Month: February 2015

DETACHMENTS THAT WON GALLIPOLI BATTLE WERE DEFEATED IN SARDARAPAT BATTLE – VIRABYAN

17:34 25/02/2015 >> SOCIETY

The Turkish divisions that won the Battle of Gallipoli were fully
defeated by the Armenian troops in the Battle of Sardarapat, director
of National Archives of Armenia Amatuni Virabyan told reporters
on Wednesday.

We must celebrate this as a significant event, he said.

Referring to publication of new documents about the Armenian Genocide,
Mr Virabyan noted that in Moscow documents about economic losses will
be published in books in two languages – Russian and English.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EU REMAINS COMMITTED TO STRENGTHENING BILATERAL COOPERATION WITH ARMENIA

18:46, 25 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

“Despite Armenia’s decision in September 2013 not to sign the
Association Agreement/DCFTA with the EU but rather join the Eurasian
Economic Union (EEU), the EU remains committed to further engage
with Armenia, and to strengthen bilateral cooperation within the
Eastern Partnership, in all areas compatible with Armenia’s more
recent policy choices,” Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia Traian
Hristea at the conference on “EU-Armenia Cooperation: Perspective in
the Actual Political Environment”

“Currently, we are reflecting jointly with our Armenian counterparts
on the scope for future EU-Armenia relations. Following the Joint
Statement issued at EaP Vilnius summit November 2013 both sides have
started a joint reflection on how to revisit the legal basis for
their relations,” he said.

“On 4 November 2014, the EU and Armenia have launched in Brussels
a scoping exercise on the future legal and political framework for
EU-Armenia relations, based on information as regards to Armenia’s EEU
commitments and their possible implications on future relations with
EU. Both sides agreed to “safeguard” the negotiated but not initialled
AA/DCFTA and to use it as reference to this aim,” Hristea added.

“As long as good governance, reform of the judiciary, rule of law,
human rights do not form part of the official Eurasian integration
process, there is plenty of room for the EU to engage Armenia, and
for Armenia to demonstrate their commitment to reform. The upcoming
human rights sector budget support is in that regard a welcome step
– and at the same time a litmus test, for which the more-for-more
principle also applies,” the Head of EU Delegation said.

He also attached importance to making best use of the significant
EU assistance of 140-170 million EUR for the period of 2014-2017,
focusing on private sector development, public administration reform
and justice sector reform.

“Moreover, we need to further promote mobility of citizens of
Armenia and people-to-people contacts once a steady and satisfactory
implementation of the visa facilitation and readmission agreements is
confirmed. Negotiating a Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement with
Armenia is a policy objective outlined in the Eastern Partnership Road
Map. Armenia has expressed interest and readiness to negotiate the
agreement and the European Commission sent a fact finding mission to
assess the possibility of preparing a mandate for negotiations. We will
also need to strengthen our cooperation within the EaP’s multilateral
dimension in 2015, in particular the four multilateral platforms and
the flagship initiatives and contribute together to the success of
the 4th EaP Summit in Riga. And last but not least to continue the
EaP-related dialogue during the Euronest meeting in Yerevan at the
parliamentary level,” Hristea stated.

The envoy said “the EU is seriously concerned over the security
situation in the region, especially after the unprecedented
increase of tension and recent events at the line of contact in
Nagorno-Karabakh.” “The protracted Nagorno-Karabakh conflict does not
have a military solution and the status quo is unsustainable. Although
we are not part of the OSCE Minsk group negotiation mechanism,
the EU further supports efforts towards peace through the EUSR and
peacebuilding activities.”

“The EU also continues to supports the normalisation of
Armenian-Turkish relations and encourages both sides to remain
committed to the process of normalisation without preconditions,
despite the withdrawal of protocols signed back in 2009 from
parliaments of both countries. This year’s commemoration of atrocities
committed by the Ottoman Empire also is considered by us a test-case
for Armenia-Turkey relations,” he stated.

