Author: Kanayan Tamar

LES DEUX VALERIE A LA UNE DE L’ACTUALITE
Ara

armenews.com
jeudi 29 decembre 2011

Selon un billet d’humeur publie par le site Lragir deux Valerie
occupent cette semaine la “une” des medias en Armenie : Valerie Boyer
et Valerie Gordzounian. La deuxième est la proprietaire du Cafe de
Paris, qui connait depuis des annees des problèmes administratifs lies
a son activite et qui a l’intention de quitter le pays. La seconde
est l’auteur du projet de loi penalisant la negation du genocide des
Armeniens. Si cette loi venait a etre ratifiee au Senat, nul doute
que la Boyer deviendrait un veritable heros national en Armenie,
estime le journal.

Pour Lragir : les deux Valeries reflètent deux aspects importants de
la realite armenienne : Le climat negatif du monde des affaires et
l’atmosphère psychologique quelque peu superficielle du pays. Deux
questions jugees très importantes, car de leur resolution dependrait
l’entree du pays dans un monde moderne et competitif.

L’affaire du Cafe Paris, illustre selon l’auteur de l’article, la
difficulte de faire fonctionner une entreprise dans le pays si on
refuse le système claniste et le nepotisme. Le culte populaire porte
a Valerie Boyer, temoigne lui des reflexes d’une societe abandonnee
a elle meme et en quete de sauveurs exterieure. Ce qui n’est pas
un signe de maturite, independamment du fait qu’il faut bien sûr
etre reconnaissant envers ceux qui nous apportent leur soutient
a l’exterieur.

“Pas de developpement et de reformes possibles en Armenie tant que
nous verrons le monde en noir et blanc et que nous compterons sur
les autres pour nous tirer d’affaire”, estime Lragir. Lragir emet
en outre un voeux : qu’a la lumière de cette actualite illustree par
les deux Valerie, l’Armenie fasse l’effort de traiter ses problèmes
sociaux et qu’elle ait un rapport au monde plus nuance.

PERFORMANCE MACROECONOMIQUE DANS LE HAUT-KARABAGH
Laetitia

armenews.com
jeudi 29 decembre 2011

Les legislateurs du Haut-Karabagh ont approuve mercredi 28 decembre
2011 le budget de l’Etat sur le territoire armenien contrôlee pour
l’annee prochaine.

Le budget prevoit moins de 1% d’augmentation dans les depenses
publiques. Les recettes budgetaires sont projetees a 65,1 milliards
de drams.

Ces recettes proviennent des subventions de l’Armenie.

Le financement pour des projets d’infrastructures dans le Haut-Karabagh
provient tout de meme de la diaspora armenienne dans le monde
entier. La majeure partie de cette aide a ete acheminee dans le
territoire par le ” Hayastan All-Armenian Fund ” qui a recu plus de
30 millions de dollars de dons essentiellement de la diaspora cette
annee. La plupart de cet argent a ete investi dans la reconstruction
des reseaux de distribution d’eau.

” Nous allons effectuer des depenses sociales essentielles “, a
declare Harutiunian.

Les objectifs budgetaires sont fondes sur l’hypothèse que l’economie
du Karabagh devrait croître de 9% en 2012.

Dans la region du Karabagh, le produit interieur brut est
principalement genere par l’agriculture et l’agroalimentaire.

Le Premier ministre armenien, Tigran Sarkissian, a felicite la
performance macroeconomique du Karabagh lorsqu’il s’est rendu a
Stepanakert en août dernier. ” Les indicateurs actuels nous donnent
des raisons d’esperer que dans les prochaines annees l’economie du
Haut-Karabagh beneficiera d’un rythme soutenu de developpement “,
a-t-il dit.

23 VILLAGEOIS KURDES TUES DANS UN RAID AERIEN
Ara

armenews.com
jeudi 29 decembre 2011

DIYARBAKIR (Turquie), 29 dec 2011- Vingt trois villageois kurdes ont
ete tues jeudi matin dans un raid de l’aviation turque dans le sud-est
de la Turquie, près de la frontière irakienne, a annonce un elu local
membre du Parti pour la paix et la democratie (BDP, pro-kurde).

Un precedent bilan de meme source avait fait etat de 11 morts lors de
ce raid. Vingt trois corps ont ete recenses dans le village d’Ortasu,
près de la frontière irakienne, a indique a la chaîne de television
pro-kurde et proche de la rebellion kurde Roj TV, Ertan Eris, membre
du conseil provincial de Sirnak.

