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Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Armenian-Russian strategic relations and deepening of cooperation were in the focus of the discussion.
The delegation led by President Sargsyan will be back to Yerevan Dec 20, presidential press service reported.
December 19, 2012 | 19:36
On December 19, Armenian Minister of Agriculture Sergo Karapetyan held a meeting with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Greece to Armenia Ioannis Thais. The meeting was held at the request of the Greek envoy.
As the press service of the Ministry informed Armenian News-NEWS.am, the Minister expressed the hope that Greek support in development of agriculture in Armenia will be consistent. In turn, the Ambassador said that Greece will continue to support and try to be helpful for Armenia. The parties discussed the establishment of two laboratories on control toxic chemicals in food waste and licensing drinks. The parties also discussed the state of agriculture in both countries and the steps of both governments for th
“Turkey is now the world’s biggest prison for journalists, a sad paradox for a country that portrays itself as a regional democratic model,” France-based RSF said in a statement. (AP)
By Jonathon Burch
ANKARA / Reuters
Turkey has more jailed reporters than China, Eritrea, Iran or Syria, making it “the world’s biggest prison for journalists”, a leading media watchdog said on Wednesday.
The report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) adds to a growing chorus of criticism from Western governments and rights groups of the EU candidate’s jailing of journalists, most of whom are kept in pre-trial detention.
Repressive laws, broad and vague legal provisions and a paranoid judiciary were to blame for the high number of arrests, RSF said, and only a complete overhaul of Turkey’s anti-terrorism law and other legal articles could change this.
“Turkey is now the world’s biggest prison for journalists, a sad paradox for a country that portrays itself as a regional democratic model,” France-based RSF said in a statement.
RSF said a total of 72 media workers were currently in detention, of whom at least 42 journalists and four media assistants were being held because of their work. RSF was still investigating the cases of the remaining detainees.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government says most of the detained media workers are being held for serious crimes, such as membership of an armed terrorist organization, that have nothing to do with journalism.
First elected a decade ago with an overwhelming majority, Erdogan has presided over a period of unprecedented prosperity, winning him admirers among Western nations keen to portray Turkey as an example in a troubled region.
But that narrative has been increasingly undermined by criticism of the authoritarian style of his rule.
Hundreds of politicians and academics are also in jail on charges of plotting against the government, while more than 300 army officers were convicted this year of conspiring against Erdogan almost a decade ago, and handed long jail terms.
There are signs the government is beginning to acknowledge the scale of the problem.
Some journalists have been freed on conditional release in recent months and over the weekend Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said Ankara had prepared a draft law to address pre-trial detention for journalists and that a “modern” interpretation of legal articles referring to “propaganda” was needed.
“For us the number is not important, we are greatly saddened by even one journalist being jailed for their writings, drawings, journalism activities,” Turkish state news agency Anatolia reported Arinc as saying.
While tallies by rights groups differ slightly, all agree Turkey has the highest number of jailed journalists, more than some of the most autocratic regimes. According to RSF, China has 30 jailed journalists, Eritrea 28, Iran 26 and Syria 21.
Most of those in jail in Turkey were from the Kurdish media, RSF said.
Turkey, along with the United States and European Union, designates the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which launched an insurgency in 1984 and seeks greater autonomy for the country’s estimated 15 million ethnic Kurds, a terrorist organization.
More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict between Turkey and the PKK over the past three decades.
While criticism of Turkey’s poor record on press freedom centers mostly on reporters in jail, journalists still working also complain of government pressure to self-censor.
Erdogan and other senior government officials have publicly berated news outlets by name and criticized them for questioning the government, or instructed them on how to cover an issue.
Journalists have been openly fired or resigned under pressure from their employers because of their views, many from news outlets owned by conglomerates wary of rocking the boat.
ISTANBUL — Before emerging into the bright colors of Ahmet Gunestekin’s celebration of the diversity of Anatolian cultures, visitors to his exhibition step into the darkness of mourning for its victims.
In a darkened front room of the exhibition, a video installation flashes up the dates of dozens of massacres committed on Turkish soil over the past century, one after another, each accompanied by historical recordings of dirges and laments from the victims’ own period and culture.
Armenian voices are heard wailing when the dates 1909 and 1915 are visible followed by Alevi, Kurdish, Turkish, Greek and other laments. The last date to flash up is 2012, as mothers wail in Kurdish and Turkish for their sons killed on both sides in Turkey’s ongoing war with Kurdish rebels.
“People are a little freaked out by it,” Mr. Gunestekin said in an interview last week in Istanbul. “But I want visitors to pay their respects to the peoples who have inspired my art before they tour the exhibition.”
“This is Turkey’s reality, many sins have been committed here,” he said. “We must face up to it.”
The show called “Yuzlesme” — best translated as “Facing Up” but blandly rendered as “Encounters” by the catalog — opened in the Antrepo gallery in Istanbul this month under the patronage of Yasar Kemal, the grand old man of Turkish literature and Mr. Gunestekin’s longtime mentor.
It will be there until Dec. 30, before moving on to the Kurdish city of Erbil in northern Iraq next year, followed by Venice, Berlin and several stops in France.
Though Mr. Gunestekin’s work is not included in any Turkish museum collection of contemporary artists, the opening night of his exhibition drew a mix of prominent politicians, business leaders and respected artists that was highly unusual for Turkey. The group included Kurdish nationalist deputies and leading members of the conservative ruling party as well as the Kemalist opposition.
“Turks and Kurds Come Together Over Art,” the Sabah newspaper declared the next day.
“Only art can bring these people together,” said Mr. Gunestekin, who is Kurdish and was raised by an Armenian step-grandmother orphaned in the 1915 expulsions.
Born in the southeastern province of Batman in 1966, he can remember a time when that region was not almost exclusively Kurdish with a smattering of Turkish oil men and administrators — as it is now.
“In my childhood, my neighbors and friends in Batman were Armenian, Syriac, Turkish, Arab — there were people from different cultures and beliefs,” he said. “These people are a part of my art, because I grew up with them.”
For nearly two decades, Mr. Gunestekin has been crisscrossing Turkey with sketchbook and camera, visiting every one of its 81 provinces, more than 700 districts and close to 4,000 towns and villages, by his own count, to explore and document its plethora of cultures.
“This has become the foundation of my art, it is where I found my colors,” he said.
The colors overwhelm the visitor from the moment he steps out of the darkness of the video installation, in the feathers of the peacock angel of the Yezidi religion, the light falling through stained-glass church windows, and the carpets in Anatolian mosques.
In addition to the bold coloring, most of Mr. Gunestekin’s work also bursts out of the canvas in other ways, with elements of sculpture adding a third dimension to paintings.
Many of his paintings feature a technique in which dark patches of irregular shape obscure some of the colors and figures beneath, evoking the decayed frescoes and mosaics covered by peeling layers of plaster in the many churches that have been turned into mosques around Anatolia, as well as symbolizing the coercive assimilation of other cultures into the prevailing Turkish identity.
Religious motifs abound, especially those common to several faiths, like the legend of the seven sleepers, who slumbered for centuries in an Anatolian cave, or the story of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son.
December 18, 2012 | By Adi Kamdar
The European Court of Human Rights decided today that, unsurprisingly, Turkey had violated their citizens’ right to freedom of expression by blocking Google Sites, sites.google.com.
Turkish law prohibits any insult towards Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the nation, as well as any general insult towards “Turkishness.” This form of censorship has led, as one might expect, to some examples of egregious government overreach.
In 2009, a criminal court in Turkey issued an order to block a website that allegedly insulted Atatürk. The Turkish Telecommunications and Electronic Data Authority carried out the order by—wait for it—blocking sites.google.com in its entirety.
Along came Ahmet Yıldırım, who used Google Sites to publish a personal blog and host academic papers. And then—because of a case that had nothing to do with Yıldırım—his website was rendered dark in Turkey. So in January 2010, he took the case to the European Court, claiming that Turkey had violated Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees everyone the right to freedom of expression.
The European Court of Human Rights found that Turkish law did not allow for “wholesale blocking of access” to a host like Google Sites, and Google Sites had not even been informed that it was hosting “illegal” content in the first place.
Turkey has a sordid history of Internet censorship. This includes the banning of YouTube for a majority of time since March 2007. The ban was finally lifted a few years later when YouTube agreed to take down certain videos that ran counter to Turkish law, and just a few months ago, YouTube was relaunched in the country under a Turkish domain. This effectively has given the government more say over what content is permissible on the site. Last year, there was also the launch of a voluntary filtering system in the country, which incited a number of protests.
We hope Turkey heeds the European Court’s decision and unblocks Google Sites. The Court was very clear that censorship of any kind requires deep thought, foresight, and a strict legal framework. And while we do not condone censorship of any kind, it is obvious that Turkey’s actions went well beyond the Human Rights Convention’s guidelines and directly abused its people’s right to freedom of expression.
Azerbaijan’s destructive position on Karabakh continues to pose a serious threat to the security in the South Caucasus, President Serzh Sargsyan 
said in his speech during the CSTO session in Moscow.
President Sargsyan specified that the Azerbaijani authorities are unwilling or unable to follow the logic of the conflict settlement.
“Azerbaijan torpedoes even the agreements on development of mechanisms for investigation of contact line incidents and withdrawal of snipers from the front line,” said the President.
“We are convinced that negotiations are the only way to resolve the existing conflicts. We consider that after the truce between the sides, resumption of military operations and even the threat to resume military operations is a direct violation of the norms and principles of international law, especially as the truce has been maintained for 18 years. It is the most short-sighted way to a new war, a new wave of violence, hatred and bloodshed. The problems cannot be solved in this way, they will just get even more complicated,” said the Armenian President.
“Azerbaijan continues its bellicose policy. It unleashes arms race in the region and propagates hatred. The Azerbaijani President publicly declares that Armenians worldwide are Azerbaijan’s enemies and Yerevan that will soon celebrate the 2800th anniversary of its foundation is ancient Azerbaijani land. He announces that the violation of ceasefire is normal as the war has not ended but he forgets who was asking for truce and who was the first to sign the truce,” Serzh Sargsyan stated.
On the eve of the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in 2005, Mehmet Ali Birand, a prominent Turkish commentator, wrote an article in Hurriyet urging the Turkish public to be prepared for the upcoming “Armenian tsunami.”
Earlier this month, the Turkish newspaper Gazete Kars published a similar editorial titled, “The Armenian preparations for 2015,” alerting Turks of the approaching 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in 2015, and advising them to take effective counter-measures.
The editorial reflects how closely Turks are following Armenian preparations for the Genocide centennial and how anxiously they are weighing the impact of the forthcoming Armenian activities on Turkey.
The lengthy column reports that Armenia and the Diaspora are expanding their joint campaign against Turkey on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The article warns that “Armenians through their lies will raise the entire world to its feet” and suggests that “the Republic of Turkey immediately put into action all its resources and take preemptive measures to bring to naught this deception.”
Gazete Kars complains that Armenians are “tarnishing Turkey’s reputation by launching powerful attacks on forty fronts. To counter these attacks Turkey must take far greater defensive and offensive measures. There is not a single minute to waste. The world is swallowing their lies.”
The editorial proceeds to outline the activities of notable individuals and organizations in preparation for the Armenian Genocide centennial. The newspaper specifically mentions Prof. Taner Akcam, filmmaker Steven Spielberg, the French and Armenian governments, Berlin University, and Hayk Demoyan, Director of the Genocide Museum in Armenia, who is quoted stating: “the struggle for Genocide recognition must be combined with an understanding for restitution…. We must pursue legal avenues to assign responsibility for this crime.”
Gazete Kars also lists the Armenian National Committee of America, Armenian National Institute, Zoryan Institute, and Gomidas Institute as organizations that have succeeded in bringing the Armenian Genocide to the attention of scholarly and media circles worldwide. Prominent Turkish novelists Orhan Pamuk and Elif Shafak, who have bravely condemned Turkey’s distortions of the Armenian Genocide, are accused of enjoying the backing of “Diaspora Armenian lobbying organizations.”
The Turkish newspaper reports the formation of a central coordinating committee in Yerevan on April 23, 2011 to prepare the program of activities for the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The committee, chaired by Armenia’s president, convened its inaugural meeting on May 30, 2011.
The Turkish editor then focuses on my articles, wrongly identifying me as “Ara” Sassounian, publisher of the California Courier. I am quoted stating that “demanding genocide recognition is no longer useful for Armenians. On the contrary it is harmful. Turks are happy that we are satisfied with this demand. What we should demand is justice. When he is asked what does justice entail, he explains that it means financial, moral and territorial restitution.”
The Turkish writer further elaborates on my views by stating: “Sassounian believes relations between Armenia and the Diaspora are not perfect, and that it is imperative to have a common understanding, especially on issues related to ‘Hay Tad’ (the Armenian Cause). Sassounian also believes that more serious results could be achieved by bringing together Armenians living in 100 countries under the umbrella of a Diaspora Parliament composed of 350 representatives.”
Gazete Kars concludes its editorial by outlining some of the Armenian activities planned for the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide:
1) Prepare publications in seven languages: Armenian, English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.
2) Produce films and documentaries, organize concerts and exhibitions, and publish books and scholarly materials.
3) Enlarge threefold the Armenian Genocide Museum in Yerevan.
4) Create a central coordinating committee for the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
5) Organize media conferences, establish contacts with press agencies in 89 countries, and invite Diasporan TV and Radio journalists to Armenia in advance of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
6) Using modern technology, publish e-books in various languages, and establish contacts with academic and cultural figures, media and civil society, and international organizations conducting genocide research.
7) Produce an Armenian Genocide film with well-known Indian director Shekhar Kapur and Puerto Rican screenwriter Jose Rivera.
Since Turks are expecting a flurry of activities for the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Armenians should do everything possible not to disappoint them!
The editors of Gazete Kars do not seem to realize that Armenians in fact welcome Turkish attempts to counter the upcoming genocide centennial activities. By doing so, the Turkish side would be helping to publicize the Armenian Cause beyond what Armenians are capable of doing on their own.
Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
13:57, 18 December, 2012
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS: Several dozen Turkish scientists have protested against the Danish Royal Library Board that gave the right to Turkey to present Armenian Genocide denial policy in an exhibition entitled ”so called Armenian Genocide”. Director of Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, Academy of Sciences Hayk Demoyan stated in the briefing with Armenpress, ”The complaint letter of the intellectuals was published in Danish press on December 17. In early November by the support of our Embassy we opened a temporary exhibition in Royal Library of Denmark, which arose negative reaction by Turkish Embassy. They cared no efforts to hinder the launch of the exhibition; however it welcomed the visitors on November 6”.
”Danish museum, however, adopted an alternative decision enabling chance to Turkish side to organize its own exhibition” Demoyan underscored. In the words of the interlocutor this arose fierce attitude among Danish society. By the data of our Embassy there were more than a hundred copies of publications, most of which in a critical nature, condemning Turkish side over holding denial policy refer to Armenian Genocide. Danish press published several Turkish scholars complaint letter addressed to the library administration, famous scholar Taner Akcham and other known scientists point of views inclusive” Demoyan noted.
12:20, 18 December, 2012
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS. “Armenpress” News Agency celebrates its 94th anniversary with notable achievements. “Armenpress” was established on December 18. In accordance with the decision of the National Council of the First Republic of Armenia a state agency – Armenian Telegraph Agency was created on this very day.
December 17, 2012 | 21:45
Armenian wine was included in the best ten wines of the world in the article of one of the authors of 
Bloomberg Elin McCoy, an expert on wine and spirits.
In her article, McCoy says that this year she was able to try more than 4,000 wines. The author presented the top ten wines, which she was impressed with, and she recommends them to all wine lovers.
One of the wines on the list is “Zorah Karasi Areni Noir” 2010, which costs $45.
“In Izmir, I was amazed with the first Armenian wine I ever tasted – elegant red wine made from the grapes of Areni noir, which is aged in traditional clay amphora,” she noted.
According to the author, the wine has shades of “silk elegance, soft purple grapes and wild lands.”
“I also enjoyed the history of the drink,” McCoy said, recalling that it was in Areni cave that archaeologists discovered a 6100 years old winery.