Author: nina hovnanian

KEY SUSPECT OF HRANT DINK MURDER CASE ARRESTED

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
June 18 2013

A key suspect in the investigation into the murder of the
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was arrested today in the
Black Sea province of Trabzon, with the trial due the restart from
scratch in September following a Supreme Court ruling.

Ersin Yolcu’s arrest was carried out after the Supreme Court reversed
the judgment on his release from jail. Yolcu is now again being held
in Trabzon’s Bahcecik prison, pending the second trial.

Yolcu had been sentenced to 12 years and six month in prison, but
was released in 2010 after the court ruled that there was not enough
evidence proving that he was a “member of a terrorist organization.”

He was together with another key suspect, Ahmet Ä°skender.

Dink, the renowned editor-in-chief of Agos, was shot in front of his
office in Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007. The triggerman, Ogun Samast,
17-years-old at the time of the murder, and Yasin Hayal, who was
charged of being the instigator of the assassination, were convicted
of the murder.

However, following the five year trial, the court ruled on Jan. 17,
2012 that it saw no “deep state” role in the plotting of the
assassination, despite serious claims that a number of civil servants
were “indirectly” involved and documents indicating this.

The ruling was overturned a year later by the Supreme Court of
Appeals, which led to prosecutors restarting their investigation into
the murder.

June/18/2013

PRESIDENTS OF RUSSIA, U.S. AND FRANCE REGRET NAGORNO-KARABAKH PROBLEM IS NOT YET RESOLVED

Trend, Azerbaijan
June 18 2013

Russia, the U.S. and France, the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
that deals with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
have expressed deep regret at the fact that the parties were not
able to find a solution of the problem in the course of negotiations,
RIA Novosti reported.

“We express our deep regret at the fact that during the negotiation
process, the parties continued to seek unilateral advantages
rather than trying to find a solution based on mutual interests,”
the presidents of the three countries Vladimir Putin, Barack Obama
and Francois Hollande said in a joint statement adopted on the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“We are confident that further delay in reaching a balanced framework
agreement leading to a comprehensive peace settlement is unacceptable
and urge the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to focus on the issues
that are still open with renewed energy,” the document says.

WASHINGTON POST TAKES A LONG LOOK AT OUR MARK KRIKORIAN

National Review Online
June 18 2013

By Jim Geraghty
June 18, 2013 9:00 AM

National Review contributor Mark Krikorian gets a long and largely
favorable profile in today’s Washington Post. Yes, one of the Center
for Immigration Studies’ founders gets lengthy scrutiny for allegedly
consorting with racists and white supremacists, but the profile begins
with Krikorian’s childhood in an Armenian-American household (he
couldn’t speak English when he began kindergarten) and concludes with:

It’s a muggy Tuesday night, and Krikorian is steering his Toyota Prius
into the parking lot of a dreary office building in Falls Church. The
man behind the wheel of the hybrid vehicle is a “crunchy conservative”
who says he sometimes pops into Edible Arrangements to collect bags
of melon rinds or Starbucks for loads of coffee grounds to replenish
his compost pile.

In the building’s hallway, a group of middle-aged men and women –
all immigrants – file toward the elevator. They’ve just finished
a citizenship class sponsored by Catholic Charities for green-card
holders who want to prepare for the civics test they must take to
become citizens. Krikorian will be the instructor for the class that
starts in a few minutes. This has been his Tuesday night routine for
about 1½ years, he says.

On the subject of immigration, Krikorian frets about almost everything,
but little seems to animate him as much as his concerns about
multiculturalism and his contention that “Spanish-speaking people”
have “the potential to create an alternative mainstream” in the United
States. “A lot of the immigration pushers don’t like America the way
it is,” he says. “They want to change it.”

In a spare conference room, four men settle into plastic chairs before
Krikorian. They’re Latinos – Bolivians and Salvadorans. “No, no, no,”
he says with a smile when two of the men start speaking Spanish to
each other. No Spanish allowed in class.

“Why do people come to America?” he asks the class.

There’s silence.

“Come on, why do people come to America? You know it,” he urges.

“Freedom?” a Bolivian construction worker suggests.

“That’s right!”

When the men answer tough questions, Krikorian hands them little
American flags.

Krikorian, whose birthday is Flag Day, once said the purpose of
immigration was to Americanize people. On this night, in this
conference room with scuff marks on the walls, he seems content in
the belief that he is doing just that: making new Americans.

Love him or hate him, there’s no denying that Mark has become one
of the most influential and consequential voices in the immigration
debate.

RUSSIAN EXPERT: COOPERATION BETWEEN TEHRAN AND YEREVAN WILL CONTINUE STRENGTHENING ALONG WITH FURTHER DETERIORATION OF IRANIAN-AZERI RELATIONS

ARMINFO
Tuesday, June 18, 18:12

During the presidency of Hassan Rouhani, the cooperation between
Tehran and Yerevan will continue strengthening along with further
deterioration of the Iranian-Azeri relations, Andrey Areshev,
researcher at the Institute of Political and Social Studies of the
Black Sea and Caspian Region, told ArmInfo.

To note, during the presidential race, Rouhani said in an interview to
the Iranian mass media that Azerbaijan threatened the security of Iran.

In this context, Areshev said that Rouhani’s statement was
well-considered. There are numerous serious politicians and statesmen
in Iran, whose rhetoric against Azerbaijan is rather sharp. In the
meantime, Areshev thinks that the relations between Iran and Azerbaijan
were tainted long ago, consequently, it will not be easy to regain
the mutual confidence an return the relations to an acceptable level.

“Against this background, I think Rouhani’s presidency will have
a positive effect on the dialogue between Yerevan and Tehran if,
of course, Armenia shows significant interest in it”, said the expert.

ARMENIA HAS 2ND HIGHEST INDUSTRIAL GROWTH AT 12.6% ACROSS CIS

YEREVAN, June 18./ARKA/. Armenia has the second highest industrial
growth across the CIS, the Interstate Statistical Committee of the
CIS reported Tuesday.

Its industrial growth is said to hit 12.6% in January-April 2013,
compared to January-April 2012.

Within the reported period, industry also grew in Kyrgyzstan (19.1%),
Uzbekistan (6%), Tajikistan (5.8%) and Kazakhstan (1.9%).

Moldova posted 1.5% growth, Russia -0.5%.

Industrial output fell in Ukraine (4.2%), Belarus (1.7%) and Azerbaijan
(0.7%).

Industry across the CIS increased by an average
0.3 percent in Jan-April 2013, compared to the
same period a year earlier. -0- – See more at:

NAGORNO-KARABAKH PRESIDENT VISITS SOUTH-EAST REGIONS

19:48 ~U 19.06.13

President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Bako Sahakyan
visited the republic’s south-east regions of the country and chaired
an enlarged meeting there.

Attending were members of the National Assembly, Cabinet of Ministers
and heads of a several leading companies.

The meeting discussed a number of issues related to strengthening
the south-east regions’ defense system, development of agriculture,
telecommunications and construction fields, as well as road building.

Prime-Minister Ara Haroutyunyan, heads of relevant government bodies
delivered reports.

President Sahakyan stressed the importance of developing the south-east
regions. He issued relevant instructions.

Armenian News – Tert.am

WORDS WORTH: VERBAL INSULTS BECOMING THE NORM IN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

POLITICS | 19.06.13 | 15:58

Photolure

By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

Another breach of ethics at the parliament of Armenia, when during a
heated argument a law-maker and a reporter exchanged obscenities, has
become the “hit” among the most discussed subjects in the local media.

The argument was sparked off by Armenian National Congress (ANC)
faction secretary Aram Manukyan’s suggestion, made during the Tuesday
heated discussion of the Control Chamber’s report for 2012, that a
commission be created to study all the cases and identify those that
should be referred to the Prosecutor General’s office.

Manukyan also suggested that Republican Vardan Ayvazyan be among the
commission-to-be members: “a clean and impeccable parliamentarian,
multiparty-affiliated, lord of the mines”. (Ayvazyan was minister
of environmental protection between 2001 and 2007, was/is greatly
involved in mining, and his tenure stood out for most scandalous
deals in the related field).

After the parliament session in the corridor of the National Assembly,
Ayvazyan started an argument with Manukyan, saying he “had a diploma of
honors, but had to work as a loader” and as opposed to Manukyan did not
come and immediately start “working as a minister”. Manukyan responded
that his only demand was to abide by the law and not to steal. At the
moment when Ayvazyan exclaimed “Show me what I have stolen, can you?!”,
“Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun” (Fourth Power) oppositional newspaper
reporter Gohar Veziryan interfered by a remark that Hetq periodical
(doing investigative journalism) had written about it.

“What is it that Hetq wrote? They took money and wrote… What did Hetq
write, ha? What did Hetq write? Whatever it wrote I am giving to you!”

Ayvazyan said, yelling to the reporter, who countered back:
“You don’t need to give it to me, give it to your president”. The
conflict aggravated after this, the lawmaker told the reporter she was
“whimpering”, and the reporter responded “you are the one whimpering
along with your entire family line” and called him a “bum”.

Veziryan, who ran for the parliament in 2012 and lost, wrote in
her Facebook page after this incident: “I am awfully grateful to my
colleagues for reporter solidarity. Whether I have broken a reporter’s
ethics or not is not at all important at this moment. I will never
allow anyone to hurt my dignity. I just regret about the choice of
word, it would have probably been more proper to call him “hambal”
[a diminishing word meaning “servant or very low-paid manual laborer”,
with the reference to Ayvazyan’s background as a loader]. As for all
the unnecessary discussions and speculations, I thank you all for
obliging me to keep working the way I have been so far.”

In her interview to tert.am she said she was not sure yet whether to
turn to the Ethics Committee or not: “On the one hand I am thinking
nobody who has turned so far gained anything, so I am still thinking,
I don’t know yet.”

Months ago ruling party MP Mher Sedrakyan did apologize to a reporter
for hurling obscenities at him and threatening him with violence,
but his apologies, enforced by the ethics committee, did not restrain
others and failed to prevent such incidents from recurring. In fact,
exchange of insults is rather becoming a “tradition” at the Armenian
chief legislative body.

As for Hetq publication related to Ayvazyan’s controversial activities
during his tenure as a minister: the periodical published a series of
investigative articles based on the fact that on November 6 of 2008
New York’s Federal Court brought in a verdict by which Republican MP
Vardan Ayvazyan must pay $37.5 million to Global Gold Mining LLC. In
2006 the company filed a lawsuit against the then environmental
minister Ayvazyan accusing him of demanding several million US dollars’
worth bribe.

ARMENIAN VILLAGERS STAGE DEMONSTRATION

June 18, 2013 | 12:59

Over 1,000 residents from several villages of Armenia’s Ararat Region
staged a protest Tuesday, and if their problem is not resolved,
they are threatening to protest in front of the Government building
in capital city Yerevan.

The villagers are complaining about the prices for the companies’
purchase of their apricot harvest, Aygezard village prefect Artur
Manukyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am. In the case when one case of
apricots used to be purchased from the villagers for 5,000 drams
(approx. $12), now the purchasing companies have lowered the price
to 4,000 drams (approx. $9.60) per case.

Deputy governor of Ararat and several other officials came to speak
with the protesting villagers, who had even blocked the road. But
the protest was suspended, and it was decided that the purchasing
company will buy the apricots at 5,000 drams, per case, on Wednesday.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

PEOPLE CANNOT AFFORD TO GO TO DOCTOR -VIDEO

12:45 PM | TODAY | SOCIAL

The number of patients diagnosed with cancer is increasing in Gyumri
year by year. Despite the growth in the cases, few people receive
treatment in the oncologic dispensary of the city as they cannot
afford to pay for treatment, Gyumri-based Tsayg TV reports.

For more details watch the video of the TV Company.

SERJ TANKIAN BACKS RIGHTS WATCHDOG BID CONDEMNING TURKEY

11:57 ~U 18.06.13

System of a Down vocalist Serj Tankian has joined the Amnesty
International’s petition, condemning the Turkish authorities for
violence against the Gezi Park protesters.

In a Facebook post, he has described the country as a “sad reality of
a polarized society” receiving the West’s support as a model middle
eastern “democracy” which exercises “powerful control” over the media.

“Turkey needs a strong awakening of this type-hopefully the
beneficiaries will be justice, equity, historical reflection and the
like instead of more repression,” reads the singer’s post.

Armenian News – Tert.am