Author: Babajanian Karo

CONCERT IN CANADA COMMEMORATES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

10:01, 09 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

The Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee presents Grammy
Award-nominated Armenian Canadian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian in
concert with her husband, pianist Serouj Kradjian, and the Henrik
Karapetyan String Quartet in My Songs, My Heritage at 7 p.m. March 7 at
the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center, the Press & Guide reports.

Concert selections include Armenian sacred hymns, folk songs, chamber
music and 20th century songs, with English surtitles.

Bayrakdarian, a Canadian of Armenian heritage, immigrated to Canada as
a teen. She graduated from the University of Toronto cum laude with
a degree in biomedical engineering science in 1997, the same year
she was a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions.

Her opera career, now in its second decade, makes her an eagerly
anticipated artist at opera houses and concert halls worldwide.

Celebrated for her multi-hued voice as well as her beauty, presence
and style, Bayrakdarian’s career expands beyond opera.

She is a featured vocalist on the Grammy-award winning soundtrack of
Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers, and topped Billboard charts as a
guest soloist with the Canadian band Delerium on their 2007 Grammy
nominated dance remix Angelicus.

Bayrakdarian won four consecutive Juno Awards, presented to
Canadian musical artists for outstanding achievement in the recording
industry, from 2004 to 2007, for classical album of the year, vocal or
instrumental, for Azulao, Cleopatra, Viardot-Garcia: Lieder Chansons
Canzone Mazurkas, and Mozart: Arie e Duetti.

Bayrakdarian received a Grammy nomination for the BBC-produced short
film HOLOCAUST – A Music Memorial Film from Auschwitz. She was also
the focus of a Canadian television Gemini-nominated film, A Long
Journey Home, documenting her first trip to Armenia.

A century ago, the Armenian Genocide, planned by the leaders of the
Ottoman Empire, systematically exterminated 1.5 million Armenians
in what is now Turkey. The genocide had two phases: the wholesale
killing of able-bodied men through massacre and forced army labor,
followed by the deportation of women, children, the elderly, and
the infirm on death marches to the Syrian Desert. Military escorts,
driving the deportees forward, deprived them of food and water,
and subjected them to periodic robbery, rape and massacre.

In Michigan, the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee of Metro
Detroit, comprised of 15 of the area’s leading Armenian-American
organizations, has organized commemorative events throughout 2015
to honor the genocide victims, demand recognition and reparations,
and increase public awareness of all genocides.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH SIGNALE DES DEFICIENCES EN MATIÈRE DE DROITS DE L’HOMME EN ARMENIE

ARMENIE

Dans son rapport annuel en matière de droits de l’Homme dans 90 pays,
Human Rights Watch a signale des deficiences en Armenie, notamment
en ce qui concerne le droit de rassemblement. 70 personnes ont ete
interpellees dans ce pays en 2014 a la suite d’affrontements avec la
police anti-emeute lors de manifestations. Le rapport evoque egalement
la torture et les mauvais traitements lors de gardes a vue et le manque
d’efficacite des enquetes de la police. Les journalistes ont continue a
faire l’objet de pressions et de violences physiques. Des abus graves
persistent au sein des forces armees. Les minorites continueraient
egalement a faire l’objet de discriminations. / Jamanak, Hayots Achkhar

Extrait de la revue de presse de l’Ambassade de France en Armenie en
date du 2 fevrier 2015

lundi 9 fevrier 2015, Stephane (c)armenews.com

RALLIERS MARCH TO POLICE HEADQUARTERS (VIDEO)

14:53 | February 9,2015 | Politics

The rally organized in support of activist Artak Khachatryan who
was brutally beaten up on Saturday, continues in Yerevan, with the
participants demanding that the police immediately reveal the incident
and punish the assailants.

Artak Khachatryan, a member of the Political Council of the Prosperous
Armenia Party (BHK), was attacked on Saturday afternoon in Yerevan
by masked men who forced him into a car and took him to an unknown
direction. He was later found near his home in an unconscious state
and brutally beaten up. Artak Khachatryan is also known as an active
participant in recent protests against the new law on the sales tax.

“A heinous crime was committed in the presence of eye-witnesses. Artak
was kidnapped in a cynical way by masked men and beaten up severely
for six hours. It is a matter of honour and dignity for the police
and law enforcement agencies to reveal the crime as soon as possible,”
said BHK lawmaker Naira Zohrabyan.

She says the attack was politically motivated.

The ralliers have started a march to the police headquarters.

Addressing the chief of the Armenian Police, Vladimir Gasparyan,
ARtak’s brother Artyom Khachatryan said everyone’s dignity is offended,
and people call for an immediate disclosure of the incident.

We cannot wait for a long time, we do not have nerves of iron,” he
said adding that they well call for resignations of top officials if
the crime is not revealed.

GORIS CITY SELECTED AS A PILOT FOR “SMART CITY” CONCEPT APPLICATION

11:06, 09 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Goris City in Syunik Region, Armenia, has been selected as a pilot
for “Smart City” concept application in the frames of UNECE project
“United Smart Cities”. The launching of Smart City initiative in Goris
will start from the initial assessment mission to be implemented by
UNECE experts (international and local) who will elaborate the main
indicators for Smart City of Goris, in co-operation with project main
partners Ministry of Urban Development of Armenia, Municipality of
Goris, UNECE, UNDP, and Regional Environmental Center for Caucasus,
Armenia National Office. Mission and subsequent national workshop
will take place on February 9-12, in the city of Goris. Workshop
participants will discuss the Smart City concept, challenges,
initiatives, activities, objectives and outcomes.

Project experts in cooperation with the local authorities and other
local partners will collect data and prepare city profiles for
Goris City. Activities within the project frames are planned to be
held in Goris City with the active involvement of national, local
(authorities) and international units. International organizations;
EAA, UNECE, UN-habitat, ISOCARP will prepare city profile for the
city in certain time frames, during February of 2015. Seminars and
presentations will be organized for awareness increase and capacity
building on the innovative concept of “Smart City” for Goris City.

The “Smart city” is a concept with a broad meaning. A “Smart City” is
for us a city that is dynamic in implementing sustainable initiatives.

It is a city, which is able to grant affordable and healthy housing,
and reduce its consumption of energy and emission of pollutants. It
is a city which supports green, inclusive, healthy, compact, smart
and resilient human settlements; promotes investments in its different
sectors; and effectively manages its financial resources. It presents
an integrated approach to planning and building, while supporting
environmentally clean, affordable public transport, higher air
and water quality and efficient waste management. It supports a
sustainable management of urban land as well as transparent land
and property registration. Its efficiency is improved by the use of
innovative technologies and ICT within the different sectors.

Furthermore, it encourages the cooperation of different stakeholders
operating in public and private sector, academia, NGOs, regulators,
authorities, citizens.

A strategic goal of the proposed project is to promote sustainable
urban development, especially in countries with transition economies
and developing countries, through analysis of practices and policies,
pilot activities, exchange of experiences and best practices,
networking and capacity building. The project will help to scale up the
European experiences of smart cities to countries outside of the EU.

The project objective is to strengthen the capacities of national
and local authorities in the project region for the development and
implementation of national and local policies for sustainable urban
development.

One of the core elements is the catalytic knowledge transfer within
the network to identify best practices and lessons learned from
previous projects and exchange of experience between advanced cities
and ambitious transition cities.

The comprehensive “smart cities” initiative aims at improving key
dimensions of cities:

(a) urban environment (buildings, transportation, water, waste,
energy services, and information and communications technology);

(b) governance (inter-sectorial cooperation, cooperation between
national, regional and local authorities, other stakeholders;
establishment of multi-stakeholder platforms); support to networking
with other cities;

(c) social capital (education, social and gender equality);

(d) economic conditions (poverty reduction and employment generation);

TRIPLETS BORN IN YEREVAN’S EREBOUNI MEDICAL CENTER

by Tatevik Shahunyan

Monday, February 9, 16:51

Yerevan’s Erebouni Medical Center has registered a rare case:
25-year-old Angela Mnatsakanyan has given birth to triplets.

Obstetric officer Anaida Ananyan told ArmInfo that this is a rare
phenomenon as triplets are more often born in cases of artificial
insemination.

The triplets were delivered by caesarean section on Feb 5 and now
four days after Angela is ready to take them home.

She is grateful to the doctors of the center and, particularly,
to the head of the hospital’s pathology unit Andranik Poghosyan.

Now Angela has four boys: five-year-old Ararat and his newly born
brothers Arame (2.6 kg), Vahe (2.5 kg) and Vache (1.7 kg).

Angela is a Russian language teacher in the borderline village
of Voskevan, Tavush region. Her husband, Armen Bvarseghyan, is
a policeman.

When asked if it won’t be hard to raise four boys in a borderline
village, Angela said, “The Lord gave them, so, I hope the Lord will
help us to raise them. We need boys in borderline regions. Who else
will defend us if not they?”

L’ANC SUR L’INCIDENT DE BERDZOR : LE REGIME NE VOIT SON SALUT QUE DANS L’INTIMIDATION DU PUBLIC

ARMENIE

Le Congrès National Armenien (ANC),a condamne l’incident du week-end
dernier où des membres d’un groupe d’opposition radicale connu
pour etre a la recherche d’un changement de regime en Armenie ont
ete arretes et malmenes par la police alors qu’ils se rendaient au
Haut-Karabagh.

Le Parlement fondateur, un successeur de l’initiative appelee
pre-Parlement, a declare que plus d’une douzaine de participants le
31 Janvier dans un convoi d’automobiles ont ete blesses dans ce qu’il
decrit comme une attaque de la police sur l’autoroute Goris-Stepanakert
près de Berdzor.

Environ quatre douzaine de vehicules ont ete refoules par la police
et n’ont pu entrer dans le Haut-Karabagh pour organiser un convoi
d’automobiles.

Condamnant fermement “la violence contre les participants pacifiques
d’un convoi d’automobiles”, l’ANC a declare que cela etait le dernier
d’une chaîne de recentes attaques contre les anciens combattants du
Karabagh et d’autres personnalites publiques et politiques partageant
les vues de l’opposition, dont plusieurs membres de l’ANC.

“Cette chaîne [d’attaques] montre que le regime qui a subi des echecs
honteux dans toutes les sphères voit le seul moyen a son salut dans
l’idee folle d’intimider le public >>, a declare l’ANC. “Il est
regrettable que la violence qui a eu lieu en Berdzor a ete commise
par la police de la Republique du Karabagh … En dehors de tout
le reste, ce pourrait egalement avoir un impact très negatif sur
la notation democratique de la Republique du Haut Karabagh sur la
scène internationale.”

lundi 9 fevrier 2015, Stephane (c)armenews.com

FITCH RATINGS RETROGRADE L’ARMENIE

ARMENIE

L’Agence Fitch Ratings a abaisse a long terme en monnaie etrangère
et locale la note de l’Armenie de BB- a B +, avec une perspective
maintenue comme stable.

Fitch Ratings a note que les phenomènes negatifs dans l’economie russe
(BBB- / perspective negative) affectent grandement l’Armenie, et que
dans ce domaine il y a des risques sur la balance des paiements et
les perspectives de croissance economique.

lundi 9 fevrier 2015, Stephane (c)armenews.com

NZ:OVER $NZ600K RAISED FOR DOWN SYNDROME BABY

AAP Newsfeed, Australia
February 8, 2015 Sunday 1:01 PM AEST

WELLINGTON Feb 8

Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been raised to help a New
Zealand man bring his son with Down syndrome to live in New Zealand
from Armenia, though the mother disputes claims she abandoned the baby.

More than $US470,966 ($NZ636,800 or $A603,740) has been raised on a
crowd funding page set up for Leo Forrest, who was born on January 21,
2015 with Down syndrome, in Armenia.

The goal of the page was to raised $US60,000.

The page says his Armenian mother and her family abandoned him at
birth and his father, New Zealander Samuel Forrest, wants to raise
Leo in Auckland.

“The mother refused to even look at or touch the newborn for fear
of getting attached in a society where defects are not accepted,
often bringing shame on the family involved,” the page says.

Donations have been made from people around the world and the case
is getting extensive media coverage in the UK.

A post on the page said money raised over the goal would be used to
give Leo a better life in Auckland and some given to fund facilities
and programs in Armenia.

A statement from the mother, Ruzan Badalyan, has been run by the
Mirror.co.uk and says she did not want Leo to be raised in Armenia
where “certain stereotypes dominate the lives of people with DS”.

“I saw the evasive looks of the doctors, my relatives’ tear-stained
faces, received calls of condolences and realised that only a move
to a country with such standards as New Zealand would entitle my son
to a decent life.”

She said Mr Forrest did not work and did not support her in the
hospital.

“He left the hospital notifying me hours later that he was taking the
kid with him, that he is going to leave the country for New Zealand
and I do not have anything to do with the situation.”

He started circulating the story “on every possible platform” that
“I put him an ultimatum marriage or the baby, which is absolutely
not true”.

“Sam has never suggested joining him and bringing up the child together
in his country.”

TOMSK STATE UNIVERSITY APOLOGIZES FOR VISITING NAGORNO-KARABAKH

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Feb 9 2015

9 February 2015 – 6:53pm

The Tomsk State University has apologized to Azerbaijan for the visit
of its pro rector, masters and post-graduates to Nagorno-Karabakh
on February 7. Pro Rector of the University Artem Rekun noted that
the group had been on a visit to Yerevan within the framework of the
cooperation project with the Yerevan State Univesity, Trend reports.

Rekun noted that the visit to Nagorno-Karabakh had not been on the
agenda, the group had not warned the University about the visit.

The pro rector added that he will send a note with explanations to
the Consulate General of Azerbaijan in Yekaterinburg.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry had sent a protest note to the office
of the Russian Foreign Ministry in the Altay Territory and the Tomsk
Oblast in Barnaul for the visit.

NO MILITARY SOLUTION TO THE KARABAKH CONFLICT: OSCE

12:57, 09 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Serbia’s Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic
met the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassadors Igor Popov of
the Russian Federation, James Warlick of the United States of America,
and Pierre Andrieu of France) today to discuss developments in the
Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. The OSCE Secretary General Lamberto
Zannier and the Personal Representative of the CiO Ambassador Andrzej
Kasprzyk also joined the meeting.

We all agree that the military situation along the Line of Contact and
Armenia-Azerbaijan border is deteriorating, posing a threat to regional
stability and endangering the lives of civilians. The 12 casualties
and 18 wounded cited by Ambassador Kasprzyk’s monitoring reports
in January represent the highest confirmed number of victims in the
first month of a year since the 1994 ceasefire agreement. After 2014,
in which approximately 60 people lost their lives, we are alarmed
that this disturbing violent trend has continued.

There is no military solution to the conflict, and the sides must cease
using force. We call on the sides to end incursions, cease targeting
villages and civilians, stop the threat of reprisals and the use of
asymmetric force, and take additional steps to reduce tensions and
strengthen the ceasefire. We find it unacceptable that the security
guarantees are not fully observed during OSCE monitoring exercises.

Additionally, we reaffirm the December 4, 2014 joint statement of the
Heads of Delegation of the Co-Chair countries at the Basel Ministerial
Council, calling on the sides to settle humanitarian issues, including
the return of bodies and prisoners, in the spirit of the Astrakhan
statement of October 2010.

The Minsk Group Co-Chairs, with the full support of the
Chairperson-in-Office, are prepared to host an intensified negotiation
process that can bring to a peaceful end to a conflict that has
scarred the region for too long. We strongly urge the sides to find
the political will to begin this process immediately without excuses.