Author: Badalian Vardan

CATHOLICOS ARAM I MEETS WITH GOV. BROWN

asbarez
Monday, October 17th, 2011

Catholicos presents Gov. Brown with a memento

BEVERLY HILLS-His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House
of Cilicia met with California Governor Jerry Brown Thursday at the
Beverly Hills Hilton to discuss issues of importance to the Armenian
community as well as more broader topics of interests.

During the more than one hour meeting, the two leaders discussed issues
of importance and concern to the Armenian community of California, as
well as ecumenical matters, especially relations between the Catholic
and Orthodox Churches. Given Gov. Brown’s theological background,
the aforementioned issued were addressed within that context.

The discussion also centered around developments in the Middle East
as well relations between Christians and Muslims, as the Catholicos
plays an important role in that realm.

The Catholicos said he was confident the governor, as the highest
official of the state, was well acquainted with issues that concern
the Armenian community of California. The governor said the he do
his utmost to assist in the realization programs and activities of
the community.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the Catholicos presented Brown with
a memento from Great House of Cilicia.

Accompanying the Catholicos at the meeting were Western Prelate
Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian and community representatives Mardig
Gaboudian and Levon Kirakosian.

PUTIN TO ‘CONSOLIDATE POLITICAL SYSTEM’ AS RUSSIA’S NEW PRESIDENT

Tert.am
23:34 17.10.11

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday he is determined
to return to the Kremlin to consolidate the foundations of the
country’s political system and facilitate economic diversification.

According to RIA Novosti, Putin spoke in an interview with three
national TV channels seven weeks before parliamentary elections
scheduled for December 4.

Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev have backed one another to switch
roles after 2012 presidential elections.

Medvedev proposed Putin for president at the United Russia congress
in late September, saying he was ready to head the government in case
of Putin’s victory.

IRAN READY TO “CONSIDER U.S. CHARGES” OF ENVOY MURDER PLOT

PanARMENIAN.Net
October 17, 2011 – 17:56 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi says his
country is willing to consider U.S. charges that an American of Iranian
decent planned to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington.

“We are ready to consider the matter calmly, even if it was created
artificially, and we ask the US to provide us with all the information
about this scenario,” Salehi told the official IRNA news agency.

BAKU INVOLVEMENT LED YEREVAN, ANKARA TO STALEMATE -EXPERT

PanARMENIAN.Net
October 17, 2011 – 18:56 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – A Southeast Europe scholar at the Woodrow Wilson
International Centre for Scholars is sceptical over the possibility
of opening Armenia-Turkey border till yearend.

“At present, Yerevan and Ankara are unready to solve the issue,
differing too much in their positions on rapprochement methods,”
Alexandros Petersen said.

“Were Azerbaijan involved in rapprochement talks, the opening of
borders would have positively affected the regional situation.

However, the U.S. administration conducted the rapprochement policy,
preferring not to involve the official Baku. It was the attempt to
involve Azeri administration at the last moment that led us to a
stalemate,” 1news.az quoted the expert as saying.

NEWLY APPOINTED US AMBASSADOR HOPES THE ELECTIONS OF 2012 AND 2013 WILL BE THE BEST ONES
Anna Nazaryan

“Radiolur”
17.10.2011 19:12

“This is the first time my wife and I visit Armenia, and we’ll still
have an opportunity to get acquainted with your country and culture,”
the newly appointed US Ambassador to Armenia, John Heffern said during
his first meeting with reporters in Yerevan. He said the development
of Armenian-American relations was a priority for the US.

According to him, they pay great attention to regional integration
and economic development. The domestic political issues of Armenia
are also in the focus of attention, he added. The Ambassador said he
knows about the progress in the internal political life of Armenia
and voiced hope that the positive trends would continue.

“We are hopeful that the elections of 2012 and 2012 will be the best
ones, and we are working in that direction,” the Ambassador stated.

As for the Karabakh issue, Mr. Heffern said he stands for peaceful
resolution of the issue within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.

Touching upon the Armenian Genocide issue, the Ambassador said:
“President Obama’s April 24th address firmly demonstrated the American
position, and I support it,” John Heffern told reporters.

HENRI REYNAUD: TURKEY SHOULD LOOK ITS HISTORY INTO THE FACE AND RECOGNIZE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Artak Barseghyan

“Radiolur”
17.10.2011 18:39

“France is the second largest investor in the Armenian economy, which
speaks about the high level bilateral relations,” French Ambassador
to Armenia Henri Reynaud told a press conference today, adding that
the French capital is represented in different spheres of economy,
and the French investments tend to increase.

According to the Ambassador, French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s
statements in Yerevan fully correspond to his strong opinion. “Turkey
should look its history into the face and recognize the Armenian
Genocide,” he added.

Mr. Reynaud said he does not expect France to get more actively
involved in the process of settlement of the Karabakh issue. “Official
Paris is inclined to maintain the OSCE Minsk Group format. The solution
should be found as a result of negotiations within this framework,”
he added.

The negotiations on the Association Agreement between Armenia and
the European Union are rather active, the Ambassador said. “Armenia
has assumed the policy of rapid integration into the European family
and is moving steadily in that direction,” the diplomat said, adding
that the visa regime will be facilitated in the near future followed
by the creation of a free trade zone.

Henri Reynaud underlined that the signing of the Association Agreement
will mark the start of a new stage in the Armenia-EU relations and
will boost the economic development of our country. Moreover, the
Armenia-EU and Armenia-France relations are closely interrelated today.

NA SPEAKER HOVIK ABRAHAMYAN LEAVES FOR BERN

Aysor.am
Monday,October 17

NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan left for Bern yesterday on the 125th
jubilee conference of the Inter-parliamentarian union and will stay
there from October 16 till 19.

In the delegation headed by the NA speaker are included members
of intergovernmental union Heghine Bisharyan, Anahit Bakhshyan,
Michael Vardanyan.

During the visit bilateral meetings with the chairmen of various
parliaments are supposed to take place, the NA press office reports.

WHO BELIEVES THE MILITARY PROSECUTOR?
Suzan Simonyan

Lragir.am News

12:11:28 – 17/10/2011

In the beginning of his tenure, the Military Prosecutor Gevorg
Kostanyan enjoyed the confidence of the parents of soldiers who died in
the army at peace time. Especially after he personally went to study
the location where Tigran Ohanyan was allegedly killed by electric
shock and told Tigran’s mother the location had been falsified.

For half a year, the press always referred to Kostanyan’s phrase. The
parents trusted Kostanyan’s phrase that “the investigation is going
on” and expected that the real perpetrators would be found and
punished. They would have expected more if the Military Prosecutor
had not worked out a false protocol in Ohanjanyan’s military unit
6 months later stating Tigran Ohanjanyan could have been killed by
electric shock.

The Military Prosecutor reneged on his words through the Golos
Armeniy Neswpaper. “I have never said the scene was falsified, but
I say that there are still issues the answers to which have not been
found yet.” Then he repeated his favorite phrase. “The investigation
is going on.”

An unpleasant conversation took place between Ohanjanyan’s angry
father and Kostanyan which the Military Prosecutor prefers silencing,
and at that moment, the dialogue between him and the parents of killed
soldiers has been interrupted. The more youths are killed in the army,
the more self-confident Gevorg Kostanyan becomes.

“I can assure you, since the very moment I was appointed Military
Prosecutor, no crime has remained unrevealed. We have 100% crime
revelation, even grave crimes, including death cases,” the military
prosecutor told the Golos Armeniy on October 13.

By saying 100% revelation, he may mean the diligence of the
investigators. They visit the scene and reveal “suicides” so rapidly
that further investigation becomes unnecessary, but just a slight
technical moment and a ceremony to confirm that version. The society
remains perplexed at what is happening in the Armenian army and
they get surprised at when it managed to become so bad that so many
servicemen commit suicide.

“The rate of murders has dropped 4 times since last year,” says the
military prosecutor. No one knows what figures he is speaking about
because the number of army deaths is a military secret.

People have their own statistics. On the day when the Prosecutor’s
interview was published in the Golos Armeniy, Yurik Nersisyan, who
had no father and home and saw nothing but hardship in his 19 years
“committed a suicide”. On the same day, the society was shocked by
the news of the suicide of Aram Melkonyan, 21. Three days before the
interview, 19-year-old Vladimir Asatryan “committed a suicide” in an
NKR military unit, and his mother kept crying and shouting that his
son was very adjustable, and he couldn’t commit a suicide because he
never complained, he helped his mother by collecting rubbish to earn
their living.

In Yeghnikner, a conscript from Artik was tortured, his body was
burnt with cigarettes, and he was taken to hospital in coma. One
month ago, Aghasi Abrahamyan serving in the same military unit died
from inhumane tortures. The person who beat him to death is charged
with mere violation of field manuals.

Our investigators and military prosecutors avoid the expressions
“tortures”, “murder” and “cruel murder” and the interview of the
military prosecutor makes the reason clear. Otherwise, he could never
state that “the most common crimes are those based on the violation
of field manuals between the conscripts and officers, as well as on
daily basis”.

It is not clear to who the prosecutor’s speech is addressed. Who does
he intend to convey his message? Does he want to tell the President
that “everything is OK, do not believe the growing number of women
in black who will knock at your door and protest?” Is the Military
Prosecutor’s speech addressed to these people, to the parents of
the guys tortured and killed during their military service or maybe
the future conscripts who went on protest on October 13, demanding
security guarantees from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief? Why is he
still speaking when it is time for action?

ARMENIA IS NOT EUROPE YET: AND WHAT ABOUT TURKEY?

02:51 pm | Oct 17, 2011

Turkey has a positive and important role in the region. However,
Turkey cannot become a EU member solely because the country is not
in Europe, French Ambassador to Armenia Henri Reynaud told a press
conference on Monday.

“Ankara is an important friend and ally for Paris, but only outside
the European Union,” said the French ambassador.

At the same time, Reynaud does not exclude that Armenia may become a
full part of united Europe in the near future. Europe already views
Armenia as a country that is rapidly moving towards the European Union.

In reply to A1+’s question whether France is going to shoulder the
initiative of the Karabakh conflict resolution and French President
Nicolas Sarkozy has already arranged a meeting with Armenian and
Azerbaijani Presidents, the French ambassador said he had learned
the news from the Armenian press.

“I do not possess such information. France is for the maintenance of
the Minsk Group format and resumption of the talks, since we think
that there is nothing worse than frozen conflicts,” said Henri Reynaud.

The French ambassador reminded the call of the French President
who urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to cooperate in finding a peaceful
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The French ambassador stressed that France is interested in increasing
its economic presence in Armenia, including participation in the
improvement of country’s strategic infrastructures.

SARKOZY ON GENOCIDE: IS THE FRENCH PROMISE WORTH THE HOPE OF ARMENIAN VOTERS?

17.10.11 | 13:18

Nicolas Sarkozy

French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s visit to the South Caucasus last
week initially provided a touch of drama conditioned by the president
himself prior to his visit. In Yerevan the president made a bold
statement to the press: “The Armenian Genocide is a historic fact
and deserves a bigger than just personal condemnation.”

It should be noted that in 2007, when he was running for presidency,
he promised to support the adoption of a law criminalizing Genocide
denial; the French Assembly had approved the bill in 2006.

However, despite his campaign promise Sarkozi’s party blocked the
bill in the Senate in May. French Armenians were outraged. Prominent
French Armenian singer Charles Aznavour publicly warned Sarkozy,
pointing out that he was risking losing 500,000 French Armenians’
support during the next presidential elections.

The majority of political analysts believe that Sarkozy’s daring
statements in Yerevan were addressed to French Armenians – his
potential electorate, rather than Turkey or Armenia.

In this connection analysts are stressing the vulnerability of
Sarkozy’s position in France, also pointing out that by the results
of public opinion polls he is less popular than his rival socialist
leader Francois Hollande. And, moreover, not long before Sarkozy’s
visit, the French office of Dashnaktsutyun (“Dashnaks”) had announced
its support of Hollande as a potential candidate for presidency.

Sarkozy’s Yerevan statement caused a clamor in Ankara. Turkish premier
Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on October 11 that “the president of
France has to bring things in order in his own country instead of
giving advice to Turkey on the so-called Armenian Genocide”.

Sarkozy’s adviser on diplomatic issues Jean-David Levitte’s position is
an indirect proof that the French president’s statements were first of
all addressed to the hundreds of thousands of native Armenian voters
in France rather than to Turkey.

Sarkozy’s appeal to Turkey calling for admitting the Armenian
Genocide was “misunderstood”, Levitte said later. Levitte, often
called “the grey cardinal of the French foreign ministry” called
Turkish ambassador to France Tahsin Burcuoglu to Ã~Ilysée Palace.

With reference to diplomatic sources Turkish mass media report that
during the meeting Levitte assured Burcuoglu that France considers
Turkey to be a great country and highly appreciates French-Turkish
friendship.

Burcuoglu stressed how sensitive Turkey is to the Genocide issue and
that another bill providing for prosecution for denial of the Armenian
Genocide would cause serious harm to bilateral relations.

Presidential elections in France will be held in the spring of 2012.

Political analysts also point out the haste of the statement according
to which if by the end of 2011 Turkey doesn’t reconsider its position
on the Armenian Genocide, France would take measures correspondingly.

It is abundantly clear that Turkey has no intention whatsoever
to change its position on the Armenian issue. Then, a question
naturally arises: what would Sarkozy answer to the half a million
French Armenians prior to his run for presidency?