Author: Kajoyan Gevork

WOMEN OF GYUMRI SUBJECTED TO SEXUAL EXPLOITATION IN TURKEY

20/02/2012

Criminal proceedings were launched into sexual exploitation of several
residents of Gyumri town of Armenia. It was found out that Turkey-based
Yerevan resident S. Martirosyan, nickname Doctor, through Gyumri resident N.

Movsisyan, her debtor, recruited Gyumri resident Gayane and took her to
Turkey.

Arrived in Turkey, S. Martirosyan handed N. Movsisyan and Gayane to a
certain Safa, Turk pimp, who subjected N. Movsisyan and Gayane to sexual
exploitation and gave the money to S. Martirosyan.

Then, N. Movsisyan and Gayane refused prostitution, and pimp Safa handed
them to the Turkish police which expelled the women from Turkey.

S. Martirosyan went on demanding her debt from N. Movsisyan and if she had
no money, she had to recruit women and send to Turkey for sexual
exploitation. N. Movsisyan deceived Gyumri resident Karine and sent her to
Turkey promising a work of babysitter.

S. Martirosyan made her do prostitution reasoning it by the fact that she
owes her 5 thousand U.S. dollars for the ticket, cloths and domicile.

Karine was forced to do prostitution for a couple of months paying most of
the money to Martirosyan. Later, Karine was also expelled from Turkey.

N. Movsisyan and S. Martirosyan are accused of Article 132 Part 2 points 1
and 2. Detention was chosen as measure of prevention.

The names of women subjected to sexual exploitation are changed, informs the
Prosecutor’s office.

ROUEN : J’IRAI REVOIR MON ARMENIE

Paris Normandie

20 fevrier 2012
France

CULTURE. Maya Margaryan, a peine arrivee a Rouen, fait partager sa
culture au sein de France-Armenie-Russie.

Chez elle, a Erevan, Maya Margaryan est une star. Elle donne des
concerts, joue dans des series tele, au theâtre et dans des films.

Cette enfant de la balle, nee dans une famille d’acteurs, a tourne
en Belgique, en Hollande, en Australie et meme au Kamchatka.

Mais depuis son arrivee a Rouen a la fin de l’annee dernière, elle
a retrouve un anonymat qu’elle ne regrette pas. ” C’est vrai, c’est
un changement radical mais j’aime bien me lancer dans de nouveaux
defis et puis l’Armenie, c’est vraiment tout petit. J’ai l’impression
d’en avoir fait le tour “, precise cette diplômee en philologie de
l’universite d’Erevan.

Une opinion partagee par son mari, Tigran Davtyan, realisateur pour la
television armenienne qui a fait le voyage avec elle. ” Il travaille
actuellement sur un scenario tout en etudiant le système audiovisuel
francais. ”

Des projets de cooperation culturelle

Dès son arrivee, Maya s’est rapproche de l’association FAR
(France-Armenie-Russie), presidee par Marie Ghukasyan. Cette
association propose a ses adherents des cours de langues (armenien,
russe et francais) et de danses, anime des manifestations et prepare
des projets de cooperation culturelle entre la France et l’Armenie.

Maya anime pour la FAR des cours de danses en faisant decouvrir les
traditions folkloriques des pays de l’Est mais modernisees, comme
revisitees a la sauce pop-folk.

” Un proverbe armenien dit que chez nous, une personne sur deux est un
chanteur et c’est vrai, affirme l’artiste. Le jazz est très developpe
et rares sont les familles armeniennes dont les enfants ne font pas
de musique ou de la peinture. C’est un pays culturellement très riche
mais qui souffre d’un public trop restreint. ”

A Rouen, ville qu’elle adore, Maya n’espère pas devenir celèbre
mais elle espère bien pouvoir partager sa culture d’origine avec
les Normands.

Association FAR : 06.09.13.29.54, 06.18.44.96. 99 et 02.76.52.52.49

AZERI OPPOSITION PLANS PROTESTS AHEAD OF EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

ANS TV
Feb 18 2012
Azerbaijan

[translated from Azeri]

[Presenter] The [opposition umbrella group] Public Chamber has stated
it intends to stage protests to demand the release of political
prisoners as a precondition for the government when the preparations
are under way for the Eurovision song contest scheduled for May
in Baku. The [pro-government] Motherland Party and [the ruling]
New Azerbaijan Party have described this step of the opposition as
a blow to interests of Azerbaijan.

[Correspondent] The Public Chamber is preparing to stage protests
to demand the release of those whom it calls political prisoners in
the run-up to the Eurovision song contest. The Public Chamber states
that if their demands are not met, they will take steps to persuade
thousands of journalists to visit the country to cover the song
contest only and speak about political prisoners and corruption. The
appearance of protesters in front of journalists by wearing shirts
with pictures of the so-called political prisoners is also part of
the plan. A member of Public Chamber, Panah Huseyn, has told ANS TV’s
“Aciq Sohbat” (Open Talk) talk show that the Public Chamber is not
against the holding of the Eurovision Song Contest in Azerbaijan.

However, in order to ensure that this event is held in a normal manner,
the authorities should take steps to release persons being considered
as political prisoners.

[Panah Huseyn] [If someone] is being kept in prison without any facts
and argument, based on some repressive purpose, we cannot remain
silent about this as we also have hearts. This does not correspond
to both the interests of Azerbaijan and the interests of the event
to be held in the country.

[Correspondent] It should be recalled that the Public Chamber has
not made a final decision to this effect yet. But some leaders of
the political parties have spoken against their plan. The chairman
of the Motherland Party, MP Fazail Agamali, believes that the Public
Chamber’s preconditions for the government is wrong.

[Fazail Agamali, chairman of the Motherland Party] The attempts to
compare the song contest with rallies and people whom the Public
Chamber calls prisoners of conscience and raising this topic today
are not understandable.

[Correspondent] The executive secretary of the New Azerbaijan Party,
Ali Ahmadov, describes the Public Chamber’s intention as a blow to
the interests of Azerbaijan. According to him, if someone opposes
the holding of the song contest in Azerbaijan, it means that he is
in the same position with Armenians.

[Ali Ahmadov, executive secretary of the New Azerbaijani Party] It is
difficult to imagine the second one who had no desire for the holding
of the song contest in Azerbaijan as much as Armenians. In that case, I
consider that there is no difference between the attempts of Armenians
and attempts of those in Azerbaijan who are trying to prevent the
conduct of the song contest in the country or cast a shadow on it.

[Passage omitted; a vox pop held among Baku residents]

[translated from Azeri]

FEB 14 WAS NOT ST VALENTINE’S DAY IN BAHRAIN
by Burak Bekdil

Hurriyet Daily News
Feb 22 2012
Turkey

According to Omer Celik, deputy chairman of the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP), “the Gaza conflict is Turkey’s national
issue.” And there is more than sufficient evidence that, according
to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu, the Syrian conflict, too, is Turkey’s national issue.

Needless to say, some of Turkey’s other national/domestic issues
include the Cyprus and Armenian conflicts, too.

It’s bizarre, though, that Ankara tends to get seriously offended each
time a foreign official, an author with fame or a nongovernmental
organization speaks on the Kurdish conflict or on Turkey’s now
first-class Third World civil liberties. But this can hardly be an
indication of hypocrisy in a world where Sudan and Saudi Arabia are
pressuring Syria to “democratize its regime and stop massacring its
own people,” or where Turkey condemns freedom of expression in France.

At this pace of events we may soon have the North Koreans lecturing
Europe on the virtues of liberal culture.

Hardly a day passes without Mssrs. Erdogan and Davutoglu and Western
“friends of Syria” do not fiercely stand on the right side of history
by overtly and covertly working to overthrow the tyrant of Damascus
“because he keeps on killing Syrians.”

To achieve the goal of saving innocent Syrians (according to the
official account) or to defeat Iran in this proxy sectarian war
(according to facts of life) Ankara extends humanitarian (according
to the official account) support, and/or logistical military support
(according to facts of life) to an armed group of Bashar al-Assad’s
opponents who go with the very military designation of the “Free
Syrian Army.”

Ironically, more military support for the dissident army will mean
more fighting and more bloodshed. Which brings in the inevitable
question: Do “friends of Syria” really care about the Syrian death
toll, or are they just following their sectarian instincts blended
with geostrategic interests?

I have no idea how Mr. Erdogan’s Muslim fraternity with Omar al-Bashir,
Sudan’s president with an international arrest warrant for crimes
against humanity, or cooperation with Saudi Arabia to bring democracy
to Syria could fit into the fancy pro-democracy rhetoric in Ankara.

But there is, in addition to Syria, another land where the Arab Spring
brings in a light breeze of democracy although this one is not for
the Sunni-Western taste. What the more developed parts of the world
celebrated as St. Valentine’s Day was the anniversary of the much less
popular Arab Spring in Bahrain where a minority Sunni sheikdom rules
a majority Shiite population, where police continue to crack down on
disaffected youth in Shiite neighborhoods and where the youth complain
of economic and political marginalization along sectarian lines.

If the prime minister and his foreign minister are sincere about
their concerns for human dignity, human rights, universal values
and democracy in the Arab world, they should support Bahrain’s
pro-democracy (and anti-sheikdom) opponents, too, and feel sympathy
for the Bahraini death toll. But never mind, that will not happen.

“This is about whether this council, during a time of sweeping change
n the Middle East, will stand with peaceful protestors crying out
for freedom, or with a regime of thugs with guns that tramples human
dignity and human rights.”

Nice quote? Indeed. But does it matter whether it belongs to Susan
Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, or to any one of Mssrs.

Erdogan or Davutoglu? Sadly, the dead do not carry passports; but
Bahrain is too “potentially Persian” for Washington to be catalogued
as another corner of the Arab Spring, just a “little nuisance” for
Saudi Arabia, and too “Shiite” for Ankara to care for human dignity
and promote democracy.

SYSTEM OF A DOWN READY TO ROCK AUCKLAND (+VIDEO)
By Chris Schulz

New Zealand Herald

Feb 22 2012

It’s been a long seven-year drought for System of a Down fans, but
tonight the Armenian-American thrash-metallers will return to New
Zealand with a vengeance.

The Grammy-winning band behind hit songs like Chop Suey! and Aerials
last performed in Auckland at the 2005 Big Day Out, a show memorable
for several stoppages for over-aggressive moshing in the D-barricade.

A sweaty and heaving moshpit can be expected at tonight’s show at
Trusts Stadium in Waitakere, as the band rip through what is likely
to be a greatest hits set cherry picked from the band’s albums:
1998’s System of a Down, 2001’s Toxicity, 2002’s Steal This Album!,
and 2005’s double release Mezmerize and Hypnotize.

It’s the band’s first New Zealand show since they reunited in 2009
after three-year hiatus. And they haven’t performed since October 7
in Chile, but it’s likely to be a fired up performance thanks to Serj
Tankian, an occasional New Zealand resident, performing in front of
what he considers to be something of a home town crowd.

“New Zealand feels like home to me, and while my work takes me many
places I always love returning. I’m super-excited to be back home in
Auckland again, this time with System,” Tankian said.

Recent setlists show System of a Down perform up to 26 songs a night,
including everything from Toxicity classics Needles, Bounce and Prison
Song, to more recent anthems Lonely Day and Lost in Hollywood.

The Dillinger Escape Plan will open for them at 7.20pm, with System
of a Down due on stage at 8.45pm. Doors open at 6.30pm.

Both bands will head to Australia next to perform as part of the
Soundwave festival.

Ticketdirect’s website shows the gig is almost sold out, with only
tickets left in the South Upper Allocated section of the venue.

What: System of a Down Where: Trusts Stadium, Waitakere, Auckland When:
Wednesday, February 22

YEREVAN ZOO NOT TO PURCHASE MANY ELEPHANTS

news.am
February 22, 2012 | 22:29

YEREVAN. – The exaggerated information published in the media stating
that Yerevan zoo is allegedly going to purchase several elephants
is not true, the press service of Yerevan zoo informs Armenian
News-NEWS.am adding that works are done towards improving the living
conditions of the only elephant, Grand.

Besides that, it is planned to acquire only one elephant, a girlfriend
for Grand.

To remind, according to the information that had appeared in the
media, Yerevan zoo is planning to purchase not one, but a whole group
of elephants.

PARIS TO COMMEMORATE 24TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN POGROMS IN SUMGAIT

news.am
February 23, 2012 | 00:16

PARIS. – Coordination Council of the Armenian Organizations in France
in partnership with Nagorno-Karabakh representation will commemorate
the 24th anniversary of the Armenian Pogroms in Sumgait by organizing
events on Feb. 26-29, Nouvelles d`Armenie reports.

Liturgy will be served at the Armenian Apostolic St. Jean-Baptiste
Church in memory of the Sumgait victims on Sunday. A rally will
be held with the participation of the Karabakh Minister of Culture
Narine Aghabalyan on Feb. 27, and a meeting-discussion will be held
on the theme ‘Truth and Falsification’ in the framework of Peace in
Karabakh at the National Assembly of France on Feb. 29.

CALIFORNIA ARMENIAN LAUNCHES DRIVE DEMANDING BRITISH MUSEUM HAND OVER ANAHIT BUST TO ARMENIA
Marine Madatyan

hetq
18:46, February 21, 2012

Over 500 California Armenians have signed a petition demanding that
a bronze head of the goddess Anahit now in the possession of the
British Museum be sent to Armenia.

The petition was launched by Gevorg Martirosyan who, as a student
in England, would visit the British Museum and view the bronze head
on display.

While Gevorg thanks the British for preserving this priceless Armenian
artefact, he believes that the remains must be relocated to Armenia’s
Museum of History.

Armen Ashotyan, Armenia’s Minister of Education and Science, has
launched a similar campaign to get the bust to Armenia.

Gevorg says that he tried to get in touch with Minister Ashotyan
in order to inform him of the California petition and received an
answer in an undecipherable computer font. He wrote back requesting
a revised response but hasn’t received anything yet.

Gevorg hopes that the reason is because the minister is just too
busy and isn’t giving him the brush-off. The California Armenian says
it’s vital for the minister to reach out to the young people in the
diaspora for the campaign to be effective.

Minister Ashotyan’s initiative wasn’t well received in Armenia. Many
say that Armenia has no legal recourse to demand the return of the
bust and that it never belonged to any Armenian government in the
first place. Others have cited the futile attempts of Greece to have
the British Museum return the Elgin Marbles.

The bronze head was found in 1872 in the town of Sadak (ancient
Satala) in north-eastern Turkey and was finally purchased by the
British Museum.

Gevorg responds to the naysayers by citing the example of Egypt, which
has successfully fought for the return of some 5,000 cultural artifacts
from around the world, 400 of which came from the British Museum.

EXPERT ON MENTAL DISORDERS IN ARMENIA

Tert.am
23.02.12

Forty-four thousand p[eople have mental disorders or similar problems
in Armenia, Armen Soghoyan, President of the Armenian Psychiatric
Association, told journalists on Thursday.

He noted that mental disorders can be treated with few exceptions. “In
some cases, however, people turn to doctors too late, which is the
reason for serious treatment problems. In rare cases, treatment is
impossible,” Soghoyan said.

He also pointed out the need for society to treat mentally sick people
as “normal people.”

“Mental disorders are also the result of economic crises, with males
mostly affected as bread winners,” the doctor said.

After being treated, people that once had mental disorders can live
a normal social life, Soghoyan said.

AZERBAIJAN’S STATEMENTS ON LARGE-SCALE EXERCISE ARE DECLARATIVE

news.am
February 23, 2012 | 14:04

YEREVAN.- Azerbaijan’s exercise in frontline and PR campaign over the
maneuvers is intended for Azerbaijani public and the Armenian side,
military expert Artsrun Hovhannisyan told journalists on Thursday.

Commenting on military exercise planned by the Azerbaijani side near
the line of contact with the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, the expert
said there is still no precise information on maneuvers. Azerbaijani
press describes the maneuvers as “unprecedented” and “large-scale”
and it is nothing but a publicity stunt, he added.

The expert does not share opinion that the war games are preparation
for military aggression and large-scale provocation. According to him,
such statements are declarative and have no strategic ground.