Author: Andres-Papazian

ELECTRIC NETWORKS OF ARMENIA TO BE PUT FOR SALE

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
March 11 2014

11 March 2014 – 1:34pm

The Electric Networks of Armenia have started financial inspections.

The company says that its owner INTER RAO UES wanted to know the true
state of affairs in the company, Panorama.am reports.

The ENA denies rumours about bankruptcy. Rosneft is considered one
of the buyers of the company. Gazprom is the molt likely purchaser.

The Electric Networks of Armenia have started financial inspections.

The company says that its owner INTER RAO UES wanted to know the true
state of affairs in the company, Panorama.am reports.

The ENA denies rumours about bankruptcy. Rosneft is considered one
of the buyers of the company. Gazprom is the molt likely purchaser.

From: A. Papazian

PROFILE: JOSEPH HAIEK, FIGHTING FOR AMERICAN ARAB RIGHTS

The Arab Daily News
March 11 2014

By Ray Hanania

Joseph R. Haiek immigrated to the United States right after the
1967 Arab-Israeli war after his city, Jerusalem, was occupied by
Israeli forces.

But no American Arab has done more to embrace his newfound nation
of America more than Joe Haiek, who in 2011 was recognized with the
Ellis Island Medal of Honor for his distinction as a proud American
who has never forgotten his roots.

Born in 1932 in Jerusalem, Haiek came to America with his family and
his wife, Teresa who passed away last year. Teresa Haiek was Armenian
and she spoke several languages, including Arabic, English, Armenian
and Italian.

“She was my inspiration always pushing me to do what I could to
help our community,” Haiek said about his late wife. “She always
supported me in my efforts to tell our story not just to Americans
but to American Arabs, too.”

Haiek said he has no regrets about not becoming a doctor or a lawyer.

Instead, his first job was in an advertising agency in Los Angeles,
where his family settled in the 1960s. Haiek said he was always
surprised at how little American knew about Arabs, so he rolled up
his sleeves and started working on telling the Arab story.

“I came to the United States for the same reasons many people came
to the United States. I was an immigrant escaping conflict. We were
having problems in Palestine and there was the fighting between
Jews and Arabs. I came here with my family he four of us, plus my
father-in-law and mother-in-law,” Haeik, 82, remembers.

“I found work at an advertising agency, starting in the mail room.

Eventually, they promoted me into accounting.”

Haiek said he was impressed with the professional of communications,
advertising and journalism and in June 1972, while still working at
the advertising agency during the day, spent his nights and weekends
putting together the first issue of the News Circle Magazine, which
focused on American Arabs and the history of Arabs in America.

In 1974, Haiek took it one step further, publishing the first edition
of the must-read Arab American Almanac which was only 96 pages. In
1978, Haiek founded the Arab American Historical Foundation to
support the Almanac. In 1992, the Almanac grew to 448 pages. And it
has continued to grow ever since.

In 2011, Haiek published the 6th edition of the Arab American Almanac,
which grew to more than 608 pages of detailed information of the
history of Arab settlement in America, pictures from American Arab
communities and people, and profiles and biographies of famous Arabs
in America.

“It never failed from the day I lived her until now, Americans will
come up to me and ask, ‘Did Arab serve in the military to defend
America?’ I would say of course we did. Do you not know John Abizaid,
who was the former head of the U.S. Central Command during the war
in Iraq?” Haeik said still amazed at how little Americans know about
Arab history in this country.

Former commander of the US Central Command John Abizaid, an alumnus
of University of Jordan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Haiek can recite name and instance of many great Americans and was
proud to remind the public that Arabs have been active in the American
military going back many generations. There is Korean War hero, U.S.

Air Force Col. James Jabara. World War II Army officer Maj. Gen. Fred
Safay who fought alongside Gen. George S. Patton. There was Brig. Gen.

Elias Stevens who served on the staff of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower,
who later became a U.S. President. In 1944, one of our Navy’s ships,
the destroyer escort USS Naifeh, was named in honor of an Arab American
hero Navy Lt. Alfred Naifeh from Oklahoma.

