Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

Armenian President sends condolence letter to Iranian people

news.am
August 13, 2012 | 19:27

YEREVAN. – President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan has sent a condolence
letter to his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the occasion
of the destructive quake occurred in Iran.

`I am deeply sorry for the destructive quake that jolted Iran, and
claimed hundreds of human lives, numerous injuries and destruction. We
are with the Iranians on this sorrowful moment and will be ready to
support and overcome consequences of the quake,’ the letter reads.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am reported earlier, four quakes measured 6.2 to
6.6 jolted Iran’s north-west near the Armenian border on Saturday

The quakes were also followed by aftershocks measured 4.1 to 4.8 on
the Richter scale. The tremors were felt also in the cities of Armenia
and Nagorno-Karabakh. A 4.5 magnitude tremor was registered in
Armenia’s south and 3-4 magnitude in capital city Yerevan. The quake
caused panic and made people leave their houses in southern Armenia.
No casualties and destruction in the territory of Armenia was
reported.

The quake killed 306 and injured over 3,000 people in Iranian
Atropatena province.

From: Baghdasarian

Australian FM to visit Armenia (PHOTO)

August 13, 2012 | 16:42

CANBERRA. – Armenian FM Edward Nalbandian and his Australian
counterpart Bob Carr ran negotiations in Canberra, Australia on
Monday.

Nalbandian’s visit will bring into a new level the bilateral
relations, his Australian counterpart said, Armenian MFA informs
Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The sides stated the importance of creating legal frameworks, holding
consultations between the MFAs of both countries, activating
cooperation within the frameworks of international organizations and
developing economic relations.

Nalbandian introduced Carr the negotiation process on Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. Carr also said that he intends to visit Armenia in the first
term of next year.

At the end the sides signed the first Armenian-Australian document on
holding consultations between the MFAs of both states.

From: Baghdasarian

Armenian Medalists at the 2012 London Olympic Games

By Grant Pakhtigian
FLArmenians Sports Contributor

August 10, 2012

As we are tuned into the Summer Games for this Fortnight in London 2012,
our hopes for Armenia’s medalists run deep and wide. We are as wide as the
Diaspora and deep as Armenia’s locals, it’s towns, villages and fertile
soil in sporting history.

With our hopes for a showing like never before, twenty-five Armenian
Olympians, with a slight caveat of not getting to be seen on TV at this
year’s Opening Ceremonies, take their place and put their best foot forward
every four years in this hallmark 30th Olympiad.

With the character and principals of fairness and truth, the games hold a
distinct character led by International Olympic committee chief Jacques
Rogge. On this 15th day of competition, we have some blips on the radar of
medals from this little independent state.

Female Olympian Hripsime Khurshudyan was the first Armenian medalist in
these games, and the first female athlete from Armenia to ever medal in any
sport. In Weightlifting’s +75kg (super-heavy weight), she struck Bronze for
her efforts.

She was soon followed by Arsen Julfalakyan in Greco-Roman Wrestling. He
took the Silver medal by facing his last opponent Roman Vlasov of Russia in
the +74 kg category. Meanwhile in the wrestling circle Arthur Aleksanyan
took Bronze in the +96kg Greco-Roman category.

Mikayel Koloyan, who competed in the pool for the 100-meter freestyle, took
away a mark of 53.82 and finished with a ranking of 8. Along with fellow
swimmers, 18-year-old Anahit Barseghyan finished just out of the medal
race, landing in 4th in the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 1:08:19.

The U.S. won Gold in Water Polo under Armenian-American Team USA Head Coach
Adam Krikorian, with his fearless assistants not far behind. The final jump
in the pool for all those on deck after victory were awash in their
congratulatory baptismal dip in the pool. Adam Krikorian is the women’s
water polo coach at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). While
another Armenian-American, Arthur Akopyan, personal coach for U.S. gymnast
McKayla Maroney, watched his pupil win Silver in the individual Vault
competition.

Several Armenian athletes have yet to finish their event. They include
26-year-old Arman Yeremyan in Tae Kwon Do, and 27-year-old Mihran Jaburyan
in +55kg Freestyle Wrestling. Armenia has garnered a total of three medals
thus far.

The medal count represents two Bronze, one for Weightlifting, one for
Wrestling, and one Silver for free style Wrestling.

Armen Nazaryan who competes in Judo scored a win moving through the draw
versus a competitor from New Guinea but was stopped by fellow Challenger
Pawel Zagrodnik of Poland.

Kristine Harutyunyan, 21, competes in the Javelin throw. Her first mark was
47.65 feet, and she is from Gyumri. Olympian Tigran Martirosyan, also from
Gyumri is 24 years old and competes in the +77 kg Weightlifting discipline.

