Author: Kajoyan Gevork

AN EVENT DEDICATED TO THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NKR DECLARATION HELD IN THE GOLDEN HALL OF THE U.S. CONGRESS

Mediamax
Sept 14 2011
Armenia

Yerevan/Mediamax/. Speaker of parliament of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic (NKR) Ashot Ghulyan stated that “we are ready to pass our
part of the path if Azerbaijan makes reciprocal steps”.

Ashot Ghulyan said this speaking at the evening dedicated to the 20th
anniversary of the NKR declaration in the U.S. Congress on September
13, Mediamax reports.

The Speaker noted with regret that “we have seen it neither in the
past, nor at present”. According to him, Azerbaijan’s threats on
restarting the war change Nagorno Karabakh’s stance cardinally as the
current situation together with all its components underlies the NKR
security system. “It’s just unacceptable for us to change it without
any tangible guarantees”, stressed Ashot Gulyan.

The delegation headed by the Speaker of the NKR National Assembly
is in the U.S. to participate in the events dedicated to the 20th
anniversary of the NKR declaration. The delegation held meetings with
congressmen Adam Schiff and Elliot Engeli on September 13.

The festive evening dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the NKR
declaration was held in the Golden Hall of the Congress. Dozens of
congressmen who had confirmed their further readiness to support
NKR’s international recognition took part in the event.

The evening was organized by the Congressional Armenian Caucus
Co-Chairs Frank Pallone and Ed Royce, the Armenia’s Embassy and NKR
Permanent Mission in the U.S.

ARMENIA SHOULD BE READY FOR RISKY SCENARIOS OF WORLD ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT – PM

news.am
Sept 14 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – Armenia should be ready for more risky scenarios of
world economic development, Armenian PM Tigran Sargsyan said at the
parliament on Tuesday.

Armenian PM stated that the issue is in the centre of the government
and in the focus of the discussion of World Bank and IMF. Currently,
the WB regional director for South Caucasus and the delegation of
the IMF are in Armenia.

“We receive the reports from official representatives of those
organizations about the forecasts of the world economy. Those are used
for macroeconomic forecasts laid in the Armenian budget,” PM stated.

According to the international experts, the stagnation period may
still be prolonged. However, the forecasts can change in three months.

Quarterly forecasts of those institutions are changing negatively.

Several scenarios are being elaborated. And Armenia should be ready
for worse scenarios. When the project of the state budget is presented
for the discussion of the parliament, Armenia will represent all
possible scenarios of risks, Armenian MP added.

Sargsyan said that one of the risks is the reduction of capital
inflows and transfers to Armenia. It will mainly refer to commodity
prices and dynamics of oil and gas. The other task is diversification
of economy and dispersal of economic development in other spheres.

Head of the Armenian government said that official statistics shows
that Armenia managed to achieve its goal to some extent and efforts
will be continued on that direction.

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AND MODERN MEMORY

GetReligion
Sept 14 2011

The Daily Beast, a news and opinion website published by Tina Brown in
conjunction with Newsweek magazine, has weighed in on the diplomatic
spat between Israel and Turkey. In a piece entitled “The Erdogan
Doctrine”, columnist Owen Matthews argues President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan and his ruling AK Party have been unfairly characterized as
villainous Islamist thugs. They have actually sought to build bridges
with Turkey’s minority faiths, Matthews argues.

Yet the notion of Erdogan as a Jew-hating jihadi doesn’t really fit.

Just before the current standoff, Erdogan sat down to dinner with
the leaders of Turkey’s religious minorities, including the Chief
Rabbi of Istanbul, and promised to return thousands of properties the
Turkish state had confiscated from Christians and Jews in the past
century. He also made a point of praising the “vast diversity of the
people that have peacefully coexisted” in Istanbul. “In this city the
[Muslim] call to prayer and church bells sound together,” said Erdogan.

“Mosques, churches, and synagogues have stood side by side on the
same street for centuries.”

The Daily Beast is also somewhat overgenerous in describing what
Erdogan has offered: only the properties of Christian and Jewish
institutions seized since 1936 are under discussion. Neither the
property of individual Christians and Jews confiscated by the state
nor the wholesale expropriations of the 1920’s are being reviewed.

The Daily Beast also uncritically relates Erdogan’s words of religious
peace and harmony .. queue the video .. without offering context. The
prime minister is able to speak of religious harmony because Turkey’s
religious minorities are all but extinct. In the home city of the
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople it would have been just as
easy for Erdogan to sit down to dine with all of the city’s remaining
Orthodox Christians as with its minority religious leaders. An op-ed
in The Hill, “Religious Freedom for Turkey?” penned by members of
US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is less
sanguine about the prospects for Christians, Jews, and members of
minority Muslim sects, especially the Alawites than The Daily Beast.

Turkey’s Christian minority has dwindled to just 0.15 percent of the
country. In the words of one church leader, it is an “endangered
species.” In past centuries, violence exacted a horrific toll on
Turkey’s Christians and their churches. This provides a frightening
context and familiar continuity to a number of recent high-profile
murders by ultranationalists.

Turkey’s Jewish community also fears a reprise of past violence, such
as the 2003 al Qaeda-linked Istanbul synagogue bombings. Societal
anti-Semitism has been fueled in recent years by Erdogan’s rhetoric
against Israel’s activity in the Middle East and by negative portrayals
in Turkey’s state-run media.

Today, however, it is the state’s dense web of regulations that most
threatens Turkey’s religious minorities.

And this brings me to the articles under examination. The
English-language editions of Turkey’s two major daily newspapers, the
Hurriyet Daily News and Today’s Zaman, offer stories on the re-opening
an ancient Armenian church located on an island on Lake Van in Eastern
Turkey. The Hurriyet Daily News has “Historical Armenian church hosts
service” from the Anatolia News Agency, the Turkish state wire service,
while Today’s Zaman prepared an in-house version entitled “Armenians
hold second religious ceremony at Akdamar church.”

Both pieces present a straight forward if slight account of the
festivities. The Church of the Holy Cross, a tenth century Armenian
Apostolic Church located on Akdamar Island in Lake Van, hosted its
second religious service since it was renovated in 2007. Between
2000-3000 attended the service and the reports note the island drew
30,000 tourists in 2010 (or are they pilgrims?) after the Turkish
government reopened the building as a museum.

Where things go wrong is when the Turkish correspondents attempt
to give some historical context to the story. The Hurriyet Daily
News states:

The church remained as part of a monastic complex until the beginning
of the 20th century. It was abandoned during World War I due to
fighting along the Russian border and was left in a bad condition
for many years.

While Today’s Zaman notes:

The Armenian Church of the Holy Cross was a monastic complex until
1920s, but deteriorated in condition after being abandoned during World
War I. Upon a proposal by the Governor’s Office of Van and approval
of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the church is expected to
now host annual religious services.

Armenians who lived in this province, located on the eastern shore
of Lake Van and in eastern Anatolia, were deported by Ottoman forces
in 1915. Armenians say 1.5 million Armenians were killed during a
systematic campaign in eastern Anatolia, while Turkey strongly rejects
the claims of genocide, saying the killings came as the Ottoman
Empire was trying to quell civil strife and that Muslim Turks were
also killed in the conflict. There are only around 60,000 Armenians
left living in Turkey, mostly in Istanbul.

Yes, the Church of the Holy Cross was abandoned during World War I.

The reason why it was abandoned was because the Turkish Army sacked the
monastery, killed the monks and drove off, or murdered, the Armenian
population in the region. Today’s Zaman makes note of the Armenian
genocide, but states it is a contested point in history.

I very much doubt the heavy hand of the censor massaged these
passages. The Daily Hurriet is the principle opposition newspaper,
while Today’s Zaman backs the Islamist government. What we see here
is a loss of memory. The genocide is not mentioned because its memory
has not been preserved in Turkey.

Journalism is a craft, a learned trade that has a pragmatic and moral
end. It informs while it also educates. If the press does not speak
the truth about the past, no matter how unpalatable this past may be
to nationalistic or religious sensibilities, it fails in its mission.

The bottom line: The absence of the Armenian Genocide from this
story, whether through ignorance, accident or design, means that
these articles fail the test of good journalism.

In his 1986 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Elie Wiesel wrote:
“That I have tried to keep memory alive, that I have tried to fight
those who would forget. Because if we forget, we are guilty, we are
accomplices.”

Buildings may survive, but memory of peoples fades away. A free press
should not be an accomplice.

Nota bene: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Yerevan bureau filed a
report that fills in the blanks. “Thousands Attend Armenian Church
Mass In Turkey”

Written by: geoconger on September 14, 2011.

EXPORTS FROM ARMENIA GREW BY 31.4%, IMPORTS BY 8.7% IN JANUARY-JULY 2011 COMPARED WITH SAME PERIOD OF LAST YEAR

Noyan Tapan
14.09.2011 | 14:14

Economy

Exports from Armenia grew by 31.4%, imports by 8.7% in January-July
2011 compared with same period of last year

Exports from Armenia made 9 million 545.7 thousand in January-July
2011, growing by over 31.4% compared with the same period of last year,
while imports made billion 196 million 328.6 thousand, growing by 8.7%.

Exports to CIS countries made 4 million 793.3 thousand, growing by
36.6% compared with the same period of last year, imports made 4
million 651.3 thousand, growing by 6.9% compared with the same period
of 2010.

ROBERT FISK: NEW LIGHT ON AN OLD HORROR – AND STILL THERE IS NO JUSTICE

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

On Wednesday morning, 14 April 1909, British Vice Consul Major Charles
Doughty-Wylie set off to the Turkish city of Adana after receiving
a letter from his dragoman – his Turkish translator, a man called
Trypani – saying that “there was a very dangerous feeling in that town,
threats had been freely offered, there were some murders…”.

Doughty-Wylie departed by the next train, memorably adding, in his
dispatch to the Foreign Office in London, that “so little had I
expected that any massacre was imminent, that I took my wife with me”.

We can only imagine the good lady’s reaction when “about two stations
from Adana we saw a dead body… The nearer we got to Adana the more
bodies there were, and while I was escorting my wife to Mr Trypani’s
house … two or three more men were killed under the very noses of
the Turkish guard…”.

Doughty-Wylie’s dispatches over the next four days are a first-class
account of the start of the modern Armenian Holocaust – not the
slaughter and butchery and mass rape and death marches in which
the Ottoman Turks killed a million and a half Armenians in 1915,
but the mass murder of up to 30,000 Armenians in southern Turkey six
years earlier, a dry run – albeit a very bloody one – for the later
genocide. “I got into uniform, went to the guard, and sharply recalled
to the officer his duty to prevent murder,” Doughty-Wylie wrote.

Having summoned some unwilling Ottoman soldiery to support him, our
vice consul “paraded through the town with bugles blowing… We cleared
the streets sometimes by charging with the bayonet and sometimes by
firing over the heads of the crowd”. Ah, those were the days!

The letters of Doughty-Wylie, who was later to have an unconsummated
affair with Gertrude Bell before dying at Gallipoli, are, in fact, a
record of heroism – I am indebted to researcher Missak Kelechian for
finding them in the British National Archives – for the vice consul
rescued numerous British subjects and protected many hundreds of
Armenian refugees. Trying to save their lives, the vice consul came
under sniper fire from a mosque. The Turks blamed the Armenians for
the massacres, claiming that they had armed themselves and planned
to set up an Armenian principality on Turkish soil – killers have a
habit of blaming the victims for their own deaths (see, for example,
the Muslim victims of the Bosnian war, the Palestinian civilian victims
of Gaza in 2008-9, etc) but Doughty-Wylie, while he acknowledged that
an Armenian shot dead two Turks, suspected that the violence included
“some secret preparation on the Turkish side”. Of the 2,000 dead in
Adana, 1,400 were Armenians.

The Turkish authorities supposedly hanged nine Turks for their part in
the slaughter. So much for justice. Remarking that many of the dead had
been thrown into rivers, the British vice consul concluded in a further
dispatch to London that “in the villages, while no exact number can
yet be given, the loss … may be estimated at between 15,000 and
25,000; of these, very few, if any, can be Moslems (sic). In many
cases women, even small children, were killed with the men”. Exactly
two weeks after Doughty-Wylie received the letter from his dragoman,
The New York Times’s journalist in Adana was reporting that in the
city’s vilayet (governorate), up to 30,000 Armenians had been murdered.

And Turkey, just as it does in the case of the later one and a half
million Armenian dead, still denies – along with Britain, the US,
need we add the rest? – that this was genocide. I have pointed out
before that even in the 1930s, Churchill referred to the “holocaust”
of Armenians. Now comes proof that the 1909 genocide, let alone the
later 1915 massacres, were known as a Holocaust – correctly, with
a capital H – before the First World War. For the Armenian Genocide
Museum in Yerevan has just unearthed and published eyewitness Z Duckett
Ferriman’s book on the 1909 killings whose original cover bore the
title The Young Turks and the Truth about the Holocaust at Adana in
Asia Minor. The New York Times had, in fact, referred to “Another
Armenian Holocaust” after an 1895 bloodbath, but Duckett Ferriman
collected victims’ names, dates, details of individual murders,
statistics of orphans, widows, villages destroyed, photographs, and
the identity of the militias – like the Turkish authorities in 1915
and like the Nazis, the 1909 killers used “special units” for killing
and rape – and the mass violation of women.

By extraordinary chance, Duckett Ferriman’s book coincides with the
Beirut publication next week of the memoirs of Hagop Arsenian, a 1915
Armenian Holocaust survivor whose handwritten diaries have just been
translated into English by his granddaughter, Arda Ekmekji. What makes
this work so remarkable is that the Arsenians were very upper middle
class. On their death trail to northern Syria, they were able, for a
short period, to travel by rail, first class. “They were transporting
us to our graves with our own money,” Hagop wrote. At other times,
still paying for their train tickets, they were packed into box
cars, 45 to a carriage, Nazi-style. During his Golgotha, Hagop stood
beside a pile of Armenian corpses. “One of them in a suffocating
voice begged the gravedigger not to pull him by the legs and said,
‘Brother, I have not died yet. Wait till morning before you bury me.'”
Like many Jews on the way to death in the second Holocaust of the
20th century, Hagop “would wonder whether we were such a terrible
nation that God had chosen … to manifest His anger and inflict
His punishment on us…”. There are good Turks in these stories –
in 1909 as well as 1915 – but there are many criminals.

And again, no justice for the Armenians. Few of the Turkish war
criminals were hanged. One of the worst, Talaat Pasha, was assassinated
in Berlin in 1921, Bin Laden-style, shot by an Armenian revenge group
called Nemesis. Most escaped their just deserts for ever, not even
facing a Demjanjuk-like court in old age. All are now dead. “War
will not end unless the truth is known,” a Lebanese humanitarian
agency stated four years ago. And that’s all that’s left to be
fought for. Acknowledgement that these crimes were real. Justice is
an odd creature.

The Independent,uk

28% STILL UNDECIDED IN STEPANAKERT MAYORAL ELECTION

hetq
12:03, September 14, 2011

Local elections in Artsakh are scheduled for September 18, but it’s
the mayoral election in Stepanakert, the capital, that’s attracting
the most interest – at least from outside observers.

Residents of Stepanakert don’t seem too excited – almost 25% of
the 36,000 registered voters, in a recent poll, said they wouldn’t
participate in local elections at all if given their druthers.

As to the chances of the candidates in the mayoral race, the Nor Ej
(New Page) newspaper polled 120 voters about their preferences

Souren Grigoryan, currently the government’s chief of staff, received
27.5%.

Edward Aghabegyan, a former Stepanakert mayor, received 17.5%.

Marat Hasratyan received 7.5%

28.3% said they were still undecided and 18.3% said they would vote
for none of the above.

ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA: SENATOR MENENDES LOSES CONFIDENCE IN AMBASSADORIAL NOMINEE TO TURKEY

Tert.am
12:25 14.09.11

Today, during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee business meeting
to consider a slate of Administration nominees for ambassadorial posts,
Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) cited his loss of confidence in the
US envoy to Turkey Francis Ricciardone given his careless response
regarding minority rights in Turkey, reported the Armenian Assembly
of America (AAA).

Specifically, Senator Menendez stated: “his [Ricciardone’s] response
indicates that he either did not carefully review the responses that
were submitted in his name or worse that he truly was unaware of the
history of the Christian church in Turkey and the difficulties that
Christian churches continue to face in that country. His response
indicates a lack of focus or interest in issues affecting the Armenian
community and sends a message to Turkey that the Armenia issue is not
an “A-list” issue. We need an Ambassador in Ankara that can support,
defend and advocate on behalf of all of the United States’ interests
vis-à-vis Turkey. Unfortunately, I’ve lost confidence in the ability
of Mr. Ricciardone to undertake that task and will not be able to
support his nomination.”

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) followed
up on Menendez’s remarks adding that Mr. Ricciardone’s response was
“unacceptable, incorrect and inappropriate.”

The Armenian Assembly previously expressed its strong concerns with
respect to Ricciardone’s responses and, in its August letter to
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, urged “immediate action” to
correct Ricciardone’s disconcerting statement which “in the context
of the planned extermination of the Armenian people and the documented
destruction of its religious and cultural heritage is as much offensive
as it is shocking.”

In the end, Senators Menendez, Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Jim Risch
(R-ID) voted against Ricciardone’s nomination, with Senators Jeanne
Shaheen (D-NH) and Chris Coons (D-DE) also raising concerns about
Ricciardone’s troubling response on minority rights and religious
freedom in Turkey.

In the course of today’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee business
meeting, four additional nominees were approved, including John Heffern
to serve as Ambassador to Armenia. The next step in the process is
for approval by the full Senate.

“The Armenian Assembly calls upon the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee to undertake a full assessment of the current situation
of Armenian churches and other such religious sites and monuments in
Turkey, and formulate legislation therein to enhance religious freedom
in Turkey and protect and preserve what remains of its Christian
heritage,” stated Armenian Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny.

CALIF. SUPERINTENDENT APPOINTS MURAD MINASIAN LIAISON TO ARMENIAN COMMUNITY
Murad Minasian

asbarez
Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

SACRAMENTO-This August, California State Superintendent of Public
Instruction Tom Torlakson appointed Murad “Mo” Minasian to serve as
the office’s liaison to the Armenian American community.

During the past several months Minasian has been working with The
Genocide Education Project, a non-profit educational organization
based in San Francisco and the Superintendent’s office to review
and ensure classroom compliance with the state-mandated curricular
to teach about the Armenian Genocide in California high schools. As
part of this effort and with the support of Raffi Momjian, Executive
Director of The Genocide Education Project, a survey is being drafted
for distribution to California teachers.

“The ANCA-Western Region is proud to have one of its activists
serve as Superintendent Torlakson’s liaison to the Armenian American
community,” said Andrew Kzirian, Chairman of the ANCA-Western Region
Board of Directors. “We applaud his work with the Superintendent
and The Genocide Education Project to make sure that the history is
accurately taught to all California students.”

Minasian is a long-time activist with the Armenian National Committee
of America’s San Gabriel Valley Chapter. His father, Michael Minasian
is a founding member of the Armenian Genocide Martyrs Monument in
Montebello.

This past April, freeway signs were erected on Route 60 designating
the exits providing access to the monument. This was made possible by
legislation passed in 2009 and authored by California State Assembly
Majority Leader Charles Calderon. Torlakson, then a member of the
California State Assembly, was a co-sponsor of the legislation.

Minasian was instrumental in the effort from the legislation to the
sign unveiling ceremonies which were jointly sponsored by the ANCA
SGV and the Armenian Monument Council which oversees and maintains
the monument.

Torlakson had previously served in the California State Assembly before
being elected Superintendent of Public Instruction, a state-wide public
office, in November 2010. The ANCA-Western Region endorsed Torlakson
in the race and actively mobilized Armenian Americans throughout the
state in support of his election.

The Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region is the
largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots advocacy
organization in the Western United States. Working in coordination
with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the
Western United States and affiliated organizations around the country,
the ANCA-WR advances the concerns of the Armenian American community
on a broad range of issues.

PRESSE ARMENIENNE : REVUE DU 13 SEPTEMBRE 2011

Collectif VAN

14-09-2011

Le Collectif VAN vous livre cette Revue de Presse parue sur le site
de l’Ambassade de France en Armenie le 9 septembre 2011.

Ambassade de France en Armenie

Revue de la presse armenienne du 13 septembre 2011

La presse du jour commente, d’une part, la declaration ” sans
precedent ” du Ministre uruguayen des AE, Louis Almagro, sur une
possible reconnaissance du HK par l’Uruguay, et, d’autre part, la
demission du chef d’administration presidentielle, Karen Karapetian
(cf. la revue du 10.09).

Declaration du chef de la diplomatie d’Uruguay/ D’après les
commentateurs, la declaration du Ministre uruguayen, qui, rappelonsle,
lors d’une reunion parlementaire du groupe d’amitie Armenie-Uruguay,
s’est dit convaincu que le HK doit etre independant et a terme
doit rejoindre l’Armenie et qu’actuellement la question de sa
reconnaissance est examinee au niveau gouvernemental, a fait l’effet
d’une bombe dans les milieux politiques et mediatiques d’Armenie,
comme d’Azerbaïdjan. Hayots Achkhar relève que meme si le Ministre
Almagro s’est exprime a titre personnel, toute declaration de Ministre
des AE ne saurait etre fortuite. Ce quotidien conclut donc que la
possibilite d’une reconnaissance du HK par l’Uruguay est reelle.

La presse armenienne rend compte de la reaction de Bakou qui s’est
empresse de demander des explications au Ministère des AE d’Uruguay.

Un vice-Ministre des AE d’Uruguay a rappele la position officielle de
son pays, a savoir, qu’en tant que pays membre de l’ONU, l’Uruguay
reconnaît et respecte l’integrite territoriale des autres membres,
dont l’Azerbaïdjan. Suite a cette explication, Bakou a accuse les
medias armeniens d’avoir diffuse des informations erronees.

Par la voix du porte-parole du ” President ” Sahakian, Stepanakert
a salue la declaration du chef de la diplomatie uruguayenne ” qui
traduit le serieux que manifeste la communaute internationale quant
au processus de reconnaissance du HK “.

Hayastani Hanrapetoutioun se demande si l’Uruguay, pays ayant reconnu
le premier le genocide armenien en 1965, sera a nouveau le plus ”
courageux ” pour reconnaître le HK. / ” Debut encourageant : effet
d’une bombe “- Hayots Achkhar

Affaires interieures Demission/Les quotidiens commentent la
demission, vendredi dernier, du chef d’administration presidentielle,
Karen Karapetian, frère du richissime Armenien de Russie, Samvel
Karapetian, en avancant quelques hypothèses a cette demission ”
surprise “. M. Karapetian n’aurait plus voulu attendre sa nomination
en tant que PM, promesse qui lui aurait ete donnee par le chef de
l’Etat suite aux elections presidentielles.

Selon Haykakan Jamanak, le frère de M. Karapetian aurait accorde
60 M USD pour la campagne de Serge Sarkissian en 2008, et aurait
promis des investissements a hauteur de 250 M USD en Armenie, ce qui
jusqu’a maintenant n’aurait pas ete fait… De surcroît, comme le
rappelle Haykakan Jamanak, après avoir signe, le 1er mars dernier,
un programme d’investissements de quelques millions de dollars avec le
maire d’Erevan, le frère richissime de M. Karapetian l’aurait aussitôt
annule. Il est suppose, d’après ce quotidien, que la raison principale
de l’annulation des projets financiers serait la non-nomination de
Karen Karapetian en tant que PM.

Les quotidiens avancent aussi une deuxième hypothèse, selon laquelle
M. Karapetian aurait demissionne en raison de ses relations ” tendues
” avec l’un de ses adjoints, Mikhaël Minassian, qui est le beau-fils
du President Sarkissian. Il n’aurait plus voulu etre rejete au second
plan, en ce qui concerne la prise de decisions importantes, selon
Haykakan Jamanak.

Les quotidiens s’interrogent par ailleurs sur les repercussions que
cette demission pourrait avoir sur le processus de politique interieure
en Armenie, vue les moyens financiers et politiques considerables
dont dispose la famille Karapetian. Ils notent que M.

Karapetian n’a pas quitte le parti Republicain et ne se prepare pas
non plus de quitter la scène politique armenienne.

Hayots Achkhar, Azg, Hayastani Hanrapetoutioun et Aravot rendent compte
de l’election du maire de la ville d’Alaverdi, l’une des principales
villes d’Armenie, a l’issue de laquelle le maire sortant, Artavazd
Varossian, membre du parti Republicain, a ete reelu.

Affaires regionales CEI/ Hayots Achkhar et Hayastani Hanrapetoutioun
relèvent que d’après les donnees du Comite des Statistiques de la CEI,
l’Armenie est le deuxième pays par la progression de la production
industrielle au cours des mois janvier-juillet : 12,4%, derrière le
Kirghizstan (15,1%).

Russie/ Au cours du premier semestre de l’annee en cours, 15 000
citoyens d’Armenie ont acquis la nationalite russe ou l’autorisation
de residence en Russie.

Violations du cessez-le-feu/ Hayots Achkhar relève que du 4 au 10
septembre, l’Azerbaïdjan a viole le regime de cessez le-feu 230 fois.

Brouille entre la Turquie et Israël/ Dans un article intitule ”
Israël punira la Turquie : parmi les mesures envisagees figurent les
questions du holocauste armenien et du Mont Ararat “, Azg relève que
suite a l’expulsion de diplomates israeliens de Turquie, le Ministre
israelien des AE, Avigdor Liberman, a decide de riposter. Parmi les
” outils diplomatiques ” envisages par Tel-Aviv, une cooperation
etroite avec l’Armenie. Au cours de sa visite aux Etats-Unis, dans
les prochaines semaines, le chef de la diplomatie israelienne devrait
rencontrer les dirigeants du lobby armenien pour leur proposer une
” cooperation anti-turque ” auprès du Congrès americain. D’après
les medias israeliens, ” Israël pourrait ainsi contribuer a la
reconnaissance internationale du genocide armenien “.

France/ Caucase du sud/ Armenie Azg, Jamanak et 168 Jam relèvent que
l’Ambassadeur de Georgie en France, Mamouka Koudava, a confirme aux
medias georgiens les informations sur l’eventuelle visite du President
Sarkozy en Georgie, dans le cadre d’une visite regionale au Sud Caucase
la première quinzaine d’octobre. Arminfo dit etre informe, dans une
depeche, que le President de la Republique francaise se rendrait en
Armenie le 4 octobre. / ” Nicolas Sarkozy se rendra au sud Caucase
“- Azg

Regnum cite une source diplomatique anonyme, selon laquelle, la
Russie pourrait passer a la France le relai pour le ” leadership ”
dans le règlement du conflit du HK. / Golos Armenii

France / Hayastani Hanrapetoutioun annonce qu’une explosion a eu lieu
dans l’installation nucleaire de Centraco près de Marcoule (Gard).

Redaction : Merie Hakobian

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Source/Lien : Ambassade de France en Armenie

LA COUR DE CASSATION REJETTE L’APPEL DU QUOTIDIEN HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK
[email protected]

armenews.com
mercredi 14 septembre 2011

ARMENIE

La cour de cassation a rejete un appel mardi du quotidien ” Haykakan
Zhamanak ” qui a ete condamne a une amende de 6 millions de drams
(16 200 dollars) cette annee pour avoir publie des informations sur
trois hommes d’affaires qui seraient lies a des activites criminelles.

L’affaire decoule d’un article publie en octobre l’annee dernière. Il
etait fonde sur les demandes faites par Smbat Karakhanian.

Karakhanian affirment que les autorites russes soupconnent huit
hauts fonctionnaires armeniens et des hommes d’affaires, y compris
le president Serge Sarkissian, d’etre impliques dans un trafic de
drogue, dans une affaire de blanchiment d’argent et autres crimes
graves commis en Russie. Les responsables russes n’ont jamais confirme
ces allegations.

Trois des ” oligarques ” mis en cause – Samvel Aleksanian, Ruben
Hayrapetian et Levon Sargsian – ont poursuivi le quotidien “Haykakan
Zhamanak” en janvier dernier après qu’il a refuse de se retracter par
rapport a ces allegations qu’ils qualifient de ” diffamation “. Dans un
procès conjoint, chacun d’eux exige 2,5 millions de drams de dommages.

Le tribunal de district d’Erevan a soutenu leurs exigences, tout
en abaissant le montant des dommages qu’ils exigent. La Cour d’appel
armenienne a confirme la decision par la suite, conduisant le quotidien
“Haykakan Zhamanak” a faire appel devant la Cour de Cassation.

S’exprimant lors d’une interview a RFE /RL, Nikol Pachinian, redacteur
en chef du journal, a condamne le refus illegal de la Cour d’ouvrir les
audiences. Il a affirme que la decision etait ” dictee par l’oligarchie
au pouvoir “.

Pachinian, qui est aussi un membre eminent du principal parti
d’opposition, le Congrès national armenien (HAK), a declare que son
journal aura du mal a payer l’indemnite de 6 millions de drams.

Le journal “Haykakan Zhamanak” a deja ete saisi a la cour avec
une amende de 3,6 millions de drams a la fin de l’annee 2009 pour
avoir affirme que le plus jeune fils de l’ancien president Robert
Kotcharian, Levon, avait provoque une querelle d’ivrognes dans les
Emirats Arabes Unis.

Sa bataille juridique avec les trois magnats influents intervient dans
une recrudescence de cas de diffamation contre les medias critiques
des gouvernements actuel et precedent.