Author: Andres-Papazian

REPUBLICANS HAVE TO EXPLAIN
HAKOB BADALYAN

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 16:14:11 – 13/03/2012

Serzh Sargsyan has placed the Republicans into an awkward situation.

In the 13th Congress of the Republican Party, Sargsyan took the chair,
made a speech, declared a slogan “trust to change” and left.

Now the Republicans need to explain this speech to the society. But
what can they explain if it is not clear who is supposed to trust,
who is supposed to be trusted, who is supposed to change, what is
supposed to change? Serzh Sargsyan needs to tell these things to the
society, explain to the society, send specific signals, make specific
proposals on trusting and changing one thing or another.

Sargsyan said and left, and the Republicans have to explain. But they
first need someone to explain them what Serzh Sargsyan had meant. To
escape this awkward situation, they announce that Serzh Sargsyan is
a reformer, that it is a serious and historic phenomenon, that they
change every day and when they go to sleep they think about how to
be different the next day.

However, the Republicans have not answered this simple question who
and what needs to be trusted, who needs to trust and who and what
needs to change.

The society does not need the answers of the Republicans because
the society knows the answers, they know who and what needs to be
trusted to be able to change something and they also know what needs
to be changed.

The society in Armenia knows that they can trust themselves only,
they can trust the prospect of self-organization on the basis of
civil society to change the criminal and oligarchic thinking, force
the system based on this mentality to change the logic and grounds
for its own decisions.

After all, the main issue is not the change of persons. To change the
persons one has to trust persons, other persons. And it leads to a
deadlock, even if the object of trust is a crystal clear person. It
is necessary to trust mentality, values, methods, mechanisms so that
persons depend on them rather than vice versa.

As soon as the vector of self-organization of the society changes,
the signs of which have been seen in Armenia for a long time, the
problem of persons in Armenia will become a mere technical issue
which will not take long to resolve.

From: A. Papazian

BEST OF HOLLYWOOD MUSIC IN YEREVAN UNIVERSITIES

ARMRADIO.AM
13.03.2012 18:37

The State Youth Orchestra of Armenia and the Embassy of the United
States of America in Armenia present “Youth for Youth,” a joint music
initiative to be held in eight universities of Armenia on March 15-27.

The concerts celebrate the 20th anniversary of U.S.-Armenian diplomatic
relations. The State Youth Orchestra of Armenia, under the leadership
of Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Sergey Smbatyan, will
present the “Hollywood Non-Stop” program, including well-known music
from “Braveheart,” “West Side Story,” “Pirates of the Caribbean”
and other classic Hollywood soundtracks.

The program will also include pieces by famous American composers
such as George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, and John Williams. This
initiative brings the richness of American film scores to Armenian
youth audiences.

The first concert of the “Hollywood Non-Stop” series will take place
on March at the Yerevan State University, Information Department of
State Youth Orchestra of Armenia informs.

From: A. Papazian

DAMAGE CAUSED BY ILLEGAL WOOD CUTTING EXCEEDS 130MLN AMD

ARMINFO
Tuesday, March 13, 17:07

In 2011 the damage caused by illegal wood cutting totaled 131.900mln
AMD, Director of Hayantar company Ruben Petrosyan said during a
press-conference on Tuesday.

He said that 136 instances were registered during the period.

When asked if those guilty have been punished, Petrosyan said that
their competence is just to register the violations while to punish
the violators is the responsibility of the environment protection
authorities.

According to GIZ, forests cover just 11.1% of Armenia’s territory or
332,333 h. US experts say that by 2020 the country may be left without
woods and may face droughts and landslides. Environmentalists believe
that illegal cutting is the key cause of this situation.

From: A. Papazian

DANIELIAN TIES GAME VS. SEBAG IN WOMEN’S CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL ROUND

PanARMENIAN.Net
March 13, 2012 – 15:44 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – On March 13, Armenia’s Elina Danielian tied a game
vs. Marie Sebag (France) in the final round of the 13th European
Individual Women’s Chess Championship ongoing in Turkish city of
Gaziantep. She currently has 7,5 points.

The other games are in progress.

Meanwhile, Lilit Lazarian is facing off against Baira Kovanova
(Russia), Maria Kursova against Melia Salome (Georgia), Lilit Galojan –
Marina Makropoulou (Greece) and Anna Hayrapetyan- Busra Arig (Turkey).

Under the championship regulations, the contenders to occupy the
first 14 places will qualify for the World Cup.