L’agence pro-kurde Firat a de son côte fait etat de 35 morts,
dont des enfants, dans ce bombardement qui n’etait pas confirme de
source officielle. M. Eris a explique qu’un groupe d’une trentaine de
personnes, des jeunes pour la plupart, âges de 16 a 20 ans, avaient
traverse la frontière a des fins de contrebande, et qu’il craignait
une aggravation du dernier bilan. La zone, très escarpee et montagneuse
rend difficile les efforts pour rechercher les corps, a-t-il ajoute.

Des sources de securite locale ont confirme les bombardements sans
toutefois donner de bilan.

Les chasseurs turcs pourraient avoir effectue un pilonnage par
accident, prenant les villageois pour des membres du parti des
travailleurs du Kurdistan (PKK, rebelles kurdes), a-t-on ajoute de
meme source.

Les villageois de cette zone se rendent frequemment en Irak par des
voies illegales pour rapporter du carburant et du sucre bon marche
afin de le revendre en Turquie.

Hasip Kaplan, un depute kurde de Sirnak, a affirme a l’AFP etre
au courant de l’incident, indiquant que “des ambulances et des
conseilleurs municipaux” s’etaient rendus sur place.

TURKISH RIGHTS GROUP SAYS UNITE AGAINST GENOCIDE DENIAL, NOT AGAINST FRANCE

asbarez
Wednesday, December 28th, 2011

The Web page of the Committee Against Racism and Discrimination of
Turkey’s Human Rights Association

ISTANBUL–On Dec. 22, the Committee Against Racism and Discrimination
of Turkey’s Human Rights Association issued a press release and
initiated a signature campaign calling on Turks to unite against
genocide denial, not against the French Parliament. Below is the full
text of the release. The Turkish version is available on the group’s
Web site.

Broad segments of Turkish society seem to be united against the
bill penalizing the denial of genocide, which will be discussed on
Dec. 22, 2011 in the French Parliament [Editor’s note: The bill has
since passed]. The Turkish state’s denial and threats are supported
by business and consumer associations and civil society. Turkey’s
intelligentsia is also speaking against the bill. The common argument
for all these sectors against France is “freedom of expression”;
they are arguing that banning the denial of the Armenian Genocide
undermines freedom of expression.

We, the Istanbul Branch of the Human Rights Association of Turkey’s
Committee Against Racism and Discrimination declare that the denial
of a crime against humanity such as genocide has nothing to do with
freedom of expression.

The denial of the annihilation of a nation–with its entire social
fabric, professions, works of art, and historical heritage–by the
state itself, intentionally and in a planned manner, means endorsing
the crime and justifying such violence. Therefore, denial of genocide
cannot be considered within the boundaries of freedom of speech. It
constitutes violence against the grandchildren of genocide survivors
in Turkey and elsewhere in the world and against the memory of the
genocide victims. The European Court of Human Rights in many cases
has ruled that freedom of expression is not applicable to expressions
of violence.

The UN General Assembly adopted the Convention for Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in December 1948 and the Convention
came into force in January 1951. Since that day, Holocaust denial
has been punished in many countries with fines and prison sentences.

The punishment of Holocaust denial entails fines and prison sentences
of up to 20 years in Austria, fines and up to 1 year imprisonment
in Belgium, 6 months to 2 years imprisonment in the Czech Republic,
a fine and 5-month prison sentence in Germany, a fine and 1 month to
2 years imprisonment in France, a 3-4-year prison sentence in Italy,
and a fine and 1-10-year prison sentence in Lithuania. In other words,
punishment for genocide denial is neither new nor specific to France.

On Feb. 1, 2011, the Reis-ul Ulema (Grand Mufti) of Bosnian Muslims,
Mustafa CeriÄ~G, during a visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp
together with a group of 150–comprised of Christian, Muslim, and
Jewish delegations–said that those who denied the Holocaust or the
genocide of Muslims in Srebrenica should be treated as accomplices
in the crime.

One argument progressive intellectuals use against the French bill
banning denial is the memory of Hrant Dink, who was opposed to the
passage of such laws. We believe it is wrong to base one’s opinion
on today’s French bill on the views expressed years ago by Hrant
Dink, who was assassinated as a result of collaboration between the
state’s special war apparatus and fascist elements. Not only is it
absurd to speculate on what Hrant Dink would think today, but it is
fundamental to the freedom of thought–something the intellectuals
uphold as sacred–that people should have the right to develop their
own independent opinions, free of others’ guidance.

In conclusion, we invite the NGOs, the business organizations,
such as the Union of Turkish Chambers and Commodity Exchanges and
Association of Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen, opinion makers,
and intellectuals to stop campaigning against the French Parliament
and work for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the Assyrian
Genocide, and the ethnic cleansing of the Greeks by the state and
society.

SUCH UPHEAVALS WILL HAPPEN IN AZERBAIJAN AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF WHICH RECOGNITION OF KARABAKH INDEPENDENCE MAY SEEM A CHILD’S PLAY

arminfo
Wednesday, December 28, 21:40

Such upheavals will happen in Azerbaijan against the background of
which recognition of Karabakh independence may seem a child’s play,
political expert Levon Melik-Shakhnazaryan told journalists today.

He said that today’s ethnic problems in Azerbaijan put in serious
jeopardy the viability of this country. The expert means the recent
statement by several public organizations of the indigenous peoples
living at the territory of Azerbaijan. The statement disseminated on
10 December called on young people which are not Azerbaijanis to refuse
serving in the armed forces of Azerbaijan at the border to Karabakh.

He also added that the indigenous peoples of Azerbaijan: Lezgins,
Avars, Talish, Udins and others are a serious military and political
factor in the region, and their position regarding any issue may change
much. “Taking these circumstances into consideration, the Armenian
party should restore really effective relations with indigenous peoples
of Azerbaijan. We should also overcome the distrust between our peoples
generated by the Azerbaijani propaganda”, – Melik-Shakhnazaryan said.

DINK LAWYERS DEMAND DETAILS OF PHONE RECORDS

armradio.am
28.12.2011 13:41

During the 23rd court hearing of slain Armenian journalist Hrant Dink
case, one of the lawyers of Dink family says the phone conversations
that Telecommunications Directorate (TIB) provided to the court do
not include all the records from the area

Suspect Yasin Hayal is under pressure not to disclose significant
information, Fethiye Cetin, one of the prosecution lawyers representing
the family of Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist assassinated
in 2007, said yesterday.

“When we consider the four-year-long trial process, it seems apparent
we have not made any progress, even though all the guilty parties
are manifest,” lawyer Cetin told the Hurriyet Daily News.

The 23rd hearing of the Dink trial began yesterday at 11:05 a.m.,
approximately two hours late due to the delayed arrival of suspects
Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel. The hearing yielded no results, however,
and the case is still stuck in a deadlock.

“Yasin Hayal’s mental health is quite balanced. He can divulge a
lot of things, but he is under pressure from different quarters not
to talk. Nevertheless, he would be saying a lot if he could speak,”
Cetin said.

Cetin also said they had met with Bahattin Hayal, suspect Yasin Hayal’s
father, who had claimed to be in possession of important information
pertinent to the case. But he divulged nothing the prosecution did
not already know about, she said.

Meanwhile, a group of 200 people gathered in Istanbul’s BeÅ~_iktaÅ~_
district and marched toward the Istanbul’s Court for Serious Crimes
in protest of the apparent lack of progress in the case.

Demonstrators included Hrant Dink’s wife Rakel Dink and his brother
Orhan Dink, as well as Sezgin Tanrıkulu, the deputy leader of the
opposition People’s Republican Party (CHP), Levent Tuzel, an Istanbul
deputy of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), and other high-profile
figures.

“[Phone] records from the Telecommunications Directorate (TÄ°B)
dominated the public’s attention throughout this one year, and
especially since May. TÄ°B records were of course important, but it
should not be forgotten we are talking about thousands of records. The
truly important thing, we believe, was the silence of those caught
on camera footage on the day of the murder,” Cetin said.

The Dink family’s lawyers also raised an objection to the trial of the
suspects in the Black Sea province of Trabzon solely on the charge of
“dereliction of duty,” according to the Dogan news agency.

“These men have solely been tried on the charge of dereliction of
duty, whereas they are partners in manslaughter through dereliction,”
prosecution lawyer Bahri Belen said in relation to claims gendarmerie
commanders Ali Oz and Metin Yıldız had been notified about the
murder six months earlier by suspect CoÅ~_kun Ä°gci, Yasin Hayal’s
brother-in-law.

The Dink family’s lawyers had prepared a 200 page file connecting the
history of the Armenian issue with the murder and read the document’s
first half during the previous hearing.

While the first half of the file was primarily about the historical
dimension of the problem, the second half read a variety of other
topics, including indictments, the suspects’ testimonies and other
relevant assessments.

The Dink family’s lawyers also argued in favor of merging the two
separate case files in Istanbul and the Black Sea province of Samsun,
the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

TURKEY, FRANCE AND ARMENIA

Dec 31st 2011

Watch your words
A French proposal to outlaw genocide-denial infuriates Turkey

FEW Turks had heard of Valerie Boyer, a deputy for Nicolas Sarkozy’s
ruling UMP party in France. That was until she sponsored a bill
that would make it a crime in France to deny that the mass killings
of Ottoman Armenians in 1915 constituted genocide. On December 21st
France’s lower chamber approved the bill, which would make denying any
officially recognised genocide punishable by a one-year prison sentence
and a fine of ~@45,000 ($59,000). Within hours Turkish hackers had
defaced Ms Boyer’s website. The deputy says she has been inundated
with death and rape threats. (Separately, the Israeli Knesset has
begun discussing whether to recognise the 1915 killings as genocide.)

“This is politics based on racism, discrimination and xenophobia,”
thundered Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, before
announcing a set of sanctions. These included recalling the ambassador
in Paris, banning French military aircraft and warships from landing
and docking in Turkey, freezing political and economic consultations
and deciding on a case-by-case basis whether to let French military
aircraft use Turkish airspace.

Mr Erdogan has threatened to take further action should the French
Senate approve the bill. Turkish officials have ruled out trade
sanctions because they would violate Turkey’s customs union with
the European Union, but have suggested that “consumers might take
matters into their own hands.” A popular Bosphorus fish restaurant
soon declared it was no longer calling itself “Le Pecheur”.

France is Turkey’s fifth biggest trading partner. Two-way trade
is worth around $14 billion and France is lobbying to build a
multi-billion nuclear plant on Turkey’s Black Sea coast. French
manufacturers account for a fifth of Turkey’s lucrative car market.

The chill in relations has been prompted largely by Mr Sarkozy’s
fierce opposition to Turkish membership of the EU. Expanding the
club to take in a large, poor and Muslim country would dilute French
influence. Moreover, Mr Sarkozy is facing a difficult re-election
battle in the spring and may be seeking to exploit the genocide to
court ethnic-Armenian votes. Not everyone in France is convinced by
the merits of the bill. Alain Juppe, Mr Sarkozy’s foreign minister,
describes it as “unhelpful and counterproductive”.

But Turkey is hardly in a position to preach about free speech. Its own
laws, in a mirror image of the French proposal, prohibit descriptions
of the 1915 killings as genocide. More than 100 journalists are in
jail, many of them on flimsy charges of backing terrorism.

As for Mr Sarkozy’s manoeuvres, many Armenians would say they
are no more cynical than Turkey’s decision in 2009 to sign a set
of protocols establishing formal ties and reopening borders with
Armenia just as the United States Congress was gearing up to pass
a genocide-recognition bill. In the event Barack Obama convinced
American lawmakers to desist. Turkey promptly shelved the protocols,
reverting to its old line that they could be enacted only if Armenia
withdrew from territories it occupies in Azerbaijan.

Yet civil-society initiatives between Turkey and Armenia are
flourishing. Debate about the fate of the Ottoman Armenians in Turkey
is louder and more vocal than ever. But the passage of the French bill
has rekindled nationalist anger, and with it fears of reprisal among
Turkey’s tiny ethnic Armenian community. One of the loudest critics
of the French law, which first came before parliament in 2006, was
Hrant Dink, an Armenian newspaper owner who was murdered in Istanbul
by an ultranationalist youth in 2007. Mr Dink had said that he was
willing to be jailed in France for denying that the events of 1915
counted as genocide, just as he was willing to be jailed in Turkey
for saying the opposite. Healing the wounds of history was best left
to Turks and Armenians, he said, not to vote-mongering politicians.

WILL HE CONVINCE HIS RELATIVE?

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 16:02:00 – 28/12/2011

Former speaker and future head of the RPA election staff Hovik
Abrahamyan stated that the BHP will not win the next parliamentary
elections. Hovik Abrahamyan apparently assumed the role of the person
who conveys the Republican messages to Gagik Tsarukyan. For instance,
a couple of months ago, when the issue whether Gagik Tsarukyan
will support Serzh Sargsyan in the next presidential elections was
discussed, Hovik Abrahamyan stated that Tsarukyan had better support
Sargsyan.

The feeling is that Hovik Abrahamyan’s place and destiny in the current
system depends on how obedient Tsarukyan is to Sargsyan. By the way,
Hovik Abrahamyan’s and Gagik Tsarukyan’s children are married with
each other.

It is not ruled out that Hovik Abrahamyan used this argument in
internal governmental relationships and tried to assume responsibility
for the behavior of his relative. And now, perhaps, Serzh Sargsyan
makes claims to Hovik Abrahamyan regarding the behavior of Tsarukyan.

Nothing is left for Abrahamyan to do but to convince his relative
that it is meaningless to oppose Serzh Sargsyan.

But apparently, it is difficult to convince Gagik Tsarukyan, or
Serzh Sargsyan doesn’t believe that Tsarukyan has been convinced,
and though he is silent now, his silence makes Sargsyan doubt.

The more doubtful this silence seems, the more suspicions about Hovik
Abrahamyan. In other words, Hovik Abrahamyan’s destiny is in Gagik
Tsarukyan’s hands.

AT THIS RATE, ARMENIA WILL BE TURNED INTO MINES AND TAILINGS, WARN ENVIRONMENTALISTS

epress.am
12.28.2011

On behalf of residents of his village, Qajaran mayor Rafik Atayan
stated that they will keep their village, they are the owners of the
village and they’re not preparing to hand over their lands. Atayan
today met with journalists in Yerevan, discussing the situation
with the village in the southeastern Armenian province of Syunik,
where residents, backed by environmentalists, are fighting for the
communal land adjacent to their village which the government has
alienated and transferred to Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine.

“We won’t be the ones to open the border to Nakhchivan [note: the
village is near the de facto exclave of Azerbaijan]. We were born here;
we live [here]; we are restoring the 12th century church; our village
lives. Compensation doesn’t interest us; we don’t need any thing. We
live in this village and we will die here. I just buried my mother –
to whom should I leave her grave?” he said.

Atayan insists that the government decision should be annulled.

Asked what is the view of Syunik regional governor Surik (Suren)
Khachatryan on the matter, the village mayor said, “Ask him – each
person speaks for himself.”

Also present at the press conference, head of the Heritage Party
parliamentary faction Stepan (Styopa) Safaryan said today he sent
a letter to RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, asking the matter be
discussed immediately following the New Year and Christmas (marked
on Jan. 6) holidays.

In the MP’s opinion, the nature of the border and the insistence of
Kajaran residents to stay in their village is more valuable than any
compensation the government can give them.

“The state has adopted such a policy that in just a few years it wants
to deplete our mines and get rich. This is the policy implemented by
the state. The patents to exploit multiple mines given to several
companies are very lucrative, and the sale of this raw material in
the global market brings in a huge profit.

“If this issue isn’t solved, Armenia will very quickly turn into
mines and [poisonous] tailings,” said one other participant at the
press conference, Heritage Party MP Zaruhi Postanjyan.

The press conference summed up with organizers and activists urging
all interested parties to join them in a demonstration outside the
Government of Armenia building in Yerevan’s Republic Square at 11
am tomorrow, which will be followed by a march to the presidential
residence on Baghramyan Ave.

PRESS RELEASE
The Paros Foundation
Tel: 310-400-9061 US or (091) 426 120 Armenia
Email: [email protected]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Dear Friends, Accept our best wishes for a 2012 filled with
Peace, Happiness, Health and Prosperity. Thank you for making a
difference in the lives of so many worthy people.

Join our new effort 100 for 100 Projects for Prosperity.
Thank you for your encouragement, kind words and support of our
newest initiative, the Paros 100 for 100 Projects for Prosperity.
Consider making a special gift or pledge this holiday season and
realize the goal of implementing 100 special projects in Armenia
by April 24, 2012 to commemorate the centennial of the Armenian
Genocide.

Best wishes,

The Paros Foundation and our family of projects

The Paros Foundation
918 N. Parker Street, A14
Berkeley, CA 94710.

Donations to The Paros Foundation, a 501(c)3 private foundation
are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.

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