SPENDIARIAN ACADEMIC THEATER’S BALLET COMPANY TO TOUR OVER EUROPE
PanARMENIAN.Net
December 20, 2011 – 16:35 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net – The ballet company of Alexander Spendiarian National
Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet has scheduled a tour to a number
of European states, according to Theater director.
As Kamo Hovhannisyan told a news conference in Yerevan, ballet dancers
from Krasnodar will be invited to join the company. The ballet company
will be touring on the invitation of France.
POLICE FORCE’S ARMAVIR PRECINCT CHIEF RELIEVED OF HIS DUTIES
ARMENPRESS
DECEMBER 20, 2011
YEREVAN
With the decree of the Chief of the Police Vladimir Gasparyan Police
Force’s Armavir Precinct Chief Tigran Yesayan is relieved of his
duties. He is registered in personnel reserve, Police press service
reported.
ARMENIAN AND TURKISH SCHOLARS DECIDE TO OPEN COMMON BORDER THROUGH JOINT EFFORTS
news.am
Dec 20 2011
Armenia
YEREVAN. – A symposium on regional developments was recently convened
in Ankara, and Armenia’s Alternative Research Center Director,
economist Tatul Manaseryan also attended this event.
According to Manaseryan, the key issues concerning the development
of Armenian-Turkish relations also were discussed during the symposium.
As per Tatul Manaseryan, there are progressive-thinking scholars
in Turkey who are interested in the development of Armenian-Turkish
relations and in the opening of the border between the two countries.
The attendees agreed to hold the next symposium in Armenia.
FRENCH BILL CRIMINALIZING DENIAL OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ANGERS TURKEY
Burbank Leader
,0,3057156.story
Dec 20 2011
CA
The French parliament is considering criminalizing the denial of
the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I as
genocide, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
But Turkish President Abdullah Gul is urging France to drop the bill
that would slap citizens who deny the killings as genocide with a
one-year prison term and a heavy fine, according to BBC News.
Turkey is warning French parliament that the legislation would gravely
impact ties between the countries.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million people died during mass deportations.
Turkey puts the figure at closer to 300,000.
Ankara says Turks were also killed when Armenians rose up against
the Ottoman Empire during World War I when Russian troops invaded
eastern Anatolia, now eastern Turkey, according the newspaper.
In a statement, President Gul said the proposed bill denied Turkey
the freedom to reject “unfair and groundless accusations”.
— Katie Landan, Times Community News
ARMENIA BANS USE OF HORMONES IN FEED PRODUCTION
All about feed
Dec 20 2011
Armenia’s Ministry of Agriculture plans to ban the use of hormonal
additives in feed and foods, a new draft of the “On food safety” bill,
presented to the Armenian Parliament by Minister of Agriculture Sergo
Karapetyan, reveals.
It is also reported that the ban will apply to all other artificial
animal growth stimulants as well.
In a statement, representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture said:
“Our poultry farmers now have the opportunity to use various additives
and premixes for animal feed production.”
“There are also available a variety of hormones, which in our country
were in fact unknown to the feed production industry until a few
years ago. As a result, many farmers began to use them vigorously.”
“That is the cause of our concern: today there are many studies
that prove the harm these hormones present to consumers’ health,”
the Ministry said.
Similarly in imported products, if evidence of hormones is found,
the products will be destroyed.
Too soft For many members of the Armenian Parliament said the adopted
draft bill was too soft – many also proposed extending the ban to
include genetically modified products.
In terms of feed production Armenia is the fastest growing country
in the CIS after Kazakhstan.
Soon Armenia will launch a major investment project on the promotion
of livestock development.
Part of this project includes plans for the construction of a feed
plant capable of producing 160,000 tons of feed per year, as well
as the contruction of more than a dozen smaller feed production
enterprises.
The total investment for the development of feed production according
to rough estimations will be about $20 million, a record amount
for Armenia.
‘AZERBAIJANI TURKS, TURKISH PEOPLE SHOULD PROTEST AGAINST FRANCE’S WRONG STEP’
news.az
Dec 19 2011
Azerbaijan
The super countries spend billions of dollars to wars while they
remain indifferent to the thirstiness and starvation of more than
30,000 underage children in Somalia.
The statement came from MP Ganira Pashayeva, Gun.Az reports.
According to the MP, such carelessness is not observed only in
humanitarian sphere but also in political life, as well.
Pashayeva noted that the most obvious example to this happening in
France i.e. the country’s parliament officially recognized so called
“Armenian genocide” on 12 October 2006.
“And several days ago the French parliamentary commission adopted a
bill on penalizing refuters of the so-called Armenian genocide by
one-year imprisonment or EUR45,000, initiated by 40 MPs of French
President Nicola Sarkozy’s ‘National Movement Union’ and ‘New Center’
Parties. The Parliament will table this bill on 22 December. The next
big counterfeit, hypocrisy and injustice!
Can you imagine, the country that doesn’t penalize refuters of god will
penalize refuters of so called Armenian genocide? This is a paradox,
isn’t it? I wonder if the French Parliament realizes how illogical,
hypocritical and unjust it looks from outside”.
The MP asked how French parliamentarians will dare to speak about
freedom of speech and opinions and human rights if the bill is adopted.
“But they will speak. Since, it’s not the Khojaly genocide that they
keep silent. The events that happen in the French Parliament can be
simply called counterfeit, hypocrisy, injustice and double standards.
First and foremost, parliament is not an institute of history. Such
claims should be assessed by historians, not parliament. But in France
and some other countries, the so called Armenian genocide is explored
not by historians but by politicians. Because they know that if the
claims are observed by historians, the truth will come out.
I don’t mention yet France’s participation on events in 1915. After
facing a humiliating defeat in front of Turkey in the First World War,
France adopted so called Armenian genocide for some political motives.
And now, it wants to write down quite a different history by penalizing
refuters of the ‘genocide’.
I wonder why the French parliamentarians, exploring the false genocide
that they claim happened 100 years ago when even their fathers didn’t
witness it, don’t want to see the Khojaly genocide committed by Armenia
19 years ago. While video materials on Khojaly genocide exist, why
don’t they want to speak about it and condemn its committers?” the
MP noted.
According to Pashayeva, they are not concerned over the fate and
rights of 300,000 IDPs and more than 200 Azerbaijanis killed as a
result of the Armenian aggression in 1988-1990.
“If France want to see justice, it should take aside the hostility and
learn lesson from it. This is the real hypocrisy, injustice and double
standards. No one was authorizes at the French Parliament to explore
and assess the Turkish history. France is the OSCE Minsk group’s
co-chairing country which is committed to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. Almost 15 years have passed but France has done nothing in
this direction. ”
Why don’t French parliamentarians demand a report to say ‘one million
Azerbaijanis cannot return their homes for nearly 20 years, their
human rights continue to be trampled down by the Armenian side’? Why
doesn’t the French Parliament, viewing itself as a court of justice,
hold discussions on Khojaly genocide?”
The MP also said that the instances in the French Parliament don’t
worry solely brother Turkey but also worries and enrages Azerbaijan
and Azerbaijanis, as well.
At the end, Pashayeva called all Turks in France to stand up:
“I challenge all Turks living in France to stand up, scream out
their just words and express strict protests. Also, regardless of
where they live, all Azerbaijani Turks and Turkish people should
voice their protests against the wrong step of France. At the end,
I would like to note that If France adopts such bill or decision,
it will lose also Azerbaijan along with Turkey”.
Today’s Zaman
Dec 19 2011
The incidents of 1915 have turned into a test of consistency for all
sides — Turkey, France, the EU and all European democracies. For
the time being, it is not possible to say that any of these has yet
passed the test.
France criticizes Turkey for trying those who say there was an Armenian
genocide in 1915 while it does the opposite and tries those who say
there was no genocide in 1915. We accuse France of applying double
standards to freedom of speech, but we try those who do not deny
genocide. The trigger for the genocide debate was the Gesso-Fabiyus
Law that was approved by the French Parliament in 1990 and banned
racism in general and anti-Semitism in particular. This law stands
as a monument of the double standards in Western democracy. All
the controversy about the genocide issue, which prompts some to be
democratic sometimes and other times not, reveals how important it
is to be consistent.
TOKÄ° TO BUILD ARMENIAN MONASTERY IN MILITARY ZONE
Today’s Zaman
Dec 19 2011
Turkey
The Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKÄ°) will build an
Armenian monastery, a replica of the original, in a military zone in
Ankara’s Etlik neighborhood as part of an agreement with the Ministry
of Culture and Tourism.
According to a report that appeared in the Habertürk daily on Monday,
TOKİ will build a hospital for the Gülhane Military Academy of
Medicine (GATA) in a military zone between the Etlik and DıÅ~_kapı
neighborhoods. In lieu of payment, the Ministry of Defense gave TOKÄ°
another military area, which TOKÄ° is expected to use for a shopping
center and houses as part of a signed agreement with the Ministry
of Defense.
However, a rift emerged between the ministries as the Ministry of
Culture and Tourism objected to TOKÄ°’s planned use of that zone. The
Ministry of Culture and Tourism raised its opposition in the Council
of Ministers before approving the agreement, saying that the zone is
of cultural importance, having once contained a number of historic
buildings. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism demanded that TOKÄ°
reconstruct the Vank Monastery, which was built in 1759 by the Armenian
community and destroyed in the early 1920s.
Taking its original size and architecture into account, the Vank
Monastery will be built in the area which TOKÄ° is expected to use
in return for building the military hospital.
The monastery is seen in a painting called â~@~Ankaraâ~@~] housed
in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum.
Architect Mehmet Emin Ã~Gevik designed the plan for the monastery
after examining the painting and other historical documents, the
daily reported. Ã~Gevik stated that the monastery will be built as
a replica of the original although no physical traces are left.
The Vank Monastery was the religious center for the Armenian community
that lived in and around Ankara during the Ottoman era until the
early 1900s.
TURKEY SENDS DELEGATIONS TO FRANCE TO AVERT GENOCIDE BILL ON ALL FRONTS
Today’s Zaman
Dec 19 2011
Turkey
Turkey has been lobbying with full force to counter a French bill
that aims to penalize denial of alleged Armenian genocide in France,
as multiple delegations from the ruling party, opposition lawmakers,
Turkish business people and civil society organizations embark on a
Paris trip to warn French officials of the possible damage the denial
bill could cause.
“Our hope is that the bill will not be put on the agenda on Dec. 22,”
Volkan Bozkır, head of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Commission, told
the Cihan news agency on Monday, as he led the Ankara delegation to
Paris earlier this week to relay Turkey’s concerns to French officials,
whom the delegation will meet until Thursday. In the event that the
bill gets placed on the agenda, Bozkır expressed hope that the denial
proposal would get “aborted” by the French Senate. Bozkır’s delegation
is expected to meet Jean Levitte, French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s
diplomacy advisor, and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe on Tuesday,
Cihan reported.
As part of efforts to express Turkey’s discomfort with the bill,
which makes denial of alleged Armenian genocide a crime punishable
by a one-year prison sentence and a fine of 45,000 euros, Bozkır’s
delegation reaffirmed faith in the strength of Turkish-French relations
in Paris, but warned that the bill could erupt into a crisis at a time
when relations were at their best. “Disruption in relations between
Turkey and France will not yield positive results in Turkey either,
but we have run out of patience,” he said in hope that Turkish warnings
bring about reconsideration with the French legislature.
Turkish-French relations had sustained a crisis when the French Senate
in 2001 passed a law that recognizes the killing of Armenians during
the collapse of the Ottoman Empire as genocide, but relations were
repaired in its aftermath.
The Parliament delegation led by Bozkır is expected to conduct
bilateral meetings with various French officials, starting with Axel
Poniatowski, president of the foreign affairs commission in parliament,
and Pierre Moscovici of the Socialist Party, Cihan reported. Another
meeting with Bernard Accoyer, parliament speaker, is also on the
agenda of the delegation, after they meet with Levitte and Juppe.
Opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmakers Haluk Koc and
Osman Koruturk were also dispatched from Ankara by CHP leader Kemal
Kılıcdaroglu to contact French officials to discuss the probable
risks of the bill, the Anatolia news agency reported over the weekend.
Another CHP lawmaker, Akif Hamzacebi, also alleged on Monday that
“French history is full of dirty pages,” referring to “massacres in
Rwanda and Algeria,” as he suggested that France would not be fit to
lead discussions regarding killing and genocide, Anatolia reported.
The French bill also triggered a wave of reaction from Turkish
business circles, which have expressed their reservations regarding
the financial implications of the passage of such a denial bill,
since France and Turkey have strong mutual trade ties, and both
countries have several companies that conduct business with each
other. A delegation consisting of businesspeople, led by Turkish
Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) President Rifat
Hisarcıklıoglu and Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen’s
Association (TUSÄ°AD) Chairwoman Umit Boyner is also scheduled
to engage in contacts with French business people with the aim of
convincing them to increase pressure on French officials regarding
the bill.
Last week, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu invited executives of
French companies investing heavily in Turkey to the Foreign Ministry
and discussed the possible damage their business might receive in the
aftermath of the bill. Davutoglu told reporters after the meeting that
it was the French executives’ call whether to act on the warning and
pressure French parties.
Civil society organizations (CSO) both inside and outside Turkey
also issued harsh messages to France, as two Germany-based CSOs
made statements on Monday that France would be blocking freedom of
expression, on top of risking its ties with Turkey, an ancient ally.
They elaborated by saying that the law would bar historians from
conducting objective research and expressing their views, in fear
of conviction under the proposed law. They further urged France to
leave history to historians, whom they said did not share the same
opinion on the incidents of 1915 and said multiple archives should
be opened up to clarify the issue.
In a surprising development, the Chief of Staff announced on Monday
that a French military transportation plane violated Turkish airspace
on the southwestern coast of the country for three minutes on Saturday,
the Anka news agency reported. The Chief of Staff announcement also
noted that the incident was referred to the Foreign Ministry. The
violation constituted the first incident of a violated of Turkish
airspace this year, as such violations usually occur between Turkey
and Greece, according to Anka.
Meanwhile on Sunday, Davutoglu raised the level of official warnings
to France, saying relations would be hurt and the Turkish ambassador
would be withdrawn if the bill passes and pledging an exact retaliation
to France: Turkey would speak of French massacres of the past wherever
they occurred, particularly with regard to Africa.
“We are ready to open up archives and conduct research on the matter,
on any platform. This is what facing history is,” Davutoglu said at
a ministerial EU progress review meeting in Konya, in response to
Sarkozy’s remarks that Turkey should face its past and recognize the
alleged genocide. “If you try to take away our opportunity to face
history [by blocking freedom of expression], we will start commenting
on French colonial history whichever country we visit,” he said to
warn that Turkey will wage a campaign similar to Sarkozy’s and recall
French killings of the past, particularly in Africa.
If we are going to dig up all the files from history, we will dig
them all up, Davutoglu added, warning France that Turkey would force
the country to face past actions by talking about “facts regarding
French history all over the world.” Davutoglu also claimed that the
timing of the discussion for the bill, Dec 22, was significant since
it coincidence with the killing of a Turkish diplomat, Yılmaz Colpan,
in France in a terrorist attack, claimed by an Armenian terrorist
group that was allegedly murdering Turkish diplomat to avenge the
deaths of Armenians.
Calling the French vote “an attempt at abusing history with political
motives,” Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek urged France to act with
common sense so that “France does not pay a heavy toll in the future.”
Many other Turkish officials voiced similar comments in the past
week, but French responses to the warnings suggested that French
officials interpreted such words as bluffs and did not put much stock
in the issue.
FRENCH BILL POSES SERIOUS THREAT TO FRENCH-TURKISH RELATIONS, EXPERT SAYS
Today’s Zaman
Dec 19 2011
Turkey
The passing of a law in France that would make denying an alleged
Armenian genocide illegal could seriously damage bilateral relations,
Didier Billion, a Turkish-French relations expert at a French Strategic
and International Relations Institute (IRIS), has said.
Speaking to the Anatolia news agency on Monday, Billion recalled
that French President Nicolas Sarkozy was initially against the
bill, which if passed would make it punishable under French law to
refuse acknowledging the events of 1915 in Turkey as genocide, but
changed his mind following a visit to Yerevan in October. Sarkozy
called on Turkey to recognize the mass killings of Armenians at the
onset of World War I as genocide, a term Turkey vehemently rejects
as the country claims that the deaths occurred during civil unrest
and that casualties were from both sides. Despite Turkish efforts,
France recognized the alleged genocide in 2001, but a similar bill
to penalize its denial was turned down by the French Senate in 2006.
Billion further recognized there was a strong possibility that the bill
would be passed this time and would seriously damage Turkish-French
relations, since it has the backing of both the ruling party and the
opposition Socialist Party. However, should anyone be convicted under
the potential law, defendants could easily resort to the European Court
of Human Rights, since the law would interfere with the principle of
freedom of expression, Anatolia quoted Billion as saying.
At a speech in Yerevan, Sarkozy threatened Turkey to recognize the
so-called genocide, and pledged that the bill would be passed if Turkey
failed to act on his warning immediately. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan brushed off the ultimatum, suggesting that France should face
its own history before judging Turkey’s, a remark he has recently
repeated in the face of the French vote.
On Thursday, the French parliament will debate the proposal, but
it will still need approval from the senate, Billion clarified the
procedure, and predicted that the debate surrounding the process
would continue. He also attributed the lack of discussion in the
French public regarding the bill to more pressing issues currently
being experienced in the European bloc, including the eurozone debt
crisis and related financial issues.