Author: Kajoyan Gevork

JDD
Turquie-UE : « Hollande n’est pas un fervent partisan de l’adhésion »

INTERVIEW – Pour François Hollande, l’adhésion de la Turquie à l’Union
européenne (UE) n’aura pas lieu au cours du prochain mandat
présidentiel. `Aujourd’hui, il y a un processus de négociation qui est
en cours depuis d’ailleurs des années` mais `aucune condition majeure
n’est réunie, et donc, dans le prochain quinquennat, il n’y aura pas
d’adhésion de la Turquie à l’Union européenne`, a ainsi déclaré le
candidat socialiste lors de l’émission Des paroles et des actes sur
France 2 mercredi. Interrogé par leJDD.fr, Jean-François Bayart,
spécialiste de la Turquie au Centre d’études et de recherches
internationales (Ceri) dresse un bilan des rapports franco-turcs.

François Hollande est-il favorable à l’adhésion de la Turquie ? ¨Le
candidat socialiste n’a pas vraiment pris position, il a simplement
fait un constat : au cours des cinq prochaines années, la Turquie ne
remplira pas les conditions requises pour son adhésion à l’UE. Les
Turcs sont les premiers à le reconnaitre, eux-mêmes n’envisagent
d’intégrer l’Europe qu’à partir de 2020. François Hollande n’est pas
un fervent partisan de cette adhésion. Il est influencé par un des ses
conseillers, Mourad Papazian, qui appartient à la Fédération
révolutionnaire arménienne. Le candidat socialiste s’est d’ailleurs
prononcé personnellement en faveur de la proposition de loi réprimant
la négation du génocide arménien de 1915 initiée par la majorité de
Nicolas Sarkozy en 2011.

La suite sur le lien en bas

dimanche 15 avril 2012,
Ara ©armenews.com

TURQUIE
Ayse Gunaysu clarifie ses propos publiés dans Hurriyet

Ayse Gunaysu, la représentante de l’Association des Droits de l’Homme
en Turquie a réagi à l’article d’Hurriyet Daily News dont nous avons
reproduit ici la traduction vendredi.

En effet, après avoir été contacté par Charles Vanetzian, militant de
la cause arménienne en Argentine, à propos des manifestations
organisées par des ONG en Turquie visant à commémorer le génocide des
arméniens le 24 avril, Ayse Gunaysu a tenu à apporter les précisions
suivantes.

`L’article publié dans Hürriyet Daily News a mal interprété le sens
global des réponses que j’ai données lors de mon entretien avec la
journaliste [Vercihan ZiflioÄ?lu]. D’abord, quand j’ai fait référence Ã
la nature de `ces` commémorations, je ne fais référence qu’aux
commémorations organisées par l’IHD [l’Association des Droits de
l’Homme], pas aux autres commémorations. Seulement les commémorations
organisées par l’IHD insistent sur la reconnaissance du Génocide des
Arméniens. Deuxièmement, quand j’ai mentionné l’assassinat de Sevag
Sahin Balikci, j’ai dit : `La négation du Génocide nourrit le
racisme… L’assassinat de Sevag est la preuve qu’aucun Arménien n’est
en sécurité en Turquie tant que le déni continue.` Sans cette
précision, aucune mention de l’assassinat de Sevag ne signifie rien.

Encore un point : les deux commémorations qui auront lieu à Istanbul
ne sont pas organisées `conjointement` par `Dites stop au Nationalisme
et au Racisme` (DurDe) comme indiqué dans l’article. Il s’agit de deux
manifestations organisées séparément sans coopération entre elles, ce
qui est regrettable.`

dimanche 15 avril 2012,
Jean Eckian ©armenews.com

Yeni Musavat, Azerbaijan
April 8 2012

One should not forget that Russia is an aggressor country

Vafa Quluzada: `After Lavrov’s unsuccessful visit, Russia might think
of measures against Azerbaijan’

[translated from Azeri]

The major issues worth of attention discussed in Baku during the visit
of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov were the status of the
Qabala radar station and the Caspian Sea. Lavrov said he had discussed
issues of intensifying negotiations over the extension of the rental
term of the Qabala radar, adding that Azerbaijan had considered
Russia’s proposals and would soon give a response to them [Russia].

For his part, [Azerbaijani Foreign Minister] Elmar Mammadyarov said
that Azerbaijan had set up an ad hoc commission and the commission was
studying Russia’s proposals on extending the rental term of the Qabala
radar station. As for the status of the Caspian Sea, the Russian
foreign minister ruled out interference of foreign players in issues
related to the sea. He believes that issues concerning the Caspian Sea
should be resolved with involvement of all five littoral states. In
this regard, the drafting of a convention on the legal status of the
Caspian Sea is of great importance. No doubt that other issues were
also discussed at the meeting. However, as there was official
information only about these issues, we could only guess about other
possible issues discussed at behind-the-scene meetings. Given this,
what else might Lavrov discuss in Baku?

Political expert Vafa Quluzada believes Russia is constantly making
efforts with regard to Azerbaijan. One of the proposals is that the
Russian military to protect Azerbaijani borders as they do inArmenia.
In exchange for this, certain compromises might be proposed over
Karabakh. It is also possible that similar talks were conducted during
Lavrov’s latest visit to Azerbaijan.

However, if Azerbaijan agrees to it, the West might cut relations with
our country. Therefore, if Russia assists the Azerbaijani government
with regard to domestic issues, it is not expected that Azerbaijan is
to believe in Moscow’s pledge. For this reason, Lavrov’s visit to Baku
was a complete failure.

The expert believes that one should not forget that Russia is an
aggressor state. One needs to be on alert after Lavrov’s failed visit
as Russia might devise measures against Azerbaijan. The most
frightening is that if a war is given the go-ahead against Iran, then
Russia might use it to resume fighting inKarabakhin an attempt to
occupy new territories. However, the West is well aware of this and
does necessary work with Russia to discourage it from resorting to
such measures.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
April 15 2012

On the air in 35 languages, Voice of Turkey set to reach Mongolia soon
0

15 April 2012 / AYDIN ALBAYRAK , ANKARA

The Voice of Turkey (Türkiye’nin Sesi Radyosu in Turkish), Turkey’s
state-owned radio broadcasting service in foreign languages, will soon
add Mongolian to its portfolio.
The Voice of Turkey is the world’s fourth biggest radio station in
terms of the number of foreign languages in which it broadcasts. It
airs content in Turkish as well as in 34 other languages with plans to
start a Mongolian service soon.

With such a large coverage, Turkey’s official radio station is placed
on the list above the BBC, which broadcasts in 33 languages, and comes
after the US, China and Russia. Now in its 75th year, the Voice of
Turkey is considering expanding its coverage to Mongolia.

“We have received requests from Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, Gagauz
Turks and Bashkortostan [a republic in Russia] to start broadcasting
in their languages,” Süleyman Köksoy, director of the Turkish Radio
and Television Corporation (TRT) Foreign Service, told Sunday’s Zaman
in an exclusive interview.

If the plan gets the go-ahead from the governing board, Mongolian will
be the 36th language broadcast by the Voice of Turkey. The Voice of
Turkey utilizes new technology such as web-broadcasting and a
satellite feed as well as the traditional shortwave transmission.

The latest additions among the languages broadcast are Armenian (over
the web since 2009) and Afghan languages such as Dari Persian, Pashto
and Afghan Uzbek.

“The broadcast in Armenian has met with considerable interest in
Armenia; we generally get positive messages,” Köksoy said. Stories of
the lives of Armenian artists who lived in Anatolia and Ottoman
bureaucrats of Armenian origin are being broadcast during the one-hour
transmission.

This relatively new addition has led the Armenians living in Ýstanbul
today to request radio broadcasts in Armenian from TRT inside Turkey.
Noting that broadcasting in Armenian is a step towards friendship,
Köksoy commented, “It is proof we don’t have any negative feelings
towards Armenians.”

With the active foreign policy initiatives the government has
undertaken in recent years, the messages the Voice of Turkey gets have
also increased significantly. The radio station has been receiving
enthusiastic messages especially from Arab countries in recent years.
It seems there are people in Egypt and Syria, for example, who would
like to see Recep Tayyip Erdoðan as their prime minister. “‘Why don’t
you help us? We ask our prime minister to do such-and-such…’ they
write in their letters,” he said. The radio receives a great deal of
attention in Turkey’s neighborhood, that is, the area formerly ruled
by the Ottoman Empire. “Those countries take Turkey as a model, and
have high expectations from Turkey. Turkey is forced by the
circumstances into this foreign policy initiative and is broadcasting
accordingly,” Köksoy noted.

But the country where the broadcast gets the warmest welcome is
Pakistan, where there is even a club bringing together those who
listen to the Voice of Turkey. Another thing of note is the attention
the station gets in Latin America, where the Voice of Turkey started
to broadcast in Spanish in 2008. “We receive friendly messages from
countries such as Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Cuba and Argentina,” said
Köksoy.

The radio station also helps those who want to learn Turkish. In order
to meet requests from listeners around the world trying to learn
Turkish, a 10-minute period is allocated to Turkish during broadcasts.
The Turkish sessions are stored as podcasts on the web at
“” for later reference. A Turkish learning pack is
also available on the website in most of the languages the Voice of
Turkey broadcasts in.

Currently, the radio station is preparing a Turkish learning pack on
video, which could be made use of both on television and on the web.
As part of efforts to keep abreast of the times, the news programs and
interviews from the Voice of Turkey will be available as downloadable
video podcasts on the Internet soon.

Turkey started its cross-border radio broadcasting in 1938 on
shortwave. But broadcasting on the web, which started in 2008, is the
area getting most of the attention nowadays, although there are still
places such as Russia, China and Latin America among others where the
transmission is still on shortwave.

The Voice of Turkey was very popular from the ’60s to the end of the
’80s among Turkish workers in Europe. The radio station not only
served as a platform to give a voice to their problems, but also as a
means of communication. Turkish workers who couldn’t get any news from
their families in Turkey used to communicate with Turkey through the
radio. And arabesque music, which was not allowed in TRT programs in
those days, being considered of low taste, was never subject to a ban
on the Voice of Turkey as it was the kind of music Turkish workers in
Europe wanted to listen to.

The Voice of Turkey broadcasts in Turkish 24 hours a day, but the
daily duration of broadcast in foreign languages varies from half an
hour to an hour and a half, Persian being the only foreign language to
enjoy the maximum time. The content of the broadcast is composed
mainly of news items and summaries from the press. And should there be
any time remaining, programs on Turkey, Turkish culture and music are
broadcast. The Voice of Turkey looks like the United Nations in
miniature form, with some of its 300 employees being Turkish citizens
of foreign origin.

First cross-border broadcast

Turkey’s first radio broadcast outside of its borders was a speech on
Hatay (a province on the Syrian border) issued by the then-Prime
Minister Ýsmet Ýnönü, which after being translated, was broadcast in
Arabic in 1937. But the regular external service of the Turkish radio
began in English, German and French in October 1938. Currently, the
Voice of Turkey broadcasts live on the web in 34 languages in addition
to Turkish. You can visit their website at

NEWS Press (English)
April13, 2012 Friday

OSCE, EU support discussion on role of police during Armenia’s elections

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe OSCE

The role and responsibilities of the police during the elections,
including co-operation with electoral commissions, political parties,
observers, as well as interaction with citizens were discussed today
at a roundtable meeting in Yerevan.

The event was organized at the initiative of the Armenian Police with
the support from the OSCE Office in Yerevan and financial assistance
from the European Union.

The purpose of the workshop is to clarify the roles of various law
enforcement agencies during all stages of the electoral process and
their interaction with the election administration, as well as to
inform all stakeholders, including political parties, electoral
bodies, observers, media, international organizations and the public
at large, about it.

“The role of the police in helping ensure smooth conduct of the
upcoming elections cannot be underestimated,” said Lieutenant-General
Vladimir Gasparyan, the Head of the Armenian Police. “The main goal of
today’s event is to present all the measures taken by the Police so
far in the preparation for the elections, and to hear the
participants’ views and suggestions.”

Ambassador Andrey Sorokin, the Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan,
said: “I am pleased to see the continuous effort by law enforcement
bodies to be predictable and transparent towards the public, and
inform people about the way the police intends to address issues of
public concern. Today’s event is one in a series and we encourage
representatives of the police, media outlets, political parties and
civil society organizations present here today to widely publisize the
conclusions of the presentations and discussions.”

“Transparency is essential to build the trust of society in the
electoral process,” said Onno Simons, First Counselor of the
Delegation of the European Union to Armenia. “The police has an
important role in this process, and we hope it will be used precisely
for this – to help ensure transparency, and thereby assure voters of
the significance of their vote.”

Participants discussed the activities of the newly established police
structure responsible for electoral issues, as well as public’s
engagement in the correction of possible inaccuracies of voter lists,
procedures to file police reports on violations and ways to respond
quickly to them. Other topics included co-operation between electoral
commissions and police units, providing information to the media,
policing during the election day, organizing patrol services, ensuring
public order and doing safety management.

The workshop is part of a 1.7 million euro project on strengthening
electoral processes in Armenia in line with international standards,
implemented by the OSCE Office in Yerevan and financed by the EU.

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
April 13 2012

CSTO to attend Armenian military drills

All CSTO members, except Uzbekistan, have agreed to take part in
military drills of Collective Rapid Reaction Forces in Armenia on
September 3-8, News Armenia cites CSTO Deputy Secretary General Valery
Semerikov as saying in Yerevan on Friday.

The official said that all preparation is held according to schedule.
The Armenian Defense Ministry keeps the process under strict control.

Semerikov noted that the CSTO Council of Defense Minister and the
Committee of Secretaries of National Security Councils will get full
information on the drills in Kazakhstan in May.

The topic of training this year is collective regional security of
Collective Rapid Reaction Forces (CRRF) in the Caucasus Region. The
CSTO Joint Staff and officials of Defense Ministries, CRRF commanders
will coordinate the process.

The CRRF is used to counter military aggression, carry out special
operations to combat terrorism, transnational organized crime, drug
trafficking and coping with emergency situations. The forces consist
of a group with permanent combat readiness. The RCCF has about 20,000
troops, half of which are Russians.

The CSTO consists of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia,
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

States News Service
April12, 2012 Thursday

ANKARA’S VIEW OF THE FRENCH ELECTIONS: A RESET WITH FRANCE?

WASHINGTON

The following information was released by the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace:

Sinan ulgen

Turks are keeping a close eye on Frances presidential race, as they
well should. After all, the outcome of the upcoming election will
steer the future direction of the Turkey-EU relationship. Many Turks
perceive the current French president,Nicolas Sarkozy,as one of the
fundamental impediments to progress toward Turkeys eventual accession
to the European Union. The election of the Socialist candidate,
Franois Hollande, could infuse a new sense of purpose into the
Turkey-EU relationship.

After Sarkozy came to power in 2007, he did not hesitate to block
Turkeys path to the EU. In his public rhetoric, Sarkozy argued that
Turkey had no place in Europe. Despite France being part of the
consensus decision in 2004 to start membership negotiations, with
Sarkozy at the helm, Paris breached that contract and unilaterally
suspended five of the chapters under negotiation, claiming that they
were only relevant for prospective members.

Perhaps somewhat naively, Sarkozy attempted to separate Turkish
accession from his countrys overall relationship with Turkey, seeking
to develop the bilateral relationship despite his relentless
opposition to Turkeys EU membership. The French tried to convince
Turkish authorities to agree to disagree.

But for Ankara, such an attempt was futile. A positive relationship
with a country so vehemently opposed to the goal of EU accession could
not be established. As a result, the relationship worsened during the
Sarkozy era. Today, the two countries share the dubious distinction of
having the worst bilateral political ties among NATO allies.

Many Turks hope that a change in leadership in France will create a
window of opportunity for resetting the relationship with Paris and
revitalize stalled membership negotiations. Franois Hollande has been
much less skeptical about Turkeys eventual accession. So far, his
statements put him closer to the German chancellor thanPresident
Sarkozy.Angela Merkel stated her opposition to Turkeys membership
while still emphasizing her duty to honor commitments made by previous
German governments. As a result, she did not use German diplomacy to
block Turkeys progress. This is in a sense what Ankara expects from a
Hollande-led French government.

But even a switch from stalwart opposition to a position of neutrality
in France could add serious momentum to the Turkey-EU relationship:
the five chapters of the EU acquis that were unilaterally suspended
can be unfrozen. There has been almost no progress in negotiations,
and a new chapter has not been opened since June 2010. The possibility
of opening up new chapters to discussion could indeed give a
much-needed and much-delayed boost to the negotiation process.

An improvement in the bilateral relationship is also likely to have a
positive impact on foreign policy cooperation between Turkey and the
EU. The emerging rivalry between France and Turkey has been a handicap
in this respect. The France-UK visit to Libya in September 2011 came
just a day before the planned visit of the Turkish prime minister,
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to the same country. That did not bode
particularly well for potential Turkey-EU cooperation in this highly
critical area.

The drawback of a Hollande presidency from Ankaras perspective seems
to be the willingness of the Socialist candidate to rejuvenate the
failed attempt in France to criminalize the act of denying that the
1915 Armenian massacres were genocide. Such a move would have
long-term political implications, as Ankara would not remain
indifferent to such an initiative. The Turkish reaction would lead to
yet another crisis between Ankara and Paris.

One thing is certain. Only a change of leadership in France will
unleash the possibility of resetting a critically important
relationship that, in all likelihood, will remain crisis prone under
Sarkozy.

Xinhua General News Service, China
April13, 2012 Friday 11:40 AM EST

Chinese Language Day celebrated inArmenia

YEREVAN April 13

Yerevan State Linguistic University (YSLU) and the United Nations
representative office jointly celebrated a Chinese Language Day here
on Friday.

The event was to introduce to theArmenianpeople the richness and
history of Chinese and build a stronger partnership between the two
nations, U.N. Resident Coordinator and UNDP Representative Dafina
Gercheva said in her welcome speech at the function.

Zhao Mingwen, charge d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy inArmenia,
thanked the U.N. representative office and YSLU for holding such an
activity and hoped moreArmenianstudents would learn Chinese and help
further promote ties between China andArmeniathrough language study.

YSLU Rector Suren Zolyan, and Naira Grigoryan, director of the
Confucius Educational and Cultural Center of YSLU, also attended the
celebration.

The event was co-organized by the U.N. Department of Public
Information and the Confucius Educational and Cultural Center of YSLU.

`Grandma’s Tattoos’ in Armenia

20:12 – 13.04.2012

The documentary film `Grandma’s Tattoos’ chronicles filmmaker Suzanne
Khardalian’s quest to expose the extreme abuse suffered by her
grandmother, a survivor of the Armenian Genocide. The movie will
screened on April 23, in Yerevan. Presentation of the movie is
organized by ARF Armenian Cause (Hay Dat) office.

The movie will be shown on April 25, in Vanadzor, April 26, in Gyumri,
April 28, in Stepanakert, NKR.

Azerbaijani air forces conducted flights along the line of contact
with Karabakh’s armed forces

14:40, 14 April, 2012

YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani armed forces violated
ceasefire regime on the contact line with the armed forces of Karabakh
for about 300 times last week, opening 1400 shots from the weapons of
different calibers.

Press office of the Karabakh defense army told Armenpress that besides
the violation of ceasefire regime, the air force of the enemy has
implemented a number of training flights. The defense army noted the
targets of the flights and kept them under strict control.