Author: Talalian Arpi

JUDICIAL PROCESS ON THE CASE OF ESPIONAGE IN FAVOUR OF AZERBAIJAN STARTS IN YEREVAN

ArmInfo
2010-01-22 12:56:00

ArmInfo. Judicial process on the case of espionage in favour of
Azerbaijan starts in Yerevan court of Avan and Nork Marash communities.

As it was informed earlier, it was proved during the investigation,
carried out by the Investigation Department of Armenia’s National
Security Service, that a citizen of Armenia, former employee of
Armenia’s Defense Ministry, Gevork Hayrapetyan, was enrolled by the
Azerbaijani special services in April, 2009 and, according to the task
received, he gathered and transferred secret information about the
fighting efficiency and defense capacity of Armenia’s Armed Forces,
as well as some information to carry out an anti-Armenian propaganda.

Hayrapetyan received the last task from a citizen of Iran, an
Azerbaijani by nationality, Bekhham Jafar Fadeh Bageri, who arrived
in Armenia on September 1. The photo of an employee o the Azerbaijani
special services, well-known to Hayrapetyan, served a conventional
sign for the meeting held at Hayrapetyan’s home, where they exchanged
tasks and materials. The materials transferred were found out at
Bageri when he underwent control at Karchevan check-point in Meghri.

Arms and ammunition were found out in Hayrapetyan’s house during
the search.

A charge was brought against G. Hayrapetyan based on the proofs
obtained, according to p. 1 Article 299 (state treason via espionage)
and p. 1 Article 235 (illegal storage of arms and ammunition) of
Criminal Code of Armenia. Bageri was accused according to Article 302
(espionage by a citizen of a foreign state) of Armenia’s CC.

FFA HEADQUARTERS HOST SEMINAR ON TRANSFER COORDINATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.01.2010 15:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Wednesday, January 20, FFA headquarters hosted
a seminar on transfer coordination within FIFA system frameworks,
FFA official website reported.

8 of Armenian League 1 teams and Ararat first division team
participated in a seminar on transfer coordination. The seminar
covered protection of under age sportsmen, their first registration
and international transfers.

The Football Federation of Armenia (FFA) is the governing body of
football in Armenia, founded on January 18, 1992 and headquartered
in Yerevan.

The federation is in charge of organising competitions of football
league, Armenian Premier League, Armenian national football team,
and the Armenia women’s national football team.

COUNCIL OF EUROPE MONITORS DELAY REPORT ON ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN

news.az
Jan 21 2010
Azerbaijan

Council of Europe The Ago group has delayed publication of its latest
report on Armenia and Azerbaijan’s fulfilment of their commitments
to the Council of Europe.

Though Ago group was to present the report to the Council of Europe
Committee of Ministers on the visit to Azerbaijan and the region,
the presentation of the document was postponed by February 3.

It has been postponed as there is a need for additional consultations
concerning some issues. Assistant Secretary of Council of Europe
Committee of Ministers, secretary of Ago group Christof Poirel the
report will be presented to the Committee of Ministers after the
consultations end.

Ago group visited Azerbaijan on November 25. Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov received the delegation led by head of
Ago monitoring group, Romania’s permanent representative to the
Council of Europe Stelian Stojan. Foreign Ministry’s press service
told that Stelian Stojan said they witnessed rapid development in a
number of spheres in Azerbaijan. Stojan said the Council of Europe and
Azerbaijan had constructive relations and underlined the importance
of implementing joint projects in judiciary, municipality and other
spheres.

Elmar Mammadyarov said the development process in Azerbaijan was
oriented towards European integration and added that adding there were
broad opportunities for effective cooperation in this area. Asked
about the negotiations on Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, the Minister
said the conflict can be solved only basing on Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity.

The sides exchanged views on a number of political and other issues
of mutual interest.

LECTURE ON ‘ROCKY ROAD OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH NORMALIZATION’ AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Armenian Weekly
January 21, 2010

Dr. Arman Grigoryan, currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow at University
of Michigan, will give a lecture entitled "The Rocky Road of
Armenian-Turkish Normalization: Before and After the Protocols,"
on Thursday, January 28, at 6:30 p.m., in the Lindsay Rogers Common
Room (Room 707) of the International Affairs Building at Columbia
University (420 West 118th Street, New York, NY). The lecture will
be sponsored by the Columbia University Armenian Studies Program,
the Armenian Center at Columbia University, the Middle East Institute
at Columbia University, and the National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research (NAASR).

The signing of the protocols on the establishment of diplomatic
relations and the development of bilateral relations between Armenia
and Turkey have been hailed as a watershed event. After all, the
relationship between Armenians and Turks has been one of the most
hostile relationships in the world since at least World War I.

Therefore, the signing of the protocols was bound to generate some
significant reactions. This presentation will aim to understand the
history of criticisms against normalization, current political shifts
within the government of Armenia, and the prospects of the protocols’
success.

Dr. Arman Grigoryan is a post-doctoral fellow at the University
of Michigan, where he has a joint affiliation with the Political
Science Department and the Armenian Studies Program. Dr. Grigoryan
received a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University in
2008 after de-fending his dissertation on the role of third parties
in the escalation of state-minority conflicts. He also holds an MA
from the University of Chicago in international relations, and an
under-graduate degree from the Yerevan State University, where he
majored in Turkish studies.

Dr. Grigoryan’s publications have appeared in Ethnopolitics,
International Security, Arme-nian Journal of Public Policy, and
the French Chaillot Papers. His article on the escalatory potential
of third-party interventions will appear in International Studies
Quarterly next year. Prior to his academic career, Grigoryan worked
in the first independent government of Armenia as an ex-pert on
Turkish affairs.

More information about the lecture is available by contacting Nanor
Kebranian at [email protected] or 212-851-4002 or by contacting NAASR
at [email protected] or (617) 489-1610, or by writing to NAASR, 395 Concord
Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.

FRESH OBSTACLES THREATEN HISTORIC ARMENIAN DEAL WITH TURKEY

Gulf Times
e.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=338246&version=1&amp ;template_id=39&parent_id=21
Jan 21 2010
UAE

Armenian and Turkish efforts to establish ties after decades of
hostility hit fresh snags yesterday after Ankara accused Yerevan of
trying to set new conditions on the historic deal.

Armenia expressed "bewilderment" at Turkish claims that a ruling by
its Constitutional Court this month had set new conditions, while
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Yerevan was trying to
"doctor" the text.

Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian said in a statement that he
intended to speak with Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu "in order
to express my bewilderment and clarify where exactly in the decision
of the Constitutional Court the Turkish side sees preconditions."

Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols in October to establish
diplomatic ties and reopen their shared border, in a deal hailed as
a historic step towards ending decades of hostility stemming from
World War I era massacres of Armenians under Ottoman Turkey.

Armenia’s Constitutional Court on January 12 upheld the legality of the
agreement, but also said the two protocols "cannot be interpreted" to
contradict a paragraph in Armenia’s 1990 declaration of independence
that refers to "the 1915 genocide in Ottoman Turkey and Western
Armenia."

Turkey’s refusal to establish ties with Armenia stems in part
from Yerevan’s attempts to have the World War I era massacres
internationally recognised as genocide.

References to "Western Armenia" are also sensitive as some in Turkey
see use of the term as making territorial claims on areas in eastern
Anatolia.

In a statement, Turkey’s foreign ministry said the court ruling
"contains preconditions and restrictive provisions which impair the
letter and spirit of the protocols."

Erdogan said yesterday that the ruling was "an attitude that can
never be accepted," Anatolia news agency reported.

"Armenia has attempted to doctor the text. This must be rectified,
or otherwise the process will be harmed," he told reporters during
a visit to Saudi Arabia.

Armenia in recent weeks has expressed growing frustration over the
Turkish parliament’s failure to ratify the protocols.

It has also accused Turkey of altering the terms of the deal by
linking it with Armenia’s conflict with Turkish ally Azerbaijan over
the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region.

The Armenian parliament also has yet to ratify the accord.

Nalbandian said he hoped the fresh Turkish objections are not aimed
at justifying Ankara’s "continuous attempts to set preconditions"
on the deal.

Erdogan insisted that "Turkey has displayed its sincerity" by sending
the protocols to parliament for ratification, but added that "we do
not have the luxury to keep Armenian-Azerbaijani relations out of
this affair."

Backed by Yerevan, ethnic Armenian separatists seized control of
Nagorny Karabakh and seven surrounding districts from Azerbaijan
during a war in the early 1990s that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of solidarity
with Azerbaijan – with which it has strong ethnic, trade and energy
links – against Yerevan’s support for the enclave’s separatists.

Turkish newspapers yesterday said the Armenian court ruling had
endangered the reconciliation process. The mass-selling Hurriyet daily
wrote that the ruling pointed at "a new crisis with Armenia," while
the liberal Radikal said that Yerevan had "tripped up the protocols."

TURKEY AND ARMENIA BICKER PROTOCOL DECISION

EurAsiaNet
Jan 21 2010
NY

A ruling issued by Armenia’s Constitutional Court has established an
obstacle to Turkish-Armenian reconciliation efforts, Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has asserted.

Speaking on January 20, Erdogan complained about the Armenian high
court’s decision on the legality of reconciliation protocols signed by
Turkish and Armenian officials in Zurich last October. Specifically,
the court said that rapprochement efforts between Armenia and Turkey
should have no bearing on the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. It
likewise stated that the protocols should not deter Yerevan’s
long-standing campaign to secure international recognition of the
1915 genocide of Armenian by Ottoman Turks.

Erdogan said the court’s decision cast a pall over mend-fencing
efforts, Hurriyet, a major Turkish daily, reported. Turkish leaders
have asserted that ratification of the protocols by the Turkish
parliament is contingent on progress in the Karabakh talks. The
reconciliation protocols contained a provision to create a panel
that would probe the World War I-era slaughter of Armenians in
Ottoman Turkey.

On January 18, the Turkish Foreign Ministry complained that the
Armenian court statement was not in line with the "letter and spirit"
of the Zurich Protocols. Armenian officials shot back that Ankara
was overreacting, the Armenia Today news service reported January 20.

Spiegel Online

21. Januar 2010, 13:50 Uhr

Armenien

Wo Noahs Arche strandete

Von Thomas Heinloth

,151 8,673144,00.html

Schroffe Berglandschaften, spektakuläre Sakralbauten und eine bewegte
Geschichte: Armenien ist auf dem Weg, auch als Reiseziel wahrgenommen
zu werden.

Mit Areni-Wein und Maulbeerwodka empfangen die Kaukasier ihre
zahlreicher werdenden Gäste – und lassen sie ungern wieder gehen.

