Author: Kalantarian Kevo

OSCE AND UNISON NGO PRESENT REPORT ON ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION IN ARMENIA FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

States News Service
February 24, 2015 Tuesday

YEREVAN

The following information was released by the Organization for Security
and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE):

The findings and recommendations of an OSCE-supported survey exploring
the main obstacles encountered by people with disabilities in accessing
Armenia’s higher education system, was presented today in Yerevan.

The report commissioned by the OSCE Office in Yerevan was produced
by the Unison NGO that supports people with special needs. It
provides comprehensive statistical data and focuses on physical
and programmatic, as well as the academic inclusiveness of higher
education.

“The report is a good example of innovative thinking. It analyses
the system of higher education from the perspective of students with
special needs. The report’s recommendations and the effort invested
are positive steps toward increasing the integrity of higher education
in Armenia,” said Oliver McCoy, Democratization Programme Officer at
the OSCE Office in Yerevan.

The report finds that only one of the 29 higher education institutions
surveyed is physically accessible to people with mobility issues. The
majority of universities think that inclusiveness of higher education
should be guaranteed only to young people with mobility, sight,
hearing, speaking or general disabilities, excluding those with mental
issues. There are no set mechanisms within universities to adapt the
educational process to the needs of people with disabilities. It is
only the good will of faculty members and fellow students to make
the learning process favourable to disabled students, the report notes.

Armen Alaverdyan, Executive Director of the Unison NGO, said: “The
survey outcomes show that Armenian universities mostly lack inclusive
policies, facilities and academic programmes for students with
disabilities. I strongly believe we should fill this gap by heavily
promoting equal opportunities to get a decent education in Armenia.”

The survey is based on opinions of students with and without
disabilities, administrative and academic staff of higher education
institutions and young persons with disabilities, as well as the
general public. Twenty-nine universities in Yerevan, Gyumri and
Vanadzor were included in the survey which was conducted during
September-November 2014.

ANZAC VOICE: A SOLDIER’S RECORDING LIVES ON AT THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL NEARLY A CENTURY AFTER HIS DEATH

ABC Regional News (Australia)
February 24, 2015 Tuesday 1:18 PM AEST

by Louise Maher

The voice of a young Anzac who was killed in France in 1916 lives on
in a recorded message he sent his family for Christmas.

Twenty-four-year-old Private Henry Miller Lanser recorded his letter
on a hand pressed shellac disc in late 1914 or early 1915 at the
Cairo studio of Armenian businessman Setrak Mechian.

He was training in Egypt with the First Australian Infantry Battalion
in the lead up to the Gallipoli landing.

Lanser’s disc ‘the only one of its kind’

Concept leader for the development of the new World War I galleries
at the Australian War Memorial (AWM), Nick Fletcher, said the private
wished his family “good luck” during the recording.

“He speaks very much as though he were in the room with the family,”
Mr Fletcher said.

“He speaks quite clearly, which is nice, but there’s none of that
informality that you would get in a modern recording.”

Private Lanser began his three-and-a-half minute recorded letter by
greeting his “dear” mother and father, and Ethel, Beattie and Basil.

“This is rather a novelty to come to Australia this way,” he said.

“But here I am, can’t see and can’t be seen or welcomed in the usual
way with a hug or a kiss.”

He spoke about the training which was getting “heavier every day”
and wished his family “a real, jolly good Christmas”.

He signed off with “goodbye and good luck”.

The Lanser disc is the only known recorded letter made by an Australian
soldier during WWI and is believed to be the only one of its kind in
the world.

A missing chunk indicates it may have been dropped at some time.

But the AWM has been able to copy the original recording from the
metal master disc, which had also been sent to Private Lanser’s family.

Listening to a legendary figure in history

Private Lanser enlisted in Sydney in September 1914, just weeks after
the war was declared.

He was wounded twice at Gallipoli but made a full recovery, and was
eventually promoted to Second Lieutenant and sent to fight in France.

He was killed in action on the Western Front in November 1916, mowed
down by German gunfire in the mud of the Somme.

