Author: Kanayan Tamar

CHARLIE HEBDO
Après la stupeur, l’émotion, par François Rochebloine

“Ce mercredi 7 janvier restera inscrit dans notre mémoire nationale
comme une journée noire. Cet attentat aussi odieux que lche, a plongé
la France dans l’effroi.

Je tiens à saluer la mémoire de toutes les victimes de ce massacre,
qu’elles soient journalistes, policiers ou tout simplement qu’elles
aient eu le malheur de croiser les terroristes.

Si depuis longtemps, nous sommes confrontés à la folie meurtrière du
terrorisme aveugle, il nous faut admettre que nous vivons aujourd’hui
dans un climat de guerre larvée, et pas seulement parce que plusieurs
régions du monde constituent des foyers de guerre et d’instabilité,
autant de menaces pour une propagation des violences.

Notre démocratie est ainsi durement mise à l’épreuve par cet acte
criminel inqualifiable contre la liberté de la presse, les libertés
d’opinion et d’expression, ces libertés fondamentales sans lesquelles
il ne saurait y avoir de démocratie.

En ces circonstances, il est impératif de ne pas céder à la psychose.
Il nous faut par contre exercer une vigilance collective renforcée si
nous voulons préserver notre sécurité, face au danger que représente
des éléments terroristes aussi incontrôlables.

Enfin, sans remettre en cause le caractère sacré de nos libertés
publiques, ne doit-on pas malgré tout admettre que dans leur exercice,
toute liberté doit trouver ses limites, ne serait-ce que celles
imposées par le principe de responsabilité. N’y a t-il pas des limites
au “Rire à tout” ?

vendredi 9 janvier 2015,
Ara (c)armenews.com

Turkish Press
Jan 9 2015

Turkey’s FM backs politician over ‘Armenian genocide’ court hearing

Friday, January 9, 2015

Cavusoglu hopes Dogu Perincek will attend European Court of Human
Rights appeal hearing on Jan. 28 over controversial remarks about 1915
incidents.

ANKARA – Turkey’s Foreign Minister has backed the leader of a small
Turkish political party accused by the Swiss authorities of racial
discrimination over remarks made about the “Armenian genocide” issue
in 2007.

Dogu Perincek, chairman of the nationalist Workers’ Party, is due to
attend a European Court of Human Rights appeal hearing on Jan. 28 to
defend Turkey’s position on the claims of a genocide perpetrated
against Armenians in 1915.

Speaking to reporters in Ankara on Friday, Foreign Minister Mevlut
Cavusoglu said Turkey would defend its thesis in the best way
possible.

“I hope he [Perincek] will be able to attend the appeal hearing,”
Cavusoglu said.

However, Perincek is currently prevented from leaving Turkey after
being jailed in connection with the “Ergenekon” coup plot case.

“The process is in the [Turkish] Supreme Court’s hands now,” Cavusoglu added.

Perincek spoke at a conference in Switzerland in 2007 and denied that
the incidents of 1915 involving Armenians constituted genocide. The
Swiss authorities found him guilty of racial discrimination.

After the Swiss court’s decision, Perincek appealed to the European
Court of Human Rights in 2008 in Strasbourg, arguing for “freedom of
expression.”

In December 2013, the court ruled that Perincek should not have been
found guilty of racial discrimination when he called the idea of an
Armenian genocide an “international lie.”

Prominent actor George Clooney’s wife, Amal Ramzi Clooney, is expected
to represent Armenia at the Jan. 28 hearing.

On a related issue, when asked about whether Turkey’s Athens embassy
is trying to prevent an expected protest today over the Armenia
controversy by Turks in Greece, Cavusoglu said Turkish citizens had
the democratic right to protest, therefore there would be no effort to
prevent it.

“This also happened once again in France,” Cavusoglu said. “Nobody has
the right prevent these kinds of protests, we will support it.”

Turks living in Athens are expected to hold a protest on Friday at
2.p.m. local time.

– Minister hails Ambassadors’ Conference

Cavusoglu also talked about the 7th Annual Ambassadors’ Conference in
Ankara, saying the meeting was “very successful in terms of both
quantity and quality.”

“This year’s conference hosted the biggest number of foreign guests in
its history,” Cavusoglu said.

Foreign ministers of the Netherlands, Argentina and Nigeria as well as
the secretary-general of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, the
director-general of UNESCO Irina Bokova and the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees Antonio Guterres attended.

The next conference in 2016 will be held in Turkey’s Eskisehir province.

Armenians have conducted a prevention operation killing 11 Azeris
soldiers, the Armenian army count 2 dead

January 6, 2015 By administrator Leave a Comment

Information related to the attacks of that night on the front line in
Karabakh become clearer. The official news agency APA Azeri just
clarify that 8 Azeri soldiers died in the armed confrontations between
soldiers Armenians and Azeris.Another soldier Azeri, Isa Almazov have
also died, bringing to nine the number of Azerbaijanis killed in the
fighting last night. But Azeri media evoke the number of 11-including
two Azeri military officiers- killed in that one day.

The Ministry of Defence says Karabakh Armenian forces carried out an
incursion prevention towards the Azeri positions in Aghdam and Tartar.
During firefights, 8 Azeris soldiers were killed. Armenians have 2
dead.

Krikor Amirzayan

Wife of Armenia’s Control Service Head Gets $200K in Loans Without Any
Declared Income

Grisha Balasanyan
11:41, January 8, 2015

How does one obtain over US$200,000 in loans without having any
official income to show?

Well, in Armenia, is doesn’t hurt to be married to Sargis Grigoryan,
who heads the Control Service of Armenia’s Prime Minister.

Despite the fact that Armineh Kocharyan, Grigoryan’s wife, never
worked in 2013 and declared no financial revenues, she was able to
receive three substantial bank loans – US$50,000, US$30,000 and 41
million AMD (US$86,320).

Naturally, the question arises as to how she convinced the banks to
advance her credit given her lack of declared revenue. Or, perhaps,
she’s just concealed her financial assets from public scrutiny and the
banks know this to be the case.

So much for the financial transparency heralded by the government when
President Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree to form a Commission on
Ethics of High-Level Officials on January 9, 2012. At the time,
Sargsyan proclaimed that the Commission’s mission would be to increase
social trust toward public institutions in the country, create a
system of good governance, as well as make high-level officials’
activities more transparent and public.

Needless to say, the Commission has yet to reveal anything about top
officials that would engender such public trust. To be fair, according
to the law the Commission’s powers are somewhat restricted and, even
if it wanted to, the body doesn’t have the teeth to carry out its
stated mission.

In countries where they are serious about following the money trails
of top government officials, the loans obtained by Armineh Kocharyan
would have raised a few red flags; but not in Armenia.

Whereas banks require village farmers seeking much smaller loans to
put up substantial collateral (houses, property, etc.) and have 3-5
individuals sign as loan guarantors, Kocharyan received those loans in
2013 and another 40 million AMD ($84,000) in 2012, showing no
financial revenues.

Now, let’s get back to her husband Sargis Grigoryan, who’s headed the
Control Service since 2003, and his financial dealings.

In 2010, he declared 250,000 Euros and 4 million AMD in cash assets.
By the end of2011, those figures had changed to 100,000 Euros and 6
million AMD. By the way, his only declared income that year was 4.420
million AMD in salary.

Where Grigoryan obtained the 250,000 Euros in the first place and what
happened to the 150,000 Euros in the course of one year is anyone’s
guess.

Evidently, Armenia’s Ethics Committee isn’t losing any sleep over the matter.

$200k-in-loans-without-any-declared-income.html/

British expert: EU will hardly relax strategy on Russia

19:59, 07.01.2015

There are not many reasons to believe that the EU strategy on Russia
will show signs of gradual relaxation in the immediate future, Gunter
Walzenbach, senior lecturer at the University of the West of England,
said.

As long as the threat to the territorial integrity of Ukraine is real
and present the EU sanction regime will continue both in terms of
target selection and comprehensiveness, he said responding to an
e-mail inquiry by Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Asked whether the sanction regime imposed by the EU had an impact on
Russia’s foreign policy, Walzenbach said it is always difficult to
assess the impact of sanctions on any particular target country.

“Historically we know that sanctions sometimes work and sometimes they
do not. From my point of view the policy makers in Brussels indeed
have reasons to be satisfied with the relative success of their
approach. The official EU account sees the range of restrictive
measures that have been introduced as part of an attempt to change
Russia’s policy vis-a-vis Ukraine. However, these come with parallel
efforts to keep communication lines open and that try to achieve a
diplomatic solution through peaceful negotiation, ” the political
analyst said.

Moreover, the EU has at a very early stage excluded any military
intervention in the conflict in Eastern Ukraine.

“As a consequence, there seem to be not many other instruments left on
part of the Union to articulate its opposition to the course of action
chosen by Vladimir Putin in recent months”.

The Russian economy is clearly feeling the impact of sanctions further
augmented by pre-existing structural problems, the falling oil prices
and the retaliatory imposition of trade embargos especially for
agricultural products from European markets, he emphasized.

Armenia News – NEWS.am

Victims of New World Order Are Known

Naira Hayrumyan, Political Commentator
Comments – 08 January 2015, 18:27

The U.S. President Barack Obama threatens to veto bill on Keystone
pipeline between the United States and Canada. “If this bill passes
this Congress, the president wouldn’t sign it,” White House Press
Secretary Josh Earnest said.

Recently the great powers have tended to give up on the construction
of oil and gas pipelines. Russia has given up on South Stream despite
investments amounting to 5 billion dollars. Earlier China had refused
to build a pipeline to Russia, and Putin’s statement on laying out a
pipeline to Turkey via the Black Sea sounds like demagogy not
supported by anything. Yet earlier Europe had refused Nabucco.

“Unexpected” loss of interest in new pipelines confirms that oil and
gas are losing their geopolitical importance. An energy revolution is
going on in the world, and now it is already being felt. Discovery of
new sources of energy, creation of thermonuclear batteries, mass
production of electric cars has resulted in sudden change of the
policy of global powers. Geopolitics based on oil and gas is ending.

The United States is producing oil and gas, causing prices to drop.
Iran already is not trying to make new deals, directing its entire
potential at seeking for new sources, namely the maintenance and
development of the nuclear program. All these countries are interested
in blocking the way of its “competitor” Russian oil.

Apparently, this tendency determines the global politics, bringing
about serious consequences for both major and small states. Therefore,
prices of oil keep falling, “caliphates” emerge which are used by some
to get their share of Iraqi oil, Russia weakens and grows aggressive
and a lot of other processes are underway.

With its huge human and scientific potential Armenia can find its
place in the new global system if the consequences of the energy
revolution, its impact on the world’s map and our region are
estimated. Obviously, Russia will not have an honorable place on the
new energy map. The country which will have new energy technology and
will manage them will have advantage in the new setting.

All this does not seem real but sudden changes of the world are
already visible. Why is nobody surprised at the low prices of oil? It
seems funny that the United States and Arab states incur losses to
weaken Russia. Russia is part of the Western system and is fully
dependent on it. Hence, Russia is not a purpose but a victim. How many
victims will there be?

People pay tribute to Charlie Hebdo victims at French embassy in Armenia

15:55 * 08.01.15

Members of the newly created Facebook group “Condoling with the people
of France” are paying tribute to the victims of the terrorist act in
Paris.

“We condemn the terrorist act in France. If you wish to offer your
condolences to the people of France, we request that you visit the
French Embassy in Armenia on January 8and leave flowers and a pencil
at the enclosure thus paying tribute to the Charlie Hebdo victims,”
reads a message on the group’s Facebook page.

Glendale Memorial Hosts Armenia Christmas Service and Water Blessing

13:28, 08 Jan 2015

On Monday, January 5, Armenian Christmas was celebrated at Glendale
Memorial Hospital with the Blessing of Water ceremony conducted by
Western Prelate Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian who was assisted by
Rev. Fr. Boghos Tinkjian and the St. Mary’s Church pastors.

The service was held in the Main Lobby with the participation of
Glendale Memorial Hospital President Jack Ivie, Glendale Police Chief
Robert Castro, City Council member Paula Devine, City Commissioner
Seda Khojayan, City Manager Scott Ochoa, Mary Hovaguimian representing
Congressman Adam Schiff, Taline Mangioglu representing State Senator
Carol Liu, administrators, and staff, Asbarez reports.

President Jack Ivie welcomed the Prelate and clergy, thanking them for
their traditional Christmas visit, and greeted also the honored
guests, wishing a happy new year to all.

The Prelate conveyed his New Year and Christmas greetings and well
wishes to the Glendale Memorial Hospital family and guests. He
explained that the Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates the Birth and
Baptism of Christ on the same day and gave an overview of the Blessing
of Water ceremony and of the Holy Muron, which is used during the
ceremony from a dove-shaped vessel, symbolizing the descent of the
Holy Spirit during Christ’s Baptism. The Birth of our Lord is the
greatest gift bestowed to mankind, the manifestation of God’s infinite
love, said the Prelate, a gift which continues to give centuries later
and continues to transform hearts and souls with hope, love, and
goodwill. At the start of a new year, the Prelate urged all to resolve
to be thankful to God daily for His blessings of health and wellness,
for the love of family and friends, and for the successes we enjoy.
“May Christ be born again within our hearts and generate new life
within us so that we can live with goodness in His example, and spread
His love and mercy within our surroundings, and especially to the less
fortunate”. In conclusion, His Eminence commended the compassionate
care provided at the facility, prayed for the health of the patients,
and wished a blessed year for all filled with the priceless gifts of
health, love, peace, and joy.

The Blessing of the Home service was then conducted, during which
prayers were offered beseeching the Lord to protect and keep in peace
the facility and all within it. The Blessing of Water followed,
symbolizing the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River and His
Revelation as God. The service concluded with the Lord’s Prayer.
Guests were offered the blessed water and received prayer cards as
mementos. Afterward, the Prelate visited patient rooms to offer
prayers for healing. The Prelate also blessed a newborn baby and
conveyed his congratulations and well wishes to the parents.

LIBAN
Sa Sainteté Aram I rend visite aux personnes gées à Bourj Hammoud

Le 30 Décembre 2014 Sa Sainteté Aram Ier, accompagné par les membres
de la confrérie, a visité la maison pour les personnes gées à Bourj
Hammoud, sa dernière visite pastorale de 2014.

Les membres du conseil d’administration et la Direction ont accueilli
le Catholicos, qui les a remerciés pour leur prise en charge et
l’engagement envers les personnes gées.

S’adressant aux résidents, Sa Sainteté les a assurés de la continuité
des soins de la communauté. Il a dit que chaque membre de la
communauté est appelée à répondre à l’appel de Jésus à servir selon sa
capacité parce que “les plus grands sont ceux qui servent.”

Après avoir participé au programme culturel de poésie et hymnes et des
cantiques de Noël, Sa Sainteté Aram I a remercié les résidents et le
personnel pour leurs bons voeux et leur a donné sa bénédiction.

jeudi 8 janvier 2015,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

USA
Plus de 57 000 $ recueillis par les écoles arméniennes en Californie
pour leurs homologues syrienness

Lorsque le Comité exécutif du Fonds de secours Arméno- Syrien (SARF) a
fait appel aux écoles arméniennes en Californie pour aider leurs
frères et soeurs en Syrie, il n’a pas fallu longtemps pour que 11
d’entre elles commencent diverses activités de collecte de fonds dans
leurs écoles respectives.

Sous le slogan “Un petit cadeau de mon école à la vôtre,” ils ont
organisé divers événements de collecte de fonds, allant de ventes de
ptisseries et lave-autos à des marathons de danses et des marathons
de marche, amassant un total de 57,613.03 $.

Au-delà de son objectif financier, cette entreprise avait aussi une
fonction éducative car elle a enseigné aux étudiants l’importance de
donner à ceux qui sont moins chanceux qu’eux et comment nos efforts
peuvent aider à faire une différence dans la vie de nos frères et
soeurs arméniens à l’étranger. Beaucoup d’écoles ont indiqué que leurs
élèves étaient allés jusqu’à donner leur argent du déjeuner pour cette
noble cause.