Author: Andres-Papazian

Resettlement of residents from Zvartnots airport area buildings to
cost $17 million

YEREVAN, August 23. /ARKA/. The program for resettlement of residents
of buildings within Zvartnots airport area is valued at $17 million,
the press office of Armenia’s civil aviation department reported

The airport concessionaire says two apartment blocks and a dormitory
near the airport raise difficulties for aircraft navigation. These
buildings will be demolished after their residents are provided with
new dwelling.

‘Armenia – International Airports’ closed joint stock company
commissioned the new buildings in the South-western district of
Yerevan on June 14. Sixty-six families will resettle there after
respective ownership certificates are issued, says the report.

Program for resettlement of another 90 families living in the
dormitory is currently under way.

Zvartnots airport is run by Armenia-International Airports, a company
owned by an Argentine citizen of Armenian descent Eduardo Eurnekian.

In 2001 the company signed a concessional agreement with the
government to run Zvartnots for 30 years. -0–

From: A. Papazian

D-Link International invested several million dollars in Armenia

YEREVAN, August 23. /ARKA/. D-Link International company has invested
several million dollars in Armenia, responsible for post-Soviet area
at D-Link Vladimir Lipping told reporters on Friday.

No payback for the time being, and the investment cycle is under way,
he said adding another 3-4 million dollars will be required.

Lipping said operational costs alone amounted to about a million
dollars, similar amount was spend on construction of a new office in
Yerevan, he said. Cost-estimates are prepared for construction of a
laboratory in Giumry.

Lipping said the Armenian office of the company serves as a hub and
coordinates also the Georgian office operations.

The new building of D-Link Armenia opened in Yerevan on Friday.

In short terms Armenian market is small and population’s spending
capacity is quite low, the representative said. Yet, according to
Lipping, the situation can reverse in long term due to apparent
economic growth and development in the country.

Apart from this, Armenia’s level of preparedness is higher than that
in Georgia and Armenian market may be considered promising in long
term, Lipping said.

The Armenian rep office of D-Link International was founded in 2007.
The main directions are guaranty services for D-Link products, free
consultations and network technology training courses. -0–

From: A. Papazian

Anti-Armenian articles increase in Turkish media

10:09, 23.08.2014

A new report is publicized in the Turkish press, and with respect to
the study of xenophobia and discrimination in Turkey.

As a result of a study that was conducted from January to April 2014,
Armenians again were most targeted in the Turkish press in terms of
xenophobia, reported Haberdar website of Turkey.

After the Armenians, the second in this list are the Jews, who are
followed by the articles that incite hatred toward Christians, and
Greeks and Kurds round up the “top five.”

During the specified period of time there were 188 articles that
incited enmity and hatred toward ethnic and religious groups and
nations, and this number surpasses the number of such articles that
were published in the Turkish press in the years past.

Armenia News – NEWS.am

From: A. Papazian

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Aug 22 2014

Baku Olympics and criticism of “professional experts”

21 August 2014 – 10:25am

Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza

Considering publications of the Azerbaijani mass media, Baku is
indignant at attempts by some Georgian experts and journalists to
associate the holding of the 2015 European Olympic Games with “Leila
Yunus’s case.” Some of them even call for a boycott or cancellation of
the Games by the International Olympic Committee.

Next year Tbilisi also will hold an important sporting event – the
Youth Olympic Festival, which is often called “the Youth Olympics.”
The Georgian capital won the right in 2010 after tough competition
with other European capitals. Despite serious problems with human
rights in Georgia, nobody called for a boycott, including experts of
international human rights organizations.

One of the most devoted supporters of boycotting the 2015 Baku
Olympics is a reporter on the South Caucasus countries of Human Rights
Watch, Georgy Gogia. In general he is not a well-known expert in the
country. He is rarely to be seen on local TV, Tbilisi newspapers and
information agencies don’t interview him much. His media activity
could be seen during the dreadful story of tortures of prisoners,
which led to the change of power in 2012.

