Author: Kalantarian Kevo

ILLEGAL VISITS TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH VIOLATION OF INT’L LAW

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Sept 26 2014

26 September 2014, 20:53 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova

Any visit to Nagorno-Karabakh without Azerbaijan’s permission is a
flagrant violation of international law and national legislation. Now
Armenia aims to legalize the occupation of Azerbaijani territories
with organizing visits of foreign citizens and parliamentarians to
these territories.

Chairman of the Council of State Support to NGOs (CSSN) under the
President of Azerbaijan, Azay Guliyev made the remark while addressing
an international conference called “Legal consequences of illegal
visits to the occupied territories of Eastern Partnership countries”.

The conference was held with the financial support of the CSSN in
Tbilisi, Georgia on September 26.

Guliyev said Armenia has been organizing visits of foreign nationals
including parliamentarians, to the occupied Azerbaijani territories
in recent years.

He noted that Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry declares the violators
persona non grata and include their names on a special list.

Unauthorized visits to Nagorno-Karabakh and other regions of Azerbaijan
occupied by Armenia are considered illegal, and the individuals
who pay such visits are included in Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s
“black list”.

Earlier, Baku blacklisted the German MPs for their illegal visit to
Azerbaijan’s occupied territories.

The Foreign Ministry in 2013 released a list of 335 people declared
‘persona non grata’ over illegal visits to the Armenian-occupied
territories. Some of these people were removed from the list after
appealing to the Azerbaijani government.

“Unfortunately, among those included in the list, there are MPs from
the member states countries of European Union, as well as members
of the French delegation to PACE that violated Azerbaijani and
international law. This is unacceptable. Especially, as co-chair of
OSCE Minsk Group, France should prevent such actions, if it wants to
act from the position of an independent, honest broker,” Guliyev said.

He further noted that the individuals who illegally crossed the
state border shall be criminally responsible in accordance with
the Azerbaijani laws and the foreigners, who illegally visit
Nagorno-Karabakh, should take it into account.

Along with the illegal visits to the occupied Azerbaijani territories,
some foreign companies often get engaged in economic activities there,
Guliyev added.

“This is another flagrant violation of international law. There is
also evidence of sales in the EU member states of goods produced
in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, which is contrary to
international law,” Guliyev noted.

He went on to say that the only way out of the current deadlockis the
liberation of the occupied Azerbaijani territories and the return of
displaced persons to their homes.

Along with representatives of the UN, PACE and EU officials, the
officials from Georgia, Moldova, Azerbaijan and other countries of the
“Eastern Partnership” took part in the conference.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly warned foreign officials and diplomats about
visits to its territories that are occupied by Armenia, calling it
contradictory to international laws.

Baku has stated that such visits, paid without prior notification to
the relevant authorities of Azerbaijan, are illegal and damage the
settlement process of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing
of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were
killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale
hostilities. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20
percent of Azerbaijan’s territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and
seven surrounding regions.

TURKEY AND ARMENIANS

Daily Sabah, Turkey
Sept 26 2014

Markar Esayan
26 September 2014, Friday

Turkey has been experiencing significant political developments
for the last 12 years and the Armenian community is also a part of
this process. Currently, about 60,000 Armenians live in Turkey, and
this transformation affects not only them, but also the Armenians
with Anatolian origins living in Armenia and the Armenian diaspora
worldwide. Consequently, the notion of being an Armenian is also
undergoing a transformation during this political process. People in
Turkey are in a convenient phase of reviewing what has been led by
recent political developments.

They get to know not only other people, but also themselves again
– and they are aware of the fact that a braver and more impartial
interpretation of history is obligatory to do that. While they are
stepping out of official history and searching for their own roots
by using various free sources they also encounter “the others.” For
instance the religious groups who wonder about the stories of
the religious leaders executed in Independence Courts during early
Republican Era in 1925 and try to re-acquire the reputation of their
losses, discover that Armenians went under even more tragic incidents
in 1915 and that they also occupy a place in the big picture.

For the West, it was not easy to understand the state of terror
targeting minorities, religious groups like Alevis and Kurds both
during the 1915 genocide and Republican history, or it simply did
not interest them. Turkey, founded on a much smaller territory than
the Ottoman Empire – the strongest representative of the East – was
expressing the peak of a great victory through the Western model
it chose. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s political choice meant Western
civilization putting its flag on the peak of the East, and this
metaphor was quite true. Through Turkey’s existence, it was officially
proved that the West won the civilization war in a physical sense.

Of course the fascist conjuncture prevailing in the world until 1945
and Turkey’s participation in NATO during the Cold War period played
a role in exculpating the violent acts of the Turkish state. This is
the realpolitik side of the issue. An ally that had the second greatest
army of any NATO country had a considerable strategic importance that
could not be criticized due to the shortcomings of its democracy. It
was not needed and Turkey was being ruled as the West wished.

Thus, Kemalist nationalist elites first dissolved ethnic minorities
and suppressed the religious ones then killed the Kurds and Alevis and
economically condemned large masses to poverty. A small elite group –
called White Turks in a sociological context – dominated the media,
academia, politics, economy, and public sphere in the country. While
Armenians could not even be assigned to the lowest positions in this
social hierarchy, state institutions were off-limits to religious
people and Kurds. Alevis, meanwhile, were stuck in between state
massacres and Sunni fear.

So, this elite and unconscionable state model has been revised and
reformed with a gradual and peaceful public revolution for the last 12
years thanks to the support of the social groups I mentioned above. In
2002, when the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) became the
ruling party for the first time, this elite status quo was angry
but self-confident. The presidency, judiciary, chambers, media, NGOs
and more importantly, the army, were backing them. They were giving
the AK Party a very short lifetime and a coup resembling the Feb. 28,
1997 post-modern coup was expected at any moment. Attempts to overthrow
the government had started. The army, pro-coup juntas within the army,
the media and judiciary took immediate action to achieve it.

But they could not succeed. Reforms were gradually implemented and
pro-coup elites found themselves in a more democratic country. So,
the non-political struggle methods had to become more democratized and
nuanced. The most functional method developed today is bringing down
the reform process through the traumas of minorities like Kurds and
Alevis. The elite intellectuals obsessed in overthrowing Recep Tayyip
Erdogan are concerned about how to manipulate the delicate issues
such as the 1915 incidents to undermine the government. They also
receive much support from international circles since they perform
their activities under a Western guise. They might even manipulate
diaspora populations in this sense.

It seems that with the 100th anniversary of 1915 the pain of Armenians
will be manipulated in a sovereignty fight. If the diaspora community
is searching for an influential and legitimate addressee for this
pain to be acknowledged and respected, it should be the sociological
actors of this reform rather than those attempting to end the reform
period in which Armenians feel equal and secure for the first time
in Turkey’s Republican history. The formerly dominating groups are
about to become a thing of the past and have lost their character of
being an addressee.

DYNAMITAGE DU MEMORIAL DE DEIR-ES-ZOR : LE STADE SUPREME DU GENOCIDE

MANIFFESTATION DU CCAF LE 7 OCTOBRE DEVANT L’ASSEMBLEE NATIONALE

Avec le dynamitage du memorial armenien de Der-es-Zor le 18 septembre,
seul et unique lieu de memoire erige sur les terres où a ete perpetre
le genocide des Armeniens, les forces djihadistes qui opèrent en
Syrie ont franchi l’ultime palier de la folie criminelle. Après
l’entreprise d’extermination du peuple armenien, après les tentatives
de destruction de sa memoire, les assassins s’en prennent maintenant
aux dernières reliques des victimes qui avaient ete rassemblees
dans cet ossuaire. Après avoir aneanti les vivants en 1915, effacer
leur trace et nier l’histoire pendant presque 100 ans, la logique
criminelle se nourrit aujourd’hui de leurs cadavres, passant ainsi
du genocide au negationnisme, du negationnisme aux profanations,
des profanations a la necrophagie.

L’attaque lancee par les djihadistes contre le bourg armenien de Kessab
en Syrie le 21 mars dernier avait mis en evidence le soutien que leur
avaient apporte les autorites turques. Il parait clair aujourd’hui,
compte tenu de l’hysterie raciste consubstantiel aux dirigeants turcs,
que si dans le crime commis a Der-Es-Zor la main est djihadiste,
le cerveau se trouve lui a Ankara.

Il faut en finir avec cette vertigineuse spirale criminelle et
l’hypocrisie internationale qui l’accompagne. On ne peut lutter
contre les djihadistes en Irak et se taire sur leurs crimes en Syrie,
tout en fermant les yeux sur les complicites dont ils beneficient,
en particulier de la part du gouvernement turc.

