Author: Kalantarian Kevo

SYRIE : QUAND LA TURQUIE CONTINUE LE GENOCIDE ARMENIEN

AgoraVox, France
26 mars 2014

Il y a les discours gentillets, simplistes de nos medias, avec les
bons et les mechants. Et il y a la realite. La realite est souvent
dure, parfois cruelle et quelques fois insoutenable.

L’actualite ukrainienne et son cortège de propagande surannee a fait
passer au deuxième plan la Syrie, où il se passe aujourd’hui des choses
insoutenables sur lesquelles nous n’entendrons pas nos bienpensants.

Retour sur la realite syrienne. Retour sur les exploits des amis de nos
gouvernants qui sevissent la bas, de ces grands democrates impregnes
des valeurs humanistes europeennes, en, premier lieu les Turcs.

A Kessab, petite ville du nord de la Syrie, les combats font rages.

Les masques sont tombes. Il n’est plus question de guerre civile,
mais d’une intervention directe d’un pays, en l’occurence la Turquie,
contre un etat souverain la Syrie.

La Turquie qui nie impunement le genocide armenien a decide de remettre
ca !

Après avoir profanes les eglises sur place, et pille maisons et
bâtiments, des mercenaires turcs appuyes par de “sympathiques”
defenseurs de la Liberte reconnus desormais par Paris comme le seul
gouvernement legal de Syrie, la Turquie vient de proceder a une
epuration ethnique dans le village armenien de Kessab, au nord de
la Syrie.

Si les amoureux des Droits de l’Homme, les BHL, les Fabius les Hollande
les Obama se sont fait remarquer… pour leur silence assourdissant,
il n’en va pas de meme du gouvernement syrien qui a saisi le Conseil
de Securite de l’ONU et du gouvernement armenien qui s’est emu de
cette situation lors de la conference de La Haye normalement destine
a appuyer la polique americaine en Syrie.

Kessab, dans la Memoire Armenienne, ce n’est pas un lieu quelconque,
c’est le seul village armenien qui, lors de genocide de 1915 se
trouvait au dela de la frontière turque. Ce fut le village armenien
de Syrie qui put accueillir les quelques survivant du genocide.

Dans la memoire armenienne les survivant du genocide armenien a Kessab,
c’est un peu comme chez nous, les survivant des Camps de la Morts,
sauves en Europe, in extremis des chambres a gaz par l’arrivee des
troupes sovietiques ! Donc russes et meme aussi armeniennes savez
vous ! Car il y avait des Armeniens nombreux dans l’Armee Sovietique
qui nous delivra des nazis !

Aujourd’hui, au Karabagh armenien, territoire qui, comme la Crimee
fut donne par l’ex-URSS a un autre etat, l’Azerbaidjan, et recupere
in fine par les Armeniens au mepris des frontières artificielles
bureaucratiques de l’ex-URSS qui semblent sacrees pour certains
occidentaux ! Il est vrai que c’est l’heritage de Staline ! Au Haut
Karabagh donc, certains Armeniens demandent l’intervention armee
de leur pays ou, a defaut de partir comme volontaires pour cette
nouvelle Croisade.

Face a cette situation, la question est simple : l’Occident peut-il
continuer, en Syrie comme en Ukraine a faire n’importe quoi ?

Imaginez vous une Allemagne dirigee par un gouvernement negationiste
occupe a combattre les Juifs et les Tziganes a l’etranger aux côte
des Americains et des Europeens ?

Inimiginable ?

Et bien, c’est la situation que vivent aujourd’hui les Armeniens !

Face a cela qu’ont donc a leur dire les Americains ? Ils leur disent
une chose capitale : que ce n’est !pas bien de ne pas soutenir les
USA en Ukraine !

Mais de qui se moque-t-on ? Quand va enfin cesser ces gesticulations
des leaders occidentaux sautant sur les chaises comme des cabris
en criant “Droits de l’Homme, Droits de l’Homme” alors qu’ils s’en
moquent comme une guigne au nom de petits calculs politiques on ne
plus mesquins !

Decidement, de Washington a Paris, de Londres a Berlin, le ridicule
le dispute au grotesque !

Malheureusement ce comportement absurde des pays occidentaux n’est
pas nouveau et n’est pas limite a l’Armenie. Il est reccurent.

Il y a 35 ans, en 1979 les soldats vietnamiens decouvraient les
charniers du monstrueux genocides des Khmers Rouges, l’un des pires
que l’Histoire ait connu.

Que croyez vous que firent nos gouvernement après cela ? Eux qui
s’emeuvent tant qu’on a parfois l’impression qu’ils en sont devenu
des professionnels ! des genocides que connus l’Europe lors de la
seconde guerre mondiale ?

Que firent-ils ?

Ils soutinrent… les Khmers Rouges. Ils armèrent et financèrent les
bourreaux ! Comme aujourd’hui a la frontière turco-syrienne !

Pour des raisons, parait-il politique !

Mais rien ne peut justifier que qui que ce soit ait pu soutenir les
criminels Khmers Rouges. Rien, aucune politique ne peut justifier
qu’aujourd’hui des etats dits civilises, donneurs de lecons soutiennent
les Turcs lorqu’ils continuent le genocide armenien !

Rien !

CAN UKRAINIAN PROTESTS SPREAD THROUGHOUT SOUTH CAUCASUS?

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
March 26 2014

26 March 2014 – 2:51pm

The success of the Ukrainian protests has become a dream for
oppositionists all over the world. However, they seem to neglect
the fact that such coups can only happen to weak governments. The
weakness of President Victor Yanukovych is doubtless. His actions were
not decisive or elaborate: the first crackdown by the Berkut special
police units on December 1 only made matters worse and provoked
complaints about violence against the population.

Yanukovych failed to use any moment of peace to settle the conflict
or to remove all radical elements before their numbers grew. The
president was hesitating and wasting time, while his opponents were
getting stronger every day. Eventually, he shamefully had to flee
the country from people he could have stopped by giving just one order.

Not all countries are run by Yanukovych. Russia only strengthened its
influence. However, there have been many rumours about analogues to
the Ukrainian protests about to hit Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia.

Azerbaijan has increased its economic indexes five-fold in the
past decade. The government fights corruption and focuses on social
development in all sectors. Azerbaijani has neither the forces nor
influence to organize anything similar to the Euromaidan. Moreover,
Azerbaijan has been dynamically developing, while Ukraine was under a
schism of two revolutions. People in Azerbaijan have no reasons to go
onto the streets and protest. Azerbaijan has its own foreign policy,
it lives in ethnic harmony and comparing President Ilham Aliyev with
Yanukovych is simply impossible.

Georgia went through a transition of power 1.5 years ago without
any Euromaidans. It had democratic elections followed by legitimate
reforms. The inability of the new government to improve the situation
in the country can certainly augment protests. The Georgian Dream
coalition may lose power, but the chances of the United National
Movement taking its power back are very unlikely.

Armenia is the most likely South Caucasus country to see a Maidan. It
suffers from economic isolation, unemployment, departure of population,
monopolization of business by functionaries, pension and insurance
reforms. Political uncertainty, where President Serzh Sargsyan has not
named his successor yet, only adds to the grave situation. Micromaidan
protests happen in Yerevan every day and have no force to transform
into mass protests.

The West is pretty much indifferent to the events in Armenia, as long
as the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains frozen. The conflict halts
development of the region and allows large geopolitical players to
keep their roles of senior partners. Their positions may change after
the events in Crimea.

ARMENIANS AND DOUKHOBORS IN GORELOVKA, GEORGIA

Democracy & Freedom Watch
March 26 2014

by Mari Nikuradze | Mar 26, 2014

TBILISI, DFWatch-Gorelovka is a small village in Samtskhe-Javakheti,
a region to the south of Georgia populated by ethnic Armenians,
Russian Doukhobors and Georgians who have been resettled from Adigeni
and Khulo because of landslides.

The village is small and, locals say, the winter lasts more than
seven months with lots of bad weather, that is why almost everyone
have cattle and hay or work at the farm.

There are no big conflicts in the village, but people tell us about
minor disagreements between neighbors about agricultural lands and
livestock.

According to the last population estimate, in 2002, there are 1,069
persons living in Gorelovka. 200 families are Doukhobors.

Tania is a Doukhobor who has been living in Gorelovka with her family
for years. She says Doukhobors are Orthodox Christians, but without
mediators.

In the end of the nineteenth century, more than 2,000 Doukhobors
burned their weapon as a sign of protest against violence. They were
punished and many were resettled from Georgia to Siberia. By the 1990s,
there were about 4,000 Doukhobors in Georgia, but after the turn of
the millenium, many left the country.

According to Tania, Russians have been living in Gorelovka since before
the Armenians. They were resettled from Russia in the nineteenth
century, about 40,000 of them, but more than 20,000 soon left for
Canada, 6,000 for Turkey. Others went to Azerbaijan or moved to
Tbilisi.

Prayer house of Doukhabors in Gorelvka (DF Watch)

“Every Sunday, we go to our prayer house, but we do not buy a candle,”
she says, adding that Doukhobors are refurbishing the prayer house
themselves, no-one helps them.

She lives here with her husband and son, while her daughter married
a neighbor and lives in the next house.

“A village is a village. There are problems, and if a problem can be
solved, we help each other,” she says, adding that there are no big
problems, but sometimes villagers argue with each other about lands.

Tania is a tall woman with silver hair hidden inside a brown
traditional kerchief, green sweater and brown dress. He house
is painted in green and blue colors, just like other houses of
Doukhobors. She has small garden and owns several cows to sell some
milk products for living. Like the others we met, she didn’t want us
to take her picture.

Currently, around 200 Doukhobors are left here. She says she doesn’t
want to be a citizen of Russia as being a citizen of Georgia is enough
and she doesn’t want double citizenship unless she lives here. But
she doesn’t plan to move anywhere.

Zurab and his son at house in Gorelovka (DF Watch)

Zurab Shavadze, 68, was resettled to Gorelovka after landslide in
Adigeni. He says he has to work at the farm of his Armenian neighbor
because he doesn’t own land here. He has to milk cow, clean manure and
do other necessary work at the farm for about 120-150 GEL (USD 70-85)
a month.

“It is hard for a Georgian man to live here without land,” he says,
adding that the government promised to give him land, but hasn’t
received anything during the four years since he moved here.

He says there are about 220 families in Gorelovka and about 70 of
them are Georgian, while about 50 families are Doukhobors.

Zurab tried to work at a tea plantation in Turkey, but he didn’t
receive enough money to both live and send some to his family. That is
why he came back. He lives here with his wife, son and grandson. There
is water and electricity, but no gas in the village, and they use an
oil heater to keep warm in winter, and sometimes wood.

“We have normal relations with Armenians, but they own everything; we
have nothing. So we have to work on their land for low compensation,”
he continues.

We meet Azad, an Armenian farmer, in the street with cows. He says
he has no time to talk and refuses to let us walk with him, but says
that the biggest problem for him and the whole village is water.

“They seem to come every year to fix water, but spend this money and
in the end we have no water,” he says.

There are two schools in the village. One is for Russians and
Georgians, another one is Armenian. Kids from all ethnicities play
together in the yard, climbing old Soviet truck or playing in hay.

Villagers say local government doesn’t pay much attention to them.

Some come right before election, give promises but never come back.

A man from Doukhobor family, who also refuses interview and pictures,
briefly tells us that his life is good in Gorelovka. He lives with
little daughter and wife. Has about 15 cows and sells milk products
for living.

“Someday I will go to Russia, but not now. I feel fine here today,”
he says getting back to his work in yard.

Tatiana Tkemaladze is a teacher of Georgian literature and grammar at
school. She is eco-migrant from Adjara. She said one of the problems
for the village is transport, because no municipal transport comes
to Gorelovka from town, which is Ninotsminda.

She moved here in 2001 with two children. Many families were
resettled here just like her, but many left due to bad weather and
other problems.

“It is very hard to live in a village without farm,” she says adding
that she doesn’t own cows, but she has little harvest of potatoes in
back yard.

Her daughter married Armenian man and now she has five grandchildren,
while her son studies at military academy in Kutaisi. She says there
are mixed families in Gorelovka, which is normal.

FORMER SYUNIK GOVERNOR SELLS HIS PROPERTY

17:20 / 26.03.2014

Former governor of Syunik province Surik Khachatryan has put some of
his property for sale. He is selling some of his gas charging points
– the one on Kapan-Goris highway crossroad, the other on the way to
Tatev and the other in Bazarcha.