From: A. Papazian

AEROPORTS DE PARIS ACQUIRES TURKISH AIRPORT OPERATOR STAKE
By Daniel Dombey

March 12, 2012 9:50 pm

A new alliance between Aeroports de Paris and TAV, the Turkish airports
operator, will aim to expand in Russia, Central Asia and the Middle
East, the Turkish group said on Monday after ADP agreed to buy a 38
per cent stake in TAV for $874m.

As part of a concerted move into the growing Turkish market, ADP –
which said it expected a double-digit return from the transaction as
a whole – also agreed to buy a 49 per cent stake in TAV’s construction
unit for $49m.

The deal, which is scheduled to be finalised by July 1, brings the
operator of Paris Charles de Gaulle airport into alliance with the
operator of Istanbul Ataturk airport in a transaction that would
give the partnership a total of 180m passengers in 37 airports around
the world.

Sani Sener, TAV’s president and chief executive, told the Financial
Times that his group preferred ADP over other interested parties –
which also included Vinci, the concession and construction group, as
well as private equity groups – because of the potential for growth
that the alliance offers.

“In our minds we were always thinking about a strategic partner,” he
said. “This will allow them and us to leverage our collective skills,
outside Turkey in particular.”

He added that he expected a “huge privatisation” of Russian airports,
and that the companies would also seek acquisitions in Central Asia
and Saudi Arabia.

Mr Sener acknowledged that one of the reasons for the transaction
was funding for TAV’s shareholders, which include Akfen Holding,
a construction company that is looking to finance infrastructure
projects in Turkey.

But he argued the deal was also part of a process of consolidation
in the airports industry, which has lagged behind restructuring in
the aircraft manufacturing and airline sectors.

“Airports have been far behind the two other players in aviation,”
he said. “But there is huge room for growth for the airport business
in the world because airports are congested and who gets capacity
first will gain the passengers.”

He argued that the partnership of TAV and ADP would not only
enable them to combine their expertise but also give each group the
opportunity to establish service companies in airports in which the
other was already present.

While Turkish Airlines, which has expanded rapidly in recent years,
accounts for about two-thirds of TAV’s passengers, Mr Sener argued
that the carrier was likely to continue to grow in coming years. He
added that improved radar and wider-bodied aircraft would help Istanbul
airport overcome capacity constraints.

The shareholders in TAV were advised by Credit Suisse, Pekin &
Bayar and Ertekin Law Office, while Aeroports de Paris was advised
by JPMorgan, Hogan Lovells and Pekin & Pekin.

From: A. Papazian

PHOTOS: 115 YOUTH, 115 FLOWERS TO MARK ARMENIAN POET YEGHISHE CHARENTS’ 115TH ANNIVERSARY

03.13.2012 14:00 epress.am

>From different Yerevan administrative districts, 115 youth today
laid 115 carnation flowers at the monument dedicated to Armenian poet
Yeghishe Charents, who would’ve been 115 years old today.

“It would be good, of course, if all the boys were curly-haired
[referring to a famous Charents’ poem] – they even joked that it’s
now possible to get curls, but you wouldn’t take an Armenian boy
to get a fake perm… whoever is curly-haired and whoever isn’t, it
doesn’t matter, [all] will participate. Yerevan City Hall’s education
department conceived [of the idea]. The selection was made among
youth from different schools.

“Outfits with lines from Charent’s poems and caps with Charents 115
[inscribed on them] were ordered, but so the children don’t get cold
[wearing just the caps and shirts], we thought to mark the day with
‘Curly-Haired Boy’ [the name of the poem]. Charents prescribed that
we should keep our country strong, and we are following that message
and affirming it with a march,” deputy chair of the Department of
General Education at Yerevan City Hall Silva Achoyan told Epress.am.

Participating in the march which began from Charents’ house-museum
were president of the Writers’ Union of Armenia Levon Ananyan,
municipality representatives, and public school teachers and students.

Also joining the march of “curly-haired boys” to the monument were
also female students.

“We told the girls to be seen as little as possible in the march,
but, as you can see, they’ve joined their fellow curly-haired male
classmates,” said Achoyan, adding that through such events Charents
won’t be forgotten but will become alive for students.

From: A. Papazian

DEPUTY DIVA?: SHUSHAN PETROSYAN TO STAND FOR NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ON RPA LIST

Vote 2012 | 14.03.12 | 11:47

Last week’s media speculation has turned true regarding beloved
Armenian singer Shushan Petrosyan’s political ambitions.

The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) will include the diva on its
list of candidates for parliament in the May 6 election.

Petrosyan has long enjoyed a reputation as a patriot, through her
music. If elected, she will have a chance to express her concern
through lawmaking.

“She has always been interested in Armenia, and songs about the
homeland have prevailed in her song list,” party secretary Eduard
Sharmazanov said on Tuesday. “The party, in all appearances, will
admit the singer’s membership, as there will hardly be people who
will be against it.”

From: A. Papazian

LITTLE ROBERT NEEDS HELP

Tert.am

Robert Yengidunyan (2) is suffering from lymphohemangioma.

The child’s uncle Karen told Tert.am that the child needs an expensive
surgery abroad, which costs $45,000 to $55,000.

The child once underwent surgery in Armenia, but his state has even
worsened since.

“We took the child to a heart clinic. The doctors said it was not
a heart problem, but the tumor was near the heart and could impede
the heart function. When we collected all the necessary documents
and sent them to Israel, they answered: ‘You have botched everything
up.’ The local surgeons removed the lymph node like butchers.”

The family also turned to businessmen. Among them is Ralph Yirikian,
General Manager of VivaCell-MTS. The company’s office informed the
child’s family that the company is implementing housing projects now
and cannot provide money.

The child’s relatives turned to Tigran Karapetyan, Chairman of the
People’s Party. He flatly refused to help.

The family opened a bank account for “kind-hearted people” to help
the child.

All those wishing to help the child can transfer money to the
following accounts:

The HSBC Bank Armenia.

From: A. Papazian

ORINATS YERKIR BRIBES VOTERS WITH EXOTIC JAMS AND TELEPHONES

Panorama.am
14/03/2012

According to Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun, Orinats Yerkir Party
distributes jam among voters under the pretext of March 8.

Malatia-Sebastia schools were given such presents. The gift bags
contained a jar of beet jam and a jar of carrot jam.

According to the newspaper, Orinats Yerkir gives worthier gifts,
telephones costing AMD 6000, in the towns of Sevan and Vardenis. Jams
and juices are Arthur Baghdasaryan’s business, says the daily, while
no one knows where the telephones come from.

From: A. Papazian

REP. COSTA: AZERI AUTHORITIES RELENTLESSLY COVER UP TRAGIC EVENTS IN SUMGAIT

PanARMENIAN.Net
March 14, 2012 – 11:04 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Last week, Congressman Jim Costa (D-CA) of Fresno
issued a strong statement commemorating the recent anniversary of
Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of its Armenian community in Sumgait
in February 1988.

He joins with a bipartisan group of other Members of Congress in
commemorating the massacres, including colleagues from the California
Congressional delegation such as Reps. Anna Eshoo (D), Howard Berman
(D), Brad Sherman (D), Judy Chu (D), and Adam Schiff (D), reported
the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

“With Congressman Costa joining his colleagues in commemorating the
Sumgait massacres, he adds yet another principled voice to the chorus
of legislators who have publicly expressed support for human rights,
democracy, and the peaceful resolution of regional disputes,” said
ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “Along with friends of Armenia
from across California’s Central Valley, we voice our gratitude to
Congressman Costa for challenging Azerbaijan’s past aggression and
standing up to its leaders’ present-day threats to restart their war
against Armenia and Artsakh.”

In his statement, Rep. Costa discussed the pogroms in the broader
context of often violent Azerbaijani oppression against its Armenian
population, especially in the Nagorno Karabakh region where the
community had been peacefully petitioning for democratic freedom and
an end to state-supported discrimination.

“Azerbaijani rioters murdered, raped and maimed Armenians, throwing
women and children from windows and burning victims alive. While
some estimate that more than 30 individuals were killed and more
than 200 injured, others estimate that hundreds were murdered. The
Soviets banned journalists from entering the area and, for two
decades, Azerbaijani authorities relentlessly covered up, ignored
and whitewashed these tragic events.

Even worse, many believe the atrocities were officially sanctioned
by Azerbaijani authorities to send a clear message to the Armenians,
who were peacefully demonstrating against Azerbaijani repression and
discrimination in Nagorno Karabakh just days before the massacre.

The anniversary of this horrifying moment in history serves as yet
another call to action to build a more peaceful and just world. The
United States must stand firmly against repression and human rights
abuses,” Rep. Costa said.

From: A. Papazian