Il faut mettre un terme a cette barbarie et a cette duplicite.

Le CCAF appelle a une grande manifestation le 7 octobre a 19h devant
l’Assemblee nationale pour exprimer son indignation et en appeler a
un reveil de la conscience contre ces horreurs.

Il appelle les elus du peuple francais, le gouvernement ainsi que
toutes les forces luttant contre la barbarie djihadiste et les
puissances qui la soutiennent, a se joindre a son appel.

Bureau national du CCAF

jeudi 25 septembre 2014, Ara (c)armenews.com

EXCLUSIVE: EU CONDOLES WITH KAREN PETROSYAN’S FAMILY, CALLS FOR TRANSPARENT INVESTIGATION

11:09 26/09/2014 ” POLITICS

“The EU deeply regrets the continued tragic loss of life in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which ever more emphasizes the urgency
of finding an early and just solution to the conflict. We offer our
sincere condolences to the family of Karen Petrosyan and to other
Armenian as well as Azerbaijani victims,” Peter Stano, spokesman
of European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood
Policy Å tefan Fule, told Panorama.am.

“The EU underscores the obligations of both sides under international
humanitarian law, in particular with regard to civilians and treatment
of persons taken into custody during times of conflict, and calls
for the full and transparent investigation of such incidents. We
appeal to Azerbaijan and to Armenia to provide unimpeded access to the
International Committee of the Red Cross and offer every assistance in
resolving quickly and in accordance with the international humanitarian
law the cases of persons perished or held in custody as a result of
the conflict,” said Peter Stano.

VARIOUS ARTISTS: REAL WORLD 25 REVIEW – A FITTING TRIBUTE TO A GAME-CHANGING LABEL

(Real World Records)

Robin Denselow
The Guardian, Thursday 25 September 2014 22.20 BST

Intriguingly eclectic … Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan swaps
notes with Canadian musician Michael Brook

Happy birthday to Real World, launched 25 years ago by Peter Gabriel,
and one of the most adventurous of the great British record labels.

The initial aim was to provide an outlet – and state-of-the-art
studios – for musicians playing at Womad, but Real World releases
have been intriguingly eclectic. This three-album compilation
starts with Mustt Mustt, that glorious vocal work-out by the great
Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Then comes a song of escape
from Somalia, a London-Asian dance fusion, American blues and gospel,
and an instrumental opening to Peter Gabriel’s Passion, dominated by
the haunting Armenian doudouk. This was the label’s first release,
in 1989, and more than 200 albums have followed. The 48 chosen tracks
here include music from Cuba, China and Mexico, Anglo-African fusion
from JuJu and Dub Colossus, and experimental British folk from the
late Martyn Bennett and Imagined Village. Real World changed the
musical landscape – and this album shows exactly how and why.

TURKEY’S ERDOGAN HIGHLIGHTS NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT AT UN GA SESSION

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Sept 25 2014

25 September 2014, 15:19 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan drew attention to the
Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at a UN General Assembly
session.

Addressing the 69th session of the UN General Assembly held in New
York on September 24, Erdogan said Turkey has always advocated for
the liberation of occupied Azerbaijani lands.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally
recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent
regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus
neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s. Long-standing
efforts by U.S, Russian and French mediators have been largely
fruitless so far.

The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Armenian
withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been
enforced to this day.

Erdogan noted that Turkey supports the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan, as well as the countries in all regions of the crisis,
including Ukraine.

He also added that people who have lost hope for justice of
international organizations, including the UN, seeking it in the
ranks of terrorists.

“ISN’T THERE ANYBODY TO COME DOWN?”: THE SITUATION IS TENSE IN FRONT OF THE GOVERNMENT

11:43 | September 25,2014 | Economy

Hundreds of small business entrepreneurs complaining against the
turnover tax gathered in front of the Government building. They are
demanding Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan by crying “shame, shame”
and “Hovik, come down”. One of the citizens threatened, “Isn’t there
anybody to come down, if you don’t come down, we will enter.”

A citizen, who introduced himself as Small entrepreneurs’ union head,
called the people to stop the action and to hold rally on September 30
on the Freedom Square. The people didn’t agree and asked him to leave.

