Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

CONFISCATION OF ARMENIAN PROPERTY DURING GENOCIDE TO BE SUBJECT OF TALK AT RAMAPO COLLEGE

Targeted News Service
March 13, 2014 Thursday 1:33 AM EST

MAHWAH, N.J.

Ramapo College issued the following news release:

Historian Ugur Umit Ungor will discuss “Confiscation and Destruction:
The Young Turk Seizure of Armenian Property” at Ramapo College of New
Jersey on Thursday, April 3 from 1 to 2 p.m. in the Alumni Lounges
of the Robert A. Scott Student Center, Alumni Lounge (SC-138).

Dr. Ungor will discuss the mass sequestration of Armenian property
by the Young Turk regime during the 1915 Armenian genocide. He will
look at the emergence of Turkish economic nationalism, offering
insight into the economic ramifications of the genocidal process,
and describing how the plunder was organized on the ground, especially
how local elites became beneficiaries of state-sanctioned robbery.

Ugur Umit Ungor earned his Ph.D. in 2009 (cum laude) at the University
of Amsterdam. In 2008-09, he was a Lecturer in International History at
the Department of History of the University of Sheffield. In 2009-2010,
he was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for War Studies
of University College Dublin. Currently, he is a Lecturer at the
Department of History at Utrecht University and at the Institute for
War, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies in Amsterdam.

His main areas of interest are state and nation formation, with a
particular focus on mass violence. His most recent publications
include Confiscation and Destruction: The Young Turk Seizure of
Armenian Property (Continuum, 2011) and the award-winning, The Making
of Modern Turkey: Nation and State in Eastern Anatolia, 1913-1950
(Oxford University Press, 2011).

Apart from his academic life, Dr. Ungor writes satirical columns and
essays about cosmopolitan life on and across political and cultural
boundaries. He places current global issues and themes in serious
and ironic perspectives.

From: Baghdasarian

ANTI-MONOPOLY COMMITTEE OF ARMENIA BANS ACQUISITION OF SHAHNAZARYAN WINE-BRANDY HOUSE LLC BY SWISS HELVELEX AG FOR 22 MLN FRANKS

by Arthur Yernjakyan

ARMINFO
Friday, March 14, 16:48

The State Committee for Protection of Economic Competition of Armenia
has banned a deal on 100% amalgamation of Shahnazaryan Wine-Brandy
House LLC by Helvelex AG, a Switzerland-based wholesale, finance and
trading company.

The Committee adopted the given decision on 14 March casting doubt
on the company’s source of financing. The total capital of the Swiss
company engaged in sale of strong drinks is some 50,000 Swiss franks.

The company’s representative failed to answer the question by Committee
Chairman Artak Shaboyan as to whether the

Swiss company has 22 mln franks to acquire the Armenian company.

Another argument against the deal is the market centralization. The
Committee considered the deal as an attempt to strengthen the
dominating position in the market.

At the Shahnazaryan Wine-Brandy House LLC they refused to comment on
the deal to ArmInfo’s correspondent unless the company leadership is
in the country.

Shahnazaryan Wine-Brandy House LLC is not a big producer of wines
and brandy. Neither the company publishes its financial reports. The
company’s place in the list of 1000 big taxpayers of Armenia in 2012
was only 884. The company paid 92 million drams to the state budget
in 2012.

From: Baghdasarian

POLICE AND NATIONAL SECURITY SERVICE THREATEN ACTIVISTS SUPPORTING ARRESTED KARABAKH WAR VETERAN

ARMINFO
Friday, March 14, 17:34

The Police and the National Security Service of Armenia are
threatening the members of the civic initiative supporting arrested
Nagorno-Karabakh war veteran Volodya Avetisyan.

The activists say that on Mar 11 they marched to the presidential
palace and passed the President a letter demanding that Avetisyan be
set free. But the next day the police and the National Security Service
began threatening some of them and warning against new actions. So,
the activists urge both agencies to act according to the law and not
to infringe on their right to freely move and to express their views.

Nagorno-Karabakh war veteran Volodya Avetisyan was arrested on Sept
19 on charge of fraud. The Defense Ministry claimed that he had
taken $2,000 from some Zakaryan for a promise to help that man’s
grandson to dodge the draft. Before the arrest Avetisyan was holding
a sit-down strike to demand better life for Nagorno-Karabakh war
veterans.Avetisyan is sure that his arrest was the authorities’
response to his action.

From: Baghdasarian

AUTHORITARIAN REGIME IN AZERBAIJAN BEGINS EDITING NAMES

by David Stepanyan

ARMINFO
Friday, March 14, 17:06

The Terminology Committee of Azerbaijan has prohibited giving Armenian
names to Azeri children.

For years it has been a tradition in Azerbaijan to give Armenian names
to Azeri children: some Azeris still believe that enemy’s names make
children more viable.

But the Committee has ruled that this tradition must be stopped
and from now on any name associating with Armenia or Armenians will
be prohibited.

