ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSIAN TAKES TWO-WEEK VACATION
ARMENPRESS
Aug 4, 2008
YEREVAN, AUGUST 4, ARMENPRESS: Armenian President Serzh Sargsian
left today for a two-week vacation. Presidential press service told
Armenpress that the president will spend two days in Europe and
afterwards he will leave for Beijing to participate in the opening of
Olympic Games and follow the pace of performance of Armenian athletes.
Armenian president will continue his rest in Armenia.
ARMENIA REDUCES FERROMOLYBDENUM OUTPUT 10.5% IN H1
Interfax News Agency
July 31 2008
Russia
Armenia reduced ferromolybdenum production 10.5% to 2,632 tonnes
in the first half of 2008 compared to the same period of 2007, the
National Statistics Service said.
Converter copper output fell 5.2% to 3,256 tonnes in the half.
Zinc concentrate production grew by 18.5% to 2,732 tonnes in the
period, molybdenum concentrate – 8.2% to 4,328 tonnes, copper
concentrate – 5.5% to 33,413 tonnes, aluminum foil – 27% to 5,448
tonnes and aluminum roll – 660% to 181,300 tonnes.
ARMENIAN OMBUDSMAN CALLS FOR PROBE INTO ALLEGED PRESSURE ON ARRESTED MP
ArmInfo News Agency (in Russian)
July 30 2008
Armenia
Armenian Ombudsman Armen Harutyunyan has told top police officials that
MP Myasnik Malkhasyan, who was arrested following post-election riots
in early March, has signed testimony under physical and psychological
pressure, Arminfo news agency reported on 30 July.
Malkasyan has been charged with attempting to seize power and
organizing mass riots. Malkhasyan said he wrote the testimony under
duress, according to Arminfo.
The MP was also deprived of the right to contact a lawyer and inform
his family about his whereabouts, the agency said. The ombudsman’s
letter said that officers of the Police department to fight organized
crime arrested Malkhasyan on the night of 1-2 March and kept him in
the department for the following 24 hours.
Harutyunyan sent the open letter to the chief of the Police, Maj-Gen
Alik Sargsyan, and the head of the Special Investigation Service,
Andranik Mirzoyan, asking them "to carry out a line-of-duty
investigation and to hold the guilty officials accountable in
connection with the stated facts".
The ombudsman also sent a letter to Prosecutor-General Aghvan
Hovsepyan asking him to consider moving Malkhasyan to a hospital or a
penitentiary department appropriate for receiving medical treatment,
as a recent medical examination has revealed a high level of sugar
in Malkhasyan’s blood, Arminfo said.
K-TELECOM A TOP LIST OF BIGGEST ARMENIAN TAXPAYERS FOR JAN/JUNE 2008
ARKA
July 29, 2008
YEREVAN, July 29. /ARKA/. K-Telecom (VivaCell trademark), one of two
Armenian mobile telecommunication operators, topped the list of the
biggest Armenian taxpayers for Jan/June 2008. The company was fourth
at the same period a year earlier.
State tax agency says that K-Telecom paid AMD 15 billion at the
first half of 2008 against 7.4 billion at the same period of the
previous year.
According to the tax agency, AMD 12.1 billion was collected directly
by tax agencies and 2.9 billion by customs agencies.
Direct taxes (profit and income taxes) totaled AMD 5.8
billion. Indirect taxes, including VAT and excise tax, amounted to
AMD 8.3 billion.
Another 973.7 million was received as other taxes, duties and binding
payments.
ArmRosgasprom was placed second in the list of the largest taxpayers.
Kit paid AMD 9.4 billion to the state budget in 2008, while in 2007
the company was placed atop the list.
Tax agencies collected AMD 8.7 billion and customs agencies AMD
672.4 million.
Other large taxpayers are ArmenTel with its AMD 8.2 billion paid in
Jan/June 2008 against AMD 10.1 billion at the same period in 2007,
Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Plant having transferred about AMD 8 billion
against 9.7 billion earlier and oil trading Gor Petrol Service and
Flash, who added 4.9 billion and 4.8 billion to the state budget
against 4.1 bill ion and 4.4 billion at the same period a year earlier.
Alex-Grig with 4.4 billion, Armenian Electric Networks 3.4 billion
and Armenian Railway with 3.3 billion paid to the state budget are
singled out as well. ($1=AMD 301.31)
ARMENIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF AMERICA
1711 N Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: (202) 775-1918
Fax: (202) 775-5648
Email: [email protected]
Website:
PRESS RELEASE
July 29, 2008
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918
Email: [email protected]
SENATORS BIDEN, BOXER, MENENDEZ FORCE BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO
DISTANCE UNITED STATES FROM TURKEY’S GENOCIDE DENIAL POLICY
— Senate Foreign Relations Committee Approves Ambassador Nominee
to Armenia After Last Minute State Department Clarification
"The Administration recognizes that the mass killings, ethnic
cleansing and forced deportations of over one and a half million
Armenians were conducted by the Ottoman Empire."
