Author: nina hovnanian

CATHOLICOS OF ALL ARMENIANS SENDS CONDOLENCES TO THE POPE OF THE COPTIC ORTHODOX CHURCH

13:56, 17 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All
Armenians; sent a letter of condolence to His Holiness Theodoros II,
Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All Africa, and leader of the
Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria on the occasion of the murder
of twenty-one Coptic Christians by Libyan terrorists.

“On behalf of the members of the Brotherhood of Holy Etchmiadzin and
the Supreme Spiritual Council we convey our deepest sympathies and
condolences to the Coptic Christians, Egyptian people and families
of those killed.”

Condemning the crime, His Holiness called on the international
community to put more efforts towards justice and reconciliation
in the Middle East, and to elminate violence in the regions where
Christians and Muslims have lived in peace and harmony for centuries.

REPORT: STATE CARRIES ECONOMIC LOSSES DUE TO LGBT MIGRATION

02.17.2015 14:30 epress.am

>From 2011-2013, the Armenian budget has lost approximately $20 million
from the migration of LGBT individuals, while within the coming 12
years the state’s budget could lose as much as $370 million. These
results are from a joint research project by the Public Information
and Need for Knowledge and Socioscope Societal Research and Consultancy
Center NGOs.

These losses are explained by a number of factors. The damages society
carries from one person migrating is tied to the migrant’s childhood
years and to the loss of public investment in his/her education (Brain
Drain), to the lost capital that migrant’s take with them when leaving
the country, the decline in integral demand and psychological impact.

In addition, the report’s authors noted that the major difference
between LGBT and other migrants is that LGBT individuals often do
not send remittances or send insignificant amounts to the country,
they often severe ties with their relatives in Armenia, which is
cuases economic losses.

The questions reveal that in difference to other migrants, who
cited economic issues for migrating, LGBT individuals leave due to
being subject to discrimination. Most experts, especially noted
discrimination against LGBT people in multiple examples of being
refused employment or being fired from work.

The interview participants described multiple examples of physical
threats (arson attempts, home or material belonging arson, expulsion
from home, assault and other types of violence) of LGBT individuals.

These threats take place in the family, public places, medical and
educational institutions, law enforcement, and the army. In actuality,
in all aspects of public life, relations with institutions, LGBT
individuals are subject to violence (even in those institutions that
call to defend them), instigate the decision to leave the country. The
majority of LGBT individuals would not migrate if such issues did
not exist.

The report’s authors made policy recommendations to Armenia’s state
bodies, Government, and the National Assembly.

1. Implement a common state policy based on the principle of
non-discrimination in all spheres of public life.

2. Implement RA Government social policy and human capital development
envisaged by RA Government 2012-2017 program based on the principle of
non-discrimination in various fields towards society’s most vulnerable
groups, in this case LGBT persons.

3. Adopt a separate piece of legislation prohibiting discrimination,
which will prohibit discrimination on any basis in labor market and
all spheres of the society, ensuring equal rights and opportunities
for all.

4. Adopt effective law enforcement mechanisms. Anti-discrimination
legislation is, of course, necessary, but it is not enough and without
effective mechanisms discrimination will not just disappear.

5. Take into consideration the principle of non-discrimination when
adopting laws and normative-legal acts as a basic rule for ensuring
the realization of rights and freedoms of a citizen.

Report in entirety here.

WITHDRAWAL OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROTOCOLS FROM PARLIAMENT A LOGICAL STEP: ALEXANDER ARZUMANYAN

14:34, 17 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

The withdrawal of the Armenian-Turkish protocols from the National
Assembly was a logical step, ex-Foreign Minister, MP Alexander
Arzumanyan told reporters today.

He said Turkey continues its hostile actions, and maintains the
blockade of Armenia. “Perhaps, this served as a reason for raising
the issue on the threshold of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide, as the interests that exists today will not be as big next
year,” Arzumanyan added.

