Author: Badalian Vardan

GENOCIDE BILL PROTESTERS HACK FRENCH SITES

Published: Dec. 29, 2011 at 6:33 AM

PARIS, Dec. 29 (UPI) — The Web site of the French Senate was
functioning again this week after it was hacked by Turkish protesters
upset at an Armenian genocide bill.

The Senate’s Web site was commandeered Christmas Eve by a hacker
identifying himself as the notorious Turkish computer outlaw Iskorpit,
who boasts of having hacked 500,000 Web sites, France24 reported.

The cyberattack came as the upper chamber of the French Parliament was
considering whether to approve a bill passed by the National Assembly
that would outlaw the denial of the 1915 massacre of Armenians in
Turkey as a crime of genocide.

The attack rendered the Senate’s Web site inoperable for two days
but it was functioning again Tuesday, authorities said.

Also affected was the Web site of National Assembly member Valerie
Boyer of the ruling UMP party, who was the primary sponsor of the
genocide bill.

Her Web site was still inoperable Tuesday, the broadcaster said. The
lawmaker’s site showed a black screen with a Turkish flag while it was
commandeered, with messages in Turkish and English signed by a group
calling itself “GrayHatz” denouncing the bill as “pathetic and pitiful”
and accusing France of committing genocide in Algeria, France24 said.

The French news site Nouvelobs.com reported “GrayHatz” shares
membership with another cyberterror group called Akincilar, which
attacked the Web site of satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo
after it angered Muslims in November.

The newspaper, which ran an image of the Prophet Mohammed on its cover,
was firebombed in the incident.

The Akincilar promised to “hack the Web sites of every single French
lawmaker” along with their GrayHatz “friends,” Nouvelobs.com said.

Boyer told reporters that she was filing a criminal complaint for
harassment, claiming she had received death threats aimed at her,
her parents and children.

The National Assembly last week passed the bill that criminalizes
denial of the 1915-16 deaths of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during
World War I as genocide. France and approximately 20 other countries,
including Italy, Canada and Russia, have formally recognized genocide
against the Armenians.

Turkey, however, disputes that the deaths of hundreds of thousands
of Christian Armenians was carried out as a systematic genocide and
that Turks also suffered during the conflict.

Ankara recalled its ambassador to France immediately following the
Assembly’s adoption of the bill, which must be passed by the Senate
and signed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to become law.

Turkish ally Azerbaijan, which is locked in a dispute with Armenia
over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, voiced support for Ankara, adding
the French move doesn’t help an international effort to resolve the
“frozen conflict.”

Azeri Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov told the Turkish daily
Today’s Zaman Monday his country is “badly disappointed” by the French
Parliament’s decision.

“Putting my feet in the shoes of my colleagues in Ankara, I cannot
trust a country [Armenia] which creates genocide initiatives on
the one hand and speaks about a desire to cooperate on the other,
not recognizing the territorial integrity of Turkey and compromising
the borders of the country,” Azimov said.

Turkey backs Azerbaijan’s claims to majority-Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh,
which revolted against Muslim Azerbaijan in 1993 following the collapse
of the former Soviet Union.

Baku claims Armenian forces that backed the rebels expatriated most
of the region’s Azerbaijani settlers during the fighting.

Read more:

NAGORNO-KARABAKH AND KOSOVO: STATES OF INDEPENDENCE – THE ECONOMIST

Tert.am
29.12.11

Earlier this year Vasily Atajanyan, the acting foreign minister of
Nagorno-Karabakh, told me that his “country” would recognise Kosovo
if the former Yugoslav province reciprocated. I conveyed this message
to Enver Hoxhaj, Kosovo’s foreign minister. He declined to take up
his counterpart’s offer, but thought long and hard about how to do
so politely.

This little episode speaks volumes for realpolitik in international
relations, especially when it comes to small countries.

In Soviet times Nagorno-Karabakh was a mostly Armenian-populated
autonomous region in Azerbaijan. In Yugoslav times Kosovo was a mostly
Albanian-populated autonomous province of Serbia.

Armenians fought a war against the Azeris in the early 1990s, and
the Kosovo Albanians against the Serbs in 1998-99. Nagorno-Karabakh
declared independence in 1991. Serbia’s administration and security
forces were expelled from Kosovo by NATO in 1999. The region was then
run by the United Nations. It declared independence in 2008.

On the face of it there are plenty of similarities between Soviet
breakaway statelets like Nagorno-Karabakh and Kosovo. But there are
also many differences. No countries have recognised Nagorno-Karabakh
as an independent state, but more than 80 have recognised Kosovo.

Western countries emphasise that they believe that the Kosovo case
is not a precedent for others.

In Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, this argument cuts
no ice. Indeed, some have a clear case of “recognition envy”. Marcel
Petrosian, a foreign-ministry official, says that Nagorno-Karabakh has
“stronger arguments” for independence than Kosovo does.

European and other countries that recognise Kosovo are, he says,
practising “double standards.” Mr Atajanyan echoes this. “We see
Kosovo as a precedent,” he says. “It is a vivid example of how
conflicts like ours can be solved.”

The two conflicts see Armenians and Kosovars arguing in favour of
a people’s right to self-determination, and Serbia and Azerbaijan
defending the the right of a state to defend its territorial integrity.

There are inconsistencies everywhere you look. Russia, an ally of
Serbia, does not acknowledge the independence of Kosovo. But, unlike
any Western countries, it recognised the breakaway states of Abkhazia
and South Ossetia following its war with Georgia in 2008. Serbia
might like to make common cause with Georgia but does not wish to
irritate Russia. Likewise Georgia won’t work with Serbia because of
the potential damage to relations with the United States.

Likewise, the Armenians have been forced to fashion shrewd
arguments for not recognising Kosovo’s independence in order not to
antagonise their Russian patrons. Armenia has not in fact recognised
Nagorno-Karabakh, as it reminds American diplomats when they come
calling asking for it to recognise Kosovo.

Serbia and Armenia may be on different sides when it comes to
territorial integrity. But they have much in common, too. Both are
ageing nations with falling populations. Both talk of their respective
enemies in the same terms, fearing the respective facts that both
Kosovo Albanians and Azeris are young and Muslim, and dominate areas
which they consider theirs by historic right.

Hayk Khanumyan, an Armenian journalist and civil-society activist,
employs a novel argument. Kosovo, he says, is an “historic region
of Serbia” that Albanians have taken. (Albanians, needless to say,
would disagree with this analysis.) But the real comparison is between
Kosovo and Nakichevan, a large Azeri exclave separated from Azerbaijan
proper by Armenian territory.

Nakichevan, says Mr Khanumyan, was once Armenian. It was lost to the
Azeris as Kosovo was lost to Albanians. Nagorno-Karabakh, by contrast,
has not been lost and must be defended.

Back to Mr Hoxhaj. His message to Mr Atajanyan is that Kosovo can
only have formal relations with members of the UN, even though Kosovo
itself has not yet joined. “We understand the aspirations of others
but we have to be careful,” he adds. “We can’t shape the destiny of
other small nations but we have to protect what we have and sometimes
doing nothing is better than making a mistake.”

In other words, just as the Armenians sympathise with the Kosovars
but don’t want to annoy the Russians, the Kosovars don’t want to
irk their Western backers. Such are the basics of diplomacy in the
twilight zone of international relations, in which small states and
nations must manoeuvre to secure their best interests.

RISE IN PRICES FOR ESSENTIAL PRODUCTS IN ARMENIA

Tert.am
27.12.11

The essential products – bread, potatoes, meat, dairy milk products –
constitute 71% of the consumer basket.

A jump in prices for these essential products has unfavorable impact
on the vulnerable sections of Armenia’s population.

The Oxfam office in Armenia, in cooperation with the Economic
Development and Research Center, prepared a report entitled “Prices
and Vulnerability in Armenia.”

The report shows a rise in prices for a number of products in the third
three-month period of 2011 as compared with the first three-month
period of 2010: baked goods (a 16% increase); meat products (a 36%
increase); potatoes (an 86% increase); dairy products (a 17% increase).

LE PARTI REPUBLICAIN A RECUSE LA DEMANDE DES FORCES D’OPPOSITION D’AMENDER LE CODE ELECTORAL
Stephane

armenews.com
mardi 27 decembre 2011

Par le biais de son representant, Levon Zourabian, le Congrès national
armenien a suggere que les trois principales forces d’opposition,
dont le CNA meme, le parti Dachnak et le parti ” Heritage ” demandent
conjointement de nouveaux amendements au Code electoral avant les
elections de mai. Le CNA s’est dit pret a s’unir avec d’autres
groupes de l’opposition dans une volonte de lutter contre la fraude
electorale. D’après M. Zurabian, les trois forces de l’opposition
ont des vues très semblables sur ce qui a besoin d’etre fait pour
compliquer la fraude electorale. ” Particulièrement, a-t-il dit,
elles reconnaissent que les autorites doivent tenir des elections
sur la seule base du scrutin proportionnel et rendre public les
listes des citoyens qui ont vote pour empecher la fraude de la part
de beaucoup d’electeurs absents d’Armenie (environ 500 000 d’après le
Congrès). En reponse a cette proposition du CNA, Edouard Charmazanov,
le vice-president du Parlement et porte-parole du Parti Republicain,
a declare que l’AN n’apportera plus de changements a la legislation
electorale, celle-ci ayant ete reformee en mai. Il a rappele que
les autorites s’engagent a organiser des elections democratiques. ”
Dans tout pays, deux choses sont necessaires pour tenir des elections
normales : les reformes legislatives et la volonte politique. Nous
avons deja effectue des reformes legislatives “.

Ambassade de France en Armenie

FRANCE/TURQUIE/GENOCIDE : NOMBREUX SITES FRANCAIS VICTIMES DE PIRATES TURCS
Stephane

armenews.com
mardi 27 decembre 2011

Une centaine de sites internet lies a la diaspora armenienne de France
ont ete victimes de pirates informatiques turcs, après le piratage
du site de la deputee, auteur de la proposition de loi francaise
reprimant la negation du genocide armenien, a indique lundi un site
specialise turc.

Le groupe de pirates nationalistes turcs Millikuvvetler.net a
revendique sur le site turc cyberhaber.com le piratage “ce jour”
(lundi) d’environ 100 sites en France lies aux activites des Armeniens
de France et aussi de politiques, notamment le depute UMP Bernard
Depierre.

Les messages en turc sur les ecrans des sites pirates s’en prenaient
a la politique francaise concernant la Turquie et accusaient la France
d’avoir orchestre “le genocide des Algeriens”, selon cyberhaber.com.

“Les soldats francais ont massacre les Algeriens et viole les femmes”,
disaient ces messages.

Valerie Boyer, la deputee du parti presidentiel UMP, auteur du texte
qui a provoque l’ire de la Turquie, qui a gele sa cooperation politique
et militaire avec Paris après son adoption jeudi dernier, a porte
plainte lundi après avoir recu des menaces et après le piratage de
son site internet par des militants pro-turcs.

L’Assemblee nationale francaise a adopte jeudi cette proposition
de loi penalisant la contestation de tout genocide, dont celui des
Armeniens en 1915.

Selon certains medias en Turquie et en France, les auteurs de ce
piratage, les Grayhatz, seraient lies aux hackers turc Akincilar qui
avaient pirate en novembre le site du magazine satirique francais
Charlie Hebdo dont le siège a ete victime d’un incendie criminel
suite a la publication d’une caricature de Mahomet.

Le texte francais doit desormais etre inscrit a l’ordre du jour
du Senat.

Les Akincilar se presentent comme des “cybers-guerriers”, defendant
les valeurs de l’islam.

Sur leur page Facebook, les Akincilar n’ont cependant pas revendique
le piratage du site de Mme Boyer, a-t-on constate.

AZERBAIJANI FM: LAW ON SO-CALLED “ARMENIAN GENOCIDE” TO DAMAGE FRANCE’S INTERNATIONAL IMAGE

Trend
Dec 27 2011
Azerbaijan

The French lower house’s vote to criminalize denial of the “Armenian
genocide” will be “a shady and tricky intrigue” that would widely
damage the international image of France, Azerbaijani deputy foreign
minister Araz Azimov said in an interview with Today’s Zaman.

Azimov raised concerns regarding the French vote. He found the vote
“strange” given the fact that France acted as co-chairs to the
Minsk Group.

Azimov believes that the bill was based on “a false history” which
Armenians were promoting.

Azimov has stated that his country is “badly disappointed” by the
French Parliament’s decision, and he reaffirmed that Turkey and
Azerbaijan, as with many other issues, were on the same page regarding
the Armenian controversy.

Last week, the French parliament passed a bill criminalising denial
of the so-called “Armenian genocide”.

Some 45 out of 577 French MPs voted, 38 of which voted for, while
seven went against the adoption of the bill.

The bill demands a one year imprisonment and 45,000 euros fine for
denial of the so-called “Armenian genocide”.

Turkey announced that it is freezing all diplomatic relations with
France in response to the decision by the French Parliament.

MPs from the French President’s “Union for Popular Movement” (UMP)
party which has the parliamentary majority, proposed the bill which
aims at criminalising denial of the so-called “Armenian genocide” to
the legislative committee of the National Assembly in early December.

The Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that the predecessor of
the Turkey – Ottoman Empire had committed the 1915 genocide against
the Armenians living in Anadolu, and achieved recognition of the
“Armenian Genocide” by the parliaments of several countries.

AZERBAIJANI DIASPORA CONDEMN FRENCH PARLIAMENT`S BILL ON SO-CALLED “ARMENIAN GENOCIDE”

State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan
December 26, 2011 Monday

The Azerbaijani Diaspora organizations in different countries condemned
a bill of the Lower Chamber of the French parliament on criminalizing
denial of the so-called Armenian genocide.

Tens of Azerbaijani Diaspora organizations, as a protest against
the resolution of the parliament, have sent a message to the French
National Assembly, chairman of the French Senate, as well as President
Nicolas Sarkozy mentioning negative affects of this law on France`s
image.

The message highlighted the importance for historians to conduct
research on incidents, which happened in 1915.

The Azerbaijani Diaspora in Finland stated that so-called “Armenian
genocide” is the historical issue, not political. France`s efforts
to accuse Turkey is illogical while Turkey is always ready to open
historical archives, involve scientist in this issue, cast light on
the truth.

Azerbaijanis living in different countries of the world consider
that the law by Parliament of France grossly violates the rights
to freedom of expression. In no country of the world, even in the
countries where human rights are violated, imprisonment or fine are
imposed on citizens for rejecting the fact that is not proved. It is
a big disgrace for the French state and parliament.

The Diaspora in the United Arab Emirates in its statement recommended
that Khojaly Genocide committed by Armenians 20 years ago be discussed
instead of the so-called “Armenian genocide”.

France, member of the Minsk Group, loses its influence succumbing to
Armenian trickery.

The Istanbul Turkey-Azerbaijan Circle declared the Turkish people
underwent a real genocide. Every family exposed to Armenian savageries
in Anadolu, Caucasus and Azerbaijan.

The World Azerbaijani Diasporas consider that the resolution of the
French Parliament is an insult for not only Turkey but also Turkish
people.

SWITZERLAND DOESN’T INTEND TO GO ON CONFRONTATION WITH TURKEY BECAUSE OF THE FAR-FETCHED GENOCIDE OF ARMENIANS

State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan
December 26, 2011 Monday

Switzerland has cancelled hearings concerning the far-fetched genocide
of Armenians in the territory of Ottoman Empire, reported AzerTAc
referring to the Turkish mass-media.

The parliament of Switzerland by a majority of votes has cancelled
the hearings appointed for today 115 voices against 69.

The Swiss mass-media notes that unlike Paris, official Bern doesn’t
intend to go on confrontation with Turkey because of the far-fetched
genocide of Armenians.

LA TURQUIE, CETTE PSEUDO-AMIE DE LA FRANCE QUI SE CROIT EUROPEENNE

Chretiente.info

27 dec 2011

La France s’est donne les moyens legaux de condamner la negation du
genocide armenien. Loin du legitime debat sur la problematique de
l’histoire encadree par la loi que lève reellement cette decision,
l’attitude des Turcs qui piratent le site de l’auteur de cette
proposition de loi, qui se trouve du meme coup menacee de viol et de
mort, en dit long sur le sens des responsabilites des ediles politiques
turques qui, avant meme le vote de l’Assemblee francaise, s’etaient
fendues de communiques de menaces et de risques de represailles
(cliquez sur les images pour les agrandir) :

” Dimanche, le site Internet de la depute a ete victime d’un piratage
par des militants pro-Turquie, qui denoncent anonymement l’aspect
electoraliste du texte vote jeudi par l’Assemblee nationale. L’adresse
renvoyait automatiquement vers un ecran noir
affichant le drapeau de la Turquie et un message non signe en deux
langues, en turc et en anglais, s’en prenant au gouvernement francais
et a la communaute armenienne de France.

” Vous, la diaspora armenienne, etes de tels lâches que vous n’avez pas
le cran d’ouvrir les archives armeniennes et de faire face a la verite
“, ecrivent les auteurs du message, pour qui ” la verite ” est qu’on
ne peut pas parler de ” genocide armenien “. ” Vous, les Francais,
etes tellement pitoyables et pathetiques que vous meconnaissez les
verites pour des voix “, ajoutent-ils, faisant allusion aux elections
presidentielle et legislatives a venir en France “.

Patrick Devidjian, depute UMP, n’y est pas alle par quatre chemins :

” La Turquie est un pays qui menace tout le monde (…) La Turquie,
j’ai compte, en moins d’une annee, a menace plus de sept pays: est ce
que vous croyez que c’est une bonne manière de conduire les relations
internationales ? (…)

Je crois beaucoup dans la societe civile turque. Malheureusement,
quand la Turquie a un prix Nobel brillant comme Orhan Pamuk (ndlr:
litterature, 2006), elle le poursuit parce qu’il dit que le genocide
armenien est une evidence ” (…)

” Dans notre pays, nous demandons que la Turquie cesse de diffuser sa
propagande negationniste (…) Deux quotidiens nationaux ont publie
des appels et des denegations qui viennent evidemment de la Turquie
(…) la demonstration de violence que l’Etat turc a organisee sur
notre territoire a l’occasion de ce debat “.

” La loi n’est pas memorielle (…) C’est un acte politique : au moment
où la Turquie veut entrer dans l’Union europeenne et apparaître comme
un pays qui defend les droits de l’homme, cette loi permet de reveler
l’attitude de la Turquie sur la scène internationale et montre bien
que la Turquie n’est pas le pays des droits de l’homme” .
Content-Type: MESSAGE/RFC822; CHARSET=US-ASCII
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From: Katia Peltekian
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?La_Turquie=2C_cette_pseudo=2Damie_de_la_France_qui_se_cr?=
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Chrétienté.info
27 dec 2011

La Turquie, cette pseudo-amie de la France qui se croit européenne

Le Salon Beige , le 27 décembre 2011

La France s?est donné les moyens légaux de condamner la négation du
génocide arménien. Loin du légitime débat sur la problématique de
l?histoire encadrée par la loi que lève réellement cette décision,
l?attitude des Turcs qui piratent le site de l?auteur de cette
proposition de loi, qui se trouve du même coup menacée de viol et de
mort, en dit long sur le sens des responsabilités des édiles
politiques turques qui, avant même le vote de l?Assemblée française,
s?étaient fendues de communiqués de menaces et de risques de
représailles (cliquez sur les images pour les agrandir) :

« Dimanche, le site Internet de la député a été victime d?un piratage
par des militants pro-Turquie, qui dénoncent anonymement l?aspect
électoraliste du texte voté jeudi par l?Assemblée nationale. L?adresse
renvoyait automatiquement vers un écran noir
affichant le drapeau de la Turquie et un message non signé en deux
langues, en turc et en anglais, s?en prenant au gouvernement français
et à la communauté arménienne de France.

« Vous, la diaspora arménienne, êtes de tels lâches que vous n?avez
pas le cran d?ouvrir les archives arméniennes et de faire face à la
vérité », écrivent les auteurs du message, pour qui « la vérité » est
qu?on ne peut pas parler de « génocide arménien ». « Vous, les
Français, êtes tellement pitoyables et pathétiques que vous
méconnaissez les vérités pour des voix », ajoutent-ils, faisant
allusion aux élections présidentielle et législatives à venir en
France ».
Patrick Devidjian, député UMP, n?y est pas allé par quatre chemins :

« La Turquie est un pays qui menace tout le monde (?) La Turquie, j?ai
compté, en moins d?une année, a menacé plus de sept pays: est ce que
vous croyez que c?est une bonne manière de conduire les relations
internationales ? (?)

Je crois beaucoup dans la société civile turque. Malheureusement,
quand la Turquie a un prix Nobel brillant comme Orhan Pamuk (ndlr:
littérature, 2006), elle le poursuit parce qu?il dit que le génocide
arménien est une évidence » (?)

« Dans notre pays, nous demandons que la Turquie cesse de diffuser sa
propagande négationniste (?) Deux quotidiens nationaux ont publié des
appels et des dénégations qui viennent évidemment de la Turquie (?) la
démonstration de violence que l?Etat turc a organisée sur notre
territoire à l?occasion de ce débat ».

« La loi n?est pas mémorielle (?) C?est un acte politique : au moment
où la Turquie veut entrer dans l?Union européenne et apparaître comme
un pays qui défend les droits de l?homme, cette loi permet de révéler
l?attitude de la Turquie sur la scène internationale et montre bien
que la Turquie n?est pas le pays des droits de l?homme« .

‘SENATE FAILURE TO APPOINT BRYZA TO HARM US-AZERBAIJAN RELATIONS’

news.az
Dec 27 2011
Azerbaijan

Former US envoy to Azerbaijan Ross Wilson considers that the Senate
failure to appoint the current Ambassador Matthew Bryza’s nomination
is not a positive thing for the US-Azerbaijan relations.

‘Ambassador Bryza’s possible return to Washington DC is not a positive
sign’, former ambassador Wilson mentioned, APA reports.

Like Mr. Wilson, many Washington-based analysts believe that the
Senate failure in appointment of Ambassador Bryza’s nomination will
harm the US-Azerbaijan relations.

On December 27, the Senate will gather for its pro forma session. If
the issue of Ambassador Bryza will not be discussed in the coming days,
the Senate will return his nomination back to the White House.

However, the Armenian Diaspora members continue attacking Bryza’s
supporters, especially, Washington Post’s recent editorial page
regarding the US Ambassador.