Author: nina hovnanian

REVUE DE PRESSE
Hollande honore le groupe Manouchian et la résistance

Ce vendredi, au Mont-Valérien, le président de la République rend
hommage au groupe Manouchian et confirme l’entrée au Panthéon de
résistants dont aucun communiste. Ce qui interroge.

Il y a 70 ans, jour pour jour, les vingt-cinq résistants du groupe
Manouchian étaient fusillés par les nazis dans la clairière du
Mont-Valérien. Ce matin, en présence du président de la République,
François Hollande et d’une délégation gouvernementale, la France leur
rendait hommage.

La cérémonie commence dans la clairière du Mont-Valérien, là où, le 21
février 1944, étaient fusillés les résistants du groupe de Missak
Manouchian. C’est une petite clairière encaissée à l’ombre de grands
arbres avec pour seul horizon le ciel. Tout au long de ces années
sombres de l’occupation, 1010 résistants tombaient sous les balles de
l’occupant. Ce 21 février 2014, un doux soleil d’hiver baigne la
cérémonie. Comme en 1944….le > dira un peu
plus tard François Hollande dans son allocution. Là, après que le
président ait déposé une gerbe, deux jeunes collégiens, liront tour à
tour les dernières lettres de Missak Manouchian et son compagnon
Georges Cloarec avant que ne résonnent la Marseillaise et le chant des
partisans.

Puis François Hollande rend hommage au groupe Manouchian dont les
membres, >. Ils se sont >.

Evoquant portés par les résistants. Il souligne >. Pas sûr qu’évoquer ainsi
l’esprit de résistance permettra de réconcilier un tant soit peu les
français avec sa politique.

Pas de résistant communiste au Panthéon

Autre moment fort de cette cérémonie, la confirmation de sa décision
de faire entrer au Panthéon, >. Geneviève Anthonioz-De Gaulle, résistante, déportée à
Ravensbrück qui >. Pierre Brossolette, journaliste, intellectuel, défenseur > qui participa à la résistance et, pris par les
allemands, préféra se donner la mort que de parler. Jean Zay, ministre
de l’éducation du Front populaire, .
Le PCF ayant été >. De nombreuses voix

HAUT KARABAGH
Bako Sahakian visite les bases militaires au nord-est du Haut Karabagh

Le 17 février, Bako Sahakian, le président de la République du Haut
Karabagh a visité quelques bases militaires au nord-est du pays afin
de prendre connaissance sur le quotidien des soldats et des travaux de
défense de la frontière. Bako Sahakian aurait déclaré que la
construction de btiments destinés à améliorer la vie des soldats du
front, serait l’une des priorités de son gouvernement. B. Sahakian a
insisté sur l’importance de cette armée du Haut Karabagh pour la
garantie de la sécurité sur toute la région. Par ailleurs, le
président a visité le barrage hydro-électrique de > qui
contribue à développer l’économie de la république. Bako Sahakian
était accompagné du vice-Premier ministre Arthur Aghabekian, du
ministre de la Défense Movsés Hagopian ainsi que d’autres
personnalités.

Krikor Amirzayan

samedi 22 février 2014,
Krikor Amirzayan (c)armenews.com

AURORA MARDIGANIAN: AN ARMENIAN HEROINE REMEMBERED

By Contributor // February 19, 2014

Demoyan

ARLINGTON, Mass.–Starving, tortured, and enslaved, she endured
the horrors of the Armenian Genocide. One among tens of thousands,
at only 15 years old she survived to tell the story of her people
and ravished homeland to the civilized world. On March 8 at 3 p.m.,
in an illustrated lecture and presentation (in English), Dr. Hayk
Demoyan, the director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute
(Dzidzernagapert) in Yerevan, in light of newly discovered materials,
will share the story of Arshaluys Aurora Mardgianian.

Arshaluys Mardikian was born to an Armenian financier in 1901in the
ancient Armenian city of Chmshkadzag, named after the famous Byzantine
Emperor John Tzimisces. Scarred both physically and emotionally,
she mustered the courage and strength to persevere against all odds.

Changing her name to Aurora Mardiganian to conceal her real identity
and escape possible persecution by the Turks, she told her story and
gave interviews. American papers wrote articles on her heart-wrenching
odyssey; among them were the Life Magazine, New York American, and
Los Angeles Examiner of the Hearst family newspapers, including 14
chapters from Sun., Aug. 18 to Nov. 24, 1918.

Unlike many survivors of the Armenian Genocide, who suppressed their
memories, Aurora was among the first to tell her story. The Ravished
Armenia: the Christian Girl, Who Survived the Great Massacres, based
on the story of her life, was published in 1918. It served as a script
for the film “Auction of Souls” that was produced in 1919 and first
screened in London. Aurora not only shared her story with the world,
but also courageously took a role in the movie, and even agreed to
help promote the film at the expense of reliving the horrors of the
genocide. This took the toll on Aurora, and consumed her in the last
years of her life.

Hayk Demoyan was born and raised in Gyumri (formerly Leninakan),
Armenia. He studied history at the Yerevan State University (YSU)
from 1993-98, received his master’s degree in 2001, and served in the
Caucasian Media Institute as a regional expert from 2003-04. Demoyan
represented the Armenian Ministry of Defense during the trials
(2004-2006) of slain Armenian army officer Gurgen Margarian in
Budapest, Hungary. In November 2006, by presidential decree, he was
appointed the director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute,
a position that he holds to this day. In 2012, he received his
doctoral degree from the Institute of Oriental Studies and Institute
of History of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, with the
topic of “Karabagh Conflict and Turkey: A Historical-Comparative
Analysis.” He is a member of the Yerevan City Council and since 2011
has served as secretary of the Armenian Genocide 100th Anniversary
Commemoration Committee. Demoyan is the author of several books and
numerous articles on the Armenian Genocide, Turkish foreign policy,
and Turkish involvement in the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict.

Aurora Mardiganian is the personification of the horrors of the
Armenian Genocide and what befell thousands of Armenian girls and
women, in particular. She is the symbol of survival, resilience, and
perseverance of a nation, triumphing over death and human evil. Her
story is the story of thousands of orphaned Armenian girls, upon
whose shoulders an entire nation was resurrected from the ashes of
the genocide.

The March 8 lecture is organized by the Armenian Cultural Foundation
(ACF) and co-sponsored by the National Armenian Association
for Armenian Research (NAASR) and Armenian International Women’s
Association (AIWAI). It is in commemoration of Women’s History Month
and International Women’s Day. The event will take place at 3 p.m. at
ACF, 441 Mystic St., Arlington, Mass. It is open to the public;
a reception will follow. Newly released copies ofRavished Armenia,
published by the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, will be available
for sale. For more details, call the ACF office at (781) 646-3090.

MEMBERS OF UK PARLIAMENT VISIT ARMENIA, MEET WITH ARF

[ Part 2.2: “Attached Text” ]

Thursday, February 20th, 2014

Members of the UK Parliament walk toward to the Armenian Genocide
Memorial at Dzidzernagapert

YEREVAN-Member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s
(ARF) Supreme Council of Armenia and ARF Member of Parliament Aghvan
Vardanian met on Thursday with representatives of the UK’s
Labour Party in Yerevan. The Labour Party Members, Stephen Pound
and Mike Gapes, were on visit to Armenia with a delegation of other
British members of parliament led by John Whittingdale, head of the
British Group Inter-Parliamentary Union.

In their meeting, the parties discussed issues concerning
Armenia’s foreign policies, the resolution of the Arstakh
conflict, Armenian-Turkish relations, and the approaching centennial
of the Armenian Genocide, among other issues.

Aghvan Vardanian thanked the British members of parliament for their
hard work toward developing and expanding relations with the republics
of Armenia and Artsakh.

Stephen Pound first visited Armenia and Artsakh in 2007 at the
initiative of the Armenian National Committee of the United Kingdom
(ANC UK). In Artsakh, Stephen Pound met with the Speaker of the
Artsakh National Assembly, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and other
government officials. He has since visited Armenia and Artsakh on
numerous occasions. On Feb. 11 of this year, Stephen Pound called
the attention of the UK Parliament to the issue of Artsakh’s
independence and Azeri aggression against Armenians in Artsakh.

Prior to that, Pound has on several occasions urged Parliament to
consider formal recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Stephen Pounds colleague Mike Gapes was in Armenia for the first
time. Also present at the meeting was the ARF Political Affairs
Director Giro Manoyan.

The British parliamentary delegation have also visited government
officials including the President Serzh Sarkisian, Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian, and others. The central focus of
the inter-parliamentary group’s discussions with Armenian
officials has been the development and strengthening of Anglo-Armenian
relations, the coordination of both states’ foreign policies,
and cooperation in international trade and development.

“We are all united in supporting Armenia, and we consider
ourselves Armenia’s friends who will continue their
mission,” the parliamentary delegates expressed in their meeting
with President Sarkisian.

rf/

ARMENIA PM AMID NEW SCANDAL? – NEWSPAPER

February 20, 2014 | 09:02

YEREVAN. – The Forum of Armenian Associations of Europe (FAAE) Legal
Committee issued the results of the studies conducted with respect
to Nairit chemical [rubber] plant of Armenian capital city Yerevan,
Chorrord Ishkhanutyun weekly reports

“The committee noted that, from 2006 to this day, an ‘uneducated’
management, an intentional damage was carried at Nairit, as a result
of which 100 million dollars of debts were accumulated, [and] as a
result of wrong management, there were fires and explosions, loss of
human lives at the plant.

“[And] Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan was considered the
main person responsible for the fraud around Nairit,” Chorrord
Ishkhanutyun writes.

Separately, Hetq.am had written earlier that Tigran Sargsyan,
Archbishop Navasard Kjoyan–Vicar General of the Araratian Pontifical
Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church–, and “jeweler” Ashot
Sukiasyan were shareholders in an offshore company called Wlispera
Holdings Limited, which is registered in Cyprus. Sargsyan and Kjoyan,
however, denied their involvement in such a company.

MAIDAN IN THE EYES OF ARMENIAN POLITICAL SCIENTIST

On February 2-9 Armenian civil activists Karen Harutiunyan, Haik
Sahakyan and Suren Sahakyan were on Kiev’s Euromaidan. We held an
interview with the political scientist Haik Sahakyan.

Why did you go to Euromaidan? What is going on there?

Yes, I have recently returned from Maidan. Three representatives of
Armenia including me went to Kiev to attend a seminar as part of the
New Ideas of Civility for Europe Project. A lot has been said about
the struggle that is taking place there but what I would like to
emphasize is not the integrity and diversity of the movement. When
you step inside the barricades, you meet people of different layers
of the society with different degrees of organization. Aside from the
ongoing political civil struggle, some of them are recruiting centuries
(mostly political parties which have the biggest number of centuries,
which are the main means of organizing defense from Berkut’s attacks),
there are students and civil groups, feminists who want to recruit a
century of women, there are groups with different political views,
ranging from anarchism to nationalism, with their own visions,
interests and plans about the methods and process of fight. Their
interests do not always overlap and cause conflicts and clashes but in
the result they are able to find a common format to act together. As
one of the representatives of automaidan said, Euromaidan is like a
body with its weaknesses and strengths, painful spots.

If we compare with Armenia, what are the similarities and differences?

There are very few terms to compare the situation in Ukraine and
Armenia. There the fight of the dissatisfied mass against the ruling
regime has reached the final stage, we are far from that stage. In
Kiev very different layers of the society, well-off people, officials
complain openly, the army is displaying loyalty to the developments
in Maidan. There is dissatisfaction in our country as well but it
is mostly hidden, especially among the citizens who are part of the
system. However, the most important difference is at the level of
thinking. They are not going to leave their country, emigrate to
a safer place. “This is my country, my home, I want to live here,
I want to live here well, and I, not someone else must build my
dream country.”

As an obvious difference I should mention the population number. It
is easier to generate ideas, apply them in life in a country with
many millions of people. In our country, the critical mass has mostly
emigrated. We need to encourage people to come back to Armenia, not
only through repatriation of those who have already left. Thanks to
repatriates of Syria, i.e. population and quality, we will be able
to achieve change of the state, whereas the monotony that is imposed
on us leads to state building and degradation of the society.

Today security of citizens is on agenda. What solutions do you see
and how should a citizen defend themselves of different threats
and assaults?

The issue of our citizens is growing more serious, and we need to
find a more effective means of solution. This is a sensitive issue
and it must be addressed without emotions otherwise it will result in
alternate clashes. In Kiev active citizens also undergo violence, the
entire city is divided to two conflicting sides. Titushky are hunting
on citizens, beat them cruelly, while the activists of Euromaidan
hunt on titushky but instead of beating them they take them to Maidan
and make them carry water, chop wood, do other manual work for them,
confess that they cooperate with the government. In other words,
they are unmasked and handed to judgment by the society.

I would not want a similar situation here but if the police continue
not to punish the people who use violence, threaten our citizens, such
developments will be quite realistic. Nevertheless, I think that public
pressure on the police must be boosted, more constructive relations
need to be formed and accountability to law and the society must be
ensured. They must ensure the security of citizens irrespective of
the political views of citizens.

Tehmine Yenokyan, Reporter 13:19 20/02/2014 Story from Lragir.am News:

TURKEY ANNOUNCES VISA ISSUANCE PROCEDURE FOR ARMENIAN CITIZENS

February 20, 2014 | 14:03

The Ministers’ Council of Turkey has issued the list of 89 countries,
including Armenia, which are subject to issuance of visas on the
border to enter Turkey.

The official newspaper (Resmi Gazete) of the Turkish government
publicized the Ministers’ Council decision, according to which the
citizens of 89 countries will be issued 30-, 60-, or 90-day visas on
the Turkish border.

In line with the aforesaid decision, 30-day visas will be issued for
the citizens of Armenia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Djibouti, Gambia,
Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, and several other countries.

The Armenian citizens, however, were issued 30-day multiple entry
visas on the Turkish border before this decision, too.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

RAFFI HOVANNISIAN AND UK PARLIAMENTARIANS DISCUSS ARTSAKH’S INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION

ARMINFO
Thursday, February 20, 15:38

Raffi K. Hovannisian today received a visiting delegation of British
legislators headed by John Whittingdale, leader of the British group
of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The delegation included Baroness
Gloria Hooper and Lord Richard Faulkner of the House of Lords and
Harriett Baldwin and Stephen Pound of the House of Commons, Heritage
Party reported.

They conferred on current developments in the region and Armenia’s
domestic and foreign policy priorities, focusing on the Armenian
nation’s quest for democracy and the rule of law, the upcoming 100th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, as well as Mountainous Karabagh’s
(Artsakh’s) quest for international recognition of its sovereignty
and integrity.

The officials conveyed their hope that the UK Parliament would
ultimately reflect upon these issues in the nearest future.

FIRST PANARMENIAN WINTER OLYMPICS TO TAKE PLACE IN ARMENIA FROM FEBRUARY 24 TO MARCH 2

YEREVAN, February 20. /ARKA/. The first PanArmenian Winter Olympics
will take place from February 24 to March 2, Armenian Deputy Foreign
Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said on Thursday.

In his words, the Armenian government has decided to exempt foreigners,
members of sport delegations coming to Armenia from paying entry
visa duty.

“Some 60 foreign guests are expected to take part in the event,
and the total amount of their entry visa duties is 420,000 drams,>>
Kocharyan said. ($1 – AMD 412.09). -0—-

– See more at:

DEVELOPMENTS IN UKRAINE RESULT OF EU’S WRONG POLICY – ARMENIAN MP

13:45 * 20.02.14

The EU Eastern Partnership initiative has from the beginning
implemented a wrong policy, which has resulted in the situation in
the six member-states, particularly in Ukraine.

Some interests were disregarded, and the nations split into “pro-east
and pro-west barricades,” Chairman of the Standing Committee on
Foreign Relations, Parliament of Armenia, Artak Zakaryan told reporters
on Thursday.

“When the problem of option was raised and the EU was viewed as a
geopolitical project,” the MP said.

That is, it was the ‘either…or’ option.

The recently submitted ‘European package’ is the best evidence that
the EU is well aware of the need to revise its own approaches.

Zakaryan regrets the developments in Ukraine which, he said, have
got out of control by both the authorities and the opposition.

Nevertheless, the recent political developments under the agreements
between the Ukrainian authorities and opposition inspire hopes for
a peaceful settlement of the crisis.

Armenian National Congress (ANC) party member Hovhannes Igityan does
not share the opinion that a wrong policy caused the failure of the
signing of the Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive
Free Trade Area Agreement (DCFTA) by Armenia.

The issue of choosing between the Customs Union and the European Union
was raised by Russia rather than by the European Union, when Russian
FM Sergey Lavrov stated that the nations had to choose and be ready
to get the benefits promised by Russia.

“Serzh Sargsyan went to Moscow on September 3 and even members of
your party [ruling Republican Party of Armenia] would say ‘no, we
are following our own course.’ The same happened to Yanukovitch,”
Igityan said.

Armenian News – Tert.am