Author: nina hovnanian

SOCIÉTÉ
Même pauvres les Arméniens fêtent Noël

Arméniens, demandeurs d’asile, Tigrane et Marine sont logés par une
association à Lomme, dans un hôtel, avec leurs deux enfants. Malgré
des conditions de vie difficiles, ils ont tenu, hier, à fêter le Noël
orthodoxe avec leurs amis dans une ambiance chaleureuse, entre espoirs
et souvenirs.

Par Sophie Lefèvre

La Voix du Nord

Des dattes, des abricots, des gteaux aux couches multiples et
moelleuses, une fontaine de bonbons, des fruits, du vin rouge… La
table est couverte. Pourtant, Tigran s’excuse dans son allemand
parfait : « J’ai honte de vous recevoir comme ça. C’est si petit.
Normalement, il aurait dû y avoir du riz, des légumes, du poisson, de
la place pour danser, des chants ! Vraiment, j’aurais aimé faire
plus… » Sa femme, Marine et lui ont pourtant réussi un tour de force
: transformer leur minuscule chambre d’hôtel en table festive. « Moi,
j’adore cuisiner pour mon mari, mes enfants, mais ici on ne peut pas,
on n’est pas équipés. Je vais parfois chez des amis qui me prêtent
leur cuisine. C’est comme ça que j’ai pu faire ces gteaux. Mais les
vrais sont plus gros et se coupent en douze parts pour chaque mois de
l’année. » Géorgiens d’origine arménienne, Oksana, 30 ans, et son mari
Gerbert, invités pour l’occasion, s’assoient sans façon sur le lit.
Demandeuse d’asile arrivée il y a deux ans et demi en France, la jeune
femme raconte, en français : « On s’est rencontrés au local d’une
association, on est devenus amis. On a vécu un peu la même chose. »
Mère de trois enfants de 12, 10 et 8 ans, Oksana a connu : la Croix
Rouge, le Secours catholique, la rue, tout ça en famille, avant d’être
logée dans un hôtel à Tourcoing.

Tigran et Marine, eux, sont arrivés il y a dix mois : « On est à
l’hôtel depuis trois, quatre mois. Avant on a dormi avec nos enfants
dans un garage puis dans la voiture, à l’hôpital, se souvient Marine,
elle aussi en allemand, en disant que c’était très difficile. « J’ai
été opérée d’un kyste, je ne pouvais même plus prendre le métro. »
Avant, ils ont passé cinq ans en Allemagne. « Nos enfants parlent
allemand et déjà français ! » Les enfants. La fierté des quatre
parents ; les visages sourient soudain. Oui, leurs petits vont tous à
l’école à Lille, ils se débrouillent bien. Les tensions en Géorgie,
les pressions politiques subies par Tigran en Arménie semblent loin
d’un coup. On ouvre une bouteille : « Le jour de Noël, on ne doit
boire que du vin rouge. » Les verres tintent, les plats commencent à
tourner, on montre des photos d’amis restés en Allemagne.

Pour lire la suite cliquer sur le lien ci-dessous

dimanche 8 janvier 2012,
Jean Eckian ©armenews.com

D´autres informations disponibles : sur La Voix du Nord

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 8 2012

Armenian deportation should not be deemed genocide, analysts say

8 January 2012 / GÃ-ZDE NUR DONAT , Ä°STANBUL

Amid controversy over a bill accepted last month in the French
National Assembly that penalized denial of the `Armenian genocide,’ a
circle of academics have suggested that the Ottoman Empire’s acts
against the Armenian community in Eastern Anatolia cannot be
considered `genocide’ due to a lack of intention on the part of the
Ottoman Empire to destroy the community.
After the lower house of the French parliament accepted the bill
despite strong protests from Turkey, debates over Armenian claims of
genocide were sparked in a number of countries, including Israel, a
country that was formed after millions of European Jews were killed
during the Holocaust at the hands of Nazi Germany in the lead up to
and during World War II. The Knesset Education, Culture and Sports
Committee held a public debate on the genocide claims days after the
French move but no decision was made in the end.

