Author: Kalantarian Kevo

AZERBAIDJAN
Un parti d’opposition affirme que le gouvernement est derrière
l’explosion de son QG

Un principal parti d’opposition en Azerbaïdjan a accusé le
gouvernement d’être derrière l’explosion qui a détruit son siège le 3
Mars. Les pompiers disent que cela été causé par des bonbonnes de gaz
stockés dans le sous-sol, bien que d’autres résidents nient que ce fut
le cas. Les autorités ont commencé à démolir le btiment considérant
qu’il est désormais dangereux.

L’explosion s’est produite à quatre heures du matin, dans la capitale
Bakou, où le Front populaire d’Azerbaïdjan avait ses bureaux qui
étaient en grande partie déserts. Il a détruit tout un rez de
chaussée.

> a déclaré le porte-parole du
parti Natiq Adilov à l’IWPR. >.

Au cours de la semaine précédente, la police a arrêté cinq militants
azerbaïdjanais du Front populaire, y compris le chef du bureau, pour
des raisons diverses. > a demandé Adilov.

Jusqu’en 2006, le Front populaire avait son siège dans le centre de
Bakou, mais les autorités de la ville ont fait condamné le btiment,
qui a été démoli, reconstruit et remis au bureau national d’audit.

Le parti d’opposition est resté sans-abri jusqu’en octobre de l’année
dernière, malgré des tentatives répétées pour louer un bureau.

Adilov rappelle que chaque fois que le parti a approché quelqu’un pour
louer un espace de bureau, >.

> a-t-il dit. Les deux membres du parti de service le matin du 3 Mars
– Nuru Nuruzade et Ruslan Nasirli – ont dit avoir entendu trois
explosions, qui ont été suivies par un incendie. Quand un reporter de
l’IWPR est arrivé sur les lieux plus tard, il y avait deux bouteilles
de gaz à l’extérieur du btiment. L’une d’elle était intacte et en bon
état, l’autre avait éclaté, mais les fragments étaient sales et elle
n’avait clairement pas explosé récemment.

Samir Muradov, qui loue le sous-sol, a nié qu’il ait jamais gardé des
bonbonnes de gaz. Le propriétaire d’un magasin voisin, qui ne voulait
pas être identifié, a également nié avoir utilisé des bonbonnes de
gaz, et dit que celles à l’extérieur avaient juste été mises là.

Siyavouch Novruzov, un membre du parlement du parti Yeni Azerbaïdjan,
le parti du gouvernement, a nié que l’explosion aurait pu être autre
chose qu’un accident. Il a dit à l’agence de presse Trend que le Front
populaire a été délibérément répandu des mensonges.

Le lendemain de l’explosion, Shahmar Ibadov, chef du gouvernement
local adjoint pour le district de Narimanov à Bakou, est arrivé au
siège du Front populaire et a dit aux militants du parti de partir
parce que le btiment n’était plus sûr. Ils ont refusé d’obéir malgré
des heures de négociations.

Elkhan Asadov, chef adjoint du département du ministère des Situations
d’urgence pour la sécurité des btiments, a déclaré aux journalistes
sur la scène que les locaux étaient dangereux et tout le monde devait
partir immédiatement.

Vers le soir, les travailleurs ont commencé à démolir l’ensemble du btiment.

Son propriétaire, Azer Askerov, qui passe le plus clair de son temps
en Turquie, est arrivé juste à temps pour le voir descendre. Il a
déclaré aux journalistes qu’il avait reçu des menaces parce qu’il a
loué l’espace au Front populaire. > a déclaré
Askerov qui a remis aux journalistes un enregistrement dans lequel la
voix d’un homme dit, >.

Une fois que le parti obtient une réparation il pourra rechercher de
nouveaux locaux, il pourrait même approcher son ancienne propriétaire,
Azer Askerov.

> a-t-il dit.

DIPLOMATIE
L’Arménie soutient la Russie à l’Onu

On attendait l’abstention, l’Arménie a finalement voté le soutien à
son allié russe lors du vote du jeudi 27 mars à l’Assemblée générale
de l’Onu sur une résolution réaffirmant l’intégrité territoriale de
l’Ukraine et proclamant l’illégalité du référendum organisé le 16 mars
en Crimée au terme duquel la Russie a annexé la péninsule. Le document
a été approuvé par 100 voix contre 11, 58 nations ayant choisi
l’abstention. Au nombre des pays ayant voté comme l’Arménie contre
cette resolution, figurant la Biélorussie, le Vénézuéla, le Soudan, la
Syrie, la Corée du Nord, le Zimbabwe et la Bolivie. La résolution, qui
n’a pas de valeur contraignante, a obtenu plus de soutien que prévu,
d’autant que le texte désignait clairement la Russie comme un
agresseur. L’Arménie, dont le ministère des affaires étrangères avait
laissé entendre avant le vote qu’elle choisirait l’abstention, a
préféré donc s’aligner sans équivoque sur son partenaire stratégique
russe, un choix d’autant plus important que les relations entre
l’Arménie er Moscou, et bien sûr aussi avec Kiev, font l’objet d’une
attention toute particulière, Erevan ayant de toute évidence renoncé à
cet accord d’association avec l’Union européenne qu’elle croyait
encore possible après sa volte-face du 3 septembre 2013 par laquelle
elle annonçait sa volonté d’adhérer à l’Union douanière constituée de
la Russie, de la Biélaorussie et du Kazakhstan. Le gouvernement
ukrainien avait protesté et rappelé son ambassadeur en Arménie après
que le président arménien Serge Sarkissian eut officiellement
cautionné le référendum de Crimée. S’exprimant à Erevan peu avant le
vote de l’Onu, un diplomate de l’ambassade d’Ukraine a toutefois
précisé que Kiev maintiendrait ses liens diplomatiques avec l’Arménie,
quel que soit son vote lors de la séance de l’Assemblée générale de
l’Onu dédiée à la Crimée. Igor Roman a aussi indiqué aux journalistes
que l’ambassadeur d’Ukraine en Arménie, Ivan Kukhta, qui avait été
rappelé à Kiev, reviendrait dans le courant de la semaine à Erevan
pour accomplir sa mission diplomatique.

vendredi 28 mars 2014,
Gari (c)armenews.com

AFFA PROTESTS TO ARMENIAN FOOTBALL FEDERATION

Trend, Azerbaijan
March 27 2014

Trend:

The Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan (AFFA) has
protested to the Armenian Football Federation regarding the coaching
courses held in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, AFFA said on
March 27.

At the UEFA Congress in Astana, AFFA Secretary General Elkhan Mammadov
informed the European Football Union representatives about this issue.

He expressed his concern about the fact that the Armenian Football
Federation conducts the coaching courses in the territory of
Azerbaijan.

Mammadov also expressed AFFA’s concern during a meeting with Secretary
General of the Armenian Federation. The latter stated that the courses
do not have an international status and stressed that the protest
will be considered.

In 2008 AFFA joined UEFA Coaching Convention on the courses of “A”
and “B” categories, and two years later to the PRO convention. Only
AFFA is authorized to organize PRO coaching courses of “C”, “B”
and “A” categories on the territory of Azerbaijan, according to the
requirements of the convention.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are
currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

Translated by NH Edited by CN

MERDINYAN WINS AFTER BERKI FALTERS; IORDACHE TAKES VAULT

Gulf Times, Qatar
March 27 2014

By Sahan Bidappa/Doha

Harutyun Merdinyan created the biggest upset of the 7th FIG Artistic
Gymnastics World Challenge Cup 2014, when the Armenian won the Pommel
Horse event here at the Aspire Dome yesterday.

Going into the final, Merdinyan was one of the contenders for the
gold medal having topped the qualification rounds as well. But with
Olympic champion Krisztian Berki, rated as the best Pommel Horse
competitor of all time by the International Gymnastics Federation,
in contention, victory wasn’t a sure shot for Merdinyan.

However, it was Merdinyan who displayed an immaculate performance with
15.475 points. On the other hand, Berki was cheered vociferously by
the small Hungarian contingent, but the 2011 World Champion failed to
hit the right notes. He began his performance impressively, but slipped
off the beam and could garner only 14.775 points to finish sixth.

The second place went to Croatia’s Robert Seligman (15.275), while
Slovenia’s Saso Bertoncelj (15.150) came third. Qatar’s Ahmed Aldayani
came eighth with 12.625 points, but it was good show from the local
gymnast and the experience will serve him world of good.

