Armenian News... A Topalian... Bundestag to hold a debate on the 'ARMENIAN GENOCIDE'

armeradio.am
TO VOTE OR NOT TO VOTE: BUNDESTAG TO HOLD A DEBATE 

ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
22 Feb 2016
Siranush Ghazanchyan

The German Bundestag is set to hold a debate on the Armenian Genocide
on February 25. The Alliance 90/The Greens faction will make mention of
the Armenian Genocide 100 years ago. Forty-five minutes are allocated
for the report.

"There will be a statement followed by a debate," Cem Ozdemir,
President of the Greens Party said in an exclusive interview with
Public Radio of Armenia.

According to him, the Greens will present a statement, which has the
same emphasis as the draft bill debated with the ruling coalition back
in November 2015. Although the parties had reached some common ground,
the bill was later prevented by the coalition.

"Obviously, the political motives are more important for the coalition
than joint recognition," Mr. Ozdemir said.

"We want the debate to be followed by voting. However, this is still
uncertain, as we don't know what the disposition of the ruling
coalition is. If no voting follows, the bill will again be sent
back to the Commission, where it is doomed to share the fate of an
earlier motion submitted on April 24, 2015. It will remain pending,
as the ruling coalition is not interested in raising the issue again,"
President of the Greens Party said.

He added that the debate scheduled for February 25 is of great
significance, considering that no other events commemorating the
genocide of Armenians or other ethnic minorities is envisaged in the
Bundestag this year.

The German Bundestag held heated debated on the Armenian Genocide on
April 24, 2015, a day after German President Joachim Gauck used the
word "genocide" to describe the events of 1915.

While the Greens and the Left Party supported the term 'genocide,' the
federal government and the coalition parties had certain reservations.

A single joint resolution is still being worked out. It's unclear
whether the final text will include the word "genocide" or not. It's
also hard to predict when the Bundestag will hold a final voting on
the bill. 

news.am 

FRENCH EMBASSY: ARMENIANS FOUGHT SIDE BY SIDE 

WITH THE FRENCH DURING BATTLE OF VERDUN
22.02.2016

YEREVAN. - The commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of
Verdun is an occasion to remember that the Armenian volunteers fought
side by side with the French, the statement of the French Embassy in
Armenia on Facebook reads.

"They went on serving France also after the war, in the ranks of the
Eastern Legion, then against Nazi barbarians, no matter whether under
the banner of the Republic or in the underground resistance.

It's necessary to relentlessly laud this ardent service and realize
that despite difficulties, the duty of the French is to render honors
to their killed soldiers and keep alive the memory of the Armenian
soldiers so that their names are passed to their descendants as
an eternal light of valor, with which they decorated the light of
civilization and liberty," the statement reads.


arka.am
DEMOLITION OF OLD HOUSES IN YEREVAN MAY AFFECT 

TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
YEREVAN, February 22. Tour operators and winemakers of Armenia
are concerned about demolition of old houses in the central part of
Armenia's capital city, particularly in the Pushkin- Abovyan-Arami
crossroad.

Nune Manukyan, director of the Areni Wine Festival Foundation, told
journalists on Thursday that demolition of old constructions strikes
hard directly at tourism in the country.

"Tourism and wine industry are to-priority areas in Armenia's economy,"
she said. "But we are losing the face of the city which we can sell as
a tourist product. As a result, the city is becoming not interesting
to tourists. Tour operators can't shepherd tourists through Yerevan
longer than one hour, and tourists leave the city without spending
their money."

In autumn 2015, the city authorities confirmed rumors that houses
in the mentioned streets would be destroyed. This decision sparked
outcry also among Armenian winemakers, since there are wine cellars
in the basement.

Manukyan said that a wrong policy is pursued by the authorities.

"Once we were assured that Northern Avenue in the very center of the
capital will be different, not as we see it now," she said adding
that tourists find nothing interesting in it.

"Instead, we organize tours through backyards and old-time places to
show the city's spirit and atmosphere to them. Of course, financial
resources are needed to maintain old monuments, but if they are
preserved more resources come to the country's budget."

Recent studies of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of
Armenia show that there are well-preserved wine presses and wine
vaults of 16-18 centuries in Yerevan's territory.

"As a historian specialized in wine production history, I say that
it is very important to preserve these historic places," said Boris
Gasparyan, a research officer at the Institute of Archeology and
Ethnography of Armenia. "It is not enough to save wine vaults from
demolition - we should treat these historical monuments seriously,
since they are our wealth."

Gasparyan said that the problem is not to lay legislative groundwork
for preserving historical monuments, but to have a good will to do
that.


armenianow.com
REEL BRITANNIA: BRITISH FILM FESTIVAL OPENS IN YEREVAN
22.02.16 
The 14th edition of the British Film Festival opened in the Armenian
capital, Yerevan, at the weekend to feature some of the best and
brightest works in the contemporary British cinematography.

The opening ceremony took place at Moscow Cinema on Saturday. 

Seven films will be screened three times a day at Moscow Cinema 

until February 26. According to the organizers, after the screenings 

in Yerevan, the British Film Festival will begin its tour in the regions.

This year the films will be screened in Aparan, Dilijan and Alaverdi.

Entrance is free and all festival venues are wheelchair accessible,
the organizers say.

Best Review, Best Friends and #BestofBritish contests are due to be
organized within the framework of the Festival this year.

The guest of the festival is Simon Wilkinson, a well-known British
musician and composer mainly working in the fields of music for film,
television and documentary.

The festival is organized in cooperation with the British Embassy
Yerevan, Beeline and the Armenian Ministry of Culture. 

armradio.am 

ARMENIAN FIGURE SKATING PAIR WINS SILVER AT BAVARIA 

OPEN
22 Feb 2016
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Armenian figure skating pair Tina Garabedian and Simon Senekal won
a silver medal at the Bavarian Open 2016 international competition,
press service of the Armenian National Olympic Committee reports.

With a total score of 140.16 in free dancing the Armenian couple came
second after Penny Coomes- Nicholas Buckland of Great Britain.

The Garabedian- Senekal pair will now be able to participate in the
World Championship in Boston. 

panorama.am 

AZERBAIJAN MILITARY PROSECUTOR CONFESSES THAT 

AZERBAIJANI AUTHORITIES KNEW ABOUT KHOJALU CAPTURE 

AND DID NOT TAKE UP ANY MEASURE
22/02/2016

The former president of Azerbaijan,AyazMutallibov, and Azerbaijani
authorities were informed, but did not take up any measure to prevent
the capture of the town Khojalu, Azerbaijani news agency APA informs,
citing Azerbaijan's Military Prosecutor Khanlar Veliyev, who added that
"one did not need to possess a special information to do that."

"The Azerbaijani authorities certainly knew about it, but did not
take up any measure in order to prevent it. Even after the events,
they at least should have organized the evacuation of people from
there," the Military Prosecutor emphasized.

On February 26, 1992, during the Karabakhwar, around 200 to 300 people
(according to Human Rights Watch, and 600 according to the version
propagated by Azerbaijan) were killed in unknown circumstances near
the city of Aghdam. They were deliberately withheld by the Azerbaijani
authorities in the midst of the military actions. The authorities
of Azerbaijan intentionally kept the population in the village for
months by force and did not evacuate them in order to use them as
human shields later as the village was one of the firing points for
shooting at the blockaded Stepanakert (among five others).

The residents of Khojalu, coming out through the humanitarian corridor
the self-defense forces of the NKR had left open, freely passed more
than 10 km and reached the Aghdam city controlled by the Azerbaijani
troops. Later, dead bodies of the villagers were foundnot far from
the positions of Azerbaijani troops. The exact death toll remains
unknown as the official Baku publishes data contradicting each other.

Parliamentary Commission investigating the tragic death of the
civilians at Aghdam city was dissolved by the order of Heydar Aliyev,
the investigative materials are kept secret. 

RFE/RL Report
More Russian Warplanes In Armenia Undergo `Capital Repairs'
Emil Danielyan
22.02.2016

At least five more Russian fighter jets and one military transport
helicopter have arrived, ahead of schedule, at an airbase in Armenia
after undergoing what the Russian military described as "capital
repairs."

Russia's Southern Military District saidon January 5 that it will
deploythe "new batch" of MiG-29 jets and a Mi-M8MT helicopter at
Yerevan's Erebuni airbase in the second half of this year. It
announced on Saturday, however, that they have already been delivered
to Erebuni.

A spokesman for the Russian military base headquartered in Gyumri,
Andrey Dobrosmyslov, insisted on Monday the earlier-than-planned
delivery was not connected with Russia's mounting tensions with Turkey
over the conflict in Syria.

The Russian troops in Armenia were put on combat alert earlier this
month as part of their involvement in large-scale war games across
southwestern Russia ordered by President Vladimir Putin. Some
pro-government Russian pundits said the drills were part of Moscow's
efforts to discourage Turkey from direct military intervention in
Syria.

Speaking to RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am), Dobrosmyslov
said that all Russian warplanes stationed in Armenia undergo repairs
and maintenance in Russia on a regular basis. The latest deployment at
Erebuni was therefore not extraordinary, he said.

The weekend statement by the Southern Military District said the
latest arrivals included four MiG-29 fighter jets and an unspecified
number of MiG-29S aircraft, their modernized version. It indicated
that nine other MiG-29s were already on combat duty at Erebuni.

Dobrosmyslov would not say whether more Russian warplanes will be
deployed in Armenia in the coming months. The Russian base in Armenia
had 18 MiG-29s until recently, according to some media reports.

Russia reinforced the base in December with 13 combat helicopters
deployed at Erebuni in line with a Russian-Armenian agreement reached
in 2013.

Later in December, Moscow and Yerevan signed a new accord that
upgraded their joint air-defense system protecting Armenia's airspace. 


lragir.am 
WHY WAS LIST OF WEAPONS PUBLISHED?
Siranuysh Papyan, Interviewer
22 February 2016

Interview with Daniel Ioannisyan, project coordinator of the Union
of Informed Citizens

The Russian side has published the list of weapons it will supply
to Armenia under the 200 million dollar loan agreement signed with
Armenia in the summer of 2015. Is this list adequate to the loan?

The issue is that the quantities of weapons have not been published.

In other words, it was told that Smerch systems and ammunition will
be supplied. It is known which modification of rockets this is but the
quantity is not known so it is early to consider whether the deal was
useful or not. As to the deal, it is interesting that we are going to
pay in rubles but the price will be set in dollars. In other words,
later on, if the rates of national currencies drop, we will have
losses anyway, and in this sense this is a good deal for Russia,
it develops its local producers, forces Armenia to buy rubles worth
200 million dollars. This deal is very useful for the stability of
the Russian ruble.

Anyway, we don't see many new systems. The newest thing on this list
is Smerch reactive system which has been produced since 2004. The
others are rather old types of weapons. Smerch is not a new system,
Solntsopyok which is a modification of the so-called Buratino heavy
artillery, is not a new system. It has existed since 1987, and the
modification sold to Armenia is that of 2001 which almost does not
differ from the one of 1987. Smerch is not new either. It has a history
of 30 years. Hence, we are not speaking about modern weapons, we are
speaking about weapons which might be standing in Russia's warehouses,
and it is trying to sell them because as a rule other countries buy
new weapons.

So we say that this is not a useful deal, especially that we have to
start repaying the loan in 2018, with 3% interest.

For Russia, this is a useful deal, especially when you lend money, and
the money stays with you because they buy weapons from you, weapons
that were decaying in your warehouses. This deal is more useful for
Russia. And there is no need to overestimate the weapons that are sold
to us. At the same time, we need to be honest that there is no need to
underestimate either because to some extent this is restoring of the
balance. It should be noted that Armenia had problems with long-range
artillery systems though those systems are not many and will not play
a significant role during the war. However, at any rate, the chances
of Armenia in long-range artillery fight have increased a little.

Besides, it should be noted in regard to Solntsepyok that it is a
system intended for burning the infantry live, and when a few years
ago Azerbaijan bought Solntsepyok, there were concerns that they
would advance with their help in case of a possible war because the
infantry in trenches becomes highly vulnerable. Now that the Armenian
side has Solntsepyok, it will also be able to attack by way of balance
but these are systems which should have been banned altogether, like
the chemical or biological weapons, and its impact is close to the
chemical one. These weapons, I very much hope, will never be used by
either side.

In your opinion, why was the list of weapons published now? Do you
link it with the tension in the Russian-Turkish relations and is
Russia involving us in this?

Russia is trying to drag us into a conflict. Even Francois Hollande
has announced officially that a Russian-Turkish war is not ruled out.

And Russian-Turkish wars often take place on several battlefields,
including the Caucasian front, especially after NATO has announced that
ut may not support Turkey in a possible conflict with Russia. It is
possible that Russia has issues with Turkey and is trying to develop
pro-Russian moods in Armenia. Evidence to this are these publications,
propagandistic mechanisms reaching Armenia, including information
that Putin will return Mount Ararat and the treaties of Kars and
Moscow will be repealed. All this is propaganda which intends to
develop pro-Russian sentiment in Armenia, to involve Armenia into the
Russian-Turkish conflict. It is difficult to guess how, physically,
this involvement will take place. Will it be on the bank of the River
Arax? Or will it be at the Armenian-Azerbaijani line of contact? At
any rate, they are trying to involve us all the time, use in any
possible way, therefore they are trying to create such sentiment.

Returning to the deal over arms, it should be noted that Russia is
selling to Azerbaijan many more weapons, relatively newer weapons,
Russia is selling to Azerbaijan hundreds of T-90 tanks. If this is
about tank engines, about 840 horses, for our tanks to be competitive
in the mountains, they sell to Azerbaijan T-90 tanks which have 1000
horses which are better than our tanks in every aspect, more powerful
and more competitive. So, to say that Russia sells to Azerbaijan as
many weapons as to Armenia is a lie. We did not see types of expensive
weapons on this list.

Why is Iskander not found on the list after months of consideration?

We did not see such expensive weapons as tactical rockets, for example,
Iskander and others. We did not see a single weapon which would enable
Armenia to send at least 1 kg of explosive to Baku, whereas the Russian
weapons sold to Azerbaijan could hit any spot in Armenia. Smerch
is the most long-range weapon of all the weapons sold to us. This
modification of these rockets can fly up to 90 km. SU-30 fighters were
considered but were not sold to us, at least it is not in the deal,
the agreement does not list any jet or helicopter, a tank or an armored
car. The agreement lists only several units of artillery and trucks,
sniper guns, engines, navigation equipment, several radio stations
etc. I repeat that there are no tanks or armored cars or aircraft.

Is this another failure agreement?

I think it is a failure because we received very few weapons. We
can see from the same Ukrainian conflict that tanks may be quite
important but the Syrian conflict shows that it is very important
to have air forces in this era whereas this deal does not buy us
armored cars or aircraft. Unfortunately, we cannot say that our army
became significantly more competitive thanks to the weapons acquired
under this agreement. The reason is not quite the money shortage
why we haven't bought aircraft for a long time. Simply, Russia has
sold so many air defense equipment to Azerbaijan that acquisition
of helicopters and jets by us is not a justified expense because
Azerbaijan will down them immediately. We remember that a year and a
half ago two helicopters went close to the Azerbaijani posts and the
soldiers on duty hit one of them. Russia has sold 1200 pieces of Igla,
S-300 systems of the 2009 modification to Azerbaijan. S-300 sold to
us is of 1982. Russia has sold so many and such quality air defense
systems to Azerbaijan that it is meaningless for Armenia to boost its
air force debts. Why would one buy jets or helicopters if the enemy
will down them right away?