Author: Kanayan Tamar

APPEALS COURT RULES FOR U OF M IN CASE OVER ‘UNRELIABLE WEBSITES’

Posted by: Jenna Ross Updated: May 4, 2012 – 11:06 AM

The Eighth U.S. Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday in favor of the
University of Minnesota in a case over a university center posting
a list of “unreliable websites.”

The university is hailing the legal victory as a win for academic
freedom.

The Turkish Coalition of America had sued the university in 2010,
claiming that the U’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
violated the group’s First Amendment rights by “blacklisting” its
website because of its pro-Turkish viewpoint on the killings of
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire a century ago.

This week, the appeals court agreed with the district court in
dismissing the Turkish group’s claims.

The appeals court rejected the Turkish Coalition of America’s
comparison to other cases in which school boards removed books from
libraries. “Here, in contrast, ‘the spectrum of available knowledge’
for students at the university was unaffected,” the ruling said.

“There is no allegation that the defendants impaired students’ access
to the TCA website on a university-provided internet system.”

It also found that the group’s defamation claims failed.

In a statement, the U’s general counsel Mark Rotenberg said the
decision “confirms the right of universities and their faculty to
offer scholarly criticism and critique on websites without fear of
legal exposure.”

Read the full decision here:

THREE POLITICAL FORCES TO ESTABLISH MOBILE TEAMS TO REACT TO REPORTS ON ELECTION FRAUDS
Lusine Vasilyan

“Radiolur”
04.05.2012 17:16

Representatives of the Prosperous Armenia Party, the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation and the Armenian National Congress convened
the last fifth sitting of the joint oversight headquarters of the
parliamentary elections today to sum up the results of the election
campaign and decide on how they will cooperate on the voting day.

Chairman of the Union of Political Scientists Hmayak Hovhannisyan said
they will work actively on the election day and the following night.

They will collect the whole information received from precincts,
and will present it on-line and through briefings.

Representatives of the three parties agreed to cooperate in four main
directions. In particular, they agreed to establish mobile groups,
which will react to the reports on election frauds. Besides, the
three forces agreed to compile an alternative list of voters.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY LEADER: THESE AUTHORITIES ARE INCOMPATIBLE WITH JUSTICE

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 4, 2012 – 13:14 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – “There is some media coverage progress in this
election campaign, and I believe this is positive. The methods,
however, have remained the same,” leader of the Democratic Party of
Armenia Stepan Demirchyan told a press conference on May 4.

Demirchyan who is nominated by the opposition Armenian National
Congress (ANC) for the upcoming parliamentary elections says ANC’s
campaign was successful since it managed to gather a large number of
supporters at its recent rallies, who came voluntarily “unlike those
forced by some parties.”

“ANC held particularly large-scale campaign during the past two weeks.

It will have serious representation in the parliament in case of
fair elections,” Democratic party leader stated adding that “these
authorities are incompatible with justice”.

ANC will comprehensively assess the electoral developments following
the May 6 vote, Demirchyan said.

According to him, the opposition bloc is going to hold a rally in
Freedom Square on May 8.

Parliamentary elections are due in Armenia on May 6 featuring 8
political parties (Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), Prosperous
Armenia, ARF Dashnaktsutyun (ARFD), Orinats Yerkir, Heritage,
Democratic Party of Armenia (DPA), Communist Party of Armenia and
United Armenian party, as well as one election bloc represented by
opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC).

URUGUAY CONDEMNS THE CEASEFIRE VIOLATIONS BY AZERBAIJAN

ARMENPRESS
4 May, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MAY 4, ARMENPRESS: Uruguay condemns any manifestation
of ceasefire violation. Armenian Foreign Affairs Minister Edward
Nalbandyan had a joint press conference with his Uruguay counterpart
Luis Almagro.

“Latest ceasefire violations come to prove that Nagorno Karabakh
conflict cannot be settled through the increase of armament means”
Foreign Affairs Minister of Oriental Republic of Uruguay highlighted.

Armenian Foreign Affairs Minister stated that the statement of Mr.

Almagro is a good approach by international society. In his words
even Turkey spoke about the non-use of force.

“International society came forth with the statement highly condemning
the series of violation in village of Doveg” Nalbandyan underscored. In
the words of the Armenian FM USA President Obama’s, Russian Federation
President Medvedev’s, Republic of France President Sarkozy’s statements
were addressed to Azerbaijan.

PEOPLE’S ARTIST OF ARMENIA AND ITALIAN CONDUCTOR TO PERFORM IN ARAM KHACHATRYAN CONCERT HALL

Panorama.am
04/05/2012

People’s Artist of Armenia Svetlana Navasardyan will perform Brahms’
piano concert No1 today in Aram Khachatryan concert hall.

Renowned Italian conductor Aldo Sisillo will perform with State
Philharmonic Orchestra Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” symphony.

FRENCH COLLEGE ASKS TURKISH PARENTS “NOT TO EXAGGERATE” CARICATURE LINKED WITH TURKEY, ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

news.am
May 04, 2012 | 05:37

The administration of Anatole France School in Montbeliard, France,
asked the School’s Turkish parents “not to exaggerate” the story of the
caricature linked with the Armenian Genocide issue, Nouvelles d’Armenie
magazine of France informs, referring to Anadolu News Agency of Turkey.

During their meeting with the parents and the members from the Turkish
COJEP International Association, the college’s administration advised
the parents to “not look for evil intentions,” and stated that the
crisis was caused by the teacher’s unprofessionalism, who had selected
a caricature for the class.

According to the School administration, the teacher had simply printed
that caricature from the Internet, distributed it to the students,
and assigned them to interpret the caricature and conclude why Turkey
cannot become an EU member.

To note, the aforesaid teacher showed a caricature which depicted
a mustached man-representing Turkey-carrying a sack full of human
skulls. The sack symbolizes Turkey carrying the skulls and with
the inscription: “Armenian Genocide.” The person standing nearby
represents France. The man with the sack is climbing the mountain
with an EU flag atop.

As a result, the Turkish students’ parents had filed a complaint with
the French Education Ministry and the organization for the protection
of the rights of foreigners.

KARABAKH CONFLICT WILL HARDLY BE RESOLVED WITHIN NEXT DECADE – EUROPEAN ANALYSTS

news.am
May 04, 2012 | 12:26

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not likely to be settled within the
next decade, the European Union analysts stated in a report entitled
Global Trends 2030, RFE/RL informs.

The experts noted that the deepening of Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s
ties with the EU and the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations
could pave the way for resolving the Karabakh issue.

“The Karabakh issue is more difficult than South Ossetia and Abkhazia,
because several regional players are engaged here,” the analysts
said and added: “Russia manifests a great will to resolve it, but the
bilaterally growing unprecedented radicalization shows that the outside
powers’ efforts are limited in terms of advancing the settlement.”

At the same time, the EU experts stress that the resolution of the
Karabakh conflict could have an enormous positive impact on the
political and economic growth in the Caucasus.

And with respect to the likely developments in the next twenty years,
the EU analysts predict that Turkey could have a greater impact on
the international scene, but it must first meet several challenges,
including a response to the demands and rights of the Armenians and
the Kurds.

LA PARTIE AZERBAIDJANAISE DEVIENT DE PLUS EN PLUS AGRESSIVE
Stephane

armenews.com
vendredi 4 mai 2012

Un communique du ” Ministère ” de la Defense du HK fait savoir
qu’au cours des dernières journees, les forces azerbaïdjanaises
ont intensifie les violations de la treve, tirant en direction des
positions armeniennes plus de 2000 fois. En particulier, le 24 avril,
les forces azerbaïdjanaises ont tire en direction d’un vehicule
sanitaire armenien, blessant deux soldats. / Rapporte par l’ensemble
de la presse

Rappelons que le 25 avril, les forces azerbaïdjanaises avaient bombarde
un village frontalier dans la region du Tavouch (cf. la revue du
26.04). A propos de cet incident, le porte-parole du MAE a indique
que le bureau du representant special du President en exercice de
l’OSCE a ete informe. Celui-ci a assure que les lieux du bombardement
seraient examines. / Hayots Achkhar

Hayots Achkhar et Hayastani Hanrapetoutioun relayent l’avis de
l’expert militaire, David Jamalian, selon lequel, si l’agression
de l’Azerbaïdjan se poursuit, les forces armeniennes auront toutes
les raisons, du point de vue du droit international, d’aneantir les
positions a partir desquelles l’ennemi ouvre le feu.

Ambassade de France en Armenie

Service de presse

AVRANCHES ” REFLETS D’ARMENIE ” : DERNIERS JOURS
Jean Eckian

armenews.com
vendredi 4 mai 2012

Ouest-France rappelle a ses lecteurs que le 6 mai au soir, Scriptorial
ferme son exposition temporaire ” Reflets d’Armenie “. Unique en
France, elle permet aux visiteurs d’admirer des manuscrits et des
objets religieux pretes par le musee armenien de Paris, ferme au
grand public, qui possède plus de 1 200 objets.

Entre Orient et Occident, l’Armenie est terre chretienne depuis 17
siècles. Terre de foi, elle est aussi terre de culture et de l’ecrit,
du manuscrit sur parchemin au manuscrit sur papier. Un art cultive
depuis toujours et encore aujourd’hui.

Dix manuscrits de grande valeur sont pretes par le musee armenien
de Paris et huit par la Bibliothèque nationale de France qui en
possède 350.

Jusqu’au 6 mai inclus, ” Reflets d’Armenie “, Scriptorial, place
d’Estouteville, Avranches, tel. 02 33 79 57 00. Ouvert de 10 h a 12
h 30 et de 14 h a 18 h vendredi, samedi et dimanche. Dimanche 6 mai
a 10 h 30 : petit-dejeuner philosophique : ” Sort-on toujours grandi
des revers de la vie ? ”

EX-FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS PAP CONCERNED OVER VOTE RIGGING

tert.am
03.05.12

The Prosperous Armenia party (PAP) has concerns that the upcoming
parliamentary election may be rigged, according to Vardan Oskanyan,
Armenia’s ex foreign minister.

In an interview with RFE/RL, the politician, who recently joined
the coalition party, stressed the need of considering process in the
context of Armenia’s past history.

“[Prosperous Armenia] does certainly have concerns. This is shown by
our past history which adds to today’s voter lists and the general
rumors on activities in different districts,” he said, adding that
the levers to rig elections are always in the authorities’ hand.

“It will not be a big discovery to say, for instance, that the
authorities should feel the entire burden of responsibility for
conducting a free and fair election or failing to do so. That’s what
our legislation and the structure of our political system require,”
he added.