Author: Nanijanian Alex

EDWARD NALBANDIAN: INFORMATION ABOUT NEW DOCUMENT NEGOTIATED BY ARMENIA AND TURKEY FALSE

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 21, 2010 – 11:53 AMT 06:53 GMT

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian refuted Turkish media
reports about a new document negotiated by Armenia and Turkey.

"The information is false and is not worth being commented on,"
Minister Nalbandian said during a joint news conference with his
Argentine counterpart Jorge Taiana.

Turkey’s AK Party Deputy Chairman of External Affairs Suat Kiniklioglu
said at a panel discussion in Washington on May 19 that there is a
"brilliant proposal" for Turkish-Armenian reconciliation and that it
is up to Armenia to accept or reject it.

The Armenian Minister also denied reports about discussions on
withdrawal of NKR Defense troops from Kelbajar and Lachin.

RA PRIME MINISTER AND ORENBURG GOVERNOR DISCUSS ISSUES ON DEEPENING THE COOPERATION

ARMENPRESS
MAY 20, 2010
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MAY 20, ARMENPRESS: RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan
received today the delegation, headed by the Governor of Orenburg
region Aleksey Chernishev. Mr. Tigran Sargsyan welcomed the guest
and said he appreciates the Armenian-Russian strategic cooperation,
which represents mutual interest. The Governmental press service told
Armenpress that RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and Mr. Aleksey
Chernishev discussed issues on the further deepening of the
cooperation between Armenian provinces and federal subjects of the
Russian Federation.

The two sides mentioned they consider the establishment of strong
relations in the spheres of agriculture, seed-farming, healthcare
and machine-tool industry to be quite prospective. The Governor of
Orenburg Aleksey Chernishev said he appreciates the important role the
Armenian community plays in the development of Orenburg region. The
two sides emphasized the importance of the activities of the Armenian
National House, which opened in Orenburg last year.

RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan stressed the importance of making
business contacts more active and establishing straight relations
between businessmen. He said this will give an opportunity to make
the economic relations more active.

MITAT CELIKPALA: TURKEY CAN NEVER BE OSCE MG CO-CHAIRING COUNTRY

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 21, 2010 – 16:32 AMT 11:32 GMT

Turkey can never be OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing country, according
to Associate Professor of International Relations at TOBB Economy
and Technology University in Ankara, Mitat Celikpala.

As he noted in a conversation with a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, Armenia
is opposed to Turkey’s becoming OSCE MG Co-chairing country, therefore,
the issue is removed from agenda. He characterized Karabakh-related
statements by Turkish authorities as political steps that determine
regional position of the country.

"I’m unaware of Suat Kiniklioglu’s "brilliant proposal" for
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation," the expert noted. "Any new offer
will suppose development of a new document and protocols to be
discussed. I don’t believe it’s possible at present. Neither Turkish
nor Armenian societies are ready for reconciliation, which makes any
statements on the issue a mere political manoeuvre. Same applies to
Azerbaijan. Thus, interference of either party, be it Azerbaijan,
Russia or U.S., in Armenia-Turkey rapprochement will only harm the
process," Celikpala said.

As he believes, opening of border with Turkey is not of key importance
to Armenia, in view of open route through Georgia and Iran. "Still,
absence of closed borders is good for the region as a whole,"
he emphasized.

LES PROCHES DE KHALAFIAN REJETTENT LES CONCLUSIONS DES LEGISTES
Marion

armenews
20 mai 2010
Armenie

Les proches de Vahan Khalafian, mort en garde a vue le mois dernier,
rejettent les conclusions des experts legistes attestant qu’il s’est
suicide et n’a pas ete torture a mort.

Les medecins legistes ont confirme que la nature de ces blessures
et leur " localisation anatomique " donnent a penser que " Vahan
Khalafian a pu se les infliger lui meme ".

Les experts ont egalement trouve de nombreuses blessures sur
differentes parties de son corps. Mais aucune d’elles n’etait mortelle.

Interroges par RFE / RL, les proches de Khalafian ont exprime leur
colère face a ces conclusions. " Le rapport d’examen montre qu’il
existe des plaies ensanglantees sur son crâne, son nez, sa cavite
buccale, des coupes verticales causees par un couteau sur le haut
de l’abdomen, des blessures sur les articulations des genoux et des
pieds, detaille son oncle Hmayak Khalafian. " Je suis tout simplement
etonne. Après tant de blessures, comment une personne peut-elle se
lever et se tuer ? "

Hmayak Khalafian a egalement fait valoir que les enqueteurs n’ont pas
reussi a identifier les empreintes digitales sur le couteau de cuisine
avec lequel le jeune homme s’est tue après un interrogatoire de police
brutal, le 13 avril. " S’il s’est lui-meme poignarde a deux reprises,
comment se fait-il qu’on ne retrouve pas d’empreintes sur le couteau ?"

La famille Khalafian, soutenus par certains activistes armeniens des
droits de l’homme, pretend que Vahan a ete tue par les policiers. Deux
policiers ont d’ailleurs ete arretes pour avoir torture le jeune homme.

Le Service special d’investigation (SSI), charge de l’enquete, n’a
toujours pas rendu de conclusion definitive.

ARGENTINE TO OPEN EMBASSY IN ARMENIA

Tert.am
20.05.10

Foreign Minister of Argentine Jorge Taiana will upon his Armenian
counterpart Edward Nalbandyan’s invitation pay a working visit to
Armenia today.

Besides Nalbandyan, Taiana is expected to meet also Armenia’s President
Serzh Sargsyan.

Part of the visits Taiana will participate in the official ceremony
of the opening of Argentine’s embassy in Armenia to be held at 9 pm
on May 21 at House 6, Aigestan 12, Yerevan.

Sunday Leader , SriLanka
May 15 2010

The Principle Of The `Responsibility To Protect (R2P)’ ` Time To Stop
The Obfuscation

There has been a fresh outburst of invective led by that master of
obfuscation and pet poodle of the Rajapaksa regime, Rajiva Wijesinha,
relative to the now famous (or notorious) concept of the
Responsibility to Protect (R2P).

To try to deal with the vapid outpourings of Mr. Wijesinha in this
context would be a task akin to trying to knot eels with one’s bare
hands and similarly senseless to boot. I will, therefore, make no
further reference to him.
Those who have sought to demonize Gareth Evans, Radhika Coomaraswamy,
Rama Mani et al have consistently stayed away from the central
principle of R2P which is amply stated in its very title.

That this has been a humanistic and logical response to the bestial
behaviour of regimes that have visited unbelievable cruelties on their
own people, is deliberately avoided by those seeking to consign R2P to
the dust bin in the corner of contemporary discussion.

What is consistently invoked in efforts to counter the moral
imperative to intervene in circumstances where populations are
subjected to unspeakable behaviour by their rulers are the alleged
rights to ‘self-determination’, `national integrity’ etc. which, in
point of fact, do little more than suggest that those in power can do
anything to all or some of those, over whom they rule without any risk
of intervention from `outsiders’.

I will not mince my words. I think this is beyond the worst of
mediaeval practice and seeks to turn back whatever advances have been
made in the matter of humane governance over many centuries past. The
concept is simply barbaric.

This is the kind of thinking that would have made the Nuremberg Trials
unthinkable and, going even further back in European history, the
first human rights protests against the genocide visited upon central
Africans by Leopold II of Belgium, late in the 19th century,
inconceivable.
In short, the R2P advances a principle that is nothing short of
essential, practical and, let’s bite the bullet and say it, noble.

Invoking the now-famous defence of certain Sri Lankan political
commentators of `But they did it first,’ does not cut the mustard. If,
as has happened, more times than one would care to remember, those
exercising power within the boundaries of a country choose to ride
rough-shod over the human rights of their ‘subjects,’ there is no way
that a world claiming to be civilised should stand by and watch it
happen. Even if those acting to deal with such injustice could be
considered hypocritical because they did not act similarly in
circumstances that involved them more directly, the necessity to
maintain civilised conduct in the international arena requires that
they intervene.

