Author: Badalian Vardan

IQNA, Iran
March 7 2015

Christian Leader Praises Iran’s Stances against Takfiris

TEHRAN (IQNA) – Aram I Keshishian, Catholicos of the Holy See of
Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church, lauded the Islamic Republic
of Iran’s stances against Takfiri groups.

Addressing the closing ceremony of the 6th round of interreligious
dialogue organized by Iran’s Islamic Culture and Relations
Organization (ICRO), he described Iran’s position regarding violence
and extremism as responsible.

He said everyone is concerned about the violence in the region,
especially in countries like Syria and Iraq, adding that Takfiri
terrorists’ actions should be condemned by everyone.

Aram I Keshishian said misinterpretation of religion has become a
major problems for followers of different faiths, adding that respect
and mutual understanding should be promoted among different religions.

The 6th round of interreligious dialogue was held in Lebanon with the
participation of ICRO president Abuzar Ebrahimi Torkaman, Iran’s
ambassador to Lebanon, and a number of Iranian Armenian Christians.

Guardian Liberty Voice
March 7 2015

Eurovision 2015: Current List of Representatives & Song Choices [Part 1]

With preparations for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest having fully
kicked off in Vienna, Italy, each country’s representative and their
song choice has begun to be revealed. While not all of said choices
have been announced as of yet, a very large majority of the decisions
have been made and the results are as follows:

Albania: Representing the country with the song I’m Alive, is
22-year-old Elhaida Dani. This Eurovision contestant rose to fame
following her win on the Albanian installment of Star Academy, with
her crowning having taken place back in 2009.

Armenia: Supergroup Genealogy will be putting in their bid for
Eurovision 2015 winner, with their sole purpose in forming relating to
the want to be awarded this honor. Each member is known for their own
personal achievements outside of the competition, as they are all
relatively well-known artists from entirely different parts of the
globe (the group’s home countries consist of Japan, France, Australia,
Armenia, the United States, and Ethiopia. Each member’s nomination to
compete in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest was announced separately,
with revelation dates ranging from February 16 to March 3. Their song
is entitled Don’t Deny.

Belarus: This country’s entry in the current year’s Eurovision Song
Contest is that of a duo, Uzari & Maimuna. The man is a
singer-songwriter, and the woman is a violinist. They are best known
for their song Time, of which they will present at the upcoming show
in question. Their nomination was announced in December, following
which the pair competed amongst others in order to fully receive
acceptance into the competition. They won the challenge with a total
of 76 points, which placed them first in three of the five jurors
scoring systems and third in the overall televote.

Belgium: Eurovision’s choice for this nation lays with Loïc Nottet, an
18-year-old who recently finished second in The Voice Belgique, upon
the end of the show’s third season. His song title has yet to be
revealed.

Cyprus: Greek artist Giannis Karagiannis will be representing Cyprus
in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest, performing the track One Thing I
Should Have Done. Back in 2007 and 2008, he was unsuccessful in his
attempts to be made the country’s candidate for the Junior Eurovision
Song Contest.

Czech Republic: Czech singer Marta Jandová and composer Václav Noid
Bárta will be performing the song Hope Never Dies, at this year’s
Eurovision. This song marks the third instance out of a current four
Czech entries where the lyrics were sung in English rather than in the
participant(s)’ native language.

Denmark: Anti Social Media, a Danish pop-rock band, will be taking the
stage for their country at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. The
group, consisting of members Nikolaj Tøth, Philip Thornhill, Emil
Vissing. David Vang, will be performing their track The Way You Are.
The band won the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix on February 7 upon performing
the aforementioned song, and thus was announced to be the Danish
participants for the upcoming Eurovision installment.

Estonia: Performing the song Goodbye to Yesterday are Elina Born and
Stig Rästa. Born (20) has previously tried her hand at a Eurovision
entry, attempting in 2013 to represent the country with the song
Enough, which did not end up being successful. She also placed second
in the reality singing competition Eesti otsib superstaari (which
translates into Estonia is Searching for a Superstar.) Rästa (35) was
previously in a band called Slobodan River, between the years of 2002
and 2006. The two individuals with whom he formed this group no longer
have any musical association with him.

