Author: Babajanian Karo

SARKOZY DESPERATELY NEEDS FRENCH ARMENIANS – JOURNALIST

news.am
Oct 3 2011
Armenia

MOSCOW. – During French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s regional visit to
South Caucasus, the main emphasis will be placed on Armenia because “he
desperately needs the Armenians’ support,” prominent Georgian-origin
French journalist Giorgi Popkhadze stated.

“Nicolas Sarkozy’s rating is 26 percent, which is terrible, and he
desperately needs France’s Armenian lobby which is very influential,”
Popkhadze noted, Vzglyad Russian newspaper writes.

Nicolas Sarkozy will visit Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia in early
October.

PACE FALL SESSION TO BEGIN, ARMENIA ALSO TO BE DISCUSSED

news.am
Oct 3 2011
Armenia

Fall session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE) is starting on Monday in Strasbourg, France, and it will
continue until October 7. The session will also discuss Armenia,
and PACE Co-Rapporteurs on Armenia John Prescott and Axel Fischer
will present the report on the country’s democratic institutions.

As Naira Zohrabyan, member of Armenia’s delegation to PACE, earlier
told Armenian News-NEWS.am, during the Monitoring Committee’s session
in Paris, Prescott and Fischer had presented the general outline of
their report.

“According to the latest statement of PACE Co-Rapporteurs, they
positively evaluate the latest political developments in Armenia,
its stable political environment, and naturally appreciate the recent
steps taken by political authorities,” Zohrabyan had noted. She also
did not rule out the possibility that the Azerbaijani delegation could
attempt to propose certain modifications in the report, but expressed
confidence that the Co-Rapporteurs report will be adopted as it is.

In its turn, the Committee will present a resolution based on the
report on prenatal determining of the gender of Doris Stamp’s child.

The report accentuates the danger of prenatal determining of a child’s
gender, specifically in Albania, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The report
states that in Armenia the ratio between boys and girls is 112 to 100
respectively. The draft resolution also calls for the research of the
reasons behind this phenomenon, and proposes to all Council-of-Europe
members to prohibit physicians from prenatal informing of a child’s
gender.

CHANGE THE PARLIAMENT TO ELIMINATE CORRUPTION, SAYS LEVON TER-PETROSYAN

Tert.am
03.10.11

Leader of the opposition bloc Armenian National Congress (HAK)
Levon Ter-Petrosyan has said that corruption will be eliminated in
the country if the parliament is changed.

Addressing his supporters on Liberty Square, where they have set
up tents and spent there three days now, Ter-Petrosyan also said it
would take some time to tackle corruption in Armenia.

“There is no need to invent a bicycle. There is the law, the
Constitution; corruption disappears when they are observed,” said
Ter-Petrosyan.

“If the head of any enterprise does not take bribes, then corruption
is decreased by fifty percent in that enterprise,” explained he.

Ter-Petrosyan, who ruled Armenia since its independence in 1991 to
and resigned ahead of the end of his term in 1998, said to fight
corruption it will also be necessary to make changes personnel of
government agencies.

“Time will be needed to fight this corrupted system, but if correct
staff changes are made, corruption will decrease by fifty per cent,”
said he. “The rest requires hard work”.

The HAK, headed by Levon Ter-Petrosyan, recently suspended the dialogue
with representatives of the ruling coalition, pointing to the arrest
of one of its activists.

Further, the HAK leader said that free media is one of the tools
necessary to combat corruption.

“Corruption prospers when there is no free media. Give us a TV channel
and ninety percent of these criminals will in two days be in prisons,”
he continued.

“But it is not only about free media. A state cannot be non-corrupted,
if the legislative power is not independent from the executive one,”
said he.

“Even in the harshest years of the Soviet Union there was no such
judicial system that was this much dependent on the executive power,”
said Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

IRAN TO USE DRONES FOR BORDER CONTROL

PanARMENIAN.Net
October 3, 2011 – 11:11 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Iran plans to equip all of its border areas with
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) within the next few months, Iranian
Police Chief Esmail Ahmadi Moqaddam announced.

Nine remote-controlled drones have already been purchased, and ten
others will be bought in the near future, Ahmadi-Moqaddam said,
Fars News Agency reported.

The commander added that the police aviation personnel were receiving
training to operate the drones.

