Author: Badalian Vardan

SYRIAN FORCES KILL AMERICAN WOMAN IN REBEL AMBUSH – STATE MEDIA

May 31, 2013 – 21:59 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
killed a 33-year-old Michigan woman who was a convert to Islam and a
British man during an ambush on an opposition scouting mission north
of the city of Idlib, Syrian state media said on Friday, May 31,
Reuters reported.

Nicole Mansfield’s aunt, Monica Mansfield Speelman, said the FBI
had informed her that afternoon of the death of her niece, who was
from Flint.

Syrian state television aired footage showing the body of the woman,
who was dressed in a full black hijab. The footage also showed her
American ID.

Syrian state media also reported that a British subject, named as
Ali Manasifi, born in 1990, had been killed in the same ambush. A
European security source confirmed that report to Reuters.

European security officials have said recently that between 70 and
100 British subjects are believed to be in Syria, with most believed
to be fighting with Islamic extremist rebel factions.

The state media said an initial investigation showed that Mansfield
and Manasifi were part of a group on a mission to explore a nearby
checkpoint. A third opposition militant was reported killed, but the
identity was unknown.

Government forces found weapons with the group and several documents,
including a sketch of a security building, state media reported.

Weapons were also found with them.

Speelman said on Thursday she did not have the details of how her
niece had died.

UCOM INTENDS TO PROVIDE ITS SERVICES TO ARMENIA’S GYUMRI

YEREVAN, May 31. /ARKA/. Ucom (Universal Communications) intends
to start providing its services in Gyumri, the second largest city
in Armenia, within three months, Hayk Yesayan, the director of the
company, told ARKA News Agency today.

“We are planning to open our office in Vanadzor by June 15 to 20,” he
said. “This will be the third city after Yerevan and Abovyan where we
provide our services. After that we will start providing our services
to the fourth city’s residents. It is likely to be Gyumri.”

Yesayan said that all the services the company provides to the three
cities will be available also to Gryumri’s residents.

“Now we are carrying out major work to connect cities, and after
that we’ll start building inter-city networks,” he said adding that
the company is going to extend its network to other areas every
three months.

UCom (Universal Communications) established in 2007 provides
telecommunication services. The company, under support from Ericsson,
has created a broadband access network embracing Yerevan. It provides
Internet, IP television and fixed telephony services. -0—

COUNCIL OF CIS HEADS OF GOVERNMENT APPROVES CONCEPT FOR ESTABLISHING CIS INNOVATIVE BANK

YEREVAN, May 31. / ARKA /. The Council of CIS Heads of Government
has approved today a concept for establishing the CIS Innovative Bank
at the end of a meeting in Minsk, Belarus, the press service of the
Armenian government reported.

It said the heads of CIS states have signed also a set of other
agreements, including an agreement on co-ordination of the CIS
countries’ moves for the use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes,
an agreement on cooperation in the field of ecology and official
statistics and other documents.

The meeting has also discussed and signed a document on the list of
activities carried out in 2012 as part of a program on innovation
cooperation until 2020.

At the proposal of the Russian Federation the next meeting of the
CIS Heads of Government will be held on November 20 in Russia. -0-

OFFICIAL “CONCERNS”

