Author: nina hovnanian

WHO DECEIVED ROBERT KOCHARYAN?
James Hakobyan

10:48 28/11/2012

In 2008, President Robert Kocharyan stated after March 1 that soon
evidence to crimes committed by the arrested opposition activists would
be disclosed and people would feel ashamed for having supported them.

The case was heard in court but no “shameful” evidence was disclosed
apart from the testimonies of “one policeman”. The charges against
the arrested oppositional activists were not proven, let alone the
“official” proofs.

Apparently, someone had told Robert Kocharyan a lie about the existence
of serious evidence. Who deceived him? Perhaps, the judiciary, the
prosecutor’s office, the police or the NSS, or someone else. It is
also possible that Kocharyan deceived the society. After all, on
those days, the state machine was doing nothing else but deceiving
the society, providing obvious lies about the presidential election
and the following events. Or if Robert Kocharyan allowed, or rather
ordered to lie, then he could calmly do the same about the proofs.

Kocharyan himself is supposed to be interested in the clarification of
this issue. Either he will confirm that he has deceived the society
being the incumbent president in 2008, or he will have to show those
who deceived and misled him.

But Robert Kocharyan seems to prefer forgetting his statement about
the proofs. Perhaps, he thinks that if he reminds something, people
will remind him about many other things to him. In this case, it is
better to keep silent.

For instance, the ex-foreign minister Vartan Oskanian who assumed the
role of the government’s spokesman on March 1 proposed that Nikol
Pashinyan talk about the March 1 in the office. Vartan Oskanian
explains his behavior on March 1 by his wish to prevent bloodshed.

Other statements, according to him, were made based on the information
he possessed at that moment. Meanwhile, mildly speaking, he committed
some mistakes then. So, who misled him? Did the same person deceive
both Oskanian and Kocharyan? Why does the former foreign minister
prefer speaking about March 1 events in Nikol Pashinyan’s office and
not publicly?

Here, we deal with the specific issue of political and governmental
legal responsibility. Someone deceived those officials who were
entitled to take decisions, and who took wrong decisions due to wrong
information; or these officials deceived the society trying to soften
the bloody consequences of their decisions. Maybe this is the reason
why they are silent about where they took the information from.

AZERBAIJANI CANDY IS SOLD IN ARARAT TOWN

2012-11-28 13:17:47

In the shop named “Ararat” in Ararat town of Ararat region is sold
“Best cherry” candy of Azerbaijani production. Iravaban.net informs
about this.

Lurer.com had a talk with the head of Consumers Union of Armenia
Arman Poghosyan, who noted that the Government of RA has a decision,
based on the principles of safety, to ban the import of Turkish and
Azerbaijani origin food to Armenia.

“This decision was made about 4-5 years ago. In my opinion, the fact
of appearance of Azerbaijani candy is a batches brought in individual
bags rather then a product legally crossed the customs border”,
said Poghosyan

In Poghosyan’s opinion there’s no need to intimidate the consumers.

“We have called “No to Turkish and Azerbaijani products” since 2001,
we continue this call now too, not for the reason that Turkish shoes
or candy is dangerous, but because it is Turkish. This is a matter
of dignity and moral”, he said.

It should be noted that the press department of Food Safety State
Inspection of Ministry Agricultural of RA informed the journalist of
Iravaban.net that any food to enter the Armenia is verified on the
border and only then imported. While in the Inspectorate they don’t
know that Azerbaijani candy is sold in shops.

The owner of the shop informed the journalists that he had gone to
Georgia to buy a car and brought with him 5kg candy whish he sold in
the shop. According to him there were no problems on the border.

Whether this is true or not, will find out the Inspectorate.

“SERZH SARGSYAN DIDN’T KEEP AND COULDN’T HAVE KEPT HIS CAMPAIGN PROMISE,” SAKUNTS SAYS

NOVEMBER 27, 2012 16:45

“The 2008 presidential election will confirm that improving the
electoral processes and conducting democratic elections in Armenia
are already a tradition,” this is an excerpt from President of the
Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan’s election program.

Analyzing the situation five years after that, can we claim that the
President of the Republic of Armenia kept his promise?
asked a set of experts dealing with electoral processes this question.

Artur Sakunts, the manager of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor
Office, noted during a conversation with us that Serzh Sargsyan should
have first of all assessed the 2008 presidential election, which he
didn’t do. Then he went into detail: “If he promised that, and it
was in his election program, then considering the 2008 election, he
didn’t keep his promise, because not only did he not take any attitude,
but he also considered it normal that he governed as a result of that
election. After that, the election for community leader took place
in Yerevan, which was a disgrace. I was in the electoral district of
Malatia-Sebastia as an observer, it was just total pressure on voters,
fraud, ballot stuffing etc. Or Nikol Pashinyan’s no. 10 electoral
district in 2010, where we carried out monitoring again – there were
violations, pressure and fraud here again. It happened during Serzh
Sargsyan’s presidency. Manifestations of aggressiveness, pressure,
also during the latest parliamentary election, in the electoral
district where Samvel Alexanyan was nominated and in other electoral
districts, the spread of fraud during the election campaign and on the
election day…. Although violence was not like the violence during
the election for the Yerevan council, but the problem of using the
administrative resource wasn’t overcome in any election. There was an
inappropriate response to alerts of election bribes; an investigation
was not conducted.”

Enumerating the above-mentioned, A. Sakunts stated: “This long
observation allows me to claim and reason that Serzh Sargsyan didn’t
kept and couldn’t have kept his promise, since one should first of
all have fully assessed the 2008 presidential election. Prisoners
of conscience who are free not thanks to justice, but as a result of
amendments to the amnesty law existed during his very presidency.”

Harutyun Hambardzumyan, the head of the Choice is Yours NGO, stated:
“I wouldn’t say that the president kept or not kept his promise by
100 percent. But it is a fact that we made progress in this election
compared to the previous one. The progress is that the flagrant
violations that took place in the past – for example, ballot stuffing,
violating the rights of observers and proxies, fights in electoral
districts – yes, they happened, but were not so wide-spread. Those
happened in the electoral districts of Malatia-Sebastia and Spitak,
but if we analyze 1960 electoral districts, they account for a small
percentage.”

Tatev HARUTYUNYAN

EXPLOSIONS IN THE ARMENIAN DISTRICT JARAMANA CAUSED DEATH OF MORE THAN 40 PEOPLE

12:43, 28 November, 2012

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS. Dozens of people died and were
injured because of the explosion in the Armenian district of Jaramana
in Damascus in the morning on November 28. Our compatriot from
Damascus informed “Armenpress” about this. According to him, the
number of casualties reached four dozens. There is no information
whether there are Armenians among casualties of not. The hospitals
are full of the injured people.

Syrian SANA agency states that there were explosions in Nahda and
Karyat districts, which caused not merely human casualties, but also
heavily damaged the surrounding buildings, trade centres and vehicles.

The majority of Jaramana population are Christians, including more
than 400 Armenian families.

Member of “Emergency Unit of the Syrian-Armenians” Raffi Avetisyan
informed the Armenian portal of the Middle East “Azat Hay” that in
accordance with the present information the clashes in Syria lasting
about 20 months caused the death of 40 Armenians and the injuries of
66 people of Armenian origin. There are also 7 kidnapped Armenians,
and 2 missing servicemen. More than 200 houses have been damaged.

TURQUIE : L’ABSURDE LOGIQUE DE LA MACHINE JUDICIAIRE

Publie le : 28-11-2012

Info Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN vous
invite a lire cette information publie sur le site des Amities kurdes
de Bretagne le 26 novembre 2012.

lundi 26 novembre 2012 par Amities kurdes de Bretagne

Les audiences se suivent et se ressemblent : les procureurs reclament
contre des prevenus, accuses d’etre des terroristes, des peines
dementielles se chiffrant par dizaines d’annees d’emprisonnement. Les
preuves sont imaginaires, les dossiers vides, les plaidoiries
interrompues et les audiences suspendues. Dans l’attente d’une
prochaine audience, repoussee a plusieurs mois, voire sine die, les
prevenus restent en detention provisoire, comme c’est le cas pour la
plupart des elus et des cadres du BDP, des journalistes et des avocats,
certains depuis avril 2009. D’autres restent en liberte provisoire,
comme l’etudiante franco-kurde Sevil Sevimli ou Osman Baydemir,
maire de Diyarbakir, avec interdiction de quitter le territoire
de Turquie. D’autres encore sont condamnes a l’exil comme Pinar
Selek. C’est la logique du pourrissement pousse jusqu’a l’absurde
et voulu par le pouvoir politique. Un danger plus grand qu’on ne le
pense en cas d’integration de la Turquie dans l’Union europeenne.

Sevil Sevimli, Pinar Selek, deux “dangereuses terroristes”

L’etudiante franco-kurde Sevil Sevimli, accusee d’etre membre d’une
organisation terroriste, s’est donc presentee le 19 novembre a une
nouvelle audience devant la cour criminelle de Bursa. Arretee le 10
mai et incarceree, elle a ete remise en liberte le 6 août, assignee
a residence avec interdiction de quitter le territoire de la Turquie.

Les motifs ? Ce sont les memes que ceux qui servent de pretexte
a maintenir en prison plus de 700 etudiants, coupables de vouloir
user de la liberte d’expression qui vaut accusation de terrorisme si
l’opinion exprimee n’est pas conforme a la pensee unique. La Turquie
comptait au 31 janvier 2012, selon le ministère turc de la Justice,
2 824 etudiants emprisonnes (1 046 condamnes et 1 778 en detention
preventive) dont 787 pour “appartenance a une organisation terroriste
armee”. Une nouvelle fois le tribunal a rejete la demande de levee du
contrôle judiciaire de la jeune Sevil qui risque une peine maximale
de trente-deux ans de prison, selon les requisitions du procureur. Sa
seule faute, c’est d’etre venue en Turquie comme etudiante avec des
idees de gauche. La prochaine audience est fixee au 16 janvier 2013.

Pinar Selek est poursuivie par la justice turque pour un crime qu’elle
n’a pas commis. Elle est accusee d’avoir participe a un attentat dont
elle a ete deja acquittee a trois reprises, et pour cause ! Il n’a
jamais existe. Mais a chaque fois, la Cour de cassation a invalide la
decision. La dernière audience du procès de Pinar Selek s’est achevee
sur une decision scandaleuse. Reuni le 22 novembre, le tribunal de
la Cour penale n° 12 d’Istanbul est revenu sur l’acquittement qu’il
avait lui-meme prononce le 9 fevrier 2011. Il a estime que le dernier
arret rendu par la Cour de cassation, qui invalidait l’acquittement
de l’accusee, etait recevable. La reouverture du procès de Pinar
Selek est fixee au 13 decembre prochain. En fait on reproche a cette
scientifique, qui vit desormais en exil a Strasbourg, d’avoir refuse
de donner a la police les noms de rebelles qu’elle avait rencontres
dans le cadre de ses recherches sur le conflit kurde. Placee en
detention preventive en 1998, torturee, condamnee a la prison a vie,
elle avait ete liberee en 2000 après 36 mois d’emprisonnement.

Les journalistes dans le collimateur d’une justice aux ordres

Le procès de quarante quatre journalistes a repris le 12 novembre
dernier après deux mois d’interruption. Les prevenus, dont 34 sont
incarceres depuis onze mois, sont accuses de liens avec le KCK (Union
des Communautes du Kurdistan). Reporters sans frontières, qui a assiste
a l’audience devant la 15ème chambre de la Cour d’Assises d’Istanbul,
exige a nouveau leur remise en liberte. Selon un rapport publie
par le Comite pour la Protection des Journalistes (CPJ), la Turquie
detenait au 1er août 2012, avec 76 incarcerations, le record mondial
des journalistes emprisonnes, dont ” 61 au moins etaient detenus en
relation directe avec leurs travaux publies ou leurs activites de
collecte d’information “. Et ce devant l’Iran, l’Erythree et la Chine.

Et si la Turquie europeenne possedait l’arme du mandat d’arret
europeen ?

On peut lire sur le site du ministère francais des Affaires etrangères
une brève concernant la rencontre recente (5 novembre) entre les deux
ministres francais et turc, Bernard Cazeneuve et Alaattin Buyukkaya,
charges, chacun pour son pays respectif, des Affaires europeennes.

Cet entretien, dit le communique, a ete l’occasion d’evoquer les
negociations d’adhesion de la Turquie a l’Union europeenne et a
permis discuter de la mise en ~uvre de l’accord de readmission entre
la Turquie et l’UE dans le domaine de la justice et des affaires
interieures. Ceci n’est pas sans nous inquieter au vu du spectacle
que donne une machine judiciaire au service d’un regime de plus en
plus autocrate. La Turquie europeenne possederait alors l’arme du
mandat d’arret europeen qui lui permettrait de se faire remettre
toute personne poursuivie par la justice turque, la nationalite
francaise n’etant meme plus un obstacle a l’extradition. Certes,
l’article 695-22 du code francais de procedure penale indique bien que
le mandat d’arret europeen est refuse dans le cas où il est emis dans
le but de poursuivre une personne en raison de ses opinions politiques,
mais on n’imagine pas la Turquie formaliser un mandat d’arret europeen
pour delit d’opinion. Et quand bien meme les faits reproches seraient
consideres comme tels par la France, c’est le droit du pays qui emet
le mandat europeen qui s’imposerait. On pourrait se trouver dans la
situation ubuesque de voir la justice francaise livrer a la justice
turque Pinar Selek, Sevil Sevimli et bien d’autres, comme ce fut le
cas recemment pour la militante basque Aurore Martin, extradee vers
l’Espagne pour des faits consideres legaux en France mais “terroristes”
en Espagne.

Andre Metayer

Retour a la rubrique

Source/Lien : Amities kurdes de Bretagne

EU REAFFIRMED ITS POSITION ON NKR CONFLICT PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT

17:57, 27 November, 2012

YEREVAN, NOVEMEBR 27, ARMENPRESS: European Union has reaffirmed
its position concerning the peaceful settlement of NKR conflict. As
reports Armenpress, referring to news.az, EU viewpoint on NKR issue
was expressed by tefan Fule, European Commissioner for Enlargement
and European Neighborhood Policy, during the meeting with Azerbaijani
Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mahmedgyuliev.

Interlocutors changed with viewpoints on the settlement of
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement underlining that the issue had turned
into a long-term conflict in European region. European side had once
again stated about its support to the activity of OSCE Minsk Group
concerning the implementation of Madrid principals as a base for the
peaceful settlement of the conflict.

HIV IS WIDELY SPREAD AMONG LABOR MIGRANTS IN ARMENIA

arminfo
Tuesday, November 27, 17:42

HIV is widely spread among labor migrants in Armenia, Head of the
Armenian Network of Positive People NGO Anahit Harutyunyan told
ArmInfo on Tuesday.

She said that there are lots of women who have been infected by their
husbands who were labor migrants in Russia or Ukraine and were unaware
of HIV infection risks.

“There are certain moral and psychological reasons why wives cannot
ask their husbands to undergo testing after coming back from abroad.

So, the husbands must do it on their on initiative if they had any
risky sexual contacts,” Harutyunyan said.

1,335 HIV cases have been registered in Armenia since 1988. 56.3%
of HIV patients are 25-39 years old. 56.7% have been infected through
heterosexual contact, 34.5% through intravenous drug use. 675 people
have AIDS, including 167 women and 11 children. 297 people have died,
including 49 women and 5 children.

BRITISH COMPANIES INTERESTED IN ARMENIA’S MINING SECTOR AND INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

news.am
November 27, 2012 | 17:58

YEREVAN.- British companies are interested in Armenia’s mining sector
and infrastructure projects, head of British business delegation,
project director of British Expertise Nigel Peters said in Yerevan.

He said the delegation held a number of meetings, including with
Armenia’s Economy Minister Tigran Davtyan, who briefed the guests
on possibilities of doing business in Armenia and peculiarities of
local laws. Nigel Peters believes the tax rates are quite beneficial.

Contacts help the promotion of business ties, therefore the decision
to abolish visa requirements for EU citizens starting from 2013 is
very useful. As regards air connection, Peters confirmed it is more
expensive to fly to Yerevan than other regional capitals.

Trade turnover between Armenia and the United Kingdom in 2011 was about
$48 million, of which the Armenian exports made only $380 thousand:
mainly cigarettes, orthopedic appliances, art, hand tools.

Imports from the UK were mostly alcohol, pet food, pharmaceuticals,
perfumes, deodorants, road machinery and cars.

ARMENIA’S PRESIDENT VISITS ANTELIAS (PHOTOS)

27.11.12

Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan visited today Antelias where he
met with His Holiness Catholicos of Holy See of Cilicia Aram I.

According to president’s web site, before the meeting Serzh Sargsyan
and his spouse Rita Sargsyan visited St. Gregory the Illuminator Church
and the chapel dedicated to the memory of the Armenian Genocide. The
president put a wreath at the chapel in commemoration of the genocide
victims.

At the reception in Antelias Aram I awarded Serzh Sargsyan with
highest order of the Catholicosate – Cilician Cross.

Expressing his gratitude Serzh Sargsyan said for a long time Cilicia’s
Catholicosate is not only a spiritual center but a powerful source of
preservation of Armenian identity. Armenia’s president highly rated
the activity of Catholicosate headed by Aram I. “We are always ready
to support you,” he said.

Armenian News – Tert.am

HENRIKH MKHITARYAN THIRD IN THE 2012-S13 EUROPEAN GOLDEN SHOE RANKING

ARMRADIO.AM
17:03 27.11.2012

Henrikh Mkhitaryan, midfielder of the Armenian national team and
Shakhtar Donetsk, is the third among the contenders for the 2012-13
edition of the European Golden Shoe, awarded by European Sports
Magazines.

Argentinean striker Lionel Messi, who plays for FC Barcelona, is on
top of the list with 19 goals, followed by Lithuanian forward ArtŔras
RimkeviÄ~Mius, who plays for Å iauliai. Armenian midfielder Henrikh
Mkhitaryan comes third with 17 goals scored this season.

The European Golden Shoe, formerly known as the European Golden Boot,
is an association football award presented each season to the leading
goalscorer in league matches from the top division of every European
national league.

Since the 1996-97 season, European Sports Media have awarded the
Golden Shoe based on a points system that allows players in tougher
leagues to win even if they score fewer goals than a player in a
weaker league. The weightings are determined by the league’s ranking
on the UEFA coefficients, which in turn depend on the results of each
league’s clubs in European competition over the previous five seasons.

Goals scored in the top five leagues according to the UEFA coefficients
list are multiplied by a factor of two, and goals scored in the
leagues ranked six to 21 are multiplied by 1.5