Author: Badalian Vardan

Armenia’s gross agriculture output grows 3.2% in Jan-July 2014 to AMD
316.1 billion

YEREVAN, August 22. /ARKA/. Armenia’s Jan-July 2014 gross agriculture
output amounted to AMD 316.1 billion after growing 3.2%, compared with
the same period a year earlier, Agriculture Minister Sergo Karapetyan
said on Friday. All crops, but apricot are larger now than a year
before.

He pointed out expansion of areas under crop by 14,600 hectares as one
of this year’s significant achievements – this enhanced effectiveness
of land usage by 74.2% against 71% a year before.

Armenia’s Jan-June 2014 agriculture output amounted to AMD 219.4
billion showing 1.4% year-on-year growth. ($1 – AMD 407.79). –0—

No plans to demolish round building of Zvartnots Airport – Minister

16:28 22/08/2014 >> SOCIETY

No construction of historical value will be demolished in the near
future in Yerevan and there are no plans either to demolish the round
building of Zvartnots Airport, Armenian Minister of Urban Development
Narek Sargsyan told reporters on Friday.

As regards unfinished buildings in Yerevan, the Minister said he
assesses the work of the Ministry as “unsatisfactory” in this regard.

“We have nothing to be proud of in this sense,” Sargsyan said, citing
the examples of the Youth Palace and the Sevan Hotel.

The official stressed that they have raised the problem and they will
make every effort to resolve it.

Source: Panorama.am

Erdogan needs a weak premier today, says Armenian Turkologist

16:25 * 22.08.14

Turkey’s president-elect Recep wants a weak prime minister to be able
to use him as a marionette, an Armenian Turkologist has said,
commenting on the former premier’s move to name FM Davutoglu as his
successor.

“Davutoglu, who is ideologically closer to [former prime minister
recept Recep Tayyip] Erdogan is weak as a political figure, so he is
the most suitable candidate, ” Artak Shakaryan told Tert.am.

He described the move as an attempt to change the form of government
in Turkey, noting that the results of parliamentary election are not
likely to be decisive at all.

Shakaryan said he doesn’t think that that the replacement of the
country’s president and prime minister does not imply a change in
foreign policies. As for the outgoing president, Abdullah Gul, the
expert pointed out to existing controversies between him and Mr
Erdogan.

“Gul was obviously in conflicts with Erdogans in the recent years. Gul
is a more ponderous figure in any case, so if he were to become a
prime minister, he would probably be Erdogan’s marionette,” he added.

Armenian News – Tert.am

Tigran Mansuryan represents his works at Davos festival

12:36, 22 August, 2014

YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, ARMENPRESS. The People’s Artist of the Republic of
Armenia Tigran Mansuryan participated in a major international musical
festival held in the Swiss city of Davos on August 1-14. The Armenian
famous composer was the honored author of festival’s “Composer in
Residence”, whose works dominated in the festival concerts. In a
conversation with
“Armenpress”, Tigran Mansuryan said that only famous artists and
musicians from different parts of the world regularly take part in the
Davos Festival.

Among other things, Tigran Mansuryan underscored: “The festival has
years of history and international reputation. A lot of great
musicians and composers perform here. Usually the festival invites a
famous composer for “Composer in Residence”, whose works dominate in
the festival and concerts are formed on them (by the way, many years
ago Aram Khachatryan received invitation to participate in this
festival). This year my works had a great place in festival’s
program.”

DIPLOMATIE
La France appelle Bakou à faire la lumière sur le décès de Karen Petrossian

le Quai d’Orsay a répondu ce jour à une question de Nouvelles
d’Arménie sur “la mort de Karen Petrossian, ce civil arménien que
l’Azerbaïdjan a humilié et brutalisé le 8 août devant les caméras de
sa télévision avant d’annoncer sa mort, dans la même journée”.

Réponse du Quai d’Orsay : “La France a appris avec consternation le
décès le 8 août du ressortissant arménien Karen Petrossian, qui se
trouvait en détention en Azerbaïdjan.
Elle présente ses condoléances à la famille de M. Petrossian.
Nous appelons les autorités azerbaïdjanaises à procéder à la
restitution de sa dépouille et à faire toute la lumière sur les
circonstances de ce décès.”

jeudi 21 août 2014,
Ara (c)armenews.com

NKR DEFENSE MINISTER. “THEIR GOAL WAS FOR US TO DECLARE MOBILIZATION” (VIDEO)

August 21 2014

Confirmation of relative ceasefire was only the grace of our soldiers.

