Author: Badalian Vardan

FRONT COMMUN DES ASSOCIATIONS ANTI-RACISTES CONTRE L’ARRET PERINCEK DE LA CEDH

COMMUNIQUE

LES ASSOCIATIONS ANTI-RACISTES DEMANDENT A LA SUISSE DE SAISIR LA
GRANDE CHAMBRE DE LA COUR EUROPENNE DES DROITS DE L’HOMME.

La Cour europeenne des droits de l’homme, siegeant a Strasbourg, a
recemment condamne la SUISSE, parce qu’un negationniste turc, M. Dogun
PERINCEK, qui soutient que le genocide armenien est un “mensonge
international”, y avait ete condamne pour negationnisme. L’arret rendu
le 17 decembre 2013, qui n’est pas definitif, marque une regression
de sa jurisprudence. (Aff. FAURISSON et GARAUDY c. FRANCE). Tous les
genocides meritent la meme attention et la meme vigilance. L’arret
rendu instaure une discrimination intolerable la ou les textes la
denoncent et la reprouvent.

Toutes les associations signataires de lutte contre le Racisme et de
defense des droits de l’Homme, soucieuses du respect de la MEMOIRE,
insistent pour que la Grande chambre de la CEDH soit effectivement
saisie par les autorites suisses, qui en ont le pouvoir, afin que la
question puisse etre examinee contradictoirement.

Paris le 19 fevrier 2014.

MEMOIRE 2000 – LICRA (Ligue Internationale contre le Racisme et
l’Antisemitisme) – MRAP (Mouvement contre le Racisme et pour l’Amitie
entre les Peuples) – UEFJ (Union des Etudiants Juifs de France)
– J’ACCUSE – AFAJA (Association Francaise des Avocats et Juristes
Armeniens)

jeudi 20 fevrier 2014, Ara (c)armenews.com

PRESS RELEASE
Hayastan All-Armenian Fund
Governmental Building 3, Yerevan, RA
Contact: Hasmik Grigoryan
Tel:? +(3741) 56 01 06? ext. 105
Fax: +(3741) 52 15 05
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

Yerevan, February 20, 2014

Armenian-Iranian community provides ongoing support to Hayastan
All-Armenian Fund

Within the framework of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s 2013
Telethon, the fund’s Iranian affiliate has already secured US $60,000
in donations in the result of its fundraising campaign during November
26-28. The generous contributions of the Armenian-Iranian community
will be used for preparation and installation of road signs along the
Vardenis-Martakert Highway. Assistance of Grigor Arakelyan,
ambassador of Armenia in Iran, and Archbishop Sebouh Sarkissian,
prelate of the Armenian-Iranian community was instrumental in the
success of the fundraising campaign.

“The Armenian-Iranian community has supported the Hayastan
All-Armenian Fund for the past several years, actively contributing to
our development projects,” said Ara Vardanyan, the fund’s executive
director. “It’s no surprise that, within a short span, our young
Iranian affiliate, led by chairman Arin Karamian, has succeeded to
make local fundraising efforts even more effective.”

ARMENIAN COMMUNITY IN UKRAINE NON-POLITICAL – REP

20:56 * 19.02.14

The Armenian community is Ukraine is not a political structure,
and it does not make any political appeals.

However, “many men, many minds,” Secretary of the Armenian community
in Ukraine Samvel Azizyan told Tert.am as he spoke of the community’s
stance on the latest developments in Ukraine.

“We are not involved. The Armenian community is not a political
structure, but its members have different political views. The
community’s task is preserving our culture and faith,” he said.

Azizyan disagrees with the opinion that the Armenian community
remains neutral.

“We are for a peaceful settlement of the crisis in Kiev.”

However, some examples of Armenians’ activity in Euromaidan have
been reported. Sergey Nigoyan was one of the first victims. Talented
painter Boris Yeghiazaryan is also actively involved.

Azizyan knows about some Armenians present in Euromaidna, but he
cannot say if they are Armenian community members.

Armenians in Ukraine do have no problems because of discrimination.

