Author: Kalantarian Kevo

Le Parisien, France
Samedi 7 Juillet 2012

Les Arméniens furieux contre Fabius

par éric hacquemand

Les associations arméniennes sont furieuses. A l’origine de leur
colère, les récentes déclarations de Laurent Fabius : le ministre des
Affaires étrangères a laissé entendre qu’une nouvelle loi pénalisant
la négation du génocide arménien ayant fait 1,5 million de morts au
début du XXe siècle n’était plus d’actualité, malgré les engagements
pris par François Hollande durant la campagne présidentielle.

Jeudi, lors d’une conférence de presse avec son homologue turc, Ahmet
Davutoglu, Fabius a rappelé que la loi de décembre 2011 punissant
d’une peine de prison et d’une amende « ceux qui auront publiquement
fait l’apologie, contesté ou banalisé les crimes de génocide » avait
été retoquée par le Conseil constitutionnel au motif qu’elle était «
liberticide ». « Donc, il n’est pas possible de reprendre le même
chemin, sinon le résultat sera évidemment le même », en a conclu le
ministre, qui ne s’est toutefois pas engagé à remettre un nouveau
texte sur le métier.

les associations parlent de « trahison »
Faut-il y voir un signe de réchauffement entre Paris et Ankara,
incontournable dans les dossiers syriens et iraniens? Après la tension
de décembre dernier, les deux ministres ont scellé une « nouvelle
étape » dans leurs relations, symbolisée par la levée des sanctions
turques contre la France. Le Premier ministre, Recep Erdogan, a
d’ailleurs invité François Hollande pour une visite en Turquie. D’où
la colère des associations arméniennes, qui parlent de « trahison ».
Le 24 avril, le candidat François Hollande avait participé aux
commémorations des massacres des Arméniens à Paris. « Quelles que
soient les pressions qui s’exercent, je tiendrai bon, votre histoire
ne sera jamais oubliée parce qu’elle ne pourra plus être contestée »,
avait-il assuré. Un engagement que comptent bien lui rappeler les
organisations arméniennes, qui demandent une audience « de toute
urgence » au président.

Agence France Presse
7 juillet 2012 samedi 9:34 PM GMT

Hollande confirme son engagement de pénaliser la négation du génocide arménien

PARIS 7 juil 2012

François Hollande a confirmé samedi son engagement de pénaliser la
négation du génocide arménien et qu’était à l’étude le moyen juridique
d’y parvenir alors que des représentants de cette communauté
redoutaient un revirement après les propos de Laurent Fabius sur la
relation franco-turque.

“Le président a fait part de ses engagements pendant la campagne. Il
les tiendra”, a indiqué l’Elysée à l’AFP en confirmant un échange
téléphonique dans la journée entre François Hollande et un
représentant du Conseil de coordination des organisations arméniennes
de France (CCAF).

Quant au moyen qui serait utilisé par le gouvernement pour respecter
cet engagement, on a assuré un peu plus tard dans la soirée à l’Elysée
qu’une réflexion était en cours sur ce sujet après la censure du
Conseil constitutionnel sur un précédent texte. On n’a toutefois pas
précisé si le véhicule juridique prendrait ou non la forme d’un
nouveau texte de loi, soulignant que tout dépendrait des résultats de
l’étude en cours.

Le chef de l’Etat a “toujours la volonté de proposer un projet de loi
visant à réprimer le négationnisme du génocide arménien”, avait
affirmé le CCAF dans un communiqué du CCAF publié dans l’après-midi,
en rapportant l’échange avec François Hollande .”Pour couper court à
toutes les rumeurs consécutives aux déclarations de Laurent Fabius qui
a semblé remettre en cause l’engagement de François Hollande de
proposer une nouvelle loi de pénalisation du négationnisme, le
président de la République a téléphoné ce (samedi) matin à M. Franck
Papazian (coprésident du CCAF) pour lui confirmer qu il n avait pas
changé d’avis sur le sujet”, indiquait le CCAF dans son communiqué.

“François Hollande a de nouveau fait part de sa volonté de proposer un
projet de loi visant à réprimer le négationnisme du génocide arménien,
ainsi qu’il l’avait dit durant sa campagne et même bien avant. Le
président devrait recevoir avant la fin du mois une délégation du CCAF
pour envisager les modalités de la mise en place d’un tel texte”,
ajoutait le texte.

Les représentants de la communauté arménienne de France avaient fait
part de leurs inquiétudes et parlé même de “trahison” après les
déclarations du ministre des Affaires étrangères Laurent Fabius
évoquant une “nouvelle étape” des relations entre Paris et Ankara.

Après s’être entretenu jeudi avec son homologue turc, le chef de la
diplomatie française avait semblé exclure l’adoption prochaine par la
France d’une nouvelle loi punissant la négation des génocides, dont
celui des Arméniens, après la censure par le Conseil constitutionnel
d’un texte voté en ce sens fin 2011 par l’Assemblée nationale.

Cette instance “a décidé que la proposition de loi qui avait été
présentée par les parlementaires (de la précédente majorité de droite)
était contraire à notre Constitution donc il n’est pas possible de
reprendre le même chemin sinon le résultat sera évidemment le même”,
avait constaté M. Fabius.

“Sauf déclaration rapide du chef de l’Etat, il s’agit là d’une
trahison” avait réagi auprès de l’AFP le président du CCAF Ara
Toranian, rappelant qu’avant son élection M. Hollande s’était engagé
en faveur d’une telle loi “à plusieurs reprises, sans ambiguïté”.

L’ Orient-Le Jour, Liban
Vendredi 6 Juillet 2012

Le prix de la Fondation Boghossian

Art Pour sa première édition, le prix de la Fondation Boghossian a
récompensé la peintre Tagreed Darghouth et le sculpteur Pascal Hachem,
deux jeunes artistes libanais.

Désignés parmi 61 candidats, ils ont reçu chacun hier, pour la remise
officielle du prix aux Beirut Souks, la somme de 10000 dollars et la
possibilité de séjourner et d’exposer à la villa Empain à Bruxelles,
un site qui appartient à la
fondation depuis 2006.

«L’art est un formidable vecteur de paix», a souligné Albert
Boghossian, président du jury et fondateur, avec son père et son frère
(1992), de la Fondation Boghossian.

Joailliers libanais d’origine arménienne, basés à Anvers et à Genève,
les Boghossian soutiennent depuis vingt ans de nombreux projets
pédagogiques, artistiques et
culturels.

Droits de reproduction et de diffusion réservés.

Fars News Agency, Iran
July 8 2012

Iran, Armenia to Improve Security Cooperation

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran and Armenia plan to further increase mutual
cooperation in security, counter-terrorism and anti-narcotics fields,
a senior Iranian interior ministry official announced.

Speaking before his departure for Armenian capital city of Yerevan on
Saturday, Iranian Deputy Interior Minister for Security and Law
Enforcement Affairs Ali Abdollahi said that the two neighboring
countries intend to increase their security cooperation.

Abdollahi further expressed Iran’s readiness to transfer its
experience to neighboring countries such as Armenia in the fields of
training police forces and fighting drugs, terrorism and organized
crimes.

Elsewhere, the Iranian official voiced the Islamic Republic of Iran’s
support for peace and security in the region, and stated that Tehran
has made its utmost efforts to establish regional peace and security.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran’s policy regarding neighboring countries
has always been one of strengthening and expanding relations, and
therefore, Iran’s borders with neighboring countries have always been
the borders of peace and friendship,” he said.

Iran has long taken various diplomatic initiatives to expand its ties
with the neighboring states.

In recent years, Iran and its Northern neighbor Armenia have boosted
cooperation, signed agreements on energy cooperation and agreed to
cooperate in technology and research and to enhance ties in commerce
and economy.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Armenian counterpart
Serzh Sargsian pledged in December 2011 to further expand “high-level
relations” between their nations and, in particular, give new impetus
to the implementation of joint energy projects that have fallen behind
schedule.

We are all “Vahe” … or else
23:20, July 8, 2012

By Norick Markosian

Our twenty years of independence, if nothing else, has shed light and
exposed two important and differing qualities about our nation.

It takes decades, if not centuries, for other nations to realize the same.
In nature, living or otherwise, things are created because of the existence
of two opposite and equally powerful forces.

The existence of the negative aspect, alongside the positive, in return
creates the opportunity for the positive to shine and eventually overcome
the bad and the evil.
As a newly independent nation, we are still going through our growing pains.

We have witnessed the existence of both, the most horrific and the most
exemplary qualities that a human being can posses, among the different
sectors of our population and society.

In the early days of our independence, we demonstrated that we can come
together as a cohesive and self sacrificing unit, to overcome almost any
difficulty and obstacle thrown at us. We fought, and defeated, an enemy
more powerful and better equipped than us, as we were blockaded by three of
our four neighbors.

That war produced legendary martyrs who can serve as the heroes of any
nation’s epic mythology. But the same war also gave birth to individuals
who opportunistically utilized the chaotic situation of our country to
amass riches and profit from the war.

Unfortunately, as we progressed as a nation, the malevolence and the money
hungry among us, however absurd it might be, took the reign and formed the
oligarchic system which is ruling us today. Along the way, these oligarchs,
committed numerous atrocities, and avoided being prosecuted because they
were the law.

On June 29th, citizen Vahe Avetyan, passed away after being subjected to a
brutal beating by the bodyguards of one of the aforementioned oligarchs
(Ruben Hayrapetyan).

The shock wave created by Vahe’s death traveled through the conscience of
every Armenian. It spurred the proverbial good of our nation to rise and
start the process of the defeating the evil.

Armenians in both Armenia and Diaspora poured out into the streets and
protested to voice their intolerance for not only Vahe’s death, but also
for the lawlessness and injustices which prevail in Armenia today.

Various slogans were used by the people, of which the most common ones
were, `we are Vahe’ , `I am Vahe’.

Although young and still growing, we as a nation cannot afford to allow
this oligarchic system to continue to thrive in our country.

Almost 18 years after defeating the foreign enemy, it is time for us to
become a cohesive nation again to defeat the evil which exists within us.

To coin an old adage, `the enemy’s knife has cut through the flesh and
is
about to break our bone’=85The the situation is as dire as it was during
the
battle of Sardarabad.

We will either truly become `Vahe’ and fight to dismantle this oligarchic
system, one evil at a time=85 or=85There is no other OR.

`Children of Ararat’ doc film screened during Days of Armenia in Rome

July 7, 2012 – 17:14 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The Embassy of Armenia in Italy hosted Days of
Armenia series of cultural events, with the assistance of Fiesta Tour
airway company.

Italian journalist Piero Marazzo’s `Children of Ararat’ documentary
has been screened in the framework of the Rome-hosted event. Concerts
of pianist Lilit Khachatryan, soprano Agnesa Gyurjian, Gevorg
Dabghyan’s duduk trio were also featured.

Diplomats accredited to Italy, representatives of Italian culture and
media, Armenian community as well as the Mayor of the Italian city of
Nardo attended the events, Armenian Foreign Ministry press service
said.

Turkish FM delivers ultimatum to Armenia

07 July 2012 [12:35] – TODAY.AZ

First Armenia should liberate the occupied Azerbaijani territories,
and only after that Ankara can think about the normalization of
Armenian-Turkish relations, the Milliyet newspaper quotes Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as saying on Saturday.

“We repeat every time that Armenia must liberate Azerbaijani
territories. After that Armenian-Turkish border will be opened, and
economic cooperation, which will revitalize Armenian economy, will be
established,” Davutoglu said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France and the U.S. – are
currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

There are no diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia, and the
border between the two countries has been closed since 1993. The
reasons are that the Armenians claim for international recognition of
the so-called genocide and that the Armenian armed forces have
occupied Azerbaijani territories.

URL:

Armenian opposition party has and will not discuss member’s possible leaving

news.am
July 07, 2012 | 15:28

YEREVAN. – The question of Davit Shahnazaryan leaving the opposition
Armenian National Movement (ANM) Party is not discussed within the
Party, ANM Council Executive Secretary Vahagn Hayotsyan told Armenian
News-NEWS.am.

In his words, they do not expel people from the Party and there is no
issue of expelling Shahnazaryan from the ANM; such thing was not
discussed.

`He could be an ANM member, but not an [opposition Armenian National
Congress] ANC [bloc] member. Our party members are free [to make their
choices],’ said Hayotsyan.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, Davit Shahnazaryan left the
ANC, he told RFE/RL Armenian service on Thursday.

`I left the ANC Central Office in March, before the [May 6
parliamentary] elections, and my political career in ANC is over,’
Shahnazaryan said without telling the reason.

`As a result of the elections, the picture of Armenia’s domestic
policy changed completely. Before the elections there was a bipolar
political system in Armenia – the government was on one side and the
opposition was on the other. After the elections a change occurred in
the opposition pole, where Prosperous Armenia Party took the place of
ANC and it calls itself an alternative force.

Besides, Prosperous Armenia – which stands atop the opposition
pyramid – has the same level of legitimacy as the Government, or maybe a
little bit lower, as it gave out bribes in a much more coordinated
manner than the [ruling] Republican Party of Armenia,’ Shahnazaryan
mentioned.

ANC opposition bloc needs to orient itself quickly to avoid breakdown

tert.am
14:17 – 07.07.12

Should the Armenian National Congress (ANC) orient itself quickly and
assess the situation right, it will succeed in stopping the split in
the opposition bloc, leader of the Democratic Homeland party Petros
Makeyan told Tert.am.

`Davit Shahnazaryan’s pullout was a serious blow. He was a mighty
force with his experience and skills. But it cannot be considered the
last blow to the ANC,’ Mr Makeyan said.

The disputes over the political course adopted by the ANC after the
parliamentary elections resulted in the drain of core political forces
from the opposition bloc – Hanrapetutyun, headed by Aram Sargsyan,
Liberal party of Hovhannes Hovhannissyan and Davit Shahnazaryan –
close associate of Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

Petros Makeyan said the issues in the ANC are not caused by outside
factors, but the problem exists inside the bloc.
Asked whether the problem is in not encouraging pluralism inside the
ANC, Mr Makeyan said he and his party are trying to overcome it by
offering approaches, solutions. `It is very difficult though,’ he
said, adding that very often ANC’s decisions are being adopted
`outside of political council’, personally by the head of the ANC.

While members of the ANC avoid making any comments over the
developments inside the bloc, ANC associates express moods inside the
ANC on their Facebook page. Hrant Ter-Abrahamyan wrote that though
Davit Shahnazaryan has a right to leave the ANC and be against ANC’s
strategy to cooperate with the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), before
criticizing and leaving he should first of all have spoken about his
part of responsibility in the failure of 2011 dialogue between the ANC
and the authorities, which Ter-Abrahamyan described as dialogue of two
Davits, that resulted in cooperation with the PAP.

Last year the dialogue between the ANC and coalition forces was first
postponed and then suspended after the arrest of ANC activist Tigran
Arakelyan.

Petros Makeyan, though, said the core figures in the dialogue were
Davit Harutyunyan representing the authorities and Levon
Ter-Petrosyan.

Armenian man hits fellow villager’s face with pliers

news.am
July 06, 2012 | 19:03

YEREVAN. – Officers from Armenia’s Police detained Zohrap P., 27, at
Ararat Region’s Verin Artashat village, on Thursday at 6:30pm, and on
suspicion of causing bodily injury.

It was found out that Zohrap P. had argued with Garik P., 24, in the
same village, on Tuesday at around 7pm, and hit Garik P. in the face
with pliers and caused injury, the Police press service informs.

Garik P. was given a forensic medical treatment voucher.

An investigation is underway.