Author: Kajoyan Gevork

RUSSIA WILL NOT APPLY RESTRICTIONS ON ARMENIAN LABOR MIGRANTS IN ITS TERRITORY WHO HAVE VIOLATED ITS IMMIGRATION LAW

YEREVAN, April 25. / ARKA /. Russia will not apply restrictions
on Armenian labor migrants in its territory for violation of its
immigration law until Armenia’s accession to the Customs Union, the
outgoing secretary of the National Security Council Arthur Baghdasaryan
said today.

According to Baghdasaryan, during his recent visit to Moscow Armenian
and Russian migration services signed a document that will govern
all the issues relating to Armenian labor migrants in the Russian
Federation.

Particularly, no artificial obstacles will be created for Armenian
citizens entering the Russian Federation.

He added that a membership in the Customs Union provides for citizens
of member countries a completely different migration regime.

According to him, around 60,000 Armenian citizens have been denied
entry to the Russian Federation, and another 210,000 are in the “risk
zone” having violated the law and will have problems when leaving
Russia. Approximately another 500,000 may be banned from the entry
into Russia in case of a third breach of its immigration legislation.

Under the revised Russian immigration law, citizens of some former
Soviet republics, including from Armenia, have the right to remain in
the territory of the Russian Federation without registration for only
90 days within every 180 days. This means that citizens of Armenia
cannot continually live in Russia for at least six months. -0-

– See more at:

TWELVE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE SURVIVORS RESIDE IN YEREVAN TODAY

YEREVAN, April 24. / ARKA /. Twelve people who survived the 1915
Armenian genocide in the final years of the Ottoman Turkey reside
today in the Armenian capital city, the Yerevan municipality said.

The municipality said at the order of mayor Taron Margaryan, employees
of the social security department visited the witnesses of the great
Armenian tragedy to hand them adequate assistance.

“Our fellow citizens who survived the genocide have always been in
the spotlight of the municipality. We regularly visit them throughout
the year and provide with adequate support.

Visits on 24th of April, the Genocide Remembrance Day, have become
traditional,” the municipality said. -0-

– See more at:

OVER 1,000 SIGNATURES GATHERED IN OPEN LETTER TO ARMENIAN PM ON LAKE SEVAN

04.25.2014 14:41 epress.am

An open letter to Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia (RA)
Hovik Abrahamyan on programs that pose a threat to Lake Sevan gathered
1,233 signatures over a few days, reports Ecolur.org [AM].

The EcoLur Network notes that the petition is still underway
and recalls that the RA Government has submitted to parliament
for approval a draft law to make amendments [AM] to the RA Law on
Approving Annual and Integrated Programs of Measures on the Recovery,
Preservation, Reproduction, and Exploitation of Lake Sevan’s Ecosystem
[AM], with which drainage from Lake Sevan will increase by 40% over
5 years. Environmentalists and concerned citizens state in the letter
that the level of the lake will lower and the water will stagnate.

The letter, in particular reads:

“Former Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan resigned, signing and imposing
on the entire nation two decisions that put Lake Sevan under threat
of extinction. The first [is] to make amendments to the RA Law on
Approving Annual and Integrated Programs of Measures for the Recovery,
Preservation, Reproduction, and Exploitation of Lake Sevan’s Ecosystem,
according to which the annual limit on water drainage from Lake Sevan
instead of the previous 170 million cubic meters could reach up to
240 million cubic meters over a period of 5 years. The second is the
integrated program to develop pisciculture and restore the supply of
trout in Lake Sevan, which involves growing 50,000 tons of fish by
artificial feed in net pens until 2023.

“The public is against these decisions, first of all pointing to
[the fact that] if these programs are implemented, we will lose a
strategic reserve of fresh water (37 billion cubic meters); we will
lose other water sources, the existence of which is ensured by the
high water level of Lake Sevan.

“If these programs are implemented, the residents of Gegharkunik marz
[province] will be in a more difficult situation. [Lake] Sevan is the
only source of income for the people of this region. People have come
and live here for the water and fish.

