Author: Badalian Vardan

COMMUNITY ORDERED TO TAKE DOWN GEN. ANTRANIG STATUE IN SOCHI

asbarez
Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

The statue of General Antranig in Sochi

SOCHI, Russia-What was to bring together 5,000 to 6,000 Armenians from
around the Krasnodar region of Russia and Abkhazia for a community-wide
May 28 celebration turned sour when local authorities ordered the
Armenian community here to bring down a statue of General Antranig,
which was to be unveiled for the event.

According to members of the Armenian community in Sochi, local
authorities said that the statue must come down, or it will be
demolished.

The authorities explained their decision saying that the unveiling of
the statue might anger Turkey, which could refuse to take part in the
construction of facilities for the Sochi Winter Olympic Games in 2014.

Armenia’s Consul General Ararat Gomtsyan told Armenian activists of
Sochi in a phone conversation that he was unable to do anything. He
also advised them to adhere to authorities’ request. According to
representatives of the Armenian community, the decision was adopted
in Moscow, but not in the region. They claimed that pressure from
Azeri groups led to the decision.

“There is a certain policy by the Russian authorities toward
the Armenian population,” said a statement issued by the Armenian
community, which claimed that anti-Armenian sentiments in Krasnodar
were prevalent.

Sochi and that region of Russia is home to a large number
Hamshen-Armenians, who also issued a statement expressing their anger.

“General Antranig is not only a national hero but our compatriot,
native of Trabzon, just like many Armenian residents of Sochi. It is
not a mere coincidence that Armenians of Sochi were the organizers
of the monument,” read the statement of Hemshin Armenians in Russia.

“Dismantling of the monument is not only an affront to the memory
of Gen. Antranig, but also to the memory of our ancestors,” said the
Hamshen-Armenian announcement. The community said it considered the
order an act of vandalism.

Gen. Antranig is an Armenian hero who led battles for the liberation
movement of Armenia, including those for independence. He organized
the defense efforts in Sassoun and Zangezour.

He died in Fresno on August 31, 1927 and was buried in Paris until the
Armenian government in 2000 arranged the relocation of his remains
to Armenia where they are interred at Yerablour National Cemetery
in Yerevan.

DEAUVILLE STATEMENT CONTAINS ‘VERY CLEAR AND UNAMBIGUOUS’ ENCOURAGEMENT

news.az
May 31 2011
Azerbaijan

The French ambassador in Armenia hopes that Deauville statement will
be implemented as soon as possible.

At a meeting with journalists in the NATO Information Centre in
Yerevan, Henri Reynaud said that the Deauville statement by the
presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries contains
“very clear and unambiguous calls”.

“The statement clearly states that there is a need to refrain from
the use of force in conflict settlement. I hope that the sides have
grasped the calls, contained in the statement, and will demonstrate
the will at the upcoming meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani
presidents in Kazan,” Henri Reynaud said.

“I hope that the tension on the borders will decline, cooperation will
substitute hatred, and trust will come to take the place of distrust,”
Henri Reynaud said.

KARABAKH CONFLICT STANDS ON OIC AGENDA

news.az
May 31 2011
Azerbaijan

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be one of the priority issues on the
agenda of the Organization of the IslamicConference during the meeting
of foreign ministers of the member countries.

The statement came from OIC official Abderraouf Ben Rajab.

“Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan” will be one of the important
topics of discussion,” Ben Rajab said, reported Trend.

Kazakhstan, OIC chairman for 2011-2012, will hold 38th session of
the Council of OIC Foreign Ministers in Astana on 28-30 June.

Founded in 1969, OIC has 57 member countries with a total population
of 1.2bn people. Azerbaijan and all five Central Asian republics are
members of the Organization among the post-Soviet countries.

Another four countries, including Russia and one self-declared area
not recognized by world community – Turkish Republic of Northern
Cyprus have an observer status in OIC.

KNESSET SPEAKER WORKING TO BOOST RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
By Jonathan Lis

Ha’aretz

May 31 2011
Israel

Reuven Rivlin says it is his duty as a Jew and Israeli to recognize
the ‘tragedies of other people.’

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said Monday that he wanted to convene an
annual parliamentary session of the full Knesset to mark the Armenian
genocide of 1915 and 1916 at the hands of the Turks. “It is my duty
as a Jew and Israeli to recognize the tragedies of other peoples,”
Rivlin said, speaking to an Israel-based Armenian action committee.

Rivlin added: “Diplomatic considerations, important as they may be,
do not allow us to deny the disaster [experienced by] another people.”

In recent years the Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign Ministry
have applied heavy pressure to head off such sessions of the Knesset
out of concern that relations between Israel and Turkey would be
harmed. Turkey denies that it committed genocide against the Armenians.

Since 2008, the full Knesset has allowed the Foreign Affairs and
Defense Committee to hold sessions that have been closed to the
media about the Armenian genocide. Last week, for the first time,
the full Knesset approved the convening of an open, public session
on the issue by the Education, Culture and Sports Committee, at the
request of Meretz Knesset member Zahava Gal-On. This represents a
complete change in approach on the issue.

In 1915 to 1916, between a million and a million and a half Armenians
reportedly lost their lives in Turkey, representing about a third of
the Armenian people. Armenians have been campaigning for international
recognition of the genocide, but the Turks have been active in
countering these efforts. Turkey claims there was no genocide, and that
in the course of the Armenian fight for independence between 250,000
and 500,000 Armenians and a similar number of Turks lost their lives.

As part of the Foreign Ministry’s attempt in recent years to block
pro-Armenian genocide commemorations, in 2007, ministry staff expressed
what was called “dissatisfaction” with plans to hold a session in
the Knesset plenum on the issue. The prime minister at the time,
Ehud Olmert, intervened to have the session canceled.

Several months before that, tensions with Turkey rose after the
U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League supported an effort to have the U.S.

Congress recognize the genocide. The Turkish government responded
by asking the Israeli government to apply pressure on the ADL to
moderate its stand on the Congressional debate. Responding to the
entreaties of the president of Turkey, Israeli President Shimon Peres
also approached ADL national director Abraham Foxman on the issue,
after which the organization reversed course and softened its stance.

In October of 2008, in an unprecedented move, the Knesset voted to
have a parliamentary committee convene on the Armenian genocide at
the initiative of then-Meretz chairman Haim Oron, paving the way for
the sessions in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Over the
past two years, however, after relations between Israel and Turkey
deteriorated, the Foreign Ministry’s opposition to the issue abated,
though Rivlin’s latest move was at his own initiative.

STRATFOR EXPERT: “THE CAUCASUS IS FAR MORE DYNAMIC AND COMPLEX THAN A MAP WOULD SUGGEST”

APA
May 31 2011
Azerbaijan

Baku – APA. “The Caucasus is, geopolitically speaking, an extremely
important and strategic region.

As a land bridge between the Black and Caspian seas and a
trans-continental zone between Europe and Asia, the Caucasus is
significant in multiple ways because of its location. Adding to these
geographical dynamics is the presence of three small states – Georgia,
Armenia and Azerbaijan – sandwiched between three much larger ones
– Russia, Turkey and Iran. This is all information that is easily
gleaned from looking at a map; the region’s true importance is less
obvious. A map would not tell you that Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan
became independent states only 20 years ago. Nor would it tell you that
Russia, Turkey and Iran were all once major empires. It certainly would
not tell you that all of these former empires are once again rising
in their own unique ways, and that even some of the smaller countries
are beginning to make a name for themselves as significant regional
players”, said STRATFOR’s Eugene Chausovsky in his report for APA on
his recent trip to the Caucasus – “A Journey Through the Caucasus.

“In short, the Caucasus is far more dynamic and complex than a map
would suggest, and that is one of the reasons I visited this region:
to get a first-hand perspective of the Caucasus”, the expert said.

“While I try to follow the countries in the Caucasus in terms of news
and current events as closely as I can on a regular basis, I have
learned that there is no substitute for seeing a place with your own
eyes — particularly in the Caucasus. In Azerbaijan, instead of reading
about the latest rise in the country’s oil and natural gas exports
or examining statistics on annual gross domestic product growth,
I saw economic growth first-hand in the form of seemingly endless
construction projects and gleaming new skyscrapers around Baku. Instead
of reading about trade between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, I walked
along the Bulvar on the Caspian Sea where I saw countless tankers and
ships, a few of which I am sure were transporting goods to Kazakhstan”.

He also shared his ideas about Georgia: “In Georgia, I realized just
how small the country – and for that matter the Caucasus region –
really was. Taking a car from Tbilisi to Gori on the only major
east-west road in Georgia gave me a new understanding of the size of
the country and the limits imposed by its mountainous terrain. Passing
only a few kilometers from the border with the breakaway territory of
South Ossetia, as well as the numerous internally displaced persons’
camps along the road, certainly put the 2008 Russia-Georgia war
in perspective”.

