Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

KHADIJA ISMAILOVA SHEDS LIGHT ON BUSINESS INTERESTS OF FAMILY OF ALI HASANOV, HEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION OF AZERBAIJAN

20:20 25/06/2014 >> SOCIETY

Journalist Khadija Ismayilova’s investigation published on the website
of the Centre for the study of corruption and organized crime (OCCRP),
describes the business interests of the wife and the son ofthe head
of the department of social and political issues of the Presidential
Administration of Azerbaijan Ali Hasanov.

The article states that Hasanov’s wife, business woman Sona Veliyeva,
manages the newspaper “Caspian”, is a member of the National
Television and Radio Council (NTRC), and also owns and manages
several enterprises.

“Veliyeva and her family get big profits from the companies that they
own. This caused a conflict of interest which has not been considered
by the Government of Azerbaijan,” the article states.

According to the investigation, Hasanov’s son, Shamhal Hasanli, among
other things, is engaged in the production of soap operas. The author
notes that the NTRC has banned broadcasting of foreign TV soap operas.

The “Kaspi Global” company headed by Hasanli has created three national
soap operas, and one of them has been created at the expense of the
state budget.

The entertainments are not the only business area for Hasanly thriving
through family ties, writes Ismailova. In April 2011, the National
Council of Radio and Television allocated frequencies for “Araz FM”
which is a radio related to Hasanov’s family. Frequency 103,3 FM
formerly belonged to Azerbaijani BBC Service, it was banned (apparently
for political reasons) in 2009. Hasanov said then that the state law
prohibits the foreign organizations to broadcast in Azerbaijan.

“Araz FM” belongs to a man named Etiram Karimov and a company called
“Teleradio Araz”, which, in its turn, is a part of “Golden Prince”
LLC. Organization “Golden Prince” was established in 2008 by an
Iranian citizen Cyrus Guchhani and a citizen of Azerbaijan Azer
Veliyev. Veliyev reportedly is a relative to Sona Veliyeva and is
her business partner, as it is written in the article.

In 2010, when FM Araz received a license, Rasul Jafarov who rivaled
with the RadioTV “Araz” for obtaining a license, raised the question
of foreign ownership. In 2010 Jafarov tried to get a license for
his project an “Alternative Radio,” but he was refused. However,
Araz FM was granted a license for a period of six years from the
NRTC. Jafarov filed a legal complaint and announced about a “political
discrimination.” The case is in the European Court of Human Rights,
reads the article.

Broadcasting Company “Araz” is registered by the same address as all
other companies associated with Hasanov’s family. The opening ceremony
of one of the “Araz FM” studios which was held in one of the malls,
Shamhal Hasanli was introduced as CEO of the radio station.

The only press club in Baku, which can accommodate more than 30 people,
is also associated with Hasanov family, the article reads.

Ismailova notes that the International Press Center has begun operating
in 2003 at the same address where all the Hasanov family enterprises
are registered. After that, two independent press clubs were closed
because of financial problems and because of the fact that they
refused to renew the lease.

Another area of interest for this family is education. They are
connected with the fact that the government shuts the competing
schools pertaining to Fetullaha Gulen movement, the article reads.

According to the research, the preparatory courses for students at the
educational center “Caspian” administered by Sona Veliyeva, having
several branches across the capital, lag far behind Gulen schools
in popularity. Critics predict that the movement against Gulen in
Azerbaijan can only increase the popularity of the educational center
“Caspian.”

In general, the list of family businesses belonging to Ali Hasanov
and compiled by Kh. Ismailova include 12 companies.

Source: Panorama.am

From: Baghdasarian

IT COMPANIES DESCEND ON YEREVAN FOR DIGITEC FORUM

CISTran Finance
June 24 2014

June 24, 2014 8:30 AM
By Lisa Barron

More than five dozen IT companies attended the DigiTec Business Forum
in the Armenian capital of Yerevan last week.

Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan welcomed the participants and said
that the IT sector is crucial to the Armenian economy.

“Information technology and telecommunications have become the fastest
growing sectors of Armenia’s economy, leading to enhanced productivity,
technological innovation and the emergence of a knowledge-based
economy,” Abrahamyan said. “Our achievements in the IT sector inspire
confidence that in the near future Armenia may become a leading
country in the region.”

Among the 13 foreign companies taking part in the forum was Russia’s
ARinteg, which participated for the first time. The Armenian-Russian
and Armenian-Dutch business conferences were held on the sidelines
of the forum.

Abrahamyan said the new government would do everything possible to
help IT industry develop.

“The government is going to provide practical assistance to this
industry, which is of paramount importance to our country’s economy.”

Additionally, Abrahamyan also said the government would work to assist
small- and medium-sized businesses.

“We have undertaken to grant benefits to small and medium-sized
enterprises, with a relevant bill being discussed at the National
Assembly,” Abrahamyan said. “The projected steps are meant to prevent
major businesses from working in the shade: our goal is to make all
of them work in the tax field.”

From: Baghdasarian

Press Release
Armenian Economic Association
Contact: Shushanik Hakobyan
email: [email protected]

The Armenian Economic Association 2014 conference was jointly hosted
by Yerevan State University (YSU), the Russian Armenian University
(RAU), and the American University of Armenia (AUA) on June 20-22,
2014. It was concluded with a workshop on Modeling Market Risk on June
23rd, at YSU. The language of the conference was English and Armenian,
and sessions were organized by language and field.

The Conference brought together academics and researchers from
Armenia, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Serbia,
Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Presentations over the three days included over 45 papers which
addressed topics in international trade, economic development, macro
and microeconomics, migration, finance, political economy, and labor
markets among others.

The meetings were opened by PM Hovik Abrahamyan at YSU. He was shortly
followed by a keynote speech by Mattias Polborn, Professor and
Director of Graduate Studies, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign,
USA. On Saturday, the keynote speaker at the opening at RAU was
Haroutioun Samuelian, Vice Governor, Central Bank of Lebanon. The
luncheon speaker on Sunday at AUA was Teresa Daban Sanchez, Resident
Representative to Armenia, International Monetary Fund.

The conference was in part sponsored by YSU, RAU, AUA, the Central
Bank of Armenia, and the USAID/FED program. For more details, please
visit the conference homepage at Stay
tuned for the call for papers for the 2015 conference.

AEA employs the conference format to advance scholarship in economics
and create an environment nurturing of research. Please write us with
your feedback on this and past conferences and suggestions for future
academic gatherings.

Stay tuned for the 2015 conference.

About AEA:
Follow AEA:
Become a member:

From: Baghdasarian

FROM GAY RIGHTS TO THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: KIM KARDASHIAN’S HISTORY OF POLITICS

Entertainmentwise
June 24 2014

Kim Kardashian is hardly the next Angelina Jolie but there IS more to
the reality star than clothes, Kanye West and her curvaceous bum. It
may have gone unnoticed that she hasn’t been afraid of airing her
views in the past when it comes to controversial political or human
rights issues. Don’t believe us?

Take this week for example, Kim announced that she was pulling
out of her initial protest against the chain of hotels owned by the
Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah, including the Beverly Hills Hotel,
after he signed a cruel Sharia Law penal code which has allowed for
homosexuality to be punishable by death in his country.

Explaining her decision to back down from the protest, Kim said in
a post on her website that she didn’t want to punish the hardworking
staff at the hotel.

“I started to realize that maybe boycotting the hotel isn’t the best
solution either. For a sultan that has 20 billion dollars, this loss
of business doesn’t even make a dent in his fortunes,” she wrote.

“But the hotel staff are being negatively affected every day with
the boycott that has gone on for weeks now… We shouldn’t punish
the amazing hard-working people who have been so good to us for years!”

Well, don’t be too shocked that Kim has actually taken a stand for
human rights in other countries as it’s certainly not the first time
she has weighed in on controversial issues…

April 2011 – Kim speaks out on Armenian Genocide:

Kim was furious when she appeared on the cover of Turkey’s
Cosmopolitan, coinciding with the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.

In a Twitter rant, Kim stated: “I just found out today that I am on
the cover of Cosmopolitan Magazine in Turkey this month.

“Cosmopolitan Magazine has a number of international editions all
around the world that run in various territories, and when I did
this shoot for the international covers I had no idea that Turkey
was planning to run my story on their cover THIS month, considering
Genocide Remembrance Day is this month.”

From: Baghdasarian

AZERBAIJAN SEEKS STEPPED-UP MEDIATION OF CONFLICT WITH ARMENIA

Latin American Herald Tribune
June 24 2014

STRASBOURG, France – Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev appealed
on Tuesday for intensified efforts by the international community
to resolve his country’s conflict with Armenia over the disputed
territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Aliyev traveled to Strasbourg to address the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe.

His speech came a month after Azerbaijan assumed the six-month
Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh goes back to the collapse of the
Soviet Union, when the region’s Armenian population sought unification
with Armenia, leading to a 1991-1994 war that left more than 25,000
people dead.

Armenia has engaged in ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh, Aliyev
said.

Armenia’s continuing occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh reflects a double
standard in international relations, he said, noting that no steps
have been taken to enforce the four UN Security Council resolutions
calling for Armenian withdrawal from the territory.

“Sometimes (Security Council resolutions) are applied in a few hours
and, in our case, nothing happens after 20 years,” the Azerbaijani
president said.

The negotiating process “cannot be eternal,” Aliyev said, expressing
confidence that the lead mediators, the United States, France and
Russia, will direct the talks toward a conclusion.

Aliyev, a former member of the assembly, also responded to questions
about allegations of human rights abuses in Azerbaijan.

His government is not holding any political prisoners and freedom of
the press is respected, the Azerbaijani president said, dismissing
reports to the contrary by NGOs as “biased.”

Two French investigative reporters were expelled from Azerbaijan
last month.

From: Baghdasarian

ARF’S STATEMENT OF DEMANDS FOR JUSTICE FOR THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Monday, June 23rd, 2014

Mt. Ararat

MONTEBELLO-The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Western US’s 49th
Regional Convention on Sunday unanimously approved a statement
delineating the organization’s list of demands for justice on the
eve of the centennial of the Armenian Genocide. Below is the text of
that statement:

Armenian Revolutionary Federation Western U.S.A. Statement Of Demands
For Justice For The Armenian Genocide

WHEREAS, the Armenian Nation was subjected to a systematic and
premeditated Genocide officially beginning on April 24, 1915, at
the hands of the Young Turk Government of the Ottoman Empire from
1915-1919 and continued at the hands of the Kemalist Movement of
Turkey from 1920-1923 whereby over 1.5 million Armenian men, women and
children were slaughtered or marched to their deaths in an effort to
annihilate the Armenian Nation in the First Genocide of modern times,
while thousands of surviving Armenian women and children were forcibly
converted and Islamized, and hundreds of thousands more were subjected
to ethnic cleansing during the period of the modern Republic of Turkey
from 1924-1937; and

WHEREAS, the planning and implementation of Genocide is indisputably
recognized in international law as a Crime Against Humanity and is
punishable as such; and

WHEREAS, this Genocidal Crime Against Humanity has remained unpunished
for nearly one hundred years, as the Government of Turkey is allowed
with impunity to distort history and to deny the Genocide and its
consequences perpetrated both by its Ottoman predecessor and its own
predecessor regimes despite international recognition of the Armenian
Genocide by 23 countries, including the United States of America; and

WHEREAS, Armenians were the indigenous and native inhabitants of their
ancestral homeland for thousands of years preceding the Armenian
Genocide as evidenced by the ruins of hundreds of ancient Armenian
churches, monasteries, cemeteries and other readily identifiable
religious and cultural structures, sites and antiquities still
remaining on such land as proof of their ongoing presence there up
until the Armenian Genocide; and

WHEREAS, the ancestral homeland of the Armenian People, and especially
the six historically Armenian regions of Van, Erzerum, Kharpert,
Bitlis, Dikranagerd-Diyarbakir, and Sepastia-Sivas, all within
the current borders of the Republic of Turkey, have been stripped
of their native inhabitants by virtue of the Armenian Genocide,
except for thousands of Islamized or hidden Armenians who have been
subjected to silent oppression, while some of whom have recently begun
to acknowledge their true ethnic identities and should be encouraged
to return to their roots; and

WHEREAS, the ancestral Homeland of the Armenian People continues to be
illegally occupied by the Republic of Turkey which makes every attempt
to erase any proof of the historic Armenian presence on such land; and

WHEREAS, the Armenian Nation survived the Genocide despite the attempt
by Ottoman Turkey and the modern Republic of Turkey to exterminate
it; and

WHEREAS, the survival of the Armenian Nation from the horrors of
Genocide was due in significant part to American and international
efforts spearheaded by Near East Relief, an organization created
and sanctioned in 1916 by the United States Congress which rescued
over 132,000 Armenian orphans and hundreds of thousands of Armenian
refugees who went on to survive and thrive outside of their ancestral
homeland all over the world and specifically within the United States
of America; and

WHEREAS, the First Independent Republic of Armenia was internationally
recognized in the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide through the
Treaty of Sevres; and

WHEREAS, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America,
issued his final and binding Arbitral Award on November 22, 1920,
restoring some of the territorial rights of the Armenian Nation taken
from it by the Government of the Ottoman Empire as a consequence of
the Armenian Genocide, by redrawing international borders to include
the provinces of Van, Erzerum, Bitlis, and Trabzon with access to
the Black Sea within the Republic of Armenia; and

WHEREAS, despite its legally binding terms, the Wilsonian Arbitral
Award was never enforced, and the Turkish occupation of the lands which
legally belong to Armenia continues in blatant violation thereof to
date; and

WHEREAS, the Armenian People, individually and collectively, have
been deprived of their real and personal property, culture and life
on their ancestral Homeland for nearly a century since the Armenian
Genocide; and

WHEREAS, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation of the Western United
States consists mostly of members who are the direct descendants of
those survivors of the Armenian Genocide who eventually immigrated
to the United States of America and who, as U.S. citizens, and as the
largest organized community of the Armenian Diaspora, have the right
to demand justice in the name of the Armenian Nation, including but
not limited to the implementation of the Wilsonian Arbitral Award,
and petitioning the U.S. Government at local, State and Federal levels
to do so; and

WHEREAS, the Government of Turkey continues its predecessor
governments’ campaign of Genocide and attempted destruction of the
Armenian Nation with impunity by: (a) illegally occupying Western
Armenia; (b) illegally blockading the western border of the current
second independent Republic of Armenia; (c) aiding and abetting
the Republic of Azerbaijan, its co-conspirator and accomplice,
in its illegal blockade of the eastern border of the current second
independent Republic of Armenia; (d) aiding and abetting the Republic
of Azerbaijan, its co-conspirator and accomplice, in its illegal
blockade of the current independent Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
(Artsakh); (e) aiding and abetting the Republic of Azerbaijan, its
co-conspirator and accomplice, in its attempt to erase any proof of the
historical presence of the Armenian Nation and its rightful claims to
Nakhichevan, including but not limited to the destruction with impunity
of the ancient Armenian cemetery at Djulfa by the Azeri military; (f)
aiding and abetting the Republic of Azerbaijan, its co-conspirator
and accomplice, in perpetrating and then engaging in a campaign of
denial and distortion of massacres perpetrated against the indigenous
Armenian populations of Baku, Sumgait and Kirovabad; (g) aiding and
abetting radicalized militant action and ethnic cleansing against the
indigenous Armenian population of Kessab and other parts of Syria;
(h) failing to bring to justice the perpetrators of the murder of
Hrant Dink, a crime linked to the highest levels of the Turkish State;
(i) continuing its silent oppression and intimidation of hidden and
Islamized Armenians, most of whom fear revealing their true identities
or practicing religious freedom under threat of retaliation; and (j)
generally taking any and all steps within its power to eradicate any
proof of the historical presence and valid claims of the Armenian
Nation as a consequence of the Genocide perpetrated against it; and

