Author: Badalian Vardan

SEVAN COMMITTEE’ REFUSAL TO ANSWER ENQUIRY ON AMULSAR PROJECT IS VIOLATION OF ARMENIAN LEGISLATION

13:44 February 06, 2015

EcoLur

The Scientific-Expert Committee on Lake Sevan Preservation refused
to provide EcoLur the text of the positive opinion on Amulsar project
issued in 2014. The substantiation of this refusal doesn’t comply with
the essence of the enquiry and violates the Armenian legislation. On
16 October 2014 EcoLur made an enquiry to the Committee asking provide
the text of the opinion on Amulsar project issued in 2014.

In reply, Committee member Yuri Javadyan says in his letter dated
on 19 January 2015, “The Scientific-Expert Committee on Lake Sevan
Preservation by NAS RA informs that the committee examined “Amulsar
gold-bearing quartzite mine in Vayots Dzor Region, Armenia” project
on 24.09.2014 and laid down proposals consisting of two clauses in
its minutes no. d7/14.

The Nature Protection Ministry organized public hearings of the project
EIA in Gorayq Rural Municipality, Syunik Region, on 27.09.2014, where
“Geoteam” CJSC recorded that tis had made relevant amendments and
supplements to the project based on the proposal made by the Committee.

Your absence in the hearings of the project as assessed as a confirming
approach to the project solutions, so your letter dated on 16.10.2014
was not replied to.

In its minutes, you can receive information about the project from
the Environmental Expertise SNCO of Nature Protection Ministry,
where all the project documents are available.”

Yuri Javadyan replied to EcoLur’s enquiry after several months, thus
violating Article 9 (7(1)) of RA Law “On Freedom of Information”,
which says, “The answer to written inquiry is given in the following
deadlines: a) If the information required by the written inquiry is not
publicized, than the copy of that information is given to the applicant
within 5 days after the application is filed.” Article 8(2(1)) of the
same law is also violated, ” Information request cannot be declined, if
it presents the overall economic situation of the Republic of Armenia,
as well as the real situation in the spheres of nature and environment
protection, health, education, agriculture, trade and culture.”

Javadyan’s refusal also violated Article 4 of the Aarhus Convention
ratified by Armenia.

The letter substantiation of the refusal “Your absence in the hearings
of the project as assessed as a confirming approach to the project
solutions, so your letter dated on 16.10.2014 was not replied to.”

doesn’t comply with reality and provisions prescribed by “On Public
Noticing and Discussion”, Article 29 hereof says, “Public opinion
is considered to be positive, if none of them attends the public
discussions or submits its observations or proposals.”

It should be mentioned that EcoLur’s team took part in the public
discussions on Amulsar project held in Gndevaz Village, Vayots
Dzor Region, on 25.08.2014 and submitted its negative opinion to
“Environmental Expertise” SNCO of Nature Protection Ministry, which
“Environmental Expertise” SNCO Deputy Director Henrik Grigoryan read
at the public hearings held in Gorayq on 27.09.2014.

This procedure completely complies with the requirements of Article
29 of “On Public Noticing and Discussion”.

As it’s known, in 2012 the Scientific-Expert Committee on Lake Sevan
Preservation issued a negative opinion to Amulsar project and provided
the text of its opinion to EcoLur without any obstacles. At that
time the Chairman of the Committee was the late Vladimir Movsisyan,
who said in his interview with EcoLur, “Amulsar won’t be implemented
unless I’m alive.”

GARNIK ISAGULYAN: GOVERNORS AND GUESTS STAND UP TO DRINK A TOAST TO SERZH SARGSYAN (VIDEO)

13:00 | February 9,2015 | Politics

Chairman of the National Security Party Garnik Isagulyan finds it
unacceptable that regional governors and guests in Armenia usually
stand up to drink a toast to Serzh Sargsyan.

Without giving any names, Mr Isagulyan said he had witnessed such
a welcome personally and was surprised to see everyone stand up to
give a toast to Serzh Sargsyan.

Speaking about the weekend attack on Artak Khachatryan, a member of
the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), Mr Isagulyan said the violence
showed that the authorities are in agony, and nothing can prevent
them from realizing their plans.

The chairman of the National Security calls on all political
forces to unite. He says the acting authorities in Armenia bear full
responsibility for all ceasefire violations on the Armenian-Azerbaijani
border, as well as foreign and domestic incidents.

“”The government does not care about the fate of the Armenian people,
they only want to retain the power. Serzh Sargsyan’s main concern is
to perpetuate his power,” he said.

Crédit Mutuel Méditerranéen
Club des Chefs d’Entreprises CCIFA

L’émission de Richard Findykian >
est consacrée cette semaine à la présentation du Crédit Mutuel
Méditerranéen et aux réunions ” Clarté 2015 ” destinées aux chefs
d’entreprises, organisées avec Bernard Hatemian, Président de la
Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie Franco-Arménienne et Roland
Vartanian, trésorier de la CCIFA, le 26 mars : la réforme du 1er
janvier 2016, comment mettre en oeuvre une complémentaire santé dans
son Entreprise ? le 19 juin : L’épargne salariale et les outils de
préparation à la retraite pour vos salariés , outils de management et
optimisation fiscale et le 14 octobre : Comment gérer au mieux mon
poste clients ? Invités : Christian Marcot, Directeur Général du
Crédit Mutuel Méditerranéen, Jean-Marc Mathioudakis, Directeur
Commercial du Crédit Mutuel Méditerranéen et Daniel Lacqua, Directeur
de la Caisse du Crédit Mutuel Marseille Vieux Port Carnot.

Assistant : Alexis Findykian Réalisation radio : Frédéric Marty

Site du CCIFA – ICI

dimanche 8 février 2015,
Jean Eckian (c)armenews.com

VALENCE (DRÔME) FRANCE
Le bureau du C24 (Comité du 24 Avril) Drôme-Ardèche s’est réuni

Samedi 31 janvier s’est réuni à la Maison de la Culture Arménienne de
Valence (Drôme) le nouveau bureau du C24 (Comité du 24 Avril)
Drôme-Ardèche. Une réunion de travail visant à préparer le programme
des manifestations liées au 100ème anniversaire du génocide arménien
et notamment les cérémonies du 23 avril (veillée au mémorial) et 24
Avril prochain à Valence et Bourg-Lès-Valence. Les sept membres du
bureau (co-présidents Georges Ishacian, Krikor Amirzayan et Georges
Rastklan, secrétaire Nazo Alain Jinbachian, secrétaire-adjoint
Elisabeth Alachian, trésorier Bedros Ohanian et trésorier-adjoint
Hosrof Iliozer) ont également élaboré de nombreux projets pour la
réussite de ces manifestations liées à la mémoire autour des
commémorations du centenaire du génocide arménien. Les membres du
bureau du C24 ont également appelé à l’ouverture encore plus large de
l’organisation auprès de toutes les structures de la communauté afin
de renforcer les actions unitaires. Le C24 rencontrera également les
élus et autorités locales pour la coordination des manifestations du
24 avril qui seront placées sous son égide. Transparence et
communication seront les maitres mots du C23 Comité du 24 Avril
Drôme-Ardèche qui appelle une nouvelle fois à

Armenian Genocide Centennial has to motivate us to learn lessons from
the tragedy

18:54, 6 February, 2015

YEREVAN, 6 FEBRUARY, ARMENPRESS. An Armenian artist and clergymen
attach importance to not only the demand for elimination of the
consequences of the Armenian Genocide, but also the study on the
motives behind it. During a press conference,artistic director of the
Hovhannes Tumanyan State Puppet Theater of Yerevan Ruben Babayan
mentioned that the Centennial has to serve as an opportunity to study
and analyze issues and learn from the lessons. “These days we’re
talking about elimination of the consequences of the Genocide, but
we’re not talking about elimination of the causes of the Genocide
since there is always a danger of Genocide,” he said, adding that one
of the lessons to be learned must be that the Armenian people have to
rely not on others, but on themselves.

Director of the Office for Conceptual Issues at the Mother See,
Father, Bishop Bagrat Galstanyan agreed that we still don’t see people
talking about the causes and added that they should have been doing
that many years ago. “Perhaps people are afraid of talking about the
causes. If people want to show the phenomenon of the Armenian Genocide
through culture, they have to do that with a clear strategy and under
conditions. It has to be viewed within the general ideology,” His
Holiness Bagrat mentioned.

Both the artist and the clergyman agreed that there is a need to
create a new idea around which all Armenians will unite.

ARMENIE
Entretien avec la Ministre de la Diaspora de la République d’Arménie,
Madame Hranouche Hakobian

Le jeudi 5 février 2015, l’Ambassadeur de France en Arménie, Monsieur
Jean François Charpentier, s’est entretenu avec la Ministre de la
Diaspora de la République d’Arménie, Madame Hranouche Hakobian.

Ils ont discuté du rôle important de la diaspora arménienne en France
et des coopérations décentralisées existantes dans l’animation de la
relation bilatérale, de la manière dont la diaspora arménienne
pourrait contribuer davantage au développement de nos échanges
économiques et commerciaux à travers les organismes existants
(Chambres de commerce) et des échéances de l’année 2015 (comme le
déplacement du Président de la République à Erevan ou l’Année de
l’Arménie à Marseille).

Extrait de la revue de presse de l’Ambassade de France en Arménie

dimanche 8 février 2015,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

Parlement européen
Un député belge dépose une proposition de résolution pour la
reconnaissance du génocide par la Turquie

Jordan Grosse-Cruciani, Secrétaire départemental de la Fédération FN
des Vosges, Assistant parlementaire au Conseil régional de Lorraine et
au parlement européen, Conseiller municipal de Thaon-les-Vosges, a
tweeté samedi 7 février que le député européen belge Gerolf Annemans,
ancien président du parti nationaliste Vlaams Belang (Intérêt Flamand)
a déposé au Parlement de l’Union européenne une proposition de
résolution visant à faire reconnaître le génocide arménien par la
Turquie.

Gerolf Annemans à lui-même retweeté le post de Jordan Grosse-Cruciani.

Les signataires en date du 29 janvier 2015 (anniversaire de la
reconnaissance du génocide par la France) : Gerolf Annemans, Marine Le
Pen, Louis Aliot, Marie-Christine Arnautu, Nicolas Bay, Dominique
Bilde, Marie-Christine Boutonnet, Steeve Briois, Mirreille D’Ornano,
Edouard Ferrand, Sylvie Goddyn, Jean-François Jalkh, Gilles Lebreton,
Philippe Loiseau, Dominique Martin, Joëlle Mélin, Bernard Monot,
Sophie Montel, Florian Philippot, Jean-Luc Schaffhauser, Mylène
Troszczynski, Matteo Salvini, Mara Bizzoto, Mario Borghezio, Gianluca
Buonanno, Lorenzo Fontana, Marcel de Graaff, Hans Jansen, Olaf Stuger,
Harald Vilimsky, Barbara Kappel

Voir ICI la proposition

dimanche 8 février 2015,
Jean Eckian (c)armenews.com

Turkey’s Bad Joke: Crocodile Tears for Victims of Holocaust
By Burak Bekdil
February 8, 2015

[Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is a Turkish columnist for the
Hurriyet Daily and a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.]

It all looks nice. It isn’t.

On Muslim Brotherhood channels based in Turkey, Egyptian clerics and
commentators called for the murder of Egypt’s President Abdel Fatteh
al-Sisi and the journalists who support him.

Under the nice wrappings of Holocaust Remembrance Day, there is an
entirely different Turkey.

Perhaps he thinks the Holocaust, too, happened because of the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

For a few moments, one could think there are two countries in the
world that go by the name “Turkey.” Then reality quickly corrects the
mistaken belief.

“We hope that every person develops an understanding of the Holocaust,
which constitutes one of the darkest moments in human history, and
will consider the importance of working together so that such a
tragedy, and the conditions that made this inconceivable crime
possible, will never re-emerge,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in
a written statement on January 27. How nice and thoughtful. But there
were more Turkish niceties.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was among the participants
in Poland at the ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the
liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, on Holocaust
Remembrance Day. And Turkey donated a modest sum of 150,000 euros this
year as its contribution to the long-term preservation and restoration
of the concentration camp.

Also, for the first time, International Holocaust Remembrance Day was
marked in Ankara by high-level officials. Turkish Parliamentary
Speaker Cemil Cicek on January 28 addressed members of Turkey’s tiny
Jewish community and others at a Holocaust Remembrance Day event.

It all looks nice. It isn’t.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry’s statement looked like the bad joke of
the year: “We observe that anti-Semitism, which formed a basis for the
inhuman Nazi ideology, still survives today and therefore we believe
in the importance of fighting tirelessly against this phenomenon.”

The ministry was right to observe that anti-Semitism still survives
today. Sadly, most powerfully in its own country, where no prosecutor
has indicted a single one of hundreds (perhaps thousands) of social
media users who, since last summer, have praised Hitler endlessly,
claiming that the “Jews deserved it.”

Under the nice wrappings of Holocaust Remembrance Day, there is the
story of an entirely different Turkey.

Parliamentary Speaker Cicek, for instance, linked rising anti-Semitism
to Israeli actions. In his address to the Jewish community, he said:
“As we remember the pain of the past, no one can ignore the last
attacks on Gaza, in which 2,000 innocent children, women were
massacred.” Perhaps he thinks the Holocaust, too, happened because of
the Arab-Israeli conflict.

It was not a coincidence that back in 2011, a study, released by the
Turkish think tank SETA, found that only 8.6% of the Turks had a
favorable opinion of Jews. Nearly 20% of the respondents did not have
an opinion of Jews, and 71.5% said they had a negative opinion.
According to a poll that the Anti-Defamation League released in 2014,
69% of Turks harbor anti-Semitic attitudes.

More recently, the Hrant Dink Foundation in Turkey, named after the
murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist, found that anti-Semitism is the
most common racial or religious prejudice in the Turkish media.

