Author: Kajoyan Gevork

FRANCE
Alfortville : des habitants d’origine arménienne reconnaissants à la droite

Ils disent merci à Nicolas Sarkozy mais n’oublient pas le soutien
ancien du PS : la loi réprimant la négation des génocides ne changera
pas les opinions politiques des habitants d’Alfortville d’origine
arménienne, à moins de 100 jours de la présidentielle.

Au coeur de son épicerie arménienne, Kevork Kabelian se souvient de sa
rencontre avec Nicolas Sarkozy, alors ministre de l’Intérieur en
visite à Alfortville.

`Je lui ai offert du raki Chirac (un alcool, ndlr) !`, plaisante-t-il
devant ses ptisseries appétissantes, proches des douceurs orientales
du Liban, où il est né et qu’il a quitté pendant la guerre civile dans
les années 1980.

Aujourd’hui, ce membre du parti socialiste arménien n’hésite pas à
exprimer sa reconnaissance à l’UMP, tout en espérant que François
Hollande gagnera.

Une position de gauche majoritaire dans la `petite Arménie`
d’Alfortville, qui compte 7.000 à 9.000 mes, soit près de 20% de la
population de cette commune socialiste.

`A la veille des élections, ça sent un peu la session de rattrapage
!`, s’amuse Hasmig Papazian, journaliste à la radio arménienne AYP,
qui rappelle qu’une proposition de loi du PS avait été votée une
première fois en 2006 par l’Assemblée, mais avait été retoquée par le
Sénat.

`Mais on ne va pas faire la fine bouche`, tempère Garo Khachikian, 42
ans, dont les grands-parents sont arrivés en France dans les années
1920.

Et surtout, ils voteront à la présidentielle en fonction de thèmes
franco-français : `chômage, logement, santé, c’est à travers ces
critères-là que notre choix se fera`, assurent Karine, une jolie brune
de 22 ans, et ses copines Patyl et Naïri, autour d’un café.

Ni `communautariste`, ni `mémorielle`

Anciennes de l’école bilingue Saint-Mesrop d’Alfortville et des
colonies de vacances arméniennes, toutes membres de l’organisation Nor
Seround (`nouvelle génération`), les trois étudiantes réfutent le
qualificatif de `communautariste`, estimant que la proposition de loi
adoptée le 22 décembre par les députés français et examinée le 23
janvier au Sénat `protège les valeurs de la France`.

Ce texte punit d’un an de prison et 45.000 euros d’amende la négation
de tous les génocides reconnus par la loi française, dont celui des
Arméniens de 1915, que la Turquie a toujours nié, même si Ankara
reconnaît des massacres en Anatolie.

`Ce n’est pas non plus une loi mémorielle, c’est une réponse politique
à une attitude de négation de la Turquie`, s’insurge Richard Ananian,
adjoint au maire d’Alfortville. Une réponse destinée, selon lui, à
compléter la loi de 2001 reconnaissant le génocide arménien, dont le
maire (PS) René Rouquet avait été le rapporteur.

`On ne légifère pas sur la mémoire mais sur des attaques du même ordre
que le racisme ou l’antisémitisme`, insiste Hasmig Papazian.

Parmi les opposants à la loi, le sénateur PS Robert Badinter, dont le
père est mort dans un camp d’extermination nazi, a beaucoup déçu les
Arméniens d’Alfortville. `C’est incompréhensible`, se désole Garo.
`Notre génocide n’est pas pire ou moins fort que l’Holocauste ou que
d’autres génocides`.

Près d’un siècle a passé mais l’émotion reste intacte : sous une
immense carte d’Arménie, le directeur d’AYP Henri Papazian évoque ses
parents, jeunes orphelins en 1915. `La loi nous permettra de faire le
deuil`, espère-t-il.

D’ici lundi, les Arméniens d’Alfortville iront allumer un cierge à
l’église arménienne ou refleurir leur monument aux morts, le khatchkar
(`pierre croix`) gris installé à deux pas de la place d’Achtarak et du
boulevard d’Erevan.

Esther DELORD

dimanche 22 janvier 2012,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

GEORGIA CONDEMNS RUSSIA’S KAVKAZ-2012 EXERCISE DUE IN SEP 2012

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Jan 16 2012
Georgia

During a meeting in December 2011with military attaches accredited in
Moscow, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Army
Gen Nikolay Makarov said that it is planned to hold the Kavkaz-2012
strategic command-staff training exercises in September 2012.

In addition to this, according to the Russian Defence Ministry,
unlike in the previous years, “the exercise will be held not only in
the Russian Federation’s Southern Military District but in Armenia,
Abkhazia and South Ossetia”. The exercise will involve not only all
types of forces under the Defence Ministry, but units of the Interior
Ministry, the Federal Security Service, the Emergencies Ministry, the
Federal Security Guard Service and other law enforcement agencies. It
is planned to use means of surveillance and all types of communication,
including electronic, space and unmanned aircraft and high-precision
weapons.

Russia deliberately carries out rapid militarization of Georgia’s
occupied territories, develops military infrastructure and introduces
assault weapons in an attempt to provoke permanent tension in Georgia
and the Black Sea Region on the whole.

The international community should pay attention to the fact that
Russia’s foreign policy has not changed. It continues its aggressive
actions, demonstrating its military might and staging provocations.

Russia is a source of destabilization and negative events on the
international scene.

[Signed] Tbilisi, 16 January 2012

[translated from Georgian]

RUSSIAN, ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTERS DISCUSS TRIPARTITE PRESIDENTIAL MEETING

ITAR-TASS
January 17, 2012 Tuesday 10:08 PM GMT+4
Russia

The Russian and Armenian foreign ministers discussed preparations
for an upcoming meeting of the presidents of Russia, Armenia and
Azerbaijan and a number of bilateral affairs, the Russian Foreign
Ministry said on Tuesday.

Sergei Lavrov and Eduard Nalbandian “discussed a number of acute
bilateral affairs and preparations for a meeting of the presidents
of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan on the Karabakh settlement,” it said.

CAPTURED ARMENIAN RELEASED IN SOUTH SUDAN – MINISTRY

Interfax
Jan 17 2012
Russia

An Armenian citizen who was being held in South Sudan, has been
released, Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Igran Balayan told
Interfax.

“Contact has been established with the Armenian man. He is free
and safe. The South Sudanese authorities have no claims against our
citizen,” Balayan said.

The ministry spokesman told Interfax earlier that Armenian was closely
cooperating with Russia on this matter.

“Work is carried out in various formats, including in direct contact
with the South Sudanese authorities,” Balayan said.

On December 28, 2011, an Antonov-32 airplane owned by Sudanese
company Park Air was detained in South Sudan while performing a
Khartoum-Sarjas-Fallujah-El Obeid-Khartoum flight for another Sudanese
company, White Nile Petroleum, which operates oil fields in the states
of Jonglei and Upper Nile.

Shortly after loading began at the airport, the crew, which apart
from Russian citizen Popkov, also included nationals of Ukraine,
Uzbekistan, Armenia and Sudan, were arrested by local security services
and escorted to a military camp three kilometers from the airport,
which they are still being held. No formal explanation has been given
for the arrest.

GEORGIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY CRITICIZES RUSSIAN MILITARY EXERCISES

Xinhua General News Service
January 17, 2012 Tuesday 1:17 AM EST
China

Georgia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday criticized Russian military
exercises planned for September.

“The international community should pay attention to the fact
that Russia’s foreign policy has not changed,” the ministry said
in a statement. “It continues the aggressive actions, including a
demonstration of military force and provocations. Russia is a source of
destabilization and negative development in the international arena.”

Foreign military attaches in Moscow were told in December that Russia
has scheduled military exercises for September.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry pointed out that the “Europe 2012”
exercises would be conducted in the Russian Federation and also in
Armenia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Russian Chief of Staff Nikolai Makarov said in December that no
significant number of soldiers would be involved in the exercises but
troops from Abkhazia and South Ossetia would be invited to participate.

Georgia claims sovereignty and territorial integrity over Abkhazia
and South Ossetia, both of which pronounced independence after the
August 2008 conflict between Georgia and Russia.