According to sources, he hurries to sell Bazarcha point as the
territory will soon be destroyed for the construction of highway.

Nyut.am

IN 1990 SHANT AND HIS SQUAD DISARMED RUSSIAN TROOPS

Roza Hovhannisyan, Reporter
Country – Tuesday, 25 March 2014, 17:26

The leader of Tseghakron Party Shant Harutiunyan has been held in
custody for already five months since the famous events of November 5.

He was charged with violence against a representative of authorities.

Shant Harutiunyan’s advocate Inesa Petrosyan has stated for a number
of times that corpus delicti is missing in this case because the
policeman against whom Shant Harutiunyan used violence on November
5 was wearing plain clothes.

The political prisoner Shant Harutiunyan is a veteran of war in
Artsakh, he took part in the large-scale military actions in Syunik
with his squad named Tseghakron. However, since he has been arrested,
he was regularly rumored that he did not participate in any military
action.

Lragir.am talked to Shant Harutiunyan’s brothers-in-arms who say
those rumors are groundless and offensive.

Veteran of war and writer Vahe Avetyan told Lragir.am that it is
strange when someone doubts Shant Harutiunyan’s military past in a
stage when Shant stands up with slogans of brotherhood, equal rights
and freedom and is arrested for that.

“10,000-15,000 people participated in the war but today there are
120,000 registered veterans in Armenia. And I’m not surprised that
110,000 liars would discredit 10,000-15,000 soldiers,” he notes.

Vahe Avetyan remembers that Shant Harutiunyan’s squad participated
in the fight against the Soviet Army in Nubarashen.

“The HAB, and even the so-called Mush and the others were afraid to
fight the Russians, they said it’s a provocation and ran away. They
let the Russian troops enter Yerevan just like earlier they entered
Baku and killed several thousands of people, earlier there was the
massacres of Tbilisi. It was going round towns. In Nubarashen the
Tseghakron squad led by Shant stood up against the Soviet Army,”
he told us.

Besides, Vahe Avetyan remembers that Shant Harutiunyan was able to
seize a lot of weapons and ammunition from the Russian troops which
was later used to defend Syunik. “There were several such offensives
against the Russian army, and one of those actions was headed by Shant
Harutiunyan. Besides, he was sieged, in Syunik, and Ashot Navasardyan
was informed about it. The Russian military representatives sent a
note to Ashot Navasardyan and asked him to urge Shant to return the
weapons and they would not launch a military action and hit them.

Shant remained sieged for a week but refused to return the weapons. He
said I will not give any weapon to the invader of my country, let them
come and take it. It was 1990. How can they question the military past
of this person? First they put him to prison, now they are discrediting
him. In order to devalue what this person said, they tell him to prove
that he is he. Who are you to prove something to you? You who doubt,
what have you done for this country?” Vahe Avetyan says.

Vigen Tsatryan, an activist of the movement of Artsakh, veteran of
war in Artsakh remembers that even an ordinary soldier of Shant
Harutiunyan’s squad had high defense capability. “It would be
impossible to be at the defense line of Zangezour and not know who
Shant Harutiunyan was. It could be only someone who dealt with defense
after 1992 and to them service is only the state army, without thinking
how the state survived till the creation of the army and how the army
was created,” Vigen Tsatryan said in an interview with Lragir.am.

He also remembers that in 1990 Shant Harutiunyan with his squad
disarmed the Soviet troops and seized a lot of arms and ammunition.

“The action was implemented under Shant’s command, Shant, Pagan Gago,
Misak, Shant’s other guys disarmed. I only hid those weapons. We used
those weapons later in 1992 in Kapan. In 1992, two days after they
started firing Kapan Shant’s squad picked up those weapons and went
there. And all the people of Kapan know it. If this is not a military
action, what is a military action then?” he says.

Vigen Tsatryan says there were situations during the war when Shant
Harutiunyan held the most staunch position. “It was not just a
matter of holding a gun. The rights solutions were to be found in
each situation. It was a very difficult task,” he says.

Vigen Tsatryan remembers that during the war only Shant Harutiunyan’s
squad had machine guns which he had seized from the Soviet troops. “It
was essential to counterattack the sudden attacks of the enemy at
important points. It was important, people saw there were guns and
were encouraged to not leave their houses. It did not occur to anyone
that they would later need proof that they fought. We did not have
proper shoes to wear, let alone a photo camera or a video camera to
take evidence. Those who had their pictures taken had the special
necessity for photographing,” he noted.

Raphael Asryan, the commander of the first unit of volunteers, later
commander of a company, remembers that Shant Harutiunyan took an
active part in the defense of Syunik.

“I was the commander of the volunteers. I guarded the village of
Uzhanist, Yeghvard, with my squad. First Shant Disarmed the Russian
troops. When the HAB regimen was created, a company was created in
Kapan, I was its commander, Shant and his squad did not join the
company but controlled Kapan-Goris road running along the border. He
took part in any action that was in Kapan. It is not only me who
knows this, all the people of Kapan do,” Raphael Asryan said in an
interview with Lragir.am

– See more at:

ARMENIA FOR SALE: OPPOSITION SAYS GOVERNMENT ACTED ILLEGALLY IN SELLING OFF RESOURCES

Politics | 26.03.14 | 15:02

Photo:

By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow reporter

The Armenian parliament has adopted by first hearing the bill on
changes and amendments to the law On State Property Administration,
qualified by the four oppositional factions as anti-constitutional.

The opposition forces say the Government is attempting to make the
sale of Vorotan Hydro Power Plant and ArmRosGasProm Company’s remaining
20 percent stock look legal.

Last year a US-based Contour Global company purchased Vorotan complex
of hydropower plants comprising of Spandaryan, Shamb and Tatev HPPs.

This was the biggest American investment in Armenia. Oppositional
Armenian National Congress (ANC) faction member Lyudmila Sargsyan
says this sale is perceived as a “traditional kickback”. ANC faction
leader Levon Zurabyan believes the deal was made with violations of
the law and without the parliament consent.

The sale of ArmRosGasProm Company’s remaining 20 percent stock that
still belonged to the Armenian side and the company’s handover to
Russia is also seen by the opposition as an illegal deal, because
it was state property and the Government did not have the parliament
approval to sell.

“The government has violated the law. And one more important
circumstance – that 20 percent of stock was the property of all of
us, hence the government had no right to administer that 20 percent
as a payback for private company expenses,” says ANC MP Aram Manukyan.

The oppositional law-makers say the government has no issues or
difficulties in terms of state property because it has an overwhelming
majority in the parliament who vote for any property privatization
list.

Parliament speaker Hovik Abrahamyan says he will come back to the
bill after the first hearing and, if necessary, public hearings will
be held.

On March 24, the parliament finished discussing the controversial
bill, by which the National Assembly’s approval for state property
privatization would no longer be required. What this means is that
after introducing the changes in the law the government, in effect,
can quietly alienate entities of highest state importance, skipping
public discussions, hence sparing itself from criticism.

KANGAROO MATHS COMPETITION TO BE HELD IN ARMENIA AND NAGORNO-KARABAKH MARCH 27

YEREVAN, March 25. / ARKA /. The international math competition
“Kangaroo 2014” will be held March 27 in schools of Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh, AYB education foundation said.

This year’s competition has attracted more than 44,200 students from
grades 3-12 in 1040 schools in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic,
it said.

In Armenia the contest is being held for the sixth time.

The exclusive organizer of the contest in Armenia is AYB education
foundation. The competition is held under the patronage of the
ministries of education and science of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

Mathematical Kangaroo is an international competition. There are twelve
levels of participation: from grade 1 to grade 12. The competition
is held annually on the third Thursday of March.

According to the organizers, the key competence tested by the Kangaroo
is logical combination, not just pure knowledge of formulas.

Because of the rising popularity of the Mathematical Kangaroo in
many participating countries, it is currently the most participated
scholar math competition: over 7,000,000 students from 63 countries
are to take part in this year’s competition. -0-

– See more at:

PLACE OF ARMENIA IN NEW WORLD ORDER IS CLEAR

Siranuysh Papyan, Interviewer
Interview – Wednesday, 26 March 2014, 15:54

Mr. Hairapetyan, how will the unification of Crimea with Russia affect
the activities of the Minsk Group and the negotiations?

Since the United States is not Armenia, and the American government
is not the Armenian provincial government, we need not fear serious
difficulties. Such a thoughtless behavior of the Armenian government
could not be something unexpected for the United States which
always understands us well. And the Russian government does not
have any resource for the next hara-kiri. Hence, there will not be
a breakthrough in the activities of the Minsk Group. It is another
issue that Crimea marked the new stage of the global movement which
will impose its logic on the Armenian side in the future.

What consequences will recognition of the referendum of Crimea for
Armenia have? Didn’t Armenia have another option?

Of course, it had. And the saying “silence is gold” is meant for
the thoughtless. Had Armenia had a government with common sense, as
a guarantor of interests of the second ethnic group displaced from
Crimea in the soviet period, it could offer its mediation to a peace
settlement to Ukrainians, Russians, Tatars, Western partners rather
than position in the anti-civilization camp.

What is your opinion on the recent opinion that Karabakh must unite
with Russia. Are these spontaneous or directed statements?

In fact, the Armenian elite has never lacked spontaneous ignorance
because such ignorance has mostly been directed and imposed, it
is beyond doubt. Do they understand now who had ordered Mr. Zori
Balayan’s infamous letter and what it meant to prepare?

There is a point of view that the developments of Crimea establish the
new world order. What place will Armenia have in the new world order
and what scenario of the new world order will be the best for Armenia?

The new world order has been established a long time ago. Simply the
remnants of the old world order disappear stage by stage. And in the
new world order the role of Armenia is clear – to be the inherent part
of the Free World. The question is whether we deserve to maintain,
strengthen and enlarge this place.

Is there sufficient domestic potential in Armenia to face the
challenges considering the circumstance that four non-governmental
forces are limited to the issue of replacing only the government,
at best the president?

Nothing will change not only from bringing up but also achieving
change of government. The issue is deep inside and very simple. Do
we want to transform from a slave to a master which is the same thing
in terms of worldview? Or do we want to set up a free system of free
people? This is the question that we avoid answering with honesty,
devotion and readiness. This is what the new world order is demanding
from us and not surrendering Karabakh. Meanwhile, we have forgotten
what makes human a Human and diversity a Society of People. Mr. Shant
Harutiunyan is right – we need a revolution of values.

– See more at:

ARMENIANS OF KESAB ARE TRUE HEROES: PARLIAMENT DELEGATION IN LATAKIA

Wednesday,March 26

Deputy of Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) faction Arman Sahakian,
who along with other members of the Armenian parliament’s delegation
has arrived in Latakia, wrote about his first impressions on his
Facebook page:

“I am now in Latakia’s Armenian church where the Armenian families
evacuated from Kesab found shelter. I can only say that the men of
Kesab are true heroes,” the deputy noted.

Another member of the parliamentary delegation, Heritage faction
deputy Tevan Poghosian wrote on Facebook: “The Armenians of Kesab are
heroes. True heroes. I am proud of such compatriots. We must stand
by their side”.

We would remind you that a group of deputies of Armenia’s National
Assembly left for Syria yesterday in connection with the events
in Armenian-populated town of Kesab in northwestern Syria. The
delegation is composed of HHK faction members Ms. Naira Karapetian,
Samvel Farmanian, Levon Martirosian and Arman Sahakian, independent
deputy Edmon Marukian, and Tevan Poghosian of Heritage faction.

KAREN SARIBEKIAN: TURKEY POSES THREAT TO ALL REGIONAL COUNTRIES

Wednesday,
March
26

“History shows that Turkey does its black deed when occasion offers
and that in reality this country has not changed. Turkey poses a
threat to all the regional countries,” Armenian parliamentary deputy,
member of the Standing Committee on Defense, National Security and
Internal Affairs Karen Saribekian told Aysor.am when speaking about
the events in Syrian town of Kesab.

In his words, the international community that raises human rights
issues currently keeps silent not only about the ongoing events in
Kesab, but also in Syria when the Turks have seized the opportunity,
provoking such a situation.

“In fact, Turkey is interfering in Syria’s internal affairs. Moreover,
Turkey’s actions contribute to activities of radicals, terrorist
organizations, but the civilized world remains silent,” Saribekian
said.

Aysor.am