Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

U.S. SANCTIONS AGAINST RUSSIA MAY HIT ARMENIA

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Aug 8 2014

8 August 2014 – 10:53am

By Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza

Last week, the U.S. embassy in Armenia published a declaration, warning
the Armenian government and business structures about the risks that
may arise for cooperating with Russian companies and individuals
blacklisted by the U.S. over the Ukraine crisis. Banks VTB, VTB
Armenia and Gazprombank affected by the sanctions have officers
in Armenia. The same concerns Gazprom’s Areximbank operating in
Armenia. Armenia put hopes on Rosneft, which had plans to purchase
the Nairit rubber factory.

The statement of the U.S. embassy stirred up local political and
expert groups. Russia is the sole supplier of gas and the main
investor in the Armenian economy. 40.2% of foreign investments came
from Russia. The volume of Russian investments totaled $3.3 billion
at the end of 2013. Many Armenian migrants live and work in Russia,
they transfer $1.5-2 billion to their homeland every year.

The Russian economy marked zero growth in January-June and this may
affect Russian companies in Armenia, they produce 17% of the local
GDP. According to Vaagn Khachatryan, an economist, a member of the
opposition Armenian National Congress Party, the sanctions of the West
would not necessarily have a negative impact on Russian companies that
will be forced to cut some of their programs in Armenia or postpone
their realization. “The effect will be direct, because Russia has very
high capital in Armenia. Armenian-Russian trade-economic cooperation
may have great scale, and the Russian economy of the next year or
two will hardly have positive development. This is not my analysis,
it is that of Russian functionaries. If a 2% growth rate is achieved
in 2016, it would be great success,” supposes Khachatryan, confident
that sanctions will have an impact on the volume of Russian investment
in the Armenian economy.

The third sector that may potentially become a target for Armenia is
the volume of transfers from Russia, as can be seen from statistics
of the last several months. Moreover, sanctions may have a negative
impact on Armenian business in Russia, including exports of cognac,
agricultural products etc.

Calls to drag out the process to join the Eurasian Economic Union
(EaEU) or quit the process have already started in Armenia. Ex-Prime
Minister Grant Bagratyan believes that “joining the EaEU would be
utter stupidity. By joining the EaEU, we would complicate the economic
situation in Armenia.”

Ara Papyan, the head of the Modus Vivendi Center, ex-ambassador
of Armenia to Canada, said that Armenia needed to fix unilateral
trade-economic orientation toward Russia or it will have problems
with the West.

Some politicians and experts should know that Armenia is trying to
diversify foreign trade turnover by developing and improving trade
and economic ties in different directions. According to the Russian
Ministry for Economic Development, CIS countries had a share of 29.4%
in Armenian foreign trade in 2012, 23.5% of which were accumulated by
Russia. 29.6% of Armenian trade turnover was accumulated with the EU,
41% with the U.S., China, Iran, Turkey and other countries.

In general, Armenia has a clear understanding of working with markets,
including the huge and self-sufficient Russian market. Besides,
modern Russia is searching for solutions to the situation. It has
recently had meetings in Latin America to form a fund of $100 billion
that will be focused on investments.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN JOURNALISTS TOLD TO REVEAL SOURCES

Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #747
Aug 8 2014

Fears of attack on media freedoms after court rules information is
needed to help solve serious crime.

By Yekaterina Poghosyan – Caucasus

Armenian journalists fear that a dangerous precedent has been set by
a court ruling that two publications must reveal the sources behind
stories in which a regional police chief was accused of assault.

In May, the ilur.am web site and the Hraparak newspaper reported that
Vardan Nadaryan, chief of police in the Shirak region, attacked two
young men in an incident outside the regional capital Gyumri.

The men he allegedly assaulted turned out to be Olympic bronze
medallist wrestler Artur Alexanyan and his brother Rafael.

On June 26, a Yerevan court ruled that the newspaper had to satisfy
a request from the Special Investigative Service (SIS) to reveal the
source of the information, as part of a probe into whether Nadaryan
had abused his powers. The SIS said it had found no evidence that the
clash had actually taken place, and thus wanted the information held
by the media outlets.

Susan Simonyan, the Hraparak article’s author, told IWPR that her
editors refused to reveal the information when the SIS first asked
for it, arguing they had a legal right to withhold sources.

The SIS cited another section of the law, however, which states that
a court can force journalists to reveal their sources if they relate
to particularly serious crimes.

“We did not even know a criminal case had been opened until we heard
about the decision obliging us to reveal our source. By rights,
we should have been informed that a criminal case had been opened,
and been invited to the court hearings,” Simonyan said.

Judges have never used this section of the country’s media law before,
and journalists are worried their decision to invoke it could set
a precedent.

“The residents of Gyumri are scared to talk about fights or other
such incidents, if high-ranking officials or policemen are involved….

And now we are being told to reveal the name of the person that gave
us this information. If I do that, no one will trust me,” Simonyan
continued.

Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE’s representative for press freedom issues,
also said the court ruling was a worrying sign.

“I am concerned that this ruling might have a chilling effect on media
as it could thwart reporting on issues of public interest,” she said
in a statement. “The need for journalists’ professional confidentiality
with public and private sources of information must be acknowledged.”

Suren Deheryan, head of Journalists for the Future, a press freedom
organisation in Armenia, said the decision would create further
obstacles for the media.

“Journalists believe that this decision was taken to create an
atmosphere of fear and to put pressure not so much on journalists as
on the sources that give them information. This is dangerous and could
have a negative influence on the whole media environment,” he told
IWPR, adding that people are already reluctant to give journalists
information and often refuse to have their names included in articles.

Hraparak and ilur.am intend to appeal against the court decision,
and Simonyan said they would keep fighting for as long as possible.

“I promised my source to keep his name secret. Whatever verdict the
appeal court returns, we will fight to the end and we do not intend to
reveal the source of our information,” she said. “The decision… is
a serious obstacle for journalists and an attempt to intimidate the
press. It also reduces the faith both readers and sources have in
the media.”

Anna Israelyan, editor of the online news portal aravot.am warned
that the case would harm Armenia’s international image and said the
government needed to take steps to make sure such rulings did not
become standard practice.

“This is the first time a court has forced the media to reveal a
source of information,” she told IWPR. “It’s very important to amend
the laws to create a strict mechanism within which journalists can
be forced to reveal their sources, and which would also regulate the
process by which these cases are brought.”

Yekaterina Poghosyan is a reporter with Mediamax.am in Armenia.

From: Baghdasarian

LAW PROFESSOR SAYS U.S. HAS LONG-STANDING OBLIGATION TO PROTECT KURDS, WON’T ALLOW THE KURDISH CAPITAL TO FALL TO ISIS

Newswise
Aug 8 2014

Michael J. Kelly J.D.

Professor of Law

Michael J. Kelly is associate dean and professor of Law at Creighton
University. An expert on genocide and the Kurds, Kelly has consulted
with the Kurdish government on their constitution and is the author of
the book “Ghosts of Halabja: Saddam Hussein & the Kurdish Genocide”
(2008) and the article “The Kurdish Regional Constitution within
the Framework of the Iraqi Federal Constitution: A Struggle for
Sovereignty, Oil, Ethnic Identity, and the Prospects for a Reverse
Supremacy Clause” in vol. 114:3 of the Penn State Law Review (2010)

Professor Kelly can discuss several areas on international law,
genocide and the Kurds:

U.S. airstrikes against ISIS and air drops for trapped Yazidi and
Christian minorities in northern Iraq today are legal under the 1948
Genocide Convention, which obligates member states to prevent and
punish genocide. U.S. military actions to protect these minority groups
are in furtherance of the “prevent genocide” prong of that multilateral
treaty. Over 200,000 members of these groups are now fleeing into
Iraqi Kurdistan as ISIS advances on Erbil, the Kurdish capital city.

· The U.S. has a long-standing obligation to protect the Kurds, and
it will not allow the Kurdish capital to fall to ISIS. Ever the U.S.

encouraged the Kurdish uprising of 1991 but then failed to support
them when Saddam Hussein’s forces crushed it, American foreign policy
has been focused on protecting and supporting the Kurds. The Kurdish
government and people are the most ardent non-Jewish supporters of
the U.S. in the Middle East.

· It is time for the U.S. and the international community to make good
on a 95-year old promise that the Kurds have their own state. Like
the Armenians, the Kurds were promised a homeland in the aftermath of
World War I, but the Western powers failed to make that happen and
renegotiated the peace in the Middle East after the rise of Ataturk
and the consolidation of power by Lenin. Consequently, their dreams
of a Kurdish state evaporated.

· The Kurdish people are a population of 30 million spread over an
area the size of France, but they still do not have a country of their
own. The Kurds of northern Iraq have functionally been a state since
the U.S. established a “no-fly” zone over their territory to exclude
Saddam Hussein’s forces from massacring them after the 1991 uprising.

While a de facto state with an independently functioning government,
economy, border control, military, and educational and healthcare
system, the Kurds remain formally part of the Iraqi federation.

· Last month, the Israeli Prime Minister called for the establishment
of an independent Kurdish state. Israel and Kurdistan are natural
allies against various combinations of Arab Sunni and Shiite factions
that have long been arrayed against them. Kurdistan has recently
begun shipping petroleum through a pipeline out of Turkey from the
reserves it controls, and Israel has received four of these shipments.

· Located in the mountainous convergence of Iran, Turkey, Syria and
Iraq, and independent Kurdistan would be a strategically important
platform for U.S. foreign diplomatic and defense policy in the
Middle East and would establish a new player in the region on the
international stage that could alter the formula in favor of stability
in that region. Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, U.S. policy has
favored a unified Iraqi state with a federal power-sharing structure;
not independence for Kurdistan. The time has come to abandon this
outmoded idea. Facts on the ground have dramatically shifted and
American foreign policy on Iraq must catch up to this new reality. The
Maliki government is collapsing and Iraq is reforming itself into a
new configuration now. The U.S. needs to be ahead of this reformation,
not behind it trying to support the preservation of what is quickly
becoming a failed state.

· Territorial guarantees must be made reassuring Turkey and
Iran that the Kurdish areas in those states would not join a new
Kurdistan state. Turkey and Iran have traditionally been opposed to
an independent Kurdish state carved out of northern Iraq for fear
of losing part of their own territory. Yet both have developed
lucrative cross-border trade relationships during the past 20
years with Kurdistan and have come to view the area as stable and
reliable. Syria has also opposed an independent Kurdistan for the
same reasons, but that is irrelevant at this point.

From: Baghdasarian

AZERI-ARMENIAN CONFLICT FEARS AS DEATH TOLL RISES

Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #747
Aug 8 2014

Rising numbers of casualties shake 20-year-old ceasefire agreement.

By Armen Karapetyan, Afgan Mukhtarli – Caucasus

Rising fatalities on the front line around Nagorny Karabakh have
raised fears that sporadic shootings may be tipping over into the
most serious escalation of tensions since full-scale hostilities
ended two decades ago.

The shootings occurred along the “Line of Contact” which marks
the boundary between Azerbaijani forces and Armenian-held areas in
and around Karabakh. (See Upsurge in Shootings on Azeri-Armenian
Frontier on earlier incidents both around Karabakh and on the
Armenian-Azerbaijani state border.)

The Azerbaijani defence ministry said this week that 15 of its
soldiers had been killed recently killed on the Line of Contact,
while the Karabakh Armenian military said it had lost five men. These
are large figures that would be more typical of a year than just a
couple of weeks.

Armenian defence minister Seyran Ohanyan has issued several statements
blaming Azerbaijan for the escalation, suggesting it was trying to
force the ongoing peace negotiations to go the way it wanted. A series
of tweets on Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliev’s official account this
week said that the country’s military now had the capacity to defeat
Armenian forces, and that Karabakh would be restored to Azerbaijan.

“We will restore our territorial integrity either by peaceful or
military means. We are ready for both options,” said one Tweet.

“Just as we have beaten the Armenians on the political and economic
fronts, we are able to defeat them on the battlefield,” said another.

“The weaponry and ammunition we have acquired in recent years suggest
that we can accomplish any task.

The situation is abnormal enough for United Nations Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon to issue a call to both sides to refrain from violence.

The OSCE’s Minsk Group, the tripartite mediating body on Karabakh,
is also pressing for a de-escalation. On August 4, Ambassador James
Warlick, the group’s United States co-chair (the others are from
France and Russia) urged Baku and Yerevan to end the violence and
called on both presidents to try to resolve the conflict. They were
supposed to meet in the Russian city of Sochi later this week.

Foreign ministers from the Minsk Group states had earlier met their
Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts in Brussels, without achieving
any apparent progress.

“The co-chairs expressed their serious concern about the increase in
tensions and violence, including the targeted killings of civilians,
along the Line of Contact and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border,” a
joint statement issued after the July 22 meeting read. “They urged
the parties to commit themselves to avoiding casualties and rejected
the deliberate targeting of villages and the civilian population.”

As well as clashes between armed forces, cross-border incidents have
also fuelled tensions.

Karabakh forces said they seized two armed Azerbaijani saboteurs
and killed a third after they crossed onto Armenian-held territory
on July 11. Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Askarov were captured, while
Hasan Hasanov was killed.

Azerbaijan denied the three were engaged in subversive activity,
insisting they were just civilians who had crossed the lines to visit
the homes they lost when Armenian troops seized control of the area
in 1993 – a trip they had made many times before.

Karabakh officials claimed that before being intercepted, the
men murdered local shepherd Smbat Tsakanyan and army major Sargis
Abrahamyan, as well as injuring a 37-year-old woman, Karine Davtyan,
so badly that she lost an eye.

Kurdoglu Askarov, Dilgam’s son, said it was absurd to imagine a
54-year-old man could be a military saboteur.

“My father was unable to accept the occupation of Kelbajar. He kept
saying that we should go back to our homes. We’re from the village of
Shaplar, and my father used to go there to see his village and visit
his mother’s grave,” he told IWPR. “What the Armenians say about him
being a saboteur and killing a shepherd is all lies. He’s been going
to Kelbajar for ten years.”

Although Karabakh officials showed journalists videos and photographs
the men had taken as proof that they were spies, Kurdoglu Askarov
said this was nonsense.

“Whenever they returned, they would post the photos and videos they’d
taken on the internet. They’ve never killed anyone, so why would they
suddenly start doing so?” he asked.

Askarov said that although he had been born in Kelbajar, he had no
memory of it. Kelbajar lies outside Nagorny Karabakh, between it and
Armenia, so its capture early on in the war was a strategic win for
Armenian forces, but a catastrophe for the 50,000 civilians who had
to flee.

“I am 23 and I’ve lived as a refugee for 21 years. Who’s committed
the crime?” Askarov asked. “My father, who wanted to visit his home
and see his relatives’ graves, or those who occupied Kelbajar?”

Arkadi Ter-Tadevosyan, a former Armenian deputy defence minister,
dismissed claims that the men just wanted to see their old homes
as absurd.

“Crossing the border is extremely dangerous and only those who have
received specific training and have particular objectives would take
such a risk,” he told IWPR.

Officials in Karabakh said the two captives would not be awarded
prisoner-of-war status, since they had not been in uniform and had
attacked civilians. Prosecutors said Guliyev and Askarov would be
charged with murder and sabotage.

The defence ministry in Baku insisted the men had committed no crime.

“No one can stop Azerbaijanis moving freely around these territories.

These people did not violate an international border, as the Armenians
claim. This land is recognised as part of Azerbaijan by the United
Nations,” a ministry spokesman said.

Avaz Hasanov, director of the Society for Humanitarian Studies in
Baku, said he could understand why Azerbaijanis and Armenians alike
would want to see the homes they had lost and visit the graves of
their relatives.

“Sadly, no serious work is being done to return relations to normal.

That’s why, when people are found visiting their homes, they are taken
prisoner,” he told IWPR. “The Armenians say the captured Azerbaijanis
will be tried in court, and it’s not yet clear where the case will
be heard – in Armenia or in Nagorny Karabakh. Either way, I doubt it
will be a fair trial.”

Analysts in Yerevan say Azerbaijan believes that Armenia has been
left weakened by its rejection of an Association Agreement with the
European Union last year. The Armenian government is also concerned at
Baku’s growing ties with Moscow, traditionally an Armenian ally. (See
Yerevan Angry at Russian Arms Sales to Baku.)

Nonetheless, Ter-Tadevosyan said he doubted that active hostilities
would resume. In his view, Azerbaijan “doesn’t believe it can win,
and it knows Armenia could strike at its oil pipelines.”

In any case, he said, “Since there are great powers in the region,
the question of war wouldn’t be decided by Armenia or Azerbaijan
anyway. I don’t think the world wants war.”

Armen Karapetyan is a freelance journalist in Armenia, Afgan Mukhtarli
is a reporter for in Azerbaijan.

From: Baghdasarian

LA CRESCENTA ARTIST SHARES HER VIEW OF HUMAN CONNECTIONS

Glendale News Press, CA
Aug 8 2014

Srboohie Abajian’s work is part of a group project at the Brand
Library.

By Kelly Corrigan, [email protected] August 8, 2014 |
5:10 p.m.

The art of Srboohie Abajian is returning to Glendale this weekend
with 15 new pieces exploring human companionship.

