Author: Badalian Vardan

ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF AMULSAR GOLD MINING PROJECT QUESTIONED

15:27 March 23, 2015

EcoLur

Specialists give professional assessment to Amulsar open pit mining
project implemented by Lydian International Company in Armenia with
the financial support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development, EBRD, and International Finance Corporation, IFC.

This time it’s Harutyun Movsisyan, PhD in Geological Sciences,
Associate Professor, who submitted his assessment on the official
website of Aarhus Centers, , which particularly says:
“The EIA submitted by the company mentions heap leach facility with
a capacity of 106 million tons and says nothing that this volume is
wastes to be collected in the tailing dump, which needs technical
conditions, special project, hazard category and a passport. It
mentions only the area and nothing about fencing etc. The project
excludes penetration of hazardous substances (note by EcoLur: gold
extraction with cyanide) into environment and doesn’t plan to locate
recording detectors below the protecting layer. Only these devices
can fix any leak to take measures against.

The next problem is the seismic assessment of Amulsar project area.

The EIA mentions middle extent of seismic risks, while the section on
a heap leach facility doesn’t mention seismicity at all. A question
arises: how seismicity can be assessed, if the technical proposal
on facility construction is missing and compliance with technical
standards is missing. We speak about seismicity of 5-6 magnitude,
which is underestimated assessment for this region. Amulsar is located
in the seismic zone within the ranges of 0.2-0.3 g and higher, which
can be interpreted as 8-9 magnitude seismicity.

The project mentions about the wastes and barren rock, which will
be accumulated after open pit, but it forgets about the heap leach
facility located in a distance of 1.2 km from Gndevaz Village and
adsorption-desorption-recovery (ADR) plant. The sanitary zone is
calculated in a distance of 1.5 km from the nearest house, which is
incorrect. Sanitary zone is determined as 1 km from buffer zone, which
separates residential area from the zone of business activities. Under
the international standards, this distance is 2 km from the buffer
zone, so the plant must be relocated in a distance of 3 km from the
residential area.

Then what about rationality. Under the project, dead pits will be
filled with barren rock. But the data show that at the depth of 50-100
meters ores are available, while according to RA Code on Subsoil, the
development of the mine is permitted, if absence of further resources
is proved. Nevertheless, the project doesn’t mention anything about
expected resources of expansion, reclaiming plans and waste generation
and disposal limits project, i.e. expected resources and balance are
subject to state assessment.”

MEDIAMAX’S “100 SECONDS” PROJECT PRESENTED

Society | March 23, 2015 13:43

Yerevan/Mediamax/. Mediamax media company and VivaCell-MTS presented
100 Seconds project in Yerevan today.

Vigen Sargsyan, Chief of Staff of the Armenian President and
Coordinator of the Events Dedicated to the Armenian Genocide
Centennial, also attended the presentation which took place in the
Komitas Museum-Institute.

100 Seconds project is based on testimonies of Genocide survivors
published by the National Archive of Armenia. People having public
influence around the world and in their countries (writers, musicians,
directors, actors) are reading 100 seconds extracts from testimonies.

All in all, 24 videos were filmed which will be presented at
and on a Youtube channel on March
23-April 23.

VivaCell-MTS is the general partner of the initiative and
post-production is done by Tumo Company.

“The main goal of 100 Seconds project is to call people’s attention
to the horrible sufferings that Armenians went through 100 years ago.

It’s no easy to read and listen to the testimonials. But the more
people are shocked by the testimonials the more likely they are going
to do their best to prevent new genocides. Our project is meant for
denying Adolph Hitler’s words voiced in 1939, a week before invading
Poland: “And who now remembers the annihilation of Armenians?””,
said Mediamax Director Ara Tadevosyan.

Photo: Mediamax

“Talking about 1.5mln victims, we often touch upon the tragedy in a
too statistical manner. We forget that 1.5mln were concrete people
and we deal with millions of human tragedies. The Genocide was not
only a national but personal tragedy”, he said.

Speaking about the project’s format of encapsulating a testimony in 100
seconds, the Director of Mediamax noted that “in the modern world, the
form of presentation is as important as the quality of the content”.

“Unfortunately, the life pace nowadays doesn’t allow people to read
full testimonies, and the format of 100 seconds enables us to present
what we want”, he said.

Ara Tadevosyan expressed his gratitude to VivaCell-MTS for acting
as the general partner of the project and covering the costs for
organizing the filming in various countries.

Photo: Mediamax

“To rule out the possible false perception, it should be said that
all the participants have read the testimonies without receiving any
payment for it,” stressed the Director of Mediamax.

Ara Tadevosyan especially thanked Tumo Director Vigen Tumanyan,
designer Vahan Balasanyan for developing the project’s logo, and
songwriter and musician Serzh Melkonyan for his significant technical
assistance.

“Over the last 10 years, we have carried out a number of important
projects in cooperation with Mediamax but this project is special as
it should remind the world about the dreadful page of our nation’s
history. We are grateful to people of various nationalities who took
part in this project, thus proving that the Genocide issue does not
refer to only Armenians,” said VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph at
the presentation.

“This project is a message to the civilized world that we should not
forget – we should remember, recount and remind everyone of it and if
we do not condemn what happened, we will then encourage new genocides,”
said Ralph Yirikian.

Secretary of State Commission Coordinating Events Dedicated to the
Armenian Genocide Centennial Vigen Sargsyan expressed his gratitude
to Mediamax for 100 Seconds project.

Photo: Mediamax

He recalled that the Armenian Genocide Centennial commemoration is
built around four cornerstones – memory, gratitude, international
struggle and rebirth.

“100 Seconds project is a great input in the “memory” section. The
dissemination of the stories of the Genocide survivors has exceptional
significance as we can show through it how this crime might roll into
every family,” said Vigen Sargsyan.

“I would like to express special thanks to VivaCell-MTS, which
regularly stands by such most fundamental social initiatives. In
this case we have an outcome, which is important in that the project
participants have not received any payment. They used their fame
and popularity to make our history more audible in the world. As the
Secretary of State Commission, I hail the project and ask everyone
to help share the materials,” said Vigen Sargsyan.

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
March 21 2015

Armenian environmentalists sound alarm over water resources of Lake Sevan

21 March 2015 – 9:26pm

Armenian environmentalists are concerned that the situation on 1
January 2015 with the water level in Lake Sevan has fallen by 9 cm
compared to the previous year.

The imbalance has occurred due to the fact that in 2014 the Armenian
government decided to increase the outflow from Lake Sevan to 70
million cubic meters.
The decision to increase the conductivity is related to the ruthless
exploitation of the Ararat artesian basin. In a year here it was
possible to take out 400 million cubic meters of water, but it took
away 1 billion cubic meters.

309 deep wells of the Ararat pools have been closed or sealed.
Environmentalists hope that these and other constraints on the actions
of reserves of the basin will gradually be restored.

Actor Karen Janibekyan dies

14:48 * 22.03.15

Actor Karen Janibekyan has died.

Actor Tigran Nersisyan told Tert.am that Janibekyan has been ill for
about a year.

Karen Janibekyan was born in Yerevan on July 1, 1937.

In 1966, he graduated from the Yerevan Fine Arts and Theater
Institute, 1966-67 acted in Armenian Drama theater of Tbilisi. Since
1967 is an actor of the Sundukyan Drama Theatre of Yerevan.

European delegate suggests Armenia to concede territories

March 21 2015

“We agree that the border ought to be opened without preconditions,
simply a year ago the Turkish ambassador said that the protocols are
frozen, but not frozen to death. We would like to know your opinion on
this, we understand that some diplomatic wok has been done, I will not
dispute the goodwill gestures, but don’t you think that if, for
example, a step is taken by the Armenia side, and, let’s say, not the
NKR but concession of some other areas will help this process?” such a
question was addressed to the ARF MP Aghvan Vardanyan by the presiding
chairman of the session, British Parliamentarian Sajjad Karim during
the session of the Armenia-EU Parliamentary Cooperation Committee.

Before his speech, the ARF MP Aghvan Vardanyan, speaking of the
Armenian-Turkish relations, said that Turkey should open the border
without preconditions. The Head of the Armenia-Europe South Caucasus
Delegation addressed the issue of the Armenian Genocide being a major
issue for the relations with Turkey, inquiring whether the event
marking the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide would not have a negative impact on Turkey’s actions. Aghvan
Vardanyan replied, “We have always said that the Armenian-Turkish
relations should be without preconditions. What is meant by putting
the relations of the third state with Azerbaijan as precondition for
the relations between Armenia and Turkey? This is also unacceptable by
the rules of the international diplomacy. Naturally, there can be no
words ceding any territory. Objective viewers will assess what is
currently going on both in the borderline between Armenia and
Azerbaijan and between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan. The attacks
taken by Azerbaijan, which results in dozens of casualties, the armor
that is carried out by Azerbaijan, do not leave any chance for any
concession. To concede a region means bringing these attacks closer to
Nagorno-Karabakh, and in this regard we exclude ceding anything, we
will not go for any concession by any condition.”

As to the question of the genocide, Aghvan Vardanyan noted that Turkey
continues its denial policy for hundred years. “Look, on that day they
have organized an event to cast a shadow on the commemoration taking
place in Yerevan so that the leaders of different countries in the
world would not come to Armenia. What does this show? It comes to
prove that Turkey evades confronting its history. Armenians are not
people of hostility and hatred as they realize that the hostility is a
distress for the person and the state. We just respect ourselves and
protect our rights, forcing others to respect us as well.”

Nelly GRIGORYAN
Read more at:

Turkey party leader agrees to make Armenian woman become MP

16:48, 21.03.2015

The chairman of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party
(CHP), Kemal Kilicdaroglu, responded positively to an
Istanbul-Armenian woman’s wishes to run for parliament from their
party in the forthcoming election.

CHP, which for the first time has decided to nominate an MP candidate
from the national minorities of the country, decided to nominate a
female candidate from the Armenian community, reported Ensonhaber
website of Turkey.

Accordingly, Kilicdaroglu will soon announce that he will be
nominating Istanbul Armenian Talin Ergunes Gazer as an MP candidate
from their party.

Turkey’s next parliamentary election is slated for June 7.

GENOCIDE DES ARMENIENS
Les carillons des églises arméniennes de Turquie ne sonneront pas les
100 coups le 23 avril à 19h15

Mise sous pression par Ankara, le patriarcat de l’Eglise arménienne de
Constantinople fera sonner le 22 avril les carillons des églises
arméniennes de Turquie…en souvenir des victimes de la bataille de
Gallipoli ! Mais > alors que les carillons des églises
arméniennes du monde entier sonneront le 23 avril pour la mémoire des
victimes du génocide des Arméniens, les cloches des églises
arméniennes de Turquie resteront muettes. Le journal arménien
d’Istanbul, > informe que selon Aram Atéchian l’adjoint de
l’Archevêque de l’Eglise arménienne de Constantinople, si le 23 avril
à 19h15 les cloches des églises arméniennes de Turquie ne sonneront
pas les 100 coups, le 24 avril ces cloches sonneront.

Krikor Amirzayan

dimanche 22 mars 2015,
Krikor Amirzayan (c)armenews.com

PRESS RELEASE
Armenian Museum of America, Inc.
65 Main Street
Watertown, MA 02472
Tel: 617-926-2562

Email: [email protected]

The Armenian Museum of America
Proudly Presents a New Exhibition,

“The Armenian Genocide:
A Silent Testimony”

On View March 22, 2015 through May 17, 2015

Adele & Haig Der Manuelian Galleries, 3rd floor

Lest We Perish, 2011,
oil and transfers on canvas
by Hope Ricciardi

“The Armenian Genocide: A Silent Testimony” is a complex interplay of
the extremely horrific events of Genocide and the artistic expression
of the trauma of those events. The various abstract portrayals in the
exhibition will explore the memories and legacy through the personal
experiences and emotional responses of the artists, and explore the
emotional impact of Genocide beyond statistics. It will feature
contemporary artworks by Lucy Janjigian, Berge Missakian, Apo
Torosyan, Berj Kailian, Hope Ricciardi, Daniel Varoujan Hejinian, and
others as well as artifacts from the Museum’s collection.

This exhibition is made possible by a generous donation by the
Dadourian Foundation

REVUE DE PRESSE
La diaspora arménienne attend beaucoup des commémorations, au contraire d’Ankara

Le Soir, CATHERINE JOIE, 13 mars 2015

En 1915, 1,3 million d’Arméniens ont été déportés et exécutés en
quelques mois, sur ordre du gouvernement des Jeunes-Turcs.

La question de la reconnaissance du génocide empêche encore les
relations entre l’Arménie et la Turquie.

