Author: Andres-Papazian

Azerbaijan draws around 30 tanks close to Iran border: IRI Armed
Forces’ reaction

14:39 04/04/2015 >> POLITICS

Azerbaijan has drawn around 30 tanks to Iran border, an article
published on the Iranian website Arannews.ir reports.

According to the information, the residents of the settlements
bordering Iran and Azerbaijan reported that 30 tanks belonging to the
Azerbaijani army – some of them being Israeli production – had come
close to the districts of Bile Savar and Pars Abad at the Iranian
border. After a while, they moved from there and settled at the
surroundings of Azerbaijani town Imishli.

The commander of land forces of the army of Iran commented on the
information, “As a subdivision of Armed Forces, our duty is to guard
all the borders of the Islamic Republic of Iran. As for Azerbaijan, we
do not possess information regarding those moves, we guard our borders
and in case of any threat or danger we will give a timely counteract.”

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
A columnist of Turkish Radikal newspaper: “Although the Armenians
forgive us, God will not forgive us”

Turkish columnist Redvan Shahin in an article in the columns of
Radical Turkish newspaper writes about the Armenian genocide that
“even if the Armenians forgive us, God will not forgive us.” The
reporter continued , “when it comes April 2, my heart sank, my
conscience hurts me, I am ashamed to be a human … when it comes to
April 2 in front of me parading women fell on the road, dead children
from starvation, forced mothers to leave their house (…) April 2 in
Van is celebrated every year the liberation of the city. He is 97
years old were promised paradise to those who killed at least 7
Armenians. Part of Van Armenians were deported and another part
attaching one behind the other, it was pulled them trying to kill
several at a ball. Savagely they were killed (…) to make disappear
the traces of Armenians, we even invented false stories. ” R. Shahin
continues “Hey, Muslims, how long will you continue to tell these
false stories, this denial? Let the grandchildren of the Young Turks
defend the errors of their grandparents, do not be complicit in these
sins (…) yes, a number of Armenians helped the enemy. A number of
Armenians resorted to banditry, but the role of the state is to catch
and punish the perpetrators of the facts and not to drive their land
routes to the death of thousands of children, adolescents and innocent
elderly. ” And Radikal columnist concluded “Today we must study the
truth and make efforts to retrieve and strong proclaim this truth. ”
Addressing the Armenians he wrote”Forgive us our grandparents could
not defend your grandparents. We apologize. ”

Krikor Amirzayan

Saturday, April 4, 2015,
Krikor Amirzayan © armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

Ara Hakobyan relieved of position of Armenia’s Ambassador to India,
Sri Lanka, Nepal and Malaysia

15:26, 4 April, 2015

YEREVAN, 4 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. President of the Republic of Armenia
Serzh Sargsyan has signed a decree on relieving Ara Hakobyan of the
position of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the
Republic of Armenia to India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Malaysia.

As the Public Relations and Mass Media Department of the Structure to
the Office of the President of the Republic of Armenia reports to
“Armenpress”, the decree reads as follows:

“Guided by Article 55 (8) of the Constitution of the Republic of
Armenia, I decide:

To relieve Ara Hakobyan of the position of Ambassador Extraordinary
and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to the Republic of
India, the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, the Federal
Democratic Republic of Nepal and Malaysia”.

From: A. Papazian

HRAZDAN CEMENT PLANT’S DEBT REACHES 509 MILLION DRAMS

YEREVAN, April 3. / ARKA /. The Hrazdan cement plant has an outstanding
debt of 509 million drams to tax authorities, the plant’s chief
manager Naira Martirosyan told a news conference today.

According to her, the basic debt is 141 million drams, while 367
million drams are penalties for delay in payment of basic taxes.

She said in 2008-2014 the plant paid 2.9 billion drams in various
taxes, however, because of the protracted crisis, problems with exports
and a sharp decline in domestic construction the plant is incurring
serious losses being unable to pay the debt. She said the plant asked
the authorities to restructure the debt, but the request was declined.

She said if this policy continues it may lead to closure of the plant,
which is currently able to resume production in its entirety if the
debt is restructured. She said Armenia has local raw materials and
good equipment to produce high quality and competitive products.

The Hrazdan cement plant was commissioned in 1970. It sold its
products both at home and in Georgia and Russia. In the 90s the
plant stood idle. In 2001 it was privatized by the owner of MIKA
Armenia Mikhail Bagdasarov. Later it was sold to VTB Bank (Armenia)
as repayment of debt.

The plant resumed operation in July 2014 thanks to a loan from VTB Bank
(Armenia). The plant produced about 10 brands of Portland cement.

Located in the town of Hrazdan in Kotayk region it can produce up to
1.2 million tons of cement a year and one million ton of clinker. ($
1 – 473.05 drams). 0-

From: A. Papazian

ONU : RESOLUTION INITIEE PAR L’ARMENIE SUR LA PREVENTION DU GENOCIDE – VIDEO ET TEXTE COMPLET

Publie le : 03-04-2015

Info Collectif VAN – – Le Conseil des droits de
l’homme des Nations unies (ONU) a adopte a l’unanimite le 27 mars 2015
une resolution sur la prevention du genocide initiee par l’Armenie.

Nota CVAN : Afin que ce texte puisse etre adopte, l’Armenie s’est
necessairement autocensuree et a choisi de ne faire aucune reference au
genocide perpetre par l’Etat turc en 1915 a l’encontre des Armeniens
de l’Empire ottoman. Ainsi, en 2015, annee du centenaire du genocide
armenien, le tabou international impose par la Turquie negationniste,
musèle les descendants des victimes dans l’enceinte meme de l’ONU
au sein de son Conseil des droits de l’homme. Saluons neanmoins
le projet de resolution presente par l’Armenie, et qui, de l’avis
d’observateurs internationaux, est d’une grande qualite. C’est ce qui
a permis son vote par consensus, sous la presidence de Joachim Rucker,
President du Conseil des droits de l’homme, après une introduction
faite en francais par Hasmik Tolmajyan, deleguee de l’Armenie, et
les interventions de nombreux Etats, dont la France.

Ainsi que le souligne la diplomatie armenienne, > Le Collectif VAN vous propose la traduction
d’un Communique de presse en anglais publie sur le site du ministère
armenien des Affaires etrangères le 27 mars 2015. Nous mettons
egalement a votre disposition, en fin d’article, le pdf du projet
complet de la resolution.

27 mars 2015 – 59e reunion, 28e session ordinaire du Conseil des
droits de l’Homme de l’ONU au sujet de la Resolution A/HRC/28/L.25

Video de la Session

A/HRC/28/L.25 Vote Item:3 – 59th Meeting, 28th Regular Session Human
Rights Council

(sur le site de l’ONU, choisir “Original” pour ecouter la deleguee de
l’Armenie, Hasmik Tolmajyan, qui a fait son introduction en francais.

Idem pour le representant de la France, Nicolas Niemtchinow).

Ministère armenien des Affaires etrangères

Communique de presse

Le Conseil des droits de l’homme des Nations unies (ONU) a adopte
a l’unanimite une resolution sur la prevention du genocide initiee
par l’Armenie

27.03.2015

Le 27 mars 2015, la resolution sur la prevention du genocide initiee
par l’Armenie a ete adoptee par consensus a la 28e session du Conseil
des droits de l’homme des Nations Unies. 64 Etats representant tous
les groupes regionaux du Conseil des droits de l’homme ont rejoint
l’Armenie et ont co-signe la resolution. La resolution sera ouverte
a la co-redaction pendant deux semaines supplementaires.

La resolution affirme que l’impunite pour le crime de genocide et les
crimes contre l’humanite favorise leur perpetration et constitue un
obstacle majeur a la poursuite de la cooperation entre les peuples
ainsi qu’a la promotion de la paix et de la securite internationales,
et que la lutte contre l’impunite est un facteur important de la
prevention de ces crimes.

La resolution initiee par l’Armenie souligne que les tentatives de
negation et de justification du crime de genocide compromettent
la lutte contre l’impunite, entravent les efforts de prevention
du genocide.

La resolution reaffirme l’importance du mecanisme de l’examen
periodique universel du Conseil des droits de l’homme et invite les
Etats a faire figurer dans leurs rapports nationaux des renseignements
sur la prevention du genocide et d’autres crimes contre l’humanite.

La resolution appelle les Etats membres de l’ONU a renforcer
la cooperation par des instruments internationaux pertinents pour
prevenir les genocides et d’autres violations massives, graves ou
systematiques des droits de l’homme afin d’eviter leur recurrence
qui pourraient conduire au genocide.

Le document souligne le rôle important que l’education peut jouer
dans la prevention du genocide, et encourage les gouvernements a
promouvoir, selon les besoins, des programmes et des projets educatifs
qui contribuent a la prevention du genocide.

A titre de mesure preventive, la resolution invite les Etats a etablir
des journees nationales du souvenir pour les victimes de genocide,
pour s’assurer que ces crimes ignobles ne soient jamais oublies et
pour donner l’occasion a chacun de tirer les lecons du passe et de
creer un avenir plus sûr.

Par cette resolution, le Conseil des droits de l’Homme recommande a
l’Assemblee generale de l’ONU de proclamer le 9 decembre, jour où la
Convention pour la prevention et la repression du crime de genocide
a ete adoptee, Journee internationale du souvenir des victimes de
genocide.

La resolution prevoit egalement d’etablir des reseaux internationaux
pour la prevention du genocide.

Il convient de noter qu’une resolution internationale d’une telle
importance a ete adoptee a l’initiative de l’Armenie a la veille du
centenaire du genocide armenien.

(c)Traduction de l’anglais Collectif VAN – 31 mars 2015 –

Lire aussi :

Texte complet du projet de resolution A/HRC/28/L.25 en francais

*****

Compte-rendu de la Session :

Promotion et protection de tous les droits de l’homme

Par une resolution sur la prevention du genocide (A/HRC/28/L.25
amende), le Conseil reaffirme l’importance de la Convention pour
la prevention et la repression du crime de genocide et rappelle la
responsabilite qu’a chaque Etat de proteger sa population contre
le genocide, ce qui entraîne l’obligation de prevenir un tel crime,
ainsi que l’incitation a le commettre, par les moyens necessaires et
appropries. Le Conseil recommande a l’Assemblee generale de proclamer
le 9 decembre , afin de faire mieux connaître la Convention
pour la prevention et la repression du crime de genocide et son rôle
dans la lutte contre le genocide et la prevention de ce crime.

Le Conseil reconnaît le rôle important du Secretaire general, qui
contribue a ce que soient examines promptement les cas d’alerte
rapide ou de prevention, selon le mandat a lui confie par le Conseil
de securite dans sa resolution 1366 (2001), et des fonctions du
Conseiller special pour la prevention du genocide qui recueille
les renseignements existants, assure les relations avec le système
des Nations Unies en ce qui concerne les activites de prevention du
genocide et s’efforce d’ameliorer la capacite de l’ONU d’analyser et
de gerer toute l’information relative a des crimes de genocide ou a des
infractions connexes. Le Conseil souligne le rôle important du système
des droits de l’homme des Nations Unies, notamment du Conseil et le
Haut-Commissariat aux droits de l’homme, des titulaires de mandat
au titre des procedures speciales et des organes conventionnels,
qui rassemblent des informations sur les violations graves, massives
et systematiques des droits de l’homme et contribuent ainsi a une
meilleure comprehension des situations complexes qui peuvent donner
lieu a un genocide et permettent de donner l’alerte rapidement.

Le Conseil invite le Conseiller special a participer, a sa session de
mars 2016, a un dialogue sur les progrès realises dans l’execution
de son mandat, et prie le Secretaire general d’etablir une liste
des points de contact et des reseaux pour la prevention du genocide,
a partir des renseignements actualises provenant des Etats Membres.

Les paragraphes 22 du preambule et 17 du dispositif ont ete maintenus
a l’issue d’un vote separe par 28 voix contre 8, avec 11 abstentions.

Des amendements au texte (A/HRC/28/L.38 et A/HRC/28/L.42) ont ete
rejetes a l’issue de votes (14 pour, 23 contre et 10 abstentions pour
l’amendement L.38 et 15 pour 23 contre et 9 abstentions pour le L.42).

Video de la session :

TELECHARGER : Texte complet du projet de resolution A/HRC/28/L.25
en francais

Source/Lien : Ministère armenien des Affaires etrangères

From: A. Papazian

BRUXELLES : ENJEUX POLITIQUES D’EUROPALIA TURQUIE

Publie le : 03-04-2015

Info Collectif VAN – – Lance a Bruxelles en
1969, Europalia est un grand festival international qui presente
tous les deux ans l’essentiel du patrimoine culturel d’un pays. En
2015, Europalia fetera un double anniversaire : ses 45 ans et son
25e festival. D’octobre 2015 au 31 janvier 2016, Europalia mettra le
cap sur la Turquie. Une operation de promotion sans doute teleguidee
par Ankara pour faire obstacle aux commemorations mondiales des 100
ans du genocide armenien et presenter une image plus positive de cet
Etat negationniste et predateur des droits de l’Homme. Andre du Bus,
membre du Centre Democrate Humaniste (cdH), depute a la Region de
Bruxelles-Capitale et a la Communaute francaise de Belgique, conseiller
communal a Etterbeek, s’est emu de la situation et a interroge Rudy
Demotte, ministre-president, a propos des >.

Andre du Bus semble se satisfaire de la reponse (plutôt vague)
obtenue. Pour sa part, le journaliste et militant turc Dogan Ozguden
s’interroge avec raison : “Le Festival s’ouvrira dans six mois, plus
exactement le 6 octobre 2015… Si l’on tient compte de toutes les
composantes de la Turquie, quelles institutions communautaires sont
les interlocuteurs d’Europalia en Turquie et dans les diasporas pour
les composantes kurde, armenienne, assyro-chaldeenne-syriaque, grecque,
juive et yezidi?” Le Collectif VAN vous invite a lire cette information
publiee sur le site officiel d’Andre du Bus le 30 mars 2015.

Andre du Bus

30 mars 2015

Des oeuvres armeniennes dans le cadre d’Europalia Turquie

Interpellation a l’attention de Monsieur Rudy Demotte,
ministre-president, a propos des
(Article 76 du règlement)

Monsieur le Ministre President, lorsque j’ai appris, en 2013, que le
festival Europalia 2015 serait consacre a la Turquie, j’ai oscille
entre deux sentiments. D’une part, je me suis rejoui a l’idee de
pouvoir profiter du patrimoine immense dont regorge cette region
du monde, consideree comme un berceau des cultures. D’autre part,
je n’ai pu refouler mon inquietude quant aux reflexes autoritaires
et aux atteintes aux droits de l’homme, plus particulièrement a la
liberte de la presse, qui subsistent dans ce pays.

Le 24 avril prochain, les cent ans du genocide armenien seront
commemores. Lors de ce tragique moment de l’Histoire, plus de 2 000
edifices religieux furent detruits. Les biens qui y etaient attaches
firent l’objet de mesures de spoliation.

Cette perte est inestimable. Pourtant, encore aujourd’hui, la
Republique turque refuse de reconnaître comme genocide les massacres
perpetres et les deportations commises entre les mois d’avril 1915
et de juillet 1916.

L’annee dernière, j’avais interpelle les autorites federales et
communautaires afin d’en savoir plus sur la prise en consideration de
la culture armenienne lors du festival Europalia 2015 qui fetera, lors
de son ouverture le 6 octobre prochain, ses 45 ans et sa 25e edition.

J’avais obtenu deux reponses.

Sur le plan financier, notre Federation n’intervient que de manière
infime puisqu’elle octroie 25 000 euros par an sur un budget global
qui s’elève a 1 312 000 euros. Sur le plan diplomatique, il n’y a,
a priori, pas lieu de s’inquieter. Ce festival des arts a toujours
veille a depasser les querelles politiques pour se concentrer sur sa
mission culturelle, en toute independance. La mise en valeur culturelle
des differentes communautes et regions du pays represente aurait meme
fait l’objet d’un preaccord entre Europalia et la Turquie.

Vous conviendrez qu’en organisant un evenement qui accueille un million
de visiteurs l’annee du 100e anniversaire d’un genocide perpetre
par le pays hôte, il y a lieu d’etre attentif a un juste equilibre
des oeuvres presentees. Cet evenement represente une occasion, pour
nos services diplomatiques, d’apaiser les relations et de menager
les susceptibilites.

La portee politique de cet evenement n’echappera a personne. II
sera difficile de taire le positionnement de la Turquie a l’egard du
genocide armenien. En Turquie, des voix de plus en plus nombreuses
s’expriment chaque jour avec davantage de courage et de determination
sur la necessite de reconnaître le genocide armenien. II serait dès
lors difficile, sinon incomprehensible, de faire le silence sur cet
enjeu en cette annee anniversaire marquee par l’ouverture d’Europalia
Turquie.

Comme l’evoquait le journaliste Jean-Paul Marthoz, dans une carte
blanche publiee dans Le Soir du 5 janvier, la

From: A. Papazian

EXERCISES OF RUSSIAN MILITARY COMPLETE IN ARMENIA

April 3, 2015 14:00

Yerevan /Mediamax/. After their 100 km march, the units of the
Russian military base of the Southern Military District proceeded
to the completion phase of the command post exercises (CPX), which
started on March 30 at Kahmud and Alagyaz training complexes.

The press service of the Southern Military District informed that over
600 servicemen and 150 units of military equipment were deployed in
the exercises. CPS mainly focuses on team building with the Border
Guard Service of the Russian FSB (Federal Security Service), Armed
Forces and the power structures of Armenia.

The main action took place at 2000 meters above sea level at Alagyaz
training complex. With the fire cover of Mi-24 attack helicopters,
MiG-26 fighters, “Strela-10” air defense surface-to-air missile system,
Igla man-portable infrared homing surface-to-air missile and artillery
arms a scenario of the completion phase of the exercises with the
combat firing from all types of regular weapons was played.

The units of the military base of the Southern Military District
were maintaining the positions on the defensive line and launching
a counter-offensive afterwards, neutralized the imaginary enemy.

“To create a tactical setting and to check the practical combat
preparedness of the units a complex target situation was established on
Kahmud and Alagyaz firing areas. The main criteria based on which the
actions of the forces are evaluated are tactical, fire preparation, and
ability to accomplish real battle missions,” noted head of trainings,
Major-General Andrey Murashkin.

From: A. Papazian

PRESS RELEASE
UCLA AEF Chair in Armenian History
Tel: 310-825-3375
Email: [email protected]
Contact: Mary Hendra

PRESS RELEASE
April 2, 2015

RICHARD HOVANNISIAN WITH SHOAH DELEGATION TO YEREVAN

The Shoah Foundation, headed by executive director Stephen Smith, will
be present in Yerevan for ceremonies marking the centenary of the
Armenian Genocide. The delegation, composed of Dr. Smith, Karen
Jungblut, Director of Documentation and Research; Professor Wolf
Gruner, Director of the Center for Advanced Genocide Studies; and
Professor Richard Hovannisian of UCLA and USC, will attend the two-day
Global Forum, where Smith and Hovannisian will give brief addresses
and on April 24 lay a wreath from the Shoah Foundation at the Genocide
Memorial. From Yerevan, the delegation will travel to Istanbul to
participate in the outdoor program to take place in Taksim Square on
the evening of April 24. The Shoah Foundation is placing 30 Armenian
survivor interviews on its web site during the month of April.
Richard Hovannisian has been filmed to introduce the first five in the
series, which may be accessed on the USC Shoah Foundation web site

While in Yerevan, Professor Hovannisian will also be honored on April
21 on the occasion of the publication of the Armenian translation of
Volume II of his Republic of Armenia. The event is sponsored by the
Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences and the International
Center for National and International Studies. Volumes three and four
in the series are currently being translated as well.

Los Angeles, Jerusalem, Vancouver

Richard Hovannisian has participated in a number of genocide-related
programs during

the first part of 2015. In January, he was the featured speaker at the
conference of Association of Holocaust Organizations meeting at the
University of Southern California. He then traveled to Jerusalem to
meet with Holocaust and Genocide scholars and give a public lecture in
the Tarkmanchats School for members and seminarians of the brotherhood
of Saint James and for the Armenian community. That month, both his
personal and academic lives were featured in a USC Armenian Institute
conversation titled `Half Immigrant,’ with History Department Chair
William Deverell as moderator. Hovannisian was a discussant in the CSU
Northridge conference `Accounting and Accountability,’ organized by
Dr. Vahram Shemmassian of the Armenian Studies Program on January 31,
and spoke at the Abril Bookstore on his most recent volume, The
Armenian Communities of Asia Minor,

On February 11, Hovannisian joined radio host Ian Masters and David L.
Philips of Columbia University in the Hammer Museum in Westwood in a
lively discussion on `The Armenian Genocide: A Hundred Years of
Denial.’ He also gave an illustrated talk to the Armenian Youth
Association of California on the Armenian communities of the Kesaria
(Kayseri) region, and was in Vancouver, Canada on February 28, for a
lecture sponsored by the Armenian Genocide Centenary Commemoration
Committee. The talk include film segments prepared by Ani Hovannisian
Kevorkian on Armenian Dikranagerd (Diyarbekir) and the
Armenian-speaking Hamshen people of the Black Sea.

New York, Nebraska, France

A variety of centenary-related programs were organized in March. A
major three-day conference titled `Responsibility 2015′ was organized
by the Eastern Region of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation in the
Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York’s Times Square, March 13-15, with
participants from America, Europe, and the Middle East and with
keynote speaker international law specialist Geoffrey Robinson. From
among the dozen innovative sessions, Richard Hovannisian discussed the
state of Armenian Genocide research and during an authors’ luncheon
that featured a number of American Armenian writers reflected on the
scope of his publications. While in New York, he gave an extensive
filmed interview for the joint project of the Zoryan Institute and
AGBU to prepare educational videos for the AGBU webtalk series,
scheduled to begin in April.

Hovannisian returned to Los Angeles to address an
educators’ workshop and dinner, `An Evening of Learning,’ sponsored by
the Facing History and Ourselves Foundation, in which he discussed key
issues relating to teaching about the Armenian Genocide, as mandated
both in the 1980s and in 2014 as a part of the Social Studies
Curriculum Framework of the State of California. In addition,
Hovannisian was previously filmed by Facing History for a unit placed
on its web site on the centenary of the Armenian Genocide

A major conference on the Armenian Genocide was organized
in Middle America by Professor Bedross Der Matossian of the University
of Nebraska in Lincoln on March 19-20. Despite pressure on the
University by outside sources, the conference titled `Crossing the
Centennial: The Historiography of the Armenian Genocide Re-Evaluated’
attracted a large audience to hear speakers from Turkey, Israel,
Armenia, several countries in Europe, and both the United States and
Canada. There, Hovannisian reviewed the changes and significant
advances in the historiography of the Armenian Genocide since the
beginning of his career in the 1960s.

At the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church on Sunday,
March 22, Richard Hovannisian joined Dr. Stephen Smith as one of the
keynote speakers in a joint Armenian-Jewish commemorative program
under the auspices of His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian and the
co-sponsorship of the American Jewish Committee of Los Angeles, whose
president emphasized the unwavering commitment of his organization to
recognition and commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.

More than 60 speakers participated in a four-day
conference in Paris, March 25-28, titled `Le génocide des Arméniens de
l’Empire ottoman,’ which assessed a century of study and scholarship
on the subject. The government-funded conference organized by the
International Scientific Commission was opened in the amphitheater of
Sorbonne University with forceful words of commitment by the Minister
of Education and a masterful historical overview by Professor Yves
Ternon. The deliberations of the next three days took place in the
Shoah Foundation, the School for Advanced Social Science Research, and
the National Library of France. It is significant that nearly a third
of the presenters were citizens of Turkey. Richard Hovannisian gave
introductory remarks and chaired the panel on `Perpetrators, Victims,
and Rescuers,’ and spoke in the concluding roundtable panel on the
contemporary denial and its practitioners. On the eve of the
international conference, the Hamazkayin Cultural Association of Paris
organized an evening with Professor Hovannisian and Ani Kevorkian
Hovannisian in the historic Armenian church of Surb Hovhannes
Mkrtich/John the Baptist.

New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Minnesota

Prior to departing for Yerevan with the Shoah Foundation Delegation,
Richard Hovannisian’s April lectures include Kean University in New
Jersey on April 7, sponsored by Holocaust and Genocide Studies; the
UCLA conference `Genocide and Global History,’ organized by Professor
Sebouh Aslanian and the Chair in Modern Armenian History on April 10;
`We Not Only Survived, but Thrived’ conference, sponsored by the
Saints Sahag and Mesrop Church of Philadelphia and organized by
Dr. Alfred Mueller II on April 11, and the World Without Genocide
organization of William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul on April
14. Following his return from Yerevan and Istanbul, Richard
Hovannisian will give the Armenian Genocide centenary lecture at
Chapman University in Orange, California on April 28 and at Portland
State University on May 6.

From: A. Papazian

FATE OF YEREVAN’S NAIRIT FACTORY TO BE DECIDED ON SATURDAY

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
April 2 2015

2 April 2015 – 4:58pm

Armenian Minister for Energy Yervand Zakharyan said at a governmental
session today that WB experts will conclude the technical audit for
the Nairit Factory in two days. Their assessment will be passed to
200 workers of the factory who have gathered at the entrance of the
government building. They have been holding protests every week for
the last two months, NEWS.am reports.

The factory owes workers about 102 billion drams ($235 million),
6 billion drams in salaries, 63 billion in loans, 20 billion to
the Yerevan Thermal Power Plant, 8.5 billion to the state budget,
1.4 billion to Gazprom Armenia, 1.2 billion to Armenian Power Networks.

The factory producing polychloroprene rubber has been idle since
April 2010.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL LAW IN CYPRUS EXPECTED TO INCREASE TENSIONS WITH TURKEY

International Business Times
April 2 2015

By Cristina Silva

The Cypriot Parliament passed a resolution Thursday outlawing the
denial of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The move to
make it a crime to deny that Ottoman Turks committed genocide against
the Armenians a century ago is expected to increase tensions with
longtime enemy Turkey amid stalled peace talks between the two nations.

“Today is a historic day,” Speaker of Parliament Yiannakis Omirou
said, according to Reuters. “It allows Parliament to restore, with
unanimous decisions and resolutions, historical truths.”

The Greek-dominated part of Cyprus was one of the first countries to
recognize the Armenian killings as genocide. It is commemorated on
April 24, the anniversary of the murder of Armenian leaders in 1915.

Turkey recognizes that many Armenians died during World War I but
denies that the deaths resulted from genocide. Armenians and their
supporters accuse Ottoman leaders of systematically massacring 1.5
million Armenians and deporting many more.

Debate over what happened has long been a source of tension between
Turkey and other nations, including Cyprus, which has a significant
Armenian population. Since invading in 1974, the Turks have occupied
northern Cyprus, where they set up a “Turkish republic” recognized
by no other country.

United Nations officials are slated to visit Cyprus next week for peace
talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders on the long-stalemated
conflict. Espen Barth Eide, the U.N.

secretary-general’s special adviser on Cyprus, will “follow up on the
encouraging indications received during his last trip to the island
regarding a possible resumption of the negotiations,” U.N. spokesman
Farhan Haq told reporters in New York this week. “Maybe we can take
some optimism and say that we will not only be back on track but
actually we may be able to accelerate the talks and have a faster
process than we originally lacked.”

From: A. Papazian