(to be continued)

By Rebecca Grace

Karine Danielyan: The women who prefer being mothers deserve the same
respect as female politicians

ArmInfo’s Interview with Karine Danielyan, Head of the Association for
Sustainable Human Development NGO

by Karina Manukyan
Saturday, March 7, 15:09

In 1991-94, you were the Nature Protection Minister of the Republic
of Armenia. Do you remember when you started tackling environmental
issues?

Before being appointed minister, I took an active part in an
environmental movement. As far as I remember, a decision was taken to
involve the movement activists in the Government. Moreover, a survey
was conducted at the relevant universities and institutes.

To be honest, I was not so much eager to become a minister, because I
was sure that a minister’s post was not for my temper. A year before
that, I was Vice Mayor of Yerevan and I managed to realize all the
difficulties of such activities. The ministerial position simply
became a disaster for me.

We should not forget what hard situation Armenia faced in the early
1990s. The Karabakh war, the energy crisis… It was almost impossible
to speak of nature protection and make the Government take some
decisions amid the war in Karabakh.

Say, they would release water from Lake Sevan for energy needs. I
would come to the Government and say, “What are you doing?” They would
reply, “Do you want the people to die? We cannot supply the population
with electric power even for 2 hours a day.”

In the meantime, we were able to involve Armenia in almost all the
international processes and to adopt some laws and by-laws… But in the
reality, it was very hard, if not impossible, to do the nature
protection minister’s job under those conditions.

I constantly felt distress. I did not sleep for almost 4 years – a
year at the Municipality and three years of work at the Government. I
was thinking all night long: there was no money, no fuel, no machines…
no monitoring could be conducted… As a result, I seriously fell ill
and left the Government.

You have said that you were afraid the minister’s position was not for
your temper. What aspects of your personality do you mean?

I do not like heavy-handed people at all. I prefer a friendly and
consensus-based method of management. On the one hand, that method has
a lot of advantages, but on the other hand, there always emerge people
who abuse that confidence and stop performing their duties. This leads
to a chaos. The best way out is to find the aurea mediocritas.

You are still engaged in active environmental activities. To put it
crudely, you have to fight with men to attain the goals set.

It is noteworthy that they constantly speak of discrimination against
women, but I have never felt that discrimination myself. I only felt
some discomfort when I attended the Government’s sessions and I was
the only woman there.

One day the then prime minister – I don’t even want to give his name –
reproached me undeservingly at a governmental session. I answered him
back. He said something else, and I answered him back again. It grew
into something unpleasant. Then he said, “So, what shall I do now?
Shall I apologize?” “As you wish,” I replied. During the break, all
the men approached me and said, “What kind of people, you, women, are!
You are reproaching and scolding us constantly, but you cannot stand
being reproached”.

And how do you manage to make the Government, the Parliament and the
Yerevan Municipality defer to your opinion?

Well, I cannot say they defer to my opinion so much. But my
professionalism plays a certain role, as a matter of fact.

Do you think the woman should be engaged in active public activities,
politics or do you believe she should make her choice in her family’s
favor?

I think there should be some women in the power structures to balance
the viewpoints and positions. On the other hand, in most cases, men
don’t want their wives to be stronger or to earn more money.
Certainly, some men perceive such activities of their wives quite
normally and they are proud of such women.

I believe that everything should be balanced. I respect the choice of
the women, who prefer being mothers and bringing up their kids rather
than being engaged in the politics, science, etc. Such women deserve
the same respect as the female politicians.

ÓB40F50-C4C2-11E4-B1B50EB7C0D21663

NBC Southern California
March 8 2015

Driver in 4-Year-Old Girl’s Hit-Run Death Turns Self in: Police

By Willian Avila and Kate Larsen

A man suspected of being behind the wheel of a car that fatally struck
a 4-year-old Southern California girl and drove off was arrested after
he surrendered at a police station, officials said Saturday.

Shant Badleean, 55, of Glendale was accompanied by his family when he
turned himself in at the Glendale Police Department, said Glendale
police spokeswoman Tahnee Lightfoot.

