Author: nina hovnanian

ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS ADVOCATING JOURNALIST IS IN CRITICAL CONDITION

news.am
January 17, 2013 | 13:22

Prominent Turkish journalist, analyst, and editor Mehmet Ali Birand
is in very critical condition following his surgery on Wednesday.

Birand’s heart had stopped during the operation, but the doctors were
able to restart it, Milliyet daily of Turkey reports.

Turkish media disseminated news that he had died, but his son informed
that his father is in very critical condition.

To note, Mehmet Ali Birand is known for his active campaigning for
normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations. Also, he visited Armenia and
met with several senior Armenian officials.

And in an interview around two months ago, Birand had noted:
“Sometimes they say I am Armenian, but I am not Armenian. [But]
If I were an Armenian, I would have been proud of that.”

8 CANDIDATS A LA PRESIDENTIELLE ?
Stephane

armenews.com
jeudi 17 janvier 2013

Les dossiers de 8 des 15 candidats etant incomplets, la Commission
electorale centrale leur avait donne 48 heures (jusqu’au 10 janvier)
pour les completer. L’un d’eux, Aram Haroutiounian, leader du parti
Accord national, a pu verser la caution electorale de 16 000 euros,
ce qui lui permettra d’etre officiellement enregistre comme candidat.

Ainsi, le nombre de candidats devrait etre 8, sauf changement d’ici
ce soir. Pour sa part, l’un des 15 candidats, Rouben Ayvazian, membre
d’Armenie prospère, a retire ses documents.

Par ailleurs les quotidiens relèvent que la liste des electeurs
figure d’ores et deja sur les sites de la Commission electorale
centrale et de la Police et où tout
electeur peut verifier ses coordonnees. Le departement des visas et
des passeports de la Police a demande aux citoyens de signaler toute
erreur constatee. Les quotidiens d’opposition se montrent sceptiques
quant au fait que par rapport aux elections legislatives de mai
dernier, le nombre des electeurs ait augmente de 25 000 et relèvent
avec ironie que, si cette tendance se poursuit, d’ici quelques annees
le nombre des electeurs sera egal a celui de la population armenienne.

Extrait de la revue de presse de l’Ambassade de France en Armenie en
date du 10 janvier 2013

jeudi 17 janvier 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

LE PRESIDENT DE CHYPRE A ANTELIAS
Stephane

armenews.com
jeudi 17 janvier 2013

Jeudi 10 janvier 2013, le President Chypriote, accompagne d’une
delegation de 18 membres, a visite le Catholicossat de Cilicie.

Le president et Sa Saintete Aram I ont eu une reunion privee au cours
de laquelle ils ont discute des relations entre Chypre et le Liban,
Chypre et l’Armenie et de la communaute armenienne de Chypre. Ils
ont ensuite tenu une reunion elargie avec les membres du Conseil
executif de l’Eglise, les membres armeniens du gouvernement libanais
et des parlementaires.

Dans son discours de bienvenue, le Catholicos a parle des longues et
chaudes relations entre les Chypriotes et les Armeniens. Il a ensuite
parle de l’occupation du nord de Chypre par la Turquie, et a demande
le retrait de toutes les forces turques de Chypre. Il a encourage le
President a continuer a rechercher la justice par les dispositions du
droit international. Dans sa reponse, le President Christofias s’est
declare en accord avec le Catholicos et a reaffirme la solidarite du
peuple de Chypre avec la Cause armenienne.

A la fin de la reunion, tous les participants se sont diriges vers le
Memorial du genocide, où le president a depose une gerbe, Sa Saintete
a fait une prière.

Le soir meme, Sa Saintete Aram 1er a assiste a un dîner offert par le
President du Liban, Michel Sulaiman, en l’honneur de Son Excellence
Christoforas Dimitris.

jeudi 17 janvier 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

WHY ANDRIAS GHUKASYAN GOES ON HUNGER STRIKE
Naira Hayrumyan

Country – Wednesday, 16 January 2013, 23:30

Going on hunger strike is a hard decision which is made as soon as a
person has found no other way of expressing protest. Most people think
this is a meaningless, even a populist decision but this is not an
easy decision to make. The strongest blow for those who arrive at this
decision is the irony and unserious attitude to this decision. Irony
killed the serious decision of Raffi Hovannisian who was on a hunger
strike on Freedom Square. Irony threatens the presidential candidate
Andrias Ghukasyan who has announced that he will go on a hunger strike
on January 21 unless the CEC revokes Serzh Sargsyan~Rs registration. In
Armenia it is something usual to make fun of everyone though sometimes
they also throw away the baby with the water. They start looking for
hidden thoughts and goals even in highly personal difficult decisions.