The Holocaust was the first internationally accepted case of genocide,
on the basis of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of
the Crime of Genocide, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948. The
definition of genocide used in the convention was the one that was
first coined in 1944 by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish lawyer of Jewish
descent, as `acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in
part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.’ Whether what
happened to the Armenians in Eastern Anatolia during the final years
of the Ottoman Empire was an act of `genocide,’ like the Holocaust,
has been a matter of debate for decades. Middle East Critique, a
US-based journal that publishes historical and contemporary political,
social and historical research every four months, devoted the last
issue of 2011 to this debate.

Tal Buenos, one of the contributors and an Israeli PhD candidate
studying genocide issues at the University of Utah, refutes any
similarity between the Holocaust and the Ottoman Empire’s actions
against the Armenian community, which he says were carried out as a
self-defense measure under conditions of war, although this does not
mean these actions did not have catastrophic results, including the
deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians. Nevertheless he admitted
that the death of so many Armenians was not the result of deliberate
killings by the Ottoman administration, but a consequence of the
circumstances of war or unlawful attacks by groups that were not under
the direct control of Ottoman administration; such as armed Kurdish
units that `wanted to keep Armenians in their subservient political
position,’ as well as brigands and irregulars.The Committee of Union
and Progress (CUP), which was then ruling the Ottoman Empire,
organized the deportation of Armenians to Russia and remote areas of
eastern Anatolia after an Armenian rebellion broke out in Van
province, playing into hands of Russian army which was then invading
eastern Anatolia. Saying that Ottomans lacked the intention to destroy
the Armenian community, Buenos wrote in the journal that in that the
Ottoman Empire’s territorial integrity was at stake and that the
deportation was taken as a military measure for the country’s
survival, which sets it apart from the Holocaust in Nazi Germany,
which systematically killed the Jewish community for the sake of
racial purity.

Armenian populated provinces including Erzurum, ElazıÄ?, Urfa, Van and
Diyarbakır, were situated on lines of communications that were vital
to the Ottoman armies fighting the Russians on the Caucasian frontier
of the empire and the British in Mesopotamia and Palestine. Ottoman
armies on these three fronts were self-sufficient in neither food,
ammunition or medical supplies and were therefore dependent on the
roads leading to western Turkey for these supplies. Armed Armenian
revolutionary committees, Dashnaks and Hunchaks, established in the
late nineteenth century, which were in control of these cities, began
to attack and cut these lines of communications in 1915, taking
financial help and weapons from Russia, France and the United Kingdom,
all invaders of Ottoman territories during World War I. The Ottoman
decision to relocate Armenians in those cities was a counterinsurgency
policy developed in response to attacks by Armenian groups that were
committed to violent action in order to establish an independent
Armenian state, carving out eastern Anatolia from the Ottoman Empire.
`As long as the Ottomans had military forces available, they were
never forced to use the strategies of population removal…’ asserted
Edward Jay Erickson, another writer in the special edition of the
journal, who is a former regular US Army officer at the Marine Corps
University and is an eminent and leading authority on the Ottoman Army
during World War I. He claims that deportation was employed for the
first time in 1915 by the Ottomans, who he says dealt with many
rebellions of minorities aspiring for independence between 1890 and
1914. Claiming that sending large armies to subdue the rebels was
impossible in 1915, `as the interior of the empire had been stripped
of regular forces and the gendarmerie.’ He argues that relocation was
an effective strategy borne of military weakness rather than strength.
In addition, Erickson states that the important precedents of
relocation as a counterinsurgency strategy came from the Western
world, including Spain in Cuba in 1893, the United States in the
Philippines in 1900-1902 and Britain in South Africa in 1899-1901,
which included a subjugation of guerillas by separating them from
friendly civilian populations. Maintaining that relocation strategy is
the only option for Ottoman leaders given the contemporary conditions
of war, they adopted this low-cost strategy that had successfully
worked for their Spanish, American and British counterparts. `With
respect to the question of whether the relocation was necessary for
Ottoman imperial security in World War I, the answer is clearly yes,’
Erickson wrote. However, he goes on to argue that military necessity
cannot be accepted as an excuse for crimes committed during these
deportations.

Historical sources show that arbitrary killings of Armenians by
bandits attacking deportation convoys took place, as well as the
usurpation of properties belonging to the community, as cited by
academics contributing to the edition. However, Yusuf Sarınay,
Director General of the Office of the State Archives, documents some
official decrees ruling against abuses during the relocations by a
Cabinet Resolution from the government of the CUP on May 1915, stating
that `¦the lives and property of the relocated Armenians were to be
protected during the relocation and if there were any instance of
abuse, the civil servants and gendarmes who were responsible for the
mishandling of the relocated were to be dismissed immediately from
public service and referred to courts martial.’ He proved, agreeing
with two other writers, a lack of `intention’ by the state to destroy
the Armenian community, an aspect of aggressive action which must
exist in order to name an act `genocide,’ according to the commonly
accepted definition of the term.The fact that the Holocaust was
motivated by racial hatred against the Jews and included preplanned
mass killings, while the Armenian deportation is considered by some to
be a national security measure, sets the two cases apart from each
other, while other genocide scholars focus on similarities between the
two events, particularly in terms of their consequences. Hakan Yavuz,
an assistant professor in the political science department of the
University of Utah and the chief guest editor of the edition,
criticized the approach of defining genocide only in terms of the
outcome as being `constantly searching for a victim and victimizer’
and ignoring the diversities between the contexts in which
catastrophic events are realized. As a result, he calls for a
`humanizing’ approach that evaluates the incidents in their historical
contexts.

Patch.com , Watertown, MA
Jan 8 2012

St. Stephen’s Armenian School Receives a $10,000 Grant

The Armenian school in East Watertown received the grant to teach
science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM.

By Charlie Breitrose

A $10,000 grant from the Gelfand Family Charitable Trust will allow
St. Stephen’s Armenian Elementary School to take part in the Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Initiative, PanARMENIAN.net
reports.

The school will use the money to create a four-year plan to make
science, technology, engineering and math part of the school’s
curriculum.

`Our mission will be to increase the focus and emphasis on science,
technology, engineering, and math throughout our school, in order to
create and support a deep and sustainable culture of inquiry-based
teaching and learning that excites and inspires our students,’
Principal Houry Boyamian, told PanARMENIAN.net.

The school can apply to receive $10,000 a year for four years to
implement the plan.

States News Service
January 6, 2012 Friday

THE GREAT BOXING FAMILY

LAUSANNE, Switzerland

The following information was released by the International Boxing
Association (AIBA):

Boxing is one of the oldest combat sports which can be traced back to
3000BC. Since then the sport has evolved and is now established as one
the oldest disciplines on the Olympic programme. The great story of
the sport is that the athletes and everyone else involved are part of
a large family, the boxing family, with AIBA at its helm with its 196
affiliated federations.

Where politicians have often failed, boxing has achieved great
success, bringing people from different countries together. Boxers
have always had great respect for each other, fighting as opponents
never as enemies.

Seeing Indian boxers taking part in both editions of the Shaheed
Benazir Bhutto International Tournament in Pakistan largest cities,
Karachi and Islamabad, was a great moment for the sport. Despite the
political tension between the two nations, the sporting relationship
continues to prosper with great camaraderie between the two camps.
These tournaments were the first in which an Indian sports team
travelled to compete in an international event in Pakistan since the
Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008. The Indian delegation was
overwhelmed by the warm welcome they received each time they
participated in the event.

Azerbaijan and Armenia were at loggerheads over which country the
small enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, in south-western Azerbaijan, which
has a majority of ethnic Armenians, should belong to. The armed
conflict between the two countries, which began in 1988 and erupted
into a full scale military war in 1992, was ended by a Russian led
cease-fire agreement in 1994, however tensions have remained high ever
since. The relationship between Armenia and Azerbaijan has never
really recovered since the Caucasian territorial conflict but despite
this fact boxing has managed to rise above the political unrest.
Azerbaijan organised two of the largest boxing competitions in the
last two years with both the AIBA Youth World Championships and the
AIBA World Boxing Championships held in Baku, and the Armenian
delegation was each time welcomed with open arms.

