Author: Kajoyan Gevork

WAITING, DEBATING: MEETINGS, STRATEGY PRECEDE AWAITED ANNOUNCEMENT FOR PREMIER

POLITICS | 11.04.14 | 16:26

By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

The delay in the appointment of the 13th leader of Armenia’s chief
executive body will keep mass media in tension for three more
days, during which the contradictory variety of speculations and
interpretations will continue. The postponement of the new prime
minister’s appointment reveals still ongoing inner developments; the
consultations with the oppositional party leaders the same day as the
ruling Republican board meeting were not productive for either side,
hence the search for “the golden middle” is still in process.

Opinions have been voiced that the opposition should, if offered,
refuse any appointment to the new cabinet.

Representatives of two of the four oppositional factions- the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (ARF) and Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) –
accepted President Serzh Sargsyan’s invitation and met on Thursday,
while the Armenian National Congress and Heritage turned down
a meeting.

ARF faction leader Armen Rustamyan told yerkir.am after the meeting
that nothing was said about the new prime minister, rather that the
ARF seven-point suggestions were introduced to the president related
to the situation and their ideas of change, to which the president
said that the seven points were nothing new.

“The president will study them in a sense that he would determine how
acceptable they are to him to integrate them in the government policy
yet to be adopted. Our position will be determined by his response,”
he said.

Rustamyan discarded the speculations about a possible ARF-RPA-PAP
coalition saying that the format of cooperation is conditioned by
the fact as to what degree the fundamental issues they have suggested
would be accepted.

On Kentron TV, PAP faction member Vartan Oskanian cited PAP leader
Gagik Tsarukyan as telling the president during the meeting that
there is no coalition issue on PAP’s agenda.

“PAP’s leader also stressed the need for economic changes to the
president. Mr. Tsarukyan said that it was time that the government’s
six-year work was evaluated to understand the steps and actions to
be taken to overcome the current situation,” said Oskanian.

The meeting with the president was followed by another meeting,
this time among three oppositional party leaders – ANC’s Levon
Ter-Petrosyan, PAP’s Gagik Tsarukyan and Heritage’s Raffi Hovannisian,
during which they discussed their joint agenda and action plan under
the new political circumstances.

22 YEARS PASSED SINCE MASSACRE DAY ORGANIZED BY AZERBAIJANI MILITARY UNITS AGAINST ARMENIAN CIVILIANS IN MARAGHA

17:05 10/04/2014 ” SOCIETY

Exactly 22 years ago, the Azerbaijani troops attacked the Armenian
village of Maragha located in Nagorno Karabakh. Here, the Azerbaijani
soldier massacred over 100 civilians, more than fifty people were taken
hostage, half of them were killed in captivity, the fate of some of
them is still unknown. If the Self-Defense Forces did not provide the
retreat of most of the villagers, the scale of the tragedy would have
been much more serious. “Maragha is a modern Golgotha, only many times
worse.” That’s how Baroness Caroline Cox characterized the monstrous
massacre of Armenians in Maragha.

On April 10, in 1992, the regular army units of Azerbaijan invaded
Maragha, a peaceful village in Karabakh, from the Azerbaijani
Mir-Bashir (now Tartar) village side. Initially, despite the artillery
shelling the Armenian militiaman were holding back the pressure of
the Azerbaijani military units, but later, when the armored vehicles
attacked, they were forced to withdraw, as far as they did not have
anything except for light small arms. Militia provided the retreat
of the majority of the villagers. Those people who did not manage or
did not want to leave their homes were brutally killed by Azerbaijani
military.

Names of only 45 villagers killed by Azerbaijani soldiers in Maragha
are known, however the overall number of the death toll reaches one
hundred, including 30 women. More than 40 people were injured. 30
hostages captured by the Azerbaijani military were killed. Village
of Maragha is still under the control of Azerbaijan.

Documentary “Maragha, April 10, 1992. Ordinary Genocide” highlights
a number of facts that prove that Azerbaijan had several reasons for
its desire of getting that village at all costs, the most important
of which was its oil interests and aggressive Armenophobia of the
Azerbaijani authorities.

Baroness Caroline Cox, who visited Maragha two days after the tragedy,
later told the newspaper “Golos Armenii”: “It is impossible to
describe what we saw there. The footage taken in those days in Maragha,
carries evidence about massacres that occurred here: decapitated and
dismembered bodies, remains of children, bloody land and parts of
bodies in those places where the Azerbaijanis sawed the living. We saw
sharp sickles covered with caked blood which were used to dismember
the people… Thus, killing the residents of Maragha the Azerbaijanis
then looted and burnt the village.”

The second most important factor that played a fateful role in
the destiny of the inhabitants of Maragha, became the aggressive
Armenophobia, which has served a basis for the state ideology of
Azerbaijani government, since its creation in 1918, up to this
day. Azerbaijani OMON detachments, which entered the village only
due to the bribed officer-tankmen of former Soviet army, had another
purpose besides occupying Maragha, which were â?” to massacre the
Armenians in the cruelest, inhuman and barbaric methods. It’s not by
chance that the eyewitnesses say that in the ranks of the Azerbaijani
military units there were special people, armed with scimitar – the
main weapon of Turkish hangmen which they used during the Armenian
Genocide in the early 20th century. Their task was not simply to kill,
but to slaughter, decapitate, dismember and to leave cross-shaped
wounds on both the dead bodies and on those that were still alive.

