Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

ARSON NOT SHORT CIRCUIT CAUSE OF FIRE AT KADIKOY CHURCH

Gözde Kazaz 12.10.2014 12:04SOCIETY

The cause of the fire at the Kadıköy International Church (KUT)
was arson, an investigation has proven.

The fire that began on the night of December 7 was previously claimed
to have been caused by a short circuit of the electrical lights on
the Christmas tree.

Examination of the security camera recordings of the church has
revealed that the fire was caused by arson. The recordings show the
suspect breaking into and setting fire to the church.

The suspect under custody has allegedly also been involved in a
previous case of arson.

Pam Ohanyan, from the Kadıköy International Church Association,
stated that thousands of holy books and CDs were destroyed in the fire.

The fire broke out at the third floor of the building, the first two
floors of which are used as prayer and meeting rooms. The third floor
was used as a library.

From: Baghdasarian

PM AND OMBUDSMAN PUT IN A BAD SITUATION WHEN CITIZEN SPOKE ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS: HRAPARAK

12.11.2014 12:25 epress.am

Yesterday, during a conference organized by Ombudsman Karen Andreasyan,
a citizen, Miasnik Patvakanyan, put the PM Hovik Abrahamyan and the
Ombudsman in an awkward situation, writes Hraparak daily.

During the presentation of an economic report, Patvakanyan entered
the hall and unexpectedly began speaking about the poor condition
of human rights in Armenia, while earlier the Ombudsman had spoken
positively about the work of state institutions in the field of
defending human rights.

Karen Andreasyan attempted to muffle Patvakanyan by speaking louder
on his microphone.

“The Prime Minister was caught off guard and glaringly listened to
the citizen. US Ambassador John Heffern initially tried to discern
the citizen’s frustration, later turning to the woman sitting next
to him for help. The man continued to speak of the Ombudsman’s lack
of action toward dissent, while the PM and Andreasyan looked left
and right expressing a call for help. Of course, if there weren’t
representatives of international organizations among the guests,
they would have immediately taken him out of the hall with force,
but the presence of guests forced them to calmly listen,” writes
Hraparak journalist Gayane Saribekyan.

Karen Andreasyan tried justifying the situation by saying that he had
listened to the man multiple times and that Patvakanyan’s intrusion
to the hall testifies to human rights freedom in Armenia.

“And behold, seconds after this observation, after the citizen’s
departure, they locked the door from the inside. However, the strangest
part of the incident occurred at the end. While Patvakanyan was
expressing his constant discontent about the Ombudsman’s office’s lack
of action and their lack of proper attention toward his complaints,
a female staffer of the Ombudsman office whispered in my ear saying
that he was registered at the Salt Plant psychiatric facility. I
asked then how he could have known about the conference, to which
the staffer excitedly explained that he is aware of everything and
knows about all the events,” writes Saribekyan.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA COULD SLOW DOWN DEMOCRATIC PROGRESS AFTER JOINING EEU: OPINIONS

22:07 * 10.12.14

Heritage parliamentary group member Alexander Arzumanyan’s concern
is that Armenia’s democratic progress as compared with the other
Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) member-states will go unnoticed.

“If your major partner does not respect human rights, you will practice
it as well,” he told Tert.am.

Mr Arzumanyan mistrusts official statements that, although the EEU
has not set any preconditions to meet certain democracy standards,
it highlights the necessity for drawing closer to each other and
turning to the leader with different programs, Armenia being the
leader in this particular case.

“It is good that the Council of Europe, European Union (EU) or any
other structure has failed to make Russia or Kazakhstan democratic
states, whereas Armenia could succeed,” Mr Arzumanyan said.

“We will make democratic progress in defiance of all authorities,
customs unions and so on. Our people will progress, it is our
development imperative. So even with steps back, we will achieve
our aims.”

Human rights activist Artak Zeinalyan told Tert.am that Armenia’s
accession to the EEU will cause a democratic regress, which can even
now be seen in police conduct.

“Developments show they are ‘getting into the police role’,” he said.

