Author: Andres-Papazian

Vardanik Is Just A Bully Compared With Them

Interview with Karen Harutiunyan, IT specialist and civic activist

Karen, the civic initiatives and activists are often said to be
directed by one political force or another.

The political forces do have wish and experience to direct the civic
community. Any political force is trying to use or direct or involve
the independent civil sector in the processes which is acceptable to
some extent. In other words, if the citizens support the ideas of the
force concerned, they can join it. There have been such cases in
different periods but sometimes they try to make believe that they
direct the citizens. I also hear rumors about who is backing me. This
is because it is something unusual to people that one can be free, do
different things and not to be arrested, which is one’s right, by the
way. There are people who are not independent, and it is difficult for
them to understand what an independent citizen is. They are used to
staying at home while others fight for their rights. Sometimes the
political forces describe independent citizens so whenever they
disagree with them. Our favorite criminal system uses this to
discredit and split the society.

So, there is no awareness that a lot depends on every citizen.

This awareness is coming, people are already aware but stereotypes
prevent them from acting. There are groundless fears, there is not a
uniting factor, everyone thinks they are alone. Besides, they depend
heavily on the public opinion. People think it is a shame to protest.
However, this mindset is gradually being replaced, people are starting
to respect, take pride in people who are free, who protest, who try to
support someone who protests. Meanwhile, the political parties often
interfere, promote the mindset that nothing depends on us and a force
must come to resolve all their issues.

What do you think about the steps of the chief of police?

The police is doing what it has to do because the agenda has been
modified. The police have to accept the challenge and undergo
transformation. On the one hand, it is good because in the result of
transformation, even if it is imitation in nature, the police will
gain new qualifications which will be positive in perspective.
Nevertheless, it is imitation because if there is a genuine wish,
elections will not be falsified. They are falsified in the result of
connivance or complicity of the police. Their recent steps are a
demonstration that they want to act the purpose of which is to deceive
people. Most actions have nothing to do with law enforcement, again
everything is focused on persons with some absurd moral or even
religious shades, whereas the problem is systemic. Besides, they need
to report some change to the international organizations which
implement certain reform programs and provide assistance to the
police. The police is facing a human resource issue. There are
permanent police residents who have a peculiar understanding of police
activities, they are not even policemen. Vova Gasparyan is criticizing
the criminal thinking in Gyumri, whereas the criminal thinking is
rooted in the pyramid of the government which rules the country.
Vladimir Gasparyan says in Gyumri they think criminal, simply in
Gyumri it is more explicit but it is directly linked to shortcomings
of the police and their coalescence with the criminals. The same
thinking is in all the officials. Hrair Tovmasyan who does not belong
to this world acquired the same thinking as soon as he became
minister. The system is based on criminals and such thinking. Resolve
problems by force, account to those who are strong. Look, Nemets,
Sashik, Lfik, Beglaryan Gagik, Tokhmakh Mher and others are all
imminent representatives of the criminal world. Compared with them
Vardanik [Vardan Ghukasyan, ex-mayor of Gyumri] is just a bully. I
understood yesterday that everything is fine if there is no shooting
in Armenia. The police also have a criminal thinking. Whenever you
talk to a policeman, he will say: I will take off my shoulder straps
and we will talk like man to man.

What is your vision of struggle in the next few years? The movement
for the idea of change of government seems to be futile. What would be
successful?

The struggle must be aimed at change of consciousness. One way is a
long-term process aimed at change of consciousness when the citizens
will become claimants. It is very difficult in such information
blockade and manipulation. Few are the people who carry these ideas
and try to promote them. It is also possible to go forward by
formulating the problem which must contain values and consciousness to
have real change and a conscious society after the revolution.
Liquidation of the Republican Party is a very specific issue: this
criminal organization has usurped power for a long time. I think these
two could be combined.

Siranuysh Papyan
16:34 04/05/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:

From: A. Papazian

Armenia’s beggar and street kids increase – newspaper

May 04, 2013 | 06:30

YEREVAN. – The number of beggar and street children in Armenia has
increased, Zhoghovurd daily reports.

`In 2012, Armenia’s Police recorded sixteen beggar and street kids,
four of which were girls.

In line with the NSS [i.e., the National Statistical Service] data,
fifteen beggar and street minors – two of which, girls – were registered
in Armeniain 2011.

Most of the beggar and street children were registered in Lori Region.

To note, the official statistics have not yet issued the poverty
indicators inArmenia but, as of the previous year’s data, about 35
percent of Armenia’s population is poor,’ Zhoghovurd writes.

From: A. Papazian

Armavia’s `recovery’ to have heavy toll on Armenia’s economy – newspaper

May 04, 2013 | 08:51

YEREVAN. – The resumption of the operations of Armavia Airline
Company, which is Armenia’s national carrier, will worsen further the
country’s air transportation sector, Zhamanak daily reports.

`The `Minimum Primary Terms for the `Recovery’ of the Air
Transportation Sector and Resumption of the Activities of the Airline
Company’ package assumes huge privileges for the company.

Working monopolistically, [and] under privileged conditions for long
years, Armavia had an unprecedentedly awkward management and it was
providing extremely poor quality services.

Now, receiving even greater privileges, this company will provide even
poorer quality and pricier services,’ Zhamanak writes.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION’S DISAGREEMENTS SHOULD NOT BECOME BLACK PR – ARF DASHNAKTSUTYUN MP

May 03, 2013 | 13:24

YEREVAN. – The disputes among the opposition political forces of
Armenia should not turn into a Black PR.

Opposition ARF Dashnaktsutyun Party National Assembly (NA) Faction
leader, ARF Supreme Body representative Armen Rustamyan, who heads
the party list for the upcoming capital city Yerevan Council election,
stated the aforesaid during Friday’s NA briefings.

“It is unpleasant that several politicians have forgotten the main
objective and are attempting to get votes at the expense of others. I
believe their expressions did not express the view of their parties,”
Rustamyan said.

In his words, competition among political forces does not stop when
uniting, either, and this is natural. The whole point, however,
is the correctness of that competition.

“Even though we are speaking about a united [oppositional] front for a
change in power, there may be disagreements among us, too. But it is
one thing to speak about those differences, it is totally a different
thing to ‘pour mud’ onto each other.

“It remains to hope that such incidents do not cross the critical
border and do not obstruct the uniting of non-government forces during
the Yerevan Council elections,” Armen Rustamyan concluded.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

From: A. Papazian

WE TREAT ARMENIA WITH RESPECT, SAYS IRAN ENVOY

11:12 ~U 03.05.13

Iran’s ambassador to Azerbaijan has said his country has a respectful
attitude to all its neighbors, including Armenia.

“Armenia is our neighbor, and we treat all our neighboring states
with respect,” Mohsen Pak Ayin has told the Azerbaijani news website
Mediaforum.az.

Addressing Baku’s criticism that the Islamic Republic assists a
Christian state “which has held 20 percent of the Muslim country
under occupation”, the diplomat said he backs Armenia in an effort
to prevent the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict from maturing into a
Christian-Muslim war.

“It [the assistance] stems Azerbaijan’s interests; it is aims to
prevent Azerbaijan from coming under pressures by the Christian
world,” Haqqin.az quoted the ambassador as saying. “Many countries
assist Armenia. Baku, however, doesn’t seem to ‘notice’ that … the
United States provides billions of dollars in aid to Nagorno-Karabakh.

US envoys have conducted a monitoring of the Nagorno-Karabakh election
and can be said to have actually recognized the region’s independence.

Azerbaijan criticizes only Iran, for some reason.”

Mr. Pak Ayin said Armenians are respected in Iran and enjoy all the
rights and privileges as citizens of the country.