Gut, dass Rotwein die gleiche Farbe hat wie Coca-Cola, zumindest auf
den ersten Blick, gut für Arenis Winzer und gut für die Rotweintrinker
im Iran. Die Grenze zum selbsternannten Gottesstaat liegt nicht weit
hinter den Weinbergen. Und bevor die iranischen LKW-Fahrer sie auf
ihrem Weg nach Teheran passieren, legen sie in Areni noch eine
Einkaufspause ein. Die Durchgangsstraße ist ein Getränkemarkt, gesäumt
mit wackeligen Holzregalen, auf denen Softdrinkflaschen stehen,
randvoll mit Armeniens weichem, dichtem Wein. "Die Grenzer drücken ein
Auge zu und stecken zwei Flaschen ein", sagt Stefan Simonian.

Seit Noahs Arche am Ararat gestrandet ist, keltern sie hier, Stefan
Simonian seit gut 25 Jahren. Lange hat er für die Russen Wein gemacht,
er und hundert andere, in der Wein-Kooperative von Areni. Die Russen
aber haben eingepackt und sind nach Hause gefahren, als Armenien 1991
unabhängig wurde. Jetzt ist die Kooperative ein Familienbetrieb und
der ehemalige Vorarbeiter selbständiger Unternehmer. "Oder schreiben
Sie besser Winzer", sagt Simonian, das klinge besser. Schließlich geht
es heute vor allem um die Qualität.

Neue Tanks hat er gekauft und die Rebstöcke radikal
zurückgeschnitten. 26 Prozent Zuckergehalt hat jetzt die Areni-Traube,
die so heißt wie der Ort, auf dessen kargen Hängen sie gedeiht. 26
Prozent, "da brauchen Sie nicht nachsüßen", sagt Simonian, "so viel
hatten wir unter den Russen nie". 150.000 Flaschen füllt er ab im Jahr
von seinem Roten, der nach Johannisbeeren schmeckt und einer Spur
Lakritz. Die guten Jahrgänge verkauft er nach Georgien und
Russland. "Und wer weiß", sagt Simonian, "vielleicht reisen meine
Flaschen ja bald bis Frankreich oder bis Italien."

"Gottverlassen waren wir lange genug"

Rom und Paris – von Areni aus gesehen, lag das in einem anderen
Universum, jetzt aber rückt Armenien wieder näher an Europa. "Gott sei
Dank", sagt Vater Michael, der Abt von Tatev, "gottverlassen waren wir
lange genug." Über 70 lange Jahre hatten sie keinen Pfarrer –
ausgerechnet hier in Tatev, wo die Apostolische Kirche Armeniens eines
ihrer religiösen Zentren betrieb, wo im Mittelalter Mönche aus dem
ganzen Kaukasus studierten und man jeden Tag dreimal die Messe sang.

Heute stehen die prachtvollen Bibeln, die hier gefertigt wurden, im
Historischen Museum Eriwans in Glasvitrinen, und durch die verlassenen
Mönchszellen pfeift der Wind, hoch über dem Vorotan-Canyon, wo sich
das Kloster an die Felsen klammert. Verlassen, seltsam unbenutzt wirkt
die schmucklose, steingraue Kirche, die nach kaltem Weihrauch riecht,
doch seit kurzem singen Tatevs Kinder wieder in Michaels
Kirchenchor. "Und sehen Sie mal, da drüben", sagt der Abt, "so langsam
kommen auch die Alten wieder."

Drei Hirten in Trainingshosen und Jackets zerren ein schwarzes Schaf
über den Hof. Dreimal muss es um die Kirche, so sind die Regeln beim
Tieropfer, der Matagh. Dann kommt die letzte Fütterung mit gesegnetem
Salz, dann ein sauberer Schnitt durch die Kehle, und schließlich wird
das gekochte Fleisch verteilt auf sieben bedürftige Familien. "Die
meisten denken wohl, es kann nicht schaden", sagt Vater
Michael. Kürzlich hat er ein Schild an die schwere Eichentür genagelt:
Die Kirche bitte nicht betrunken betreten. "Ein gutes Zeichen", sagt
Tatevs neuer Pfarrer, "das Leben kommt zurück."

Auf dem Parkplatz vor dem Kloster beziehen jetzt an den Wochenenden
die Souvenirverkäufer Stellung: Holzkreuze und Heiligenbildchen für
die Gläubigen, eingemachte Kirschen und süße Hefeteigfladen für die
Hungrigen, getrocknete Aprikosen, aufgereiht an Bindfäden, Walnüsse
mit geliertem Sirup. Und daneben, gegerbt und abgezogen, was die Jäger
im Winter in den dichten Birkenwäldern schießen: Marder, Luchs und
Wolf, das Fell zu 40.000 Dram, rund 80 Euro, und Verhandlungssache bei
den Bären. Sogar Postkarten haben sie jetzt hier, das ist neu. "Gäste
sind wir noch nicht so recht gewöhnt", sagt Vater Michael.

Wer sich setzt, den lassen sie so schnell nicht gehen

Selbst die Hirten auf den Almen singen nicht mehr allein für ihre
Schafe. In den Syunik-Bergen überm Kloster sind die ersten
Trekkinggruppen unterwegs, in bonbonbunten Gore-Tex-Jacken leicht
auszumachen im ockerfarbenen Faltenwurf der kargen Hügel. Hajastan, so
nennen die Armenier ihre Heimat, Land aus Stein, und mit den Steinen
wechselt Armenien nach jeder langen Kurve sein Gesicht.

Brüchig und porös ist der Sandstein rund um Tatev, rostrot der
Schiefer in der festgebackenen Erde kurz vor der Grenze zum Iran, rosa
der Tuff bei Eriwan.

Bespickt mit Dornen ist der Lava-Schutt auf den Hochplateaus vor
Berg-Karabach, und die Schluchten hinter Garni sind gesäumt von einem
Überhang Zehntausender Basaltsäulen, aneinandergereiht wie die
steinernen Pfeifen einer apokalyptischen Orgel.

Ein Busparkplatz auch hier: In einem aufgebockten Blechcontainer
verkauft ein Junge Souvenirs, handgestrickte Socken und Dosenbier für
Männerrunden auf dem nahen Picknickplatz. Ein Dutzend Bauern aus dem
nächsten Dorf feiern den Sonntag rund um eine Plastikplane und freut
sich über die Besucher: "Maulbeerwodka, kommen Sie, nur 50 Dram." Und
wer sich setzt, den lassen sie so schnell nicht gehen.

Selten lassen sie einen ohne weiteres weiterziehen. Nicht ohne ein
Gläschen Selbstgebrannten, nicht ohne eine Aprikose, nicht ohne ein
Stück Lavash-Brot, am besten frisch als hauchdünner, warmer Fladen,
wenn ihn die Frauen gerade aus den Lehmofen geholt haben.

Und wer anhält in Sarnakunk bekommt Kaffee bei Melanja
Ghazarian. Jeder, sagt Melanja, bekommt bei mir Kaffee. Sarnakunk
heißt kalte Quelle, und Quellwasser läuft in Melanjas Küche ohne Pause
eiskalt durch die Spüle und jetzt in ihren Kaffeetopf aus Aluguss. Ein
Löffelchen für jede Tasse: "Türkisch, sagt sie, in Armenien trinken
wir Kaffee türkisch, trotz alledem." Für Gäste aus dem Ausland holt
sie das Feiertagsgeschirr. "Setzen Sie sich", sagt Melanja, "man muss
sich doch kennenlernen, wenn Sie schon mal da sind."

Und dann erzählt sie: zwei Kühe, ein paar Ziegen, die Bienenstöcke vor
dem Haus, vier Apfelbäume und ein Schlag Kartoffeln, das ist ihr
Besitz. "Es ist gar nicht so viel, was fehlt", sagt Melanja, nur eine
Glasveranda hätte sie so gern und manchmal ein bisschen Bargeld. Das
meiste tauschen sie im Dorf, Geld gibt es nur an der Straße Richtung
Eriwan, wo ihre Söhne Wiesenchampignons verkaufen.

Eriwan? Nie ist sie dort gewesen.

Auberginenmus und Ziegenkäse

Ein Witz hat die Hauptstadt Eriwan berühmt gemacht, und im Prinzip,
ja, haben sie auch ein Radio dort. Ein rot-weißer Sendemast auf dem
Hügel über dem Armeemuseum, turmhoch, dominant, unübersehbar. Doch
nicht der Radiosender thront über Eriwan, sondern der Ararat,
Armeniens heiliger, mystischer Berg, der von jedem Platz, von jeder
Straße Eriwans zu sehen ist.

Die Altstadt wird gerade umgekrempelt: Vom Platz vor der Oper aus
gräbt ein Investment-Trust eine diagonale Schneise durchs
Schachbrett-Straßenmuster. Die neue Northern Avenue ist in Beton
gegossene Plastikarchitektur, mehr Mall als Straße, und dass sie
keinen armenischen Namen trägt, ist wohl Programm. Die Bauarbeiten
laufen noch, doch die Mieter haben sich schon angekündigt: Emporio
Armani, Starbucks. Das ist Armeniens neue Mischung: links ein
Luxus-Lexus, rechts ein Lada.

Lada-Land sind die Gassen rund um die Zentrale Markthalle gegenüber
Eriwans einziger Moschee, wo die Platanen blühen und wilder Wein sich
rankt um altrosa Tuff-Fassaden, bis hinauf zu französischen
Balkonen. Und an den Ständen in der Halle wie schon immer: Rote Beete,
Trockenfrüchte, Nüsse, Auberginenmus und Ziegenkäse.

Und wer ein bisschen sucht, findet auch Stefan Simonians Rotwein aus
Areni, vielleicht sogar eine Flasche aus dem Jahr 2001: sein bester
Jahrgang, aus dem Sommer, in dem einfach alles stimmte, die Sonne, der
Regen und der Wind, dem Jahr, als die rostbraune Erde alles in
Simonians dunkelblaue Trauben steckte.

Noch steht er in der Markthalle Eriwans, zu 4000 Dram die Flasche,
unterm Ararat. Doch vielleicht reist er demnächst nach Rom, vielleicht
auch nach Paris.

FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway

The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief

========================================== =====
21 January 2010
AZERBAIJAN: NAKHICHEVAN AUTHORITIES CRACK DOWN ON ASHURA COMMEMORATIONS
article_id=1397
Authorities in the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan warned employees of
state enterprises and students not to attend mosque during Shia Muslim
commemorations of Ashura in December, local human rights activist Malahat
Nasibova told Forum 18 News Service. She said she had seen plain clothes
police officers turning away young men from a Nakhichevan city mosque. A
massive crackdown in the Nakhichevan village of Bananyar the day after the
Ashura commemorations saw dozens detained, including some in psychiatric
hospital. It is not clear if this was official punishment for their Ashura
commemoration or to prevent potential opposition. Parliamentary deputy
Ismail Hajiev denied to Forum 18 any crackdown in Bananyar, adding: "All
mosques in Nakhichevan are working normally." Nasibova also said three
young men who attended the Turkish-built Sunni mosque in Nakhichevan city
were detained for 15-days in November and told to go to a Shia mosque
instead. Forum 18 notes that small Adventist and Baha’i minorities have
already been forced out of Nakhichevan.
* See full article below. *

18 January 2010
BELARUS: ALTERNATIVE SERVICE LAW WITHDRAWN AS PRISONER AWAITS TRIAL
d=1396
Arrested by Belarus on 15 December, after his demands to do alternative
civilian service were rejected, Messianic Jew Ivan Mikhailov is due to go
on trial on 29 January on charges of refusing compulsory military service,
Minsk District Court told Forum 18 News Service. After a gap of nine years,
Dmitry Smyk, a Jehovah’s Witness from Gomel, was found guilty on the same
charge in November 2009 and given a large fine, which he is still appealing
against. A Law on Alternative Service was initially included in the 2010
Legislative Programme but was removed "for some reason" at the last minute,
an official of the National Centre for Legislation and Legal Research told
Forum 18. The failure to introduce alternative service comes a decade after
a May 2000 Constitutional Court ruling declaring its introduction "urgent".
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court denied Jehovah’s Witnesses in Gomel the right
to challenge an official written warning, despite a 2007 Constitutional
Court decision upholding religious organisations’ right to make such
challenges.

21 January 2010
AZERBAIJAN: NAKHICHEVAN AUTHORITIES CRACK DOWN ON ASHURA COMMEMORATIONS

?article_id=1397
By Felix Corley, Editor, Forum 18 News Service <;

The authorities in the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan prevented young
men from attending mosques to commemorate the Shia Muslim festival of
Ashura on 26 and 27 December 2009, local human rights defender Malahat
Nasibova complained. "I was at one of the mosques in Nakhichevan city to
mark Ashura and saw with my own eyes young lads being turned away by plain
clothes police and told to go home," she told Forum 18 News Service from
Nakhichevan city on 21 January 2010. "Most of those present were women or
older men." She said that employees of state enterprises had been warned at
work not to attend Ashura commemorations, as had students. She added that
apart from in a few villages in Nakhichevan, commemorations were confined
to mosques and were not allowed on the streets.

Nasibova’s comments came amid continuing debate over why the authorities
launched a massive crackdown in the village of Bananyar in Nakhichevan’s
Julfa District on 28 December 2009, the day after some 2,000 villagers had
held a mass Ashura commemoration. Many villagers were detained and a number
were held for several days in psychiatric hospitals. The village was sealed
off by Interior Ministry troops as well as police, the Azerbaijani press
reported.

Nasibova – who heads the Democracy and NGO Development Resource Centre –
believes the Nakhichevan authorities are trying to prevent crowds from
gathering and would have cracked down whether it had been a religious or a
political meeting. "This was a violation of freedom of assembly and freedom
of religion," she told Forum 18.

The Day of Ashura, the tenth day of the month of Muharram, is for Shia
Muslims a day of mourning. The Azerbaijani authorities have banned Muslims
from beating themselves with whips until the blood flows and banned the
import of whips from Iran and other countries. They have instead organised
blood donor sessions at larger mosques.

The Bananyar crackdown

Press reports, as well as Nasibova and Baku-based human rights defender
Saadat Bananyarli (whose grandfather was from the village), say police did
not intervene during Ashura commemorations on 26 and 27 December 2009.
However, on 28 December they arrested about five participants and
non-participants and took them to the police station at a nearby village,
questioning them about their participation in the Ashura commemoration.
Some of those held were beaten, Bananyarli quoted residents as telling her.

Relatives, mainly women, went to the police station trying to find out what
had happened to those the police had detained and to call for their
release. "They too were intimidated," Bananyarli told Forum 18. Yunis
Aliev, the son of one of the detainees, then threatened to douse himself in
petrol and set himself on fire. When police told him to go ahead and do so,
he did. Relatives and the police then doused the flames, though not before
Aliev had sustained serious burns. In early January 2010 he was transferred
to a hospital in Tabriz in neighbouring Iran, where Bananyarli said he is
recovering and is now able to talk to relatives.

As a number of villagers remained in detention, on the night of 4 to 5
January Interior Ministry troops moved into Bananyar. "It was a punitive
measure," Bananyarli told Forum 18. "People were detained, some in their
night clothes. If they refused to open the door the troops just broke it
down." She estimates up to 150 people were held, with women being freed
some three days later and then most of the men. The village was sealed off.

Nasibova told Forum 18 that about seven of those detained were held in
psychiatric hospital. She added that they were not forcibly treated with
any harmful drugs and are all now free. She said it is not the first time
the Nakhichevan authorities have detained people in psychiatric hospitals
as punishment. "We have a custom not to put people in prison but in
psychiatric hospital."

After publicity about the crackdown in the Azerbaijani media in early
January and a visit to Baku by representatives of the families, who visited
the office of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE) and the Human Rights Ombudsperson’s Office, the Interior Ministry
troops were withdrawn. However, police control of the village remained
tight.

