Author: nina hovnanian

VIDEO. INDIGNATION APROS L’EXPULSION BRUTALE D’UNE FAMILLE ARMENIENNE

L’Express, France
08 08 2014

Par Jeremie Pham-Le

Deux associations d’aide aux migrants s’emeuvent de l’interpellation
et de l’expulsion d’une famille armenienne près de Nancy, qualifiees
de violentes. Alors qu’une plainte a ete deposee, le PS appelle le
gouvernement a faire toute “la lumière” sur cette affaire.

La famille B. est amère. Originaire d’Armenie, elle a ete
expulsee mercredi vers la capitale Erevan par la prefecture de
Meurthe-et-Moselle dans des conditions jugees “choquantes” par
son avocate. “Ils ont ete traites pire que comme des delinquants”,
assure maître Brigitte Jeannot. Leur histoire a ete relayee par deux
associations d’aide aux migrants: la Cimade et Reseau education sans
frontières. Toutes deux denoncent pele-mele une procedure violente,
expeditive voire illegale. Meme le Parti socialiste, dans un communique
ce vendredi, se dit “stupefait” et exhorte le gouvernement a “faire
toute la lumière sur cette affaire qui ne peut que choquer.”

Il est 6 heures du matin mardi lorsque des policiers et le secretaire
general de la prefecture, Jean-Francois Raffy, se presentent au
domicile de la famille. Il s’agit du centre d’accueil de demandeurs
d’asile (CADA) d’Essey-lès-Nancy. Ils y sont assignes a residence,
vises par une obligation de quitter le territoire francais. Le père,
Souren, 29 ans, refuse d’ouvrir.

Les versions divergent sur la suite des evènements. Selon les
temoignages recueillis par les associations, on lui propose de
suivre les services de police. En echange, on lui promet de laisser
tranquille sa famille: sa femme de 26 ans et ses deux filles de 7
ans et 8 mois. Confiant, Souren accepte. Mais alors qu’il est dans le
vehicule, des policiers se presentent a nouveau a son domicile, a 7
heures du matin. De son côte, la prefecture assure que les policiers
n’ont rien promis a Souren, qu’il est sorti de lui-meme negocier devant
l’immeuble. Il est embarque en premier dans le vehicule de police,
pendant que d’autres policiers se chargent de recuperer le reste de
la famille au domicile.

Un serrurier pour defoncer la porte

Quoi qu’il en soit, Asya, la mère, ne repond pas aux nouvelles
sollicitations des forces de l’ordre. Lesquelles font alors appel
a un serrurier pour ouvrir la porte. Asya et ses deux enfants sont
transportes de force par les agents, sous les insultes des temoins
presents. Choques par la violence employee, plusieurs d’entre eux
filment la scène. “Les cris de la mère etaient insupportables. J’ai
le sentiment desagreable que les droits n’ont pas ete respectes”,
s’etrangle Pascal Laurent, adjoint au maire, present au moment de
l’interpellation.

La famille B. est ensuite transferee au Centre de retention
administrative (CRA) de Metz. Elle est expulsee le lendemain alors
meme qu’elle a fait recours devant le tribunal administratif sur la
legalite de son interpellation et de son enfermement. L’audience se
deroule jeudi sans sa presence car la mesure est non suspensive. Le
jugement a ete mis en delibere mais la famille est deja loin. Pour la
Cimade, il y a clairement “une strategie d’evitement de la justice
par la prefecture”. De son côte, Reseau education sans frontières
note que la promesse de Francois Hollande selon laquelle plus aucun
enfant ne sera place en centre de retention a ete violee.

“Ni violences ni excès de zèle”

La famille a envoye une plainte au procureur de Metz pour violences et
violation du domicile. “La prefecture est passee en force. L’expulsion
du domicile est illegale”, deplore maître Brigitte Jeannot. “Madame
nous a envoye des photos, elle presente encore des bleus. Et le mari
a ete expulse alors meme qu’il a fait une crise d’epilepsie en centre
de retention.”

Jointe par L’Express, la prefecture de Meurthe-et-Moselle demine. “Ce
sont des situations humainement difficiles tant pour les eloignes que
pour les fonctionnaires”, observe Jean-Francois Raffy, le secretaire
general. “Mais il n’y a eu ni violences, ni excès de zèle. La mère
a juste ete transportee. La famille savait qu’elle devait regagner
l’Armenie. Elle a ete deboutee a maintes reprises.” Selon ce haut
fonctionnaire, le crochetage de la serrure etait legal etant donne
que les locaux des CADA sont publics. Quant a sa presence sur les
lieux, jugee disproportionnee, il la justifie pour les besoins
“des negociations.” Selon le conseil de la famille B. pourtant,
les policiers ne seraient pas alles aussi loin si le fonctionnaire
n’avait pas ete la.

“Il y a un acharnement de la prefecture sur cette famille pour des
raisons qui m’echappent”, regrette de son côte, l’elu Pascal Laurent.

“Je ne suis pas fier de ce qu’il s’est passe dans ma commune. J’ai
appris plus tard que j’aurais pu arreter la procedure, je le regrette
amèrement aujourd’hui.”

Torture en Azerbaïdjan

L’autre versant de ce drame, ce sont les motifs de refus de demandes
de titres de sejour. Car Souren a connu une vie difficile. Selon son
avocate, il a demande l’asile a la France en 2011 après avoir effectue
son service militaire près de la frontière avec l’Azerbaïdjan. La-bas,
il est enleve puis torture par des soldats azeris. A son retour en
Armenie, il est accuse de trahison par le gouvernement. On l’accuse
en effet d’avoir fourni des renseignements a l’ennemi. Persecute, il
souffre depuis de problèmes psychiatriques. Il tente de se suicider
une fois.

“L’Armenie est un pays sûr et avec lequel la France a des liens. Son
etat medical n’a pas ete juge incompatible par les medecins avec
une mesure d’eloignement”, assure pourtant Jean-Francois Raffy. La
famille B. espère en tout cas revenir en France en jour. Elle a fait
appel devant la cour administrative sur son obligation de quitter le
territoire mais la mesure, la encore, n’est pas suspensive. “Leurs
amis sont en France, leurs centres d’interets sont francais. Ils ont
des projets ici”, resume leur avocate.

ARMENIE
Le nombre de touristes voyageant en Arménie a augmenté à 154 471

Le nombre de touristes qui ont visité l’Arménie entre janvier et mars
de cette année s’élève à 154 471 personnes, soit une augmentation de
20,5% par rapport à la même période de 2013, a rapporté ArmStat.

Selon les statistiques, le nombre de touristes arméniens voyageant à
l’étranger a augmenté de 18,2% ou 162 073 personnes dans la période
considérée.

samedi 9 août 2014,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

Aravot: 6 Armenians killed in Azerbaijani subversive acts since July

10:11 * 09.08.14

The paper has commented on the losses and damages caused by the
Azerbaijan-provoked subversive attacks across the interstate border
with Armenia and the Line of Contact surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh.

“In the second half of 2014 alone (Jul 1 – Aug – 5), 23 criminal cases
were instituted over violations of Armenia’s state and public order,
intentional killings of Armenian soldiers, attempted acts of murder
against soldiers and civilians, infliction of bodily damages, shelling
of residential areas and infliction of damage to community ownership
and the property belonging to civilians on the grounds of ethnic,
racial or religious hatred and religious fanaticism.

“The evidence obtained demonstrates that the subversive acts by the
Azerbaijani military left six Armenian servicemen killed and 14 others
injured, with four civilians suffering bodily injuries and scores of
villagers – a property damage.

“The results of the probes into the shellings reveal that they were
committed from the Azerbaijani armed forces’ military positions
through the use of firearms but also large caliber weapons. The
ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan are incomparably higher in number,
but the investigative bodies evaluate only targeted violations that
have led to specific outcomes.”

Armenian News – Tert.am

ISLAMIC STATE PULLS DOWN CHURCH CROSSES IN NORTHERN IRAQ AS 200,000 FLEE

August 7, 2014

The Telegraph – Islamic State jihadists who took over large areas of
northern Iraq overnight have forced thousands of Christians to flee
and occupied churches, removing crosses and destroying manuscripts,
Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako has said.

“(The Christians) have fled with nothing but their clothes, some of
them on foot, to reach the Kurdistan region,” Patriarch Sako told AFP.

“This is a humanitarian disaster. The churches are occupied, their
crosses were taken down,” said Sako. He added that up to 1,500
manuscripts were burnt.

The United Nations put the number of people who have fled as high
as 200,000, and said that many thousands of people trapped by the
militants on Sinjar mountain had been rescued in the past 24 hours.

“We’re just receiving the information right now. We’ve just heard
that people over the last 24 hours have been extracted and the UN
is mobilising resources to ensure that these people are assisted
on arrival,” David Swanson, a spokesman for the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told Reuters.

It is a “tragedy of immense proportions”, he said.

Islamic State militants overran Qaraqosh, Iraq’s largest Christian
town, after pushing back Kurdish troops across a large area of the
north of the country, fleeing residents and Christian clerics said.

Jihadists moved in overnight to claim several Christian towns, forcing
tens of thousands of people to flee, having pushed back Kurdish
peshmerga troops, who are stretched thin across several fronts in Iraq.

“I now know that the towns of Qaraqosh, Tal Kayf, Bartella and
Karamlesh have been emptied of their original population and are
now under the control of the militants,” Joseph Thomas, the Chaldean
archbishop of Kirkuk and Sulaimaniyah, told AFP.

“It’s a catastrophe, a tragic situation. We call on the UN Security
Council to immediately intervene. Tens of thousands of terrified
people are being displaced as we speak, it cannot be described,”
the archbishop said.

The overnight advance came after the Sunni militants inflicted a
humiliating defeat on Kurdish forces in a weekend sweep in the north.

Several residents contacted by AFP confirmed that the entire area
in northern Iraq, home to a large part of the country’s Christian
community, had fallen to the Islamic State jihadist group.

Tal Kayf, the home of a significant Christian community as well as
members of the Shabak Shiite minority, also emptied overnight.

LE MINISTERE ARMENIEN DE LA SANTE ALARME PAR UNE SERIE D’ATTAQUES CONTRE LES MEDECINS DES AMBULANCES

ARMENIE

Le ministère armenien de la Sante a publie une declaration exprimant
sa profonde preoccupation face a ce qui semble etre une tendance
inquietante de la violence contre les ambulanciers.

LE CHANTEUR ET COMBATTANT DAVID AMALIAN PENSE QUE L’ARMEE ARMENIENNE EST PLUS QUE PRETE POUR FAIRE FACE A LA GUERRE

ARMENIE-AZERBAÏDJAN

David Amalian, chanteur connu et combattant armenien qui a participe
a la guerre de liberation de l’Artsakh, a affirme dans une interview
auprès de nos confrères d’Armenie, News.am que l’Armee armenienne
a prouve qu’elle etait plus que prete pour la guerre. > dit-il. Selon David Amalian, meme ceux qui s’opposent
au gouvernement s’uniront pour aller defendre les frontières. >
dit David Amalian qui a combattu et sait ce que signifie la guerre.

Signalons que plusieurs centaines de combattants Armeniens de la guerre
de liberation du Karabagh se trouvent deja au front pour epauler les
soldats Armeniens et defendre le pays.

Krikor Amirzayan

vendredi 8 août 2014, Krikor Amirzayan (c)armenews.com

“THE VOICE OF TALYSHSTAN” FROM STEPANAKERT MAY OUTCRY THE “LET’S DEFEND OUR HOMELAND” CALLS FROM BAKU

by David Stepanyan

Friday, August 8, 11:24

The ethnic minority situation in Azerbaijan is so ambiguous that
“the Voice of Talyshstan” from Stepanakert may well outcry the
“let’s defend our homeland” calls from Baku, Director General of the
European Center for Geopolitical Analysis Mateusz Piskorski said in
an interview with ArmInfo.

“It is not a secret that not all citizens of Azerbaijan regard that
country as their true homeland. Today the Azerbaijani authorities are
sending to the frontline in Nagorno-Karabakh mostly representatives
of ethnic minorities, Lezgins and Talyshes. So, the losses the latter
will inevitably sustain in skirmishes with the Armenians may kill in
them the last glimmers of loyalty to Baku,” Piskorsky said.

So, according to the Polish expert, the Azerbaijani authorities’
current anti-Armenian propaganda may boomerang against them one day.

“By fanning anti-Armenian moods the Azerbaijani authorities hope
to generate a patriotic wave that will distract their people from
internal and external problems. But they will hardly be able to do
it as the problems they are facing are very serious

PM’S CHIEF ADVISOR CLARIFIES ERDOGAN’S REMARKS ON ARMENIANS

Daily Sabah, Turkey
Aug 7 2014

Daily Sabah

ISTANBUL – Prime Minister and presidential candidate Recep Tayyip
Erdoðan’s chief advisor Ýbrahim Kalýn in a televised interview made
notable statements about Erdoðan’s remarks regarding Turkey’s Armenian
minority, claiming that Erdoðan’s statements have been taken out of
context by many.

“Erdoðan’s remarks have wrongly been taken out of context” said Kalýn,
who explained that Erdoðan meant to refer to the degrading expression
of “Armenian seed” which is used to insult and humiliate someone but
he could only say ‘Armenian’ as the proceeding word is considered to
be obscene and racist. According to Kalýn, Erdoðan tried to emphasize
the prejudicial and intolerant atmosphere in Turkey where minorities
were not only being discriminated against but also ridiculed and
insulted for being from a different background.

“A huge misconception and manipulation is evident” said Kalýn, who
stated that certain groups in the U.S. are trying to exploit his
statements for a smear campaign against Turkey. On the other hand,
Kalýn added that the Turkish government has taken unprecedented
steps to improve democratic standards for its Armenian citizens. For
instance, Erdoðan has recently expressed his condolences over the World
War I massacre of Armenians, which he called “our shared pain,” a move
which that was greatly appreciated by the Armenian minority in Turkey.

On the other hand, the AK Party is in the process of returning the
properties of Armenian foundations in Turkey, a move also welcomed by
the Armenians in Turkey, with some representatives claiming them to be
“positive developments.” Likewise, others have expressed that they
finally “got to breathe thanks to the AK Party” and acknowledge the
fact that change cannot occur overnight and that changing people’s
perceptions is a continuous process.

Erdoðan has complained about the opposition’s efforts to discredit
him by saying Erdoðan was from a different ethnicity in a recent
televised interview, which sparked outrage as his statements were
taken out of context.

ARMENIAN PEOPLE NEED FREEDOM FROM OCCUPYING GOVERNMENT, SAYS AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Aug 7 2014

7 August 2014 – 10:39am

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at a meeting with soldiers
in the Agdam District near the contact line that the Armenian people
should free themselves from the criminal and corrupt authorities
occupying Nagorno-Karabakh, the seven surrounding districts and
Armenia itself.

The president noted that the Azerbaijani army was capable of
destroying any military facility in Nagorno-Karabakh. He assures that
the Azerbaijani army dominates. Aliyev reminded that Nagorno-Karabakh
was Azerbaijani land and international norms recognized the fact. In
his words, Azerbaijan was ready for any scenario.

The president expressed confidence that towns destroyed in the conflict
zone, including Agdam, would be rebuilt and life there reborn. He
assured soldiers that the military potential of Azerbaijan would
continue growing. Azerbaijan has been buying modern weapons and
vehicles and the military potential is still going uphill.

Ilham Aliyev promised to continue efforts to release Azerbaijani
citizens Dilgam Askerov and Shakhbaz Guliyev and return the body of
Gasan Gasanov.

TIME FOR AMERICAN CONSISTENCY IN POST-SOVIET ERA

The Hill, DC
Aug 7 2014

By Alex Vatanka

At a time when the direction of America’s foreign policy is generating
abundant global bewilderment, policy-makers in Congress and the
administration must be mindful not to alienate more allies and increase
doubt and distrust of America’s promises. Azerbaijan, a pro-American,
secular Muslim and energy-rich nation of some 9 million people on
the shores of the Caspian Sea is one of those countries.

Authorities in Baku are increasingly speculating about Washington’s
commitment to its strategic allies and its own stated values. Some
of America’s latest policy maneuverings, including an inconsistent
and largely toothless response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine, have
not helped alleviate Baku’s fears.

Since its independence at the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the
former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan has considered the United States
as one of its principal strategic partners. This conscious, but at
times hazardous, choice to turn to Washington was from the outset
rooted in a belief in American strength and a hope in Washington’s
fairness in mediating among disputing nations. It was a conviction that
drove successive Azerbaijani governments to accept American arbitration
in Baku’s conflict with neighboring Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh,
an Azerbaijani region occupied by Armenian forces since the end of
a war in 1994.

For 20 years, Azerbaijan has patiently stuck to this belief in America
as the foolproof arbiter that will somehow and someday help engineer
a peaceful resolution to this frozen conflict in the South Caucasus.

Increasingly, however, the Azerbaijanis question whether the United
States prioritizes short-term goals over long-term objectives of
peace making and the upholding of key American values, including
respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations.

Azerbaijan’s anxieties about Congress and the administration’s stance
on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict recently surfaced again following
Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March. Officials in Baku quickly
grasped the possible impact of Moscow’s actions on the fate of other
forcefully annexed territories, including Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh
region. In a bold step that could have not failed to irk its larger
neighbor, Azerbaijan voted against Moscow in a UN vote that called the
annexation of Crimea an illegal act, while many of the post-Soviet
states abstained and Armenia, along with only 10 other questionable
nations voted against the West.

The Azerbaijanis have since also eagerly watched America’s posture
toward Moscow in the hope that Washington will lead a broader push
to stop Russian intimidation of her smaller neighbors and Moscow’s
disregard for the territorial integrity of other countries. At a
minimum, Baku had hoped that the United States would adhere to the
same principles when adopting policies to deal with international
territorial disputes. American policy-makers in Congress and the
Executive, however, seem more preoccupied with scoring symbolic
geopolitical points against Moscow than applying international laws
on the question of territorial integrity of states.

This was the case with a recent American measure at the OSCE’s
Parliamentary Assembly in Baku. On 1 July, Sen. Benjamin Cardin
(D-Md.) introduced a resolution that condemned Russian annexation of
Crimea. Russia predictably voted against the resolution, and pro-U.S.

Azerbaijan, which hosted the event, was not enthusiastic about the
measure either. The territorial integrity of Ukraine is important,
the Azerbaijanis argued, but a selective approach by the international
community to territorial disputes will in the long run only make
mockery of international law.

Cardin’s resolution was a mere knee-jerk reaction to a phenomena – the
disregard for territorial integrity of states – that impacts a number
of post-Soviet states. It is not just Ukraine and Azerbaijan, but
also an issue that Georgia and Moldova are wrestling to address. Along
with Azerbaijan, the resolution failed to mention Georgia and Moldova
as well. As the head of the Azerbaijani delegation, Bakhar Muradova,
put it, a “serious resolution, which would concern all conflicts in
the region,” will have been far more fitting given American leadership.

Incidentally, such a selective approach best demonstrated by the
EU’s refusal to emphasize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity in its
proposed association agreement with Azerbaijan, in stark difference
with agreements offered to Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, is one reason
why Baku is still hesitant to move forward with the EU association.

It is one thing to pursue a muddled foreign policy that leaves U.S.

allies puzzled; it is an entirely different proposition – and with
potential grave consequences for America’s global leverage – when
Washington’s policies foster a sense of American double standards or
its undependability as a partner.

Vatanka is a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and at the
Jamestown Foundation in Washington D.C. He is also a senior fellow in
Middle East Studies at the U.S. Air Force Special Operations School
(USAFSOS) at Hurlburt Field and teaches as an adjunct professor at
DISAM at Wright-Patterson AFB.