Author: Andres-Papazian

ADMINISTRATION OF ARMENIAN PRESIDENT URGES ALL POLITICAL FORCES AND INDIVIDUALS TO REFRAIN FROM ANY ACTIONS AGAINST OPPOSITION MP ZARUHI POSTANJYAN

by Tatevik Shahunyan

ARMINFO
Friday, October 4, 13:36

The Administration of the Armenian President urges all political
forces and individuals to refrain from any actions against opposition
MP Zaruhi Postanjyan following the question she asked to the President
during the last PACE plenary session, the President’s Spokesman Arman
Saghatelyan said on Friday, following the media reports that some
political forces are going to meet Postanjyan in the airport with
eggs and tomatoes.

“We consider unacceptable and incorrect any initiatives planned
against Postanjyan in the airport and urge all forces and people to
refrain from such actions,” Saghatelyan said.

Parliamentary sources told Arminfo earlier in the day that
representatives of the youth wing of the Republican Party of Armenia
are going to meet Postanjan at the airport with eggs and tomatoes.

They gave Postanjan different Turkish and Azerbaijani names hinting
at her link with respective lobbies

This all is a response to the question Postanjyan asked to President
Sargsyan at PACE on Wednesday. She wondered how he paid the 70mln EUR
he reportedly lost in a European casino lately. Sargsyan said that he
had never been in a casino and did not play gambling games. He added
that he was not as lucky as to have 70mln EUR. “If I had such money,
I would give part of it to you,” the President said to the MP.

From: A. Papazian

PRESSE ARMENIENNE : REVUE DU 3 OCTOBRE 2013

Publie le : 04-10-2013

Info Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN vous
presente cette Revue de Presse parue sur le site de l’Ambassade de
France en Armenie le 3 octobre 2013.

Ambassade de France en Armenie

le 3 octobre 2013

Revue de la presse armenienne du 2 octobre 2013

I. France-Armenie

1. Relations franco-armeniennes excellentes/La rencontre des Presidents
Francois Hollande et Serge Sarkissian, le 1er octobre a Paris,
constitue le sujet majeur d’actualite, les principales chaînes de
television ayant etransmis depuis Paris leurs reportages et nombre
de quotidiens y ayant consacre leur ” une “. Les televisions ont
qualifie les relations bilaterales d’excellentes, ” qui n’ont cesse
de s’approfondir depuis l’independance de l’Armenie ” et rappele que
chaque automne le Chef d’Etat armenien se rend ” traditionnellement
” en France. Pour la journaliste de la television Chant, ” il est
desormais difficile de dire combien de fois les Presidents d’Armenie
et de France se sont salues de vant le Palais de l’Elysee tant leurs
rencontres a Paris sont regulières “. Cette chaîne s’est livree a un
historique des relations franco-armeniennes depuis le Vème siècle.

Les quotidiens reproduisent le communique de la Presidence armenienne,
soulignant que le President Sarkissian s’est felicite du niveau et de
l’intensite des relations bilaterales : ” L’amitie franco-armenienne
est si profonde, qu’on ne saurait la definir en quelques phrases “.

Cette revue annuelle de l’agenda bilateral s’etendrait maintenant
aux relations UE/Armenie. Le Chef de l’Etat armenien se felicitant
de la presence en Armenie de nombreuses societes francaises, dont
Carrefour, Pernod Ricard, Orange, Credit-Agricole, Alcatel, Veolia,
a dit esperer que celle liste s’etoffe. Il a accorde une importance
particulière aux programmes de soutien de l’Agence francaise de
developpement, ainsi qu’a la cooperation decentralisee, le nombre de
partenariats en communes armeniennes et francaises jumelees depassant
la trentaine. Le President Hollande, quant a lui, a mis en evidence
l’importance des deuxièmes Assises de la cooperation decentralisee, qui
se tiendront a Valence, du 15 au 17 octobre. La vitalite des groupes
d’amitie parlementaires, la pleine integration de l’Armenie a l’OIF,
le developpement d’une cooperation culturelle et educative de haut
niveau ont aussi ete cites comme moteur de la relation bilaterale.

