Author: Kajoyan Gevork

People Magazine
Jan 28 2015

Amal Clooney’s Next Big Case: Representing Armenia in Genocide Trial

After playing the role of red-carpet date for her husband, George
Clooney, at the Golden Globes, Amal Clooney is taking off the white
gloves and getting down to business.

Her latest mission: representing Armenia’s interests in a landmark
trial before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg,
France, beginning Wednesday.

The case is an appeal of a 2013 ruling by the ECHR – described as the
Supreme Court of Europe – in which the court decided that a Swiss law
prohibiting the public denial of the alleged Armenian genocide is a
violation of freedom of speech.

Switzerland is now appealing the verdict, and the outcome of the trial
could have ramifications for other European nations, such as France,
which have also attempted to outlaw genocide denial.

For her part, Clooney, 36, will attempt to refute testimony from
countries, like Turkey, which do not accept that the mass killing and
forced deportation of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire from 1915-1923
was an act of genocide.

The appeal is Clooney’s first big case of 2015. Last year, she
represented Greece in the country’s bid to have the Elgin Marbles
returned from the British Museum.

More recently, she represented one of three Al Jazeera journalists
imprisoned in Egypt.

APA, Azerbaijan
Jan 28 2015

ECHR Grand Chamber holding hearing on Swiss govt’s appeal against
judgment on Perinçek’s case – PHOTO

[ 28 January 2015 13:51 ]

Strasbourg. Fuad Gulubeyli ` APA. The Grand Chamber of the European
Court of Human Rights has today started hearing on the Swiss
government’s appeal against the judgment on DoÄ?u Perinçek’s case. 17
judges are participating at the hearing presided over by ECHR
President Dean Spielmann, APA’s Europe correspondent reports.

Perinçek’s is represented by attorneys Mehmet Cengiz and Christian
Laurent Pech, Turkey by professor Stefan Talmon, Switzerland by Daniel
Türer, Armenia by Geoffrey Robertson and Ms. Amal Clooney.

Members of the Turkish Constitutional Court and attorneys of the
Council of State of France are also attending the hearing. Armenians
are holding a rally on one side of the street outside the ECHR
building and Turks on the other side. The street is cordoned off by
police.

Turkey’s Workers’ Party (Ä°P) Chairman DoÄ?u Perinçek has been put under
police surveillance for his description of the Armenian genocide as
“an international lie” at a demonstration in Lausanne on 25 July 2005.
After being released only with the interference of Turkey, Perinçek
was sentenced to 3-month imprisonment under the court judgment, but
his sentence was commuted to a fine. In June 2008, DoÄ?u Perinçek
appealed to the European Court of Human Rights as Switzerland
restricted his freedom of expression. The ECHR sustained his appeal on
17 December 2013. In March 2014, the Swiss government filed an appeal
against the decision of the ECHR. Armenia and France were involved in
the process as well. Switzerland’s appeal will be clarified by the
Grand Chamber of the ECHR. The Chamber’s decision to be announced
after two months is final and no appeal lies against it.

BGN News, Turkey
Jan 28 2015

Europe Court has hearing on Armenian allegations denial

Europe’s top human rights court held a hearing Wednesday to decide
whether a Turk who denied Armenian “genocide” allegations should have
his conviction for racial discrimination overturned. No date was set
for a ruling.

The case, referred last June to the European Court of Human Rights,
concerns the case of DoÄ?u Perinçek, a Turkish national and chairman of
the left-wing Turkish Workers’ Party. Perinçek was found guilty of
racial discrimination in Switzerland for describing the so-called
“Armenian genocide” as an “international lie.”

At the hearing, Amal Alamuddin, a lawyer representing the Armenian
government, said a lower court had not taken into account documents
from 1915, when the events are alleged to have occurred.

Alamuddin also said that, according to a story from that period that
appeared in New York Times, Talaat Pasha had decided to expel the
Christians from Anatolia, the Asian part of what is now Turkey.

Talaat Pasha was a member of a triumvirate that governed the Ottoman
Empire during World War II. He was assassinated in Berlin in 1921 by a
survivor of the Armenian relocation.

“There are no court trials where Talat Pasha was convicted,” said
Perinçek at the hearing Wednesday. “As a result of a probe by the
British state, the case was closed as no evidence could be found about
the Armenian issue.”

Perinçek called Talaat Pasha a hero of liberty.

The defendant recalled a book written by Armenia’s first prime
minister, Ovanes Katchaznouni, that detailed a dialogue between the
prime minister and the pasha.

In the events that led to the present case, Perinçek, at various
conferences in Switzerland in 2005, rejected allegations that the
events of 1915 and the following years in the Ottoman Empire amounted
to “genocide” of the Armenian people.

The Switzerland-Armenia Association filed a criminal complaint against
him. Perinçek was tried by the Lausanne Police Court in March, 2007,
found guilty of racial discrimination, and fined.

Many Armenians argue that denying allegations that the events of 1915
constituted “genocide” should be a crime, just as negating the
Holocaust is. In 2003, the National Council of Switzerland, the
country’s parliament, recognized the events of 1915 as “genocide.”

Turkey officially refutes this description, saying that although
Armenians died during relocations many Turks also lost their lives in
attacks by Armenian gangs.

A Swiss Appeals Court subsequently confirmed Perinçek’s sentence.
Perinçek then appealed to the Federal Tribunal, the highest court in
Switzerland, which also confirmed the sentence.

In 2008, Perinçek appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in
Strasbourg, claiming that the Swiss courts had violated his rights,
including that to freedom of expression. He demanded compensation of
140,000 euros for moral and financial damages, as well as court
expenses.

Now, after a hearing by the court’s 17-member Grand Chamber, the court
will begin its deliberations, to be held in private.

Separately, Turkey has called for a joint Armenian-Turkish research
project into the events, making use of the archives in both countries,
to establish the facts.

In April 2014, Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an, who was prime
minister at the time, offered condolences for the Armenian deaths that
occurred in 1915 — a first for a Turkish leader. The move was seen as
a significant step toward possible reconciliation.

Jan 28, 2015 | AA | Strasbourg, France

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 28 2015

Amal Clooney on legal team in ‘Armenian genocide’ case

Lawyer Amal Clooney went before Europe’s top human rights court
Wednesday to argue against a man convicted of denying the 1915
‘Armenian genocide.’

Clooney is representing Armenia as part of an appeal before the
Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights, which ruled in favor
of the man, DoÄ?u Perinçek, in December 2013.

Perinçek believes his right to free speech was violated when Swiss
courts convicted him of racism for denying the ‘genocide’ in 2005. He
described the ‘genocide’ as “an international lie.”

Clooney said the “most important error” of the court’s 2013 ruling in
favor of Perinçek was that “it cast doubt on the reality of the
Armenian genocide.”

Historians estimate up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman
administration around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed
by genocide scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century.
Turkey, however, denies the deaths constituted genocide, saying the
toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war
and unrest.

The court said its decision would be made at a later date.

REVUE DE PRESSE
Amal Clooney accuse la Turquie d’hypocrisie sur la liberté
d’expression dans le procès sur le génocide arménien
L’avocate des droits de l’homme, représentant l’Arménie, a critiqué
doubles standards de la Turquie sur la liberté d’expression

Amal Clooney, l’avocate des droits humains, a accusé la Turquie de
doubles normes sur la liberté d’expression pour défendre un gauchiste
turque qui a qualifié le génocide arménien de >.

L’avocate, qui représente l’Arménie au nom de Doughty Street Chambers
avec Geoffrey Robertson QC, a déclaré que la position de la Turquie
était hypocrite “en raison de [son] dossier sur la liberté
d’expression”.

Mme Clooney a dit aux 17 membres de la Cour de la Grande Chambre de
Strasbourg mercredi qu’elle voulait corriger le dossier sur le
génocide arménien, car la décision précédente “jete le doute sur la
réalité du génocide que le peuple arménien a subi il y a un siècle”.

“L’Arménie doit avoir sa journée au tribunal. Les enjeux ne pourraient
être plus élevés pour le peuple arménien “, a-t-elle ajouté.

Après quatre minutes et demie dans son témoignage de la documentation
historique sur les événements en 1915, y compris les aveux de l’Empire
Ottoman sur les crimes de guerre, il a été demandé à l’avocate de
conclure par les juges.

“Mme Clooney peut-je attirer votre attention sur le fait que le
gouvernement arménien a dépassé le temps alloué, alors je vous
demander de conclure,” a déclaré Dean Spielmann, le président de la
cour.

Elle a insisté pour que l’Arménie ne voulait pas limiter la liberté
d’expression ou le débat historique et a accusé la Turquie d’avoir
deux poids deux mesures parce qu’elle a un pauvre record sur la
liberté d’expression.

“L’Arménie n’est pas ici pour argumenter contre la liberté
d’expression plus que la Turquie est là pour la défendre. Ce tribunal
sait très bien comment honteux est le record de la Turquie sur la
liberté d’expression. Vous avez condamné le gouvernement turc dans 224
cas distincts sur des motifs de liberté d’expression ”

L’avocate libanaise a fait référence à Hrant Dink, rédacteur en chef
du journal turco-arménien, qui a été poursuivi par la Turquie pour
avoir qualifier les massacres de 1915 de génocide.

M. Dink a ensuite été assassiné par un nationaliste turc en 2007 pour
ses opinions et son ethnicité comme Arménien.

THE TELEGRAPH

mercredi 28 janvier 2015,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

Armenian villager has stroke after Azeri captivity

19:04 | January 28,2015 | Politics

Arsen Khojoyan, a resident of Verin Karmiraghbyur village in Armenia’s
Tavush province, who was freed from Azerbaijani captivity in April,
2014, has had a stroke, hraparak.am reports.

“One side of his body has become paralyzed. Now he is sitting with an
indifferent look on his face. We do not understand what is going on. I
am aghast at the thought that my son is in such a helpless condition,”
said Mrs Svetlana, Arsen’s mother.

The desperate woman says captivity changed her son; now he has become
self-contained and offish. “He was subjected to tortures and underwent
many hardships,” she says.
Mrs Svetlana says Arsen refuses to go to doctors as the family cannot
afford to pay for treatment. “My son needs treatment. I am losing
him,” said the woman.

“We need not give in to Azerbaijan’s adventurism and provocations” (video)

18:13 | January 28,2015 | Politics

Our army is the achievement of our people. It is our pride and the
guarantee of our security, Major General Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan
(Commandos), said on January 28 on the occasion of Army Day.

“Many in Azerbaijan say today that the Soviet army helped Armenians
during the war and without them we could not have won the war. But it
is not true. We have powerful soldiers who can protect our borders.
Our task today is to protect Armenia and Karabakh,” he said adding
that Azerbaijan is violating all international norms and agreements.
In the given situation Azerbaijan is doing everything possible to
waken Armenia but unlike them, we are one nation. Foreign nationals
make 60 percent of Azerbaijan’s population but they are presented as
Azerbaijanis,” he said.

“Even media representatives in Azerbaijan are well aware of their
status; they are executing the order of authorities. But people in
Azerbaijan do not want war, it is the government of the country that
is instilling hatred in them against Armenians, Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan
said.

Major General Astvatsatur Petrosyan added that Azerbaijan does not
care for the death of its soldiers. Human losses are unimportant to
the country’s leadership: that is why their short-sighted policy
results in more deaths.

“Our army has progressed greatly as compared with 1992. It is
strengthening year by year and we need not give in to Azerbaijan’s
adventurism and provocations because of a few shots,” he said.

Congratulatory address by President Serzh Sargsyan on Army Day

17:01, 28 Jan 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Dear compatriots,

I cordially congratulate you on the occasion of Army Day.

For our country and people, the army is more than just a public body.
Literally every day and every night the Armenian army protects our
lives, very often becoming engaged with bandits who seek to encroach
upon our motherland. Today, they are trying to impose on us a new type
of war, because they have lost all the previous types, including the
so called “war of diversions.” Its absurdity is already obvious even
to those who call us “enemy.”

In the 100th year of the Armenian Genocide, some people have decided
to frighten us, Armenians, with homicide – Armenocide. Let us confess
that what was implemented 100 years ago was centrally-planned and
administrated genocide. We also fully understand that such a plan
could have been fulfilled only in the absence of the Armenian
statehood.

Today is a red-letter day, and I would like to reiterate once again
for those who do not understand well: the Armenian people have
returned to life, have returned to the international family of peoples
through its statehood and army. They have returned from Hell. The
attempts to terrorize the ones who have gone through hell are not
serious. Such attempts are delayed by at least 100 years.

A question arises: what is the connection between the events that
happened 100 years ago and today’s army. Is there a plan in someone’s
sick brain to destroy Armenia? The answer is that those plans live not
only in some peoples’ brains, but also are heard from the lips of the
neighboring country’s officials. They can be heard through all
possible loudspeakers. According to them, not only Artsakh, but also
the entire territory of Armenia made part of the historical lands of
“Azerbaijan,” and those lands are subject to so called “liberation.”
We perfectly understand the targets of such “pre-planned” rhetoric.

What do we say? We say that Artsakh’s right to live in freedom is out
of discussion. That is all.

Dear compatriots,

Since the day of its formation, when it even lacked an official name,
our army has become tempered in war fires. It was born out of our
people’s will to live and be liberated and as a guarantor of their
hopes, desires and immortality.

We have not had such a powerful army for a long time. I congratulate
all of us on this great holiday. I wish safe service to our servicemen
and peace to all of us.

Which Countries Plan to Enrich Flour with Additives and Which Not?

13:39 January 27, 2015
EcoLur

Many developed countries like Russia, Germany, France, China, Japan,
Korea, Denmark etc. have refused to join the program of enriching the
flour with additives, as biotechnologist Alexander Selimyan, member of
Armenian Technological Academy, declared at the public discussions of
RA draft law “On Enriching Wheat Flour” held on 22 January.

He raised a question why Armenia doesn’t follow the example of these
countries and follows such countries as Azerbaijan, Tajikistan,
Turkey, Georgia Albania etc.

Health Deputy Minister Sergey Khachatryan responded, “The notion of
flour enrichment comes from Russia, in the 20’s after the revolution,
then it was stopped, later the flour was enriched till the end of the
Soviet Union for unknown reasons.”

In the European countries it’s more targeted, but a number of European
countries carry out through food. We have learnt that Russia will soon
adopt a law on enriching with iron and folic acid.

Pope to celebrate Mass marking 100th anniversary of Armenian genocide

11:41, 28 Jan 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Pope Francis will celebrate a special liturgy in April with Armenian
Catholics, who are marking the 100th anniversary of the Armenian
genocide, the Vatican announced, the Catholic News Herald reports.

Publishing the list of papal liturgies for February, March and April,
the Vatican confirmed the Mass will be served on April 12 in St.
Peter’s Basilica.