The drones are to carry out reconnaissance missions in the desert
areas of the Eastern Iran near the border with Afghanistan, as
part of Iran’s campaign against narcotics and drug-trafficking,
Ahmadi-Moqaddam was quoted as saying.

The Iranian Air Force also announced in July that it plans to deploy
reconnaissance drones along the country’s border.

“Using UAVs plays a vital role in the strengthening of the Armed
Forces’ offensive and defensive capabilities. Accordingly, we seek
to equip all the country’s air bases with different types of drones,”
Deputy Lieutenant Commander of Army’s Air Force for Operations General
Majid Pirhadi told FNA.

EU FUNDS EURO 15 MLN IN ARMENIA’S EDUCATION SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
October 3, 2011 – 14:58 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – EU welcomes Armenian authorities’ readiness to
implement a comprehensive program for education development, according
to the head of the European Commission Delegation to Armenia.

At news conference in Yerevan, Ambassador Raul de Luzenberger
characterized the Program for Development of Professional Education
as a basic component of Armenia’s labor market.

Armenian Education Minister Armen Ashotyan, in turn, thanked the EU
for opening professional education colleges in Armenia, “which is
bound to positively affect Armenia’s labor market”.

According to Luzenberger, in 2011, EU allocated Euro 15 mln to
project implementation; over the last 8 years, Euro 30 mln was spent
on various education-related initiatives.

In program framework, the first professional education colleges
will be opened in the cities of Ararat and Yeghegnadzor. “To reduce
corruption risks, college admission procedure was facilitated, with
exam tests including strictly professional disciplines. Opening of
a total 12 colleges in planned,” the Minister concluded.

ANC LEADER REFUSES TO ANSWER QUESTION ON KARABAKH

PanARMENIAN.Net
October 3, 2011 – 20:14 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenian National Congress (ANC) opposition bloc
leader refused to answer a question on Nagorno Karabakh, when asked
to comment on rumors that in Artsakh war years he wasn’t informed on
the progress of preparations for Shushi capture.

“I have no intention to divulge state secrets before Karabakh issue
is given final solution,” Levon Ter-Petrossian told an open-air
news conference. “The important thing is that the territories were
liberated.”

At Sept 30 rally, ANC leader Levon Ter-Petrossian announced the launch
of round-the-clock protest actions, with the suggestion supported by
demonstrators. The protest actions will last for 7 days.

SERZH SARGSYAN ADDRESSES CONGRATULATORY MESSAGE TO HU JINTAO

ARMENPRESS
October 3, 2011
YEREVAN

On October 1, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan addressed a
congratulatory message to President of the People’s Republic of China
Hu Jintao on 62nd anniversary of formation of People’s Republic of
China. Presidential press service told Armenpress that on his behalf
and on behalf of Armenian people Serzh Sargsyan addressed good wishes
to President Hu Jintao. “We follow the achievements and successes of
China and Chinese people in public, political, economic, educational,
cultural and other spheres,” the message reads. President Serzh
Sargsyan also pointed out the growing high reputation of China in
international area.

A sharp growth has been registered in all spheres of cooperation
between Armenia and China. I am sure that thanks to our joint
efforts the friendly relations existing between our countries and
the continuous active cooperation will hereafter, too, develop and
expand in favor of our peoples.

Taking the chance, I wish You robust health and successes, and wish
happiness and welfare to the friend people of China,” Serzh Sargsyan’s
congratulatory message runs.

ORANGE FOUNDATION COMPLETES EYE TREATMENT PROJECT IN SHIRAK PROVINCE AND STARTS A NEW ONE IN ARAGATSOTN

IT and Telecom | 03.10.11 | 15:19

Joint project of free eye screenings and treatment launched by Orange
Foundation and Armenian Eye Care Project (AECP) in Shirak region,
which aimed to provide free eye screening services to the residents
of Shirak region, as well as treatment for socially vulnerable people,
is coming to its end.

In the frames of the project 4200 adults and 1130 children have
undergone eye screening, around 640 adults have undergone deep
eye screening in the mobile hospital, over 2000 glasses have been
provided. Around 270 surgeries and laser treatments have been conducted
in the mobile hospital. In the frames of the project eye care awareness
special classes have been conducted for around 400 children of nine
schools in Shirak region parallel to eye screenings.

To support the works of the AECP in Shirak region, Orange Foundation
has allotted 9 million drams.

~SPeople with eye diseases are in the center of the attention of Orange
Foundation not only in Armenia, but also in other countries, where the
Foundation operatesoday we met people whose life has changed thanks
to the Foundation and our partners. We are proud for our partnership
with the Armenian Eye Care Project. Having in view the results we see
today, we have decided to continue our partnership. The next region
to host the mobile hospital will be Aragatsotn,~T said Bruno Duthoit,
the Chairman of the Board of Orange Foundation,

VOTE 2012: RE-ALIGNMENT OF FORCES OUTLINED WELL BEFORE START OF ELECTION CAMPAIGN
By Naira Hayrumyan

ArmeniaNow
03.10.11 | 12:37

ANC-led oppositionists started a week-long “civic fest” sit in at
Freedom Square.

While Armenian experts are discussing the possible course of political
developments in the country before the elections, politicians are
predicting a split within the ruling coalition and the creation of new,
seemingly improbable alliances.

The approach of next spring’s Parliamentary Elections and the 2013
Presidential Election makes political parties finally navigate and
select camps.

As the radical opposition represented by the Armenian National Congress
(ANC) holds a week-long sit-in Yerevan’s central Liberty Square,
calling on people to push for the resignation of government officials,
past-President Robert Kocharyan said late last week he did not exclude
his return to major-league politics. In addition, the fact that the
current president in Russia Dmitry Medvedev nominated his predecessor
Vladimir Putin for presidency has created a potential copy-cat scenario
(though probably without the endorsement of President Serzh Sargsyan).

Most analysts are now contemplating a confrontation between Sargsyan
and Kocharyan. Broad speculation even includes a Sargsyan-Levon
Ter-Petrosyan alliance. It is not beyond belief that Sargsyan
and Ter-Petrosyan would conspire to defeat Kocharyan on a platform
that emphasized Kocharyan’s violation of constitutional order in the
events of March 1, 2008 and the deaths of 10 citizens in post-election
violence.

The second variant is again a confrontation between Sargsyan and
Kocharyan, but in which the Ter-Petrosyan-led ANC acts as a separate
force, working against both Sargsyan and Kocharyan, to call for fair
elections. Since elections so far have been rigged with administrative
tools that have been ensured by the Republican Party and its coalition
partners, the dispersal of these levers between the former partners
would be seen to encourage legitimate competition.

And while Ter-Petrosyan insists that Kocharyan lacks a party platform,
according to Deputy Chairman of the ruling Republican Party Razmik
Zohrabyan, the return of ex-President Kocharyan to politics can
make a split within the ruling coalition if Kocharyan’s candidacy is
nominated by a coalition party – Prosperous Armenia (believed to be
loyal to the ex-president), or Orinats Yerkir.

But there is also another variant, which is considered least of all —
Sargsyan voluntarily resigns and at the Republican Party’s congress,
in analogy with the Putin-Medvedev tandem, Kocharyan is nominated as
the next presidential candidate of the party. Despite the fact that
the Republican Party has already declared that its candidate at the
next presidential election will be its leader Sargsyan, the change
of the configuration in Russia may have its influence in Armenia.

Will the Republican Party members be able and willing to oppose the
nomination of Kocharyan? Probably not, since most of them joined the
party during Kocharyan’s presidency.

“MEETING WITH ART” AND “THE ARMENIAN LETTERS WITH MY PEN” PROGRAMS AT GAFESJIAN CENTER FOR THE ARTS

ARMENPRESS
October 3, 2011
YEREVAN

On October 6 at Gafesjian Center for the Arts, an event will be held
dedicated to 20th anniversary of Armenian Translators’ Day and European
Heritage Days. îead of Public Relations and Marketing Department Anna
Simonyan told Armenpress that the series of the events is called
“Meeting with Art”, within the frameworks of which a lecture is
intended, as well as “Saint Translators” documentary film will be
shown, and Armenian religious songs will sound.

On the same day “The Armenian Letters with My Pen” program intended
for children will launch. According to Anna Simonyan, the program is
implemented collaboratively with schools. That day the children of
School N 162 will visit “Gafesjian”, will get acquainted with a wall
painting depicting the creation of the Armenian letters. Besides that,
they too will write Armenian letters with their pens.