Author: Badalian Vardan

GENOCIDE ARMENIEN AU CONGRES US : LES CONFESSIONS DE CONDOLEEZA RICE
Stephane ©armenews.com

armenews.com
mardi 1er novembre 2011

USA

Demain, mardi 1er novembre va etre publie la seconde autobiographie
de l’ancienne Ministre des affaires etrangères des Etats-Unis sous la
presidence de George W.Bush, Condoleeza Rice. A la veille de cette
publication, quelques extraits ont deja fait l’objet de fuites dans
la presse americaine.

Son ouvrage intitule ” No higher honor ” traite de son experience
politique durant sa mandature et consacre une large part au dossier
relatif a la reconnaissance du Genocide des Armeniens par le Congrès
US. Elle y devoile notamment ses relations respectives avec Abdullah
Gul, son homologue turc a cette periode et Recep Tayip Erdogan sur
ce dossier ainsi que sur le processus d’entree de la Turquie dans
l’UE et le conflit entre l’armee turque et les milices kurdes.

Elle fait part precisement du rôle central qu’elle a joue afin de
faire echouer le vote de la resolution portant reconnaissance du
Genocide armenien par le Congrès americain. Ainsi, elle affirme : ”
J’ai prie Nancy Pelosi (Presidente de la Chambre des Representants
a cette epoque) de stopper le processus de vote. Nos relations
diplomatiques avec la Turquie etaient en danger. Le puissant lobby
armenien s’est battu en faveur de cette resolution durant des annees.

Tout ceci avait des influences directes dans notre relation avec
la Turquie. J’ai pris connaissance de ce dossier pour la première
fois en 1991 quand j’etais en poste a la Maison Blanche. Durant la
première guerre du Golfe, la Turquie qui a joue un rôle important,
s’est profondement indignee face a notre conduite visant a la rendre
responsable des evènements qui se sont tenus durant l’epoque ottomane.

Et a partir de 1991, les presidents et les Ministres des affaires
etrangères des Etats-Unis ont fini par mettre un terme a leur appui
a l’egard de toute resolution de reconnaissance du Genocide des
Armeniens. Personne ne nie l’existence de ces evènements tragiques,
cependant il appartient aux historiens de trancher sur cette question
et pas aux politiques. ”

Condoleeza Rice poursuit : ” Et c’est precisement au moment où les
tensions ont atteint leur maximum a la frontière turco-irakienne
que la commission des relations exterieures de la Chambre des
Representants a vote favorablement cette resolution. Alors j’avais
prie Nancy Pelosi de ne pas inscrire cette resolution a l’ordre du
jour de la seance plenière du Congrès. Pelosi a affirme qu’elle ne
pouvait rien faire. Ainsi, avec Robert Gates, Ministre de la defense,
nous avons immediatement declare a la presse que nous etions contre
cette resolution avec pour fondement la declaration de l’Etat major
americain en Irak qui affirmait qu’avec cette resolution, il etait
fortement probable que nous perdions des bases militaires en Turquie.

Par consequent, nous avons promis a la Turquie de mettre tous les
moyens en ~uvre pour nous opposer et faire echouer cette resolution
et au final nous avons reussi. ”

Bureau Francais de la Cause Armenienne

17, rue Bleue

75009 Paris

Tel : 01 44 83 07 02

KARINE POGHOYSAN TO GIVE CONCERT AT ELMIRA COLLEGE.

Corning Leader
Oct 31 2011

Elmira, N.Y. – Pianist Karine Poghosyan will give a concert at 8 p.m.

Tuesday at Elmira College’s Gibson Theatre.

Poghoysan has performed at the 95th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide at the Saint Varten Armenian Cathedral in New York and has
given recitals at Carnegie Hall, the International Keyboard Institute
and Festival and the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony Orchestra.

The concert is part of the Encore Performing Arts Series. Tickets
are $10 general admission, with discounts available for children,
groups, seniors and students. For details, call 735-1853.

IRANIAN ENVOY: SYRIAN PROTESTERS BACK ASSAD

The Daily Star , Lebanon
Nov 1 2011

BEIRUT: Iranian Ambassador Ghazanfar Roknabadi said Monday that the
Syrian people calling for reforms support the regime, adding that
the campaign against Syria was a Western attempt to strike one of
the supporting pillars of the resistance.

Roknabadi’s statement followed a meeting with Tashnag Party head Hovig
Mekhtarian and MP Hagop Pakradounian with whom he discussed the latest
political developments in the region and bilateral relations between
Iran and the Armenian party.

According to Roknabadi, Iran stands by the rightful demands of peoples
especially in Egypt, Tunisia, Palestine and Syria.

“We support demands for reform in Syria, but everyone knows that the
Syrian people calling for reforms support the regime and believe that
these reforms will be carried out by President Bashar Assad,” he said.

He added that the campaign against Syria is not concerned with
democracy and human rights but rather an attempt by the West to strike
an important pillar that supports the resistance.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily
Star on November 01, 2011, on page 3.

DASHNAK LEADER FANCIES OPPOSITION MAJORITY IN PARLIAMENT
Ruzanna Stepanian, Tigran Avetisian

Armenialiberty.org
Oct 31 2011

Armenia’s main opposition forces are capable of winning next year’s
parliamentary elections, a leader of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) said on Monday.

“I think that if proper work is done and if the society is awakened,
it is very possible that the combined representation of opposition
forces in parliament will exceed 50 percent,” Vahan Hovannisian
told journalists.

President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) and its
two junior coalition partners control at least 100 of the 131 seats
in the current Armenian parliament. In a joint statement issued in
February, they expressed their intention to gain even more seats in
the next National Assembly to be elected next May.

Dashnaktsutyun and the two other major opposition groups — the
Armenian National Congress (HAK) and the Zharangutyun (Heritage) party
— condemned that statement as a clear sign that the authorities will
try rig the 2012 elections. Accordingly, they dismissed subsequent
government pledges to ensure their proper conduct.

Hovannisian, who ran for president in 2008 and now leads
Dashnaktsutyun’s parliamentary faction, denounced in that context
Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian’s warning last week that political
groups challenging the HHK would “end up empty-handed.”

“In essence, a critic is regarded [by the government] as an enemy in
our country,” he said. “We will not allow anyone to govern with ease
while constantly committing mistakes.”

Opposition victory in the 2012 elections will be complicated by
uneasy relationships between Dashnaktsutyun, Zharangutyun and the
HAK. The latter has repeatedly questioned opposition credentials of
the two parties.

Artush Shabazian, another Dashnaktsutyun lawmaker, deplored the lack
of opposition unity on Monday during a public debate with three
other political figures. He said that the ruling coalition is far
more united than the “fragmented” opposition.

Shahbazian also described as “almost impossible” the formation of an
electoral alliance between his party and the HAK.

Armen Martirosian, a Zharangutyun leader, downplayed the significance
of such alliances for Armenia’s political future. “If we really care
about the state we should hold decent elections in the first instance,
regardless of what alliances will or will not exist,” he said.

For his part, HAK spokesman Arman Musinian declined to specify whether
the bloc is ready to join forces with other opposition groups. “We
find it meaningless and untimely to talk about that now,” Musinian
told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).

Dashnaktsutyun’s Hovannisian, meanwhile, reacted rather positively
to HAK leader Levon Ter-Petrosian’s announcement on Friday that the
opposition alliance will aim to win a parliamentary majority and
impeach President Sarkisian “single-handedly or in alliance with
other forces.”

“That is a way of struggle,” said the Dashnaktsutyun leader. “I
have no doubts that one should go for a victory in the parliamentary
elections.”

NAIRIT LOAN FROM EURASEC ANTI-CRISIS FUND STILL UNDER QUESTION

Vestnik Kavkaza
Oct 31 2011

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan has commented on the loan
for the Nairitu chemical plant, Armenia Today reports.

The loan will be issued for 10-15 years from the EurAsEC anti-crisis
fund. The enterprise requested the loan last year. A document was
composed with prospects for the factory. Nairitu currently needs an
operator to manage it.

An operator is essential for the loan, it will allow the government
to take up additional risks. Sargsyan noted that they are currently
working on the issue.

ARMENIAN UNIVERSITIES AMID ACCREDITATION PROCEDURES

Tert.am
31.10.11

Thanks to a World Bank grant, the universities in Armenia have launched
a pilot accreditation program.

The National Center for Professional Education Quality Assurance
(NCPEQA), which is the coordinator of the process, has already
organized expert groups’ visits to the Armenian State Teachers Training
University, and the State Architectural and Construction University.

Based on international standards, two separate groups will continue
their studies in the above institutions until November 4.

The international experts are from the Netherlands and Great Britain.

Dr Klas van Veen is a Leiden University professor who has been engaged
in teacher training programs and quality assessment for several years.

Richard Louis has been a guest lecturer at the Washington University.

as well as a former president of the International Network for Quality
Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) .

The Center has already studied the universities’ self-analyses
submitted ahead of the visits. It has finished its preparatory work,
having elaborated the assessment principles and criteria. An action
plan drawn up with the Center’s representatives now serves as a
guideline for the experts. After completing the visits, group will
sum up the monitoring results. The final report will be submitted by
the head expert.

Fourteen universities have been involved in the WB-funded pilot
program.

SEISME EN TURQUIE : L’ARMENIE ENVOIE UNE AIDE HUMANITAIRE
Stephane

armenews.com
lundi 31 octobre 2011

Un avion du ministère armenien des Situations d’urgence a transporte
vendredi 40 t d’aide humanitaire dans la province turque de Van
(sud-est) ravagee dimanche dernier par un seisme de magnitude 7,2,
a annonce le service de presse du ministère armenien.

L’Armenie a envoye plus de 100 tentes, 500 sacs de couchage, des
toilettes mobiles et des couvertures aux regions sinistrees après
avoir recu une demande d’aide turque via le Centre euro-atlantique
de coordination et le Croissant Rouge.

Les travaux de sauvetage continuent dans la province de Van où le
seisme a fait 575 morts et 2.608 blesses selon le dernier bilan. Les
autorites locales distribuent l’aide humanitaire qui arrive de toutes
les autres regions turques et de l’etranger. Au total, 12 pays dont
la Russie ont deja accorde une assistance humanitaire aux victimes
du tremblement de terre.

L’Armenie accorde une aide humanitaire a la Turquie pour la troisième
fois depuis la rupture des relations diplomatiques entre les deux
pays. La frontière armeno-turque est fermee depuis 1993 a l’initiative
d’Ankara.

Le soutien de l’Azerbaïdjan par Ankara lors du conflit azeri-armenien
dans le Haut-Karabakh et la reaction negative de la Turquie suite a
la reconnaissance internationale du genocide armenien de 1915 figurent
parmi les facteurs qui ont contribue a la deterioration des relations
turco-armeniennes.

COMMUNIQUE DES QUATRES ECOLES QUOTIDIENNES ARMENIENNES DE LA REGION PARISIENNE
Stephane

armenews.com
lundi 31 octobre 2011

Les quatre ecoles quotidiennes armeniennes de la region parisienne
(Hamaskaïne – Tarkmantchatz d’Issy, Hrant Dink d’Arnouville, St Mesrop
d’Alfortville et Tebrotzassere du Raincy,) ont tenu le vendredi 21
octobre, leur première reunion commune dans les locaux d’Ayp Fm,
en presence des representants de leurs Conseils d’Administration
respectifs et de leur Direction, afin d’echanger et de mutualiser
leur experience, et de programmer des initiatives communes.

L’organisation, le financement et le mode de fonctionnement de chaque
ecole a fait l’objet d’une presentation succincte de la part de chacun.

Dans le cadre des initiatives de principe, il a ete convenu de
concevoir des projets realises par les elèves des quatre etablissements
et de les soumettre aux instances de tutelles – Rectorats, Academies,
Ministère de l’Education Nationale.

Cette reunion fut egalement l’occasion d’envisager des initiatives
communes très ciblees telles que :

La validation de la langue armenienne comme matière a developper (avec
les 4 ecoles) dans le livret personnel de competences du socle commun
( programme de l’Education Nationale).

L’organisation de ” classes de neige ” ou de ” classes verte ”
impliquant durant une semaine, la participation des elèves d’une
classe de chaque ecole (s) dans un lieu adapte, comme par exemple la
colonie de la Croix Bleue des Armenien de France, a Bellefontaine.

L’organisation de competitions sportives inter- ecoles,

Mais egalement de permettre aux elèves des autres ecoles de visiter
l’atelier scientifique mis en place par l’ecole Hrant Dink,

Cette première entrevue a mis en evidence la necessite de resoudre
ensemble les problèmes rencontres par chaque etablissement et de
developper l’indispensable reflexion autour de la mise en place
d’une demarche coordonnee, en ayant toujours presents a l’esprit
les deux objectifs fondamentaux de l’ecole : permettre a nos elèves
d’atteindre le niveau d’excellence scolaire et leur transmettre une
solide conscience et education armenienne.

C’est dans cet esprit que les responsables des ecoles quotidiennes
armeniennes de la region parisienne ont convenu de maintenir
regulièrement leurs reunions de travail.

Hamaskaïne-Tarkmantchatz d’Issy

Hrant Dink d’Arnouville

St Mesrop d’Alfortville,

Tebrotzasser du Raincy,

CHURCH NOT A CAT WALK

Keghart.com Team Editorial

31 October 2011

We live according to long-established laws-civil, moral, humane and
religious. We also live by rules–written or unwritten. There are
rules and etiquette guidelines which nobody tells us about but we
somehow-innately, by osmosis or otherwise-observe. Such rules govern,
for instance, our manner and the way we present ourselves at church.

Whether one is a believer or not a civilized person, when within the
walls of a house of worship, respects the faith demonstrated by the
clergy and the congregation. These are givens which one would assume
do not require a reminder. Unfortunately, the absence of decorum by
some North American Armenian faithful at Badarak Holy Mass forces us
to comment.

A female worshipper’s long, curly and bottle-blonde tresses spread like
a fan well below her uncovered shoulders. Perhaps she rejected the
traditional hair covering because it would have hidden her physical
allures. Once in a while (in case the men had not noticed her silken
locks?) she would sway her big hair, like a lion gently shaking his
golden mane.

A man in his early forties had his hands in his pockets throughout
Badarak, except when he was not kneeling. His hefty belly projecting
way ahead of his torso, the man’s posture seemed to say, “I am not
impressed: make me another offer.” When the collection plate was
passed around, the man with the generous belly dropped all of 25
cents in it. He didn’t seem to be embarrassed by the clinking sound
his miserly metal made as it hit another coin. As everyone knows,
a North American altar boy can’t buy even a single candy with 25 cents.

Another man had his dark sunglasses resting on his head, as if he
was passing through the church on his way to the beach or some other
sybaritic venue.

A number of women were dressed in tight pants and seemed to
precariously balance themselves on high heels. The concept that at
church the faithful should cover their physical attributes rather than
expose them is obviously a bizarre or arcane idea to these women who
ostensibly had come to church to re-live the passion of Christ.

Someone should tell them what passion means in the context of Badarak.

A middle-aged man had brought along bottled water. He noisily guzzled
from the bottle and then furtively wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

A girl in her late teens, dressed in layered shirts, exposed
her glossy, suntanned shoulders. Two of her friends were chewing
gum… once in a while a cell phone rang shattering the ecclesiastic
aura.

One doesn’t have to be religious to object to the above disgraceful
behavior. In addition to insulting the Christian faith and Armenian
traditions, these insolent or ignorant people also insult the priest,
the Armenian people, our history and culture.

What did the rest of the faithful think about these fashionably-dressed
barbarians? What did the poor priest, reciting our 1,500-year-old
Badarak… the words of Christ, Nerses Shnorhali and Krikor Naregatsi
…think as he watched the shameless, uncouth, if not sinful, pageant
from the altar? Would he hesitate to condemn such behavior from the
pulpit, fearing that he might lose a number of his congregants?

To paraphrase the lyrics of “Eleanor Rigby,” where do these people come
from? Who were their parents? What school did they go to? What makes
them behave the way they do? Do they realize that there’s a difference
between a cat walk, the beach, the street and the house of God?

At the beginning of Badarak Armenians recite “Havadamk”-the cornerstone
of the Christian faith. At the end of that collective statement,
they say that those who don’t believe the doctrines expressed in
“Havadamk” should leave the church. Perhaps the Armenian Church
should put an addendum to “Havadamk”-a few words which would remind
people, who do not respect the sacred ground, that they should take
their uncovered hairs, their tight pants, their shades, stilettos,
bottled waters and chewing gums and vacate the church post haste.

A youthful Christ grabbed the whip and lashed at the money-changers
of the temple, driving them out.  In the same spirit perhaps someday
an Armenian priest should order these brazen “faithful” out of the
house of God. Their presence is a “beeghdz” the Armenian Church and
congregations have tolerated long enough.

COLLECTION OF SIGNATURES LAUNCHED FOR TRCHKAN WATERFALL PROTECTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
October 29, 2011 – 13:39 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – “Save Trchkan Waterfall” initiative group launched
collection of signatures against the construction of a hydropower
plant at Trchkan Waterfall.

The activists urge the government to ban the construction of the plant
on Trchkan Waterfall, which is the highest in Armenia, EcoLur reported.

Minister of Nature Protection Aram Harutyunyan assures that the
construction, which is expected to provide 20-25 job opportunities,
will not damage the waterfall.