Author: Kalantarian Kevo

TODAY MARKS 5 YEARS SINCE MARCH 1, 2008 POST-ELECTION TRAGEDY (VIDEOS)

11:30 ~U 01.03.13

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the March 1, 2008 post-electoral
unrest that later developed into violent clashes between the protesting
crowd and the police, leaving 10 people dead and scores of others
injured.

Dissatisfied with the outcomes of the 2008 presidential election,
hundreds of Armenians were holding protest demonstrations in Yerevan’s
Liberty Square in late February. The crowd was led by first President
Levon Ter-Petrosyan who later became the head of the opposition
alliance Armenian National Congress. The last days of the protests
saw tents in the square with the names of different administrative
regions of Armenia.

Following the calls of Nikol Pashinyan, an opposition activist and
the editor-in-chief of the Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper, the crowd
was rallying round-the-clock, periodically cleaning the square of
dirt and rubbish.

A Wikileaks cable released two years later said that the then
president, Robert Kocharyan, sanctioned special police operations in
the area after the police forces and special services gave assurances
for clearing the square of opposition activists within just a couple
of minutes.

The leaked cable, dated March 10, 2008, was written by Dr. Joseph
Pennington, a deputy US ambassador to Armenia, who revealed details of
a secret meeting with Garnik Isagulyan, Kocharyan’s security advisor.

According to the diplomat, Isagulyan had admitted that the police
operations were sanctioned by the second president.

Early in the morning on March 1, police officers assaulted the peaceful
crowd in the square on allegations of finding weapons, arm supplies
and Molotov cocktails. Most protesters, including women, were being
beaten in the vicinities.

A spontaneous protest erupted hours later in Myasnikyan Square
(outside the French and Russian Embassies) where the crowd dispersed
from Liberty Square had gathered together to continue the rally. The
police were redeployed in the area by the afternoon.

The atmosphere was growing tense, with several buses being turned
over and rumors circulating that a child had been shot to death in
Liberty Square early in the morning.

Rumors about deaths emerged a day later, but no exact number was
reported.

Days later it became clear that the violent clashes has claimed
the lives of 10 people, with eight being civilians. More than 200
received bodily injuries with different degrees of gravity. Over
100 activists were jailed following the turmoil. The deceased were
Tigran Khachatryan, Gor Kloyan, Grigor Gevorgyan, David Petrosyan,
Armen Farmanyan, Zakar Hovhannisyan, Samvel Haurutyunyan, Hamlet
Tadevosyan, Hovhannes Hovhannisyan and Tigran Abgaryan.

Myasnikyan Square will host a commemoration ceremony later today. A
crowd headed by the leader of the opposition Heritage party, Raffi
Hovhannisian and the opposition Armenian National Congress will lay
flowers at the Myasnikyan statue to remember the victims.

Following the March 2008 events, the Armenian directors Tigran
Paskevichyan and Ara Shirinyan produced the documentary Armenia:
Lost Spring, to describe the tragic developments. The film is
presented below.

MANIFESTATION A ISTANBUL CONTRE LES POURPARLERS DE PAIX AVEC LE PKK

Plusieurs centaines de manifestants ont proteste dimanche a Istanbul
contre les discussions de paix avec les rebelles kurdes engagees depuis
decembre par les autorites turques, a constate un journaliste de l’AFP.

“Nous voulons du respect pour les Turcs” et “Nous voulons du respect
pour les martyrs”, a scande la foule en remontant l’avenue de
l’Independance, la principale artère commercante de la metropole.

Les soldats tombes au combat contre la rebellion du Parti des
travailleurs du Kurdistan (PKK) sont qualifies en Turquie de martyrs.

“Nous sommes les soldats de Mustafa Kemal”, ont egalement clame les
manifestants, faisant reference au fondateur de la Turquie moderne,
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

La manifestation est survenue au lendemain d’une visite de deputes
kurdes au chef emprisonne du PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, sur l’île-prison
d’Imrali (nord-ouest), a l’issue de laquelle le dirigeant rebelle a
qualifie d'”historique” le processus de paix en cours.

“Suspendez Imrali, pendez ce bâtard d’Ocalan”, ont crie les
manifestants, dont plusieurs faisaient de la main le signe du loup,
signe de ralliement des Loups Gris, une organisation d’extreme droite
radicale.

De nombreux protestataires ont egalement appele a la demission le
gouvernement du Parti de la justice et du developpement (AKP, issu
de la mouvance islamiste) et son Premier ministre Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Les autorites turques ont lance en decembre des discussions de paix
avec le PKK, qui se sont concretisees par plusieurs entretiens entre
Abdullah Ocalan et des responsables du renseignement turc, ainsi que
deux visites de deputes kurdes a Imrali.

L’objectif est faire deposer les armes au PKK au printemps.

Le PKK combat le gouvernement d’Ankara depuis 1984. Il est considere
comme une organisation terroriste par la Turquie et de nombreux
pays occidentaux. Les combats ont fait plus de 45.000 morts, selon
l’armee turque.

Une precedente tentative de negociation avec le PKK en 2009 avait
echoue.

vendredi 1er mars 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

GAZPROM ENTRE DANS UN NOUVEAU PROJET PETROLIER AU KURDISTAN

Gazprom est entre dans un nouveau projet d’extraction de petrole au
Kurdistan irakien malgre de recentes tensions avec le pouvoir central
de Bagdad, mecontent de ses activites dans cette region autonome,
a indique mardi un responsable du geant russe du gaz.

“Nous avons rejoint un nouveau projet au Kurdistan”, a declare Vadim
Iakovlev, directeur general adjoint de Gazprom Neft, filiale petrolière
du groupe public, cite par les agences russes.

Gazprom Neft sera a la tete du projet de Halabja, dont il detiendra 80%
contre 20% au gouvernement de la region, a-t-il precise. Ce gisement
petrolier pourrait renfermer des reserves atteignant 100 millions de
tonnes de petrole, selon lui.

“Notre prochaine tâche sera de preparer les travaux d’exploration”,
qui doivent durer sept ans, a explique M. Iakovlev.

En visite a Moscou la semaine dernière, le president de la region
autonome du Kurdistan Massoud Barzani avait indique avoir conclu des
“accords très importants avec Gazprom Neft”, sans en preciser la
nature. Le groupe russe est present dans la zone sur les gisements
de Garmian et Shakal.

En novembre, le gouvernement irakien avait somme Gazprom de choisir
entre l’exploitation du champ petrolier de Badra, dans l’est de l’Irak,
et son engagement avec le Kurdistan.

Bagdad est furieux de voir nombre de compagnies petrolières etrangères
faire affaire directement avec la region autonome sans solliciter
son accord.

A l’automne, l’americain ExxonMobil avait repondu a un ultimatum pose
par Bagdad en disant preferer un contrat signe avec le Kurdistan a
l’exploitation d’un champ petrolier du sud de l’Irak.

vendredi 1er mars 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

Russian-Georgian relations improve – Russian Foreign Ministry

TERT.AM
15:39 – 02.03.13

A progress has been registered in Russian-Georgian relations, Russian
Vzglyad reports citing Russia’s Foreign Ministry.

It was stated by the Russia’s deputy minister Grigory Karasin and
Georgia’s PM’s special representative on regulation of relations with
Russia Zurab Abashidze at the meeting in Prague.

Russian ministry said high level meetings between the two countries
have taken place since the change of power in Georgia. Russia’s
president Vladimir Putin met with Georgia’s Patriarch Ilya II,
Russia’s PM Dmitry Medvedev met with his Georgian counterpart Bidzina
Ivanishvili in Davos, representatives of parliaments of the two
countries met in Strasburg.

In late February Russia’s food safety watchdog Rospotrebnadzor’s
delegation visited Georgia to study the opportunity of resuming the
import of Georgian wine and mineral waters to Russia. Issues on
restoring air communication, partnership in humanitarian sphere,
facilitation of visa regime have been discussed.

`Overall the meeting was constructive and progress has been registered
in a number of spheres,’ Ministry said about Karasin-Abashidze
meeting. The next meeting will take place in late May and early June.

