Author: Badalian Vardan

72,6% OF DEPOSITS IN ARMENIAN BANKS IS FOREIGN CURRENCY

10:17, 11 March, 2015

YEREVAN, MARCH 11, ARMENPRESS: The deposits of the legal and physical
persons in the Armenian banks in the end of 2014 made 1 trillion 604
billion drams. 29,5% of it are demand deposits and 70,5% are term
deposits. The Central Bank of Armenia told Armenpress that the demand
and term deposits of the legal persons during the last trimester of
2014 increased by 5% and made 560,5 billion drams and the demand and
term deposits of the physical persons increased by 6,1%, making 43,7
billion drams.

According to the currency structure, dram deposits decreased by 7,5%,
while foreign currency deposits increased by 11,7%. In the result,
the share of foreign currency deposits in the total deposits increased
by 3,9%, reaching 72,6% in the last trimester.

SPORTS: ARMENIA SET TO TAKE PART IN EUROPEAN GAMES DESPITE

Agence France Presse
March 11, 2015 Wednesday 9:28 AM GMT

Yerevan, March 11 2015

Armenia’s National Olympic Committee (NOC) announced Wednesday that
it will send athletes to the inaugural European Games set for later
this year in arch-foe Azerbaijan.

“Armenian athletes have had some outstanding results in recent times
and have serious chances of winning medals at the European Games,”
Armenian NOC Secretary General Grachia Rostomyan, told a press
conference.

“It is entirely up to the country’s NOC to make a final decision on
the matter.”

However, the NOC decision has been hotly contested between the Olympic
Committee chiefs and some of the country’s sports federations bosses,
who have opposed the idea of participating in the fledgling games to
be held in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku from June 12-28.

Armenia and Azerbaijan are locked in a festering decades-long dispute
over the region of Nagorny Karabakh which Armenian-backed separatists
seized in a bloody conflict in the early 1990s.

“There’s no need for our athletes to go to Baku,” Levon Julfalakyan,
the country’s Greek-Roman wrestling team squad head coach said.

“They will never get a fair deal for their performances in Azerbaijan.”

His statement was backed by Armenia’s gymnastics boss Albert Azaryan.

“Regardless of our athletes’ performances they will never be given
a chance to win in Baku by any means,” he said.

“Armenia has a difficult relationship with Azerbaijan and the trip
to Baku could become a pretty risky affair.”

Meanwhile, the organisers of the European Games have already given
security guarantees for the members of the Armenian delegation at
the event.

The 2015 European Games will be the inaugural edition of an
international multi-sport event for athletes representing the Olympic
commitees of Europe.

The dispute between two former Soviet republics over the region
of Nagorny Karabakh has its immediate roots in a war that left some
30,000 people dead after ethnic-Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan
seized the territory from Azerbaijan.

Despite years of internationally-mediated negotiations since the 1994
ceasefire, the two sides have not yet signed a final peace deal.

Baku, whose military spending exceeds Armenia’s entire state budget,
has threatened to take back the region by force if negotiations fail
to yield results, while Armenia, which is heavily armed by Russia,
says it would crush any offensive.

Karabakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but
the ethnic-Azeri community — which before the war made up around 25
percent of the population — was entirely driven out.

Almost all of the current 145,000 population of the enclave is Armenian
and the region has declared itself the Nagorny Karabakh Republic.

PASTINFO.AM: AVETIK BUDAGHYAN’S FATHER FILES COMPLAINT WITH EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

17:36 | March 11,2015 | Politics

Emil Budaghyan, the father of Avetik Budaghyan killed in a shootout
near the house of governor of Syunik province Surik Khachatryan in June
2013, has filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights.

Talking to PastInfo News Agency, Lawyer Hayk Alumyan, who represents
the interests of the Budaghyan family, said they asked the Court to
recognize violations of human rights prescribed by Articles 6 (1 and
2), 2 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights

Article 6 of the Convention states that everyone is entitled to a fair
and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and
impartial tribunal established by law. Under Article 6(2), everyone
charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until
proved guilty according to law.

ARMENIAN FM TO ADDRESS SPECIAL MEETING OF THE OSCE PERMANENT COUNCIL

OSCE
March 10 2015

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER EDWARD NALBANDIAN TO ADDRESS SPECIAL MEETING
OF THE OSCE PERMANENT COUNCIL ON WEDNESDAY

VIENNA, Austria

The following information was released by the Organization for Security
and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE):

Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian will address
a special meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council on Wednesday 11 March
2015, at the Hofburg, Vienna.

The address to the Permanent Council by Minister Nalbandian will
be open to media. Journalists are invited to the Neuer Saal of the
Hofburg Congress Centre at 15:00 hours.

Journalists wishing to attend should register by sending an e-mail
to [email protected]

For admittance to the Hofburg Congress Centre, please bring a valid
press card and a document with a photo to the security desk (main
entrance from the Heldenplatz).

Contacts

Communication and Media Relations Section OSCE Secretariat Office:
+ 43 1 514 36 6756 (From 09:00-18:00 Vienna time, weekdays) Mobile:
+ 43 676 71 74 592 (For urgent and out of office hours requests)
[email protected]

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DEPUTY CHAIRMAN INVITES CZECH SENATE COUNTERPART TO ARMENIA

14:02, 11.03.2015

Armenia is determined to jointly expand, with the European partners,
the institutional reforms aimed at the continuous strengthening of
democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.

Armenian National Assembly (NA) Vice President Eduard Sharmazanov,
who is in the Czech Republic on an official visit, stated the
aforementioned at his talk Tuesday with Vice-President ZdenÄ~[k
Å kromach of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic.

They underscored the importance of mutual visits and NA-Senate
cooperation in further strengthening and enhancing Armenian-Czech
relations.

Speaking on the avenues for the settlement the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, Sharmazanov stressed that Armenia favors solely a pacific
settlement. Å kromach, for his part, noted that he likewise advocates
only a peaceful resolution of conflicts.

At the end of the talk, Eduard Sharmazanov invited the deputy chairman
of the Czech Senate to the Armenian capital city of Yerevan to attend
the Armenian Genocide centenary commemorations.

DEMONIZATION OF RUSSIA WILL NOT LEAD TO ANYTHING GOOD: ARTASHES GEGHAMYAN

10:56, 11 March, 2015

YEREVAN, MARCH 11, ARMENPRESS. The Head of the Armenian Delegation
to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, MP of the Republican Party of
Armenia of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Artashes
Geghamyan responded the questions of “Armenpress” News Agency.

– Mr Geghamyan, to which extent did the delegation succeed to be
heard on those matters, which are of principle significance for the
formation of the governing bodies of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

– Very interesting question. For being heard in such an authoritative
organization, it isn’t only required consistently work during the
OSCE PA conferences, but that is not less important, as well as in the
period between conferences. For instance, during the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly in Istanbul (2013), the heads of all the delegations of the
conference received the book by Artashes Geghamyan “Tough Road to
Istanbul”, translated into all working languages of the OSCE.

Before the conference of OSCE, the delegates had opportunity to
get acquainted with another book, entitled “Artashes Geghamyan:
The Alternative of Armenia’s Accession to Eurasian Union is War.”

Those books allowed to introduce the Republic of Armenia’s foreign
policy actual issues to the delegations of 56 member-states of the
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, which relies on the fundamental principles
of the Helsinki Final Act.

Such a respectful attitude towards the OSCE PA partners mainly is
mutual. And under these conditions the audience is very attentive
toward your speeches. (THE FULL VERSION OF INTERVIEW IS AVAILABLE
IN ARMENIAN)

FIELD TRAININGS OF SOUTH MILITARY DISTRICT MILITARY ENGINEERS START IN ARMENIA

March 10, 2015 12:13

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Field trainings with subdivisions of engineering
troops started at the Alagyaz mountainous training center of Russian
military base in Armenia.

Over 100 military servicemen and 30 units of military equipment
including bulldozers, auto cranes, bridge layers, obstacle clearing
machines and portable water treatment plants are involved in the
trainings which are due to last a month.

“At the field trainings, the servicemen will take a theoretical course
on introduction to modern models of special engineering equipment,
protective costumes and mine detectors as well as the order of
demining, laying of bridges, searching, fetching and water treatment
in field conditions”, the press release disseminated by the South
Military District of Russian Federation reads.

During the practical trainings due to be conducted on the altitude of
2200 above sea level, engineers will individually and in groups work
out complex tasks. They will learn to perform norms of dealing with
military equipment, conduct a reconnaissance of location and objects
to reveal suspicious highly explosive items and set mine fields. The
military servicemen will also master holding of undermining works
and demining of military objects with the use of modern protective
costumes, mine detectors and specially trained dogs.

At the end of the training, engineering troops will deliver the
standards on setting trenches, ditches, caponiers and underground
command posts within earthmoving machines and installing mine fields
as part of subdivisions.

HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK: ARMENIA’S BANKING SYSTEM IN DEBTS

10:35 10/03/2015 ” DAILY PRESS

Armenia’s banking system is getting deeply into debts at quick paces.

Recently the number of loans from foreign banks and financial
institutions has increased sharply, Haykakan Zhamanak writes.

Citing the Central Bank data, the newspaper notes that in the fourth
quarter of 2014 the debts of Armenian banks to foreign financial
institutions increased by about $255 million to $1 billion 412 million.

The newspaper points to the fact that over the past two years the
Armenian banks’ foreign debts fluctuated between $1-1.2 billion,
and increased sharply at the end of last year when the Armenian dram
depreciated significantly.

Source: Panorama.am

ISTANBUL : ACTION ANTI-NEGATIONNISTE D’ETUDIANTS TURCS

Publie le : 09-03-2015

Info Collectif VAN – – > Nota CVAN : A notre connaissance, il s’agit
la de la première action de ce type. Esperons que d’autres initiatives
de ce genre suivront. Le HDK est essentiellement compose de Kurdes ou
de Turcs pro-Kurdes. Le Collectif VAN vous invite a lire la traduction
d’un article en anglais publie sur le site Armenpress le 6 mars 2015.

Des etudiants turcs protestent contre la negation du genocide armenien

Armenpress

6 mars 2015

Les etudiants de l’Universite Bogazici* (du Bosphore) d’Istanbul ont
mene une action pour protester contre l’evenement niant le genocide
armenien, organise par le Club de la pensee d’Ataturk.

Citant l’agence de presse turque Etha, Armenpress a rapporte qu’a
l’appel du Conseil du >,
les etudiants turcs sont entres dans le hall [où se tenait] l’evenement
intitule “Le centenaire de la deportation”, organise par le Club de
la pensee d’Ataturk, et ont fait une declaration pour les medias.

Dans leur communique, les etudiants ont souligne que les fetes de
Noël etaient celebrees il y a 100 ans a Malatya, Kayseri, Konya,
Mardin et Hatay (Antioche) et dans plusieurs endroits du meme type
[où etaient etablis les Armeniens], et que la nation de Hrant Dink,
vivant depuis 4000 ans sur ces terres, n’existait plus.

Après avoir fait la declaration, ils ont accroche sur les murs du
hall des affiches mentionnant : “Ce n’est pas une deportation, c’est
un genocide”, “Affrontez Hrant et le genocide”.

Nota CVAN : L’agence de presse turque Etha ajoute que les etudiants
ont quitte les lieux en scandant ces memes slogans. Soulignons que
de multiples Associations de la Pensee d’Ataturk existent en France.

*L’universite du Bosphore (en turc, Boðazici Universitesi) est
une universite publique turque situee dans le quartier de Bebek a
Istanbul. L’enseignement y est entièrement dispense en anglais.

(c)Traduction de l’anglais Collectif VAN – 04 mars 2015 –

Lire en turc :

Ermeni Soykýrýmý’ný inkar eden etkinlik protesto edildi

Observatoire du Negationnisme du Collectif VAN

Source/Lien : Armenpress

PRESS RELEASE
National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research (NAASR)
395 Concord Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
Tel.: 617-489-1610
E-mail: [email protected]

PANEL DISCUSSION AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY ON “ARMENIA 1915-AUSCHWITZ 1945”

A special program commemorating the centennial of the
Armenian Genocide and the seventieth anniversary of the liberation of
Auschwitz, entitled “Armenia 1915-Auschwitz 1945: Small Nations and
Great Powers,” will take place on Wednesday, March 25, at 7:00 p.m.,
at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Starr Auditorium
(Belfer B-200), 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge, MA. This event
is co-sponsored by the Harvard Kennedy School European Club, the
Harvard College Armenian Students Association, the Mashtots Chair in
Armenian Studies at Harvard, and the National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research (NAASR). The event is free and open to the
public.

Participating in the program will be Dr. Simon Payaslian,
Charles K. and Elisabeth M. Kenosian Professor of Modern Armenian
History and Literature, Department of History, Boston University; Marc
A. Mamigonian, Director of Academic Affairs, National Association for
Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR); and Dr. James R. Russell,
Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies, Department of Near Eastern
Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University. Hovhannes Ghazaryan,
a graduate student in the Mid-Career Master in Public Administration
at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, will serve as the
moderator. Fr. Arsen Barsamian of St. James Armenian Church in
Watertown, MA, will offer an opening prayer in Armenian and
Dr. Russell will give a concluding prayer in Hebrew.

The panelists will explore interrelationships between the
Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust, with particular attention paid to
the direct ties between the two genocides, some of the similarities
and differences in the genocidal processes as well as the denial of
both genocides, the role of self-defense on the part of Armenians and
Jews against the Ottomans and Nazis, respectively, and the role of the
Great Powers in the genocides and their aftermath. Following the
panelists’ presentations there will be a discussion period followed by
a reception.

For more information about this event please contact NAASR
at 617-489-1610 or [email protected].