Armenian News... A Topalian 8 editorials
18 July 2019
Russia Singles Out Armenia as ‘Key Partner’ in Caucasus
Armenia
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov singled out Armenia as its “key strategic partner in the Caucasus” while discussing his country’s relations with Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia.
During an interview with the Russian Argumenty i Fakty weekly newspaper, Lavrov wa asked whether he believes that Moscow is geopolitically losing in Armenia, Ukraine and Georgia, to which Lavrov responded that Moscow is not indifferent to the political processes in those countries.
“The political processes in Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia concern us because they are our brotherly peoples and we are tied by a long history of relations, including being part of one state,” told Argumenty i Facti newspaper.
“Unfortunately, after the collapse of the USSR, the West was confident that the ‘end of history’ had come, and it is now allowed to blatantly interfere in the affairs of certain states and callously take over domestic political processes. Ukraine is perhaps the most glaring example,” explained Lavrov.
“Armenia is a different story,” said Lavrov. “This country is Russia’s key partner in the South Caucasus with whom we have strong strategic relations and an alliance. We are engaged in an extensive political dialogue and cooperate between parliaments and on the international scene. Russia is Armenia’s leading economic partner. Our links in the education, culture, investment, military and technical sector are on the rise.”
18 July 2019
Azerbaijan Fires on Armenian Positions from Nakhichevan
Armenia
The Azerbaijani army fired shots on Tuesday night at Armenian positions from Nakhichevan by violating the ceasefire regime, Armenian defense ministry spokesperson Artsrun Hovhannisyan told Armenpress.
“One of the bullets fell on the roof of a house in Yelpin village. In response, the Armenian side opened fire toward the enemy,” Hovhannisyan said.
For more than a year, Armenia’s defense ministry has reported movement by the Azerbaijani armed forces along the Armenia-Nakhichevan border, explaining that Azerbaijani forces were reinforce their outposts near the border.
The last time the defense ministry reported ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan around Nakhichevan was in September.
Panorama, Armenia
July 18 2019
13 citizens arrested over clashes with law enforcement in Ijevan
Armenia’s Investigative Committee has launched criminal investigation over the clashes between citizens and law enforcement in northeastern town Ijevan according to Article 258 (Hooliganism) and Article 316 (Violence against a representative of authorities) of the Criminal Code of Armenia Panorama.am learnt from the press service at the Committee.
According to the report, 13 citizens have been arrested, written undertakings not to leave the place of residence applied to another six citizens.
As reported earlier, a group of citizens blocked on Wednesday the Yerevan-Ijevan highway protesting against recently adopted legislation of criminalization of forest logging. The clashes erupted when the police forces tried to unblock the highway. As a result of the skirmishes 12 police officers and one civilian were hospitalized with injuries of various gravity.
The committee said that urgent investigatory and procedural actions of great volume are conducted, operative-intelligence measures are taken to find those possibly involved in the mentioned incident.
News.am
July 18 2019
Armenian political party leader: We witnessed social upheaval in Ijevan
We witnessed social upheaval in Ijevan. This is what leader of Yerkir Tsirani Party Zaruhi Postanjyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.
According to her, the disturbances are due to the fact that the authorities failed to fulfill their promises. “What’s more, the country is regressing, and a social upheaval was inevitable in such conditions. There is inflation of first necessity items, there are neither new jobs nor large investments,” she stated.
Postanjyan emphasized that whereas the authorities used to repress political opponents, now they are repressing the people. “All those who are guilty need to be brought to justice. The authorities failed by not bringing the guilty to justice by law. Nikol Pashinyan’s actions helped turn Robert Kocharyan into a politically persecuted person,” the political party’s leader emphasized.
Zaruhi Postanjyan explained that in spite of the statements and repressions against the social upheaval, the authorities don’t have enough resources to achieve success. “In 2018, we witnessed pan-national repression that wasn’t a real revolution since Nikol Pashinyan didn’t want to reject the former system of governance,” she concluded.
Armenpress.am
July 18 2019
Garo Paylan comments on sentence of 9 people in prison over Dink’s murder case
A Turkish court on July 17 sentenced 9 people in prison over the murder case of late editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, Hrant Dink, ethnic Armenian lawmaker of the Turkish Parliament Garo Paylan said on Twitter.
