Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

U.S. AMBASSADOR TO TURKEY CLIMBS MT. ARARAT – “EVERYONE WANTS PEACE”

13:51, July 19, 2013

U.S. Ambassador to Ankara Francis Ricciardone recently climbed to the
top of Mt. Ararat, telling reporters it was a dream he longed wished
to achieve.

It took Ricciardone three days to reach the 5,137 meter peak of Ararat.

Speaking about the recently launched Peace process between Kurds and
the Turkish state, Ricciardone told reporters:

“Mount Agri is a legend for us. We wanted to climb Mount Agri for a
long time, but we couldn’t come. Thankfully, [the region] is calmer
and more secure now. Hopefully it will become calmer and a great
peace will come in the forthcoming days,” Ricciardone said, adding
that the Kurdish “resolution process had been an important factor”
for taking the trip to the eastern province of Agri.

“The people [of the region] support peace. Everyone wants peace. They
are very hospitable. We climbed Mount Agri for the first time.

Tourists are coming with hopes related with the [resolution] process.

We have been together with tourists from Japan, Italy and Germany
at the mountain,” Ricciardone also said, according to the AGRI –
Anadolu Agency.

From: Baghdasarian

LAURE MARCHAND ET GUILLAUME PERRIER SUR LES TRACES DU GENOCIDE ARMENIEN

Le Soir, Belgique
19 juillet 2013

par Jean-Paulmarthoz

” Laure Marchand et Guillaume Perrier se sont atteles a une tâche
ardue. Celle de nous tendre, a nous les Turcs, un miroir. Ils veulent
que nous voyions ce que nous ne voyons pas et que nous sachions ce
que nous ne savons pas “.

Ainsi commence le texte que signe l’historien turc ” dissident ” Taner
Akcam en preface du livre La Turquie et le fantôme armenien ecrit par
la correspondante du Figaro et le correspondant du Monde a Istanbul.

Mais sa remarque ne vaut pas seulement pour l’opinion turque. Le
genocide perpetre en 1915 par les Jeunes Turcs est aussi, notamment,
une ” histoire francaise “. Non seulement parce que les massacres
des Armeniens, dès la fin du 19ème siècle, mobilisèrent de grands
noms de la politique et des lettres francaises, a l’image de Jean
Jaurès proclamant ” l’humanite ne peut vivre avec, dans sa cave, le
cadavre d’un peuple assassine “. Non seulement parce que des dizaines
de milliers de rescapes du genocide trouvèrent refuge en France, mais
aussi parce que l’ideologie des Jeunes Turcs s’inspira du positivisme
et du jacobinisme francais, en les devoyant et en les racialisant.

Par ailleurs, si le genocide est officiellement reconnu aujourd’hui par
un certain nombre de pays, dont la Belgique et la France, la plupart
des Etats, craignant d’offenser Ankara, aimeraient eux aussi ne rien
savoir. Et des partis politiques, en Belgique en particulier, soucieux
de courtiser le ” vote turc ” lors des elections communales, classent
le sujet de la reconnaissance au rayon des belles idees oubliees, quand
ils ne s’associent pas avec des personnes ou des groupes qui pratiquent
le negationnisme d’Etat. Alors que la negation, comme l’ecrivait le
regrette Pierre Vidal-Naquet dans son celèbre essai Les Assassins de
la Memoire, est la continuation du genocide, sa phase ultime.

Sur les traces du genocide

Dans ce livre bellement ecrit comme un reportage au long cours,
les deux auteurs proposent une extraordinaire enquete sur la memoire
armenienne dans la Turquie d’aujourd’hui. Un sujet encore largement
tabou, enfoui sous des strates de silences et de mensonges. Un
sujet qui, pourtant, determine largement l’identite de la Turquie
et sa capacite a integrer la diversite et la tolerance, conditions
essentielles de la modernite et de la democratie avancee.

