Author: Badalian Vardan

IRATES DE FACTO: ARMENIAN IMPORTERS START STORING PRODUCTS

08:41 * 16.12.14

Amid the continuing fluctuations on the currency market, Armenian
importers are said to be storing goods to avoid possible losses.

Many reportedly change their prices three times a day, claiming that
they will not go to the wholesale market unless there is stability.

The stored products will be available on market once traders feel
they are maximum safeguarded against losses, says the paper.

ANKARA SIMULATES PUBLIC DIALOGUE WITH ARMENIA AHEAD OF GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL – EXPERT

YEREVAN, December 16. /ARKA/. A simulation of a public dialogue with
Armenia is Ankara’s state policy ahead of the 100th anniversary of
the Armenian genocide, deputy dean of Oriental studies department
of the Yerevan State University Ruben Melkonyan said on the air on
Sputnik-Armenia radio channel.

There is no inter-state dialogue, and all Armenian initiatives were
stopped due to non-constructive Turkish policy, Melkonyan said as
quoted by Novosti-Armenia.

Instead, there is a dialogue simulation that is a key component of
the Turkish state policy, he said.

Turkey keeps saying the dialogue between the countries is on, using
different terms like “secret”, “silent” or “public” diplomacy, and etc,
and this simulation gets support grants, the expert said.

According to Melkonyan, it is the Turkish propaganda that benefits
the best from all the grant programs ahead of the genocide centennial.

The Armenian society should be aware of the reality and should not
be misled by allegations about drastic changes taking place in Turkey
that refer to Hasan Jemal’s book for instance, the expert said.

On December 11, Yerevan hosted a presentation of the Armenian version
of the book “1915: The Genocide of Armenians” authored by Hasan Jemal,
the grandson of one of the masterminds of the genocide Jemal pasha.

The publishing and dissemination rights for the book belong to “Hrant
Dink” foundation.

“One should not forget there are 77 million people living in Turkey,
and don’t forget Jemal and the ones like him never get votes in
elections and do not enjoy support from the society. It is now 12
years the country has been ruled by a man who says “Sorry, but some
even say I am Armenian”. They are the ones dictating the policy”,
Melkonyan said.

In August 2014, the then-premier of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan said
in a televised interview that he was being slandered by the opposition
saying he is Georgian or Armenian.

“They called me Georgian, and even worse – they called me Armenian”,
Erdogan said.

Official Ankara broke up the diplomatic relations with Armenia and
closed the border in 1993, in support of Azerbaijan in Karabakh
conflict. Another factor of tensions between the two countries is
the process of the international acknowledgement of the 1915 Armenian
genocide in Ottoman Empire. -0–

TURQUIE : INSULTEE POUR AVOIR TRADUIT LE PAPE

TURQUIE

La comedienne Serra Yilmaz, une des plus grandes actrices turques,
s’est dite victime d’insultes et de critiques des milieux islamistes
sur internet pour avoir ete l’interprète officielle du pape Francois
lors de son recent voyage en Turquie, rapporte jeudi la presse turque.

“On m’a accuse d’etre chretienne parce que j’etais l’interprète du
pape”, a regrette cette figure du grand et du petit ecran lors d’un
entretien avec un groupe d’etudiants d’une universite d’Izmir, dans
l’ouest de la Turquie, citee par le journal Milliyet.

L’actrice, interprète en italien et en francais, s’est indignee
des “insultes” dont elle a fait l’objet après la visite papale fin
novembre a Ankara et Istanbul. “On m’a dit que j’etais chretienne
que j’avais ete embauchee par le Vatican et d’autres choses” encore,
a-t-elle souligne expliquant avoir assure ses fonctions a la suite
d’une demande officielle du ministère turc des Affaires etrangères.

Mme Yilmaz avait egalement ete l’interprète du precedent souverain
pontife, Benoît XVI lors de son deplacement en Turquie, en 2006.

La Turquie, pays a ecrasante majorite musulmane mais
constitutionnellement laïque, est dirigee depuis 2002 par un
gouvernement islamo-conservateur soupconne de vouloir islamiser la
societe turque.

mardi 16 decembre 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com

ARMENIAN PARLAIMENT ADOPTS CUSTOMS REGULATION BILL

14:32, 16 Dec 2014

Lusine Vasilyan
Public Radio of Armenia

The Armenian National Assembly voted 70 to 5 today to adopt the bill
on Customs Regulations. Representatives of the Republican and ARF
factions participated in the voting with four factions boycotting.

The adoption of the customs package was connected with Armenia’s
accession to the Eurasian Economic Union. Alexander Arzumanyan
said before the voting that “the package is fatal, and evasion is
unacceptable.”

“I respect the right of any force to boycott, but we are ready to
stay and express opinion on this important bill,” he said.