The boxing relationship between Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia
and Croatia never suffered during or following the Yugoslavian Civil
War and the break-up of the state. These countries have joined forces
on the international scene and have organised many tournaments where
all athletes have always shown tremendous respect towards each other.

Syria has got some fantastic boxers and the country is one of the
strongest Arabic nation but as a result of the political crisis in the
country, their fighters were unable to attend the 16th edition of the
AIBA World Boxing Championships in Baku. However since then, the
boxing family has worked hard to welcome them back to the
international fold and the sport was delighted to see the Syrian
boxers participate at the 2nd Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Memorial
Tournament in Pakistan at the end of last as their strong team claimed
two gold medals in Islamabad.

The French Boxing Federation held a huge international training camp
in Bugeat just before the AIBA World Boxing Championships and once
again welcomed boxers from several continents and countries from
around the globe to take part in preparations for the event, sharing
sporting knowledge, training and a feature of boxing, friendship.
Boxing has throughout the years always sent out a positive message,
capturing the heart and minds of boxers, the wider boxing family and
of course the fans worldwide.

PanArmenian, Armenia
Jan 7 2012

Iran’s Interior Minister to visit Armenia mid-January

January 5, 2012 – 18:00 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Iranian Deputy Interior Minister for International
Affairs Mehdi Mohammadi-Fard said the Interior Minister Mostafa
Mohammad-Najjar will head for Armenia mid-January.

Mohammadi-Fard noted that the security issues as well as border
Bazaars and cultural, economic and trade exchanges will be on
discussion agenda, ISNA reported.

Iran announced on Friday, Dec 6 new military exercises in the Strait
of Hormuz, but the West has readied plans to use strategic oil stocks
to replace almost all Gulf oil lost if Iran blocks the waterway.

Iranian officials have threatened in recent weeks to block the strait
if new sanctions imposed by the United States and planned by the
European Union, with the aim of discouraging Iran’s nuclear program,
harm Tehran’s oil exports.

PanArmenian, Armenia
Jan 7 2012

Turkey launches Sarkozy diaper line to `spite’ France

January 7, 2012 – 14:49 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Following production of male condoms carrying the
name of French MP Valerie Boyer, the author of the bill criminalizing
Armenian Genocide denial, a line of Sarkozy baby diapers, trash bags,
toilet and tissue papers was started.

With the brand name Sarkozy accepted by Turkish Patent Institute,
products named after the French President were sold in ten days at
, independent French journalist Jean Eckian told
PanARMENIAN.Net

On December 22, 2011, French National Assembly passed a bill
criminalizing public denial of the Armenian Genocide. If passed and
signed into law by the Senate, the bill would 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. Following the vote,
Ankara recalled its ambassador from France.

National News Agency Lebanon (NNA)
January 6, 2012 Friday

Aram I holds Christmas mass

NNA – 06/01/2012 The Armenian community celebrated Christmas Friday
with a mass held by Catholicos Aram I at the Armenian Orthodox
Catholicosate in Antelias, asserting the right of Christians to thrive
in the East as an integral part of its history.

A number of high-ranking Armenian officials attended the sermon, held
by head of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia and
Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic
Church, most notably representative of Speaker of the House, MP Hagop
Pakradounian.

“We, as Christians, support peaceful movements that call for justice
and Muslim-Christian co-existence,” said his Holiness. He demanded the
preservation of the rights of Eastern Christians as a consecration of
the principle of equality and citizenship.

He finally hoped that events in the region do not reflect negatively
on Lebanon’s domestic situation.

R.Z.

Le Point, France
5 janv 2012

Le bloc-notes de Bernard-Henri Lévy
Sur le génocide arménien : réponse à une poignée d’historiens.

Par Bernard-Henri Lévy

Ces gens ne comprennent-ils réellement pas ? Ou feignent-ils juste de
ne pas entendre ?

La loi, votée avant Noël, et visant à pénaliser le négationnisme,
n’est pas une loi qui dit l’Histoire à la place des historiens. Et ce
pour la bonne raison qu’elle est, cette Histoire, dite, écrite, bien
écrite, depuis longtemps : que les Arméniens aient été, à partir de
1915, victimes d’une entreprise d’annihilation méthodique, on le sait
depuis toujours ; une littérature abondante s’est développée sur le
sujet et s’est appuyée, en particulier, sur les aveux faits, presque
aussitôt, à la suite de Hodja Ilyas Sami, par les criminels turcs
eux-mêmes ; en sorte que, de Yehuda Bauer à Raul Hilberg, des
chercheurs de Yad Vashem à Yves Ternon et d’autres, on ne connaît
guère d’historien sérieux pour nier cette réalité ou en douter. Cette
loi, autrement dit, n’a rien à voir avec la volonté d’établir une
vérité d’État. Aucun des députés qui l’ont votée n’a prétendu se
substituer aux historiens et à leur oeuvre. Ils entendaient juste
rappeler ce droit simple qu’est le droit de chacun à n’être pas
publiquement injurié – et son droit, corrélatif, à demander réparation
de cette atteinte particulièrement outrageante qu’est l’atteinte à la
mémoire des morts. Question de droit, pas d’Histoire.

Présenter cette loi comme une loi liberticide susceptible d’entraver
le travail des historiens est un autre argument étrange, et qui laisse
rêveur. Ce sont les négationnistes qui, jusqu’à nouvel ordre,
entravent le travail des historiens. Ce sont leurs lubies, leurs
folies, leurs truquages, ce sont leurs mensonges vertigineux et
terrifiants qui font trembler le sol sûr où doit, en principe,
s’établir une science. Et c’est la loi qui, en les pénalisant, en leur
compliquant un peu la tche, en avertissant le public qu’il a affaire
avec eux, non à des savants, mais à des incendiaires des esprits,
protège l’Histoire et la met à l’abri. Y a-t-il un historien que la
loi Gayssot ait empêché de travailler sur la Shoah ? Y a-t-il un
auteur qui, en conscience, puisse prétendre qu’elle ait limité sa
liberté de recherche et de questionnement ? Et n’est-il pas clair que
les seuls qu’elle a sérieusement embarrassés sont les Faurisson,
Irving et autres Le Pen ? Eh bien, même chose pour le génocide des
Arméniens. Cette loi, quand le Sénat l’aura ratifiée, sera une chance
pour les historiens, qui pourront enfin travailler en paix. A moins…
Oui, à moins que les opposants à la loi n’aient cette autre
arrière-pensée, plus trouble : que l’on serait allé trop vite en
besogne en concluant, justement, et depuis presque un siècle, au
“génocide”…

N’y a-t-il pas, disent encore certains, d’autre façon que la loi pour
intimider les “assassins de papier” ? Et la vérité n’a-t-elle pas, en
elle-même, dans sa nudité et sa rigueur, les moyens de se défendre et
de triompher de ceux qui la nient ? Vaste débat. Dont on discute, par
parenthèse, depuis les origines de la philosophie. Et auquel s’ajoute,
dans le cas présent, un paramètre spécifique qui fait que, dans le
doute, il est prudent de s’assurer du renfort de la loi. Ce paramètre
c’est le négationnisme d’État turc. Et cette spécificité c’est que les
négationnistes, là, ne sont pas de vagues hurluberlus, mais des gens
qui s’appuient sur les ressources, la diplomatie, la capacité de
chantage et de rétorsion d’un État puissant. Imaginez ce qu’eût été la
situation des rescapés de la Shoah si l’État allemand avait été, après
la guerre, un État négationniste. Imaginez leur surcroît de détresse
et de colère s’ils avaient eu à faire face, non à une secte de zozos,
mais à une Allemagne non repentante faisant pression sur ses
partenaires et les menaçant de ses foudres s’ils qualifiaient de
génocide l’extermination des juifs à Auschwitz. C’est, mutatis
mutandis, la situation des Arméniens. Et c’est pour cela aussi qu’ils
ont droit à une loi.

Et puis j’ajoute, enfin, qu’il faut arrêter de tout mélanger et de
noyer le malheur arménien dans le blabla ritualisé pourfendant les
“lois mémorielles”. Car cette loi n’est pas une loi mémorielle. Ce
n’est pas l’un de ces dangereux coups de force susceptibles de frayer
la voie à des dizaines, voire des centaines, de règlements absurdes ou
scélérats codifiant ce que l’on a le droit de dire sur la
Saint-Barthélemy, le sens de la colonisation, l’esclavage, le malheur
occitan, le délit de blasphème, j’en passe. C’est une loi sur un
génocide – ce qui n’est pas pareil. C’est une loi sanctionnant ceux
qui, en le niant, redoublent et perpétuent le geste génocidaire – ce
qui est une autre affaire. Des génocides il n’y en a pas, Dieu soit
loué, des centaines ni même des dizaines. Il y en a trois. Quatre si,
aux Arméniens, aux Juifs, aux Rwandais, s’ajoutent les Cambodgiens. Et
mettre ces trois ou quatre génocides sur le même plan que le reste,
faire de leur pénalisation l’antichambre d’un politiquement correct
autorisant une kyrielle de lois inutiles ou perverses sur les aspects
disputés de notre mémoire nationale, dire : “attention ! vous ouvrez
une boîte de Pandore d’où peut sortir tout et n’importe quoi !” est
une autre imbécillité, doublée d’une autre infamie et scellée dans une
mauvaise foi, pour le coup, caricaturale.

Opposons à cet argumentaire spécieux la sagesse de la représentation
nationale. Et puissent les sénateurs aller au bout de la démarche en
ne se laissant pas intimider par ce quarteron d’historiens.

Anadolu Agency, Turkey
Jan 6 2012

PACE Head Says French Bill Cannot Be Implemented

Friday, 06 January 2012 14:06 .
The president of Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE)
said on Friday that France Senate might pass the resolution
criminalizing denial of Armenian allegations regarding the incidents
of 1915, but the law could not be implemented.

Mevlut Cavusoglu said the resolution might be passed, however in his
opinion, it was not the end of the world.

“This law cannot be implemented in the first place,” Cavusoglu told AA
correspondent in Ankara.

Cavusoglu said the Senate would most probably adopt the resolution,
but noted that PACE-member French lawmakers were against the
resolution.

“French lawmakers do not take this resolution as serious,” he said.

Cavusoglu said French President Nicolas Sarkozy backed the resolution
after Turkey became more popular in North African countries, which
were once under influence of France.

The lower house of the French parliament adopted on December 22 a
resolution that criminalizes rejection of Armenian allegations
pertaining to the incidents of 1915. Only 70 out of 577
parliamentarians joined the voting of the resolution which was adopted
with majority of votes.

The resolution envisages “one-year prison term and 45,000 Euro fine
for those who deny genocide recognized by French laws.” French
Parliament had recognized so-called Armenian genocide in 1915 on
January 29, 2001.

The draft criminalizing the rejection of Armenian allegations had
first been approved in 2006, but it could not become a law as French
President Nicolas Sarkozy prevented its presentation to Senate.

Now, the senate’s approval is necessary to make the resolution a law.

The Chairmanship Council of the Senate will take up the resolution on
January 10, and the resolution will later be submitted to
Constitutional Commission.

The resolution is expected to be brought up in the Senate between
January 23 and 31.

Turkey strongly opposes the issue of the incidents of 1915 being used
as a tool in French politics. Many believe that French President
Sarkozy supports the Armenian resolution in order to garner support
from France’s Armenian population that number around 500,000.

France will hold the first round of next year’s presidential election
on April 22 and the second round run-off on May 6. Sarkozy is running
for a second term.

If the resolution is not adopted at the senate till February 22, 2012
when the parliament and senate will recess for presidential elections,
it will be invalid.

AA

news.am, Armenia
Jan 6 2012

Armenian National Football Team sport cloths to have only state coat of arms

January 06, 2012 | 11:46

YEREVAN. – Head of Armenian Football Federation, MP Ruben Hayrapetyan
rejects on Facebook the report that the National Football Team sport
cloths will have another logo lacking the Mount Ararat.

`Dear fans, Armenia’s National Team sport cloths will never have a
logo different from the state coat of arms. We have not received the
cloths yet, even I have not seen them. I assure as soon as we receive
it, we would present it to the public,’ Hayrapetyan stated.

To note, the network spread a sport cloth made by Adidas, the logo of
which lacked the Mount Ararat.