Author: Kajoyan Gevork

IS ANOTHER FRENCH BETRAYAL IN THE OFFING?

Opinion | September 26, 2012 2:01 pm

By Edmond Y. Azadian

Armenian culture has been favorably impacted by French culture,
especially in the West. Armenians have recognized that fact and have
been appreciative of the influence, which dates back many centuries.

There is an inherent affinity between the two nations, as far as
culture is concerned. But when it comes to politics, that special
relationship disappears. Armenians have incorrectly assumed that
the cultural affinity is a substitute for political support or
cooperation, and they have been disappointed bitterly time and again.

The Armenian-French relations go back to the Middle Ages when French
conquerors invaded the Middle East with the Crusaders to wrench the
Holy Land away from Muslims and claim it in the name of Christianity.

The Armenian principalities in Cilicia became accessories to those
European imperialistic invasions, ultimately to their own detriment;
when the Crusades failed or faded, the Armenians were left to their
own devices, unable to defend their kingdom.

Indeed, when the Egyptian Mamluk rulers overran Cilicia in 1315 and
kidnapped its King Leo VI, ending a 300-year-old kingdom, neither
the Crusaders nor the French came to defend their Armenian allies.

Granted, France belatedly obliged to pay a ransom to the Mamluks to
buy the king’s freedom, hosting him in France until his death, mainly
because they considered King Leo VI Lousignan to be of French lineage.

The most blatant betrayal was in the 20th century, again in Cilicia.

The Allies – especially the French – during World War I recruited
some 5,000 Armenian volunteers as part of the Eastern Legion, to fight
the most crucial battles of Arara, in Palestine, promising home rule
in Cilicia to the Armenians under a French protectorate. But when
the Ottoman army collapsed and Cilicia was liberated, the Armenian
volunteers were disarmed and the French government brokered a deal
with the emerging Kemalist movement behind the back of the Cilician
Armenians who had returned to their homes after the deportations of
1915. The French abandoned Cilicia and its population – literally
in the middle of the night in November 1921 – and retreated in a
cowardly manner.

When former French President Nicholas Sarkozy moved through the French
Senate the law criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide,
almost identical to the Gaysot law criminalizing the denial of the
Jewish Holocaust, Armenians were tempted to believe that finally
the French were making amends for their monumental betrayal of the
Armenians in Cilicia. But that turned out to be another deception,
since Mr. Sarkozy was slow to sign the resolution into law, while
the opposition was recruiting members of the parliament to take the
resolution to the Constitutional Court.

Having full knowledge of the gathering storm, he failed to use his
prerogative before the measure was brought to the Constitutional Court,
which rendered an unfavorable decision. Mr. Sarkozy did not put his
money where his mouth was.

Enter candidate Francois Hollande – the prospect seemed more promising
because he had pledged to use such a tight legal framework that the
resolution would become fail proof.

The pledge is still on the table but there are already ominous signs
that his pledge may not go beyond election rhetoric. This column had
already made reference to an interview in the French magazine Express
by the new French Foreign Minister Laurant Fabius who stated that the
newly-elected Hollande was searching for a way to balance a policy
of accommodating Turkey while keeping his pledge to the large and
loud French-Armenian community.

These days Mr. Hollande and his prime minister are busy dedicating
museums and monuments throughout France. On September 21, he was in
Drancy, a city north of Paris, which was the site of the major transit
camp for Jews being deported to death camps. “Our work is no longer
about establishing the truth,” said Mr. Hollande at the Drancy Shoah
memorial. “Today, our work is to transmit. That is the spirit of this
memorial. Transmission – there resides the future of remembrance.”

In 2005, a larger Holocaust Museum had opened in 2005 in central
Paris. A new memorial is being inaugurated at the center of the Cite
de la Muette. Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault inaugurated a similar
memorial in Aix-en-Provence last month.

All these memorials demonstrate that the new French president and his
government are sensitive to human suffering and loss of life through
the organized actions of brutal rulers. The only thing remains to be
seen if the Armenian losses are also counted as human suffering.

