Author: Kalantarian Kevo

EU VALUES THE CURRENT DIALOGUE AND COOPERATION WITH ARMENIA

17:57, 18 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

President Serzh Sargsyan today received Johannes Hahn, EU Commissioner
for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations.

The Armenian President said that continued dialogue with European
partners and senior-level visits provides a good opportunity to
discuss the prospects for development of relations between Armenia
and the European Union (EU) and to exchange views on issues of mutual
concern. In this context, Serzh Sargsyan welcomed Commissioner Johannes
Hahn’s visit to our country.

Commissioner Johannes Hahn underscored that he highly values the
current dialogue and cooperation between Armenia and its European
partners. He noted that at present the Strategy Paper on the European
Neighborhood Policy is being reviewed and an active exchange of its
principles is being conducted. According to Commissioner Hahn, among
those important principles is that the EU should adopt an individual
approach to each of its Neighborhood Policy partners through taking
into account and respecting the given country’s understanding and
viewpoints on cooperation.

President Serzh Sargsyan said that the cooperation within the framework
of the European Neighborhood Policy is helpful in terms of fostering
reforms in Armenia and thanked all the European organizations for
the assistance rendered hitherto to our country.

Johannes Hahn mentioned that the previous phase of negotiations within
the framework of the EU Eastern Partnership should not be deemed
wasteful, and regardless of further developments, they were useful in
terms of identifying the expectations and the defined standards, as
well as some potential competitive advantages in the European market.

At the meeting, President Serzh Sargsyan and Commissioner Johannes
Hahn also exchanged views on regional issues and challenges, as well as
on the recent developments around the Nagorno Karabakh peace process.

ERDOGAN “COMPLAINS” TO PUTIN ABOUT SARGSYAN

14:02, 18.03.2015

The Presidents of Russia and Turkey, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, had a telephonic conversation at the initiative of the
Turkish side.

During the talk, the presidents of the two countries discussed the
prospects for the development of bilateral relations, energy issues,
and matters related to Ukraine, informed the Turkish Service of the
Sputniknews agency of Russia.

It is noted that, during this telephone conversation, Erdogan also
reflected on the Armenian Genocide issue claiming that Turkey supports
the approach of a “just memory,” whereas Armenia disregards the calls
for peace, and does not display a positive approach toward the proposal
to set up a joint historical commission.

Armenia News – NEWS.am – See more at:

TURKISH POLICY OF DENIAL SETS DANGEROUS PRECEDENT FOR E RECURRENCE OF NEW GENOCIDES- PRESIDENT SARGSYAN SAYS

YEREVAN, March 18. / ARKA /. Addressing an international media forum
in the Armenian capital entitled ‘At the Foot of Mount Ararat,’
dedicated to the centenary of the Armenian Genocide, President
Serzh Sargsyan said Armenia, Armenians all over the world and the
international community will remember and commemorate the Armenian
Genocide committed in the Ottoman Empire one century ago.

‘The genocide took lives of one and a half million Armenians,
hundreds of thousands of people became refugees or were forcefully
converted into other religion. Each Armenian from any corner of
the world continues to feel the consequences of the Mets Yeghern
psychologically, culturally, linguistically and politically.

We wish we could have also commemorated the Centennial of the Armenian
Genocide together with the Turkish people, thereby heralding a new
haven of the rapprochement of the two nations and normalization of
their relations. This was the goal pursued by the protocols between
Armenia and Turkey signed back in 2009 and of my invitation to the
President Erdogan of Turkey to join us on April 24 in honoring the
memory of the Armenian Genocide victims. Unfortunately, once more we
encountered denial, one that acquired a particular manifestation this
year,’ he said.

‘I believe you are well aware that this year Turkish authorities
decided to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli
on the very day of April 24. The only motive for that was the
simple-minded goal to distract the attention of the international
community from the events dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian
Genocide. By the way, in this context your Norwegian colleague BÃ¥rd
Larsen published in February an article titled “Useless Diplomacy,”
in which he very aptly put that “this would be tantamount to Germany
celebrating heroic victories of Wehrmacht in the Eastern Front during
World War II.”

I regret that the Turkish authorities instead of availing themselves
of this Centennial to confront their own history and reconcile,
put themselves in an awkward position by obviously distorting the
well-known chronology the Battle of Gallipoli, and thereby embellishing
their policy of denial with new manifestations.

The Turkish policy of denial pursued not only vindicates the crime
committed by the Ottoman authorities – the dispossession of Armenians
– but also sets a dangerous precedent for the recurrence of new
genocides. The Holocaust, the Rwandan and Cambodian genocides, the
ethnic cleansing and destruction of cultural heritage carried out by
the Islamic State in recent years have all been striking examples of
this. Their efforts to avoid responsibility or consign the Armenian
Genocide to oblivion can be characterized as continuation of the
crime and encouragement of new genocides.

Nevertheless, I must note that larger and larger segments of the
Turkish intelligentsia and progressive youth are demonstrating courage
to confront their historical past, desiring to live a dignified life
and relieving themselves of such a heavy burden of sin.

It is a matter of plain fact that the policy pursued by the current
Turkish government rules out the possibility of bringing the
famous Protocols into life at which official Ankara looked from the
perspective of the absurd preconditions perpetually set forth by it.

For that very reason I decided to recall them from our parliament.

Thus, the process did not reach its logical conclusion, and everybody
knows which party is to blame for its failure. This does not mean that
we are closing the window for rapprochement with Turkey. Nevertheless,
we are not going to get involved in a process, which may fall victim
to the third country’s unconstructive whims and, most importantly,
without hope of restoring mutual trust.

Initially, we thought that the policy “Zero Problems with Neighbors”
proclaimed by the Turkish authorities enshrined Turkey’s sincere
intentions to normalize relations with neighboring countries, including
Armenia. I do not want to comment on the nature of current relations
between Turkey and other states, but as the subsequent developments
demonstrated, Turkey had to face the reality of “Zero Neighbor and
Numerous Problems.” In fact, Turkey’s real intention was not to
have zero problems with neighbors, but to impose its own perception
of those relations on the neighbors, which was nothing else than a
manifestation of Neo-Ottoman policy.

The State Commission for coordination of the events for commemoration
of the Armenian Genocide Centenary was established. Its members
encompassed heads of all the largest Armenian institutions. The
Commission adopted All-Armenian Declaration, which determined the
united will of the Armenian people; by that Armenia and the Armenian
people reiterated their commitment to continuing the international
struggle for the prevention of genocides, restoration of the rights
and establishment of historical justice for the nations subjected
to genocide.

In that perspective, the Armenian Genocide Centennial events are not
solely of all-Armenian nature; they are a unique appeal to prevent
any encroachment upon universal values. For that very reason I have
invited the leaders and high-level officials of various countries to
visit Armenia on April 24 and, thus, send a powerful message of the
inadmissibility of the crime of genocide to the world.’ -0-

ZHOGHOVURD: POLISH PRESIDENT TO COME TO ARMENIA ON APRIL 24

10:18 18/03/2015 >> DAILY PRESS

Vice-President of the European Parliament Ryszard Czarnecki, who is
participating in the Fourth Ordinary Session of Euronest PA ongoing
in Yerevan, has told Zhoghovurd that he hopes he will represent the
European Parliament and will be in Yerevan on April 24.

Asked whether Poland’s President will come to Yerevan to attend
commemoration events dedicated to the centennial of the Armenian
Genocide, Mr Czarnecki said that Serzh Sargsyan has invited him to
visit Yerevan on April 24 and the President will be in Armenia on
that day.

French President Francois Hollande and Russian President Vladimir
Putin have announced that they will come to Yerevan on April 24.

ARMENIA PRESIDENT: AZERBAIJANI FACTOR IS CONSTANT PRESSURE ON TURKEY LEADERSHIP

18:32, 18.03.2015

YEREVAN. – Unless there was a factor of Azerbaijan, Armenia-Turkey
protocols would have been ratified, President Serzh Sargsyan said
during “At the Foot of Ararat” media forum in Yerevan.

Answering to Turkey’s Zaman newspaper correspondent, President
Sargsyan said the factor of Azerbaijan is a constant pressure on
Turkish leadership.

“Several yeas ago Ilham Aliyev declared policy of isolating Armenia.

He naturally takes considerable efforts for this, and response of
this policy is somehow visible in Turkey,” the Armenian leader added

According to the President, by withdrawing the Armenian-Turkish
protocols from the parliament, he “neither killed them, nor closed
the window for reconciliation.”

“This is – not a legal act, but a political one. With this step,
I would like to once again draw attention of the Turkish authorities
to this fact,” he added.

– See more at:

PRISONER SAYS HIS LIFE IS ‘IN DANGER’

18:54 | March 18,2015 | Social

Ludwig Avetisyan, the advocate of Hrachya Gevorgyan, a prisoner
of Nubarashen penitentiary institution, today called the Helsinki
Association to say that his client’s life is endangered.

