Author: Badalian Vardan

Daily Sabah, Turkey
Jan 31 2015

Turkey condemns Sargsyan’s ‘invitation’ remarks

DAILY SABAH WITH ANADOLU AGENCY
ISTANBUL

Turkey’s presidential spokesman has strongly condemned the remarks by
Armenian President Sargsyan in regards to President ErdoÄ?an’s
invitation to commemoration ceremonies in Turkey marking the 100th
anniversary of the World War I Gallipoli campaign this year on 23-24
April.

“It is impossible for us to accept these expressions that target the
president’s invitation to Armenia and that are in contravention of
diplomatic practices. We return these remarks, which are not
appropriate for a leader of neighboring country and representative of
Armenian nation,” Spokesman Ibrahim Kalın told Anadolu Agency on
Saturday.

Kalın stated that Armenian administration conducts an international
campaign against Turkey by using a hate speech, which is against all
forms of diplomatic practice.

The spokesman further said: “Turkey will continue to stand against all
attempts to manipulate a one-sided view of history through
exploitative politicking. Our President called on historians for the
establishment of a “Common History Commission” in 2005 to examine
Turkey and Armenia’s common history and ensured the signing of 2009
protocols that paved the way for the normalization of Turkey-Armenia
relations. As a continuation of this peaceful and constructive
attitude, he issued a condolence message addressing all Armenians on
April 23, 2014.

“With these brave and extraordinary steps, a clear position has been
established against policies based on exploiting the pain of 1915. But
on every occasion, Armenia gave no response to these moves by Turkey.”

Kalın also added that the Armenian government was welcoming towards
neither having a fair discussion for the events of 1915 nor ending the
occupation in Nagorno-Karabakh to normalize its relations with Turkey
and Azerbaijan and to establish peace and stability in the region.

“This attitude is particularly damaging to Armenia and Armenians,” he said.

Emphasizing that irrespective of what happened Turkey had been taking
many steps for the benefit of both its Armenian citizens and the state
of Armenia, Kalın said: “The long-established Turkish-Armenian
friendship will continue to survive despite the provocations of
radical groups.”

He said that it appeared unrealistic to expect Turkey’s sincere steps
to be appreciated by President Sargsyan and his administration.

“The Armenian government’s shallow and hateful discourse seems
incapable of grasping the meaning of the Battle of Canakkale,” Kalın
said.

President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an invited more than 100 world leaders,
including Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, to attend a special
ceremony on April 23-24 commemorating the bloody battle.

As response, Sargsyan blamed Turkey for editing its own history
through marking the anniversary of the Gallipoli Battle on the day
commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide as he
called Turkey’s decision short-sighted and cynical, according to
ArmeniaNow.com.

Relations between Turkey and Armenia have historically been poor
because of incidents that took place during World War I. The Armenian
diaspora and government describe the 1915 events as “genocide” and
have asked for compensation.

Turkey officially refutes this description, saying that although
Armenians died during relocations, many Turks also lost their lives in
attacks carried out by Armenian gangs in Anatolia.

Ankara has also long been calling for Armenia and its historians to
make a joint academic research and study into the archives of both
countries.
In April 2014, President ErdoÄ?an-at the time prime minister-offered
condolences for the Armenian deaths that occurred in 1915-a first for
a Turkish statesman.

Against the proposed Europe-wide legal ban on genocide denial

Posted: January 28, 2015 in anti-semitism and racism, genocide,
Israel / Palestine

Tags: anti-semitism, European Council on Toleration and
Reconciliation, genocide denial,Holocaust denial, Israeli ban on
Nakba, Nakba

I published this letter in the Guardian on 27 January 2015 (scroll
down for my letter):

‘The proposals of a European Council on Toleration and Reconciliation
report for a Europe-wide ban on genocide denial, as part of a swathe
of new legal measures (Jewish groups want EU ban on intolerance, 26
January), are highly problematic. First, it is proposed to ban denial
of the Holocaust, but not of other historic cases such as the Armenian
genocide or the Palestinian Nakba – although Nakba denial (legally
enforced in Israel) is as likely to contribute to antisemitism (a
major concern of the report) as is Holocaust denial.

Second, it is proposed to outlaw denial only of any “other act of
genocide the existence of which has been determined by an
international criminal court or tribunal”. This sounds reasonable, but
international courts try individuals, only adjudicating history
incidentally; most recent genocide, like historic genocide, has not
been tried internationally; and these courts’ operations are highly
politically constrained.

The proposed bans will only lead to arbitrary and contested
prosecutions which increase polarisation, not reconciliation. It is
better to combat genocide denial through argument and evidence.
Martin Shaw
Author, What is Genocide?’

To expand, there are at least five separate issues here:

1. Banning ideas, however reactionary, as such – rather than when they
threaten violence or discrimination – breaches freedom of speech.

2. The report doesn’t say what is to be banned – ‘literal’ denial (of
the facts) or ‘interpretative’ denial (whether the events constitute a
genocide). My reference to the Nakba illustrates the contentiousness
of the latter issue, and the line where legitimate debate and denial
gets blurred. I do not think it is possible to legally define this
line: it is a matter for historians.

3. Naming the Holocaust as a genocide that can’t be denied, while
requiring all other genocides to pass a legal test before their denial
counts for the purposes of banning, is inconsistent and protects the
memory of the Holocaust while not protecting that of many other
historic and contemporary episodes.

3 In any case, there is no international legal framework for
recognising genocides and the corpus of international legal decisions
is decidedly not robust enough to provide an impartial framework. Many
cases cannot be brought before international courts for political
reasons, and courts are subject to political pressures in operations,
leading them to inconsistent decisions which even involve genocide
denial as in the case of the International Court of Justice decision
on Bosnia.

4 In the contemporary European context, to legally ban Holocaust
denial while not protecting the memory of other genocides such as the
Nakba, which matter particularly to Muslim and Arab minorities, can
easily be construed as a partisan intervention, and enforcement could
easily contribute to polarisation. The incarceration of
Holocaust-denying ‘historian’ David Irving in Austria did little good,
and the indictment of Muslim Holocaust-deniers in France, say, could
actively cause harm.

5 The report is considerably motivated by the desire to stem (indeed
ban) anti-semitism. However we know that contemporary European
anti-semitism, while rooted in jihadist ideology as well as historic
legacies, is hugely stimulated by Israel’s treatment of the
Palestinians, as the big spike following last summer’s Israeli
atrocities in Gaza showed. Israel has instrumentalised the Holocaust
while simultaneously banning commemoration of the Nakba. Netanyahu is
now shamelessly instrumentalising the recent genocidal mini-massacre
of Jews in Paris. I argue that to weaken anti-semitism, rather than
reinforcing these Israeli narratives by banning Holocaust denial, it
is necessary to seek a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians
and to challenge Israeli ideology. Recognition of the Nakba could be a
powerful step in that direction. The European Council on Toleration
and Reconciliation would have done better to focus on.this alternative
agenda.

DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
January 30, 2015 Friday

VERSION ABOUT AN ACCOMPLICE OF THE SOLDIER WHO HAS KILLED THE FAMILY
IN GYUMRI IS BEING CHECKED IN ARMENIA

Prosecutor’s office of Armenia admitted that Russian serviceman Valery
Permyakov who killed seven people in Gyumri might be not alone. Deputy
head of the Armenian police Unan Pogosyan announced this. The crime
happened on January 12. Conscript soldier Permyakov fled from the
Russian military base in Gyumri, broke into the house of the Avetisyan
family and killed all its members including two little children. The
criminal was arrested during an attempt to cross the Armenian-Turkish
border. The motives of the killer who is in custody now are not clear
still. Joint investigation is being done by Russian and Armenian
law-enforcement agencies. Trial about the case of Permyakov will take
place on the territory of Armenia in the open mode.

Source: Novye Izvestia, January 27, 2015, p. 3

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 31 2015

Traces of three Armenian families in Depo show

For the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, Depo culture and
arts center is putting on several exhibitions about families who were
forced to leave their homes and properties or killed in various cities
in Anatolia.

The first of these shows `Armenian Family Stories and Lost
Landscapes,’ featuring a photography and research project by Helen
Sheehan about three families who are currently living in diaspora, is
currently on view in the Tophane neighborhood of Ä°stanbul.

Irish artist Sheehan became interested in the subject while she was a
teacher at the Mechitarist Seminary School on the Armenian Island of
St. Lazzaro in Venice in the 1990s. In 2009, she decided to do
research on Armenians in diaspora in Paris and London where she was
able to find members of these families. The ancestors of the people
she found were from the eastern Anatolian city of Diyarbakır, known to
them as Digranagerd, and from Marash, Zeytun and Van region.

For the exhibition she took a series of photographs taken in the
properties of these people, sometimes projecting their old photos onto
the wall of a dilapidated house, or with the daily objects of family
members such as a scarf or a pocket watch.

Asena Günal, program coordinator at Depo, explains in an interview
with Sunday’s Zaman that they are aiming at putting on shows exposing
the lost past of the Armenian people. `Rather than documents showing
numbers or facts, we are trying to exhibit human stories and we
believe this is more effective. In our previous exhibitions on the
same topic, it was clearly seen that once these people were living
here together with us and we were next to each other in cultural and
social spheres, they contributed a lot to the cultural heritage of the
area.

“We will continue to do so. This year is very important because it
marks the 100th anniversary of the genocide and it has a symbolic
meaning. So we will be showcasing a number of shows both from Armenian
artists living in diaspora and also artists from Turkey who are
interested in the topic,’ she explains.

Regarding the current exhibition, Günal says the photographer is
attempting to bring their past back to places she calls lost
landscapes. `She is kind of reviving these families in the lands from
where they were forced to move,’ she notes.

In his article in the show’s catalogue, Dickran Kouymijan writes that
this research is about memory, lost landscapes and the destruction of
the concept of home, themes underlining this exhibition. “In one
passage while Marianna [Patricia] is looking at an album of old
photographs she sees one of her mother as a young, elegant woman in
Beirut. She exclaims, ‘I would have been just like her, surrounded by
admirers at parties, dancing to Arabic music so beautifully that
everyone stops and stares. I stare. It is how things should have
been.’

“But as we see in Helen Sheehan’s pictures, no matter how hauntingly
beautiful they are, things are not like they should have been. The
dilemma is how to live with that reality: the destroyed concept of
home or homeland, the haunted mind of memory? Or as Patricia Sarrafian
Ward has one of Marianna’s relatives say, ‘The past will never be
undone’,’ he writes.

`Sheehan’s photographs and her profound texts on exile and
extermination, on Genocide and its negation, her determination through
art to allow the Armenians to inhabit again their homes, tries and for
most succeeds in creating optimal conditions to re-imagine a past that
in many respects has in fact been resurrected, at least in Diyarbakir,
renewed like the Church of St. Giragos has been restored,’ Kouymijan
writes, adding that Diyarbakır is full of people searching for a new
identity, and though it is not the one his own ancestors knew, it is,
nevertheless, Armenian.

`Armenian Family Stories and Lost Landscapes’ will run through Feb. 8
at Depo in Tophane. For more information, visit

NATO: Georgia Training Facility Could Open in 2015
Jan. 30, 2015
Reuters

TBILISI, GEORGIA’

NATO said Friday that it hoped to open a training center in Georgia by
the end of the year, signaling a strengthening of its relationship
with the former Soviet republic that is likely to antagonize Russia.

Georgia’s government has long hoped to join the military alliance. But
Russia, which fought a 2008 war with Georgia over two Moscow-backed
breakaway regions, has said such a move would threaten its security.

The Kremlin last month accused NATO of turning another former Soviet
state, Ukraine, into a “front line of confrontation” amid the worst
standoff between Moscow and the West since the Cold War.

NATO Deputy Secretary-General Alexander Vershbow said the new training
center would be set up as part of a package of measures to boost
Georgia’s defense capabilities agreed upon at a summit in September.

“We are hoping that it can be operational by the end of this year,”
Vershbow told reporters in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.

NATO has already agreed in principle that Georgia should one day
become a member. But analysts say the process has been delayed by
member countries’ reluctance to further provoke Russia.

Vershbow said Georgia was moving forward on its path toward membership
but declined to set out a timetable.

NATO boosted its military presence in Eastern Europe last year, saying
it had evidence that Russia orchestrated and armed a pro-Russian
rebellion in eastern Ukraine, which followed Russia’s annexation of
Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and the overthrow of a Kremlin-backed
president in Kyiv.

Moscow denies supporting the rebellion.

Georgia, a South Caucasus country crossed by pipelines that carry
Caspian oil and gas from Azerbaijan to Europe, has sent its troops to
support the NATO mission in Afghanistan.

Nikolay Bordyuzha: CSTO cannot give military response to escalation of
tension along contact line of Azerbaijani-Armenian troops

by Tatevik Shahunyan
Friday, January 30, 18:07

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can be resolved only by peaceful means.
In connection with the escalation of tension in the conflict zone, in
2014 and before, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)
repeatedly issued statements calling the parties for a peaceful
solution to the conflict, CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha
said on Friday at a briefing in Rossiya Segodnya information agency.

According to APA’s Moscow correspondent, answering Armenian
journalist’s question on why the CSTO did not given any response to
what happened on the contact line of Azerbaijani-Armenian troops in
January 2014, Nikolay Bordyuzha said in 2014 and before, the CSTO and
Russia’s Foreign Ministry made numerous statements regarding the
escalation of tension in the conflict zone.

“The CSTO has clearly expressed its position through these statements.
Do you want us to give a military response? No, it is impossible and
contrary to the Charter of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization. The OSCE Minsk Group deals with the resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The co-chair countries are making efforts
for a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. As for the
CSTO, it was chaired by Russia last year. In August 2014, the Russian
president met with presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Sochi where
the sides underlined the importance of resolving the conflict only by
peaceful way. This is the position of the CSTO member states as well,”
he noted.

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RPA MP had purchased the property of a businessman involved in offshore scandal

January 31 2015

According to information of a famous offshore scandal victim, also
businessman Paylak Hayrapetyan, half of his property pledged at the
“Ameria bank” is purchased by RPA MP Mher Sedrakyan (known as Tokhmakh
Mher). Paylak Hayrapetyan has not even managed to submit a lawsuit to
the court with a claim to ban the sale of his property pledged to the
bank. According to him, the investigation was still underway when,
“Ameria bank” has put his property for sale at a low price. “The
Jermuk sport complex, another hotel complex, my son’s summer house and
two building on Kochar Street were pledged. Now, everything is sold by
pieces and shared between each other.” He is planning to apply to the
court in the coming days to save his remaining property pledged to the
bank. He hopes that he will manage doing it. To our question of what
news does he have about the interrogation of detained Shot Sukiasyan
involved in the scandal, Paylak Hayrapetyan told that Sukiasyan
repeatedly confirmed that he has forged the signatures of the former
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and the leader of the Ararat Diocese of
the Armenian Apostolic Church Archbishop Khchoyan. “But the prosecutor
said that such a thing is impossible, if they do send the signed-in
document or do not go to sign them. There’s something so dark in this
matter.” Note that back in 2009, in the office of the Minister Nerses
Yeritsyan at the building of the Ministry of Economy, the then Prime
Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan organized a meeting-conference
with the leaders of 23 industrial organizations, which discussed the
500 million dollars loan of Russia to Armenia, of which Russia was to
give 100 million dollars in the form of product – raw diamond. And the
100 million dollars loan was to be divided between these 23
organizations, so that the latter would start working. Businessman
Paylak Hayrapetyan had offered to pledge all his assets worth of 33
million dollars and had given about 10 million dollars received from
“Ameria bank” to Ashot Sukiasyan, who taking the amount had fled the
country. In 2014, February, Ashot Sukiasyan was detected in Georgia.

Arpine SIMONYAN
Read more at:

State commission unveils Armenian genocide centenary dedicated events

YEREVAN, January 30. / ARKA /. Chief of presidential staff Vigen
Sargsyan, who is coordinating a long string of events designed to
commemorate the centenary of the Armenian genocide unveiled them
today.