Kurdish Rebel Leader Issues Dire Warning for Turkey

FILE – Kurds take part in a demonstration calling for the release of
Kurdistan Workers Party [PKK] leader Abdullah Ocalan, in Strasbourg,
eastern France, Feb. 16, 2013.

Reuters
February 26, 2013

ISTANBUL – Emerging briefly from solitary confinement in his island
prison near Istanbul, Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan said
Turkey could become as troubled as Syria or Iraq if it does not take
steps to end his group’s decades-old insurgency.

A paunchy and graying Ocalan, cut off from the world since his capture
in 1999, told a delegation of pro-Kurdish MPs visiting him at the
weekend of his plans to end a 28-year conflict that has killed 40,000
people.

Ocalan has been negotiating the outlines of a peace deal with Turkey’s
government from his cell since he intervened to end a hunger strike by
jailed Kurdish militants last year.

With a Turkish intelligence official listening in the background, he
spoke for two hours on Saturday about Turkey, the changing Middle East
and his political beliefs, relishing attention he has long been
denied.

“We must establish a new democratic republic in line with the new
world and the new Middle East. The Kurdish problem can only be solved
with Turkey’s democratization,” the 63-year-old Ocalan said, his words
relayed to Reuters by parliamentarian Altan Tan.

“If it is not solved, these problems in Turkey will deepen… God
forbid, we will end up like Iraq or Syria,” Tan relayed him as saying,
calling for a new constitution and democratic reforms to avoid such a
“disaster.”

Seeking autonomy

Ocalan’s Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) took up arms in 1984 with the
aim of carving out a Kurdish state, but has since moderated its goal
to autonomy. It is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United
States and European Union.

Turkish forces clashed with PKK fighters last month, killing four of
the rebels after they killed a police officer in the province of
Mardin.

The Turkish military has continued attacks on PKK forces in southeast
Turkey and northern Iraq in recent weeks, and Prime Minister Tayyip
Erdogan has said the military operations will continue until the PKK
lay down their arms.

Turkish warplanes bombed PKK targets in northern Iraq on Feb. 20 and
Kurdish media said military operations targeting the militants were
conducted in southeast Turkey near the border with Iraq this week.

Yet Ankara will need the help of Ocalan to end a conflict which has
destabilized Turkey and stunted development in its mainly Kurdish
southeast.

It is a remarkable change of fortune for a man dubbed “baby killer”
and “monster of Imrali” by nationalists, and reviled by most Turks,
who hold him responsible for 28 years of bloodshed.

Critical weeks ahead

For the three visiting Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputies, he
cut a very different figure. Wearing a gray cardigan, gray corduroy
trousers and white sport shoes, the mustachioed Ocalan was “very
polite and addressed everybody respectfully,” said Tan.

FILE – A Kurdish demonstrator holds a flag with a portrait of jailed
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan in Strasbourg,
France, Feb.14, 2009.
For 14 years, Ocalan has had little contact with the outside world
besides newspapers delivered to his cell. His lawyers have been denied
access to him for one-and-a-half years, but his brother has been
allowed occasional visits.

He also has contact with several other inmates sent to join him in
2009. More recently, he was given access to television.

Ocalan views efforts to draft a new constitution for Turkey as an
opportunity to secure the devolutionary reforms long demanded by his
group.

His draft peace plan has been sent to the BDP and the PKK leadership
in northern Iraq and Europe. The leader of the BDP, which received the
“road map” on Tuesday, said all sides needed to respond swiftly.

“The next two or three weeks will be very critical for the process,”
BDP leader Selahattin Demirtas told reporters late on Monday, saying
the government now needed to take “practical, concrete,
confidence-building steps.”

“This is not a process that can be put on Mr. Ocalan’s shoulders
alone. Above all the government, but also all groups in favor of peace
and solution, society and the public must give strong support for the
process,” he said.

Ocalan could call a ceasefire at the Kurdish New Year on March 21 and,
in a first step, the PKK may release some 16 Turkish captives it is
holding by this weekend, according to media reports. Such details were
not discussed in Saturday’s meeting.

Stand-down for reforms

The plan would then see the withdrawal of several thousand PKK
fighters from Turkey to their bases in northern Iraq before their
ultimate disarmament in exchange for reforms boosting the rights of a
Kurdish minority which makes up around 20 percent of a population of
76 million.

Erdogan’s government has presented to parliament a penal code reform,
which could lead to the release of many Kurdish activists jailed over
alleged PKK ties. Among other reforms, Kurdish politicians seek
Kurdish language education and a constitution boosting equality.

Only a few people have been privy to details of the negotiations
between Ocalan and Turkey’s intelligence agency, the MIT. MP Pervin
Buldan said they had to wait for the arrival of MIT officials before
starting Saturday’s talks.

Ocalan had been talking with an MIT official when they were taken in
to meet him and they shook hands before beginning their talks, Buldan
said. She gave Ocalan a pen and Muslim prayer beads as a present.

The third deputy, leftist filmmaker Sirri Sureyya Onder, gave him a
parliamentary report on coup investigations.

Fuller Center for Housing Armenia
Yerevan 0033, Baghramyan str. 3rd lane, house 10a
Email: [email protected],
Web:
Contact: Kim Bardakian
Tel: 510-499-5723

Bay Area Humanitarian Trip to Armenia, July 12- 25, 2013
Global Builders: Building homes, building community, building hope!

Join a group of Bay Area Armenians as they head to Yerevan, Armenia
from July 12 -25 to build a home with The Fuller Center. The group
will also visit the historical and cultural sites of the country. To
learn more about this group contact Larissa Printzian, group team
leader at [email protected] or 831-345-3317. This group is open to all
ages (minors need adult accompaniment).

Fuller Center for Housing Armenia is a Non-government Charitable
Organization that supports community development in the Republic of
Armenia by assisting in building and renovating simple, decent and
affordable homes, as well as advocating the right to decent shelter as
a matter of conscience and action. For

US Official News
March 1, 2013 Friday

Washington: SPEECH OF HON. FRANK PALLONE, JR. OF NEW JERSEY IN THE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

Washington

The Library of Congress, The Government of USA has issued the following Speech:

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, again this year I stand to recognize an
important period that remains a strong reminder that we must continue
to address violent human tragedies whenever they occurred. The
American and Armenian people use this time of year to recommit
themselves to preventing any further violence. We do this because we
mark the anniversary of the Sumgait pogroms where hundreds of
Armenians were murdered as a result of long-running hostilities
directed towards the Armenian people.

I ask that my colleagues join me in solemnly commemorating the death
of these innocent lives. It was on the evening of February 27, 1988
that hundreds of Armenians were brutally murdered, some burned alive
and others thrown from windows. Included in the violence was the rape
of women and the maiming of children. Armenians saw their belongings
stolen, their shops destroyed and thousands were displaced from their
homes. To add to the human tragedy, police turned a blind eye thus
allowing the pogroms to go on for three days.

Unfortunately, the underlying hostility that led to the outbreak and
continued violence of the Sumgait pogroms continues to survive today.
For more than two decades, authorities in Azerbaijan have attempted to
ignore and cover up these crimes and have instead fostered hatred
toward the Armenian people. In an affront to basic senses of justice,
the Azerbaijani government recently pardoned Azerbaijani military
officer, Ramil Safarov who was sentenced to life in prison in Hungary
for murdering an Armenian military officer during a NATO-sponsored
training program in 2004. I continue to be outraged by this promotion
of violence against innocent Armenians.

I ask that my colleagues join me in calling on Azerbaijan to fully
recognize the Sumgait pogroms and to give an accurate historical
account of the events. I also ask my colleagues to join me in calling
upon the Azerbaijani government to acknowledge Ramil Safarov as a
convicted murderer and immediately take action commensurate with a
democratic nation that supports justice under the rule of law.
Azerbaijan must break from its current course and take action to
create a peaceful future.

As co-chair and founder of the Congressional Armenian Issues Caucus, I
know that the caucus will continue its work to ensure that the basic
rights of life, liberty and security are promoted throughout the
Caucasus region. We will continue to advocate for a peaceful
resolution to conflict in the region. We will continue to call on
Azerbaijan to cease its hostilities toward the Armenian people and
stand for justice whenever it is violated.

For more information please visit:

EX-CANDIDATE URGES TO PREVENT PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION

February 28, 2013 – 17:04 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – A former candidate in Armenia~Rs presidential
elections, literature expert Vardan Sadrakyan refuses to acknowledge
Serzh Sargsyan’s victory at the February 18 polls.

As Sedrakyan told a news conference, discussing other candidates~R
votes is pointless since the poll results were rigged. Sedrakyan
further called to prevent the swearing in ceremony so that new, fair
elections could be organized. ~SI~Rll be the first to congratulate
Sargsyan if he wins in fair elections,~T Sedrakyan said.

The ex-candidate said he~Rll attend the March 1 rally at Myasnikyan
Square in commemoration of the victims of the 2008 incident and urged
against politicizing the event.

ARMENIAN-AMERICAN ARTIST DEBUTS ‘PUSHKIN STREET’ IN ARMENIA
by Lilly Torosyan

February 28, 2013

Raffi Joe (Wartanian) is quite the Renaissance man-a Fulbright
research fellow, multi-platform writer, musician, actor, activist,
and now a recording artist with his debut album, “Pushkin Street,”
which features 11 original songs that he wrote himself. The “gypsy
zest” style has been described as a fusion of Armenian, funk, folk,
Greek, gypsy jazz, blues, Latin, and flamenco music.

Raffi Joe (Wartanian) “In writing an album that was honest, I simply
wrote and recorded from a place of freedom and stylistic liberation,”
Wartanian told the Armenian Weekly in an interview. “I aimed to write
what felt honest and true. I did not set out to write a blues album
or a rock album or a funk album. I set out to write a ‘me’ album.”

“My life and exposure to the arts has been a crossroads of traditions,
values, and identities,” he explained. As a Baltimore native,
Wartanian encountered the many musical styles of the city, including
blues, jazz, bluegrass, soul, funk, and rock. During his childhood
summers in Beirut, he came across Armenian, Greek, Arabic, and French
music. Wartanian described his mother’s love for Armenian popular
songs, and his father’s preference for classical music and the opera
(in particular, the Anoush Opera) as having a profound effect on him.

“I tend to associate places and people with musical genres in terms
of how they were transmitted to me,” he said.

As a researcher and actor with Golden Thread Productions in San
Francisco, Wartanian lived in a house with one of the city’s top
gypsy jazz guitarists, while working with a fellow actor deep in
the Greek music scene. This experience, he said, “really expanded my
musical palette.”

Each song in “Pushkin Street” is inspired by a different story in
the singer’s life.

Each song in “Pushkin Street” is inspired by a different story in
the singer’s life. “Millard County Jail” and “Gluten Free Blues”
both reflect a bicycle ride Wartanian took to raise funds for cancer
research, and were originally written as a wedding present to his
friends. “Crowds in the Streets” ruminates on the Occupy Movement and
the Arab Spring. “Stumped” was written while sitting on a stump in
Baltimore’s Roosevelt Park one day after work. “Abraham Lincoln Log”
is about overcoming the fear of dogs. The rest, he says, are love
songs or philosophical songs.

The inspiration behind the album was the journey of assembling all of
the melodies, chord progressions, and lyrics he had written over the
course of many years, and persevering despite the obstacles. “Millard
County Jail” is his grandmother’s favourite track off of the album.

“She loves that song and would sing the melody to me throughout
the gruelling recording process, insisting that I never give up,”
Wartanian said.

Yerevan’s Pushkin Street is where he found a “thoroughfare of boundless
musical imagination and progressive development.” After studying
flamenco guitar in Seville, Spain, the musician travelled to Yerevan,
where he performed live music at two clubs on Pushkin Street.

“I felt incredibly welcomed and inspired by those two performances,
and wanted to pay homage to that evening, to my Armenian roots, and
to the masterful writer after whom the street is named,” he explained.

Wartanian has since performed a dozen times in Armenia.

A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, Wartanian began studying
classical piano at the age of seven before moving on to guitar. He
has never shied away from an opportunity at broadening his musical
abilities, explaining that “some people have the ability to play one or
a handful of genres and never get bored. Personally, I love trying to
fuse these rich musical traditions together.” He is currently studying
flamenco guitar and oud with teachers at the Komitas Conservatory of
Music in Yerevan.

The old African proverb, “To go fast, go alone. To go far, go
together,” reminds Wartanian of the significant role his family,
friends, and colleagues have played in this journey thus far, teaching
him “a lot about the power of collaboration with producers, promoters,
musicians, artists, business leaders, and great thinkers,” he said.

“Pushkin Street” is available for purchase on iTunes, Bandcamp,
Soundcloud, and other major online distributors.

For more information about “Raffi Joe” Wartanian, visit his website
at

LA TRAGEDIE DE SOUMGAIT : 25 ANS DEJA

Voix de la Russie
27 fevr 2013

Les communautes armeniennes du monde entier commemorent les victimes
de la tragedie de Soumgaït. Il y a 25 ans – le 27 fevrier 1988 – dans
cette ville azerbaïdjanaise ont commence les pogromes diriges contre
la population armenienne. On peut considerer cette date comme le debut
du conflit entre l’Azerbaïdjan et l’Armenie autour du Haut-Karabakh,
dont la solution n’a toujours pas ete trouvee.

Tout avait commence, apparemment, de facon tout a fait paisible. Le 20
fevrier 1988, la session des deputes nationaux de la region autonome
du Haut-Karabakh (habitee principalement par des Armeniens) a envoye
un message a Moscou, Bakou et Erevan. Il contenait une demande de
sortie de l’Azerbaïdjan. La reponse negative a suivi. Le 27 fevrier a
Soumgaït, a 26 kilomètres de Bakou, ont commence les pogromes contre
la population armenienne de la ville – 18 mille personnes – et les
meurtres. D’après les donnees officielles, 32 personnes ont peri, les
statistiques non officielles font etat de centaines de victimes. Le
29 fevrier, a Soumgaït, les troupes etaient introduites, auxquelles
on avait donne neanmoins l’ordre de ne pas intervenir. Vers le soir,
quand ont commence les attaques contre les soldats, les militaires
sont passes a l’action.

Les pouvoirs – central, ainsi que local – tentaient de presenter les
evenements de Soumgaït comme du hooliganisme ordinaire. L’impunite
reelle n’a fait que rechauffer davantage ” les tetes chaudes ”
des instigateurs des troubles : le scenario de Soumgaït s’est
repete a Bakou, a Kirovabad, a Khanlar et dans d’autres villes
azerbaïdjanaises. Ensuite, les evenements se sont developpes plus
tragiquement : la guerre du Haut- Karabakh commencee en 1990,
des dizaines de milliers de victimes, des centaines de milliers
de refugies de part et d’autre… Et ce n’est qu’en mai 1994 qu’un
accord de cessez-le-feu illimite a ete signe, ” gelant ” le conflit
jusqu’a aujourd’hui.

Les evenements de Soumgaït furent un des premiers signes de
l’impuissance des autorites sovietiques de l’epoque, estime le
president de la societe scientifique d’etudes caucasiennes Alexandre
Krylov.

” Le pouvoir central traversait une crise profonde et perdait le
contrôle de la situation. Cela se passait a differents niveaux –
republicain, regional, a l’echelle de tout le pays. En aval, il y
avait des processus destructifs, les forces nationalistes tentaient
de satisfaire leurs interets categoriels “.

Recemment, le Conseil de Securite de l’ONU s’est souvenu de la
tragedie de Soumgaït. Il a examine la question de la ” Protection
des populations civiles au cours des conflits armes “. La partie
armenienne a confirme la volonte d’Erevan de rechercher un règlement
pacifique, en soulignant que le problème du Karabakh ne pouvait etre
resolu que sur la base du droit international et exclusivement par
la voie pacifique. T