Author: Badalian Vardan

The Times (London), UK
September 20, 2012 Thursday 6:36 PM GMT

Only Azerbaijan and Armenia have fewer women judges than UK

by Frances Gibb, Law Editor

Women are so scarce in the ranks of the UK judiciary that only
Azerbaijan and Armenia have a poorer record, a report has revealed.

While there is almost “gender equality” across most judiciaries in
Europe, only 23 per cent of judges in England and Wales are women and
in Scotland just 21 per cent.

In some states – such as Serbia, Slovenia, Latvia and Romania – more
than 70 per cent of judges are women.

The report comes from the Council of Europe, which has looked at the
“efficiency and quality of European justice systems” across its 47
member states.

It will be embarrassing to UK ministers who are making efforts to
improve judicial diversity in the UK.

The Ministry of Justice published an update last week hailing
“significant progress” by its judicial diversity taskforce for
implementing 20 of 53 recommendations made by Baroness Neuberger on
how to improve diversity in the legal profession. The report
acknowledges however that there is “no room for complacency”.

But the Judicial Appointments Commission has recently appointed
another woman High Court judge, bringing the total of women in the
High Court to 18. That is the highest on record although it has to be
set against the total 108 High Court judges in post.

The Commission is about to launch a recruitment drive for another nine
High court judges.

But if UK judges fair badly compared with European counterparts in
terms of diversity, they do well on pay.

The UK judiciary, a much smaller group than in other countries because
of the use of lay magistrates, score highly on earnings, and are among
the best paid, earning on average £197,750 a year.

Only judges in Ireland and in Switzerland are judges better paid, it
says, respectively earning £206,157 and £211,056. The worst paid are
those in Albania, on only £11,752 a year.

UK judges are also a rare breed. While in England and Wales there are
only 3.6 professional judges per 100,000 of the population, other
countries in Europe have as many as nearly 50 judges per 100,000 of
the population.

The report also finds that England and Wales is the most generous
jurisdicion in terms of average legal aid paid per case, which in 2010
was £2,839.

The number of lawyers is on the rise across almost all European
countries and in the UK, the number of lawyers per professional judges
is the highest, partly because of the small number of judges, the
report says.

The UK has 83 lawyers per professional judge while some states have
fewer than two, such as Monaco, Slovenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and
Herzeogovina.

The Council of Europe is promoting a policy of equality across Europe
between men and women judges in member states.

Across Europe it finds a “near gender equality, with an average for
all states or entitles of 52 per cent of men and 48 per cent of
women.”

But it also notes that equality has not yet reached the top judicial
posts: among those 26 states providing data, only eight had a woman at
the top of the highest court in 2010.

“The ‘glass ceiling’ impeding access to the hierarchical progression
of women seems to exist also in the field of justice.”

Tempo.com, Philippines
Sept 21 2012

Independence Day of Armenia today

Posted by Online on Sep 21st, 2012

Manila, Philippines – Today is the Independence Day of Armenia, which
commemorates its freedom in 1991.

It has a population of 3.2 million people. Its capital and largest
city is Yerevan.

Located at an intersection of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, Armenia
is a landlocked country bordered to the west by Turkey, to the north
by Georgia, to the east by Azerbaijan, and to the south by Iran and
the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan.

Armenia is a member of numerous international organizations, including
the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Asian Development Bank,
the Commonwealth of Independent States, the World Trade Organization,
and the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation.

The economy of Armenia is heavily dependent on remittances by
Armenians working abroad. Agriculture remains an important economic
sector, accounting for 40% of the country’s employment. The country
also produces copper, gold, zinc, and lead.

We greet the people and government of Armenia led by Their
Excellencies, President Serzh Azati Sargsyan, Prime Minister Tigran
Sargsyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduard Nalbandian, Minister of
Justice Hrayr Tovmasian, and its Consulate in the Philippines led by
Consul Jose M. Periquet, Jr., on the occasion of its Independence Day.
CONGRATULATIONS AND MABUHAY!

