Author: Andres-Papazian

SYRIAN ARMENIAN GIRL BECOMES CHAMPION OF ARMENIAN YOUTH SWIMMING

NEWS.AM
January 17, 2013 | 18:14

This Thursday the Syrian Armenian Musheghyan family visited the
Ministry of Diaspora, to present the successes of 11-year-old Serli
Musheghyan in swimming.

The press service of the Ministry informs that the girl got the
opportunity to train in the Junior Specialized Diving School of
Olympic Reserve named after David Hambarzumyan for two months free of
charge. As a result of the trainings, she won the last 4 tournaments
and became the champion. The Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan
congratulated Serli Musheghyan and noted that with such results Serli
will also gain victories on international scene.

Note that Syrian Armenian young people will be given an opportunity
to train in Dynamo stadium free of charge. The directorate of Junior
Specialized Diving School of Olympic Reserve named after David
Hambarzumyan, honoring the request of the Ministry, has decided to
train the Syrian gifted athletes free of charge.

From: A. Papazian

GEORGIAN PRESIDENT OPPOSES GEORGIAN PM STATEMENTS IN ARMENIA

NEWS.AM
January 17, 2013 | 20:02

TBILISI. – Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili called the statements
by the Georgian PM Bidzina Ivanishvili on re-establishing the railroad
with Russia “anti-state.”

“Ivanishvili’s statements, which he made in Armenia, are concerning and
do not account for strategic and geopolitical interests of Georgia,”
Saakashvili said at a briefing on Thursday.

According to him, there is no necessity for a railroad with Russia,
as Georgia already has an alternative enter to Europe through
Akhalkalaki-Kars [Turkey], and the route is competitive for Russia.

As the Armenian News-NEWS.am reported earlier, the Georgian PM has
said at a press conference in Armenia that re-establishment of the
Abkhazia-Georgia-Armenia railroad is possible and that the Georgian
side has always expressed readiness to it.

From: A. Papazian

IVANISHVILI: RESUMPTION OF COMMUNICATION ACROSS ABKHAZIA IS DIRECTLY LINKED TO SETTLEMENT OF RELATIONS BETWEEN MOSCOW AND TBILISI

Thursday 17 January 2013 13:22

Yerevan/Mediamax/. Georgian PM Bidzina Ivanishvili said in Yerevan
today that the resumption of the communication across Abkhazia is
directly linked to the settlement of Georgian-Russian relations.

Bidzina Ivanishvili said this addressing a joint press conference
with Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Mediamax reports. He
added that the Georgian side is interested in earliest decision on
resumption of the operation of the Abkhazian sector of the railway.

At the same time, the Georgian Prime Minister noted that the issues
in relations between Georgia and Russia are still unsettled.

“There are no issues between Georgia and Armenia. We had serious
problems with Russia which still remain. We hope and make efforts to
restore relations with Russia”, said the Georgian PM.

In his turn, Tigran Sargsyan said that the resumption of the railway
communication is on the agenda of Armenian-Georgian relations.

“We stated that we will make all the efforts to settle the issue as
soon as possible”, said the Armenian PM.

Bidzina Ivanishvili answered the question on prospects of resumption
of the railway communication across Abkhazia in his exclusive interview
to Mediamax on January 15 as well. Answering the question on Tbilisi’s
readiness to discuss the prospect before the political settlement of
the Abkhazian problem, he said:

“We are always ready for discussion of both problematic and promising
issues. It’s more important that all the sides involved in the
process were ready. We are in nonstandard conditions and the search
for innovative approaches to settlement of the current problematic
issues is needed”.

From: A. Papazian

THE DIRECTOR OF YEREVAN STATE THEATRE OF PANTOMIME IN SHOUSHI

Thursday, 17 January 2013 15:00

Director and actor of Yerevan state theatre of pantomime Yuri Kostanyan
conducted courses in the building of Narekatsi art center of Shoushi
from January 5 till 13.

The participants of the one-week course were the young actors of
Stepanakert state drama theatre and the state theatre after Mkrtich
Khandamiryan of Shoushi who are now second-year students of Yerevan
State Institute of Theatre and Cinematography.

According to Yuri Kostanyan the children of Artsakh are cut off from
the hectic theatrical life which prevents them from perceiving the
diversity of the theatrical world but, according to him, the aspiration
the youths have is quite satisfying.

Comparing the way he passed with the first steps of today’s young
actors the director remembered his own first steps in the theatrical
world. ~SAt first I did not imagine at all I could choose the actor’s
career as it seemed a remote and sacred mission to me, I thought how I
could rank among such actors as Mher Lazarian, Xoren Abrahamyan, Sos
Sargsyan. That is why I entered the department of economic cybernetics
of Yerevan State University, then I was a senior scientific worker. I
was at quite a mature age when I went to Moscow and asked Leonid
Yengibaryan to let me participate in their rehearsals as only after
watching rehearsals one can enter the theatrical world and feel the
true taste of theatre. And later in Lithuania due to Modris Tennison
I got familiarized with the secrets of pantomime.

Yuri Kostanyan says that pantomime is closer to him. ~SThrough
words man tries to present himself better than he really is while in
silence people are more perceptible. I think each masterpiece of art
was created in silence or from silence.~T As a director, however,
Yuri Kostanyan also uses music in his performances.

According to him up-to-date performances must be staged so that
the spectator could find himself in the performance. ~STheatrical
life lies in eternal searchings,~T the director says and recalls,
~SOnce I wanted to stage Lermontov’s ~SMonster~T. When I started
the preparations I understood it was irrelevant to today’s spirit,
I changed several extracts and in the end I found out that nothing
of Lermontov’s ~SMonster~R remained.

Yuri Kostanyan is going to visit Artsakh in summer to conduct the
regular courses and check the tasks the youths have.

From: A. Papazian

TURKEY NOT KEEN ON OPENING ARMENIA BORDER

13:35 17.01.2013

Turkey is not positive about opening its land border with Armenia to
facilitate Syrian-Armenians’ entrance to the country, as suggested
by a petition on the White House’s official website.

Turkey is providing all kinds of facilities for the transfer of
humanitarian aid sent from Armenia to Armenians living in Syria,
Selcuk Unal, the spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry, said
yesterday in a written statement, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

The signature collection campaign started on the White House’s website
for Turkey’s unconditional opening of the border with Armenia for
the Syrian refugees.

“Turkey will determine the content, method and conditions of the steps
on its own with regard to the demands that may come on humanitarian
issues,” said the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

Turkey assists people “without making distinction in terms of religion,
language, race and ethnic origin as a natural consequence of the
understanding of conscience inherited from ancestors,” said the
statement. The ministry recalled that Turkey was a prominent country
extending aid to Armenia after earthquakes. Moreover, it facilitated
delivering of humanitarian assistance to Armenians in Syria.

Turkey shelters more than 150,000 people with no distinction on the
basis of religion, language, race and ethnic origin, the statement
said, adding that many Armenians had fled from Syria and arrived in
Armenia through Turkey.

A Turkish official said Turkey was ready to open a special refugee
camp for non-Muslims, but there was no demand yet.

There are a small number of non-Muslims in the camps for Syrian
refugees, but Turkey is ready to facilitate a special camp for them if
high numbers of non-Muslim refugees flee into Turkey and ask for it,
according to the official.

There were no Syrian Armenians registered in the camps, the official
also said.

From: A. Papazian

L’AZERBAIDJAN CONTINUE L’ACHAT D’ARMEMENTS AUPRES D’ISRAEL
Krikor Amirzayan

armenews.com
jeudi 17 janvier 2013

En 2012 l’Azerbaïdjan a continue a recevoir d’Israël une grande
quantite d’armes selon ” AzeripPres ” qui detiendrait les informations
issues d’une source militaire. Bakou a achete l’an dernier a Israël
des canons, des fusils, des appareils de communication, des missiles
et des drones. Parmi les armes achetees, des fusils ” Tavor “, des
grenades ” Negev “, des fusils de precision pour snipers…La societe
israeliennes Aeronaitics a debute en Azerbaïdjan la fabrication de
drones Orbiter 2 M et Aerostat ainsi que des Heron et Hermes-900. En
2013 cette production continuera. L’une des premières cibles de ces
investissements militaires etant l’Armenie avec la menace de Bakou
de declencher a tout instant la reprise de la guerre au Haut Karabagh.

Depuis 2001 l’Azerbaïdjan a achete auprès d’Israël pour 1,6 milliard
de dollars d’armements.

jeudi 17 janvier 2013, Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

Candidates Will ‘Fight For’ BHK’S Electorate

05:03 pm | January 16, 2013 | Politics

After his recent meetings in Yerevan and Armenian marzes, Secretary of
the opposition Heritage party, Styopa Safaryan came to the conclusion
that the main struggle in the February 18 presidential election will
be between [incumbent president] Serzh Sargsyan and [Heritage leader]
Raffi Hovannisian.

Mr Safaryan says Serzh Sargsyan and his team will encounter serious
problems during the election as they have not met any of the pledges
made during the May parliamentary election and thus frustrated the
expectations of voters.

This, according to the Heritage representative, significantly increases
the chances of the opposition candidate, because the vast majority
of the public long for changes.

He also observes disappointment with people who expected opposition
forces to field a joint candidate in the election. Mr Safaryan thinks
that opposition candidates should persuade people [through a literate
campaign] to participate in the election. “The opposition has great
chances to beat its rivals if it decides to contest the election,”
he said.

Styopa Safaryan says that the authorities are today concerned about
the votes of the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK)

“The authorities say that their candidate will receive 70-80% of the
votes and believe that BHK supporters will back their candidate,”
said Mr Safaryan.

From: A. Papazian

ZHOGHOVURD: ARMENIAN TV CHANNELS SHOWED NARROW-MINDEDNESS BY NOT INVITING SHUSHAN PETROSYAN TO NEW YEAR SHOWS

10:55 16/01/2013

Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) MP Shushan Petrosyan did not
participate in this year’s New Year shows. Zhoghovurd asked the singer
why she had stopped singing – if she was tired or her parliamentary
mandate prevented her from singing. Shushan Petrosyan told the paper
that no TV channel had invited her to participate in New Year shows.

“Armenian TV channels showed narrow-mindedness by not inviting me.

They thought that as I was an MP, I would reject their invitation,”
the singer said with indignation, adding that singing is her life,
how could she reject an invitation of singing?

From: A. Papazian

PEACEFUL TALKS ONLY WAY TO RESOLVE KARABAKH CONFLICT – GEORGIAN PM

TERT.AM
17.01.13

Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili has called for efforts
towards a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Noting that the process is hard and unlikely to be resolved in the near
future, the Georgian official said, at a news conference in Yerevan,
that such a decision is his own desire and appeal.

“I wish the two countries, Armenia and Georgia, to invest all their
potentials in the peaceful settlement efforts,” he said.

Ivanishvili added that he had talked the issue over with Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev in the course of a recent visit to the country
and conveyed the latter’s opinion to Armenian Prime Minister Tigran
Sargsyan (who later thanked his Georgian counterpart for a balanced
position on the issue).

Ivanishvili, who is on first official visit to Armenia, is scheduled
to meet President Serzh Sargsyan, Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin
II and the foreign and energy ministers.

He will also visit Yerevan’s Tsitsernakaberd memorial to pay respect
to the Genocide victims.

From: A. Papazian

TRAFFICKING TRIAL: ACCUSED GETS QUEASY IN COURT AND IS HOSPITALIZED
Yeranuhi Soghoyan

11:29, January 17, 2013

Once again, the trial of Gyumri resident Sousanna M., convicted of
tracking in Trebizon, Turkey, had to be postponed on January 15. At
the last minute, the accused decided she wanted to switch her defense
attorney.

Sousanna’s trial was scheduled to start back in November at the Shirak
Court of First Instance. Several sessions had to be postponed since her
lawyer at the time, Melanya Sargsyan, had constantly called in sick.

On January 15, Judge Manoukyan asked Sousanna why she wanted to
switch lawyers at this point in the trial. The accused answered that
differences of opinion had cropped up between the two of them. She
also complained about the lawyer’s prolonged absence from court as
damaging to her defense.

“My daughter has found another lawyer and I want her to defend me,”
Sousanna told the judge.

The new lawyer, Karapet Aghadjanyan, told the court that he had just
arrived from Yerevan and that he even hadn’t drawn up a contract with
Sousanna nor sufficient time to get aquainted with the case.

Aghadjanyan asked for a minimum of four days to do so. Judge Manoukyan
rescheduled the trial for January 16 and requested that Sousanna’s
former attorney be present as well.

Yesterday, Sousanna changed her mind again, saying she would let
Melanya Sargsyan continue defending her.

Sargsyan motioned the court to drop the charges against her client.

Sousanna suddenly felt queasy and was taken to hospital.

Judge Manoukyan postponed the trial until January 30.

From: A. Papazian