Author: Kanayan Tamar

LIBERATION DE VAHAKN CHAKHALYAN : LE PRESIDENT SAAKACHVILI MET EN CAUSE LE CATHOLICOS DE TOUS LES ARMENIENS

La recente liberation de Vahakn Chakahlyan, originaire de la province
du Djavakhk, defenseur des droits des Armeniens de cette province,
a provoque une reaction a la fois inappropriee et irreverencieuse du
president M. Saakachvili. En effet, dès l’annonce de la nouvelle, le
chef de l’Etat georgien a sevèrement critique M. Bidzina Ivanishvili,
son premier ministre et principal opposant, en lui reprochant d’avoir
ainsi ” cede ” a une demande du chef spirituel de l’Eglise armenienne
tout en accusant implicitement le Catholicos Karekine II d’ingerence
dans les affaires georgiennes. Il a aussi mis en cause le diocèse
armenien de Georgie qui avait publie a cette occasion un communique
officiel dans lequel, pour la première fois, la partie armenienne
exposait sans aucun detour l’injustice que representait l’arrestation
et l’incarceration de V. Chakhalyan presente par le pouvoir de M.

Saakachvili comme un ” activiste nationaliste armenien ” et un ”
agent de la Russie “.

Pour memoire, le 17 Janvier dernier, alors qu’il recevait, M. Bidzina
Ivanishvili, le Catholicos Karekine II lui avait demande de bien
vouloir examiner le cas de ce prisonnier politique armenien.

Le 24 Janvier, dans le cadre de l’amnistie generale votee par le
Parlement georgien, Vahakn Chakahlyan etait libere. Il s’etait aussitôt
rendu a la cathedrale sainte Etchmiadzine du quartier armenien de
Havlabar de Tiflis où il avait ete chaleureusement accueilli par
les membres de la communaute locale et l’eveque Vazken Mirzakhanyan,
Primat du Diocèse. V. Chakahlyan avait eu un entretien telephonique
avec Sa saintete Karekine II qui l’avait joint pour lui accorder sa
benediction. Il semblerait que M. Saakachvili et son ancien ministre
de l’Interieur qui avait ” instruit ” le dossier de V.

Chakahlyan, n’aient pas supporte cette liberation.

Centre d’informations du Diocèse de France de l’Eglise armenienne

jeudi 7 fevrier 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

US SAYS TURKISH COMMENTS ON ISRAEL ‘TROUBLING’

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. (Photo: Cihan)

6 February 2013 /TODAY’S ZAMAN, Ä°STANBUL

The United States has publicly criticized its NATO ally Turkey for its
blunt criticism against Israel and said it has formally conveyed its
concerns to Ankara.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Israel of conducting
“state terrorism” after the Jewish state reportedly carried out air
strikes inside Syria last week, while Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
has criticized the Syrian regime for not retaliating against Israel.

Responding on the comments, State Department spokesperson Victoria
Nuland called them “inflammatory” and said they are “obviously very
troubling to us.” Speaking at a daily press briefing on Tuesday,
Nuland also said the US side has “in the last 24 hours conveyed our
concerns on this matter with senior Turkish officials.”

She said the US administration has conveyed its concerns to Turkish
authorities via the US Embassy in Ankara. The new secretary of state,
John Kerry, did not raise the issue when he spoke to Foreign Minister
Davutoglu on the phone over the weekend because he was not aware of
the comments at that time, said Nuland.

“Our view here is that all of us need to keep our eye on the ball,
which is to get the violence to stop, to get [Bashar al-] Assad to
step down, and to turn the page towards a democratic Syria,” said
Nuland.

Erdogan on Sunday slammed Israel for the strike, which reportedly
targeted a convoy carrying anti-aircraft weapons bound for Lebanese
group Hezbollah, saying: “No one can tell what Israel will do and
where. … Those who have treated Israel like a spoiled boy in
particular can now expect anything from Israel at any time.”

Earlier, Davutoglu criticized President Assad for not “throwing a
stone at the Israeli planes while they fly over his palace and insult
his nation’s honor,” while his warplanes have been dropping bombs on
the Syrian people for 22 months.

Arguing that Assad is using the attack to boost support for his regime
among Muslim countries, Davutoglu asked if there was a secret
agreement between Assad and Israel. Syria should “do whatever a
country that comes under attack should do,” Davutoglu said.

Nuland said similar statements by Syrian opposition leaders calling
for retaliation against Israel were “individual comments from some
individuals” that do not reflect the views of the Syrian opposition as
a whole.

Turkey is one of the staunchest critics of the Assad regime and
supports the opposition, which seeks to topple him. Turkish-Israeli
relations have also been in a state of crisis since Israeli commandos
killed eight Turks and a Turkish-American in May 2010 during a raid on
an aid ship bound for Gaza.

In a sharply critical editorial published on Wednesday, Israeli
newspaper The Jerusalem Post attacked Erdogan and Davutoglu for their
latest remarks. Citing Davutoglu’s remarks that Turkey would not “stay
unresponsive” to an Israeli aggression against any Muslim country, the
daily asked: “If those are not fighting words, what are?”

“The West must stop deluding itself with regard to the political
leadership of Turkey. The time has come to recognize that Turkey has
changed radically — and for the worse,” it said.

YENI DUZEN REPORTS THAT NEAR EAST UNIVERSITY HAS GIVEN UP ON THE PROJECT TO TURN ARMENIAN CHURCH AND MONASTERY TO A TURCOLOGY CENTRE

Yeni Duzen (cover page & p. 16) reporter Osman Kalfaoglu writes that
the Near East University gives up on managing/operating the Armenian
Church and Monastery. Mustafa K. Kaymakamzade, Director of the EVKAF
Administration of Cyprus, stated that “the Near East University
quoted delays in handing over the Church to the University and the
media criticisms as the reasons for cancelling/revoking the contract”.

Kaymakamzade added that “it has been less than a week that NEU has
given up on the Armenian Church. We will have to sit down to evaluate
how the process will continue after this point. NEU accused the
EVKAF administration in their letter to revoke the contract. The
University claims that it has incurred losses as a result of the
EVKAF’s delay in handing over the Church to them.” Kalfaoglu adds that
“an unnamed source had claimed that NEU had to give up on the project
due to pressure from Ankara” however states that “Kaymakamzade denies
such claims”.

Kalfaoglu also reminds the readers that Kaymakamzade previously
had stated that the cancellation of the contract with the NEU for
the Armenian Church and Monastery was out of the question despite
criticisms from USAID and UNDP-ACT on the tendering process.

Kaymakamzade had also claimed that “both USAID and UNDP-ACT were
involved in evaluating the bids made and it was collectively decided
that NEU is the winner of the tendering process with 166.941 GBP.” He
had also mentioned that the Armenian Church would be utilized as a
centre to hold cultural activities and NEU would have to seek the
consent of the Armenian community for every event they would hold at
the premises.

The construction of the Armenian Church of Sourp Asdvadzadzin and
Monastery dates back to the 14th century.

The above about-turn is the direct result of the efforts of the
Armenian Representative in the Parliament Vartkes Mahdessian and a
committee from the local Temagan and Varchagan bodies comprising of
Sebouh Tavitian, Manoug Megerditchian and John Guevherian who during
the last 12 months have been monitoring the situation and have held
numerous meetings with concerned parties to rectify the situation.

BAKU CHANGED ITS MIND TO SHOOT DOWN PLANES

Panorama.am
13:27 05/02/2013

As soon as Armenian Defence Minister Seyran Ohanyan, National Security
Council Secretary Arthur Baghdasaryan and the CSTO Secretary-general
Nikolai Bordyuzha made statements commenting on Azerbaijan’s threats
on shooting down civilian planes bound for Stepanakert airport,
Azerbaijan changed its tone abruptly.

Yesterday, the Azerbaijani information agency 1news.az informed that
the Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Araz Azimov in the frameworks
of winter session of NATO International School in Azerbaijan (NISA)
“Challenges to Security in the Caspian Region” also touched the issue
of resumption of flights to Stepanakert airport.

“Azerbaijan, surely, is not going to shoot down civilian aircraft.

According to the Chicago Convention, there are certain rules that
are recognized by Azerbaijan. It is the rule of halting any unlawful
flight in the air in order to impede it and this is aimed at forcing
the violator to land at a particular airfield,” Araz Azimov said.

In the same time, Azimov stated that “these rules are adopted and are
used throughout the world,” and the Azerbaijani side “will not allow
committing illegal flights in its airspace.” “Thus, it’s wrong when
someone tries to speculate in advance whether Azerbaijan will or will
not shoot down civilian targets. It’s not professional attitude and
it is more like a speculation,” he said.

Referring to the statement made by Nikolai Bordyuzha, who noted that
had perceived the threats of Azerbaijan to destroy civilian aircraft as
a joke, Azimov noticed that it was the statement of the CSTO Secretary
General Nikolai Bordyuzha that was to be taken as “a rough, bad joke.”

As soon as the NKR authorities revealed their intentions to resume
flights in Stepanakert airport, the Azerbaijani side made a statement
in 2011 that the official Baku may destroy aircrafts, which will
land at the airport, built in the city of Stepanakert. On the 18th
of January 2013 Azerbaijani government approved the law on using the
airspace of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The adopted document enables
the Azerbaijani Air Forces to fire in the direction of flying objects
in NKR terretory and to shoot down Armenian civilian aircrafts.

On 29 January 2013 CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha, said
he doesn’t consider the threats of Baku to shoot down civilian
aircraft serious and takes it as a joke. In its turn, Security
Council Secretary Arthur Baghdasaryan, commented on threats of Baku
and said that such medieval way of thinking cannot be acceptable in
the 21st century, and any fact of attacking on civilian aircrafts is
reprehensible. Earlier, on 18 January 2013, Armenian Defense Minister
Seyran Ohanyan, commenting on the statement voiced by official Baku,
that Azerbaijan will not allow the exploitation of Stepanakert airport,
stated that the anti-aircraft defence forces of Armenian Armed Forces
will secure the operation and all the flights of civil aircrafts.

HAYRIKYAN TO ACT IN COMPLIANCE WITH AUTHORITIES’ INTERESTS – ANALYST

NEWS.AM
13:29 ~U 05.02.13

Presidential candidate Paruyr Hayrikyan conducted the first ten days
of his campaign without confronting the authorities, in the spirit
of loyalty to them, political analyst Hmayak Hovhannisian told a news
conference on Tuesday.

The decision not to postpone the presidential polls demonstrates
that Hayrikyan is going to take into consideration the authorities’
interests in future as well, he said.

“It was not a surprise as during the first ten days of his campaign
Hayrikyan was speaking in a very constructive way about the
authorities,” he said.

“Not using the right to postpone the elections, Hayrikyan will continue
in the same spirit and will try to smooth the voiced assessments
and put the accent on the way he has passed,” the political analyst
said, adding that in his activities and statements he will take into
consideration authorities’ interests at maximum.

Hovhannissyan said the ruling party was not interested in the
postponement of elections as February 18 is the beginning of Karabakh
movement and will be associated with glorification of Serzh Sargsyan.

“That person [Serzh Sargsyan] really had a big contribution during
those days while in case of postponement it would have coincided with
March 1, 2008 events when 10 people were killed in post-electoral
developments,” he said.

The analyst said it would have been beneficial for Paruyr Hayrikyan
to postpone the elections as during these 14 days the people would
have been speaking about him. Hovhannisian said on the other there
would have been an opportunity to reveal the criminal and the forces
standing behind it. “It is easy to reveal such crimes especially in
case when the victim so the face of the criminal,” he said.

The analyst said the rest is the issue of technology and said it is
rather strange that till now the photo robot of the criminal has not
been created.

HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK: TER-PETROSYAN MEETS PEOPLE’S PARTY OF ARMENIA LEADER

09:52 ~U 05.02.13

First president Levon Ter-Petrosyan visited Monday the People’s
Party of Armenia (PPA) leader, who was recently reported be abroad
for treatment.

The first president was very probably interested in Stepan Demirchyan’s
health, but the visit is thought to be very important in the light of
the recent developments in the opposition Armenian National Congress
(ANC) of which Ter-Petrosyan is the leader. The paper claims, citing
recent reports, that Demirchyan’s party is now going to withdraw from
the alliance. But in comments to the paper last week, Demirchyan
denied the report, saying that the PPA has been and remains a key
political party in the ANC.

The paper says further that the alliance is planning a rally on
March 1 in commemoration of the people who died in the March 1, 2008
post-electoral turmoil in Yerevan. Vahagn Hayotsyan of the Armenian
Pan-National Movement said earlier that they have already applied to
the Yerevan City Hall for permission, adding that Ter-Petrosyan is
going to be present at the event.

But the paper doubts that it is really going to be just a commemoration
rally not accompanied by political speeches. Sources in the opposition
alliance told Monday the Haykakan Zhamanak reporter that they are
still undecided about the plan. The paper notes that members of
different political parties and individuals who quit the ANC in the
recent years have always avoided speaking openly on that score. Only
one person, the Motherland and Honor party’s leader Garnik Margaryan,
has reportedly said that they will join the rally by all means if
that’s for the commemoration of the March 1 tragedy victims.

EX-ENVOY: CSTO CHIEF’S COMMENTS ON STEPANAKERT AIRPORT “JOURNALISTIC”

February 4, 2013 – 17:53 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha acted
as a journalist, rather than a head of a military institution when
commenting on Azerbaijani statements on shooting down Stepanakert-bound
civil airplanes, former Armenian ambassador to Canada said.

Ara Papian stressed the need for Bordyuzha to issue a clear statement
suggesting CSTO would impose sanctions if Baku used military force
against an ally.

CSTO head earlier described the Azerbaijani law allowing shooting
down the objects crossing Azeri airspace, including civil planes,
as a “bad joke”.

“It’s either incorrect wording, or a bad joke because I perceive
Azerbaijan as a civilized country adhering to universal norms. I
don’t think that any country believes itself authorized to shoot
down a civil aircraft. So, I don’t take the information seriously,”
CSTO Secretary General said.

Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Araz Azimov also commented on
CSTO Secretary General’s statement.

“Azerbaijan will not allow illegal flights over its airspace. It’s
not in Azerbaijan’s plans to shoot down civil aircrafts. There are
certain rules in line with Chicago Convention and Azerbaijan recognizes
these rules. In order to prevent illegal flights, these rules envisage
forcing the aircraft to land in certain airdrome,” Azimov said.

TOSOUNYAN FAMILY STAGE PROTEST; DEMAND A FAIR TRIAL
Narek Aleksanyan

;-demand-a-fair-trial.html
16:03, February 5, 2013

Relatives of Gevorg Tosounyan, accused of participating in a fight
resulting in the death of Grigori Papyan, staged a demonstration
today outside the Prosecutor General’s Office in Yerevan demanding
a fair trial.

The murder if Papyan took place on August 28, 2010 in the town of
Qajaran after a fight broke out at a local cafe. The time of the
murder was around 8pm.

Gevorg Tosounyan mother, Manya Grigoryan, told Hetq that there had
been an argument at 8pm but that the fight itself occurred at 11:30pm
and that her son wasn’t involved.

She says that her son had later gone to Russia but voluntarily returned
and handed himself in when Armenian police issued a search warrant
for his arrest two years later. Tosounyan was immediately arrested.

Her husband Hakop has also been in police custody for the past six
months on the same charge. Mrs. Grigoryan claims she and her husband
were in Russia at the time of the murder.

The Tosounyan family complains that the trial has dragged on
indefinitely.

Family lawyer Vahagn Manoukyan told Hetq that the family is being
hounded.

“The father and two sons are being detained. Gevorg is accused of
hooliganism and the father for supplying false testimony,” Manoukyan
said.

There are ten defendants in the case. The Tosounyans have declared
they had no involvement whatsoever in the fight.

Also arrested in the case are Edik Hovsepyan, a former Syunik Deputy
Prosecutor, Arman Yengoyan, a former Syunik police investigator,
and former Kapan operational deputy police Chief Gagik Danielyan.

The lawyer said a trial date has yet to be set.

ARMENIA WILL PRESENT ITS OWN REASONABLE PRECONDITIONS – PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

NEWS.AM
February 05, 2013 | 17:48

YEREVAN. – Armenia should withdraw its signature and put an end to
the shameful Armenian-Turkish protocols, said Armenian presidential
candidate, leader of Heritage party Raffi Hovannisian this Tuesday,
when meeting with voters in the city of Ararat, Ararat region,
Armenian News-NEWS.am reports.

“Either diplomatic relations are established until April 24, 2015,
and the Armenian-Turkish border is opened, or the Armenian side will,
for the first time, present its own reasonable preconditions for the
normalization of relations between the two countries,” the presidential
candidate said.

According to him, the Javakheti region will become the factor which
will provide common security of the two nations, while maintaining
their national, ethnic, and administrative rights, instead of splitting
Armenia and Georgia apart.

“Finally, we should reach the construction of horizontal relations,
with Russia, the United States of America, China and the European
Union, who are our partners, of course, with the pursuit of our
national interests,” Hovannisian said.

SERZH SARGSYAN AVOIDS DEBATING WITH ME – PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE HRANT BAGRATYAN

NEWS.AM
February 05, 2013 | 19:02

YEREVAN.- Serzh Sargsyan is avoiding electoral debates, Armenian
presidential candidate, former PM Hrant Bagratyan told voters in
Armavir, the administrative center of Armavir region.

According to Bagratyan, no candidate answered to any of his debate
invitations, Armenian News-NEWS.am correspondent reports.

Bagratyan said he is ready to hold debates with Serzh Sargsyan who
“has no program.”

“Five years ago, they promised to increase domestic production by 100%
– but increased by 4%, while the global average is 14%. Consequently,
the regime of Sargsyan set us back by 10% from the entire world. I
admit that not all industries can be equally well versed. Let him send
the Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Central
Bank then. I am ready to debate with all of them together. But they
are not coming,” Bagratyan said.

He recalled that a year ago, on the eve of parliamentary elections,
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan rejected similar invitation.

“We feel, and they understand that such debates are dangerous for
them. They understand who is willing to follow through. And if I
feel that there is such desire in the people, no doubt, that I will
join this course, and sooner or later I will reach the goal,” the
presidential candidate concluded.