“Both society and the residents of Gegharkunik, Ararat, and Armavir
are convinced that the increase in drainage of Lake Sevan does not
pursue the interests of the state and the shortage of water reserves in
Ararat valley is just an excuse to increase drainage from Lake Sevan,
which actually is due to the personal interests of individuals.

“The government denies residents of Lake Sevan’s coastal villages the
provision of water from Lake Sevan for irrigation purposes, arguing
that even one drop of water from [Lake] Sevan is worth [its weight in]
gold, and as Armenians, the residents must understand that the water
of Lake Sevan can’t be touched.

“The comprehensive program to restore the supply of trout in Lake
Sevan has neither environmental nor economic scientific bases; on
the contrary, it threatens the quality and diversity of the water of
Lake Sevan.

“Both programs are contrary to the RA Law on Lake Sevan.

“Given that Lake Sevan has vital significance, we appeal to you as
newly appointed RA Prime Minister to cancel these programs and carry
out independent external testing including international experts,
for example, within the scope of the OSCE’s ENVSEC initiative, with
which the government actively cooperates.

“If the programs are not cancelled, then the residents of Gegharkunik
marz and the public are ready to take active steps to save Lake Sevan.”

HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK: ARMENIA, TURKEY APPARENTLY CONDUCTING MEDIATED TALKS

09:53 â~@¢ 25.04.14

Below is an excerpt from the paper’s editorial:

An in-depth analysis of the past days’ events demonstrates that the
situation on the Armenia-Turkey platform sees a certain progress.

Apparently, Armenia and Turkey are negotiating through a mediator. Or
rather, they are conducting talks not with one another, but with a
mediator who conveys messages to both sides.

Serzh Sargsyan’s press secretary last week promised a political
statement on the Armenian Genocide. The expectation that the president
would recall Armenia’s signature from the Armenian-Turkish protocols
had matured.

Sargsyan had apparently let the US, EU and Russia know of such an
intention; hence the news also reached Turkey. Erdogan, in turn,
unveiled plans for making the first ever address on the April 24
topic. So, the mediators talked Serzh Sargsyan out of recalling the
protocols unless Erdogan issues a statement. And after Erdogan’s move,
such a statement would be deemed non-constructive.

And no matter how much the Armenian side would be critical of the
Turkish premier’s address, it is obvious that both his and Serzh
Sargsyan’s April 24 messages have something in common. Erdogan is
for the first time offering condolences in memory of the massacres
and paying respect to the victims, while Serzh Sargsyan admits for
the first time that there were Turks who saved Armenians from the
slaughters. Erdogan speaks of building a common future, with Serzh
Sargsyan saying that the Turkish society is not our enemy.

Armenian News – Tert.am

PROTESTERS COMMEMORATE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

10:20 25.04.2014

Thousands of people marched Thursday on the streets of Little Armenia
in Hollywood to commemorate the 99th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide, KABC reports.

The march, organized by Unified Young Armenians, is held every April
24 to honor the 1.5 million Armenians killed in the 1915 massacre.

Los Angeles County is home to the largest population of Armenians in
the United States, nearly 194,000 people, according to 2010 U.S.

census estimates. About one-third of Glendale residents are of
Armenian descent.

Organizers say the march is the largest commemoration of the genocide
outside of Armenia. Participants come from all across California,
Arizona and Nevada.

Turkey has previously offered condolences to descendants of massacre,
but refuses to call the event a genocide. President Barack Obama
called the killings one of the “worst atrocities in the 21st century,”
but stopped short of calling it a genocide.

Protestor Aroutin Hartounian said he’s disappointed in President
Obama’s lack of recognition.

“He did promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide and he failed to
deliver that promise,” Hartounian said. “He still has a chance to be
that president.”

ISRAEL COMMEMORATES 99TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE (VIDEO)

April 25, 2014 – 12:05 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Israel hosted a mass rally on April 24 to commemorate
the victims of the Armenian Genocide. Over 500 people gathered
outside the Turkish and U.S. embassies in Tel-Aviv, with demonstrators
including public figures, representatives of Armenian community and
youth movements, the spokesman of Union of Armenians of Israel Ararat
Mendel Korsunsky told PanARMENIAN.Net The city of Petah Tikva hosted
the first ever protest rally, with representatives of the clergy and
Armenian community participating. At the event, ex-mayoral candidate
Rami Greenberg expressed condolences to the people of Armenia and
urged his compatriots, survivors of Holocaust to share Armenia’s pain.

The chair of Meretz party, the Armenian Genocide recognition champion
Zahava Gal-On urged Israeli parliament to voice a clear stance on the
issue after lengthy silence of the government. She called recognition
of the Genocide a moral obligation and slammed Israeli leadership
for sacrificing the memory of the victims to their cynical interests.

“Though realizing importance of diplomatic ties with Turkey, I cannot
accept Israel’s excuses for non-recognition of the tragedy. We need to
let Ankara know that the Genocide recognition is neither a challenge
nor a provocation. It is the moral obligation of Israeli people,”
Ms Gal-On stressed.

ITALIAN SENATOR ISSUES MESSAGE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ANNIVERSARY

April 25, 2014 | 17:24

Pier Ferdinando Casini, who is Chairman of the Foreign Relations
Commission of the Senate of Italy, has issued an address on the 99th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

“Remembering the Genocide, we strongly feel ourselves close to the
Armenian people. A genocide which is one of the most livid chapters
in modern history.

“All Italians stand with the Armenians, who play a significant role in
the history of mankind,” Senator Casini’s message specifically reads.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

SARGSYAN SAYS LACK OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH NORMALIZATION VULNERABLE ELEMENT OF PAN-EUROPEAN SECURITY”

NEWS | 25.04.14 | 10:18

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan again accused Turkey of keeping its
border with Armenia closed as well as addressed Ankara’s Genocide
denial policies as he spoke to other participants in a high-level
meeting on Thursday held on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of
the Eastern Partnership.

“The lack of normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations and
last closed border of Europe continue to be a vulnerable element of
the Pan-European security. It is paradoxical but nevertheless matter
of fact that the EU membership aspiring Turkey sealed off its border
with a neighboring country, while the borders within European Union
have long become history and free movement is a basic principle,”
said Sargsyan at the meeting in Prague on April 24.

“Today I embarked on the road to Prague from the Armenian Genocide
Memorial, where I paid tribute to the memory of the innocent victims
of the Armenian Genocide. On April 24, 1915 in Constantinople hundreds
of Armenian intellectuals – writers, artists, doctors, public figures
– were detained and slaughtered in accordance with a premeditated
criminal plan devised and meticulously implemented by the Ottoman
state structures, and thus had been launched what was designated
in the human history as the first genocide of the 20th century,”
the Armenian leader said.

“Today I would like to enunciate a word of gratitude to those states,
organizations and individuals, who extended their hand to support
us at the times of our national tragedy, recognized and condemned
the Armenian Genocide. Time constraint does not act as a statutory
limitation for the crime of genocide, and with the Armenian Genocide
Centenary ahead I would like to reiterate the importance of the
international community’s recognition and condemnation of that
unprecedented crime.”

According to Sargsyan, despite striving for an EU membership Turkey
continues to avoid its own past, circumvent responsibility, and for
decades on has been falsifying history by pursuing policy of denial.

“Moreover, it spares no effort in order to force by all means upon
other nations its denialism,” he added.

“Today, thousands of Turkish citizens, whose numbers grow from year
to year in spite of persecution and prosecution, repudiate Turkey’s
policy of denial and stand by truth. Collating with one’s own history
and understanding its consequences are important prerequisites for
reconciliation. We believe that encouraging people to people contacts
is another important prerequisite for reconciliation. Unfortunately,
it is almost impossible since there are artificial impediments,
and the border is closed.”

In his speech, the Armenian leader also spoke about the process of
reforms carried out within the framework of Eastern Partnership,
stressing that they have “significantly consolidated Armenia’s
democratic development.”

“Tangible progress has been registered in the fight against corruption,
free and fair elections, ensuring free economic competition,
improvement of transparent functioning of the state structures,
safeguarding independence of judiciary and development of civil
society. By the same token we are fully aware that we still have
a lot to do in order to establish a real democracy of the European
kind,” said Sargsyan. “I consider encouragement of people to people
contacts to be pivotal achievement in the framework of the Eastern
Partnership. In this regard I would like to specify the progress
registered in the area of entry visas, which is being proved by forming
new legal framework for the facilitation of the citizens’ contacts
and exchanges. The visa facilitation and readmission agreements are
already in force.”

In his remarks the Armenian leader also touched upon the Ukrainian
crisis, saying that it has demonstrated that “lack of understanding of
the root causes of the current situation can call further proceeding
of the Eastern Partnership into question.”

“Armenia joined the Eastern Partnership with a deep conviction that
it is not directed against any third country. We remain of that same
conviction. This initiative has got all prerequisites to become not
a separating wall but a bridge that connects. It is necessary to find
solutions by means of a dialogue that take into account interests of
all regional beneficiaries,” Sargsyan concluded.

LARGE CROWD COMMEMORATE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN ISTANBUL

17:39 25.04.2014

Armenian Genocide, Turkey

A large crowd gathered on Istanbul’s central Istiklal Avenue on April
24 to commemorate the 1915 killings of Armenians, which Turkey refuses
to recognize as “genocide,” the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Nearly 1,000 people, including renowned journalists, writers and
activists, lit candles and held pictures of those who lost their lives
in an event that was staged for the first time in Istanbul in 2010.

Rakel Dink, the wife of the murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink, and the parents of Sevag Å~^ahin Balıkcı, a young Armenian
killed while performing his military duty on April 24, 2011, also
attended this year’s commemoration.

The names of prominent Armenian public figures and community leaders
who perished in 1915 were also read out during the event.

A MARSEILLE 1200 MANIFESTANTS DEMANDENT LA RECONNAISSANCE DU GENOCIDE ARMENIEN, FACE AU CONSULAT DE TURQUIE PROTEGE PAR DES DIZAINES DE CRS – PHOTOS

MARSEILLE 24 AVRIL 2014

Plus d’une vingtaine de cars de CRS et de très nombreuses barrières
avaient barricadé le Consulat de Turquie a Marseille sur l’avenue
du Prado. Une mesure obligeant les quelque 1200 manifestants a
contourner ces barricades et s’installer a quelques dizaines de
mètres du Consulat de Turquie.

Le porte-parolle du CCAF-Marseille-Provence, Julien Harounyan, a tout
d’abord remercié les personnalités présentes. Parmi elles Vartan
Sirmakès, Consul général d’Arménie a Marseille accompagné de
son vice-consul. Il a également remercié les ecclésiastiques de
nombreuses églises présentes a cette manifestation, ainsi que les
élus d’origine arménienne, Didier Parakian (Adjoint au Maire de
Marseille) et Garo Hovsépian (Conseiller Municipal). Il a également
remercié Pascal Chamassian membre du bureau national du CCAF ainsi
qu’Isidore Aragonès le responsable marseillais du CRIF.

Enfin il a remercié les communautés grecques, chypriotes et
assyro-chaldéennes pour leur participation a ces cérémonies du 99e
anniversaire du génocide arménien. Jacques Donabédian, président
du CCAF-Marseille-Provence a été lors de son discours, largement
hué par les jeunes. Suite a des propos tenus incriminant la jeunesse
arménienne, ces derniers lui ont répondu par de larges sifflets…

Jacques Donabédian continua néanmoins son très long discours,
rappelant les étapes de la reconnaissance du génocide arménien et
le droit a la justice du peuple arménien.

Puis Julien Harounyan conclut par un autre discours très énergique
-sans toutefois laisser la parole aux deux élus Arméniens, Didier
Parakian et Garo Hovsépian qui auraient pourtant mérité d’être
écoutés- puis invita le public a se recueillir autour d’une messe
a la cathédrale arménienne du Prado, située a quelques pas. Une
centaine de jeunes ont néanmoins fait brÔler des fumigènes face
aux dizaines de CRS protégeant le Consulat de Turquie en scandant
des slogans hostiles a la Turquie et demandant la reconnaissance du
génocide arménien. Le matin, près de 2 500 manifestants avaient
défilé dans les rues de Beaumont (12e arrondissement) pour se
recueillir sur la place du 24 avril.

Krikor Amirzayan, texte et reportage-photo

vendredi 25 avril 2014, Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com