“The Armenian community in Ukraine has centuries-old history. Sixty
thousand Armenian soldiers sacrificed their lives for Ukraine,”
Azizyan said.

According to official data, 100,000 Armenians resided in Ukraine as
of 2001.

“But thirteen years have passed, and I think this number has
significantly increased,” Azizyan said.

A source in Armenia’s foreign office told Tert.am that 300,000 to
400,000 currently reside in Ukraine.

Armenian News – Tert.am

DAVID SHAKHNAZARYAN: PUTIN IS THE AUTHOR OF THE MARCH 2008 EVENTS IN YEREVAN AND THE CURRENT EVENTS IN UKRAINE

by David Stepanyan

ARMINFO
Wednesday, February 19, 16:22

Armenia’s former head of National Security Service, David
Shakhnazaryan, said at today’s protest action in front of Ukraine’s
Embassy in Yerevan that he blames President of Russia Vladimir Putin
for the 1 March 2008 events in Yerevan and the current events in the
center of Kyiv.

To note, some two dozen people on Wednesday assembled near Victory Park
in Armenia’s capital city Yerevan. They marched towards the Embassy
of Ukraine in Yerevan, to express their support to the Ukrainians
who are waging a fight at EuroMaidan, in Ukrainian capital city Kyiv.

Shakhnazaryan thinks that Putin is trying to establish Yanukovich’s
dictatorship in Ukraine, although the latter has stopped being the
legitimate president of Ukraine since yesterday and the parliament
stopped functioning as a political structure. He said that the
world community should adequately esteem actions of the authorities
of Ukraine.

ARFD PARLIAMENTARIAN WELCOMES COALITION’S INITIATIVE TO SET UP AN AD HOC COMMITTEE ON GAS PROBLEMS

by David Stepanyan

Wednesday, February 19, 14:43

ARFD Party Faction in the Armenian Parliament supports the ruling
coalition’s initiative to set up an ad hoc committee to study gas
problems, ARFD representative Artsvik Minasyan told ArmInfo.

He said that the coalition-suggested project resembles the one ARFD
submitted yet in 2010 but contains some more issues connected with
the latest sale of the Government’s share in ArmRusgasprom to Gazprom,
Russia.

At the same time, Minasyan was bewildered as earlier the parliament
majority rejected the similar project suggested by 4 factions of the
ARFD, ANC, Prosperous Armenia and Heritage parties.

“It has become something usual for the authorities to reject the
opposition’s suggestions and then make similar ones. Nevertheless,
we care for settlement of the gas problems rather than our copyright,”
he said. Artak Zurabyan, a representative of the Republican Party of
Armenia, in turn, claims that the Republican’s stance on an ad hoc
committee on the gas issue has not changed.

“We have always been ready to study the gas issue in any format.

However, we had to reject the initiative by the 4 factions to prevent
speculations on the topic by the coalition,” he said. The latest gas
agreement with Russia under which 100% shares of ArmRusgasprom were
transferred to Russia has sparked public in Armenia.

FOUR KILLED IN BEIRUT BLAST NEAR IRAN CULTURE CENTER

12:48 * 19.02.14

A large explosion near an Iranian cultural center in the southern
suburbs of Lebanon’s capital Beirut on Wednesday killed at least four
people and wounded 19, Reuters reported, citing security sources.

The explosion appeared to have been caused by a car bomb and a
motorcycle laden with explosives.

The area is controlled by the Shi’ite political and militant movement
Hezbollah. Iran’s embassy in the same area was targeted by a bomb
attack in November, one a series of car bombs in southern Beirut
since July.

The Kuwaiti embassy is also located in the same area.

Lebanese television footage showed fire trucks and Lebanese soldiers
standing in the streets. A wounded man was carried away on a stretcher
and a young girl was being evacuated by two men. Glass covered the
road and nearby buildings were damaged.

Radical Sunni Islamists have pledged to attack Hezbollah on Lebanese
soil for its intervention in Syria to help Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad, a member of the Alawite offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, in his
war against majority Sunni rebels.

