Month: September 2013

PROSECUTOR GENERAL’S TERM IN OFFICE COMING TO AN END

17:12 12.09.2013

The President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan received the Prosecutor General
of Armenia Aghvan Hovsepian on the occasion of the conclusion of his
constitutional term in office, President’s Press Office reports.

The President thanked Mr. Hovsepian for his years-long service and
contribution to the strengthening of the legal system.

Serzh Sargsyan expressed hope that Aghvan Hovsepian would continue
to use his substantial experience for the benefit of protecting
interests of the community and forthe further development of the law
enforcement structure.

SALUTING 2,500 YEARS OF INDO-ARMENIAN TIES

[ Part 2.2: “Attached Text” ]

New Indian Express, India
Sept 11 2013

By C Shivakumar | ENS – CHENNAI

To mark the 200 years of the existence of the Armenian Street, the
government of Armenia is planning to erect a monument to commemorate
the iconic place which houses the popular Armenian Church.

The country is awaiting clearance from the Tamil Nadu government,
Honorary Consul of the Republic of Armenia Shivkumar Eashwaran told
Express. Speaking on the sidelines of an interaction organised by
the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Eashwaran said a venue
had been identified for the project, which was being built as part
of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s initiative to mark 2,500 years of
Indo-Armenian ties.  The chief minister is likely to inaugurate the
structure, for which she took an initiative after meeting Armenian
envoy Ara Hakobyan twice.

“She wants it to be done. We are working with the state government
in this regard,” said Eashwaran, adding that either Armenian Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan or President Serzh Sargsyan would attend
the inauguration.

The street was home for Armenians, who settled in Chennai (then Madras)
in the 16th Century. The lane also houses one of the oldest churches
of India, the Armenian Church. Around 300 families used to live here
before independence. Most of them used to lend money to the British
government, Eashwaran said, adding, however, “Now we hardly have any
(people). I am working towards rebuilding the age-old ties.”

While building the monument near the entrance of the Armenian Street,
all necessary steps will be taken to ensure that no SC order on arches
is violated, he said. “We don’t want to get into any judicial issue.”

Later during the CII interaction, Eashwaran wooed the city businessmen
to invest in Armenia. An Indian business delegation would also be
visiting the Eurasian State from September 24 to 28, CII officials
said.

ian-ties/2013/09/11/article1778691.ece

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARABISTS HAVE DIFFERENT OPINIONS ON FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF SYRIAN CONFLICT

18:10, 12 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS: Issue of foreign military
intervention in Syrian conflict is temporary suspended.

“Armenpress” reports that such opinion expressed arabists Armen
Petrosyan and Sargis Grigoryan during press conference on September 12.

“In sense of foreign intervention in Syrian conflict is in a state of
temporary stop or “time out”. USA agreed temporary consensus which
is conditioned with several reasons – US arguments for military
attack on Syria were not considered credible neither inside America
nor among its allies. The second important reason was that military
attack could cause rather unpredictable consequences.

Although it was about targeted attacks but it is a fact that nobody
could predict in what direction it would develop,” noticed Armen
Petrosyan mentioning that in case of military intervention the
possibility of unleashing regional war was great.

In his words the expectation on G20 summit were realized and in
future its results were strengthened at first with John Kerry’s speech
and then with the consensus made between Russian and Syrian foreign
ministers. “USA agreed to change the version of military intervention
with the version of peaceful settlement of the conflict.

Now it is Russia’s turn to act,” said Armen Petrosyan adding that
Russia suggestion on establishing international control over Syria’s
chemical weapons is unilateral. “Yet it is not approved which side used
chemical weapon. This initiative is directed only to Syrian government
but it would be more balanced in case it was directed to both sides,”
mentioned the arabist.

Sargis Grigoryan does not share the optimism on peaceful settlement of
Syrian conflict mentioning that current processes take the settlement
of the conflict to deadlock. “I think there are not prerequisites
that trends to settle Syrian conflict peacefully will be noticed in
the policy of foreign forces,” mentioned arabist Sargis Grigoryan. In
his definition suspension of US military attack is directed against
Syrian government. “Syrian government loses chemical weapon which
strengthened its positions inside the country. The fact of being
deprived from chemical weapon is beneficial for Israel and USA,”
mentioned Sargis Grigoryan.

The situation in Syria was aggravated on August 21 when media informed
about using chemical weapons in suburbs of Damascus.

According to some resources 600-1300 people were killed because of it.

After the incident Syrian governmental forces and oppositions announced
for many times about their non-participation in the incident blaming
each other in it. Syrian government on August 25 allowed UN experts
to visit possible places of chemical attacks. Experts left Syria on
August 31. On the same day US President Barack Obama announced about
military attack on Syria in case of approval of Congress. On September
9 official Moscow suggested to international community to come to
a consensus and as a way of peaceful settlement offered Damascus to
give the control over chemical weapons to international organizations.

BAKO SAHAKYAN HOSTED MEMBER OF GERMANY’S BUNDESTAG JURGEN KLIMKE

17:53, 12 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS: On September 12 Artsakh Republic
President Bako Sahakyan received member of the Federal Republic of
Germany’s Bundestag Jurgen Klimke and accompanying him individuals.

Various directions of cooperation between Artsakh and Germany were
discussed during the meeting.

“Armenpress” was informed from the Central Information Department
of the Artsakh Republic President’s Office that President Sahakyan
underlined the interest of Artsakh in developing relations with
Germany noting that there were necessary preconditions for that.

NKR foreign Minister Karen Mirzoyan, chairman of the RA National
Assembly’s Armenia-Germany inter-parliamentary friendship group Artak
Davtyan, ARF (Dashnaktsoutyun) Bureau member Vahan Hovhannisyan and
other officials partook in the meeting.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RUSSIA AND UKRAINE ENRICH ARMENIA’S MAIZE MARKET

17:32, 12 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS. The maize import volume to the
Republic of Armenia has been increased by over 58 percents during
the first six months of the current year in comparison with the same
period of 2012, thus reaching 38 thousand 964.6 tons. In accordance
with the data provided by the State Revenue Committee under the
Government of the Republic of Armenia 24 thousand 254.3 tons of maize
have been imported to the Republic of Armenia during the first six
months of the previous year. As reports “Armenpress” the Republic of
Armenia imported the majority of maize from the Russian Federation
(21 thousand 939 tons) and Ukraine (15 thousand 855 tons). Also,
the Republic of Armenia imported 1078.7 tons of maize from Georgia.

From: Baghdasarian

FOOTBALL STADIUM BUILT BY RUBEN VARDANYAN’S SUPPORT IN PARPI

17:23 12/09/2013 ” SPORT

Football stadium opening ceremony was held in Parpi. The stadium is
constructed by the joint support of beneficiary Ruben Vardanyan and
the Parpi community.

The stadium was opened on September 11 by the governor of the community
Ishkhan Arakelyan and the head of the project Arthur Amirkhanyan. The
stadium was blessed by priest Yeghishe of St. Gevorg temple, the
Mediamax reports.

As Ishkhan Arakelyan stated Ruben Vardanyan will be awarded “Ghazar
Parpeci” gold medal for his contribution.

The event was attended by Aram Grigoryan, the head of the Football
and Tennis department.

The event was followed by the match of “Banants” football team of
youth which ended in draw with the score of 2:2.

Source: Panorama.am

BARACK OBAMA’S MESSAGE TO PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA: “NOW IS THE TIME FOR A RENEWED EFFORT TO BRING PEACE TO THE REGION”

18:02 12/09/2013 ” POLITICS

The newly appointed U.S. Co-Chair of OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick
handed over a messaged by the U.S. President Barack Obama to the
President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan. The message reads:

“Dear Mr. President:

On the occasion of his first official visit to Yerevan, I would like
to convey to you my full support for Ambassador James Warlick as the
new U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group. His recent appointment
is a strong signal of the United States’ enduring and unequivocal
commitment to helping the sides reach a peaceful resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

It’s my hope that Ambassador Warlick’s wealth of diplomatic experience
and your government’s desire for progress will bring new energy to
the co-chairmanship, and to the peace process. I encourage you to
take advantage of opportunities for direct dialogue with Azerbaijan
in the months ahead and to avail yourself of the co-chairs’ time and
experience to move beyond the current impasse in negotiations. With the
outlines of the compromise already well established, now is the time
for a renewed effort to bring peace to the region,” the message reads.

Source: Panorama.am

HOVIK ABRAHAMYAN’S SINISTER CONFESSION ON KARABAKH

“We’ve talked about the Association Agreement, DCFTA is a different
notion. We say that the Customs Union is not incompatible with the
Association Agreement, and I would like to assert this once again,”
Speaker Abrahamyan told reporters today commenting on the statement
of Commissioner Fule.

In answer to the question whether the Armenian side hopes to pre-sign
the Association Agreement, he said the Armenian authorities are for
signing it. “The other side will be in Armenia tomorrow, meet with
the authorities of the country, and a decision will be made in the
result of these discussions. We will continue our work with the EU,
continue the ongoing reforms,” Abrahamyan said.

In answer to the question when the European partners were notified
about the intention of Armenia to join the Customs Union, Hovik
Abrahamyan said the foreign minister has already answered the
question. We are still speaking about cooperation with the EU.

The reporters wondered what induced Armenia to make a hasty decision
to join the Customs Union. The speaker said the decision was not
hasty, the president expressed his consent, his intention which
suppose processes that the governments and relevant bodies of the two
countries should be working on. “As soon as we have an agreed option,
it will be submitted to the National Assembly,” he said.

He dismissed Fule’s statement that Armenia underwent pressure. “I
did not experience any pressure, did not feel that our government
underwent any pressure. And nobody forced us to join the Customs
Union.” He noted that Russia is not telling anything to Armenia,
we are a sovereign state, the authorities of our country determine
their foreign policy. Abrahamyan also said that there was no pressure
regarding Artsakh.

In answer to the question what membership to the Customs Union will
bring to NKR, Hovik Abrahamyan said, “The Republic of Armenia is
joining the Customs Union, what does this have to do with Karabakh?

Karabakh is an independent state.”

In answer to the question whether BCPs will be installed between
Armenia and NKR, Hovik Abrahamyan said, “Let’s first resolve our
issues, then we’ll think about Karabakh.”

At the same time, he said that he supports membership to the Customs
Union because “the state interest underlies it”. And if Armenia does
not benefit, it may not sign the agreement, we are not a hostage,
the document is not in place yet. In answer to the question what
was given consent then if the document is not in place yet, he said
“membership”. “Today our strategic partner, our economic ties are
all with Russia, our market is Russia.”

Hovik Abrahamyan says he does not think that the EU officials are
surprised at the decision of Armenia. “We still want to pre-sign
the Association Agreement, if he says he does not want to, it is
his problem.” In answer to reiterations of EU officials that the
Association Agreement is meaningless without DCFTA, Hovik Abrahamyan
said they are going to discuss this.

“They say there is a problem with DCFTA, there is a problem with the
Customs Union, there are controversies so we will discuss and maybe
work out the controversies, there may be controversies which are not
compatible. Life will show, time will show.”

He also underlined that the signing of the Customs Union will not be
soon, it will take months, it may take place in 2014.

17:29 12/09/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:

FULE’S STATEMENT IS NOT A REASON FOR GALUST SAHAKYAN

Commissioner Fule’s statement made on the eve is not a reason
for Armenia to consider stopping its work with the EU, said the
deputy leader of the RPA Galust Sahakyan. “Fule is responsible,
he is responsible for finishing the process, I think this is the
motivation of his statement. It has not been delivered to us as a
common official stance,” he said.

In answer to the question whether the RA government is reluctant to
acknowledge that the EU does not want to pre-sign the Association
Agreement, Galust Sahakyan said, “It is not a wish, they are processes
that are approved by us and we continue to work. I think we will
achieve results.” In answer to the question if there is hope for
pre-signing the Association Agreement, he said we are moving in that
direction, seeking for results.

Besides highlighting incompatibility of the Association Agreement and
the Customs Union Fule also mentioned that the EU learned about the
intention of Armenia to join the Customs Union on August 31. “Why,
we signed a free trade agreement with Russia in 2011, I don’t see
any surprise.”

16:37 12/09/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:

EBAY-AUCTIONED NAREKATSI MANUSCRIPT DELIVERED TO ARMENIA

September 12, 2013 – 18:55 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – An eBay-auctioned Narekatsi manuscript has already
been delivered to Armenia, yet hasn’t been transported to Matenadaran,
the institute of ancient manuscripts.

As Matenadaran director Hrachya Tamrazyan toldPanARMENIAN.Net the
official representatives of the owner of the Russian company Comedy
Club Production Artur Janibekyan are expected in Armenia, to officially
pass the manuscript. A specific day for the ceremony hasn’t been set.

As Tamrazyan noted, the authenticity of the manuscript has been
established by the experts at Matenadaran.

Earlier, Artur Janibekyan bought out Narekatsi’s manuscript auctioned
at eBay for $ 30000 to be further gifted to Matenadaran.