Month: February 2012

US ENVOY PRAISES LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA – AGENCY

Mediamax
Feb 14 2012
Armenia

Yerevan, 14 February: US ambassador to Armenia John Heffern said today
that “there were several good positive signs at the [local government]
elections of 12 February”.

Talking to Mediamax’s correspondent, John Heffern said that “it was
exciting to see strong political competition in Hrazdan, where there
were two strong candidates”.

“We would also like to see real political competition at the upcoming
parliamentary elections in May,” the ambassador said.

He told Mediamax that he went to Hrazdan on the personal basis and
talked to both parties, representatives of the Central Election
Commission and some observers.

“I was pleased to see that the polling stations were in order. Both
sides confirmed that the election procedures were being covered in
an orderly and transparent way,” the US official said.

Answering Mediamax’s question about the Central Electoral Commission’s
refusal to authorize US embassy employees to observe the Hrazdan
elections, John Heffern said that “he is not too concerned about it,
and that the work will continue in May [parliamentary] elections and
during [presidential] elections in 2013”.

“The international community is very interested in Armenia’s democracy,
and we are working with the Central Election Commission and the
parties, civil society and press to make these elections free and
fair,” said John Heffern.

RUSSIAN RAILWAYS FULFILLING ALL PROVISIONS OF AGREEMENT WITH ARMENIA

ITAR-TASS
February 15, 2012 Wednesday 09:05 PM GMT+4
Russia

Russian government-owned company RZD, the national operator of
railways, is fulfilling all the provisions of a concessionary
agreement on managing the railway lines in Armenia, RZD President
Vladimir Yakunin said Wednesday.

He recalled that the RZD’s investment in the infrastructure and rolling
stock of the South-Caucasian Railways /the way the corporation refers
to the Armenian railway/ totaled 1.1 billion rubles /USD 1=RUB 30.5/
and was quite comparable with its revenues.

All in all, investment in the Armenian railways has reached 6 billion
rubles as of 2008.

“Ramification of infrastructure and the upgrading of its efficiency
plays an important role in the country’s economic growth and lays down
the necessary conditions for Armenia’s integration in the Eurasian
transport system and for the strengthening of cooperation with partners
in foreign markets,” Yakunin said.

Over the past three years, the haulage of cargoes at the
South-Caucasian Railway went up almost 14% and exceeded 815 million
ton-km.

At the same time, the passenger service grew 1.4 times and to 49.4
million passenger-km. Since 2009, about 2.2 million passengers have
used the services of Armenian railways.

In 2011, the South Caucasian Railway attained the level of
cost-accounting. Its total earnings exceeded 1.2 billion rubles and
the net profit, 18 million rubles.

In the course of a trip to Yerevan Wednesday, Yakunin introduced
a new director to the staff of the South Caucasian railway. The new
appointee is Viktor Rebets who has so far stood at the head of the RZD
department for collaboration with federal and local agencies of power.

ARMENIA : MINISTER ORDERS TO CALL FOR SCIENTISTS, TEST AND ANALYZE THE ONGOING SEISMIC WORK IN ARMENIA

TendersInfo.com
February 15, 2012 Wednesday

On Monday, Feb.13 , the weekly consultation at Armenia’s Ministry
of Emergency Situations (MES), chaired by Minister Armen Yeritsyan
was held

Several minor earthquakes have been recorded, and the seismic work
has grown in Armenia during recent weeks. Hence, the minister has
ordered to call for scientists, test and analyze the ongoing seismic
work in the country.

The minister also came to know that several fire safety inspections
have been conducted in the capital Yerevan’s large entities, due to
which several fire safety regulation violations have been discovered.

The images of these entities, along with natural gas and gasoline
pumping stations, cranes, elevators, and other hazardous production
plants, which have not been technically observed, will now be released
in the ministry’s weekly.

RUSSIA EXTRADITES ARMENIAN SUSPECTED OF MURDER TO BELGIUM

Interfax
Feb 15 2012
Russia

Russia has extradited an Armenian citizen serving a prison sentence
for a murder in Russia and armed robbery in Germany, to Belgium on
charges of committing a similar crime in that country.

