Author: Hovhannisian John

Wales-Armenia Solidarity Press Release
c/o The Temple of Peace, Cardiff
Tel: + 00 44 7718982732
(UK) 07718982732
[email protected]

Armenian Genocide Monument desecrated on 27 January 2008
– UK Holocaust Memorial Day

Turkish protesters disrupt Holocaust and Hrant Dink Commemorations

Armenians and Welsh gathered to pray for victims of all genocides on the
United Kingdom’s Holocaust Memorial Day and to remember the first
anniversary of the assassination of Hrant Dink, the journalist killed for
raising the issue of the Armenian Genocide in the Turkish press.

The small Welsh Armenian community found that the ornate slate cross on the
monument was smashed into pieces with a hammer left at the scene. The
Armenian Genocide Monument was desecrated on a symbolic day designated to
recall the events, consequences and lessons of the darkest days of human
history in a deliberate and premeditated act of vandalism

The ceremony went ahead. Eminent Welshman Robin Gwyndaf prayed in Welsh and
English, Assembly Member Jenny Randerson called on the UK government to
recognise the Armenian Genocide and Martin Shipton, representing the
National Union of Journalists and chief reporter for the "Western Mail",
gave the tribute to Hrant Dink. Solemn prayers for all genocide victims and
speeches were disrupted by continual taunting by protestors using a
megaphone. Copies of the book "Remember" were presented to the guest
speakers representing the theme of the occasion.

One of the Welsh Armenians said "This is our holiest shrine. Our
grandparents who perished in the Genocide do not have marked graves. This is
where we remember them"

It is ironic that the main Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration in
Liverpool again failed to remember the Armenian victims of the first
genocide in the 20th century. The political decision runs against the core
purpose of this solemn day, and shows that the lessons from the last century
have yet to be fully grasped by even the organisers of HMD.

Eilian Williams of Wales Armenia Solidarity called on "Armenians and other
sympathisers throughout the world to send messages of support to Wales
Armenia Solidarity ([email protected] ) to be forwarded to the Prime
Minister of the National Assembly of Wales. We also challenge the UK
government and the Turkish Embassy to condemn this attack on a peaceful
ethnic and religious minority."

The liberated territories not to be ceded by any case

2008-01-28 15:02:00

ArmInfo. The liberated territories should not to be ceded by any case,
candidate for president Arman Melikyan said over today’s discussion. He
also added that the Karabakh conflict settlement talks should be held
in any case, but ceding of territories should not be watched as a
compromise, and all the candidates should have strict position on this.
But he said that the Karabakh conflict settlement is presented in the
diplomatic and uncertain form in the electoral programmes of the
candidates for president, later this will a wide opportunity for
handling and further actions.

Director of ARF "Dahsnaktiutyun" central office on political issues,
Kiro Manoyan, declined to answer what is compromise and said that
compromises should be defined in the process of the talks, but not in
advance, otherwise it will be senseless to negotiate. He also added
that self-determination of Karabakh does not define its status, and
today’s first problem is definition of status. According to him,
existence of the two Armenian republics will be watched as a
transitional stage, but the final goal is unification of Karabakh to
Armenia.

‘Today we have one more unsettled problem – the unpopulated territories
and delay of the problem may lead to undesirable consequences’, – Arman
Melikyan said. He also added that the territories near Agdam, Jabrayil
and Fizuli have not been populated yet, meanwhile an active process of
settlement of the occupied territories is taking place in Azerbaijan.

Both participants in the discussion agreed that defining of the modern
borders of Karabakh should be made taking the liberated territories
into consideration.

