Author: nina hovnanian

CHINESE AMBASSADOR SAYS ARMENIAN-CHINESE ECONOMIC RELATIONS ARE GROWING DYNAMICALLY

16:08, 17 April, 2015

YEREVAN, 17 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. China and Armenia are taking all the
possible steps to enhance their economic relations. This is what
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of China to Armenia Tian
Erlun said as he talked about Armenian-Chinese relations during a
meeting with students of Yerevan State University.

“China is Armenia’s second partner in trade. Last year, it had 13
percent of shares in Armenia’s foreign trade, which goes to show the
dynamic growth of the economic relations,” the Ambassador said,
Armenpress reports.

FRENCH ARMENIAN CONDUCTOR GEORGE PEHLIVANIAN IN YEREVAN FOR A CONCERT DEDICATED TO GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL

15:54, 17 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

World-known French Armenian conductor and violinist George Pehlivanian
will give a concert in Yerevan in commemoration of the 100th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

The concert scheduled for April 18 will feature the “Mirzoyan Quartet”
and the children’s choirs of the AYB and the French International
School.

The program includes works by Komitas, Ravel, Alexander Harutyunyan
and others.

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, into a musical family f Armenian origin,
Pehlivanian studied violin and piano from an early age. He emigrated
to Los Angeles in 1975, and worked as a violinist before studying
conducting with Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel, and Ferdinand Leitner.

Pehlivanian also attended the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Italy.

In 1991 he became the first American to win the Grand Prize in
the history of the Besancon International Conductors’ Competition
in France. From 2005 until 2008 he was the first foreign Chief
Conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 2007 he
became Principal Guest Conductor at the Opera Theatre of Cagliari in
Sardinia, Italy. He remained Principal Guest Conductor of the Deutsche
Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland Pfalz from 2002 – 2012. He also held guest
conducting positions with the Residentie Orchestra in The Hague and
the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. He enjoys a long-standing relationship
with the Spanish National Orchestra since 1996, and recorded works
by Rodrigo with the orchestra.

ASSAD SAYS TURKISH SUPPORT ‘MAIN FACTOR’ IN IDLIB TAKEOVER

15:15 17/04/2015 ” IN THE WORLD

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Turkish military and logistical
support was the main factor that helped insurgents to seize the
northwestern city of Idlib from government control last month,
Reuters reported.

Idlib, a short drive from the Turkish border, is only the second
provincial capital to fall to insurgents in the four-year-long civil
war. It was captured by an alliance of Islamist groups including al
Qaeda’s Syrian arm, the Nusra Front.

“Any war weakens any army, no matter how strong, no matter how modern,”
Assad said in an interview with Swedish newspaper Expressen, published
on Friday.

In the fall of Idlib, “the main factor was the huge support that came
through Turkey; logistic support, and military support, and of course
financial support that came through Saudi Arabia and Qatar.”

Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic, asked to comment
by Reuters, said: “Claims that armed forces coming from Turkey have
participated in the Idlib offensive do not reflect the truth. This
is out of the question. These are baseless allegations orginated by
the Syrian regime which should not be taken seriously.”

IRANIAN FM IN LIST OF 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN WORLD OF AMERICAN NEWSPAPER TIME

12:36 17/04/2015 ” IN THE WORLD

The American newspaper Time included the Foreign Minister of Iran,
Mohammad Javad Zarif, in the list of the 100 most influential people
in the world, Iranian information agency FARS reports.

Last year the American outlet Foreign Policy published the names of
100 Leading Global Thinkers which included the IRI President Hassan
Rouhani, among others.

Source: Panorama.am

TURKISH PM DAVUTOGLU: POPE JOINED PLOTS AGAINST AK PARTY

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
April 15 2015

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his wife, Sare Davutoglu, offer
carnations to supporters during an AK Party election campaign meeting
on Wednesday. (Photo: DHA)

April 15, 2015, Wednesday/ 14:11:02/ TODAY’S ZAMAN / ISTANBUL

The Turkish government stepped up its criticism of Pope Francis on
Wednesday over his remarks characterizing the killings of Armenians
during the final years of the Ottoman Empire as “genocide,” with
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu accusing the pontiff of joining “plots”
against his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and Turkey.

