Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

GYUMRI TECHNOLOGY CENTER TO OPEN IN SEPTEMBER

YEREVAN, July 18. / ARKA /. The Technology Center in Gyumri, Armenia’s
second largest city in northwestern region of Shirak, will officially
open in September, Bagrat Yengibaryan, head of Enterprise Incubator
Foundation (EIF), said in an interview with ARKA.

He said the center already houses several well-known companies,
particularly, Rostelecom, D-Link, E-works, Digital Pomegranate, Time
Production, SkyLine and Gyumri Information Technology Center (GITC).

He said the Gyumri Center will conduct a grant competition for start-up
companies, which may be provided with as much as $50 thousand.

The Gyumri Technology Center was created jointly by the government
of Armenia, Enterprise Incubator Fund and the World Bank.

On January 9 the Armenian government passed a decision to award the
Enterprise Incubator Fund the right to manage a government assistance
plan designed for Gyumri Technology Center. Once the center is formally
registered the Enterprises Incubator Fund will get also free of charge
its property for 20 years.

The technology center will shelter enterprises dealing with high and
information technologies, tourism, jewelry, modeling and art. It
is supposed to operate as an incubator of small and medium-sized
businesses engaged in hi-end technologies to boost the country’s
export potential.

The construction began in 2012 April. Overall, some $13 million will
be spent on construction of two buildings -$4.5 million was released
by the government and $8.5 million by D-Link International as part
of its plan to establish a research and testing center in Gyumri. -0-

– See more at:

From: Baghdasarian

UKRAINE’S ATTEMPTS TO EXCLUDE RUSSIA FROM BLACKSEAFOR FAIL — MILITARY SOURCE

Russia
July 18, 13:14 UTC+4
The Black Sea Naval Force was created in early 2001 on the initiative
of Turkey with the participation of other littoral states – Bulgaria,
Romania, Ukraine, Russia and Georgia

Ukraine to initiate Russia’s expulsion from BLACKSEAFOR MOSCOW, July
18. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine’s attempts to exclude Russia from the Black
Sea Naval Force (BlackSeaFor) have failed, a military source has said.

“The Kiev authorities’ attempts to garner the BlackSeaFor
member-countries’ support for its anti-Russian initiative failed. No
BlackSeaFor state has upheld this initiative,” the source told
ITAR-TASS on Friday.

“From May to June the Ukrainian authorities were sending their envoys
to Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Georgia for holding talks with their
military and political leaders. Ukraine’s staff in Sofia, Bucharest,
Ankara and Tbilisi were running around government offices. However,
the attempts were vain,” it said.

“The BlackSeaFor countries’ position was to preserve status quo, i.e.

the existing format with Russia’s participation. Ukraine was informed
about the BlackSeaFor member-states’ view to freeze the organisation’s
activity until the situation in Ukraine normalises,” the source said.

The Black Sea Naval Force was created in early 2001 on the initiative
of Turkey with the participation of other littoral states – Bulgaria,
Romania, Ukraine, Russia and Georgia. The founding agreement was
signed in Istanbul on April 2, 2001.

The BlackSeaFor’s purpose is to promote security and stability in
the Black Sea maritime area and beyond, to strengthen friendly and
good-neighbourly relations, and increase interoperability among the
member-states.

From: Baghdasarian

LA GRAND-MESSE DISCUTABLE DU 14 JUILLET DU CENTENAIRE PAR MIHRAN AMTABLIAN

REVUE DE PRESSE

C’est a une magnifique grand-messe que les citoyens francais et le
monde ont ete convies par le President de la Republique. Celui-ci a
voulu que notre fete nationale fût une “une fete des droits de l’homme,
de l’emancipation, de la dignite humaine” en reponse au souvenir de
la boucherie de la Première Guerre mondiale. Qui ne souscrirait a cela
? Personne. Qui plus est, 80 nations participantes a cette guerre ont
ete invitees exprimant ainsi, 100 ans plus tard, la reconciliation et
la pacification de leurs relations. Qui ne s’en rejouirait ? Personne.

