Author: Badalian Vardan

TENNIS REQUIRES LARGE INVESTMENTS – ARMENIAN COACH
By Khachik Chakhoyan

news.am
February 15, 2012 | 15:59

YEREVAN. – Armenian tennis players have long and difficult trainings,
however, the athletes should participate at least in two-three
international tournaments to gain experience, chief coach of men’s
tennis team Vahe Avetisyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

In response to the question whether tennis is popular in Armenia and
how the chief coach assesses development of the sport in the state,
Avetisyan said that preparation of tennis players is gained through
long and hard trainings in Armenia. However, to register a success
investments are necessary.

Currently there are experts who can train the athletes for
international tournaments in investments are made. A total of
$30-40,000 is required annually for a junior tennis player to train and
participate in tournaments, while the amount triples for the adults.

Avetisyan said Danil Proskura, who is the leader of the team, as well
as Khachatur Khachatryan, Ashot Gevorgyan and Torgom Asatryan will
represent Armenia at the Davis Cup. The Armenian team will participate
in the tournament held in Bulgaria.

J. HEFFERN: “ARMENIA AND THE USA HAVE POTENTIAL TO DEVELOP ECONOMICAL RELATIONS”

15.02.12, 14:12

Today a five-year program financed by United State Aid International
Development (USAID) started officially in Armenia. The program is
named “Enterprise Development and market competition”. US Ambassador
to Armenia John Heffern attended the event. As he noted in his speech
the USA had serious aims to work with Armenia.

According to him the US mission in Armenia has three main directions:
regional programs, elections and the economy.

“Armenia and the USA have good potential to develop the relations, but
today the volume of trade between Armenia and the USA is really small.

Even with close border Armenia has bigger trade volume with Turkey
that it has with the USA”, the Ambassador said ensuring that Armenia
and the USA may do more in trade-economical sphere.

So, according to him the situation must be changed. As he noted every
time with the meeting of Armenian Ministry of Economy they underline
the importance of foreign investments. US official also rated the
existence of the economical competition in Armenia.

J. Heffern underlined that there were some positive points as
Armenia has improved its place with 6 points according to the Doing
Business 2012 list by the World Bank. Now Armenia is the 55th among
183 countries. “This is not an excellent index but the progress in
obvious”, the Ambassador said.

Note that the “Enterprise Development and market competition” program
by the USAID will be fulfilled jointly by the Armenian Ministry of
Economics and Pragma Corporation. The project aims to create better
conditions for Armenian middle business, assist market competition
and push the innovations.

ARMENIAN PEOPLE MUST DECIDE WHICH ELECTORAL SYSTEM THEY WANT – RULING COALITION PARTY MP

news.am
February 15, 2012 | 13:37

YEREVAN. – The need to discuss electoral systems could not have
been raised in stable, democratic countries, the ruling coalition’s
Prosperous Armenia Party MP Naira Zohrabyan said during the National
Assembly hearings devoted to passing to a 100-percent proportional
election system in the country.

“The European colleagues therefore react with surprise when we
raise such issue,” Zohrabyan noted and added: “After all, both the
proportional and the majority election systems have plus points;
what’s important is to hold fair and transparent elections.”

As per the MP, it is easier to commit voting fraud with the majority
system. “The people must be asked to find out which electoral system
they want the elections to be held with,” Naira Zohrabyan stated.

NO WINNERS IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT – NATO REP

Tert.am
14.02.12

There can be no winners in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Mr James
Appathurai, NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the
Caucasus and Central Asia, stated in an interview with Armenia’s
Public TV.

He noted that the OSCE Minsk Group is the only format to deal with
the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. The 28 NATO member-states are
supportive of the OSCE Minsk Group processes.

The NATO members are unanimous that there cannot be winners in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Appathurai said.

All the sides will suffer political, military and economic losses.

Negotiations are the only way to progress, he added.

Mr Appathurai recalled his recent meeting with President of Azerbaijan
Ilham Aliyev, who re-affirmed his readiness to settle the conflict
through negotiations. President Aliyev did not propose any format
rather than the OSCE Minsk Group.

With respect to the possibility of the South Caucasus states joining
NATO, Mr Appathurai said that the NATO members made a decision on
Georgia in Bucharest. Georgia will joint NATO. However, neither Armenia
nor Azerbaijan shows interest. NATO is not looking for new members,
nor does it object to admitting new states, Appathurai said.

The Armenia-NATO Individual Partnership Program is evidence of the
cooperating parties’ intentions. A final version of the program has
been approved, and relevant work is in progress, Appathurai said.