“An axis of evil is being created against us. An axis whose entire
motivation is to hinder the AK Party is being formed,” Davutoglu told
a party meeting whose purpose was to introduce AK Party candidates for
the June 7 parliamentary election and the party’s election manifesto.

He then targeted the AK Party’s rivals, the Republican People’s Party
(CHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), criticizing
the CHP’s election campaign for being helped by a US-based strategic
research consultancy and calling the HDP a “project” to hamper the
AK Party’s progress.

“The pope has joined these plots against the AK Party and Turkey,”
he said.

Pope Francis angered Turkey when he publicly called the killing of
Armenians “genocide.” Turkey summoned the Vatican’s ambassador to
its Foreign Ministry and recalled its own back to Turkey after the
pontiff’s remarks on Sunday.

Davutoglu said there were attempts to “convict” Turkey on the basis of
“extremely unjust accusations” just ahead of the June 7 election.

“I am addressing the pope: Those who escaped the genocide carried
out by the Catholic world in Spain via the Inquisition found peace
and safety in our just system,” Davutoglu said.

“We are ready to look into everything but we will not let our nation
be insulted over history. We will not allow Turkey to be blackmailed
through historical debates,” the Turkish prime minister declared.

First official statement from Vatican

In the meantime, the Vatican made its first official statement on
Wednesday following the pope’s genocide remarks that angered Turkish
officials. Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said the Holy See
notes the Turks’ reaction to the pope’s remarks but has no intention
of getting into a polemic.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Lombardi also stated that the
pope’s remarks made President Recep Tayyip Erdogan bring up the idea
of establishing a joint commission to debate the issue, adding that
it’s an interesting offer. After reporters pointed out that Erdogan’s
idea of a joint commission is not new, Lombardi said he knew that,
adding that Turkey’s denial of “genocide” is not new, either.

Lombardi stressed that the pope always speaks directly and his remarks
referring to “the first genocide of the 20th century” were in fact
quoting a 2001 joint declaration by Pope John Paul ll and Catholicos
Karekin ll, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Karekin ll was also
present at Sunday’s Mass, along with Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan.

The Vatican spokesman said the pope’s way of describing the 1915
events is “clever” and asks for the issue to continue to be debated.

The spokesman also stressed that the pope’s intention was to prevent
such tragic events reoccurring in the future, as well as writing a
more accurate story.

Lombardi said that for those who acknowledge what happened in 1915,
the pope’s remarks were to the point. He stressed that the pope also
asked for reconciliation between Turkish and Armenian people.

He said the Vatican will note Turkey’s concerns and objections but
will not get into a polemic.

Meanwhile, a leading minority figure living in Ä°stanbul told
Vatican Radio that the Christian community in Turkey is worried about
bureaucratic reprisals against priests through such obstacles as not
renewing residence permits.

Speaking to Vatican Radio on Wednesday, Claudio Monge, head of the
Dominican Study Institute of Ä°stanbul for Intercultural and Interfaith
Dialogue, said after Pope Francis called the 1915 mass killings of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks a genocide, Turkey’s Christian community
may face bureaucratic obstacles. Monge said he found Turkey’s reaction
too harsh over the issue.

The contentious issue of the 1915 killings of Ottoman Armenians has
come under international spotlight once again as the centenary of the
events approaches on April 24, injecting a new element of tension
between Turkey and countries seeking recognition of the events as
genocide.

The Armenian diaspora claims that 1.5 million Armenians were
systematically massacred by the Ottoman administration during World
War I, and that this amounts to genocide. It demands an apology from
Ankara. The Turkish government denies the charges.

While accepting the killings of Armenians, Ankara says the number
put forward by Armenian historians is inflated and the events took
place amid civil unrest and inter-communal clashes and could not be
characterized as genocide.

Turkey also laments that hundreds of thousands of Muslim civilians
were also killed during the unrest between the various communities
in Anatolia, but that the international community only pays attention
to the sufferings of one particular group.