Depuis longtemps deja, la France et l’Allemagne ont integre au
plus profond d’elles-memes cette harmonie politique et cette paix
militaire. Certes, il a fallu une guerre mondiale de plus et la
destruction de l’Europe au grand profit des Etats-Unis. Mais la preuve
est la : dans le vocabulaire de tous, jeunes et vieux, les Allemands
ne sont plus des Boches. Cela se disait encore meprisamment au sortir
des deux guerres. Aujourd’hui, cela sonnerait de facon incongrue et
totalement absurde. C’est cela qui fait de la France et de l’Allemagne,
qui se sont tant haïes et battues, pas simplement deux grands Etats
mais deux grandes nations. Parmi les 80 delegations nationales qui
ont porte leur oriflamme sur les Champs Elysees, on aura compte celles
qu’on appelait a l’epoque les “Grandes Puissances”, souvent imperiales,
et qui le sont restees. Et puis les autres. Les Francais d’origine
armenienne ont donc eu la fierte de voir l’Armenie comme alliee des
Allies de la Grande Guerre et qui signa de ce fait avec eux a Sèvres
le traite de paix avec la Turquie, lequel sera renie trois ans plus
tard par les “Grandes Puissances”.

Mais comme toutes les grand-messes, celle-ci a sa part d’ombre. La
presence de la Turquie vient beaucoup alterer “la fete de la dignite
humaine” qu’a voulue le President Hollande.

Il y a quelque chose de cynique a voir dans ce defile passer, tete
haute et sans honte, les representants d’un Etat qui nie, avec quelle
hargne !, les defiles de la deportation vers la mort de ses citoyens
armeniens en 1915. Qui nie grâce a la frilosite internationale, un
million et demi d’innocents assassines, soit 16 pour cent de toutes
les pertes civiles de la Grand Guerre qui en a compte 9 millions ! Une
“boucherie dans la boucherie” de 14-18. Qui a subi plus de pertes
que ce peuple-la ? N’est-ce pas une monstruosite de voir defiler dans
une ceremonie “de la reconciliation” un Etat dont le premier ministre
Erdogan a ordonne la demolition le 24 avril 2012, jour de commemoration
du genocide de 1915, le monument du sculpteur Mehmet Aksoy symbolisant
la reconciliation entre la Turquie et l’Armenie dans la ville turque
de Kars, monument qu’il avait qualifie de “monstruosite”. Il y a
quelque chose d’inquietant a pouvoir concevoir, dans ces conditions,
la presence simultanee de la Turquie negationniste et de l’Armenie. La
grand-messe de la dignite humaine prend ici des allures de mensonge.

pour lire la suite cliquer sur le lien

?utm_hp_ref=france

vendredi 18 juillet 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian

DES MEDIAS SOMMES PAR LA JUSTICE DE REVELER LEURS SOURCES

ARMENIE

Un journal independant et un service de nouvelles en ligne ont refuse
de se conformer a une decision de justice leur ordonnant de divulguer
les sources de leurs rapports recents qui ont accuse un agent de
police armenienne d’une agression violente. Le quotidien “Hraparak”
et ilur.am ont signale au debut de mai que Vartan Nadarian, le chef de
la police de la province de Shirak aurait attaque deux jeunes hommes
dans un litige en dehors de la capitale regionale de Gyumri. L’un
d’eux s’est avere etre Artur Alexanian, un lutteur armenien de premier
plan et trois fois champion d’Europe. Citant ces rapports, le Service
Special d’Investigation (SIS) a lance une enquete criminelle sur la
violence presumee. L’agence d’application de la loi subordonnee aux
procureurs de l’Etat a demande aux deux medias de divulguer leurs
sources d’information, en disant que cela etait necessaire pour
resoudre l’affaire. Les deux publications ont refuse de le faire,
ce qui a pousse le SIS a saisir le tribunal.

Un tribunal d’Erevan a soutenu les demandes du SIS plus tôt cette
semaine. “Hraparak” et ilur.am ont clairement annonce jeudi qu’ils
allaient faire appel de la decision et ne revèleront pas leurs sources
dans tous les cas. Ils ont accuse les autorites d’utiliser le cas pour
intimider les organisations de presse opposes au gouvernement armenien.