Armenia’s image grows regionally and internationally – Putin

news.am
September 21, 2012 | 18:51

MOSCOW. – Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated his Armenian
counterpart Serzh Sargsyan on the day of Independence. Putin wrote in
his congratulatory message in particular to accept honest
congratulations on the Day of Independence. Armenia has registered
significant successes in social and economic fields during recent
years. Besides, Armenia’s image grows regionally and internationally.
Putin stated with satisfaction the constructive nature of
Armenian-Russian friendly relations, which was confirmed during their
recent meeting in Moscow. Putin believes that both states will
continue reinforcing strategic partnership, enlarging cooperation
within the frameworks of the CIS and the CSTO integration mechanisms.

Senator Reid to accept ANCA Freedom Award for his legislative leadership

armradio.am
21.09.2012 12:45

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) – one of America’s most
powerful and principled legislators – is slated to be honored at the
Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region’s Annual
Banquet on October 28, 2012.

Senator Reid, who heads the Democratic Majority of the Senate, has
been a longstanding friend of Nevada’s Armenian community and an
enduring voice, working at the very highest reaches of the U.S.
Congress, in support of the views and values of Armenian American
voters nationwide. He will, in honor of his service and support for
the national and democratic aspirations of the Armenian people,
receive the ANCA Freedom Award, the organization’s highest and most
prestigious award before a capacity crowd at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

“I am honored and humbled to receive this auspicious award from the
Armenian National Committee of America,” said Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid. “The Armenian American community has made significant
contributions to this nation, and I have been proud to represent a
vibrant community in Nevada. Since coming to Congress, I have been
fortunate to have been able to work with my friends in this community
to pursue peace, truth, and justice around the world. I look forward
to continuing this important partnership in years to come.”

Senator Reid, during his time in both the majority and minority
leaderships of the Senate, has been a powerful force for issues of
special concern to Armenian Americans, most notably in terms of his
steadfast support for full and formal U.S. recognition of the Armenian
Genocide. Beyond co-sponsoring every resolution seeking Senate
recognition of the Armenian Genocide, he has, from his high office,
spoken passionately to return America to the right side of this
fundamental human rights issue. He played, very notably, a very
prominent role in supporting the powerful and principled stand by
Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) in successfully blocking the
confirmation of President Bush’s nominee, Richard Hoagland, to replace
John Marshall Evans (who had been recalled due to his honest
statements about the Armenian Genocide) as Ambassador to Armenia, due
to his statements denying the Armenian Genocide.

Armenian classical artists to perform at Boston’s Gardner Museum

armradio.am
21.09.2012 14:54

The fall Sunday Concert Series at the brand new Calderwood Hall of the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum will feature three rising Armenian
artists, The Armenian Mirror-Spectator reports.

On September 23, clarinetist Narek Arutyunian will appear in his
recital debut, accompanied by pianist Solon Gordon. Their program will
feature an eclectic mix, ranging from Schumann to Schoenfield with
Debussy and Bernstein and Donatoni in between. The 20-year-old
Arutyunian was most recently the featured soloist at the Armenian
Night at the Pops, where he dazzled the audience who packed the
sold-out Symphony Hall with his energetic performances with the Boston
Pops and Keith Lockhart. A student of Charles Neidich at the Juilliard
School, he is the 2010 winner of the prestigious Young Concert
Auditions of New York.

Also no stranger to Boston audiences, cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan will
take the stage on Sunday, October 7. Hakhnazaryan, 23, won the gold
medal at the Tchaikovsky International Competition in 2011 and
received his artist diploma at the New England Conservatory, sponsored
by the Alice and Violet Ohanasian/Friends of Armenian Culture Society
Scholarship Fund.

Along with his pianist of choice, Noreen Polera, Hakhnazaryan will
perform music by Cesar Frank, Ligeti, Chopin, Tchaikovsky and
Schumann. (The Schumann work, Fantasiestucke, Op. 73, is the cello
version of the work by the same composer and title on Narek
Arutyunian’s program.)