Although, what hidden motives can the decision of a person who has gone
on hunger protest be? Both Raffi Hovannisian and Andrias Ghukasyan
and others who were once desperate to communicate their protest to
the society deserve a serious attitude to their action.

Independent from the reasons and methods of implementation the
decision itself is worth respect and consideration. Hunger strike
is an extreme method of attracting attention. How desperate should
a person with civil consciousness be to find no other methods of
pointing to the absolute lack of logic of the ongoing election which
makes participation in it meaningless? Even though Andrias Ghukasyan~Rs
demand to revoke Serzh Sargsyan~Rs registration seems fantastic, it is
the only condition of a normal election. Ahead of the parliamentary
elections the political parties should have similarly fought for
abolition of the RPA and a ban on its participation in the election.

This is the only way of crushing the system. In Russia, for example,
the system was impossible to crush until the Communist Party was
abolished.

ANKARA ON PETITION CALLING TO OPEN THE TURKISH-ARMENIAN BORDER

07:59 pm | January 16, 2013 | Politics

Ankara will decide the methods, format and conditions for providing
humanitarian assistance to the refugees from Syria, Turkish Foreign
Ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal said when commenting on the petition
on the US president Obama administration web page, urging Turkey to
open the Turkish-Armenian border, at least for refugees from Syria.

The Turkish official also said that his country had assisted Armenia
in sending humanitarian aid to Syria.

The authors of the petition that appeared on the webpage of the Obama
administration earlier in January ask the US authorities to call the
government of Turkey to open its border with Armenia for refugees
from Syria.

“There are 200.000 ethnic Armenians living in Syria and most of them
want to escape to Armenia where they can feel safe, comfortable,
find a job, a place to live and go to schools.

ôhe road from Syria to Armenia goes through Turkey which closed its
border with Armenia in 1993. It creates a big problem for Armenian
refugees,” reads the petition.

AZERBAIJAN VOWS TO TAKE ON ARMENIAN “CUISINE PLAGIARISM”

January 16, 2013 – 3:57pm, by Yigal Schleifer Kebabistan Eating in
Azerbaijan Food and Conflict Food and politics

Azerbaijan may be surrounded by simmering geopolitical crises, but
the country’s Ministry of National Security knows what the real
challenge facing the country is: Armenian “plagiarism” of Azeri
national cuisine. The ministry, which is responsible for Azerbaijan’s
intelligence and counter-intelligence efforts, recently unveiled
“Three Points,” a documentary it was involved in making which, as
one Azeri website described it, is “about the Armenian plagiarism
of the Azerbaijani national cuisine and historical realities.” The
Trend.Az website reports on the film’s recent Baku premiere, held at
the ministry’s “Cultural Center”:

In his speech, Chief of the National Security Ministry’s office, Major
General Farhad Vakhabov stressed that Armenians not only occupied
Azerbaijani lands, destroyed cultural and historical monuments in the
occupied territories, but also change the place names, misappropriate
Azerbaijani national values – folklore, gastronomy, music, presenting
it as their own to the world public.

“The National Security Ministry, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism,
the Copyright Agency and other relevant bodies are fighting this
phenomenon hard,” he said.

Farhad Vakhabov said that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and
president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva have a
special role in promoting and developing the national values.

Head of “Azad Azerbaycan” TV and Radio Company Vugar Garadaghli said
that the project aims to inform the world community about the true
essence of the Armenian plagiarism regarding Azerbaijani national
cuisine and historical realities.

The Ministry of National Security’s involvement in protecting
Azerbaijan’s cuisine from Armenian “theft” is perhaps not so
surprising. As described in a previous post, Azerbaijan has already
established a governmental organization called the National Cuisine
Center, a kind of culinary watchdog whose main mission it appears
is to be on the lookout for Armenian efforts to claim Azeri dishes
as their own. It’s an effort that Azeri officials apparently believe
deserves even more resources devoted to it.

ORGANIZATIONAL CHART OF DINK KILLERS ESTABLISHED BY PROSECUTION

16 January 2013 / TODAY’S ZAMAN, Ä°STANBUL,

Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was gunned down on Jan. 19,
2007, in front of the offices of the bilingual Armenian weekly Agos,
where he was editor-in-chief. (Photo: Today’s Zaman)

A prosecutor who is conducting an investigation into the role of
several security officers in the 2007 assassination of journalist Hrant
Dink has submitted his understanding of the hierarchical structure
of the criminal network behind the murder.

Prosecutor Muammer AkkaÅ~_ has placed every suspect in the Dink trial
in a hierarchical chart of the organization based on evidence collected
during the investigation, which is a very important development
according to Dink family lawyers. The prosecution has also requested
an intelligence report filed by the National Intelligence Organization
(MÄ°T) that establishes links between Dink’s killers and the Special
Operations Department, which does not officially exist. It is the
name of the unit that was later changed to the Mobilization Unit (STK)
of the Turkish Armed Forces. This report will also be included in the
indictment as further evidence of the links between the murderers and
illegal groups within security agencies. The prosecution’s findings
are the results of a two-year investigation.

Dink, the editor-in-chief of Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, was shot
by a teenager outside his office in 2007, in what initially appeared
to be a murder staged due to the young hitman’s ultranationalist
sentiments. However, during the course of the five-year trial, both
co-plaintiff lawyers and the prosecutor were able to gather evidence
indicating the role of a larger group, possibly linked to cabals inside
the military plotting to overthrow the government such as the Ergenekon
network. Co-plaintiff layers have long complained about attempts at a
cover-up, as several gendarmerie and police officers are also involved
in the trial. As if to confirm the suspicions, the court found that the
hitman had acted alone, a ruling that was recently overturned by the
Supreme Court of Appeals. The lower court’s judge said he knew there
was an organizational link but accused the prosecution of failing to
prove it, in a public row between him and the prosecutor.

MÄ°T’s report on the Dink murder was made public last week. It states
that the Dink murder, the massacre of three Bible publishers in Malatya
in 2007 and the murder of a Catholic priest in Trabzon in 2006 were
part of a plot devised and carried out by a group inside the General
Staff’s Special Operations Department. The MÄ°T report is likely to
shed light on a number of unsolved cases, mostly assassinations in
2007. The report clearly states that the “planning, implementation
and management” of the three murders was carried out by the STK.

Commenting on the prosecutor putting together the chart of the criminal
organization’s makeup, lawyer for the co-plaintiff side in the Dink
murder trial Bahri Belen said: “It is important that the prosecution
requests the [MÄ°T] reports. This is completely in line with the
way we have wanted the Hrant Dink investigation to be perceived all
along. Everything about the murder should be questioned.

We can’t even dream of having the slightest hope for a democracy
unless structures such as Special Operations aren’t exposed. It was
clear as day that there is an organizational link the first day of
the investigation.”

Erdal Dogan, a lawyer for the co-plaintiff side in the Malatya
missionary murders case, said, “Murders committed by Special Operations
and the National Strategies and Operations Department of Turkey
[TUSHAD] should not be ignored.”

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE RAFFI HOVHANNISIAN MEETS DIPLOMATIC ADVISOR OF FRENCH PRESIDENT

TERT.AM
15:18 ~U 17.01.13

Armenia’s Presidential candidate and former foreign minister of
Armenia Raffi Hovhannisian met today with Paul Jean-Ortiz, the chief
diplomatic advisor of French President Francois Hollande, according
to Heritage party’s press release.

The official meeting agenda included issues on the upcoming
presidential elections in Armenia, democracy, Armenia-EU relations,
and further priorities of Armenia’s foreign policy.

The meeting took place in the presidential residence of the French
president.

Earlier Hovhannisian participated in the public forum of
French-Armenian community where he came up with a speech referring to
the issues Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Armenian Diaspora are facing.

POLITICAL FORCES LIKED SERZH SARGSYAN’S SPEECH

JANUARY 16, 2013 17:05

Yesterday the whole Establishment gathered in the Ministry of
Defense. In his speech, President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh
Sargsyan talked about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Azerbaijan’s
recent behavior. In particular, S. Sargsyan said that the Azeri people
would still not be ready for peaceful coexistence for a long time,
and disseminating Armenophobia in Azeri society was a serious threat
to the security in the region. Then the president warned and reminded:
“The Karabakh people have never reconciled themselves with the illegal
action taken by Stalin, natives of Karabakh have never considered
themselves citizens of Azerbaijan; they have never reconciled
themselves with the decision of annexation by Azerbaijan.” During a
conversation with , representatives of different political
forces deemed Serzh Sargsyan’s strong speech positive and described
his statements as an adequate response to Azerbaijan’s policy.

Armen Martirosyan, a deputy chairman of the Heritage Party executive
committee, said in this regard: “What Serzh Sargsyan said is not
enough, since Raffi Hovhannisyan has said many times what steps the
Armenian side should take. I think Serzh Sargsyan did the right thing
in the sense that Aliyev’s rhetoric is a policy of Armenophobia; using
that rhetoric, he prepares the society not for peace, but for war. It
is good that Serzh Sargsyan says it now, but the Heritage Party and
Raffi Hovhannisyan said many years ago that one should give up on the
Madrid Principles, recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh,
Nagorno-Karabakh should return to the negotiating table, and the main
guarantor of our security were we ourselves. Unfortunately, all this
is said now. It is good that they come closer to some ideas of Raffi
Hovhannisyan in the course of time, use the terms he used.

“I think this step of Serzh Sargsyan is a positive one, regardless
of the fact that the government took it. The president had to make
speeches about the very situation and in the Armenian interest.

Therefore, when the president makes such a speech, it is positive
anyway.”

Gurgen Yeghiazaryan, a member of the Armenian National Congress
(ANC), stated: “Azerbaijan has been obviously pursuing a policy of
Armenophobia for the past decade. The press, the television have
been mobilized to rebuke Armenians. They were called Caucasian
Tartars at the time. Now those fools’ appetite has grown and they
make Yerevan an Azeri territory etc. Today small drones controlled
from land fly on the Armenia-Iran border. They photograph and examine
our border. Those rogues have killed a young man on the border once
again. But our response is not adequate. President Aliyev himself
rebukes Armenians instead of solving his internal problems. This is
not Armenian elections so that I can say that they have been rigged,
election bribes have been given. This is perhaps the first adequate
step in foreign policy. This is not football diplomacy, where we
suffered a crushing defeat; these are not protocols, when we kneeled
before the Turks. Now the ball is in our court, but it is the European
ball covered with pricks, and if we touch it, it will explode. This
is a response to an impudent person. At the end of the day, one should
say something about any impudent behavior. I welcome that step.”

In this context, G. Yeghiazaryan urges to make up our mind where we
are heading.

Tatev HARUTYUNYAN

TENSION AHEAD OF IVANISHVILI’S VISIT
HAKOB BADALYAN

17:07 16/01/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:

Ahead of the Armenian visit of the prime minister interesting
developments are taking place in the Armenian-Georgian relations.

In particular, the coordinator of the Armenian Assembly of Tbilisi
Arnold Asatryan has told tert.am that the statement by one of the
candidates for president Vardan Sedrakyan that he will annex some
territories of Georgia to have a border with Russia in case he is
elected has caused an anti-Armenian surge in Georgia. Stepanyan says
in Georgia they do not know anything about the serious or unserious
prospects of this candidate and his statement has naturally appeared
on the first pages of the press and caused anti-Armenian moods.

It is not ruled out that Georgia imagines the ratio of the candidate’s
seriousness to his non-seriousness, and they just needed a convenient
opportunity to launch an anti-Armenian campaign. Furthermore, there
are some groups in Georgia who would not miss a chance, and they will
not even wait until a serious opportunity opens up.

One way or another, this incident may affect the Armenian-Georgian
meeting. It is not ruled out that Georgia caused tension consciously
to make sure Yerevan regrets for the candidate’s statement and ensures
that Armenia respects Georgia’s territorial integrity and apologizes
to the insulted Georgians.

In fact, there is no need for regret. It does not mean that Yerevan
must reiterate the statement on taking the Georgian territory.

However, there is no need for regret. It does not mean that Yerevan
must reiterate Georgia’s statements. However, it does not mean that
Yerevan must reiterate the statements on annexation of Georgia’s
territory. However, there is no need to account for every candidate’s
statement.

After all, Tbilisi did not feel ashamed to say that it joins
Kars-Akhalkalaki project which is an Azerbaijani-Turkish project which
will deepen the isolation of Armenia. Or official Tbilisi has never
felt uneasy about infringements of the rights of Armenian community
of Javakhk.

The Armenian-Georgian relation is very subtle considering that Armenia
has transportation limitations. However, in the long run, it does not
mean that Yerevan must always apologize. It will not resolve the issue,
and the feeling of superiority over Armenians is growing in Tbilisi.

Meanwhile, the representatives of the Armenian community in Georgia
should take care about their new level of self-organization rather
than worry about the statements of an ethnographer who aspires to
the post of president. Georgia has about 300 thousand Armenians,
which is about 10% of Georgia’s population but the influence of this
community on Georgia’s life will hardly be 0.1%.

This is an absurd situation. There is a discrepancy between the number
and the influence. Meanwhile, the Georgian Armenian community could
have been a factor which could bring content into the attitude of
Georgia to its relationship with Armenia.

This relationship must be taken beyond the level of toasts or backstage
deals when the sides reach a compromise through silence and inaction,
enabling Georgia’s minor aggressions against the Armenian factor
in Georgia.

In the long run, it is not in Georgia’s interests interests to
look down to Armenia because this country’s most sustainable ally
in defending the country from Turkish-Azerbaijani expansion will be
Armenia which has no strategic claims to Georgia and simply expects
protection of the Armenian community of Javakhk in accordance with
the Georgian legislation which applies to every citizen of Georgia.