Author: Emil Lazarian

Libération
10 août 2006

L’histoire veut être hors la loi;
Livre. Deux retours sur la controverse autour des législations
"mémorielles".

p ar VAULERIN Arnaud

Tout est figé. Le débat sur les lois mémorielles qui, en début
d’année, a opposé parlementaires, historiens et minorités oubliées
n’a pas abouti. Trop de passions, de pressions, d’empressements.
Quelques mois après la vive polémique, René Rémond, président de la
Fondation nationale des sciences politiques, revient sur la
controverse dans un entretien alerte et serein mené par l’historien
François Azouvi. Il examine les pièges laissés par les "lois
relatives à l’histoire" : c’est-à-dire la loi Gayssot du 13 juillet
1990 sur le négationnisme, la loi du 29 janvier 2001 sur la
reconnaissance du génocide arménien, la loi Taubira du 21 mai 2001
sur la traite négrière et le texte du 23 février 2005 reconnaissant
un "rôle positif" à la colonisation que le Conseil constitutionnel
déclassera sur injonction du président de la République.

René Rémond retrace la mobilisation des historiens qui a suivi la
mise en accusation d’un des leurs, Olivier Pétré-Grenouilleau. Au
titre de la loi Taubira, il était poursuivi pour avoir déclaré lors
d’une interview que les "traites négrières ne sont pas des
génocides". Une pétition avait été lancée, une association créée –
Liberté pour l’histoire -, les plaintes ont finalement été
abandonnées. Mais le malaise demeure, tout comme subsiste la
"contradiction objective entre l’application de la loi et
l’établissement de la vérité".

"Est-ce le rôle des représentants de la nation de se prononcer dans
un tel débat ? Sont-ils qualifiés à cette fin ?" interroge René
Rémond. Dans un "mouvement de longue durée qui vise à réécrire
l’histoire en fonction des minorités oubliées", il milite pour que la
discipline ne succombe pas au "péché d’anachronisme", ne verse pas
dans le "relativisme culturel". En chercheur prudent, René Rémond se
fait l’apôtre de l’ambivalence que "l’histoire nous apprend et que
l’enseignement doit mettre en lumière". Ainsi, "la colonisation a
produit des effets positifs et négatifs", dit-il, soulignant que le
"législateur ne rend pas justice à cette complexité".

Pis, avec la multiplication des lois particulières, celui-ci
participe insidieusement au délitement du corps social.

Dans un texte lapidaire, Emmanuel Terray se saisit, lui, avec fougue
de cette "contemplation du passé". L’anthropologue, directeur
d’études à l’Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales, étrille
les "militants de la mémoire" et leur "exaltation". Et s’agace de la
prolifération des victimes indirectes qui ont tendance à "s’abriter
derrière les morts pour présenter leur propre cas". Certaines de ses
saillies sur la transmission des souffrances sont discutables.
D’autres réflexions comme le "devoir d’oubli" que prône Terray sont
plus étayées.

Quand l’Etat se mêle de l’histoire entretiens de François Azouvi avec
René Rémond, Stock, 108 pp., 12 euros.

Face aux abus de mémoire d’Emmanuel Terray, Actes Sud, 74 pp., 12
euros.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

&quo t;A LEBANON OF CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM COEXISTENCE IS A GREAT ASSET
FOR THE WHOLE OF THE MIDDLE EAST"
SAID HIS HOLINESS ARAM I

In a context of an interview with the representatives of French TV channels
and newspapers, His Holiness said: "It is not possible to impose political
solution through military means. It is a plain fact that there is a problem
between Israel and Lebanon. This problem must be seriously addressed by both
states on the basis of security, justice and peace for all. Therefore, a
ceasefire is a conditio sine qua non to embark on political negotiation".

Referring to the declaration made by Christian and Muslim spiritual leaders
Catholicos Aram I said: "The internal unity of Lebanon is solid. More than
ever all the communities and political parties are united. As religious
leaders, we gave our full support to the project of the government aiming at
a comprehensive settlement of the conflict". His Holiness once again
criticized the failure of the international community to stop the violence:
"The repercussion of the ongoing violence is terrible in terms of loss of
human lives and destruction of infrastructures of Lebanon. Violence
generates more violence. What is needed now is the creation of an atmosphere
of mutual understanding. I believe that religion must play an instrumental
role in promoting mutual respect and tolerance".

His Holiness emphasized the unique importance of Lebanon as a "country of
coexistence, tolerance and mutual trust. Such a Lebanon is a great asset for
the whole region. We must support Lebanon to recover itself from this
tragedy", said Aram I.

##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of the
Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EMPLOYEE OF MINING ENTERPRISE STOPS DEMONSTRATION OF COMPLAINT

Noyan Tapan
Aug 10 2006

KAPAN, AUGUST 10, NOYAN TAPAN. Vladimir Badalian, a 61-years old
employee of the "Dino Gold Mining Company" (former mining conglomerate
of Kapan) stopped on August 9 the demonstration of complaint started
the previous day at the building of the Syunik Regional Governor’s
Office. To recap, he demands to pay his disability benefit of few years
the total sum of which makes about 800 thousand drams (about 2 thousand
U.S. dollars). But the present administration of the enterprise does
not consider itself the right successor of the mining conglomerate and
refuses to pay that money. V.Badalian stopped the individual action of
complaint, listening to the call of Khachik Asrian, the Chairman of the
"Syunyats Artsivner" ("Eagles of Syunik") youth public organization.

The latter informed that the mentioned organization will start a great
action of complaint against the English owners of the conglomerate
in the first ten days of September. Kh.Asrian mentioned in the
interview to the Noyan Tapan correspondent that "that this is not
the authorities’ but the society’s problem," and many organizations
must join the action of complaint. The "Voghji" public organization
of invalids has already made a decision on participation in the
joint action.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SURB ASTVATSATSIN CHURCH OF SOLAK TO BE RE-CONSECRATED

Noyan Tapan
Aug 10 2006

HRAZDAN, AUGUST 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The solemn ceremony of re-consecrating
the Surb Astvatsatsin (Our Lady) church of the village of Solak,
the marz of Kotayk, will take place on August 11. As Badal Sargsian,
the Solak village head informed the Noyan Tapan correspondent, it is
expected that Karekin II Catholicos of All Armenians will head the
ceremony, and Bishop Arakel Karamian, the Kotayk diocese primate will
celebrate the surb liturgy. The Surb Astvatsatsin church was built
in the 12th century. It was restored during the last two years with
the finances given by Frunzik Gevorgian, a businessman from Solak.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN WEIGHT-LIFTERS PREPARES IN TSAGHKADZOR FOR EUROPE YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP

Noyan Tapan
Aug 10 2006

TSAGHKADZOR, AUGUST 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The weight-lifting youth team
of Armenia, which prepares for the Europe Championship to start in
the city of Palermo of Italy on September 2, started its regular
educational-sporting gathering on August 9 at the olympic sports
shelter of Taghkadzor. Headed by trainers Ashot Mikhitarian and
Artashes Nersisian, 8 sportsmen (5 boys, 3 girls) improve their
physical readiness. The team will continue trainings at the newly
built sports shelter of Abovyan starting from August 21.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WRESTLERS OF ARMENIA TO PREPARE FOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN ALUSHTA

Noyan Tapan
Aug 10 2006

YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, NOYAN TAPAN. World Championships of free-style
and Greco-Roman wrestling will start in the city of Guangzhou, China,
on September 23.

The Greco-Roman wrestling team of Armenia completed by 10 sportsmen
left for the seaside resort city of Alushta for an educational-sporting
gathering on August 9, to prepare for the championships. 8-persons team
of the free-style wrestling of Armenia will also join it on August
16. Wrestlers of Armenia will jointly be trained and hold wrestlings
with leading masters of Russia, Ukraine, Romania, France and Korea.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT FORBIDS SALE OF GOODS MARKED WITH EXCISE STAMPS DATED "2004"

Noyan Tapan
Aug 10 2006

YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, NOYAN TAPAN. Under the RA Law on Excise Tax,
the Armenian government made a decision at its sitting on August
10 to put in circulation excise stamps "Tobacco" and "Alcoholic
Drinks" dated "2007" for marking the tobacco products and alcoholic
drinks imported into Armenia. NT was informed about it from the RA
Government Information and PR Department. It was decided that in
case of availability of excise stamps dated "2006", the importers of
cigarettes and alcoholic drinks may be also given excise stamps dated
"2006". The decision applies to relations that will arise starting
from August 15.

Making additions to the RA government’s decision No. 662 of October 26,
1999, on marking some goods, which are produced in Armenia or imported
into Armenia and are subject to excise taxation, with excise stamps of
new type, the government in particular approved the re-marking order
of the importers’ remaining stock of goods marked with excise stamps
dated "2004". Another addition stipulates that starting October 1,
2006, the sale of goods imported into Armenia and marked with excise
stamps dated "2004" is forbidden. It was also decided to approve the
order of writing off and desposing of unused or damaged excise stamps
dated "2004" until September 1, 2006, and to ensure the implementation
of this work.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WHO REPRESENTS THE SOCIETY

Lragir.am
10 Aug 06

There are four main sectors in the public and political life, which
represent the interests of the society: government, opposition, the
media and NGOs. Aghasi Yenokyan, political scientist, says two of these
sectors, namely the government and opposition are not legitimate. The
media and NGOs remain. "However, we can see that the media are weak for
one reason or another, or mostly serve different government groups, and
the NGOs simply avoid fulfilling these functions," said the political
scientist in an interview with the Lragir. He says it means that the
public opinion is not represented anywhere in Armenia. Aghasi Yenokyan
mentioned that the consequence is that it is becoming impossible to
conduct a policy, which is in public interests, because "this opinion
is not expressed in any way". The political scientist thinks this is
the reason why the public is indifferent towards politics, and "the
sphere of public opinion is left to a small group which represents
the government, the opposition, the media and the NGOs", becoming an
"underlying" factor of stagnation in Armenia.

Mr. Yenokyan, what is the role of NGOs in the ongoing process in
Armenia, and do they fulfill their role?

Aghasi Yenokyan: The roles of NGOs in countries with developed
democracy and in countries with developing democracy are different.

In developed democracies, NGOs usually assume pursuing the interests
of the sectors, where either it is not expedient for the government
to pursue interests or simply the government is unable to solve
these problems. In developing democracies, the goal is different. In
countries with developing democracy, the goal of NGOs is to promote
democracy. What is the problem? The problem is that NGOs, in fact,
pursue the interests of vulnerable groups, whereas in non-democratic
countries the entire society is vulnerable. In the countries where
the government does not represent the public, at least the NGOs should
represent the public.

Do the NGOs in Armenia represent the public, the interests of the
public?

Aghasi Yenokyan: The NGOs of Armenia are rather serious, certain
NGOs get rather serious funding to solve certain problems, implement
projects. Today, however, I can see that the activity of these
organizations in Armenia is not leading to what we anticipate.

Why, what is the reason that the NGOs work but fail to live up to
the expectations?

Aghasi Yenokyan: Perhaps, the problem is that NGOs are rather
conformists. The NGOs try not to become politicized because
politicization may be a setback for their mandate, in other words,
their type for which they get the grants. This is one reason, the
reluctance to become politicized. The second reason is that NGOs
mostly seek for foreign funding.

There is no local funding. In other words, the local rich people
do not think there are problems in the society and there is point
in turning to NGOs to solve these problems. Even if there is local
funding, budget funding or almost budget funding, it is mainly meant
to create an imitation of NGOs, purely governmental ones, and it may
sound funny, to fund governmental non-governmental organizations. We
can even see that there are NGOs under almost all the government
agencies, whose purpose is to compete with more or less active NGOs
for funding, and get foreign grants, and when necessity arises,
and the government needs to present the public sector, these NGOs
are presented. In other words, we can say that the NGOs are busy
with their problems, which basically differ from the problems of the
society. In other words, the function of NGOs to assume the role of
a legitimate representative of the society is not fulfilled.

And what should be done to fulfill this function?

Aghasi Yenokyan: I think that we have slightly different expectations
from NGOs. We expect NGOs to be politically active, whereas it is not
a function of NGOs, or at least it is not one of the functions the
NGOs assign themselves to. So, the first aspect is that it is wrong
to expect much from NGOs. The second is that efforts should be made
to politicize NGOs slightly. I can present cases when the NGOs did a
good job, they did little work which, however, broke the ice. I can
underline the work of NGOs after the events of April 2004. In other
words, on the one hand, we must not demand much from NGOs, and on
the other hand, we must try to politicize them, because you know the
society in Armenia is politicized. There is no middle in the society,
there is white and there is black. If the NGOs try to become middle,
this middle becomes their job, which is not needed by either the
white or the black. They are needed by themselves only.

And if the NGO represents the public interest, will it get more
funding from the international donor? Or do we deal with the NGO
– international donor – government triangle, which works on an
arrangement?

Aghasi Yenokyan: You know I wouldn’t like to dwell on these grant
mechanisms. Of course, they will not give them more money, because
these funds are limited. If the NGO operates normally, they will
give the money, if not, they will not give anything. There is no more
or less. On the other hand, the NGOs get grants for problems, which
are set outside, and do not always correspond to the key issues of
Armenia. Hence, on the one hand, they encourage these organizations
in an attempt to turn them into factors in the public life, but the
public life is political life now, and they do not become a factor
in the political life. In other words, hence they fail to fulfill
their function and represent the interests of the entire society.

So, it appears that the sector of NGOs in Armenia mainly serves to
distract the attention of the public.

Aghasi Yenokyan: I would not like to say that this approach of
theirs was predetermined. The reality is, however, that the NGOs
are fulfilling such a role. We may assert this by combining a series
of conditions.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE CARRIES OUT ARCHEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS IN NK

Today, Azerbaijan
Aug. 10, 2006

Armenian National Academy of Science Archeology Institute announced
the results of the archeological excavations carried out in occupied
Azerbaijani region of Agdam.

The Institute director Aram Kalantaryan said during the excavations
in the region, the remnants of ancient city established by "Armenian
tsar Tigran Mech" were discovered.

The Institute continues carrying out archeological excavations in
Azerbaijani occupied region at the initiative of Yerkir Patriotic
Union of Public Organizations.

According to Armenian sources, the remnants of ancient city discovered
in Agdam are dated to the 1st century, B.C. Armenian media is
largely commenting on the results of these excavations. Basing on the
discovery of "Armenian city", the media called for Defense Minister
Serj Sarkisyan to apologize to the people for his saying Aghdam is
not an Armenian territory.

"The border of the home country lies till where we can protect our
lands. As concerns Agdam, I can reiterate that it is not part of our
country," Sarkisyan said.

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Press Center head Matin Mirza commenting
on Armenian archeological excavations in Azerbaijani lands, said
Azerbaijani historians always presented neat arguments against false
claims of Armenian "historians".

Mirza said the fact of Armenians’ illegal archeological excavations
in occupied Azerbaijani regions was submitted to international
organizations and embassies, APA reports.

URL:

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

DASHNAKS OPPOSED TO ARMENIAN ANTHEM CHANGE
By Ruzanna Khachatrian and Gayane Danielian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Aug. 10, 2006

A senior member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun) voiced on Thursday strong opposition to government
plans to change Armenia’s current national anthem which was first
adopted by the nationalist party when it ruled the country in
1918-1920.

The "Mer Hayrenik" (Our Fatherland) song had an official status until
the short-lived first independent Armenian republic was incorporated
into Soviet Russia. It was for decades banned by the Soviet authorities
before being reinstated by Armenia’s first post-Communist government
in 1990.

Many Armenian music composers and artists disapproved of the move,
saying that the song’s uncomplicated theme is too simple for an anthem
and calling for the adoption of a more solemn tune. The Armenian
government heeded their concerns early this year, setting up an hoc
commission tasked with suggesting alternative anthems.

The 22-strong commission, which consists of prominent intellectuals,
artists and government officials, short-listed on Wednesday five out
of 85 songs submitted by local composers. The short-list includes
Soviet Armenia’s former anthem with changed lyrics that no longer
glorify Soviet rule and the Communist Party.

The head of the commission, Culture Minister Hasmik Poghosian, said
the contest will finish later this year. "It is very difficult to
make the right choice," she said. "But we must pick the best one."

The song that will be chosen by the commission is expected to be
submitted by the government to the National Assembly for approval.

Gegham Manukian, a parliament deputy from Dashnaktsutyun, said the
party, which is represented in the government, will likely draft a
separate bill that would uphold the status of "Mer Hayrenik." "We
hope it will pass," he told RFE/RL. "Since there are no or almost no
music composers in parliament, the vote will be more impartial."

Manukian also dismissed the commission’s significance, saying that
the Armenian authorities have not yet made a final decision on the
anthem. "The ultimate decision will be a political one," he said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress