Author: nina hovnanian

LA REPRESSION BRUTALE DE LA POLICE EN AZERBAÏDJAN PERMISE GRACE A DES ARMES OCCIDENTALES

Quelques heures avant que des militants azerbaïdjanais se reunissent
a Bakou le week-end dernier pour une manifestation non autorisee
contre la violence armee, le blogueur Habib Muntezir a envoye un mot
d’avertissement :. ” Des armes soniques avec un effet acoustique
horrible peuvent etre utilises pour disperser les manifestations
Utilisez du coton ou des bouchons d’oreilles pour proteger vos oreilles
“.

En fin de compte, la police antiemeute n’a pas eu recours a la LRAD
ou canon a son qui peut induire une douleur grâce a un faisceau sonore
de 150 decibels cree pour dissuader les foules indisciplinees.

[Un canon a son est un dispositif de communication et une arme non
letale utilisee pour le contrôle de foules developpee dans les annees
2000 ; le canon a son se compose d’un dispositif emettant un son
douloureux pour ceux qui s’en approchent. Les premiers modèles ont
ete developpes pour les forces armees des Etats-Unis par American
Technology Corporation (renommee LRAD Corporation (en) en 2010),
sous le nom de Long-range Acoustic Device (LRAD).]

Mais la presence de la LRAD, un dispositif de fabrication americaine
qui gagne en popularite internationale comme outil de contrôle des
foules, a provoque une vague d’indignation parmi les manifestants
du 10 mars qui disent l’Occident ne doit pas etre le fournisseur
d’arsenal du regime de Bakou .

” J’espère que ce n’est pas une partie de l’aide americaine a
l’Azerbaïdjan ” a ecrit un militant sur Facebook dans la foulee des
protestations, qui a pris fin avec l’utilisation par la police de
gaz lacrymogène et de canons a eau – tous deux fabriques en Israël –
pour briser la foule.

Ces affrontements devraient croître alors que le sentiment
anti-gouvernemental monte avant les elections d’octobre durant
lesquelles le dirigeant autocratique du pays, Ilham Aliyev, devrait se
presenter pour un troisième mandat controverse en tant que president.

Aliyev a ete largement critique en Occident.

Le Departement d’Etat americain, dans son rapport annuel sur les droits
humains , a decrit Aliyev comme ” dominant ” les pouvoirs executif,
legislatif et judiciaire du gouvernement, qui sont largement consideres
comme servant la volonte de clans dirigeants de l’Azerbaïdjan.

Beaucoup, cependant, disent ces critiques sonnent creux lorsque les
Etats-Unis, en termes pratiques, a peu agit pour arreter la repression
persistante des manifestants, des journalistes et des defenseurs des
droits humains en Azerbaïdjan.

Attirant l’attention sur le traitement brutal des manifestants le
10 mars et la disparition inexpliquee de l’un de ses organisateurs,
Ilkin Rustamadze, Amnesty International affirme qu’il est ” scandaleux
” que les Etats-Unis et l’Union europeenne ” continuer ne pas voir
” les abus sur les droits de l’homme en Azerbaïdjan.

[Note de l’editeur : L’ambassadeur americain a Bakou, Richard
Morningstar, a publie une declaration le 12 mars demandant au
gouvernement azerbaïdjanais de ” respecter le droit de manifester
pacifiquement ” et ” de s’engager dans un dialogue constructif avec
les citoyens pour repondre a des preoccupations legitimes du public “.]

Natalia Nozadze, un chercheur d’Amnesty, estime qu’il est temps pour
la communaute internationale de repenser la facon dont elle interagit
avec le gouvernement azerbaïdjanais.

” La politique de l’Union europeenne, des Etats-Unis, et d’autres
acteurs mondiaux envers l’Azerbaïdjan est principalement faconnee
par deux considerations, ” dit-elle. ” Les interets economiques qui
sont bases sur les riches ressources de l’Azerbaïdjan, et un autre
facteur, très importante – qui est souvent minimise -. Qui est que
le gouvernement actuel de l’Azerbaïdjan, pour le meilleur ou pour le
pire, apporte la stabilite dans la region “.

Une grande partie de la preoccupation est centree sur la fourniture
d’armes a l’Azerbaïdjan. Le pays a utilise ses revenus de l’energie
pour alimenter une accumulation massive militaire au milieu d’un
affrontement belliqueux avec le pays voisin de l’Armenie a propos du
territoire dispute du Nagorno-Karabagh.

Dans le meme temps, le pays n’a cesse de construire un arsenal de
dispositifs de contrôle des foules qu’il utilise regulièrement
contre les manifestants qui se livrent a des manifestations
anti-gouvernementales, y compris des matraques, des balles en
caoutchouc, des gaz lacrymogènes et des canons a eau.

Une grande partie de l’equipement semble avoir ete achete auprès
d’Israël et des Etats-Unis.

De meme, des experts en armement contacte par RFE / RL ont declare que
le canon a eau monte sur une Mercedes utilise dans les manifestations
du 10 mars correspond a la forme et la conception des canons fabriques
par la societe Beit Alfa Trailer, un fournisseur connu en Azerbaïdjan.

Le LRAD, qui ressemble a une antenne parabolique montee sur camion,
a ete emmene sur des sites de protestation azerbaïdjanais mais n’a
pas encore ete utilise. (Le LRAD a ete utilise par la police dans la
Georgie voisine depuis 2007, et a egalement ete achete par la police
de Varsovie dans le cadre de l’Euro 2012 de football.)

Le dispositif sonore qui a ete developpe par un fabricant base en
Californie, a depuis ete copie par la Chine. Mais les photographies
du LRAD le 10 Mars suggèrent que l’appareil est d’origine americaine.

Zardust Alizadeh, un analyste politique base a Bakou, soutient que tant
que l’Occident pretend le contraire, le flux d’armes se poursuivra
sans relâche en Azerbaïdjan – le seul pays d’Europe de l’Est dont
les importations d’armes sont a la hausse.

Alizadeh croit les droits de l’homme devraient etre surveilles par
l’Occident. ” Mais ils ne le sont pas ” dit-il. ” L’Azerbaïdjan fait
ce que les Etats-Unis et l’Europe veulent. Donc, la question n’est
jamais discute “.

Les Etats-Unis dispose de plusieurs methodes de ventes d’armes a des
regimes douteux et le LRAD de fabrication americaine se presente
comme un ” dispositif de communication ” ne s’affiche sur aucune
des listes de contrôle aux Etats-Unis, et ne necessite donc pas de
licences d’exportation.

Selon Robert Putnam, directeur des medias et des relations avec les
investisseurs a la Societe LRAD, la societe a vendu ses equipements
dans 60 pays.

” Tout le monde sait que nous avons vendu est est a destination des
autorites nationales – soit l’armee ou la police “, dit-il. ” En
dehors de la Coree du Nord et dans quelques pays comme ca qui sont
sur la liste des produits interdits … nous avons essentiellement
conserver nos chances de vendre notre technologie dans d’autres pays
a travers le monde “.

Le service de presse de l’ambassade americaine en Azerbaïdjan note
que le Departement d’Etat americain prend en compte les conditions
politiques et des droits de l’homme en rendant une decision sur la
fourniture de materiel militaire a des pays etrangers.

Mais il ajoute que la LRAD n’est pas defini comme un ” article de la
defense “, et note que l’ambassade ” n’a generalement pas a s’impliquer
dans les negociations contractuelles entre les entreprises et les
pays etrangers “.

Des ONG disent que les preoccupations des entreprises et du monde
politique souvent l’emportent sur les considerations des droits
humains, meme dans des pays comme les Etats-Unis qui servent pourtant
de porte-etendard sur les droits de l’homme a l’echelle mondiale.

Les Etats-Unis ont suspendu leurs livraisons de gaz lacrymogène a
l’Egypte lors du soulèvement du printemps arabe pour protester contre
la repression violente des manifestants. Mais ils ont depuis repris
les livraisons, meme si le nouveau gouvernement islamistes a egalement
utilise des gaz lacrymogènes pour mater les manifestants pacifiques.

L’ONGbritannique Omega Research Foundation, qui suit la fabrication
et le commerce du materiel militaire et de la police, a declare que
les règles tout en existant, sont rarement appliquees uniformement.

” Il est clair que certains pays qui ont une tendance persistante aux
violations des droits continuent de recevoir un support militaire,
du materiel de securite ou un soutien de la police ” precise la
fondation dans un rapport a venir sur les exportations americaines
d’armes de contrôle des foules et d’autres armes.

L’ONG Omega Research Foundation affirme que le recours a des armes
pour le contrôle des fouler peut etre ” legitime ” dans certains cas,
mais que les appareils sont souvent mal utilises en raison d’une
formation insuffisante ou de mauvaises decisions de la police.

Le tolle provoque par la repression du 10 mars a pousse certains au
sein de l’Azerbaïdjan a defendre la police. ” Cette nation ne pense
pas ” a commente une personne sur Facebook. ” Vous appelez la police
quand quelque chose vous arrive, mais maintenant vous les maudissez.

La police est la pour proteger l’ordre public. C’etait une protestation
non autorise, et la police a suivi la loi “.

vendredi 19 avril 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

FRENCH ACTOR RICHARD BERRY AND ITALIAN SINGER ALESSANDRO SAFINA TO ATTEND ARMENIA MUSIC AWARDS 2013 IN MOSCOW

ARMINFO
Thursday, April 18, 20:12

French actor Richard Berry, who starred in Henri Verneuil’s Mayrig,
Italian tenor Alessandro Safina and Canadian soprano Giorgia Fumanti
will be among the guests at the Armenia Music Awards 2013, to take
place the Kremlin Palace, Moscow, on Apr 20.

Among the nominees this year are Arto Tuncboyaciyan, Lili Hovhannisyan,
Andre, Hayko, the Reincarnation and The Beautified Project rock bands.

SAAKASHVILI VISITS ARMENIAN CHURCH IN AKHALKALAKI

19:04 ~U 18.04.13

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili conducted on Thursday a tour
to the Armenian- populated town of Akhalkalaki where he visited an
Armenian church and several educational institutions.

According to Georgia Online, his first stop was at a secondary school
where the president listened to a Georgian history lesson.

He then attended a liturgy at the Armenian church.

At a meeting with the town’s residents, Saakashvili spoke of regional
development issues, putting a special emphasis on a plan for building
a railway network.

Saakasshvili further addressed the historically developed friendly ties
between the Armenian and Georgian nations, stressing the importance
of their further deepening.

Armenian News – Tert.am

COMMUNITY PAYS TRIBUTE: NEW MEMORIAL HONOURS LATE ARCHBISHOP

North Shore Times (Wednesday) (Australia)
April 17, 2013 Wednesday
1 – Main Book Edition

A MEMORIAL dedicated to the late Archbishop Aghan Baliozian was
unveiled at The Concourse in Chatswood on Sunday.

The late archbishop, who died suddenly last year at 66, was the
long-term primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of Australia
and New Zealand.

A khatchkar an Armenian memorial bearing a cross was unveiled during
the commemoration service in front of about 400 people, including
Willoughby Mayor Pat Reilly.

His Grace Bishop Haigazoun Najarian, who took over at the Armenian
Apostolic Church in Chatswood as the primate of the Armenian Diocese
of Australia and New Zealand, said it was a joyous event.

“We have to thank the mayor and this city, because it is a beautiful
gift to the Armenian people,” he said.

The khatchkar will be permanently located on the upper grass terrace
at The Concourse after Willoughby Council resolved to establish a
memorial.

ARMENIA AND BAHRAIN TO STIMULATE MUTUAL INVESTMENTS

YEREVAN, April 18. / ARKA /. The Armenian government has approved
today the signing of an agreement with the government of the Kingdom
of Bahrain on encouragement and mutual protection of investments.

