Author: Badalian Vardan

AZERBAIJAN CONDEMNS FRENCH VOTE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE LAW
By Zulfugar Agayev

Business Week

Jan 24 2012

Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) — Azerbaijan condemned the French Senate’s
approval of legislation making it a crime to deny that the mass
killing of Armenians early last century was genocide.

The move may “undermine France’s participation in some developments
in the region,” the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in an emailed
statement today. The ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party called on France
to withdraw from co-chairmanship of the so-called Minsk Group,
which mediates in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and
Azerbaijan, because it has lost its credibility as an honest broker,
the APA news agency reported.

French oil company Total SA has a 10 percent stake in the BP Plc-led
Shah Deniz natural-gas development. Total is also developing the
Absheron field, which holds some 350 billion cubic meters of gas.

Azerbaijan has close ethnic and political ties with neighboring Turkey,
which vowed to fight the French measure, risking a further round of
Turkish sanctions and deterioration in relations.

Top Turkey news: TOP TR Turkey politics news: TNI TURKEY POL
Turkish economic snapshot: ESNP TU Bloomberg News in Turkish:
NH TBN

–With assistance from Henry Meyer in Moscow. Editor: Hellmuth Tromm.

SERGEI LAVROV: AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS STATED THAT MAXIMALIST POSITION MUST BE GIVEN UP IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE PROGRESS

Milaz.info
Jan 23 2012
Azerbaijan

“At the Sochi meeting held with participation of Russian President,
Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents admitted the necessity of giving
up hardline position and stated that they are ready to continue the
efforts to bring the positions closer,” Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov told journalists, APA reports.

“Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents stated that maximalist position
must be given up in order to achieve progress. The uncoordinated
issues on the basic principles of the resolution of Nagorno Karabakh
conflict were discussed at the trilateral meeting of the presidents.

The parties exchanged views on concrete complicated issues and came to
the conclusion that the work should be continued. The participants of
the meeting reached an agreement to continue working on the general
principles and further to switch to the preparation of the legal
document on the peace agreement,” he said.

Lavrov said Russia as a mediator and co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group
will continue making efforts to bring the parties closer.

GOODS WITH ANNOTATION IN ARMENIAN LANGUAGE BROUGHT TO AZERBAIJAN

Azerbaijan Business Center
Jan 23 2012

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. Speech Freedom Protection Fund (SFPF) has held
the next monitoring for fulfillment of the law on language in trade
sector of Azerbaijan.

SFPF reports that the subjects of monitoring were 198 food and
non-food products imported in the country. 24% of them were dairy
products, 16%- meat products, 95%- pickled products, 28%-sweets, 17%-
fresheners, 6%-detergents. The analysis concerned compliance of names,
labels and annotation of these goods with the requirements of the
law on language. Only 24,7% of inspected goods had such a compliance
including 0,5% of goods were provided this compliance by distributor
agencies. At that 48% of annotations were not legible to consumers
as the printing was too small. Annotations in 18 languages on certain
pasta products are unreadable in all languages.

At that it was impossible to find information in Azerbaijani language
on any Russian or Turkish commodity. At that the monitoring revealed
sale of 4,5% of goods with annotation in Armenian language.

FRENCH SENATE EYES GENOCIDE BILL – TURKEY THREATENS MORE SANCTIONS

Kuwait Times

Jan 23 2012
Kuwait

PARIS: Turkey threatened more sanctions for France if the Senate in
Paris votes later yesterday to make it a crime to deny the 20th-century
killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks constitutes a genocide. France’s
lower house voted to make such denials a crime last month, prompting
Turkey to suspended military, economic and political ties. If the bill
passes the Senate, it will be on a fast track to becoming law. If it
fails, the National Assembly, France’s lower house, could take it up
again, starting the process over.

As the debate before the vote got under way, rival demonstrations –
one pro-Turkish and one pro-Armenian, kept apart by a large police
presence – gathered outside the upper house of parliament, waving
flags and blowing whistles. On Saturday, thousands of Turks from across
Europe marched through the French capital, accusing French President
Nicolas Sarkozy of acting in the hope of securing French Armenians’
votes in this year’s presidential elections.

An estimated 500,000 Armenians live in France. While most historians
contend that the 1915 killings of 1.5 million Armenians as the Ottoman
Empire broke up was the 20th century’s first genocide, Turkey has
vigorously denied that. It says that there was no systematic campaign
to kill Armenians and that many Turks also died during the chaotic
disintegration of the empire.

Yesterday, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc, speaking during
a visit to Strasbourg, France, said: “What would happen if a thousand,
ten thousand or a hundred thousand gathered around Eiffel and said
‘there is no genocide’? What would the French justice do? Would
it be able to convict ten thousand or a hundred thousand people? I
don’t think so.” But the most significant protest came from Ankara,
Turkey’s capital, where the foreign minister warned that he was ready
to take new measures against France if the bill passed.