The study tracked derogatory coverage of over 30 different groups in
media reports between May and August, only to find that Jews and
Armenians were the subjects of just over half of the recorded
incidents in a media landscape filled with “biased and discriminatory
language use.”

Jews led the list with 130 incidents, followed by Armenians (60),
[non-Greek] Christians (25), Greeks (21), Kurds (18) and Syrian
refugees (10).

Foreign Minister Cavusoglu may have bothered to travel all the way to
Poland to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day, but his sentiments most
probably align with other ideologies.

Less than a month after Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu hosted
Khaled Mashaal, head of Hamas’s political bureau, at a high-level
party congress, Cavusoglu in January said that Mashaal, reportedly
expelled from Qatar, was free to come to Turkey. He said: “Regardless
of which country they belong to, people are free to come and go to
Turkey as they wish, as long as there are no legal impediments.”

But Hamas is not Turkey’s only love affair in the neighborhood.
Turkey’s Islamist leaders are as passionate about the Muslim Brothers
as they are about Hamas. Hence, not a word from the Turkish Foreign
Ministry (which observes that anti-Semitism is still alive today) over
the January 30 call from the Muslim Brotherhood for “a long,
uncompromising jihad” in Egypt.

Only two days before a terror attack killed 25 in Egypt’s Sinai
region, a statement from the Muslim Brotherhood said: “Imam al-Bana
[founder of the Brotherhood] prepared the jihad brigades that he sent
to Palestine to kill the Zionist usurpers¦”

And in programs aired on January 10 and 26 on Muslim Brotherhood
channels based in Turkey, Egyptian clerics and commentators called for
the murder of Egyptian President Abdel Fatteh al-Sisi and the
journalists who support him. For instance, cleric Salama Abd al-Qawi
said on Rabea TV that, “anyone who killed al-Sisi would be doing a
good deed.” Cleric Wagdi Ghoneim told Misr Alan TV that, “whoever can
bring us the head of one of these dogs and hell-dwellers” would be
rewarded by Allah. And commentator Muhammad Awadh said on Misr Alan TV
that the punishment for the “inciting coup journalists” was death.

But the Turkish Foreign Ministry was right. Anti-Semitism is still alive today!

How an Islamized Armenian found his relatives. A story of one photo

February 7 2015

I have taken this photo on September 19, 2010, on the opening day of
the Holy Cross Church on Akdamar Island, Turkey. Invited by “Hrant
Dink” Foundation, we attended the event with a group of journalists.
Islamized Armenians also visited Akdamar to take part in the opening
ceremony of the Church. They were talking in Turkish or Kurdish and
our Istanbul- Armenians compatriots were translating into Armenian.
For example, this old man by the name Farzanda from the village
Shenik, knowing that I am from Armenia, came close to me and said that
he is looking for his relative in Yerevan, who, according to him, was
born in Turin, his name is Vardan Vardanyan and is lecturing at one of
the universities in Yerevan. At that time, Farzanda grandfather was 70
years old. He was a secret Armenian who accepted Islam. Farzandan told
that his father’s name was Ulikhan and last name – Gyulbadagh(yan).
Farzanday’s Kurdish groom named Bashir left even his phone number so
that his relatives in Yerevan would contact him. Later, we learned
from a Turkish Armenian residing in Armenia that on reading Bashir’s
phone number in “Aravot” newspaper and seeing Farzanda Gyulbudagh’s
photo, the relatives in Yerevan have called him, found him and met
with him.

Gohar HAKOBYAN

Interfax, Russia
Feb 6 2015

Armenia reports civilian death in Azeri military attack

YEREVAN. Feb 6

A resident of the village of Nerkin Karmirakhbyur, Tavush region of
Armenia, was killed in an attack coming from Azerbaijan, the region’s
hospital told reporters on Friday.

The doctors said Vanik Gukasyan, 60, died from a gunshot wound.

Manvel Kamenatdyan, the elder of the village, told reporters Gukasyan
was wounded near his house on Thursday and died on his way to
hospital.

In the meantime, Artsrun Ovannisyan, press officer for the Armenian
defense minister, told reporters the Azeri military had breached the
ceasefire regime on all tracks along the border on the Tavush region.

“Fire was opened on populated areas. Armenia opened fire on the Azeri
positions from which the shots had been fired,” he said.

Ovannisyan earlier said Levon Andreasyan, 85, an Armenian resident,
was wounded in an attack by the Azeri military on the village of
Movse, Tavush region of Armenia on February 4.

The OSCE on January 27 called on Azerbaijan and Armenia to exercise
restraint in resolving the Karabakh conflict.

The OSCE reiterated the importance of measures that could rule out the
possibility of incidents between Azerbaijan and Armenia.