GEGHAM GHARIBJANIAN RELIEVED OF HIS POST AS DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER OF ARMENIA
Noyan Tapan
Jan 19, 2009
YEREVAN, JANUARY 19, NOYAN TAPAN. By the January 19 decree of the
Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan, Gegham Gharibjanian has been
relieved of his post as deputy foreign minister of the Republic of
Armenia in connection with being transferred to another position,
NT was informed by the RA presidential press service.
‘TURKEY ASSUMES BIG ROLE IN MIDDLE EAST’
Hurriyet
Jan 19 2009
Turkey
MADRID – Turkey has been assuming an important role in the Middle
East for a long time and this strengthens the hand of those believing
the country should be close to Europe, EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier
Solana told daily La Vanguardia in an article published yesterday.
"Turkey’s recent efforts during the war in Georgia, the Gaza crisis,
as well as the improvement of ties with Armenia have caught attention,"
he said.
Hürriyet, Turkey
Jan 17 2009
‘Flash mob’ performance on Hrant Dink anniversary
ISTANBUL – Turkey’s right-minded people have mobilized under the
slogan ‘We were shot on that day, too.’ More than 300 people, from
students to pensioners, are planning to gather on the anniversary of
Agos editor-in-chief Hrant Dink’s assassination.
The message, "We were shot on that day, too," has been sent over
popular friendship network Facebook and will bring more than 300
people together to raise awareness of the assassination of weekly Agos
editor-in-chief Hrant Dink.
Hundreds of people, including students and retired people, will come
together in an initiative started by Turkish youth to give a
performance on Jan. 18 and 19 at 3 p.m, to commemorate the anniversary
of Dink’s murder.
During the performance, the moment when Dink was shot and fell will be
reenacted. A camera will record the performance. The performers will
fall down one by one. Each of them, after lying down for a few seconds
will reenact the moment when the soul leaves the body. The only thing
the performers need to do is to get up and walk without looking at the
camera after they stand up.
In correspondence with the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic
Review about the BaÅ?ka Culture House event, performers Eylem
Akkaya, Ä°lker Eraslan, Ä°brahim BaÅ?, Erdi Biltekin
and Hüseyin Civan wrote, "The Dink murder is the deepest and
freshest wound caused by Ergenekon, the deep state and counter
guerrillas. We will also commemorate our intellectual people, who have
also been the victims of murder. We call on everyone to join us for
Dink and for justice."
Gathering through ‘flash mob’ technique
Eraslan said they started to rehearse for the performance at the
beginning of November using the "flash mob" technique. Even though
this technique is used for fun abroad, he said, it was mostly used in
Turkey to draw attention to social events and traumas. As part of this
technique, an announcement is made over the Internet to gather people
together and then these people perform together.
Akkaya, stating that many performances had been held at the
BaÅ?ka Culture House, said, "The main goal of this performance
is to visualize the moment when Dink was shot among crowds in
different locations in Istanbul and to keep the memory of society of
this event fresh.
‘As a society, we were all shot with Dink, too’
Aside from the goal Akkaya spoke of, one of the biggest aims of the
performance is to reenact the "social shooting," said BaÅ?,
"When Dink was shot, our society was also shot and wounded. We should
never forget this pain."
Speaking about Dink’s mission, the performers said, "Dink was our
brother, who defended the brotherhood of people and fought for it. He
was shot and we were shot too. This pain is the pain of all of us."
The performers, who seek to draw attention to the importance to the
normalization of the common language of brotherhood in Turkey, as
opposed to the language of nationalism and racism, said, "We should
speak of the damage of the language of nationalism and racism to all
people from the very young to the very old. We can have safety and
peace only when we normalize this thought."
Performances at the BaÅ?ka Culture House will continue after the
commemoration to Dink. Performers will come together a short time
later and draw attention to the tragedy in Palestine. Those who want
to join flash mob performances can obtain information through
Interfax, Russia
Jan 16 2009
Lavrov categorically denies claims of Russian arms supplies to Armenia
in 2008
MOSCOW Jan 16
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has denied media reports
claiming major deliveries of Russian weapons to Armenia.
"We have investigated this situation together with the General
Staff. The person whose surname is mentioned by Azerbaijan’s media did
not sign any documents. No [arms] shipments were made to Armenia last
year," Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow on Friday.
The Russian minister said he is speaking about the publication of a
document signed by a certain person in Azerbaijan’s media. This
document refers "a huge amount of military hardware and military
property that was allegedly delivered to Armenia a short time ago," he
said.
The Russian authorities have asked Azeri officials to produce their
copy of this document, Lavrov said. "Our inquiry has shown that such a
document does not exist. We may conduct a graphology examination of
this copy," he added.
"Russia has never made it a secret that it has a program of
military-technological cooperation with Armenia. It has a similar
program with Azerbaijan," the foreign minister said.
"These programs are not classified. Armenia is a member of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization. This organization’s members
enjoy privileged conditions. Our Azeri friends are very well aware of
this. No one has any questions about our military-technological
cooperation with Armenia and Azerbaijan," Lavrov said.
RUSSIAN MUSICIAN-MISSIONARY RETURNS TO AREA CHURCHES
Charleston Gazette
January 14, 2009, Wednesday
West Virginia
Olga Petrosyan, the young, Russian woman who has performed and spoken
several times in the area, is returning to West Virginia for a visit
and will be appearing at local churches this month.
The 24-year-old, gifted and talented musician from Volgograd, Russia,
will be singing and sharing her testimony of how God continues to
work in her and her family’s lives.
When she was a small girl, they were forced to flee from the tiny
country where they lived to keep from being killed by the government
military.
There was a time in Petrosyan’s life when she feared to make as much
as a single sound.
She can recall a horrifying night when she was only 4 years old
in Azerbaijan, a part of the former Soviet Union which is bounded
by Iran on the south, by the Caspian Sea on the east, by Russia’s
Dagestan Republic on the north and by Armenia on the west.
During the late 1980s, ethnic Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh
region of Azerbaijan had pressed for its unification with Armenia,
leading to a guerrilla war.
Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, a large-scale conflict
broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia in 1992.
Even though they were Armenian by blood, the Petrosyans had lived in
Azerbaijan and spoke only the native Azeri and Russian languages.
Petrosyan sometimes describes the terror in the night – the knock at
the door. Azeri extremists were going from house to house, searching
out ethnic Armenians for extermination. Discovery would mean death.
Then, an Azeri neighbor spoke to the gunmen and rescued the family
from the prospect of imminent death.
Shortly after that, Olga’s family joined a flood of refugees crossing
the border. Then the family moved north to Volgograd, formerly known
as Stalingrad, where Olga’s grandparents had a home.
Her grandmother attended regularly the church services in a local
theater there, and, in those circumstances, despair was transformed
into hope for the family. At age 11, she became a Christian at a
Nazarene Youth Camp.
Petrosyan wanted to go to school in America, but the cost was far
beyond the means of the $100 per month of family income.
Then a letter came, offering a $10,000 scholarship. An Indiana family
offered to sponsor part of her college education here in the United
States.
But Petrosyan had to match it for the $20,000.
She succeeded. Other families supported her with gifts totaling $8,000.
She paid the balance by work on campus and personal ministry in the
United States.
Petrosyan graduated from Bethel College with a Vocal Performance degree
and is now serving as minister of music for a church in Copenhagen,
Denmark, and as a missionary.
To hear and meet this young lady who is using her talents for the
glory of God, plan to attend one of the following:
– Sunday, Jan. 18: South Charleston First Church of the Nazarene,
10:45 a.m.; Grace Church of the Nazarene, South Charleston, 6 p.m.
– Sunday, Jan. 25: Forrest Burdette United Methodist Church, Hurricane,
8:30 and 11 a.m.; Poca Baptist Church, 6 p.m.
– Tuesday, Jan. 27: Putnam Rotary Club, noon, Wellington’s at
Scarlet Oaks.
Olga Petrosyan of Volgograd, Russia, will sing and share her personal
testimony at three area churches during January.
REVENUES FROM COMMUNICATION SERVICES INCREASE BY 13.5% IN ARMENIA IN JANUARY-NOVEMBER 2008
Noyan Tapan
Jan 14, 2008
YEREVAN, JANUARY 14, NOYAN TAPAN. The revenues from services
provided by Armenian communication enterprises amounted to 154 bln
367.2 mln drams or 504.8 mln USD (without VAT) in current prices in
January-November 2008, increasing by 13.5% in comparable prices as
compared with January-November 2007.
According to the RA National Statistical Service, the transporation
of goods by general use transport declined by 9.1% in Armenia in
January-November 2008 on the same months of 2007 and made 8 mln
574.2 thousand tons, while the turnover of goods grew by 6.3% to 2
bln 695.6 mln tonne-kilometers.
The transportation of passengers by general use transport declined
by 2.9% in the indicated period on January-November 2007 and made
224 mln 586.1 thousand passengers, whereas the passenger turnover
grew by 4.1% to 3 bln 598.5 mln passenger-kilometers.
The number of road accidents grew by 12% in the country in
January-November 2008 on the same period of 2007 and made 1,994, as a
result of which 363 people died (3.7% growth) and 2,850 were injured
(14.3% growth).
ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY DISPROVES INFORMATION ABOUT RECENT MEETING OF ARMENIAN AND TURKISH DIPLOMATES
ArmInfo
2009-01-15 16:09:00
ArmInfo. Armenian Foreign Ministry has disproved the information about
recent meeting of Armenian and Turkish diplomates. As press-secretary
of Armenian Foreign Ministry Tigran Balayan told ArmInfo correspondent,
this information is false.
To note, Azerbaijani sources referring to the CNNTurk reported about
the "meeting", which allegedly took place on 5 January 2009, but the
place of the meeting was not mentioned.
OSCE MG CO-CHAIRS HOPE FOR PRESIDENTIAL MEETING IN JANUARY
PanARMENIAN.Net
13.01.2009 13:57 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group will arrive
in the region on January 19. Next day they will travel to Yerevan.
"We are hopeful that the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will
agree to hold talks late January," U.S. mediator Matt Bryza said.
As Tigran Balayan, head of the RA Foreign Ministry’s media relations
division told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter earlier, the Co-chairs will
meet with the President and Foreign Minister of Armenia.
BAYKAL IS RIGHT: TURKEY’S REGIME IS CHANGING
Jan 12 2009
Turkey
The harshest reaction to the latest wave of detentions of suspected
members of the Ergenekon terrorist organization, as it was preparing
for a series of assassinations of several Alevi and Armenian leaders
and a number of intellectuals, came, as expected, from Republican
People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal.
Soon after the detentions, Baykal held a press conference to divulge
his assessments about the Ergenekon investigation: "It is very clear
that such pictures are seen only in countries that have undergone a
regime change or are in the process of a regime change. … There
is no doubt that Turkey is on the verge of a historical turning
point. … We see that the ongoing events have taken us to a new
stage. … This course of events is ominous to those who silently watch
this project as it unfolds. In a sense, I want to sound an alarm in
society. Everyone must assess their stances and ask themselves whether
they act according to their responsibilities. Those who keep silent
will be a party to this responsibility."
Baykal is right in saying that Turkey is going through a regime
change. Indeed, Turkey is seeing a change that is as important as
a regime change. This change is made possible by the Ergenekon
investigation, which is a first in Turkish history and which
touches the very untouchable thanks to the rule of law; however,
the direction of the change is not like that of change seen before
Hitler or Khomeini, as claimed by Baykal. In other words, Turkey
is rapidly changing from an oligarchic deep state structure — that
always regards the popular will as a threat and consists of people
holding top state positions who have no respect for the law and who
see themselves as deserving to be able to do everything as they wish
— to a more transparent and more democratic structure. Thanks to
the Ergenekon investigation, Turkey has the opportunity to question
its past 40 or 50 years, which are rife with mysterious murders,
dark social provocation, military coups and terrorists attacks.
But, Baykal tends to sing the same tune after every Ergenekon
operation. He claims that detaining "respected figures of society"
and people who have secured top state positions within the scope of
the probe into the Ergenekon terrorist organization is an attempt to
confront the republic, i.e., a counterrevolutionary move. He does not
hesitate for a moment when calling on everyone, including the army,
to take action and prevent this confrontation. In his words, he wants
to "alarm" these groups. The bombs, weapons and abundant ammunition
seized before or after every operation against Ergenekon do not
seem sufficient to Baykal. It is really impossible to understand the
reaction voiced by Baykal, who labels as "unlawful" or "political"
operations that have been approved by courts of law upon evidence
submitted by prosecutors.
Doesn’t Baykal know the kind of anti-democratic and unlawful actions
the Ergenekon suspects whom he describes as "respected figures of
society" have been involved in for decades? Why does he insist on
defending them despite knowing this? Is it because Baykal sees himself
as part of the web of dark plots made by these groups, with whom he
rowed in the same boat during the presidential elections in 2007,
the closure case against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK
Party) and the constitutional amendments lifting the ban on headscarf?
How these "respected" people have managed to secure top state positions
is fuel for another discussion, but how does Baykal reconcile his
suggestion that laws which are applicable to ordinary citizens cannot
be applied to people who hold high positions with the principle of
"the rule of law"? If we are supposed to have a perspective in the
same vein as the logic of Sabih Kanadoglu, honorary president of
the Supreme Court of Appeals, whose house was searched during the
latest operation against Ergenekon, the fact that the members of the
Ergenekon terrorist organization have secured top state positions
does not increase their respectability but the level of threat they
pose. As you might remember, during the closure case against the AK
Party, Kanadoglu, the mastermind behind the legal oddity of the 367
decision, and his peers argued constantly that the fact that the AK
Party is not a marginal party but a ruling party that has received
the support of one out of every two people makes its closure much
more vital and necessary as this high level of electoral support
implies the magnitude of the threat it poses.
Some of those detained (some were released to be tried without
arrest) and some of those arrested include top army commanders,
the secretary-general of the National Security Council (MGK), the
president of the Higher Education Board (YOK) and people who held
other critical positions in the past, and this does not imply that
they are exempt from committing crimes or that they do not violate the
law or that they are above the law. In the final analysis, this is
not the first time we have seen shadowy networks like Ergenekon. As
you may remember, Italy underwent a similar process just after the
end of the Cold War, i.e., in the early 1990s, and the investigation
there involved many "respected and high-ranking" public officials,
including a president and a prime minister. Having served as a prime
minister seven times and as a minister 21 times, Giulio Andreotti was
sentenced to 24 years in prison at the age of 83. If Baykal had been
living in Italy, he would not have allowed these detentions because
of the caste system in his mind, which differentiates between "those
who can be tried and those who are untouchables."
The number and diversity of those who were investigated under the
Gladio and Clean Hands operations in Italy give important hints
about the future course of the Ergenekon investigation. In Italy,
622 people who had been trained by the US and UK secret services were
detained; 139 weapons and ammunition depots were unearthed; it was
demanded that the immunity of 463 deputies be lifted; complaints
were filed regarding 7,147 people; and 911 businessmen and 2,993
public officials were tried. Twelve former ministers and deputies,
including former Prime Minister Bettino Craxi, were arrested.
As the state in Turkey is no cleaner than the state in Italy, no one
should overlook the Ergenekon investigation. Yet, Baykal is still
right. Turkey’s regime is really changing. Baykal is also right in
being extremely uneasy. This is because even if, in the most optimistic
prediction, the Ergenekon investigation does not include him as he
suspects, Turkey will attain a fully democratic state governed by
the rule of law and a true republic at the end of this process of
change. And when this happens, Baykal’s CHP will lose its power and
luxury to act as if it is the real political power in this country
although it secures a mere 20 percent of the vote. And the army will
attain the position it deserves in contemporary democracies. The regime
will no longer be a bureaucratic state that occasionally resorts to
extra-judicial methods to commit murders or cause provocation or
back terrorism and will transform into a democratic republic. So,
in the face of this change, who, other than Baykal, would have the
greatest concern about the Ergenekon investigation?
TURKEY, ARMENIA TO RECEIVE FIFA FAIR-PLAY AWARD
PanARMENIAN.Net
12.01.2009 17:56 GMT+04:00
World’s football governing body is set to donate its 2008 fair-play
prize to Turkish and Armenian national football teams for their
contributions to peace in a World Cup group stage match.
FIFA will present the international award at a ceremony on Monday in
Zurich, Switzerland, the Anatolian Agency reports.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited Yerevan on September 6, 2008
to watch the qualifier between Armenia and Turkey together with his
Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan.