Author: Badalian Vardan

Stepan Demirchyan: Opposition of Armenia should combine efforts to
overcome system crisis

ARMINFO
Saturday, April 13, 14:00

The opposition of Armenia should combine efforts to overcome the
system crisis in the country, Stepan Demirchyan, Leader of the
People’s Party of Armenia (PPA) said at the constituent congress of
the Armenian National Congress Party, Saturday.

ArmInfo’s correspondent on the spot reports Demirchyan as saying that
Armenia has faced a system crisis due to activity of the illegitimate
authorities.

“There is unprecedented growth of migration from the country.
According to polls, 40% of the population wants to leave the country.
There is growth of poverty, unemployment and overall injustice and
system corruption. This situation in the country will not change
unless the quality of the authorities is changed and system reform is
conducted,” Demirchyan said. He said that the opposition forces should
combine efforts to overcome the given situation. Demirchyan said that
PPA is ready to cooperate with both the newly establish ANC Party and
the political forces once members of the Armenian National
Congress bloc for the welfare of Armenia.

Boston Globe, MA
April 14 2013

`We are still the mountain’

By Chris Bohjalian
April 14, 2013

In the coming days, Armenians around the world will come together to
acknowledge what I have come to call `The Slaughter You Know Next to
Nothing About.’ April 24 marks the 98th anniversary of the night the
Armenian religious and intellectual leaders were rounded up in
Constantinople – and the start of the Armenian genocide.

And yet most of North America probably can’t find Armenia on a map.
Certainly only a few of us could pinpoint the mountain of Musa Dagh.
Yet Musa Dagh has become for me – an American who is half-Armenian and
half-Swedish – the story that brings the Armenian genocide to life.

In the summer of 1915, roughly 4,000 Armenians from six villages in
southeast Turkey refused to be marched from their homes by Turkish
soldiers and gendarmes into the Syrian desert to die. Roughly 1.5
million of the two million Armenians in Turkey would perish in the
First World War, many of them by starvation, dehydration, and disease
in the unforgiving Syrian sands.

But not those 4,000. They climbed Musa Dagh, at the edge of the
Mediterranean Sea, and used rifles and a few captured cannons to hold
off the Turkish army for nearly two months. The women sewed a flag
with a red cross on it and dangled it over the side of the cliff that
faced the sea, and eventually a French battleship saw it and rescued
the Armenians.

If anyone knows bits and pieces of this story, it is likely through
German writer Franz Werfel’s magisterial 1933 novel, `The Forty Days
of Musa Dagh.’ The novel was an international bestseller when it was
published, though it was loathed early on by the Nazis. When the
Germans were mercilessly putting down the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in
1944, the soldiers were surprised by how many copies of the novel they
found among the dead Jewish fighters. It was my Swedish mother who
gave me a copy when I was teenager.

Last year I saw that hand-sewn red cross flag. I held one of the
rifles the Armenians had used from atop Musa Dagh. The flag and the
artifacts sit in a community room beside the school and church in
Anjar, the Lebanese town where the French eventually settled the
survivors of Musa Dagh. Outside the building is a massive statue that
looks at first glance like a sword with its blade in the earth, but on
second becomes a cross. And on a mural inside that community room is a
summit with an inscription that reads, `Let them come again. We are
still the mountain.’

I journeyed to Anjar, as well as to Beirut and Yerevan and the `Bird’s
Nest’ orphanage in Byblos – where Danish missionary Maria Jacobsen
saved the lives of thousands of Armenian orphans – for a lot of
reasons.

First, there was my novel, `The Sandcastle Girls.’ It’s a love story
set in the midst of the Armenian genocide in the First World War.
Every day that I was writing the book I felt a tug: I needed to view
the bones that were pulled from the sands of Der-el-Zor. I needed to
pause before the statues of Saroyan and Mother Armenia that anchor
Yerevan’s streets and parks. And I needed to walk the grounds of the
monastery at Khor Virap and gaze across the Turkish border at Mount
Ararat.

There is, of course, an irony here. Ararat, the majestic 17,000-foot
massif that dominates the western vista from Yerevan and symbolizes
our heritage, isn’t even inside the country’s borders: It’s across the
guard posts and fencing in Turkey. So, of course, is Musa Dagh.

