Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

POLITICAL WILL OF SIDES THE ONLY WAY TO NEGOTIATE PEACEFUL SOLUTION TO KARABAKH CONFLICT – OSCE HEAD

news.am
July 11, 2012 | 14:01

YEREVAN.- OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier comments on reforms
and developments of the OSCE as well as problems in the OSCE area in
an interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Lately, there has been a lot of discussion about the reforms and the
development of the OSCE. What work do you plan to implement in the
nearest future?

The OSCE is a unique organization – it is the largest regional security
organization bringing together 56 participating States with sometimes
opposite political views, and our goal is to serve as a platform
where they can meet, reconcile their differences and take consensus
decisions. However, in order for such a platform to be effective, it
needs to be as relevant as possible for its participants. This is why
when I took up the position of the OSCE Secretary General a year ago,
I put raising the effectiveness of the Organization high on the agenda.

Some progress has already been achieved. In order to effectively
counter such transnational threats as terrorism, organized crime,
drug trafficking we’ve created a special department within the OSCE
which deals especially with addressing such threats. We’ve been quite
active in raising the profile of the organization – both in the media,
and in relations with its international partners and with the research
community. Last December in Vilnius foreign ministers of all OSCE
participating States took an important decision on elements of the
conflict cycle in order to strengthen the OSCE’s capabilities in
this area.

Together with breakthroughs, a number of serious problems persist in
the OSCE region. These include closed borders between participating
States of the Organization. How would you assess the continued
blockade of Armenia from the side of Turkey and linking the issue
of the normalization of relations with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
settlement, and, in parallel, to the refusal of the official Ankara
to ratify the Armenian-Turkish protocols?

The ratification of the Armenia-Turkey protocols as such remains a
matter for the bilateral relations between the two countries. However,
the matter was raised in the OSCE Permanent Council on several
occasions by both countries and other participating States. We would
welcome any developments which would strengthen peace and stability
in the region.

Despite the appeals from the international community, in the first
place from the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Azerbaijan refuses to
withdraw snipers from the Line of Contact, carries out provocations
and steps up the arms race. Are there mechanisms to force to a refusal
from attempts to resolve the problem by use of force, and create a
mechanism of investigating incidents on the line of contact?

No external player – be it OSCE or another body – can impose a solution
on the sides of the conflict or resolve it. Political will of the sides
is the only way to negotiate a peaceful solution. We will continue our
efforts to get the sides to withdraw snipers from the line of contact,
and to implement their commitment on the investigation of incidents on
the line of contact which the Presidents undertook in Sochi last year.

Are there possibilities for stepping up the work with “non-recognized
states” in the OSCE region?

It would be misleading to generalize the OSCE’s interaction with
entities which are not internationally recognized as states, as each
format and mechanism for dealing with such cases is individually
conceived and internationally agreed.

Are you expecting new participating States to the Organization?

Specifically, what is the situation with Mongolia?

Mongolia applied to become an OSCE participating State in October
last year, and in December 2011 all 56 participating States in Vilnius
tasked the Irish Chairmanship to take forward the application. As part
of this effort, the Irish Presidency organized a familiarization trip
to Mongolia this June, in which I took part. The final decision on
Mongolia’s application must be taken by a consensus decision of all
56 participating States.

Can the OSCE take any measures in order to prevent further exacerbation
of the conflict in Syria?

Syria is neither a participating State of the OSCE nor a Partner for
Co-operation. The situation in Syria is being dealt with in other
forums, most notably the UN Security Council. Naturally, situation
around Syria and differences in positions of some States can have
an impact on their interaction within the OSCE. We generally support
resolution of conflicts by peaceful means. However, the conflict in
Syria lies outside of the remit of the OSCE work and therefore the
OSCE is not in a position to take action in any way.

From: Baghdasarian

TURKISH COURT OF CASSATION SENT BACK HRANT DINK COURT CASE

ARMENPRESS
11 July, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JULY 11, ARMENPRESS: Turkish Court of Cassation sent
back Hrant Dink court case, editor-in-chief of the bilingual
Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, assassinated in Istanbul in January
2007.

The Court reasoned that ” the messages and documents are incomplete”
and offered to submit them later after correcting the shortcomings.

As Armenpress reports citing Turkish “Milleyet” newspaper the case
was presented by Dink family’s advocates.

19 suspected people connected to Dink’s case were released on the
basis of ” non- member of criminal organization “. 17-year old Turkish
nationalist, Ogun Samast, because of juvenile age was sentenced to
22.5 year of imprisonment for the committed murder, yet Yasin Hayal,
who drove him to crime, was sentenced to life imprisonment.

