Author: Badalian Vardan

SYRIAN ARMENIANS TO PARTICIPATE IN SHUSHI SUMMER CAMP

June 12, 2013 – 22:01 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Representation of Armenian Missionary Association
of America (AMAA) in Artsakh will organize a summer camp in Shushi.

According to Karabakh-open.info, AMAA representative Arsen Manasyyan,
the camp to open on June 23 will bring together children and youth
aged 8-25, with Syrian Armenian participants also welcomed.

Another 10-day camp will be organized in Gandzasar, with about 100
Syrian Armenian children aged 10-15 to participate in it.

ARTSAKH PRESIDENT ATTENDS MONTE MELKONYAN’S DEATH ANNIV. EVENTS

June 12, 2013 – 20:08 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – On June 12, Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan
visited the town of Martuni and partook in the events dedicated to
the 20th anniversary of Artsakh hero Monte Melkonyan’s death.

President Sahakyan laid wreaths to the monuments of Avo and perished
soldiers as well as took part in a meeting held in memory of Monte
Melkonyan in Martuni Culture Palace.

Primate of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church
Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan, National Assembly deputy speaker
Arthur Tovmasyan, vice prime-minister Arthur Aghabekyan, head of the
General Staff of Armenia’s Armed Forces Yuri Khachaturov, NKR defense
minister Movses Hakobyan, other officials, guests from Armenia and
the Diaspora partook in the events, Central Information Department
at NKR President’s Office reported.

MPS DO NOT LIVE A LIFE TO BE ENVIED BY OTHERS

09:37 pm | Today | Politics

Republican MP Hrant Grigoryan says his life has not improved following
the 7,2 percent economic growth reported in 2012.

“We live as we lived,” he said.

Another lawmaker of the Republican Party of Armenia, Alexan Petrosyan,
also lives on his ‘modest’ wages.

“The difference of the economic growth is so trivial that one does
not feel it in life,” he said.

MP Vardan Ayvazyan is no longer satisfied with his salary of 260,000
drams.

“At that time, you paid 300 drams for one dollar, today you pay 400
drams. If you compare the dollar-dram ratio and the inflation of the
recent years, you will see that we have sustained significant losses
in these years,” said the Republican MP.

Paymaster General of Armenia Atom Janjughazyan is not as naïve asto say
that people will live better and there will be double-digit economic
growth. “Human needs are growing rapidly, faster than the economy,”
he said.

What can an average person dream of in a country where poverty makes
35 percent? The chief treasurer gave a simple reply, “This man will
no longer want to be poor…”

HOW MANY DAYS A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT CAN LIVE ON $100?

Country – Tuesday, 11 June 2013, 10:41

The draft amendment to the law on minimum wage is on the National
Assembly agenda of the ongoing four-day session. The draft amendment
provides for an increase of the minimum wage by 10,000 AMD, from 35,000
to 45,000. The government has approved the amendment and introduced
it before parliament for immediate consideration. Lragir.am asked
members of parliament if they would survive on a monthly salary of
45,000 drams. “I have never tried. As soon as I try, I will let you
know,” said Republican Sukias Avetisyan. Chairman of the finance
and budget committee Gagik Minasyan, Republican, noted: “Probably,
you know that the salary of MPs is defined by law.” Asked whether
he could survive on a monthly salary of 45,000, he said: “But I have
just told you that your question does not make sense.” Chairman of the
social committee Hakob Hakobyan, Republican, said that 45,000 is the
minimum consumer basket which was based on studies. This sum is enough
for the basic needs for one month. “If my income were 45,000, I would
also be able to live for a month”. Galust Sahakyan, head of Republican
parliamentary group, said that we always wish more than we can. “Of
course, 45,000 is very little. In of family where each earns 45,000,
80,000 or 100,000, they should plan their expenses accordingly.”

According to him, the state wants to improve the quality of life
but it lacks resources. Lyova Khachatryan of Prosperous Armenia said
that he would be able to live a month on 45,000 because he does not
spend money, he produces everything. While an ordinary citizen of
Armenia would live only four days on this salary. According to him,
this increase will not change anything in the life of the citizens
but will boost the burden on the small and midsize businesses.

AZERBAIJAN’S INTERNAL SECURITY IS VITAL TO EUROPE’S ENERGY SECURITY, VIENNA CONFERENCE TOLD

Wall Street Journal, NY
June 11 2013

Azerbaijan is ready to play a greater role in Europe’s long-term
energy security but it has reminded the international community that
in return, Europe, its biggest energy recipient, must acknowledge
the security issues it faces at home.

The conference in Vienna entitled The Geopolitics of Azerbaijan
and European Energy Security, heard Monday from Azerbaijani and EU
politicians, diplomats and experts in international oil and gas. It
was told that the US $60 billion invested in Azerbaijan’s energy
infrastructure since independence means it is well placed to exploit
its 2.6 trillion cubic metres proven reserves of natural gas.