WHEREAS, the Peace & Democracy Party (BDP), the current leading
party of the Kurdish population of Turkey, should be acknowledged and
encouraged for its formal adoption as a part of its party platform an
acknowledgement and apology for the role of the Kurdish population in
the Armenian Genocide, a plan to try to restore some of the property
rights of the Armenian Nation, and a call upon the Government of
Turkey to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide and offer restitution; and

WHEREAS, the municipal government of the City of Diyarbakir
(Dikranagerd) in Turkey, democratically controlled by the Kurdish Peace
& Democracy Party, has in fact recently taken concrete steps toward
reconciliation by restoring the Armenian Sourp Giragos Cathedral,
erecting a monument to victims of Genocide, allowing and encouraging
Armenian language and religion classes to be held for Islamized or
hidden Armenians, erecting a highway welcome sign into the City in
Armenian, and other such measures for which it should be commended
and encouraged; and

WHEREAS, the current geopolitical conflicts in the Near East and Middle
East have the significant potential of resulting in a redrawing of
international borders in the region which can and should include the
Western Armenian homeland and an independent Kurdistan which would
necessitate dialogue, cooperation and peaceful co-existence based on a
concrete framework for reparations and restitution as outlined herein;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that on the eve of the Centennial
of the Armenian Genocide widely recognized as April 24, 2015, and on
behalf of the descendants of the Armenian Genocide currently living
in the Western United States of America, the Regional Convention of
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation of the Western United States
hereby delineates its Demands for Justice for the Armenian Genocide,
as follows:

1. The Republic of Turkey must unequivocally acknowledge and bear
the consequences of the Armenian Genocide planned and implemented
by the Young Turk Government of the Ottoman Empire from 1915-1919,
continued to be perpetrated by the Kemalist Movement from 1920-1923,
and leading to ethnic cleansing by its own predecessor regime of the
modern Republic of Turkey from 1924-1937.

2. The Republic of Turkey must take prompt and meaningful steps toward
restitution to the Armenian Nation for its Genocidal Crime Against
Humanity, fully acknowledging that any attempt at restitution cannot
possibly restore the Armenian Nation to the quality of national life
and quantity of numbers it would have enjoyed but-for the Genocide
perpetrated against it, but nevertheless showing good faith in
attempting to right the wrongs of history by restoring all rights
taken from the Armenian Nation.

3. Restitution of territorial property rights of the Armenian Nation
shall include the redrawing of international borders on the basis
of the final and binding Arbitral Award of United States President
Woodrow Wilson issued on November 22, 1920, including but not limited
to reunification with the Republic of Armenia of the territories and
provinces of Van, Bitlis, Erzerum and Trabzon to provide unrestricted
access to the Black Sea, as well as the regions of Kars and Ardahan
from within the borders of the First Independent Republic of Armenia,
and including Mount Ararat and its surrounding territories.

4. Complete and unequivocal restoration of territorial property rights
of the Armenian Nation shall include recognition of the independence
and international sovereignty of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
(Artsakh) and its current borders.

5. Complete and unequivocal restoration of territorial property rights
of the Armenian Nation shall include Nakhichevan.

6. Complete and unequivocal restoration of the aforementioned property
rights shall include unrestricted and free access and use of all
natural resources and natural and man-made avenues of transportation,
movement and land use.

7. The Republic of Turkey and the Republic of Azerbaijan shall
acknowledge, protect and preserve the hundreds of ancient Armenian
churches, monasteries, cemeteries and other historical and cultural
structures, sites and antiquities within their current and future
borders at their expense and shall refrain from making, encouraging
or tolerating any attempts to destroy, deface, or eradicate them.

8. The Republic of Turkey and the Republic of Azerbaijan shall
immediately remove any and all blockades of Armenia and Artsakh and
allow unrestricted access through their borders and take other such
good faith measures to normalize and cultivate relations amongst
said countries anchored in a full and complete acknowledgement of
the Armenian Genocide, its consequences, and an overall plan for just
reparations as outlined herein.

