Author: Kanayan Tamar

AMIC’s Newsletter, Montreal, Canada
AMIC’s Info-Flash
2340 Chemin Lucerne # 30
Ville Mont-Royal, Quebec
H3R 2J8, Canada
Web:
Email: [email protected]
December, 2011

Article 1: Creation of an important new body enhancing Cardiology and
Oncology in Armenia Article 2: Annual and/or General Activities’ Reports of
some AMIC member associations

Article 1: Creation of an important new body enhancing Cardiology and
Oncology in Armenia

Call for Interest to join the National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia
Advisory Board on Cardiology and Oncology

The National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia (NCFA) invites
applications for qualified professionals for joining the newly established
Advisory Board on Cardiology and Oncology
The mission, goals and proposed activities of the Advisory Board and the
responsibilities of its members are presented in the document below.
If you would like to submit your candidacy to become an Advisory Board
member, please send your curriculum vitae to the National Competitiveness
Foundation of Armenia at [email protected]

Personal information that you provide is protected by the NCFA and will
specifically be used only to evaluate candidates and select the NCFA
Advisory Board on Cardiology and Oncology.

-About the Competitiveness Foundation

The National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia is an independent,
result-oriented development organization chaired by the Prime Minister of
Armenia. Our board of trusteesconsists of six international business
leaders, six high-level representatives of the Armenian Government, and the
head of the World Bank in Armenia.
The NCFA is an independent entity founded through a partnership between the
Government of Armenia and a group of leading representatives of the private
sector from the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the Middle
East. The NCFA’s mandate is to achieve breakthrough developments towards
national competitiveness in key areas of economic activity. The NCFA is
tasked in this project with developing strategic plans and coordinating the
implementation of the project; attracting financing for the project through
state budget allocations, private investments, and loans; and acting as a
liaison between state agencies, private investors, public entities,
financial institutions, and international organizations.

Gevorg Yaghjyan MD
National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia
5 Mher Lazarian Street, suite 821
Yerevan 0010, Armenia
Tel: +374 10 58 35 21, +374 10 58 91 93, Ext. 107

-The NCFA Advisory Boards on Oncology and Cardiology

Healthcare is now at the cross-roads of social and economic sectors. While
quality healthcare is important for the population’s well-being, it also has
tremendous impact on the economy and wealth creation. Higher value jobs can
be created, infrastructure can be upgraded and both specialist skill sets
and technology can be harnessed to improve the quality of care for patients.

The National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia (NCFA) plans to establish
Advisory Boards on Oncology and Cardiology consisting of prominent
scientists and high-ranking leading professionals in the corresponding and
adjunct fields. The Advisory Boards’ aim is to induce the creation of
national wealth by reaching excellence in oncology and cardiology, and to
create centers of excellence which could turn the country into a regional
power in providing state-of-the art health care in the aforementioned
sectors.
More specifically, the Advisory Boards will contribute to the development
of an economic growth agenda for given sectors to create a value-driven
system in Armenia focusing on better quality, affordability and access to
services, enlarged public and private participation, improved financing of
the system and promotion of implementation of projects based on
public-private partnership (PPP) approach.
In terms of deliverables, there should be a two-level output encompassing
both sector-specific development strategy and a related project roadmap
which involves practical measures for implementation of policies outlined in
the strategic part. More specifically, the Advisory Board has to address the
following issues:

STRATEGY and POLICY
– Shaping and development of the public policy agenda in the areas of
oncology and cardiology
– Recommendations on institutional capacity building, human resources and
infrastructure development
– Implementation of value-based health plans that measure actual results
and encourage more efficient care

AGENDA
Value Chain:
– Definition of a value chain proposal in the areas of oncology and
cardiology

Quality Standards:
– Development of new, Western-style quality standards, quality enforcement
and improvement mechanisms
– Capacity-strengthening to ensure safe, affordable, and high-quality health
products

Medical Insurance
– Outlining transparent and efficient private insurance systems, creating
grounds for high quality and affordable services and maintaining a strong
private-market driven system
– Expanding the coverage and enhancement of the benefit package of a
private-market-focused insurance system to effectively reduce the financial
burden to individual families

Hospital Management
– Recommendations on hospital management and organizational structures and
relationships among service providers with the purpose of increasing access
to personal health services
– Recommendations for fiscal and managerial autonomy of hospitals so that
quality of care is improved, hospital operations are cost efficient,
revenues are enhanced, dependence on budget allocations are reduced and
services are improved

PPP framework
– Development of major strategic private-sector driven through the
public-private partnership framework. Projects shall aim at establishing an
upgraded services platform for better service delivery for local and
international patient base.
– Project shall be defined and developed in terms of rationale, actions,
enablers, funding and impact.

Article 2: Annual and/or General Activities’ Reports of some AMIC member
associations

Last May, AMIC sent a questionnaire to its member associations asking for
information about their activities in Armenia. The questionnaire’s aim was
to gather data to be used during a special session at the 3rd International
Medical Congress of Armenia and devoted to the Diaspora medical activities
in Armenia. As that special session did not take place, we thought that it
would be useful to end the year 2011 with an Info-Flash producing the
reports of the associations which did respond to our request. (We have
published the nurses’ activities report in a previous issue). Some reports
are longer than others. One was translated from Armenian and two others from
French. We hope that the length of this last issue of the Info will not
upset you too much. Reports sent by non-member associations or by
Foundations will be published in the coming issues.

