Author: Badalian Vardan

BAKU DEMANDS THAT RUSSIAN BASE COMMANDER’S WORDS BE EXPLAINED

Interfax, Russia
Nov 4 2013

BAKU. Nov 4

The statement of the commander of the Russian military base in Armenia
concerning the possibility of the base’s involvement in the Karabakh
conflict needs to be explained, Azeri Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov
told the international mediators of the Karabakh peace process.

“The defense minister conveyed the known statement of the commander
of the 102nd Russian military base in Armenia to the intermediaries
and stressed the importance of an official response. In turn, OSCE
Minsk Group Russian Cochairman Igor Popov said there might have been
some misunderstanding and promised to look into the issue,” the Azeri
Defense Ministry press service said.

Commander of the 102nd Russian military base in Armenia Andrei
Ruzinsky said in an interview with the Russian Defense Ministry’s
edition Krasnaya Zvezda that the Russian base might get involved in
the conflict in line with its CSTO commitments if Azerbaijan started
military operations with the purpose of restoring its jurisdiction
over Karabakh.

Te

168 ZHAM: ARMENIAN TEACHERS WARNED OF SALARY CUTS

11:07 ~U 05.11.13

Several teachers of Armenians secondary schools have contacted the
paper, voicing concerns over expected salary cuts.

They have told the paper that school principals now convene meetings
with pedagogues to warn them of a decision expect to affect their
monthly wages.

While the responsibility for checking written papers and supervising a
class used to be considered an additional workload implying a higher
pay, it is no so under the new decision, says the paper, adding that
the move is expected to lead to a decrease of teachers’ salaries by
10,000-15,000 Drams ($24-$37).

“Hence the long-breathed greetings and high-flown texts addressed to
pedagogues every year on September 1 says nothing about the importance
of their work. The state equalizes their wages to the minimum salary
threshold. That means their role is considered to be the least
important in the society. Next summer, teachers’ salary will increase
by 40%, of course, but that will equal to the salary they get today.

Hence the teachers will gain no benefits of the promised rise. On the
contrary, they will grow socially worse off given the inflation rate,”
the paper

TURKISH MINISTER OFFERS ARMENIA INVESTMENT PROJECTS IN EXCHANGE FOR NAGORNO-KARABAKH

by Marianna Lazarian

Tuesday, November 5, 17:25

“As our Azerbaijani brothers and sisters are still suffering from
the Armenian aggression, Turkey won’t establish any relations with
Armenia,” said Turkish Minister for European Union Affairs Egemen
Bagis.

“As the national leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev stated, we are
indeed “one nation in two states. At present, Azerbaijan is one the
most important investors of Turkey,” Bagis said.

‘APA quotes him as saying that the close energy cooperation between the
two countries (Baku-Supsa, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum,
TANAP and TAP projects) would play an important role in solution of
Europe’s energy problems within several decades.

The minister noted that over the last 10 years, Azerbaijan has highly
developed: “Today, for its pace of development, Azerbaijan and Baku
are able to compete with the world’s major countries and cities. But
in the last decade, the number of Armenian population dropped to
2 million from 4 million. People are leaving the country due to
poverty and economic difficulties and the main reason of exodus is
the Armenian government’s unwillingness to solve the problems with its
neighbours. Unfortunately, 20 percent of the Azerbaijani territories
are still under the occupation of Armenia and the country still has
about a million refugees and internally displaced persons. Armenia
should put an end to its aggressive policy. As our Azerbaijani brothers
and sisters are still suffering from the Armenian aggression, we
won’t establish any relations with Armenia. Yerevan should pass right
decisions that meet the interests of its citizens. A right decision is
the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, establishment of good
relations with Azerbaijan and relevantly with Turkey and Georgia. The
Armenians can take advantage of some regional investment projects in
favor of them by this way. However, right decisions should be passed
to achieve it.”

RUSSIAN EXPERT WARNS AZERBAIJAN AGAINST INVOLVEMENT IN SYRIA, IRAN WARS

November 5, 2013 – 16:38 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Western states will try to draw Azerbaijan into
possible military operations against Syria and Iran, an expert at
the Russian Diaspora Institute said, advising Baku to distance itself
from the involvement in the conflict.

“With Syria’s ally Iran as Azerbaijan’s neighbor, the conflict may
escalate into an international one, with local nations to lose lives
over the West’s political games,” Vitaly Zhuravlev said.

Dwelling on Karabakh conflict, he noted a new war in the republic to
be unlikely. “A new war might lead to major human and material losses,
to be followed by a social explosion and political repercussions.

Responsible politicians cannot afford such games, with major damages
and unpredictable results.”

“Instead, Armenia and Azerbaijan must focus on solving social issues
and boost effectiveness of state administration and social policies,”
Vesti.az quoted the expert as saying.

ARMENIAN FUGITIVE SOLDIERS’ CASE: COVERED UP OR PROMISING HAPPY END? – OPINIONS

17:11 ~U 05.11.13

An Armenian civic activist believes that the Defense Ministry’s
spokesperson downplays the four soldiers’ Saturday escape from a
military hospital by saying that the incident is not linked to any
serious development.

Speaking to Tert.am, Tsovinar Harutyunyan, a member of the civic group
Army in Reality, said she is skeptical about Artsrun Hovhannisyan’s
statement that the servicemen will not face a criminal liability
because they were patients of a psychiatric department.

“The information has to be first of all much more precise and open.

The hospital does really have a psychiatric department which is
isolated from the rest of the clinic, so escaping from there is next
to impossible. If the soldiers receiving treatment in hospital flee
after the arrival of the military police, that already gives way to
concerns,” she explained.

Nazaryan said that the soldiers might have appeared at the psychiatric
department for two reasons: either because they had mental problems
initially or developed certain disorders during service. She called
for further strong efforts to find out the real circumstances that
caused the conscripts to flee.

Nazaryan did not rule out the possibility that the psychiatric
department might serve as a shelter for soldiers not having mental
disorders to facilitate their possible demobilization from compulsory
service.

“[The incident] is being covered up in some way, so it is necessary
to find out what happened inside. We know they bitterly cried out for
help [after fleeing the hospital], which means they were really in a
bad situation,” she said, adding that the escape and the developments
that followed wouldn’t have taken place without any patronage from
superiors.

Margarita Khachatryan, the president of the local NGO Zinvor (soldier),
told our correspondent later, that she has personally visited the
hospital for first hand information on the incident.

“They called me, and I went to hospital; I spent four hours at
the psychiatric department. Two people had fallen into depression,
unable to control their actions. The medical personnel calmed three
of them down, and I was next to them. Four soldiers had taken flight
and later returned after my call,” she said.

Asked what might have caused the soldiers to develop mental problems,
Khachatryan attributed that to individual and family circumstances.

“Separating from the families for the first time and not being able
to adapt themselves to the military unit, some of them appear under a
psychological pressure. If a fellow, who hasn’t ever before separated
from parents, appears on the territory of a military unit, he often
finds himself in a difficult moral-psychological condition. It is
necessary to carry out proper work to prevent them from falling into
depression in the first three months,” she said.

RUSSIAN MILITARY PRESENCE WILL BLOCK PATH OF PAN-TURKISM – MARXIST PARTY OF ARMENIA

November 05, 2013 | 14:49

YEREVAN. – Armenia’s authorities and the forces that have declared
themselves as opposition have been devalued and discredited, and the
external challenges are pressuring the country’s political system.

Marxist Party of Armenia leader Davit Hakobyan noted the aforementioned
during a press conference on Tuesday.

He added that the most urgent matters today are the Nagorno-Karabakh
(Artsakh) issue and Armenia’s bid to join the Customs Union.

As per Hakobyan, the Customs Union is a concealing phrase, which has
absolutely nothing to do with the concept of customs. Instead, in
his view, the stopping of the pan-American hegemony and the setting
up of a new geopolitical center are hidden under the guise of the
Customs Union.

According to the Marxist Party leader, aside from the globalization of
the legislation, Europe will never give Armenia anything to develop
production.

And with respect to the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, Hakobyan
said: “We are launching a new diplomatic process, whereby our task will
be to see the Armenian Republic of Artsakh as an internal political
entity within Russia.”

He stressed that in this case, Armenia will be obligated to recognize
Artsakh as the main conflicting and negotiating party.

Davit Hakobyan also stressed that, first and foremost, the Karabakh
Armenians need peace, and therefore the presence of the Russian army
will not only block the path of Pan-Turkism, but it will be the sole
guarantee of Armenia’s security.

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Content-Description:

MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
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From: Mihran Keheyian
Subject: Armenia defense minister recalls Russian-Armenian agreements

Armenia defense minister recalls Russian-Armenian agreements

November 05, 2013 | 15:06

YEREVAN. ? Minister of Defense of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan called to
mind the Russian-Armenian agreements in the defense sector.

Speaking with news reporters on Tuesday?and responding to a query
concerning the recent statement made by the commander of the Russian
military base stationed in Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Russian
co-chair?s ensuing comment?the minister said:

?We have important agreements and documents with Russia on security
issues, and the Russian side operates within their framework.?

To note, in an interview with Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, Colonel
Andrey Ruzinsky, Commander of the 102nd Russian Military Base
stationed in Armenia, had stated that if the Azerbaijani leadership
decided to restore jurisdiction over Nagorno-Karabakh by force, the
102nd Military Base may enter the confrontation in accordance with
Russia?s obligations within the CSTO. In turn, and during his visit to
Azerbaijan, the OSCE Minsk Group Russian Co-Chair Igor Popov had ruled
out the possibility of such a misunderstanding and promised to clarify
this matter.

Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

VARTAN OSKANIAN TO PUBLISH MEMOIRS

by Ashot Safaryan

ARMINFO
Tuesday, November 5, 13:11

The memoirs of Vartan Oskanian, ex-foreign minister of Armenia and
currently a parliamentarian from the Prosperous Armenia Party, have
been sent to the printer’s, Oskanian’s Office told ArmInfo.

Oskanian tells about his activities at the Foreign Ministry of Armenia,
as well as about the years preceding Armenia’s independence.

The book will be presented in the near future.

To recall, Oskanian was Armenia’s foreign minister from 1998 till 2008.

MOSCOW CONFESSED WHICH SIDE IT WOULD SUPPORT IN WAR?

The notorious Russian commentator, “spokesman” for the Kremlin Maxim
Shevchenko held an interview with News Azerbaijan Agency and revealed
Russia’s vision of resolving the Karabakh issue. Earlier the Russian
propaganda and its Yerevan-based branch offices scared Armenians
with Karabakh in case Armenia would choose Europe. After September
3 Moscow has fully revealed its intentions.

Answering the question on the settlement of Karabakh, Shevchenko said,
“The mystery is that some issues cannot be resolved without military
intervention. Therefore, I think, it is necessary to form an alliance
of those interested in this solution. The mediation by the United
States and the EU simply protracts the settlement of the Karabakh
issue. This conflict would have been resolved faster at a regional
level but the United States, the EU and Israel would not do it.The
regional level is Russia, Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia. Great
powers may look from aside but the past 20 years showed that the United
States and the EU have been unable to resolve the issue of return to
Azerbaijan of their territories, they did not even ensure return of
five occupied territories to Azerbajan. First the Azerbaijanis must
have a chance to return to Shushi and other territories. And the five
territories must be returned to Azerbaijan.”

Hence, Shevchenko reveals Russia’s plan on the settlement of the
Karabakh issue and several important circumstances which first resolve
the return of Azerbaijanis and five territories. If the Armenian side
opposes this plan, the mechanism of military intervention is launched:
“Some issues cannot be resolved without military intervention.”

Besides, Shevchenko discloses that the West is doing everything to
prevent such a solution.

There is nothing new in Shevchenko’s words indeed. Russia has always
been willing for such a solution. Simply everything is stated bluntly
now as Armenia has nowhere to go after the outrageous act of September
3. It is interesting to hear what the so-called Armenian political,
analytical and other circles will say who are yoked to the Russian
propaganda and are already speaking about getting rid of Karabakh
with unhidden joy.

Yet recently the commander of the Russian military base in Gyumri spoke
about the participation of the base in the Karabakh war. Few people
in Karabakh guessed that the base will intervene for the Azerbaijani
side not to allow the victory of Armenians. Now nobody would doubt.

Last year Shevchenko visited Karabakh where the field commanders
explained to him the reality. He confessed that during the first war
in Karabakh he and other commentators, including Nevzorov, received
a task to present the courage of the Azerbaijani army whereas they
would hardly see it in the battlefield. Shevchenko confessed then
that without the help of Russia Azerbaijan would have collapsed as
a state in the first war in Karabakh.

Here is the thing.

Haik Aramyan 13:34 05/11/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:

“START-UP BUSINESS SUPPORT PROGRAM” FOR REFUGEES AND SYRIAN ARMENIANS

13:22 05.11.2013

SME DNC of Armenia with the sponsorship of United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees Country /UNHCR/ is launching “Start-up
Business Support Program” for refugees and Syrian Armenians to help
start-ups to implement their business ideas.

The program involves training and professional consulting components,
provision of information and financial support. The start-up
entrepreneur step by step will develop their business idea and get
information in business planning, marketing, management, production
planning, finance and business skills, as well as under the guidance
of experienced professionals develop their own business programs
during the one-and- a-half-month training and individual consulting.

Moreover, during this stage, the start-ups will be provided with
information and consulting on the state registration procedures
and the other important issues on tax legislation of RA. Later,
they will develop an individual business plan. Another significant
effect of the training is formation of entrepreneurial thinking and
business skills development. In the framework of the program start-up
entrepreneurs have an opportunity to benefit from the financial
support tools provided by the UNHCR and SME DNC of Armenia. The
most realistic business plans, which receive the highest estimation,
will be submitted to lending.

QUELQUE 6 MILLIONS D’EUROS SERONT INVESTIS EN ARMENIE

ARMENIE

Environ 6 millions d’euros seront investis en Armenie d’ici la fin
de l’annee a annonce Sarkis Aghabekyan, president de la commission
pour la politique d’investissement de la chambre de Commerce et
d’Industrie d’Armenie.

” Depuis plusieurs mois, nous menons des negociations avec plusieurs
investisseurs, y compris de la Russie, qui se sont engages a faire 6
millions d’euros d’investissements en Armenie avant la fin de cette
annee ” a-t-il dit, ajoutant que les investissements seront injectes
dans l’industrie alimentaire et de transformation.

Sarkis Aghabekyan a declare que le comite etait en train de negocier
egalement avec sept autres investisseurs armeniens et etrangers
potentiels, qui sont prets a faire des investissements et a promis de
fournir des informations supplementaires une fois que les negociations
seront terminees.

mardi 5 novembre 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com