Threat Of Armenian Genocide Still Exists In Azerbaijan

THREAT OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE STILL EXISTS IN AZERBAIJAN

13:45, 2 April, 2013

YEREVAN, APRIL 2, ARMENPRESS:Threat of Armenian Genocide still
exists in Azerbaijan. As reports Armenpress, The Voice of Russia
radio station published an article by Ruben Zargaryan, candidate of
historical sciences, Advisor of the 1st class of the NKR MFA, revealing
ongoing threats against Armenians. The article runs as follows:

“Unfortunately, the world community still has not given a proper
political and legal assessment of this crime of the Azerbaijan
authorities, and thus has not secured itself against the future
recurrence of genocide in other regions of the world.

The genocide of the Armenians in Sumgait organized by the authorities
of Azerbaijan became the answer to the peaceful constitutional decision
of February 20, 1988, of the session of the Nagorno-Karabakh Regional
Council of People’s Deputies on Nagorny Karabakh’s unification with
Armenia, which integral part it was during the millennia-old history
prior to the Soviet period.

On February 27-29, 1988, in the city of Sumgait, located hundreds
of kilometers away from Nagorno-Karabakh, there occured mass pogroms
and killings of Armenians, crimes against humanity that stunned the
world public by its savagery and brutality. During the three days
of massacres and pogroms, dozens of Armenians were killed, hundreds
were wounded, a huge amount was subjected to violence, torture and
harassment, 18 thousand people became refugees. The genocide in Sumgait
became the embodiment of hatred for Armenians that was inherent for
the policy of the leadership of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan pogrom-makers armed with metal rods made at factories
and other thrust weapons commenced to the implementation of their
planned criminal actions. Piles of stones were stockpiled in the
centre of the city in order to throw them at motor transport and
forces of law and order. In the days of the pogroms, telephones of
the Armenian residents of Sumgait were turned off, and, as a rule,
they were turned off after people called the militia or the City
Committee of the Communist party with the request to help. The phones
of many Russian residents were also turned off.

The pogrom-makers knew their tasks very well; they had on hand lists
of Armenians and their addresses. Groups of 50-80 bandits broke into
the houses of Armenians, killing people, not only in their homes,
but they often took them out in the street or courtyard for public
humiliation. After severe tortures, the victims were doused with
gasoline and burned alive. Thus they destroyed entire families.

The genocide in Sumgait gave the «green light» to new unprecedented
crimes against the civilian population in Nagorno-Karabakh, and
ultimately led to the beginning of an open military aggression of
Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh in 1991-94.

After the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was proclaimed in accordance with
the norms of the international law and the legislation of the USSR,
Azerbaijan undertook a large-scale terrorist aggression. The Baku
administration had committed crimes against peace and humanity, such as
planning, preparation, unleashing and waging an aggressive war, murder
and extermination of civilian population, killing and ill-treatment
of prisoners of war, and intentional destruction of towns and villages.

In February 1992, the Azerbaijan leadership committed the murder
of their own peoplein the territory of Khojali controlled by the
Azerbaijan army, or more precisely in the outskirts of Agdam, whence
the continuous bombardment of the NKR territory and attacks on the
cities and villageswere carried out ;

The Azerbaijan authorities systematically falsify the events in
Khojali. The Azerbaijan still library represents computer-edited
photos and display other historical events in other geographical
locations. Photos that allegedly represent the Khojaly tragedy,
in fact, are the photos of the earthquake in Turkey in 1983, Afghan
children-refugees, the pogroms of the Alawis in 1978 in the Turkish
city of Marash, photos of Albanianskilled in Kosovo, the pogroms in
the Balkans in 1999, and picturesof Hamas militants destroyed by the
Israeli army.

Regularly playing the card of «Khojali», the official Baku tries
to distract the attention of the international community from the
genocide of the Armenians in Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad, Khanlar and
otherAzerbaijan settlements, as well as in the border settlements of
Nagorno-Karabakh ;

In the course of the large-scale aggression of Azerbaijan against
the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in 1991-94, in the Karabakh village of
Maraga occupied by the Azerbaijan army for several hours on April 10,
1992, 81 peoplewere brutally killed, 67 people were taken hostage,
and the fate of many of them is still not known. People, who had
not managed to leave the village, were dismembered with axes,
doused with gasoline and burned alive. Unfortunately, to this day,
all these crimes committed by Azerbaijan against humanity, have not
been adequately assessed by the world community.

Today, in Azerbaijan, instead of repentance for endless atrocities
and murderous acts, instead of legal procedures against the criminals,
weonly see and hear sabre-rattling and threats of revanchism, terrorist
calls for shooting down civilian aircrafts, falsification of the facts
of history and persistent racist misanthropic insults of the Armenian
people. The shameful release and glorification of the murderer with
an axe Safarov has once again demonstrated to the world community that
in Azerbaijan murder owing to national reasons had been raised to the
rank of state policy, and systematic and deliberate lies and breakdowns
of international agreements lie in the basis of the Baku policy”.

Armavia Pilots Going To Change Citizenship And Move To Russian Air C

ARMAVIA PILOTS GOING TO CHANGE CITIZENSHIP AND MOVE TO RUSSIAN AIR COMPANIES

ARMINFO
Tuesday, April 2, 14:55

An ad hoc committee will probably be set up in Armenia to engage in
bankruptcy procedure of Armenia national air carrier, Levon Ghazaryan,
Head of the Armavia IT-Service told ArmInfo. Ghazaryan has worked in
the aviation sphere for over 30 years.

He said that the committee will comprise representatives of both
creditors and the state. Part of the company’s aircrafts will probably
be sold to redeem the accumulated debt, while the other part will be
written off.

According to Gazeta.ru, Armavia’s demand for air navigation in Russia
totaled $288,000. “It is an overdue payment to the State Corporation
for Organization of Air Traffic for January 2013. The debt for the
following months is considered the current debt,” the source reported.

Levon Ghazaryan said that the company’s aviators have already begun
thinking of changing citizenship and workplace. Many of them will
sure take advantage of the new law lifting the ban on employment of
non-citizens of the Russian Federation at Russian airlines that came
into effect in Feb 2013. Russia needs nearly 1000 pilots of civil
aviation and Armavia’s pilots intend to use the situation. In the
meanwhile, training of a pilot requires nearly $100,000 and Armenia
may remain with a foreign air company and without pilots. Nearly 22
air companies in the country exist only on paper. It is an opportunity
to get money at the expense of others. They create a company without
aircrafts, without equipment. The company makes contracts with foreign
airlines and offers flights of one airline instead of parity, and gets
funds for a definite quantity of sold tickets. The operating foreign
air companies already offer their services instead of Armavia. Thus,
Aegean Airlines has already offered a Yerevan-Saloniki flight for
much higher price.

Ghazaryan thinks that Armavia’s bankruptcy will affect not only the
citizens of Armenia but also Zvartnots Airport that was reconstructed
on Armavia’s allocations. Armavia paid the airport 52 million drams
per 9 flights. This amount was by 25% higher for nighttime flights.

The company made over 350 flights monthly and 24 flights daily. Other
airlines make one-two flights a week. It is not clear who will serve
the board number 1 (the president’s plane) instead of Armavia.

Ghazaryan is bewildered at the statements of some parliamentarians
who compared Armavia’s bankruptcy will possible bankruptcy of a
candy factory.

“It is interesting, if the Electric Networks of Armenia go bankrupt,
and the country remains without electric power, what will those
parliamentarians say?” Ghazaryan asked.

Bagdasarov set up Armavia in 1996 and sold it to Russian S7. In 2005
pressured by the Armenian tax authorities, S7 gave the company back
to Bagdasarov. Today Armavia carried out over 100 flights to over 40
destinations in 20 countries. It was the first to exploit SSJ-100. In
autumn 2012 Sukhoi Civil Aircrafts reported that Armavia’s debt
for exploitation of SSJ-100 was over $4 million, inclusive of the
underfinanced transactions on the aircraft, debt for service and spare.

43 Armenian Cultural Sites Will Become Part Of The Black Sea Silk Ro

43 ARMENIAN CULTURAL SITES WILL BECOME PART OF THE BLACK SEA SILK ROAD CORRIDOR

13:22 02.04.2013

Armenia, Silk Road

On April 2, the USAID-funded Enterprise Development and Market
Competitiveness (EDMC) Project and the Armenian Monuments Awareness
Project (AMAP) announced the Black Sea Silk Road Corridor (BSSRC)
project, a two-year initiative that fosters tourism development,
cross-border cooperation and economic development in 173 communities
across four countries of the Black Sea Silk Road Corridor ~V Armenia,
Georgia, Greece and Turkey. A trail of cultural sites will be marked
throughout the region.

The President of AMAP, Richard Ney, explained how the trail will be
marked, which Armenian cultural, historical and natural sites will
be part of the trail and how the project will be implemented during
the next two years. The Armenian trail will encompass 43 sites in the
capital Yerevan as well as in Shirak, Aragatsotn, Kotayk, Gegharkunik,
Vayots Dzor, and Syunik provinces.

U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Heffern, Head of the EU Delegation to
Armenia Traian Laurentiu Hristea, Deputy Minister of Economy Garegin
Melkonyan, Deputy Minister of Culture Arev Samuelyan, President of the
Armenian branch of the International Council on Monuments and Sites
(ICOMOS-Armenia) and Director of Erebuni Museum Gagik Gyurjian were
present during the announcement and delivered remarks.

In Armenia the project is funded by the EU Black Sea Cross Border
Cooperation framework, USAID through its EDMC Project, and AMAP as the
lead implementer. The Project is expected to alleviate rural isolation
and develop local communities through the creation of tourism networks
and the promotion of local (rural) services and traditional products.

http://www.armradio.am/en/2013/04/02/43-armenian-cultural-sites-will-become-part-of-the-black-sea-silk-road-corridor/

Kate Middleton And Prince William To Open Tamar Manoukian Centre In

KATE MIDDLETON AND PRINCE WILLIAM TO OPEN TAMAR MANOUKIAN CENTRE IN SCOTLAND

12:17 02.04.2013

Kate Middleton, Prince William

Kate Middleton and Prince William and grandfather-to-be Charles will
open the new Tamar Manoukian Outdoor Centre at Dumfries House on 4
April, when the Duchess will be around six months pregnant, the Hello
Magazine informs.

The center funded by the Manoukian Foundation will provide
accommodation and team activities for young people. The centre will
also be open to schools from across Scotland.

The Manoukian Foundation, which is run by the Armenian-born Bob and
his wife, Tamar, has paid for the Tamar Manoukian Outdoor Centre,
which Charles is due to visit with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
this Friday.

The centre will provide accommodation and team activities for young
people and will also be open to schools across Scotland.

http://www.armradio.am/en/2013/04/02/kate-middleton-and-prince-william-to-open-tamar-manoukian-centre-in-scotland/

Billboards Urging Genocide Recognition To Go Up In Mass.

BILLBOARDS URGING GENOCIDE RECOGNITION TO GO UP IN MASS.

Monday, April 1st, 2013

by Ara Khachatourian

Genocide billboard

BOSTON-During the month of April, Peace of Art, Inc., will be
displaying the Armenian Genocide commemorative billboards to honor
the victims of the Armenian Genocide, calling for recognition and
condemnation of the genocide. Peace of Art, Inc. is a nonprofit
educational organization that uses the universal language of art to
address human concerns and to promote peaceful solutions to conflict.

