Author: nina hovnanian

JAMES WARLICK: THE PAST YEAR WAS A STEP FORWARD, AND BACKWARD IN THE KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

Turan Information Agency, Azerbaijan
December 4, 2014 Thursday

Basel/04.12.14/Turan: In an interview with reporters in the press
center of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Basel the US co-chair of
OSCE Minsk Group on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, James Warlick,
called “contradictory moves” the events around Nagorno-Karabakh in
the past year. “Over that year, we have witnessed significant progress
in the negotiation process – Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents met
three times and made efforts to ensure lasting dialogue to resolve the
conflict. But we, however, have witnessed a step back,” said Warlick.

The American co-chair called a step back escalation of tensions at
the end of July at the line of contact, as well as the destruction of
the Armenian military helicopter that caused casualties on both sides.

In this situation, Jaime Warlick believes it important to continue the
bilateral meetings between the presidents format. “We, as co-chairs,
are ready to support the conduct of such meetings,” he said, noting
the optimism of the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia after the
Paris meeting.-0–

HITMAN IN DINK MURDER TESTIFIES TO PROSECUTOR AS WITNESS

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Dec 3 2014

Ogun Samast, who was sentenced to 21 years, six months in prison in
2011 for assassinating Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, is
testifying as a witness in the ongoing investigation into the murder.

Dink was assassinated in broad daylight outside the office of his
Agos newspaper on Jan. 17, 2007.

The convicted hitman was taken from Kandıra Prison and brought to the
Caglayan Courthouse on Friday morning to testify as a witness. The
police have taken strict security measures on the seventh floor of
the courthouse where Samast is delivering his testimony to Prosecutor
Yusuf Hakkı Dogan.

Samast had sent a letter to Dogan saying that he wanted to speak
about the murder. The prosecutor decided to listen to Samast as a
witness in the investigation.

As part of the same investigation, two former heads of the intelligence
unit of the National Police Department — Sabri Uzun and Ramazan
Akyurek — and a former police chief, Ali Fuat Yılmazer, testified as
suspects. Other high-profile figures have been called to testify as
suspects, including former Ä°stanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah,
former İstanbul Deputy Governor Ergun Gungör and former İstanbul
Police Department Intelligence Unit Chief Ahmet Ä°lhan Guler.

Dink was shot and killed by an ultranationalist teenager seven years
ago. The hitman, Samast, and 18 others were brought to trial. During
the process, the lawyers for the Dink family and the co-plaintiffs in
the case presented evidence indicating that Samast did not act alone.

Another suspect, Yasin Hayal, was given life in prison for inciting
Samast to murder. However, Erhan Tuncel, who worked as an informant
for the Trabzon Police Department and was the man accused of initiating
the effort to have Dink murdered, was found not guilty.

SUBMISSION: UC SHOULD DIVEST FROM REPUBLIC OF TURKEY

Daily Bruin: University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA)
December 4, 2014 Thursday

by Natalie Kalbakian

The Armenian Students’ Association at UCLA will present a resolution
to the Undergraduate Students Association Council week one of winter
quarter calling on the University of California Board of Regents to
divest investments made in the Republic of Turkey. The resolution
will also call on Associated Students UCLA to boycott products made
in the Republic.

The ASA at UCLA will be holding a town hall during week nine to
inform the undergraduate student body about the motivations behind
the resolution, the historic injustices Armenians and other ethnic
minorities have faced in the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey
and what they hope to achieve with the resolution. The students will
also be encouraging feedback on the language of the proposition.

The resolution calls for divestment from the Republic of Turkey –
which is guilty of a litany of human rights violations taking place
in the country today, according to countless organizations such as
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Committee to Project
Journalists – in order to bring the UC’s investment holdings into
compliance with the UC’s own guidelines on ethical investments.

The purpose of the resolution is to economically pressure the Republic
of Turkey for justice in all its manifestations – reparations,
recognition, etc. – for the unpunished crime of genocide against
Armenians. This initiative is intended to pressure the Turkish
government, and not the Turkish students or people at large; the ASA
does not intend to single out any student group on campus.

The resolution specifically targets over $65 million the UC has
invested in the Republic of Turkey through bonds. Those $65 million
represent the UC system’s contribution to and profit from massive
human rights violations by the Turkish government.

The resolution also asks USAC to reaffirm a call made by Armenian
students to boycott products made in the Republic of Turkey in the
ASUCLA store that was originally passed unanimously by USAC in 2005.

The present reality is that Turkish products are still sold in the
ASUCLA store, giving Armenian students the impression that the 2005
resolution has either been forgotten or disregarded. We are currently
communicating with students and administration within ASUCLA to
understand what transpired.

As Armenian students at UCLA, we feel marginalized and that our
existence on campus is delegitimized. Without any consent, our
tuition dollars are invested in the very same regime that actively
evades justice and reaps the benefits of the Armenian Genocide, which
resulted in the loss of 1.5 million Armenian lives. The fact that our
own tuition dollars are aiding and legitimizing this regime’s crimes
is simply traumatizing.

This resolution aims to remind everyday college students that they
are complicit in Turkey’s human rights violations through the UC’s
investment of their tuition dollars in the Republic of Turkey.

By boycotting and divesting, we put agency back into the hands of the
student body to decide which actions we tolerate and which we do not.

Students want to send a clear message to President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan and the ruling regime of the Republic of Turkey: Human rights
violations will no longer be a profitable venture.

Turkey’s human rights violations extend far beyond the Armenian
community. However, we feel that we can speak only from our own
experiences as Armenian students. These include genocide against
Assyrians, Greeks, Kurds and other ethnic minorities in the waning
years of the Ottoman Empire and in the early years of the Republic
of Turkey.

The current Republic of Turkey has also been called the “world’s
biggest prison for journalists,” topping the list of nation’s
with the most journalists in prison. Its well-known reputation for
academic censorship on literature about the Armenian Genocide and
the broad grounds of “anti-Turkishness” is also relevant to us as
students at one of the most prestigious public universities in the
world. Academic freedom is one of the founding principles of our
university, and aiding the institutional restriction of that right
abroad is highly hypocritical.

We ask the campus community, USAC and the University of California
to remain morally consistent and support Armenian-American students
at UCLA in this effort.

Kalbakian is a third-year political science student and the external
vice president of the Armenian Students’ Association. Sarafian is a
third-year political science student and a member of the Armenian
Students’ Association. Der-Grigorian is a third-year anthropology
student and the activism chair of the Armenian Students’ Association.

OSCE MINSK GROUP URGES AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIA TO START PEACE TALKS ON KARABAKH

Interfax, Russia
Dec 4 2014

BASEL Switzerland. Dec 4

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group for the settlement of the
conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, i.e. Russia, the U.S., and France,
have urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to start negotiations on peacefully
settling the conflict as soon as possible.

“Negotiations on a comprehensive peace agreement under the auspices
of the Co-Chair countries should begin as soon as possible,” Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry,
and State Secretary for European Affairs of France Harlem Desir said
in a statement in Basel, where the OSCE Ministerial Council held its
meeting on Thursday.

“The three meetings between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in
2014 at Sochi, Newport, and Paris have revitalized the most important
channel of communication between the sides,” it said.

“We welcome the agreement by the Presidents in Paris to intensify
dialogue in the coming year. It is time for the sides to overcome
disagreements, restore confidence, and honor their commitment to
enter into a negotiating process that can result in a settlement,”
the statement says.

The authors of the document expect Azerbaijan and Armenia “to
acknowledge that the basis for a comprehensive settlement are the
elements and principles outlined in the joint statements by the
Presidents of Russia, the United States, and France, especially those
that were discussed during the last summit in Paris.”

“We remain ready to work closely with the sides to reach a lasting
settlement and open a new chapter of peace but stress that the primary
responsibility to end the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict rests with the
leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan,” it says.

The co-chairs stressed that the conflict has “no military solution”
and called on Azerbaijan and Armenia “to refrain from violence and
work actively towards a lasting settlement.”

“The sides must take additional actions to reinforce the ceasefire
of 1994 and create a more favorable atmosphere for advancing peace
talks,” it says.

va mk

Vice President of Uruguay: “The Armenian Genocide will live forever in our
memory”

Agencia Prensa Armenia

Before his trip to Yerevan, Vice President of Uruguay Danilo Astori
spoke ( Link -> ) at Carrasco
International Airport with one of the members of the Armenian National
Committee of Uruguay about the objectives of his official visit to
Armenia.

“The Armenian Genocide will live forever in our memory. There is no
history or future without memory” remarked Astori.

“I hope my journey would help to further deepen our ties of friendship
with the great country of Armenia”.

During the term of President José Mujica ending next March 1, a number
of official visits to Armenia were conducted. Foreign Minister Luis
Almagro, Minister of Tourism and Sports Liliam Kechichian and Under
Secretary of Foreign Ministry Luis Porto traveled to Armenia on
official visits. The President of the House of Representatives Jorge
Orrico also visited the Republics of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh with
a multiparty delegation of legislators and businessmen in 2012.

( Link -> )
Agencia de Noticias Prensa Armenia
Armenia 1366, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Tel. (5411) 4775-7595
[email protected]
twitter.com/PrensaArmenia

TOM SAMUELIAN: TURKS ARE AFRAID TO UNMASK THEMSELVES (VIDEO)

16:00 | December 5,2014 | Politics

A conference dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide will be held at the Armenia Marriott hotel in Yerevan on
December 6.

Head of the Center for Excellence in Negotiation – Yerevan, Stepan
Khzrtian, says the conference entitled “Recognition of Armenian
Genocide and Retribution: Way to Restore Historic Justice” is a good
opportunity to raise our voice once again. “We expect that besides the
key speakers, international experts will also make speeches during
the event. We have already sent out invitations to all embassies in
Armenia and even to some Turkish specialists,” he said.

Tom Samuelian, the Dean of the College of Humanities and Social
Sciences of the American University of Armenia (AUA), says it is
always difficult to unveil crimes but it is high time that Turks
recognized the crime they carried out against Armenians.

“Turks have always feared their own history and can take any
unpredictable step to protect themselves. Our primary goal should be
to pose our definite demands and demand an adequate compensation,”
he said.

EURASIE : DES DIVERGENCES APPARAISSENT AU SEIN DE BLOC COMMERCIAL DIRIGEE PAR LA RUSSIE

ARMENIE

L’Armenie a l’intention d’adherer a l’Union economique eurasienne de
la Russie, la Bielorussie et le Kazakhstan le 1er Janvier. Mais ce
bloc commercial, avant meme de commencer a fonctionner, montre des
signes de certaines contradictions graves.

Après l’introduction de sanctions par les pays occidentaux contre
la Russie dans le cadre de la crise en Ukraine, le Kremlin a impose
un embargo sur l’importation de denrees alimentaires et un certain
nombre d’autres produits en provenance de pays europeens. Cependant,
etant dans la zone douanière commune avec la Russie, ses partenaires
du Belarus et du Kazakhstan ont decide “d’aider” les pays occidentaux
a vendre leurs produits a la Federation de Russie. Les produits
europeens passent la frontière avec la Bielorussie en transit par la
Russie vers le Kazakhstan, mais ils n’atteignent pas leur destination
et restent en Russie.

Cette semaine, la Federation de Russie a mis au transit des
marchandises interdites par la Bielorussie sur la route passant par
la Russie, le Kazakhstan et les pays tiers. La partie russe a explique
ses actions par la revelation de chaînes d’approvisionnement illegaux
d’importateurs de produits en provenance du territoire du Belarus.

Cela a provoque une protestation au Belarus, qui insiste sur le fait
de la libre circulation des marchandises sur le territoire de l’Union
economique eurasienne. Le Kazakhstan n’a pas encore repondu a la
proposition de la Russie de partager des donnees sur la circulation
des marchandises. “La partie kazakhe ne veut pas participer. Ils
disent que cela ne les concerne pas,” a dit le chef de l’inspection
agricole de Russie (Rosselkhoznadzor) Sergey Dankvert.

Pour sa part, le president bielorusse Alexandre Loukachenko a declare
que son pays reagirait si le commerce entre les deux pays ne revenait
pas a la normale.

QUESTIONS FERROVIAIRES : LA LIAISON ARMENIE-RUSSIE IMPORTANTE DANS LE CADRE DE L’ADHESION A L’UEE

ARMENIE

Alors que la Russie traite de la question de la reouverture du chemin
de fer abkhaze, il y a des opinions que l’Armenie doit exercer plus
d’efforts sur la question, compte tenu du fait que l’annee prochaine
l’Armenie deviendra membre de l’Union economique eurasiatique(UEE).

La section abkhaze du chemin de fer du Caucase du Sud – 221 km de
long en connexion avec la Georgie, a cesse de fonctionner en raison
du conflit Georgie-Abkhazie de 1992. En consequence il n’y a pas de
liaison ferroviaire entre l’Armenie et la Russie depuis plus de 20 ans.

Le 24 Novembre après la signature du nouvel accord militaire
russo-abkhaze le president russe Vladimir Poutine a propose
la reouverture specifiquement de la liaison ferroviaire
Soukhoumi-Tbilissi-Erevan. “Ces projets contribueront a creer les
conditions pour le developpement des relations entre toutes les
parties interessees”, a-t-il dit.

En reference a l’actuel gouvernement georgien, un fonctionnaire de
Tbilissi a declare que les negociations entre la Georgie et la Russie
sur la question ne sont possibles que sans la participation abkhaze.

“Le president russe Vladimir Poutine parle d’un projet potentiel
qui decoule des interets armeniens, iraniens et russes”, a declare
l’analyste politique Levon Shirinyan aux journalistes.

La Georgie ne reconnaît pas l’Abkhazie comme un Etat independant et
l’estime encore comme une partie de son territoire. La Russie a reconnu
l’Abkhazie en 2008, après la guerre russo-georgienne en Ossetie du Sud,
et fournit actuellement une aide economique et militaire.

Alina Nikoghosyan

ArmeniaNow

vendredi 5 decembre 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com

15 REPUBLIQUES – UN FILM UKRAINIEN SUR LE KARABAGH MET EN COLORE L’AZERBAIDJAN

ARMENIE

L’Azerbaïdjan a blackliste deux journalistes etrangers pour avoir
“deformer les realites du conflit du Karabagh” après que leur film sur
la region ait ete montre a la television ukrainienne au debut du mois.

L’Ambassade d’Azerbaïdjan a Kiev a envoye une note de protestation au
ministère ukrainien des Affaires etrangères après que le programme ait
ete diffuse sur la chaîne de television locale 1 + 1 le 23 Novembre
et ait ete consacre a l’Azerbaïdjan, l’Armenie et au conflit du
Haut-Karabagh.

Dans la serie de programmes intitulee “15 republiques” (de l’ex-URSS),
les journalistes visitent les pays post-sovietiques pour tenter
d’obtenir une experience de première main sur leur vie actuelle. Le
premier programme diffuse dans le cadre de la serie a ete consacre
(apparemment par ordre alphabetique) aux deux republiques du Caucase
du Sud.

Les auteurs du programme, les journalistes Konstantin Adriyuk
et Dmitri Volkov, ont visite les deux republiques ainsi que le
Haut-Karabagh. Dans la partie concernant l’Azerbaïdjan, ils n’ont
pas cache leur ironie sur le culte de l’ancien President Heydar
Aliyev tout en presentant l’Armenie avec surtout de son patrimoine
culturel et historique, ses realisations technologiques, meme si ils
ont montre aussi quelques constructions de l’ère sovietique decrepits
dans des villes de provinces et aussi la place a Spitak portant le
nom du leader dechu de l’Ukraine Viktor Ianoukovitch.

En ce qui concerne le Karabagh, les auteurs du programme ont fait une
reference au traite qui a ete signe au debut du 20ème siècle entre
l’Union sovietique et la Turquie comme la raison de l’inclusion de la
region dans l’Azerbaïdjan. “Parce que le territoire de l’Azerbaïdjan
avait deja ete pris par les bolcheviks et l’Armenie etait encore
en train de resister, il a ete decide d’integrer le Karabagh en
Azerbaïdjan pour declarer le territoire sovietique dès que possible.

Mais lors de la desintegration de l’Union sovietique, la question du
territoire conteste a de nouveau fait surface >> disent les auteurs
du programme.

Dans son communique du ministère des Affaires etrangères de
l’Azerbaïdjan a declare : “les auteurs du programme honteux devraient
etre punis pour les insultes et les mensonges contre l’Azerbaïdjan.”

vendredi 5 decembre 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com

5 DECEMBRE : PROCES OZKORAY ET FILM THE CUT

Turquie

Aujourd’hui 5 decembre, par les hasards du calendrier deux evenements
vont se bousculer a Istanbul touchant de près la cause armenienne.

En premier lieu, le procès engage contre l’ecrivain et journaliste
Erol Ozkoray, condamne le mardi 23 septembre a 11 mois et 20 jours
de prison par la 2ème cour penale a Istanbul, pour avoir insulte
le premier ministre (aujourd’hui president de la republique turque)
dans son livre Le Phenomène Gezi (Gezi Fenomeni). Erol Ozkoray devrait
etre fixe ce jour sur la decision finale de la Cour. Au mois de mai
dernier, il avait obtenu le prix Ayse Nur Zarakolu de la liberte de
pensee et d’expression pour l’annee 2014. L’Association des Droits
de l’Homme de Turquie (IHD) a decerne ce prix a Ozkoray pour toutes
les luttes democratiques qu’il a mene contre l’Etat et le pouvoir
dans ce pays (contre l’armee, contre le monopole de la presse,
contre le pouvoir islamiste et pour la reconnaissance du genocide
des Armeniens). “Il est moralement et politiquement très important
que cette lutte soit enfin reconnue dans mon propre pays” a declare
Erol Ozkoray en soulignant qu’il reste encore beaucoup a faire pour
realiser une vraie democratie en Turquie.”

Autre evenement majeur en Turquie, la projection du film de Fatih
Akin, The Cut, dont l’histoire se deroule en grande partie au
cours du genocide des Armeniens. C’est la première fois qu’un long
metrage evoquant le sort des Armeniens est projete en Turquie. Les
ultranationalistes ont menace de mort le realisateur, affirmant que
le film ne serait jamais presente dans une salle turque.

vendredi 5 decembre 2014, Jean Eckian (c)armenews.com