“They wanted us to declare mobilization, and if we had declared,
our economy would fall behind not a few months, maybe a year. They
were trying to direct the attack aircraft in our direction, they did
turn flights in our front line, were trying emotionally to affect our
soldiers, army and society. But, today, you also became a witness that
this did not have any effect on us. They brought their aircraft, and
when our anti-air defense unit stood up, their aircraft pulled back.

They brought tanks, and when our armored units went to the tank
lines, they again pulled back. It was a blackmail from them, and the
blackmail lasted pretty short. Since August 5, all units that they
had brought to the first line were pulled back,” to the question of
what made Azerbaijan to start and then finish the large-scale attack
in late July and early August, NKR Defense Minister, Movses Hakobyan,
among a few reasons, mentioned also this one at the press conference
in Stepanakert, yesterday, in the evening. Movses Hakobyan does not
think that stopping of shooting was the result of the presidents’
meeting in Sochi. “Peace was reaffirmed by our soldiers. Relative
peace has already been established on August 5, it is not the matter
that a command was issued from the top.” But, on the other hand,
he admitted that the meeting had its effect later when keeping
this relative peace. The minister spoke with pride of our wonderful
results of our armored group in the Biathlon World Cup. “For me, they
won not the second, but the first place. They took the second place,
but I consider it the first. Our tank-drivers gave us a great reason
to be proud of. And we got our desired tank a gift, and I hope that
we will soon have it.”

Melania BARSEGHYAN c. Stepanakert

Read more at:

ZHOGHOVURD: ARMENIANS CONSUME LESS NATURAL GAS AS PRICES SURGE

09:53 * 22.08.14

Natural gas consumption is said to be considerably lower in Armenia
this year despite the registered increase in the import volumes.

Citing a report by Gazprom Armenia, the paper says that the consumption
volumes are down by 1.7% while the import has grown by 4.1%.

A survey by the paper has found that the main consumers are energy
companies which have used the blue fuel by 14.2% more over the
recent period.

The Hrazdan Hydropower Plant, which is the most expensive power
generating company in Armenia, is known to be a major natural gas
consumer, the paper says, noting that this particular company’s
policies necessitated the recent surge in the electricity prices. The
paper claims that the decision is the Russian companies’ attempt to
do business at the expense of Armenian citizens.

Armenian News – Tert.am

MEDIA MONITORING REPORT SHOWS HATE SPEECH ON RISE IN TURKISH MEDIA

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Aug 21 2014

A media monitoring report recently released by the Hrant Dink
Foundation has shown that a language of discrimination and hate speech
is increasingly being used in Turkish media reports.

The Hrant Dink Foundation regularly monitors the media for stories
that target religious and ethnic minorities, or other disadvantaged
peoples like the disabled or non-heterosexual individuals. The
number of headlines and news stories that vilified specific groups
on the basis of ethnicity, religion or other characteristics has
been steadily rising every passing day, the foundation’s monitoring
report has shown. The report, titled “Hate Speech in Media and
Discriminatory Discourse,” consists of two chapters. The first
chapter, titled “Other Disadvantaged Groups,” encompasses the media’s
coverage regarding religious and ethnic groups; women; lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people; and other disadvantaged
groups. The second chapter includes discriminative language being
adopted in Turkish print media outlets regarding what it refers to
as the Armenian genocide of April 25, 1915. The chapter is titled
“Discriminatory Discourse in Print Media.”

According to the report, a substantial rise has been observed in the
amount of media hate speech in the first four months of 2014. The
report states that the headlines of some newspapers’ issues clearly
used hate speech in reports covering the Khojaly massacre of Feb. 26,
1992 — in which 613 civilians were killed by Armenian militants —
and what the foundation calls the Armenian genocide. Another issue
that has been one of the most popular subjects on Turkey’s agenda is
the growing tension between the faith-based Hizmet movement — based
in the teachings of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen — and the
Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government. The report said
that President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who still holds the post
of prime minister, and his government engaged in hate speech against
Christians, Jews and Western societies as well as the Hizmet movement.

The report also said that the period between January and April OF
2014? was when hate speech was most prevalent in Turkey.

The Hrant Dink Foundation examined a total of 34 media reports and
detected the elements of hate speech against homosexuals in 28 out
of 34 reports. The report also indicates that Turkey’s non-Muslim
communities, including Christian Armenians, are exposed to more
hate speech than any other social group. According to the report,
Armenians are the non-Muslim minority that is the most common target
of hate speech in the media in Turkey. Armenians are followed by Jews
and then Christians in this regard.

KARABAKH READY TO WELCOME YAZIDIS

EurasiaNet.org
Aug 21 2014

August 21, 2014 – 6:39am

The breakaway territory of Nagorno Karabakh, always on the lookout
for ways to boost its population, has offered to shelter Yazidis
fleeing from Islamic-State terrorists in Iraq.

“The Armenian people cannot be indifferent to what is now being done
to the Yazidi people,” David Babaian, spokesperson for Karabakh’s
de-facto president, Bako Sahakian, commented to RFE/RL’s Armenian
service on August 19. “The Yazidis are the only people who have become
an integral part of the Armenian people.”

According to local news outlets, Armenia is estimated to have a
Yazidi population of about 40,000. Data is not available for how
many Yazidis live in Karabakh, a predominantly ethnic Armenian region
claimed by Azerbaijan.

Babaian skirted discussions of how the region’s de-facto officials
would provide for any Yazidi arrivals, however — a sensitive question,
given Azerbaijan’s claims that Karabakh and its main champion, Armenia,
want to rework the territory’s ethnic makeup.

Armenia’s foreign ministry told RFE/RL that no Yazidis from Iraq have
requested asylum or fled to Armenia as yet.

Rallies, though, were held on August 13 in Yerevan, the Armenian
capital, to show support for Iraq’s Yazidis, and in neighboring
Georgia, which has been estimated to have a Yazidi community of
about 20,000.

Citing local Yazidi sources, Rudaw.net, a Kurdish news site, reported
on August 15 that a handful of Yazidi refugees from Iraq actually
already had arrived in Georgia. But the information could not be
independently verified.

The Yazidis, though, are not the only way the conflict in Syria and
Iraq has found an echo in the South Caucasus. Karabakh and Armenia
both have offered a welcome to ethnic Armenian refugees from Syria; a
transition, which, in Armenia’s case, has not always gone particularly
smoothly. Some refugees have opted to move on.

Meanwhile, even as it welcomes victims of the bloodshed in Syria and
Iraq, the region has provided perpetrators for the conflict as well.

In Georgia, one remote mountain valley is the native home of dreaded
IS commander Omar al-Shishani. Meanwhile, in Azerbaijan, some young
men have headed off to join the call for jihad in Syria.

For now, though, greater concern appears to be focused on Russia’s
North Caucasus, long a prooving-ground for Islamic militants.

GEORGIA HIGHWAY LEADING TO ARMENIA BORDER TO BE CLEARED BY MONDAY

The Messenger, Georgia
Aug 21 2014

Friday, August 22

According to preliminary data, the road–which leads to Armenia–near
the Upper Larsi border checkpoint between Georgia and Russia can be
cleared by Monday.

Artur Arakelyan, who is Deputy Minister of Transport and Communication
of Armenia, told the above-said to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The deputy minister also told reporters that the landslide, which
covered the highway near the Kazbegi-Upper Larsi checkpoint on the
Georgian-Russian border, had occurred at around 3am.

The road is closed at present.

In addition, problems arose with Georgia’s North Caucasus-Transcaucasia
main natural gas pipeline whereby the Russian gas enters Armenia. The
gas supply through this pipeline was suspended Wednesday at around
11pm.

“We are in constant contact with the Georgian colleagues, and we
have offered our help to clear the road. For the moment, they state
that they can do it on their own,” said Armen Yeritsyan, Minister of
Emergency Situations of Armenia, during Thursday’s Cabinet meeting.

In response, PM Hovik Abrahamyan said that Armenia can offer its help
once again during Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili’s visit to Armenia
on Thursday.