Month: September 2013

ALMOST ALL SYRIAN-ARMENIANS APPLYING TO MINISTRY OF DIASPORA GET JOBS

11:22, 19 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. The Syrian-Armenians’ flow to
the Republic of Armenia increased in recent days. Some part of them
applied to the Ministry of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia to find
job and shelter. “Armenpress” had a conversation regarding these and
many other issues with the Head of Staff of the Ministry of Diaspora
of the Republic of Armenia Firdus Zakaryan.

– Mr. Zakaryan, how many Syrian-Armenians moved to Armenia in
accordance with the recent information?

– Currently there are about 10 thousand Syrian-Armenians living in
Armenia. The flow of the Syrian-Armenians to the Republic of Armenia
has been activated recently, notwithstanding they come not directly
from Syria, but from Lebanon. Some part of them, which has to face
certain problems here and have neither relatives nor acquaintances
in here, apply to us.

– How many Syrian-Armenians have job in the Republic of Armenia?

– Approximately 1000 Syrian-Armenians applied to the Ministry
of Diaspora to find job. Due to the efforts made by our Ministry
and other Governmental Departments, they all have already found
job. There is one fascinating feature, which is very characteristic
to the Syrian-Armenians – they are very hard-working, organized,
and have ability to gather their all compatriots around them. (THE
FULL VERSION OF THE INTERVIEW IS AVAILABLE IN ARMENIAN)

Article by Ruzanna Movsisyan

From: Baghdasarian

TRUCK HIT ACTIVISTS’ CAR NEAR CITY HALL

Country – Thursday, 19 September 2013, 13:44

In the night of September 18 a car accident happened in front of
the City Hall of Yerevan. A ZIL truck hit the car of the citizens on
sit-in in front of the City Hall in the middle of the night when the
street is not busy. The activists parked their car in front of the City
Hall to sometimes protect them from rain or sun because the City Hall
and the Police did not authorize them to put up a tent. Earlier the
citizens demanding the resignation of head of transport department
Henrik Navasardyan and head of Yerevan Trans who runs a bus line
Misak Hambardzumyan were attacked by street gangs, Navasardyan’s
sons who tried to provoke fights, swore and spat in the direction of
the citizens. In one of these cases Navasardyan’s son was arrested
together with his girlfriend, both were drunk. Later activists were
attacked in the streets, behind the corners. Now trucks are used
against citizens. Apparently someone is smiling with satisfaction
while watching the video and winking to their mates, being proud of
their idea. There is a camera in this part of the street. It would
be interesting to see how the truck came and hit the car parked at
the pavement with such little traffic.

From: A. Papazian

COURT AGAIN DECIDES OPPOSITION YOUTH TO REMAIN IN JAIL AMID SPECULATION ABOUT POSSIBLE SEPTEMBER 21 AMNESTY

Human rights | 19.09.13 | 11:49

Photolure

By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
ArmeniaNow reporter

At Wednesday’s session the Appeals Court again rejected the request of
the counsel for the defense for opposition activist Tigran Arakelyan,
who has spent more than two years in jail on a six-year imprisonment
sentence, to be set free while his appeal was being heard.

More than 100 prominent people, including MPs, journalists, actors,
civil society representatives, had presented their guarantees
for Arakelyan to be released. On September 10, four non-governing
factions of the National Assembly, including the Armenian National
Congress (ANC), Heritage, Prosperous Armenia and Dashnaktsutyun,
made a statement with the similar request concerning Arakelyan and
also refereeing to three other activists who face imprisonment.

Despite the fact that 110 people have personally guaranteed that the
defendant will show proper conduct and follow all required procedures
and was also ready to pay a bail of half a million drams (about
$1,250), the court decided not to take into account these petitions.

Some members of the public attending the trial met this decision of
the court with great indignation, shouting “Shame, Shame”.

Arakelyan was convicted of hooliganism and using violence against a
police officer and sentenced to six years in prison. He has been in
jail since August 9, 2011.

The issue of Arakelyan’s remaining in jail again became a subject
of public debate after ex-Syunik governor Surik Khachatryan’s son
Tigran was released from custody and cleared of murder charges about
two weeks ago. Investigation had found that by shooting and killing
a businessman and wounding his brother, Khachatryan and the former
governor’s bodyguard acted in self-defense. At the previous court
session Arakelyan himself fumed over this case, saying that “some
murderers get released even before the trial, while he has been jailed
for years on charges of breaking some police officer’s nose.”

The ANC believes that the court’s refusal to change the measure of
restraint in relation to Arakelyan is a “message” of the authorities
to the society – “if the authorities want, people can spend long
years in prison.” The ANC has repeatedly stated that Arakelyan is a
political prisoner.

Meanwhile, some media reports lately have suggested that President
Serzh Sargsyan is preparing an amnesty bill on the occasion of the
22nd anniversary of Armenia’s independence, which will be marked on
September 21 and that it will also apply to Arakelyan. This, media
speculate, will help the government “get rid of the burden of having
a political prisoner”.

According to the Zhoghovurd newspaper, a political decision on
releasing Arakelyan has already been made and he will be set free
under the general amnesty to be declared on the occasion of the
September 21 anniversary.

But the ANC legal affairs office, Armen Khachatryan, is not so
optimistic.

“Only the press is aware of this amnesty. An amnesty is a law, which
is to be adopted by the National Assembly, and the National Assembly,
as far as I know, at least at this moment, has no such bill on its
agenda,” Khachatryan told ArmeniaNow.

The last time a general amnesty was declared in Armenia was in 2011
– on the 20th anniversary of independence. At that time among those
released from jail was also Haykakan Zhamanak editor-in-chief, now
member of the ANC parliamentary faction Nikol Pashinyan.

Arakelyan’s lawyer said that in the event of an amnesty his client
himself would decide whether he wanted to be amnestied or not.

From: Baghdasarian

14,496 PEOPLE GRANTED CITIZENSHIP OF REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA

15:59, 19 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS: 14,496 people have been granted the
citizenship of the Republic of Armenia during the nine months of 2013.

As reported by Armenpress, this was stated in the notice of the
Passport and Visa Department of the Police of the Republic of Armenia.

It is noted that the number of people interested in getting the
citizenship of the Republic of Armenia has considerably increased
during the last years.

“If in 2008-2010 about 15,000 citizenship applications were
discussed, that is, 5,000 annually, in 2011 and 2012 the number of
the applications grew to 15,000 for every year”, – says the statement.

PRESIDENT SARGSYAN ATTENDED THE OPENING OF THE NEW ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDING OF ARMENIAN POLICE DEPARTMENT

Today – 15:19

Today, at the Davidashen community of Yerevan, President Serzh Sargsyan
attended the official opening ceremony of the new administrative
building of the Passport and Visa Department of the Armenian Police. It
is yet another important step aimed at the modernization of the Police
structure, improvement of the working conditions for the staff and
resulting better services for the citizens.

The President toured the premise, familiarized with the accomplished
works, observed technical equipment and working conditions, visited
some of the divisions, such as registration of application forms, paper
work processing related to the state registration of the citizens,
visas, passports and exit documents and other divisions. He conversed
with the employees who presented to the President new opportunities for
introducing modern methods for all services provided to the population.

The leadership of the Department reported to the President of Armenia
about the results of the reforms which were mandated by the President
and related to a better processing of the applications submitted by
the RA citizens.

Due to a steep increase of the applications for the RA citizenship, in
2012 it became necessary to the change processing of the applications
related to the Armenian citizenship and relevant infrastructure. By
the President’s instruction in the light of the increasing volume of
applications, in July 2012 it was decided to streamline the entire
process of application review, to modernized technical equipment and
to ensure a proper notification of the applicants on the processing of
their applications. The results of the works aimed at the resolution
of the mentioned problems were presented to Serzh Sargsyan during
his tour of the Department.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

USAID WILL PROVIDE ARMENIA WITH A $43 MILLION FINANCIAL AIDE

YEREVAN, September 19. / ARKA /. The U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) will provide Armenia with a $43 million financial
aide, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said at a government session
today.

“Yesterday I met with the U.S. ambassador. We discussed all the issues
related to the new agreement. We will get $43 million in aid, so we
need to be ready to sign a relevant agreement by the end of the month,”
he said.

The government session approved also an agreement whereby the USAID
will provide Armenia with $10.4 million until 2017 September to create
a competitive and diversified private sector.

The prime minister also said that the U.S. government wills Armenia
give $1 million for taking stock of agricultural assets. -0-

15:21 19.09.2013

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

9 BILLION AMD FOR YEREVAN STREET REPAVING AND HOUSING COMPENSATION

15:59, September 19, 2013

The Armenian government says it will allocate 9 billion AMD for the
repaving of roads in Yerevan and as compensation for resident of
buildings declared structurally hazardous, thus allowing them to
obtain new housing.

The funds will go to the Yerevan Municipality which will oversee
their expenditure.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HRAPARAK: WHO PRESENTED FIRST LION TO PROSPEROUS ARMENIA LEADER?

08:31 19.09.13

The newspaper’s sources report “improved” relations between Chairman
of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) Gagik Tsarukyan and Chief of
Armenia’s Police Viva Gasparyan.

The two have lately met frequently. They were on close terms even
before Tsarukyan engaged in politics. The fist lion was Gasparyan’s
present to Tsarukyan, who developed a liking for lions later. But
when Armenia’s ex-president Robert Kocharyan decided to create the
PAP, Gasparyan and Tsarukyan had a falling-out because Gasparyan and
Kocharyan were not on friendly terms after October 27, 1999.

ARMENIAN SOCKS AND TIGHTS DEMANDED IN UAE, GEORGIA AND FRANCE

10:24, 19 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESSO~I The socks and tights produced
in the Republic of Armenia are mainly sold in the local market,
but they are demanded abroad as well. As Armenpress was reported
by the Deputy Director of the Lentex LLC Anush Haykyan, about 80%
of the production is sold in the Republic. “The socks and tights
are not inferior to the imported products with their quality. They
are demanded also in Georgia, the United Arab Emirates and even in
France”, – said Anush Haykyan.

The company produces 350-500,000 pairs of socks and tights monthly.

Lentex produces about 100 products. The cotton fiber is being imported
from abroad.

The volumes of the import of the socks and tights to the Republic of
Armenia in the first half of 2013 made more than 2,2 million pairs
and about 12,000 pairs were exported.

At the beginning of its activity only women’s tights were manufactured
with brand “Viva”. Afterwards a new department with socks-knitting
machinery was actuated.

Today Lentex LLC is the only Armenian factory with the absolutely full
range of socks and hosiery, from babies to adults, of different color
and size, suitable for every season. The production is made according
to state standards and has got all appropriate licenses. Lentex
performs high quality output in the assortment of more than 100 types.

Renovation of color range and design every season, wonderful design
in accordance with the latest fashion tendencies make the production
actual at the product market. The increase of the brand acceptance
confirms year-to-year growth of Lentex output.

Thanks to flexible marketing policy the company reacts to consumers’
demand as quickly as possible. Customers can have tights or socks made
to order, according to their desires. In Armenia the company has three
brand shops, where the full variety of Lentex production is presented.

GLENDALE TO HOST ART SHOW FUNDRAISER IN AID OF HALO TRUST

September 19, 2013 – 10:50 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – An art show fundraiser will take place Saturday,
Sept 28, in aid of the HALO Trust, on the rooftop of the Hollywood
Production Center in Glendale, CA.

The works of Hermine Demirtshyan, Voskan Galstian, Emily Halpern,
Koko Hovaguimian, Anthony Miserendino, Argishti Musakhanyan,
Arshak Nazarian, Kat Shoa, and Zareh will be displayed. Attendees
will have the opportunity to purchase art from which a portion will
be allocated to the HALO Trust. The evening will include food and
beverage, including music provided by the Snake Charmer Ensemble.

The HALO Trust is the oldest and largest non-profit, non-political
organization in the world that specializes in humanitarian land mine
clearance, providing a better quality of life for people whose routine
activities are curtailed due to the risk of land mine detonation.

The HALO Trust was founded in Scotland in 1988, with regional offices
in Washington DC and San Francisco, which is registered as a charity
in the United Kingdom and a non-profit in the United States.

The focus of this event is to raise money for Nagorno Karabakh
(Artsakh) where HALO first became involved in 1995 after the war
with Azerbaijan. Deminers were trained for a year and slowly the HALO
Trust began to expand its program in the region, with the launch of
the full program in 2000. Through March 2013, there are 144 minefields
remaining that are in need of clearance.

The organizers of the event are Aline Tavlian and Nare Garibyan,
two Glendale residents who were inspired to raise funds for the HALO
Trust after, Gala Danilova, the Director of Finance of the HALO
Trust program in Nagorno Karabakh presented the demining work the
organization has achieved in that region. She will be speaking at
the fundraiser, traveling all the way from Artsakh.

Since 2000 HALO has provided the only large-scale mine clearance
capacity in Nagorno Karabakh and over the last 10 years HALO has
cleared over 236 square kilometers of contaminated land and returned
it to previously impacted communities. By mid-2010, HALO had found and
destroyed in Karabakh over 10,000 landmines, 10,000 cluster munitions
and 45,000 other explosive items.

HALO has reported as cleared nearly 80% of minefields and about 70%
of the area contaminated by cluster munitions in Karabakh. The NGO
believes the remaining areas can be cleared within the next five years
but this timeframe depends on the continued availability of donor
funds, which are on a downward slump. Without funding, HALO warns,
the removal of all the minefields and cluster munitions will take
longer, leaving impoverished rural communities blighted by mines and
cluster munitions for years to come.