French leader to mediate Karabakh settlement at Yerevan, Baku visit?

April 5, 2014 By administrator

April 4, 2014 – 17:03 AMT

French President Francois Hollande’s official visit to Azerbaijan, scheduled for next month, is of great political importance, French envoy said, according to APA.

As Pascal Meunier reminded at a news conference in Baku, visits to Armenia and Georgia are also on the French President’s agenda.

He recalled that President Hollande would visit Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia.

“One of main goals of President Hollande’s visit is to support a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. The resolution of the Karabakh issue will open up great opportunities for the conflicting parties. The second aim is to show that as a sovereign entity, the region that can determine its future itself. We support peace and friendship among the regional countries,” the French ambassador to Azerbaijan concluded.

As was reported earlier, initiation of the Genocide denial criminalization bill will be officially announced during Hollande’s visit to Armenia.

On January 23, 2012 the French Senate passed the bill making it a crime to deny the Armenian Genocide. The bill envisaged a 45,000 euro fine and a year in prison for anyone in France who denies this crime against humanity committed by the Ottoman Empire. However, the French Constitutional Council ruled the bill as anti-constitutional. In a statement the Council said the document represented an “unconstitutional breach of the practice of freedom of expression and communication

Later, President Hollande pledged to redraft the law criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial in France, stressing the need to ensure the legal framework to avoid censorship by the Constitutional Council.

Kessab Armenians in L.A. Take Action to #SaveKessab

April 4, 2014 By administrator

LOS ANGELES—The Kessab Educational Association (KEA) of Los Angeles has issued a plea to the United Nations to close the Syrian-Turkish border and protect the town of Kessab, which came under attack in the morning hours of March 21 after Syrian rebels aided by Turkey attacked the peaceful town on the northwestern border of Syria. Approximately 2,000 Kessab Armenians fled.

“Kessab is the last Armenian-populated town left from the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia,” said KEA of LA president Esther Tognozzi. “We cannot allow it to be destroyed and our brothers, sisters and cousins from Kessab to be displaced.”

At a Town Hall meeting at the Kessab Center on Tuesday, April 1, 2014, representatives of the Armenian National Committee, Syrian Armenian Relief Fund, Armenian Revolutionary Federation and Armenian Youth Federation spoke to more than 120 concerned Armenian-Americans with origins in Kessab about what is being done on an international level to bring attention to the attack on the Kessab region.

Approximately 2,000 Armenians fled Kessab and its surrounding villages after the March 21 attack, escaping to the coastal town of Latakia. There are approximately 60 families living in refuge in the Armenian Apostolic Church in Latakia, sleeping wherever there is space in the facility.

Armenians the world over have rushed to the aid of the displaced Kessab Armenians. The Armenian Relief Society (ARS) has allocated $125,000, the Syrian Armenian Relief Fund (SARF) $100,000, and there have been numerous other smaller donations announced. The KEA of LA has been consistently supporting the people of Kessab since the outbreak of the war in Syria nearly 3 years ago.

The KEA of LA urges Armenians who wish to donate to do so through the following organizations: Syrian Armenian Relief Fund (SARF), the Armenian Relief Society, and the Catholicosate in Antelias, noting that the donation is earmarked for Kessab. The KEA of LA also is accepting donations for Kessab relief.

SARF has announced a fund-raising concert, Hye Aid 3, on April 29 to raise funds for the displaced Kessab Armenians. Visit the SARF website for further details.

A younger generation of Armenian-Americans whose family came to the U.S. from Kessab has become actively involved in spreading information about the attack on Kessab and the plight of displaced Kessab Armenians by promoting the #SaveKessab hashtag on social media.

Four Kessab Armenians spoke at Congressman Brad Sherman’s Town Hall meeting in Van Nuys on Sunday, March 23, just 2 days after the attack, and informed the congressman about what they had heard from family who had been forced to flee Kessab. Both Rep. Brad Sherman and Rep. Adam Schiff last week released statements condemning the attacks by Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists against Kessab Armenians and Christians.

In an appeal to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, with copies to four UN human rights officials, the KEA stated:

“In the spirit of peace, international humanitarian law and respect for human rights, including those of religious minorities, we respectfully request:

• That the United Nations call for the immediate cessation of the bombardment of the Kessab region and the indiscriminate attack on its peaceful civilian population by rebels with the complicity of Turkish border troops, which is in blatant violation of international human rights and humanitarian law;

• That the United Nations and its affiliated agencies intervene or otherwise ensure the physical safety and legal protection of the Kessab Armenians and of all Armenians and other religious minorities in Syria caught in the crossfire of this humanitarian calamity;

• That the United Nations provide humanitarian assistance to the displaced persons of Kessab and its surrounding villages (Karadouran, Sev Aghpiur, Baghjaghas, Eckez-Oloukh, Eskiuran, Dooz Aghach, and Chinarjek) who have been forcibly displaced from their ancestral homes, lands and livelihoods as a result of these bombardments and armed attacks;

• That the United Nations assist in the peaceful return and resettlement of Kessab Armenians to their ancestral homes, lands and livelihoods.”

The KEA of LA says it will continue serving as a clearing house of information about the situation in Kessab.

First Kessab Refugees Arrive in Armenia

April 4, 2014 By administrator

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)—The first two residents of Kessab have taken refuge in Armenia and many others are said to be willing to do the same nearly two weeks after the historically Armenian-populated town in Syria was seized

by Islamist rebels.Stepan Sularian and his wife Vartine were among about 2,000 Kessab Armenians, the town’s virtually entire population, who fled their homes in the face of advancing rebel forces, among them members of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front. The couple crossed into neighboring Lebanon before flying to Armenia.

“We don’t know what they [the rebels] would have done to us if we had stayed in Kessab,” Sularian told reporters in Yerevan on Thursday.

The town mayor, Vasken Chaparian, confirmed earlier this week that none of the Kessab Armenians is known have been killed or wounded. Most of them are currently staying in Latakia, a provincial capital 60 kilometers south of Kessab which remains under Syrian government control.

In Sularian’s words, many of them would like to migrate to Armenia but lack money for travel expenses or fear that they will have trouble finding jobs in their ancestral homeland. “That’s what holds other people back,” explained the middle-aged man.

“Now I have come to Armenia. If I don’t get a job, how am I going to get by?” Sularian said, adding that most Kessab Armenians will readily return to their homes if Syrian government troops regain control of the town close to the Syrian-Turkish border.

Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian condemned “the use of force” against them in a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sent last Friday. Nalbandian urged the international community to “ensure the safety and security of displaced people, including the Armenians, facilitate conditions for their early, safe and dignified return to their places of residence and provide indispensable humanitarian assistance to address their urgent needs.”

The situation in and around Kessab was on the agenda of a weekly session of Armenia’s government held on Thursday. Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobian said that the Armenian diplomatic missions in Syria are keeping in touch with the local community and assessing its needs. She accused the rebels of desecrating Armenian churches and looting homes in Kessab.

Hakobian also said that representatives of various Armenian government agencies met on Wednesday to discuss ways of helping the Kessab Armenians. “If Kessab Armenians and other Syrian citizens decide to come to the [ancestral] home, all our structures and organizations will be ready to assist them,” she said.

About 10,000 ethnic Armenians from Syria have already taken refuge in Armenia since the outbreak of the bloody conflict in the Middle Eastern state two years ago. Most of them are struggling to make ends meet.

Armenia: The Prime Minister has resigned

April 4, 2014 By administrator

YEREVAN, April 3, 2014 (AFP) – The Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, resigned Thursday, told AFP Vice-President of the Parliament of this small republic in the Caucasus, Edward Sharmazanov.

“He submitted his resignation letter there is a month, but in view of current procedures to join the Customs Union, the president has accepted it today,” said Sharmazanov.

He also said that the decision had been postponed due to the review by the Constitutional Court of the pension reform, a controversial bill that angered the company against the government.

Sarkisian wrote on his Facebook page that his decision was “deeply thoughtful and mature,” but does not indicate the reason for his resignation.

He was at his post since 2008.

His government was strongly criticized since the entry into force on 1 January of a controversial new law on pensions, forcing people born after 1974 to pay five percent of their salaries to private pension funds.

Several thousand people protested repeatedly against the new pension plan, denouncing a “racket” of the government. Small landlocked country in the Caucasus, Armenia is isolated from the economic point of view because its borders with neighbors Turkey and Azerbaijan are closed due to political disputes. She suffers from high unemployment.

Thursday, April 3, 2014,
Krikor Amirzayan © armenews.com

Karvachar marks 21st anniversary of liberation

April 3, 2014 By administrator

PanARMENIAN.Net – The town of Karvachar (previously Kelbajar) marks the 21st anniversary of liberation.

Armenian armed forces set to liberate Kelbajar on March 27, 1993. By March 27, the town was besieged, with Armenian forces taking the regional center within three days.

The local population was partly evacuated by helicopters; others left the town by mountain passes. Kelbajar was a key strategic point for Armenia, and its liberation provided for a strong link between Armenia and the Nagorno Karabakh Republic; the front line was significantly cut, and Martakert region’s rear was secured.

Liberation of Karvachar was vitally important to provide for security of northern and north-eastern borders of Armenia and Artsakh.

Liberation of Martakert, as well as security of Vardenis was impossible without prior control taken over Karvachar.

Only competent efforts of Armenian armed forces managed to free Karvachar from the enemy, with both Vardenis and Martakert saved.
Samvel Babayan, Karabakh self-defense army commander later said: “We started preparing for the military operation in Lachin and Kelbajar back in winter. Though talks were underway with Azerbaijan, we knew that the enemy is just playing for time in preparation for a decisive blow. We turned out to be right; the negotiations failed.

Azerbaijan focused its army in northern parts of Martakert and Askeran regions, consolidating over 5000 soldiers, as well as tanks and heavy artillery there. Fighting started in late January; we faced 12 days of non-stop hostilities. We reached the set goal, namely the liberation of Martakert heights, by 90 per cent.”

Factually, Karvachar operation became a turning point in the Artsakh war. Being a huge strategic hub, it dominates over Northern Artsakh, providing control up to Gandzak, another strategic communication point in Caucasus.

The Karvachar operation changed the military and political situation significantly, the strategic initiative finally transferred to Artsakh, a fact the international community and superpowers could not but realize.
Karvachar features many ancient Armenian monuments saved from the Azeri destruction. One of them is Dadivank, a masterpiece of Karabakh’s Armenian architecture named after Dadi, a pupil of Thaddeus the apostle who introduced Christianity into Armenia.

He is said to have founded the monastery in late 1st century. Most part of the monastery dates back to 12-13th centuries. Dadivank currently is being restored.

Today, 21 years after the liberation, Karvachar is reborn: roads are being repaired, new schools and kindergartens built, new families created. The town lives a peaceful life, yet ready at every point to take up arms to protect their lands.

Armenia Parliament speaker donates salary to Kessab Armenians outreach fund

April 3, 2014 By administrator

April 2, 2014 – 18:42 AMT

Parliament speaker Hovik Abrahamyan urged MPs to support the Armenian community of Kessab in Syria.

As posted on Abrahamyan’s Facebook page, the speaker transferred his one month’s salary to the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s Kessab outreach account, according to Panorama.am.

Located in the northwestern corner of Syria, near the border with Turkey, Kessab had, until very recently, evaded major battles in the Syrian conflict. The local Armenian population had increased in recently years with the city serving as safe-haven for those fleeing from the war-torn cities of Yacubiye, Rakka and Aleppo. On the morning of March 21 extremist foreign fighters launched a vicious attack on Kessab civilians, forcing them to flee neighboring Latakia and Bassit.

Meanwhile, Kessab mayor insisted that none of the local Armenians was executed after the Islamist rebels, among them members of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, stormed into the town, RFE/RL Armenian Service reported.

“We have suffered no casualties,” Vasken Chaparian said in a phone interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, referring to alarmist reports spread through the Internet.

Chaparian also dismissed rumors that the rebels took hostage some of around 40 elderly Armenians who were unable to flee Kessab together with the other residents. He said they are being evacuated to Latakia “little by little.”

According to Novosti-Armenia, a rally was held Wednesday, April 2 outside the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan.

Demonstrators demanded that the U.S. condemn Turkey’s actions in Armenian-populated town of Kessab.

“We are here to raise our concerns about deportations of the Kessab Armenians, in which the Turkish military forces took part,” the rally initiator Levon Hovhannisyan told reporters.

As he noted, although the U.S. expressed concern over Kessab tragedy, it has made no statement condemning Turkey.

Later, U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission Clark Price approached the protesters, listened to their demands, and assured that he will inform the ambassador about the recent events.

France Demonstration in Paris Nor Seround-CFC #SaveKessab (Video)

April 1, 2014 By administrator

A call FRA Nor Seround in association with the CFC, nearly 1500 young and old who have expressed their anger at the Turkish Embassy in Paris, facing the aggression against Armenians by Kessab jihadists in collusion with the Turkish government.

This gathering of Armenian forces from Ile de France, Monday, reveals the ability to mobilize youth in the dark and serious hours knocking back the Armenian people.

the “Call for unity in the fight and commitment”, launched by Loris Toufanian (Chairman of Nor Seround New Generation) to well and truly heard. Demonstration is made. Heard but also seen by Mr. Movses Manjikian arrived on March 29 on French soil from Kessab via Beirut to join his French family, very moved by the deployment of Youth Solidarity Franco-Armenian.

A hundred yards from the Turkish embassy, protected by several police cars, the cries of the crowd and speakers pouring Armenian anger had reach the ears of Turkish diplomacy, as the voice identified stakeholders were becoming stronger and stronger as the crowd swelled on the place of Bolivia adjacent street of Ankara.

You could hear the slogans “Erdogan, al-Qaeda terrorists! “” Neither forget nor forgive for Turkey! “And” fascist Turkish state Kessab out! “.

Taking the first speech, the co-president Mourad Papazian CFC hammered “One hundred years later the Turkish state is maneuvering against the Armenian people. “Adding that” If Erdogan had been in 1915 instead of Talaat, he had organized the genocide in the same way! Turkey must be sanctioned by the community of nations. Ethnic cleansing that needs to be repaired, “is he exclaimed.

For its part, the President of the Land and Culture Organization, Keram Kevonian, called for solidarity with Armenians Kessab “this unique territory that has escaped the disaster of 1915,” he has said. Adding: “The slap that was inflicted on the Armenian population of Kessab with the shameful support of the Republic of Turkey, and makes sense.” He then called to assist and support victims, wherever they are.

Loris Toufanian, accusing Turkey of all ills the Armenian people wherever they are, called for commitment and the youth revolt. “Today,” he said, “we have the choice to shave our incessantly claims to please the torturer, the Turkish state. Evade our responsibilities. Silence us. Or fight, fight and win!

With his usual impetuosity, Hrach Varjabedian, Chairman of the French Bureau of the Armenian cause, got carried away in the Armenian language to
condemn the misdeeds of the Turkish government on the population Kessab (see video).

For CDCA, Harout Mardirossian forcefully recalled that seven years ago, after the murder of Hrant Dink on 19 January 2007, “seven years later we are still here! This time to defend Armenians Kessab! “We need to defend France Kessab as Jaurès had defended the Armenians! “Has he said. Indiquantl a delegation will be meeting for Members and Senators to “they leave this deafening silence. “.

Protesters are then directed to the Turkish embassy soon stopped by a police cordon.

Jean Eckian + photos and video

Armenian MP: There is information blockade in the world concerning Syrian events

April 1, 2014 By administrator

The aim of our visit to Syria was to collect facts about the ongoing events and work out proposals so that our state will be able to support our compatriots, Heritage parliamentary faction secretary Tevan Poghosyan told reporters in Yerevan, urging all Armenian intellectuals, businessmen and politicians to visit Syria.

MP Edmon Marukyan, who also recently traveled to Latakia along with other Armenian lawmakers, stressed the importance of information campaign in support of the Armenians of Kessab, noting that there is information blockade in the world concerning the Syrian events and that the rights of Christian minorities are being violated in Syria. According to him, no Christians will remain in Syria if Assad’s regime is removed.

Speaking about their meetings with state officials in Latakia, Tevan Poghosyan said, “We met them to express our concern about the fate of our compatriots and to say that we are prepared to help them. They told us that every Armenian is a citizen of Syria, which is praiseworthy.”

Source: Panorama.com

Hayastan All-Armenian Fund launches campaign to help #savekessab Armenians

April 1, 2014 By administrator

April 01, 2014 | 14:19

Hayastan All-Armenian Fund has applied to Armenians worldwide to support Armenians in Kessab.
“Dear compatriots, brothers and sisters
The tragic events taking place in Kessab these days bring back memories of the most mournful times of the Armenian history. It is evident that what our compatriots face today is a humanitarian disaster. Today, we address all the individuals and organizations worldwide and call them to support the Kessab Armenian community.

A bank account to support this case has been specially opened for you to direct your resources. It is our duty to ease the pain of our compatriots and cover, to some extent, for their losses.
Please, watch out: the happening is a challenge for every single Armenian, a threat towards Armenians worldwide.

Karabakh officer dies from land mine explosion

April 1, 2014 By administrator

April 01, 2014 | 11:55

STEPANAKERT. – Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Defense Army Senior Lieutenant Harutyun Safaryan was mortally wounded as a result of a land mine explosion on Monday.

Safaryan (born in 1987) was mortally wounded while conducting a combat mission at the military base of the protection area of a Defense Army unit stationed in the southern direction of the Line of Contact between the Karabakh-Azerbaijani opposing forces, the Defense Army news service informed.

An investigation is carried out find out the details of the incident.