Author: Badalian Vardan

AI EXPERT: DINK WAS MURDERED FOR PEACEFULLY EXPRESSING HIS OPINIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
January 17, 2012 – 14:21 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The Turkish authorities have failed to address state
officials’ alleged involvement in the killing of journalist and human
rights activist Hrant Dink, Amnesty International said Monday, Jan 16,
as the trial of 18 people accused of his murder drew to a close.

Hrant Dink, a Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, was killed on 19
January 2007 outside the offices of the Agos newspaper where he was
the editor.

When the trial ends on Tuesday, almost five years to the day after the
death of Hrant Dink, the authorities will still not have investigated
the full circumstances behind his murder, AI notes.

“Hrant Dink was murdered for peacefully expressing his opinions,” said
Andrew Gardner Amnesty International’s expert on Turkey. “The security
services knew of the murder plot and were in communication with those
accused of the murder yet nothing was done to stop it taking place.

Nothing short of a full investigation into the actions of all the
state institutions and officials implicated in the murder will
represent justice.”

Calls by the Dink family to investigate the collusion and negligence
of state officials in the murder, backed by a European Court of Human
Rights judgment in 2010, have not been heeded.

In July 2011 Ogun Samast, 17 years old at the time of the murder,
was found guilty of shooting Hrant Dink and was sentenced to nearly
23 years in prison by a Children’s Court. He was initially given a
life sentence but the term was commuted because he was a minor at
the time of the murder.

In June, Colonel Ali Oz and six other Trabzon Gendarmerie officials
were convicted of negligence for their failure to relay information
of the plot that could have prevented the murder.

“The actions of the Trabzon Security Directorate, Istanbul Governor’s
office and the Istanbul Security Directorate have not been effectively
investigated,” said Andrew Gardner. “The authorities must address
this immediately and ensure that Hrant Dink and his family receive
the justice they deserve.”

Hrant Dink was best known for being critical of the Turkish government
over issues of Armenian identity and over official versions of history
in Turkey relating to the massacres of Armenians in 1915. He was
repeatedly targeted for expressing his opinions. In 2005, he was given
a six-month suspended prison sentence for “denigrating Turkishness”
in writings about the identity of Turkish citizens of Armenian origin,
AI reminds.

The court is expected to issue a ruling on Dink case today, Jan 17.

IL “CORTILE” DI ANTONIA ARSLAN

korazym.org

Domenica 15 Gennaio 2012

Scritto da Caterina Maniaci

E’ uscito l’ultimo libro di Antonia Arslan, dal titolo “Il cortile
dei girasoli” (edizioni Piemme) e siamo subito andati a comprarlo. In
attesa del nuovo romanzo della “trilogia” armena”, dopo il grande
successo della “Masseria delle allodole” e della “Strada per Smirne”,
e dopo “Ishtar 2. Cronache dal mio risveglio” (dedicato al doloroso
capitolo di una sua recente malattia) la Arslan pubblica un insieme
di piccoli “quadri” – ricordi, ritratti, appunti, paesaggi – che
compongono il vasto universo dell’autrice. Bisogna ammetterlo: per
chi scrive Antonia Arslan non è semplicemente una importante autrice
contemporanea, una delle pochissime voci autentiche della letteratura
nostrana che sappia usare la lingua italiana come uno strumento usato
per creare bellezza. E’ questo ma molto di più. E’ stata la docente
ammirata, diventata poi modello, negli anni di universita a Padova,
dove ha insegnato a lungo Letteratura italiana moderna e contemporanea,
la quale, con le sue lezioni, ha innescato un amore imperituro per
la poesia e il gusto per piccoli, grandi autori poco conosciuti,
soprattutto donne.

