Author: Kanayan Tamar

ARMENIAN MOUNTAINEERS TO CONQUER HIGHEST MOUNTAIN IN IRAN

Panorama.am
20/01/2012

The strongest team of the Armenian Mountaineering and Mountain Tourism
Federation comprising 4 mountaineers will leave for Iran on January
24 to conquer the highest mountain in the country, Mount Demavend
(5671 meters).

The Armenian mountaineers qualified for the international
mountaineering championship to be held in Iran on January 25-28 after
conquering several mountains in 2011.

This year, winter championship in mountaineering will host 200
mountaineers from around 25 countries, Armenian Mountaineering and
Mountain Tourism Federation said.

‘I’M SEARCHING FOR A MAN’: RULING PARTY MP IN HEATED DISPUTE WITH ARMENIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS REP

epress.am
01.20.2012

“Let me call it stupid, but let them not get upset. Foolishly, they
have decided that the signed electoral lists are secret. The voter,
alive, comes and goes from the electoral district, they film it,
they all see that he’s come. But that he’s signed, that he’s voted –
that’s a secret. And by the way, let me say, according to the law,
during counting [of votes], the applicant can become familiar with the
signed lists, so what secrecy are we talking about?” said Armenian
National Congress representative Felix Khachatryan, speaking to
journalists about the elections and recalling that for many years
they have been insisting that the electoral lists must be made public.

Republican Party of Armenia MP Vardan Ayvazyan (pictured), also
present at today’s press conference, retorted, now who’s the idiot
and exhorted “to pay attention to lexicon,” adding that a sheep is
he who calls him a reject.

“I won’t allow anyone to insult me, to call my friends and the National
Assembly rejects,” he said. “What, it seems to you you’re all tough
guys now; every time, you shout at us – you think we’re afraid?”

In response, Khachatryan reminded his colleague that it was Khosrov
Harutyunyan who called the National Assembly a “reject” and advised
the ruling party MP to take his issue up with Harutyunyan and not him.

The opposition member also reminded Ayvazyan that he was once a member
of the Pan-Armenian Movement (HHSh, one of the parties in the Armenian
National Congress opposition bloc) and each time he changes his party,
to which Ayvazyan replied:

“In 1999, Vardan Ayvazyan very clearly surpassed 19 people [in his
electoral district to become MP] and no one till now has said don’t you
dare open the dark pages of my past. And now I declare, I am searching
for a man from your party to come in the same place and be nominated.”

Khachatryan, in turn, said that any man is ready to take that step
if fair and “clean” elections are ensured.

FRENCH SENATE SPEAKER TO SUPPORT ARMENIAN BILL

ARMENPRESS
JANUARY 20, 201
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS: The bill criminalizing the denial
of the Armenian Genocide is not one only “a law of memory”, French
Senate Speaker Jean – Pierre Bell stated January 19, Armenpress
reports citing FrancePress.

“The speech is not about the law of memory. I belong to a political
force, which has decided to stand up for that bill, and I share that
position” said Bell.

During the January 19 visit to Berlin the French Senate Speaker
approached the bill critically, noting he will not support it.

“During a discussion we express our opinions, and I have expressed
mine. But now the moment of choice has come, and again I have made
my choice,” added Bell.

Traditionally Senate Speakers do not participate in voting, but can
if they wish.

The Bill Criminalizing the Armenian Genocide Denial will be brought
for a vote in the French Senate January 23.

State Department officials did not meet ANCA reps in US – Manoyan

Tert.am
20.01.12

Kiro Manoyan, the director of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Dashnaksutyun’s (ARF-D) Office for Hay Dat and Political Affairs,
dismisses the allegations that officials from the US Department of
State have had a meeting with the Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA) representatives in Washington.

“If the Department of State representatives had something to tell
the ARF-D members, they would have met them at the party’s central
office in Yerevan,” he told Tert.am.

It comes after the local daily Aravot said in its Friday issue that
several Department of State officials had an unpleasant conversation
with ANCA representatives over allegations that the ARF-D Armenian
Office seeks second president Robert Kocharyan’s return to politics.

“The US officials have threatened the ANCA representatives that they
will cease turning a blind eye to what they claim to be well-known
facts in case the ARF-D keeps pursuing pro-Kocharyan policies,”
the paper said.

SARKOZY ADVISES ERDOGAN TO ADMIT THE PAST

PanARMENIAN.Net
January 20, 2012 – 15:16 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – President of France Nicolas Sarkozy issued a
message to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan regarding the
forthcoming debate of the bill criminalizing genocide denial by the
French Senate, according to Hurriyet.

Sarkozy noted that the draft law pursues no personal interests.

“France hopes that debate of the bill will have no impact on
Ankara-Paris ties. It is not easy to come to terms with history,
but France managed to overcome the barrier and admit its mistakes,”
the message reads.

On December 22, 2011, French National Assembly passed a bill
criminalizing public denial of the Armenian Genocide. If passed and
signed into law by the Senate, the bill would impose a 45,000 euro
fine and a year in prison for anyone in France who denies this crime
against humanity committed by the Ottoman Empire.

PROBLEMS OF ARMENIAN REFUGEES FROM AZERBAIJAN SHOULD BE DISCUSSED IN INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES -ETHNOGRAPHER

NEWS.am
January 20, 2012 | 14:56

YEREVAN. – The issue of the Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan
should become a topic of discussion in the international agencies,
ethnographer Hranush Kharatyan said at a press conference on Friday.

According to her, the international community links the issue
of the refugees to the OCSE Minsk Group, which, dealing with the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, has not yet included the issue
of the Armenian refugees into the agenda of the discussed issues.

In this context Azerbaijan is speculating on the issue of refugees.

Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan understand that they cannot return
to their homes any more due to atmosphere of 20-years hatred.

In this regard, their new homeland may become the Shahumyan region
[currently occupied by Azerbaijan] or the territories of buffer zone
surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh.

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.