May 31 2013

“Unfortunately, the opposition in Armenia is very weak. However,
it is the foundation of any democracy, and we are very interested
in the maturity of the opposition in our country.” We have been
hearing this kind of talk since 1995, and the authors of such “highly
democratic” ideas were, naturally, the current government. Rephrasing
the well-known quote a little bit, one can say that the powers that be
are never so hypocritical as after elections. Ensuring their victory
in elections literally at any cost – mostly using “financial means”
recently – they then shed crocodile tears: oh, how bad it is that there
is no opposition in Armenia! This official “regret” about not having
opposition contradicts the admissions that representatives of the
government make off the record. At the lowest “neighborhood” level:
“We AIN’T GONNA let these guys hang around here: we are the masters
here.” At a higher Republican level: “God forbid that such and such
should become village chief, mayor, or president: he just talks and
we work.” Certainly, those are justifications by which they try to
conceal ordinary fear of losing economic or political levers. Perhaps
one should not seriously argue with such “unofficial” concerns because
we didn’t have an opportunity to empirically check those claims. The
government has professedly changed in Armenia just once, in 1998, but
a part of the government, the Prime Minister and silovik ministers,
not the oppositionists, came to power. Admittedly, as a result of
that “change of power,” some former oppositionists were appointed
to certain offices – members of the National Democratic Union (NDU)
and members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) – but it
is impossible to say that it resulted in something’s demolition or,
the other way around, something’s blossom; the same “inappropriate”
status of government institutions has remained. The style of mastering
hasn’t changed. The following claim has also been among the “official
regrets” expressed in the past 18 years: “The opposition didn’t win
because it wasn’t able to unite.” Although there is a grain of truth
here, but at the end of the day, it is the government’s bait to put
forward the task of “uniting” and then become disappointed if that
task hasn’t been achieved. Whether the oppositionists unite or not,
whether they criticize each other or not gives certain nuances, but
it doesn’t have an impact on the final result when the government
AIN’T GONNA let them. The oppositionists certainly have a lot of
shortcomings, but those cannot be compared to the vices of the
government. ARAM ABRAHAMYAN

Read more at:

© 1998 – 2013 Aravot – News from Armenia

MOSCOW IS WAITING FOR THE TURKISH EXPLANATION

Fri, 05/31/2013 – 16:55

Moscow is waiting for response of the Turkish Government about
the discovery of “zarin” type toxic gas at Turkish-Syrian border,
” INTERFAX ” informs.

“We expect that our Turkish partners will fully and operationally
provide information on the conclusion they came to,” said the Minister
of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov at a press conference.

Lavrov stressed that “the process is very seriously, so that those
who are constantly talking about the chemical weapons problem, go
over it with some games to play.”

“It is necessary to investigate all cases that are connected with
such condition,” said the Russian foreign minister.

Author: Factinfo

A NIGHT SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN FROM ARMENIA WAS OPENED IN ISRAEL

16:00, 31 May, 2013

YEREVAN, MAY 31, ARMENPRESS: The Armenian Union of Israel “Ararat”
has opened a night school for children from Armenia, where the
Armenian language, the Armenian culture and history would be studied
“for the preservation of ties with the historic homeland.” As reports
Armenpress referring to Vestnik Kavkaza, the school was founded due to
the efforts of Mrs. Gevorkyan and the support of the Diaspora Ministry
of Armenia.The ministry will control the learning and teaching activity
of the new school.

In recent times, this organization intensified its activity in Israel.

For example, the Armenian Union of Israel conducts regular excursions
for children to the Armenian district of Jerusalem and introduces
them to the members of the local Armenian community and Armenian
religious activists. Recently the Armenian Union of Israel has
organized celebration of Armenian Easter.

Activities of the Armenian Union of Israel caused amazement of many
natives of the former USSR and the CIS, who live in this country. On
the one hand, the activity is legal as Israeli laws guarantee the
freedom of conscience, development of national cultures to all ethnic
groups. On the other hand, Israeli Law on Returning gives a right for
repatriation to Jews and their families and the majority of repatriated
people from the post-Soviet space identify themselves as Jews. Of
course they try to maintain ties with their historic homelands and
compatriots, and unions and communities are established for these
purposes. But all of them present themselves as “Jews-natives” from
Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Moldova, and so on, emphasizing that
all of them are Jews, first of all, citizens of Israel, and raising
of children is provided, according to Jewish traditions. That is why
appearance of the Armenian Union of Israel was a surprise.

PACE STANDING COMMITTEE ADOPTS DECLARATION ON KARABAKH CONFLICT

14:56 31/05/2013 ” REGION

The Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe (PACE), meeting in Yerevan on Friday, adopted a declaration
on the Karabakh conflict.

