Sarkozy Has Not Met Armenian Community Of France’s Yet

SARKOZY HAS NOT MET ARMENIAN COMMUNITY OF FRANCE’S YET

news.am
March 01, 2012 | 01:07

PARIS. – French President Nikolas Sarkozy has not met Armenian
Community in France yet, Hilda Tchoboian, MP of Rhone-Alpes region
told Armenian News-NEWS.am. She added that she will not participate
in the meeting as she represents an opposition.

According to her, discussions are underway on this subject but nothing
has been announced officially yet.

Commenting on the French Constitutional Council’s decision banning
the law on criminalizing genocide denials, including the Armenian
Genocide, she said that the bill will be submitted again.

“That is not a question that can be solved in one day. It is quite
possible that after the presidential elections in May the issue will
appear on the agenda again but not at once, maybe after 6 months or
a year.”

To note, the French Constitutional Court announced the law
criminalizing denial of genocides including the Armenian Genocide to
be unconstitutional on Tuesday.

To remind, the bill on criminalizing denial of genocides was accepted
by the French parliament on December 22, 2011 than was turned to law
on January 23, 2012 by the French Senate.

Sergey Minasyan : Aucune Recette Pour Une Solution Rapide De La Ques

SERGEY MINASYAN : AUCUNE RECETTE POUR UNE SOLUTION RAPIDE DE LA QUESTION DU KARABAKH
Stephane

armenews.com
jeudi 1er mars 2012

“Bien que les co-presidents du Groupe de Minsk de l’OSCE essaient de
resoudre le conflit du Karabagh, ils comprennent qu’il n’y a pas de
recette pour une solution rapide” a declare Sergey Minasyan directeur
adjoint de l’Institut du Caucase lors d’une conference de presse.

Le politologue estime que si un document est signe, il sera d’une
double importance.

” D’abord, les puissances du monde permettront d’eviter les tensions.

Deuxièmement, le processus de règlement va entrer dans une nouvelle
phase, qui peut durer des annees voire des decennies “, a-t-il dit.

Selon Sergey Minasyan, la proposition du President Serge Sarkissian au
Conseil de l’Europe de travailler directement avec le Haut-Karabakh,
independamment de son statut pourrait etre un moyen efficace de
règlement du conflit.

L’union Sacree, Par Rene Dzagoyan

L’UNION SACREE, PAR RENE DZAGOYAN
Ara

armenews.com
jeudi 1er mars 2012

Le Conseil Constitutionnel a rendu son verdict. Le mardi 28 fevrier
2012, la loi votee par le Parlement a ete declaree contraire a la
Constitution. La voie est ouverte en France au negationnisme turc.

Soyons-en certain : le gouvernement d’Ankara en profitera, mais
contrairement au passe, il en profitera avec subtilite, se cachant,
comme il a commence a le faire, derrière des journalistes bon teint,
des historiens naïfs et des parlementaires a la solde, le tout pilote
par des societes de communication grassement payees par les industriels
de l’Institut du Bosphore, dont les messages seront largement relayes
par les associations turques en region.

L’offensive d’Ankara ne se limitera pas a la negation du Genocide.

Elle s’etendra a l’Armenie et au Karabagh. On en a deja senti
les effets avec les manifestations sur Khodjalou, en France, aux
Etats-Unis, a Istanbul ou a Bakou. La encore, ca n’est qu’un debut.

Pour retourner l’opinion contre nous, la Turquie et l’Azerbaïdjan
mettront tout l’argent necessaire et tous leurs reseaux en branle, avec
un seul objectif : faire passer les bourreaux pour des victimes et par
la meme, faire passer la Diaspora pour les complices de ces bourreaux.

Le but final de l’operation est double : pour Ankara, eliminer
l’obstacle que constitue la reconnaissance du Genocide a l’entree
de la Turquie dans l’Europe ; pour Bakou, affaiblir l’Armenie et
le Karabagh dans les negociations de Minsk, voire justifier par
avance une aventure militaire. Bakou et Ankara ont fait alliance
et pour eux l’Armenie et la Diaspora sont les deux ailes d’un meme
front. Ce mardi 28 fevrier, avec l’appui du Conseil Constitutionnel,
ils ont emporte une place, mais ils n’ont pas gagne la guerre. Dès
aujourd’hui s’ouvre un nouveau champ de bataille.

Les forces en presence sont inegales, certes, mais elles l’ont
toujours ete. Au Karabagh, la guerre a ete gagnee par une poignee
d’hommes sur une armee cinq fois plus nombreuse. Aujourd’hui,
les forces armeniennes, inferieures en nombre, tiennent encore en
echec les divisions azeries surequipees. On gagne les guerres avec
des hommes, pas avec des machines. De meme en France, en 2001, la
machine de guerre turque, financee par Ankara et soutenue par le monde
du commerce, n’a pas pu empecher la loi sur la reconnaissance. De
meme en 2006, les efforts conjugues de la diplomatie ankariote et
de la sphère des affaires n’a pas pu arreter la loi sur la negation
a l’Assemblee Nationale, non plus qu’en decembre 2011 et en janvier
2012, quand, soumis aux tirs croises des dignitaires turcs et azeris,
des politiciens de l’Institut du Bosphore et de la presse alimentee
par des boîtes de communication, les Parlementaires francais ont
massivement vote la loi Boyer. Par son immense succès, loin devant les
evenements au rabais de l’Annee de la Turquie, l’annee de l’Armenie a
montre que le socle des elus amis des Armeniens comme notre ancrage
dans la vie culturelle et sociale des regions est solide et le sera
sans doute encore plus après le camouflet que vient d’infliger a la
France les Turcs et le Conseil Constitutionnel reunis. Autre avantage,
la position des deux candidats aux presidentielles, Nicolas Sarkozy
et Francois Hollande, qui, de toute evidence, sauront rendre la gifle
qu’ils viennent de recevoir. Restent les journalistes qui, esperons-le,
evalueront assez vite ce que valent ces Etats turc et azeri par le seul
denombrement de leurs collègues emprisonnes au-dela du Bosphore. Et
s’ils ne le font pas, nous les y aiderons. Au lendemain de sa prise
de pouvoir, Talaat disait a l’ambassadeur Morgenthau qu’il suffisait
de quinze hommes determines pour changer l’histoire d’un pays. Nous
sommes plus que quinze.

Les avantages en notre faveur sont nombreux, mais le dispositif
turco-azeri comporte un element strategique absent de notre
organisation : l’etroite relation entre leur Diaspora turcophone et
les autorites de Bakou-Ankara. Soyons clair sur ce point : a l’heure
où les Armeniens du dedans comme du dehors sont percues comme les
deux faces d’un meme adversaire, les relations entre le gouvernement
d’Erevan et la Diaspora francaise ne marchent pas. En lieu et place
de moyens a la hauteur des enjeux, on distribue diplômes, medailles
et colifichets. En lieu et place d’une strategie commune, on attise
les divisions et les clivages. En lieu et place d’une politique
d’encouragement aux forces vives et libres de leur parole, et parfois
et justement indignees par des derives inadmissibles, on conforte la
courtisanerie et la docilite. En retour, pour s’etre concentree a la
fois sur le seul thème du Genocide, les organisations francaises en
ont oublie d’autres fondamentaux, parmi lesquels la permanente defense
du Karabagh, comme l’ont helas demontre l’offensive sans reponse de
l’Azerbaïdjan sur Khodjalou et l’absence de communication mediatique
sur les pogroms de Soumgaït. A avoir chacun sa politique dans son coin,
on finit par n’en avoir aucune.

Devant l’indeniable percee turco-azerie en France qui est, selon
leurs propres termes ” la forteresse des Armeniens “, l’heure n’est
plus aux magouillages a la petite semaine ou a la reproduction a
l’identique du ” Spiurk Comite ” de jadis. Face a un adversaire
commun, l’heure est a une strategie commune, une strategie où les
autorites d’Erevan comprendraient enfin que la Diaspora francaise,
plus que l’Armenie elle-meme, est un obstacle a l’avancee turque en
Europe, où elles comprendraient que consolider la Diaspora revient
a consolider ses forces sur le terrain et autour des tables de
negociations, où elles comprendraient que defendre en France
l’existence et l’honneur du Karabagh dans les medias, le monde
politique et l’opinion publique revient a lui redonner sa place et
son honneur sur la scène internationale. La puissance mise en ~uvre
par la Turquie et l’Azerbaïdjan en France et en Europe est telle que
ni l’Armenie ne peut s’y opposer sans la Diaspora, ni la Diaspora
l’affronter sans l’Armenie. L’heure est a l’Union Sacree.

Azerbaijani Ambassador Announces That Israeli Arms Will Be Used Agai

AZERBAIJANI AMBASSADOR ANNOUNCES THAT ISRAELI ARMS WILL BE USED AGAINST KARABAKH

13:36 . 29/02

Azerbaijani ambassador to Iran has announced that the 1.6bln arms deal
was signed with Israel, according to him, “for the liberation of the
occupied Azerbaijani territories”. Javanshir Akhundov has confirmed
that the arms will be used to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

To recall, Israel’s defense ministry officials confirmed a few days
ago the news circulated in media that Azerbaijan is going to buy
unmanned aerial vehicles and new air defense systems from Israel.

It was reported, the corresponding deal between Israeli Aerospace
Industries Ltd and Azerbaijani defense ministry was already signed,
and the amount of the deal totals 1.6bln.

http://www.yerkirmedia.am/?act=news&lan=en&id=5539

Azerbaijan Says Israeli Arms To Be Used Against Karabakh

AZERBAIJAN SAYS ISRAELI ARMS TO BE USED AGAINST KARABAKH

ASBAREZ
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

An Israeli Hermes-450 drone

TEHRAN, BAKU, TEL AVIV (Combined Sources)-Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to
Iran said a $1.6 billion arms deal with Israel, which was announced
Sunday, was made “to liberate occupied Azerbaijani land,” Iranian
news agencies reported Tuesday.

The Azeri ambassador, Javanshir Akhundov, acknowledged the arms
purchase after getting confirmation from his government when Iran
challenged Azerbaijan on the reported arms deal, reported Agence
France Presse. Akhundov acknowledged that the weapons would be used
on the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which Baku contends is “occupying”
Azeri territory.

Akhundov was called in to the foreign ministry to explain the weapons
and to receive a warning that Israel must not be permitted to use
Azerbaijan to stage “terrorist acts” against Iran.

The Iranian agencies quoted Akhundov saying that Baku “will not
allow the weapons to be used against third nations, in particular
the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Israel Inks $1.6 Billion Arms Deal With Azerbaijan Israeli defense
officials on Sunday confirmed $1.6 billion in deals to sell drones
as well as anti-aircraft and missile defense systems to Azerbaijan,
bringing sophisticated Israeli technology to the doorstep of archenemy
Iran, reported the Associated Press.

Tel Aviv said the deal between the Azeri government and the Israeli
state-run Israel Aerospace Industries is not linked to Iran’s nuclear
development program or Iran’s alleged involvement in plots to Israeli
diplomats in Azerbaijan, India and Georgia.

Reporting on the story for Eurasianet.org Joshua Kucera wrote that
“regardless of the ongoing ratcheting up of tension between Israel and
Iran, and increasing attention to Israel’s intelligence activities in
Azerbaijan, these weapons are destined to be used not against Iran,”
but against Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.

In September Karabakh armed forces downed an Israeli-made Azeri drone

In September, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Armed forces shot down
an Israeli-made unmanned drone flying over Karabakh airspace, near
the village of Vazgenashen in the Martuni region.

Israel and Azerbaijan have been developing their military alliance
in recent years, culminating in a decision in September to develop
drones and other military hardware in Azerbaijan using Israeli
defense technology.

“Israel is a valuable arms partner for Azerbaijan not because of
anything related to Iran. Rather, Azerbaijan has a lot of money, and
Israel has top-quality defense manufacturers. And Baku is restricted
in what it can buy from the U.S. because of opposition by pro-Armenia
members of Congress, plus the U.S.’s general desire not to inflame
the situation in Karabakh. And it’s limited in what it can buy from
Russia because of Russia’s alliance with Armenia (occasional missile
defense sales notwithstanding). Israel has no such concerns,” said
Kucera in his report for Eurasianet.org.

The AP reported Tuesday that Israeli officials have said they will
not warn the US if they decide to launch a pre-emptive strike against
Iranian nuclear facilities. The pronouncement, delivered in a series
of private, top-level conversations with US officials, sets a tense
tone ahead of meetings in the coming days at the White House and
in Congress.

Israeli officials said that if they eventually decide a strike is
necessary, they would keep the Americans in the dark to decrease the
likelihood that the US would be held responsible for failing to stop
Israel’s potential attack, said one US intelligence official familiar
with the discussions. The US has been working with the Israelis for
months to convince them that an attack would be only a temporary
setback to Iran’s nuclear program.

Israeli defense officials confirmed that there are no plans to
alert the US ahead of time about any operation against Iran, though
they stressed no decisions have been made on whether to attack. The
officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing
a confidential security matter.

ISTANBUL: Head Of Rights Commission Calls On Prosecutors To Act Agai

HEAD OF RIGHTS COMMISSION CALLS ON PROSECUTORS TO ACT AGAINST RACIST SIGNS

Today’s Zaman
Feb 28 2012
Turkey

The head of Parliament’s Human Rights Commission, Ayhan Sefer Ustun,
has called on the country’s prosecutors to take action against
protesters who displayed racist and discriminatory signs at a rally
to commemorate the victims of the Khojaly massacre, which saw 600
Azerbaijanis killed by Armenian forces in 1992.

Many Azerbaijanis also attended the rally, held Sunday in İstanbul’s
Taksim Square. Some of the protestors held signs with remarks that
targeted Armenians. One read “You are all Armenians. You are all
bastards,” referring to the phrase “We are all Armenians,” used many
times in various rallies held in protest of the lack of action taken
to solve the murder case of Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist
who was assassinated in 2007.

Ustun, speaking to journalists on Monday, said some of the slogans at
Sunday’s rally praised the murderer of Dink and were about Armenians.

“The posters there had completely racist, discriminatory expressions
that are hateful. We made amendments to the penal code in 2005. The
law states the terms for those who commit overt discrimination.

However, because prosecutors don’t act on these [laws], racist and
discriminatory expressions are still used. They want us to pass a
law against hate crimes. Yes, we should do that. But first, we should
apply the laws that we have.”

He also stated that the “ugly signs” held up by protestors during
the demonstration invalidated what was being done. “Whatever is
necessary [for justice regarding Khojaly] should be done, but that
crowd shouldn’t have used those expressions. It completely devalued
what was being done. We always say Turkey will be a great state. It
will embrace all colors. We always say we are striving for the ideal
of co-existence. But it is unacceptable that such racist language is
being used — that other people are being insulted.”

In response to a question about what he thought of the participation
of Interior Minister İdris Naim Å~^ahin in the demonstration, who
also made a speech while he was there, Ustun said: “This is for each
individual to decide. I don’t know if he saw those signs or not,
so I can’t really answer.”

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Association (İHD) filed a criminal
complaint on Tuesday against the organizers of Sunday’s rally and
Interior Minister İdris Naim Å~^ahin for displaying “signs with racist
and hateful content.” A group of İHD members who met outside the
Caglayan Courthouse in İstanbul filed the complaint. Meral Cıldır,
a spokesperson for the group, indicated that some Armenians in Turkey
feel increasingly threatened. She said Å~^ahin’s speech also included
instances that could be considered racial crimes.

French Court Rejects Genocide Denial Bill

FRENCH COURT REJECTS GENOCIDE DENIAL BILL

EuroNews
Feb 28 2012
France

France’s top legal body has thrown out a law making it illegal to deny
that the 1915 mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks was genocide.

Ankara has already welcomed the news, saying a “grave crisis” has
been avoided.

Both houses of parliament had approved the bill which made denying
genocide a crime in a move which strained ties between France and
Turkey.

The law was due to be ratified by President Nicolas Sarkozy by the
end of the month.

But not the Consitutional Council has rejected it on the grounds
it runs the against the freedom of expression enshrined in France’s
founding documents.

Singapore President Praises Armenian Community

SINGAPORE PRESIDENT PRAISES ARMENIAN COMMUNITY

PanARMENIAN.Net
February 29, 2012 – 13:30 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Edward
Nalbandian who is visiting Singapore, met with the country’s President
Tony Tan Keng Yam on February 28.

The President noted that Armenians have had special contribution to
the development of his country. He also mentioned that the first church
in Singapore was built by Christian Armenians back in 19th century.

For his part, Minister Nalbandian voiced confidence that the official
visit of Armenian President to Singapore will further promote
development of ties between the two countries.

The President of Singapore asked the minister to tell Serzh Sargsyan
that his country will be happy to host him and said he anticipates
the visit, press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry reports.

Armenian "ARMMONO" Theatrical Festival Kicks Off

ARMENIAN “ARMMONO” THEATRICAL FESTIVAL KICKS OFF

ARMENPRESS
FEBRUARY 29, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 29, ARMENPRESS. “ARMMONO” tenth international
theatrical festival of mono performances will kick off on February 29
and last till March 5 in capital of Armenia, Yerevan. Deputy minister
of culture Arthur Poghosyan told the reporters today that the festival
has justified itself being accompanied with interesting developments.

“The festival is not being expanded from geographical point of view
but with its format as well. More than 50 mono performances have been
staged within the framework of the festival,” the deputy minister said.

The core of this year’s festival, like it has been earlier reported,
is the Lithuanian program. At the invitation of the minister of culture
of Armenia official delegation headed by the Lithuanian vice culture
minister Deividas Staponkus will arrive in Armenia.

“Mono performances are more complicated than common performances as
the audience sees the actor like in his/her palm,” honorary guest of
the festival, USSR people’s artist Regimantas Adomaitis said.

The festival will host a number of distinguished theatrical figures.

Oskanian’s Joining Prosperous Armenia Hit Rulers – Paper

OSKANIAN’S JOINING PROSPEROUS ARMENIA HIT RULERS – PAPER

PanARMENIAN.Net
February 29, 2012 – 09:32 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenian former Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian’s
involvement in the Prosperous Armenia party hit hard the presidential
administration, Chorord Ishkhanutyun paper reports.

In particular, the criticism he voiced against the Republican Party
of Armenia speaking on Yerkir Media TV channel, and the courtesy
addressed to the Armenian National Congress made the ruling elite
particularly mad.

Presidential administration tends to blame Prosperous Armenia spokesman
Khachik Galstyan for it; Galstyan, believed to be Serzh Sargsyan’s
“insider” within the Prosperous Armenia, was supposed to prevent
Vartan Oskanian from joining the party.