However, it should be noted that Gogia criticizes not only Azerbaijan,
but also Armenia and Georgia for their situations with human rights.
For example, he criticizes the Georgian authorities for violation of
equal rights of religions, rights of sexual minorities, and for
interference of special services in the private lives of citizens.
Armenia is criticized for incidents of excessive use of force by the
police.

In one of his interviews, Georgy Gogia admitted that in some aspects
of following human rights Azerbaijan is better than Georgia. For
example, according to him, the maximum term of administrative arrest
in Azerbaijan is 15 days, while in Georgia it is 90!

But this doesn’t comfort Azerbaijan. Mr. Gogia and his colleagues
don’t call for a boycott of the 2015 Tbilisi Youth Olympics, despite
human rights problems in their country. So this phenomenon could
influence Azerbaijani-Georgian relations, which seemed to be perfect.

Before joining Human Rights Watch, Georgy Gogia worked as a senior
analyst of the International Crisis Group on conflicts in the South
Caucasus over Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Nagorno-Karabakh. He
graduated from the Central European University and is now working at
Ilya Tbilisi University.

Of course an expert of HRW is paid for criticism. Human Rights Watch
is one of the mechanisms of providing a general strategy of the West
on spreading its values and the education of elites which are loyal to
their values. However, it is difficult to say that calling for a
boycott of the Olympics is required by the HRW charter. Maybe the
organization is practicing such politicization of sporting and
cultural events.

The main thing is that officials of Georgia or sporting officials and
athletes have nothing in common with the urging of boycotting the Baku
Games. Everybody is interested in successfully holding both the Youth
Olympics in Tbilisi and the European Games in Baku. Vestnik Kavkaza
was told about it by all structures: from the state office of Irakly
Garibashvili’s government and the presidential administration of
Georgy Margvelashvili to the National Olympic Committee and the
Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs.

All of them told Vestnik Kavkaza that they don’t know Gogia; Georgia
supports Baku in holding the Olympics, and we hope that our
Azerbaijani friends will support Tbilisi in holding the Youth
International Festival.

And nobody believes that HRW is able to worsen relations between
Georgia and Azerbaijan.

From: A. Papazian

Views Times
Aug 22 2014

Georgia, Armenia Discuss Cooperation Issues

During his official visit to Armenia Georgian Prime Minister Irakli
Garibashvili met with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan Aug. 22.

Tbilisi, Georgia, Aug. 22

By Nana Kirtzkhalia – Trend:

During his official visit to Armenia Georgian Prime Minister Irakli
Garibashvili met with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan Aug. 22.

A meeting was held at the Presidential Palace, according to the
Georgian government. The talks mainly focused on the cooperation
issues between the two countries. After the meeting, the Armenian
president invited the Georgian delegation to an official dinner.

The Georgian delegation includes Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze,
Minister of Economy and Economic Development Giorgi Kvirikashvili,
Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze, MP Ruslan Poghosyan, Deputy Head of the
Georgian governmental administration Nino Kobakhidze, chairman of the
security and crisis management council Mindia Janelidze.
Author: Jessica Wilmerding

From: A. Papazian

WakeUpNews
22 ago 2014

Vespa Raid to Armenia, da Passo del Goderdzi a Yerevan

Aggiunto da Redazione il 23/08/2014.

Vespa Raid to Armenia, il viaggio in Vespa di Marco e Viviana
attraverso 5 Paesi.

Alla mattina ci svegliamo presto e scendiamo a fare colazione. A
tavola troviamo tre italiani che avevamo incontrato durante la strada
di ieri. Si chiamano Roberto, Sabrina e Margherita e anche loro, come
noi, sono diretti a Yerevan. Salutiamo tutti e ci prepariamo ad
affrontare i 15 km rimanenti di sterrato in montagna. Di giorno la
situazione è maggiormente controllabile rispetto al buio della notte.
Tuttavia non posso distrarmi neanche un secondo perché le insidie sono
ovunque. Dopo quarantacinque minuti ci liberiamo di quel dannato
sterrato e apriamo il gas in direzione della frontiera Georgia –
Armenia distante centocinquanta chilometri da noi. Gli ultimi trenta
chilometri della strada georgiana, in direzione della frontiera al
valico di Bavra, sono pietosi. La strada diventa un colabrodo e, per
di più, anche molto pericolosa dato che si alternano sterrati
improvvisi visibili solo all’ultimo momento.

BORDER РIl valico di confine tra i mezzi ̬ posto in un altipiano
dove, attorno, ci sono solamente verde e montagne. I doganieri
georgiani sono lentissimi e, guardando il Piaggio, mi dicono che la
mia moto è piccola per venire dall’Italia. Dal canto mio, figlio della
televisione commerciale degli anni ottanta, utilizzo la massima per
eccellenza del panorama promozionale televisivo (Pennello Cinghiale)
ribattendo in inglese: “Non ci vuole una moto grande ma una grande
moto, Piaggio!”. Chissà cosa avrà capito. Ci controllano i documenti e
ci fanno ripartire direzione frontiera armena. Dopo due chilometri
nella “terra di nessuno” (anche la strada, che presentava crateri da
bombardamento israeliano), arriviamo alla frontiera armena. Qui
veniamo controllati scrupolosamente e, solo dopo venti minuti di
attesa, alzano la sbarra per farci entrare nel loro Paese.

ARMENISTAN – Ci siamo. Ci siamo riusciti ad arrivare in Armenia dopo
tutte le sfighe capitate nei giorni scorsi. I primi quaranta
chilometri di strada per Yerevan sono messi male ma, al contempo, lo
spettacolo è unico. Si passa dalla “verde Georgia” alla “gialla”
Armenia fatta di ampi spazi aperti, strade che corrono nel nulla per
chilometri, paesini minuscoli, montagne imponenti e caldo importante.

Ci fermiamo a mangiare un kebap a Gyhmo dove incontriamo un Georgiano
tifoso del Milan che mi dice tutta la formazione vincitrice della
Champions League del 2003. Dopo aver salutato il nostro amico
panettiere ripartiamo con destinazione finale Yerevan.

LEILA, IL POPOLO ARMENO – Ad ottanta chilometri da Yerevan ci fermiamo
nel paesino di Aragats per bere qualcosa. Entriamo al primo
mini-market trovato sulla strada. Sulla porta di ingresso ci aspetta
una signora con una nipotina. Ci parla in russo e ci chiede da dove
veniamo. Mentre Viviana prende da bere rimango a parlare con questa
signora che, mi dice, si chiama Leila mentre la bambina è sua nipote.
Intanto entra in scena Thomas, un ragazzo del paesino che nel
frattempo aveva parcheggiato il furgone e stava salendo le scale per
entrare nell’esercizio commerciale. Comprendo che Leila inizia a
raccontargli che siamo partiti dall’Italia direzione Yerevan ma Thomas
è di fretta. Dopo due minuti esce fuori con due bottiglie di succo
alla mela per noi, offerte da lui. Rimaniamo stupiti da tanta
gentilezza. Ci riprendiamo, salutiamo tutti con il classico “Spaziba”
che fa sempre la sua porca figura e riprendiamo la strada per Yerevan.

Piazza della Repubblica -Yerevan

YEREVAN – Gli ultimi cinque chilometri di strada permettono, a
chiunque arrivi in città dal Nord, di vedere Yerevan adagiata davanti
ai propri occhi distesa come una donna sopra un letto. Entrati in
città notiamo subito come, il cappello dei militari, sia identico a
quelli di Mosca come taglio. La prima impressione mentre ci dirigiamo
in centro è quella di una città ordinata, pulita e regolare nonostante
il traffico intenso. Sono presenti ampi boulevard e, molte statue in
granito, ricordano le gesta del popolo armeno. Gli edifici sono
moderni e si amalgamano perfettamente con quelli di epoca meno
recente. Finalmente arriviamo a “Piazza della Repubblica”, il cuore
della capitale. Straordinaria, a forma circolare, viene rinchiusa dai
palazzi più belli della città (sede del governo e affari esteri
dell’Armenia) e altri palazzi di cui ignoro la funzione. Nel centro,
dove una volta c’era la statua di Lenin con il dito indice puntando in
avanti, si trova una favolosa fontana. Notiamo subito che, nonostante
la propria identità, Yerevan mantiene dei forti punti in comune con
Mosca. Ad esempio l’orologio sulla piazza utilizza lo stesso motivo di
quello del Cremlino ogni volta che scocca l’ora. Comunque siamo
stravolti ma pienamente soddisfatti della nostra destinazione.
Prendiamo il Piaggio e ci parcheggiamo al Marriot Armenja Hotel nella
piazza, penso che sia proprio meritato.

YEREVAN BY NIGHT – Dopo essere tornati alla civiltà, siamo usciti a
vedere Yerevan di sera. Nella piazza della Repubblica ci sono
tantissime persone ad assistere i giochi d’acqua con la musica
classica. La città è illuminata sapientemente a giorno, attraversiamo
le vie laterale e vediamo una città del tutto europea nel pieno
Caucaso. Inoltre, sono presenti numerosi cantieri con progetti audaci.
Dopo un’ora e mezza di godimento della splendida città attraverso
piazze gremite di vita, parchi rilassanti e attrazioni culturali,
ritorniamo al Marriot. Siamo stesi. Yerevan non è la fine del Vespa
Raid to Armenia, bisogna tornare a casa (distante quattromila
chilometri) sulle proprie ruote con un Piaggio “incerottato”. Domani
ci tenteremo, come sempre abbiamo fatto.

Marco D’Agostino

From: A. Papazian

Exports from Armenia may slow down as Upper Lars highway remains
closed – opinions

18:03 * 22.08.14

With Russia being the main destination for Armenian exports, the
blocked Upper Lars highway, which serves as the only transport route
between the two countries, may affect our export volumes, says an
economist.

“As we are not given a chance to find more modern and higher-level
partners, I think we must at least strengthen the already established
relations,” Vardan Bostanjyan told Tert.am.

The economist attributed the situation of Armenia to what he
sentimentally described as a “bad lack”, warning in the meantime
against sticking to the concept. “Let us, of course, refrain from
applying that approach and admit that these are our conditions. It’s
another matter that those in government do not quite understand the
things and fail to take any possible measures,” he added.

Artak Zakaryan, the chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing
Committee on Foreign Relations, said the highway’s suspension caused
by a recent landslide is very likely to produce its negative economic
impact.

“The route is of course very important to us, and Georgia is a key
country in terms of our cargo transportation and telecommunication. It
is our ally and friend; hence thpre complications caused by disasters
and slides may create certain obstacles for the economy,” he noteed.

Speaking to Tert.am, the head of the Economy Ministry’s Department of
Trade and Market Regulations, Gagik Kocharyan, pointed out to specific
figures reflecting the impact of the highway’s suspension earlier this
year.

He said the export growth, which was 1.4% in the first two quarters of
this year, could have been much higher if not the landslide (which
caused the highways suspension in mid-May).

Kocharyan said the export of drinks is 10% down compared to the same
period of last year, adding that the country has also transported less
fruits and vegetables to Russia over the past period.

“So our export volumes will not grow as much as we had predicted – 10
to15 percent- but the month’s closedown did really have its impact on
our exports,” he noted.

As for the imports, the official said he doesn’t expect a shortage of
goods in Armenia.

Minister of Agriculture Sergo Karapetyan said at a press conference
earlier today that exporting companies have not suspended their
operation due to the highway’s closedown.

“When the highway was closed back in May, we had quite a lot of
problems over that period, It is a very important route for us,” he
told reporters, expressing hope that the highway would be trafficable
in about 10-12 days.

“We have discussed the issue also with the Georgian prime minister,
and we are hopeful that the highway will remain closed for just so
many days,” the minister added.

Armenian News – Tert.am

From: A. Papazian

Agriculture minister: 12,000 tons of apricots harvested in Armenia
this year

YEREVAN, August 22. /ARKA/. Armenia harvested 12,000 tons of apricots
this year, Agriculture Minister Sergo Karapetyan said Friday at a news
conference.

“This year’s apricot crop is definitely smaller than that of the
previous year, but I think it will total 12,000 tons,” he said.

According to the agriculture ministry, the country’s apricot crop
totaled 88,800 tons in 2013. Karapetyan said referring to preliminary
figures that 1792 tons of apricots were exported this year and 160
tons were sold to canneries.

He said excessive supply of apricots was seen at markets in 2013,
while this year apricots were sufficient, but prices were high.

The agriculture ministry says 23,800 tons of apricots were exported
from Armenia in 2013.

On March 30, a heavy snowfall badly damaged the country’s agriculture,
particularly 80-90% of apricot crop. –0—

From: A. Papazian

Armenia interested in effective conflict prevention mechanisms – envoy

14:24 * 22.08.14

Armenia’s permanent representative to the United Nations expressed the
country’s interest in elaborating effective conflict prevention
mechanisms in a speech at an open debate held by the Security Council.

“Armenia is profoundly interested in establishing effective conflict
prevention mechanisms, whether on the international or the regional
level,” Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said, stressing the importance of applying
such mechanisms also to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The diplomat noted that the war against the Karabakh, which Azerbaijan
launched in violation of the UN Chanter, was against the country’s
Armenian population’s right to self-determination.

“The world witnessed, over the past weeks, the repeated violations of
ceasefire and the escalated provocation across the Line of Contact
between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan, and the Armenian-Azerbaijani
border, which caused many human losses, targeting also civilians,”
Mnatsakanyan said.

He further called attention to the massive killings of the Yezidis in
northern Iraq, noting that thousands of people (including Yezidis,
Assyrians and Armenians) had to flee their homes in the wake of the
violent clashes provoked by extremist groups. The diplomat informed
the participants of the Armenian authorities’ decision to deliver aid
to the Iraqi Yezidis through the United Nations.

“We are witnessing a devastating situation that has to be settled
though coordinated efforts towards preventing mass atrocities. The
international community has to take a prompt action in direct
collaboration with the UN agencies. In that respect, the role of the
UN advisor on Genocide is inestimable. Armenia is calling upon the
Security Council to urgently react to the Yezidi population’s plight,”
said the ambassador.

The meeting, entitled Conflict Prevention: Maintenance of
International Peace and Security, was attended by UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon, High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay and
representatives from around sixty countries.

From: A. Papazian

Armenia, Georgia can benefit from being in different integration
projects – Abrahamyan

YEREVAN, August 22. /ARKA/. Armenia and Georgia may benefit from being
in different integration projects, Armenian premier Hovik Abrahamyan
said, as cited by the government press office.

Armenia takes steps to join the Eurasian Economic Union, but still
intends to actively cooperate with the EU, he said.

Armenia’s EEU membership in no way affects the economic relations with
Georgia, the premier said during the talks with his Georgian
counterpart Irakli Garibashvili in Yerevan on Thursday.

Garibashvili, in his turn, said Armenia and Georgia should take the
advantage of being part of different integration projects for the
benefit of the two countries.

“This will serve a good example to the global community”, The Georgian
premier said.

Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed an agreement about the Eurasian
Economic Union in Astana on May 29. The agreement will come into
effect on January 1, 2015. At the meeting Armenia’s president Serzh
Sargsyan said Yerevan intended to join the agreement by mid June, but
the respective documents have not been signed yet.

At a meeting with diplomats on July 1 Russian president Putin said
Armenia would become a full-fledged member of the EEU very soon.

According to earlier mass media allegations, Kazakhstani foreign
minister Yerlan Idrisov said the agreement with Armenia will be singe
in October 2014. -0–

From: A. Papazian