Badleean was booked on a felony hit-and-run charge, police said. His
bail was set at $50,000.

The news came as family and friends held a candlelight vigil for
Violeta Khachaturyan. A moment of silence was held for her about 7:30
p.m. to coincide with the announcement by police.

Loved ones prayed, sang and burned incense – Armenian traditions when
someone dies.

“I believe she is in heaven playing with the angels right now,” said
said neighbor Mases Allhiveirdia.

Khachaturyan was struck about 4:55 p.m. Friday when she ran into the
street after her mother, police said. She was hit by a sedan and sent
flying into a parked vehicle while the car drove away.

The light-colored sedan was traveling west in the 1200 block of East
Wilson at the time of the collision, according to a statement released
by the Glendale police Saturday.

“Yesterday we didn’t know what color the car was and today we hear
something that no one ever thought we would in this short period of
time. So of course it’s definitely a satisfying feeling from the
family,” said Arshak Bareghamyan, a family friend.

Neighbors left flowers, candles and stuffed animals at a makeshift
memorial in Glendale in honor of the little girl.

“It’s a parent’s worst nightmare, we feel for them and if there’s
anything that we can do to help them out, we’re more than willing to,”
said Karla Mnatsakanyan, who did not know the family but showed up to
the vigil to lend her support.

The Glendale Police Officers Association was accepting donations on
behalf of the Khachaturyan family. Checks can be made out to “GPOA
Cops for Kids” and should indicate that the donation is for the
family. Anyone with questions about donating can call 818-246-9053.

“This tragic event weighs heavy on the hearts of all our police and
fire personnel who were involved in the response and treatment of
little Violeta,” Chief Robert Castro said.

NBC4’s Asher Klein and Jane Yamamoto contributed to this report.

Describing the Indescribable: 1915

By MassisPost
Updated: March 6, 2015

By Alan Whitehorn

How does one ‘think about the unthinkable?’ How does one ‘describe the
indescribable?’ These are among the analytical and moral challenges in
trying to understand genocide. As Raphael Lemkin, the originator of
the concept of genocide, noted: genocide occurred in history before
the word ‘genocide’ was created. The history of humans is marked by
episodes of great cruelty and mass killings where groups that were
different were targeted for persecution and slaughter.

Alan Whitehorn

The mass deportations and killings of the Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire peaked during WW I, but occurred before the term genocide
emerged in 1944. In fact, the Young Turk regime’s slaughter of the
Armenians would be a catalyst for Lemkin to develop such a legal
concept, in a preliminary way in the 1930s and in final phrasing in
the 1940s.

When trying to understand the events of 1915 onwards, it is useful to
ask: What words and phrases were used by the Armenian survivors,
domestic and foreign witnesses, and newspaper writers to describe what
happened? The challenge was how to describe the indescribable, or what
Churchill would later in 1941 call “the crime without a name”.

The influential international newspaper The New York Times reported
extensively on the massacres of the Armenians under the Young Turk
dictatorship. A content analysis overview of The New York Times for
the year 1915 (the peak year of the deportations and killings) reveals
that a variety of words and phrases were used to try to describe the
horrific scenes and deeds. Reviewing the range of the words employed
can assist in conveying the magnitude of the man-made catastrophe that
befell the Armenians.

