Author: Andres-Papazian

CELESTE WALLANDER: “I WAIT FOR FURTHER WORK WITH ARMENIAN MINISTRY OF DEFENSE WITH GREAT EXPECTATIONS”

Noyan Tapan

27.06.2011

The answer of Celeste Wallander, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of
Defense, to the question of RA MD “Armed Forces” TV program:

Question.-We are very much interested in your estimation of the
Strategic Defense Review process in Armenia.How would you evaluate
Armenia’s participation in activities for sustaining international
stability. As you know, Armenia has recently increased its peacekeeping
military contingent in Afghanistan and assumed new tasks undertaking
the new mission of Armenian mentors to instruct the National Army
officers in Afghanistan.

Answer – Thank you very much, thank you for your kind words. It’s
really a pressure to be back in Armenia. We have had discussions today
with the minister of defense covering the full range of issues and
areas of cooperation which is now an extensive list. I commented to
the minister that each time we meet we have more and more to discuss.

And in particular I think it is important to understand the broad
range of areas of cooperation now.

We work with the ministry of defense of Armenia on its modernization
and its objectives, those are clearly stated in the strategic defense
review, which is a comprehensive document which was worked out within
the whole government of Armenia, and so it’s a reflection of national
priorities.

And we are very privileged to be able to support the Ministry of
Defense as it now moves towards implementing those priorities in
professional development of officer corps and in particular NCO. So
this is something exciting for us- a new area to work with the
ministry of defense on that area. And also build on previous areas
of success. You mentioned in particular the new commitments of five
officers in addition to the tripling of Armenia’s contribution to ISAF,
of particular importance is the mentor and liaison mission that is
now going to be fulfilled by 5 officers who, we are proud to be able
to say, have attended American military education courses.

So we feel particularly excited to know that they are able to use that
experience in that work with American military now in their mission
in Afghanistan , which of course you know is of very high priority
for the US. Pr. Obama made very clear that the US is very committed
and continues be committed to providing stability and security by
supporting the development of the Afghan security forces . So we are
very grateful to the Ministry of Defense for making that commitment
and contributing to that mission. More broadly also we have been
working with the MD in developing the institutional development of
Armenia’s capability to contribute international missions through
its peacekeeping brigade. So a lot of our cooperation activities
which total in value for this year about a little over 12 million US
dollars in their area of defense and security cooperation, a lot of
those activities focus on training and planning, but also providing
equipment, and working with the Armenian peace keeping brigade so
that they are able to be ready to contribute not just to the ISAF
missions but other missions as well. It is very important for people
to remember, that Armenians are also serving in Kosovo as part to
KFOR mission, we tend to forget about it, because it’s so successful,
but I think it’s important for everyone to understand that the reason
it is successful is because so many partners have been willing to
be there and contribute to this post-conflict situation. So we are
grateful for that support as well. So we have many things to talk
about , we have many things to be working on in the coming year. We
talked a little bit also today about that planning, but I am very
grateful for such a broad area of cooperation and we look forward to
continuing to work with the MD.

From: A. Papazian

U.S. WAITS FOR AZERI ATTACK ON KARABAKH TO ALLOCATE PEACEMAKERS, EXPERTS SAY

PanARMENIAN.Net
June 28, 2011

PanARMENIAN.Net – The U.S. expects Azerbaijan’s attack on Karabakh,
according to the director of the Institute of Political and Social
Studies of the Black Sea and Caspian Region.

As Vladimir Zakharov stated at Yerevan-Moscow TV spacebridge, U.S.

waits for Azeri aggression to allocate its peacemaking forces in
Karabakh. “It’s no secret that the peacemaking contingent is already
in Transcaucasia,” Zakharov said.

As a political analyst Sergey Mikheev, in turn, noted, the U.S. will
use Armenia, Azerbaijan and Karabakh in pursuit of its own geopolitical
interests.

From: A. Papazian

L’ARMENIE AFFIRME MAITRISER LA FABRICATION DE DRONES
Stephane

armenews.com
mercredi 29 juin 2011

L’Armenie fabrique et fournit a ses forces armees aeriennes des drones
militaires capables de voler en profondeur dans le territoire ennemi
a annonce le vice-commandant de l’armee de l’air.