Retired Brigadier General James J. David served as Company Commander
of the famous 101st Airborne Division’s “Screaming Eagles” during
the Vietnam war in 1969 and 1970. More recently, West Point graduate
and retiredfour-star Gen. George Joulwan was the NATO Supreme Allied
Commander of Europe overseeing European and U.S. troops. And there
is Brig. Gen. William J. Jabour, the director of the U.S. Air Force
Program Executive Office for Fighter and Bomber programs in charge
of the F-22 System Program Office (SPO).

While many Americans don’t know these basic facts, worse, Haiek says,
is that many American Arabs don’t know those facts either.

The Arab American Almanac is available online from the Arab American
Heritage Foundation’s website at The
Almanac is only $39 and is packed with information about the history
of American Arabs.

Haiek is also an advisory board member of the Arab American National
Museum, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Arab
American Press Guild.

In May 2011, Haiek received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for his
contributions to his community and the nation. The prestigious honor
is recognized by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives and
recipients are listed in the U.S. Congressional Record. The medal was
established in 1986 by the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations,
whose mission is to foster respect and understanding among religious
and ethnic groups and to honor and preserve the cultural diversity
that makes the United States a strong nation.

“Arab Americans are independent,” Haiek said at the awards ceremony.

“They are proud of being Americans — and one of them is me.”

Haeik today is retired, disappointed only in the fact that the Arab
community has not changed from the disorganization of the 1960s to
the disorganization of today.

“It was a lot of work to start a news magazine. We started with heavy
distribution in the Los Angeles area and then we slowly started to
expand to Washington D.C, then Chicago and then to other cities. We
received lots of encouragement from people from around the country,
but it was very hard to get support,” Haiek concedes.

“The failure of the community is that they can never come together
as one strong voice. I lived with it all my life. They just don’t care.

They could come together and be a very strong community.”

Haiek said he dealt with the rivalries and divisions throughout
his life.

“I remember one day a doctor came to me and asked why I put his photo
below the photo of another Arab American. They were on the same page
but he didn’t care. He wanted to be above the other person. That was
the mentality of our community that we faced then and we face today.

We focus on insignificant things instead of what’s important,”
Haiek observes.

Haiek says he is most perplexed by the divisions that exist between
Arab Muslims and Arab Christians, and the lack of recognition of
Christian Arabs throughout.

“So many Americans come up to me and ask if I am Christian, or am I
Muslim? I said I am Christian. They say, why are you saying you come
from Palestine if you are Christian? That is a Muslim country. I tell
them Jesus is from Palestine,” Haiek says with a sardonic laugh.

“People would come up to me and asked me why I have a cross on the
door of my home? I said, because we are Christian. We are the original
Christians. Christianity came before Islam and they adopted Arabic
to print their Quran. As a Christian we love Muslims. Muslims and
Christians work together. We have made great contributions to each
other. Yet, we don’t always work together.”

Haiek praised Muslims and said Muslims and Christians can do a better
job of coming together to promote Arab heritage, culture and issues.

“We can be so much stronger if we would all work together and if we
didn’t get so upset about silly issues that separate us. We have so
much that brings us together, yet the little differences are what
sometimes keep us apart,” he says.

Haiek says he continues even in his late retirement to distribute
the Arab American Almanac which showcases the great success stories
of Arabs, Muslims and Christians in our community.

“The most important issue that I am concerned about is to distribute
the Arab American Almanac. We still have some copies in stock and
I would like to get them out to our community so that our community
knows its history. Many in our community don’t even really know who
we are or who they are themselves,” he says.

“I never regret becoming a journalist. I am proud of what I have done
and I served the community with the little means we had. I wish the
community would recognize how powerful we could be if we did a better
job publishing our views and stories.”

Haiek acknowledges that many Arabs fail to recognize the power that
exists in being involved in the news media and in supporting the Arab
American news media.

He helped found the Arab American Press Guild in Los Angeles in 1985
and the group continues to meet on the last Thursday of every month.

“We bring speakers and host events but so many in our community don’t
even know we exist and don’t participate,” Haiek says.

“The largest concentration of Arab American press is right here in Los
Angeles but they don’t work together. In our community, people won’t
support a good cause because someone they don’t like is involved or at
the event or publishing a newspaper. We don’t have a television show
and we don’t have radio but we have six or seven newspapers. We don’t
support each other. We divide each other. We don’t come together.”

From: A. Papazian

MASS PROTEST MOVEMENT AGAINST ARMENIAN PENSION REFORM

Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #726
March 11 2014

Government insists new compulsory contributions will stay in force
despite public anger.

