Month: February 2015

22 PERCENT OF BANS PROHIBITING ARMENIAN CITIZENS’ ENTRY TO RUSSIA LIFTED

YEREVAN, February 6. /ARKA/. Russia’s Federal Migration Service
has revoked 22 percent of bans it had imposed on Armenian nationals
prohibiting their entry to Russia for breaching its immigration law,
Gagik Yeganyan, head of the Armenian territorial administration
and emergency ministry’s state migration service, told journalists
on Friday.

In his words, more than 4,000 applications have been received since
July 2014, and 3,000 of them have been sent to Russia’s Federal
Migration Service.

He said referring to Russian sources that entry of more than 3 million
people to Russia is prohibited for ten years because they have breached
the Russian law.

According to the same sources, the number of citizens in risk group
is 180,000.

>

He said that in accordance with these arrangements, to have their entry
bans’ lifted Armenian citizens have to appeal to Armenia’s migration
service, which will send applications to the Russian migration service
after considering them.

Yeganyan said that after Armenia became a full member of the Eurasian
Economic Union on January 2, 2015, Armenian citizens need no special
permission for working in the union member countries.

Nevertheless, for living and working legally in Russia, Armenian
citizens need labor and civil law contracts with employers. Armenian
citizens may be employed not only by legal entities, but also by
individuals in Russia. —0—-

From: A. Papazian

OSCE MINSK GROUP HAILS ARMENIA’S COMMITMENT TO REDUCING TENSION ON BORDER WITH AZERBAIJAN

YEREVAN, February 6. / ARKA /. The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs from
the USA, France and Russia welcomed Armenia’s commitment to reducing
tensions in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, the US co-chair James
Warlick wrote in his Twitter microblog.

“We had a good meeting with Armenian foreign minister Edward
Nalbandian on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference to
discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We welcomed his commitment to
the reduction of tension in the conflict zone,” he wrote, according
to RIA Novosti. He also posted a photo of the meeting.

Nalbandian’s meeting with Igor Popov (Russia), Pierre Andrieu (France)
and James Warlick (USA), as well as the Personal Representative of
the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk took place on Thursday
night in Munich.

During the meeting Nalbandian drew the co-chairs’ attention to
violation of ceasefire by Azerbaijan on the border with Armenia and
on the line of contact with the armed forces of Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to him, the leadership of Azerbaijan “hampers the peace
process.” At the same time, Nalbandian confirmed that Armenia
will continue joint efforts with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Grouptowards a peaceful resolution of the Karabakh problem.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict erupted into armed clashes after the
collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s as the predominantly
Armenian-populated enclave of Azerbaijan, sought to secede from
Azerbaijan and declared its independence backed by succeeding
referendum. A truce was brokered by Russia in 1994, although no
permanent peace agreement has been signed.

Since then, Nagorno-Karabakh and several adjacent regions have been
under the control of Armenian forces of Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh
is the longest-running post-Soviet era conflict and has continued
to simmer despite the relative peace of the past two decades, with
snipers causing tens of deaths a year.-0-

ARMENIA’S INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS: OVER 133,000 PASSENGERS PASSED THROUGH IN JANUARY

YEREVAN, February 6. /ARKA/. Armenia’s Zvartnots and Shirak
international airports provided services to 133,574 passengers in
January, 1,569 people or by 1.18% more than in January 2014, the
press office of the country’s chief aviation department reported.

Departures totaled 69,352 in the reporting month (69,384 in January
2014); number of arrivals totaled 64,222 (62,621 in Jan 2014).

Negative balance of departures/arrivals was 5,130 people this January,
compared to 6,763 in January 2014.

Zvartnots and Shirak airports are run by Armenia-International
Airports, a company owned by an Argentine citizen of Armenian descent
Eduardo Eurnekian. In 2001 the company signed a concessional agreement
with the government to manage the airports for 30 years. -0-

TURKISH NGOS URGE WORLD LEADER TO GO TO YEREVAN, NOT GALLIPOLI ON APR 24

February 6, 2015 – 17:30 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – 5 Turkish NGOs urged world leaders “not to accept
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s invitation to Gallipoli on April 24
but to visit Yerevan instead for commemoration of the 100th anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide,” Bianet.org reports.

Previously, President Erdogan announced that in 2015 Turkey will
commemorate the defense of Gallipoli – a ceremony usually observed
on March 18 – on April 24. He also invited the world leaders to the
northwestern province of Canakkale to join the ceremony

The associations (Human Rights Association (IHD)’s Commission Against
Racism and Discrimination, Izmir Assyrian Friendship, Culture and
Solidarity Association, Nor Zartonk, Culture
Platform and Zan Social, Political, Economic Research Foundation)
issued a statement protesting Erdogan’s invitation at IHD Headquarters
in Istanbul, Bianet reports.

