Author: Kalantarian Kevo

LIVERPOOL TARGET HENRIK MKHITARYAN SCORES GREAT SOLO GOLAZO FOR ARMENIA

Fanatix
June 12 2013

Posted by Dan Kilpatrick 12th June 2013, 12:06pm

Armenia, ranked 89th in the world, pulled off a staggering 4-0 World
Cup qualifying win in Denmark on Tuesday, with Liverpool target Henrik
Mkhitaryan scoring the pick of the goals.

The attacking midfielder has been linked with a move to Anfield
this week and the 24-year-old showed his class with his eleventh
international goal.

With the demoralised hosts 3-0 down, Mkhitaryan cut in from the right
frank and showed great compuse to keep the ball and finish under the
Denmark keeper.

Sign him up, Brendan!

BELARUS, ARMENIA CELEBRATE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS

Belarusian Telegraph Agency, Belarus
June 12 2013

11.06.2013 09:25

MINSK, 11 June (BelTA) – President of the Republic of Belarus
Alexander Lukashenko has sent greetings to President of Armenia
Serzh Sargsyan as the two countries celebrate the 20th anniversary
of the establishment of diplomatic relations, BelTA learned from the
presidential press service.

“The cooperation between our countries based on eagerness to develop
friendly ties, common history and mutual respect of the two brotherly
nations has a deep and comprehensive character,” the message of
greetings reads.

“Over two decades we have managed to make headway in a number of
mutually beneficial areas, conceive a wide range of concrete projects
which are good examples of strategic partnership,” Alexander Lukashenko
noted.

IWPR’S COUNTRY DIRECTOR HAD BOOK CONFISCATED JUST BECAUSE IT WAS PUBLISHED IN ARMENIA.

Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #691
June 12 2013

Bad Books in Azerbaijan

By Shahin Rzayev – Caucasus
CRS Issue 691,

The frontier guard sounded almost exultant when he discovered the
book in my luggage.

“You’re importing extremist literature,” he said, holding the offending
item under my nose.

It was June 9, and I was at the Boyuk-Kesik border crossing, on the
train back from Georgia to my own country, Azerbaijan.

I had just been in the Georgian capital Tbilisi for a seminar
organised by the Conciliation Resources group, which was making a
film about the Nagorny Karabakh war. At the event, I met an Armenian
writer called Tatul Hakobyan, who had just launched his new book,
“Armenians and Turks”. I took the opportunity to buy this book as
well as his previous work, “Karabakh Diary, Green and Black”.

Annoyed that a book should be branded extremist just because they
it was written by someone from Armenia, I produced my press card and
demanded to see the unit commander.

“Why have you decided that the book is extremist when you haven’t
even read it?” I asked the officer, Nazim Azizov.

He replied, “The whole world knows that the Armenians are waging a
propaganda war against us.”

I countered, “Well, if that’s the case, don’t we have to study their
propaganda so as to counteract it? How can we respond if we don’t
read what they’re writing?”

Azizov said he was just following orders, and that his superior had
told him what to do by phone.

At this, I got off the train and went along the platform to the
frontier guards’ office. There was only one other traveller in
a similar fix, a man trying to import more fruit than is legally
allowed into Azerbaijan.

As I argued my case in the office, I told the border guards that I
regularly collaborated with journalists from Armenia and had done
so for more than a decade. I had even had a meeting, together with a
group of Armenian journalists, with the late president Heydar Aliyev,
whose son Ilham now rules the country.

None of this made any impression on the border guards, and they handed
me a chit to sign, although they did change “extremist literature” to
“published in the Republic of Armenia” as the reason for confiscation.

However, this new reason raised as many questions as it answered.

“What if I tried to import a Yerevan edition of Pushkin’s Yevgeny
Onegin?” I asked. “Would you confiscate that, too?”

Azizov replied, “We’ll make that decision when you import it.”

Back in Baku, I asked lawyer Rashid Hajili, director of the Media
Law Institute, what he made of the incident.

Hajili said it was a case of censorship, and a breach of citizens’
right to obtain and distribute information. He explained that even
books that are subject to a legal ban could still be imported as long
as they were single copies for personal use.

Furthermore, he said, customs officers did not have the right to take
this kind of decision by themselves.

