Category: News

– First Secretary of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SDP) Thomas Oppermann said, “On June 2, Bundestag will make a decision recognizing the mass killing of Armenians during World War I as genocide.”

First Secretary of SDP Thomas Oppermann said that he wants “the motion concerning the mass killing of Armenians in 1915”, which was put on the agenda long ago, to be accepted despite Turkey’s objections. According to Deutsche Welle, Oppermann spoke to Tagesspiel and said, “On June 2, Bundestag will make a decision recognizing the mass killing and deportation of Armenians during World War I as genocide.” He also stated that Turkey’s possible reactions shouldn’t be an obstacle to this step.

“Unnecessary sensitivity should be avoided”

Mentioning the comedian Böhmermann crisis, Oppermann said, “It was Angela Merkel’s mistake to allow for prosecution, though her coalition partner SPD objected to it.” Noting that the same mistakes shouldn’t be made, Oppermann stated: “This is exactly why we should avoid displaying unnecessary sensitivity to Turkey about the recognition of the genocide.”
According to Der Spiegel, the parliamentary groups of Christian Union Parties CDU/CSU and SDP prevented the draft resolution that recognizes the genocide. In the news report, it is stated that second and third readings of the resolution were dragged out for a long time.

In Germany, President Joachim Gauck and President of the Bundestag Norbert Lammert used the word “genocide” in their genocide’s 100th anniversary speeches, but Bundestag hasn’t used the word “genocide” for now.

The Azerbaijani side continues the buildup and redeployment of forces at the frontline, but it’s hard to predict the purpose of this, Spokesman for the Ministry of Defense Artsrun Hovhannistayan told a press conference today.

He added, however, that the Defense Army is on the alert and no action of the rival goes unnoticed.

“Units of the NKR Defense Army have been brought to a high combat readiness following the recent large-scale military actions, and the possibility of unexpected actions has considerably reduced.

Hovhannisyan denied media reports about planned mobilization in the country. “There can be no mobilization unless it is declared officially,” he said.

Artsrun Hovhannisyan said “the replenishment of the Armenian arsenal does not only depend on the Russian loan, it didn’t start with the loan and does not end with the loan.”

“A few years ago Armenia declared about the plans to replenish the army with new armaments.  There was no talk about the Russian loan at the time,” he said.

The Spokesman reminded that a huge quantity of armaments was purchased, without going into details of the types of weaponry.

On a visit to Helsinki, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian met with Ilkka Kanerva, President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

Minister Nalbandian briefed the OSCE PA President on the consequences of the Azerbaijani aggression against Artsakh, the efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs towards their elimination.

The Armenian Foreign Minister drew the attention of the OSCE PA President on the gross violations of international humanitarian law by Azeri armed forces. The Minister added that “Azerbaijan keeps ignoring the calls of the international community to respect the ceasefire, violating the 1994 and 1995 trilateral agreements on ceasefire.

Ilkka Kanerva noted, in turn, that the use of force is unacceptable and added that the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly fully supports the efforts of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs targeted at the peaceful negotiated settlement of the Karabakh conflict and the expansion of the authority of the team of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office.

The interlocutors discussed a number of issues on OSCE agenda.

After the fight that broke out between the members of Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) another brawl occurred again last night in the Parliamentary Constitution Conciliation Committee. HDP Istanbul MP, ethnic Armenian Garo Paylan was at the center of events.

Speaking to ianet, Paylan said he was attacked for being Armenian.

 

“The Minister of Justice said ‘In the previous commission meeting, HDP MPs and advisors inflicted violence’. Then I said ‘No they didn’t’. That was the only sentence that came out of my mouth. Then the attack began,” Paylan said.

“I shared it on social media as well. Those interested can watch it and judge for themselves. They blame me for provocation but I have not done  that.”

“It is crystal clear that they are targeting me. Lots of MPs attacked me in a planned way. I was directly targeted and got kicked and punched around 100 times in 20-30 seconds.“Afterwards, they spoke racist words and hate speech against me,” the MP said.

“I will not report the incident. What can happen if I take this to their jurisdiction? I am leaving the evaluation to the conscience of the public.”

Paylan said there was hate speech directly related to his Armenian identity.

“What they can’t digest is this: A person of Armenian identity reveals their lies and stands upright. They want to see Armenians obeying them. I have been targeted as an Armenia putting up a fight for rights.”

– When a cousin of Diana Hekimian’s in San Francisco mentioned that she had found an old manuscript in the basement of her apartment building two months ago, Hekimian didn’t know what to think.

Then she saw the manuscript. With its faded type, handwritten notes, and photographs taped to the pages, “it looked like a very important document,” she said. So, she brought it to the Armenian Film Foundation for help figuring out what it was.

Hekimian, a founding member of the Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance and board member of the Armenian International Women’s Association, had actually just stumbled upon an original copy of one of the earliest reports of the 1915 genocide in Armenia: The Diyarbekir Massacres and Kurdish Atrocities. It was written by British Pro-Consul Thomas Mugerditchian and published in 1919.

People all over the world can get a personal glimpse into Mugerditchian’s life through the testimony of his daughter, Alice Mugerditchian Shipley, which is integrated into the Visual History Archive as part of USC Shoah Foundation’s Armenian Genocide testimony collection. The testimony was originally filmed by documentarian J. Michael Hagopian and collected by the Armenian Film Foundation.

The Mugerditchian family lived in comfort and prestige in Diyarbekir, Turkey, until World War I began and Alice, her mother and siblings were forced to flee. They attempted to stay alive in Kharpert (Harput) until finally deciding to escape through the mountains of Dersim and into Russian controlled Erzincan. Thomas Mugerditchian was still in Diyarbekir when he wrote his report and later served as a diplomat in Egypt. The family was finally reunited in California in 1921.

The Diyarbekir Massacres and Kurdish Atrocities is significant because it was one of the first written reports of violence committed against Armenian men, women and children in May 1914 leading up to the beginning of the Armenian Genocide in 1915, said Carla Garapedian, board member of the Armenian Film Foundation. The acts of violence and persecution against innocent civilians that Mugerditchian describes provide clues that a genocide was about to begin.

“You don’t suddenly attack a population,” Garapedian said.

Mugerditchian’s report is based on his own personal observations as well as accounts from four other witnesses.

The book’s content is truly harrowing. Mugerditchian describes babies being thrown off bridges, entire village populations marched off into the desert and massacred, and rivers flowing red with blood from murdered civilians.

Mugerditchian compiled his report, made four carbon copies (one of which is Hekimian’s) and sent it to the U.S. State Department. It was published in 1919. In 2013, it was translated to English from the original Armenian; it can be purchased on .

In 1983, Shipley wrote her own memoir, , about her family’s story of survival. Hagopian interviewed her for his collection of Armenian Genocide survivor and witness testimonies in 1985.

Hekimian hopes to donate the manuscript to an Armenian cultural institution or museum.

On this day we celebrate the World Press Freedom Day. On the 25th anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration the EU wishes to recall the principle that “the establishment, maintenance and fostering of an independent, pluralistic and free press is essential to the development and maintenance of democracy in a nation, and for economic development”.

The right to freedom of opinion and expression includes freedom to seek, receive and impart information. It is a key component of democratic governance and development. People need to be fully informed to be able to form an opinion and participate in decision-making processes that affect their lives. Freedom of information also contributes to better governance as it enhances transparency in public affairs and can be used as a tool to make governments accountable for their actions, in particular when access to information results in the exposure of human rights violations or corruption practices.

Ensuring access to information can serve to promote justice and reparation, in particular after periods of grave violations of human rights.

The EU is committed to continue promoting and protecting freedom of opinion and expression worldwide, not only offline but also in relation to the cyberspace and other information communication technologies, as highlighted by the adoption in 2014 of the EU Human Rights Guidelines on Freedom of Expression Online and Offline.

It condemns the increasing level of intimidation and violence that journalists, Human Rights Defenders, media actors and other individuals face in many countries across the world when exercising the right to freedom of opinion and expression online and offline.

In addition to combating outright violence the EU is determined to fight against laws or practices that impose censorship, encourage self-censorship or provide legal penalties, including criminal, financial and administrative sanctions, as well as against the misuse of market powers and poor economic conditions.

The EU reaffirms its determination to promote and support, freedoms of opinion and expression as rights to be exercised by everyone everywhere, based on the principles of equality, non-discrimination and universality – through any media and regardless of frontiers.

This is your Right!

On  May 3 Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan and the first President of the Republic of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan held a meeting.

A range of issues related to the wide-scale military operations unleashed by the enemy from 2 to 5 April was discussed during the meeting.

President Sahakyan signified the consolidated stance of the political forces during these days of ordeal and their role in solving issues the nation faced.

In case of the official recognition of the NKR, everyone will first hear about this from the President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan,” President’s Spokesman Vladimir Hakobyan has declared.

“Azerbaijan has lived in tyranny for such a  long time that even the highest governmental circles have forgotten about the existence of people outside prisons in other countries, who constitute opposition and who have the right to come forth with legislative initiatives.  And what a surprise – in other countries the governments are obliged to put the opposition’s initiatives on their session agenda and discuss them,” Vladimir Hakobyan said in comments to News.am.

The comments come after statements of the Azerbaijani Presidential administration, the Foreign Ministry and other officials regarding the draft law on recognizing the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) on the agenda of the Armenian Government session.

“Currently Armenia is watching the “parade” of delirious statements of Azerbaijan’s different high-ranking officials, which besides surprising can only amuse. One gets an impression that even books on democracy, which can be read in order to get informed, have disappeared from Azerbaijan,” he said.

Hakobyan also added: “Let no one doubt that in case of the official recognition of the NKR, everyone will first hear about this from the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan. ”

During its forthcoming sitting on Thursday the Armenian Government will consider the draft law on recognition of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic co-authored by opposition MPs Zaruhi Postanjyan and Hrant Bagratyan.

Researchers and students across Georgia and Armenia are now able to participate in collaborative work with their peers in Europe and other parts of the world thanks to two direct Internet links to the pan-European GÉANT network recently implemented through the EU-funded EaPConnect project.

EaPConnect aims to create a world-class regional research and education (R&E) network in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, and connect it to the European network. It is in line with the recently revised European Neighbourhood policy that aims for increased interconnectivity and economic development for the European Union and its neighbours.

“The project will further contribute to Europe being a hub for global research and education collaboration”, said DG NEAR Director for Neighbourhood East Lawrence Meredith. “EaPConnect is bridging the digital divide and bringing people together. We are proud to support the integration of Armenia and Georgia into the global landscape”.

“Armenia has a long history of achievements in scientific research. Connecting to the GÉANT network will bring positive outcomes to our pool of talents and projects while contributing to advance European and global science,’’ said Dr Hrachya Astsatryan, head of the Center for Scientific Computing at the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia.

Steve Cotter, CEO of GÉANT, commented: “We are proud to welcome two new members to the European research and education community and expand to over 40 connected local networks. GRENA and ASNET-AM are already established partners of global scientific institutions such as CERN in nuclear research and physics and the European research community looks forward to extending their collaboration with their Georgian and Armenian colleagues.’’

“The Georgian research community has a strong interest in European Technologies and scientific values. I believe that scientists working in high-energy physics, medicine, meteorology, climate change, seismology and computational biology will greatly benefit from the established network and implemented service,’’ said Dr Ramaz Kvatadze, Executive Director of GRENA.

“The Armenian sides do not oppose the step-by-step settlement of the Karabakh conflict, but Azerbaijan should recognize the independence of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic as a first step. Then it has to return the occupied territories (parts of Martakert region and Shahumyan) and start talks with NKR on further clarification of the state border,” Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said in an interview with .

The Deputy Foreign Minister noted that all documents – the Madrid Principles, the Kazan document, actually propose a package for bringing the approaches of the parties closer through mutual concessions.

“Formally backing the package, Azerbaijan, in essence, puts the emphasis on points favorable for itself,” Kocharyan said. He added, however, that all provisions of the documents on the negotiating table need to be reconsidered after the recent aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan.

According to the Deputy FM, the recent developments showed that Azerbaijan has not refused from its policy of power and hatred for Armenians.

He reminded that the trilateral agreements on ceasefire and reinforcement of ceasefire of 19914 and 1995 remain in force until a final political deal is reached. “By trying to denounce the agreements, Azerbaijan is refusing from its international commitments,” he added. “There are no guarantees that Azerbaijan will not refuse from an agreement in the future. It’s impossible to move forward without taking this into consideration.”

The Deputy Foreign Minister added that “the issue of Karabakh’s status should not be left uncertain, while speaking about territories is untimely today at least for two reasons.”

First, he said, it’s only up to Nagorno Karabakh to speak about territories. Second, speaking about concessions is useless, when the rival excludes any status for Karabakh.

“Unilateral concessions are excluded,” he stressed.

Shavarsh Kocharyan said resumption of talks is senseless as long as Azerbaijan is shooting. It will be possible to return to the negotiating table only after Azerbaijan stops firing, excludes the possibility of recurrence of such incidents in the future and when peoples are prepared for peace and an atmosphere of trust is established.