“April 24 is marked worldwide as the Armenian Genocide Remembrance
Day,” IHD Vice Chairperson Meral Cıldır said in a statement.

“As the 100th anniversary of Armenian Genocide draws near, we, groups
and peoples that struggle against the denial of the Genocide, protest
the president’s invitation and urge the world leaders to visit the
Genocide memorial in Yerevan instead of Gallipoli in Canakkale.

Following the press statement, IHD Vice Chairperson Eren Keskin said
the following: “The mentality that founded the Republic of Turkey is
the very mentality that committed the Armenian – Assyrian Genocide
in 1915. For us, 24 April 2015 is of huge importance. We want to face
our history. We don’t want our children to be told lies. We know that
the Genocide is still not openly mentioned by many countries, but we
are asking a show a bit of conscience. The Turkish invitation mocks
the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims. Go to Yerevan where the
real pain is.”

BORDERING ON WAR: RUSSIA REACTS TO DEADLY SKIRMISHES IN ARMENIAN-AZERBAIJANI CONFLICT ZONE

Karabakh | 06.02.15 | 15:41

GOHAR ABRAHAMYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

Armenia’s politico-military and economic ally, Russia, has finally
expressed its concern regarding the “serious” situation around
Nagorno-Karabakh calling for de-escalation of tensions.

Russian Foreign Ministry official representative Alexander Lukashevich,
at a news briefing in Moscow on Thursday, spoke about the increase of
ceasefire regime violations in the conflict zone, frequent clashes
and sabotage, expressing his concern about “serious deterioration”
of the Nagorno-Karabakh situation and urging the parties to the
conflict to deescalate tensions.

Border tensions proceeded against the backdrop of a visit to Yerevan
by Secretary-General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO) Nikolay Bordyuzha and Head of Russia’s Federal Migration Service
Konstantin Ramadanovski. They came to Armenia to participate in the
CSTO Coordinating Council meeting of heads of competent bodies on
the fight against illegal migration.

It is noteworthy that Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan
had a meeting with the American, French and Russian co-chairs of the
OSCE Minsk Group in Munich, Germany, on Thursday during which they
continued discussions over the process of peaceful resolution of the
Karabakh conflict.

Russian reactions make many believe that border tension might subside,
considering the fact that the August tensions were deescalated after
the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents’ meeting hosted by Russian
President Vladimir Putin.

Political analyst, Yerevan-based Caucasus Institute deputy director
Sergey Minasyan told ArmeniaNow that the Russian factor is always
existent and influential.

“It is obvious that the Russian factor is in some way considered,
the Russian factor takes different shapes – the Russian military base
in Armenia, Armenia-Russia strategic and technical cooperation, and
the other aspect of it is the fact that Russia is one of Azerbaijan’s
military-technical partners,” the political analyst said.

However, Minasyan sees no immediate solution to the current tense
situation.

“I think that the same tension of this last decade, i.e. the tension
of cyclic nature, will exist, however, on a bit higher level, because
the sides use small caliber mortars, more units take part, but on
the other hand, I do not see the prospect of renewed large-scale
hostilities,” Minasyan said.

From: A. Papazian

GYUMRI PROTEST ACTIVIST RELEASED: MNATSAKAN ALEXANYAN CONFINED TO AREA LIMITS PENDING INVESTIGATION

News | 06.02.15 | 14:44

Mnatsakan Alexanyan (left) with his father

By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow reporter

Twenty-two-year old resident of Sarnaghbyur Mnatsakan Alexanyan,
who was arrested on February 4 in connection with street protests in
Gyumri in mid-January, has been released but confined to area limits,
it emerged today.

Thousands of Gyumri residents took to the streets on January 15 to
demand that the Russian soldier who allegedly murdered seven members
of a local family be transferred to Armenian custody and be tried by
Armenian laws.

Alexanyan’s arrest caused an uproar in the city where many participants
of the protests and human rights activists believe he did nothing
wrong.

Before Alexanyan’s released, his lawyer Hayk Harutyunyan told
ArmeniaNow that his arrest had no legal grounds. In the arrest
protocol, 4th section of Article 258 of the Armenian Criminal Law is
featured – violation of public order, hooliganism.

“If a case is filed only for hooliganism, then Mnatsakan faces up to
7-year-imprisonment and if violence against a government representative
is added – then he may face 5-10 years in jail,” said Harutyunyan,
adding that he had applied to the Shirak Prosecutor’s office with a
request for Alexanyan to be released.

Sarnaghbyur residents planned to hold protests and block the
Yerevan-Gyumri highway if the authorities did not release their fellow
villager. They say Mnatsakan is one of the hundreds of participants of
the January 15 protest and did not understand why he was particularly
pinpointed for the arrest.

Earlier, parliamentary Heritage faction member Zaruhi Postanjyan
sent an open letter to Ombudsman Karen Andreasyan asking him to take
up immediate measures in order to ensure the release of Alexanyan,
who she thinks was arrested illegally. The letter read that the
decision for arrest was made upon an illegal order and Alexanyan is
“an especially chosen innocent suspect”.

“Mnatsakan Alexanyan was many times invited to interrogation on case
N 1800615 as a witness; moreover, his passport was at the disposal
of the body conducting the case. There were many others around him,
and they all can witness his innocence, however they were not invited
for questioning. Thus, suspecting Mnatsakan Alexanyan of committing
a crime and arresting him is illegal and follows a special goal,”
the letter said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GAGIK TSARUKYAN’S SPEECH HAD IMPORTANT MESSAGES – PROSPEROUS ARMENIA MP

15:58 06/02/2015 >> POLITICS

There were very important messages in Gagik Tsarukyan’s speech and
yesterday’s event was a significant step, which was creating consensus
between the NGOs and the political forces, MP from Prosperous Armenia
Party Stepan Margaryan said at a briefing on Friday, commenting on
the Thursday’s conference initiated by Prosperous Armenia leader
Gagik Tsarukyan.

Another Prosperous Armenia MP, Mikael Melkumyan, said for his part
that the opposition has huge resources.

“Our political agenda remains the same and we go ahead with our
program,” he said.

Source: Panorama.am

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERBAIJAN SPREADS DISINFORMATION IN CONNECTION WITH PHOTO EXHIBITION DEDICATED TO NAGORNO KARABAKH HELD IN CZECH REPUBLIC

15:21 06/02/2015 >> REGION

In the Capitol bookstore at the Czech town Frýdek-Místek photo
exhibition of famous Czech photographer-blogger Ladislav Vetvichk
dedicated to the Nagorno Karabakh was opened for nearly a month.

Although the opening of the exhibition took place on 7 January and
the house was full, the Azerbaijani side spreads disinformation,
saying allegedly there were no visitors at the exhibition at all and
it failed, the European edition of “Orer” reports.

As noted in the article on February 3, the closing ceremony of the
exhibition was attended also by the Armenian Ambassador to the Czech
Republic Tigran Seyranyan, representatives of the Armenian community
and many other visitors. Director of the bookstores Jan Becher was
pleasantly surprised that the citizens are so interested in the
exhibition. “We have not had such vibrant and exciting activities
for a long time,” he said.

However, as the newspaper writes, the Azerbaijani Ambassador to the
Czech Republic Farid Shafiyev told with irony Azerbaijani news agency
“Trend” that from the photos it is clear whether the exhibition was
held in domestic atmosphere or in a public place where “there were no
visitors.” The ambassador also assured that he was trying to clarify
the situation with the local authorities.

The publication stresses that the ambassador of Azerbaijan actually
is trying to hide his own incompetency. “It is not surprising that
at any event devoted to the Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan spreads
disinformation. Regarding this fact we publish the photos from the
exhibition,” the paper concludes.

It should be mentioned also that on the published photographs the
attendees of the photo exhibition are clearly visible – there are
citizens of all ages among them. In addition, it must be noted that
some of the visitors stand or sit on the shelves as well, apparently
the chairs weren’t enough.

THE EU-ARMENIA FRIENDSHIP GROUP WAS OFFICIALLY RE-LAUNCHED YESTERDAY-EAFJD

05 February, 2015 | 16:04

The EU-Armenia Friendship Group was officially re-launched yesterday
at the European Parliament in Brussels in the new 8th legislature
of the European Parliament. Over the next five years we will
continue to work hard on promoting Armenia in this EU institution
by organising delegated trips, events and other activities. The
year 2015 is an especially important year for Armenia as it marks
the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Having this in mind
the re-launch of this group is not only of importance but also of
historical significance. Thanking you all for your support over the
years, please watch this space to see all of our future activities.

YEREVAN’S POLYCLINICS: TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE FREE HEALTHCARE BUT STAY AWAY FROM THE TOILETS – PHOTOS

Ani Hovhannisyan

23:44, January 31, 2015

There are 22 polyclinics in Yerevan where people receive
state-sponsored healthcare for free or at reduced rates. Hetq visited
all the polyclinics in the city to examine the sanitary conditions
of the state institutions offering medical assistance to people.

