Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

168 ZHAM: MP AND JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

Tert.am
09.06.11

The paper claims it has information that MP Hrant Madatyan of the
Prosperous Armenia party cautiously maintains close relations with
Jehovah’s Witnesses in the town of Sevan.

This sect has thousands of members in Sevan and may play a vital role
in the upcoming elections, and Madatyan, who was elected from Sevan,
seems to be quite interested in this electorate, the paper says.

When contacted yesterday, Madatyan did not deny the fact; he only
said he maintains relations with all of his electorate, the paper said.

From: Baghdasarian

FRENCH-ARMENIAN RELEASED FROM PRISON AFTER SERVING FULL SENTENCE
Sargis Hatspanyan

News | 09.06.11 | 11:05

A French-Armenian figure who actively participated in the Armenian
opposition’s 2008 anti-government protests walked free from prison
on Thursday after fully serving his sentence, according to news
agency reports.

Sargis Hatspanyan, who is also a Karabakh war veteran, was arrested in
November 2008 and later convicted on the charge of “false denunciation”
after alleging, through the media, a planned attempt on President
Serzh Sargsyan’s life.

He was sentenced to three and a half years — the term that expired
on June 9, 2011.

Hatspanyan was controversially omitted from the latest general amnesty
declared by Armenian authorities in May; the June 2009 amnesty was
applied to him only partially.

At the latest opposition rally on May 31 when the Armenian National
Congress and its supporters welcomed several of their released fellow
oppositionists, ex-president and current leader of the alliance Levon
Ter-Petrosyan stated that they would also fight to prevent the possible
deportation of Hatspanyan, a French national, from Armenia.

Hatspanyan faced deportation even before his arrest and conviction
more than three years ago.

From: Baghdasarian

WHY ARMENIA’S PM THANKS GOD (SOMETIMES) FOR LACK OF OIL
Posted By: Antonia Oprita

CNBC.com

08 Jun 2011 | 02:52 PM ET

JOHN CARNEY, CNBC, NETNET, NET NET, OPEC, ENERGY

Radio Yerevan–supposedly the only communist radio that told the
truth–was, during the former communist regimes in Eastern Europe,
an imaginary radio station in Armenia and a very popular feature of
jokes that circulated in that bleak region before the 1989 revolutions.

The punch lines were basically answers to questions addressed by
listeners to Radio Yerevan. One popular joke was: “Would it be
possible to bring communism to Switzerland?” a listener asks. “Yes,
but it would be a pity,” Radio Yerevan answers.

The Eastern Europeans in the audience at a conference about Russia
during the World Economic Forum on Europe and Central Asia in Vienna
could be forgiven for remembering – fondly–Radio Yerevan jokes after
hearing the answer of Armenia’s Prime Minister, Tigran Sargsyan,
to a question from the audience.

“Is the high price of commodities a blessing or a curse for your
country?”

one participant asked representatives of Russia, Kazakhstan and
Armenia at the panel “Spotlight on Russia” on Wednesday afternoon.

“Sometimes we say thank God we don’t have oil,” Sargsyan answered,
smiling.

“We have to use our brains instead.”

______________________________________________ © 2011 CNBC.com

From: Baghdasarian

IRANIAN MACBETH IN ARMENIA FESTIVAL

Press TV
June 8 2011
Iran

Iranian stage director Hossein Farrokhi is slated to stage Macbeth
at the Shakespeare International Theater Festival in the Armenian
capital of Yerevan.

“Although I have inserted minor changes in the original text, I have
tried to remain faithful to the alluding text,” Farrokhi explained
about his Shakespeare-adapted play.

Shakespeare’s Macbeth has been adapted to film, television, opera,
novels, and comic books, and is considered the British playwright’s
shortest inspired tragedy that bears little relation to real events
in the Scottish history.

“Participating in an international theater festival gives Iranian
troupes the chance to introduce Iran’s dramatic arts to other nations
and earn international credit,” Farrokhi said.

Farrokhi is one of the most successful Iranian stage directors who
also served on the Jury of Tehran’s 2011 International Student Theater
Festival, Mehr News Agency reported.

The 2011 Shakespeare International Theater Festival will be held in
September to enrich Armenians with various interpretations of renowned
works by great playwrights.

From: Baghdasarian

WORD OF LIFE SECT MEMBERS THREATEN ARMENIAN ARCHIMANDRITE

PanARMENIAN.Net
June 8, 2011 – 21:27 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The archimandrite of the Armenian Church in
Jerusalem, Fr. Ghevond was threatened by the members of Word of
Life sect.

To expose destructive activities of the sect, Fr. Ghevond posted
revealing materials on YouTube video-sharing website. However,
displeased with the initiative, the sectarians posted a series
of menacing messages on the website, threatening the life of the
archimandrite.

This hasn’t been the first case of sectarians’ aggression against
clergy. According to media reports, on May 15, two followers of
Jehovah’s Witnesses sect attacked Yesai Artenyan and beat him in the
yard of the Holy Trinity Church in response to the priest’s demand to
stop preaching in the church territory. The beating was accompanied
by bad language and threats.

From: Baghdasarian

HAK AND AUTHORITIES MAY PARTICIPATE IN ELECTIONS IN ALLIANCE

Tert.am
08.06.11

There are several factors that make one think that Armenia’s
authorities and the main opposition bloc may participate in elections
in an alliance, a Heritage Party MP has said.

“It’s not that much I consider cooperation possible, but that I
cannot rule it out between the HAK [Armenian National Congress] and
the authorities which share opinions in several points,” said Stepan
Safaryan, the head of the parliamentary faction of the Heritage party.

According to him, both the HAK and the authorities are unanimous over
Russia’s role and actions in the region. They also share views on the
extension of Russia’s lease on its military base in Armenia, which
was initiated by Levon Ter-Petrosyan – Armenia’s first president –
and is being continued by the incumbent president Serzh Sargsyan,
Safaryan added.

“They have the same conceptual approaches over the Armenian-Turkish
reconciliation, almost the same views on the NK settlement issue,
not counting insignificant disagreements over a few details,”
Safaryan said.

“In no way did Levon Ter-Petrosyan react to the new coalition
memorandum signed in February. How can after all these I rule out
that these forces may participate in elections in an alliance?” asked
Stepan Safaryan.

From: Baghdasarian

AZERBAIJAN WILL HAVE TO ADMIT INEVITABILITY OF ARTSAKH’S RECOGNITION

PanARMENIAN.Net
June 8, 2011 – 17:06 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Member of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia
(RPA) Gagik Melikyan expects positive results from the upcoming meeting
of the Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian Presidents in Kazan, Russia.

“In my opinion, the progress will be acceptable for the international
community, people of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh,” Melikyan told a
press conference in Yerevan.

According to him, the principles for the conflict settlement are
almost reconciled, while Azerbaijan can nothing, but accept them, i.e.

admit the inevitability of Artsakh’s recognition and start working
on the basic agreement.

“I strongly believe that the time will come, when Azerbaijan will
have to make decisions acceptable for the international community
and compliant with the international law,” he said.

Melikyan also commented on an interview of Personal Representative of
the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, who said
that Nagorno Karabakh should have a special status until signing of
the final peace agreement, which can take place after a referendum
on this territory; and this status should not considerably differ
from the current status of NKR.

“A similar serious statement is within the interests of both Armenia
and international community,” said Melikyan.

The Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia – Serzh Sargsyan,
Ilham Aliyev and Dmitry Medvedev – are slated to meet on June 5 in
the Russian city of Kazan, the next in a series of trilateral meetings
on the Karabakh conflict settlement.

There are certain expectations with respect to the meeting, taking
into consideration the Deauville statement adopted by the leaders
of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chair countries, who said “the time has
arrived for all the sides to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict to take
a decisive step towards a peaceful settlement. Further delay [in the
settlement] would only call into question the commitment of the sides
to reach an agreement.”

From: Baghdasarian

NATURAL INGREDIENTS IS THE MAIN SECRET OF ARMENIAN CUISINE

PanARMENIAN.Net
June 8, 2011 – 17:36 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Natural ingredients is the main secret behind
the peculiar taste of Armenian dishes, according to the chairman of
Preservation and Development of Armenian Culinary Traditions NGO.

At news conference in Yerevan, Sedrak Mamulyan spoke about the
specifics of the Armenian cuisine and their seasonal nature. As Mr.
Mamulyan noted, presenting national cuisine is one of the ways of
describing the country and its national identity.

He further stressed the necessity of creation of national cuisine
encyclopaedia featuring ancient Armenian food preparation rites.

From: Baghdasarian

IRAN’S RELATIONS WITH ARMENIA ARE SO INTIMATE AND ADVANCING ON A POSITIVE COURSE THAT COMMENTS ARE UNNECESSARY
Karine Ter-Sahakyan

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 31, 2011

Tehran knows it perfectly well that except for Christian Armenia she
has almost no allies in the region. Similarly, Armenia, pressed on
all sides, has one reliable path and that is through Iran.

Iran is a country very sensitive and very easy to ruin a relationship
with, if accents set wrong. Everything that is written or said about
Iran is more desirable rather than real. According to a number of
analysts, it is not necessary that recent developments in domestic
policy of the country stand the way they are reported by the media.

No one can say what is indeed going on between the clerics and secular
power in Iran, as the information received can be neither confirmed
nor denied. As for the upcoming visit of Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad to Armenia, most likely it is called to eliminate the
concerns of Yerevan regarding the role of Iran in the settlement of
the Karabakh conflict and to confirm energy cooperation. The visit
will also be evidence for the normal political situation in Iran.

According to Director of Political and Social Research Institute for
Black Sea-Caspian Region, Vladimir Zakharov, serious changes are taking
place in Iran. “A number of political figures in the country understood
that Islamic Iran cannot exist without strict religious control. It
can be supported by the clergy only, but that is not characteristic
of the XXI century. This is the reason for the confrontation between
civil and religious societies,” the expert said.

Zakharov noted that young people don’t reject faith, they “wouldn’t
even think of it”, but Iranian youth want to live the way their
Western peers do. “It is almost impossible to predict the results of
this confrontation. Besides, there is also the conflict with the U.S.,
the West and a number of Arabian countries. Iran clearly comprehends
that American aggression would lead to undesirable consequences,”
Zakharov stressed.

Nevertheless, we can make some more assumptions and we’ll get the
following picture. After “revelations” of representative of the
spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Seyed Ameli “Behind the scenes of
Iran-Azerbaijan confrontation” there continue the raging disputes in
Azerbaijan. Ameli’s remarks caused quite a sharp estimate in Armenia.

Let us recall that in early May imam Ameli had made a statement
that in the Karabakh conflict Iranians, Afghans and Turks fought on
the side of Azerbaijan. His words were confirmed by former Deputy
Minister of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan, brother of late commander
of the Azerbaijani Special Police Unit Rovshan Javadov, political
emigre exiled to Austria, statesman Mahir Javadov. He affirms that
presidents of Azerbaijan Elchibey and Heydar Aliyev did not give Iran
an opportunity to assist Azerbaijan in the Karabakh issue.

Armenian-Iranian relations are so intimate and advancing on a
positive course that the only source of this kind of information
could be Azerbaijan. Neither should it be excluded that imam Ameli
is an ethnic Azeri. However, imam’s provocation failed, and tension
between Azerbaijan and Iran continues unabated.

Imam Ameli also stated that Iran provided logistical support
in bringing thousands of Afghan soldiers to frontline to support
Azeri side, if necessary. “Iran supplied arms and ammunition not to
Armenians, but to our Azeri brethren. Our bases of military training
were located not in Armenia, but in Azerbaijan. Today there live
thousands of witnesses in Azerbaijan, who can prove my words. They
are alive, and having at least a grain of conscience, they can confirm
my words,” declared Ayatollah Seyed Hasan Ameli.

All this smacks of a “leak” of information from Baku, but in no way
can it affect the Armenian-Iranian relations. Tehran knows it perfectly
well that except for Christian Armenia she has almost no allies in the
region. Similarly, Armenia, pressed on all sides, has one reliable
path and that is through Iran. It is also through Iran that Armenia
may gain access to warm seas and not depend on the whims of Georgia.

From: Baghdasarian

MUBARAK STATUE REPLACED BY FIGURE OF ANCIENT EGYPTIAN IN AZERBAIJAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
June 8, 2011 – 17:40 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The authorities in Azerbaijan have removed a monument
to ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The statue of the former
Egyptian leader sitting in an armchair in front of three pyramids was
taken away from a park in the town of Khirdalan near the Azerbaijani
capital on June 7.

It was replaced on its plinth by a statue depicting an ancient
Egyptian figure.

The name of the park, the Azerbaijan-Egyptian Friendship Park, has
not been changed. Mubarak’s statue was put up in 2007.

Opposition and youth activists have been demanding the removal of the
statue, which had been put under police guard since Mubarak’s ouster
in February, RFE/RL reported.

From: Baghdasarian