Author: nina hovnanian

MINSK REGION BUILDS UP COMMODITY TURNOVER WITH ARMENIA

Bel TeleRadio, Belarus
Sept 20 2013

The foreign partners expressed interest in cooperation with the
Minsk Region, in particular, in agricultural products, snow handling
equipment and heavy-duty dump trucks. The new agreement was signed
during the visit of the delegation of the Minsk Region to Armenia. It
is planned to increase the existing export volume by the end of this
year. In 10 years, the commodity turnover between the two countries
increased by 5 times and amounted to over USD 9 million.

The new aspects of cooperation will be discussed during the return
visit of the delegation of Armenia to the Minsk Region. Governor Boris
Batura addressed an official invitation to the foreign colleagues
earlier.

WORLD WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP: ROMAN AMOYAN WINS BRONZE

Armenian Greco-Roman style wrestler Roman Amoyan (55 kg) won a bronze
medal of the 2013 Senior Wrestling World Championship.

He defeated American Spenser Mango in a match for the third place.

It is Armenia’s first medial in Greco-Roman competitions. Earlier
Armenia’s freestyle wrestler Davit Safaryan (66 kg) won gold.

THE ‘GENDER EQUALITY LAW’ HYSTERIA IN ARMENIA

By Samson Martirosyan // September 20, 2013 in Featured, Headline,
Special Reports

(Special to the Armenian Weekly)

YEREVAN (A.W.)-In May 2013, Armenia’s Parliament adopted the law on
“Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities for Men and Women.”For the past
two months, adoption of this piece of legislation has been the topic
of an extremely frenzied debate. The discussion became even more heated
during the last two weeks of August, when it drew in voices from almost
all segments of Armenian society, including civil society groups,
the church, nationalists, traditionalists, state representatives,
various NGOs, human rights advocates, bloggers, the mass media,
pop stars, and political parties.

Women’s Resource Center participating in a demonstration for increased
equality Yerevan. (Photo by Svetlana Antonyan)

The main focus, at least in the beginning of this hysteria, was Article
3 of the legislation, wherein gender is defined as the “acquired,
socially fixed behavior of persons of different sexes.”

Essentially, this definition of gender was either ill understood, not
understood at all, or deliberately distorted by many, making gender
related issues-LGBT among them-the most discussed topic in Armenia.

The law

Although many believe that the law was orchestrated to destroy
traditional Armenian values, it is in fact the over-reaction to its
adoption that was orchestrated.

If we look at the process of the draft law’s preparation, it becomes
clear why it was the logical continuation of the gender equality
policy. Back in 2009, then-MPs Heghine Bisharyan and Hovhannes
Margaryan from Orinats Erkir (Rule of Law Party) proposed the bill.

Until 2011, hearings regarding this bill proposal were delayed in
parliament several times until the government of Armenia proposed
a similar bill. Since the proposed bills were almost identical,
a decision was made to combine the two. As a result, the draft of
what was adopted this May as law was created.

Hearings on this new draft bill were once again delayed in parliament.

In May 2012, parliamentary elections were held, and the expected
hearings in the newly elected parliament were delayed twice, as there
was a need to reexamine the proposed drafts. Eventually, parliament
held the long awaited hearings this past May, and the draft became
law No. 57 on “Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities for Men and Women.”

Here, it is worth mentioning that unlike this law, other official
state decisions pertaining to gender equality had never attracted the
ire of Armenian society. Armenia had developed its gender equality
policy long ago; the adoption of law No. 57 was nothing new.

In 2010, the government adopted a protocol decision on gender
equality, which clearly indicates priority areas, main goals, and
strategies for the implementation of gender policy. “Gender equality
fosters sustainable development, intensifies democratic processes,
and contributes to vital activity and organization of public life for
the real equality of all social groups, for solidarity, cooperation
and tolerance, for the effective utilization of human potential,
and for better quality of life.” These words, written in the protocol
decision, never caused exasperation, and there was not a single person,
let alone an organized mob, that publicly attacked this decision or
blamed women’s groups for sabotaging the image of the traditional
Armenian family. Everyone seemed to agree with the concepts of gender
and gender equality.

There was also another protocol decision that established strategies
and action plans of a gender equality policy for the years 2011-15.

Again, no one’s rights were violated by this decision, no one’s
traditional Armenian family was perverted, no one seemed to even care
that the government defined a task of “including gender component
in state policy of education and science”(No. 28) in this decision,
and no one suggested gender equality would jeopardize the future of
their children.

In 2004, the government adopted decision No. 645 on establishing a
“National Project for Improving the Status of Women and Enhancing
Their Role in Public” for the years 2004-10. The decision had many
components, including the task of enhancing knowledge of gender
equality-related issues in educational and state institutions. Why
didn’t the same individuals, who now attack those working towards
gender equality in Armenia, speak against this 2004 decision? Where
were they then?

In 2012, a methodology guidebook titled “Gender Sensitive Indicators”
was published by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. Apart
from national legislature, Armenia also signed several international
treaties. In 1993, Armenia signed and ratified the United Nations
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women, and in 1995 joined the Fourth World Conference on Women’s
Beijing Declaration. Armenia also signed the UN Millennium Declaration
and agreed to the Millennium Development Goals, the third goal of
which aims at promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment.

None of these decisions, treaties, or documents engendered a fraction
of the anger that the bill on “Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities
for Men and Women” seems to face.

Despite the fact that the above-mentioned decisions are aimed at
promoting gender equality, and consequently improving the general
notion of what gender is, none of these steps have resulted in a
tangible shift in women’s role in society.

On paper, the state policy of pushing forward gender equality was
a good process, and showed that at least on an institutional level
concrete actions were being taken. Unfortunately, the implementation
of these actions remained solely on a formal level. The 2013 law,
too, was a routine gender equality-related law that likely would
have remained on paper, and not become a robust working piece
of legislation or bring about palpable changes. What is extremely
vexing is that reaction to the adoption of this law was overwhelming,
and people who were unaware of Armenia’s gender equality path felt
that gender equality was an extremely exotic and alien phenomenon,
something that contradicted everything Armenian.

Reaction

Reaction to the law was a clear indicator that there is little to
absolutely no concept of what gender equality really is, and why it
is vital for women in any society.

The word “gender” quickly became an adjective. Ardent opponents
of this law used the word to describe anything perverted and
sinful, which aimed to undermine traditional Armenian values,
families, and even history. Some opponents went further, and
equated gender equality with homosexuality, mindful of the high
levels of homophobia in Armenia. According to a survey conducted
by the Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC), 96 percent of
Armenian respondents-representing the highest percentage in the
South Caucasus-said homosexuality could never be justified (see also
CivilNet’s video segment about the overall level of intolerance in
Armenia). Some now view the debate as a strategic move to unite the
homophobic masses against gender equality.

