Author: Badalian Vardan

STOP LICKING THE OLIGARCHS’ BOOTS

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Sept 12 2013

12 September 2013 – 3:57pm

David Stepanyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

A mass protest of young people against the police took place in
Yerevan. Human rights activists, social and civil activists demanded
that the head of the police, Vladimir Gasparyan, bring to account
policemen who pressured and beat young activists and insulted women
who participated in protests against the authorities. The participants
in the protest addressed Gasparyan: “Stop licking the oligarchs’
boots!” and “Read the law instead of a prayer.”

Armenian youth have been becoming active since the beginning of last
year, but real force was gained by the movement after the increase
in public transport ticket prices in Yerevan and the beginning of
the construction of an elite 14-storey residential complex, against
which residents of the neighborhood protested. However, Yerevan Mayor
Taron Markaryan has already stated that “the construction matches
all city-planning norms, and it should be built.” According to Mayor,
demands by young people to dismiss the head of the capital transport
department, Henry Navasardyan, and the director of YerevanTrans,
Misak Ambartsumyan, cannot be fulfilled. On August 24 more than 40
activists were arrested.

People are accused of “disobeying the legal demands of the police,”
which are not clear even for policemen. The police cannot explain
what laws have actually been broken by participants of protests. The
only traditional excuse of the police is “we were told and we did it.”

After the cruel beating of one of the activists, journalist Argishti
Kiviryan, by three policemen, a criminal case was initiated against
him for “using force against a representative of power.” The reason
for the initiation was a report by a policeman, according to which the
journalist “insulted him and punched him, sitting in the police car.”

However, there is a video recording on the Armenian internet, which
shows that the policemen beat Kiviryan.

Considering that, the protesters sent a request to the General
Prosecution Service to provide the right to peaceful meetings,
find out and bring to account provocateurs, provide control over
implementation of human rights and initiate criminal cases against
policemen who violate the law. According to the human right activist
Arthur Sakunz, in the context of intensification of civil movements,
the police stopped differentiating between victims of lawlessness and
criminals, and actually defend real criminals. Arrests of activists
are described by Sakunz as “kidnapping”, as the police have no legal
reasons for them.

Civil disobedience to illegal decisions of officials seems quite
legal. Considering the fact that the peaceful protests are not
directed against policemen, the police have to show tolerance and
not use force. All recent events confirm that the threat of using
force against protesting young people is a political decision of the
ruling oligarchic regime. However, the resolve of the young people
to fight for their rights means that even a police baton cannot stop
further development of civil movements and disobedience of the illegal
decisions made by the authorities.

IT’S ENOUGH TO DRIVE YOU TO CHEAPER FORMS OF DRINK

The Economist
Sept 12 2013

Jun 8th 2013 | TEHRAN

THE middle-class northern suburbs of Tehran are the wet part of Iran.

In no other place in the Islamic Republic are piety and conservatism
less evident and alcohol consumption more so. But a run on the rial
throughout 2012, set off largely by international sanctions on Iran’s
banking and oil, has made imported alcohol too expensive even for
the better-off. Absolut Vodka, long a favourite tipple, now changes
hands for three times more than it did before the currency began to
slide at the start of last year.

This has been a boon for Iran’s Armenian bootleggers, who distil arak,
a cheap and heady moonshine, from raisins. Posh drinkers of the better
brands of whisky and brandy, who would previously have been snooty
about arak, are now turning to it, because its price has stayed fairly
stable at around 100,000 rials (less than $3) a litre. “Business is
great right now,” says an arak dealer. “Many of my Armenian friends
have left for America but they all now say business is better here.”

Alcohol is strictly prohibited for Muslims in Iran. Repeat offenders
can even face the death penalty. But Iran’s Armenians, who are
Christian, are allowed to quaff booze, though those caught selling
it in large amounts are regularly thrown into prison.

Unregulated, home-brewed drinks can be dangerous. The media often carry
stories of deaths caused by imbibing industrial alcohol or the sawdust
that can get into home-made stuff. “If your dealer isn’t Armenian don’t
even think about getting it,” explains a student. This week six people
were reported to have died and more than 350 fell ill in Rafsanjan,
a city south-east of Tehran, after drinking from a bad batch.

Abbas Ramezaninejad, a prominent local imam, said that there may have
been more to the incident than meets the eye. A “plot to defame”
the city was connected, he said, to Iran’s coming presidential
poll. On the very day the victims of alcohol poisoning fell ill,
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former president who hails from the
place, was controversially blocked from running for the presidency.

RUSSIA SOUGHT TO PROVE ITS INFLUENCE IN REGION – ARMENIAN MP

19:28 12.09.13

Speaking at a debate on Armenia’s accession to the Customs Union,
organized by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Tevan Poghosyan, a
Heritage parliamentary group member, said that Russia made that step
to prove it still has influence in the region.

“The decision on Armenia’s accession to the Customs Union is not
what meets Armenia’s national interests. What are our long-term
benefits from joining the Customs Union – adopting Kazakh- Belarussian
traditions?”

Poghosyan is well aware of Armenia’s security problems. On the other
hand, it is Armenia that is maintaining the balance of forces in
the region.

“We must stick to the complementary policy so strong that we should
not be afraid of a war for weeks or even months and, at the same time,
develop our science,” he said.

“As regards economy, we should preserve our old ties. But we are
interested in improving the quality of Armenian products, aren’t we?

Are we to be content with the sale of Armenian wines in the Russian
market?”

Armenia has no analytic centers to estimate the merits and demerits
of agreements with the Customs Union and European Union (EU).

“We do not know if Armenia’s initialing the Association Agreement
will produce negative results. Just a few European experts presented
their analyses. We only say, ‘Russia has said this, and Europe has
said that.’ But Armenia has nothing to say. When we say that Europe
has closed the door, it means a defeatist position. We must have
diplomats that will find the way out of the situation,” Poghosyan said.

ARMENIA’S ACCESSION TO CUSTOMS UNION MUST BE PRECEDED BY WORKING OUT ROAD MAP, EXPERT SAYS

YEREVAN, September 12. / ARKA /. Armenia’s accession to the Customs
Union must be preceded by drawing up a roadmap that will take into
account its political and economic realities and will give also an
answer to a question what it will gain from its membership, Alexander
Markarov, director of the Armenian branch of the CIS Institute,
said today during a Yerevan-Moscow video conference.

“Armenia’s decision to join the Customs Union has caused positive
emotions and the need for critical reflection on this issue by
taking into account the objective political and economic situation
in Armenia,” said Makarov.

According to him, one should take into account such factors as lack of
common borders between Armenia and a Customs Union member country,
energy policies and also the fact that Armenia had sought close
integration with EU.

Makarov added that the decision to join the Customs Union is political
adopted in view of a hierarchy of priorities that include also elements
of economic cooperation.

This view was shared by the director of the Caucasus Institute,
political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan, who said not everything
is so simple with the Customs Union as it may seem.

“The decisions taken in Moscow are political and I’m afraid they have
no alternatives. To ensure that they crystallize into a specific
interaction between Armenia and Russia within the framework of
the Customs Union there should be a process of harmonization,”
Iskandaryan said.

He said the Customs Union is a fairly large number of agreements on
tariff regulations, borders, movement of goods, with a pretty large
number of different exceptions. The Customs Union, in his opinion,
was designed for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, which all are quite
different from Armenia : with Russia and Kazakhstan being oil-producing
and exporting countries, while Armenia imports energy resources.

“The union must develop agreements that would be acceptable for
Armenia. It is of course a technical or bureaucratic way, as the
political decision was made and announced by presidents, and as
I understand it, Armenia will soon be formally invited to join the
Customs Union , however, it will take some time and some reconciliation
work,” he stressed.

Alexander Skalkov from the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian
Academy of Sciences emphasized that there is no roadmap yet and it
is not clear when it may be worked out. He argued that no road map
was worked out for Armenia either to sign the association agreement
with EU.

“I can only express hope that this roadmap will appear after all
and that it will take into account the interests of all the members
of the Customs Union and Armenia and that in future the focus
will shift from politics to economy,” he said. -0- – See more at:

FOOTBALL STADIUM BUILT BY RUBEN VARDANYAN’S SUPPORT IN PARPI

17:23 12/09/2013 ” SPORT

Football stadium opening ceremony was held in Parpi. The stadium is
constructed by the joint support of beneficiary Ruben Vardanyan and
the Parpi community.