The Committee also suggests prohibiting ridiculous names or for
example the name Ataturk as it believes that there must be just one
Ataturk – Mustafa Kemal (Young Turks leader). Russians name will also
be banned. Surnames may also be edited.

The Committee suggests removing -ov or -ev endings from Azeri surnames
like Hasanov or Aliyev and replacing them with -az or -yaz endings
(as is the case with Azeri internet domains – .az).

Many Azeris are displeased with this initiative but they will most
probably have to obey.

From: Baghdasarian

TURKEY RESPONDS TO SWITZERLAND’S DECISION TO APPEAL EUROPEAN COURT RULING ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL

15:39 14.03.2014

Armenian Genocide, Switzerland, Turkey

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey has issued a statement in
response to the referral of judgment of the European Court of Human
Rights on the case of “Perincek v.Switzerland” to the Grand Chamber
by Switzerland. The statement reads:

“In a judgment published on 17 December 2013, the European Court of
Human Rights (ECtHR) had ruled that Switzerland breached Article 10
of the European Convention on Human Rights on “freedom of expression”
in the case of Dogu Perincek v. Switzerland.

We have learned through the written statement by Swiss Federal Office
of Justice on 11 March 2014 that Switzerland has decided to object
to this judgment and refer it to the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR .

Having full confidence in the rule of law, we expect that the Grand
Chamber will confirm once more and forcefully that “freedom of
expression”, which is the building bloc of democratic societies,
is safeguarded.

In this way, we believe that the efforts to politicize the law will
be aborted once again.”

The government of Switzerland announced Tuesday that it will appeal
a December 17, 2013 decision by the European Court of Human Rights
overturning the conviction of Dogu Perincek for denying the Armenian
Genocide.

The decision was made by Switzerland’s Federal Office of Justice,
which is asking the ECtHR Grand Chamber to review the ruling to
clarify the scope available to Swiss authorities in applying the
Swiss Criminal Code to combat racism. Switzerland created this penal
provision, which entered into force in 1995, to close loopholes in
its criminal law and enable the country to accede to the UN Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

From: Baghdasarian

AZERBAIJAN READY TO SIGN PEACE AGREEMENT ON KARABAKH SETTLEMENT – FOREIGN MINISTER

ITAR-TASS, Russia
March 11, 2014 Tuesday 07:32 PM GMT+4

BAKU March 11

– Azerbaijan is ready to sign a comprehensive peace agreement on
the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Foreign Minister
Elmar Mamedyarov said at a meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group in Paris
on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, local mass media report US co-chairman James Warlick
expressed hope that the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents, Ilkham
Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan, would meet in March.

“We hope that the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents will meet to
resolve the most difficult problems,” Warlick wrote on the Twitter
microblog.

The latest meeting was held in Vienna in November 2013.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN CELLIST BECOMES BRUSSELS PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA CONCERTMASTER

09:52, 13 March, 2014

YEREVAN, MARCH 13, ARMENPRESS: The young Armenian cellist Sevak
Avanesyan has become the first cellist (concertmaster) of the Brussels
Philharmonic Orchestra. His father, Samvel Avanesyan, told Armenpress
about it. The results of the contest for the vacant position and
Sevak’s victory became known in late February of 2014.

“It has already been for more than a month the contest for the
vacant position of the first cellist was announced for the Brussels
Philharmonic Orchestra. 128 candidates out of 1000 applicants were
provided with the opportunity to participate in the contest. A real
fight began among them. As Sevak did not allow us to be present at
the contest, in the end of the day, I called him with fear in my
heart and he told us that four of them had passed to the finals”,
– tells Samvel Avanesyan. Later the name of the only winner of the
contest has become known. The Armenian young man admired everybody
with his wonderful performance.

Sevak Avanesyan was born in 1989 in Armenia, into a musical family.

After the Great Armenian Earthquake of 1988, they moved to Yerevan,
where he started studying the cello at age 5 with well-known
Armenian cellist, Medea Abrahamyan, student of legendary Mstislav
Rostropovitsch. He went on to study at the Tchaikovsky Specialized
Secondary and Musical School in Yerevan until 2003. That year, his
entire family moved to Brussels, Belgium, where he joined the class
of Ms. Viviane Spanoghe at the Royal Conservatory. He graduated there
with the highest distinction in 2010. The same year he was accepted
in the class of the renowned cellist Claudio Bohorquez in Hans Eissler
Hochschule in Berlin.

Besides his regular studies, Sevak Avanesyan has received precious
advice from world famous artists, such as Janos Starker, Steven
Isserlis, Maria Kliegel, Liuis Claret, Peter Bruns, Garry Hofman,
Wolfgang Boettcher and Igor Oistrakh.

Since the youngest age, Sevak Avanesyan has travelled the world. As a
member of the “Young Virtuosos” of AMAA. Sevak performed as soloist
and chamber musicians in Europe, USA, Canada, China, in halls as
prestigious as the Salle Gaveau in Paris, the Ford Hall of Toronto,
the Sidney Opera House, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. More
recent concert seasons brought him to such venues as the Festival de
Radio France Montpellier, the Festival of Menton or the Brahms festival
(Brussels).

An ardent chamber musician, Sevak Avanesyan is a permanent member of
the “Avanesyan piano trio”, studying with the Artemis quartet at the
Queen Elisabeth College of Music. The “Avanesyan piano trio” received
the “Golden Lable” price by the Belgian music press association
in 2012.

He has equally collaborated with Augustin Dumay, Philippe Graffin
and Pascal Devoyon, Pavel Gililov, as well as with some of the most
respected musicians of the younger generation: Alexander Khramuchin,
Lily Maisky, Julien Libeer, Alissa Margulis, his brother Hrachya
Avanesyan…

In March 2011 Sevak became the first price winner of “Belgische
Stichting Roeping” promotion.

He is a laureate of many international competitions, such as the
International cello Competition “Gerardmer” (France), the European
Competition for Young Soloists (Luxemburg), the Sint-Pieters-Woluwe
cello competition, and the most recently he won the first price at the
Lions Club international cello competition. Sevak Avanesyan plays on
the very first Matio Gofriller cello from 1689 kindly given to him
by Mischa Maisky

From: Baghdasarian

NAGORNO-KARABAKH PM CONTENT WITH MARTAKERT DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

19:14 * 13.03.14

The prime minster of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic has expressed his
content with the strategic programs aimed the development of Martakert.

In the course of a visit to the city earlier today, Ara Harutyunyan
said that a highway connecting Martakert with capital Stepanakert has
been considerably improved, adding that another roadway expected to
serve as a bridge with Armenia’s Vardenis town (Gegharkunik region)
will be launched no later than in two years.

Considering apartment-building an important trend for Martakert’s
development, the premier said the city authorities offer mortgage loans
to the population to help resolve apartment-related problems. He added
that a new multi-apartment residential building will be constructed
in the city in the near future.

Armenian News – Tert.am

From: Baghdasarian

UK, AZERBAIJAN MULL SETTLEMENT OF THE AZERBAIJAN-ARMENIA CONFLICT

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
March 12 2014

12 March 2014, 18:02 (GMT+04:00)
By Sara Rajabova

United Kingdom’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan believes it to be a great
injustice that Azerbaijani internally displaced persons (IDPs) cannot
visit their homelands.

Irfan Siddiq made the remarks at a meeting with chairman of
Nagorno-Karabakh’s Azerbaijani community Bayram Safarov on March 11.

International organizations that need to demonstrate resoluteness
in settling the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are
continuing a double- standard policy, Safarov said at the meeting,
in which British Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s counselor on the
conflicts in South Caucasus Christopher Joyce also took part.

Safarov said the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be resolved in
accordance with international law and on the condition that the
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan will be secured.

He noted that Azerbaijan expects the UK and other major powers and
organizations tosupport its position.

Siddiq, in turn, said it is a great injustice that IDPs have been
unable to return to their homelands in Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent
areasfor 22 years.

He also stressed that mandatory provisions in this issue is the
peaceful settlement of the conflict within Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity.

Joyce, in turn, said it is important for the settlement of this
conflict to organize meetings between the communities of the two sides.

“The Azerbaijani community has a desire to organize meetings on this
issue. Therefore, we will try to organize a meeting between the two
communities,” Joyce said.

Azerbaijani MPs Rovshan Rzayev and Elman Mammadov and chairman of
the community’s coordinating council Orkhan Akbarov also attended
the meeting.

The MPs highlighted the conditions created by the Azerbaijani
government for the IDPs during the meeting.

Mammadov urged the OSCE Minsk Group, the EU, the UN, and other
international organizations to be decisive in resolving the conflict.

Akbarov stressed in his speech that the Armenian government’s position
creates obstacles for the conflict resolution and community meetings.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally
recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent
regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus
neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s. Long-standing
efforts by US, Russian, and French mediators have been largely
fruitless so far.

The UN Security Council’s four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal
have not been enforced to this day.

Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE
Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed
by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. The
negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.

From: Baghdasarian

TURKEY READY TO FACE HISTORY RECORDS ON ARMENIAN CLAIMS

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
March 12 2014

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek said that Turkey is ready to face its
records of history. AA Photo

Turkey is ready to face its records of history, Turkish Parliament
Speaker Cemil Cicek said March 11.

“We did not have a criminal record until now,” Cicek said during the
meeting with Canadian speaker of the House of Commons Andrew Scheer
in Ankara, adding Turkey was ready to accept the conclusions of a
Joint History Commission with Armenia.

“The biggest insult and the most disrespect that can be shown to a
society is accusing them of committing genocide, though it is not
real”, Cicek said, adding the acceptance of the 1915 events by the
Canadian Parliament as genocide had hurt Turkey.

Cicek said in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, allied forces were attempting
to snatch Ottoman lands and as a result both Armenian and Turkish
populations suffered. “That has nothing to do with genocide according
to international law,” Cicek said.

Scheer said Turkey’s call for a “Joint History Commission” with
Armenia to address the 1915 events was positive.

March/12/2014

From: Baghdasarian