Amnesty International’s latest report presents hate crimes,
discrimination, and harassment cases against LGBTI individuals in
Armenia-another indicator of homophobia. The same persons who endorsed
the firebombing of the gay-friendly DIY bar in Yerevan and the events
that followed are the same persons who supported those who attacked
and hijacked the International Diversity Day March last year. They are
also the same individuals who were part of a protest movement against
screening the film “Prada,” which deals with LGBT issues and which
was organized by the German Embassy and the European Union (E.U.).

The so-called “Pan-Armenian Parental Committee” joined the smear
campaign against the gender equality law, fueling the anger. The main
platform they used for disseminating hate speech and disinformation
was their Facebook page, where they posted articles and videos (many in
Russian) of suspicious origin and content. This page quickly garnered
7,000 “Likes.” The creators used it actively and did not stop with
only hate speech; they also started labeling specific individuals-who
had publicly expressed their concerns regarding the growing hysteria
and manipulation surrounding the issue-and posting their pictures,
and granting them a made-up “Prominent Gender of Armenia” award. One
of their prominent members, Arman Boshyan, along with many provocations
and vague definitions, said during apress conference that “the Armenian
government gives money from state budget for gender propaganda,”
adding, “I assure you, 99 percent of Armenia’s population is against
[gender propaganda].”

The name of another Facebook group tells all-“No to ‘Gender’ Law! No
to National Treason.” The only difference between the page of the
“Pan-Armenian Parental Committee” and this group is that it is not
a page but a group, which means that all members (and not just one
person) can contribute to it. In terms of content, the two are almost
identical, except with the latter, the discourse is more aggressive.

A quick glance at the content of this group is more than enough
to understand the level of hatred and aggressiveness espoused by
its members: “Gender is perversion. We won’t let it be. Gender =
transvestite,” “Gender = homosexuality,” “Stay human or become gender?

This is the question,” are but a few of the posted comments. The
group is also pushing a petition against the “legalization of sexual
perversion” and have a message to all Armenians, where they claim
that the definition of gender in the law is “ambiguous and is beyond
traditional legal perception of equality of men and women.” Members
of this campaign will soon hold a demonstration.

Various mass media organizations have also joined this big game.

Numerous articles have appeared both in printed and online newspapers.

TV reports didn’t lag behind, and very ably manipulated the issue.

Armenia TV produced a report that claimed that “parliamentarians
decided that [biological] sex is not a gift of nature but a gender.”

The author of the report also highlighted the section of the draft law
that mentions the state should have supervision over gender equality,
and commented, “this means that new monuments of women according to
gender will soon be installed in the city, or some artists will write
articles saying that Mother Armenia is a male and a Roman Soldier
in the Cascade is a female. The state will do anything to have women
priests, women generals, and women criminals in law…we will start
celebrating Day of Fathers and Unshaved Faces.”

Another completely distorted report, which took the words of Women’s
Resource Center founder Lara Aharonian out of context, was disseminated
by the TV station A1+ and broadcasted by ArmNews. The report made it
seem as though Aharonian’s response, during a press conference, to the
question, “Could a person be taught how to become a homosexual” was,
“If society teaches so, then [they] should learn so.”

In reality, such a question was never posed and Aharonian’s response
was to a completely different question. Later, the real unedited
short version footage of the press conference revealed the truth.

Not only were TV stations, newspapers, and Facebook groups part of
this hysteria, but also public figures. “From Sept. 14-21 a meeting
of homosexuals will soon be organized in Armenia that is financed by
some European organization. The meeting will have 23 homosexuals. Their
hotel expenses will be covered, as well as 70 percent of their travel
expenses. It is homosexuality propaganda,” said former MP Khatchig
Stambolcyan, commenting on recent developments. As it turned out
later, Stambolcyan was referring to the youth project of the Armenian
Progressive Youth NGO, called “Gender Perspectives in Europe.” The
Armenian Progressive Youth NGO refuted Stambolcyan’s comments, and
clarified that the project was organized in the framework of the
EU-funded “Youth in Action” program. It demanded that Stambolcyan
publicly apologize or face slander charges. Stambolcyan hasn’t yet
apologized, and is still determined to “fight against foreign forces.”

Famous pop culture personalities Lusine Badalyan (aka Lulu) and Nazeni
Hovhannisyan, too, joined the anti-gender-equality mainstream. Both
were active on social media sites, expressing their concerns and
essentially endorsing the hateful and aggressive mob mentality with
their posts and comments.

Bishop Bagrat Galstyan, the head of the Social Doctrine Department of
the Holy See, posted an article on his personal Facebook page that was
later disseminated by online media. In his article, he too criticized
the definition of gender in the law, saying, “this perception bears
absolutely no relationship to the equality of rights between men
and women,” later suggesting that the word gender be replaced with
“men and women,” which, according to him, would resolve all the
existing problems.

Another priest, Shmavon Ghevodyan, said in an interview, “I think
last year the gay parade was prevented due to social networks,”
in a reference to the aforementioned International Diversity Day March.

“Why cannot we tell Europe that our national identity does not let us
legalize homosexuality,” he asked, despite the fact that homosexual
acts have not been illegal in Armenia since 2003, and Armenia is one
of 94 states that supported the UN declaration on sexual orientation
and gender identity in 2008. Not a single priest was against this UN
declaration back then. “It is wrong that we have gotten used to the
idea that there must be homosexuals near us,” he added.

The Armenian police were also quick to react. A draft of an amendment
to the Administrative Code was posted on the official website of
the police department. The proposal suggested placing high fines
on individuals and organizations if they were found to be spreading
“propaganda on non-traditional sexual relationships.” (There was no
definition provided of what a non-traditional sexual relationship
might be.) Overall, the proposal was too vague to become a piece
of legislation. Despite the fact that it was later withdrawn due to
“shortcomings,” it greatly contributed to the gender hysteria.

The actions of these groups, mass media representatives, and
individuals cumulatively caused tremendous harm to many human rights
organizations, women’s groups, and individuals, whose positive image in
Armenian society was deliberately spoiled. The Women’s Resource Center
received many threats and was accused of promoting sexual perversion,
leading its members to take additional measures for their personal
safety. Thirty-six organizations issued a joint statement regarding
threats against the Women’s Resource Center.