The acting economy minister Tigran Davtyan said the agreement is
prompted by the desire of the two countries to develop mutually
beneficial economic cooperation.

“Promotion and protection of mutual investments will contribute to the
development of business activity between the two countries,” he said.

The government has also approved the signing of an agreement on
cooperation in customs matters and mutual assistance between the
two governments.

According to the National Statistical Service of Armenia, in 2011,
imports from Bahrain to Armenia totaled about 70 thousand U.S. dollars.

ARMENIA MUST RAISE ISSUE OF TURKEY’S RESPONSIBILITY – DEMOYAN

April 18, 2013 | 18:57

YEREVAN.- Armenian Genocide is not only the matter of historic memory
but a matter of national security, director of Armenian Genocide
Museum-Institute said.

Hayk Demoyan noted that by blocking the border, Turkey is carrying
out aggressive policy towards Armenia and is supporting Azerbaijan –
a state which committed aggressive actions against Karabakh Armenians.

“Armenia must raise the issue of Turkey’s responsibility for the
committed crime as well as responsibility for the present-day policy
of an aggressor,” Demoyan emphasized.

Turkey is carrying out active propaganda and is bribing the states
which are to some extent engaged in the Armenian Genocide recognition
process.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

SAMVEL KARAPETYAN: PROTECTION OF MONUMENTS DOES NOT ALWAYS DEPEND ON MONEY
Sona Hakobyan

“Radiolur”
18:11 18.04.2013

Every year on 18 April, the International Council on Monuments and
Sites (ICOMOS) celebrates the “International Day for Monuments and
Sites”, whose establishment was approved by the 22nd UNESCO General
Conference in 1983. In 2013, the theme is Heritage of Education
(schools, universities, libraries, academies, etc.) in its expressions
in different geo-cultural contexts.

The aim of the International Day for Monuments and Sites is to
encourage local communities and individuals throughout the world
to consider the importance of cultural heritage to their lives,
identities and communities, and to promote awareness of its diversity
and vulnerability and the efforts required to protect and conserve it.

The protection of monuments does not always depend on money, said
Samvel Karapetyan, President of the Research on Armenian Architecture
Fund. According to him, more important are the moral features of the
nation, the minimal respect and good taste. The expert said he does
not see a careful attitude towards monuments in Armenia today.

Samvel Karapetyan said he would like to be the Minister
of Education for just five minutes. He would use the time to
instruct the headmasters of all general schools to organize trips
to historical-cultural sites, as he’s confident indifference and
lack of attitude are to blame for the poor condition of monuments in
our country.

RADIO LIBERTY: ONLY OLIGARCHS AND BUREAUCRATS GET RICHER IN AZERBAIJAN, BUT POVERTY INDEX WORSEN

19:03 18/04/2013 ” ECONOMY

“It’s hard to live. I receive targeted social assistance in the
amount of 44 manats (about 44 euros. – Ed.). My family consists of six
people. We must pay for electricity and gas. It costs 20 – 30 manats.

How to live? We also need to eat,” said Baba Vusalova a resident of
the Azerbaijani town Xachmaz.

According to the Azerbaijani service of Radio Liberty, similar
complaints are often heard on receptions of citizens by government
officials in some regions of Azerbaijan. The article notes that some
observers may notice contradiction between these statements and the
speech of President Ilham Aliyev made at the meeting of the Cabinet
of Ministers of Azerbaijan about the fact that the income of the
population have increased by almost 6%.

The article emphasizes that the economists find it difficult to comment
on the words of the president of Azerbaijan about 6%, because they do
not know how the income growth of the population is calculated. Thus
economist Natick Dzhafarli says that in Azerbaijan there are myths
about the display-index statistics. According to him, it is impossible
to get accurate information about how to determine this figure. The
expert notes that about 25-30% of the population – 970,000 people –
are employed in the structures that are financed by the state budget.