“Officials from the Russian Interior Ministry’s National Central Bureau
of Interpol ensured extradition to Belgium of Armenian citizen Tigran
Arutyunian today,” the bureau press service told Interfax.

Russian law enforcement agencies declared Arutyunian wanted in 1996
on suspicion of committing a murder at a Volgograd bar, it said. The
man was put on the international wanted list in 2001 and was arrested
in Germany for armed robbery in 2002.

“He was extradited to Russia and convicted by a district court
in Volgograd in 2006. Then Belgian law enforcement declared him
internationally wanted in 2010 on charges of committing a murder on
Belgian territory in 2000,” it said.

The Volgograd department of the Federal Security Service (FSB) told
Interfax about Arutyunian’s detention in April 2011.

The press service said Arutyunian was an active member of an
organized criminal group acting in Western Europe and was suspected
of involvement in several murders. “Four passports issued in different
names were seized from Arutyunian during his detention,” it said.

IN ARMENIA, KILL A WOLF, GET 250 BUCKS
Giorgi Lomsadze

EurasiaNet.org
Feb 16 2012
NY

It’s a wolf-eat-dog situation in the southern Armenian mountain town
of Sisian, which has become the epicenter of a gray invasion.

Residents now avoid nighttime strolls to avoid encounters with hungry
wolves roaming the streets. The animals have been driven out from
nearby forests by heavy snow that blanketed the mountains with up to
three meters of the white stuff.

The invaders, emboldened by hunger and an unusually harsh winter,
reportedly are raiding the town and nearby villages, snatching up
dozens of pet dogs, killing livestock and attacking humans.

Responding to the lupine crisis, the government announced a $250
award for the head of each four-legged assailant, for a grand total
of 20 million drams (actually just about $50,000). The Ministry of
Environmental Protection will carry out the extermination campaign
and oversee bounty payments.

But the problem is not limited to Armenia. Last year, officials in
neighboring Azerbaijan reported an increase in the spread of rabies
among domestic animals and pointed the finger at wolves.

In another neighbor, Georgia, the government’s wolf policy is
diametrically opposed to that in Armenia. Both countries liberalized
wolf hunting rules to help the population deal with increased attacks,
but if in Armenia the state pays people to kill the predators,
in Georgia hunters need to pay the state 100 laris (about $60.27)
for a license to kill the animals.

A senior parliamentarian said that post-Soviet efforts to protect the
animal had led to overpopulation and growing chutzpah on the part
of Georgia’s post-Soviet wolves. Georgians are now also allowed to
shoot wolves off-season in self-defense.

From: Baghdasarian

NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT STILL FROZEN

Vatican Radio
Feb 16 2012

Azerbaijan today called on the European Union to help find a solution
to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The predominantly ethnic-Armenian
territory was occupied by Armenia as the Soviet Union crumbled in
the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.

Less than a month ago, both Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents
expressed their readiness to speed up the process of reaching
agreement on the disputed territory during a meeting hosed by the
Russian president.

“The two have basically agreed at various times what the basic outline
of the resolution of the conflict would be,” said Lawrence Sheets,
an analyst and expert on the Caucasus region for the International
Crisis Group.

“It’s incredible because the basic framework – the basic things
that the two sides seem to agree one – they same to be in relative
commonality,” he told Vatican Radio. “But when you start discussing
these smaller issues, which are politically potentially explosive
or dangerous to the administrations in control…it becomes very
difficult.”

Listen to the full interview by Davide Maggiore with Lawrence Sheets:

ARMENIA CULLS WOLVES AFTER COLD SNAP ATTACKS

Agence France Presse
France 24
Feb 16 2012

(AFP) YEREVAN – The authorities in Armenia on Thursday offered cash
rewards to hunters who kill wolves after increasing reports of attacks
on rural villages exacerbated by recent cold weather and heavy snow.

“Because of the heavy snowfall, wolves began to appear more frequently
in populated areas and it became necessary to deal with them,”
Armenian Environmental Protection Minister Aram Harutiunian told a
news conference.

The authorities will pay around $260 (200 euros) to hunters who
kill a wolf — a significant amount in impoverished regions of the
ex-Soviet republic.

Harutiunian said that he envisaged a cull of around 200 wolves from
an estimated total population of between 500 and 700, which he said
would not threaten the animals with extinction in the country.

“We believe that this way we can ease the situation and it will not
affect the wolf population,” he said.

But local environmentalists condemned the planned cull, saying that
deforestation and illegal hunting had reduced wolves’ natural sources
of food in the wild, causing them to scavenge in populated areas.

“Instead of destroying wolves, it is better to stop the illegal
and uncontrolled hunting of wild animals,” environmentalist Srbuhi
Harutiunian told AFP.

From: A. Papazian

POLICY GROUP WARNS OF ECONOMIC DISASTER IN ARMENIA

The Messenger
Feb 16 2012
Georgia

On Monday, Policy Forum Armenia released a report entitled, Armenia:
Averting an Economic Catastrophe. In it, researchers suggest that
“outside shocks” could destabilize an already unhealthy economy,
and result in a decrease in GDP and a de-valuation of the local
currency Dram. Currently, Armenia owes more than 3.5 billion USD in
foreign debt.

The PFA criticized what it called a system of “crony capitalism”, and
a government that has routinely ignored economic warning signs. It
presented a series of recommendations, emphasizing the need for
“clean” political leadership.

GREEK PATRIARCH TO GIVE SPEECH IN TURKISH PARLIAMENT

EMG.rs

Feb 16 2012
Kosovo

Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew is set to give a speech to
Parliament’s Constitutional Commission on Feb. 20 to expound on the
problems of Turkey’s minorities, marking the first such occasion in
the history of the Turkish Republic.

Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew is set to give a speech to
Parliament’s Constitutional Commission on Feb. 20 to expound on the
problems of Turkey’s minorities, marking the first such occasion in
the history of the Turkish Republic.

“Our Armenian deputy patriarch says we are happy and not beset by any
problems every time a microphone is extended to him. To the contrary,
we have problems [of such magnitude] that they are awaiting urgent
solutions. Patriarch Bartholomew, on the other hand, does not shirk
away from bringing up problems with great courage,” Arev Cebeci,
a former deputy candidate nominee from the opposition People’s
Republican Party (CHP), told the Hurriyet Daily News.

Bartholomew will bring up a number of issues in the commission,
including the reopening of the Halki Seminary, the removal of
unfavorable statements about Greeks, Armenians and Syriac Christians
from Turkish class books and the employment of minorities in public
offices.

New constutition framework Bartholomew was invited to Ankara within
the framework of ongoing efforts to draft a new constitution for
Turkey, although the move has led to criticism from some quarters
within minority communities.

“We want to see concrete steps rather than the patriarch being
summoned there,” Kuryakos Ergun, the head of the Mor Gabriel Monastery
Foundation in the southeastern province of Mardin, told the Daily News.

The patriarch is also going to raise other issues in Parliament
as well, such as the recognition of minority institutions as legal
entities and the funding of minority houses of worship through the
budget of the Directorate of Religious Affairs.

“We have problems of identity, recognition and language. Most important
of all, we are experiencing great difficulty in training clerics,”
Ergun added.

It is important for Bartholomew to deliver a speech in Parliament,
he said, but he also expressed reservations about the sincerity of
the government in Ankara.

Turkey’s minority communities have more problems in common than they
have differences, he added. “Now we are demanding a solution to our
problems. Dialogue is very important. We have been treated as third
class citizens through this day, and this situation has to come to an
end,” Stelyo Berber, the head of Istanbul’s Fener Hagia Yorgi Church
Foundation, told the Daily News.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA OFFERS ACCOMMODATION FOR SYRIAN REFUGEES

Vestnik Kavkaza
Feb 16 2012
Russia

Armenia is ready for Syrian refugees, Gagik Yeganyan, head of the
Migration Agency of the Ministry for Territorial Administration of
Armenia, said , 1in.am reports.

Armenia adopted a system of protecting people threatened in their own
states in 2000. The system has proven efficient. Over 1,000 refugees
asked for help during the war in Iraq in 2002, the war in Lebanon
and the Russian-Georgian war in 2008.

If too many refugees enter Armenia, the government will ask the world
community for aid, Teganyan said.

From: A. Papazian