Author: Vardanian Garo

FRENCH JOURNAL REGULAR ISSUE DEDICATED TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH

Panorama.am
04/05/2010

Upon the initiative of the Armenian General Benevolent Union’s (AGBU)
Nubar library, the 11th issue of the "Armenian Journal of Modern
Issues" published in French is fully dedicated to Nagorno-Karabakh,
the goals of the Republic, and the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict.

According to the NKR Permanent Mission to France, interviews with
former Co-Chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group Vladimir Kazimirov,
EU Special Representative to the South Caucasus Peter Semneby,
European Parliament Deputy, member of the committee on parliamentary
cooperation with the South Caucasus states Yevgeni Kirillov, and
others are comprised in the journal.

Articles by the journal’s editor-in-chief, lecturer of the French
Institute of Geopolitics Raymond Kevorkian, lawyer, international law
expert Gerar Gergerian, and NKR Permanent Representative to France
Hovhannes Gevorkian are also comprised in the April issue.

CONGRESSMAN SARBANES: WHY I SUPPORT RECOGNITION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Yerkir
03.05.2010 13:08
Yerevan

Yerevan (Yerkir) – In his blog in the Hill, Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.),
spoke about the Armenian Gneocide issue.

"April 24th marked the 95th commemoration of the Armenian Genocide,
the systematic annihilation of more than 1.5 million Armenians by
Ottoman-era Turkish authorities. On March 4, 2010, the House Committee
on Foreign Affairs voted in favor of Resolution 252 to recognize the
Genocide. The next step is to achieve recognition in the full House of
Representatives. The Armenian Genocide, the first of the 20th Century,
included massacres, deportations, and death marches where hundreds
of thousands were herded into the Syrian Desert to die of thirst and
starvation. Without final rites, the remains of these victims lay
strewn across the desert in testament to a horrific demise," he wrote.

Modern-day Turkish authorities sadly have chosen to deny this chapter
of Turkish history and have sought every opportunity to discredit the
findings of legitimate genocide scholars, he went on saying. Notable
scholars and historians who recognize the Armenian Genocide include
the International Association of Genocide Scholars and the Elie
Wiesel Foundation for Humanity whose opinion is supported by 53
Nobel Laureates.

Yet, in the face of all the evidence, Turkey presses on, exporting
a legacy of Genocide denial – a legacy ruthlessly enforced within
its own borders. In Turkey, anyone who uses the word "genocide"
to describe the massacre of the Armenians is subject to criminal
punishment under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code.

The late journalist Hrant Dink was prosecuted under this article, and
after being marked as an "enemy of the state," was slain in 2007 by a
17-year old Turkish nationalist. In 2005, Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s first
Nobel Laureate, was charged with the crime of insulting Turkishness,
because he too made mere reference to the Armenian Genocide during
an interview. Thankfully, an international outcry spared him from
full prosecution.

A STEP BACKWARDS IN TURKISH-ARMENIAN RELATIONS
NAIRA MELKMYAN

Lexington Herald Leader
a-step-backwards-in-turkish-armenian.html
May 3 2010
Kentucky

The Institute for War & Peace Reporting YEREVAN, Armenia — Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan has halted the peace process with neighboring
Turkey, and accused Ankara of trying to insert fresh conditions into
an agreement that they reached last year.

"For a whole year, there has been no lack of high-ranking Turkish
officials expressing prior conditions in public speeches. For a
whole year, Turkey has done all it can to waste time, and to break
the process," he said.

"We want to keep the possibility of a normalization of our mutual
relations, since we want peace. Our political goal of a normalization
of Armenian-Turkish relations remains in force," he added.

But for now, the president has halted efforts to win parliamentary
approval of measures that would establish ties between the two
countries.

Analysts noted that Sargsyan made his comments on April 22, just two
days before the day on which Armenians around the world commemorate the
killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey in 1915. Armenians worldwide
have long been lobbying to have the deaths regarded as genocide,
a characterization hotly contested by Turkey.

While expressing their disappointment, both Russia and the United
States, which have been pushing both parties to normalize relations,
welcomed the fact that Sargsyan had not withdrawn from the process
entirely.

It’s been two years since the leaders of the two countries first met
and began the process they hoped would eventually lead to the opening
of the borders between Armenia and Turkey and the establishment of
diplomatic relations.

But Armenia’s policy of trying to secure international recognition of
the Ottoman killings as genocide continues to anger Turkey. Armenia,
on the other hand, is upset that Ankara is an ally of Azerbaijan,
Armenia’s rival in the conflict over Nagorny Karabakh.

Analysts in Armenia said the president’s statement merely reflected
the obvious.

"The process was frozen before," said Alexander Iskandaryan, director
of the Kavkaz Institute.

Turkey has yet to respond to the president’s statement.

"We are evaluating the content of this statement and what it means"
legally and politically, Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Burak
Ozugergin told Agence France-Presse.

But Yusuf Kanli a columnist for the Hurriyet Daily News in Turkey,
blamed the lack of progress squarely on Armenia.

"Armenia’s move to start the process of ratifying the protocols was
a cunning political move designed to corner Turkey," he said. "The
present decision of the Armenian coalition government to halt the
parliamentary ratification process is a political decision conceding
that the earlier move has failed."

Observers in Moscow said opposition parties probably forced the
Armenian president to halt parliamentary action.

"The problem is that in Armenia, restoring relations with Turkey
is not very popular," said Sergei Markov, a member of the Russian
parliament and a political analyst.

"Many people think that here Armenia is losing its honor, and that it
is effectively agreeing with the fact that Turkey does not recognize
the genocide in exchange for opening its borders."

ABOUT THE WRITER

Naira Melkmyan is a reporter in Armenia who writes for The Institute
for War & Peace Reporting, a nonprofit organization that trains
journalists in areas of conflict. Readers may write to the author at
the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, 48 Grays Inn Road, London
WC1X 8LT, U.K.; Web site: For information about IWPR’s
funding, please go to

DINK’S MURDER – ACT OF BRUTAL VIOLENCE: THOMAS HAMMARBERG

news.am
May 3 2010
Armenia

"The media landscape is changing at an unprecedented pace. Ownership
concentration, closures of newspapers, cutbacks and de-staffed
newsrooms coincide with the outpouring of an extraordinary amount
of undigested information on the Internet. Media markets are growing
fast, but offer a more superficial coverage. A crisis of journalism
is rapidly threatening to become a serious problem for democracy in
Europe," said EU Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg on
World Press Freedom Day, CoE website reads.

"Investigative journalism faces other severe problems that need urgent
attention — journalists in Europe are still being harassed, threatened
and even killed in the line of duty in order to silence the truth. On
3 May, World Press Freedom Day, it is impossible not to think of some
of Europe’s most prominent investigative journalists who have fallen
victim to atrocious acts of violence: Anna Politkovskaya in Russia,
Hrant Dink in Turkey, Georgyi Gongadze in Ukraine and Elmar Huseynov
in Azerbaijan were all brutally murdered. The four of them showed
unmatched courage and personal dedication to revealing the truth about
controversial political issues. Their deaths may make other journalists
more cautious and cause self-censorship. Governments must demonstrate
forcefully that they are prepared to protect the freedom of the media,
not only in words, but also through concrete action. No effort must be
spared to apprehend and bring to justice not only the actual killers,
but also those who ordered these murders," EU Commissioner stated.

DIOCESE LEADER PASSED AWAY

Lragir.am
29/04/10

In the hospital Grigor Lusavorich of Yerevan, the pastor of East and
West Atrpatakan (northern Iran) Nshan Topuzyan died. He was born in
southern Lebanon, he was 44 years old. The body of the cleric will
be transported to Tabriz, where he will be buried.

Recall that Atrpatakan Diocese is subordinated to the Catholicos
of Cilicia.

ARMENIA SAYS BALL IN TURKEY’S COURT TO IMPROVE TIES

Today’s Zaman
April 28 2010
Turkey

Armenia is ready to continue improving ties with neighboring Turkey if
Ankara respects the agreements signed by the two countries, Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian has said.

"We are ready to move forward if Turkey turns into our partner again
ready to advance without preconditions, improve relations and fulfill
the agreements," the minister noted. "It is Turkey that decides whether
we will be new or old partners," Nalbandian was quoted as telling
Armenian state television by Russian Itar-Tass news agency on Tuesday.

Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols to normalize relations in
October, but the process is stalled amid mutual accusations that each
side is trying to rewrite the documents to better suit their national
interests. Armenia announced last week that it froze the process of
ratification of the two protocols, complaining that Turkey has linked
the process of normalization to Armenia’s Nagorno-Karabakh dispute
with Azerbaijan.

Nalbandian said further negotiations with Turkey on the normalization
of ties were unnecessary at this stage. "Armenia will never participate
in the process for the sake of the process and in the negotiations
for the sake of negotiations," he said. "We launched this process,
entered into the negotiations, initialed and then signed the protocols,
which are pending ratification."

"If Turkey again makes statements worthy of trust, undertakes deeds
worthy of trust, there will be adequate steps on our side," the
Armenian foreign minister also said. Catherine Ashton, the European
Union’s foreign and security policy chief, has expressed concern over
Armenia’s decision to suspend the ratification process, noting that
normalization of Turkish-Armenian ties will contribute to security
and stability in the Caucasus.

In a statement released on Monday, Ashton said she is pleased to note
that Armenia remains committed to pursue the process of normalization
of Armenian-Turkish relations but at the same time expressed concern
about the loss of momentum in this process and repeated the EU’s
call for both countries to continue the process of normalization
without preconditions.

DECADE OF CONFIDENCE BUILDING PROCEEDING PROTOCOLS’ SIGNING COULD BE LOST: FREIZER

news.am
April 28 2010
Armenia

NEWS.am posts the article "Turkey and Armenia: Focusing on the
possible, not hoping for the best" by Crisis Group’s Europe Program
Director in Global Post Sabine Freizer, published in Turkish Zaman
daily.

"Last week’s announcement that the Armenian parliament is suspending
its consideration of the twin protocols signed by the Turkish
and Armenian presidents in October 2009 is another blow to the
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process. But it also may be an
opportunity to focus on the possible, rather than hope for the best,
in improving Turkish-Armenian relations," the source says.

"The protocols aimed to establish diplomatic relations between Turkey
and Armenia, recognize and open their mutual border and set up a joint
historical commission. The last two steps cannot happen in the near
future. So it is time for the leadership in Ankara and Yerevan to focus
clearly on the first two. In the past 18 months high-level officials
from both countries have met an extraordinary number of times. At
a minimum, that relationship should now be formalized to benefit
average citizens in need of basic consular services," the daily reads.

"The decade of confidence building that preceded the Turkey-Armenian
protocol signing could now to be lost. Instead, the best step
right now would be for Ankara and Yerevan to put aside the most
difficult aspects of the protocols but move ahead with their less
controversial parts. Despite current troubles, they could proceed
with the establishment of diplomatic ties and recognition of their
mutual border. These need no parliamentary approval, are purely
about bilateral relations and are not linked to Nagorno-Karabakh,"
the daily reports.

"Even in the current difficult diplomatic climate, the leaders of
Turkey and Armenia can and should take these initial steps to ensure
that their people can build up a prosperous future side-by-side and
eventually come to terms with their shared traumatic history," the
daily concludes.

ARMENIA-TURKEY BORDER SHOULD OPEN REGARDLESS PROTOCOLS’ FATE: AGHVAN VARDANYAN

Tert.am
28.04.10

"I think we are currently having one main problem in our foreign
policy and one that is derivative to it," Aghvan Vardanyan, member
of Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutiun, ARF-D), said
at a press conference today.

In his words the main issue on Armenia’s foreign policy agenda is
the Karabakh issue, while the necessary steps to be taken for the
opening of the Armenia-Turkey border are derivative to it.

"Naturally, the main one is the Karabakh issue; we should focus our
efforts on this direction, but I think also that Armenia should work
on strengthening the international pressure on Turkey over the opening
of the border as this is the only closed border in Europe, and it is
normal that there must not be any closed border without any Protocols,
without any document. Regardless the dead Protocols this topic,
I think, must remain on Armenia’s political agenda," said Vardanyan.

In reference to the Karabakh conflict settlement Vardanyan said that
Armenia is now far from speaking in a language of concessions as
it did previously. In his opinion it is the positive result of the
Armenia-Turkey normalization.

"From the willingness of making some concessions in what relates to
issues of national politics we have gradually reached a point of not
yielding in most important interests. I think that realization will
strike roots," said Vardanyan.

HERITAGE PARTY: GOVERNMENT KEEPS A SHARP LOOKOUT FOR ‘SURPLUS’ SAVINGS OF POPULATION

ArmInfo
2010-04-28 15:57:00

ArmInfo. The Government of Armenia "protects" the citizens from
too big savings, said Armen Martirosyan, Armenian parliamentarian
(Heritage Party faction), when commenting on the bill On Compulsory
Liability Car Insurance in the parliament on Wednesday. The parliament
passed the bill in the first reading and is expected to pass it in
the second and final reading.

A. Martirosyan said that the market of car liability insurance
will originate after adoption of the bill will lack anti-monopoly
mechanisms. "For instance, it was suggested to restrict the share
of the market occupied by one company by 30%. The suggestion was
characterized as contradicting the Constitution. However, I met with
relevant experts who said that this suggestion would not contradict
the Basic Law. All this gives a rise to the question regarding the
final destination of insurance premiums. If their key goal is to
protect the interests of our citizens, the unused part of these
amounts could be directed to the state budget, for instance," A.

Martirosyan said. The bill aims to create a ready market for business
with ready incomes, requiring no preliminary investing, he said. "We
could see a similar situation several years ago when the technical
examination of cars was transferred under jurisdiction of specific
private companies, though the government successfully coped with
those functions," A, Martirosyan said.

THE IMPRESSIVE VICTORY OF VALENTIN PAMBUKCHYAN

Aysor
April 26 2010
Armenia

The 54 years old international master Valentin Pambukchyan made a
success in the open that ended in Malkoff city of France. He took
4 victories one after the another and received 7 points from the
possible 9 and shared the 1-3rd places with the grand masters from
Azerbaijan and Ukraine, Namig Guliev and Vladimir Malanyuk.

Pambukchyan received the third price.

The Brazilian – Armenia international master Grigor – Sevak –
Mkhitaryan was left behind the winners with only half point. French –
Armenian Manuk (Claude) Adamyan, the nephew of the Armenian famous
poet Siamanto, played with confidence. The 68 years old chess player
also took 4.5 points.

As the Armenian Chess Federation informs that 197 chess player took
part in the tournament.