The stadium was opened on September 11 by the governor of the community
Ishkhan Arakelyan and the head of the project Arthur Amirkhanyan. The
stadium was blessed by priest Yeghishe of St. Gevorg temple, the
Mediamax reports.

As Ishkhan Arakelyan stated Ruben Vardanyan will be awarded “Ghazar
Parpeci” gold medal for his contribution.

The event was attended by Aram Grigoryan, the head of the Football
and Tennis department.

The event was followed by the match of “Banants” football team of
youth which ended in draw with the score of 2:2.

Source: Panorama.am

ARABISTS HAVE DIFFERENT OPINIONS ON FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF SYRIAN CONFLICT

18:10, 12 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS: Issue of foreign military
intervention in Syrian conflict is temporary suspended.

“Armenpress” reports that such opinion expressed arabists Armen
Petrosyan and Sargis Grigoryan during press conference on September 12.

“In sense of foreign intervention in Syrian conflict is in a state of
temporary stop or “time out”. USA agreed temporary consensus which
is conditioned with several reasons – US arguments for military
attack on Syria were not considered credible neither inside America
nor among its allies. The second important reason was that military
attack could cause rather unpredictable consequences.

Although it was about targeted attacks but it is a fact that nobody
could predict in what direction it would develop,” noticed Armen
Petrosyan mentioning that in case of military intervention the
possibility of unleashing regional war was great.

In his words the expectation on G20 summit were realized and in
future its results were strengthened at first with John Kerry’s speech
and then with the consensus made between Russian and Syrian foreign
ministers. “USA agreed to change the version of military intervention
with the version of peaceful settlement of the conflict.

Now it is Russia’s turn to act,” said Armen Petrosyan adding that
Russia suggestion on establishing international control over Syria’s
chemical weapons is unilateral. “Yet it is not approved which side used
chemical weapon. This initiative is directed only to Syrian government
but it would be more balanced in case it was directed to both sides,”
mentioned the arabist.

Sargis Grigoryan does not share the optimism on peaceful settlement of
Syrian conflict mentioning that current processes take the settlement
of the conflict to deadlock. “I think there are not prerequisites
that trends to settle Syrian conflict peacefully will be noticed in
the policy of foreign forces,” mentioned arabist Sargis Grigoryan. In
his definition suspension of US military attack is directed against
Syrian government. “Syrian government loses chemical weapon which
strengthened its positions inside the country. The fact of being
deprived from chemical weapon is beneficial for Israel and USA,”
mentioned Sargis Grigoryan.

The situation in Syria was aggravated on August 21 when media informed
about using chemical weapons in suburbs of Damascus.

According to some resources 600-1300 people were killed because of it.

After the incident Syrian governmental forces and oppositions announced
for many times about their non-participation in the incident blaming
each other in it. Syrian government on August 25 allowed UN experts
to visit possible places of chemical attacks. Experts left Syria on
August 31. On the same day US President Barack Obama announced about
military attack on Syria in case of approval of Congress. On September
9 official Moscow suggested to international community to come to
a consensus and as a way of peaceful settlement offered Damascus to
give the control over chemical weapons to international organizations.

YURI BASHMET AWARDED ARMENIA’S ORDER OF HONOR

16:28 12.09.2013

Today, President Serzh Sargsyan received the renowned viola player,
conductor, pedagogue, and public figure, the artistic director and
chief conductor of the Moscow Soloists Chamber Orchestra and New
Russia Symphonic Orchestra Yuri Bashmet, who has arrived to Armenia
in the framework of the 14th International Musical Festival Yerevan
Perspectives and who will participate at the concert in the Aram
Khatchaturian Concert Hall dedicated to the maestro’s 60th birth
anniversary, President’s Press Office reported.

The President highly praised activities of Yuri Bashmet and
his contribution to the development and strengthening of the
Armenian-Russian cultural ties, his profound work in the global musical
area and awarded him with the Order of Honor. “I believe your entire
life is a worthy and dedicated service to culture. Your art unites
people. It is really very important, especially in the contemporary
world where problems are abundant,” President Sargsyan said and
expressed gratitude to Yuri Beshmet for constantly standing by and
supporting the Armenian people in times of hardships and times of joy.

