Author: Badalian Vardan

ARCHBISHOP CONDEMNS KILLING OF INNOCENTS IN GAZA
By Ben Garcia

Kuwait Times
sid=MjA5NDA5ODYz
Jan 8 2009
Kuwait

KUWAIT: The Armenian community residing in Kuwait celebrated Christmas,
Epiphany, and Jesus Christ’s Baptism (revelation of Christ’s divinity)
on January 6, at their church compound located in Salmiya. Addressing
the congregation, Archbishop Dr. Goriun Babian, Armenian Prelacy of
Kuwait and the Arabian Gulf countries, condemned Israeli attacks in
Gaza and expressed grief at the death of innocent women and children
during the on-going military operation against Hamas by Israeli forces.

The place where Jesus Christ was born, unfortunately, experiences
no peace during these days. We want this unjustified killing to stop
and we pray for peace in the Middle East and the entire world. We are
in distress, the entire Christendom as well as other communities are
very troubled at what has been going on in that part of the world,"
he mentioned.

A number of Armenians in Kuwait and some visitors from other Christian
denominations attended the High Mass. The celebrations on Tuesday were
the highest forms of worship at held at the Armenian Church considering
that three occasions were celebrated simultaneously. Armenian
Christians thronged the church early morning to receive Holy Communion,
listen to sermons and receive a cup of water blessed by the Archbishop
which is believed to heal many diseases.

In an interview to Kuwait Times explaining the January 6 rituals,
Archbishop Goriun explained, "The water from the small pond
is blessed. We consecrate a holy oil in the pond and place the
silver cross symbolizing Christ in it. After the mass, we allow our
congregation to drink the water. Some people drink a little and take
the rest home which we believe can heal sickness. It is sacred because
the divinity of Jesus Christ appears in this very water," he explained.

Unlike other Christians, according to Babian, the Armenian Church
has managed to preserve the original date where church festivities
are celebrated. "During the early years of Christianity, the Pope
was troubled about the famous pagan traditions of December 25. In
order to veer Christians away from pagan traditions, the Pope decided
to move Christmas celebrations to December 25, a day where pagans
celebrate festivities of their sun god. Since then, other Christian
denominations began celebrating Christmas on December 25, instead of
the original January 6 celebrations," he explained.

He elaborated, "We don’t turn Christmas into an occasion for merely
eating and drinking because we don’t want to lose its original
meaning and spiritual value. For Armenians, Santa Claus comes during
New Year. Children receive Christmas gifts on New Year instead of
December 25," he further explained.

In the same sermon, Archbishop Babian thanked His Highness the Amir
and the Kuwait government for agreeing to host about 5,000 Armenians
in Kuwait, for the freedom to practice religion. He prayed that peace
will prevail in Kuwait. He also wished the entire Armenian community
in the Middle East good health, prosperity and more blessings. "On
this occasion, I pray to God to grant you peace and tranquility,
preserve the message of Jesus Christ in your soul and spread it
throughout the community," he added.

The center of Armenian Church in the Middle East is located in
Kuwait. Apart from Kuwait, Archbishop Babian also looks after the
spiritual well-being of other Armenian communities that are based in
Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Iran.

GAZPROM GUARANTEES REGULAR GAS SUPPLIES TO ARMENIA

ARKA
Dec 26, 2008

YEREVAN, December 26. /ARKA/. Russian gas supplies to Armenia are
regular and stable, ArmRosGasProm Director General Karen Karapetyan
said on Friday.

"Armenia has no problems with Russian gas supplies," he said, adding
the Russian gas transits through Georgia work properly, though Russia
does not supply Georgia with gas.

According to ArmRosGasProm’s press service, Russian gas supplies
to Armenia rose 11% to over 2bln cubic meters between January and
November 2008, with 1.874bln cubic meters of gas consumed in the
country during the past 11 months.

Monopolist in Armenia’s gas supply market, ArmRosGasProm CJSC was
established in 1997.

Gazprom OJCS and the RA Ministry of Energy used to hold 45% of the
company’s shares each, with Itera Oil and Gas Company owning 10%
of ArmRosGasProm.

After implementing two of the three planned stages of its investment
program (and buying extra shares of ArmRosGasProm in 2006 and 2008)
Gazprom became 75.55% shareholder of the company, with Itera now
holding 4.4% of ArmRosGasProm’s shares.

YEAR WAS SUCCESS FOR OPERA AND BALLET ACADEMIC THEATRE

Panorama.am
17:22 26/12/2008

This year Opera and Ballet Academic Theatre named after Al. Spendiaryan
performed several premieres – "Vardanank" and "Tango" ballets, "White
symphony and earthquake" opera, said the director of the Academic
Theatre Kamo Hovhannisyan. According to him 67 performances were made
during the year – operas, ballets, jubilee concerts and other events.

Kamo Hovhannisyan said that the year was successful as Alin Gutan
and Karo Nshanyan from Canada arrived in Armenia and took part in
"Anush" opera, Vigen Hakobyan from Kharkov performed in "Quixote"
and "Jizzel" ballets. And our national ballet and opera groups had
concert tours in different countries of the world.

MESUD YILMAZ: "CAMPAIGN OF APOLOGY CREATES PSYCHOLOGICAL GROUND FOR THE DECISION OF US CONGRESS"

Azeri Press Agency
Dec 25 2008
Azerbaijan

Ankara-APA. "So far lawmaking bodies of sixteen countries and 25 states
of the Unites States adopted a special law to recognizeso-called
"Armenian genocide", but now more serious step is on the agenda. US
Congress is expected to recognize so-called "Armenian genocide"
before the next April. The campaign of apology in Turkey aims to create
psychological ground for this decision", former Turkish Prime Minister
and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mesud Yilmaz said in his address to
the Parliament, APA reports, citing the Turkish online resources. He
called on all people from the president to the ordinary citizens to
seriously protest this campaign and to defend the country’s official
position. Yilmaz said 1915 events were not genocide. "Unfortunately
there were some painful events during movement of Armenians, but
objective historians said that these events couldn’t be evaluated
as genocide. These processes can be named technically as reciprocal
murders. Unfortunately many Turkish, Kurdish and Armenian citizens
of our country were killed in those events".

Yilmaz added that Turkey didn’t mention this problem for long years,
but after the Armenian terrorist organization ASALA’s terrorist actions
the historians were allowed to open the archives of 1914-1915 of
Ottoman Empire. "Turkey demands the neutral international scientific
team to investigate this issue. It is a position understandable for
the cultural countries. Everyone in Turkey must support this position".

NKR PRESIDENT MET THE STAFF OF NKR CONTROL CHAMBER

Azat Artsakh Daily
24 Dec 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]

On 23 December NKR President Bako Sahakyan met the staff of NKR
Control Chamber. Chairman of the Chamber Arthur Mosiyan presented a
report on the activities of the structure in the year of 2008.

Bako Sahakyan gave a positive valuation to the activities of the
structure, noting that a clear-cut progress has been registered
in effective utilization of budgetary means. The Head of the State
underlined that the Chamber should not restrict itself to checking and
inspections, it is necessary carry out educational activities too,
especially in universities. The President noted that that the NKR
Control Chamber must become one of the structures of high moral and
ethic in the republic. According to the President this is the most
important guarantors of the Chamber’s effective work.

TARKAN ISSUES OFFICIAL STATEMENT ON REPORTS OF HIS JOINING TO APOLOGIZING CAMPAIGN TO ARMENIANS

Azeri Press Agency
Dec 22 2008
Azerbaijan

Istanbul-APA. Pop-singer Tarkan issued an official statement on
the reports of his joining to the Internet-campaign for apologizing
to Armenians.

The statement was placed on the singer’s official website, APA
reports. The singer said he had not joines the Internet-campaign
for apologizing to Armenians for 1915 events. "I was outside of the
country for a European tour. I knew about including of my name in the
Internet list when the issue came to agenda. My name was included
in the list not depending on my wishes and will and I have no idea
about this issue".

Sunday’s Zaman, Turkey
Dec 21 2008

We should thank the racist CHP deputy

IHSAN YILMAZ

Several Turkish intellectuals have started a signature campaign with
regards to the Armenian massacre in 1915, apologizing to
Armenians. There have been mixed reactions to the campaign. While some
have said they also felt sorry for what happened but did not feel
personally responsible for something they did not take part in and
never supported and so on, some ultra-nationalists among us have
fiercely opposed the campaign and tried to belittle, to say the least,
the signatories. But, there was one reaction from Republican People’s
Party (CHP) ?Ä?°zmir deputy Canan Ar?Ä?±tman that deserves to be in the
spotlight and given detailed treatment.

President Abdullah G?Ã?¼l was asked last week about the campaign, and he
responded that there is freedom of speech in the country and everyone
is entitled to their views. Ms. Ar?Ä?±tman took this statement as
rubberstamping the campaign and said that Mr. G?Ã?¼l should advocate for
the Turkish people, not the Armenian nation. She then said there
should be a reason behind Mr. G?Ã?¼l’s so-called pro-Armenian stance,
and she advised the press to research Mr. G?Ã?¼l’s mother’s ancestors,
implying that Mr. G?Ã?¼l has Armenian blood.

Ms. Ar?Ä?±tman is doing Turkish democracy a service by drawing attention
to the racist and fascist inheritance of her party, the CHP, which is
the ideological successor of the Ottoman period’s Union and Progress
(?Ä?°ttihad ve Terakki) Party. This party and its three leaders — Enver
Pa?Å?a, Cemal Pasha and Talat Pasha — are being held responsible
for the Armenian massacre, for they ruled the country between 1908 and
1918, and they ordered the forced emigration of the Armenians from
eastern Turkey, which resulted in many thousands of these Armenians
dying because of the harsh conditions of murderous attacks by
Ergenekon-like gangs.

The Union and Progress Party was established as an underground
organization in the Balkans by over-enthusiastic Young Turks who were
mostly either medical or military schools students or graduates. Most
of these Young Turks were Turkish nationalists in the multiethnic
Ottoman state. Similar to today’s radical Islamists, who are mostly
graduates of technical subjects, these Young Turks hated the ulema
(religious scholars) for their moderate stance and despised the
Ottoman rulers. As they were also mostly positivists, they did not
believe in any religion but were ready to use it for instrumental
purposes to mobilize the masses against the rulers. The Young Turks
believed that the country was in danger, and indeed it was. But they
also believed that to save the country, anything else was only a mere
detail. By looking at what they did in retrospect, one understands
that democracy, human rights, legitimacy, the sanctity of innocent
lives, etc., were all ignorable details in the eyes of these Young
Turks. After constantly criticizing Sultan Abd?Ã?¼lhamid II’s rule as
undemocratic and repressive, these Young Turks pressured the sultan to
start the second constitutional period in 1908.

After the elections, the Young Turks’ Union and Progress Party came to
power. In a very short time, they staged a military coup against the
establishment, toppled the sultan, closed down all opposition parties
and established a dictatorship. They followed very radical nationalist
policies and did not allow any non-Turks to infiltrate their inner
circle. Under their rule, the Ottoman state was dismantled, and they
took us to war in 1914 to support the Germans. Their nationalist
rhetoric disillusioned many loyal Arabs and other ethnic groups. When
some Armenians started a rebellion for independence in eastern Turkey,
the Young Turks reacted harshly and forcibly removed all Armenians
from the region. After the establishment of the republic, their
ideology, albeit in a modified form, continued with the CHP. What
Ms. Ar?Ä?±tman is doing today is simply revering her ideological and
political Young Turk fathers and their "accomplishments."

For decades, people like Ms. Ar?Ä?±tman have tried to convince
Westerners that they were the only full-humans in the country and that
they were trying to modernize the ignorant and obscurantist
masses. They still have friends in Western quarters who call the
Justice and Development Party (AK Party) leaders Islamo-fascists. We
should thank Ms. Ar?Ä?±tman for reminding us once again who the real
fascists and racists were, obsessed with blood, in Turkey. When we
know this history, we should not be surprised by the ultra-nationalist
and racist rhetoric of Ergenekonians and their supporters among the
elite circles.

21.12.2008

GERMANY’S EU LAW A DENIAL OF GENOCIDE
By Toivo Ndjebela

Informante
8080/informante/index.php?option=com_content&t ask=view&id=3302&Itemid=100
Dec 18 2008
Namibia

THE legislation proposed by Germany and approved by the European
Union (EU) on 12 April 2007 appears contradictory and even smacks
of hypocrisy.

The law tabled by the Germans would allow prosecution of anyone guilty
of "genocide denial" for questioning war crimes committed in either
Africa or the Balkans during the past 20 years.

The decision to limit the crime of "genocide denial" only to events
that took place during the past 20 years has raised widespread
suspicion.

Furthermore, it is a slap in the face for many who are trying to
address past human rights violations, particularly in Namibia.

Under German-proposed law, people who question Europe’s human rights
violations from 20 years and beyond in Africa and the Balkans could
be jailed for up to three years for "genocide denial".

Even the International Herald Tribune reported just after the approval
of the law that it was notable "for what it omitted".

Most people would consider any law that outlaws "intentional conduct"
that incites violence or hatred against a person’s "race, colour,
religion, descent or ethnic origin" a noble initiative.

The decision to limit the law to the events of the past 20 years
appears to be a disingenuous and cynical attempt by Germany to
indemnify itself against atrocities committed during its colonial rule,
particularly in Namibia.

By imposing the 20-year limit, the Germans avoid the discomfort of
having to embarrass powerful or important neighbours such as Russia
over Stalin’s atrocities in the Baltic countries, or the massacres
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks.

The scope of the law does not cover many specific historical events,
but limits itself to recognising genocides that fall under the
statutes, such as the mass killing of Jews during World War II and
the massacre in Rwanda in 1994.

Above all, justice under the new EU law is highly selective, allowing
the EU to pick and choose what forms of "genocide denial" to outlaw,
leaving wide latitude for applying double standards.

It specifically excludes any justice for Namibia’s Herero and Nama
communities, who demand compensation for the killing of between 35,000
to 105,000 of their ancestors from 1904 to 1908, in the genocide by
German colonial forces in Namibia.

The genocidal killings by German troops drove thousands of Ovaherero
people into exile in Botswana, where many still remain after a
100 years.

In 2001, the Herero became the first ethnic group in Namibia to seek
reparations from Germany for that country’s colonial policies which
fit the definition of genocide.

The case was brought before a US federal court and the reparation
claims were based on the procedures of the Alien Torts Claim Act of
1789. The case is still ongoing, albeit with strong opposition from
the Germans.

International human rights bodies such as Amnesty International,
Human Rights Watch and others have looked into violations of human
rights in the past, and have at times called for justice to be done.

Germany cannot escape scrutiny, and the proposal to have strict
limits on the definition of "genocide denial", while making special
provisions for the economically powerful Jewish community in its own
national laws, is hardly surprising.

The order by German colonial administrator in Namibia, Lothar von
Trotha, for the execution of thousands of Namibians stands out as a
classic example of why Germany would have a slim chance of escaping
any possible prosecution.

There is great condemnation of the envisaged law, not only in Africa
but Europe too. In Europe, Lithuania and Estonia were among the nations
against the proposal. They have pressed hard for the crimes committed
by the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin to be brought into the scope
of the law.

Most EU member states have resisted the two nations’ stance on the
matter, but a compromise was drawn up last year, to include a political
declaration condemning the mass murders committed under Stalin.

According to the draft proposal "…each (EU) member state shall take
the measures necessary to ensure that the following intentional conduct
is punishable: ‘publicly condoning, denying or grossly trivialising
of crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes as
defined in’… the Statute of the ICC."

RUSRUSGASPROM: ARMENIA SUCCESSFULLY SETTLES TASKS TO MAINTAIN ENERGY SAFETY

ArmInfo
2008-12-18 11:41:00

ArmInfo. Having no own reserves of hydrocarbon resources and access
to the sea, against the background of complicate and controversial
political and economic processes in the region, Armenia demonstrates
a bright example of successful settlement of tasks to maintain the
necessary level of energy safety, Karen Karapetyan, Chairman of
ArmRusgasprom CJSC Board – Director General, declared at Yerevan
State University, Thursday.

He also added one of the instruments for further improvement of energy
safety of Armenia is development of new export policy aimed at creation
of unique and good possibilities to boost foreign economic exchange
of Armenia and the neighbor-states. ‘Armenia should take an extremely
active stance on elaboration and consistent implementation of new
regional projects having common ‘points of convergence’ for the states
in the region. In conditions of global financial and economic crises,
there is simply no real alternative to regional cooperation, especially
in the sphere of energy. Having two gas pipelines and an underground
gas holder, as well as surplus competitive generating capacities,
Armenia has all the chances to become a peculiar liberal energy
platform in the region’, he said. K. Karapetyan is sure that settlement
of such an uneasy task implies ambitions programs in the economy of
Armenia, in particular, improvement of energy safety though formation
of a competitive export market; development and implementation of
state policy of Armenia on real support to export-targeted energy
projects based on flexible tariff policy and coordinated stances of
strategic partners on extension of regional energy cooperation that
would involve Turkmenistan, Iraq and other states. ‘Such are the key
conditions that would make Armenia the energy ‘base’ in the region
i.e. further liberalization of foreign economic exchange, better access
to innovative technologies, leading technical standards and methods
of state and corporate economy management, and real transfer to a new
quality export policy. The role of professional information support
to these ambitious programs is rather great>, K. Karapetyan said.

He thinks that everything above mentioned cannot be fully fulfilled if
all the countries of the region do not understand the uniting prospect
of the energy cooperation and are not ready to accept and observe
the legal regime coordinated with the fixed international norms.

‘Today Armenia assesses presence of the new energy situation in the
region as a fact which is very positive for itself and understands
the real opportunity to be involved in big regional energy projects
in which it has all the chances to become one of the key players at
the energy map of the south Caucasus. We think that it will be easier
to fulfill this large-scale task if our initiatives and projects are
supported on the needed informational level, which we rely on’, –
Karapetyan emphasized.

RUSSIAN SOLDIERS TO SERVE AS PEACEKEEPERS IN ARMENIA?

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.12.2008 12:23 GMT+04:00

The Russian Defense Minister has decided to send 700 draftees to
serve as peacekeepers in Armenia.

The number of servicemen is not sufficient in Armenia, so the draftees
will be sent to replenish the personnel," said Alexandra Vrakina,
chairperson of the council of parents of Prikamye, Russia.

"After a training course the soldiers will be sent to Armenia,
apparently early next year," she said, 59.ru reports.