Author: Kalantarian Kevo

The Daily News of Los Angeles
February 9, 2013 Saturday
VALLEY EDITION

Charter faces backlash for discontinuing Armenian TV

The Armenian community is taking to the streets over a cable network’s
decision to yank the only local 24-hour Armenian television station
off the air later this month, and protests are planned in Glendale
today.

Charter Communications plans to remove Horizon TV from its channel
lineup Feb. 19.

Charter explained its contract with Horizon TV, which has been on the
air 1999, expired Dec. 30.

“For a number of reasons, a new agreement between Charter and Horizon
was not met,” Brian Anderson, Charter’s regional communications
director, said in a statement.

But Ara Khachatourian, editor of Asbarez, an Armenian-American
newspaper affiliated with Horizon TV, disputed that.

“We engaged in our annual contract negotiations toward the end of
November and early December,” he said. “By mid-December, we delivered
a signed contract to continue leasing the channel in 2013, agreeing to
a 25 percent fee hike they were proposing.”

Khachatourian, a former general manager of Horizon TV and a leader of
the Save Horizon TV Task Force, said “the voice of the community is
being muted.”

He said Horizon TV is like the Armenian equivalent of PBS for about
10,000 households in Glendale, Burbank, La Crescenta and part of La
Canada Flintridge.

He added about 8,000 people have signed paper and online petitions
() that read, in part,
“This action by Charter is nothing short of bullying a nonprofit
organization which is dedicated to service and betterment of the
community.”

William Bairamian, executive director of the Armenian National
Committee of America, Western Region, is among several Charter
customers who plan to cancel their subscriptions if Horizon TV goes
dark.

“The decision by Charter seems shortsighted and doesn’t respect the
relationship that the Horizon TV has had with the community for over
two decades,” he said.

“(Horizon TV) is something that we can’t afford to lose.”

“I think this underscores the need for businesses that ostensibly
serve our community to actually understand what the community wants
before making decisions that are meant to serve their own bottom
line,” he said.

Daily News (New York)
February 6, 2013 Wednesday

HORRIBLE END S.I. mom beaten until ‘almost unrecognizable’ in Istanbul

BY RICH SCHAPIRO in Istanbul NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

A MARRIED mother of two who was bludgeoned while on vacation was hit
in the skull with such force that she was almost “almost
unrecognizable,” a person who viewed her body told the Daily News.

The brutal details emerged Tuesday after Sarai Sierra’s body was
delivered to a morgue attached to a 19th-century Armenian church in
Istanbul’s Beyoglu district.

“Her face was purplish black and very swollen,” a worker at Surp
Yerrortutyun Church said of the Staten Island woman. “She’s almost
unrecognizable.”

Her body is expected to be returned to the United States Wednesday or
Thursday, church workers said. The arrangements are being handled by
the U.S. Consulate.

Sierra went missing Jan. 21, the day before she was expected to return
to the U.S. The 33-year-old amateur photographer had traveled alone to
Istanbul after a friend dropped out of the trip at the last minute.

Sierra’s disappearance set off a massive police search, and her
husband, Steven Sierra, and brother, David Jimenez, flew to Istanbul
to aid investigators. But her body was found last Saturday dumped
along the ancient walls on the city’s outskirts.

Sarai Sierra had fought for her life and was found wearing only a
shirt and underwear, a top police official told The News Tuesday.

“There were bruises on her body that looked like they were the result
of a struggle,” said Ertan Ercikti, a district police chief, who added
that an initial autopsy report showed no signs of rape.

Sierra’s gold earrings, necklace and bracelet remained on her body.

A security camera captured Sierra walking along a road in the Sirkeci
neighborhood, about a mile from the spot where her body was found. She
was carrying a purse, which investigators believed contained her iPad
and Samsung Galaxy phone. The electronics, which she used to take
pictures, have not been recovered.

Police said 21 people have been questioned – and prosecutors secured a
court order to take blood and saliva samples from them. Ercikti
acknowledged that investigators aren’t close to an arrest.

“We are still looking for a motive,” he said.

Steven Sierra, in his first interview since his wife’s body was
discovered, told The News on Monday that he’s heartbroken over her
death and fretting over how to deliver the news to their two sons –
ages 9 and 11.

Also Tuesday, Sierra’s family announced that within 24 hours of
putting her photos up for sale, they raised enough to pay for a
funeral.

Thank you for all the support,” her brother posted on a site dedicated
to selling her pictures,

“From here on out any picture of hers that you purchase will NOT be
going towards her funeral. All funds will be going to her children.”

Interfax, Russia
Feb 7 2013

Armenia does not take seriously Iranian presidential candidate’s
“unification” remark

YEREVAN. Feb 7

Armenia does not take seriously a statement by an Iranian presidential
candidate, Ayatollah Sayed Mohammad Bagher Kharrazi, that Armenia is a
former Iranian territory.

“Certainly, we cannot take this statement seriously. We hope the
election campaign will make him more serious,” a source from the
Armenian Foreign Ministry told Interfax on Thursday.

Kharrazi said earlier in speaking to voters that, if he is elected
president, he would seek Azerbaijan’s, Armenia’s and Tajikistan’s
unification with Iran as its former breakaway territories.

ARMENIE-MEDIAS
La première dame d’Arménie interviewée par la chaîne de télévision « Russie 24 »

La chaîne de télévision russe « ÐоÑ?Ñ?иÑ? 24 » (Russie 24) vient de
diffuser un reportage sur Rita Sarkissian, la première dame d’Arménie.
R. Sarkissian raconte sa vie ainsi que ses relations avec le président
arménien Serge Sarkissian. Elle évoque des aspects non-officiels de la
vie que les médias ne traitent pas. Rita Sarkissian y affirme avec
fierté que son couple a déjà 30 ans. Dans le reportage, les amis,
collaborateurs et proches du président s’expriment sur l’épouse du
président. La première dame d’Arménie évoque sa première rencontre
avec Serge Sarkissian chez un ami commun et le premier bouquet offert
par celui allait devenir son époux. « 25 Å`illets, c’était la première
fois de ma vie que je recevais un tel bouquet ! » affirme Rita
Sarkissian émue. Mais de dire aussi « si à l’époque je savais que
j’épousais un future président, je l’aurai accepté difficilement….
». Evoquant Serge Sarkissian, Rita Sarkissian et nombre d’amis
interviewés relèvent les qualités du président arménien « patient et
calme, toujours prêt à aider ses amis, aimant ses proches et sa patrie
». Se souvenant également des années de guerre où Serge Sarkissian
était l’un des premiers à partir au front. « Je ne lui ai jamais
demandé pourquoi tu parts au front » dit Rita Sarkissian. Elle confie
également qu’en famille ils n’évoquent pas les sujets liés à la
fonction présidentielle et lorsque Rita Sarkissian pose des questions
professionnelles à son mari, ce dernier répond par un sourire… « Il
est peu souvent à la maison et c’est pour cette raison que lorsqu’il
rentre, on ne parle pas de ses obligations professionnelles en tant
que président de la République d’Arménie » dit Rita Sarkissian.

Krikor Amirzayan

dimanche 10 février 2013,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

Génocide des Arméniens
Nouvelle proposition de loi anti négationniste déposée par Valérie Boyer

Maître Philippe Krikorian nous informe, aujourd’hui, qu’une nouvellle
proposition de loi (n°690), a été déposée par la Députée des
Bouches-du-Rhône, Valérie Boyer et cinq autres de ses collègues, le 06
Février 2013 écoulé, sur le Bureau de l’Assemblée Nationale, telle
qu’il l’avait adressée, il y a quelques semaines, à l’ensemble des
parlementaires français, tendant à transposer la décision-cadre du 28
Novembre 2008 ( lutte contre le négationnisme au moyen du droit pénal
).

Maître Krikorian rappelle que que `la transposition de la
décision-cadre susmentionnée est une double obligation
constitutionnelle ( art. 88-1 de la Constitution ) et du droit de
l’Union européenne. La Constitution ne saurait, partant, être invoquée
contre la transposition.`

PROPOSITION DE LOI

Article 1er

1 – Le premier alinéa de l’article 24 bis de la loi du 29 juillet 1881
sur la liberté de la presse est remplacé par cinq alinéas ainsi
rédigés :

2 – « Seront punis de deux ans d’emprisonnement et de 45 000
d’amende ou de l’une de ces deux peines seulement ceux qui auront
provoqué à la discrimination, à la haine ou à la violence dans les
conditions visées par le sixième alinéa de l’article 24 en contestant,
par un des moyens énoncés à l’article 23, l’existence ou la
qualification juridique d’un ou plusieurs génocides, crimes contre
l’humanité et crimes de guerre notoires dont la liste chronologique
suit :

3 – « – Esclavage et traite ;

4 – « – Génocide arménien ;

5 – « – Crimes visés par l’article 6 du statut du tribunal militaire
international annexé à l’accord de Londres du 8 août 1945.

6 – « Vaudra contestation, au sens du présent article, la négation, la
banalisation grossière ou la minimisation desdits crimes, de même que
l’usage de tout terme ou signe dépréciatif ou dubitatif pour les
désigner, tel que `soi-disant’, `prétendu’, `hypothétique’ ou
`supposé’. »

Article 2

À l’article 48-2 de la même loi, après le mot : « déportés », sont
insérés les mots : « ou de toutes autres victimes ».

dimanche 10 février 2013,
Jean Eckian ©armenews.co

Russian-led Military Alliance to establish Academy in Armenia

By Global Research News

Global Research, February 10, 2013

On January 29-30, delegation of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO) led by Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha will
participate in the joint meeting of Interstate Commission on Military
and Economic Cooperation and the meeting of RA interdepartmental
commission on coordination of events in the framework of CSTO.

National Security Council secretary Arthur Baghdasaryan, Russian
Minister of Industry and Trade Igor Karavaev and CSTO deputy secretary
general Valery Semerikov will attend the event.

N. Bordyuzha will deliver a report, to be followed by a discussion of
establishment of certified service centers for maintenance and repair
of armored vehicles and engineering equipment as well as `Mi’
helicopters.

Upon completion of the meeting a memorandum envisaging establishment
of CSTO Academy in Armenia will be inked.

Daily News (Sri Lanka)
February 5, 2013 Tuesday

Photographic exhibition of Levon Osepyan

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, Feb. 5 — The photographic exhibition of Levon Osepyan will
be held at 4 pm and The Literary Evening conducted by Editor-in-Chief
of The International Journal of Literature, Culture and Arts ‘Maecenas
and the World’ Levon Osepyan, from 5 pm onwards on Thursday (February
7) at the Russian Centre Auditorium.

Levon Osepyan is a writer, publisher, editor-in-chief of two literary
almanacs ‘Maecenas and the World’ and ‘Aragast’,Master of Photography
(Member of the All-Russian organization ‘Creative Union of
Professional Artists’),Member of the Board of the Union of Russian
Writers (Vice Secretary of the Union of Russian Writers since December
11, 2012 ),Member of International Association of Writers and
Publishers, co-chairmen of the Moscow – Armenia Friendship Society,
Board member of the International Association for Cultural Assistance,
Board member of the Society of Friendship with Slovakia, co-chairmen
of the Club ‘Dialogue of Cultures’,Author of several books ‘Visit to
Earth’, ‘Plays’, ‘Scream’, ‘A Phone Call’ and ‘My Calvary.’

Levon’s literary works were translated into Armenian, Polish, Slovak,
Czech, Tajik, German, French and English.

Levon Osepyan was born on July 25, 1952 in Yerevan. In 1974, he
graduated from a Technical Institution of Higher Education in Baku. He
worked in Ryazan, Tyumen Region and Moscow.

Levon Osepyan was honoured with state awards of the Czech and Slovak
Republics, as well as with the titles and acknowledgments from various
public organizations in Russia. He was honored with the Certificate of
Merit, a state award of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian
Federation for his contribution in cultural development, 2011.

Photographs made by Levon Osepyan are treasured by connoisseurs from
the United States of America (USA), Canada, France, Italy, Spain,
Israel, the UK, Australia, Iran, Lebanon, Poland, Slovakia, Armenia,
Russia, Holland and Germany in their private collections. His
photographs are used for book cover design and illustrations, they are
published in a number of newspapers and magazines.

ANS TV, Azerbaijan
Jan 29 2013

Azerbaijan slams Russia-led bloc chief’s remarks on Karabakh flights

Azerbaijani Defence Ministry spokesman Eldar Sabiroglu has criticized
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary-General
Nikolay Bordyuzha for remarks in which he had described Azerbaijan’s
threats to down aircraft overflying breakaway Karabakh as “a
ridiculous joke”, private TV station ANS reported on 29 January.

“Similar statements made by the CSTO chief run counter to
international conventions and prove his pro-Armenian stance,” Eldar
Sabiroglu was quoted as saying in an interview with ANS.

He added that “it is interesting to know how Bordyuzha would react in
case his country’s airspace is violated”.

Sabiroglu said that Bordyuzha would be directly responsible for a
possible aggravation of the situation in the region.

BBCM note: Azerbaijan opposes the reopening of an airport in breakaway
Nagornyy Karabakh which this self-styled republic says will be used
for civilian flights. According to the latest Azerbaijani regulations
on the use of the country’s airspace, the Azerbaijani Air Force can
compel the violator aircraft to land at the nearest airport. If the
latter fails to comply, and there is no precise information about
passengers on board, the regulations allow the Air Force to shoot down
the aircraft.

[Translated from Azeri]

Rustavi-2 TV, Georgia
Jan 28 2013

Georgian President says Armenian activist’s release increases separatism risk

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has once again criticized the
government of Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili over the release from
prison of ethnic Armenian activist Vahagn Chakhalyan.

In an address to displaced persons from Abkhazia at his Tbilisi
residence on 28 January, Saakashvili drew several historical parallels
and warned that in the ethnic Armenian-populated Javakheti region,
people like Chakhalyan diminish locals’ sense of being part of the
Georgian state.

In his remarks, part of which was broadcast by Rustavi-2 TV, he said:
“Of course, the presence or absence of one person in prison may not be
historically decisive, but today this is a problem. If anyone had
caught and imprisoned [Abkhaz separatist leader] Vladislav Ardzinba
somewhere, Abkhazia would not have happened the way it did. Had Torez
Kulumbegov and Alan Chochiyev, the leaders of Adamon Nykhas
[organization advocating South Ossetia’s secession from Georgia in the
early 1990s] not been released, what happened in Tskhinvali would not
have happened.

“They [Georgian government] say ‘we have nothing to do with it; they
were amnestied’. Sorry, but that amnesty was an amnesty approved by
the Georgian parliamentary majority. And we talked about it a lot
[before it was passed] without making any noise. They cannot say they
did not know. They knew very well. And I spoke to them specifically
about this, telling them not to release Shrilnikov and his brethren
[Russian citizens convicted of spying for Russia], and not to release
Chakhalyan. The rest of the amnesty [amnestied prisoners] is a problem
– burgled cottages, booths and shops are a clear confirmation of this
– but it is a problem that can be dealt with. And now they are saying:
‘No big deal, if someone raises their voice, we will put him back in’.
You cannot just put him back in.

“It was a long time ago when not a single Georgian policeman could
enter Javakheti. That was before the rose revolution. It took to me
and my friends two years to establish order there after the rose
revolution. Chakhalyan says that he never had any problems before
that, that it was only Saakashvili who caused him problems. Of course
he did not have any problems before that. Before that, not a single
Georgian soldier, not a single Georgian policeman, not a single
representative of Georgian power could go there. So of course he did
not have any problems. It [Javakheti] was completely controlled by the
Russians. It was in the Russians’ hands.

“The Russian army’s new doctrine – they published it two days ago – is
that Russia’s new wars are to be based on local protest potential. So,
first local people need to come out and express protest and then they
come in. In 1920 we [Georgian Democratic Republic 1918-21] released
Russian spies on an amnesty deal that we signed. We released Lavrenti
Beria, we released [Georgian Bolshevik] Pilipe Makharadze and other
spies which the first republic had imprisoned. Then in 1921, one of
the ethnic minority groups [Ossetians] supposedly revolted and on that
basis the 11th [Bolshevik] army came in with Georgians at its helm.

“What message are we sending to the Georgians who are teaching
Georgian there by releasing Chakhalyan? What message are sending to
the local ethnic Armenian citizens who have come to believe in the
Georgian state and in recent years followed us in believing that their
future is in Georgia? What are we telling them? Now this bandit will
go there and terrorize those who are on the side of the Georgian
state. And who will protect them?

“I want to say that we must indeed be very careful. The Georgian state
is very young, as we have been creating it over the past nine years.
The main advantage that our citizens have gained in recent years in
Akhalkalaki [major city in Javakheti] is the fact that we are living
in a state, including in regard to many of their neighbours: that we
are living in a great place. This could disappear too. I do not want
this sense of statehood to disappear.”

[Translated from Georgian]

Hungarian Official News Digest
February 4, 2013 Monday 8:26 AM EST

Deputy Prime Minister Semjén meets new Armenian Patriarch

Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén met with recently elected 97th
Armenian Apostolic Patriarch of Jerusalem Nurhan Manougian during his
visit to Jerusalem on Thursday. According to the Deputy Prime
Minister, the fact that he was the first secular foreign dignitary to
be received by the Patriarch since his election on January 24 is a
notable gesture.

The parties discussed Armenian-Hungarian relations and the background
behind the extradition of convicted murderer Ramil Safarov. Following
the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Semjén told Hungarian news agency
MTI by telephone that he had informed the Armenian Apostolic Patriarch
that Hungary always extradites people in similar cases, and the
Azerbaijan party had made assurances that Safarov would serve his
prison sentence. He stressed that Hungary would like to settle its
relationship with Armenia and the Armenian people.

According to Deputy Prime Minister’s statement, the Patriarch said
that ‘what’s done is done’, adding that the historically excellent
relationship between Hungary and Armenia must be further developed in
a positive direction.

Deputy Prime Minister Semjén began a four-day official visit to Israel
and Bethlehem, in Palestine Authority territory, on Wednesday. He will
meet with Chief Rabbi of Israel Yona Metzger, visit the Yad Vashem
Museum and lay a wreath at the memorial to the victims of the
Holocaust.

In Jerusalem, he will meet with Palestinian Archbishop of the Roman
Catholic Church Fouad Twal and Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of
Jerusalem Theophilos III. In Bethlehem, Zsolt Semjén will meet with
local and national Palestinian leaders and will be presenting state
awards to individuals who have achieved outstanding merit in bilateral
relations.