Another reason for my journey was my father, an Armenian-American who
died just as I was finishing the novel, and his parents, Armenian
immigrants – and genocide survivors. These are the sorts of
subterranean emotional currents that can inspire a novel and draw a
person at mid-life to the Middle East and a small, landlocked country
in the Caucasus Mountains. And Armenia is small. Barely three million
Armenians live there, compared to approximately seven million outside
the country. That’s how big the Armenian Diaspora is: 70 percent of
Armenians don’t live in their homeland. And yet, we have retained a
national identity: Our sense of a shared history and our sense of
place.

Which brings me back to that community room in Anjar and the mural. My
sense is that whoever wrote on the wall there, `We are still the
mountain,’ wanted the sentence to be interpreted two ways. Certainly
he meant Musa Dagh: Attack again if you want, we are still those
warriors. But he also meant Ararat: Even here in Lebanon, we are still
Armenians.

Most of the time when I was in Armenia, clouds masked the summit of
Ararat, even when I was at Khor Virap. Around 6 a.m. on my last
morning, however, soon after I had climbed into a cab for the airport,
I was greeted with a sign that the cosmos is not completely detached:
The peak of Mount Ararat, snow-covered even in May. I asked the driver
to stop. And there, against a sky that grew from agate to cerulean, I
watched the nearly full moon set over the mountain. It was a poignant,
powerful, and perfect way to remember that while April 24 is about
mourning the dead, it is also about the triumph of the living – and
how, indeed, we are still the mountain.

Chris Bohjalian’s 14th novel, `The Sandcastle Girls,’ will be
published in paperback this week.

La Nouvelle République du Centre Ouest, France
jeudi 11 avril 2013
37T Edition

730 signatures contre l’expulsion de la famille K…

par Xavier ROCHE-BAYARD

Plus de 730 signatures ont été remises hier à la sous-préfecture de Loches pour
refuser l’expulsion d’un couple et de leurs trois enfants d’origine arménienne.

730 signatures contre l’expulsion de la famille K…

Ce mercredi pluvieux, à Tours, Madame K… (1) a accouché d’une petite
fille. Un moment de grand bonheur pour ce couple d’origine arménienne,
déjà parent de trois enfants, une fille de 14 ans, un garçon de 13
ans, et une petite fille de 7 ans.

Ce mercredi pluvieux, à Loches, enserrés le long du mur de la
sous-préfecture, protégées de la circulation par les gendarmes, une
soixantaine de personnes attend pacifiquement que leur délégation
remette la pétition de plus de 730 signatures à la sous-préfète, Elsa
Pépin-Anglade, pour que la famille K… reste en France.

” Nous
demandons
à l’État
de faire preuve
d’humanité ”

Le 29 janvier, M. K… s’est vu refuser sa demande d’autorisation de
séjour par le préfet de Tours, accompagnée d’une OQTF (obligation de
quitter le territoire français) pour retourner en Arménie. Mme K…
s’est vue notifier son refus de séjour le 18 février, avec obligation
de rejoindre l’Azerbadjian, pays qu’elle ne connaît pas.
La famille K… a fui l’Arménie pour la Pologne, après l’assassinat
par balle du père de Mme K…, victime des conflits entre Azéris et
Arméniens. Au terme d’un périple à travers l’Europe, le couple, sans
papiers, et ses trois enfants rejoignent la France.
Créteil, d’abord, en juillet 2009, puis Loches, en septembre 2011 (2).
Les enfants, « des élèves bien intégrés », selon les enseignants, sont
scolarisés au collège Georges-Besse et à l’école primaire
Alfred-de-Vigny. Alertés, il y a deux mois, par les Restos du coeur de
Loches de la situation de cette famille, Amnesty International et le
Réseau Éducation sans frontières s’activent pour aider juridiquement
cette famille.
Gilbert Dupont, secrétaire du groupe lochois d’Amnesty International,
s’avouait hier étonné de la mobilisation. « On a envoyé un recours
gracieux auprès du préfet, dit-il. On justifie, par tous les documents
en notre possession, du bien-fondé de notre démarche par rapport à
l’éducation des enfants scolarisés. Nous demandons à l’État de faire
preuve d’humanité. »
Sylvie Marjolet, déléguée FCPE du collège, indique que les parents
d’élèves élus soutiennent « à l’unanimité » la famille. « On relaie
les pétitions. Nous avons vraiment été surpris d’apprendre leur
situation », dit-elle, en référence à la discrétion de la famille et
des enfants.
Christian Beaumont parle au nom des enseignants du collège : « Nous
ressentons une indignation vis-à-vis de leur situation en tant que
citoyen mais aussi en tant qu’enseignant par rapport à la rupture de
scolarité.
« La scolarité d’un élève est un facteur d’intégration. J’ai la grande
en cours, c’est une élève motivée, bien intégrée. Les autres élèves ne
nous en parlent pas. C’est une situation politique ; on ne peut pas
tout dire en tant qu’enseignant aux élèves ».
Hier, le seul rayon de soleil de cette journée grise aura été la
naissance de la petite fille. « Qu’elle soit née sur le sol français
ne changera rien. Les lois ont changé. Il faudrait que les parents
soient en France depuis cinq ans et les enfants scolarisés depuis
trois ans. C’est le cas pour les enfants, pas pour les parents »,
confie Gilbert Dupont.

(1) Identité non communiquée à la demande de la famille.
(2) Lire leur histoire dans la NR du 6 avril.

Le sort de la famille d’origine arménienne menacée
d’expulsion a mobilisé une soixantaine de personnes devant
la sous-préfecture de Loches.

Bulletin Quotidien, France
jeudi 11 avril 2013

“La Turquie et le fantôme arménien” par Mme Laure MARCHAND et
Guillaume PERRIER (Solin Actes Sud) : correspondants du “Figaro” et du
“Monde” en Turquie, Mme Laure MARCHAND et M. Guillaume PERRIER ont

par Pierre Wittmann

“La Turquie et le fantôme arménien” par Mme Laure MARCHAND et
Guillaume PERRIER (Solin Actes Sud) : correspondants du “Figaro” et du
“Monde” en Turquie, Mme Laure MARCHAND et M. Guillaume PERRIER ont
mené depuis presque dix ans “une vaste enquête de terrain sur la
mémoire du génocide arménien dans la Turquie d’aujourd’hui”. Ils ont
retrouvé des Arméniens convertis à l’islam pour être épargnés, des
descendants de Justes Turcs qui ont sauvé des Arméniens, des
témoignages enfouis dans le silence et rassemblé des preuves vivantes
et nombreuses des événements. A deux ans du centenaire des massacres,
ces récits, ces reportages et ces rencontres dessinent le portait
“d’un pays malade de son négationnisme, hanté par ce passé qui ne
passe pas”. L’ouvrage apporte également des éléments au débat en cours
sur la pénalisation de la négation du génocide…

Mediamax, Armenia
April 12 2013

There are no unsettled questions between Armenia and Georgia, Tigran
Sargsyan and Maya Panjikidze state

Yerevan/Mediamax/. Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and
Georgian Foreign Minister Maya Panjikidze stated that there are no
unsettled issues between Armenia and Georgia.

At a meeting in Yerevan today, Tigran Sargsyan thanked the Georgian
government for efficient response to the Armenian issues and
settlement, Mediamax reports.

Tigran Sargsyan also attached importance to forming a joint market
between the two neighboring countries which will contribute to
implementation of new bilateral business programs and their expansion.

The Georgian FM informed the Armenian side that the program of
construction of Armenian monuments in Georgia is implemented with the
support of the Armenian community.

ARMENIE
Une nouvelle compagnie aérienne va arriver sur le marché arménien

Gagik Minasian, président de la commission parlementaire sur les
finances et les affaires budgétaires, a déclaré qu’une nouvelle
compagnie aérienne peut émerger sur le marché de l’Arménie.