Result

The government shortly after replaced the word “gender” with “men and
women” in law No. 57, which had been almost unanimously adopted-108
for, and not a single against. The change in the law was the result of
great pressure by the above-mentioned groups and individuals. Heghine
Bisharyan, who had co-authored the law, quickly stepped back after
witnessing the hysteria, and noted that “previously their draft bill
didn’t contain the definition of gender.”

The government too bears fault here. The anti-gender campaign included
a large portion of anti-government rhetoric.

And, not only was its response inadequate in stopping the dissemination
of misinformation and hatred, but its decision also created a
precedent. This precedent proved that by using misinformation, slander,
and egregiously hostile extremist groups, and uniting them against
any issue (experience shows that the easiest way to unite them is to
use anti-gay and anti-gender equality rhetoric), it will be possible
to force change. No one has guarantees that these easily controlled
and easily manipulated groups will not be used later to stifle other
civil movements by the ruling regime itself, by different oligarchs,
or by third parties that have leverage on the mass media and those
orchestrating such hysteria.

An overpowering wave of misogynistic, homophobic, and unjustified
hatred covered Armenian society for two months. And it was a hard blow
to the sustainable development of Armenian society. It will take a
great deal of time for civil society to overcome its repercussions, and
move towards efforts to refrain from reacting similarly in the future.

Samson Martisosyan is The Armenian Weekly correspondent in Yerevan.

RESTORING RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA UNACCEPTABLE NOW: GEORGIAN OFFICIAL

September 20, 2013 – 14:37 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Georgian Prime Minister’s special envoy for relations
with Russia Zurab Abashidze discussed the issue of Georgian breakaway
republics’ borders during his meeting with a Russian Deputy Foreign
Minister Grigory Karasin in the Czech capital Prague on Thursday,
Sept 19, according to RIA Novosti.

The situation on the border between Georgia and its de-facto
independent republic of South Ossetia deteriorated on Tuesday when
Russian border guards started installing a barbed wire fence near the
border with Georgia. Tbilisi accused Moscow of violating international
norms.

Abashidze said he expressed the Georgian government’s deep concern
about “the blatant violation of humanitarian and international norms”
to Karasin.

“The restoration of diplomatic relations with Russia is in principle
unacceptable for Georgia at this stage,” Itar-Tass quoted Abashidze
as saying after the meeting.

“Right now, this is unacceptable in principle, for us it would mean
the recognition of the so-called new realities,” he said. “Georgia
cannot do this.”

“Our country was falling apart not once, but we have lived to this
day,” he added. “I think that we will see a lot more in our lifetime.”

Abashidze also said that Georgia’s participation in the Sochi Olympics
in 2014 was “an uneasy decision” for Tbilisi.

“We have politicians who criticize it, but we do not want to mix
politics with sports,” he said. “We want the Olympic Games to pass
peacefully and quietly, without incidents.”

It has been five years since the end of the “Five-Day War” in 2008 —
the armed conflict between Russia and Georgia in South Ossetia. In
the aftermath of the events of August 7-12, diplomatic ties between
Russia and Georgia were terminated, and relations between the two
countries teetered between confrontation and the search for new
political dialog, saysa publication on Russia Direct.

Most obstinate of all was the issue of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

After 2008, Moscow recognized the two republics as independent states

The first steps toward mending relations with Russia were, in fact,
taken under Mikheil Saakashvili when Georgia agreed to Russia’s
accession to the WTO, thereby creating opportunities for economic
cooperation within an international framework.

Big strides were then made by the government of Bidzina Ivanishvili,
who came to power as a result of the victory of the opposition (the
Georgian Dream coalition) in the parliamentary elections of 2012.

Saakashvili still retains the presidency, but in reality his power
is minimal: The country is run by the Cabinet of Ministers, and the
president’s National Movement resides in opposition.

ROSTOM VOSKANIAN AND AN ARCHITECTURAL LEGACY

Friday, September 20th, 2013 | Posted by Contributor

Rostom Voskanian in his home-studio, Glendale, California. (Photo by
Talinn Grigor, 1999 & 2001)

BY TALINN GRIGOR, PH.D.

The architectural work of Rostom Voskanian can be described as a sober,
a real, and a deeply persuasive answer to the wide-ranging dilemmas
of modernisms between the 1960s to the 1990s. Primarily working in a
rapidly developing Iran, Voskanian’s architecture was born out of a
Beaux-Art tradition that helped transform and define Iranian as well
as diasporic Armenian modernism.

Of the Architect

Voskanian was born into an Armenian family from Tabriz. He was
picked as the fifth recipient of the prestigious Paris scholarship
for architects who were sponsored by the state to study in France.

Graduating from the l’Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1964, he returned to
Tehran University as an assistant professor, initially working with
renowned Iranian architect and educator, Houshang Seyhoun. Voskanian
soon became the Dean of Tehran University’s School of Architecture
after Seyhoun and chaired it until the temporary closing of the
university in 1980. In an interview with me some ten years ago,
Voskanian noted, “Those who returned from Europe had a considerable
influence.” Seyhoun, himself one of the earliest Beaux-Art architects
in Iran, was critical of the “design of Armenian architects,” namely
leading first generation architects Vartan Hovanessian and Gabriel
Guevrekian, because, as Voskanian noted, “they were after modernism.”

In the mid-1960s, trends were changing swiftly in Iran and Voskanian
was initially a witness to and soon an instigator of these stylistic
transformations. By the early 1970s, “the university saw the
birth of Regionalism, cultural sensitivity,” maintained Voskanian,
adding, “Finally, we gave up Formalism.” The discourse on Iranian
architecture had shifted from the International Style of the 1930s
and the Beaux-Arts principles of the 1950s to the reinvention of a
new modern and local architecture of and for Iran.

In 1973, Voskanian made a special visit to the office of the renowned
architect, Louis Kahn, and examined his large-scale works that paid
particular attention to details. Kahn’s monumental regionalism had
a particular influence on Voskanian’s subsequent architecture. Kahn
was proposing to the world a new modernism that was regional and
modernistic; a tradition that Voskanian carried forward so faithfully
in Iran. At the time, Voskanian could not have known that the last two
decades of his creative life would be spent not too far from Kahn’s
masterpiece: the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla,
California.

In 1974, Voskanian became the head of the architectural department
for the following three years, when the revolutionary movement forced
him to resign his post. Championed and often sponsored by Empress
Farah Pahlavi, notable examples of this new regionalism included
praiseworthy examples in Tehran: Kamran Diba’s Tehran Museum of
Contemporary Art (1976); Amanat’s Shahyad Aryamehr Monument-Museum
(1971-74); Nader Ardalan’s Iran Centre for Management Studies (1974);
and Voskanian’s Holy Cross Chapel on the grounds of Ararat Sport
Stadium (1987). These outstanding works of architecture represent
the originality, productivity, and stylistic richness that existed
in modern Iran.

Of the Masterpiece

Voskanian undertook his largest commission in 1971 for the Ararat
Armenian Cultural Organization: a 10,000 seat athletic stadium in
Northern Tehran. The land of some 2 hectares had historically belonged
to the Armenian community as a Christian cemetery from the 17th
century. A six-member committee was formed to manage the establishment
of this massive project. A design completion was organized, wherein
Voskanian won the first prize. He had been a longtime member of
Ararat organization and a veteran sportsman and mountaineer. That he
was one of the leading architects of Iran sealed the selection. But
there was something else at play here. Voskanian was above all a man
of integrity, a people’s architect. Unlike postmodernists, modern
architects believed in changing the world for the better for everyone.

The welfare of ordinary people was always at stake, always at the
forefront of priority. For Voskanian this was of essence. And like
Voskanian, this priority has come and gone.

Detail of Holy Cross Chapel, Ararat Stadium complex, Tehran, Iran.

(Photo by Talinn Grigor, 1999)

That Voskanian won the bid was indicative of the populist spirit
of the project. Chairman of central broad of directors and head
of constructions of Ararat, Vachik Gharabegian, was pivotal to
inseminating among the Armenian community of Iran, the idea of
ownership. Of owning one’s land, one’s culture, and thus one’s
destiny. An essential aspect of that will to ownership was the
realization of the Ararat project. Donations were collected from the
community. The architect and his team were supported by the board of
directors in this politically and financially sensitive undertaking.

At the end, Voskanian’s design successfully rose to the expectations
of the will of the people, of openness, of transparency, and of
communal ownership.

A topographically difficult terrain with a difference in elevation
of 26 meters, Voskanian managed to turn it into a series of highly
functional and spatially effective agglomeration arranged around
the soccer field and each maintaining their individuality and
independence. The modernist design of the structures went hand in hand
with the choice of the material and function: pure concrete, brick,
and glass. The people’s stuff. The complex was ready for partial use
as of 1975; the project was handed over to the Executive Board of
Ararat in late 1976.

The project’s implication for the Armenian community not only in
Tehran, but also all around Iran and Asia has been vast since the
insemination of the project. This space has become a sanctuary for
Christian Armenians in order to survive as an independent cultural,
ethnic, religious, and linguistic minority in the Islamic Republic
of Iran. The Ararat Sport Stadium has provided Armenians the space
upon which to practice their cultural and linguistic heritage and
to preserve its ethnic and religious distinctiveness. The masterful
architecture of the varied spaces of the complex has been since its
construction the key to this preservation: a large open-air stadium,
several indoor and outdoor sports halls, tennis courts, offices,
classrooms, meeting halls, storage rooms, shops, camping areas, parking
amenities, and a world-class swimming facility. In the following years,
the stadium was used for significant community and national events as
a result of its successful spatial configuration, solid construction,
and forward-looking engineering.

Voskanian’s Holy Cross Chapel on the southeastern corner of the campus
was an addition after the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which certainly
encapsulates, not only the architect’s artistic and architectural
brilliance, but also his lifelong commitment to both the people and
to a local modernism: the modern Armenian religious structure. The
Iranian Revolution that took an Islamic turn in 1980-82 gave urgency
to the construction of an explicitly Christian icon in the existing
stadium complex. Iranian identity framed by the authorities in terms
of religion, compelled minorities, including Armenians, to represent
themselves as religious minorities. Although initially the complex was
designed and used as a secular space, Ararat’s governing committee
judged it best in the early 1980s to erect an Armenian Apostolic
chapel in order to continue to preserve the complex as a property
belong to the Armenian community.

Holy Cross Chapel, Ararat Stadium complex, Tehran, Iran. (Photo by
Talinn Grigor, 1999)

As many properties were being seized during the chaos of the
revolution, the governing committee petitioned for an urgent approval
of the design of the proposed chapel by the Armenian Apostolic
Prelacy of Iran. Voskanian’s scheme was a masterpiece of modern
Armenian architecture: a reinterpretation in poured concrete of
the best examples of medieval Armenian churches, transformed into
an interwoven system of supports, openings, and suspensions. While
remaining true to the symmetric and central floor plan of domed
architecture of medieval Armenian churches, for instance that of
Saint Hripsimeh in Ejmiatsin or the Holy Cross (Surb Khatch) on the
island of Akhtamar, Voskanian carves out a novel form that boldly
incarnates the elevation and section of traditional churches into
an allegorical representation of the Christian cross: simultaneously
ancient and avant-garde. An architecture of sculpture or a sculpted
architecture, the chapel stands as the most powerful symbol of the
endurance of Armenian identity as both ancient and contemporary.

Voskanian avant-garde architecture was highly progressive and
revolutionary, then and now. Finding the proposal, as it were, “too
modern and unorthodox,” the Armenian prelate ordered the imitation
of a church in Antioch, Syria, dating from the 19th century. “Your
holiness, I am either building this or nothing at all,” Voskanian
replied. A man of integrity, of principles. A modern man of the
people; a true modernist architect. To this, the stadium’s chairman,
Baghdik Der Grigorian had added, “Clearly sir, you don’t grasp the
real implication of this monument, skirmishing over its style.” The
architect tirelessly supervised the complex and unique construction
process of the matur during the following months. In September 1987,
the matur was ordained. “I never approached the chapel as a political
work,” Voskanian told me decades later, “That which has been built,
is a reality that remains; people change their political views,
which have no influence on my art.” The matur has helped maintain
the stadium as an essential aspect of the preservation of Armenian
cultural heritage in Iran.

Of the Legacy

As are most revolutions in the habit of doing, the Iranian Revolution,
has taken away from artists and architects their livelihood and peace
of mind, as well as their guarantee of posterity: the architecture.

Voskanian left behind a legacy and a tradition in Iranian-Armenian
modern architecture when he left Tehran in 1988. By so doing, he
also left behind his architectural practice. Moving to Southern
California, he showed an exceptional ability to adopt. With his
Beaux-Arts training, Voskanian dropped the ruler and picked up the
brush, perhaps because to a Beaux-Arts-trained architect, painting
and sculpting are sub-processes of the artistic process. He restlessly
produced works of art in his home-studio in Glendale. This resulted,
over the last two decades, in a series of very successful one-person
and group exhibitions in various North American cities.

Yet at the core, Voskanian remained a modernist architect. His matur
embodies one of the few examples of Armenian contemporaneity in
architecture; an exquisite answer to the history of architecture’s
modernism, to Corbu, Mies, Gropius, and Kahn. The matur is
a masterpiece. With the skillful pouring of concrete, with its
protruding three-dimensional crosses, with its low modernist interior
reliefs, and with its quadrupling of design, it is an answer to “how
does modern Armenian architecture would look like?” An answer to the
Modern Movement, of which Voskanian was a faithful prodigy.

Simultaneously, his works belong to the rich repertoire of Armenian
architecture tradition and long heritage. His legacy is the persistence
of the modern and the traditional in Armenian art history.

Therein rest his work’s genius. The matur, as all his other
architectural and fine arts creations, stand tall as brilliant
manifestos of his intellectual power, his profound philosophy, his
artistic talent, and his unique instinct and insight to reveal to us
the essence of modernity.

That both King Gagik’s cathedral on the Akhtamar island and
Voskanian’s chapel on the grounds of Ararat stadium are named Holy
Cross is prophetic. Both stand proud as representative masterworks of
Armenian architecture, one of the Middle Ages and the other of the
modern era. Gagik’s exquisite high reliefs on the surface of Holy
Cross are echoed by the equally exquisite minimalism of the poured
concrete of Voskanian’s Holy Cross. One could touch both surfaces
and grasp the artistic spirit of its time. Both speak so sincerely
of their Zeitgeist (spirit of the age), of their place, of their
artistic foresight. Visionary and deeply true.

To have lost one’s context in which one had made his name, yet to
persistently continue to create original, thought-provoking, and
critical work of art is a mark of an exceptional mind, a pure heart,
and a true artist. Voskanian was that architect-artist. To have
lost that artist to cancer is the loss of not one but two nations,
if not the entire artistic world. Not one, but two nations are at
a loss today. Not one but two nations ought to mourn today. One of
unmatched talent, one of integrity and honor, one who believed in the
project of modernity and with his creation, became one with it. May
he rest in peace as his art endures onto eternity.

Talinn Grigor is Professor of Art History at Brandeis University,
in Wellesley, Mass.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

The Catholicosate of Cilicia participated in the preparatory meetings of the
10th Assembly Committees of the World Council of Churches

Antelias – 8-11 September 2013, Archbishop Nareg Alemezian attended the
meetings of the leaders of “Ecumenical Conversations” to take place during
the Assembly in Busan, Republic of South Korea, from 30 October to 8
November 2013. While in Geneva, the Archbishop also met with the General
Secretary of the World Council of Churches as well as with staff to discuss
the situation in Syria and the Region.

AZERBAIJAN: THE PIPELINE THAT WOULD FUEL A DICTATOR

[ Part 2.2: “Attached Text” ]

EMMA HUGHES REPORTS FROM AZERBAIJAN, WHERE AUTOCRATIC LEADER ILHAM
ALIYEV IS USING THE COUNTRY’S FOSSIL FUEL WEALTH TO FUND HIS
REPRESSIVE REGIME AND BUY EUROPE’S SILENCE SEPTEMBER 2013

azer1

A billboard of Heydar Aliyev, ‘Father of the Nation’,
by the Heydar Aliyev Park.Photo: Emma Hughes

The government’s dash for gas has not only resulted in a raft
of new gas-fired power stations in the UK; it is also supporting
the drilling of 26 new gas wells in the BP-operated Shah Deniz gas
field off the coast of Azerbaijan. Companies and decision-makers in
London and Brussels are eagerly eyeing these wells and are currently
assembling the agreements and finance for a mega-pipeline from the
Caspian to central Europe.

The proposed pipeline looks something like this: from the BP terminal
at Sangachal the gas would be forced westwards through the South
Caucasus Pipeline Expansion across Azerbaijan and Georgia. From there
the Trans-Anatolian pipeline would pump the gas across the entire
length of Turkey, to the border with Greece. Here a further final part
of the pipeline: the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, will run across Greece,
Albania and finally end in Italy. While each segment has a different
name, in reality they are all part of one mega-pipeline.

And the plans don’t end there. Pressure is building to extend
it to Turkmenistan, Iraq and Iran, creating a significant resource
grab as central Asian and Middle Eastern gas fields would be locked
directly into the European grid.

Such a pipeline could be devastating for the environment, putting an
extra 1,100 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere by 2048 – the
equivalent of 2.5 years of total emissions from five of the countries
it will run through: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Greece and Albania.

And in the country of extraction, Azerbaijan, its construction would
directly undermine the struggle to overthrow the country’s oil
dictator Ilham Aliyev.

A fossil fuel dictator

‘BP is where the president got his power from. Where is his
wealth, where are his police, without BP’s money?’

The ruling family, the Aliyevs, have held onto power in Azerbaijan for
the past two decades through a combination of fraudulent elections,
arresting opposition candidates, beating protesters and curtailing
media freedom. Ilham’s father, Heydar Aliyev, became president
in 1993, following a military coup; he had previously been the head of
Soviet Azerbaijan from 1969 to 1982. In 2003 he was forced to withdraw
from the presidential elections due to ill health and his son stood
and won instead. The elections were widely recognised as fraudulent.

The Aliyevs’ rule has been facilitated by the signing of the
‘contract of the century’ in 1994, which brought 11
corporations, including BP, Amoco, Lukoil of Russia and the State
Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic, into a consortium to extract
oil from the Caspian Sea. The money from that oil not only made these
corporations huge profits, but also gave the Aliyev family vast wealth
and important allies overseas. The oil revenue means the regime is
not dependent on taxes, so there is little incentive to pay attention
to citizens’ voices or interests.

Mirvari Gahramanli works at the Oil Workers Rights Protection
Organisation union. She blames BP for the country’s autocratic
president: ‘BP is where the president got his power from. What
is he without the money? Where is his wealth, where are his police,
without BP’s money? They [the Aliyevs] have grown rich from BP
and now as a result they have much more power.’

The money from the oil industry was supposed to be controlled by the
State Oil Fund for Azerbaijan (SOFAZ), which was intended to finance
the transition of the Azeri economy away from oil and to ensure the
wealth was kept for future generations. Instead much of it has been
pumped into construction.

Permanently under construction

Arrive in Azerbaijan’s capital city, Baku, at night and it
seems like one of the most opulent places on earth. The drive from the
Heydar Aliyev international airport whizzes past in a blur of lights
and colour. A daylight walk reveals a different side to the city. The
opulence is still evident in the pristine shopping streets, filled
with bright plazas and innumerable designer shops – most of which are
empty. But walking down a side street is like stepping backstage on
a film set. Dust and debris are everywhere; whole buildings are torn
apart, spewing their dusty interiors onto the street. Baku is a city
permanently under construction.

azer4

Baku’s highest skyscrapers, the Flame Towers. They were built
at a cost of $350 million but appear mostly unused. Photo: Emma Hughes

Just who is benefiting from Baku’s continuous state of demolition
has been made clear by the work of Azeri journalists.

Khadija Ismayilova has linked many of the construction projects with
the president and his family. These include the building of Crystal
Hall, which staged the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012, and the nearby
State Flag Square, which cost $38 million and briefly held the Guinness
world record for the tallest flagpole in the world until its 162-metre
height was overshadowed a few months later by a rival pole in Dushanbe,
Tajikistan. Two-thirds of the cost of the square in Baku came from the
reserve fund of the head of state and the other third from the 2011
state budget, yet it was companies connected with Aliyev that profited.

The list of enterprises the Aliyevs are linked to is extensive. It
includes phone companies, gold mining and an energy infrastructure
company. It is common for big infrastructure projects, financed by
public money from oil revenues, to be distributed to companies that
belong to high-ranking officials, including the president himself.

New laws mean that ownership remains secret, and they are often
registered offshore anyway, so that public accountability is
impossible.

Khadija Ismayilova’s part in exposing the personal profits made
by the Aliyev family has led to her being blackmailed. In the middle
of her investigation into the companies profiting from the flagpole
square she was sent a tape of her and her boyfriend having sex that
had been filmed from a camera hidden in her flat. The accompanying
letter threatened to publish the tape if she didn’t stop her
investigation. She continued and the tape was published on the
internet. It was followed by a smear campaign and harassment by
government officials at public events.

While the authorities attempted to label her a ‘loose
woman’ for having sex outside of marriage, she says the plan
backfired. ‘Society turned out to be more liberal than the
government and I got support messages not just from the liberal parts
of society but also from the Islamic parties because they are also in a
struggle against the government, so they urged me to keep going,’
she says.

In Azerbaijan there are almost no independent media; most newspapers
and nearly all TV channels are controlled by the government. Khadija
Ismayilova’s experience is unusual only in that she didn’t
find herself in prison or hospital – or the morgue. In 2005 the founder
and editor of the critical opposition weekly news magazine Monitor,
Elmar Huseynov, was gunned down in his apartment building. He had
received threats because of his writing and many in Azerbaijan believe
he was murdered because of it.

Expectant protesters

Azerbaijanis are furious at how their money has been squandered.

Despite the opulence in the centre of Baku, citizens have to pay
large sums to use basic services, including healthcare. Much of the
county’s infrastructure is in need of repair.

azer3

Housing near Tibilisi Avenue in Baku. Photo: Emma Hughes

A new generation is finding new ways to organise through Facebook,
blogs and flashmobs. The mood in Baku is expectant; people are
talking about when Aliyev will go rather than if. With Baku hosting
the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012, the rising protest movements
had an opportunity to generate international attention, although
it didn’t stop the government responding with continued
repression. In October, 200 Muslim activists protesting against a
ban on hijabs in secondary schools clashed with the police outside
the education ministry. Seventy-two were arrested – the majority of
whom were still being detained six months later.

In January, in the town of Ismayilli, west of Baku, the drunk son of
the labour minister crashed his SUV into a taxi and then beat up the
driver. In response, local residents set fire to his truck, as well
as other vehicles and hotels belonging to the same family. Volleys of
tear gas filled the streets as a militarised police force marched in.

A state of emergency was declared in the town and neighbouring regions,
cafes were closed down and the internet censored. The troops stayed
for over a month in a show of force. With the regime afraid of change,
it is resorting to ever-greater violence and repression. In the run
up to presidential elections set for October there are increasing
numbers of arrests.

Democracy will not be won easily. Pushing the Aliyev family out
of power will be a difficult process. It is made even harder by the
actions of the government’s allies in the west. On a recent trip
to Brussels, Aliyev promised two trillion cubic metres of Azerbaijani
gas for Europe. At the same meeting European Commission president
Jose Manuel Barroso spoke about the ‘very good exchange’
he had with Aliyev and praised the country for the progress it had
made on democracy and human rights.

It was recently announced that the formal signing of the final part
of the mega-pipeline agreement between the Shah Deniz consortium
and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) looks likely to happen
in mid-October. This means it will coincide with the Azerbaijan
presidential elections and will effectively silence those in the EU
Commission who wish to speak out about Azerbaijan’s political
prisoners and fraudulent elections. Azerbaijani democracy activists
accuse the country’s dictator, Ilham Aliyev, of manipulating
the timing to ensure the EU is not critical of his regime’s
appalling record on human rights and democracy.

Khadija Ismayilova is familiar with Aliyev’s tactics.

‘The TAP signing is perfect timing for Aliyev,’ she says.

‘We will hear hardly anything from the EU about human rights
and election rigging until after that moment.’

Emma Hughes is a Red Pepper co-editor and a campaigner with Platform.

She spent April in Baku meeting democracy activists. More on the
planned mega-pipeline:

or/

BLOCKADED ARMENIA SHOULD BECOME THE ONLY COUNTRY TO HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO DEVELOP SECURITY WITH THE CSTO AND ECONOMY WITH THE EU

ArmInfo’s interview with Karabakh War Hero, Major General Arkady
Ter-Tadevosyan (Commandos)

by David Stepanyan

Thursday, September 19, 13:54

Armenia’s accession to the Customs Union has evoked polemics among
those who support the idea and those who oppose it. Russophiles claim
that there is no alternative to Russia as a guarantor of Armenia’s
national security. How much will the accession to the Customs Union
strengthen our security?

Defense capacity of Armenia and NKR depends on the level of interaction
with the CSTO, which we are increasing constantly. All our arms
are made in Russia. We continue to receive arms from Russia. And
Azerbaijan does the same, unfortunately. The 102nd Russian military
base in Gyumri is another element of Armenia’s security. To assess
the real level of threats to security of Nagorno Karabakh, one should,
at least, be there. In 1993 Baku developed an ideal plan of occupying
Karabakh – Shimshit (blitzkrieg) – with help of the Turkish General
Staff. That plan of attacks from five directions did not work then
and the enemy was defeated. Azerbaijan has some alternative plans,
but the best one is “Shimshit.” It has been tested many times during
military exercises. Baku has no better plan than “Shimshit,” given
that the north of Karabakh is protected with mountain chains, while
Martakert region, the eastern part of NKR’s defense, remains open. The
North of Karabakh is strongly protected with mountains and Azerbaijan’s
‘Shimshit’ will face strong resistance. Azerbaijan will suffer big
losses. The only difference is that many civilians will fell victim
to that aggression on the Armenian party, while Azerbaijan will lose
mainly militaries. Anyway, it is evident that a new war will end in
another, final defeat of Azerbaijan. In Turkey they also realize that
probability. Therefore, Turks and Azeris have developed the project
‘one nation-one army.’ They try to improve their Armed Forces on
the basis of the NATO standards. They take joint strategic steps,
create military unions, and fulfill the same missions. It is a very
serious project that cannot but inspire us with real concerns.

There is no alternative to the close alliance with Russia. Maybe,
cooperation and union with Europe would be more effective for
Armenia’s economic development, but never for security. Withdrawal
of the Russian military base from Armenia will not contribute to the
country’s security.

Well, but there are also other security systems, NATO, for instance…

Blockaded by its two neighbors denying the international law Armenia
has occurred in a specific situation. Neither the EU nor Russia can
now influence Turkey and Azerbaijan on the matter. In such situation,
I think, Armenia should become an exception in geopolitics and get an
opportunity to develop security with the CSTO and economy with the EU.

This concept will make it possible for Armenia to minimize security
risks and improve its economic situation. Therefore, it is necessary
to separate economy from politics.

The Association Agreement aims to reduce Russia’s influence on the
Eastern Partnership countries, including Armenia…

Sure, this policy has come to replace the ‘cold war’ and today the
unipolar world managed by the USA is gradually becoming bipolar
and even tripolar. And this process is impossible without projects
like the EU-initiated Association Agreement. Therefore, integration
trends are inevitable, but the US fights those trends not to lose its
hegemony in the world. That is why, there have been disagreements and
contradictions over Armenia’s integration vector at the top level. As
far as I know, there were disagreements even at the session of the
National Security Council and the Parliament of Armenia. So, we need
a special approach by superpowers.

However, there is no such approach…the last time, we were hinted
at that fact in Novo-ogarevo on 3 September.

Moscow will not oppose successful development of the trade and
economic ties of Armenia and the EU, of course, if in Brussels they
go on such step. I don’t think that the meeting of the Armenian
and Russian presidents in Novo-Ogarevo went smoothly. Nevertheless,
the presidents managed to agree on the perspectives of the existing
economic cooperation of Armenia and the EU and the military-political
cooperation with Russia. The EU and USA also exert certain pressure
on Armenia.

Politics and the truth are often incompatible, which can be seen
in our relations with Russia, USA and Europe. Therefore, we should
act on the basis of what we have now: Russian frontier guards on
the Armenian-Turkish border, security provision by the CSTO. In
such situation, it is Armenia that must provide security to Nagorno
Karabakh.

Armenia’s possible accession to the Customs Union implies Yerevan’s
refusal from political cooperation with the EU and USA i.e. from
counterbalance. Russia is not the Soviet Union. We must remember
that fact. Are there any guarantees that Moscow will not “present”
Baku with a couple of regions of NKR for its own interests?

The USSR and Turkey used to divide Armenian territories once, and
we see the result of the division. In this context, a new contract
between Russia and Turkey, which has been recently made by Dmitriy
Medvedev, causes anxiety, as it was signed at the day of the shameful
Moscow Treaty made in 1921. Fortunately, today the world is a little
bit different. We have the UN, and a viewpoint of small countries
means something in international organizations. This is a straw we
hold onto, we have got no other one. For this reason, Armenia needs
strict national programs for protection of its national interests. We
need a course, which the Armenians of the world will drive forward by
joint efforts. Our problem is that Armenia does not have such programs.

What was the goal of selling weapons for $4 billion to Azerbaijan? Who
besides us will those Russian ‘smerches’ be used against?

They say that there is no other sense than a financial one in the sale
of weapons for $4 billion by Russia to Azerbaijan. However, I cannot
understand the logic of such a step by Moscow against friendly Armenia.

Do you think that AR1A systems will recompense acquisition of the
Russian “Smerch” systems by Azerbaijan?

We have already acquired and keep acquiring Chinese AR1A multiple
launch rocket systems. It is not announced officially, but following
the recent delivery of arms to Azerbaijan, Moscow began supplying
arms also to Armenia.

I don’t think that acquisition of AR1A systems was Yerevan’s response
to delivery of Russian arms to Azerbaijan. Negotiations were held
yet before that deal. We have never kept that in secret. Military
balance isn’t the point, though AR1A is a very effective system hitting
both the manpower and infrastructures. It is much more important for
Azerbaijan to have trucks for its tanks, if they decide to ‘make a
stay’ in Karabakh. There are very few such trucks and even if Aliyev
acquires several thousands more tanks, they will stick in a “tank
traffic jam” in Karabakh. Suffice it to look at the map of Nagorno
Karabakh to make sure that there are very limited opportunities for
application of military hardware in Karabakh.

NO OBJECTIVE REASONS FOR ARMENIAN POW’S TRANSFER TO THIRD COUNTRY – JAMALYAN

13:36 20/09/2013 ” SOCIETY

Statements of Azeri officials cannot help us form a realistic idea
about the intentions of Armenian POW Hakob Injighulyan, David Jamalyan,
Adviser to the Armenian Defense Minister, told Panorama.am when asked
to comment on Azeri reports on the future of the Armenian POW.

“Most importantly, Hakob is highly appreciated in his military unit
and, naturally, he will not be subjected to criminal liability if
he returns to Armenia. This has been repeatedly said by the Armenian
Defense Minister and it is important for everyone to know that Hakob
is loved and awaited in Armenia. So, there are no objective reasons
for him to be transferred to a third country,” Jamalyan said.

Mr Jamalyan stressed that Armenia’s efforts to return the POW to the
homeland will be consistent, but “we should be patient and take into
consideration the fact that the process of returning Hakob to Armenia
could take a long time.”

“Obviously, Azerbaijan will try to protract the process by creating
artificial obstacles,” he added.

Source: Panorama.am

REVUE DE PRESSE N1 – 20/09/13 – COLLECTIF VAN

Publie le : 20-09-2013

Info Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN [Vigilance
Armenienne contre le Negationnisme] vous propose une revue de presse
des informations parues dans la presse francophone, sur les thèmes
concernant la Turquie, le genocide armenien, la Shoah, le genocide
des Tutsi, le Darfour, le negationnisme, l’Union europeenne, Chypre,
etc… Nous vous suggerons egalement de prendre le temps de lire ou
de relire les informations et traductions mises en ligne dans notre
rubrique Par
ailleurs, certains articles en anglais, allemand, turc, etc, ne sont
disponibles que dans la newsletter Word que nous generons chaque jour.

Pour la recevoir, abonnez-vous a la Veille-Media : c’est gratuit !

Vous recevrez le document du lundi au vendredi dans votre boîte email.

Bonne lecture.

Turquie : Article 301 en route de restriction Info Collectif VAN –
– L’article 301 du code penal turc qui avait
condamne le journaliste armenien de Turquie, Hrant Dink, est mis
en question. Apres de nombreux mois mouvementes en Turquie pour la
democratisation, le gouvernement a enfin decide de reflechir sur cet
article a cause duquel Hrant Dink a paye sa vie. La restriction de
l’article est prevue : ” La portee de l’article va etre limitee a ”
la nation turque ” grâce a la reglementation du paquet.

Alors que humilier ouvertement ” La Republique de Turquie, La Grande
Assemblee Nationale de Turquie, Le gouvernement de la Republique
de Turquie, les organes judiciaires de l’etat, l’organisation
militaire ou policière de l’Etat ” ne va plus etre un crime comme
aujourd’hui. ” Mais n’est-il justement pas ce mot ” la nation turque
” qui pose problème ? Ne serait-il donc pas de nouveau un simulacre
dans la demarche de democratisation ? Le Collectif Van vous propose
la traduction d’un article paru dans le journal armenien de Turquie,
AGOS, le 26 Août 2013.

Pinar Selek : Appel a solidarite Info Collectif VAN –
– “Le collectif de solidarite avec Pinar Selek
en Turquie lance une campagne d’envois de lettres au Ministre de
la justice turc. Ces lettres ont pour but de relever le caractère
politique du procès qui est fait a Pinar Selek et de pointer la
soumission de la justice aux forces politiques.” Le Collectif VAN
relaye ici le communique de presse du Collectif de solidarite avec
Pinar Selek en France, en date du 19 septembre 2013.

Rwanda : Racisme et genocide, l’ideologie hamitique Info Collectif
VAN – – “Dans nos societes europeennes laïcisees,
on moque aujourd’hui les retrogrades ” creationnistes ” americains qui
luttent pour faire interdire l’enseignement de l’evolutionnisme. Mais
dans l’Europe de Paul Broca, Louis Figuier (pour ne citer que des
Francais) et bien d’autres, l’opinion publique faconnee par le
christianisme etait ” naturellement ” creationniste. On pensait que
toute l’histoire de l’Humanite se trouvait contenue dans l’Ancien
Testament. En Afrique centrale, les ” decouvreurs ” s’avancaient la
Bible en poche. Au fil de leur decouverte des Grands lacs africains
entre 1857 et 1863, les Britanniques Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890)
et John Haning Speke (1827-1864) s’efforcaient de retrouver dans
l’Ancien Testament l’origine des peuples et des royaumes qu’ils
traversaient.” Le Collectif VAN vous invite a lire cette information
publiee sur le site Afrikarabia le mercredi 18 septembre 2013,
signalant la parution du livre des historiens Jean-Pierre Chretien et
Marcel Kabanda, où ils decryptent le processus de l’ideologie raciste
qui a abouti en 1994 au genocide des Tutsi du Rwanda.

Congo : un genocide dans l’indifference totale…

Les Congolais et les Africains en general seraient-ils des sous-etres
humains ??? Nous avons le meme sang, les memes origines ancestrales,
l’Humanite est une et indivisible ! Interpelons l’Etat francais,
l’Europe, l’ONU en masse pour que toutes les mesures soient prises pour
securiser dans un premier les populations (n’est-ce pas le rôle des
casques bleus ?) et leur donner les moyens de reprendre leur avenir
en mains ! Il en va de la responsabilite de chacun et de tous !!!

Dieudonne poursuit SOS Racisme pour antisemitisme Des accusations que
la presidente de SOS Racisme juge “aussi graves qu’incoherentes” dans
la mesure où les deux plaignants ont deja ete eux-memes condamnes pour
des propos antisemites et haineux. Selon Cindy Leoni, cette procedure
s’apparente davantage a une basse vengeance : “Pourquoi cette procedure
? Parce que j’ai declare que Dieudonne ne faisait plus rire personne.”

Aube doree : ces dangereux neonazis grecs Des affrontements ont oppose
policiers et manifestants antifascistes a travers toute la Grèce,
mercredi 18 septembre, après une journee de grève du secteur public
et des defiles sans violences d’environ 20.000 fonctionnaires contre
une reforme brutale de l’administration.

Quid de la communaute chretienne en Syrie ?

L’expert de l’islam politique Gueorgui Enguelgardt est egalement
de cet avis. Selon lui, la position russe en Syrie n’est pas dictee
par le soutien de la communaute chretienne mais avant tout par les
interets nationaux. D’après l’expert, en cas de reversement d’Assad
et de l’arrivee au pouvoir des islamistes, l’influence du Qatar et de
l’Arabie saoudite augmenterait dans le pays, sachant qu’il s’agit de
pays concurrents de la Russie sur son principal marche d’exportation
d’hydrocarbures.

Les Kurdes syriennes avertissent la Turquie Le commandement general
de l’armee kurde syrienne YPG a lance un avertissement a la Turquie
sur son soutien militaire aux groupes affilies a Al-Qaïda, après la
mort de deux combattants kurdes par des tirs de l’armee turque.

Turquie : complots sur le Bosphore Istanbul a perdu les Jeux olympiques
de 2020, mais, grâce au premier ministre turc, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
elle va gagner une medaille d’or : capitale mondiale du complot. Pas
comme elle l’etait du temps de la guerre froide, avec belles espionnes
russes traversant le Bosphore en Riva pour aller seduire quelque
agent occidental au pied du Topkapi.

Non, il s’agit cette fois d’affaires plus subtiles, ourdies depuis
l’etranger, et notamment l’Europe, pour destabiliser la Turquie et
le bouillant Erdogan.

Edouard Nalbandian confirme que l’Armenie veut poursuivre sa
cooperation avec l’UE dans toutes les directions Le ministre armenien
des Affaires etrangères Edward Nalbandian a confirme la volonte de
l’Armenie a poursuivre sa cooperation avec l’UE dans tous les sens
lors de sa rencontre avec le commissaire de l’UE pour l’elargissement
et la politique europeenne Stefan Fule.

Retour a la rubrique