Author: Kajoyan Gevork

ARMENIA’S AIRPORT ZVARTNOTS HANDLES 129,000 PASSENGERS IN JANUARY

YEREVAN, February 3. / ARKA /. Armenia’s international airport
Zvartnots handled some 129,000 passengers in the first month of 2014,
according to a press release forwarded to ARKA. This number represents
a 15 percent rise from the year before, according to it.

Some 67,496 people chose the airport to leave the country in January
2014, by 12 percent more from the year earlier, when 60,174 people left
Armenia via the airport. Also some 61,423 people arrived in Armenia
via the airport, by 17.6 percent more when compared to January 2013.

The total number of arrivals and departures handled by the airport
in January this year rose to 1,492 from 1,344 flights in the same
period last year, an increase of 11%.

The majority of flights were made to CIS and Middle East countries.

The facility attributed this rise to the increased number of airlines
operating flights to and from Armenia. More specifically, their number
has grown from 27 to 32, the airport said. Besides, some airlines
have increased the frequency of flights to all destinations that has
pushed air ticket prices down.

The airport also said that Air Armenia airline transported in January
2014 some 16,066 passengers by its two aircraft. The former national
airline Armavia had transported 18,224 passengers in the first month
of 2013, according to the press release.

Air Armenia operates charter flights to CIS, Europe, Middle East,
Asia and Africa since 2003. Currently it runs 8 Soviet-made aircraft.

Zvartnots airport is run by Armenia-International Airports, a company
owned by an Argentine citizen of Armenian descent Eduardo Eurnekian.

In 2001 the company signed a concesional agreement with the government
to run Zvartnots for 30 years. -0-

– See more at:

BBC VIDEO TELLS ABOUT ARMENIAN COMMUNITY OF SOCHI – VIDEO

[ Part 2.2: “Attached Text” ]

February 04, 2014 | 17:00 

The reporter of BBC Russian service Rafael Saakov spent his childhood
in Sochi, the city that will host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

Ahead of the Games, Saakov traveled to his native city to see the
changes. He told about changes that the city went though during
preparations to host the Olympics.

A part of his video tells about the local Armenian community and Nor
Luys (new world) village.

ARF TO STAGE DEMONSTRATION ACROSS ARMENIA MFA

February 04, 2014 | 16:34

YEREVAN. – The recent Armenian-Azerbaijani border incidents and the
OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ stance toward and comments about them
have raised concerns.

The aforesaid is noted in a statement released by the opposition ARF
Dashnaktsutyun Party Nikol Aghbalyan Student Union of Armenia

“The Co-Chairs’ monitoring of the Azerbaijani party’s actions on the
principle of equality does not contribute to the establishment of
peace, and it encourages and allows for Azerbaijan to continue its
destructive policy.

“We demand from the OSCE Minsk Group to put an end to the
pseudo-equality policy and give a corresponding assessment to
Azerbaijan’s aggression.

“The meeting of the [Armenian] FM and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs
will take place on [Wednesday,] February 5, at the Armenian MFA
building.

“In this connection, the ARF Nikol Aghbalyan Student Union and the
ARF Armenian Youth Union plan a demonstration.

“The demonstration will be staged [on the same day] across the MFA
building,” the statement also reads.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

NEW EU ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT MAY BE WORKED OUT FOR ARMENIA – NEWSPAPER

February 04, 2014 | 09:02

YEREVAN. – Zhamanak daily spoke with European Parliament’s European
Conservatives and Reformists Group member, European Union (EU)-Armenia
Friendship Group member, British politician Charles Tannock.

Below is an excerpt from the interview.

“There is information that Poland has suspended the funding of
some projects inArmenia, in the case when numerous international
experts claim that the EU, the EU countries need to assist Armenia
at a greater strength, to weaken the country’s dependence on the RF
[i.e., the Russian Federation]. Does this mean that Armeniais now a
[Russian-led] Customs Union impact zone?

“Many of my Polish colleagues have repeatedly reiterated that the
EU should not close its doors in the help and assistance rendered to
Armenia, and continue to fund a variety of programs and reforms that
are carried out in Armenia, together with the EU. I, too, hope that a
new cooperation format, maybe a new version of the [EU] Association
Agreement–but without the DCFTA [i.e., the Deep and Comprehensive
Free Trade Area pact]–, will be worked out some time later.”

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

DAVIT HARUTYUNYAN: PACE PRESIDENT NOT TO VISIT ARMENIA IN THE NEAR FUTURE

February 04, 2014 | 12:41

YEREVAN. – Newly elected president of PACE Anne Brasseur does not
plan to visit Armenia in the near future, head of Armenian delegation
Davit Harutyunyan told reporters.

“PACE president is expected to visit Azerbaijan as the country will
assume presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of
Europe, and naturally Baku will host a number of events,” Harutyunyan
said during the press conference on Tuesday.

Harutyunyan informed of a conversation with Anne Brasseur during
which they touched upon the Karabakh peace process.

The Armenian delegate Naira Zohrabyan raised the question of Armenian
captive Hakob Injighulyan during the winter session. However,
Harutyunyan believes one cannot pin hope on PACE as organization’s
goal is to keep neutrality on conflicting issues.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

UNE DEPUTE DU BUNDESTAG EXHORTE ERDOGAN A RECONNAITRE LE GENOCIDE

ALLEMAGNE/TURQUIE

Un membre du parlement allemand, le Bundestag , a exhorte le Premier
ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan a mettre fin a la negation du
genocide armenien et a s’excuser pour le crime , a rapporte le journal
Bild .

Erika Stenbach , un membre du Parti de l’Union chretienne-democrate
de la chancelière allemande Angela Merkel avait fait cette declaration
dans le cadre de la visite de M. Erdogan lundi .

” J’exhorte le Premier ministre turc Erdogan a cesser de nier le
genocide des Armeniens et des Assyriens perpetre par le gouvernement
Jeune-Turc de l’Empire ottoman il y a 99 ans “, a declare Steinbach ,
ajoutant qu’il est grand temps pour la Turquie de presenter des excuses
aux descendants des victimes de le premier genocide du 20e siècle .

” Il est du devoir de M. Erdogan de faire face a la verite près de
100 ans après ce terrible crime et a veiller a ce que les manuels
scolaires turcs ne falsifient pas cette partie de l’histoire turque
“, a declare Steinbach .

Erdogan s’est rendu a Berlin lundi avec le but de renforcer les
relations entre l’Allemagne et la Turquie et d’obtenir le soutien
de Berlin pour relancer le processus d’adhesion de la Turquie ,
a rapporte Hurriyet Daily News .

Erdogan rencontrera les dirigeants allemands, y compris Merkel ,
vice-chancelier et le Parti social-democrate ( SPD ), Sigmar Gabriel,
chef de file et ministre des Affaires etrangères Frank-Walter
Steinmeier aujourd’hui.

Le Premier ministre turc a egalement prevu de prononcer un discours
au Conseil allemand des relations etrangères (DGAP ) et de saluer
la communaute turque locale lors d’une reunion organisee par l’Union
des democrates turcs europeens ( UETD ) .

Merkel a longtemps estime que la Turquie ne devrait etre associe
a l’Europe via un ” partenariat privilegie ” et non une l’adhesion,
mais elle a neanmoins exprime son soutien a la relance des negociations
d’adhesion de la Turquie qui etaient au point mort lors de sa dernière
visite dans le pays.

” Nous voulons que le processus avance malgre le fait que je suis
encore sceptique quant a la pleine adhesion de la Turquie a l’UE”,
a declare Mme Merkel lors de sa visite en Turquie en mars 2013.

mardi 4 fevrier 2014, Ara (c)armenews.com

ARMENIA AND CZECH REPUBLIC TO DEVELOP STEM CELL TECHNOLOGIES

02.04.2014 13:22 epress.am

The stem cell therapy Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan underwent in
South Korea please him so much that after returning from vacation,
he touched on this topic during his first visit abroad, reports
local dailyZhoghovurd.

The newspaper reports that during Sargsyan’s visit to the Czech
Republic, bilateral agreements to develop and deepen cooperation
in several areas, one of which concerns stem cell transplants,
were signed.

The Haematology Center named after Professor R. Yeolyan in Armenia
henceforth will collaborate with the Institute of Hematology and
Blood Transfusion in Prague and innovative Czech company Full Medical
Service in the development of technology for long-term preservation
and use of human stem cells.

WHAT IS TURKEY’S 2015 STRATEGY? – TODAY’S ZAMAN

February 03, 2014 | 00:01

Armenian News-NEWS.am presents below an abridged version of Turkish
analyst Orhan Kemal Cengiz’s article published in Today’s Zaman daily
of Turkey.

“Upon putting some pieces together, we can get a picture of the
likely strategy that will be used and steps that will be taken by
Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdoðan’s government for 2015, which marks
the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.

“Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoðlu visited Switzerland in October
and during his visit he spoke to Swiss authorities about Turkey’s
sensitivities regarding a statue Armenians want to erect in Geneva. We
can understand from this ‘sensitivity’ that the Foreign Ministry’s
official position on 1915 has not changed even an inch.

“We should also take note of what Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arýnc,
spokesperson for the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), said
about 2015: ‘It is the 100th year of both the Dardanelles and the
claims of an Armenian genocide. We are working seriously. There is
work being done via symposiums, conferences, panels, publications
and documentaries. But we are also engaged in very special public
diplomacy activities that could affect the entire world.’

“His statement also shows that the government is quite determined to
repeat well-known cliches of official state policies on this matter.

“You know our political parties cannot come together to reach an
agreement on anything, but it appears that, except for the pro-Kurdish
Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), they all were in agreement on the
necessity to do something for 2015.

“The Turkish History Institution (Turk Tarih Kurumu) is also making
preparations for 2015. The president of the institution said they are
working on a complete text of Turkey-Armenian relations in preparation
for 2015.

“In addition to all of this, you can clearly see in Erdoðan’s
discourse that not only was the possibility of reconciliation
altogether excluded, but non-Muslims were excluded from his discourse
as well. He frequently describes Turkey as a mosaic made of diverse
ethnic identities. You can often hear him mentioning Arabs, Kurds,
Turks, Circassians and the Laz. But when describing this mosaic,
Erdoðan never mentions Turkey’s non-Muslims, including the Armenians,
Greeks, Jews and Syriacs.

“When we put together all these pieces of preparation and discourse
from the government and Erdoðan, we can predict that Turkey’s defensive
approach of denying the Armenian genocide is not going to change
in 2015.

“Unless the government takes unlikely, unprecedented and bolder steps
on the Armenian question in an attempt to repair its harmed image
in the international arena, it would not be wise to expect dramatic
changes in the official stance of Turkey with regard to 1915.”

JUSTICE ET LIBERTE POUR PINAR SELEK !

Publié le : 04-02-2014

Info Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN vous
propose ce Communiqué de presse publié sur le site Pinar Selek le
23 janvier 2014.

Légende photo : Pınar Selek en mars 2011 a Strasbourg. Photo E.C.

Pinar Selek

Le 23 Janvier 2014 par SNESUP-FSU

Communiqué du SNESUP-FSU

Le 24 janvier 2013, Pinar Selek était condamnée a la prison a vie
par la 12ème Cour d’Istanbul, a l’occasion d’une parodie de procès
dont un observateur du SNESUP-FSU avait été le témoin direct, avec
de nombreux membres d’une délégation venue de France et d’autres
pays européens.

Dans un communiqué(1) du 15 janvier 2013, le SNESUP-FSU exigeait
déja ” des autorités turques la réhabilitation immédiate de
Pinar Selek ”.

Il appelait ” toute la communauté universitaire et scientifique a
porter cette exigence ”. Force est de constater qu’un an plus tard,
le pouvoir turc est resté sourd aux protestations d’indignation devant
une inadmissible persécution politico-judiciaire. Plus grave encore,
le gouvernement d’Erdogan, affaibli par des scandales de corruption,
vient de renouveler sa demande d’extradition a la France et conduit
une odieuse entreprise de criminalisation de Pinar Selek. Cette
entreprise doit être mise en échec.

Le SNESUP tient a rappeler que Pinar Selek a été acquittée a trois
reprises et que seul un acharnement politique aveugle et inhumain
a conduit la justice turque a faire casser ces acquittements dans
des conditions contraires aux règles élémentaires du Droit
international.

Plus fondamentalement, l’absurdité des condamnations de Pinar Selek
tient au fait que le crime dont on l’accuse n’a jamais existé :
des expertises indépendantes ont démontré que l’explosion du
Marché aux épices d’Istanbul en 1998 était due a l’explosion d’une
bouteille de gaz et ne constituait en rien un attentat. La communauté
internationale connaît aujourd’hui les raisons pour lesquelles Pinar
Selek est criminalisée par le pouvoir turc depuis plus de 15 ans :
celui-ci n’accepte pas sa liberté d’expression, ne respecte pas sa
liberté de recherche et ne tolère pas son engagement militant pour
défendre les minorités et les Droits de l’Homme.

Exilée en France depuis deux ans, Pinar Selek y bénéficie de l’asile
politique. Elle conduit ses recherches a l’Université de Strasbourg
et appartient a notre communauté scientifique dont elle incarne
exemplairement les valeurs d’indépendance et de liberté. Pinar Selek
a également recu le titre de Docteur honoris causa de l’Ecole Normale
Supérieure de Lyon. Le SNESUP-FSU s’adresse aux plus hautes autorités
de l’Etat francais, a la ministre de l’Enseignement supérieur et
de la recherche, au ministre des Affaires étrangères, au ministre
de l’Intérieur et au Président de la République lui-même, afin
qu’ils agissent de facon concertée pour garantir a Pinar Selek toute
la sécurité que lui doit notre pays, et pour obtenir des autorités
turques la justice et la liberté a laquelle elle a droit. Le voyage
du président Hollande en Turquie les 27 et 28 janvier prochains doit
être l’occasion de porter haut ces exigences.

Pinar Selek doit être définitivement acquittée et réhabilitée
par le gouvernement turc !

Le SNESUP-FSU prendra dans les jours et semaines qui viennent toutes
les initiatives utiles a une mobilisation de notre communauté
universitaire en soutien a Pinar Selek. A travers son exemple,
le SNESUP-FSU entend poursuivre inlassablement le combat pour les
libertés et pour la démocratie.

Retour a la rubrique

Source/Lien : Pinar Selek

LES CHRETIENS DU MOYEN-ORIENT DOIVENT PRESERVER LEUR PASSE ET PROTEGER LEUR PRESENT ET FUTUR A DECLARE ARAM IER

SUISSE

Au cours de la consultation oecumenique et internationale sur la
Syrie organisee par le Conseil Mondial des Eglises ( COE ) du 15
au 17 Janvier a Genève , les participants ont egalement discute du
problème de l’emigration des chretiens du Moyen-Orient .

Sa Saintete Aram Ier a partage son inquietude en rappelant aux
participants que les conflits et la violence consequente des dernières
decennies au Moyen-Orient avaient force les chretiens a emigrer de
la Palestine , de l’Irak , du Liban , de la Syrie vers l’Ouest .

L’immigration dans ces pays n’a pas seulement reduit le nombre des
chretiens dans les regions , qui est le berceau du christianisme ,
mais a aussi saigne les communautes de precieuses ressources humaines
. Le Catholicos a ensuite explique que la presence chretienne au
Moyen-Orient est importante non seulement pour l’Occident , mais
aussi pour les musulmans . Sa Saintete a rappele aux participants
que l’histoire du Moyen-Orient a toujours ete le lieu des conflits
continuels neanmoins que les eglises etaient determines a rester et a
defendre leurs droits , a preserver leurs traditions et leurs valeurs
dans leurs lieux d’origine .

S’adressant aux representants des eglises occidentales , Sa Saintete
les a remercies pour leur aide humanitaire et l’expression de la
solidarite en offrant l’asile aux refugies . Cependant , il les a
exhortes a travailler pour la paix au Moyen-Orient et eventuellement
d’aider les refugies a rentrer un jour dans leur pays pour reconstruire
leur vie et leurs societes .

mardi 4 fevrier 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com