Author: Kalantarian Kevo

VOTE 2013: HAYRIKYAN POINTS AT ‘RUSSIAN IMPERIALISM’ IN WAKE OF SHOOTING ATTACK

VOTE 2013 | 04.02.13 | 10:47

Photo: Paruyr Hayrikyan official Facebook page

By NAIRA HAYRUMYAN
ArmeniaNow correspondent

Presidential candidate Paruyr Hayrikyan, who was wounded in an
apparent assassination attempt late last week, is soon expected to
announce his decision on whether he wants the campaign to be suspended
and elections postponed by two weeks – an opportunity given by the
Constitution – or he rather sees no ‘insurmountable obstacles’ to his
electioneering.

Whatever the candidate decides in this respect, however, one thing is
clear – the shooting at the candidate by a yet unidentified gunman has
changed not only the pre-election situation, but also the entire logic
of political events in Armenia. In particular, the matter concerns an
attempt to make the foreign policy factor more prominent in the
current presidential race.

And this was done by Hayrikyan himself. The Soviet-era dissident, who
spent 17 years in prison camps and was eventually exiled by Soviet
authorities to Ethiopia, blamed the ‘Russian imperialism’ for the
attack. He tied the assassination attempt with his statements about
the European way of development having no alternative for Armenia.

Hayrikyan claimed he was being chased by the same secret services that
persecuted him in Soviet times when he advocated Armenia’s state
independence.

The claim did not elicit any broad response from Russia which did not
even officially condemn the attack on the presidential candidate in
Armenia. A Sunday report on Russian state television about the events
in Armenia did not include a single reference to Hayrikyan’s
accusations.

In contrast, through its spokesperson, the United States State
Department condemned the Thursday attack on one of the opposition
presidential candidates in Armenia, urging the South Caucasus nation
to settle the problem that has emerged amid the ongoing campaign
“constitutionally”. In other words, Washington would not mind if the
presidential election in Armenia would actually be delayed by two
weeks.

Meanwhile, there are no signs yet that the perpetrator of the crime or
its possible masterminds will be found.

Almost all other presidential candidates, except the incumbent
president, do not mind postponing the Election Day. Candidate Andrias
Ghukasyan, who is on an open-ended hunger strike now, even addressed
an open letter to Hayrikyan, suggesting that he demand new elections,
because the fact that the gunman is not found and all candidates are
under threat constitutes an “insurmountable obstacle” for the
elections. He said that in that case he would quit his hunger strike,
and all of them would be fighting for free elections in which there is
no place for the ruling Republican Party and its candidate, whom
Ghukasyan holds responsible for rigging the previous elections.

Political analyst, chairman of the Partnership for Democracy Stepan
Danielyan says that if Hayrikyan appeals to the Constitutional Court
and demands new elections, it would mean that until the new election
Serzh Sargsyan, under the Constitution, would have to resign his
powers as head of state.

“It is one thing when Sargsyan is the current president and a
candidate, and another when he is only a candidate. I think
competitive elections would be possible to hold in that case,” argued
Danielyan.

The political analyst believes that conditioning the internal
political processes in Armenia by foreign policy matters is dangerous.

At the same time, he thinks it is necessary to appoint new elections
in Armenia to start building a Free Armenia from scratch.

Among “internal” versions of the shooting at Hayrikyan is the one
claiming that the forces who “regretted” not having fielded a
candidate in the February 18 election may have tried to scuttle the
current process. Meanwhile, law-enforcement agencies promise to find
the culprit, but the practice of disclosure of political crimes in
Armenia shows that they largely remain unresolved.

No one has yet been found and punished for shooting at demonstrators
in the post-election riots on March 1, 2008. Ten people, including
eight civilians, were killed then. And many believe this latest
political shooting will also remain unsolved, not least because in
that case it would be easier for everyone to advance their own
theories suiting them best.

It is remarkable that on the day after the attack, Collective Security
Treaty Organization Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha, who was in
Armenia together with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu as
recently as January 28-29, said that it still remained a matter of
investigation to determine whether it was an assassination attempt or
not. In fact, he put forward the theory that the attack was meant just
to scare Hayrikyan and others. If so, the question is “what for?”.

Some believe the further course of the electoral process in Armenia
might provide an answer to it.

PEOPLE OF KARABAKH ARE TO DECIDE THE POLITICAL STATUS THEY WANT TO LIVE IN FUTURE – SERZH SARGSYAN TELLS RUSSIAN PAPER

TERT.AM
13:21 ~U 04.02.13

The election campaign is under way in Armenia with the recent Gallup
Organization survey showing that 66% of voters are going to back the
incumbent president Serzh Sargsyan. What should Russia and the rest
world expect from Serzh Sargsyan? These are questions Armenia’s
president answered in an interview to Russian Kommersant paper.

Referring to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement process,
President Sargsyan stressed that people of Karabakh are the ones to
decide their fate.

“They are to decide in what political status they want to live in
future. It is a classic example of fight of people for their right to
self-determination and there is no argument that can claim why people
of Nagorno-Karabakh cannot use this right,” he said, stressing that
all other issues are derivatives.

He said that it is necessary to reinforce international mechanisms to
set control over the arms in our region.

“We will continue negotiating with Azerbaijan. But it is not realistic
to expect any progress in such conditions. All those dealing with the
issue – Moscow, Washington, Paris [OSCE Minsk group co-chairing
countries’ capitals] – know quite well why the solution to the
conflict has not been reached till now,” Serzh Sargsyan said.

Asked what Russia can do for the settlement of the conflict, President
Sargsyan said Russia is an important mediator in the conflict,
together with France and the USA, and only thanks to Russia it was
possible to sign the 1994 cease-fire agreement.

Serzh Sargsyan reminded that they have tied serious hopes with
Russia’s mediation on the highest level while at the last moment
Azerbaijan tried to insert changes in the already approved document.

“I am grateful to Russia’s highest leadership for the successive
efforts to find ways for the settlement of the conflict. I am sure its
participation in the negotiations essentially cools down many hot
heads,” Armenia’s president said.

GEORGIAN PRESIDENT REJECTS IDEA ON CREATING FREE ECONOMIC ZONE IN JAVAKHK

NEWS | 04.02.13 | 13:56

The idea of declaring Georgia’s Armenian-populated Samtskhe-Javakheti
region as a free economic zone is part of a plan against Georgia,
said Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili at the weekend, commenting
on the statement of the Javakhk Diaspora in Russia regarding such
an initiative.

“The new idea of separatism is introduced insensibly. Everything is
interconnected. Opening of the railway from Abkhazia to Armenia via
Georgia is fundamentally contrary to the interests of Georgia at this
stage,” said Saakashvili, as quoted by Georgian media.

The Georgian head of state said the recent release of Javakhk Armenian
activist Vahagn Chakhalyan, whom he regards as an Armenian separatist,
from prison under an amnesty act declared by the Georgian parliament
was also part of the plan to separate the Armenian-populated region
of Georgia.

“They want to create a demonstrative unit in Javakheti at all costs
and the idea of a free economic zone is announced in order to create
a single administrative unit, and demand its autonomy and independence
from Georgia once it is established,” stated Saakashvili.

Earlier, the Georgian president was angered by the statement regarding
the possibility of reopening of the railway link via Abkhazia to
connect Armenia with Russia that was made by current Georgian Prime
Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, the leader of the majority party,
during his visit to Yerevan in mid-January.

AZERI OPPOSITIONISTS CHARGED WITH PROTESTS

TERT.AM
10:01 ~U 05.02.13

Two opposition leaders in Azerbaijan have been charged with organizing
of mass disorders.

The deputy chairman of the opposition Musavat Party, Tofiq Yaqublu, and
the chairman of the REAL movement, Ilqar Mammadov, may face significant
fines or up to three years in jail if found guilty, RFE/RL reported.

The two politicians’ lawyers have said their clients will face
trials soon.

The charges are related to last month’s mass protests in the town of
Ismayilli, 150 kilometers northwest of the capital, Baku.

On January 23, thousands of Ismayilli residents demanded the
resignation of the district’s governor, setting fire to his residence,
to cars, and to a local motel.

Yaqublu and Mammadov arrived in Ismayilli the next day, urging on
locals toward civil disobedience.

Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse those demonstrators.

“TURAN”: AZERBAIJANI GOVERNMENT UNDERESTIMATES THE NUMBER OF POOR

15:31 04/02/2013 ” SOCIETY

In 2012, in Azerbaijan, 130 thousand families or 585,000 people
received addressed public social aid. In a year, the number of people,
who according to Ministry of Labor and Social Protection were to
get financial assistance, increased by 7.9% (43 million). However,
the government of Azerbaijan states that the poverty rate has reduced
by 1.1%, the Azerbaijani news agency Turan reports.

According to the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan, in 2012
the 6.2% of citizens in the country received the addressed public
social aid. At the same time, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev,
speaking at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, in January 2013,
said that the poverty rate in the country has decreased from 7.1 to 6%.

According to the agency, in 2012 in Azerbaijan poverty criterion for
the addressed public social aid to be provided to the citizens per
month has been increased from 75 to 84 euros per family member. In
addition, the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan, while
determining the poverty rate, takes as its basis 120 euros per month
per capita income.

It is necessary to mention that not all citizens of Azerbaijan, whose
incomes are below the subsistence minimum apply for the abovementioned
aid. Thus, even from this official statistics it becomes clear that
the poor in the country are more than the government of Azerbaijan
recognizes, the article says.

NGOs note that the rate of subsistence minimum in Azerbaijan,
the amount of which in 2012 was 108 euros, and on the basis of
which the criterion of poverty is determined in order to provide
social assistance to citizens of Azerbaijan, is being deliberately
underestimated by the government for political purposes, to show as
if there is very few poor living in Azerbaijan, Turan notes.

Source: Panorama.am

ARMENIAN TOURISM RECORDED GROWTH OF 11,3 PERCENT

10:11, 5 February, 2013

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 5, ARMENPRESS. In the nearest future the number of
the tourists visiting Armenia can be over 1 million. In a conversation
with “Armenpress” the Head of the Tourism Department of the Ministry
of Economy of the Republic of Armenia Mekhak Apresyan stated that
they have recorded a growth in the sphere of tourism in the Republic
of Armenia. 843,330 tourists visited Armenia from January to December
2012. This number exceeds the results of the previous year for 11,3
percent. Also he mentioned: “If we preserve the present tempo, than in
future the number of tourists visiting Armenia will reach 1 million.”

Among other things the Head of the Tourism Department of the Ministry
of Economy of the Republic of Armenia Mekhak Apresyan noted that
the previous year was successful not merely in the respect of
the increasing number of the tourists, but in the respect of the
development of the infrastructures and hotel constructions as well.

Mekhak Apresyan underscored: “Several new hotels have been built both
in Yerevan and regions in the previous year. This condition is also of
a certain importance for the development of tourism.” Notwithstanding
he highlighted that the construction of several hotels still continues
and they also can be exploited in the end of the current year.

POPE BENEDICT XVI CONVENED BLESSINGS AND WARM WISHES TO ARMENIANS

11:06, 5 February, 2013

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 5, ARMENPRESS: Ambassador Ruben Karapetyan
in completion his diplomatic mission to Italy had a series of
official meetings with the leaders of Italian state institutions,
non-governmental organizations, politicians and other public figures.

As Information and Public Relations Department told Armenpress,
ambassador attended public reception organized by Pope Benedict XVI,
after had a short farewell talk with Catholic Religious Leader.

Pope Benedict XVI convened his blessings and warm wishes to Armenian
people. On the same day Ambassador Ruben Karapetyan had a meeting with
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravazi, the Minister of Culture of Vatican and
chairman of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology. Issue
refer to culture, Christian heritage protection, importance of
cooperation have been touched upon in the course of the launched
meeting.

Besides Armenian Ambassador met with Rome’s Italian Armenian
organization heads. A farewell ceremony was hosted in Embassy;there
Ruben Karapetyan thanked the people for a joint fruitful work and
presented the work conducted by the Embassy during the last years and
the achievements acquired as a result of Armenian-Italian relations.

DECOS DE MIREILLE DEMURO HATCHADOURIAN

Mireille Demuro Hatchadourian nous a quittes le 27 janvier 2013 a
l’âge de 42 ans. Ses obsèques eurent lieu le 1er fevrier au cimetière
du Père-Lachaise. Les Nouvelles d’Armenie magazine presentent leurs
sincères condoleances a son mari, sa famille et tous ses proches. Nous
publions ci-dessous un texte qu’elle avait redige le 9 fevrier 1997
et dans lequel elle meditait sur le sens de la vie, la sienne en
particulier, son engagement pour la cause armenienne et l’histoire
de sa grand-mère Nazeli. Ce texte est tire d’un projet de livre a
deux voix et quatre mains, qu’elle avait concu avec son mari.

L’homme revolte ne demande pas la vie, mais les raisons de la vie,
disait Camus. Pourtant, il ne peut y avoir de “raisons” raisonnables
un tant soit peu melees d’inexplicable, de confusion, d’incommunicable
a soi-meme autant qu’aux autres.

C’est probablement a la paix qu’aspire le revolte, homme paradoxal
dont l’existence cristallise le jeu problematique des contraires.

Ainsi, ma vie est une succession de demarches, de commencements, de
decouvertes, d’initiatives qui ont pris appui sur des raisons acquises
par le plus grand nombre. Etudiante en histoire de l’art, militante
de l’independance de la petite republique armenienne qui devait son
salut au grand frère sovietique, creatrice d’une entreprise il y a
dix ans… mon parcours lorsque je le regarde, semble trace d’avance.

Pourtant, je n’ai jamais pense exercer la profession d’historienne
de l’art tout en ayant assidûment poursuivi mes etudes, ni dedier
ma vie a la lutte pour l’independance de l’Armenie quoique j’ai
consacre plusieurs annees a cette cause, pas plus que je n’ai concu
un seul instant, bien que mon acharnement fut total, que mon statut
de dirigeante d’entreprise puisse etre une raison suffisante de vivre.

Le jeu des contraires, entre desir d’integration sociale et culturelle,
et affirmation d’une difference, a fait le reste. Car cultiver
l’acquis, imaginer un avenir a “l’ici et maintenant” est le lot de
chaque homme. Mais si le cameleon s’adapte a l’environnement sans
jamais s’inquieter du pourquoi, mes tenues d’apparat ou de camouflage
n’ont pas reussi a me convaincre d’une quelconque appartenance ou
identite, si ponctuelle soit-elle. Je cherche, je continue de chercher,
avec plus de conscience des règles du jeu des hommes. Avec aussi celle
que les règles d’aujourd’hui sont, demain, l’objet de transgression
de leurs plus farouches defenseurs.

Oui, je n’ai pas trouve mon camp, ma famille d’interets, mon havre de
paix, mon chez moi. Je ne dors pas du sommeil des justes, car au fond,
avouons-le, il n’y a de justice que pour les gagnants.

Ainsi, les migrations se font, avec ou sans “chez soi”, car ce terme
alors n’en dit plus assez de ce parcours qui est deja en train de
se faire. C’est pourquoi, faute de moyens, mais surtout a cause de
mon rythme migratoire interieur, je n’ai jamais pu considerer une
maison comme definitivement adoptee, un lieu d’intimite comme celui
de toutes les intimites possibles, un lieu ou l’on dort comme celui
de tous les reves.

Si un territoire existe, il est celui où vivre se decline, s’incline
et s’en va son chemin. C’est la mon heritage.

* * *

Ils sont venus dire aux parents de Nazeli que le depart etait pour
demain. Nazeli avait tout au plus cinq ans. Son père, pour ne pas
se trouver en situation irregulière – cette angoisse etait comme
un reflexe chez lui -, se rendit immediatement a la gare acheter
les billets de train. Les billets dans la poche, le droit pour lui,
il etait convaincu qu’il n’avait rien a craindre. Au contraire.

On avait vivement conseille aux armeniens, pendant leur absence qui
devait etre provisoire, de confier aux autorites la surveillance de
leur maison, leurs biens, leur argent. A leur retour, lorsque la
region aurait retrouve la paix, on leur restituerait le tout. Ils
sont partis de bon matin. Ils ne sont jamais revenus. Le train dans
lequel ils s’entassèrent avec quelques centaines d’autres villageois
ne tiendra aucune de ses promesses.

Nazeli et les siens furent transportes comme des âmes vides jusqu’aux
confins Sud du pays. Faute de tunnel, la ligne de chemin de fer
s’interrompit brutalement quelques dizaines de kilomètres seulement
après le depart. Les hommes, les femmes, les vieillards et les enfants
– cohorte de silhouettes courbees, fragiles, et chancelantes – durent
poursuivirent le voyage a pieds, traversant la region montagneuse,
immense obstacle, bouche funeste et insatiable qui engloutit les plus
faibles. Le peu de vivres a partager, la rigueur du climat, l’effort
prolonge et surhumain qu’exigeait ce parcours inhumain effaca chaque
jour un peu plus les traces vivantes de ce convoi de deportes, pour
ne laisser derrière les survivants qu’ombre, tenèbres, cauchemar,
terreur et, pour finir, silence. Le feu, le sang, la lame du sabre
s’abattant sur les faibles et les recalcitrants, la violence debridee
des representants de l’ordre, le lot des corps mutiles jetes dans le
lit eternel de l’Euphrate, tout cela constituait le langage desormais
clair de l’aneantissement qui etait reserve a leur credulite.