Armenian News – Tert.am

NEW RUTGERS COURSE ON CONCENTRATION CAMPS EXAMINES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Tuesday, February 18th, 2014

Armenian Weekly editor and Ph.D. candidate Khatchig Mouradian will
instruct the course at Rutgers University

NEWARK, N.J.–A new course examining concentration camps used during
five different wars is being offered at Rutgers University this
spring. Armenian Weekly editor and Ph.D. candidate Khatchig Mouradian
instructs the course, “Sociology and History of Concentration Camps”
at the university’s Newark, New Jersey campus.

The course traces the evolution of the concentration camp from a
counter-insurgency strategy in wartime to a weapon of mass murder.

Cases being studied include the Spanish-Cuban war, the Second
Anglo-Boer War, the Philippines-American War, the Armenian Genocide,
and the Holocaust.

“The course provides an overview of the history of the concentration
camp as a means to control, suppress, and destroy populations,” said
Mouradian. “We look at the historical context, the decision-making
process, and the interaction between central and local authorities,
yet we focus on the agency of the victims and survival in the camps,
with particular attention to power dynamics, race, gender, and class.”

The course and a series of lectures and events are being sponsored by
the Armenian Genocide Program of the university’s Center for the Study
of Genocide and Human Rights (CGHR) in collaboration with The Genocide
Education Project – Higher Education Division (GenEd-HigherEd).

CGHR promotes research and scholarship on issues including genocide,
conflict resolution, sustainability, justice, global health, and
human rights. In the few years since its inception, CGHR has already
sponsored numerous courses, lectures, conferences and cultural
activities directed at its mission “to enhance our understanding
of and find solutions to the most pressing 21st century challenges
related to peace and conflict.”

CGHR has also hosted several programs through its Armenian Genocide
Program. Mouradian has been the Program Coordinator since 2011 and also
teaches a course in conflict resolution at Worcester State University
as adjunct professor. His PhD dissertation at the Strassler Center
for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University, examines the
second phase of the Armenian Genocide.

The Genocide Education Project is a nonprofit organization that
assists educators in teaching about human rights and genocide,
particularly the Armenian Genocide, by developing and distributing
instructional materials, providing access to teaching resources and
organizing educational workshops. It seeks to broaden the general
understanding of the Armenian Genocide, in the context of the history
of World War I and as a predecessor of the pattern of genocides that
followed. GenEd-HigherEd is focused on facilitating courses and other
programming at colleges and universities.

James Sahagian, director of GenEd-HigherEd worked closely with
the Rutgers CGHR to establish this course. “We are pleased to offer
students a course that introduces key aspects of the Armenian Genocide
in relation to other genocides and historical conflicts. We look
forward to increasing our collaboration with CGHR in the future.”

Further information on this course and the Armenian Genocide Program
at Rutgers can be obtained by calling (201) 739-0901 or by emailing
[email protected].

The Genocide Education Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit,
tax-exempt 501(c)(3) educational organization that assists educators
in teaching about human rights and genocide, particularly the Armenian
Genocide, by developing and distributing instructional materials,
providing access to teaching resources and organizing educational
workshops. For more information about The Genocide Education Project,
go to

RUSSIA’S TOUGHENED MIGRATION POLICY TO BOOST UNEMPLOYMENT AND POVERTY IN ARMENIA

by Arthur Yernjakyan

ARMINFO
Wednesday, February 19, 16:09

Russia’s toughened migration policy will boost unemployment and poverty
in Armenia, Gagik Makaryan, Head of the Republican Union of Employers,
told reporters, Wednesday.

He said that in Russia there are nearly 170,000 migrant workers from
Armenia, who transfer nearly $180 million to their families in Armenia
every year. Labor migrants from Armenia are reluctant to return now.

“If at least 70,000 migrants return from Russia, this will boost
unemployment, poverty and social tension in the country. The citizens
of Armenia enjoy no preferences,” Makaryan said. He said that private
transfers from Russia to Armenia make up nearly 85% of total private
money transfers. Reduction of this indicator will generally affect
the economy of Armenia.

Following the amendments into the migration legislation of the Russian
Federation which came into effect on 1 Jan 2014, the citizens of
Armenia are permitted to stay in Russia for 90 days out of 180.