“A ban on distributing any kind of literature, even when the aim
is to prevent extremist propaganda, can only be issued by a court,”
the lawyer explained. “In any case, such decisions prohibit only mass
distribution, not single copies.”

I have brought Armenian goods – books, drinks and cigarettes – into
Azerbaijan on many occasions. I have also been to Armenia seven times
and interviewed leading politicians there. Never before have I run
into this kind of problem.

The reason why tighter rules are being imposed on importing
print materials probably has a lot to do with the approach of the
presidential election in Azerbaijan, due on October 16 this year. Yet
in the internet age, regulations of this kind make absolutely no
sense. They will not make any difference at all, except to stop me
reading a book I wanted to read.

Shahin Rzayev is IWPR’s Azerbaijan country director.

JUNE-JULY EDITION OF THE MIDDLE EAST IN LONDON HITS NEWSSTANDS

European Union News
June 11, 2013 Tuesday

SOAS, University of London, UK Government has issued the following
news release:

Considering the deadly sectarian violence in the Middle East, including
the attack on the main cathedral in Cairo and the refugee crisis
in Syria, a special issue on Middle Eastern religious minorities
could not be timelier. London is home to a wide range of Middle
Eastern religious minority communities, including Zoroastrians, Jews,
Christians (Coptic, Armenians, Orthodox, Assyrians and Evangelical),
Baha’ís, and Shi’as (Twelvers, Ismailis, and Alevis).

This issue looks at the historical and contemporary conditions of some
of these groupings, and explores how their institutions and cultural
practices continue to be shaped by social and political dynamics in
the region.

Sami Zubaida’s Insight piece presents the complex and varied history
of confessional identifications and solidarities in relation to wider
political processes across the region. George Joffe, concentrating
on the history of Ibadi communities of Algeria, Tunisia and Libya
and North Africa’s Jewish communities, delivers a rich account
of these largely unknown, and for North African Jews, virtually
extinct communities. His reference to the drafting of the first Arab
Constitution in Tunisia in 1860 echoes current, heated debates on
the place of religion in the new constitutions in the region. Hadi
Enayat’s article, focusing on Egypt and Turkey, engages with a number
of thorny issues in recognising communal rights of religious minorities
in constitutional reform.

Turning to London, Alyn Hine highlights the development of the
Arabic-speaking Orthodox Christian community who left (and continue to
flee) the Levant due to ongoing economic and political tensions. His
visit to St George’s Cathedral near Regent’s Park shows how the
Orthodox community, despite internal national and linguistic divides,
strives to maintain a communal identity in this country. Dan Wheately’s
piece on London’s Baha’í community traces the history of Baha’ís in the
UK and introduces a few of its charitable activities in London. Fadi
Dawood recounts Assyrian-British relations that date back to 1837 and
the political violence in Iraq that led to the Assyrian diaspora in
the UK.

Middle East religious minorities have found diverse and creative ways
to remain connected to their histories and homelands while establishing
a strong communal and public presence in the UK. Susan Pattie looks
at the increasing exposure of Armenian art forms, such as poetry,
music and dance, and their continued renewal in relation to Armenian
identity discourses in the diaspora. Sarah Stewart writes on the
Zoroastrian community in London and the making of an exhibition due
to open in the Brunei Gallery later this year, The Everlasting Flame:
Zoroastrianism in History and Imagination. Sami Zubaida provides a
historical and contemporary account of Middle Eastern Jews, and their
inroads to London life. Kathryn Spellman-Poots, focusing on a campaign
spearheaded by a group of young British Shi’as, takes a generational
look at ways Shi’as are trying to build a public profile in the UK
and beyond.

And finally, among book reviews and the listings of Middle East events
in London, is the Profile piece on Dr Ruba Saleh. Ruba provides
a moving account of her life in the Palestinian Diaspora and how
she ‘developed an academic passion for the study of “difference”
and a commitment to scholarship on justice and rights of the
disenfranchised’.

For further information please visit:

MAJOR OF DM INVESTIGATION SERVICE DETAINED WHILE TAKING BRIBE

Wednesday,
June 12

The head of 2nd unit of the First Garrison Investigative Division
of Armenian Defense Ministry’s Investigation Service Major Vahan
Harutyunian and lawyer Azat Avagimian were detained today while taking
a bribe.

The press service of the Defense Ministry said a criminal case
was opened. The Investigation Service of the Defense Ministry is
conducting an investigation. The criminal case will be sent to the
Special Investigation Service of Armenia.

