Author: Babajanian Karo

AZERI FANS ANGRY TURKISH SINGER HAS ARMENIAN MUSIC DIRECTOR

Panorama
Nov 4 2011
Armenia

Renowned Turkish singer Gulben Ergen planned a concert in Azerbaijan
amid her concert tours. Her Azeri fans were angry to know that the
singer works with an Armenian who is her music director.

“Azadlig”, referring to modern.az, said although the singer’s fans
in Azerbaijan were unaware that their favorite songs were directed by
an Armenian musician, Turkish fans of Ergen knew that Dashgin Sabah,
brother of famous musician Joshgun Sabah, was the music director for
Gulben Ergen.

Turkish media outlets write that Dashgin Sabah’s father – Martiros
Sabah, was also a musician.

ARMENIAN-INDIAN CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES TO BE OPENED NEXT WEEK

news.am
Nov 4 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – The official opening ceremony of the Armenian-Indian
“Center for Excellence in Information and Communication Technologies”
is scheduled for November 7 at 9.30 a.m. Armenian PM Tigran Sargsyan
and Indian Minister of Communication and Information Technologies
Sachin Pilot will participate in the opening ceremony.

High-ranking officials, University faculty, CEOs of private sector
dealing with communication technology spheres from Armenia and India
will participate in the opening ceremony, the press service of the
Armenian government informs Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The center was founded in Yerevan in the framework of the
Armenian-Indian agreement of deepening cooperation in the Information
and Communication Technologies sphere.

INDIAN MINISTER TO DISCUSS COOPERATION WITH ARMENIA IN IT SECTOR

news.am
Nov 4 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN.- Indian Minister of Communication and Information Technology
Sachin Pilot will arrive in Armenia on a working visit on November 6-9.

He will be received on November 7 by Armenia’s Economy Minister Tigran
Davtyan, Ministry’s press service informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The Ministers’ meeting will be followed by press conference to discuss
Armenian-Indian cooperation in the field of information technologies.

CATHOLICOSATE CENTRAL EXECUTIVE CHAIR VISITS PRELACY

asbarez
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011

The Karajerjian brother flank Archbishop Mardirossian

LA CRESCENTA-The Central Executive Chairman of the Great House of
Cilcia Catholicosate, Dr. Bedros Karajerjian, visited the Prelacy
Wednesday where he met with Western Prelate Archbishop Moushegh
Mardirossian. Dr. Karajerjian was accompanied by his brother,
Kevork Karajerjian, who is a long-time supporter of our community and
specifically the Catholicosate of Cilicia. Prelacy Executive Council
Vice-Chair George Chorbajian participated in the meeting as well.

The discussion centered on the endeavors and collaborative efforts
between the Catholicosate of Cilicia and the Prelacy, as well as
the recent Pontifical Visit of His Holiness Catholicos Aram I to the
Western United States. Dr. Karajerjian said he was satisfactied at
the work being carried out at the Prelacy, and wished the Prelate
and Prelacy success in future endeavors.

Given that it was Dr. Karajerjian’s first visit to the Prelacy, the
Prelate familiarized him with the various departments during a tour
of the headquarters.

The Prelate presented mementos to his guests

LYUDMILA SARGSYAN: THREE MORE RESIGNATIONS EXPECTED IN ARMENIA

arminfo
Friday, November 4, 19:58

The Armenian authorities are keeping Prosperous Armenia Party in the
coalition by force, Lyudmila Sargsyan, member of the Armenian National
Congress (ANC), said at today’s press conference in Yerevan.

“The authorities have some economic dirt about Gagik Tsarukyan and his
party and are trying to keep it in the coalition”, Sargsyan said. She
pointed out that if Prosperous Armenia withdraws from the coalition,
the party will advance the ex-president Robert Kocharyan’s nominee
for the presidential post.

Sargsyan expressed confidence that if the ex-Speaker of Parliament
Hovik Abrahamyan and Leader of Prosperous Armenia Gagik Tsarukyan
join forces, Serzh Sargsyan will have to refuse the presidential post.

Lyudmila Sargsyan also pointed out that the latest resignations are
connected with the president’s visit to Russia and they will not be
restricted to Mikayel Minasyan. “Almost all the resignations were
expected, and at least three more resignations are still expected:
those of Head of National Security Service Gorik Hakobyan, Prosecutor
General Aghvan Hovsepyan and Vice Premier Armen Gevorgyan”, she said.

To remind, earlier Head of Armenian Police Alik Sargsyan and Speaker
of Armenian Parliament Hovik Abrahamyan sent in their resignations.

Abrahamyan said that he will occupy the position of the RPA Election
Staff. On November 3 First Deputy Head of the Armenian President’s
Staff Mikayel Minasyan was dismissed. He said that “he is going to
help Hovik Abrahamyan to get prepared for the upcoming elections in
the proper way”.

CIA ADMITS TO MONITORING FACEBOOK, TWITTER POSTS WORLDWIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
November 4, 2011 – 20:51 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The CIA monitors social media activity around the
world from an unassuming warehouse in Virginia.

As many as 5 million tweets, Facebook status updates, blog posts,
comments, radio and television stations – anything that is made openly
communicated – are tracked by a government agency set up in response
to the 9/11 Commission’s report.

“Vengeful librarians,” as the agents at the Open Source Center are
called, are trained to look at social media activity in various
languages, on various platforms, from various countries.

The agency gauged public opinion after the U.S.-led attack that killed
Osama Bin Laden, by tracking online activity across the Middle East.

The agency also predicted uprisings in Iran, Egypt and elsewhere in
the region.

In places where media is biased, stifled or forced out of publication,
the agency is able to use social media updates to gain access to new
information. Agents are placed globally, in U.S. embassies, to help
keep a closer eye on certain areas.

Tweets can’t be attributed to location, so experts at the agency
cross-reference the language used with the content of the message to
determine a more specific location, according to the report.

In cases where the agency must rely on civilian reports, agents use
the limited media reports, available intelligence and social media
trends to determine whom among the informants they can trust. The
report said that social media users tend to correct each other,
so the best information is usually cultivated communally.

The decision to focus on social media sites was born out of the
Iranian elections of 2009. Agents were able to pinpoint which group
dissented against the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad through the
language-Farsi-used in social media.

It is unknown how long the agency has been working, but the 9/11
Commission, whose findings created this agency, was set up in late
2002, according to the Associated Press.

RELIGIOUS LEADERS SHOULD TRY TO RESOLVE KARABAKH CONFLICT

Tert.am
04.11.11

All influential people, including religious leaders, should make
efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijani
Parliamentary Vice Chairperson Bahar Muradova has said.

If the goal is to be a peaceful settlement to the conflict, then
Azerbaijan must also use these opportunities, she told journalists
on Friday.

“Undoubtedly, the Caucasus Muslims Office (CMO) Chairman
Sheikh-ul-Islam Haji Allahshukur Pashazade and other religious figures
have authority in society, along with politicians,~T she was quoted
by the Azerbaijani news website Trend as saying.

~SSo we must take advantage of their ability to solve the Karabakh
problem, which is a source of serious tension in the region,”
Muradova added.

Yerevan will host a meeting of the Presidium of the CIS Inter-religious
Council with the participation of the religious leaders of Russia
and the South Caucasus countries in late November. It is expected
that the meeting will also be attended by representatives of the OSCE
Minsk Group countries.

MINISTER: AGRICULTURE TO REMAIN AMONG ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT’S KEY FOCUSES ALSO IN 2012

/ARKA/
November 4, 2011
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, November 4. /ARKA/. Agriculture will remain among Armenian
government’s key focuses also in 2012, Agriculture Minister Sergo
Karapetyan said Friday at budgetary hearings.

“Expenses for the agriculture sector are planned at AMD 3.9 billion
for 2012,” he said. “This is 11.8% more than the amount allocated
for agriculture in the 2011 government budget.”

The minister said that many of the programs being implemented this
year will be continued also in 2012.

“Besides, a large consignment of fertilizers is planned to be imported
in Armenia in the 2012 spring and offered to farmers at cost price,”
he said.

Karapetyan also said that the ministry was negotiating with Russian
agricultural machinery manufacturers to import tractors at low prices
to lease them to farmers.

On September 29, Armenian government approved the 2012 draft budget.

The budget revenue is projected at AMD 910 billion, spending AMD
1042.5 billion and deficit 132.5 billion here.

In this draft budget, revenue is planned to be enlarged by 6.8%
in 2012, compared with 2011 (AMD 852.4 billion) and spending is
projected to grow by about AMD 41.5 billion.

The Victims of Serzh Sarkisian’s Drive to Consolidate Power

Friday, November 4th, 2011

By Armen Arakelyan
Hetq.am

Serzh Sarkisian has launched his project to formulate a monolith power
base five months before the parliamentary elections.
He wasn’t able to do this during the past two and a half years in power.
A two-tiered government had been set up after the 2008 presidential
elections. One was the public government that belonged to Serzh
Sarkisian and the other was the shadow government that was the
property of former President Robert Kocharian.
Kocharian ran that government from behind the curtains, employing a
variety of individuals – National Assembly President Hovik Abrahamian,
RA minister for Territorial Affairs Armen Grigorian, Prosecutor
General Aghvan Hovsepian, Prosperous Armenia Party President Gagik
Tsarukian and others.
One can state that to date, Serzh Sarkisian hadn’t been `ruling’ over
this legacy in Armenia but merely managing it, which he inherited from
Kocharian.
And it is a well-known fact that the owner can change his manager at
any time or after the contract has expired.
This duality put Sarkisian in a situation of dependency from the Kocharian wing.
This dependency was shaped with the extremely heavy legacy of March 1,
domestic and external crises linked to the question of his very
legitimacy as president, and the activities of the radical opposition
in Armenia.
During the past three years, Sarkisian has constantly striven to
neutralize all the factors that were maintaining his dependency on
Kocharian. To a large degree, he has been successful.
The Council of Europe has essentially closed the page on the March 1
tragedy and has freed the government from revealing the true criminals
involved.
Secondly, by making serious concessions in the matter of
Armenian-Turkish reconciliation and the Karabakh conflict settlement,
Sarkisian has been able to remove the matter of his legitimacy off the
agenda of the international community.
Thirdly, these achievements have essentially stripped the opposition
of any foreign assistance.
On the other hand, the Armenian National Congress, due to its
inconsistency, unwise and rushed behavior, has been deprived of wide
popular support. This has allowed the government to avoid domestic
pressure and social-political tremors.
In other words, in the lead-up to the parliamentary election a
situation had been created in which there was nothing to prevent Serzh
Sarkisian to redefine the political landscape in his image and to make
the necessary personnel changes.
Sarkisian was also prompted to make such moves given the possible
return to politics of his predecessor, Kocharian.
Even though Sarkisian was able to renew the coalition contract with
the three parties involved and gain their backing for his presidential
run in 2013, he felt compelled to make changes on the ground and not
merely rely on a piece of paper.
The centripetal tendencies of the Prosperous Armenia Party in this
regard made Sarkisian even more aware of the need to take concrete
steps in this direction.
The only remaining potential obstacle was the Russian factor.
Sarkisian’s official visit to Russia last month perhaps finally shored
up his position on this front as well.
It is not coincidental that the serious staff changes in the Armenian
government began immediately after the Russian visit.
All of Sarkisian’s personnel changes are clearly aimed at
consolidating his power and administrative resources.
Using all the state and administrative levers at his disposal,
Sarkisian has been able to obtain the `loyalty’ of Gagik Tsarukian.
Thus, the shadow Kocharian government has been stripped of its
political base.
The next move was to remove Yerevan Mayor Karen Karapetian, a good
manager but not a political figure that Sarkisian could rely on in the
upcoming elections in terms of using the administrative levers at his
disposal for electoral aims.
Karapetian was replaced with Taron Margarian, a young Republican Party
member with political ambitions and who is devoted to the president.
Margarian is seen as someone who can use his experience as a political
operator during his tenure as Avan District Leader, across all of
Yerevan. He is also seen as someone who can effectively bridge the gap
between the old and new guard within the party.
Armenia’s Police Chief Alik Sarkisian had to go because even given his
loyalty to the government he remained an outside figure to the inner
sanctum of the agency. The department’s authority had suffered under
Alik Sarkisian’s watch as well and morale suffered, raising doubts in
the ruling government that Armenia’s law enforcement would be willing
and able to serve its interests when called upon.
Alik Sarkisian’s replacement, Vladimir Gasbarian, started his career
in the police system and maintains close contacts with the force. He’s
an insider, unlike his predecessor.
The resignation of National Assembly President Hovik Abrahamian in
this scenario of personnel rearrangements is unique from a political
perspective.
The justification for Abrahamian’s dismissal, that he has been
selected to run the campaign headquarters of Serzh Sarkisian, is
absurd and makes no sense.
No government official in the past, let alone on the level of
parliament president, has ever resigned from office to assume this
post.
President Sarkisian, in fact, simply wished to isolate Abrahamian,
both administratively and politically, while at the same time keeping
him under check.
By neutralizing Abrahamian politically, Serzh Sarkisian has
essentially beheaded the Kocharian wing in the government.
This poses a clear choice for the rest like Armen Gevorgian and Aghvan
Hovsepian.
Either they must accept the new game rules and become full members of
the Serzh Sarkisian camp or voluntarily resign as well.