A deux ans du centenaire des massacres qui emportèrent plus d’un
million d’Armeniens, ils rappellent d’abord sans detours les faits,
qu’aucun historien digne de ce nom aujourd’hui ne conteste. ”
Les sources documentaires et les archives, que ce soient celles de
l’Empire ottoman, de plus en plus librement accessibles, ou celles
de l’Allemagne, ecrivent-ils, suffisent amplement a demontrer
l’intention genocidaire du Comite Union et Progrès, le c~ur du
pouvoir nationaliste turc pendant la Première Guerre mondiale…La
negation des faits relève, a l’evidence de la nevrose collective “.

D’Istanbul a Sivas, de Diyarbakir a Van, bourlinguant sur ces terres
anatoliennes balafrees par l’histoire, ils retrouvent les traces des
communautes armeniennes dans les souvenirs des villageois, dans des
pierres d’anciennes eglises melees a des constructions profanes, dans
des coutumes religieuses ou culinaires pratiquees dans la discretion.

L’histoire du genocide, avec ses lieux de morts comme ” la falaise
des Armeniens, dans la region d’Ordu, ” où les malheureux avaient ete
jetes dans vide “, avec ses villages armeniens rayes de la carte, se
telescope constamment avec les observations du reportage, dessinant
un pays hante par un passe qui ne passe pas. Presque partout encore,
la peur de se dire armenien règne, ” un reflexe de survie dans ces
contrees anatoliennes où l’identite non turque ne se crie pas sur
les toits “.

Des anecdotes touchantes et dechirantes emaillent ce periple a la
fois memoriel et actuel. Comme celles des ” restes de l’epee “, ces
milliers d’enfants et de femmes qui echappèrent au massacre en etant
incorpores dans des familles turques ou kurdes et dont le souvenir
resurgit peu a peu aujourd’hui. A l’image de Sabiha Gokcen, heroïne
de l’aviation militaire turque, dont le journaliste turco-armenien
Hrant Dink, assassine en 2007, revela qu’elle avait ete adoptee par
Mustapha Kemal Ataturk, le fondateur de la Turquie moderne. Ou de
Fethiye Cetin, militante des droits de l’homme et l’avocate de la
famille Dink, dont l’aïeule etait armenienne, une histoire qu’elle
raconte dans Le Livre de ma grand-mère (Editions de l’Aube, 2006).

Assumer l’heritage armenien

Comment assumer cet heritage dans un pays encore marque par la
haine de l’Armenien ? ” Au-dela de la peur, il y avait la honte “,
ecrivent Laure Marchand et Guillaume Perrier. ” Ces petits-enfants
ont du sang mele, celui de la victime et de son sauveur parfois,
celui de la victime et de son bourreau le plus souvent “. Mais cette
” micro-histoire ” familiale contribue aussi a combattre l’ideologie
d’exclusion officielle. ” Si vous commencez a vous poser des questions
sur vous-meme et votre famille, naturellement ‘l’autre’ ne peut plus
etre ‘l’autre’ “, ecrit Fethiye Cetin.

Le livre offre des rencontres avec des personnages hauts en
couleur, a l’image de Sevan Nisanyan, le ” Don Quichotte armenien “,
denonciateur tapageur de l’Histoire officielle, mais aussi avec des
” Armeniens convertis “, tentes d’etre ” plus turcs que les Turcs ”
et qui continuent, malgre tout, a etre victimes de discrimination,
car leurs noms et leur origine armenienne sont repertories dans les
registres officiels.

L’industrie du negationnisme

Les auteurs abordent frontalement le negationnisme officiel, ” une
veritable industrie “, ecrit Taner Aksam, dotee de moyens colossaux
et fondee sur un racisme agressif qui nie l’histoire complexe et
plurielle de la Turquie et entache sa reputation internationale. ”
Imaginons Faurisson ministre, Faurisson general “, ecrivent les
auteurs, en se referant au pseudo-historien Robert Faurisson, negateur
de la Shoah. A l’etranger, seuls quelques piètres historiens relaient
l’argumentaire d’Ankara. Seuls des dirigeants opportunistes ou timores
evoquent encore les ” doutes ” sur la realite du genocide. ” Nous
n’avons pas une seule publication qui soit prise au serieux dans les
cercles academiques a l’etranger “, notait Murat Bardakci, dans une
chronique du quotidien Haber Turk.

La Turquie a encore un long chemin a parcourir avant de se debarrasser
de ses vieux demons. La faute a ete trop immense. L’eradication de
la presence armenienne a ete totale et totalitaire. La population a
ete exterminee ou expulsee. Ses biens ont ete voles et accapares. Son
patrimoine culturel a ete detruit. Et l’Etat a impose une histoire
faussee, qu’elle repète et repète a l’ecole, a l’armee.

Aujourd’hui encore, les prejuges contre les Armeniens restent tenaces.

Le discours ultranationaliste persiste. La crainte d’une demande
de reparations des prejudices subis hante les esprits. Alors que le
sujet du genocide est aujourd’hui discute ouvertement dans les cercles
liberaux de Turquie et que des livres, naguère tabous, sont en vente
dans les librairies d’Istanbul, le premier ministre Erdogan se montre
incapable d’aborder avec justesse et justice la ” question armenienne
“. En 2011, a Kars, il a meme fait raser le Monument de l’Humanite,
une statue qui devait symboliser la reconciliation entre la Turquie
et l’Armenie.

Une ” nouvelle Turquie ”

Toutefois, si la majorite de la population nie ou ignore, une nouvelle
generation se lève, qui exige la verite. Elle est descendue dans la
rue a Istanbul en 2007 pour crier, a l’annonce de l’assassinat de
Hrant Dink, ” nous sommes tous des Armeniens “. Elle a signe l’Appel
au Pardon qui reconnaît la Grande Catastrophe, sans, toutefois, oser
encore prononcer le mot de genocide. ” Bien sûr que c’est un genocide
“, s’exclame l’un de ses initiateurs, Cengiz Aktar, ” mais le mot ne
passerait jamais “. Elle se reclame des milliers de Justes, turcs
et kurdes, qui, lors du genocide, refusèrent d’etre complices. Et
elle ecoute ces Turcs courageux, intègres, qui brisent les tabous,
reviennent sur l’Histoire et sur leur propre histoire. A l’exemple
de Hasan Cemal, auteur fin 2012 d’un ouvrage intitule sobrement,
fortement, ” 1915, le genocide armenien “. ” Hasan Cemal est l’un
des journalistes les plus en vue de Turquie “, notent les auteurs, ”
un homme repute pour sa droiture d’esprit “, mais aussi le petit-fils
de Djemal Pacha, l’un des hauts responsables du genocide.

Le livre de Laure Marchand et Guillaume Perrier, d’une extraordinaire
richesse, peut etre lu comme une plongee au sein d’un sujet singulier,
la Turquie et de sa memoire armenienne, mais il ouvre en fait sur
une reflexion universelle. Non seulement parce que tout genocide
concerne l’humanite tout entière, mais aussi parce que d’autres
peuples, victimes ou bourreaux, ont souffert ou souffrent encore
des affres de la ” memoire du silence “. Tout au long de ce livre,
les auteurs nous lancent indirectement des questions essentielles,
existentielles : qu’aurions-nous fait en 1915 ? Que ferions-nous
aujourd’hui pour que prevalent la verite et la justice ? Comment
assurer que la justice accompagne la reconciliation ?

Que va-t-il se passer en 2015, a l’occasion de la commemoration du
centenaire du genocide ? ” Le centenaire pourrait constituer une
etape clef sur la voie de la conscience et de la reconnaissance du
crime, ecrivent Laure Marchand et Guillaume Perrier. Le dialogue des
societes civiles turque et armenienne -d’Armenie et de la diaspora –
engage depuis quelques annees a ouvert des brèches inedites (…). Mais
comme un reflexe, l’Etat turc prepare sa riposte et promet d’inonder le
monde de brochures negationnistes “. Meme si le ministre des Affaires
etrangères Ahmet Davutoglu semble reconnaître que cet effort est de
plus en plus futile…

” La reconnaissance n’est pas au programme de 2015, concluent les
auteurs. Mais au moins, une autre lecture de l’histoire pourrait
trouver sa place “. Ce livre, qui sera bientôt traduit en turc, aura
sans aucun doute contribue a ce long cheminement de la memoire et de
la verite dans lequel se sont engages ces citoyens, ces intellectuels
turcs, qui incarnent le meilleur de leur pays, en osant affronter ce
passe qui determine tellement l’avenir.

Laure Marchand et Guillaume Perrier, La Turquie et le fantôme
armenien. Sur les traces du genocide, Preface de Taner Aksam,
Solin/Actes Sud, 2013, 218 pages.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY: ALIYEV’S LATEST STATEMENT DEMONSTRATES HIS LITTLE KNOWLEDGE OF MILITARY ARTS
by Tatevik Shahunyan

Friday, July 19, 17:21

Azerbaijani President Ilham Ailyev’s statement that Armenia fears the
Azerbaijani military strength demonstrated during the latest military
parade is just nonsense, Armenian Defense Ministry Spokesperson Artsrun
Hovhannisyan told ArmInfo’s correspondent when commenting on Aliyev’s
speech in Azerbaijani Government.

“The fact that the Azeri president still believes that the army’s
strength is conditioned by military parades demonstrates his little
knowledge of military arts. One should never estimate the army’s
combativity by parades and other events. Military experts also think
so”, said Hovhannisyan. As regards Aliyev’s threats, Hovhannisyan
stressed that the Armenian army is combat-capable enough and is ready
to offer proper rebuff to the rival if necessary.

To note, in his speech, Aliyev said that the latest military parade
demonstrated the strength of the Azerbaijani army. He enumerated the
arms and ammunition and pointed out that the Azeri army is one of
the strongest armies in the world. He added that the parade caused
Armenia’s concern. “Alongside with all political and diplomatic
efforts, our military strength will play the key role in the Karabakh
conflict settlement”, said Aliyev. He added that Azerbaijan will keep
on increasing its arms.

From: Baghdasarian

GOVERNMENT OFFERS FAVORABLE CONDITIONS TO INVESTORS – KARABAKH PM

July 19, 2013 | 13:21

STEPANAKERT. – More active advocacy work should be done, especially
toward engaging the people of Artsakh in the economic projects being
implemented in Artsakh.

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), or Artsakh, PM Ara Harutyunyan stated
the above-said on Friday, during his talk with NKR FM Karen Mirzoyan
and on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the NKR MFA.

The PM underscored the MFA’s role in state-building and highly
appreciated the ministry’s activities toward introducing Artsakh to
the world, the NKR Government press service informs.

Harutyunyan informed about the favorable conditions which the
government offers to investors, and he expressed a hope that the
ongoing foreign policy work will be more effective.

In his turn, Mirzoyan give emphasis to their talk, and stressed that
the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic PM’s assessments and instructions will
help coordinate and organize their future plans.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

From: Baghdasarian

Fars News Agency, Iran
July 20 2013

Official: Iran, West Can Overcome Existing Economic, Trade Problems

TEHRAN (FNA)- Head of Tehran’s Chamber of Commerce Yahya Al-e Eshaq
underlined that the grounds have been prepared for the removal of
differences between Iran and the western countries over economic
issues, reiterating that the West will benefit more than Iran from
lifting the sanctions.

`The conditions are set for the removal of the existing (economic)
problems between Iran and the West,’ Al-e Eshaq told FNA, reiterating
that the western states and Iran’s neighboring countries will benefit
the most from expanding trade ties with Iran.

He noted that the recent presidential election in Iran has prepared
the grounds for the West to remove the US-led sanctions against Tehran
and restore trade relations with the Islamic Republic.

Al-e Eshaq made the remarks after returning from his recent visit to
Armenia at the head of a trade delegation.

Earlier this week, Iranian and Armenian trade officials in a meeting
in Yerevan signed a trade agreement.

The trade agreement was signed by the chairmen of the chambers of
commerce of Tehran and Yerevan in the Armenian capital.

At the meeting, Head of Yerevan’s Chamber of Commerce Robert
Haratounyan pointed to the current Iran-Armenia relations, and said
the Iranian delegation’s visit to Armenia provides the two sides with
a good opportunity for boosting mutual cooperation between the two
countries.

Earlier this month, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi blasted
the US for imposing a new round of unilateral sanctions against
Tehran, and said the policy of sanctions would lead to nowhere.

`Americans’ illogical measure is a continuation of their previous
approach,’ Salehi told FNA, referring to the new embargos imposed by
Washington against Iran.

`Imposing such sanctions just means the use of the same approach of
threats,’ he said, adding, `They have continued this method for 34
years and of course have reached nowhere thus far.’

Salehi advised the US officials to take lesson from the past and try
interaction with the Iranian nation.

Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop
nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while
they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate
their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its
nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to
provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose
fossil fuel would eventually run dry.

Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium
enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council
sanctions for turning down West’s calls to give up its right of
uranium enrichment.

Tehran has dismissed West’s demands as politically tainted and
illogical, stressing that sanctions and pressures merely consolidate
Iranians’ national resolve to continue the path.

The Islamic Republic says that it considers its nuclear case closed as
it has come clean of IAEA’s questions and suspicions about its past
nuclear activities.

From: Baghdasarian

AFP: A growing number of foreign tourists heading to Karabakh
15:45 20.07.2013

Sniper fire, minefields, ghost towns: perched perilously on the verge
of conflict Nagorno Karabakh may not sound the ideal holiday
destination. Now, though, a growing number of foreign tourists are
heading to Karabakh and saying they are seeing a different side to its
war-scarred image, Agence France-Presse writes.

Wandering around the region’s largest town Stepanakert as part of a
tour group whose members come from places ranging from Turin to
Taiwan, French pharmacist Jordan Nahoum said that while he knew all
about Nagorno Karabakh’s bloody past, he was surprised by what he
found.

`People are very nice and open,’ Nahoum, 23, told AFP. `It is very
safe here and I see many tourists from different countries – I don’t
feel myself in danger.’

AFP reminds that `despite a fragile 1994 ceasefire that ended major
hostilities, repeated attempts to get Armenia and Azerbaijan to sign a
final peace deal over the past two decades have failed, and both sides
– especially oil-rich Azerbaijan – are rearming heavily.’

Soldiers along the heavily fortified frontline exchange gunfire almost
daily, with both sides blaming each other for violating the ceasefire.
So far this year some 20 soldiers from both sides have been killed.

Despite this, the local authorities have pumped money into promoting
the region at tourist fairs overseas, and they say the drive is paying
off.

Over the past few years, local authorities say, visitor numbers have
grown by 40 percent annually and in 2012 the number of foreign
tourists – not counting visitors from Armenia’s huge Diaspora – topped
15,500 people.

`This unprecedented growth shows that despite the heated confrontation
with Azerbaijan we’ve created an image of Karabakh as a pleasant place
for tourism, safe and interesting,’ says Sergey Shahverdyan, head of
Nagorno Karabakh’s department for tourism.

Once ravaged by fighting, the serene boulevards of Stapanakert – some
50 kilometres from the frontline – do not feel like they are in a
conflict zone and the town is now studded with new hotels and
restaurants following a building boom in recent years.

`If we can maintain this sort of growth in visitors then in five years
tourism will be one of the most profitable sectors for our budget,’
Shahverdyan said, pointing out that no tourist had ever been injured
in Karabakh.

The article notes that `anyone visiting Nagorno Karabakh – which is
only accessible by road from Armenia – risks being blacklisted by
Baku, and moves to open a new airport that would boost Stepanakert’s
links to the outside world have brought threats of a return to war.

But for those willing to risk the journey, tour operators argue that
there is plenty to attract tourists to Nagorno Karabakh – a
spectacular highland area of rugged mountains and thickly forested
hills.

Despite the destruction of cultural heritage in the war, the region
remains studded with testaments to its rich and diverse history – from
ancient ruins to medieval monasteries and 18th-century mosques.

For some visitors though, that is not enough.

`There are those who prefer extreme tourism, who want to go to the
frontline, but we have to explain to them that it can be dangerous as
there are minefields,’ said Gohar Hovannisyan, a manager at tour firm
Sati.

`We don’t hide anything about the conflict,’ says tour guide Ani Hovhannisyan.

Despite the region’s uncertain future, tourists like Andrey Hoynowski
from Poland say they will be recommending a visit to their friends
back home and that the added attention might even help Karabakh move
on.

`They need to resolve this conflict peacefully, but in the meantime
they shouldn’t stop tourists from travelling here,’ Hoynowski, 59,
said, smiling for a photograph in front of the medieval Gandzasar
monastery.

From: Baghdasarian

WHY IS ARMENIAN OFFSHORE SCANDAL RESPONSE KEPT CONFIDENTIAL? – NEWSPAPER

July 19, 2013 | 08:15

YEREVAN. – The response to the query, which was made on behalf of
Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, is received from the state
registry for Cypriot companies, Haykakan Zhamanak daily reports.

“It should be clear from this as to whether the PM knew that he is
a shareholder in an offshore company.

“Armenian Prosecutor [General’s] advisor Sona Truzyan told our
correspondent that the response is sent to Armenian Police and
attached to the criminal case that is opened on this offshore story,
and it cannot be made public.

“This means the response that came from Cyprus became an ‘investigation
secret.’ And experience shows that those facts whose publicizing is
inconvenient for the authorities usually become an ‘investigation
secret,'” Haykakan Zhamanak writes.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, Hetq.am News Agency had
written that PM Tigran Sargsyan, Archbishop Navasard Kjoyan-the
Vicar General of the Araratian Pontifical Diocese of the Armenian
Apostolic Church-, and “jeweler” Ashot Sukiasyan are shareholders
in an offshore company called Wlispera Holdings Limited, which is
registered in Cyprus. Sargsyan and Kjoyan, however, have denied their
involvement in such company.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN FAMILY KILLED IN CAR ACCIDENT IN RUSSIA

11:52, July 19, 2013

The entire Badalyan family, two children and their parents, were
killed on July 17 when their car hit a freight truck on the Moscow
to Volgograd highway in Russia.

The collision caused their car to burst into flames, killing all
inside.

The RA Ministry of Emergency Services reports that the car crossed
the median, striking the oncoming truck.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA COULD BECOME A NEW MEMBER OF EU’S FORTHCOMING CREATIVE EUROPE PROGRAMME

10:29 19.07.2013

Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia could be among six potential new members
of the European Union’s (EU) forthcoming Creative Europe programme,
which is expected to begin operations from January 2014, Screen
Daily reports.

Speaking at a discussion about cooperation between East and West at
this week’s Odessa International Film Festival’s Industry Programme,
the European Commission’s Irina Orssich explained that accession
candidates countries or countries bordering the EU – such as Ukraine,
Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia – could negotiate
to have full participation or sign bilateral agreements for specific
actions.

Key prerequisites for full participation in Creative Europe would
be for any of these countries to have the World Trade Organisation’s
¨most-favoured-nation¨ exemption of the audiovisual sector and respect
of certain conditions laid down in the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services
(AVMS) directive.

Alternatively, a national government could decide to conclude a
bilateral agreement with the European Commission on specific actions
in the future framework programme.

From: Baghdasarian

LA RUSSIE DOIT COMMENCER A TRAITER L’ARMENIE A EGALITE

ARMENIE

La Russie doit revoir son attitude envers l’Armenie et commencer a
le traiter comme un egal, a declare Richard Giragossian, directeur
du Centre d’etudes regional base a Erevan (RSC) lors d’une discussion
sur l’accord d’association UE-Armenie.

” Les relations armeno-russes ont toujours ete importantes, mais le
problème est le manque d’equilibre et de symetrie dans leur relation
” a-t-il dit, decrivant l’Armenie comme ” le seul partenaire fiable
de la Russie dans la region.”

” L’Armenie a une importance beaucoup plus strategique pour la Russie
qu’elle ne peut l’imaginer ” a-t-il ajoute.

S’exprimant sur les negociations UE-Armenie sur l’accord d’association,
il a dit que cela va contribuer au developpement de l’Armenie et que
tout le monde, y compris la Russie, va en beneficier.

” Un developpement plus stable, plus democratique de l’Armenie est
dans l’interet de la Russie ” a dit Richard Giragossian.

vendredi 19 juillet 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian