Nikolay Ryzhkov: Karabakh Can Become EEU Member After its Status is Determined

YEREVAN — Nikolay Ryzhkov, a senior member of the Council of the Federation of the Russian Federal Assembly believes that Nagorno-Karabakh will be entitled to join the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) only if its status is finally determined. Meanwhile, according to him, Crimea will be part of the emerging trade bloc as “primordially Russian land”.

As veteran co-chair of the Armenian-Russian Inter-Parliamentary Committee on Cooperation, Ryzhkov attended its 25th meeting in Yerevan on Thursday. In Armenia, which on October 10 signed a treaty on acceding to the EEU and prepares to become a full member of the Russian-led bloc beginning on January 1, 2015, the Russian legislator was also asked about the status of Nagorno-Karabakh in the future alliance.

“As soon as the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh is solved, we will be pleased to see it as part of the EEU. As to how it will be solved, whether it is a separate state or part of Armenia, as they say, time will sow,” Ryzhkov said, stressing that, for example, Transnistria, which is a disputed territory in Moldova, cannot become a member of the EEU either because of the same issue with its undetermined status.

“If the status of Nagorno-Karabakh is determined as Armenian territory, then there will be no problems. But today the issue is suspended,” Ryzhkov said.

In response to a reporter’s question why Russia can enter the EEU together with Crimea, and Armenia cannot do the same with Karabakh, Ryzhkov answered: “You try to compare Crimea with Karabakh… I understand that Karabakh is a painful topic for Armenia, for us – as well, but in case of Crimea let me not agree with you. Crimea is historically a Russian land, for centuries we were one territory, and we have no fault in the fact that [Nikita] Khrushchev was drunk when he handed it to Ukraine.”

Ryzhkov was one of the top government leaders in the late Soviet period. In 2008, the Armenian Government awarded Ryzhkov its highest state decoration, the National Hero of Armenia, in recognition of his significant personal contribution to the reconstruction in Armenia after the 1988 Spitak earthquake.

At an EEU summit in Astana in May Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev cited a letter from Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, demanding that Armenia join the trade bloc within its “internationally recognized borders”, i.e. without Nagorno-Karabakh, which is de-facto part of Armenia’s economic space today. Armenia did not contest the idea of formally entering the EEU without Nagorno-Karabakh but, at the level of statements by senior politicians and statesmen, rejected the possibility of having customs houses at the border with NKR.

After the October 10 signing of the treaty on Armenia’s accession to the EEU in Minsk, Belarus, Nazarbayev said that “we managed to reach a compromise on the delicate question that we asked [in Astana] about the borders within which Armenia joins the EEU; this question has already been removed.”

The Armenian leadership has not yet elaborated on what kind of ‘compromise’ was reached.

In an interview with Armenia TV on October 12, Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharian only said that the treaty had no references to the installation of customs checkpoints between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh and that trade between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh “will continue the way it is now.”

Nikolay Ryzhkov: Karabakh Can Become EEU Member After its Status is Determined

IMF Resident Representative Analyzes Positive and Negative Influences Of EEU Membership On Armenia

YEREVAN — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates positive and negative influences of membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) on the Armenian economy as relative, the organization’s resident representative in Armenia said on Friday.

Against the backdrop of some expert opinions suggesting that Armenia’s entry into the Russian-led trade bloc will only bring losses for the country’s economy, considering the high customs duties applied by the member states, Teresa Daban Sanchez spoke about some positive factors of EEU membership. She, in particular, pointed out that Armenia is entitled to exemptions on 750 names of products. Another major factor, according to the IMF official, is that customs houses between the members of the trade bloc will be removed.

“It will facilitate trade with Russia and will offer Armenia greater opportunities of extending to the Russian market,” she said, adding that Armenia will also get a share of the overall annual customs revenues of the EEU estimated by some media at around $200 million.

According to Sanchez, there are other important aspects that may not be found anywhere in the document, but have been part of the negotiations. “For example, the gas agreement reached for five years which provides some stability for the future of energy prices and enables Armenia to think about strategy for the future,” said the IMF representative.

Asked by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service to point out the negative aspects of Armenia’s membership in the EEU, Sanchez said that “everything is relative”.

Among the risks she mentioned the circumstance that the Armenian economy appears to be growing more sensitive to what is happening in the Russian economy. “On the one hand, we will see a positive effect, on the other hand, there will be greater dependence on the Russian economy. And given geopolitical tensions as well as structural problems of the Russian economy, according to our forecasts, the Russian economy will register zero growth. Therefore, Armenia will find itself in a situation where its main trading partners do not provide rapid growth,” Sanchez emphasized, describing it as a challenge for Armenia to pay heed to.

The IMF has not changed its forecast regarding Armenia’s economic growth. Still a month ago it predicted that the Armenian economy will expand by 2.6 percent in 2014. The Armenian government is looking for a 4-percent economic growth at the end of the year.

IMF Resident Representative Analyzes Positive and Negative Influences Of EEU Membership On Armenia

Hrant Dink Murder Trial Takes New Turn

Court to focus on ‘criminal organization’ claims

ISTANBUL — The trial into the murder of the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink has taken a significant turn after the court in Istanbul overseeing the case announced that it will focus on the “criminal organization” allegations against suspects, a move that lawyers representing the victim’s family had demanded since the start of the retrial, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Istanbul’s 5th High Criminal Court ruled on Oct. 30 in line with a previous Supreme Court of Appeals decision that overturned the verdict of the initial trial process, on the grounds that it overlooked investigating the murder of the renowned editor-in-chief of the weekly Agos in the context of a planned and organized crime.

According to the decision, the suspects will be retried on charges of being a member of a criminal organization.

The Supreme Court of Appeals had also overturned the acquittals of top suspects including Yasin Hayal, who was charged with being the instigator of the assassination and the “leader of a terrorist organization.” Hayal and other suspects, such as Erhan Tuncel and Ersin Yolcu, are also being retried.

The triggerman Ogün Samast, who was sentenced to 22 years by a children’s court, is also likely to be tried on new charges, as the court ruled to associate his case with the main murder trial. Samast was only 17-years-old when he shot Dink in front of his office in Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007.

However, lawyers have also been wary of the Supreme Court verdict, as it defined the aim of the murder as a “political act,” rather than an act of terrorism, as they have claimed that an armed terror organization was behind the killing. For a murder to be considered a “terrorist act,” it would have to be committed with a clear aim against the state of the public order, according to the Turkish Penal Code.

Lawyers previously said they would try to prove that the activities of the organization went beyond the assassination of Dink.

The ruling comes only a few days after the Justice Ministry cleared the path for investigations into nine civil servants, including senior police officers occupying key posts at the time of the murder, such as the former Istanbul police chief Celalettin Cerrah. The officers had been accused of negligence and threatening Dink before his death.

The Friends of Hrant Dink Association hailed the decision in a statement issued in front of the Istanbul courthouse Oct. 30, while demanding that the civil servants be charged with “murder.”

Dink’s lawyers have long been demanded that the investigation should focus on the “real web of connections” that led to Dink’s murder, while expressing few expectations from the retrial.

The matter was even subject to a review by Turkey’s Constitutional Court, which ruled that the case had not been efficiently investigated and the rights of Dink’s family were violated.

Hrant Dink Murder Trial Takes New Turn

Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide: Baskin Oran

By Hambersom Aghbashian

Baskin Oran (Born 1945 in Izmir, Turkey), had graduated from the Faculty of Political Science ( Ankara University) in 1968 and became an Assistant at the same Faculty. He received his PhD degree in 1974. He was discharged by the Military Gov. In Nov. 1982, then returned to his post in 1990 on a court ruling. He became a Full Prof. of Int. Relations in 1997 and retired in 2006 from the Faculty of PS where he still lectures. He is fluent in French and English besides Turkish. He is the author “Minority and Cultural Rights Report” (2004, Globalization and Minorities, Minorities in Turkey etc.. Baskin Oran was the head of the Int. Rel. chair, PSF (1998-2006); Nat. Liaison Officer to ECRI, CoE* (1999-2009); Commentator, SBS Radio, Australia (1999-2006); Columnist, Agos (since Feb. 2000) and Radikal Iki (since April 2007); Member of PM’s Consultative Committee. on Human Rights (since 2001).(1)

The story of a 7 year old Armenian boy from his own narrative how he survived the genocide

According to “http://www.genocide1915.org”, The massacres in Ottoman Turkey are only second to the Holocaust, the most researched case of genocide. Research on the 1915 genocide is carried out in several countries and in different disciplines. Baskin Oran (political scientist) is one of the most prominent experts in the field who define the events as genocide beside historians Yehuda Bauer,Yair Auron, Henry Huttenbach, Eric Weitz, political scientists Robert Melson, Roger Smith, Colin Tatz; sociologists Helen Fein, Eric Markusen, psychologist and genocide scholar Israel Charny; Raphael Lemkin (lawyer-the father of today’s Genocide Convention), Taner Akcam (historian), Fatma Muge Gocek (Sociologist) and many others.(2)

Harut Sassounian, Publisher, The California Courier wrote on Dec.18, 2008, During the past week, two public appeals were issued on the Armenian Genocide, one by Turkish intellectuals and the other by prominent individuals in Armenia.The Turkish appeal was initiated by scholars Ahmet Insel, Baskin Oran, Cengiz Aktar, and journalist Ali Bayramoglu. Risking death threats by Turkish extremists and possible legal action, they issued a personal apology for “the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in 1915.” On Dec.15, they set up an internet site titled “We Apologize” (www.ozurdiliyoruz.com) which quickly attracted the signatures of more than 3,000 Turks.(3)

armeniapedia.org reporter wrote “ In the July 17, 2005 issue of Marmara, an Armenian daily from Istanbul, I read that Baskin Oran has published a new book with a CD that depicts the memories of an Armenian orphan from his own recordings. It tells the story of this 7 year old Armenian boy** from his own narrative how he survived the genocide”. (4)

In his article “Our Ingenious Projects for 2015”, (Radikal, January 2014), Baskin Oran criticized Yusuf Halaçoðlu*** saying , “ Halaçoglu’s credibility abroad is also important . He is in constant contact with prominent scholars. For example he promised Ara Sarafyan, the Director of Gomidas Institute in London, to work on a joint research on Armenians of Harput. Similarly, he also agreed with Prof. David Gaunt to examine the skeletons found in a cave in Nusaybin’s Kuru Village. However when it came to implementation he told Sarafyan; “There are no records in the archives on this matter.” (Radikal, 10.03.2007).And when Gaunt arrived from Sweden, there were no more skeletons in the cave. Halaçoglu’s explanation was; “It is winter time. It rained, there was rainfall and mud. After all, they were Romans.” (TRT-Haber, 24.04.2007).(5)

According to Asbarez .com (Sept. 30, 2014), Baskin Oran is one of the Turkish Intellectuals who have released a statement condemning in the harshest terms what they define as expressions that include “open hatred and hostility” towards Armenians in Turkish schoolbooks, which were recently exposed by the newspapers Agos and Taraf. The statement said: “The revolutions history and history textbooks should be collected immediately, with an apology issued to everyone and particularly to Armenian students. This is where the path to Turkish-Armenian peace lies, at this time when we are approaching 2015.” (6)

——————-

* ECRI, European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) is the Council of Europe’s independent human rights monitoring body specialized in combating racism, discrimination, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and intolerance. (CoE) is The Council of Europe ,

**Manuel Kirkasharian (Adana-Turkey) forced on a death march in 1915, and finally survived and arrived in Mosul (Iraq) where he stayed in an Armenian orphanage sponsored by late Sarkis Chakmakchian , an Armenian philanthropist from Mosul. (H.A.)

***Yusuf Halaçoðlu (born 10 May 1949 in Kozan, Adana) is a Turkish historian and politician. He is a former president of the Turkish Historical Society. Halaçoðlu is a well-known denier of the Armenian Genocide. His views closely parallel the official Turkish state thesis that the massacres and death marches did not constitute genocide.

1- http://baskinoran.com/eng/ozgecmis_eng.php

2- http://www.genocide1915.org/fragorochsvar_forskning.html

3- http://www.keghart.com/node/202

4- http://www.armeniapedia.org/wiki/Baskin_Oran

5- www.baskinoran.com/2014/OurIngeniousProjectsfor2015.rtf

6- Asbarez.com

Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide: Baskin Oran

Armenia to Receive €34 Million Grant from the European Union in 2015

YEREVAN — The Armenian government expects to receive next year some 34.4 million euros as grants from the European Union, despite the fact that it is joining the Eurasian Economic Union, first deputy finance minister Pavel Safaryan said today during a parliamentary discussion on the 2015 draft budget.

He said 14.4 million euros of that amount will come as targeted grants, which must be spent on specific programs, and 20 million euros as grants for budget support to be spent at the discretion of the government.

He said the expected amount is as much as the government received this year from the European Union as grants.

Deputy foreign minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said the EU was and is one of the important partners of Armenia.”In the near future we plan to hold discussions on the trade-economic component of our cooperation with the EU. This will be followed by political consultations between Armenia and the EU with a view of forming a new framework of cooperation,” the Deputy Foreign Minister said.

“The European Union remains an important partner and Armenia is interested in deepening cooperation with the EU, taking into account its commitments assumed as a member of the Eurasian Economic Union,” said Kocharyan.

Armenia to Receive €34 Million Grant from the European Union in 2015

OSCE/ODIHR Assessment Report: More Flexibility and Transparency in the Armenian Legislative Process

YEREVAN — The legislative process in the Republic of Armenia should be more flexible and participatory, said an assessment report presented by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Yerevan on 30 October 2014.

The presentation,co-organized with the OSCE Office in Yerevan,was held for representatives from the Armenian National Assembly, the Government, state institutions, and international and civil society organizations.

Prepared upon an official request of the country’s Ministry of Justice, the “Comprehensive Assessment of the Legislative Procedure in the Republic of Armenia”, notes the large amount of legislation passed annually and as a result the heavy workload created for the government and in particular the national assembly. The assessment report recommends that more in-depth policy discussions, stakeholder consultations and impact assessments should be held at the initial stages and throughout the legislative process.

Hovhannes Manukyan, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, appreciated the professional and expert approaches evident in the report and noted: “I largely agree with the assessments and especially the one related to the time limitation of the legislative process which may cause problems. We should find a way to make sure that haste in the process does not harm the quality of the adopted legislation”.

“In order for laws to be effective and implementable, it is essential that the process whereby they are made is transparent and inclusive and that this process is preceded by in-depth policy discussions,” said Nathalie Tagwerker, the Deputy Head of the ODIHR Democratization Department. “ODIHR is ready to continue its support to Armenia’s attempts to reform its legislative process in the future.”

The assessment report builds on a preliminary ODIHR assessment of the Armenian legislative procedure completed in November 2013, which focused only on the legislative framework surrounding the law-making process.

OSCE/ODIHR Assessment Report: More Flexibility and Transparency in the Armenian Legislative Process

Most of Armenians Blame Negative Economic and Social Conditions on Authorities

YEREVAN ( ARKA.am) — A public opinion poll conducted by Sociometer polling center in March and April this year revealed that the majority of Armenian citizens blame the negative socio-economic changes on the authorities. The findings of the poll were presented today by the head of the polling center Aharon Adibekyan.

He said the survey involved about 5,000 respondents in 95 communities across the country. Some 76% of the respondents blamed the negative socio-economic changes on central authorities, 7.5% on local authorities and as many blamed their hard economic condition on themselves.

Adibekyan said the survey found that the assessment of socio-economic changes, including employment opportunities, worsened three times when compared to the findings of a previous poll, while assessment of personal safety also worsened one and a half times.

Adibekyan cited international rating centers, according to which, in terms of governance quality among former Soviet republics Armenia fourth comes after Latvia, Lithuania and Georgia.

Most of Armenians Blame Negative Economic and Social Conditions on Authorities

Cooperation Agreement to Preserve Western Armenian

YEREVAN — On October 28, RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan and Director of the Armenian Communities Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Razmig Panossian signed an Agreement on Cooperation between the RA Ministry of Diaspora and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation during a ceremony held at the ministry.

RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan greeted the guest of honor and particularly mentioned: “It has already been one-and-a-half year since Mr. Panossian assumed the honorable office of Director of the Armenian Communities Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. He is one of the exceptional officials who, in that period, visited different parts of the Armenian Diaspora and conducted a correct needs assessment. He examined the effectiveness of programs carried out within Armenian communities and submitted his proposals to the Foundation’s administration.

As minister, I am grateful to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which carries out well-organized activities in the Armenian Diaspora. The Foundation also carries out effective programs with other structures and organizations in Armenia, including the Institute of Ancient Manuscripts after Mesrop Mashtots (Matenadaran), the National Academy of Sciences and Yerevan State University. The main goal of the Foundation is to enhance Armenian Studies, and the main emphasis is on the preservation and development of the Western Armenian language.

Director of the Armenian Communities Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Razmig Panossian expressed gratitude for the reception, attached importance to the efforts for preservation and development of the Western Armenian language and particularly mentioned the following: “We have to make the Western Armenian language a practical language for young Armenians, especially Armenian youth in the Diaspora. I am pleased with the fact that the Ministry of Diaspora is concerned about the issue since it is the most important issue facing the Armenian Diaspora. If we can’t preserve the Western Armenian language, nobody will be able to do it.”

Attaching importance to the preservation and development of Armenian culture and language in the Armenian Diaspora and the need for strengthening relations in science, education, publishing and culture within the frames of the Armenia-Diaspora partnership, the RA Ministry of Diaspora and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation signed an Agreement on Cooperation through which they will collaborate to publish and disseminate materials for the teaching of the Western Armenian language, to support the creation of a Western Armenian language teaching center, to provide scholarships to Diaspora Armenian students pursuing courses in Armenian studies at Armenian universities and more.

Cooperation Agreement to Preserve Western Armenian

What Happened and Why – The Denial of State Violence

LOS ANGELES — Fatma Müge Göçek, Professor of Sociology and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan, will be the guest of the USC Institute of Armenian Studies at a lunch-time conversation to be held on Wednesday, November 5, 2014, at 1:15 p.m. at the Ground Zero Coffeehouse, on campus.

Entitled “What Happened and Why – The Denial of State Violence,” Dr. Göçek will speak about the centuries of collective violence against the Armenians, beginning in the Ottoman period and continuing through the republican period, until today. USC Professor of Religious Studies, Dr. Donald Miller, who is also Executive Director of USC’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture, will be guiding the discussion.

Dr. Göçek, a Turkish-born historical sociologist, has focused on the comparative analysis of history, politics and gender in the first and third worlds. She has analyzed the impact of processes such as development, nationalism, religious movements and collective violence on minorities. Her most recent book is an Oxford University Press publication called The Denial of Violence. Her other books include Constructions of Nationalism in the Middle East (SUNY Press, 2002), The Transformation of Turkey: Redefining State and Society from the Ottoman Empire to the Modern Era (I.B. Tauris Publishers, 2011), and A Question of Genocide: Armenians and Turks at the End of the Ottoman Empire (Oxford University Press, 2011 co-edited with Ronald Grigor Suny and Norman Naimark.)

Dr. Donald Miller is a professor of religion and sociology. He has conducted extensive research on religion and social change, religion and community organizing, social ethics, immigrant religious communities in Los Angeles, and the Armenian and Rwandan genocides. He heads the USC Center on Religion and Civic Culture.

Salpi Ghazarian, the director of the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, says, “We invite the community to join us for this program at the USC campus. This is not a lecture. It’s a conversation between two people who have spent many years studying why and how states inflict violence on their own peoples. Dr. Göçek’s research goes on to try to decipher the roots of the denial that has followed, specifically in the case of state violence against the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire and Turkey. This is critical to understanding the present and future state of Armenian-Turkish relations.”

The event will be live streamed at: https://capture.usc.edu/Mediasite/Play/44fb6753d1d443f3af777360a8758a4f1d

Directions and parking information: guests are advised to park in Parking Structure D, which is located on the corner of Jefferson and Figueroa (across from the Shrine). See attached map for the location of the event (Ground Zero Coffeehouse.)

For event informations: (213) 821-3943

What Happened and Why – The Denial of State Violence

Armenian President Meets with King Abdullah of Jordan

AMMAN — Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian has arrived in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for an official visit at the invitation of King of Jordan Abdullah II ibn al-Hussein, the president.am website reports.

President Sarkisian and King Abdullah held a private meeting to discuss prospects for development of relations in different areas. They noted importance of political dialogue, deepening of economic cooperation and efficient use of existing potential.

The private talks were followed by an extended meeting with the participation of delegations, signing of documents aimed at strengthening and deepening of Armenia-Jordan cooperation in the field of atomic energy for peaceful purposes, lifting of visa requirements for citizens having diplomatic passports, cooperation on healthcare, investments, tourism, agriculture, civil aviation. They also touched upon creation of Armenia-Jordan business council.

The Armenian president said his country is keen on strengthening relations with Jordan and coordinating with the Kingdom on issues of common interest. He hailed Jordan as a model for security, stability and moderation in the Middle East and the world.

The two leaders stressed the need for efforts to reach a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East, based on the two-state solution. King Abdullah underlined that Jordan, along with regional and international partners, is working to ward off the threat of terrorism and extremist ideology that targets everyone without exception. The talks dealt with unilateral Israeli measures and violations against Jerusalem’s Muslim and Christian shrines, namely the Al-Aqsa Mosque, threatening peace prospects and regional stability.

The two leaders discussed Syria and called for a political solution to the crisis which has been raging for years now.

Armenian President Meets with King Abdullah of Jordan

German Ambassador Expects an Apology From Turkey in 2015

YEREVAN — The Ambassadors of the UK and Germany to Armenia, Catherine Leach and Reiner Morell, met with reporters on Wednesday to share the plans for the 100th anniversary commemoration of the First World War. Titled “100 Years after the First World War.”

“With this series of small events [dedicated to WWI], we want to commemorate the victims of the First World War. But we also wish to head to the future and demonstrate that there are really possibilities to eliminate and overcome the old hostilities,” German Ambassador Reiner Morell said, responding to a remark that the war isn’t over for Armenia as long as the Genocide remains unrecognized.

Ambassador Morell noted that his country’s achievements after the war prove that reconciliation isn’t impossible. “All this demonstrated that apologizing was really necessary, so we are hopeful that Turkey will apologize to Armenia in the coming years,” he added.

British Ambassador Katherine Leach noted for her part that the 2015 Genocide centennial is a very symbolic anniversary in terms of inspiring positive hopes for progress.

She said the past 70 years’ reconciliation efforts in the West helped to make Europea what it looks today. Noting that her country is an ally of both NATO and Turkey, the ambassador said they nonetheless encourage a Turkish-Armenian reconciliation as an important precondition for Turkey’s membership in the EU.

Asked whether the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents’ recent meeting in Paris met the expectations of Germany and France, Ambassador Morell said he finds that the initiative was a positive sign after the past years’ long silence.

“I don’t think we should be too optimistic to expect great outcomes; the important thing is that the two countries’ leaders are in a dialogue with one another. The good news is that they are meeting for the third time,” he said, expressing Germany’s support to the OSCE Minsk Group’s mediation efforts in the peace process.

A series of events on “Europe 100 years after the First World War” will kick off this Friday in Armenia. The representatives of British and German embassies will visit Gyumri, Armenia’s second largest city.

“We will talk to the students of specialized English and German schools and will present the history of the First World War and its lessons,” the Ambassadors said.

Embassy representatives will plant poppies that will symbolize memory of the victims, as poppy was a flower that blossomed in battlefields after war.

A joint service of the Armenian Apostolic Church and Anglican Church will be held on November 11 in Surb Zoravor church. Representatives of UK Embassy will visit a German cemetery in Yerevan. There will be also a contest of German and British pianists.

“And finally, on December 5, a symbolic ceremony will be held. On this day, on the eve of the Christmas holidays in 1914, soldiers in trenches began to sing Christmas songs. Then they came out of the trenches and played football between the trenches. We call it the ‘Christmas truce’, and try to restore the German-British football game,” Leach added.

German Ambassador Expects an Apology From Turkey in 2015

UN Expert: Lasting Peace Entails Exercise of Self-Determination by All Peoples

NEW YORK — The realization of the right of self-determination is essential to maintaining local, regional and international peace and must be seen as an important conflict-prevention strategy, the United Nations Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Alfred de Zayas, said on Monday.

“Over the past decades too many conflicts have started because of the denial of the legitimate aspiration of peoples to achieve their human rights, including the right to internal or external self-determination,” Mr. de Zayas pointed out when presenting his third report to the UN General Assembly.

“It is not the exercise of self-determination that generates conflict, but the unreasonable denial thereof,” he stressed. “It is thus the responsibility of the UN and of the international community to put ears to the ground and listen to early warning signs, so as to engage dialogue and address the grievances of peoples who are denied the right to equal participation in decision-making.”

The expert called for a coherent strategy to address the many open and recurring questions regarding self-determination. He further urged the UN General Assembly to take a proactive role in mediating existing and potential crises associated with self-determination.

Mr. de Zayas’s report lists fifteen principles that may be applied in addressing existing and future self-determination claims, including that “any process aimed at self-determination should be accompanied by participation and consent of the peoples concerned.”

Commenting on non-self-governing and indigenous peoples, the Independent Expert noted that often they remain disenfranchised within national borders and have been unable to achieve forms of autonomy or self-rule, or reparations in the same ways as other rights bearers.

“In examining claims for self-determination, the advantages of what is referred to as ‘internal self-determination’, like autonomy and federalism, should be realistically considered for stability and continuity,” he said. “External self-determination should be sought only when there is a serious impasse and the other solutions to guarantee the right within existing state entities, do not lead to adequate solutions,” he added.

“Whereas self-determination does not necessarily mean separation from an existing State entity, the progressive development of international law has shown that the exercise of self-determination did not end with decolonization and that many new States of the United Nations owe their existence to a process of self-determination, including referenda leading to independence”, stressed the Independent Expert.

The Independent Expert stressed that, despite the many factors to take into account when discussing the forms of self-determination, its implementation is a legitimate concern of the international community in view of the commitments undertaken by virtue of the UN Charter and article 1 of the Human Rights Covenants.

“Moreover, the criteria for exercising and recognizing the right of self-determination must be applied uniformly and not à la carte. Self-determination is an expression of democracy that ‘We the Peoples’ pledge to support as a necessary step to achieving a democratic and equitable international order,” concluded Mr. de Zayas.

UN Expert: Lasting Peace Entails Exercise of Self-Determination by All Peoples

Zerunyan, Mazmanian Lead UN Sustainability Workshops in Armenia

USC Price professors enhance knowledge about new trends and emerging issues in governance

LOS ANGELES (USC News) — USC Price School of Public Policy professors Frank Zerunyan and Dan Mazmanian traveled to Armenia to participate in a United Nations workshop titled “Developing Government and Governance Capacities for Sustainable Development.”

The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the UN Development Programme, in cooperation with the American University of Armenia and USC Price, came together in an effort to develop the capacity of governments and other governance actors in countries with economies in transition. The conference, held in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan, focused on enhancing knowledge about new trends and emerging issues in governance as well as exploring ideas about how governments might best address sustainable development challenges.

In attendance were senior government officials from Armenia and approximately 20 other countries, most of which, like Armenia, were relatively new independent nations formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union. ??It is the fourth international trip by Zerunyan for UN events in the past year and a half, following voyages to Bahrain, Ethiopia and South Korea.

Building a stronger brand

“Our aim is to build an even stronger USC Price brand in all parts of the world, including developing or transitioning countries,” said Zerunyan, director of executive education at the Bedrosian Center on Governance and the Public Enterprise. “In this regard, we certainly appreciate the support of our Dean Jack Knott, our colleagues and distinguished members of the USC Price community like Maria Mehranian, a member of our Executive Education Board of Advisors, who accompanied us to present at the conference as part of our curriculum.”

“Engaging with the United Nations provides an outstanding opportunity for USC Price to expand our global footprint, by bringing our governance capabilities to various networks of the UN throughout the world,” he added.

Zerunyan, also a two-term Rolling Hills Estates mayor and city council member, led a workshop on the potential of collaborative governance and the role of facilitative leadership for sustainable development. He also gave a synopsis of the practicum research his USC Price master of public policy students produced in the spring exploring the implementation and sustainability of two UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) established in 2000 — the first being eradication of poverty and the second sustainable development.

The work was produced for the UN Division for Public Administration and Development Management as the practicum client. This year, a new set of MPP students in the practicum will explore the sustainability of MDG in the post-2015 UN agenda.

With the additional focus on sustainable development in this conference, Zerunyan invited Mazmanian to share his extensive expertise in that area.

Strategic details

Mazmanian, who serves as academic director for the USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy, detailed the strategy California has used for developing the nation in climate-change policy.

“I walked through how it would be possible for them to transition from where they are, which is the much more traditional fossil-fuel based economy, to a more sustainable one,” Mazmanian said.

“Based on the comments, they were having a hard time envisioning how they could readily replicate the California approach,” he added. “In response, I underscored the point that back in 2006, when our Global Warming Solutions Act was under consideration, there were a number of skeptics saying California was going too far too fast, and it was going to render its economy too costly and therefore uncompetitive. Yet, California is on track to meeting its climate policy goals, and at the same time today and this past year, its growth outpaced that of the rest of the nation.”

In addition, Zerunyan and Mazmanian both descend from Armenian ancestry.

“For me it was a very memorable experience on a personal level to see Yerevan and to experience much of Armenia firsthand,” Mazmanian said. “Given my heritage, I would be proud if Armenia pursued an aggressive transition to sustainability.”

Zerunyan, Mazmanian Lead UN Sustainability Workshops in Armenia

ACA Endorses Candidates for November Elections in California

GLENDALE – Having the largest Armenian American constituency in the U.S., the Armenian American vote in California will create a heavy impact on the makeup of the next California State Congressional delegation, as well as the State Senate and Assembly.

To ensure the continued support of Armenian American issues by California’s elected officials, it is imperative that every Armenian American vote for candidates with a proven track record supporting Armenian American causes.

The Armenian Council of America, applying a candidate’s record and experience on issues of importance to Armenian Americans, is proud to announce its endorsements for California’s November 4th elections:

Statewide Candidates

Governor: Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown

Lieutenant Governor: Gavin Newsom

Attorney General: Kamala D. Harris

Controller: Betty Yee

Secretary of State: Alex Padilla

Superintendent of Public Instruction: Tom Torlakson

Congressional

CD 10: Jeff Denham (R)

CD 12: Nancy Pelosi (D)

CD 14: Jackie Speier (D)

CD 18: Anna Eshoo (D)

CD 22: Devin Nunes (R)

CD 27: Judy Chu (D)

CD 28: Adam Schiff (D)

CD 29: Tony Cardenas (D)

CD 30: Brad Sherman (D)

CD 32: Grace Napolitano (D)

CD 33: Ted Lieu (D)

CD 34: Xavier Becerra(D)

CD 37: Karen Bass (D)

CD 38: Linda Sanchez (D)

CD 39: Ed Royce (R)

CD 43: Maxine Waters (D)

CD 44: Janice Hahn (D)

CD 46: Loretta Sanchez (D)

CD 48: Dana Rohrabacher (R)

California State Senate

SD 4: Jim Nielson (R)

SD 6: Roger Dickinson (D)

SD 8: Tom Berryhill (R)

SD 12: Anthony Cannella (R)

SD 14: Andy Vidak (R)

SD 22: Ed Hernandez (D)

SD 24: Kevin De León (D)

SD 40: Ben Hueso (D)

California State Assembly

AD 1: Brian Dahle (R)

AD 5: Frank Bigelow (R)

AD 6: Beth Gaines (R)

AD 8: Ken Cooley (D)

AD 10: Marc Levine (D)

AD 11: Jim Frazier (D)

AD 12: Kristin Olsen (R)

AD 14: Susan Bonilla (D)

AD 18: Rob Bonta (D)

AD 19: Phil Ting (D)

AD 20: Bill Quirk (D)

AD 21: Adam Gray (D)

AD 23: Jim Patterson (R)

AD 24: Richard Gordon (D)

AD 27: Nora Campos (D)

AD 29: Mark Stone (D)

AD 30: Luis Alejo (D)

AD 31: Henry Perea (D)

AD 32: Rudy Salas Jr. (D)

AD 34: Shannon Grove (R)

AD 35: Katcho Achadjian (R)

AD 36: Steve Fox (D)

AD 37: Das Williams (D)

AD 38: Scott Wilk (R)

AD 39: Raul Bocanegra (D)

AD 41: Christopher Holden (D)

AD 43: Mike Gatto (D)

AD 45: Matthew Dababneh (D)

AD 46: Adrin Nazarian (D)

AD 47: Cheryl Brown (D)

AD 48: Roger Hernández (D)

AD 49: Edwin Chau (D)

AD 50: Richard Bloom (D)

AD 51: Jimmy Gomez (D)

AD 52: Freddie Rodriguez (D)

AD 53: Miguel Santiago (D)

AD 54: Sebastian Ridley-Thomas (D)

AD 58: Cristina Garcia (D)

AD 59: Reginald Byron Jones- Sawyer Jr. (D)

AD 60: Eric Linder (R)

AD 61: Jose Medina (D)

AD 63: Anthony Rendon (D)

AD 65: Sharon Quirk-Silva (D)

AD 66: Al Muratsuchi (D)

AD 67: Melissa Melendez (R)

AD 68: Donald Wagner (R)

AD 69: Tom Daly (D)

AD 72: Travis Allen (R)

AD 75: Marie Waldron (R)

AD 77: Brian Maienschein (R)

AD 78: Toni G. Atkins (D)

AD 79: Shirley Weber (D)

AD 80: Lorena S. Gonzalez (D)

Los Angeles County Elections

Los Angeles County Assessor: Jeffrey Prang

Los Angeles County Sheriff: Jim McDonnell

Los Angeles County Supervisor 3rd District: Bobby Shriver

ACA Endorses Candidates for November Elections in California

"Armenians in 2115" Strategy Seminar at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Leaders and intellectuals gather at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation to discus future strategies for Armenians

LISBON — The Armenian Communities Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation hosted a unique two-day seminar for Armenian leaders to discuss future scenarios. The gathering was a high-level forum where forward-looking strategic discussions took place in a private, invitation-only environment. It was held on 13-14 October 2014.”Armenians in 2115″ Strategy Seminar.

Participants reflected on trends that are shaping the Armenian world. Expert facilitators outlined certain key issues affecting Armenians, including developments in Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Europe, the Middle East, Armenia and the Armenian diasporas.

Questions discussed included the diaspora’s relationship with the Armenian government and civil society, engagement with Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia, the sustainability of diasporan communities, and identity formulations. These were cross referenced with scenarios entailing Russian influence in Armenia, Turkey’s democratic development, the threat of war with Azerbaijan, the impact of the conflicts in the Middle East on Armenians, and dynamics within the EU.

Forty individuals took part in the seminar, representing the global Armenian community: Europe, North and South Americas, Turkey, the Middle East, Russia, and of course Armenia. Moreover, all major intellectual and community trends within the diaspora were present. Certain non-Armenian experts were also invited as discussion facilitators.

All the participants agreed that the meeting was of crucial importance and that the discussions must continue on a regular basis. There were suggestions to turn the initiative into a “Davos-like” series of meetings to debate strategy, coordinate activities and share information.

“It was a true privilege and rare experience to have such a select and diverse group of people gathered in one room to discuss the future of the Armenian people – homeland and diaspora,” said Martin Essayan, Trustee of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and host of the seminar. “Many of the participants are eager to remain involved and commended the Foundation for its convening ability. The meeting was certainly indicative of the Armenian Communities Department’s new direction as an actor and convenor, rather than just a funder, within the Armenian world.”

The report of the proceedings of the seminar will be published.

The participants of the seminar were: M. Essayan and R. Panossian (hosts), N. Afeyan, P. Akkelian, A. Andonian, R. Ardhaldjian, K. Bardakjian, B. Busetto, A. Chalabyan, V. Cheterian, K. Der Ghougassian, D. Dink, Y. Djeredjian, O. Ghazarian, S. Ghazarian, F. M. Gocek, M. Grigorian, K. Hachikian, V. Hovsepian, J. Hughes, A. Ishkanian, A. Jilavyan, J. Karaaslanian, R. Kevorkian, J. Libaridian, R. Markosyan, S. Mironyuk, V. S. Marques, A. Nalci, S. Panossian, V. Papazian, S. Samuelyan, S. Simonian, N. Tavitian, H. Tchilingirian, H. Tchoboyan, K. Tololyan, R. Vardanyan, T. de Waal, Y. Zorian.

For further information contact: carmenias@gulbenkian.pt or +351 21 782 3429.

"Armenians in 2115" Strategy Seminar at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Former Deputy Defense Minister: Armenia’s Enemies are Behind October 27 Tragedy

YEREVAN (News.am) – The October 27 crime was immediately solved in formality, but it is not actually solved.

Former Deputy Defense Minister and former Deputy Prime Minister Vahan Shirkhanyan told the aforementioned to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

He noted that Armenia’s enemies are behind the October 27 tragedy, and they came out the winners from this calamity.

“Had the October 27 not taken place, Armenia would have been in a qualitatively different condition. It would have been lot more advanced in terms of human relations, economic development and capacity, and national ideology,” Shirkhanyan stressed.

A group of criminals broke into the Armenian National (Assembly) Sessions’ Hall, on October 27, 1999, and shot and killed several government and parliament members.

This terrorism took the lives of Prime Minister and Supreme Commander Vazgen Sargsyan, NA Speaker Karen Demirchyan, Vice-Speakers Yuri Bakhshyan and Ruben Miroyan, Operational Affairs Minister Leonard Petrosyan, and MPs Armenak Armenakyan, Henrik Abrahamyan, and Mikayel Kotanyan.

The trial of the terrorists, who committed this crime, was held from 2001 to 2003. As a result, six of them were sentenced to life imprisonment, and one was handed down a fourteen-year prison sentenced.

The trial, however, did not expose the persons behind this tragedy, and, to this day, the Armenian society has serious doubts about the architects of this terrorism.

Former Deputy Defense Minister: Armenia’s Enemies are Behind October 27 Tragedy

Pilibosian Book Receives Honorable Mention from Writer’s Digest

Helene Pilibosian’s book of poems “A New Orchid Myth” has won honorable mention from Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards. She had previously won an honorable mention for her book History’s Twists: The Armenians and a first prize for At Quarter Past Reality: New and Selected Poems. The announcement was made in October by Writer’s Digest, a magazine published in Cleveland, Ohio.

“A New Orchid Myth” is a fantasy-reality tale that breaks with her usual ethnic subject matter to explore the possibility of a different kind of civilization on the planet Tome from which Mr. and Mrs. Everydream descend to Earth. They find life in New York City puzzling, but extensive travel within the states gives them a broader landscape.

Sunflowers and orchids are important in this narrative. The sunflower seeds provide great nourishment here and in their home planet. Orchids also exist there but are wilted and becoming sterile as are the people. What is needed there is optimism, and the red on orchids seems to symbolize it.

The worry is that people from the home planet will kidnap their daughter Taralee to try to revitalize their own system. Eventually the Everydreams develop a plan to send orchids to the planet, thus saving it and themselves. Then forgiveness rules.

Poems describe the best attributes of many of the states, which they visit. For comic relief, the characters Plastic and Polyester appear occasionally and either comment or run around New York City. Manhattan and California bear detailed descriptions of American places. And there are a few Armenian characters in the background – Mr. and Mrs. Garmirian and Maral Laramian among them.

Optimism given and restored boosts the morale of the people in the book and the people who read the book. The work has the most appeal to parents, grandparents, adolescents, art lovers and residents of the many states described. It indirectly sends the messages of coexistence and understanding, which anyone can use. It provides an exploration of imagery and imagination and can also be read by adolescents.

Poet Alan Semerdjian wrote of her work, “Marianne Moore is a good starting place for entering Pilibosian’s work.Their writings share the same natural kind of prosaic structure, attention to sibilance and syntax, and transformative quality. Pilibosian, now at a different point in her life, places herself as a successor of modernist ideals and attentiveness to image.”

Richard R. Blake, official reviewer for Amazon.com wrote, ” The beauty of her choice of words brings to mind delicacies, rich, delicious tidbits of many flavors. Contemporary themes bring to light the tenor of the times, the pressures brought about by the turmoil and uncertainties of today… A touch of poetic genius.”

Kirkus Review states, “ Pilibosian describes her landscapes with color, music and sounds, the resulting poems becoming, at their core, loving depictions of life. A unique collection of verse with a sci-fi twist on the American dream.”

Helene Pilibosian’s poems have appeared in many American and Armenian literary journals and anthologies in the US and abroad. Some of her poems were finalists in literary competitions or won first prizes and honorable mentions. Her early work has been cited in the Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature. She holds a degree in humanities from Harvard University.

Formerly a writer/editor of The Armenian Mirror-Spectator, she now heads Ohan Press, a private bilingual micropress which has published 10 books of both prose and poetry, including her story My Literary Profile: A Memoir, awarded honorable mention by the New England Book Festival, in addition to A New Orchid Myth published by CreateSpace.

The book is available from https://www.createspace.com/4649646, amazon.com and other online bookstores or from Ohan Press at http://home.comcast.net/~hsarkiss

Pilibosian Book Receives Honorable Mention from Writer’s Digest

Khachaturian Trio to Perform in Armenian Genocide Commemorative Concert at Fresno State

FRESNO — On Friday, November 14, the Khachaturian Trio will perform a Commemorative Concert dedicated to the victims and survivors of the Armenian Genocide. The event will begin 8:00 p.m. and take place at Fresno State Concert Hall located in the University’s Music Building. The program will include works by Rachmaninoff, Babadjanian, and Khachaturian. General admission is $25, $18 for seniors, and $5 for students. For tickets, please call 559-278-2337 or go to www.keyboardconcerts.com/special-events.aspx. The event is co-sponsored by the Fresno State Armenian Studies Program and the Philip Lorenz Memorial Keyboard Concerts.

Named after the renowned Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian, the trio consists of pianist Armine Grigoryan, violinist Karen Shakhgaldyan, and cellist Karen Kocharyan. Educated at prestigious institutions including the Yerevan State Conservatory and the Moscow Conservatory, the three colleagues have toured extensively throughout the Central and South America, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, China, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Australia, Moldova, Georgia, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia and Armenia. They are widely considered as one of Armenia’s leading chamber music ensembles and have been praised for their virtuoso performances, subtle sense of style, warmth, and deep musicality.

The Fresno State Armenian Studies Program (www. fresnostate.edu/armenianstudies) offers courses on Armenian history, Armenian language and literature, art and architecture, film, William Saroyan, the Genocide, and contemporary issues. It supports the Armenian Students Organization, the student and program newspaper Hye Sharzhoom, and the Armenian Studies Program Lecture Series. The Program’s website is at: fresnostate.edu/armenianstudies.

The event is one in series of activities promoted by the Armenian Genocide Centennial—Fresno Committee, which includes representatives from the religious, educational, social, and political organizations of the Central Valley. The group’s goals are to commemorate the 1.5 million martyrs who perished at the hands of the Ottoman Turkish Government; to educate others about the Armenian Genocide and historical injustice; and to inspire people to overcome adversity through the story of the survivors’ of the Armenian Genocide. The AGC—Fresno Committee is organizing and promoting numerous events in the coming year. For more information, visit the AGC—Fresno Committee’s website at www.agcfresno.org and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/agcfresno .

Free public parking is available at Fresno State Lot P1, at the northeast corner of Maple and Shaw Aves.

For more information about the Concert you may also contact the Armenian Studies Program at 278-2669.

Khachaturian Trio to Perform in Armenian Genocide Commemorative Concert at Fresno State

Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan Meet In Paris

PARIS (RFE/RL) — Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on Monday held their third meeting in less than three months to discuss ways of settling the protracted conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

The negotiations between the two South Caucasus leaders took place in Paris upon the initiative of French President Francois Hallande.

The United States, Russian and French co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group, Ambassadors James Warlick, Igor Popov and Pierre Andrieu, were also in the French capital to meet with Sarkisian and Aliyev.

The international mediators joined the two presidents after their eye-to-eye meeting, reports said.

Sarkisian and Aliyev held separate meetings with Hollande earlier on Monday.

At his meeting with the French president, the Armenian head of state, as quoted by his press service, said that Yerevan remained committed to finding a negotiated peace to the Karabakh conflict and highly appreciated the efforts of the international mediators aimed at “promoting the negotiation process, establishing permanent peace and stability in the region.”

France, along with the United States and Russia, has for two decades spearheaded international efforts on brokering a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Hollande initiated the Paris talks still during his May tour of the South Caucasus that included stops in Baku and Yerevan.

In August, Armenia and Azerbaijan again appeared to be teetering on the edge of renewed hostilities after an unprecedented escalation of violence at the Line of Contact in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border proper.

The sides blamed each other for skirmishes and commando raids in which at least two dozen servicemen were killed. The Karabakh army and the Defense Ministry of Armenia claimed they had managed to give a due rebuttal to Azerbaijani forces.

De-escalation did not happen, however, until the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents were summoned for a tripartite meeting hosted by their Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Sochi on August 10.

Sarkisian and Aliyev met also a month later on the margins of a NATO summit in Newport, Wales, UK. That meeting was organized by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan Meet In Paris

Azeri Saboteurs Go on Trial in Karabakh

STEPANAKERT — Two Azerbaijani citizens, who have been accused of committing acts of sabotage, including the killing of an Armenian teen, after illegally crossing the border into Karabakh last summer, went on trial in Stepanakert on October 27.

Shahbaz Quliyev, 46, and Dilham Askerov, 54, are charged with murder, espionage, illegal border crossing, and illegal weapons posssession. They are charged under a number of articles of the Nagorno Karabakh republic’s penal code. In particular, they are accused of murdering 17-year-old villager Smbat Tsakanian and 42-year-old officer Sargis Abrahamian, as well as wounding the wife of another serviceman, 37-year-old Karine Davtian.

Hasan Hasanov, a third member of the group, was reportedly killed after showing resistance during his arrest. Hasanov’s body was repatriated to Azerbaijan earlier this month.

Under the laws of Karabakh both Azerbaijanis have been provided with defense attorneys. An interpreter is also available for the defendants during the trial.

At the beginning of the court proceedings Quliyev pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering Tsakanian and illegally crossing the border, but he admitted to stealing money from the Armenian teenager, who was later found dead.

Official Baku insists that none of the Azerbaijanis accused of sabotage by Armenians are servicemen or were hired to commit undermining activities in Karabakh. In Azerbaijan some media presented them as citizens hailing from Kelbajar who regularly visited the graves of their family members that remained in the territory controlled by the Armenian military after the 1994 ceasefire.

David Babayan, a spokesperson for the NKR president, said that “the trial will be held in accordance with standards of a civilized country.” He said that the local justice system will ensure a fair trial “no matter how hard it will be for us to do, since these people are charged with very heavy crimes.”

“They have been provided with lawyers and these lawyers will do everything to defend their interests. Only the court will give the final verdict,” the official told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am).

Azeri Saboteurs Go on Trial in Karabakh

Istanbul-Armenian Journalist Etyen Mahçupyan Appointed Turkish PM’s Senior Advisor

ANKARA — Turkish-Armenian journalist and writer Etyen Mahçupyan will serve as a chief advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Davutoglu offered the post to Mahçupyan last week, on the sidelines of a meeting of the intellectuals’ council. Mahçupyan accepted the offer, according to Sabah daily.

Mahçupyan was a columnist for the Zaman newspaper and headed Agos weekly for some time after Hrant Dink’s assassination, and gained wide public recognition. He is now said to be working for Akcam, a publication standing close to the ruling authorities. He was earlier a member of the Wise People Committee, which was set up in 2013 to elaborate proposals for resolving the Kurdish issue. The committee has over 60 members representing different NGOs, scholarly circles and the media.

The Turkish Sabah describes the move as an attempt towards pushing forth a thaw in the Armenia-Turkey relations (following PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s April 23 condolence address).

The publication says that Mahçupyan received the proposal directly from the prime minister who personally met with him after the Committee’s meeting last week, he will deal with the settlement of Kurdish and Armenian issues as well as national problems..

Davutoglu reportedly praised Mahçupyan’s contribution to Turkey’s democratization and civil society building efforts, attaching importance to his constrictive position on state and public issues.

Mahçupyan was born in 1950. A graduate of the Bogaziçi University, he later majored in international economics at the University of Ankara (where was a professor from 1977 to 1980). From 1980 until 1996, Mahchupipian engaged in entrepreneurial activities, heading different private organizations.

Istanbul-Armenian Journalist Etyen Mahçupyan Appointed Turkish PM’s Senior Advisor

Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide: Cengiz Algan

By Hambersom Aghbashian

Cengiz Algan (born 1967 in Adana – Turkey) is a Turkish politician and a human rights activist. Grew up in Izmir and graduated from Gazi University-English language department and translated many books. He is the author of many books (1). According to www.sabah.com.tr (6.22.2014), Cengiz Algan is a familiar name in the Libertarian left circles in Turkey, and he is a Co-founder of the The DurDe civic initiative “Say stop to racism and nationalism”, which is totally an independent organization and was established immediately after the murder of Hrant Dink. DurDe has organized the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide in Taksim and its against hate crimes . DurDe members are active in the Armenian issue, they oppose anti-Semitism and Islamophobia as well, and defend the rights of all disadvantaged groups (2).

According to http://en.hayernaysor.am/ (10.06.2013), The Turkish organization “Say no to racism and nationalism” intends to restore the Memorial dedicated to the Armenian Genocide erected in 1919 in the Gezi Park in Istanbul’s centrally-located Taksim Square but later dismantled. As reported by Armenpress, this was published by the Turkish information website demokrathaber.com. The Spokesman of “Say stop to racism and nationalism” Cengiz Algan reminded that the territory of the Gezi Park in Istanbul’s Taksim Square and the adjacent areas belonged to the Armenians. “In 1560 the territory was presented to the Armenians by the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent as a token of gratitude for his life was saved by an Armenian cook. A part of the park was occupied by the Armenian cemetery. In 1940s the Kemalist dictators snatched the territory from the Armenians”. He expressed his hope that someday the Memorial dedicated to the Armenian Genocide will be erected in its real place (3).

Cengiz Algan was one of the Turkish intellectuals who have signed an open letter to the Danish Royal Library, in response to official statements that the Royal Library of Denmark has agreed “to balance” an Armenian Genocide exhibition by allowing the Turkish government to mount its own “alternative” . The Turkish intellectuals mentioned that ” Turkish government has been suppressing historic truths and following a policy of denial for more than 90 years. The Turkish intellectuals have asked the authorities “Not to Stand Against Turkey’s Democratization and Confrontation with its History(4).

Under the title “Is Turkey Overcoming the Armenian Taboo?”, Orhan Kemal Cengiz wrote in ALMONITOT (April 22, 2013), “Turkey is changing from a country where the phrase Armenian question was never mentioned to one where groups are marching in the street using the term Armenian genocide”. Orhan Kemal added that “The change of language of the announcement used by the Dur De “Say Stop to Racism and Nationalism” initiative, which organizes these meetings, helps demonstrate the gradual erasing of the Armenian taboo in Turkey. In 2010, the announcement of the commemorative events began with the words, “This pain is our pain.” In the text, the events of 1915 were described as “the great disaster,” the Turkish equivalent of the phrase “Meds Yegern” used by Armenians. Cengiz Algan, spokesman for Dur De, said they received many threatening messages despite that “soft terminology.” The language became “clearer” over the years, and the number of threats declined. On the 2011 announcement, the title said only “April 24, 1915.” The text read, “This is the date when the extermination of the Armenians began.” The title of last year’s announcement read, “This is a pain of all of us,” while the text spoke of the tragedy of the Armenian people at length. The text of this year’s announcement is even more daring. It begins, “We are remembering the victims of genocide,” and it continues, “With the campaign of extermination that began on April 24, 1915, the Armenian people were eradicated en masse”(5).

In a press release -Paris 19 April 2014, it was announced that EGAM* and AGBU** Europe delegation of European Civil Society leaders to attend the Commemorations of the Armenians Genocide in Istanbul. The event was organized by their Turkish partners DurDe! and the Human Rights Association – IHD from April 21st to 25th. In Their appeal they stated ” In 1915, the implementation of a methodical and premeditated plan led to the extermination of one and a half million of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, in an attempt to destroy an entire civilization and to “Turkify” Anatolia. The Armenian people were the victims of a genocide which would soon serve as a gruesome reference for others to follow. The successive governments of the Turkish Republic have since fought to deny the dark side of the history of their country, and to make their people and the world forget that the genocide ever occurred. They added “Our shared initiative is one for recognition, solidarity, justice, and democracy.” This was signed by Paul Morin, Executive Dir.- EGAM, Cengiz Algan & Levent Sensever, Spokespeople for Durde! (Turkey), Alexis Govciyan, President & Nicolas Tavitian, Director AGBU (Europe), Ayse Öktem, Platform for “Confronting a Century of Denial” (Turkey),Charles Aznavour, singer (France), Bernard Henri Lévy, Philosopher (France), and many others. (6)

——————————————————

* EGMA : European Grassroots Antiracist Movement

**AGBU : Armenian General Benevolent Union

1- http://www.vansiyaseti.com/van/cengiz-alganla-soylesi-h7114.html

2- http://www.sabah.com.tr/Gundem/2014/06/22/artik-o-mahalle-ile-birlikte-yurumek-istemiyorum

3- http://en.hayernaysor.am/

4- http://www.armenianweekly.com/2012/12/18/turkish-citizens-sign-petition-against-denialist-exhibit-in-denmark/

5- http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/iw/originals/2013/04/armenian-genocide-taboo-turkey-anniversary.html

6- www.egam.eu/…/14.04.18-CP-EN-European-Delegation-to-Commemora

Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide: Cengiz Algan

UN Forecasts 0.5 Percent Population Growth for Armenia in 2014

YEREVAN ( ARKA.am) — Armenia may see its population grow by 0.5 percent this year as the birth rate exceeds the death rate, said today Garik Hayrapetyan, the representative of the Armenian office of the UN Population Fund.

“According to our estimates, in 2017 Armenia’s population will begin to decrease because of two factors- the falling birth rate and the aging of the nation,” he said.

He said the number of people aged 65 and over will increase along with mounting death rate. He said the death rate currently is 27-28 per one thousand people – ‘a normal rate for aging nations.’

As regards birth rate, Hayrapetyan said it is now 1.5-1.6 per a woman, which is not enough for the simple reproduction, especially with ongoing out-emigration when 30,000-35,000 people of mostly reproductive age leave the country for good annually.

According to the National Statistical Service, on July 1, 2014 Armenia had 3.009 million permanent population, including 1.9 billion of urban population.

The number of children born in the country in January – June this year increased by 3.2% compared to the same period of 2013, amounting to 19,401. The number of deaths during the reporting period increased by 4.3% to 14,929. The natural population growth was 4, 472 people.

UN Forecasts 0.5 Percent Population Growth for Armenia in 2014

Sparks Fly Over Scholar’s Azerbaijani Ties At Columbia University Event

By Carl Schreck
RFE/RL

WASHINGTON — A political scientist’s ties to Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy giant SOCAR sparked a testy exchange at a Columbia University discussion on European energy on October 23 when a student asked the scholar about her ties to the firm.

Brenda Shaffer, a professor at Israel’s University of Haifa, responded to a question about her failure to disclose her links to SOCAR by grilling her interlocutor — journalist and Columbia graduate student Casey Michel — about his cholesterol, love life, and finances.

“Part of the American way is a right to privacy,” Shaffer replied. “Like, if I asked you, Casey, ‘OK, what’s your wife’s name? What school do you go to? Who funds your scholarship right now? Where do you work? How do you pay your meals? … What’s your cholesterol count?’ There’s nothing to be ashamed of in any of those answers.”

The sharp response came during a question-and-answer session at an event titled “Southern Gas Corridor: Progress and Challenges” held in New York at Columbia’s Center on Global Energy Policy. The event’s main speaker was SOCAR Deputy Vice President Vitaliy Baylarbayov.

Michel asked Shaffer to address a decision by “The New York Times” to attach an editor’s note to her September 9 commentary on Azerbaijani-Armenian tensions, stating that the piece “did not disclose that the writer has been an adviser to Azerbaijan’s state-run oil company.”

Shaffer said she believes her students “benefit from the fact that I have been on every side of the table.”

But she accused Michel of ignoring the subject of her piece, namely “Russia’s intervention in the South Caucasus, and how they played a role in the loss of lives between both Armenians and Azerbaijanis and the danger that this is for the region and for U.S. policy.”

“You come in and try to…pick apart everything in my background or whatever. Why don’t you, instead of shooting the messenger, why don’t you look at my message?” Shaffer said.

Michel replied that he had no problem with the content of her article and repeated that he was interested in a comment on Shaffer’s failure to disclose her affiliation with SOCAR, according to an audio recording of the exchange made available to RFE/RL.

“Like I said, I’m not going to ask you your cholesterol count,” Shaffer said. “I mean, who pays your scholarship, Casey? How do you pay your tuition?”

The moderator of the event then steered the discussion back to the SOCAR-led Southern Gas Corridor, which Azerbaijan is pushing as a key route to lessening Europe’s reliance on Russian gas in the wake of the Ukraine crisis.

SOCAR Adviser

Azerbaijan’s critics have accused Baku of touting its role as an energy partner for Europe and the United States while downplaying its human rights record, which Western officials and rights groups say has deteriorated precipitously in recent months.

Shaffer, who is currently a visiting researcher at the Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies (CEREES) at Georgetown University, is among the most visible figures promoting this role for Azerbaijan in the media and in Washington.

As RFE/RL’s Robert Coalson reported in September, in many of these public appearances Shaffer does not mention that she has served as an adviser to SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev.

“The New York Times” attached its editor’s note to Shaffer’s op-ed after the newspaper was shown a photograph of her business card identifying her as an adviser for “strategic affairs” to the SOCAR president, according to the report.

Panelist Or Moderator?

Shaffer’s precise role at the Columbia University event this week was also unclear.

Shaffer was described as the “moderator,” according to an archived version of the announcement posted on the Center on Global Energy Policy’s website as recently as October 19.

The updated version, however, lists the moderator as Jesse McCormick, the center’s associate director, and does not mention Shaffer.

McCormick introduced Shaffer at the event as a “panelist,” prompting Shaffer to quickly correct him, according to a recording from the event.

“Moderator,” she said.

Ke Wei, the center’s program coordinator, referred questions about the decision to replace Shaffer as the listed moderator to an outside public relations firm, BerlinRosen. A message left with the firm seeking comment went unreturned on October 23.

Neither Shaffer nor SOCAR’s U.S. representatives responded to requests for comment.

Also unclear is the precise role that Columbia’s respected Harriman Institute for Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies — where Michel is a second-year student — played in the SOCAR event.

Just days prior to the event, the institute’s website featured an announcement inviting those interested to join “the Center on Global Energy Policy and the Harriman Institute” for the discussion, according to an archived version of the page.

But that announcement, which also listed Shaffer as the moderator, was later scrubbed from the site.

Neither of the original announcements mentioned Shaffer’s affiliation with SOCAR.

Alexander Cooley, deputy director of the Harriman Institute, told RFE/RL that the institute “was not a co-sponsor of this event or even affiliated with it” and that the announcement on its website “was inaccurate and was removed to reflect our actual nonaffiliation with the event.”

Asked about printed promotional materials for the event that prominently mentioned both Columbia’s Center on Global Energy Policy and the Harriman Institute, Cooley said the institute had “no further comment on this matter.”

Sparks Fly Over Scholar’s Azerbaijani Ties At Columbia University Event

Turkish Journalists Visit Armenian Genocide Museum Institute

YEREVAN — On 23 October, Turkish journalists visited the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI). They were in Armenia within the framework of the project “Media Bus Tour” organized by Eurasia Partnership Foundation.

The journalists visited the temporary exhibition hall of the museum and got acquainted with the temporary exhibition dedicated to the WWI centennial.

After that, they had a meeting and active discussion with Hayk Demoyan, the Director of Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute and the Secretary of State Commission on coordination of the events dedicated to the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Writer Serkan Engin: “ Obliged to talk about Armenian genocide at the cost of my life and freedom”

Turkish writer Serkan Engin considers it an obligation of his conscience to talk about the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian genocides in Turkey. “This is an ethical duty for me as an honest and honorable intellectual. This is my debt and obligation to humanity. I want to talk about all these genocides perpetrated by my Turkish ancestors, because in Turkey you must declare the truth loudly, against the lies of the so-called official history. I’m the child who shouts “The Emperor is naked”. I’m devoting myself to the truth at the cost of my life and freedom, because I want to create and increase awareness about these atrocities, so that similar crimes against humanity won’t be perpetrated again. I refuse to be “proud of” my ancestors who raped little girls, burned children alive, enslaved women and brutally slaughtered millions of innocent people,” the Laz-Turkish poet told Armenpress.

“I refuse to shout “How happy is he, who says I’m a Turk” every morning in school playgrounds. I reject the education system which tells our children a racist motto like “One Turk is equal to the whole world”. I don’t want to see any fascist youth in my country, or in any other country. We have to tell our kids “Every humans of the world are equal to each other, whatever their ethnicity, language, belief or gender. I want an education system in Turkey which reveals the importance of art, philosophy, and science,” he said.

Serkan Engin is against all kind of heroic tales, because politicians, generals and arms industry corporations use heroic tales for their own benefits, so that they can send poor young men to the war zones to kill each other.

“I’m an anti-militarist and proud of this. My heart and my pen are my only weapons. I stand behind all the oppressed people in the world, as an internationalist socialist poet and author, and my mission is to be the their voice. I’m a little child in an adult’s body who wants to love the whole world with childish pureness,” the writer stressed.

Turkish Journalists Visit Armenian Genocide Museum Institute

German FM: EU Still Committed to Closer Ties With Armenia

YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Armenia can forge closer links with the European Union even after joining a Russian-led alliance of former Soviet republics, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said during a visit to Yerevan on Thursday.

Steinmeier also insisted that the conflict in Ukraine will not cause the EU and Germany in particular to lose interest in other ex-Soviet states involved in the EU’s Eastern Partnership program.

“Despite the crisis in Ukraine, which we have discussed at length, Europe is saving no effort as we believe that it is because of this kind of crises that the other Eastern Partnership countries should not be forgotten,” he said after talks with his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian. “They are not losing their significance.”

“We want good cooperation within the Eastern Partnership framework, including with Armenia. It is essential that these good relations endure crises,” added Steinmeier.

The Eastern Partnership launched about a decade ago entitles those countries to signing far-reaching Association Agreements with the EU giving them tariff-free access to the world’s biggest single market. Armenia was on course to finalize such a deal until President Serzh Sarkisian announced in September 2013 his decision to seek membership in Russia’s Eurasian Economic Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan. Sarkisian signed an accession treaty with the bloc on October 10.

“We respect Armenia’s decisions, including the decision to join the Eurasian Economic Union,” Steinmeier told a joint news conference with Nalbandian. “I think that Armenia doesn’t view that as an obstacle to developing and deepening relations with Europe.”

“We will continue making efforts with our European partners to create a new legal basis for Armenia-EU ties,” agreed Nalbandian. He did not clarify, though, whether Yerevan is still seeking to sign a slimmed-down version of the Association Agreement with the EU.

Armenia’s ties with the EU were also on the agenda of Steinmeier’s talks with Sarkisian held later in the day. Sarkisian’s press office said the two men further discussed German-Armenian bilateral ties and the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Visiting Baku earlier on Wednesday, Steinmeier said he is “looking forward” to Sarkisian’s fresh talks with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev that will be held in Paris next week. He reportedly expressed hope that the talks hosted by French President Francois Hollande will “melt the frozen positions” of the conflicting parties.

In Yerevan, Steinmeier also said that he “clarified” to Nalbandian Germany’s position on Western powers’ ongoing talks with Iran over the latter’s controversial nuclear program. Yerevan hopes that further progress in those talks and the resulting easing of Western sanctions against Tehran would make it easier for Armenia to deepen its already cordial ties with the Islamic Republic.

Germany is Armenia’s leading European trading partner and donor. The two countries have also significantly increased bilateral military cooperation in recent years owing to the presence of 120 or so Armenian soldiers in Afghanistan. They have been serving there under German command. Sarkisian singled out “Armenia’s productive cooperation with Germany” at a NATO summit in Wales last month.

Just days after that summit senior Armenian and German defense officials drew up a plan of joint military activities for next year. The Defense Ministry in Yerevan said they are aimed at “enhancing the existing level of interoperability” between the two countries’ armed forces.

German FM: EU Still Committed to Closer Ties With Armenia

National Archive to Present Armenian Genocide Documents to the World

YEREVAN — Ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the National Archive

will publish corresponding documents in three languages, particularly about the massacres carried out in the western part of Cilicia and Anatolia, Director of the National Archive Amatuni Virabyan told reporters today.

The Armenian National Archive has already prepared a Russian book titled “The Participation of Armenians in the First World War,” which was published in Moscow. A three-volume publication titled “The Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey” has also been released. The first volume has already been translated into English and Turkish, Virabyan informed reporters.

According to him, by the 100th anniversary it is intended to implement three more programs. The second program is the publication of a series of chapters about the material and cultural losses of the Armenians. “Nothing will end with the 100th anniversary. Everything starts with it”.

He said the National Archive’s next project is to compile the list of Armenian Genocide victims. “Jews have collected names of six million victims of the Holocaust and three million photos. In our case the number is small, as we are too late. Nevertheless, we think it’s possible to collect at least 300 thousand names,” Virabyan said.

One of the most important initiatives the National Archive plans ahead of the Genocide centennial is called “100 names.”

“We’ll try to present the names of 100 Armenians, who survived the Armenian Genocide, found refuge in different countries and succeeded in the fields of culture, science, business and others,” Director of the National Archive said. One of the examples is Arshile Gorky, who survived the Genocide and became world famous artist.

National Archive to Present Armenian Genocide Documents to the World

The New York Times Special Inset on Armenia

NEW YORK — The New York Times has distributed a special 4-page insert about Armenia. Titled “Armenia: An ancient nation; a modern republic,” it provides an overview of Armenia’s past and present, the US-Armenia relations, the country’s priorities and much more. It also presents interviews with the Armenian President, Foreign Minister, Ministers of Economy and Agriculture, Central Bank Chairman, Argentinean-Armenian businessman Eduardo Ernekyan and with a number of other figures.

Armenia continues to develop into a stable and democratic state, resolute in its march toward prosperity and confident in both its people and its place in the modern age, The New York Times insert reports.

In his interview, President Sarkisian dwells on Armenian-American relations, USA’s role in regulation process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, USA’s steps taken in the direction of recognizing of the Armenian Genocide at the threshold of the centenary.

“We believe that the whole of mankind should be consistent in the recognition, condemnation and exclusion of denialism of this crime of crimes. This is our message to the international community, including the government and society of the United States, on the eve of the centenary of the Armenian genocide. The Armenian genocide is an indisputable fact, documented by the international community when it provided refuge to the hundreds of thousands of Armenians that fled the massacres carried out by the Ottoman Empire. Today, even educated circles of Turkish society have reconciled with their own past, opposing the official denialist position of their state,” Serzh Sarkisian states.

The New York Times Special Inset on Armenia

German Foreign Minister Pays Tribute to the Memory of Armenian Genocide Victims

YEREVAN — German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier visited the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex today to pay tribute to the memory of the Armenian genocide victims.

Frank Walter Steinmeier was accompanied by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and Director of the Armenian genocide Museum-Institute Hayk Demoyan.

The German FM laid a wreath at the memorial to the Armenian Genocide victims and paid tribute to their memory with a minute of silence.

Hayk Demoyan presented a copy of his most recent book titled “Armenian Genocide: Front page coverage in the world press” and a stamp dedicated to Johannes Lepsius, a German missionary, Orientalist, and humanist with a special interest in trying to prevent the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire.

German Foreign Minister Pays Tribute to the Memory of Armenian Genocide Victims

World’s First Wikipedia Monument Designed by Armenian Sculptor Unveiled in Poland

SLUBICE, POLAND — The world’s first monument dedicated to online encyclopedia Wikipedia was unveiled in the town of Slubice, on the German border, Wednesday, Polish Radio reports. The monument is designed by an Armenian sculptor Mihran Hakobyan from Karabakh.

Mihran Hakobyan

Hakobyan, a 30-year-old Stepanakert-based sculptor, graduated from the Polish Studies for International Students at Collegium Polonicum in Slubice and was awarded the title of licencjat (BA). In 2012, in recognition for his work for the university and very good grades, he received the Kulczyk Family Fund scholarship. Since 2011, he has been working in the field of computer animation. He is the author of several animations, including plasticine animated films promoting Collegium Polonicum and Polish Studies for International Students. In 2013, he received the audience award for his animated film “Umbrella” presented at the Short Film Fund competition in Moscow.

The monument, which stands 2.5m high, consists of four people raising aloft a globe-shaped puzzle, the latter being the symbol of Wikipedia.

Consistent with the Wikipedia logo’s globe, the world is shown as being unfinished, ready to accept more knowledge.

Town authorities funded the monument, which cost 11,800 euro, following a proposal from Dr. Krzysztof Wojciechowski, administrative director of the college.

Wojciechowski argued that the sculpture was an appropriate symbol for the town, given that the college itself is a cross-border institution.

The Collegium Polonicum is jointly maintained by the Viadrina European University, which is based in Slubice’s sister city Frankurt (on the Oder) over the border in Germany, and the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan.

The German and Polish branches of Wikipedia are among the most dynamic, with the German version the fourth largest (out of 287 languages), while the Polish version has the twelfth highest number of pages.

World’s First Wikipedia Monument Designed by Armenian Sculptor Unveiled in Poland

Turkish Justice Ministry Clears Way for Probe of Ex-Police Chief in Dink Murder Case

ISTANBUL — The Turkish Justice Ministry has cleared the way for the investigations of nine civil servants, including the former police chief of Istanbul Celalettin Cerrah, who has been accused of negligence in the murder of the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Lawyers representing Dink’s family had long requested the investigation of the nine civil servants, but their demand had been initially rejected by the Istanbul Governor’s Office.

However, an Istanbul High Criminal Court upheld the family’s appeal and lifted the nonsuit ruling regarding the nine civil servants, prompting prosecutors to file an appeal to the Justice Ministry.

The ministry eventually rejected the prosecutors’ appeal on Oct. 22 with a decision that caps a long legal battle and may prove substantial during the retrial as the investigation process has been stalled, despite a recent Turkish Constitutional Court decision that ruled the murder case was not efficiently investigated.

Along with Cerrah, Ergun Güngör and Istanbul Police Department Intelligence Head Ahmet Ilhan Güler figure among the nine individuals requested to be investigated by Dink’s lawyers.

Dink was shot to death by Ogün Samast in broad daylight on a busy street outside the offices of his bilingual, Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos in central Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007 in an assassination that sent shockwaves throughout Turkey.

Samast was sentenced to over 22 years in jail for the murder, but lawyers representing the Dink family have repeatedly expressed their dismay over the lack of investigation regarding the individuals or groups who commissioned the murder.

Lawyers representing Dink’s family had expressed that the retrial that started a year ago could bring progress to the investigation. But one of the key suspects of the case, Erhan Tuncel, a former police informant, was recently released pending the trial.

Backing up widespread accusations of a state conspiracy, Tuncel claimed in December 2013 that he had informed the police of the plan, but that his warnings went unheeded.

The investigations of the key former police officers may bring to light many aspects of the murder that have remained unknown.

According to reports, Dink was called to a police department and “warned” about the plot against him, fueling the belief that the murder was known by some institutions within the state beforehand.

One of Dink’s lawyers, Fehriye Çetin, argues in a book published last year on the murder case that the order to kill was given by the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) via an encrypted message.

Turkish Justice Ministry Clears Way for Probe of Ex-Police Chief in Dink Murder Case

Armenia Taking Preventive Measures Against Ebola

YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Health authorities in Armenia have installed fever detectors at the national border crossings, trained medical personnel and provided them with protective equipment in an effort to contain a possible spread of Ebola into the country.

No cases of the deadly virus have been registered in Armenia so far, and officials in Yerevan say that the likelihood of that happening soon is very low. They point to the absence of direct communication with west Africa, the epicenter of the latest Ebola outbreak, and tropical animals transmitting the disease. The Armenian government banned imports of animals from Africa in August.

“In any case, we will not have a major outbreak,” said Liana Torosian, a senior official from the government’s National Center for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDCP). “This is our forecast.”

Nevertheless, the authorities in Yerevan are not taking chances. The Armenian Healthy Ministry began last week a mandatory screening of individuals arriving in the country for fever, a possible early symptom of Ebola. Special devices were installed at Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport and six other Armenian border crossings for that purpose.

Ministry officials say that medics deployed there have already detected several persons with a high body temperature. But none of them has tested positive for Ebola.

The ministry has also organized a series of workshops for health workers on how to respond to Ebola cases. Among them were doctors and nurses from Yerevan’s Nork hospital specializing in treatment of acute infectious diseases.

Ara Asoyan, Armenia’s chief epidemiologist managing the hospital, said on Tuesday that they are now prepared to treat Ebola patients. “Our staff has long dealt with various epidemics such as swine flu and anthrax,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). “They are now ready for Ebola.”

Asoyan said that the hospital has 15 specially insulated wards that can treat up to 60 patients infected with Ebola or other life-threatening diseases. Medics working there as well as officials at Zvartnots and Armenia’s border crossings with Georgia and Iran have also received protection suits and other equipment designed for dealing with Ebola cases, he said. Their preventive measures against Ebola are being coordinated with the NCDCP, added the official.

Armenia Taking Preventive Measures Against Ebola