Author: Kalantarian Kevo

TOUMANIAN DOIT SE RETOUNER DANS SA TOMBE
Gari

armenews.com
vendredi 20 janvier 2012

Un homme d’affaires georgien qui avait pu acquerir quatre des
septs pièces de la maison dans laquelle vecut le grand ecrivain
armenien Hovannes Toumanian a mis en en vente sa propriete, suscitant
l’emoi de la communaute armenienne de Georgie et de l’Armenie, dont
le gouvernement envoyait une delegation a Tbilisi pour tenter de
regler le problème. Car l’operation immobilière, en apparence anodine,
risque de degenerer en incident diplomatique, le proprietaire georgien,
Archil Lezhav, fils d’un riche homme d’affaires de Tbilisi, ayant emis
l’intention de ceder son bien a une joint venture turco-georgienne,
GeoTuran.

La transaction est justifiee par des arguments humanitaires, le
proprietaire pretextant que la vente servirait a payer les soins
medicaux de son père.

Quelques semaines auparavant, l’Union des Armeniens de Tbilisi avait
tire la sonnette d’alarme, en publiant un communique dans lequel elle
rappelait que “le monument historique etait devenu la propriete d’un
homme d’affaires dans les annees 1990. L’homme d’affaires avait mis
en vente son bien immobilier, et la joint venture turco-georgienne
‘GeoTuran’ veut se porter acquereur de ce bien pour en faire un hôtel
ayant vocation a accueillir des travailleurs turcs.

La direction de la compagnie a meme demande a l’arrière petite-fille
du grand poète armenien, Alina Tumanian, qui occupe l’autre partie
de l’immeuble, de la lui vendre, mais elle a rejete cette offre”.

Lors d’une conference de presse le 18 janvier a Erevan, Irma
Safrazbekyan, l’un des descendants de Toumanian, avait regretted
que l’Armenie ne se soit pas portee elle-meme acquereur de la maison
quand il en etait encore temps. “Avec mon epoux, j’ai eu l’occasion de
rencontrer Lezhav senior en 2004. C’etait un homme fort sympathique,
qui savait qui etait Toumanian et connaissait son importance, et etait
donc oppose a toute initiative visant a denaturer sa maison familiale.

Il aurait ete alors dispose a ceder le bien immobilier pour un montant
de 25 000 dollars.

Mais a l’epoque, le gouvernement armenian avait fait valoir qu’il ne
pouvait pas debloquer une telle somme”, pourtant bien en dessous de
la valeur immobiliaire pour ne pas dire historique et symbolique,
du lieu”, a explique Mme Safrazbekyan devant les journalistes. La
vente annoncee a la societe turco-georgienne a pourtant finalement
fait reagir le gouvernement armenien, qui a envoye a Tbilisi
une delegation conduite par le president de l’Union des ecrivains
d’Armenie, Levon Ananian, en vue de negocier avec Lezhava junior. La
lenteur du gouvernement armenien devrait lui coûter cher, s’il veut
vraiment respecter les mannes de Toumanian et empecher que de nouveaux
proprietaires turco-georgiens leur fassent offense. M.Ananian a indique
que conformement aux cours de l’immobilier actuellement a Tbilisi,
l’appartement de quelque 120 m² coûterait environ 70 000 dollars.

Des representants de Georgia Touran avaient rendu visite la veille a
Alyona Toumanian, l’arrière petite-fille du poète, pour lui demander
de leur ceder les trois autres pièces dont elle est proprietaire. Elle
a adresse une fin de non recevoir a leur demande. Alyona Toumanian
a fait savoir a Irma Safrazbekyan qu’elle n’accepterait de ceder son
bien qu’a la seule condition que Lezhava accepte quant a lui de ceder
les quatre pièces dont il est proprietaire a la communaute armenienne,
et rendre ainsi au lieu sa vocation culturelle. L’ecrivain et critique
litteraire Hovik Charkhchian s’est pour sa part montre confidant
quant a l’issue de la mission de la delegation armenienne a Tbilisi.

DINK MURDER CAN’T BE TREATED LIKE REGULAR CRIME, POLITICIANS SAY

Today’s Zaman
Jan 20 2012
Turkey

The final verdict in the five-year-long Hrant Dink murder trial, which
established that the suspects had no ties to a larger crime network
but acted alone, cannot be true, more politicians and commentators
continued to assert on Friday.

In a related note, the prosecutor in the court case concerning the
2007 killing of prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Dink slammed the
judge hearing the trial for failing to deliver a fair decision amid
growing outrage over a trial many feel has failed to shed light on
alleged official negligence or even collusion. The judge presiding
over the 14th Ä°stanbul High Criminal Court sentenced Yasin Hayal
to life imprisonment and acquitted 19 defendants charged with being
part of a terrorist group. A juvenile court sentenced Dink’s assassin,
Ogun Samast, to 22 years, 10 months in jail last July. He was 17 when
he committed the murder.

Prosecutor Hikmet Usta said in a two-page long petition as part
of his appeal of the verdict, which was delivered on Tuesday, that
there was sufficient evidence to establish the murder was the result
of efforts by an organized criminal group. The prosecutor’s comments
came in response to presiding judge Rustem Eryılmaz’s earlier remarks
published in Vatan daily Thursday.

The judge had commented that while he personally cannot deny the murder
was the work of an organized network, the evidence submitted to the
court was not sufficient to issue such a ruling. In his petition,
Usta acknowledged that judges are independent in delivering decisions.

However, he dismissed Eryılmaz’s argument that there was not enough
evidence to establish the involvement of an organized criminal network.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also commented on the case on
Friday, expressing his hope that the Supreme Court of Appeals “will
clear up any doubts” with regards to the Dink murder trial.

“The [trial] process has not been completed yet; it is in the appeals
phase. I hope the judiciary will clear up doubts during the appeals
process and take steps that will ease the public’s conscience,”
Erdogan said in Ankara during the launch of an urban transformation
project on Friday. “No plot or provocation will remain secret. No
murder will remain unsolved,” the prime minister added.

Also on Friday, Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin joined the debate
saying the prosecutor has now petitioned for an appeal, and he called
on all sides to continue monitoring the process with calm. “Judges and
prosecutors speak through their written resolutions or legal queries.

I think what most of the press reported as the ‘prosecutor’s response’
to the judge were actually statements from his petition. Any other
evaluation or comment would simply hurt the process. The bullets that
were shot at Dink were [also] shot at Turkey’s solidarity, peace and
brotherhood,” he stated.

He added that the government was disturbed by the truth about shady
crimes not being brought to light, but noted that they have taken
significant steps in this direction. However, he noted that the
government was working hard to make sure that the invisible faces
behind the Dink murder and other shady incidents — such as the
massacres of Alevis in MaraÅ~_, Corum and Sivas or the Council of
State shooting in 2006 — are revealed. “This is the first time this
country is investigating past unsolved murders,” he said.

Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıcdaroglu also
commented on the verdict on Friday. “The verdict, which found no
organized criminal connection to the Dink murder, is obviously not
the right decision,” he said. “There have been hundreds of articles
and books published about this. The existence of an organized network
has been well documented.”

“And now the judge and the prosecutor are clashing horns over that
verdict. This further shows that it was wrong. Since then there have
been many protests against the verdict, and it has also not been a
verdict that was accepted as just by the public,” he added. The CHP
leader blamed the government’s intervention for the ruling.

Another person who publicly criticized the ruling was Ä°stanbul
Deputy Prosecutor Fikret Secen, who has conducted investigations
into activities associated with organized crime. He told journalist
Taha Akyol that he believed the Dink killing was the work of an
organized criminal gang. He also said he was going to petition the
Supreme Court of Appeals and challenge the ruling. “It might or
might not be connected, on the basis of the legal evidence we have,
to Ergenekon [a clandestine network charged with plotting to overthrow
the government],” he suggested.

Secen added that the Ä°stanbul prosecutor’s office was currently
conducting an investigation into the alleged negligence of a number
of police department and gendarmerie intelligence officers who,
Dink family lawyers say, acted either in collusion with the killers
or didn’t do anything to prevent the assassination despite having
knowledge of plans to kill Dink. In other words, the Dink murder
investigation is still under way apart from the process that was
launched at the Supreme Court of Appeals with the prosecutor’s petition
of the final verdict.

Secen also said his office was examining the records of cell phone
numbers found by the Telecommunications Administration (TÄ°B) that were
active in the vicinity of the crime scene at the time of the murder.

THE HRANT DINK CASE, TURKEY’S CASE

Today’s Zaman
Jan 20 2012
Turkey

Following a five-year-long trial, the court last week announced the
verdict in the Hrant Dink murder case.

The judge declared at the end that this hideous murder was an ordinary
crime and not one committed by a shady network. In order words, the
court wants us to believe that the killing of the editor-in-chief of
the Armenian weekly newspaper Agos was not a political murder and that
the “deep state” was not involved at all. This verdict proves once
more that in this country the law exists to protect primarily the
state and not the individuals. It is true that the judicial process
of this case is not totally over as the court of appeals can still
overturn this. However, we can already say that Turkey is about to
miss a golden opportunity as the Dink case is not only about the
murder of an individual; it has many other dimensions.

Studying the process leading to the murder of Dink offers us the
opportunity to discuss the freedom of expression issues in our
country. During this process, we’ve seen with our own eyes that
the state felt free to threaten a journalist, asking him to be
“more careful” in his publications. His killing has also reminded
everyone of the complexity of the Armenian problem and the problems
all minorities face in Turkey. Naturally, initiating a fair debate
about the Armenian issue involves a discussion about the deep state
and its evolution in Turkish political history.

During the trial, some people tried to limit the case to the person
who pulled the trigger in order to hide an entire mechanism that led
to this murder. Besides, as the killer is identified as a minor who
was misled, they have managed to prevent a comprehensive discussion
about racism or discrimination issues.

Racist and discriminatory practices are so frequent in our daily lives
that sometimes we don’t even notice them. People are so used to it
that they don’t even think of these behaviors as crimes. There are
still people in Turkey who think that the army’s role in political
life is acceptable and that the deep state’s actions in order to pave
the way for a military coup can sometimes be justified.

The Dink case was a good opportunity for a big “cleanup” by linking
all cases related to the coup attempts because the very background
of the Dink murder can be traced to laying the groundwork for a coup.

If the court of appeals chooses not to change the verdict, the social
conscience will be hurt again. Besides, people will believe more than
ever that the deep state’s crimes will never be punished. It will
also damage the court cases of the coup perpetrators, and some people
will be able to claim that the suspects in the Ergenekon case are in
prison not because they were plotting against the government but simply
because they are against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party).

If the Ergenekon case loses credibility, then the Kurdish Communities
Union (KCK) members will be the only ones who remain in prison. That
will severely hurt the AK Party as people will then be able to claim
that the government is antagonizing the Kurds.

>From his murder until the court’s verdict, every aspect of the Dink
case was used against the government. Perhaps some people have tried
to achieve through this case what they couldn’t by force.

This scenario shows that there are still people who target the
AK Party through the deep state mechanisms, but this truth is not
enough to say that the AK Party is the victim here. Because it is a
fact that the government didn’t put all its weight behind solving the
Dink case and it didn’t accelerate reforms at legal, administrative
and functional levels to prevent similar situations in the future.

TURKEY SAYS FRENCH PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE MOVE SHOWS ARMENIAN BILL UNLAWFUL

Anadolu Agency
Jan 18 2012
Turkey

BRUSSELS (A.A) -January 18, 2012 -Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu on Wednesday said a French bill over the Armenian allegations
on the Ottoman era incidents of 1915 was unlawful “even by French
laws,” which he said was clearly shown by a French parliamentary
committee decision to propose to drop the bill off the agenda without
debating it at the Senate floor.

“This shows that the attempt is unlawful even by the standards of
the French laws. We hope that the French Senate will act wisely and
drop it off the agenda even before debating it,” Davutoglu told the
Anadolu Agency.

The bill is set to come to the Senate floor next Monday but French
Senate members could vote to uphold the Legislations Committee’s
decision and drop the bill off the agenda without debating it.

The bill, which got the approval of the lower house of the French
parliament, makes denial of Ottoman era incidents of 1915 punishable
in France with a prison term of one year and a fine of 45 thousand.

A similar bill – proposed by the Socialist Party – was approved in
2006 by the lower house but the Senate rejected to debate the bill
last May when it upheld the committee’s decision back then.

ARMENIAN, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTERS DISCUSS FORTHCOMING TALKS WITH AZERBAIJAN

Mediamax
Jan 18 2012
Armenia

Yerevan, 18 January: A meeting of the foreign ministers of Armenia
and Russia, Edvard Nalbandyan and Sergey Lavrov, was held in Moscow
on 17 January.

“The interlocutors exchanged opinions on issues related to the
preparation of the forthcoming trilateral meeting of the Russian,
Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents,” the press service of the Armenian
Foreign Ministry reported.

Addressing a press conference in Yerevan on 16 January, Edvard
Nalbandyan said that the date and the place of the trilateral meeting
will be announced later.

POLAND PRO-ISRAELI, BUT LESS SO
by Jerzy Haszczynski

Rzeczpospolita
Jan 13 2012
Poland

Understanding for Israel’s security concerns remains unshaken in
Poland. But the Polish Government no longer behaves every time the
way Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet would like it to.

On Sunday [ 22 Jan], Poland is meant to be visited by the most
controversial politician in that cabinet, Avigdor Lieberman, the
interior minister – known for his drastic ideas for resolving Israel’s
problems, such as incorporating into Israel the part of the occupied
West Bank of Jordan where there are numerous Jewish settlements,
and separating out the part where 450,000 Muslim Arabs live. And also
taking away the rights of Arabs who refuse to take an oath of loyalty
to Israel and do not serve military duty or an alternative thereof.

During a time particularly difficult for Israel, when the threat
of Iran producing an atomic bomb is growing ever closer and it
remains uncertain how the revolutions in the Arab countries will
end, such views are particularly problematic for diplomacy. And they
make it harder to support Israel, even for a country considered to
be pro-Israeli.

One can still hear Israeli politicians and experts saying that Poland
is such a country, and moreover one of Israel’s few allies.

Palestinian politicians say similar things, and reproachfully at that.

Poland still is pro-Israeli given the standards of the EU. Israel
is supported similarly or more strongly by the Czech Republic, the
Netherlands, Germany, and Italy (at least under Silvio Berlusconi).

Poland continues to boycott the international meetings called Durbans,
at which countries like Iran organize anti-Israeli hate-fests,
pointing to the Jewish state as the source of everything evil in the
world. Several weeks ago Poland also blocked an EU report initiated
by the United Kingdom, which spoke of the persecution of Israeli Arabs
and urged the EU member states to take patronage over Arab villages.

However, on other issues Poland has become more cautious than it
was just a few years ago. It did not want to promise Israel that it
would vote against a motion to recognize Palestine’s independence,
if one appeared at the UN General Assembly. At the same time it
promised, as Donald Tusk said distinctly, that it would not support
any resolution threatening Israel’s security. There continues to be
a strong understanding that Israel has to have the right to defend
itself from the enemies surrounding it.

On another important issue, Palestine’s acceptance into UNESCO, the
first serious international organization in which it conclusively
gained membership at the end of October, our country abstained from
voting (of the EU countries, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden
voted against, whereas France, Belgium, and other countries were in
favour). That vote pushed Poland into the group of moderate allies,
those not understanding the policies of the Netanyahu government,
which in times so difficult for the country has even been capable of
irritating the US President.

It was not just politicians and political analysts who noticed
that Poland has supported Israel over the past 20 years. That fact
reached ordinary Israelis. As I was told by a venerable Israeli
columnist, there are also a lot fewer comments being made that Poles
are anti-Semites, and a lot more sympathy to the old homeland of a
significant segment of citizens. This has also been contributed to
by cultural events, the renewal of Jewish festivals in Poland.

However, Poland has not gained the kind of good image in Israel
that Germany has, for instance, which seems unfair considering the
significance of the tragic heritage of WWII for the history of the
Jewish state.

And important Israeli politicians can do a lot on the image issue.

When Israel was anxious to gain Bulgaria’s support, Prime Minister
Netanyahu in Sofia delivered a speech in praise of the Bulgarians’
stance during WWII. Although they were allies of Hitler, they behaved
the best during the Holocaust – he said.

The debate now underway within Israel about the genocide of Ar menians
carried out by Turkey shows that even on such a touchy issue for a
state that treats the Holocaust as a one-of-a-kind event in history,
it is possible for wrongs committed against another nation to be
recognized. That has happened because the Israelis have seen the
Armenians, and the Armenian lobby that is strong in the West, as
allies in their clash against their former ally, Turkey.

Things are different as regards Poland. Several weeks after meeting
Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Benjamin Netanyahu appeared in an
advertisement intended to exert pressure concerning the issue of the
reinstatement of Jewish assets and the payment of compensation.

Irrespective of how one views the problem of reprivatization, which
remains unsolved in our country (and after all does not just pertain
to Jews), that was not a friendly gesture to Poland. It also came
as a considerable surprise to an ally whose diplomatic support is
frequently expected.

[translated from Polish]

JUSTICE ON DINK’S CASE HAS STILL NOT BEEN DONE: OSCE MEDIA FREEDOM REPRESENTATIVE

ARMENPRESS
JANUARY 19, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JANUARY 19, ARMENPRESS: The OSCE Representative on Freedom of
the Media, Dunja MijatoviÄ~G, said today on the occasion of the fifth
anniversary of the murder of prominent Turkish journalist Hrant Dink
that OSCE participating States must do more to protect journalists
and punish their assailants, OSCE press service told Armenpress.

“As the recent court verdict shows, even five years after Dink’s
murder justice has still not been done. If the instigators of violence
against journalists are not punished it sends a chilling message to
society that such crimes are tolerated,” said MijatoviÄ~G.

“Governments have a duty not only to condemn violence against
journalists loudly and resolutely, but also to ensure that these crimes
are prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Journalists must feel
protected when they report on issues that affect all our lives.”

MijatoviÄ~G also noted the statements by the Turkish political
leadership on this issue, including President Abdullah Gul and
Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arınc, who said that the decision was
unsatisfactory to the people and that the ruling could be appealed.

“During my visit last December, the authorities assured me that the
media freedom situation in Turkey will improve soon. I look forward to
continuing working with them on all issues related to media freedom,”
the Representative said.

“I continue to monitor the case of Hrant Dink and I also continue to
follow all cases in OSCE countries where journalists were killed in
relation to their work,” she said. “In too many cases justice has still
not been delivered after many years of investigation. The families,
friends and colleagues of these journalists, as well as the societies
as a whole, deserve to know the truth.”

ARMENIA ASSUMES THE ROLE OF SECRETARY OF THE BOLOGNA PROCESS

ARMENPRESS
JANUARY 19, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JANUARY 19, ARMENPRESS: Armenia has been selected as the
host country for the 2015 Ministerial Summit of the European Higher
Education Area. The Bologna Group today held a session in Copenhagen
with participation of representatives of 47-member countries of the
Bologna Process.

On January 18 Armenian Education Minister Armen Ashotyan had
addressed a video message to the participants of the sitting
presenting Armenia’s application. Azerbaijan was the only country
against Armenia’s candidacy, press service of Armenian Ministry of
Education and Science informed Armenpress.

For the next three years, the Republic of Armenia will assume the
role of secretary of the Bologna Process, and Yerevan will become the
capital of the European Higher Education Area. Armenia is the first
non-European Union member state that is entrusted with this high,
responsible mission.

SONYA ORFALIAN A RIGNANO FLAMINIO

Villa Samadhi – Via Montaroni, 7 – Loc. Doganella, Rignano Flaminio (Roma)
SABATO 28 GENNAIO 2012

La Libreria Libra e l’Associazione Culturale Poetica, in collaborazione
con gli Amici della Biblioteca di Rignano e con il patrocinio del
Comune di Morlupo, presentano “Excursus – Omaggio alla Giornata della
Memoria”. Nel corso dell’evento Sonya Orfalian e Pier Luigi Zanata
(socio fondatore dell’Associazione Italia-Israele) affronteranno temi
e problemi relativi alla memoria storica in un dibattito moderato da
Daniele Macheda (Rainews 24).

I AM ARMENIAN, DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY?

NEWS.am
January 19, 2012 | 13:13

ISTANBUL. – In response to racist online comments against Armenians,
well-known Turkish journalist and host of CNN Turk television’s
“Neutral Zone” program, Ahmet Hakan, said “I am Armenian, do you have
anything to say?” on live broadcast.

The Turkish journalist noted he is shocked that people are still making
online criticisms that Turkish youth are being tried for the murder
of Hrant Dink, the founder and former chief editor of Istanbul’s Agos
Armenian weekly, who was killed in 2007. “In those discussions I said
the ‘We are all Armenians’ slogan, and I was astonished by the gross
reactions. I saw that people still consider that being Armenian is
a profanity and an insult. I told them I will say I am Armenian on
live air. They asked me whether I could say I am a Turk in [Armenia’s
capital] Yerevan. If I cannot say I am a Turk in Yerevan, this would
be Yerevan’s shame, but if I [can] say I am Armenian in Istanbul,
this would be Istanbul’s honor,” Ahmet Hakan stated.

And the Turkish journalist carried out his promise and said “I am
Armenian, do you have anything to say?” on live television, after
which he received numerous Twitter messages praising him.