Author: Kalantarian Kevo

LE CENTRE-DROIT EUROPEEN INSISTE SUR LA NECESSITE DE RECONNAISSANCE PAR LA TURQUIE

Genocide

Une alliance des principaux partis de centre-droit de l’Europe a
exhorte la Turquie a reconnaître le genocide de 1915 et “restituer”
aux descendants des 1,5 million de victimes.

Le Parti populaire europeen (PPE) a egalement appele l’Union europeenne
a “commemorer officiellement le 24 avril prochain, afin que ce soit
un jour pour se rappeler et condamner le genocide.”

“Le Parti populaire europeen reaffirme sa reconnaissance du genocide
et la condamnation de celui-ci”, peut-on lire sur une resolution
adoptee par l’Assemblee mardi.

“Nous commemorons le demi-million de victimes innocentes du genocide
de 1915 et nous inclinons en signe de gratitude a ceux qui, martyrs
et heros survivants, ont lutte pour leur vie et la dignite humaine”.

“Nous exprimons l’espoir que la reconnaissance et la condamnation du
genocide armenien par la Turquie serviront de point de depart pour
la reconciliation historique des peuples armenien et turc”, ajoute
le document.

Le PPE, qui reunit 78 partis de presque tous les Etats membres de
l’UE ainsi que de l’Armenie, la Georgie et l’Ukraine, a declare
que la Turquie ne doit pas seulement cesser de nier le genocide
mais aussi “chercher la redemption et proceder a la restitution
appropriee.” Cela signifie “assurer un droit de retour du peuple
armenien et une reconnexion securise avec leur foyer national.”

Qui plus est, la resolution declare qu’Ankara devrait retablir les
anciennes eglises et d’autres sites culturels et historiques armeniens
et les retourner aux Armeniens.

Hier soir, les autorites d’Ankara n’avaient pas reagi a la resolution
du PPE.

Le PPE comprend trois partis armeniens, y compris le HHK. Le ministre
de l’Education, Armen Ashotian, n’a pas tarde a saluer l’adoption de
cette resolution. Les deux plus grands membres du PPE sont l’Union
chretienne-democrate d’Allemagne et l’UMP.

jeudi 5 mars 2015, Claire (c)armenews.com

“ARMENIA AND TURKEY CANNOT REPLACE GREEK STONEFRUIT”

Fresh Plaza, Netherlands
March 4 2015

by Rudolf Mulderij

Polish apple growers hope that, if the Russian borders open up again,
their market share will be equal to their position before the boycott.

According to the Greek exporters’ association, Armenia, Turkey and
Iran are not capable of replacing the loss of Greek stonefruit on
the Russian market. Siberian soft fruit growers are pleased with the
disappearance of their biggest competitor: Polish soft fruit. Since
the end of the Soviet Union, the volume of soft fruit has decreased
significantly. According to the growers, they can increase production
if the boycott continues for a few years. In Russian supermarkets, the
share of domestic produce is still not big enough, the Russian retail
organization says. Potato cultivation in Russia could face delays. The
Russian Potato Union thinks the number of customs checkpoints is
insufficient, especially if, in addition to the Netherlands, Germany
and Finland, England, Scotland and Poland are also allowed to export
seedlings. Competition authority research shows that price hikes
in Russian supermarkets aren’t caused by price fixing, but by the
economic circumstances.

Polish apple sector hoping for recovery export At a press conference,
Miroslaw Maliszewski, head of the Polish Fruit Growers Association,
said he hoped export volumes to Russia would return to the level of
before the boycott. He also said that the campaign ‘An apple a day’
has yielded positive results. The campaign was deployed in several
European countries. In these countries, demand for Polish apples
increased, according to Miroslaw.

Poles eating more apples Ten years ago, Poles consumed an average of
23 kilos of apples a year.

In 2013, this went down to 14 kilos, but sector estimates say
consumption increased by 20% in 2014. The apple consumption
particularly increased in the first months following the boycott.

