Author: Badalian Vardan

CITY OF CARSON UNANIMOUSLY VOTES AGAINST ATATURK MONUMENT

[ Part 2.2: “Attached Text” ]

By MassisPost
Updated: March 5, 2015

Proposed Mustafa Kemal monument in the City of Carson.

CARSON – Voting unanimously, the Carson City Council opposed a
monument on March 4, 2015 commemorating Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in the
city’s International Sculpture Garden, which aims to honor world
leaders who have promoted peace during their lifetimes, reported the
Armenian Council of America. (ACA)

“In an unprecedented show of opposition to the proposed
monument, the Armenian American community including the ACA, Armenian
National Committee (ANC) and the Armenian Caucus of the Service
Employees International Union Local 721 (SEIU 721) filled the Council
Chamber to express, in solidarity, their vehement opposition to the
project,” said ACA Chairman Sevak Khatchadorian. “The
proposed monument glorifies Ataturk, a man deemed by historians as
a dictator and promoter of ethnic cleansing of Armenians, Greeks,
Assyrians, and other minorities; a movement that provided the basis
for the persecution of minorities in Turkey.”

Barry Heads II, representing the office of Assemblymember Mike Gipson,
read a letter written by Assemblymember Gipson and co-authored by
Assemblymembers Atchajian, Gatto, Wilk and Nazarian.

Barry Heads II, representing the office of Assemblymember Mike Gipson,
read a letter written by Assemblymember Gipson and co-authored by
Assemblymembers Atchajian, Gatto, Wilk and Nazarian.

Barry Heads II, representing the office of Assemblymember Mike Gipson,
read a letter written by Assemblymember Gipson and co-authored by
Assemblymembers Atchajian, Gatto, Wilk and Nazarian.

“The proposed moment…. is incredibly insensitive and
insulting to the memories of those who died, and their surviving
families,” the letter read. “To erect a statue of Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk ignores the sensitive political context behind this
controversial individual, and goes against the stance taken by our
representative bodies at the state and federal level. Out of respect
for those who perished and the loved ones they left behind, we voice
our opposition.”

Speaking on behalf of the Turkish community was Consul Genaral
of Turkey, Raife Gulru Gezer, who listed the names of political
and religious leaders who have praised Ataturk. She continued by
citing names of Armenians who were honored by Ataturk and insisted
that the monument would be commemorating a remarkable leader and
founder of the modern Republic of Turkey. Aris Aganos, founder of
the American Hellenic Council, shared with the Council his memories
of the haunting stories told by family members about the burning of
Smyrna by the Turks.

ACA Chairman Sevak Khatchadorian, along with Armen Sefyan Esq.;
Glendlae City Clerk Ardashes Kasakhian, and Glendale City Mayot
Zareh Sinanian

ACA Chairman Sevak Khatchadorian, along with Armen Sefyan Esq.;
Glendlae City Clerk Ardashes Kasakhian, and Glendale City Mayot
Zareh Sinanian

Other elected officials who voiced their concerns in opposition to the
monument included City of Montebello Mayor Jack Hadjinian, a direct
descendant of the atrocities committed by Ataturk, who told the City
Council that they would be honoring a man who murdered his family if
they voted in favor of the monument. Glendale Mayor Zareh Sinanyan
also revealed historical information about Ataturk as Glendale City
Clerk Ardashes Kassakhian shared an emotional story about his Greek and
Armenian ancestors who both suffered inhumanity under Ataturk’s
reign of power.

Both sides of the aisle provided testimony, however only 6 speakers
from each side were allowed to speak due to time constraints and an
overwhelming number of speakers – there were 298 speakers in opposition
to the monument and only 101 in support of the monument.

The Mayor had proposed a motion to move the item to the next Council
Meeting, however Councilmembers Robles and Holmes insisted on voting
for the motion. After speaking to the audience about the importance
of reconciliation and moving forward in unity, Mayor Dear, a history
instructor, expressed that he is a proponent of acknowledging the
Armenian Genocide and that there are revisionists who try to deny
that such an event occurred in history.

“The monument would bring bad notoriety to the City of
Carson,” said Councilmember Holmes and continued by stating
that city should not accept the gift.

The Armenian Council of America is a grassroots organization dedicated
to working with all political leaders, offering Armenian related
news, analysis and resources for policymakers, media, students and
activists, advocating issues important to Armenian Americans. The
Armenian Council of America aims to strengthen U.S. – Armenia and
U.S. – Nagorno Karabakh ties, the development of programs promoting
sustainable economic growth and good governance in Armenia, while
promoting the values and responsibilities of global citizenship.

Letter to Carson City Council by Assemblymembers Gipson, Atchajian,
Gatto, Wilk and Nazarian

Letter to Carson City Council by Assemblymembers Gipson, Atchajian,
Gatto, Wilk and Nazarian

[City-of-Carson1-225×300.jpg]

[City-of-Carson2-300×225.jpg]

[City-of-Carson3-300×225.jpg]

urk-monument/

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Carson City Council Unanimously Rejects Ataturk Monument Measure

Posted on March 5, 2015

CARSON, CA – Earlier this evening, the Carson City Council unanimously
rejected the proposal to erect a memorial monument for Genocide
Perpetrator and Denier Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in the city’s
International Sculpture Garden.

The 4-0 vote came after an overflow crowd of community organizations,
leaders, activists and Thank you Carson concerned community members
packed Carson’s City Hall to voice their concerns during the
public comment session. While over 298 members opposing the monument
and 101 in favor submitted cards to speak, only 6 from each side were
afforded the opportunity to comment.

In the weeks leading up to today’s vote, the ANCA-WR, Armenian
Revolutionary Federation, Armenian Youth Federation, American Hellenic
Council, elected officials from neighboring cities, and the concerned
citizenry of the local South Bay community, respectively had all
been educating the Carson City Councilmembers who had been lobbied by
the Los Angeles Turkish American Association with the ill-conceived
proposition for erecting a statue of Ataturk on public grounds and
rallying the community for tonight’s meeting.

“We thank our grassroots and the community based organizations
for their unrelenting vigor to time and again advocate for the
truth, which Turkish lobbyists shamelessly and unsuccessfully, as
evidenced today, try to bury with corrupt funding and preposterous
schemes,” stated ANCA-WR Executive Director Elen Asatryan.

“We applaud Mayor Jim Dear, Mayor Pro Tempore Elita Santarina,
and Councilmembers Lula Davis-Homes and Albert Robles for listening
to the testimonies and comments from our community and allies and
voting against such revisionist agendas,” added Asatryan.

Glendale City Mayor Zareh Sinanyan was the first to speak in opposition
of the proposal, and 11034301_10153094804831147_3323654472151318119_n
recounted his family’s personal story of survival of the
Armenian Genocide.

He informed the Carson City Council that Ataturk was idolized by Nazi
Germany and by Hitler for how he ‘liberated’ Turkey. This
liberation, however, included trying to finish what the Armenian
Genocide perpetrated by Ottoman Turkey attempted but failed-total
annihilation of the Armenians. At the end of his comments Mayor
Sinanyan urged the Council to vote against the measure and noted that
having an Ataturk Memorial would be the same as having one of Hitler.

“To honor Ataturk is to honor murder, rape, dictatorship,
repression, ethnic cleansing and genocide. Today the Armenian community
of S. California made sure there is no place for that here or anywhere
else in the civilized world,” stated Mayor Sinanyan.

Sinanyan’s statements were followed by Honorable Mayor
of Montebello Jack Hadjinian, Glendale City Clerk Ardashes
“Ardy” Kassakhian, Professor Levon Marashlian, and the
Vice Chairman of the American Hellenic Council Aris Anagnos who shed
light on the historical facts surrounding the Armenian Genocide and
Ataturk, all urging the Council to reject this ridiculous measure.

In his remarks, Anagnos posed the question that crossed the minds of
many “Why would an American city choose to honor a General who
fought against Americans?”

Professor of History, Dr. Levon Marashlian during his public comment
recounted the words spoken by Ataturk himself who once asserted,
“I am a dictator so that Turkey will never again have a
dictator.” Marashlian noted that Mustafa Kemal continued
the crimes of the Armenian Genocide and read an excerpt from
American nurse Edith Woods’ eyewitness testimony in 1922 of
the atrocities committed against the Armenians during Kemal’s
forced deportations of the Armenians from Turkey. “The children
would often be dead before I had taken their names. 40 to 50 of the
older women died each day, their mouths were massive sores and their
teeth were dropping out and their feet, those poor bleeding feet.

Deportation assured death, and a far more horrible death than
massacre. Unless one sees these things it is difficult to believe
that such monstrous cruelty and barbarity exists in the world.”

“As elected officials it is our responsibility to properly
identify real historical figures and honor photo (10) them for their
true heroism or public service rather than ignore the facts and
glorify villains who thrived from the blood of our ancestors or of
any innocent man,” stated Montebello Mayor Jack Hadjinian.

“Ataturk built the modern republic of Turkey upon the bones
and ashes of its minorities – Greeks, Armenians and others. My own
family survived the burning of Smyrna – one of the worst catastrophes
of the 20th century. To honor such a man is not only insult to
Armenian-Americans but to all Americans who believe that every
person is born with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness,” remarked Glendale city clerk Ardashes Kassakhian.

“Ataturk and his regime denied thousands of these rights. It
is upsetting that the Mayor of Carson has invited upon his city the
stain of honoring a Genocide denier by proposing such an inappropriate
monument. A more appropriate monument would be one to honor the
victims of Ataturk’s regime,” added Kassakhian.

California State Assemblymembers submitted a letter in opposition to
the monument, which was presented at the meeting by a representative
of Assemblymember and former Carson City Councilman Mike Gipson,
and co-signed by Assemblymembers Adrin Nazarian, Katcho Achadjian,
Scott Wilk and Mike Gatto.

When Turkish Consul General of Los Angeles
Raife Gulru Gezer, who was one of the 6 to speak in
11025734_10206083551588985_3664930548140104248_n favor of the proposed
monument, addressed the City Council, an overwhelming majority of
the crowd in attendance turned their backs to her in protest.

Carson Mayor Jim Dear, who initiated the monument proposal and
used unfair tactics including initially permitting an additional
speaker in favor of than in opposition to the monument and providing
unlimited speaking time to foreign agent Turkish Consul General of Los
Angeles Raife Gulru Gezer, while curtailing the voice of the American
citizenry, made a motion to table the item to a future meeting. The
motion was rejected by the other Councilmembers who did not want to
delay the vote.

Prior to making a motion to reject the monument Councilmember Robles
stated “This type of monument would bring bad notoriety to
our City.” In the end, Dear changed his vote and spent over
10 minutes talking about the atrocities that took place during the
Armenian Genocide.

Armenian press, including Asbarez, was not allowed to enter the City
Council chamber. However, CNN Turk and ABC7 were allowed to cover
the proceedings from inside the chamber.

Upon confirmation of today’s scheduled
vote, ANCA-WR disseminated an action alert, to which
its11051903_863466380359231_7555945855876169548_n highly mobilized
grassroots responded swiftly. Phone calls and e-mails expressed
the grave concerns of Armenian-Americans who questioned why the
city of Carson would ever consider memorializing a genocide denier,
perpetrator and profiteer, calling their attention to the precarious
timing of the vote just weeks away from the Centennial anniversary
of the Armenian genocide of 1915-1923, committed by Ottoman Turkey,
a crime still unpunished, and for which recognition, reparations and
restitution are justly sought.

The Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region is the
largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots advocacy
organization in the Western United States. Working in coordination
with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the
Western United States and affiliated organizations around the country,
the ANCA-WR advances the concerns of the Armenian American community
on a broad range of issues.

