Author: Kanayan Tamar

TURKEY’S KURDISH PARTY AGAIN DOES NOT SIGN DOCUMENT CRITICIZING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL

NEWS.am
January 20, 2012 | 13:09

ANKARA. – Turkey’s three parliamentary parties, except for the Kurdish
“Peace and Democracy Party,” adopted a document, whereby they are
calling upon the French Senate members to vote against the bill that
criminalizes the denial of genocides, including the Armenian Genocide,
Sabah daily of Turkey informs.

To note, during the said bill’s examination at the French National
Assembly earlier, these three parliamentary parties had again adopted
a joint document criticizing this bill, and the Peace and Democracy
Party had again refused to sign under it. The Party’s Deputy Faction
leader Hasip Kaplan had stated that the document does not reflect
the reality of that time, and that is why they would not sign it. And
days before this incident, another Peace and Democracy Party MP had
stated, at the parliament floor, that Turkey has a culture of massacre,
and he had recalled the massacring of the Armenians in 1915.

HAYASTAN ALL-ARMENIAN FUND BEGINS CONSTRUCTION OF POTABLE-WATER NETWORK IN ARTSAKH’S HADRUT CITY

armradio.am
20.01.2012 11:01

Toward the realization of the Telethon 2011 slogan “A gift of water,
a gift of life,” the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund began construction
of a potable-water network in the city of Hadrut, Artsakh.

The project is co-sponsored by the fund’s U.S. Western Region, with
a major contribution by benefactors Mr. and Mrs. Gerald and Patricia
Turpanjian of Los Angeles, and the government of Artsakh.

“This extensive development initiative was launched in 2008, when the
Hayastan All-Armenian Fund built the 22-kilometer Arjaghbyur-Hadrut
potable-water pipeline,” said Edik Davtyan, deputy head of the
Hadrut Regional Administration. “The project will come to completion
with the currently implemented construction of Hadrut’s internal
water-distribution network, thanks to which the entire population of
the city will be connected to the potable-water grid.”

Components of the project include the construction of a distribution
network with a total length of 33 kilometers, a pump station, and two
reservoirs as well as the renovation of the city’s 1970s-built well,
the daily-regulation reservoirs, and underground springs.

“We convey our profound gratitude to Mr. and Mrs. Turpanjian, whose
generous gift will enable us to provide the close to 3,200 residents
of Hadrut with around-the-clock access to drinking water,” said Ara
Aghishian, chairman of the Armenia Fund U.S. Western Region.

“We also convey our very special thanks to Mr. Albert Boyajian of the
fund’s Board of Trustees, whose efforts were instrumental in making
the project possible,” Aghishian concluded.

Another significant Artsakh initiative supported by Mr. and Mrs.

Turpanjian and spearheaded by the Armenia Fund U.S. Western Region
was the construction of Stepanakert’s No. 11 (V. Jhangiryan) School.

Realized through a major donation by the Turpanjians and the
co-sponsorship of the government of Artsakh, the U.S. $2.7 million
campus was the largest ever built by the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund.

Opening its doors in September 2010, the school featured
state-of-the-art facilities and distinctive architecture.

DOUBLE STANDARD STAINS LA TIMES’ STANCE ON TRUTH
BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN

asbarez
Thursday, January 19th, 2012

During the last month, the Los Angeles Times first through an editorial
and on Thursday via an op-piece authored by Timothy Garton Ash argues
that a bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide, which
will be taken up by the French Senate on Monday, violates basic rights
of free speech and expression.

In both instances, the LA Times states that the massacre of 1.5
million Armenians in 1915 is undeniably Genocide. And, in both
cases the authors cite international declarations and myriad other
examples to illustrate their point of view that the French bill is
counterproductive, at best.

What both fail to do, however, is address a historical fact that the
bill in question is not precedent-setting at all in France, since that
fellow democracy adheres to a 1990 law known as the Gayssot Law, which,
in short, criminalizes the denial of the Holocaust. In fact, there are
several European countries that have very strict anti-Holocaust denial
laws-a concept that may be foreign to American socio-political norms.

But is it? Here in the United States there are quite a few laws
that characterize hate speech and while late in the making, they are
currently being used as basis for punishment of those that carry out
racist or discriminatory acts. The French law simply calls the denial
of the Genocide an act of discrimination and sets punitive damages for
individuals violating it. Does the LA Times mind the laws that punish
those who use the “N” word when referring to African-Americans? I
highly doubt it!

Immediately after the law was passed in the France’s Lower House,
the LA Times, in a December 21 editorial went as far as to call the
law censorship.

“Some would say that it’s presumptuous for Americans to lecture
the people of a fellow democracy about the rights they accord their
citizens. But robust freedom of expression isn’t some American fetish.

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says:
‘Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this
right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to
seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and
regardless of frontiers,'” illustrated the editorial.

The irony-absurdity-of the LA Times editorial in invoking the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights is that Turkey’s daily attempts (and the
US’s aggressive and assertive complicity) in denying the Genocide is
a violation of every single article of that very declaration.

In his op-ed piece, Timothy Garton Ash cites what he calls the
“pathbreaking 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (‘The
free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious
rights….’)” as a reason for the French Senate to reject the law and
says while the events of 1915 were “terrible” they should be subject to
“free historical debate.”

Furthermore, in Thursday’s op-ed, the author suggests that the law
is being debated now as a cheap political trick by French President
Nicolas Sarkozy, who is counting on French-Armenian votes in upcoming
elections. Can anyone say Barack Obama?

Our venerable president also made promises that the US would stop
violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the active denial
of the Genocide) and, once and for all, will recognize the Armenian
Genocide. Or, was it not House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who in 2000,
despite his own opposition to the Congressional Genocide bill, vowed
to bring the measure to a vote at a press conference in Glendale
alongside his Republican ally Rep. Jim Rogan who was fighting for
his seat in Congress and aimed to appease Armenian voters by making
the memory of 1.5 million victims an electioneering tool? Where was
the author’s outrage then?

The LA Times decision to highlight-and vociferously oppose-a piece
of legislation in France is a double standard because based on the
arguments presented in both instances, the Gayssot Law should have
been fervently opposed. The LA Times should apply the same standards,
if it chooses to take a position on the way things are done in France,
or else its stated commitment to the truth becomes stained.

FRENCH COMMITTEE APPROVES AMENDMENT

Anadolu Agency (AA)
January 18, 2012 Wednesday
Turkey

A committee with the French parliament approved Wednesday an amendment
on Armenian allegations.

PARIS A committee with the French parliament approved Wednesday an
amendment that might avert a debate at the Senate floor on a bill
that makes it a crime to deny Armenian allegations on the Ottoman
era incidents of 1915.

The bill is set to come to the Senate floor next Monday but French
Senate members could vote to uphold the Legislations Committee’s
decision and drop the bill off the agenda without debating it.

The Chairperson of the Committee on Laws at the French Senate, Jean
Pierre Sueur, said their decision not to place an Armenian resolution
earlier adopted by the French Parliament on the agenda of the French
Senate was taken with the thought that the resolution was against
the French constitution.

ARINC: DINK RULING FAILED TO EASE CONSCIENCES

Anadolu Agency (AA)
January 18, 2012 Wednesday
Turkey

Turkish deputy prime minister has said a court ruling in a case on
the killing of a Turkish-Armenian journalist had failed to reach the
general conscience.

ANKARA “It is apparent that the ruling did not came an ease to
consciences. And I am on that side too,” Bulent Arinc told a televised
interview on Wednesday.

An Istanbul court sentenced Tuesday Yasin Hayal to life in prison for
instigating the killing of the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink
five years ago.

TURKEY URGES FRENCH LAWMAKERS TO REJECT GENOCIDE BILL

Voice of America
Jan 20 2012

Turkey has urged French lawmakers to reject a bill making it illegal
to deny as genocide the mass killings of Armenians during Turkey’s
Ottoman era nearly a century ago.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called on all French senators
Friday to think beyond their political interests.

He said passage of the bill would create a black stain on France’s
intellectual history, noting that Turkey will always remind the French
of that stain.

The French senate plans to debate the bill next week. France’s lower
house of parliament passed it last month.

Earlier this week, France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy wrote a letter
to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan saying the bill does
not single out a particular country.

The bill says anyone that denies the mass killings of Armenians by
Ottoman forces constituted genocide faces a nearly $60,000 fine and up
to one year in jail. France formally recognized the Armenian killings
as genocide in 2001, but imposed no penalty for anyone refuting that.

Turkey responded angrily to passage of the bill by France’s lower
house of parliament.

Mr. Erdogan accused France of committing genocide in Algeria more
than 60 years ago. He said French colonialists massacred 15 percent of
Algeria’s population starting in 1945. He has also accused Mr. Sarkozy
of pandering to the hundreds of thousands of French citizens of
Armenian descent heading into his re-election bid this year.

Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul said Mr. Sarkozy is “prejudiced”
against Turkey.

Relations between France and Turkey, both members of NATO, have
been frozen due to French opposition to Turkey’s bid to join the
European Union.

Armenia says 1.5 million Armenians were killed during World War One
by troops of Turkey’s Ottoman Empire, which historians say was one of
the 20th century’s worst massacres. Turkey has acknowledged the loss
of Armenian lives, but says the death toll is exaggerated and does not
amount to genocide. It says the deaths were the result of civil war.

SURVEY SHOWS RACIAL BLOCK VOTING
By Megan O’Neil

Glendale News Press
,0,1035205.story
Jan 20 2012
CA

Schools look at possibility of moving to a by-district election system.

Analysis of three Glendale City Council elections during the last
decade show some patterns of racially polarized voting and possible
violations of the California Voting Rights Act, according to a
consulting firm hired to collect and decipher the data.

Glendale Community College and the Glendale Unified School District
in November jointly commissioned Redistricting Partners to conduct
a $35,000 study to determine whether they should move from their
current at-large election process to a district system.

In the 2003 Glendale City Council race, Latino candidate Gus Gomez
garnered 94% of the Latino vote, far outstripping his city-wide
support of 23.7%, said Kimi Shigetani, vice president of the Community
College League of California who presented the data on behalf of
Redistricting Partners.

“The white voters within Glendale had a 9% support rate [of Gomez], so
this demonstrates polarized voting with the Latino population heavily
in support and the white population supporting the other candidate,”
Shigetani said.

Analysis of support for non-Armenian white candidates in the 2005
city council race show that the Latino and Armenian voters supported
non-Armenian white candidates at a rate of just 6%, Shigetani said.

And a breakdown of the 2011 races shows non-Armenian white city council
candidates John Drayman and Dave Weaver earning 55% support from
white voters, but just 9% support from Latino voters. Meanwhile, the
Armenian candidates for Glendale Community College Board of Trustees,
Vahe Peroomian and Vartan Gharpetian, drew 86% of votes among Armenian
voters, showing that Armenians tend to vote as a block for Armenian
candidates, Shigetani said.

The data is just a fraction of what the completed study will include,
Shigetani said, adding that analysis of multiple additional local
elections and state-wide ballot measures will be presented at a
special meeting on Feb. 9.

In at-large elections such as those in Glendale, candidates can run and
be elected regardless of their address within city, college district
or school district boundaries. In a district-based system, candidates
vie to represent specific geographic areas within those boundaries.

Passed in 2002, the California Voting Rights Act seeks to protect
the voting clout of minority groups by mandating a switch to a
district-based system in elections where the at-large process dilutes
their vote.

In September, voters in the Cerritos Community College district sued
to force the issue, saying its at-large structure diluted the Latino
vote. Representatives from the Community College League of California
and the consulting firm Redistricting Partners have warned Glendale
education officials that additional lawsuits could be forthcoming.

Further, a new state law gives community colleges the chance to
switch to a district system within a specific time frame without
putting the issue before voters, avoiding a potentially costly and
protracted approval process, they said.

A study of voting patterns would allow both the college and the
K-12 district to determine whether they should consider a change;
and if not, would provide them with evidence to defend against any
potential lawsuits, representatives from the Community College League
of California and Redistricting Partners said.

But several Glendale Community College trustees expressed skepticism
about the early findings, questioning everything from the elections
that were analyzed to the statistical significance of the numbers.

“I would be very afraid of reaching conclusions based on these numbers
that say that these trends actually make sense,” trustee Vahe Peroomian
said. “Also, I think our city has changed quite a bit in nine years
since the 2003 elections. We have a successful Latino candidate that is
currently on the city council so I don’t see why that is not included.”

Others said that they want to see voting data more specific to the
college and K-12 school districts.

“We want to get to a real understanding if there is true polarization
here,” trustee Tony Tartaglia said. “My concern is that we are getting
some conjecture and some opinions rather than factual information.”

THOUSANDS PROTEST TURKISH VERDICT OVER JOURNALIST MURDER

Agence France Presse
January 19, 2012 Thursday 3:58 PM GMT

Thousands of people gathered in Istanbul Thursday to pay tribute to
ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink and to protest a court ruling
that his murder was not planned as part of a wider conspiracy.

“Murderer state will account for this,” and “Shoulder to shoulder
against fascism,” chanted the crowd near the central Taksim Square
before marching to the offices of Dink’s newspaper for a silent vigil
on the fifth anniversary of his murder.

Television reports said around 20,000 people joined the demonstration.

A leading member of Turkey’s tiny Armenian community, Dink, 52, was
shot dead in broad daylight on January 19, 2007, outside the offices
of his bilingual weekly newspaper Agos.

Dink had campaigned for reconciliation between Turks and Armenians
and his assassination sent shockwaves through Turkey, growing into a
wider scandal following reports that state security forces had known
of a plot to kill him but failed to act.

The crowd, including Dink’s widow Rakel and his children, carried
two large black banners declaring “We will not forget” and “We will
not forgive.”

Many demonstrators also carried placards saying “We are all Hrant Dink,
we are all Armenians,” in Turkish and Armenian.

Dink’s self-confessed murderer Ogun Samast, who shot the journalist in
the back of the head, was a jobless high-school dropout and 17 years
old at the time. He was sentenced to nearly 23 years in jail in July.

On Tuesday an Istanbul court sentenced Yasin Hayal, 31, to life in
prison for inciting the murder.

But the court acquitted more than a dozen other suspects, ruling that
there was no wider plot to kill Dink — who had angered nationalists
with his views on Turkish-Armenian history — as alleged by his
supporters.

“They surrounded us with lies. It has been like this for five years
and they finally gave us two people and asked us to be content with
them,” journalist Karin Karakasli told the crowd.

Dink’s family is seeking a deeper investigation to uncover state
officials who were allegedly involved the murder.

Demonstrators on Thursday left red carnations and lit candles at the
spot where Dink was shot, while the words “Hrant Dink was murdered
here” were written on the pavement.

President Abdullah Gul described the trial as a test for Turkey.

“It is an important test for us that this trial process should be
concluded in the most transparent way and in harmony with our laws,”
Gul told the media.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the government did its best
to help solve the murder.

“I see that public consciousness is not satisfied,” he said in a TV
interview broadcast Wednesday. “There have been various expectations
(about the case). It is possible to share some of them but I cannot
join them in general.”

The chief judge in the case, Rustem Eryilmaz, also expressed doubts
about his own verdict, saying that any “connections” between the
culprits and the state could not be clearly established before
the trial.

“However, this is the only decision we could take, according to the
available evidence,” Eryilmaz told private news channel NTV.

SOME MP’S FEIGN POVERTY TO GET GOVERNMENT HANDOUTS
Grisha Balasanyan

HETQ
16:04, January 18, 2012

Politicians, around the world, can be said to have one thing in common
– the drive to win the favour of voters and get elected to positions
of power.

Armenia is no exception to the rule. In fact, some Armenian MP’s go
do far as to cry “poverty” in the run-up to elections, in an attempt
to present themselves as representatives of the common man.

Even MP Samvel Aleksanyan, owner of the Yerevan City chain of
supermarkets, sees nothing wrong with going after the “compassion” vote
by lamenting the fact that he has to feed five hungry children at home.

Some MP’s whine about their salary levels and say it’s tough to get
by on just 240,000 AMD per month. You’ll hear them say that they
can’t even buy a decent suit for that amount!

Many Armenian politicos feign poverty just to get government handouts.

Armenia’s National Assembly offers housing allowances for MP’s while
staying in Yerevan for parliamentary business. Those with no place
to stay can get up to $120 per month so they can rent an apartment.

In 2011, those receiving such an allowance were MP’s Rafik Grigoryan,
Soukias Avetisyan and Lernik Aleksanyan (Republican Party; Hovhannes
Margaryan, Khachik Harutyunyan and Ishkhan Khachatryan (Rule of Law);
and Artzvik Minasyan (ARF).

Now, $120 translates into about 46,000 AMD at current exchange rates.

It’s hard to imagine what type of apartments these MP’s can rent in
Yerevan with such a measly amount.

Let’s look at a few individual cases:

Lernik Aleksanyan – This Republican Party MP has been receiving the
allowance for the past nine years. His 2010 income statement shows
the guy really doesn’t need an additional 46,000 AMD.

He purchased a Hyundai Elantra auto in 2010 worth 5.5 million AMD
on the open market. His declared revenues for the year totalled –
17,541,380 AMD. Did he really need that additional 46,000 AMD? Give
me a break.

Aleksanyan told Hetq that that he never had that much in income. “I’m
not rich but not that poor that I couldn’t do without the 46,000 AMD.

It just happened that they offered it to me and I agreed. I travel
to Yerevan ever day on business and either rent a place or stay
with friends.”

The MP added that if he thought the 46,000 AMD would result in the
parliament going broke, he’d stop accepting the allowance.

Soukias Avetisyan – This Republican Party MP was glad to note that he’s
been receiving the allowance since 1995 given that it’s compensation
for his hotel stays while in Yerevan.

When I asked if the 46,000 was enough to rent a place, Avetisyan
responded, “Yeah, it’s possible. You can rent a modest apartment at
that price.”

Avetisyan, who resides in Gyumri, declared 3,341,380 AMD in revenue
for 2010.

Rafik Grigoryan – This Republican Party MP says he has no apartment
in Yerevan. But it’s hard to believe he needs the 46,000. His son
Karen is employed as an advisor to National Assembly Deputy President
Edward Sharmazanov.

I couldn’t get in touch with Grigoryan, who hails from Dzoragyugh
in Gegharkunik Marz, by phone. So I called up Dzoragyugh Mayor Levon
Grigoryan, the MP’s younger brother.

Levon Grigoryan told me his older brother doesn’t live in the village
and has an apartment in Yerevan where he lives with his family.

Ooops….

On his 2010 income statement, MP Grigoryan declared 3,108,580 AMD in
wages; nothing else.

Artzvik Minasyan, the only opposition MP getting the allowance,
confessed that he had recently obtained an apartment in Yerevan and
that he would soon file a request to the National Assembly to remove
his name from the list of those receiving taxpayer monies.

Minasyan said he had no income other than his MP salary.

DINK CASE JUDGE SAYS UNSATISFIED WITH COURT RULING

PanARMENIAN.Net
January 19, 2012 – 14:16 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Amidst wide public criticism of a Turkish court’s
recent ruling that ruled out involvement of an organized criminal
network in the 2007 killing of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink,
the court’s presiding judge has said he is personally not satisfied
with the verdict either, Today’s Zaman reports.

The presiding judge of the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court,
Rustem Eryılmaz, spoke with the Vatan daily on Thursday, Jan 19,
and responded to criticism of the court’s Tuesday ruling in the
five-year-long Dink murder case. He said while he personally cannot
deny the murder was well-organized, the evidence submitted to the
court was not sufficient to issue such a ruling.

“According to the evidence, there is no [illegal] organization
[involved in the murder]. But we cannot say there is no organization
involved in the case,” Eyılmaz said.

In what many said was a shocking and frustrating ruling for the
five-year-long trial in the Dink case, the Istanbul court cleared
all suspects in the case of membership in a terrorist organization,
angering lawyers and many others who say the trial failed to shed
light on alleged connections between the suspects and state officials.

The court convicted Yasin Hayal, a major suspect in the Dink killing,
of instigating a murder and sentenced him to life in prison, while
another suspected instigator, Erhan Tuncel, was acquitted by the
court. “We acquitted the suspects of organized crime charges. This
ruling does not mean that there was no organization involved. This
means that there was not enough evidence to prove the actions of this
organization,” the embattled judge said.

Noting that he and other judges of the court also think the Dink
murder was not an ordinary one, he said there certainly is someone
who instigated the murder, but they had no evidence to prove that.

Sharing his personal views about the case, Eryılmaz added that he
believes that the killing of Dink was not simply an idea thought up by
Hayal. “There must be some instigators. This is my personal view. But
in order to accept this situation as legal fact, there should be
evidence. Since expectations were high in this case, this ruling
pleased nobody. If you ask me whether I was personally satisfied,
I would say no since I believe there are more instigators. But this
is the best ruling that can be issued in accordance with the evidence
in the case file,” he said.

Today, Jan 19, marks the 5th anniversary of the assassination.