Statement On War Resumption – Populism: Expert

STATEMENT ON WAR RESUMPTION – POPULISM: EXPERT

news.am
May 4 2010
Armenia

"I would withhold commenting on the statement that before
Armenia-Turkey Protocols’ signing Azerbaijan allegedly decided to begin
the war in Karabakh. Turkey would not allow this to happen," political
analyst Yervand Bozoyan told NEWS.am. In his opinion, "such idle talks
will always be, yet of no interest to us." "Statements that Azerbaijan
will break out a war are mere populism," the expert concluded.

In his turn, Turkish studies expert Ruben Safrastyan stated that such
misinformation is basically to Turkey’s benefit: "Thereby it seeks to
point out that is very powerful and can affect Azerbaijan as well. It
strives to mediate in Armenia-Azerbaijan talks. In here Azerbaijan
plays its own game, that recently started to openly pressurize Armenia
and mediators. Thus, Azerbaijan gives to understand it is able to
unsheathe the sword," he reckons.

Noteworthy, that Turkish Today’s Zaman referring to Azerbaijani Yeni
Musavat source spread the information that on the threshold of the
Protocols’ signing Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev made a decision
to begin the war in Upper Karabakh, but Turkish National Intelligence
Organization took the relevant measures and talked him out of doing so.

Genocide Armenien : L’Etat Major Turc Publie Une Carte De Meskene Et

GENOCIDE ARMENIEN : L’ETAT MAJOR TURC PUBLIE UNE CARTE DE MESKENE ET DE DEIR EZ ZOR DATANT DE 1916

armenews
3?id_article=45608
4 mai 2010
TURQUIE

Le septième volume des documents d’archives a ete publie par les
militaires turcs afin de faire " la lumière sur la realite armenienne
lors de première guerre mondiale" avec des copies d’originaux.

L’Etat Major turc souhaite ainsi montre " ses efforts d’afin de montrer
la realite sur les allegations de genocide armenien a l’attention du
public en publiant le septième volume de "les Activites armeniennes
dans les documents d’archives 1914-1918".

Ce nouveau volume, prepare grâce aux efforts de l’Insitut des
Archives Militaires et des Etudes Strategiques (ATASE) et la
Direction de Surveillance de l’Etat Major, consiste en de nouvelles
copies d’originaux ecrits en osmanli accompagnees d’images. Sans le
moindre commentaire le recueil vise a detailler "les activites des
organisations et criminels armeniens qui ont eu lieu en Anatolie
orientale entre 1914 et 1918".

Voulant " resister aux allegations d’une deportation armenienne
obligatoire avec des documents officiels et indiquer les raisons de
leur relocalisation" le livre veut montrer "comment l’Empire Ottoman a
ete force de lutter contre les armeniens, qui etaient devenus "l’ennemi
interne". Le livre veut prouver que les familles armeniennes ont ete
accueillies par des familles turques et revèler aussi "les souffrances
du peuple massacre par des gangs armeniens".

Parmi les documents on peut trouver une carte de Meskene et de Deir
Ez Zor datant du 12 decembre 1916.

http://www.armenews.com/article.php

GALA TV Accusing State Revenue Committee Of Unlawfulness

GALA TV ACCUSING STATE REVENUE COMMITTEE OF UNLAWFULNESS

Tert.am
04.05.10

GALA TV Channel, located in the Armenian second-largest city Gyumri,
has released a statement in relation to the actions of the State
Revenue Committee, accusing the Head of State Revenue Committee Gagik
Khachatryan of unlawful actions and of keeping GALA’s property, not yet
passed the custom clearance procedure, what it calls "into hostage."

Further the statement says that the State Revenue Committee has also
unlawfully imposed a ban on GALA"s bank accounts pointing to the fact
that the company (CHAP LLC) has a 822,000 AMD debt in tax obligation.

