Author: Kajoyan Gevork

EU ADVISORY GROUP: ARMENIA MUST COORDINATE EUROPEAN INTEGRATION ACTIVITIES

PanARMENIAN.Net
November 10, 2011 – 15:16 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The head of the EU Advisory Group believes Armenia
must introduce certain changes in coordination of European Integration
activities.

At the conference titled “Eastern Partnership: National and European
Developments”, Antti Hartikainen urged against fragmentation of
functions in European Integration activities. “To optimize results,
Armenia should centralize relevant activities in one structure,”
he said.

Dwelling on current stage of Armenia-EU negotiations, Hartikainen
noted creation of free trade zone among priority issues.

“Despite positive results Armenia has shown over the last months,
both Yerevan and EU must intensify activities in the framework of
Eastern Partnership and Association Agreement,” Hartikainen concluded.

ARMENIAN, GERMAN INTELLECTUALS CALL FOR TURKISH PUBLISHER’S RELEASE

Tert.am
09.11.11

A group of Armenian and German intellectuals have called upon Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to release jailed publisher and
Genocide activist Ragip Zarakolu.

According to the Kurdish news agency Firat, scholars attending a
conference at the University of Potsdam (Germany) highly praised
Zarakolu’s efforts towards the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

They subsequently sent a letter to PM Erdogan, demanding the
publisher’s immediate release.

The conference had brought together the editor-in-chief of Agos weekly,
Robert Koptas (Istanbul), the lawyer of Hrant Dink’s family, Fethiye
Cetin, genocide scholar Raffi Kantian and others.

Zarakolu, who is the director of Belge Publishing House, was arrested
recently during an operation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party
(PKK). An active campaigner against the denial of the Armenian
Genocide, he has periodically faced the Turkish authorities’
persecutions under Article 301 of the country’s Criminal Code
(Insulting Turkishness). In 2007, he was sentenced to a six months’
imprisonment for translating Franz Werfel’s Forty Days of Musa Dagh.

Zarakolu was later convicted for publishing the Turkish translation
George Jerjian’s book on the Armenian Genocide (Justice will Liberate
Us) .

Earlier this year, Ragip Zarakolu was awarded the Hagop Meghapart
Lifetime Honorary Medal in Yerevan.

TURQUIE : ERDOGAN MENACE LES MEDIAS ET LES MILIEUX DEMOCRATIQUES
Par Maxime-Azadi

Source/Lien : Mediapart
Publie le : 09-11-2011

Info Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN vous
presente cet article de Maxime Azadi publie le 7 novembre 2011 sur
son blog heberge sur Mediapart.

Le premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan a menace ouvertement de
poursuites judiciaires les medias et les milieux democratiques qui
denoncent les rafles de la police dans le cadre de l’affaire KCK,
le pretexte de la campagne d’arrestations visant le principal parti
kurde BDP.

“Les dernières operations visant le KCK. Personne ne doit s’attendre
a ce qu’elles se terminent ” a declare lundi 7 novembre le premier
ministre dans sa ville natale de Rize.

Le KCK (Union des communautes du Kurdistan) est considere par les
autorites comme branche du PKK, Parti des travailleurs du Kurdistan,
alors qu’il s’agit d’un système confederal et son chef du conseil
est Murat Karayilan.

Le KCK ~uvre pour un Etat ” parallèle ” en Turquie, pour Erdogan
qui menace de poursuites judiciaires pour les medias et les milieux
democratiques turcs qui denoncent la repression contre les kurdes. ”
Que ce soit dans la presse ou autre part, il faut faire attention a
ce que l’on dit sur le KCK, cela revient a soutenir le terrorisme. ”

” Il n’y a qu’un seul Etat en Turquie: l’Etat turc, il ne peut y avoir
de deuxième ” a dit Erdogan et a ajoute: ” Si ces expressions sont
considerees comme etatistes et nationalistes, oui je suis etatiste,
nationaliste. ”

Le gouvernement AKP et son ideologue, la Confrerie Gulen, detiennent
deja tous les leviers du pouvoir, armee, police, justice, services
secrets et medias. Aujourd’hui, les kurdes restent la seule force
d’opposition qui critique ouvertement le gouvernent et descendent
dans la rue sans relâche malgre la repression brutale. Il s’agit d’un
grand obstacle devant l’hegemonie totale de la Confrerie Gulen.

Arrestations massives de kurdes poursuivent

Erdogan a l’habitude de menacer tous ceux qui critiquent les actions
du gouvernement. Il ne passe pas un jour sans arrestations massives
de kurdes a travers le pays. Le 7 octobre, 21 autres kurdes ont
ete arretes a Istanbul pour avoir participe a des manifestations ”
violentes “, selon les medias turcs.

Lors de la dernière grande rafle menee le 28 octobre a Istanbul
contre le BDP, plus de 50 personnes ont ete arretees et 44 d’entre
elles dont l’editeur Ragip Zarakolu et la professeure Busra Ersanli
ont ete envoyees en prison.

” Les accusations portees contre moi font partie d’une campagne visant
a effrayer les intellectuels et les democrates qui vivent en Turquie
et a isoler les Kurdes ” avait ecrit Zarakolu, dans sa première lettre
envoyee a ses avocats.

Dans la democratie ” avancee ” de Erdogan, la liberte d’expression
est plus que jamais menacee. La Turquie est devenue la plus grande
prison du monde pour les journalistes, avec environ 70 journalistes
emprisonnes.

Elle l’est aussi pour les etudiants et les elus. Les prisons turques
comptent près de 500 etudiants, dont la moitie dans la region kurde,
selon un rapport de l’Association des Avocats Contemporains (CHD).

Plus de 4500 membres du BDP ont ete arretes au cours de six derniers
mois. Aujourd’hui, des milliers de membres actifs dont 18 maires sur
99 et six deputes BDP sont en prison.

BOOK ABOUT GENOCIDE SURVIVORS BASED ON FACTS

Aysor.am
Tuesday,November 08

Amatuni Virabyan, the head of the RA State Archive said on the press
conference that soon a book based on stories told by the Genocide
survivors will be published. The book is called ~SGreif Story~T.

The facts have been gathered from the inhabitants of 700 villages
of West Armenia. The book will be come out in 3 volumes. It will
be published in several languages in Armenian, English, Russian and
French. The documents presented in the book show the real facts that
have taken place in reality. Every volume will consist of 500 pages.

The book will come out in several thousand copies. The project is
financed exceptionally by beneficiaries. At present the first volume
of the book is ready already and is being translated.

AWARDING OF THE 1ST CYBERSPORT CHAMPIONSHIP IN ARTSAKH

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 11:58:30 – 08/11/2011

On the 4th of November the winners of Cybersport Championship
organized by Karabakh Telecom were determined and prizes awarding
took place in the company’s headquarters on the 7th of November. In
the individual category among 16 participants the first place winner
was Aron Ghulyan who was awarded Dell netbook and 1 Mbit/s internet
1-year free subscription. The second place of the same category was
gained by Arushan Khachatryan, and the third place by Eduard Mehrabyan,
who were provided with 512 Kbit/s and 215 Kbit/s internet 1-year free
subscriptions, respectively.

In the team category among 11 teams “Phoenix Club” won, the members
of which were awarded 50,000 AMD money prize each, and the second
place gained “Park” team, each member receiving 30,000 AMD.

YEREVANGUIDE.AM PROJECT LAUNCHED

PanARMENIAN.Net
November 8, 2011 – 09:36 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Yerevanguide.am project has recently been launched
by ZOOM GRAPHICS Company.

As project manager Aram Shahinyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter,
the website is a welcome initiative especially for tourists as it
maps Yerevan with a motto All Events and Places of the City.

“This is an informative website about current events. The idea was
born about 4 months ago. The site still runs on alpha system due to
not being finalized yet,” he noted.

According to Shahinyan, the website gives its visitors an opportunity
to add any museum, cinema and organization to Facebook. List of
Yerevan monuments and cultural sites will later be incorporated into
the website.

