Author: Andres-Papazian

Armenia-based Heritage party leader responds to Free Democrats leader’s lie

tert.am
21:32 – 14.12.12

During his Facebook interview with Azatutyun Radio on Friday, Chairman
of the Heritage party Raffi Hovannisian commented on his party’s
relations with Free Democrats.

He noted that Chairman of the Free Democrats party Khachatur
Kokobelyan lied publicly.

`I responded to that lie. I believe that the Armenian people,
citizens, all those I am responsible to, should first of all expect
truthfulness.
That list was not wrong. Had the elections been free and fair, we
would have gone to parliament in great numbers, and you would see your
favorites there. But they are continuing their mission now,’ Mr
Hovannisian said.

Earlier, the Heritage party leader stated that he and Mr Kokobelyan
had agreed to give their seats in parliament to young people. However,
the Free Democrats leader broke the agreement and stated that no
agreement had ever been reached.

From: A. Papazian

Policy Forum Armenia: May elections masqueraded as `free and fair’

A special report released this week by Policy Forum Armenia, a
Washington-based political think tank, has concluded that Armenia’s
2012 Parliamentary elections had only the appearance of being `free
and fair’ while disguising common fraud that has plagued the election
process throughout Armenia’s 21 years of independence.

A summary, released by PFA, says the report:

`. . . provides an overview of political-economic and legislative
developments in the period preceding the 2012 election and summarizes
the reactions of key stakeholders – the opposition parties, foreign
observers, and local civil society groups – to the election outcome. It
conducts a range of statistical tests to provide evidence of election
fraud and to point out the main beneficiary of these corrupt
practices. The findings suggest that the election fraud in Armenia
during the 2012 Parliamentary Election was not gone but instead
transformed into less obvious and observable forms, while remaining
largely outcome-neutral, a phenomenon that is becoming common in the
region as well as other countries with authoritarian leaderships.
Finally, the Report offers recommendations to the opposition, civil
society, foreign observers, and the Diaspora.’

Click here to find the entire report:

From: A. Papazian

Suren Surenyants names three ways ANC could choose

I do not think that the chances of Armenian National Congress (ANC)
increased. Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) is a multi-layer
organization. This party’s electorate is not completely opposition. It
would be a different thing if this party had made some decision. In
this case, it would have mobilized its electorate, political scientist
Suren Surenyants told Panorama.am when asked to comment on whether the
ANC’s chances of victory increased following PAP’s decision not to
nominate its candidate.

`Some of PAP members are pro-governmental, there are such people who
support the opposition, there are also such members who have declared
themselves `alternative figures,’ who criticize the government and at
the same time refrain from criticism of President. It means that the
behavior of this electorate is unpredictable,’ said he.

According to Surenyants, depending on the fact what policy will be
adopted by ANC, its chances of victory will either increase or
decrease due to the absence of PAP.

`Another thing is also important: the establishment of closer ties
between ANC and PAP, which we saw in 2012, was inefficient and it is
not yet clear if ANC will be able to regain its face, its visiting
card and become convincing to society,’ the expert added.

According to Surenyants, ANC now has less possibilities of manoeuvre,
because in the case of PAP’s participation in the elections, there
could be different formats: a consensus candidate from ANC, a
consensus candidate from PAP or unification around a third candidate.
But now ANC’s possibilities are too limited, with only three ways
remaining:

`The first way is that Levon Ter-Petrosyan is a candidate for
president with uncertain prospect of victory. In this case, ANC will
perhaps maintain unity but the first president’s results will be more
modest than in 2008. The second way is that ANC does not participate
in the elections. The third way is that ANC nominates another
candidate, but he will not have the consolidating resource which Levon
Ter-Petrosyan had, and this could lead to another split in ANC.’

`ANC has lost too much time. In 2012, ANC was not an independent
political factor, but rather acted as `PAP’s lawyer,’ the expert
stressed.

`So, I find it difficult to give an exact answer as to whether or not
this political force is able to adapt to a new reality,’ Surenyants
concluded.

From: A. Papazian

Elections for Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem to be held between
December 23 and 25

NEWS.AM
December 14, 2012 | 16:19

Elections for the Patriarch of Jerusalem of the Armenian Apostolic
Church will be conducted from December 23 to 25, Very Rev. Fr. Papken
Anoushian – who is one of the candidates – informed during a press
conference on Friday.

The other candidates are Archbishop Aris Shirvanian, Archbishop Vicken
Aykazian, Archbishop Nurhan Manukian, and Archbishop Khajag Barsamian.

In Fr. Anoushian’s words, the Patriarch will be selected by the
Congregation members, which currently comprises 34 members of the
Armenian clergy.

To note, Archbishop Torkom Manoogian, the Armenian Patriarch of
Jerusalem, had passed away on October 12 at the age of 93. Following
his death, the General Assembly of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem had
elected Archbishop Aris Shirvanian as Patriarchal Locum Tenens of the
Patriarchate.

From: A. Papazian

OSCE monitors the Armenian-Azerbaijani border

18:44 14.12.2012

The regular monitoring of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border was
conducted on November 14 under the mandate of the Personal
Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office.

During the briefing at the Governor’s Office in Ijevan the OSCE
officials were briefed on the situation at the Armenian-Azerbaijani
border, the statistics of ceasefire violations by the Azerbaijani
side, the actions of the snipers at the line of contact.

>From the Armenian side the monitoring was conducted by Field
Assistants of the Personal Representative of the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office Irji Aberle and Evgeny Sharov. No violations of
ceasefire regime were registered.

The monitoring was conducted at distance, as the Azerbaijani side once
again turned down the proposal of the Armenian side to cross the
border and establish communication between officers.

From: A. Papazian

Turkey has nothing to do with NKR issue. Sharmazanov

18:47, 14 December, 2012

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS: It is unacceptable to connect the
resolution of Armenia-Turkish relations with the settlement of
conflict between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan. As Armenpress
reports this was the comment of Armenian NA Vice President Eduard
Sharmazanov on the statement of Cemil Çiçek the Speaker of the Turkish
Parliament. On Sharmazanov’s words Turkey has nothing to do with NKR
issue.

Referring to the observations of Çiçek, as if Nagorno-Karabakh is a
threat for the stability and peace in the Caucasus and that Turkey is
expecting Armenian policy to get rid of guardianship of Diaspora
Armenia NA Vice President has opposed underlining that the only reason
of the threat for regional security is Azerbaijan advocating Turkey
and preaching values of antihumanism.

For Çiçek and the whole Turkish-Azerbaijani propaganda machine Eduard
Sharmazanov has highlighted the fact that Armenia and Diaspora are a
single family and unity. He added that instead of making absurd
statements it would be better to acknowledge that Armenia and Diaspora
would spare no effort for the international recognition of Armenian
Genocide.

When making a speech during the conference dedicated to Heidar
Aliyev’s memory Cemil Çiçek, the Speaker of the Turkish Parliament,
also referred to the resolution of Armenian-Turkish and
Armenian-Azerbaijani relations underling that one of the crucial
conditions of it were the restoration of Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity.

From: A. Papazian

Armenia not importing tomatoes from Turkey

news.am
December 14, 2012 | 13:38

YEREVAN.-There are no official reports that Armenia is importing
tomatoes from Turkey, Deputy Agriculture Minister Garnik Petrosyan
told reporters.

He did not rule out that the part of tomatoes imported from Georgia is
of Turkish origin but they are imported as Georgian vegetables.

According to official data, Armenia imported 165 tons of tomatoes,
mostly from Georgia, Greece and Iran during nine months of 2012.

`Four or five years ago, tomatoes were imported in Turkish boxes with
Turkish labels. However, I have not seen such boxes this year,’
Petrosyan said.

Deputy Minister said Armenia will not need to import tomatoes, if the
greenhouses work more effectively. Thermal conditions in the Armenian
greenhouses are unstable, often variations in temperature leads to a
decline in yields due to which the price is higher, he added.

From: A. Papazian

Armenian PM meets with U.S. Vice President at the White House

13:10 14.12.2012

On December 13, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan visited the
White House as part of his working visit to the United States, where
he met with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden to discuss prospects of U.S.
– Armenian relations. The parties took the opportunity to refer to the
reform program of the Armenian government.

Later the day Tigran Sargsyan met with Millennium Challenge
Corporation Program Chief Executive Officer Daniel Yohannes to discuss
the possibility of Armenia’s future involvement in the program.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIE
23088 personnes gées en Arménie ont des cartes de crédit pour
recevoir leurs pensions

Début septembre 23088 personnes gées en Arménie avaient des cartes de
crédit pour recevoir leurs pensions contre 17346 en janvier a annoncé
le système de paiement Armenian Card.

Les pensionnés en Arménie peuvent employer des cartes de crédit depuis
janvier 2011. Ils choisissent leur banque.

La plus grande partie des cartes de pension diffusée par des banques
membres du système Armenian Card sont des cartes ArCa, qui sont servis
partout sur le territoire de l’Arménie.

Le nouveau système de carte de pension a été présenté dans le pays
dans le cadre de la réforme du système de pension du gouvernement.

Selon le ministère du travail et des affaires sociales, il y a 520000
pensionnés enregistrés en Arménie.

En 2012, le montant moyen d’une pension de base a été levée à 13000
drams contre 10500 et la pension militaire moyenne a été augmentée de
28700 drams à 31300 drams.

vendredi 14 décembre 2012,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

RAN-AZERBAÏDJAN
L’Iran proteste auprès de l’UNESCO qui inscrit le tr comme patrimoine
culturel azéri

L’Iran a protesté contre l’UNESCO qui désire inscrire le tr comme un
instrument de musique azéri, au rang de patrimoine culturel mondial.
L’agence de presse iranienne « Mehr » indique que le Conseil de la
Maison de la musique d’Iran a décidé de protester officiellement
auprès de l’UNESCO contre cette « usurpation azérie présentant le tr
comme instrument de musique azéri ». Les Iraniens revendiquent à leur
tour l’appartenance du tar comme un patrimoine culturel iranien. Selon
les Iraniens, le tr s’est développé au sud de l’Iran. Par ailleurs
les Iraniens reconnaissent que le tr s’est ensuite développé en
Azerbaïdjan, en Arménie, en Géorgie et au Tadjikistan en tant
qu’instrument de musique traditionnelle.

Krikor Amirzayan

vendredi 14 décembre 2012,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

From: A. Papazian