"It is not clear with the letter of which law was Gagik Khachatryan
guided by when he decided to impose a ban on the property not passed
customs clearance yet. Realizing that the unreasonable actions may
bring about undesirable consequences, last week Gagik Khachatryan
decided to correct his mistake by lifting the ban on bank accounts,"
reads the statement.

Seyran Ohanyan Conducts An Open Lesson On Bravery

SEYRAN OHANYAN CONDUCTS AN OPEN LESSON ON BRAVERY

ARMENPRESS
MAY 3, 2010
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MAY 3, ARMENPRESS: RA Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan
conducted today an open lesson of bravery for the pupils of
the secondary school of Mrgashen village, Kotayk province. The
military-patriotic lesson mainly referred to the rout of bravery of
the Armenian history, especially in the Great Patriotic War and the
struggle for existence in Artsakh. According to RA Defense Minister
Seyran Ohanyan, the military authorities of the Armenian Armed Forces,
attached to the higher educational establishments of the republic,
and all the military units, attached to towns and villages, are
currently delivering corresponding lessons. ‘We have been attaching a
great importance to military-patriotic education in recent years. We
should preserve, safeguard and increase our values for the vision for
a brighter future to come true and for using all the opportunities
to make our future more developed, because the Armenian nation has
dreamt of freedom in a safe environment for ages,’ Seyran Ohanyan said.

According to Seyran Ohanyan, the Armenian nation, along with other
nations of the Soviet Union, managed to defend the homeland and to be
one the leaders during the Great Patriotic War. He says the Armenian
nation has always been aware of military science and the martial art.

‘Our history has a number of military leaders, who got their education
in various military academies of the Soviet Union and demonstrated
the character of a commander- leader,’ Mr. Seyran Ohanyan said. He
added that the Armenian nation succeeded in fighting for the defense
of its high dignity during the war of Artsakh as well. According
to the Minister, Artsakh War has a plenty of specifications and one
of them is that ‘we did not have army, but yet managed to organize
voluntary units very quickly to defend the borders of the homeland
and RA towns and villages, situated near the borders’. ‘Then we formed
regular army from those voluntary units (January 28, 1992- in the RA,
May 9- in Artsakh) with our united powers,’ the Minister said. ‘Today
RA Armed Forces involve a slew of military units, which are based on
more important areas, situated near our borders, for that we could
organize the further defense of the Republic of Armenia. We have also
established the Army of Defense of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh,’
RA Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan said. He added that one of the
keys to success of the Armenian nation were the great heroic deeds
of its warriors-heroes.

Taking Out The Russian Base From Armenia Is A Nonsense

TAKING OUT THE RUSSIAN BASE FROM ARMENIA IS A NONSENSE

Aysor
May 3 2010
Armenia

"Even if the Armenian – Turkish border will be open and the diplomatic
relations between the two countries will establish and Turkey becomes
the number one economic partner of Armenia, Armenia will need the
Russian base in any case," Turkologist Artak Shakaryan thinks. He
added that it is not profitable for both Armenia and Russia to take
out the Russian bases from the Armenian territory at least for the
first 15 – 20 years.

"Withdrawing the Russian bases from Armenia is nonsense, and is not
realistic," he said.

The other participant of the press conference Levon Shirinyan on his
turn noticed that the presence of the Russian base does not disturb
the Armenians in cooperating with NATO.

"The bases are being built based on mutual interests. The agreement
with Turkey allows demanding from our friends to be more active in
other issues," the speaker said.

Turkey remains on religious freedom "Watch List"

Turkey remains on religious freedom "Watch List"
Washington, D.C.
4/29/2010

Th e United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
(USCIRF) announced its 2010 recommendations to Congress, the White
House, and the State Department, which included keeping Turkey on its
"Watch List" as one of the most serious offenders of freedom of
religion towards non-Muslim communities.

"Over the past few months USCIRF has visited a number of human rights
‘hot spots’ where freedom of religion is obstructed and related human
rights are trampled," said Leonard Leo, USCIRF chair. "This year’s
report offers new and important policy solutions to improve conditions
where foreign policy, national security, and international standards
for the protection of freedom of religion can and should intersect.
The report’s conclusion is clear-the Administration must do more!"

Congress created the Commission in 1998 through the International
Religious Freedom Act. It serves to monitor the status of freedom of
thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international
instruments. It provides independent policy recommendations to the
President, Secretary of State, and Congress.

A fifteen-page section is devoted to the current situation in Turkey
in which the Commission begins:

"Serious limitations on the freedom of religion or belief continue to
occur in Turkey. Turkey’s active civil society, media, and political
parties influence the climate for religious freedom and help define
the debate about the appropriate role of religion in society. Turkey
has a democratic government, and the country’s constitution calls for
the protection of the freedom of belief and worship and the private
dissemination of religious ideas. Nonetheless, the Turkish
government’s attempt to control religion and its effort to exclude
religion from the public sphere based on its interpretation of
secularism result in serious religious freedom violations for many of
the country’s citizens, including members of majority and, especially,
minority religious communities. The European Union (EU) continues to
find that, despite some improvements since its 2001 bid to join the
EU, "Turkey needs to make additional efforts to create an environment
conducive to full respect for freedom of religion in practice." An
additional factor influencing the climate during the past year
includes the alleged involvement of state and military officials in
the Ergenekon plot, which included alleged plans to assassinate the
Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox patriarchs and to bomb mosques."

The report continues saying,

"U.S. policy should place greater emphasis on Turkey’s compliance with
its international commitments regarding freedom of religion or belief.
For instance, the United States should encourage the Turkish
government to address the long-standing lack of full legal recognition
for religious minorities, including Alevis; Greek, Armenian, and
Georgian Orthodox; Roman and Syriac Catholics; Protestants; and Jews.
As President Obama noted in his April 2009 address to the Turkish
parliament, the United States should continue to urge Turkey to permit
all religious minorities to train religious clergy in Turkey,
including by reopening the Greek Orthodox Theological Seminary of
Halki."

Regarding the restrictions on legal status of non-Muslim minorities,
the report states:

"The 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, a peace treaty signed between Turkish
military forces and several European powers that formally established
the Republic of Turkey, contained specific guarantees and protections
for all non-Muslim religious minorities in Turkey. Since that time,
however, the Turkish government has interpreted those treaty
obligations as limited to the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and
Jewish communities. Nevertheless, despite this unique status, legal
recognition of these three religious minority communities, and
guarantees cited, have not been implemented in Turkish law or
practice, and the Turkish government continues to use the denial of
legal personality to these groups as a mechanism to restrict their
rights of religious freedom.

"Furthermore, religious groups that fall outside the Turkish
government’s view of the Lausanne Treaty’s definition of religious
minorities are severely limited in their right to freedom of religion
or belief. Over the decades, the absence of legal personality has
resulted in serious problems with regard to minority communities’
right to own, maintain, and transfer both communal and individual
property. They also face major obstacles in deciding internal
arrangements and training religious clergy. In some cases, these
obstacles have led to a critical decline in these communities on their
historic lands. The problems for the Christian minorities–including
on property rights, education, and in some instances, physical
security– partly arise from the fact that most are both religious and
ethnic minorities, and therefore are viewed with suspicion by some
ethnic Turks.

"In Turkey today, there are about 65,000 Armenian Orthodox Christians,
23,000 Jews, and approximately 1,700 Greek Orthodox Christians. When
Turkey was founded in 1923, there were 200,000 Greek Orthodox
Christians in the country. By 1955, the number had fallen to 100,000;
that year, pogroms against the Greek Orthodox resulted in the
destruction of private and commercial properties, desecration of
religious sites, and killings. Due to ongoing threats, the Greek
Orthodox community’s numbers continued to decline to their present
level.

"For more than fifty years, the Turkish government has used convoluted
regulations and undemocratic laws to confiscate hundreds of religious
minority properties, primarily those belonging to the Greek and
Armenian Orthodox communities, as well as those of the Catholic and
Jewish communities."

Further reporting about the restrictions faced by the Ecumenical
Patriarchate and Armenian Patriarchate, state:

"The Turkish state also has closed minority communities’ seminaries,
denying these communities the right to train clergy, and has
interfered with their internal arrangements and leadership decisions.
For example, the Turkish government still does not recognize the Greek
Ecumenical Patriarchate as a legal entity.

"Moreover, it only acknowledges the Patriarch as head of the Greek
Orthodox community in Turkey, not as Ecumenical Patriarch, despite
Prime Minister Erdogan’s January 2008 statement in parliament that
Patriarch Bartholomew’s "Ecumenical" title was an internal church
issue. In March 2010, the Venice Commission, a Council of Europe
advisory body, stated that there is no factual or legal reason,
including the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, for the Turkish government not
to acknowledge the status of the Patriarch as "ecumenical," based on
the historically recognized title and prerogatives. The Turkish
government also maintains that only Turkish citizens can be candidates
to be Patriarch or hierarchs in the Church’s Holy Synod. The Turkish
embassy in Washington, DC informed USCIRF in February 2010 that the
government had discussed the possible application for Turkish
citizenship of the relevant Greek Orthodox Metropolitans in August
2009 in a meeting with the Patriarchate, but no action has been taken.

"In 1971, the government’s nationalization of higher education
institutions included the Greek Orthodox Theological School of Halki
on the island of Heybeli, thereby depriving the Greek Orthodox
community of its only educational institution for its religious
leadership in Turkey. Furthermore, in November 1998, the school’s
Board of Trustees was dismissed by the General Authority for Public
Institutions. The Halki seminary remains closed; according to the
Turkish embassy in Washington, DC, as of early 2010, the Turkish
authorities continued to explore with the Patriarchate possible venues
for its reopening.

"In 2008, the ECtHR ruled in a case brought by the Greek Orthodox
Ecumenical Patriarchate that Turkey was in violation of Article 1 of
Protocol No. 1 (protection of property) of the European Convention on
Human Rights. The case concerned the Turkish government’s
expropriation of the Greek Orthodox orphanage on the Turkish island of
Buyukada. The court unanimously ruled against the Turkish state for
improperly taking the orphanage owned by the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
The Turkish government has yet to implement the court’s ruling.

"The Armenian Orthodox community, which is Turkey’s largest non-Muslim
religious minority, also lacks a seminary in Turkey to educate its
clerics and today only has 26 priests. In 2006, the Armenian Patriarch
submitted a proposal to the Minister of Education to enable the
Armenian Orthodox community to establish at a state university a
faculty on Christian theology with instruction by the Patriarch. To
date, the Turkish government has not responded to this request.
Additionally, like the Greek Orthodox Patriarch, the Armenian
Patriarch lacks legal personality. The Armenian Patriarch reportedly
receives about 300 email threats daily, and has two secret police
bodyguards who accompany him at all times.

"Due to the Turkish law banning the public wearing of clerical garb,
foreign Christian clergy, including Georgian, Greek and Russian
Orthodox, were required in 2009 to remove their church vestments
before they were allowed to enter Turkey. Christian clerics in Turkey
who are Turkish citizens cannot wear their clerical dress anywhere in
public."

Among the several recommendations regarding Turkey, the Commission
proposes that the U.S. government should:

instruct officials to drop their legal case to seize some of the land
which is the property of the Mor Gabriel Syrian Orthodox monastery;
instruct officials to uphold the decision of the European Court of
Human Rights and return the orphanage on the Turkish island of
Buyukada to the Greek Orthodox Church;
carry out Prime Minister Erdogan’s 2008 statement that the Ecumenical
status of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate should be an internal church
issue by granting official recognition to the Ecumenical status of the
Patriarch, in line with the 2010 opinion by the Council of Europe
Venice Commission;
permit all religious minorities, including those not covered by the
Lausanne Treaty, to train religious clergy, including by as repeatedly
and formally requested by every U.S. President since 1971, permitting
the reopening of the Halki Seminary, according to Turkey’s
international obligations, and allowing for religious training to
occur;
Read the entire Commission’s Annual Report on their website,
(Pages 303-317 will refer to the Commission’s findings
on Turkey)

http://www.archons.org/news/detail.asp?id=393
www.uscirf.gov

Analysis: Odds Against Knesset Recognition Of Armenian Genocide

ANALYSIS: ODDS AGAINST KNESSET RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Aris Ghazinyan

ArmeniaNow reporter
Genocide | 29.04.10 | 13:29

Haim Oron has initiated putting the genocide recognition bill on
Knesset’s agenda.

On April 28, Israeli parliamentarians decided to put the issue of the
Armenian Genocide on the Knesset’s agenda of discussions, reviving
an initiative that has been a complication for the Israelis since at
least 2007.

Israel’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense is hugely
influenced by Turkish and Azeri lobbies and the issue might, once
again, fall into oblivion.

In August of 2007, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) stated that
it would recognize the 1915 killings of 1.5 million Armenians as
Genocide. ADL Chairman Abraham Foxman said the decision was made
after careful consideration.

That piece of information outraged Turkey. At a meeting with the
Israeli Ambassador in Ankara the then foreign minister of Turkey
Abdulla Gul expressed his "wrath and disappointment" on behalf of
his country.

He also stated that the " Anti-Defamation League’s statement was,
of course, made without official intervention, nonetheless Israel
could have done something to prevent that statement".

Turkish Prime-Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the issue
with Israeli president Shimon Peres who had repeatedly stressed that
"the Armenian tragedy should not be confused with genocide".

During the past two years heated debates haven taken place in Knesset
on the appropriateness of putting the Armenian Genocide issue on the
agenda of discussions.

On March 26, 2008, Knesset was discussing whether they should put the
issue of the Armenian Genocide recognition on the agenda, when the
chairman of Parliamentary Association of Israel-Azerbaijan Friendship,
MP Joseph Shagal (Our Home Israel political party member) made a new
suggestion on submitting the issue to the Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee where the case stalled.

Two years later the issue is once more on Knesset’s agenda.

This time, Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that the bill should further
be considered by the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee – again
facing the influence of the Turkish and Azeri lobby.

This fact comes handy to Our Home Israel faction which has voted
against the bill.

On April 17, prior to the voting, Josef Shagal, who is also member
of that faction, said in an exclusive interview to 1news.az paper
that "supporters of recognition of the so-called ‘Armenian Genocide’
are a handful of marginalized Israelis, and this issue is, probably,
the only way to remind about their political existence".

Shagal, 60, was born and grew up in Baku where he has lived most of
his life. He has graduated from history faculty of Azerbaijan’s State
University. Until his repatriation to Israel he had worked in Baku
as a journalist.

It should also be noted that the initiator of the issue himself,
MP Haim Oron, does not believe a ‘positive result’ is likely to
be achieved, however, thinks it necessary to try to obtain a just
solution to the issue and recognize the Armenian Genocide.

Israel’s official position has been repeatedly voiced: "Israel
recognizes the Armenian tragedy, however that event cannot be compared
to genocide, which, nonetheless, does not belittle their tragedy.

Holocaust is an unprecedented phenomenon, and nothing, including
Armenian’s tragedy, can be compared to the Jewish Holocaust".

Saroukhan Exhibition Draws Egyptian Artists, Officials, and Youth

AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
Fax: 212.319.6507
Email: [email protected]
Website:

PRESS RELEASE

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Saroukhan Exhibition Draws Egyptian Artists, Officials, and Youth

Approximately one hundred works of the late prominent Egyptian-Armenian
illustrator Alexandre Saroukhan were exhibited for Egyptians of all
backgrounds this winter at Egypt’s Bibliotheca Alexandrina from December
9-28, 2009. The exposition drew some three hundred visitors to its
inauguration.

This was the second posthumous Saroukhan exhibit, the first having taken
place in Cairo in 1988, on the hundredth anniversary of his birth.

Saroukhan broke new ground with his political satire cartoons, which
were published in books, international magazines, and newspapers from
the late 1920’s to the late 1970’s.

AGBU Cairo was the principal sponsor of the exhibition, with several
board members and Chairman Dr. Viken Djizmedjian attending the opening.
Also present were AGBU Alexandria staff and Chairman Sarkis Vartsbedian,
AGBU Europe board member Astrid Alexanian, as well as members of
Saroukhan’s family, the Neredians, who provided all the works on
exhibit.

Among the officials, fans, and art enthusiasts who attended the
inaugural event were many young people interested in learning about the
life and work of this great caricaturist, as well as prominent artists
Farouk Shehata, Sarkis Tossounian, Hegazy, Mohamed Abla, Amr Fahmy,
Medhat Nasser and Hrant Keshishian, who coordinated the event.

In speeches, Alexandria Library’s Arts Center Director Maestro Sherif
Mohie El Din and the library’s art consultants, Mostafa El Razzaz and
Farahat Gomaa, highlighted Saroukhan’s immense influence on cartoon art
and the political milieu of Egypt during his lifetime.

As part of AGBU Cairo’s continued commitment to promoting the
Armeno-Egyptian cultural heritage, the chapter printed banners,
brochures and a 24-page booklet on Saroukhan’s life that featured images
of his most famous pieces.

Established in 1906, AGBU () is the world’s largest
non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU
preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through
educational, cultural, and humanitarian programs, annually touching the
lives of some 400,000 Armenians around the world.

For more information about AGBU and its worldwide programs, please visit

www.agbu.org
www.agbu.org
www.agbu.org.

Karabakh Cannot Be Issue Of Bargain For Davutoglu, Erdogan…: S. Sa

KARABAKH CANNOT BE ISSUE OF BARGAIN FOR DAVUTOGLU, ERDOGAN…: S. SAFARYAN

Panorama.am
30/04/2010

"Heritage&q uot; faction member Styopa Safaryan thinks the Armenian
side should send messages to the international organizations,
particularly the OSCE, that the Karabakh issue cannot be bargained
by whoever happens. Karabakh conflict should be discussed by the
interested parties only and it should not become an issue of bargain
for Davutoglu, Erdogan, Putin, or representatives of other powers,
he said at a parliamentary briefing.

"Eventually, this is not Kars agreement to be signed by Russia and
Turkey as they once did. It’s high time for Armenia to find ways and
send a note over pushing Turkey away from the Minsk group. Turkey’s
impact on the process is impermissible," the parliamentarian said.

Armenia Again Among ‘Not Free’ In Freedom House Report

ARMENIA AGAIN AMONG ‘NOT FREE’ IN FREEDOM HOUSE REPORT

Tert.am
16:00 ~U 29.04.10

A Washington-based international non-governmental organization Freedom
House has released its 2010 report on freedom of press in which the
countries are classified as "free," "partially free" and "not free."

Armenia is among those states "not free" side by side with Cameroon,
Côte d’Ivoire, Marroco, Katar, Azerbaïdjan and Iran.

However, Freedom House has registered some improvements in Armenia.

"We see a reduction of censorship in Armenia and Moldova, as well as
a decrease of control over news reports," reads the report.

Though Armenia has improved the situation over freedom of media by
two points (now it is 66 points while last year it was 68), it has
nevertheless remained in the same group.

Of the three countries in the South Caucasus only Georgia has been
included among "partially free" states.

The report includes 196 states of which 35% have a "free" press, 33%
has "partially free" press and 32% – "not free."

The list of the states that have "free" press are Finland, Iceland,
Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, Andorra, Swiss.

Among "not free" states are Iran, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Cuba, Eritrea,
Libya, Burma, Turkmenistan and North Korea.