GENOCIDE ARMENIEN: UNE PROPOSITION DE LOI PS QUI EMBARRASSE LES DEPUTES
Avant-Papier
Par Suzette BLOCH
Agence France Presse
16 mai 2006 mardi
Les deputes examineront jeudi matin une proposition de loi socialiste
rendant passible de prison la negation du genocide armenien de 1915,
un texte qui divise et embarrasse les elus tout en provoquant des
tensions entre Ankara et Paris.
Le texte vise a completer par un volet penal la loi du 29 janvier 2001
par laquelle la France reconnaît le genocide armenien. Elle fait de
la negation du genocide un delit punissable d’un an d’emprisonnement
et de 45.000 euros d’amende.
La proposition de loi ne devrait pas etre adoptee, une très large
majorite des deputes UMP y etant opposee.
Une incertitude demeure cependant et tout dependra du nombre de
deputes presents en seance. Des deputes UMP sont en effet favorables
a ce texte et le groupe leur a laisse la liberte de vote.
En outre, deux propositions de loi similaires d’elus UMP, ont ete
deposees juste après le texte du Parti socialiste, l’une d’Eric Raoult
(Seine-Saint-Denis) et l’autre de Richard Mallie (Bouches-du-Rhône)
et Roland Blum (Bouches-du-Rhône).
Très mobilisee, la communaute d’origine armenienne, estimee a 500.000
personnes (80.000 dans la region de Lyon et autant dans la region de
Marseille), represente un electorat non negligeable.
“Le negationnisme n’est sanctionne actuellement que s’il concerne
l’Holocauste. Cette specificite prive les victimes du genocide armenien
du respect de leur memoire et de leur identite que le negationnisme
remet en cause regulièrement”, argumente le rapporteur PS du texte,
Christophe Masse (Bouches-du-Rhône).
Il en veut pour preuve les evenements recents de Lyon où
l’inauguration, en avril, d’un memorial du genocide armenien a
entraîne des profanations et des manifestations pro-turques, avec
des slogans negationnistes.
L’UMP, echaudee par la recente polemique sur la colonisation, est
cependant opposee au texte.
Le rôle de la loi n’est “pas d’ecrire l’histoire”, a souligne le
president de l’Assemblee nationale, Jean-Louis Debre. “Nous avons tous
participe a un debat qui a conclu a la necessite de ne plus legiferer
sur les faits historiques, sur leur interpretation, sur la memoire”,
a rencheri Bernard Accoyer (UMP).
A la suite d’un tolle chez les historiens, les defenseurs des droits
de l’Homme et dans les rangs de l’opposition, le gouvernement avait
dû faire supprimer l’article 4 de la loi du 23 fevrier 2005 sur
“le rôle positif” de la colonisation en Afrique du Nord. A droite
comme a gauche, beaucoup avaient alors convenu qu’il ne fallait pas
legiferer sur l’histoire.
Plusieurs historiens de renom opposes au vote de “lois memorielles”
se sont declare “profondement choques” de l’initiative du PS.
Parmi les socialistes, elle ne fait pas non plus l’unanimite. Le chef
de file du groupe, Jean-Marc Ayrault, a fait part de ses “extremes
reserves”.
Du côte des centristes, la position est plus claire et selon Francois
Rochebloine, qui sera leur orateur, les deputes UDF devraient voter
le texte.
La proposition crispe a nouveau les relations avec Ankara deja furieuse
de la reconnaissance du genocide armenien. La Turquie a rappele son
ambassadeur a Paris pour consultation en avertissant la France que
les relations bilaterales pourraient etre gravement affectees par
cette loi.
Les Armeniens estiment que jusqu’a 1,5 million des leurs ont peri
dans un genocide organise par l’Empire ottoman entre 1915 et 1917,
tandis qu’Ankara evoque des massacres de part et d’autre mais recuse
les accusations de genocide.
–Boundary_(ID_fm1yzs9aigzj8d1J2yc8ig)- –

TURCHIA: GENOCIDIO ARMENO, ANKARA METTE IN GUARDIA PARIGI
ANSA Notiziario Generale in Italiano
May 17, 2006
Domani Parlamento Francese Vota Su Progetto Di Legge
(ANSA) – ANKARA, 17 GIU – Il ministero degli esteri turco ha oggi
messo in guardia la Francia lasciando intendere chiaramente che
un’eventuale approvazione domani al Parlamento di Parigi di una legge
che prevede sanzioni contro chi negasse il genocidio degli armeni,
potrebbe inficiare le relazioni tra i due paesi.
“Noi ci aspettiamo che la Francia non consenta alcuna iniziativa che
possa danneggiare le nostre relazioni storiche.
Noi sappiamo che il governo ed il popolo francese condividono il nostro
punto di vista. Ci aspettiamo percio’ che il parlamento francese
respinga il progetto di legge che prevede sanzioni per coloro che
negano il cosidetto genocidio armeno”, ha dichiarato questo pomeriggio
il portavoce del ministero degli esteri, Namik Tan.
Nei giorni scorsi diversi esponenti del governo turco avevano
stigmatizzato il progetto di legge osservando tra l’altro che esso,
se approvato, introdurrebbe in Francia un reato di opinione.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN BROTHERS’ RENT CASE BEGINS
By Evelyn Kwamboka
Standard, Kenya
May 18 2006
The hearing of a case in which a landlord has sued the Armenian
brothers over a Sh0.8 million rent dispute opened in a Nairobi court
on Wednesday.
Mr Sammy Musyoki has moved to court seeking orders to compel Artur
Margaryan and Artur Sargasyan to pay the money for terminating their
contract. Musyoki had leased his house in Nairobi’s Runda Estate to
the brothers through their company, Brotherlink International Ltd.
Through his lawyer, Mr Richard Mutiso, Musyoki told the court that
he received a letter terminating the one-year contract on May 11,
adding that an attempt to convert a deposit paid for the house into
rent was contrary to the tenancy agreement.
“I have a reasonable apprehension that they may leave the jurisdiction
of the court and consequently render any eventual decree nugatory,”
he said.
But Justice Festus Azangalala said the court could not give exparte
orders and instead ordered that the matter be heard inter partes on
May 25.

ARMENIA’S POLICY TARGETED AT STABILITY
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.05.2006 15:52 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia’s policy in the region is targeted at
transforming it into a region of stability, cooperation and development
of the states on the basis of democracy and human rights observance,
Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Gegham Gharibjanian stated at the
international scientific conference titled “Caucasus without conflicts
and terror: dialogue of civilizations on the Caucasian crossroad”
held in Yerevan today. In his words, this way it would be possible
to counteract the challenges and international terrorism. The Deputy
Minister remarked that the dialogue between civilizations was initiated
by former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami several years ago.
“The Iran-Armenia relations can serve as an ideal model of relations
for the South Caucasian states.
Unfortunately the same cannot be said about the relations between
Armenia and Turkey. The Armenian-Turkish relations can be settled
if Turkey acknowledges the Armenian Genocide, opens the borders and
assumes a neutral position on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement,
Gegham Gharibjanian underscored.

RUSSIA GOING TO BUILD FIRST NPP IN TURKEY
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.05.2006 16:06 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Atomstroyexport Russian company announced of the
wish to build the first nuclear power plant in Turkey. The province
of the port city of Sinop on the Black Sea was chosen to host the
plant. A representative of the Turkish government told Reuters that
11 companies submitted their projects. According to the source, no
tender will be held. The Turkish Ministry of Energy will choose the
best project and introduce it in the government. The construction
will be started next year despite numerous protests of environment
protection activists and inhabitants of the region.
Observers say that Turkey wishes to free its energy system from gas
deliveries from Russia and Iran.
Yesterday a Turkish official expressed regret that Turkey falls behind
of other states in nuclear energy utilization, reported BBC.

REPRESENTATIVES OF U.S., RUSSIAN AND FRENCH MFAS TO ARRIVE IN REGION WITH OSCE MG
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.05.2006 16:14 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Co-chairs the OSCE Minsk Group for the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement are arriving in the region May
25. RA Foreign Ministry’s Acting Spokesman Vladimir Karapetyan told
PanARMENIAN.Net reporter that representatives of U.S., Russian and
French MFAs are expected to arrive with the mediators. “However, the
final decision will be taken after the Oskanian-Mammadyarov meeting in
Strasbourg,” he remarked. According to some sources, Russian Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs Grigory Karasin, French MFA Political
Director Stanislas Lefebvre de Laboulaye and U.S. Assistant Secretary
for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried will
arrive in the region with the mediators.

JIVAN GASPARYAN GAVE CONCERT IN COMMEMORATION OF KILLED IN A-320 CRASH
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.05.2006 17:28 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ May 16 famous Jivan Gasparyan gave a concert
in commemoration of those killed in A-320 crash. Gasparyan, the
masterly duduk player, is the co-author of music to “The Gladiator”,
Code Da Vinci”, “Doctor Zhivago” and others. The senior priest of
the Armenian-Grigorian Church of Krasnodar held a service before the
concert, reported Yuga.ru.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

LIVING STANDARDS: ARMENIA RANKS 83 AMONG 170 U.N. MEMBER STATES
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.05.2006 17:43 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ By living standards Armenia ranks 83 among 170
U.N. member states, head of the OSCE Yerevan Office, Ambassador
Vladimir Pryakhin stated at the international scientific conference
titled “Caucasus without conflicts and terror. Dialogue of
civilizations on the Caucasian crossroad” held in Yerevan today. The
index is rather low, however it’s higher than that of Georgia (100)
and Azerbaijan (101), he noted. According to the diplomat the low
index is conditioned by the transit period, economic problems and
unsettled conflicts. “Three out of five frozen conflicts in the post
soviet space are in the South Caucasus,” Mr. Pryakhin underscored.

ARA ABRAHAMYAN: ARMENIA AND DIASPORA SHOULD COOPERATE
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.05.2006 18:32 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 450 Armenian NGOs, which were not informed of each
other’s activities, have been registered in Russia till 1999. Them
it was decided to form an organization that would coordinate the
activities of the Armenian Diaspora in Russia. In the course of
formation of the Union of Armenians of Russia (UAR) 90% of the NGOs
broke off activities, the others joined the UAR, Ara Abrahamyan,
the UAR President stated at a press conference in Yerevan. In his
words, about 2 million of Armenians live in Russia at present. Some
500 thousand are citizens of Armenia.
“After the formation of the UAR we decided to form an Armenian
organization that would unite the whole Diaspora. Presently the World
Armenian Congress unites the Armenian communities of 27 states. Our
major problem was the interaction with the Armenian authorities. But
I should underscore that presently the WAC and the Armenian state
structures experience no discrepancies,” he said.
Ara Abrahamyan remarked that the Armenia and Diaspora should work
jointly. “Without the coordination with the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs the WAC cannot deal with the Armenian Genocide issue within
international structures. We have prepared a package consisting of
600 questions for submission to the International Tribunal. But the
document will not have weight without the approval of the RA MFA,”
the WAC President said.

ARMENIANS SHOULD JOIN EFFORT FOR GENOCIDE RECOGNITION
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.05.2006 18:38 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian met
with the international experts dealing with the Armenian Genocide
issue. The experts are in Yerevan to participate in the conference
organized by the World Armenian Congress (WAC), reported the RA
MFA press office. Expressing gratitude for the contribution to
the Genocide recognition issue Vartan Oskanian welcomes the WAC
initiative. The interlocutors touched upon Turkey’s Genocide denial
policy that is being pursued at the state level and claims significant
resources. They also noted the necessity of joining efforts for the
Genocide recognition.