EMMY AWARD WINNING COMPOSER DENISE GENTILINI TO STAGE MUSICAL ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

17:58, 25 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

A three time Emmy award winning composer Denise Gentilini, along with
singer, songwriter Lisa Nemzo, has created I Am Alive, a dramatic
musical that spans a nearly 75 year love story of her grandparents,
celebrating the strength and resilience of the Armenian people.

Denise Gentilini is the granddaughter of Kourken and Malvine Handjian,
“My grandfather, Kourken, became an orphan at the age of eight. His
father was killed when the Armenian genocide started in central Turkey,
in 1915, where he lived with his family. Along with his surviving
family, he was sent on what would become the death march of men, women
and children across the Syrian desert to concentration camps. But a
Turkish man had pity on this little boy. He rescued him and placed
him in an orphanage. He never saw his family again. My grandmother
Malvine also lived in Turkey. Her father was poisoned in the genocide
and because she had too many siblings for her mother to handle, she
was given away to another family to be raised by them. As surviving
Armenians were deported from Turkey, both Kourken and Malvine wound up
in a refugee camp in Greece where they found each other. When she was
14 and he was 19 they married, and spent nearly 75 years together,”
Denise Gentilini said, speaking to Fox 31 Denver.

Gentilini says while she’s known her history for decades, she chose
this year to share what her family went through. “In April it will
be the 100th commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, and I wanted
to tell the story in a different way. So along with internationally
celebrated singer songwriter Lisa Nemzo, we created I Am Alive,
a dramatic musical that spans a nearly 75 year love story of my
grandparents, celebrating the strength and resilience of the Armenian
people. There have been plays and movies and marches, but I’ve never
heard a musical. I believe music is a universal language, so even
those who don’t know about this time in history might be interested
because the music makes it accessible.”

Gentilini, an Emmy award winning composer, says I Am Alive, directed
by Christy Montour-Larson, is a continuation of the work she’s been
doing in music for years. “As part of the “We Are Voices” project I’ve
composed music for Children’s Hospital on Autism, for the Iliff School
of Theology for their Courage Award for Judy Shephard and for genocide
awareness. I grew up with my grandparents nearby and always knew what
they lived through and handed down to us was amazing. It made me want
to be an activist and do something: to be the voice for the voiceless.”

NEW RULES FOR NGOS: NON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS CLOSELY MONITORING BILL THAT WOULD CHANGE LEGISLATION

SOCIETY | 25.02.15 | 15:41

By SARA KHOJOYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

Armenian non-governmental organizations are not of the same opinion
on the government attempt to determine a new order of legislative
regulation of their activities. A group of organizations are convinced
that the new bill about “Non-Governmental Organizations”, instead of
improving the working environment of NGOs and providing more liberty
for their activities, in fact limits their possibilities.

Enlarge Photo

Meanwhile, another group, unlike their colleagues, is convinced
that changes will help to regulate numerous legal relations, which
previously had made their work more difficult.

In order to get rid of problematic provisions in the bill about
“Non-Governmental Organizations” formed in 2014, which was causing
concerns among the NGOs, the Ministry of Justice has been conducting
public discussions since last December.

Although the idea of giving NGOs the right to profitable activities,
implied by the new bill, is positive in itself, the suggested
conditions might be dangerous, Transparency International (TI)
representative Heriknaz Tigranyan said.

“In the version provided by the Ministry of Justice it says that
entrepreneurial activity must comply with statutory goals and
objectives. The definition limits the range of the activities which
can be realized. The danger is also that the NGO might be subjected to
administrative charges; it might result in liquidation, if activities
outside the statutory are carried out at least 3 times within a year,”
she said.

According to the new bill, the state also receives tools to control
the NGOs, project manager of Eurasia Cooperation Fund Mikayel
Hovhannisyan says.

“Currently discussions are led toward abolishing those tools. In
general, here, the matter is about a number of problems related
to providing financial stability for NGOs, reporting, regulating
volunteering work, as well as representing interests in courts.