TODAY, 14:44

Aysor.am

FOREIGN MINISTERS OF AZERBAIJAN AND TURKEY DISCUSS KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

ARMINFO
Tuesday, June 11, 15:32

Expressing satisfaction with high-level bilateral relations between
Azerbaijan and Turkey, the ministers said the two countries will
continue mutual support within international organizations.

They also discussed the settlement process of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict and the situation in South Caucasus and Middle East.

ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN TOURIST EXPEDITION MEMBERS PASS QASAKH CANYON

YEREVAN, June 12./ARKA/. The members of the second Armenian-Russian
tourist expedition, “Path to the single CIS youth space,” passed one of
the narrow and steep pathways leading to the Qasakh canyon in Armenia,
Novosti-Armenia reported.

“None of us has ever passed this pathway before, and we wanted to try
it as one of the goals of our expedition is to reveal new routes,”
said Edgar Navasardyan, the group instructor. The tourists, who are
not pleased with hiking, can try something steeper and get adrenaline,
he added.

The second hiking route laid through the canyons to the medieval
monastery of XII-XIII centuries named Saghmosavank.

The expedition first visited the Alley of letters – a unique monument
located in Aragatsotn region representing the Armenian alphabet,
then took a look at the rock engravings, headed to Saghmosavank and
Ohanavank monasteries, the latter of which is famous for its secret
underground entrance.

“Today we indeed practiced sport tourism of Armenia. We were highly
impressed by passing the route leading to the rock engravings- this
is a unique thing which dates back to the seventh century B.C. The
important and interesting thing was that we were passing the canyon, it
was actually hard,” Elena Lozyanova, a teacher at Russian International
Tourism Academy, told Novosti-Armenia.

According to her, just easy hiking tours should be mixed with extreme
hiking thus encouraging tourists to come to Armenia for sport tourism.

Lozyanova noted the second route of the expedition was experimental
for the members.

“The pathway leading to this place was pretty steep. I wouldn’t say it
was physically hard for me particularly, but it was quite interesting
as I like to pass the pathways which have as few footprints as
possible,” she clarified.

The expedition members spent their night in Byurakan, and on Wednesday
they plan to climb Aragats mountain.

Armenian Tourism Institute and Russian International Academy have
jointly organized the second tourism expedition, “Path to the single
CIS youth space,” in Armenia.

The expedition has two parts : a two-day train tour
(Yerevan-Gyumri-Vanadzor-Alaverdi-Yerevan) to know the motherland
better and tell about it, and the second part that aims to reveal
the tourist sacred roads of Armenia.

The expedition is supported by South Caucasus Railways, VTB
Bank (Armenia) and Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) under the
initiative of RPA Council of Women and under auspices of the
National Assembly and Russian Embassy in Armenia. -0- – See more at:

PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM ENTHRONED AT ST. JAMES CATHEDRAL

11:57 12.06.2013

The courtyard of St. James Armenian Cathedral echoed with the sound
of knocks as a deacon struck a narrow wooden plank at the right of
the cathedral’s entryway. This is the traditional call to service
at the Armenian cathedral of Jerusalem, where pilgrims, clergy, and
guests gathered on Tuesday, June 4, for the enthronement of the 97th
Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian
Church of America reports.

A line of clergy and altar servers walked in a procession from
the Patriarchate Center to the cathedral, where Archbishop Nourhan
Manougian was formally installed as the successor to the throne of St.

James, the first bishop of Jerusalem.

Kneeling at the altar, Archbishop Manougian recited an oath, pledging
his faithfulness to the Lord and commitment to safeguarding the
Armenian presence in the Holy Land.

In an ancient ceremony, seven archbishops-including Archbishop Khajag
Barsamian, Primate of the Eastern Diocese, and Archbishop Vicken
Aykazian, the Diocese’s Ecumenical Director-placed their right hands
on Archbishop Manougian, bestowing him with the authority to lead
the Armenian see of Jerusalem.

Archbishop Sevan Gharibian presented Archbishop Manougian with a
pastoral staff of office.

“Today, as I take up the pastoral staff of the Armenian Patriarchate-as
I take my first, humble step into a legacy that spans the centuries-I
am moved by the conviction that the greatest achievement of my own
people is not the dead kingdoms we once held, but the vital ideas
that sustained our spirit,” Archbishop Manougian said.

He went on to speak of the importance of establishing harmony and
friendship among the many peoples who call Jerusalem home. “The
Jerusalem of our dreams stands in some tension with the Jerusalem that
is,” he said, adding that God “invites us to open our hearts to Him,
and to each other, so that we may reason together, alongside our
heavenly Father.”

Letters from His Holiness Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and
Catholicos of All Armenians, and His Holiness Aram I, the Catholicos
of the Great House of Cilicia, were read by representatives of the two
spiritual leaders. In his message, His Holiness Karekin II renewed
the commitment of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin to support the
efforts of the Jerusalem Patriarchate. Archbishop Aram Ateshian,
the Patriarchal Vicar of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople,
presented Archbishop Manougian with a chalice.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, Archbishop Manougian assumed
the throne of St. James, as members of the Brotherhood of St. James
approached to receive his blessing. The throne of St. James, which
dates to the 17th century, is carved from precious wood and inlaid
with mother of pearl. It stands at the original grave of St. James,
the first bishop of Jerusalem and the brother of Jesus, which has
since been moved under the main altar of the cathedral. The throne
is used only once a year, on the Feast of St. James.

Archbishop Manougian succeeds the late Archbishop Torkom Manoogian,
who passed away in October 2012. He was elected as the 97th Armenian
Patriarch of Jerusalem on January 24, during the 22nd session of the
general assembly of the St. James monastic brotherhood.

Other representatives of the Eastern Diocese who attended Tuesday’s
ceremony include the Rev. Fr. Mardiros Chevian, dean of St. Nersess
Armenian Seminary, and participants in the Young Adult Pilgrimage to
the Holy Land.

TURQUIE : ERDOGAN USE DE LA FORCE, LA PLACE TAKSIM A NOUVEAU EVACUEE

Le Premier ministre Recep Tayyip Erdogan a use de la force mardi
contre les manifestants qui exigent sa demission en faisant evacuer
manu militari a deux reprises la place Taksim d’Istanbul, a la veille
de sa rencontre avec des representants de la contestation.

Fermement decide a mettre un terme a la fronde sans precedent qui agite
depuis douze jours son pays, M. Erdogan a assure que son gouvernement
ne ferait plus preuve “d’aucune tolerance” envers les protestataires.

“Je m’adresse a ceux qui veulent poursuivre ces evenements, qui
veulent continuer a semer la terreur : cette affaire est maintenant
terminee. Nous ne ferons plus preuve de tolerance”, a-t-il declare
devant les deputes de son Parti de la justice et du developpement
(AKP, issu de la mouvance islamiste).

Peu après 07h30 locales (04h30 GMT), les forces de l’ordre ont repris
facilement le contrôle de la place Taksim, le bastion de la fronde,
en repoussant les quelques centaines de protestataires qui y avaient
passe la nuit par des tirs de grenades lacrymogènes ou des billes de
plastique et en utilisant des canons a eau.

Les barricades qui bloquaient l’accès a la place ont ete rapidement
demantelees par des pelleteuses et les drapeaux et banderoles hostiles
au gouvernement arrachees.

Tout au long de la journee, des echauffourees ont oppose la police
et des groupes de jeunes manifestants casques, armes de pierres et
de cocktails Molotov.

En fin de journee, la police s’est finalement repliee devant un
des bâtiments qui bordent la place, cedant a nouveau la place a des
milliers de manifestants. Mais une heure plus tard, elle a pour la
seconde fois balaye la foule, provoquant la panique et faisant de
nombreux blesses parmi les contestataires.

“Nous (la police) attendons devant le centre culturel Ataturk juste
pour nous assurer que les drapeaux et les banderoles ne seront
pas deployes a nouveau pendant la nuit”, a explique le gouverneur
d’Istanbul Huseyin Avni Mutlu sur son compte Twitter.

M. Mutlu a repete que la police n’interviendrait pas pour evacuer le
petit parc Gezi, ce jardin public adjacent a la place Taksim dont la
destruction annoncee a donne le coup d’envoi de la contestation le
31 mai.

Plus tôt dans la journee, M. Erdogan avait pourtant clairement menace
ses occupants de le faire. “Le parc Gezi est un parc, pas une zone
d’occupation”, a-t-il lance devant ses elus, qui l’ont ovationne a
plusieurs reprises. “J’invite les manifestants sincères a regarder
ce qui se passe, a comprendre le jeu qui se joue et a se retirer”
du parc, a-t-il ajoute.

Surpris par l’intervention des forces de l’ordre, les militants du
parc Gezi ont accueilli avec incomprehension l’operation de la police.

Arrestations

“Pouvez-vous croire ca ? Ils attaquent Taksim et nous gazent ce
matin alors qu’ils ont propose hier soir de discuter avec nous ?”,
s’est interroge Yulmiz, un manifestant de 23 ans. “Si on nous chasse
d’ici, nous reviendrons”, a rencheri lance Ali, un retraite de 63 ans,
un masque de chirurgien sur le visage.

Le collectif ecologiste de defense du parc a lui aussi denonce le
recours a la force. “Nous resterons la tant qu’aucune mesure concrète
n’aura ete prise pour satisfaire les demandes des jeunes qui protègent
Taksim et le parc Gezi”, a-t-il ecrit.

La reprise, symbolique, de la place Taksim intervient au lendemain de
l’annonce d’une rencontre, prevue mercredi, entre M. Erdogan et des
representants de la contestation, qu’il n’a eu de cesse de presenter
comme des “pillards” ou des “extremistes”.

L’ONG Greenpeace, invitee a ce rendez-vous, a deja fait savoir
qu’elle ne s’y rendrait pas. “D’abord, la violence doit cesser”,
a-t-elle demande.

La police a procede mardi a des dizaines d’arrestations, dont
73 avocats qui denoncaient, dans l’enceinte du palais de justice
d’Istanbul, l’intervention de la police, selon l’Association des
avocats contemporains.

Les forces de l’ordre avaient quitte la place Taksim le 1er juin,
après vingt-quatre heures presque ininterrompues d’affrontements avec
les manifestants.

Des centaines de personnes etaient venues denoncer la brutalite avec
laquelle la police avait evacue le parc Gezi a l’aube du 31 mai.

Plusieurs centaines de militants associatifs l’occupaient pour denoncer
l’arrachage des 600 arbres du parc dans le cadre d’un projet conteste
d’amenagement de cette place emblematique.

Depuis le retrait de la police, la place du centre d’Istanbul a
accueilli tous les soirs des milliers de personnes, parfois des
dizaines de milliers, exigeant la demission de M. Erdogan, accuse de
derive autoritaire et de vouloir “islamiser” la societe turque.

Sûr du soutien d’une majorite de Turcs, le Premier ministre a adopte
un ton très ferme depuis le debut de la crise, en renvoyant les
contestataires aux elections municipales de 2014 pour exprimer leur
mecontentement. En 2011, l’AKP avait recueilli 50% des suffrages.

Son intransigeance a valu a M. Erdogan de nombreuses critiques dans
le monde entier, notamment de la part de son allie americain ou de
l’Union europeenne (UE), qui ont denonce le recours excessif a la
force par la police turque.

Le syndicat des medecins turcs a annonce mardi la mort d’une quatrième
personne, grièvement blessee il y a quelques jours a Ankara, depuis
le debut des manifestations. Outre ces quatre personnes tuees, trois
manifestants et un policier, près de 5.000 autres ont ete blessees,
dont plusieurs dizaines grièvement.

mercredi 12 juin 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

L’ONG DUR DE VEUT CONSTRUIRE UN NOUVEAU MONUMENT DEDIE AUX VICTIMES DU GENOCIDE SUR LA PLACE TAKSIM

Un representant d’une ONG turque “Dur De” (Dites non au racisme et
le nationalisme) Cengiz Algan a exprime son intention de restaurer
un monument dedie aux victimes du genocide armenien, initialement
installe sur la place Taksim en 1919 a rapporte la presse turque.

” Nous allons installer un nouveau monument au meme endroit que la
precedente. Le passe ne peut etre oublie. Le monument a ete installe
4 ans après le genocide armenien et a demantele en 1940 ” a declare
Cengiz Algan.

“Bien que la majorite des Armeniens ont ete extermines, des milliers
ont survecu et veulent maintenant essayer de prouver le massacre de
leurs ancetres, aneantis sur ces terres”, a declare Cengiz Algan qui
a precise que le parc Gezi etait un ancien cimetière armenien.

mercredi 12 juin 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com