Author: nina hovnanian

MP: LAW ON INVOLVEMENT OF ARMY IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS TYPICAL FOR AUTHORITARIAN STATES

PanARMENIAN.Net
February 28, 2012 – 14:10 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Commenting upon the new bill “On legal regime of
the emergency situation” providing for an opportunity to involve army
in such situations, deputy of the opposition Heritage party Anahit
Bakhshyan said such law is typical for authoritarian states.

The new law as if warns the people that if they want to protect
their rights, army will be used against them, she says. Bakhshyan
also deemed unacceptable the decision on declaring an emergency to
be taken by the president only.

On February 9, the National Assembly of Armenia adopted the draft law
“On legal regime of the emergency situation” in the first reading. The
bill stipulates that emergency situation can be declared in Armenia
only provided there are circumstances which directly threaten the
constitutional regime, in particular, coup d’etat attempts.

The document also defines the conditions under which armed forces
can be engaged during emergency situations. In particular, after an
emergency situation is declared, the army can be involved only if the
police troops and the National Security Service forces have failed
in their tasks.

There were attempts to pass the law “On legal regime of emergency
situation” twice in 2007 which have failed due to controversial
discussions.

Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan suggested that the
National Assembly speaker Samvel Nikoyan should return the bill to
the government for amendment.

SUMGAIT IS UNPUNISHED GENOCIDE

Tuesday, 28 February 2012 10:58

On February 26-29, 1988, with the actual support of the Azerbaijani
authorities and the connivance of the Soviet leadership, a massacre
of Armenians was carried out in the city of Sumgait, the Azerbaijani
Soviet Socialist Republic, which shocked the international community
with its savagery and brutality.

The Sumgait massacre of Armenians was committed in response to the
Karabakh people’s legitimate expression of will for reunification
with Armenia and became the embodiment of the Azerbaijani authorities’
policy of hatred towards Armenians conducted during the entire Soviet
period. The mass pogroms of Armenians in ‘international’ Sumgait were
intended to block a possible solution to the issue, to frighten the
Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh with the prospects of new bloody actions
and to make them abandon their national-liberation movement. Dozens
of people were killed with sadistic cruelty; a considerable part of
them was burned alive after having been beaten, tortured, and violated.

Hundreds of people were disabled for life and thousands became
refugees…

“After Stalin’s atrocities nothing took place in our country to
throw us so far back – from civilization to savagery”, wrote those
days scientists from Moscow in their “Open letter to the friends
in Armenia”.

The massacre of Armenians in Sumgait was thoroughly organized,
including from the ideological and psychological points of view. At
the anti-Armenian gathering-like rallies, which started on February
26 in the central square, the municipal leaders openly called upon
the participants for violence against the Armenians.

On February 27, the ‘rallies’ escalated into acts of violence. The
first ‘rally’ in front of the building of the Sumgait City Party
Committee was attended by about 50 people; the next day, the number
of participants grew to several thousands. In her speech, Second
Secretary of the City Party Committee Melek Bairamova demanded that
Armenians left Azerbaijan; Azerbaijani poet Khydyr Alovlu concluded
his speech by saying: “Death to Armenians!”

In addition to the city leadership, representatives of the law
enforcement agencies were on the tribune, and it wasn’t accidental
that unprecedented facts of inaction and heartlessness of the Interior
employees were fixed during the pogroms.

Following is a fragment from the indictment on criminal case 18/60233
on accusation of Akhmed Imani ogly Akhmedov, Ilham Azat ogly Ismailov,
and Yavar Giyas ogly Jafarov: “Answering the question of lawyer
Shaposhnikova “Why did you not call your father, who was in service
then, to tell him about what was happening in your block?”, witness D.

Zarbaliev (the witness’ father worked in the militia in Sumgait) said:
“And why did I need to call? The militia knew about it; everybody
knew about it. It was not the first day of the pogroms”.

An open atmosphere of mass psychosis and hysteria was formed at the
‘rallies’. Those on the tribunes called upon the rally participants to
be true to the credit of the Muslims and to unite in a war against the
‘infidels’. The thugs were inflamed by, actually, fascist appeals,
heated by alcohol, which was distributed freely out of trucks, and
drugged; convinced of their own impunity, they continued with renewed
impetus the pogroms of Armenians’ apartments, their mass beating
and killing, which lasted until late at night. The crowd was headed
by none other than First Secretary of the Sumgait City Committee of
the Communist Party Jahangir Muslimzade, with the national flag of
Azerbaijan in his hands. The gangs were headed also by some prominent
people in Sumgait – the director of secondary school #25, an actress
of the Arablinsky Theater, and others.

“In peacetime, the Soviet Union had never experienced what happened
then. Gangs of about ten to fifty or more people strolled through the
city, broke windows, burned cars, but the main thing was that they
were looking for Armenians”, wrote Rodina (Motherland) magazine (#
4, 1994, pp. 82-90).

On February 28, the number of thugs armed with iron bars, axes,
hammers, and other improvised means considerably increased. The crowd
clearly knew its tasks. The pogrom-makers, who were divided into
groups, broke into Armenians’ apartments and killed the people in
their own homes; but more often they took them out in the street or in
the yard for making a public mock of them. After painful humiliation,
the victims were poured with petrol and burned alive.

Following is a fragment from Hasan Mamedov’s testimony (record of
a judicial hearing, Moscow, USSR, the Supreme Court, October 18 –
November 18, 1988):

“I saw that a middle-aged man was brought out of the entrance and
beaten, mostly from behind… He was lying about three meters from
me. A fire was burning nearby. Nizami Mageramov took the guy’s legs
and Fizuli Fataliyev took his hands; they lifted the guy off the ground
and threw him into the fire. His body turned out to be in the fire and
his legs were out of it. I saw it clearly, as it was light. The guy
thrown into the fire still showed signs of life. I determined this,
seeing how he was trying to roll out of the fire. But, a guy in a black
jacket and jeans was holding the guy down in the fire with a piece
of reinforcement rod, preventing him from rolling out of the fire…”

Only on February 29 military forces were brought into the city of
Sumgait, but they did not immediately establish control over the city.

The killings and pogroms of Armenians were going on. Only in the
evening the military units started taking decisive actions.

The central authorities were not interested in establishing the exact
number of victims in the Sumgait bacchanalia. Officially, 36 Armenian
and 6 Azerbaijani deceased persons were stated. Meanwhile, British
researcher Tom de Waal wrote in his book Black Garden. Between Peace
and War: “…If you pay attention to the serial numbers of medical
death certificates, you’ll find out that at least 115 bodies were
recorded those days in the morgues… Such a number of natural deaths
is excluded, at least because no more than 72 deaths were registered
in the previous two months” (“February 1988: Azerbaijan”, chapter 2).

The fact that the Genocide of the Armenian population of Sumgait
was planned in advance and was not a spontaneous action of a group
of hooligans, as the Soviet authorities and judicial agencies tried
to present it, is testified by some irrefutable facts: production
of cold arms for the pogroms at the industrial enterprises of the
city; making lists of the Armenians living in the city with the aim
of their killing; the authorities’ inaction; speeches of specially
trained provokers at the rallies for manipulating the crowd; the
local militia’s assistance to the thugs; disconnecting the phones
in the Armenians’ apartments; cutting off the electricity supply in
the blocks where the pogroms were going on; accurate coordination
of the gangs’ actions; providing the thugs with reinforcement rods,
pipe scraps, rocks and bottles with gasoline and alcohol; blocking the
entrances to the city by armed groups; lack of any assistance to the
victims by medical workers of the city; removal of the crimes’ traces
(hasty repair of the smashed shops, apartments, and other facilities),
and hiding the organizers and many executors of the Genocide from
the justice.

Following is a fragment from the indictment on criminal case 18/60233
on accusation of Akhmed Imani ogly Akhmedov, Ilham Azat ogly Ismailov,
Yavar Giyas ogly Jafarov: Witness M. Ilyasov, Russian: “From the window
of my apartment I saw a GAS-24 black car to drive up to our block. This
car was approached by two men out of the crowd… Without leaving the
car, the men sitting in it said something to those who had come up
to them, and they immediately went back into the crowd. After that,
the pogroms started with renewed fury… I think they fixed in advance
the addresses of the Armenians. I came to this conclusion, because the
killers entered accurately the entrances where the Armenians lived…

All this was not an act of hooliganism; it was an action against
a particular nation, against the Armenians. It was not against the
Russians or some other nations, it was against the Armenians; they
were looking for only Armenians”.

“Witness S. Guliyev said at the hearing: “Those people were gathered
together more than one day, as it is impossible to gather thousands
of people in one day.”

“Witness M. Mamedov: “The megaphone-holder (Ahmed Ahmedov) announced
that the crowd did not need to smash the apartments, as they would
remain to them, they only needed to kill the Armenians”.

“Witness T. Tahmazov, apartment block manager: “Representative of the
Azerbaijani Communist Party Central Committee Ganifaeva instructed
the rally participants to burn all the smashed things and cover them
with ground. They did so, and very quickly. The next morning, the City
Executive Committee sent repair and construction teams to block 412
‘a’ for removing the bodies and the smashed things”.

Sumgait Communist newspaper (#57, May 13, 1988) wrote: “In the days
of the heavy situation, axes, knives, and other items that could
be used by hooligan elements were made in the shop of the factory
(tube-rolling)”.

It is quite obvious that some persons, who were not identified as
a result of the investigation, had created favorable conditions for
carrying out the mass massacre of Armenians.

On February 29, 1988, a session of the Politburo of the USSR Communist
Party Central Committee took place in the Kremlin, at which it was
stated for the first time officially, though classified as ‘top
secret’, that the mass pogroms and massacre had been carried out in
Sumgait on an ethnic basis, that is exclusively against Armenians.

However, the USSR official structures were quick to taboo the topic of
‘Sumgait’, artificially dividing the mass slaughter of Armenians into
separate crimes. The crimes, which, according to the International
Convention on Genocide, must be assessed as crimes against the
humanity, were classified as crimes committed out of ‘hooliganism
motives’. In other words, the committed Genocide was veiled, and its
organizers were defended at the official level.

In particular, employees of the municipal and law enforcement agencies
remained unpunished, though many witnesses stated some well-known
persons in the city, who were directly involved in the ‘rallies’.

Moreover, Sumgait Prosecutor Ismet Gaibov, less than a year after the
massacre of Armenians in the city, where he ‘carried out’ the control
over law and order, was… appointed Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan.

Only the Communist leader of Sumgait Muslimzade was dismissed from his
position, though he wasn’t either brought to justice. It is rather
because at the next plenary session of the Azerbaijani Communist
Party Central Committee well-informed Muslimzade directly accused the
Republic’s leadership of organizing the massacre: “On May 21, 1988,
at the plenary session of the Azerbaijani SSR Communist Party Central
Committee, the former First Secretary of the Sumgait City Committee of
the Communist Party blamed also the Republic’s leaders for the tragic
events in Sumgait. The day before, he stated considerable details
of this at the Bureau of the Azerbaijani Communist Party Central
Committee, when his personal responsibility was discussed, what can be
found in the verbatim records” (the Epoch , # 4, September 13, 1990).

Unfortunately, the February 27-29 pogroms in Sumgait, organized at
the highest state level, are not given yet an adequate political and
legal assessment, and the Moscow trial did not become the Nuremberg
trial, because the roots of the mass crimes were not identified.

The policy of silence related to the Genocide in Sumgait, concealment
of the reasons, which gave rise to it, and leaving its real organizers
unpunished made possible the ethnic cleansing carried out by the
Azerbaijani SSR authorities throughout the Republic, which culminated
in the January 1990 bloody bacchanalia in the Republic’s capital city
of Baku and led to further large-scale military aggression against
the people of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

Meanwhile, the truth about Sumgait, like the materials of the Nuremberg
trial, is needed to the people for preventing a new ‘brown plague’.

MONUMENTAL PLAN: PUBLIC COUNCIL SUBCOMMITTEE BACKS IDEA TO BUILD NOAH’S ARK REPLICA
By Gohar Abrahamyan

ArmeniaNow
28.02.12 | 10:39

The subcommittee on culture at the Public Council, a presidential
advisory body, has approved of an ambitious initiative to build an
exact replica of Noah’s Ark, using biblical dimensions, in Yerevan.

Plans for such an installment on the hilltop of Victory Park have
drawn mostly positive responses so far, but the project is still at
the stage of discussion.

The initiative group for the Noah’s Ark complex was set up two years
ago and has been supported by a number of local scholars, public
and political figures, businessmen as well as some 150 scholars from
outside Armenia (among the backers are popular actor Sos Sargsyan,
well-known poet Aramayis Sahakyan, people’s painter Levon Tokmajyan,
and others). The authors of the project and its backers give
assurances that if built, the massive structure will also serve as
a scientific-educational and historical-cultural center besides its
apparent main purpose of being a tourist attraction.

The project that has an estimated cost of $20 million (the investors
are the Armare company president and the director of the Fun Time Ltd.

operating in the amusement park) had been submitted to the Yerevan
Municipality, the Ministry of Culture, the prime minister and the
president.

Martun Harutyunyan, the author and implementer of the project, who
is also director of the Arts Enterprise Ltd. and president of the
Armare company, says the chief architect at the Yerevan Municipality
submitted the project to the Public Council’s subcommittee for culture,
which gave a positive conclusion. “Now it is being considered at the
Public Council’s urban planning subcommittee,” he adds.

The structure of gigantic proportions (132 meters long, 22 meters wide
and 13 meters tall) is expected to be installed with its front facing
Mount Ararat (where biblical Noah’s Ark came to rest after the great
flood), at a high point in Victory Park, which, as the authors of the
project say, is an area where “there are no trees or other greenery”.

“We present the project, the area where corresponding specialists are
to carry out examinations, and if they find if appropriate, then the
decision on the allotment of land will be made. Now we are waiting
for this decision,” says Toros Umrikyan, one of the authors of the
project who heads the Fun Time Ltd. at the amusement park. He adds
that as initiators they are also interested in the public opinion,
as well as in the views, proposals and observations of specialists.

The first floor of the four-storey construction (which would cover an
area of 10,000 square meters) would include eight statues of people
and 120 statues of animals, universal relics, utensils. A cinema, a
conference hall, office rooms would be housed on the second floor. The
third floor would have 40 guest rooms for tourists, while the fourth
floor would have a hall for government and state receptions as well
as rooms.

Special telescopes would be installed in the upper part of the Ark,
which will offer a unique opportunity to see Mount Ararat very close.

Member of the Noah’s Ark replica construction group, Chairman of the
Painters’ Union of Armenia Karen Aghamyan says such an opportunity
should not be missed.

“The concept of Noah’s Ark is accepted universally and it enables
us to have a foothold in Armenia that will generate interest towards
our country, as it will show that Noah had come down here and mankind
continued its development right from here,” says Aghamyan.

Another project enthusiast, writer Meruzhan Ter-Gulanyan, thinks that
“Noah’s Ark is an idea of God’s chosen people.”

“Noah’s Ark is a letter that God had sent us and till today we haven’t
opened the envelope. We should realize this and taken upon ourselves
with dignity the task of building an ark as God’s chosen people,”
says Ter-Gulanyan.

WOUNDS OF THE PAST: EXPERTS IN YEREVAN SAY AZERI CAMPAIGN ON KHOJALU DESIGNED TO OVERSHADOW MASSACRES OF ARMENIANS
By Gayane Abrahamyan

ArmeniaNow
28.02.12 | 11:50

A monument in Yerevan commemorating the victims of Sumgait massacres

Armenia is losing in the information war with Azerbaijan, experts
warn, pointing to the Azeri-organized festival of films on the Khojalu
events recently shown in more than 50 countries, as well anti-Armenian
protests and conferences on the same subject in Istanbul, Paris and
Washington prior to the festival.

“The Azeri propaganda machine has been leading in an information
war and succeeding because there is no adequate counterattack,”
says Bakur Karapetyan, head of the Shoushi foundation.

Karapetyan believes that the “myth of Khojalu” was made up by the Azeri
authorities to veil and cast shadow to conceal the February 27 events
of 24 years ago, when Armenians suffered three days of pogroms in the
town of Sumgait (20 km from Baku) and the massacre in the village of
Maragha, a village in Nagorno-Karabakh that is now under Azeri control.

Fifty-three people were brutally murdered in Sumgait, hundreds were
wounded and narrowly escaped death, the death-toll in Maragha reached
80-100 and 64 were taken hostage.

The Shoushi Foundation is planning to turn to the International
Criminal Court in the Hague regarding the Khojalu case, because it
says there are numerous documented facts proving that in 1992 the
Armenian troops had opened a humanitarian corridor for the civilians
of Khojalu before the attack, but they were later killed by their
own compatriots far from the Armenian positions.

Even Ayaz Mutallibov, who was the president of Azerbaijan in the
1990s, confirmed that the humanitarian corridor had really been
provided, and it is for voicing that very truth as well as the fact
that innocent people of Khojalu were massacred by Azeri soldiers that
Realny Azerbaijan newspaper chief editor Eylnulla Fatullayev was sent
to prison in Azerbaijan.

In an article titled “Karabakh Diary” published in 2005 Fatullayev
wrote: “Several days before the attack Armenians were repeatedly
announcing through loudspeakers a warning message about the planned
mission, and were asking to leave the place and exit the blockade
through the humanitarian corridor opened for them along the Karkar
river. People of Khojalu themselves say that they did use the corridor
and that the Armenian soldiers positioned there did not open fire
on them.”

President Mutalibov whose successor was Heydar Aliyev, said in an
interview a decade after his tenure: “It is obvious that the execution
of Khojalu residents was organized by someone to achieve a coup d’etat
in Azerbaijan.”

Another Azeri journalist and political analyst Elmar Huseynov was shot
dead in front of his house in Baku in 2005; he had repeatedly written
that people of Khojalu who were mostly re-settled Meskhetian Turks,
became victims of Azeri domestic political issues.

The Monitor journal founded by Huseynov wrote on the 6th anniversary
of Heydar Aliyev’s death: “They say one should either speak positively
of a deceased person or not speak at all. As even if granted a huge
desire to do so it’s impossible to say anything positive about Heydar
Aliyev, we’d better follow the tradition and keep silence… hence we
will not tell about the massacre of Khojalu he had arranged neither
of the military revolution”.

While in Baku people presenting facts and opinions breaching the state
propaganda are silenced, there are solid concerns in Armenia that it
is going to be harder and harder by each passing day to prove what
really happened there.

“We are terribly late; of course there functions the president-adjacent
Public Relations and Information Center which has produced a fair
amount of documentaries accurately stating the events of Sumgait,
Maragha and Khojalu, but it’s too late considering the preceding 15
years of inertness. It’s going to take double efforts, otherwise if
parliaments of other countries following Pakistan’s and Mexico’s
examples recognized “Khojalu genocide”, we will lose not only the
information war, but Karabakh as well,” says political analyst
Alexander Manaseryan.

TBILISI HOSTS EVENTS COMMEMORATING SUMGAIT POGROMS

PanARMENIAN.Net
February 28, 2012 – 14:34 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The embassy of Armenia in Georgia organized a series
of events to honor the memory of victims of Armenian massacres in
Sumgait, Baku and Maragha.

The Georgian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church held service
in memory of those killed.

Hayartun cultural center hosted then an event dedicated to the victims
with participation of NGO representatives and public figures.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Armenian
Ambassador to Georgia Hovhannes Manukyan also attended the event.

Speaking in the center, Ambassador emphasized that Artsakh has
the right for self-determination. Ambassador also touched upon the
destructive policy of Azerbaijani authorities with regard to Nagorno
Karabakh conflict.

Head of the local diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Vazgen
Mirzakhanyan also spoke at the event. In particular, he called for
tolerance in relations between the people voicing hope that Caucasus
will live in peace.

Later documentaries on Sumgait massacre were demonstrated, followed
by a speech of well-known Georgian public figure Givi Shahnazari.

PAPER: ARFD MEMBER ARTUR AGHABEKIAN OUT OF PARLIAMENTARY RACE

PanARMENIAN.Net
February 28, 2012 – 10:47 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – ARF Dashnaktsutyun (ARFD) member, former Deputy
Defense Minister Artur Aghabekian has resolved not to run for
parliament.

“Armenian public notices only personal benefit in interlocutor’s
speech. I will henceforth address people without a mandate and its
expectation. Our nation must attach great importance to ARFD role,
securing at least 20 percent of its political presence in the National
Assembly,” the official said in an interview with Zhoghovurd paper.

Asked whether ARFD simply might have excluded him from its electoral
list, Mr. Aghabekian answered, “There is no such a problem.”

Prices of medicine bought by state budget funds exceeded the market
prices for several times: proceedings were initiated

15:05 . 21/02

State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition initiated
administrative proceedings today against 15 companies dealing with
sale of medicines and 12 health institutions.

The commission has found numerous violations during the state
procurement process when investigating the activity of 134 health
institutions and 314 companies dealing with sale of medicines involved
in the state procurement.

It has found there are violations of not announcing competition in 109
of a total of 134 medical institutions. Particularly, 7 companies
dealing with sale of medicines has participated in 37 competitions
organized by 26 medical institutions, but the same company has won in
all the cases. There are cases, when the medical institutions didn’t
announce a competition and always bought medicine from the same
company.

Moreover, an invoice was presented at the session, according to which,
the medical institution has bought medicines by state funds at a price
6 times higher than the market prices, and the head of the medical
institution is the owner of the company supplying medicine.

Cases were also uncovered, when the health institutions, which had to
provide medicine to disadvantaged families within the frames of state
programmes have guided the beneficiaries to pharmacies linked with
them.

Thus, the commission has concluded that a number of economic entities
dominating in the market have abused their position, the agreements
between medical institutions and supplier companies have been
accompanied by non-efficient use of state funds and limitation of
competition in the field. Proceedings were initiated against the
companies and the institutions.

Le Monde: Genocide denial integral part of Turkish identity

February 26, 2012 – 16:27 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide is not a
mere negation of `its dark pages’, but rather, a result of official
Ankara’s long-term policy, Le Monde French newspaper said.

`With denial policy as an integral part of Turkish identity, official
Ankara’s violations of human rights continue into the present.’

`One of the basics of Turkey’s domestic policy, Genocide denial was
further adopted as a stance for many Turkish-born Europeans, bringing
a disregard for the rights of the descendants of Genocide survivors
who fled to France to save themselves from massacres,’ the newspaper
said, commenting on French Senate’s adoption of a bill penalizing
Genocide denial.

On January 23, the French Senate passed the bill criminalizing the
Armenian Genocide. If signed into law, the bill will impose a 45,000
euro fine and a year in prison for anyone in France who denies this
crime against humanity committed by the Ottoman Empire.

Anthony “Artie” Barsamian

August 23, 1928 – February 22, 2012
Biography

View the image gallery

BARSAMIAN, Anthony M. “Artie” of Boston passed away peacefully in
Florida, surrounded by family and loved ones, at the age of 83 on
February 22, 2012. Devoted son of the late Mihran & Antaram
(Manoogian) Barsamian. Beloved husband of 58 years of Cynthia
(Hamparian) Barsamian. Devoted father of Laura Barsamian and her
husband Michael Szymanowski and Arthur Barsamian and his wife Debra.
Loving grandfather of Michael and Anastasia Barsamian. Dear brother of
Virginia Tashjian and her husband Jake, Varney Haroutunian and her
husband Edward, Mike Barsamian and his wife Kaye, Edward J. Barsamian
and the late Vahan Barsamian. He is survived by many nieces, nephews
and dear friends. An Armenian and jazz legend, Artie touched the lives
of so many with his inspiration and musical talent – he was the King
of Swing! Services at St. Stephen’s Armenian Apostolic Church, 38
Elton Ave., Watertown on Wednesday, February 29 at 11:00 a.m.
Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend. Visiting
hours at the Giragosian Funeral Home, 576 Mt. Auburn St., (Rt. 16),
Watertown on Tuesday 4-8 p.m. Interment Mt. Hope Cemetery, Boston.
Expressions of sympathy may be made in his memory to the AWWA (Nursing
Home), P.O. Box 191, Belmont, MA 02478. Army veteran, Korea.

Facts
Born: August 23, 1928
Death: February 22, 2012
Occupation: Musician

Survivors
Cynthia (Hamparian) Barsamian, Spouse
Laura Barsamian, Daughter
Michael Szymanowski, Son-in-law
Arthur Barsamian, Son
Debra Barsamian, Daughter-in-law
Michael Barsamian, Grandson
Anastasia Barsamian, Granddaughter
Virginia Tashjian, Sister
Varney Haroutunian, Sister
Mike Barsamian, Brother
Edward J. Barsamian, Brother

Preceded in Death By
Mihran Barsamian, Father
Antaram (Manoogian) Barsamian, Mother
Vahan Barsamian, Brother

Services
Visiting Hours
Tuesday February 28, 2012, 4:00 PM – 8:00 PM at Giragosian Funeral Home
Click for Map and Directions

Funeral Service
Wednesday February 29, 2012, 11:00 AM at St. Stephen’s Armenian Church
Click for Map and Directions

Interment
Wednesday February 29, 2012, 12:45 PM at Mt. Hope Cemetery
Click for Map and Directions

Donations
Memorial donations may be made to:
Armenian Women’s Welfare Association, (Nursing Home), P.O. Box 191,
Belmont, MA 02478

ARMENIAN JOURNALIST CURSED BY OFFICIAL TURNS TO POLICE

news.am
February 24, 2012 | 22:06

IJEVAN. – Armenia’s Ijevan city council members have recently fought
with Ijevan TV channel director Naira Khackikyan. One of the council
members cursed the journalist and attacked the operator, Khachikyan
told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

According to the journalist, council members approached her and said
that she airs unfair materials, which harms the incumbent mayor’s
image.

Moreover, the city council member Vardan Ordinyan even cursed her
and attacked the operator, she added.

Khachikyan has turned to police, and believes the blamed will be
punished.

However, Ordinyan rejected the incident. He told Armenian News-NEWS.am
that he just mentioned to her that there will be no city council
session as a result of the lack of quorum and there is nothing to
shoot. Ordinyan has not been invited to the police yet.