Author: Andres-Papazian

AZERBAIJANI MPS ATTEND PABSEC BUREAU AND STANDING COMMITTEE MEETINGS IN ARMENIA

APA
May 22 2012
Azerbaijan

Baku. Victoria Dementieva – APA. The 36th meeting of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
(PABSEC) Bureau and the 39th meeting of its Standing Committee were
held in Armenia today.

The meetings were held on the eve of the 39th PABSEC plenary session
scheduled to May 23-24. The Azerbaijani Parliament’s delegation led
by Asef Hajiyev participated in the meeting.

Azerbaijan will take over the PABSEC presidency from Armenia. PABSEC’s
40th plenary session will be held in November in Baku.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA INTERESTED IN PURCHASING GEORGIAN RAILWAYS

The Messenger
May 22 2012
Georgia

The former chief of the national security service of Armenia, now
an active member of the opposition, Davit Shahnazarov, thinks that
under the circumstances Armenia is obliged to immediately purchase
all the Georgian Railways shares on the London Stock Exchange.

According to Shahnazarov, this is not only an economic problem,
but rather a vitally important issue for Armenia’s state security.

Georgian Railways is the only possible way for Armenia to receive
supplies from the outside world. Armenia already has a railway
connection with Georgia and the sea ports of Batumi and Poti. 70 %
of all imported goods enter Armenia via these ports. It was announced
recently that Georgian Railways intends to sell 25% in shares of the
company on the London Stock exchange. In turn, it expects to receive
at least USD 250 million.

From: A. Papazian

THE 2012 HOT DOCS FORUM REPORT, PART THREE: FIRES, LIARS AND INSIDE JOKES
by Adam Benzine

Real Screen
May 22 2012

In the final installment of a three-part comprehensive report,
realscreen reviews the final pitches from the 13th annual Hot Docs
Forum’s second day, identifying the projects that wowed international
commissioners, and those which missed the mark.

Part one of this report can be found here.

Part two of this report can be found here.

Elephant Soldiers

Production company: Bars Media (Armenia); director: Inna Shakyan,
producer: Vardan Hovhannisyan.

Budget: $59,000 already in place (SVT, Armenian Second TV Channel),
$222,000 sought.

The Hot Docs Forum continued through its second day with an Armenian
project offering an innovative take on the eco-thriller. The trailer
for Elephant Soldiers began unremarkably enough, with some hard-hitting
footage of elephants being hunted, killed and chopped up.

Moving stuff, while not really original.

The plot took a twist however, with the introduction of Cambridge
scientist Max Graham. Charismatic on screen, Graham plans to install
GPS chips in the tusks of poached elephants so he can trace smugglers
back to the source of the demand for ivory: China.

Reaction to the pitch was positive, with the BBC’s Nick Fraser telling
the team: “I thought it was fantastic – it was really good. The
BBC’s certainly looking for a replacement for David Attenborough,
and I totally think you have to build the action around him [Graham].”

He added that while it was not really a fit for his strand
‘Storyville,’ he would do his best to champion the project at the
BBC and “to broker a deal with all the other parts of the BBC that
are interested in natural history.”

Also impressed was Axel Arno, commissioning editor at SVT in Sweden.

Taking a break from moderating duties, he offered that the film “could
be The Cove for elephants,” a sentiment echoed by Iikka Vehkalahti,
documentary commissioning editor for Finland’s YLE TV2.

“I agree with Axel – it’s not a natural history film,” he said,
“it’s an investigative thriller.”

[Read the rest at

From: A. Papazian

NATO SUPPORTS TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF AZERBAIJAN

Vestnik Kavkaza
May 22 2012
Russia

Elmira Tariverdiyeva, Baku. Exclusively to VK

For the first time, NATO stated its clear position on the
Nagorno-Karabakh position, rather than showing indifference. And it is
great achievement for Azerbaijan. The alliance stated its support for
the territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of Azerbaijan,
Armenia, Georgia, and Moldavia and urged sides in the conflicts to
avoid steps which might break stability and security.

The NATO declaration adopted as a result of the summit in Chicago says:
“We remain followers of support of territorial integrity, independence
and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, and Moldavia and
will continue to support efforts aimed at peaceful settlement of
regional conflicts, which is based on principles and norms of the
international law, the UN Charter and Helsinki Final Act.”

The foreign minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandyan, has already
reacted at the declaration, stating that the composite phrasing of
the declaration on the conflicts in the South Caucasus and Moldova
contradicts the approach of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.

According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, considering concerns on
the declaration text, President of Armenia decided not to participate
in the Chicago summit.

The Armenian side was not prepared for such an active position of the
alliance. Official Baku estimated the declaration text very positively
and stated that Azerbaijan was interested in more active participation
of NATO in settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The head of
the Socio-Political Department under the presidential administration
of Azerbaijan, Ali Gasanov, added that if NATO wants, it can make
Armenia fulfill four UN resolutions on freeing occupied Azerbaijani
territories in several hours.

Baku has been waiting for a certain position by the West and NATO for
a long time. For many years the international society has just been
saying on support of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Official
Baku believes it closes eyes at Armenia’s violation of international
and legal norms.

Representatives of the alliance have many times stated NATO has no
intention to participate in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the
alliance doesn’t even take part in the peacemaking process provided by
the Minsk Group. However, in March 2012 NATO questioned the process
of settlement. “We concern about the Minsk process progress. We
have heard from two presidents (Azerbaijan and Armenia) here, in
NATO office, during recent weeks that they follow the process and
peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis. But in reality
the Minsk process is followed by difficulties, especially in recent
time,” the official representative of NATO in the South Caucasus,
James Appaturay, said, according to Community.org.

The South Caucasus is important for NATO and the West from strategic
point of view due to its location and energy transit to Europe. The
South Caucasus is important for the USA and its European allies as
the region of stability. And Azerbaijan might be one of the main
partners of the alliance here. First of all, the country doesn’t
strive for membership in NATO. Secondly, unlike Armenia, Azerbaijan
is not involved in any military blocs, like the CSTO.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA JAILS RUSSIAN COMPUTER VIRUS ‘MASTERMIND’

Phys.Org

May 22 2012

A court in Armenia on Tuesday gave a four-year jail sentence to the
alleged Russian mastermind behind a computer virus crime group which
infected some 30 million computers worldwide.

Hacker Georgiy Avanesov was convicted of computer sabotage, Armenian
prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Sonia Truzian told AFP.

“According to the evidence presented to the court, Avanesov, using a
Botnet computer system which he created himself, committed DDOS attacks
on sites of different individual and legal entities and IP addresses
and disrupted the normal functioning of these sites,” Truzian said.

Avanesov was arrested at Yerevan airport in 2010 after the server n
etwork in the Netherlands used by the hacker group accused of being
responsible for the notorious Bredolab virus was dismantled.

Investigators said at the time they had busted a network that used the
servers in the Netherlands to infect at least 30 million computers
worldwide with a virus that allowed criminals to obtain information
like bank passwords.

The network was capable of infecting three million computers a month
and was sending an estimated 3.6 billion virus emails to users daily
by the end of 2009, the investigators said.

From: A. Papazian

CHAIRMAN OF FAAE: ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER HINDERS CLARIFICATION OF SITUATION REGARDING ANTI-ARMENIAN STATEMENTS BY SLOVAKIA’S AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA

arminfo
Tuesday, May 22, 20:30

In September 2011 the parliament of Slovakia adopted a bill on
criminalizing of the Armenian genocide denial, which I would like to
apply to Slovakia’s Ambassador to Russia, Jozef Migas, which said in
an interview with Azerbaijani newspaper that the National Council
has never discussed such a bill, chairman of the Forum of Armenian
Associations of Europe (FAAE), Ashot Grigoryan, said at today’s
press-conference in Yerevan.

“I am indignant at the fact that Armenia’s Foreign Ministry does not
react at the given statement and does not make relevant requests which
would clarify the issue, why Slovakia’s ambassador to Russia had made
such a statement. As a reply to my requests to the Foreign Ministry,
they made me strictly understand that Edward Nalbandian is against
any statements regarding the incident”, – Grigoryan said.

He also added that if Armenia’s Foreign Ministry is not ready to take
any steps, it should at least not hinder FAAE make them. He said
that Turkish authorities and lobby have been working so much well,
that they have managed to bribe many influential officials including
in the French Senate where the bill on criminalizing of the Armenian
genocide denial was rejected. At present, Turkey is trying by all
possible means to prevent the events which are scheduled to be held
by the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.

The vice-premier, Chairman of Supreme Court of Slovakia, Stefan
Harabin, said earlier that the bill on criminalizing of the Armenian
genocide denial had been proved and signed into law. From now on,
any citizen of Slovakia will be punished by imprisonment for 5 years.

From: A. Papazian

HISTORIAN: UNLIKE ARMENIA, THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE IN AZERBAIJAN WHICH SPEAK ARMENIAN

arminfo
Tuesday, May 22, 20:28

There are many people in Azerbaijan which speak high level Armenian,
but there are almost no such specialists of Azerbaijani language in
Armenia, Professor of Yerevan State University, Hayrapet Markaryan,
said at today’s press-conference.

This may be explained by the fact that despite the great number
of refugees from Azerbaijan to Armenia, not many of them spoke
Azerbaijani at the needed level. “The great majority of Armenian
intelligentsia and educated people were living in Baku. But a few
of them knew Azerbaijani language, as they were the holders of the
Russian language and were circulating in the Russian language circle.

They knew Azerbaijani language at the domestic level. As for the
Azerbaijanis which left Armenia, they got Armenian education and
speak Armenian very well”, – Markaryan said.

He also added that the demand for specialists of Azerbaijani as well as
Georgian languages has been growing in Armenia. However, the Caucasus
studies is not only learning of a language. It is linked with policy,
and at present all the cultural processes depend just on the policy,
he said and added that for this reason it is very much necessary to
study the countries which border to Armenia. He also emphasized that
one should not get information about the Caucasus from the Russian
mass media, as Russian interests prevail in its coverage.

From: A. Papazian

IRANIAN EMBASSY CONFIRMS ABDUCTION OF THREE IRANIAN DRIVERS IN SYRIA

ARMENPRESS
22 May, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MAY 22, ARMENPRESS: Iran’s Charge d’affaires in Syria Abbas
Golroo confirmed the news of abduction of three Iranian lorry drivers
who had entered Syria via Turkish borders, reports Armenpress citing
IRNA.

He said the three drivers were abducted on Monday.

He regretted that despite the numerous alerts made by the Iranian
Embassy in Syria warning Iranian passengers not to make land trips
to Syria, the three men travelled to Syria without making necessary
coordination with the embassy officials.

From: A. Papazian

NAGORNO KARABAKH PRESIDENT RECEIVES MEMBERS OF FRENCH SENATE

ARMENPRESS
21 May, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MAY 21, ARMENPRESS: On May 22 Nagorno Karabakh President
Bako Sahakyan met with a number of MPs of the French Senate, who have
arrived in Nagorno Karabakh.

NKR press service told Armenpress that issues on the home and foreign
politics, Nagorno Karabakh-France ties and regional processes were
discussed at the meeting.

Bako Sahakyan pointed out the importance of frequent conduction
of suchlike meetings in the context of development of bilateral
relations. At the same time he stressed the interest of Nagorno
Karabakh in expansion of cooperation with the legislative body
of France.

Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister Spartak Tevosyan and other
high-ranking officials attended the event.

From: A. Papazian

HHK BUILDING ON FIRE

06:00 pm | Today | Social

A fire has broken out at the central office of the Republican Party
of Armenia (HHK). Five firefighting crews are currently at the scene.

Fire is coming out of the roof. There is no comment on the reasons
behind the fire. There are most likely people inside the building
because ambulance trucks are parked near the building.

There is no electricity nearby. The ARF-D building and the editorial
offices of “Yerkir” and “Azg” newspapers have no electricity either.

“A1+” will provide more details later.

From: A. Papazian