Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

ARMENIAN MILITARY PROSECUTOR KEEPS ON FULFILLING PRESIDENT’S INSTRUCTIONS

NEWS.AM
January 17, 2013 | 15:46

YEREVAN.- Armenian President’s instructions concerning investigation
into cases remained unsolved are being fulfilled, military prosecutor
Gevorg Kostanyan said on Thursday.

“The investigations are underway,” he said speaking about unsolved
cases.

Reporters’ attempts to make Kostanyan comment on rumors were doomed
to failure. Asked to comment on his future career, military prosecutor
said he had no intention to comment on any rumors.

From: Baghdasarian

CITIZEN THROWS HIMSELF OFF KIEVIAN BRIDGE

Aysor.am
January 17, 2013

At 11:19 am today a phone call was received that a citizen committed
suicide by throwing himself off the Kievian Bridge in Yerevan, the
press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported.

A special crew of rescuers and the rapid response groups of the
ministry were sent to the scene.

More information will be provided later.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN SOLDIER DIES

NEWS.AM
January 17, 2013 | 10:54

YEREVAN. – Serviceman Armenak Lazarian of an Armenian
MOD military unit lost his life, on Thursday at 5:30am, at
MODCentralClinicalMilitaryHospital. He was diagnosed with
cardio-pulmonary insufficiency, the MOD informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The MOD Investigation Service launched a criminal case, and an
investigation is underway.

“The Armenian Ministry of Defense shares the grief of the dire loss
and extends its support to Lazarian’s family members, relatives,
and fellow servicemen,” MOD informs.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN CITIZEN AMONG HOSTAGES IN ALGERIA

NEWS.AM
January 17, 2013 | 14:49

A citizen of Armenia is among those that were taken hostage in
Algeria, a representative of the Islamist militants told Al Jazeera
television, RFE/RL Armenian service said quoting Agence France-Presse
(AFP) news agency reports.

The militants that attacked an Algerian gas plant confirmed to having
taken 41 people-including citizens of Armenia, the United States,
France, Norway, and Great Britain-as hostages.

“We demand that the Algerian armed forces be removed from the area of
the plant to commence negotiations,” a militant said.

From: Baghdasarian

IVANISHVILI IN YEREVAN: GEORGIA’S HEAD OF STATE IN WAITING PAYS VISIT TO ARMENIA
By SIRANUYSH GEVORGYAN

ArmeniaNow reporter
NEWS | 17.01.13 | 14:57

Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili assured the leadership
in Yerevan that his government would do everything possible to make
Armenians living in Georgia feel at home as he paid a visit to Armenia
on Thursday.

“I will do what I promised in my election program,” said Ivanishvili
at a press conference in the Armenian capital after a meeting with
his Armenian counterpart Tigran Sargsyan, answering the question of
what expectations about 200,000 members of the Armenian community
of Georgia could have from the Georgian government, considering that
many of them voted for Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream Alliance in the
October 1 parliamentary elections.

Georgian Dream, as an opposition bloc, won the election, with its
leader Ivanishvili assuming the post of prime minister, which is to
become the top post in the country after current president Mikheil
Saakashvili’s completion of term late this year.

Before visiting Armenia, Ivanishvili was in Azerbaijan in December,
where, as Georgian Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze said, he was
received with “special honor”.

The Georgian prime minister’s visit to Armenia comes amid certain
tensions in Armenian-Georgian relations caused by the recent
controversial statements by Panjikidze as well as Catholicos-Patriarch
of All Georgia Ilia II regarding the Karabakh conflict.

Speaking in Yerevan today Ivanishvili said that his meeting with
Prime Minister Sargsyan was held in a very warm atmosphere.

“Our conversation was such as if we had known each other since
childhood. It was very warm,” said the Georgian official.

The Armenia prime minister, for his part, stressed that “there is no
question in the Armenian-Georgian relations that cannot be settled
through discussions.”

During the press conference, Ivanishvili was enraged by the question
of one of the Georgian journalists who asked him to explain what,
after all, Georgian Foreign Minister Panjikidze said about Karabakh. A
few days ago Azeri media wrote that while in Lithuania Panjikidze
said that the Karabakh problem should be solved from the viewpoint
of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. On January 15, in Prague,
the top Georgian diplomat explained her statement, saying that in the
Lithuanian parliament she delivered a report after which an Azerbaijani
ambassador asked her about what position Georgia has on Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity. And she said that Georgia supports Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity.

“The minister’s words were distorted by the media. End of story,” said
Ivanishvili in Yerevan, adding that the problem is really complicated
and is likely to remain such also in the future.

