Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

ARMENIA’S REACTION ON DESTRUCTION OF MONUMENTS IN TURKEY AND AZERBAIJAN INADEQUATE – EXPERT

news.am
October 31, 2012 | 01:01

YEREVAN. – The Armenian authorities do not actively react to the
cases of destruction of Armenian monuments in Turkey and Azerbaijan,
expert Samvel Karapetyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am commenting on
the reports about the destruction of the Armenian cemetery in Turkey.

“In Turkey the Armenian monuments have been destructed and the process
continues, and the current destruction of a cemetery is a very trifle
thing actually,” Karapetyan believes.

He reminded that when even more significant fact of destruction
was registered in Azerbaijan, which destroyed Armenian medieval
cross-stones in Nakhidjevan, the Armenian authorities did not responded
to it properly as well.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am reported earlier, an Armenian cemetery was
destroyed in July in Turkey to build a new road in the Eruh region
of the country’s Siirt (Sghert) Province.

From: Baghdasarian

RICHARD GIRAGOSIAN: WE HAVE STRONG INFLUENCE OF OLIGARCHS, AND NO MORE IS NEEDED

Panorama.am
29/10/2012

“In Armenia, elections themselves are more important than their
results. There is a real disagreement between the Prosperous Armenia
Party (PAP) and Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), which could
result in a challenge when they nominate their candidates,” Richard
Giragosian, director of the Yerevan-based Regional Studies Center
(RSC), told reporters in Yerevan, while commenting on the upcoming
presidential elections in Armenia.

“In reality, I see no political campaign. I see a political hobby
rather than a serious election campaign,” said the expert and added:
“We have strong influence of oligarchs, and no more is needed.”

“These elections will be different from the previous ones when we
had pseudo-candidates such as Artashes Geghamyan. But now we see a
real competition and real challenges,” Mr Giragosyan noted.

Referring to the relationship between Armenian National Congress (HAK)
and PAP, the speaker said: “What we see in the dance of HAK and PAP
is not tango, because tango is a dance of two, while here we see that
one of the dancers is reluctant to dance.”

HAK and PAP are little probable to form an alliance, Giragosian thinks,
because very strong individuals are involved in both of them.

From: Baghdasarian

PRESIDENT OF AJA: IT IS NOT ACCIDENTAL THAT JEWELER’S DAY IS CELEBRATED ONLY ARMENIA

arminfo
Monday, October 29, 16:20

Armenia is the only country of the world where Jeweler’s Day is
celebrated in the last Sunday of October, President of Armenian
Jewellers Association (AJA), Gagik Gevorkyan, said at the opening
ceremony of the three-day international exhibition of jewelry. The
exhibition is dedicated to the 15th anniversary of AJA. President
of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan took part in the opening ceremony of the
exhibition. The first similar exhibition was held in Yerevan in 2011.

Gevorkyan said that the free economic zone creation at the territory of
Zvartnots airport next year will promote development of this branch. He
also added that the Armenian authorities support all the initiatives of
AJA, the key purpose of which is to promote attraction of investments
in jewelry sphere in Armenia especially from the Armenian Diaspora.

He said that AJA opened jewelry schools in Yerevan and Stepanakert
over the current year.

To note, the conference will be held at the second day of the
exhibition the participants in which will discuss the prospects of
the jewelry branch development.

Jewelers from 70 countries of the world have exhibited their production
at the exhibition. President of CIBJO Gaetano Cavalieri is taking
part in the work of the exhibition.

From: Baghdasarian

AZERBAIJAN’S BOXING TEAM TO ARRIVE IN ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
October 29, 2012 – 16:45 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Azerbaijan’s boxing team will participate in
Yerevan-hosted 2012 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships, Armenian
Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs spokesperson said.

As Astghik Martirosyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, Armenian side
sent an official letter to Azerbaijani Boxing Federation, issuing
security guarantees.

Yerevan will host 2012 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships from
November 25-December 8, with Azerbaijan having voiced intention to
participate in the tournament.

“We have received Azerbaijani application for participation. Six Azeri
boxers will participate in the event, with the delegation to comprise
ten members,” Martirosyan said, adding that the championships will
bring together representatives from 70 countries.

From: Baghdasarian

WEEKEND UPDATE: NALBANDYAN/MAMMADYAROV MEETING DOMINATES NEWS

News | 29.10.12 | 11:24

Foreign Ministers Edward Nalbandyan , Elmar Mammadyarov and MG
co-chairs met on Saturday in Paris.

News related to recognition of Nagorno Karabakh and conflict settlement
dominated local weekend news as the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign
ministers met in Paris.

Ministers Edward Nalbandyan and Elmar Mammadyarov met in France’s
capital on Saturday for the first time after the scandal sparked
by Ramil Safarov’s extradition to Baku last August. The Azerbaijani
army officer was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Budapest court
after killing an Armenian officer, Gurgen Margaryan, while attending
NATO’s Partnership for Peace lessons in Hungary, in 2004. In August
he was extradited to Azerbaijan and immediately pardoned, sparking
international outrage.

The foreign ministers who held meeting in the presence of the OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairs expressed the necessity on lowering the tensions
between the countries and agreed on resuming talks during the Minsk’s
Group’s regional visit in November.

Meanwhile in Karabakh, the National Assembly has sent a message to
the upper house of the Parliament of the Australian State of New South
Wales, expressing the gratitude about the adoption of the resolution
recognizing the right of people of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic
for self-determination. “We are confident that the international
recognition of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic will play an important and
decisive role in the process of settlement of the Karabakh conflict,
will contribute to the establishment of lasting peace and stability
in the region,” says the message.

In Yerevan, a spokesperson of the ruling Republican Party Edward
Sharmazanov drew parallels between Karabakh and another landlocked
country, alluding to the signing of a document on establishing
diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and South Sudan, the country
which proclaimed independence last year. Sharmazanov said that by that
move Azerbaijan has paved way for the recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“By signing the document, Azerbaijan affirmed that the race
for people’s right to self-determination continues around the
world. This action is promoting the recognition of NKR independence
on the international level, because by this step Azerbaijan accepts
that there is no other option for NKR recognition”, noted Armenia’s
National Assembly Vice Chairman.

Speaking on Karabakh’s steps toward recognition, ex-foreign minister
of the NKR Arman Melikyan at Saturday’s press conference in Yerevan
said that the implementation of the EU-funded programs in NKR “is the
first step on the hard road of recognition of the NKR’s independence
by the EU”. He welcomed the launch by the European Union of a second
phase of civil society program in Karabakh, aimed at supporting the
peace-building efforts concerning the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Partnership for the Peaceful Settlement of the Conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh (EPNK) program, a consortium of five European NGOs
which will last three years is a continuation of a program launched
in 2009.

In Karabakh, NKR Defense Minister, Movses Hakobyan told media that
Official Baku keeps impeding inquiries into incidents on the line
of contact of the NKR and Azerbaijan armed forces. The minister said
that Karabakh has repeatedly expressed readiness to develop and apply
certain mechanisms to inquire into shootings on the front line at the
request of the OSCE Minsk Group co- chairs. NKR Defense Army reported,
that between October 21-27, 250 cases of ceasefire violation with about
1200 shots by the Azerbaijani side were registered at the contact line.

Member of Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaksutyun, MP Armen
Rustamyan welcomes the fact, that Armenian authorities are revising
their position on Nagorno-Karabakh and once again reaffirmed the
Dashnaks’s position, that Armenian authorities must not separate
the Nagorno-Karabakh problem from the rest of Hay-Dat agenda. “Serzh
Sargsyan’s recent interview to Italy’s Quotidiano Nazionale, where
he said that the world community applies double standards to the
Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian Genocide issues proves that the Armenian
authorities are reconsidering their policy. But words are not enough
– they must act to satisfy the fair claims of the Armenian nation,”
Rustamyan said.

Meanwhile, Russian military base in Armenia reports it is going to
replace about 3,000 servicemen in a scheduled rotation. In a Friday
statement, the Southern Military District reported that the first
group of about 150 conscript servicemen, among them soldiers and
sergeants who have undergone training as snipers, mechanics, sight
gunners, grenade throwers and reconnaissance officers, have arrived
in Yerevan to replace servicemen sent to the reserve. The rotation
will last until the end of November when the regular training period
begins. The military base’s numerical strength will remain the same.

Compiled by reporter Julia Hakobyan, gathered from local online outlets

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN MP’S SPEECH CAUSES HUNGARIAN DELEGATION TO APOLOGIZE – NEWSPAPER

news.am
October 30, 2012 | 08:01

YEREVAN. – The 127th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly was
held in Quebec City, Canada, Irates De Facto newspaper reports.

“[Former Minister of Economics and Trade] Karen Chsmarityan and [the
coalition Government’s junior member Orinats Yerkir (Rule of Law) Party
(RLP) National Assembly Faction leader] Heghine Bisharyan attended the
[IPU] Assembly from Armenia.

During the discussion of special matters, the Azerbaijani delegate
considered it as his sacred duty to inform the delegates from 162
countries that ‘thirty-thousand Armenians live in Azerbaijan today,
[and] Azerbaijan treats them very well,’ and that the Armenians have
occupied twenty percent of the Azerbaijani territory.

Heghine Bisharyan delivered an address in response and informed those
present that no Armenian can live in that Azerbaijan whose citizen
kills a sleeping man with an axe at night [and] at the heart of Europe,
[and] in that Azerbaijan where the killer is made a hero at the level
of the country’s first [official] person. ‘There are no Armenians
living in Azerbaijan [today], they live in Nagorno-Karabakh [NK],
and today NK is an independent and a free country[, Bisharyan noted.’

Following her address, Hungary’s delegation approached the Armenian
delegation, apologized in connection with their government’s
extradition of [Ramil] Safarov, and proposed to restore the
parliamentary-level ties with Armenia,” Irates De Facto writes.

Armenian News-NEWS.am reported earlier that Ramil Safarov, a lieutenant
in the Azerbaijani military, was extradited on August 31 from Hungary,
where he was serving a life sentence-and with no expression of
either regret or remorse-for the premeditated axe murder of Armenian
lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, in his sleep, during a NATO Partnership
for Peace program in Budapest back in 2004.

As expected, Ramil Safarov’s return to Baku was welcomed, as was
his act of murder, by the officials of president Ilham Aliyev’s
government and much of Azerbaijani society, and the Azerbaijani
president immediately granted him a pardon.

And Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan announced on August 31 that
Armenia is suspending its diplomatic ties with Hungary.

Ramil Safarov’s pardoning is condemned by virtually all international
organizations.

From: Baghdasarian

CASE OF ARMENIAN BABY’S DEATH IS UNDER PERSONAL SUPERVISION OF GEORGIA’S NEW INTERIOR MINISTER

news.am
October 30, 2012 | 13:52

TBILISI. – Georgia’s new Internal Affairs Minister Irakli Gharibashvili
has taken under his personal supervision the case that is opened into
the death of ten-month-old Armenian Barbara Rafayelyants, reads the
statement that is posted Tuesday on the ministry website.

“This case has not yet been solved,” the statement adds. Also, it is
stressed that, “maximum resources and efforts will be put to use to
find out the causes for Barbara Rafayelyants’ death,” Novosti Gruzia
News Agency reports.

To note, the dead body of ten-month-old Varvara (Barbara) Rafayelyants
was found in a large wine jar in a Georgian village on September 30,
that is, a day before the country’s parliamentary elections. The baby’s
parents had linked this incident with the political activities of their
female relative, who was an activist of the then-opposition Georgian
Dream coalition. The child had died as a result of asphyxiation.

From: Baghdasarian

RUSSIA DIDN’T ALLOW ARMENIA TO APPLY TO SAME ISLANDS
Hakob Badalyan

Comments – Tuesday, 30 October 2012, 11:17

The decision of the Australian state to recognize the independence
of Nagorno Karabakh Republic aroused an understandable excitement
within the Armenian society. Maybe it was more than the excitement
that aroused the victory of Artsakh national football team over the
Abkhazian national team. The excitement would be higher if the goal
was not torn and if the ball did not fly through the net when the
national team of Artsakh scored.

The goal was scored in Stepanakert stadium, and Abkhaz players did
not object to that but in international practice organizers are fined
and disqualified for torn goals.

We can see a similar torn goal in the process of the international
recognition of Artsakh. It is even unknown who the goalkeeper is,
Armenia or Artsakh. But the recognition of Artsakh’s independence by
the Australian state resembles the pierced goal and the ball flying
through the net.

One is also “fined” and “disqualified” for this in international
politics in the form of the lack of any serious recognition for long.

The point is that recognition by New Southern Wales is a matter of
home policy rather that a serious policy conducted by Armenia and
Karabakh. Perhaps, there was no other more significant administrative
unit that would agree to recognize Karabakh, otherwise the Armenian
foreign policy would have go even farther.

The Russian style of the Armenian and Karabakh foreign policy is felt
everywhere. It is in the very blood of the authorities. A huge country
like Russia was looking for a small island amid the ocean to have it
recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia while such
recognitions make the unrecognized republic appear unserious.

Apparently, Russia has advised Armenia and Karabakh but did not allow
it to apply to the same island for Abkhazia and Ossetia.

Surely, we need to be grateful to the members of the parliament of
New Southern Wales. They took a humanitarian step but, perhaps it
should not be brought to the level of international policy because
it is one thing when you play football with a torn goal and it is
another thing when you have a torn goal in the international arena.

The leakage that soon Uruguay will also recognize Karabakh won’t help.

If Uruguay wanted to recognize Karabakh, it would do that without
advertisement.

The recognition by New Southern Wales does not lay out the path to
the Karabakh recognition but proves how firmly the door is closed.

Otherwise, Armenia and Karabakh would have found something closer
than Australia.

Sometimes even the smallest things matter in politics but when
politics is mixed with self-deception, the small things may have a
fatal outcome producing the effect of a boomerang.

Artsakh has passed a more serious path and is of a more serious
geopolitical significance. If there is no will, courage or imagination
to boost this, then they should at least refrain from making it less
serious in order to meet personal or group demands.

In this sense, New Southern Wales does not seem a success of foreign
policy but the result of compromise with international political
centers when the tactics of policymakers of Armenia not to notice
or hand over what is in their hands is presented to the society as
cosmic achievements.

From: Baghdasarian

UNDER PROSECUTOR’S CROSS
Hakob Badalyan

Comments – Tuesday, 30 October 2012, 13:22

It is a surprise why Serzh Sargsyan’s meeting with legal officials
was held in the office of the prosecutor general and not under the
33-meter cross erected on the slope of Mount Aragast thanks to the
efforts of Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan. In general, it is a
surprise why the idea to hold that meeting came to Serzh Sargsyan and
not the Catholicos. In general, the Prosecutor General’s office should
be incorporated in the Armenian Apostolic Church for the Catholicos
to remove prosecutors for inappropriate behavior.

If Serzh Sargsyan is concerned about the quality and efficiency of the
work of the prosecutor’s office, and if he is determined and willing
to tackle with the problem, he had better deal with prosecution rather
than hold meetings.

Modernization of the system of public administration in Armenia should
be view from this point of view. In other words, modernization is
the radical revision of the existing system.

The evolutionary method of improvement is not effective. Armenia
doesn’t have so much time to elaborate its policy papers. Practical
and productive steps are necessary which can be achieved only through
radical change.

The meetings held regularly by Serzh Sargsyan can solve only political
issue, influence the scramble for power. The productiveness of these
meetings is zero. For example, several weeks ago Serzh Sargsyan held
a meeting in the prime minister’s office during which he gave special
assignments to Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan and Gorik Hakobyan,
head of the RA National Security Service.

Several weeks have already passed but the only big thing the
prosecutor’s office has done is the cross erected in Aparan.

It means that Aghvan Hovsepyan has ignored Serzh Sargsyan’s request
which for its part means that either the request was formal, and the
prosecutor knows about it, or Aghvan Hovsepyan himself decided what,
when and how.

The reality is most probably between these two possibilities. The
formality of the presidential elections is not a secret but it is
not a surprise either that Serzh Sargsyan is unable to influence some
top officials.

The issue is not Serzh Sargsyan but the nature of the system. This
system in terms of content is not a pyramid where the monarch makes
the decisions and applies them at lowers levels of the pyramid. There
is a clear set of rights and obligations in the system, and if this
obligation is fulfilled conscientiously, the rights are also respected,
independently from one’s status and diameter.

Meetings in such systems and in any other system have a cosmetic
nature unless the set of rights and obligations is reviewed. In the
current system the key aspect is the “cross” not the constitutional
function. Aghvan Hovsepyan is an experienced legal official. He would
never make such a mistake as to ignore his duties and attend the
“crosses” getting deprived of the rights. He knows that his obligation
is the “crosses” which help him own the right.

The mechanism cannot be reviewed through the evolutionary method until
it stands firm despite the wish of the members involved. This mechanism
if based on instincts and is the guarantee of securing from conscious
“deviations”.

Consequently, the issue is to get rid of this set which is
possible only through fast and large-scale revolutionary changes
and establishment of a completely new system. This is not only about
the judicial but also economic and political systems. The issue of
governance in Armenia will not be solved by individuals but by systems,
and power will belong to those who will be able to create new systems.

From: Baghdasarian

LE PARTI DACHNAK LANCE UN APPEL AUX AUTRES PARTIS DE L’OPPOSITION
Gari

armenews.com
mardi 30 octobre 2012

Un haut responsable de la Federation revolutionnaire armenienne
Dachnaktsoutioun (FRAD) a lance un appel, vendredi 26 octobre, aux
leaders des autres grandes formations de l’opposition pour qu’ils se
decident a designer un candidat unique aux elections presidentielles
de fevrier 2013. Armen Rustamian a precise que son parti etait pret
a engager toutes ses forces derrière un candidat qui ne serait pas
issu de ses rangs, pourvu qu’il soit en accord avec sa politique
visant a instaurer un regime parlementaire en Armenie. “Nous pourrions
nous mettre d’accord sur un candidat totalement neutre”, a-t-il fait
savoiur dans une conference de presse, en tendant la main aux autres
partis de l’opposition pour qu’ils deploient leurs efforts en ce sens.

Selon M.Rustamian, le Dachnaktsoutioun estime qu’une “consolidation”
de l’opposition est la meilleure garantie contre les fraudes et
irregularites redoutees lors du scrutin a venir. Le part pourrait
boycotter l’election s’il sent qu’il n’est pas en mesure d’empecher la
repetition des frauds qui avaient encore entache le scrutin legislatif
de mai, selon l’opposition. Le Dachnaktsoutioun avait conteste le
resultat des dernières presidentielles de 2008, auxquelles il avait
presente son propre candidat, Vahan Hovannisian. Ce dernier n’avait
recueilli que 6,2 % des suffrages, selon les resultats officiels.

D’autres forces de l’opposition, singulièrement le Congrès national
armenien (HAK), de Levon ter Petrossian, ont lance le debat sur
une candidature unique de l’opposition face a Serge Sarkissian,
qui briguera un deuxième mandat lors du prochain scrutin.

Levon Zurabian, le leader du groupe parlementaire du HAK, a
indique le meme jour que son parti, qui est deja une alliance de
formations d’opposition, avait engage des negociations avec des
allies potentiels. Mais il s’est refuse a preciser de quels allies
il s’agissait. Le leader du HAK, Levon Ter Petrosian, pourrait
contracter une alliance electorale avec le Parti Armenie prospère
(BHK), la deuxième force du Parlement qui a rallie l’opposition
depuis son refus de renouveler une coalition gouvernementale avec le
Parti republicain du president Sarkissian. Un depute influent du BHK,
Vahe Hovannisian, a pourtant fait savoir dernièrement que le parti
dirige par l’homme d’affaires Gagik Tsarukian n’avait pas engage de
pourparlers relatifs a une strategie electorale avec le HAK.

mardi 30 octobre 2012, Gari ©armenews.com

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From: Baghdasarian