“Despite the fact that the opening of new jobs is only on paper, it
means that a new group of people achieved revenues. That is, when a
man, who had no work and income until last day, now gets income and
salary, albeit on paper, it affects also the statistics – again on
paper,” the economist explains.

Economist and expert Rovshan Agayev draws attention to the lack of
transparency and the vagueness of the statistical data and speaks of
the necessity of promulgation of poverty index across regions.

Economist N. Dzhafarli calls the statement made by the President of
Azerbaijan a Soviet rhetoric, because the bundle weight gain of the
middle class of the population is an indicator of the stability
of money in the country. In countries with democracy, healthy
competition and stability, creating a middle class gives rise to
a dynamic development. According to the expert, the government of
Azerbaijan is afraid of middle class in all countries forms the
election results and the development of the country.

“Regardless of the power, people who earn money and achieve financial
independence begin to put forward the socio-political demands and to
fight for their implementation. The Azerbaijani government is afraid
of it. The new wave of opposition in Russia is directly connected with
the middle class. The Azerbaijani authorities understand this and do
not want to allow the middle class to become a player in this arena,”
the publication reads.

According to the expert, Azerbaijan is in a serious stratification,
because the senior officials, oligarchs and holdings that are close
to them get richer at the expense of the government, tax evasion and
monopolization. However, the expert pointed out that only one group
gets richer, while the figures show that the poverty in Azerbaijan
deteriorates.

Source: Panorama.am

MATTER OF COPYRIGHT: ARMENIAN PUBLISHERS OF NOVEL BY AZERI WRITER READY TO PAY COMPENSATION UPON REQUEST

SOCIETY | 18.04.13 | 16:03

Photolure

By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN ArmeniaNow reporter

The Nork publishing house-released Armenian translation of Azeri writer
Akram Aylisli’s novel, titled Stone Dreams, has raised another wave
of discontent in Azerbaijan. The author himself says the Armenians
have translated his novel without a copyright permission.

The book publisher Ruben Hovsepyan confirms that the book was
translated without Aylisli’s knowledge, but says they tried to get
in touch with him, sent him an email to preserve all the copyright
requirements, however Aylisli did not respond.

“We understand that it is copyrighted, but if in the future he makes
financial claims, decides to sue us, we will compensate. There is no
author in the world that would not like his work to be translated,”
says Hovsepyan.

Aylisli’s Stone Dreams was first published in Russian in 2012 in the
Druzhba Narodov (Friendship of Nations) periodical, which sparked a
government-orchestrated outcry in Azerbaijan. Aylisli’s depiction
of Armenian massacres in Baku and the negative portrayal of the
killings committed by Azeri refugees from Armenia particularly sparked
criticism against the author. This also led to persecution of the
75-year-old writer in Azerbaijan. With a special order, President
Ilham Aliyev stripped the writer of his People’s Writer title and
individual pension.

Stone Dreams tells about Aylisli’s birthplace, historic Agulis.

Translator of the book Leonid Zilfugharyan says the author’s narrative
is very honest, inspired by the tiled streets and paved roads, gardens,
twelve half-ruined or completely destroyed Armenian churches of Agulis.

“My God, what a place! Did that terrace-like world on a mountain
slope ascending from a steep riverside really exist in Aylis?… Did
Aylis stretch that far, or who put together all the stone steps and
terraces of the world in the narrow gorge of Aylis. What place that
is, my Lord,” wrote Aylisli.

For the first time in Azeri reality an Azeri writer dares to speak
sincerely and present an Armenian not as an enemy. In the atmosphere
of anti-Armenian hysteria he presents as an eye-witness the Azeri’s
brutalities during the Sumgait and Baku pogroms of Armenians in
1988-1990s. In his novel he also comments on the fact that Heydar
Aliyev instigated the pogroms of Armenians in order to come to power.

The writer has requested the United States, British and other
countries’ embassies in Azerbaijan, as well as representatives of the
European Union, OSCE and European Council to familiarize themselves
with the novel and express their attitude.

The climax of Azeri hysteria was the Modern Musavat party leader’s
statement – he promised 10,000 manats (about $12,750) to the one who
would cut off Akram Aylisli’s ear. The writer’s wife and son have
lost their jobs. The ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party MP Mubariz Gurbanli,
in an interview to the Trend news agency, defined the Stone Dreams as
“black PR” against Azerbaijan.

“Akram Aylisli’s ill-famed Stone Dreams novel has been released in
Armenian. Of course, the enemy is aloof, applying all measures of black
PR, ideological sabotage and campaign against Azerbaijan,” he said.

“Armenians, first having translated it into Armenian, then into other
languages, will tell the world “look, this has been written by an
Azeri, by an Azeri writer”, when the Azeri society does not even
recognize him as a writer.”

Law-makers of Milli Mejlis believe that the “book is a moral blow
against the Azeri people”. MP Nizami Zafarov suggested that Aylisli
be deprived of his citizenship, saying “let him go to Yerevan and
serve at a church”.

Meanwhile, expert in international law and Azeri affairs Sargis
Asatryan believes the Stone Dreams is a splendid example to show why
we should refrain from resuming the war.

“It is a one-in-a-kind psychological analysis of the bloody events
of the 80-s, due to which numerous supporters have united around the
writer, despite the persecution. It means that there is a stratum,
which is indeed against the resumption of active hostilities,” he says.

Constitutional Court adviser Gevorg Danielyan, who is also board
chairman of the Armenian Constitutional Law Center, counters that
all this has been done to lead Armenians into an illusion that there
are people in Azerbaijan who can speak freely and not be brutally
persecuted. He says the writer was guided by one scenario, which is
the ideology of today’s Azerbaijan.

“The novel depicts the atrocities committed by the Azeri against
Armenians in Agulis settlement of Nakhijevan in 1919, and parallels
are drawn with 1988-1990s’ Sumgait and Baku pogroms,” he says. “In
the novel, Baku pogroms were organized by those who had been subjected
to violence there, were unable to revenge and tried to do so against
the native Armenian population, which is an obvious lie.”

He is also suspicious whether the writer is really persecuted. “We
are well aware that if an Azeri perceives someone as a traitor in
his country, he takes an axe and does not limit his actions to verbal
criticism only. We should be a little bit more careful.”

Writer-publicist Pertch Zeytuntsyan writes about the Stone Dreams:
“For twenty years I have been wondering if there would be one
person among seven million to voice the truth. I am rejoiced that
such a person has come along. The novel was written long time ago,
but Aylisli published it after the Safarov affair. He did it by his
own will, which took courage. Some courage, I’d say, imagine being
one among the seven-million delusional nation…Pamuk, Aylisli,
do they love Armenians? They love their people, their homeland,
they want to somehow clean up the mess. That is their driving motive.”

Prose writer, publisher Hovsepyan believes that the book is like
flickering light in the darkness, coming to say that not everything
is lost yet, and for that message Azerbaijan should thank him.

In his book Aylisli writes about a little girl Lusik who was visiting
her grandmother in Agulis and kept drawing pictures. That little girl
is the same painter Lusik Aguletsi who, during a recent interview,
told about her meeting with Akram Aylisli.

One thousand copies of the novel’s Armenian version are available to
Armenian readers starting this week.

ECHO OF THE 1915 TRAGIC EVENTS IS HEARD UP TO DATE – HAYK DEMOYAN

April 18, 2013 | 17:30

YEREVAN. – Genocide is a global phenomenon. Soon we will mark the
100th anniversary of the First World War during which Turks perpetrated
genocide to exterminate a particular ethnic group, director of Armenian
Genocide Museum-Institute Hayk Demoyan said.

Demoyan believes echo of the 1915 tragic events is heard up to date.

Even the UN convention was incapable of preventing genocides.

He recalled the famous phrase of Adolf Hitler: “”Who after all speaks
today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”

“We witnessed bloodshed in Rwanda and the Balkans. The world did not
draw the moral,” he concluded.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am