Month: September 2013

ARCHITECT: RESTORATION OF THE INDOOR MARKET DEPENDS ON THE WILL OF ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT
by Nana Martirosyan

Tuesday, September 10, 17:57

The restoration of the Yerevan indoor market depends only on the
will of the Armenian government, the head of the Armenian Union of
Architects, Mkrtich Minasyan, said at today’s press-conference.

He said that the government of Armenia is the “master” of the
indoor market. For this reason, it should deal with preserving and
restoration of the given building which is being transformed into a
supermarket. “It is obvious that the historical image of the market
has been already damaged, we have lost the indoor market. However,
it may be still restored and state functionaries have to deal with
its restoration”, – Minasyan said.

He did not rule out that after the indoor market we shall have other
architectural losses as well, as similar incidents are balled-up very
much, and as a rule, nobody is made responsible.

To recall, the Indoor Market was built in 1952 by Armenian architect
Grigory Aghababyan’s project and has been considered one of the symbols
of the Armenian capital since then. The repair inside the building
has damaged the original exterior of the building. In early June,
the municipality promised that the constructions erected inside the
building would be demolished and the original appearance would be
restored. However, these constructions have not been dismantled.

From: A. Papazian

AZERI COMEDY: DANISH DELEGATION AS BLACK LIST CANDIDATES

September 10, 2013 – 20:19 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Azeri Foreign Ministry found new victims to
blacklist: this time, it’s a group of Danish MPs and journalists
headed by Eva Kjer Hansen, Chairwoman of the Committee on European
Affairs of the Danish Parliament.

As Azeri Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev stated, the Ministry
is investigating the information on Danish journalists’ visit to
“occupied territories.” “Azeri embassy in London was given relevant
instructions, with a decision to be taken based on investigation
results,” he said. And quite seriously, at that.

Actually, there’s nothing to investigate: official information on the
visit was released by Artsakh Foreign Ministry press service, along
with details of Karabakh Foreign Minister’s meeting with the guests.

Although the visit of the Danish delegation is a fact, Azerbaijan
is still eager to “investigate.” The black list – peak of Azeri
diplomatic stupidity – has been mentioned so often, that the fact will
soon be ridiculed overtly. In any case, Baku is far from reaching its
goal of preventing visits to the Nagrono Karabakh Republic, with the
fact proved by Russian and Danish delegations travelling to Arstakh,
to say nothing about the tourists.

Back in early August, when the black list was released, no one included
in it expressed regret over having visited Artsakh. On the contrary –
whoever traveled to NKR said they’ll visit the Republic again. Those
who failed to find their names in the list, urged Baku to fix its
mistake by announcing them personae non-grata. Even those expressing
intention to travel to Artsakh were blacklisted.

Any other sensible country would try to hush up such a disgraceful
step, by rushing to “forget” about it – but not Azerbaijan.

Azeris would do well to save themselves from further ridicule, what
with half the world laughing at them already. Even the best joke
repeated one too many times becomes annoying.

Marina Ananikyan

VIRTUAL POST OFFICES: GAMES AZERIS PLAY

September 10, 2013 – 19:19 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Azeri propaganda has been far from perfect over
the last 30 years, having gone from poor to ridiculous. Baku has
predictably reduced the “significant steps in a propaganda war against
Armenia” to absurdity. Hardly had the stir risen by Azeri media calmed
over Armenian forward Yura Movsisyan’s promoting Armenian interests at
Spartak FC when Azerpost released the postal codes of Artsakh’s rural
post offices, which Baku calls “occupied territories.” Azeripost chief
Ganbar Beybalaeyv characterized he move as a promotion of Azeri rights.

Baku is creating virtual villages in Artsakh – naturally, renamed ones
– where Azerpost is allegedly opening its offices. Let’s remind these
apologies of propagandists that the Karabakh population has for over
22 years been having no problems with sending letters. So Azerpost
statement is clearly out of place here.

ANSPRESS Azeri agency must bee feeling happy: releasing the news, it
managed to please the leadership while also showing the “true color”
of Armenians, who, as a matter of fact, couldn’t care less about such
sorry moves.

On the other hand, with presidential elections in Azerbaijan looming,
local officials are trying to excel in servility, hoping not to be
forgotten. Usually it’s with the new leadership that you risk to be
forgotten, and that’s the danger Azerbaijan will avoid, with Aliyev
poised to be a lifelong president. Or, until Aliyev’s ambitions stand
in the way of the West, and they’ll dispose of him as easily as they
did of Hosni Mobarak or Muammar Gaddafi.

With such a prospect in view, moves with postal codes look like a
child’s play. Baku seems to be particularly fond of interfering with
Armenia and NKR’s affairs without any right to do so. That would be the
same as Armenia trying to lecture Georgia over its policy on Russia.

As Arstakh’s Deputy Prime Minister Artur Aghabekyan told Radio Liberty
earlier, “UN should make a relevant conclusion over Azerbaijan’s
objection to assisting Syrian Armenians. Other than that, we don’t
give a damn about Baku’s stance.” Rough as the statement is, it’s a
true one, nevertheless.

Karine Ter-Sahakyan

GERMAN INTELLIGENCE SAYS ASSAD DIDN’T ORDER CHEMICAL ATTACK

September 9, 2013 – 15:07 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – President Bashar al-Assad did not personally order
last month’s chemical weapons attack near Damascus that has triggered
calls for U.S. military intervention, and blocked numerous requests
from his military commanders to use chemical weapons against regime
opponents in recent months, a German newspaper has reported, citing
unidentified, high-level national security sources.

The intelligence findings were based on phone calls intercepted by a
German surveillance ship operated by the BND, the German intelligence
service, and deployed off the Syrian coast, Bild am Sonntag said,
according to the Guardian.

The intercepted communications suggested Assad, who is accused of
war crimes by the west, including foreign secretary William Hague,
was not himself involved in last month’s attack or in other instances
when government forces have allegedly used chemical weapons.

Assad sought to exonerate himself from the August attack in which
hundreds died. “There has been no evidence that I used chemical
weapons against my own people,” he said in an interview with CBS.

But the intercepts tended to add weight to the claims of the Obama
administration and Britain and France that elements of the Assad
regime, and not renegade rebel groups, were responsible for the attack
in the suburb of Ghouta, Bild said.

President Barack Obama is urging the U.S. Congress to approve military
action to deter the Syrian regime from using chemical weapons and
degrade its ability to pursue the two-and-a-half-year civil war
against rebel forces.

But Obama is facing stiff resistance from Democrats and Republicans in
the House of Representatives, who fear involvement in another Middle
East war, and from Assad’s main ally, Russian president Vladimir Putin,
who has said any military strikes conducted without prior UN approval
would be illegal, the Guardian says.

Speaking in Paris on Sunday, Sept 8, during a European tour to rally
support for military action, John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State, said
Washington did not rule out a return to the UN security council to
seek backing for military strikes, once UN inspectors have completed
an on-the-ground investigation of the August 21 attack. Their report
is expected by the end of the week.

Obama’s main European ally, Francois Hollande of France, is under
increasing pressure to seek a UN mandate for any military action in
the face of opinion polls suggesting up to 64% of French people oppose
air strikes. In a bid to gain the support of fellow EU countries,
Hollande pledged at the weekend to take the UN investigatory report
into consideration before acting. Hollande also suggested he might
seek a UN resolution, despite previous Russian and Chinese vetoes.

“On President Hollande’s comments with respect to the UN, the president
(Obama), and all of us, are listening carefully to all of our friends,”
Kerry said after meeting Arab League ministers. “No decision has been
made by the president.”

“All of us agreed – not one dissenter – that Assad’s deplorable use of
chemical weapons, which we know killed hundreds of innocent people …

this crosses an international, global red line,” Kerry said.

Kerry’s meeting with Arab ministers, including from Saudi Arabia,
Egypt, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, followed talks in Lithuania
with European foreign ministers, who blamed the attack in Syria
on Assad but, aware of overwhelming public hostility to an attack,
refused to endorse military action.

Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, who faces a general election in
two weeks, led the charge to caution.

Only 12 of the G20 countries which held a summit in Russia last week
have backed the U.S. position.

The German intelligence findings concerning Assad’s personal role may
complicate U.S.-led efforts to persuade the international community
that punitive military action is justified. They could also strengthen
suspicions that Assad no longer fully controls the country’s security
apparatus.

Addressing a closed meeting of the German parliamentary committee last
week, the BND chief Gerhard Schindler said his agency shared the U.S.

view that the attack had been launched by the regime and not the
rebels. But he said the spy agency had not have conclusive evidence
either way, German media reported.

Schindler said that BND had intercepted a telephone call in which a
high-ranking member of Hezbollah in Lebanon told the Iranian embassy
in Damascus that Assad had made a big mistake when he gave the order
to use the chemicals, the magazine Der Spiegel said.

Schindler added that German intelligence believed Assad would likely
remain in power for some time – irrespective of any potential U.S.-led
military intervention – and that the civil war could drag on for years.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM EUROPE

The European politicians who are often teased as bureaucrats are
apparently no longer interested in the explanations of the Armenian
government on the latest scandal and are worried about the evaluations
of political analysts who are not well-acquainted with Eastern Europe,
as well as some priorities of the regional policy.

In fact, it is not worth asking on September 9 why this scandal
happened, a discussion is on how to react to these developments. This
bureaucracy must account to the political instances of the European
Union and at the same time propose a policy in the likely future.

Opinions divided to two or three groups though now it is hard to
group these positions. According to our old friends of Europe, there
are “doves” and “hawks”, and the opinions of politicians changed
unexpectedly, and the stance of moderate politicians is not moderate
at all.

Hence, there are opinions that a political game is taking place,
and it is not worthwhile to kick Armenia out of the arena of European
integration and dramatize the situation otherwise it is what Russia
is expecting. It is necessary to come up with compromise, and one
confesses that work with the Armenian political class and society
over cooperation with the EU was not enough.

Politicians posturing as “hawks” are sharpening their knives and
calling to punish Armenia, demonstrate how such U-turns may end
up. It is proposed to review the obliging relations with Armenia and
apply blocking of efforts to present the relations with the European
Union as something significant and call them a process of developing
cooperation.

At the same time, it is proposed to launch a campaign and a political
attack against Russia and avail of this situation to put pressure on
it to the point of application of legal and economic sanctions.

Nevertheless, there are other positions, especially not to launch a
campaign against Russia because there is no reason to spoil relations
with Russia and forget about Armenia altogether as a politically
immature country.

Certain circles on R. Shuman Square who expected criticism first tried
to shift responsibility on the ambassadors of the member states to
Armenia and thereby insure themselves. However, apparently it was
not needed because nobody in the EU administration wished to start
on a witch hunt, understanding that they will thus prove that the
European politics is not viable.

The U.K. and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe are more
radical, and they are not interested in Armenia as much as Russia,
i.e. organizing a campaign against it.

The Americans carry themselves with Olympian calm and they explain
it by information on latent intentions of the Armenian government.

However, the United States is too busy in other regions and there is
no need to expect radical decisions on the South Caucasus.

However, all the groups of such politicians in Europe, as well as
Americans think that the Armenian government has run out of political
credit. Although Armenia will be given a chance to check up the price
of U-turns and nonsense of this decision again.

However, it does not mean that Armenia is crossed out of the U.S. and
NATO strategies. Too much political resource has been spent on this
aspect where Armenia performs specific objectives and functions.

Armenia, like other countries of the region, cannot be crossed out
of such plans.

Too many intentions and goals are linked to Armenia. Our old friends
in the West are people with a good education and culture nevertheless
sometimes project major regional events, they may not tell the truth
but what they say is true. What’s the point of lying amid such variety
of opinions and evaluations, as well as interests?

Igor Muradyan 16:54 10/09/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:

ARMENIA’S AUTHORITIES UNABLE TO HEAR EUROPE – LEVON ZURABYAN

19:29 10.09.13

In an interview with Tert.am, Head of the Armenian National Congress
(ANC) parliamentary group Levon Zurabyan commented on the Armenian
authorities’ statements on their willingness to sign initial an
Association Agreement with the European Union (EU). He noted that
the authorities seem to be unable to hear Europe stating that the
document is “off table.”

With respect to the possibility of Armenia initialing the Association
Agreement, Zurabyan said: “They agreed that one thing is impossible
without the other. And not only the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade
Area Agreement, but also the Association Agreement are off table.

However, Eduard Sharmazanov and Edward Nalbandian, as well as those
of their ilk, keep on claiming that Armenia is ready to initial the
Association Agreement. Armenia is now willing to initial a document
that the other party has taken off the negotiating table. They are
mere attempts to calm down the public while it is quite clear to
everyone that this policy has failed. I would also like say one more
thing addressing President Serzh Sargsyan. I mean the so-called
‘initiative policy.’ Serzh Sargsyan has already undertaken two
important initiatives. The first is the so-called Armenian-Turkish
protocols, which were supposed to settle regional problems and lead
to the reopening of the Armenian-Turkish border. The second has to do
with the Association Agreement. Both the initiatives failed. Moreover,
all the plans not only failed. Rather, we reached a worse situation.

So I am calling on President Serzh Sargsyan not to undertake any
new initiatives.”

As regards the Armenian FM’s answers to his questions, Zurabyan said
that he did not understand the sense of that meeting. Nothing new was
reported. “Moreover, we did not get explanations for failures of our
diplomacy,” he added.

Armenian News – Tert.am

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA SHOULD JOIN CUSTOMS UNION FOR NAGORNO-KARABAKH’S SAKE – MP

20:00 10.09.13

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Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, Rubik Hakobyan, a Heritage
parliamentary group member, proposed Armenia’s joining the Customs
Union, which is ready to recognize independent Nagorno-Karabakh.

That is, the proposal is that “Nagorno-Karabakh be the guideline”
in dealing with different issues. In this context, the MP added that
Armenia should do its utmost to clearly state its positions on its
national security to the international community.

Hakobyan noted that both Russia and the European Union (EU)
are applying double standards to Nagorno-Karabakh. Most of the EU
member-states have recognized independent Kosovo, and “at least Russia
should be well aware that Nagorno-Karabakh is a fuller-fledged state
than South Ossetia and Abkhazia.”

Indeed, recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh as an international entity
is a much better security guarantee “than Russian Smerch or Chinese
weapons.”

Armenian News – Tert.am

From: Baghdasarian

SEVENTH YEREVAN INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL WILL RUN FROM SEPTEMBER 11 TO OCTOBER 25

YEREVAN, September 10. / ARKA /. The 7th Yerevan International Music
Festival will run from September 11 to October 25, Eduard Topchyan,
the artistic director and conductor of the State Philharmonic Orchestra
of Armenia, said to a news conference today. He said the estival will
open by a joint concert of the Orchestra and famous German violinist
Isabelle Faust. They will perform two concerts by Mozart.

The conductor said that the festival will feature eight symphonies,
two chamber music concerts and solo concerts by famous Italian cellist
Mario Brunello and Russian pianist Konstantin Lifschitz.

Topchyan said the festival will also feature cellists Narek Akhnazaryan
(Russia) and Alexander Chaushyan (UK), violinists Boris Brovtsin
(UK), Daishin Kashimoto (Japan) and Kohl Blacher (Germany), pianist
Kirill Gerstein (USA, Germany ) and Alexander Melnikov ( Russia ),
conductor Israel Yinon (Germany ) and other outstanding musicians.

The 7th Yerevan International Music Festival is held under the
high patronage of the First Lady of Armenia Rita Sargsyan with the
assistance of the Ministry of Culture and will be dedicated to the
110th anniversary of famous Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian. -0-

COPS DETAIN 10 TRANSPORTATION ACTIVISTS SEEKING ENTRY TO YEREVAN MUNICIPALITY

13:14, September 10, 2013

This morning police prevented a group of activists from entering the
Yerevan Municipality seeking to participate in an open door session
of the Council of Elders.

Lena Nazaryan, told Hetq that cops had formed a barricade before
the entrance and detained seven activists who tried to make their
way inside.

The activists wanted to voice, yet again, their demand that Yerevan
Municipality Transportation Department Chief Henrik Navasardyan
and Yerevan Transport Director Misak Hambardzoumyan be brought to
account for their involvement in recent transit rate hike imbroglio
that caused a wave of civic protests in the Armenian capital.

THOUSANDS FLOCK TO “ARMENIA DAY” CELEBRATION IN BUENOS AIRES

11:34, September 10, 2013

Armenian community organizations and their members took part in
September 8 festivities celebrating “Armenia Day” in Buenos Aires.

The festivities, attracting more than one thousand visitors, who
viewed photos of scenic sites in Armenia and Artsakh, tasted Armenian
traditional cuisine and saw displays of handmade souvenirs.

Local Armenian song and dance groups performed for the throngs of
visitors.

All the fun took place in the Anoush Auditorium of the Armenian Center.