Armine Ohanian, le redacteur en chef de “Hraparak,” a parle d’un > pour restreindre la liberte de la presse dans
le pays. >, a-t-elle dit au service armenien de RFE / RL (Azatutyun.am).

Selon la loi armenienne, les tribunaux peuvent ordonner aux medias de
divulguer leurs sources s’ils le jugent necessaire que pour resoudre
des crimes graves. Les editeurs et les journalistes qui defient les
ordres risquent jusqu’a deux mois de prison. Cette disposition legale
n’a jamais ete appliquee auparavant.

Levon Barseghian, le president du club des journalistes Asparez
basee a Gyumri, a affirme que les autorites de police utilisent la
defiance du journal “Hraparak” et de ilur.am comme une excuse pour
ne pas poursuivre Nadarian. Le policier de haut niveau qui aurait
ete ivre au cours de l’incident de mai, n’a pas encore ete inculpe.

vendredi 18 juillet 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA’S FOREIGN MINISTRY: NO ARMENIAN CITIZENS ON BOARD OF THE MALAYSIA AIRLINES PASSENGER PLANE BOEING 777 THAT CRASHED IN UKRAINE

by Tatevik Shahunyan

ARMINFO
Friday, July 18, 12:33

According to the information delivered by Foreign Ministry of the
Netherlands to the Foreign Ministry of Armenia, there is no Armenian
citizen on board of the Malaysia Airlines passenger plane Boeing 777
that crashed in Ukraine, press-service of Armenia’s FM reported.

To recall, the Malaysia Airlines passenger plane, which crashed
Thursday in Ukraine, was downed by a surface-to-air missile. It
is still unclear where the missile was launched from. As Malaysia
Airlines reported, 298 people were on board, 283 passengers and
15 crew members. According to the preliminary data, residents of 9
countries were on board of the plane, chiefly from Holland.

From: Baghdasarian

MAN ARRESTED FOR SHOOTING OUTSIDE YEREVAN COURTHOUSE RECOGNIZED AS VICTIM IN POLICE BRUTALITY CASE

07.18.2014 10:36 epress.am

Hayk Kyureghyan, who opened fire outside a Yerevan courthouse on June
12, was recognized as a victim in the case of police use of violence
against him and was already questioned in this capacity, the young
man’s attorney, Yervand Varosyan, informed Epress.am on Thursday.

In his testimony, Kyureghyan said that police officers beat him first
in the police vehicle when they were taking him to the Kentron Police
Division and while he was wearing handcuffs. He claims that they beat
him also at the station, in two separate rooms, and not only by police
officers in uniform, but also by men in civilian clothes.

Recall, at the start of the June 12 hearing in the case of Shant
Harutyunyan and his friends, Kyureghyan climbed onto a car outside
the courthouse and shot rounds from what seemed to be an air pistol in
the police’s direction, attempting, he said, to prevent “an erroneous
judgment on Shant.”

Kyureghyan informed head of a group of civil society members monitoring
conditions in Armenian prisons and detention centers Hasmik Sahakyan,
who had come to visit him at the Erebuni temporary detention center,
that he was ill-treated during and after the arrest.

From: Baghdasarian

USE OF FORCE NOT TO RESOLVE NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT, U.S. EMBASSY SAYS

Trend, Azerbaijan
July 17 2014

Baku, Azerbaijan, July 17

By Sabina Ahmadova – Trend:

The use of force will not resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the
U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan told Trend on July 17.

The embassy made a statement, commenting on the Armenian media reports
on the hostage-taking of two Azerbaijanis and launching a criminal
case against them, as well as, the killing of another Azerbaijani by
the Armenian separatists in the Shaplar village of Kalbajar District.

It should be noted that the Kalbajar District of Azerbaijan has been
under Armenian occupation since April 2, 1993.

“The use of force will not resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
and we reiterate our call upon all parties to refrain from the use
or threat of force,” the U.S. embassy said.

“The United States, as a co-chair of the Minsk Group, remains deeply
committed to working with the parties to achieve a peaceful settlement
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”

Earlier, the Armenian media reported that the Armenian forces,
during an operation in the occupied Kalbajar District’s Shaplar
village, killed an Azerbaijani – Hasan Hasanov, and detained two
other Azerbaijanis – Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Asgarov. They also
reported about the launching of criminal cases against the detained
Azerbaijanis.

On July 15, the Azerbaijani State Commission on Prisoners of War,
Hostages and Missing People said the fate of Azerbaijani citizens
taken hostages in the Kalbajar District, is its priority.

Ilaha Huseynova, the Head of the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) Baku Office Communication Department told Trend on July
16 that the families of Azerbaijanis, taken hostage by Armenians in
Kalbajar officially appealed to the ICRC.

She added that currently the ICRC continues talks with the parties
on this matter.

Previously, it was reported that Azerbaijan appealed to the ICRC
to clarify the media reports on the hostage-taking of Azerbaijani
citizens by the Armenian side.

The appeal contained a request to carry out the necessary procedures
in accordance with the ICRC’s mandate, in case if the information
is confirmed.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry dismissed the Armenian media
reports on affiliation of the mentioned persons to the country’s
armed forces.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan.

As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied
20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and
seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are currently
holding 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.

From: Baghdasarian

RENEWED TRIAL ON THE MURDER OF TURKISH-ARMENIAN JOURNALIST ADJOURNED

Daily Sabah, Turkey
July 18 2014

Daily Sabah
Published : 18.07.2014 00:57:42

ISTANBUL – The trial of defendants for the murder of Hrant Dink, a
Turkish-Armenian journalist assassinated in 2007, resumed yesterday
at an Istanbul court after the case was transferred to a new court
following legal amendments and after a verdict by a higher court
ordering a retrial.

Eighteen suspects stand trial for the murder but none of them attended
yesterday’s hearing while lawyers for Dink’s family attended the
hearing.

Lawyers argued for a separate trial for Ahmet Ä°skender, the sole
suspect who remains at large, claiming his absence was dragging the
case but the court rejected it and adjourned the trial to Oct. 30.

Judges ruled Ä°skender’s case would be separated if he cannot be
captured until the next hearing.

Ahmet Ä°skender is accused of masterminding the murder with the
other defendants.

A group of activists calling themselves “Friends of Hrant” made
a press statement outside the courthouse on the sidelines of the
hearing. Speaking on behalf of the group, film director Onur Unlu
said they expected all public officials responsible for the murder
to be tried and punished. “The state should be held accountable for
this murder. Only then, its condolence to the Dink family would be
meaningful. We will continue our fight to reveal those behind the
murder. The trial will not be over for us until then,” he said.

A new investigation into the murder showed previous prosecutors who
worked on the case ignored serious allegations into the involvement
of top police officers in the murder. Those prosecutors are accused
of having ties with the controversial Gulen Movement, whose widespread
infiltration of the judiciary and police enabled them to influence the
cases or fabricate them for their own interests. A new investigation
into the murder revealed that a large amount of evidence and many
allegations were dismissed by the prosecutors who once handled the
case. Those included the dismissal of allegations about Ramazan
Akyurek and Ali Fuat Yılmazer, two top police chiefs loyal to the
Gulen Movement who were accused of helping the murder suspects.

From: Baghdasarian

AZERBAIJAN CAN’T KICK THE HABIT: ANOTHER NGO ACTIVIST GETS PRISON-SENTENCE

EurasiaNet.org
July 17 2014

July 17, 2014 – 12:33pm, by Shahla Sultanova

For Azerbaijan, this week has been a busy one. But, critics charge,
not in the way you might expect from a country that holds a leadership
position in Europe’s senior human-rights body, the Council of Europe.

On July 14, 57-year-old Hasan Huseynli, a prominent, regional
non-governmental-organization leader, was sentenced to roughly six
years in prison for allegedly illegally carrying weapons and supposedly
wounding a person with a knife.

It was a charge that took even the usually reserved US embassy aback.

“Given his mild manner and history of promoting civic engagement
and education, it is virtually impossible to believe Huseynli used
a knife against a local resident, as the prosecution claimed,” the
embassy said in a statement.

Previously, Huseynli was the head of Ganja Education Information Center
established in 1998. The center helped young Azerbaijanis interested
in graduate and undergraduate education abroad, especially in the
United States.

For the past ten years, Huseynli, who has acted as a source for this
reporter, has run the Ganja-based Intelligent Citizen Enlightenment
Center Public Union (Kamil VE~YtE~YndaÃ…~_” MaariflE~YndirmE~Y
ME~YrkE~Yzi Ä°ctimai Birliyi), a center that organizes various
youth-related activities to encourage civil society in western
Azerbaijan.

Most of its financing came from foreign sources; a fact likely to
raise an eyebrow in certain circles in Baku, given ongoing government
suspicions about NGO registrations.*

The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, a
European-Commission-associated club of NGOs from six former Soviet
republics (including Azerbaijan), earlier had charged that Huseynli’s
March arrest was based on “trumped-up charges . . .” and that the
investigation was “completely unlawful and absurd . . . ”

Some allegedly have speculated that the presidentially appointed mayor
of Ganja, Elmar Veliyev, got irritated by Huseynli’s youth-organization
activities, and become the real cause of these criminal charges,
Contact.az reported, citing unnamed local sources.

Veliyev has not commented.

Local human rights defenders consider the charges against Huseynli
to be part of a larger crackdown on civil society that picked up
steam in November 2013, soon after Ilham Aliyev started his third
term in office.

In what many see as the latest sign of that trend, the general
prosecutor’s office and the Ministry of National Security claimed
on July 17 that they had received video-recordings (from an
unidentified individual) supposedly showing jailed Zerkalo journalist
Rauf Mirkradirov receiving money from two Armenian civil-society
activists whom prosecutors claim worked for a group financed by
Armenian intelligence. Mirkadirov, who took part in citizen-diplomacy
initiatives with Armenia, was accused of espionage this April.

Mirkadirov’s lawyers have dismissed these latest allegations, charging
that, once again, with such declarations, Azerbaiani officials are
not observing the right to the presumption of innocence, RFE/RL’s
Azerbaijani service reported.

From: Baghdasarian

APPEALS COURT ENDS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MUSEUM AND MEMORIAL CHALLENGE

Modesto Bee, CA
July 17 2014

By Michael Doyle

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court may have ended, once and for all,
an extraordinarily protracted legal fight over a proposed Armenian
Genocide Museum and Memorial.

In a 37-page decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
unanimously upheld a 2011 trial judge’s order awarding the property
intended for the museum to the Cafesjian Family Foundation.

The three-judge panel’s decision rejected competing claims by the
Armenian Assembly of America, which had sought a new trial. Most
poignantly, though, the appeals court voiced dismay over what it
called the “morass of litigation” that has entangled museum plans.

“More than seven years and millions of dollars in legal fees later,
much of the parties’ work to achieve their dream of a museum appears
to have been for naught, which is regrettable,” Judge Robert L.

Wilkins wrote. “Whatever happens next, hopefully our decision today
can at least serve as the last word on this dispute’s protracted
journey through the courts.”

Hirair Hovnanian, chairman of the Armenian Genocide Museum and
Memorial, said in a statement following release of the ruling Tuesday
that “we hope the Cafesjian heirs keep the promise Gerry (Cafesjian)
made to the courts, which was to use this property to build a museum.”

At one time, the late Cafesjian Family Foundation founder Gerald
Cafesjian was a benefactor of the Armenian Assembly. Together, they
planned the museum and memorial marking the period from 1915 to 1923,
when by some estimates upward of 1.5 million Armenians died at the
hands of the Ottoman Empire.

In downtown Washington, project supporters bought a four-story National
Bank of Washington building in 2000. Cafesjian provided funding and
bought adjacent properties, with a clause that the properties would
revert to his control if the project wasn’t finished by Dec. 31, 2010.

Cafesjian and the Armenian Assembly subsequently had a falling out,
leading to the seemingly endless court battles over control of the
property.

“With the benefit of hindsight, (the Armenian Assembly) may now think
this deal improvident, but no sense of buyer’s remorse can empower
us to rewrite the plain terms of the contract to which they agreed,”
Wilkins wrote.

From: Baghdasarian