“In Turkey, taking a ferry from the Anatolian side of Istanbul to
the European side allowed me to see the scope of a cosmopolitan,
world-class city of 13 million that blends European and Islamic
characteristics. Walking through Istanbul, it was easy to imagine
why this city was the center of the Ottoman Empire and the Byzantine
Empire before that. It was equally as easy to imagine Istanbul as the
financial and cultural center of a country whose presence is felt in
Baku and Tbilisi and beyond”, the expert said.

“From spending time in the region, the lasting impression that I came
away with is that the Caucasus is a region that is swiftly changing
and one whose future is simultaneously promising and uncertain. The
static position of the Caucasus on a map is no substitute for the
dynamism that I witnessed in the region’s streets, roads, mountains,
seas and, most importantly, its people”.

AMNESTIED OPPOSITIONIST NIKOL PASHINYAN SPEAKS AT ANC RALLY

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 31, 2011 – 19:39 AMT

No closed roads will be able to prevent today’s rally, Armenian
National Movement (ANM) administration board chairman stressed.

As Aram Manukyan stated during Armenian National Congress rally,
the authorities blocked the roads to Yerevan to prevent opposition
supporters from participating in the demonstration.

Manukyan characterized recent events as a serious step on the way
to democracy.

The amnestied editor-in-chief of Haykakakan Zhamanak daily Nikol
Pashinyan also spoke at the rally, noting that ANC is launching a
political process for snap presidential and parliamentary elections
to be held in Armenia.

As he stressed, snap elections are the only way to restore Armenain
people’s trust for their authorities.

BRAHIMA SANOU INVITES MANUK VARDANYAN TO ITU 40TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 31, 2011 – 18:04 AMT

Armenian Minister of Transport and Communication Manuk Vardanyan
met with a delegation led by a newly-appointed Director of the
International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Development
Bureau Brahima Sanou.

At the meeting, the Minister briefed the guests on telecommunication
sector-related issues, including cyber security, equipment purchase,
television digitization.

Mr. Brahima Sanou, in turn, promised cooperation in resolving current
issues, also commenting on planned creation of a centre for low vision
persons. He invited Mr. Vardanyan to participate in celebration in
ITU 40th anniversary due in October in Geneva.

ARMENIAN MFA: GEORGIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE US UNAWARE OF THE PROCESSES TAKING PLACE IN THE REGION

armradio.am
01.06.2011 10:40

Head of the Neighboring Countries Department of the Armenian Ministry
of Foreign Affairs commented on the statement of the Georgian
Ambassador to the US Temur Yakobishvili. Mirzoyan noted that “the
statements of the Ambassador is a sign of unawareness of the processes
taking place in the region, this cannot be described otherwise. Such
statements of the diplomat do not correspond to the spirit and high
level of Armenian-Georgian relations.”

Ambassador Yakobashvili had stated in his speech that “the
events taking place in Armenia are directly linked to the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict.” “It has fallen into Russia’s hands, it houses
Russia’s military base and has unsettled relations with Azerbaijan”,
Yakobashvili said, mentioning, largely because of the Karabakh problem
Armenia’s relationship with Turkey is not settled as well.

Yakobashvili further noted that “recognition of the Armenian Genocide
was not a positive factor, adding that issues connected with the future
could be positive to Armenia. “The best thing is to find a solution
to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. Because when you have this kind of
irritancy, security dynamite, when you have problems like that you
are dragged back from other issues”, he stated.

Georgian Ambassador to Armenia Tengiz Sarmanashvili declared in Yerevan
that the record of Yakobashvili’s speech is being investigated at the
Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He invited representatives of the
Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to participate in the discussions.

L’UNIVERSITE EN PANNE D’ETUDIANTS
Marion

armenews.com
jeudi 2 juin 2011

S’inscrire a l’universite sera plus facile que jamais cet ete en raison
des profonds changements structurels du système educatif national.

L’Armenie est en train de terminer sa transition progressive du système
sovietique prevoyant une scolarite de 10 ans a un cycle d’enseignement
de 12 ans qui verra ses premiers diplômes l’annee prochaine. En 2011,
aucun lyceen sortant du secondaire ne sera donc diplôme.

