Author: Kalantarian Kevo

GENOCIDIO ARMENO, PRESENTATO ODG DAL PRESIDENTE TURINA
Scritto da Redazione

Rietinvetrina

24 feb 2012
Italia

[Armenian Genocide: presented by the President of Council Turina]

Il presidente del consiglio comunale, Gianni Turina, ha presentato
un ordine del giorno per il riconoscimento, da parte della citta di
Rieti, del genocidio armeno. L’iniziativa tende a sottolineare la
sensibilita e la vicinanza nei confronti della popolazione armena
vittima delle deportazioni e delle uccisioni, che in più periodi
storici, sono state perpetrate in Turchia.

La presentazione dell’ordine del giorno è collegata anche alle
iniziative portate avanti sul territorio dall’associazione “Armenia
da riscoprire” e dalla sua rappresentante Metaksya Vanoyan, cittadina
armena residente a Rieti.

“Diversi consigli comunali italiani – dichiara il presidente Turina -,
tra cui quelli di Roma, Milano, Genova, Venezia e Firenze e la Camera
dei deputati hanno gia approvato mozioni per il riconoscimento del
genocidio degli armeni. Tale sterminio è stato riconosciuto anche
dalla commissione Onu per i Diritti umani”.

L’ordine del giorno impegna a esprimere piena solidarieta al popolo
armeno nella sua lotta per il riconoscimento della verita storica e
per la difesa dei suoi diritti inviolabili e a intervenire, presso
gli organismi preposti, per la salvaguardia del patrimonio artistico
cristiano presente in Turchia, attualmente in stato di grave degrado.

Il presidente Turina ha manifestato la propria disponibilita nel
sostenere un ampio programma di sensibilizzazione sulle vicende
storiche e politiche che produssero e accompagnarono il genocidio
armeno, mettendo in atto azioni di informazione rivolte ai giovani,
attraverso il coivolgimento delle scuole.

WAR AND PEACE
by Prince Frederick

The Hindu

Feb 24 2012
India

Having survived a string of harrowing misfortunes as a boy, John D.
Balian drew upon his own experiences to create the inspirational
protagonist of his first novel, Gray Wolves and White Doves. The
desire to tell his life story under the guise of a novel was certainly
compelling, but the 49-year-old author also sensed a need to throw
fresh light on certain events that lie forgotten in the dingy, back
chambers of history. Pursuit of these twin goals has resulted in
an engrossing coming-of-age tale that is interwoven with threads of
Middle-East politics, culture and conflict.

The novel particularly paints a picture of the internal conflicts in
Turkey for the simple reason that Balian has had a ringside view of
them. But he offers only thin-cut slices of history, Turkish or any
other. “There are many historical references, but they are offered
in calculated measures – a line here and a line there – so that the
reader is not distracted from following the central thread of the
story,” says Balian, who is touring India to promote the book.

Through his characters, Balian presents the 1915 Armenian genocide in
the Ottoman Empire – the forerunner of Turkey – and also describes
events in the 1960s and 1970s that show the Turkish establishment’s
ambition to “mould the non-Turkish citizens of Turkey in the image
of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and the beliefs he personified.”

Responses from readers, mostly in the United States, have convinced
Balian that he has succeeded in the effort to entertain and educate
people through this work. “Many readers have written to say they were
unaware of the Armenian genocide,” says Balian, an Armenian himself.

“The Jewish Holocaust in Nazi Germany is a well-known fact of history.

Not so the Armenian genocide.” (Around 20 countries and many scholars
accept the Armenian massacres of 1915 as genocidal, the Republic of
Turkey, however, denies it was genocide).

The central characters in the novel live under a cloud of uncertainty.

They either nurse wounds that refuse to heal or they live in
anticipation of danger.

The title of the book is aimed at capturing this tension. “It’s
meant to bring out the idea of predators and preys,” explains
Balian. “Grey Wolves is a secret group in Turkey.” The Idealist Youth –
a ultra-nationalist group – is unofficially called ‘Grey Wolves’.

Such references are bound to make the novel appealing to students of
world events. In one episode, protagonist Jonah Ibelinian is swept
into a pervasive panic at the Tel Aviv airport. In response to an
explosion, waiting passengers fall to the floor. Jonah – who is caught
in a flashback of his childhood – is slow to respond to the emergency
and a policeman pulls the boy down to safety.

The terrified passengers soon learn a balloon had caused that explosive
noise, but nobody is embarrassed.

Balian writes people lived in a climate of fear and they expected
the worst, all the time. In this context, an oblique reference is
made to the sensational hijacking of an El Al plane in 1968.

Considering he is a medical doctor working in a senior position for
a big corporation, Balian’s wide knowledge of history is impressive.

“I have always been interested in history and keep following world
events. When I write, I just have to verify the facts.”

Given that he has also lived in parts of Europe and has put down roots
in the U.S., Balian can be expected to deliver more historical novels
that are spiked with autobiographical elements.

“Readers of this book have asked me to bring out a sequel,” says
Balian. “For now, I want to focus on marketing this book.” His plans
for Gray Wolves and White Doves include finding an Indian publisher
and also trying to have a film made on it.

CANADIAN COACH CLAMBERS TOGETHER ROSTER FOR ARMENIA FRIENDLY

CBC

Feb 24 2012
Canada

Stephen Hart names 17 players for Feb. 29 match in Cyprus

By Signa Butler CBC Sports Posted: Feb 23, 2012 3:18 PM ET

With limited player availability due to injuries, club commitments and
MLS training camps, Canadian men’s soccer coach Stephen Hart said it
was tricky to put together a roster for next week’s friendly against
Armenia in Cyprus.

Hart named 17 mostly European-based players for the Feb. 29 match,
including star midfielder and former Canadian player of the year
Atiba Hutchinson and veteran fullback Kevin McKenna.

“Putting this team together was extremely difficult,” Hart told
reporters during a Thursday conference call. “Injuries are one thing
and having to deal with some clubs, because they are involved in
promotion fight — it’s been very difficult.”

Still, Hart said he was glad to have the match, especially when
there are few opportunities to get his team together ahead of the
next stage of World Cup qualifying in June.

“There’s certain players playing together that I’m happy that they’re
available,” he said. “So all in all, I’m looking forward to it.”

Hutchinson back in the mix Hutchinson, who plies his trade with PSV
Eindhoven, recently returned to full fitness after aggravating a knee
injury during World Cup qualifying against St. Lucia last September.

While Hutchinson is back in the fold, two other players Hart hoped
to have for the Armenia friendly are sidelined with injuries.

Striker Olivier Occean, whose club team SpVgg Greuther Furth is
challenging for Bundesliga promotion, is hobbled by a minor foot
injury, while FC Augsburg midfielder Marcel de Jonge will require
surgery after rupturing ankle ligaments in a recent game against
Nurnberg. A timetable for his return isn’t known.

Hart was hoping to only use European players given that MLS players
are in pre-season and it’s a short timeframe for travel (the team
will only have “a [training] session and a half” while in Cyprus),
but Toronto FC midfielder Julian de Guzman was called into the mix
because of all the injuries and absences.

Former San Jose Earthquakes defender Nana Attakora, who is currently
out of contract but has been training with Scottish club Hibernian,
was also named to the team.

Armenia ranked No. 41 in world Samuel Piette is the one new face on
the roster. The 17-year old midfielder, who plays his professional
soccer with FC Metz in France, was a member of Canada’s squad at the
2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Mexico.

“He had a very good camp [with the under-20 team], showed very good
qualities,” said Hart. “At the time, I said to myself if I do get
the opportunity, I’d like to bring him in with the senior players
and see how he settles into the midfield.

“This seems to be a good opportunity to bring him in, see how he
does in training. It’s only a couple of days, I know that, but it
will give me a good gauge for him.”

Canada is ranked 71st in the world, compared to No. 41 Armenia. The
match is set for Feb. 29 in Limmassol.

Here is the 17-man roster:

GOALKEEPERS: Milan Borjan (Sivasspor), Kenny Stamatopoulos (AIK Fotbol)

FULLBACKS: Nik Ledgerwood (SV Wehen Wiesbaden), Mike Klukowski
(Manisaspor), Kevin McKenna (FC Köln), Adam Straith (FC Energie
Cottbus), Nana Attakora (Unattached), David Edgar (Burnley FC)

MIDFIELDERS: Julian de Guzman (Toronto FC), Pedro Pacheco (CD Santa
Clara), Tosaint Ricketts (FC Politehnica TimiÅ~_oara), Josh Simpson
(Berner Sport Club Young Boys), Atiba Hutchinson (PSV Eindhoven),
Samuel Piette (FC Metz)

FORWARDS: Iain Hume (Preston North End FC), Simeon Jackson (Norwich
City FC), Marcus Haber (St. Johnstone FC)

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE SUIT TOSSED, AGAIN, IN LATEST CIRCUIT APPEARANCE
By TIM HULL

Courthouse News Service

Feb 24 2012

(CN) – A California law that allows state courts to hear insurance
claims by victims of the Armenian genocide cannot stand, a full panel
of the 9th Circuit ruled Thursday, finding that the statute intrudes
on policy territory reserved for the U.S. government.

The decision by an 11-judge panel in San Francisco sealed the fate of
a long-suffering class action for insurance benefits filed by survivors
of the World War I-era slaughter of more than 500,000 Armenians living
in the former Ottoman Empire. Turkey has resisted calling the killings
a genocide, and the issue is a politically touchy among its U.S. and
European allies in NATO.

California legislators passed a law in 2000 that gave victims until the
end of 2010 to file insurance claims related to the mass extermination
of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923.

Referencing the little-used theory of “field preemption” or “dormant
foreign affairs preemption,” the judges found that section 354.4
of the law intrudes on the federal government’s exclusive right to
handle foreign affairs.

“The existence of this general foreign affairs power implies that, even
when the federal government has taken no action on a particular foreign
policy issue, the state generally is not free to make its own foreign
policy on that subject,” Judge Susan Graber wrote for the unanimous
panel. “Field preemption is a rarely invoked doctrine. Supreme Court
jurisprudence makes clear, however, that field preemption may be
appropriate when a state intrudes on a matter of foreign policy
with no real claim to be addressing an area of traditional state
responsibility.”

The ruling marks the third time the 9th Circuit has considered the
issue, and it reverses a previous panel’s revival of the underlying
class action last year.

Since 2003, Vazken Movsesian and other Californians of Armenian
descent have tried to use the law to win damages for bad faith,
breach of contract and constructive trust from two German insurers
owned by Munich Re.

A federal judge who first heard the case rejected the insurance
companies’ contention that the foreign affairs doctrine pre-empted
the state law, but a three-judge appellate panel reversed, finding
that it infringed on federal foreign policy. On rehearing, however,
the panel found “no express federal policy forbidding states to use
the term ‘Armenian genocide,'” and reversed.

The court then agreed to rehear the issue before a full panel.

That group reversed again and ordered dismissal of the class action
on Thursday.

“Section 354.4 expresses a distinct point of view on a specific matter
of foreign policy,” Graber wrote. “Its effect on foreign affairs is not
incidental; rather, section 354.4 is, at its heart, intended to send a
political message on an issue of foreign affairs by providing relief
and a friendly forum to a perceived class of foreign victims. Nor is
the statute merely expressive. Instead, the law imposes a concrete
policy of redress for ‘Armenian Genocide victim[s],’ subjecting foreign
insurance companies to suit in California by overriding forum-selection
provisions and greatly extending the statute of limitations for a
narrowly defined class of claims. Thus, section 354.4 ‘has a direct
impact upon foreign relations and may well adversely affect the power
of the central government to deal with those problems.’ Section 354.4
therefore intrudes on the federal government’s exclusive power to
conduct and regulate foreign affairs.”

The Armenian National Committee of America decried the ruling.

“This ruling opens the door for foreign governments to try to roll
back the clock on human rights, potentially putting at peril American
grassroots efforts – along the lines of the anti-Apartheid, Darfur
genocide, and Free Tibet movements – that so often start at the state
and local level, sometimes even against opposition at the federal
level, before winning broad acceptance by the American people and the
U.S. government,” the committee’s executive director, Aram Hamparian,
said in a statement. “Turkey has no right to hold all three branches
of the U.S. government hostage to its irrational and hateful denial
of the Armenian genocide, a crime that has already been broadly
recognized by American civil society and government, once by a U.S.

president, at least twice by the House of Representatives, 42 times by
separate U.S. states, and hundreds of times by municipal governments
in nearly every state of our union.”

NAGORNO-KARABAKH PRESIDENT MEETS WITH MPS

Tert.am
24.02.12

President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Republic Bako
Sahakyan held a meeting on Friday with members of the Democracy group,
NKR Parliament.

The sides discussed a wide range of domestic and foreign policy issues.

