Month: February 2015

RALLY CRY OR CRYING “FOUL”?: OPPOSITION AWAITS CITY HALL DECISION

POLITICS | 16.02.15 | 15:07

NAZIK ARMENAKYAN
ArmeniaNow

By SARA KHOJOYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

If Yerevan City Hall denies Armenia’s political opposition a rally
permit, the decision will be politically-motivated, Heritage Party
representative Armen Martirosyan told ArmeniaNow.

Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukyan has called an “urgent”
rally for Friday.

Heritage, Prosperous Armenia (PAP) and Armenian National Congress (ANC)
parties on Monday notified Yerevan authorities and the police that
on February 20 they will hold an emergency rally in Freedom Square.

According to Martirosyan, the term emergency was selected because in
the law about “Freedom of rallies” notification can be sent less than
seven days in advance only in case of emergency rallies.

“The law also says that the situation must be such that it is
impossible to postpone and it must be discussed immediately, and
indeed, important events are taking place these days in our country
and we must discuss it with the people.”

The decision about holding an emergency rally was made by the troika
on Sunday referring to the law on “Freedom of Rallies”; the second
point of Article 26 says “urgent” is a rally which is organized in
order to immediately react to a situation, otherwise that purpose is
impossible to be achieved if the notification deadline is met.

The second point of Article 27 of the same law defines that the
organizer of the rally has to keep the authorized body and the police
aware of all the activities taken toward the rally in advance.

“The decision to accept the notification of the rally is exceptionally
in the legal dimension. And if the City Hall does not accept it,
it will be a direct persecution against the opposition, carried
out by executive tools which is illegal and anti-constitutional,”
Martirosyan said.

Yerevan City Hall posts its decisions about rallies on its website
where there is still no information about Friday’s rally.

DISTRACTION?: PAP SAYS ATTACK ON TSARUKYAN TAKES FOCUS OF BIGGER GOVERNMENT CONCERNS

POLITICS | 16.02.15 | 15:22

GOHAR ABRAHAMYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

The President’s harsh comments and accusations toward Prosperous
Armenia Party (PAP) leader Gagik Tsarukyan have stirred unrest within
the party, while members of the “alternative” party say that the
government should be focusing on greater matters of concern rather
than trying to bring down Tsarukyan.

PAP faction MP Mikayel Melkumyan told reporters on Monday that the
party’s activities were solely oppositional; they moved along the
path with no turbulence, however, these latest events will accelerate
their activities.

“At the (Republican Party of Armenia) meeting there was not a word
about the country’s grave social state; are they trying to distract
people’s attention? Is Gagik Tsarukyan to be blamed that there are
no investments in Armenia, that there are more than a million poor
people in Armenia, is Gagik Tsarukyan to be blamed that there is
officially 20 percent of unemployment . . .”

Melkumyan said, adding that there is an exceptional chance now to
follow the people’s desire.

Christian-Democratic Renaissance party leader Sos Gimishyan spoke
about the situation saying that it is the first time he does not
agree with either side, he believes in neither the government nor
the other side and even sees a political game in this situation.

“One side said that this is the evil, the other one – the opposite,
they had the government in their hands together once, and today’s state
is the result of those years. I do not exclude the option that this is
a political game, an attempt to clarify the political field between
the two forces, and behind these political forces I can clearly see
Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan,” Gimishyan said.

Melkumyan dismissed the statement as “nonsense”.

Gimishyan said that the two sides with their actions made the situation
in the country tense, which, on the background of current geopolitical
processes, is unnecessary for the country.

VIGEN SARGSYAN DISCUSSES GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL EVENTS WITH NKR PRESIDENT

February 16, 2015 12:16

Yerevan /Mediamax/. President of Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) Bako
Sahakyan received the Coordinator of Events dedicated to the Armenian
Genocide Centennial, Chief of Staff of the Armenian President Vigen
Sargsyan today.

The meeting continued in an extended format with participation of
the leader of Artsakh Diocese of Armenian Apostolic Church Archbishop
Pargev Martirosyan, Chairman of NKR National Assembly Ashot Ghulyan,
Prime Minister Ara Harutyunyan and other officials.

The meetings focused on issues related to the preparatory works of
events within the Armenian Genocide Centennial in Artsakh.

– See more at:

“THOSE WHO JUSTIFY THE TURKS, LET THEM SHARE THEIR MOTHERS, WIVES AND CHILDREN WITH THEM.”

February 16 2015

According to Sergey Shakaryants, no need to criticize the Declaration
On January 29, upon the completion of the session of the State
Committee coordinating the events to commemorate the Centennial of
the Armenian Genocide, the ceremony of publication of the Pan-Armenian
Declaration on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide was held
at the Genocide Memorial site, which was unanimously passed during the
session of the State Committee coordinating the events to commemorate
the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide. The above mentioned document
was read by President Serzh Sargsyan. It was announced that the Alma
copy of the Declaration shall be given to the Armenian Genocide Museum
-Institute, one copy, as Serzh Sargsyan mentioned, will be sent to
the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and one more will be
sent to Armenia’s national archives. The adoption of the Declaration
was followed by discussions among the social, political, cultural
and other circles, which implies that there were also criticism, in
particular to the fact that the text of the Declaration is incomplete.