Mr. Hollande went further than his predecessors in defending the
dignity of human life; former President Francois Mitterrand had
acknowledged a general French role in the detentions and deportations
of the Jews during World War II, whereas President Jacques Chirac had
taken a step further in a speech in 1995 acknowledging “collective
wrongdoing.” Mr. Hollande went all the way by admitting “a crime
committed by France.”

Most French attribute that crime to Marshall Petin, whose government
in Vichy collaborated with the occupying Nazi forces.

(Incidentally, several French-Armenians were leaders and/or fearless
members of the French Underground battling the Vichy government and
Nazis. The most famous in that group is Missak Manouchian, who led
the legendary eponymous group.)

Besides commemorating Jewish losses in France, Mr. Hollande has
also demonstrated moral courage to take positive action; indeed,
last August he stripped the British fashion designer and former
creative director of Dior, John Galliano, of the Legion of Honor he
had received in 2009. Mr. Galliano was found guilty in 2011 of making
anti-Semitic remarks.

All these actions indicate that we are dealing with a statesman
of solid moral fiber when it comes to upholding human dignity. The
question remains if those qualities are applied selectively to one
group only.

A recent roundtable discussion in Paris casts some doubt, whether
those principles are impacted by political tides or considerations.

The discussions were held in Paris by Bosphorous University to analyze
the law criminalizing the Armenian Genocide.

Participants of the roundtable included Elizabeth Guigou, president
of the Foreign Relations Committee of the French Parliament; Jacques
Lang, former education culture minister of France, and former foreign
minister of Turkey, Yasar Yakis.

Any symposium or roundtable discussion may be confined to the level of
academic discourse, but when the participants are current legislators
or former statesmen, the format takes a different dimension, with
serious political ramifications. Ms. Guigou has stated that the
Constitutional Court has considered the law criminalizing the Genocide
denial without legal foundation. She continued her statement by adding:
“Although President Hollande is very sensitive to the issue of this
draft law, it is very improbable that he may take a new initiative
since the Constitutional Court has refuted its legal premise.” Mr. Lang
also endorsed the same view. The Turkish representative cautioned
against the deterioration of French-Turkish relations. Then, he
magnanimously added that the law not only damages French-Turkish
relations, but will also jeopardize Armenian-Turkish relations.

Turkologist Hagop Chakerian, reporting about the above roundtable
discussion, in the daily Azg of Yerevan concluded by stating:
“The law may damage French-Turkish relations, but it cannot damage
Armenian-Turkish relations, because there are none.”

Since his election, Mr. Hollande has yet to address his pledge on the
Genocide law. But all these developments and statements do not augur
well for the prospects of adopting the law. If it is a crime to deny
the Holocaust in France there is no easy way to reason in any other
fashion, that it is a crime to deny the Armenian Genocide.

Only political expediency, rather than any legal premise can derail
the law against denying the Armenian Genocide.

Only time will tell how extensive Mr. Hollande’s moral fortitude is.

Perhaps it is not fair to jump to early conclusions, but all
indications point to a French betrayal in the making, once again.

FRENCH AMBASSADOR: STATUS QUO IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT MUST BE CHANGED

Trend
Sept 26 2012
Azerbaijan

The status quo in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict does not meet
anyone’s interests, and it should be changed, French Extraordinary
and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Azerbaijan Pascal Meunier said at
a meeting with Azerbaijani Interior Minister Colonel-General Ramil
Usubov today, the ministry told Trend.

The minister has congratulated the ambassador on his appointment and
wished him success in his diplomatic activity.

The representatives of the French Interior Ministry and the CE experts
were involved in the preparation of new legislation on law enforcement
bodies’ activity in Azerbaijan, Usubov said.

Usubov informed the ambassador about the situation and talked about
the measures undertaken in the country in the field of security and
protection of human rights and freedom.

Ramil Usubov said that the relations between the two countries have
a long history. He stressed that French companies have made big
investments in Azerbaijan’s economy and that friendly and partnership
relations have moved to a new level after President Aliyev’s visit
to France.

Meunier thanked for the warm reception and said that his country is
interested in ensuring security in the region.

