contribuerait a enrichir les banques sont
egalement infondees, puisque celles-ci effectueront ces transactions
sans aucun interet.

les resultats provisoires du recensement de la population armenienne
mis en place en octobre 2011 font etat de la diminution de celle-ci
de 170 000 au cours des dix dernières annees. Le Gouvernement a
conscience de devoir creer un environnement favorable au maintien
en Armenie de ses habitants, notamment en favorisant la creation de
nouveaux emplois, le chômage etant la principale cause des departs.

la liste du parti Republicain n’inclura pas d’hommes d’affaires connus,
ainsi que l’a affirme le President de la Republique. Hraparak relève
que le President aurait exhorte les membres de son parti a eviter
d’inclure non seulement des oligarques, mais aussi des membres de
leurs familles sur la liste du parti Republicain, tout en soulignant
qu’il se montrerait exemplaire, puisque aucun de ses frères ne se
presenterait aux elections sous l’etiquette du parti Republicain.

en ce qui concerne la construction d’un nouveau reacteur de la centrale
nucleaire et de son financement, le PM envisage le debut des travaux en
2014. D’ici la sera connu le nom de l’operateur. A l’heure actuelle,
il n’est pas exclu, selon le PM, qu’outre les Russes, il y ait une
cooperation avec les Francais et les Americains.

les problèmes de la communaute armenienne de Syrie sont au centre de
l’attention du Gouvernement qui suit de près les evenements dans ce
pays et demeure en contact avec sa representation diplomatique.

le PM a ouvertement soutenu son homologue russe Vladimir Poutine,
affirmant que sa victoire serait une bonne chose pour l’Armenie.

Celle-ci a interet a la stabilite et au developpement durable de la
Russie. Ce n’est pas un secret que tout evenement en Russie a des
repercussions sur la vie economique et sociale de l’Armenie. De ce
point de vue, la force politique qui peut assurer le developpement
durable de la Russie est V. Poutine et son parti.

LES MINORITES DEMANDENT DES REPRESENTANTS CIVILS LORS DES POURPARLERS SUR LA NOUVELLE CONSTITUTION EN TURQUIE
Stephane

armenews.com
jeudi 16 fevrier 2012

Les representants des minorites non-musulmanes de Turquie se sont
rencontres le 15 decembre au Patriarcat armenien d’Istanbul pour
discuter du projet d’une nouvelle constitution et de ceux qui doivent
les representer.

Les participants a la reunion ont debattu de la reconnaissance
des minorites comme des entites legales, de la citoyennete, de
l’organisation culturelle et du Traite Lausanne de 1923, qui a prescrit
le statut actuel des minorites non-musulmanes dans le pays, a declare
Laki Vingas, porte-parole des fondations Anatoliennes grecques et
membre du Conseil General des fondations au journal Hurriyet.

Commission commune

Le Patriarche grec Orthodoxe Bartholomeos, Yusuf Cetin Metropolitain
de la Communaute Syriaque et le Grand rabbin Ishak Haleva etaient
presents lors de la reunion. Une decision a ete prise pour etablir
une commission commune d’universitaires et d’experts legaux, a dit
Vingas, le porte-parole pour des fondations Anatoliennes grecques
et membre du conseil responsable des Fondations des minorites a la
Direction Gegerale des Fondations.

Les revendications de la communaute Syriaque, une des minorites
oubliees de la Turquie a aussi ete aborde pendant la reunion a dit
M.Vingas.

” Ce sujet me depasse. Allons-nous chercher des solutions des
problèmes de toutes les communautes minoritaires, ou [les problèmes
des minorites reconnues par le ] Traite de Lausanne plus les Syriaques
? Isolement, le Traite de Lausanne est inadequat pour une comprehension
contemporaine ” a dit M.Vingas.

Les representants des Fondations et les chefs religieux des communautes
minoritaires seront aussi invites a Ankara pour des consultations
avec la sous-commission sur des associations et les fondations dans
le cadre de la Commission de Reconciliation Constitutionnelle dans
les limites des efforts Parlementaires en cours pour le projet d’une
nouvelle constitution.

