Author: Andres-Papazian

SURPRISES AND SHAKE UPS: NEW MAYOR INSTALLED AMID DAY OF MUSICAL CHAIRS FOR GOVERNMENT
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan

ArmeniaNow
17.12.10

The newly elected mayor of Yerevan Karen Karapetyan

Karen Karapetyan, current Executive Director of ArmRosGazprom, has
been elected Mayor of Yerevan by the Council of Elders, on a day that
saw shifts in the government makeup.

Karapetyan replaces Gagik Beglaryan, who resigned December 8 in a
scandal following a punch up he had with a member of President Serzh
Sargsyan’s protocol team over seating arrangements at a Placido
Domingo concert in Yerevan.

It was widely believed that deputy mayor Taron Margaryan (son of the
late Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan) would be installed as mayor,
however late Thursday the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA)
nominated Karapetyan, assuring him the position in the RPA dominated
city council.

Also at the RPA council session Thursday night, constitution specialist
Hrayr Tovmasyan was nominated to become Minister of Justice of Armenia,
replacing Gevorg Danielyan who was dismissed December 9 for “failure
to adequately perform duties”.

The decisive meeting of the ruling party also saw Minister of Economy
of Armenia Nerses Yeritsyan lose his job, to be replaced by current
Finance Minister Tigran Davtyan. Chairman of the Central Bank of
Armenia Vache Gabrielyan is expected to become the new finance
minister, and Yeritsyan is expected to be appointed to another post
within the administration.

In a further shakeup, it was announced today (December 14) that Vazgen
Khachikyan, head of Social Security Service, has been sacked. No
replacement has been named.

The Republican Party of Armenia says the movement among the ministries
is aimed at creating a more effective government.

From: A. Papazian

NEW YEREVAN MAYOR PLEDGES TO JUSTIFY EXPECTATIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 17, 2010 – 14:13 AMT 10:13 GMT

Newly elected Mayor of Yerevan Karen Karapetyan thanked the members
of the city council and the Republican Party of Armenia for the
confidence and pledged to justify expectations.

“I liked to work at ArmRosgazprom but each leader should change the
sphere of activity from time to time,” he told journalists after the
voting on Dec. 17.

The new Mayor said he is non-partisan but an RPA supporter.

“I am not going to make ‘personnel cleansing’ but those community
heads who fail to properly perform their duties will be dismissed,”
Karapetyan said.

From: A. Papazian

NATO EXPERT GROUP PRAISES ARMENIA’S ACTIVITY IN MILITARY EDUCATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 17, 2010 – 12:59 AMT 08:59 GMT

Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan received a NATO expert group
on military education issues.

Presenting the Defense Ministry’ policy in the military education,
Ohanyan briefed the guests on implemented reforms and draft concept
of military education.

Stressing the importance of cooperation with NATO in the field,
the Minister said that the cooperation proceeds from the necessity
of expert consultation to implement provisions of the concept on
military education and logics of transparent policy in the defense
field pursued by Armenia.

Members of the expert group praised the activity implemented
in military education over the past years, as a result of which
the concept regulating the military education in compliance with
international standards will be enforced from 2011, the RA Defense
Ministry’s press service reported.

From: A. Papazian

THREE ARMENIAN TEACHERS TO ATTEND EUROPEAN INNOVATIVE TEACHERS FORUM IN MOSCOW

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 17, 2010 – 12:55 AMT 08:55 GMT

Three Armenian teachers will attend European Innovative Teachers
Forum in Moscow as the winners of the Forum of Innovative Teachers.

The projects developed by Anahit Baghdasaryan, Narine Baghdasaryan
and Gegham Simonyan were announced the best in algebra and geometry,
information technology and physics.

All finalists received special prizes from ArmenTel company.

The contest was held in accordance with the protocol on participation
in Partners in Education program signed by Microsoft and the RA
Ministry of Education and Science in 2009.

From: A. Papazian

IRAN HAS BEGUN SECRET NEGOTIATIONS SUSPEND ENRICHING NUCLEAR FUEL

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 17, 2010 – 09:50 AMT 05:50 GMT

Iran has begun secret negotiations on proposals to surrender a
substantial part of its uranium stockpile and suspend enriching
nuclear fuel in return for an end to sanctions that have crippled
the country’s economy.

The Turkish-led deal calls on Iran to ship about 1,000 kilograms of
its low-enriched uranium, as well as its entire 30 kilogram stockpile
of 20-per cent enriched uranium, to a safe location.

In return, France and Russia will supply ready-made fuel rods for the
medical isotope reactor for which Iran says it has been enriching
uranium to 20 per cent – a level which halves the time needed to
manufacture weapons-grade material.

“We think the deal is doable,” an official involved in the negotiations
said, “but there’s still a lot of detail to be worked through.” Turkish
and Iranian negotiators, diplomatic sources say, have met several
times to discuss the contours of the deal, which they hope to bring
to the table next month at a meeting with an international consortium
called the P5+1 – the five permanent members of the United Nations
Security Council and Germany.

France, Russia and the United States have also been involved in the
negotiations, which began after a meeting between Ahmed Davutoglu,
Turkey’s foreign minister, and Iranian officials in Bahrain earlier
this month, The Telegraph reported.

From: A. Papazian

AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE SAYS ASSANGE COMMITTED NO CRIME IN AUSTRALIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 17, 2010 – 09:52 AMT 05:52 GMT

Neither WikiLeaks not its founder Julian Assange has committed
any crime in Australia over the leaking of official United States
government documents, the Australian Federal Police announced.

A statement released by the federal police said: “The AFP has completed
its evaluation of the material available and has not established
the existence of any criminal offences where Australia would have
jurisdiction.”

“Where additional cables are published and criminal offences are
suspected, these matters should be referred to the AFP for evaluation,”
the statement declared, theage.com.au reported.

From: A. Papazian

JOURNALIST ERNEST VARDANYAN SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS IN PRISON

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 17, 2010 – 10:43 AMT 06:43 GMT

The supreme court of Transnistria has sentenced columnist of New
Region edition Ernest Vardanyan to 15 years in prison on accusation
of spying for Moldova.

Vardanyan was arrested in April 2010 and accused of treason.

Moldovan authorities gave no reaction to the court verdict.

From: A. Papazian

ARTSAKH BELIEVES THAT OSCE MG SHOULD FIND NEW WAYS FOR CONFLICT RESOLUTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 17, 2010 – 09:40 AMT 05:40 GMT

Chairman of the NKR National Assembly standing committee on foreign
relations Vahram Atanesyan said that, in his opinion, Artsakh will
not join the negotiation process on the Karabakh conflict resolution
in 2011.

The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs should find new ways for the Karabakh
conflict settlement, Atanesyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

He noted that the Co-Chairs should find a certain platform to ensure
contacts between Stepanakert and Baku.

“It will be best and shortest way for achieving a consensus on the
matter,” Atanesyan said, adding that, for example, contacts can be
established in humanitarian or economic fields.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA EXTENDS PEACEKEEPING MISSION IN AFGANISTAN FOR ONE MORE YEAR

Tert.am
17.12.10

By a first reading at an extraordinary session today Armenia’s
National Assembly introduced amendments to the international treaty
that regulates the legal issues related to Armenia’s peacekeeping
mission in Afganistan within the NATO troops.

Firstly, Armenia prolonged the term of deployment of its mission in
Afganistan for 12 more months.

Secondly, with these amendments Armenia will increase the number of
its peace keeps in Afganistan up to 45.

Currently, 40 Armenian peacekeepers are deployed in Afganistan. Those
five peacekeepers will be act as instructors.

From: A. Papazian

KAREN KARAPETYAN BECOMES YEREVAN’S 53RD MAYOR

Tert.am
17.12.10

Karen Karapetyan, the general director of Hayrusgazard, has been
elected mayor of Yerevan, the 53rd in Yerevan’s history.

Karapetyan was elected by an extraordinary vote by the members of
the Council of Elders today.

Fifty-one out of 65 members of the Council cast their ballots, with
50 voting Karapetyan, who was nominated by the ruling Republican
Party of Armenia. No ballots were rejected as invalid.

Expressing gratitude to the members of the Council of Elders for
showing trust in him, the mayor-elect promised to do his best to meet
their expectations.

Karapetyan will take up his duties three days after the election
following his inauguration to take place at the City Hall at 11 am
on December 11.

Karapetyan’s election comes days after former Yerevan Mayor Gagik
Beglaryan was pressured to resign due to an assault scandal with an
employee of the Department of Protocol of the presidential staff.

From: A. Papazian