Author: Nalbandian Albert

YEREVAN COURTS ENTERTAINS AN ACTION ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.10.2009 11:43 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ First instance court of Kentron and Nork Marash
communities of Yerevan entertained an action Ararat strategic research
center director Armen Ayvazyan filed against Caucasus Institute.

The judicial day has not been determined yet, spokesperson for Court
of Cassation Alina Yengoyan told PanARMENIAN.Net.

Caucasus Institute, whose administration is accused by Ayvazyan of
Armenian Genocide denial, has not received a summons either.

Arshile Gorky on exhibit in Yerevan, Armenia

armradio.am
17.10.2009 15:35

The first major exhibition in Yerevan of original work by the
American-Armenian artist Arshile Gorky will take place at the
Cafesjian Center from 8 November 2009 through 31 January 2010. Arshile
Gorky: Selections from the Gerard L. Cafesjian Collection will exhibit
16 drawings and 7 paintings by the man who would become known as the
most monumental presence in American twentieth-century art. This is
the first major exhibition of original work in Armenia by Arshile
Gorky, an artist once described by a critic of the time as a `hero of
Abstract Expressionism.’

`The many preliminary drawings and oil sketches in this exhibition
provide unparalleled insight into Gorky’s unique working method,’ Dr.
Michael De Marsche, Executive Director of the Cafesjian Center for the
Arts, recently stated. `Gorky’s complex, large-scale compositions of
cohesive design and universal theme continue to be viewed as some of
the finest examples of American art at mid-century,’ added Dr. De
Marsche.

Arshile Gorky fled Western Armenia during the genocide of 1915 and
witnessed the death of his mother from starvation. After living in
Yerevan for a period of time, he arrived in the United States in 1920
at the age of fifteen. Gorky remained passionate about Armenia
throughout his life. In the many letters he sent to his brother Moorad
and sister Vartoosh, he expressed a longing to return to Western
Armenia, and wrote poetically about every possible aspect of the land:
the ancient khachkars of its villages; the salty air of his native
region of Van; the fragrance of the country’s mountain air; the dolma
he ate as a youth; and, of course, his beloved Mount Ararat, `the
brain of nature,’ as he described it, `ordaining its movements.’

Arshile Gorky eventually became one of the most influential painters
of the twentieth century, and just as his career was reaching new
heights, his life ended tragically in suicide in 1948. The Gorky
exhibition will be one of many exhibitions commemorating the opening
of the Cafesjian Center for the Arts: a fitting tribute to a man whose
death 60 years ago has been marked by major exhibitions of his work in
museums throughout the world, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art
and London’s Tate Modern.

The Cafesjian Center for the Arts Grand Opening Celebration will begin
on the evening of Saturday, November 7th, with a spectacular fireworks
display near the Cascade monument. The Cascade has been completely
transformed into one of the world’s outstanding contemporary art
centers. On Sunday, November 8th, the Center invites the public to
view all the renovations that have taken place inside the Cascade, and
to enjoy an outstanding schedule of exhibitions, lectures,
book-signings, and events.

EIFFEL TOWER ILLUMINATED

ITN Independent Television News
October 7, 2009 Wednesday

One of Paris’ most famous monuments has been lit up in red and white
to mark the start of the Turkish season.

Tourists will be able to enjoy the changes to the iconic tower until
October 11.

Turkish spectators who had come to watch the lighting said it was
important for relations between France and Turkey. Gorgon Taner said
that it emphasised Turkey’s presence in Europe.

"Europe without Turkey has something missing. So I think Turkey is
going to be part of the European Union not later than in a couple of
years, because we have a very young and dynamic population, and a big
and very dynamic market, Turkey is already a part of Europe," he said.

The lighting is the red and white of the Turkish flag, but did not
have an illuminated half-moon, as had been claimed by the right
wing National Front, who protested against the illumination as a
"waste of public money" and a "disgrace" of a national monument,
as did Armenian pressure groups.

TURKISH PRESIDENT VACATES ROOM IN ARMENIAN COUNTERPART’S HONOR

News.am
17:14 / 10/15/2009

Turkish President Abdullah Gul let Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan stay at the 100 sq. meter suite prepared for the Turkish
leader. Abdullah Gul himself stayed at a smaller, 75 sq. meter, room,
designed for the Armenian leader.

The Turkish Haberturk.com website reported that a total of TRL 250,000
(U.S. $170,000) was spent on each room. The daily cost of the hotel
room is â~B¬3,000.

On October 14, the Armenian and Turkish Presidents attended the
Armenia-Turkey football match at the Ataturk stadium in Bursa, Turkey.

EU RAPS ANKARA OVER RIGHTS AND MEDIA FREEDOM

Gulf Times
Wednesday14/10/2009October, 2009, 11:48

The European Union yesterday rapped Turkey over its rights record
and voiced serious concern over pressure on the media as it issued
its annual report on countries wanting to join the 27-nation club.

Ankara was praised for reaching a deal with Armenia over a "genocide"
row going back to World War I – but criticised for refusal to open
its ports to Cyprus as demanded under an EU customs accord.

The European Commission called for negotiations to start with Macedonia
– long stymied by a row with Greece over its name – and also proposed
extending visa-free travel in Europe to Kosovo.

With Croatia nearing the "finishing line" on its bid to join, Iceland
added a "new dimension" to its efforts to overtake the remaining
wannabes – Albania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Montenegro and Serbia.

But it was the way Brussels assailed Turkey – the biggest candidate,
a mainly Muslim country whose future membership is opposed by
heavyweights France and Germany – that caught eyes and ears.

"Turkey has a key role in terms of security of energy supplies,"
said Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, who also welcomed efforts
to resolve internal tensions with ethnic Kurds.

However, he said Ankara needed to "revitalise" reform in key areas of
"freedom of expression" and "women’s rights."

Turkey last month slapped a 1.75bn-euro ($2.6bn) fine on opposition
press group Dogan.

While Brussels praised the opening of a national Kurdish-language
TV channel, Rehn said the EU had "serious concerns" over "political
pressure" being applied on the media.

"If a tax fine is worth the annual turnover of the company, it is quite
a strong sanction," he said. "It may not only be a fiscal sanction,
it feels also like a political sanction."

The commission also expressed concern over a deep rift at the highest
levels in Turkish public life after charges were brought against
mi ry officers accused of belonging to a clandestine network called
Ergenekon.

But the report underlined that a "lack of dialogue and spirit of
compromise between political parties is detrimental to the pursuit
of reforms."

On overcrowded prisons, it warned that despite Ankara’s stated
"zero-tolerance" policy, "allegations of torture and ill-treatment,
and impunity for perpetrators are still a cause for concern."

Regarding women, it said "domestic violence, honour killings and early
and forced marriages remain serious problems in some areas." Turkey
began accession negotiations in 2005, but has so far opened just 11
of the 35 chapters that candidates must complete, with only one even
provisionally closed. Eight others have been frozen since 2006 over
the customs dispute with EU member Cyprus.

In Ankara, the Turkish minister responsible for EU relations said
the report was generally "positive and even-handed."

Croatia, in pole position to join next, has to focus on judicial
reform and war crimes tribunal cooperation, the commission said.

An agreement over a border row is due to be signed on October 23
between Croatia and EU member Slovenia, which would unblock its last
three chapters.

Rehn, meanwhile, said the start of negotiations with Macedonia would be
"a very strong encouragement to settle the name issue (with Greece)."

The former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia – a candidate country since
December 2005 – was blocked from joining Nato in April 2008 and has
also been blocked by Athens from opening EU negotiations.

In Skopje, as thousands celebrated in the streets carrying Macedonian
and EU flags, Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said it was a
"historic day."

In an effort to speed reform in Kosovo, which declared independence
from Serbia in February 2008 but is not recognised as a state
by five EU nations, Brussels offered to "start work towards visa
liberalisation" and "prepare trade relations" next year.

Bosnia-Hercegovina, meanwhile, must first show it can nd "govern
itself effectively."

DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTERS OF RUSSIA AND USA DISCUSS PROSPECTS OF PROGRESS IN NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT

ArmInfo
2009-10-13 10:53:00

ArmInfo. Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Grigory Karasin met
U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns who
arrived in Moscow within the frames of the visit of US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton.

As Russia’s Foreign Ministry site reports, some practical issues
in the context of the upcoming Lavrov-Clinton negotiations were
discussed during the meeting. Specifically, the prospects of progress
in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the course of Geneva discussions
on security in the Transcaucasus, as well as the issues of bilateral
relations of Russia and USA with CIS states were discussed.

Turks and Armenians sign landmark agreement

The Irish Times
Mon, Oct 12, 2009

NICHOLAS BIRCH in Bursa, Turkey

DIVIDED BY a century of enmity, Armenia and Turkey took a significant step
towards normalising relations on Saturday, when the two countries¹ foreign
ministers signed two protocols foreseeing a start to full diplomatic
relations and the opening of a shared border closed since 1993.

But last-minute delays in the signing ceremony in Zurich and angry reactions
from domestic opponents, Azerbaijan and the five million-strong Armenian
diaspora suggest the road ahead will be far from easy.

Speaking to Turkey¹s state-run TRT television on Sunday, Turkish foreign
minister Ahmet Davutoglu put the three-hour delay down to disagreements over
the wording of statements after the signing ceremony.

After intensive lobbying from US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who was
in Zurich for the ceremony, he and his Armenian counterpart Edouard
Nalbantian agreed to make no statements at all.

Neither side has given details of the nature of the disagreement, but the
points of tensions between the two sides are well known.

Unlike most historians, Turkey continues to insist that the murder of up to
one million Ottoman Armenians in 1915 was the result of a civil war, not a
planned genocide. Many Armenians see the protocol¹s plans for a joint
commission to investigate the events of 1915 as capitulation. ³Do not sell
our dead to the Turks,² read banners waved by a nationalist crowd in Yerevan
on Saturday.

Turkey worries that opening Armenia¹s border will end any incentive Armenia
has to withdraw from parts of Azerbaijan that it occupied in the early 1990s
at the cost of some 30,000 lives.

Related by religion and language to Azerbaijan, Turkey closed its Armenian
border in protest at the occupation. Azeri opposition has already capsized
plans to sign the protocols once, this April. Yesterday, the Azeri foreign
ministry went on the offensive again, saying the deal was ³in direct
contradiction² to its national interests.

Turkish and Armenian parliaments now have to ratify the protocols. With
Turkish nationalists describing Saturday as ³a black day for Turkey², prime
minister Tayyip Erdogan reiterated calls yesterday for an acceleration of
Azeri-Armenian talks.

Most analysts say that future hitches in the ratification process are likely
to come from the Armenian side. In Turkey, the last five years have seen a
radical reworking of the country¹s traditionally cautious foreign policy.
Taking Ahmet Davutoglu¹s slogan of ³no problems on our borders² as its base,
the government has strengthened relations with Syria, Iran, Russia and
Iraq¹s Kurds, all former enemies.

It now also supports a solution on Cyprus, divided since Turkey invaded in
1974. The West strongly supports rapprochement, arguing that the growing
regional clout of EU candidate member Turkey would increase stability in the
volatile south Caucasus, an increasingly important westbound transit
corridor for oil and gas.

³The more we can pull the bowstring into Asia, the further we can shoot the
arrow into Europe,² Mr Davutoglu said yesterday.

³A Turkey which has no influence on its immediate neighbourhood cannot be a
respected candidate in Europe.²

© 2009 The Irish Times

WILL THEY FORGIVE US?

Asbarez
l-they-forgive-us/
Oct 9th, 2009

By Heghinar Melkom Melkomian

It just makes me wonder…

I wonder, will my grandfather and his sister, who lost their parents
and were orphaned at the age of 10 and 5 respectively, forgive me.

Will my grandfather and his sister, who were the only ones in their
family to survive the Armenian Genocide, forgive you.

Will my grandfather and his sister, who were separated during the
Genocide and were reunited by fate only 20 years after the genocide,
forgive us…

Nowadays, I am losing a lot of sleep over an issue, which I do not
know if I have any influence on or not.

I have been thinking about my grandfather, his sister, his other
sisters and brothers, his parents, who were probably cousins with or
knew your ancestors, who, in their turn, were probably cousins with
or knew the ancestors of those Armenians who today live in Paris,
Lebanon, America; to cut my list short, I can simply say, in almost
every country in this world.

Almost everyday I pass next to the beautiful buildings of the
Government and Foreign Affairs Ministry, both on Republic Square,
situated across from another, and I look at the worried faces of
people signing the petition, protesting against the protocols or
trying to understand what in the world are these people doing night
and day in front of these buildings for the past ten or so days.

The hostile Turkish-Armenian relations stretch way back in history;
earlier than me, before my parents or even their parents were born.

I am not a politician, neither a historian or journalist to allow
myself to discuss the current political situation in Armenia,
its further development or the reason why the Turks began hating
our ancestors, but I know one thing and I know it very well, we and
the Turks are not brother and sister and even if I were a hippie and
believed in peace and making love not war, I could not accept Genocide-
denying Turks as my good- willed neighbors or friends and Genocide-
denying Turkey as our savior; a country that will help my beloved
country to develop and grow!

I don’t know how to explain this all, but for me the possible opening
of the Turkish-Armenian border, or should I say the opening of the
Turkish-Armenian border is like a nightmare or a black and very
bad absurdity.

I just read Robert Fisk’s article in the Independece.co.uk and I feel
ashamed. All my life I have been told that I have to be proud because
I am an Armenian, but right now one thing I definitely do not feel
is pride.

My name is Heghinar, I am the granddaughter of a man who barely escaped
the claws of death not destined to him from above, but forced on to
him; I am an Armenian, I live in Armenia, I am a citizen of Armenia,
I represent my people, I represent my country, I know the truth of the
Armenian Genocide and I believe in the independence and territorial
integrity of Nagorno-Karabakh, I believe the lands of my ancestors,
western Armenia, currently located in today’s Turkey belong to us
and not them, but who am I once the President of my country opens
the doors of my house to the enemy and the Foreign Affairs Minister
of my country signs a paper, which places the Turks on a pedestal,
turns history upside-down, denies the Armenian Genocide and jeopardizes
Nagorno-Karabakh’s territorial integrity, scrubs off the little proof
years have left us and flushes the blood, the sea of blood of the 1.5
million innocent massacred Armenians in 1915 and dozens of Armenian
men and adolescent boys and women and girls (we always forget to
mention them) who knowingly signed away their life on their way to
the most bizarre war I can imagine (Armenia demanding its lands back
and Azerbaijan not returning something that does not even belong to
it to begin with) down the toilet.

Let me go over this one more time; I am Heghinar, I am a citizen of
Armenia, I live in Armenia and if the President and Foreign Affairs
Minister of my country sign a paper, which opens the doors of my
home to enemy number one (Turkey) and announces that Karabakh does
not belong to me but to enemy number two (Azerbaijan), a paper which
maybe not verbally do so, but in its essence states that we Armenians
are liars, all this has been a lie and my ancestors were liars and
that enemy number one and two suffered because of the Armenians and
not the other way round and all the blood shed is wasted and gets
flushed down the toilet; who or what does all this make me?

I represent my country, I am my country and I bear the face of
my country. I tell you what the signing of this paper will make
me. All this will make me a liar, my grandfather a liar, my mother
who passed on the story to me a liar, my nation who believes in this
story a liar. Next time I tell someone I am Armenian, I don’t have
to explain the location of this little country, because everybody
has already pointed out its index finger to the liar. If I am my
country, that means if my country agrees to the protocols, then
I agree too. If I am my country, that means if my country does not
recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh, then I do not too. If
I am my country, that means if my country wants to forget about the
Armenians Genocide, then I do too. If I am my country, that means
if my country is a treasure hunter and chases 40 pieces of silver,
long locked behind the Armenian-Turkish borders, then so do I…

I cannot talk anymore, because two pages, 20 pages, even 200 pages
will not be enough to explain how and what I feel. This, this chaos is
what goes though my head every time I pass near the Republic Square,
watch the news or hear people talk about this issue. You know when
someone you love does something wrong and you try to justify that
somehow, even though deep down inside you know it is wrong? That is
how I have always treated my country: like my own child. This is not
about politics and just to enlighten you, I am not a member of any
party and I am not pro or against this or the past governments. I am
a person who is for Armenia, I am a person who loves her motherland,
I am a person who believes in her fatherland and finally I am a person
who lives in her homeland because she wants and loves to and not has
to. Every time my country makes a wrong move, I try to justify and
understand my child, but today I am in a total state of shock. My child
has stabbed me in the back; I feel ashamed, I feel sad, I feel lost.

I don’t know what can be done, because I have already signed against
the protocol, tried to explain the reason why I am against the
opening of the border especially at this specific cost and I intend to
participate in any meeting, rally, protest against the signing of the
protocols, I do not know what else I can do, how else can I contribute
to the salvation of my country, how else can I ask the forgiveness of
my ancestors and your ancestors who were brutally massacred thought
the years of the Armenian Genocide, your father, brothers and uncles
who went to die and thus prove the international community that they
wholeheartedly believed that Karabakh belonged to us.

Now tell me this; do you believe in ghosts? I know I don’t, but what
if, what if they do exist and do not tell me if is good, because I
am trying to prove a point here. You have come with me this far, stay
with me for another second. If you do not believe in ghosts rationally,
please use your imagination and think that they do exist. The moment I
began believing in ghosts fictionally, I started to lose sleep because
I realized that I am afraid of the dark and that is the time when they
say ghosts come out. I do not want to live in a country full of ghosts;
the ghosts of the 1.5 million Genocide victims and survivals, those
who died during the Karabakh war and all those who were defending
these causes. I am afraid of ghosts, I am very afraid of ghosts,
because if they do exist, they are definitely going to come and haunt
every single one of us down, because we have disturbed their sleep!

I am my country and a country haunted by ghosts is no longer a country,
but a curse…

SUICIDE CAR BOMBING KILLS 41 IN PAKISTAN

Panorama.am
18:48 12/10/2009

A suicide car bombing targeting Pakistani troops killed 41 people
Monday, the fourth grisly militant attack in just over a week, as
the Taliban pledged to mobilize fighters across the country for more
strikes, foreign media reported.

The Taliban also claimed responsibility for the 22-hour weekend attack
on the nation’s heavily fortified army headquarters, saying a cell
from Pakistan’s most populous province carried out the raid.

The claim that a Punjabi faction of the Pakistani Taliban was behind
that strike is a sign the insurgents have forged links with militants
outside their main strongholds in Pashtun areas close to the Afghan
border, increasing their potency.

The army, however, maintained it was launched from South Waziristan
– where the military is preparing for what will likely be a long
and bloody offensive against the major base of the Taliban along
the frontier.

Forbes

Associated Press

Turkish-Armenian signing delayed; Clinton departs

By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS and BRADLEY S. KLAPPER , 10.10.09, 11:50 AM
EDT

ZURICH — The signing of an accord to restore diplomatic ties between
Turkey and Armenia was delayed at the last minute Saturday due to
concerns over the wording of the final statement the parties will
make.

U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton abruptly returned to her
hotel just before she was to attend the signing ceremony.

"We’re facilitating the two sides on coming to an agreement on the
statements they are going to make at the ceremony," said State
Department spokesman Ian Kelley.

Diplomats said the Armenians were concerned about wording in the
Turkish statement that was to be made after the signing ceremony.

An aide to Clinton was meeting with the Armenians and was talking by
telephone with the Turks to work out the problem, said the diplomats,
who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the
talks.

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
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