Avetisyan met the prisoner at the Hospital for Convicts penitentiary.

Gevorgyan was brought to the meeting in a wheelchair and was in a
serious condition. He was unable to speak and wrote that his life
was in danger; someone tried to poison him in prison. Gevorgyan also
asked the lawyer to arrange a meeting with journalists.

The Helsinki Association immediately reported [the occurrence] to the
Rapid Response Group of the Ombudsman’s Office and the Group of Public
Observers Conducting Public Monitoring of Penitentiary Institutions.

The former promised to make a decision after talking to the lawyer
while the prison watchdog group promised to visit the prison no later
than tomorrow.

“This shows how quickly they respond to occurrences and incidents. Let
us hope that their response will be timely,” said the Helsinki
Association.

hahr.am

AZADLIG: AZERBAIJANI AUTHORITIES FIND NEW PERPETRATORS OF ITS FAILURES: APART FROM ‘ARMENIAN LOBBY’ ALSO APPEAR ‘ISLAMOPHOBES’

16:19 17/03/2015 >> SOCIETY

It has been a while since the authorities in Azerbaijan have been
trying to present the critical articles, published in Western
prestigious outlets about the corruption of the ruling regime, as
‘the order of the Armenian lobby.’ The situation has reached to a
point where the authorities in Azerbaijan claim that the US president
Barack Obama is ‘controlled by the Armenian lobby’, and the opposition
of the country is ‘funded by the Armenians and get grants from them,’
Azerbaijani newspaper Azadlig writes.

However, as a result we get quite a controversial picture: from
the upper echelons of power to the MPs, the officials in Azerbaijan
unanimously convince that ‘Armenia is starving,’ and the governmental
TV channels claim, “Armenia is on the edge of utter poverty.” Hence,
according to the logic of the Azerbaijani authorities, ‘Armenia,
moribund in hunger and poverty,’ rules over the whole world and
funds a number of well-known international organizations. Moreover,
adhering to such position, Azerbaijani authorities unwittingly confess
that they lose Armenia in foreign politics, the newspaper writes.

Now, as Azadlig has it, ahead of the European Games, the Azerbaijani
authorities have made up a new way to justify the crackdowns on their
own citizens, apparently realizing at last that the ‘Armenian version’
already comes to be overtly ridiculous to the population. Apart
from the accusations addressed to Armenia and Armenian lobby, the
authorities have set on spreading the thesis of ‘Islamophobia’. So,
according to the new version, the criticism in the foreign press is
‘the result of the Islamophobia of the West and the activities of
the anti-Islamic circles.’

According to the new tactics of the authorities, the prestigious
outlets of Germany, the UK, France, the US, as well as international
organizations speak out against Azerbaijan only out of anti-Islamic
motives, the article reads. Nonetheless, even this rhetoric contains
obvious controversy: the girls are not allowed to go to school
in hijabs because of the ban of the Azerbaijani authorities, and
well-known theologians in Azerbaijan are behind bars on trumped-up
charges together with the political prisoners.

Summing up, Azadlig concludes that the present authorities in
Azerbaijan are ready to call the whole world their enemy just to go
on with their politics of robbing the population and violating the
human rights in the country.

Related:

Yeni Musavat: Armenophobia becomes nation-wide activity in Azerbaijan

Alexander Fomenkov: Ilham Aliyev carries out deliberate Armenofobic
propaganda both in Azerbaijan and in Diaspora

AZAD: WASHINGTON MUST IMPOSE SANCTIONS ON AZERBAIJANI OFFICIALS BEGINNING WITH HIGHEST ONES

12:11 17/03/2015 >> IN THE WORLD

Elmar Chakhtakhtinski, the chairman of the organization AZAD
(Azerbaijani Americans for Democracy) in his interview to the newspaper
Azadlig expressed his attitude towards the anti-Western rhetoric of
the official Baku and bilateral relations noting that US-Azerbaijani
relations are built on a number of myths, the biggest of which is
about Azerbaijan’s strategic significance for America, Azerbaijani
information agency Turan reports.

According to the article, Chakhtakhtinski said that the strategic
partners of the US are the major states – European countries, Japan,
Egypt and others that maintain real power, large population, military
economical might; yet Azerbaijan has not got these all. That is why
one cannot speak about a strategic partnership between the US and
Azerbaijan. However, official Baku conceits that the US supports it
in everything and therefore turns a blind eye to the human rights
violations.

“If Azerbaijan really gets into a difficult situation, Washington
will hardly provide Baku with the expected support. The reason is that
the current relations are built on the lobbyists’ activities who take
money to create myths about the country’s significance and role for
Washington,” Chakhtakhtinski said.

He noted that the authorities in Baku actually eliminate the
pro-Western powers and rely on the groups that are inclined to
dictatorship and put up with corruption and looting. The Assistant
Secretary of State Victoria Nuland’s visit to Baku took place in these
very circumstances, which was a mistake, according to Chakhtakhtinski.

As the article has it, Chakhtakhtinski also stressed that the
corruption, continuous violations of human rights and other activities
of the authorities of Azerbaijan have spoiled the country image so
badly that it will become a serious obstacle to get the support of
the West in case a war breaks out.

“Remarkably, there are individuals in Washington who support
Azerbaijan’s point in Karabakh conflict, yet they turned into unwanted
people for Baku only because of criticizing it,” Chakhtakhtinski
stated.

The chairman of the organization AZAD is convinced that sanctions
should be imposed on the Azerbaijani officials, beginning with the
highest ones. Elmar Chakhtakhtinski also highlighted that the new US
ambassador to Azerbaijan has not been seen at Heydar Aliyev’s monument
so far, unlike his predecessor.

Related:

Former Ambassador: On background of falling oil prices it seems that
Azerbaijan is not key partner for United States

Nuland at meeting with Azerbaijan’s leadership expressed concern
about US human rights and media freedom

EUROVISION 2015: ARMENIA CHANGES SONG TITLE

ARTS AND CULTURE | 17.03.15 | 15:37

RELATED NEWS

Armenians Deny: Yerevan reiterates no political message in its
Eurovision 2015 entry

Armenia has changed the title of its Eurovision 2015 entry, the Song
Contest’s official website said.

Originally, the song unveiled last week and performed by the band,
Genealogy, was titled “Don’t Deny”. Turkish and Azeri fans and media
alleged Armenia was promoting a “political message” promoting the
recognition of the Armenian Genocide on the year marking the centennial
of the 1915 massacres.

“The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) Reference Group took notice of
Armenian Public TV’s (AMPTV) request to change the title of their
entry for the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest into “Face The Shadow”,
after having submitted the song formally to the competition,” it said.

“The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the ESC Reference Group
welcome AMPTV’s request to change the title of the song in order to
take away any suggestion of political intent behind the song,” it
said, quoting Gohar Gasparyan, the head of the Armenian Delegation,
as saying on behalf of AMPTV that it was done “to strengthen the
concept of an anthem of peace, love and unity”.

Armenia will take part in the first Semi-Final of the 2015 Eurovision
Song Contest on 19th of May.

SPEECH OF SERZH SARGSYAN AT THE OPENING OF THE FOURTH ORDINARY SESSION OF THE EURONEST PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY

16:55 | March 17,2015 | Official

Distinguished Chairman of the National Assembly,

Distinguished Co-Chairs of the Assembly,

Distinguished members of the EURONEST Parliamentary Assembly,

It is a pleasure to greet you in Yerevan on the occasion of your
participation in the Fourth Ordinary Session of the EURONEST
Parliamentary Assembly.

This week can be considered to be a truly “European” one for us: we
are glad to host the EURONEST Session in Yerevan, after which I will
depart for Brussels to participate in the EPP Summit. Both in Yerevan
and Brussels I am scheduled to meet with the high level EU officials,
and a few days later the Session of the Armenia-EU Parliamentary
Cooperation Committee will take place here in Yerevan. It is good
that relations between Armenia and EU are developing dynamically.

I believe strongly that discussions to be held and resolutions to be
adopted in the parliamentary dimension under the extensive list of
agenda items of the EURONEST Session will contribute to the deepening
of cooperation between the European Union and partner nations in a
number of areas.

Among those items are infrastructure and transport cooperation, energy
efficiency and renewable sources of energy, dialogue in the area of
culture. It is also a high time to exchange opinions in reviewing the
European Neighborhood Policy and on the preparations for the upcoming
Eastern Partnership Summit.

I highly value the inter-parliamentary cooperation in the framework
of the Eastern Partnership. It is significant and plays an important
role in the whole system of our relations with the European Union. The
Yerevan Session of the EURONEST Parliamentary Assembly is a good
opportunity to conduct a broad and open exchange of views and opinions,
genuine dialogue on the issues that are important for our society.

I believe that inter-parliamentary discussions will let us form
correct assessment of the challenges that our nations face as well
as let us attempt to find joint avenues to overcome cooperatively
those challenges.

It is noteworthy that our cooperation towards making system of
pan-European values the citizens’ property, its promotion and rooting
engages both the parliamentary and civil society circles. Armenia
today is a country of free speech and free media, we have got freedom
of assembly, established civil society, which is well aware of its
rights, and how it can struggle for its rights.

With the aim to further improve the democratic processes in Armenia
we have initiated constitutional reforms, which pursue the objective
of improving the constitutional mechanisms for implementation of the
rule of law and safeguarding fundamental human rights and freedoms.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,

Building on shared values Armenia is committed to the development of
cooperation with the European Union directed at continued improvement
of the democratic institutions and judiciary system, good governance,
fight against corruption, consolidation of civil society, further
improvement of the business environment for the expansion of trade
and investment, continued implementation of mobility and partnership
and expansion of the sectoral cooperation.

We attach great importance to the steps to secure people to people
contacts and free movement with the EU. We also anticipate support
of the parliamentarians in the forthcoming launching of the dialogue
with the EU for a visa-free regime to be established for our citizens.

We are convinced that by joining efforts we will be able to arrive at
joint approaches based on opportunities instead of incompatibilities,
and thus secure for our citizens an opportunity to take best advantage
of various integration formats, which in its turn will consolidate
cooperation and let us avoid new confrontations on the European
continent.

We build upon the premise that it is possible to accommodate both
the Armenia’s membership to the Eurasian Economic Union, with all
commitments stemming thereof, and the European Union’s deep and
comprehensive agenda. Moreover, we will attempt to explore compatible
middle ground through establishment of close ties between the various
integration processes, and thus contribute to the consolidation of
shared pan-European values free of contradictions and dividing lines.

Honorable Members of the Assembly,

This year the whole Armenian nation has been joined by the civilized
world in commemorating victims of the Armenian Genocide that took
place in the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

We recall with gratitude and highly value the role of the European
Parliament in the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. It was the
first among pan-European institutions to adopt in 1987 a resolution
condemning that crime perpetrated against Armenians in the territory
of the Ottoman Empire and calling upon the Turkish government to
recognize it.

The Armenian Genocide is not only the tragedy of our nation but also a
world-scale crime against civilization and humanity, which reminds us
of the failure to learn from history, dangers of a genocide denial,
as well as the long-term negative consequences of letting this type
of crime to go unpunished and unrecognized.

The respect towards human rights is the pillar of the European Union
values upon which our cooperation is built. In that context I highly
value The Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the world
2013 adopted by the European Parliament on March 12, which contained
a separate paragraph addressing the Armenian Genocide Centennial and
called upon all Member States to acknowledge it, and encouraged the
EU institutions to contribute further to its recognition.

With regard to the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh problem I would
like to underline that we are not going to transform this platform
into a propaganda tool or conduit to sow interethnic hostility, as it
has been the case in Azerbaijan. We will try to take best advantage of
the opportunities provided by this Assembly for the benefit of peaceful
coexistence and cooperation of our nations. The best testimony to what
I just stated was active participation of the Armenian delegations
in a wide range of events that took place in Azerbaijan, including
the Ordinary Session that took place in Baku back in 2012.

I regret that Azerbaijani side evades meeting us halfway by responding
to our steps towards constructive dialogue.

It is though more disturbing that our neighboring State demonstrates
unconstructive and maximalist stance in the very process of the
peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict by backtracking on the
already agreed points, by consistently trying to change the format of
the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship or to launch negotiations on the
great treaty without registering agreement on the basic principles. It
should be obvious that the keys to the settlement of this issue are not
located in Paris, Moscow or Washington, but in Baku, Stepanakert and
Yerevan. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan invents far-fetched excuses in order to
avoid the settlement based on the principles proposed by the Co-Chairs.

I think such tactics of that country deserves unequivocal assessment
of the international community and European institutions.

Regardless of Azerbaijan’s unrealistic claims and periodic provocations
carried out on the Line-of-Contact there is no alternative to the
peaceful resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. It has been the
position of international community, especially in the recent years,
that there is no alternative to the comprehensive settlement of this
conflict but by the exercise of the people’s right to free expression
of their will and self-determination, which is grounded in the
European and universal values. This conflict can be comprehensively
settled through the free exercise of this right by the people of
Nagorno-Karabakh. That is the approach upon which the proposal of
the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs is built.

Distinguished Members of the Assembly,

I again warmly welcome you upon the commencement of the Fourth
Ordinary Session of the EURONEST Parliamentary Assembly, and wish
you constructive discussions and fruitful work.

Thank you for your attention.