“Those convicted over Hrant Dink’s case are the leaders of the murder. As friends of Hrant, for already 12 years we say “Let those, who said kill, be punished”. But they are being defended for already 12 years. Dink’s murder case will not close unless we want it”, Paylan said.
The main organizers of Dink’s murder were sentenced to prison according to July 17 verdict of the Turkish court: Erhan Tuncel (sentenced to 99 years and 6 months), Yasin Hayal (7 years and 6 months), Ogyun Samast suspected in murdering Dink (previously sentenced to 22 years and 10 months, sentenced to 2 more years and 6 months for jointing an armed group), and 6 other suspects.
Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
[a politely influenced court verdic]
Daily Sabah, Turkey
July 18 2019
Culprits in Turkish-Armenian journalist's murder sentenced
Seven defendants in a case over the 2007 murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink were sentenced yesterday by an Istanbul court. Dink was murdered by Ogün Samast, an alleged ultranationalist, outside the offices of Agos, the newspaper he served as editor-in-chief. His murder sparked public outrage in Turkey, as he was thought to have been murdered because of his ethnic identity and outspoken editorials.
Dink, a Turkish Armenian, was at the forefront of reconciliation efforts between Turks and Armenians, who have been at odds over the alleged genocide of hundreds of thousands of Armenians during World War I by Ottoman forces.
Samast and nine other defendants were on trial for masterminding and committing the murder. Samast was already sentenced but a new lawsuit was filed for sentencing of others who helped him, including Erhan Tuncel, the alleged mastermind of the murder plot.
The murder was a closed case if not for some new revelations and the insistence of Dink's family that a larger network was involved in the murder. Ultimately, former police chiefs linked to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) were detained for covering up information on the murder.
FETÖ, which is also blamed for the failed military coup attempt in 2016, has also been linked to efforts to thwart a thorough investigation of the murder. Prosecutors say that the terrorist group, through a gang of prosecutors and police, looked to put the blame on Ergenekon and imprison critics of the group by linking them to it. Ergenekon was a "gang" concocted by FETÖ-linked prosecutors for sham trials of FETÖ critics jailed on false charges. A separate trial is still underway for FETÖ's involvement in the murder.
Erhan Tuncel, who was released pending trial in earlier hearings, was sentenced to 99 years and six months in yesterday's hearing and was sent to prison. Yasin Hayal, another defendant who allegedly served as "mentor" of Samast, was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison. Samast received a prison term of two and a half years. Other defendants were handed down prison terms between 14 and 16 years while two were acquitted.
Clark University
July 18 2019
Taner Akçam unearths evidence of Ottoman decision to ‘annihilate’ Armenians
Historian: Ottoman governors ‘spoke openly’ of how to exterminate population
“These letters indicate there was an actual, conscious decision taken to annihilate the empire’s Armenian population,” says Professor Taner Akçam.
Letters referring to a decision to “annihilate” all Armenians have been authenticated as the work of Bahaettin Şakir, one of the architects of the Armenian Genocide, according to a new study by Clark University history professor Taner Akçam. His paper, “When was the Decision to Annihilate the Armenians Taken?” appears in the Journal of Genocide Research.
Akçam writes that the signatures on the two letters, dated March 3 and April 7, 1915, match those of Şakir on other documents. Akçam also says he has unearthed new documents from the Ottoman Archives showing initial decisions to exterminate groups of Armenians were taken by a local branch of the paramilitary organization, Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa(Special Organization), led by provincial governors in December 1914.
The first letter studied by Akçam states that the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) “has decided to annihilate all of Armenians living within Turkey, not to allow a single one to remain, and has given the government broad authority in this regard.” The second letter reiterates this message. Previously, the authenticity of these letters was questioned but, according to Akçam, signature comparison indicates they were authored by Şakir — who, as head of the Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa, helped to plan and carry out the genocide.
The Armenian Genocide, the Ottoman government’s systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians, was carried out during and after World War I. While present-day Turkey accepts that many Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during the war, it continues to contest the 1.5 million figure and denies that the killings were systematically orchestrated and constitute a genocide. This denial — which continues despite a recent United Nations Joint Allegation Letter demanding that the Turkish government investigate the treatment of Armenians from 1915 to 1923, establish the truth, and make reparations — has hinged on the patchy archival record.
“These letters indicate there was an actual, conscious decision taken to annihilate the empire’s Armenian population, and that it was taken before March 3, 1915,” says Akçam. “Moreover, there were other related decisions that preceded this final one, as a series of documents we discovered in the Ottoman Archives shows.”
These documents suggest that initial decisions to eliminate groups of Armenians were not taken by the Central Committee of the CUP and/or by the central government, but by governors in the provinces of Van and Bitlis.
“In their communications — both with Istanbul and with one another — the governors did not see the need to use vague language or euphemisms in referring to the annihilation of the Armenians, but spoke of it openly, even offering a number of tangible ideas regarding how such an extermination could or should be carried out,” Akçam says.
Policy decisions regarding the elimination of Armenians, while initially made at the regional level, would eventually serve to pressure the central government in Istanbul to adopt a more radical overall policy, he concludes.
Akçam is professor of history at Clark and holds the Robert Aram and Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marian Mugar Endowed Chair of Armenian Genocide Studies. One of the first Turkish intellectuals to acknowledge and openly discuss the Armenian Genocide, The New York Times referred to him as “The Sherlock Holmes of the Armenian Genocide.” His 2018 book, “Killing Orders: Talat Pasha’s Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide,” includes a document — a “smoking gun” — that points to the Ottoman government’s central role in planning the elimination of its Armenian population. A previous work, “The Young Turks’ Crime Against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire,” was co-winner of the Middle East Studies Association’s Albert Hourani Book Award and named one of the “Best Books on the Middle East” by ForeignAffairs.com.
Among his many honors, Akçam received the 2018 Outstanding Upstander Award from the World Without Genocideorganization; the Hrant Dink Spirit of Freedom and Justice Medal from the Organization of Istanbul Armenians and the Hrant Dink Freedom Award from the Armenian Bar Association (both in 2015); and the Heroes of Justice and Truthaward at the Armenian Genocide Centennial commemoration in May 2015.
18 July 2019
‘At Home in the World’ Now Included in British Library Collection
“At Home in the World,” a book dedicated to the legacy of Hrach Lukassian, is now included in the reference collection of the British Library, in London.
“At Home in the World” was written and published by Carmen Lukassian in 2017, in celebration of Hrach Lukassian’s life and multifaceted achievements as a photographer, painter, craftsman, mountain climber, and longtime supporter of the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry.
On the occasion of the inclusion of “At Home in the World” in the prestigious reference collection of the British Library, Carmen Lukassian stated, “Our family wishes to congratulate the editor of ‘At Home in the World,’ Ishkhan Jinbashian, as well as Michael Nahabet and Fimi Mekhitarian, both of whom facilitated the publication of the book, for their outstanding work and artistic talents.”
“Hrach Lukassian was an ABMDR stem cell donor and one of our organization’s staunchest supporters,” stated ABMDR President, Dr. Frieda Jordan.
“Hrach was present at all our events,” said Dr. Vergine Madelian, ABMDR Outreach and Education officer. “During our walkathons, for instance, we could see him towering above the crowd, his professional cameras slung around his neck. Hrach was extremely generous with his time and talents. His donations of hand-carved backgammon sets and watercolor renderings of Armenian churches were big hits at our gala auctions year after year.”
“Hrach was also an avid traveler, camper, hiker, and mountain climber,” Dr. Madelian continued. “Even here, he used his hobbies and skills to bring attention to ABMDR: in 2013, when he reached the summit of Mount Ararat, he unfurled the ABMDR banner. And a year later, he flew the banner at Mount Everest Base Camp.”
The British Library
“At Home in the World” includes an extensive selection of Hrach Lukassian’s photographs and paintings, as well as reproductions of his hand-made backgammon sets and other creations. Moreover, the book includes chapters devoted to Lukassian’s mountain-climbing expeditions and travels across the globe.
About the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry: Established in 1999, ABMDR, a nonprofit organization, helps Armenians and non-Armenians worldwide survive life-threatening blood-related illnesses by recruiting and matching donors to those requiring bone marrow stem cell transplants. To date, the registry has recruited over 30,000 donors in 31 countries across four continents, identified over 9,000 patients, and facilitated 32 bone marrow transplants. For more information, call (323) 663-3609 or visit the website.
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