We remind that they are complaining against tax reforms according to
which the “Turnover tax” law will require

documents for every product since October 1.

US AIMS AT A COMBINED BLOW AGAINST RUSSIA AND IRAN – EXPERT

YEREVAN, September 25. /ARKA/. The main aim of the American
organizations in the South Caucasus is to cause harm not only to
Russia, but also to Iran and to strike a combined blow against both
countries at the same time, political analyst Sergey Shakaryants said
at Moscow-Tbilisi-Yerevan “Expert Environment” video discussion in
Novosti International Press Center on Wednesday.

“All the so-called “grasps” of the South Caucasus from the south,
from the Near East and from the north – from the Black Sea region,
serves this purpose. In that case both Russia and Iran will find
themselves involved in allegedly regional confrontations, fragmenting
their strength and funds for ‘fire-fighting’ somewhere nearby”,
Shakaryants said as cited by Novosti-Armenia.

According to the expert, the situation in Ukraine and American blows in
Syria aim at undermining Russia-Iran agreements on gas transportation
to the west.

The NATO -member Turkey has been intensifying its activities in the
South Caucasus, Shakaryants said pointing to frequent visits of Turkish
army officials to Georgia and Azerbaijan and the most recent meeting
of defense ministers of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey in Nakhichevan.

According to the expert, the sole aim of these intensified efforts is
to strike a combined blow against Russia and Iran, the two countries
that did their best to de-escalate conflicts and civil wars in a
number of regions, which conflicts with the US policies. -0–

– See more at:

PRESS RELEASE
Armenian Heritage Foundation
25 Flanders Road
Belmont, MA 02478
Email: [email protected]
Web:

Date & Time
Thursday, October 23, 2014 at 7:30pm
Doors open at 7pm
Place
Faneuil Hall
Boston, Massachusetts
Mayor’s Remarks
Martin J. Walsh
Mayor, City of Boston
Introduction
Courtney Radsch, PhD
Advocacy Director, Committee to Protect Journalists
Speakers
Ray Suarez
Host of Inside Story on Al Jazeera America and
America Abroad on Public Radio on International
Stephen Kurkjian
Founding member and former chief of The Boston
Globe Investigative Spotlight Team and former editor
of its Washington Bureau
Thomas Mucha
Editor, GlobalPost
Free and open to the public
Reception follows at the Millennium Bostonian Hotel with the speakers and leadership
from:
Boston University College of Communication
Thomas Fiedler, Dean of the College of Communications and Professor of the Practice
in Journalism
Emerson College
Jerry Lanson, Associate Chair of Journalism and Associate
Professor
New England Center for Investigative Journalism
Jenifer McKim, Assistant Managing Editor/Senior Investigative
Reporter; Clara Germani, Investigations Editor and
Beth Daley, Investigative Reporter/Director of Partnerships
Northeastern University School of Journalism
Dan Kennedy. Acting Director and Associate Professor
WGBH
Phillip Martin. Senior Investigative Reporter

NAJARIAN LECTURE ON HUMAN RIGHTS AT FANEUIL HALL
An endowed public program of Armenian Heritage Park on the Greenway, Boston

Honorary Chairs
Governor Deval L Patrick
Mayor Martin J. Walsh
Armenian Heritage Foundation
Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian
Secretary Rachel Kaprielian
Honorary Chairs
James M. Kalustian
President
In Partnership with the
Boston Women’s Heritage Trail
Maria D’Itria
Chair, Board of Directors
The Bostonian Society
Joshua Young
Chair, Board of Directors
Brian W.J. LeMay
Executive Director
Millennium Bostonian Hotel
Robert Rivers
General Manager
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy
Georgia Murray
Chair, Board of Directors
Jesse Brackenbury
Executive Director
Co-Chairs
Charlie Clements
Executive Director
Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Michael A. Grodin, MD
Director
Global Lawyers and Physicians:
Working Together for Human Rights, Boston University
David Hollenbach, SJ
Director
Center for Human Rights and
International Justice, Boston College
Shant Mardirossian
Chair, Board of Directors
Near East Foundation
Kevin Murray
Executive Director
The Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy,
Northeastern University School of Law
Deborah W. Nutter, PhD
Senior Associate Dean
Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy, Tufts University
BalakrishnanRajagopal, PhD
Founding Director
Program on Human Rights and Justice, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Joshua Rubenstein
Activist and scholar
FORMER SPEAKERS
2013 Siddharth Kara
Cherie Jimenez
Liam Lowney
Sheriff Peter Koutoujian
2012 Ambassador Edward Djrejeian
2011 Paul Rusesabagina 2010 Kerry Kennedy
LECTURE COMMITTEE
Carolann Najarian, MD
George Najarian
Joyce Barsam, PhD
Phyllis Dohanian
Linda Kaboolian, PhD
Audrey Kalajian
Barbara Tellalian
in collaboration with
Stephen Kurkjian
Friends of Armenian Heritage Park on the Greenway
Karen Dederyan, Treasurer
Lucy Hoosian, Liason
Further information, please email
[email protected]