The celebrated performer said that it was a great honor for him to
be decorated with such a high award of the Republic of Armenia and
expressed his thanks for the appreciation and warm words.

IT SPHERE IN ARMENIA DEVELOPS NOT THANKS TO THE STATE FINANCING
by Arthur Yernjakyan

ARMINFO
Thursday, September 12, 14:52

The development of the information technologies in Armenia is not
connected with the state financing programmes and with declaring
the IT sector a priority branch in Armenia, deputy chairman of the
public organization “Internet-society”, Grigor Saghyan, made such a
statement on 12 September.

He recalled that in December 2000, according to the decree of Armenia’s
prime minister, IT industry was recognized the priority branch. “The IT
in Armenia has been developing with progress since 2000 but not thanks
to declaring this sector a priority one. “, – he said and added that
the republic has got the development potential thanks to formation
of a good school for IT specialists and mathematicians. He said that
the state financing programmes did not affect the IT development
process. Moreover, some programmes are doubtful. For instance, the
state allocated 20 million drams to the innovation centre “Microsoft”
as a state financing. “It is strange that the state shows financial
aid to “Microsoft”, but not visa versa”, – he said.

He also added that the high quality IT specialists in Armenia earn
$4-5 thsd monthly. They can live very well in Armenia having such a
salary and there is no need to leave the country for abroad looking
for higher salary. “But if the state starts controlling this sphere
and these profits are taxed, it will result in outflow of specialists”,
– Saghyan said.

MP: IT HAS BECOME ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES’ HABIT TO GIVE PROMISES ON ACCESSION TO ALL POSSIBLE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

by Ð~PÑ~HоÑ~B СаÑ~DаÑ~@Ñ~Oн

ARMINFO
Thursday, September 12, 10:56

The impression is that it has become the Armenian authorities’
habit to give promises on accession to all possible international
organizations, Alexander Arzumanyan, MP from the Heritage Faction,
ex-Foreign Minister of Armenia, said in Parliament when commenting
on Armenian Prime Minister’s recent statement that Armenia wants to
become an observer in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

Arzumanyan is bewildered at the fact that the Government’s program
adopted in early 2013 points out further strengthening of cooperation
with the EU and development of cooperation with the CSTO as the
priorities of Armenia’s foreign policy. “The Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation is not mentioned in the program at all. Subsequently,
if the Government’s program has been amended, the Parliament should
be informed of it and should approve the new program”, said Arzumanyan.

He added that the SCO focuses special attention on the fight against
terrorism, extremism and separatism. In this context, the MP said that
a number of SCO member countries, for instance, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan,
and Uzbekistan consider the Karabakh conflict as a separatist movement.

In response, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said that
the matter concerns an observer status in the SCO. As regards the
Karabakh conflict, he said that the SCO had not adopted a single
resolution directed against Armenia’s interests yet.

LEVON ZURABYAN: HEAD OF JACES USED BUDGETARY FUNDS FOR PERSONAL NEEDS

by Karina Manukyan

ARMINFO
Thursday, September 12, 10:59

Head of the Judiciary Acts Compulsory Enforcement Service of Armenia
Mihran Poghosyan used budgetary funds for personal needs, MP from
the Armenian National Congress Levon Zurabyan said in the parliament
on Wednesday.

He said that the service bought a number of cars for personal needs
from Catherine Group, a company owned by Poghosyan. “So, it turns out
that Mr. Poghosyan bought cars from his own self but used budgetary
for the purchase,” Zurabyan said.

He asked the Cabinet members if they were aware of the deal. “If yes,
why then didn’t you make Mr. Poghosyan responsible?” Zurabyan said.

Armenia’s Justice Minister Hrayr Tovmasyan said that none of the
service’s employees has the right to have a business. “You may appeal
to the Ethics Committee if you have any suspicions,” he told Zurabyan.

“But there are documents clearly saying that Mr.Poghosyan is the
owner of Catherine Group. And if you give no adequate response,
you are incompetent or are part of this corrupt deal,” Zurabyan said.

In his turn, Tovmasyan said that Zurabyan is incompetent in law. “To
be the founder of a company and its manager is two different things,”
he said.