Le printemps 2015 sera notamment celui du souvenir et des
commémorations. Il y a cent ans, en mars 1915, commençaient le
massacre et la déportation des Arméniens de l’Empire ottoman. Le
processus d’extermination ordonné par le gouvernement des Jeunes-Turcs
dura plus d’un an et demi, durant lequel 1,3 million d’Arméniens
furent arrêtés, déplacés et exécutés. Soit 65% de la population
arménienne de l’Empire ottoman en 1915. Le premier génocide du XXe
siècle…

>,
explique Laurence van Ypersele, historienne de la Première Guerre
mondiale à l’UCL.

Mars 1915. Le gouvernement des Jeunes-Turcs, qui dirige l’Empire
ottoman depuis la révolution de 1908 et qui rêve d’un Etat nation turc
et musulman, décide de vider les régions de l’est de l’Empire de leur
population arménienne. Une minorité riche, puissante, bien implantée
et qui est perçue comme une menace potentielle… Les Jeunes-Turcs
vont alors profiter du climat de tension générale en Europe (l’Empire
ottoman s’est allié à l’Allemagne et à l’Autriche-Hongrie au début de
la guerre) pour s’en prendre aux Arméniens.

Dans une premier temps, les déportations et les massacres se limitent
à quelques villes des provinces orientales. Mais à partir du 24 avril,
les événements prennent de l’ampleur (cette date charnière du génocide
arménien est celle autour de laquelle s’articulent les
commémorations). Dans la nuit du 24 au 25avril, plus de 200
intellectuels arméniens sont arrêtés dans plusieurs grandes villes,
dont Constantinople. Ils sont déportés vers l’est, puis exécutés par
l’Organisation spéciale (un groupe paramilitaire créé par le ministère
de l’Intérieur pour se charger des assassinats).

Durant les semaines et les mois qui suivent, les exécutions seront > par le départ de grands convois de femmes, d’enfants et
de personnes gées, forcés de traverser des zones désertiques pour
atteindre des > en Syrie ou en Mésopotamie. Sur
le million d’Arméniens déplacés entre avril et septembre 1915, 400.000
sont morts en cours de route, de faim, de soif, des suites de maladies
ou d’épuisement. Autour de 300.000 > furent ensuite
massacrés dans des camps syriens.

>

A l’aube de la commémoration du centenaire du génocide, les attentes
des Arméniens (d’Arménie et de la diaspora) sont donc énormes
concernant la reconnaissance du génocide, de la part de la Turquie et
d’autres pays. D’autant plus que la reconnaissance du génocide de 1915
est plus que symbolique, puisqu’il pèse encore de tout son poids sur
les relations entre l’Arménie et la Turquie. La frontière entre les
deux pays est totalement fermée depuis 1994 ; l’Arménie, en conflit
avec l’Azerbaïdjan pour le contrôle de la région du Haut-Karabagh,
subit un blocus turc (la Turquie soutient l’Azerbaïdjan)…

L’année dernière, pour le 99e anniversaire du massacre, Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, le président turc, avait déclaré : > La déception qui avait suivi sa
déclaration sera probablement à nouveau de mise cette année. Un signe
? Le programme prévu par Ankara pour les commémorations du 24 avril
(lire ci-dessous)…

Ankara préfère commémorer la bataille des Dardanelles

Le Soir, ANNE ANDLAUER, 13 mars 2015

Le 24 avril 2015, date symbolique du centenaire du génocide des
Arméniens de l’Empire ottoman, le gouvernement turc commémorera en
grande pompe… la bataille des Dardanelles. Le président Recep Tayyip
Erdogan a convié plus de cent chefs d’Etat sur ce champ d’honneur de
la Première Guerre mondiale, qui opposa les Ottomans aux Alliés
franco-britanniques en 1915 et 1916. >.

>, lche un ancien diplomate
turc très au fait du dossier, qui dément cependant toute > à
Ankara ou dans les chancelleries. Sur la défensive, les officiels
répètent les termes du message publié par Recep Tayyip Erdogan le 24
avril 2014. Premier ministre à l’époque, il avait présenté ses
condoléances aux petits-enfants des victimes des >. Dans la vulgate officielle turque, il est désormais question de >, de créer une >, raconte-t-elle. Comme tous les ans
depuis 2010, en partenariat avec l’association antiracisme DurDe,
l’IHD organisera le 24 avril une commémoration du génocide à Istanbul.
DurDe et l’IHD incarnent cette société civile turque qui depuis une
dizaine d’années, très lentement mais sûrement et avec une certaine
tolérance des autorités, remet en cause la version officielle de 1915.

: >

Une exposition au Musée de la photographie de Charleroi

Le musée de la Photographie de Charleroi accueille depuis plusieurs
semaines une exposition temporaire retraçant le destin du peuple
arménien. Pas de photos de combats ou de victimes ; simplement des
portraits d’hommes, de femmes et d’enfants. La centaine de photos
exposées, oeuvres de missionnaires jésuites installés dans la région
afin de répandre la foi chrétienne, retracent des destins tragiques.
Les clichés réalisés avant le massacre, à partir de 1906, mettent en
avant la vie quotidienne des Arméniens. Ceux d’après 1915 relatent
notamment la réalité de déportés ou d’orphelins qui vivaient dans les
centres de réfugiés d’Alep ou de Beyrouth. Une exposition pour ne pas
oublier…

Les Arméniens. Images d’un destin. Jusqu’au 17 mai, du mardi au
dimanche de 10h à 18h, au Musée de la Photographie, 11 avenue Paul
Pastur, Charleroi (Mont-sur-Marchienne). (Le Soir,
13 mars 2015)

dimanche 22 mars 2015,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

House of Commons to hold debate on Armenian Genocide centenary

23:47, 21 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

On Monday, March 23, the UK House of Commons will hold an adjournment
debate on the centenary of the 1915 Armenian Genocide,

The discussion will be led by Labour MP Stephen Pound, according to
the BBC’s Week Ahead.

Week ahead BBC News

Monday

The Commons meets at 2.30pm for Home Office questions – after which
the prime minister will make a statement on the outcome of the latest
European Council. Any further statements or urgent question will be
taken when he is done.

Then the Lib Dem former health minister, Paul Burstow, will launch a
ten minute rule bill on Tobacco Manufacturers Producer Responsibility.

A consultation on a tobacco levy was announced by the Chancellor,
George Osborne, in the 2014 Autumn Statement, and this is part of a
cross-party campaign to direct the money – perhaps as much as £500m –
to pay for a programme of tobacco control measures including Stop
Smoking Services currently funded by local councils. The bill’s
supporters view it as an important way of boosting funding for
preventive health measures.

MPs will move on to the final stage of the Budget debate – where the
chosen theme is jobs, pensions and savings – which suggests the Work
and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, will be facing Labour’s
Rachel Reeves. And the day will end with an adjournment debate on the
centenary of the 1915 Armenian Genocide – led by Labour MP Stephen
Pound.

In Westminster Hall (4.30pm – 7.30pm) there will be a debate on an
e-petition relating to proposed increase in fees for nurses and
midwives – led by Labour’s David Anderson.

Over in the Lords (from 2.30pm) peers will rattle through a series of
legislative chores, setting the pattern for much of their work in this
final week. First up is the third reading of the House of Commons
Commission Bill – the measure which enacts the shake-up of the Commons
internal admin. It may well be simply nodded through.

Next come nine important Counter-Terrorism Statutory Instruments that
derive from the fast-track bill passed earlier this year.

For the record, these are the Draft Counter-Terrorism and Security Act
2015 (Risk of Being Drawn into Terrorism) (Amendment and Guidance)
Regulations 2015, the Draft Regulation of Investigatory Powers
(Acquisition and Disclosure of Communications Data: Code of Practice)
Order 2015; the Draft Retention of Communications Data (Code of
Practice) Order 2015, the Draft Counter-Terrorism and Security Act
2015 (Authority to Carry Scheme) Regulations 2015; the Draft Authority
to Carry Scheme (Civil Penalties) Regulations 2015; the Draft
Passenger, Crew and Service Information (Civil Penalties) Regulations
2015; the Draft Aviation Security Act 1982 (Civil Penalties)
Regulations 2015; the Draft Terrorism Act 2000 (Code of Practice for
Examining Officers and Review Officers) Order 2015; Counter-Terrorism
and Security Act 2015 (Code of Practice for Officers exercising
functions under Schedule 1) Regulations 2015; Civil Procedure
(Amendment) Rules 2015.

(I moaned about the difficulty of finding out exactly what SIs like
this actually do in my post last week – and I’m told the continuing
revamp of the parliamentary website includes attempts to make this
information move easily available. Good.)

And then the Labour peer Lord Collins will move a regret motion on the
Gaming Machine regulations – which cover Fixed Odds Betting Terminals.