Armenian National Committee of Glendale
211 W. Chestnut St., Suite 302
Glendale, CA 91204

Contact: Elen Asatryan
Phone: 818.243.3444
Cell: 818..523.8389
Email: [email protected]

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 4, 2011

ANC Glendale, AYF West Open Application Process for PTC Tutoring Program

Glendale, CA – The Armenian National Committee of Glendale and the Armenian
Youth Federation – Western Region announced this week that applications for
the Winter 2011 Session of the Path to College Tutoring Program are now
available. Interested individuals can view and download copies of the
application and contract by visiting the
“For Students” section of the ANC
Glendale website at or by
contacting the AYF office at 818.507.1933.

“The pilot PTC tutoring program conducted earlier this year proved to be a
tremendous success and showed the community’s dire need for such services,”
stated, Elen Asatryan, Executive Director of ANC Glendale. “We are thrilled
to continue our partnership with the Armenian Youth Federation in providing
free after school tutoring, which not only ensures academic success for our
youth, but also assists financially distressed families during these
uncertain economic times,” added Asatryan.

The 2011 Winter Session of the PTC Tutoring Program will commence on
November 22, 2011 and end on January 26, 2012. There will be no tutoring
offered between December 23rd and January 9th due to winter holidays. The
Program will offer free tutoring in Math and the Sciences three days a week,
between the hours of 4:00pm-7:00pm to middle school and high school
students. All tutoring sessions will be held at the Krikor and Mariam
Karamanoukian, Glendale Youth Center located at (211 W. Chestnut St.,
Glendale, CA 91204).
Applications will be accepted on a first come first served
basis. Preference will be given to students whose families earn a
low-moderate income.

Community members interested in serving as volunteer tutors may obtain
applications by contacting the AYF Western Region office at
818.507.1933 or by visiting the
“For Students” section of the ANC
Glendale website at

“The AYF is committed to the moral and intellectual advancement of the
youth. Through the Tutoring Program, we hope to reach out to young people
who need help in achieving their academic goals. We hope that this program
will enable them to gain the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed,”
stated AYF Western Region Board Member David Arakelyan.

Spearheaded by ANC Glendale, the Path to College Program initially included
hosting community forums for non-English speaking parents and students that
covered such topic matters as high school graduation requirements, the
college admission process, ways students can recover credit, financial aid
as well as differences between community colleges and universities. In
January 2011, the program was expanded to include free after school tutoring
for local youth.

Founded in 1933, the Armenian Youth Federation is the largest and most
influential Armenian-American youth organization in the United States
working to advance the social, political, educational, and cultural
awareness of Armenian-American youth.

The Armenian National Committee – Glendale Chapter advocates for the social,
economic, cultural, and political rights of the city’s Armenian American
community and promotes increased civic participation at the grassroots and
public policy levels.

####

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” –Margaret Mead