Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

Holocaust would not take place if Armenian Genocide was prevented:
Jewish human rights defender

17:28, 28 January, 2012

YEREVAN, JANUARY 28, ARMENPRESS: The Holocaust would not take place if
the Armenian Genocide was prevented, Jewish ombudsman, co-author of
“Respect for Memory of Armenian Genocide Victims” book Serge Klarsfeld
said in an interview with La Liberation French newspaper, citing
Hitler’s well-known phrase – “Who remembers the Armenians now?”

According to the scientist, only the fact that denial of the Holocaust
is criminally punishable in France obligates to do the same in the
issue of the Armenian genocide, Armenpress reports.

In answer to the newspaper’s question that, nevertheless, there are
historians who do not consider the Armenian pogroms a genocide, Serge
Klarsfeld said: “Very often historians themselves do not want to face
the history, but in this case nothing impedes to carry out serious
studies.”

According to the human rights defender, in this way the French
Parliament indicates a moral landmark in the field of politics.
“Hereafter judges will do their work not on the basis of history but
law,” said Serge Klarsfeld.

From: Baghdasarian

Steven Spielberg’s Holocaust archive arrives in UK

Academics hope emphasis on survivors’ testimonies will change the way in
which war history is studied

– Vanessa Thorpe and
Lucy Fulford
– guardian.co.uk , Saturday 28 January 2012
12.14 GMT

[image: Scene from Schindler’s List]

Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List was the catalyst for the director’s
work with the Shoah Foundation Institute. Photograph: SNAP/Rex Features

The arrival in Britain of an archive of tens of thousands of
Holocausttestimonies will
give much needed historical weight to the experiences of
survivors, according to a leading scholar.

David Cesarani, of the Holocaust Research Centre at the University of
London,
believes that the US video archive, set up 18 years ago by Steven
Spielberg,
will help to rebalance a picture that has been dominated by the study of
the perpetrators of the atrocities of the second world
war
.

The extraordinary catalogue of personal testimony, collected by the Shoah
Foundation Institute since the film director
made *Schindler’s List* in 1993, is housed at the University of Southern
California, but on Friday it was formally shared with academics and
students at the research centre at Royal Holloway to mark Holocaust
Memorial Day. The archive footage, which can be viewed by members of the
public by appointment, chiefly features the memories of Jewish survivors,
but some of the 52,000 videos also tell of the experiences of other
persecuted groups, such as homosexuals and Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well of
those of the liberating troops.

Cesarani believes the archive facility will set British historical research
in the right context. “It is going to have a huge impact,” he said. “This
is an authentic resource for British researchers and historians which will
give them access to the experiences of people who have never written
anything down. Too much of the history of the Holocaust has been about the
perpetrators. The survivors, with a few exceptions, have tended to
disappear from the scene.”

Growing academic appreciation of the value of oral testimony will mean that
the archive is well used, he believes. “Historians now understand that you
don’t go to an archive like this to find out exactly what happened on a
given day. It is about recovering the perceptions of the victims at the
time, and accepting there are going to be mistakes and errors,” added
Cesarani.

His views are echoed by Stephen D. Smith, executive director of the USC
Shoah Foundation Institute in California. Smith and his brother James M.
Smith, founded the UK Holocaust Centre in Nottinghamshire and the
British-based Aegis Trust. “It’s a mistake to think of it as a historical
archive. It contains historical data, but it’s a look at how society can
unravel and unfold,” Stephen Smith said. “This is a voice of a conscience
of our age. It’s there to help guide us and has a social value of
conscience which I really hope can make a difference, and if it doesn’t,
we’ll come to rue the day, but it won’t be because the survivors didn’t
warn us.”

Smith first came face to face with the truth of the Holocaust in 1991 at
Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Museum. “I started wondering why it was that
British society hadn’t dealt with that part of history.” He became involved
with the USC Shoah Foundation Institute because of his Holocaust studies
and research into survivor testimony, which he sees as “the last word of
defiance”. He said: “The disempowered are now empowered through their own
voices – but how prepared are we to listen?”

Smith hopes that non-specialists will also visit the archive. The USC Shoah
Foundation Institute is broadening its archive to incorporate testimony
from survivors of other genocides. It is collecting testimony in Rwanda,
where the Aegis Trust set up the Kigali Memorial Centre in 2004. This year
Rwandan and Armenian testimony should be added to the visual history
archive.

From: Baghdasarian

MilAz.info, Azerbaijan
Jan 27 2012

PACE Chairman Jean Claude Mignon: `We came to a decision in PACE
Bureau not to pass any resolution on further activity of the
Subcommittee on Nagorno Karabakh’

18:00 27-01-2012
`I consider that we will have a good cooperation with the Azerbaijani
officials in the fields of human rights and implementation of
democratic reforms’

`We have very good relations with Azerbaijani delegation to the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. We often communicate
and I consider that we will have a good cooperation with the
Azerbaijani officials in the fields of human rights and implementation
of democratic reforms. I have high hopes on that’, PACE Chairman Jean
Claude Mignon told APA’s European bureau.

`The Azerbaijani officials always showed interest to the European
norms on human rights. I consider that we can come to common
conclusions on this and the other issues’.

Mignon assessed the discussion held in the PACE Bureau on Azerbaijan
and said that the discussions were held on the activity of
Subcommittee on Nagorno Karabakh: `We have held discussion on further
activity of the Subcommittee on Nagorno Karabakh and came to a
conclusion not to pass any resolution on its further activity. We want
to win a time for thinking about what we can do in connection with
this issue. We will also consider the activity of the OSCE Minsk
Group. I have personal relations with the officials of the Minsk Group
co-chairing countries and we came to a decision that we need to win a
time in order to determine how we can cooperate with them’.

PACE Chairman said that he would possibly visit Azerbaijan: `Of
course, I will not pay so many visits as my predecessor. Mr.
Chavushoglu visited many countries as PACE president. Today I proposed
in the Bureau to prepare the calendar of my upcoming visits and their
purposes. It will cover my visits and the visits of our delegations as
well’.

From: Baghdasarian

Editorial: In Our Own Words

“Denial”. The word that has been on Armenian lips ever since our
near-annihilation in the early 20th century and the perpetrator’s
relentless attempt at quashing all evidence of it. The 5th anniversary
of Hrant Dink’s murder pushes this word back into the news as we are
expected to believe that the laws of the Turkish state justly tried
his murderers.

The Republic of Turkey once again finds itself denying certain
freedoms and implementing a false democracy – something which Dink
constantly called public attention to. Zaman Daily stated that “This
verdict proves once more that in this country the law exists to
protect primarily the state and not the individuals.”

The estimated 20,000 people who flooded the streets of Istanbul on
January 19th proclaiming “We are all Hrant Dink, we are all Armenians”
most definitely have something to say about the verdict, insisting
that the case went deeper than only those convicted. The murder was an
example of racism and Turkish hatred against Armenians, but we
Armenians should be careful to not return this negativity. The Turk
that marched from the streets of Taksim Square shouting “We are all
Armenian” is not the same Turk that committed Genocide 97 years ago.
We are increasingly witnessing a new mentality take hold in the mind
of the average Turk: that which pushes not to refute Turkish history
but rather to seek the truth and embrace their wrongdoings.

Dink was an advocate of democracy. The new generation of Armenians in
the Diaspora should believe in the Turks for not all are like Ogun
Salmast or Yasin Haysal, but if Turkey is to take real steps towards
democracy and acknowledgement of its past, however dark, it will come
from its people. The coming year should bring about new developments
as Turks are becoming ever more aware of and vocal against the
undemocratic acts their government commits. They are beginning to open
their eyes up to their country’s history, as proved by their activity
regarding the online Armenian Genocide “I Apologise” petition, which
collected thousands of signatures from those citizens. Unsurprisingly
though, knowing Turkey’s reputation for repressing freedom of speech
not least by the likes of Article 301, this petition was soon shut
down.

We should not forget it is the Turkish Government that refuses to
accept the Armenian Genocide, not the Turkish librarian, fishmonger,
teacher or salesman. Hrant Dink’s assassination, with its suspicious
circumstances, was seen by Armenians as the 1,500,001st victim of the
Armenian Genocide, and it is with the help of the Turkish people that
we expressed to the world the gravity of his murder. While Turkey’s
courts have consigned the case to the history books by classifying it
a simple homicide, we and many Turks believe there are deeper forces
at play linking it to the country’s government. With such thoughts the
Turkish people assist us in maintaining the pressure on the Turkish
government for just acknowledgement of their past. Case not closed.

From: Baghdasarian

Salary reduction impacts Armenia’s average-income families more

NEWS.AM
January 28, 2012 | 20:20

YEREVAN. – In 2010, Armenia’s inflation surpassed the salary increase.
The consumer price index reached 108.2 percent, whereas the average
salary index was only 106.7 percent. And the real salary reduced by
1.4 percent.

This trend continued in 2011, too, as on the average, the real salary
reduced by 1.7 percent. And it was only since August that the
inflation rate somewhat succumbed to the salary growth. In 2010, the
average monthly salary was Armenian drams equivalent to US$ 291.3,
whereas in 2011, this reached $309.4.

Salaries are the main source of income for average-income families.
The real monthly salary reduction impacts the average-income families
more, and the inflation rate has somewhat slowed, since the Armenian
economy’s current situation has reached the maximum indicator.

From: Baghdasarian

U.S. envoy calls on Turkey for transparent nuclear regulator

January 28, 2012 – 10:32 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – A more transparent and open regulatory environment
for the nuclear sector would be more encouraging for American
companies that wish to invest in this field, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey
Francis Ricciardone said, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

`Your energy minister [Taner Yıldız] wants to encourage American firms
in the nuclear sector. We think that is great, too. The regulatory
environment in Turkey, however, discourages American companies from
coming because the nuclear sector is wide open around in the world,
but is still closed in Turkey,’ Ricciardone said.

Turkey is planning to build three nuclear power plants in the next
decade, totaling 4500 MWe, in the provinces of Akkuyu, Mersin and in
Sinop. Turkey and Russia signed an agreement on construction of the
first plant, but talks with Japan for the second plant were suspended
after the earthquake in Japan last year.

However, U.S. companies do not seem interested in entering this field
in Turkey. This is because of poor tender conditions, according to
Michael Camunez, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of
Commerce, who called on Turkey to adopt an internationally approved
tender process in order to attract American companies, during a visit
to Ankara last month. `The regulations should be open and clear. There
needs to be a strong and independent regulatory institution with
long-term purchase contract,’ Camunez told reporters.

`We have a conversation going on about opening the regulatory
environment here to encourage American and foreign investment in the
nuclear sector,’ Ricciardone said. Citing the energy sector as an
important field in which Turkish and American companies could
cooperate, he said, `If you do not grow in generation capability,
transmission and distribution there will be a bottleneck. It will hold
you back. We are keenly interested in American companies and investors
participating.’

From: Baghdasarian

ECHR: Turkey tops list of human right violators

January 28, 2012 – 18:41 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – In an annual report released on Thursday, January
26, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the top judicial body
to rule on human rights violations in Europe, once again found that
Turkey is by far the worst violator of human rights among the 47
signatory states of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In statistical data on violation judgments by country for the last
year, Turkey once more topped the chart with 18.55 percent of all
violation judgments, practically the same as last year’s figure of
18.81, followed by Russia with 14.48 percent and Romania 9.54 percent.
In 2010, a total of 278 judgments were entered for Turkey and only in
nine cases did the court find no violations.

The most common human rights violation committed by Turkey was against
Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which concerns
the right to a fair trial (42 cases) and lengthy proceedings (83
cases). This article was often raised as the reason for the rulings
against Turkey, Todays Zaman reported.

From: Baghdasarian

Catholicos of All Armenians: `God bless all Armenian soldiers’

On January 28 Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin the Second sent a
congratulation letter on the 20th anniversary of the formulation of
Armed Forces of Republic of Armenia. Press center of Holy See St.
Etchmiadzin informs about this.

The message especially says: `Holy See Mother Etchmiadzin blesses
Armenian Army and Armenian soldiers on the 20th anniversary of
Armenian Armed Forces. Armenian Army is our lovely son and it was born
in the field of war. It was developed and go experience in the war and
during the struggles. Like Armenian epic hero Davit Sasountsi it gets
stronger hour by hour. Armenian Army is the patriotic soul of Armenian
nation and is the readiness to protect the Motherland. Armenian Army
is the base of our security and peace development.

We are thankful to God as Armenian Army celebrates its jubilee with
achievements. We are thankful to our sons who have participated in
formulating Armenian Army.

We are praying for our nation and our Motherland, for the Armenians
spread in the whole world. God bless our soldiers.’

28.01.12, 13:25

From: Baghdasarian

Turkish FM: Turkey supports France’s exclusion from the OSCE Minsk Group

28 January 2012, 12:03 (GMT+04:00) Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan.28 / Trend
A.Taghiyeva /

Turkey supports exclusion of France from the co-chairmansip of the
OSCE Minsk Group, since having adopted law criminalizing denial of the
so-called “Armenian genocide” Paris lost its objectivity, Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said with an interview to CNN Turk.

“Mr Sarkozy during his visit to the South Caucasus had been in Armenia
for 2 days while in Azerbaijan he spent just few hours. It is evidence
of his bias,” Mr Davutoglu said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of

Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7
surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are
currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

The minister also added if France remains co-chair of the OSCE Minsk
group Turkey also should become a co-chair of this group.

Mr Davutoglu said the French co-chairmanship in this group is wrong as
this country lost its neutrality in this issue.

After eight hours of discussion, the Senate (upper chamber of the
French parliament) voted for adoption of the law criminalising denial
of the so called “Armenian genocide”. Some 127 senators voted for,
while 86 against.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey was preparing
new sanctions against France.

The Lower House of the French Parliament adopted a bill criminalising
the denial of the so-called “Armenian genocide” on Dec.22, 2011

The bill demands about a year’s imprisonment and a fine of 45,000
euros for denial of the so-called “Armenian genocide”.

MPs from the French President’s Union for Popular Movement (UMP) party
which has the parliamentary majority, proposed the bill which aims at
criminalising denial of the so-called “Armenian genocide” to the
legislative committee of the National Assembly in early December.

Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that the predecessor of the
Turkey – Ottoman Empire had committed the 1915 genocide against the
Armenians living in Anadolu, and achieved recognition of the “Armenian
Genocide” by the parliaments of several countries.

From: Baghdasarian

Armenian army is cherished child of our independent state – Catholicos

January 28, 2012 | 11:46

YEREVAN. – The Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II, issued a
message, on Saturday, in connection with 20th anniversary of the
Armenian army.

`The Armenian army is a cherished child of our independent state. It
was born from the battles to defend the Fatherland, and from hardships
and sacrifice, and it grew and strengthened. The Armenian army
embodies our people’s patriotic spirit, the will to protect our
national rights, and the trust in the future, and it is the bulwark
and support of the peaceful life and progress of our native country.

Our army welcomes its anniversary with accomplishments and victories,
with a combat-ready and courageous spirit. We highly appreciate our
dear children who have a contribution and a merit in the forming and
strengthening of the Armenian army, in the building of its brave
spirit, and our army members who today defend the borders of the
Fatherland,’ the message specifically reads.

From: Baghdasarian