Author: Badalian Vardan

AZERBAIJAN’S RULING PARTY: KHOJALY AIRPORT ISSUE IS ARMENIA’S ANOTHER TRICK AND PROVOCATION

Trend, Azerbaijan
April 1 2013

Azerbaijani side wants the OSCE Minsk Group to put pressure on Armenia
and take measures to force Armenia to peace in order to achieve peace
in the region. This was told the official website of the ruling New
Azerbaijan Party by the NAP Deputy Executive Secretary, MP Mubariz
Gurbanli on Monday.

“Unfortunately, the Minsk co-chairs, as intermediaries, allow the
postponement of this issue’s resolution,” MP said.

Alongside, Gurbanli stressed the importance of continuing the process
of negotiations and noted Azerbaijan’s continuous involvement in
the process.

According to him, despite many provocative steps undertaken by Armenia,
Azerbaijan patiently remains involved in the negotiations.

NAP Deputy Executive Secretary said there was a need for a visit of
co-chairs in the region in the context of the recent downturn in the
negotiation process.

Touching upon the issue of Khojaly airport, Gurbanli noted that it
was another trick of Armenia.

“Armenia does not need the Khojaly airport. Opening flights between
Yerevan and Khojaly is of no significance neither economically
nor from a different perspective. In case of opening the flight,
there will be no major outflow and inflow from Yerevan to Khankendi
and vice versa. The statement on the opening of this flight is just
another Armenian provocation,” he added.

According to him, Armenia wants to divert attention from other problems
and direct the efforts of both international and Azerbaijani diplomats
to the issue.

“Alongside, by putting the issue on the agenda, the Armenian side
is trying to further provoke Azerbaijan and benefit from steps to
be taken by Azerbaijan in case of opening the airport. Azerbaijan is
perfectly aware of all this and openly states its position,” he added.

He emphasized that regarding this issue, there is a requirement of the
International Civil Aviation Organization, as well as international
law norms.

“While this is not adhered to, the opening of this flight will
be considered illegal. International organizations, co-chairs and
certain states have criticized Armenia’s attempts. At the same time,
the co-chairs should demonstrate a particular position. Armenia should
know that this provocation will turn against it,” he added.

According to information released by the Armenian media, the General
Administration of Civil Aviation of Armenia will permit civil aircraft
flights in the occupied Azerbaijani territories. Head of the General
Administration of Civil Aviation Artyom Movsisyan did not name the
specific date, however, according to him, the flights will be served
by a 19-seater Armenian aircraft, and duration of flights will be
45-50 minutes.

Earlier, Armenian media reported on the intended commissioning of
the airport in Khojaly in the near future.

The commissioning of the airport is an open violation of the
Convention on International Civil Aviation (adopted on December 7,
1944 in Chicago), the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reported earlier.

Azerbaijan will strengthen the legal level use of the application of
the Chicago convention.

Azerbaijan banned the use of the airspace over Nagorno-Karabakh
occupied by Armenia, as no one can guarantee safe flights in the area,
the Azerbaijani Civil Aviation Administration said earlier.

According to Azerbaijani Civil Aviation Administration, Armenia’s
steps towards the operation of the airport are attempts to violate
international aviation law.

This air space belongs to Azerbaijan, so its use by Armenia is illegal.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the European
Civil Aviation Conference (ICAC) also support the position of
Azerbaijan on this issue.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994.

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France and the U.S. –
are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

ARMENIA’S ARMAVIA AIRLINE STARTS BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS

USA Today
April 1 2013

YEREVAN, Armenia – Armenia’s national airline, Armavia, has declared
the start of bankruptcy proceedings.

The carrier said in Friday’s statement that it will halt flights during
the upcoming week. Armavia currently has 14 aircraft conducting more
than 100 flights a week to 20 countries.

Russia’s civil aviation authority said Armavia has an outstanding
debt of $1.4 million to Moscow’s Vnukovo airport and smaller debts
to two other airports in southern Russia.

Armavia’s owner, Mikhail Bagdasarov, announced his intention to sell
the company last year, but has failed to find a buyer. Bagdasarov
attributed Armavia’s troubles to the global economic downturn and
losses from using a new Russian-made Sukhoi superjet.

The landlocked ex-Soviet nation’s economy has been hobbled by the
longstanding closure of its borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey over
the conflict Nagorno-Karabakh.

TURKEY’S BORAJET CANCELS DIRECT FLIGHTS BETWEEN VAN AND YEREVAN

Balkans Business News
April 1 2013

Direct flights between the Turkish city of Van and the Armenian
capital Yerevan have been canceled before they even began operating.

BoraJet, the company handling the flights, canceled the agreement
after a low number of passengers during preliminary flights, Deputy
Governor of Van Mehmet Yuzer said.

However, an Armenian tour agency, Narekavank, issued a statement March
29 saying that it was the Turkish aviation authorities who suspended
the first flight between Yerevan and Van.

According to the agency, the decision was made on March 28 by Turkey’s
General Department of Civil Aviation.

“The organizers were keen on staying away from politics. It is very
sad and discouraging that Turkish authorities were not able to do
the same and eventually let politics interfere with this promising
initiative,” the statement read.

Turkey’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation declined to comment
and BoraJet officials have said the reason for the cancelation were
passenger numbers far below the capacity of the flights.

Yuzer also said the Directorate did not inform them of any such issue
and that the decision was made only by BoraJet.

“We were not informed by Turkey’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation
to cancel the flights. The necessary permissions were already granted
by Iran and Armenia,” Yuzer told the Hurriyet Daily News on March 29
in a phone interview.

The flights were planned to operate on April 3, despite closed borders
between the two countries, marking the first of their kind for Turkey’s
eastern cities. Source; Hurriyet

THOUGHTS ABOUT A GENERATION OF ARMENIAN CHESS MASTERS

23:07, April 2, 2013

I want to finally comment on an article that appeared on Motherboard
lauding the Armenian Ministry of Education for making chess education
in schools compulsory. Apparently the Armenian government has finally
realized that the incessant brain drain will leave the country with
an inadequate leadership in the not so distant future. The idea is
that by playing chess regularly, kids will learn how to strategize and
hone their decisiveness. This move contrasts with the Chinese method
of producing a master intellectual race by meddling with genes. The
Armenian government has already spent $3 million on facilities and
equipment.

“Chess develops various skills – leadership capacities,
decision-making, strategic planning, logical thinking and
responsibility,” Minister of Education Armen Ashotyan told Al
Jazeera in a recent interview. “We are building these traits in
our youngsters.”

Yet in parallel the Armenian government should also be taking
initiatives to ensure that those youngsters will remain in the country
10 or 15 years from now. It’s no secret that the quality of education
provided by public colleges and universities is by and large mediocre
at best and bribe taking is a common practice within faculties.

Investment in information technologies and science industry is still
relatively low, which means the jobs they will expect probably won’t
be there when they graduate and want to enter the workforce unless
policies change now. Ashotyan himself paradoxically stated last
November that scientists are better off working outside Armenia.

My clear concern is that they won’t be able to apply those traits
of critical thinking and leadership in their own society and would
rather be compelled to pursue conduits through which to conduct
those skills outside Armenia. Drastically needed nation building may
not happen to its maximal capabilities if this upcoming crop of new
talent is not permitted to utilize their skills alongside an explicit
criminal-obsessed subculture that tends to spurn intellect. You can
only have so many players on the national chess team.

Read full article in Footprints

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT AT ALAVERDI COPPER SMELTERY WAS DUE TO WORN-OUT STATE OF THE CHIMNEY

ARMINFO
Tuesday, April 2, 22:03

Vallex Group has confirmed the industrial accident at the Alaverdi
copper smeltery. The company told ArmInfo that the industrial accident
occurred at the plant on March 31 2013. In particular, the chimney
of the copper smeltery collapsed. The tightness of the chimney was
partly restored right after the accident. The work of the copper
smeltery was temporarily suspended Apr 2 morning in order to solve
the problem completely, i.e. to fully restore the chimney tightness.

The press service of Vallex reports that the accident may have been
caused by a worn-out chimney, built as long ago as 1997. Well aware
that the chimney was old, in Sept 2012 the company started installing
a new one, with the work to be finished in a month.

BROSHYAN MAYOR, AN ARF MEMBER, MURDERED

April 2, 2013

YEREVAN (A.W.)-On April 2, Hrach Mouradyan, mayor of the village of
Broshyan, was found dead, killed by a shot to the head. Mouradyan
was a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), and was
serving his third term as mayor of Broshyan, a village in the Kotayk
province. Mouradyan was 50 years old, and had been mayor since 2005.

The police has launched an investigation.

Hrach Mouradyan

The Supreme Body of the ARF in Armenia released a statement calling
the incident a “premeditated murder,” adding that the crime was the
result of an atmosphere of impunity and intolerance.

Mouradyan was a dedicated member of the ARF who had fought during
the Karabagh war, and was awarded numerous medals for his service.

Although liked by most residents of Broshyan, Mouradyan was also
despised by a few. “The numerous threats and intimidation directed at
him finally led to this end,” read the statement. “We note with pain
that in our country the safety of citizens is not guaranteed; criminal
acts constitute an inseparable part of our life. The treacherous
bullet that snatched the life of Hrach Mouradyan was directed not
only at a noble Armenian and the compassionate leader of a community,
but also at the Armenian republic and its integrity.”

