Author: Badalian Vardan

STREET TO BE NAMED AFTER HRANT DINK IN TURKEY

15:23, 5 February, 2013

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 5, ARMENPRESS. The Malatia Municipality has made
a decision to rename after Hrant Dink the street, where the former
editor-in-chief of the Istanbul-based “Agos” newspaper was born. As
reports “Armenpress” citing “Agos” periodical, the Mayor of Malatia
Ahmet Cakır stated this.

Among other things the Mayor of Malatia Ahmed Cakır noted that
there are a number of streets in Malatia bearing the same names and
while making decision on renaming the streets the municipality paid
a special attention on the fact what contribution to the public life
had made the people, who were born in those streets and died because
of certain reasons.

6 years have passed after the assassination of prominent Armenian
journalist from Istanbul, chief editor of “Agos” weekly Hrant Dink.

Hrant Dink was shot dead in Shishli district of Istanbul on January
19, 2007.

EUROZONE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BETTER THAN EXPECTED

February 5, 2013 – 14:44 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Further evidence has emerged that the economy of
the 17 European Union countries that use the euro has started 2013
better than many people had expected, The Associated Press reports.

Markit, a financial information group, says Tuesday, Feb 5, that its
monthly purchasing managers’ index for the eurozone’s services sector
– a closely-watched gauge of activity – rose to a ten-month high of
48.6 in January from 47.2 in December.

Though the index remains below the 50 mark that would indicate
expansion, the survey does echo findings elsewhere that the eurozone
economy may be over the worst. Markit’s equivalent manufacturing
survey last Friday was similarly encouraging.

Though figures next week are expected to show the eurozone remained
in recession in the final quarter of 2013, there are hopes a recovery
may take root by summer.

BRANDY PRODUCTION IN ARMENIA CLIMBS 20.2% TO 18 481.4 THOUSAND LITERS IN 2012

YEREVAN, February 5. /ARKA/. Brandy production in Armenia hiked 20.2%
in 2012 year over year to 18 481.4 thousand liters, according to the
National Statistical Service of Armenia.

Wine production within the reported period slashed 7.7% to 5713.7
thousand liters.

Vodka production rose 10.2% to 10 068.8 thousand liters, champagne
production tumbled 23.2% to 478.8 thousand liters. Moreover, in 2012
Armenia produced 13 668.2 thousand liters of beer (7.3% down from a
year earlier).

Non-alcohol beverage production advanced 1.2% to 45 216.6 thousand
liters within the reported period. -0-

AUTHORITIES-APPOINTED JUDGES AS SOVIET-TIME CENSORSHIP – ARMENIAN OPPOSITION REP

TERT.AM
14:51 ~U 05.02.13

With respect to the latest developments surrounding the Zhoghovurd
(People) daily, freedom of speech in Armenia and suits against mass
media, sociologist Aharon Adibekyan, as well as Gurgen Yeghizaryan,
a member of the opposition bloc Armenian National Congress (ANC),
and Sona Grigoryan, a reporter for the Zhoghovurd daily, shared their
opinions with journalists on Tuesday.

Experience shows that the strong and rich always won when the judicial
system dealt with an opposition or independent media outlet. “The
authorities-appointed judge is playing the role of censorship of the
Soviet times,” Mr Yeghiazaryan said.

One million people are hungry in Armenia, and they are leaving
the country not only because they are hungry, but also because of
injustice, he added.

On January 24, the Zhoghovurd daily received a court verdict returned
by Judge Ruben Apinyan. The verdict attached the newspaper’s AMD 3m
worth property. Thus the court upheld a claim lodged by Mr Khachik
Khachatryan, the owner of the Yerevan Poultry Factory OJSC.

A protest was held in Yerevan in defense of the Zhoghovurd daily.

Sociologist Aharon Adibekyan believes that such actions should be
supported by a number of journalists’ organizations and unanimity.

“Mr Khachatryan is unaware of the problems he is going to face. I do
not think the European Court will defend him,” Mr Adibekyan said. He
pointed out the absence of public control over Armenia’s judicial
system.

Ms Grigoryan noted that Mr Khachatryan demands AMD 3m compensation
from the newspaper for reporting that they sell eggs with expired
keeping time.

“He claims he is going to use the three million for charity,” she
said. Ms Grigoryan is sure that Mr Khachatryan is not acting by
himself. His close friends include Mikael Minasyan, son-in-law of
Armenia’s incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan, and other people.

AZERBAIJAN HARDLY TO MANAGE TO SHOOT DOWN PLANES FLYING TO STEPANAKERT – EXPERT

TERT.AM
15:19 ~U 04.02.13

The civil planes that will fly from Yerevan to Stepanakert will appear
on Azerbaijani radars for 1-2 minutes after landing which is a very
short period for the Azerbaijani side to use the moment and harm the
planes, military expert Davit Jamalyan told the reporters on Monday.

He convinced that Baku’s statements on shooting down the planes are
of more propaganda nature.

After they fail to do anything, they will start ignoring the flights.

“No doubt, Aliyev’s statements have inner-political context, but if
Baku is convinced it can shoot down the planes nothing will stop it,”
he said, adding that the fact that the Armenian side may give them
adequate response restrains them from this step.

Jamalyan said the opportunities of Armenia’s air defense systems
give our minister an opportunity to state about the security of the
flights. “It is very difficult to harm planes technically and besides,
the Armenian side is undertaking necessary steps to ensure safe
flights,” he said, stressing that operation of Stepanakert airport
is unavoidable.

“Zerkalo”: Azerbaijan Is To Have Serious Demographic Problems; Young Generation Against Of Having More Than One Child

14:17 04/02/2013 ” SOCIETY

“It should be noticed that many Azerbaijani families do not want to
have more than one child because they are not sure that they will be
able to feed them, maintain properly and provide them with education.

To date the child has become, pardon me for the cynicism, an
“expensive pleasure”, how much money is spent on food, diapers,
kindergarten, etc. Often these costs cannot afford even people with
average incomes, not to mention the low-income families,” the
Azerbaijani paper Zerkalo reports.

According to the article demographers believe that in 20-30 years
Azerbaijan will face problems with aging of population. According to
statistics, during 2012, the rate of births in Azerbaijan amounted to
an average of 479 babies a day. This means that compared to last year,
the average fertility rate decreased from 19.3% to 19.1%. In
Azerbaijan, there are 1.3 million families that have children under
18. Some of these families (529,000), have two children. In the same
time, in towns and villages the figures are identical.

There are 261 000 families in Azerbaijan that have three children and
more than 126 000 (10% of all families) have four children.

The author points out that if the government wants to increase the
birth rate in Azerbaijan, it should take care of the financial side of
the problem and to pay normal child benefit and not the ridiculous
amount of money that is provided now, to take care of the free
kindergartens and nurseries, etc. The article brings the example of
Russia, where “maternity capital” is given for the birth of each child
which gives the parents at least some confidence that they will be
able to bring up their children normally, and not just to give birth
to a child, who is doomed to a perpetual need.

The author also notes that increasing the birth rate can help the
fight against unemployment. He notes that the unemployed cannot risk
giving birth to children but if they are given a job, the problem will
be solved the family will get a stable income, and they will give
birth to children.

“The current Azerbaijani youth is really against of having several
children in the family. Most of the couples want to have only one
child, while back in the Soviet times there was almost no family with
less than 2-3 children. Then, the material welfare for some reasons
was not taken into account too, even in the poorest Azerbaijani
families many children were growing. Today even among those who are
well-off there are many who have only one child,” the material says.

The article says that a lot of money is spent on providing the child
with the most necessary things. That’s why, people in Azerbaijan are
afraid of having many children, The Mirror writes.

Source: Panorama.am

STEPAN DEMIRCHYAN BACK TO LEGISLATIVE WORK AFTER SURGERIES

3:39 04/02/2013 » SOCIETY

Member of Armenian National Congress (ANC) parliamentary faction
Stepan Demirchyan is attending today the first sitting of spring
session of Armenian National Assembly of fifth convocation after
undergoing surgeries abroad.

Head of Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) parliamentary faction Gagik
Tsarukyan is also attending today~Rs sitting. According to
Parliamentmonitoring.am, Tsarukyan is one of the MPs who had poor
attendance record during the previous session of parliament.

Source: Panorama.am

EXPERT SLAMS TURKISH INDIFFERENCE TO ANTI-ARMENIAN ATTACKS

February 4, 2013 – 17:23 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – A Turkologist commented on a February 1 blast
outside the U.S. embassy in Turkey at a news conference in Yerevan.

“At first, Syria was blamed for the attack. Very soon it became clear
that outlawed Turkish center-left forces, who’ve long been refraining
from anti-U.S. acts, are behind the explosion,”Andranik Ispiryan said.

According to international affairs expert Menua Soghomonyan, the
center-left forces aim at establishing a socialist order and release
of political prisoners in Turkey.

The expert further criticized Turkish authorities’ indifference to
recently increased attacks on Armenians in Istanbul.

