Author: Babajanian Karo

ARMENIA EXPORTS NEARLY 17, 000 TONS OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES IN 2011

/ARKA/
MARCH 28, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, March 28. /ARKA/. Armenia exported nearly 17,000 tons of fruit
and vegetables in 2011 against 12.5 thousand tons from a year earlier,
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Robert Makaryan said on Wednesday.

“And as of March 24, 2012, the country has already exported 951 tons
of fresh fruits and vegetables against 813 tons from the analogical
period a year earlier,” he added.

Makaryan said that processing enterprises purchased 194,000 tons of
vegetables, fruit and grape in 2011 against 168,000 tons in 2010.

Average purchase price per 1 kg of grape totaled 131.9 drams in 2011
( 124.4 drams in 2010).

“This year we will undertake measures to raise the purchase price.

This is an important task for us, as we prioritize farms’ income
increase,” Makaryan said. ($1 – 389.22 drams).

EU-FUNDED BUSINESS ADVISORY SERVICES EXPANDS THE NUMBER OF INTERNATIONALLY CERTIFIED BUSINESS CONSULTANTS IN ARMENIA

ARMRADIO.AM
28.03.2012 15:01

A ~@5 million contribution from the European Union is helping the
EBRD’s Business Advisory Services (BAS) to deliver business advice and
consultancy services to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and
contribute to the development of sustainable local consultancy markets
in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The
EBRD’s BAS, launched in 1995, conducts activities to disseminate
international best practices in all its countries of operations.

In a continuing effort to contribute to the development of a
sustainable infrastructure of local business advisory services, to
transfer international best practices to local consultants, and as
part of the train-the-trainers principle, BAS in Armenia is improving
consulting performance through tailor-made courses on Core Consultancy
Skills and Professional Ethics delivered to consultants. Starting
from 28 March, one such course will train 23 Armenian consultants
in Yerevan.

The Core Consultancy Skills and Professional Ethics course is
an opportunity for the Armenian consulting industry to develop
a sustainable market for management consulting and to take it
to a higher level by introducing international certification of
business/management consultants.

This initiative is a follow-up of previous training course implemented
in early 2011 for business consultants from the three countries of
the South Caucasus in Tbilisi, Georgia. Following last year’s course,
six Armenian business consultants have successfully obtained the
Certificate of Management Consultants Essentials qualification of the
Institute of Consultants of UK, and three of them have later become
Certified Management Consultants.

At the end of 2011, under leadership of the participants of the course,
and encouraged by BAS Armenia, the Institute of Management Consulting
Armenia was established. The Institute aims to set the standards for
Business/Management Consulting practice in Armenia and to promote
international best practices and knowledge sharing.

Now IMC Armenia in cooperation with the UK consultants, as well
as with active support from BAS Armenia, will further develop the
training infrastructure by rolling-out the training course to other
Armenian business consultants. The first round of training will be
held on 28-31 March.

BAKU, EU DISAGREE ON REASONS FOR BOYCOTTING FORUM IN ARMENIA

epress.am
03.28.2012

Azerbaijan considers participating in the Eastern Partnership youth
forum held in Yerevan unacceptable.

Armenia has repeatedly been invited to the international youth
activities held in Azerbaijan, but despite the fact that full guarantee
of safety was ensured, it refused to participate in them, spokesperson
for Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Youth and Sport Samaya Mammadova told
the Baku-based Trend news agency on Tuesday.

“Armenia was invited to a meeting of the Council for the Youth of the
CIS member states, as well as a meeting of Sports Ministers of the
Council of Europe, which were held recently in Baku. It was given a
complete guarantee of safety. However, the Armenian side refused to
participate in these events. Armenia has also refused to participate
in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held in Baku in
May,” she said.

Armenia, repeatedly citing as a reason security concerns, refused to
participate in various events held in Azerbaijan, she said. “But it
should be noted that during the world wrestling championship, which
took place in Baku, security was provided for Armenian athletes at
a high level,” said Mammadova.

Given all this, Azerbaijan considers it unacceptable to participate in
the youth conference under the Eastern Partnership, held in Yerevan,
said the spokesperson.

According to head of EU delegation to Armenia Traian Hristea, however,
the reason Azerbaijan won’t be participating in the youth event is
because it is celebrating the new year holiday of Nowruz.

The Eastern Partnership Youth Forum is held in Yerevan from Mar. 26-28
within the framework of the Eastern Partnership’s Platform 4 “Contacts
Between People”. The youth event aims to promote dialogue and exchange
of practices with the Eastern partners (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus,
Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) in relation to strategies on youth
participation.

FILMMAKER VOWS TO DISMANTLE MASHTOTS PARK STORES – PAPER

PanARMENIAN.Net
March 28, 2012 – 11:30 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Film director Tigran Khzmalyan, Karabakh war veteran
Zhirayr Sefilyan, political scientist Manvel Sargsyan and human rights
activist Stepan Danielyan are among those who decided to take the
stores in Mashtots Park to pieces with their own hands.

According to Haykakan Zhamanak daily, the decision was taken as
implementation of the civil court ruling established by environmental
activists.

The group includes other members as well.

EDUCATION MINISTRY’S ACTIVITIES WERE INSUFFICIENT FOR PREVENTION OF CORRUPTION – ARMENIAN OMBUDSMAN

news.am
March 27, 2012 | 11:35

YEREVAN. – Armenian Ombudsman Karen Andreasyan has issued an evaluation
of the Ministry of Education and Science activities for 2011.

The assessment is as follows:

Shortcomings and problems identified

The Ministry failed to take measures in time to establish
clear legal basis for organization of competition of textbooks for
comprehensive schools.

In the result of not submitting published textbooks to necessary
examination, in some cases there were editorial, spelling and printing
errors in them and as a result pupils’ right to proper education
was violated.

Though, each year the RA State Budget foresees financial means for
assurance of heating system in educational institutions, however the
problem of heating provision during winter months in many schools
remain unsolved, as a result of which absence of children, who are
concerned about their health and do not attend classes, is considered
as unexcused. In particular, the schools (mainly in villages), where
number of pupils is few (schools are funded based on the number of
pupils), are not provided with necessary laboratory equipments and
materials. Schools in villages were not provided with food delivery
services.

Though, the Ministry has constantly taken measures for elimination
of corruption in educational institutions, however, they were not
sufficient for prevention and elimination of cases of money collection
in schools and corruption in the sphere of education.

The Ministry of Education and Science provided about 365 million AMD
to same 7 NGOs. The 38% of the whole amount was given to “Support
to Classical Music” NGO, activities of which are mainly related
to cultural issues. According to the Ministry, these organizations
carried out educational work envisaged by the application.

As a result of lack of control carried out by the Ministry, in some
cases relatives and friends of school directors, who not only did not
teach, but also did not attend schools were included in school staff
lists, in the result of which extra money has been spent from the
state budget. Despite of all these, in the applications addressed
to the RA State Inspectorate of Education, only 12 cases of money
collecting and 11 cases of corruption have been reported during 2011;
any confirming results in the course of examination of these cases
were not registered.

According to our sources Appliance Formulation has been terminated
in Universities, though it has not been terminated by any legal act,
and according to the Ministry it is operating and is regulated by
appropriate legal acts.

The Ministry should present to the Staff of the RA President and
National Security Council Staff for opinion (according to the RA
President corresponding order) Government draft decisions on granting
a delay from compulsory military service recruitment up to the end of
education as draft legal acts concerning security issues. The mentioned
Government draft decisions were not coordinated with National Security
Council Staff and in some cases were not presented to the Staff of
the RA President.

In the result of the slow process of providing general inclusive
education, the right of equal access to education of children with
mental problems continued being violated.

The Ministry failed to take appropriate measures especially
in regions to raise awareness about its hotline (the Ministry’s
“Hotline” received 138 calls, 114 of which relating to Yerevan,
and 24- relating to regional schools; total number of applications,
complaints and recommendations received from citizens is 4632).

Positive Developments

List of inclusive education schools has increased by 15, thus becoming
81 in total in the Republic.

Implementation of the pilot program for organization of general
inclusive education has been launched in Tavush region- according
to the RA Government decision -with an aim of improving education of
children with special educational needs.

The Ministry carried out several programs addressing improvement of
the quality of education; trainings for teachers and school directors,
renovation of buildings, re-equipments, etc.

“Chess” course was included in the 2nd grade schools’ curriculum
beginning from 2011-2012 academic year.

“Healthy Lifestyle” course for 10-11 grades has been developed and
approved.

“Trafficking” theme has been included in the “Social Sciences”
subject for senior classes in comprehensive schools.

LA LIBERTE D’EXPRESSION OBTIENT GAIN DE CAUSE EN FRANCE. A QUAND LE TOUR DE LA TURQUIE ?
Stephane

armenews.com
mardi 27 mars 2012

Reporters sans frontières salue la decision du Conseil constitutionnel,
qui a declare le 28 fevrier 2012 que ” la loi visant a reprimer la
contestation de l’existence des genocides reconnus par la loi est
contraire a la Constitution “.

” Nous sommes satisfaits que le principe de la liberte d’expression
n’ait pas ete sacrifie au nom d’une cause, si juste soit-elle. La
dangereuse brèche ouverte par cette loi est pour l’instant refermee,
mais elle a deja cause du tort a la credibilite des valeurs
democratiques defendues par la France, ainsi qu’aux defenseurs des
droits de l’homme et de la cause armenienne en Turquie. Nous appelons
l’ensemble de la classe politique francaise a renoncer a toute idee
d’y revenir. Ce precedent doit l’inciter a ecarter definitivement ses
velleites d’etablir une histoire officielle par des lois memorielles
“, a declare l’organisation.

” Les autorites turques sont desormais face a leurs responsabilites.

Durant de longues semaines, elles ont condamne, au nom de la liberte
d’expression, l’ingerence des legislateurs francais sur le terrain de
l’histoire. A elles desormais de prouver que ces discours n’etaient
pas de circonstance, en permettant aux citoyens turcs de mentionner
l’existence du genocide armenien sans craindre de se retrouver devant
les tribunaux. Le minimum de coherence voudrait qu’elles depenalisent
immediatement l’insulte a la nation turque (art. 301 du code penal) ou
a la memoire de Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (loi n°5816 du 25 juillet 1951).

”

” Cette decision n’exonère pas la Turquie de regarder enfin son
histoire en face, bien au contraire. Privee du pretexte de la ‘main
de l’etranger’, Ankara doit imperativement lever la chape de plomb
de l’histoire officielle de la Republique turque, ouvrir un debat en
profondeur sur le sort des minorites nationales, et mettre fin a la
criminalisation croissante de l’activite journalistique “, a conclu
Reporters sans frontières.

Le 25 janvier 2012, l’organisation avait ecrit aux parlementaires
pour leur demander de saisir le Conseil constitutionnel afin qu’il
examine la conformite du texte avec la loi supreme. L’incitation ”
a la discrimination, a la haine ou a la violence ” reste punie par
l’article 24 de la loi sur la liberte de la presse du 29 juillet 1881.

ANALYSE DES AFFICHES DE LA COMMEMORATION DE KHOJALY A ISTANBUL
Stephane

armenews.com
mardi 27 mars 2012

Le journaliste Hasan KANBOLAT a publie dans le journal Zaman une
analyse concernant les commemorations qui ont eu lieu concernant
le massacre de Khojaly a Istanbul. ” Deux commemorations notables
se sont tenues, l’une dans la capitale azerie de Bakou et l’autre a
Istanbul ” a explique le journaliste qui affirme que 60000 personnes
ont manifeste a Bakou.

” Quelques-unes des affiches et des panneaux vues a Bakou affirmaient
la chose suivante : ” Justice pour Khojaly ” ; ” arretez l’Armenie
” ; ” Unutmadik, Unutturmuyoruz ” (Nous n’avons pas oublie, nous ne
permettrons pas que cela soit oublie) ; ” Hocali Medeniyete Karsi
Cinayettir ” (les meurtres de Khojaly ont vise la civilisation) ; ”
Dunya Birligi susuyor, artik susmayacagiz ” (le monde reste silencieux,
mais nous ne resterons plus silencieux). Quant a quelques-unes des
affiches et panneaux vus le 26 fevrier a Istanbul affirmaient la
chose suivante : ” Hocali Soykirimi Sozun Bittigi Yer ” (le genocide
de Khojaly, où les mots n’ont plus de sens) ; ” Katliami Sorgula,
Hocaliyi Unutma ” (Examine le massacre, n’oubliez pas Khojaly) ;
” nous n’oublierons pas Khojaly ” ; ” Hepimiz Hocaliyiz ” (Nous
sommes tous de Khojaly) ; ” Bizim Kerbelamiz Hocalidir ” (Khojaly
est notre Karbala) ; ” Hocali Soykirimi BM Bunu Kaboul Etmelidir ”
(Khojaly est un genocide, l’ONU doit accepter cela) ; ” Isgalcisiniz,
Katilsiniz, Hepiniz Ermenisiniz ” (Vous etes des envahisseurs, vous
etes des meurtriers, vous etes tous des armeniens) ; ” Hepimiz Turkuz,
Hepimiz ” (Nous sommes tous Turcs, tous ceux d’entre nous)…

A Bakou, il y avait beaucoup moins de variation dans les affiches
et les panneaux de meme que moins de rapeaux azeris et turcs. Il n’y
avait aucun racisme evident dans les affiches et les panneaux et les
cibles des slogans n’etaient pas les armeniens eux-memes, mais plutôt
l’Armenie. Il y avait une accentuation evidente du genocide reel de
Khojaly lui-meme. Quant au rassemblement d’Istanbul, il y avait la
une variation enorme dans les affiches et les panneaux et beaucoup
plus de drapeaux Turcs et Azeris. Il y avait aussi quelques Kazakhs,
Kyrgyz, Turkmen, et des Turcs irakiens. Il y avaitune notable ”
Turkculuk ” ou l’influence ” pan-turque “, comme le demontraient les
affiches visant les armeniens, aussi bien que malheureusement visant
le journaliste armenien assassine Hrant Dink.

Ceux qui ont prepare les manifestations de Bakou et d’Istanbul sont
des deputes et analystes azeris. Le rassemblement d’Istanbul a montre
la vraie capacite de Bakou d’influencer la Turquie. Quand j’ai parle
avec des participants a Bakou, ils ont dit qu’ils avaient ete gene
par les affiches racistes a Istanbul et le fait que les messages sont
alles au-dela du sujet de ce qui est arrive a Khojaly. Après tout,
le but original avait ete simplement de se rappeler ce qui est arrive
a Khojaly, de ne pas employer l’occasion comme une chance pour le
racisme. Malheureusement, Khojaly represente une nouvelle sorte de
polarisation pour la Turquie. Et tandis que beaucoup emploient les
evenements de Khojaly pour rendre des comptes sur d’autres, les gens
ont vraiment besoin de s’asseoir et de penser. Nous avons besoin
d’apprendre comment commemorer les douleurs d’une facon unie “.

TRULY MAD MEN: HITLER SELLS SHAMPOO IN TURKISH TV AD – VIDEO

DBKP – Death By 1000 Papercuts

March 26 2012

Turkey, the member of NATO with the Hitler fetish who won’t apologize
for the 1915 Armenian Genocide, the killing of 1.5 Armenians.

A recently released 12-second shampoo ad featuring old footage of
Hitler was immediately met with outraged calls, outside of Turkey,
for the ad to be pulled. So far, the ad agency has refused to pull
the ad which leads to, are there no rules on what kind of ads can be
aired on Turkish TV?

Try airing an ad for PoKoBu, the Portable Koran Burner, a fictitious
product we made up to prove a point.

What Hitler said:

“If you’re not wearing women’s clothes, you shouldn’t be using women’s
shampoo either. Here it is. A real? man’s shampoo. Biomen.

Real men use Biomen.”

Link to more info on the 1915 Armenian Genocide, the deaths, part of
‘war’, the claim of the Turkish government, or, systematic, horrific
ethnic cleansing perpetrated in part, by Turkish “butcher battalions”?

ERDOGAN RAISES KARABAKH ISSUE AT TALKS WITH OBAMA

Armenialiberty.org

March 26 2012

The Turkish prime minister offered his nation’s mediation in settling
the protracted Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh
as he held talks with the U.S. leader ahead of the South Korea-hosted
Nuclear Security Summit last weekend.

The meeting between United States President Barack Obama and Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that took place in Seoul on
Sunday reportedly focused on the current situation in Syria, but
also addressed some other regional concerns, including the dispute
in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Turkish newspapers quoted Erdogan as saying that while meeting with
Obama he raised the Karabakh issue, suggesting that while Ankara
was ready to try to boost negotiations by working with Azerbaijan,
it expected the three main mediating powers, including the United
States, to “step up pressure” on Armenia.

According to the newspaper Haberturk, the Turkish leader also said
that during the meeting he raised the issue of the efficiency of the
mediating work being conducted by the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group, the main format co-headed
by the United States, Russia and France that spearheads international
efforts on brokering a solution to the long-running conflict. Erdogan,
in particular, is quoted as saying that the group has been unable to
find a way of settling the conflict for two decades now.

The White House did not immediately report on Obama’s discussion of
Karabakh with Erdogan.

The remarks by Erdogan made ahead of the summit that was also to be
attended by Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian came shortly after
the three mediating powers reiterated their call for a quick peaceful
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe issued a joint
statement last week on the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the
OSCE Minsk Group, stressing that “any delay in reaching a settlement
will only prolong the hardships” that the peoples of the region have
suffered. They also reiterated the mediating powers’ strong opposition
to possible attempts by either warring side to resolve the conflict
by force, saying that it “would bring only more suffering to a region
that has known uncertainty and insecurity for too long.”

Meanwhile, the Armenian president’s press office on Monday released
Sarkisian’s message to the mediating powers’ leaders on the 20th
anniversary of the OSCE Minsk Group’s establishment, in which he
underscores the “tremendous work” that has been done by the group’s
co-chairs in “bringing the parties’ positions closer together,
developing the basic principles of settlement, relieving tensions
and maintaining peace [in the conflict area]”.

Sarkisian also assured the leaders of the United States, Russia and
France of Armenia’s interest in finding a solution to the Karabakh
conflict and its commitment to having a continued “positive and
constructive” involvement in the Minsk Group-mediated peace process.

SHERMAN PRESSES USAID TO TARGET US ASSISTANCE TO JAVAKHK

asbarez
Monday, March 26th, 2012

Rep. Brand Sherman

USAID Director Rajiv Shah highlights agency’s efforts to launch
public-private partnerships with Armenian American community in
support of Javakhk

WASHINGTON- Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) emphasized the importance
of expanding U.S. assistance to the Republic of Georgia’s
Armenian-populated region of Samtskhe-Javakheti (Javakhk) during
a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing with US Agency for
International Development Administrator Rajiv Shah on the Agency’s
Fiscal Year 2013 budget, reported the Armenian National Committee
of America.

In his question to USAID Director Shah, Rep. Sherman outlined the
difficult economic conditions facing many of the regions in the
Republic of Georgia, and his efforts, in conjunction with the Armenian
American community, to focus targeted assistance to the population
in Javakhk.

USAID Director Shah noted that “On Georgia, and specifically the
Samtskhe-Javakheti region, that you were referring to, we have
been working with specific programs that deal with agricultural
modernization, social development, maternal health and certain health
and infrastructure efforts as well as support for civil society
groups. We have increasingly tried to do that work in consultation
with Armenian American communities and with an eye toward launching
specific public-private partnerships with those communities.”

In September of 2011, ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian and Communications
Director Elizabeth Chouldjian travelled to Javakhk and Tbilisi,
Georgia, and held a series of meetings with local non-government
organization leaders as well as high-level meetings with Georgian
government officials, to identify ways to address the concerns of
the Armenian population in the Javakhk.

That dialogue continued in Washington, DC, in January of this year,
when Hachikian met with Georgian Ambassador to the U.S. Temuri
Yakobashvili to explore ways to expand the Georgian-Armenian
partnership to include broader direct Georgian and Armenian investments
and also increased U.S. assistance to promote job-creation in the
region. Following the meeting, Ambassador Yakobashvili had noted
that “The Embassy of Georgia – in support of our government’s
material commitment to economic development for our citizens in
the Samtskhe-Javakheti region and throughout all of our Republic –
looks forward to working with our friends in the U.S. Congress
and the Administration and with all American civil society
stakeholders – including, of course, with the Armenian American
community – in encouraging the targeting of U.S. assistance to meet
Samtskhe-Javakheti’s urgent job-creation, infrastructure, technical,
and humanitarian needs.”

The ANCA has worked closely with Rep. Sherman, Rep. Adam Schiff
(D-CA) and other House members as well as USAID representatives to
raise awareness about the challenges facing the population of Javakhk
and identify avenues for the U.S. government to partner with the
Armenian Diaspora.

Last week, Rep. Sherman was among over 30 House members who cosigned
a Congressional letter spearheaded by Congressional Armenian Caucus
Co-Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and addressed to House Appropriations
Subcommittee on Foreign Operations Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-TX)
and Ranking Democrat Nita Lowey (D-NY) urging 10% of U.S. assistance
to Georgia in FY2013 to be targeted toward job creation efforts
in Javakhk.