Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

Armenian edition of Turkish writer Elif Shafak’s book released
17:42 21.05.2013

Alisa Gevorgyan
`Radiolur’

The Armenian edition of famous Turkish writer Elif Shafak’s book `The
Bastard of Istanbul’ has been released. It has been translated by Maro
Madoyan-Alajajyan. Shafak’s book attracted her not only with its
sincerity and deepness, but also with the great literary value.

`It makes the reader think deeper about issues of the Armenian
Genocide. It raises questions, which Turkey usually keeps silent
about,’ Maro Madoyan-Alajajyan told a press conference in Yerevan.

`The Bastard of Istanbul’ is Shafak’s second English-language book,
which has been translated into nearly 30 languages. After the book was
published in 2008, Elif Shafak was sued under the unpopular Article
301 of the Turkish Penal Code for `insulting Turkishness.’

The Armenian edition of the book will be presented at the Arno
Babajanyan Concert Hall on May 30.

The author of the book does not conceal her true objective of
reconciling the two parties. At the same time she tries to find an
answer to the question of whether the sons are responsible for the
crime committed by their fathers. Which is the way out, when the
perpetrators are gone, but the wounds are still there? Shafak has no
definite answer to these questions, but she understands that silence
and denial will bring no solution to the issue.

Elif Shafak’s The Bastard of Istanbul is a tale of an extraordinary
family curse and clashing cultural identities in the mystical and
mysterious city of Istanbul.

One rainy afternoon in Istanbul, a woman walks into a doctor’s
surgery. `I need to have an abortion’, she announces. She is nineteen
years old and unmarried. What happens that afternoon will change her
life.

Twenty years later, Asya Kazanci lives with her extended family in
Istanbul. Due to a mysterious family curse, all the Kaznci men die in
their early forties, so it is a house of women, among them Asya’s
beautiful, rebellious mother Zeliha, who runs a tattoo parlour; Banu,
who has newly discovered herself as clairvoyant; and Feride, a
hypochondriac obsessed with impending disaster.

And when Asya’s Armenian-American cousin Armanoush comes to stay, long
hidden family secrets connected with Turkey’s turbulent past begin to
emerge.

From: Baghdasarian

Friendship group with Armenian National Assembly to be formed in Cuban
Parliament

May 21, 2013 | 16:12

YEREVAN. – Armenian National Assembly (NA) Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan on
Tuesday received Cuba’s newly appointed Ambassador to Armenia, Emilio
Lozada García.

They discussed maters with respect to developing Armenian-Cuban
relations, NA press service informs. Abrahamyan noted that the
Armenia-Cuba Parliamentary Friendship Group is formed in the National
Assembly.

The interlocutors also underscored the need to enhance
interparliamentary ties and develop trade and economic relations, and
the cooperation in health care, pharmacy, and tourism.

Ambassador García noted that the new Cuban parliament was formed in
February and a parliamentary friendship group with the Armenian NA
likewise will be formed there shortly. He also promised to make
efforts to deepen relations between Armenia and Cuba.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

From: Baghdasarian

Mad as Hail: Villagers block roads in demand for weather-damage compensation

SOCIETY | 21.05.13 | 16:48

Photolure

By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

Residents of more than 30 villages of the Ararat Valley, which
suffered major damage because of the 30-minute non-stop hail a few
days ago, periodically block interstate and intrastate highways and
roads demanding compensation from the government of Armenia.

`All is left from my vineyard are branches, it was like earthquake
which broke our spine. Let the state mediate with the banks to freeze
their interests for two years, give us new loans for which they would
not demand interest to be paid during the year ahead,’ says Karlen
Danielyan, resident of Shenavan village, Armavir province.

According to Armavir local government, 12,811 farmers, 10,931 hectares
of land have suffered from the hail; some rural communities saw 100
percent damage, others between 50-100 percent.

Along with the expected hike in natural gas tariff which by chain
effect will cause inflation in many other spheres, concerns keep
growing that fruit and vegetable prices will go up as well.

By blocking the roads desperate villagers are trying to make their
voice of protest and plea for help reach the country and government
leaders, demanding a meeting exclusively with them. Haykavan village
head Mamikon Gevorgyan says their only demand is for the banks to
freeze their interests for two years, because only in the second year
vineyards will yield crops.

`Only if pruned correctly the vines will grow new branches, but that’s
questionable too, because many cut their vineyards from roots. Among
the 308 entities 95 percent have bank loans to pay. Last year some
people were granted loans with 14 percent interest rate, but before
loans were taken with 22-24 percent interest rates. The average loan
[villagers have taken] is over half a million drams ($1,200),’
Gevorgyan told ArmeniaNow, detailing that it is about 26 billion
drams’ worth damage in total, which is around $65 million.

On Monday Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan stated there would not be any
compensation, only support.

Vice-premier Armen Gevorgyan, minister of territorial administration,
told the protesting villagers that the government is discussing four
directions of assistance, related to the loans and bank liabilities,
increase of anti-hail stations and their efficiency, assistance
through various infrastructures, and others, which implies also
financial support.

The damage would have been much milder if the existing 55 anti-hail
stations of the region worked on time; for this they had to be
charged, while in many of the communities they were out of service,
due to no money to run them.

Robert Hovsepyan, leading the Armenian State Hydro-Meteorological
Monitoring Service (ASHMS) at the Ministry of Emergency Situations
(MES), stated that it is the village administration’s duty to maintain
the anti-hail stations, but MES often did it for them. The goal now is
to take all the anti-hail stations across the country under MES’s
control.

Rural community budgets, made of state subsidies and villagers’ taxes,
can hardly cover local expenses. A clear-cut state policy is needed,
and villages should be relieved of the responsibility for anti-hail
stations. It took millions of dollars in damage to finally decide to
take those under MES supervision.

It should be noted that the RA Control Chamber’s latest report on
budget expenditures of the ministry of agriculture has revealed extra
expenses budgeted in, supposedly, for the installation of anti-hail
stations: 15.5 million drams ($37,000), 5.6 million drams ($13,000) of
which was in 2009 and 9.9 million drams ($235,000) in 2010.

From: Baghdasarian

New Cuban Ambassador to Armenia

14:34, May 21, 2013

Emilio Lozada Garcia, Cuba’s newly appointed Ambassador to Armenia,
presented his credentials today to RA President Serzh Sargsyan.

Sargsyan congratulated Garcia on his new diplomatic mission and said
he welcomed all initiatives promoting strengthened bilateral relations
between Havana and Yerevan.

Garcia is also Cuba’s Ambassador to Russia and will be permanently
based in Moscow.

From: Baghdasarian

DPA leader: Membership to Customs Union could help solve Karabakh issue

15:03 21/05/2013 » TOPIC OF THE DAY

A state can have a balanced policy only when it really can carry out
its own policy, leader of the Democratic Party of Armenia (DPA) Aram
Sargsyan told today’s press conference.

According to the speaker, the European integration process prevents
Armenia from joining the Customs Union.

`We should have joined the Customs Union if we wanted the gas price to
remain equal to Russia’s internal price. As we have no common border
with Russia and there is the problem of the Artsakh Republic, we
should have offered appropriate conditions. And if they were accepted,
it would be a good variant for us and Artsakh would be recognized as
part of Armenia,’ Sargsyan said.

Source: Panorama.am

From: Baghdasarian

ANC MP speaks about trust toward government

15:26 – 21.05.13

Addressing the parliament today Aram Manukyan, Armenian National
Congress MP, said the government expects trust but presents no grounds
why it should be trusted.

`You want our trust and we say you have not done anything to gain it,’
he said, speaking from the NA platform.

`You have promised to fight against monopolies, nothing has been done,
absolutely nothing. You have not kept your promise to bring the
oligarchs to the tax field. You have promised to create secure
competition field for business, it is not so, moreover the small and
medium-sized enterprises are in desperate situation. Your government
has not done anything to fight against corruption,’ he said.

Speaking about Armenia’s foreign policy, he said, `Look at the map of
gas pipes, roads and international projects of Armenia, you know very
well what strategic programs Azerbaijan is carrying out. Does Armenia
participate in any of international projects? No, they all bypass
Armenia. You have more cut the bread than made opportunity to make it.
Tell me a sphere and I will tell you the failures.’

Aram Manukyan urged not to speak on behalf of the people who voted for
them. `You have distributed money during the election, at least stop
claiming that people voted for you,’ he said, adding that he is ready
to apologize if any of the accidental passers-by in the street says no
money were distributed.

From: Baghdasarian

Armenia’s prosecutor-general `a swindler’ – Armenian MP

14:40 – 21.05.13

Zaruhi Postanjyan, a Heritage parliamentary group member, called
Armenia’s Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan `a swindler.’

In response to her words in Armenia’s Parliament on Tuesday,
Parliament Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan asked her not to insult people.

`And you do not feel hurt in his behalf. I do not think he needs
defenders. He is a lawyer and can defend himself,’ Postanjyan said.
She addressed the government-committed violations and the
prosecutor-general’s attitude.