Une autre reunion s’est aussi tenue le 15 decembre dans l’Eglise
armenienne de Ferikoy a Istanbul par des representants de la
communaute armenienne, des administrateurs de fondations et des
universitaires. Les participants ont discute du rôle devant etre joue
par des membres non-clericaux des minorites dans l’elaboration de la
nouvelle constitution.

” Nous allons etablir un groupe de travail. Les decisions prises
[par les chefs des minorites] seront apportees a l’attention des
membres des communautes. Quelques personnes ne peuvent pas prendre des
decisions en notre nom. Il a ete dit dans le passe que les communautes
minoritaires ne parlent pas. Maintenant nous avons des demandes ”
a declare Tatyos Bebek un armenien de turquie au journal Hurriyet. ”
Si nous parlons d’une constitution civile, alors les civils seront
bien sûr impliques dans le processus ” a aussi dit M.Vingas.

EXHIBITION REMOVES VEIL OF HISTORY OBSCURING ANATOLIAN MINORITIES

yerkir.am
18:55 – 15.02.2012

Some 200 photographs are on display at an exhibit ‘Cultural
Diversity in Old Diyarbakır,’ which relates the lives and commercial
contributions of Diyarbakır’s long-forgotten peoples.

The Birzamanlar (Once Upon a Time) Publishing House has launched a
photography exhibition in Istanbul’s Tophane neighborhood, providing
a rare glimpse into the history of non-Muslim minorities living in
the southeastern province of Diyarbakır.

“Official history teaches us that all these cities were created by
the Turks, and that all the fair deeds of the past were done by them.

Those who are not Turks or Muslims are depicted as unfavorable
figures,” Osman Köker, the owner of the Birzamanlar Publishing
House, recently told the Hurriyet Daily News. “The cultures, faiths,
traditions and genetics of the peoples of old are also part of the
reality we call the Turkish nation.”

Around 200 photographs compiled from 40 different sources are on
display at the “Cultural Diversity in Old Diyarbakır” exhibition,
which is being jointly organized by the Birzamanlar Publishing House
and the Anatolian Culture and Global Dialogue, an Istanbul based
nongovernmental organization. The exhibition at Tophane’s Tutun Deposu
began Feb. 10 and will continue until March 10.

“Eastern Anatolia was much richer at the turn of the 20th century than
it has been in the Republican period, both culturally and materially,”
Köker said, adding that the memories of old were still very much
alive in Anatolia.

The exhibition, which relates the lives and commercial contributions of
Diyarbakır’s long forgotten peoples, such as the Armenians, Syriacs,
Chaldeans, Anatolian Greeks and the Yezidis, also features explanatory
notes in Turkish, English and Kurdish.

“Armenian newspapers were published and theaters [staged plays]
not merely in Diyarbakır, but also in many other [nearby] places
like Elazıg, Erzurum, Van and Erzincan. There were many factories
[making various kinds of produce] ranging from the silk industry
to metal wares. These [factories] did not [produce] solely for the
domestic market but also for exports,” Köker said.

Turkish people are now striving to learn about the truth instead
of the bragging of official history, he said. “All of us have grown
weary of such vein boasting.”

Old shopkeepers and artisans in the region readily confide they had
learned their skills from Armenians and Syriacs, he said.

Köker said they had already taken the exhibition to many different
corners of the world, including Armenia and that Anatolian peoples
had always shown great interest in the exhibition at every stop.

“Diaspora Armenians know precious little of the things they see in
the exhibitions. They see the concrete [images] of things that seem
to them like the stuff of legends. Moreover, they are nonplussed
that this project has been undertaken by a person of Turkish-Muslim
identity from Turkey,” he said.

Köker also said they had conducted research in the Orlando Carlo
Calumeo Collection, the

Boston-based Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archive, as well as
the Annuaire Oriental, an annual commercial almanac that has been
published since the mid-19th century, while they were preparing for
the exhibition.

MARIE IZMIRLIAN CHILDREN’S HOME TO BECOME SPECIALIZED

ARMENPRESS
FEBRUARY 16, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS: Seven children’s homes are operating
in Armenia rooming about 780 children, according to the 2011 data.

Karine Khachatryan, head of the Family, Women and Children Affairs
Department at the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry, told Armenpress
that two of the children’s homes are specialized. 415 children with
mental and physical disabilities are living there.

“About 90% of children living in “Marie Izmirlian” children’s home
have different problems. After the cabinet approves a bill it will
become the third specialized children’s home,” Khachatryan said.

She said for each child living in specialized children’s homes, the
state provides 1380 AMD daily for food and 4918 AMD for child’s care,
totally 6298 AMD. The sum allocated for non-specialized children’s
homes is less, for instance the state allocates for a child at “Yerevan
Child’s Home” 1115 AMD for food, 5061 AMD for other expenditures.

The specialist said there are few ways of discharging from children’s
homes. “It happens when the child is being handed to foster family
or when he/she is being returned to biological family. The cases when
a child is being adopted are more spread,” Khachatryan said.

HRANT DINK LAWYERS FILE CHARGES AGAINST 24 TURKEY PUBLIC SERVANTS

epress.am
02.16.2012

Lawyers for murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink have
requested that the Istanbul Deputy Chief Prosecutor’s Office file a
criminal case against 24 public servants for their alleged role in
the 2007 killing.

“If [police informant] Erhan Tuncel was found not guilty and could
be acquitted, and if he did not take part in the crime, then there
are other guilty [parties] out there,” Cem Halavurt, one of the Dink
family’s lawyers, told the Hurriyet Daily News.

The public servants in question include Muammer Guler, former Istanbul
governor and a deputy for the ruling Justice and Development Party
(AKP), Celalettin Cerrah, who was Istanbul police chief at the time but
has since been promoted to the post of Osmaniye governor in southern
Turkey, as well as Ramazan Akyurek, who was serving as the head of
police intelligence at the time.

“The aforementioned civil servant suspects … have committed the crime
of ‘intentional murder through negligent conduct’ by not fulfilling
their obligation to prevent Hrant Dink’s assassination by the armed
organization that committed the murder, and by not taking him under
their protection,” read the Dink family’s lawyers’ petition.

Both Cerrah and Guler refused to comment to the Daily News on the
matter.

“We are aware of the presence of the managers and members of
the organization that committed the Dink murder among the Trabzon
Provincial Gendarmerie Command, the Istanbul and Trabzon Provincial
police departments [and] the Police Department Intelligence Branch
Presidency staff. We know that all these relations will come to light
if an effective investigation is conducted,” the petition said.

Authorities did not give permission for an investigation to be
launched against the public servants in question, the lawyers said in
the petition. An appeal was consequently brought before the European
Court of Human Rights following the exhaustion of domestic judicial
alternatives.

POLICE GIVE ACTIVISTS PROTESTING KIOSK CONSTRUCTION IN PARK HALF HOUR TO PACK UP

epress.am
02.16.2012

An altercation took place earlier today between police and activists
who for the sixth day have been protesting the construction of kiosks
in the park next to the maternity hospital on Mashtots Ave. in Yerevan
(between Aram and Buzand streets).

A statement issued by the civic movement “We are the owners of our
city” states that the activists today tried to attach a sheet of
plastic over the metal frames of the partially built kiosks as shelter
from the snow; however, three people approached them and told them
to remove the cover.

According to the statement, the protestors called police who told
the youth that “there are orders from above saying you’re not allowed
to tie plastic sheets there” and gave the activists half an hour to
remove the plastic cover.

Currently the youth are in the park. Epress.am will report on details
later, as more information becomes available.

I AM PURE, BUT YOU ALL ARE SATAN! – ARMENIAN POLICE CHIEF – NEWSPAPER

NEWS.AM
February 16, 2012 | 09:25

YEREVAN. – Armenia’s Police Chief Vladimir Gasparyan recently gathered
the Police Force employees and gave them new instructions to improve
the service, Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun daily writes.

“According to our sources, Gasparyan spoke very roughly with those who
were gathered. ‘I am pure, but you all are Satan!’, the Police Chief
said in anger. Incidentally, it is known that Vladimir Gasparyan is a
fanatical follower of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and in his public
statements he often makes references to God and some Biblical terms,”
Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun writes.

AUSTRALIAN MLC SAYS IT IS TIME FOR ANKARA TO RECOGNIZE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

ARMENPRESS
FEBRUARY 15, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 15, ARMENPRESS: Member of the Legislative Council
of Australia Walt Secord condemned the Turkish government for its
continued denial of the Armenian Genocide in a powerful address on
the floor of the Legislative Council during the first sitting of the
New South Wales parliament in 2012.

In a clear and unequivocal statement on public record, Secord declared
that the Turkish government’s denial of the Armenian Genocide was
unacceptable.

“It is repugnant for Turkey to deny the deaths of the 1.5 million
Armenians,” said the co-deputy chair of the NSW Parliament’s Armenia
Australia Parliamentary Friendship Group.

“It is time for Ankara to accept the past and unequivocally recognise
the Armenian genocide.”

In his address entitled ‘Genocide Study Tour’, Secord also discussed
his recent visits to the Armenian Genocide Museum Institute in Yerevan,
the Concentration Camp in Auschwitz and Halabja in Iraq.

He spoke of the lack of a just resolution to the Armenian Genocide
as a factor that paved the way for the destruction of European Jewry
during the Holocaust.

“Sadly too few of us know of the Armenian Genocide. It was that very
denial of history that allowed communities to silently watch the
transports to and the smoke of Auschwitz,” said Secord.

The Legislative Council Member thanked the Armenian National Committee
of Australia for supporting his recent visit to Armenia and Nagorno
Karabakh and pledged to continue encouraging the advocacy efforts of
the organisation.

ANC Australia Executive Director Varant Meguerditchian immediately
contacted Secord to thank him for bringing to light the denial of
genocide and sharing his learnings from his “Genocide Study Tour”
with his parliamentary colleagues.

“Denial is considered by scholars as the final stage of one genocide
and the first stage of the next genocide,” said Meguerditchian.

“We thank Mr Secord for bringing awareness to this issue of humanity
by highlighting the relationship between the denial of the Armenian
Genocide and the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust.”

MEETING AT THE NKR NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Wednesday, 15 February 2012 05:44

On February 13, NKR NA Chairman Ashot Ghulian received first Chairman
of the National Council of the Slovakian Republic Frantisek Miklosko
and members of his delegation, which had paid an acquainting visit to
Artsakh: Rector of the Central European University Heyde Shvartsova,
Chairman of Vahostav Company Jan Cato and head of Khemolak enterprise
Roman Shustek. The delegation was accompanied by leader of the
Slovakian Armenian community and Chairman of the Forum of Armenian
Associations of Europe Ashot Grigorian.

Noting that it was his regular visit, the former Speaker of the
Slovakian Parliament emphasized the considerable positive changes
that had taken place in Nagorno Karabakh since his previous visit
a year and a half ago. “I admire all this, especially the view of
Stepanakert, which has become a western-type capital”, he noted.

The Slovakian guests were especially interested in the current
situation of the Karabakh settlement process and further possible
developments, related to which the NA Chairman gave corresponding
explanations and answered the guests’ questions.

The meeting participants discussed corresponding programs on
establishing different-type contacts between Slovakia and Artsakh,
outlining the ways and means of their realization.

NKR NA Chief of Staff Garry Jamharian attended the meeting.

41 FEUDAL LORDS

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 13:00:37 – 15/02/2012

During the parliamentary hearing of the draft law on proportional
representation, MP Armen Martirosyan, Heritage, noted that no one
wants to discuss which is better majority system or proportional
representation.

Armen Martirosyan recalled the statements by Prime Minister Tigran
Sargsyan in the National Assembly on the exclusion of businessmen
from the Republican party list but they cannot ban people run from
single-member districts. Armen Martirosyan says here the necessity
arises to adopt pure proportional representation for businessmen not
to come to the parliament and violate the Constitution of Armenia.

In regard to remarks that it is technically impossible to have pure
proportional representation, he said as soon as the draft law is
adopted, it will take a minute to enforce it since it does not have
related technical issues, and nothing additional is required.