The artist, who lives in La Crescenta and creates her work out of
her home studio, said she began the series with sketches last year
that helped direct her series toward full expression.

An observer of life and the people around her, Abajian said she lets
what she sees shape the context of her work.

“I’m just interested in how people behave and what people need and
how people live their lives,” she said. “I just came up with the
realization and observation that… humans need good relationships
with each other.”

A few years ago, Abajian was watching shoppers at the Glendale
Galleria and elsewhere, examining what they were holding, which led
her to create monotype images of people holding various items using
painted black lines on canvas.

In her latest series, titled “All Roads Lead to People,” material
objects are still a focus in her art, as something that can drive a
wedge between people, particularly when human connection suffers in
the face of materialistic ambition.

She said she’s seen how a lack of communication between people can
lead to separation and depression.

Opening at the Brand Library & Art Center on Saturday, her new works
are also inspired by her observations of the immigrant community,
to which she belongs, having moved to the United States from Armenia
in 1994 when she was 35 years old.

“[In] talking with people, I observe how everyone feels and [what]
I feel, too,” she said. “Eating alone is not satisfactory.”

But people’s investment in each other is perhaps what makes them
happiest, Abajian has found, and in her new series, she applied more
color to the canvas than in past pieces to express how beauty and
inspiration arise when people are joyful over their interactions and
relationships with others.

“In human relationships, don’t try to get,” she said. “Try to give.”

The new acrylic-on-canvas pieces feature mostly faces, hands and
human figures.

In one image, Abajian contemplates what she calls “caring hands.”

“The hands aren’t just piled up together,” she said. “They’re holding
each other.”

At the Brand Library, her series is part of a group exhibit called
“Perception and Reality.” The other artists featured are Rachel Roske,
Catherine Tirr, Olga Lah and Renee Azenaro.

An opening reception for the exhibit will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. at
the library, 1601 W. Mountain St.

The exhibit will be on view through Sept. 19.

For more information, call Brand Library at (818) 548-2051.

,0,2378115.story

From: Baghdasarian

VIDEO. FAMILLE EXPULSEE : LE PS DENONCE LES DE LA POLICE

Le Parisien, France
08 08 2014

Les images font polemique. Le Parti socialiste denonce ce vendredi
l’interpellation musclee d’une famille armenienne en situation
irregulière et demande au gouvernement de s’expliquer sur ces faits
qui ont ete filmes et diffuses par un temoin de la scène sur Internet.

Plusieurs associations elles aussi s’indignent.

Selon le recit de Reseau education sans frontières, Souren Babayan,
armenien de 29 ans et père de famille, a ete arrete vers 6 heures
du matin mardi 5 août au centre d’accueil de demandeurs d’asile
d’Essey-lès-Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle) pour etre place en centre de
retention administrative.

precise Me
Brigitte Jeannot, l’avocate de la famille armenienne.

Une heure plus tard, des policiers sont revenus pour emmener cette
fois son epouse, Assya Babayan, 26 ans, et leurs deux enfants âges de
7 ans et de 8 mois. poursuit
Me Jeannot.

L’interpellation musclee a ete filmee

C’est la que debute la scène filmee par un autre resident du centre
d’accueil avec son telephone portable. Les images bougent et sont de
mauvaise qualite. On y distingue toutefois la femme qui se debat en
hurlant. On la voit etre emmenee a bout de bras par des policiers. Un
des enfants est aussi tenu par les forces de l’ordre.

VIDEO. Les images de l’arrestation de la famille armenienne

Selon l’avocate de la famille, les Babayan ont ensuite ete places en
retention administrative a Metz (Moselle), avant d’etre renvoye en
Armenie où ils sont arrives mercredi soir.

Le PS demande des explications au gouvernement

Ce vendredi, via un communique, le Parti socialiste a fait part de sa
face a ces images et .

>, avait
affirme Manuel Valls, a l’epoque ministre de l’Interieur.

Le tribunal de Nancy saisi en urgence

La famille Babayan, en France depuis 2011, avait epuise les recours
pour rester sur le territoire. Il y a un an, le 8 août 2013, la
prefecture de Meurthe-et-Moselle avait delivre une obligation de
quitter le territoire francais (OQTF). L’expulsion de cette famille
intervient donc dans le cadre de cette mesure d’eloignement du
territoire, qui devient caduque au bout d’un an.

Face a cette interpellation musclee, l’avocate de la famille a
toutefois saisi le tribunal administratif de Nancy, en urgence. Lors
de l’audience jeudi après-midi, le representant de la prefecture de
Meurthe-et-Moselle a declare que
From: Baghdasarian

Politician: ICRC ought to punish Azerbaijan for vicious murder of
Armenian citizen

by David Stepanyan

ARMINFO
Saturday, August 9, 15:19

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) ought to punish
Azerbaijan for vicious murder of Karen Petrosyan, a captured Armenian
civilian, Paruyr Hayrikyan, Leader of the Union for National
Self-Determination told reporters, on 9 August.

The Armenian civilian, resident of Chinari village, a 31-year-old
Karen Petrosyan died in Azeri captivity on 8 August from what the
Azeri side claims was cardiovascular deficiency.

The politician blames of Committee for insufficient activity in the
South Caucasus region. “The world community must take tough measures
against Baku. The situation shows that Armenia must not rely on the
external help, as the international human rights structures do not
fulfill their responsibilities appropriately,” he said.

He calls on official Yerevan to think over its mistakes that allowed
upsurge in tension on the Line of Contact with Azerbaijan and not to
leave Baku unpunished for its atrocities against captured Armenians.

From: Baghdasarian

Aliyev will be forced to explain his country’s military rhetoric – spokesperson

13:46 * 09.08.14

Narek Nikoghosyan, an assistant press secretary of the Armenian
president, has left the following post in his personal Facebook page:

The Armenian, Russian and Azerbaijani presidents are meeting for
trilateral talks here in Sochi tomorrow; [Azerbaijani President Ilham]
Aliyev will be forced to explain the logic behind his country’s
military adventures and xenophobia.

Armenian News – Tert.am

From: Baghdasarian

NKR DM: Azerbaijan suffers losses during yet another subversive attempt

Saturday, August 09, 2014

“Around 4:20 am on August 9 Azerbaijani troops attempted yet another
reconnaissance subversive raid in the south Hadrut and southeastern
Martuni directions of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of
Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan,” according to the press service of
Defense Ministry of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

“The advance of an Azerbaijani special mission unit was halted by the
frontline units of the NKR Defense Army. The enemy was repelled to
initial positions suffering losses. The Armenian side did not suffer
casualties,” NKR Defense Ministry said.

TODAY, 11:51
Aysor.am

From: Baghdasarian

FRANCE
Paris déplore l’arrestation d’un militant en Azerbaïdjan

La France a déploré mercredi l’arrestation d’un militant des droits de
l’homme en Azerbaïdjan accusé d’espionnage au profit de l’Arménie, sur
fond de regain de tensions entre Bakou et Erevan dans la région du
Haut-Karabagh.

Arif Yunus, spécialiste à l’Institut pour la paix et la démocratie à
Bakou, a été arrêté mardi alors qu’il rendait visite à sa femme, Leyla
Yunus, elle-même arrêtée le 30 juillet dernier. Décorée de la Légion
d’honneur française en 2013, Leyla Yunus a été inculpée de haute
trahison, évasion fiscale et fraude.

Les époux Yunus sont accusés d’espionnage au profit de l’Arménie,
selon le parquet général d’Azerbaïdjan.

“La France déplore le placement en détention provisoire de M. Arif
Yunus, époux de la militante des droits de l’homme Leyla Yunus”, a
indiqué le porte-parole du Quai d’Orsay.

François Hollande avait rencontré Leyla Yunus lors de son déplacement
dans la région en mai.

Peu après son arrestation, la France avait appelé les autorités
azéries à libérer la militante, évoquant sa “santé fragile”, et à
respecter les droits de la défense.

L’arrestation de la militante, qui se bat depuis des années en faveur
de la réconciliation entre Erevan et Bakou, survient alors que la
région du Haut-Karabagh connaît un regain de tensions ( ).

Cette enclave séparatiste arménienne située en Azerbaïdjan a été de
1991 à 1994 le thétre d’un conflit entre Azéris et Arméniens qui a
fait plusieurs dizaines de milliers de victimes.

Les deux pays s’accusent régulièrement depuis d’atteinte au
cessez-le-feu en vigueur depuis vingt ans à présent.

La France dirige, avec les Etats-Unis et la Russie, le “groupe de
Minsk” qui tente depuis 1997 de trouver une solution permanente sous
l’égide de l’Organisation pour la coopération et la sécurité en Europe
(OSCE).

samedi 9 août 2014,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian