Author: Andres-Papazian

CLEVELAND COMMUNITY RAISES $8,000 FOR SYRIAN RELIEF

December 18, 2012

NORTH ROYALTON, Ohio-The Armenian Relief Society (ARS) Cleveland
“Artsakh” Chapter on Sun., Nov. 11, organized a fundraising event to
support the Syrian-Armenians currently suffering from the atrocities
of war. The Cleveland Armenian community came together at Holy Cross
Armenian Apostolic Church, and raised a total of $8,300.

The event began with the singing of the Armenian National Anthem,
“Mer Hairenik.” Ungerouhi Rose Paratto from the Cleveland chapter
conveyed the ARS’s mission, as well as the Syrian-Armenians’ current
harrowing situation. Paratto then introduced several special guests
who had come from out of town to support the event; they included
Angele Manoogian from the ARS Central Committee, Arpy Seferian from
the ARS Chicago “Zabelle” Chapter, and Ani Attar from ARS Eastern
USA Regional Board of Directors, who addressed the community.

Antranig Kasbarian from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF)
also addressed the community. Although no stranger to the Cleveland
Armenian community, George Asadorian was introduced and addressed
the group, and encouraged the fundraising marathon.

Members of the ARS “Artsakh” Chapter donated, cooked, and graciously
served the food and desserts. Other members of the community also
donated desserts and lavash bread.

Rev. Fr. Der Vazken Bekiarian from the Holy Cross Armenian Church
(Prelacy) and Rev. Fr. Der Hratch Sargsyan from St. Gregory of Narek
(Diocese) both offered their prayers for the Syrian-Armenians, and
also spoke briefly regarding the situation.

The organizers thanked the Armenian community of Cleveland for their
generosity, and all of the individuals who volunteered and donated
to the event. May our Lord bless what we collected in this event and
may it be of good help to many Armenian families in crisis, saving
our Armenian schools, churches, and organizations in Syria during
this very difficult time.

From: A. Papazian

GOVERNMENT HAS ALLOCATED AMD 5 MILLION FOR FLORA MARTIROSYAN’S BURIAL CEREMONY

20:47, 18 December, 2012

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS: Armenian government will provide
Armenian Ministry of Culture with AMD 5 million to cover the expenses
of the burial ceremony and the transfer of Flora Martirosyan’s body
from USA to Armenia. As reports Armenpress this issue was underlined in
the agenda of December 17 government session. Due to the report of the
commission the expenses of the transfer of Flora Martirosyan’s remains
reaches about AMD 3,5 million, and the burial ceremony about 1,5.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA’S GOVERNMENT TO DISCUSS IMPROVEMENT OF COUNTRY’S DEMOGRAPHIC CONDITION

TERT.AM
18.12.12

The agenda of the December 20 cabinet sitting includes the 2013 state
program and list of events for its implementation aimed at improvement
of demographic condition in Armenia.

The number of births in Armenia has reduced twice during the past 23
years. In 1990 79,882 babies were born, in 2011 – 23,340. It is the
lowest rate registered.

According to the data, in 1995 the birth rate has sharply reduced
reaching 48,960 but the rate registered in 2006-2007 and 2008-2009
is almost the same as in 1995.

The goal of the government’s program is to prevent the negative
tendencies and stabilize the situation.

According to the government, the low birth rate is agreed with yet
unsatisfactory rate of marriages. In 2011 January-December the number
of marriages was 19,706 which is 1,722 more as compared with the same
span of 2010. The number of divorces has gone up by 6.4 percent.

The mortality rate is also important regarding the demography. In
2011 27,963 mortality cases have been registered.

The main issues and directions of the 2013 state program are the
promotion of birth rate, especially the birth of second, third
babies through material assistance, reduction of child and mother
mortality rates, regulation of migration processes and smoothing the
disproportion of territorial distribution of the population.

From: A. Papazian

HERITAGE PARTY TO CONVENE CITIZENS’ ASSEMBLY

04:48 PM | DECEMBER 17, 2012 | POLITICS

The opposition Heritage party and its leader Raffi K. Hovannisian are
inviting Armenian citizens to an assembly due to be held December 22
at the Armenia Marriott Hotel in Yerevan.

The unique citizens’ assembly aimed at bridging the artificial divide
between the civil society and the political process will consist
of speeches and a musical performances. Hovannisian will deliver
a keynote address which will be followed by the party’s brief and
special congress, the party’s press office said in a statement.

From: A. Papazian

PAPER: OSKANIAN-ZURABYAN TALK RECORDS SENT TO ANC REPS FIRST

December 18, 2012 – 14:15 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The scandalous eavesdropping of the conversation
between MPs Vartan Oskanian and Levon Zurabyan has become the greatest
intrigue of Armenia’s political agenda, Zhoghovurd daily reported.

Sources say, Oskanian-Zurabyan conversation took place a couple of
months ago at a cafe in downtown Yerevan. Moreover, the records of the
talk were anonymously sent to the members of the Armenian National
Congress (ANC) Nikol Pashinyan and Hrant Bagratyan, who didn’t jump
at the bait.

Pashinyan, however, refused to comment on the issue yesterday, Dec 17,
the paper says.

From: A. Papazian

NEW PROGRAMMES TO BE IMPLEMENTED IN THE SPHERE OF HEALTHCARE SINCE THE NEW YEAR

Tuesday, 18 December 2012 14:21

In 2013 the funds of the Healthcare Ministry will rise by 9.3 %
as compared to this year.

According to Healthcare Ministry Zoya Lazaryan about AMD 4,5 mlrd
will be directed to measures promotive of people’s good health and
prophylaxis.

The increases of budgetary expenditures, according to the Minister,
are stipulated by the commencement of new programmes. Among them is
the examination of childless couples; as Zoya Lazaryan assures, it
is a costly service the complete realization of which is impossible
in Karabakh. In the incoming year 7 mln drams will be directed to
this programme.

The second is the oncocytic examination to which 1.4 mln drams will
be allocated. As the Minister assures there will be no problem of a
specialist in this sphere as the oncocytologist invited from Yerevan
will work here.

In the coming year mass mammographic examination is intended to
conduct among women from 35 to 60 years old. Activities aimed at the
examination of heart diseases and the early detection of tuberculosis
will continue in the coming year. During National Assembly discussions
on the State Budget draft 2013 the Healthcare Minister reported that
recently the number of heart operations had increased which according
to her alarms to carry out certain activities aimed at the early
detection and prevention of this disease.

From: A. Papazian

AZERI HAVE SICK DESIRE FOR MULTIPLE ROCKET LAUNCHERS

news.am
December 18, 2012 | 02:23

In a conversation with Armenian News-NEWS.am, military expert Arkady
Grigoryan said that Azeri army has high propensity in collecting
different systems of salvo fire.

“The ‘love’ of Azeris to the various systems of salvo fire is, we can
say, a sickness. This is all due to the fact that they have the goal to
cause maximum harm to the enemy, to kill maximum number of civilians,
to destroy maximum amount of infrastructure. In front of every Azeri
unit the task to destroy maximum number of enemy forces stands. By
this logic, soon every Azeri unit will be equipped with such a system,
even if only with 20 mm caliber,” the military expert said.

From: A. Papazian

PUBLIC “SECRET”: LATEST CASE OF ILLEGAL TAPING IS A REPEAT OFFENSE IN ARMENIAN POLITICS
By GAYANE ABRAHAMYAN

ArmeniaNow
18.12.12 | 14:05

NAZIK ARMENAKYAN

The secret recording and dissemination of the private conversation
between former foreign minister Vartan Oskanian and Armenian National
Committee coordinator Levon Zurabyan has been qualified among the
political circles of Armenia as “a common thing for the pre-election
period”. Despite being a major violation of constitutional rights
and a respective law of the criminal code, it is the third such
known incident.

According to information from Oskanian’s office, the conversation
took place at an open-air cafe, Rich, by Swan Lake next to Liberty
Square, downtown Yerevan. The cafe has only open-air facilities and
has been closed since late October; hence the conversation is at
least a month-old.

Non-official sources say the “elite” cafe partly belongs to Republican
MP Samvel Alexanyan, or his entourage, who is reportedly a frequent
visitor.

Attorney Tigran Ter-Yesayan, leading Forum legal center, says the
cafe cannot be held legally liable, especially that the conversation
was by a table in an open area.

“Unless it is proved that the cafe had arranged the secret recording,”
Ter-Yesayan told ArmeniaNow.

Oskanian and Zurabyan talked sitting at an open-air table, and the
high quality of the recording that has no interfering street noise
suggests it was done professionally.

The National Security Service (NSS) yesterday (Monday) refuted all
accusations. However, no case has been filed based on the involved
law-makers’ statements.

Press secretary of the Prosecutor General’s office Sona Truzyan says
“the individual has to report a crime, that’s the required procedure
from physical persons.”

Meanwhile in their condemning statements both Zurabyan and Oskanian
emphasized that the prosecution had to file a case.

“Not to allow the authorities to avoid liability I suggest the
prosecution accept this statement as a crime report. I demand criminal
prosecution of those who bugged, recorded and publicized the audio
material,” stated Zurabyan, and added:

“If no perpetrators are disclosed, it will mean it has been done by
the special services,” he said, calling for a probe to be launched
into the incident.

This unusual practice of bugging conversations in the pre-election
period started in Armenia in 2007 and the first to “fall victim”
to it was former parliament speaker (currently Secretary of the
National Security Council) Artur Baghdasaryan. His cafe conversation
with a British diplomat was secretly recorded and made public, in
which Baghdasaryan was saying that the West had to condemn election
violations. Back then, too, the violation of privacy, protected by
article 23 of the Constitution and punishable by article 146 of the
Criminal Code, remained unpunished.

Moreover, the then president Robert Kocharyan deprecated the law-maker
and called him a “traitor” based on the bugged conversation.

Baghdasaryan, too, back them made condemning statements, however no
crime report was submitted. Heghine Bisharyan, member of Rule of Law
party country under Baghdasaryan’s leadership, said that “there is
no rule of law in this country. They are both the perpetrators and
the punishers. Who should we turn to? Report to them and demand that
they punish themselves?”

By the law “Illegal violation of the citizen’s secrecy of
correspondence, telephone conversations, postal, telegraph or other
communications, is punished with a fine in the amount of 50 to 100
minimal salaries, or correctional labor for up to 1 year.” Point 2
of the same law says: “The same action committed by abuse of official
position, is punished with a fine in the amount of 100 to 300 minimal
salaries, or with deprivation of the right to hold certain posts or
practice certain activities from 2 to 5 years, or with arrest for
the term of 1 to 2 months.”

The second incident occurred in 2008, during the post-election
developments, when telephone conversations between opposition leader,
first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan and former foreign minister
Alexander Arzumanyan were wiretapped, although NSS grounded it by a
court decree based on a “threat of coup d’etat”.

“It was unacceptable then, and is unacceptable now. It’s purely KGB
(soviet intelligence) style. If this time they [NSS] claim it’s not
them, then they should disclose those behind it,” Arzumanyan told
ArmeniaNow.

Attorney Ter-Yesayan says any case of wiretapping or bugging is
illegal, however believes that “this time it might not be NSS but a
result of pure curiosity”.

“The content of the conversation is so ‘beaten’ that I doubt NSS
would disseminate such a thing. They are publicly known figures, and
information technologies are so developed now and there is so much
professional equipment on sale everywhere, that a slightly interested
person could have easily done it,” he says.

The lawyer says that it’s a long procedure to get a license for
wiretapping, and the court would grant permission only on serious
grounds.

Oppositional Heritage party MP Ruben Hakobyan, however, counters
that “we live in such a country, that anyone can wiretap whoever and
wherever they want, without special permission, and stay unpunished
just like in the previous cases”.

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIJANI FM: NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT IS DOABLE

Trend
Dec 17 2012
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 17 /Trend E.Tariverdiyeva/

Europe is a plea, because it has a special representative who
is addressing conflicts not only between Armenia and Azerbaijan,
but also in Transdniestria and Georgia, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov said in an interview to EU Reporter in anticipation
of EU-Azerbaijan Cooperation Council.

“Europe is looking quite intensively on how the development is
going on within the negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan
for the settlement of this conflict. Unfortunately, we cant achieve
breakthrough so far, I believe in ‘so far’ because I also believe
that the conflict is doable, ” the minister said.

The major mediators, Minsk Group co chairs – U.S., France and Russia,
are three big countries permanent members of UN Security Council,
who voted in support of four UN Security Council resolutions in 1993,
with understanding how it should be settled, the minister said.

One of the major parts of Security Council resolutions is a strong
demand on unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied
territories of Azerbaijan, the minister said.

“What we try to explain to our Armenian neighbors is the fact that the
situation of status quo, which exists today, is unacceptable. This
is, by the way, also done by the presidents of the three co-chair
countries,” Mammadyarov said.

Speaking on the possible replacement of France as OSCE Minsk group
co chair, Mammadyarov said that Azerbaijan’s foreign policy is not
intervening to the domestic issues of other entity or state, and it
is up to the members of the European Parliament how to decide.

“For me, as for foreign minister of the country, territories of
which is under occupation, the most important is the result,” the
minister said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France and the U.S. –
are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

From: A. Papazian

FEARS NOT EASED OVER ARMENIAN NUKE PLANT

Hurriyet Daily News
Dec 17 2012
Turkey

Armenia’s Metsamor nuclear plant, situated in an earthquake zone
just 25 kilometers from the Turkish border, remains a great concern
for Turkey and Armenia’s other neighbors, Turkish and U.N. atomic
officials said Dec. 15.

“The regions close to our eastern border are considered critical
locations, vulnerable to possible radiological consequences,
where urgent protective measures should be taken in the event of
an accident,” Zafer Alper, president of the Turkish Atomic Energy
Authority (TAEK), told members of the international nuclear community
in Japan’s Fukushima prefecture.

‘Increase transparency’

Yukiya Amano, secretary-general of the International Atomic Energy
(IAEA), also said Metsamor’s operator needed to increase transparency
in managing the aged facility.

The IAEA is not responsible for implementing regulations in any
country, Alper told the Hurriyet Daily News on the sidelines of the
event in Koriyama to discuss nuclear safety, adding that Azerbaijan
was also threatened by the plant. Armenia will postpone the closure
of the disputed facility for 10 years until 2023, Armenian Energy
Minister Armen Movsisyan announced late in October.

Responding to a Daily News question during a meeting, Amano said
neighbors were worried about nearby nuclear plants from time to time.

EU’s stress programs

Amano, however, said Armenia was already beginning to cooperate on
the plant. “No one is perfect. It is important to improve the level
of safety and, for the neighboring country, the level of confidence.”

Turkey, which is itself bidding to build nuclear plants to cut its
dependence on foreign energy, transformed TAEK’s Emergency Preparedness
and Coordination Unit into the Disaster and Emergency Management
Center following the March 2011 Fukushima disaster, Alper said.

In addition to studies with the IAEA, Turkey has also voluntarily
agreed to join the European Union’s stress test programs and performed
tests for the first plant in the southern province of Mersin, being
developed by Russia’s Rosatom. Authorities are waiting for the results
– a fact that gives Turkey a chance to shape its plant in accordance
with requirements, he said.

December/17/2012

From: A. Papazian