What other option is there to prevent or curtail massive abuses of
human rights inclusive of the primary one, the right to life?
People of compassion who believed in the human rights of the weak and
those conquered by force of arms began the first human rights movement
in Europe in the late 19th century as a response to the unspeakable
cruelty visited upon central Africans by the king of the Belgians.
That was one of the very early, if not the first, mass mobilisations
of humanistic impulses to counter genocide. That what happened in
Rwanda about a century later, did not see anything like an appropriate
response is one of the great tragedies of the last century. But
history has already acknowledged the magnitude of that terrible
failure to act by the Western nations (and the rest of the world) and
condemned those who stood by and watched it happen.

Incidentally, General Romeo Dallaire’s Shake Hands With The Devil as
well as King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild should be required
reading for anyone presuming to express `expert’ opinions on matters
of genocide and the suppression of human rights in the 20th and 21st
centuries. Given the central African genocide of the late 19th
century, what Turkey visited upon the Armenians in the early 20th
century, the Holocaust and the Rwandan tragedy, I am truly astounded
that allegedly educated and humane people could raise such a ruckus
about the principle of R2P.

What is consistently being suggested as the alternative to the
exercise of this concept is that the rulers of countries in which
massacres and the wholesale destruction of human rights is being
practiced, are applying some principle of ‘sovereignty’ or
‘self-determination’ left to `reform,’ This is akin to the world,
doing little other than appealing to Hitler to stop sending the Jews
to the gas chambers; the Turks being asked, `pretty please,’ not to
send millions of Armenians to an assortment of graves; the Hutus to
desist from chopping up, literally, hundreds of thousands of Tutsis;
the Bosnian Serbs not to murder thousands of their Muslim fellow
citizens and going on bended knee to the Sudanese government in
efforts to stop its ethnic cleansing of non-Arab tribes in the Darfur
region.
Where does one begin the process of `wimping out’?

Expecting countries who are acting in blatant contravention of
internationally accepted human rights to suddenly, on the polite
request of some outside agency or country, stop their depredations and
return their citizenry to a mode of civilised governance is nothing
short of absurdly unrealistic. Has the Myanmarese government done this
over many years of appeals from the democratic world? No! Aung San Suu
Kyi is still imprisoned and not even permitted to run in the
forthcoming election which will be graced by a whole slew of generals
who are divesting themselves of their uniforms in order to run for
election as `civilians’. Has China so much as permitted an
examination of what occurred in Tiananmen Square lo this many years
ago?

I could go on and on

On the other hand, we have South Africa where, thanks to sanctions,
embargoes, and other interventions, the Apartheid was dismantled,
Mandela released from decades of imprisonment and a truly remarkable
transformation into the new democratic South Africa became a reality.
We have Bosnia and Herzegovina where Karadzic and, we hope before much
longer, Ratko Mladic will be brought to trial for the murders
committed in that Balkan state.

There are situations where the responsibility to protect can and must
be invoked and appropriate steps taken to apply its provisions to
protect otherwise helpless people from the depredations of their
rulers. Exactly when and how those principles are to be applied must
be determined, internationally-accepted benchmarks established and
adhered to so that the `Dubya-cowboys’ of the Western world and others
of their ilk don’t run hog wild. But the principle of the R2P must be
accepted as a cornerstone of civilised international conduct and
applied accordingly.

5/16/the-principle-of-the-%E2%80%9Cresponsibility- to-protect-r2p%E2%80%9D-time-to-stop-the-obfuscati on/comment-page-1/

Tina Kaidanow: "Armenia is an important partner for the United States"

YEREVAN, 15 MAY, NOYAN TAPAN: "Armenia attaches importance to the
deepening of multifaceted relations and strengthening of friendly
partnership and cooperation with the US," announced RA Minister of
Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandyan during his meeting with US Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Tina
Kaidanow. The RA Minister of Foreign Affairs mentioned that RA
President Serzh Sargsyan’s visit to Washington and his meeting with US
President Barack Obama in April brought a new sweep to the development
of bilateral relations. In her turn, T. Kaidanow mentioned that
Armenia is an important partner for the United States and the US
administration expects to continue the partnership with Armenia to
establish stability in the region, promote economic development and
implement reforms. According to a press release by the department of
press and information of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the
parties had a detailed discussion on perspectives for further
development of Armenian-American relations and touched upon the
process of normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations. The parties
also exchanged views on the latest developments of the talks on the
Karabakh conflict settlement.

84 questions and 20 international treaties included in the draft of
the agenda of the National Assembly’s upcoming sessions

YEREVAN, 14 MAY, NOYAN TAPAN: The draft resolution on making changes
in the agenda of the NA seventh sitting of the fourth convening and
the draft resolution on the agenda of the NA four-day sessions to be
held on May 17-20 were discussed during the RA National Assembly’s
working consultation headed by Chairman of the RA National Assembly
Hovik Abrahamyan on May 14. The section on making changes to the
agenda of the National Assembly’s seventh sitting includes 17 issues.
The draft agenda of the NA’s upcoming sessions includes 84 questions
and 20 international treaties. According to a press release by the
department of information and public relations of the RA National
Assembly, the draft resolution on making changes in the agenda of the
NA seventh sitting of the fourth convening and the draft agenda of the
NA sessions to be held on May 17-20 will be confirmed during the May
17 session.

RUZANNA SARGSYAN, TIGRAN KIRAKOSYAN WIN EUROPEAN SAMBO CHAMPIONSHIP BRONZE

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 14, 2010 – 17:21 AMT 12:21 GMT

Armenia’s Ruzanna Sargsyan (w.c. 48kg) and Tigran Kirakosyan (w.c.
52kg) won bronze medals at the European Sambo Championship, which
kicked off in Minsk, Belarus, on May 13.

As Armenian Sambo Federation told PanARMENIAN.Net the Austrian and
Croatian Federations joined the European Sambo Federation during
a congress that took place on May 13, prior to the start of the
Championship.

Vahan Vardanyan (w.c. 57kg), Artavazd Minasyan (w.c. 68kg) and Mushegh
Hovsepyan (w.c. 82kg) will enter the competition on May 15.

Vachik Vardanyan (w.c. 68kg) and Artak Tsatinyan (w.c. 90kg) will
fight in a combat sambo discipline on May 16.

Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
[email protected]
Internet

PRESS RELEASE

May 13, 2010

Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

COLORADO GOVERNOR, GENERAL ASSEMBLY, LOCAL LEGISLATORS JOIN
COMMUNITY IN COMMEMORATING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

— Local Activists Make U.S. Affirmation of Armenian Genocide a
Key Issue in 2010 Congressional Elections

DENVER, CO – In what has become an annual tradition, initiated by
the Armenians of Colorado, gubernatorial and local proclamations
and a unanimously adopted General Assembly resolution marked the
95th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in the Centennial State,
reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

Noting the murder of 1.5 million Armenians from 1915 -1923 and the
Turkish Government’s continued efforts to "deny and distort the
facts of the genocide, honor the perpetrators of that crime against
humanity as national heroes, and persecute its citizens who
acknowledge or even allude to the Armenian Genocide," Senate Joint
Resolution 10-038 designated April 24th 2010 and every April 24th
thereafter as "Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide." To
read the complete text of the resolution, visit:
/csl.nsf/fsbillcont/BEB6B9096A65FC03872576F8005DAE D2?Open&file=3DSJR038_enr.pdf

Governor Bill Ritter’s proclamation cites the importance of
commemorating past tragedies to teach tolerance in today’s society,
stating "the State of Colorado joins the Armenian-American
community in its annual observance of the Armenian Genocide of 1915
– 1923 to raise awareness of this unconscionable tragedy so that we
may better understand the importance of eliminating hatred in our
own communities." Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper’s proclamation
stresses that "all the world’s people should commemorate the
Armenian Genocide and condemn any attempt to deny its historical
truth or mischaracterize the episode as anything less than
genocide."

"We commend Governor Ritter, Mayor Hickenlooper, and the Colorado
General Assembly for their vigilance in joining with Colorado’s
Armenian community – for over 20 years – in honoring the victims
and survivors of the Armenian Genocide and recommitting our
collective efforts to end the cycle of genocide," said ANCA
Colorado activist Jirair Christianian. "We look to our
Congressional leaders – particularly those who have remained silent
on this key human rights issue, to immediately cosponsor the
Armenian Genocide Resolutions and work actively for their Senate
and House passage."

Colorado Armenians gathered at the Armenian Genocide memorial at
the State Capitol on April 24th to mark the occasion and attended
commemorative programs, including an April 17th Arapahoe Community
College event featuring remarks by noted attorney Mark Geragos.

Aspen’s Armenian community placed ads in the local "Aspen Daily
News" and "The Aspen Times" urging Congress to end Turkey’s gag
rule on U.S. affirmation of the Armenian Genocide through passage
of the Armenian Genocide resolution (H.Res.252 / S.Res.316). The
ads led to a news story in the "Aspen Daily News," focusing on
local activist Stephan Isberian and community efforts to secure
U.S. affirmation of this crime. The Aspen Daily News story can be
viewed at:
m/eebrowser/frame/che< ussrv15.newsmemory.com/eebrowser/frame/check.4500/ flash/loadPage.php?token=3D0MfVyNzF19LNubDG6dWUoJe ghJWXoJWlysWuoZXRlJnNmJ%252BzmJKejqaWlXJ4jqaWng%25 3D%253D>
ck.4500/flash/loadPage.php?token=3D0Mf VyNzF19LNubDG6dWUoJeghJWXoJWlys
WuoZXRlJnNmJ%252Bz mJKejqaWlXJ4jqaWng%253D%253D

Colorado Senate and House Candidates Go on the Record on Armenian
Genocide Affirmation

Colorado Armenian Americans have made U.S. affirmation of the
Armenian Genocide a key factor in their support for Congressional
candidates, with Rocky Mountain Hye Advocates (RMHA) lead activists
Pamela Barsam Brown and Vi Bashian Cooper leading the charge in
circulating candidate questionnaires in the 2008 and 2010 election
seasons. An unprecedented 100% of 2008 Congressional candidates
elected to office had responded to the state questionnaires – all
citing their support for passage of Armenian Genocide legislation.
To date, Representatives Diane DeGette (D), Jared Polis (D) and
John Salazar (D) have honored their campaign pledge through co-
sponsorship of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res. 252).
Senator Michael Bennett (D-CO) cosponsored the Senate Armenian
Genocide Resolution (S.Res.316) in February 2010.

Beginning in November 2009, RMHA initiated its candidate outreach
to secure 2010 campaign pledges, with focus on districts where
Representatives have not honored their pledge to cosponsor Armenian
Genocide legislation. In Districts 4 and 6, where freshmen
Representatives Betsy Markey (D) and Michael Coffman (R) have
remained silent on Armenian Genocide affirmation efforts,
challengers – both Republican (Cory Gardner and Tom Lucero) and
Democrat (John Flerlage) – have already pledged to a concrete
action of co-sponsorship upon election to Congress.

Special focus has been placed on the 7th Congressional district,
where Rep. Ed Perlmutter – after a nine-year record of support for
Armenian Genocide legislation – has not yet cosponsored H.Res.252.
RMHA investigations have uncovered campaign contributions in excess
of $28,000 by American military contractors, identified by the
Associated Press and Reuters, as working to undermine congressional
support for an Armenian Genocide resolution. Rep. Perlmutter’s
Republican challenger, Ryan Frazier, has provided RMHA with his
campaign pledge to co-sponsor an Armenian Genocide resolution upon
election.

Turning to the Senate, Armenian Genocide Resolution cosponsor
Michael Bennett’s Republican and Democratic party challengers –
including Andrew Romanoff (D), Jane Norton (R), Tom Weins (R) and
Ken Buck (R) – have each pledged support for Armenian Genocide
affirmation, highlighting the broad bipartisan support this effort
has garnered.

Sen. Mark Udall (D) has broken with Colorado Senate tradition, and
despite his longstanding House co-sponsorship record on Armenian
Genocide legislation and repeated outreach by Armenian American and
anti-genocide advocates, refrained from cosponsoring S.Res.316. In
an effort to cover-up his broken Genocide affirmation pledge, Sen.
Udall issued a statement on April 24, 2010, stating "After the
events of 1915, we said ‘never again.’ We haven’t kept faith with
those words in the years since — but we must keep faith with them
now," – all the while refraining to properly characterize this
crime against humanity as genocide.

To read complete coverage of the Armenians of Colorado and RMHA
activities 95th anniversary commemorative activities, check out the
RMHA Newsletter:

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