Photographs were taken so that the sanitary conditions of the
polyclinics could be reviewed. On the map below you can click
the points on the map to learn more about the conditions of every
individual healthcare facility.

Yerevan’s polyclinics fall under the supervision of both the
Yerevan Municipality and the Ministry of Health. The Municipality
is responsible for the overall maintenance of medical buildings,
the quality of medical equipment and staff management. The sanitary
conditions of the polyclinics are controled by the Ministry of Health’s
State Health Inspectorate.

Arshakunyants polyclinic

The photos clearly show that almost none of Yerevan’s polyclinics
maintain the standards defined in the government’s 2013 decision to
establish a prevention board setting the sanitation standards for
public restrooms. Why doesn’t the Ministry of Health State Health
Inspection Board record the sanitation violations of restrooms made
by the polyclinics?

Hetq inquired as to whether violations of sanitation requirements
were recorded in the polyclinics in 2013-2014 and whether there
were polyclinics that were penalized. As stated by the Ministry of
Health, “According to hygienic and epidemic control practices with
the Republic of Armenia, polyclinics are answerable to the Republic
of Armenia Ministry of Health’s State Health Inspectorate.”

In 2013, Polyclinic #8 LLC underwent a thorough inspection, the results
of which determined that violations in the rules of proper sanitation
condition maintenance were committed. The director of the polyclinic
was officially penalized.

In fact, within the last two years only one infraction was cited for
the same situation found in nearly all the polyclinics.

>From the 2013 tax-payer funded budget, 3.67 billion dram was
appropriated to public health services, including hygienic and epidemic
control services.

For 2015-2017, the ministry has forecasted a fixed budget dedicated
to conducting sanitary and anti-epidemic measures as well as poison
and disease control.

Copy: Copy: | Create infographics

What is the point of appropriating state funds for sanitary measures
when there is no disclosure by the Ministry of Health and violations
of practices are not noted for all institutions?

The Municipality’s Duty

The Yerevan Municipality supervises building renovations, furnishing
upgrades and quality of service in polyclinics that are run by medical
aid companies. In 2014, 165 million dram (US$346,270) was allocated
for healthcare from the city’s budget to realize various programs: 100
million dram ($210K) went to “medical equipment purchases for health
establishments,” 50 million dram ($105K) went to the “reconstruction
of healthcare facilities” and 15 million dram($31.5K) went to “computer
tomography for the population.”

Hetq asked the Yerevan Municipality to reveal how much money was
allocated in 2014 for building renovations and acquiring equipment
for each polyclinic. Polyclinic 15 LLC and Sari Tagh Polyclinic LLC
received new heating systems, while Karmir Blur Polyclinic LLC had
new windows installed, all of which amounted to 41,052,480 dram.

As part of the “medical equipment purchases for health establishments”
program, the Yerevan Municipality acquired 14 pieces of medical
equipment(2 X-ray machines, 5 ultrasound machines with echocardiogram
transducers, 1 Doppler echocardiogram machine, 2 stereo microscopes
and 4 immune-ferment analyzers). The total cost was 75,886,400 dram.

As a result, 24,114,000 dram was left over. . (The 100 million
allocated minus the 75,886,400 expended).

19270002299000028500003480000974200Antituberculosis Dispensary LLCDavit
Anhaght LLCEndocrine Dispensary LLCNork Marash Polyclinic LLCPolyclinic
#1 LLCPolyclinic #13 LLCPolyclinic #15 LLCPolyclinic #17 LLCPolyclinic
#20 LLCPolyclinic #22 LLCPolyclinic #8 LLCPolyclinic #8 LLCScientific
Research Institute of CardiologyX-ray MachineDoppler echocardiogram
machineImmune-ferment AnalyzersStereo MicroscopesUltrasound machines
with 2 scannersX-ray Machine

For the “computed tomography for the population” program, the
municipality acquired a CT scanner at 14,500,000 dram, which was used
by 209 residents through December 10, 2014.

466,535 people visited Yerevan’s polyclinics between September and
December of 2014. They all had the opportunity to free receive medical
aid provided with the new equipment.

Copy: Copy: | Create infographics

But they had to avoid entering the restrooms. Medical institutions
providing such restroom facilities to their patients are not only
incapable preventing the spread communicable diseases but may also be
actively spreading them.On December 3, 2014 Mayor of Yerevan Taron
Margaryan and Minister of Health Armen Muradyan paid a visit to the
above-mentioned renovated polyclinics to inspect the conditions of
the buildings and have their photos taken for publication on their
official web sites. But they forgot to enter the restrooms.