« Malheureusement Armavia n’a pas réussi à sortir de la crise de 2009.
Sa faillite n’était pas une surprise, elle était prévisible.
Maintenant, une nouvelle société, plus puissante et stable peut
émerger sur le marché » a dit Gagik Minassian.

dimanche 14 avril 2013,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

ARMENIAN POLICE: STATEMENTS ABOUT NON-PROPORTIONAL APPLICATION OF FORCE REGARDING PARTICIPANTS IN THE RALLY ON 9 APRIL ARE GROUNDLESS

Thursday, April 11, 17:56

April 9 incidents directly proved the sufficiency of the forecasts and
cautions of the RA police, at the same time revealing the consequences
that a needless testing of the ability and will of the Police to hold
offenders legally, especially administratively liable, could have.

The police of the Republic of Armenia state with deep regret that the
behavior of separate citizens, who flagrantly violated the peaceful
course of the assembly and thus became uncontrollable even for the
organizers of the assembly, made the Police use force against the
offenders, who were immediately isolated from the venue of the assembly
and held administratively liable, after which the assembly regained its
peaceful nature and the participants were granted the chance to return
to the main venue of the notified assembly, namely: Freedom square.

The police of the Republic of Armenia made all the possible efforts
not to let the irresponsible and anti legal conduct of separate
assembly participants lead to more grievous consequences and on the
other hand limit the complete realization of the civil rights of
other assembly participants who had peaceful intentions. The officers
of the RA Police efficiently carried out the main duties vested to
them by the RA law “On freedom of assemblies” and law “On Police”,
averting the danger of escalation of the situation and emergence of
other negative consequences.

The police of the Republic of Armenia finds it necessary to mention
that those who infringed the law during the march aren’t arrested
instead they were just isolated from the venue of the assembly, were
taken to the RA police to be hold administratively liable and were
set free a bit later.

The police of the Republic of Armenia announces that the statements of
separate representatives of our society concerning the disproportionate
operation of the police officers, to put it mildly, are hasty enough
and are deprived of special reasonings. The Ra police will appraise
the legality of those incidents for each case and will leave its
appraisals to the public’s judgement.

ARMENIANS DEPRIVED OF CHANCE TO LIVE IN DIFFERENT COUNTRY

02:09 PM | TODAY | POLITICS

Secretary of the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) Naira Zohrabyan is
amused to hear that the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK)
condemns graft and corrupt practices.

“If today were April Fools’ Day, I would think HHK is joking. If
it’s self-criticism, I’m happy for them as it means that democratic
processes have begun within HHK,” said the BHK official.

Speaking about her party’s strategy in the municipal elections, Naira
Zohrabyan said their main objective is to solve the social problems
of Yerevan citizens.

Of course, our election platform also focuses on other impprtant
issues, including landscaping, asphalting and lighting but during
our outdoor meetings we realized that people live in such critical
conditions that everything else is less important,” she said.

The BHK secretary believes that people want opposition forces to
address more global problems.

Asked whether the party would be able to solve social issues, once it
takes Mayor’s Office, Naira Zohrabyan said, “Today, the executive and
legislative powers, as well as the municipal government are controlled
by one political force. If the opposition is able to take at least
the municipal government, we shall be able to break up the monopoly.”

In reply to our next question why the party did not do it during the
presidential election, the BHK secretary said, “I still think that we
should have participated in the election. However, BHK Leader Gagik
Tsarukyan will tell, in due time, the reasons for his decision not
to contest the presidential election.”

In conclusion, the BHK representative added that we would live in a
different Armenia if her party participated in the February ballot.

WE ARE NOT RAFFI HOVANNISIAN’S ENEMIES – OPPOSITION SDHP

April 12, 2013 | 12:47

YEREVAN. – The expectations, which the people of Armenia had as a
result of the post-presidential-election rallies, did not justify
themselves. Opposition Social-Democratic Hnchakyan Party (SDHP)
Chairwoman, Armenian National Congress (ANC) National Assembly
Faction member Lyudmila Sargsyan stated this during a press conference
on Friday.

She noted that, sadly, the initial assessments which SDHP had made
have come out to be correct, and they knew what the outcome would be.

“If there is no program, there are no steps, no political force could
have gone,” she said, and stressed that they need to work so as to
keep the hope for an early election.

As per Sargsyan, what was taking place in capital city Yerevan’s
Liberty Square is a manifestation of sweeping public discontent, but
not a movement. She noted that it would have been nobler to present
the situation and give assessments from the very beginning, instead
of keeping silent and attempting to wheedle opposition Heritage Party
Chairman, former FM Raffi Hovannisian-who was declared runner-up to
the winner, incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan, as a result of the
presidential election that was conducted on February 18, but who
claims to be the real winner in the vote.

“We are not his [that is, Hovannisian’s] enemies; we are his friends.

But we had not pinned hopes on him that he would lead, [and] which
could bring to the triumphant phase,” the ANC MP noted, and added:

“If you invite the people to a rally and declare yourself leader, you
should be very well aware of the measure of [your] accountability. It
would have been nobler [for Hovannisian] to make his decision,
following the Constitutional Court’s ruling [according to which the
aforesaid presidential election results stand], and to announce that
the post-election movement chapter is closed,” she noted.

In Lyudmila Sargsyan’s view, the most significant leader in Armenia
is First President, leader of the ANC bloc, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who
is able to direct the people and to ease their wrath from the platform.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

YEREVAN VOTES: POLITICAL FORCES ENGAGE IN MUNICIPAL RACE OVERSHADOWED BY POST-ELECTION DEVELOPMENTS

POLITICS | 12.04.13 | 11:37

Photolure

By JULIA HAKOBYAN
ArmeniaNow Deputy Editor

The elections to Yerevan’s Council of Elders, the main political event
of this spring, has gone on the back burner as the official campaign
kicked of last Sunday to coincide with preparations for ‘dueling’
inaugurations by the reelected president and his main opposition
challenger. They were further pushed to the background by a day of
protests accompanied with clashes between demonstrators and security
forces and its aftermath and implications for domestic politics.

Meanwhile, six political parties and one bloc have submitted
declarations of property and presented their election platforms
through programs and political ads on TV.

The municipal elections will take place on May 5 and citizens will
choose Yerevan’s 54th mayor (since 1879).

The top candidate on the proportional list of a party or a bloc
will become the new mayor if his party or bloc manages to win the
elections. The parties running for the elections are: the ruling
Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP),
Orinats Yerkir, Arakelutyun, (Mission), the Armenian National Congress
(ANC), ARF Dashnaktsutyun and the Barev(hello)Yerevan bloc.

The ruling Republican party’s list is headed by incumbent mayor
Taron Margaryan followed by chess grandmaster, Olympic Champion
Smbat Lputyan and rector of the Yerevan Architectural University
Hovhannes Tokmajyan. In its political ad the party emphasizes
the work done in the capital in the past couple of years, such as
Yerevan’s greening, cleaning, infrastructure improving. According
to the well-established election campaign’s “tradition” this time,
as during all previous elections, works on asphalting of the streets
have started throughout the city; the backyards are being cleaned,
and the children’s playgrounds are being renovated. The ostentatious
campaign included also mayor Margaryan’s reprimand to the director
of the Yerevan Metro, for the illegal construction of kiosks in the
underground. The campaign ads urge citizens to vote for “a better
Yerevan”. It also mentions the “good genetics” of the mayor, meaning
him being a son of Andranik Margaryan, Armenia’s late prime minister
(2000-2007).

The Republican Party announced that as a party interested in the
“proper organization and conduct” of the elections it condemns all
illegal practices, including vote buying.

Armen Martirosyan, the deputy chairman of Raffi Hovannisian’s
Heritage’s party, is the number one in the Hello Yerevan list in
the election. During the April 9 clashes with the security forces
Martirosyan suffered injuries and a broken nose, when he got hit by a
“red beret”, a special taskforce officer. It is noteworthy than during
the March 1 2008 clashes, Martirosyan got injured, while protecting
a policeman from a crowd of protestors.

The election program of Barev Yerevan will be ready in a few days,
and as Stepan Safaryan, a Heritage party representative, said at a
recent press conference, Barev Yerevan is a new platform of struggle
for them. The bloc will distribute booklets and organize meetings
with citizens to outline the ways of the city’s development and
city management methods. The campaign ad says Barev Yerevan is an
unprecedented bloc of intellectuals, parties, cultural figures and
teachers, who come to make “Raffi’s Barevolution” a reality.”

Orinats Yerkir is participating in the elections with the “We Can
Do More” slogan. The list is headed by Emergency Situations Minister
Armen Yeritsyan. The leader of the party, Secretary of the National
Security Council of Armenia Artur Baghdasaryan believes that the main
struggle will be between the current mayor and their candidate. The
party’s political ad says that the new mayor will exclude the point
construction in the city, and will involve representatives of the
civil society into the work of municipality. “Clean area – healthy
residents!” said the ad.

Meanwhile, another video material related to Orinats Yerkir has become
popular, it shows Heghine Bisharyan, the parliamentary faction’s
leader, and businessman Samvel Alexanyan walking down the stairs of
the sport and concert complex right after the president’s April 9
inauguration and discuss the upcoming banquet at Alexanyan’s Parvana
restaurant in honor of the newly elected president. The deputies
walking hand in hand say they became “brother and sister” by church.

Bisharyan tells journalists that Alexanyan is a very honest person
who does not have any property and “his eye is on his wife’s hand”.

Bisharyan then says she also needs help which make both of them to
burst into laughing. The video, depicting the frivolous nature of the
MPs’ conversation, was viewed over 53,000 times within just two days –
an impressive audience for Armenia.

ARF Dashnaktsutyun campaign’s slogan is “Yerevan, Change Armenia”. The
party list is headed by representative Armen Rustamyan. Despite
the failure in the previous city elections in 2009, when the party
gained less than 5 percent of the votes, Dashnaktsutyun believes in
its victory and intends to create a standing committee to control
the budget of the municipality of Yerevan. The party says it will
essentially increase Yerevan’s budget, will give priority to jobs
creation, providing high-quality services, protecting the residential
reserve, improving the city’s sanitary and environmental levels,
and within five years will at least double the green areas and water
surfaces.

“Yerevan is not just the Abovyan-Tumanyan crossroads,” says the
election manifesto of Gagik Tsarukyan, the leader of the former
coalition Prosperous Armenia party. “On May 5, we will choose not
the owners of Yerevan but city authorities, which should become real
partners to Yerevan residents. I assure you that by giving your vote
to Prosperous Armenia you will get a competent municipal authority.”

The party list is headed by ex-foreign minister Vartan Oskanian.

On April 7, at the start of the election campaign, Tsarukyan came up
with another announcement, saying that “if someone offends or insults a
member of Prosperous Armenia, I will consider it as a personal insult
and those who did so will have to deal with me.”

The announcement likely refers to the remark by Republican Mher
Sedrakyan, who earlier said to Hraparak newspaper: “Let’s take
Oskanian to Sovetashen (the remote district in Yerevan) and see if
he can get home. Will he be able to find where his own house is,
let alone become a mayor?”

Another Republican, Razmik Zohrabyan, reacted harshly to Tsarukyan’s
threats and said that “the slaveholding system formed within some
parties should not be spread on the whole political field.” “PAP has
a long way to go in order to reach the level of RPA,” said Zohrabyan.

Vahagn Khachatryan, Yerevan’s mayor in 1992-1996, heads the election
list of the Armenian National Congress party, whose motto is “Power to
People.” Khachatryan says the development of Yerevan requires, first
of all, solutions to environmental problems, and the ANC has a clear
program on it and the existing legal mechanisms provide an opportunity
to bring to account all offenders. The ex-mayor says he is missing
the image of “Yerevantsi” and is concerned over the reduction of the
green area of the city, where the illegal constructions are going
on right now. At the recent press conference Khachatryan, assessing
the pre-election situation, said the government has already begun the
process of election fraud. “We have no illusions about the fact that
the government will change its tactics, will declare a political will
to refrain from violations.”

The Arakelutyun party which was created in 2012, will be represented
in the elections by its member Mesrop Arakelyan, The party does not
have an election program yet, but its political ad says it has its
own approach to Yerevan’s problem. Among the priorities the party
mentions that residents of accident-prone buildings will be provided
with new apartments, elevators will be renovated and 24 hour water
supply will be available to all residents.

The election campaign will last until May 3, and analysts suggest
that the Council of Elders elections will be pretty competitive as
the opposition parties take part in it and most of the represented
parties have good chances for victory. The upcoming city elections
will be the last major electoral process until 2017 and some analysts
tend to believe that after it a political slack will come to Armenia.