” Nous avons des drones capables d’effectuer des missions en profondeur
dans le territoire interieur de l’ennemi ” a declare le Colonel Armen
Mkrtchian aux journalistes. ” Ils sont fabriques en Armenie “.

” Malgre cela nous n’excluons pas la possibilite d’acquerir des
drones etrangers rien que pour une simple comparaison ” a-t-il dit. ”
Après tout, vous pouvez voir les bonnes et mauvaises choses par la
comparaison “.

Armen Mkrtchian a refuse de donner le moindre detail sur la fabrication
des drones qui existe seulement dans un nombre limite de pays. Il
n’a pas dit si les drones armeniens sont concus seulement pour des
missions de surveillance ou des missions aeriennes aussi.

Certains analystes avaient diffuse l’information que les militaires
armeniens disposaient de drones ces dernières annees. Les remarques de
Mkrtchian sont la première confirmation officielle de ces affirmations.

L’Azerbaïdjan a achete des drones a Israël recemment. Une societe
azero-Israelienne a commence a assembler les drones en Azerbaïdjan
plus tôt cette annee.

La decennie passee l’Azerbaïdjan a aussi acquis des douzaines
d’avions militaires. On pense maintenant que son armee de l’air a
une superiorite numerique sur son adversaire armenien.

Armen Mkrtchian et Artsrun Hovannisian, un expert au Ministère de la
Defense Nationale ont minimise cet avantage. Ils ont pretendu que la
capacite aerienne de Bakou est extremement gonflee et qu’elle serait
d’une petite utilisation a l’armee azerie en cas d’une autre guerre
au Nagorno-Karabakh.

From: A. Papazian

FAIR ELECTIONS BEST DIALOGUE BETWEEN OPPOSITION, AUTHORITIES – DEMIRCHYAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
June 28, 2011

PanARMENIAN.Net – Extraordinary elections are the only means to create
new political culture and civilized dialogue with the authorities in
Armenia, according to Stepan Demirchyan, chairman of People’s Party
of Armenia.

“Conduction of free elections is the best dialogue,” member of the
opposition Armenian National Congress member told a press conference
in Yerevan.

According to Demirchyan, the vitality of snap elections is explained
by the fact that “previous elections were marred and, furthermore,
the current authorities have failed to resolve the pressing problems.”

Asked how long the opposition can wait for the authorities to satisfy
their demands, he said the opposition “still has time but cannot
wait long.”

Demirchyan also said that if current authorities win extraordinary
elections, the ANC will accept these results.

>>From February 20, 2008, the Armenian opposition led by first
president Levon Ter-Petrossian, who ran for presidency in 2008, but was
not elected, held rallies in the central part of Yerevan, protesting
against the election results. The protest actions resulted in unrest
and clashes between the police and rally participants on March 1-2.

According to the Office of RA Prosecutor General, around 200 people
were injured, 10 people were killed, and over 100 people were arrested.

In May 2011, President Serzh Sargsyan offered the National Assembly
to declare amnesty on occasion of the 20th anniversary of Armenia’s
independence, the proposal being based on article 81.1.1 of the
RA Constitution and article 90 of the law on National Assembly
regulations. With a vote 91-0, the Armenian parliament approved the
proposal for amnesty for 396 people to be released and 379 to have
their sentence cut.

During a recent political council session, Armenian National Congress
(ANC) named the composition of ANC delegation to negotiate with the
authorities. The delegation includes ANC coordinator Levon Zurabyan,
representative of the central bureau David Shahnazaryan, a member of
ANC economic committee, the head of ANC structure in Malatya Vahagn
Khachatryan, People’s Party of Armenia secretary Felix Khachatryan
and deputy head of Armenian National Movement Samvel Abrahamyan.

From: A. Papazian

PEACH HARVEST BEST CROP IN ARMENIA THIS YEAR

epress.am
06.28.2011

According to estimates, no more than 20,000 tons of apricots were
produced in Armenia this year, said Armenian Agrarian Peasants Union
President Hrach Berberyan, speaking to journalists in Yerevan today.

Berberyan stated that during its best years, Armenia produced 75,000
tons of apricots.

One of the reasons for the drastic drop in the harvest, said Berberyan,
has to do with the drying up of fruit orchards, as a result of which
10-15% of orchards have dried up.

“If the prices are affordable, the population consumes 10,000 tons –
5,000 tons are processed, 5,000 tons are exported,” he said.

The agrarian expert also weighed in on the vegetable harvest,
saying it’s in mediocre condition. Berberyan tied this issue with
plant diseases.

“Mainly, the fight against diseases in agriculture today is organized
incorrectly. Of course the villager also has a problem with the
fertilizer. They [presumably, government officials] promised to
provide fertilizer for 6,500 drams, but didn’t do so. An agriculture
ministry employee also said the price of fertilizer will go down by
15%. Fine, next year, they’ll answer for these remarks – they said
and they left. The price of fertilizer won’t go down,” he said.

Berberyan also mentioned that the best harvest this year will be the
peach harvest.

From: A. Papazian

GYUMRI RESIDENT CHARGED FOR MURDERING DOCTOR WHO SAVED HIS FATHER’S LIFE

epress.am
06.28.2011

Gyumri resident Artak Karapetyan, 28, has been arrested for the murder
of a doctor in Armenia’s second-largest city on Jun. 26.

According to a statement on the official website of the Armenian
police, Dr. Ashot Grigoryan, 65, was called to the Karapetyan house
for an emergency after which he was beaten to death.

Gyumri law enforcement officers who arrived on the scene found Dr.

Grigoryan’s body with injuries evident on the right side of his
forehead and cheek bone.

According to Regnum news agency, Dr. Grigoryan had arrived after
Karapetyan called him for an emergency having to do with his father.

When the doctor arrived on the scene, Karapetyan greeted him outside
and beat him – believing the physician took his time getting there
and was slow to act -, after which the doctor, despite the beatings,
went in and assisted the patient. Despite Dr. Grigoryan reportedly
saving Karapetyan’s father’s life, Kareptyan once again lashed out
at the doctor and beat him so much that he died.

Armenia police report that Karapetyan has been charged with RA Criminal
Code Article 104 (murder) and an investigation is underway.

From: A. Papazian

BANKING SECTOR IN ARMENIA, GEORGIA SHOWS GOOD GROWTH RATES

PanARMENIAN.Net
June 28, 2011

PanARMENIAN.Net – In Armenia, about 1 million bank cards have been
issued, alongside 3,195 POS terminals and 778 ATM units installed.

The number of POS terminals in Georgia totals 10,286 units, ATM
stations – 1,512, and bank cards – about three million.

Azerbaijan, a country with a population of over 8 million, shows the
following results: it has 7,988 POS terminals, 1,992 ATMs and slightly
over 4 million credit cards.

Despite the difficult post-crisis period, the banking sector shows
good growth rates in Georgia and Armenia, on average 15%.

INPAS Company (Innovative Payment Solutions), which is a supplier
of technological solutions for acquiring networks, held a conference
from June 15-17, 2011, “INPAS-Event 2011” in Batumi, Georgia.

The conference brought together members of the banking market from
the South Caucasus. It was visited by representatives of Georgian,
Armenian, Azerbaijani banks, as well as by companies that supply the
host solutions and acquiring equipment, The Financial reports.

From: A. Papazian

APRICOT-O-METER: NO BUMPER CROP PROSPECT FOR ARMENIA’S BLESSED FRUIT THIS SUMMER
Gayane Lazarian

ArmeniaNow
28.06.11

This year Armenia expects to harvest about 20,000 tons of apricots,
or less than a third of what is considered a bumper crop of the fruit
in the country, according to a leading agriculture expert.

Hrach Berberyan, the chairman of the Agrarian-Peasant Union of Armenia,
says half of the expected apricot crop will be consumed domestically,
a quarter will be reprocessed and the other quarter will go for export.

“During the bumper crop years we would normally have some 70-75,000
tons [of apricot]. Hail has left its adverse effect, but let’s also
consider that 10-15 percent of apricot orchards have gone dry,”
says Berberyan. “Besides, there is also a problem with keeping
agro-technical rules, farmers poorly organize plant protection, which,
in its turn, depends on material resources.”

According to Berberyan, exports of apricot in conditions of the
30-percent crop should not come at the expense of the population —
in other words local consumers should not pay more for the fruit just
because the bulk of it is exported.

“We are not against export, but one should understand one thing –
our farmers first and foremost work for our people. It is the export
of the surplus that should be encouraged,” says the specialist. “In
general, only 10-15 percent of the crop should go for export.”

At the same time, Berberyan characterizes the vegetables crop situation
as “medium satisfactory”. In contrast, a rich peach crop is expected
in Armenia, he says. Also, according to the specialist, a drought is
expected and it is recommended that potato growers should carry out
some light irrigation to avoid the drying of the root-plant.

According to Berberyan, the Agrarian-Peasant Union and the Police
of Armenia have reached an agreement that traffic police will, from
now on, refrain from stopping trucks laden with agricultural produce
(such as for inspection purposes, etc, while, naturally, will interfere
should traffic rules be broken).

“A police worker acting otherwise will be punished. If farmers meet
such cases they may phone the hotline by dialing (010) 54-07-81. We’ve
taken this step in order to support farmers by facilitating their
way to the markets,” says Berberyan.

From: A. Papazian

Revue de presse No1 – 28/06/11 – Collectif VAN

Publie le : 28-06-2011

Info Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN [Vigilance
Armenienne contre le Negationnisme] vous propose une revue de presse
des informations parues dans la presse francophone, sur les thèmes
concernant la Turquie, le genocide armenien, la Shoah, le genocide
des Tutsi, le Darfour, le negationnisme, l’Union europeenne, Chypre,
etc… Nous vous suggerons egalement de prendre le temps de lire ou
de relire les informations et traductions mises en ligne dans notre
rubrique

Par ailleurs, certains articles en anglais, allemand, turc, etc,
ne sont disponibles que dans la newsletter Word que nous generons
chaque jour. Pour la recevoir, abonnez-vous a la Veille-Media : c’est
gratuit ! Vous recevrez le document du lundi au vendredi dans votre
boîte email. Bonne lecture.

Rencontre a Kazan : pas d’accord Info Collectif VAN –
– Les pourparlers qui ont eu lieu a Kazan,
capitale de la Republique du Tatarstan, avec pour mediateur le
president russe Dmitry Medvedev, n’ont pas debouche sur un accord. Les
trois presidents ont fait une declaration conjointe a l’issue de la
rencontre. Le Collectif VAN vous livre la traduction d’un article
paru en anglais sur le site Armenian Weekly le 24 juin 2011.

> : manifestation au
sein de l’UNESCO Info Collectif VAN – – Le
Collectif VAN vous invite a lire le communique de presse de la
FRA Nor Seround – Nouvelle Generation Armenienne publie le 23 juin
2011. “A l’occasion de l’exposition “L’Art des Khatchkars – Croix
de Pierre Armeniennes”, organisee du 15 au 24 juin 2011, par la
Delegation permanente de l’Armenie, au sein de l’Organisation des
Nations Unies pour l’education, la science et la culture (UNESCO),
de nombreuses associations se sont emues des censures qui ont pese
sur cet evènement dedie au patrimoine culturel des Armeniens”.

Rwanda : le TPIR condamne pour la 1ère fois une femme pour genocide
Info Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN vous
propose cette information publiee sur le site de l’ONU le 24 juin
2011. “Le Tribunal penal international pour le Rwanda (TPIR), base a
Arusha en Tanzanie, a condamne, vendredi, les six accuses de l’affaire
Butare, y compris Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, ancienne ministre rwandaise
et première femme a etre condamnee pour genocide”.

Turquie, Syrie, Israël… redistribution des cartes au Proche-Orient ?

Les derniers jours ont ete riches en rebondissements qui amènent a
s’interroger sur les equilibres strategiques au Proche-Orient. Jour
après jour, les relations turco-syriennes se tendent a l’extreme,
menacant de rompre et de renouer avec l’inimitie qui les caracterisait
il y a encore quelques annees, tandis qu’une rumeur et un certain
nombre d’indices indiqueraient un rechauffement des relations
turco-israeliennes….

L’Europe doit s’etendre a l’est La Grèce va devoir changer
d’orientation tout en respectant son appartenance a l’Union
europeenne. Celle-ci ne pourra donc plus la considerer de la meme
facon. De meme que l’Europe a naguère assimile l’Allemagne de l’Est
par l’intermediaire de l’Allemagne de l’Ouest, elle va, dans le cadre
de son elargissement vers l’est, integrer en son sein la Grèce, qui
pendant des annees a joue, dans le cadre de ses frontières physiques,
culturelles et politiques, le rôle de zone tampon vis-a-vis de
la Turquie.

Turquie : a l’Ouest rien de nouveau ? (partie 1) A cheval sur deux
continents, ce grand pays majoritairement musulman a demarre des
negociations d’adhesion avec l’UE en 2005. Une candidature qui continue
de diviser les pays membres, mais la Turquie va “patiemment poursuivre
sa route”, nous a dit le Premier ministre Recep Tayyip Erdoðan.

Rwanda/TPIR – Le Rwanda salue la condamnation d’une ex-ministre Les
milieux officiels rwandais ont salue le jugement prononce vendredi
par le Tribunal penal international pour le Rwanda (TPIR) dans le
procès de l’ex-ministre de la Famille, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, et cinq
autres personnes.

Retour sur le et sur la victoire d’un nouveau
leader regional Au soir du 12 juin 2011, après la large confirmation
par les electeurs de la victoire annoncee de l’AKP aux legislatives,
le premier ministre Recep Tayyip Erdoðan, son epouse Emine en foulard
a ses côtes, a prononce au siège de son parti a Ankara, ce que la
presse turque a baptise (Balkon konuþmasý).

Dexia pret a ceder ses actifs turcs Dexia est entre ce week-end en
negociations exclusives avec Axa et Metlife en vue de leur ceder ses
activites d’assurances en Turquie, rapporte lundi le journal Les Echos.

Turquie : sous le règne d’Erdogan (partie 2) Nous vous parlerons
des 15 millions de Kurdes qui luttent pour leurs droits et des
60.000 Turcs d’origine armenienne qui souhaitent voir reconnu le
“genocide” de 1915. Petit tour sur le detroit du Bosphore, victime
d’embouteillages. Et pour finir, une promenade a Izmir en compagnie
de Simber Atay, une photographe qui ne donne pas dans les cliches.

Syrie: la Turquie vient en aide aux refugies La Turquie fera tout
son possible pour subvenir aux besoins des refugies syriens, a
declare vendredi a Ankara le ministre turc des Affaires etrangères,
Ahmet Davutoglu.

Turquie : sous le règne d’Erdogan (partie 1) A l’issue des
legislatives du 12 Juin, les turcs ont reconduit au pouvoir l’AKP,
le parti islamo-conservateur, et son Premier Ministre, Recep Tayyip
Erdogan. Europe District vous emmène a la rencontre de jeunes seduits
par l’AKP, du chef de l’opposition kemaliste, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, des
migrants qui transitent par cette Turquie entre Orient et Occident,
et des plats traditionnels remis au goût du jour par un chef cuisinier
creatif.

Une quinzaine de manifestants tues en Syrie Des dizaines de milliers
de personnes sont encore descendues dans les rues de Syrie vendredi
pour manifester contre le regime de Bachar al Assad, ont rapporte des
temoins et des defenseurs des droits de l’homme, qui font etat d’une
quinzaine de morts. La repression de ce mouvement, notamment dans
le nord du pays, a entraîne jeudi l’exode de 1.500 refugies syriens
supplementaires vers la Turquie.

Retour a la rubrique

From: A. Papazian

GEORGIA CALLS ON WORLD TO USE ‘GEORGIA’

Tert.am
27.06.11

The Republic of Georgia has called on foreign countries to use the
English-language version of the country’s name – Georgia – rather
than other versions.

Deputy Georgian Foreign Minister Nino Kalandadze said Georgia has
already sent official requests to other countries over the issue.

“We took this initiative long ago, and have sent written requests
to several countries so that ‘Vrastan’ [also Gruzia] be renamed into
the country’s English version of ‘Georgia’,” she was quoted as saying.

Kalandadze also said that South Korea has already responded to their
request, and the country is now referred to as “Georgia” there.

Further, she said that Georgiia will continue efforts to have all
countries use the English version of the country’s name.

From: A. Papazian