Growth figures of 30-40% were noted for one retailer, and the growth
is expected to continue.

“Armenia and Turkey cannot replace Greece” According to the head
of the Greek exporters’ association, Georgios Frangistas, Armenia
and Turkey aren’t capable of replacing the Greek export lost to the
boycott. “Greece accounted for 23% of the Russian peach import. It
is unlikely that such a volume can be replaced by Turkey, Armenia
and Iran,” Georgios told Armenian news site news.am, “additional
suppliers will be needed.” According to him, the Greek peach season,
which starts late October, would hardly suffer from the boycott. The
stonefruit can be stored for extended periods of time.

Georgios is more worried about the strawberry season which starts at
the end of February.

Siberian berry growers profit from boycott Siberian cooperation
Sady Baraby sees opportunities on the Russian market thanks to the
boycott. Where the company used to compete with Polish soft fruit
exporters, that competition has disappeared after Russia closed its
borders to European produce. The Siberian soft fruit generally doesn’t
have a good competitive position on the Russian market. “In the Soviet
era, we harvested 40 tonnes a year. Now this volume is 12 tonnes. It’s
possible to get back to the old volume again, provided the boycott
lasts another three to four years,” the Siberian cooperative reports.

Possible problems with seedling import Russia The executive director
of the Russian Potato Union, Alexey Krasilnikov, recently expressed
his concerns about the situation on the seedling market. After
a boycott that came into force in 2013, last year the border was
partially opened again for European seedlings. The seedlings need to
meet strict phytosanitary demands, and can only be imported through
three temporary storage locations (which can be found in the regions
of Smolensk, Bryansk and Shushary Leningradsky). “Three locations is
not enough,” Krasilnikov told fruitnews.ru. “At the moment, Germany,
the Netherlands and Finland are allowed to export seedlings. In the
future, England, Scotland and Poland will likely be added to that
list. Whether these temporary storage locations will have sufficient
capacity or whether it will delay cultivation, remains to be seen.”

Ilya Yakubson: Not enough Russian produce in supermarkets The share
of Russian products in the retail range is not as big as desired,
according to Ilya Yakubson, head of the Russian organization of
retailers and CEO of supermarket chain Dixy. For large store formulas,
10% of the product range comes from Russian soil. At convenience
stores, the share is 2% at most, Yakubson said. According to the
retail organization, few new deals have been made. Most of the deals
had already been made before the boycott.

Law proposed to limit import Members of the Russian parliament, the
Duma, have proposed a law forbidding retailers to directly buy imported
products. According to the proposers, it’s undesirable that retailers
prefer imported products over Russian products. For Russian retail,
it’s often not profitable to work together with domestic producers,
even if they offer better conditions and prices. The bill’s initiators
say they don’t want to damage retail’s networks, but to increase the
amount of Russian produce on store shelves.

Russian ministry presents harvest estimates The Russian Ministry
of Economic Affairs predicts an increase in potato and vegetable
harvest this year. The ministry estimates the increase to be 0.4 and
0.8 percent respectively. For potatoes, that means a volume of 31.2
million tonnes.

No cartels Russian retail Research by the Russian competition authority
shows there are no cartels behind the increasing food prices in
Russia. According to the study, the growing prices are attributable
to the boycott. The devaluation of the rouble compared to the dollar
also caused prices to go up.

Seed shortage in Crimea The ministry of Agriculture in Crimea admitted
there is a shortage of seed and planting material. A particular
bottleneck is logistics, where there are issues with shipment, and
higher prices are being asked. The credit system on the peninsula
also doesn’t function optimally yet. The minister pledged millions
in compensation for the purchase of high-quality seed.

DEBUT AUTHOR WINS BEST NEW IRISH WRITER AT LIMERICK LITERARY FESTIVAL

Booktrade.info
March 4 2015

Posted at 7:25AM Wednesday 04 Mar 2015

The O’Brien Press is pleased to announce that Martine Madden was
announced as the Limerick Literary Festival’s Best New Irish Writer
for her debut novel, Anyush.

The award, which was open to the public vote, was presented to
Martine Madden by RTE’s Sean Rocks at the closing ceremony of the
literary festival on February 22nd. Anyush, a love story set against
the backdrop of the Armenian Turkish conflict of 1915, received 86%
of the online vote.

Responding to the news of her win, Martine said, “I’m delighted to
have won this award. There has been an extremely positive response
to Anyush, in Ireland and abroad, so it means a lot to me that this
was as a result of a public vote.”

Ivan O’Brien, MD of The O’Brien Press said, “It’s great to see a book
that tackles a serious subject winning the popular vote. Martine’s
passion for the people of Armenia and their great losses in the
genocide of 1915 shines through this gripping novel. The people of
Limerick are clearly very discerning readers.”

EUROPEAN GAMES: OIL CRISIS CUTS GAMES BUDGET

Agence France Presse
March 4, 2015 Wednesday 6:28 PM GMT

Baku, March 4 2015

Azerbaijan has had to make a “modest” cut to the nearly one billion
euros ($1.1 billion) operating budget to run the first European Games
which start in 100 days, a top organizer said Wednesday.

The fall in the price of oil, which the country’s economy relies upon,
has led to a 34 percent fall in Azerbaijan’s currency, the manat,
as it prepares for the invasion of 6,000 athletes for the 16-day
event which starts on June 12.

“We had a certain degree of rationalisation in our expenses, but
it had only a modest effect on the budget reduction,” Games chief
operating officer Simon Clegg said, giving an operating budget of
about 975 million euros.

Workers are still putting the finishing touches to the 66,000 seater
national stadium, a near replica of Bayern Munich’s stadium.

There is still no turf on the ground in the stadium which will host
the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the athletics.

“We still have significant work to do, but I am very confident,”
said Clegg, who played a pivotal role in London winning the right to
host the 2012 Olympic Games.

And he insisted that the economic battering had not diminished
Azerbaijan’s determination to stage a memorable Games.

Of the 18 sites where 20 sports — including six non-Olympic sports —
will be held, five stadiums were specially built for the Games which
were awarded to Azerbaijan in 2012.

The government has been praised for its response in taking up the
challenge with so little time to prepare.

The European Olympic Committee (EOC) wants the Games to become a
showcase event and there are already three cities shortlisted to hold
the next Games in 2012.

The EOC has been underfire in some quarters for choosing a country
with a much-criticised human rights record.

President Ilham Aliyev, 53, has been accused by rights groups of
stepping up a campaign to stifle dissent since his election for a
third term in 2013.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on Wednesday condemned
the persecution of dissidents in Azerbaijan with the Games approaching.

And Azerbaijan is set to occupy a lot of the sporting spotlight.

It will hold a Formula One Grand Prix in 2016 — formerly the European
Grand Prix and to be renamed the Baku Grand Prix — and three matches
in the European Championships football finals in 2020, including a
quarter final.

Reports say Azerbaijan could announce its intention this year to host
the 2024 Olympic Games after two failed candidacies for the 2016 and
2020 editions.

Azerbaijan sports officials are not commenting but Clegg said Aliyev
understood the impact sport has globally.

“Azerbaijan has a president who understands sport and how sport can
be used to reach political objectives,” said Clegg.

Recent clashes between Azeri and Armenian forces over the breakaway
Nagorny Karabakh region have also caused some concerns in European
nations.

But Clegg said the test of a successful Games will be whether “the
6,000 athletes leave the country happy.”

The 55-year-old Englishman predicted, however, that “the world will
see Azerbaijan can organise incredibly successful events.”

DEUX COUSINES EN ARMENIE POUR LA BONNE CAUSE

Ouest-France
2 mars 2015

Le Louroux-Beconnais – 01 Mars

Les deux jeunes filles ont decide, l’ete dernier, de meler l’utile
a l’agreable. Pendant leurs vacances, elles sont parties donner des
cours de francais a des petits orphelins armeniens.

L’ete dernier, Carmen, 19 ans, et Estelle Vitour, 21 ans, deux cousines
loretaines, sont restees plusieurs semaines en tant que benevoles
dans un centre de vacances d’enfants armeniens, a Tzaghadzor, en
Armenie. Elles donnaient des cours de francais et participaient aux
animations proposees aux 200 enfants âges de 5 a 15 ans. Elles sont
revenues avec des souvenirs passionnants et des rencontres touchantes
avec ces enfants, issus d’un orphelinat.

Elles avaient entendu parler par un pretre de la region, qu’un
orphelinat armenien, creer par soeur Arousiag, soeur armenienne très
engagee auprès des enfants, prenaient volontiers des benevoles dans
un centre de vacances. En effet, ces orphelins, issus d’abandons ou de
familles demunies, sont scolarises a l’annee dans le centre de Gyumri,
tenu par soeur Arousiag, et qui existe grâce a de nombreux dons.

Generosite et solidarite

Et c’est ainsi que les deux cousines vont integrer une equipe d’une
quinzaine de personnes, âgees de 18 a 70 ans, et venue des quatre
coins du monde. Chacun, selon ses particularites, va enseigner
pendant les nombreuses activites proposees aux enfants. ” Nous,
on donnait surtout des cours de francais, et on etait aide par une
traductrice anglaise, precisent les jeunes filles. La journee etait
très remplie et très structuree pour les enfants, car soeur Arousiag
inculque aux enfants, pour leur bien, une discipline très stricte. ”
Les jeunes faisaient de la couture, de l’art plastique, de la musique,
du theâtre, des cours de langues, du sport, etc. ” Tous les soirs,
il y avait une veillee et les enfants attendaient ce moment-la avec
impatience “, se rememorentCarmen et Estelle. Il fallait voir leur
bonheur de se produire sur scène. ”

Ces enfants avaient beaucoup de generosite, ils vivaient simplement, et
le fait de pouvoir suivre une scolarite, malgre leur vie compliquee,
les rendaient heureux. ” Nous avons vraiment deconnecte pendant
notre sejour, sans portable, coupees du monde, mais nous avons vecu
pleinement, et nous avons pris beaucoup de lecons auprès de ces
enfants. ”

ACTION PARTICIPANTS ARE TRYING TO ENTER THE GOVERNMENT BUILDING

12:33 | March 5,2015 | Economy

At this moment the situation is tense near the Government building:
Lenughi community residents are trying to enter the Government building
as for already 2 hours no one has approached them to listen to their
problems.

“A1+” journalist informs the policemen didn’t let the action
participants enter the building: currently there are many policemen.

“Nairit” plant employees urge the government to pay their salaries.

OSCE MONITORING ENDS IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT ZONE

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
March 4 2015

4 March 2015 – 3:18pm

In accordance with the mandate of the Personal Representative of the
OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, the OSCE mission has conducted monitoring
of troops in the contact line village of Tapqaraqoyunlu in Azerbaijan’s
Goranboy District.

The monitoring ended without incident. On the Azerbaijani side the
monitoring was held by the Personal Representative of the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk, his field assistant Hristo
Hristov and the OSCE High-Level Planning Group Representative,
Colonel Tuncay Sevim.

On the Armenian side, the monitoring was conducted by field assistants
of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office
Yevgeny Sharov, Peter Swedberg and OSCE High-Level Planning Group
Representative, Colonel Markus Widmer, Trend reports.

The Armenian armed forces twice violated the ceasefire by exposing the
lives of the international observers to threats during the monitoring
conducted by the OSCE on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian
troops in January and February.

VAZGEN SARGSYAN WOULD BE 56 TODAY

13:01, 05 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Alisa Gevorgyan
Public Radio of Armenia

Vazgen Sargsyan would be 56 today. He was a politician and writer,
Defense Minister, leader of the Republican Party, co-president of the
“Unity” alliance, Prime Minister, Hero of the Republic of Armenia
and Artsakh, member of the USSR Union of Writers.

Twenty-eight years ago he was searching for his place and role in
Armenian literature. It was the Artsakh war that made him a soldier.

He was one of the first to understand that the salvation of the
Armenian nation was in the weapon.

He passed the way from being a writer to soldier very quickly, as the
war imposed on us was demanding soldiers and there was no time to wait.

“During our first meeting in 1989 I understood that I was dealing
with a man too far from military craft. In just six months I saw a
completely different Vazgen,” says Vova Vardanov, participant of the
Artsakh liberation war.

The Armenian Army became his dream and his belief. “The Army was
Vazgen’s home, his pride,” says Mrs. Greta, Vazgen Sargsyan’s mother.

Any national liberation movement bears its heroes. At the end of the
20th century Vazgen Sargsyan was destined to lead the Armenian Army,
which did not even exist at the time.

“Army is the mirror of national self-recognition and the look into
future,” Vazgen Sargsyan used to say.

NAIRA ZOHRABYAN ELECTED NEW HEAD OF PROSPEROUS ARMENIA PARTY

YEREVAN, March 5. / ARKA /. Armenian MP Naira Zohrabyan was elected
today as new head of the Prosperous Armenia party after its founder
and former chairman Gagik Tsarukyan stepped down.

Zohrabyan was elected actually unanimously by the party’s emergency
convention. Only one delegate voted against.

Zohrabyan’s candidacy was proposed by Gagik Tsarukyan.-0-

DIPLOMATIC SOURCE: ARMENIA’S INTERNATIONAL IMAGE BESMIRCHED BY INTERNAL POLITICAL TIFF OVER

by Marianna Lazarian

Thursday, March 5, 14:22

The recent domestic policy events that have turned into a severe
confrontation between RA President Serzh Sargsyan and “Prosperous
Armenia Party” (PAP) leader Gagik Tsarukyan, who has become apolitical,
have affected Armenia’s international image. All this has had its
effect on the events arranged to the centennial of the Armenian
Genocide, a senior official of the diplomatic corps told the ArmInfo.

According to him, the internal squabbles, that are unacceptable for
the western perception, have become the reason for several European
countries and organizations to review their participation in the
events. They have lowered the ceremonial level of the delegations
to Armenia. According to the source, the domestic policy events have
given cause for reflection that the internal issues of the Armenian
establishment appeared to be more important than the future events.

“If Armenia is not interested in its international image on the
threshold of such an important event, then why should the international
community attach much significance to it? Europe wants to see an intact
and united Armenia where political powers are competing within the
framework of political developments, but not fall under black and
white and destroy each other”, said the diplomat.

However, he stressed that after the conciliation between Sargsyan
and Tsarukyan the situation has improved a little. He hinted that the
conciliation did not shift itself without international mediation. In
that context, the diplomat expressed his hope for the possibility to
return to previously-made higher level arrangements concerning the
visits to events dedicated to the centennial of the Genocide.

In this context, it is notable to mention the letter addressed to
President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Anne
Brasseur on behalf of the PAP deputies. In the letter the latter begged
PACE to support the party in its dark times. It is particularly said
in the letter that PAP was oppressed by the Armenian government and
the President threatened party leader Gagik Tsarukyan to denude him of
his political rights. There were also tax inspections at Tsarukyan’s
enterprises and Tsarukyan was removed from the Council of National
Security. It was stressed in the letter that the reason was PAP’s
refusal to favor Sargsyan’s constitutional reforms the aim of which
was to extend the ruling regime’s time in office.

In the February 18 follow-up letter Brasseur mentioned that such
methods of political struggle are inappropriate for democratic
countries. She said that she would raise the issue upon her visit
to Armenia for the events arranged to the centennial of the Armenian
Genocide.

It is notable that after the Tsarukyan-Sargsyan conciliation, the PAP
members stopped the talks about oppressions and did not officially
publish the letters.