Finally, on October 21, pianist Nareh Arghamanyan will be the featured
artist in a piano recital. Aghamanyan is the winner of the 2008
Montreal International Music Competition who received her professional
training at the University for Music and Pe r forming Arts in Vienna.
She has appeared in concerts in Boston (also with the Boston Pops),
Tanglewood and the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. She will
perform the music of Bach, Schumann and Rachmaninoff.

The Rachmaninoff set of Etudes-Tableaux presented, are selections from
a CD album released earlier this year by Arghamanyan.

Kanaker-Zeytun medical center to be put up for auction – paper

11:34 19/09/2012 » Daily press

Kanaker-Zeytun Medical Center will be put up for auction with a
decision from government, Zhoghovurd daily writes.

Syunik governor, Surik Khachatryan, is among the potential buyers of
the hospital, with Yervand Zakharyan, chairman of the State Committee
of Real Estate Cadastre, being another shareholder, the paper claims.

Prosperous Armenia Party leader, Gagik Tsarukyan, is also among the
possible buyers. He plans to buy the hospital to give it to his
daughter in order to make it a center with European medical equipment.

All potential buyers, however, refute the claims about the possibility
of hospital sale. The medical center itself also denied the
information, the paper writes.

Source: Panorama.am

*Fig Tree of Diaspora *

Naira Hayrumyan
Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 13:28:37 – 19/09/2012

The help to the Armenian Syrians could test the viability of the Armenian
Diaspora. Yesterday, member of the ARFD Bureau Vahan Hovhannisyan stated
that an Armenian airplane with humanitarian aid will soon leave for Syria.
A league of charitable organizations was established in Armenia and
Karabakh called `Help the brother’, which seems also to deal with provision
of aid.

Nevertheless, the issues of the Armenian Syrians caused a major loophole in
the Armenian national structures. It turned out that despite the
pan-Armenian funds, congresses of Armenians of the world and other galactic
organizations, the Armenian nation does not have a coordinating body which
could operatively react and work out long-term policy.

Harut Sassounian, publisher of The California Courier, proposes to create a
joint coordinating council to help the Armenian Syrians. At the same time,
it should deal with the provision of humanitarian aid and support to the
Armenian Syrians who come to Armenia.

Serzh Sargsyan, during the recent consultation in the government, also
stressed that Armenia should be ready to receive Armenian Syrians. But,
besides the summer camp for the Armenian Syrian children and the
simplification of the visa regime, no other step was taken by the
government.

Many Armenian Syrians prefer settling their families in Armenia until the
situation in Syria gets stable. Men return to their homes to defend their
property. And the Armenian Syrians have to deal with their protection
themselves.

During the 20 years of independence, Armenia has failed to overcome various
disagreements and ambitions and set up a joint national structure. Our
rivals think the Diaspora is our greatest weapon, while until this weapon
is kept in different arsenals, it is useless.

Attempts to create similar structures were made more than once.
Pan-Armenian congresses have been called three times which resulted
fruitless. Ara Abrahamyan, during his moment of glory, also tries to set up
a pan-Armenian congress, but the Western Armenians refused becoming the
part of the Russian project.

After Serzh Sargsyan had assumed office, he promoted the idea of a united
national around Armenia and saw himself as the president of all Armenians.
But this idea was not supported, perhaps, due to too much ambitious. The
ministry of Diaspora created for these goals became a subject of mocking
since it only deals with insignificant issues and pseudo-patriotic
projects.

Many Diaspora representatives think Armenia should not assume the leading
role in the pan-national organization, though they understand that the
state is core of the national policy. There are 2.5 more Armenians in the
Diaspora than in Armenia, and their financial and political capital can
also be more valuable than the budget and the diplomacy of Armenia. So,
they demand proportional representation in the national organization.

The outcome is that the Armenians are unable to find a common plain even
for good deeds. The Armenian Syrians are already suffering because of this. Who
will be the next?

Facing Turkey’s Past: Struma and 1915

Posted: 09/18/2012 12:02 pm

Apology, in my opinion, is secondary. First and foremost, the emphasis
should be on this society’s courage to face the sins of the past. We were
deprived of it until today. This is a frightened society. I am not ashamed
to say this: We were fed this fear, we were scared throughout all our
lives. Our ruling system has been based on fear. We have to change that.
The only way is to confront our past.