Later on Friday Ivanishvili was due to meet with Armenia’s President
Serzh Sargsyan, His Holiness Karekin II, the Catholicos of All
Armenians, as well as the ministers of foreign affairs, energy and
natural resources and economy. Ivanishvili was also due to pay a
visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial at Tsitsernakaberd and the
ancient manuscripts depository Matenadaran.

Also today the governments of Armenia and Georgia signed an agreement
on joint use of the customs points of Bagratashen-Sadakhlo,
Ayrum-Sadakhlo, Gogavan-Guguti and Bavra-Ninotsminda. Armenia’s
Ministry of Culture and Georgia’s Ministry of Culture and Monument
Protection signed a program of cooperation for 2013-2015.

From: Baghdasarian

NOAM CHOMSKY TO VISIT ISTANBUL ON DINK’S DEATH ANNIVERSARY

14:18, 17 January, 2013

YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. On the occasion of the 6th anniversary
of Hrant Dink’s death various events are being organized in Turkey. As
reports “Armenpress” Armenian “Agos” periodical states that prominent
American intellectual, linguist, and historian Noam Chomsky will
visit Turkey to partake in Hrant Dink’s commemoration ceremonies.

On January 18 renowned American intellectual Noam Chomsky will partake
in the conference entitled “Hrant Dink: Human Rights and Freedom of
Speech”, which is organized by the Department of Political Science
and International Relations of Bogazici University in Istanbul.

Previously “Agos” stated that on the occasion of the 6th anniversary
of Hrant Dink’s murder his friends will organize a march dedicated
to the memory of the Armenian editor, as they used to do before. The
march will launch in Å~^iÅ~_li districts of Istanbul at 13:30, January
19 and will go on to the “Agos” editorial house, where Hrant Dink was
assassinated. Turkish organization “Say No to Racism and Nationalism”
has also announced about organizing special meetings dedicated to
Hrant Dink”s memory.

From: Baghdasarian

ROBERT KOCHARYAN’S STATEMENTS ARE “PROVINCIAL” AND A RESULT OF UNMET EXPECTATIONS

JANUARY 16, 2013 13:56

Robert Kocharyan, the second President of the Republic of Armenia,
made a series of statements in an interview given to Mediamax. In
particular, he said that one of the reasons for his not participating
in the presidential election was that to him, “rivalry between
two natives of Karabakh was unacceptable.” inquired
of Ruben Mehrabyan, an expert of the Center for Political and
International Studies, whether one could consider this interview of
the second president as a signal that he would participate in the 2018
presidential election. Our interlocutor said: “I think it is a bit
early to consider it as a clear intention to participate in 2018. One
can at least conclude from what he said that he doesn’t think that he
is out of active politics. We should wait for the year 2018 and see.”

Mr. Mehrabyan said with regard to the statement about rivalry between
“two natives of Karabakh”: “If Serzh Sargsyan hadn’t been a native
of Karabakh – although he is not a native of Karabakh, he is from the
village of Tegh, region of Syunik – but had been a native of Aparan,
would we have had a candidate by the name of Robert Kocharyan? What
explanation is that? It just testifies to the provinciality of the
elite formed in the Republic of Armenia over the past decade. It is
just sad. So it turns out that he was guided by that principle while
governing the Republic of Armenia. I think it is extreme provinciality,
which has nothing to do with conceptions of statehood.

It is an anti-state, antinational mentality. One thinks so in a ghetto,
not in a state.”

Political scientist Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan also thinks that
discrimination between residents of different parts of the Republic
of Armenia is unacceptable and thinks that pursuing a policy based
on that idea is not right. During a conversation with us, he stated:
“The reasons Robert Kocharyan put forward are not the main reasons for
his not participating in the presidential election. I think the reason
is more personal. It is rather early to talk about the year 2018, since
we can see that the political situation in the Republic of Armenia
changes rather quickly, and it isn’t right to make predictions about
what will happen in the year 2018. I don’t see any messages in this
interview. It is obvious that Kocharyan’s expectations have not been
met. It is not the time to make this interview a subject of serious
political discussions, since a presidential election awaits us, and
I think that the driving force will be the very presidential election.”

Tatev HARUTYUNYAN

From: Baghdasarian

CONSCRIPT IN GRAVE CONDITION

04:25 PM | TODAY | SOCIAL

Junior sergeant Mher Poghosyan, who received a gunshot wound to the
head on January 14, is in grave condition, Artsrun Hovhannisyan,
a spokesman for the Defense Ministry, told Pastinfo.am.

Poghosyan has been transported to the Central Clinical Military
Hospital. he was wounded by one of his fellow soldiers.

A criminal case has been instituted under Article 373 (part 2) of
the RA Criminal Code.

An investigation is under way.

From: Baghdasarian

THE WORLD COIN NEWS MAGAZINE PRESENTS THE COINS ISSUED BY INDEPENDENT ARMENIA

17:09 16.01.2013

“The breakup of the Soviet Union reshaped the world in countless
ways,” reads an article in the World Coin News Magazine. The article
notes that after the collapse of the USSR, the countries of the South
Caucasus issued coins very quickly and made their marks on the world
stage.

In the section devoted to Armenia, author of the article Mark
Benvenuto writes: “Armenia is a land with an ancient past, and because
of its geographic position, one that has been well recorded in the
west. Ancient Armenia was close enough to the eastern borders of the
expanding Roman Empire that the historian Herodotus took notice of the
land and its people, and mentions it in his writings. For a brief
time, Rome even held Armenia within the greater empire. As well, we
have ancient Roman coins mentioning Armenia that a person could pursue
today if they were thinking of making a complete collection. And, yes,
there are ancient Armenian coins that could become a lifetime pursuit
for anyone interested in the field.”

“For most of us though, it is the modern coinage of a newly
independent Armenia that will attract our attention. The monetary
system is that of 100 luma being equal to 1 dram, and the first
series, which included denominations from 10 lumas to 10 drams, was
issued in 1994. A second issue of circulating coinage came out between
2003 and 2005. This second issue started with a small 10 dram coin,
and ended with a bimetallic 500 dram piece,” the article reads.

“If it commemorative coins that are of interest to you, well, Armenia
built an impressive commem program and did it very fast. Unlike the
U.S. Mint and Congress, which tend to argue about just how many
commemorative themes to issue per year, the Central Bank of Armenia
pounded out numerous different coins in precious metals starting in
1994.

The list includes some strangely shaped pieces, and themes that cover
just about anything a person might imagine. Some of the mintages are
very small, meaning only a few hundred of each coin were made. But the
combination of excellent artwork and the beautiful, flowing Armenian
script make many of these coins things of beauty and items worth
considering for any growing collection.

But in addition, Armenia created a series of circulating commemorative
coins. Since these tend to be made in base metals such as cupronickel
or brass-plated on steel, they are much more affordable if you can
find them. The 2012 series on the regions of Armenia has numerous
designs, and some pretty attractive images among them, such as the
Caucasian goat and the Temple of Garni.”

“As if an extensive commemorative coinage program is not enough,
Armenia issued in 2012 a silver bullion set of coins with the theme of
Noah’s Ark (since the resting place of the ark has often been believed
to be in Armenia). Most of us can afford the silver pieces that are
fractions of an ounce, and even the 1-ounce and 5-ounce coins. But the
1-kilo and 5-kilo pieces, with nominal values of 10,000 dram and
20,000 dram, might just be out of reach,” the article concludes.

From: Baghdasarian

PROSPEROUS ARMENIA PARTY LEADER HELPING INCUMBENT PRESIDENT – EXPERT

tert.am
16.01.13

Chairman of the Prosperous Armenia party Gagik Tsarukyan is the
only political figure able to act as a rival to Armenia’s incumbent
President Serzh Sargsyan.

He seems to be boycotting the upcoming presidential election in
Armenia. However, he is really helping Armenia’s president because
he has no real rival. This has very serious negative aspects –
the legitimacy of elections open to question, Hmayak Hovhannisian,
Chairman of the Union of Political Scientists of Armenia, told
journalists on Wednesday.

“In high spirits he [Tsarukyan] went to Brussels and, all of a sudden,
on returning to Armenia he refused to run for the presidency and has
been silent for two months,” Mr Hovhannisyan said.

According to him, the people are fleeing the atmosphere of terror in
the country.

“The political forces that received 43 percent of votes in the previous
national elections are boycotting the election. The opposition has set
up a passive boycott. They have either been terrorized or agreements
have been reached with them,” Mr Hovannisyan said.

Under the circumstances, it is resources rather than ideas or intellect
that will be competing during the election campaign.

Lernik Alexanyan, a member of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA),
disagrees with Mr Hovhannisyan’s opinion of an atmosphere of terror
in Armenia. He believes a free and fair presidential election will
be held this year.

The parliamentary elections were a test that showed each political
force’s image. “Gagik Tsarukyan is very good at thinking. He has no
intention to fill the post as he is sure he will not be elected. The
same can be said of Levon Ter-Petrosyan. Who says Paruir Hairikyan
is a worse political figure than the others?” said Mr Alexanyan.

He is sure that Raffi Hovannisian, Hrant Bagratyan and Paruir
Hairikyan are experienced political figures and worthy rivals to
President Serzh Sargsyan.

From: Baghdasarian