REVUE DE PRESSE NO1 – 08/11/11 – COLLECTIF VAN

Publie le : 08-11-2011

Info Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN [Vigilance
Armenienne contre le Negationnisme] vous propose une revue de presse
des informations parues dans la presse francophone, sur les thèmes
concernant la Turquie, le genocide armenien, la Shoah, le genocide
des Tutsi, le Darfour, le negationnisme, l’Union europeenne, Chypre,
etc… Nous vous suggerons egalement de prendre le temps de lire ou
de relire les informations et traductions mises en ligne dans notre
rubrique

Par ailleurs, certains articles en anglais, allemand, turc, etc,
ne sont disponibles que dans la newsletter Word que nous generons
chaque jour. Pour la recevoir, abonnez-vous a la Veille-Media : c’est
gratuit ! Vous recevrez le document du lundi au vendredi dans votre
boîte email. Bonne lecture.

Des milliers de kurdes sont descendus dans les rues de Paris Info
Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN vous livre
cette information publiee sur le site Reseau d’informations libres
de la Mesopotamie le 6 novembre 2011. “Des milliers de kurdes ont
manifeste dimanche 6 novembre a Paris pour denoncer la fermeture
du centre culturel kurde par un tribunal francais et les ” crimes
contre l’humanite ” commis par le gouvernement Ankara. Quelque 3 000
personnes, jeunes en grand nombre, se sont rassemblees a 13h30 sur la
place de Republique, a l’appel de la Federation des associations kurdes
en France (Feyka), pour protester contre la decision de dissolution
du centre culturel kurde par le tribunal correctionnel de Paris,
le 2 novembre”.

Azerbaïdjan : Acharnement sur un journal et son redacteur en chef
Info Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN vous
propose cette information publiee sur le site des Reporters Sans
Frontières le 4 novembre 2011. “Reporters sans frontières condamne
l’incarceration d’Avaz Zeynalli, redacteur en chef du quotidien
Khural, et exige sa remise en liberte immediate. “Les autorites ont
utilise les pretextes les plus divers pour mettre fin aux activites
de Khural et punir Avaz Zeynalli pour ses critiques acerbes a
l’egard du chef de l’Etat. L’enquete en cours ne rend absolument pas
necessaire le placement en detention provisoire du journaliste. Cette
decision s’apparente a une double peine. L’acharnement doit cesser
immediatement”, a declare l’organisation”.

La Turquie utilise-t-elle des armes chimiques contre le PKK ?

Info Collectif VAN – – Un communique du BDP,
parti legal kurde represente au Parlement turc, signale que des
” informations sont de nature a appuyer les allegations selon
lesquelles l’armee turque aurait utilise des armes chimiques [contre
les militants du PKK]. Le silence des medias concernant ces allegations
est revelateur de leur soumission au Gouvernement. Les autorites, la
presse, les juges, tout le monde se tait. Comme si les 24 personnes
tuees n’etaient pas des etres humains. Comme si aucune voix ne
s’elevait pour denoncer l’utilisation d’armes chimiques. Ratifiee par
le Turquie le 14 janvier 1993 et entree en vigueur le 3 mai 1997, la
Convention du 13 janvier 1993 sur les armes chimiques (CAC) prohibe
de manière absolue l’emploi et le stockage d’armes chimiques. ” Le
Collectif VAN vous invite a lire ce Communique de presse publie le
31 octobre 2011.

Le pouvoir turc muselle les intellectuels pro-kurdes Des manifestants
se relaient depuis une semaine devant le tribunal de Besiktas, a
Istanbul, pour reclamer la liberation de deux militants kurdes. Ce
sont les arrestations de trop pour les partisans de la democratie
en Turquie. Depuis une semaine, universitaires, journalistes,
intellectuels, etudiants ou citoyens manifestent devant le tribunal de
Besiktas, a Istanbul, pour reclamer la liberation de Ragip Zarakolu,
directeur des editions Belge, et de Busra Ersanli, professeur de
sciences politiques.

Les entreprises face aux secrets du passe A la fin du mois de
septembre, la famille Quandt, richissime proprietaire de BMW, a
publie les travaux d’un historien independant, Joachim Scholtyseck,
qui ecornait serieusement l’image du fondateur de cet empire
industriel. Gunther Quandt, affirmait-il, a exploite, parfois jusqu’a
la mort, plus de 50 000 travailleurs forces pour fabriquer des armes
destinees au regime nazi.

Mirande. Une aide pour une rencontre europeenne Vendredi 4 novembre,
Denis Baret, president du groupement 147 de la Federation nationale
Andre-Maginot des anciens combattants et victimes de guerre, est
venu remettre un chèque de 2 000 ~@ a Veronique Magnier, proviseure
du lycee Alain-Fournier de Mirande, et aux professeurs responsables
du projet intitule : ” La Shoah, un genocide europeen “.

Il a pu rencontrer a cette occasion les 26 elèves qui se preparent
a partir, au debut du mois de decembre, pour un voyage d’etude d’une
semaine a Berlin, puis a Auschwitz.

Soudan: un mort et deux blesses dans une attaque contre les Casques
bleus de la MINUAD Une attaque contre des Casques bleus de la Mission
conjointe des Nations unies et de l’Union africaine (MINUAD) au Darfour
a fait un mort et deux blesses lundi, selon les deux organisations.

Visite de Massoud Barzani en Turquie Le president de la region autonome
kurde d’Irak du Nord, Massoud Barzani, a effectue une visite officielle
en Turquie, du 3 au 5 novembre derniers, dans un contexte de serieuses
tensions, suite aux attaques d’Hakkari, le 19 octobre (cf. notre
edition du 22 octobre 2011), et a la nouvelle vague d’arrestations de
l’enquete sur le KCK, le 28 octobre (cf. notre edition du 5 novembre
2011). Au cours des entretiens qu’ils ont eus avec le leader kurde,
le president de la Republique, le premier ministre et le ministre des
affaires etrangères turcs ont a nouveau sollicite son appui dans la
lutte qu’ils mènent contre le PKK.

Soudan : Khartoum accuse le Soudan du Sud de soutenir les rebelles Le
president soudanais Omar el-Bechir a mis en garde le week-end dernier
le Soudan du Sud contre tout soutien a la rebellion accusant ce pays
de ” trahison “, dernier signe de la deterioration des relations
bilaterales. Un nouveau round de negociations sous l’egide de l’Union
africaine doit s’ouvrir le 11 novembre prochain pour faire avancer
entre autre la question du partage du petrole, et celle de la paix
dans les deux provinces soudanaises en guerre.

El-Assad joue avec la question du Kurdistan occidental Isole a
l’interieur comme a l’exterieur des frontières de son pays, le
dictateur encourage le plus radical des partis kurdes, au risque de
provoquer la Turquie.

Retour a la rubrique

NKR PRESIDENT ARRIVES IN GERMANY

ARMENPRESS
NOVEMBER 8, 2011
YEREVAN

On 7 November Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan arrived with
a working visit to the city of Cologne in Germany. On the same day
the NKR President met heads of the city’s Armenian organizations and
business circles to discuss issues related to carrying out different
projects in the NKR.

Central Information Department of the Office of the Artsakh Republic
President reported that Bako Sahakyan thereafter visited residency
of the German Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church and held a
meeting with primate of the see Archbishop Garegin Pektchean and
later on met representatives of the Cologne Armenian community.

The NKR President introduced internal life of Artsakh, its foreign
policy, issues the state faces and answered questions raised by
the attendees.

Bako Sahakyan noted that Armenians in Germany posses a great potential
that creates promising perspectives for cooperation. Within this
context the President put a special emphasis on role of the Cologne
Armenian Diaspora, which is the biggest and best organized communities
in Germany that unites the entire German Armenians.

Head of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Archbishop
Pargev Martirosyan, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary
of the Republic of Armenia in the Federal Republic of Germany Armen
Martirosyan, head of the central information department of the office
of the NKR President David Babayan, NKR permanent representative to
Germany Haroutyun Grigoryan partook at the meetings.

EXPERT LINKS RECENT RESIGNATIONS TO RPA – PROSPEROUS ARMENIA RELATIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
November 7, 2011 – 15:03 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Recent resignations are prompted by the intention of
the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) to define its position
towards Prosperous Armenia party coalition partner, according to
director of P.Art PR-company.

As Karen Kocharyan told a news conference in Yerevan, “it’s time for
members of ruling authorities to sort out their priorities, which is
why RPA is burning bridges that were tying it with Prosperous Armenia.”

As the expert noted, the resignations were a predictable turn to be
continued up to the start of election race.

On November 3, by the decree of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan,
the first deputy chief of presidential staff Mikael Minasyan was
dismissed to take a post at RPA election headquarters.

On November 1, Armenian parliament speaker Hovik Abrahamyan announced
his resignation to head RPA electoral headquarters and more effectively
conduct the campaign. Abrahamyan will officially resign at November
14 parliamentary sitting.

Also on November 1, President Sargsyan signed a decree to relieve
Armenian police chief, lieutenant general Alik Sargsyan of his duties
and to appoint him as a presidential advisor. By another decree,
lieutenant general Vladimir Gasparyan was dismissed as the Deputy
Defense Minister and appointed to the post of Armenian police chief
at the government of Armenia.

‘WE’RE NOT GOING TO LEAVE OUR COUNTRY’: ARMENIAN ARTISTS IN COLLABORATION WITH GERMAN INSTITUTE

epress.am
11.07.2011

In Yerevan, the concentration of bank ads is as high as in Frankfurt,
London and New York combined, and more and more exclusive buildings are
making themselves at home there. Many of the newly built structures
remain empty, but that’s not stopping developers, writes Aya Bach in
Deutsche Welle.

But then, just where one least expects it, there’s a bit of art in
Yerevan – in a cultural center called Suburb, a private initiative
by artists and curators. Eva Khachatryan is among them; she has
organized a three-day meeting there with colleagues from Armenia,
Georgia and Germany. The workshop is part of a program developed by
Germany’s Goethe-Institut and supported by cultural managers from
throughout eastern Europe and central Asia.

The goal is to create networks in an industry that is by definition
border-crossing.

“It’s important to have an international scene here,” stressed
Khachatryan. “We have a young generation of artists that are hungry
for any information about contemporary art.”

But access to the thriving art world is lacking in Armenia, given that
the education system is still rooted in old Soviet structures. Those
who want to learn about contemporary artists and their work have to
rely on private initiatives organized by artists, critics and curators,
often with little financial backing.

The state of art education offers material for the workshop in Suburb.

Most of the creative initiatives that came about during the optimism
of the post-Soviet period now face major financial problems, or have
since disappeared completely. Turning to the state for help leads
nowhere, but perhaps that’s not such a bad thing.

Armenian curator Susanna Gyulamiryan sees good reasons to keep some
distance from the government. “Even though there is now opposition
and artistic streams that run completely counter to traditional
institutions, we still bear much of the Soviet past with us,” she said.

The official understanding of art, she added, is still very bound
up with state interests, and dissenting positions don’t have much of
a place.

Practically the entire art scene sees itself in the role of political
opposition. As such, alternatives to institutions sponsored by the
Armenian government are welcome, and creative networks with other
countries offer just what many artists are looking for.

The group in Suburb aims to address those interests by establishing
a cooperation with Germany. The Goethe-Institut program in which Eva
Khachatryan participates includes a residency in Berlin.

Many of Armenia’s artists share a sensibility with Berlin, from the
city’s street art to its internationally acclaimed galleries. In
one courtyard at Suburb, an artist duo exhibits a bourgeois kitchen
and musty old bedroom. The installation plays with traditional ideas
about gender and sexuality.

The group has a number of concrete plans and ideas, including creating
an archive for contemporary art and an accompanying library in Yerevan
– a means of combating the dramatic lack of information in the city.

Eva Khachatryan has had the idea in mind for years, but now it can
finally be realized with help from Berlin.

“We could organize it together with the [Neue Gesellschaft fur bildende
Kunst (New Society for Visual Arts)]. There’s also a bookstore next
door – perhaps they could help us as well,” she said.

Khachatryan also hopes to take a further step. Despite her concerns,
she has decided to seek support for the initiative from the Ministry of
Culture, as promised by the representative who attended her workshop.

“I don’t know if we can build up the civil society in our country with
such a seminar,” she reflected after the three-day event. “But we’ve
been working for at least 10 years – and we’re fighting exactly for
that! We’re not going to leave our country because we want to improve
it. This project is a major source of help for us because we believe
that we can do something meaningful through it.”