By Lilit Arakelyan – Caucasus CRS Issue 726,

Protests against a pension reform under which new contributions are
being deducted from people’s salaries have spread across Armenia.

The law came into force at the beginning of the year, but employees
first saw their take-home pay reduced in February.

The new system imposes compulsory pension contributions which are
calculated at five per cent of monthly earnings under 500,000 drams
(1,200 US dollars) and ten per cent of wages exceeding that amount.

The government currently contributes 25,000 drams a month to everyone’s
state pension, but this is a fixed amount rather than a percentage
and its value is likely to be whittled away by inflation.

The rules only apply to people born after 1974, and the young
professionals most affected feel they are being unfairly targeted.

(See Armenia’s Young Earners Fear Pension Reform.)

The protest movement began in the IT industry, where many are well-paid
enough to be hit by the higher contributions rate. Companies in
this sector generally abide by the law and do not pay cash in hand,
or under-report their wage bills to the authorities..

“This is being called a pension reform, but in fact it’s just a way of
diverting money to the Armenian government,” Karen Vardanyan, head of
the union of IT companies, told IWPR. “IT specialists began this fight
since there is a clear injustice here, as well as flaws in the law.

They are very well aware that a large part of the economy operates
underground, and that the burden will fall exclusively on those
companies that function honestly.”

The protest movement began five months ago with a movement called
Dem.am (“I object”), which now has 44,000 members on Facebook. It
said parts of the reform bill, particularly the compulsory nature of
deductions, were unconstitutional, and the age limit was unjust.

Eighty per cent of Armenia’s 12,000 IT-sector workers have joined in
the protest, but it has also spread to other groups including lawyers,
economists, healthcare staff and teachers. Artists from the Opera
and Ballet Theatre in Yerevan refused to perform, while thousands of
workers from the electricity and rail networks, the Yerevan underground
railway and the Metsamor nuclear power station took to the streets.

Three Yerevan Metro employees lost their jobs after protesting, while
Kamo Hovhannisyan, director of the Opera and Ballet Theatre, resigned.

The demonstrations have spread place outside the capital to towns
like Gyumri, Goris, Kapan, Vanadzor and Alaverdi.

Company accountants have little choice but to deduct contributions
from staff pay, as the computer system used by the State Revenue
Committee does this calculation automatically. Even so, more than 70
companies are refusing to implement the rules by taking money from
their employees’ pay-packets.

Aram Sargsyan, who works for the Armenian Power Stations company,
said his February pay was 9,000 drams (22 dollars) short.

“They’ve started taking money from our pay, without even asking us.

We’re against this,” he told IWPR. “Is someone else really going to
worry about us more than we worry about ourselves? Who can take money
out of my pocket without asking me?”

Gevorg Gyorgisyan, a computer programmer who was one of the first to
raise concerns about the reform, told IWPR he was heartened by the
way the protests had spread.

“Many people who a few months ago were just sitting at home and
complaining have now taken to the streets to protest, and they have
realised that it’s up to them,” he said.

Armenia’s Constitutional Court has reviewed the legislation and
suspended the effect of the section that makes it punishable to flout
the rules. On March 28, the court is to consider whether it is legal
to make pension contributions compulsory.

“Because we voiced objections and raised legal questions, the
Constitutional Court has blocked certain worrying elements of the
law from coming into force,” Gyorgisyan said. “However, after the
court ruling, they started taking pension contributions from people’s
salaries, so now there’s this protest as a response.”

Armenia’s labour and social affairs minister, Artem Asatryan, says
the reform must go ahead.

“The obligation stands. The only parts of the law to be suspended
concern the payment of fines for not fulfilling the obligation,”
he told parliament. “Conscientious workers are already making the
compulsory pension contributions, and not waiting to be fined.”

The growing protests prompted the four opposition parties with seats
in parliament – Dashnaktsutyun, Prosperous Armenia, Heritage and the
Armenian National Congress – to discuss the reform.

Artsvik Minasyan, a member of parliament from Dashnaktsutyun, said
the whole country would suffer if the Constitutional Court upheld
the law at the March 28 hearing.

“This will lead to an increase in social tensions, and to our skilled
workers emigrating. More aggressive crowds will take to the streets,
and Armenia’s stability will be under threat,” he told IWPR.

Speaking at a televised event on February 15, President Serzh Sargsyan
acknowledged that the changes were unpopular but insisted that they
would improve people’s lives in the long run. He also made it clear
that the revenue would go on current spending rather than being saved
for the pensioners of the future.

“We are presenting people with a temporary inconvenience and asking
them to economise by five percent, but they will they then get this
five per cent back in magnified form later on,” he said. “We need
this money to make our economy grow, and we can use the fruits of
this growth to fund pension increases. We know that 80 per cent of
the population is dissatisfied, but we wouldn’t spend this vast amount
of money on nothing.”

That did not pacify the protesters, however, who said they would
continue fighting the law whatever the Constitutional Court decided.

“Of course the protests won’t calm down, since people are opposed
to this law,” computer programmer Tigran Martirosyan told IWPR. “We
must continue the battle to get the law scrapped, since it is not
just illegal, but also anti-social and anti-economic,

Lilit Arakelyan is a reporter for Araratnews.am in Armenia.

From: A. Papazian

RUSSIAN FILM WEEK OPENS IN YEREVAN

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
March 10 2014

10 March 2014 – 9:30pm

Russian Film Week opened today in the Moscow cultural and business
center “Moscow House” in Yerevan. It is taking place from 10 to 15
March, the press service of the center reports.

“Within a week Yerevan will host premieres of new Russian films,”
a spokeswoman is reported saying by “News -Armenia”.

The event opened with a screening of the film “The Geographer Drank
His Globe Away”, in which the main role is played the famous actor
Konstantin Khabensky. On March 11 the film “Daughter” will be shown,
on March 12 – the film “Major,” on March 13 – the film “Ivan, Son of
Amir” (starring Dmitry Dyuzhev), and on March 14 – the film “Stories”,
in which Andrei Merzlikin plays one of the main roles.

Russian Film Week will end on March 15 with a screening of the film
by Rezo Gigineishvili “Love with an Accent.”

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA BEGINS GRANTING VISAS TO IRAQIS WITHOUT PRIOR INVITATION

Assyrian International News Agency AINA
March 10 2014

Posted 2014-03-09 23:41 GMT

(AINA) — The Republic of Armenia has decided to grant visas to
Iraqis without prior invitation. The move came after several meetings
between the Vice-Prime Ministers of both countries were held in
Baghdad and Yerevan.

According to a statement issued by the Office of the Deputy Prime
Minister of Iraq, Nuri Rose Shaways, “the Armenian government decided
to start granting visas to the territory of the Republic of Armenia
to holders of passports and travel documents of Iraq without prior
invitation by diplomatic and consular missions of the Republic of
Armenia, this decision is effective on 23 February.”

Iraqis wishing to obtain a visa to enter the territory of the Republic
of Armenia must complete an electronic form and send a scanned copy
of the passport through the website. The applicant will be contacted
through the diplomatic or consular mission of the Armenian Embassy
in Baghdad.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS AND PROSPEROUS ARMENIA PLAN TO CARRY OUT CHANGE OF POWER?

17:15 10/03/2014 >> POLITICS

The opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) intends to form a
delegation for meeting with Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik
Tsarukyan, head of ANC parliamentary faction Levon Zurabyan told a
press briefing, adding that the meeting agenda was presented during
the March 1 rally of ANC.

Zurabyan stressed the need to carry out change of power in the country,
noting that the current practical atmosphere is favorable for it.

“Everything will be done with the help of the people as nothing can
be changed by office meetings,” the opposition MP said.

Zurabyan said that ANC leader, first Armenian President Levon
Ter-Petrosyan may also meet with Gagik Tsarukyan in the future.

Source: Panorama.am

From: A. Papazian

TURKEY LAUNCHES CRIMEA’S TURKIFICATION CAMPAIGN – ARMENIAN TURKOLOGIST

March 10, 2014 | 13:17

YEREVAN. – Crimea’s Turkification campaign is launched in Turkey, with
participation by the historians and the media, Armenian turkologist
Andranik Ispiryan noted at a press conference on Monday.

In Ispiryan’s words, Turkey has actively joined the informational
and propaganda activities on the developments in Ukraine, and with
a variety of manipulation and misinformation on Crimea.

The turkologist stated that the Turkish press has started calling
the Crimean Tatars as Crimean Turks, and Crimea, as a Turkish homeland.

“Famous Turkish historians, who claim that those living in Crimea
are [actually] Kipchak Turks, also are engaged in the Turkification
campaign launched by the [Turkish] media,” Ispiryan stated.

Commenting on the presence of the Russian navy in Crimea, Andranik
Ispiryan argued that Turkey perceives this as a threat against the
security of Turkey, especially of Istanbul, the Bosphorus, and the
Dardanelles.

From: A. Papazian

BECAUSE OF MALNUTRITION ABOUT 15% OF ARMENIAN CHILDREN SUFFER FROM STUNTING

YEREVAN, March 10. / ARKA /. About 15% of children in Armenia suffer
from stunting because of malnutrition, according to the findings of a
joint study conducted by the World Health Organization and Armenian
health ministry, which were unveiled today by Armen Poghosyan, head
of the Consumers’ Association of Armenia, at a news conference.

“Unfortunately, this is a very high figure, which should be a concern
to all of us. After all, what could be more important than the health
of the younger generation?” he asked.

According to Poghosyan, a way to resolve this problem is to increase
the size of allowances for childbirth, as well as soften some taxes
for families.

“Of course, this will require huge efforts, but we must remember
that the money will be repaid in the future as a healthy generation,”
he added.

Until the end of 2013 the size of a one-time state allowance for
the first and second child was 50,000 drams and 430,000 drams for
the third child. From January 2014 the allowance for the third and
fourth child increased to 500,000 drams. ($ 1 – 414.54 drams). -0 –

– See more at:

From: A. Papazian

DANGEROUS SITUATION FOR ARMENIA

Naira Hayrumyan, Political Commentator
Comments – Monday, 10 March 2014, 15:22

Today the Azerbaijani minister of foreign affairs Mammedyarov
meets with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in Paris. Tomorrow the
Armenian foreign minister is meeting with them in Moscow. During the
meeting with the foreign minister of Serbia Nalbandyan said that
the joint meeting of the ministers with the co-chairs depends on
the circumstances.

It might be just a coincidence that Nalbandyan meets with the co-chairs
in Moscow but it is too striking a difference that Mammedyarov
meets with them in Paris. Apparently, Moscow would like to show that
hereinafter all contacts with Armenia will take place in Moscow.

The Armenian experts have already put forth questions about the destiny
of the OSCE Minsk Group in case Russia and the United States break off
diplomatic relations. So far parity in the Karabakh area was maintained
within the format of the Minsk Group through mutual suppression of
the United States and Russia. Will Russia use the confrontation to
make single-handed decisions on Karabakh? The Russian propaganda
is trying to present the referendum on Crimea as a precedent for
Karabakh? This is evidence that Russia may make up its mind on the
annexation of Karabakh.

Nalbandyan’s meeting with the co-chairs was organized in Moscow to make
Armenia announce that it supports Russia in the geopolitical fight. So
far Armenia has not announced to not recognize the new government
of Ukraine, and Moscow does not like this. Apparently, Moscow wants
Nalbandyan to announce that Crimea is a precedent for Karabakh.

– See more at:

From: A. Papazian

ARTHUR BAGHDASARYAN DEMANDE DES CONSEILS POUR TROUVER DES MOYENS EFFICACES DE COOPERATION ENTRE L’ARMENIE ET L’UE

ARMENIE

Le Secretaire du Conseil national de securite d’Armenie, Arthur
Baghdasaryan, a eu une reunion avec les membres du Groupe consultatif
de l’UE et a demande de l’aide pour trouver des moyens efficaces de
cooperation entre l’Armenie et l’UE malgre l’adhesion de l’Armenie
a l’Union douanière.

. Il
a dit que ce programme a deja recu l’avis de l’Union europeenne,
mais il est très vaste et necessite une recherche plus approfondie
et des conseils des experts europeens.

Baghdasaryan a dit que l’Armenie a besoin de l’assistance des experts
europeens aussi au niveau du système judiciaire en particulier, dans
la mise en place du service de probation et le système de peines
de substitution.

Le Chef de la delegation de l’UE en Armenie, l’Ambassadeur Traian
Hristea, a declare qu’un certain nombre de questions pourrait
recevoir une vaste assistance de l’UE >.

lundi 10 mars 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com

From: A. Papazian