Author: Kanayan Tamar

EaEU’s “altyn” and Armenia’s unvoiced “voice” at the EaEU

March 14 2015

The summit of the presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus was
scheduled to launch in Astana. According to the Kremlin’s official
release, the parties intend to discuss prospects for the development
of trade between the three countries and the European integration
process, given influence of the modern trends on the world economy, as
well as mutual trade and the situation in Ukraine. On March 11,
however, it became clear that the tripartite meeting was postponed.
This information was confirmed by the Russian president’s press
secretary Dmitry Peskov. “Indeed, the leaders of the three countries
decided to postpone the day of the summit in Astana for a few days,”
he said. On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed to
sign the protocols of the agreement on Kyrgyzstan’s accession to the
EaEU Agreement signed on December 23, 2014. Recently, Putin has made
another remarkable assignment. The Ministry of Finance of Russia and
the Government are assigned to jointly with the Central Banks of the
Eurasian Economic Union member states to elaborate until September 1
the further integration trends of the EaEU common currency and the
financial sectors with the perspective of development of feasibility
and possibility for creation of a monetary union. The experts were
periodically warning about such Eurasian “prospects”. Still last year,
the Russian “Moskovsky Komsomolets”, citing its source in the Eurasian
Economic Commission, stated that the EaEU will have its common
currency, and it will be called “altyn,” emphasizing that the issue of
the common currency and its name has already unofficially been
approved by the presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus. The
source even mentioned that it is planned to establish a Eurasian
Central Bank with supranational powers. Today, Russia more than ever
pursues the goal to show its influence and its being “united” with the
former Soviet Union countries. And not just showing. Putin is
consistently moving ahead by restoring its influence from the Eastern
Europe to the Caucasus and Central Asia. All of this is accompanied by
the demarches against the West. For example, recently, Russian mass
media reported that Russia withdraws from the agreement on
Conventional Armed Forces in Europe and ceased its attendance at the
Joint Consultative Group sittings of the Conventional Armed Forces
Treaty. Studies of the ideas of opportunities for creation of a
monetary union and further integration trends for the common currency
and the financial sectors in the EaEU are really infeasible so far,
under the conditions of the failed Union due to economic reasons. One
can only imagine what reaction Putin’s this kind of intention will
cause to the leaders of Belarus and Kazakhstan, who do not miss any
opportunity to oppose the President of Russia and to protect their own
countries’ interests. The theme of Armenia’s non-attendance at the
Astana meeting has been discussed for these days. Official Yerevan
presented the Deputy Foreign Minister’s Shavarsh Kocharyan’s
clarification, which says that the Armenian side will not participate
in the forthcoming meeting of the three founding members of the
Eurasian Economic Union in Astana, because it does not have any
disagreements with those countries. “These three countries have mutual
problems that they do not hide, and they are trying to settle down
these disagreements between each other. We have no disagreement, we
are a new member of the EaEU and we do not have problems with any of
these countries in connection with the Eurasian Economic Union or
other,” said Sh. Kocharyan in the interview with “Liberty”. Followed
by the same logic, Armenian cannot attend the meetings in the
framework of CSTO and CIS, stating that it has no disagreements with
the member states. To the point, the official Yerevan’s explanation is
controversial, because, on the one hand, it is stated that the EaEU
founding members have disagreements, but on the other hand, it is
noted that Armenia has no disagreement with these three “conflicting”
each other countries. From the outset, it was clear that Armenia would
not be a decision-making in this structure. Anyway, how can any
crucial summit, where serious problems are to be discussed and
probably decisions made is not related to Armenia? Or, these problems
and decisions will not refer to the future of Armenia? On the other
hand, however, it is positive to record the fact that no issues
regarding directly Armenia will be discussed in Astana. Armenia’s
membership to this structure, in general, without common borders, was
unclear and at the same time evident that it is a result of a
political decision. Therefore, Armenia’s participation in the EaEU
gatherings also as it is seen bears a purely political nature rather
than economic. When Armenia’s “voice” becomes necessary, then Armenia
will attend these meetings of the EaEU format. In addition, several
well-known meetings held under the EaEU are singled out by
pro-Azerbaijani and controversial statements against Armenia. Recall
Nazarbayev’s famous statement about Ilham Aliyev’s letter. To the
point, this trend is maintained. Recently, Minsk hosted the
Belarus-Azerbaijan intergovernmental Economic Partnership Council
session. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko accepted Deputy Prime
Minister of Azerbaijan Yaqub Eyyubov prior to this Council session,
and as reported by the Belarusian “Belta” news agency, Lukashenko
announced that today Belarus is ready to cooperate with Azerbaijan in
all directions. “We trust you, your country, your government, and we
are ready to cooperate with you in all directions, so there are no
closed spheres,” he said. Lukashenko called the attention to the fact
that Belarus and Azerbaijan have always successfully resolved all
issues raised and had mentioned that the volume of trade between the
two countries has increased for the past year. “The trade with
Azerbaijan is very profitable for us. We are ready to set up our
companies there, are interested in your investments here and will
provide absolute guarantees to you. ” Alexander Lukashenko noted with
satisfaction that the production localization in a number of
industries is almost 50 percent. “It makes up 40 percent already, and
it is a very good level,” said Lukashenko. “It means that you get the
technologies that we have promised to you, and especially that I have
promised to Ilham Aliyev, normal manufacturing facilities are
established on the territory of Azerbaijan.” Belarus President
stressed that the promotion of joint products to third countries and
the Caucasus region is the next step and also thanked the Azerbaijani
side for support and assistance. “You have always met us halfway, have
always supported us. We will do the same for the fraternal nation of
Azerbaijan.”

Emma GABRIELYAN
Read more at:

ARMENIE
New York Times : Une nouvelle étude confirme la date de Moïse de
Khorène pour la naissance de l’Arménie

Un article publié dans le New York Times cette semaine cite la
dernière analyse des génomes qui prouve la date de naissance de
l’Arménie revendiqué par un ancien historien arménien.

“Moïse de Khorène, un historien du cinquième siècle, a écrit que son
Arménie natale a été créé en 2492 avant Jésus-Christ, une date
généralement considérée comme légendaire bien qu’il prétendait avoir
voyagé à Babylone et consulté des documents anciens. Mais soit il a eu
de la chance ou il a eu vraiment accès à des données utiles, car une
nouvelle analyse des génomes suggère que cette date est tout à fait
plausible, ” a écrit Nocholas Wade dans le New York Times le 10 Mars.

Selon l’article, les généticiens ont scanné les génomes de 173
Arméniens d’Arménie et du Liban et les ont comparés avec ceux de 78
autres populations du monde entier.

“Ils ont constaté que les Arméniens sont un mélange de populations
anciennes dont les descendants vivent aujourd’hui en Sardaigne, en
Asie centrale et dans plusieurs autres régions. Ce mélange s’est
produit de 3000 à 2000 avant JC ont calculé les généticiens ce qui
coïncide avec la date proposée par Moïse de Khorène pour la fondation
de l’Arménie >> dit l’article.

“Cette étude de l’ADN confirme dans ses grandes lignes une grande
partie de ce que nous savons à propos de l’histoire arménienne,”
affirme Hovann Simonian, un historien de l’Arménie affilié à
l’Université de Californie du Sud cité par le New York Times.

“Vers la fin de l’Age du Bronze, lorsque le mélange était en cours, il
y avait un mouvement considérable des peuples provoqués par
l’accroissement du commerce, la guerre et la croissance de la
population. Après 1200 avant JC, les civilisations de l’ge de bronze
de la Méditerranée orientale se sont soudainement effondrées, un
événement qui semble avoir provoqué l’isolement des Arméniens par les
autres populations. Aucun mélange significatif avec d’autres peuples
après cette date ne peut être détecté dans les génomes des Arméniens
disent les généticiens” selon le New York Times.

“L’isolement a probablement été soutenue par les nombreux aspects
caractéristiques de la culture arménienne. les Arméniens ont une
langue et un alphabet distinctif, et l’Eglise apostolique arménienne a
été la première branche du christianisme à s’établir en tant que
religion d’Etat, en l’an 301, avant l’empire romain en l’an 380”
ajoute l’article qui précise que “les chercheurs voient également un
signal de divergence génétique qui s’est développé il y a environ 500
ans entre les Arméniens occidentaux et orientaux. La date correspond à
l’apparition de guerres entre les dynasties ottomans et safavides et
la division de la population arménienne entre les empires turcs et
persans”.

“L’équipe de généticiens, dirigée par Marc Haber et Chris Tyler-Smith
de l’Institut Sanger, près de Cambridge en Angleterre, voir les
populations isolées comme celle des Arméniens comme un moyen de
reconstruire l’histoire de la population”.