JUSTICE NOT SERVED IN HRANT DINK’S CASE

IFEX

International Freedom of Expression Exchange: The global network for
free expression
Jan 19 2012

A Turkish court this week sentenced a man to life in prison for
inciting the murder of prominent ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink five years ago, but cleared all 19 suspects of belonging to
a terrorist organisation, reports IFEX member in Turkey the IPS
Communication Foundation (BIANET), along with other IFEX members.

Dink, founder and editor-in-chief of the bilingual Armenian-Turkish
newspaper “Agos”, was shot in front of his office in Istanbul on 19
January 2007, in a case that highlighted the threat faced by Armenians
in Turkey.

On 17 January, the court found Yasin Hayal, 31, guilty of incitement
to kill Dink in 2007 but acquitted 19 other suspects of the charge
of acting as members of an illegal armed organisation, says BIANET.

The ruling was denounced by Dink’s lawyers and supporters who say the
journalist was targeted for being Armenian and for campaigning for
reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey over their violent history.

“Today’s verdict – two days before the fifth anniversary of the
journalist’s assassination – resulted in the convictions of only
secondary accomplices and failed to address the pivotal question of
who masterminded the crime,” said the Committee to Protect Journalists
(CPJ).

Another prime suspect, Erhan Tuncel, a police informer, was sentenced
to 10 and a half years in jail, but for a separate crime.

The self-confessed murderer, 17-year-old high-school dropout Ogun
Samast, was sentenced to nearly 23 years in prison last July.

Dink’s assassination sent shockwaves through Turkey and grew into a
wider scandal after reports that the security forces had known of a
plot to kill him but failed to act.

His conviction for insulting Turkishness just months before his death
branded him a traitor and made him a target for hardline nationalists.
He had called the massacres of Armenians under Ottoman rule a genocide.

IFEX members were shocked by the court’s decision to exclude all
possibility of the involvement of organised crime. “By portraying
this murder as the work of a small group of fanatics, the judicial
authorities have reflexively protected the state, whose role in
this murder has nonetheless been demonstrated by all the independent
investigations,” said RSF.

“The judges are mistaken if they think they can thereby defuse the
political time bomb within this case and spare members of the state
apparatus from ever being charged. The shockwave that Dink’s murder
caused within Turkish society will continue to pursue them until they
finally agree to do their duty,” RSF added.

IFEX members have pointed out numerous irregularities in the Dink
murder investigation since the trial began in July 2007, including
deleted evidence and misinformation presented to the court by security
and police officials.

“This trial is not yet over,” said Fethiye Cetin, one the Dink family’s
lawyers. “What just ended was a farce. For Hrant’s friends, the trial
has just begun.”

RSF joins Dink’s friends in calling for a demonstration in Istanbul’s
Taksim Square on 19 January, the fifth anniversary of his murder,
to demand the end of impunity.

ON FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF DINK MURDER, OSCE MEDIA FREEDOM REPRESENTATIVE CALLS FOR JUSTICE FOR ALL KILLED JOURNALISTS IN THE OSCE REGION

arminfo
Friday, January 20, 12:15

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatovic, said
on January 19 on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the murder
of prominent Turkish journalist Hrant Dink that OSCE participating
States must do more to protect journalists and punish their assailants,
the OSCE headquarters told ArmInfo.

Dink, the editor-in-chief of the Armenian-Turkish language weekly
Agos, was shot dead on this day in 2007 in front of its Istanbul
offices. Two days ago a criminal court in Istanbul sentenced one man
for involvement but acquitted 18 other defendants of charges of acting
on the orders of a terrorist organization.

“As the recent court verdict shows, even five years after Dink’s
murder justice has still not been done. If the instigators of violence
against journalists are not punished it sends a chilling message to
society that such crimes are tolerated,” said Mijatovic.

“Governments have a duty not only to condemn violence against
journalists loudly and resolutely, but also to ensure that these crimes
are prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Journalists must feel
protected when they report on issues that affect all our lives.”

Mijatovic also noted the statements by the Turkish political leadership
on this issue, including President Abdullah Gul and Deputy Prime
Minister Bulent Ar?nc, who said that the decision was unsatisfactory
to the people and that the ruling could be appealed.

“During my visit last December, the authorities assured me that the
media freedom situation in Turkey will improve soon. I look forward to
continuing working with them on all issues related to media freedom,”
the Representative said.

“I continue to monitor the case of Hrant Dink and I also continue to
follow all cases in OSCE countries where journalists were killed in
relation to their work,” she said. “In too many cases justice has still
not been delivered after many years of investigation. The families,
friends and colleagues of these journalists, as well as the societies
as a whole, deserve to know the truth.”

An Istanbul court on Tuesday ruled to sentence Yasin Halal, a chief
culprit in the Dink murder case, to life imprisonment. The other
defendant in the case, Erhan Tancel, was sentenced to 10.5 years in
prisons. A juvenile court sentenced Dink’s assassin, Ogun Samast, to
22 years and 10 months in jail last July. Assistant Prosecutor general
of Istanbul Fikret Secen said the court verdict will be disputed.

IT IS VERY HARD TO BE ARMENIAN IN AZERBAIJAN – ETHNOGRAPHER

news.am
January 20, 2012 | 14:07

YEREVAN. – The remaining Armenians in Azerbaijan are afraid of
admitting their nationality, Armenian ethnographer Hranush Kharatyan
said at a press conference on Friday.

Commenting on the question of the Armenian News – NEWS.am reporter
whether Azerbaijani officials’ statements that a large number of
Armenians reside in Azerbaijan are true, Kharatyan said the official
figures do not correspond to reality.

“According to official census, as many as 120,000 Armenians ‘live’ in
Azerbaijan. However, this includes the population of Nagorno-Karabakh
[which is a sovereign state]. Our data shows that in reality
2,500-3,000 Armenians currently live in Azerbaijan,” she said.

According to her, mostly married women, who are trying to hide their
Armenian roots, have changed residence in order to hide traces and
break the link with the old neighbors.

Armenians in Azerbaijan have a very difficult life, many cannot get
job because of their nationality.

“It’s very hard to be an Armenian in Azerbaijan. People are afraid to
communicate. The situation resembles the one that exists in Turkey
after the Armenian Genocide when there were ‘hidden Armenians’,”
said Kharatyan.

CHOOSING PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION WILL MEAN ARMENIA’S AUTHORITIES WANT TO HOLD DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS: MP

epress.am
01.20.2012

The administration’s move to adopt or not adopt a 100% proportional
representation voting system ahead of the parliamentary elections
will decide, much like a detector, whether the authorities actually
want to hold democratic elections or not, said Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsutyun or ARF-D) parliamentary faction member Armen
Rustamyan at a forum jointly organized by the ARF-D and Heritage Party
today, which was directed at discussing the issues and tasks related
to the two parties’ joint legislative move to conduct the upcoming
parliamentary elections using a 100% proportional system.

Rustamyan stated that the parliamentary opposition is suggesting
this amendment be made for two reasons: first, because everyone
agrees that a proportional system will bring quality changes to the
elections, and second, adopting this change several months ahead of
the elections will not evoke any procedural obstacles. Note, the two
parties’ proposal was also welcomed by extra-parliamentary opposition
groups the Armenian National Congress and the Free Democrats party.

The ARF-D MP pointed out that the ruling Republican Party of Armenia
also agrees with this proposal, but it simply wants to delay the
change and make the amendment after the elections.

“The authorities have to clearly respond to the question, if they
agree in principle, why don’t they want to implement the changes now?

MPs elected through a majority system till now have served as the
authorities’ support pillar. This is a tool to push out the opposition
because the opposition, even if it gathers more votes through the
majority system, won’t comprise the parliamentary majority,” he said.

“MPs elected through the majority system, 71% of them have kept
silent in the National Assembly, 5% have occasionally made a peep,
and only 7% have been active,” said ARF-D MP Artsvik Minasyan, in turn.

Prosperous Armenia MP Naira Zohrabyan, speaking at the forum, said
she is personally in favor of the parliamentary opposition’s proposal
for proportional representation, but this is not her party’s official
position as the Prosperous Armenia party hasn’t discussed this matter
yet. Zohrabyan advised conducting a referendum in order to find out
the public’s opinion on the matter.

DINK MURDER AND 100-YEAR-OLD GANG
ORHAN KEMAL CENGÄ°Z

Today’s Zaman
Jan 20 2012
Turkey

Tens of thousands of people once again appeared in front of the Agos
building where Hrant Dink was murdered five years ago. This Jan. 19
was the fifth anniversary of Dink’s murder. But two days ago, the
Ä°stanbul High Criminal Court issued the infamous verdict that you
are already familiar with.

This shameful ruling argued that Dink’s murder was not an organized
crime. Karin KarakaÅ~_lı, one of Hrant’s friends who spoke to the
croweds gathered in front of the Agos paper, spoke to the audience
and reached out to their emotions and wisdom. I would like to take
some excerpts from her speech:

“And they did not kill him one time. First, they killed him with the
General Staff’s declaration following the Sabiha Gökcen article. They
killed him when he was threatened by members of the National
Intelligence Organization [MÄ°T] at the Ä°stanbul Governor’s Office.

They killed Hrant Dink by declaring him an enemy of Turks based on
quotations from his peaceful articles.”

“It was known while Hrant Dink was still alive that many Ergenekon
suspects, including Veli Kucuk and Kemal Kerincsiz, were working on
lynching campaigns and a judicial process. And then the Cage Action
Plan was revealed. However, no connection was established between
this case and Ergenekon.”

“They surrounded us by lies; this has been the case for five
consecutive years. And in the end they picked two as culprits. They
told us that we have to be satisfied with this outcome.”

“Given that there was no organized armed group, we cannot talk about
its masterminds and members. They made this decision by looking
directly in our eyes. We saw their recklessness and the fear behind
this decision. We said the state is naked; the state is naked.”

“Can I say that this is my country and this is my state? There is
only one way I can say this: End this disgrace.”

“We all lost Hrant Dink; but you can appreciate that his absence is
a bigger loss for us, Armenians.”

“We came to this point through the constant denial of history.”

“This decision has brought us back to the day of the murder, Jan. 19,
2007. The state has apparently not been able to figure out how to
deal with the life and death of one of its Armenian citizens. This
means that we will have to teach it how to do so.”

“They told us the case is closed. Is it really? Hrant Dink is not a
file, so it is not closeable. He is a bleeding wound.”

“We promise that we will not live a decent life so long as this state
of injustice remains.”

I think KarakaÅ~_lı’s remarks translated the emotions of the people
who gathered to remember Hrant and those who want justice in Turkey.

Everyone knows the Dink murder was a planned and organized attempt. I
have written many columns on this murder. I do not want to repeat
what I previously said.

In her speech, KarakaÅ~_lı points to the network as being behind
the murder. Dink was murdered by a deep state gang involving right
and left-wing Turkish nationalists called Ergenekon. But the road to
his death was laid down very easily, and no significant progress has
been made over the last five years with respect to the case despite
all the concrete evidence; as noted by KarakaÅ~_lı, this can only
happen in a nation and society that has failed to confront its past.

The deep state killed Dink; but the recruitment of murderers would not
have been so easy had there been no hatred of Armenians or racism in
Turkey. Had there been no institutionalized racism within the state
apparatus in Turkey, the Dink murder would not have been committed
by organized efforts within the state.

I hope the growing outrage at the court’s ruling and the rage as
evidenced by the popular anger we’ve seen leads to the resumption of
the trial following the verdict of the Ä°stanbul High Criminal Court.

Otherwise, I think justice will not be done and that the relative
peace in Turkey will be negatively affected. The deep state in Turkey
has not been able to commit murders since the start of the Ergenekon
investigations. Their last murderous action was the Malatya massacre
of April 2007, when they barbarously killed three Christians.

I am afraid this decision in the Dink case is a blank check to
potential executioners and the deep structures that would use them.

The message the Dink judgment delivers to the deep state says they can
commit additional crimes and murders without being held responsible
for their actions; but this is extremely dangerous. Unless the Dink
decision is overturned by an appellate court and the trial continues,
the 100-year-old murder network will continue with what it has been
doing. This case should resume — for Hrant, for justice and for a
livable Turkey.