WATERTOWN’S ARMENIAN MUSEUM AND LIBRARY OF AMERICA NAMES NEW DIRECTOR

Watertown Patch.com
Sept 26 2012

The museum’s new director moves to town from London where she ran an
Armenian institute.

The Armenian Library and Museum of America’s search for a new director
reached across the Atlantic and found its new director, Susan Pattie,
in London.

Pattie takes over at ALMA after many years running the Armenian
Institute in Britain, which she co-founded and served as director,
according to a report in The Armenian Weekly. Her work at the Armenian
Institute focused on “raising awareness of Armenian heritage and
culture,” according to the article.

She also worked as a university researcher and taught anthropology
classes while in London and in other locations.

ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN: PLAY CHESS, NOT WAR

EurasiaNet.org
Sept 26 2012
NY

September 26, 2012 – 8:20am, by Giorgi Lomsadze

The world’s top chess-playing country, Armenia, faces a tough gambit.

Two upcoming big games will be held right next door in, arguably,
the world’s most anti-Armenian country, Azerbaijan. Armenian sports
officials have threatened to boycott the tournaments.

Azerbaijan’s glittery capital, Baku, was chosen as the venue for the
2015 World Cup and 2016 World Olympiad by the World Chess Federation
(FIDE). Armenia, dubbed “the cleverest nation” in the world by the
BBC after winning two chess Olympiads in a row (it won this year as
well), is not ready to move its players to the enemy’s board.

The two countries have long been in stalemate over the disputed
territory of Nagorno Karabakh. In May, the bitter enmity precluded
Armenia from participating in Eurovision, the annual pan-European
pop-music talent show hosted this year by Baku.

The animosity has grown stronger still since Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev last month pardoned and honored an army officer convicted
of decapitating an Armenian man in Budapest.

It may indeed be a little hard for the Armenian grandmasters to travel
to Baku and fix their eyes on the chessboard when there is a convicted
axe-murderer walking the streets freely.

Azerbaijani sports officials, for their part, have vowed to ensure
the safety of the Armenian players. Sports Minister Azad Ragimov noted
that Armenia has participated in boxing competitions in Baku before,
with no untoward incidents.

But the executive director of Armenia’s Chess Federation, Hrach
Tadevosian, had a different take.

“Chess is not boxing or football to fight and run around,” he pointed
out. “You have to sit and think for hours, and you simply can’t do
that when you are under pressure.”

COME BACK, TURKISH MAYOR TELLS ASSYRIANS AND ARMENIANS

Assyrian International News Agency AINA
Sept 26 2012

The mayor of Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality has invited all
Armenians and other non-Muslim peoples whose ancestors were born in
the southeastern province before being forced to flee during the 1915
events to return to the city.

“An Armenian, an Assyrian and a Chaldean, whose grandfathers or
great-grandfathers were born in Diyarbakır, have the same right to
live in Diyarbakır as I have, [speaking] as a Kurdish person who was
born in Diyarbakır. I would like to invite all the ethnic groups whose
ancestors lived in Diyarbakır back to Diyarbakır again. Come back
to your city,” Osman Baydemir told Turkish and Armenian journalists
on Sept. 25 on the sidelines of a roundtable conference called
“Expanding the Scope of Dialogue: Media and Armenia-Turkey Relations
at the Current Stage” that was organized by the Yerevan Press Club
in Diyarbakır.

Kurds, Armenians, Chaldeans, Yezidis and all the ethnic groups
that once lived in Diyarbakır took part in the construction of
Diyarbakır’s city walls, Baydemir said. “So all of these people have
a right to this city.”

According to “Talat PaÅ~_a’s Black Book,” written by the historian
Murat Bardakcı, there were 56,166 Armenians living in Diyarbakır
before the events of 1915. Baydemir also said “he curses the cruelty of
1915 within his conscience.” “We refuse the legacy of our grandfathers,
who took part in this massacre [the events of 1915], we refuse to be a
part of what they lived, and we commemorate those of our grandfathers
who were opposed to this massacre and cruelty,” said Baydemir, who
is from the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), which is focused on the
Kurdish issue.

Many researchers have said the ruling Party of Union and Progress
during the Ottoman Empire used Kurdish militias known as the “Hamidiye
troops” against the Armenians in the events of 1915.

“Denying the crimes that were committed by some of our grandfathers
would be the same as becoming a part of [those crimes]. We first have
to accept the sufferings of the people in order to be able to heal
the wounds,” the mayor said.

Baydemir said one of his biggest dreams was to construct a common
monument in memory of all of those who were lost in the region,
including Armenians, Turks, Kurds, Assyrians and Chaldeans up until
the 1930s. “I would like to visit this monument with Turks, Armenians
and Kurds all together and cry for our lost ones all together. Turks,
Kurds, Persians, Arabs — we all have to succeed in negotiation and
dialogue in order to be able to live with each other.”

source:

Mediamax
Sept 26 2012
Armenia

Stefan Fule will visit Yerevan “to reaffirm that Armenia is an
important partner to the EU”

Yerevan/Mediamax/. Commissioner for Enlargement and European
Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule will visit Armenia September 27.

As Mediamax was told in the EU Delegation, Stefan Fule will visit
Armenia “to reaffirm that Armenia is an important partner to the EU,
to appreciate Armenia’s efforts to further strengthen relationship
with the European Union, the active engagement within the Eastern
Partnership, encourage further reform efforts in the country and to
sign two financing agreements”.

During his stay in Yerevan Stefan Fule will meet the Armenian
President and the Prime Minister, as well as the chairmen of the
Foreign Relations and European Integration committees of the National
Assembly and the representatives of the opposition.

Commissioner Fule will also deliver a key note speech at the Civil
Society seminar “Strengthening of the Role of Civil Society in
Democratic Governance”.

“In his meetings, Commissioner Fule will stress the need for Armenia
to pursue the path of reforms with the active support of the European
Union based on the so called “more for more” principle meaning more
support for more reforms and more progress. To underline this he
will sign financing programmes totalling [email protected] to prepare for
the implementation of the EU-Armenia Association Agreement”, EU
Delegation informed.

AXE-MURDERER VICTIM HONORED ON HIS 34TH BIRTHDAY

Asbarez
Wednesday, September 26th, 2012

More than 3,000 people marched in Stepanakert to remember Gourgen
Margaryan

YEREVAN, STEPANAKERT-Memorial events were held in Armenia and the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic on Wednesday to honor Armenian Army officer
Gurgen Markarian who was brutally murdered by Azeri axe-murderer
Ramil Safarov while in Budapest in 2004.

Gurgen Markarian Markarian, who would have turned 34 Wednesday,
was honored at a special ceremony at Yerablur National Cemetery in
Yerevan after a march organized to the final resting olace for fallen
Armenian soldiers organized by Yerevan State University’s ‘Union of
Young Students’ NGO, Yerkrapah Volunteer Union and Gurgen Margaryan NGO

“Every Armenian should realize that he could be in the place of
Gurgen Margaryan and become the victim of Azerbaijan’s state policy,”
Gevorg Melkonyan, head of the ‘Union of Young Students’ NGO, said in
his remarks to participants.

“I express my condemnation of the Hungarian-Azerbaijani deal of
Safarov’s extradition and announce on behalf of the Armenian youth
that we stand by our state and army.”

Safarov, who was convicted of and was serving a life sentence for the
brutal hacking of Markarian, was extradited by Hungary to Azerbaijan
where he was immediately pardoned and turned into a national hero.

At the end of the march, participants laid flowers at the graves of
Vazgen Sargsyan, General Antranig and Gurgen Markarian.

More than 3,000 marched in the streets of Stepanakert, the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, to mark the slain soldier’s birthday and
protest the injustice in Safarov’s extradition.

STATE OF INCOMPATIBILITY CONFIRMED BY THE AZERBAIJANI-HUNGARIAN DEAL

Wednesday, 26 September 2012 14:42

The extradition to Azerbaijan and subsequent pardon of Ramil Safarov,
who killed an Armenian officer in Budapest, continue causing protest
and strong condemnation by many states, international organizations,
politicians and human rights activists. The dirty deal between Budapest
and Baku, as a result of which the criminal, who was sentenced to
life imprisonment, was released, made revise the European values
â~@~Kâ~@~Kand international law in general. In this context, it becomes
quite natural to revise also the attitude towards the process of the
Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement.

One can safely state that the decree of the Azerbaijani President on
pardoning the killer has created a completely new situation in the
settlement process, destabilizing it and introducing additional tension
in the extremely complicated negotiations. Moreover, an objective
question arises, whether it is expedient to continue the negotiations,
as the actions of official Baku, which can be called in no other way
than a cynical challenge to the civilized world, have crossed out even
the slightest prospects for a peaceful resolution of the conflict. In
fact, the behavior of Azerbaijan, which displayed an unconstructive
position throughout the settlement process, didn’t either inspire
optimism on the achievement of a compromise solution in the earlier
period. Baku has never hidden its aggressive and expansionist plans,
though sometimes trying, under the cover of the pacifist rhetoric on
the commitment to the peaceful settlement of the conflict, to mislead,
as it thought, the international mediators.

However, this theatrical game is over, and Azerbaijan has torn off its
mask. We think the pardon and glorification of the Budapest killer
should finally open the eyes of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen
who didn’t want to believe both Armenian parties stating that it is
impossible to drive Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh under a common
roof.

Once, the Armenian leadership, referring to the facts of history,
including the latest one, stated the ethnic incompatibility of
the Armenian and Azerbaijani nations. Alas, it was subjected to
obstruction by not only a number of international organizations,
but also within the country. As we can see, life has proved the
validity of this statement. If Azerbaijan proclaims national heroes
the killers of peaceful Armenian citizens, as it happened in Sumgait
and Baku, and Safarov’s Azerbaijani lawyer directly states at the
trial in Budapest that killing an Armenian is not a crime in their
country, how can we speak about peaceful coexistence? It is merely
senseless. The Azerbaijani authorities have crossed the edge of
civilization, committing a crime against morality and humanity, and the
international community must simply respond and take resolute actions.

Frankly speaking, certain part of the responsibility for the Budapest
precedent is on the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs. The crime was also
a consequence of the vicious parity attitude that the mediators,
guided by the misunderstood diplomatic ethics, demonstrated every
time when Azerbaijan blatantly violated the ceasefire and undertook
armed provocations. As you know, unpunished evil generates new ones,
and if in due time the provocations of Azerbaijan had got the proper
assessment and tough sanctions by international structures, perhaps,
the Azerbaijani-Hungarian deal wouldn’t have taken place. However,
it is more important not to respond to a crime already committed,
but to prevent it and especially to avoid encouraging it. In this
situation, we can even talk about the criminal potential contained
in the Madrid Principles now lying on the negotiation table. For
it is evident that the forced subordination of Nagorno-Karabakh to
Azerbaijan, in whatever form it would take place, will inevitably
lead to the genocide of its Armenian population.

Azerbaijan has actually violated the negotiation process. Meanwhile,
within the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton have expressed their willingness to use all their efforts
to resume the negotiations. If Russia, the U.S. and France as
mediator-states still continue to believe in the possibility of an
agreement with Azerbaijan, so they should, first of all, make it
answerable and stop indulging it. As demonstrated by the Budapest
case, flirting with the aggressor only stimulates its militarism and
encourages for new crimes.

The recent actions of Azerbaijan have convincingly confirmed NKR’s
right to the international recognition of its independence and the
incapability of Baku to make any compromises and to achieve a peaceful
solution to the conflict. The story with Safarov has proved once again
that the Azerbaijani leadership cannot be trusted. Hungary accused
Azerbaijan of just deceiving it, having promised that the killer
would continue his imprisonment in the homeland. So, there is no
guarantee that the official Baku, as it has happened repeatedly, will
not deceive the international mediators, violating its commitments on
the hypothetical peace agreement. In other words, the negotiations can
be considered completed, and the two Armenian parties have the full
moral right to stop them. And what, in fact, can be discussed with
Azerbaijan? The independent political status of Nagorno-Karabakh,
which it determined over twenty years ago and the consistency of
which it has successfully proved? Or the issue of territories, the
historical belonging of which to the Armenian people is challenged
only by Azerbaijan and Turkey? If anything is to be discussed, it
is only the format of future inter-state relations between the NKR
and Azerbaijan, which should be discussed at the direct negotiations
between Stepanakert and Baku.

AZERBAIJAN BOOSTS INFORMATION SECURITY IN RESPONSE TO ARMENIAN HACKER ATTACKS

PanARMENIAN.Net
September 26, 2012 – 21:56 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree
on measures to boost information security.

The decree states that the Special Communication and Information
Security State Agency was created on the basis of the Security
Department of Special Communication and Information of the Special
State Protection Service.

The agency aims to ensure the protection of information processes, to
protect the stability and security of information resources of state
authorities, to prevent risks in this field, analysis and warning,
to coordinate the activities of state and non-state institutions and
users of the infrastructure, as well as to assess and manage risk
cyber security, to ensure national preparedness and awareness.

According to the decree, a center of coordination structure of
electronic security is created under the Ministry of Communications
and Information Technology Center to coordinate information structures
in cyber security, information on existing and potential electronic
dangers at the country level, in the fields of public education and
private sector cyber security, according to apa.az.

It’s noteworthy that after extradition and pardon of Azerbaijani
murderer Ramil Safarov, Armenian hackers repeatedly targeted websites
of Azeri ministries and information agencies.

ARMENIA’S TAX MOTTO: “SWINDLE THE POOR AND INVESTORS TO FEED GREEDY GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS”
Edik Baghdasaryan

11:39, September 26, 2012

Of course, Armenia’s State Revenue Committee works well. In fact,
this tax agency works in an excellent fashion.

In a tiny village in Gegharkouniq Province, local tax inspectors
unearthed a 78 year-old woman and charged her with avoiding tax
payments. They have fined the senior 500,000 AMD. This can be
considered a death sentence for the woman.

It’s all part of President Sargsyan’s drive to eliminate corruption.

Don’t be surprised if the State Revenue Committee (SRC) includes
this incident in its financial reports as a prime example of how the
government is going full steam ahead to expose those attempting to
swindle the government.

Director of the SRC Gagik Khachatryan will most likely present
expensive watches as gifts to the tax inspectors who tracked down
the old woman for a job “well done”. Khachatryan will probably buy
the watches from his son’s store. Best to keep it all in the family.

Diaspora Armenians investor Edmond Khoudyan says his company Arin
Capital hasn’t paid $1.5 million in owed taxes. He adds that the head
of the Spandaryan Tax Department was aware of the non-payment.

Khoudyan has named names of co-conspirators within the tax agency but
so far no criminal charges have been brought. After numerous complaints
and petitions by Khoudyan, criminal charges of premeditated bankruptcy
were brought and law enforcement has deemed this to signal the end
of their work.

To date, no one has been regarded as a suspect, or a victim. Today,
officials of various levels reside in the building where the
apartmen6ts had been sold, thus creating a tax liability.

These apartments are registered in the names of family members and
friends. The real owners are concealed under a mound of diverting
paperwork.

The actual owners got these apartments on the cheap and on the sly,
through their government connections.

This is a financial quagmire created by the government itself. It’s a
self-sustaining network well protected by various officials who feed
at its trough.

“The President of the SRC and the General Prosecutor are hindering
the examination of my case. Lernik Hovhannisyan, the investigating
prosecutor, is doping all in his power to sideline any investigation.

And the pillage is continuing even while the case is being examined. I
really don’t know who in Armenia I can turn to next to put a halt to
these illegalities,” Khoudyan told Hetq.

His lawyers say they have reached the end of the legal rope and that
the system itself is powerless.

Khoudyan defiantly declares that he will fight on until justice
is served.

But what can lawyers and investors achieve when the laws don’t work.

I’ve been thinking that the government should adopt a plan similar
to the campaign to get businesses to issue sales receipts to customers.

It could, perhaps, issue “plunder permits” to state functionaries
and other bureaucrats.

It would similar to a “Get ut of Jail” card in Monopoly.

The permits would eliminate all the fuss and confusion and the average
citizen in the street or foreign investor would no for sure that they
are dealing with a bunch of crooks.

(Photo: Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan; SRC President Gagik
Khachatryan)