“You will probably remember Sattar Khan [Iranian national hero,
1867-1914]; so you have to know that his companion-in-arms was the
ethnic Armenian Yeprem Khan [an Armenian national hero who took part
in the Iranian constitutional revolution together with Sattar]. They
both devoted their lives to the liberation of Iran,” said the diplomat.

Armenian News – Tert.am

From: A. Papazian

U.S. BUYS MAJORITY OF ALUMINUM FOIL EXPORT OF ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN PRODUCTION

10:06, 3 May, 2013

YEREVAN, MAY 3, ARMENPRESS. The export of the 0,2 mm aluminum foil from
the Republic of Armenia to the U.S. during the period of the first
three months has recorded a growth of about 24 percent in comparison
with the same period of the previous year. The State Revenue Committee
of the Government of the Republic of Armenia informed “Armenpress”
that during the first three months of the current year 6,830,500 kg
aluminum foil have been exported to the U.S.

This amount equaled to 5,516,800 kg in the same period of 2012. The
total customs value of the aluminum foil exported to the United
States during the first three months of the current year exceeded
USD 21 million. The total amount of Armenia’s export of aluminum foil
during the first three months of 2013 equals to 6,984,100 kg.

In a conversation with “Armenpress” the Press Secretary of
“Rusal-Armenal” company Alexander Melkumyan stated that the aluminum
foil of Armenian production is in line with the international standards
and is much in demand in the USA.

From: A. Papazian

LEVON TER-PETROSSIAN APPELLE LES PARTIS DE L’OPPOSITION A RENONCER A LEURS AMBITIONS ET A SE REUNIR

Après dix mois de silence, le CNA a tenu une manifestation (d’après
certaines estimations de 3 a 5 000 personnes y auraient pris part),
a la veille de l’election municipale, au cours de laquelle Levon
Ter-Petrossian a pris la parole pour qualifier le prochain scrutin
de ” politiquement important ” en vue de ” liberer Erevan des mains
du parti Republicain ” et appele a cette fin toutes les forces de
l’opposition a se rassembler : ” Compte tenu de l’extreme importance
de l’election du conseil municipal de Erevan pour l’avenir du pays, il
est necessaire de battre le rappel de toutes les forces politiques et
des organisations civiles, de mettre de côte les desaccords existants
afin de former une seule et unique force. Cette bataille contre le
regime est decisive “. Selon LTP, l’opposition doit egalement se
preparer a partager le pouvoir a Erevan si elle remporte le seuil
de 40% des sièges au Conseil municipal. Le CNA s’est engage a ne
critiquer que les partis au pouvoir Republicain et Etat de droit,
pour ne pas desservir l’avenir.

Extrait de la revue de presse de l’Ambassade de France en Armenie en
date du 2 mai 2013

vendredi 3 mai 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

NAM DOIT ETRE MIEUX APPRECIE PAR UNE COMMUNAUTE TROP SOUVENT REPLIEE SUR ELLE MEME.

Issu d’une generation de Francais d’origine armenienne, eleve dans un
etat de droit, heritier des Lumières, le magazine Nouvelles d’Armenie
rappelle aux dirigeants d’Armenie tout ce qui fait defaut dans le
fonctionnement d’une republique issue d’une periode de sovietisme,
precedee d’un heritage en grande partie despotique.Par ailleurs, NAM
informe sur le monde armenien, sa culture passee et presente et denonce
les negationnismes et les derives ultra nationalistes regionales.

On ne peut que souhaiter que les efforts entrepris par NAM pour etre
au diapason du monde contemporain soient mieux apprecies par le gros
d’une communaute trop souvent repliee sur elle-meme et enfermee depuis
trop longtemps sur le passe.

vendredi 3 mai 2013, Spidermian ©armenews.com Ara ©armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

LOCARNO’S OPEN DOORS CO-PRO PROJECTS REVEALED

Screen International
May 2 2013

New projects from Ovashvili, Pirveli and Shek selected for Locarno’s
Open Doors.

New projects from George Ovashvili, Rusudan Pirveli and Nika Shek
are among 12 selected for the 11th edition of Locarno’s Open Doors
co-production lab.

The event will be held during the festival from August 10-13 and
is dedicated to the South Caucasus countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Georgia.

Ovashvili, who already has Germany’s 42film and France’s Arizona
Films onboard his next feature Khibula as production partners, had
previously been nominated for the European Discovery of the Year award
at the 2009 European Film Awards for his feature debut The Other Bank.

Similar to his compatriot Rusudan Pirveli, Ovashvili attended the
Berlinale Talent Campus, Pirveli returning to Berlin’s Generation
section with her feature debut Susa in 2010.

Meanwhile, Armenian Nika Shek – another Berlinale Talent Campus alumnus
– is planning an autumn 2013 start for Long Gardens which she will
co-direct with Sarik Hovsepyan as an Armenian-Azeri co-production.

The lineup of projects looking for co-producers and co-financing also
includes Rusudan Glurjidze’s House Of Others about a group of homeless,
war-stricken survivors trying to rebuild their lives in an abandoned
village in the early 1990s.

The production by Tbilisi-based Cinetech, which was previously pitched
at Connecting Cottbus and in Tallinn as part of the Baltic Bridge
East by West (B’Est) initiative last year, already has France’s MPM
Film onboard as co-producer.

Line-up in full ~UAbysm, Oksana Mirzoyan (Armenia) ~UHouse of
Others, Rusudan Glurjidze (Georgia/France) ~UKhibula, George
Ovashvili (Georgia/France/ Germany) ~ULong Gardens, Nika Shek
and Sarik Hovsepyan (Armenia /Azerbaijan) ~UMadona, Nino Gogua
(Georgia) ~UNaked in Baku, Arzu Gulijeva (Azerbaijan/Estonia)
~UPipeline, Asif Rustamov (Azerbaijan/Germany) ~USee you in Chechnya,
Alexander Kvatashidze (Georgia/France/Estonia/Netherlands) ~USleeping
Lessons, Rusudan Pirveli (Georgia) ~UTerritoria, Nora Martirosyan
(Armenia/Switzerland/France) ~UThe Second Journey, Levon Minasian
(Armenia) ~UThe Valley, Arsen Azatyan and Narine Lazarian (Armenia)
In addition, an innovation at this year’s edition of Open Doors will
see the introduction of a series of workshops on current issues and
problems in independent film production and distribution for the
lab’s participants.

New Locarno summer academy head Local journalist and director Stefano
Knuchel has been appointed the new head of the Locarno Summer Academy
which offers lectures, roundtables and workshops for young filmmakers,
professionals, students and film critics.

Now in its fourth edition, the Summer Academy will select 80 promising
young talents from all over the world to participate in one of its
four programmes:

~UFilmmakers Academy (Aug 12-17); ~UCritics Academy (Aug 7-17);
~UDocumentary Summer School (Aug 12-17); ~UCinema&Gioventù (Aug 6-17)
aimed at 32 high-school and university students.

From: A. Papazian

VOLKERMORD-GEDENKTAG IN ARMENIEN

ExtremNews, Deutschland
24 / 4 / 2013

Freigeschaltet am 24.04.2013 um 07:11 durch Thorsten Schmitt

Bild: Henry Morgenthau, ru.wikipedia.orgAm 24. April wird in Armenien
jahrlich der Gedenktag an die Volkermord-Opfer begangen. An jenem Tag
im Jahr 1915 wurden die besten Vertreter der armenischen Elite in
Gefangnisse des Osmanischen Reiches geworfen und ermordet.

800 Lehrer, Ärzte, Geistliche, Schriftsteller, Kunstler und andere
bekannte Personlichkeiten wurden die ersten Opfer jener Repressionen.

Danach folgte die massenhafte Vernichtung und Vertreibung der Bewohner
Westarmeniens aus ihrer historischen Heimat.

Das Ergebnis des ersten Genozids des 20. Jahrhunderts, das die
turkische Organisation ~DKomitee fur Einheit und Fortschritt”
organisiert hatte, war ungeheuerlich. Es kamen 1,5 Millionen Armenier
ums Leben, das heißt etwa die Halfte dieses ganzen Volkes zu jener
Zeit. Am Leben blieben nur die Armenier des Russischen Reiches und
armenische Fluchtlinge in Drittlandern. Seither seien fast 100 Jahre
vergangen, und all diese Zeit kampfe das armenische Volk um die
internationale Anerkennung und Verurteilung dieses Volkermordes, sagt
der Direktor des Instituts fur Orientkunde der Nationalen Akademie der
Wissenschaften Armeniens, Ruben Safrastjan.

~DDas war nicht nur ein Verbrechen gegen das armenische Volk, das war
ein Verbrechen gegen die ganze Menschheit. Die Anerkennung dieses
Volkermordes durch die Weltgemeinschaft besitzt nicht nur hinsichtlich
der Moral eine große Bedeutung, weil sie die Gerechtigkeit
wiederherstellt, sondern auch fur die Vorbeugung moglicher kunftiger
Volkermorde.”

Die Turkei habe in all den Jahren ihrer Existenz eine Falsifikation
der Ereignisse von 1915 betrieben, fahrt Ruben Safrastjan fort.

~DLeider halt diese Staatspolitik heute noch an. In den letzten Jahren
sehen wir jedoch, dass in der turkischen Gesellschaft Gruppen von
Intellektuellen – von Studenten und Wissenschaftlern – auftauchen, die
eine Meinung außern, die nicht der offiziellen Politik entspricht. Ich
hoffe, dass es in der Turkei mit der Zeit immer mehr solche Menschen
geben wird.”

Von den Verbrechen gegen das armenische Volk, die im Osmanischen Reich
verubt wurden, musse man in verschiedenen Sprachen der Welt erzahlen,
bemerkt der Direktor des Instituts fur politische und soziale
Erforschung der Schwarzmeer- und Kaspi-Region, Wladimir Sacharow.

~DIn Deutschland, in Frankreich, in Italien und in anderen Landern
werden Archivdokumente aufbewahrt, die dem Genozid an den Armeniern
gewidmet sind. Teilweise wurden sie veroffentlicht. Es gibt sie sogar
in russischer Sprache. Aber man muss sie auch in englischer Sprache
veroffentlichen. Moge die ganze Welt erschaudern von jenem Schrecken,
der im Turkischen Reich verubt wurde. In der Turkei uberwiegt jetzt
die Meinung, es habe sich um von den Armeniern verlassene Territorien
gehandelt. Aber es hatte sie niemand verlassen. Die Armenier wurden
getotet oder vertrieben, und sie kamen unterwegs ums Leben. Ich bin
bereits ein alter Mann und habe in der Kindheit die Erzahlungen jener
gehort, die den Genozid uberlebt haben. Ich stamme aus Armawir, und
meine Nachbarn waren Armenier. Sie erzahlten, wie ihnen die Rettung
gelang und was im Jahr 1915 geschehen war. Ich weiß das aus den
Erzahlungen von Augenzeugen.”

Die Tatsache des Genozids am armenischen Volk haben offiziell 21
Staaten der Welt anerkannt, darunter Russland. Auch 43 der 50
amerikanischen Staaten treten fur die Wiederherstellung der
historischen Gerechtigkeit ein. Zu den internationalen Organisationen,
die jenen Volkermord anerkannt haben, gehoren die UN-Kommission fur
Kriegsverbrechen, das Europaparlament und der Weltkirchenrat.

From: A. Papazian