“Turkish authorities didn’t fail to dub the embassy blast as terrorism,
while completely ignoring attacks on Armenians,” the expert said,
slamming the fact as “permissiveness.”

FBI JOINS SEARCH FOR MURDERER OF US MOM SIERRA, ISTANBUL POLICE TO TAKE DNA SAMPLES

ISTANBUL – Hurriyet Daily News

AA Photo The FBI is playing a significant role in the investigation
into the death of a New York City woman found dead in Istanbul while
on a vacation, a U.S. congressman has said.

Rep. Michael Grimm, a former FBI agent, said U.S. investigators were
invited by Turkish authorities to assist as they try to find out what
happened to Sarai Sierra, The Associated Press reported Feb. 4.

Grimm and Sierra’s parents, Betzaida and Dennis Jimenez, said the
family’s immediate concern was repatriating Sierra’s body to the U.S.

The Istanbul police will collect blood, DNA and saliva samples from
21 people who testified earlier about the death of Sierra, who had
been missing since Jan. 21.

Sierra’s body was found in Sarayburnu, 13 days after she went missing,
with evidence of head injuries. Her jewelry was still on her, but her
tablet computer and smart phone were gone. A blanket was found nearby,
suggesting Sierra may have been taken from another crime scene to
Sarayburnu. The police have been searching for the tablet and the
mobile phone with detectors in the surrounding area.

The samples are expected to be collected Feb. 5 upon a demand by
Istanbul prosecutor Huseyin Kaplan, Dogan news agency reported. The
prosecutor had listened earlier in the day to Sierra’s husband Steven
Sierra and her brother David Jimenez, who came to Turkey to search for
their lost relative. The family collected Sierra’s body later on Feb.

4 from the Forensic Medicine Institute following a post-mortem.

Her body was taken to a morgue at an Armenian church, Surp
Yerrortutyun, before being sent to the U.S.

Preliminary autopsy results from Sierra’s body suggest the cause of
death was a single blow to the head. There was no evidence of sexual
assault, according to initial reports. However, the results of the
full autopsy report will reportedly be announced in three months.

Crime scene investigators arrived on the scene early on Feb. 4,
accompanied by security officials and canine units.

The Fatih Municipality cleared the bushes from the area to make the
search easier for officials, according to Anatolia news agency. Some
260 policemen searched for Sierra using Istanbul’s security cameras
after she was reported missing on Jan. 25.

Sierra’s mother said her two grandsons did not yet know what had
happened to their mother. “Their father is going to talk to them when
he comes back, and we’ll all be there to support him,” she told NBC’s
Today show on Feb. 5.

“I wanted to see my daughter alive. At least we have closure. At least
they found her,” mom said in tears. “There are some people who are
still waiting for their loved ones,” the New York Times Daily News
quoted her as saying.

Sierra’s sister could not join them “because she’s too broken. All she
does is cry.” “I wanted to see my daughter, her beautiful smile. She
was full of life. She loved her children, her husband. She was my
friend. We did many things together.”

“We traveled together. This was the first trip she took by herself,
taking photos and photos she took,” Sierra’s mother said. She thanked
the Turkish police and an association in Istanbul for missing loved
ones for sharing Sierra’s photo while she was missing. Her brother’s
church also helped fund the trip to bring her back, mom said.

Sierra’s father, Dennis, recalled when going to pick her up from the
airport. “I didn’t want her to go, but she wanted to go because this
was an opportunity for her to sight see and to pursue her photography
hobby,” he said.

“Turkey was a land of rich culture and ancient history. She was very
fascinated with that.” He said she kept them abreast of every side
trip and move she made and talked daily on Skype.

Sierra’s body taken to Armenian Church

Body of missing US woman found in Istanbul

February/04/2013

VAZGEN SARGSYAN’S BROTHER TO SUPPPORT SERZH SARGSYAN

04:54 pm | Today | Politics

Armen Sargsyan, the brother of Armenia’s Sparapet (Commander) Vazgen
Sargsyan slain during the October 1999 parliamentary carnage, today
attended Serzh Sargsyan’s campaign rally in Ararat city.

Talking to reporters, Armen Sargsyan said he would back Serzh Sargsyan
in the upcoming presidential election. He called on his co-villagers
and friends to follow suit and second Sargsyan in the ballot.

To disperse journalists’ surprise Armen Sargsyan explained that Serzh
Sargsyan needs to continue his unfinished work and he wants to enable
Sargsyan to complete his work.

Vazgen Sargsyan, an outstanding Armenian military commander, politician
and writer, was assassinated with seven senior officials during the
October 1999 parliamentary carnage.