Armenia, New Zealand to boost bilateral investments
August 16, 2012 – 15:28 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net – On August 16, Armenian government approved the
proposal to sign an agreement with New Zealand’s government.
As Deputy Minister of Economy noted, the document envisages boosting
investments.
`The framework agreement stipulates creation of equal conditions for
local and foreign investors to promote bilateral investments,’ Ara
Petrosyan said.
Newly built houses in Yerevan earthquake-proof, specialist says
tert.am
12:38 – 16.08.12
Eight-magnitude earthquake in Yerevan will cause cracks on the
breakaway buildings in Ajapnyak, while a stronger earthquake will
cause partial and complete collapses, Zaven Khlghatyan, head of the
Earthquake Resistant Construction Center of National Service for
Seismic Protection (NSSP) of Armenia’s Emergency Situations Ministry
told the reporters today.
`Before Spitak earthquake neither of buildings in Armenia were
9-magnitude earthquake resistant. There are 4,850 seismic
non-resistant multi-apartment buildings in Yerevan,’ he said.
Khlghatyan said the state does not have means to fortify the
buildings. `Billions of sums are necessary, the state cannot do
anything as of the moment,’ he stressed, not being able to say the
concrete amount of the needed money.
The specialist said the newly built houses in Yerevan are
earthquake-proof and safer than those built during the soviet years.
Interfax, Russia
Aug 14 2012
Claims Ukraine sold missile systems to Armenia a provocation –
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry
KYIV. Aug 14
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has described as a provocation media
reports alleging that Ukraine sold multiple rocket launchers and
mobile missile systems to Armenia in 2011.
“These online claims of an unidentified origin are a provocation,”
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Dikusarov said at a
press briefing on Tuesday.
Ukraine has been strictly observing the international obligations
assumed before the UN and the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, and the national legislation, as well, he said.
Given Ukraine’s upcoming presidency of the OSCE, Kyiv will continue
making maximum effort to strengthen security and stability in the
region, Dikusarov said.
The Ukrainian Embassy in Azerbaijan earlier denied media reports
claiming that Ukraine sold multiple rocket launchers and mobile
missile systems to Armenia in 2011.
Sd rb
Special fodder to be used for the promotion of the fish reproduction
in Lake Sevan
20:49, 15 August, 2012
Yerevan, August 15, ARMENPRESS: Danish BioMar company is selected to
be the food supplier of the Lake Sevan fish. As `Armenpress’ was
informed in the Ministry of Environmental Protection, it was announced
during the discussion of the implementation of the project on breeding
trout fish in Lake Sevan.
During the conference the director of the `Amy Fruit’ company engaged
in selling the products of `BioMar’ company, represented the
implemented and anticipated works. Special attention was attached to
the quality and composition of the food, as well as the observation
and monitoring questions during the implementation of the project.
`BioMar’ company was founded in Denmark in 1962; it is currently one
of the leading fish food supplier companies. BioMar group sells food
to 60 countries for more than 25 species of fish. It produces special
certified food for the purpose of organic fish production annually
more than 710 000 tonnes.
Within the framework of the Sevan endemic fish reproduction pilot
project EFICO ENVIRO 975 or 920 brand fish food is expected to be
used. This food is composed of high quality components, which allows
to satisfy the nutritional requirements of the fish, at the same time
minimizing the impact of the environment. Due to the optimization of
the food composition, the company managed to reduce the content of
nitrogen and phosphorus in it thus providing minimum water pollution
with those materials.
`Amy Fruit’ company is ready to provide from the fish food to all the
organizations that want to implement a laboratory research on the food
quality and composition.
The First Deputy Minister of the Armenian Minister of Environmental
Protection Simon Papyan noted that this project is experimental and is
first of all directed to the provision of the endemic species of Lake
Sevan fish reproduction.
At the end of the experimental program all the positive and negative
impacts on the ecosystem of the lake will be evaluated, which will
allow to make further steps being led by the requirements on `Lake
Sevan’ set out in the Armenian law.
ARMENIE
Forte croissance des exportations d’abricots en Arménie
Selon les résultats de la première moitié de 2012 l’Arménie a déjà
exporté 12 130 tonnes d’abricots contre 7 300 tonnes exportées pendant
toute la durée de l’année 2011 a annoncé M. Sergo Karapetyan, le
ministre de l’Agriculture.
`Nous avons eu une bonne récolte d’abricots cette année. Vous pouvez
voir que la production d’abricots dans la première moitié de l’année
était très élevée » a dit M. Karapetyan.
Il a également souligné que dans la période de Janvier à Juin 2012 les
entreprises de transformation des fruits ont déjà acheté 6 150 tonnes
d’abricots en 2012 contre seulement 2800 tonnes en 2011.
« La récolte est encore en cours dans les zones de haute montagne, et
les résultats définitifs seront plus élevés » a fait remarquer le
ministre.
Il a également ajouté que l’Arménie s’attend à une très bonne récolte
de pêches et de pommes.
mercredi 15 août 2012,
Stéphane ©armenews.com
ARMENIE
Décès d’Yelena Abrahamyan, survivante du Génocide Arménien
Le 13 juillet, la survivante du Génocide Yelena Abrahamyan est morte à
l’ge de 100 ans. L’artiste Yelena Abrahamyan était née à Kars le 26
novembre 1912. Elle était membre de l’Union des Artistes d’Arménie et
une enseignante honorée de la République d’Arménie.
Avant sa mort Yelena Abrahamyan vivait seule, sans jamais se plaindre
avec ses nombreuses toiles et mémoires.
Ayant échappé de justesse aux massacres Turcs, Yelena Abrahamyan s’est
échappé à Gyumri avec son unique parent survivante, sa tante.
Les mémoires de l’artiste sont connectées avec son grand-père, Khoren
Stamboltsyan berger spirituel de l’église de Kars. Il était un des
ecclésiastiques instruits de ses temps et avait un don en littérature
et en peinture. Il a participé à l’expédition d’Ani avec Nicholas Marr
et a rassemblé les modèles d’ornements et de présentations graphiques
de peintures murales préservées dans les ruines. Après sa mort Yelena
Abrahamyan a publié le legs littéraire de son grand-père qui est
contenu dans livre intitulé « les Mémoires de Mon Grand-père ».
mercredi 15 août 2012,
Stéphane ©armenews.com
Professor of Vanadzor institute commits sexual acts against student
tert.am
13:34 – 14.08.12
A 21-year-old student of Vanadzor State Pedagogical Institute applied
to Lori province’s Police reporting about sexual acts against her will
committed by art chair professor of the institute 32-years old Aram
Hambaryan in late July, 2011.
Photo reporter Gagik Shamshyan told Tert.am, the girl reported that
the professor of the institute warned her against raising any noise,
threatening to leave her out of the institute.
Shamsyan said the Police is searching for Hambaryan.
Taunton Daily Gazette , MA
Aug 14 2012
Confessions of a Book Addict, 4
By Kristina Fontes
Title: The Sandcastle Girls
Author: Chris Bohjalian
Publisher: Doubleday, New York
This post was delayed by a hectic week before vacation, and then the
first three days of said vacation, which were spent in Vermont.
Relevant because this article mentions Vermont! Also, and this is the
truly exciting part: I was lucky enough to be able to interview Chris
Bohjalian in person.
So, at long last, let’s get started.
When I was younger, I didn’t think all that much of my heritage. I
just took it for granted. My entire family was Portuguese, and so was
basically everyone else I knew. We were nothing special.
Well, I know better now. I understand what it means to be a first
generation American. My parents and grandparents gave up the only life
they knew to come to the United States. They bravely sought something
better. They learned a new language–and a tricky one at that, let’s
be honest. They adapted to a new culture, but in such a way as they
have never lost touch with where they came from.
Now that I’m grown, the best I can do is try to be the same way. To
honor what’s come before, as I and those I love move irrepressibly
forward.
The Sandcastle Girls features a narrator who experiences a change of
heart herself. In learning her grandparents’ story, Laura discovers so
much more about her heritage, and for the first time in her life is
truly moved by it. She is a second-generation Armenian-American, and
her grandparents, Armen and Elizabeth, had lived through the Armenian
genocide of World War I.
The book centers around Armen and Elizabeth’s love story, from when
they meet in the city of Aleppo and how each of them are affected by
this dark time in human history. He has lost his wife and child: they
survived the initial slaughters, but their fate is obvious when
neither shows up in Aleppo after the awful Death March. Elizabeth is
in Aleppo to make a difference, despite the horrors that quickly
threaten to overwhelm her.
What makes this book so engrossing, really, isn’t the love story
(although that’s pretty great): it’s the history. The details are
vivid, striking; you will be able to picture Aleppo immediately.
You will also be able to see the women who were the victims of these
Death Marches across the desert. Not many people have heard of the
Armenian Genocide during the course of their schooling. All we were
given when our history classes covered WWI was more information than
we’d ever need to know about Archduke Ferdinand.
If you read this book, I can assure you that you will be astounded
that we never turned our attentions from the Archduke in the wake of
such a tragic chapter in world history.
I’m also very happy to admit that I was able to meet with Chris
Bohjalian, and to talk about this book and his work. As a lifelong and
self-styled nerd, it was one of my prouder moments. And, I got to
bring my mom. Because who else would you bring to meet a bestselling
novelist? The answer to that question should always be “Mom!”
We started, naturally, with what it was that inspired him to write The
Sandcastle Girls. It was, of course, based mostly on the desire to
make more people aware of what happened to the Armenians in 1915. What
followed was a list that, if people would ever behave as they ought to
one another, would thankfully never exist:
“The Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda, Darfur;
they’re all linked.”
One wonders what would happen if everyone truly would learn fron
history. One of the simultaneous beauties and shortcomings of the
human race, though, is our capacity to forget. Sometimes, that’s a
good thing. But there are other times that this very tendency dooms us
to repeat things that should never have happened in the first place.
Bohjalian went on to call this “The Slaughter You Know Next to Nothing
About. By 1939, it had disappeared into history.”
No offense to Archduke Ferdinand, but I think the deahts of 1.5
million people are far more important that his assassination by the
Black Hand. Tough break, Franz.
As important as the subject matter is, this book was still a long time
in the making. After initial unsuccess, the project was shelved for
some time. Then, Bohjalian happened to have a coffee with an old
friend, who got the wheels in motion with just one question: “When are
we going to try again?”
Much like his narrator Laura, Bohjalian didn’t know all that much of
his heritage growing up. His father was a first generation
Armenian-American, and his grandparents were survivors of the
genocide. They had “a wonderfully exotic house in a New York City
suburb,” quite like Laura’s grandparents and their Ottoman Annex.
Bohjalian’s father “wanted to be as American as possible” though. He
“only spoke Armenian when teasing or bickering with his parents.”
That was unfortunate, as it certainly meant a lot more digging when it
came to researching this book. Not to mention the personal cost of
missing an entire volume of one’s family history. Consequently, when
it comes to knowing his cultural roots, Bohjalian reflects that his
heritage’s “importance has grown profoundly.”
Should anyone be interested in learning more, there is the Armenian
Library and Museum of America in Watertown. It hosts a “wonderful
collection of not just Armenian history, but American history. All of
the artifacts are important.”
Being a hopeful writer myself, and currently victim to the whims of a
cranky manuscript, I couldn’t resist a few “writer” questions.
Like many of us scribes, Bohjalian always knew on some level that he
wanted to write. He’s been quite successful at it too, but it was
heartening to learn that he received about 250 rejection slips before
he sold a single work.
Dedication won the day, thankfully.
Throughout our conversation, I couldn’t help but think of Jane
Austen’s maxim: “Write what you know.” It seemed that it was exactly
what Bohjalian did with The Sandcastle Girls, and with a great deal of
his other works.
Living in a small town in Vermont has played a prominent role in his
career. Of his thirteen other novels, eleven are set in Vermont and
two are set in New Hampshire. His life is there, so why not his work?
It’s as he said: “I know in my heart I found my voice in Vermont.”
With The Sandcastle Girls, the locale is a world away from the Green
Mountain State. However, no work of his has ever been so close to
home. We get the sense that narrator and author are on a similar path
to discovery. The novel becomes something more than itself.
Bohjalian’s final thought on that matter drove that thought home with
me: “This is the most important book I will ever write.”
And he told me I could definitely quote him on that.
Ottawa Citizen, Canada
August 13, 2012 Monday
Final Edition
A tribute to Turkish diplomat? Don’t go asking, it’s a secret; Cryptic
comments from government on rising metal mystery by parkway
by Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen
At the corner of Island Park Drive and the Ottawa River Parkway, a
mystery grows from the ground, beneath a white tarp, behind a screened
fence.
It appears to be a metalribbed frame in the shape of a half-sphere. It
is very large, maybe five metres in diameter, and the outer skin is
slowly being covered in cedar-like blocks of wood, like Popsicle
sticks round a bowl.
Sitting on a pair of metal mounts, it faces west and is tilted
slightly toward the sky, at an angle like a satellite dish.
What is it?
Well, for now, the federal government says we don’t need to know.
The land is owned by the National Capital Commission, which takes its
public installations rather seriously. It immediately referred
questions to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International
Trade.
To which an official in Minister John Baird’s office, had this to say:
“An announcement is forthcoming.”
Curious. In a city where a shovel can’t touch sacred NCC soil without
endless consultation and debate – this is an agency, after all, that
once fined a man for picking up a federally-owned pine cone – why all
the secrecy at such a high-profile corner?
Here was the followup email from Baird’s office: “We’ll have something
to announce in the very near future.”
Wonderful. Except we won’t need the announcement once the thing is
finished, will we? We await the press release from the feds telling us
the London Olympics have started.
Well, some things we know. There are Turkish workers on site and
materials coming out of 20 or so wooden crates, each bearing Turkish
writing. On the grass is a stray packing label from Turkish Airlines.
The Citizen has been told it is a monument, first constructed in
Turkey, then disassembled, put in crates, and shipped to our sunny
shores in numbered pieces. “Like Lego,” said someone familiar with the
construction.
No one at the site was terribly forthcoming with information. In fact,
a construction worker, comically, began photographing a Citizen
staffer who was photographing the monument. Real spy stuff, for sure.
Why Turkey? A source familiar with the matter tells us it is a
monument to diplomats felled in the line of duty.
It is now beginning to make sense. On Aug. 27, 1982, 30 years ago this
month, a Turkish diplomat, Col. Atilla Altikat, was gunned down only
steps from the site of this installation. A military attaché, Altikat
was driving to work when he stopped at a red light. A gunman pulled up
and fired about 10 shots from a handgun toward the father of two. He
died at the wheel.
No one has ever been arrested, but an Armenian terrorist group claimed
responsibility.
The assassination was part of a worldwide attack on Turkish diplomats.
In April of that same year, in fact, a commercial counsellor attached
to the Ottawa embassy, Kani Gungor, was shot outside his home and left
paralyzed.
In 1985, the embassy on Wurtemburg Street, just off Rideau, was
attacked near dawn in a raid that began with a hail of bullets, then
an explosion. A Canadian security guard was killed, and the ambassador
was seriously hurt while trying to escape.
Taken together, they almost certainly represent the most violent
attacks ever made on the capital’s diplomatic corps in 150 years.
A source tells us the monument is not just for Turkish victims,
however, but all members of the diplomatic community who have met with
calamity while trying to best represent their nations’s interests and
further the cause of peace.
If this is so, it certainly would have some strong patriotic content
as the list of Canadian foreign service staff killed or injured on
duty – Afghanistan tragically reminds us – is not short.
The bulk of the work is to be completed within 10 days or so. It is
believed the monument will also be lit, as an electrical contractor
was on site last week.
It is plausible the monument will be ready for Aug. 27, the 30th
anniversary of the Altikat slaying. But, of course, we aren’t allowed
to know that. Big secret and all. We only own the land.
The Turkish Embassy declined to comment, referring questions to
Baird’s office. You know how that ends.
It’s a shame, really, as it looks to be a magnificent symbol, a halved
globe for a broken world, in a capital that could use more outdoor
expressions of Canada’s place in the world.
Does it, too, mark a maturation in Turkish-Armenian relations on our
soil? Possibly.
Or it’s a giant satellite dish. How dare you even ask?
PRESS RELEASE
AAA
August 14, 2012
Contact: Press Department
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (202) 393-3434
ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY 40TH ANNIVERSARY GALA
ASSEMBLY’S DEUKMEJIAN AWARD AND DISTINGUISHED HUMANITARIAN AWARD TO BE PRESENTED
WASHINGTON, DC – The Armenian Assembly of America (AAA) will hold its
40th Anniversary Gala on September 22, 2012, in downtown Los Angeles,
announced the Assembly’s Washington and California offices.
Founded in 1972 as a Washington-based organization dedicated to
promoting Armenian-American interests with the federal and state level
government, the Armenian Assembly has served as the community’s
leading advocate with Congress and the Adminitration on the central
issues of the past four decades: Armenia’s and Artsakh’s independence;
strong U.S.-Armenia relations; humanitarian assistance and economic
development for Armenia’s earthquake-ravaged regions, a just and fair
resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict; and U.S. affirmation of
the Armenian Genocide.
The gala is being held in Los Angeles in tribute to former two-term
California governor George Deukmejian and his wife Gloria. As the
highest elected official of Armenian parentage in the United States,
Governor Deukmejian has served as the role model for succeeding
generations of Armenian-Americans who have emulated his example of
public service.
The former governor will be personally awarding the Armenian
Assembly’s George Deukmejian Public Service Award to Chuck and Debbie
Poochigian, who together exemplify the Armenian-American power couple
continuing the tradition of public service in California’s legislative
and judicial branches of government. Chuck began his career in
politics as an appointee of Governor Deukmejian, was elected to the
California State Assembly and State Senate, and is presently an
Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeals. Debbie who
serves on the Fresno County Board of Supervisors comes from a
prominent Armenian-American family long active in local politics. She
was preceded to the Fresno Country Board of Supervisors by her late
father Deran Koligian.
On the occasion of the 40th Anniversary Gala, the Armenian Assembly
will also be recognizing the contributions of three outstanding
members of the California community who have participated in
innumerable activities and programs of the Assembly and have been
longtime and very active supporters of the organization. The
Assembly’s Distinguished Humanitarian Award will be presented to
Elizabeth Agbabian, Flora Dunaians, and Savey Tufenkian.
To join the Armenian Assembly for its 40th Anniversary Gala, in
California please contact Aline Maksoudian at [email protected]
or call 626-577-0025. For additional information, please call the
Assembly Washington office at 202-393-3434.
Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest
Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public
understanding and awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a
501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.
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