Author: Kanayan Tamar

LA RUSSIE AURAIT LIVRE DU MATERIEL MILITAIRE A L’AZERBAÏDJAN

L’Armenie a minimise les revelations de la presse mercredi 18 juin
2013 sur la Russie qui aurait livrer du materiel militaire pour une
valeur d’1 milliard de dollars a l’Azerbaïdjan.

Le quotidien moscovite Vedomosti a rapporte mardi que l’armee
azerbaïdjanaise vient de recevoir plus de 90 chars T-90C, environ
100 vehicules blindes et des canons d’artillerie, conformement aux
contrats de defense signe en 2011 et 2012.

L’agence Reuters, citant une source du ministère de la Defense russe,
a confirme l’information. Le ministère armenien de la Defense a declare
qu’il ne fera aucun commentaire sur ces informations, car il estime
qu’elles contiennent ” des elements de desinformation “.

Le porte-parole du ministère de la Defense Artsrun Hovannisian a
seulement indique qu’Erevan est au courant de toutes les acquisitions
d’armes de l’Azerbaïdjan. ” Ces acquisitions n’ont aucune incidence sur
le conflit du Haut-Karabagh “, a-t-il declare a RFE /RL (Azatutyun.am).

Les livraisons d’armes russes ont fait debat dans les medias armeniens
et dans les cercles de l’opposition. Certains critiques ont accuse la
Russie d’avoir trahi son principal allie dans la region. La Russie a
deja fait face a des critiques similaires lorsqu’elle a vendu des
systèmes S-300 de defense aerienne sophistiques a l’Azerbaïdjan
en 2010.

Moscou est soupconne d’avoir en meme temps livre des quantites
importantes d’armes lourdes a l’armee armenienne a bas prix et meme
gratuitement. Artashes Geghamian, un parlementaire pro-gouvernement
armenien, a declare le mois dernier que près de 120 avions russes
comportant des armes ont ete transportes en Armenie au cours cette
dernière annee.

La Russie aurait egalement modernise sa base militaire a Gyumri. Une
source militaire a Erevan a confie au service armenien de RFE / RL
(Azatutyun.am) ce mois-ci que la base serait desormais equipee de
missiles balistiques Iskander-M.

jeudi 20 juin 2013, Laetitia ©armenews.com

TAKSIM SQUARE BELONGS TO ARMENIANS

Veterans Today
June 18 2013

While the newspapers are replete with stories about the rioting at
Taksim Square in Istanbul, as Paul Harvey used to say”….here’s the
rest of the story ”

According to Lebanese daily “Aztag”, some Turkish protesters in Taksim
Square demanded the dedication, in the square, of a monument to the
memory of the victims of the Genocide of Armenians.

It is worth mentioning that the legal owner of the square and the
surrounding area is the Armenian Church of Turkey. In 1930 the
Armenian Cemetery, which was at Pangalti district attached to the
square, was destroyed by the order of the city.

The marble tombstones and monuments were sold by the city and the
land was used to build, in addition to the Inonu Gezi Park, hotels
such as Hilton, Intercontinental, and Divan.

Also, the TRT radio and TV building was built on the sized Armenian
land.

Pangaltý district, part of the St. Hagop Armenian Cemetery, was the
largest non-Muslim cemetery in Istanbul. The cemetery was built in
1560 after Sultan Suleiman I (the Magnificent) officially decreed
the land to the Armenians. That year, when a plague hit Istanbul,
the Armenians began burying their dead outside the city, across from
the St. Hagop Sanatorium which later became St. Hagop Cemetery.

In 1780 the cemetery was enlarged and in 1853 a wall was built
around it.

According to some, in 1919 a monument was built there in memory of
the victims of the Genocide of Armenians. In 1933, Istanbul launched a
legal challenge to take the land from the Armenian Church. The Armenian
Patriarch launched a counter challenged, but the court case dragged
on for so long that at the end the Ministry of Interior decided to
confiscate the cemetery which covered 850,000-sq. meters and hand it
to the city.

Only 6,000-sq. meters were left to the patriarchate. Furthermore,
the ministry demanded the patriarchate pay 3,200 liras for cover
court costs.

After the confiscation, the city started to sell the land to
investors. The confiscations continued and between 1931 to ’39, St.

Hagop Church, which was at Gezi Park and Taksim Square, was also
confiscated and destroyed.

The destruction of the centuries-old church was the final nail which
erased the presence of Armenians in that part of the city. The illegal
confiscation and demolition was in line with the Turkish government
policy of ethnic cleansing which started with the genocide of 1915
against the Armenians.

The irony is that the Turkish authorities used the cemetery and church
stones to build the current park and square.

The history of the Taksim Square and Gezi Park symbolize the vicious,
inhuman and barbarous policies of successive Turkish governments
vis-a-vis minorities. The racist policy has persisted unmitigated
for the last one hundred years.

———-

Gwenyth Eve Todd Huxtable I dislike writing about foreign policy
on Face book but I have to say something, The longer the protests
continue in Turkey, the more we will see coverage of Syria and hear
about the need to arm the rebels or even invade.

Syria is Erdogan’s foil and he is able to divert many people’s
attention from his own dictatorial ambitions by pointing at Syria and
shouting “squirrel”. if he has his way, we will lose out in Turkey
as well as Syria. We do not want to discuss the arrests (or worse)
of so many people allied with the West in Turkey who have dared to
speak out against Erdogan, and Erdogan knows this, so he is fueling the
crisis in Syria to give the West a reason to support Erdogan on Syria.

This means the West overlooks Erdogan’s own gross abuse of power
because we seem unable to focus on more than one dictator at a time.

I suspect many people are naive enough to believe that a bunch of
Sunni fundamentalists (certified as OK by Erdogan) running Syria
is somehow better than the situation under the Ba’athists. And we
gloss over the hideous acts of murder and torture carried out by the
Erdogan-backed Syrian rebels against the very Syrian people they are
supposed to be rescuing.

The casualty is the Syrian people, unfortunately, who love freedom as
much as the rest of us but who realize that the rebels could easily
be worse than the Ba’athists.

Did we learn nothing in Iraq? And frankly, anyone recommended by
Erdogan as a viable leader of Syria should be considered highly
suspect when it comes to Western interests. And yes, I know that I
had better not travel to Turkey, even without writing this!

REMEMBRANCE, FORGIVENESS, TRANSFORMATION: THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Ekklesia, UK
June 19 2013

By Ara Iskanderian

Every year Armenians the world over gather to commemorate the memory
of the 1.5 million Armenians who perished during the First World War.

This is an event all serious commentators agree was the twentieth
century’s first genocide. The date itself (24 April) is symbolic.

Ninety-eight years ago on that day the Turkish authorities of Ottoman
Istanbul rounded up and arrested 250 Armenian intellectuals, business
and clergy – any and all potential leaders – before proceeding to
deport them all to Chankiri prison, a few miles from modern Turkey’s
capital of Ankara. Few deportees were ever heard of again.

One deportee, the future Bishop of Marseille, Grigoris Balakian
was a man of great faith, who struggled to minister to a massacred
congregation singularly asking, “where is God?” Balakian couldn’t
answer. Instead, he vowed to survive, if only to write a testimony
recording the fate of his people. The result is a veritable tome
entitled Armenian Golgotha. Part-history, part-memoir, and laced with
religious imagery – the chapter recounting the eve of 24 April is
tellingly entitled ‘The Night of Gethsemane’ – and has as its subtext
a cleric’s struggle with faith in the face of shattering tragedy.

“What could I do?” asks Balakian rhetorically, “Nothing – except
try to firmly hold all these criminal and tragic events in the black
folds of my memory, and in the event of my survival, bequeath them
to future generations.”

Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl, writing some 24-years later in
Man’s Search for Meaning argues, “suffering ceases to be suffering
at the moment it finds meaning”. Frankl, a trained psychologist,
calls this process Logotherapy, and though it might be anachronistic,
arguably Balakian’s resignation to survival, if only to record his
account, provides meaning to his experiences. His herculean task,
as he reminds us, we will return to later on.

Writing much later, a frustrated Balakian laments; “Oh, no pen of
any individual can possibly convey the suffering and misery of the
exiled Armenians…” he continues “If all the seas were ink and all
the fields were paper, still it would be impossible to describe, in
detail, the reality…” Here is a recurring theme in Armenian memory
of genocide; the rewording of the question “where is God?” framed
in an inversion of Biblical text. Consider Balakian’s above quote in
light of John 21.25 in the New Testament.

Compare too, the music of the contemporary, and world-renowned,
Armenian heavy metal band System of a Down (SOAD). In ‘Chop Sue’y,
a song inspired by the Armenian Genocide, the band amalgamate Mark
15.34/Mathew 27.46 and the abrogating verse of Luke 23.46, before
inverting it. SOAD sing: “Father into your hands I commend my spirit,
why have you forsaken me?” Alternately, “where is God?”.

This question underscores many events occurring around the
anniversary. However, Armenians today are more likely to ask the
whereabouts of justice than God. Justice for Armenians hinges on three
‘R’s’: Recognition, Recompense, and Restoration. The attainment
of these ‘Rs’, and their conspicuous absence, means 24 April can
occasionally seem more about seeking justice than commemoration.

Arguably though, the two are synonymous.

Armenian frustrations aside, justice is an inevitability, albeit born
of a slow process. Heartening are the various civil society initiatives
in Turkey undertaken by Turks themselves. It is governments that
are lagging. Schopenhauer’s three stages of truth provides us with
a roadmap for justice: firstly, it is ridiculed, secondly, it is
violently opposed, and thirdly it is accepted as being self-evident.

Commemoration is different. It embodies remembrance and calls upon
memory. It is a regular act, but tellingly silent. To a degree,
commemoration is very personal, requiring the individual to provide
meaning to a legacy. Commemoration also demands the responsibility
of ownership, as expressed through not just explaining why, or how
something happened, but why it should matter that it did. Owning a
legacy means not hinging some future point of closure on recognition
by a third party, in this case a nonchalant government. Recognition is
beyond Armenians control, it also prolongs suffering. Commemoration
ignores the question where is God, or justice, and the third party,
instead commemoration demands finding meaning, and to paraphrase
Frankl, this remains the only answer to genocidal trauma.

The logical question then is: what is that meaning? Arguably,
celebrating the very markers of difference that once set aside the
Armenian people for extermination are the very things we need to
celebrate for having survived. This gives meaning and quick reward.

Speaking the language, maintaining traditions, reading and writing
literature. Reviving, renewing, these are acts of commemoration that
require no anniversary, no recognition, and truly express a defiant
ownership of a legacy, and give meaning to trauma. Balakian recounts
a Turkish policeman incredulous that prisoners sang as they marched
to their deaths, “What a carefree nation you are! We massacre you,
we exile you, and yet you still songs”.

Father Balakian replies, “Yes, they were right, but if the Armenian
nation had survived after five long centuries of persecution and
massacre, the reason was this vitality, such that the more they
massacred the hated hydra, the more new heads it grew…” Here is the
challenge of meaning Armenians face: how to live once more. Failing
to answer positively gives truth to Frankl’s damning definition:
“meaninglessness: enough to live by, nothing to live for” recognition
alone doesn’t suffice.

Armenians claim to have been the first nation to convert to
Christianity. The historic tenacity with which Armenians have clung to
Christianity sets them apart from their neighbours, arguably singling
them out for massacre. For a Christian people trying to comprehend the
presence of God in a legacy, fatalism and atheism are easy options,
neither help much with providing meaning.

Personally, I have struggled to reconcile my Christian faith with
the familial legacy and national narrative of persecution, which I
have inherited. However, when I have employed my faith to digest the
genocide’s legacy I have found it easier to commemorate, easier to
find meaning.

In Exodus 32.10 we read: “Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may
burn hot against them and may consume them, in order that I may make a
great nation of you.” Here is my answer to the question: where is God?

The legacy of genocide places a demand on my faith as a Christian. It
asks of me and challenges me to forgive. The Christian injunction to
forgive gives meaning to the legacy I inherit, as much as the legacy
I inherit provides meaningful challenge to my faith. In my own way
I have answered the question of where is God, and in finding meaning
through my choice of commemoration; to be a Christian, to forgive.

The Christian faith hinges upon the ability to forgive. Armenians
both as the descendants of victims, and as Christians, can only make
sense of their past, and be empowered to confront their future through
that process of forgiveness, not human-made justice. The beauty of
forgiveness in the Christian context is that it requires no recognition
from the forgiven. Forgiveness offers Armenian Christians ownership
of their history and its legacy. It allows for a fresh start.

The parallels with Christ’s crucifixion that we as Christians might
live again are certainly guilty of being Armenocentric, but calling
upon our faith will provide us with the tools to find meaning to
our past and future. I write this mindful of the Beatitudes and also
Matthew 6:44 “…Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute
you.” I sign off this article with a poem by Nâzim Hikmet that
encapsulates some of the tensions I have sought to draw out herein.

Hikmet, a Turkish poet detained in Chankiri prison some 20 years
after Bishop Balakian, wrote:

The grocer Karabet’s lights are on.

This Armenian citizen has not forgiven The slaughter of his father
in the Kurdish mountains.

But he loves you, Because you also won’t forgive Those who blackened
the name of the Turkish people

———–

© Ara Iskanderian is an elected local councillor for Northolt
Mandeville Ward in the London Borough of Ealing. A trained historian,
and currently qualifying as a lawyer, he regularly comments of
developments in the South Caucasus.

COMMENTS BY NKR MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS KAREN MIRZOYAN

Comments by NKR Minister of Foreign Affairs Karen Mirzoyan on the
Joint Statement on Nagorno-Karabakh by the Heads of the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-Chair States We welcome the interest of the heads of the
OSCE Minsk Group co-chair states, reflected in their June 18 Joint
Statement, in achieving a sustainable and peaceful settlement of the
conflict between Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh.

This statement is another proof that the co-chairs are determined to
exclude the possibility of resumption of hostilities and to contribute
to the peaceful settlement of the conflict.

At the same time, we consider it necessary to reiterate our position
that the restoration of full-fledged negotiations with the immediate
and direct participation of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in all its
stages is a sin qua non for achieving real progress in the settlement
process, which is strongly hampered by Azerbaijan.

We hope that the call to intensify the efforts for a peaceful
settlement will be heard in Azerbaijan and its leadership will
refrain from attempts of a selective interpretation of the norms and
principles of international law, escalation of tension and mistrust,
as well as ignoring the existing realities.

Since the Nagorno Karabakh Republic is the most interested party in
finding a way out of the current situation in the negotiation process
and reaching decisions on the issues directly related to the future
of the country and its people, it is ready to further exert efforts
to establish lasting peace and stability.

13:36 19/06/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:

WILL SERZH SARGSYAN SWINDLE EUROPE?

Hmayak Hovhannisyan, chairman of the Armenian Union of Political
Scientists, said that at the last moment Armenia will refuse to sign
the Association Agreement with the EU. Note that initially it is said
that the agreement will be signed in November.

Hmayak Hovhannisyan does not hide that he would like to see Armenia
in the Eurasian Union. It is not important what his wish is determined
by – ideas or other? The important thing is that it is hinted through
Hovhannisyan that Serzh Sargsyan will swindle Europe.

The issue of trust of the West in the Armenian government has been
there from the very first day of the establishment of relations.

European countries show that they do not believe Serzh Sargsyan’s
intentions until they see the signed document. It has been two years
European officials have been unable to agree on a donor conference
for Armenia. Last autumn it was put off till the end of the electoral
period in Armenia. Now they are saying that the conference may be
held late in the autumn, in other words, when it will be clear whether
Serzh Sargsyan swindled or not Europe.

It should be admitted that trust is increasing slowly. Serzh
Sargsyan and his government have shown determination to initialize
the agreement. Anyway, the West insists on decisive steps, namely
anti-monopoly fight, market liberalization, diversification of energy
and other spheres, including security.

There are no steps yet, and Europe is skeptical. The visa facilitation
agreement has not been ratified, though it was supposed to enter into
force a long time ago. Apparently, Europe wants to wait a little more.

Europe’s lack of trust in Serzh Sargsyan may play an evil trick with
Armenia’s Association and the EU. Moscow is boosting pressure on
Armenia using compromising materials, gas price, provocative reports
on sale of weapons to Azerbaijan. Hmayak Hovhannisyan’s statements
are also aimed at undermining Europe’s trust in Serzh Sargsyan whose
policies of rapprochement with Europe need concrete support.

The point is not about money or investments, though this would be
the best argument, but about expressing confidence in Serzh Sargsyan.

Sure, Europe may be wrong because no one knows what Serzh Sargsyan
thinks and what decision he will make. But it is evident that the lack
of confidence and uncertainty about the date of the donor conference
or visa facilitation will determine Serzh Sargsyan’s decision to
swindle Europe.

Armenia is on the razor’s edge, and those who say that the choice of
civilization is not the most pressing issue in Armenia are probably
wrong. Since Armenia announced willing to associate with Europe,
this issue has become a key one. This issue should not depend on the
will of one person. Europe’s distrust towards Serzh Sargsyan can be
eliminated only in case Europe sees that the Armenian society will
not allow him to cheat.

Naira Hayrumyan 13:13 19/06/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:

AZERI STATE OIL VENTURE SETS EYE ON GREEK DESFA

10:30 ~U 19.06.13

The Azeri state energy company Socar said it has started talks with the
Greek government on purchasing the country’s natural gas grid operator
DESFA, the asset of the national gas firm DEPA, after being the only
bidder in a failed tender for the asset sale, Balkans.com reported.

“The tender procedure on the privatization of DESFA is over and Socar
has started talks with the Greek government,” Socar president Rovnag
Abdullayev told reporters on June 15.

“It means that the whole natural gas distribution system of Greece
will be in our hands soon.”

Abdullayev said a purchase of Greek assets would “strengthen the
export potential of Socar.”, Hurriyet Daily reports.

Armenian News – Tert.am

THREE PRESIDENTS PROLONGED STATUS QUO

Presidents of Minsk group co-chair countries Barack Obama, Francois
Hollande and Vladimir Putin issued a statement on Nagorno Karabakh
issue settlement on June 18 in Northern Ireland during G8 Summit.

The statement of the three presidents does not contain anything new.

It should be viewed as an urge to hold a meeting of the presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan. The co-chairing presidents just reiterated the
existence of the status quo, and there seems to be an agreement not to
take any steps that will bring about changes in the current situation.

The presidents’ statement is interesting in terms of the lack in
it of any hint on the possibility to have new details or ideas in
the settlement process. This means that the presidents think it is
meaningless to load the parties to the conflict with new proposals
since they understand that the conflict does not have the balanced
resolution about which they are speaking.

The current developments in the region produce a contradictory
impression. On the one hand, Turkey is unsteady, while the West and
Russia have tougher positions on the Syrian issue, on the other hand,
a reform-minded cleric is elected in Iran.

Anyway, the Caucasus is not insured from a force majeure and the
statement of the presidents is evidence to lack of a common resolution
on the Karabakh issue. At least, they have assured that there will
be no sharp moves. For the time being.

10:33 19/06/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:

U.S., RUSSIAN AND FRENCH PRESIDENTS ISSUE JOINT STATEMENT ON SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT

APA, Azerbaijan
June 18 2013

“The delay in achieving a balanced framework agreement is unacceptable”

Baku. Victoria Dementyeva – APA. As a part of G-8 summit, the
Presidents of the US, Russia and France, the co-chair countries of the
OSCE Minsk Group, have issued a joint statement on the settlement of
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. APA reports quoting RIA Novosti that
the statement signed by Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin and Francois
Hollande expresses deep regret over the fact that the parties have
not been able to solve the problem in the process of negotiations:
“We want to express our deep regret that instead of finding a solution
in accordance with mutual interests, the parties continued attempts
to seek unilateral advantages. We are confident that further delay
in achieving a balanced framework agreement leading to the peaceful
settlement of the conflict is unacceptable and urge the Azerbaijani
and Armenian leaders to focus with updated energy on the solution of
the issues that are still open.”

The presidents believe that the statements issued by them in the past
four years must lay the foundation for the fair and lasting settlement
of Nagorno Karabakh conflict. They consider that the clauses must be
regarded as a single whole, as any attempt to give preference to one
of them may impede finding a balanced way of solution.

“We urge the leaders of all parties to reaffirm the commitment to
Helsinki principles, especially to the non-use of force, territorial
integrity, equality and the people’s right to self-determination.”

“COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS,” CONDEMNS AZERBAIJANI AUTHORITIES FOR BANNING JOURNALIST M. HUSEYNOV TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY

18:02 18/06/2013 ” SOCIETY

Authorities in Azerbaijan should lift the travel ban imposed against
journalist Mehman Huseynov and allow him to travel freely, the
Committee to Protect Journalists (CJP) said today.

“Authorities should drop their charges against Huseynov and allow
him to travel without restrictions,” said Muzaffar Suleymanov, CPJ
Europe and Central Asia research associate.

Press freedom has deteriorated in Azerbaijan in the last two years,
threatening the public’s access to uncensored news ahead of the October
2013 presidential elections. At least seven independent journalists
are currently being held in Azerbaijani jails, while others are
subjected to intimidation, attacks, and threats of being imprisoned,
CPJ research shows.

Officer of the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Security (IRFS)
Mehman Huseynov was arrested on June 17 in the morning at the
Baku airport. The reporter was not allowed to leave Azerbaijan for
Norway, where the awarding ceremony of M. Huseynov with prestigious
international journalism award after Gerd Bucerius titled “Free Press
of Eastern Europe – 2013” was to be held. The Azerbaijani authorities
have motivated their decision by presenting a criminal case against
Huseynov. The journalist believes the travel ban was unreasonable.

Source: Panorama.am

ARMENIA TO SELL SHARES TO RUSSIAN GAS GIANT

Tuesday, June 18th, 2013

Gazprom

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)-The Armenian government seems ready to sell its
remaining 20 percent share in the domestic gas distribution network
to Gazprom in order to subsidize the recently increased price of
Russian natural gas delivered to Armenia.

The Russian energy giant revealed late on Monday that its chief
executive, Alexey Miller, discussed the matter in Moscow with Armenian
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Armen Movsisian.

“In the course of negotiations the aspects of Russian gas pricing for
Armenian consumers were discussed,” Gazprom said in a statement. “The
meeting also looked into the possibility of increasing Gazprom’s
stake in ArmRosGazprom (ARG) to 100 per cent.”

The announcement came amid Armenian government efforts to secure
funding for subsidizing the Russian gas price, which officially rose
by 50 percent to $270 million per thousand cubic meters in April. A
30 percent subsidy promised by the government has meant that the
price hike will be much less drastic for Armenian households.

Armenian officials have said that Yerevan is seeking a Russian
“grant” to finance the subsidy. But they have given no details of
that arrangement so far.

The Armenian Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources refused to
comment on the Gazprom report on Tuesday. A ministry spokesperson
said that only Movsisian can give relevant explanations.

The government was already rumored last year to have ceded its 20
percent stake in ARG to conceal a secret rise in Russian gas price and
make sure Armenian voters are unaffected by it until the February 2013
presidential election. Government officials dismissed this speculation,
saying that the gas price remains unchanged. However, Armenian customs
data showed that ARG paid considerably more for Russian gas than was
officially reported in 2012.

Opposition lawmakers were quick to criticize the government’s apparent
readiness to place ARG under full Russian control. Gazprom currently
owns 80 percent of the gas network.

“This once again shows that our authorities are not capable of
doing anything,” said Artsvik Minasian of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation. “They can declare that we will get a grant but we won’t
get it or will cede more state assets in return.”