The declaration says that the peaceful settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is above the authorities of the Council of
Europe. “In this context we express our support for the activities
of the OSCE Minsk Group for the settlement of the conflict based on
Madrid Principles.”

PACE calls on Armenia and Azerbaijan to use the possibilities of the
presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and,
as two Council of Europe members, to reach reconciliation as well as
to speed up the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement process within
the OSCE Minsk Group.

PACE is ready to do its utmost to speed up the negotiations through
parliamentary diplomacy and to establish mutual confidence between
the parliamentarians of the two member states.

Source: Panorama.am

UNREAL TO EXPECT ANY MOVEMENT ON KARABAKH UNDER CURRENT CIRCUMSTANCES – DAVIT BABAYAN

May 31, 2013 | 12:58

YEREVAN. – The essence of the status quo on Nagorno-Karabakh must
not be perceived in the context of unsettlement of the conflict.

The Armenian side also wants to register movement in the process,
spokesperson for Karabakh president said during Bako Sahakyan’s visit
to the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia on Friday.

Spokesperson Davit Babayan said one of the parties has absolutely
different approach.

“Azerbaijan continues anti-Armenian policy, making a hero of a person
who murdered a sleeping man. In the current situation, it is unreal
to expect any movement or changes,” he said.

He stressed that the current situation in relation to the conflict
is an option too. Moreover, such an approach exists for more than
20 years.

While there is no other approach, such an option is preferred by all
sides: there is no war and peace is maintained.

“We need to constantly maintain the negotiation process, from time to
time ‘reviving’ it. The meaning of statements such as the statement
of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, is that the conflict is
not resolved, so the current situation is more favorable than war,”
Babayan noted.

He stressed that the message of Lavrov’s statement is the need for
a peaceful settlement of the conflict.

During the recent meeting with the Azerbaijani FM Elmar Mammadyarov,
Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov said that the status quo on
Karabakh is unacceptable for Azerbaijan, Armenia and Karabakh.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

ARMENIAN HISTORY MUSEUM TO BE OPENED IN TABRIZ

ARMINFO
Friday, May 31, 10:18

A museum of the history of Armenians living in Iran’s East Azerbaijan
province will be opened in Tabriz.

IRNA quotes Turab Mohammadi, the director of the local cultural
heritage, research and tourism organization, as saying that the local
Armenian council has agreed to provide items for the museum. The
museum will be located at the local 115-year-old Armenian school.

HAYPOST RENOVATED OTHER TWO POST OFFICES IN GEGHARKUNIK

30-05-2013 17:14:26 | | Economy

The official reopening ceremony of “HayPost” CJSC renovated post
offices in Sarukhan and Noratus communities, Gegharkunik marz, took
place on May 30th of this year.

Besides the construction and external decoration works, also the
operation standards are renovated here, the infrastructures are
modified and updated, new computers and equipments corresponding to
the modern software are installed. The post office is provided with
modern security systems and video recording devices.

The trust manager of “HayPost” CJSC, HayPost Trust Management B.V.,
carries on in 2013 the large-scale modernization and development
program of the national postal operator of the RA, which is planning
to modernize 60 post offices and branches till the end of this year,
making them correspond to the new standards. According to the new
program, 8 post offices are going to be renovated in Yerevan and 52
post offices in regions.

HayPost Trust Management attaches special attention to the appropriate
presence of “HayPost” CJSC and the development of the postal and
adjacent services in the regions.

The application of new infrastructures and installations will insure
the possibility to provide more efficient and fast postal, financial
and commercial services to the inhabitants of Sarukhan and Noratus.

HayPost Trust Management is planning to develop the traditional postal
services in the Republic of Armenia, to introduce more modern courier,
financial and commercial services, making “HayPost” CJSC the leading
national postal operator in the region.

HayPost Trust Management B.V.

HayPost CJSC

News from Armenia and Diaspora – Noyan Tapan