AZERBAIJANI PARLIAMENTARIAN GIVES CONVINCING RESPONSE TO ARMENIAN MP’s GROUNDLESS ALLEGATIONS

AzerTag
Jan 25 2008
Azerbaijan

Speaking at the meeting of PACE Committee on Culture, Science and
Education, Armenian parliamentarian Raffi Hovanesian said Azerbaijan
allegedly demolished medieval Armenian graves in Julfa region in
the Autonomous Republic of Nakhchivan. He said the issue needs to be
included in a special report of PACE. The Armenian MP`s claims evoked
harsh reaction from his Azerbaijani counterpart Rafael Huseynov. The
Azeri MP said Armenia occupied twenty percent of Azerbaijan`s territory
destroying tens of thousands of cultural monuments, including Azykh
Cave and stone monuments and mounds in Agdam.

Huseynov said it is Armenians that demolished all Azerbaijani graves
not only in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, but also in Armenia
itself. He stressed there are graves of representatives of various
nations, including Armenia, in Azerbaijan, and that his country has
always been preserving them.

According to the Azerbaijani parliamentarian, even today, there is
an Armenian church in the center of Baku, and "no one is going to
damage it".

"There are no Armenian graves in the territory of Nakhchivan. This is
just an Armenian fabrication", Huseynov added. He noted Hovanesian`s
allegations are nothing, but senseless and groundless territorial
claims. Rafael Huseynov said Nagorno-Karabakh and Nakhchivan are
Azerbaijani territories. He also added Armenians have been making
all efforts to prevent a visit to the region by PACE fact-finding
mission led by British MP Edward O’Hara.

Other speakers including British parliamentarians Baroness
Hooper, Robert Walter and Andrew McIntosh backed their Azerbaijani
counterpart’s stance, and said Raffi Hovanesian`s claims are hindering
both continuation of the dialogue and O’Hara`s visit to the region.

However, the Armenian parliamentarian once again asked permission to
speak and said that unlike his country which destroyed the Azerbaijani
graves during the war, Azerbaijan did it in 2005.

But again the Azerbaijan MP`s response was more than convincing.

He said Armenia had been destroying Azerbaijani graves and cultural
monuments for more than ten years, including in the years of ceasefire.

"This is why, we insist on O’Hara`s visiting the region to become
an eyewitness of this. We are ready to give every support to the
fact-finding mission. We support the British parliamentarians`
constructive proposals and recommendations, and we hope Armenia will
also take this stance", said Rafael Huseynov.

VAHAN HOVHANNESIAN PROMISES VAST CHANGES IF ELECTED PRESIDENT

Yerkir.am
22 Jan 08

ARF Bureau member and National Assembly deputy speaker Vahan
Hovhannesian, running for president, was campaigning in Armavir Region
on January 22.

"We cannot ensure a revolution and a sharp progress in our country
in such conditions because it is impossible to build a paradise in
one sector, leaving the others in garbage. This is why our program
demands and proposes system changes in all the sectors. There is only
one mechanism to carry them out: restoring justice. The government
does not consider itself as being the servant of the people.

Every small prince, district mayor, town mayor consider themselves as
people who own your fates. We should clean up this concept from inside
them. They should realize that they have been elected or appointed
to ensure you a better life. Only the president of the country can
do that. You may ask, why it was not done so far? Because, in all
the elections, people who have come to power, came to power not
with your help but with the help of criminal clans, the wealthy,
oligarchs, top officials who violate your rights, oppress you and
who buy votes. The government uses the plate on which they get your
votes. We will break that plate because the ARF does not need it,"
Hovhannesian said in a rally held in the town of Armavir.

TURKEY’S NEW ECHR JUDGE CALLS FOR CHANGES TO CONTROVERSIAL LAW ON FREE SPEECH

NTV MSNBC
Jan 23 2008
Turkey

Karakas was elected to the ECHR on Tuesday, becoming the first female
Turkish jurist to sit on the panel of judges.

ANKARA – Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which deals with
the crime of insulting Turkish identity, poses a restriction on
freedom of expression and must be amended, according to Turkey’s new
representative on the panel of judges of the European Court of Human
Rights (ECHR).