The ARF demanded that the investigation proceed in a speedy manner, and
that the perpetrator(s) be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

CHER’S FAMILY SUBJECT OF LIFETIME DOCUMENTARY

13:57 – 02.04.2013

Lifetime will premiere an hour-long documentary that pays tribute to
Cher’s mom Georgia Holt on May 6.

“Dear Mom, Love Cher” will focus on the singer’s family history
and features interviews with Holt, her daughters Cher and Georganne
LaPiere Bartylak, and grandchildren Chaz Bono and Elijah Blue Allman.

The documentary will begin with Holt’s childhood in rural Arkansas
and chronicle her six “tumultuous” marriages while she helped Cher
to pursue a career.

YEREVAN TOPOLOGY-RPA IN THE ROLE OF A HOLE

2013-04-03 14:43:05

What will “Prosperous Armenia” do, if the municipal elections will
be held with alternate shameful fraud, what will “Heritage” party
do, if the Republican Party of Armenia will win again, what will ARF
“Dashnaktsutyun” do, if “Rule of Law” party has once again highlightes
its logic? These are questions that are repeated by a chain reaction
every time during the elections in Armenia.

These processes eventually become like a topology-things change from
one election to another, the behavior of the political forces changes,
the mood and motivation change, and finally, fighters and leaders in
this eternal struggle change, however, as in physical appearance, with
the famous example of circles and donut, when the circle is deformed
into a bagel, changing its appearance, and the subject of key study
and the only constant factor is the hole, and in this situation all
is changing -environment, appearance, face and thoughts, but today
Serzh Sargsyan together with his party remain as a “hole”.

And, of course, the only matter in the course of these years, which
can be considered to become the subject of research, of course, is
the phenomenon of the Republican Party, which in spite of domestic
and foreign permanent deformation and changes, yet remains in the
country in its unique and main plane.

Carrying out statistical analyzes in the next elections, the police,
why not also the defender of human rights and the National Security
Council in the face of Arthur Baghdasaryan must seriously address the
RPA study, which, despite the increase in the level of consciousness
and numerous protests of Armenian citizens not only in the Freedom
Square, but just in the presidential elections on February 18, is
preparing for another victory.

Based on the evident desire of the Republican Party to always win,
it will be simply shortsighted not to register once again victory
of the Republican Party, in spite of the sustained strain. List of
RPA Council of Elders is the same, this time has remained the same-
the topology of Armenia has changed in the topology of Yerevan,
the hole is the same-power.

Let’s hope that this Yerevan topology will not have the symptoms that
have been observed during the presidential elections, and that this
time, in the case of a real changes in real Yerevan this hole will
be absent.

Gevorg Avetisyan

POLICE SAY BULLET TO THE HEAD KILLED PROSHYAN MAYOR

12:15, April 2, 2013

Police now report that Proshyan Mayor Hrach Mouradyan died from a
bullet wound to the right side of the skull.

Mouradyan~Rs body was found earlier today in the vicinity of his
office in the village of Proshyan.

There are no suspects so far in the murder investigation.

RAFFI HOPES MURDER OF VILLAGE HEAD IS NO SIGNAL OF VIOLENCE

Today few people greeted the leader of the Heritage Party Raffi
Hovannisian in Talin town. Lots of policemen were deployed to follow
the participants of the rally. People of Talin mentioned a general
atmosphere of fear in the town to the reporter of Lragir.am.

“The police came to the square earlier than us. It is a working hour
so there are few people. Besides, there is fear in people,” said a
resident of the town. Some women blamed the people of the town for the
situation. They said everyone is dissatisfied but they do not come to
the square because they think God will change the government for them.

Raffi Hovannisian told the people of Talin that they showed they
are overcoming fear and threats. “We have come to thank you for
your support. On April 9, at 11 we will gather on Freedom Square and
declare new Republic of Armenia. It will not be a day to stay at home
and make toasts. We hope they will not close the roads on that day,”
he said. Raffi Noted that he will not break his promise to people,
and people must not betray their struggle.

Raffi Hovannisian expressed hope that the murder of the head of
Proshyan village is not a signal to bring a precedent of violence.

“God forbid and people forbid that some masses behind people who have
connections with some forces repeat the sad past of killing their
brothers. We will not have that,”Raffi Hovannisian stated.

After Raffi’s words people on the square were heard say, “This is
our end, they are already intimidating and killing.”

12:28 02/04/2013 Story from Lragir.am News: