Author: Badalian Vardan

ARMENBAR APPEALS TO UN OVER PLIGHT OF SYRIAN ARMENIANS

Published: Monday September 24, 2012

Ban Ki-moon,
Secretary General
United Nations

Nabil Elaraby, Secretary General,
The League of Arab States

Laura Dupuy Lasserre, Human Rights Council President Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

Dear Secretary General, Nation Representatives, Ambassadors, and
President:

The Armenian Bar Association is the largest organized group of Armenian
Diasporan attorneys, judges and law students in the world.

We bring to you as multinational bodies, and through each of you to
your respective countries and citizens, the plight of the Armenians
in Syria.

Our Association shares with the Republic of Armenia and all other
civic, religious and humanitarian organizations, which serve the
Armenian people worldwide, the memories and pain of the Armenian
Genocide of 1915 and the bloody ethnic purges which indelibly
marked it.

It is with those historically well-documented atrocities in mind
that we ask you to not allow history to repeat itself, while you,
your respective multi-national collectives, your individual countries,
and each of your respective governments watches from afar.

With due respect, you must not allow man’s inhumanity to man to occur
yet again, as it did almost a century ago during the Armenian Genocide
and the Great Dispossession of entire cities, towns and villages.

Please join us in saying Not Again!

As the 21st century’s gatekeepers of security and civilization,
and as nations that have come together under the umbrella of peace,
at what point might you extend that cover to provide shelter from the
rainfall of rockets, shrapnel and bullets hailing onto the innocent
civilians and citizens of Syria, Armenians and non-Armenians alike?

In a conflict that has claimed more than 20,000 casualties thus far
and has sent hundreds of thousands more fleeing beyond Syria’s borders
to hoped-for safety, the Armenians in Syria, some of whom can trace
their ancestors as far back to the sixth century B.C., and the bulk
of those who arrived in successive waves, either as survivors of the
Armenian Genocide, or later, between 1925 and 1945, fleeing persecution
in Turkey and seeking refuge in Syria, now once again face uncertainty
and dire consequences due to the current situation on the ground.

Unless, of course, you and your leagues of nations act, and act now.

Unless you and your respective countries engage in brokering a
ceasefire and bringing about lasting peace to the people of Syria.

Armenians, wherever they have resided in Arab lands, or in countries
spanning the four corners of the globe, have always been loyalists to
their host countries and to their adopted homelands. Syrian Armenians
are no exception to this positive subscription and good citizenry.

The Syrian Armenians, and indeed all of the people in Syria,
deserve the peace and security which your charters, constitutions,
and consciences charge you with helping attain and preserve.

The Armenian Bar Association looks to each of you and your respective
nations to deliver on that promise and to replenish the certainty
of life and future to Syria and its citizens, including the
Syrian-Armenians.

Sincerely,

Garo B. Ghazarian President & Chairman Armenian Bar Association

Edvin Minassian Past President & Chairman Ex-Officio

Sara Bedirian Treasurer

Armen K. Hovannisian Past President & Vice-Chairman

Hovanes Margarian Secretary

Harry Dikranian Vice-Chairman

Vicken I. Simonian Past President & Chairman Emeritus

ARMENIAN APRICOT SHOULD BE PRESENTED IN LARGER AMOUNTS IN FRENCH MARKET. VICE PRESIDENT OF MARSEILLE CCI

ARMENPRESS
24 September, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS: Armenia evaluates the multilateral
development of relations with France. Highlighted Armenian Minister
of Economy Tigran Davtyan during joint conference of Armenian and
French businessmen hosted in Yerevan.

The Minister highly evaluated the level of Armenian-French
cooperation. According to him it is of crucial importance not to
discuss only the positive sides of the cooperation but also the
omissions.

“We have a number of joint organizations and hundreds of companies
with French investments among them. We are willing to discuss all
the reasonable suggestions with our foreign partners” highlighted
the Minister.

Armenian Chairman of Marseille CCI Bernard Holasian highlighted
the importance of such conferences in the development of bilateral
cooperation. Holasian mentioned the significance of small and medium
businesses.

Artur Hatemian, the Vice President of Marseille CCI highly evaluated
the quality of Armenian products and mentioned the constantly growing
requirement for Armenian Apricot in French Market.

Different issues concerning the future bilateral cooperation have been
discussed during the conference with the participation of Armenian
Minister of Economy Tigran Davtyan.

THE AMOUNT FOR THE SUSPENDED YEREVAN-ALEPPO-YEREVAN FLIGHT TO BE PAYED BACK

ARMENPRESS
24 September, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS: A group of Syrian Armenians applied
to “Armavia” national airlines on September 24, demanding the amount
for the suspended Yerevan-Aleppo-Yerevan flight. Armenian Ministry
of Diaspora which is aware of the issue sent a letter on this
occasion to the owner of “Armavia” airlines. About this Armenpress
was informed from Lusine Stepanyan, the head of the Department of
Armenian communities in the Near and Middle East, she also added that
hadn’t received any response yet, causing the non-working days.

” “Armavia” has never said that wouldn’t return the money. First of all
these people have refused the flight on their own and besides “Armavia”
is not a bank and is not able to return the money for the tickets at
once. The amounts for the suspended flight of September 17 are being
returned” declared Nana Avetisova the press secretary of “Armavia”.

SMALL AIRCRAFT IN LITHUANIA AND ITS RELATIONS WITH ARMENIA – PHOTO

September 23, 2012 | 00:34

VILNIUS. – There are many summer schools in Lithuania where pilots
study from all over the world, including Armenia.

Armenia and Lithuania are establishing productive cooperation in
various fields in the recent years, including education. One of the
Lithuanian schools – Pilotu Mokykla, which also has Armenian pilots,
has concluded an agreement with the National Aeronautical Association
(NAA) of Armenia on training Armenian pilots on modern jets.

The school also offers qualification programs for military pilots to
be qualified as civil pilots.

Another school, where Armenians studied, is the Baltic Aviation
Academy.

The NAA President Dmitri Atbashyan believes that cooperation between
Armenia and Lithuania in aviation has good perspectives.

Atbashyan also stated that the small aircraft may unload land
transportation and play a big role in agriculture.

ARMENIA’S AUTHORITIES NEED TO BE MORE CONSISTENT – EXPERT

news.am
September 24, 2012 | 15:18

YEREVAN. – According to the Central Election Commission of Georgia,
fourteen political parties and two political blocs have been given
the right to run in the country’s parliamentary elections slated for
October 1, Georgian Studies specialist Alik Eroyants said during a
press conference on Monday.

To the query on Georgian Armenians’ format of participation in
these elections, Eroyants responded that five and two Armenian MP
candidates will vie for parliamentary seats from the ruling party and
the opposition bloc respectively, but , by and large, the Georgian
Armenians will support the ruling regime.

He also noted that Armenian-Georgian ties are on a very high level, and
this is proved by the intergovernmental meetings and the cooperation
in a variety of domains. So, “Armenia’s authorities need to be more
consistent and to make Georgia’s attention focus on the problems of
Georgian Armenians,” Alik Eroyants concluded.

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION CLAIMS LOCAL ELECTIONS ACCOMPANIED BY BRIBE DISTRIBUTION

news.am
September 24, 2012 | 22:46

YEREVAN. – Local self-governmental elections in Armenia were
accompanied with bribe distribution, as well as use of administrative
resources, including police and attorney’s office, opposition Armenian
National Congress (ANC) bloc secretary Aram Manukyan told Armenian
News-NEWS.am.

He added that condition of people is so piteous that they look forward
for election bribes to buy essential products. At the same time,
he said that it is not always possible to corrupt voters.

As the agency informed earlier, five regions of Armenia held local
elections on Sept. 23.

“I AM ARMENIAN, YES, I AM” FESTIVAL IN BELGIUM

12:55 | 2012-09-24 | Armenia | Diaspora |

The Belgian Armenian community reports that recently there have been
positive changes in the cultural life of Belgian and Dutch Armenian
communities. Due to the united efforts of Belgian Armenians a strong
Armenian community is created in Antwerp, the proof of which is the
festival named “I am Armenian, yes, I am”. The festival is organized
due to the efforts of “Arda” NGO headed by Sergey Vardanayan. The
festival commenced by a scientific conference on “Armenian identity,
where guests from Armenia represented speeches on the peculiarities
of Armenian identity. Among the guests were the primate of Armenian
apostolic church in Belgium, the president of writers’ union of
Armenia and representatives of local Armenian organizations.

The member of Armenian cultural center in Belgium Nikolay Bavtyan said
that in coming year the cultural center will have a newly-constructed
building. The ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Armenia
to Belgium Avet Adonc also gave a speech congratulating everybody on
21st anniversary of Armenian independence. The second part of the
festival was full of entertainment and musical performances. Works
of art, graphics, and statues were also represented. The documentary
movie by Arsen Hakobyan titled “From Ararat to Europe” was also
screened. Armenian national songs and dances accompanied the whole
process of the festival. The celebrations were a nice present to
Belgian Armenian community on the 21st anniversary of Armenian
independence.

GAGIK TSARUKYAN IS VIEWED AS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: POLL

2012-09-24 12:56:44

Sociologist Aharon Adibekyan has conducted surveys among 1650 voters
of Armenian regions and revealed that the 30.4% of the oppositional
part views PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan as RA presidential candidate.

Aharonyan himself reported about this in the interview with
journalists.

He said that 10.1% of the respondents views RA 2nd President Robert
Kocharyan as a presidential candidate in the presidential elections to
be held in 2013, the 8.7%- “Heritage” party leader Raffi Hovhannisyan,
the 4%- ANC leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the 3.4%0 ARF MP Vahan
Hovhannisyan, and the 2.5%- ARF Armen Rustamyan.

Aharonian also said that every third person believes in Tsarukyan’s
victory, which is a pretty serious number. “In response to the
question who they’ll vote for, if their preferred presidential
candidate isn’t nominated in the presidential elections, 13% of the
respondents mentioned Gagik Tsarukyan’s name; that is a majority.”

Aharonyan also explained, that if PAP announces itself as an
opposition, it’ll lose the votes of the other side.

Speaking of Robert Kocharyan’s possible nomination, the sociologist
mentioned, that if he wishes to take over the authority, he either
has to face the authority, or President Serzh Sargsyan has to resign,
yielding his place to Robert Kocharyan.

GAREGIN II MEETS FUND FOR ARMENIAN RELIEF MEMBERS

tert.am
24.09.12

Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II met on Sunday representatives
of the Fund for Armenian Relief.

Thanking the patriarch for the reception, the head of the delegation,
Archbishop Khazhak Parsamyan, briefed on their upcoming plans.

According to a press release by the Holy See of St. Echmiadzin, he told
the catholicos that the organization~Rs members decided at a Sunday
assembly to continue the implementation of active programs in Armenia,
paying a special attention to educational programs, assistance to
the disadvantaged and initiatives aimed at the country~Rs development.

Welcoming the guests, the patriarch conveyed to them his blessings
and expressed high appreciation of their useful activities and efforts.

His Holiness Garegin II noted with satisfaction that the Fund was
among the first organizations to make large-scale contributions to
Armenia~Rs development and prosperity since the period of independence.

The catholicos called on the guests to continue their assistance
programs, contributing to the development and progress of the Armenian
Church under whose aegis the Fund functions.

WORKING GROUP TO ASSIST SYRIAN ARMENIANS WAS ESTABLISHED AT THE UNION OF MANUFACTURERS AND BUSINESSMEN OF ARMENIA

ARMENPRESS
24 September, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS: At the Union of Manufacturers and
Businessmen (Employers) of Armenia a working group was founded to
coordinate all the information and proposals directed to assist the
Syrian Armenians’ issues. As Armenpress was informed by the Union, the
working group would cooperate as well with the Ministries of Diaspora
and Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, as well as other
state and non-governmental organizations concerned about the issue.

“The Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen (Employers) of Armenia is
deeply concerned about the destiny of our compatriots living in Syria,
who invested their efforts and resources in the development of their
second homeland, thus becoming deserving citizens of Syria.

Because of the well-known political events they currently appear to
be in difficult situation and certainly look to their motherland. Our
people and the businessmen in particular cannot but react to their
concerns and problems, on the occasion of which our Union applied to
the Armenian businessmen to express their attitude. And the members of
our Union expressed their readiness, specific to the moral character
of the Armenian businessman, to lend a brotherly hand to the Syrian
Armenians, who have always supported in Diaspora the Armenian programs
implemented in Armenia.

Certainly, the businessmen coming to Armenia should be assisted by
the Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen (Employers) of Armenia,
the Board Meeting of which adopted a business decision concerning
the assistance to the Syrian Armenians. The members of the Union
unanimously expressed their readiness to assist our compatriots in
different fields of activity, provide working places and in case of
availability create new workplaces for the Syrian Armenians with the
help of consultations, the Union’s relations and other leverages to
assist the Syrian Armenians in establishing new businesses in Armenia
or transferring their acting businesses to Armenia from abroad.

The members of the Union unanimously expressed their readiness to
assist those, who want to make investments in the Union’s member
organizations, support their integration with the Armenia’s business
and moral atmosphere, organize professional seminars or trainings
for the beginner businessmen, get acquainted them with the Armenian
economic legislation and amendments in order to be able to orientate
quick and properly in new situations and in case of necessity assist
the Syrian Armenian students in payment of scholarships”, – says the
announcement of the Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen (Employers)
of Armenia.