Author: Kanayan Tamar

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Aug 27 2012

Armenia fosters ‘genocide’ campaigns in France, Israel

by Sevim Songün Demirezen
ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

Armenia pushes for its genocide claims of 1915 killings in a recent
move as the genocide museum in Yerevan will cooperate with Jerusalem’s
Holocaust museum. France adds Armenian ‘genocide’ in history books.

Armenia has sped up its efforts to promote its genocide claims ahead
of the 100th anniversary of the 1915 killings of Armenians, with
actions in two countries – France and Israel – whose relations with
Turkey have deteriorated over the past few years.

The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute in Yerevan and the Yad Vashem
Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem will establish cooperation in many
areas, according to an Israeli minister. Reports from France also
claim that newly issued history textbooks contain Armenian genocide
claims, a move likely to further strain already tense relations with
Ankara.

“I offered the Genocide Museum-Institute administration to cooperate
with Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem,” Israeli Minister of
Information and Diaspora Yuli Edelstein was quoted as saying by the
Panarmenian news website. “Both our nations have been victims of
horrible crimes against humanity. I think the two institutions would
cooperate quite effectively in terms of the selection of exhibits and
the organization of pavilions,” Edelstein said Aug. 24 during a visit
to Yerevan.

Although Israel does not officially recognize the alleged Armenian
genocide, Edelstein wrote the following in the visitor’s book at the
genocide museum in Yerevan: “Nobody in Israel denies the fact of
Armenian Genocide.”

Turkey’s relations with Israel are tense, since Israeli commandos
killed nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists on May 2010 in a raid on
the Mavi Marmara flotilla, which aimed to stop the embargo on Gaza.

Cultural cooperation between Armenia and Israel is not surprising at a
time when Turkey’s relations with Israel have come to the zero point,
Turkish columnist Semih Ýdiz told the Hürriyet Daily News yesterday.

France, where a recent bill penalizing the denial of Armenian
“genocide” was annulled by the French Constitutional Council, will
start to teach Armenian genocide allegations to secondary students.

‘Redundant’ details in French textbooks

History-Geography Teachers Council Secretary General Hubert Tison said
the chapter in the new French textbooks gives “redundant” detailed
information on the issue, according to daily Hürriyet. Turkish
Education Ministry officials say they will respond in line with
international law through diplomatic channels. Ýdiz, a columnist for
Turkish daily Milliyet and also for the Daily News, said the concept
of that the Armenians suffered a genocide was part of French society,
and also said further campaigns would continue until 2015. French
President François Hollande has vowed to introduce a new bill
penalizing denial of the Armenian genocide.

Süha Umar, a retired Turkish ambassador, told the Daily News that the
two developments were a sign of the failures of Turkish foreign
policy, caused by perceived Turkish weaknesses on the issue.

Hollande’s approval declines

PARIS – Reuters

French President François Hollande’s approval rating fell to 54
percent in August, continuing a steady decline since he came to
office, according to a poll released on Aug. 25. The poll, by Ifop for
Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper, marked a slide from 61 percent who
were satisfied or very satisfied with Hollande’s performance in May,
the month he became president, to 59 percent in June and 56 percent in
July. The declining ratings reflect the challenges Hollande faces in
tackling high unemployment and a stagnant economy.

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Aug 26 2012

Turkish intelligence announce recruitment of specialists with
knowledge of Hebrew, Arabic, Persian and Armenian

Turkey’s National Intelligence Service (MIT) reported that, in
response to the announcement of the recruitment specialists with
knowledge of Arabic, Persian, Armenian and Hebrew, they received a
response from a large number of citizens, according to the portal
NEWS.am. The same news circulated in a number of other Armenian
Internet resources.

The Armenian website refers to a statement issued by the intelligence
service in the Turkish news agency Hurriyet that on July 25 they
announced the need for such specialists. Many who read this posting
applied to the MIT via the internet. The deadline for applications is
September 3.

Applicants must be citizens of Turkey, serving in the Army. Priority
will be given to those who can work in different regions of Turkey and
the world, the report says.

Moreover, those who scored over 70 points in Armenian and Persian
language tests will be exempt from the test of a second foreign
language.

The Times (London)
August 25, 2012 Saturday
Edition 1; National Edition

Music CD Reviews
Staying In
…

Jordi Savall: Armenian Spirit ****

Haunting and tragic, this CD is a double-lament – for Jordi Savall’s
late wife, the singer Montserrat Figueras, who loved Armenian music,
and for Armenia, with its long history of foreign subjugation and
massacre. With meticulous scholarship, Savall and his group, HespÈrion
XXI, bring together an hour of Armenian traditional music: sinuous
tunes and dark timbres (the quivering Armenian duduk, prominent),
winding over drones or lugubrious drum patterns. It is hypnotic and
exquisitely melancholic. An accompanying booklet offers
thought-provoking essays about Armenia’s history and culture.

Lurer.com, Armenia
Aug 25 2012

Around 1500 shots were fired in the direction of Armenian positions

2012-08-25 16:31:50

According to Defense Army’s operative data the adversary violated the
ceasefire, at the line of contact between the Karabakh-Azerbaijani
opposing forces, more than 300 times from August 19-25, during which
around 1500 shots were fired in the direction of Armenian
positions – and by way of using different-caliber artillery weapons.

Defense Army vanguard units primarily refrained from taking
retaliatory actions, and confidently carried out their military turn
of duty along the entire length of the line of contact.

NKR Defense Army Media and Propaganda Department

Mehr news agency, Iran
Aug 23 2012

Armenian president to attend NAM summit in Iran

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan will attend the Non-Aligned Movement
summit to be held in Tehran in late August, Mehr reported on 22
August.

“Armenia is an observer member of the Non-Aligned Movement. The
Armenian president will represent the country at the Non-Aligned
Movement summit to be held in Tehran,” the agency quoted Armenia’s
ambassador to Iran Grigor Arakelyan as saying.

Turkey should not distort essence of Karabakh conflict – deputy FM

tert.am
19:41 – 25.08.12

Turkey should not attempt to distort the essence of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict if it really wishes to assist in the current
conflict settlement efforts, a deputy minister of foreign affairs,
Shavarsh Kocharyan, has told Panorama.am.

Kocharyan particularly said that the country should avoid preventing
the people of Karabakh from exercising their right to
self-determination as it did in the late 1980s and the 1990s,
resorting to ethnic cleansing and large-scale military aggression.

`To achieve an effective settlement, Turkey had better urge Azerbaijan
to negotiate with the real conflicting party, i.e., Nagorno-Karabakh.
The least Turkey can do is to stop supporting Azerbaijan’s
all-or-nothing policy,’ he said, commenting on a recent statement by
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Turkey’s top diplomat had particularly said that his country has
become a regional leader due to its efforts towards assisting in the
settlement of conflicts.

`We would like the negotiations over Syria to take place in Turkey. We
would also wish the meetings between Armenia and Azerbaijan to be held
in Istanbul,’ the Azerbaijani media quoted Davutoglu as saying.

Statement of Armenian NGOs

On February 19, 2004 in Budapest, Hungary, where the courses were held
in the framework of the NATO program ‘Partnership for Peace’, there
was a horrific event, which flatly denied the essence and meaning of
the program. Late at night Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov
penetrated into the room of classmates and brutally hacked sleeping
Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan with beforehand purchased ax. This
unprecedented crime disturbed not only Armenia and Hungary, but also
the whole Europe.

The trial of Safarov lasted more than two years, during which the
Azerbaijani side was trying to discredit the memory of the Armenian
officer, pushing against him many accusations, and to achieve for
criminal possible lenient sentence. During the trial have been
convincingly refuted all the accusations against the deceased officer
and proved their inadequacy and artificiality. Judge Andrash Vaskuti
and the prosecution had perfectly conducted the whole process,
strictly adhering to the wording and spirit of the Hungarian and
European legislation. Ramil Safarov was sentenced to the maximum
penalty: life imprisonment without a right filing a petition for a
pardon during the first 30 years. All appeals from the Azerbaijani
side were rejected.

Already in custody, Safarov had conducted an attack towards the prison
security guard
, which was the
basis for initiating against him another criminal case and impose a
second sentence.

Azerbaijani side from the first day has unsuccessfully tried to
extradite Safarov. Representatives of state and public structures
afforded statements justifying heinous crime. Thus, the Azerbaijani
Ombudsman Suleymanova said that ‘Safarov should be an example for
young people.’ Ramil Safarov was declared his country’s national
hero.

All the past 8 years, the Hungarian side has proven its commitment to
the norms of international law, rejecting any possibility of
extradition of criminal to his homeland. However, the Azerbaijani and
Turkish parties persist in their efforts to extradite Safarov. Thus,
the recent report proves the collection of signatures in Turkey, which
require proponents to reconsider the sentence, implementing
unreasonable and unacceptable historical parallels. Similar messages
appear regularly also in the Azerbaijani media.

We believe it is our duty to address the Hungarian public and
government agencies with an appeal to prevent the extradition of
Safarov to Azerbaijan, where it is certainly not expected further
punishment, but nothing more than freedom, honor and even greater
glorification. As evidence, we present only one sentence: a year ago
made by the head of the department of Political Analysis and
Information Support of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan
Elnur Aslanov said that ‘valor of those like Ramil Safarov gave
Azerbaijani society and people a second wind.’

We have no doubts that in Hungary are perfectly aware of the fact that
the hatred towards Armenians and xenophobia raised to the rank of
state policy of Azerbaijan. This was recorded in the report of the
European Commission against Racism and Intolerance for the year of
2011. We would like to remind that the President of Azerbaijan, in one
of his recent speeches called Armenians as enemy number one for
Azerbaijan. We also would like to remind that during the trial in
Budapest the attorney of Safarov stated that ‘killing an Armenian is
not a crime in Azerbaijan.’

Having said all it is even hard to imagine the consequences that may
result from extradition of Safarov to Azerbaijan. This is unacceptable
in the first place given the gravity of his crime and the attitude
towards that crime in Azerbaijan. But far more serious can be the
consequences in the context of relapse of the crime over the
world. For Azerbaijani youth, brought up to hate the Armenians and
glorify the killer, extradition will be a call to action in the
knowledge that the punishment will inevitably be soft, and the laurels
of hero killer of Armenians on this background will become too
attractive. In this case, the responsibility for the potential crimes
certainly will lie not only on Azerbaijan, but also on Hungary. It
should also be noted that the extradition against the frequent
violations of the ceasefire with Azerbaijan could spark a renewal of
bloody war.

We call upon the corresponding structures of friendly Hungary to think
about the inevitable consequences of such a step. Only in the country
of the crime, in the colony of strict regime Safarov must serve his
sentence, imposed on him by Hungarian court. This requires not only
the memory of Armenian young man brutally murdered, but the
obligations of Hungary, as the country, which has proven its
commitment to human rights norms, morality and humanity.

1. `Foundation Against Violation of Law’ NGO

Mikayel Aramyan – President

2. Gyumri Development Fund

Artush Lazarian – Chairperson

3. `Khoran Ard’ Intelectual Centre NGO

Armen Petrosyan – Executive Director

4. `Our Home Armenia’

Nikolai Babajanyan – Chairperson, Member of Armenian-Russian Union of NGOs

5. `Improve Our Village’ NGO

Anahit Tovmasyan – President

6. `Trtu’ Cultural NGO

Temik Khalapyan

7. Association ‘For Sustainable Human Development’

Karine Danielyan – Chairperson

8. ‘Foundation for Small and Medium Businesses’

Gagik Poghosyan – President

9. `Association of Foreign Investment and Cooperation’

Andranik Aleksanyan – Board President

10. Armenian Assembly of Azerbaijan

Grigory Ayvazyan – President

11. International Center for Human Development

Tevan Poghosyan – Executive Director

12. `Protection of Rights Without Borders’ NGO

Siranush Sahakyan – President

13. Guarantee Center Of Civil Society NGO

Sergey Gabrielyan

15:17:30 – 25/08/2012

Armenia’s maternal mortality rate falls in past five years

news.am
August 25, 2012 | 17:03

YEREVAN. – A total of 15, 13, 4 and 3 cases of maternal mortality were
recorded in Armenia in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively. And
four such cases have been registered in the first seven months of the
current year.

The primary causes of maternal mortality in Armenia likewise used to
be obstetrical bleeding, hyperintense interruption of pregnancy,
post-birth complications, and abortions, Pastinfo News Agency informs.

In the maternal mortalities recorded in the past five years, however,
the causes that are not directly related to pregnancy and childbirth
have become more frequent, and their regularity exceeds the major
causes of respective deaths in the previous years.

Five of the forty women – that is, 12.5 percent – who lost their lives
from 2008 to 2012 and as a result of pregnancy, childbirth, and
post-birth complications in Armenia, had died at home. And such cases
of death are primarily conditioned on extragenital diseases, or
unforeseen causes during short-term pregnancies, or the post-birth
period.

In the case of the women who died as a result of extragenital
diseases, the pregnancies were up to six-seven weeks, and the
pregnancy was discovered only during autopsy.

But the sole consolation under this truly dire situation is the fact
that the maternal mortality rate in Armenia is falling in the past
five years.

`My Kid Doesn’t Have Any Clothes or Shoes, My Dear,’ a Protester Says to
Taron Margaryan (Video)

Aug 24
August 24, 2012 00:10

Residents of
the area on Buzand and Aram Streets to be exploited who had gathered
outside the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) office, so to say, `caught
by
surprise’ Taron Margaryan, the mayor of Yerevan, after the RPA council
meeting. The mayor `got along’ with them. In any case, the residents were
satisfied and happy after the meeting.

Taron Margaryan asked a City Hall worker to write down everyone’s phone
number and assured that their
problem would be necessarily solved. A woman protester, a resident of the
community of Erebuni, approached him and told him with her eyes full of
tears that she had a schoolchild, `He doesn’t have any clothes or
shoes,
my dear.’ The mayor asked whether she had applied to the City Hall. The
woman went, `Unless you tell them, the City Hall won’t solve that issue.’
Taron Margaryan ordered his workers, `Write down her phone number and you
will go to Artur Karapetyan tomorrow. You can go to Chorbulakh without
worrying and come to the City Hall tomorrow.’

According to one of the protesters, `I am a 60-year-old woman, I have no
job, nothing, how shall I make the payment, how shall I live, many of us
owe money to banks, pay interests.’

One of them demanded, `Mr. Margaryan, we don’t ask much from you, give
us our land, give us our 4 walls to live. If this issue is not solved,
I have decided to lock my door and leave Armenia.’

When we inquired of the mayor when those people’s problem would be
eventually solved, he explained, `A commission has been established in the
Ministry of Finance headed by
the minister. Representatives of all interested parties are involved in
that commission. The fact is being discussed; the commission will make
public its final decision after the discussion.’

In response to an observation of whether it wasn’t late to
discuss it after 8 years, he said, `The commission has just been
established and be sure that the commission will do everything to solve the
problem.’

They made different promises, when they tried to turn people out of their
homes at the time. In response to this observation of ours, Taron Margaryan
said, `That is why a criminal case has been opened against those investors,
those owners who deceived our citizens and we will see the criminal case
through in accordance with the law.’

Syrian-Armenian families apply for refugee status in Armenia since 2012

armradio.am
25.08.2012 13:40

46 Syrian-Armenian families have applied for a refugee status in
Armenia ever since the beginning of this year until Friday. And all
respective applications were approved, the Asylum Affairs Department
of Armenia’s State Migration Service told Pastinfo News Agency.
According to the same source, SMS has approved all applications for
receiving housing, and dwellings were allocated for 51 members from 21
such families. Other Syrian Armenians have chosen to live at the homes
of their friends and relatives in Armenia.
Pursuant to Armenia’s law, the persons who are recognized as refugees
and have been granted asylum in the country are under Armenia’s
protection. They are given the right to legally reside in the country,
and without any time limitations.