Author: Andres-Papazian

STEPAN DEMIRCHYAN: 2010 WASN’T YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENTS

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 24, 2010 – 15:43 AMT 11:43 GMT

2010 was not a year of achievements, according to chairman of the
People’s Party of Armenia.

“No urgent problem was resolved. Besides, about 65 thousand people
left Armenia during 9 months of the current year, with 45% of the
population wishing to go abroad. Foreign policy was a failure as well,”
Stepan Demirchyan said.

“Nothing will be changed through a government reshuffle. Fair elections
should be held to improve the situation,” he said.

As to opposition activity, Demirchyan said the Armenian National
Congress if the political force people pin hopes on.

From: A. Papazian

ARFD: ARMENIA-TURKEY NORMALIZATION PROCESS HOSTAGE TO ANKARA’S WHIM

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 24, 2010 – 15:15 AMT 11:15 GMT

The outgoing year gave little chance for optimism, member of the ARF
Dashnaktsutyun said.

“The economic slump deepened, resulting in greater poverty and
emigration,” Artyusha Shahbazyan told a news conference on December 24.

“The Armenia-Turkey normalization process has become a hostage to
Ankara’s whim. Turkey still sets the Karabakh conflict resolution
as a precondition for normalization of relations with Armenia. One
should be a blind optimism not to notice this,” he said.

From: A. Papazian

HERITAGE CALLS ON SERGE SARSGYAN TO PUT A VETO ON THE LAW ON LANGUAGE

Lragir.am
24 Dec 2010

Today, the Heritage Parliamentary faction addressed an official
letter to Serge Sargsyan calling not to sign the amendments to the
Law on Language and General Education adopted on December 22 by the
National Assembly of Armenia and to return them to the Parliament.

From: A. Papazian

AHMADINEJAD ON KARABAKH

Lragir.am
24 Dec 2010

At a press conference held on December 23 in Istanbul, the President
of Iran Mahmud Ahmadinejad, dwelling on the NKR issue and the railway
to the countries of Middle East and Armenia, said that railways are
always an occasion to connect all the cities of the world.

Ahmadinejad said: “I think all the issues present in the region and
in the world need a solution based on justice and negotiations. In
reality, considering all tensions and clashes in the world through
the principle of justice and negotiations, all of us will reach
our rights”.

Dwelling on WikiLeaks, he said: “It is not important what they wrote
there, since Iran’s relations with Azerbaijan are friendly, historical
and stable”.

The President of Iran, noting that his country supports the security
of the Azerbaijani people’s rights, added: “Nevertheless, we have good
relations with Armenia too. Our good relations with both countries,
Armenia and Azerbaijan, are an opportunity to solve any crisis with
the help of the principles of justice and law”.

Ahmadinejad at the same time expressed Iran’s willingness to support
the NKR issue settlement based on law and justice.

From: A. Papazian

CRIMINAL DOLPHINARIUM

Lragir.am
24 Dec 2010

Today, at 15:00, the opening ceremony of the Yerevan Dolphinarium
will be held. Despite alarms by many environmentalists and ordinary
citizens, nevertheless, it was build and is ready for opening.

In this connection, a press conference was held today with the
participation of a number of NGOs engaged in nature protection.

As Elsik Ayvazyan noted, Dolphins swim 100 km a day, while the length
of the Dolphinarium is 18 meters. The minimum deepness should be 20
meters while it is only 5. As Hrayr Ayvazyan says, every time dolphins
will hit their noses up to the floor.

In order to entertain people, dolphins need to swim, so the water
should be sky-blue for this much chlorine should be used which harms
dolphins’ eyes and they become blind in 6 months. Studies evidence
that in restricted areas, dolphins always have very bad headaches
because their brains always send signals to detect fish, stones,
food and dangers. In such areas, those signals always come back from
walls causing pain.

Keeping dolphins in restricted areas is dangerous both for the dolphins
and people.

Silva Adamyan, head of the Bird lovers’ center, noted that they
sent letters to the Yerevan Municipality – Gagik Beglaryan and Taron
Margaryan twice, but they got no answer. They sent other three letters
to the Ministry of Nature Protection and got only one answer running
that no one had turned to them in connection with the construction
of the dolphinarium.

Head of the Ecodar NGO Hrayr Savzyan noted that they are preparing
a court claim, and today, a protest action is going to be organized
in front of the dolphinarium.

P.S. As the speakers noted recently many dolphinariums have been closed
in the Great Britain, Brazil, Costa Rica and the U.S. In Croatia,
the power forbade the exploitation of an already built dolphinarium.

As for the Company engaged in the construction, as the
environmentalists noted, it received several refusals in many countries
to build a dolphinarium, and in Ukraine, it is currently investigated
charged with illegal activities.

From: A. Papazian

SERZH SARGSYAN TO BE ARMENIA’S NEXT PRESIDENT – HOVHANNES HOVSEPYAN

Tert.am
24.12.10

Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan will be re-elected for a second
term, Hovhanes Hovsepyan, Head of the Control Service at presidential
administration, told a news conference on Friday.

Asked why he is so confident about the fact when the president has
not yet voiced his intention to run in the election, he said:”Shortly
speaking, I am more than confident about that.”

From: A. Papazian

PROTOCOLS ARE THE ONLY WAY TO STOP GENOCIDE RECOGNITION, SAYS TURKISH ANALYST

Tert.am
24.12.10

Turkey will have more problems in the future because of the Armenian
Genocide Resolution (H. Res. #252) unless the Armenia-Turkey
rapprochement is revived, a Turkish analyst has said.

In an editorial in CNNTurk, Mehmet Ali Birand, the chief editor of
CNNTurk, says that though the Armenian Genocide Resolution was not
brought to the US House floor, there will be other such resolutions
in the future.

“Due to the pressure from the Obama administration and lack of support
from Jews to Armenians, the ball was put out of the court. But there
will be another resolution in April. If this is not adopted either,
yet another one will be brought to the floor. And the pressure will
continue till 2015, i.e. the 100th anniversary of the Genocide,”
he says.

According to Birand, the only way out of this situation is the
resumption of the Armenia-Turkey reconciliation.

“And the only way to prevent this process were the Protocols signed
with Yerevan, which would eliminate the pressures on us,” said he.

“But these Protocols – let’s not cheat ourselves – were not brought
to life because of Ankara. Either our Foreign Ministry wasn’t able to
clearly explain the situation to the Azerbaijanis, or our Azerbaijani
brothers didn’t pay due attention, but were taken by surprise when
it came to signing the Protocols,” Birand explained.

“Turkey was unable to pressure Aliyev and gave way to Baku. To cut
it short, Ankara regrets a lot now. And unless the Armenia-Turkey
Protocols are revived, it would be simply impossible to get out of
this deadlock.”

From: A. Papazian

STEPAN DEMIRCHYAN: 2010 WAS NOT A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENTS
Lusine Vasilyan

“Radiolur”
24.12.2010 15:24

2010 was not a year of achievements, leader of the People’s Party of
Armenia, Stepan Demirchyan told a press conference today. According to
him, there has been no progress either in the political and economic
spheres or towards solving of moral-psychological problems. “Moreover,
the negative tends continue to deepen,” he said.

Stepan Demirchyan is particularly concerned with migration and the
poverty level. As a way out of the situation he points to the necessity
of free elections and formation of legitimate authorities.

According to Demirchyan, separate staff changes do not change much.

“To achieve changes it’s necessary to hold normal elections,” he said.

From: A. Papazian

THIRD NATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS REPORT ON ARMENIA RELEASED
Hasmik Dilanyan

“Radiolur”
24.12.2010 14:15

The “Economy and Values” research center has published the third
national competitiveness report on Armenia titled “Armenian National
Competitiveness Report 2010: Challenges of Higher Education.”

The report notes the insufficient level of diversification of economy
and the extreme concentration ofn construction and agricultural
branches with low productivity.

Among the problems it points to the decrease of the volume of
introduction of high technologies, rise of prices, great dependency
on imports, and the large amount of the foreign debt.

The USAID-funded Competitive Armenian Private Sector (CAPS) Project,
the Armenian National Competitiveness Fund, the Star Divide, the
Printinfo and the EV Consulting have contributed to the elaboration
of the report.

It’s worth reminding that Armenia ranks 98th among 139 countries in the
Global Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report for 2010-2011.

“The global economic crisis emphasized our country’s ability to resists
the outer developments,” Armenian Economy Minister Tigran Davtyan
said in his welcome speech, adding that “the report will serve as a
basis for practical steps, since the rise of competitiveness is one
of the guarantees of economic development.”

From: A. Papazian

ARMENAK DARBINYAN APPOINTED MEMBER OF THE CBA BOARD

armradio.am
24.12.2010 11:19

President Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree on appointing Armenak
Darbinyan member of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of
Armenia for the term of five years, President’s Press Office reported.

From: A. Papazian