Among the terms and phrases offered in the articles in The New York
Times in 1915 were the following: “pillage”, “great exodus”, “great
deportation”, “completely depopulated”, “wholesale deportations”,
“systematically uprooted”, “wholesale uprooting of the native
population”, “young women and girls appropriated by the Turks, thrown
into harems, attacked or else sold to the highest bidder”, “children
are being kidnapped by the wholesale”, “kidnapping of attractive young
girls”, “rape”, “unparalleled savagery”, “acts of horror”, “murder,
rape, and other savageries”, “endure terrible tortures”, “revolting
tortures”, “their breasts cut off, their nails pulled out, their feet
cut off, or they hammer nails into them just as they do to horses”,
“burned to death”, “helpless women and children were roasted to
death”, “massacres”, “slaughter”, “atrocities”, “unbelievable
atrocities”, “systematically murdered men and turned women and
children out into the desert, where thousands perished of starvation”,
“million Armenians killed or in exile”, “1,500,000 Armenians starve”,
“dying in prison camps”, “wholesale massacres”, “slaughtered
wholesale”, “fiendish massacres”, “massacre was planned”, “most
thoroughly organized and effective massacres this country has ever
known”, “extirpating the million and a half Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire”, “policy of extermination”, “plan for extirpating Christianity
by killing off Christians of the Armenian race”, “plan to exterminate
the whole Armenian people”, “deliberately exterminated”, “virtually
the whole nation had been wiped out”, “annihilation of a whole
people”, “organized system of pillage, deportations, wholesale
executions, and massacres”, “pillage, rape, murder, wholesale
expulsion and deportation, and massacre”, “systematic, authorized and
desperate effort on the part of the rulers of Turkey to wipe out the
Armenians”, “deliberate murder of a nation”, “war of extermination”,
“race extermination”, “intention was to exterminate the Armenian
race”, “Armenia without Armenians”, “extinction menaces Armenia”,
“death of Armenia”, “deportation order and the resulting war of
extinction”, and “aim at the complete elimination of all non-Moslem
races from Asiatic Turkey”, and “crimes against civilization and
morality”.

There are at least ten examples (five in the decades before 1915 and
five in the years after) where the biblical word “holocaust” in the
generic sense is used to describe either the mass burning of Armenians
alive, massacres of Christians or attempt at annihilation of the
Armenian people. The New York Times’ references in the 1915-1922 era
to the Armenians’ fate include the phrasing “holocaust”, “war’s
holocaust of horror”, “great holocaust” and “final holocaust”.

Clearly authors strained for the words that could explain the
magnitude of such horrific scenes and deeds. Witnesses were often
overwhelmed, particularly at the time of the deadly deeds, but also in
the retelling of the painful accounts. For many who witnessed such
atrocities, it was a life-altering experience.

Within a month of the Ottoman Empire’s April 24, 1915 arrest,
deportation and later killing of key Armenian leaders in
Constantinople and increasing reports of mass deportations and
massacres, the allied Entente countries of Britain, France and Russia
used the ominous phrase “crimes against civilization and humanity”.
This description officially issued on May 24, 1915 (printed in The New
York Times on the same day) was part of a semi-judicial warning to the
Young Turk regime about its crimes and would become a key term in
international law. It was an important step in the development of the
legal concept of genocide.

However, no single word or combination of words or phrases could
adequately convey the magnitude of suffering and horror of what
transpired. Even today, we search for ways to “describe the
indescribable”.

An excerpt from Alan Whitehorn, ed., The Armenian Genocide: The
Essential Reference Guide (Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, 2015) to be
published in April.

book: 978-1-61069-687-6
e-book: 978-1-61069-688-3

Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide: Ipek Çalislar

By MassisPost
Updated: March 6, 2015

By Hambersom Aghbashian

Ipek Çalislar (born in 1947 in Istanbul), is a Turkish prominent
journalist and writer. After finishing her high school (Ã`sküdar
American High School), she received her education at Ankara
University, Faculty of Political Sciences. She lived in
Hamburg-Germany, 1990-1992, where she researched about `Homosexuality’
and `women and Islam ` issues. In 2003 she visited Iran with her
husband where they met Iranian intellectuals and wrote their book
`Iran: A Man Dictatorship’ in 2004. Ipek Çalislar has worked at the
Turkish Cumhuriyet daily for 12 years and served at the Association
for Education and Supporting Women Candidates (KA-DER), which defends
equal representation of women and men in all fields of life, also at
PEN Turkey. Her first literary book `Latife Hanim’ has been translated
into 11 languages, including Bulgarian, Arabic, German and Albanian.
She wrote also `Halide Edip: Biography of Sigma Women (2008).’ (1)(2).

Ipek Çalislar was tried for her bestselling biography of Atatürk’s
first wife, Latife Hanim, under Article 5816 of the Penal Code for a
passage that described the founder of the Turkish Republic escaping a
life threatening situation in the guise of a woman and she was
acquitted.(3)

A group of Turkish intellectuals signed a petition against a Denialist
Exhibit in Denmark, an exhibition which was planned by the Turkish
embassy to support their point of view concerning the Armenian
Genocide. `Don’t Stand Against Turkey’s Democratization and
Confrontation with its History! ‘ was the message to the Royal Library
of Denmark who has given the Turkish government the opportunity to
present an `alternative exhibit’ in response to the Armenian Genocide
exhibition. Ipek Çalislar was one of the Turkish intellectuals who
signed the petition.(4)

In December 2008, two hundred prominent Turkish intellectuals released
an apology for the `great catastrophe of 1915³. This was a clear
reference to the Armenian Genocide, a term still too sensitive to use
so openly. The signatories also announced a website related to this
apology, and called on others to visit the site and sign the apology
as well. The complete, brief text of the apology says ‘ My conscience
does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the denial of the
Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in
1915. I reject this injustice and for my share, I empathize with the
feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers and sisters. I apologize to
them.’ Ipek Çalisla was one of the intellectual who signed the
petition which in few days was signed by over 13,000 signatories.(5)

According to , under the title `24
April, the anniversary of the 1915s events, will be remembered this
year in Turkey, too.’, Taraf Newspaper of 20th April 2010 wrote ‘ A
group of intellectuals, among them Ali BayramoÄ?lu, Ferhat Kentel, NeÅ?e
Düzel, Perihan MaÄ?den and Sırrı Süreyya Ã-nder, for the first time in
Turkey, will commemorate this year on 24 April as the anniversary of
the events of 1915, under the leader-ship of `Say Stop!’ group. The
commemoration will start in front of the tram station in Taksim
Square. The group will be dressing in black and carry photos of
massacred Armenian intellectuals who were deported from that station.’
the following abstracts are from the text of the commemoration
activity, `This pain is OUR pain. This mourning is for ALL of US. In
1915, when our population was just 13 million, 1,5 to 2 million
Armenians were living in these lands¦. In April 24, 1915 it was
started `to send them’. We lost them. They are no longer available.
They have not even graves. But the `Great Pain’ of the `Great
Disaster’, with its utmost gravity EXISTS in our pain’. The text was
signed also by Ipek Çalislar.(6)

”””””””””

1-
2- Çalislar
3-
4-
5-
6-

ARMENIE
Les dépenses liées à la défense de l’Arménie en 2014 se sont élevées à
200 milliards de drams

Les dépenses en matière de défense en Arménie en 2014 se sont élevées
à 200 milliards de drams a annoncé le Président Serge Sarkissian.

Il a rappelé que le budget militaire en 1995 était de 19,1 milliards
de drams, en 2005, il a bondi à 64,4 milliards de drams et en 2014 il
a atteint 200 milliards de drams.

> a déclaré le président.

samedi 7 mars 2015,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

Venice Commission President: Parliamentary system of government could
strengthen Armenian democracy

11:47 07/03/2015 » INTERVIEWS

Panorama.am presents an exclusive interview with the President of the
European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) of
the Council of Europe Gianni Buquicchio.

– Mr. Buquicchio, what are some recent main achievements of Venice
Commission, main areas of the work with member states, challenges
ahead?

– Generally one can say the Venice Commission has become an
indispensible partner of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe
who wish to carry out legal and constitutional reforms. When we give
an opinion on a draft legal text, this opinion is taken seriously and
mostly implemented to a considerable extent. If not everything is done
immediately, our recommendations shape the agenda for the future. To
give you an example from ArmeniaÖ The Venice Commission had
considerable influence on the on the 2005 constitutional reform. Those
recommendations of the Commission which were not, or not fully,
implemented in 2005 are now points of departure from the new reform
currently envisaged.

More recently, the Venice commission has become an important actor of
the neighborhood policy of the Council of Europe. We were closely
involved in the drafting of the new constitution of Tunisia and were
able to ensure that it is in line with international standards of
democracy, the rule of law and human rights. To co-operate
successfully with the countries of the Southern Mediterranean such as
Tunisia, Morocco and Jordan will remain of our main challenges in the
next year.

Currently our main priority is Ukraine in making the necessary reforms
with respect to the constitution, the judiciary and electoral
legislation.

Generally speaking the functioning of the judiciary in most countries
of Central and Eastern Europe remains unsatisfactory and we are
involved in judicial reforms in many countries.

– What is the main role of Venice Commission in crafting European law?

– The main role of Venice Commission is not to develop rules of
European law but to assist member states in improving their
legislation based on European standards and experience. Our advice is
based on what we call the European constitutional heritage and we help
to integrate states into the European legal and constitutional space.
The experience of the states we advise then becomes an element of the
European constitutional heritage and in this manner we contribute to
its further development.

We also work closely with constitutional courts, with the
Constitutional court of Armenia being one of main partners, and in
this manner we contribute to these courts taking an approach based on
European standards and experience.

The Venice Commission does not have democratic legitimacy and we
cannot adopt European legal standards. However, in some cases, texts
prepared by the Venice Commission were endorsed by the Committee of
Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly and have become European
standards. The best known case is the Code of good Practice in
Electoral Matters, which has become the main reference text containing
electoral standards in Europe.

– What are some highlights of cooperation with Armenia in the content
of current constitutional reforms?

– First of all I would like to pay tribute to the very professional
character of the work of constitutional reform commission. The
commission took very coherent approach which is well through and based
on the experience of other European countries. It also carried out
public consultations. We had several meetings with the commission and
these meetings resulted in improvements and refinements of the text.

In our opinion the concept paper provides an opportunity for reform
which should not be missed.

The most important element of the concept is the move towards a more
parliamentary system of government. This is a choice for each country
but in our opinion it is a welcome choice which could strengthen
Armenian democracy. The other main element of the concept is to
enshrine the principles of the rule of law more consistently in the
Constitution and strengthen constitutional guarantees for the
implementation of fundamental rights.

– What are some of the main trends of constitutional reforms in Europe?

– Developments are not uniform throughout Europe since national
conditions vary widely. One common trend is that constitutions are
becoming more open towards the integration of international and
European law into the domestic law and towards co-operation with
international and European institutions, accepting limits on national
sovereignty.

In many countries of Eastern Europe there is a tendency towards a more
parliamentary system of government, one of the main topics of the
constitutional reform debated in your country. This trend is not
exclusively found in Eastern Europe. The new Finnish constitution is
also an example where the powers of the President were reduced. There
is also a trend toward strengthening constitutional justice and paying
more attention to guarantees for judicial independence in many
constitutions.

– Thank you so much.
By Anna Lazarian

Amal Clooney joins the Ivy League to lecture on human rights law at
Columbia University

16:27, 7 March, 2015

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney will join Columbia Law School as a
visiting faculty member this spring, reportArmenpress sitting to Daily
Mail.

She will be a senior fellow with the Law School’s Human Rights Institute.

Clooney, who is based in London, said in a statement that it was ‘an
honor’ to teach at the Ivy League institution.

‘I look forward to getting to know the next generation of human rights
advocates studying here,’ she said.

Clooney will deliver lectures on human rights law during the current
spring semester.

Lebanese-born Amal Clooney, 37, may have shot into the public eye as
the partner of George Clooney, 53, whom she married in a lavish
Italian ceremony last year, but she has forged a notable career as an
international human rights lawyer.

Among her previous roles she served as an adviser to Kofi Annan in his
role as a United Nations special adviser for Syria.

Clooney also represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in his
extradition proceedings.

Zhoghovurd: Alexander Grigoryan launches business activities in theater

12:53 07/03/2015 >> DAILY PRESS

Alexander Grigoryan, Art Director of K. Stanislavsky Russian Drama
Theater of Yerevan, has turned the theater into a business center,
Zhoghovurd writes.

“Ervin Amiryan, Alexander Grigoryan’s son-in-law, has launched ice
production in the theater. Nora Grigoryan, Alexander Grigoryan’s
daughter, has opened wedding studio 7th Heaven in the vicinity of the
theater. These activities are supervised by Toma Grigoryan, Alexander
Grigoryan’s wife,” the newspaper writes.

Speaking to Zhoghovurd, Alexander Grigoryan said that he has not
launched business activities yet, but he has such plans, and is going
to apply to Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan for permission.