RAGIP ZARAKOLU NOMME POUR LE PRIX NOBEL DE LA PAIX
Stephane

armenews
mardi 14 fevrier 2012

Plusieurs deputes Suedois se sont adresses au Comite Nobel de la
Paix avec la proposition de donner le Prix Nobel de la Paix 2012 au
celèbre defenseur des droits de l’homme Ragip Zarakolu.

Le site Evrensel a indique que les deputes suedois ont mentionne
dans leur proposition que Zarakolu publie des livres sur le Genocide
armenien et la question Kurde qui sont des tabous en Turquie. Il a
ete condamne pour cela plusieurs fois.

Il y a un mois ragip Zarakolu a envoye une lettre au Parlement Turc
appelant les deputes turcs a reconnaître le Genocide armenien.

” Oui, la Turquie doit faire face a son histoire. Ce n’est pas
seulement une obligation envers les victimes, mais aussi un devoir pour
la garantie du sain esprit de societe. La reconnaissance du genocide ne
diminuera pas la Turquie, mais la renforcera ” a ecrit Ragip Zarakolu.

SEE YOU NEXT YEAR IN REUNIFIED ARMENIA
By Appo Jabarian

February 2, 2012

During the 2011 holiday season, I took the liberty to e-present to
certain friends a new kind of New Year wish – “See You Next Year in
Reunified Armenia!” Many of them wrote back, “I wish you the same,
my dear friend!!!”

I presented that wish also in person to many other friends and
relatives.

Some of them were very happy to hear. Others were flabbergasted. And
some others were shaken, saying, “Isn’t it too challenging to even
think about such an idea?” My response was, “Our quest for justice
transcends all barriers.” Still others said, “Shouldn’t we be careful
not to stretch our freedom over the limit?”

I answered, “So, what happened to our freedom of thought and
expression; and our right to dream and to pursue them?”

Armenians, the victims of the 1st genocide, deportations and
dispossessions of the 20th century, have come a long way. But they
must remember that they still have “miles to go, promises to keep,”
in order to avenge one of the greatest injustices of the 20th century.

Armenian along with Greeks, Assyrians, Alevis, Kurds, Arabs, Jews,
and more recently Cypriots were subjected to a host of calamities:

– Nearly the entire Armenian nation was wiped out in 1915-1923 by
Turkey through systematic and large-scale ethnic cleansing;

– They have lost their ancestral homelands in Western Armenia and
Cilicia;

– Thousands of families lost their real and personal properties;

– Unlike several Middle Eastern and European countries that received
independence from Ottoman Turkish occupation, Armenians, Kurds,
Assyrians, and Greeks of Pontus, Smyrna and Constantinople were
denied such rights to sovereignty and their national aspirations were
undermined by the neo-Cons of the time.

To the credit of these victim-nations, nearly all of them rebuilt
their lives. And now, they can create new possibilities by further
co-operating and helping one another achieve their respective national
objectives.

Back in early 1980’s who could have anticipated that Soviet Armenia
(Eastern Armenia) and several other then Soviet-occupied nations
would achieve independence?

Who could have foreseen crumbling down of the Berlin wall?

Historic opportunities may come. But are we ready to regain what we
have lost?

For now, Armenians have double tasks: 1) Assisting the twin Armenian
states -Republic of Armenia and Republic of Artsakh consolidate
their social, economic, and political positions; and 2) They have
the imperative of better organizing their Diaspora.

Are we up to the challenge?

We have no other alternatives. If not now, when? If not us, who?

Best wishes for a healthy and prosperous 2012 and a Merry Armenian
Christmas. Cheers! Genatsut! (To your life!) And yes, see you next
year in reunified Armenia!

MAYOR OF YEREVAN GIVES INSTRUCTIONS TO CLEAR SNOW FROM PAVEMENTS

Panorama.am
13/02/2012

At a consultation, Mayor of Yerevan Taron Margaryan positively assessed
the work of administrative districts’ departments responsible for
snow removal, the press service of Yerevan Mayor’s Office said.

Taron Margaryan noted that all measures were taken to keep the
situation under control and to ensure uninterrupted traffic movement,
with the constant snowfall, nevertheless, there is still much to do.

The Mayor of Yerevan instructed heads of administrative districts
to coordinate their efforts to clear snow and ice from pavements
and yards.

The Mayor thanked the construction companies and private sector
representatives for their assistance in snow removal as well as
for their readiness to continue their assistance in the future if
necessary.

ARMENIE : L’ECOLOGIE POURRA-T-ELLE RESISTER FACE AU PROFIT ?

Affaires strategiques

13 fev 2012

13 fevrier Chaque annee en Armenie, quelque 5000 touristes se rendent
dans la station thermale de Jermuk, pour profiter de ses spas a ciel
ouvert et de son eau minerale. Mais a une dizaine de kilomètres
de la se trouve la montagne d’Amulsar, qui regorge de ressources
aurifères, dont le gouvernement a autorise l’extraction. Celle-ci
devrait debuter en 2014. Une decision contestee par les ecologistes,
mais aussi par certains economistes, pour qui ce tourisme represente
une force incontestable pour le developpement economique du pays.

Conscient de ce potentiel, le gouvernement a devoile il y a quatre
ans un projet d’expansion du tourisme dans la region de Jermuk, qui
pourrait a terme generer près de 100 millions de recettes fiscales
annuelles. Pour le ministre de l’Economie, le plan d’extraction de 2,5
millions d’onces d’or ne vient en aucun cas remettre en question ce
dernier. Il soutient que meme si les deux sites ne sont situes qu’a
treize kilomètres de distance, les nouvelles techniques permettront
d’eviter toute propagation de particules nuisibles.

Pourtant, la montagne d’Amulsar detient d’abondantes quantites de zinc,
de cuivre, de selenium et de tellure, des materiaux qui pourraient
se rependre sur une trentaine de kilomètres autour de la zone
d’extraction, et infecter la station thermale de Jermuk, mais aussi
deux reservoirs d’eau (dont le deuxième plus important du pays) ainsi
que cinq villages alentours. L’air contamine pourrait aussi se repandre
dans les vegetaux, et atteindre l’Homme via la chaîne alimentaire.

L’ancien ministre armenien de la Protection environnementale lui-meme
s’est prononce contre l’ouverture de cette mine d’extraction aurifère
a ciel ouvert, qui selon lui va sans aucun doute possible ” detruire
Jermuk “.

Ce dilemme pose aujourd’hui une question plus large sur les choix de
l’Armenie pour assurer son developpement economique. Car ce petit pays
de moins de 30.000 kilomètres carres n’a pas la capacite de developper
conjointement l’extraction de ses 500 mines ainsi que le tourisme
thermal. D’autant plus que cette dernière, si elle semble etre l’une
des principales forces de l’economie armenienne, n’a contribue au cours
de la dernière decennie qu’a 2,5% du PIB, contre 6% pour le tourisme.

HARTOUNIAN FAMILY LAWYER – STATE REVENUE COMMITTEE WANTS TO SEIZE COMPANY ASSETS

hetq
16:13, February 14, 2012

Mariam Mughdousyan, who legally represents the Hartounian family,
says that tax evasion charges levelled against the directors of GH
Storage Enterprises by the State Revenue Committee SRC) is merely an
attempt to appropriate the assets of the family.

Mughdousyan argues that the manner in which the case is proceeding
is ample proof of the nefarious aims of the government agency.

She points to the fact that on June 22, 2011, SRC inspector Rafayel
Lazarian confiscated eight computers at the company’s offices and
well as personal computers.

Mughdousyan says that the company has made several requests for the
computers to be returned. More than seven months later, the computers
and their hard drives remain in the possession of the SRC.

She says that the computer data has been thoroughly inspected but
the SRC has balked on its promise to return them.

In her press release, Mughdousyan notes that when GH Storage
Enterprises director Sevak Arzaruni left the firm, he took one of the
company’s computers with him but that the SRC has never seen fit to
seize it.

She says that this computer had all the pertinent financial data
regarding the company and that the SRC examiners should be tracking
it down rather to get at the truth of the case.

Arzaruni was managing GH Enterprises at the time of the alleged
tax infractions, Mughdousyan argues, and should be the focus of the
SRC’s attention.

She says that the SRC is out to damage the company as well as to hold
onto the computers worth around 1.5 million AMD.

FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF SLOVAKIA DESCRIBES KARABAKH AS EXCLUSIVE DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY

ARMENPRESS
FEBRUARY 14, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS: Members of the National Council of
Slovak Republic, businessmen and intellectuals visited Nagorno Karabakh
during these days. At a news conference February 14, First President
of the National Council of Slovak Republic František Mikloško said
during the recent years Nagorno Karabakh has registered noticeable
progress in the area of democracy.

“Two years ago I was in Nagorno Karabakh as an observer at the
elections, after it I stated that the elections were absolutely free
and fair,” MikloÅ¡ko said.

According to him, the state has been recognized for already 20 years
but visiting it once you understand that it will never agree to be
non-independent. “Nagorno Karabakh behaves itself just like other
independent states. International organizations should assist Karabakh
as it is exclusive democratic country,” MikloÅ¡ko stressed.

He also praised Karabakh’s commitment to its Christian roots and
its readiness to fight for them till the end. “It is strange that
the Christian Europe has forgotten its roots. Laws of new Europe are
being written in Nagorno Karabakh,” MikloÅ¡ko said.