Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

“ARMENPRESS” INTRODUCES 9TH BESTSELLER BOOKS LIST

11:37, 15 March, 2013

YEREVAN, MARCH 15, ARMENRPESS. “Armenpress” introduces the 7th
bestseller books list composed in accordance with the inquiry made by
“Armenpress” News Agency in the bookstores of Yerevan. “Defeating
Death” book by contemporary Armenian writer Zori Balayan appears in
the list for the first time and immediately tops the rating. “The
Alchemist” novel by Paulo Coelho occupies the second position this
week. “Levon Gatrchyan’s Song and Poetry” by Vanik Santryan takes
the third place 9th bestseller books list introduced by “Armenpress”
news agency.

“The Book of Lamentations” by outstanding Armenian author St.

Gregory of Narek appeared in the fourth position. This masterpiece by
St. Gregory of Narek has always been included in our bestseller books
list. “Narek” is followed by Mark Aren’s “Where the Wild Roses Bloom”.

“The Little Prince” by French author Antoine de Saint-Exupery occupies
the 6th position. “Cinderella” by Charles Perrault appeared in the
seventh place. The later appears in the bestseller books list for
the first time. It is followed by “Tales” by Hovhannes Toumanyan,
which occupies the eighth position this time. The ninth place goes to
“Robinson” by contemporary Armenain author Aram Pachyan. Pachyan’s
book is followed by Ashot Aghababyan’s “Lonely”, which appeared in
the tenth position this time.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN OPPOSITIONIST URGES FOR PRESIDENT’S PRESENCE IN LIBERTY SQUARE

TERT.AM
14:06 ~U 15.03.13

Smbat Ayvazyan of the opposition Republic party has called for
President Serzh Sargsyan to visit Yerevan’s Liberty Square for meeting
Raffi Hovhannisian, his major rival in last month’s presidential
election, who now holds a hunger-strike.

Considering the former opposition candidate’s protest an extreme step,
Ayvazyan said the current circumstances should urge Sargsyan to head
to the protest site for “returning power to the people”.

“I have said personally that it isn’t worth going [on a hunger-strike]
as that is an extreme step. We still had steps which could have been
taken, but the man has made his decision, and I respect it. I think,
nonetheless, that Raffi Hovhannisian profoundly evaluates the existing
situation in the country and finds it is necessary to take extreme
steps,” he said, adding that he supports Hovhannisian notwithstanding
his disapproval of that form of protest.

Hovhannisian, who considers himself an absolute winner in the February
18 election, declared his hunger-strike after on Sunday, demanding
Sargsyan’s withdrawal. He had earlier said that the re-elected
president’s April 9 inauguration would be possible “only over my
dead body”.

Ayvazyan said the former candidate had initially chosen right tactics,
by starting a tour to different regions. “He should have visited many
places before appointing a date for a gathering in Liberty Square,”
he told Tert.am.

Asked what can be expected on April 9, the Republic party’s leader said
there is still quite enough time until then to allow the authorities
to thinks of possible steps.

“Raffi has done his job; he went to the [presidential] residence to
meet Serzh Sargsyan,” he said. “It is now for Serzh Sargsyan to set
aside his complexes to head to the square to have a public meeting
and discuss what to do next,” he added.

Hovhannisian thinks the crowd in the square would have a normal
reaction to Sargsyan’s public appearance. “I am sure nothing out
of the ordinary will happen. There will be no unusual call when he
comes for a meeting with people. I think he is obliged to do that,
but it is up to him to decide whether or not to do so,” he added.

Commenting on the authorities’ remarks that Hovhannisian is not
properly evaluating the situation, Ayvazyan said, “It doesn’t matter
how many people we now have here. What matters – and we are aware of
it – what happened on the election day. The people went and rejected
them; we know that, at least. Does it really matter how many people
there are now?” he asked.

From: Baghdasarian

SOGHOMON TEHLIRIAN ASSASSINATED TALAAT PASHA ON MARCH 15, 1921

March 15, 2013 – 13:08 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Ottoman Armenian Soghomon Tehlirian assassinated
the former Grand Vizir Talaat Pasha in Berlin in the presence of many
witnesses on March 15, 1921 as an act of vengeance for his role in
orchestrating the Armenian Genocide.

The move was a part of the Dashnak Party’s Operation Nemesis.

Tehlirian was tried for murder, but was eventually acquitted by the
German court. The trial of Tehlirian was a rather sensationalized
event at the time, with Tehlirian being defended by three attorneys,
including Dr. Theodor Niemeyer, professor of Law at Kiel University.

After the trial, he moved to the former Yugoslavia where he lived for
nearly thirty years. After the end of World War Two he and his family
fled to Casablanca. In 1956 Tehlirian moved to the United States. He
died in 1960 in San Francisco.

From: Baghdasarian

WHAT RULING WILL THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT MAKE? ARE THE FACTS PUT FORWARD BY R. HOVHANNISYAN’S PARTY GROUNDED?

March 14 2013

Yesterday the Constitutional Court concluded the examination of the
combined case based on the petitions filed by candidates for president
Raffi Hovhannisyan and Andreas Ghukasyan. The candidates for president
are challenging the Election of the President of the Republic of
Armenia Decision made by the Central Election Commission on February
25. The ruling of the Constitutional Court will be made public today.

In response to a question of whether the petitioner’s
arguments were grounded, Margarit Yesayan, a member of the Republican
Party of Armenia (RPA) parliamentary group who had participated in
two sessions and had followed the trial, said: “My impression is that
those petitions lacked facts and were based merely on assessments,
emotions, and some quotes. I didn’t see proofs that processes that
could have had an impact on the results of the presidential election
had taken place. The Q&A of the Court members also made that clear.

Raffi Hovhannisyan and his representatives filed a 16-page petition,
a large part of which was assessments, another large part was quotes
from this or that document, and only on a few final pages, facts
were presented. However, those were not the facts that could allow
the Court to make a ruling in favor of the petitioners.” Ms. Yesayan
stated that she continued to claim that neither Raffi Hovhannisyan,
nor his followers and supporters had ever imagined that Mr.

Hovhannisyan would win such a big percentage, therefore they hadn’t
prepared for further action. Then M. Yesayan went into detail: “There
is no petition after the election itself. R. Hovhannisyan’s supporters
claim that there were incidents at night; that is why they didn’t have
time to do that. But the deadline was 6 p.m. the next day, and if they
had wanted and had had enough evidence, they could have managed to do
that also from the time perspective. Whereas they didn’t do that. Ms.

Postanjyan proposed to open the sacks of all polling places, which
contained the ballots and the records. The Constitutional Court
received that proposal yesterday afternoon. With the best will in the
world, one couldn’t have done that technically, since the deadline
for the Constitutional Court’s ruling is 6 p.m. today. Or the 120
polling places, with regard to which they had filed petitions; 3-4
polling places have been opened, and even if we agree that those
votes were for Raffi Hovhannisyan, and they are added to his votes,
the margin between 58% and 37% is so large that it could not have an
impact on the final results.” For comparison, Ms. Yesayan recalled
how juridically correct the petition filed by Stepan Demirchyan’s
supporters in 2003 had been drawn up. “With the best will in the
world, I think, the Constitutional Court couldn’t have satisfied
Raffi Hovhannisyan’s and Andrias Ghukasyan’s demands, since the
parties didn’t have and haven’t presented enough evidence to the
Constitutional Court.” Stepan Safaryan, the Heritage Party secretary,
on the other hand, said with regard to the petition’s being based on
assessments: “It points out all the polling places, where the fact
that the election was rigged is obvious not only to the Heritage Party,
but also to international observers and society. Yesterday R.

Hovhannisyan’s representatives filed a motion in the Constitutional
Court to open the sacks of the polling places. If the Constitutional
Court wants to do something about the results of the election,
then it could have opened them; why would it refuse, as the polling
place commissions did, sitting idly by for five days?” In response
to an observation that it was not possible technically, taking
into account the deadline of the Constitutional Court’s ruling,
Mr. Safaryan said: “The future of Armenian democracy has nothing to
do with the Constitutional Court’s not having time. The future of the
Republic of Armenia is too important and society’s trust in elections
is more valuable, than the judge’s having or not having time. The
Constitutional Court can extend the deadline and examine the case
on its merits. If it doesn’t do that, it gives a nonsensical reason
for that to carry out the government’s instruction. The trial proved
that society is right, that the doubts are reasonable, and that the
election was rigged. State bodies in the shape of the Constitutional
Court avoid revealing the dirt, since they are not allowed to do that.

I have never pinned hopes on the Constitutional Court. The situation
can be rescued only by the people; the resolution is in the hands of
the people.” Tatev HARUTYUNYAN

Read more at:

© 1998 – 2013 Aravot – News from Armenia

From: Baghdasarian

DIASPORA BYPASSES OFFICIAL FILTERS
Siranuysh Papyan

10:59 15/03/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:

Interview with Dr. Ara Sanjian, Professor of Armenian and Middle
Eastern History and Director of the Armenian Research Center at the
University of Michigan-Dearborn

Mr Sanjian, there is the opinion that the Diaspora is now trying to
get involved in internal political processes of Armenia for the first
time since the independence of Armenia.

When the Armenian issue was removed from the international political
arena in 1920s, those, who had survived the Armenian genocide, were
unable to return home. Then Diaspora Armenians wondered whether their
homeland was the historical Armenia and Cilicia or the eastern Armenia
under the Soviet Union.

During the Soviet Union, Diaspora members didn’t have many
possibilities to engage in the home political life of Armenia. After
1990, three traditional Armenian parties returned to Armenia but their
successes were limited, moreover, considering that the foreign offices
of these organizations were subordinated to Yerevan in the course of
time and their decisions were often not perceivable by the Diaspora.

You mean the famous formula to say “nothing but good things about
Armenia” functions within the Diaspora?

The Diaspora position of always supporting the Armenian government,
or the statehood, is more spread than the ideas of the traditional
Hnchakyan or Ramkavar parties. This position is based on the idea
that in order to keep the Diaspora spirit high, it is necessary
to say only positive things about Armenia. For instance, I have
heard that there is no need to speak about the existing corruption
in Armenia in the Diaspora because it may be a reason for Diaspora
donators not to provide financial support to Armenia, or one should
not raise the issue on the old university curriculums or the party
views of universities in Armenia, because Diaspora youths should be
encouraged to study in Armenia.

There are many taboos within the Diaspora: discussing the shortcomings
of Armenia and the Diaspora means admitting something is wrong which
is considered non-patriotism and often even something that splits
the Armenian society.

Do you see conscious changes within the Diaspora?

The events in different Diaspora colonies after February 18
elections were normal considering the possibilities provided by high
technologies. Within the Diaspora there are “pro-Yerevan” figures,
intellectuals who are out of the three-party system or are in it as
opposition. Those people, who studied in Soviet Armenia or visited
Armenia in that period, are important in this group. Thanks to the
development of online news portals in Armenia, these people find it
easier to deliver their words to Armenia bypassing the official media
filters of Armenia and the Diaspora.

But the potential of the part of the Diaspora should not be
overestimated, which is small. There is no structural cooperation
between the members, they are not the heads of cultural, political,
religious, sport and educational structures of the Diaspora. They
have no enough potential to organize crowded rallies; it is not easy
for them to raise their voice through traditional Diaspora media.

Those Diaspora Armenians, who support the Armenian opposition, which
is now demanding radical changes, are usually the old criticizers of
the colonies they live in.

From: Baghdasarian

RAFFI HOVANNISIAN SPENDS NIGHT UNDER TENT-LIKE COVER

NEWS.AM
March 15, 2013 | 11:46

YEREVAN.- Former presidential candidate Raffi Hovannisian spent a
night under a tent-like cover at Liberty Square, deputy chairman of
Heritage party Armen Martirosyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The night passed calmly without any incidents, he said. Martirosyan
noted they had applied to the municipality with a request to pitch
a tent on grass-covered area, and the request is being considered.

Earlier Hovannisian was not allowed to pitch tent in Liberty Square
which is considered cultural complex.

Armenia’s opposition Heritage Party leader, former FM Raffi Hovannisian
was declared runner-up to the winner, incumbent President Serzh
Sargsyan, as a result of the presidential election that was conducted
on February 1. He claims to be the real winner in the vote and declared
a hunger strike on March 10 at capital city Yerevan’s Liberty Square.

From: Baghdasarian

THE NEW STOCK OF “MOUNTAIN TEA” IS ALREADY IN THE MARKET

13:37, March 15, 2013

In February during the world exhibition of organic products Bio Fach
2013 held in Nierenberg, Germany the new stock of “Mountain Tea”
brand with its new design was presented for the first time.

Among other several Armenian brands the brand has participated in
the world known exhibition with the assistance of USAID Enterprise
Development and Market Competitiveness (EDMC) program, as well as
of Ecoglobe company. With the assistance of the same companies the
three varieties of “Mountain Tea” brand have received organic food
certificate of European level.