This year the billboards will be located in the Massachusetts cities
of Foxboro, Watertown, and Cambridge.

Artist Daniel Varoujan Hejinian, president and founder of Peace of Art
Inc., said that “with these billboards we are honoring the memory of
the victims of the Armenian Genocide, calling upon the international
community to recognize the Armenian Genocide, and to condemn the
perpetrators. He added, “98 years have passed but the bloody hand
prints of the horrible events of 1915 stained the pages of the world
history, when 1.5 million Armenians lost their lives.”

The 2013 billboard depicts the bloody hand prints on the words
‘Armenian Genocide’ over a black background. Since 1996, Hejinian
has been calling for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. In
2004 Peace of Art, Inc. began to sponsor the commemorative billboards
honoring the victims and calling for the recognition of the Armenian
Genocide. This year’s message further calls for the condemnation
of genocide.

“The Armenian Genocide is not a matter of concern for Armenians
alone but to everyone. Genocide is a crime against humanity. Without
recognition and condemnation, the Armenian Genocide remains a wound
that continues to bleed, under the hand prints of the culprit,”
said Hejinian.

http://asbarez.com/109152/billboards-uring-genocide-recognition-to-go-up-in-mass/

Russia’s Support To Cyprus To Depend On VTB Situation

RUSSIA’S SUPPORT TO CYPRUS TO DEPEND ON VTB SITUATION

Topic: Cyprus Bailout

RIA Novosti. Ilona Golovina
22:18 01/04/2013

No State Help to Russians Affected by Cyprus Crisis – Shuvalov Putin
Tells Government to Revise 2.5 Bln Euro Loan to Cyprus Russia Says
Door Still Open for Cyprus Rescue Deal Russia Rejects Cyprus Rescue
Deal Proposals

NOVOKUZNETSK, April 1 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian government will
closely watch the situation around the Russian Commercial Bank,
a subsidiary of state-run VTB, when deciding on the forms of its
support for Cyprus’s financial system, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s
spokeswoman Natalya Timakova said Monday.

VTB, Russia’s second largest lender by assets, operates in Cyprus
through the Russian Commercial Bank, which holds about 2 billion
euros ($2.6 billion) worth of its client deposits. According to VTB,
the Russian Commercial Bank is Cyprus’s third largest bank by assets,
which total 14 billion euros ($18 billion).

Earlier VTB assessed its possible losses in Cyprus in the worst-case
scenario at several millions of euros. Russian First Deputy Prime
Minister Igor Shuvalov said the Russian Commercial Bank is a bank
with no problems, and that the Russian authorities hope it would
either not be affected at all or suffer minor losses.

Timakova said Medvedev had a meeting on Saturday with the Russian
government’s financial bloc, including the Central Bank head, to
discuss restructuring of a loan Russia issued to Cyprus in 2011,
as well as measures to protect the Russian Commercial Bank.

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said March 25 that Russia would
consider restructuring its multibillion euro loan to Cyprus. This
came after the island nation secured a eurozone bailout to save its
outsized banking sector from collapse. The rescue measures included
a levy on uninsured deposits larger than 100,000 euros ($128,000)
at Cyprus’s second largest lender, the Popular Bank of Cyprus.

Russian banks and companies have favored Cyprus since the 1990s,
taking advantage of the nation’s low taxes and easy business
regulations. Russian banks held about $12 billion on deposit with
Cypriot banks at the end of 2012 while Russian corporate deposits
accounted for another $19 billion, according to estimates by the
international rating agency Moody’s.

Why Does Armenia Lose At Echr?

WHY DOES ARMENIA LOSE AT ECHR?

Mon, 04/01/2013 – 16:25

Ara Ghazaryan

Deputy Director of “Arni consult” advocacy office

-One of the reasons is the imperfection of the legislation but it is
not the major one.

Yes, most of the ECHR cases are late. The structural issues that are
raised by the court are already resolved in Armenia in 2009 and 2010.

In some cases they are late. From the perspective of subjective
rights protection it is good: the violated right of the individual is
recovered, but from the perspective of change inside the state they
are late, but Armenia has already done that. The European Convention
on human Rights is used not only in the scope of ECHR decision, but
as RA Cassation court decision and Constitutional court judicial acts.

Why us Armenia losing?

It is natural that Armenia should lose, because rights in the entire
Europe are in the development process: what wasn’t a right 10 years
ago, can be registered as a right today, and that does not mean that
we should see whether we violated a right 10 years ago or not. For
example, the same was in the same case of Jehovah’s witnesses when
the court set a new right.

Or, the European court makes new decision and new precedents, with
which the scope of the rights in broadening, because new legal
relations and new phenomenon appear in the social life. Surely,
the grounds of defamation and insult should be reviewed. And as the
hearings in the European court last for long, and in the process a new
right merges, the court on its own makes a new decision looking back.

That is to say, that the thing that is in constant change cannot not
register a violation, because the court hearings last for too long.

This is one of the reasons: the legislation and the rights are in
the dynamic development: one thing is being said in the international
law and it appears that we would use it in the retroactive may.

The second reason is the self-will of the competent authority: police
officer, judge. Those decisions constitute a small portion.

But there is a thing: let’s say the attorney presented facts in 2006
and recalls the convention and how it regulates the issue. In 5 years
we see that the attorney is right in the ECHR. Does it come out that 5
years ago the attorney knew more than the judge? Because for Armenia
the convention entered into force in 2002, and nothing was against
the court to apply the convention. But because of various reasons
it didn’t, and in some cases a self-will decision was made. In such
cases I think that the individual is the reason: the judge, police
officer, investigative body or the prosecution. In other words,
all the individuals that implement the sovereign will of the state.

For example, in the “A1+” case, when we applied to the Cassation court,
the judge of the Cassation court in the process of the hearing, asked
me to show the part of the ECHR decision in which it is said that the
Armenian judges violated the convention. But there it is mentioned
that National Commission on Radio and Television violated Article 10,
because the convention was wrongly applied.

But all the cases before reaching Strasburg pass through our judicial
system, and are examined. Now, the Armenian courts examined and
decided that convention was rightly applied in the case of NCRT,
but in 5 years the European Court found that, NCRT misapplied the
convention. That means that the Armenian court examination was wrong,
the convention was misapplied, because if it was applied correctly
it wouldn’t reach European Court.

This is neither arbitrary decision nor the old legislation. This, in
my opinion, is the result of lack of knowledge. And that is the reason
that attorneys, prosecutors and judges continue their education. And
what was previously accepted as postulate that one cannot, for example,
in the case of capital crimes pay deposits, for decades we have lived
this way or that, precautionary measure was mentally perceived the
way of punishment, now there is a widespread belief that in the crimes
cases the use of deposit is possible. This is a result of learning.

Or, until recently, the investigators were writing “The individual
committed a crime” in the precautionary measure motion. Today that
culture does not exist anymore and it is said “The person is being
accused of crime”. We see that the culture is changing. We should
all learn.

In other words, the convention is being violated also because there
are a lot of things that we don’t know and should learn. We all. It
comes out to be a little declarative but it is so.

Author: Factinfo

Armen Ayvazyan Wins Sydney Chess Championship

ARMEN AYVAZYAN WINS SYDNEY CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

April 1

Armenian chess master Armen Ayvazyan triumphed at the Sydney Chess
Championship that wrapped up in Australia.

Ayvazyan, 47, tallied a total of 6 points, out of a possible 7 points,
and took first place in the tournament.

Four other chess players garnered 5.5-points, each, and shared the
second spot.

NEWS.am Sport

Chris Bohjalian To Discuss The ‘Sandcastle Girls’ As Part Of New Bal

CHRIS BOHJALIAN TO DISCUSS THE ‘SANDCASTLE GIRLS’ AS PART OF NEW BALTIMORE SUN BOOK CLUB

Http://
18:05 02.04.2013

Chris Bohjalian’s Novel “The Sandcastle Girls” Has Many Traditional
Elements Of Compelling Fiction – People With Secrets, Shocking Plot
Twists, Compulsively Likable Characters And A Rich Love Story. It Also
Describes The 1915 Mass Killing Of Armenians – “The Slaughter You Know
Next To Nothing About,” As One Of The Characters In His Book Calls It,
The Baltimore Sun Writes.

Bohjalian, Who Is At Work On His 17th Book, Was Inspired To Write This
One By The Story Of His Armenian Grandparents. The Author Will Talk
About The Novel April 22 As Part Of The New Baltimore Sun Book Club.

The Novel Begins In 1915 When Elizabeth Endicott, Who Has Just
graduated from Mount Holyoke, joins her father in Syria as part of a
Boston-based group hoping to bring relief to Armenians being displaced
by Turks in the last days of the Ottoman Empire. The situation is
horrific: Armenians are being annihilated, taken out into the desert
into death camps.

In the midst of the chaos, Elizabeth meets Armen, a handsome young
Armenian. His wife and infant daughter were rounded up by the Turks in
the village of Harput. He is hoping he might find them in convoys of
refugees arriving daily in Aleppo. But as each day passes, it becomes
increasingly clear that they are gone.

Bohjalian’s narrative of the complicated love story of Elizabeth and
Armen is woven around another narrative: a first-person account by
Laura Petrosian, their granddaughter. Her grandparents, now deceased,
never talked about their past, but now that Laura is in her 30s,
she sets out to discover more about the genocide and her grandparents.

Http://Www.Armradio.Am/En/2013/04/02/Chris-Bohjalian-To-Discuss-The-Sandcastle-Girls-As-Part-Of-New-Baltimore-Sun-Book-Club/
Www.Armradio.Am/En/2013/04/02/Chris-Bohjalian-To-Discuss-The-Sandcastle-Girls-As-Part-Of-New-Baltimore-Sun-Book-Club/

Hunger-Strike In Front Of Prosecutor’s Office

HUNGER-STRIKE IN FRONT OF PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE

06:36 PM | TODAY | SOCIAL

It has been already the 5th that Yerevan resident Susik Hakobjanyann
is coming to the General Prosecutor’s office demanding to a meet with
General Prosecutor Aghvan Hovsepian. She has announced a hunger-strike
starting from today. The evidence is the poster in her hands.

During the interview with “A1 +” Mrs. Hakobjanyan announced that after
the 3-day hunger-strike at the General Prosecutor’s office she will
continue it in front of Serzh Sargsyan’s residence.

The reason is as follows: Due to Susik Hakobjanyan’s telling SRC
Shengavit tax inspectors accused her son of engaging in business
secretly at his place.

Mrs. Hakobjanyan assures that her son Hrachik Aghabekyan is an ordinary
worker in a printing house, the director of which has imported goods
to Armenia in her son’s name without the latter’s permission. This
has been the reason that tax inspectors have made him tax-payer and
have demanded great sums to pay. Even some deductions have been made
from Mrs. Hakobjanyan’s pension.

Desperate mother has decided to protect the interests of her son
personally. Hopelessly she is sending letters and appeals to various
departments, including General Prosecutor’s Office, but all her
efforts are in vain.

Susik Hakobjanyan is not going to sleep in front of the prosecutor’s
office. “I will go home to have a rest and I will come back again
tomorrow”.

To our question whether this would not make meaningless her
hunger-strike she replied: “No, I do not have anything to eat in the
house. From whom can I borrow debt to buy bread? I will go to have
a little rest and tomorrow I will return again”.

http://www.a1plus.am/en/social/2013/04/02/hacadul