Author: Kajoyan Gevork

Cuba hands down 15-year sentence to Canadian executive Cy Tokmakjian

September 28, 2014

BBC – A court in Cuba has sentenced the president of a Canadian
transport company to 15 years in jail for bribery.

Cy Tokmakjian, 74, was detained in Cuba in 2011 as part an
anti-corruption operation. He denies the charges.

The Tokmakjian Group said the court had seized its assets in Cuba,
worth about $100m (£62m).

The company said the ruling was worrying development for potential
investors on the Communist-run island.

“Lack of due process doesn’t begin to describe the travesty of justice
that is being suffered by foreign businessmen in Cuba,” the company
said in a statement.

Two other executives from the Tokmakjian Group – fellow Canadian
citizens Claudio Vetere and Marco Puche – were sentenced to eight and
12 years in prison.

The Ontario-based company used to sell transportation, mining and
construction equipment to Cuba.

There has been no comment on the case from the Cuban authorities.

Claims

Its offices in Havana were seized in 2011 when President Raul Castro
launched a major drive against corruption in the Caribbean nation.

Canadian MP Peter Kent visited Mr Tokmakjian in jail last year.

“The trial was, from almost any measure, extraordinarily unfair and
rigged,” Mr Kent told the Financial Post newspaper.

The Tokmakjian Group was the sole representative of South Korean
company Hyundai in Cuba, which has been making efforts to replace its
ageing car and bus fleet.

The company has launched claims worth more than $200m (£123) against
Cuba through the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris and
Canada’s Ontario Superior Court.

WTOP
Sept 28 2014

Abraham retains WBO title on points over Smith

Saturday – 9/27/2014, 8:30pm ET

KIEL, Germany (AP) — Arthur Abraham retained his WBO super
middleweight belt by defeating Paul Smith of England by unanimous
decision on Saturday.

The judges awarded it 117-111, 117-111, 119-109 to the defending
champion, who dominated the majority of the bout, albeit in the face
of a spirited challenge from Smith, who was cheered on by a sizable
traveling support.

Abraham’s punches seemed more effective, more powerful, and he
reasserted his control in a commanding final round, when punishing
right blows had the Liverpudlian against the ropes.

The Armenian-born German improved to 41-4 (28 KOs) after making the
second defense of the title he won back from Robert Stieglitz by split
decision on March 1.

“I love coming here,” Abraham said. “It was a great fight. We trained
hard. I worked a lot with my jab today.”

Smith, who was taking his first shot at a world title, dropped to 35-4 (20 KOs).

ISIS DYNAMITES CHURCH MEMORIALIZING VICTIMS OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

CNS News
Sept 23 2014

September 23, 2014 – 4:48 PM
By Lauretta Brown

CNSNews.com) – An Armenian Apostolic church constructed in memory of
the victims of the 20th century Armenian genocide was “rigged and
dynamited” on Sunday by forces loyal to the Islamic State of Iraq
and al Sham (ISIS), according to reports from Syria’s government
news agency.

The Armenian Holy Martyrs Church in Der Zor, located in the Syrian
desert 280 miles northeast of Damascus, was constructed in memory of
the victims of the 1916 Armenian genocide and consecrated in 1991.

The site was chosen because Der Zor is believed to have housed death
camps in which an estimated 150,000 to 400,000 Armenians were killed
by the Ottoman Turks 100 years ago. The destroyed church included a
museum housing the remains of some of the genocide victims.

News of the destruction of the church was met with outrage by
ecclesiastical and political officials.

“We strictly condemn the explosion by terrorists of Der Dzor’s
Holy Martyrs Armenian Church that is dedicated to the memory of the
Armenian Genocide victims and contains remains of many martyrs of
the Genocide,” Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan said in
a statement released by the Armenian Foreign Ministry.

“This horrible barbarity committed against the sacred place shows once
again the savage nature of the so-called Islamic State terror group.

The international community must immediately stop and eradicate this
plague posing a threat to civilized humanity,” he added.

“This crime committed on the threshold of the 100th anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide and on the 23rd anniversary of the Independence
of the Republic of Armenia, we consider to be a barbarian act,”
said Aram I, Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia of the Armenian
Apostolic Church, who released a statement Monday upon learning about
the church’s destruction.

Aram I had proclaimed the church as a national pilgrimage site in 2002.

“Let the hands behind this terrorist act know that Deir ez-Zor, this
sacred place of the victims of the Armenian Genocide, commemorating
the memory of our martyrs and symbolizing the fight of our people for
justice, cannot be demolished from the memory of our people,” he said.

Edward Sharmazanov, deputy speaker of the Armenian Parliament, called
the destruction of Holy Martyrs Armenian Church “cultural genocide”
during a Monday meeting with Czech Republic Senate Vice-President
Miluse Horska in Prague.

Sharmazanov reportedly emphasized that the church’s destruction by
ISIS was a continuation of the destruction of other Armenian monuments
in Turkey and Nakhichevan, an autonomous region in Azerbaijan.

The UK Ambassador to Armenia, Katherine Leach, also condemned the
destruction of the church, calling it a “great tragedy.”

A century after the Armenian genoicide, some Armenians suspect Turkish
involvement in the ISIS attack, especially in light of the recent
release of 49 Turkish diplomats by ISIS.

“If Turkey is not behind the terrorism, having exploded this unique
church, which is of great importance to the Armenians, it will
immediately issue a condemning statement,” Vigen Sargsyan, head of
staff of the president of the Republic of Armenia, reportedly wrote
on his Facebook page.

However, according to Armenian Public Radio,”while authorities in
Armenia have severely condemned the attack on the Saint Martyrs Church,
Turkey… has yet to comment on the attack.”

Armenian Public Radio spoke to Andranik Ispiryan, an expert in
Turkish studies, who speculated that “through cooperation with the
Islamic State, Turkey is trying to overthrow [Syrian President Bashar]
Assad’s regime and bring Sunni Muslims to power, to neutralize the
Kurdish element in Syria, destroy the large Armenian community formed
in Syria after the Armenian Genocide and erase its cultural heritage.”

The Armenian Genocide has long been a contentious issue for Turkey and
Armenia. Turkey refuses to admit it occured even though Argentina,
Germany, Russia and many other countries have acknowledged it, with
the notable exclusion of the United States.

Legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate to recognize the
Armenian Genocide most recently by Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ),
who sponsored a resolution in April that passed the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, but was ultimately shelved.

“The Armenian Genocide was conceived and carried out by the Ottoman
Empire from 1915 to 1923, resulting in the deportation of nearly
2,000,000 Armenians, of whom 1,500,000 men, women, and children
were killed and 500,000 survivors were expelled from their homes,
and the elimination of the over 2,500-year presence of Armenians
in their historic homeland,” the resolution stated. (See Armenian
Genocide resolution.pdf)

“The Government of the Republic of Turkey has continued its
international campaign of Armenian Genocide denial, maintained
a blockade of Armenia, and continues to pressure the small but
growing Turkish civil society movement for acknowledging the Armenian
Genocide,” it continued.

The resolution was introduced “to remember and observe the anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide on April 24, 2014,” and so that “the President
should work toward an equitable, constructive, stable, and durable
Armenian-Turkish relationship that includes the full acknowledgment
by the Government of the Republic of Turkey of the facts about the
Armenian Genocide.”

LE REFERENDUM EN ECOSSE EST L’EXEMPLE DE REALISATION DU PRINCIPE DE L’AUTODETERMINATION A DECLARE LE CHEF DE LA DIPLOMATIE ARMENIENNE

ARMENIE

Quel que soit le resultat du referendum la libre expression de la
volonte des Ecossais est un exemple de la realisation du principe de
l’egalite des droits et de l’autodetermination des peuples a declare
le ministre des Affaires etrangères armenien, Edouard Nalbandian.

TAX EXEMPTION TO BE GRANTED TO BORDERZONE COMPANIES IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, September 26. /ARKA/. Tax exemption will be granted to
companies operating at border regions, Armenia’s deputy minister
of finance Vakhtang Mirumyan said in presenting the respective
government-approved bill at a cabinet meeting on Thursday.

The aim of the bill is to boost economic activity at border regions,
improve the business environment and investment appeal there,
Mirumyan said.

In particular, the bill suggests exempting borderzone businesses from
VAT, profit tax and income tax.

This means entrepreneurs will receive 2 billion drams in support of
their businesses, he said.

Amendments are proposed also to some other laws, the deputy minister
said. VAT revisions will allow entrepreneurs maintaining additional
operating assets for development of their businesses. These amendments
will be enforced stage by stage for some 9,700 entities.

Among other amendments are mandatory electronic reporting, mitigation
of penalties and an opportunity for lower mortgage rates.

The premier Hovik Abrahamyan said the new bills will allow ensuring
employment opportunities and promoting investments in Armenia’s
borderzones.

It is necessary that parliament passes the bills as soon as possible,
by the end of the year, the premier said. -0–

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT GRANTS NEW PROFIT TAX PRIVILEGE, SARANIST LTD. FIRST TO BENEFIT

YEREVAN, September 26. /ARKA/. Armenia’s government has granted a
pioneering profit tax privilege to Saranist Limited, one of the leading
glass packaging manufacturers in the country, first deputy minister
of economy Garegin Melkonyan said at a government meeting on Thursday.

At its meeting the government approved the program of the company,
envisioning 100 new jobs.

The privilege includes profit tax exemption for two years granted
against opening of new jobs, from the moment when the investment
program starts, Melkonyan said.

It is the first case such an opportunity is granted to company based
on its investment program, the premier Hovik Abrahamyan said.

Saranist Ltd. was founded in 1989. It produces clear and colored
glass containers for domestic market and exports to Georgia. -0–

HRAPARAK: GEORGIAN AUTHORITIES BAN ARMENIAN TEACHING IN SCHOOLS?

09:24 * 26.09.14

The Armenians of Javakhk (Samtskhe-Javakhetti), Georgia’s
Armenian-populated region, reportedly complain that they face pressures
by the Georgian authorities who try to ban Armenian language classes
in schools, obliging them instead to study Georgian.

Speaking to the paper, Van Bayburd, a Georgian parliament member who
was formerly an advisor to ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili, said that
a total of 41 pupils were admitted this year to the Armenian schools
of Akhalkalaki. He added that most of the first-graders in the town’s
Armenian schools are again ethnic Armenians, with Russians being very
few in number. He reportedly complained that the local Armenians are
more inclined to send their children to Russian schools.

Armenian News – Tert.am

ARMENIAN CITIZEN VIOLATING AZERBAIJANI BORDER RETURNS HOME

The Azerbaijan State Telegraph Agency
Sept 25 2014

25.09.2014 [17:04]

Baku, September 25 (AzerTAc). Armenian citizen detained for violation
of the border with Azerbaijan Ananyan Sarkis Norikovich has today
returned home.

Fifty-three-year-old Sarkis Ananyan was detained in Kemerli village
of the Gazakh region on August 26, 2014.

Ananyan was returned to the Armenian side on the Azerbaijani-Armenian
border in the direction of the Bala Jafarli village of Gazakh region.

The process organized by the State Commission on POWs, Hostages and
Missing Persons and the Defense Ministry through the International
Committee of the Red Cross passed without incident.

YEREVAN MIGHT WITHDRAW ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROTOCOLS FROM PARLIAMENT

Trend, Azerbaijan
Sept 25 2014

25 September 2014

Yerevan discusses the issue of withdrawing the Armenian-Turkish
protocols from the Parliament, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan
said at the 69th session of the UN General Assembly in New York,
Armenian Mediamax news agency reported.

“The protocols have not been ratified by the Turkish parliament for
several years now,” he said.

On October 10, 2009, the foreign ministers of Turkey and Armenia,
Ahmet Davutoglu and Edward Nalbandian, signed protocols in Zurich on
the normalization of bilateral relations.

These protocols were not ratified by the parliaments of both countries.

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic relations and the border between
them has been closed since 1993. This was caused by Armenian claims for
international recognition of the so-called “genocide” and occupation
of Azerbaijani territories.

FATIH AKIN’S ‘THE CUT’ TO OPEN REVIVED CAIRO FILM FESTIVAL

Yahoo News
Sept 25 2014

By Nick Vivarelli | Variety Magazine

ROME – Fatih Akin’s drama “The Cut,” about the Armenian genocide,
will open the 36th edition of the revived Cairo Film Festival, which
will run Nov. 9-18 after a period of hiatus due to Egypt’s political
turbulence.

The prestigious fest was cancelled in 2011 and also in 2013 after a a
rocky 2012 edition. Its customary timeslot used to be the first week
in December.

Cairo, which is the oldest fest in the Arab and African worlds
belonging to international fest org, FIAPF, is back with veteran
Egyptian film critic Samir Farid at the helm as artistic director.

Farid reviewed films for Variety out of Cairo between 1981 and 1985.

Besides announcing his opener at a Cairo presser Farid also announced
that the fest this year will fete Egyptian golden age movie star
Nadia Lutfy (pictured on the above fest poster) and Moroccan film
critic Noureddine Sail, topper of Morocco’s Center Cinematographique
Marocain. Both will receive Naguib Mahfouz Lifetime Achievement Awards.