ARMENIAN GRANDMASTER LEADS TOURNAMENT IN BULGARIA
Tert.am
17.12.10
GM Avetik Grigoryan has scored 4,5 points after 5 rounds of the
tournament which is being held in Bansko, Bulgaria, the Armenian
chess website Armcess.am reported.
Armenian chess player is leading the table with GM Savchenko (Russia),
GM V. Georgiev (Macedonia), Nikolaidis (Greece), IM Nabaty (Israel)
and Korobkov (Ukraine).
From: A. Papazian
VARDAN HARUTYUNYAN TO BE APPOINTED GENERAL DIRECTOR OF HAYRUSGAZARD
Tert.am
17.12.10
Sources told Tert.am that Vardan Harutyunyan, deputy general director
of Hayrusgazard company, may replace his boss, Karen Karapetyan,
after the latter becomes Yerevan mayor.
The reports were later confirmed by the company’s press secretary,
Shushan Sardaryan.
Harutyunyan, who is general director’s assistant on trade and
international relations, holds a the degree of PhD candidate in
economics and has a long experience in gas industry, Sardaryan said,
adding that his activities as the head of the Yerevan Gas Supply Branch
(since 2002) have positively contributed to the system’s functioning.
Harutyunyan’s appointment to the post of general director will not
in any way hamper the company’s regular work or the implementation
of its current programs, the press secretary assured.
From: A. Papazian
KAREN KARAPETYAN ELECTED YEREVAN MAYOR
Tert.am
17.12.10
Karen Karapetyan has been elected mayor of Yerevan, according to
the preliminary results of the vote by the members of the Council
of Elders.
Fifty out of fifty-one members of the Council voted for Karapetyan,
nominated by the ruling Republican Party of Armenia.
From: A. Papazian
ZHAMANAK: ARTHUR BAGHDASARYAN ASKS PRESIDENT TO POSTPONE AGRICULTURE MINISTER’S DISMISSAL
Tert.am
17.12.10
The next minister to be fired will be Minister of Agriculture Gerasim
Alaverdyan of the Rule of Law party, though Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan does not want to make a hasty decision over the issue,
the paper claims it has learned.
Further, it explains that Arthur Baghdasaryan, the secretary of
Armenia’s National Security Council, has asked the president to
postpone the firing of Alaverdyan, pointing to the fact that the party
does not have an appropriate candidate for the position at the moment,
should Sargsyan decide to fire Alaverdyan now.
As a result, Sargsyan has instructed Baghdasaryan to pick a candidate
at the earliest possible, adding that he has started a “serious
process” and has neither the will nor the time to wait.
The paper further says that the leader of the Rule of Party’s faction
in parliament, Heghine Bisharyan, continues to deny the news about
Alaverdyan’s dismissal.
From: A. Papazian
AUTHORITIES DENY LICENSE FOR CRITICAL VOICE DESPITE COURT JUDGMENT
Tert.am
17.12.10
Armenia has denied a broadcast license to an independent television
station, A1+, despite a European Court of Human Rights judgment that
previous denials violated freedom of expression, Human Rights Watch
said today.
“Today’s decision is another setback for freedom of expression and
information in Armenia,” said Giorgi Gogia, South Caucasus researcher
at Human Rights Watch. “It’s clear that keeping a critic off the air
is more important to this government than its international legal
obligations.”
A1+, an independent station well-known for its criticism of government
policy, was taken off the air in 2002 after its license was rescinded,
but continued to operate a popular news website and online television
station. Since then it had made 12 unsuccessful applications for a
new broadcast license.
On December 16, 2010, the National Commission on Television and Radio
(NCTR), the body in charge of issuing broadcasting licenses in Armenia,
denied A1+ station’s application for the 13th time. The commission
is staffed entirely with presidential appointees.
In 2008, the European Court of Human Rights issued a judgment holding
Armenia in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights for
the repeated rejection of the station’s license applications. The
court held that Armenia’s laws regulating the granting of broadcast
licenses do not protect against arbitrary decisions by the licensing
authority, and that the denial of a license to A1+ was unlawful.
The December 16 meeting of the commission was its first since a
moratorium on new licenses was announced in 2008. Soon after the
European Court judgment, the Armenian authorities suspended all
licensing until television and radio switched from analog to digital
broadcasting, scheduled for 2010. The moratorium on granting licenses
was seen by many local and international observers as the government’s
further efforts to keep A1+ off the air.
In anticipation of Armenia’s transition to mandatory digital
broadcasting, in June the government rushed to adopt a new Law on
Television and Radio. The new law does not fully address concerns
expressed by civil society and Armenia’s international partners.
In a June letter to the president of Armenia, Human Rights Watch
expressed concern that the new law would reduce the number of media
outlets as well as public access to a variety of information and
opinion. The new media law reduced the number of television stations
able to broadcast in Armenia from 22 to 18, and failed to address
longstanding concerns that the law did not ensure pluralism in the
selection and appointment of members of the licensing regulatory body.
“The transition to digital broadcasting was supposed to provide
opportunities for greater media pluralism in Armenia,” Gogia said.
“The government has a long way to go to prove that its deeds match
its commitments.”
From: A. Papazian
OPPOSITION TO HOLD PROTESTS IN YEREVAN AND REGIONS
Tert.am
17.12.10
The opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) will hold today four
protest rallies in Yerevan and three regions. The protests will start
simultaneously – at 2 pm – in Yerevan and the towns of Aparan, Masis
and Martuni. The Yerevan protest will take place outside the building
of the General Prosecutor’s Office.
The protest in Aparan will be attended by Gagik Jhangiryan and Myasnik
Malkhasyan. ANC members David Shahnazaryan and Avetis Avagyan will
leave for Martuni, and a group of opposition activist headed by ANC
coordinator Levon Zurabyan will leave for Masis, ANC representative
Vladimir Karapetyan told Tert.am.
The protesters will call for the release of political prisoners.
“Our primary goal is to demand the release of the political prisoners.
We’ll also address other issues, such as the country’s socio-economic
situation, corruption and the authorities’ inability to do anything,”
Karapetyan said, adding that ANC has duly notified the relevant
authorities on its plans to hold demonstrations.
From: A. Papazian
KEY PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE IN SPAIN’S BALEARIC ISLANDS ADOPTS GENOCIDE RESOLUTION
Tert.am
17.12.10
On December 14th, 2010, the Human Rights Committee of the Balearic
Parliament unanimously adopted a resolution recognizing and condemning
the Armenian Genocide, paving the way for the resolution’s adoption by
parliament, Asbarez.com reported, referring to the Armenian National
Committee of Spain (Consejo Nacional Armenio de España).
“I consider the recognition of Genocides, and in particular that of
the Armenians’, as being a just cause and inevitable for a historical
justice; it is necessary in order to prevent other genocides,”
declared the deputy Miquel Àngel Llauger, member of the Bloc Per
Mallorca (Coalition of the Left, Ecologist and Nationalist Groups)
and initiator of the resolution.
The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy welcomed
the resolution, which acknowledges “the fate suffered by the Armenian
people between 1915 and 1921 as a Genocide” in accordance with the
UN Convention on the Prevention, and the Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide, adopted in December 1948. The EAFJD said it “will support
the Members of the Human Rights Committee of the Balearic Parliament
for this courageous act.”
“It is a big step in the fight against genocides and its denial,”
declared EAFJD President Hilda Tchoboian. “We invite all the political
forces of Parliament to join the Bloc Per Mallorca and vote in favor
of this resolution when put on the Parliament’s agenda according to
the predefined calendar.”
The resolution in the Balearic Islands adds to similar resolutions
passed in the parliaments of Spain in April 2007 and Catalonia in March
2010. The resolution’s call on the Spanish government to officially
recognize the Armenian Genocide in accordance to a resolution
adopted by the European Parliament in 1987, formally recognizing
the Armenian genocide and calling “for a political solution of the
Armenian question.”
According to Tchoboian, the Balearic resolution will “contribute to
the necessary recognition of the Armenian genocide by the Spanish
Parliament.”
“These successive recognitions in Europe aim to make Turkey involve
itself in a process of justice with respect to the Armenian people,”
said Tchoboian.
“The members of the Balearic Parliament understood the lesson from
History-at the time when Europe is concerned with security issues,
the recognition of the genocide is an additional guarantee against
the dangers of the denial and the emergence of totalitarianisms which
threaten European societies,” said Tchoboian. “It is a significant
contribution to the construction of values for a Europe of citizens.”
From: A. Papazian
YERKIR: ARMENIA’S FOREIGN MINISTER HOLDS DUAL CITIZENSHIP
Tert.am
17.12.10
When Edward Nalbandyan was appointed Armenia’s foreign minister in
2008, he was a Russian citizen, the paper claims.
So, he was a foreign national when serving as Armenia’s ambassador to
Egypt for years and then as ambassador to France, the paper comments,
and was granted Armenian citizenship only after becoming foreign
minister. But even then he did not renounce his Russian citizenship,
and holds a dual citizenship, the paper says.
Two other former Armenian foreign ministers, Raffi Hovhannisyan and
Vardan Oskanyan, had been US citizens, but both have since renounced
their US citizenship.
From: A. Papazian
HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK: PROSPEROUS ARMENIA QUITTING RULING COALITION?
Tert.am
17.12.10
The paper says it has learned that the ministers representing the
Prosperous Armenia party (PAP) are going to resign, and the party is
going to leave the ruling coalition.
PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan has instructed those ministers to complete
all unfinished tasks by the end of year and be ready to resign any
time, the paper says. It says all attempts to contact Tsarukyan’s
spokesman for a comment were unsuccessful.
The paper also comments that National Assembly speaker Hovik Abrahamyan
has not been wearing a Republican Party badge for a while now,
wearing instead a badge with the Armenian national flag.
From: A. Papazian
HRAPARAK: MINISTERS OF NATURE PROTECTION AND CULTURE ARE NEXT ON LINE
Tert.am
17.12.10
The paper claims it has learned that following the firing of Armenia’s
minister of economy, Nerses Yeritsyan, the next “victim” will be Aram
Harutyunyan, the minister of nature protection.
Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan may also be replaced, the paper
says, adding that Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan raised the issue at
the board meeting of his Republican Party of Armenia late on Thursday.
From: A. Papazian