Author: Kajoyan Gevork

EST-CE UN CRIME D’ETRE ARMENIEN ?
Jean Eckian

armenews.com
mardi 28 aout 2012

Le journaliste turc, s’il nous apprend quelque chose sur l’impact
du “crime de haine qualifie” (grave car la portee de l’insulte est
multipliee par le nombre des membres du groupe) aurait pu ajouter
un autre facteur multiplicatif : le profond desarroi de ceux qui
genocides, forces l’epee sur la nuque de se convertir a une religion
qui n’est pas la leur ni celle de leurs ancetres, se voient 100 ans
après insultes de la sorte…

par Sedat Ergin, Hurriyet Daily News

La suggestion d’employer l’expression ” liquides ” plutôt que ”
neutralises ” a l’egard des terroristes du Parti des Travailleurs du
Kurdistan (PKK) qui ont ete tues a provoque de nombreuses reactions.

C’est le depute d’Erzerum Muhyettin Aksak du parti au pouvoir Justice
et Developpement (AKP) qui en avait fait la suggestion au cours de
ses v~ux a la fete de son parti, mardi dernier, dans la province de
l’est d’Erzerum.

Ce n’est pas la première declaration problematique, au cours de
la session, dont s’est rendu responsable Aksak. Il a aussi dit,
après avoir reclame que ” les membres du PKK et nos frères Kurdes ne
devraient pas avoir le meme rang ” : ” Nous devrions considerer a part
nos frères Kurdes. Lorsque nous les regardons [le PKK], ils ne sont
rien d’autres [que des personnes ayant subi un lavage de cerveau],
ou des enfants d’apostats armeniens, ou des lâches qui ont infiltre
notre pays, venus de Syrie ou d’Iran.

Codes de Culture Sociale Un depute effectuant son second mandat au
parlement, representant le parti au pouvoir, a employe l’expression
” enfants d’apostats armeniens ” comme une insulte, ouvertement et
avec mepris.

Admettons qu’utiliser le fait que l’un d’entre eux etait d’origine
armenienne dans un propos diffamatoire n’est qu’un de ces reflexes
qui restent a eliminer, dans la liste des codes d’appartenance d’un
très large segment de la culture sociale de la Turquie.

Mais cela peut aussi se produire frequemment dans la presse. L’exemple
le plus marquant, l’origine armenienne etant prise comme une insulte
etait la campagne de diffamation dont l’auteur Ali Bayramoglu, du
quotidien Yeni Safak, a ete victime en juin dernier.

Un article paru sur le site habervaktim.com, version en ligne du
quotidien fondamentaliste Vakit, soutenait que Bayramoglu avait des
origines armeniennes, et donc ” agissait motive par sa veritable
identite [cachee] ” sur les questions relatives aux Kurdes et aux
Armeniens.

” Si vous etes Juif, vous etes deja coupable ” Les personnes visees
par ce comportement ne sont pas seulement des Armeniens. C’est un
comportement habituel, dirige contre toutes les minorites, contre
les Grecs et specialement contre les Juifs.

Tel etait le cas l’an passe, lorsque le professeur Busra Ersanli
avait ete arretee dans le cadre de l’operation contre le KCK : le
journal Vakit pensait pouvoir attribuer son arrestation au fait que
son ex-mari, le professeur Cem Behar etait un Juif.

Les exemples sont frequents dans la vie quotidienne de notre pays,
que nos hommes d’etat considèrent avec orgueil comme une terre de
tolerance. Le problème est que pour un large segment de la population,
un tel comportement n’est pas vraiment considere comme un problème
dans les relations sociales.

Une loi contre le crime de haine est necessaire Dans le monde civilise
d’aujourd’hui, ce genre de comportements est connu sous le nom de ”
crimes de haine ” , et peut avoir des consequences graves. Les crimes
de haine sont des actes par lesquels une personne ou un groupe est
verbalement ou physiquement attaque du fait de son identite ou de
son appartenance a un groupe, et ils ont des effets distincts de ceux
d’autres categories de crimes.

La raison de ces differences est que dans les crimes de haine,
lorsqu’une personne est insultee du fait de son appartenance sociale
ou de son identite, la personne visee n’est pas la seule victime. L’
“effet multiplicateur ” de l’acte haineux donne a tous ceux qui
appartiennent a ce groupe le sentiment d’etre attaques.

Par exemple, lorsqu’un depute insulte le PKK comme ” enfants
d’apostats armeniens “, alors tout Armenien vivant en Turquie se sent
insulte. Lorsque la raison invoquee pour l’arrestation du professeur
Ersanli est qu’elle a ete l’epouse d’un Juif, alors tous les Juifs
vivant dans ce pays sont rabaisses.

Ces exemples, que nous rencontrons frequemment, font mesurer de facon
très pessimiste la distance qu’il nous reste a parcourir dans la lutte
contre le racisme en Turquie. Si une loi sur le crime de haine avait
existe en Turquie, alors les auteurs des actes cites plus haut comme
exemples auraient ete confrontes a de serieuses consequences. Si au
moins aucune loi n’est a l’horizon, peut-etre conviendrait-il que le
parti au pouvoir fasse un geste pour rassurer les citoyens armeniens
vivant dans ce pays, montrant qu’il se desolidarise des propos de son
depute d’Erzeroum, en particulier a la suite de la fete du Ramadan,
où la fraternite est souvent evoquee.

Sedat Ergin est journaliste au quotidien Hurriyet, dan lequel cet
article est paru le 24 août. Il a ete traduit en anglais par l’equipe
du Daily News.

25 août 2012

Traduction Gilbert Beguian pour Armenews

mardi 28 août 2012, Jean Eckian ©armenews.com

Sabah, Turkey
Aug 24 2012

TURKEY EXTENDS HELP TO ARMENIANS IN SYRIA

Having already opened its doors to nearly 100,000 refugees due to the
crisis in Syria, Turkey has now extended a helping hand to the
Armenians in the nation, delivering the message that we are ready to
help and would be very willing to host them here.

Last week, Turkey’s Armenian Patriarchate Ecumenical Assembly Speaker
Priest Tatul AnuÅ?yan called on two of Syria’s leading Armenian
priests, in Aleppo and Damascus in order to deliver the message, “Your
brothers in Turkey are ready to assist you at any moment and you are
welcome to come to Turkey.”

Mentioning that Foreign Affairs Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu had said a
few months back that we could host Armenians, AnuÅ?yan explains, “I
made a call to them and told them that we were prepared to offer the
Armenians there whatever sort of support they needed. If they like
they can come to Turkey. We would be pleased to host them. As Turkey’s
Armenians we will always stand by you.”

Archpriest AnuÅ?yan also mentioned that over the weekend all of the
churches held a prayer for Syria to have a transition to peace as soon
as possible. According to AnuÅ?yan there are approximately 100,000
Armenians in Syria most of which live in Damascus, Aleppo, Kesap and
Qamishli. Pointing out that it is not just the Armenians but the
entire Syrian public that is facing difficulties in the civil war,
AnuÅ?yan stated, “They tell me that homes have been demolished and
bombed. They need everything. It’s very sad.”

3,000 EMIGRATIONS

Armenians have tried to remain impartial in the war in Syria, however
with the fear that if a conservative party comes to power they as
Christians may be in threat, Armenians have been emigrating from Syria
since the start of the conflict. According to information from the
Diaspora Department, since March 2012, 3,000 Syrian Armenians have
been forced to leave their homes. They have moved on to Yerevan where
they have been embraced by their relatives. A majority of the
Armenians in Syria consist of those who left Ottoman land in 1915.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Aug 26 2012

Hollande Including `Armenian Genocide’ In French Textbooks

Sunday, 26 August 2012 17:21

French President Francois Hollande’s administration has included a
chapter about the 1915 mass killings of ethnic Armenians in eastern
Anatolia in secondary-school textbooks — a move that could once again
upset relations with Turkey, which was hopeful about rebuilding
strained ties with Paris following the election of the new president.

Turkish daily Sabah reported on Sunday that the French Education
Ministry has decided to include chapters about the so-called `Armenian
genocide’ in history and geography books used in French secondary
schools.

French students studying world history since 1910 will also read a
chapter called `The Armenian Genocide.’

Hollande said last month that he will stand by a campaign pledge to
make it illegal to deny that the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks
in 1915 was genocide.

Relations between Paris and Ankara had begun to thaw after a decision
in February by France’s constitutional court to strike down the
genocide denial law as contrary to free speech.

Turkey had canceled all economic, political and military meetings with
France in December after the French parliament voted in favor of the
draft law.

At a joint news conference early in July, French Foreign Minister
Laurent Fabius said the law was unlikely to be resurrected and Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu hailed the opening of a warmer phase
in relations with France.

Armenia, backed by many historians, says about 1.5 million Armenians
were killed in what is now eastern Turkey during World War I in a
deliberate policy of genocide ordered by the Ottoman government.

Turkey says there was heavy loss of life on both sides during the
fighting, in which Armenian partisans supported invading Russian
forces. The Ottoman Empire collapsed after the war. Successive Turkish
governments and the vast majority of Turks feel the charge of genocide
is an insult to their nation.

Turkey hoped Hollande’s election might mean France is more open to its
joining the European Union than under his conservative predecessor
Nicolas Sarkozy, but has so far received no public support for its EU
bid from Paris.

History-Geography Teachers Council Secretary-General Hubert Tison has
said the chapter in the textbooks is devoted to giving detailed
information on the so-called `Armenian genocide.’

Tison criticized as `redundant’ the inclusion of the chapter, which
will explain in detail the genocide, ethnic structure of the Ottoman
Empire, rule of Talat Pasha and policies of nationalist Turks and
purported exiles. The chapter will also include the numbers of
Armenians who were killed, exiled or sent to death.

Turkish Education Ministry officials said they will first need to
examine the book and see if it includes phrases that incriminate
Turkey and they will respond in line with international law through
diplomatic channels. The officials said both countries earlier
established commissions composed of experts to remove discriminatory
phrases in textbooks and accused the French government of what they
said is a `politically motivated’ move.

Today’s Zaman

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Aug 25 2012

90 Syrians granted refugee status in Armenia

All in all, 90 people who had come from Syria were granted the refugee
status in Armenia, the State Migration Service of the Ministry of
Territorial Administration of Armenia reports.

Only in the past month, 28 Syrian families asked for the refugee
status in Armenia, News.am reports.

According to the service, all the housing requests of Syrian refugees
have been satisfied. Some Syrian Armenians prefer to live in the homes
of relatives.

Ardmore patch.com, PA
Aug 26 2012

Historical Photo Location Revealed

Read on to learn the history of St. Sahag and St. Mesrob Armenian
Apostolic Church.

By Amanda Mahnke

This week’s photo challenge was an easy one – particularly if you’re up
on the history of famous Main Line mansions. The building in the c.
1900 photograph we posted on Monday is Ballytore Castle, the former
home of department store founder Isaac Clothier. The building is
currently St. Sahag & St. Mesrob Armenian Apostolic Church.

Ballytore, located on Wynnewood Road near Lancaster Avenue, was built
for the Strawbridge & Clothier founder in 1885 by Addison Hutton, who
also designed much of the Bryn Mawr and Haverford College campuses,
according to the Lower Merion Historical Society.

Clothier lived in Ballytore until his death in 1921. In 1933, the
building was rented to the Agnes Irwin School, and the school
purchased the building in 1936. In 1963, the building was purchased by
St. Sahag & St. Mesrob Armenian Apostolic Church.

For a more extensive history of Ballytore, read Ardmore Patch’s
feature on the building.

We had four guesses for our historical photo challenge this week, and
all of them were right. Kudos to Patch users Jack Kerr, Mildred
Roberts, Kurt Gutzler and Kit Grundstein for getting the location
correct.

Check back Monday for a new historical photo challenge.

About this column: A series of posts highlighting moments in the
history of Ardmore, Merion, Wynnewood and Haverford.

GENOCIDE ARMENIEN
La diplomatie française se cherche une nouvelle ligne

Après l’interventionnisme sarkozyen symbolisé par l’affaire libyenne,
le président socialiste François Hollande, accusé d’attentisme sur la
Syrie, donnera lundi sa vision de la diplomatie française et ses
priorités.

Quelque 200 diplomates français se retrouvent à Paris pour la
grand-messe annuelle de `la Conférence des ambassadeurs`, qui
s’ouvrira avec une allocution de M. Hollande et s’achèvera mercredi
avec un discours de son ministre des Affaires étrangères, Laurent
Fabius.

Guerre en Syrie, nucléaire iranien, Sahel, etc. Les dossiers brûlants
ne manquent pas, sur lesquels le président français, aux commandes
depuis un peu plus de trois mois, est attendu.

Concernant la Syrie, l’opposition de droite a fustigé un immobilisme
du chef d’Etat, le comparant à l’activisme de son prédécesseur Nicolas
Sarkozy, qui avait abouti à l’intervention en Libye en 2011.

Tout en se montrant critiques sur cette dernière – `une opération
d’émotion, bclée, sans finesse` selon l’universitaire Bertrand Badie,
spécialiste des relations internationales -, des experts notent eux
aussi `un certain attentisme` de la nouvelle diplomatie française.

`La Syrie, c’est évidemment très compliqué. Mais on aurait pu espérer
que la France profite de la présidence tournante du Conseil de
sécurité de l’ONU au mois d’août pour prendre des initiatives. En lieu
de quoi, on a eu des commentaires, des déclarations de principe, et on
a concentré le tir sur l’humanitaire`, déplore Didier Billion, de
l’Institut de relations internationales et stratégiques (Iris).

L’attitude de Paris convient cependant à Washington, souligne de son
cô té Justin Vaïsse, du centre de réflexion américain Brookings
Institution. `Jouer les va-t-en guerre maintenant serait mauvais pour
(Barack) Obama. François Hollande ne veut rien faire qui puisse gêner
le président américain dans sa quête de réélection`, souligne le
chercheur.

`Il y a une convergence très grande` entre Paris et Washington sur la
Syrie, mais aussi et surtout sur l’Iran, ajoute M. Vaisse, soulignant
que dans ce dossier, `la France reste très ferme, mais sans aller
au-delà de la position américaine`.

Paris semble un peu plus présent dans le dossier du Mali, dont le nord
est contrô lé depuis près de cinq mois par des groupes islamistes et
où une intervention de troupes africaines est envisagée.

Laurent Fabius a effectué fin juillet une tournée au Niger, au Burkina
Faso, au Sénégal et au Tchad centrée sur la question malienne. Il
avait aussi évoqué le dossier au cours d’une visite à Alger au début
de ce même mois.

Au plan bilatéral, les liens ont été renoués avec la Turquie après
l’abandon provisoire d’une loi punissant la négation du génocide
arménien qui avait entraîné sous Nicolas Sarkozy une crise sans
précédent entre les deux pays.

Les crispations avec le pays symbole du Printemps arabe, la Tunisie,
provoquées par le soutien sans faille de Paris à l’ancien régime de
Ben Ali se sont apaisées, et le président tunisien Moncef Marzouki a
effectué en juillet une visite d’Etat en France.

Mais pour Bertrand Badie, `on ne change pas de politique étrangère
comme ça du jour au lendemain` et il prédit que `la diplomatie
sarkozienne sera réajustée, atténuée, sans doute moins cassante`. Mais
`François Hollande est encore hésitant`, estime-t-il, soulignant que
l’actuel président ne s’est jamais vraiment investi à l’international.

`Il n’y a pas de réelle doctrine. La difficulté qu’a la France
aujourd’hui, indépendamment des locataires du Quai d’Orsay et de la
qualité de l’appareil diplomatique, c’est qu’elle a du mal à retrouver
une ligne tout à fait cohérente`, résume Didier Billion.

dimanche 26 août 2012,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

Turkish FM suggests Karabakh talks be held in Istanbul

August 25, 2012 – 12:30 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Turkey would like Azerbaijan and Armenia to hold
talks in Istanbul, Trend Az quoted Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu as saying.

He noted that Ankara pursues policy of regional conflict regulation,
with Turkey having become a leader in the region.

“We would like to see talks on Syria in Turkey. We also want
negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan to be held in Istanbul”
Davutoglu said.

Days of Kazakh films due in Yerevan

tert.am
19:05 – 25.08.12

Tweet Beginning next week, Yerevan will host Days of Kazakh films to
celebrate the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Armenia
and Kazakhstan.

According to a press release by the Armenian National Film Center, the
event organized by the Embassy of Kazakhstan and the Kazakhfilm studio
will offer the audience an opportunity to watch the best five movies
of Kazakh production.

The days of Kazakh film will run from Monday, August 27 through
Friday, August 31. The Nomads, one of the most popular movies
Khazakstan will open the event. A joint production by Kazakh, US and
Russian film-makers, it has attracted a number of Hollywood stars.

It is based on a book by Ilyas Yesenberlin. The film tells a real
story featuring the period of Abilay Khan’s rule (18th century). Other
movies in the program include The Sky of My Childhood and Who are you
Mr. Ka?

According to the Representative of Vahe Avetyan’s Father, the
Prosecutor’s Office Has Violated the Criminal Procedure Code Sending
the Harsnakar Case to Court

August 24, 2012 17:20

A few days ago, during a conversation with , Lusine
Hakobyan, the representative of Vahe Avetyan’s legal successor – his
father – and the other aggrieved persons, informed that their motion
had been denied orally. Today, during a conversation with her, we
inquired whether they had received a written denial and on what
grounds the motion had been denied. L. Hakobyan replied, `It is a
rather groundless document, the motion has been denied groundlessly.’

She went into detail, `There are no grounds, the denial is groundless.
It reads that the motion has been completely denied. If it is
completely denied, it is not clear why they make references to the
part that was taken out of the case and legal and investigative
actions mentioned in the motion. Generally, that denial is
groundless.’

L. Hakobyan informed that it was the very reason why they would appeal
to the prosecution’s office today.

Then the counselor noted, `Although one cannot pin much hope on the
prosecutor’s office, since by just sending the case to the court, the
prosecutor’s office has violated Article 267 of the Criminal Procedure
Code, which reads that the prosecutor’s office cannot send the case to
the court before solving the issue of the party’s complaint. And in
this case, the prosecutor’s office hasn’t waited till we filed a
complaint, then it would examine the complaint and afterwards send the
case to the court.’ L. Hakobyan makes the following assessment of what
has happened, `This is about the system’s incomprehensible hurry or
very well understandable hurry.’

In response to our question whether they were convinced that the
restaurant’s owner had been informed about the argument between a
waiter and a customer, while filing a motion to involve R. Hayrapetyan
as a suspect, L. Hakobyan said, `We were not sure and that is why we
filed a motion, in order that he was involved and suspicions
concerning him were solved, so as he could participate in the trial
and he was asked the questions, which he wasn’t asked in the framework
of a real preliminary investigation.’

Tatev HARUTYUNYAN

Armenia to attend PACE fall session slated for October in Strasbourg

news.am
August 25, 2012 | 14:41

YEREVAN. – Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) fall
session will be convened on October 1-5 in Strasbourg, France, and its
agenda will be approved after September 3, National Assembly’s
Prosperous Armenia Party Faction Secretary and Armenia’s PACE
delegation member Naira Zohrabyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

In her words, it is difficult to say at this time as to whether or not
there will be any plans concerning Armenia, but Azerbaijani political
prisoners’ issue is on the agenda.

To note, Zohrabyan had raised an issue during PACE’s July session, and
demanded PACE to conduct an international expertise research of
Azerbaijani school textbooks, which are examples of Armenian-hatred,
racism, and xenophobia. Also, Zohrabyan had promised to send
respective documents and extracts from those textbooks to the
Commissioner for Human Rights.

`I sent that entire package two days ago to the Council of Europe’s
new Commissioner for Human Rights, and demanded an examination of
these textbooks and application of sanctions against Azerbaijan,’
Zohrabyan added.

Armenian MP expects to receive the Commissioner’s response prior to
the October 1 session.

`In any case, I will raise this issue at the October session yet
again, since the Commissioner is expected to present an annual report,
and, subsequently, he must respond to PACE deputies’ questions,’ said
Naira Zohrabyan.