The 2013 World champion Kenzo Shirai of Japan won the Floor event
comfortably. Shirai used his Worlds routine, including eye-popping
quadruple twist dismount — to post the highest score of the entire
meet so far (16.000). That mark, stemming from a 7.4 Difficulty-score,
easily topped second-placed Paul Ruggeri (15.150) of USA and China’s
Wang Peng (15.100), who finished.

Shirai was delighted with his performance and gunned another gold
medal in today’s Vault final, where he is also one of the favourites.

“I am very happy with my performance. It was quite clinical and I put
up a very good score, especially in the difficulty level. Now I want
to win the Vault gold as well,” said the Japanese.

In the women’s Vault, the 2012 Olympic medallist Larisa Iordache
of Romania won the event with a total score of 14.337, ahead of
Slovenia’s Teja Belak (14.100). Hong Kong’s Wong Angel Ying Hiu,
who had finished first in the qualification round, had to settle for
third place with a total score of 13.812 points.

“I expected to do well in all the events but to win the Vault event is
special. I had a good support from the crowd as well, which encouraged
me to do better,” said Iordache.

Olympic veterans Kristyna Palesova of Czech Republic did no harm to
her favourite tag as she won the Uneven Bars event, piping compatriot
Jana Sikulova.

Palesova tallied 13.425 points to Sikulova’s 13.175. Laura Schulte
(12.775) was third. Another Olympian Hiu Ying Angel Wong (10.800)
disappointed finishing in seventh spot.

In the Rings, the last event of the night, Armenians scooped one-two
spots with Artur Tovmasyan and Vahagn Davtyan taking the gold and
silver respectively. Tovmasyan tallied 15.575 points to Davtyan’s
15.425. Henrique Flore of Brazil also had same score as Davtyan,
but was third due to lesser Difficulty score to the Armenian.

It was a major upset in the Rings final, which also featured 2005 World
Rings champion Yuri van Gelder and Double Olympic silver medallist
Marcel Nguyen.

Van Gelder could only his fifth (15.375), while Nguyen, who was making
a comeback after taking break due to burn out, finished sixth (15.250).

Today will be the final day of the event but it promises to be as
exciting as yesterday. There will be five finals, with Olympic and
world horizontal bar champion Epke Jan Zonderland of the Netherlands
in action in the Horizontal Bars and Parallel Bars.

ARMENIA: PROGRESS REPORT SAYS EU COMMITTED TO COOPERATION DESPITE FAILURE TO INITIAL ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT

ENPI Info Centre
March 27 2014

27-03-2014

Last year saw intensive political dialogue between the EU and
the Armenian Government, according to the European Commission’s
ENP progress report on Armenia, released today. Negotiations on an
Association Agreement (AA), including a Deep and Comprehensive Free
Trade Area (DCFTA), were completed in July 2013, but they could not
proceed with its initialing, following Armenia’s decision to apply to
join the Customs Union with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. “Armenia
and the EU remained nevertheless committed to further cooperation
as they jointly stated in the margins of the Vilnius Summit,” the
report says.

The progress report was released by the European Commission as part of
the 2014 European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) package, which underlines
key developments and reform efforts in 2013, and makes recommendations
for the year to come.

It says Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreements were both ratified
in 2013 and entered into force on 1 January 2014. And while Armenia
continued to address issues related to human rights and fundamental
freedoms, further work remains necessary, especially as regards the
implementation and enforcement of legislation. The report says the
February 2013 presidential elections were generally well-administrated
notwithstanding concerns about the integrity of the electoral process.

Despite ongoing reforms, public mistrust of the judicial system
remained high and there was a lack of convincing results in the fight
against corruption, including in police and judiciary. Allegations
of use of torture and ill-treatment in police custody were reported.

The report makes a number of recommendations with a view to a sustained
implementation of the ENP Action Plan in 2014, including greater
cooperation with and protection of civil society, implementation
of OSCE/ODIHR recommendations on elections, reform of governance,
public administration, judiciary and law enforcement, and efforts
towards settlement of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.

BOOSTING KEY SECTORS OF THE ARMENIAN ECONOMY WITH HELP FROM EU-SUPPORTED PROJECT

ENPI Info Centre, EU
March 27 2014

27-03-2014

Armenian government and private sector representatives met with
international experts in Yerevan yesterday as part of an OECD Eurasia
Competitiveness Programme project on enhancing the competitiveness
of key sectors of the Armenian economy. The project is implemented
with the financial assistance of the SME Panel of the European Union
Eastern Partnership.

During 2014, two working groups will formulate policy recommendations
to promote exports by Armenian agribusiness SMEs and to develop
construction material SMEs by establishing a supportive investment
climate for multinational construction materials firms.

Challenges already identified in the agribusiness value chain
include fragmentation of agricultural production, weak links between
agricultural producers and food processors, and difficult access to
global markets. Issues facing potential construction materials industry
investors include the cyclic nature of the local construction sector,
high transport costs, and the fit with available natural resources.

A high-level Armenian delegation will present the resulting
sector-specific recommendations at the OECD Eurasia Competitiveness
Roundtable during the week of 24 November 2014 in Paris. The Roundtable
will bring together high-level representatives from across the Eurasia
region and OECD member countries. (EU Neighbourhood Info)

ARMENIAN FOLK TRIO TO PERFORM MARCH 29

Worcester Telegram, MA
March 27 2014

There’s a haunting, evocative quality to the songs that are sung so
exquisitely by Zulal, an a capella vocal trio devoted to Armenian
folk music.

Zulal’s singers — Teni Apelian, Yeraz Markarian and Anaïs Tekerian —
have been performing together since 2002. “There’s so much in this
genre. We’re yet to extinguish our sources,” Apelian said.

“Zulal, A Folk Journey” at 4 p.m. March 29 in Holy Trinity Armenian
Apostolic Church, 635 Grove St., Worcester, will include Armenian
folk songs from different regions, both historic and present-day.

Similarly, the music is “very ancient and still very contemporary,”
said Apelian, who grew up in Worcester.

The songs can be light, while with pieces based on work you can almost
“hear the spinning wheels,” she said. Also, however, “Armenian culture
in general has a heavy melancholic line, which you hear a lot in the
music,” Apelian said. Tickets are $30. (508) 852-3328.

(Richard Duckett)

REBELS REASSURE CHRISTIANS AFTER CAPTURING KEY SYRIAN BORDER TOWN

TIME Magazine
March 27 2014

Hania Mourtada / Beirut

3:05 PM ET

A rebel fighter checks a launcher near the village of Kessab and
the border crossing with Turkey, in the northwestern province of
Latakia, on March 23, 2014. Rebels seized Kessab a day later.Amr
Radwan al-Homsi–AFP/Getty Images

Kessab, the latest Christian-majority town to fall to rebels,
has become the newest focal point of a media war pitting the Assad
regime against a splintered opposition, as rebels seek to dispel the
perception that they are intolerant of Syria’s religious minorities

It wasn’t long after several Syrian rebel battalions overran the
Armenian-Christian town of Kessab, on the border between Syria and
Turkey, that apocalyptic reports of looting, abduction and mass murder
started appearing in news accounts around the world. “Reports Cite
80 Dead in Kessab; Churches Desecrated,” read one headline in the
diasporic Los Angeles-based Asbarez newspaper. Christian residents
who had fled to nearby towns told reporters they later called home
only to have rebels pick up to tauntingly tell them they had nice
furniture and tasty food.

It has become a familiar trope in the Syrian conflict. Islamist rebels
launch a string of military offensives against a Christian-majority
town to root out government forces there, the latter respond by
indiscriminately bombarding the town, residents run for their lives,
and the government is quick to portray it as another incident of
ethnic cleansing carried out by foreign-sponsored fundamentalists.

Lately, however, rebels have been making a concerted effort to counter
such claims, in online published statements, and, more often, on
YouTube. “[This is] the church of the Armenians in Kessab after its
liberation,” one rebel videographer narrated as he took viewers on a
video tour of one of the city’s perfectly intact churches a day after
rebels took the town. Islam, he declared proudly, teaches respect for
all religions, including Christianity. “The jihadist brothers do not
harm anyone. This is our religion and this is our Islam.”

