Author: Toneyan Mark

Harvey Nichols has pulled out of its first store in Azerbaijan just four months after opening in the oil-rich state widely criticised for human rights abuses, reports.

The seven-floor store in Baku’s Globus Plaza no longer runs under the upmarket department store’s name after a split with licence partner Perfomans, part of a local investment company.

A statement said: “Harvey Nichols has terminated its licence agreement with the operator of the Baku store. Consequently, the Baku store no longer operates under the Harvey Nichols brand.” The retailer said it could not comment further for legal reasons.

The Baku outlet was the department store’s eighth overseas venture, joining others in Turkey, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Dubai. The 110,000 sq ft store was Harvey Nichols’ largest outside London, offering stylists, personal shoppers, restaurants, a beauty hall and more than 500 international designer brands.

At the time of the opening, Harvey Nichols’ chief executive, Stacey Cartwright, said: “This market is fast becoming one of the top luxury retail destinations in the world and we are excited to offer the ultimate in luxury shopping and hospitality to the discerning customer in Baku.”

But trade journal Retail Week reported that Harvey Nichols began moves to exit the store within weeks of opening.

Harvey Nichols’ exit from the country comes as it prepares to open a new store in Birmingham on Friday

Mehmet Aksoy, the sculptor who was awarded TRY 10,000 (USD 3,750) in damages by a court in March after President Erdoğan had his sculpture torn down, is now on trial for 4 years, 8 months in prison over insulting Erdoğan after having described the money he was paid as ‘dirty money,’  reports.

Asked on what he would be spending the TRY 10,000 (USD 3,750) in damages he was to be paid by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during an interview, sculptor Mehmet Aksoy responded: “I would never make a sculpture with dirty money.”

In retaliation to Aksoy’s comment, Erdoğan has filed a criminal complaint against the sculptor on the grounds that he insulted the president. The indictment prepared by the Press Crimes Bureau states that Aksoy implied that the president’s earnings were illegitimate and demands a prison sentence of up to 4 years, 8 months for the sculptor.

In his defense testimony, Aksoy claimed that the point of his statement had not been to insult the president, “Throughout my professional career I have sculpted nearly 10 tons of stone. What I do is very labor-intensive. My words were not meant to insult the president. I meant that this money just fell in my lap and was not money earned through any toil and sweat.”

In March a court had awarded Aksoy TRY 10,000 (USD 3,750) in damages for an insult case he had launched against President Erdoğan demanding TRY 100,000. The court had found Erdoğan guilty of insulting the sculptor Mehmet Aksoy over an incident in 2011 when the president called Aksoy’s statue symbolizing goodwill between Turkey and Armenia a “monstrosity.”

The comments by Erdoğan, then prime minister, came during a visit to the northeastern city of Kars. “They put a monstrosity there, next to the tomb of [scholar] Hasan Harakani,” Erdoğan had said during his January 2011 visit, “It is impossible to think that such a thing should exist next to a true work of art.”

Former Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay had defended Erdoğan at the time, saying that the prime minister had not used monstrosity in reference to the statue, which Erdoğan denied, “No, I meant it in reference to the statue.”

Erdoğan went on to express his hope that the mayor of Kars, also hailing from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), would “do what is necessary” before the prime minister’s next visit. The statue was taken down on June 14, 2011 by the Kars Municipality.

Sculptor Aksoy strongly criticized Erdoğan’s comments, saying his work carried a message of peace and friendship, and filed a lawsuit against Erdoğan for his insult to the statue.

In an unorthodox move last year, the Turkish Language Association (TDK), the official governing body of the Turkish language, declared that the word “monstrosity” (ucube) was not an insult and did not have negative connotations.

Armenian Greco-Roman wrestler Mihran Harutyunyan (66 kg) won a silver medal at the European Games in Baku.

In the final Harutyunyan lost 0:2 to Artem Surkov of Russia.

The Armenian wrestler defeated opponents from Spain, Bulgaria, Serbia and Azerbaijan to reach the final.

According to Reuters, Armenian Mihran Harutyunyan failed to win his nation’s first European Games gold medal, losing in the final of the men’s 66kg Greco-Roman wrestling, much to the delight of a vociferous Azeri crowd on Sunday.

Silver medalist Harutyunyan was subjected to a hostile reception from home spectators who chanted ‘Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan’ and cheered wildly for his Russian opponent and gold medalist Artem Surkov throughout an electric bout.

Harutyunyan’s compatriot Maksim Manukyan also fell short in the bronze medal bout for the men’s 85kg event, losing in another highly-charged affair against Turkey’s Metehan Basar.

Both Harutyunyan and Manukyan had enraged the crowd earlier by beating home favorites on their way to the latter stages before quickly disappearing into the safety of the changing rooms to escape the cacophony of noise.

“It is clear the judges were influenced by the public,” Harutyunyan told reporters. “No matter, it is what I expected before I came here. It was very difficult for me to focus with all the pressure that was on me.

“However, it is very important for my country that we are here, each victory (in the preceding rounds) was important and an enormous amount is expected of us back home.”

On Saturday, Games chief Simon Clegg told reporters the events organizers were aware that anti-Armenian feeling would run high but said they were well prepared for any eventuality.

Armenian athletes had been loudly booed and jeered during the opening ceremony of the inaugural European Games in Baku, which run from June 12 to June 28.

By Harut Sassounian
The California Courier

Armenians worldwide applauded the Cilician Catholicosate for filing a lawsuit in the Turkish Constitutional Court on April 27, demanding the return of its historic seat in Sis, Kozan district of Turkey’s Adana province. The Cilician See’s former headquarters, established in 1293, was confiscated by the Turkish government in 1921, at the culmination of the Armenian Genocide.

Catholicos Aram I announced that should the Turkish court reject the lawsuit, the Catholicosate intends to appeal the ruling to the European Court of Human Rights, which requires that all domestic legal remedies are exhausted before it considers appeals on cases filed against Council of Europe members states. Skeptics of Turkish acceptance of European Court decisions should know that the Republic of Turkey has complied with all rulings since its acceptance of the Court’s jurisdiction in 1990.

The Catholicosate’s lawsuit is a landmark case for several reasons:

— It seeks to restore partial justice for the enormous human, material, and territorial losses suffered by Armenians during the Genocide.

— It shifts “Hai Tad [Armenian Cause] efforts beyond the recognition of the Armenian Genocide into the legal sphere,” as stated by Catholicos Aram I.

— It could set a precedent for similar legal claims, as His Holiness informed The New York Times last month: “After 100 years, I thought it was high time that we put the emphasis on reparation…. This is the first legal step. This will be followed by our claim to return all the churches, the monasteries, the church-related properties and, finally, the individual properties.”

Despite the noble objectives pursued by the Catholicosate’s lawsuit, a controversy surfaced in the Armenian community last week, when several websites and newspapers reported that the Catholicosate of Cilicia had demanded that the Turkish government “either return the property of the Catholicosate of Sis or pay a compensation of 100 million Turkish Liras ($37 million).” Garo Armenian, a prominent Armenian community leader, wrote a cautionary article titled, “Our Sacred Sites are not Personal Possessions.” He stressed that “the Catholicosate’s lawsuit raises a series of important questions which must be collectively considered forthwith with prudent diligence in order to prevent any undesirable precedents.” He also urged the Catholicosate to clarify this issue if the news reports have not accurately reflected the content of the lawsuit.

I contacted last week the Catholicosate’s representatives seeking such a clarification. I was assured in an e-mail by Father Housig Mardirossian, Assistant to His Holiness Aram I, that “The lawsuit of the Catholicosate has one clear objective: The return of the Catholicosate of Cilicia.”

In response to my request for a copy of the lawsuit, Payam Akhavan, a prominent international lawyer and lead counsel for the Catholicosate, stated that “it is not possible or advisable at this stage to share the full application while it is still pending before the Turkish Constitutional Court.”

On questions regarding monetary compensation, attorney Akhavan provided the following explanation: “The fundamental claim before the Turkish Constitutional Court is that Turkey should return the Monastery and Cathedral of St. Sofia, both because of the Catholicosate’s property rights, as well as its religious significance for Armenians. The claim is not for compensation, given that this is not merely private property, but rather, property of religious and historical significance. However, I have been advised by our Turkish lawyer that under Turkish laws and procedures it is necessary, with respect to the property rights claim (and not the religious rights claim) to reserve the Catholicosate’s alternate right to seek compensation by providing a provisional amount…. But I want to emphasize that the claim is not for compensation; it is for the return of the property, to be used for religious worship and related cultural purposes.”

I contacted an independent lawyer in Istanbul who confirmed that Turkish law indeed required that a specific value be stated for a property under litigation.

Now that the financial issue is clarified, there are other important matters facing the Catholicosate and Armenians in general. Some of these questions might be a little premature, but Armenians may want to reflect upon them in order to anticipate the consequences of any eventual decisions by Turkish or European courts:

1. What would the Catholicosate do should the Turkish court or government allow the restoration of the Sis church and its use for religious worship without returning ownership of the property to the Catholicosate? Moreover, what if the Turkish government also offered monetary compensation for the repair of the church headquarters while retaining the property rights?

2. In case the Turkish Court or the European Court of Human Rights decided to return the Sis church property, would the Catholicosate relocate to its historic headquarters or continue to remain in exile in Antelias, Lebanon?

In view of the Turkish government’s recent overtures to the heads of Assyrian and Syriac churches to return to their historic headquarters in Turkey from temporary exile in Syria, Turkey’s leaders may use the Armenian lawsuit as a cover vis-à-vis their own hardliners, and make a similar offer to the Catholicosate of Cilicia.

President Erdogan may make such a gesture for three reasons:

1. To preempt a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in favor of the Catholicosate, and avoid setting a legal precedent for future Armenian lawsuits;

2. To score a public relations victory in international circles, particularly after his party’s loss of parliamentary majority in last Sunday’s elections;

3. To reap the economic benefits of foreign tourists and Armenian visitors to the historic headquarters of the Cilician Catholicosate at Sis.

European Union leaders begin a summit in Riga Thursday with Eastern Partnership countries.

Disagreement over the conflict in Ukraine, and over the EU’s reluctance to hold out membership prospects to the six states in its “Eastern Partnership”, have held up drafting of a joint communique to be issued in Riga on Friday, diplomats said.

“These are not easy negotiations,” one EU diplomat said after talks in Brussels on a draft text that will be reviewed in Latvia by foreign ministers from the EU, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus on Thursday evening.

Armenia and Belarus refused to sign up to any statement that called Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula illegal and EU diplomats said a compromise text would be put to them.

It would note the EU’s condemnation of the Crimean situation but also refer to partner governments’ positions in a U.N. vote in March 2014.

More than 50 people have been killed in a landslide in Antioquia province in north-west Colombia, officials say, the BBC reports.

President Juan Manuel Santos said the authorities do not know how many people are still missing.

Heavy rains caused the river Liboriana, in the town of Salgar, to burst its banks, triggering the landslide.

Much of the village of Santa Margarita, south-west of the provincial capital, Medellin, was swept away when the disaster hit early on Monday.

Rescue teams and residents have got together to dig through rouble in the hope of finding survivors.

After visiting the scene of the disaster, Mr Santos declared a state of emergency and promised to rebuild the houses.

The tragedy in Salgar appeared to be the single deadliest event since a 1999 earthquake in the city of Armenia that left hundreds dead.

On the evening of May 7, President Serzh Sargsyan, who has paid a working visit to the United States of America, took part in an interreligious prayer in memory of the Armenian Genocide victims which was performed at Washington National Cathedral. The president was accompanied by His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, and Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia. The Armenian president delivered a speech. The interreligious prayer service was also joined by U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, Katharine Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States, Olav Fykse Tveit, Secretary-General of the World Council of Churches, numerous clergymen, thousand members of the Armenian-American community, American diplomats, as well as by public and political figures.

Address by RA President Serzh Sargsyan at Washington National Cathedral

Distinguished Vice President Biden,

The Most Reverend Doctor Katharine Jeffers Schori,

Reverend Doctor Olav Fykse Tveit,

Your Holiness Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II,

Your Holiness Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I,

Eminences,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great honor to speak at the Washington National Cathedral: a cathedral, the foundation of which contains a stone brought from Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ, inscribed “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”

The eminent advocate of equal rights, Martin Luther King, who had a dream of achieving justice and peace, delivered his last Sunday sermon exactly from this Cathedral.

This Cathedral also houses the tomb of Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the United States, who made an exceptional contribution with introducing and upholding liberal, moreover, idealist ideology in international affairs. He was considered an idealist, and it was exactly that ideology that paved the way to establish the system of international organizations, set the first examples of international protection of the human and citizen rights, and to introduce the people’s right to self-determination and legal equality. In the memory of the Armenian people, he will always remain as an international leader who reached out with a helping hand, one whose vision was fair regarding the need to overcome the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide.

Hence, it is symbolic that for the first time today, an ecumenical prayer service is held at this Cathedral to commemorate the innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide, and the Psalm will be heard: “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.”

It was the failure of mercy and humanity a century ago that made 1.5 million Armenians fall victim to the slogan “murder because they are different,” was it not? It was the failure of justice and peace, that led to the murder of 6 million Jews, was it not? It was the failure of humanity and solidarity that made possible the Genocidal pages of Cambodia, Rwanda, and Darfur to be written into the history books, was it not? It is the failure to consolidate and to act in a timely manner that makes the minorities in the Middle East today walk the same infernal path as Armenians, Jews, Tutsis, and the Sudanese walked it, is it not?

Unfortunately, the response to all these questions is affirmative. Unfortunately, we all have to confess that, as an international community, we lack reliable mechanisms to prevent these phenomena. Moreover, we witness an escalation of violent practices and cynical comments.

Distinguished partakers,

In the United States of America, this cradle of diversity and pluralism, democracy and liberty, I address you with gratitude as numerous countries and nations of the word came together anew this year, the year of commemorating the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide. They came together in an international effort against the crimes of genocide, and declared that their unity to restore justice and help the truth win. This ecumenical prayer of solidarity is a brilliant act of such unity.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In our century-long struggle for justice and truth, we have constantly felt the support of the USA, among other nations. Many more would have died and the fate of many survivors would have been more cruel, had friendly countries, including the USA, not stood by the side of our people in that difficult period. William Saroyan, the great Armenian American, said: “here Armenians, who have survived the genocide met, laughed, prayed again in their mother tongue, and created a new Armenia.”

Back in the late 19th century, progressive American public and political figures strongly condemned the anti-Armenian policy of the Sultan’s government and reached out a helping hand to the outcast Armenians. One cannot forget the heroic and exceptional mission of Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross, to help Armenian suffering on the other side of the Ocean. American society voiced their protest during 1915-1923 as well, against the mass killing and deportation of the Armenians, which was subsequently designated as genocide. Every day, the American press printed the eyewitness accounts of diplomats and missionaries that saw these tragic events, and of Armenians saved by miracle. The name of Henry Morgenthau, the United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, is inscribed eternally in golden letters in the list of friends of Armenians. Back in the day, he became the first American to tell the world about the mass atrocities of the Young Turks against the Armenian people, calling the Armenian Genocide “a campaign to exterminate a race.” The Armenian people will forever remember the hundreds of Americans that established orphanages in Armenia, the Middle East, and Europe, to save and to look after dozens of thousands of Armenian orphans that had survived the Genocide.

Recently, in the United States numerous initiatives have been launched to unambiguously asses the Armenian Genocide. The striking illustration of what I just said is the sole fact that 44 of the States have already recognized and condemned that crime against humanity. I hope that the complete US recognition of the Armenian Genocide is not a matter of “if” but of “when.”

Distinguished partakers,

Henry Morgenthau wrote in his memoir that as Armenians left their homes under the threat of the Turkish yataghan, the very homes in which their ancestors had lived for 2,500 years, they would say: “Pray for us.” A few days ago, the Armenian Apostolic Church canonized the innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide: henceforth, the one and a half million martyrs are already saints. As we pray for them, let us pray, and demand truth and justice. Let this demand always remain awake and to ring, to ring as the hundred bells of churches rang around the world on the eve of the Centennial. Let us try together to bandage the wounds of humanity in order to achieve justice and peace for us and around the world.

Thank you.

Armenian IT professionals to participate in 6-month master training
courses in India

May 22, 2010 – 17:17 AMT 12:17 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net –

Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF), Ministry of Economy of RA and
the Government of India represented by the Center for Development of
Advanced Computing (C-DAC) announce 6- month master training courses
for Armenian professionals to be held in India in August, 2010
-January 2011.

Courses are organized in the framework of Armenia-India Center of
Excellence to be established in Armenia and launched in mid 2010.

Application deadline is 31 May, 2010. Selection of best 5 candidates
will be made jointly by Armenian and Indian parties.

On completion of courses and upon return to Armenia the trainees will
be involved in delivering of training courses at the Armenia-India
Center of Excellence, EIF press service told PanARMENIAN.Net

Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Tel: (818) 500-1918

PRESS RELEASE
May 20, 2010
Contact: Tamar Baboujian
Tel: (818) 500-1918

CA 43RD ASSEMBLY DISTRICT CANDIDATE RAMANI DISCUSSES COMMUNITY CONCERNS AT
ANCA-WR TELE-TOWN HALL; GATTO SET TO SPEAK MAY 27TH

HOLLYWOOD, CA—Sunder Ramani, candidate for the California 43rd Assembly
District runoff Special Election, participated in a live televised Town Hall
on Sunday May 16th, hosted by the Armenian National Committee of America –
Western Region (ANCA-WR).

The one-hour town hall forum featured the Republican candidate discussing
issues that affect the Armenian American community within the 43rd Assembly
District. Ramani offered his views on several topics ranging from the
State’s ongoing budget crisis and safety net programs, public education, and
the economy. He answered live questions from the audience pertaining to
these topics as well as specific issues important to the Armenian American
community.

"I will continue all that’s been done by the former governors and
legislators in CA and Sacramento in continuing to honor and recognize the
Armenian Genocide," stated Ramani, as he spoke on the issue of reparations
for the Armenian Genocide. "The reparations are owed to people, as has been
done in other parts of history, and the Armenian American community is no
different."

Ramani’s remarks can be watched, in full, on the ANCA website:
releases.php?prid=1886

The ANCA-WR will be hosting its second televised Town Hall with 43rd
Assembly District candidate Democratic candidate Mike Gatto on Thursday, May
27th at 10pm. This Town Hall will provide Gatto the opportunity to address
his views regarding State issues, as well as issues of concern to the
Armenian American community. The ANCA-WR encourages the community to watch
this important Town Hall to become better educated about the candidate.

The Town Hall will be aired on Horizon TV, Charter Digital Channel 285 in
Glendale, Burbank and La Crescenta. It will also stream online on the ANCA
website – and on the Horizon Armenian Television website –

The 43rd Assembly District Special Election Runoff between Sunder Ramani
(Republican) and Mike Gatto (Democrat) will take place on June 8th. The
winner of this Special Election runoff will fill the seat vacated by former
California Assembly Member Paul Krekorian. June 8th will also serve as a
primary election for this seat, for the November General Election.

"The June 8 Special Election presents itself to be a historic opportunity
for the Armenian American community," said Stepan Boyadjian, ANCA-WR Board
member. "The ANCA-WR is working diligently with both candidates to make
sure the concerns of the Armenian community are addressed."

The ANCA-WR has not yet endorsed either candidate for this election.

The Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region is the largest and
most influential Armenian American grassroots advocacy organization in the
Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of offices,
chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States and affiliated
organizations around the country, the ANCA-WR advances the concerns of the
Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.