Author: Badalian Vardan

ITAR-TASS, Russia
February 14, 2013 Thursday 01:02 PM GMT+4

CIS Mission to contribute to free elections in Armenia – Lebedev

MOSCOW February 14

– The CIS Observation Mission’s task is to contribute to holding free
and democratic elections in Armenia, CIS Executive Committee chairman
Sergei Lebedev said.

Before leaving to Yerevan on Thursday, Lebedev told journalists that
the Mission’s task “is to fulfil its functions independently in
compliance with the country’s law”.

The Mission involved 212 representatives from Russia, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and
the CIS Inter-parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Union State of Russia and Belarus, and the CIS Executive
Committee. “These are deputies of national parliaments, members of
central election committees and election commissions of different
levels, as well as diplomats,” Lebedev said.

He said the Mission and its headquarters had started working in
Yerevan on January 24. They studied the work of district election
commissions for the preparation of the elections in Yerevan, Armavir
and other areas. “Observers were given an opportunity to study the
protocols of the commissions’ sessions and talk with members of the
commissions,” Lebedev said.

In his view, the results of the work prove that the election campaign
“proceeds within national legislation. Presidential candidates have
equal chances for the propaganda in order to inform electors about
their programmes”, the CIS Executive Committee chairman said.

On the day of the elections the CIS Mission will monitor all election
districts. “The Mission will present its conclusions at a press
conference scheduled for February 19,” Lebedev said.

Armenian presidential election process into question – expert

NEWS.AM
February 16, 2013 | 22:03

YEREVAN. – Unlike the previous elections in Armenia, when results of
already completed elections were arguing, the upcoming presidential
elections put into question the entire process, expert Manvel Sargsyan
told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

`The fact that two parliamentary powers [Prosperous Armenia Party and
Armenian National Congress] did not recognize the legitimacy of the
presidential elections and did not participate in it, established an
unusual situation. This unusual situation became more evident when two
of the presidential candidates [Arman Melikyan and Andreas Ghukasyan]
stated that they do not accept the legitimacy of the elections,’ the
expert stated.

Iran’s annual electricity exports to hit $1b: official
Economic Desk

On Line: 10 February 2013 15:15
In Print: Monday 11 February 2013

TEHRAN – The value of Iran’s electricity exports will hit $1 billion
by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20), the Fars
News Agency quoted deputy energy minister Mohammad Behzad as saying.

He added that since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar
year, Iran has exported over 9.2 gigawatt hours of electricity to
neighboring countries.

The amount showed a 33 percent increase in comparison to the same
period in the previous year, he noted.

The managing director of the Iran Power Generation Transmission and
Distribution Management Company (TAVANIR), Homayoun Haeri, announced
on December 15, 2012 that Iran currently trades 12.3 gigawatt hours of
electricity with neighboring countries, namely Turkey, Armenia,
Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Nakhchivan and
Iraq.

Iran seeks to become a major regional exporter of electricity and has
attracted more than $1.1 billion in investments for the construction
of three new power plants.

Iranian Energy Minister Majid Namjou has said previously that by the
end of the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (March 2016),
Iran will have boosted its electricity generation capacity by 25GW to
reach 73GW.

We witnessed collapse of Armenian opposition – Richard Giragosian

NEWS.AM
February 16, 2013 | 16:34

YEREVAN.- If incumbent president Serzh Sargsyan is a chess player, he
must play faster and braver, political analyst Richard Giragosian told
reporters.

Head of Regional Studies Center said Armenian authorities should
implement political reforms more quickly and efficiently.

Asked whether elections will be followed by an uprising, political
analyst said this is unlikely to happen.

`We witnessed the collapse of the opposition. I can not consider
Prosperous Armenia, ARF Dashnaktsutyun, or Armenian National Congress
as an opposition force. In the countries with normally functioning
democracies, political parties are `producing’ political leaders. In
Armenia, the situation is quite the opposite: strong leaders create a
political party around themselves,’ he said, adding that society is
tired of having artificial candidates such as Arthur Baghdasaryan and
Artashes Geghamyan.

Political analyst said Raffi Hovannisian and Hrant Bagratyan are
trying to introduce some ideas, but they lack professional qualities,
professional campaign and strategy.

Adibekian: 44% of NKR residents in favor of unification with Armenia

Saturday,
February 16

Adibekian: 44% of NKR residents in favor of unification with Armenia

Sociometer Center has carried out a survey among citizens of Armenia
and the Nagorno Karabakh Republic with the aim of identifying their
attitudes towards such issues as the normalization of Armenian-Turkish
relations without preconditions and the Karabakh conflict settlement,
the Center’s Head Aharon Adibekian said at the meeting with reporters
today.

According to the survey, 41.5% of Armenian citizens and 31.5% of
Karabakh citizens are in favor of Armenian-Turkish normalization
without preconditions, while 55.2% of Armenian citizens and 65.5% of
NKR citizens are against.

`The Karabakh conflict settlement is the 8th among the most urgent
issues in Armenia and the 7th in the NKR. The most important problems
are economic development, raising wages, educational, healthcare,
court, and legal reforms,’ the sociologist noted.

The survey showed that 44% of NKR residents are in favor of
unification with Armenia, 44% are for independence, 8.8% – for de
facto independence. 0.2% of respondents were in favor of NKR as part
of Azerbaijan, and 3% declined to answer.

`In Armenia, 48.4% of citizens are in favor of unification with NKR,
30.8% are for independence of the NKR, 14.6% – its de facto
independence,’ Adibekian said.

When commenting on the presidential candidates’ positions on the
Karabakh conflict settlement, A. Adibekian said the incumbent
president of Armenia has the most realistic stance.

TODAY, 15:06

Aysor.am

President of the Artsakh Republic Bako Sahakyan convoked an enlarged
working consultation

`4:president-of-the-artsakh-republic-bako-sahakyan-convoked-an-enlarged-working-consultation&catid=11:official&Itemid=23
Friday, 15 February 2013 09:53

On 15 February President of the Artsakh Republic Bako Sahakyan
convoked an enlarged working consultation dedicated to the development
of the mining industry in 2012 and the activities to be carried out in
2013.

Adviser to the NKR President, academician Grigory Gabrielyants, head
of the department of environment and natural resources Vazgen
Michaelyan, heads and responsible representatives of the geological
prospecting and mining industry enterprises delivered corresponding
reports.

In his speech President Sahakyan noted that mining industry was the
youngest and at the same time one of the strategic and perspectives
sectors which had promising opportunities to become the driving force
of economy and among the important sources of employment, already
providing considerable share of industrial output and state budget
revenues.

According to the Head of State the volume of capital investments in
the sphere has increased in recent years both through the channels of
state budget and private sector, considering important the absence of
monopolistic manifestations in the sphere, which boosts sound
competition and dynamic economic development.

The President emphasized that the development of mining industry must
be accompanied with strict maintenance of nature and environment
protection norms. The Head of State stressed that both mineral
resources and nature are the wealth of Artsakh, and development in one
direction should not be at the expense of another, adding that we must
leave for future generations a healthy environment and a dynamically
developing economy.

President Bako Sahakyan also touched upon the current problems and
future plans in the sphere, giving appropriate assignments to the
heads of concerned structures.
National Assembly speaker Ashot Ghoulyan, Prime-minister Ara
Haroutunyan, mining industry representatives, prominent specialists
>From Armenia and abroad, other officials partook at the consultation.

Dink murder suspect denies informant’s claims

February 16, 2013 – 12:53 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Erhan Tuncel, a former police informant and suspect
in the murder case of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, denied
recent claims by an informant that they had planned the murder
together, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

An inmate, referred to as M.A., claiming to have information on Dink’s
killers recently sent a letter to prosecutors.

`I don’t know M.A. I have never been to ArdeÅ?en and Istanbul. That
person is lying,’ Tuncel told daily Radikal. Tuncel, released by the
court in the Dink case, claims that his rights were violated and he
will apply to the European Court of Human Rights.

The informant, who is allegedly serving a prison sentence in Turkey’s
Tokat province in Central Anatolia, said in his letter that he and
Tuncel were supposed to assassinate Dink and three intelligence
officials would oversee them while they committed the crime.

`At that time, I was a gendarmerie informant. After the assassination,
Tuncel and I would go to Artvin first and from there to Georgia and to
Russia with the help of intelligence officials. All the data such as
phone signals and crime scene evidence would be destroyed,’ the
informant allegedly said in the letter. The informant agreed to
cooperate in the investigation provided the protection of his family
was guaranteed by authorities.