9. The Republic of Turkey and the Republic of Azerbaijan shall refrain
from taking any military or other action to provoke cross-border
violence or in any way disrupt the peace with the Republic of Armenia
and the Republic of Artsakh.

10. The Republic of Turkey shall restore to the Armenian Patriarchate
of Istanbul, the Holy See of the Great House of Cilicia, and/or any
other entity designated by duly appointed representatives of the
Armenian Nation full and unencumbered property rights and access to
all Armenian churches, monasteries, cemeteries and other religious,
faith-based, historical or cultural structures, sites and antiquities
within its current and future borders, waiving any demands and
exempting them from any past and future property taxes or other such
potential obligations as a part of its measures toward restitution.

11. The Republic of Turkey must make financial restitution to
the descendants of the victims of the Armenian Genocide or their
designated community or organizational representatives and provide
economic assistance to the Republic of Armenia in amounts and manners
to be determined by a duly appointed international tribunal assembled
for this purpose.

12. The Republic of Turkey shall provide unrestricted access to
its judicial system and courts for any descendants of the victims
of the Armenian Genocide, individually and collectively, or any
representative organizations or entities of the Armenian People to
assert real and personal property rights without regard to and with a
complete waiver of any statutes of limitation, theories of abandonment,
adverse possession and/or any laws which existed either during the
Ottoman period and/or post-Ottoman Republic of Turkey, or any other
legal hindrances that may affect the validity of such claims.

13. The Republic of Turkey shall adopt as a part of its national
educational system a full and complete acknowledgement of the Armenian
Genocide and the consequences thereof and shall allow and encourage
open and frank dialogue and research concerning this dark chapter of
its history.

14. The Republic of Turkey shall take all steps necessary to reverse,
prevent and punish any attempts to discriminate against, intimidate,
or harass ethnic Armenians because of their ethnicity, within its
current and future borders and to allow without any hindrance hidden
and/or Islamized Armenians to return to their true identities if
they so wish and to practice religious and ethnic freedom without
restriction or fear of retaliation;

15. The Republic of Turkey shall designate April 24 of each year
as a Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Armenian Genocide and
shall permit and encourage unrestricted commemorative events within
its current and future borders, starting with April 24, 2015, the
Centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

With full and prompt implementation of these aforementioned Demands
for Justice for the Armenian Genocide, the Armenian Nation can
finally move toward a genuine, durable and lasting reconciliation and
peaceful coexistence with the Turkish, Azeri and Kurdish populations
of the region.

June 22, 2014

From: Baghdasarian

RUSSIA FM’S ARMENIA VISIT TRIGGERS MORE QUESTIONS – NEWSPAPER

June 24, 2014 | 08:43

YEREVAN. – Russian Federation Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov,
who had arrived in Azerbaijan days ago, was in Armenia on an official
visit since Sunday, June 22, Aravot daily reported.

“It is noteworthy that OSCE Minsk Group Russian Co-Chair Igor Popov
likewise had arrived in [capital city] Yerevan together with Lavrov.

This is perhaps an indication that Lavrov discussed some matters with
the Armenian authorities regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh [conflict]
settlement process.

“[But] Lavrov’s Yerevan visit did not shed light on the issue of
Armenia’s joining the Eurasian Union. We were [solely] informed from
the Presidential [Office’s] message that [FMs] Lavrov and [Edward]
Nalbandian had discussed the processes of Armenia’s joining the
Eurasian economic integration.

“In actual fact, Lavrov and Nalbandian had nothing new to announce
about Armenia’s Eurasian fate,” Aravot wrote.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

From: Baghdasarian

AZERBAIJAN URGES PACE TO IMPOSE SANCTIONS AGAINST ARMENIAN DELEGATION

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
June 23 2014

23 June 2014, 12:17 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijan has called on Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe (PACE) to impose sanctions against Armenian delegation for
Yerevan’s continuous occupation of Azerbaijani territories.

Member of Azerbaijani delegation to the PACE Elkhan Suleymanov
addressed an appeal to PACE President Anne Brasseur, Secretary General
of Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland, PACE Secretary General
of Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe Wojciech Sawicki,
Members of Committee of Ministers of Council of Europe and the Bureau
of Council of Europe, AzerTag news agency reported.

The appeal said as a consequence of Armenia’s armed aggression,
20 percent of Azerbaijani territories, including Nagorno-Karabakh
region and seven neighboring regions, were occupied. Meanwhile, over
one million Azerbaijanis became internally displaced due to ethnic
cleansing policy of Armenia in these territories.

Suleymanov noted that the illegal character of the armed occupation
of Azerbaijani territories has been confirmed in various resolutions
and documents issued by the UN Security Council, its General Assembly,
PACE, European Parliament, OSCE, and other international organizations
which call for an immediate and unconditional end of the occupation.

PACE Resolution 1416 (2005) once again reiterates that “the occupation
of foreign territory by a member state constitutes a grave violation
of that state’s obligations as a member of the Council of Europe”,
demanding unconditional release of the occupied territories.

“Nevertheless, Armenia ignores the resolutions and documents of
international organizations, as well as PACE’s resolution calling for
unconditional release of Azerbaijani territories. This proves that
Armenia insists on keeping the territories of neighboring Azerbaijan
under occupation,” Suleymanov said.

“Hereby, I put forth a motion for resolution calling for imposing
sanctions against Armenian delegation for Yerevan’s armed occupation
of Azerbaijani territories,” Suleymanov said.

He also noted that the motion was signed by 58 members of Parliament
representing 14 PACE member states and sent to PACE Secretariat by
e-mail on June 7.

The Secretariat confirmed the receipt of electronic signatures on June
10. According to rules of procedure, the motion for the resolution
was submitted to the Secretary with original 58 signatures.

The appeal said “the draft resolution is an official document of
the Assembly and it will be impossible to block this document with 58
signatures, if it is put into discussion at the meeting of Presidential
Committee and Bureau. However, the Armenian delegation will try to
stop it under different pretexts, ignoring the existing procedures”.

“Hereby, I would like to express my gratitude to PACE members, who
signed the motion for resolution submitted under my authorship,”
he said.

“Furthermore, I call on you to prevent any injustice against the motion
for resolution that demands the application of sanctions against
Armenian delegation for its continuous occupation of Azerbaijani
territories, by excluding it from public discussion and preference
of corporate interests of certain forces to the principles of Council
of Europe,” Suleymanov said.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally
recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent
regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus
neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s.

Long-standing efforts by U.S., Russian and French mediators have been
largely fruitless so far.

As a result of the military aggression of Armenia, over 20,000
Azerbaijanis were killed, 4,866 are reported missing and almost
100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled.

The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Armenian
withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been
enforced to this day.

From: Baghdasarian

PUTIN AND ALIYEV TALK ABOUT KARABAKH

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
June 23 2014

23 June 2014 – 2:19pm

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh
settlement with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev by telephone.

According to the public relations service of the Kremlin, the Russian
side confirmed its readiness to contribute to searching for a solution
to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem.

The leaders of the states emphasized the high level of
Russian-Azerbaijani cooperation and supported its further development.

From: Baghdasarian

FAMILY BUSINESSES IN ARMENIA MAY GET TAX EXEMPTION UNDER PROPOSED CHANGES

CISTran Finance
June 23 2014

June 23, 2014 8:00 AM
By Lisa Barron

The Armenian parliament began considering changes last week that would
exempt “family businesses” with annual turnover of less than $29,000
from taxes and reduce the rate of turnover tax paid by companies with
annual sales of up to $140,000 from 3.5 percent to one percent.

While several government officials have said the bill would give a
major boost to family-owned businesses, preliminary estimates show tax
revenues would drop by nearly $20 million. Armenian Prime Minister
Hovik Abrahamyan, however, said earlier this month that the loss in
tax revenue would be replaced by higher taxes on large businesses,
ARKA reports.

The previous government implemented a turnover tax last January,
replacing profit and value-added taxes paid by small businesses
engaged in retail or wholesale trade. If passed, the changes would
take effect on Oct. 1.

From: Baghdasarian