Author: Kajoyan Gevork

RUSSIAN MEDIA BLUNDERS ON GEOGRAPHY, CONFUSES LOCATION FOR RADAR?

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 6, 2012 – 12:21 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Russian KM portal quoted NNK agency spreading
sensation news: Russia is building a new radar station in Armenia,
namely in Armavir province.

Head of Moscow’s Alte Et Certe analytical bureau Andrei Yepifantsev
commenetd on the news declaring that “Russian radar station in Armenia
will aim at same goals as the one in Azerbaijani Gabala.”

Apparently, the KM just confused Armenia’s Armavir province with its
namesake town Armavir in Russia’s Krasnodar region which houses the
radar station expected to undergo state testing in 2012.

As to Armenia, Russia has never constructed a radar station here;
at least there is no official and unofficial information or rumors
on the topic.

Potential construction of a station by Russia on Armenia’s territory
became a subject for debates after Armenian Prime Minister Tigran
Sargsyan said Armenia is ready to discuss with Russia construction
of a radar station in its territory, similar to the one in Gabala,
Azerbaijan.

PanARMENIAN.Net currently tries to get official comments on “Russian
radar station in Armenia”.

Russia has been in talks with Azerbaijan to extend the lease of the
Soviet-era radar, which it has operated in line with a 2002 deal. The
current agreement is due to expire on December 24, 2012.

According to media reports, Azerbaijan had demanded Russia pay $300
million instead of the previously agreed $7 million for the lease,
while Russia says the price is “unreasonably high.”

Russia began deploying radar stations following its failed talks
with U.S. over development of European missile defense system which
is expected to be launched in May 2012.

Chezh Republic, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Netherlands and Spain will
host the missile defense complexes.

Moscow is seeking legally binding guarantees that the US missiles
shield will not target Russia; Washington, however, refuses to provide
such guarantees, just saying it is not going to attack Russia.

TRIBUTE PAID TO ARMENIAN MURDERED JOURNALISTS IN TURKEY

Panorama.am
06/04/2012

Turkish union of journalists will pay tribute to the murdered
journalists on April 6. Haberler news site says murdered Armenian
journalists Grigor Zohrap and Tiran Kelegian will be also paid
tribute to.

“However the number of murdered Armenian journalists is higher than
the union’s list has comprised. Union of modern journalists says 9
Armenian journalists were murdered, while other sources inform 31
were killed during the expatriation,” Turkish news site said.

‘CONFUSINGLY MANY PERSPECTIVES’ ON RELIGION IN CYPRUS
By Poly Pantelides

Published on April 6, 2012

Cyprus, Cyprus, hala sultan tekke mosque, Heiner Bielefeldt, religion,
UN human rights council, UN special rapporteur THE GOOD news is
that the island is hospitable and friendly but the bad news is that
religious issues are “even more complicated” than what the UN Special
Rapporteur on religious freedom had originally anticipated.

Heiner Bielefeldt – a UN human rights council independent expert –
yesterday held a news conference on the preliminary findings on how
much freedom of religion is promoted and protected in Cyprus.

Bielefeldt spent eight days on the island to carry out his survey.

He said he had recommended to the authorities to guarantee access to
religious places, encourage inter-religious and bi-communal work and
ensure schools do not discriminate against or exclude religions.

The Hala Sultan Tekke mosque in Larnaca for example keeps museum
hours. Bielefeldt said its use as a museum “clashed” with its use as
a religious place of worship.

In the north, Greek Orthodox priests were prevented from crossing over
while “the presence of plainclothes police men taking photos and videos
during service seems to have an intimidating effect,” Bielefeldt said.

Other religions also need to respected, Bielefeldt said.

“I visited the Armenian monastery St Makar [in the north] which,
after decades of neglect, is in very poor condition and partially
even inaccessible.”

And “religious communities outside of the remit of bi-communalism –
such as Anglicans, Protestants of different denominations, Buddhists,
Jehovah’s Witnesses, Baha’is and others – generally received little
attention,” he said even though their members comprise tens of
thousands.

There are, for example, some 25,000 Buddhists in the south of the
island: “Just imagine that number,” Biefeldt said and added almost
immediately that they did not “seem to be very much present”.

Biefeldt said that although Orthodox Christianity was part of the
curriculum in the south, steps should be taken to make sure exempt
children do not have to remain in the classroom whereas in the north,
he said, “parents or students do not have an option of having an
exemption.”

Before visiting Cyprus, Bielefeldt completed some two months
preparatory work only to come here and find “confusingly many
perspectives”. He will continue working on a report which he will
submit at the end of the year to the UN Human Rights Council and will
be made available online.

EXPLOSIONS SUR UN OLEODUC AVEC L’IRAK, LE PKK BLÂME
Ara

armenews.com
vendredi 6 avril 2012

DIYARBAKIR (Turquie), 5 avr 2012 (AFP) – Au moins deux explosions
dans la nuit de mercredi a jeudi ont endommage dans le sud-est de la
Turquie un oleoduc transportant du petrole d’Irak vers la Turquie, et
les autorites soupconnent les rebelles kurdes d’en etre les auteurs,
a-t-on appris de source securitaire.

Les explosions se sont produites sur une section de l’oleoduc proche de
la ville d’Idil, dans la province de Sirnak, frontalière avec l’Irak,
selon une source de securite locale.

Un incendie s’est declare et des pompiers tentent de le maîtriser. Les
rebelles du Parti des travailleurs du Kurdistan (PKK) sont pointes
du doigt pour cet attentat, selon la meme source.

Cet oleoduc a deja ete plusieurs fois la cible des rebelles, actifs
dans la region.

L’oleoduc, long de 970 kilomètres, relie Kirkouk, zone petrolière
du nord de l’Irak, au port de Ceyhan, sur la côte mediterraneenne
turque, d’où le brut est embarque sur des petroliers en direction
des marches mondiaux.

Les militants du PKK, mouvement qualifie de terroriste par la Turquie
et plusieurs autres pays, sont en lutte armee contre les forces
d’Ankara depuis 1984.

LE PREMIER MINISTRE BULGARE DEPOSE UNE COURONNE AU MEMORIAL DU GENOCIDE ARMENIEN
Stephane

armenews.com
vendredi 6 avril 2012

Le Premier ministre bulgare Boyko Borisov a depose une couronne au
memorial du genocide armenien.

M.Borisov etait accompagne par son homologue armenien Tigran Sargsyan.

” Un salut profond aux victimes de cette horrible tragedie. Des
evenements si tragiques ne doivent jamais etre oublies ” a ecrit
Boyko Borisov dans le livre d’or du musee du genocide armenien.

Il a plante un pin pres du musee et arrose l’arbre de Georgi Parvanov,
le President bulgare entre 2002 et 2012, qui avit ete precedemment
plante.

L’ARMEE DU CRIME : CE SOIR SUR FRANCE 3
Jean Eckian

armenews.com
jeudi 5 avril 2012

Dans Paris occupe par les allemands, l’ouvrier poète Missak Manouchian
prend la tete d’un groupe de très jeunes juifs, Hongrois, Polonais,
Roumains, Espagnols, Italiens, Armeniens, determines a combattre pour
liberer la France qu’ils aiment, celle des Droits de l’Homme.

Dans la clandestinite, au peril de leur vie, ils deviennent des heros.

Les attentats de ces partisans etrangers vont harceler les nazis
et les collaborateurs. Alors, la police francaise va se dechaîner,
multiplier ses effectifs, utiliser filatures, denonciations, chantages,
tortures…

Robert Guediguian retrace l’histoire heroïque des vingt-trois jeunes
resistants de l’Affiche rouge, juifs pour la plupart, originaires
des quatre coins d’Europe, executes le 21 fevrier 1944 par l’occupant
nazi. L’occasion de rendre egalement hommage a Henry Karayan, decede
en novembre 2011 et a Arsène Tchakarian, compagnons de Manouchian,
seuls a avoir pu echapper aux nazis. La veille, des terroristes…le
lendemain, des Heros !

NAASR LECTURE BY UGUR UNGOR ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN CONTEXT OF POPULATION AND TERRITORY

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Editor

BELMONT, Mass. – Historian Ugur Umit Ungor will give a lecture titled
“Race and Space: The Armenian Genocide in the Context of Population
and Territory,” on Thursday, April 26, at 8 p.m., at the National
Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) Center, 395
Concord Ave.

The eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire used to be a multi-ethnic
region where Armenians, Kurds, Syriacs, Turks and Arabs lived together
in the same villages and cities. From 1913 to 1950, successive
Turkish regimes subjected this region to a thorough policy of ethnic
homogenization.

Based on a decade of research on a range of unexamined records, Ungor
demonstrates that the Armenian Genocide was part and parcel of this
wider process. He will offer insights into the economic ramifications
of the genocide and describe how the plunder was organized on the
ground. He will conclude that this violent process not only destroyed
historical regions and emptied multicultural cities, but also cleared
the way for the modern Turkish nation state.

Ungor is assistant professor at the Department of History of
Utrecht University and the Institute for War and Genocide Studies
in Amsterdam. He specializes in genocide, mass violence and ethnic
conflict. His recent publications include Confiscation and Destruction:
The Young Turk Seizure of Armenian Property (Continuum, 2011) and
The Making of Modern Turkey: Nation and State in Eastern Anatolia,
1913-1950 (Oxford University Press, 2011).

The Making of Modern Turkey, newly published in paperback, will be
available for purchase and signing the night of the lecture.

More information about Ungor’s lecture may be had by e-mailing
[email protected].

A UNITED INTER-PARTY ELECTION HEADQUARTERS OF PUBLIC CONTROL WILL BE ESTABLISHED

16:25 . 04/04

The authorized representatives of four parties-PAP, Heritage Party,
ANC and ARF-D, Vardan Oskanyan, Ruben Hakobyan, Levon Zurabyan and
Armen Rustamyan have undersigned the text of the joint statement of
political forces participating in the parliamentary elections.

According to the statement, the representatives of the political
forces participating in the elections of the RA 5th Convocation
National Assembly, realizing the significance of holding free, fair,
transparent, elections corresponding to European standards on May 6
for successfully solving the complex problems the Republic of Armenia
faces, attaching importance to the necessity to unite the efforts of
public and the political parties in that matter, agree to establish
a united inter-party election headquarters of public control.

One representative from each of the mentioned parties’ election
headquarters’ members will become the members of this headquarters.

The united headquarter is assigned with the task to form inter-party
commissions for checking the voting lists, for equal coverage in the
media, as well as commissions to control the local self-governance
bodies, condominiums, police and other administrative bodies.

The authors of the statement have stated that the document is open for
all the political forces participating in the parliamentary elections
with proportional representation.

RI CONGRESSMAN VISITS GARABEDIAN

Armenian Weekly
April 4, 2012

On Sat., March 31, U.S. Congressman James Langevin (D-R.I.), a
long-time supporter of Armenian Genocide recognition, paid a visit
to Cory Garabedian at his home in Central Falls. Garabedian recently
returned home following numerous surgeries and rehabilitation from
an accident that nearly claimed his life in late December 2011.

Cory Garabedian (L) with Congressman James Langevin Langevin, who
was paralyzed in a freak accident when he was in high school, went
on to graduate with his class on time. Four years later, he earned a
degree from Rhode Island College followed with a second degree from
Harvard~Rs Kennedy School of Government. Langevin has proven to be
an inspiration to all that know him.

As secretary of state in Rhode Island, he was responsible for getting
the Armenian flag flown on April 24 in memory of our martyrs. It has
proudly flown atop the building every year for the past 16 years. His
other accomplishments helped to earn him the position of U.S.

Congressman, and he has faithfully represented the citizens of the
state for the past 12 years.

Langevin and Garabedian, who was recently promoted to the position of
sergeant in the Rhode Island National Guard, spoke about a wide range
of topics from education to career opportunities, and on dealing with
adversity and moving on in life.

The Armenian community is grateful for Langevin~Rs visit with
Garabedian and his continued support in achieving genocide recognition.

I AM VERY TOUCHED BY EVERYTHING I SAW, HEARD IN ARMENIA – CYPRIOT FM

news.am
April 04, 2012 | 16:17

YEREVAN. – Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan on Wednesday received
the FM of Cyprus, Ms. Erato Kozakou-Markoullis, who arrived in Yerevan
on an official visit.

Sargsyan underscored the periodic mutual visits in terms of
strengthening ties between the two countries, the President’s Press
Office informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Armenia’s President noted that he fondly remembers his visits paid to
Cyprus in the year past, and his meetings with the Cypriot President
Dimitris Christofias.

“We perceive Cyprus as a friendly country, and the Cypriots as our
brethren. And today we are deepening our bilateral relations. Armenia
is deeply interested in further consolidating these relations. We
have numerous interests, and a lot of work is ahead of us,” Serzh
Sargsyan stated.

Sargsyan and Kozakou-Markoullis stressed that the Armenian-Cypriot
friendship is anchored in the centuries-long friendship between the
two peoples who have many commonalities.

“This is my first visit to Armenia, and I am very impressed. Aside from
my meetings, I also visited the memorial that eternalizes the memory of
the Armenian Genocide victims. I am very touched by everything I saw
and heard. Our two peoples likewise have experienced great tragedies
and hardships,” the Cypriot FM said, in her turn, and stressed that
everything must be done so that this crime committed against the
Armenian people is internationally recognized.

Also, Armenia’s Head of State thanked the Cypriot people and
authorities for their warm and caring attitude toward the Armenian
community of Cyprus.

Serzh Sargsyan and Erato Kozakou-Markoullis underscored the relations
between Armenia and Cyprus in terms of bilateral cooperation and,
also, within the framework of European organizations.