He said an international media forum entitled ‘At the Foothill of
Mount Ararat’ for journalists from CIS and other countries is
scheduled for April 18-20. They will arrive to cover the commemoration
that will run April 22-24.

On April 22-23 Yerevan will host an international conference entitled
‘Against Genocidal Crimes’ with participation of executive and
legislative authorities and religious leaders from many countries.

On April 23 a special ceremony will be conducted by the Armenian
Apostolic Church in Etchmiadizn to
sanctify 1.5 million Armenians killed by the government of Turkey in
1915-1923. On the same day the famous System of a Down music group
will perform a concert under the motto ‘Wake up the Souls.’

A torchlight march to Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Memorial is scheduled
for April 23 evening. The genocide victims remembrance ceremony will
be held on April 24 morning. In the evening a concert of classical
music will be held featuring musicians from the countries which
officially recognized the Armenian genocide.

A flower called ‘forget-me-not’ was chosen as the symbol of the
events. The motto of the events is “We Remember and Demand…” -0-

Bekaryan: Concessions proposed by mediators cannot be realized in practice

15:21 30/01/2015 >> POLITICS

Political analyst Karen Bekaryan believes the concessions proposed by
the Karabakh mediators are impossible to realize.

“The concessions proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs with an
aim of achieving a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict may seem good theoretically, but they cannot be realized in
practice, taking into consideration the conduct of Azerbaijan and the
lack of confidence,” the head of the European Integration NGO told
reporters on Friday.

The international community should be aware of this situation, the
analyst stressed.

Source: Panorama.am

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Jan 30 2015

Colorado State Senate voices strong support for Azerbaijan,
embarrassing Armenian lobby’s fiasco

30 January 2015, 13:48 (GMT+04:00)
By Sara Rajabova

Senate of the U.S.’ Colorado State has expressed strong support for
Azerbaijan and the U.S.-Azerbaijan relations.

Colorado State Senate presented a statement expressing strong support
for Azerbaijan on January 29, the Consulate General of Azerbaijan in
Los Angeles reported.

Signed by Senate President Bill Cadman, the statement was solemnly
presented on the Senate Floor to Nasimi Aghayev, Azerbaijan’s Consul
General in Los Angeles.

Senator Larry Crowder noted that today the United States cannot fight
alone effectively against global problems such as international
terrorism. He stressed in this regard the importance of staunchly
supporting America’s allies in the world.

In this vein, Senator Crowder presented the said statement expressing
support for Azerbaijan.

The Senate affirmed “the expanding relationship between the United
States and Azerbaijan over the past two decades, cooperating on
matters of energy security, the fight against international terrorism,
drug and human trafficking, and non-proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction,” according to the statement.

The statement mentioned that “Azerbaijan was one of the first
countries to render unconditional assistance to the United States
after the terror attacks of 9/11, opening its airspace and airports
for the use by coalition troops in Afghanistan and sending its
soldiers to serve shoulder-to-shoulder with U.S. troops there.”

The document concluded by extending “warmest welcome to Azerbaijan’s
Consul General” and expressing the great importance of “expanding
relations in all spheres, including trade, cultural, and educational
exchange” between Azerbaijan and the State of Colorado.

Before the presentation, the Armenian lobby in the U.S. launched a
nation-wide campaign to derail the recognition of Azerbaijan on the
Senate Floor and the expression of support by Colorado for
U.S.-Azerbaijan friendship and cooperation.

However this special interest group, which advocates for Armenia’s
corrupt and abusive government, and supports the occupation and ethnic
cleansing of Azerbaijan’s lands by Armenia utterly failed, the
Consulate said.

By not succumbing to the pressure from a noxious special interest
group, the Colorado Senators demonstrated visionary statesmanship and
principled stance on America’s values and national interests, the
Consulate said.

The video of the ceremony can be viewed here:

Since Azerbaijan’s emergence as an independent nation in 1991, the
U.S.-Azerbaijan relationship has evolved into a strategic partnership
based on mutual interests and common values.

At present, Azerbaijan-U.S. relations are developing rapidly.