“Turkey will continue to implement sanctions as long as this bill
remains in motion,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told
reporters ahead of the debate. “We hope however, that this won’t be
necessary and that common sense will reign in the French Senate.” He
did not spell out the measures Turkey would take.

The bill sets a punishment of up to one year in prison and a fine
of ?45,000 ($59,000) for those who deny or “outrageously minimize”
the killings – putting such action on par with denial of the Holocaust.

France formally recognized the 1915 killings as genocide in 2001,
but provided no penalty for anyone rejecting that. The bill strikes at
the heart of national honor in Turkey, which has argued that the bill
would compromise freedom of expression in France. “European values are
under threat,” Davutoglu said yesterday. “If each parliament takes
decisions containing its own views of history and implements them,
a new era of Inquisition will be opened in Europe.” “Those who voice
views that exclude this view of history will be jailed,” he said. “It
would unfortunately, be a great shame for France to revive this.” -AP

THE ASSASSINATION THAT CHANGED TURKEY’S MINDS OVER ARMENIA
By Zvi Bar’el

Ha’aretz

Jan 23 2012
Israel

The murder of an Armenian newspaper editor by a 17-year-old Turkish
nationalist rattled the country’s public. Now, Turks of all political
stripes are waiting to see what the political ramifications will be.

“We want to get rid ourselves of this shame. They tell us the Dink
affair has come to an end, but the truth is that it is only the
beginning,” cried Turkish-Armenian journalist Karin Karaksli with
excitement as she spoke from the balcony of the headquarters of “Agos,”
Istanbul’s Armenian weekly newspaper. “This is not a closed case, it
is a wound,” she added, expressing the feelings of thousands of raging
protesters that gathered in front of the newspaper last Thursday.

Hrant Dink was assassinated in broad daylight, on January 19, 2007,
at the hands of a 17-year-old Turkish nationalist. Dink – an editor
at Agos – called for reconciliation between Turks and Armenians,
and criticized the government’s refusal to recognize the Armenian
Massacre. As a result, he was “marked” by nationalist forces as an
enemy of the Turkish people, and was to be eliminated.

Exactly five years have passed since an investigation into the killing
was opened. Members of the Armenian community, as well as large parts
of the Turkish public – specifically liberals who advocate for minority
rights, and nationalists who see the Armenians as enemies – had been
waiting for the verdict. Last Wednesday, the verdict was published,
causing an uproar no less severe than the one which followed the
assassination itself. The court ruled that the killer, Orgun Samast,
who was 17 when he killed Dink, acted alone, and that there is no
proof that he was a member of a terrorist organization.

The judge who sentenced Yasin Hayal, the man who incited Samast to
kill Dink, acquitted 19 other suspects that were arrested together
with Samast. This acquittal, along with the explanations given by
the judge, created a storm which caused tens of thousands of Turks to
protest across major cities across the countries to demand “justice.”

The demonstrators and critics of the verdict refuse to believe that the
murder was committed by a sole perpetrator, considering the background
information that was presented to the court, according to which,
photographs of police officers could be seen laughing with Samast
at a police station. The police also received an early warning that
told them of the intention to assassinate Dink – the police did not
do a thing to prevent the murder. On top of all this were the reports
that revealed information regarding the Ergenekon Affair.

The Eregenkon Affair has accompanied Turkey for over six years.

Hundreds of military officials, journalists, politicians and
intellectuals have been arrested for suspicion of attempting to
overthrow Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party.

According to the recently published findings, the suspects plotted to
attack Armenian institutions and mosques, in order to prove that the
government is not capable of providing public security, thus giving
the military a reason to take control of the country. It is suspected
that Ergenekon activists were behind Dink’s killing.

“Students, whose only “fault” was that they protested the government,
are being judged and jailed due to their involvement in a terrorist
organization. There are journalists and military personnel who are
in similar situations. And now they are expecting us to believe that
those who assassinated Hrant Dink acted on their own accord and
are not part of a ‘terror group,'” wrote Semih Idiz, an important
publisher, last week. “It seems that the idiom which says one cannot
sue the devil while the court sits in hell, was written to describe
the Turkish judicial system.”

Even President Abdullah Gul, who was asked to remark on the court’s
decision, understood that the issue is a political and public bomb,
which is not about to go away with the trial’s end. “This is an
important trial full of great emotion, as it affects one of our
non-Muslim citizens,” said Gul, who suggests waiting until the appeal
submitted by Dink’s family will be heard by the Supreme Court. But
such a suggestion does not satisfy the public.

Even the Vice Prime Minister Bulent Arınc declared that he stands
“on the side of the people whose conscious does not rest due to court
decisions.” Erdogan, who is still recovering from intestinal surgery
last month, refused to discuss the issue, although in an interview
with journalist Mehmet Ali Birand he said that he accepted the claim
that the court’s verdict hurt the conscience of the citizens.

However, the frustrations and the disappointments on the court’s
decision cannot cover up the concerns and the suspicions, that the
murder caused great satisfaction among nationalists, even those who
held senior positions in the ruling party. This is the way Dink’s son,
Arat Dink, blamed former Justice Minister Jamil Chichak for inciting
against Armenians, mentioning the nickname he gave participants of
a conference on the Armenian Massacre: “backstabbers.” Before his
killing, Hrant Dink said he was summoned to the Istanbul district
governor’s office for a meeting where members of state intelligence
were present. The agents warned him “to act cautiously in his
writing…we know who you are, but society may not know (and may harm
you, Z.B.).”

Turkish journalists are exercising extreme caution today when they
describe the Armenian Genocide. They use phrases such as “the events
of 1915,” or “The Armenian disaster.” He who wants to use the word
“massacre” despite it all must quote foreign sources, as if the
subject were some military secret.

But at least the protesting Turks can be comforted by one fact:
the consciousness surrounding the Armenian Massacre is no longer a
matter of “Westerners who are seeking to attain what they failed at
during World War II, when they used the Armenians (to kill Turks,
Z.B.),” as the nationalists in Turkey claim; now the Armenian issue
has risen to the top of the public’s interest in Turkey.

THRIVING ARMENIAN COMMUNITY CALLS CHELMSFORD CHURCH HOME
By Monica Jimenez

Wicked Local

Jan 23 2012
MA

Chelmsford – Saints Vartanantz Armenian Church

Pastor Rev. Fr. Khachatur Kesablyan was born in Etchmiadzin, Armenia
and served as chaplain to the Armenian Army from 1999 to 2001. From
2005 to 2006 he was pastor of the City of Kapan and its 30 surrounding
villages in southern Armenia. He came to the United States in 2006
and continued his religious service and education in Cambridge,
Brookline and Boston.

St. Vartan

The church is named for an Armenian hero named St. Vartan. In 451 AD
during the Battle of Avarayr, St. Vartan and others fought a Persian
army to defend the Christian faith, which the Persian ruler had
demanded they abandon in favor of the pagan religion of Zoroastrianism,
which involved fire worship. St. Vartan and many of his comrades died,
but the Persians eventually stopped trying to convert Armenia. The
Feast of Vartanantz, a religious and nationalistic celebration,
is held on the Thursday before Great Lent.

History

The Armenian Ladies Aid Society formed in 1910 with the goal of
building an Armenian church. Eventually Saints Vartanantz Armenian
Church was built on a small piece of land on Lawrence Street in
Lowell. During the next 60 years, the Armenian community grew and
church leaders began to consider expansion. In 1974 they moved into a
private school building on 16 acres of land in Chelmsford and held
services in the gymnasium and library while a new sanctuary was
designed and constructed. In June 1978, construction finished.

The church is a replica of the old “Cathedral of Ani” in Armenia,
a domed cruciform church built in 1001 AD that is considered a
masterpiece of architecture. It was updated in 1990 and now includes
a library, dining room, ballroom, and outdoor event area.

Calendar

Jan. 19 Dinner and Travelogue on Moscow, Armenia and Dubai, with a
chicken kebab dinner.

Feb. 12 Presentation of the Lord to the Temple. All children baptized
at the church in 2011 are invited to be re-dedicated at the altar.

Feb. 16 Commemoration of St. Vartan the Warrior and his companions.

Feb. 18 Poon Paregentan Dinner-Dance, featuring Middle Eastern music
and vocal, clarinet, keyboard, guitar and dumbeg performances.

FRANCE RISKS TURKISH WRATH WITH ARMENIA VOTE

EuroNews
Jan 23 2012
France

The French senate is to vote today on a bill making it illegal to deny
that the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks nearly a century
ago was genocide. If it passes it will further inflame tensions between
France and Turkey over the issue. The lower house’s backing of the
draft law in December provoked a furious backlash from Turks in France.

Since then the bill has been watered down to some degree, by outlawing
the denial of any genocide. But that has done little to appease Ankara.

After weeks of Turkish lobbying some analysts believe the outcome of
the Senate vote could be close.

Zeynel Lule, journalist and expert on Turkish-French relations told
euronews: “There’s going to be presidential elections within four to
five months and many people predict that Sarkozy will lose his place
to the socialists. I believe that if this is the case, the socialists
will try to repair the damaged relations between the countries.”.

Turkey, which says the mass killings were part a bloody conflict in
which both sides suffered heavy losses, is watching the debate closely.

Our correspondent in Istanbul, Bora Bayraktar, said:

“Ahead of the French senate vote, Turkey is waiting silently. The
question is: how long this silence will continue? We will see this
tonight here in front of the French consulate (where protests are
expected).”

TURKEY VOWS PERMANENT SANCTIONS AS FRANCE VOTES ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL

RFi

23 jan 2012
France

French senators are set to vote on a bill on Monday to outlaw denial
of the Armenian genocide by Ottoman Turk forces in 1915 despite a
threat by Turkey to punish the law with permanent sanctions.

Relations between the two countries have been damaged since the lower
house last month approved the bill which could send to jail anyone
who denies the genocide.

Ankara has frozen political and military ties with France and has
promised further measures if the bill is passed by the Senate or
approved by President Sarkozy whose UMP party put the bill forward.

A Senate law Commission on Wednesday rejected the measure, but their
vote is not expected to prevent it from becoming law.

Some ministers fear it will hurt diplomatic and trade ties with a
Nato ally and major economic partner.

Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has admitted the bill is “untimely”.

On Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu repeated Ankara’s
oppsition to the bill saying it goes against European values and
would not help Turkish-Armenian relations.

“It is time for French intellectuals, for French senators to defend
our common values, freedom of expression. These are European, French
values. This is against these values,” he said.

In an attempt to diffuse tension with Ankara, Sarkozy sent a
conciliatory letter to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
stressing the measure was not aimed at any state or people in
particular.

France is home to an estimated 500,000 citizens of Armenian descent and
the UMP has been accused of backing the law in order to pander to a key
electoral demographic three months ahead of the presidential election.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their forebears were killed in
1915 and 1916 by the forces of Turkey’s former Ottoman Empire.

Turkey disputes the figure, arguing that only 500,000 died, and denies
this was genocide, ascribing the toll to fighting and starvation during
World War I and accusing the Armenians of siding with Russian invaders

AZERBAIJAN THWARTS TERROR ATTACK AGAINST ISRAELI, JEWISH TARGETS
By Eli Shvidler

Ha’aretz

Jan 23 2012
Israel

Security official in Baku links Iran to planned operation; three
men detained.

Three men were detained last week after planning to attack two
Israelis employed by a Jewish school in Baku, the Azerbaijan Ministry
of National Security has revealed. Meanwhile, an Azeri commentator
considered close to the republic’s president has launched a scathing
indictment of Iran.

The Azeri ministry said it had arrested a cell that planned to “kill
public activists,” before it became apparent that the intended victims
were two Israeli Chabad emissaries, a rabbi and a teacher employed by
the “Chabad Or Avner” Jewish school in Baku. The ministry said that
the three men, named as Rasim Aliyev, Ali Huseynov and Balaqardash
Dadashov, received smuggled arms and equipment from Iranian agents.

The action was apparently planned as retaliation to the gunning down
of Iranian nuclear scientists.

“The Azeri security forces acted covertly without alerting us,”
said Rabbi Shneor Segal, one of the two targets. “It was published
that they originally planned to attack ‘people who look Jewish and
hold foreign passports,’ near the school, but when the school guards
began suspecting them, they started monitoring the area where I live,”
he told Haaretz.

Segal added that the second target was Rabbi Mati Lewis.

Irani-Azeri relations, which were never rosy, recently deteriorated
even further after Azeri Communication Minister Ali Abbasov accused
Iran of carrying out a cyber attack against several offices in the
country accused of “cooperation with Israel.”

Wafa Guluzade, a political commentator considered close to Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev, warned Iran that “planning the murder of
prominent foreign citizens in Azerbaijan by a band of terrorists,
one of whom [Dadashov] resides in Iran, amounts to ‘hostile activity’
against our country.”

Guluzade said that Iran would “break all its teeth trying break us …

no Iranian provocation will influence the sociopolitical situation
in Azerbaijan. Iran and its primitive ayatollahs sense their end is
near and are trying to terrorize their neighbors. If they persists
they will be answered by us, and by our Western allies.”

Azerbaijan has accused Iran of supporting Armenia in the conflict
surrounding the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. Last November
an Iranian parliament member accused Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan of
being “local Mossad bases.”

FRANCE CALLS ON ANKARA TO REMAIN CALM

news.am
January 24, 2012 | 12:57

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe called on Turkey to remain calm
after the Senate adopted late on Monday a bill criminalizing the
Armenian Genocide denial.

In an interview with Canal+ channel, Juppe said France and Turkey
need good relations expressing confidence they would pass this phase
and build constructive relations, Le Monde reports.

He stressed that thereHe are good economic and trade ties between
the states expressing hope that reality will prevail over emotions.