Armenian, The new Defence Minister has big plans for the army

October 6, 2016 By administrator

big-plan-for-army Armenian armed forces should play a more important role in social and economic life of the country, said yesterday the new defense minister, Vigen Sargsyan.

Sargsyan spoke about building a “nation-army” in his first public comments as minister.

“Given the environment of our present condition and existing political, it is clear that a strong army must remain an important part of our reality,” he commented before the Armenian Parliament.

He continued: “Therefore, we must understand two important things. First, find out how to make the army ceases to be a very heavy burden for our state and our economy. “

“This means that the entire population, not just those who serve in the armed forces, should have many scientific projects, economic, industrial and other impediments to the army,” he said. “In this sense, the military can be a solution rather than a problem.”

“And the second factor is a demobilized soldier of the army should be more patriotic, more educated, stronger and ready for the fight that young people who are called by the armed forces,” said Sargsyan during the question-answer-to the national Assembly.

The Minister also said that President Serzh Sargsyan and Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan agreed with his view of national defense.

Sargsian, 41, was appointed defense minister Monday as part of a government reshuffle following the resignation of Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan on September 8th. In naming him, President Sargsyan said the new minister should focus on a broader range of tasks, including the “political-military diplomacy”, military education and social security of military personnel.

Thursday, October 6, 2016,
Claire © armenews.com

Azerbaijan devised large-scale military plan – Artsrun Hovhannisyan

April 15, 2016 By administrator

The documents of the crew of the downed Azerbaijani helicopter gunship were presented to the military attachés of foreign embassies in Armenia.

Specifically, the military documents provide corroborative evidence that the above-mentioned helicopter with its crew had been moved from Baku district to the front-line a few days before and had had clear targets to strike during military fights. In fact, this is the final proof that Azerbaijan had devised a large-scale military plan.

Cartalucci writes: How Does the Islamic State Fit into “America Turkey” Syria Master Plan?

November 8, 2015 By administrator

Washington is an “arsonist” responsible for the ongoing Syrian crisis, Tony Cartalucci writes, stressing that Syria and Russia must attempt to expand their operation across Syrian territory faster than the Pentagon can spread “chaos” there.

Washington is capable of extinguishing the fire of the ongoing Syrian crisis at any moment by shutting down the Turkish-Syrian border and ending Saudi aid to Islamist groups operating in Syria, Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer Tony Cartalucci remarks, calling attention to the fact that the US has so far hesitated to do this.

“At any moment, should the US truly be interested in extinguishing this fire, it can shut down the Turkish-Syrian border, end Saudi aid to terrorist groups operating in Syria, and end the conflict in weeks, if not days. That it refuses to do so, illustrates the key role it plays in creating and perpetuating it, and more specifically, the creation and perpetuation of the “Islamic State” itself,” Cartalucci stresses in his article for New Eastern Outlook.

Since 2007 Washington’s war strategists have been harboring plans aimed at overthrowing the Syrian government through the use of Sunni extremists, more specifically al-Qaeda, the researcher underscored, referring to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh’s essay entitled “The Redirection.”
Proceeding with his narrative, Cartalucci cited a Department of Intelligence Agency (DIA) report drafted in 2012 and published by Judicial Watch, a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation. The researcher stressed that the rise of the Islamic State could have been a part of a premeditated plan for the “deconstruction” of Syria.
The DIA report contains a number of passages that seem to back up Cartalucci’s narrative.

“If the situation unravels there is the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality in eastern Syria (Hasaka and Der Zor), and this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime, which is considered the strategic depth of the Shia expansion (Iraq and Iran),” reads the report.

To clarify just who these ‘supporting powers’ were that sought the creation of a ‘Salafist principality,’ “the West, Gulf countries, and Turkey support the opposition; while Russia, China, and Iran support the regime,” the report continues.
“[The] major forces driving the insurgency in Syria [are] the Salafist, the Muslim Brotherhood, and AQI,” the report states, which contradicts the Obama administration’s public position on the conflict.
Referring to the neoconservative influential Brookings Institution’s reports, Cartalucci noted that US strategists have considered the possible “deconstruction” and balkanization of Syria through establishing so-called “safe” or “buffer” zones.
“The idea would be to help moderate elements establish reliable safe zones within Syria once they were able. American, as well as Saudi and Turkish and British and Jordanian and other Arab forces would act in support, not only from the air but eventually on the ground via the presence of special forces as well,” the June 2015 Brookings document states.
Russia’s military involvement has clearly upset Washington’s applecart.
Cartalucci noted that, in response, the US policymakers “have openly conspired to commit to strategies not aimed at actually fighting ISIS [ISIL] or ending the destructive conflict in Syria they themselves have started, but instead to counter Russia’s attempts to do so, merely under the guise of fighting ISIS, or helping refugees, or virtually any excuse they believe the public might support.”
The researcher suggested that Obama’s “boots on the ground” in Syria could be involved in backing US-trained and armed terrorists in order to take and hold Syrian territories. By fragmentizing Syria, US strategists seek to destroy it as a functioning nation-state ruled by the Assad government.
In order to undermine the plan, “Syria and Russia should seek the expansion of their coalition inside Syria, and in particular, in the regions the US seeks to carve out,” Cartalucci noted.
According to the researcher, Russia and Syria should rush to expand their operations across the Syrian territory faster “than the US can spread chaos.”
He who hesitates is lost: undoubtedly Washington will continue to beef up its presence in Syria, he remarked.

“Calling the arsonists out, and removing them before the fire irreversibly takes over the entire structure that is the current nation-state of Syria, may be the only way to prevent Syria from becoming the Levant’s ‘Libya’,” the researcher emphasized.

Source: sputniknews.com

Armenian Government to Unveil Plan to Reclaim Rights of Armenian People

September 25, 2015 By administrator

YEREVAN (ARMENPRESS)—A committee formed within the Armenian state commission on the coordination of events for the 100^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide is reportedly preparing a file on the legal claims of property and other rights and interests of the Armenian people in the aftermath of the Genocide.

Gagik Harutyunyan, president of the Constitutional Court of Armenia, heads the committee, and will discuss the file and future processes during a meeting of the state commission on September 26.

Vigen Sargsyan, President Serzh Sarkisian’s chief of staff and coordinator of events dedicated to the Genocide centennial, told Armenpress that the process of restoring the rights of the Armenian people has just begun.

“You know, we already have the first legal claims filed by [the] Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia. I think that the process will continue, people will start re-evaluating documents, the heritage, the evidence they possess. The ‘Share Your Story’ project greatly contributes to the latter, which we realized on the official website of the Armenian Genocide Centennial, where young people especially [have] posted their family stories, memories, arousing demand in them,” Sargsyan said.

The provisions of the Pan-Armenian Declaration on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, adopted on January 29, 2015, expresses the united will of Armenia and the Armenian people to achieve worldwide recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and the elimination of the consequences of the Genocide. To this end, the file being prepared on the Armenian people’s legal claims is a point of departure in the process of restoring individual, communal and pan-Armenian rights and legitimate interests.

Sargsyan said that the events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, and especially its emblematic Forget-Me-Not flower, have served their purpose. The events held on April 22-24 in Armenia were broadcast by the world media, reaching 1.3 billion people worldwide.

“Taking into account that all the international channels ensured live broadcasting, it provided the possibility for large masses to get familiarized with the events in a way we wanted them to,” Sargsyan said.

In practical terms, according to Sargsyan, the events dedicated to the centennial of the Armenian Genocide created new models of cooperation between Armenia and the Diaspora.

“All of us worked together; the success of the 100th anniversary events proves the immense power of cooperation. I think that Armenia became home to the Armenians spread all over the world where they would like to return to as a place for uniting their ideas, achieving professional success, [and] implementing projects,” emphasized Sargsyan.

The most inspiring and modest result of the centennial events and the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute is the daily visit of Turkish tourists to the museum. Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Hayk Demoyan said during a meeting with journalists that more Turks visited the museum in the last month than during the 15 years of the museum’s existence.

“Turks’ visits to the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute have become regular. The greatest and the most impressive thing for us is their silence. If earlier they used to come with certain skepticism, made inquiries, cast doubts, today they do not have reasons for questioning,” Demoyan stated, adding that to some extent they had reached the goal: to reach Turkish society so that Turks can begin understanding why a new chain of events occurred in terms of international recognition of the Genocide all over the world.

“Why are exhibitions organized on [the governmental] level in Paris and [in] over 40 cities of France? Why [did] state officials visit Tsitsernakaberd? This complex of “why’s” will lead to an important objective, so that we become able to change approaches among future generations [of Turks], so that they understand that their authorities distort the reality,” noted Demoyan.

A forum of experts gathered today in Yerevan under the slogan, “I remember and Demand,” to discuss the results of Armenian Genocide centennial events held this year.

The number of countries which have officially recognized the Armenian Genocide has reached twenty four, deputy foreign minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said today.

According to Kocharyan, five counties recognized the Armenian Genocide between 2014 and 2015. Kocharyan said that another important point is that the number of countries that have criminalized the denial of the Armenian Genocide has increased from two to four.

“Extremely important are the reactions of various international organizations, the resolutions they adopted, including the European Council, which not only condemn the Armenian Genocide, but also call on Turkey to come to terms with its history,” Kocharyan said.

Kocharyan emphasized also the recognition by Armenia of the Greek and Assyrian genocides in the Ottoman Empire as an important step.