“We can produce a whole lot more,” said Azerbaijan Energy Minister
Natig Aliyev.

But his Azerbaijan parliamentary colleague Elkhan Suleymanov, warned
the stability that has made this bonanza possible is tested on a
daily basis by a conflict most gas end-users ignore – the occupation
of Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenia for the past 21 years.

“The amount of pecuniary damage caused by this war is $US431.5
billion,” he said, quoting from the study published in the U.S. in
2012 called The Invasion of Azerbaijani Lands.

He also highlighted the latest threat to his nation; the dilapidated
Sarsang Reservoir in Armenian-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh that engineers
and hydrologists recently confirmed is at risk of catastrophic failure
and at the mercy of saboteurs due to a lack of maintenance.

“The Sarsang reservoir is in emergency condition,” Suleymanov told
the conference.

“Thus the lives of 400,000 people in six provinces of Azerbaijan are
in danger.”

Despite resolutions in the United Nations, the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe, the Organisation of Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) and the European Parliament, Armenia still occupies
20 percent of Azerbaijani territory.

The ongoing aggression in Nagorno-Karabakh, said Professor Gerhard
Mangott of the University of Innsbruck, proves Nagorno-Karabakh
“cannot be considered a frozen conflict”.

Israeli Ambassador to Austria, Aviv Shir-On, said his nation and
Azerbaijan are both “small nations in difficult neighborhoods” adding,
“We appreciate the efforts of Azerbaijan to establish trade and energy
policies but also a foreign policy consisting of delicate balances
vis-a-vis international and regional organisations.”

The event was moderated by former Austrian Chancellor Alfred
Gusenbauer, who said nations have a habit of forgetting conflicts like
Nagorno-Karabakh because “the newest conflict is the most interesting
conflict”.

He closed by urging the international community to do more to help
find an end of Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijani territory, for
humanitarian reasons as much as reasons of energy security.

SOURCE Azerbaijan Monitor

ARMENIA BUILDS A NEW ALEPPO

EurasiaNet.org, NY
June 11 2013

June 11, 2013 – 8:16am, by Giorgi Lomsadze

To make sure exiles from Syria feel at home in Armenia, the government
has commissioned the construction of an entire settlement called
New Aleppo.

Located 20 kilometers shy of the capital, Yerevan, the residential
project will accommodate some of the thousands of Syrians of Armenian
descent, who escaped the war in Syria.

New Aleppo, named in honor of the wartorn northern Syrian city that
houses most of Syria’s ethnic Armenian population, will sit on 4.8
hectares (some 11 acres) of land in the industrial town of Ashtarak.

Armenia’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs reports that some 600 families
have expressed willingness to move into the development’s apartments.

They will be expected to pay half the cost of the flats; the
authorities and charity groups are expected to pick up the rest of
the tab.

With some 7,000 Syrian-Armenians now seeking residency in Armenia,
the government says that more Syrian quarters will be popping up
across the country as well.

The Syrian Diaspora, estimated to be over 100,000-strong, descends
from ethnic Armenians who fled World-War-I-era massacres in Ottoman
Turkey. Now, a century later, the bloody rebellion in Syria has driven
the community back to what is considered their ancestral homeland.

Some commentators say that preserving the Armenian community in Syria
should be the main priority for Yerevan. Fears exist that the Diaspora
exodus could reduce Armenia’s ability to exert any influence in the
Middle East, long seen as an important Diaspora outpost.

But as long as Aleppo is not safe, the Armenian government is likely to
continue building New Aleppos. The Armenian Diasporas are considered
part of a larger Armenian family, even if they have been continents
and centuries away from the Armenian state.

Yerevan has been fast-tracking visas and residency permits,
facilitating employment and social adaptation for the arrivals from
Syria, often described as returnees. The projects pose a financial
burden for the cash-strapped country, but the authorities hope that
the influx of ethnic Armenians will help boost Armenia’s shrinking
population and contribute fresh entrepreneurial ideas to its economy.

After all, in Armenia, as elsewhere in the South Caucasus, blood ties
are everything.

HISTORIC HAVEN

The Daily Star (Lebanon)
June 11, 2013 Tuesday

The news that Lebanon is a haven for refugees isn’t news, but the
refugee issue is as newsworthy as ever.

The country has experienced three major waves of refugee movement
across its borders in the last 100 years. The first involved the
Armenians, the second was of course the Palestinians, and these days,
Syrians are the latest group to arrive. In between, there have also
been other, smaller waves, such as Iraqis fleeing the Saddam Hussein
regime, for example.

But one can also take a longer-term view. A few “authentic” Lebanese
communities, seen today as defining the country’s very identity, are
in fact examples of refugees themselves, which is often forgotten in
the rhetoric swirling around the issue today.

Over the weekend, a minister from the caretaker government weighed in
on the issue, yet again, to sound the alarm bell, yet again, about the
multifaceted threat posed by the arrivals from Syria. The minister
did touch on part of the issue – the burden on Lebanon is serious
and significant – but also used the type of rhetorical flourish that
generates more hostility than good, when he said “the entire country
has become a camp for refugees.”

Based on this logic, one might expect that Lebanon would have come up
with forward-thinking and durable institutions to deal with refugees,
based on this wealth of experience.

But instead, it’s merely a case of an official complaining about an
issue instead of doing something constructive to tackle it. At the
heart of Lebanon’s laissez-faire approach is the feeling – by some –
that “if we start providing effective means of assistance for refugees,
even more of them will come here.” Here’s the news: They’re already
here, and something must done.

A caretaker executive authority isn’t the best candidate to handle
such a task, but top officials, and the parties that actually run the
show, should take it upon themselves to set in motion some kind of
plan and principled approach to the issue of Syrian and other refugees.

Do political leaders accept the curfews and other arbitrary measures
that are appearing at the local level? Would they accept such measures
against Lebanese in other countries? Is it enough to have a government
body with a few dozen civil servants responsible for the affairs of
hundreds of thousands of desperately needy people, who are trying to
eke out a dignified existence?

Ironically, the same Syrian community that many blame for crime and
other problems is probably helping keep the economy afloat, since
tens of thousands of well-off Syrians have been busy buying property,
enrolling their children in expensive schools and patronizing local
establishments.

Lebanon faces huge burdens when it comes to Syrians and other refugee
communities, but it’s time to acknowledge the country’s centurieslong
status as a haven for persecuted communities and take the kind of
action that helps, not blames, the latest arrivals.

448 UNITS OF FIREARMS CONFISCATED AND HANDED OVER TO POLICE OVER 5 MONTHS

Mediamax, Armenia
June 11 2013

Yerevan /Mediamax/. In January -May 2013, 448 units of firearms and 22
units of gas and air-pump guns were confiscated, found or voluntarily
handed over to the Armenian Police subdivisions.

The majority of the 448 units of guns (307) was handed over
voluntarily, 75 was confiscated and 66 were found, Mediamax was told
in the press service of the Police.

“Out of the 448 units of firearms, 52 were guns, 36- self-made guns,
19- firing guns, 41- rifle, 4- self-made rifle, 283- various types of
factory and self-made guns, 11- various types of factory and self-made
grenades, 2 – shooters”, the Police reported.

61 unites of firearms and 18 units of gas or air-pump guns were found,
confiscated or voluntarily handed over to the Police subdivisions in
Yerevan which makes the 13.6% of the overall weapon.

During the first phase of the “Zinanots- 2013” action carried out by
the Police, 177 illegal units of various shooters were confiscated
or voluntarily handed over.

VARDAN GHUKASYAN DID NOT TURN UP IN COURT AGAIN

08:56 PM | TODAY | POLITICS

A court in Armenia’s Shirak provice today continued the hearing of
the murder case of Karen Yesayan, the would-be son-in-law of former
Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan.

The court is already finishing the questioning of witnesses. During the
last hearing the court decided to subpoena the last five witnesses,
including ex-mayor Vardan Ghukasyan and his daughter who earlier
refused to testify in court. However, the group did not show up at
today’s hearing either.

Yesayan was found dead in his Mercedes vehicle in the vicinities
of the city’s Mother Armenia statue on the day of his engagement
with Ghukasyan’s daughter in April 2012. A few days later the local
police detained Harutyun Sargsyan, the son of Samvel Sargsyan, former
chief of police for the town of Ani, on suspicion of the murder. The
controversial murder was first believed to be motivated by jealousy,
but then it was said to be politically motivated.

Ghukasyan, who is a member of the Republican Party of Armenia, said
that the detainees were members of the electoral headquarters of
Prosperous Armenia Party [PAP] in Gyumri and linked the murder to
the electoral process underway in the city.

For more details, watch the video of Gyumri’s GALA TV.

BHK ASSESSES STATE BUDGET REPORT AS UNSATISFACTORY

Wednesday,
June 12

“The poverty index in Armenia is 36%, whereas the government promised
to reduce poverty to 25%. The government pledged to turn Armenia into
a regional business and investment center, but it failed to do it.

Moreover, after all this they declare that we need to change our
way of thinking,” the deputy of Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK)
parliamentary faction Tigran Urikhanian said today.

In his words, the government cannot explain how per capita GDP has
declined in parallel with the growth of Armenian economy.

“We will support the government if it works well, but the current
socioeconomic policy of the government does not contribute to problems’
solution and for that reason BHK refused to enter the coalition,”
Urikhanian said.

He stated that BHK assesses the state budget execution report as
unsatisfactory.

TODAY, 17:40

Aysor.am