Author: Badalian Vardan

L’Express, France
17 dec 2011

Recep Tayyip Erdogan invite la France à revisiter son histoire

publié le 17/12/2011 à 16:22, mis à jour à 16:22

Recep Tayyip Erdogan a de nouveau pris pour cible la France en
invitant samedi Paris à revisiter son histoire coloniale plutôt que le
passé ottoman de la Turquie.

Cette attaque du Premier ministre turc intervient à cinq jours de
l’examen par les députés français d’un texte de l’UMP rendant illégale
la négation du génocide arménien de 1915.

“Ceux qui veulent étudier un génocide feraient mieux de se retourner
sur leur passé et de se pencher sur leur propre histoire, sale et
sanglante”, a-t-il dit à l’issue d’un entretien avec le président du
Conseil national de transition libyen (CNT), Mustapha Abdeljalil.

“Si l’Assemblée nationale française veut s’intéresser à l’Histoire,
qu’elle prenne la peine de s’enquérir sur les événements en Afrique,
au Rwanda et en Algérie.

“Qu’elle fasse des recherches pour savoir combien de personnes les
soldats français ont tuées, comment ils les ont tuées et avec quelles
méthodes inhumaines”, a ajouté le chef du gouvernement turc, dont
c’est la première déclaration depuis son opération chirurgicale.

Vendredi, Ankara a prévenu la France que les relations entre les deux
pays risquaient de subir de graves conséquences si le Parlement
français votait la loi rendant illégale la négation du génocide
arménien de 1915.

Le président Nicolas Sarkozy avait froissé la Turquie début octobre en
lui donnant quelques mois pour reconnaître le génocide arménien de
1915, faute de quoi la France pourrait légiférer pour sanctionner
pénalement le négationnisme turc.

La proposition de loi, soumise par l’UMP, le parti majoritaire, doit
être examinée jeudi à l’Assemblée nationale.

La commission des Lois de l’Assemblée a adopté le 7 décembre à
l’unanimité moins deux voix ce texte, qui prévoit une peine d’un an de
prison et une amende de 45.000 euros en cas de contestation du
génocide.

DIASPORA ARMÉNIENNE EN FRANCE

Dans sa lettre au président Nicolas Sarkozy, Erdogan écrivait: “Cette
proposition de loi vise de façon hostile la République turque, la
nation turque et la communauté turque vivant en France”.

“Je veux dire clairement que de telles mesures auront de graves
conséquences pour les relations futures entre la Turquie et la France
sur les plans politique, économique, culturel et dans tous les autres
domaines, et que la responsabilité en incomberait à ceux qui ont pris
cette initiative”.

La France est le cinquième marché mondial pour les exportations françaises.

L’Arménie, soutenue par de nombreux historiens et Parlements mondiaux,
estime à 1,5 million le nombre de victimes tuées lors des massacres,
qu’elle considère comme le fruit d’une politique délibérée de l’Empire
Ottoman dans ce qui est aujourd’hui l’est de la Turquie.

Ankara affirme de son côté qu’il ne s’agissait pas d’un génocide et
que de nombreux Turcs musulmans et Kurdes ont également été tués lors
de l’invasion des troupes russes en Anatolie orientale, parfois avec
l’aide de milices arméniennes.

La diaspora arménienne en France, forte d’un demi-million de

personnes, est un enjeu électoral avant l’élection présidentielle du
printemps 2012.

En visite d’Etat en Arménie, le chef de l’Etat français avait estimé
début octobre que la reconnaissance par Ankara du massacre d’Arméniens
par les Turcs serait un “geste de réconciliation”.

Dans ce cas, avait-il dit, la France s’en tiendrait à sa législation
actuelle, qui reconnaît officiellement depuis janvier 2001 l’existence
de ce génocide.

La loi française du 29 janvier 2001 dispose que “la France reconnaît
publiquement le génocide arménien de 1915”. Le vote de cette loi avait
déjà provoqué de vives réactions d’Ankara.

Si la Turquie persiste à le nier, en revanche, “la France
considérerait qu’elle devrait aller plus loin dans la modification de
sa législation pour que le négationnisme soit condamné pénalement”,
avait-il ajouté.

Les relations entre Ankara et Paris sont déjà très tendues en raison
du refus de la France de voir la Turquie adhérer à l’Union européenne.
Les négociations ont commencé en 2005 mais de nombreux chapitres sont
actuellement bloqués par Paris.

Daren Butler, Grégory Schwartz et Jean-Loup Fiévet pour le service français

Erdogan continues threatening France over Genocide bill

December 18, 2011 – 16:08 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said
Turkey would retaliate by all diplomatic means if the French senate
approved the bill penalizing Armenian Genocide denial.

“I would like to reaffirm that we will resort to all diplomatic means
to stand against such unjust, biased, populist and unlawful attempts,”
Erdogan told reporters in a joint press conference with Mustafa Abdel
Jalil, head of Libya’s National Transitional Council, Trend reported,
citing Anadolu Agency.

A draft law envisaging a one-year prison sentence and 45,000 euro fine
for denying the Armenian Genocide is due to go before French
parliament next week.

FM: Iran writtes to int’l bodies about violation of Iranian air space

Tehran, Dec 18, IRNA – Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on
Sunday Iran has written to international organizations about Iranian
air space violation by the US.

He told reporters after a cabinet meeting, ‘We sent notices to
Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Non-Aligned Movement, the United
Nations and its Secretary General Bann Ki Moon.’

Answering a reporter about violation of Iranian air space by the US
spy drone `RQ 170′ captured by Iran while spying over the country,
Salehi said the drone is now under Iranian possession.

He reiterated that Iran’s National Security Council is now
investigating the case.

Anwering a question about a CIA spy arrested in Iran, Salehi said the
case is under investigation in the Intelligence Ministry.

Salehi further said President Ahmadinejad will soon pay a visit to
Armenia in connection with mutual relations.

Sabah, Turkey
Dec 16 2011

Turkey issues France a warning

Turkey warned France on Friday that their political and economic
relations would suffer grave consequences if the French parliament
passed a draft law making it illegal to deny the Aremnian allegations
of a 1915 mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, a vocal critic of Turkey’s
long-standing, but slow-moving bid to join the European Union, told
Turkey in October that unless it recognized the Armenian allegations’,
France would consider making denial a crime.

The draft law, put forward by a deputy from Sarkozy’s party, is due to
go before parliament next week and proposes a one-year prison sentence
and 45,000 euro fine for denying the Armenian allegations.

“This proposed law targets and is hostile to the Republic of Turkey,
the Turkish nation and the Turkish community living in France,”
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip ErdoÄ?an wrote in a letter to Sarkozy.

“I want to state clearly that such steps will have grave consequences
for future relations between Turkey and France in political, economic,
cultural and all areas and the responsibility will rest with those
behind this initiative,” stated the letter.

Armenians says some 1.5 million Christian Armenians were killed in
what is now eastern Turkey during World War One. Ankara denies the
killings were directed at Armenians and says many Muslim Turks and
Kurds were also put to death as Russian troops invaded eastern
Anatolia, often aided by Armenian militias.

“Turkish-French relations should not be held captive by the demands of
third parties,” ErdoÄ?an said. “This is a sensitive, serious subject.”
ErdoÄ?an said common sense should come before political calculations, a
hint the draft law was aimed at securing the support of 500,000 French
voters of Armenian descent in elections due in five months time.

Turkey has increasingly flexed its rising economic and political
muscle on the world stage and in the Middle East as its economy
continues to show strong growth while western Europe suffers a
financial crisis.

ITAR-TASS, Russia
December 17, 2011 Saturday 12:33 AM GMT+4

Pipeline repairs in Georgia suspend Russian gas transit to Armenia

YEREVAN December 17

The transit of Russian gas to Armenia through Georgia has been
suspended, the Georgian gas pipeline company of Georgia has warned
ArmRosGazprom.

The delivery of gas to Armenia was suspended at 10:50 local time on
Friday (coincides with Moscow time), the joint Russian-Armenian gas
pipeline venture said.

The Georgian side plans to carry out repair work on the 67th and 68th
kilometers of the trunk pipeline North Caucasus-Transcaucasia (having
a diameter of 1,000 mm). It promised to complete the repairs within
the tightest deadline.

Gas supply to retail consumers in Armenia will continue without
restrictions with gas from the reserves, ArmRosGazprom said.

Tendersinfo News
December 17, 2011 Saturday 6:30 AM EST

ARMENIA : The DZORAGYUGH Village Seeks Gas And Water

The Lori Region’s Dzoragyugh village, where around 350 people living
in it face many day to day problems. Most importantly, the residents
have no communal utilities, the village prefect Robert Hovsepyan told
adding: “The village is not supplied with natural gas.”

Apart from this, the villagers lack irrigation water either, which
makes it difficult for them to produce agricultural products. Some
parts of the rural area do not even have drinking water supplied to
them. And the angry villagers note: “In what day and age are we living
that people today carry water, from the mountain, with buckets?”

The villagers possess five-hundred cattle, which are perhaps their
basic means of living.

TendersInfo – Project Notices
December 17, 2011 Saturday

Armenia : E-Society and Innovation for Competitiveness (EIC) Project

The development objective of the E-Society and Innovation for
Competitiveness Project for Armenia is to address constraints to
competitive e-society and enterprise innovation in Armenia by
strengthening the underlying infrastructure and enabling environment.
The reallocation is necessary to adjust funding needs between
component one, national broadband backbone and government network, and
component two, establishment of Gyumri technology center; and
reallocate the unused portion.

Approval Date : 30-NOV-2010
Closing Date : 31-DEC-2014
Total Project Cost : 30
Region Europe And Central Asia
Major Sector (Sector) (%) Information and communications (Information
technology) (30%)
Public Administration, Law, and Justice (Public administration-
Information and communications) (24%)
Information and communications (Telecommunications) (20%)
Industry and trade (General industry and trade sector) (19%)
Finance (Banking) (7%)

country :Armenia

EuroNews, EU
Dec 18 2011

Turkey warns France over Armenian `genocide’ law

Turkey’s prime minister is warning France to examine its own history
before making laws about Turkey’s in a row over the deaths of
Armenians during the time of the Ottoman Empire.

France has been pushing for the killings to be recognised as genocide
and may pass a law making it illegal to deny it was.

However, during a press conference on Saturday, Recep Tayipp Erdogan
made scathing remarks about the proposed legislation:

`Those who want to recognise genocide should take a look at their own
dirty and bloody history. If the French National Assembly wants to
take an interest in history, let it go to the trouble of highlighting
and looking at what happened in Africa, in Rwanda and Algeria,’
Erdogan said.

A draft of the law is due to go before French parliament on Thursday,
and if passed anyone breaking it could get a one-year prison sentence
and a 45,000 euro fine.

Erdogan has already written to French President Nicolas Sarkozy
cautioning political and economic relations between the two countries
could suffer if France goes ahead with the law.

Armenia says 1.5 million of its people were killed in eastern Turkey
from 1915 to 1917.

VivaCell-MTS General Manager is the first to receive the `Business
Leadership Award’

noyan tapan
2011-12-17 18:06:56 | Armenia | Social

Mr. Ralph Yirikian received the award in recognition of exceptional
professional excellence and accomplishment, and the demonstration of a
clear strategic vision with effective implementation at the
organizational and industrial level

Today, at a special ceremony of honor held at the American University
of Armenia, VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian was awarded
the AUA School of Business and Management’s Business Leadership Award.

A representative committee composed of the faculty, students, alumni
and external stakeholders of the AUA voted to recognize Mr. Yirikian
as the first recipient of this Award.

The AUA Business Leadership Award was established by the AUA School of
Business and Management. This is an annual award with the following
selection criteria for the nominee:
A notable level of professional excellence and accomplishment
Demonstration of a clear strategic vision with effective
implementation at the organizational or industrial level
Institutionalization of policies and practices within the
organization, resulting in significant improvement in the quality of
work life Adherence to corporate ethics and responsibility
Significant contribution to the alignment of the model of the
organization with sustainable business practices Commitment and
service to the community at large in significant and meaningful ways.

The award was presented to Mr. Yirikian by Dr. Bruce Boghosian,
President of AUA, and Mr. Eric Guevorkian, interim dean of the School
of Business and Management. After the official award ceremony, at the
request of Mr Guevorkian, Mr. Yirikian presented his vision of the
effective business leader: `One can list hundreds of preconditions of
effective business leadership – such as being able to sense the thirst
of the market, gathering a good team of professionals and becoming its
engine, ability to bring together breakthrough ideas, understanding
industry trends, and commitment to innovation and keeping up with R&D,
etc. No doubt, all of them are necessary but yet insufficient
conditions for creating a sustainable business model. Yet the true
leadership is leadership by example. And it’s not limited to new
business behavior and approaches being successfully institutionalized
and ingrained across all levels of the Company. As a team we share the
belief that we have to roll out our successful business model further
across the whole business community in Armenia. If we could create a
business and make a success story out of it, so can you. VivaCell-MTS
is a living example that could not have been achieved without the
efforts of our VivaCell-MTS family members. We have an obligation to
share with all Armenians the prosperity we see in our homeland and the
potential of its growth,’ concluded Mr. Yirikian.

VivaCell-MTS (K-Telecom CJSC) is Armenia’s leading mobile operator,
having the widest 2G/3.5G/4G network reach and spreading a wide range
of Voice and Data services all across Armenia. Having the best of the
Armenian people interest at heart since its launch on 1st July 2005
and in a short period of time VivaCell-MTS has managed to build a
nationwide network and a considerable customer base. VivaCell-MTS
drives innovation and aims at always being at the forefront of any
development serving the Armenian mobile communications market. For
more information, visit

* * *

Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (`MTS’) is the largest mobile phone operator
in Russia and the CIS. Together with its subsidiaries, the Company
services over 100 million subscribers. The regions of Russia, as well
as Armenia, Belarus, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, in which MTS and its
associates and subsidiaries are licensed to provide GSM services, have
a total population of more than 230 million. Since June 2000, MTS’
Level 3 ADRs have been listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker
symbol MBT). Additional information about MTS can be found at

* * *

The American University of Armenia is a nonprofit institution of
higher education. It is fully accredited member of the U.S.-based
Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and is affiliated
with the University of California. AUA provides teaching and research
programs that prepare students to address the needs of Armenia and its
surrounding region for sustainable development. A unique case in the
region, the WASC accreditation is an ongoing process of continued
improvement and quality control to ensure the highest standards of
education. This allows AUA degrees to be respected and recognized
worldwide. Additional information about AUA can be found at

The AUA School of Business and Management (SBM) is the leading
business school in Armenia and in the region and has catered to
Armenian and international students, business corporations, and
communities for the past 20 years. Its flagship program, the MBA
degree, is a rigorous program that offers a balance between theory and
practice, the quantitative and qualitative perspectives, and the
economic and social responsibilities of business leadership. SBM
values entrepreneurship and innovation, rigor and excellence in
academic work, and adheres to strict ethical standards. Additional
information about AUA can be found at .

Property Ownership: Nareg Hartounian’s Case

herq
13:51, December 18, 2011

Nareg Hartounian’s case is just another example of serious and
widespread violations of human rights in Armenia. What makes this
case particularly troubling is the fact that it may also stand out as
a serious violation of property rights. Well, let’s hope that it
will not be the outcome.

Property rights are central to the legal and political order for
societies. Without such rights, it is not feasible to have a
democratic society that can guarantee freedom for its citizens. It
is this unconditional protection that the court systems must provide
to all. This is the right that propels societies into economic growth
by providing favorable and secure environment for investments. As
Harvard historian Niall Ferguson argues in his latest book,
Civilization: The West and The Rest, the system in the United States
is based on property rights, and it is one of the main reasons why
North America has been more successful than Central/South America.

It is hard to explain to US or European investors the bizarre cases
where several parties claim ownership of the same property in Armenia.
Or the moment that you become a land owner in Armenia, it is wise to
build a high wall around your property so that you can physically stop
others from claiming ownership. It is also hard to explain the case
with Nareg, who has arbitrarily become the subject of abuse and
extortion. This sends a very unfortunate yet clear signal to the
world investment community which shows that property rights are not
respected in Armenia and foreign properties and investments may be at
risk.

Freedom does not only include freedom of speech and religion. It is
also freedom to own. And let’s not forget that this freedom is
protected by the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia.

Article 31
Everyone shall have the right to freely own, use, dispose of and
bequeath the property belonging to him/her.

I admire Nareg and the fight that he and his family put out. It is a
fight to preserve the most fundamental principal upon which a true
democratic society is built on, one that is based on guaranteed
protection of human rights and property rights. Nareg is clearly the
underdog in this fight. I do hope and pray that the judges in
Armenia take this high-profile case very seriously, protect Nareg and
his family’s properties in Armenia, and do not make a mockery of the
Constitution.

Eduard Sargsyan
12/15/2011