Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

OUTRIGHT GENOCIDE

Tuesday, 15 January 2013 09:36

23 years have passed since the Armenian pogroms of January 1990 in
Baku. An entire week – between January 13 and 19 – bloody events,
which didn’t fit into a normal human mind, were taking place in the
Azerbaijani capital city of Baku, during which hundreds of Armenians
were killed with monstrous and savage cruelty. The January tragedy
in Baku was actually the apotheosis and the final link in the chain
of bloody crimes committed in 1988-1990 against the Armenian citizens
of the Republic. The result of the successive genocidal actions taken
by the Azerbaijani authorities in the late twentieth century was the
final expulsion of the half-million native and state-forming Armenian
population from Azerbaijan.

I must say that the pogroms, extermination, and expulsion of Armenians
in Soviet Azerbaijan were the logical continuation of the traditional
Turkish-Azerbaijani policy of genocide against our people. This is also
testified by the scheduled nature of the massive crimes committed
in 1988-1990 in Sumgait, Kirovabad, Baku and other towns. It is
important to note that the pogroms and expulsion of Armenians met
the interests not only of the nationalist authorities of Azerbaijan,
but also of the then Soviet leadership. Kremlin boss Gorbachev was
an ardent opponent of the Karabakh Movement, which, in fact, debunked
the myth of him as a true democrat, and so he looked indifferently at
the brutal beating of Armenians first in Sumgait and then in Baku. It
was with the criminal connivance of the top leadership of the USSR,
with Gorbachev at the head, that the authorities and Popular Front
of Azerbaijan could realize, with impunity, their inhuman plans on
the extermination and deportation of the Armenian population. As you
know, Gorbachev responded only when no Armenians were actually left
in Azerbaijan and the situation began to spiral out of control. The
power-seeking opposition Popular Front, headed by ardent supporter of
Pan-Turkism Elchibey, posed a serious threat to the very existence of
the Soviet regime in Azerbaijan. That’s when, January 20, the “father
of perestroika” commissioned the units of the Soviet army to Baku,
but not for protecting the Armenian citizens, who by then, as noted,
had lacked in the city, but for saving the communist regime from
the roistering crowd of robbers and murderers of Armenians lead by
the Popular Front. That allowed later the Azerbaijani authorities to
falsify, in their usual manner, even the recent history and to present
the entry of the Soviet troops in Baku as an act of suppression of
the democratic movement of the Azerbaijani people fighting for freedom
and independence.

Today, those in Azerbaijan prefer to forget about the bloody events
taken place 23 years ago, about the killed and tortured Armenians.

Moreover, they continue to act pharisaically, arranging, on January
20, national honors for the thugs and murderers of Armenians in the
so-called “Alley of Shehids”. That is, to make heroes of the crowds,
which, armed with axes and iron rods, went to kill, with the medieval
cruelty, the innocent people whose guilt was only in the fact that
they were born Armenians. To the deepest regret, the international
community has not condemned so far the actions of the Azerbaijani
authorities, which have not brought repentance to the Armenian people
yet. The Armenian pogroms of January 1990 in Baku became, as noted,
the latest criminal act of the Soviet period, but the series of crimes
by the Azerbaijani authorities did not stop with this. The impunity of
Azerbaijan partly led to the fact that the Baku regime, continuing the
policy of genocide, started a war of destruction against the NKR, which
had declared its independence, and today, Azerbaijan is threatening
to unleash a new war. There is no doubt that the acts of organized
crime, committed by Azerbaijan against the Armenian population,
fall entirely under the term “genocide”. In support of this, let’s
refer to Article II of the Convention on the Prevention of the Act
of Genocide and Punishment for this: “… genocide means any of the
following acts committed with the intent to exterminate, in whole or
in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group as such:

a) killing members of the group; b) causing serious bodily
injury (…) to members of the group; c) deliberate creation of
corresponding conditions for any group, with the aim of its full or
partial extermination”.

One can easily see that the Armenian population of Azerbaijan, like
entire Nagorno-Karabakh, “passed” through all the above mentioned
points, as if through the circles of hell, as they experienced
pogroms and massacres, ethnic cleansing and deportation and then a
full-scale war, with the use of unconventional weapons prohibited by
international law.

We believe that it should be obvious even to ardent skeptics that the
Armenian people of Nagorno-Karabakh became a target of the policy of
outright genocide. It is also apparent that the historical memory
of our people will not allow itself to be deceived and doomed to
extermination. Nagorno Karabakh has made its irrevocable choice,
basing on international law, which consists in the creation of an
independent state as the most important factor of ensuring its secure
existence and development. The international mediators should base
on this objective truth, trying to find ways to the fair and legal
solution to the Karabakh issue.

Leonid MARTIROSSIAN Editor-in-Chief of Azat Artsakh newspaper

From: Baghdasarian

PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA IS WILLING TO SUPPORT THE PROGRAM OF HOUSING CONSTRUCTION FOR SRC SPECIALISTS

18:19, 18 January, 2013

YEREVAN, JANUARY 18, ARMENPRESS: President of State Revenue Committee
of Armenian Republic Gagik Khachatryan requested President of Armenian
Republic Serzh Sargsyan to support the implementation of some projects
of SRC. Armenpress reports Gagik Khachatryan asked Armenian President
to support the housing construction by mortgage program for SRC,
in order to keep the best specialists from more competitive business
environment.

Serzh Sargsyan expressed his willingness to support housing
construction program noting there was no issue in the request. “We
have implemented a number of such programs during this year for young
specialists and I see no issue in implementing another project for SRC
specialists,” President said. He noted the only issue was to understand
the amount of the program. In his words it is needed to explore the
program and avoid arbitrary people selling those apartments.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan visited training center of
territorial tax inspectorate of Kanaker-Zeytun on January 18 and had
a working meeting with President of State Revenue Committee of Armenia.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA IS ACTIVELY DEVELOPING OWN MILITARY INDUSTRY – DEFENSE MINISTER

news.am
January 18, 2013 | 18:19

YEREVAN.- Armenia is actively developing cooperation with the CSTO,
NATO, OSCE and EU, Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan said at a press
conference this Friday.

In terms of the main directions for cooperation in defense sector,
Defense Minister highlighted Russia, the U.S., China, and also noted
the development of relations with a number of countries in Eurasia.

Along with cooperation with foreign partners, Armenia is actively
developing own military industry. The pieces of local production were
demonstrated also during trainings. As the Minister said, precision
weapons are able to hit any target in opponent’s territory without
causing damage to the civilian population.

Speaking of peacekeeping efforts, Seyran Ohanyan said that Armenian
troops are involved in international missions in Kosovo and
Afghanistan, previously also took part in the mission in Iraq. Last
year, in the framework of the CSTO, Armenian unit took part in
peacekeeping exercise in Kazakhstan. The minister noted that the
formation of the Armenian peacekeeping unit in cooperation with the
CSTO started earlier than in other member states of the bloc.

Seyran Ohanyan also stressed a concept and a military industry program
was adopted last year and will be implemented after being approved.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA NOT AGAINST RUSSIA’S RADAR STATION CONSTRUCTION IN ITS TERRITORY

January 18, 2013 – 18:06 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The operation of Azerbaijan’s Gabala radar station
was halted or suspended over the failure of Moscow and Baku to reach
an agreement, Armenian Defense Minister said.

Dwelling on the rumors suggesting a similar station may be established
in Armenia, Seyran Ohanyan said the issue must be discussed by RA and
Russian leaderships.

“Armenia is not against it,” he told a press conference.

Military expert Davit Jamalyan, in turn, described possible
construction of a new radar station in Armenia as unrealistic.

In conversation with a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, he said Russia will
launch a new station in southern Krasnodar Region already in the first
months of 2013 to replace the Gabala radar.

From: Baghdasarian

MAYA PANJIKIDZE: “SOME PEOPLE TRY TO CREATE UNWANTED FEELINGS BETWEEN ARMENIA AND GEORGIA”

2013-01-18 15:53:52

Georgian Foreign Minister Maya Panjikidze, said that the Georgian
media incorrectly commented her performance in Lithuania. According
to the news agency News.ge, her words did not touch Nagorno-Karabakh.

“I did not mention Nagorno-Karabakh at all. Based on this, for me,
it is not clear why there was excitement in the Georgian media. It is
even more incomprehensible why journalists have not understood what
I said in fact. In addition, it is unclear why the politicians have
not checked it”, said Maya Panjikidze.

According to her, all of yesterday’s events in the Georgian media,
were only to create undesirable mood between Armenia and Georgia
before Premier’s visit. “This is part of a large or small plan,”
said Panjikidze.

Note, that there were rumors in press that the Minister of Foreign
Affairs of Georgia Maya Panjikidze allegedly stated that the
settlement of the Karabakh conflict could only be resolved “through
the preservation of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.”

From: Baghdasarian

NSS IS ALWAYS SORRY WHEN AN ARMENIAN IS TRAPPED BY FOREIGN SPECIAL SERVICES

14:38, 18 January, 2013

YEREVAN, JANUARY 18, ARMENRPESS. Recently Anahit Chtrkyan’s
open letters have been regularly circulating in the media. Anahit
Chtrkyan is Ashot Chtrkyan’s mother, who was sentenced to 10 years of
imprisonment for high treason. In her letters Anahit Chtrkyan complains
for violations and misinterpretations, which in her words took place
during the investigation. “Armenpress” asked the Director of the Press
Centre of the National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia
Artsvin Baghramyan to comment on the aforementioned accusations.

– I absolutely understand the mother’s feelings, her wish to protect
her son and her uncertainty about the evidences of the case.

Notwithstanding I would like to mention that this case was investigated
in appropriate instances and Ashot Chtrkyan was plead guilty for
supporting high treason basing upon the indisputable evidences. I
would like to announce that the National Security Service is always
sorry to learn that citizens of the Republic of Armenia are trapped
by special services of foreign countries.

From: Baghdasarian

AZERBAIJANI AIR FORCES FLY OVER FRONTLINE REGIONS

Fri 18 January 2013 08:57 GMT | 8:57 Local Time

The crew of the air forces of Azerbaijan operate flights in the
frontline Agdam and Terter regions.

Two Mig-29 of the air forces of Azerbaijan are flying over these
regions and near Agdam.

News.Az

From: Baghdasarian

“LIKE A NERVOUS PIGEON: MY UNSETTLED STATE OF MIND”

15:43, January 18, 2013

This is the last article penned by Hrant Dink. It appeared in the
January 10, 2007 edition of AGOS, nine days before Hrant was murdered
outside the AGOS office in Istanbul.

I did not at first feel troubled about the investigation that was
filed against me by the Å~^iÅ~_li public prosecutor’s office with
the accusation of “insulting Turkishness.”

This was not the first time. I had been familiar to the accusation
because of a similar lawsuit I had filed against me in Urfa . I was
being tried in Urfa with the accusation of “denigrating Turkishness”
over the past three years for having stated in a talk I gave at a
conference there in 2002 that “I was not a Turk…but from Turkey
and an Armenian.”

And I was even unaware about how the lawsuit was proceeding. I was
not at all interested. My lawyer friends in Urfa were attending the
hearings in my absence.

I was even quite nonchalant when I went and gave my deposition to the
Å~^iÅ~_li public prosecutor. I ultimately had complete trust in what
my intentions had been and what I had written. Once the prosecutor
[had the chance] to evaluated not that single sentence from my
editorial alone which made no sense by itself but the text as a
whole, he would understand with great ease that I had no intention to
“denigrate Turkishness” and this comedy would come to an end.

I was certain that a lawsuit would not be filed at the end of the
investigation. I was sure of myself. But surprise! A lawsuit was filed.

But I still did not lose my optimism.

So much so that at a television show that I joined live, I even told
the lawyer [Kemal] Kerincsiz who was accusing me “that he should not
get his hopes too high, that I was not going to be smacked with any
sentence from this lawsuit, and that I would leave this country if
I received a sentence.” I was sure of myself because I truly had not
had in my article any premeditation or intention – not even a single
iota – to denigrate Turkishness. Those who read the entirety of my
collection of articles would understand this very clearly.

As a matter of fact, the report prepared by the three faculty members
from Istanbul University who had been appointed by the court as experts
stated exactly that. There was no reason for me to get troubled, there
would certainly be a return from the wrongful path [of the lawsuit]
at one stage of the proceedings or the other.

So I kept asking for patience…

But there was no such return.

The prosecutor asked for a sentence in spite of the expert report. The
judge then sentenced me to six months in prison.

When I first heard about my sentence, I found myself under the bitter
pressure of the hopes I had nurtured all along the process of the
lawsuit. I was bewildered… My disappointment and rebellion were at
their pinnacle.

I had resisted for days and months saying “just you wait for this
decision to come out and once I am acquitted, then you will all be
so repentant about all that you have said and written.”

In covering every hearing of the lawsuit, the newspapers items,
editorials and television programs all referred to how I had said that
“the blood of the Turk is poisonous.” Each and every time, they were
adding to my fame as “the enemy of the Turk.” At the halls of the
court, the fascists physically attacked me with racist curses.

They bombarded me with insults on their placards. The threats reaching
hundreds that kept hailing for months through phones, e-mail and
letters kept increasing each time.

And I persevered through all this with patience awaiting the decision
for acquittal. Once the legal decision was announced, the truth was
going to prevail and all these people would be ashamed of what they
had done.

My only weapon was my sincerity. But here the decision was out and
all my hopes were crushed. From then on, I was in the most distressed
situation that a person could possibly be in.

The judge had made a decision in the name of the “Turkish nation”
and had it legally registered that I had “denigrated Turkishness.” I
could have persevered through anything except this.

According to my understanding, racism was the denigration by anyone
of a person they lived alongside with on the basis of any difference,
ethnic or religious and there was not any way in which this could
ever be forgiven.

Well it was in this psychological state that I made the following
declaration to the members of the media and friends who were at my
doorstep trying to confirm “as to whether I would leave this country
as I had indicated earlier:”

“I shall consult with my lawyers. I will appeal at the supreme court
of appeal and will even go to the European Court of Human Rights if
necessary. If I am not cleared through any one of these processes,
then I shall leave my country. Because according to my opinion,
someone who has been sentenced with such a crime does not have the
right to live alongside the citizens whom he has denigrated.”

As I voiced this opinion, I was emotional as always. My only weapon
was my sincerity.

Dark Humour

But it so happens that the deep force that was trying to single me
out and make me an open target in the eyes of the people of Turkey
found something wrong with this press release of mine as well and
this time filed a lawsuit against me for attempting to influence
the court. The entire Turkish media had given my declaration but
what got their attention was what was writ in AGOS alone. And it so
transpired that the legally responsible parties in the AGOS newspaper
and I started to be tried this time around for attempting to influence
the court. This must be what people call “dark humor.”

As I am the accused, who has the right more than the accused to try
to influence the judiciary? But look at this humorous situation that
the accused is this time tried for trying to influence the judiciary.

“In the Name of the Turkish State ”

I have to confess that I had more than lost my trust in the concept of
“Law” and the “System of Justice” in Turkey .

How could I have not? Had these prosecutors, these judges not been
educated in the university, graduated from faculties of law? Weren’t
they supposed to have the capacity to comprehend [and interpret]
what they read?

But it so transpires that the judiciary in this country, as also
expressed without compunction by many a statesman and politician,
is not independent.

The judiciary does not protect the rights of the citizen, but instead
the State.

The judiciary is not there for the citizen, but under the control of
the State.

As a matter of fact I was absolutely sure that even though it was
stated that the decision in my case was reached “in the name of the
Turkish nation,” it was a decision clearly not made “on behalf of
the Turkish nation” but rather “on behalf of the Turkish state.” As
a consequence, my lawyers were going to appeal the Supreme Court
of Appeals, but what could guarantee that the deep forces that had
decided to put me in my place would not be influential there either?

And was it the case that the Supreme Court of Appeals always reached
right decisions?

Wasn’t it the same Supreme Court of Appeal that had signed onto
the unjust decision that stripped minority foundations of their
properties? [And had done so] in spite of the attempts of the Chief
Public Prosecutor.

And we did appeal and what did it get us?

Just like the report of the experts, the Chief Public Prosecutor of
the Supreme Court of Appeals stated that there was no evidence of
crime and asked for my acquittal but the Supreme Court of Appeals
still found me guilty.

The Chief Public Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals was
just as certain about what he had read and understood as I had been
about what I had written, so he objected to the decision and took
the lawsuit to the General Council.

But what can I say, that great force which had decided once and for
all to put me in my place and had made itself felt at every stage
of my lawsuit through processes I would not even know about was
there present once again behind the scenes. And as a consequence,
it was declared by majority vote at General Council as well that I
had denigrated Turkishness.

Like a Pigeon

This much is crystal clear that those who tried to single me out,
render me weak and defenseless succeeded by their own measures. With
the wrongful and polluted knowledge they oozed into society,
they managed to form a significant segment of the population whose
numbers cannot be easily dismissed who view Hrant Dink as someone
“denigrating Turkishness.”

The diary and memory of my computer are filled with angry, threatening
lines sent by citizens from this particular sector. (Let me note
here at this juncture that even though one of these letters was sent
from [the neighboring city of] Bursa and that I had found it rather
disturbing because of the proximity of the danger it represented and
[therefore] turned the threatening letter over to the Å~^iÅ~_li
prosecutor’s office, I have not been able to get a result until
this day.)

How real or unreal are these threats? To be honest, it is of course
impossible for me to know for sure.

What it truly threatening and unbearable for me is the psychological
torture I personally place myself in. “Now what are these people
thinking about me?” is the question that really bugs me.

It is unfortunate that I am now better known than I once was and
I feel much more the people throwing me that glance of “Oh, look,
isn’t he that Armenian guy?”

And I reflexively start torturing myself.

One aspect of this torture is curiosity, the other unease. One aspect
is attention, the other apprehension.

I am just like a pigeon…..

Obsessed just as much what goes on my left, right, front, back.

My head is just as mobile… and just as fast enough to turn right
away.

And Here is the Cost for You

What did the Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul state? The Justice Minister
Cemil Cicek?

“Come on, there is nothing to exaggerate about [legal code 301]. Is
there anyone who has actually been tried and imprisoned from it?”

As if the only cost one paid was imprisonment…

Here is a cost for you… Here is a cost…

Do you know, oh ministers, what kind of a cost it is to imprison a
human being into the apprehensiveness of a pigeon?… Do you know?

You, don’t you ever watch a pigeon?

What They Call “Life-or-Death” What I have lived through has not been
an easy process… And what we have lived through as a family…

There were moments when I seriously thought about leaving the country
and moving far away.

And especially when the threats started to involve those close to me…

At that point I always remained helpless.

That must be what they call “Life-or-Death.” I could have resisted
out of my own will, but I did not have the right to put into danger
the life of anyone who was close to me. I could have been my own hero,
but I did not have the right to be brave by placing, let along someone
close to me, any other person in danger.

During such helpless times, I gathered my family, my children together
and sought refuge in them and received the greatest support from them.

They trusted in me.

Wherever I would be, they would be there as well.

If I said “let’s go” they would go, if I said “let’s stay” they
would come.

To Stay and Resist Okay, but if we went, where would we go?

To the Armenian Republic?

How long someone like me who could not stand injustices put up with
the injustices there? Would not I get into even deeper trouble there?

To go and live in the European countries was not at all the thing
for me.

After all, I am such a person that if I travel to the West for three
days, I miss my country on the fourth and start writhing in boredom
saying “let this be over so I can go back,” so what would I end up
doing there?

The comfort there would have gotten to me!

Leaving “boiling hells” for “ready-made heavens” was not at all right
for my personality make up.

We were people who volunteered to transform the hells they lived
into heavens.

To stay and live in Turkey was necessary because we truly desired
it and [had to do so] out of respect to the thousands of friends in
Turkey who gave a struggle for democracy and who supported us.

We were going to stay and we were going to resist.

If we were forced to leave one day however… We were going to set out
just as in 1915…Like our ancestors… Without knowing where we were
going… Walking the roads they walked through… Feeling the ordeal,
experiencing the pain….

With such a reproach we were going to leave our homeland. And we
would go where our feet took us, but not our hearts.

Apprehensive and Free

I wish that we would never ever have to experience such a departure.

We have way too many reasons and hope not to experience it anyhow.

Now I am applying to the European Court of Human Rights.

How long this lawsuit will last, I do not know.

The fact that I do know and that somewhat puts me at ease is that I
will be living in Turkey at least until the lawsuit is finalized.

If the court decides in my favor, I will undoubtedly become very
happy and it would mean that I would never have to leave my country.

>>From my own vantage point, 2007 will probably be even a more
difficult year.

The trials will continue, new ones will commence. Who knows what
kinds of additional injustices I would have to confront?

While all these occur, I will consider this one truth my only security.

Yes, I may perceive myself in the spiritual unease of a pigeon,
but I do know that in this country people do not touch pigeons.

Pigeons live their lives all the way deep into the city, even amidst
the human throngs.

Yes, somewhat apprehensive but just as much free.

Õ~@O~@Õ¡Õ¶Õ¤ Õ~OÕ”Õ¶O~D/Hrant Dink (September 15, 1954 – January
19, 2007)

From: Baghdasarian

AZERI PROVOCATIONS ESCALATE REGIONAL TENSIONS – DEFENSE MINISTER

January 18, 2013 – 15:44 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenian armed forces ensure the security of Artsakh
people, Defense Minister said.

“The cooperation between RA armed forces and defense army of the
Nagorno Karabakh Republic is aimed at ensuring the protection of
the two Armenian states,” Seyran Ohanyan said, pledging to continue
implementation of the mission in 2013.

Dwelling on the possibility of the renewal of war, he said Baku’s
anti-Armenian policy, arms race and provocations escalate tensions
in the region.

“However, there’s no major risk of war now,” Minister Ohanyan said.

As for Azerbaijani threats against Stepanakert airport operations,
he said, “RA air forces will ensure the scheduled flights of the
civil airplanes.”

From: Baghdasarian

GEORGIAN PM ATTACHES IMPORTANCE TO SELF-DETERMINATION PRINCIPLE – ARMENIAN ANALYST

NEWS.AM
January 18, 2013 | 14:24

YEREVAN.- Georgian PM Bidzina Ivanishvili’s approach to the South
Ossetia and Abkhazia proves he is attaching importance to the principle
of self-determination of nations, Armenian political analyst believes.

“There is a considerable difference between Armenian-Azerbaijani and
Georgian-Ossetian conflicts. The first is a result of conflict between
different civilizations, the second emerged between close nations and
has a potential to be settled,” Noravank center head Gagik Hrutyunyan
told reporters.

During his visit to Armenia, Ivanishvili gave quite delicate diplomatic
answers to questions on Karabakh.

“Georgia has economic ties with neighboring Turkey and Azerbaijan,
but cooperation with the mentioned states contradicts country’s
national interests,” Harutyunyan believes.

From: Baghdasarian