Par ailleurs, le President Sarkissian a remercie le President
Hollande pour les efforts de long terme de la partie francaise dans le
règlement du conflit du HK. Ils ont une nouvelle fois souligne qu’il
n’y a pas d’alternative au règlement pacifique du conflit dans le
cadre du Groupe de Minsk. Le President Sarkissian a marque sa haute
appreciation de l’implication personnelle du President francais dans
ce dossier. Concernant les perspectives de partenariat entre l’Armenie
et l’UE, les deux Presidents ont convenu de la necessite de ” maintenir
le rythme et la qualite de la cooperation ” afin de preserver l’acquis,
ainsi que le processus de reformes en Armenie. Le President Sarkissian
a reaffirme l’engagement de son pays a mener a terme les reformes
en cours. Le President Hollande l’a en retour assure que la France,
en tant qu’amie de l’Armenie, Etat membre de l’UE et un acteur au
sein des organisations internationales, continuera d’apporter son
soutien afin de faire avancer l’agenda europeen de l’Armenie. Enfin,
le President Sarkissian a remercie la France pour son action en
faveur de la reconnaissance internationale du genocide armenien et
renouvele l’invitation faite au President Hollande de se rendre en
visite d’Etat en Armenie.

Les quotidiens rendent aussi compte de la rencontre du President
Sarkissian avec le President du Senat, Jean-Pierre Bel, qui ont plus
particulièrement evoque la cooperation interparlementaire active
entre les deux pays. Le President Sarkissian a salue les visites ”
regulières ” de parlementaires francais au HK, ainsi que la creation
d’un ” cercle d’amitie ” avec le HK en mars dernier. A la demande des
Senateurs, le President Sarkissian a fait un point d’etape sur les
engagements en matière de règlement du conflit du Haut-Karabagh, sur
l’avenir de la relation avec l’UE, ainsi que sur la decision prise le
3 septembre par l’Armenie de rejoindre l’Union douanière eurasiatique.

Le site d’information Lragir.am estime que la decision de l’Armenie
de rejoindre l’Union douanière a dû constituer l’un des principaux
sujets de l’entretien presidentiel et observe que l’Armenie aura
certainement mis ” son partenaire N°1 en Europe ” dans l’embarras
en renoncant a l’accord d’association avec l’UE. ” La volte-face de
l’Armenie au profit de Moscou a quelques semaines de Vilnius est une
bien mauvaise manière envers Paris “, ecrit Lragir.am.

II. Politique interieure

1. Nouveau procureur general/Sans surprise, la proposition de
Guevorg Kostanian, par le President Sarkissian a l’AN pour le poste
de Procureur general, a ete approuvee a l’issue d’un vote secret des
parlementaires. 108 deputes sur 131 ont pris part au scrutin et trois
d’entre eux seulement ont vote contre (2 bulletins nuls). Ainsi, la
plupart des representants de l’opposition, opposes a l’accession d’un
procureur militaire de 35 ans a cette magistrature, auront finalement
vote en sa faveur… CNA et Heritage, qui ensemble totalisent 11
deputes, se sont mutuellement accuses de ne pas avoir tenu parole.

/Rapporte par l’ensemble de la presse

III. Questions regionales

1. Nul n’a invite l’Armenie a rejoindre l’Union douanière/L’ensemble
de la presse rend compte de la session de la Commission
intergouvernementale armeno-russe de cooperation economique a
Saint-Petersbourg, que le PM armenien et le Ministre russe des
Transports copresident. Au terme de cette session, les deux hommes
ont signe un accord de cooperation economique jusqu’en 2020. Lors de
la conference de presse conjointe, le PM armenien Tigran Sarkissian a
indique que ” nul n’a invite l’Armenie a rejoindre l’Union douanière
et que cette decision est reflechie et rationnelle “. Interroge sur
ses precedentes prises de position quant a l’adhesion de l’Armenie
a l’Union douanière [Tigran Sarkissian avait a plusieurs reprises
oppose a cette perspective l’absence de frontière commune], le PM
armenien a repondu qu’il partageait l’avis du President Poutine
selon lequel des mecanismes de cooperation peuvent remedier a cet
inconvenient. Il a rappele qu’un groupe d’experts armeno-russes a
soumis des propositions aplanissant les obstacles et rendant l’adhesion
de l’Armenie profitable.

2. Le secretaire general de l’OTSC, Nikolaï Bordyuzha, en Armenie
du 2 au 4 octobre/Il prendra part a la session de la commission
interetatique de cooperation politico-militaire dans le cadre de
l’OTSC et assistera aux travaux de session ” Kanal-Kavkaz ” dediee
a la lutte contre les trafics de stupefiants qui se tiendra durant
cette periode en Armenie./ Hayots Achkhar, Azg, Jamanak

3. 500 militaires russes arrives a la base russe de Gumri ?/
Haykakan Jamanak, qui, il y a quelques jours, avait fait part de
l’intention de la Russie de renforcer la base 102 de Gumri, affirme
que le 1er octobre, une subdivision russe de 500 soldats aurait
pris des quartiers a Gumri. Une autre subdivision devrait arriver
prochainement. Les Armeniens residant en peripherie de Gumri auraient
exprime leurs craintes d’etre expulses de leur domicile pour faire
place aux nouveaux contingents russes.

Redaction : Meri Hakobian

Retour a la rubrique

Source/Lien : Ambassade de France en Armenie

From: A. Papazian

INGERENCE DANS LES AFFAIRES INTERIEURES DE L’ARMENIE ?

ARMENIE

L’ensemble de la presse rend compte de l’allocution du President
georgien a l’AGNU, evoquant le conflit du HK et la decision de
l’Armenie d’adherer a l’Union douanière. Accusant la Russie de
maintenir le statut quo afin d’empecher l’Armenie comme l’Azerbaïdjan
de devenir des Etats pleinement independants et modernes, M.

Saakachvili aurait stigmatise ” le vieil empire qui tente par tous
les moyens de recuperer ses frontières “. Selon Haykakan Jamanak,
les propos du President georgien ont ete vivement commentes par les
milieux politiques armeniens, denoncant l’ingerence dans les affaires
interieures de l’Armenie ou au contraire saluant son audace. En
guise de reponse, Edouard Charmazanov, Vice-President de l’AN, a
remercie publiquement la Russie ” pour ses efforts de mediation dans le
règlement du conflit du HK en tant que copresident du Groupe de Minsk
“. L’editorial d’Aravot, tout en denigrant une approche manicheenne
en ” noir ” [la Russie] et ” blanc ” [l’Occident], avoue cependant
en partager le sens. L’editorial de Joghovourd considère egalement
que le maintien du statut quo est a l’avantage de la Russie, qui vend
des armes a l’Azerbaïdjan a hauteur d’un milliard de dollars tout en
renforcant sa presence militaire en Armenie.

Haykakan Jamanak et Joghovourd relèvent par ailleurs que ceux qui ont
accuse le President Saakachvili d’ingerence, ont garde le silence
sur le contrôle par des gardes-frontières russes de la personne,
du vehicule et des accompagnateurs de la deputee du parti Heritage,
Zarouhie Postandjian, en deplacement dans la ville de Kapan

Extrait de la revue de presse de l’Ambassade de France en Armenie en
date du 27 septembre 2013

vendredi 4 octobre 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

L’ARMENIE BENEFICIERA DE L’ADHESION A L’UNION DOUANIÈRE DANS LE LONG TERME SI L’ECONOMIE REELLE SE DEVELOPPE

ARMENIE

L’Armenie beneficiera de son adhesion a l’Union douanière dans le
long terme, si elle developpe son economie reelle a declare le chef
de l’Union republicaine des employeurs d’Armenie Gagik Makaryan.

” Je suis sûr que la decision du president au sujet de l’adhesion de
l’Armenie a l’union douanière a ete faite sous la pression du temps et
etait dans l’interet de la securite nationale et politique du pays,
en tenant compte la croissance des menaces exterieures ” a declare
Gagik Makaryan lors d’une conference de presse.

Il a egalement dit que l’Armenie devrait prendre egalement des
avantages economiques de cette cooperation dans le long terme.

L’economie reelle devrait etre developpee pour exporter des
marchandises vers le marche de l’union douanière.

vendredi 4 octobre 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN CHURCH, SURVIVOR OF THE AGES, FACES MODERN HURDLES

New York Times
Oct 4 2013

By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

ECHMIADZIN, Armenia – In this ancient city, tucked in a valley that
has witnessed the rise and fall of empires, King Tiridates III
converted to Christianity and declared Armenia to be the world’s
first Christian state. The year was 301, more than a decade before
the Emperor Constantine put Rome on a similar path.

Since then, the Armenian Apostolic Church, which still has its main
cathedral here, has survived conquest and dispersion, genocide and
government-imposed atheism during the years Armenia was part of the
Soviet Union. It also endured centuries of internal rancor, including
a split in 1441 that led to the establishment of a rival leadership
now based in Lebanon.

As church leaders gathered here last week for a rare bishops’
conference, they seemed to be ready to put at least some of those
differences aside as they confronted a new set of challenges:
entrenched secularism at home, assimilation of followers in the large
Armenian diaspora abroad and general disaffection with organized
religion.

“The church is in dire need of renewal,” Catholicos Aram I, the leader
of the Lebanon-based faction of the church, said in an interview as he
strolled across the campus here of the Mother See. “And by renewal,
I mean the church has to be responsive to the needs and expectations
of the people.”

He added, “The church has to respond to the challenges of the
present-day world.”

Exactly how the church plans to do that remains elusive, however, and
some skeptics said the split within the church leadership remained
as divisive as ever, while the number of people regularly attending
church has dwindled.

The church has more than nine million adherents worldwide, most
outside Armenia. Statistics show that more than 98 percent of Armenians
consider themselves Christians, but only 8 percent said they attended
services at least once a week – data that suggest the church is still
struggling to overcome the legacy of forced atheism 23 years after
Armenian independence.

There have also been a number of recent controversies, including the
resignation of the head of the church in France, Archbishop Norvan
Zakarian, in a dispute over demands by the church leadership to
reinstate a priest facing criminal assault charges.

“The whole situation of the division of the Armenian church is not
resolved,” said one Western-based archbishop who asked not to be
identified to avoid exacerbating tensions. “Yes, this is a conclave,
but the church is not unified.”

Aram acknowledged that he claimed the same basic title as Catholicos
Karekin II, the church leader based in Echmiadzin, who also has
the added designation of supreme patriarch of all Armenians. Still,
Aram denied any fissure.

“We don’t have any division in the Armenian church,” he said. “We are
one church. We are one people. We are one nation. We are one mission.

We have two Catholicoi, and we are rich – this is an expression of
the richness of the church.”

For his part, Karekin told his audience of 62 bishops in black hoods
and robes with purple accents, who had come from as far away as
Australia and Latin America, that it was time to come together.

“All these controversies and administrative divisions did not allow
carrying out unified reforms,” Karekin said. “We are an entire century
behind the opportunity to modernize the church.”

He added, “The time has come to consolidate all forces.”

To minimize the prospect of sharp disagreements at the conference,
a tight agenda was adopted: creating universal practices for baptisms
and confirmations, discussing the canonization of victims of the
1915 Armenian genocide in recognition of the 100th anniversary,
and planning another conference next year.

In an apparent bid to generate positive publicity around the bishops’
conference, church officials billed it as the first synod of its
kind in nearly 600 years – a bit of snappy marketing that was widely
repeated by the Armenian news media and in a speech by President
Serzh Sargsyan during the opening ceremony.

“Now, we are witnessing the epoch-making event indeed,” Mr. Sargsyan
said. “For centuries, due to different circumstances, and particularly
in the last six centuries, it was not possible to invite a bishops’
synod of the Armenian Church.”

Experts, however, said that was not quite true.

At the event nearly 600 years ago, a conclave in Echmiadzin in 1441,
church leaders decided to move the headquarters back here from Sis,
in what is now Turkey, where the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia had been
conquered by Egyptian Mamluks.

A new leader, Kirako Virapetsy, was elected to replace Catholicos
Gregory IX, who was ill and remained in Sis. But when Gregory died,
officials in Sis elected their own replacement.

“The year 1441 is being mentioned here and there as if to give it more
importance and significance,” said Hratch Tchilingirian, an expert
on the church who teaches at Oxford University’s Oriental Institute.

Mr. Tchilingirian said a bishops’ synod was held here in 1969.

Armenian clerics from the United States attended, even though it was
during the cold war, while those from Lebanon refused to attend.

He said that last week’s agenda seemed to ignore tough issues in
favor of safe topics. For example, before the 75th anniversary of
the genocide, both branches of the church issued statements about
canonizing victims.

Archbishop Aris Shirvanian, the director of ecumenical and foreign
relations at the Armenian Apostolic Patriarchate of Jerusalem, said
that reaching an agreement to canonize victims – the first saints
designated by the church since the 1500s – was a top priority.

“We, the bishops and archbishops living today, are descendants of
Armenian genocide,” Archbishop Shirvanian said.

“All of us are survivors. That’s the driving spirit behind this
meeting.”

Whatever the agenda, Echmiadzin, which is also called by its original
name, Vagharshapat, remains at the center of Armenian spiritual life.

It is about 12 miles west of the capital, Yerevan, between the biblical
mountains of Ararat and Aragats. Priests in black robes can often be
seen strolling through downtown.

The conversion of Tiridates III in 301, a decade before the Roman
emperor Constantine embraced Christianity, is credited to St. Gregory
the Illuminator, the patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Living in Vagharshapat, the capital of Armenia at the time, Gregory
reportedly had a vision. As the faithful tell it, the skies parted
and a ray of light blazed down, surrounding a group of angels and
a man – Jesus – who struck the ground with a golden hammer and made
an altar-shaped structure appear amid a column of fire with a cross
shining above it.

It was on that spot that Gregory oversaw construction of the Cathedral
of Echmiadzin – meaning, “Jesus Christ, the only begotten, descended.”

From: A. Papazian

ZHOGHOVURD: 20 CONS ‘CONVERTED’ INTO ‘PROS’

09:47 03.10.13

Following the secret ballot on the candidacy for the post of Armenia’s
prosecutor general in Armenia’s parliament, the counting board managed
to “convert” about 20 “cons” into “pros.”

According to the newspaper, Armenian National Assembly Speaker Hovik
Abrahamyan “stepped in” as well. Secretary of the counting board
Lyudmila Sargsyan, an Armenian National Congress (ANC) parliamentary
group member, told the newspaper: “In fact, I was the only committee
member representing the parliamentary group that objected to Gevorg
Kostanyan’s candidacy. And I do not rule out that the six commission
members could somehow hide the ‘cons’ and later slip them into the
‘pros’.”

The newspaper’s “well-informed sources” report that Mr Abrahamyan
was concerned over the results and was involved and did his utmost
to ensure Mr Kostanyan’s decisive victory. However, Head of the PR
Department, Parliament of Armenia, Gohar Poghosyan told the newspaper
that Mr Abrahamyan did not take part in the vote count.

From: A. Papazian

SYRIA ARMENIANS MOVE TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH: AZERBAIJAN

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Oct 3 2013

UNITED NATIONS – Agence France-Presse

Print Page Send to friend ” Share Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov speaks during the 68th session of the General Assembly at
United Nations headquarters, Sept. 28. AP photo Azerbaijan on Oct. 2
accused Armenia of resettling Syrian refugees in a disputed territory
both countries have been fighting over for decades.

Azerbaijan’s U.N. ambassador said the rival neighbor had started
a “very dangerous process” by moving Syrian Armenians into
Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenia says it has accepted more than 10,000 ethnic Armenians. But
Armenia’s U.N. envoy said claims they have been moved into
Nagorno-Karabakh are “lies and distortion.”

Armenian-backed independentists took Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan
in a war in the early 1990s that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives. A
1994 ceasefire ended major hostilities, but no peace accord has been
reached, and clashes regularly erupt. About 20 troops from either
side have been killed on their frontier this year.

“We continue to receive the reports testifying to purposeful attempts
aimed at encouraging some categories of Syrian refugees to move
to other conflict affected areas,” Azerbaijan’s U.N. envoy Agshin
Mehdiyev told a news conference.

“We have information that they already started it – settlement of
Syrian refugees in occupied territories – and of course it is a very
dangerous process with unpredictable consequences,” added Mehdiyev,
who is the U.N. Security Council president for October.

The United Nations recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan.

But Azerbaijanis fled after the war and the population is currently
almost completely Armenian. In the absence of a peace accord,
Azerbaijan and Armenia have rearmed in recent years.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov raised the Syrian
Armenians in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly last week. The two
governments regularly clash over Nagorno-Karabakh at the annual U.N.

summit.

Mammadyarov said reports of Syrian Armenians being moved into
Nagorno-Karabakh “provide yet more evidence of Armenia’s deliberate
policy of annexation of Azerbaijani lands.”

Over 10,000 refugees

Armenia’s U.N. ambassador Garen Nazarian told AFP that Azerbaijan
was “using the Syrian crisis for political goals. Not a single
Syrian Armenian has been moved into that territory.” He described
the Azerbaijan claims as “lies and distortion.” Armenia’s Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandyan told the General Assembly last week that
his country was “alarmed” by the crisis in Syria.

“The number of refugees Armenia continues to receive already exceeds
10,000, but tens of thousands of Syrian-Armenians still remain in
that country,” he said.

Tens of thousands of Armenians fled to Syria after the mass killing
of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey during World War I.

October/02/2013

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN CIVIL SERVANTS TO EARN MORE

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Oct 3 2013

3 October 2013 – 8:03pm
Armenian civil servants’ salaries will be increased exactly as
President Serzh Sargsyan has promised, the Minister of Finance David
Sargsyan said today.

The Minister did not specify any figures, but assured that the salaries
of all employees of ministries and departments will be increased. “The
average salary of a head of department will be 311 thousand drams
(about $770),” Armenia Today quoted the minister.

Sarkisian underlined that the increase will begin on January 1. “This
process will go in several stages. It will begin on 1 January and will
be completed by 1 July.We will start on 1 January with the military,
and by 1 July the process will be completed,” the minister said.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA TO SIGN ONLY POLITICAL PART OF EU ASSOCIATED-MEMBERSHIP AGREEMENT

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Oct 2 2013

2 October 2013 – 5:40pm
Armenia is going to sign only the political part of the associated
-membership agreement with the European Union, Armenia President
Serzh Sargsyan said today.

“Armenia is going to take part in the coming summit of the Eastern
Patnership. At this stage we are going to sign only the political part
of the associate membership agreement,” the Armenian president said
today, while addressing the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe in Strasbourg.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA READY TO SIGN ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT WITH EU – PRESIDENT SARGSYAN

Interfax, Russia
Oct 2 2013

YEREVAN. Oct 2

Armenia intends to sign an association agreement with the European
Union in the field of political reforms at the EU Vilnius summit this
November, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said.

“We will participate in the Vilnius summit. We are still prepared to
sign the association agreement with the EU. But after we announced
our plans to join the Customs Union, our European colleagues said it
would be in stark conflict with the free trade agreement. I declare
that we will carry on reforms in our country and that we are ready
to sign the association agreement addressing political reforms,”
Sargsyan told European deputies at the Strasbourg session of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

He said Armenia was negotiating the document it might sign in Vilnius.

“We agreed with our European colleagues that from the very start
that our relations with the EU would not develop to the detriment
of our allies but would be mutually beneficial. This understanding
was good for more than three years. I regret that our colleagues in
the EU believe a free trade agreement would be incompatible with the
Customs Union,” Sargsyan said.

Yerevan has not deviated from its path, the Armenian president said.

“The Customs Union is not just Russia but a number of countries. I
believe it is totally senseless to speak about any pressure from
Russia on our decisions. The wish we have expressed is rooted
in simple reality. We have been living in a security system that
includes Customs Union countries for more than 20 years. Furthermore,
we cannot isolate ourselves from the economic and geographic region
in which we live. Nevertheless, we will continue to cooperate closely
with the European Union,” the Armenian president said.

Te cm

From: A. Papazian