Author: Kanayan Tamar

WAR AGAINST IRAN AHEAD OF ELECTIONS MADNESS FOR US – ARMENIAN EXPERT

News from Armenia – NEWS.am
January 10, 2012 | 13:15

YEREVAN.- A war against Iran ahead of elections may become insanity
for U.S., Armenian political analyst Alexander Iskandaryan told
journalists on Tuesday.

The head of Caucasus Institute considers that West’s pressure on Iran
pursues political goals rather than preparation for war. Washington is
trying to hamper Iran’s nuclear program and disrupt ongoing processes
in Syria advantageous to Iran.

Tough statements regarding Iran’s policy have been voiced since the
Islamic revolution of 1978-79, he added.

“Iran stands pressure confidently. War is not likely to break out at
least in the near future,” he said.

REQUIEM SERVICE FOR REPOSE OF SOULS OF SYRIAN MARTYRS IN QAMISHLI

Syrian Arab News Agency

Jan 9 2012
Syria

HASAKA, (SANA) – The Armenian Catholic congregation of St. Joseph
Church held on Sunday a requiem for the repose of the souls of the
Syrian martyrs who sacrificed their souls to protect Syria’s security
and peace.

The participants prayed to God to preserve Syria, protect its security
and stability, and bless its land and people.

Leader of the Armenian Catholic community in Qamishli, Antranig
Ivasian, said the crisis Syria is passing through has consolidated
the national unity, coexistence and amity among the Syrian people and
encouraged them to continue the process of building and protecting
their homeland.

Ivasian added that “Syria is the cradle of civilization and an
example to be followed regarding unity, tolerance and coexistence,”
calling on the Syrian youth to unify their ranks and adhere to amity,
peace to protect the stability and security of their homeland.

For his part, Pastor Narik Naamo prayed to God to bless Syria, the
land of peace and to preserve the unity and solidarity of its people.

HOW MANY SMALL FARMS? AG CENSUS WILL TELL

Occupational Health and Safety

Jan 9 2012

The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service will conduct the
next Census of Agriculture in the latter half of 2012. Meanwhile,
it is helping Serbia and Armenia prepare for their own censuses.

There were 2.2 million U.S. farms counted in the 2007 Census of
Agriculture, which was 4 percent more than the 2002 census had
counted. Most of the growth was in small farms where no single
commodity accounted for more than 50 percent of the total value of
production, according to Larry Sivers, National Agriculture Statistics
Service International Programs Office Director, in his Jan. 3 post
on the USDA blog. He wrote about the upcoming 2012 census that NASS
will conduct and its work in December with the Republic of Serbia and
the Republic of Armenia to help them prepare for their own censuses
of agriculture.

U.S. farm numbers generally have declined since World War II, according
to NASS, but the smallest category — farms with sales of less than
$1,000 – increased by 118,000 from 2002 to 2007, while the number
with sales above $500,000 increased by 46,000. The smallest farms,
those with 10 or fewer workers, are exempt from OSHA enforcement.

Serbia will conduct its first census of agriculture in 50 years
starting in October 2012, Sivers wrote, adding that Bob Hale from
NASS’s International Programs Office and Krissy Young from NASS’s
Public Affairs Section attended the Third Annual Extension Conference
in Zlatibor, Serbia and discussed communications for the Serbian 2012
census. The Armenian government hosted Mike Steiner from the NASS
International Programs Office and Chris Messer, chief of NASS’s Program
Administration Branch, for a seminar as they prepare to collect data
from producers through the first agricultural census in that country
in more than 90 years, Sivers wrote.

“International projects like these, supported by reimbursable funding,
go beyond just helping the host country. They are learning experiences
for NASS as well,” he concluded. “As staff work with other statistical
organizations they are exposed to new and different methodologies
that broaden their experience. They can then apply these experiences
to challenges at home to improve service to U.S. agriculture. Very
importantly, projects like these help U.S agriculture by contributing
to more accurate information on world agricultural supply and demand
to make better marketing decisions for U.S. products.”

Environmentalists launch campaign to protect Teghut forest

20:32 – 08.01.12

A group of environmentalists are launching a campaign in defense of
Teghut forest (situated in the north-eastern region of Tavush).

Speaking to Tert.am, Gor Hakobyan, an initiator of the movement called
`Let’s Save Teghut’, said they are starting a trip to the forest on
January 15 to introduce the problem to people and raise their
awareness of the hazards that may arise from the exploitation of the
mine in Teghut.

He said the campaign will bring together environmentalists who will
explain the negative impact of such decision.

On the day of the trip, the activists will introduce their new
program. Hakobyan did not dwell on the steps planned and said only
that they involve all possible means aimed at the protection of the
forest.

Tert.am

US to respond if Iran blocks oil

20:50 – 08.01.12

The United States will respond if Iran tries to close the strategic
Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf, the US Defense Secretary
has warned.

According to 9NEWS, Leon Panetta warned that such a move would cross a
“red line”.

“We made very clear that the United States will not tolerate the
blocking of the Strait of Hormuz,” Panetta was quoted as telling CBS
television on Sunday. “That’s another red line for us and that we will
respond to them.”

Panetta was reportedly seconded by General Martin Dempsey, the
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said Iran has the means to
close the waterway, through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil
passes.

“But we would take action and reopen the straits,” the general said on
the same show, Face the Nation.

Their comments follow Iranian threats to close the strait if the
European Union goes through with an embargo on Iranian oil, the latest
step to pressure Tehran to give up a nuclear program that the West
suspects is aimed at gaining atomic weapons.

Tert.am

Expatica France
Jan 8 2012

Turkish envoy back in Paris amid row over Armenia genocide

The Turkish ambassador to France, Tahsin Burcuoglu, has returned to
Paris after consultations over French legislation that would outlaw
denial of the Armenian genocide, an official said Sunday.

“The ambassador has finished the consultations for which he was
recalled and returned to France on Saturday,” Turkish foreign ministry
spokesman Selcuk Unal told AFP.

Burcuoglu was recalled to Ankara after the French parliament’s lower
house approved a bill criminalising denial of the genocide and will
now focus on preventing the bill from being approved by the Senate,
Unal said.

The bill was entered last week onto the agenda of the left-dominated
Senate and is expected to win passage because it is backed by both
sides of the aisle.

Conservative French President Nicolas Sarkozy has championed the
legislation, drawing allegations that he is seeking to woo the half a
million French of Armenian descent ahead of April elections.

French lawmakers voted on December 22 to jail and fine anyone in
France who denies that the 1915 killings of Armenians under the
Ottoman Empire amounted to genocide, prompting Turkey to suspend
political and military cooperation with Paris.

During World War I many Armenians died in Ottoman Turkey. Armenia says
1.5 million were killed in a genocide, a term Turkey rejects, saying
instead that around 500,000 died in fighting after Armenians sided
with Russian invaders.

Turkey has threatened a new round of retaliation if the Senate passes the bill.

Algerian Prime Minister makes a commentary shocking Turkey

[ 08 Jan 2012 03:46 ]

Baku-APA. Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia makes a commentary
shocking Turkey, APA reports quoting hurriyet.com.tr website.

Algerian PM called on Turkey not to bring agenda Algerian history in
the relationships with France over so-called `armenian genocide’.

Ahmed Ouyahia urged Turkey to stop trying to make political capital
out of France’s killing of thousands of Algerians during the colonial
period.

Speaking at the National Democracy Party congress Ouyahia said:
“nobody has the right to make the blood of Algerians their business”.

Turkish Primer Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: `An estimated 15 per
cent of the Algerian population was massacred by the French from 1945
onwards. This is a genocide’.

`The actions of France in Algeria is genocide. If Sarkozy does not
know about this genocide, let him ask it to his father – Pol Sarkozy’,
– Erdogan said.

13 Dezember 2011

The Heinrich Boell Foundation affiliated with the German Green Party
organized recently the first ever international conference devoted to
“The Armenian Genocide and the German Public”. In its first section
Germany’s role in 1915 was scrutinized. The second part was devoted to
the process leading to the resolution of the German Bundestag of June
2005 and the role of the both the Federal Government and the Federal
States in its implementation. In the third and last section the
initiatives of the civil society were addressed.

A panel discussion open to the general public was the last item on the
agenda.

A comprehensive summary of both the conference and the panel
discussion, photographs, the video recording of the panel discussion,
some of the presented papers, and a selection of press commentaries
are now online accessible

Dokumentation
Genozid an den Armeniern: Konferenz zur Rolle des Deutschen Reichs

Panel auf der Konferenz am 22. September 2011 in Berlin.
Lizenz: Creative Commons BY-SA 2.0. Original: Flickr.
13. Dezember 2011
Dem ersten Weltkrieg wird hinsichtlich der Ethnozide und Genozide des
20. Jahrhunderts eine herausragende Bedeutung beigemessen. Hier wurde
die Saat gelegt, die im zweiten Weltkrieg aufging. In diese Kategorie
fällt die Rolle des Deutschen Reiches beim Genozid an der armenischen
Bevölkerung im Osmanischen Reich. Der Deutsche Bundestag hat im Jahr
2005 einstimmig dem interfraktionellen Antrag Â?Erinnerung und
Gedenken an die Vertreibungen und Massaker an den Armeniern 1915`
zugestimmt und damit eine negative Rolle des Deutschen Reiches in
diesem Geschehen anerkannt.

Mit dem Antrag hat der Bundestag sich auch zu der Verpflichtung
bekannt, einen Beitrag zur Aufarbeitung und Versöhnung zu
leisten. Eine breite gesellschaftliche Debatte über die Rolle des
Deutschen Reichs bei der Vertreibung und Vernichtung der Armenier kann
zu einer Vertiefung der Debatte in der Türkei selbst beitragen. Sie
sollte aber nicht dafür instrumentalisiert werden, die Türkei aus
ihrer tragenden Verantwortung zu entlassen.

Auch wenn sich zivilgesellschaftliche Kreise in der Türkei inzwischen
mehr und mehr mit dem Genozid auseinandersetzen, gilt dies bis heute
nicht für die offizielle Politik. Noch immer ist in der Türkei keine
umfassende Diskussion über die damaligen Ereignisse im Osmanischen
Reich möglich. Wissenschaftler/innen und Schriftsteller/innen, die
sich mit diesem Teil der türkischen Geschichte auseinandersetzen
wollen, müssen strafrechtliche Verfolgung und öffentliche Diffamierung
befürchten.

Zur Konferenz:
Die Konferenz am 22. September 2011 in der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung
erörterte den aktuellen Stand der Forschung zur Bedeutung des Ersten
Weltkriegs für Genozide/Ethnozide sowie die Rolle Deutschlands beim
Genozid an den Armeniern. Auf Basis dieser Bestandsaufnahme wurde der
Frage nachgegangen, inwieweit die öffentliche Hand ihren 2005
eingegangenen Verpflichtungen nachgekommen ist, welche
politisch-diplomatischen Hürden sie dabei zu nehmen hat und welche
Möglichkeiten der Aufarbeitung, Erinnerungs- und Versöhnungsarbeit
bestehen. In einem dritten Schritt wurden Erfahrungen über
zivilgesellschaftliche Aktivitäten und Ansätze ausgetauscht.

TURQUIE – AHURISSANT !
Un papier toilette et des couches au nom de Sarkozy

Si le ridicule ne tue pas, la honte ne semble non plus atteindre certains entrepreneurs turcs.

Après des préservatifs manufacturés au nom de la députée Valérie Boyer, auteure de la proposition de loi visant à pénaliser la négation de tous les génocides reconnus par la loi française, c’est le nom du Président de la République qui sert aujourd’hui de support à la vente de papier toilette et de couches-culottes en Turquie.

Le nom de la marque aurait été accepté par l’Institut turc des brevets. Les produits seront mis à la vente dans une dizaine de jours.

Gageons que la France saura tirer la chasse d’eau…

le site: Sarkozy.tr ICI

samedi 7 janvier 2012,
Jean Eckian © armenews.com

Le Figaro, France
6 janv 2012

Loi génocide : menaces de représailles

Depuis le vote en décembre par les députés français d’une proposition
de loi réprimant la négation du génocide arménien, de nombreux sites
internet français ont été piratés. Les auteurs de ces attaques, des
hackers turcs, menacent de nouvelles représailles avant le vote du
texte par le Sénat.

“AyYildiz n’a rien contre le peuple français. Mais si ça continue, il
y aura des attaques beaucoup plus sérieuses, de la part de tous les
groupes”, affirme Ishak Telli. AyYildiz, “le croissant et l’étoile”,
symboles figurant sur le drapeau turc, est un groupe de hackers
dévoués à la lutte contre les atteintes aux valeurs de la Turquie,
même s’ils rejettent l’appellation “nationaliste”, et Ishak Telli,
auteur d’un ouvrage sur leur histoire, est leur porte-parole
officieux.

“Dans le hacking, il n’y a pas de limites, les dommages peuvent
atteindre des millions de dollars, vous pouvez fermer des sites de
commerce en ligne, de banques. Vous pouvez neutraliser des sites de
l’Etat (…) Et l’équipe des Ayyildiz a cette capacité”, prévient
Ishak, soulignant que le groupe a déjà attaqué des sites français. Des
dizaines de sites ont déjà fait les frais de la colère des hackers
turcs, à commencer par celui de la députée Valérie Boyer, à l’origine
de la proposition de loi votée le 22 décembre par l’Assemblée
nationale française, qui punit d’un an de prison et d’une amende la
contestation des génocides reconnus par la loi.

Le texte, qui doit passer d’ici la fin janvier devant les sénateurs,
ne désigne pas spécifiquement le génocide arménien, mais celui-ci est
le seul à être reconnu sans que sa négation soit déjà réprimée par une
loi spécifique. La Turquie réfute ce terme de génocide même si elle
reconnaît que des massacres ont été commis et que quelque 500.000
Arméniens ont péri en Anatolie entre 1915 et 1917, les Arméniens
évoquent 1,5 million de morts. Elle a rappelé son ambassadeur en
France pour consultations et menacé de mesures de rétorsion.