Author: Kalantarian Kevo

TURKISH ELDERLY MAN GUARDS ARMENIAN CHURCH

news.am
February 10, 2012 | 00:04

TRABZON. – Hasim Kantekin, 78, guards St. Amenaprkich Armenian Church
(built in 1424) in Trabzon, Turkey.

Hasim Kantekin told Anadolu agency that the church is located on his
territory which he has inherited from his father. The old man informed
that he does not keep anything in the church.

He said that he has done everything to preserve the church, or else
it would have fallen down years ago.

“Anyone who wants to visit the church, takes the keys from me and
enters it,” he said.

POPE BENEDICT XVI RECEIVES DIASPORA MINISTER OF ARMENIA

ARMENPRESS
FEBRUARY 10, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 10, ARMENPRESS: Pope Benedict XVI received Minister
of Diaspora of Armenia Hranush Hakobian, who is in Italy for a working
visit February 7-12. Press office of the ministry told Armenpress that
accompanied by the Armenian ambassador to Italy Ruben Karapetyan,
founder-chairman of “Pyunik” charity foundation Gabriel Jemberji,
the minister visited Rome’s Levonian Armenian college, met with the
representatives of the Armenian community, staff of “Radiovatican”
Armenian programs as well as spiritual figures and pupils of the
college.

PACE DOCUMENT URGES GENOCIDE RECOGNITION

Asbarez.com
January 26, 2012.

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, January, 2012.

STRASBOURG, France – The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe on Thursday adopted a declaration calling on Turkey to
recognize the “Armenian, Assyrian, and Pontic Greek genocides,”
reported the press office of the Heritage Party.

The document also draws attention to “the persistent scourge of
impunity in Turkey,” as a result of which basic freedoms are being
violated, especially those of journalists, broadcasters and publishers.

Presented by Heritage Party delegate to the PACE Zaruhi Postanjyan,
the document also stresses that reforms in Turkey are not sufficient
to deal with basic human right violations in that country.

“The Criminal Code and the Anti-Terrorism Act continue to seriously
impede freedom of expression in Turkey. The provisions of these
pieces of legislation have been applied to disproportionately limit
freedom of expression, including that of journalists, broadcasters
and publishers,” the documents pointed out.

“The amendments adopted so far by Turkey have not been sufficient to
deal with the root causes of violations of the right to freedom of
expression found by the European Court of Human Rights. We express
our particular concern about the use of civil and criminal defamation
provisions and invite public figures to refrain from initiating
defamation proceedings which have serious effects on media freedom,”
asserted the document.

“Recalling notably the murder of Hrant Dink, advocate of the
freedom of expression, we urge the authorities to step up efforts
to effectively protect journalists from violence and intimidation,”
urged the document.

“We are concerned about the continuous denial of the Genocide of
Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians (Syriacs) by the Turkish authorities
and the use of Article 301 of the Criminal Code for criminal
persecution of journalists and writers,” said the document. “We
strongly condemn the continuous violations of their international
obligations by the authorities of Turkey.”

The PACE also adopted another document, again introduced by Postanjyan
that relates to Armenia’s environmental crisis and Teghut in
particular. It notes: “We strongly condemn the continuing violations
of the international obligations of the Armenian government and we
demand that all decisions regarding the Teghut mining exploitation
be considered invalid.”

FRENCH MP VALERIE BOYER BELIEVES CONSTITUTIONAL COURT TO ADOPT GENOCIDE BILL – INTERVIEW

news.am
February 10, 2012 | 01:37

Armenian News-NEWS.am presents the interview of the author of the
bill criminalizing denial of genocides, Union for Popular Movement
(UMP) MP Valerie Boyer published in Nouvelles d’Armenie.

Were you satisfied with the Jan. 23 events covered by media?

I saw nothing special. It proves the press shows no particular interest
in the topic. The only thing it was interested in was to speak against.

Could you disclose motives of MPs who appealed to the Constitutional
Council?

I can guess the Senate’s motive as Secretary General of the Government
expects a response. I have no other information.

What shocked you most in this demarche?

We have been dealing with the issue for over ten years, and I am
shocked that such an appeal was made for the Constitutional Council.

We deal with state values: freedom, fraternity and equality and
we decided to vote for the bill criminalizing the denial. I do not
understand that on behalf of the equality we would be blocked with
unequal attitude towards victims of genocides during principles of
humanism. France is a big state to make all the institutes function. I
do not blame anyone and yet, I believe that the Council will approve
our approach.

What will happen if the Council rejects the bill?

We will start over.

Did you manage to talk to the French President Nikolas Sarkozy after
the appeal to the Council?

Not directly, but I believe that the Secretariat General expects a
response by the Council. It should review the bill on its essence
and form. I think the constitutional judges will approach the issue
from the right angle and not from the standpoint of a false debate
about the memorial laws, which the National assembly held. However,
I am afraid that the Council may be terribly pressed.

What can you tell hypothetically if the 2011 law and 2012 bill were
rejected?

In that case we would have dealt with an unequal treatment and sued
to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). It is just
impossible.
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From: Mihran Keheyian
Subject: French MP Valerie Boyer believes Constitutional Court to adopt
genocide bill – interview

French MP Valerie Boyer believes Constitutional Court to adopt
genocide bill – interview

news.am
February 10, 2012 | 01:37

Armenian News-NEWS.am presents the interview of the author of the bill
criminalizing denial of genocides, Union for Popular Movement (UMP) MP
Valerie Boyer published in Nouvelles d?Arménie.

Were you satisfied with the Jan. 23 events covered by media?

I saw nothing special. It proves the press shows no particular
interest in the topic. The only thing it was interested in was to
speak against.

Could you disclose motives of MPs who appealed to the Constitutional Council?

I can guess the Senate?s motive as Secretary General of the Government
expects a response. I have no other information.

What shocked you most in this demarche?

We have been dealing with the issue for over ten years, and I am
shocked that such an appeal was made for the Constitutional Council.
We deal with state values: freedom, fraternity and equality and we
decided to vote for the bill criminalizing the denial. I do not
understand that on behalf of the equality we would be blocked with
unequal attitude towards victims of genocides during principles of
humanism. France is a big state to make all the institutes function. I
do not blame anyone and yet, I believe that the Council will approve
our approach.

What will happen if the Council rejects the bill?

We will start over.

Did you manage to talk to the French President Nikolas Sarkozy after
the appeal to the Council?

Not directly, but I believe that the Secretariat General expects a
response by the Council. It should review the bill on its essence and
form. I think the constitutional judges will approach the issue from
the right angle and not from the standpoint of a false debate about
the memorial laws, which the National assembly held. However, I am
afraid that the Council may be terribly pressed.

What can you tell hypothetically if the 2011 law and 2012 bill were rejected?

In that case we would have dealt with an unequal treatment and sued to
the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). It is just
impossible.

RULING COALITION MPS FALSIFY VOTING IN PARLIAMENT AND DURING ELECTION LATER – OPPOSITION

NEWS.AM
February 10, 2012 | 14:55

YEREVAN. – As ruling coalition MPs falsify voting results in the
Armenian parliament now, later they will do the same with election
results, parliamentary opposition ARF Dashnaktsutyun group MP Vahan
Hovhannisyan told the journalists on Friday commenting Thursday’s
incident in the parliament.

To note, several MPs from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia
(RPA) voted on Thursday on behalf of their party colleagues who
were at the parliament halls at the time. The RPA MPs’ conduct was
criticized by their opposition colleagues. Opposition Heritage group
MP Larisa Alaverdyan responded by whether there are MPs with two
heads on noticing the violation.

According to Hovhannisyan, the incident testifies to the fact that
ruling political power cannot be called ‘powerful’.

“If a law is passed on behalf of violating another one, what to expect
from legality of the elections?” he said adding if authorities had
one orientation – reproduction at any cost.

VAHAKN DADRIAN: THE TRIALS OF THE PERPETRATORS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Friday, February 10, 2012

Free admission

The post-World War I Ottoman Special Military Tribunal showed clearly,
in a legal setting, the genocidal intent of the Young Turk leaders
perpetrated against their Armenian citizens. Prof. Dadrian will
present his analysis and the significance of the trials. The new book,
Judgment at Istanbul: The Armenian Genocide Trials, the first on the
Armenian Genocide jointly written by an Armenian and a Turkish scholar,
will be on sale at a specially reduced price, and the author will be
pleased to sign copies.

Eleven years in the making, Judgment at Istanbul marks the first
time the complete known documentation of the trial proceedings is
being provided in English. The study is based on authentic Turkish
documentation, which the Ottoman government was forced to release
during the trials. It includes the personal, eyewitness testimony of
high-ranking Ottoman officials, given under oath, on the magnitude
of the crimes against the Armenians.

Zoryan Institute of Canada, Inc.

with the participation of:

Armenian Association of Toronto, Armenian Evangelical Church of
Toronto, Armenian General Benevolent Union, AGBU Young Professionals of
Toronto, Armen Karo Student Association, Armenian National Committee
of Toronto, Bolsahay Cultural Association, Canadian-Armenian Business
Council, Holy Trinity Armenian Church, Knights of Vartan Alishan Lodge
and Daughters of Vartan Artemis Chapter, St. Gregory the Illuminator
Armenian Catholic Church, St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church, Union
of Marash Armenians of Toronto

HERITAGE STATEMENT ON EPP OBSERVER STATUS AND POLITICAL CORRUPTION IN ARMENIA

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 15:37:09 – 10/02/2012

The Heritage Party is pleased to have been granted observer membership
in the European People’s Party by decision of its Political Assembly
meeting in Brussels.

Heritage has been an ideological carrier of EPP values from its
inception, and to date has taken consistent part in the activities of
the EPP group at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,
Euronest, OSCE and elsewhere.

We are encouraged by the opportunities afforded us by the achievement
of observer status, which also is shared by the ruling Republican
Party and its coalition partner the Country of Laws Party.

At the same time we are deeply concerned, on this eve of parliamentary
and presidential elections in our country, by the unprecedented level
of political corruption prevalent here.

In addition to the flagrant examples of conflicts of interest between
public duty and partisan gain as outlined in Heritage chairman
Raffi K. Hovannisian’s good-faith letter, dated 21 November 2011, to
Republican Party chairman and incumbent president Serzh Sargsyan,
together with his unresponsive outburst in reaction thereto,
the National Assembly-in which all three EPP observer members are
represented-continues to offer haven to electoral theft and political
forgery.

One recurrent episode took place on the very day EPP observer status
was conferred and the three parties acceded to a common declaration
of intentions and principles. In keeping with a long tradition of
voting fraud both at the polls and in parliament, various individuals
representing the EPP-observing coalition, with the conscious
assent and attempted cover-up of the legislature’s leadership (again
observer party members), were complicit in the commission of outright
falsification, that is, the unlawful casting of votes in the place
of absent colleagues and in plain view of fellow MPs, journalists,
and the public. On this occasion, the foregoing was done for the
parliamentary majority’s illegitimate securing first of a quorum and
then of their desired outcomes on several measures of substance.

In the event of even one further instance of this criminal conduct-in
the National Assembly, at the Presidency, or during the upcoming
elections-the Heritage Party will be unable to reconcile, whether
politically, ethically or otherwise, its participation in the great
family of European parties known as EPP with the presence of those
responsible for such anti-democratic, anti-Armenian, and anti-European
demeanor.

In this connection, but as a matter to be treated separately,
we cannot but express our consternation upon the Armenian prime
minister’s recent public endorsement of a serving foreign official’s
candidacy for his country’s presidency.

At this critical juncture, we are at once extremely proud of our EPP
belonging and extremely troubled-for Armenia and for all Europe-by
the endless divide between the words and deeds of the Republic’s de
facto rulers.

And we so very much regret that this statement has become necessary.

BELARUSIAN LEASING COMPANY TO ENTER ARMENIA’S FINANCIAL MARKET

news.am
February 10, 2012 | 15:53

YEREVAN. – The Belarusian Promagroleasing leasing company wishes to
enter Armenia’s financial market, and, in all likelihood, it will
soon open its branch in the capital Yerevan, Agriculture Minister
Sergo Karapetyan said during a press conference on Friday.

Karapetyan also informed that this company is offering fairly
beneficial conditions for those who wish to acquire agricultural
equipment. Specifically, the annual interest rate will be 4 percent,
a 6-year loan will be provided to obtain combines, and 8-year loans
for acquiring tractors.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, the Russian Rosagroleasing
leasing company likewise has expressed a wish to enter Armenia’s
financial market.

FRENCH MP HOPES INTERESTED PARTIES NOT TO PRESS CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ISSUE

news.am
February 11, 2012 | 01:47

PARIS. – French Socialist MP Francois Pupponi released a communique,
where he turned to some MPs and Senators who have appealed to the
Constitutional Council against the bill criminalizing denial of the
genocides, including the Armenian Genocide.

“I am deeply sorry that 77 Senators and 65 MPs decided to appeal to
the Council against the bill. There are several reasons: first of all,
many victims. Our responsibility is not to kill them again. Second,
for their relatives, so that their inheritors could fully be integrated
in our state.

Finally, I believe that the interested parties will not influence
or hinder the Council to consider the constituency of the bill in
a calm and impartial condition,” the statement reads, Nouvelles
d`Armenie reports.

ACCORDING TO ARMENIA’S DIASPORA MINISTRY, THE VATICAN IS NOT INDEPENDENT STATE – NEWSPAPER

news.am
February 11, 2012 | 09:14

YEREVAN. – It has become clear that Armenia’s Diaspora Ministry is
either unaware that the Vatican is an independent republic, or it does
not recognize the Vatican’s sovereignty, Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun
daily writes.

“Specifically, the official statement, on the meeting between the
Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan and Pope Benedict XVI, reads as
follows: ‘His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI received, at the Vatican,
Armenia’s Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan, who is in Italy, on
February 7-12, on a working visit.’ It is known that the Vatican
is geographically situated inside Italy, but it is also known
that the Vatican is an independent state, with which Armenia has
diplomatic relations. But the Ministry’s official statement leaves
the impression that, at present, the Vatican is a part of Italy,”
Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun daily writes.