Author: Badalian Vardan

Analyst: Armenia’s joining EEU does not hamper relations with the West

16:54, 14.03.2015

YEREVAN. – Armenia’s recent accession to the Eurasian Economic Union
(EEU) does not interfere and has not interfered at all with the
country’s relations with the West, political scientist Levon Shirinyan
said at a press conference on Saturday.

In his words, Armenia can even become an intermediary between these two.

“What place can Armenia occupy in the EEU? We [, Armenia,] may choose
the optimal options for the recovery of industry. First of all, I mean
fundamental science, theoretical physics, chemistry, mathematics, and
engineering work,” Shirinyan stressed. “If we do that, we definitely
will have our place among the other three EEU countries [i.e. Russia,
Belarus, and Kazakhstan].”

Armenia News – NEWS.am

The victim alarms that he was exposed to violence by the officials

12:32 | March 14,2015 | Official

On October 28, 2014 the president of the observation team in charge of
exercising control in the Detention Facilities of the arrested people
of the Republic of Armenia submitted an application to the Head of the
Special Investigation Service and the General Prosecutor of the
Republic of Armenia declaring that on October 26, 2014 at 13:30 Armen
T., who at the given moment was in the police department, telephoned
the hot line of the observation team and informed that he was exposed
to violence by the policemen.

In the course of the preparation of the materials in the Special
Investigation Service of the Republic of Armenia, Armen T. refused to
give a report and provide an explanation about the crime. Later, Armen
T., even after being found a victim in the course of the preliminary
investigation of the criminal case launched in accordance with Part 2
of Article 309 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia,
refused to give testimonies.

The Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Armenia has
launched a preceding against the criminal case instituted with regard
to the fact of refusal from giving testimonies by the victim Armen T.
in accordance with Part 1 of Article 339 of the Criminal Code of the
Republic of Armenia.

A preliminary investigation is underway.

SIS

Aznavour joins Swiss Armenian Genocide discussion at Swiss parliament

14:51 * 14.03.15

French-Armenian prominent singer and musician Charles Aznavour, who is
Armenia’s Ambassador to Switzerland has taken part in a discussion on
the Armenian Genocide at the Swiss Federal Assembly.

The event, entitled “Mets Yeghern 100 years on: Consequences of the
denial of the Armenian Genocide”, was attended by the co-chairmen of
the Armenia-Switzerland Parliamentary Friendship Group and National
Council and Council of States, reports the Foreign Ministry’s press
service.

Raymond Kevorkian, a French-Armenian historian and professor at the
French Institute of Geopolitics, delivered a lecture to introduce the
historical and legal aspects of the Armenian Genocide, Turkey’s denial
policies and their consequences.

Swiss parliamentarians later raised different issues, including but
not limited to, the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the
situation in the Middle East, particularly with regard to Turkey’s
role in Syrian and Iraqi crises, the international community’s efforts
towards the prevention of crimes against humanity and installation of
“Streetlights of Memory” memorial in Geneva.

A book entitled “Armenian Genocide Memorial” (co-authored by of
Raymond Kevorkian and Yves Ternon) was presented at the end of the
meeting.

Armenia is most open country for innovation in region:Wojciech Biden

12:09, 12 March, 2015

YEREVAN-BARCELONA, 12 MARCH, ARMENPRESS: Among the countries of the
former Soviet Union, Armenia occupies a special place in the
development of the digital sphere, because in the sector of
technological modernization there is a huge support from the
Government. The operators of portable networks in Armenia quickly
respond to the market demands and global innovations. The director of
Ericsson Company’s pivotal clients work Wojciech Biden stated this in
an interview to “Armenpress”.- How do You evaluate the activities of
Ericsson Company in Armenia in recent 6 years?

– The Armenian market is quite interesting to us, and there we were
able to carry out a successful operation in the various fields. All
began in 2009, when we set the basis of cooperation with Ucom Company,
helping the company to invest in new IP television system. As Armenia
today, we are cooperating with almost all mobile operators in the
country. Today in Armenia we are almost collaborating with the all
mobile operators. In the territory of Armenia we don’t cooperate only
with Orange, but in global level Ericsson is the preferred partner of
Orange.

– What programs do you carry out jointly with the Armenian Government?

– At this moment, we have been cooperating with the Government of the
Republic of Armenia in two projects sectors; those are electronic
healthcare and digitization of television. The implementation of two
projects we’ve got by taking part and winning the public competitions.
At the moment, the electronic health plan based on our customers and
mutual agreement is temporarily slow, which is conditioned by
purchasing equipment and implementing documentation works.

Next year, in January the pilot project will begin, followed by the
program of commercial exploitation in the Republic. By this system the
doctor will be able to see the visitor through the visitor’s
healthcare story, as well as send the prescription to pharmacy closer
to the house of visitor, where the employee will be able to give the
right medicine and the appropriate dose, which is assigned by the
doctor.

– How easy it would be to implement such a system in Armenia, taking
into account that every doctor should be compelled to buy a computer
or tablet?

– In fact, the technique is not a problem; because this program is
possible to use even in the cheapest tablet. During the importation of
this system our biggest challenge is not the purchase of equipment or
any other technical problem, but the doctors are reluctant to work
with the new system and many of them are from elder generation and
avoid having a work with a computer or tablet.

– The launch of digital TV in Armenia is announced that will be held
this year in the beginning of July. Is it realistic, regarding the
country’s geographical peculiarities?

– The analogical TV digitization program will enable all regions of
the country to solve the digitization of television, which assumes to
include from Yerevan to the highland villages. Last November, we
implemented the first signal transmission testing and last
implementation phase of work will start in spring, in order to start
the operation of digital television on July, in Armenia. As a result
of that the television broadcast quality will be at the same level in
Yerevan and mountainous areas.

– Beside the aforesaid programs, in Armenia, in which sector can be
expected the implantation of projects?

– As I said, the most open country in the region towards innovation is
Armenia, because the government realizes their importance and
allocates remedies for the implementation. Such an each program
requires a minimum investment of several million dollars, which pays
the government.

I think that it will be interesting to apply in Armenia the Estonian
version, where was created smart meter energy-saving system, that in
advance by planning switches the washing machine or dishwasher
machine, as well as gives the ability to avoid some of the problems,
which are arising during the measurement of energy bills. We also
think that the importation of elements of “smart city” will be
interesting to the Yerevan Municipality, which can be implemented
through a joint program with the operators. Over the next two years or
until 2018 we will witness many innovations.

Interview by Anahit Minasyan

SPORTS AUTOMOBILES
Le champion automobile franco-arménien Nicolas Minassian reçu à Erévan
par le président arménien

Le président arménien Serge Sarkissian a reçu dans son palais
présidentiel à Erévan, le champion automobile franco-arménien Nicolas
Minassian. Serge Sarkissian a tout d’abord félicité Nicolas Misassian
pour sa brillante carrière et confié que

Armenia joins statement on supporting Christians of the Middle East

15:10, 14.03.2015

Armenia has joined the statement “Supporting the Human Rights of
Christians and Other Communities, particularly in the Middle East”
that was adopted at UNHRC session in Geneva on Friday.

The Holy See, together with the Russian Federation and Lebanon, has
drawn up a declaration in support of Christians and members of other
communities in the Middle East who continue to suffer from serious
human rights violations

The statement reads:

“The Middle East is living in a situation of instability and conflict
that recently have been aggravated. The consequences are disastrous
for the entire population of the region. The existence of many
religious communities is seriously threatened. Christians are now
especially affected. These days even their survival is in question.

Efforts to build a better future for all are frustrated. We witness a
situation where violence, religious and ethnic hatred, fundamentalist
radicalism, extremism, intolerance, exclusion, destruction of the
social fabric of whole societies and communities are becoming the
features of a non-viable political and social model, endangering the
very existence of many communities, the Christian community in
particular.

Millions of people have been either displaced or forced to leave their
ancestral lands. Those who stay in conflict zones or areas controlled
by terrorist groups live under the permanent threat of human rights
violations, repression and abuses. Both communities and individuals
fall victim to barbaric acts of violence: they are deprived of homes,
driven from their native lands, sold into slavery, killed, beheaded
and burnt alive. Dozens of Christian churches and ancient shrines of
all religions have been destroyed. The situation of Christians in the
Middle East, a land on which they are living for centuries and have
the right to remain, raises deep concerns. There are more and more
reasons to fear seriously for the future of the Christian communities
that have more than two thousand years of existence in this region,
where Christianity has its full place, and began its long history. The
positive contributions of Christians in the different countries and
societies of the Middle East are well known and creative.

We are confident that Governments, all civic and religious leaders in
the Middle East, will join us in addressing this alarming situation by
building together a culture of peaceful coexistence. In our globalized
world, pluralism is enrichment. The presence and the contributions of
ethnic and religious communities reflect an ancient diversity and a
common heritage. A future without the different communities in the
Middle East will run a high risk of new forms of violence, exclusion,
and the absence of peace and development.

We call upon the international community to support the deeply rooted
historical presence of all ethnic and religious communities in the
Middle East. Here world religions appeared, including Christianity.
Now, they live a serious existential threat from the so-called
“Islamic State” (Daesh) and Al-Qaida, and affiliated terrorist groups,
which disrupts the life of all these communities, and creates the risk
of complete disappearance for the Christians. This support will help
the countries of the region to rebuild healthy plural societies and
sound political systems, ensuring human rights and fundamental
freedoms for all. Therefore we ask all States to reaffirm their
commitment to respect the rights of everyone, in particular the right
to freedom of religion, which is enshrined in the fundamental
international human rights instruments.”

Vatican Holds ‘Moment of Reflection’ on Armenian Genocide

14:39, 14 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

The Pontifical Oriental Institute on Thursday held a “moment of
reflection” to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the “Metz Yeghern,
the Great Evil: ter voghormia, Lord have mercy,” Vatican Radio
reports.

Metz Yeghern is the traditional expression used for attacks by the
government against ethnic Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Between one
and one and a half million people are believed to have been killed
between 1915 and 1918.

Thursday’s event centered on the presentation of the work of Father
George Ryssen, SJ, and on the commemoration of alumni of the
Pontifical Armenian College who were killed during that time. Father
Ruyssen’s work, of which four of a projected seven volumes have been
published, collects all the documents pertaining to the historical
events to be found in the different archives of the Holy See.

The Prefect for the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, Cardinal
Leonardo Sandri – who is also Chancellor of the Institute – attend the
event, and addressed the participants.

In his remarks, Cardinal Sandri said the “moment of reflection” was
not only an academic exercise, but was also “a Christian gesture of
justice and mercy.” The event, he said, shows that we are untiring
seekers after the Truth that is Christ; collaborators [working for]
the coming of the city ‘in which dwells righteousness’; and
supplicants invoking the intercession of the witnesses, the martyroi
of the Armenian people” who made the supreme profession of faith by
shedding their blood.

Cardinal Sandri also noted the gratitude of the Armenian people to the
Pope of the time, Benedict XV. He said the work of Father Ruyssen
“allows us to understand how the Holy See was diligent in attempting
to stay the hands of the executioners, and to bring possible relief
and aid to those who escaped the massacres that took place one hundred
years ago.”

We are still saddened, he continued, for those who rose up to kill
their neighbours, but even more, astonished by the silence of so many
nations and so many powerful people, as we are still astonished to day
on the part of others to speak with objectivity, to arrive at the
longed-for goal of reconciliation, in truth and in justice.”

The mystery of evil, he said, “mysterium iniquitatis, that is able to
flow from the heart of man, and that is made manifest in the
destruction that every sin brings with it, compels us to get down on
our knees, and pray, as we say in the subtitle of our meeting: “Ter
voghormia… Lord have mercy!” Have mercy on man whom you have created,
but who now is wounded, is far from you, poor, a sinner, capable, as
Cain was, of conceiving death for his brother, capable of nourishing
hatred and seeking vengeance.”

Cardinal Sandri concluded his remarks with the words of Benedict XVI
during the former Pope’s visit to the extermination camp at Auschwitz:
“We cannot peer into God’s mysterious plan – we see only piecemeal,
and we would be wrong to set ourselves up as judges of God and
history. Then we would not be defending man, but only contributing to
his downfall. No – when all is said and done, we must continue to cry
out humbly yet insistently to God: Rouse yourself! Do not forget
mankind, your creature! And our cry to God must also be a cry that
pierces our very heart, a cry that awakens within us God’s hidden
presence – so that his power, the power he has planted in our hearts,
will not be buried or choked within us by the mire of selfishness,
pusillanimity, indifference or opportunism. Let us cry out to God,
with all our hearts, at the present hour, when new misfortunes befall
us, when all the forces of darkness seem to issue anew from human
hearts: whether it is the abuse of God’s name as a means of justifying
senseless violence against innocent persons, or the cynicism which
refuses to acknowledge God and ridicules faith in him. Let us cry out
to God, that he may draw men and women to conversion and help them to
see that violence does not bring peace, but only generates more
violence – a morass of devastation in which everyone is ultimately the
loser.”

FOUNDING PARLIAMENT TO START ACTING APRIL 24

13:45 | March 13,2015 | Politics

This year we shall get rid of the regime, and we are starting
operations on April 24, Chairman of the Founding Parliament Movement
Garegin Chugaszyan said on March 13.

“There are different methods and tools to choose from but we shall
not reveal them for tactical reasons,” Mr Chugaszyan said adding that
if people are subjected to violence they have to right to revolt –
something that happened on March 1, 2008.

“We shall participation in the events commemorating the Armenian
Genocide Centennial, at the same time we shall fight for justice and
our rights,” he said.

Garegin Chugaszyan says all people who say ‘April 24 is a holy day’
can join their struggle on April 25. He does not exclude new arrests
and violence by April 24.

Founding Parliament, a successor of the Pre-parliament movement,
seeks a regime change in Armenia.

PROSPECTS OF ARTSAKH-EU COOPERATION DISCUSSED IN STEPANAKERT

14:36, 13 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

On March 13, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic Minister Karen Mirzoyan received delegates of the EU-Armenia
Parliamentary Cooperation Committee of the National Assembly of
Armenia headed by Co-Chairman of the Committee Samvel Farmanyan.

During the meeting, Karen Mirzoyan presented a range of issues on the
NKR foreign policy agenda. The issues related to the current stage
of the peaceful settlement of the conflict between Azerbaijan and
Nagorno Karabakh, as well as the steps taken towards the international
recognition of the NKR were touched upon.

The sides also exchanged views on the opportunities and prospects
for the development of relations between the NKR and the EU,
in particular, implementation of practical programs within the
framework of the parliamentary cooperation. In this context, the
sides stressed the importance of ensuring an unimpeded access to
Artsakh for the EU official representatives and the necessity of
objective and comprehensive presentation of the NKR stance in the
European structures.

BELARUS SAYS READY TO HOST KARABAKH TALKS

10:39, 13 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Belarus is ready to host negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh.

Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei made the statement during
the meeting with Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe on 12 March, BelTA reports..

The press service of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry quoted Vladimir
Makei as saying: “I would like to confirm our readiness to host peace
talks on Nagorno-Karabakh at the time specified by the relevant OSCE
resolutions. If necessary, we could also provide the venue for the
final stage of the negotiation process on working out a comprehensive
peace agreement”.

The Belarusian Foreign Minister also remarked he was glad to welcome
the Minsk Group co-chairs and the personal representative of the
OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Vladimir
Makei mentioned their visit to Minsk as historic.

“Belarus resolutely supports OSCE efforts in favor of stepping up
regional security and stability, finding peaceful solutions to resolve
existing and long-drawn conflicts, including the Nagorno-Karabakh one.

We are ready to make our own contribution the way we did within
the framework of the Ukrainian crisis,” stated Vladimir Makei. The
Belarusian Foreign Minister went on saying that Belarus shares
the vision of the Minsk Group co-chairs on ways to resolve the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Belarus fully agrees with the idea that as a priority it is now
necessary to reduce tensions along the conflict line in order to avoid
human casualties. “Belarus highly appreciates the incessant effort on
the part of Minsk Group co-chairs and the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office.

The efforts are of primary importance not only for the sake of
restoring security in the conflict zone but also for enabling favorable
conditions for top-level contacts,” stressed the Minister.

Apart from that, Vladimir Makei stated that Belarus welcomes the
intensification of contacts between leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Belarus maintains close friendly relations with both countries,
including contacts at the level of the heads of state. The fact could
be useful for advancing the peace process.

The press service of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry specified that on
12 March Vladimir Makei met with co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group:
Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, James Warlick of the United
States of America, and Pierre Andrieu of France. They were joined
by personal representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej
Kasprzyk. The co-chairs and the personal representative informed the
Belarusian Foreign Minister about the situation in the conflict zone
and the development of the negotiation process. Prospects of future
cooperation were discussed, including Belarus’ possible assistance
with the settlement process.