Author: Badalian Vardan

Newspaper: Armenia ex-official gives advice to diaspora businessman

10:38, 12.02.2015

YEREVAN. – Former governor of Armenia’s Lori Region, ex-Minister of
Transport Henrik Kochinyan has a new position, Hraparak daily
reported.

“He, several months ago, started working at the Hovnanian
International organization belonging to prominent [Diaspora-Armenian]
businessman and philanthropist Vahakn Hovnanian. This is a large, very
rich company; it has about 400 employees, and it is known in Armenia
as the Ltd. that has designed and built the Vahakni [Residential
Community] district [in the outskirts of capital city Yerevan].

“Henrik Kochinyan works there [, at Hovnanian International,] as
adviser, and he gets a pretty big salary.

“To the question as to specifically what projects he is involved in at
Hovnanian’s organization, Kochinyan responded: ‘With whatever,'”
Hraparak wrote.

Hurriyet Daily has presented Zabel Yesayan as an Armenian feminist in
the Ottoman Empire

February 13, 2015

The Turkish Hurriyet Daily has covered Armenian writer, publicist,
translator, literary critic Zabel Yesayan, presenting her as a
representative of the renaissance of Armenian culture and a supporter
of feminism in the Ottoman Empire, writes Artsakhpress.

Yesayan was one of the few Armenian intellectuals who were able to
avoid the arrests and displacement by the Young Turks on April 24th.
However, in 1923, she moved to Soviet Armenia where, in 1935, she
published the famous book entitled “Gardens of Silihtar”. In 1937, she
was arrested under the charge of espionage, was exiled and died in a
prison in Baku in 1943.

According to Panorama.am, the newspaper mentions that Yesayan’s
growing feminism was growing with the conservatism of her community
that was dying out.

“Those young women couldn’t leave their homes alone. Some were even
forced to get married to men whom they ignored. They couldn’t dress
however they wanted to. Apparently, they were deprived of the most
basic rights and were afraid that they would become mothers sooner or
later-something that they wanted to escape from so that they could
start living the life that they wanted to live,” wrote Zabel.

Gyumri slaughter: Official silence a month later

18:58 | February 14,2015 | Social

I cannot imagine how the Investigation Committee of the Republic of
Armenia is going to investigate the murder of the seven-member
Avetisyan family in Gyumri if the main suspect has not been handed
over to the Armenian side, says Artur Sakunts, Head of the Helsinki
Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor office.

“We still do not know the motives behind this hideous crime. It is
equally important to understand why the murderer chose the Avetisyan
family,” he said.

Today a public discussion was organized in Gyumri on the appalling
murder of the Avetisyan family. The event was attended by 60 people.

A month has passed since the murder but the law enforcement agencies
have failed to provide reliable information on the tragedy,” says
Levon Barseghyan, chairman of Asparez Journalists’ Club in Gyumri.
The

Daniel Ionnisyan, Coordinator of the Union of Informed Citizens NGO,
says, “Many details are kept confidential though the investigation was
supposed to be transparent. The National Security Service and the
Prosecutor General’s Office have not given their replies yet.”

Three working groups were set up during the first public discussion
which later submitted the results of their work. The groups involve
journalists, lawyers and human rights activists, who wall develop and
coordinate tactions aimed at solving the crime and preventing its
repetition in the future.

The working groups stress that today Armenia is facing serious
problems in view of security.

Six members of the Avetisyan family, including a two-year-old child,
were shot dead in their house in Gyumri in the morning of January 12.
A six-month-old baby, Seryozha Avetisyan, was hospitalized with stab
wounds. He died in hospital a week later. The main suspect of the
crime, Valery Permyakov, a serviceman of Russian Military Base N 102
stationed in Gyumri, was detained by Russian border guards late in the
same day while attempting to cross the Armenian-Turkish border near
Yerazgavors village in Armenia’s Shirak province. The murder of the
seven-member family sparked violent protests in Gyumri and Yerevan,
with people demanding that Permyakov be handed over to Armenian
authorities and to stand trial by the Armenian law.

Armenian Army Captain Arrested for “Dereliction of Duty” in Soldier’s
Murder Case

11:13, February 14, 2015

Captain Artyom Avetisyan, an officer at the Vazgen Sarhgsyan Military
Institute has been arrested and charged with “dereliction of duty” in
the death of Haykaz Barseghyan, a private in the Armenian army whose
body was found on January 29 hanging from a rope attached to the
horizontal bar in the gym of a training unit in Yerevan he was
assigned to.

On February 2, four Armenian soldiers from the same unit were indicted
for the murder of Barseghyan.

The official charge levied by the military investigative department of
Armenia’s Investigative Committee against the four was “murder by a
group of people, or by an organized group, resulting from hooliganism”
(RA Criminal Code Article 104).

An investigation into the killing of Haykaz Barseghyan is ongoing.

Azerbaijani media give corpses of Armenians killed in 1905 in Baku for
‘Azerbaijanis killed in 1918 in Shamakhi’

17:05 14/02/2015 >> SOCIETY

Azerbaijani website “1news.az” attached faked photographs to the
article about fictitious “genocide in Shamakhi” allegedly committed by
the Armenian Dashnaks and Bolsheviks.

In the article the corpses of Armenians killed during the pogroms in
Baku in 1905 and gathered in the courtyard of the Armenian Church for
the funeral are presented as victims of “Armenian aggression”. On the
other photos from this series, but from other angles Armenian priest
is clearly visible. Moreover, the actual circumstances in which the
photo was taken cannot be denied at least because it was published in
French edition of “Le Grand Illustre” in an article published on
February 19, 1905 which was descriping the pogroms of Armenians in
Baku, naturally long before the events taken place in 1918 in
Shamakhi.

Most apparently, photographs with the corpses of Armenians killed in
Baku in 1905 and presented as Azerbaijanis, allegedly killed in 1918
in Shamakhi, have been taken by the Azerbaijani media from the book of
the Azerbaijani historian Solmaz Rustamov-Togidi titled “1918.
Massacre in Azerbaijan in photos and documents” in the annotation of
which was stated that in the book “rare photographs of the tragic fate
of tens of thousands Azerbaijanis killed in Baku and Shamakh are
reflected.”

The book of Rustamov-Togidi presents the same photo of the victims of
the Armenian pogroms noted as taken in Baku; however the victims are
resubmitted as the Azerbaijanis. The annotation to the photo reads:
“Armenian atrocities in Baku” which gives the readers wrong
impression.

Note that this is not the first attempt of the Azerbaijanis of using
falsified photos in propaganda purposes. A number of such attempts has
been documented and exposed on the website “Xocali.net” project.

“Memory of Ararat: 100 years of the most forgotten genocide” book is
presented in Spain

11:22 – 14 / 02 / 2015

Event dedicated to the Centenary of the Armenian Genocide was held in Aleppo
Newly-appointed US Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills hands over his
credentials to President
Italian Senate accepts a bill to ban denial of Genocides
Newly-appointed Ambassador of the USA hands copies of credentials to
E. Nalbandian
Belgian MEP files a bill to recognize the Armenian genocide by Turkey

On February 11, presentation of the book, titled “Memory of Ararat:
100 years of the most forgotten genocide” was organized in Madrid. The
author of the book, Xavier Moret, is a well-known writer, journalist,
author of a range of books, articles and TV shows, won the Grandes
Viajeros (Great Travelers) Award for his book “Islandia, la isla
secreta” (Iceland, the secret island) in 2002. Press and information
department of the RA Foreign Ministry informs about this.

The book “Memory of Ararat: 100 years of the most forgotten genocide”
is comprised of 270 pages. The book is not just a list of historical
events. In the story, written in traveler’s note style, the author
presents to the reader his and his photographer friend’ trip to
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

Stressing that the memories of the Armenian Genocide are found in
almost every Armenian family the author expresses his admiration for
the ability of Armenian people, despite endured inhumane sufferings,
to rebirth, establish independent statehood and preserve its rich
spiritual heritage both in Armenia and in Diaspora. In the epilogue
the author mentions, “Yes, it is rather difficult to find yet another
nation in the World, that is spread this much, but, this much united
and sticking to its roots. It is true saying then, that wherever an
Armenian meets an Armenian they create their own Armenia”.

RAFFI HOVANNISIAN MEETS POLISH AMBASSADOR JERZY NOWAKOWSKI

13-02-2015 15:22:21 | Armenia | Politics

Yerevan–Raffi K. Hovannisian, Heritage Party chairman and founding
director of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies
(ACNIS), met today with H.E. Mr. Jerzy Nowakowski, Ambassador of
Poland in Armenia. They discussed a wide range of issues concerning
the country’s domestic and foreign policy, and exchanged views on
regional and geopolitical developments, discussed the place and role
of two countries, Poland and Armenia in the changing world. Heritage
Party Press Service

News from Armenia and Diaspora – Noyan Tapan

– See more at:

HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK: PRESIDENT’S SPEECH WAS COLD SHOWER FOR POLITICAL FIELD

10:53 13/02/2015 >> DAILY PRESS

“The speech of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan at the RPA Council
meeting was a cold shower for the political field and everyone is
now asking: what will happen next? Some say unequivocally that Serzh
Sargsyan has declared a war against Prosperous Armenia leader Gagik
Tsarukyan. It will become clear soon what resources Tsarukyan has to
respond,” Haykakan Zhamanak writes.

Source: Panorama.am

TSARUKYAN THROWS DOWN GAUNTLET TO SARGSYAN: CALLS FOR COMPLETE REGIME CHANGE

13:38, February 13, 2015

In response to yesterday’s stinging attack by President Serzh Sargsyan
against his person and political capabilities, Gagik Tsarukyan upped
the stakes a bit more by publicly calling for regime change via snap
presidential elections.

The entire scenario some two weeks ago when a Prosperous Armenia Part
(BHK) party activist was seized off a Yerevan street, pushed into a
waiting car, and later beaten quite severely.

The BHK (Armenia’s second largest political party headed by Tsarukyan)
laid the full responsibility of the attack on the ruling Armenian
Republican Party (HHK) government.

This, in turn, lead to threats from the top echelons of the HHK to
the BHK that such accusations should be dropped or the consequences
would be dire.

Those consequences were stated yesterday in a speech by President
Sargsyan before senior members of the HHK.

Sargsyan personally derided Tsarukyan as an unfit political leader,
threatened to kick him out of parliament and ordered tax audits of
his multi-million dollar business empire.

In a statement issued today, Tsarukyan called on the people of Armenia
“to prepare for struggle”.

“When 3,000 people come out into the streets, they are forced to
modify the law. When all the people fill the streets, the regime
will change. I am now calling for a national mobilization with just
one goal in mind – using all legal means (round the clock rallies,
marches, and demonstrations, civil disobedience) to force Serzh
Sargsyan to leave office and thus rid the country of this menace.”

The use of the word “menace” by Tsarukyan in describing Sargsyan is
a direct comeback to the president’s remarks yesterday labeling the
BHK leader as “a menace for our country”.

Tsarukyan declared that the regime must leave forthwith and that
Armenia needed to clean itself of the suffocating environment in
which it finds itself.

“Today, I regard the most important work of my life to be liberating
Armenia from this regime of evil,” Tsarukyan concluded.

Tsarukyan also remarked that he will be meeting with representatives
of the opposition Armenian National Congress and the Heritage Party
for talks later today.

HERITAGE RESPONSE: PRESIDENT’S ATTACK OF TSARUKYAN “INAPPROPRIATE”

POLITICS | 13.02.15 | 15:54

Photolure

GOHAR ABRAHAMYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

RELATED NEWS

Raising the Stakes: Sargsyan ushers in new political conditions by
tackling former coalition partner

The Deputy Chairman of Heritage Party, Armen Martirosyan, told
reporters Friday that President Serzh Sargsyan’s comments about
Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukyan were inappropriate.

(See related articles.)

Martirosyan, standing in for party chair Raffi Hovannisian who was
called to a meeting with Tsarukyan, told media that the president’s
attack of Tsarukyan changed the process of political developments.

“Political processes have changed; they gain speed and Armenia’s
government might speed up, Armenia becoming a North Korea might speed
up, I do not know which direction we will choose. Discussions will show
what will happen,” Martirosyan said adding that on February 18 is “the
second anniversary of false presidential elections, and that day Raffi
Hovanissian will meet the reporters, on the occasion of the second
anniversary he will make a speech and answer questions completely.”

According to Martirosyan, it is difficult for him to say what made
Sargsyan speak as he did, but he thinks that the government gets
nervous only when the matter refers to “the preservation of their
rule”.

“Our government gets nervous in relation to neither foreign problems
nor internal affairs; we have never witnessed the government getting
nervous because of the country’s horrible social-economic state,
they do get nervous when it is about their rule,” Martirosyan said
adding that Sargsyan’s words were everything but politics.