Author: Badalian Vardan

WITNESS SAYS ARMENIAN SOLDIER DEATH RACIALLY MOTIVATED

Noyan Tapan
2012-01-31

New testimony on Friday revealed that the death of a Turkish-Armenian
soldier who was fatally shot on April 24 was racially motivated,
reported the Sabah newspaper.

After Private Sevag Sahin Balikci was shot on April 24 last year,
other members of this unit, stationed in Batman province, and other
officers testified that Balıkci was shot accidentally when he was
“joking around” with a close friend, Kivanc Agaoglu.

However, according to the story published in the Sabah daily on Friday,
one of the privates who witnessed the incident changed his testimony,
which will likely change the course of Agaoglu’s trial.

According to Sabah, the revised testimony was given in December by
Halil Eksi, who served in the Turkish Army at the same time as Balikci.

“Kıvanc pointed his rifle at Sevag and pulled the trigger. His
family had asked me to testify in his favor,” Eksi said indicating
that Agaoglu’s family pressured him into giving false testimony.

“I was told by suspect Kivanc and his family, especially his
uncle, to testify in his favor. On the day of the incident, we were
installing chain-link fencing around the station under orders from our
commanders. As we did our work, at some point, Kivanc Agaoglu unlocked
his rifle’s safety and directed it at our other friend Sevag Sahin.

And he fired the rifle. Sevag Sahin was wounded. I do not know why
Kivanc fired at Sevag,” testified Eksi.

After the publication of the report, the Second Air Force Command
Military Tribunal in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır ruled
to hold the trial immediately rather than in March as witness Eksi
altered his testimony.

“The witnesses were freed from pressure when they were discharged
[from military service]. Perhaps they are doing some soul-searching.

It is hard to tell,” lawyer Cem Halavurt, who represents Balıkci’s
family in court, told the Hurriyet Daily News.

“We are going to file a criminal complaint about Agaoglu’s sister and
uncle and open a new lawsuit. Kıvanc runs the risk of getting arrested
in this trial, and that is what we are going to request,” Halavurt
said, adding that Friday’s hearing was going to be a critical one.

The witness could change his testimony yet again, Halavurt said,
adding that they were determined to take the case to the European
Court of Human Rights if the matter cannot be resolved in Turkey.

“It would not be right to connect or draw a parallel between the
cases of [Balıkcı and murdered Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant
Dink]. The common point of intersection between the two cases, however,
is that they are both racially motivated murders,” said Halavurt,
who also represented the Dink family in court.

EXPERT: AZERBAIJAN ALONE IN ITS STANCE

Panorama.am
31/01/2012

“This decision once again proved the viewpoint of the international
community that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can be settled within
the OSCE Minsk Group format only,” expert Edgar Hovhannisyan told a
Panorama.am reporter, commenting upon the PACE Bureau decision not
to resume the activity of subcommittee on Karabakh for the present.

He noted that it was clear from the very beginning that former PACE
president Mevlut CavuÅ~_oglu’s efforts to support the subcommittee
were to fail.

“The Co-Chair Countries have lately repeatedly said that they see
settlement of the conflict within the OSCE Minsk Group format only,
and no matter how much Azerbaijan insists on the necessity of changing
the format, it is alone in its stance,” said Hovhannisyan.

TURKEY CANNOT IMPOSE ULTIMATUMS ON FRANCE – EXPERT

Tert.am
31.01.12

Turkey is not the country to impose ultimatums on France, according
to Levon Hovsepyan, an Armenian Turkologist.

Addressing the French Senate approved bill to outlaw the Armenian
Genocide denial, the expert told reporters on Tuesday that Turkish
officials~R threatening statements which followed the move aim to
secure the country~Rs positions.

~SBoth the West and Russia realize perfectly that Turkey~Rs statements
pose instability threats,~T he said, adding that the country is
seeking to maintain its positions by making such statements.

The French Senate passed the Genocide denial bill on January 23. The
new measure, if enacted, will impose a one-year prison sentence and
a fine of ~@45,000 on anyone who deny the crimes genocide recognized
by France.

LE PREMIER MINISTRE REPRIMANDE LA POLICE DE LA ROUTE
Stephane

armenews.com
mardi 31 janvier 2012

Le Premier ministre Tigran Sarkisian a critique la police de
la route pour ce qu’il a decrit comme des retards excessifs dans
l’enregistrement des voitures et le remplacement en cours des permis
de conduire.

Tigran Sarkissian a dit qu’il a instruit le chef du departement de
police national, Vladimir Gasparian, de personnellement s’occuper des
files d’attente devant les bureaux de la police de la route a Erevan.

Le resultat des files d’attente, dans une grande mesure, provient de
la decision du gouvernement l’annee dernière de remplacer tous les
permis de conduire datant de la periode sovietique et des annees 1990
avec nouveaux, en plastique.

Un grand nombre d’automobilistes a fait des pieds et des mains pour
les recevoir avant janvier 2012 dernière limite. La date limite a
ete le mois dernier prolongee au mois de juin suivant.

” Recemment nous avons recu des plaintes quant aux services fournis par
la police et en particulier l’enregistrement des voitures et l’edition
de permis de conduire ” a dit Tigran Sarkissian, ouvrant une reunion
hebdomadaire de son cabinet. ” Des instructions ont ete donnees quant
a ce problème au chef de la police et nous devons ameliorer la qualite
des services très rapidement “.

” C’est un secteur où plus de 300 000 citoyens d’Armenie ont un
contact avec l’etat chaque annee. Il cree une attitude envers l’etat
” a-t-il dit aux ministres.

Le Premier ministre a annonce que la police de la route developpe
maintenant une nouvelle base de donnees informatisee de vehicules
et ouvrira un nouveau bureau dans la capitale en avril. Il a dit que
les proprietaires de voiture na doivent pas passer plus de 20 minutes
dans les bureaux de la police.

Tigran Sarkissian a aussi introduit d’autres changements dans le
maintien de l’ordre sur les routes. Cela inclut l’installation en
cours de cameras de surveillance. Des dispositifs numeriques ont
ete recemment places dans deux douzaines de rues et d’intersections
a Erevan.

ARMENIAN PRINTING, ARMENIAN LITERATURE CONFERENCE KICKED OFF IN YEREVAN

Panorama.am
31/01/2012

“Armenian printing and literature” conference kicked off today in
the Institute of Literature after M. Abeghyan. The conference is
dedicated to 500th anniversary of Armenian Printing.

Fifteen reports will be delivered during the conference focusing on
Armenian printing of Gutenberg period and modern publications and
book art.

“Urbatagirk” was the first printed Armenian book. It was printed in
1512 in Venice by Hakob Megapart. An example of the book is maintained
by National Library which is the most ancient book of the library fund.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH: CASES OF PHYSICAL VIOLENCE AGAINST ARMENIAN JOURNALISTS DECREASE, LAWSUITS INCREASE
By Gohar Abrahamyan

ArmeniaNow
31.01.12 | 16:12

The number of cases of physical violence and violations of the
rights to receive and release information has essentially decreased
in Armenia in 2011 as compared to 2010, whereas cases of violation of
mass media’s and journalists’ rights, especially pressure of different
nature applied against them, have increased.

Head of the Committee to Protect Freedom of Speech (CPFS) Ashot
Melikyan said this on Tuesday summing up the CPFS annual report on
the state of the freedom of speech and media rights violations in
Armenia in 2011.

“In 2011, there were only five cases of physical violence against
journalists, whereas there were nine such cases during the previous
year. Seven cases of rights violations on receiving and disseminating
information were registered as compared to 18 cases in 2010.

Meanwhile, 2011 was unprecedented due to the abundance of pressure
upon mass media and their employees – 49 cases (19 cases in 2010), 34
out of them were court cases,” says Melikyan, referring to the claim
of three Republican lawmakers, namely businessmen Ruben Hayrapetyan,
Samvel Alexanyan and Levon Sargsyan against the Haykakan Zhamanak
(Armenian Time) daily, and second President of Armenia Robert
Kocharyan’s and his family’s claims against the Hraparak (Square)
and Zhamanak (Time) dailies, and other such cases.

According to Melikyan, such growth in the number of court cases
is connected with the decriminalization of defamation (in 2010),
the application of which has become a means of legal, at the same
time political and economic pressure especially against opposition
mass media.

“Generally, 2011 was a very difficult year for the Armenian mass
media, because the unprecedented large number of court cases has
created an unhealthy atmosphere; they [the cases] contained bases of
self-censorship and elements of hidden censorship,” Melikyan says,
adding that the court procedures against mass media have aimed to
put financial pressure especially on ‘undesirable’ media outlets as
a means to silence them.

SEFILYAN REJECTS THE OPPOSITION

04:00 pm | Today | Politics

Different opposition parties suggest that member of the “Sardarapat”
Movement Jirair Sefilyan participate in the upcoming parliamentary
elections with their lists, Sefilyan told “A1+”.

Sefilyan also informed that he rejected all suggestions and mentioned
that he wouldn’t be participating in the elections at all.

“Those making suggestions support the regeneration of this regime
because they are taking part in the games that are based on the
authorities’ scenario. They have no right to be called the opposition,”
said Sefilyan.

However, Sefilyan assures that he won’t boycott the elections for
the National Assembly. “We are in favor of elections, but after they
(authorities-ed.) leave.”

The representative of the “Sardarapat” Movement says it will be
impossible to make the regime step down from power through political
games. “We see the solution in the political field. We have to be
able to unite everyone around that goal,” said Sefilyan.

JOURNALISTS LAUNCH PETITION AGAINST FIRING OF PARLIAMENT’S PUBLIC AFFAIRS HEAD
Grisha Balasanyan

hetq
January 31, 2012

A group of journalists have launched a signature petition to protest
yesterday’s directive by National Assembly President Samvel Nikoyan to
dismiss Gohar Poghosyan as head of the body’s public affairs
department.

The journalists argue that during her twenty year stint as a parliament
employee, Poghosyan has always exhibited high professional standards
and possesses an enviable track record.

AYSOR.AM AMONG THE LEADERS

Aysor.am
30.01.2012, 16:21

“Mediagid” is the first Armenian news aggregator both in Armenian
internet and in Trans-Caucasus. Such aggregators exist only in Ukraine
and RF in the CIS territory,” told the journalists the head of the
Mediagid.am Armen Martirosyan.

According to him unlike the international aggregators the “Mediagid”
is the only aggregator that can collect and analyze information in
Armenian language.

A.Martirosyan mentioned that the news sites are involved in aggregator
and they automatically direct their news feeds to the aggregator. The
latter analyzes and systemizes the information received.

Touching upon the peculiarities of the aggregator the speaker noticed
that before the user was to visit 10 sites to get information
he needed, while now the user can visit Mediagid to get all the
information received from those 10 sites.

According to him 60% of the Armenian internet information is involved
in Mediagid, the other 40% will be added in the future.

21 partner sites are included in aggregator and the system analyses
1300 and more information in 3 languages, Armenian, Russian and
English.

The speaker also presented the one year work results and mentioned that
245,000 news has been analyzed through their system in 3 languages, and
by the number of the news the following sites are leading: panorama.am,
panarmenian.net, armenpress, newsarmenia.ru and aysor.am. According
to Martirosyan by the number of news presented in sites panorama.am
is leading.

France may suffer not from administrative damages but Turkish people’s
affection – Chamber of Commerce

news.am
January 29, 2012 | 10:12

PARIS. – France may suffer not so much from administrative measures
taken by the Turkish government but the affection by the Turkish
society, deputy president of the French Chamber of Commerce in Turkey
Yves-Marie Laouenan said, adding the main damage for the French
business may be Turkey’s public opinion, which has changed sharply not
for the benefit of France.

To note, French Senate adopted the bill criminalizing denial of
genocides, while French National Assembly has adopted it on Dec. 22,
2011.

The statements by the Turkish politicians made after Dec.22, referred
to French-Turkish relations in the sphere of defense, diplomacy, and
foreign trade. Besides, French-Turkish trade turnover has reached 12
billion, while more than 400 French companies function in Turkey with
100,000 employees.

`As Turkey is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and
European Union Customs Union (EUCU), we do not expect negative
reaction against those companies as a result of administrative steps.
Generally the main losses currently to expect in bilateral relations
will refer to the future Francophiles among the elite, cultural and
diplomatic mutual relations and francophone,’ Laouenan concluded.