The ex-Foreign Minister reminded about the recent unacceptable steps
by Turkey, namely the decision to mark the Gallipoli anniversary
on April 24. He noted that the Armenian President’s response to
Erdogan’s invitation and the pan-Armenian Declaration on the Genocide
Centennial contain rather positive approaches that should be taken
into consideration. “We’ll see what happens in the future.”

Speaking about the crisis in Ukraine, Arzumanyan welcomed the signing
of the agreement, but voiced doubt that it would be maintained. He
considers there will be a ceasefire, but not a lasting one.

“There are some points in the agreement, which will make one of the
parties refuse from it at some point,” he said.

POLITICIANS HAIL WITHDRAWAL OF ARMENIA-TURKEY PROTOCOLS

12:49 * 17.02.15

President Serzh Sargsyan’s decision to halt the ratification of the
Armenia-Turkey protocols has been evaluated as a positive step by
different political figures.

Speaking to Tert.am, Kiro Manoyan, the political director of the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaksutyun, hailed the president’s
move, at the same time stressing the importance of further efforts
towards recalling the Armenian side’s signatures.

“We must carry this through by recalling the signatures. Even after
the withdrawal from the National Assembly, I virtually consider the
protocols still alive. So, excluding the question from the National
Assembly’s agenda does not absolutely imply rendering the protocols
harmless,” he said, otherwise not ruling out the documents’ possible
return to parliament.

Asked whether that step has to be taken before the April 24 Armenian
Genocide centennial day, Manoyan said he doesn’t think that such a
time coincidence is absolutely necessary.

He said the justification for recalling Armenia’s signature may
repeat the reasoning cited by the president in his official address
to the National Assembly’s speaker. “Turkey demonstrated that in the
past almost six years, it hadn’t been open with Armenia in terms of
establishing relations unconditionally,” said the politician.

Armen Martirosyan, the Heritage party’s deputy leader who repeatedly
poses the question to the parliament’s ruling majority, says he
considers the president’s move positive but belated.

He also agreed that the withdrawal alone is not an exhaustive solution,
calling for urgent steps to recall also Armenia’s signature to declare
the protocols null and void.

According to political analyst Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan, the
president’s decision was an attempt to call the international
community’s attention to the fact that Turkey itself bears the entire
responsibility for the process’ failure.

“I am sure that the protocols’ withdrawal was dictated by the political
realities that we saw in the Armenia-Turkey relations in the past
couple of years. Armenia was doing everything possible to normalize
the relations, but not meeting a corresponding reaction by Turkey,
the official Yerevan could not but withdraw the protocols from the
parliament,” he noted.

The analyst said he sees that the Turkish authorities’ unwillingness
to normalize relations and their desire to link the process with the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict (over Nagorno-Karabakh) became especially
evident at the threshold of the Armenian Genocide centennial. “I
believe that the political decision to recall the protocols was
made long ago, so they are now interrelating the processes with the
centenary events,” he noted.

The expert said he never before saw any precondition signaling the
possibility of reconciliation.

“I think there will be a call for vigilance for the Turkish society’s
conscious part that sees and realizes denial policy’s hazards to
Turkey’s international reputation,” Melik-Shanazaryan added.

GENOCIDE ARMENIEN DE 1915 : MARSEILLE SE MOBILISE

REVUE DE PRESSE

“Je suis un petit-fils de rescape du genocide. Le rapport 77 me tient
particulièrement a coeur”. L’adjoint a l’economie, Didier Parakian,
dont les grands parents sont arrives en bateau a Marseille, presentera
ce matin[lundi], les manifestations commemorant le genocide armenien de
1915. “2015, c’est une annee douloureuse mais porteuse d’espoir. En
esperant que la penalisation du genocide soit enfin soumise au
Parlement”, ajoute l’elu.

En cette annee centenaire du genocide, de nombreuses manifestations
vont etre organisees a Marseille, des expos, des rencontres, des
debats pour les 80 000 autres Marseillais d’origine armeniennes,
la plus forte communaute en France et pour tous les Marseillais.

Le 24 avril, l’hôtel de ville sera drape aux couleurs de l’Armenie On
pourra decouvrir ainsi l’exposition 100 portraits en exil au Musee
d’Histoire avec l’association Aram. Le 24 avril, l’hôtel de ville
sera drape aux couleurs de l’Armenie. Et le 14 juillet, a l’occasion
de la fete nationale, Marseille accueillera le maire d’Erevan, ville
avec laquelle Marseille entretient des relations etroites depuis 1992.

2015 sera aussi l’annee de creation d’une association Marseille
Provence Armenie qui va federer autour de cette commemoration la
Ville, la communaute urbaine, et la CCI franco-armenienne sous le
haut patronage du consulat general d’Armenie a Marseille.

Didier Parakian lancera aussi a l’occasion de ce conseil, “le club
M” des ambassadeurs de la ville de Marseille. M comme Marseille,
Metropole, Mediterranee.

“Un nouvel outil de promotion, pour lutter contre le Marseille Bashing,
qui comptera notamment Yvon Berland, Gerald Passedat, Macha Makeïeff,
Jean-Pierre Foucault, Olivier Picasso, les Saade…”.

mardi 17 fevrier 2015, Stephane (c)armenews.com

LE PARTI ARMENIE PROSPERE HAUSSE LE TON

ARMENIE

L’enlèvement et l’agression d’un representant d’Armenie prospère, Artak
Katchatrian, samedi 7 fevrier, par des inconnus masques, constitue
le principal sujet d’actualite . Des centaines de membres de cette
formation politique, soutenus par des partisans des partis Congrès
national armenien et Heritage ont manifeste devant le Gouvernement
pour demander l’elucidation de cet incident dans les meilleurs
delais. Dans un entretien avec RFE/RL, Mme Naïra Zohrabian, secretaire
du groupe parlementaire d’Armenie prospère, n’a pas exclu que son parti
boycotte le travail de l’AN, si d’ici la prochaine session de l’AN,
le 23 fevrier, les malfaiteurs ne sont pas identifies. Selon elle,
si cette agression n’est pas elucidee dans les plus brefs delais, la
responsabilite retombera sur les autorites politiques du pays. Armenie
prospère reclamera alors plusieurs demissions. >. Le parti Republicain a egalement condamne l’agression
de l’opposant, en appelant les organes judiciaires a faire toute la
lumière et les autres partis politiques a s’abstenir de declarations >.

Si l’editorial d’Aravot qualifie l’enlèvement et l’agression du
representant d’Armenie prospère comme un >,
qui demeurera non-elucide a l’instar des precedents cas, Haykakan
Jamanak parle d’>, qui revèle que

NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING TURKISH WRITER AVOIDS SPEAKING ABOUT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

18:58, 16 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Turkey’s military, which has forced out civilian governments in the
past, has been pushed to the sidelines but largely replaced with an
Islamist and authoritarian government, Turkish Nobel laureate Orhan
Pamuk said in remarks published on Saturday, Today’s Zaman reports.

“Authoritarian soldiers were [pushed] out [but an] authoritarian
and Islamist government took their place,” he said in an interview
with the French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Istanbul,
referring to Turkey’s recent history in which military influence over
politics has slowly disappeared and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) have become
the new center of power.

He also said that the AK Party was “destroying the balance of powers,
which is in fact the key to any democracy.”

“In that sense, Turkey is only [an] electoral democracy, but a
democracy where the respect [for] human rights, free speech are
violated every day,” said Pamuk, adding that he sensed a deterioration
when he last returned to Turkey from New York, where he teaches at
Columbia University.

“When I came back, I felt a climate of fear, people whispering,”
he told AFP.

In the interview, Pamuk was more reluctant to discuss the issue of the
Armenian Genocide at the hands of the disintegrating Ottoman Empire.

“I had a lot of trouble eight to 10 years ago because I talked freely
about this subject,” Pamuk said of his past remarks that caused a
great deal of controversy in Turkey.

FORMER ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SPEAKS ABOUT PROSPECT OF “DEEP CRISIS”

February 16, 2015 17:35
433 views

Yerevan/Mediamax/. Former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said
today that “arrests and repressive actions will lead the country to
the deep and long-lasting crisis”.

He said this in his interview to 2rd.am site commenting on current
political situation in Armenia.

“I can’t explain why the President needed it. If the calculation was
to exert a pressure on Gagik Tsarukyan and thus dissolve the PAP,
it wasn’t effective. Vice versa, the opposition field demonstrates
distinct signs of unification as the vocabulary and goals have become
more radical. The PAP has not been discredited either due to extremely
lame arguments. Any action against the PAP now will be considered as
a persecution lacking legitimacy”, said Robert Kocharyan.

He noted that “the more zealously the authorities try to “clean up”
the political field, the stronger the unification against the power
and the more realistic the prospect of political shocks will be”.

At the same time, the former President said that the authorities still
can “stop and not to resort to an administrative actions against the
PAP leader, remain exclusively within oral duel and return to the
political field of confrontation with the opponents”.

“The intentions of the ruling party voiced at the session of the RPA
board are not within the Constitution of Armenia. The PAP and the
opposition in general is literally forced to organize mass actions
in the streets with unpredictable ramifications. The arrests and
repressive actions will lead the country to a deep and long-lasting
crisis. Our country is overloaded with grave issues and their solution
is only possible through the broader unification of the society
and restoring people’s faith in future. However, unfortunately,
what happened became a strong impulse in the opposite side”, said
Robert Kocharyan.

– See more at:

SHAHRIYAR’S POETRY NIGHT WAS HELD IN ARMENIA

Iran Book News Agency
Feb 16 2015

Publish Date : Monday 16 February 2015 – 18:54

IBNA- The literature meeting ‘Shahriyar’s poetry night’ was held
at Iran’s Cultural Center in Armenia attended by a group of poets,
literary figures, professors, scholars and students of Persian language
and literature to review the literature of the Islamic Revolution.

According to IBNA correspondent, quoting from the office of the
Public Relations and Islamic Communications that the ceremony aimed
to introducing the literature of the Islamic Revolution and the works
of Shahriyar in particular to the guests by showing a film of him
reciting a poem in the presence of the Supreme Leader. Majid Meshki,
the Iranian Cultural Attache, delivered a speech on comparing the
history of Persian poetry and literature at Pahlavi era with that
of the Islamic Revolution and pointed to the changes in Shahriyar’s
poems before and after the Islamic Revolution.

Iran’s Cultural Attache in Armenia stated in his speech that most
poets and literary figures as well as thinkers were either in jail
or exiled in Pahlavi era due to Reza Shah’s dictatorship, and this
happened at the time when many great poets of the country like Farrokhi
Yazdi and Mirzadeh Eshqi lost their lives to the regime.

SPEAKER TO REQUEST CEC TO STRIP TSARUKYAN OF HIS MANDATE

Roza Hovhannisyan, Reporter
Country – 16 February 2015, 16:30

The staff of the National Assembly is studying the attendance records
of Gagik Tsarukyan, head of Prosperous Armenia Party, and the reasons
of his absenteeism.

Armtimes.com informed that the speaker of the National Assembly
is likely to request the Central Electoral Commission to strip
Tsarukyan of his mandate. The head of the NA Public Relations and
Media Department Arsen Babayan did not dismiss news on applying to the
CEC in an interview with Lragir.am. “Once the process is completed,
everything will be clear,” he said, noting that there is no clear
decision on the day.

In answer to the question why the National Assembly applies to the CEC
instead of putting the issue of stripping Tsarukyan of his mandate
to vote in the National Assembly, Babayan said: “For the beginning,
I can say that there is a decision of the Constitutional Court revoking
the provision on putting this issue to vote.”

Babayan also added that the process will be completed as soon as
possible.

The secretary of the CEC Press Secretary Hermineh Harutiunyan told
Lragir.am that the commission has not received any letters or protocols
from the National Assembly.

In answer to the question on how long it takes to make a decision after
receiving one, the secretary said they will refrain from comments as
long as no such a letter has been received.

Note that Gagik Tsarukyan missed 133 meetings of parliament during the
past session, which means 100% absenteeism. Most absences, however,
were then considered valid by the speaker.