Ceci aura des effets notoires pour la vingtaine d’universites
armeniennes. Le ministère armenien de l’Education prevoit que seulement
1 200 jeunes candidateront pour un total de 21 000 places disponibles
en première annee. Par comparaison, le ministère a signale 17 000
demandes l’annee dernière.

En l’absence de diplômes sortant du cycle secondaire en 2011, les
candidats de cette annee sont principalement ceux qui ont echoue
les examens d’entree l’annee dernière ainsi que les jeunes hommes
demobilises de l’armee armenienne.

Fait interessant, les demandes d’admission sont egalement attendues
des etudiants deja inscrits dans les universites d’Etat et qui doivent
payer leurs etudes. L’absence de concurrence pourrait leur permettre
de gagner l’une des 2 500 places exemptees de frais de scolarite.

Le Centre d’evaluation et de test (CET) du ministère de l’Education,
qui gère les examens d’entree de toutes les universites d’Etat,
a simplifie les conditions d’admission.

” Il y a des candidats qui ne peuvent pas ecrire leur nom, mais veulent
aller a l’universite. C’est leur droit, mais la simplification des
tests est relative, car si un candidat n’est pas pret, ce sera quand
meme difficile pour lui “, a explique la porte-parole du Centre,
Gayane Manoukian, a RFE / RL, mercredi 1er juin.

L’Universite d’Etat d’Erevan (UEE), la plus grande et ancienne en
Armenie, a declare que son departement d’histoire a recu jusqu’a
present le plus grand nombre de demandes d’admission qui s’elève a 40.

Certains departements de l’UEE specialises en physique, chimie et en
sciences naturelles n’ont pour l’heure attire personne.

Autre grande institution, l’Universite economique d’Etat de l’Armenie,
comptait aussi moins de candidats. Sans surprise, Mikael Tavadian,
a la tete de son service d’admission, etait mecontent de la reforme
du système educatif.

” Ce mecanisme aurait dû avoir ete concu avec plus de soin et bien
avant d’etre applique “, a souligne M. Tavadian a RFE / RL. ” Cette
situation va durer six ans. Nos premier, deuxième et troisième cycles
en souffriront a coup sûr. ”

ERDOGAN QUALIFIE UN DE SES MINISTRES DE ” SUSPECT ” DANS MEURTRE DE HRANT DINK
Stephane

armenews.com
mercredi 1er juin 2011

Le Premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan a mentionne son ancien
ministre de la Justice, Cemil Cicek, qui est actuellement vice-Premier
ministre, de ” suspect ” dans le meurtre du journaliste turc d’origine
armenienne Hrant Dink en 2007 a affirme le fils du journaliste tue.

Arat Dink, fils de Hrant Dink, qui a ete assassine a l’exterieur du
bureau de son journal Agos au grand jour le 17 janvier 2007, a ecrit un
editorial dans le quotidien Taraf dans lequel il a partage la susdite
anecdote du Premier ministre sur Cicek, qui etait ministre de la
Justice a l’epoque. Arat Dink a ecrit que dans une conversation qu’il
a eu avec le Premier ministre quelques jours après l’assassinat, il a
critique le rôle du gouvernement qui a fait de Hrant Dink une cible
pour des groupes nationalistes, l’accusant precisemment le Ministre
de la Justice Cicek, dont la position envers les armeniens aurait
encourage les meurtriers de Hrant Dink et qui a beaucoup d’occasions
a essaye d’associer la communaute armenienne de Turquie avec le parti
des Ouvriers du Kurdistan (PKK) et a une fois appele les participants
a une conference sur le genocide armenien ” de traîtres frappant dans
le dos “. Pendant cette conversation, Arat Dink aurait dit ” devons
nous appeller [Cicek] notre ” ennemi d’inimitie de sang ” ?. Ce a
quoi Erdogan aurait repondu ” Peut-etre pas mais votre ” suspect “.

Cependant, le Premier ministre Recep Tayyip Erdogan a nie cette
information affirmant qu’il n’a jamais mentionne Cicek comme suspect,
ajoutant qu’il avait fortement condamne Arat Dink et le quotidien
Taraf.

” Je critique le journal qui a publie l’article, un instrument dans
les mains de cet enfant [le fils de Dink] ” a-t-il dit. Le Premier
ministre a note ” Cependant et malheureusement il y a toujours
de l’ideologie pro-armenienne en Turquie. Ils ont pris le rôle de
defenseurs des armeniens “.