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Coastal Kessab, the northernmost town in the government stronghold of
Latakia province, has become the latest flashpoint in a battle between
regime forces and rebels determined to secure Syria’s entire northern
border. It has also become the war’s latest ideological battleground,
as both sides attempt to craft competing narratives in a race to come
out on top, not just militarily but also morally. For all the anguished
reports of persecuted Armenian Christians trumpeted by Syrian and
international media outlets, few concrete details have emerged. The
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-government monitoring
organization that has tracked casualties throughout the conflict,
makes no note of dead civilians. Nor is there any photographic or
video proof of destroyed churches in Kessab to date.

Most Christians, according to activists and residents, fled long
before the fighting started, leaving behind a deserted town.

“Contrary to what the flashy Asbarez headlines will have you believe,
the rebels didn’t come in to slaughter Armenians and destroy their
churches,” writes Filor Nigo, an Iraqi-Armenian activist based in the
U.S, on Facebook. “Kessab is a strategically important point in this
military conflict…Syria is engulfed in war and Armenians in Syria
cannot honestly believe that these events would not affect them.”

Increasingly aware of their unflattering image in the media, moderate
rebels are beginning to realize the necessity of deflecting regime
propaganda. They are circulating a message which, whether genuine
or not, borrows from the language of international human rights law
to reassure observers. They insist they are waging their warfare
according to universal principles even as the government portrays a
different reality.

“Considering the interests and well-being of the Syrian population
are our most important priorities, we confirm our commitment to
international human fights law by focusing on military targets and
protecting all civil institutions including schools, hospitals,
places of worship, and houses,” read a recently-circulated social
mediastatement, signed by three major rebel factions including the
Al-Qaeda affiliated Nusra Front. The statement has since been removed
from its original source, with no explanation, but various clips,
with a similar message, are still available on YouTube.

One such clip shows a stilted exchange between Islamist fighters and
three elderly Christian people as they venture out of a building. The
rebels shout reassurances at them while the activist behind the
camera keeps reiterating that this shows how the rebels are keeping
Kessab residents safe. The latter however are visibly perturbed,
if not frightened, and the exchange appears somewhat forced as if
playing out solely for the screen.

Of course, attempts to reassure minorities by the mostly Sunni
opposition are far from new, writes Frederic C. Hof, a senior fellow
at the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, in a recent blog post.

“Opposition leaders have spoken publicly and eloquently about their
vision of a Syria where citizenship will trump all other forms of
political identification, and where Syria’s ethnic and sectarian
diversity will be protected and celebrated.” It’s a comforting vision,
but members of Syria’s minority groups still fear that it will never
make the leap from policy statement to real-world implementation. The
insurgency, plagued by deep schisms, has yet to demonstrate a unified
coherent message. “There is a large disparity in how different rebel
groups envision treating minorities,” says Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi,
a Shillman-Ginsburg Fellow at the Middle East Forum, a nonprofit
organization based in Philadelphia which promotes American interests
in the Middle East. “For the jihadi groups, for example, Alawites
are branded as apostates and Christians are definitely second-class
citizens. Other rebel coalitions speak of protecting minorities
within the framework of Islamic law, but that hardly reassures those
minorities.” More generally, he concludes, “anti-Alawite and anti-Shi’a
sentiment has become mainstream within the insurgency.”

That breakdown in messaging is readily apparent in Kessab. Even
as some rebel groups refute regime propaganda with media-savvy and
conciliatory takes, others have no qualms describing their mission in
overtly sectarian terms. In one clip, a Saudi rebel commander in the
Nusra Front, standing near a sign that reads “Welcome to Kessab,”
promises that the Nusayris, a derogatory term for Assad’s Alawite
minority sect, shall be defeated at the hands of the Sunni Muslims.

“You have your planes, but we have God with us.”

The dizzying array of contradictory clips and statements which have
emerged in the wake of the Kessab takeover reveal two conflicting
currents within the insurgency: defiant ideologically-driven fighters
whose declared mission is a struggle against “apostates” rather than
democracy are sabotaging the images of coexistence that moderate
leaders are putting forward. The question is whether enough factions
will ever rally behind one straightforward message.

SYRIA JA’AFARI TELLS ICP OF SHELLING OF LATAKIA, NOW RUSSIA PROPOSAL

Inner City Press
March 27 2014

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, March 26, updated — While the Security Council
met behind closed doors about the Golan Heights, Syrian Permanent
Representative Bashar Ja’afari came to speak to the press.

Inner City Press asked Ja’afari about Turkey’s shooting of a Syrian
plane, and about a Qatar sponsored event held in the UN on March
21 (see below). Ja’afari answered about Al Nusra shelling Latakia,
and moments later Inner City Press was exclusively told of a Russian
proposal on the shelling.

Update: past 6:30 pm, Inner City Press was informed that in response
to Russia’s proposal, the briefing by the OPCW’s Sigrid Kaag “will
be moved up.” We’ll see.

On the plane shoot down, Ja’afari said on Saturday, March 22 he
spoke with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s chief of staff Malcorra —
and with Jeffrey Feltman, then in Kyiv.

Ja’afari told Inner City Press he has asked UN humanitarian chief
Valerie Amos to be sure to include the attacks on “the Armenians”
in Kassab in her briefing to the Council.

Also in response, Ja’afari said that the Al Nusra Front is shelling
Latakia, where chemical weapons are being taken out of Syria.

Moments later a Security Council member exclusively told Inner City
Press that Russia has proposed a statement on this shelling of Latakia.

On the March 21 event, described below, Ja’afari told Inner City
Press he complained to Malcorra, that the UN is being “corrupted
by petro-dollars.”

When Qatar sponsored an event at the UN on March 21 at which a
report on torture in Syria which Qatar also funded was presented,
it was not listed in the UN Journal. Nor was the event broadcast on
the UNTV Webcast.

Inner City Press heard about it and asked the UN’s top two
spokespeople:

“there is an event in Conference Room 4 right now, sponsored by Qatar,
which is no listed in today’s UN Journal, nor is it on UN Webcast
but it appears to be being filmed. Please explain
the legal status of this meeting, if there are any sponsored beyond
Qatar, how it was publicized and if any request to have it webcast
was made. Thanks, on deadline.”

But no answer was provided. Inner City Press ran to the event and
from the back of a three quarters empty Conference Room 4 asked why
the event was so stealth: not in the UN Journal, not webcast.

The Permanent Representative of Qatar answered, saying it was a
“special event” to which Qatar had invited (some) member states and
groups, and (some) media. There is a UN Media Alert, but this event
was not put in it.

Perhaps it was publicized by the Gulf & Western United Nations
Correspondents Association, which has twice hosted faux “UN” events
by the Syrian National Coalition or Syrian Coalition. (In both cases,
the Free UN Coalition for Access suggested that the SNC hold its
events in the UN briefing room, accessible to all journalists.)

Since French Ambassador Gerard Araud, the first questioner flanked
by representatives of Saudi Arabia and of Turkey which earlier in
the day banned Twitter, has spoken about “fakes” and others about
accountability, Inner City Press asked if the groups Al Nusra and
ISIS, and those who fund them such as private individuals in Qatar
alluded to at the US State Department briefing earlier in the day,
could or would be held accountable.

The SNC representative emphasized what he called links between the
Assad regime and ISIS, saying it was too easy to blame the Gulf
countries.

Here’s from the March 21 US State Department briefing transcript:

Question: you have concerns about the withdrawal of the ambassadors.

Do you also have concerns about the reasons that these countries said
that they withdrew their ambassadors from Qatar? In other words, do you
– if you have concerns about the withdrawal of the ambassadors, do you
also have concerns about Qatar’s behavior, which – alleged behavior,
let’s say – which led to these countries withdrawing their ambassadors?

MS. PSAKI: Well, I know one of the issues that has been mentioned is
the issue of private donations to extremists – and that’s something
that some have mentioned – operating in Syria and elsewhere. It remains
an important priority in our high-level discussions, and one that we
also certainly raise with all states in the region, including Qatar,
including the Government of Kuwait, wherever we have concerns.

After Inner City Press asked about the sponsorship of the event,
a one-page “Joint Statement by the Co-Organizers” was passed out,
listing among the co-organizers France, the UK, US, Belgium, the
Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Inner City Press tweeted it.

Watch this site.

AFTER THE GENOCIDE, A MARKET FOR ARMENIAN BONES?

Worldcrunch
March 27 2014

A Turkish writer tries to piece together a particular episode that
offers a grisly European postscript to the slaugther of the Armenians
last century.

Baskin Oran (2014-03-27)

Manuel Kirkyasaryan, an Armenian from the southern Turkish city of
Adana, had recorded his memories to tape before dying in Sydney in
1997. His son Stepan recently found the last tape he recorded before
his death. We are adding it to the 5th edition of my book M.K. Adlı
Cocugun Tehcir Anilari (“The Deportation Memories of the Child named
M.K.”). One particular episode required further research, which I
first present from the original recording:

“And we said: this is the desert of Deir ez-Zor; there is more to it.

We are going on for now. It was the year 1925. The time is summer. I
was at the workshop of the garage of the Topcuyans in Aleppo where
I worked.

One day a large automobile came to the garage; loaded. There were
some things loaded on the top of it with sacks [stacked] high. I said,
‘That is a big load. Is it not heavy?’ And they told me: ‘No, it is not
heavy; it is light. It looks like a lot, but it is light.’ I asked:
‘What is inside the sacks?’ They told me: ‘There was a time when the
Armenian migrants went to the deserts of Deir ez-Zor; I mean they took
them and killed them [there]. Their bones are what is inside.’ I said:
‘What will they do with this?’ They told me: ‘A company came from
Europe. They will gather these bones and take them to the port of
Iskenderun and send to Europe by ship.’

I asked: ‘What will they do?’ They said: ‘We do not know that part.’
They would probably use them for something. I came across scenes
like this twice. There, the Europeans used the Armenians as tools;
they were even taking their lives and bones for their interest.”

Looking further

This is such a horrifying event that I could not believe it. I thought
maybe they made a joke to the young Kirkyasaryan. However, he says
he saw this twice. And we do know that bare bones are actually large
in mass but light in weight.

Then I was shocked by a message by the devrimcikaradeniz.com website,
where details of the same event were written. It was a summary of the
book written by historian Vlassis Agtzidis that used Greek, American
and French sources and newspapers.

It tells of a ship that sailed December 13, 1924 from the Turkish
port of Mudanya to Marseille, France via Thessaloniki, Greece. There
are no documents onboard about the cargo, but the porters discover
this mysterious load is human bones.

This can be considered normal; things are chaotic in Greece which
just experienced the “Asia Minor Catastrophe” and accepted migrants
as large as a fraction of its population in addition. The people who
ordered the load from Marseille must have intervened.

A story is published in the December 23, 1924 edition of the New York
Times with a Paris dateline that tells of a British registered ship
named Zan that arrived in the port of Marseille, carrying 400 tons
of human bones, suspected of being the remains of those “killed in
the Asia Minor massacres.” There were reports that an investigation
would be opened.

The same details are described in the Midi daily’s December 24, 1924
edition, this time with a Marseille dateline: “These bones are coming
from the Armenian killing fields in Turkey and Asia Minor.”

Neither article was printed on the front page of the newspapers –
though we must remember that Europeans then may have been inured to
massacres in the aftermath of World War I. But the facts reported
fit in with the recording of Kirkyasaryan’s testimony in the 1970’s:
the same years and tons of human bones that must have come from
mass graves.

Who sold and bought the bones? And why?

What would the British and French industrialists who imported this
“product” do with it? I consulted a medical professor who said bones
were used to produce glue, gelatin glass frames and, excuse me,
animal feed (using bones for animal feed is banned by the European
Union after the spread of mad cow disease). The bones would be a
pretty cheap “raw material.”

So, who is the exporter? The title of the devrimcikaradeniz.com is very
problematic: “How the Kemalists Sold 50,000 Human Bones to the French?”

It is not possible that the Kemalists (the Committee of Union and
Progress members) took part in this. It is possible that they would
want the bones out of their sight because it would relieve their
consciences, but exporting Greek bones would mean announcing the
massacres of 1913-16 to the West more clearly than before. Moreover,
who could find a Muslim exporter in 1924?

The story cites French and British soap firms as the buyers. However,
according to my friend, the production of soap is made by fresh bones
and its supplements (meat, fat, intestines, etc) from slaughterhouses;
not from dry bones dug from the ground.

Excuse this focus on such a filthy matter. The “producers” of these
bones are the members of the Committee of Union and Progress of
course. But what’s new in this story is the “merchants,” and they are
the same ones cited in Manuel Kirkyasaryan’s first-hand testimony:
“There, the Europeans used the Armenians as tools; they were even
taking their lives and bones for their interest.”