Author: Babajanian Karo

CHRISTIAN COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD: ARTSAKH 2ND, ARMENIA 4TH

14:46, 04 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Armenia and Artsakh are in the top five of the countries with
most Christian population. According to the list presented by
christiancountries.com, 99.9% of the population of the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic is Christian. Armenia is fourth in the list with
98.7% of Christian population.

Christianity is the major religion on the Planet. About 2.1 billion
people (33 % of world population) are Christians. Nations started to
accept Christianity at different times and due to various reasons.

The website reminds that “Armenia was the first nation in the World
that accepted Christianity as state religion in 301 AD. Roman Empire
accepted Christianity in 313 AD, and Georgia was the third country.”

OPPOSITION LAWMAKER INQUIRES ABOUT GYUMRI MASSACRE SUSPECT (VIDEO)

18:55 | February 4,2015 | Politics

Opposition lawmaker Nikol Pashinyan today spoke about the marked
increase in ceasefire violations along the Line of Contact and the
subsequent legal processes.

Then he referred to the murder of the seven-member Avetisyan family
in Armenia’s Gyumri city, which was allegedly committed by Valeri
Permyakov, a soldier serving at Russian military base 102 stationed
in Gyumri. Pashinyan focused on Permyakov’s actions, including his
attempt to cross Armenia’s border with Turkey. The lawmaker stressed
that Permyakov is viewed as a trespasser in the criminal case.

“If a trespasser is arrested on the border, a protocol is drawn up
immediately and his things are confiscated as a rule. Then he is
handed over to the law enforcement authorities of the given country.

As you know Permyakov was transported to Russian 102nd military base.

He was not handed over to Armenian law enforcement agencies. Why don’t
our government agencies ensure the enforcement of law?” said Pashinyan.

Then he said that Armenian Prosecutor-General Gevorg Kostanyan has
already submitted a formal request to his Russian counterpart, Yury
Chayka, saying that the high-profile case should be transferred to
Armenian jurisdiction.

“Why should we ask them to transfer the case to Armenia? Investigative
authorities in Armenia have said repeatedly that they are conducting
the investigation. Our government should demand the handover of the
Russian soldier to Armenian custody,” said Pashinyan.

Minister of Justice Hovhannes Manukyan said relevant authorities have
already given explanations on the issue, and the government does not
consider it appropriate to report additional information on the matter
for several reasons.

“We are concerned about undue interventions into the investigation,
those including political speeches and statements. The government
reaffirms its commitment to finding a solution that will fair and
consistent with public perceptions,” said the minister.

Permyakov has been kept under arrest at the Gyumri-based Russian
military base ever since being arrested, for the murder of a
seven-member family in Gyumri – Seryozha Avetisyan, his wife Hasmik,
daughter Aida, son Armen, daughter-in-law Araksya, two-year-old
granddaughter Hasmik and 6-month-old baby boy Seryozha, who died of
his stab injuries a week later.

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT AMENDS TURNOVER TAX LAW AT FIRST READING

YEREVAN, February 4. /ARKA/. Armenia’s National Assembly passed
Wednesday the government-proposed amendments to the turnover tax law
at the first reading.

The law on turnover tax was revised last year lowering the turnover
tax for vendors with annual sales of up to 58 million drams ($125,000)
from 3.5 percent to 1 percent, but small business owners were to
provide tax authorities with documentary evidence of their wholesale
purchase deals with larger firms or face heavy fines.

The government argued the change was meant to crack down on tax
evasion by big business, but vendors say they cannot comply with this
requirement because their suppliers usually refuse to provide them
with receipts and invoices.

The revised law was to come into force in 2014 October but after a
series of demonstrations staged by vendors in September and October
the government was forced to postpone its enforcement until February 1.

After fresh protests this year Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan met
with protesters and reportedly agreed to postpone the enforcement of
the law until July 1.

Nongovernment parliament factions Prosperous Armenia, Heritage, Orinats
Yerkir and Armenian National Congress said they would abstain from
voting, since they are disagreed to the postponement until July 1,
but would not vote against it since this is still better than current
rules. Armen Rustamyan, head of Armenian Revolutionary Federation/
Dashnaktsutiun faction, said that its MPs will vote in favor of the
bill, since they are against the current rules.

The bill was passed by 75 votes for, one against it and 40
abstained. —0—–

FRENCH L’HISTOIRE MAGAZINE PRESENTS AN INTERACTIVE MAP OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

14:02, 04 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

The French l’Histoire magazine has presented an interactive map of
the Armenian Genocide.

The magazine also published series of extended articles titled
“Armenians: first genocide of the 20th century” in its February
edition.

KEY: RUSSIAN BASE IN ARMENIA

February 4, 2015 13:28
EXCLUSIVE

Photo:

Taking into account that after the killing of the Avetisyan family
in Gyumri on January 12 the interest to the Russian base in Armenia
does not decrease, Mediamax has decided to focus on this topic in
its next article for the “Key” section.

1. How, when and under what circumstances was the Russian 102nd
Military Base established in Armenia?

-The military base was established on September 1, 1994, on the basis
of the 127th Motor Rifle Division of the Transcaucasian Military
District. On March 16, 1995, Presidents of Russia and Armenia Boris
Yeltsin and Levon Ter-Petrosyan signed a treaty on the deployment of
Russian military base in Armenia for 25 years with automatic extension
for five years if none of the parties objected to it.

“On April 18, 1997, the treaty was ratified by the Russian State Duma
which overcame the resistance of the pro-Azeri lobby the mouthpiece for
which was Chairman of the Russian Duma’s Defense Committee, Lieutenant
General Lev Rokhlin. The MPs of the Armenian National Assembly did
not make themselves waiting and ratified the treaty a few days later”,
wrote former Ambassador of Russia to Armenia Vladimir Stupishin.

2. What changed after the Presidents of Armenia and Russia signed
Protocol No. 5 in 2010?

– Protocol No. 5 of the Armenian-Russian agreement of 1995, extending
the deployment of the Russian military base in Gyumri till 2044,
was signed during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s state visit to
Armenia in August, 2010. The validity term of the agreement was 25
years and the protocol extended the period for up to 49 years. Other
than that, by this Protocol the area of the base’s geographical and
strategic responsibility was also expanded. If the operation of the
base was previously limited to the external borders of former USSR,
then this restriction was withdrawn from the agreement text after
the Protocol was signed.

The Russian party undertook the commitment to jointly ensure Armenia’s
military security and provide support to equip the Armenian Armed
Forces with up-to-date arms.

3. How many servicemen serve in the military base and what armament
does it possess?

-The total number of the servicemen of the Russian 102nd Military
Base is around 5000. According to the information provided by military
sources, the base is armed with 74 tanks, 17 IFV, 148 APC, 84 artillery
systems, and S-300 and S-200 surface-to-air missile systems.

In 2012, the base received over 200 new and modern Perun, Grotto and
Breeze UAVs compatible with GLONASS and GPS navigation systems.

The means and forces of the Armenian and Russian air defense took
up the permanent and joint duty in 2001. 18 Russian MiG-29 based in
Erebuni Airport in Yerevan are on duty to protect and defend the air
frontiers within the United Air Defense System of the CIS countries.

4. Who pays for the base?

– Moscow rents the base free of charge. The base is partially contained
at the expense of the Armenian state budget.

5. What was the base engaged in, in 2014?

– Over 2014, more than 100 military squad and platoon firings, about
15 tactical exercises of various levels including those within a
formation have been held.

The main focus was on training and holding of joint exercises with
the Armenian Defense Ministry subdivisions and the first tactical
exercise within the whole military base involving aviation and air
defense forces.

Over 2014, about 3500 training sessions of small arms firing and
about 500 classes for combat vehicles were carried out. Over 2200
practical classes, about 1500 test and control exercises were held
at the trainings of driving of armored vehicles and military equipment.

Pilots of Erebuni Russian air base carried out over 500 flights. The
overall flying time made over 2000 hours.

6. What criminal incidents involving Russian military servicemen
have occurred?

– On April 14, 1999, two drunken Russian servicemen, armed with rifles,
came to Gyumri market and opened desultory fire. Two people were
killed and nine were wounded. Armenian and Russian judicial authorities
agreed that the trial be held in Armenia under the chairmanship of an
Armenian judge and in conformity with the Armenian legislation. Russian
soldiers were also supposed to endure their sentence in Armenia.

By the decision of the Gyumri Court, they were sentenced to
respectively 15 and 14 years in maximum security penal colony.

According to unofficial information, the criminals were transferred
to Russia and in total, spent 7-8 years in jail.

On July 11, 2003, there was exchange of fire at the Russian base.

Several young people tried to infiltrate into its territory and
met with the resistance of the soldier on duty. As a result of the
scuffle, fire weapon was applied. Gyumri residents Arthur Poghosyan
and Armen Aroyan were killed. Two other people were taken to hospital
with gunshot wounds. Following this incident, Commander of Base Major
General Alexander Titov was relieved from his post by the order of
the Defense Minister of Russia. The report of the Transcaucasian
Military District stated that Titov committed gross infringement of
the military discipline and “did not fulfill his duty of service”.

On April 7, 2013, A. Lazarian born in 2001 and M. Gevorgyan born in
1997 died in the territory of the tank range of the Russian base. The
children had stepped on a mine.

Early in the morning of January 12, 2015, six members of the Avetisyan
family were brutally killed in Gyumri. Six-month old Seryozha Avetisyan
who was taken to hospital with stab wounds died on January 19. The
principal defendant in the case is servicemen of the base Valery
Permyakov.

Aram Araratyan

– See more at:

OBAMA BUDGET CALLS FOR RECORD LOW LEVEL OF AID TO ARMENIA

10:45, 03 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

The Obama-Biden Administration budget released today calls for a yet
another reduction in U.S. economic assistance to both Armenia and
Azerbaijan, while maintaining parity in military aid to these two
countries, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

The President’s proposal of $18,360,000 in Economic Support Funds
for Armenia in Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 would, if approved by Congress,
represent a record low in such aid since Armenia’s independence. The
White House’s proposal for Armenia is over $2 million less than FY
2014’s actual economic aid allocation, and less than half of the $40
million requested in a Congressional Armenian Caucus letter and ANCA
Congressional testimony submitted last year.

“The White House must match its relentless reductions in aid to
Armenia with an equally energetic effort to substantially increase
bilateral trade and investment between our two nations,” stated ANCA
Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “It’s not too late for President
Obama, who came into office promising to grow U.S.-Armenia economic
relations, to negotiate a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement,
put in place a badly-needed new Tax Treaty, and organize targeted
trade missions promoting cooperation in IT, health care, education,
tourism and other key sectors of Armenia’s economy.”

The White House’s proposal did, however, maintain parity in terms of
appropriated military aid, with International Military Education and
Training (IMET) assistance set at $600,000 and Foreign Military Finance
(FMF) at $1,700,000. “While we remain deeply troubled that the Obama
Administration – in the wake yet another wave of fatal cross-border
Azerbaijani aggression – would propose any military aid at all to
Ilham Aliyev’s armed forces, we do appreciate that, in this context,
the principle of military aid parity has been maintained to both
Armenia and Azerbaijan,” added Hamparian.

The Administration’s budget does not include any figures for aid to
Nagorno Karabakh, although, over the past several years USAID has
allocated $2,000,000 annually for this purpose.

In the coming months, the ANCA will be working with the Congressional
Armenian Caucus and Senate and House Appropriators to increase
assistance to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh and zero-out all military
assistance to Azerbaijan. “We urge Congress, during their consideration
of the foreign aid bill, to increase aid to Armenia and Artsakh,
cut all military aid to Azerbaijan, and support our other foreign
aid policy priorities,” noted Hamparian.

Economic Support FundForeign Military FinancingInt’l
Military Education & TrainingInt’l Narcotics Control & Law
Enforcement Armenia$18,360,000$1,700,000$600,000$1,700,000
Azerbaijan$7,978,000$1,700,000$600,000$800,000 Georgia:$50,552,000$
0$2,200,000$3,500,000

AZERBAIJAN LAUNCHES LARGE-SCALE MILITARY DRILLS

15:37, 03 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Azerbaijani armed forces have launched large-scale operational and
tactical exercises attended by all types of troops on February 2,
the country’s Defense Ministry said.

Nearly 15,000 personnel, up to 300 armored vehicles, as well as over
200 means of missile and artillery troops and about 20 aircrafts of
the air forces, air defense units and sophisticated anti-aircraft
missile complexes are involved in the exercises.

About 5,000 reservists and 300 automotive vehicles are also engaged
in the exercises to check the implementation level of the mobilization
tasks of the formations and units during the exercises.

POGROMS DE BAKOU : 25 ANS APRÈS, LE SANG ARMENIEN CONTINUE DE SE VERSER

ARMENIE

L’un des points de depart du conflit armeno-azerbaïdjanais qui s’etend
sur plus de deux decennies est considere comme les pogroms dans la
capitale de l’Azerbaïdjan, Bakou, qui ont eu lieu il y a 25 ans. Les
blessures de ces pogroms ont ete approfondis au cours des annees par
la tension des conflits et l’instabilite de la frontière qui sont si
courantes de nos jours.

Il y a un quart de siècle, du 13 au 19 janvier 1990, la capitale de
l’Azerbaïdjan, Bakou s’etait transformee en une scène de crime, au
cours de laquelle, sur differentes evaluations, les Azerbaïdjanais
ont tue de 120 a 300 Armeniens, des dizaines de milliers ont ete
violees et deplacees de leurs maisons (en 1988, de 470000 a 480000
Armeniens vivaient en Azerbaïdjan, parmi eux -. 260000 a 270000 a
Bakou. En Janvier 1990, les 25000 a 30000 Armeniens qui restaient a
Bakou ont ete deplaces).

Du 27 au 29 fevrier 1988 un autre massacre et des deportations ont
eu lieu dans la ville de Soumgaït, a 30 km de Bakou, où, selon les
donnees officielles de l’URSS, plusieurs dizaines, et sur des donnees
non officielles, plus de mille Armeniens ont ete tues.

Il est devenu possible d’arreter les massacres de Bakou que le 19
Janvier lorsque l’URSS, dans son lit de mort, a envoye ses troupes
dans la ville, cependant, de nombreux experts armeniens suggèrent
que la propagande azerbaïdjanaise a cache les raisons reelles de ce
fait et cree un autre mythe pretendant que, par suite de l’entree
des troupes dans la ville azerbaïdjanais
pour resoudre de nombreux problèmes dans l’arène internationale.

L’Azerbaïdjan a constamment rappele ces dates “speciales” par une
tension croissante a la frontière. Cependant, au cours des dernières
annees, ces > sont devenus une realite quotidienne, avec
des tentatives de sabotage le long de la frontière et des tirs diriges
contre les civils qui sont devenus monnaie courante.

Après la micro-guerre de l’annee dernière, deja au debut de cet
annee le Haut-Karabakh a perdu quatre de ses militaires quand
l’Azerbaïdjan a viole le regime de cessez-le feu. Un autre militaire
armenien a ete tue par les forces azerbaïdjanaises sur la frontière
armeno-azerbaïdjanais. Un autre civil a egalement ete tue par des
commandos azerbaïdjanaises qui ont tente de s’infiltrer dans le
territoire sous contrôle armenien.

Selon l’analyste politique Hrant Melik-Chahnazarian, bien que la
tension a la frontière ait des raisons diverses, il y a trois causes
principales, la première etant le centenaire du genocide armenien
marque le 24 Avril de cette annee.

BELGIAN “LE VIF” MAGAZINE ABOUT THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

13:57, 03 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

On January 30, Belgian “Le Vif” magazine published an interview with
former Rector of the Catholic University of Louvain, Professor of
Oriental Studies Institute Bernard Coulie, where he speaks about the
Armenian Genocide, presenting its history, process of international
recognition and scheduled events in the framework of the 100th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

FITCH OUTLOOK ON ARMENIA SIGNALS TWO SCENARIOS – ECONOMIST

20:42 * 03.02.15

The downgrading of Armenia’s long-term foreign and local currency
Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) by Fitch prompts two possible scenarios,
an economist has said, warning of imminent risks.

Speaking to Tert.am, Artak Manukyan said he expects the outlook to
cause a surge in the prices of loans issued to the country.

“European and American financial organizations will give Armenia loans
at a more expensive price, but one agency’s evaluation alone is not
the end of the story. One doesn’t have to be a great fortune-teller
to see that other agencies too, will revise the rate,” he explained.

The second problem, the economist said, is that Armenia will become
less attractive to foreign investors.

“This is an indirect signal to the importers that making investments
in Armenia has become risky. So investors will adopt a more cautious
approach to Armenia, reducing the investments, which are low as it is,”
he noted.