`We have instances involving the government-made decisions. The
prosecutor-general did not take any preventive measures. He is a
person benefiting from the decisions. A hydro-power plant being
constructed in Byurakan in defiance of the local residents’ will is
owned by the prosecutor-general,’ she said.

`May be, according to the documents, Aghvan Hovsipyan is not the
owner. As President Serzh Sargsyan says `the documents are in order.’
This is widely practiced in our country, which was instituted by the
decision on Teghut in 2007, when Serzh Sargsyan was Armenia’s
premier,’ Postanjyan said.

The recent hails caused AMD 70m damage to the rural population, but
the premier said that the government will not compensate.

`He said they would help. How much?’

From: Baghdasarian

ANC MP Hrant Bagratyan proposes government to solve three important problems

14:06 21/05/2013 » ECONOMY

Former Armenian Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan says the government
program submitted by Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan is not
satisfactory because it involves all sectors but says nothing about
the future actions of the government.

`The government program presents the development of the judicial
system and tourism. This is not a government program or a program
thesis. The government should have said how it plans to generate
investments and to transform the real investments,’ the MP said during
today’s discussion of the government program in parliament.

Bagratyan meanwhile proposed the government to solve three important
problems: to establish order in the fields of mining industry and
aviation and to introduce the Tax Free system.

Source: Panorama.am

From: Baghdasarian

Haykakan Zhamanak: Armenian defense minister sees no reasons to quit

09:45 – 21.05.13

Below is an excerpt from paper’s interview with Minister of Defense
Seyran Ohanyan minutes after the funerals of the army private who was
killed tragically last week.

`Mr. Ohanyan, why didn’t you submit a resignation after you knew
the soldier’s coffin was on the Yerevan-Sevan highway?’

`But who has said I was supposed to resign?’

`The non-regulatory relations in the military cause the death of
one soldier each weak.’

`That isn’t true; you are mistaken.’

`Don’t you see anything that could cause you do hand in a
resignation?’

`And who demands that …? It is my people and my leader that can
evaluate my work. ‘

`Has ever a dead body been carried to the Government building?
Don’t you think that’s an evaluation by the people?’

`That’s how people evaluate the fact.’

`Has any official been held accountable so far for the
non-regulatory relations in the military.’

`Many, many times.’

`Name someone, one person at least.’

`Deputy chiefs of the General Headquarters and heads of departments
have been punished and [other] department heads have been sacked.’

`Has anyone been held criminally liable?’

`What for? It is normally the criminals who face criminal
liability.’

Armenian News – Tert.am

From: Baghdasarian

The Increase in Gas Prices Will Cause the Whole Village of Azatan to
Move to Yakutia

May 20 2013

And 85%-90% of men are guest workers at the moment Gevorg Abrahamyan,
a member of the council of Azatan, one of the largest villages in the
region of Shirak, informed about this during a conversation with
According to him, 85%-90% of the village’s men are
guest workers at the moment; most of them are in the remote Yakutia,
5% are in Moscow, some of them have even reached the coast of Alaska.
In the council member’s words, news of an increase in gas prices has
already alerted the village’s women who reckon that instead of wasting
remittances sent by their husbands on natural gas and saving nothing,
they had better join their husbands. `It is my duty, as a member of
the village council, to walk down the streets of the village and ask
people what concerns they have, whether the waste management was good.
When I started to inquire again a few days ago, they said that they
had no concerns any longer, I could stop asking, the only concern was
to buy a ticket and leave Armenia. The increase in gas prices will
really cost our villagers who burn gas for 7 month in a row dearly.
Considering that the villagers’ production becomes cheaper day by day,
prices of gas and other goods rise, will the villager wish to live in
such conditions? I am sure that there will be people among villagers
who will burn their homes to heat: those who have relatives abroad
will leave, and those who don’t will either burn their homes or cut
trees in the garden. Let’s calculate: one used to pay 100-150 thousand
drams monthly to heat a house, so one had to have more than 1 million
drams each season; if that sum becomes 200-250 thousand drams monthly,
guest workers are not coining money in Yakutia, you know, they cannot
send so much money, even if they rob the whole of Yakutia, they will
not be able to pay for that. That is why they prefer to invite their
families. The most terrible emigration is starting; I am talking about
what I have seen. Probably they have planned not to leave anyone in
this country. This place is just unbelievable; one doesn’t want to
know anything. Each time you get new information, you get stressed
out,’ Gevorg Abrahamyan says. Nune AREVSHATYAN

Read more at:

© 1998 – 2013 Aravot – News from Armenia

From: Baghdasarian