INVESTIGATION INTO BEATING AND DEATHS OF SOLDIERS COMPLETED: REPRIMANDS ALL AROUND

02.19.2014 16:51 epress.am

The official investigation into the beating of military conscript
Mher Khlghatyan is now completed. According to local daily Haykakan
Zhamanak, upon RA Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan’s orders, based
on the results of the investigation, the commander of the military
unit was reprimanded, while the deputy commander for combat readiness
of the military unit was severely reprimanded.

According to further orders by Armenia’s defense minister, dismissed
from his post was chief of the military unit’s medical service,
Capitain Arman Tadevosyan, who is arrested and accused of beating
Khlghatyan.

Also completed is the investigation into the Jan. 20 death of Edik
Shahnazaryan from meningitis. According to the newspaper’s source,
the military unit’s commander and deputy commander for working with
the staff were reprimanded. Under Ohanyan’s orders, the military
unit’s chief of staff, the assistant to the commander for social and
legal matters, and the regimental commander were severely reprimanded,
while the chief of the medical service was demoted, and the chief of
the military unit’s infirmary was fired from his job.

Based on the results of the investigation into the death of military
conscript Hayk Makaryan also from illness, chief of the military
unit’s medical service was reprimanded.

“IT’S JUST A SHAME THAT THE “CARREFOUR” IN ARMENIA CAN NOT OPEN ITS CHAIN OF STORES.” POLITICAL SCIENTIST

February 18 2014

In the conversation with Aravot.am, political scientist Gagik
Hambaryan, referring to the assessments made by the President of
Armenia at the VHD Union Board session regarding the economy, expressed
the opinion that the development of our economy is more hampered by
subjective reasons. “I’m not an economist, I do not want to turn to
the numbers voiced by the President, but being an ordinary citizen of
the Republic of Armenia, I must say that our economic problems today
are more subjective in nature than objective. Just the fact that we
have oligarchic, and monopolistic economy in Armenia, it is enough
for the level of our economic development be quite low.

Secondly, it is very strange that the leadership of our country does
not refer to the shameful situation existing in the banking system,
when in not any normal country of the world, developed or developing,
there is no 18-24 percent annual interest rate. I ask you, where
do you take these figures from? The authorities in Europe, Russia
and in majority of the former Republics of the Soviet Union, or the
businessmen sponsored by thereof take money from European largest
banks at 0.8 to 2 percent annual interest and give it to banks at 5-6
percent. The banks give the money to citizens at 2 times more, i.e.,
10-14 percent. The situation in the Republic of Armenia is completely
different, the banks receive up to 10 percent and give out to the
population at 18-24 percent annual interest. It goes without saying
that 60-70 percent of the people should not be able to pay these
loans. As a result, they lose their property placed as a collateral
to the bank, which we see now. It also brings out the fact that most
of the money does not serve the goal of economic development. There is
such a thing. It would be good for the President of the Armenia to pay
attention to the banking sector and monopolies,” says the political
scientist. According to him, it is just a shame that one of the world
famous French “Carrefour” hypermarket chain is not allowed to open
a store in Armenia. “There is no even “McDonalds” in the Republic of
Armenia. It is really a shame. And do you know why it is a shame?

These are global brands, the activities of which in the Republic
of Armenia can be an incentive for other investors to make their
investments in our country, too. I am certainly not saying that our
fast food industry is on a very low level. No, it is in very good
condition, but let this “McDonalds” also be, why not? Why should
“Pepsi” be, why should “Coca-Cola” be, but not “McDonalds”. Or, they
do everything for Carrefour to abandon the idea of opining its chain
of stores in the Republic of Armenia, it would be just a shame for our
country. You see, even the Ambassador of France to Armenia interferes
in this issue, as I see from the side, the Ambassadors of other
countries to Armenia are getting involved in the matter. It’s a shame,
isn’t it? To open a store, we allow the issue be settled at the level
of European ambassadors. Is it something new?” says Gagik Hambaryan.

Nune AREVSHATYAN

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