Video footage, posted on Youtube, depicting a wild orgy in Maragha
taken place on April 10, in 1992, unveils the true face of the
Azerbaijani army, celebrating its “victory” over the unprotected
civilians of the Armenian village.

According to the villagers, Maragha was especially massively attacked
on February 26, in 1992; however the attack was repulsed by the
self-defense detachments. There is no doubt that the massacre
that took place on April 10 was planned precisely on February 26,
when near Aghdam another offense of gross indecency was committed
by Azerbaijan, but this time it was committed against their own
countrymen, who had left Khojalu through Humanitarian corridor left
open by the Armenians. After shooting the retreating inhabitants
of Khojalu in favor of domestic political purposes and trying deal
shortly with the civilians of Maragha under the guise of “Khojalu”,
the political forces of Azerbaijan pursued one strategic objective,
that is discrediting the centuries-old image and reputation of the
Armenians as a carrier of world’s civilization and the spread of
Armenophobia throughout the whole world.

Content-Type: MESSAGE/RFC822; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-Description:

MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=089e0158ab96b361ed04f6b86c38
From: Mihran Keheyian
Subject: Seymour Hersh Does It Again! Killing in the name of …

–089e0158ab96b361ed04f6b86c38
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Seymour Hersh Does It Again! Killing in the name of =E2=80=A6*Tuesday, 8 Ap=
ril
2014, 7:36 am*
*Opinion: Michael Collins *

By Michael Collins

Image: Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff (Creative
Commons)

Who were the culprits for the chemical weapons attack in Syria?

What was really going on in Benghazi when Libyan terrorists killed
Ambassador Stevens and others?

Why is the United States covering up and collaborating with a moral leper,
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan?

Seymour Hersh answers these questions in his April 6 article *The Red Line
and the Rat Line – Seymour M. Hersh on Obama, Erdogan and the Syrian rebels
April 6, London Review of Books
*

Hersh’s latest article is a follow up to *Whose Sarin
*, December 13,
2013, also published by the*London Review of Books*. In December, Hersh
went behind the scenes to debunk the claims by the Obama administration
that it had a *slam-dunk* case against the Syrian government for the August
2013 chemical weapons attack on civilians near Damascus, Syria. Despite the
best efforts to keep the story out of the news and the spirited response of
neoconservative and Obama trolls, the story was well read in the United
States thanks to the Internet.

Subsequent research, using White House information and the United Nations
report,demonstrated
that
the attack could not have come from territory controlled by the Syrian
government. This is independent support and verification for Hersh’s claim
in *Whose Sarin ?=
*

Hersh takes us further down the path of truth about who was responsible for
the chemical weapons attack in Syria

*Whose sarin? The government of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan made it
happen*

Hersh points out that the United States military and intelligence community
was concerned about the role of Turkey in supporting the Al Nusra Front, an
Al Qaeda militia fighting the Syrian government. Specifically, intelligence
officials were concerned about a false-flag brewing within the Turkish
intelligence agency, MIT. A Hersh source revealed:

=E2=80=98We knew there were some in the Turkish government,=E2=80=99 a form=
er senior US
intelligence official, who has access to current intelligence, told me,
=E2=80=98who believed they could get Assad=E2=80=99s nuts in a vice by dabb=
ling with a
sarin attack inside Syria =E2=80=93 and forcing Obama to make good on his r=
ed line
threat.=E2=80=99 The Red Line and the Rat Line, Seymour Hersh, LRB, Apr
6

Intelligence sources also knew that: Turkish and Saudi agents were seeking
sarin gas precursors; Al Nusra has a chemical weapons potential and
program; “there was evidence linking the Syrian opposition to the first gas
attack, on 19 March” near Aleppo; and that local Turkish authorities caught
Syrian rebels with sarin gas precursors attempting to cross into Syria from
Turkey. Hersh, Apr
6

Hersh’s sources claim that Denis
McDonough,
Obama chief of staff, made sure that President Obama was unaware of
intelligence implicating Turkey in chemical weapons production and use by
Syrian rebels, according to Hersh’s sources. Hersh, Apr
6

Ironically, after the Obama administration and the rest of the attack Syria
cabal blamed Syria for the chemical weapons attack and as the U.S. readied
a devastating attack, British intelligence sent a warning:

[British Intelligence had “obtained a sample of the sarin used in the 21
August attack and analysis demonstrated that the gas used didn=E2=80=99t ma=
tch the
batches known to exist in the Syrian army=E2=80=99s chemical weapons arsena=
l. The
message that the case against Syria wouldn=E2=80=99t hold up was quickly re=
layed to
the US joint chiefs of staff.” Hersh, Apr
6

*What was really going on in Benghazi and hot that fits in to the planned
attack on Syria?*

Ambassador Christopher Steven and three others were murdered in September
2011 at what was described as a U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. A Senate
Intelligence Committee
report
criticized security measures but failed to tell citizens information
absolutely critical to understanding the incident. That information was
contained in an annex to the report, viewed by just a few officials.
According to Hersh’s source:

“The consulate=E2=80=99s only mission was to provide cover for the moving o=
f arms,=E2=80=99
[from Libya to Syrian rebels] the former intelligence official, who has
read the annex, said. =E2=80=98It had no real political role.'” Hersh, Apr
6

The Benghazi report annex revealed that the Libya to Syrian rebel weapons
transfer was part of a more complex ratline that provided weapons to Syrian
rebels. A secret agreement between the U.S., UK, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and
Qatar was reached in early 2012. Through a series of front companies, the
CIA and MI6, British intelligence, transferred weapons once supplied to
bring democracy to Libya to Syria. Disgraced General David Petraeus
directed the operation.

Al Nusra, heavily backed by Turkey, had close ties to the Libyan Islamic
Fighting Group;
the Al Qaeda aligned jihadists who helped topple the government of Muammar
Gaddafi.

Hersh’s investigation uncovers the “highly classified” report detailing the
function of the so-called consulate, information that is vital to
understanding who was behind the attack and their motivation.

*A forced alliance with a moral leper, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan*

Turkey is ruled by one of the most corrupt, unscrupulous, and morally
repellant figures in recent history. Along with key allies and family
members, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a former member of the Muslim
Brotherhood,
has been caught on published wiretaps engaging in a variety of criminal
activities. The list is
long
and
includes bid rigging, direct interference in court cases, firing hundreds
of prosecutors and detectives who have uncovered his corruption, and
staging a missile attack on his own
country
as
an excuse to attack Syria.

Erdogan is also participated in the scandalous custom of child
brides
in
Turkey when he went to court in 2003 to allow his son to marry a minor.

The man is a degenerate and a tyrant. He’s also a strong supporter of the
U.S. – NATO attack on Syria and the head of a major NATO country. The “rat
line” that supplies the extremist Syrian rebels could not function without
Turkish participation.

As Hersh’s sources tell it, the Obama administration is upset with Turkey’s
affinity for the most extreme elements of the Syrian rebels, those aligned
with Al Qaeda. A Hersh source describes a tense White House meeting between
Obama and Erdogan. Obama confronted the Turkish intelligence chief and said=
:

When Erdogan tried to draw [Turkish intel chief] Fidan into the
conversation, and Fidan began speaking, Obama cut him off and said:

=E2=80=98We know.=E2=80=99 Erdogan tried to bring Fidan in a second time, a=
nd Obama again
cut him off and said: =E2=80=98We know.=E2=80=99 At that point, an exaspera=
ted Erdogan
said, =E2=80=98But your red line has been crossed!=E2=80=99 and, the expert=
told me,
=E2=80=98Donilon said Erdogan =E2=80=9Cf=E2=80=A6ing waved his finger at th=
e president inside the
White House=E2=80=9D.=E2=80=99 Obama then pointed at Fidan and said: =E2=80=
=98We know what you=E2=80=99re
doing with the radicals in Syria.=E2=80=99 Hersh, Apr
6

According to Hersh’s sources, the administration is unable to out the
Turkish government for its robust support of Al Qaeda and other extremists
in Syria:

=E2=80=98I asked my colleagues if there was any way to stop Erdogan=E2=80=
=99s continued
support for the rebels, especially now that it=E2=80=99s going so wrong,=E2=
=80=99 the
former intelligence official told me. =E2=80=98The answer was: =E2=80=9CWe=
=E2=80=99re screwed.=E2=80=9D We
could go public if it was somebody other than Erdo=C4=9Fan, but Turkey is a
special case. They=E2=80=99re a Nato ally. Hersh, Apr
6

*Implications and questions raised by Hersh’s latest*

Seymour Hersh deserves great credit for pursuing his investigation into the
scandals of U.S. foreign policy. After reading the two articles on Syria,
one must agree that the machinations of the Obama administration are no
different from those of the Bush administration.

Some questions and implications come to mind immediately after reading the
Hersh article.

*Was Ambassador Stevens in Benghazi to assure that surface to air missiles
were not transferred to Syria as part of the rat line to rebels?*

Hersh doesn’t come right out and say this but one can infer that was the
case. He points out that the Benghazi consulate was not really a consulate.
It was a transfer point for sending weapons from Libyan rebels to Syrian’s
of the same ilk (i.e., extremist jihadists). Hersh talks about the Obama
administration’s desire to keep certain weapons from the Syrian rebels. He
went into some detail about
manpads,
devastating weapons used to bring down aircraft, as he wrote about Benghazi=
.

*If Ambassador Steven’s was in Benghazi to make sure that manpads were not
shipped to Syrian rebels, was the attack on the facility a means of
diverting attention to allow the manpads to reach extremist rebels?*

We know that local Libyan militias provided consulate
security
and
that their security was sorely wanting. We also know that there was a close
relationship between Libyan rebels and the extremist Al Nusra rebels in
Syria. Could the Libyan extremists stage an event to help their brothers in
arms in Syria?

*If the Libyan militia security force staged the attack as a diversion to
get manpads to Syrian rebels, could it be that Turkish Prime Minister
Erdogan and others in favor of maximum armaments were behind the attack on
the consulate?*

Erdogan and the neoconservatives in the U.S., UK, and France have been
adamant on supplying the best weapons possible to take down the Al Assad
led Syrian government. Erdogan’s foreign minister was taped developing a
plot to attack his own country with missiles to justify a military
incursion into Syria just days ago. Erdogan’s government is a documented
criminal enterprise. Such a plan would be right up his alley.

Hersh’s article is an exemplary piece of investigative journalism. His
continued efforts will answer these questions and raise many more. Even if
he didn’t write another word on Obama administration foreign policy, his
work in the two articles on Syria represent a major contribution and an
example that the mainstream media should emulate.

–089e0158ab96b361ed04f6b86c38
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Seymour Hersh Does It Again! Killing in the name of =E2=80=A6Tuesday, 8 April 2=
014, 7:36 amOpinion:=C2=A0Ima=
ge: Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff (Creative Commons)
Who were the culprits for the chemical weapons attack in Syria?What was really going on in Benghaz=
i when Libyan terrorists killed Ambassador Stevens and others?
Why is the United States co=
vering up and collaborating with a moral leper, Turkish Prime Minister Rece=
p Tayyip Erdogan?
Seymour Hersh answers these=
questions in his April 6 article=C2=A0The Red Line and the Rat Line – Se=
ymour M. Hersh on Obama, Erdogan and the Syrian rebels April 6, London Revi=
ew of Books
Hersh's latest article =
is a follow up to=C2=A0Whose Sarin, December 13, 2013, also published by theLondon Review of Books. In December, Hersh went be=
hind the scenes to debunk the claims by the Obama administration that it ha=
d a=C2=A0slam-dunk=C2=A0case against the S=
yrian government for the August 2013 chemical weapons attack on civilians n=
ear Damascus, Syria. Despite the best efforts to keep the story out of the =
news and the spirited response of neoconservative and Obama trolls, the sto=
ry was well read in the United States thanks to the Internet.

Subsequent research, using White =
House information and the United Nations report,demonstrated=C2=A0=
that the attack could not have come from territory controlled by the Syrian=
government. This is independent support and verification for Hersh's c=
laim in=C2=A0Whose =
Sarin?
Hersh takes us further down=
the path of truth about who was responsible for the chemical weapons attac=
k in Syria
Whose sarin? The governm=
ent of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan made it happen
Hersh points out that the United States military and intelligence community=
was concerned about the role of Turkey in supporting the Al Nusra Front, a=
n Al Qaeda militia fighting the Syrian government. Specifically, intelligen=
ce officials were concerned about a false-flag brewing within the Turkish i=
ntelligence agency, MIT. A Hersh source revealed:
=E2=
=80=98We knew there were some in the Turkish government,=E2=80=99 a former =
senior US intelligence official, who has access to current intelligence, to=
ld me, =E2=80=98who believed they could get Assad=E2=80=99s nuts in a vice =
by dabbling with a sarin attack inside Syria =E2=80=93 and forcing Obama to=
make good on his red line threat.=E2=80=99=C2=A0The Red Line and the Rat Line, Seymour Hersh, LRB, Ap=
r 6
Intelligence s=
ources also knew that: Turkish and Saudi agents were seeking sarin gas prec=
ursors; Al Nusra has a chemical weapons potential and program; “there =
was evidence linking the Syrian opposition to the first gas attack, on 19 M=
arch” near Aleppo; and that local Turkish authorities caught Syrian re=
bels with sarin gas precursors attempting to cross into Syria from Turkey.=
=C2=A0Hersh, Apr 6
Hersh's sources claim t=
hat=C2=A0Denis McDonough, Obama chief of staff, made sure that President Obama was unaware of inte=
lligence implicating Turkey in chemical weapons production and use by Syria=
n rebels, according to Hersh's sources.=C2=A0Hersh, Apr 6
Ironically, after the Obama=
administration and the rest of the attack Syria cabal blamed Syria for the=
chemical weapons attack and as the U.S. readied a devastating attack, Brit=
ish intelligence sent a warning:
[Brit=
ish Intelligence had “obtained a sample of the sarin used in the 21 Au=
gust attack and analysis demonstrated that the gas used didn=E2=80=99t matc=
h the batches known to exist in the Syrian army=E2=80=99s chemical weapons =
arsenal. The message that the case against Syria wouldn=E2=80=99t hold up w=
as quickly relayed to the US joint chiefs of staff.”=C2=A0Hersh, Apr 6
What was re=
ally going on in Benghazi and hot that fits in to the planned attack on Syr=
ia?
Ambassador Christopher Stev=
en and three others were murdered in September 2011 at what was described a=
s a U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. A=C2=A0Senate Intelligence Committee=C2=A0report criticized security meas=
ures but failed to tell citizens information absolutely critical to underst=
anding the incident. That information was contained in an annex to the repo=
rt, viewed by just a few officials. According to Hersh's source:
&quot=
;The consulate=E2=80=99s only mission was to provide cover for the moving o=
f arms,=E2=80=99 [from Libya to Syrian rebels] the former intelligence offi=
cial, who has read the annex, said. =E2=80=98It had no real political role.=
'”=C2=A0Hersh, Apr=
6
The Benghazi r=
eport annex revealed that the Libya to Syrian rebel weapons transfer was pa=
rt of a more complex ratline that provided weapons to Syrian rebels. A secr=
et agreement between the U.S., UK, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar was reac=
hed in early 2012. Through a series of front companies, the CIA and MI6, Br=
itish intelligence, transferred weapons once supplied to bring democracy to=
Libya to Syria. Disgraced General David Petraeus directed the operation.
Al Nusra, heavily backed by=
Turkey, had close ties to the=C2=A0Libyan Islamic Fighting Group; the Al Qaeda aligned jihadists who helped topple the government of Muamm=
ar Gaddafi.
Hersh's investigation u=
ncovers the “highly classified” report detailing the function of =
the so-called consulate, information that is vital to understanding who was=
behind the attack and their motivation.
A forced alliance with a=
moral leper, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan
Turkey is ruled by one of the most corrupt, unscrupulous, and morally repel=
lant figures in recent history. Along with key allies and family members, P=
rime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a former member of the=C2=A0Muslim Brotherhood, has been caught on published wiretaps e=
ngaging in a variety of criminal activities. The=C2=A0list is long=C2=A0and includes bid rigging=
, direct interference in court cases, firing hundreds of prosecutors and de=
tectives who have uncovered his corruption, and staging a=C2=A0missile attack on his own country=
=C2=A0as an excuse to attack Syria.
Erdogan is also participate=
d in the=C2=A0=
scandalous custom of child brides=C2=A0in Turkey when he went to court =
in 2003 to allow his son to marry a minor.
The man is a degenerate and=
a tyrant. He's also a strong supporter of the U.S. – NATO attack on Sy=
ria and the head of a major NATO country. The “rat line” that sup=
plies the extremist Syrian rebels could not function without Turkish partic=
ipation.
As Hersh's sources tell=
it, the Obama administration is upset with Turkey's affinity for the m=
ost extreme elements of the Syrian rebels, those aligned with Al Qaeda. A H=
ersh source describes a tense White House meeting between Obama and Erdogan=
. Obama confronted the Turkish intelligence chief and said:
When Erdogan tried to draw =
[Turkish intel chief] Fidan into the conversation, and Fidan began speaking=
, Obama cut him off and said:
=E2=
=80=98We know.=E2=80=99 Erdogan tried to bring Fidan in a second time, and =
Obama again cut him off and said: =E2=80=98We know.=E2=80=99 At that point,=
an exasperated Erdogan said, =E2=80=98But your red line has been crossed!=
=E2=80=99 and, the expert told me, =E2=80=98Donilon said Erdogan =E2=80=9Cf=
=E2=80=A6ing waved his finger at the president inside the White House=E2=80=
=9D.=E2=80=99 Obama then pointed at Fidan and said: =E2=80=98We know what y=
ou=E2=80=99re doing with the radicals in Syria.=E2=80=99=C2=A0Hersh, Apr 6
According to H=
ersh's sources, the administration is unable to out the Turkish governm=
ent for its robust support of Al Qaeda and other extremists in Syria:
=E2=
=80=98I asked my colleagues if there was any way to stop Erdogan=E2=80=99s =
continued support for the rebels, especially now that it=E2=80=99s going so=
wrong,=E2=80=99 the former intelligence official told me. =E2=80=98The ans=
wer was: =E2=80=9CWe=E2=80=99re screwed.=E2=80=9D We could go public if it =
was somebody other than Erdo=C4=9Fan, but Turkey is a special case. They=E2=
=80=99re a Nato ally.=C2=A0=
Hersh, Apr 6
Implication=
s and questions raised by Hersh's latest
Seymour Hersh deserves great credit for pursuing his investigation into the=
scandals of U.S. foreign policy. After reading the two articles on Syria, =
one must agree that the machinations of the Obama administration are no dif=
ferent from those of the Bush administration.
Some questions and implicat=
ions come to mind immediately after reading the Hersh article.
Was Ambassador Stevens in Benghazi to assure t=
hat surface to air missiles were not transferred to Syria as part of the ra=
t line to rebels?
Hersh doesn't come right out and say this but one can infer that was th=
e case. He points out that the Benghazi consulate was not really a consulat=
e. It was a transfer point for sending weapons from Libyan rebels to Syrian=
's of the same ilk (i.e., extremist jihadists). Hersh talks about the O=
bama administration's desire to keep certain weapons from the Syrian re=
bels. He went into some detail about=C2=A0m=
anpads, devastating weapons used to bring down aircraft, as he wrote ab=
out Benghazi.
If Ambassador Steven's was in Benghazi to make sure that manpads were=
not shipped to Syrian rebels, was the attack on the facility a means of di=
verting attention to allow the manpads to reach extremist rebels?
We know that local Libyan m=
ilitias provided=C2=A0con=
sulate security=C2=A0and that their security was sorely wanting. We als=
o know that there was a close relationship between Libyan rebels and the ex=
tremist Al Nusra rebels in Syria. Could the Libyan extremists stage an even=
t to help their brothers in arms in Syria?
If the Libyan militia security force staged the attack as a diversion to =
get manpads to Syrian rebels, could it be that Turkish Prime Minister Erdog=
an and others in favor of maximum armaments were behind the attack on the c=
onsulate?
Erdogan and the neoconserva=
tives in the U.S., UK, and France have been adamant on supplying the best w=
eapons possible to take down the Al Assad led Syrian government. Erdogan&#3=
9;s foreign minister was taped developing a plot to attack his own country =
with missiles to justify a military incursion into Syria just days ago. Erd=
ogan's government is a documented criminal enterprise. Such a plan woul=
d be right up his alley.
Hersh's article is an e=
xemplary piece of investigative journalism. His continued efforts will answ=
er these questions and raise many more. Even if he didn't write another=
word on Obama administration foreign policy, his work in the two articles =
on Syria represent a major contribution and an example that the mainstream =
media should emulate.

–089e0158ab96b361ed04f6b86c38–

SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE ADOPTS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

Thursday, April 10th, 2014

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Robert Menendez speaks
at Wednesday’s Genocide commemoration on Capitol Hill

Chairman Menendez spearheads successful campaign for truth over strong
opposition from White House; Turkish Government

WASHINGTON–For the first time in nearly a quarter century, a U.S.

Senate committee Thursday adopted an Armenian Genocide Resolution,
calling upon the Senate to commemorate this crime and encouraging
the President to ensure that America’s foreign policy reflects
and reinforces the lessons, documented in the U.S. record, of the
still-unpunished genocide, reported the Armenian National Committee
of America.

“Today’s vote affirms America’s commitment to truth, deals a serious
setback to Turkey’s campaign of genocide denial, and sends a clear
message to President Obama that he must end his Administration’s
complicity in Ankara’s cover-up of this crime,” said Aram Hamparian,
Executive Director of the ANCA. “We thank Chairman Menendez for his
powerful leadership and express our thanks to each of the Senators
who cast their votes for this human rights measure.”

With a vote of 12 to 5, the Committee voted to condemn and commemorate
the Armenian Genocide.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
spearheaded the effort to have this influential foreign policy panel
speak clearly regarding the Ottoman Turkish Government’s centrally
planned and systematically carried out campaign of genocide from
1915-1923, which resulted in the deaths of over 1.5 million men,
women and children.

Senator Menendez announced the vote at the Armenian Genocide Observance
on Capitol Hill yesterday evening, where he told his colleagues and
attendees, “To me, to all men and women of good will, I would think
there is a simple statement – genocide is genocide, and you cannot
call it anything else but that and you need to have a recognition
of that. Next year when we mark a century – a hundred years ago that
the Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turkey, it seems to me that with
most of the survivors gone – but with a few left – it is incredibly
important for us to lead globally at this time.”

TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER DAVUTOGLU DISCUSSES ARMENIAN RESOLUTION WITH KERRY

21:19 10.04.2014

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu held a phone conversation with U.S.

Secretary General John Kerry late April 9, discussing the recent
Armenian draft resolutions that were submitted to the U.S. Senate
and House of Representatives, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

“We don’t have a negative expectation [for the outcome of the draft
resolution],” Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara on April 10, adding
that the two had also discussed developments in Syria and Egypt.

The Turkish government is taking measures against “initiatives that
will bother Turkey. We hope they will not take such an attitude,”
he also said.

Last week, four U.S. Congressmen introduced a resolution calling
on U.S. President Barack Obama to encourage a Turkish-Armenian
relationship based on Turkey’s acknowledgement that the 1915-16
killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces constituted genocide. The move
was paralleled by a resolution introduced to the U.S. Senate by Foreign
Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez and Senator Mark Kirk.

VARTAN OSKANIAN: GAGIK TSARUKIAN PRESENTED 4 PROBLEMS TO PRESIDENT

Thursday,
April
10

The leader of Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) Gagik Tsarukian presented
four problems to President Serzh Sargsyan during the meeting with him
today, BHK member, former Foreign Minister of Armenia Vartan Oskanian
said in an interview with Kentron television channel.

According to him, Tsarukian stressed that entry into the coalition
is not on the agenda of the party led by him.

Oskanian also said that the BHK leader underlined the need for economic
changes in the country.

“Mr. Tsarukian stated that it is necessary to assess the Armenian
government’s activities in the past 6 years so as to understand
what measures should be taken to overcome the current situation,”
Oskanian said.

Political consultations are being held to discuss the candidate for
Armenian prime minister.

TODAY, 21:07

Aysor.am

CHEF DU JOUR: CHEF HRANT ARAKELIAN OF RUMOURS EAST

The Tennessean, The Tennessee
April 8 2014

Chef Hrant Arakelian brings his Lebanese roots to the table at Rumours
East, which is now offering brunch.

How did you get into cooking?

When I was in college, I started working in restaurants and really
enjoyed it and liked it more than college, so I just started cooking
more. That and then, too, I just really enjoy cooking. My family
has great cooks and I have a big culture of food and big dinners and
stuff like that, so I just kind of feel it was natural.

My dad is Armenian. He was born in Lebanon, and my mom is from East
Tennessee. My dad is a great cook. He’s always making dishes he had
growing up.

How did you make your way to Rumours East?

Before here, I was working at Amerigo down on West End. I really
enjoyed it but I really enjoyed the small kitchens more, the more
intimate, actually cooking on the line and plating the food.

Tell me about your new brunch menu.

We’re doing a really nice frittata of the day. One of the spring dishes
we’re offering, which is really good, is sauteed spring greens, so
whatever fresh vegetables we have. Right now we have Swiss chard, kale
and rapini, and sauteing that up with sumac, which is a Lebanese spice
we use here a lot. Then we do some poached egg on top, a little drizzle
of paprika oil, so it’s a real nice, light, healthy brunch item.

Then, you know, we do waffles, we’ll do steak and eggs and kind of
some more traditional brunch fare as well, but everything has kind
of a Middle Eastern twist on the flavor.

Do you have a favorite spring dish?

Anything that’s using fresh spring vegetables. All the gray stuff
you had all winter is getting kind of boring at this point.

What’s your favorite tool and ingredient at the moment?

Ingredient: We’ve been using this ras el hanout spice blend, which is
kind of a Moroccan spice blend that we actually make in-house. It’s
just one of those spices that goes really well with a bunch of
different things. It’s about 20 different spices in there.

Tool: Honestly, whatever tool is best for the job is what we’ve
been using. Anything that would do what we need it to do quickly
and effectively.

What are you looking forward to this season?

I’m really looking forward to getting lamb back in. We get everything,
turn the belly into bacon and make sausages, things like that.

Anything we can make here we make here. We bake all our own breads. We
try to cure a lot of our own meats.

If you could choose your final meal, what would it be?

Probably one of the meals my family cooks. For holidays and birthdays,
things like that they do Lebanese food, so they do a big spread
of hummus and homemade pickles, stuffed eggplant, grape leaves,
just really traditional Lebanese food. That would definitely be my
last meal.

Reach Jen Todd at 615-313-2760 and on Twitter @jentoddwrites.

Hrant Arakelian executive chef at Rumours East 1112 Woodland St.

, 615-262-5346

ETHNIC ARMENIANS TELL OF FLIGHT FROM KASAB, THEIR TOWN IN SYRIA

Los Angeles Times
April 9 2014

‘We knew we would be butchered if we stayed,’ says one man who made
it to safety in Lebanon as rebels advanced from Turkey, a situation
with historic parallels.

By Patrick J. McDonnell April 9, 2014, 5:30 a.m.

BEIRUT — They fled Kasab at daybreak, amid the clamor of artillery
and word that Islamist rebels were advancing toward them from Turkey.

About 2,500 residents, most of them ethnic Armenians, gathered
documents and what few possessions they could carry. They piled into
cars and minibuses that carried them 40 miles down mountain roads
to the government-held city of Latakia. Only some elderly remained
behind, residents said.

“We escaped with the clothes on our back,” said one of those who
eventually made it to Lebanon.

Many had heard reports of atrocities committed in August by other
rebels elsewhere in Latakia province. Armenian Christians have lived
in Kasab since the days of the Ottoman Empire, but they feared for
their lives if they remained.

“We knew we would be butchered if we stayed,” said George, 45,
a displaced Kasab resident now living in Beirut’s Bourj Hammoud
neighborhood. He was among a number of Armenian exiles who asked that
their surnames not be used for security reasons.

Coming close to the centennial of the Armenian genocide at the hands
of the Ottoman Turks, last month’s wholesale flight of Armenian
Christians drew global attention. Kasab is among the last remaining
Armenian-populated towns that survived a genocide that began in 1915,
in the waning days of the empire.

Armenians worldwide have come to Kasab’s defense, drawing attention
to the historic parallels.

“What happened to Kasab is a continuation of the genocide which was
in 1915 carefully planned and executed against Armenians,” said His
Holiness Aram I, Beirut-based pontiff of the Armenian church and
spiritual leader of the Armenian diaspora.

Since Kasab’s fall to Syrian rebels March 21, activists have headed
to the region in a bid to provide assistance.

“The preservation of this village and its people is of utmost
importance to the Armenian people,” said Garo Ghazarian, an
Encino-based attorney and chairman of the Armenian Bar Assn., who
traveled to Beirut on a fact-finding trip about Kasab.

Turkish officials deny mass extermination of Armenians, which the U.S.

House of Representatives and several nations have labeled genocide.

Turkey says the millions of deaths in the early 20th century were
the result of war, displacement, disease and other factors.

While Armenian activists try to avert Kasab’s destruction and press
for residents’ safe return, pro-government Syrian forces are fighting
to recapture Kasab. Meanwhile, a virtual battle has ensued.

Armenian groups have marshaled a massive Web campaign to denounce what
they call Turkish-backed abuses in Kasab, but pro-opposition media
activists have said that rebels in Kasab have gone out of their way
to evacuate civilians and respect property rights.

On Tuesday, lawmakers from California, home to several hundred
thousand people of Armenian heritage, spoke on Capitol Hill of the
dangers facing Armenians and other Christians in Syria.

Given the widespread devastation during more than three years of war
that has killed thousands of people, displaced millions and destroyed
scores of towns in Syria, sparing Kasab from ruin will probably be
a difficult task.

Uncertainty hangs over the newest residents of Beirut’s Bourj Hammoud
neighborhood, a cluttered, animated district of narrow streets and
multi-story apartment buildings that is a signature Armenian diaspora
community.

Like so many other displaced Syrians, the Kasab exiles don’t know
when, or if, they will go home. Even before the rebel onslaught,
the war had wiped out the lucrative tourism business in Kasab, once
a popular summer retreat because of its altitude and relatively cool
weather. Many had already returned to the business of their ancestors:
tending fruit orchards.

“We all went back to farming,” said Rafi, 44.

Some Kasab exiles call for an international solution that will force
a rebel withdrawal or even create a demilitarized zone. But prospects
for such a deal appear dim amid the geopolitical crosscurrents of
the Syrian war.

Turkey is a close U.S. ally and the eastern bulwark of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization. Washington, like Ankara, seeks the
ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad and has provided assistance
to anti-Assad rebels.

A more likely scenario — a protracted government offensive to
recapture the town — could leave Kasab in ruins. Government and
opposition forces have been fighting in territory outside the town.

Kasab exiles say their ancestral homes are occupied by rebels,
including elements of the Al Qaeda-affiliated Jabat al Nusra, or
Al Nusra Front, whose ranks include non-Syrian fighters. A Moroccan
fighter and former inmate at the U.S. lockup on Guantanamo Bay was
among those killed in the Kasab area in recent fighting, various
websites reported.

“I telephoned my house and someone answered, ‘We are Jabat al Nusra,'”
recalled Maral, 40, still stunned at the turmoil that has torn apart
her once tranquil family life. “They are helping themselves to our
food, to our homes.”

The day of the attack, she noted, was Mother’s Day in Syria. Many
had prepared pastries and other treats.

She and others bemoan their current predicament: dependence on the
generosity of relatives and friends, the inability to enroll children
in schools, the absence of homes where most resided all their lives
— all of the unfortunate realities of life as a refugee, now so
familiar to multitudes of Syrians. That they are better off than
many Syrian refugees living in tents and abandoned buildings is of
little consolation.

“People have been very kind to us, they are sharing everything,”
said Maral, a mother of three. “But Kasab is our home, not here. We
all dream about Kasab. We dream about what we left behind.”

,0,6300732.story#axzz2yPsRNjE2

OBITUARY: FATHER RAPHAEL ANDONIAN

By Contributor on April 9, 2014

The Armenian Catholic Eparchy of our Lady of Nareg in the Unites States
and Canada, the Armenian Mekhitarist religious order, the Holy Cross
Armenian Catholic Parish Council and faithful with heartfelt sorrow
inform you that our beloved brother, Father Raphael Andonian, pastor
of Holy Cross Armenian Catholic Church in Belmont, passed to eternal
rest on Sunday April 6, 2014, in the morning. After battling cancer for
seven months and fortified by the Sacraments of the Catholic Church,
he peacefully commended his spirit into the hands of the Lord.

Fr. Raphael Andonian

The very reverend Fr. Raphael was born in Aleppo, Syria, on January 14,
1941. After his preliminary studies in his native country he arrived
to St. Lazarus in Venice (Italy) on March 8, 1953 at the Mekhitarist
monastery. He made his perpetual vows in 1962; hence, becoming member
of the Mekhitarist Order on the feast of Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin Mary. He was ordained priest in 1965 at the completion of his
philosophical and theological studies, at the Gregorian University
in Rome.

His first mission assignment was to serve at the Samuel Mouradian
College in Paris as vice-principal and later principal of the school.

He also served as teacher, assistant director and director of
Mourad-Raphaelian College in Venice. He served as chief financial
officer of the Mekhitarist religious order of St. Lazzarus in Venice.

His last ministry was to shepherd the Armenian Catholic parish of
Boston where he was totally devoted for the last 20 years of his life.

His major accomplishment was relocating and building the new church
and parish center of Holy Cross Armenian Catholic parish in Belmont.

Father Raphael contributed to the armenological Mekhitarist periodical,
“Pazmaveb,” with numerous articles. He also translated several
pastoral letters and encyclicals into Armenian: “Redeemer of Mankind”
by Blessed John Paul II and both “God is Love” and “Gate of Faith”
by Pope Benedict XVI.

Condolences will be received on Wednesday April 9 and Thursday April
10 from 5:00 to 8:00 PM at Holy Cross Armenian Catholic Church (200
Lexington St., Belmont, MA 02478.) Funeral Mass will be held on Friday
April 11, 2014, at 6:00 PM at Holy Cross Armenian Catholic Church
(200 Lexington St., Belmont, MA 02478.)

Respecting the wish of Fr. Raphael, his body will be transported to
St. Lazarus, Mother Monastery of the Mekhitarist Order in Venice,
where funeral and burial services will take place.

In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be made to Holy Cross
Armenian Catholic Church. Your contributions will be dedicated to
benefit the displaced Armenian families of Kessab.

Eternal rest, grant unto him O Lord: and let perpetual light shine
upon him.

KAZAKHSTAN’S AIR DEFENSE CHIEF EVADES QUESTION ON COMMITMENTS WITHIN CSTO

April 09, 2014 | 18:35

YEREVAN. – Commander of Kazakhstan air defense forces Nurlan Ormanbetov
evaded the question on Astana’s commitments within CSTO.

His remarks came in response to a request to comment on the opinion
that CSTO commitments in case of Azerbaijan’s aggression against
Armenia differ in paper and in reality. This position is explained
by the fact that Central Asian states are Muslim countries just
as Azerbaijan.

Ormanbetov deemed the question inaccurate in terms of mentioning
Muslim religion and recalled that the meeting was dedicated to work
within CIS, not CSTO.

Coordinating Committee on air defense at the Council of Defense
Ministers of CIS is holding a meeting in Yerevan.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

TIGRAN SARGSYAN’S RESIGNATION RESULTED BY DOMESTIC PRESSURE, SAYS POLITICAL ANALYST

14:40 | April 9,2014 | Politics

The resignation of Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan was the result of
domestic pressure, says political analyst Levon Shirinyan.

“Though the authorities are trying to deny the fact, this is
the reality. The activation of civil movements and formation of
the opposition quartet in the recent year led to the premier’s
resignation. Authorities always yield when they feel pressure,”
he said.

The expert says the government should be changed entirely from top
to bottom.

Political analyst Shushan Khatlamajyan says the next premier should be
a candidate with an extensive experience in the political domain. “He
should be an ordinary politician figure, have political willpower and
ability to pressure others -someone whose name will be speculated as
the country’s next president,” she said.