According to him, Armenia will not succeed to force Russia, Kazakhstan
and Belarus to keep pace with its own achievements.

“The local overseers will do their best to please the Kremlin. They are
sure to worsen the situation. And we can see it: the court approved
and protected hate speech, and the case involving violence against a
journalist in front of the National Assembly has been dismissed. These
examples prove the situation will worsen,” Mr Zeinalyan said.

Human rights protection and democracy are constitutional requirements.

“And they are even stricter than in Europe,” he said.

According to him, Europe’s pressure has played its role in Armenia’s
progress as well.

Mr Zeinalyan also highlights NGOs’ role, as well as opposition
political forces’ role.

“NGOs have succeeded to an extent – citizens sacrificed their life
for that and political figures were imprisoned – the authorities were
faced with requirements. All that produced a result. That is, there was
political struggle for results, and political parties were involved in
that struggle. There is no political struggle in Azerbaijan, and NGO
representatives and activists are imprisoned. And in Armenia political
figures were in prisons, but society struggled and succeeded,” he said.

From: Baghdasarian

HITMAN IN DINK MURDER CONTRADICTS EARLIER STATEMENTS

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Dec 10 2014

Ogun Samast, who was sentenced to 21 years, six months in prison in
2011 for assassinating Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, has
changed his testimony while giving a deposition as a witness in the
ongoing investigation into the murder against government officials
who are accused of failing to protect the victim.

He claimed that he heard a conversation between two people who were
talking about former head of the intelligence unit of the National
Police Department Ramazan Akyurek and a police chief named Fuat.

The conversation took place between Yasin Hayal, another suspect in
the case who was sentenced to life imprisonment for inciting Samast
to commit the murder, and Erhan Tuncel, who worked as an informant
for the Trabzon Police Department and was accused of initiating the
effort to have Dink murdered.

Samast said when he asked Hayal about the names he overheard during the
conversation that took place in Tuncel’s house, he was told Tuncel knew
these people, adding that they were fully behind the plot to kill Dink.

The testimony contradicts Samast’s 2010 deposition that led to his
conviction.

He had earlier claimed that he never knew Tuncel, adding that Hayal
was acting as a liaison to Tuncel.

Dink was assassinated in broad daylight outside the office of his
Agos newspaper on Jan. 17, 2007.

Seven years later, Samast suddenly decided to speak about the murder
and delivered his testimony to prosecutor Yusuf Hakkı Dogan.

As part of the same investigation, two former heads of the intelligence
unit of the National Police Department — Sabri Uzun and Akyurek
— and a former police chief, Ali Fuat Yılmazer, testified as
suspects. Other high-profile figures have been called to testify as
suspects, including former Ä°stanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah,
former İstanbul Deputy Governor Ergun Gungör and former İstanbul
Police Department intelligence unit chief Ahmet Ä°lhan Guler.

Yılmazer defended himself in October saying that top administrators
are protecting those who are at fault for the murder of the
Turkish-Armenian journalist.

Yılmazer, who is currently under arrest as part of a government-backed
operation against the police force, stated that he had not even been
serving in Ä°stanbul during the time when the murder took place. “It is
[due to] bad intentions that my name has been given when others were
serving at the Ä°stanbul Police Department at that time. Others are
being protected,” Yılmazer said.

He said inspectors from the Prime Minister’s Office are ignoring those
who are really at fault in Dink’s murder and that they want to launch
an investigation against him and Akyurek regarding the assassination.

He emphasized that top administrators are protecting those who are
truly guilty.

Yılmazer also said that he was not the head of the İstanbul branch
of the Intelligence Bureau in January 2007, when Dink was assassinated.

He said his post in Ä°stanbul started in March of that year. He also
added that Ahmet Ä°lhan Guler was the head of the Ä°stanbul branch
of the Intelligence Bureau during the time of the murder.

“Although this issue is present in the archives [of the police
department] and although this can be verified easily, it is being
manipulated,” Yılmazer said.

The former police chief also emphasized that all inspectors who were
appointed by the Prime Ministry to investigate Dink’s murder found
the Trabzon Police Department and the Ä°stanbul Police Department
at fault for the journalist’s death. Yılmazer said the Ä°stanbul
Police Department did not take any measures to prevent the murder,
although it had received intelligence about a possible assassination
attempt against Dink before the incident took place.

From: Baghdasarian

ANCA-ER CELEBRATES GRASSROOTS ACTIVISM AT 8TH ANNUAL BANQUET

By Contributor on December 10, 2014

NEW YORK–Armenian Americans from throughout the Eastern U.S. gathered
at the Ritz Carlton New York, Battery Park on Sun., Dec. 7, in a
salute to expanded grassroots activism and to honor civic, political,
and community leaders who have worked tirelessly to advance the
Armenian Cause.

Renowned lawyer Robert Morgenthau (L), accepts this year’s prestigious
ANCA ER Freedom Award from Dr. Garo Nazarian

Honorees for the evening included renowned lawyer Robert Morgenthau
and the Morgenthau family, who received this year’s prestigious
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Eastern Region (ER)
Freedom Award for their decades-long efforts to raise the public’s
consciousness about the atrocities of the Armenian Genocide; and
community leader and humanitarian Alice Movsesian, for her lifetime
commitment to advancing the Armenian Cause in the U.S. and working
tirelessly to assist victims of the 1988 Armenian earthquake.

Congressional Armenian Caucus co-chair Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr.

joined the attendees at the celebration and emphasized the importance
of expanding Armenian-American civic participation in states across
the U.S.

Community leader and humanitarian Alice Movsesian (L), and ANCA
Eastern Region Board Member Karine Shnorhokian

Community leader and humanitarian Dr. Garo Nazarian served as master
of ceremonies for the evening. His Eminence Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan
opened the evening with a prayer and a message of faith. Very Reverend
Father Gabriel Adde of the Syriac Orthodox Church delivered the
benediction prayer.

During the course of the evening, world-renowned artist Kevork Mourad,
together with the famous violinist Sami Merdinian, performed a live and
exquisite “spontaneous painting” show at the banquet. Mourad showcased
several of his pieces, including those he created live during the show,
and the silent auction. He was joined by Berge Zobian of Gallery Z,
who featured paintings by other famous Armenian artists, including
Armen Vahramian, Eduard Kharpetian, and Alexander O.

Grigorian.

Joining Morgethau and Movsesian in offering remarks during the evening
were the Near East Foundation’s Shant Mardirossian, Esq., and Dr.

Antranig Kasbarian, who introduced the evening’s honorees; James
Sahakyan, who offered remarks on behalf of the ANCA Eastern Region;
and Richard Sarajian, Esq., who spoke on behalf of the ARF Eastern
Region Central Committee.

Armenia’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador
Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, was among the honored guests joining prominent
members of the Armenian community present at the gala.

Complete coverage of the ANCA-ER Banquet will be published in the
Armenian Weekly in the upcoming days.

From: Baghdasarian

ZARUHI BATOYAN: PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES ARE TRAPPED IN THEIR HOMES (VIDEO)

18:11 | December 10,2014 | Social

The rights of people with disabilities are not protected in Armenia,
says Zaruhi Batoyan, editor of Disabilityinfo.am.

“Should their rights be protected, they would be next to us today. We
would see them at schools, in cities and elsewhere. But most of them
today are trapped in their homes,” she said.

Zaruhi Batoyan says disabled people who are actively engaged in public
life make a small percentage. At the same time she advised considering
the problems of these people when making investments in the country.

From: Baghdasarian

HRANT DINK’S GUNMAN ACCUSES TWO FORMER POLICE CHIEFS OF MURDER

19:07 â~@¢ 10.12.14

Ogun Samast, the triggerman who shot Turkish-Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink dead almost eight years ago, has claimed that two former
police chiefs are responsible for Dink’s murder, the Hurriyet Daily
News reports.

Samast, who had sent a letter to the prosecutor in charge of the
investigation of Dink’s murder saying he wanted to “speak up” on Nov.

17, testified on Dec. 5 as a “witness.”

He accused Ramazan Akyurek, then-police chief of Trabzon, and Ali
Fuat Yılmazer, then-Istanbul police intelligence chief, of being
behind the murder.

“They made me do the assassination. Yasin [Hayal] is taking the blame
and saying, ‘I did it,’ but he isn’t saying the names behind it. If my
words are investigated, the people behind [the murder] will be found.

The truth will be found if the relations between the policemen,
whose registration numbers I gave, Akyurek, Yılmazer and other
individuals whose names are in the court file, are investigated”
Samast said in his testimony to Istanbul prosecutor Yusuf Dogan.

Dink was assassinated by Samast in broad daylight on a busy street
outside the office of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos in
Istanbul’s Ã…~^iÃ…~_li district on Jan. 19, 2007. The assassination
caused outrage across the country, sending hundreds of thousands to
the streets in mass rallies.

Samast, who is serving 22 years and 10 months in the high-security
F-type prison in Kandıra, Kocaeli, said he met Hayal, who is serving
an aggravated life sentence, in the Black Sea province of Trabzon. He
said he met Erhan Tuncel, a former police informant who was released
pending trial, through Hayal.

“Hayal brought me to Tuncel’s house [before the murder] and I overheard
them speaking. Erhan and Yasin were talking about the incident. I
started listening when Erhan said ‘Ramazan Akyurek and Fuat the
manager.’ Yasin said ‘then our backs are safe.’ When we left the
house, I told Yasin ‘I know Ramazan Akyurek, he administered here in
Trabzon, but who is Fuat?’ Yasin answered by saying ‘they are Erhan’s
acquaintances,'” said Samast.

He added that Hayal had said Akyurek and even the Istanbul chief of
police at the time knew about the incident and were all behind it.

“Think, the job is big, you will be a hero. I will put you into a
lot of trouble if you bail out,” Samast quoted Hayal as saying.

The investigation into Dink’s murder case took a different path after
the government launched a fight against the so-called “parallel
structure,” which the government uses to refer to the movement of
U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen. The Justice Ministry
cleared the way for investigations into nine civil servants accused
of negligence in Dink’s murder.

The government started the fight against the “parallel structure”
after two graft probes into around 100 people – including four former
ministers, their sons, Azeri-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab, former
manager of state-run Halkbank and a construction tycoon – was launched
in December 2013, marking Turkey’s biggest ever corruption case.

From: Baghdasarian

VIVACELL-MTS GENERAL MANAGER RALPH YIRIKIAN DELIVERS SPEECH AT CONFERENCE ON ECONOMIC RIGHTS

18:45 * 10.12.14

Today, on the occasion of the Day of International Human Rights, a
one-day conference on Economic Rights was organized at Hotel Marriott
under the aegis of the Human Rights Defender Office of Armenia.

The conference was presided by the Ombudsman of Armenia Karen
Andreasyan, gathered under one roof representatives of the executive,
legislative, state regulatory, educational and business spheres,
as well as representatives of human rights, consumer protection and
other non-governmental organizations. The conference was attended
by the RA Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan, the Ambassadors of US,
UK and representatives of international organizations in Armenia.

VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian was invited to
the conference as a guest-speaker representing business. In his
presentation “Ensuring non-discriminatory conditions for business, and
prevention of monopolies and dominant position in the market” Yirikian
touched upon the issue of healthy competition from the perspective of
utilizing the internal potential of market players for implementing
the principles of Human Rights and ensuring daily operation in line
with what is set by Human Rights. In particular, VivaCell-MTS General
Manager spoke about the need to reveal and enact internal drivers
for the institutionalization of Human Rights at the Company level.

Ralph Yirikian stressed that working in a highly competitive market
of information and communications technologies, VivaCell-MTS has
proven that it’s possible to work in the market, achieve and maintain
market leadership, without compromising Human Rights in the course
of its daily operations. And also he expressed readiness to share
this solution with other market players.

“Throughout years of operation, VivaCell-MTS has proven that there
are certain activities that can be implemented by companies at the
organizational level, including the adoption of ISO 26000, with an
aim to confirm themselves to rules of ethical conduct of business,
fair competition, respect for Human Rights, including consumer rights
and employees’ rights, respect for the law, and timely and lawful
fulfillment of tax obligations. I believe these activities implemented
from bottom-to-up should go in parallel with up-to-down activities
implemented by the regulator and policy-makers, for ensuring fair
competition in the market,” Ralph Yirikian concluded.

From: Baghdasarian

WINTER SEASON TOURISM: TRAVEL AGENCIES IN ARMENIA SAY DEMAND EXCEEDS AVAILABLE OFFERS

Society | 10.12.14 | 13:27

By Sara Khojoyan
ArmeniaNow reporter

Although holiday packages are not affordable for many in Armenia,
specifically during winter months, demand exceeds supply, tour
agencies say.

“Customers book tickets much earlier now because starting from November
there was not one vacant room in any hotel in Tsakhkadzor,” Tourism
Association founder Marina Kpryan told reporters on Tuesday.

For a 4-5-day trip outside Yerevan a four-member family must spend
300-800,000 AMD (about $660-1700), all-inclusive, Hotels Association
President, Tufenkyan Company Executive Director Hakob Hakobyan said.

According to official statistics, last year in Armenia around 670,000
people preferred such a holiday, recording a 30.1 percent growth as
compared to 2012. During the first six months of this year around
100,000 internal tourists recorded 30.4 percent growth as compared
to the same period of 2013.

According to Hakobyan, the result of the meeting with directors of
five hotels show that compared to last year sales data is the same,
which makes it possible to assume that many Armenians prefer spending
winter holidays outside the country.

Joel tour agency director Sona Yeghiazaryan said that Armenians mostly
prefer leaving for seaside warm countries, such as Egypt, the United
Arab Emirates, Thailand, spending $700-800 on average per person.

“Europe is also a favorable destination, only in this case there
is the problem with embassies, and those who want must deal with
the visa since August, just like we start reservations in August,”
Yeghiazaryan said.

Meanwhile, tourism sphere representatives value the growth of tourism
inflow in Armenia, however with regret they emphasize that specifically
winter is not considered an active season, because it is not full of
cultural events, offers are limited to restaurant parties and music.

According to the statistics from the Ministry of Economy Tourism
Department, last year Armenia was visited by more than one million
tourists – 12.6 percent more than in 2012, during the first six months
of this year – around half a million, 17.3 percent more than during
the same period of last year.

To improve the service for incoming tourists this year three new
hotels were opened in Armenia, which, according to Hakob Hakobyan,
enriched the market supply by 550 new rooms. Next year another 300
rooms are expected to be added.

“In Yerevan one can find a room for any budget – starting from 15,000
AMD till 700,000 (around $30 – $1,500). The average price is 45,000
AMD (around $100) breakfast included, and for a capital city it is
a normal price,” Hakobyan said predicting price increase in the field.

“If food gets more expensive that reflects on food expenses made by
the hotel as well,” he said.

From: Baghdasarian

MKHITARYAN PLAYED A GREAT GAME, DORTMUND COACH SAID AFTER 1-1 DRAW WITH ANDERLECHT

16:12, 10 Dec 2014

Borussia Dortmund topped Group D of the Champions League by drawing
1-1 with an RSC Anderlecht side.

“I am delighted with parts of the game,” Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp
said after the match. “We started brightly, had a good phase after
the break and scored a neat goal. We only worked out the lineup this
morning, as we had some last-minute injuries. Some players really had
to work hard today to make it through the game. But we have secured
first place in this group, the maximum possible goal.”

“Henrikh Mkhitaryan played a great game and got into positions to
score goals. He isn’t managing to do that [score] right now, but many
players have gone through this before. It is important to stay cool
and absorb the pressure. At some point it will just happen and he
will score two or three. It is similar to our general situation. It
hurts him because he thinks he isn’t helping the team. That’s wrong –
he has helped the team a lot today,” Klopp said.

From: Baghdasarian