Author: Badalian Vardan

HRAPARAK: RELATIONS BETWEEN ECONOMY MINISTER AND GDCA CHIEF DETERIORATE

11:53 31/10/2014 >> DAILY PRESS

Citing its sources, Hraparak writes that the relations of Economy
Minister Karen Chshmaritian and head of General Department of Civil
Aviation (GDCA) Artyom Movsesyan have deteriorated sharply.

“Following the adoption of ‘open skies’ policy, the Ministry took
over the supervision of GDCA and the scope of the powers of the GDCA
head narrowed. Movsesyan openly says in various circles that they
are taking a “fat part” away from him and giving it to the Economy
Ministry,” the newspaper says.

“The tension is so high that some do not rule out that Movsesyan may
resign from his post,” it adds.

Source: Panorama.am

BHK LAWMAKER: FORMER MINISTER’S WIFE RECEIVED AMD 20 MILLION BENEFIT

11:58 | October 31,2014 | Politics

During the discussions of the draft budget for 2015 in the Armenian
parliament on Friday, secretary of the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK)
Naira Zohrabyan reminded that it was the BHK that first submitted a
bill on temporary disability payments.

“Our initiative was labeled populism by your government. I am glad
to hear you calling good initiatives in this way. And today you are
submitting a similar bill,” she said.

The BHK lawmaker said she welcomed all women who had taken to the
street to protect their rights but not all of them are destined to be
spouses of ministers to receive great honoraries and bonuses, as was
the case with the wife of former Minister of Finances David Sargsyan.

“Instead of protecting the rights of our citizens they conclude deals
and pocket great sums of money. David Sargsyan’s wife, for example,
has received 20 million drams.”

Republican lawmaker Hakob Hakobyan, who chairs the Standing Committee
on Social Affairs of the Armenian National Assembly, said Naira
Zohrabyan’s observation had nothing to do with the discussion. “It
was a topic for public hearing,” he said.

PRESIDENT SARGSYAN ATTENDS THE INAUGURATION OF THE ARMENIAN CHURCH IN JORDAN

13:03, 30 Oct 2014

Hripsime Arakelyan
Public Radio of Armenia
Jordan

The blessing ceremony of the Armenian St. Karept Church in Jordan
started a few minutes ago.

Representatives of the local Armenian community welcomed President
Serzh Sargsyan and his delegation at the entrance of the church with
bread and salt.

Secretary General of the Religious Primacy and the Ô¼ocal National
Council Nerses Nersesyan offered a welcome speech.

After that members of the delegation entered the Church and lit
candles.

The religious service is currently under way at St. Karapet Armenian
Church.

The Armenian community of Jerusalem with the support of the Armenian
Patriarchate of Jerusalem undertook to build the church at the Baptism
Site of Jesus Christ on the east bank of the Jordan River back in 2009.

The groundbreaking ceremony in 2009 featured religious leaders and
representatives of the Armenian community.

ISIS HAS MORE LAND, MONEY, AND FIGHTERS THAN AL-QAEDA HAD ON 9/11

Breitbart News, CA
Oct 30 2014

by AWR Hawkins

The Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, has more land, money,
and fighters under its control than al-Qaeda had on September 11, 2001.

This was disclosed during discussions at a recent meeting between
the Chicago area Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA),
American Armenian community members, Assyrian American leaders,
and Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL), among others.

According to the Assyrian International News Agency, Senator Kirk
told those gathered, “ISIS controls more money, fighters, and land
than al-Qaeda did on 9/11 and is committing mass atrocities against
women, children, and ethnic and religious minorities in the Middle
East.” He added that the threat posed by ISIS is real not only in
the Middle East, but also in America–including the Chicago area.

Kirk said, “Members of Chicago’s Assyrian-American community and
Illinois’ Middle East expert community highlighted how these barbaric
terrorists pose grave threats not just overseas, but right here
in Chicago.”

Breitbart News has tracked and reported on ISIS’ nearly unchecked
growth over the past few months–from the June 10 fall of Mosul
to Obama’s September 10 announcement that the U.S. would follow
tactics used in Yemen and Somalia in fighting ISIS to ISIS’ call
for radicalized Americans to go to the homes of U.S. soldiers and
“slaughter them” to ISIS’ October assault on the Kurdish community
in Kobane, Syria.

Throughout this time, Breitbart News also reported ISIS’ mass execution
of Iraqi soldiers (July) and the late-August execution of 250 Syrian
soldiers.

Additionally, Breitbart News reported ISIS’ beheading of two American
journalists–James Foley and Steven Sotloff. This was followed by
Senator Mark Udall’s (D-CO) September assurances that ISIS is “[not]
an immediate threat to the homeland.”

DISPLACED CHRISTIANS IN KURDISTAN – ‘THEIR TEARS HAVE RUN DRY’

Cross Map
Oct 30 2014

Erbil, Iraq, Oct 30, 2014 / 04:47 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Christians
who were forced from their homes in northern Iraq by the Islamic
State this summer are a people whose soul is being destroyed, said
a priest who visited Kurdish Iraq, where many have taken refuge.

“Without question, we are talking about genocide here. Genocide is not
only when the people are killed, but also when the soul of a people
is destroyed. And that is what is happening in Iraq now,” Fr. Andrzej
Halemba, head of Aid to the Church in Need’s Middle East section, said
Oct. 28. “It is the most tragic thing that I have ever experienced.”

“I have seen people who have been deeply wounded in their soul. In
the various crises in this world I have often seen people who have
lost everything. But in Iraq there are Christians who have had to
leave everything and take flight three or four times. They can see
no light at the end of the tunnel.”

At least 120,000 Christians were forced from Mosul and surrounding
cities in Nineveh province in July and August by the Islamic State,
a newly-established caliphate spread across portions of Iraq and Syria.

The militant Sunni Islamist organization – also known as ISIS – has
persecuted all non-Sunnis in its territory – Christians, Yazidis,
and Shia Muslims have all fled the caliphate.

All of the displaced are “very traumatized,” Fr. Halemba said.

“Normally in such situations it is the women who pull everything
together. But in Kurdistan I have seen women who are staring into
nothingness and have closed in on themselves. Their tears have run
dry. It is something that I have never seen anywhere else.”

Prior to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the country’s Christian
community numbered around 1.5 million. That figure has plummeted,
already, to 300,000.

Fr. Halemba said that most of those who have been displaced by the
Islamic State do not even wish to return to their homes. “When one
has lost all hope, one wishes to leave one’s homeland.”

“The majority do not wish to return to their homes. This is a bad sign
for the future of Christianity in Iraq. The Christians feel that in
Iraq they have been betrayed and abandoned, and they want to get out.”

They feel they have no one on whom they can depend, Fr. Halemba
reported, adding that “it reminds many Christians of the massacres
in the Ottoman Era, 100 years ago, when hundreds and hundreds of
thousands of Christians were slaughtered.”

The Armenian genocide began in April 1915, as authorities of the
Ottoman Empire rounded up, arrested, and massacred up as many as 1.5
million of the Armenian people, a minority group in the empire who
were overwhelmingly Christian.

According to Fr. Halemba, Christians in Iraq “are not being helped,
either by the central Iraqi government or by the Kurdish regional
government,” and so “they feel like second-class citizens.”

“Naturally there is aid from outside,” he said. “But the Christians
can only come by it through their own efforts. We have true heroes of
neighbourly love in Iraq. Bishops, priests and members of religious
orders, but also lay people, have done exemplary work on behalf of
their fellow men and women.”

The immediate challenge facing the displaced Christians in Iraqi
Kurdistan is winter, Fr. Halemba said.

“It can get very cold in Kurdistan, and it can snow. The rains are
already starting to come. There are efforts underway to re-house the
people from tents into accommodation containers.”

“But in my opinion the greatest challenge is the mentality of the
people. Have they already decided to turn their backs on Iraq and
the Middle East forever? This is where we must take action and give
the people hope.”

It is important that the displaced “once again believe in the future
of their ancient and beautiful country,” reflected Fr. Halemba. “So the
international community must work towards ensuring that the government
in Baghdad is strengthened and incorporates all the religious and
ethnic groups in the country.”

“Only in this way can ISIS be ultimately defeated.”

YEREVAN SAYS PARIS MEETING OF ARMENIAN AND AZERI LEADERS WAS “POSITIVE”

Interfax, Russia
Oct 28 2014

YEREVAN. Oct 28

The meeting between the Armenian and Azeri presidents in Paris was
useful, Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian has said.

“The meeting addressed issues concerning the peaceful settlement of
the Karabakh conflict and ways to promote confidence-building measures
between the parties. I believe that a small step was taken toward
further bridging the gap between them,” he told reporters after the
presidential meeting in Paris on Monday.

“A difficult process is under way. And we should not expect one
or two meetings to be able to secure a breakthrough,” the Armenian
minister said.

“Such meetings are useful. They give the presidents an opportunity
to assess each other’s positions and clarify the range of options to
further promote the peace process. In this sense, this meeting was
positive. It was confirmed at the presidential level that there was
no alternative to the negotiating process and it was necessary to
continue to follow a peaceful path,” he said.

However, no decision has been made so far concerning a date or a
venue for the presidents’ next meeting, he added.

BRITISH MINISTER FOR EUROPE DAVID LIDINGTON DUE IN ARMENIA ON NOVEMBER 3

YEREVAN, October 31. / ARKA /. British Minister for Europe David
Lidington will arrive in Armenia on November 3 on an official visit,
the press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry said today.

On Monday Lidington will have a meeting with President Serzh Sargsyan.

The same day, the British minister will hold talks with Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian. Then the two ministers will have
a joint press conference.

“On Monday morning, the British Minister will visit the Armenian
Genocide Memorial to pay tribute to the victims of the 1915 Genocide,”
the ministry said.-0-

NAIRA ZOHRABYAN SUGGESTS INQUIRING INTO FINANCIAL FRAUDS BY WIFE OF EX FINANCE MINISTER

by Ashot Safaryan

Friday, October 31, 14:02

During parliamentary hearings of Armenia’s draft budget 2015 on
Friday MP from Prosperous Armenia Party Naira Zohrabyan asked Labor
and Social Security Minister Artyom Asatryan about the legislative
changes planned in the maternity allowance system.

She said that under the former Government, Prosperous Armenia suggested
paying maternity allowance to unemployed mothers but the Government
said that it was a populist initiative.

“Today’s government thinks otherwise and we are glad that all
mothers in Armenia will be protected. But here we have the problem of
corruption. Not every woman in Armenia is the wife of a minister. For
example, the wife of the ex Finance Minister got 20mln AMD when she
came back from maternity leave,” Zohrabyan said.

She meant the wife of ex Finance Minister David Sargsyan, financial
ombudsman Piruz Sargsyan.

To remind, the National Social Security Service suggests paying
maternity allowance to all women. In 2016 the Government is planning
to budget additional 8bln AMD for this purpose. On the other hand,
the Service suggests that the size of the allowance should depend
on the length of service: 40% of the wage for less than one year in
office, 60% for 1-3 years and 80% for more than 80%. In any case,
the maternity allowance should not be bigger than five minimum wages.

LE PRESIDENT SARKISSIAN VISITE L’EXPOSITION EXPO RUSSIE-ARMENIE 2014

ARMENIE

Le president armenien Serge Sarkissian a visite jeudi 23 octobre la
6e Expo Russie-Armenie 2014 qui est une exposition internationale
industrielle qui s’est tenu du 22 au 24 Octobre dans le Complexe des
Expositions dans l’enceinte de l’Institut de recherche scientifique
des machines mathematiques d’Erevan

Le but de l’exposition est de promouvoir la cooperation economique,
scientifique et technique et culturelle entre la Russie et l’Armenie,
de renforcer les liens entre les deux pays, ainsi que de developper
des affaires en commun, le commerce et les relations economiques
et d’investissement.

Selon le service de presse presidentiel, Serge Sarkissian a visite
les pavillons de societes armeniennes et russes qui representent,
en particulier, les domaines de l’energie, de l’industrie de
l’ingenierie, de la metallurgie, de la construction, du transport,
des telecommunications, de l’agriculture, de la medecine et de la
pharmacie, de l’education, de la nourriture et s’est familiarise avec
leur gamme de produits, a parle aux participants de l’exposition de
leurs projets de cooperation et de developpement possibles.

vendredi 31 octobre 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com

SYRIE : PRÈS DE 400 COMBATTANTS DE L’ASL DEJA A KOBANE, SELON UN DE SES CHEFS D’UNITE

SYRIE

Le chef d’une unite de l’Armee syrienne libre (ASL) a affirme jeudi
que près de 400 hommes de cette emanation de l’opposition moderee
au regime de Damas combattaient aux côtes des Kurdes dans la ville
syrienne de Kobane assiegee par les jihadistes.

“Nous etions 200 originaires de la region avant meme que les premiers
combats commencent contre (le groupe) Etat islamique, nous sommes
aujourd’hui près de 400 (…) et nous attendons d’autres renforts”,
a declare ce chef, Nizar al-Khatib, lors d’une conference de presse
a Istanbul.

Depuis six semaines, les forces des Unites de protection du peuple
(YPG), la milice armee du principal parti kurde de Syrie, le Parti de
l’union democratique (PYD), resistent a l’offensive jihadiste lancee
contre Kobane (Aïn al-Arab en langue arabe).

Mercredi, des renforts de l’ASL, entre 50 et 150 personnes selon
les sources, ont franchi la frontière turque pour rejoindre le front
de Kobane.

Sous la pression de Washington, le gouvernement islamo-conservateur
turc a egalement autorise le passage par son territoire d’environ 150
peshmergas irakiens. Dix membres de ce contingent ont rallie jeudi la
ville assiegee pour preparer l’arrivee du reste de leur contingent,
stationne dans la ville frontalière turque de Suruc (sud).

Chef d’un groupe de l’ASL baptise “aube de la liberte”, M. al-Khatib
a souligne la bonne coordination entre les differentes factions de
la resistance a l’EI.

“Le commandement a Kobane n’est pas dans les mains d’une seule
personne. Il y a un poste de commandement dans lequel toutes les forces
en presence sont representees et prennent les decisions ensemble”,
a-t-il affirme.

M. al-Khatib a enfin indique que l’entraînement de l’ASL promis par
la Turquie n’avait pas encore debute.

“Il y a effectivement des discussions en cours (avec la Turquie)
concernant la possibilite d’entrainement des forces de l’ASL. Mais rien
n’est vraiment decide. Rien de tout ca n’a commence”, a-t-il affirme.

La Turquie, qui considère l’eviction du president Bachar al-Assad
comme la seule solution a la crise syrienne, soutient l’opposition
moderee au regime.

vendredi 31 octobre 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com