Author: nina hovnanian

Davutoglu announced Turkey lifts all sanctions against France

19:05 . 05/07

Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoglu, who is in Paris to take part in the
meeting of Friends of Syria Group scheduled to take place in France
tomorrow, has announced Turkey lifts all sanctions adopted previously
against France.

Davutoglu has recalled Turkey adopted the sanctions during the
presidency of the ex-French president Nikolas Sarkozy connected with
the 1915 events (discussion over the Armenian Genocide denial
criminalization bill at the French parliament).

1in.am reports citing Turkish sources Davutoglu has added if France
wishes to have its contribution in the process of settling the
Armenian issue, they are ready to work jointly.

To recall, Davutoglu was to meet French FM Laurent Fabius in Paris
today. But the Turkish media don’t mention if the meeting has taken
place or not. Turkey wishes to restore its relations with France by
all means.

By lifting the so-called sanctions against France, Turkey wishes to
gain France’s favour and to keep the newly elected president Francois
Hollande back from the promises given during the election campaign
concerning the Armenian Genocide- adoption of a law criminalizing the
denial of the Armenian Genocide, opening of a museum of Armenian
Genocide in France, setting forth the recognition of the Armenian
Genocide by Ankara as a main precondition for Turkey’s EU membership.

A huge ship found in the bottom of Lake Sevan

14:56, 5 July, 2012

YEREVAN, JULY 5, ARMENPRESS: Third underwater research campaign is
scheduled to be launched on July 10-24, at the course of which 2010
and 2011 researches works will be continued.

Underwater Research and Diving Armenian center informed Armenpress ,
this French-Armenian mission is being carried by three bearers Claude
Tulumjyan, Gabriel Melikyan, Stepan Kojayan and research institutes
and in close cooperation with government agencies adjacent to the
National Academy of Sciences.

Science campaigns are set to be carried out under the responsibly of
Underwater Research and Diving Armenian center. Underwater Researches
are aimed at strengthening the preliminary results obtained in the
past few years, as well as to continue the acquisition of samples for
scientists, the records of fauna and fauna description.

Current year archaeological works are scheduled to be carried out in
the bottom of the Lake Sevan aimed at finding huge ship damaged in 15
-meter-depth. All the acquired components will be provided to Armenian
scientists for further research purposes.

Armenian mountaineers conquered Mount Elbrus and even danced Kochari

11:50, 5 July, 2012

YEREVAN, JULY 5, ARMENPRESS: Three mountaineers Garegin Unusyan, Levon
Movsesyan and beginner Suren Petrosyan representing Alpinism and
mountain tourism Armenian Federation left to conquer Mount Elbrus on
June 30.

At the briefing with Armenpress reporter the deputy head of the
Federation Suren Danielyan stated, the mountaineers conquered Europe’s
highest peak, Elbrus (5641 m) and will return to Armenia on July 7.

`’Everything was successful, and our mountaineers even danced Kochari
on the top of Elbrus” the deputy head came forth with. Bad weather
conditions might hinder the operation, yet fortunately everything was
under control.

In Danielyan’s word, the Federation is set to embark conquering new
peaks in the coming future. Alpinism and tourism Armenian Federation
team having achieved their numerous goals in the form of the high
peaks, have intentions to change people’s attitude towards life and
prove that the dreams may come true.

Armenian buried as Muslim in Turkey to be reburied as Christian

July 5, 2012 – 12:13 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The body of a Turkish citizen of Armenian origin,
who was buried in a Muslim cemetery due to financial problems, will be
transferred to an Armenian cemetery after the required procedures are
completed, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

According to Agos weekly, 85-year-old Harutyun KamparisoÄ?lu passed
away on June 17while staying in a shelter. Ã`sküdar Surp Garabed Church
Foundation approved KamparisoÄ?lu’s burial with Islamic customs since
the man’s daughter Anna TaÅ?çıyan could not afford the 8,000-Turkish
Lira funeral cost. KambarisoÄ?lu’s funeral prayer was performed in
Göztepe Mosque on June 18, and his body was buried in Ã`mraniye
HekimbaÅ?ı Cemetery with Islamic prayers.

The Armenian Patriarchate said they did not know about the incident
but added that if they had known, they would have covered the funeral
expenses.

`If we had known about the situation, we would have done whatever was
necessary and would not have let such an incident occur. How the
authorities conducted such a burial is another matter of interest,’
Acting Patriarch Archishob Aram AteÅ?yan said.

He said that KamparisoÄ?lu’s daughter gave her consent for the funeral
to be conducted according to the traditions of the Armenian Apostolic
Church and that KamparisoÄ?lu’s body would be transferred to the
Armenian cemetery in a funeral after the required procedures are
completed.

TaÅ?çıyan said the necessary statement about the subject was made by
the patriachate and that she would not make any personal statement.

Meanwhile, the Karacaahmet Cemetery Directorate, which approved
KamparisoÄ?lu’s burial according to Islamic traditions, said non-Muslim
people could be buried in Muslim cemeteries only if the mufti’s office
declared the deceased to be a Muslim.

`KamparisoÄ?lu was also declared to be a Muslim. There are two people
who witnessed his conversion to Islam by saying the Kelime-i Å?ahadet
[Islamic confession of faith]. When two people witnessed it, his being
a Muslim was [confirmed],’ the directorate said.

Chorrord Inqnkishkhanutyun: Why European Council president arrived in
Yerevan late and without his spouse

tert.am
09:57 – 05.07.12

The paper says it has learned from sources that President of the
European Council Herman van Rompuy was supposed to be accompanied by
his wife in the course of his visit to the South Caucasus region.

But as it turned out later, he came to Yerevan alone.

Mrs. Van Rompuy was reported at the last moment to have cancelled her
trip because of health problems. She was scheduled to attend a special
event in Yerevan together with Armenia’s first lady, Rita Sargsyan,
says the paper, adding that the program agenda was of political
nature, not of cultural or social.

But citing its sources, the paper claims that the high-ranking
European official’s spouse had her own reason for cancelling the trip.
She reportedly has problems with the [EU] member-states, the situation
being serious to such an extent that some of them even decided to
create problems for her via their air companies. As for Mr. Rompuy,
the paper says he had great difficulty in arranging his trip.

The European official was in Yerevan on Wednesday morning. As early as
in the afternoon, he already left for Georgia.

ARMEN ASHOTYAN: IT SEEMS THAT SOME PEOPLE WERE EAGER TO SEE THE HARSNAKAR INCIDENT END IN DEATH RATHER THAN RECOVERY

arminfo
Tuesday, July 3, 13:02

It seems that some people were eager to see the Harsnakar incident
end in death rather than recovery so as to be able to make a fuss
about it, Armenia’s Education and Science Minister Armen Ashotyan
told journalists on Tuesday, when asked to comment on the death of
military doctor Vahe Avetyan, beaten by an oligarch’s security guard
in Harsnakar restaurant on June 17.

“I regret that we have failed to save his life. It is a real tragedy,
but we should not try to politicize this incident. I am sure that
those guilty will be punished,” Ashotyan said.

To remind, June 17 the security guards of Harsnakar restaurant, owned
by oligarch MP Ruben Hayrapetyan, severely beat military doctors Vahe
Avetyan, Artak Bayadyan and senior lieutenant Garik Soghokonyan.

It is rumored that Avetyan and his friends visited the restaurant in
sportswear but were not let in because of dress code. They did not
protest, went home, changed their clothes and came back.

But later they had a dispute with one of the waiters. The security
guards called Hayrapetyan to ask him what to do with the young people
and he told them to “teach them a lesson.” The friends were beaten,
with Avetyan receiving a very serious head injury. He was operated
on but did not recover and died June 29.

Two security guards, one manager and one waiter have been arrested.

The key suspect is security guard Gagik Markaryan.

EXPLOSION AT DOWNTOWN YEREVAN APARTMENT

news.am
July 03, 2012 | 15:00

YEREVAN. – There was a blast in an Armenian capital city Yerevan
building, on Tuesday at around 2:10pm, Armenian News-NEWS.am’s reporter
informed from the scene.

According to preliminary data, the soup placed on the natural gas
cooker had spilled and, as a result, there was a gas leakage which
caused the explosion.

There are two injured; they are a young Iranian couple who were
renting an apartment in the building.

Armenian News-NEWS.am’s reporter also informed that the couple were
transferred to the center for burns. The apartment’s kitchen, living
room, and bathroom were damaged as a result of the blast.

Police officers and the Emergency Situations Ministry team are at
the scene.

ARMENIAN OMBUDSMAN INDIRECTLY CALLS ON BOYCOTTING HARSNAKAR RESTAURANT

news.am
July 02, 2012 | 13:08

YEREVAN. – In case the Armenian Ombudsman Karen Andreasyan did not
hold the current office he would have been among those initiators
boycotting the Harsnakar restaurant, he told the journalists on Monday.

In response to a report that Armenia faces an atmosphere of impunity,
and the owner of the restaurant has been sure that he will not be
sentenced, the Ombudsman said that he cannot reprimand someone without
having bases for it.

“If I was not the Ombudsman, I would have been one of the protest
action initiators. However, now I have no right to interfere,”
Andreasyan said. “All civilized societies would have been acted just
the same way.”

Karabakh starts producing vegetable oil

STEPANAKERT, July 4. /ARKA/. A workshop for producing vegetable oil
has been put into operation in Taghavard village in Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic’s Martuni district, the republic’s public television reported
on Wednesday.

Norayr Stepanyan, owner of the workshop, said he used a loan to open
this workshop.

`The vegetable oil that is produced in Karabakh is an ecologically
pure product,’ he said.

He said that that a modern German technology is used for producing
this product. The first batch of vegetable oil will appear in
Karabakh’s market in late July.

`Now the cooking oil is produced from sunflowers, but in the future it
will be made also from other plants,’ Stepanyan said. He said he has
employed 30 people for producing the vegetable oil.

He also said that the workshop has already produced 13 tons of cooking
oil within five days.

Representatives of Germany’s Strachle company, who have been in
Karabakh for two weeks, are installing and testing the equipment and
also instructing workers.

Earlier, Karabakhi Prime Minister Ara Harutyunyan said that the
quality of this vegetable oil will be higher than that of the
vegetable oil being sold in the republic now. He also said that price
for this cooking oil will be quite low.-0–

Ter-Petrosyan’s former adviser makes noisy announcements in Baku

16:00 . 03/07

Former Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s adviser on foreign
political issues, professor of Michigan University Zhirayr Liparityan
has made noisy announcements in Baku.

During the conference organized at the initiative of Caucasus
International, Turkish Policy Quarterly periodicals, the Centre for
Strategic Research under the Azerbaijani president, Lipartiyan has
announced that till the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement Armenia
will continue to remain the weakest country in the region, while
Azerbaijan and Georgia will develop.

Azerbaijani MP Rasim Musabayov, in turn, has announced Azerbaijan’s
economy and military equipment exceeds Armenia’s economy by 6 times
and has said as long as Armenia depends on Russia neither the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be settled, nor joint regional projects
will be implemented.

Expressing his non-confidence in the OSCE Minsk Group observers,
Liparityan has said the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not a problem of
only two countries, but also of Georgia, as it is very difficult to
implement joint projects.

Lipartiyan not only came up with such strange statements but also
showed initiatives. According to Azerbaijani media, he met with the
heads of the organization calling themselves Azerbaijani Community of
Nagorno-Karabakh.