In this regard, the 2nd President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan
expressed his view, criticizing that it is provinciality and does
not represent the notion of unity of entire Armenians.

To the question of “Aravot” of whether the Armenian Genocide
Declaration is a successful document or not, political analyst Sergey
Shakaryants said that he does not understand the people who are
criticizing a document knowing that it is remembered in Armenia with
a sad expression, with wrong category of history. “We are realize
that the centennial of this crime should somehow be accessible and
understandable to the outside world. We understand that there should
be some thing. And whether the public is unanimous or not, that’s
another matter, the public may have different thoughts of why it had
happened. The entire Armenian people do not doubt that there was a
crime that should be condemned. To share the opinion of those saying
that this or that sentence in the document was necessary or not, I do
not agree, maybe an other, a more substantial document was necessary
and it does not matter which direction different political and social
forces are oriented. I am surprised that Turkish-people-admirers
are found in our society, and I would exile such people to Turkey,
those who love the Turks, let them love and go to live with the Turks.

Fortunately, we have not forgotten that 60 %of Turkey is Armenia,
therefore, go and live there, but do not violate the rights of other
segment of the society – to hate the Turks and remember what had
happened, the genocide.”

Sergey Shakaryants also thinks that no need to find explanations to
justify the Turks. And the people who believe that our nation has also
its share of guilt, offers to go and share everything with the Turks.

“Let them share their mothers, wives and children. If Turks were good,
the neighboring nations would not expel them….No need to diminish
the grief of the Armenians as nation. The enemy must have its place…”

Eva HAKOBYAN

Read more at:

STEPAN MARGARYAN ABOUT IMPEACHMENT. “AT THE MOMENT, WE DO NOT HAVE THE FINAL VERSION OF WHAT WE WILL BE DOING.”

February 16 2015

On February 13, during the “Urvagits” TV program over “Kentron”
TV channel, the Prosperous Armenia faction member Vardan Oskanyan
announced that Serzh Sargsyan’s statement is a sufficient ground for
impeachment. “This speech is a serious violation of the Constitution,
and our Constitution allows putting the issue of impeachment in the
event of violating it,” said Oskanyan. “There was a bile in Serzh
Sargsyan’s speech, there was malice, and this speech was not of one day
and one moment. It is obvious that there was something accumulated,
which burst out. The speech was absolutely anti-constitutional. Each
sentence and paragraph was anti-constitutional by its nature. The
security forces were directly instructed to go and file a criminal case
against Tsarukyan. The president of the country has no right to issue
such instructions,” mentioned Vardan Oskanyan. On February 14, during
the second congress of the “Mission” political party, PAP faction
member Stepan Margaryan also talked about the regime change. Aravot.am
asked the faction member Stepan Margaryan whether the impeachment is
the Prosperous Armenia party’s orientation, and whether it is possible
for the party to join Nikol Pashinyan’s impeachment initiative, he
replied, at this point, neither one nor the other, adding that he does
not rule out such a course of the events. “At this point we do not have
the final discussed version of what we will be doing. We have a plan
of what we will be doing, it’s the joint decision with the society
and the people, the public events, during which certain activities
will be made also at the National Assembly. The discussion are still
underway, when they are ready, we will make them public.” Michael
Melkumyan added that the Impeachment is not an end in itself and
should make a part of overall actions. “If we demand a resignation,
and he does not accept it, he is just ensuring a mechanism, a bridge,
which we will consider in general, in the complex. But at this point,
we do not have the complex of moves, we will consider them in the
meantime. As soon as the moment comes, you will know.”

Ami CHICHAKYAN

Read more at:

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

DISCUSSION ON CONSTRUCTION OF AKHTALA TAILING DUMP IN METS AYRUM WAS TENSE

17:30 February 14, 2015

EcoLur

On 12 February the public hearings on allotting new land area from Mets
Ayrum community, Lori Region, for the construction of a new tailing
dump at Akhtala Ore Dressing Combine, was held in Mets Ayrum community.

Mets Ayrum community head Sahak Nazaryan, Akhtala Ore Dressing Combine
Foreign Affairs and Environmental Department Head Gagik Shahnazaryan,
community residents, environmentalists and journalists took part in
these discussions.

Not mentioning anything about the damage to be caused due to the
construction of a tailing dump, the combine representative started
listing who gets how much due to being employed at the combine,
“The combine currently employs 700 people, out of which 60 people
are from Ayrum and Tchotchkan communities, who annually earn over
100 million AMD.”

Then G. Shahnazaryan made a rapid shift to the financial state of the
combine and praising its owner – Maksim Hakobyan, “It’s not that moral
to speak about enterprise incomes under current conditions of decrease
in copper price worldwide. The price dropped from US$ 7300 to US$
5300, but no one was made redundant and God bless Mr. Maksim Hakobyan,
he said not to fire anyone and let at least one family member work.”

“Our common approach, which is also Maksim Hakobyan’s approach, is
possible social support to community residents,” G. Shahnazaryan said.

“If you think of people, open a fruit canning plant,” one of the
community residents said.

Another community resident said, “If this tailing dump is full in 10
or 20 years, where will it be transferred?… we don’t have any land
areas, the tailing dump occupies everything… Do you understand that
we are deceived when we are told no damage will take place…70 people
are employed, but hundreds of people breathe in this air…How are
they going to reclaim 40 ha, if now they can’t reclaim 7 ha…They
pay only 40,000 AMD, but this doesn’t allow me to get any benefit
from my land area of 20 ha. Can’t you feel that nature doesn’t exist
here? No fruit, not harvest, as the soil is contaminated.”

Then the resident asked the attendees who wanted their children to
get sick and the reply was non negative.

Then the resident added, “You are all cheated with a few
pennies… this fine nature is destroyed, we don’t have any nature
anymore, I go to other places for fresh air – here I have headaches
and pain in my heart.”

Hakob Sanasaryan, Chairman of Greens Union of Armenia, informed the
residents about the hazards of the tailing dump.

“Tail contains heavy metals, which cause heavy consequences not only
for people, but also for animals and plants. The scientists have
proved that tail processed thousands years ago still remains. If a
large tailing dump is available in the area, no human being should
live there,” Hakob Sanasaryan said.

“Community residents are informed that their children may die of
cancer tomorrow. The community residents should be aware of it. In
December the OSCE published a report, which says Akhtala tailing dump
is the most hazardous,” said Oleg Dulgaryan, Director of “Community
Unity and Support Center” NGO, member of Mets Ayrum Aldermen’s Council.

A resident supporting the tailing dump said, “We have lived here for
so many years and already got diseases, why you haven’t come earlier
and informed us about not living here…Tchotchkan has already made
its decision, so what’s wrong with Ayrum?”

The community head finished the discussions without allowing the
attendees, including the environmentalists, to ask the questions they
are concerned with.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT ALLOWS TO SELL AND PURCHASE WASTES WITHOUT DOCUMENTS

02:53 February 13, 2015

EcoLur

The Armenian Government allowed selling and purchasing a number of
wastes without founding documents. For this purpose, on 12 February
the executive approved the list of secondary raw materials, which
includes the following wastes:

1. Paper and cardboard wastes

2. Ferrous and non-ferrous scrap and wastes

3. Polymeric wastes

4. Glass scrap and wastes, including used glass items

5. Textile wastes

6. Mineral and synthetic oil wastes

7. Discharged batteries

8. Electrical devices or scrap and wastes of their parts

9. Construction wastes

10. Food fuel wastes

11. Rubber wastes.

TAILS OF NAHATAK TAILING DUMP OWNED BY AKHTALA ORE DRESSING COMBINE DUMPED INTO DEBED (PHOTOS)

13:25 February 16, 2015

EcoLur

The tails of Nahatak tailing dump owned by Akhtala Ore Dressing
Combine are dumped into the Debed River, as EcoLur eye witnessed on
12 February visiting the area of Nahatak tailing dump after the the
public hearings on allotting new land area from Mets Ayrum community,
Lori Region, for the construction of a new tailing dump together with
the environmentalists and local residents.

“Under the law, it should be isolated from environment, and as you
can see, the tails flow downwards and get into the Debed River,” said
Hakob Sanasaryan, Chairman of Greens Union of Armenia, and added the
tails contain such heavy metals, as copper, zinc, thorium etc.

One of the residents responded, “We all feel unwell, dizzy and feel
like vomiting.”

“All three tailings owned by Akhtala Combine experience problems with
recultivation. This very tailing dumps is used for over 5 years and
doesn’t prescribe any safety standards with numerous violations,”
said Oleg Dulgaryan, Director of “Community Unity and Support Center”
NGO, member of Mets Ayrum Aldermen’s Council.

LICENSE NEEDED TO EXPORT PRECIOUS METALS AND THEIR ORES FROM ARMENIA

11:35 February 16, 2015

EcoLur

>From now on single-use license will be needed to export precious metal,
precious metal scrap and wastes, ore and concentrates from Armenia
to any other country. Under the governmental resolution dated on 30
January, Economy Ministry is in charge of issuing these licenses.

The requirement of issuing licenses is conditioned with the legal
acts of accession of Armenia to the Eurasian Economic Union.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT RECALLS ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROTOCOLS FROM PARLIAMENT

17:05, 16 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has addressed a letter to the
Speaker of the National Assembly Galust Sahakyan, informing about his
decision to recall the Armenian-Turkish Protocols from the National
Assembly. The letter reads, in part:

“Respected Mr. Sahakyan,

When launching the process of normalization of the Armenian-Turkish
relations without preconditions, we were fully aware of all possible
scenarios of future development. We were ready for both comprehensive
normalization of relations through ratification of the protocols and
their failure. We had nothing to conceal, as it would become clear
to the world which party was guilty of missing the chance to open
the last closed border in Europe.

Almost six years have passed from the signing of the Armenian-Turkish
protocols. Throughout this period Armenia has consistently backed
the realization of the protocols.

However, we cannot but stress the lack of political will on the part
of turkey, the distortion of the letter and spirit of the protocols

From: Baghdasarian