Andranik Hagopian of Etchmiadzin competes as a middleweight boxer and won
his round of 32 versus Terrell Gausha of the United States. Vardan
Pahlevanyan won his qualifying event in men’s long jump.

For 2012, most Armenian competitors are just becoming young adults and we
look forward in the coming years to more brilliant performances based from
talented, supported, creative and youthful hopefuls.

*Grant Pakhtigian is a sports writer for print and online sports
publications. He received his Bachelors of Business Administration in
Accounting from St. Thomas University in Miami and resides in West Palm
Beach, Florida. *

Available online:

###

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Taniel Koushakjian
Editor
FLArmenians.com
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Follow us on Twitter @FLArmenians

From: Baghdasarian

Russian border guards detain 130 violators of Armenia’s state border this year

news.am
August 13, 2012 | 15:00

YEREVAN.- The total of 130 cases of illegal border crossing were
registered by Russian border detachment from January to August 13.

Twenty people violating border regime were detained, spokesperson for
the detachment Vahram Manukyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am. Over 1,400
people had problems with documents while crossing the border.

Nineteen facilities of the border detachment have been repaired.

From: Baghdasarian

Commercial Water Losses Guarantee Constant Revenues for Yerevan Djur Sara
Petrosyan

14:51, July 23, 2012

Part 1

Company management also did not agree with the observation of the
prosecutor that `periodic inspections and monitoring’ could have prevented
the Nubarashen poisoning incident.

With an agreement concluded by the Armenian government, operation of water
supply and waste water removal for the city of Yerevan and 32 adjacent
villages was leased to the French Veolia Water company. It covers all the
water services activities, such as production, distribution, customer
services, and maintenance. The contract came into force on the 1st of June
2006. Under the conditions of the ten year contract, Veolia assumed the
responsibility of providing water on a 24 hour basis during the allotted
timeframe.

The company also received $18.75 million in World Bank financing to
implement these obligations. A body called the `Community Development
Programs Office’ (CDPO) attached to the Yerevan Municipality was set up
to
monitor implementation of the obligations set forth by the credit program
during the first five years. From the CDPO bulletins regarding Yerevan Djur
‘s annual business projects it becomes clear that the initial encouraging
successes registered by Yerevan Djur in the first year (a certain
improvement in water distribution in Yerevan, clarification of supply
timetables) did not continue. In the sixth year of the contract, 2012,
according to informed individuals, the company only succeeded in supply in
water to Yerevan for 16 hours daily at most.
Illegal connection

Yerevan Djur General Manager Gor Grigoryan doesn’t accept these indices
and claims that in 2012 the company has already been able to guarantee 23
hours of water; the mark set for 2016. He says that in the capital Yerevan
the minimum water supply is twelve hours daily and that this is the case in
a very small section.

Yerevan Djur presented such a high figure to the municipality two years
ago, confirming an almost 23 hour water supply. In reality, residents were
complaining about the supply and complains particularly increased during
the summer. This issue became a prime issue of municipal consultations.
Those in the know claim that tensions between the municipality and Yerevan
Djur kept rising.

Only 15% of the water reaching Yerevan is being paid for

The company explained away this shortcoming by pointing to 81-86% of
leakage loss and proposed the closing of fountain and water cascades in the
capital to decrease losses and improve supply, as well as the installation
of water meters. We should note that according to Yerevan
Djurcalculations, water fountains only comprise 2-3% of overall water
loss. In
addition, these fountains are shut down from November to April. Thus,
closing them completely wouldn’t have made much of a difference.
Fish seller

The municipality did not accept the company’s demand and instead proposed
that the company create a monitoring unit within the company; something
which the company was obligated to have anyway according to the contract
with the Armenian government. The new unit was tasked with exposing
employee inadequacies in the company’s sub-divisions, locate illegal
connections to the system and write them up, control water losses, monitor
repair work, implement work to locate and monitor flow losses, monitor
complaints/advisories about water supply quality, and to assist in
decreasing water leakage in Yerevan and adjacent villages and increase
company revenues.

This proposal was not favorably viewed by Yerevan Djur management but
they were forced to make concessions since complaints against the company
were rising. `In general, the company failed to decrease water losses and
to economically use drinking water. The 84.6% system-wide loss figure is
unacceptable in the fourth year of the contract. In the first four years,
the company has failed to bring that figure down by even 1%, even though
all the necessary factors to do so are in place=85′ This is the opinion
expressed by the CDPO in March 2010 regarding Yerevan Djur’s annual
report for the fourth contract year.

Starting on April 19, 2010, a Water Balance Coordination and Supervision
Directorate (WBCSD), a separate subdivision under the direct control of the
company’s general manager, began to operate. This Directorate only lasted
for one year. During that time it studied ¼ of the company’s service area –
the 7 districts of the capital and certain adjacent villages. 15,305
violations were registered and fines were levied as a result. This brought
in 166 million AMD in revenues to the company.
Gagik Margaryan

The violations were diverse and included illegal connections, defective
water meters, seal breaking, etc. In one house, residents using water were
not subscribers. In one community, the Zovuni gardening organization, all
the residents weren’t paying their water bills, this when Yerevan
DjurCustomer Relations Director Gagik Margaryan had a summer house
there. Many
cases came to light when residents wanted to become subscribers but the
company never signed contracts with them. In another case, water meters
were not registered in the company’s computer database.

As a result of all this, the amounts collected from citizens disappeared
and company revenues didn’t grow. `This was shown as a business loss,’ said
WBSCD Director Mikayel Davtyan. According to his calculations, only 15% of
the water entering Yerevan was being paid for. The non-payers not only
included physical and legal entities but government agencies.

Violations registered by the WBSCD between May 3, 2010 and April 20, 2011

Type of act/writ

Total

Of which non-subscribers

Physical

Legal.

Total

Physical

Legal.

Illegal water usage

4774

436

5210

Non-working water meter

956

94

1050

Damaged water meter

1359

57

1416

1392

152

Standard state stamp

1828

84

1912

Holographic stamp

5544

173

5717

Total

14461

844

15305

1544

Legal acts of exposed infractions were sent to the Yerevan
Djurdirectorate and the general manager. However, they say that they
received
answers to only 100 of the 500. `We sent another communiqué to see how
many
had been made subscribers, but the letter remained unanswered. They
nullified some of the legal acts we wrote up without having the right to do
so,’ says M. Davtyan.
Pascal Royer

On March 10, 2011, Davtyan wrote the following to then Yerevan
DjurGeneral Manager
Pascal Royer: `Practice shows that legal acts leaving our directorate
aren’t discussed but are nullified without basis. As a result, no monies
are collected in favor of the company. We wish to note that such documents
with legal force started to be nullified not by the demand of the general
manager, but rather by the decision of Customer Relations Director Gagik
Margaryan.

130 cases regarding revealed violations were sent to the courts. The amount
to be collected was about 60 million AMD. `Every month they collect 50-60
million AMD and this was only a portion of their revenues presented as
water loss. By working well, that loss could have been decreased to 70%,’
says WBSCD Director M. Davtyan. On March 18, 2011, he presented Yerevan
Djur General Manager Royer with the company shortcomings in a letter and
stated that if all the violations exposed just in 2010 were removed and
fixed, then water loss by the end of the year would have dropped by 5%.
`This means that company revenues would have grown by 1/3rd, the amount of
water supplied would have increased by 33%, and the water rate could have
dropped by 60 Drams,’ the letter reads.

Mikayel Davtyan notes that when they conducted inspections of certain
sites, the water loss decreased immediately and revenues rose. When they
left, the opposite happened. Due to infractions, it’s calculated that water
loss amounts to 260 million AMD; more than 30% of the amount monthly in
Yerevan.
Illegal water connections

This even surprised the Community Development Programs Office.’ They
demanded additional clarifications regarding the fifth year of the `lease
Contract’. In a letter dated January 25, 2011 to all Yerevan
Djurdirectorates and the general manager, they wrote: `The fact that
water loss
hasn’t decreased remains a mystery even though:

a) 10,589 were discovered, of which 3,920 were illegal connections

b) 102 breakdowns were discovered, which comprise

It was proposed to the company to present differentiated between commercial
and technical water loss figures.

In its one month of operation, the control directorate gave special
attention to breakdowns of an operational nature, to which immediate
responses would lead to water loss reduction and a rise in water quality.
However, according to directorate employees, the company did not eliminate
a majority of the infractions found and that many were never followed up.
In a letter dated February 1, 2011, the Operations Directorate sent a
letter to then General Manager Gor Grigoryan regarding non-response to
emergencies, stating: ` To date, most of the breakdowns discovered by the
Water Balance Coordination and Supervision Directorate have either not been
fixed or, if they have, there is no relevant information about
them=85attached is the corresponding list.’
Ashtarak trunk road; ilegal connection