The new stock of “Mountain Tea” is already available in the Armenian
retail markets. In addition to the traditional good quality the
new stock is notable for its unique design of boxes. As the founder
of the company Gevorg Abrahamyan says “The design of the new boxes
is specially made in the logics of souvenirs. In many countries of
the world it is common to present tea to the visitors, guests and
tourists. We already have had such an experience in the past when some
inbound tour operators ordered from us a range of teas to present to
their clients”.

“Mountain Tea” is known in the market as a brand producing high
quality herbal teas.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF AMERICA CALLS FOR INCREASED AID TO ARTSAKH, ARMENIA, AND JAVAKHK

12:05, 15 March, 2013

YEREVAN, MARCH 15, ARMENPRESS: Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA) Legislative Affairs Director Raffi Karakashian testified today
before a key Congressional panel in support of increased U.S.
assistance to Nagorno Karabakh, Armenia, and Javakhk. As ANCA informed
Armenpress, Karakashian’s testimony comprised seven provisions
referring to Nagorno Karabakh, Armenia, the Javakhk region of Georgia
and Syria.

In part of Artsakh, Karakashian urged to provide at least $5 million
in development assistance for Nagorno Karabakh, to strengthen Section
907 of the Freedom Support Act and end military aid to Azerbaijan. He
also indicated the removal of barriers to U.S.-Nagorno Karabakh
contacts and support for the reinstatement of Nagorno Karabakh in
the Minsk Group peace process. The provision reffering to Armenia
intended least $50 million in economic support funds for Armenia. ”
This year, Armenia was ranked the 38th freest economy in the world,
ahead of Belgium and France.”Other provisions include: Urge that at
least 10% of a robust U.S. aid package to Georgia be targeted to
the Samtskhe-Javakheti region to support job-creation and poverty
reduction programs and equitable distribution of U.S. humanitarian
assistance to all needy populations in Syria.During his remarks
before the U.S. House panel responsible for foreign aid, Karakashian
explained that the support of Congress for a series of seven funding
and policy-related provisions will represent a strategic investment
in strengthening U.S. diplomacy, advancing our national interests,
and promoting core American values in the Caucasus region.

Others testifying before the influential House foreign aid panel were
leaders of prominent organizations involved in international affairs,
including Howard Kohr of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee
(AIPAC), Admiral James Loy of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition,
and Diane Randall, of the Friends Committee on National Legislation.

From: Baghdasarian

NUL N’A LE DROIT D’ETOUFFER LA VOIX DES ARMENIENS

Les dernières elections presidentielles ont vu s’exprimer, en Armenie,
le mecontentement massif du peuple et tout particulièrement de la
jeunesse armenienne, a l’occasion de la candidature courageuse et sans
detour de Raffi Hovannissian, lors des actions des mouvements civiques
et en diaspora a travers la campagne de sensibilisation menee par ”
Renaissance Armenienne “.

Force est de constater que l’amplification de ce mouvement populaire
amène les representants des pouvoirs politiques armeniens a reagir
par des methodes inacceptables pour tenter de le discrediter et de
l’etouffer. Depuis peu, nous subissons aussi ce phenomène en France
où l’on empeche par la pression la tenue de conferences d’information
en milieu armenien.

Ces man~uvres indignes, intolerables dans le pays des Libertes
et des Droits de l’Homme, sont le fait de personnalites aux ordres
des autorites d’Erevan. Dans ces circonstances, nous vous appelons
a etre presents en nombre aux prochaines reunions de soutien au
mouvement populaire d’Armenie, afin que les voix en faveur des valeurs
universelles de verite et de justice puissent s’exprimer ici et la-bas.

Tout en faisant nôtre cette phrase de Voltaire : ” Je ne partage pas
vos idees mais je me battrai jusqu’a la mort pour que vous puissiez
les exprimer “.

Paris, le 14/03/2013

Renaissance Armenienne Paris

vendredi 15 mars 2013, Ara ©armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian

LE CARDINAL BERGOGLIO (PAPE FRANCOIS) AVAIT DEMANDE LA RECONNAISSANCE DU GENOCIDE DES ARMENIENS

En 2006, lors des ceremonies couvrant la 91ème commemoration du
Genocide des Armeniens a Buenos Aires, le Cardinal Jorge Mario
Bergoglio avait exhorte la Turquie a reconnaître le genocide comme
etant un ” crime grave de la Turquie ottomane contre le peuple armenien
et a l’humanite toute entière.”

jeudi 14 mars 2013, Jean Eckian ©armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian