Author: Badalian Vardan

PAPER: STATISTICAL SERVICE SAYS POVERTY LEVEL IN ARMENIA 35,8%

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 23, 2012 – 13:43 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – According to Zhoghovurd daily, in the “Food Security
and Poverty” report for January-March 2012, National Statistical
Service of Armenia says no sector in the country’s economy shows
whatsoever progress.

“2008 report showed poverty level in Armenia at 17,6%; extreme poverty
level did not exceed 1,6%. In 2009, poverty level rose to 34,1%,
with extreme poverty level put at 3,6%, while in 2010, the numbers
were 35,8% and 3%.

This is what’s happening while the ruling Republican Party of Armenia
is busy mulling whether to form a coalition though a memorandum or
based on an agreement,” the daily said.

GYUMRY HOSPITAL COMPLEX TO BE PUT INTO OPERATION IN JULY

ARMENPRESS
23 May, 2012
GYUMRI

GYUMRY, MAY 23, ARMENPRESS: Gyumry hospital complex, which was
scheduled to be put into operation last year, will be inaugurated in
July. Shirak Administration Unit Health Department head Hovhannes
Hovhannisyan briefed Armenporess reporter. The interlocutor noted
that the building could be put into operation in April as well,
but it was more appropriate to exploit after the improvements of the
surroundings and the installation of the proper furniture. Currently
the hospital is being supplemented with new and modern equipment.

In the case of necessity the specialists will improve their
qualification.250 beds are set to be installed in hospital. Surgical
and Province Hospitals after G. Gyulbenkyan entirely and
‘~RSamaritner’~R Hospital partially will be deployed here.

Construction works were launched in 2012 June by the means of World
Bank.

MARTYNOV, MIKEC CLOSE WORLD CUP WITH GOLDS

Associated Press Worldstream
May 20, 2012 Sunday 8:13 PM GMT

Sergei Martynov of Belarus won a fourth successive 50-meter rifle
prone gold medal at the shooting World Cup on Sunday.

Also, Damir Mikec of Serbia won his first World Cup with a comfortable
three-point win in the 50m pistol in the rain.

Martynov’s winning streak began in the Munich World Cup almost a
year ago, and continued in Wroclaw and last month in London on the
Olympic range.

On Sunday, he rose from third after qualifying to the gold with a
final-best 104.1 to total 701.1 points.

“It’s normal, I just follow my routine,” he said. “And I did not even
shoot at my best today.”

Cyril Graff of France was second with 700.9 and Marco de Nicolo of
Italy was third on 699.5.

Mikec intimidated the pistol field when he headed qualifying by six
points. He could afford a pair of eight-rings early in the final and
a 7.6 late as he scored 667.9 overall.

“No mind about that 7.6 shot, the important thing was to finish in
first,” Mikec said. “Now I feel I am ready for the (Olympic) games.”

Zhang Tian of China added the silver to his bronze from London with
a 664.6 tally.

Giuseppe Giordano pleased the home fans when he came from eighth and
last in the final, including the only perfect 10.9, to tie Norayr
Bakhtamyan of Armenia for third. In a shootoff for the bronze,
Giordano scored a 10.2, beating Bakhtamyan’s 7.6.

Top-ranked Tomoyuki Matsuda of Japan was sixth.

THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF LIBERATED BERDZOR CELEBRATED

Karabakh-open.info
Monday, 21 May 2012 10:26

On May 18, a festive occasion was organized in the regional centre of
Qashatagh. The 20th anniversary of Berdzor’s liberation was celebrated
by thousands of Qashatagh citizens and guests.

20 years ago the liberation of this region finally broke the blockade
of Artsakh; the desired land connection with Armenia was restored. By
the liberation of Qashatagh /Lachin/ the Goris-Stepanakert highway
was opened and it was called “the Road of Life” as it was the only
road connecting Artsakh to Armenia.

Today much has changed in 20-year-old Berdzor, new houses and
buildings have been built, the old ones restored, the life in the
town is gradually and steadily becoming more active with more and
more inhabitants settling in the residence. This is stated by the
inhabitants of Berdzor who witnessed the reconstruction process of
the town’s ruins, whose efforts made the region thrive and who stayed
in the town to keep it alive.

These people are true heroes, having overcome numerous difficulties
they endowed fresh life to the residences liberated at the cost of our
soldiers’ lives and they continue to live in such difficult conditions.

The NKR authorities at the head of President Bako Sahakyan, Leader of
the Artsakh Diocese Pargev Archbishop Martirosyan, a great many of
liberty soldiers who participated in the liberation of Qashatagh,
a number of guests from Armenia and abroad came to join in the
congratulations to Qashatagh citizens celebrating the liberation of
the town.

In his speech held during the festive event organized since morning the
Leader of the Artsakh Diocese emphasized the great importance of the
region’s liberation and added that the Qashatagh citizens deservedly
continue the deeds of the victims we had during the liberation of
the region. “Each greatest success is achieved at the cost of the
most valuable thing – our blood that is to say our lives.

Our victories have been gained at the cost of our comrades’ blood and
due to them the dream we cherished when we started from the squares
of Artsakh to Yerevan with the demand of our connection to Armenia
and passed this corridor, came true,” Pargev Archbishop Martirosyan
underlined.

NKR President Bako Sahakyan specially expressed his high honour
to the inhabitants of Qashatagh “who display conscious attitude in
performing their sacred duty by their everyday contribution to the
prosperity and development of their ancestors’ land.”

Noting the strategic importance of the region the President mentioned
that the projects realized there such as the proportional development
of the region, the construction of cultural centres, housing
programmes, hydro power station construction and first of all the
resettlement projects are strategically important, too. “Henceforth
as well we shall make the greatest efforts to realize these projects
properly making use of the resources of Armenia, Artsakh and the
Diaspora,” the President added.

A number of liberty soldiers having participated in the liberation of
Qashatagh were awarded by the NKR President, the RA Defense Minister
and the Union of Liberty Soldiers of Artsakh.

ARMENIAN FINANCE MINISTER TO ATTEND ECONOMIC MEETING IN ASTANA

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 21, 2012 – 17:05 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – On May 22-24, Armenian Finance Minister Vache
Gabrielyan will participate in CIS ministerial meetings of Eurasian
Development Bank (EDB) in Astana, Kazakhstan.

He will further attend the fifth economic conference of Astana on
global challenges and perspectives, the Ministry’s press service
reported.

The EDB meeting will feature discussion of issues related to the
bank’s operation and economic cooperation.

On the next day, CIS finance ministers will discuss the current
financial-economic state and issues related to financial cooperation.

IS KOCHARYAN DEMANDED?
Naira Hayrumyan

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 15:15:41 – 21/05/2012

Ahead of the parliamentary election a campaign was implemented for
the idea that the parliamentary election was just a test of the
presidential election. Republicans and political scientists said
the result of the parliamentary elections will indicate who will be
nominated for the presidential elections.

In particular, the ex-president Robert Kocharyan was meant who had
stated earlier to consider returning to politics if he feels the
public demand. What did Robert Kocharyan feel after the elections?

The Prosperous Armenia Party which is loyal to Robert Kocharyan was
successful in this election and will have a parliamentary group of 36
instead of the previous 25. However, ARF which was also considered
as Kocharyan’s platform has lost 10 seats. The important thing is
that Kocharyan felt what Serzh Sargsyan’s team can do to ensure the
necessary result. And this is perhaps the most important issue. A
powerful machine was deployed, and the line of command proved effective
which can do targeted work with every voter. Robert Kocharyan has
understood a lot of things: Moscow’s support may not be useful,
PA charity may be more useful that ARF’s national socialism, the
opposition is not ready to take to the street.

Perhaps Robert Kocharyan has lost this election. To some extent he
lost to himself because the mechanism and system was used which had
been established by him. On the other hand, these elections are a
good lesson for Kocharyan who will review his priorities and change
his targets.

In any case, the question whether Kocharyan is demanded or not was
not answered either by himself or by the society.

PANARMENIAN BANK ISSUES OPEN LETTER ON ITS OBJECTIVES

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 21, 2012 – 13:05 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Panarmenian Bank issued an open letter, presenting
its history and challenges in response to numerous comments on its
operation.

Panarmenian Bank was established in 2011. It promotes activity of an
investment bank, aiming to attract long-term funds from international
financial institutions and private sources. Its objective is to ensure
development and financing of investment programs. On February 15,
the bank became NASDAQ OMX Armenia member.

The bank’s operation is coordinated by RA Law on Panarmenian Bank,
particularly financing of the private sector.

According to the bank’s press service, all those interested in
the financial institution’s activity are welcome to get relevant
information from Panarmenian Bank experts.

EXPERT: KARABAKH CONFLICT SERIOUSLY AFFECTS AZERBAIJAN’S RELATIONS WITH GLOBAL AND REGIONAL SUPER POWERS

arminfo
Monday, May 21, 14:12

The Karabakh conflict seriously affects Azerbaijan’s relations with
global and regional super powers and Baku is well aware of that.

Therefore, Azerbaijan wages its policy in line with the changing
regional policy of super powers, writes Dr Brenda Shaffer, Israel’s
foremost expert on Azerbaijan, the president-elect of the Foreign
Policy Section of the American Political Science Association,
a faculty member at the University of Haifa, in her item in the
Caucasus International magazine.

However, she writes, over the 20 years of independence Azerbaijan has
revised its foreign policy strategy regarding the Karabakh conflict.

In the first decade there was a strong trust in the international
institutions and the International Law. Azerbaijan believed
they would help it resolve the Karabakh conflict. Simultaneously
Azerbaijan carried out a serious diplomatic activity introducing its
stance at various foreign political platforms pinning hope with the
world community’s support. Azerbaijan hoped that support by various
countries and international organizations would have positive impact
on resolution of the conflict, Shaffer writes.

Nevertheless, she thinks, in the second decade Baku began to pay more
attention to military budget and armament. As a result, Shaffer thinks,
Azerbaijan has significantly improved the quality of the Armed Forces.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Azerbaijan increased the military
budget 89% over the last year, which is the highest growth of the
military budget in the world for such a short period of time. Earlier
Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Artur Rasizade said that Azerbaijan had
increased its military expenditures over the last 8 years over 20fold.

In Azerbaijan, military spending increased by 39.74 million manats to
1.36 billion manats (about 1.73 billion U.S. dollars) in 2011. It is
also reported that for 2012 Azerbaijan’s military spending account for
15 percent of its overall annual budget, increasing to 1.38 billion
manats (about 1.77 billion U.S. dollars). The military budget for
2012 will total around 400 million dollars.

TURK JOURNALIST SPOKE ABOUT THE JUST CLAIMS OF ARMENIANS

ARMENPRESS
21 May, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MAY 21, ARMENPRESS: Armenians living in Turkey continue to
speak about their Armenian origin and demand from Turkish authorities
their property. Armenpress reports that Evrensel newspaper’s journalist
Elif Giorgu in his article says that Armenians don’t give up their
homeland and return their.

“There is a strange relation between earth and person. Person can be
cut from another person, but can not be cut from earth. The work given
to earth, the history written on the stone don’t give strangely do
not give rest to people. The same thing is happened with Armenians who
“have been cut” from Anatolia” writes Giorgu in the beginning of his
article. The journalist speaks about that Armenians have begun active
works for returning Armenian churches, cemeteries in different places.
He spoke about the president of company “Social help and cultural
cooperation of Armenians from Bitlis, Batman, Mush, Van, Isstanbul
and Sasun regions” Aziz Daghji who has Armenian origin.

WHY SARGSYAN DIDN’T ATTEND
HAKOB BADALYAN

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 12:12:27 – 21/05/2012

Serzh Sargsyan did not go to Chicago and did not attend the NATO
summit on May 21. He had also skipped the summit of 2012 in Lisbon. At
that time there were opinions that Sargsyan’s refusal to participate
was due to his prejudices because the summits in this capital had a
negative precedent for Armenia, in particular in 1996 the OSCE summit
made a decision which Armenia vetoed.

Serzh Sargsyan explained his refusal to leave for Lisbon by the
statement on territorial integrity in the concluding document where
self-determination was not mentioned at all. Certainly, the concluding
document of the NATO summit is more declarative in nature than the
OSCE’s, especially that the alliance does not and is reluctant to
participate directly in the process of Karabakh, announcing that it
fully supports the OSCE Minsk Group efforts.

In regard to the decision of Serzh Sargsyan not to attend Lisbon,
NATO officials repeated that his decision is strange because Armenia
can come and present its position at the level of president.

Official Yerevan has not explained why Serzh Sargsyan did not attend
Chicago. Is the reason the same, that is the absence of the principle
of self-determination in the concluding document or are there other
reasons?

Apparently, there are other reasons because not attending it would
be strange, especially after the reaction of NATO member ambassadors
to Armenia on Lisbon.

It is not ruled out that Chicago was going to discuss something
unpleasant for Russia, namely the European missile defense system. In
the press conference during the summit in Chicago the secretary general
Anders Fogh Rasmussen stated that NATO member states agreed to deploy
the missile defense system.

Putin, the new president of Russia, did not leave for Chicago
explaining by forming government. Instead, he sent Medvedev to Chicago.

Most probably, Putin tried to express his contempt for the summit.

Medvedev is the prime minister appointed by Putin. If the president
cannot attend because of forming a government, then it is strange that
the prime minister does not skip the summit for the same reason. After
all, he will be the head of the government that is being formed.

Hence, Putin once against displays that Medvedev is just a marionette
in the Russian policy and at the same time he sends him to Chicago
to indicate his attitude to the decisions to be made there. Perhaps
Putin is aware that he will be unable to change or prevent anything
in NATO summit resolutions hence there is no need to have a serious
diplomatic representation to the summit.

Most probably, Serzh Sargsyan was reluctant to attend the summit which
would make an unpleasant resolution for Russia. Serzh Sargsyan would
not be among those who adopt the resolution but his participation, his
presence would be an unpleasant gesture for Russia. Apparently, Serzh
Sargsyan decided not to do it, especially considering the scenario,
logic and result of the Armenian parliamentary election that was
so unpleasant to Russia, and in response Putin did not meet with
Sargsyan visiting Moscow for the CSTO and CIS summits. Only Prime
Minister Medvedev met with him.

Most probably Serzh Sargsyan thought that the parliamentary election
was enough for Russia, and there is no need to go too far in teasing
Russia in such a short period of time. Most probably, the West also
thought so. After all, NATO did not even invite Serzh Sargsyan, unlike
the previous summit when Robert Simons, the special envoy of NATO
Secretary General to the South Caucasus, visiting Yerevan, invited him.

Although it is not ruled out that NATO did not invite Sargsyan this
time for refusing the invitation last time.