Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTER VISITED SOUTH-WESTERN BORDER LINE

18:57, 5 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 5, ARMENPRESS: Defense Minister of the Republic
of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan visited south-western border zone, met
soldiers in the front line, checked combat readiness, problems of
implementation of troops’ service and process of military exercises.

“Armenpress” was informed from the ministry that the minister listened
to the reports of commanders, gave corresponding instructions and
orders in order to implement the process deeper and more efficient.

Military units of Armenian Armed forces located along the border
with Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic headed by the chief of staff of
the Armed forces of Armenia Colonel-General Yuri Khachatruov hold
large-scale operative-strategic military exercises in which take part
all kinds of military units and detachments. The duration of military
exercises is 7 days. Involved forces during the military exercises
mainly perform attacking actions in framework of which they also
implement firing tasks.

From: Baghdasarian

KARABAKH WAR HEROES AGAINST CUSTOMS UNION (VIDEOS)

22:07 05.09.13

Several heroes of the Nagorno-Karabakh war rallied Thursday evening
in Yerevan’s Liberty Square, protesting against Armenia’s decision
to join the Russian-led Customs Union.

Suren Sargsyan, who led the public gathering, said the president’s
Wednesday statement was evidently made under the threat of pressure.

“Serzh Sargsyan was sitting next to [Russian President] Vladimir Putin,
looking as though he had just been beaten by a club. And Putin was
angrily and contemptuously looking at the Armenian president as if
he had realized Sargsyan was trying to apply double standards. He
seemed to be saying to him, ‘Speak out, now’. It’s quite possible
for Europe and the Americas to treat us likewise tomorrow,” he said.

The activist stressed the importance of having a legitimate country
leader, noting in the meantime that the incumbent president won his
second term through vote-buying. “Regardless of whether or not the
president’s decision is in Armenia’s interests, I declare that the
Armenian people do not need a president like Serzh Sargsyan,” the
war veteran added.

Yervand Manaryan, a merited Armenian actor who had joined the rally,
also criticized the Customs Union move, considering it a major disgrace
for Armenia. “The only thing left now is to be able to straighten
our back. This is what I think; I am not one of those who bend down
all the time,” he said.

President of the Yerevan Writers’ Union Abgar Apinyan later delivered
a speech, expressing support to the protesting crowd. “By joining
the home-guard, we will try to attain results every week to reach a
victory,” he said.

A former member of the Karabakh committee, Ashot Manucharyan, also
shared the opinions voiced, pointing out to Russia’s double standards.

“We have seen two kinds of Russia. Russia can be an ally, but it can
also be a rival; all depends on Armenia’s posture,” the activist noted.

He proposed one way of bridging the existing gaps. “That’s when the
people gather here to join efforts,” he said.

A deputy leader of the opposition Heritage party, Armen Martirosyan,
also addressed the topic, criticizing the political decision.

“After all this, [Heritage party leader] Raffi Hovhannisian could not
but demand Serzh Sargsyan’s resignation. This is an impermissible
situation for us. Such unions bring harm rather than offer any
assistance,” he said in his speech.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA RIFT OVER TRADE DEAL FUELS EU-RUSSIA TENSION

5 September 2013 Last updated at 17:19

Armenia’s decision to join a Russian-led customs union has thrown EU
plans to forge closer ties with the Caucasus republic into disarray.

The EU plans to conclude association agreements with several ex-Soviet
states in November, but Armenia is unlikely to be among them.

Such agreements are seen as key steps on the path to eventual EU
membership.

Armenia’s move has fuelled Western anxiety that Russia wants to exert
control over ex-Soviet states.

The European Commission is asking Armenia to clarify its position.

Armenia had been preparing to initial the agreement with the EU in
November, after more than two years of negotiations.

The Commission says the agreement is “not a zero-sum game” – that is,
not simply a choice between Russia or the EU.

A statement from EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said “we
take note of Armenia’s apparent wish to join the customs union.

“We look forward to understanding better from Armenia what their
intentions are and how they wish to ensure compatibility between these
and the commitments undertaken through the Association Agreement and
DCFTA [Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area].”

Energy leverage

However, a foreign policy expert at the European Parliament,
Conservative MEP Charles Tannock, told the BBC that Armenia could
not operate two different sets of tariff rules.

“If you join one customs union you can’t have a free trade agreement
with another jurisdiction,” he said.

The EU association agreements go beyond measures to ease trade –
they also entail commitments to democratic standards, which are not
part of Russia’s customs union.

For years the EU has been pursuing a new “Eastern Partnership” with
Moscow’s former Soviet allies.

Moldova and Ukraine are on course to sign association agreements
with the EU in November. But both have come under Russian pressure
to remain in Moscow’s sphere of influence – and their heavy reliance
on Russian gas puts them in a vulnerable position.

On Tuesday a senior Russian envoy, Dmitry Rogozin, told Moldovans that
“energy supplies are important in the run-up to winter – I hope you
won’t freeze”.

Speaking later, Moldova’s President Nicolae Timofti said his country
would pursue integration with the EU and “cannot live under pressure
or threats”.

Russian-speaking separatists – armed by Russia – still control
Trans-Dniester, a large strip of land that broke away from Moldova.

Russia and Armenia – former Soviet partners with shared Christian
traditions – have long had close ties.

Military tensions

Armenia is still locked in a bitter territorial dispute with
Muslim-majority Azerbaijan – and some observers have drawn a direct
link between that dispute, over Nagorno-Karabakh, and the customs
union plan.

Mr Tannock said concern about Russian arms sales to Azerbaijan appeared
to have influenced Armenian President Serge Sarkisian more than any
other issue.

Oil-rich Azerbaijan is receiving military equipment from Russia
worth up to $1bn (£843m), including tanks and artillery, in a drive
to modernise its armed forces, Russian media report.

Since the 1990s Nagorno-Karabakh war Armenia has had close military
co-operation with Russia, and without that “Armenia would be totally
vulnerable to attack by Azerbaijan”, Mr Tannock told the BBC.

He said Russia “seems to be winning battles now” in its traditional
sphere of influence and “has caught the EU a bit on the hop”, he said.

Mr Sarkisian held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in
Moscow on Tuesday, and drew a direct link between trade ties and the
security partnership between former Soviet states.

Mr Sarkisian spoke of Armenia’s “desire to join the customs union and
get involved in the process of creating the Eurasian Economic Union”.

Mr Putin sees a future Eurasian union as an economic bloc pulling
together former Soviet states. Currently Russia’s customs union only
embraces Belarus and Kazakhstan.

“I have stated on many occasions that, since we share a system
of military security, it is impossible and inefficient to isolate
ourselves from the corresponding geo-economical space,” Mr Sarkisian
said.

“This is a rational decision; it is a decision based on Armenia’s
national interests. This decision is not a rejection of our dialogue
with European institutions.”

In a tweet on Tuesday Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said
“seems as if Armenia will break talks on free trade agreement with
EU and integrate with Russia instead. U-turn.”

From: Baghdasarian

ZORYAN HOSTS 22 STUDENTS TO STUDY GENOCIDE AND PREVENTION

18:26, 5 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 5, ARMENPRESS: The running of the 12th annual
Genocide & Human Rights University Program (GHRUP) couldn’t have
been timelier considering the atrocities and human rights violations
currently taking place in Syria, Egypt, and several countries in the
Middle East and Africa. This year, 22 university students came to
Toronto from 10 countries to meet and study with 10 distinguished
genocide scholars, rpeorts Armenpress referring to Armenian Weekly.

Many of the students-Kurds, Nigerians, Pakistanis, Armenians, Jews,
Muslims, and Christians-came from backgrounds where gross violations
of human rights and genocide are a part of their national or personal
experience. There were several students who work to provide aid to
affected communities, such as those of Guatemala and Sudan. Perhaps
even more remarkable was the number of students who do not have a
direct connection, yet are deeply motivated to understand human rights
violations and genocide, and how to raise awareness to prevent them
around the world.

“Several students who are teachers commented on how much they
learned from watching the pedagogy of different instructors, as well
as from the course content,” said the course director, Prof. Joyce
Apsel of New York University. “Other students consulted me and other
instructors about which directions and schools to pursue for graduate
education. They proved to be an outstanding group of students, and
it was a privilege to have two weeks in and out of the classroom to
exchange ideas and interests.”

Indeed, the students brought many diverse experiences to the
classroom. One student, who is a journalist by trade, described to the
class, based on a personal visit to North Korea, the importance of
maintaining a critical perspective on decades-old yet still ongoing
human rights abuses there. Another student presented the current
and historical human rights abuses of disabled peoples affected by
policies of eugenics in the United States, a group she works with in
her field of social work and disability studies. Yet another brought
the class to tears by discussing her own family’s history of having
suffered chemical attacks in the Halabja massacre of March 16, 1988.

The GHRUP allows students the opportunity to voice these backgrounds,
to analyze comparatively how genocides unfold, and their immediate
and transgenerational effects on people, and to explore how we can
stop them.

It was remarkable to see descendants of perpetrator and victim groups
in the Armenian Genocide-students of Armenian, Kurdish, and Turkish
background-find common interests with each other and, within the
academic environment of the program and based on historical facts,
explore issues of stereotypes, memory, denial, and reconciliation
together, and see each other through the prism of humanity.

One student from Pakistan, currently a member of the UNAMID effort
in Darfur, Sudan, brought to the course the perspective and the
dedication of those who work to prevent genocide in the field.

This year, a business student audited the course. At the end of the
course, this student made a spontaneous and moving speech saying
the students had restored her faith in humanity. The GHRUP evokes a
powerful sense of enthusiasm and commitment from students and faculty
alike, and makes them reflect on their own lives and the lives of
others in the world.

Explaining his perception of the program’s greatest strength, one
student commented, “I think the GHRUP does an amazing job of providing
an incredibly comprehensive course in such a short period of time. The
quality of the scholars and students, and the incredible range of
experiences and backgrounds, are unparalleled.” Another student wrote,
“This program is life- and career-changing. It focuses on the history
of genocide, the patterns of genocide, the denial and prevention
of genocide.

The Zoryan Institute and its subsidiary, the International Institute
for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, is the first non-profit,
international center devoted to the research and documentation of
contemporary issues with a focus on genocide, diaspora and Armenia.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA SHOULD ENHANCE CUSTOMS SECURITY FOR JOINING CUSTOMS UNION

YEREVAN, September 5. /ARKA/. Comparison of customs tariffs in Armenia
and Russia has laid ground for conclusion that Armenia should enhance
customs security, Evgeny Vinokurov, the head of the Eurasian Bank’s
Center for Integration Studies, said today in an interview with ARKA
News Agency.

Armenian and Russian presidents, Serzh Sargsyan and Vladimir Putin,
made a joint statement after they met in Moscow on Tuesday unveiling
Armenia’s decision to join the Customs Union and its intention to
take part in formation of Eurasian Economic Union in the future.

“An average import tariff in Armenia is among the lowest tariffs in
WTO countries (MFN rate is 2.7%, and in Customs Union 7.6%)” he said.

“Besides, Armenia doesn’t use tariff quota, and 73 tariff lines are
not subject to state duties, and almost all the remaining lines are
subject to a ten-percent duty.”

He said that in many areas the Custom Union’s regime is even more
liberal than that specified in Armenia’s commitments toward WTO.

—0—

– See more at:

From: Baghdasarian

HOVANES IGITYAN: NOTHING HINDERS SERZH SARGSYAN, WHICH CHANGED HIS DECISION BY 180 DEGREES OVER A NIGHT, TO AGAIN PULL A 180

by David Stepanyan

ARMINFO
Thursday, September 5, 17:19

Nothing hinders Serzh Sargsyan, which changed his decision by 180
degrees over a night, to again pull a 180 over the next night and
come back to the initial stage, a member of the initiative group for
restoration of the “Armenian Pan-National Movement” party, Hovanes
Igityan, told Arminfo correspondent.

“I think that against the background of the shame which all of us
in Armenia feel for the president’s mistake, we may accept it, put
emotions aside and change our decision for observing of the economic
interests of the country. The most important is that no irreversible
step has been made yet, which would terminate the prospects of
Armenia’s cooperation with the EU. Anyway, the decision about joining
the Customs Union is not such a step. Taking into consideration lack
of ultimatum from the side of Europe, it is still possible to develop
European integration of Armenia, and we can still choose this way.

Against such a background, I think that the Europeans will not stop
the association process, and at least till November Yerevan has time
for careful calculation and analysis”, – he said.

Touching on possible reaction of Moscow on such turning of Yerevan,
Igityan said that the Russians have never compared their steps
regarding Baku with devotion of the authorities of Armenia. Within
the frames of such a logic, today as well, Moscow will not change its
attitude to Armenia in the matter of the Karabakh conflict. “A year
ago, Aliyev himself has a rather negative attitude to Azerbaijan’s
possible joining the Customs Union. However, there was no repression
and punishment from the side of Moscow, on the contrary, Russia started
striving to the better relations and to rapprochement with Azerbaijan”,
– Igityan concluded.

From: Baghdasarian

DAVID SHAHNAZARYAN: ARMENIAN CONSTITUTION DOES NOT ALLOW FULL MEMBERSHIP TO CUSTOMS UNION

15:06 05/09/2013 ” POLITICS

Statements made by the Armenian President in Moscow and the assumption
of such responsibilities can be characterized as nothing else but
“sovereignty for security,” head of Consent center David Shahnazaryan
told reporters.

Armenia’s Constitution does not allow Armenia to become a full member
of the Customs Union, he stressed.

According to the speaker, the decision to join the Customs Union
was made recently under a huge pressure from Russia. The Kremlin
had several reasons for it. Armenia was to initial the Association
Agreement with the European Union in Vilnius in November, and with the
West’s attention being focused on Syria, on the eve of the G20 summit,
Russia needed to take a big step against the European Union. And it
was done at the expense of Armenia, Shahnazaryan stressed.

Source: Panorama.am

From: Baghdasarian

EX-ENVOY SAYS USE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS NOT BENEFICIAL TO SYRIAN GOVERNMENT

14:33 05/09/2013 POLITICS

Former ambassador of Armenia to Syria David Hovhannisyan says it was
not beneficial for the Syrian government to use chemical weapons.

At a meeting with reporters, he said the regional countries were
most interested in it as they needed to change the situation that
was becoming favorable for the Syrian government.

According to Iranian studies expert Sevak Sarukhanyan, if military
action is taken against Syria, the war will not end quickly. “Assad’s
regional allies will take some actions in that case. Given the
statements of Iranian officials, we may suppose that they will avoid
delivering a counter-blow, but more Iranians will join Assad’s army
so as to prevent the change of regime.”

“Change of regime in Syria will lead to change of situation in
Lebanon and Iraq, while Iran has its interests in the region,”
Sarukhanyan said.

Source: Panorama.am

From: Baghdasarian

NAGORNO-KARABAKH PRESIDENT DISCUSSES HEPATOGOLY DEVELOPMENT IN ARTSAKH WITH AMERICAN PROFESSOR

STEPANAKERT, September 5. /ARKA/. President of Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic Bako Sahakyan received Wednesday well-known American
hepatologist Professor Robert Gish, the chief press office of
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic reported.

The meeting was attended also by Karabakh minister of healthcare Zoya
Lazaryan and director of the national infectious diseases hospital of
Armenia Ara Asoyan. Issues on development of hepatology in Artsakh,
preventive measures, diagnosing and treatment of liver diseases were
discussed at the meeting.

Sahakyan stressed the importance of hepatology for Artsakh and
of cooperation with leading countries in the field. The issue of
Karabakh doctors’ training abroad was discussed.-0– – See more at:

From: Baghdasarian

HRACH JABRAYAN. ABOUT THE INTERVIEW GIVEN BY FALLETTA SPOUSE

September 5 2013

“Hrach Jabrayan, Director General of “Dundee Precious Metals Kapan”
CJSC (formerly “Dino Gold Mining Company”) considered the statements
in the interview of General Director of “Dino Gold Mining Company”
Robert Falletta arriving in Armenia two and a half years ago and his
wife Farid Falletta ridiculous. As informed by Hrach Jabrayan, the
latter did not mention in their interview that they have applied to
the Court, including the Court of Appeal and the Court of Cassation,
but were not successful. “I have never met a person who has said a
good thing about Farida Falletta. I have not communicated with this
woman, I have once interrogated on January 25, 2011, and an hour after
the interrogation, I concluded that this woman is a devil. In the
interview, they forgot to mention that Hrach has found 56 thousand
dollars cash money in Farida’s company. When interrogated, she said
that she had sold her sister’s house in Russia, it is money from the
sale, and when I asked why the money is in the company, naturally,
she could not answer. I can continue revealing where the money is
collected from, from whom and how she has collected…. They have
forgotten that they have fired many innocent citizens from work, I
have rehired 6 out of all fired, one of them has a very high position
in this company,” – said Mr. Jabrayan, who said that the employee was
dismissed because he had noticed the violation of Farida Falletta in
the company. As for the statement made by Falletta spouse that upon
leaving the company they did not allow themselves to take anything
with them, Mr. Jabrayan clarifies that in Canada and America it is
quite normal that when the employee is fired the company takes all the
goods belonging to the company, documents, computer, and so on. “It
was ridiculous for me. Probably, they get some bad instructions from an
attorney or a lawyer. When you say when do you want to leave? We will
take you to Yerevan, you buy a ticket for her. But two years later,
she is presenting it that they have scared her, that they made her
leave the city, they have brought her to Yerevan, forced to leave the
country, we have taken them to the hotel, have bought ticket for them,
they could not go to the airport after all, they could stay in Armenia
for 3 months, who forced them to leave. I do not have nothing bad to
say about Mr. Falletta, he was a professional manager, I interrogated
him, as a director he had made mistakes, of course, but I’m sure that
I’m also doing wrong things, or Mr. Garkov also does wrong things as
a General Director.”- said Mr. Jabrayan. Mari SOGHOMONYAN

Read more at:

From: Baghdasarian