AUA STUDIES ON LEAD CONCENTRATION IN CHILDREN’S BLOOD IN AKHTALA AND ALAVERDI SHOULD FIRST OF ALL SHOCK HEALTH MINISTRY

13:20 April 15, 2015

EcoLur

In 2013 the American University of Armenia conducted studies on
revealing lead in the children’s blood in two mining towns – Alaverdi
and Akhtala, Lori Region, Armenia. For comparison, studies were held
in Erebuni community, Yerevan. In total, 169 children aged 4-6 were
studied: 39 children in Akhtala, 69 in Alaverdi and 54 in Yerevan. The
findings showed that lead concentration of the children in Alaverdi
and Akhtala was at the same level and significantly higher than that
of the children in Yerevan. Studies were also carried out for the
concentration of lead and mercury in the soil with determination of
the background concentration. As a result, when determining background
concentration high concentration of lead, mercury, chromium and cadmium
were detected, which exceeds the highest background concentration by
several times (see the report on the studies at…)

Reminder: during the Q&A between Armenian National Congress” Faction MP
Lyudmila Sargysan and Health Minister Armen Muradyan, Minister said,
“Such researches and studies are in progress. I should say that a
process was initiated in 2014, which is called “Mapping and Inventory
of All Components of Health System and Impacting It” and the works
in 10 regions have already been accomplished. We can present disease
and disease rates or health capacities in individual regions.

Neither infection diseases, which include cardiovascular diseases,
diabetes and other pathologies not included in these infections are
conditioned not only just environment: top four factors don’t include
environment. It’s WHO approach, which says these factors are food,
alcohol, smoking and physical exercises. It’s currently impossible
to fix the specific weight of environment in disease rate, long-term
studies are needed, which have already been launched by National
Center for Disease Combating. Statistical data show that the region
having highest cancer rate is not the region where mining companies
are concentrated. If to speak about Lori Region, it holds the fourth
place. The first place goes to Yerevan followed by Kotayk region, while
Tavush and Lori share the third and fourth places. Individual studies
of water, soil and air have been carried out, which will also continue
in 2015, particularly, the problems connected with Akhtala air. The
rest has already been carried out and the studies showed no deviations
in this section, except background accumulations, if we speak about
mines, it’s natural to have high background accumulations in soil.”

We drew the attention of Health Minister that his statement about no
exceeding in background concentration in Akhtala doesn’t comply with
the findings of the studies carried out by the American University
of Armenia. Secondly, it’s the accumulation of toxic metals in the
organism that impacts on the health, and not division of pollution
source into background and others, which happens with people inhabited
in the areas polluted with heavy and toxic metals.

TOP ADVISER TO TURKISH PM ETYEN MAHCUPYAN DISMISSED ‘BECAUSE OF AGE’ AFTER GENOCIDE REMARKS

13:51, 16 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Top adviser to Turkish Prime Minister, ethnic Armenian Etyen Mahcupyan
has been dismissed, the TurkishHurriyet reported. It said, however,
that Mahcupyan left office automatically on March 9 because of his age.

The move comes after Mahcupyan said that there was no other way of
viewing the incidents of 1915 other than “genocide.”

EU Minister Volkan Bozkır earlier expressed unease over remarks by
Prime Ministerial adviser Etyen Mahcupyan that it was impossible to
say that Armenians were not subjected to a genocide in 1915.

Mahcupyan’s description “was not appropriate for his title of adviser,”
Bozkır said on April 16 during a televised interview.

But the remarks are to “each their own,” he said, noting that Mahcupyan
would likely reconsider his remarks.

“If accepting that what happened in Bosnia and Africa were genocides,
it is impossible not to call what happened to Armenians in 1915
genocide, too,” Mahcupyan said in an interview with news website
Karar.com.

Commenting on Pope Francis’ remarks on April 12 describing 1915 as
“the first genocide of the 20th century,” Mahcupyan said the Vatican
had “thrown off a 100-year-old psychological burden.”

Mahcupyan, who became the ever first Armenian-origin chief adviser
to a Turkish prime minister, said that what actually needed to be
questioned was the 100-year resistance to using the term.

> DE JIRKA

CACHAN

Dans le cadre des activites du Centenaire du genocide armenien,
une exposition intitulee “La cathedrale de la memoire” de JIRKA est
programmee a l’Orangerie de Cachan(Val-de-Marne,15 rue Gallieni)
du 13 Avril au 16 Mai 2015de 10ha 12h et de 14h a 18h. Nocturne le
jeudi jusqu’a 19h.

Le vernissage de l’exposition a l’Orangerie de Cachan a lieu le jeudi
16 avril 2015 a 19 heures en presence de Jean-Yves Le Bouillonnec,
Depute-maire de Cachan.

A travers cette exposition artistique spectaculaire, fruit de la
synthèse de son activite d’architecte et de plasticien, et de son
armenite, JIRKA tend a frapper les visiteurs sur l’aspect commemoratif
de son travail. Il a choisi le mois d’avril 2015, Centenaire du
Genocide des Armeniens, pour rendre un hommage a ses parents (orphelins
en 1915), a toute la famille (massacree), a son pays d’origine, a toute
la communaute diasporique, utilisant l’art comme outil revendicatif
des valeurs universelles

DEFIANT TURKEY DRAWS RED LINE OVER ARMENIA GENOCIDE RECOGNITION

Agence France Presse
April 13, 2015 Monday 4:29 PM GMT

Istanbul, April 13 2015

Rejecting worldwide pressure, Turkey has drawn a defiant red line in
refusing to recognise the mass killings of Armenians in World War I
as genocide on the 100th anniversary year of the tragedy.

Turkey’s tough approach on the issue was shown Sunday by Ankara’s
incendiary reaction to the use by Pope Francis of the word “genocide”
to describe the killings, summoning the Vatican nuncio and recalling
the Turkish envoy to the Holy See.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, in an unusual attack by a world leader
on the pontiff, accused Francis of a “one-sided” and “inappropriate”
attitude that he said ignored the suffering of Muslims in World War I.

The exchanges have intensified tensions ahead of the 100th the
anniversary of the start of the killings on April 24.

Even before the pope waded into the controversy, Armenians accused
Turkey of trying to overshadow what they call their genocide
commemorations by staging ceremonies on the same day to mark the
centenary of the famous World War I battle of Gallipoli.

“Mind your own business, Pope,” screamed the headline in the
pro-government Star daily. “The New Crusade,” fumed the Aydinlik daily

A Turkish government source told AFP that Ankara had been “truly
surprised” by the comments, which were made in a Mass in Saint Peter’s
Basilica at the Vatican to mark the Ottoman killings of Armenians.

– ‘Risk of deterioration’ –

Armenia and Armenians in the diaspora say 1.5 million of their
forefathers were killed by Ottoman forces in a targeted campaign
ordered by the military leadership of the Ottoman empire to eradicate
the Armenian people from Anatolia in what is now eastern Turkey,
an argument backed by several European parliaments.

Turkey takes a sharply different view of the tragedy, saying that
hundreds of thousands of both Turks and Armenians lost their lives
as Ottoman forces battled the Russian Empire for control of eastern
Anatolia during World War I.

While President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Islamic-rooted ruling
party has been credited with assisting Turkey’s religious minorities,
they have shown no sign of budging in the genocide controversy.

Erdogan offered an expression of condolences to Armenians in 2014
but this has not been followed by any further steps, with rhetoric
sharpening even further.

“It is unlikely that Turkey will change its position after Pope
Francis’ statement,” said Marc Pierini, visiting scholar at Carnegie
Europe, pointing to June 7 legislative elections where nationalist
votes will be crucial.

He said an “entrenched position” by Turkey on the issue “clearly
entails the risk of deterioration of the climate between Turkey and
Western countries” ahead of the April 24 anniversary.

For many Turks, it is inconceivable to consider that Ottoman forces
were responsible for the gravest of all crimes, at a time when they
were commanded by figures credited with laying the foundations for
the creation of modern Turkey in 1923.

They prefer to concentrate on the anniversary of the Battle of
Gallipoli, where Ottoman forces resisted attack by the Allied Powers,
a formative moment for Turkey whose anniversary falls on almost
exactly the same day as the start of campaigns against Armenians.

– Not ashamed –

“There is no period of time in Turkey’s history that it would be
ashamed of,” said Europe Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir, describing
the pope’s statements as “null and void”.

The 100th anniversary of the start of the tragedy — which Armenians
trace back to the arrest of the leaders of the Armenian community in
Istanbul on April 24, 1915 — has been a matter of major concern for
Turkey with the government seeking to engage in offensive diplomacy.

Armenians have expressed outrage that Turkey is holding its main
ceremonies for the anniversary of Gallipoli on April 24 and not the
usual date of April 25, leaving world leaders with a dilemma over
whose event to attend.

Turkey’s worst nightmare would be US recognition of the killings as
genocide and on March 18, 44 US lawmakers introduced a resolution
pressing President Barack Obama to acknowledge that interpretation.

Commentator Murat Yetkin argued in the Hurriyet Daily News that the
chief strategy of the Arenian diaspora was to encourage recognition by
the United States “not only because of its political and psychological
effect, but also because of its legal consequences.”

ba-sjw/sms

EUROPEAN ARMENIAN FEDERATION
For Justice and Democracy
Avenue de la Renaissance 10
Bruxelles, 1000
Belgique

Tel./Fax : +32 (0) 2 732 70 26 / 27
E-mail : [email protected]
Web:

*European Parliament adopts resolution on Centennial of the Armenian
Genocide, calls on Turkey to reconcile with its past*

Brussels, 15 April, 2015: Today, during its plenary session the European
Parliament adopted , a resolution on the centennial of the Armenian
Genocide. The European Council was represented by Kalinina-Lukaševica and
the European Commission Kristalina Georgieva, Vice-President of the
European Commission and Commissioner for the Budget and Human Resources.
With this resolution, the European Parliament officially marked the
centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

Today’s resolution on the Centenary of the Armenian Genocide was supported
by all political groups in the European Parliament, in which is stated:
“whereas an increasing number of Member States and national
parliaments recognize the Armenian Genocide perpetrated in the Ottoman
Empire, whereas one of the main motivations of the European unification
movement is the will to prevent the recurrence of wars and crimes against
humanity in Europe; …whereas the importance of keeping the memories of
the past is paramount, since there can be no reconciliation without the
truth and remembrance; Pays tribute, on the eve of the Centenary, to the
memory of the one-and-a-half million innocent Armenian victims who perished
in the Ottoman Empire; joins the commemoration of the centenary of the
Armenian Genocide in a spirit of European solidarity and justice; calls on
the Commission and Council to join the commemoration”.

The resolution reminds the Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in
the World 2013 adopted on Mach 12, 2015, and the European Union’s policy on
the matter, where the European Parliament calls on EU member states to
recognize the Armenian Genocide.
In today’s resolution, `the European Parliament calls on Turkey to
come to terms with its past by recognizing the Armenian genocide and
thus pave way for a genuine reconciliation”.

The resolution also recalls the Parliament’s resolution of 18 June 1987 in
which inter alia it has recognized that the tragic events that took place
in 1915 – 1917 against the Armenians in the territory of the Ottoman Empire
represent a genocide as defined in the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948; condemns all occurrences of
crimes against humanity and genocide and strongly deplores any attempts of
their denial.

The European Parliament resolution also asks for the establishment of an
`International Remembrance Day for Genocides’ and stresses
that the timely
prevention and effective punishment of genocide and crimes against humanity
should be among the main priorities of the international community and the
EU.

An unprecedented number of members of the European Parliament took the
stage and showed their solidarity to the Armenian nation in, and in support
of the resolution, and the importance of calling a genocide a genocide.
Pope Francis’ message of reconciliation and peace was also mentioned and
included in the final version of the resolution.

Kaspar Karampetian, President of the European Armenian Federation for
Justice & Democracy (EAFJD) said “Armenians all over the world welcome this
resolution in this centennial year of the Armenian Genocide. The European
Union is a union of values, dignity and human rights, and we expect all
countries willing to join it, to have reconciled with their past, have
friendly relations with their neighbors and look forward to a brighter and
peaceful future without the ultimate of crimes, without Genocide. We expect
Turkey come to terms with its past, and acknowledge the crime it has
committed against the Armenian population 100 years ago, with all its
consequences”. Karampetian also stressed the need for the EU Council and
Commission to show more courage, acknowledge the crime with its proper
name, and not hide behind EU member countries who have not yet recognized
the Armenian Genocide.

Karampetian also said, that Armenians support the democratic forces in
Turkey, who challenge the Turkish state’s denial policy, push for
recognition of the crime of Genocide against Armenians. He also stressed
the well coordinated and organized work of the Republic of Armenia
permanent mission to the EU, Republic of Armenia National Assembly’s
committee on foreign relations and the European Friends of Armenia, whose
efforts succeeded in having this well deserved resolution.

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