Author: Kanayan Tamar

The Daily Star (Lebanon)
January 31, 2014 Friday

Newcomers Homenetmen banking on stubborn defense

Homenetmen are back in the top flight and will be tested from the
outset with matches against Riyadi at Manara and Champville in Deek
al-Mahdi when the Lebanese Basketball League kicks off Friday.

BEIRUT: Homenetmen are back in the top flight and will be tested from
the outset with matches against Riyadi at Manara and Champville in
Deek al-Mahdi when the Lebanese Basketball League kicks off Friday.

In May 2013, there were jubilant scenes in Homenetmen’s Mezher Stadium
in Antelias, as the team’s promotion to the top flight was finally
realized after a decadelong absence.

Much has been made of the fact that businessman and former player Guy
Manoukian will invest significantly in order to build a competitive
team. But Manoukian, who is also a famous musician, has already
orchestrated several signings for nominal fees. The team’s budget is
believed to be around $500,000, and yet their roster looks able to
match some of the heavyweight teams.

Homenetmen has also shrewdly appointed veteran coach Nenad Kerdzic,
who formerly managed Sagesse club. The Serbian is without a doubt a
successful tactician, and his role will be to relay his experience to
the players, with many of them making their first appearance in the
premier league.

After missing out on Mouttahed’s highly rated Bassel Bawji in the
offseason, the Armenian side added veteran Lebanese-American center
Joe Vogel, who despite being 40 years old, remains a quality player on
the court. They also signed newcomer Hayk Gyokchyan, who spent four
years in the American collegiate system, and is now looking to take
his skills to the next level.

Gyokchyan is lethal from the 3-point arc and will definitely bring a
repertoire of skills to the table. The other players who have joined
Homenetmen are mostly youngsters, such as Sevag Ketenjian and Marc
Korjian. Prolific scorer Rudy Farraj, as well as young point guard
Ralf Akl and Joe Ghattas remain from last season’s roster. They will
also be relying on foreigner combo guard Justin Gray and power forward
center Terrence Leather.

WHAT TO EXPECTHomenetmen are one of several teams in the top flight
who have built a competitive squad but a good start is imperative for
the newly promoted side. Although they will face a tough opening task
against Riyadi, two consecutive games against Champville and Bejjeh
offer a chance to collect points and pick up their momentum for the
rest of the campaign.

Even though it’s always difficult to predict how a freshly advanced
side will perform at an elite level, the Armenian squad showed
potential in the offseason through their organized offense and
stubborn defense, and Manoukian has made it clear that their target is
a top eight finish.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSESHomenetmen’s defense is the reason they are
the dark horses of the season. Having Kerdzic at the helm confirmed
they will be playing a defense-oriented game. Homenetmen’s players are
mostly tenacious youngsters who are ready to run and fight for every
ball and use the full court to pressure opponents.

As good as Homenetmen’s defense may be, their offense could struggle
at times during the season, especially since some players haven’t
featured in the top flight for a few seasons while the others are
completely new to the league.

It will be up to Gray to consistently deliver on the offensive side
along with Gyokchyan and Vogel, as the three players exhibit the key
strength of being able to shoot impressively from distance.

Gray will also be tasked with creating space for his teammates, and
not just carrying the scoring burden on his own shoulders. Throwing
the ball down to Leather in the post will open up lanes for the rest
of the team when opponents double-team Gray. It also frees up the
shooters on the outside for open shots.

EUSR for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia Philippe Lefort steps down

19:08 31.01.2014

The EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in
Georgia, Philippe Lefort, ends his mandate on 31 January 2014.

“I would like to thank Ambassador Lefort for his hard work, energy,
and dedication as co-Chair of the Geneva International Discussions and
as EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in
Georgia,” said High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs
and Security Policy/Vice-President of the Commission Catherine
Ashton.”Philippe has worked with patience and objectivity to help the
parties to the conflicts resolve their differences, and has earned
their trust. I look to them to place similar trust in his successor.”

The EU remains firmly committed to conflict resolution in the South
Caucasus, including through its co-chairmanship of the Geneva
International Discussion and its active support for the OSCE-led Minsk
Group peace process.

The EU will appoint a successor to Philippe Lefort in the coming weeks
to ensure continuity in this vital role.

Trend News Agency, Baku, Azerbaijan
February 1, 2014 Saturday

Deputy PM: Azerbaijan fully ready for war

by Elchin Mekhtiyev, Trend News Agency, Baku, Azerbaijan

Feb. 01–The provocations of Armenian armed forces on the contact line
of the troops and their consequences show the full readiness of
Azerbaijan for war, Deputy Chairman — Executive Secretary of the
ruling New Azerbaijan Party Ali Ahmadov told journalists on Feb.1.

“The reaction of the Armenian side confirms this,” Ahmadov said.

The deputy prime minister suggests that the Armenians carry out
provocations on the front line, in order to distract the Armenian
people from the dissatisfaction with the internal situation in the
country, to mislead them.

“I believe that Azerbaijan adequately responded to these provocations.
But it is not just repelling, but also the demonstration of a
sufficiently powerful military force of Azerbaijan. This shows that
Azerbaijan is ready to liberate its lands from the occupation,”
Ahmadov said.

Recently the situation on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian
troops has escalated. In recent days the Armenian armed forces
violated ceasefire over 1000 times.

Earlier, Armenian troops fired on the positions of the Azerbaijani
Armed Forces in the Tartar region. A sniper killed a 36-year old
officer of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, Captain Elnur Jafarov.
Jafarov was posthumously awarded with a medal ‘For distinguished
service in the military service’ of the third degree upon Defence
Minister, Colonel-General Zakir Hasanov’s order.

The Armenian armed forces violated the ceasefire in January when a
sniper killed Lieutenant Sabuhi Azizov. Lieutenant Azizov was
posthumously awarded with the medal ‘For distinguished military
service’ of the third degree upon Defence Minister, Colonel-General
Zakir Hasanov’s order.

The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group expressed their deep concern
over continued violence on the contact line of Azerbaijani and
Armenian troops, the OSCE Minsk Group said following a meeting between
Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers Elmar Mammadyarov and
Edward Nalbandian.

The Co-Chairs stressed that the recent incidents undermine
negotiations and diminish the prospects for peace.

Use of force will not resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, U.S.
State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf said at a press
briefing.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are
currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

PRESSE TURQUE
Quelle Stratégie en Turquie pour 2015 ?

Rapprochant quelques indices les uns des autres, on entrevoit la
stratégie probable qui sera employée et les mesures qui seront prises
par le gouvernement du premier ministre Erdogan en vue de 2015, qui
marquera le 100ème anniversaire du Génocide arménien.

Le ministre des affaires étrangères Ahmet Davutoglu a visité la Suisse
en octobre et au cours de sa visite, il a parlé avec les autorités
suisses de la sensibilité turque sur une statue que les Arméniens
prévoient d’ériger à Genève. On peut déduire de cette ” sensibilité ”
que la position officielle du ministère des affaires étrangères sur
1915 n’a pas bougé d’un pouce.

Il faut également noter ce qu’a déclaré, à propos de 2015, le premier
ministre adjoint Bulent Aric, porte-parole du Parti Justice et
Développement (AKP) : ” C’est tout à la fois l’année des Dardanelles
et d’un prétendu Génocide arménien. Nous y travaillons activement. Un
travail est entrepris par le biais de symposiums, de conférences, de
commissions, de publications et de documents. Mais nous avons
également entrepris certaines actions diplomatiques spécifiques qui
pourraient concerner le monde entier “.

On peut déduire aussi de sa déclaration que le gouvernement est tout à
fait déterminé à reprendre les clichés bien connus de la position
officielle de l’état dans ce domaine.

On savait déjà que nos partis politiques ne peuvent décider quoique ce
soit en commun, mais excepté le parti pro-kurde Paix et Démocratie
(BDP), il semble qu’ils soient cette fois d’accord sur la nécessité de
faire quelque chose pour 2015. Les membres du parti AKP au pouvoir et
les deux partis d’opposition se sont réunis au parlement et ont
discuté de ce qu’il convenait de faire pour contrer les ”
revendications de Génocide arménien “, et ils se sont mis d’accord
pour les combattre.

S’agissant du Génocide arménien, ils ont facilement et rapidement
trouvé un consensus. L’Institut d’Histoire Turque (Turk Tarih Kurumu)
fait également des préparatifs pour 2015. Le président de
l’institution dit préparer pour 2015 un texte étendu sur les relations
arméniennes de la Turquie.

En outre, on peut clairement voir dans le discours d’Erdogan que la
possibilité d’une réconciliation est complètement exclue, mais aussi
que les non-musulmans sont totalement exclus de son discours. Il
décrit souvent la Turquie comme une mosaïque de diverses identités
ethniques. On peut souvent l’entendre évoquer les Arabes, les Kurdes,
les Turcs, les Circassiens et les Lazes. Mais lorsqu’il décrit cette
mosaïque, Erdogan ne mentionne jamais les non-musulmans de Turquie,
les Arméniens, Grecs, Juifs et Syriaques.

Rapprochant tous ces éléments de préparation aux discours du
gouvernement et d’Erdogan, on peut déduire que l’approche défensive
turque de négation du Génocide arménien ne sera pas changée en 2015.

Comme tout le reste, évidemment, 2015 n’est qu’un point secondaire
pour le gouvernement, qui s’efforce à présent de survivre à une
enquête de corruption en recourant à tous les moyens disponibles. Du
fait des actions entreprises pour arrêter l’enquête, le gouvernement a
pris ses distances avec la démocratie et l’état de droit. A moins que
le gouvernement ne prenne des dispositions inattendues, sans précédent
et radicales sur la question arménienne, tendant à réparer son image
dans l’arène internationale, il ne serait pas raisonnable d’espérer
des changements appréciables dans la position officielle de la Turquie
sur 1915.

En résumé, même si des améliorations très nettes ont été faites sur la
liberté d’expression concernant 1915, il reste très peu probable que
des changements soient apportés à la position officielle quant aux
pages sombres de l’histoire de la Turquie.

Orhan Kemal Cengiz

ToDaysZaman

Traduction Gilbert Béguian

dimanche 2 février 2014,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

More resignations from Turkey’s ruling party predicted

February 1, 2014 – 12:13 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – One more lawmaker resigned from the ruling Justice
and Development Party (AKP) on Friday, Jan 31, in the aftermath of the
massive graft probe that has gripped the country since mid-December,
Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Istanbul MP Muhammed Çetin officially resigned over the party’s
decision to dispatch him to the disciplinary board with a demand of
expulsion two weeks ago.

With Çetin’s resignation, the number of lawmakers who have stepped
down from the AKP since the graft scandal broke rises to six, and to
eight since the test prep school (dershanes) row erupted, in a wave of
defections unprecedented in the party’s history.

The government’s move to shut down the test prep schools caused a huge
rift between the AKP and the movement of the Islamic scholar Fethullah
Gülen, which further swelled after the government accused the movement
of orchestrating the graft probes.

Çetin, who was among the small group of AKP deputies who criticized
the government’s position on the test prep schools (dershanes) row, is
also known to be close to Gülen’s movement.

He claimed that more resignations from the AKP would follow. “I don’t
have any contact with anyone, but I know there is [disquiet] inside
[the party]. Many people are disturbed. People are talking, and soon
those people will quit one-by-one,” Çetin said. He also claimed that
some deputies complained that they could not “face their electors”
anymore.

Syrian Christian leaders call on U.S. to end support for anti-Assad rebels

15:54 01.02.2014

The Swampland.time.com presents the stories told by five top Syrian
Christian leaders about the horrors their churches are experiencing at
the hands of Islamist extremists, which are biblical in their
brutality. Excerpts of the Article are presented below:

Bishop Elias Toumeh, representative of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of
Antioch and All the East, tells of the funeral he led ten days ago for
the headless body of one of his parishioners in Marmarita. Rev. Adeeb
Awad, vice moderator of the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and
Lebanon, explains how the rebels blew up his church and then pointed
the finger at the regime.

Bishop Armash Nalbandian, primate of the Armenian Church of Damascus,
says he received word on Facebook from a fellow bishop in Aleppo that
two congregants were traveling when opposition fighters stopped their
bus, made them present their Armenian IDs, and then took them away.
The fighters, Nalbandian recounts, returned to the fellow passengers a
few hours later with a box, which they said were cakes. Inside were
the two Armenian heads.

The bishops’ stories are difficult to independently verify, and the
war’s death toll goes far beyond just Christian communities in
Syria-more than 130,000 people have been killed since the fighting
began, and at least two million others have fled the country. But they
are emerging as part of a concerted push by Syrian Christians to get
the U.S. to stop its support for rebel groups fighting Syrian
president Bashar al Assad. “The US must change its politics and must
choose the way of diplomacy and dialogue, not supporting rebels and
calling them freedom fighters,” says Nalbandian.

The group is the first delegation of its kind to visit Washington
since the crisis began three years ago, and its five members represent
key different Christian communities in the country. Awad, Toumeh, and
Nalbandian were joined by Rev. Riad Jarjour, Presbyterian pastor from
Homs, and Bishop Dionysius Jean Kawak, Metropolitan of the Syrian
Orthodox Church. The Westminster Institute and Barnabas Aid, two
groups that focus on religious freedom and relief for threatened faith
communities, sponsored their trip.

Given the United States’ increased support for non-terrorist rebel
groups in the wake of the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons, the
religious leaders’ mission is a long shot. The bishops are asking the
United States to exert pressure on countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar,
and Turkey to stop supporting and sending terrorist fighters to Syria.
“The real problem is that the strong military opposition on the ground
is a foreign opposition,” Awad explains, arguing that US support of
opposition groups means support for foreign terrorist fighters. “They
are the ones killing and attacking churches and clergy and nuns and
burning houses and eating human livers and hearts and cutting heads,”
Awad says.

The Syrian Christian churches are not publicly calling for outright
support of the Assad regime. Doing so would further endanger their
followers and hurt the moral component of their case, given the
regime’s alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians. Instead,
they’re meeting privately with law makers, diplomats and think tanks.

The bishops’ stories are similar to other grim instances of violence
against Christians during the war. Christian schools in Damascus were
shelled in November. The next month, a dozen Greek Orthodox nuns were
taken from Mar Takla Monastery in Maaloula. Rebel groups abducted two
bishops near Aleppo last April. Jesuit priestPaolo Dall’Oglio, whom
TIME wrote about in 2012 when he visited the United States on a
similar lobbying trip, has been missing and feared dead since July.

Armenia and Iran to continue cooperation in energy sector

February 01, 2014 | 15:01

YEREVAN. – Armenia continues energy cooperation with Iran, Armenian
security chief said.

Arthur Baghdasaryan, Secretary of Armenia’s National Security Council,
said cooperation between the states must be enriched with new
programs.

“Cooperation with Iran continues and will not contradict Russia’s gas
agreements,” Baghdasaryan assured.

The official said Armenia supports talks between Iran and Western states.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

Two-volume book “The Times of the Armenian Genocide” presented in Beirut

by Karina Manukyan
Saturday, February 1, 19:53

The two-volume book “The Times of the Armenian Genocide” by Katia
Peltekian was presented in Beirut on January 31. The press service of the
Armenian Foreign Ministry reports that the book includes over 2,000
articles and reports in the British press of 1914- 1923.

Officials, foreign ambassadors to Lebanon, clergymen, and representatives
of the Armenian community in Lebanon attended the event. Katia Peltekian
presented some details of her 12-year work.

Armenian Ambassador to Lebanon Ashot Kocharyan expressed confidence that on
the threshold of the Armenian Genocide centenary coordinated measures
should be taken for international recognition of the Armenian Genocide and
restoration of historical justice.

Tigran Sargsyan’s Alibi or Evidence

Ashot Sukiasyan of the offshore scandal involving Prime Minister
Sargsyan has been arrested in Georgia and will be extradited to
Armenia soon.

Ashot Sukiasyan is the godchild of Archbishop Navasard Kchoyan of the
Patriarchal Diocese of Ararat. He allegedly ran a diamond business,
and he had businessman Pailak Hairapetyan deposit all his property in
America Bank who later lost everything. According to the business
plan, Sukiasyan was going to import raw diamonds from Sierra Leone,
Africa to Armenia where 23 businessmen would process them in their
companies. Later it became known that Hairapetyan’s money had been
transferred to a different destination, to the bank account of a
company registered in the offshore the owners of which were Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Navasaryan Kchoyan and Ashot Sukiasyan.

Tigran Sargsyan refutes anything that comes up relating to this
scandal and has applied to the prosecutor general’s office to find out
the circumstances of this case. For their part, the law enforcement
agencies were looking for Sukiasyan and have arrested him.

Ashot Sukiasyan’s arrest is interesting against the current domestic
life. A domestic strife for the prime minister’s dismissal is
underway. Serzh Sargsyan has mentioned on one occasion that if the
government fails to ensure a 7% growth it will resign. When it was
clear that the government would not ensure that growth, Serzh Sargsyan
announced that first the reasons will be studied. Hence, Serzh
Sargsyan postponed the possible resignation of the government till
March-April.

That is going to be an interesting period as well. The agreement on
the establishment of the Eurasian Union is scheduled in May. Besides,
the Constitutional Court has suspended some provisions of the
mandatory funded pension law and the destiny of the law is not known
yet.

It is obvious that Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan’s case will be
resolved in a “package” which will have domestic, foreign, economic
and legal dimensions. From this point of view, Ashot Sukiasyan could
be both an alibi and evidence for the prime minister. It will depend
on the political decision on his destiny.

15:48 01/02/2014
Story from Lragir.am News:

Moscow Prepares Ground for Deployment of Forces

The Russian foreign ministry finally responded to escalation at the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border, strictly observing the “parity” and
without naming perpetrators of escalation.

The Russian foreign ministry stated that further escalation “could
jeopardize implementation of the agreements reached at the
Azerbaijani- Armenian summit in Vienna on 19 November 2013”. The
Russian foreign ministry also urged the parties to the conflict to
take additional measures aimed to stabilize the situation, including
involvement of mechanisms “under the agreement on strengthening the
ceasefire since 4 February 1995”.

The Russian foreign ministry did not recall the truce of 4 February
1995 accidentally. This is the only document signed by Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Karabakh under the auspices of the OSCE. At the same
time, none of its points has ever been implemented.

The text of the truce is difficult to find in the accessible sources,
there are only references of then the Special Representative of the
Russian President on the Karabakh issue Vladimir Kazimirov to this
agreement which, according to him, is aimed at reducing the number of
border incidents and military rhetoric. At the same time, in one of
his articles Kazimirov noted that “a mechanism for investigation of
incidents cannot be perfect unless there are neutral observers”.

What else is stated in the truce to which the Russian Foreign Ministry
refers to? In one of his speeches at the Parliament of Azerbaijan,
Heydar Aliyev spoke about the negotiations on the truce: “It was found
out that upon Rasul Guliyev’s consent and with the participation of
our ambassador to Moscow negotiations are underway on deployment of
Russian troops in the region to provide conditions for the ceasefire.”

Does this mean that Russia, “in case of further escalation”, is
preparing to intervene in the Karabakh conflict area? It is not
excluded that the Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement is part of the
arrangements. Obviously, after Sochi Olympics Russia will get down to
the “solution” of the Karabakh issue. This will help Russia resolve
several important tasks at once – to force Armenia to join the
Eurasian Union, to block the likely ways of transportation of the
Iranian oil and gas to Europe and many other related tasks.

One thing is clear – after the statement of the Russian Foreign
Ministry the meeting of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, as
well as the recent initiatives aimed at regulation and the status quo
(as claimed by Shavarsh Kocharyan) are jeopardized.

Naira Hayrumyan, Political Commentator
10:42 01/02/2014
Story from Lragir.am News: