Author: Kanayan Tamar

ARMENIANS ARE MOST TARGETED IN TURKISH MEDIA STORIES CONTAINING HATE SPEECH

news.am
June 20, 2012 | 13:15

ISTANBUL. – The number of headlines and news stories that vilified
specific groups on the basis of ethnicity, religion or other
characteristics increased to 115 in the first four months of 2012,
up from 38 over the same period last year, a report by the Hrant Dink
Foundation has found.

The Foundation screened seventeen newspapers for hate speech, Zaman
daily of Turkey informs.

The report, which was announced to the press on Monday, found a
striking quantitative increase in the number of stories that could be
classified as employing hate speech. In reports collated last year,
there were 38, 41 and 27 such stories spotted in Turkish newspapers
in three consecutive four-month periods. This figure was 115 for the
January-April 2012 period.

The foundation also found an increase in the number of groups that
were targeted by hateful reporting, a trend that has been on the rise
since late 2011. Earlier this year, 17 different groups were targeted
by hateful speech in the media-the highest figure ever since the
foundation started monitoring the media for discriminatory language.

According to the report, Armenians were the most targeted group during
the January-April 2012 period-more than half of the stories containing
hate speech had targeted this group. They were followed by Christians,
Jews, Greeks (in Turkey and Cyprus), the French, and the Kurds.

“We frequently witness that the media in Turkey employs biased,
prejudiced and discriminatory language. The provocative, racist and
discriminatory language used, particularly in front page stories
and story headlines, turns into instruments that trigger hostility
and discriminatory sentiment in society and strengthens bias based
on stereotypes,” states the Hrant Dink Foundation’s report, RFE/RL
informs.

ARMENIA NEEDS RADICAL DEVELOPMENT: PRIME MINISTER OF ARMENIA

ARMEPRESS
20 June, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS: Armenia’s government distinctly realizes
that there are a number of issues in the country, said Prime Minister
of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan while presenting the government program at
the National Assembly, Armenpress reports. “We have always been open
and transparent, have accepted the sound criticism, and we ourselves
have revealed many issues,” stressed the head of the government. He
underlined that we lack high quality working places, emigration and
poverty remain issues needing urgent solution. As the next primary
issue Tigran Sargsyan noted that we have not yet managed to get rid
of the corruption completely, to create equal competitive conditions
for enterprises. Abuse of the dominant position in economy is still a
phenomenon of frequent occurrence. Society’s trust toward the judicial
system is low. “Government’s program has a goal to solve these issues.

In these conditions we need a radical development. A development,
the main guarantee of which will be relying on the own forces and
mobilization of domestic resources,” said the Prime Minister. He also
stressed that from these very issues stem the 3 main priorities of
the government -competitiveness increase of the economy, development
of the human capital and development of the institutional capacities.

ADVICE: MAKE SURE YOU SEE THE GRAPES
Barbara Parent

Posted: Wednesday, June 20, 2012 2:18 pm

“Make sure you see the grapes,” my mother would caution whenever I
went to pick wild grape leaves.

The wild grape leaves were essential for sarma. Ever since my
Armenian grandmother died, our family did not have sarma made with
grape leaves. My mother would make sarma with cabbage, which was
very good but not as good as the sarma made with grape leaves. The
same ingredients went into both sarmas – ground beef, onions, rice,
crushed tomatoes and lots of fresh mint. Perhaps it was the memory of
childhood and my grandmother watching over the pot of sarmas made with
grape leaves that brought hunger for them. My grandmother would gather
the wild grape leaves, but from where? My mother didn’t know where
her mother got them. I was only 12 when my grandmother died. Would
I have thought to ask?

Yet the memory is sweet. My brother and I could hardly contain
ourselves as we waited for the sarmas to cook. They were piled in a
large pot, and I can still see my grandmother standing by the stove,
her full-length apron covering the front of her house dress and tied
at her ample waist. Her salt-and-pepper hair is pulled back off her
face and wrapped in a bun at the nape of her neck. I see her lift the
cover from the pot and carefully remove the heat-proof plate that is
on the rolls to keep them in place.

I see her put a large spoon into the pot and pull out a sarma and
place in on a plate. My brother and I must wait as the steam curls
upward and is joined by another stream after she cuts the roll in
half. She cautions that if we bite into the sarma too soon, we will
burn our tongues.

There were times in the years since my grandmother died when I would
eat a sarma made with grape leaves. I could guess that it was at the
Armenian picnic that was held each summer at Batterson Park in New
Britain and that I would attend with my mother. My memory is fuzzy
and perhaps it is due to so many years passing.

I do remember in later years eating stuffed grape leaves on a salad
bar. However, they are not like the sarmas that my grandmother made.

They are filled with only rice and are served cold. They are available
fresh in specialty food stores, usually garnish Greek salads and are
also sold in cans at most supermarkets.

A well-meaning friend once brought me a jar of grape leaves – not
stuffed, just the leaves. I made the sarma with them, but they did
not taste like my grandmother’s sarma. I figured that the grape leaves
had to be wild grape leaves and that was all there was to it.

I did not have to go far in my quest for wild grape leaves. A keen
Armenian eye such as mine sees them along the roadside working their
way up the trunks of trees and just hanging all over the place. Ah,
but my mother’s warning is there: “Make sure you see the grapes!”

The first time I picked wild grape leaves I may have seen tiny green
grapes that were yet to become ripe. Then again maybe I didn’t. It was
over 30 years ago, so who can say for sure. In the years since, I have
made many batches of sarma with grape leaves I have picked at various
spots along the roadside. I think that the art of gathering wild grape
leaves wasn’t as intricate as my mother may have believed. My mother
was a worrier.

My grandmother was born in Armenia in 1894. Her family escaped to
America before the Ottoman Empire began the campaign to rid their
borders of the Armenians. Yet, it is said that all generations of
Armenians carry the scar of the 1915 genocide. It is their nature,

G MELIKYA: GREAT BRITAIN PURSUING OIL INTERESTS IN AZERBAIJAN

Panorama.am
20/06/2012

“The right to self-determination of peoples has always been a
priority. However, some states or statesmen, depending on certain
geo-political situation, make selective statements,” RPA council
member Gagik Melikyan said commenting on Great Britain’s PM statement:
“I am not proposing a full discussion now on the Falklands, but I
hope you noted they are holding a referendum and you should respect
their views. We believe in self-determination and act as democrats
here in the G20.”

Speaking to Panorama.am Mr Melikyan hailed Mr Cameron’s statement
on self-determination right, but stressed that they are making it
whenever they find it accurate.

“Great Britain is pursuing certain oil interests in Azerbaijan,
and it’s not favorable for them to emphasize the importance of
self-determination of NK people. I would like to remind Mister Cameron
that defined by the UN Charter the right to self-determination, unlike
the right to territorial integrity, is not only a principle, but a
goal and it would be better to remark this when issuing statements
about NK issue,” he said.

US COVERS ARMENIA IN ITS ANNUAL REPORT ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING

16:29 . 20/06

“Up to 27 million people are living in slavery around the world,”
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced as the US unveiled
its annual report on human trafficking.

185 countries are included in the report of US State Department. They
are divided into three classes. The third class is considered the
blacklist including 16 countries. Algeria, the Democratic Republic
of Congo, North Korea, Saudi Arabia are among them.

For the first time Syria has also appeared in the blacklist. Armenia
and Azerbaijan are among the 42 countries of the second class. Georgia
is in the first class.

Armenia is defined as a source country for women and girls subjected
to sex trafficking, as well as a source country for women and men
subjected to forced labor. To a lesser extent it is viewed as a
destination country for women subjected to forced labor. Women and
girls from Armenia are subjected to sex trafficking in the United
Arab Emirates and Turkey, and within the country.

The Department of State experts find that the Government of Armenia
does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination
of trafficking though it is making significant efforts to do so.

ARMENIA IS COMMITTED TO THE POLICY OF ESTABLISHING RELATIONS WITH TURKEY WITHOUT PRECONDITIONS

ARMENPRESS
20 June, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS: Armenia remains committed to the policy
of establishing relations with Turkey without preconditions, said
Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan at the National Assembly
in answer to the question of MP Vahan Hovhannisyan, Armenpress reports.

“Our initial political decision has not changed. We think that the
process implemented through mediation of Switzerland was the most
correct way, in case of which, we, nevertheless, keep true to our
principles,” said the head of the government.

He noted that Armenia has left the mentioned process, increasing its
international reputation, in regard to which the representatives of
both the US, Russia and European Union have made statements.

“Everyone saw that Armenia is faithful to its principles and our
policy has justified itself,” Tigran Sargsyan stressed.

ISSUES OF OPENING OF STEPANAKERT AIRPORT DISCUSSED AT NKR PRESIDENT’S OFFICE

armradio.am
19.06.2012 14:44

On 18 June President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Bako Sahakyan
received the delegation of the General Department of Civil Aviation
under the Armenian Cabinet of Ministers led by head of the structure
Artyom Movsesyan.

Issues related to the re-opening of the Stepanakert airport and
development of civil aviation in the republic were discussed during
the meeting.

Special attention was paid to the prospects of cooperation in this
sphere between the corresponding structures of the two Armenian
states, Central Information Department of the Office of the NKR
President reported.

PRISONERS SET FIRE IN MORE TURKISH JAILS

PanARMENIAN.Net
June 19, 2012 – 13:50 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Prisoners ignited fires in three Turkish jails
following a riot the same day in a Å~^anlıurfa prison in which 13
inmates died June 16 in a protest against poor living conditions,
Hurriyet Daily News reported.

Political prisoners in Gaziantep prison started a fire in solidarity
with the riot in Å~^anlıurfa, just as juvenile prisoners in Adana’s
Ceyhan prison torched blankets and mattresses.

Prisoners at the Adana prison said they started the fire due to water
shortages at the facility; whistles from prisoners could be heard
from outside as firefighters struggled to put out the flames.

The number of prisoners has increased to 132,000 from 69,000 over
the last 10 years even though Turkeyâ~@~Ys penitentiaries only had
a total capacity of 125,000 people as of April 2012.

Over 36,400 prisoners are detainees awaiting trial while over 95,600
have been convicted.

STILL NO PROGRESS IN HEALTH CONDITIONS OF MILITARY PHYSICIANS BEATEN IN YEREVAN RESTAURANT

news.am
June 19, 2012 | 12:05

YEREVAN. – MOD Central Garrison Military Hospital’s Medical Service
Major Vahe Avetyan, who was brutally beaten at a restaurant complex
belonging to ruling Republican Party MP and Football Federation
of Armenia President Ruben Hayrapetyan, is still in very critical
condition and there is no positive progress, the Hospital informed
Armenian News-NEWS.am.

And the other doctor, Artak Bayadyan who likewise was beaten, still
is in critical condition. He is regaining consciousness at irregular
intervals.

To note, Armenia’s Police has sent the criminal case to MOD
Investigation Service.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, a brutal fight transpired
at the restaurant complex on Sunday at around 11pm. And according to
the information Armenian News-NEWS.am received, MOD Central Garrison
Military Hospital’s department dead, Medical Service Major Vahe
Avetyan was the person who was beaten. He was transferred to the
Hospital with a critical head injury and he underwent surgery.

According to preliminary reports, Avetyan was beaten by Ruben
Hayrapetyan’s security personnel.

A criminal case is opened on charges of intentionally causing serious
health damage.

L’ARMENIE ET L’IRAN FIXENT UNE NOUVELLE DATE POUR LA CONSTRUCTION D’UNE CENTRALE ELECTRIQUE
Stephane

armenews.com
mardi 19 juin 2012

Après des annees de retard, l’Armenie et l’Iran commenceront finalement
a construire en août une centrale hydroelectrique sur la rivière
marquant la frontière ont annonce des fonctionnaires.

Des sources officielles armeniennes et iraniennes ont declare qu’un
accord a ce sujet avait ete atteint pendant la visite du Ministre
iranien de l’Energie Majid Namjou a Erevan.

Majib Namjou a rencontre le President Serge Sarkissian et le ministre
armenien de l’Energie et des Ressources naturelles Armen Movsisian
au sujet des projets energetiques entre les deux pays. Le service de
presse de Sarkissian a cite Namjou affirmant que le travail sur la
centrale hydroelectrique commencera ” bientôt “.

Le porte-parole du Ministère de l’Energie et des Ressources naturelles,
Lusine Harutiunian, a dit au service armenien de RFE/RL (Azatutyun.am)
que Namjou et Movsisian ont consenti a commencer l’execution du projet
en août.

Des sources iraniennes ont parle de la date du 22 août.

Le travail demarrera simultanement sur les deux rives de la rivière
Araxe qui separe l’Armenie et l’Iran.

Les gouvernements armeniens et iraniens se sont mis d’accord pour la
construction d’une centrale produisant 140 megawatt par an pour un
coût de 350 millions de $.