Member of the Heritage faction Zaruhi Postanjyan also refused to
boycott the voting. She urged the parliament to vote against the
package, while Khachatur Kokobelyan suggested to postpone the vote
until the legislative bodies of Belarus and Kazakhstan ratify the
Treaty on Armenia’s Membership in EEU.

L’URUGUAY PEUT-IL DEVENIR LE PREMIER PAYS A RECONNAETRE LE HK ?

ARMENIE

Hayastani Hanrapetoutioun, Golos Armenii et Novoye Vremia rendent
compte de la visite de Danilo Astori, vice-President de l’Uruguay, ce
pays ayant ete le premier a reconnaître le Genocide armenien en 1965.

M. Astori s’est entretenu avec le President de l’AN, Galoust Sahakian,
et le Ministre des AE, Edward Nalbandian, au sujet de la cooperation
interparlementaire entre les pays, y compris au sein des instances
internationales, ainsi que de la cooperation economique. Il a appele
les entrepreneurs armeniens a s’interesser egalement au marche de son
pays où ils pourraient beneficier de très bonnes opportunites. Le
vice-President de l’Uruguay s’est egalement rendu au memorial
du Genocide armenien. Il a ete l’invite d’honneur des auditions
parlementaires organisees par la Commission des AE ayant pour thème
>, au cours desquelles il a appele a ne
jamais oublier le passe, qui est un moyen de construire l’avenir. Il
a affirme que l’Armenie pouvait etre sûre d’avoir un ami fiable en
ce qui concerne la reconnaissance internationale du Genocide armenien.

Bien que l’Uruguay n’ait pas penalise la negation du genocide armenien,
M. Astori a rappele que le parlement de MERCOSUR a recemment adopte une
resolution condamnant la negation du Genocide armenien. Par ailleurs,
lors d’une conference de presse conjointe avec le President de l’AN
d’Armenie, le vice-President d’Uruguay n’a pas exclu que son pays
puisse devenir le premier a reconnaître le HK : >, a-t-il dit.

Extrait de la revue de presse de l’Ambassade de France en Armenie en
date du 9 decembre 2014

mardi 16 decembre 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com

VIEUX EREVAN : LE PROJET DE RESTAURATION URBAIN DE LA CAPITALE ARMENIENNE SERA PRESENTE L’ANNEE PROCHAINE

ARMENIE

Au printemps prochain, le projet > qui comprend 30
bâtiments historiques et culturelles sur l’avenue principale d’Erevan
et les rues Abovyan, Pavstos Byuzand, Eznik Koghbatsi et Arami sera
presente au public armenien.

Auteur du projet, l’architecte Levon Vardanyan a un objectif – activer
la section dans un centre social, culturel où il y aura des centres
de tapis, de broderie, des centres de poterie, ainsi que des galeries,
des musees – sans un quartier residentiel.

“Vous voyez, le Vernisage que nous avons est dans un etat embarrassant
… imaginez une version luxueuse du Vernisage. Je veux dire,
j’aimerai qu’il y ait un salon pour les tapis, où ils sont vendus et
ils pourraient egalement etre produit, ainsi tout ce que nous voulons
introduire est cense etre vendu mais je veux qu’il y ait des galeries
et des musees aussi “, a declare Vardanyan.

Le 2 Decembre, le ministre du Developpement Urbain Narek Sargsyan,
au nom du gouvernement de l’Armenie, a signe un accord avec
Multicontinental Distribution Limited concernant le projet
d’investissement du vieux Erevan.

L’Architecte Vardanyan a dit qu’il a rencontre differents investisseurs
qui, lorsqu’ils ont pris connaissance du projet, ont voulu dicter
leurs idees, tandis que son problème est de restaurer un morceau
d’Erevan pour restaurer l’environnement.

>, a declare l’architecte.

Abordant le cas controverse du demantèlement du bâtiment Afrikyans
l’ete dernier, Vardanyan a dit que le le renforcement d’Afrikyans
aura sa place dans le projet.

“Le bâtiment a en effet ete demantele par des professionnels, toutes
les pierres sont conserves. C’est un monument unique. Avant que
l’affaire ait pris une telle tournure mes collègues ne l’avait meme
pas vu. C’etait dans un tel environnement urbain qu’il etait inapercu
“, a-t-il dit.

Vardanyan a declare que, contrairement a Afrikyans, d’autres bâtiments
antiques ont ete demanteles d’une manière negligente, et que la
plupart des pierres sont manquants. Mais les auteurs du projet ne
sont pas inquiets a ce sujet, parce que le problème n’est pas dans
la restauration du monument, il est plutôt de recreer l’environnement
de la vieille ville.

HAK REPRESENTATIVES BRIEF EU DIPLOMATS ON RECENT ATTACKS

17:14 | December 15,2014 | Politics

Members of the Armenian National Congress (HAK) have meet with Dirk
Lorenz, Head of Political, Economic, Press and Information Section,
Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Armenia, and Political
Officer Andrej Didenko.

During the meeting, HAK members Avetis Avagyan and Vladimir Karapetyan
presented the European diplomats details about the recent attacks
on Aram Manukyan, a senior member of the HAK, and Ashot Pilitosyan,
Head of the HAK Office in Hrazdan.

They also presented HAK’s stance on the recent series of attacks on
public and political figures in Armenia.

MAN SUSPECTED OF BEATING OPPOSITIONIST RELEASED PENDING INVESTIGATION

NEWS | 15.12.14 | 14:29

A man who was detained on Sunday morning on suspicion of beating up
a prominent opposition figure has been released, an Investigation
Committee spokesperson said today.

Sona Truzyan told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that Arshak Svazyan’s
ability to travel has been limited to the area where he lives while
investigation is underway.

She confirmed that a criminal case had been opened on the hallmarks
of Article 117 of the Criminal Code (Infliction of a willful bodily
injury or other damage to health which caused short-term health
disorder or insignificant loss of the capacity to work), which is
punished with a fine in the amount of 50 to 80 minimal salaries,
or 180-240 hours of corrective labor, or correctional labor for up
to 1 year, or with arrest for up to 2 months.

Aram Manukyan, a senior lawmaker with the opposition Armenian National
Congress (ANC), was beaten up by an unknown assailant in front of
his house on December 11 night. The ANC was quick to denounce the
attack as politically motivated, urging the law-enforcement agencies
to solve the crime as soon as possible.

Local opposition groups also regard the incident in the context of
a recent string of attacks against public figures known for their
opposition views.

Naira Zohrabyan, a member of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP)
faction, called on the parliament to hold a special meeting focused
on the violence that has been registered against opposition figures in
the recent period. She warned that if no such meeting was held the PAP
faction would boycott the special session of parliament opening today.

Other minority factions also denounced the attack on Manukyan,
calling for a parliamentary response to the incident.

ORE PRODUCTION OUTPUT AT AGARAK COPPER-MOLYBDENUM COMBINE HIKED 11.8% IN JANUARY-OCTOBER

YEREVAN, December 15. /ARKA/. Ore production output at Armenia’s
Agarak Copper-Molybdenum Combine totaled 2 million 868,000 tons in
January-October, an 11.78% increase from the same period of 2013,
says the ministry of energy report on nine key mining companies of
the country.

According to the ministry, commercial production at the combine
amounted to about 16.3 billion drams in the period, a 4.31% increase
from January-October 2013.

Royalties paid in the period were 58.24% lower compared to
January-October 2013, and amounted to about 430 million drams in the
reporting period.

Agarak Copper-Molybdenum Combine is a member of GeoProMining Group
of Companies founded in 2001. In 2009-2012 the combine was fully
modernized and reach a production output of 3.5 million tons of ore
per year.

GeoProMining produces rough gold as dore bars and copper, molybdenum
and antimony concentrates. GeoProMining companies operate in Russia and
Armenia. It owns two assets in Armenia – the Agarak Copper-Molybdenum
Combine and GPMGold, developing the Sotk gold mine and running Ararat
gold recovery factory.

Armenia’s National Statistical Service says metal ore production output
in the country was 157.1 billion drams in January-October, a decrease
of 8.4% from the same period of last year. ($1 – 462.81 drams). -0–

DIVISES SUR LES QUESTIONS MONDIALES, LA RUSSIE, LES ETATS-UNIS ET LA FRANCE FONT UNE DECLARATION CONJOINTE SUR LE KARABAGH

ARMENIE

Le Haut-Karabagh reste peut-etre la seule question sur laquelle
les Etats-Unis, la Russie et la France sont en mesure de faire une
declaration commune ces jours derniers. Après la reunion du Conseil
des ministres des Affaires etrangères de l’OSCE a Bâle, en Suisse,
les parties ont ete incapables de parvenir a une comprehension commune
sur l’Ukraine, l’Etat islamique, les problèmes de securite du monde,
mais elles ont publie une declaration conjointe sur le Haut-Karabagh.

> ont dit ces pays dans un communique publie
sur le site de l’OSCE.

La declaration, en fait, lance des accusations contre l’Azerbaïdjan,
qui perturbe le processus de paix et le renforcement de la confiance.

Le mois dernier, les forces armees azerbaïdjanaises ont abattu un
helicoptère militaire armenien qui operait un vol d’entraînement le
long de la ligne de contact dans le Haut-Karabagh.

Selon la declaration, cela etait