Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

ACTIVIST TO TAKE POLICE, JUDGES TO COURT OVER 2004 BEATINGS
Grisha Balasanyan

14:16, May 6, 2013

In October of last year, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
declared that the government of Armenia must pay Grisha Virabyan
31,000 Euros in moral and monetary compensation stemming from a
beating he received from Ararat Regional Police in 2004.

At the time, Virabyan was a member of the People’s Party of Armenia
and actively participated in public rallies and political campaigning
for the 2004 presidential election in Armenia.

Virabyan is now taking various law enforcement and judicial officials
to court, telling Hetq that the guilty must pay for their crimes.

“The police who beat me must and the police force that faked charges
against me must be held accountable for their actions. The same with
the judges who declared unjust verdicts in my case,” Virabyan said.

One of the officials noted in the ECHR decision is Ashot Karapetyan,
the current Yerevan Police Chief.

“I will not be deterred by anything or anyone. They must all be
punished, not only what they did to me but to others. Remember that
in 2004, some 2,500 activists were illegally arrested,” noted
Virabyan.

004-beatings.html

From: Baghdasarian

MEETING WITH A MEMBER OF GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT DAVID DARCHIASHVILI

Diocese of Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Holy Church in Georgia
6 May 2013

On 4 May, 2013 at the “Hayartun” Cultural Center of the Diocese
of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Georgia a meeting with David
Darchiashvili, a member of the “United National Movement” parliamentary
faction, Deputy Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Defense and
Security, a member of Parliamentary Committee for European Integration,
was held.

The Adviser to the Head of the Diocese and the Head of the Diocesan
Legal Department Levon Isakhanyan opened the meeting and informed that
the theme of the meeting would be the current political situation
in Georgia and it would be held in a presentation followed by
questions-and-answers session format.

MP David Darchiashvili spoke about the current situation and
policy, which is carried out in regard to national minorities in
Georgia. He referred to the laws and international agreements that
have been adopted or ratified by the Parliament of Georgia and
operate in the country. In response to questions that interested
the Armenian population, which mainly referred to the recognition
of the Armenian Genocide by the Georgian authorities, restitution
of Armenian churches to the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church
in Georgia, the existence of schools in native language, the problem
of low representation of Georgian citizens of Armenian ethnicity in
public offices, representative of Georgian parliamentary minority
tried to give full and comprehensive answers.

At the end of the meeting, the discussion moderator Isakhanyan
announced that the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church planned to
continue the series of such meetings-discussions in order to create
a platform for dialogue between politicians and representatives
of the Armenian community in Georgia, and the representatives of
opposition and ruling parties, as well as top government officials,
would be invited.

More information is available at

Press service of the Armenian Diocese in Georgia 18, Armazi Street,
0103, Tbilisi, Georgia Phone: +995322546411 Cell: +995593397170 Fax:
+995322751790 Email: [email protected]

From: Baghdasarian

WE WERE OFFERED BRIBES TOTALING HUNDREDS THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS – HERITAGE

May 07, 2013 | 13:18

YEREVAN. – Armenian opposition figure, deputy chairman of Heritage
party Armen Martirosyan said he had not told anyone that he was
offered a bribe amounting to $100,000.

“I said they tried to offer us a bribe totaling hundreds thousands
of dollars but we refused,” Martirosyan told reporters on Tuesday.

The comments came after a video was spread where Martirosyan said he
had been offered a bribe.

During a news conference, opposition member refused to name those
offering bribe, hinting at the “power system.”

Asked whether he is aware of how the video was made public, Martirosyan
noted that he did not know that anyone was shooting a video in a
police car.

Armen Martirosyan appeared in police car after an incident on
Baghramyan Street on the day of inauguration of Serzh Sargsyan and
demonstrations launched by the opposition candidate Raffi Hovannisian.

From: Baghdasarian

TAKING MANDATES DOES NOT MEAN ACCEPTING ELECTION RESULTS – ARMEN MARTIROSYAN

14:35 ~U 07.05.13

The number 1 in Barev Yerevan alliance list at the Yerevan City
Council election Armen Martirosyan thinks that the alliance must not
only introduce the interests of their voters but the whole opposition
forces, even the voters who went to polls taking the election bribe.

“We are just trying to implement our responsibility, taking mandates
does not mean accepting the election results,” Martirosyan told the
reporters today.

He said they have not yet discussed the issue of taking or not the
mandates and are waiting for the appeal process to end. “As Armen
Martirosyan political figure, I think that in any case it will be
right to take the mandates,” he said, adding that Barev Yerevan
alliance managed to become member of the City Council without frauds.

Asked what they can do being a minority in the City Council,
Martirosyan said, “In any case we managed to be useful to some
social groups and whether we will cooperate or not with the PAP that
distributed election bribes, I will say that first the PAP is to
decide in which field they act, but if people have problem of course
we will settle it.”

Armenian News – Tert.am

From: Baghdasarian

RUSSIA EXTENDS CYPRUS’S FINANCIAL LOAN

12:24 ~U 07.05.13

Russia is extending the maturity and reducing the interest on its loan
to Cyprus, a document prepared by international lenders has shown,
according to the Guardian.

Russia’s agreement provides additional, though expected, financial
relief to the island on top of a bailout by the EU and the
International Monetary Fund.

Cyprus has complied with all conditions set by international lenders
for the first ~@3bn (£2.5bn) of the ~@10bn bailout to flow to Nicosia
later in May, according to the document, drawn up by the troika,
consisting of the European Central Bank, the European Commission and
the IMF, on 30 April.

Russia lent Cyprus [email protected] in 2011 for five years, at an annual
interest rate of 4.5%. Extending the loan and reducing the interest
will ease debt-servicing costs for Nicosia and help it regain financial
stability.

The document said: “Reassurance has also been obtained from the Cypriot
authorities that formal agreement has been reached between the Republic
of Cyprus and the Russian Federation on an extension by two years of
the maturity for the Russian loan, which will be reimbursed as of 2018,
and a reduction of the interest rate from 4.5% to 2.5%.”

Cyprus secured a three-year bailout from the eurozone’s bailout fund
and the IMF last month, becoming the fifth country in the single
currency area to seek eurozone financial help as a result of the
sovereign debt crisis.

“All prior actions are now compliant both on substance and on
procedure,” the document said.

Armenian News – Tert.am

From: Baghdasarian

THE DAILY MAIL PRESNETS ARMENIAN PHOTOGRAPHER’S COLLECTION OF CLOSE-UP IMAGES OF ANIMAL EYES – PHOTOS

10:24 07.05.2013

The British Daily Mail has published the latest collection by
Armenian photographer Suren Manvelyan that reveals animal eyes in
extreme close-up.

The collection collection features extreme close-up images showing
eyes of animals, birds and reptiles.

The collection includes rodents, hyenas, lemurs, monkeys, tiger
pythons, cats, dogs, snakes, birds, a fox and even a flying possum.

This eye is a close-up of the eye of a husky dog. Husky dog: Huskies
mainly live in the Arctic and are known for having pale blue eyes.

However, some species have been known to have brown, green and
yellow eyes

Fennec Fox eye Fennec fox: The fennec is a small nocturnal fox
that lives in the Sahara desert in Africa. Its eye resembles what
paleontologists believe many dinosaur eyes to look like. The fox is
known for its large ears, which help keep it cool

Lark eye close-up Lark: Larks are passerine birds, also known as
perching birds or songbirds. The majority live in dry regions,
in northern and eastern Australia. Larks are medium-sized birds,
between five to eight inches long and weigh between 15 and 75 grams

Long-eared owl eye Long-eared owl: The long-eared owl is indigenous
to Europe, Asia, and North America. It is between 12 to 16 inches
long and has a wingspan of around 39 inches

Chinchilla eye close-up Chinchilla: The chinchilla has the most
distinctive pupil of Manveylan’s collection. It is a rodent native
to the Andes mountains in South America. The name chinchilla means
‘little chincha’ and is named after the Chincha people of the Andes,
who used to wear its fur

Each of the photos in Manveylan’s collection show the complex surface
of individual animal eyes.

Many of Manveylan’s images were taken of animals in captivity at
Yerevan Zoo in Armenia.

Manveylan’s Animal Eyes collection was a follow-up to his Your
Beautiful Eyes series which features extreme close-up images of
human eyes.

raphers-collection-of-close-up-images-of-animal-eyes/

detailed-photos-animal-eyes-look-extreme-close-up.html

From: Baghdasarian

Divine Liturgy dedicated to NKR Defense Army held in Shoushi

15:58 05/05/2013 » SOCIETY

On May 5, Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan attended a Divine
Liturgy dedicated to the NKR Defense Army held at Shushi
Ghazanchetsots church of Christ the Savior.

Defense Minister Movses Hakobyan, supreme command staff of the NKR
Defense Army and servicemen attended the event, Central Information
Department at Artsakh President’s Office reported.

Source: Panorama.am

From: Baghdasarian

General of Azerbaijani Armed Forces: Turkey used to help and continues
helping Baku, but will not fight in Karabakh

01:16 05/05/2013 » REGION

“I just want to remind you that Turkey was on the side of the
Azerbaijan Republic from the very beginning of the conflict. In
state-to-state relationship we had and still have a wide range of
military-technical cooperation and comprehensive material and
technical support,” told Vesti.az major general of Azerbaijan
Alexander Vasyak commenting on the question of Turkey’s role in the
region.

Major-General reminded that, in the media and the Azerbaijani expert
community rumors were being discussed about the possibility of direct
participation of Turkish army in the conflict, which will be conducted
at the level of Special Forces. Unification of land troops and air
strikers is also possible.

“I have already spoken about this and there is no sense to repeat it
as it is absolutely clear that no one will is going to fight for us.
But Turkey has helped Azerbaijan and will help in educating military
personnel, training of the staff and all the control components of
troops and weapons, aircraft logistics, study and development of NATO
standards, development of documents and construction plans for
military and national security,” Vasyak says.

According to military experts, in political point of view, the
possibilities of Ankara are now shackled by the role of Turkey in
Syrian conflict and by unpredictability of its development. In this
regard, Vasyak expressed doubts that Turkey will pursue an active
policy in the South Caucasus, nevertheless, he recalled the words of
the American Council expert on foreign policy Wayne Merry, “Turkey
undertook the patronage of Azerbaijan.”

“Turkey has always been a major regional player in our region, but I
would not dare to predict and give her a leading role in Karabakh
conflict settlement process,” A. Vasyak noted.

Source: Panorama.am

From: Baghdasarian

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
May 5 2013

Turkey may offer citizenship to Syriacs fleeing war in Syria

5 May 2013 /AYDIN ALBAYRAK, ANKARA

Turkey is seemingly preparing, with top government officials having in
recent months called on Syriacs to return to Turkey, to offer Turkish
citizenship to Syriacs who were or are related to former citizens of
Turkey and who are now in a difficult situation in war-torn Syria.

`The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been working to provide Syriacs
with Turkish citizenship,’ Evgil Türker, head of the Federation of
Syriac Associations in Turkey said at a conference in Ankara on
Syriacs in Syria at the beginning of the week. Turkey is actually the
former homeland of many Syriacs who presently live in Syria and
Europe, since, in the past, a large number of Syriacs left the country
because they were ostracized by Muslim society due to their religion
and were not allowed by the state to enjoy their rights.

According to estimates, out of a total of 2.5-3 million Syriacs living
in Syria — Syriacs believe all Christians, apart from Armenians, in
Syria to be of Syriac origin based on historical grounds –180,000
live in Syria’s Haseki province, which sits on the Turkish-Syrian
border.

`Maybe more than 90 percent of them are people whose elders emigrated
from Turkey,’ Türker told Sunday’s Zaman on the sidelines of the
conference `Syrian Syriacs and Turkey: Building Peace Together.’
Granting Syriacs Turkish citizenship would not be something
unimaginable because Türker’s fathers and grandfathers were formerly
registered in Midyat, Mardin province, in the birth registry anyway.

Calls made in previous months to Syriacs living abroad to convince
them to return to Turkey, by several leading figures of the government
such as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an and Foreign Minister Ahmet
DavutoÄ?lu, may be taken as a strong indication of Turkey’s intention
of offering citizenship to those Syriacs in Syria who were, or at
least whose parents or grandparents were formerly Turkish citizens. A
Foreign Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity also
believes that recent statements made by top government officials may
be taken as a sign that Turkey is preparing to take such a step.

As part of efforts to mend fences with the Syriacs of Turkey, Turkish
President Abdullah Gül met with leaders of Turkey’s Syriac community
at the Çankaya presidential palace in February. For the first time in
history, a member of Turkey’s Christian minority, Syriac Orthodox
Archbishop Yusuf Çetin, accompanied a Turkish president on a trip
abroad, in particular to Sweden, where a large number of Syriacs live.
DavutoÄ?lu, for his part, met with representatives of the Syriac
community in Turkey in March and reaffirmed that Turkey was ready to
extend help in every way possible to its Syriac brothers in Syria.

Syriacs urge Turkey to adopt a more encompassing discourse, a
discourse not solely based on Sunnis, but towards opposition groups in
Syria. Tuma Çelik, Turkey representative of the European Syriac Union
(ESU), maintained that Turkey has ignored, up until recently, Syriacs
in its Syria policy, but he also admitted that there have recently
been some positive developments in that regard. Türker is hopeful.
`There are indications that Turkey will develop a different attitude
[from the one in the past],’ he said, adding, `It should also take
Christians [in Syria] into account.’ Issou Gouriye, leader of the
Syriac Union Party, is more cautious in his optimism. `We hear that
Turkey has taken some positive steps, but the effects haven’t, as of
yet, been felt by us in Syria,’ he said at the meeting organized in
Ankara.

Although they had, in the past, troubles in living comfortably in
Turkey, Syriacs see Turkey as the main actor they could possibly turn
to when in trouble and expect to receive greater help from Turkey. `We
have lived together for a thousand years. Who else can we lay our
expectations on, if not Turkey?’ Gouriye, who, having studied at a
Turkish university, can speak Turkish fluently, told Sunday’s Zaman.
`If Turkey is willing to do its part, there is a lot that can be done
together,’ he added.

Syriacs, who historically see Syria as their homeland, are probably
one of the most adversely affected ethnic and religious groups in the
civil war in Syria. Only recently two archbishops from the Syriac
Orthodox and Melkite (mostly Greek Orthodox) churches were abducted by
gunmen in Aleppo. Syriacs are worried that attacks against Christians
aim not only to drive Syriacs out of Syria, land on which they have
been living for thousands of years, but also to cause division and
conflict among opposition groups fighting the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Syriacs’ fears are not baseless, considering what happened in Iraq.
According to Çelik, two-thirds of out of more than 1 million Syriacs
in Iraq migrated following the American occupation. For the moment,
the total number of Syriacs who fled the civil war in Syria by seeking
shelter in a foreign country makes up no more than 1 percent of all
Syriacs in Syria. But should the civil war reach the province of
Haseki, where a large number of Syriacs live and where there are no
major clashes at the moment, the number of Syriacs who may choose to
flee the country could significantly increase.

By some estimates, there are presently around 500 Syriacs who have
come to Turkey from Syria. But Turkey has been building, in the town
of Midyat in Mardin province, a refugee camp for Syriacs with a
capacity to accommodate 4,000 people, and another with a capacity of
6,000 people for Kurds and Arabs who might flee to Turkey. It may be
out of an expectation that clashes could in the near future reach the
Haseki region, which lies along some of Turkey’s border with Syria and
which is also densely populated by Kurds, that Turkey is busy with
camp building.

As Syria is the only country where Syriacs have a relatively dense
population, should Syriacs in Syria, as the ones in Iraq have done in
the past, flee the country because of the civil war, the ethnic group
will be scattered around the world. That’s why the Federation of
Syriac Associations is not willing to give a helping hand to Syriacs
of Syria who are trying to emigrate abroad. `The only country where we
have now a mass population is Syria,’ Türker said, defending the
federation’s stance.

From: Baghdasarian

CICR
Arménie : btir l’avenir sans oublier le passé

Manvel Khandilyan a disparu en 1992 dans le cadre du conflit du
Haut-Karabakh. Son frère Daniel et leur mère gée de 84 ans sont
toujours à sa recherche. .En 2012, Daniel a décidé de saisir la
possibilité offerte par le programme de rénovation du CICR afin de
retaper la maison familiale située dans le centre d’Armavir, dans
l’ouest de l’Arménie. « Les travaux ont commencé début 2012 et ont
duré près de six mois. Ils ont considérablement amélioré les
conditions de vie de ma femme, de mes trois enfants et surtout de ma
mère gée, qui a désormais sa propre chambre », déclare Daniel.

En 2011, le CICR a lancé un projet visant à améliorer le logement des
familles des personnes disparues dans la province de Tavush par le
biais de prêts en espèces sans intérêts. Il met en `uvre ce projet en
partenariat avec le Centre Fuller pour le logement en Arménie, qui
fournit des conseils sur les matériaux de construction et les aspects
techniques du réaménagement. En 2012, le projet a été étendu aux
provinces de Gegharkunik, Shirak et Syunik.

Ancien champion d’haltérophilie, Daniel sait ce qu’est la
persévérance. Il y a deux ans, il a ouvert une petite boulangerie et
commencé à produire du lavash (pain arménien traditionnel) pour le
voisinage grce au projet d’initiatives micro-économiques du CICR, qui
lui a prêté le capital nécessaire au démarrage de sa petite
entreprise. « Le CICR travaille en coopération avec trois instituts
locaux de micro-crédit, qui octroient des prêts aux familles des
personnes disparues, tandis que le CICR prend en charge le paiement
des intérêts », explique Dragana Rankovic, déléguée du CICR
responsable des programmes d’assistance économique en Arménie.

Les personnes qui ont disparu dans le cadre du conflit du
Haut-Karabakh et les souffrances de leurs familles sont au centre de
l’action du CICR depuis 1992, lorsque l’institution a commencé à mener
des activités en Arménie. D’une part, le CICR soutient depuis
longtemps les efforts déployés par les autorités afin de faire la
lumière sur ce qu’il est advenu des personnes qui ont été portées
disparues pendant le conflit. D’autre part, l’institution vient en
aide aux familles des disparus, car lorsque des personnes comme Manvel
Khandilyan disparaissent, leurs proches sont confrontés à de grandes
difficultés administratives, financières et psychologiques.

CICR

dimanche 5 mai 2013,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian