Author: nina hovnanian

Is Bowing to Dictator Respect For Azerbaijani People?
By Gorkhmaz Asgarov

BAKU. September 6, 2012. It was bad enough to see the photo of the
newly appointed US Ambassador to Azerbaijan bowing down to a stone
monument of the late Azerbaijani dictator. But the handling of this
incident by the US State Department and the US Embassy in Baku only
makes matters worse.

`Ambassador Richard Morningstar put flowers to Heydar Aliyev’s
monument and bowed his head as a gesture of respect for the
Azerbaijani people,’ said Jonas Stewart, the press secretary of the US
Embassy to Azerbaijan to the Voice of America. In his recent press
statement, Jonas Stewart also told that Ambassador Morningstar’s
gesture was a part of the diplomatic protocol for all the ambassadors
whose credentials were received by the Azerbaijani president,
including the previous US ambassadors.

Earlier, the US State Department denied that Ambassador Morningstar
bowed to the Azerbaijani dictator’s monument, but admitted that the US
Ambassador put flowers to that monument as a part of the diplomatic
protocol. The State Department and the US Embassy in Baku are wrong on
all these points.

First of all, the media uproar over the Ambassador’s gesture shows
that he is the first one to do so and his predecessors cannot boast
about having such a photo of them bowing to the late KGB general,
communist party first secretary, Azerbaijani dictator Aliyev.
Secondly, even if the Azerbaijani government wanted to institute such
a diplomatic protocol, there was nothing in the diplomatic etiquette
forcing a US diplomat to bow in front of any statue. Since when have
the US ambassadors become required to join personality cults of
foreign dictators?

Ambassador Richard Morningstar’s photo of putting flowers at Heydar
Aliyev’s monument and then bowing to that monument is the first such
photo of an ambassador from a Western country. If this is a part of a
diplomatic protocol, it must be fairly new and started by the
Azerbaijani government just before Mr. Morningstar’s arrival to
Azerbaijan. Mr. Morningstar’s predecessors, Ambassador Matthew Bryza
and Ambassador Anne Derse, were not seen on any photos participating
in such ceremony.

Finally, this gesture has nothing to do with respecting Azerbaijani
people. Heydar Aliyev is the former KGB general, Communist party boss,
who came to power in a Russian backed coup d’etat ousting the
democratically elected government of Abulfaz Elchibey in 1992. Heydar
Aliyev maintained his power through deeply fraudulent elections well
documented by the election observation missions of the OSCE, Council
of Europe, and the European Union. In 2003, he was succeeded by his
son Ilham Aliyev, who has maintained the chain of autocratic rule in
Azerbaijan effectively establishing the first dynastical transfer of
power on the territory of former Soviet Union.

During Ilham Aliyev’s reign, bowing to Heydar Aliyev’s monument has
turned into a ritual of displaying to the Azerbaijani public the
loyalty to the existing regime. Every now and then, the Azerbaijani
State TV shows that a former opposition activist or a civic activist
with (formerly) independent views visits Heydar Aliyev’s monument and
bows to it. The symbolic meaning of that gesture in the Azerbaijani
state propaganda is that the Azerbaijani government scored a victory
over yet another dissident, public figure, opposition politician, or
civic activist etc.

This is the context in which the Azerbaijani state media proudly
disseminated the photos and video of the new US Ambassador bowing to
Heydar Aliyev’s monument. The US envoy bowing down to the founder of
the corrupt, repressive regime that falsifies elections and violates
basic rights and liberties of citizens is not a sign of respect to the
Azerbaijani people. Rather it is an insult towards those Azerbaijanis
and Americans who share the values of freedom and democracy upon which
the United States is built.

And yes, Ambassador Morningstar is the first US Ambassador to have
been participating in this propaganda ritual of the Azerbaijani
regime, no matter what the Embassy or State Department say about the
diplomatic protocol and his predecessors doing the same thing
(Azerireport).

Anadolu Agency (AA), Turkey
September 8, 2012 Saturday

Elections more important for France than future generations

French administration thinks about future elections instead of future
generations, says EU Minister Bagis ANKARA Turkish Minister of EU
Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis on Saturday said that the
French administration thought about future elections instead of future
generations. Bagis’s comments came after Armenian allegations
pertaining to the incidents of 1915 entered French textbooks and
reports that French President Francois Hollande was working on a draft
law that would criminalize any rejection of the Armenian allegations
regarding the 1915 incidents.

Speaking to the Anadolu Agency (AA), Egemen Bagis said that President
Hollande should keep in mind the fate of his predecessor while working
on such a draft law.

We do hope that Hollande will take into consideration the would-be
costs of his draft law on the Armenian allegations related to the
incidents of 1915, Bagis stressed.

“Turkey’s history is one with pride and should be appreciated,” Bagis also said.

Anadolu Agency (AA), Turkey
September 9, 2012 Sunday

Ritual at Akdamar Church

Ritual to be held at the Akdamar Church in Lake Van will also include
prayers for the victims of the Van earthquake and all those Syrians
killed due to clashes in Syria. VAN (AA) – September 9, 2012 – An
Archbishop of the Patriarchate of Turkish Armenians, Aram Ateshian on
Saturday said that the ritual to be held at the Akdamar Church in Lake
Van on Sunday will also include prayers for the victims of the Van
earthquake and all those Syrians killed due to clashes in Syria.
Ateshian, Bishop Aris Sivanyan from the Armenian Patriarchate of
Jerusalem and Bishop Khajag Barsamyan from the United States visited
the Governor of Van, Munir Karaloglu on Saturday.

“What is important for our community is to hold the ritual on Sunday
in tranquility and make prayers,” Ateshian noted.

“Sivanyan and Barsamyan will join us at Sunday’s ritual. Moreover, a
70-member group of Armenians from the United States had a chance to
see the region where their ancestors lived for the first time,”
Ateshian stressed.

Governor Karaloglu, in his part, said that Sunday’s ritual would be
the third one at the Akdamar Church and they hoped the ritual would
take place in tranquility.

Annual rituals take place at the Akdamar Church after the Turkish
Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued a permission two years ago.

Interfax, Russia
Sept 8 2012

Armavia plans to resume flights to Aleppo, Syria

YEREVAN. Sept 8

The Armenian national air carrier, Armavia, plans to resume flights to
the second largest Syrian city of Aleppo.

“The reason for resuming flights is that the people want to return
home,” the airline’s press service reported on Saturday.

Armavia plans a flight to Aleppo on September 9 to transport Syrian
children vacationing in Armenia back home, and it will resume regular
flights to Aleppo on September 10.

Armavia suspended flights to Aleppo on September 3, referring to the
Free Syrian Army’s threats that it might start shooting down
commercial aircraft.

Gulf Times, Qatar
Sept 10 2012

Armenians flock to Sunday mass at ancient church

AFP/Istanbul

Around 2,000 Armenians from Turkey and the diaspora flocked yesterday
to a recently restored ancient church on a tiny island in the east of
the country for an annual mass.
Boats provided a shuttle service for pilgrims from all over Turkey,
and some from Armenia and elsewhere in Europe, to the isle of Akdamar
(Akhtamar in Armenian) on Lake Van, to the 10th century Church of the
Holy Cross, Anatolia news agency said.

Turkish authorities restored the church between 2005 and 2007, which
then opened as a museum. Mass was celebrated there for the first time
in 95 years in 2010.

According to the Turkish tourism ministry, the church attracted nearly
30,000 visitors in 2010, and similar number in 2011.

Monsignor Aram Atessian, the acting Armenian patriarch, presided over
this year’s mass, attended by 2,000 faithful, of whom only a few dozen
were able to watch inside the church, the rest following proceedings
from outside.

The congregation prayed for peace in the world at a time when Turkey’s
neighbour Syria, which also has a large community of Armenians, is
being torn apart by a conflict that has left thousands of people dead
since it erupted in March 2011.

The church is one of the very rare surviving indicators of the large
Armenian presence in Turkey under Ottoman rule, before the massacres
and deportations between 1915 and 1917, which Armenia considers
genocide, a term rejected by Ankara.

Today the Armenian community in Turkey, which numbers around 70,000,
is concentrated in Istanbul.

Neighbours Turkey and Armenia do not have diplomatic relations and a
move towards reconciliation launched in 2009 has not borne fruit.

Media Groups Protest Restricted Access to Gyumri Event

hetq
12:30, September 9, 2012

On September 4 during the RA President’s visit to Gyumri, the
representatives of the office of the head of the state restricted the
local journalists from participating in the brief, held at the Gyumri
Mother and Child Care Hospital.

The clarifications on the incident provided by the Department of
Public Relations and Mass Media of RA President’s Office were not
convincing. One can imply from them that the administration of the
President sorts out a certain class of media outlets, where the
coverage of activities of the head of the state is preferred more than
it is on other outlets. This was most vividly demonstrated in Gyumri,
where the local media has a quite big audience. Hence, in this case,
when visiting the city, the RA President should have been particularly
interested in communicating with Gyumri citizens.

In general, an unwritten rule is observed at the governing elite.
According to this rule, when dealing with media outlets, preference is
first given to foreign media, then – to some `favorite’ national and
capital based broadcasters, and at the very end – to regional media.
This is an extremely vicious phenomenon, especially in those cases,
when the information or the message are, in fact, intended for the
audience of those media, which fall out of `favorites’ list’. This
sort of conduct of the state officials impedes the ensuring of fair
competition among media, as well as the right to receive and
disseminate information. Hence, we call to revise such an approach.

As regards the incident in Gyumri, we expect the Department of Public
Relations and Mass Media of the Office of the RA President to bring
apologies to all those accredited journalists, who did not get the
chance to carry out their professional commitment towards their
audience.

COMMITTEE TO PROTECT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

YEREVAN PRESS CLUB

INTERNEWS MEDIA SUPPORT NGO

`ASPAREZ’ JOURNALISTS’ CLUB

MEDIA DIVERSITY INSTITUTE-ARMENIA

`JOURNALISTS’ TEAM FOR SUSTAINABLE FUTURE’ NGO

September 8, 2012

The Tribune-Democrat, PA
Sept 9 2012

Armenian crew visits Johnstown for film on Barton

Patrick Buchnowski [email protected]

JOHNSTOWN – The story of the 1889 Johns – town Flood has reached the
nation of Armenia.

A three-member film crew from Armenian Public Television was in
Johnstown on Saturday shooting a documentary on Clara Barton, who
founded the American Red Cross in 1881.

Barton is remembered for championing the relief effort after the
devastating flood.

Then in 1896, Barton traveled overseas to help Armenians who were
being slaughtered by the Ottoman Empire.

`Clara Barton was kind of an angel who helped Armenians,’ said Tigran
Danielyan, 21, reporter for the project.

`Johnstown is part of our project,’ he said. `We came here to shoot
about the Johns – town Flood and Clara Barton.’

For 11 days, the film crew toured various cities including Washington, D.C.

The group, which included cameraman Hakob Sargsyan, also took a close
look at Johnstown.

They visited `some of the well-known flood-related sites and some
churches as well,’ said Shelley Johansson, spokeswoman for the
Johns – town Area Heritage Association.

`We need to find the most important and most interesting information
about the flood and also about Clara Barton,’ Danielyan said.

Barton was 67 when she and five Red Cross volunteers arrived in
Johnstown on June 5, 1889, five days after the flood. Under her
direction, the American Red Cross distributed supplies worth $211,000
at the time, which was enough to help 25,000 people.

Until then, the Red Cross had been a battlefield relief organization,
said Richard Burkert, JAHA executive director. Danielyan interviewed
Burkert at the flood museum.

`She (Barton) had responded to a couple smaller disasters before the
1889 flood,’ Burkert said. `But it was really here in Johnstown that
she and the American Red Cross made a name.

`Everyone recognized her name because of all the news coverage
following this great disaster,’ he said. `Disaster relief services
became one of the key elements of the Red Cross. That was Clara
Barton’s innovation.’

Hungary preferred caviar for justice – European Movement in Armenia
rejects sending delegates to Azerbaijan

news.am
September 07, 2012 | 16:12

YEREVAN. – Head of the European Movement in Armenia Victor Yengibaryan
wrote a letter to the Chairman of the European Movement International
Jo Leinen and other officials of the organization in connection with
Azerbaijani murderer’s extradition and granting him a pardon and hence
rejects to participate in the European Movement’s meeting in Baku.

`We learn with great disappointment that Hungarian authorities had
extradited Ramil Safarov. As was supposed, the Azerbaijani president
had immediately granted a pardon to the murderer, while the
Azerbaijani people made him a hero. Hungary, being a member of the
NATO and the EU, by releasing Safarov, betrayed all the European
values, discredited European authority and replaced justice with
caviar.

The European Movement in Armenia rejects to send delegates for the
upcoming meeting of the organization, which is scheduled for November
in Baku, Azerbaijan,’ the statement reads.

An Interview with Ruben Hayrapetyan: “I was born in a well-off family”

13:01, September 8, 2012

What follows is a portion of an interview conducted by Nouvelles
d’Armenie reporter Seta Mavlian with Ruben Hayrapetyan.

The 4 hour unique interview took place on August 11 in the Avan
district of Yerevan, where Hayrapetyan lives and where his Harsanakar
restaurant is located. The interview appears in french in the magazine
but was later translated to Armenian. Nouvelles d’Armenie has allowed
the Armenian media to freely reprint the interview.

Let’s start at the beginning. What environment were you born and raised in?

I was born in a socially well-off family. In the early 1970s, my
father managed two restaurants. They were good restaurants. One at the
end of Ajarian Street and the other, the Grill Bar, in Nork. My father
built them from scratch and ran them.

Where did your father get the resources for the restaurants?

I was seven in 1970. You’d have to ask him. All I know is that before
1970 my father was in the cargo transport business. It was a
profitable sector. They would transport foodstuffs and stones on large
lorries out of Armenia. My mother was a housewife.

Where does your family hail from?

We are from Avan. Some Avan residents came from Khoy (Iran). I tried
to do the research but couldn’t find whether my father’s family
relocated from Khoy or if they were locals. Nevertheless, Avan
residents speak in the Khoy dialect. My mother is from the village of
Akounq, near the town of Abovian.

How did you come by the nickname “Nemets Rubo?” They say your father
was taken prisoner by the Germans during WWI.

That’s wrong. My father was born in 1939. The name comes from his
uncle, my grandmother’s brother, who was conscripted into the war the
same year my father was born. He served and was wounded. He came back
with metal fragments still in his body. He then worked as a driver.
Like all good drivers, he also worked on the vehicles. When he’d get
under a truck, the fragments would move around and cause him pain.
He’d then start cursing the Germans. . That’s how he got the nickname
“Nemets”. Later on, it passed down to the rest of us.

Did you attend a Russian or Armenian school?

An Armenian school in Avan.

Were you a member of the Young Communist League?

Yes, unfortunately. (He laughs) We all became members when we turned
15. Had I refused, they would have caused trouble for my father, even
sending him to Siberia.

You worked in the Almast Factory from 1980-1981. You were about 17-18
years old. How did that come about?

During the Soviet era, if you weren’t accepted into university, you
could work somewhere for a year and get it registered on your
employment papers for your pension Later on, you could take the
admission tests again.

Why weren’t you accepted?

There were so many students applying for openings at the universities;
500 applicants for just 25 openings. You had to wait in line to get
into college just like waiting for bread or meat. You needed good
grades.

What kind of factory work did you do?

I was a first class electrician at the Almast Factory in Yerevan’s
Zeytoun district. The place produced saws. We would repair the damaged
mechanical parts. The following year I got accepted at the institute.

We should be thankful to Armenian olygarkhs

2012-09-09 10:51:51

Human rights defender Argishti Kiviryan wrote on his Facebook page:

`In some sense we should be thankful to Armenian olygarkhs for their
public scabrous behavior. At last they could rob the country silently
and stealthily and people couldn’t understand clearly whether they
lead the country to this state or the dark and treacherous Massons
beyond the border. And the Armenian olygarkh, so enchanted by his
audacity overtly declares, that yes, it’s them and what they do serves
the others right. They are perfect illiterate, they don’t understand
that instigating people this way, they will lead the situation to
blast, to revolution and Armenian bloody Vandea…’