“Les Arméniens ont 29 pour cent de leur ascendance ADN avec Otzi, un
homme dont la momie de 5300 ans émergé en 1991 d’un glacier alpin. Les
autres populations génétiquement isolées du Proche-Orient, comme les
Chypriotes, les Juifs sépharades et les chrétiens libanais, ont aussi
beaucoup d’ascendance avec l’Homme de Glace alors que d’autres Proche
Orientaux, comme les Turcs, les Syriens et les Palestiniens , beaucoup
moins. Cela indique que les Arméniens et les autres populations
isolées sont plus proches que les habitants actuels du Proche-Orient
des agriculteurs néolithiques qui ont apporté l’agriculture en Europe
il y a environ 8000 ans”.

dimanche 15 mars 2015,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

Armenian composers on ‘Don’t deny’ and Genealogy supergroup

12:02 * 15.03.15

The song is good and the video is of high quality, composer Hayko told
Tert.am as he spoke of the song by the Genealogy Genealogy supergroup,
who represent Armenia at the the Eurovision Song Contest 2015.

The music is in conformity with international standards.

“It is even more like a musical and I like it very much,” he said.

The Genealogy supergroup members are:

Essaï Altounian – France – representing Europe’s Armenians

Inga Arshakyan – Armenia

Tamar Kaprelian – USA, representing Armenians from the Americas

Mary-Jean O’Doherty Basmadjian – Australia, representing Oceania

Vahe Tilbian – Ethiopia, representing Africa’s Armenians

Stephanie Topalian – Japan, representing Armenians from Asia

Gor Sujyan, lead vocals, Dorians rock band, who represented Armenia at
the Eurovision Song Contest 2013, likes the song, especially the idea
of unification of Armenians from all the parts of the world.

Composer Ara Gevorgyan likes the idea of selecting Armenian
participants from different continents.

“I personally said that Eurovision should be used to defend our
national interests. It is a good means for us, and we should not seek
the first or second place because we all know Eurovision is a
brilliant – but unpredictable and unfair – show.”

Singer Zaruhi Babayan likes the idea and colors as well.

“I think the song is not for one day. It will live for long.”

Dallas Morning News- Texas
March 13 2015

Q&A with author who’ll speak at SMU on Armenian genocide

By DIANNE SOLÍS [email protected]
Staff Writer

Published: 13 March 2015 11:10 PM
Updated: 13 March 2015 11:10 PM

When Peter Balakian was a small boy, his grandmother filled him with
stories seeped in magical realism, with mysterious yet baffling lines.

“A long time ago there was and there wasn’t,” she’d say.

Perhaps his tender grandmother was just nurturing a fellow poet and
soon-to-be historian of one of the great epic traumas opening the 20th
century. She was a survivor of the Armenian genocide 100 years ago in
April 1915.

Her grandson would eventually become her scribe, portraying her in his
award-winning memoir, Black Dog of Fate.

Balakian, now a Colgate University professor, has made the genocide a
key part of his life’s work as an award-winning writer, poet and
genocide expert. He will talk about his work at Southern Methodist
University’s Dallas Hall at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at an event sponsored
by St. Sarkis Church of Carrollton and SMU’s Embrey Human Rights
Program.

He recently discussed his writing and more with The Dallas Morning News.

Tell us about your grandmother, Nafina Aroosian, and her role in
shaping you as a writer and how you unraveled her story.

My grandmother had a penchant for telling folk tales in dreams. …
They were wild tales that were almost magical realism tales. … The
richness of her imagination was very important to my own imagination.
… It turned out to be very important to me as a writer and a thinker
of history, and the particular history of the Armenian genocide and
how it came down to me.

Only recently, we have dug up out of the family papers, some of her
writing. She was writing poems. … They are private poems and they
are poems in which she is trying to deal with the losses of her life.
Everyone in her family was murdered in the first week of April 1915,
except for one half-brother, who was living in New Jersey at the time.

Tell us about Raphael Lemkin, the Holocaust survivor from Poland. Why
is he important?

It was Lemkin who became the father of the U.N. genocide convention of
1948. That is the charter legal document that outlawed genocide as a
crime. It was Lemkin who coined the phrase “Armenian genocide” in the
1940s. … As a graduate student he challenged his professor, “How can
it be if one man kills another he is charged with murder, but if a
nation-state kills more than a million people they are allowed to do
it without any consequences?” and this moment ended up changing his
career path.

Among Lemkin’s many layers of his understanding of genocide as a crime
is the concept that the destruction of culture is also a vitally
important aspect of the genocidal episode. At the core of group
identity is also culture and the cultural institutions that codify
group identity.

How many died and what did that represent as a percentage of the
Armenian population?

The official number of dead in the Holocaust, according to the U.S.
Holocaust Museum is 5.1 million. In the Armenian case, Lemkin put the
death toll at 1.2 million. The epicenter of killing was in 1915 and
1916. About two-thirds of the Armenian population perished.

Do you see links between the massacre of the Armenian Christians a
century ago and the ISIS massacre in Syria?

I hesitate to make any easy analogies. … The context in the Ottoman
Empire in 1915 is not the same for the explosions going on in the
Middle East right now.

But the role of religious ideology in the Turkish Armenian case was
less important for the ruling political elite. … They were like the
Nazis and didn’t care about religion. They did know how to manipulate
the power of religion to motivate other segments of their population
to do killing.

The ISIS people are extreme fundamentalists who are now militarized.
That is a long way from the practice of 99 percent of Muslims. The
last two genocides on record were committed by Christians: the Serbs
in Srebrenica in 1994, and the Hutus, who are primarily Catholic and
Christian, against the Tutsis in 1994 in Rwanda. … Any religious value
system is capable of being mobilized by extreme regimes who are hell
bent on mass killings.

With so many spasms of violence now, is the world growing desensitized?

It can be desensitizing, overwhelming, numbing, but it has also
initiated more human rights activism, more human rights culture, more
human rights priorities even in the seats of the State Department and
government in our own country than ever before.

You have a new book coming out, Vise and Shadow, and your lyric prose
is in full bloom. Do you use poetry to sweeten the ingestion of
atrocity?

The poem is a very real confrontation with the harshness of these
histories and their legacies. Some of my poems deal with traumatic
memory and inherited traumatic memory and they are interested in
reclaiming the more psychological issues of historical violence as
they are transmitted across generations. I don’t think of my poems as
very sweet, in any way, but I think of them as rich complex language
that can engage readers in the complexity of history in ways that no
other forms of writing can.

Le Vif/L’Express
13 Mars 2015

Un nouveau génocide, un siècle après 1915 ?

Par Gérald Papy

La destruction du patrimoine assyrien témoigne de la volonté des
terroristes de l’Etat islamique d’éradiquer toute présence chrétienne
d’Irak. Et dans le même temps, le martyre des chrétiens de Syrie
continue. Entreprise génocidaire ?

Une ampleur sans précédent ? Enlèvement à grande échelle

‘ Cette tragédie est loin d’être seulement un enjeu culturel : c’est
un enjeu de sécurité majeur. On voit bien comment les terroristes
utilisent la destruction du patrimoine dans une stratégie de terreur,
pour déstabiliser et manipuler les populations, et assurer leur
domination. ‘ En tentant, dès la fin du mois de février, d’alerter la
communauté internationale, Irina Bokova, la directrice générale de
l’Unesco (l’Organisation des Nations unies pour l’éducation, la
science et la culture) a pris la mesure de la gravité des destructions
des joyaux de la civilisation assyrienne par le groupe terroriste Etat
islamique. ‘ A coups de hache, de masse et de marteau piqueur ‘, les
islamistes ont détruit des pièces d’une valeur inestimable du Musée de
Mossoul, deuxième ville d’Irak conquise en juin 2014, avant de s’en
prendre, quelques jours plus tard, au patrimoine à ciel ouvert de
Nimroud, capitale pendant 150 ans de l’empire assyrien qui prospéra du
IXe au VIIe siècle avant Jésus-Christ. La cité de Khorsabad, qui lui
succéda, aurait, elle aussi, subi les foudres des fous de dieu.

Les terroristes de Daech avaient déjà procédé, sur les territoires
qu’ils contrôlent en Irak et en Syrie, à une épuration
confessionnelle, plaçant les chrétiens et les autres minorités
religieuses devant un faux choix : se convertir à l’islam ; s’ils n’y
consentaient pas, survivre comme des citoyens de seconde zone, ou
fuir. L’éradication des vestiges de la civilisation chrétienne
assyrienne s’inscrit dans la même ligne. Il est vraisemblable que les
affidés d’Abou Bakr al-Baghdadi soient résolus à effacer toute trace
de la période pré-islamique de la région. Ils ne sont pas les premiers
djihadistes à perpétrer semblable crime de guerre, passible de la Cour
pénale internationale. En mars 2001, les talibans afghans avaient
réduit en ruines les Bouddhas de Bmyn ; en 2012, les djihadistes du
groupe Ansar Dine avaient profité de leur éphémère occupation du nord
du Mali pour raser les mausolées aux saints musulmans de Tombouctou.
Le saccage du patrimoine assyrien apparaît cependant inédit par son
ampleur.

Joseph Yacoub, professeur honoraire de l’Université catholique de
Lyon, voit dans ces destructions patrimoniales ‘ une volonté
d’éradiquer la mémoire des communautés chrétiennes, physiquement et
culturellement ‘. Ethnocide et génocide se conjugueraient pour
éliminer les dernières présences chrétiennes en Mésopotamie. ‘ On
assiste au même processus qu’en 1915 lors du génocide arménien et
assyro-chaldéen par les troupes du gouvernement Jeunes-Turcs ‘,
souligne le spécialiste (lire page 64). L’intervention, même limitée,
de la communauté internationale, qui a constitué une coalition pour
bombarder les positions de l’Etat islamique depuis août 2014, et
l’élan de solidarité de la diaspora créeraient un contexte pourtant
sensiblement différent. Sursaut salutaire ? La réaction des puissances
occidentales concernées aux atteintes au patrimoine antique apparaît
pour le moins timide. Raison pour laquelle les associations
assyriennes de Belgique ont sollicité le soutien de l’Union européenne
lors d’une manifestation le 9 mars à Bruxelles. Parmi les
revendications, un appui à la création, dans la plaine de Ninive,
d’une région autonome chrétienne et yézidie au sein d’un Etat fédéral
irakien et un soutien militaire. ‘ Plutôt que l’envoi de troupes
militaires étrangères dont on se souvient de l’échec dans un passé
récent, pourquoi ne pas aider à la formation et à l’armement de
groupes armés chrétiens ? Beaucoup de jeunes d’Irak et de la diaspora
sont prêts à combattre au sein des Unités de protection de la plaine
de Ninive existantes ‘, explique Naher Arslan, un des organisateurs.

S’il le fallait encore, les derniers développements de la situation
des chrétiens en Syrie cette fois témoignent de l’urgence d’une aide.
Les forces de l’Union démocratique kurde (PYD, alliée du Parti des
travailleurs du Kurdistan de Turquie, PKK) et les groupes armés
assyriens ont été impuissants à contrecarrer la dernière offensive de
l’Etat islamique qui a permis la conquête des villages chrétiens de la
rive droite du Khabour, fleuve du nord-est syrien, et quelques-uns de
la rive gauche. Quelque 250 chrétiens assyriens ont été enlevés,
environ 5 000 ont fui vers les localités refuges de Hassaké et de
Qamishli. Le sort de la plupart des otages restait incertain en milieu
de semaine alors qu’une vingtaine ont été libérés, grce à
l’intervention de dirigeants de tribus sunnites locales et
vraisemblablement contre rançon ; ce qui tendrait tout de même à
prouver que la possibilité de négocier avec les islamistes,
fussent-ils les plus radicaux, existe.

Ironie de l’Histoire, insiste Joseph Yacoub, les chrétiens du Khabour
sont les enfants des déportés des massacres de 1933 en Irak, eux-mêmes
rescapés du génocide de 1915 en Turquie sous l’empire ottoman et
réfugiés dans un premier temps en Iran…

TURKISH DEPUTY OF BUNDESTAG SAYS TURKEY’S EU ACCESSION IS NO LONGER CURRENT

14:03, 13 March, 2015

YEREVAN, 13 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. Turkey’s accession to the European
Union is currently not included in the European Union’s agenda. This
is what Co-Chairman of the Alliance ’90/The Greens Party Cem Ozdemir
said in an interview with “Armenpress”. “Unfortunately, both sides have
become very detached from each other. My political party was in favor
of providing Turkey with the opportunity to join the European Union
and be treated equally, regardless of whether Turkey would fulfill the
Copenhagen criteria or not. We believe religion can’t be a criterion
for accession,” the Turkish deputy of the German parliament said.

Based on the political criteria for accession to the European Union,
the aspirant country is required to ensure stability of democracy,
rule of law, as well as the protection of human rights and minorities.

Cem Ozdemir also noted that Turkey also has to solve problems with
freedom of speech prior to EU accession. “Citizens of Turkey have to
be able to refer to the genocide as “genocide”. The right to freedom
of speech implies diversity of opinion. It’s clear that Hrant Dink
was murdered for his views and opinions and because he wanted to
change Turkey’s attitude towards Armenia,” he said, adding that the
opening of the border with Armenia is in Turkey’s interest because
“it will be easier to negotiate with an open border, including over
the Nagorno-Karabakh issue”.

IL COMUNE RICORDA IL GENOCIDIO DEL POPOLO ARMENO CON MOSTRE E CONCERTI

Torino Today, Italia
13 marzo 2015

Il calendario di eventi è ricco: si comincera il 21 marzo con
l’inaugurazione di due esposizioni fotografiche nei locali della
Regione Piemonte, in piazza Castello

Alexia Penna

Eventi in ricordo del genocidio del popolo armeno

A cento anni dal genocidio del popolo armeno, avvenuto tra il 1915
e il 1917, Torino ospita per tutto il 2015 eventi dedicati alla sua
memoria. Appuntamenti che fanno parte del progetto “Armenia oggi,
tra passato e futuro”, ideato dall’Associazione AS. SO. L’Armenia ha
sviluppato nei secoli un’identita peculiare: unico lembo cristiano
tra mondi musulmani, ha dato vita ad una cultura, un’architettura e
una musica particolari in cui Oriente e Occidente si fondono.

“Il fatto che la memoria torni ad essere viva – ha dichiarato Silvio
Magliano, vice presidente vicario del Consiglio Comunale Р̬ un fatto
positivo e deve servire da mònito anche per il nostro paese, in un
momento in cui i problemi di identita non mancano”. E a proposito
di eventi si comincia il 21 marzo con l’inaugurazione di due mostre
fotografiche, “Armin Wegber e gli Armeni in Anatolia 1915” e “Gli
armeni e l’Armenia di Garen Kokciyan” esposte nei locali del palazzo
della Regione Piemonte, in piazza Castello. Fino al 6 aprile, oltre
alle mostre, sono previsti anche incontri su temi specifici quali
“Il ruolo delle donne nel genocidio armeno”.

Ma a raccontare l’Armenia saranno anche la musica, i film e la
letteratura. Il 7 maggio al Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi è in programma
un grande concerto dedicato alla musica tradizionale armena, con le
contaminazioni persiane, azere, ebraiche, turche e arabe. Si proseguira
poi con una rassegna cinematografica e una letteraria: un’occasione
per tutti i cittadini di esplorare l’affascinante cultura armena che
ha saputo, nonostante il suo dramma, restare viva coinvolgendo popoli
e mondi diversi nel corso dei secoli.

TURKEY MUST FACE WITH ITS OWN HISTORY: TURKISH MP OF BUNDESTAG

12:28, 13 March, 2015

YEREVAN, 13 MARCH, ARMENPRESS: On the initiative of “Alliance 90/The
Greens” party of Federal Republic of Germany, a discussion will be
held, which is dedicated to 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
in the Bundestag. The results of discussion will be enclosed in the
new resolution. In the framework of preparation of the discussion,
the delegation of Green Party headed by Co-chairman Cem Ozdemir is
in Armenia. “Armenpress” represents an exclusive interview with Mr.

Ozdemir concerning the international recognition of the Armenian
Genocide.

– Mr. Ozdemir, within the framework of the visit, You have been in
the Memorial of Armenian Genocide and paid a tribute to the victims
of Armenian Genocide. What were Your impressions when You returned
from the Memorial of Armenian Genocide?

– There are so many sources that prove that we, the Germans,
unfortunately have been involved in the Genocide as an ally of
Ottoman Empire in that time. I think that Germany should obviously
refer to the Armenian Genocide issue. As a friend of two countries,
we should help to open the Armenian-Turkish border. As a friend of
both countries, we should exert effort, so that the Armenian-Turkish
relations become like the French-German or Polish-German relations.

Surely, one of the preconditions to achieve it is that the each
country must face the dark pages of its history, and this is also
true for Turkey.

– As a German politician, who has Turkish roots, in Your opinion,
what steps should be taken by the government of Turkey in order to
assume the full responsibility for the implementation of the Armenian
Genocide?

– In our delegation, besides me there is another MP, who has Turkish
roots too. Our visit shows that the Turks who live in Germany,
enjoying the freedom of Germany, they see that Germany has chosen
different way to deal with its history. It was not an easy process,
but Germany hasn’t weakened from that. On the contrary, Germany’s
strength is that it was able to resolve its dark pages of history.

Noting all this, I would like that Turkey recognizes and admits,
that as a result of the Armenian Genocide it has lost a lot of things.

When I was in Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, I was impressed by
seeing the photos of intellectuals, who had been brought to the camps
and killed there. Those people in that time was the intellectuals of
Istanbul. Komitas was not only a composer and musician for Armenia,
but also for the Ottoman Empire. Therefore, it was the loss of the
Ottoman Empire. Therefore, it was also the loss of the Ottoman Empire.

As Hrant Dink had said: “If Armenian were still alive, twenty cities
of Van would become Paris.” I think that this issue must be discussed
in the books and in Turkish social public sphere and I am sure that
it will be useful. Opening border with Armenia is another step forward.

The opening borders stems from interests of two countries.

We have also discussed this issue with President Serzh Sargasyan.

Unfortunately, there are so many missed opportunities. It stems also
from interests of Turkey, due to the opened borders, the intervention
of third countries will be weakened. If Turkey does not want to see
Russian soldiers on the border, the opening border is one of the steps
to achieve success and establish normal relations with Armenia. I
hope that one day, if the border is opened, it will be called “Hrant
Dink border”.

– I know that your party in the Bundestag raised the issue regarding
the launch of commemoration ceremonies of Armenian Genocide. What
events are planned in the German Parliament devoted to 100th
anniversary of Armenian Genocide?

– On April 24, in Bundestag, we will have a debate on the Armenian
Genocide, with participation of all parliamentary factions. I will
speak on behalf of the Green Party, after which all the results
will be transferred to the Foreign Relations Committee, and then
a unified resolution will be drafted. Therefore German Bundestag,
besides government, has an important message. This document will be
a continuation of the resolution, which is adopted on 2005. We will
talk frankly about the events, which took place in the end of 1915
and we will call “Genocide”, as international community calls.

– What is Your attitude regarding that Turkish government has decided
to mark the anniversary of Battle of Gallipoli on April 24.

– I think that it was another missed opportunity. If Turkey opens the
border with Armenia, It would be a great step for it. I remember from
my childhood years that the triumph of the battle of Canakkale has
never celebrated on April 24. So, why is it unexpectedly celebrated
on that day this year? This is very strange and causes inappropriate
ambiguities.

There are some issues that need to highlight. The example of Torossian
shows that the Armenians have fought on the Ottoman Empire’s side,
which shows that the claims are true and perpetrators of Genocide
needed to be persuaded that Armenians do not betray the Ottoman
Empire. The Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were good citizens,
and some of them have served in the army of the Ottoman Empire and
sacrificed their lives for the Ottoman Empire. I would like to see,
that about those events the Turkish students knew from Turkish books.

– Summing up, what is Your call taking into account the solution of
problems in the 21st century?

– I think that the twenty-first century should not be a century of
closed borders, a century of the solving problems by military way. One
of the greatest achievements of the European Union is that we are
negotiating. Those negotiations last on nights, but eventually we find
common points. It is not always easy, but we find solutions. This is
much better than war, which during last century led to the I and II
world war. Today’s France and Germany have overcome it all, and I want
to see the same here. I’m sure, that it is only the matter of time.

Interviewed by Syune Barseghyan, Araks Kasyan

NUMBER OF FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED RECENTLY IN ARMENIA – EXPERT

YEREVAN, March 13. /ARKA/. The number of fast food restaurants has
significantly grown recently in Armenia, Melita Hakobyan, head of
the National Association of Consumers, said at a news conference on
Friday ahead of March 15, the World Consumer Rights Day.

>

She stressed that one person in the world uses fast food restaurants’
services every day.

Hakobyan said referring to specialists’ opinion that there are two
kinds of fast food – dangerous and very dangerous.

she said.

The World Consumer Rights Day was market for the first time in 1962,
when President John F Kennedy gave an address to the US congress in
which he formally addressed the issue of consumer rights.

He was the first world leader to do so, and the consumer movement
now marks 15 March every year as a means of raising global awareness
about consumer rights. —0——-

ARMENIA: TOXIC DISPUTE AT FAILED PLANT

Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #770
March 13 2015

Workers sacked en masse amid continued talk of saving the debt-ridden
factory.

by Ani Petrosyan

Any remaining hope of reviving what was once Armenia’s most
prestigious industrial asset faded in January when most of the staff
were fired. To add insult to injury, months of back wages owed to
them remained unpaid, and they responded with demonstrations.

Based in the capital Yerevan, the Nairit plant once supplied synthetic
rubber and other chemical products to the giant Soviet economy,
but it closed in 1989 because of pollution concerns. After Armenia
became independent in 1991, the plant reopened, and in 2006 it was
privatised. However, it produced little more than ever-growing debt.

Last year, Russian energy firm Rosneft expressed interest in buying the
plant . But that interest has waned, and a deal no longer seems likely.

In January, Nairit’s management sacked all 2,200 staff, hiring back
about 490 of them to keep the plant mothballed. All workers received a
final paypacket in February, covering one month’s wages, but this was
hardly any consolation as they were still owed 18 months in back pay.

This debt covers a period of about two-and-a-half years in which
wages were paid sporadically but mostly not at all.

Company spokesperson Anush Harutyunyan told IWPR that the 487 staff
members who were being kept on would receive their wages on a regular
basis, but she was unable to say when everyone would get the money
they were owed.

The redundant staff have made their feelings known at protests outside
the government building and the presidential residence in Yerevan.

They want a clear schedule of wage payments set out before March 16,
otherwise there will be more trouble, including hunger strikes.

Tigran Minasyan is the only breadwinner in his household, and faces
extreme hardship since he has only been paid one monthly wage of 120
drams over the course of many months. He came alone to the protest
as he said none of his relatives could afford the bus fare.

“My daughter is a student but she’s dropped out of university because
we couldn’t pay her fees,” he said. “In his election campaign, the
president said we were heading towards a ‘Secure Armenia’. Is this it,
then? I wish they could spend a couple of hours in our position.”

The government insists that it is no longer directly responsible for
the plant or its problems.

In December, Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan told workers that they
had a right to demand their wages – but they should direct those
demands to their managers, not to the government.

In 2006, the Armenian government sold the factory to a consortium
called Rhinoville Property Limited that included Polish, United
States and Russian companies, retaining a ten per cent stake. To raise
enough funds to pay the government, the firm deposited its shares as
security for a loan with the Inter-State Bank, an institution of the
Commonwealth of Independent States. The factory’s debts continued
mounting until they exceeded the value of the shares, so control
reverted to the bank.

Former prime minister Hrant Baghratyan, now a parliamentarian with
the opposition Armenian National Congress, said the debt accrued over
this period was as inexplicable as it was crippling.

He sits on a parliamentary subcommittee tasked with “resolving
the basic problem at Nairit – the history of how an immense, 400
million dollar debt built up. In the difficult years between 1993
and 1995, Nairit operated without debt. So the history of this debt
is incomprehensible.”

An explosion at the factory in 2009 brought operations to a halt.

It later transpired that things were more complicated, as revealed
in an investigation conducted by journalists from Hetq Online. The
consortium had paid the Armenian government the asking price of 39
million US dollars for a 90 per cent stake in Nairit. But the loan
it took from CIS Inter-State Bank was 70 million dollars. Where did
the rest go?

In January 2014, the Inter-State Bank won a court case awarding it
107 million dollars to be paid by Rhinoville, covering the 70 million
dollar loan sum plus interest and penalty payments. The Armenian
government has agreed to pay the sum.

But despite assuming this obligation, the government does not consider
itself responsible for the 15 million dollars that Nairit staff are
still owed.

On March 13, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Yervan Zakharian
met workers at Nairit and talked about the options for repaying the
debt. He said there were two views under discussion – selling off
some of Nairit’s assets, and negotiations with the Inter-State Bank

Artsvik Minasyan from the opposition Dashnaktsutyun party sits on
the parliamentary subcommittee on Nairit, and has strong views on
the subject.

He argues that selling off parts of the plant in the hope of saving
the whole makes no sense, since that will make investors less keen
to buy it.

“I am sure that if it is to be relaunched, the staff will agree to
having their wages delayed as long as they have jobs,” he said. “So
it’s really important that the two issues are resolved in tandem –
a relaunch and the repayment of what’s owed to the staff.”

In February, the World Bank agreed to hire consultants to assess the
Nairit plant, the state of its equipment, its environmental impact,
and its financial viability. Once this is submitted, the Armenian
government will be able to decide whether it has a future.

The bank’s Yerevan director Laura Bailey told IWPR that the study was
to have started in February but it took more time than anticipated
to find the right experts to do it.

Ani Petrosyan is a freelance journalist in Armenia.