Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

LIVRES-ECHECS
Serge Sarkissian à la présentation du livre dédié à Lévon Aronian

Seta Avakian-Aronian, est l’auteur du livre en russe dédié au numéro
deux mondial des échecs l’Arménien Lévon Aronian. Le livre est dédié
par Seta Avakian-Aronian à son fils Lévon Aronian à l’occasion de son
30e anniversaire. Il retrace la vie et les souvenirs de Lévon Aronian.
Le 22 novembre, à l’occasion de la présentation du livre, outre Seta
Avakian-Aronian et Lévon Aronian à la Maison des échecs à Erévan
étaient présents de nombreux grands maitres des échecs ainsi que le
président arménien Serge Sarkissian qui est également président de la
Fédération arménienne des échecs. « Le livre était déjà dans mon
esprit et je l’ai écrit très facilement » dit la mère du champion. Un
livre qui sera traduit prochainement en anglais, espagnol…et
arménien. Lévon Aronian dit « ma mère a connu de très nombreuses
difficultés pour me créer ce conte des échecs ». Levon Ananian, le
président de l’Union des écrivains d’Arménie a souligné la qualité et
l’importance du livre dédié à Lévon Aronian.

Krikor Amirzayan

dimanche 25 novembre 2012,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian

FAITS DIVERS
Noyade de la mère de Naïri Hounanian le chef du commando des tueurs du
Parlement arménien

Dans la nuit, le vendredi 23 novembre les services de secours de la
ville balnéaire d’Eupatoria (Crimée, en Ukraine) sortaient de la mer
le corps d’une femme sans vie de 64 ans. La police découvrait ses
affaires personnelles sur le bord de la côte et son corps était
découvert dans l’eau à deux mètres des lieux. La police enquête sur ce
drame qui ressemble fort à un suicide. Mais le site Armenia Today
vient de révéler que la personne décédée n’est autre que Natalia
Kalestian, la mère de Naïri Hounanian, le chef du commando terroriste
qui avait fait irruption au Parlement arménien le 27 octobre 1999
tuant 8 personnes dont le Premier ministre Vazken Sarkissian et le
Président du Parlement Garén Démirdjian. Interrogé sur la possibilité
de la libération provisoire de Naïri Hounanian pour assister aux
obsèques de sa mère, un haut responsable du ministère arménien de la
Justice, Gor Ghletchian a affirmé que pour les crimes graves comme
ceux des membres du commando, la constitution arménienne ne prévoit
pas la libération même provisoire.

Krikor Amirzayan

dimanche 25 novembre 2012,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian

AZERBAIJANI MP THREATENS WORLD WITH CHAOS

Panorama.am
13:25 23/11/2012

If Azerbaijan makes demands for its historic lands, there will be
chaos in the world, Mubariz Gurbanli, Deputy Executive Secretary of
Yeni Azerbaijan Party, said while commenting on Heritage party leader
Raffi Hovannisian’s statement at the General Assembly of International
Conference of Asian Political Parties in Baku.

We will remind that Raffi Hovannisian stated in Baku that speaking
of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, one should not use such political terms
as occupation and, referring to Azerbaijani refugees, noted that they
can return to their homes after Karabakh’s independence.

However, the Azerbaijanis did not limit themselves to Gurbanli’s
comment. Representatives of Azerbaijani parties attending the
event tried to oppose Hovannisian. Araz Alizade, chairman of Social
Democratic Party of Azerbaijan, called Hovannisian’s statement a
“blatant lie.”

From: Baghdasarian

FROM ASSEMBLY TO COURT: OPPOSITION TO FILE SUIT OVER RPA BOYCOTT OF SPECIAL SESSION
By GOHAR ABRAHAMYAN

ArmeniaNow reporter
POLITICS | 23.11.12 | 14:56

Oppositional Armenian National Congress together with the other
non-pro-establishment forces will be filing a lawsuit at the
Constitutional Court within eight days, claiming that the authorities’
actions subverting the urgent parliament session on Wednesday were
anti-constitutional.

The Armenian National Congress (ANC) initiated and the other
non-coalition factions, including the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Dashnaktsutyun (ARF), Prosperous Armenia and Heritage, supported the
holding of an urgent session to discuss the ANC-submitted package of
amendments to election laws.

However, the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, holding absolute
majority in the parliament (69 mandates), and Orinats Yerkir party,
in coalition with the Republicans, had stated right from the beginning
they would not participate in the session, hence there wasn’t a quorum.

ANC faction secretary Aram Manukyan told ArmeniaNow on Friday that
the political decision to turn to the Constitutional Court has been
made and the lawsuit is now at a stage of document-collection, and
it will take about a week.

“Even if nothing changes after turning to the court, by that step we
are trying to show that the authorities have violated the provisions of
the constitutional law,” says Manukyan, adding that article 70 of the
Constitution allows law-makers to call an urgent parliament session
“by the order and within the timeline set by the initiator”.

Parliament vice-speakers Eduard Sharmazanov countered during his
interview to RFE/RL that the political majority did not violate
the Constitution, but made use of its right and boycotted the
opposition-initiated session.

In order to turn to the Constitution Court 27 MPs have to sign the
petition (ANC has only 7), and Manukyan said they’d be approaching
their non-coalitional partners in the parliament.

PAP faction secretary Naira Zohrabyan told ArmeniaNow that their
lawyers are looking into it.

“If our lawyers find enough legal ground to turn to the Constitution
Court, we will certainly join ANC and file the lawsuit together,”
she says.

Political analyst Yervand Bozoyan told ArmeniaNow that turning to
the Constitution Court is a common political step that isn’t likely
to make a big difference.

“By this the opposition will keep people tense and demonstrate that
the ruling party is unwilling to go for essential changes; and besides
it becomes obvious that the constitution, in fact, doesn’t work and
that the provision is a formality,” he says.

From: Baghdasarian

SAFAROV IN EXCHANGE FOR STEPANAKERT AIRPORT
Naira Hayrumyan

Politics – Friday, 23 November 2012, 12:22

Meetings of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in Stepanakert revealed
some trends in the Karabakh issue settlement. First, the fact that
the co-chairs gave up the intention to sway Baku into operation of
the airport in Stepanakert. They stated directly that the opening
of the airport in this situation is not expedient. It means that the
plans of those who invested big money in the construction will fail.

Second, the co-chairs are clearly trying to present the intention of
the Armenian side to open the airport as a counteraction to Ramil
Safarov’s extradition. The “logic” is the following – we condemned
Safarov’s extradition but the Armenians should not open the airport.

The real logic is that Safarov’s extradition and Baku’s threats
regarding flights between Yerevan and Stepanakert are violation of
the humanitarian law by Azerbaijan. It is not necessary to confront
these two events but to present a joint “bill” to Azerbaijan.

Actually, the co-chairs continue the parity policy which means that
the only purpose is to keep stability and prevent escalations.

Evidently, the “new ideas” pursue these goals which the co-chairs
insistently keep secret. Although, one can presume that they also
contain the proposal to open communications without political
settlements. We can make this presumption in the context of the
proposal to open the Abkhazian part of the Russian-Georgian railway
and rumors on the lay-out of new pipes in the region.

The Karabakh side, for the first time in many years, has taken a
political initiative – to introduce the moratorium on shooting on
several holidays during year, including the Children’s Day, the 8th of
March, Easter, Novruz. The co-chairs have not responded to the offer
yet. Perhaps Stepanakert should offer more bold decisions which will
be difficult for the co-chairs to refuse, such as willingness to open
and restore the railway from Stepanakert to the border of Azerbaijan.

The co-chairs will be having meetings in Yerevan on the next few days,
and in December the foreign ministers will meet. The co-chairs confess
that the negotiations are held at the level of the ministers and the
presidents are not going to meet yet. It means there is nothing to
talk about.

From: Baghdasarian

SYRIE : LES REBELLES AVANCENT DANS L’EST, AFFRONTENT LES KURDES DANS LE NORD
Stephane

armenews.com
vendredi 23 novembre 2012

Les rebelles affrontaient jeudi des centaines de combattants kurdes
dans des combats sans precedent dans le nord de la Syrie, quelques
heures après avoir chasse les troupes du regime d’une importante zone
de l’Est du pays, près de l’Irak.

Cette bataille, a la lisière de la Turquie où devraient etre deployes
par l’Otan des missiles de defense anti-aerienne Patriot, oppose des
centaines d’insurges islamistes a des membres de la branche syrienne
du Parti des travailleurs du Kurdistan (PKK), la bete noire du pouvoir
a Ankara.

La Turquie et ses allies occidentaux craignent un debordement du
conflit syrien qui a fait en 20 mois plus de 40.000 morts, dont une
majorite de civils, selon l’Observatoire syrien des droits de l’Homme
(OSDH) qui s’appuie sur un reseau de militants et de medecins.

Dans la ville de Rass Al-Aïn, où les rebelles ont pris un point de
passage vers la Turquie, 200 jihadistes du Front Al-Nosra et une
centaine d’hommes de la brigade islamiste Ghouraba al-Cham, appuyes
par trois chars pris a l’armee, s’opposaient a quelque 400 combattants
kurdes, a precise l’OSDH.

Dans une video mise en ligne, Ghouraba al-Cham s’en prend au Parti
de l’Union democratique kurde (PYD), branche syrienne du PKK, accuse
par les rebelles de faire le jeu du regime syrien dont les troupes
se sont retirees de plusieurs localites de la region tombees de fait
aux mains des kurdes.

Un homme, au milieu d’une cinquantaine de rebelles armes devant
un char, y appelle “tous ceux qui affrontent notre revolution et
pointent leurs armes contre nous, notamment le PYD, le PKK a se
retirer immediatement de Rass Al-Aïn”.

Le nord et le nord-est abritent la plupart des deux millions de Kurdes
de Syrie, dont les milices independantes sont parfois hostiles a
la rebellion.

La Turquie avait accuse le pouvoir a Damas d’avoir “confie” plusieurs
zones du nord au PYD et considere l’installation de ce parti près de
sa frontière comme “dirigee contre” elle.

Patriot en Turquie

Plus au sud, les rebelles ont enregistre un succès en prenant Mayadine,
l’une des dernières villes de la province de Deir Ezzor aux mains du
regime de Bachar al-Assad.

“La zone, qui s’etend de la frontière irakienne a la lisière de Deir
Ezzor, est desormais le secteur le plus important echappant totalement
au contrôle de l’armee”, a explique a l’AFP le chef de l’OSDH, Rami
Abdel Rahmane.

Le regime, dont l’armee est bousculee par une rebellion de plus en plus
audacieuse, a reduit ses ambitions territoriales pour se concentrer
sur une ligne partant du sud, passant par Damas et le centre de la
Syrie et rejoignant le pays alaouite et la côte, dans le nord-ouest,
estiment des analystes.

Ses troupes ont ainsi repris leurs bombardements sur le sud de Damas
et la campagne environnante pour tenter d’en chasser les rebelles,
selon l’OSDH.

Selon le quotidien du parti Baas au pouvoir, “l’operation de purge de
la region de Damas est entree quasiment dans son etape finale grâce
a l’elimination de dizaines de terroristes dans la Ghouta orientale”.

Cette region de vergers est la principale base arrière des rebelles
qui cherchent a prendre Damas, la place forte du regime.

Selon un bilan provisoire de l’OSDH, 48 personnes ont peri jeudi a
travers le pays, dont 26 civils, les violences faisant tous les jours
des dizaines de morts en Syrie en proie depuis le 15 mars 2011 a une
revolte populaire devenue conflit arme face a la repression sanglante
du regime.

Devant l’escalade a sa frontière, Ankara a demande a l’Otan le
deploiement de Patriot sur son sol.

Les Etats-Unis se sont declares plutôt favorables a cette demande,
l’Allemagne a dit esperer un feu vert du Parlement et les Pays-Bas
ont fait savoir qu’ils se pencheraient “sur la possibilite d’une
contribution”. Parmi les 28 membres de l’Otan, seuls ces trois pays
possèdent des Patriot.

Moscou, grand allie du regime Assad, a en revanche demande a Ankara
de favoriser une solution politique plutôt qu’a “montrer ses muscles”.

vendredi 23 novembre 2012, Stephane ©armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian

AZERBAIJANI RULING PARTY: ARMENIAN FORMER FM’S ABSURD STATEMENT IS GROUNDLESS

Trend
Nov 22 2012
Azerbaijan

The Armenian former foreign minister’s statement voiced in Baku does
not reflect reality, deputy executive secretary of the ruling New
Azerbaijan party Ali Ahmadov told media today.

Raffi Hovannisian’s statements are beyond the view of the international
community on the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, he said.

“No matter what Armenian the former Foreign Minister has said, the UN,
authoritative European organisations and the international community
as a whole, as well as the OSCE Minsk Group and its co-chairmen
dealing with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, have repeatedly
stressed the facts surrounding Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijani
lands and openly declared their recognition of Azerbaijani territorial
integrity,” he said.

All this proves the Armenian former foreign minister’s comments are
an unfounded and baseless ridiculous statement, he said.

Armenian former Foreign Minister Raffi Hovannisian arrived in Baku to
attend the seventh General Assembly of the International Conference
of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP).

He said in an interview with media about the importance of recognising
the separatist regime of Nagorno-Karabakh.

From: Baghdasarian

Hurriyet, Turkey
Nov 20 2012

Minorities support right to defense in mother tongue

by Vercihan Ziflioðlu
ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

The debate over legal defense in Kurdish, currently one of the most
controversial issues in Turkey, is spreading to include mother toungue
defense for other ethnic communities.

Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News, Caucasian Associations Federation
Head Vacid Kadýoðlu said, “The right to defense and education in
[one’s] mother tongue is everyone’s right. Manipulating this right for
politics, as is done with Kurdish, is a wrong deed.”

“They made us forget our own mother tongue, the Circassian language.
So we cannot bring the right to defense in mother tongue to the
agenda,” Kadýoðlu said.

“First of all, we demand the return of our right to receive education
in [our] mother tongue. The government put into force the law of
elective mother tongue and dialect lessons, but also enacted a
10-person quota condition. They are not sincere,” Kadýoðlu said.

Mother tongue ‘a right’

The head of the Laz Culture Association, lawyer Mehmet Ali Beþli,
touched upon a different aspect of the issue. “Mother tongue is a
right, and the ability to defend [oneself] in one’s mother tongue,
which one can speak most efficiently, has a crucial role. People must
make their defense in the language through which they can express
themselves the best,” Beþli said.”The state initiated elective mother
tongue lessons in schools and opened a television channel [in Kurdish
languages]; however, they do not approve mother tongue defense in
courts. This is not understandable.”

If the right to mother tongue defense enters into force, translators
will be assigned twice to those who cannot speak Turkish. Those who
speak Turkish but demand to make their defense in their mother tongues
will have to bring their translators with them. Referring to this
decision, Beþli asked, “How will the court determine a person’s skills
in Turkish grammar; how could it be measured?”

He added, “Mother tongue rights should not be shaped only through Kurds”

The founder of Anatolian Culture and Research Association (AKADER),
Altan Açýkdilli, who presented a file titled “Research on Peoples’
Constitution,” to Ankara a few months ago, said they gave full support
to the right to defense in mother tongue.

Açýkdilli also commented on the translator condition for those
demanding to make defense in their mother tongue.

“This is a clear representation of a bargaining mentality. Freedom has
no condition. A person makes defense in mother tongue or does not,” he
said. Açýkdilli also said some technical problems might occur if the
right to defense in mother tongue enters into force, adding that some
measures should be taken against that.

“Translation of different dialects requires expertise. And there is a
crucial point here; legal terms do not have equivalencies in some
dialects, so a short-term training will be required for translators,”
Açýkdilli said. Açýkdilli also touched upon the fact that the debates
with regard to mother tongue are made only through Kurds. “The public
is having the wrong debate; the government represents the rights
regarding mother tongue as something only given to Kurds. However,
various communities from different ethnicities live in this country,”
Açýkdilli said.

“The rights of these communities should not be shaped through the
policies implemented with regard to Kurds,” Açýkdilli said.

Hadig Hemþin Culture Sustenance Association head Hikmet Akçiçek also
expressed the same concern. “When it comes to rights, a perspective
covering all the communities within the country is required. Mother
tongue defense and education are everyone’s right.”
November/19/2012

From: Baghdasarian

University of Michigan
Nov 23 2012

Michigan: Genocidal Hatred – Past and Present

Lansing

Genocidal Hatred – Past and Present

Tuesday, Nov 27, 2012
Event Type:
Class / Instruction (exclude)
Sponsor:
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

Time:
10:00 am – 11:30 am
Location:
Off Campus Location
Room:
Clarion Hotel & Conference Center, 2900 Jackson Ave

Participants will learn about the psychology of hate, genocidal
mentality, the Armenian genocide and the genocide of the Jews during
World War II. The danger of `humanicide will be explored. The
class will be in lecture format with discussion. Emanuel Tanay is a
Holocaust survivor, psychiatrist, and a Holocaust scholar. He is
retired Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Wayne State University.

No class 11/13

Cost:
$35

For further information please visit:

From: Baghdasarian

Mediamax, Armenia
Nov 23 2012

Azerbaijan’s “provocative statements” jeopardize peace process – Armenian FM

Yerevan, 23 November: Armenian Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandyan said
at his meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group co-Chairs in Yerevan that
“the continuous provocative statements by the senior leadership of
Azerbaijan put the negotiation process at serious risk and escalate
the situation in the region”.

Edvard Nalbandyan met OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Robert Bradtke, Igor
Popov, Jacques Faure and Personal Representative of the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk today, Mediamax reported.

The co-chairs familiarized the Armenian foreign minister with the
results of their meeting with the president of [Azerbaijan’s
breakaway] Nagornyy Karabakh in Stepanakert [Xankandi] and their
proposals for reducing tensions on the contact line.

The parties discussed the possibility of a meeting of the Armenian and
Azerbaijani foreign ministers at the OSCE Ministerial Council due to
be held in Dublin in December.

[Translated from Armenian]

From: Baghdasarian