Author: Badalian Vardan

Trend Daily News (Azerbaijan)
June 10, 2011 Friday 8:16 PM GMT +4

MP: Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s appeal to Russian Foreign Ministry is
interference in affairs of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, June 10 /Trend, M.Aliyev/

Appeal of deputy chairman of Russian State Duma, the LDPR leader
Vladimir Zhirinovsky to the Russian Foreign Ministry is a call by
certain circles who want to intervene in the internal affairs of
Azerbaijan, MP Aydin Mirzazade told Trend.

“If this would happen with regards to Zhirinovsky’s country, he would
accept it emotionally, urge the media to be active in this issue,” he
said.

Zhirinovsky appealed with an official letter to Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov, the official website of LDPR reported.

“Zhirinovsky considers unacceptable the reaction of the Russian
ambassador to Azerbaijan Vladimir Dorokhin in connection with the
incident involving a journalist of “Echo of Moscow” Sergei Buntman,”
said the letter.

At a press conference on June 8, Dorokhin touched upon the recent
visit of a reporter of “Echo of Moscow” to separatist Nagorno-Karabakh
without agreement of the Azerbaijani side, which the head of radio
station Alexei Venediktov justifies in his statements.

“One cannot ban Venediktov to make statements, but he should
understand his responsibility,” Dorokhin said. “Azerbaijan’s decision
to restrict this man [journalist Sergei Buntman] – is its right, and
it is not discussed.”

Deputy Chief Editor of the Russian radio station “Echo of Moscow”
Sergei Buntman visited occupied Nagorno-Karabakh without Azerbaijan’s
knowledge in mid-May. Buntman has interviewed the separatist leaders.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry included the journalists in the list
of persona-non-grata. Azerbaijan declares foreigners, who visit
Nagorno-Karabakh without notifying Baku, persona-non-grata.

According to the Azerbaijani MP, Buntman visited the occupied
territories without the consent of the authorities of Azerbaijan.

“And rightly Azerbaijan names such persons in the black list – it is
recognized throughout the world. Every foreign citizen who wishes to
visit Nagorno-Karabakh should take into account this fact,” said
Mirzazade.

Azerbaijan’s actions lead to a reduction of Nagorno-Karabakh visits of
those who are fraudulently invited to this territory, and then
apologize to the Government of Azerbaijan, he said.

“I think that in any case, Azerbaijan should not make concessions on
such matters, and Russia, specifically the Russian Foreign Ministry,
understands the position of the Azerbaijani side,” – said the MP.

ANSA
June 10, 2011 Friday 1:09 PM CET

MIDEAST:TURKEY CANCELS ‘3 RELIGIONS’CONCERT’, ISRAEL DISMAYED

(ANSAmed) – TEL AVIV, JUNE 10 – Israel has reacted with disappointment
to the last-minute cancellation of a concert dedicated to
inter-religious tolerance to be held in Istanbul following threats
received from extremist Islamic groups. These groups included –
according to local mass media reports – the Turkish NGO IHH which has
organised the Freedom Flotilla for Gaza due to set sail at the end of
this month.

Organised by such bodies as Istanbul’s city council and the Israeli
consulate, the concert planned to include performances by an Israeli
cantor, a Turkish imam and a soloist from the Armenian Church in
Istanbul. But just as rehearsals were coming to an end yesterday, the
Israeli cantor, Lior Almaliach, learned that the concert had been
cancelled and that he would be well advised to leave Turkey on that
same day. A hard condemnation ensued from Israel’s foreign ministry,
which accused the IHH itself of being behind the pressure to have the
event cancelled. ”It comes as no surprise that this organisation
should attack a cultural event trying to spread tolerance between
religions,” – the ministry’s spokesperson, Igal Palmor, is reported
by military radio to have said, ”Those with a terrorist mentality
reach for their pistols every time they hear the word ‘culture”’.
Last week the Israeli press gave great prominence to the fact that
Israeli cyclists who had been invited to take part in an international
race in Turkey had been forced by the organisers to return home ahead
of schedule due to the unwillingness of Arab competitors to race
against them.

Le Télégramme , France
Mardi 7 Juin 2011

Exposition. Femmes d’Arménie à l’Abri des Barges

L’Abri des Barges a présenté sa nouvelle exposition, les tableaux de
Joëlle Nafilyan «Femmes d’Arménie, du Caucase, du Turkménistan…».
Artiste peintre utilisant l’huile ou l’acrylique sur différents
supports, Joëlle Nafilyan ou Nafy, est passionnée de dessin. Elle
exprime la force et l’intimité, inspirée par les fresques de Pompéï,
toujours guidée par le temps qui laisse sa trace et l’équilibre de la
composition que l’on retrouve chez les anciens.

De nombreuses expositions
L’artiste a exposé à Paris, au Canada, en Roumanie. Elle est établie à
Louveciennes depuis vingt ans; elle y a créé une école de peinture
décorative et en trompe-l’oeil. Ses travaux l’ont conduit à effectuer
des recherches sur de nombreux thèmes, la nature et l’action de
l’homme sur celle-ci, la société, les peuples. Cette exposition est
une des facettes des multiples compétences de Joëlle Nafilyan. Guidée
par ses souvenirs d’enfance, avec une grand-mère arménienne et une
grand-mère russe, elle a voulu, cette fois, décrire, par un travail
technique sur la toile de lin rappelant les fresques anciennes,
parfois effacées et même tachées, les femmes de ces pays et tout le
mystère qui entoure leur vie «Des peintures d’aujourd’hui qui
racontent ce qui nous reste des siècles passés», a-t-elle précisé.

Pratique

L’Abri des Barges, 22220Trédarzec. Contact: tél.02.96.400.404. E-mail:
[email protected]

Panel Discussion at Glendale Library on State of Armenian Genocide Research

Sat, Jun 11 2011
By:Armenian Weekly

The Glendale Public Library and the National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research (NAASR) will present a panel discussion on `The
State of Armenian Genocide Research and Future Needs ‘ on Tuesday,
June 14, at 7 p.m. at the Glendale Central Library, 22 Harvard Street
(2nd floor), Glendale, CA 91205. The discussion will feature Prof.
Richard G. Hovannisian, AEF Chair in Modern Armenian History,
University of California, Los Angeles; Prof. Taner Akçam,
Kaloosdian/Mugar Chair in Modern Armenian History and Armenian
Genocide Studies, Clark University; Prof. Vahram L. Shemmassian,
Director, Armenian Studies Program, California State University,
Northridge; and Marc A. Mamigonian, Director of Academic Affairs,
NAASR.

This special event will build on the April 2010 workshop `The State of
the Art of Armenian Genocide Research: Historiography, Sources, and
Future Directions,’ held at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and
Genocide Studies at Clark University and organized and co-sponsored by
Kaloosdian/Mugar Chair Taner Akçam, Eric Weitz, the Distinguished
McKnight University Professor of History and Arsham and Charlotte
Ohanessian Professor, College of Liberal Arts, University of
Minnesota, and the National Association for Armenian Studies and
Research.

The Clark workshop attempted to assess known resources and where the
scholarship stands and to create a serious discussion around the main
problems and the fundamental questions of the field.

Among the topics to be touched on are: How has the field of Armenian
Genocide Studies evolved and what have been the paradigm shifts in
explaining the genocide? Can we speak of different models of
explaining the genocide? What is the place of Armenian Genocide
research within general genocide research and within Armenian Studies?
What is the state of some of the key archival sources? How much work
has been done on them, and have they been viewed in relation to each
other? What are the future research goals and perspectives that should
be aimed for?

NAASR’s co-sponsorship of the workshop and this panel discussion are
supported by a generous contribution from Mrs. Marie Broussalian in
memory of her late husband, Dr. Vartkes Broussalian, NAASR Board
Member (1991-2003).

For more information please contact Elizabeth Grigorian at (818)
548-3288 or [email protected]; or contact NAASR at (617)
489-1610 or [email protected].

Rhode Island State House Passes Genocide Education Bill (Update)

Thu, Jun 9 2011
By:Armenian Weekly

PROVIDENCE, R.I – The Rhode Island State House Legislation has passed
the General Assembly instructing the Department of Education to help
local schools teach students about genocide as a critical component of
civic education.

The Rhode Island State House
The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Joshua Miller (D-Dist. 28,
Cranston, Warwick) and Rep. Anastasia P. Williams (D-Dist. 9,
Providence), directs the state Department of Education to post on its
website materials to help schools teach students about genocides
including the Holocaust and those in Armenia, Cambodia, Iraq, Rwanda
and Darfur.

`The Rhode Island Assembly’s adoption of this genocide education
measure, and our local Genocide Education Project chapter’s efforts,
are a testamant to this state’s ongoing commitment to genocide
prevention,’ said ANC RI Chairman George Mangalo. `Victories like this
put genocide education on a fast-track in Rhode Island and help build
momentum for a nationwide policy on genocide awareness and prevention.
Education is a key component to our continued efforts in securing
justice for the Armenian Genocide and the broader campaign to ensure
our children live in a world without genocide.’

In 2000, the General Assembly passed a law requiring the Department of
Education to develop curricular materials on genocide and human rights
issues and guidelines for teaching them. The new bill, which has been
forwarded to the governor, will require that the curricular materials
for middle and high schools be posted online so it can be easily
accessed by schools.

The sponsors said they recognize that schools are struggling for
funding and that teachers are also pressed for time, so making the
curriculum available online would increase the likelihood that the
subject would be taught in schools.

`Genocides and human rights violations carried out by governments are
ugly chapters of history, but students are future leaders and voters
and they need to learn about mistakes of the past to keep them from
being repeated,’ said Representative Williams.

Said Senator Miller, `One of the purposes of public education is to
raise new generations of informed, responsible citizens who understand
government. It’s critical that students learn that sometimes
governments have done the wrong thing, not only trampling on the
rights of minorities, but attempting to wipe out entire races or
cultures. Making curriculum on genocide available to Rhode Island
teachers online will make it much more likely that students will learn
about these subjects, which have had profound and lasting effects on
the world in which they live.’

The House bill (2011-H 5732 A) passed the Assembly yesterday and will
be forwarded to the governor. The Senate bill (2011-S 0290A) passed
the Assembly May 31 and has been transmitted to the governor.

Kavkas-Press, Georgia
June 11 2011

Georgian, Armenian patriarchs meet in Tbilisi

Tbilisi, 11 June: At their closed meeting held at the Georgian
Patriarchate on 11 June, Georgian Orthodox Patriarch Ilia II and
All-Armenian Catholicos Garegin II agreed to start working on problems
in relations between the two churches, the Georgian Kavkas-Press news
agency reported on 11 June.

The news agency also reported that the Armenian cleric raised the
problem of granting Armenian churches in Georgia a legal status, while
Ilia II spoke about the return of Georgian churches on Armenian
territory to the Georgian Patriarchate. Ilia II also said that he was
going to set up a special commission comprising scientists and urged
the Armenian side to do the same.

After the meeting, Garegin II said that the Armenian diaspora had
never had problems in obtaining a legal status in Georgia.

The Armenian catholicos is on his first visit to Georgia, which will
last six days.

Canada Armenians go on hunger strike to boost Genocide awareness

June 12, 2011 – 16:39 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – A group of 8 Canadian-Armenians have begun a 72 hour
hunger strike in downtown Toronto as of Friday, June 10 at 6:00pm,
organized by the Armenian Youth Federation of Canada. In light of the
upcoming general elections in Turkey, the demonstrators are protesting
the ongoing human rights abuses carried out by the Government of
Turkey, including: the denial of the Armenian Genocide; the stifling
of freedom of speech, and press; oppression of Kurdish and Christian
minorities who are treated as second class citizens and whose
political parties are banned, leaders imprisoned and Patriarchate’s
shut down.

One of the participants, AYF member Mark Piliguian explains that the
reason the group decided to hold a hunger strike was to show the
Canadian public, and the world at large, the type of suffering the
Armenian people endured during the first genocide of the twentieth
century. `We are here, depriving ourselves of food for seventy-two
hours, to share a very small amount of the suffering of our ancestors
went through. Although ninety-six years have passed, the world cannot
forget the Armenian Genocide. The Turkish government must acknowledge
and come to terms with its history so that the crime of genocide does
not repeat itself’.

The hunger strike will culminate with an official demonstration, which
will be held Monday, June 13, 2011 at 2:00pm in front of the Turkish
Consulate in Toronto at (Queens Quay and Lower Spadina – 10 Lower
Spadina Avenue).

The demonstrators will send a strong message to the newly elected
officials in Turkey that Canadians and the international community at
large will not stand as silent bystanders as the Turkish government
deprives its citizens of their basic human rights and denies the
Armenian Genocide.

At the same time protestors will urge the Canadian Government to take
action with regard to Turkey’s dismal human rights record, as part of
Canada’s foreign policy agenda. As a model democracy, a leader in
peace-building, partnership, reconciliation and fair and honest
dialogue, Canada must recognize the role it can play in helping Turkey
become a legitimate democracy. Our government must urge the Turkish
government to cease its oppression of minorities by extending support
to Christian Patriarchates and repealing Article 301 of its Penal
Code, AYF Canada reported.

KARABAGH
La visite des coprésidents du Groupe de Minsk à Erevan

La visite des coprésidents du Groupe de Minsk à Erevan constitue le
principal sujet d’actualité. Ils ont été reçus par le Président
Sarkissian et le Ministre des AE E. Nalbandian auxquels ils ont
présenté les résultats de leurs entretiens à Bakou et Stépanakert et
avec lesquels ils ont discuté de l’étape actuelle du processus de
négociation, ainsi que des travaux préparatifs du sommet de Kazan.
D’après le communiqué de presse du MAE, le Ministre Nalbandian a
souligné que l’Arménie a donné une réponse claire à la dernière
version des principes de base présentée par les coprésidents et si
l’Azerbaïdjan est prêt à donner son accord, il sera possible
d’enregistrer un progrès dans le processus de négociation. « Les
déclarations de responsables azerbaïdjanais dans lesquelles le sens du
processus de négociations est déformé ou qui contiennent des détails
inventés sur les forces de maintien de la paix témoignent-ils de la
disponibilité de Bakou d’agréer ces propositions sans modifications ou
amendements », a demandé le chef de la diplomatie.

La presse rapporte la déclaration des coprésidents diffusée suite à
leurs entretiens à Erevan, dans laquelle ils affirment avoir discuté
avec les autorités azerbaïdjanaises, arméniennes et les autorités de
fait du HK des pas qui sont indispensables pour finaliser les travaux
sur les principes de base, comme il a été mentionné dans la
déclaration conjointe des Présidents Medvedev, Sarkozy et Obama à
Deauville. Les coprésidents rappellent que le 7 juin ils ont traversé
à pied la ligne de contact près d’Aghdam, pour la troisième fois au
cours des dix derniers mois (autant de fois que la ligne de contact
avait été traversée au cours des 16 dernières années), prouvant ainsi
que les parties peuvent coopérer et mettre pleinement en `uvre les
conditions du cessez-le-feu de 1994. Les coprésidents appellent les
parties à s’abstenir d’actions provocatrices et de déclarations
susceptibles de nuire au processus de négociation en ce moment
décisif.

Ambassade de France en Arménie

Service de presse

dimanche 12 juin 2011,
Sté[email protected]

ARMENIE
L’ambassadeur Nazaryan fait circuler une lettre au siège de l’ONU

Le 9 Juin le Représentant permanent de l’Arménie auprès de l’ONU,
Karen Nazaryan a envoyé une lettre au siège de l’ONU, appelant à faire
attention à la propagande anti-arménienne par l’Azerbaïdjan.

Dans la lettre adressée au Secrétaire général des Nations
l’Ambassadeur d’Arménie a noté que « dans le contexte de l’importance
de la 65e session de l’Assemblée générale des Nations Unies, il est
décevant que l’Azerbaïdjan continue à abuser de son adhésion à l’ONU,
se prévalant de toutes les occasions pour diffuser de la
désinformation sur l’Arménie et le Haut-Karabakh. ”

Soulignant que l’Azerbaïdjan ne tient pas compte des déclarations du
Secrétaire général de l’ONU, le Président de l’OSCE en exercice, des
co-présidents du Groupe de Minsk, des dirigeants de l’UE pour
renforcer le régime le-feu et retirer les tireurs d’élite de la ligne
de contact, l’Ambassadeur a exprimé l’espoir qu’au lieu de diffuser
des lettres sans fondements et provocatrices, l’Azerbaïdjan se
concentrera sur les négociations en cours dans le cadre du Groupe de
Minsk de l’OSCE.

L’ambassadeur Nazaryan a conclu sa lettre, notant que l’Arménie a
toujours soutenu le règlement pacifique du conflit entre l’Azerbaïdjan
et le Haut-Karabakh, et il l’a prouvé en pratique.

dimanche 12 juin 2011,
Sté[email protected]

ARMENIE
Seyran Ohanyan a reçu une délégation de l’UE

Le 10 Juin le ministre arménien de la Défense Seyran Ohanyan a reçu
Miroslav Lajcak, directeur général pour la Russie, l’Europe de l’Est
et les Balkans au service européen pour l’action à l’UE. Les questions
de coopération avec l’Union européenne dans le domaine de la défense
ont été examinées.

Attachant une importance au développement de la coopération avec
l’Union européenne, Seyran Ohanyan a noté que la politique assumée par
l’Arménie va de pair avec les valeurs de la politique de voisinage de
l’UE et a ajouté que l’armée de défense de la République du
Haut-Karabakh a également choisi la voie des réformes , à la suite de
quoi des mécanismes efficaces de contrôle démocratique et civil des
forces armées ont été mis en place depuis l’indépendance.

À la demande de Miroslav Lajcak, le ministre Nalbandian a présenté la
situation sur la ligne de contact entre les forces armées d’Arménie et
d’Azerbaïdjan.

dimanche 12 juin 2011,
Sté[email protected]