The NKR leader pointed out positive and useful political consultations
and their contribution to constructive exchange of opinions on
different issues problems.

NKR Parliament Speaker Ashot Ghoulyan participated the meeting.

NOT A SINGLE STATE WANTS VIOLENCE IN KARABAKH – IRANIAN AMBASSADOR

news.am
February 24, 2012 | 17:14

YEREVAN.- Iran has a balanced stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
said Iranian Ambassador to Armenia Seyed Ali Saqqaiyan.

“Neither we, nor our neighbors want violence. I think from the very
beginning of the conflict Iran’s position was the most balanced. It can
be stated by foreign experts as well,” he told journalists on Friday.

According to him, instability is advantageous to the states usually
pursuing “divide and rule” policy.

“Such policy was typical for England. However, the leaders who are
guided by good advice try to avert the nation from danger,” he said.

The Ambassador stressed that maintaining peace and stability is
important for any region, “especially it refers to the South Caucasus
that has a risk of conflict outbreak.”

RUBEN HAYRAPETYAN, SAMVEL ALEKSANYAN TO BE NOMINATED

Panorama.am
25/02/2012

The Republican Party of Armenia has already defined that Ruben
Hayrapetyan will submit his candidacy by majoritarian system.

“My party has decided that I should run in the first electoral
district by majoritarian system,” Chairman of Football Federation,
MP Ruben Hayrapetyan told Panorama.am.

As for Samvel Aleksanyan, Ruben Hayrapetyan said he would also offer
his candidacy by majoritarian system in district No 7.

HAK member Hovhannes Igityan is going to be Ruben Hayrapetyan’s rival
in the district No. 1, although, he told Panorama.am, he was not sure
he would win.

POLICE LAUNCH INVESTIGATION OF HRAZDAN ELECTION BRIBERY BASED ON HETQ REPORT

hetq
22:20, February 24, 2012

Kotayk police report that they have launched an investigation based
upon a news report that appeared in Hetq’s February 12 edition.

The report stated that according to eyewitnesses, individuals were
handing out 5,000 AMD bribes from the office of a local real estate
board during the recent mayoral election in the town of Hrazdan.

Noting the presence of reporters, the individuals in question
assaulted them.

The police are requesting that eyewitnesses contact them at 59-06-18.

NBC SHOWED THE FILM “BLACK MONEY” ON THE MILLIONS OF THE ALIYEVS

20:46 . 24/02

The wealth of the Aliyevs shown on the American NBC TV channel. The
documentary “Black Money” is about the world’s financial empires,
their owners and successors. The investigatory film “Black Money”
was shown on air of the American TV channel on February 23.

Among other rich families, the author has also covered the Aliyevs
and their wealth. The TV channel’s known journalist Scott John and
the investigatory team presented the world’s big financial empires
created by corruption and sponsorship with shots made in different
parts of the world.

Where does Azerbaijan’s money go? And how did the president’s family
get so rich? These questions interest many. The president’s annual
salary makes 280,000 USD. According to the law of Azerbaijan, the
country’s president cannot do business. Despite several similar
laws, Ilham Aliyev has many estates, his wife has hospitals, their
daughters have businesses, not included their 11-year-old son who,
not falling behind the couple of stars Jolie Pitt and Beckham, has
houses in Dubai, which cost tens of millions of USD. Ilham Aliyev’s
daughter Leila Aliyeva who is married to the Russian pop-star Emin
Aghalarov leads a luxurious life.

In answer to the journalist’s question what are behind Leila’s success,
the latter one has answered: “If you have aims, you must seek to
reach them. In that case, it is easier to have success. I attach
importance to culture more than to business and I stand beside the
young generation.”

The Aliyevs today live in luxury by the black money of the country
rich in oil and gas when the country’s population lives in poverty and
under threat. Azerbaijan is in the 143rd place among 183 most corrupt
countries. All this facts were presented on a TV channel which is
the biggest in the US and is broadcast in many countries of the world.

STEPANAKERT AIRPORT TO OPERATE IN 2-3 MONTHS

yerkir.am
16:10 – 23.02.2012

Head of state Aviation of NKR Dmitry Adbashyan informed that
Stepanakert airport is entirely ready to operate and added that they
are busy acquiring planes.

“We are expecting to hold flights in May-June”, said he and added
that they are also busy training professionals.