Author: Antonian Lara

BERNARD FASSIER: STEPANAKERT WILL JOIN TALKS SOONER OR LATER

PanARMENIAN.Net
03.03.2009 12:24 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ OSCE Minsk Group French Co-chair welcomed Yerevan
and Baku’s positive assessments of the presidential meeting in Zurich.

"We held productive meetings in Stepanakert with President Bako
Sahakyan and representatives of non-governmental organizations. Talks
in Baku and Yerevan also proved efficient. Now we are planning
to return to Baku to meet with President Ilham Aliyev and Foreign
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. I am hopeful we will succeed in arranging
a presidential meeting within the coming months," Ambassador Bernard
Fassier told a news conference in Yerevan on Tuesday.

At that he noted that Azerbaijan’s ongoing attempts to discredit
Armenia in the UN hamper the process badly.

The mediators also emphasized that the issue of Armenian and Azeri
refugees is on the agenda as one of the key elements of the negotiation
process.

Touching on NKR participation in talks, Ambassador Fassier said that
Nagorno Karabakh will be engaged in the process one day.

"We always visit Stepanakert after meetings in Baku and Yerevan. But
inclusion of Karabakh into talks depends on the parties to conflict,"
he said.

For his part, Russian Co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov that the incident
which took place during the recent OSCE monitoring will be discussed
at the OSCE Permanent Council’s meeting on March 5.

"We expect the council to support the statement Ambassador Andrzej
Kasprzyk will submit in Vienna," he said.

/article5818155.ece

February 28, 2009

Father sues Turkish Education Ministry over Armenian ‘genocide’ DVD

Suna Erdem in Istanbul

A father is suing the Turkish Education Ministry for forcing his
11-year-old daughter to watch a `racist’ and `disturbing’ film
countering claims that Ottoman Turks committed genocide against
Armenians in 1915 with graphic allegations of Armenian atrocities
against Turks.

The landmark case takes on what human rights activists have called the
State’s militarist policy of brainwashing Turkey’s schoolchildren to
the point of racist paranoia, aiming to preserve a nationalist status
quo criticised by the European Union, which Turkey is keen to join.

`My daughter was very disturbed and frightened by the documentary and
kept asking me if the Armenians had cut us up,’ said Serdar Kaya, an
ethnic Turkish doctor, who is suing the ministry and the child’s
school for inciting racial hatred.

`There are many mass graves, bones and skulls in the DVD. They have
interviewed old grandads who inspire confidence and compassion. When
they say things like ‘They cut off his head’ and ‘They used it instead
of firewood’, that is bound to stay with the children,’ Serdar
Degirmencioglu, a psychologist, told the Armenian newspaper Agos when
news first broke that the documentary was being shown to primary
school children – including ethnic Armenian Turks.
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The Education Ministry says that it has stopped the distribution of
the documentary, Sari Gelin (Blonde Bride), named after an Armenian
folk song. But it has apparently not recalled it and critics say that
it remains part of the curriculum.

Some MPs are bringing up the case in Parliament. The education union
Egitim-Sen has condemned the film, and the History Foundation has
dismissed it as baseless propaganda.

Another lawsuit has been filed by a foundation set up in honour of the
murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. The former editor of
Agos was murdered in 2007 by a young nationalist whose links to a
group of ultra-nationalists, codenamed Ergenekon, operating within the
security forces and state bureaucracy are now being investigated. `In
the whole of the documentary the word ‘Armenian’ has been used
thousands of times and only with negative connotations,’ the
Foundation said.

Mr Dink had been one of several high-profile intellectuals, also
including Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel literature laureate, and Elif Shafak,
the bestselling author, who had been sued by nationalist lawyers over
comments and writings alluding to the mass Armenian deaths. `You can
see that all those cases were part of a project of manipulation …
There is a sick, abnormal tissue of Turkish society that is poisoned
by a nationalist, racist virus,’ said Ufuk Uras, an independent MP who
backs Mr Kaya’s case.

Many historians class the 1915 events as genocide, but even those who
reject the term accept that hundreds of thousands of Armenians died
when the Ottoman Turks deported them from eastern Anatolia. According
to the International Association of Genocide Scholars, the death toll
was `more than a million’.

`You go and kill more than a million Armenians, wipe the traces of
Armenians from Anatolia, grab their property, and then show children
videos about ‘What the Armenians did to us’ … We are cutting these
children off from the rest of the world,’ said Ahmet Altan, editor of
the independent newspaper Taraf.

SHAMEFUL PAST: CANTON SOUTH STUDENTS DISCUSS JIM CROW LAWS AS PART OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH
By Tesa Strasser

The Press News
33948
Feb 25 2009

As part of their global studies, most freshmen at Canton South High
School are learning about how Jim Crow Laws affected African-Americans
in the 1870s.

In the class, students are analyzing the consequences of oppression,
discrimination and conflict throughout the world. They have
studied horrific realities such as the holocaust and genocide in
other countries including Armenia, Rwanda and Bosnia. Since February
is Black History Month, the class is reflecting on oppression and
discrimination in their country.

Greg William’s third-period class recently learned that shortly after
the Civil War, in the 1870s, a set of laws were created to keep
newly-freed slaves from having contact with white Americans. They
were called the Jim Crow laws.

Williams showed pictures from that era reflecting results of
those laws. Students saw photos of drinking fountains and restrooms
designated for use by only one race to keep them apart. He said that in
many southern states, interracial marriages were made illegal. He also
taught that since most African-Americans had not had the opportunity
to accumulate much wealth, a large new poll tax that was required to
vote prohibited their voice from being heard in political affairs. The
students seemed genuinely surprised and appalled by the prejudice of
our country during that period.

The class soon will study the famous court cases of Brown vs. Board
of Education and Plessy vs. Ferguson. These landmark cases played a
significant role in reversing the Jim Crow laws.

GEMAYEL SAYS WHO WINS THE MATEN ELECTIONS WINS THE PARLIAMENT MAJORITY

iloubnan.info
Feb 26 2009
Lebanon

BEIRUT – Former Lebanese President and Kataeb Leader Amine Gemayel
stated on Thursday that the party that wins the Maten elections would
win the whole elections and get the parliementary majority.

Gemayel confirmed that his party would run in more than one Christian
district, making it the Christian party with the highest participation
rate in the March 14 alliance.

On the other hand Gemayel revealed that an agreement for an equal
share in Maten has so far been reached between him and MP Michel Murr.

Gemayel said that his son Sami would be running for the Maronite
seat while the other former Kataeb party president Eli Karami would
be running for the catholic seat.

Gemayel added that if failing to reach an understanding with the
Tashnaq party would lead to the formation of a closed coalition list,
noting that he discussed with Murr alternative Armenian names for
the Maten list.

ARMENIAN JEWELERS URGE GOVERNMENT TO REFRAIN FROM TOUGHENING TAX ADMINISTERING

ARKA
Feb 25, 2009

YEREVAN, February 25. /ARKA/. Armenian jewelers call on the government
to refrain from toughening tax administering, chairman of Union
of Jewelers of Armenia, director of Yerevan Jewelry Factory Emil
Grigoryan said during the discussion of anti-crisis measures in the
country’s Union of Employers of Armenia Tuesday.

According to him, all the earlier measures taken to ensure stricter
tax and customs administering are sufficient. Now it is time to give
producers an opportunity to work, Grigoryan said.

He reported that the Union, together with the country’s Ministry
of Economy, has developed a trade and export measures package for
jewelry sector.

The package envisages review of legislation for representatives of
the domestic market, cooperation with banks in crediting and search
for raw diamonds for local enterprises, Grigoryan said.

The Ministry has already given a preliminary approval to the package,
and now steps are made to proceed with implementation.

At the sixth international economic forum "Bridge 2009" in Tsakhkadzor
on February 21, Armenian Premier Tigran Sargsyan said that quality
raw diamonds should be provided to diamond-cutting sector so that it
can take up a niche where the country has its comparative advantages.

He also said that Armenia had great potential for the field, but it
declined for some reasons and20today’s problem is the difficulty in
finding opportunities for purchase of raw diamonds.

CIVIL SOCIETY NETWORK ‘REFUGEES AND INTERNATIONAL LAW’ MAKES STATEMENT ON OCCASION OF 21ST ANNIVERSARY OF MASSACRE IN SUMGAIT

ArmInfo
2009-02-26 13:33:00

ArmInfo. Civil Society Network ‘Refugees and International Law’ makes
a statement on the occasion of the 21st anniversary of the massacre
in Sumgait, Azerbaijan.

‘Starting 1988 every year in late February Armenians across the world
remember the bloody crime against the peaceful Armenian population
in Sumgait organized and committed by the authorities and criminal
elements of Azerbaijan. That massacre became an alarm of the beginning
of another unprecedented wave of anti-Armenian persecutions and
violence, a new genocide of Armenians in Azerbaijan. The Armenians
of Kirovabad, Ghazakh, Khanlar, Dashkesan, Mingechaur, Baku and
other towns and villages in Azerbaijan fell victim to this wave. Our
compatriots in Azerbaijan became hostages of the policy of the USSR
and Azerbaijani authorities on the one hand and inexperience and
not preparedness of the Armenian authorities and leaders of the Pan
National Movement on the other hand. The interests and the rights of
Armenians in Azerbaijan were ignored and infringed those terrible
days. Unfortunately, the Armenian and NKR authorities relegate the
legal rights and interests of the Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan
also today. They do not admit that neglecting the problem of Armenian
refugees they allow thinking that one-day they will ignore also each
other’s interests. As a result, our independent statehood obtained
at the expense of so many lives and by genuine efforts will be
lost. Statesmen, you are responsible for the fate of the Armenians
from Azerbaijan, for the fate of Getashen and Shahumyan. We urge
you to display approaches protecting the interests and rights of all
the parts of our people. Only in this case we will gain victory and
protect our national values’, the statement says.

HONORABLE CITIZENS FOR JIRAYR SEFILYAN’S SAKE

Lragir.am
14:56:38 – 26/02/2009

Jirayr Sefilyan’s citizenship defense committee organized a series
of events in order to change the decision of the Armenian authorities
on not granting a citizenship to Jirayr Sefilyan.

Considering important the moral side of this question the committee
turned to the honorable citizens of Yerevan for assistance and made
a declaration which was signed by the honorable citizens of Yerevan
Gurgen Dalibatyan, Arkadi Ter-Tadevosyan, Varduhi Varderesyan,
Albert Azaryan, Hakob Hakobyan, Sos Sargsyan, Vladimir Msryan, Djivan
Gasparyan, Perj Zeytunzyan, Martin Vardazaryan, Azat Gasparyan and
was directed to the president of Armenia.

It is stated in the declaration that any Armenian has the right
of receiving citizenship. It is also stated that though born in
Lebanon Jirayr Sefilyan came to Armenia in very fatal period of its
history. Commander of Shushi battalion Jirayr Sefilyan was awarded
the order Martakan Khach of first degree and has been living in
Armenia for 18 years where his 2 children were born. Rejection of
granting citizenship to Jirayr Sefilyan does not bring honor to our
country. Moreover, that the National Assembly adopted a law on dual
citizenship.

BELARUS AND ARMENIA TO CONTINUE TO SUPPORT EACH OTHER IN THE INTERNATIONAL ARENA

ARMENPRESS
Feb 24, 2009

MINSK, FEBRUARY 24, ARMENPRESS: Belarus and Armenia will continue
supporting each other in the international arena, the Speaker of House
of Representatives of Belarus parliament Vladimir Andreychenko said
during the meeting with the delegation of Armenian parliamentarians
which is headed by the vice speaker of Armenian parliament Hrayr
Karapetian.

"The Armenian people have always sympathized with Belarus,-
Andreychenko noted. -The two sides have traditionally supported each
other in international institutions. You can always expect such a
support from Belarus".

Vladimir Andreychenko positively assessed the existence of developed
agreement-legal base of Belarus and Armenian relations, as well as
the activity of Armenian-Belarus inter-parliamentary commission the
session of which today took place in Minsk.

Together with it the speaker of Belarus parliament considered it
important "to move forward". Particularly he stressed the importance
of improvement of the activity of profile commissions of legislative
bodies of the two countries.

"Besides that our trade-economic relations have stayed back from
the political one",- Andreychenko noted reminding that last year the
trade turnover between Belarus and Armenia reached 28 million USD.

Speaker of the House of Representatives of Belarus parliament draw
attention of the perspectives of development of cooperation in the
spheres of road construction, providing agricultural equipments
and agro materials. Besides that the speaker suggested expansion of
import of alcohol drinks, especially Armenian brandy from Armenia
to Belarus. On his turn Hrayr Karapetian suggested that the sides
exchange lists of members of delegations in international parliamentary
institutions.

The Armenian side also made an initiative to organize Armenian-Belarus
summit aiming at development of wide scale cooperation between the
regions of two countries.

OPPOSITION URGES SAAKASHVILI TO SCHEDULE REFERENDUM ON EARLY PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
24.02.2009 12:43 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Two major Georgian opposition groups, the Republican
Party and the New Right party, merged on Monday to form the Alliance
for Georgia with Tbilisi’s former ambassador to the UN, Irakly
Alasaniya.

At the launch, Republican Party leader David Usupashvili stressed that
the group’s overall objective was the resignation of the president.

"Proceeding from that, we offer the public our candidate for president,
Irakly Alasaniya," he said.

Alasaniya, one of the most popular politicians in Georgia who has
strong ties with the United States, went on to issue an ultimatum to
President Mikheil Saakashvili.

"As President Mikheil Saakashvili does not have enough political will
to make the appropriate decision … and step down, we give him 10
days to schedule a referendum. The president should enable Georgian
people to make a decision on the necessity of holding presidential
elections ahead of schedule," Alasaniya said.

He said that after the 10-day deadline passes, Alliance for Georgia
would begin to take concrete steps for carrying out a national
referendum.

According to Russia’s Kommersant newspaper, the move marks a radical
change in the opposition’s tactics, commenting that during August’s war
with Russia over South Ossetia, the opposition generally supported
Saakashvili for "fear of accusations of betraying the national
interests."

Opposition to Saakashvili has been growing in Georgia since its
ill-conceived attack on the region, which maintained de facto
independence from Tbilisi since the early 1990s, in a bid to bring it
back under central control. After a five-day war to "force Georgia to
peace," Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent
states, RIA Novosti reports.

ANAND SLIPS AFTER LOSING TO ARONIAN IN LINARES

The Statesman
February 22, 2009 Sunday
India

Press Trust of India LINARES (Spain), Feb. 21: World champion
Viswanathan Anand frittered away a superior position as he went down
to Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian and slipped to the joint third
spot after the second round of the 22nd Magistral Ciudad de Linares
chess tournament here.

Having started with a brilliant victory against Teimour Radjabov in
the opener, Anand had a big advantage before he suddenly missed some
simple tactics and lost without further resistance.

Aronian emerged as the new leader along with Grandmaster Alexander
Grischuk of Russia, who tamed Wang Yue of China. The other two games
of the second round were drawn. Anand shares the third spot with
Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine, Magnus Carlson of Norway and Lenier
Dominguez of Cuba. Radjabov and Wang Yue are now at the bottom of
the tables with a half point each. Twelve rounds still remain in the
traditional tournament which is being played on a double round robin
basis between eight players.

Anand showcased his preparation against the Semi Slav defense and went
for a razor-sharp pawn sacrifice that had been played before. Aronian
accepted the pawn offer but came under tremendous pressure on the
king side.

It was a practical decision by Aronian to sacrifice a piece for a few
pawns that kept him in the game. The optical problems resulted in Anand
losing his control and his desire to exchange queens to simplify the
position proved disastrous. Aronian clinched the issue after 53 moves.

Wang Yue played the Slav defense against Grischuk but could not find
the equaliser after the latter went for complications with a pawn
sacrifice in the center. The Chinese player found some solace after
giving the pawn back and reached a slightly worse endgame wherein
Grischuk showed immaculated technique and romped home after 57 moves.

In Carlsen-Dominguez the Cuban Grandmaster demonstrated a great
preparation in the English opening and introducing a novelty in a very
sharp and relatively new theoretical variation. After some thought,
the Norwegian took a healthy practical decision to play safely and
repeat the position instead of playing wild complications analysed
by his opponent at home.

Ivanchuk came up with an opening surprise against Radjabov by opting
for the King’s Indian defense which is largely considered to the forte
of the Azerbaijani. Radjabov tried a novelty, but Ivanchuk reacted
strongly and soon Black achieved a comfortable equality. A draw was
predictable long before it was agreed.