General Manager Pascal Royer also didn’t respond to the communiqués of
the
control directorate. M. Davtyan says that as a result, shortcomings in the
system increased. `Due to Mr. Royer’s unexplained indifference, the
abovementioned infractions are overlooked, favoritism is practiced, and
directorates and employees regarded as inconveniences are being eliminated.
As a result, the true picture is not reaching the European management of
Veolia Water. During his years as manager, he and his cohorts did
everything to make the company unproductive, leading to irrational usage of
credit and financial resources, improper and incorrect use of leased
property, and water loss. All this not only damages the national strategic
resources of the Republic of Armenia but immediately negatively impact the
company’s financial status=85′

This time, Pascal Royer’s response was quick in coming. All the employees
of the WBCSD received notices from the general manager on April 4, 2011,
informing them that their work contract was being terminated. `According
to
Decision 2 taken by the Yerevan Djur Council on April 14, 2011, an
administrative restructuring will occur resulting in a new job position
list. By this decision your job position has been terminated. The company
has no other work to offer you.’

Mikayel Davtyan stated that as of April 20, 2011, when he and the others
were still regarded as Yerevan Djur employees, writs against 50 legal and
830 physical individuals for illegal water connections were never given due
process.

(Scoop, a Danish-based network for investigative journalists, assisted in
the preparation of this investigative article)

From: Baghdasarian

Armenian Olympians: Ancient Olympiads to London 2012
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 — ListProcessor(tm) by CREN

Posted by Arman
Sanentzon August
13, 2012

Long before Baron Pierre de Coubertin, after a nearly 1200-year hiatus,
organized the Modern Olympics of `Athens 1896,’ the Ancient Olympics that
began in 776 B.C. honored countless athletes every four years, including
some famous Armenians.
[image: Memorial plate at Olympia Greece recording Armenian Olympians:
Ancient Olympiads to London
2012]

Memorial plateat
Olympia, Greece recording Olympic win in 385 A.D. by King Ardavazt

Among them, Prince Varazdat Arshakuni (Õ=8EÕ¡Ö=80Õ¡Õ¦Õ¤Õ¡Õ¿ in Armenian; Latinized as *
Varastades*), later King of Armenia, was the last known recorded Ancient
Olympic victor who won the boxing event at the 291st Olympiad (in 385
A.D.). A memorial plate, now in display at the Olympic Museum in Olympia,
Greece, details his win as the most honored champion of the 291st Olympiad.
At the 265th Olympiad, 104 years earlier (281 A.D.), another of the famous
non-Greek winners (in wrestling) was the Armenian King Trdat III (286-342
A.D), who in 301 A.D. adopted Christianity as the state religion, making
Armenia the first Christian nation. The exploits of both kings were
chronicled by the Armenian Historian Movses Khorenatsi (Moses of Khoren) in
his *History of Armenia*.

The end of the Ancient Olympics came in 393 A.D., when the Roman Emperor
Theodosius I, a convert to Christianity, legally abolished the games as an
old `pagan’ religious rite. In 1998, the International Olympic Academy
installed in Olympia a marble bust by sculptor Levon Tokmajyan, honoring
the Armenian King Varazdat Arshakuni (385 A.D.).

The first Armenian Olympic champion of the Modern Olympics was Hrant
Shahinyan (1923-96), born in the village of Gyulagarak, who at age 28
competed at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics as a member of the USSR Artistic
Gymnastic National Team, receiving two gold medals in gymnastic rings and
team combined exercises,
and two silvers in gymnastics individual men’s all-around and the pommeled
horse. He was also a seven-time USSR and two-time world champion. Among the
other Armenian athletes competing alongside Shahinyan-all representing the
Soviet Union-were Albert Azaryan and Artur Akopyan.

Armenia was represented as a unified country for the first
timeat
the 1992 Barcelona Olympics as part of the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS). With only five athletes participating, the team won three
gold medals in weightlifting, wrestling, and sharp-shooting. Armenia has
been competing as an official independent nation since the 1994 Lillehammer
Winter Games.
[image: Marble bust of King Ardavazt by sculptor Levon Armenian Olympians:
Ancient Olympiads to London
2012]

Marble bust of King Ardavazt by sculptor Levon Tokmajyan installed in
Olympia, Greece, in 1998.

In recent years, Armenian athletes have succeed mainly in weightlifting and
wrestling. In fact, at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, medals awarded were three
in weightlifting, two in wrestling, and one in boxing, all bronze.

The Republic of Armenia was proudly represented by 25 athletes at the XXX
Olympiad, the 2012 London Summer Games, encompassing a variety of sports,
with competitors in wrestling, weightlifting, shooting, swimming, artistic
gymnastics, judo, taekwondo, and athletics. Of the 25 athletes there, 7
were competing in wrestling and 6 in weightlifting.

Armenian President Serge Sarkisian was in attendance at the London Opening
Ceremony on Fri., July 27. On Sun., July 30 he attended the Armenian
Open-Air Festival, organized by the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic
Church in the United Kingdom and Ireland, in honor of Armenia’s athletes
participating in London 2012. He also watched some of the athletes perform
on Sat., July 28, including the boxing match for men’s middle (75 kg.)
between Andranik Hakobyan and the American Terrell Gausha. Hakobyan was
born in Echmiadzin in 1985. As the Americans in the crowd cheered for
Gausha, the overbearing cries of `Ar-men-ia’ could be heard from the other
fans. The match ended in a 3-4 loss after the referee called an end to the
contest.

Several other Armenian athletes were competing for countries other than
Armenia. Among them, Arsen Galstyan, representing Russia, won that
country’s first gold medal-in men’s 60 kg. judo category on July 28,
wrestling the gold from the Japanese contender, Hiroaki Hiraoka. The same
day, another Armenian in the same category, Hovhannes Davtyan representing
Armenia, born in 1983 in Gyumri, was eliminated in an earlier round. Born
in Soviet Armenia in 1989, Galstyan was trained at an early age after his
move to Russia. His siblings, Arman and Tigran, also compete in the same
sport. When asked about his training routine, Galstyan reportedly said,
`When I have nobody to train with, I recruit one of my brothers, it seems
to me that my victories give them additional stimulation to train and win.’

Famed professional tennis player and former world no. 3 David Nalbandian,
who is competing for Argentina, was born in Unquillo, Cordoba Province,
Argentina in 1982 to a mother of Italian origin and a father of Armenian
origin. He was introduced to tennis as a young boy, playing in a cement
court in their backyard built by his Armenian grandfather, and became a
professional tennis player at 18. He was eliminated in the first round of
the men’s singles and doubles on July 28. His doubles partner was Eduardo
Schwank.
[image: Hrant Shahinyan Armenian Olympians: Ancient Olympiads to London
2012]

Hrant Shahinyan, representing the U.S.S.R. earned 2 gold and 2 silver
medals in Gymnastics at 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

Artur Ayvazian, born in Yerevan, Armenia in 1973, competed as a shooter for
the Ukraine team, qualifying 21st for the 50 m. rifle prone on Aug. 3, and
10th for the 50 m. rifle 3 positions after a shoot off on Aug. 6. Four
years ago, Artur won gold in the 50 m. rifle prone at the 2008 Beijing
Olympics.

Tvin Moumjoghlian, representing Lebanon in women’s singles table tennis,
was eliminated in the preliminary round on July 28. Born in Beirut in 1989,
she started playing table tennis at age nine, under the tutelage of her
father Raffi Moumjoghlian, a professional table tennis player and Lebanese
champion. Tvin Moumjoghlian trained in Vienna for the 2012 London Games and
has studied economics at the American University of Beirut.

Also competing on the Lebanese team is sprinter Gretta Taslakian, born in
Ghadir, Lebanon, in 1985 to parents of Lebanese and Armenian origin. Her
specialty is the running the 200 m. sprint and she has competed in the 2004
and 2008 Olympic Games, as well as in numerous other championships. On Aug.
6 she qualified for 8th place in round 1 of the women’s 200 m. sprint.

An Armenian can also be found on a United States team, but not as a
competitor. Adam Krikorian is the head coach of the U.S. women’s water polo
team. The team received attention after beating Italy 9-6 in the
preliminary round. They’ll face Australia in the semifinals. Krikorian is
also the water polo coach at UCLA.

On Sun., Aug. 5, Armenia won its first Olympic medal of the 2012 London
Games. The bronze medal was awarded to Hripsime Khurshudyan, who competed
in women’s weightlifting +75 kg. Born in Kasakh in 1987, this was
Khurshudyan’s first medal awarded at an international competition.

Later in the evening on Sunday, Armenia won its second Olympic medal of the
2012 London Games, this time a silver medal which was awarded to Arsen
Julfalakyan, in 74 kg. Greco-Roman wrestling. Born in Gyumri in 1987, he is
the son of Armenia’s national wrestling coach Levon Julfalakyan, who won
gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Arsen Julfalakyan, who had placed 10th at
the 2008 Beijing Olympics, defeated Azerbaijan’s Emin Ahmadov in the
semifinal round, but lost to Russia’s Roman Vlasov in the finals. In
previous years he won the 2009 European championship, plus a silver and a
bronze at the 2010 and 2011 World championships.

On the evening of Monday August 7, Armenia brought its medal count at the
London Games up to three, with a bronze awarded to Artur Aleksanyan, born
in Gyumri in 1991, in men’s 96kg Greco-Roman Wrestling. Artur defeated
Cenk Ildem of Turkey 3-0 in the Repechage Round 2, before out-wrestling
Yunior Estrada Falcon of Cuba 3-0 for the bronze. Earlier in the
afternoon, one of his team-mates Hovhannes Varderesyan, born in Yerevan in
1989, competing in men’s 66kg Greco-Roman Wrestling, was defeated in
Repechage Round 1 by the wrestler Pedro Isaac Mulens Herrera from Cuba.

From: Baghdasarian

LES DICTATEURS DANS LA PRESSE
« Le Nouvel Observateur » : « Atatürk était un dictateur et
alcoolique, mort de cirrhose »

Dans son dernier numéro du 9 août (n°2492) « Le Nouvel Observateur »
dresse un dossier sur les dicteurs. L’article « L’étoffe des
dictateurs » analyse les comportements d’une douzaine de dictateurs.
Parmi ces derniers, Hitler, Mussolini, Staline, Mao Tsé-toung, Saddam
Hussein, Franco, Kadhafi…et Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ! Le
père-fondateur de la « Turquie moderne est bel est bien classé au rang
des dictateurs. « Le Nouvel Observateur » sous la plume de Jean-Paul
Mari écrit « Autre phénomène, le grand Atatürk, « père des Turcs »,
l’empereur laïque, l’inspiration, le modèle, celui dont le nom fait
toujours dresser la pointe d’acier des casques des soldats turcs, il a
su imposer le respect bien au-delà des palais de Constantinople mais
professait « Que le peuple ne s’occupe pas de politique pour le moment
! ». Nous pourrions rajouter également à l’actif de ce dictateur le
génocide arménien dont il fut également l’un des exécuteurs. Et « Le
Nouvel Observateur » révèle l’un des penchants méconnus d’Atatürk en
affirmant « Atatürk a échappé au « complot de Smyrne », cachait sa
peur du mauvais coup en buvant comme un trou et est mort de cirrhose
». Un tableau peu reluisant d’un dictateur dont les défauts furent
gommés par les versions officielles d’Ankara afin de glorifier l’image
d’un homme qui ne manqua pourtant pas d’éliminer de nombreux
concurrents dans sa lutte pour le pouvoir.

Krikor Amirzayan

dimanche 12 août 2012,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian

The New Great Game in Central Asia
Geopolitics in a Post-Western World

Alexander Cooley
August 7, 2012

*Horsemen take part in a Kok-boru (Buzkashi) competition in Bishkek.
(Courtesy Reuters)*

In the last decade, the world has started taking more notice of Central
Asia. For the United States and its allies, the region is a valuable supply
hub for the Afghanistan war effort. For Russia, it is an arena in which to
exert political influence. For China, it is a source of energy and a
critical partner for stabilizing and developing the restive Xinjiang
province in the Middle Kingdom’s west. Some commentators have referred to
Washington, Moscow, and Beijing’s renewed activity in the region as a
modern iteration of the Great Game. But unlike the British and Russian
empires in their era of competition and conquest, the Central Asian
governments are working to use renewed external involvement to their
sovereign advantage, fending off disruptive demands and reinforcing their
political control at home. Accordingly, the Central Asian case today is not
a throwback to the past but a guide to what is to come: the rise of new
players and the decline of Western influence in a multipolar world.

The first lesson to take from China, Russia, and the United States’
involvement in Central Asia is that it has strengthened the hand of rulers,
who have been able to play the suitors off one another to extract economic
benefits and political support where possible. Most dramatically, in 2009,
President Kurmanbek Bakiyev of Kyrgyzstan, host to the Manas Transit
Center, initiated a bidding war between the United States and Russia by
threatening to close the base. He extracted hundreds of millions of dollars
from both sides, in the form of a Russian assistance package and a renewed
lease at a higher rent with the United States. Since 2008, the United
States also has paid transit fees,* about $500 million
annually*,
to the Uzbek and other Central Asian governments to ship equipment bound
for Afghanistan through the Northern Distribution Network.

The same dynamic is playing out elsewhere. The availability of alternative
patrons has made U.S. strategic engagement more expensive everywhere, both
in terms of dollars and politics. In 2008, Ecuadorian President Rafael
Correa refused to extend a ten-year lease of the U.S. base at Manta, after
having been offered $500 million to upgrade the facility by a Hong Kong
port operator. Steven Cook, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations,
has *observed* that in post-revolutionary Egypt the
United States has continued to provide assistance in return for overflight
rights and access to the Suez Canal, even as U.S. leverage over the country
diminishes. And during Pakistan’s seven-month fallout with Washington, in
which it closed Afghanistan-bound supply lanes, Islamabad publicly demanded
an increase in transit fees and courted China. Eventually, U.S. officials
reportedly agreed to release $1.1 billion for the Pakistani military from
the Coalition Support Fund to *get the route back open*.

Central Asian elites have grown increasingly hostile to the West’s values
agenda — promoting democracy and human rights — and are now able to push
back against criticism.

The second lesson is that regional multipolarity has eroded Western
economic influence. Over the last decade, China has emerged as the leading
economic power in Central Asia. Chinese assistance there, as in Africa and
other developing regions, is not easy to categorize; it is usually a hybrid
of foreign aid, investment, and emergency standby loans. Beijing has
skillfully relied on a unique mix of these economic instruments with each
of its Central Asian neighbors. In 2009, it signed loans-for-energy
packages with energy-rich Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. These loans secured
supplies of oil and gas or equity in local producers. Meanwhile, Beijing
has undertaken major new oil and gas pipelines to take the Central Asian
energy eastward. These packages mirror similar loans-for-energy deals with
Angola, Brazil, Ecuador, Russia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Venezuela.

In the poorer countries of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Beijing has become a
major investor and development assistance provider, focusing on power
generation, transmission, and transport, including roads and railways.
Prior to the 2012 SCO Summit in Beijing, the Export-Import Bank of China
was already Tajikistan’s leading single creditor. Its holdings of the
country’s overall foreign debt are now projected to reach 70 percent. Most
Western commentaries have welcomed Beijing’s regional assistance and
investment, since Central Asian infrastructure remains in a state of
chronic disrepair and Chinese upgrades should improve cross-border regional
links and spur regional development.

But China’s donor role also poses a number of challenges that Western
officials seem reluctant to publicly acknowledge. China’s lack of
monitoring standards, its unconditional aid, and its direct dealings with
regimes reduce the transparency of its projects. In Tajikistan, for
example, a new private offshore-registered company now charges tolls on the
highway linking Dushanbe and Chanak, which was built mostly with Chinese
funds, making it practically unaffordable for lower-income Tajiks.
Meanwhile, China does not coordinate with other internationals in Bishkek
or Dushanbe and its lending and assistance in Central Asia simply dwarfs
existing commitments from other international sources. This summer, China
announced that it would provide $10 billion worth of financing for
infrastructure projects in the region. If enacted, the program will make
China the region’s leading foreign investor by a wide margin. At the same
time, the conditions of U.S. aid, which is now a small and declining source
of regional funds, will become less meaningful.

New economic patrons are playing similar roles in Africa and the Middle
East. In mid-July, at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, in Beijing,
Chinese President Hu Jintao pledged an additional $20 billion in loans to
Africa over the next three years, seeking to secure new energy supplies. He
also pledged to refrain from insisting on conditionality, as Western
countries often impose — something he referred to as “*the big bullying
the small* .” As with Central Asia, social and
political programs — training for tens of thousands of African officials;
18,000 new scholarships for African students — will accompany these
economic packages.

In the Middle East, traditional international lenders, such as the United
States and the European Union, now face competition from Gulf funders,
especially from wealthy Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.
Doubts remain about these countries’ commitment to follow through on their
multi-billion-dollar pledges of assistance. Even so, just as Angola and
Tajikistan have leveraged Chinese loans to eschew Western lenders’ demands
for reforms, so, too, have authorities in post-revolutionary Egypt used the
prospect of securing funds from the Gulf as leverage against the IMF. Such
new forms of assistance are reorienting the region’s economic development
away from the West, and the United States now lacks the soft power to check
the growing power of these new rival patrons.

The third lesson is that Central Asian elites have grown increasingly
hostile to the West’s values agenda — promoting democracy and human rights
— and are now able to push back against criticism. The war on terrorism
gave these regimes cover to build up their security services and clamp down
on opposition. China, Russia, and the United States colluded with Central
Asian security services to render terrorist suspects, without due process
hearings, to and from the region. The United States claimed that the war on
terrorism could not be constrained by international law. Russia and China
embedded their extraterritorial actions in new regional legal frameworks
such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s Anti-Terrorism Treaty.

Central Asian elites regularly malign the West for practicing double
standards on human rights, insisting that Western violations of human
rights be as much a part of a dialogue as their own infractions. New
regional media outlets spotlight the seeming contradictions of U.S. policy
in different countries, further diminishing U.S. credibility and magnifying
the costs of a hypocritical policy. Meanwhile, Central Asian nations have
hidden their political shortcomings by hiring Western public relations
firms and by restricting the activities of foreign-funded NGOs. In response
to the wave of color revolutions in the mid-2000s that swept entrenched
leaders with ties to the Kremlin out of power, Central Asian new and
entrenched leaders alike enacted restrictive registration and funding laws
to curtail the activities of Western-sponsored NGOs. In these efforts, they
had strong support from Moscow and Beijing.

Similarly, Egypt’s recent clampdown on groups such as Freedom House and the
National Democratic Institute has made for a tricky political environment
for Western NGOs in Egypt. And in countries as diverse as Azerbaijan,
Ethiopia, Ecuador, Panama, Russia, Uganda, and Vietnam, governments have
recently stoked the fear of foreign interference to justify new legal
crackdowns on civil society organizations.

Meanwhile, the Central Asian states have created organizations that mimic
the form, but not the function, of democratic election monitors. Since
2005, for example, both the Russian-led Commonwealth of Independent States
and the SCO have sent election monitoring teams to the region; their
observers have delivered glowing assessments of obviously flawed Central
Asian elections. Tellingly, these new election monitors do not publish
mission guides, nor have they signed onto the United Nations’ 2005 Code of
Conduct for International Election Observers. By so doing, such groups have
undermined Western-backed monitors and the substance of their work.

Some commentators have called on U.S. and European policymakers to jettison
their criticism and engagement on values issues to remain relevant as
international partners in this emerging multipolar world. Yet, along with
U.S. military and economic might, engagement on values is the very thing
that has distinguished the Western-led international order — despite all
of its well-documented inconsistencies and shortcomings. Moreover, it is
the prospect of Western engagement that confers developing countries
leverage in their own uneasy dealings with emerging powers such as Russia
and China. Downgrading or dropping normative commitments to Central Asia,
as in other areas, in the interests of geopolitical pragmatism would signal
Brussels and Washington’s taming by the post-Western world, not its
successful engagement with it.

From: Baghdasarian

Armenia’s society must not allow new Harsnaqars

tert.am
17:20 – 11.08.12

If the deadly crime at the Harsnaqar restaurant fails to be solved,
similar incidents will continue in Armenia, David Sanasaryan, a member
of the Heritage party and an active member of the civil initiative
demanding the punishment of all the culprits in the Harsnaqar
incident, stressed that Armenian society will do its utmost for the
culprits to be punished.

`If Armenia’s police want to, they will easily solve the crime and
punish all the culprits,’ Sanasaryan said.

As to whether Ruben Hairapetyan attempted to `get in touch’ with
activists or send `messengers,’ Sanasaryan said that Hairapetyan did
not try to get in touch with him, but `a lot of messengers have come.’

Sanasarysan does not believe that the Prosecutor General’s Office of
Armenia did not show goodwill when it allowed the injured party to
study the case for five days.

`They did not give the injured party five days to study the case.
Rather, they themselves needed five days to prepare a new petition,’
he said.

On June 17, military surgeon Vahe Avetyan was mercilessly beaten at
the Harsnaqar restaurant owned by President of the Football Federation
of Armenia, MP of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Ruben
Hairapetyan. Despite doctors efforts to save his life, 33-year-old
father of two children Vahe Avetyan died in hospital.

From: Baghdasarian

American Armenian marine Met Manukyan killed in Afganistan

14:22, 11 August, 2012

Yerevan, August 11, ARMENPRESS: One of the three infantry marines
killed in Afganistan was Armenian 29-year-old Met Manukyan. As
`Armenpress’ reports citing UT San Diego website, Manukyan was killed
by the Afghan policeman, while invited to dinner with the latter with
his two colleagues. The discussion of security issues should be
followed by the dinner. The assault was made in the district Sangin of
the province Helmand. Authorities are searching the armed man who
escaped after shooting.

Last month during an interview Manukyan noted that he trusts the
Afghan forces, as well as the joint mission of his partners aimed at
the country’s security and development. Met Manukyan the parents of
which are judges, became a marine infantry 7 years ago. This was his
4th combat deployment, the 3rd in Afganistan.

Met Manukyan’s father Peter Manukyan stated that his son loved
marines, the USA. `He was talking about becoming a marine still since
the age of 10. He loved people who were different from him. When he
was with you, you would have a wonderful time’, mentioned Peter
Manukyan.

Met Manukyan graduated from the high school of Mountain View in 2001.
Father told that the son had a chance to play in a football team, but
he preferred to study at the University of Amazon, where he received a
bachelor’s degree.

From: Baghdasarian