Quelques semaines plus tard, seule une poignee de survivants atteignit
Alep. Les yeux hagards dans la brume epaisse qui les enveloppait,
ils se virent, sans avoir recours a la science statistique,
comme une espèce animale en voie de disparition. Ces regards –
vol d’oiseau survolant l’abysse qui les eloignait de leur ville,
Sivas – s’eclaircirent un peu et s’embrasèrent en une seule vision
de ce qu’ils avaient mis aussi longtemps a decouvrir. Par petits
groupes ou par immenses cohortes, les armeniens, a la merci des
bandes tchetches, de l’excitation des populations kurdes et de la
soldatesque turque, avaient fondu et disparu sous les coups mortels
d’une terreur inconcevable et effrenee. Ce voyage dans lequel on les
avait forces de se lancer fût pour la plupart le voyage de la fin et
pour ceux qui en rechappèrent un voyage sans fin.

Nazeli, sa mère et son frère, freles vagabonds, chasseurs d’ordures et
mendiants, seuls survivants de la famille, n’etaient plus que l’ombre
d’euxmemes. Le plan d’extermination avait commence le 24 avril 1915.

Le 20 juillet, Nazeli fut extirpee du camp de transit d’Alep, separee
de sa mère et de son frère bien malgre elle, pour etre recueillie
dans un orphelinat. Les siens reprirent la route, decharnes et pieds
nus, pour le desert de Deïr-es-Zor. Ils durent marcher, marcher sans
cesse, en rond et infiniment, jusqu’a s’epuiser tant et tant que
leur silhouette finit par s’effacer dans les sables brûlants. Elle,
d’orphelinats en orphelinats, recueillie, sauvee, se retrouva sept
ans plus tard en France.

Nazeli c’etait ma grand-mère. De tout cela, elle ne raconte rien.

* * *

Il y a des voyages forces – lorsque la vie force le destin d’un
peuple a la dispersion sinon a la mort -, qui restent inscrits dans la
memoire. C’est dans la banlieue parisienne que je suis nee, et je me
prends parfois a penser a ce chemin de terre, de mer, et de memoire
qui me lie aux confins de ce lieu d’où tout a commence, le voyage,
l’exode, le nomadisme qui defini mon voyage interieur. Et parfois,
dans ma course, je sens, comme ces soldats mutiles par la mine, que
mes jambes me font souffrir et me manquent pour cette marche qui ne
peut se faire alors que sur la terre de mes reves.

Mireille Demuro

Hatchadourian

Paris, le 9 fevrier 1997

mardi 5 fevrier 2013, Ara ©armenews.com

KURDISH LEADER APOLOGIZES FOR ROLE IN GENOCIDE

Monday, February 4th, 2013

Kurdish leader Ahmet Turk

ISTANBUL (Marmara)-An influential Kurdish leader in Turkey, in an
interview published on Sunday, acknowledged the Kurds’ role in the
Armenian Genocide and apologized to the Armenians on behalf of the
Kurdish people.

Turkish parliament member and the vice-president of the pro-Kurdish
Democratic Society Congress Ahmet Turk said that in 1915 the Kurdish
people had a large role in the torture and massacre of Armenians,
Assyrians and Yezidis and, he as a Kurd, apologized to the Armenian
people on behalf of all Kurds.

In the interview, Turk, who is also a mediator of talks between the
Turkish government and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) imprisoned
leader Abdullah Ocalan, urged Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan to follow suit and recognize the Gencoide.

He explained that the Kurdish population was used to commit the crimes
against Armenians in 1915.

“Our grandfathers and fathers were used in the injustices perpetrated
against Armenians, Assyrians and Yezidis. There’s blood on their
hands. With the blood of these peoples they bloodied their own hands.

Thus, as their children and grandchildren, we apologize,” said Turk.

“We, as Kurds, say that we did commit these crimes, but we committed
them against our will,” added Turk.

“The Turkish government, instead of denying it, must also apologize…

There is a need for fundamental change here,” said Turk.

On a related note, the owner of one of the largest corporations in
Turkey Itzak Alaton urged the Turkish Socio-Economic Research Center
to pursue the Turkish recognition of the Armenian Gencoide.

“April 24, 1915 is around the corner. Let’s change our denialist
policies. I am tired of the fear to face our past. Let’s raise our
voices to our deputies in Ankara and those deputies should raise their
voices to their political parties and leader in order for us to open
our skeleton-filled closets,” said Alaton, who runs the Alarco
Corporation in Turkey.

FOOTBALLER MKHITARYAN TALKS TO FRENCH CANAL+ TV

15:57, February 4, 2013

The young Armenian football sensation Henrikh Mkhitaryan gave an
interview to the French TV station Canal+.

Mkhitaryan, a attacking midfielder, is now in Valence with the
national team, preparing for a friendly match with Luxembourg
tomorrow.