Tuncel denied these claims, saying similar claims had been made before
and all of them were revealed to be untrue. `This person is making up
[lies]. Police and the prosecutor should have listened to officials
who have neglected this issue rather than listening to these people,’
said Tuncel.

The informant claimed that he had information on other crimes such as
the murder of Father Andrea Santoro in Trabzon. The informant claimed
Tuncel told him that `we have buried Father Santoro,’ during one of
their conversations. In 2006 Father Andrea Santoro of the Catholic
Church of Santa Maria in Trabzon was murdered. One year later, Dink,
editor-in-chief of Armenian-Turkish newspaper Agos, was murdered in
Istanbul on Jan 19.

The informant also said he and Tuncel had been planning to assassinate
the priest at Hagia Yorgi located on Büyükada, the biggest island of
the Princes’ Islands.

Tuncel, however, denied these claims too, saying `once again, I do not
know this person [the informant]. I have no ties with the
gendarmerie.’

`There is a structure which goes to the [National Intelligence
Organization] MÄ°T, Istanbul Police Department and Trabzon Gendarmerie.
There is a chain of negligence, such as evident destroyed¦ But I was
not involved in [such a] structure,’ Tuncel said.

`The prosecutor claims that the Ergenekon [coup plot] cell in Trabzon
has committed the murder [of Dink] and says evidence of that was
removed because the phone records have been deleted. But prosecutors
can demand these records from TÄ°B [the Telecommunications
Directorate]. I don’t think they are sincere.’

Tuncel cited the negligence of the Trabzon Police Department as
avoiding his 17 reports on the issue and not protecting Dink even
though he had told them that Dink would be murdered. He said a group,
despite being technically pursued by the police, committed the crime.

Tuncel believes that the Trabzon Police Department and Gendarmerie,
Istanbul Police Department and intelligence department should be
prosecuted if they hide or tamper with evidence. There is no convicted
official in this case, he added.

ARMENIE
Les publications de la Banque mondiale aide à améliorer la sécurité
alimentaire et simplifier les inspections en Arménie

La Banque mondiale a sorti une nouvelle publication pour les
producteurs alimentaires arméniens conçus pour les aider à améliorer
les standards de la sécurité alimentaire et devenir plus compétitifs.

La publication « des Directives pour l’Exécution de Bonnes Pratiques
Industrielles et des Bonnes Pratiques d’Hygiène » pourvoit des
conseils aux producteurs sur comment observer l’hygiène de base et les
règles industrielles. Il fournit aussi des conseils pour des
inspecteurs, offrant une approche standardisée pour l’évaluation de la
conformité et de rendre plus efficace le processus de fabrication.

samedi 16 février 2013,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

Reuters AlertNet
Feb 15 2013

ACT Alliance Appeal: Support to Syrian Refugees in Armenia

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 13:24 GMT

Appeal: Armenia
Support to Syrian Refugees in Armenia – ARM131
Appeal Target: US$ 195,774
Balance Requested: US$ 195,774

Geneva, 15 February 2013

The ongoing armed conflict in Syria has caused immense human suffering
and widespread displacement. According to UNHCR, over 820,000 Syrian
refugees are registered or are awaiting registration in neighboring
countries. An estimated 7,000 (and the number is increasing) Syrian
Armenians have fled their homes in Syria to seek refuge in Armenia. Up
to date more than 2,000 families are registered with the Ministry of
Diaspora of Armenia.

Only a small percentage of the refugees have found jobs but most of
them are without regular income to sustain their lives. The Armenian
Government is providing support along with UN agencies and national
and international NGOs. However, only these people who are officially
registered as refugees are benefitting from it.

Already in 2012, the Armenia Inter-Church Charitable Round Table
Foundation (ART) has provided assistance to the most vulnerable
refugees from Syria currently residing in and around Yerevan. With an
amount of appr. 40,000 USD from the ACT Rapid Response Fund project
(RRF 11-2012) ART was able to provide live saving assistance.

With the appeal on hand, ART hopes to raise 195,774 USD to provide
additional support to the most vulnerable refugees for the period of 2
months. The project will be carried out in Yerevan and surrounding
areas and assistance will be provided in terms of food, non-food
items, and psycho-social support to a total of 2,500 people.

