Author: Andres-Papazian

ARMENIAN COMPOSERS CONVINCED THEY DO NOT CONCEDE THEIR FOREIGN COUNTERPARTS

ARMENPRESS
DECEMBER 14, 2011
YEREVAN

The founder members of the Union of Young Armenian Composers and
Performers – singer, composer Arsen Babajanyan, pianist, composer
Gevorg Badalyan and composer Mavr Lazarian spoke at the December 14
news conference about the main issues and goals of the organization.

“Our goal is promote the development of contemporary Armenian music
art and make it popular. We also want to increase the image of
composers among the society,” founder chairman of the organization
Arsen Babajanyan said.

It is necessary to establish ties between the composers and different
layers of the society, making the Armenian authors known both in
their homeland and abroad. “I had an occasion to contact with foreign
composers, and I may state that our Armenian composers do not concede
them with anything. There is just one difference: while creating the
foreign composers are convinced that their works will be voiced and
Armenian young composers are creating greater works, being convinced
that they will not be heard,” pianist, composer Gevorg Badalyan noted.

“As far as the works of young composers are not being voiced here,
they seek to leave for abroad but it will do no good,” composer Mavr
Lazarian said.

The union gathered a number of young musicians.

From: A. Papazian

KARVACHAR -ARMENIA ROAD CONSTRUCTION IN PROGRESS

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 14, 2011 – 16:32 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Road linking Karvachar (former Kelbajar) with
Armenia is currently being constructed in Artsakh, head of the Central
Information Department at NKR President’s Office said.

According to David Babayan, Martakert – Drbon – Karvachar -Sotk
highway is not of less regional importance than the one linking the
two republics through Goris and Berdzor (former Lachin).

“No price is high for us. Financing of construction plays a secondary
role,” Babayan stated, adding that the road is of both military,
political and economic importance.

David Babayan further expressed hope that the road will be fully
operational by 2013.

From: A. Papazian

TURKISH PARLIAMENT DECIDES TO SEND DELEGATION TO FRANCE

APA
Dec 14 2011
Azerbaijan

Ankara objects to discussion by French Senate of the bill criminalizing
so-called “Armenian genocide” denial

Ankara. Mayis Alizadeh – APA. After it became known that the French
Senate will discuss the bill criminalizing the so-called “Armenian
genocide” denial on December 22, Turkish parliament decided to send
a delegation to this country. APA’s Turkey bureau reports that the
delegation led by chairman of Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs
commission Volkan Bozkir will also include the representatives from
Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

Parliamentarian from CHP, member of the foreign affairs commission
Oktay Eksi told APA that France must withdraw its initiative.

“France claims to be a champion in freedom of speech, freedom
of opinion. Criminalization of the denial of mistakes in its laws
contradicts this claim of France. Those who rule France and those who
impose restrictions on freedom of opinion must be ashamed,” he said.

Parliamentarian from MHP, member of the foreign affairs commission
Tunca Toskay said this step of France is an illogical, groundless,
subjective initiative against Turkey.

“They speak about the freedom of expression and at the same time
threat to arrest those who prove that it did not happen. This can be
a step taken to get the support of Armenians in the domestic policy,
but it is unbecoming to the foreign policy of France. When Turkey
started normalizing relations with Armenia, the government told
the people that it is very effective. We all see what this policy
has resulted in. Sargsyan says Turkish politicians will bow to the
“Armenian genocide” monument. This is a great “success” of honorable
Abdullah Gul and AKP. Soon after the protocols were signed, we objected
to it and drew attention to three important points: Armenians must
withdraw troops from the occupied territories and live at peace with
Azerbaijan; must give up claims regarding Eastern Anatolia; demands
regarding Turkey must be removed from Armenian Constitution and the
Declaration of Independence. We said without this no relations can
be established with Armenia. But under the pressure of the West, US,
European Union the government has chosen this way and is now getting
its bitters,” he said.

From: A. Papazian

TURKISH PARLIAMENT SPEAKER URGES HIS FRENCH COUNTERPART NOT TO PASS BILL CRIMINALIZING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL

Panorama
Dec 14 2011
Armenia

Chairman of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Cemil Cicek sent a
letter to the Speaker of French Parliament, expressing his concern
over the bill criminalizing Armenian Genocide denial on the agenda
of the French Parliament, according to CNN Turk.

Citing unnamed diplomatic sources, the Turkish news agency reports
that in his letter, Cicek stressed that passage of the bill will
inevitably damage the Turkish-French relations.

We will remind that the bill envisages one year prison term and a fine
of 45,000 euros for anyone who denies the fact of Armenian Genocide.

The Speaker of Turkey’s parliament urged his French counterpart not
to interfere in the affairs which need to be studied by historians
and researchers.

Note that on December 7, 2011 the legal commission of the French Senate
passed a bill criminalizing denial of Armenian Genocide, authored by
Valerie Boyer. The French Senate will discuss the bill on December 22.

From: A. Papazian

GARIK AVAGYAN: “2011 IS THE YEAR OF THE FORMATION OF A CIVIC SOCIETYIN ARMENIA”

Vestnik Kavkaza

Dec 14 2011
Russia

Garik Avagyan, the chairman of the “Justice and Democracy’ public
organization, tells VK about the main events of social and political
life in Armenia and about possible trends in these fields for 2012.

– What were, in your opinion, the most important political events of
the passing year in Armenia?

– I believe that the most important thing is the 2011 is the year
of civic society formation in Armenia. newly formed civic society
manifested itself in numerous protest actions and social initiatives,
such as “We won’t be silent”, “Killer-free army” and so on.

Governmental structures can’t pass everything with silence anymore;
they have to give accounts to the public. Some youth eco-oriented
initiatives that helped, for example, save the Trchkan waterfall from
hydro plant construction plans. The number of action group is few
for now, but it grows. Their influence on public opinion and home
politics is also growing.

– What is the final score in the 2011 conflict between power and
opposition?

– The conflict carries on. The number of opposition supporters is
growing due to adverse socio-economic conditions. And it made the
authorities turn from brutal force to dialog with opposition. However,
there is no guarantee that they won’t turn back to brutal methods.

– How would you characterize the situation in the opposition camp? You
said that its position consolidated due to the increase of protest
mood among general population.

– Current deplorable level of socio-economic development is Armenia
plays in the hands of the opposition. The scale of public protest
is growing. The sense of fear created by the events of March, 1,
2008 has faded away, and that also helps the opposition to gather
rallies. The opposition is also better organized now: those who
didn’t entirely agree with Armenian National Congress’ leader Levon
Ter-Petrosyan formed a new party – the “Free democrats” party. So the
ANC is left with most loyal followers. This process is only natural:
each opposition movement at first gathers all people who don’t agree
with official policies but in fact have different political sympathies,
and then they part their ways.

– And what can you say about the situation within the ruling coalition?

– First of all, the “Lawful State” party drained all its potential
and will have to leave the coalition. As for the ruling Republican
Party of Armenia and its coalition partner “Prosperous Armenia”, some
say that there is an ongoing rivalry between them. However, if the
“Prosperous Armenia” tries to play on its own, it will be crushed
by its powerful rival. In fact, “Prosperous Armenia” has only one
actual role in the Parliament – to create an impression that there
is a multi-party system in Armenia.

– What was the role of recent governmental reshuffles?

– It didn’t change anything; it was not a systematic change. Those who
were fired were guilty of nothing but lack of personal loyalty to Serge
Sargsyan. The president also is pressured by external forces, such as
the US, to get rid of criminal elements within the state machine. But
the real struggle against crime is substituted by mere imitation.

– So how could you characterize the political year of 2011 in general?

– There were no interesting political events, as far as the official
government is concerned, it was stagnant.

– What are the top priorities of 2012?

– Our main tasks are to prevent the criminal structures from merging
with administrative structures. We also have to fight monopolies
that rob our people. Unfortunately, we can’t hope for the good-will
cooperation of the ruling party, but I hope that the public society
will be able to influence the government. It is possible that the
next year will be the year of civic consolidation.

Interview by Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to VK .

From: A. Papazian

LAKE SEVAN THREATENED BY MINING
BY GALUST NANYAN

asbarez
Tuesday, December 13th, 2011

Lake Sevan

YEREVAN-Environmental activists in Armenia are stepping up their
year-long campaign against a gold-processing plant, which they
believe poses serious risks to a unique lake that provides much of
the country’s drinking water.

Their concerns center on an ore-crushing plant at the Sotk gold mine,
owned by the GeoProMining company. The plant was completed this year
but is at a standstill while the environment ministry runs checks on
its impact on the surrounding area.

Gold-bearing ore from the Sotk mine used to be taken elsewhere for
processing, but the company wanted to streamline its operations by
crushing the rock locally.

In 2009, a project to build a plant for the complete cycle of
processing ore into gold, which would have involved the use of cyanide
to separate the precious metal from other minerals, was shelved.

Environmentalists still fear that the partial processing done by the
new unit will release other minerals into the freshwater system that
feeds Lake Sevan, the largest lake in the Caucasus.

The lake is a major source of drinking water for people in the Armenian
capital Yerevan and much of the rest of the country.

“The waste created by processing ore will end up in the lake,” warned
Gagik Tadesvosyan, an environmentalist from the SOS Sevan group.

“Agricultural land is being reassigned for mining operations, and
that creates a carcinogenic environment.”

Inga Zarafyan of the Ecolur pressure group was among a group of
activists who visited Sotk to inspect the crushing plant in October.

They say the unit is in breach of a law protecting Lake Sevan’s
catchment area from ore processing.

“The machinery will smash the rock, sift it, remove gold and silver
from the ore, and leave all the unwanted remains to end up in Lake
Sevan,” she said.

Environmentalists want the government to halt operations at the
crushing plant, arguing that the nearby rivers Sotk and Masrik are
already polluted with traces of toxic metals.

Zarafyan said ore processing at Sotk was expected to leave 100
million tons of waste material, which would leak sulphides, chromium
compounds, cadmium and other substances into the rivers and then into
the lake itself.

GeoProMining spokesperson Ruzanna Grigoryan denied that the company
was doing anything illegal and said the technologies it uses are
modern and efficient.

GeoProMining Gold says it has all the paperwork it needs to operate
the crushing plant, an assessment with which Armenia’s energy and
natural resources ministry agrees.

The environment ministry, however, appears to disagree. Its department
that is responsible for checking ecological impacts says the company
has been ordered to halt ore-crushing operations at Sotk until a
thorough analysis can be carried out.

“The company has yet to present any documents,” said Henrik Grigoryan,
deputy head of the body that conducts the environmental checks.

Kolik Shahsuvaryan, the local government chief in Sotk, refused to
be drawn into stating his view of the gold mining operation.

“I try to adopt a neutral position or just not to talk about it. Let
the government decide,” Shahsuvaryan said. “However, I have discussed
it with the company’s leadership. Construction [of the ore-crushing
unit] has been completed. I can’t say whether it meets environmental
standards or not.”

GeoProMining Gold is clearly confident it will overcome objections to
the new ore-crushing facility. It is expanding capacity at its plant
in Ararat, where it conducts the more complex operations to extract
gold and silver from ore, and expects annual production to rise from
the current level of 30,000-40,000 ounces to 150,000 ounces.

Galust Nanyan is a correspondent for the news site in
Armenia. This report was originally published by the Institute for
War and Peace Reporting.

From: A. Papazian

RATIO OF ARMENIA’S OVERALL PUBLIC DEBT TO ITS EXPORTS IS 400%: EXPERT SAYS

/ARKA/
December 14, 2011
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, December 14. /ARKA/. The ratio of Armenia’s overall public
debt to its exports is 400%, which is quite dangerous, a former
finance minister, now deputy rector of the Russian-Armenian (Slavonic)
University, Edward Sandoyan, said in an interview with “PostScript”
program of A1 + Webcast.

For comparison he said this ratio in Estonia is 12%, 30% in Russia,
100% in Georgia, 490% in Greece and 790% in Japan.

According Sandoyan, the more developed the national economy is ,
the greater its opportunities to attract foreign loans, particularly
through issuance of liquid government debt securities – bonds. For
example, he said, in the U.S. bonds can become an unlimited source
of funding its own public expenditures.

“But for us it can be dangerous, because we do not have the tools on
these markets, and will not be able to place our government bonds at
those markets for a long time yet and attract fresh funds until our
economy rises to its feet,” he said.

Earlier prime minister Tigran Sargsyan said ‘Given that our external
debt is made up mostly of low-interest rate loans provided by
international lending organizations we asses the burden as moderate
and controlled.’

According to the National Statistical Service of Armenia, Armenia’s
overall public debt as of September 30 this year amounted to about
1.508 trillion drams. According to the Ministry of Finance, domestic
debt amounted to about 199.9 billion drams, having increased in
comparison with the beginning of the year by 10.9% and the external
debt stood at more than 1.308 trillion drams or $3.515.8 billion,
an increase of 6.6 %. ($1 – 382.27 drams).

From: A. Papazian

THE MOST NEGATIVE ARE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AND POLICE

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 14:43:41 – 14/12/2011

Today, the Center for Freedom of Information presented the results of
“Freedom of Information in Armenia 2011” monitoring.

It was found out that the issues in this sphere are numerous and
various. The first, according to the Head of the Center Liana Doydoyan,
is the lack of culture of transparent activities of officials.

250 requests have been sent to 50 structures within the framework of
the monitoring, only the 56% provided full answers. 8 rejected the
requests. The unanswered questions amount to 30%.

According to lawyer Gevorg Hayrapetyan, the National Assembly answered
the questions with 1 month of delay. The State Revenue Committee has
not responded to the written request, saying that the government of
Armenia does not define the order of registration, classification
and preservation of information.

>From the state structures, the best answers were provided by the
Ministry of Education and Science, and the worst results from National
Assembly and Police.

The authors of the monitoring advise the officials to educate their
subordinates not to render the provision of information a problem in
Armenia. They also propose to release the results of their activities
on their own and to work transparently.

From: A. Papazian

AGMI DIRECTOR RULES OUT ARMENIAN OFFICER’S KILLER EXTRADITION

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 14, 2011 – 13:57 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum Institute
(AGMI) Hayk Demoyan does not consider Azerbaijani assassin Ramil
Safarov’s extradition feasible.

In a conversation with a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, Mr. Demoyan ruled
out such a scenario recalling unprecedented murder of Armenian officer
Gurgen Margaryan.

According to AGMI Director, despite Azerbaijan’s attempts to bribe
Hungarian court, the country did not shift its stance on the issue.

“Were Hungary to consider Safarov’s extradition, it would have done
it right after sentencing,” Demoyan stated, adding that Hungary will
refrain from any steps without prior reviewing Armenia’s position.

Lieutenant of the Armenian Armed Forces Gurgen Margaryan, 26, was
hacked to death while asleep by fellow Azerbaijani participant Ramil
Safarov in Budapest during a three-month English language course in
the framework of Partnership for Peace NATO-sponsored program.

In accordance with Budapest District Court sentence dated April 13,
2006, Safarov was life imprisoned for murdering Margaryan. On February
22, 2007, Budapest Court rejected the Azerbaijani military officer’s
appeal against the verdict which excluded possibility of pardon for
the initial 30 years. The appeal court ruled that the ruling brought
by Budapest District Court against 30-year-old Safarov, should stand.

Hayk Demoyan was Armenian Defense Ministry representative at the
Budapest trial in 2006.

From: A. Papazian

AZERI, TURKISH FMS DISCUSS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL

Tert.am
14.12.11

The Azeri and Turkish FMs, Elmar Mammadyarov and Ahmed Davutoglu,
had a telephone conversation and discussed ways of settling the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Referring to HaberTurk, the Trend news agency reports that the two
also discussed France’s position on the Armenian Genocide in the
context of French MPs’ recent initiative.

Members of the Union for a Popular Movement (French: Union pour
un Mouvement Populaire, UMP), led by President Nicolas Sarkozy,
submitted a bill penalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide to the
Commission of the Laws of the French National Assembly.

The bill envisages up to one years’ imprisonment and a ~@45,000 fine
for denying the Armenian Genocide.

From: A. Papazian