Diplomats denied access

Norwegian and American diplomats tried to visit Bananyar on 13 January but,
as a statement on the Royal Norwegian Embassy website noted the following
day, "a group stopped their vehicle as it entered the village, verbally
threatened them and forced them to leave before any contacts with village
residents were made". The two embassies called for a full investigation
into the incidents in the village.

The heads of the two embassies were summoned to the Foreign Ministry on 15
January, where according to the Turan agency Deputy Foreign Minister Vagif
Sadikhov accused their diplomats of violating the Vienna Convention on
Diplomatic Relations.

Human rights defender Nasibova said she had heard on 21 January that all
but one of the detainees have now been freed.

What was behind the crackdown?

Bananyar was known for its Islamic devotion even during the Soviet period,
Bananyarli told Forum 18. Many natives of the village return there during
Ashura to be with their families.

Some speculate that local tensions were as much behind the authorities’
desire to crack down as religious issues, pointing out that several
opposition Popular Front activists – who appear not to have participated
prominently or at all at the Ashura commemoration – were detained. Some
believe that the crackdown and detentions were timed for Ashura as this was
when many people would be present in the village.

But even those who believe the crackdown was motivated by an official
desire to suppress potential political opposition or clan rivals point out
that this could make villagers afraid to commemorate Ashura or other
religious festivals so prominently in Bananyar in future.

Official denials of crackdown and restrictions

Azeri officials denied to Forum 18 that any crackdown had taken place in
Bananyar or that Muslims had been pressured or prevented from attending
Ashura commemorations in Nakhichevan. "Nothing happened in Bananyar,"
member of the Azerbaijani parliament from Julfa and member of its human
rights committee Ismail Hajiev told Forum 18 from Nakhichevan on 21
January. "Everything is normal there. All mosques in Nakhichevan are
working normally." Asked about the mass detentions in Bananyar, he
responded: "It’s not true. Only journalists said this. A normal person
never tells lies."

Forum 18 was unable to reach anyone at the Nakhichevan Interior Ministry on
21 January. The same day, a colleague of Idris Abbasov, the senior
Religious Affairs official in Nakhichevan, said that he was out of the
office and that no-one else could answer Forum 18’s questions.

The telephone of Ali Alizade, the head of the Nakhichevan Department of
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, which is located in the exclave, went
unanswered the same day. However, an official of the Political Department
there, who asked that his name not be given, insisted to Forum 18 that
"no-one was arrested because of Ashura". He said an investigation is still
underway, but believed the problems were caused by an individual "who had
personal problems". The official said visiting foreign diplomats visiting
Nakhichevan "are hosted well" and said he did not know what had happened to
the Norwegian and US diplomats.

Equally insistent that "nothing happened" in Bananyar is Mirjafar Seidov,
Nakhichevan’s Chief Mufti since late 2009. "Diplomats and journalists say a
lot," he told Forum 18 from Nakhichevan city on 21 January. "Nakhichevan is
a good place. The government is very good." He then put the phone down
before Forum 18 could ask why the authorities also restricted access to
Ashura commemorations elsewhere in the exclave.

The Nakhichevan exception

Nakhichevan – an exclave wedged between Armenia, Iran and Turkey – is an
Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan. However, it often appears to operate as
an independent entity not subject to control from the government in the
Azerbaijani capital Baku even though its political leader, Vasif Talybov,
is a relative by marriage of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev.

Human rights defenders and journalists have long complained that
Nakhichevan is even more authoritarian and restrictive than the rest of
Azerbaijan. Opposition political parties and non-governmental organisations
have been crushed or face severe restrictions, while journalists have been
harassed.

Religious policy is run locally, not from Baku. Faik Farajov, an assistant
to Religious Affairs official Abbasov, told Forum 18 in December 2009 that
the compulsory re-registration required of all religious communities across
Azerbaijan in the wake of the highly restrictive new Religion Law does not
apply in Nakhichevan. Elchin Askerov, the Deputy Chair of the State
Committee for Work with Religious Organisations in Baku, told Forum 18 on
21 January that Abbasov reports directly to Nakhichevan’s Supreme Soviet,
not to his Committee. He added that he did not know if re-registration is
being undertaken in Nakhichevan or not.

The Nakhichevan authorities have cracked down hard on small communities of
Seventh-day Adventists and Baha’is. Farajov of the Religious Affairs Office
told Forum 18 that no non-Muslim communities exist. "The Adventists and
Baha’is have all left," he claimed, insisting that "of course" they would
be allowed to function (see F18News 21 December 2009
< e_id=1389>).

Farajov said the approximately 250 mosques in the exclave are all Shia,
with the exception of one Sunni mosque in Nakhichevan city. The Turkish
Consulate General in Nakhichevan confirmed to Forum 18 on 21 January that
the Sunni mosque had been built with Turkish government funding, "but it
belongs to Nakhichevan". One imam from Turkey serves at the mosque "as a
missionary sent by the Turkish government", the Consulate General added.

Sunni mosque worshippers imprisoned for 15 days?

Three young men who attended the Sunni mosque in Nakhichevan city were
arrested in November 2009 and sentenced to 15 days’ detention, human rights
defender Nasibova told Forum 18. She said they were probably punished on
charges of hooliganism but which were in reality aimed at discouraging them
from attending the mosque. "They were told to attend the Iranian [i.e.
Shia] mosque instead," she said. "Many people are afraid to visit the
mosque now."

Forum 18 has been unable to confirm the detentions independently. The
Turkish Consulate General declined to comment. "Even if we had such
information we would not comment on it," an official told Forum 18.

The official of the Foreign Ministry Department within Nakhichevan told
Forum 18 he had no information on the reported detentions. Parliamentary
deputy Hajiev told Forum 18 he had not heard of any detentions. (END)

For a personal commentary, by an Azeri Protestant, on how the international
community can help establish religious freedom in Azerbaijan, see
< _id=482>.

For more background information see Forum 18’s Azerbaijan religious freedom
survey at < 1192>.

More coverage of freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Azerbaijan is
at <; religion=all&country=23>.

A compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments can be found at
< id=1351>.

A personal commentary on the European Court of Human Rights and
conscientious objection to military service is at
< id=1377>.

A printer-friendly map of Azerbaijan is available at
< s/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=azerba& gt;.
(END)

© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855
You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News

Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at

THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE COMMEMORATED MURDERED JOURNALIST HRANT DINK

BIAnet
Jan 20 2010
Turkey

3,000 people gathered in front of the Turkish-Armenian Agos newspaper
to commemorate journalist Hrant Dink who was killed at the very same
place three years ago. Orators as well as the crowd emphasized once
more the state’s responsibility for the murder.

Erol Onderoglu – Erhan Ustundag Istanbul – BÄ°A News Center20 January
2010, Wednesday 3,000 people gathered in front of Agos newspaper in
Å~^iÅ~_li in the centre of Istanbul to commemorate Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink, founder of the weekly Agos newspaper which is
published partly in Armenian and partly in Turkish.

Many people came despite the biting cold and snowfall, shouting slogans
that attributed the responsibility for the murder to the state. The
street was closed to traffic from 2.30 pm onwards. Armenian tunes
and Turkish folk songs were intoned.

Among the crowd were many well-known journalists, authors, artists and
politicians such as writer Adalet Agaoglu, Peace and Democracy Party
leader Demir Celik, MPs Ufuk Uras, Akın Birdal and Sabahat Tuncel,
director Ozcan Alper, Ozgur Dogan, musicians Aynur Dogan, Nejat
YavaÅ~_ogulları, Ferhat Tunc, Emel Kurna, Hakan Tahmaz, journalist
Ertugrul Kurkcu¸ academics Ferhunde Ozbay, AyÅ~_e Gul Altınay,
Nazan Aksoy, Ali Bayramoglu, painter Arzu BaÅ~_aran, Gulten Kaya,
actress Ayca Damgacı, Head of the Turkish Human Rights Foundation
Å~^ebnem Korur Fincancı, Eren Keskin, Leman Yurtsever, journalists
Nadire Mater, Ä°pek CalıÅ~_lar, Oral CalıÅ~_lar, Ece Temelkuran, Banu
Guven, Perihan Magden, Cengiz Candar, Hadi Uluengin, Joost Lagendijk,
Nevin Sungur, Abdi Ä°pekci’s daughter Nukhet Ä°pekci and Sezen Oz,
wife of murdered prosecutor Dgan Oz.

Rakel Dink: We will walk the path of justice and love The place where
Hrant Dink died was once more covered in red carnations. Rakel Dink,
widow of the assassinated journalist, addressed the crowd: "Welcome
to all of you. Together with you we will walk the path of justice
and love".

Arat Dink, son of Hrant Dink, opened his speech by saying: "I cannot
cry as someone whose father was killed in this country three years
ago. Arat Dink told the crowed how his father had been targeted and
how the responsible persons were hidden:

"Three days before my father was killed I was called to this country’s
governorship and they tried to put me in my place for an article I
wrote. There were two intelligence officers next to the governor. We
asked the court who they are. The court asked the governorship and
they told us a tale over one and a half pages. We said they should
be asked again, but the court said ‘The reply was already given’. Did
the court not mock us?"

Dink said he was angry and sorrowful: "I want to smash everything
to bits. First I will crash the windows of Agos and then my father’s
bust. I don’t like busts but real people. But we have to keep dignity.

You have showed that three years ago and during last three years.

There has to be a crowd as big as this one in deed. The state cannot
manage this, the state is afraid of it", Arat Dink said.

"100 years ago we hunted, now we became the prey".

Aydın: We cannot wait 30 years for Dink’s murderers At the beginning
of the commemoration, Bulent Aydın spoke to the crowd: "We know the
ones who tried to destroy brotherhood quite well.

They are watching us from a dark corner. We are here, regardless how
long it will take to bring light into the darkness. Hrant’s murderer
is the Ergenekon state", Aydın claimed.

Referring to the recent release of Mehmet Ali Agca Aydın said:
"Some people say ‘Hrant’s murderers are being tried after all, is that
not enough?’ Just like the murderer of Abdi Ä°pekci who was released
only yesterday… 30 years have passed after that darkness. We are
determined not to wait for 30 years for the murderer of Dink".

A portrait of journalist Dink had been arranged in the window of Agos
newspaper together with a banner saying, "We know the murderer, we
want justice". This was also the slogan shouted by the crowd on the
street. Other slogans were "There is no salvation for only one, it
is all of us or none" or "The murder state will be taken to account".

"They planned it, they had him killed, they concealed it and hid out"
was written on banners.

Office director Sırrı Sureyya Onder spoke to the crowd and emphasized
the state’s responsibility for the murder.

20 defendants are tried in the context of the Dink murder, five of
them in detention. The public officials accused by the Dink family
lawyers of negligence preceeding the murder have still not appeared
at court.

BIRTHRIGHT ARMENIA MARRIAGES AND ENGAGEMENTS

Armenian Weekly
January 20, 2010

An empire’s worst fear is to fall. An ethnicity’s worst fear is
to vanish. In modern times, the snowball of disappearance picks
up speed in any diaspora each time someone from that small tribe
finds his or her companion outside of it, or is disconnected with
their roots. The Armenian Diaspora is no different. Among the older
generations especially, Armenians are afraid of assimilation-and not
just cultural assimilation, but genetic assimilation as well. However,
reigns must be flexible and icicles easily break.

Engaged Birthright Armenia alums Haig Seferian and Stephanie Johnson,
who met during their 2006 volunteer service in Armenia.

Since 2004, Birthright Armenia has sponsored over 425 volunteers to
live and work in Armenia and to foster a connection to the homeland.

For many volunteers, and especially for those who are not of 100
percent Armenian descent, the experience has been a strong influence in
the way youth view their "Armenianness" and their role in the country’s
future. "Here I have learned so much about my homeland and as such
reconnected with myself in a way that I never thought I would," says
Anouch Adjemian, who is half-Armenian, half-Vietnamese, from Belgium.

To hold fast to the reigns of globalization and keep oneself seated
comfortably in one’s own identity outside of the ethnic homeland is a
demanding challenge. Birthright Armenia has in many ways filled this
opportunity-vacuum for many young Armenians through life exposure.

And, as perhaps a quite natural result of participating in this
inclusive sponsorship program, people meet people. In its first
five years of existence, 12 volunteers have found their spouses
while participating in Birthright Armenia, and 2 more are currently
engaged to fellow volunteers. Of the remaining engaged alumni, about
three-quarters are engaged to Armenians. "My fiance is Armenian, and
we actually met while doing Birthright Armenia during the summer of
2006," says Stephanie Johnson of Boston, Mass.

"Cultural preservation" through the experience of Birthright Armenia
has expressed itself in two key ways: either by volunteers renewing
their sense of identity with a connection and commitment to modern-day
Armenia, or by reaffirming their desire to find an Armenian life
partner. One alumnus who is currently engaged says, "Absolutely it
was important to me that I marry an Armenian to share that significant
part of my life with another Armenian and…pass down our culture to
another generation. Birthright Armenia reinforced these views."

Birthright Armenia is an un-exclusive cultural exposure to one’s
roots. Everyone with at least some Armenian heritage is welcome,
which brings the notion of "Armenian" for some out of the confines
of antiquated definitions of one or both parents being 100 percent
Armenian.

Chelsea Bissel from Washington is a recent alumnus who spent
the past seven months in Shushi and Yerevan with Birthright
Armenia. Chelsea, who is a quarter Armenian, shared a thoughtful
reflection on Armenianness in her own life, especially after her
volunteer experience. Asked whether it was important for her to marry
an Armenian, Chelsea said, "I don’t want this culture to slip away,
to somehow fall through the cracks of the more immediate and tangible
things in life… If I marry someone more Armenian than me who was
raised with a more present Armenian culture, that potential slippage
would no longer be as much of a threat… I recently argued with
someone with no Armenian descent about this. He claimed that it was
stupid and shortsighted and backwards for blood to be a criterion for
marriage. I see his point and it’s a good one, but logic has really
nothing to do with this decision; it’s sentimental and based on me
clinging desperately to something that is apparently more important
to me than some romantic no tions about marriage."

Most Birthright Armenia alums have commented that their bonds with
Armenia, regardless of their partner’s ethnicity, is and will be a
factor in the lives of their children, and their relationship with
their life partner. "Through Birthright Armenia I saw and fell in
love with Armenia, which added an element to what I wanted in a
partner. It had to be someone who enjoyed being there and accepted
a similar feeling of obligation about staying involved with Armenia
for a lifetime," said one alumnus.

However, Birthright Armenia is a forum in which a connection to one’s
heritage expresses itself in different ways. Christina Achkarian,
a 2007 volunteer, shared, "I always thought I would marry an
Armenian…but now things are a bit different… For the first time,
when I was doing the program I really felt Armenian… Seeing some of
the people doing BR that summer-one girl was even a quarter Armenian,
but she still came to learn about her heritage-I don’t think it’s
necessary to have 100 percent Armenian blood running through your
veins, so long as you pass on the culture."

Nyree Abrahamian, a volunteer who met her spouse during their
Birthright experiences and married in Armenia (where they have been
living for the past two years), says that her husband’s being Armenian
was not necessarily a requirement for her future children to speak
and be immersed in Armenian culture. "What is important is…not for
my husband to be Armenian, but for him to be genuinely interested
in my Armenianness-not only as my heritage, but as an important and
active component of my life. Birthright Armenia did influence my
perception of Armenianness, my outlook on Armenia’s future, and my
place in it…and [there is] great value in finding someone who is
as passionate about building Armenia’s future as I am."

Is there some hopeful news in the growing trend of Armenians losing
their cultural base? There may be. With programs that encourage
positive experiences with modern Armenian life like Birthright Armenia,
volunteers have certainly gained a unique and unbreakable bond with
their roots.

For more information on Birthright Armenia, visit