From: Baghdasarian

CIVIL PROTESTS IN ARMENIA SIGNAL BIRTH OF LEFTIST IDEOLOGY – EXPERT

PanARMENIAN.Net
July 11, 2012 – 14:29 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Recent civil protests in Armenia, including the
struggle for Mashtots park, protests over military doctor Vahe
Avetyan’s beating death at Harsnakar restaurant, signal a birth of
leftist ideology in the country, Caucasus Institute director believes.

As Alexander Iskandaryan told a news conference in Yerevan, Armenia’s
civil activists are mimicking the behavior of classic “New Leftists”
in Europe or Latin America.

The expert noted a struggle for ecology, protest against demolition of
old buildings, demands for social justice among the civil activists’
main goals.

“Though the country’s leadership might agree to compromise where the
activists’ demands don’t threaten the country’s political system I
doubt for the civil movement to grow into a serious political force
before presidential poll,” Iskandaryan said.

The expert warned against comparing protests in Armenia with the Arab
Spring. “The revolts can’t be characterized as a common occurrence,
with different countries having different motifs behind the uprisings,”
the expert concluded.

From: Baghdasarian

GENOCIDE ARMENIEN : ERIC RAOULT (UMP) REGRETTE QUE FABIUS PREFERE LE CARNET DE COMMANDES DE L’ETAT TURC
Stephane

armenews.com
mercredi 11 juillet 2012

L’ancien ministre UMP Eric Raoult a dit vendredi sur France Inter
“regretter que Laurent Fabius prefère le carnet de commandes de l’Etat
turc aux livres d’histoire de l’Armenie”, en commentant la rencontre a
Paris entre le ministre des Affaires etrangères et son homologue turc.

Laurent Fabius et Ahmet Davutoglu ont scelle jeudi une “nouvelle etape”
dans les relations Paris-Ankara symbolisee par la levee effective
des sanctions turques contre la France a propos du genocide armenien.

Après le vote d’un texte par l’Assemblee nationale en fin d’annee
dernière reprimant la negation du genocide armenien sous l’empire
ottoman (1915-1917), nie depuis toujours par la Turquie, Ankara avait
annonce la suspension de sa cooperation politique et militaire avec
la France. Ce texte de loi avait par la suite ete censure par le
Conseil constitutionnel.

Le Conseil “a decide que la proposition de loi qui avait ete presentee
par les parlementaires (de la precedente majorite de droite) etait
contraire a notre Constitution donc il n’est pas possible de reprendre
le meme chemin sinon le resultat sera evidemment le meme”, avait note
jeudi M. Fabius.

“Je regrette que Laurent Fabius prefère le carnet de commandes de
l’Etat turc aux livres d’histoire de l’Armenie”, a reagi l’ancien
depute de Seine-Saint-Denis.

Il a toutefois reconnu que “le problème n’e(tait) pas nouveau” et
que “les ministres des Affaires etrangères ont souvent eu a regler
l’ambiguïte des relations entre les deux pays et le devoir de memoire”.

Neanmoins, pour M. Raoult, si on ne “peut pas juger un gouvernement”
au bout de deux mois, “ca commence plutôt mal” au regard de la gestion
de ce dossier.

Après la censure du Conseil constitutionnel, Francois Hollande s’etait
engage, durant la campagne presidentielle, a presenter un nouveau texte
de loi permettant la penalisation de la negation du genocide armenien.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN FOOTBALL RIGHTS AWARDED

DigitalTVEurope.net

July 10 2012

European football body UEFA has awareded all free-to-air media rights
for the 2012-15 Champions League in Armenia to Armenia TV.

Each matchnight public broadcaster Armenia TV will broadcast one live
match, as well as the weekly highlights programme.

All rights have been granted on a platform-neutral basis, with the
rights also being exploited on the internet and on mobile.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIANS FLEEING FROM WAR-TORN SYRIA

Voice of Russia
July 10 2012

The conflict in Syria, which the authorities describe as a fight
against terrorists, while the opposition describes as a civil war,
has forced people to flee from the country. Following foreigners,
entire ethnic communities are leaving Syria. Ethnic Armenians in
Syria have started to either return to their motherland, or to fly
to their relatives in the West.

According to a report released by the London-based Syrian Human Rights
Committee, over 17,000 people, including 12,000 civilians have been
killed in Syria since the clashes between the opposition and the
government forces broke out last year. Meanwhile, the UN says that
almost a quarter of million people have become refugees. This figure
includes ethnic Armenians who have been forced to flee from Syria in
the past months. According to various reports, the Armenian community
consists of up to 120,000 people the majority of whom are descendents
of Armenians who survived the 1915 massacre in the Ottoman Empire. At
present, they have to save their lives by fleeing from a new war,
says director of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Armenian
Academy of Sciences Ruben Safrastyan.

“Reports from Syria say that the situation of the Armenian community
there is critical. People have practically fallen victim to the
fighting which has raged across Syria. Among the victims are ethnic
Armenians. On a background of these reports, it’s not surprising that
many people prefer to return to Armenia. According to official sources,
the number of people who are returning has already exceeded 2,000. I
believe that this number will grow. For decades, the Armenian community
has safely lived in Syria. I would say that it has even flourished. A
year ago when the Syrian opposition launched its campaign against the
government, Armenians have daily been subjected to danger. Armenians
will not return to Syria until this danger disappears and peace is
restored,” Ruben Safrastyan said.

According to those who talked to the Voice of Russia reporters, none
the less, the majority of refugees hope to return back to Syria and
are applying for dual citizenship, which is permissible in Armenia.

People leave their businesses and houses in Syria. The majority
of ethnic Armenians live in Allepo, Qamishli, Damascus, Lataki
and Kesari. But it’s unsafe to stay there, especially when taking
into account their Christian faith, says political scientist Levon
Shakhnazaryan.

“Although Armenians try to observe neutrality, all signs of the civil
war in Syria show that they are embroiled in it. Bombings continue
on Syrian districts and houses regardless who lives there. Moreover,
Islamist groups that have recently appeared specially target Christian
churches and Armenian houses. Experts say that if the events in Syria
continue this way, from 35 to 50 thousand ethnic Armenians will leave
for Armenia,” Levon Shakhnazaryan said.

At present, the Armenian authorities are drawing up a plan to help
refugees who will be granted citizenship under a simplified procedure
within a short period of time.

From: Baghdasarian

PEACEKEEPERS ONLY PROTECT YOU WHEN THERE IS PEACE – OPED
By Lawrence S. Schneiderman

Eurasia Review

July 10 2012

This month marks the seventeenth anniversary of the Srebrenica Massacre
in Bosnia during the Yugoslavian War. Its significance lies in both
what it is as much as what it is not.

Srebrenica was not Genocide. However, the Western Mainstream Media
(WMM) and the liberal intelligentsia would like you to think it was.

They preferred to shine a bright light on Srebrenica and label it
genocide. But the salient point is that genocide was not committed.

According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington,
DC, Genocide is:

“It is a very specific term, referring to violent crimes committed
against groups with the intent to destroy the existence of the group.”

Genocide is a specific and horrendous act that should not be
trivialized. Equally, it is wrong to apply its use incorrectly for
political gain or correctness. For anyone who has forgotten – here
is a short recap of actual genocides in the 20th century.

The Armenian Genocide was implement in 1915 and lasted until the end
of World War I. In the end, the Ottoman Turks had murdered 1.5 million
Armenian men, women, and children. The means of extermination were
methodically planned, with the intention of destroying the existence
of the Armenian people in Turkey. They used some of the same methods
we associate with Nazi Germany, such as death marches, starvation,
extermination camps, use of poison gases, drowning children, and mass
burnings. Their intent from the start was to wipe out the Armenian
people, with the ultimate end game resulting in the systematic
eradication of the Armenian population from Turkey. The fact that
modern day Turkey, under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
denies that it was genocide is laughable.

The Jewish Holocaust of World War II is understood and accepted today
as the definition of Genocide, in most of the world. The exception
is the world’s Islamic nations. Nazi Germany and their Quisling
collaborators exterminated 6 million Jews, two-thirds of the Jewish
population of Europe, in a systematic state planned program, i.e.,
The Final Solution. The methods and means of history’s most horrific
genocide are well documented.

Yet, what is not as well known is what happened in the Balkans during
this same period. The Nazis and their Croatian Ustase collaborators
killed 581,000 Serbs. German forces, under direct orders from Adolf
Hitler, fought with a special vengeance against the Serbs, who
like Jews and Romas, were considered untermensch (sub-human). It is
estimated that 300,000 Serbs were murdered in the Croatian operated
Jasenovac concentration camp. Large numbers of Serbs were also killed
at the hands of Albanians, who allied themselves to the Nazis. It is
estimated that Albanians killed 40,000 to 60,000 Serbs.

The Rwandan Genocide began and ended in 1994. It is estimated that
750,000 ethnic Tutsi were murdered in 100 days. This genocidal act
occurred under the protection of a United Nation’s Peacekeeping Force,
under the direction of Mr. Kofi Annan, Head of the UN Peacekeeping
Department. Hutu tribesman who comprised 80% of the population of
Rwanda attempted to destroy the existence of all Tutsi in the country.

In the Balkans, during the Yugoslavian War (1991 – 1995) and the
Kosovo War (1999), there was war and there were war crimes. Everyone
in the Balkans has blood on his hands; war crimes were committed by
all of the major warring factions. The greatest of these war crimes
was the now infamous Srebrenica Massacre.i

In 1995, from July 12 through July 16, Bosnian Serbs killed 7,079
Muslim men, the majority of whom were unarmed. This was a war crime.

Much as the American massacre at My Lai was in 1968 during the
Vietnam War.ii What made Srebrenica unique were not the number of
people killed, although significant, but rather the international
community’s role in the crime, and the subsequent portrayal of this
event as genocide.

United Nation’s Peacekeepers, under the direction of Mr. Kofi Annan,
the ongoing Head of the UN’s Peacekeeping Department, had disarmed
Muslim fighters and guaranteed their protection in the designated
“safe area.”iii As someone who experienced the terrain of Srebrenica
firsthand, it was abundantly clear that you could not select a more
disadvantageous place to ensure anyone’s safety. Srebrenica is a small
town with a single north – south thoroughfare situated in a hollow
with steep treed hills on both sides. One could defend the town,
much as Texans defended the Alamo. But no one should have mistaken Mr.

Annan and his UN Associates, for William Travis, James Bowie, or
Davy Crockett.

Since the Bosnian Serbs did not attempt to destroy the existence of
all Bosnian Muslims, Srebrenica was a war crime and not genocide.

Women and children were also living under UN protection in the
Srebrenica “safe area,” and they were not killed. They were put on
buses and trucks and were transported out of the area. One may posit
that the aim of Bosnian Serbs was to ethnically cleanse Muslims from
eastern Bosnia, but it was not genocidal. In any war, combatants and
civilian populations are on the move – sometime by force and sometime
by choice.

So what have we learned? One lesson learned from Srebrenica was that
Europe and the United States did not have the will to defend and
protect the people who had put their lives in their hands. Moreover,
UN officials such as Mr. Annan, Mr. Yasushi Akashi (UN Special
Representative for the former Yugoslavia), and French General Bernard
Janvier (UN Force Commander in the former Yugoslavia), were either
incompetent and/or complicit. They have yet to be held accountable
for their part in this horrific war crime.

A second lesson is that Peacekeepers only protect you when there is
peace. In the past, a hostile force has used Peacekeepers as human
shields, and hostages and pawns in a negotiation. And in this case,
worst of all, the Peacekeepers gave the veneer of safety to those
whom they were tasked to defend; thus rendering them defenseless
and compliant. Survival would have been better achieved knowing
ones vulnerability and acting accordingly, rather than relying on a
quasi-military force under orders not to engage an opposing hostile
force.

The men of Srebrenica put their lives in the hands of the United
Nations, and were slaughtered as a result. Apologies and hand ringing
does not help the dead. And neither does inappropriately euphemistic
labeling. Progress may someday be made in the Balkans when broken
rhetoric is replaced with honest dialogue.

Author: Lawrence S. Schneiderman is an International Consultant and
Dr. of Public Policy, Vanderbilt University.

From: Baghdasarian

TWO NEW GOVERNORS APPOINTED

10 Jul.’12 / 20:08

New governors were appointed in Samtskhe-Javakheti and Shida Kartli
regions, Georgian President’s spokesperson, Manana Manjgaladze said
on July 10.

Ivane Tsiklauri, former deputy head of Special State Protection
Service, was appointed as the governor of [the Armenian-majority]
Samtskhe-Javakheti region, replacing Lasha Chkadua. The latter became
deputy minister in the newly established state ministry for
employment.

Sulkhan Sibashvili, former deputy head of the President’s
administration, was appointed as the governor of Shida Kartli region,
replacing Giorgi Tatishvili. Before becoming the governor last
September, Tatishvili was a majoritarian MP from Gori single-mandate
constituency.

From: Baghdasarian

PRESENTATION OF SERJ TANKIAN’S THIRD ALBUM TAKES PLACE IN BURBANK (VIDEO)

July 10, 2012 | 20:35

BURBANK. – The presentation of Serj Tankian’s Harakiri third solo
album took place in Burbank. The presentation took place at Records
Boutique Store on Monday.

During the presentation Tankian answered to the questions of fans.

Tanjian’s third solo album received a lot of feedback and reviews. In
some of those it is described as a modern classic.

“It is revolutionary music in different levels. Once it hits on July
10, 2012, rock’n’ roll may never be the same,” an article about the
album says.

To note, Tankian’s first album ‘Elect the Dead’ was released in 2007
followed by ‘Imperfect Harmonies’ in 2010.

From: Baghdasarian

HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK: FLOATING CREDIT TO ARMENIA

Panorama.am
10/07/2012

Haykakan Zhamanak, citing its sources close to Russian government,
reports that Armenian authorities are holding unofficial talks with
Russian government over provision of large-scale credit to Armenia.

The negotiated sum may fluctuate from 800 million to one billion US
dollars. The Armenian side is ready to take the sum with a high and
fluctuating interest rate, i.e. the interest rate will depend on the
situation in the international market.

The sources also say that the Armenian side seeks to get at least
part of the credit by the end of the year, due to the forthcoming
presidential elections in 2013.

From: Baghdasarian