YEREVAN RANKED 183RD IN TERMS OF QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG 230 LARGEST CITIES OF WORLD

YEREVAN, March 5. / ARKA /. Yerevan is ranked 183rd in terms of quality
of life among 230 largest cities in the world by the London-based
Mercer human-resources consultancy. Its neighbors in the ranking are
Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, Lebanese capital city Beirut
and Cotonou, the largest city of Benin.

Yerevan has dropped three notches from the previous ranking, but
despite this Mercer experts said the quality of life in the Armenian
capital city is better than in neighboring Tbilisi (Georgia) and Baku
(Azerbaijan), which are ranked 194th and 197th respectively.

The Austrian capital Vienna has the highest quality of life of any
city in the world, followed by Zurich in Switzerland and Auckland,
New Zealand, according to the survey published Wednesday.

The survey, designed as a tool to help international organizations
determine salary levels for expatriate employees, is based on 39
criteria. They include housing, political stability, crime, leisure,
air pollution, infrastructure, the health system, education and
the economy.

The top slots in the 2015 survey are dominated by cities in Western
Europe. The least-fancied city was Baghdad, at 230th, preceded by
Bangui (Central African Republic), Port-au-Prince (Haiti), Khartoum
(Sudan) and N’Djamena, the capital of Chad.-0-

FARKHAD BADALBEILI: “WE NEED CONTACTS BETWEEN REASONABLE ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJANI INTELLECTUALS”

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
March 5 2015

5 March 2015 – 3:59pm

Interview by Vestnik Kavkaza

A commemorative event took place in Moscow devoted to the tragic events
in Khojaly, which happened 23 years ago. A goal of the event was not
only commemoration of victims of the tragedy, but also to warn about
and prevent such tragedies in the future. After the official ceremony,
a concert was held. The world-known pianist and composer Farkhad
Badalbeili participated in the concert. Vestnik Kavkaza managed to
talk to the maestro ahead of the concert.

– Is it possible to prevent such a tragedy as the Khojaly one in the
world today?

– Unfortunately, the tragedy of Khojaly happened, and the world
knows such examples. Oradour in France, Khatyn in Belarus, Ma”¹ Lai
in Vietnam. Human cruelty shows itself in awful forms, especially
during war. I’ve read that yesterday in Germany a 94-year-old man was
arrested for his crimes in Auschwitz. It means that crimes against
humanity have no duration. Sooner or later, the people who committed
crimes in Khojaly will be punished.

I want to say that criminals have no nationalities. A criminal is a
criminal. It could be an American, a French, or a civilized German.

Criminals should be punished. Justice for Khojaly calls us not to
forget about victims. Criminals should be fairly punished. Justice
should win.

I don’t want to shed blood. I try to build contacts between normal
reasonable Armenian and Azerbaijani intellectuals. We have organized
mutual visits together with Polad Byul-Byul Ogly.

Criminals who are sitting in top governmental posts today should be
fairly punished. Nations shouldn’t cultivate hatred for each other,
they should encourage each other and remember about cruelty and
realize that violence and revenge will lead nowhere. We should learn
to live together.

– What conclusions should be drawn from the events?

– The conclusion is obvious: war is not a way to make relations clear.

This is confirmed by the recent developments in Ukraine and the
senseless deaths of many people.

Today we will play mourning music by Alexander Tchaikovsky. He is
a wonderful, well-known composer, a People’s Artist of Russia. He
composed a beautiful work, which we played in Gabala at our festival.

And today we will play it in Moscow. Real intellectuals – Russians,
Belarusians, Georgians, representatives of other nations – realize
that mutual destruction is senseless. It is a path to nowhere.

ARCHBISHOP CHARLES J. CHAPUT: ARMENIAN GENOCIDE WAS THE DRESS REHEARSAL FOR NAZI EXTERMINATION OF JEWS

15:37, 05 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

“The dress rehearsal for the Nazi extermination of the Jews took
place exactly 100 years ago, in 1915,” Archbishop Charles J. Chaput
writes in his weekly column on The Catholic Philly. The full article
is provided below:

“Lent is a time for self-examination and repentance; a time for good
spiritual reading and the sacrament of penance. It’s also a time for
renewing our sense of solidarity with fellow Christians around the
world. It’s a moment to remember the witness of so many Christians
who’ve died simply because they were Christian.

The world rightly remembers the mass murder of Jews and other
minorities by Nazi Germany during the Second World War. In its scope,
the Shoah dwarfs anything in human history, and its echoes continue
today in the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe, much of it driven by
radicalized Islam. But the Shoah was by no means the only mass murder
carried out in the 20th century.

In fact, the dress rehearsal for the Nazi extermination of the Jews
took place exactly 100 years ago, in 1915. The genocide was carried out
by Turkish authorities, and it murdered more than 1 million Armenians,
a people who were overwhelmingly Christian. Religion wasn’t the only
reason for the killings – ethnic and economic resentments of Turkey’s
Armenian minority played an important role – but Muslim contempt for
the “unbelievers” legitimized the violence and was a powerful current
throughout the killings.

Men, women and children were turned out of their homes, marched to
exhaustion and starved, beaten, hanged and burned to death by the tens
of thousands. The systematic murder campaign went on in bloody waves
into the 1920s. Witnesses recalled Turks taunting their victims with
shouts of “Where is your Christ now? Where is your Jesus? Why does
he not save you?”

To this day, Turkey has never adequately acknowledged the Armenian
genocide. As President Jimmy Carter once remarked, “there weren’t
any Nuremburg trials” for the mass murder inflicted on the Armenians.

During the Cold War, Turkey was a NATO ally. The United States and
Europe found it easier to turn a blind eye to history than to resurrect
a crime from the past.

Today, with the resurgence of militant Islam inside Turkey itself,
a full national truth-telling by Turkish authorities may be even more
remote. Armenians were the first nation in the world to formally adopt
Christianity in A.D. 301. Today, in their historic home regions of
modern Turkey, their culture and memory have been wiped out.

Every year on April 24, Armenians around the world celebrate
Remembrance Day for the victims of the 1915 genocide. This year, on
the centenary of that mass murder, Christians from every tradition
need to remember and pray for the victims of that genocide, which
remains one of the worst unrepented crimes in history.

We also need to remember that the persecution and murder of Christians
still continues at the hands of ISIS and radicalized Islam throughout
the Middle East. And to date, our national leadership has been utterly
ineffective in stopping it – or even fully engaging it.

We Americans take for granted our traditions of religious liberty,
human rights and judicial process. We see the coexistence – and even
the friendship — of different religious communities and beliefs
as quite normal. But it’s not. We too often don’t understand the
uniqueness of that gift.

Today, in many places around the world, living as a Christian invites
discrimination, hatred and violence. The beheading of Christians by
ISIS is the latest crime in a long history of Middle Eastern Christian
martyrdom – not the phony and homicidal “martyrdom” that involves
blowing up innocent women and children, but the realmartyrdom of
being murdered for one’s belief in Jesus Christ.

Lent is a time of repentance. It’s also a time for forgiving even the
wicked. But it’s also a time to remember and learn from history —
even when the whole world wants to forget it. This Lent we need to
remember and pray for the Armenian Christians who died 100 years
ago. Like us, they were part of God’s people; the people of Jesus
Christ. The memory of their suffering should turn our hearts and our
energies to helping the millions of Christians now suffering in the
Middle East and around the world.”

SLOVAKIA ATTACHES IMPORTANCE TO DEVELOPMENT OF RELATIONS WITH ARMENIA: AMBASSADOR

17:32, 5 March, 2015

YEREVAN, 5 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. Newly appointed Ambassador of Slovakia
to the Republic of Armenia Peter Priputen (seat in Moscow) handed
on March 5 the copies of his credentials over to Deputy Minister
of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Karen Nazaryan. As
the Department of Press, Information and Public Relations of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia reports to
“Armenpress”, congratulating the Ambassador on his appointment,
the Deputy Minister mentioned that the Armenian-Slovakian relations,
which are hinged on friendship and the same value, serve as a strong
basis for the development of the mutually beneficial cooperation.

The Deputy Minister wished the Ambassador success in his mission
and voiced hope that the Ambassador would bring a new sweep to the
expansion of relations and to the deepening of cooperation in bilateral
and multilateral formats.

Expressing gratitude for the reception and the kind wishes,
Ambassador Priputen said Slovakia also attached great importance
to the development of the relations between the two countries and
assured that he would put in all his efforts for the advancement of
multilateral cooperation between Armenia and Slovakia.

ARMENIA ANALYST FORESEES GOVERNMENT CHANGE BY YEAR’S END

15:02, 05.03.2015

YEREVAN. – Another change in government may occur in Armenia at the
end of this year.

The director of the Armenian Institute for International and Security
Affairs, analyst Stiopa Safaryan stated the aforementioned at a press
conference on Thursday, and he also did not rule out the possibility
of Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan stepping down.

“The current government was formed on April 3, 2014 to meet the
demands of the [non-pro-government] Prosperous Armenia Party. But we
have seen that, as [President] Serzh Sargsyan noted, some agreements
that were reached have been violated.

“In this case, will Serzh Sargsyan keep for long the government which,
as he once said, was formed for the objective of being acceptable to
everyone?” Safaryan stated.

He added that, with such a “team,” the ruling political party cannot
commence the 2017 pre-parliamentary-election phase and even the
constitutional reform process.

Armenia News – NEWS.am

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHES REPORT DOCUMENTING CASES OF CRACKDOWNS BY AZERBAIJANI AUTHORITIES

15:12 04/03/2015 >> POLITICS

100 days before the Opening Ceremony of the European Games Amnesty
International has published a report documenting a pattern of
intensified harassment and intimidation of activists, journalists
and human rights defenders by the Azerbaijani authorities in recent
years. The report titled “Guilty of Defending Rights: Azerbaijan’s
human rights defenders and activists behind bars” presents the
aggravated crackdowns on the government critics who are detained
on false charges, beaten, threatened or denied emergent medical and
legal aid.

“No one should be fooled by the glitz and glamour of the international
show Azerbaijan is putting on to portray a squeaky-clean international
reputation and attract foreign business. Its authorities are among the
most repressive in Europe and would certainly be on the medal-winning
podium if prizes were on offer for the number of activists and rights
defenders behind bars,” John Dalhuisen, Amnesty’s director for Europe
and Central Asia, said.

According to the report, there are no less that 22 prisoners of
conscience in Azerbaijan awaiting trial following trumped-up charges
ranging from fraud and embezzlement to abuse of drugs and even
treason. In June, 2014 Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan,
addressed to the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE),
declaring that the freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are
guaranteed in Azerbaijan. However, following his speech, prominent
human rights defenders, including Emin Huseynov, Rasul Jafarov and
Intigam Aliyev, and investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova
presented PACE with the very different reality faced by human rights
defenders, journalists, and political opponents, indeed anyone who
dares to criticize the Azerbaijani government. They detailed more
than 90 instances of harassment, intimidation, arbitrary arrest and
politically motivated charges compiled by human rights defenders,
including Leyla and Arif Yunus.

“The response of the authorities was swift and clarified beyond doubt
which of the two pictures of human rights in Azerbaijan is the real
one. Within a matter of weeks, the authorities exacted their revenge.

Those who had given their testimony to PACE started to be arrested,”
the report reads, providing with information about the cases of human
rights defenders, journalists, political opponents, opposition and
online activists, as well as the restrictive NGO laws.

Dalhuisen noted that those latest arrests have effectively paralysed
civil society and closed the lid on freedom of expression – marking
the nadir of the country’s human rights record since independence.

“With their eyes on Azerbaijan’s petro-dollars, the international
community has been remarkably silent about the country’s repressive
tactics and human rights violations. This is horribly shortsighted
and a deep disservice to those currently languishing behind bars,”
he stressed.

As the organization highlights, these serious human rights violations
continued unabated during Azerbaijan’s Chairmanship of the Committee
of Ministers of the Council of Europe, despite its stated priority of
“upholding and promoting the core values” of the institution, such
as human rights, the rule of law and democracy.

“Amnesty International calls on the Azerbaijani government to
make good the commitments it has made and take immediate steps
to safeguard human rights. This must include the immediate and
unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience, including those
whose cases are highlighted in this briefing, and full and impartial
investigations into all allegations of torture or other ill-treatment,”
the organization urges.

See also:

NGO coalition warned EOC president about
crackdowns in Azerbaijan prior to European Games

DEMOGRAPHER DOES NOT ADVISE ARMENIAN MIGRANT WORKERS TO LEAVE FOR RUSSIA (VIDEO)

14:18 | March 4,2015 | Social

Demographer Ruben Yeganyan advises Armenian seasonal working migrants
to avoid traveling to Russia considering the grave economic situation
in the country.

“It is difficult to predict migration results this year. It is not
excluded that instead of earning money, Armenian labour migrants may
get into debts,” he said.

The demographer says the migration flow from Russia to Armenia
has decreased compared to previous years conditioned by Russian
restrictions: as a result around 200,000 people were forbidden
to enter Russia for 3-5 years. After long negotiations, Armenian
authorities managed to convince the Russian side to annul part [30%]
of restrictions.

Ethnographer Aghasy Tadevosyan said migration is not only peculiar to
Armenians but the fact that our migrant workers only rely on Russia
during seasonal work makes them vulnerable.

If in 2007 the main cause of migration was the lack of workplaces,
the survey showed in 2013 that many leave Armenia to work elsewhere
because they are displeased with their salaries,” said Mr Yeganyan.

“We have no right to restrict the free movement of persons, but the
state should handle migration problems by creating job opportunities
for its citizens,” added Mr Tadevosyan.

ONE KILLED, TWO WOUNDED IN YEREVAN SHOOTING

15:46, 04 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

One person was killed, two others were wounded in an exchange of fire
in Yerevan. The Head of the Public Relations Department of RA Police
Ashot Aharonyan confirmed the news to Public Radio of Armenia.

The incident took place near the Nubarashen penal institution in
Yerevan.

Aharonyan provided no further details about the reasons of the
shooting. Probe into the case is under way.

LA TURQUIE TRAVAILLE A METTRE LE SITE D’ANI SUR LA LISTE DU PATRIMOINE MONDIAL DE L’UNESCO

TURQUIE

Selon le journal turc hurriyet les travaux se poursuivent sur les
ruines d’Ani, ” une ville arménienne vieille de 5000 ans située sur
la frontière turco-arménienne dans la province orientale de Kars,
avec un oeil sur le site pour l’inclure sur la Liste du patrimoine
mondial de l’UNESCO”.

Le journal affirme que le “travail continue a Ani, qui a été le foyer
de nombreuses civilisations a travers l’histoire et est aujourd’hui
une attraction majeure pour les touristes dans la région, avec le
soutien du ministère turc de la Culture et du Tourisme”.

Le Directeur du Tourisme et de la culture locale Hakan Doganay a
dit que les “fouilles de sauvetage dans Ani serait dirigée cette
année par le professeur Fahriye Bayram du Département Archéologie
classique de l’Université de Pamukkale”.

Doganay a précisé que les projets concernant la restauration des murs
de l’ancienne ville sont maintenant été terminé avec la volonté
qu’Ani soit incluse sur la liste du patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO.

“[Ani] peuvent entrer dans la liste de l’UNESCO lors de la réunion
qui se tiendra a Oslo en 2016. Nous prévoyons que 2015-2016 seront
les années de Kars et des ruines d’Ani. Le ministère de la Culture
et du Tourisme nous a fourni un grand soutien sur cette question “,
a-t-il dit.

“Nous allons également apporter plus de 21 nouveaux artefacts de
diverses cultures, faisant le meilleur usage du patrimoine culturel
dans notre région ”, a ajouté Doganay. “Ani est un trésor pour
nous qui devrait être inclus dans la Liste du patrimoine mondial
de l’UNESCO.”

mercredi 4 mars 2015, Stéphane ©armenews.com