I suoi saggi davvero pioneristici sulla narrativa popolare
dell’Ottocento e sulle scrittrici e poetesse italiane hanno dischiuso
un mondo nascosto e affascinante: chi aveva mai parlato e scritto così
della Marchesa Colombi e del suo microcosmo provinciale… E delle
poesie della padovana, di origini armene, Vittoria Aganoor Pompilj…

Ecco, l’identita armena è la chiave di volta di tutta la straordinaria
educazione culturale operata dalla Arslan. La storia di questo popolo
le era impresso nell’anima, perche era ed è storia di famiglia,
storia di generazione, ma quando cominciò a tradurre le poesie di
Daniel Varujan la forza, la drammaticita, ma anche la profondita
e la bellezza di questa storia diventarono carne e sangue, parole
e racconto. Non solo per lei, ma di riflesso per molti altri. Il
ricordo della prima lettura di quelle poesia è ancora fortissimo e,
in qualche modo, lacerante: lei ci fece leggere – e lesse in pubblico
– quei versi traboccanti di gioia di vivere, di immagini del Paese
lontano e amato – l’Armenia dei campi, dei giardini, delle chiese
di pietra, dell’Ararat – e anche grondanti di sangue, di morte,
di ferocia, scatenati dalla persecuzione contro il popolo armeno. E
così, per noi e molti altri, l’Armenia diventò una patria d’elezione,
dell’anima e scoprimmo le sue tracce tutt’intorno a noi.

Cominciammo a conoscere la Venezia armena, con il grande collegio
ormai disabitato e il giardino silenzioso, e soprattutto l’isola
di San Lazzaro con le sue memorie custodite dai padri mechitaristi,
e dalle finestre del convento si potevano immaginare le acque della
laguna trasformate in quelle, limpide e serene, del lago Sevan, in
cui si specchiano gli antichi profili del monastero di Sevanavank,
corroso dal vento e dalla pioggia. Quando uscì “La masseria delle
allodole”, nel 2004, la commozione fu grande. Veniva rievocata lo
sterminio di un intero popolo attraverso la vicenda terribile di una
famiglia, quella di Antonia, usando una prosa intensa, delicata ma
senza alcuna censura della realta, e fu anche grazie a questo romanzo
che il genocidio perpetrato dalla Turchia diventò meno oscuro e
dimenticato. Frammenti di quella storia, ma insieme di molto altro,
emergono anche dalle pagine del “Cortile dei girasoli parlanti”,
attraverso lo stesso linguaggio limpido, poetico, evocativo.

Ne è esempio il breve brano che ha dato il titolo al libro, ambientato
a Longiano, paese bellissimo nelle colline intorno a Cesena, mentre
avvolge la scrittrice, che si sporge dagli spalti del castello. Guarda
il paesaggio sottostante e vede un cortiel, dentro il quale . La
bellezza è ovunque e cerca sempre una Presenza che, come il sole,
può oscurasi, ma non scompare mai.

OSCE TO MONITORING CONTACT LINE BETWEEN ARMENIAN, AZERBAIJANI ARMIES

Trend
Jan 16 2012
Azerbaijan

Monitoring will be held on the contact line between Armenian and
Azerbaijani armed forces in the north-west of Kurapatkino village in
the Khojavand region on Jan.17, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.

The monitoring will be held under a mandate of the OSCE chairman.

The monitoring will be held on the Azerbaijani side by the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office Personal Representative Andrzej Kasprzyk’s field
assistants Imre Palatinus, Christo Christov and William Pryor.

The monitoring will be held on the opposite side, which the
international community recognizes as Azerbaijani territory, by
OSCE Chairman-in-Office Personal Representative Andrzej Kasprzyk,
his field assistants Antal Herdich and Marius Puodziunas.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 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 the 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.

OFFICIAL SLAMS COURT RULING OVER ARMENIAN PROPERTY

Hurriyet Daily News

Jan 16 2012
Turkey

Located in Eminönu district, Sansaryan Han was refashioned into
the Police Headquarters in 1944 and gained notoriety as a bastion of
ill-treatment by the police. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GUREL The head
of Turkey’s Foundations Directorate General has sharply criticized
a recent ruling by an Istanbul court to impose an interim injunction
over Sansaryan Han, a historical Armenian shopping center, following
an appeal by the Turkish-Armenian Patriarchate.

“To tell the truth, it seems quite significant to me that the
Patriarchate has demanded for an interim injunction to be imposed
over the sale of Sansaryan Han. [The Patriarchate] must be aware
of the fact that we are not going to put it up for sale. I imagine
[they] have engaged in a symbolic struggle, a legal battle,” Adnan
Ertem, the head of the Foundations General Directorate, said Friday,
adding they were going to object to the ruling next week.

Located in Istanbul’s Eminönu district, Sansaryan Han was refashioned
into the Istanbul Police Headquarters in 1944 and eventually gained
notoriety as a bastion of ill-treatment by the police, as many people,
including a number of prominent poets and writers, had been tortured
there. “The Sansaryan Mıgırdic Aga Foundation was established by
an Armenian subject of the Ottoman [Empire]. It is a foundation that
ZZZZhas nothing to do with [minority] community foundations. As such,
it is out of question for this foundation to take advantage of laws
applicable to community foundations and for Sansaryan Han to be handed
over to the Armenian Patriarchate,” Ertem said.

The court ruling pertains only to the sale of the property in question
and does not prevent Sansaryan Han to be put up for rent or opened
to investment through the build-operate-transfer model, he said.

Ertem also said they had endeavored massively to rectify the injustices
that befell upon minority community foundations after 1936, the
date of an official decree that required foundations to submit a
proclamation detailing their assets, which eventually led to the
properties’ confiscation.

Sansaryan Han ought to be given a foundation status within the
framework of the Lausanne Treaty of 1923 to gain legal recognition
as a minority foundation, he said.

Sansaryan Han was registered on the Foundations Directorate General
in 1936, the same year when minority community foundations gained
legal status, he added.

“The Patriarchate, in that case, could have appealed on that day
to claim that the Sansaryan Mıgırdic Aga Foundation was theirs,”
he said, adding that an incident that took place 74 years ago would
have no legal repercussions today.

EUROVISION VOTING RULES CHANGED

PanARMENIAN.Net
January 16, 2012 – 21:46 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – A new decision was passed regarding the Eurovision
2012 Song Contest to be hosted by Azerbaijan in May.

The voting will be held in last 15 minutes. It was decided in 2010
that the voting lines should be opened from the very start of the show
in order to give viewers the opportunity to vote throughout the show.

This year the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) decided to restore
the old voting system.

The decision came to force. Jury will give points to the participants
due to the results of main rehearsals at the Eurovision 2012 Song
Contest in Baku as it was in previous years, APA reported.

STATE AGENCY: ARMENIAN CONSUMERS CAN COMPLAIN ABOUT SHOPS WHICH REFUSE TO TAKE SOLD GOODS BACK

/ARKA/
January 16, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, January 16. /ARKA/. Armenian economy ministry’s agency for
protecting the market and consumers’ rights calls on consumers to
inform it about cases of refusal by shops to take back sold goods,
Levon Khalikyan, head of the agency, said Monday at a news conference.

“Under the Armenian law, shops ought to take back anything returned
no later than in seven days after the purchase, if it is not damaged,
or replace it with another product,” he said. “Signboards in various
shops stating that sold goods are not subject to return contradict
the law. Therefore, we urge people to let us know of such cases.”

The agency’s hot line number: 010 23 56 00.

NKR MFA INFORMATION DEPARTMENT COMMENTS ON SERIAL DECONSTRUCTIVE POSITION OF AZERBAIJAN

ARMENPRESS
JANUARY 16, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JANUARY 16, ARMENPRESS: NKR MFA Information Department has
circulated a commentary on approval of the Unified Budget of the
organization for 2012 by the OSCE Permanent Council. Along with
this, the Permanent Council discussed a request to increase the
funding for the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office (CiO) to ensure sufficient resources to investigate
potential incidents on the Line of Contact between the armed forces
of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan, in pursuance of the agreements
of February 6, 1995 signed by the three parties to the conflict
(Nagorno Karabakh, Armenia, and Azerbaijan) through the mediation
of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Conference, press service of NKR
Foreign Affairs Ministry told Armenpress.

“The idea of increasing the funds for the Office of the CiO Personal
Representative was widely supported by the OSCE member-states. It is
symbolic that the idea was opposed only by the Azerbaijani delegation,
which explained its position by the fact that it could not approve
additional funding for the Office until a final agreement on the
details of the mechanism of the incidents’ investigation was achieved.

Unfortunately, it is not the first time we face a situation where the
actions of the Azerbaijani leadership fully contradict the earlier
statements and agreements at the highest level, in particular, the
agreements achieved in Sochi on March 5, 2011 by the Presidents of
Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

This confirms once again that Azerbaijan is not interested in
the investigation of incidents on the Contact-Line, since it
will be eventually established that it is the Azerbaijani party
that periodically exercises provocations, thereby deepening the
hostility and distrust of the parties towards each other and driving
the negotiation process to a deadlock,” the commentary of NKR MFA
Information Department runs.

PROSPEROUS ARMENIA DISTRIBUTING SATELLITE DISHES IN GYUMRI, SAYS LOCAL RESIDENT

epress.am
01.16.2012

For a week now the Prosperous Armenia party in Gyumri has been going
door to door distributing satellite dishes to the public, Gyumri
resident Vahagn Khachatryan informed Epress.am earlier today.

Khachatryan charged that party representatives have been entering
people’s homes and saying that they’re distributing the satellite
dishes as New Year’s gifts and they can pick up theirs at the local
party office. According to the Gyumri resident, once they go to the
office, they are told in order to receive their “gift” they must sign
up for a Prosperous Armenia membership.

Epress.am attempted to obtain comments on the matter from Prosperous
Armenia central headquarters’ chief of staff Ruben Manukyan, who
said he does not possess such information and knows nothing about
the distribution of satellite dishes.

RUSSIA MURDER VICTIM ARMENIAN TEEN: BELIEVED TO BE MISTAKEN ASSASSINATION

16.01.12 | 13:28

Aerial view of Krasnoyarsk

It has been reported that the victim of an apparent botched
assassination in Russia is a teenager of Armenian descent.

Friday, in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, 17-year old Hovhannes Sahakyan was
shot in the back and head, killing the university student. The murder
took place as Sahakyan was opening the door on a vehicle belonging
to an un-named businessman who is believed to have been the intended
victim.

According to news reports Sahakyan had moved to Krasnoyarsk from
Severo-Yeniseyks, to attend university

The killer escaped.

PRESCOTT ANGRY AT RUSTAMYAN

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 16:35:28 – 16/01/2012

During the meeting of the PACE Co-Rapporteur on Armenia John Prescott
with the representatives of the Armenian delegation to PACE, an
interesting incident happened. Prescott got angry and hit the table in
a debate with Armen Rustamyan, the member of the Armenian delegation.

Rustamyan presented the arguments to their initiative to pass to
100% proportional voting system, but Prescott refused listening to
Rustamyan’s speech or take the documents relating to this issue,
got angry and hit his hand against the table.

In a phone talk with us, PACE Armenian delegation member Zaruhi
Postanjyan said that then Prescott calmed down and the meeting
continued.

One more incident happened during the meeting with the Heritage
faction, when Prescott refused taking the documents from the
parliamentary opposition.

Zaruhi Postanjyan says she has the impression that Prescott is
very partial. “But we need to work and report the situation to
the monitoring commission, the PACE secretariat and the second
Co-Rapporteur. I think we have much to do”, said Postanjyan.