In Memoriam: Dr. Nazeli Charchian

Friday, February 15th, 2013
Dr. Nancy Charchian

Dr. Nazeli Charchian, loving wife, mother and grandmother, respected
physician and devoted philanthropist, died in the early morning hours
of Wednesday, January 30th at her home in La Crescenta, CA. She was
64.

Even during her final days, Dr. Charchian, known for her compassion
and good humor, wouldn’t allow anyone to enter her room with a sad
face. Those who dared to make a gloomy entrance would soon be forced
into laughter by one of Dr. Charchian’s signature jokes. On one cool
December day, as she laid in her hospital bed looking out of her
window, she noticed that her older son was approaching. Aiming to
play a joke on her unsuspecting child, she told those who were next to
her bed to hide themselves as she tilted her head, extended her tongue
and acted unconscious. `My mother and everyone else in the room burst
into an uncontrollable laughter the minute they saw my worried
reaction’ recalled her son. `No one would have guessed that someone
was ill in our family.’

Behind her positive attitude and cleaver intelligence, as a powerful
steam engine pulling a train, was an unmatched ambition and vitality
that proved an unstoppable force in her professional, personal and
philanthropic life. When her family immigrated to Argentina in 1970,
she refused to leave her studies unfinished, and, unafraid of being
alone, remained in Yerevan where she obtained her doctorate in
medicine and, on one beautiful spring day, met the love of her life: a
tall young athlete who we know as Dr. David Charchian. `I still
remember her captivating smile the day we met as she came down the
university stairs in her knee high leather boots and bumped into my
chest’ said Dr. David. They soon married and had two wonderful boys.

In 1980, Dr. Charchian and her husband decided to leave behind
lucrative careers as medical doctors in Yerevan to pursue a better
future for their sons in the United States. Without speaking the
language and without any outside support, Dr. Charchian worked hard to
become a doctor once again. `After cooking dinner every evening, I
remember my mom would stay up all night studying’ stated her son.
This hard work paid off as Dr. Charchian soon obtained her U.S medical
license and, together with her husband opened a medical practice in
Glendale, California where they have since treated tens of thousands
of patients.

Despite being a full time physician and a full time mother, wife and
grandmother, Dr. Charchian could not rest without giving back to her
community. Concerned by the pervasive unhealthy choices made by so
many of her patients, she teamed up with Glendale Memorial Hospital
and for two years hosted a weekly television show aimed at educating
the community. In 2003, she became troubled by the fact that so many
of our children could not read the Armenian language and lacked basic
cultural knowledge. To address this problem, she established an
Armenian Saturday School, free to every child, at the Glendale YMCA.
To date this school has graduated over 800 students. Joining the
Friends of UCLA in 2005, she continued her fight by helping support a
permanent Armenian language chair at the University of California.
During this same time, and because she was the daughter of a
`Hadjinsi,’ she became a board member of the Compatriotic Union of
Hadjin and traveled to Armenia to reconstruct a dilapidated school in
Nor Hadjin.

In late 2005, she found her true passion as president of the Anahid
Fund, an organization dedicated to fighting infant mortality and low
birth rates throughout Armenia. Establishing its mission as fostering
1.5 Million births for the 1.5 million killed in the Armenian
Genocide, Dr. Charchian spearheaded a campaign that provided financial
support, prenatal care and education for pregnant women and new
mothers. During her presidency, she was able to support over 2,000
healthy births in the Talin and Maralik regions of Armenia alone.

For her lifetime achievements she has been recognized by the United
States Congress, the California State Legislature, the County of Los
Angeles, and the City of Glendale. In 2012 she received the
President’s Leadership award by the Armenian American Medical Society.

Dr. Nazeli Charchian is survived by her husband, Dr. David Charchian,
her sons Arthur Sevak Charchian and Benjamin Charchian. Her
daughter-in-law Rena Charchian and her two beautiful grandchildren,
David and Harry. She is also survived by her brother, Dr. Pertch
Tchrian, and sister, Madlen Tchrian, of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Funeral services were held on Saturday, February 9 at 10 a.m.at the
Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale.

It was Dr. Nazeli Charchian’s personal wish that in lieu of flowers,
donations be made to the Anahid Fund such that her legacy of helping
the children of Armenia continues. Checks can be sent to the Anahid
Fund at P.O. Box 251201, Glendale, CA 91225 or online at
anahidfund.com.