Author: Kalantarian Kevo

CICEK: ARMENIAN ISSUE POISONS OUR RELATIONS

Daily Sabah, Turkey
May 29 2014

AA
Published : 29.05.2014 15:49:22

ANKARA — The Armenian issue is one of the main issues that poisons
our relations with other countries, Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil
Cicek said on Thursday in a press conference with visiting Finland
Parliament Speaker Eero Heinaluoma.

“One of the biggest slanders to a country is the baseless allegations
of carrying out a masacre,” said Cicek on the Armenian issue.

Cicek pointed out that Turkey is co-operating in a joint commission of
Turkish, Armenian and international historians for research into the
1915 incidents, and he added, “We are ready to confront our history.”

Heinaluoma said they fall into the same line with the Turkey on the
Armenian issue.

“The historians should assess this issue,” he said and added,
“We think that parliamentarians cannot re-write the history.”

The 1915 incidents took place during World War I when a portion
of the Armenian population living in the Ottoman Empire sided with
the invading Russians and uprose against the Ottoman authority. The
uprisings were followed by a relocation decision of the Ottoman Empire
concerning Armenians living in eastern Anatolia.

204TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARGENTINA’S 25 MAY 1810 REVOLUTION COMMEMORATED IN YEREVAN

by Marianna Lazarian

Friday, May 30, 00:01

The 204th anniversary of Argentina’s 25 May 1810 revolution has been
commemorated in Yerevan.

Argentina’s Ambassador to Armenia Mr. Diego Ernesto Alvarez Rivera
touched on the history of the May Revolution and its importance to
Argentina. The diplomat also spoke of the high-level Armenian-Argentine
relations and pointed out they are based on the two nations’
friendship.

High-ranking officials, members of diplomatic missions, representatives
of international and national organizations, entrepreneurs, artists,
men of culture, mass media, as well as representatives of the
Argentinean community of Armenia attended the event.

Argentine tango was performed during the event.

May 25 is a national day in Argentina, known as First Patriotic
Government, with the character of a public holiday. The public holiday
is set by law 21.329 and is always celebrated on May 25, regardless
of the day of the week.

“WHY SHOULD I TAKE UP ARMS AND PROTECT THE WEALTH OF OLIGARCHS?” (VIDEO)

14:46 | May 28,2014 | Politics

In 1988, Armenia was more independent than it is today. Today,
we have formal and shaky independence, and it is a serious threat,
says Ashot Manucharyan, a member of the Karabakh Committee.

“We must learn lessons from the history and rely on ourselves. Our
primary objective must be the unification of world-scattered
Armenians. At that time, the entire world will run after us as hardly
you can find a world leader who does not have an Armenian relative
or friend, or a country where Armenians do not their essential role,”
he said.

Ashot Manucharyan says everyone who has made fortune and stays in power
will become a traitor. The hatred people feel towards oligarchs has
reached its climax. He underlines that young people hold a different
opinion about the defense of frontline and hostilities.

“They say, “Why should I take up arms and protect the wealth of
oligarchs? If I am to take up arms, I shall first of all deprive
oligarchs of their property,” said Mr Manucharyan.

EXPERT: MOSCOW WILL STRIVE TO TRANSFORM FROZEN CONFLICT IN KARABAKH INTO REAL WAR

by Nana Martirosyan

ARMINFO
Wednesday, May 28, 00:50

Moscow will strive to transform thye frozen conflict in Karabakh
into a real war, writes Richard Giragosian, Head of the Center for
Regional Studies, in his item.

According to Giragosian, Russia may start increasing and expanding
its power and influence in the South Caucasus. In this light, the
political scientist believes that Nagorno Karabakh may turn into an
attractive instrument. This way may conceal a dangerous aspiration for
big, in not risky, dividends. Entering that way, Moscow will seek to
transform the frozen conflict in Karabakh into a real war, in which
only Russia and its peacekeepers may make a direct intervention,
Giragosian writes. He thinks such scenario will recreate the levers
of influence Russia had before the August 2008 War against Georgia.

The expert writes that Armenia may occur even in more dangerous
situation than Georgia did in 2008. Supporting Russia’s stance on
Crimea, Yerevan became a hostage to partnership with Moscow.

Considering that the West is going to impose more serious sanctions on
Russia, Yerevan with the wrong historical position it has taken, may
find itself even in deeper isolation, Giragosian writes. According to
him, Armenia may occur behind the Iron Curtain that Russian President
Vladimir Putin, probably, wants to recreate within the borders of
the former Soviet Union.

BROOK TROUT MAY BECOME A RED BOOK SPECIES DUE TO SMALL HYDROPOWER PLANTS

by Karina Manukyan

Wednesday, May 28, 00:12

The development of small hydropower plants (HPP) may endanger some
fish species, including the brook trout.

WWF Armenia Head Karen Manvelyan has told ArmInfo that fish simply
disappear from some rivers of Armenia, particularly, from the rivers
Tsav, Marts, Akhuryan and Yeghegis. Manvelyan thinks that Armenia
should toughen the control over construction of small HPPs.

Many small HPPs fail to use fish-passes, and this has a negative
effect on the ichthyofauna, first of all, on the brook trout. “If
the situation does not change, the brook trout will be included in
the Red Book”, he says.

The environmental NGOs have repeatedly criticized the small HPPs in
Armenia. In particular, they have pointed at simultaneous operation
of several HPPs on one river, which has a negative effect on the
flora and fauna.

Some projects on construction of small HPPs have prompted mass protests
in different marzes of the republic. The residents of Aragatsotn marz
have recently expressed their discontent with the HPP construction
in the Karbi Gorge. They claim that the small HPP will deprive them
of irrigation water.

UN HUMAN RIGHTS HIGH COMMISSIONER UNHAPPY ABOUT SELECTIVE APPROACH TOWARDS RELIGIOUS MINORITIES IN GEORGIA – VIDEO

On May 18-22, 2014 the United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner,
Navi Pillay, visited Georgia. During her visit she met the President,
Prime Minister, and Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Justice, Internal
Affairs, among others. The aim of the High Commissioner’s visit was
to discuss the human rights situation in Georgia. On May 21 Levon
Isakhanyan, the Head of the Legal Department of the Armenian Diocese
in Georgia, informed the Commissioner about the discrimination in
the field of restitution of property confiscated from religious
minorities during the Soviet era. In response the Commissioner
stressed that she was very unhappy about the selective approach towards
religious minorities in Georgia and urged authorities to honor their
international obligations. She further stressed the importance of
implementing the anti-discriminatory provisions which exist in the
Georgian Constitution.

ARMENIAN INJURED IN ALEPPO ROCKET ATTACK

May 28, 2014 | 17:18

ALEPPO. – An Armenian was injured in a rocket attack on
Armenian-populated districts of Aleppo.

According to the ARF Dashnaktsutyun press service, Vazgen Baboghlyan
was injured.

As reported earlier, Avetis Kepepchyan (born in 1928) was killed as
a result of a rocket attack on Monday.

Overall 60-70 thousands Armenians were residing in Syria before the
bloody events. More than half of them lived in Aleppo and the other
half was scattered in the cities of Latakia, Homs, Qamishli, Hasaka,
Raqqah, Kessab and, of course, the capital – Damascus. .

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

MAY 28: FIRST REPUBLIC DAY MARKED IN ARMENIA

News | 28.05.14 | 15:41

First Republic Day was marked in Armenia today, May 28. The country’s
top political, military and spiritual leadership attended traditional
celebrations at Sardarapat, a location some 40 kilometers west of
capital Yerevan, where advancing Turkish troops were stopped in a
heroic battle these days 96 years ago.

Along with other Armenian military successes at Bash-Aparan, Karakilisa
and elsewhere in May 1918 that victory also led to the establishment
of the first democratic Armenian republic.

The first Republic of Armenia lasted for about two and a half years.

It fell after Bolsheviks supported by the Red Army seized power in
Armenia in late 1921 turning it into a Soviet republic.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, who also attended the celebrations
at the Sardarapat Memorial today, on the occasion of the holiday
handed state awards and ranks to different figures who have made
achievements in the spheres of science, education, economy, health,
culture, arts and sports, as well as to a number of representatives
of the Diaspora and a group of Army servicemen.

“The fact that this ceremony is taking place in Sardarapat has a
special meaning. Herewith we emphasize the link and continuity
of generations of our people,” Sargsyan said, according to the
presidential press service. “Herewith we stress that the work done by
all of us is largely in the same orbit. It is the Armenian statehood,
its history and present. A serviceman, a teacher, a scientist, an
artist, a doctor – we all are in the same orbit that is called the
Republic of Armenia.”

President Sargsyan also made an address to the nation on the occasion
of First Republic Day. He emphasized the great significance of the
feat of Armenians at Sardarapat in May 1918 that saved the nation
from total destruction.

“All facts and the whole reality seemed to be against us, but we were
saved here. We ourselves gained the right to live and return to the
international political arena. And that was done by the most tragic,
but at the same time most heroic generation of Armenians of all times,”
Sargsyan, in particular, said.

SNOWDEN SAYS HE WAS SPY SPECIALIZING IN ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE

May 28, 2014 – 13:40 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Fugitive U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden
has described himself as a trained spy specializing in electronic
surveillance, dismissing claims he was a mere low-level analyst,
BBC News reported.

In an interview with NBC, he reiterated that he had worked undercover
overseas for the CIA and NSA. He said the U.S. got better intelligence
from computers than human agents.

Snowden, 30, fled the U.S. in May 2013 and has been living under
temporary asylum in Russia.

Last year, he fed a trove of secret NSA documents to news outlets
including the Washington Post and the Guardian.

Among other things, the leaks detailed the NSA’s practice of harvesting
data on millions of telephone calls made in the U.S. and around the
world, and revealed the agency had snooped on foreign leaders.

The revelations have sparked a debate in the U.S. over the appropriate
role of the NSA and the extent to which it should be authorized to
conduct such broad surveillance.

President Barack Obama has asked Congress to rein in the program by
barring the NSA from storing phone call data on its own and to require
it to seek a court order to access telecom companies’ records. Last
week, the U.S. House passed such legislation, sending it to the U.S.

Senate.

In excerpts of an interview with NBC, Snowden said he had trained as
a spy “in sort of the traditional sense of the word in that I lived
and worked undercover overseas – pretending to work in a job that
I’m not – and even being assigned a name that was not mine”.

But he described himself as a technical expert who did not recruit
agents.

“What I do is I put systems to work for the U.S.,” he said. “And
I’ve done that at all levels from the bottom on the ground all the
way to the top. Now, the government might deny these things, they
might frame it in certain ways and say, ‘Oh well, you know, he’s –
he’s a low-level analyst.'”

But he said he had worked for the CIA and NSA undercover, overseas,
and lectured at the Defense Intelligence Agency.

When Snowden fled the U.S., he had been working as a technician for
Booz Allen, a giant government contractor for the National Security
Agency.

TSARUKYAN ET TER PETROSSIAN DISCUTENT DAVANTAGE DE LA COOPERATION

ARMENIE

Les dirigeants du Parti Armenie prospère (PAP) et le Congrès national
armenien (ANC), Gagik Tsarukyan et Levon Ter Petrossian, se sont
reunis les deux parties ont indique dans une declaration commune.

Les deux hommes auraient discute de la situation actuelle en
Armenie, de la cooperation entre les deux forces politiques, ainsi
que les questions liees a d’autres activites des quatre factions
non-dirigeantes dans le Parlement armenien, y compris egalement le
part Heritage et la FRA.

Les membres du PAP Vartan Oskanian et Stepan Margaryan et les membres
de l’ANC Levon Zurabyan et Aram Manoukian ont egalement participe a
la reunion.

mercredi 28 mai 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com