1- UMAF/Paris activities

The “Union Médicale Arménienne de France” (Armenian Medical Union of France,
better known as UMAF) was created in 1975. With the Californian association
(AAMSC), UMAF is one of the “biggest” member associations, in terms of
affiliated members, of activities either locally or in Armenia, of social
and cultural initiatives/events, and, finally of regular participation to
AMIC’s meetings and congresses. It is worth mentioning that it is also one
of the biggest regular contributors to AMIC’s annual budget.
Although UMAF has 400 members in its database, only 200 pay their membership
dues. Since 1979, the association has been active in Armenia. During the
last two years, UMAF has been working to complete the equipment of a mobile
dental bus (see the previous November issue of Info-Flash) worth 60,000
Euros (two years’ budget). They also have a program called “Glasses to
Armenia” (Glasses are made and given on site in the rural regions of
Armenia), with a budget of 12,000 dollars/year.
UMAF has one dispensary in Spitak and one in Norashen (Karabagh): the
medicines and employees’ salaries are paid for by UMAF. Surgical material
and other medical equipment are sent to Yerevan’s and Karabagh’s hospitals.
After the 1988’s earthquake, the most important investment was made in
Yerevan’s Erebouni hospital.
All in all it is estimated (based on the annual projects achieved in
Armenia) that from the beginning UMAF has initiated and finished 70 to 80
projects in Armenia and Karabagh together.
UMAF has received around 100 technicians and physicians for re-training in
France; it still does, although it is much more difficult to obtain entry
visas nowadays.
All this information was received from Dr. Edouard Muratyan, UMAF’s
president. According to the information gathered from UMAF’s website, on
December 16’s planned dinner, Dr. Georges Mosditchian was to succeed Dr.
Muratyan. All our thanks to Dr. Muratyan and AMIC’s president and Executive
members congratulate Dr. Moskitchian for his election..
PS: Contrary to what was written in the November’s issue of Info-Flash
UMAF’s dental bus was not given to the Lori region. The bus belongs to UMAF
and all the expenses are paid for by UMAF. Info-Flash apologizes for the
misunderstanding.

2-The Armenian American Medical Society of California: A History of
Innovation

What drives our mission?
The AAMSC was founded in October 1985 by a group of Armenian-American
physicians who believed it was necessary to ally Armenian healthcare
professionals in order to cultivate professional relationships and
contribute toward the improvement of health services rendered to the
community in Armenia and the Diaspora. The membership number is roughly 400.
Activities in Armenia/Karabagh started in 1988 and approximately US $
800,000 were spent on nine projects. Ten health care professionals from
Armenia followed training sessions in California.

a- Projects in Armenia
– AAMSC Juvenile Diabetes Project

The AAMSC Juvenile Diabetes Project has been operating in Armenia since 1993
under the leadership of Dr. Mark Nazarian. Uncontrolled diabetes can result
in heartbreaking consequences, including loss of consciousness, dehydration,
kidney failure, strokes, blindness, and poor circulation that could lead to
infection and amputation. Insulin remains a high-priority medication that is
in short supply in Armenia. Insulin is purchased and shipped to Armenia
every year through the support of the AAMSC, the medical community and
pharmaceutical companies. As a result, the incidences of these
life-threatening complications have dramatically declined. The AAMSC has
also been working through a government-sponsored program to ensure that
supplies and medicine are provided to all diabetic children free of charge.
– Shenkavid Hospital Project

In the mid 1990s, the AAMSC undertook the Shenkavid Maternity Hospital
Project. This project was inspired by Dr. Bedros Kojian, an OB/GYN
specialist from Orange County who has also served as president of the AAMSC.
Every year since the clinic’s inception, Dr. Kojian has returned to the
hospital to perform surgeries and to train the staff in the latest
laparoscopic techniques. With the AAMSC and Dr. Kojian’s efforts, the
laparoscopic and minimally invasive surgery, radiology, and “Thomas and E.J.
Tracy Family” assisted reproductive technology departments have been
established.
– AAMSC Paediatric Epilepsy Project

In January of 2003, through the efforts of Drs. Armen Cherik and Mark
Nazarian a paediatric epilepsy program in Armenia was established. Since its
inception, the paediatric epilepsy clinic in Yerevan has hired a full-time
paediatric neurologist and nurse, and the AAMSC has shipped equipment, books
and anti-seizure medications to Armenia. Today, thousands of children are
receiving care and medication free of charge at the clinic.
– Rural Health Clinics

The AAMSC has also established clinics in three villages that border with
Karabagh and Azerbaijan – Aregouni in 2005; Pokr Mazrik in 2006; Tsapatagh
in collaboration with the AAMSC Ladies Auxiliary in 2007 – in order to make
the war-torn region more habitable. Each clinic has a full-time nurse who
provides care to patients throughout the week, and a physician visits each
clinic at least once a week. The clinic in Aregouni also provides dental
care to patients. The clinics are managed by the region (marz) and the mayor
(marzbed), and the federal government pays the salaries for the physicians
and nurses. In 2008, the AAMSC began construction of a fourth clinic in the
remote northeastern village of Voskevan, which has been in dire need of a
medical clinic for fifteen years.
– Mobile Diagnostic and Therapeutic Unit for Artsakh

In 2009, the AAMSC in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Artsakh
purchased a mobile diagnostic and therapeutic unit. This unit was donated
to the people of Artsakh so that remote villages in this mountainous region
can be accessed by healthcare workers. This multipurpose mobile facility
has been a tremendous help to these villagers and has alleviated the burden
of traveling many hours to Stepanakert, especially during harsh winter
conditions.

b- Projects in California
In addition to the numerous projects in Armenia and Artsakh, the AAMSC has a
strong tradition of holding local activities to benefit the health of our
communities and the professional development of our members.
– Annual Health Fair

In collaboration with the City of Glendale, the AAMSC hosts the Glendale
Health Festival. With an estimated 1,500 people participating in the
festival, the AAMSC promotes significant healthcare education and services
to the Glendale Community. Over 400attendees receive cardiovascular disease
screening tests; 350 receive diabetes screening; more than 200 eye health
exams are performed; more than 100 women receive vouchers forfree
mammography; more than 50 women receive free Pap smears for cervical cancer
screening; more than 500 individuals take advantage of the medical
consultations and meet with various health care professionals; 200 free flu
vaccines are administered; approximately 75 individuals participate in
various educational lectures and demonstration on Exercise and Nutrition and
Preventing Colon Cancer; and over 700 healthy and balanced meals are served.
– Professional Development

As part of its mission, the AAMSC offers monthly Continuing Medical
Education (CME) courses to its members, as well as an annual nine-credit
course that takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada. These courses allow physicians
from a variety of fields to maintain their competence while educating fellow
healthcare practitioners about the advances in their field.
– “Your Health” Educational Television Show

“Your Health” TV Show Continues to Make House Calls for Armenian Community

AAMSC’s groundbreaking program, “Your Health”, airs on Mondays from
7:30-8:00p.m., and features physicians and healthcare professionals whose
areas of practice cover the entire spectrum of allied healthcare. “Your
Health” is a dynamic resource for viewers interested in improving their
health. The program emphasizes the importance of preventative care, and
focuses on how people can maintain a healthy lifestyle.

“Your Health” is hosted by AAMSC’s President, Dr. Vicken Sepilian. Miss
Hasmik Keyribarian sent this report to AMIC: with all our thanks and best
wishes for the association’s future activities.

3-Armenian Medical Association-Great Britain [AMA-GB]

The Armenian Medical Association of Great Britain was established about
twenty five years ago. Very soon after its establishment, Armenia
experienced the tragic earthquake of 1988 and the Association was of immense
assistance to the relief operation from the UK by securing and checking huge
quantities of medical supplies and equipment for airlift to Armenia.

Objectives and Activities of the AMA-GB

a- To raise health awareness among the Armenian community in the UK.

AMA current members list is 75 of medical and affiliated members. The group
meet about three times a year. Lectures with invited local or visiting
speakers are organized: the memorial Lecture in winter and another special
lecture in spring. The group also gets together for summer social gathering
like barbecue or wine testing.
– To assist and support overseas Armenian medical professionals who would
like to
obtain further qualifications and/or pursue a career in this country. Senior
members of AMA regularly scope to identify overseas newly arrived medical
professionals. The purpose is to advice and assist, act as mentor and
provide direction if necessary

– To advise on and support health care in the clinical and academic
disciplines in the
Republic of Armenia. AMA members regularly welcome and support the clinical
and academic medical professionals from RA:
– March 2010, official visit of vice rector of YSMU, Dr Gevorg Yaghjyan to
Professor Lord Darzi’s unit, at St Mary’s Hospital Paddington London for
collaboration and learn about his innovations and robotic surgery.
– visiting lecturers to YSMU [Dr Seda Boghossian-Tighe [primary care] and
Dr Liza Stanton [psychiatry].
– Dr Ara Nahabedian regularly attends and trains junior doctors in
orthopedic surgeries in Yerevan hospitals and supplies medical equipment to
various hospitals in Yerevan and Gyumri.
– Members are involved in supporting and furnishing the YSMU library.
– Members are involved in setting up schools [Aramus village of Abovian]
medical units and financial support to the newly appointed school nurse .

b- To maintain as a member society communications with the Armenian Medical
International Committee (AMIC) and participate in its activities.

c- To provide a basis for social events to its members and their families

The above information was provided by Dr. Seda Boghossian-Tighe, president
of the AMA-GB.

4- The Armenian Medical Association of Quebec (AMAQ).

Founding members met in 1975. Born in 1976, the Association adopted its
current official name. AMAQ has about 200 members. It has been contributing
to Armenia and Karabagh since 1993-1994.
a- Projects and activities in Armenia
After the 1988 earthquake, besides donation of medications and supplies,
several medical residents came to Montreal and were trained in psychiatry
(Dr. R. Kouymjian) and in oto-rhino-laryngology (Dr. J. Manoukian)…
-Establishment of Laparoscopy unit in Malatia Hospital. That was completed
with the donation of 1, 15 tons of equipments and the training of physicians
and surgeons in Montreal and in Armenia.
-Half million dollars worth of medication was delivered to Armenia on April
1995 in collaboration with MAP International.
b- Help to Karabagh
-In 1994-1995, shipments of First aid kits, of medical equipment (EKG,
Ultrasound) and 260,000 doses of Diphtheria-Tetanus Vaccines were delivered.
-Since 2003, in collaboration with Toronto’s ACMAO, AMAQ participated to
Hadrout Dental Clinic’s renovation, provided dental supplies and salaries
and ensured a free quality dentistry to Hadrout’s population.
c- Local activities
-Each year prizes are offered to the best schoolchildren in Science among
those attending Armenian schools.

-Career Day in Health Sciences is organized in these schools.
-Finally Public Education lectures by health-care professionals are
organized each year.
All our thanks to Dr. Sero Andonian, AMAQ’s president who sent this report
to AMIC’s office.

5- Activities of the UMAF/Lyon association

UMAF/Lyon is the “sister association” of UMAF/Paris but has its own
independent activities, its own Executive and its own membership. The
association has 180 health-care professionals, however only 25 are paying
members. In 1984, UMAF/Lyon started its activities in Armenia/Karabagh.
Since its creation, 18 projects have been achieved in Armenia/Karabagh;
-UMAF/Lyon has been very active in receiving health care professionals for
training in the city’s hospitals. Contrary to other associations, trainees
are still invited to Lyon and more than 15 physicians have been re-trained
in the city’s hospitals.
-For the last years, the association’s activities have been mainly
concentrated in Karabagh, specifically on the Regional Hospital of Shoushi.
Renovation of the building, of its laboratories, shipment of medicines, of
medical equipment and of hospital furniture were initiated and are now
gradually bringing the hospital to the modern standards of international
healthcare facilities.
The information given above has been gathered from the association’s website
and Dr. Jean-Daniel Kirassian has added his own detailed numbers.

6- Summary of the activities of the Armenian Medical Association of Germany,
1991-2010

The association was created in 1990-1991 in Frankfurt. Currently it has 80
members. AMAG has been active in Armenia and in Karabagh and has mainly
collaborated with the Ministers of health. The association’s average annual
expenses is equivalent to US $ 10,000 but thanks to donations, medicines,
medical equipment and furniture to hospitals cost annually in US $ 200,000.
a- Activities in Armenia.
-From 1992 to 1997, AMAG chose to help the Ararat hospital (40kms away from
Yerevan), by sending medical equipment to the premature babies department,
fuel (when the country was lacking all kind of energy sources). The chief
gynaecologist was invited to a re-training session in Germany.
-Concomitantly, Ophthalmology polyclinic number 4 in Yerevan was equipped
and over the years medicines worth US $ 2 to 3 million were sent at the
request of the Ministry of health of Armenia, including for the treatment of
Tuberculosis. Arabkir’s hospital received equipment for children’s dialysis,
and Noyemperian’s hospital was completely renovated.
b- Karabagh
-In 1997, at the request of the Ministry of health of Karabagh, six
ambulances were sent to Karabagh, while supplying medical equipment to the
polyclinics of Mardakert and Stepanakert.
-Twice annually, medicines are sent to Karabagh villages. In 2011-2012, 10
Karabaghi physicians will come to Germany (city of Goettingen’s hospital) to
receive one month training in their specialties.
Dr. Margrit Assoyan-Link sent this report to AMIC. All our thanks and our
wishes for a fruitful 2012 year.

The Daily Star, Lebanon
Jan 5 2012

Turkey may step up moves against Paris on genocide: diplomat

January 05, 2012 12:03 PM

PARIS: Turkey may step up action against France if the French Senate
votes this month to outlaw denial of the Armenian genocide, a Turkish
diplomatic source said Thursday.

“There may be a downgrading of the Turkish diplomatic representation
in Paris. It is probable,” if the upper house of parliament approves
the bill criminalizing denial of the disputed 1915 genocide, the
source told AFP.

Le Monde, France
4 janv 2012

Lois mémorielles, la folle mécanique
Analyse

C’est une mécanique que rien ne semble pouvoir enrayer. Fondée sur les
sentiments les plus nobles, les aspirations démocratiques les plus
élevées. Il s’agit de reconnaître les souffrances héritées du passé,
d’offrir une réparation symbolique aux pires blessures de l’Histoire,
d’interdire la négation des pages les plus noires du siècle passé.

Contestées dans leur efficacité et accusées d’entraver la liberté de
la recherche, les lois mémorielles adoptées en France durant les deux
dernières décennies, dans la foulée de la loi Gayssot (1990) réprimant
la contestation des crimes contre l’humanité tels que définis à
Nuremberg, avaient fini par attirer contre elles la colère d’une
grande partie de la communauté scientifique. En octobre 2008, une
mission parlementaire présidée par Bernard Accoyer (UMP) avait conclu
qu’il fallait en finir avec les lois visant à écrire l’Histoire. Les
parlementaires avaient jugé qu’il ne fallait pas remettre en cause les
lois existantes et juré qu’on ne les y reprendrait plus. Et
pourtant… En adoptant à une écrasante majorité, le 22 décembre 2011,
une proposition de loi pénalisant la négation des génocides reconnus
par la loi française, les députés ont replongé dans un engrenage
périlleux, au risque de raviver la controverse et d’ouvrir une crise
diplomatique avec la Turquie.

De manière assez prévisible, comme en janvier 2001, après le vote de
la loi reconnaissant le génocide arménien, et en 2006, après une
première loi pénalisant la négation du caractère génocidaire des
massacres de 1915, restée bloquée au Sénat, la Turquie a rappelé son
ambassadeur et multiplié les déclarations courroucées, les menaces et
les sanctions.

Dans le même temps, en France, de nombreuses associations turques
faisaient entendre leur voix. Au matin du 22 décembre, au moment du
vote de la loi, quelques milliers de militants, amenés devant
l’Assemblée nationale par cars, ont brocardé les députés en
brandissant l’étendard de la liberté d’expression et le principe sacré
de la liberté des chercheurs.

Ces slogans ne sauraient faire illusion, venant de partisans d’un Etat
qui pratique une forme de négationnisme officiel sur la question du
génocide arménien et où la liberté d’expression sur ces questions est
plus qu’encadrée. Ce qui est ici contesté, ce n’est pas seulement
l’opportunité d’une loi réprimant le négationnisme : c’est la réalité
même du fait génocidaire. Ce négationnisme insidieux, paré des habits
du respect de la liberté de pensée, est au fond l’argument le plus
puissant en faveur de la loi.

Reste que le simple rappel des dates d’adoption de ces textes, 2001,
2006, 2011, suffit à donner corps à un soupçon d’arrière-pensées
électoralistes, teintées de communautarisme (les propositions émanant
de représentants de circonscriptions abritant une forte communauté
arménienne), qui affaiblit le propos. Ce caractère n’est pas propre
aux textes sur le génocide arménien : la loi qualifiant l’esclavage et
la traite occidentale de crimes contre l’humanité, portée par
Christiane Taubira, députée de Guyane, date elle aussi de 2001, année
préélectorale.

Electoralisme, communautarisme, lecture politique de l’Histoire… les
critiques sur les lois mémorielles ont atteint leur paroxysme en
2005-2006, après la mobilisation pour l’abrogation de l’article 4 de
la loi du 23 février 2005 enjoignant aux programmes scolaires
d’insister sur le “rôle positif de la présence française outre-mer”,
alors que l’historien Olivier Pétré-Grenouilleau, spécialiste des
traites négrières, était poursuivi pour négation de crimes contre
l’humanité par des associations antillaises après avoir mis en doute
le bien-fondé de la loi Taubira. Après des mois de polémique,
l’article 4, opportunément déclassé par le Conseil constitutionnel, a
été supprimé et la plainte contre M. Pétré-Grenouilleau retirée, alors
que les appels à l’abrogation des lois mémorielles, notamment celui du
collectif Liberté pour l’Histoire, portés par des historiens à
l’autorité incontestable comme Jean-Pierre Vernant ou Pierre
Vidal-Naquet, s’étaient faits plus discrets. La bataille semblait
s’être calmée.

Pourquoi alors ranimer la querelle, ce qui offre une tribune inespérée
aux négationnistes et complique encore la tche des chercheurs qui, en
Turquie, travaillent à faire connaître les heures les plus sombres de
leur histoire ?

Pour ses défenseurs, la loi adoptée par l’Assemblée le 22 décembre, et
qui attend désormais d’être examinée par le Sénat, n’est que la suite
logique de la loi de 2001, un ovni juridique constitué d’un seul
article qui se bornait à reconnaître le génocide. De plus, elle n’est
que la transcription d’une directive européenne et ne vise pas la
négation du génocide arménien, mais de tous ceux reconnus par la loi
française. Outre que ce dernier argument est un peu spécieux (la loi
ne reconnaît que deux génocides, celui perpétré par les nazis contre
les juifs et le génocide arménien de 1915), il pourrait mettre en
lumière un aspect potentiellement explosif du texte. Car, si la France
reconnaît deux génocides, les Nations unies en reconnaissent deux de
plus : celui perpétré par les Khmers rouges au Cambodge, de 1975 à
1979, et celui des Tutsi, commis au Rwanda en 1994.

La simple reconnaissance par la France de ces deux autres massacres
impliquerait mécaniquement que la loi s’applique à eux. Ce qui
ouvrirait la voie à des querelles judiciaires explosives s’agissant du
cas rwandais, dans lequel le rôle de la France continue à faire
l’objet de très violentes controverses.

Le Monde, France
4 janv 2012

Le texte sur les génocides au Sénat fin janvier
LEMONDE.FR

Le ministre chargé des relations avec le Parlement, Patrick Ollier, a
indiqué, mercredi 4 janvier, que la proposition de loi visant à
sanctionner la négation de tous les génocides, dont celui des
Arméniens en 1915, passera devant le Sénat dans les huit derniers
jours de janvier.

“Un consensus existe sur ce texte, le groupe socialiste au Sénat a
demandé son inscription à l’ordre du jour et la majorité est
d’accord”, a déclaré M. Ollier. Le chef de file des sénateurs
socialistes, François Rebsamen, avait demandé, dès le 23 décembre
2011, l’inscription du texte “dans les plus brefs délais”.

“Il ne s’agit pas d’une loi mémorielle, a insisté le ministre. Ce qui
a été fait en 1991 pour la Shoah, la sanction du négationnisme, ne l’a
pas été en 2001 lorsque la France a reconnu le génocide arménien. Il
n’y a pas de raison que la négation d’un génocide soit sanctionné, et
pas la négation de l’autre. Il s’agit d’une simple coordination
pénale.”

“VOCATION À ÊTRE DÉFINITIVEMENT ADOPTÉE PAR LE PARLEMENT”

Le vote, le 22 décembre, par l’Assemblée nationale, de cette
proposition de loi, qui prévoit de punir d’un an de prison et de 45
000 euros d’amende la négation d’un génocide reconnu par la loi
française, a entraîné le gel par la Turquie de sa coopération
politique et militaire avec la France.

Interrogé sur le risque de voir Ankara réagir encore plus vivement au
vote du Sénat qu’elle ne l’avait fait à celui de l’Assemblée, M.
Ollier a répondu “qu’une proposition de loi votée à l’Assemblée a
vocation à être définitivement adoptée par le Parlement”. “Son vote
par une deuxième assemblée [le Sénat] ne me semble pas devoir susciter
de réactions supplémentaires, d’où qu’elles viennent.”

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 4 2012

Genocide bill won’t end relations with France, AK Party deputy says

4 January 2012 / ALÄ° ASLAN KILIÃ?, ANKARA

The president of the Turko-French inter-parliamentary friendship
group, who resigned due to intense pressure from the Turkish public
following the passage of a bill through the French lower house of
parliament on Dec. 22 seeking to make it illegal to deny that the mass
killings of Armenians in 1915 by Ottoman Turks were genocide, stated
that the genocide bill does not spell the end of relations with
France, which have a long history.
The bill will now be placed on the agenda of the French senate.

In an exclusive interview with Today’s Zaman on Tuesday, Mehmet Kasım
Gülpınar, head of the inter-parliamentary friendship group with France
and Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Å?anlıurfa deputy, said he
resigned against his will due to mounting public pressure, and
expressed his sadness over the deteriorating relations with France,
which has had diplomatic relations with Turkey for centuries.

Noting that the group still exists in legal terms even though most of
the lawmakers have resigned, Gülpınar pointed out that it would be
better to keep the channels of communication open with the French
parliament through the friendship group, at least until the senate
votes on the bill, which will probably be at the end of January. Open
communication might facilitate future efforts to stop approval of the
bill in the senate.

`The genocide bill is not the end of everything. The friendship
between the two countries has a history and must endure forever,’
Gülpınar said. He added that dropping the bill in the upcoming months
could restore the rancorous political ties between Turkey and France.

Gülpınar, educated at the French-speaking Tevfik Fikret High School in
Ankara, said he was puzzled by the French parliament’s decision,
saying he had a hard time explaining the significance of the bill to
his own family. `Even my kids asked me if we would still be able to go
to Disneyland in Paris after the passage of the bill,’ he said. He
added that the bill made his job of promoting bilateral ties very
difficult. `I found my French colleagues sharing my concerns over this
bill as well,’ he noted. Gülpınar expressed his hope that sensible
French politicians will set things right by killing the bill in the
senate.

Ankara reacted furiously when the lower house of the French parliament
approved the bill in late December, recalling its ambassador from
Paris, banning French military aircraft and warships from landing and
docking in Turkey and suspending political and economic meetings.

Prime Minister Tayyip Recep ErdoÄ?an slammed the bill as `politics
based on racism, discrimination and xenophobia’ and turned his anger
on French President Nicolas Sarkozy, accusing France of colonial
massacres in Algeria.

The bill makes denial of the alleged Armenian genocide a crime
punishable by a one-year prison sentence and a fine of 45,000 euros.

`The bill is a fatal blow to freedom of expression. The bill also put
the freedom to travel at risk, in view of the potential penalties
[that Turks might face in France],’ Gülpınar said, to emphasize that
the bill may negatively affect tourism, as most Turks might not choose
France as their vacation destination.

Gülpınar said he hopes the French senate will drop the bill. He noted
that the senate’s possible quashing of the bill will mend fences and
bolster cooperation between the two countries.

The inter-parliamentary group consisted of 357 members, most of whom
were lawmakers from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK
Party), while there were also members from other parties in the
Turkish Parliament.

Unlike other inter-parliamentary groups, all parties from the Turkish
Parliament were represented in the executive council of the
Turko-French inter-parliamentary friendship group. Deputies from the
AK Party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the Peace and Democracy
Party (BDP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) formed the
executive board, which comprised nine members. AK Party Å?anlıurfa
deputy Gülpınar led the group’s activities. Roughly 290 members of the
group were AK Party deputies.

Public Radio, Armenia
Jan 4 2012

Beginning in 1915 the Armenians were the victims of a methodic attempt
at annihilation, French philosopher writes

04.01.2012 16:20

`The law whose purpose is to penalize negationist revisionism, voted
before Christmas by the French parliament, does not propose to write
history in the place of historians. And this for the simple reason
that this history has been told and written, well written, for a long
time,’ French philosopher and writer Bernard-Henri Lévy writes in an
article published in The Huffington Post.

`This we have always known: that, beginning in 1915, the Armenians
were the victims of a methodic attempt at annihilation,’ the author
writes. `In other words, this law has nothing to do with the will to
establish a truth of state. No representative of the French National
Assembly who voted for it saw himself as a substitute for historians
or their work. Together, they only intended to recall this simple
right, that of each of us not to be publicly attacked – and its
corollary, the right to demand reparations for this particularly
outrageous offense which is the insult to the memory of the dead. It
is a question of law, not one of history.’

`Presenting this law as one that denies liberty, one likely to hamper
the work of historians is another strange argument that makes one
wonder. It is the negationist revisionists who, up until now, have
hampered the work of historians. It is their mad ideas, their
hare-brained concepts, their twisting of facts, their terrifying and
breathtaking lies that shake the earth upon which, in principle, a
science should be built. And in punishing them, making their task more
complicated, alerting the public that it is dealing not with scholars
but with those who would enflame minds, that the law protects and
shelters history. Is there one historian who has been prevented from
working on the Shoah by the Gayssot law punishing denial of the
Holocaust? Is there one author who, in good conscience, can claim that
it has limited his freedom to do research and to raise questions? And
isn’t it clear that the only ones this law has seriously hindered are
the Faurissons, the Irvings, and the other Le Pens? Well, the same
applies to the genocide of the Armenians. This law, when the Senate
will have ratified it, will be a stroke of fortune for historians, who
can finally work in peace. Unless… Yes, unless those who oppose the
law express this other, cloudier reservation: that it would be a bit
premature to come to a conclusion, precisely and for nearly a century,
of “genocide,’ the author further writes.

`I would add that it’s time to stop mixing everything up and drowning
the Armenian tragedy in the ritualized blahblahblah assailing the
“memorial laws”. For this law is not a memorial law. It is not one of
those dangerous power plays capable of laying the path for dozens if
not hundreds of absurd or blackguardly rules, codifying what one has
the right to say about the Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre, the
meaning of colonization, slavery, the Civil War, the misdemeanor of
blasphemy and heaven knows what else. It is a law concerning a
genocide — which is not the same. It is a law sanctioning those who,
in denying it, intensify and perpetuate the genocidal act – which is
something else entirely. There are not, thank God, hundreds of
genocides, or even dozens. There are three. Four, if we add the
Cambodians to the Armenians, the Jews, and the Rwandans. And to place
these three or four genocides on the same level as all the rest, to
make their penalization the antechamber of a political correctness
that authorizes a stream of useless or perverse laws on the disputed
aspects of our national memory, to say, “Watch it! You’re opening a
Pandora’s box from which everything and anything can pop out !” is
another imbecility, exacerbated by another infamy and sealed with a
dishonesty that is, really, grotesque.’

`Let us confront this specious line of argument with the wisdom of
national representation. And may the senators complete the process by
refusing to be intimidated by this little band of historians,’
Bernard-Henri Lévy concludes.

Agence France Presse
January 3, 2012 Tuesday 10:29 AM GMT

Turkey’s ambassador will return to Paris: sources

ANKARA, Jan 3 2012

Turkey’s ambassador to Paris will soon return to France after he was
recalled as French lawmakers approved a bill criminalising denial of
the Armenian genocide, Turkish diplomatic sources said Tuesday.

Ambassador Tahsin Burcuoglu, who was recalled to Turkey for
consultations on December 23, will resume his work in Paris to try to
prevent the French Senate from approving the bill, they said.

“I do not rule out (the possibility) that he is going back. He was
recalled for consultations and it was not expected that he would stay
in Turkey forever,” a diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Another diplomatic source said Burcuoglu planned to be back to Paris next week.

French lawmakers last month voted 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.

Turkey also threatened a new round of retaliations if the French
Senate passes the bill, a process which could take months.

In 1915 and 1916, during World War I many Armenians died in Ottoman
Turkey. Armenia says 1.5 million were killed in a genocide. Turkey
says around 500,000 died in fighting after Armenians sided with
Russian invaders.

ba-sft/ms/ss

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Jan 3 2012

Armenian group hails 2011 as year of success

ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News
Ümit Enginsoy

The head of the largest and most influential U.S. Armenian group has
declared 2011 as a year of great progress for the Armenian cause
against Turkey while requesting more donations from Armenian-Americans
to bolster the cause.

There were a number of pro-Armenian developments inside and outside
the U.S. Congress last year, Ken Hachikian, chairman of the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA), said in a statement released
over the weekend.

`The historic adoption by the U.S. House of H. Res. 306, demanding
Turkey return stolen Christian churches, sounded our call for
reparations loud and clear,’ he said. `The high-profile failure of the
president’s deeply flawed nomination of Matt Bryza challenged the
State Department’s `business-as-usual’ approach to Azerbaijan’s
alarming march toward war. And, across the Atlantic, the adoption last
week by the French Parliament of an anti-Armenian Genocide denial law
set the stage for a renewed worldwide push in 2012 for a truthful and
just resolution of this crime against humanity.’
H. Res. 306, a non-binding resolution approved last year by the House
of Representatives, Congress’s lower chamber, calls for the return of
properties confiscated from Turkey’s Christian minorities over the
past century. U.S. Armenians had accused Bryza, who was nominated by
President Barack Obama as ambassador to Baku in 2009, of being overtly
pro-Turkish. Two pro-Armenian senators had placed a hold on him, and
the Senate failed to organize a vote on him last year, forcing him to
quit his job.
Late last month, the lower house in the French Parliament passed a
bill criminalizing the denial of what Armenians and their supporters
call the `Armenian genocide.’ The French Senate may hold a vote on
that bill later this month despite Turkish warnings that the bill’s
adoption would lead to a deterioration in ties in a major and lasting
way. Armenians describe the World War I-era killings of their kinsmen
in the Ottoman Empire as `genocide.’ Turkey rejects the claim and says
Turks and Muslims were also killed in ethnic strife in eastern
Anatolia toward the end of the war.

Hachikian also urged U.S. Armenians to donate funds to ANCA to
contribute the fight against Turkey.
`With your faith and renewed financial support, we will do so much
more,’ he said. `Will you consider giving $60, $100, $250 or more to
empower us to fight for our rights? Any amount makes a difference,
even a gift of $10.’
January/03/2012

news.am, Armenia
Jan 3 2012

More women but less children in Armenia

January 03, 2012 | 20:23

YEREVAN. – Women are more than men by 3% in Armenia, National
Statistics Service informs.

Men are 48.5%, while women 51.5% of population. The average age of men
is 33.3, while it is 36.7 for women. Children under 15 made 19.6% last
year.

Over 452 children and pensioners are counted for every 1000 citizen of
working age, as compared to 456 early in 2010.

Over 34.4% of population lives in the capital. Armenia’s Ararat,
Armavir, Lori, Kotayk and Shirak Regions have 8.6 – 8.7% of population
respectively, Gegharkunik 7.4%, Aragatsotn, Syunik and Tavush
4.1-4.7%, while only 1.7% of population lives in Vayots Dzor Region.

The following paper appeared in the print edition of 21st Century, an
international foreign policy journal produced by Yerevan-based think-tank
Noravank Foundation.

*U.S.** FOREIGN POLICY TOWARDS THE SOUTH CAUCASUS*

*A Comparative Analysis from Inside Washington, DC’s Policy Circles*

A majority of articles written about the Caucasus seem to focus on
Azerbaijan and Caspian energy. Therefore, it is no surprise that talk about
U.S. and European policy toward the region is devoted to those two aspects.
Some even describe them as a top priority for U.S. interests in the region,
above and beyond democracy and civil freedoms, which have been on the
decline in recent years. At first glance, many Americans might ask: what
does the United States have to do with Europe’s energy needs? To put it
plainly, why do we care? Vincent O’Brien, Chief of Staff to Richard
Morningstar, Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy at the U.S. Department of
State, raised that exact question at the Woodrow Wilson Center earlier this
year.[1] He
stated that the United States and the European Union (EU) have the
largest trade relationship in the world, so it is natural that European
concerns are in our interest and vice versa. In 2009 the U.S. and the EU
established a bi-lateral Energy
Council.[2] According
to O’Brien, the central theme to the US-EU Energy Council is
energy security – make sure the gas keeps flowing to Europe. The U.S.-EU
Energy Council is focused on energy security and new markets, energy
efficiency, research and development for carbon capture and storage, new
and renewable resources, emissions and environment, and adopting universal
standards and policies.[3] A
strategic goal of the Council is to link the South Caucasus and
Eurasian
countries to the West – and to Western markets – through our energy policy.
As Philip Gordon, Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and
Eurasian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State testified, `U.S.-European
cooperation is and remains essential to achieving our strategic objectives.’
[4] When
O’Brien was asked which specific project or pipeline does the U.S.
support, his response was that we support the least expensive and most
easily transportable energy
project.[5]

Also this year, the Center for Strategic & International Studies held its
second annual conference on the South Caucasus entitled `Outlook for U.S.
Strategy in the Southern Caucasus and the Caspian.’ The Atlantic Council’s
Ross Wilson, a former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan, reflected
on the origins of American foreign policy in the region and its current
state of affairs. According to Wilson, four objectives defined American
foreign policy over the last 20 years: newly independent states should stay
independent; promote open, free market democracy; integrate the region into
the Euro-Atlantic community and global economy; and help where we could
with messy conflicts.[6] Wilson
stated that although our interests have not changed, `I would be
dishonest if I say that we are where we wanted to be.’ Wilson also stated
that as Georgia is sliding into a long haul stalemate, Armenia and
Azerbaijan are sliding out of one, alluding to the increasing likelihood of
a renewed war in
Nagorno-Karabakh.[7] According
to the International Crisis Group, `an arms race, escalating
front-line clashes, vitriolic war rhetoric and a virtual breakdown in peace
talks are increasing the chance Armenia and Azerbaijan will go back to war
over Nagorno-Karabakh. Preventing this is
urgent.'[8]

Stephen Blank from the U.S. Army War College followed Wilson, arguing that
the U.S. lacks a South Caucasus strategy. In regards to the U.S.-Russia
`reset,’ Blank commented that according to Russian press and analysts,
the
United States accepts the South Caucasus as Russia’s sphere of influence
and that Russia in turn doesn’t view the South Caucasus states as
independent, sovereign
states.[9] Blank
goes on to elaborate the positive and negative aspects of Obama’s
`reset’ policy. Positive outcomes to the reset policy include increased
cooperation and collaboration on Afghanistan and the signing and
ratification of the START treaty. A negative aspect of the reset is our
decreased involvement or attention to South East Europe, Eastern Europe and
the South Caucasus. Blank plainly revealed the pattern that had emerged in
practically all of the Washington policy discussions held on the South
Caucasus over the last few years – the U.S. doesn’t have a specified South
Caucasus strategy and our current approach is two fold – no war and peace
along pipelines.

Now that we know that we don’t have a detailed strategy towards the South
Caucasus, other than the fundamentals of preventing war and ensuring peace
along pipelines, and that we need to re-engage the region, there are some
important policy recommendations that are currently being discussed on how
to do just that. Last year Samuel Charap, Associate Director for Russia and
Eurasia at the Center for American Progress, co-authored with Alexandros
Peterson, Senior Fellow from the Atlantic Council, an important piece
in *Foreign
Affairs* entitled `Reimagining Eurasia.’ There are some key points that
sound great in theory and some which require further debate, especially in
the `Reimagining Azerbaijan’ segment that appeared separately. Charap and
Peterson reflect that `U.S. policy toward countries in the region
essentially became a derivative of Russia policy as a result. We failed to
forge long-term partnerships and instead sought leverage, neglecting
engagement that provided no benefit in the push and pull with
Moscow.'[10]

In their recommendations, Charap and Peterson state that `U.S. policy
makers must abandon the tired Russia-centric tack and develop new
individualized approaches to the states of the greater Black Sea region and
Central Asia’ in the attempt to `=85avoid re-creating a
nineteenth-century-style Great
Game.'[11] They
further state that `The Obama administration may have `reset’
relations with Russia, but it must now develop a clear parallel strategy to
reimagine its policies toward Eurasia – ones tailored to the specific U.S.
interests at stake in each country and transparent to all other states.’
These statements imply developing multiple foreign policies based on
detailed bi-lateral relationships with all the nations in the region. In
fact, Charap recommends that the U.S. `deepen bilateral U.S. engagement
with Azerbaijan,’ clearly referring to Azerbaijan’s energy potential while
discounting its horrendous human rights record and recent crackdown on
media and civil
liberties.[12] Of
the three South Caucasus states, only Azerbaijan was listed as `not
free’ in the 2010 `Freedom in the World’ report by *Freedom
House*.[13]

However, an alternative approach offered by Thomas de Waal, Senior
Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, looks at the
region in a much broader view. He states that `almost no one in Washington
is thinking of how to approach the South Caucasus as a region, whose
economic needs and security problems are inter-connected and best resolved
by a holistic approach.'[14] According
to de Waal, `Narrow bilateralism is an abiding problem in
Caucasus policy – a problem complicated by the multiple policy agendas of a
country such as Russia or the United
States.'[15]

Returning to Charap and Peterson’s assessments, they argue that `playing
the game not only brought Washington to the brink of confrontation with
Moscow (in the 2008 Russia-Georgia War) but also distorted the United
States’ priorities in Eurasia and hollowed out U.S. relationships with
states in the region.'[16] Eerily
reminiscent of Hollywood’s 1983 film `War Games,’ Charap and
Peterson conclude that `the only way for Washington to `win’ is not to play
the game.'[17]

These alternative approaches to encouraging a solid and just, long-term
relationship with the people of the South Caucasus are thought-provoking in
their own right and deserve much credit. Yet when we bring these issues
back home, faced with the daunting challenge of reducing the U.S. national
debt, it is difficult to see where this reality fits into these policy
recommendations. In fact, of all the discussions attended by the author
since the global economic crisis hit, only on one occasion did a panelist
ever raise the question of how these challenges can be met if we are
reducing foreign aid. At a Center for American Progress discussion, Dr.
Fiona Hill, Director and Senior Fellow at Brookings Institute, questioned,
`Do we, the U.S., have the resources and the people to underpin the years
of policy that the people of the region
want?'[18] As
all politics are local, it was refreshing to hear this domestic
reality
mentioned when discussing the formulation of U.S. foreign policy towards
the region. It appears that House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI)
attempted to answer that question when he released his 85-page plan calling
for a drastic 44% cut in international affairs and foreign assistance
spending over the next 5 years.

Whether or not the entirety of Congressman Ryan’s `Path to Prosperity’ is
cemented, U.S. domestic challenges can not be overlooked when formulating a
new strategy to an important and delicate region. At the same time, our
approach to the South Caucasus region should not follow but rather stem
from efforts to promote greater civil liberties and media freedoms, freer
and fairer elections, enforcement of the rule of law, and more open
free-market economies. However, we have to be mindful of how far these
young republics have come in the 20 years since their independence. Our
policy should reflect a long-term investment in and understanding of the
people of the region, their culture and religion and, most importantly,
support for their struggle for a more peaceful and democratic society;
especially since that policy can shape the lives of thousands who work to
see it implemented over the course of the next century, and millions who
have to live with its outcome.

*Taniel Koushakjian***

*Grassroots Director*

*Armenian Assembly of America*

*June, 2011*

——————————

[1]Author
attended presentation entitled `The Future of U.S.-E.U. Energy
Cooperation’ at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. on February
9, 2011.

[2]Id.

[3]Id.

[4]Overview
of U.S. Relations with Europe and Eurasia, Testimony of Philip H.
Gordon, Assistant Secretary, Bureau if European and Eurasian Affairs at the
U.S. Department of State, before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia, Washington, D.C., on March 11, 2011.
Available online at:

[5]Author
attended presentation entitled `The Future of U.S.-E.U. Energy
Cooperation’ at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. on February
9, 2011.

[6]Author
attended presentation entitled `Outlook for U.S. Strategy in the
Southern Caucasus and the Caspian’ at the Center for Strategic &
International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. on February 18, 2011.

[7]Id.

[8]International
Crisis Group, Europe Briefing No. 60, `Armenia and
Azerbaijan: Preventing War,’ February 8, 2011.

[9]Author
attended presentation entitled `Outlook for U.S. Strategy in the
Southern Caucasus and the Caspian’ at the Center for Strategic &
International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. on February 18, 2011.

[10]Charap,
Samuel and Alexandros Peterson, `Reimagining Azerbaijan,’
*Center for American Progress*, August 23, 2010.

[11]Charap,
Samuel and Alexandros Peterson, `Reimagining Eurasia,’
*Foreign Affairs*, August 20, 2010.

[12]Charap,
Samuel and Alexandros Peterson, `Reimagining Azerbaijan,’
*Center for American Progress*, August 23, 2010.

[13]Freedom
House Country Report on Azerbaijan, Freedom in the World 2010.
Available online at:

[14]de
Waal, Thomas, `Call Off the Great Game,’
*Foreign Policy*, September 13, 2010.

[15]Id.

[16]Charap,
Samuel and Alexandros Peterson, `Reimagining Eurasia,’
*Foreign Affairs*, August 20, 2010.

[17]Id.

[18]Author
attended presentation entitled `Reimagining Eurasia: Devising a
Strategy for U.S. Engagement with the States of the Greater Black Sea
Region and Central Asia’ at the Center for American Progress in Washington,
D.C. on October 20, 2010.