These are the words of Ä°shak Alaton, a prominent octogenarian Turkish
businessman of Jewish origin. After releasing his memoirs not so long ago,
Alaton has become more and more vocal, calling endlessly for an end to the
bloody Kurdish conflict as one of the “wise men” ready to be part of a
dialogue on reconciliation, asking for the courage to face the crimes that
were committed during the collapse of Ottoman rule and asking citizens to
speak out.

When a ship called the Struma was dragged to the port of Old Ä°stanbul
in
1941, Alaton was a 15-year-old witness to the agony onboard. The
60-year-old vessel was the last hope of 769 Romanian Jews fleeing the
Nazis, but its engines had stopped at the Black Sea end of the Bosporus.
The issue led to pressure on Ankara from Adolf Hitler’s regime, and after
72 days of despair, the Struma was sent by Turkish authorities back into
the Black Sea, where it was torpedoed by the Soviet navy. Only one person
survived.

“Those responsible for this in Ankara are, to my mind, murderers. This
society, of which I am a part, has a problem with hiding from its past. We
pretend that if we lock them away the problems will be gone. But the
corpses that rot in there poison the air that we breathe. Is any serenity
possible without confrontation? Let us do it, so that we can make peace
with the past.”

The Struma disaster, a hidden episode in the republic’s history, is the
subject of a new book written by Halit Kakınç, and its preface is written
by, yes, Alaton himself.

It is not for nothing the subject of “genies out of the bottle.” is to
persist on the agenda of Turkey, opened up in a sort of “Turkish
perestroika” by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the past
decade.

And, only days after the release of the Struma book, another hit the
shelves — a potential intellectual bombshell.

“1915: Armenian Genocide” is its title and, not only due to its cover but
also its groundbreaking content, it overwhelms many others on the subject
that have been published. What makes the book outstanding and unique is
that it was written by Hasan Cemal, an internationally renowned editor and
columnist who is the grandson of Cemal Pasha.

This kinship is key to understanding the book’s historic significance:
Cemal Pasha was a member of the triumvirate, whose other parts were Talat
and Enver Pasha, responsible for the Great Armenian Tragedy, which started
with a mass deportation of Ottoman Armenians from their homelands and ended
with their annihilation between 1915 through 1916.

In his account, Hasan Cemal concludes it was genocide. He does not intend,
or pretend, to argue his case like a historian would. His is a painful
intellectual journey that takes us through his own evolution, a rather
ruthless self-scrutiny of his intellectual past that amounts to an
invaluable piece of private archeology.

He has done this before. In other books, he questioned his “militarist
revolutionary” past (in the ’60s and’70s), confronting boldly his own
mistakes — his deep disbelief in democracy, plotting coups, his experience
as newspaper editor, etc.

But this one is even more personal.

“It was the pain of Hrant Dink which made me write this book,” he told the
press. Dink was a dear Turkish-Armenian colleague to many of us, as he was
to Cemal. He was assassinated in broad daylight on a street of Istanbul by
a lone gunman in January 2007, sending shockwaves around the world.

“Look at my age; it’s been years and years that I have defended the freedom
of expression. But should I keep secret some of my opinions, only for
myself? Should I still have some taboos of my own? Should I still remain
unliberated? Is it not a shame on me, Hasan Cemal?”

In the preface, he writes: “We cannot remain silent before the bitter
truths of the past. We cannot let the past hold the present captive. Also,
the pain of 1915 does not belong to the past, it is an issue of today. We
can only make peace with history, but not an ‘invented’ or ‘distorted’
history like ours, and reach liberty.”

The pain of Dink’s memory — which scarred many of us so eternally — may
have been a crucial point for it, but by turning a “personal
taboo-breaking” into a public one, Cemal opened a huge hole in the wall of
denial of the state. It broke another mental dam.

This bold exercise in freedom of speech will, in time, pave the way for the
correct path. It is up to the individuals of Turkey to do the same, and bow
before their consciences. Perhaps this is why there has been such silence
over this book in the days since its publication. It is also very difficult
to find in bookstores. There are rumors that some chains are refusing to
sell it. This may be true, but it cannot now be unpublished.

The genie is out of the bottle but the ghosts of the past are also very
much alive. The “silent treatment” is proof of that. If anything, it shows
how frightened people are. Not only does the state owe an apology for the
past, but an even bigger apology is necessary for enforcing, decade after
decade, a mass internalization of denialism in this country.

Ilham Alliyev’s untimely visit to France. Le Mond

12:26 | 2012-09-19 | Press Review | Diaspora |

The president of France Francois Hollande had a meeting with his
Azerbaijani colleague Ilham Aliyev in Elysee Palace. Such initiative
causes amazement as France is struggling now against the autocratic
regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, writes the French Le Mond.

Ilham Aliyev cynically pardoned Ramil Safarov having brutally axed the
sleeping Armenian officer during NATO trainings in Budapest. In such
conditions Hollande should have refused to meet Alliyev in respect to
the values of France and to the French-Armenians.

Referring to the hereditary rule in Azerbaijan, the French paper notes
that the main part Azerbaijan in under the control of Alliyev clan,
the rest belonging to the family of Alliyev’s wife, Pashaevs.
There is no doubt that Hollande will discuss the Syrian conflict with
Alliyev as well issues on human rights, and on the rights of
minorities.

The paper concludes that Alliyev’s urges to give back Karabakh, his
pardon to Safarov, and the latter’s glorification prove 2 things. That
Armenians in Karabakh and Armenia are under the same danger as the
Christians in the Middle East. And the second Armenians in Karabakh
have no future under Azerbaijani rule.

Another group of Syrian Armenians arrived in Armenia

11:32, 19 September, 2012

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS: Due to the domestic crisis in Syria
the representatives of the Armenian community continue streaming to
Armenia. On September 18 a new group of Syrian Armenians arrived in
Armenia with the regular flight Aleppo-Yerevan implemented by the
Syrian Airlines. `People are running away with fear in their hearts
that they may not get to the destination, as the entire way of the
Aleppo Airport is controlled by the Free Army militaries’, – told the
Syrian Armenians to Armenpress at Zvartnots Airport, asking `Don’t
remind of our tragedy’, as they could have said much more about their
regrettable situation…

At the Airport Nora Khachatryan had a special spirit, whose Arab
husband, who is Christian though, had just arrived. `Certainly, I am
very happy that my husband has returned to us. Now I am more
comfortable. Right, we have run away and come here, but, if God wants
and everything is fine, we will return to our country, Syria’, – said
Nora. And her husband added that the forces of the power do their best
to clean up the country from the rebels, the majority of which come
from Turkey, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen bringing weapons and ammunition
with them.

`We know that Armenia provides with an apartment and children may go
to school, but we have come here to stay for a while and come back to
our country. Right, the situation is not that good there, but nothing
bad will happen to us, as God will protect us. We hope that shortly
everything will get into order and all the Syrian Armenians will go
back to their homes’, – said the mother of the Hattat family, avoiding
speaking about the difficulties, through which they have passed.

The representative of the Syrian Airlines informed that in general
they do not announce the number of the passengers and keep it secret
but the plane from Aleppo to Yerevan was full. `We continue
implementing the flights once a week and yet there have not been any
changes’, – said the representative of the Syrian Airlines.

Currently there are about 2000 Syrian Armenians in Armenia, 300-350 of
which settled permanently in our country, being provided with
apartments. Temporary shelters have been provided to those Syrian
Armenians, who intend to return to their country. About 250 Syrian
Armenian children go to school. A special educational program has been
developed for them. The apartments are located in different districts
– from Nor Nork to the villages. `I should say that the others are in
expectation status and they rent apartments till they are provided
with them’, – reported the Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Diaspora
of Armenia Firdus Zakaryan to Armenpress.

The militaries of the Free Army in Syria continue their atrocities to
overthrow the regime of the President Bashar al-Assad. The power
forces do their best to control the situation, but victims are
inevitable. More than 20 representatives of the Armenian community
fell in the collisions in different cities of Syria.