TRUTH TO ACTION: MEDIA FREEDOM
Protecting Human Rights Globally

Everyone has the right to seek, receive and impart ideas without fear
and interference. Yet throughout the world, journalists, bloggers and
others face the harassment and imprisonment for exercising their
rights to free speech…Freedom of expression is essential to the
attainment of all other rights…and is closely linked to the right to
hold opinions and the right to freedom of thought, conscience and
religion…
– Amnesty International

_________________________________________________

About the Najarian Endowed Lecture on Human Rights at Faneuil Hall The
purpose of the lecture series, endowed by K. George and Carolann
S. Najarian, MD, is to advance understanding of human rights issues
and societal abuses worldwide, and to increase awareness of the work
of individuals and organizations so that we are all more actively
engaged.

This endowed lecture at Faneuil Hall has been inspired by the New
England women and men – intellectuals, politicians, diplomats,
religious leaders and citizens – who from 1895-1918 at Faneuil Hall
heard the eyewitness accounts of the atrocities taking place against
the Armenian minority of the Ottoman Empire and spoke passionately
about the urgent need for intervention. Relief workers, missionaries
and diplomats including the U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
Henry Morgenthau provided accounts.

Many who heard these accounts were moved to action. Distinguished
Bostonians, among them Julia Ward Howe, Clara Barton, Charlotte
Perkins Gilman and Alice Stone Blackwell, heard these accounts and
were moved to assist the Armenians. As a result, the American Red
Cross launched its first international mission with Clara Barton
bringing aid to the Armenians. Philanthropists nationwide raised over
$100 million in support. This was America’s first internationally
focused human rights movement.

A Century Later Just as these brave and noble witnesses gave voice to
those in crisis and mobilized the gathering of Bostonians at Faneuil
Hall, which was to spark a nationwide response, it is our hope that
this lecture will serve to refocus our attention, not only on past
events, but upon the critical human rights issues of today, inspiring
us to meaningful action.

This endowed lecture on human rights is in my father’s honor as he
taught so many about the need to pay attention, spot injustice and
speak out wherever and whenever it occurs. Carolann S. Najarian, MD
The Najarian Lecture on Human Rights at Faneuil Hall is an endowed
public program of Armenian Heritage Park on the Greenway, the key
initiative of the Armenian Heritage Foundation, comprised of
representatives of 42 Armenian-American parishes and organizations
within Massachusetts.

Armenian Heritage Park on the Greenway and its endowed public programs
are a gift to the City of Boston and the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts.

[]
For further information,
[email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]

FM NALBANDIAN MEETS MAMMADYAROV IN NEW YORK

11:01 * 24.09.14

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly’s 69th Session in New York,
Armenia’s foreign minister has met with his Azerbaijani counterpart
and the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.

After extended talks with Ambassadors James Warlick of the United
States, Pierre Andrieu of France and Igor Popov of Russia, and the
personal representative of the OSCE chairperson-in-office, Ambassador
Andrzej Kasprzyk, FMs Edward Nalbandian and Elmar Mammadyarov had a
meeting in a tete-a-tete format.

The peace process over Nagorno-Karabakh dominated the negotiation
agenda, reports Foreign Ministry’s press service.

The Minsk Group mediators reiterated their resolute stance on resolving
the land dispute through absolutely peaceful efforts.

French President Francois Hollande’s initiative to conduct talks
between the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders in Paris was also
discussed at the meeting.

The co-chairs later unveiled their plan for visiting the South Caucasus
region in late October.

Armenian News – Tert.am