Speaking in an interview Wednesday, the day after she was elected as
a ECHR judge, Professor Ayse Isil Karakas, said there are problems
related to the implementation of Article 301, and that these had been
highlighted in European Union reports.

"When Article 301 was first established, authorities said that its
implementation should be observed," She said. "The implementation
did not yield desired results. There are lots of cases filed under
Article 301. As a jurist, I believe that Article 301 must be amended."

Article 301 has been used to prosecute a number of Turkey’s leading
authors and journalists, including Nobel Prize winning novelist Orhan
Pamuk and Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist and editor who
was gunned down in the street in Istanbul last year.

TURKISH SOLDIERS TRIED OVER DINK’S MURDER

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Jan 22 2008

Two Turkish soldiers went on trial Tuesday accused of covering up
intelligence about the plan to murder ethnic Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink months before it occurred, Anatolia news agency reported.

They are the first members of the security forces to stand trial in
the Black Sea city of Trabzon, where the murder was allegedly planned,
amid widespread allegations that some officers condoned the killing
and did not act to prevent it.

The 52-year-old Dink, whom Turkish nationalists hated for calling
the World War I massacres of Armenians genocide, was shot dead on
January 19, 2007, outside the offices of his Agos newspaper in downtown
Istanbul. The self-confessed gunman, 17-year-old Ogun Samast, alleged
mastermind Yasin Hayal and 17 suspected associates went on trial in
Istanbul last year.

Hayal’s uncle testified Tuesday that he had informed the two defendants
— members of the Trabzon gendarme, a paramilitary force policing
rural areas — that his nephew was planning to kill Dink, and accused
the pair of trying to cover up the tip-off. "I told them that Yasin
Hayal was planning to kill Hrant Dink three or four months before
his murder," Coskun Igci told the judge, adding that the soldiers
also knew that his nephew was looking for a gun to buy.

"Several days after Dink was killed, they came to me and asked me
not to speak to anyone about what we had talked before," he said.

The defendants, who were not present at the hearing and were named
by Anatolia only as O.S. and V.S., risk between six months and two
years in jail for "abuse of power".

Dink’s murder has prompted fresh calls on Ankara to eliminate the "deep
state" — a term used to describe security forces acting outside the
law to preserve what they consider Turkey’s best interests. Lawyers
for Dink’s family say the police withheld and destroyed evidence to
cover up the murder, including footage from a bank security camera
in downtown Istanbul near where Dink was killed.

Prosecutors say police received intelligence as early as 2006 of
a plot to kill Dink being organised in Trabzon. In September, two
policemen went on trial in the northern city of Samsun for their role
in a scandal that saw security forces pose for "souvenir" pictures
with the gunman after he was captured there a day after the murder.

Dink had won many hearts in Turkey with his efforts for
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation and more than 100,000 people marched
at his funeral.

BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT FAILED TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AGAIN

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.01.2008 17:47 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian Genocide bill introduced in the
Bulgarian parliament by ultra right Ataka faction for the third time
was quashed with 50 votes ‘for’, 63 votes ‘against’ and 60 abstentions.

MP Ramzi Osman of the Movement of Rights and Freedom party
predominantly formed by Turks described the motion as disrespect to
the historical truth and the legislative body itself.

"Those who proposed the bill are guided by hatred which cannot be
viewed as an argument. Humanity will not benefit from it," Socialist
Alexander Radoslavov said, APA reports.

The Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1923
claimed lives of 1.5 million of Armenians. 500 thousand found shelter
in other states.

This is a historical fact which doesn’t need arguments.

The Armenian Genocide is recognized by 18 states, 40 U.S. States and
the European Parliament.

RUSSIA TO ESTABLISH TRAIN FERRY ACROSS BLACK SEA BY 2015

RIA Novosti
17:10 | 21/ 01/ 2008

YEREVAN, January 21 (RIA Novosti) – Russia plans to launch more train
ferry services across the Black Sea by 2015, Russian Transport Minister
Igor Levitin told journalists Monday after a Russian-Armenian business
forum in Yerevan.

"We are seeking to establish sea links between all countries in
the region, which will allow us to transport people and goods,"
Levitin said.

He said six train ferry routes would be launched by 2010, and a
further six by 2015. The minister said there was a ferry in operation
between Port Kavkaz on the border between the Black Sea and the Sea
of Azov and the port of Poti in Georgia. Another ferry service will
be launched in March 2008.

In addition, an agreement was signed during Russian President Vladimir
Putin’s visit to Bulgaria last week to establish a ferry service
between Varna and Port Kavkaz.

"We plan to sign a similar agreement with Turkey later this year,"
the Russian official said.

Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi is currently seeing a boost in
development after it won a bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics
last year.

Armenian-Russian trade increased 17.9%, year on year, to $426.5
million in 2006.

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Jan 18 2008

Baku, Yerevan and Khankandi Prepared to Settle Conflict – Russian
Co-chair
18.01.08 18:17

Azerbaijan, Baku, 18 January / Trend corr. S.Agayev / The OSCE Minsk
Group Co-chairs hope to reach a progress in settling of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Baku, Yerevan and Khankandi are prepared
to work in this direction, Yuri Merzlakov, the Russian Co-chair
stated.

`The 2008 may be a decisive year, as both the countries will elect
their Presidents in 2008. The new elected President will try to
tackle the most serious problems initially,’ Bernard Fassier, the
French Co-chair stated.

`We hope that the Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents will use all of
their chances, and reach to a certain progress in settling of the
conflict,’ Fassier said.

The key basis principles, proposed by the Co-chairs, have already
been agreed, Merzlakov said. `Our approach is formed on three
principles: territorial integrity, self-definition and the refusal of
force and violence.

Panorama.am

11:24 19/01/2008

The European Parliament adopted the resolution on a
more effective EU Policy for the South Caucasus

The European Parliament resolution on a more effective
EU Policy for the South Caucasus passed on January 17,
2008 with several paragraphs referring to specifically
Armenia and the Nagorno Karabakh Conflict.

The resolution refers extensively to the need to
resolve regional conflicts as well as transport and
energy issues, and economic cooperation.

The resolution affirms that `a peaceful resolution of
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict — a conflict which
exacerbates relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan
— and of Georgia’s internal conflicts in Abkazia and
South Ossetia, is essential for stability in the EU
neighbourhood, as well as for the economic and social
development of the South Caucasus region.’

Referring to the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, the
resolution states that `the project bypasses the
existing and fully operative rail line in Armenia;
urges the South Caucasus republics and Turkey to
pursue effectively policies of regional economic
integration and to refrain from any short-sighted and
politically motivated regional energy and
transportation projects which violate ENP principles
of sound development.’

Further, regarding the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
specifically, the European Parliament `notes that the
contradiction between the principles of
self-determination and territorial integrity
contributes to the perpetuation of the unresolved
post-Soviet conflicts in the South Caucasus region;
considers that this problem can be overcome only
through negotiations.’

Finally, the Parliament `calls on key actors in the
region to play a constructive role in resolving
unresolved post-Soviet conflicts in the region and to
take steps to normalise its relations with neighbours;
reiterates its call upon Turkey to engage in serious
and intensive efforts for the resolution of
outstanding disputes with all its neighbours, in
accordance with the UN Charter, relevant UN Security
Council resolutions and other relevant international
conventions, and including a frank and open discussion
on past events; reiterates its call on the Turkish and
Armenian Governments to start the process of
reconciliation for the present and the past, and calls
on the Commission to facilitate this process while
taking advantage of the regional cooperation realised
within the ENP and Black Sea Synergy policy; calls on
the Commission and the Council to address the opening
of the Turkish border with Armenia with the
authorities of those two countries.’

Source: Panorama.am