Indeed, there is need to improve the legislative environment, but
the other question is how it will be achieved,” Hovhannisyan said.

Zoya Julhakyan, the head of Qaravan 88 NGO, which has been helping
refugees for 27 years, welcomes the new bill because she thinks that
the current law regulating NGO activities is very weak.

“Volunteerism did not develop in our country like in European
countries. Our very organization was penalized for volunteer works –
beneficiaries came, helped us, and the tax office blamed us for hiding
their work.”

“NGOs must be given the right for entrepreneurial activities, there
are changes provisioned in the bill, but we do not know whether the
National Assembly will approve them or not. If the concern is related
to NGOs abusing this power, let them control and exclude that,”
she added.

NGO representatives participating in the discussions with the Ministry
of Justice said that discussions are held in a transparent and healthy
manner, and the atmosphere welcomes news suggestions. There is no
guarantee, though, whether the bill will bear significant changes,
because the government seems to want to control the NGO sphere some
participants say.

“The executive body desires to gain power to participate in
NGO activities, to participate in meetings, demand documents,”
David Amiryan, a deputy project director at the Open Society
Foundations-Armenia (the organization that initiated and assisted
the establishment of the observation group) said.

From: Baghdasarian

AYB SCHOOL AND VIVACELL-MTS HAVE SUMMED UP THE RESULTS OF THEIR COOPERATION

by Vahagn Mamyan

Wednesday, February 25, 16:56

The Ayb School robotics team continues to present our country on
the international platform with distinction. VivaCell-MTS has a
contribution in these achievements through cooperation, the press
service of VivaCell-MTS has told ArmInfo.

The football playing robots created by students of Ayb School were
successfully presented during the World Robot Olympiad in Sochi in
2014. Football playing robots as well as fire- fighting and line
tracking robots and UAVs were demonstrated in the robotics lab,
together with the projects that are currently in the focus of Ayb
students.

“In Armenia the lack of the necessary knowledge, experience and
infrastructure hinders the rapid development of many fields. The
robotics field, though, is in a phase of rapid growth, where amateur
groups very often produce more effective results than experienced
research institutions do,” noted Aram Pakhchanian, principal of
Ayb School.

“VivaCell-MTS attaches great importance to revealing and nurturing
the creative potential in young people. We are where we see such
an opportunity. It is a pleasure to witness the efforts of robotics
students crowned with success,” commented VivaCell-MTS General Manager
Ralph Yirikian.

The Ayb School robotics lab was founded with the financial support of
VivaCell-MTS in 2013. Since then, the students have brought to life
their ideas in computer science, electrical engineering and mechanical
engineering, actively participated in national and international
competitions, achieving significant results. Thus, in 2012, two of
the three Ayb robotics teams, participating in “ArmRobotics” open
competition, took the first two places, and in 2014 the Ayb robotics
team led the chart in the same competition with distinction. In 2013,
the Ayb robotics team was awarded a special prize for its “AybStorm”
robot as the best theoretical solution at the “Fire Fighting Home
Robot” international contest held at Trinity College (Connecticut,
USA) hosting more than 130 teams representing 7 countries. The two
teams from Ayb School also took part in 2014 World Robot Olympiad
in Sochi, presenting our country with honor. The team has recorded
other achievements as well.

The school robotics team is currently involved in a number of
competition and non- competition projects. For participation in the
“Fire Fighting Home Robot” contest to be held in 2016 at Trinity
College, the team is constructing a fire-fighting robot, as well as
a new UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle).

Also, a presentation of UAVs is planned in Artsakh this summer.

For the exchange of experience, research and consultation,
teachers from other schools, collaborating with Ayb, as well as
the representatives of other teams have used the robotics lab of
the school.

VivaCell-MTS (K-Telecom CJSC) is Armenia’s leading mobile operator,
having the widest 2G/3.75G/4G network reach and spreading a wide
range of Voice and Data services all across Armenia. Having the best
of the Armenian people interest at heart since its launch on 1st July
2005 and in a short period of time VivaCell-MTS has managed to build
a nationwide network and a considerable customer base. VivaCell-MTS
drives innovation and aims at always being at the forefront of any
development serving the Armenian mobile communications market. The
company follows the guidance provided by ISO 26000 (International
Standard of Social Responsibility).

Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (“MTS”) is the leading telecommunications group
in Russia and the CIS, offering mobile and fixed voice, broadband,
pay TV as well as content and entertainment services in one of the
world’s fastest growing regions. Including its subsidiaries, the
Group services over 100 million mobile subscribers. The Group has
been awarded GSM licenses in Russia, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Armenia
and Belarus, a region that boasts a total population of more than
200 million. Since June 2000, MTS’ Level 3 ADRs have been listed on
the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol MBT).

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER GIVES ONE MORE CHANCE TO GAGIK TSARUKYAN

by Ashot Safaryan

Wednesday, February 25, 15:45

Armenian Parliament Speaker Galust Sahakyan does not hurry to
strip Gagik Tsarukyan, Leader of Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP),
of his parliament seat. Talking to reporters on February 25, Galust
Sahakyan said he does not want to create precedents of stripping
parliamentarians of their seats. “Although, there are all the legal
grounds to do it, I am waiting for more reasonable excuses from Gagik
Tsarukyuan for his numerous absences. I have sent a relevant letter
to Tsarukyan. I’ll be waiting. I am not in a hurry. ”

As PAP is departing from its radical stand and has canceled the rally
of Feb 20, the issue of stripping Tsarukyan of its parliament seat
appears to be not topical any more.

Commenting on the PAP’s boycott of the four-day meeting of the
parliament, the speaker called it “a pause” in the light of the
current political realities. The speaker believes that PAP will
continuer its activity in the opposition field.

As for the March 1 rally of the Armenian National Congress, Galust
Sahakyan said the Congress is exaggerating the importance of that
rally, because “loud statements on crucial rallies have been made
for already 20 years.”

NAIRIT WORKERS CONTINUE TO PROTEST BUT HOPELESS ABOUT OUTCOME

02.25.2015 10:04 epress.am

Nairit Factory employees protested again in front of the Presidential
Palace yesterday, February 24, demanding that their salaries of 18
months were paid; the workers, however, “do not expect much from the
Armenian authorities.” Note, that during the February 23rd protest the
Nairit employees did not receive an answer from the President’s office.

Despite many journalists being present at the protest, there were
few interviews or comments; the employees demands were clear, the
impossibility of the government to meet their demands also.

When asked “What are you expecting from the government?” the Nairit
workers answer, “We have absolutely no hope, we come here but have
no hope. There needs to be a government in order for us to expect
something, but there isn’t one. If the president doesn’t give a damn
about the people, what can we demand? We come here hopeless,” said
a middle aged male protest participant.

During the protest the factory workers spoke about the injustice
around the current situation. One of the protesters recalled that
even former PM Tigran Sargsyan’s brother, former deputy-director of
Nairit, Ashot Sargsyan, received his salary. The workers also spoke
about possible solutions, for example, it was noted that they could
continue to work the factory and cover their debts.

“Tigran Sargsyan’s brother left with a final salary of 43 million AMD.

How many workers’ salaries would that cover? When it comes to them,
they don’t need to wait for the property sale, unlike us. The factory
hasn’t worked for five years, they have audited it a thousand times,
every time they’ve spent $110,000. Why is the same calculation being
done a thousand times?” said a protester, urging the company to spend
their scarce resources efficiently.

Note, that the protesters were less in number compared to their last
protest. They explained that the older pensioners have money to spend
on transportation, however the younger workers do not have any source
of income.

From: A. Papazian

NEW TAILING POND IN AKHTALA TO BE CONSTRUCTED: NO TOWN HALL MEETINGS, NO TAXES

02.25.2015 10:18 epress.am

Not one town hall meeting has taken place in relation to the issue
of the construction of a new tailing pond affecting the communities
of Ayrum and Jojkan. An Ayrum village council member Oleg Dulgaryan
spoke about the issue during a discussion at Media Center yesterday,
February 24.

According to him, the residents only found out about the project
when the government intervened to change the status of 40 hectares
of land from agricultural to industrial. The same property foresees
the building of the Akhtala Enrichment Plant’s tailing pond.

“A snap hearing was called on in order for the tailing pond to be built
on 40 hectares near the Ayrum and Jojkan communities. That’s why the
government gave a favorable conclusion and based on that conclusion,
the council had to change the status of the land.”

Dulgaryan also said that the villagers already have many complaints
about the current tailing dam.

According to president of the Greens Union of Armenia Hakob Sanasaryan,
who was also present at the conference, the new tailing pond is to
be found in a 2.5-8 km vicinity of 12 communities, while the other
tailing dam is 5km away.

Sanasaryan said that the current tailing dam in Akhtala already has
a negative impact on the environment.

The Greens Union President also stressed that the tailing pond planned
to be built could pollute the adjacent area with heavy metals. Tailing
ponds also have an issue of hurting the state budget, because tailing
ponds do not get taxed in Armenia. Last year, the environmentalist
had written an open letter to Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan,
however in December the PM stated that he had not received it.

“Anyway, I personally handed the letter to the Prime Minister and
until now there hasn’t been a response,” said Sansaryan. He had noted
in the letter that Armenia’s mining sector was free from being taxed
and that the situation has to change.

“I wrote that if it continues this way, Armenia will be left without
water, as well as irrigable land. Neither did the National Assembly
party factions respond. Basically, the force that exports Armenian
metals, the force through which laws of robbery entered Armenia,
that force probably also has power over the political parties,”
said Sanasaryan.

From: A. Papazian

CRIMINAL CASE STILL NOT LAUNCHED INTO THE LACHIN INCIDENT

02.25.2015 11:14 epress.am

A criminal investigation in the case of the NKR police subjecting
the members of the Founding Parliament movement to violence in Lachin
(Berdzor) still has not been launched, although 24 days have passed.

Armenian National Congress faction MP Nikol Pashinyan stated the latter
in the National Assembly yesterday, February 24, while condemning
the inaction of the Nagorno-Karabakh law enforcement.

Between the dilemma of “state” or “fraternity”, he called for the
Nagorno-Karabakh authorities to choose the “state” option. “The
individuals who used violence against the peaceful car rally
participants need to be subject to criminal liability, the officials
who showed negligence in regards to the possible danger of the incident
must be fired immediately. This is not for my fancy, but is called
for by the Karabakh’s constitution, legislation, and basic logic. The
Karabakh authorities need to comprehend that these are the only ways of
overcoming the consequences of the Berdzor incident,” said Pashinyan.

Recall, on January 31st, members of the Founding Parliament, who
organized a car rally toward Nagorno-Karabakh, were beat up near the
NK border by police representatives and civilian clothed individuals.

The attackers also smashed the participants cars. Representatives
of the Founding Parliament have noted that the NKR authorities would
not have conducted the actions without the approval of the Armenian
authorities.

RUSSIA’S FEDERATION COUNCIL RATIFIES AGREEMENT ALLOWING PRESENCE IN RUSSIA AND ARMENIA FOR 30 DAYS WITHOUT REGISTRATION

YEREVAN, February 25. /ARKA/. Russia’s Federation Council ratified
Wednesday an agreement allowing two countries’ citizens to stay
in Russia and Armenia as long as 30 days without registration,
Novosti-Armenia reports referring to RIA Novosti.

In accordance with similar agreements, the same applies also to
citizens of Belarus and Kazakhstan, two other members of the Eurasian
Economic Union.

The agreement with Armenia was signed on July 11, 2014 in Sochi. In
January 2015, Armenia joined the Eurasian Economic Union. —0—–