Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

RUSSIA ‘TO LOSE’ GYUMRI MILITARY BASE IN CASE OF WAR AGAINST IRAN

Tert.am
15.12.11

A war against Iran will be disastrous for Russia as it will lose
its military base in the Armenian city of Gyumri, according to the
Russian news website Newsru.com.

According to the website, Russia is currently preparing for a possible
war in Syria and Iran – both Russia’s long-standing allies.

It also said that the Kremlin has been informed that Israel – backed
by the US – will soon attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“If the war against Iran really starts, then it threatens to be
disastrous for Russia in the sense that it will lose its strong
foothold in South Caucasus – the 102nd military base in Armenia,”
the website wrote.

Further, it said that Russia started to take measures to minimize
losses in case of a war against Iran.

“Now the preparations are almost over. The military base in Armenia
has been completely optimized; the families of the military officers
have been recalled, the number of the Russian garrison near Yerevan
has been reduced, while the military detachments have been moved to
Gyumri – near to the Turkish border,” the website wrote.

Further, it said that a possible attack on Iran could come from Turkey.

From: Baghdasarian

MURDERED ARMENIAN SOLDIERS’ PARENTS VS ‘PSEUDO-PATRIOTS’ (VIDEO)

Tert.am
15.12.11

Parents know everything about their sons’ murders, whereas
law-enforcers are concealing all the facts.

The murdered soldiers’ parents are indignant at the “pseudo-patriots”
that consider parents’ complaints about army violations “treachery,”
said the killed soldiers’ parents that gathered in front of the
Armenian government Dec. 15.

“In 2001, in one of the military units in Vaik, my son was murdered in
the presence of five persons,” said Araik Avetisyan’s mother. In 2009,
the case was dismissed. But I am sure it was the battalion commander
that murdered my son. For ten years I have not been able to get the
answer to my question: why do they defending that man?” said the
woman. For the past five years, every Thursday, she has been taking
part in protects in front of the Armenian government. She hopes
for justice.

From: Baghdasarian

AUTHORITIES IN SYUNIK PROVINCE COMMIT ‘ILLEGAL ACTIONS,’ SAYS MP

Tert.am
15.12.11

An opposition Armenian MP has accused the local self-governing bodies
of the country’s southern province of Syunik of illegal actions.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Zaruhi Postanjyan of the Heritage
party said that the head community, Rafik Atayan has been pressurized
by the local authorities over his opposition to a government decision
to move the village to another place so that to use the territory
for mining.

As a result, Postanjyan claims, Atayan was obliged to resign and has
already suspended his membership to the ruling Armenian Republican
Party.

Rafik Atayan, together with the villagers, has been vocal in his
criticism against the government decision over the territory rich
in copper.

“In a phone conversation with me days ago Karajan’s Community Head
Rafik Atayan expressed his concerns over removal of the village,
expecting to suspend the government’s decision by voicing about this
issue,” said she.

“It’s known that the residents of Karajan village, including the head
of the community, have publicly expressed their disagreement to the RA
government decision of turning the village’s territory into a mine,”
Postanjyan added.

Further, she said that the Armenian authorities have stated a war to
the residents of Karajan which she said is of strategic importance
as it borders the Azerbaijani enclave of Nakhichevan.

“Together with Kajaran residents we are accepting that war and are
warning to be thoughtful of the consequences of a war unleashed
by Azerbaijan.

Brave Karajani residents, you are not alone in this war!” Zaruhi
Postanjyan concluded.

From: Baghdasarian

WITNESS IN SLAIN SOLDIER CASE: MILITARY TERM IS UP BUT SOLDIER STILL NOT DISCHARGED

epress.am
12.15.2011

The deadline to release from the military Arman Mnatsakanyan,
a witness in the case of rifle platoon commander Artak Nazaryan,
who died suddenly while serving in Tavush marz (province) during
peacetime on Jul. 27, 2010, expired on Dec. 4 of this year, but he
has not yet been discharged.

Artak Nazaryan’s sister, Tsovinar Nazaryan, who spoke with Epress.am
at a protest outside the Armenia government building today, said that
they discovered that the RA Law on Military Duty stipulates that a
draftee can serve only 24 months and his mandatory military service
can be extended by two months only by a government decision and by
one month only by the defense minister’s decision.

“Now I don’t know whether there’s a Minister of Defense decision or
not; however, his service term expired on the 4th of the month; on the
6th when my mother and defense attorney Ruben Martirosyan met with the
Defense Minister and said that at least this matter of the discharge
has to be solve, the minister showed interest and wrote down his name.

That is, at that time he showed no sign that he is informed or gave
an order to extend [Mnatsakanyan’s term]. He said, ‘Yeah, if his term
is up, he will be discharged, no problem.’ But at court yesterday,
Arman Mnatsakanyan again came dressed in army fatigues, accompanied
by military police and gave a testimony and he didn’t know when he
was going to be discharged,” she said.

Tsovinar believes that at this time the defense minister is personally
responsible for both the impartiality of the investigation and the
fact that this soldier is not being released and is being kept at
the military police.

In the question of testifying, it’s obvious that Mnatsakanyan is
being subject to pressure by the military police, Tsovinar said.

Artak Nazaryan’s sister also informed Epress.am that at court yesterday
Mnatsakanyan again said that the investigator wrote his testimony,
but added that they was his own thoughts.

“We said, great, then tell us what’s a priority, he didn’t know; we
said, what’s ‘fuflo,’ it’s written, he didn’t know; we said which
one’s the left forearm, he said I don’t know. Then when I asked,
Hakob Manukyan [one of the accused in the case] hit your left forearm,
would you show us where he hit you, he said yes, he hit me and showed
part of his back. So, he doesn’t know what a left forearm is, what’s
priority, what’s ‘fuflo,’ but in his testimony – he wrote well during
dictation classes,” she said.

Arman Mnatsakanyan will continue his testimony in court on Dec. 20
at 12 pm.

From: Baghdasarian

ANSWER THIS: MEDIA WATCHDOG SAYS FOI REQUESTS NOT BEING MET ACCORDING TO LAW
By Gayane Lazarian

ArmeniaNow reporter
15.12.11 | 12:32

Many officials in Armenia still remain reluctant to work openly and
transparently when it comes to providing public information to media,
according to data of a recent monitoring conducted by a local media
watchdog.

Enlarge Photo

The Freedom of Information Center of Armenia (FOICA) presented
on Wednesday a large-scale analytical report called “Freedom of
Information in the Republic of Armenia: 2011 Monitoring”, which gives
the general picture in the field in Armenia.

FOICA lawyer Gevorg Hayrapetyan says that the monitoring enabled them
to establish the current state of freedom of information in Armenia
and reveal the existing problems.

“The biggest problem is the absence of culture among many officials
to work openly and transparently, as most of them are still not used
to responding to public demands for information and do not consider
giving information to be one of their main duties,” he says.

FOICA expert Liana Doydoyan says that in May-June 2011 ten applicants
sent a total of 250 requests for information to 50 bodies possessing
information in written, oral and electronic forms. Among these bodies
were 10 central government bodies, 10 provincial administrations,
10 municipalities, 10 village administrations and 10 organizations
of public significance.

“In 56 percent of cases complete answers were provided, 30 percent
of requests were left unanswered, 8 percent were turned down, with
only one lawfully. Among the 50 bodies the best results were shown by
provincial administrations and the worse by organizations of public
significance,” says the expert.

The monitoring shows that provincial authorities gave complete
information in response to about 75 percent of 50 requests, while
organizations of public significance provided complete answers to
only less than 45 percent of such requests, leaving as many of them
totally unanswered.

The best result shown in all 50 sample requests is by the
administration of the village of Oshakan. The worst results are
shown by the administration of the village of Aygedzor, Clinical
Hospital CJSC and Ketrin Group Ltd. Doydoyan says that these bodies
left unanswered all five requests for information sent to them.

According to the monitoring results, among the provincial
administrations Kotayk, Shirak and Syunik authorities worked
particularly well in terms of providing information, as did the
ministries of education and science and justice among central
government agencies.

The National Assembly is listed among those working poorly when
it comes to answering requests for information. The legislative
body answered only two of five requests for information completely,
but that was done only a month and 16 days after the request was
submitted, in one case it provided an incomplete answer, one answer
was ungrounded and one request was not answered at all.

Lawyer Hayrapetyan says that meeting the requirement of the law that
information be provided within five days is also a challenge for
central and local government bodies in Armenia.

“While the number of met requests for information grows [compared to
previous such surveys] the five-day period for providing information
is still not observed,” says Hayrapetyan, adding that incomplete
answers and groundless rejections also remain a challenge.

The data were published by the FOICA in a book within the framework
of the Freedom of Information Law Implementation project co-financed
by USAID and the OSCE Office in Yerevan.

Head of the OSCE Yerevan Office’s democracy department Oliver McCoy
praised the professionalism with which he said the book had been
prepared.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT ADOPTS STRATEGY TO BOOST EXPORT-ORIENTED INDUSTRIES

/ARKA/
December 15, 2011
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, December 15. /ARKA/. The Armenian government has adopted
today a strategy designed to boost export-oriented industries. The
strategy developed by a group of experts commissioned by the World
Bank and with the assistance of the ministry of economy, focuses on
the formation of an advanced industrial system, aimed at boosting
exports, which in turn is supposed to stimulate production of high
quality products meeting international standards, expansion of foreign
markets and creation of new jobs.

‘We have developed this fundamental document to specify Armenia’s
industrial sector’s development up to 2020 with the focus on exports,’
economy minister Tigran Davtian said speaking at a recurrent Cabinet
session.

Minister Davtian said the government plans to double exports by 2015
and increase them further to $3 billion by 2020.

According to official data, total exports in 2010 amounted to over
$1 billion. Davtian said an Industrial Council will be set up chaired
by the prime minister to supervise the implementation of this strategy.

He said also 11 sub-councils will also be formed, one for each
designated sector.

In general, the minister said, the strategy consists of two parts,
the first approved today, is about the principles, approaches and
tools that will be used to implement the strategy. The second part
will include specific directions, sectors and projects. It will be
more interactive and will be elaborated over the years,” he explained.

Prime minister Tigran Sargsyan said half of the Council will be
representatives of the private sector who will be rotated annually.

Armenia’s foreign trade in the first ten months of outgoing year surged
by 17.1% year-on-year to 1.650.9 trillion drams in current prices which
is an equivalent of $4.5 billion, according to the latest numbers,
released today by the country’s National Statistical Service.

It said exports grew by 32.1% to $1.082 billion while imports by 13%
to $3.370.7 billion. The foreign trade gap was $2.288.1 billion.

($1-382.25 drams).

From: Baghdasarian

NAGORNO-KARABAKH’S INCUMBENT, FORMER LEADERS MAY JOIN PRESIDENTIAL RACE – EXPERT

Tert.am
15.12.11

Nagorno-Karabakh, which is to hold a presidential election in summer,
is not in a pre-election fuss like Armenia, says Alexander Manasyan,
a political analyst.

“This can be considered neither positive nor negative. I am sure
there will be activeness in just a couple of months,” he told Tert.am,
hesitating to name potential candidates.

The expert said however that the incumbent and the former presidents,
Bako Sahakyan and Arkadi Ghukasyan, are very likely to run for
election.

“Anyone can propose his candidacy. I personally do not think Arkadi
Ghukasyan’s nomination is an urgent issue. But politics is full of
surprises,” he said.

From: Baghdasarian

SERZH SARGSYAN: VENICE WAS THE CRADLE OF ARMENIAN PRINTING

armradio.am
15.12.2011 12:36

President Serzh Sargsyan hosted an official dinner in Venice,
featuring Armenologists from different countries of the world and
representatives of the local authorities, who participated in the
opening of the “Armenia: Signs of Civilization” exhibition.

“I’m glad to be here to mark the start of the events dedicated to
the 500th anniversary of Armenian printing. It’s not by accident
that the jubilee events start from Venice. It’s not by accident,
because Venice is the cradle of Armenian printing, where the first
Armenian printed book – Hakob Meghapart’s Urbatagirk – was published,”
President Serzh Sargsyan said in his speech.

“Today we launched the “Armenia: Signs of Civilization” exhibition,
which presents more than 200 rare manuscripts, ancient books,
mosaics, cross-stones, carpets, maps and other items of our rich
heritage brought from Armenian and European museums,” the President
said. He expressed gratitude to the authorities of friendly Italy
for supporting the initiative.

“We are proud of our historic contacts with Italy and the
success achieved in the bilateral relations during the 20 years of
independence. At the same time, we would like the Armenian-Italian
cooperation to have more glorious pages in the future,” Serzh
Sargsyan said.

President Sargsyan reminded that UNESCO has named Yerevan World Book
Capital 2012 and invited all attendees to visit Armenia to participate
in the events to be organized within that framework.

From: Baghdasarian

LE PARTI HERITAGE DEMANDE LE LICENCIEMENT DE SURIK KHACHATRIAN
Laetitia

armenews.com
jeudi 15 decembre 2011

Le parti de l’opposition Zharangutyun (Heritage) a exige mercredi
14 decembre 2011 que Surik Khachatrian,le gouverneur de la province
de Syunik, soit immediatement limoge. Il est accuse d’avoir agresse
Silva Hambardzumian.

” Le parti Zharangutyun estime que l’acte inacceptable de Surik
Khachatrian ne convient pas a un homme, et sutout a celui qui occupe
une telle fonction. ”

Cette declaration intervient au lendemain de la decision du Service
Special d’Investigation (SIS). Le gouverneur ne sera pas poursuivi.

Les representants du HHK et le president Serge Sarkissian ont declare
qu’ils ne feraient aucun commentaire sur l’incident avant que l’enquete
SIS ne soit terminee. Ils n’ont pas encore reagi a l’annonce du SIS.

Naira Zohrabian du parti Armenie prospère a affirme qe Silva
Hambardzumian ne jugera pas le gouverneur controverse parce qu’elle
est largement satisfaite du resultat du SIS.

La decision du SIS de ne pas poursuivre Khachatrian rend son limogeage
improbable. Des militants des droits de l’homme et des politiciens
de l’opposition affirment qu’il ne perdra pas son emploi en raison
des prochaines elections legislatives.

From: Baghdasarian

AZNAVOUR SE REBIFFE. MOI AUSSI (2)
Jean Eckian

armenews.com
jeudi 15 decembre 2011

Par Denis Donikian

Longtemps j’ai peste contre Aznavour. Au moment où il frequentait
jusqu’a l’indecence le president Kotcharian et aujourd’hui quand il
se dit pret a conceder a la Turquie de ne pas nommer comme genocide
les evenements de 1915 si le mot fait obstacle a leur reconnaissance
des faits.

Mais voila que ces derniers temps, le vieux volcan Aznavour semble
se reveiller d’un long sommeil patriotique. Comme si le feu sacre de
la jeunesse lui etait brusquement revenu.

Qu’on en juge. Il eclate en mots durs contre la maffia armenienne
qui est en train de gangrener le pays. Sortie qui serait on ne peut
plus honorable si Aznavour avait eu l’honnetete de reconnaître que
cette maffia a partie liee avec le pouvoir en ce qu’il s’octroie les
meilleures parts du marche et permet aux oligarques de s’enrichir
jusqu’a l’indecence.

Dans son film Le President, Henri Verneuil, par la voix de Jean Gabin,
denonce les conflits d’interets dont beneficient certains deputes,
trahissant ainsi les ideaux d’une politique republicaine au service
de la nation. Ce film aurait beaucoup a dire a l’Armenie politicienne
dans la mesure où les deputes defendent a l’Assemblee beaucoup plus
leurs interets que ceux des Armeniens. L’etat social de l’Armenie
actuelle en dit long sur les consequences d’une telle pratique.

Le dernier coup de colère d’Aznavour date d’il y a peu. Dans une
interview donnee au magazine russe Vie du Showbiz , reprenant le seul
mot qu’entendent les Armeniens quand on leur parle de catastrophe,
voila qu’il aurait qualifie l’emigration de la jeunesse armenienne
de ” genocide interne “. Meme après sa retractation, l’expression,
venant d’Aznavour, representant officiel de l’Armenie en Suisse,
explose aux oreilles tant des accuses que des resignes.

Les accuses ? Toute la clique du gouvernement, a commencer par le
president en titre qui prefère ouvrir des consulats et voyager a
l’etranger plutôt que se demener pour assainir par des reformes
le climat social du pays. Car malgre les declarations d’intention,
l’Armenie, telle qu’elle est aujourd’hui, fait honte. Elle fait honte
a tous les Armeniens democrates car c’est un pays qui flotte sur une
mer d’absurdites sans nom. Un pays en guerre où le soldat meurt tue
par les siens. Un pays qui se pense et se vit que par la fuite. Un
pays où chaque citoyen est la proie d’un autre autant qu’il est
lui-meme predateur. Un pays où les enfants ont faim. Un pays qui
s’anemie de jour en jour. Un pays en chute libre, en situation de
suicide permanent tandis que les palabres pour le sauver vont bon
train ici ou la, en Armenie meme ou en diaspora.

Lire la suite sur Ecritteratures ICI

Photos : Jean Eckian / Mischa Aznavour

From: Baghdasarian