After Lanser’s death, Mr Fletcher said, the sound of his recorded
voice would have been, for his loved ones, both a consolation and,
at times “a terrible thing to suffer through”.

“You would think that as the years passed, particularly for his
parents, it must have become a more and more treasured possession,”
Mr Fletcher said.

“Through his voice we can get so close to [Henry] Miller.

“We feel like we know him because we’ve heard him speaking.

“To listen to the voice of a man who wasn’t yet aware that he was
going to become an Anzac, one of the sort of legendary figures of
Australian history, is an astonishing thing, I think.”

KEY FIGURE IN HRANT DINK MURDER DETAINED IN ANKARA

13:50 â~@¢ 26.02.15

A high-ranking Turkish police chief has been detained in Ankara as
part of the investigation into the 2007 murder of Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Ramazan Akyurek, who was detained in Ankara on Feb. 26, had served as
the head of the police in the Black Sea province of Trabzon between
December 2003 and May 2006. He then served as the head of Police
Intelligence between May 2006 and October 2009. Dink was murdered in
January 2007.

Akyurek was removed from his position right after the Dec. 17, 2013,
corruption and graft operation, along with hundreds of other senior
police officers allegedly linked to U.S.-based Islamic scholar
Fethullah Gulen, the government’s ally-turned-nemesis. An Ankara
court had rejected Akyurek’s dismissal in January 2014.

The Istanbul Prosecutor’s Office initially aborted an ongoing probe
into the alleged negligence of nine public servants, but the 8th Heavy
Penal Court in Istanbul’s Bakırköy district cancelled the decision,
reopening the probe on June 6, 2014.

Akyurek was detained after all the criminal files regarding the Dink
murder were combined into a single probe in Istanbul, as instructed
by Istanbul Prosecutor Gökalp Kökcu.

In his testimony in October 2014, Akyurek had placed the blame of
the murder on the Istanbul Police Director, while using the phrases
“I don’t remember” and “I don’t know” a total of 27 times in response
to the prosecutor’s questions.

Under Turkish law, the crime described as “committing a premeditated
murder through an act of negligence” has the penalty of a maximum 20
to 25-year prison sentence.

Previously, three high-ranking police officials, Muhittin Zenit, Ozkan
Mumcu and Ercan Demir, had been arrested by the court in the Dink case.

TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER: OCCUPATION OF KARABAKH HAS BROUGHT ARMENIA NOTHING BUT TROUBLE

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Feb 25 2015

25 February 2015 – 7:02pm

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has delivered a lecture
“Foreign policy of Turkey: cooperation in the Caucasus and with
Azerbaijan” at the ADA University in Baku today. He said that
occupation of Azerbaijani territories only made life worse for Armenia,
Trend reports.

Armenia could not sign the EU association agreement because of the
Karabakh conflict, reminded the minister. Cavusoglu called the conflict
the most serious problem for peace and stability in the South Caucasus.

GEORGIA MAY SELL 25% OF SHARES OF RAILWAY

February 26, 2015 14:28

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Minister of Economy of Georgia Georgi Kvirikashvili
stated that to fight economic crisis, they may consider selling
minority interest of the state from the package of shares of the
railway.

The Minister said speaking on Maestro TV channel that “25% of
shares” of this state-owned company “could be sold”, Mediamax’s own
correspondent in Tbilisi reports.

The length of the Georgian Railway including the roads in Abkhazian
territory makes approximately 2340 km.

The Abkhazian sector linking Russia to Armenia wasn’t operating after
1992-1993 war.

Now the railway transports about 20mln tons annually. The maximum
capacity makes 30mln tons, without the new section of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars
highway which will operate by late 2015.

65% of them are transit cargoes transported mainly from Azerbaijan
and Armenia.

The Georgian government decided to sell a part of the state objects
to manage lari devaluation which had depreciated by 30% over the
past days.

OKTAY ASADOV: WE SAVE MONEY FOR WAR

Turan Information Agency, Azerbaijan
February 24, 2015 Tuesday

Baku / 24.02.15 / Turan: The central issue of today’s meeting of
the Parliament was the financial crisis that broke out after the
devaluation of the manat.

MP Igbal Aghazadeh demanded that the government of Azerbaijan
should compensate for damage caused to citizens as a result of the
depreciation of the national currency by 34%.

The Central Bank of Azerbaijan on December 30, 2014 stated that the
value of the national currency will not fall, and after less than
two months it deceived the country’s population, he said.

The Antimonopoly Service of the Ministry of Economy and Industry
said on artificially high prices by speculators. As a result of the
devaluation bank depositors were damaged at 3 billion manat, despite
the fact that the total amount of deposits of the population is 7.2
billion manat.

“I demand the government should offset the damage to the population
in all areas, including indexation of wages and social protection
for vulnerable people,” said Aghazadeh.

In response, the Speaker of the Milli Mejlis Oktay Asadov said
that within two months the country’s citizens was able to convert
their savings, “and during this period there has been converted $
4.5 billion.”

“The government kept the manat as much as it could. However,
Azerbaijan is at war with Armenia and does not exclude the possibility
of launching active military and other actions that may require
additional funds. It is necessary to think about the future, we can
not spend all of today reserves,” said the speaker.

“As far as I know, 70% of food production is domestic production and
higher prices should not be applied. The Ministry of Economy and
Industry is developing a plan to keep prices on the background of
the devaluation of the manat,” said Asadov.

The MP Ziyad Samedzade said that the devaluation of the manat was
“a necessary step”, given that the price of oil in the state budget
in 2015 is laid at $ 90.

“Now oil prices do not exceed $ 60. If it continues, by the end of the
year the budget deficit will amount to 7.6 billion manat. CBA annually
spent 2-2.5 billion manat for retention of the national currency.

However, permanent measures could lead to depletion of the reserves,”
said Samedzade.

MP Vahid Akhmedov blamed the central bank for the situation. “Until
the last days the CBA promised that the dollar rate would not exceed
0.9 manat. But it immediately reduced the cost by 34%.

I believe that the government should take urgent anti-crisis measures
to prevent the growth of prices, which has now become the most serious
problem, Akhmedov said. -02D-

WEDDING ATTENDED BY SERZH SARGSYAN MAY LEAD TO ECTHR CASE

02.26.2015 13:42 epress.am

Information circulating in the media about RA President Serzh Sargsyan,
Minister of Justice Hovhannes Manukyan and PM Hovik Abrahamyan possibly
attending Syunik Governor Surik Khachatryan’s son’s wedding could be
reason to apply to the ECtHR.

As 168 Zham daily reported, Avetik Budaghyan’s, who was murdered
near Syunik Governor Surik Khachatryan’s home on June 1, 2013, family
lawyerHayk Alumyan has petitioned the President, Minister of Justice,
and PM to confirm or deny the fact of their presence at the wedding.

In an interview with the daily on February 25, Alumyan stated that
he currently has a response by only the Minister of Justice stating
“that I don’t have the right to be provided such information.”

However, according to the lawyer, the response from the Ministry
of Justice is clearly groundless; “With such a response, they don’t
prevent me from doing what I’m going to do: to apply to the European
Court of Human Rights without exhausting the national court. I sent
those letters only so they don’t tell me, why didn’t you attempt to
receive that information from your national courts. I made an attempt
and I hope, receiving such a response, would give me an advantage at
the European Court.”

When asked by the paper if he would wait for the answers of the
other two parties or apply for European Court of Human Rights without
receiving them, the lawyer answered; “In all honesty, they still have
2-3 days, I’ll wait because my complaint to the European Court is not
completely ready yet, it will likely be ready in 2-3 days. During
those days, I’ll either receive the response or if not, I’ll just
write that I haven’t received the responses in my complaint.”

Hayk Alumyan said that in the complaint to the EctHR it will be
written, that if certain officials, who have authority over the
judicial system, are considered so close [to Khachatryan] that they
participate in their weddings, then for him the national courts are
considered ineffective.

Recall, that in the evening of June 1st, 2013 near Syunik Governor
Surik Khachatryan’s home former Goris mayoral candidate Avetik
Budaghyan was killed and his brother Artak Budaghyan injured. In the
frame of the initiated criminal case Surik Khachatryan’s son Tigran
and security guard Zarzand Nikoghosyan was arrested. Subsequently,
the two were later released because the investigative bodies claimed
they were acting in self-defense.

POTATO IS LIKE A MINISTER

Lragir.am
Country – 26 February 2015, 14:57

A group of women went on protest against yesterday’s pronouncement
by Sergo Karapetyan, the minister of agriculture. Yesterday Sergo
Karapetyan told farmers in Shirak Marz that potato is like a daughter,
you should give her to the first one who will ask for her hand.

“You keep it, keep it, keep it, when you finally want, you say come
and take it. And they say I don’t want it, you have brought it and let
it rot. You must sell the product when the buyer comes. If one comes
after your daughter, you must give her to him, as the saying is,”
the minister said.

Demonstrators are holding posters reading “Minister, were your children
brought up by a potato?”, “Minister, can’t you tell a potato from
a girl?” and demand that Sergo Karapetyan publicly apologize to all
women. They have put potatoes in front of the building of government.

ARMENIA’S STANCE ON TURKISH BORDERS IS TO AVOID A DEAD-END

February 26, 2015 10:29

Photo: unknown author

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Armenian Foreign Ministry disseminated the
transcript of the interview of Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh
Kocharyan to the anchor of Kentron TV Petros Ghazaryan.

Below we present an excerpt from the transcript on Armenia’s
recognition of Turkey’s borders:

[…Anchor: When we signed the Protocols which read that we recognized
the borders of modern Turkey…

Shavarsh Kocharyan: There is not such thing in the Protocols.

Anchor: And we accept the Declaration… We recognize Turkey…

Shavarsh Kocharyan: It is written -in accord with the documents of
international law.

Anchor: Yes, borders of modern Turkey.

Shavarsh Kocharyan: In accord with the documents of international law:
Under which agreement?

Anchor: Here we recall Treaty of Sevres, Turkey’s claims and Woodrow
Wilson. Agree with me that they contradict each other.

Shavarsh Kocharyan: If the Protocol endorses- under the documents of
international law- which document of international law endorses that?

Anchor: Borders outlined by the UN Charter.

Shavarsh Kocharyan: The UN Charter has never concerned any border
including the borders in our region, Armenia-Turkey borders or
Armenia-Azerbaijan ones or others. You can also recall Kars Treaty.

But there is no mention of Treaty of Kars on the Protocols. And it’s
not by mere chance. It was really Turkey’s dream during the talks.

Anchor: So, doesn’t Armenia currently recognize Turkey’s borders?

Shavarsh Kocharyan: They dreamed that Treaty of Kars be mentioned in
the Protocols but that didn’t happened, and this is what matters.

There are 2 different approaches – interpretation of Armenians and
interpretation of many political forces in Turkey. Regarding this
issue, people in our country say that by signing the Protocols,
we in fact recognize the current borders. Now I’ll give you an
opposite approach adopted by the Turkish National Assembly when
current PM Ahmet Davutoglu who was then Foreign Minister of Turkey,
was presenting the Protocols in the parliament. Leader of one of the
Turkish parties Deniz Baykal stated directly that the Turkish side
didn’t endorse the current border and the Protocols didn’t refer to
Treaty of Kars. Thus the issue of borders remained open to question.

Their criticism was based on this. That’s why it is the case when
we don’t need any clarifications to move forward: each side has his
own approach.

What is the process aimed at? This is the problem. If the goal is to
clarify the issues after which it won’t be possible to speak about
normalization, we could have adopted the path. However, originally
our goal and the approach of the Armenian side and President were
quite different: despite all the discords, disputes and tough past,
we are destined to live side by side, we need to try to normalize
the relations sincerely and step-by-step

Anchor: Anyways, you didn’t answer my question, Mr. Kocharyan.

Shavarsh Kocharyan: I am answering.

Anchor: Does Armenia recognize Turkey’s borders or not?

Shavarsh Kocharyan: I did answer very clearly. If one is willing to
rule out settlement, any issue can be stalled, and there won’t be
any progress in this case. Now I reiterate and state that our goal
was to try to move forward in normalization without preconditions,
despite various comments, discords and tough past.

Anchor: Does Armenia recognize Turkey’s borders or not?

Shavarsh Kocharyan: What to do think?

Anchor: I don’t know. You are an official, and I’m a journalist. My
notions are not essential.

Shavarsh Kocharyan: Before recognition, we need to establish diplomatic
relations. Till there are no diplomatic relations, it’s no use talking
about the border.

Anchor: That means- do we recognize?

Shavarsh Kocharyan: If there are no diplomatic relations, we can’t
talk about it.

Anchor: Many countries don’t have diplomatic ties but it is not a
mandatory condition.

Shavarsh Kocharyan: So, let’s start again. There were two Protocols,
one concerning the diplomatic relations, and the second – normalization
of relations. The Protocol “On Establishment of Diplomatic Relations”
should have concerned the borders and it mentioned the following:
recognition of borders in accord with the documents of international
law.

Anchor: We started talking about the Declaration. I am reading the
Declaration dedicated to the Armenian Genocide Centennial. It mentions
the Treaty of Sevres, Woodrow Wilson and Turkey’s claims. I want
to figure out the following: doesn’t our state recognize Turkey’s
territorial integrity and advances topics envisaged by the Treaty
of Sevres and Wilson’s Arbitral Decision, or is it a moral issue
after all?

Shavarsh Kocharyan: Our state’s stances are clearly presented in the
Protocols- no more, no less. Protocols are for us to move forward.

That’s it.

Anchor: I’m not talking about moving forward. You mean do we not have
a stance on this issue?

Shavarsh Kocharyan: We have a very clear position.

Anchor: Do we recognize Turkey’s territorial integrity?

Shavarsh Kocharyan: We can’t talk about recognition till there are
no diplomatic ties. If we set diplomatic ties, under the Protocols,
we will have…

Anchor: So, we don’t have a position, do we?

Shavarsh Kocharyan: We do have, and it’s mentioned in the Protocols.

Anchor: If there is, do we recognize it or no?

Shavarsh Kocharyan: I’ll repeat it. We do recognize what is
written in the Protocols, in accord with the current documents of
international law. That’s it. Nothing more. Deniz Baykal is also
trying to get a commentary from anyone in just the same way. Let him
try to understand. I won’t waive the goal we have set and we sincerely
strive to reach.

Anchor: Mr. Kocharyan, I think I am trying to understand a very
simple thing.

Shavarsh Kocharyan: I see. Any question can be voiced in a very simple
way and lead to the understanding that we will advance preconditions
to establish relations with Turkey. We don’t support it.

That’s why I let myself speak the language of preconditions. We have
never done it. During this process, Turkey always spoke the language
of preconditions, and we were always sincere that’s why we had an
agreement – to move forward without preconditions. We were committed
to it. And we will be committed until the prospect is lost for good…]

LES PROTOCOLES ARMENO-TURCS RETIRES DE L’ASSEMBLEE NATIONALE D’ARMENIE

Publie le : 26-02-2015

Info Collectif VAN – – Le president de la
Republique armenienne, Serge Sarkissian, a adresse une lettre au
president du parlement, Galust Sahakian, l’informant de sa decision
de retirer les protocoles armeno-turcs de l’Agenda de l’Assemblee
nationale : >
qui ont ete signes le 10 octobre 2009 a Zurich. >>

Traduction de l’anglais Collectif VAN – 18 fevrier 2015 –

Lire aussi :

Erevan se retire des protocoles de Zurich sur une normalisation

Grand froid sur les relations bilaterales

Cinq ans après les protocoles armeno-turcs

Source/Lien : Presidence de la Republique d’Armenie