20 for murder - 28 for murder book !‏

Gibrahayer e-magazine www.gibrahayer.com
The largest circulation Armenian e-magazine on the Internet
Circulates every Wednesday - Established in 1999

"Nothing is settled until it is settled right." Rudyard Kipling

20 YEARS FOR MURDER,
28 YEARS FOR MURDER BOOK

Hurriyet June 11 2009 - More than two years after Agos editor Hrant Dink was shot dead, a reporter stands trial for writing about the circumstances surrounding the murder. For his alleged crimes, he faces 28 years in prison, eight years more than what the murder suspect would serve if convicted.
A reporter who wrote a book about the intelligence failures before and after the murder of Hrant Dink, the editor-in-chief of Armenian weekly Agos, is facing a prison term of 28 years if found guilty. The chief murder suspect in the case could serve a maximum of 20 years if convicted.
Milliyet daily reporter Nedim Sener's book "Dink Murder and Intelligence Lies" focused on the intelligence deficiencies by security agencies before and after Dink was shot dead, leading to a police officer and three senior Police Department intelligence chiefs filing complaints against him.
Dink, who was prosecuted for insulting Turkishness, was killed in front of Agos's office. The chief suspect, a teenage nationalist, is currently on trial along with several alleged accomplices who are accused of influencing the culprit.
Milliyet daily reported that the complaints have led the Istanbul Prosecutor's Office to charge Sener with publication of secret information and turning anti-terrorism officials into targets. The reporter faces a maximum prison term of 28 years if found guilty.
Sener, speaking to Anatolia news agency on his way to the opening hearing yesterday, said he is facing a total of 28 years in prison if convicted in two cases on charges of obtaining classified documents and insulting government officials.
Sener has two trials pending as a result of the complaints. The trial at the Istanbul Second Court was on violating official secrets. Sener, who faces up to eight years in jail on this charge, defended himself by saying that the information in his book was from phone conversations that were made public on televisions and newspapers months before his book was printed. "These
conversations are also on the Internet and can be found when one searches Google," he said.
Sener said the trial aimed at preventing the public from learning the facts about Dink's murder and press freedom. He asked the court to find him not guilty. The judge decided to postpone the trial to another date for the defendant's lawyers to prepare for the prosecutor's case.
Milliyet Editor-in-Chief, Sedat Ergin, told Anatolia news agency his presence at court was to support not only Sener but also press freedom in Turkey. "We are showing this solidarity in order to ensure press freedom in respected," he said. The Turkish Journalists' Association, or TGC, released a statement on the case, seeing it as "worrying" and a problem for democracy.
After the book's release in January of this year, Muhittin Zenit, a police officer working at the intelligence division at Trabzon at the time Dink was assassinated, filed a criminal complaint about Sener for "targeting personnel in service of fighting terrorism, obtaining secret documents, disclosing secret documents, violating the secrecy of communication and attempting to influence fair trial" through his book.

THE GRADUATES

Gibrahayer - 16 June, 2009 - 20 graduates of Nareg elementary school (18 from Nicosia and two from Limassol) and six from the Nareg Gymnasium will receive their diplomas in the annual traditional ceremony that will take place at 6:30 pm today. The event will be followed by a cocktail reception organised by the Parents Association.
Also "graduating" is Nareg Headmaster Artin Aivazian, who retires after nine years at Nareg's top position. It is an end of an era for the Hokapartsoutiun as well, whose term ends at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school-year. The community awaits from the Armenian MP Vartkes Mahdessian to recommend to the Cyprus Ministry of Education, the new members of the Hokapartsoutiun, who have an increased responsibility - more than ever - to restore calamity between the faculty, parents and administration.
To that end the role of the new Headmistress Vera Tahmazian will be crucial, who inherits a to-do-list, bigger and more complex than any top administrator of the school has ever undertaken in the recent history of Nareg.
The direction of the school must be clearly defined, explained and understood while the community is expected to support the new Hokapartsoutiun, the Headmistress and their undertakings, to accomplish the national and educational objectives that are imperative for an Armenian school in the Diaspora, much so for an outpost in the Mediterranean like Cyprus.

THE CONTINUED DEMANDS OF THE ARMENIANS - (link in Armenian language) Hrayr Jebejian's article on the "Continued demands of the Armenian people" appeared in Aztag Daily in Lebanon, on Thursday 11 June 2009. To read it please click here http://www.aztagdaily.com/Display News.php?ID=22829

Letters to the Editor Who really won the elections in Lebanon? Dear Simon,
After your last week’s article about the Lebanese parliamentary elections (taken from the Masis Weekly) created some controversy in the Gibrahay community and after I was approached several times to explain who had really won the elections (as far as the Armenian seats are concerned), please allow me to comment on some of the points mentioned in the Masis article.
I would like to start with the title of the article, because the uninformed reader could get the impression that the Armenians “won” 6 seats in the parliament, which is not true because these 6 seats are given to us by the Lebanese constitution.

Now the question is: who won these 6 Armenian seats?
The answer is not what the article claimed but the following:
- The ARF Dashnaktsoutiun won 2 seats: MP Hagop Pakradouni and MP Arthur Nazarian
- The Social Democrat Henchagian Party won 1 seat: MP Sebouh Kalpakian
- The Future Movement (non-Armenian movement) won 3 seats: MP Serge Torsarkissian, MP Jean Oghassapian and MP Chant Chinchinian.

It is true that the Ramgavar Party adopted the candidacy of MP Jean Oghassapian a few hours before the deadline for nominations and the Henchagian party adopted the candidacy of MP Serge Torsakissian, but honestly, and please let us not fool ourselves, where does their loyalty rest? The Future Movement or the Armenian parties that adopted them?
I, personally, know the answer to that question, as I have followed the course of action or should I say “lack of action” of our honourable MPs, starting with ex-MP Hagop Kassardjian (Ramgavar Party), ex-MP Yeghya Djeredjian (Henchagian Party), MP Serge Torsarkissian and MP Jean Oghassapian, who was the most active to be honest, for the past 9 years (since they were first elected MPs in the year 2000 as Future Movement candidates).
I hope they prove me wrong for the sake of the Armenian community, and change their faces (YERES-POKHAN) and hold on to their Armenian roots, specially the 2 new ones. But until then, as I clearly see it, the only winner is the Future movement and the only loser is the Armenian Community of Lebanon.
Finally, to assure the Gibrahay Community, I would like to say that having only one or two MPs in the Parliament, MPs who really represent the Armenian community (the whole community or at least 80 % of it) and fight for its rights, MPs like Hagop Pakradouni and Arthur Nazarian, is more than enough."

Sevag Gurunlian, Nicosia

ATTENTION ARMENIAN LAWYERS

The Ministry of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia and the organisational committee of the first Pan-Armenian Forum of Lawyers would like to inform all Armenian lawyers that the first Pan-Armenian Forum of Lawyers will be held in Yerevan on September 19-20, 2009.
The aim of the forum is to record and consolidate the potential of Armenian lawyers around the world, develop steady and productive mechanisms for lawyers’ involvement in Armenia’s domestic life, as well as to create a pan-Armenian lawyers’ association and a pan-Armenian professional network based on the database.
We call out to all Armenian lawyers across the globe and ask all interested candidates to apply to the RA Ministry of Diaspora at Vazgen Sargsyan 26/1, 5th floor or call us at 58-56-01 (1-16). Interested candidates may also e-mail us at lawyersforum2009@mindiaspora.am.
If you know other lawyers or have any information about them, we ask you to please send us that information.
We will be waiting for your replies.

Ministry of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia
Organisational committee of the first Pan-Armenian Forum of Lawyers