BREAKING NEWS E.U. approves migrant plan, overruling four nations

September 22, 2015 By administrator

European Union ministers on Tuesday approved a plan for individual countries in the bloc to accept a share of the hundreds of thousands of refugees seeking asylum on the continent — but only after overruling four former Soviet bloc countries.
The home affairs and interior ministers, meeting in an emergency session here, voted on a plan to apportion 120,000 refugees — still only a small fraction of those flowing into Europe — among members of the European Union.
The dissenters were the ministers representing the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. Under European law, three of the countries — the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia — would be required to accept migrants against their will, said one European Union diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity shortly after the vote.
The idea behind the plan is to relieve the pressure on front-line nations like Italy and Greece, which migrants from the Middle East, Afghanistan and African have been flooding.
France and Germany back a compulsory approach to resettling refugees. But a call for the members to share the burden of absorbing the migrants according to the wealth and population of the member countries met with fierce resistance. The squabbling has highlighted the lack of a united European response to one of the worst humanitarian crises in decades.
Source: nytimes.com

Istanbul Hurriyet Report Kamp Armen donated to Armenians, demolition plan shelved

May 24, 2015 By administrator

Aziz Özen – ISTANBUL

Camp-Armen

Delighted Armenians have celebrated victory after a controversial demolition plan for Kamp Armen was shelved, as the land owner of the building donated it to an Armenian foundation.

Kamp Armen, an Armenian orphanage in the Tuzla district of Istanbul where slain journalist Hrant Dink and thousands of Armenian orphans had grown up, will be donated to the Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church and School Foundation by Fatih Ulusoy, the camp’s land owner, Alexis Kalk, a spokesman from Nor Zartonk, a non-governmental Armenian initiative, announced on May 24.

Kalk said activists from Nor Zartonk and the Kamp Armen Solidarity Movement had been staging a sit-in for 19 days to stop the demolition of the building, demanding the return of the orphanage to its real owners.
“We will follow up the ownership transition process and our campaign will continue until the formal work is completed,” Kalk said.

Efforts to demolish Kamp Armen began May 6 and received widespread attention once the news broke out on social media. Later in the day, the demolition was stopped when many people, including activists and leading figures from the Armenian community, rushed to the area to protest the demolition work.

The protesters, who had been holding vigil for 19 days to stop the demolition of the camp’s building along with Armenian community members, welcomed the decision, celebrating the good news by hugging each other.

Activists as well as Armenian orphans who had grown up in the camp voiced their wishes that the camp will again serve orphans who “will bring joy to the camp.”

Garabet Orunöz, 55, who had stayed at the orphanage for eight years between 1967 and 1975, said words were not enough to express the meaning of Camp Armen for the Armenians who had stayed there in their childhood.

“Kamp Armen was built after 1915 to shelter Armenian orphans as well as sustain their identity, culture and language since there was no available school for Armenian children in Anatolia at the time. Thousands of children who grew up here had been taught their identity and more importantly their past. This place is a center of memory,” said Orunöz.

He also said they plan to renovate the decrepit building and use it as an orphanage for around 150 Armenian children so it can serve its original purpose.

“We plan to host around 50 children as permanent residents of the orphanage. We will have a space for about 100 children. We wish to use that capacity to shelter children in need from across Turkey. We will also get help from sociologists, psychologists and pedagogues to make it easy for these children to get to know each other so that the children will learn their language, culture and ethnic background,” he added.

Camp Armen was built in 1962 by the Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church, as the former building was no longer able to host the innumerable Armenian orphans arriving from various parts of Anatolia. Among the children who had grown up in the orphanage were Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist murdered in 2007, his wife Rakel Dink and Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Erol Dora.

The Turkish state expropriated the camp in 1987, following the 1980 military coup, based on a 1936 bill preventing minority foundations from acquiring property.

Although the Turkish government signed a historic decree in 2011 to return property taken away from minority foundations, the camp was left out, alongside hundreds of other properties.

May/24/2015

Jailed Kurdish rebel leader set to detail peace plan with Turkey

March 21, 2015 By administrator

The jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan is set to announce details of a keenly anticipated peace plan with Turkey, BBC News reports.

The statement is expected to be read out by pro-Kurdish politicians who visited him on Thursday, March 19.

Ocalan’s Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has been waging a 30-year armed struggle for Kurdish independence.

A ceasefire has been in place since 2013, and there are hopes for a permanent end to the conflict. More than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have died in fighting for a Kurdish homeland in Turkey’s south-east.Ocalan has been in prison since 1999 serving a life sentence for treason.

The content of Ocalan’s message has not been released, but Sirri Sureyya Onder, from the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), one of those who visited the rebel leader, gave some clues.

“It will be a road map for the nation and the region, with theoretical and practical details on the peace process,” he told AFP.

The statement is due to be read out in the city of Diyarbakir, the largest Kurdish-populated city in eastern Turkey, amid huge Newroz, or new year, celebrations.

Ocalan made another significant announcement last month, calling for supporters to attend a conference “aimed at ending the armed struggle”.

He also declared a ceasefire in 2013 that holds despite ongoing mistrust between the two sides.

Stumbling blocks remain. The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, angered some Kurds by saying the country “never had a Kurdish problem”.

Turkey is facing parliamentary elections later this year, with analysts suggesting Erdogan’s comments were an attempt to shore-up nationalist support.