— Matthew Reynolds, Acting Assistant Secretary of State
WASHINGTON, DC — In the midst of mounting Senate scrutiny and the
prospect of a "hold" on Marie Yovanovitch’s nomination to serve as
the next U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, the State Department, today,
cleared the way for her approval by retreating from statements
calling into question the historical record of the Ottoman Empire’s
destruction of its Armenian population, reported the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA).
The Department of State letter – sent in response to sustained
pressure from Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden
(D-DE), and Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and Bob Menendez (D-NJ)
– was issued only hours before the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee was set to vote on her nomination. The Committee
confirmed the nomination by voice vote, with Senator Boxer going on
record against the nomination, citing the Administration’s
reluctance to properly characterize the Armenian Genocide. The
full Senate will likely consider her nomination prior to their
August recess.
"Today’s State Department letter, although clearly falling short of
America’s moral responsibility and national interest in recognizing
and condemning the Armenian Genocide, did mark a step in the
direction of distancing U.S. policy from the dictates of the
Turkish government," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.
"While we, of course, remain troubled by the President’s refusal to
properly characterize the Armenian Genocide – as reflected in
Ambassador Yovanovitch’s responses – we were gratified to see that,
as a result of pressure from Senators Biden, Boxer, and Menendez,
the Department of State has retreated from its most offensive and
factually unsupportable assertions calling into question the
historical fact of Ottoman Turkey’s destruction of its Armenian
population."
Last month, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) delayed the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee’s consideration of the confirmation of
Ambassador Yovanovitch in response to the State Department’s late
responses to the eight sets of written questions submitted to her
by members of the panel. In the days leading up to today’s vote,
Senators Biden, Boxer and Menendez approached the State Department
for further clarification of the nominee’s statements. Facing
strong pressure and the prospect of a Senate "hold," Matthew
Reynolds, Acting Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs, wrote
to Chairman Biden to formally affirm that: "the Administration
recognizes that the mass killings, ethnic cleansing, and forced
deportations of over one and a half million Armenians were
conducted by the Ottoman Empire." The full text of the letter is
provided below.
During the Committee meeting, Chairman Biden, and Senators Boxer,
Menendez, and Ben Cardin (D-MD) spoke forcefully about the
necessity for proper U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide,
stating that while the State Department’s letter represented
progress, the proper characterization of the Armenian Genocide
remains a moral imperative and will bolster U.S. credibility in
stopping 21st Century genocides.
On March 28, 2008, President Bush nominated Amb. Marie L.
Yovanovitch to serve as America’s next Ambassador to Armenia. The
ANCA spoke to Committee members about the value of carefully
questioning Amb. Yovanovitch on the many issues she would face as
the U.S. envoy in Yerevan, among them the recognition of the
Armenian Genocide, Turkey and Azerbaijan’s ongoing blockades of
Armenia, and the need for a balanced U.S. role in helping forge a
democratic and peaceful resolution to the Nagorno Karabagh
conflict. These efforts have been supported by extensive on-line
outreach and a national postcard campaign to key Senate Foreign
Relations Committee members.
During her June 19th confirmation hearing, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ)
sharply criticized the Bush Administration’s policy of Armenian
Genocide denial, dramatically pressing the Ambassadorial nominee
regarding the Administration’s refusal to properly characterize
Ottoman Turkey’s systematic destruction of its Armenian population
as a genocide.
President Bush’s previous nominee as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia,
Richard Hoagland, was subject to two legislative holds by Sen.
Menendez and was ultimately withdrawn by the Administration,
following the nominee’s statements denying the Armenian Genocide.
The ANCA led the Armenian American community campaign opposing
Hoagland’s nomination, stating that a genocide denier could not
serve as a credible and effective U.S. spokesperson in Armenia.
The last U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, John Marshall Evans, was fired
by the State Department for properly characterizing the Armenian
Genocide as ‘genocide.’
#####
United States Department of State
Washington DC, 20520
July 29, 2008
Dear Mr. Chairman:
I am writing in response to your concerns regarding responses to
questions for the record submitted by you Senator Menendez
regarding the nomination of Marie Yovanovitch as Ambassador to
Armenia.
Regarding your Question #1, Ms. Yovanovitch mentions an
International Visitors Program under consideration that would bring
archivists from Turkey and Armenia to the United States for
professional training. Our goal is to help archivists protect the
evidence of the past so that future generations will have the
documentation of the mass killings and deportations of Armenians
committed by Ottoman soldiers and other Ottoman officials in 1915.
Our goal is not to open a debate on whether the Ottomans committed
these horrendous acts; it is to help preserve the documentation
that supports the truth of those events.
Regarding Ms. Yovanovitch’s response to Senator Menendez’s Question
#8, the Administration recognizes that the mass killings, ethnic
cleansing, and forced deportations of over one and a half million
Armenians were conducted by the Ottoman Empire. We indeed hold
Ottoman officials responsible for those crimes.
In her testimony, Ms. Yovanovitch tried to convey her deep empathy
with the profound suffering of the Armenian people and in no way
sought to cast any doubt on historical facts.
We hope this information is helpful to you. Please do not hesitate
to contact us if we can be of further assistance on this or any
other matter.
Sincerely,
[signed]
Matthew A. Reynolds
Acting Assistant Secretary
Legislative Affairs
The Honorable
Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Chairman,
Committee on Foreign Relations,
United States Senate
GAGIK GRIGORIAN RECEIVES BRONZE MEDAL IN EUROPEAN WEIGHTLIFTING YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP
NOYAN TAPAN
JU LY 29
European Weightlifting Youth Championship finished on July 27 in the
city of Amien, France. Representative of the Armenian national team
Gagik Grigorian (85 kg, Gyumri) showed 135 kg result in the clean
and jerk exercise and received a bronze medal, lifted 155 kg weight
and took the 4th place with 290 kg biathlon result.
JURY STILL OUT ON ARMENIAN PRESIDENT’S FIRST 100 DAYS Margarit Yesayan
Aravot July 19 2008 Armenia
"The president is a human being, too"
In a conversation with Aravot, while replying to our request –
to enumerate a few personal qualities of President Serzh Sargsyan,
a member of the board of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation –
Dashnaktsutyun and the leader of the Dashnaktsutyun [parliamentary]
faction, Vahan Hovhannesyan said: "He is a kind person, devoted to
friends, frank, speaking the folk language, and he has an honour. But,
generally, I do not believe that discussing the personal qualities of
presidents is correct; he is first of all a president, and then only
a human being." While responding to our comment that the president is
also a human being, Hovhannesyan said: "It is impossible to become a
president by being a human being, but after one becomes, nevertheless,
he is first a president, and then only a human being."
What kind of president is Serzh Sargsyan?Political forces evaluate
his 100 days
Opinions vary – the radical opposition believes that he is not
a president, another layer of society is sure that he is a good
president, others still do not understand anything about what happened
and are in unclear expectations; the fourth [as given] ones believe
that if he strives a lot – he will make a good president; the fifth
ones believe that nothing will succeed no matter how much effort he
makes. Today many people, both from the government and opposition
camps, accept in separate and private meetings that judging by
some of Serzh Sargsyan’s personal qualities he is on the route to
becoming a good president, but the post-election developments, the 1
March [unrest in Yerevan] detainees, the casualties and the political
jealousy of some of his friends hinder him a lot. Very big efforts and
political will are necessary to overcome all this and move forward. The
predominant opinion is that after he was sworn in on 9 April, the
president’s first step should have been to make a political decision
and release prisoners. The leader of the People’s Party of Armenia,
Stepan Demirchyan, is of the same opinion. While assessing, at our
request, the president’s 100 days in office, he said: "The country
is still in a political, social, economic, and moral-psychological
crisis after 100 days and no positive trends are noticed. A total of
100 days are, of course, not a big term, but there are steps which
were possible and should have been taken, first of all – releasing
political prisoners, ensuring an impartial investigation into the 1
March events, and holding those actually guilty accountable."
Vahan Hovhannesyan, member of the board of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation – Dashnaktsutyun and leader of the Dashnaktsutyun faction,
said when describing President Serzh Sargsyan that he [Sargsyan] had
expressed resoluteness to carry out positive reforms. "Of course,
100 days are not enough, and it may seem to some people that the
reforms which have been carried out are still pretentious ones; this is
understandable, as reforms in Armenia require time. I believe that we
should expect the results by the end of the year." While answering our
questions about what mistakes the president made in the past 100 days,
Mr Hovhannesyan said: "It is difficult to note prominent mistakes, at
least in this period. Maybe, the reaction to Turkey’s suggestion to
establish the [joint Armenian-Turkish commission to study events of
1915] commission is disputable, but this is, I believe, an editorial
fault, and clarifications were made in the end, including those by
the foreign minister, which explained that the talk is about an option
once offered to [former President] Robert Kocharyan."
Hovhannesyan said that we had no right to say about some of the
currently implemented reforms that those are an imitation, as they
are already yielding actual results in the business, customs and
tax fields. Will those be long-lasting ones? – "The answer to this
question will be given only when these changes become irreversible. I
believe that time has not come yet, but it is round the corner."
The secretary of the Prosperous Armenia party, Aram Safaryan, said
Serzh Sargsyan is "a very bold, very hard-working person who listens
to others’ opinions and adheres to decisions made by himself".
Safaryan also said: "Serzh Sargsyan’s presidency coincided with 1
March [post-election unrest in Yerevan, clashes between security
forces and protesters resulting in 10 dead] and its consequences. I
want to emphasize that there was an accumulated lack of democracy in
our society from the previous 17 years and this lack had to express
itself in some way; I believe that the processes which have been
carried out in Armenia within the last three months under the auspices
of Europe are quite profound. He got power at a very difficult time,
and I believe that the large-scale reforms that he has started will
be accomplished by the end of the year. [passage omitted]."
ARMENIAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR BETTER TIES WITH NEIGHBORING TURKEY
Today’s Zaman
July 22 2008
Turkey
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan called on Monday for closer ties with
Turkey, 15 years after the two nations severed diplomatic relations
over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
They are also at odds over the question of whether ethnic Armenians
killed during the First World War were victims of genocide. Armenia
and Turkey broke off diplomatic links in 1993, when Ankara closed
the border and backed Azerbaijan during its war with Armenia over
the Nagorno-Karabakh region, a mainly ethnic Armenian enclave within
Azerbaijan. "The improvement of ties between Armenia and Turkey
is mutually beneficial. "I think we should improve our relations,"
Sarksyan told a news conference on Monday. "The important thing is that
in relations between Armenia and Turkey a trend is taking shape for
being ready to start a healthy discussion of the existing problems."
Sarksyan said earlier this month he had invited his Turkish
counterpart, Abdullah Gul, to visit Yerevan and watch a football match
in September. "The visit of Gul to Armenia could turn this trend into
a stable and positive movement," Sarksyan said, adding that Armenian
diplomats had recently met Turkish colleagues.
Armenian forces control the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Armenia and
Azerbaijan are involved in a long-running peace process but are
still officially at war over the mountainous area. The tiny ex-Soviet
republic of Armenia is sandwiched between Turkey and Azerbaijan in a
region that is emerging as an important transit route for oil exports
from the Caspian Sea to world markets, though Armenia has no pipelines
of its own. Armenia also wants Turkey to recognize what it calls a
systematic genocide during World War One.
PanARMENIAN.Net
RA President: we will build democratic, developed and powerful Armenia
together 18.07.2008 19:37 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan issued a
statement marking his 100 days in office, the RA leader’s press
service reported. The statement says,
`Dear Compatriots,
One hundred days ago I assumed the Office of the President of
Armenia. Hundred days are just a symbolic occasion to summarize the
accomplished works and to once again highlight the priorities on the
development agenda for our country. During the last hundred days my
activities have been aimed at dealing with the expectations, dreams
and demands of the hundred of thousands of our fellow citizens, at
creating a base to continue the reforms which are imperative for the
further advancement of our state.
It concerns all the areas of activities, internal and foreign
policies, further strengthening of national security and armed forces,
police and judicial system, efficient economic policy, including the
activities of the customs and tax administrations. There are some
areas where we have been able to achieve results in short period of
time. The others will also show improvements very soon.
I have started to implement my program which was approved by many of
you and contains solutions to many important and concrete
problems. Last hundred days have shown that some of these solutions
will be put into action much sooner than we planned, the others
require more time but not longer than planned.
I am not asking you to be patience, believe me, I am not patience
myself and I want to see the problems of injustice and indifference
solved as soon as possible, I want to see the positive results of our
fight against corruption and poverty.
After hundred days in office I want to ask each of you to answer the
following question: what changes have taken place in our country in
the last hundred days? Ask also your friends, neighbors and relatives.
Unfortunately, some people are pessimistic about the work carried out
nowadays. I am determined to reverse their pessimism with my
persistency. Activities carried out today are nothing like one-month
programs of `Safe driving’ or `Clean hands’. Our work will not be
restricted by any kind of `hundred days’. This working model will
become a natural way of life.
I am sure that an observant eye will notice an important change in our
internal life: concern for people, for the citizens of Armenia, for
his dreams and problems, consideration for his well-being and for his
vision of our newly independent state. I realize that we have almost
nothing, nothing except human resource, except our people. They are
the citizens of Armenia, our brothers and sisters in the
Diaspora. These people must be free and well-educated, competitive and
well off, exemplary in their decency and as well as law abiding.
Dear Compatriots,
I have always been frank and open with you, and today I also expect
sincerity from you. I ask for sincerity since we need optimism to
implement even greater programs and projects.
Even a small undertaking requires corresponding mood, and we, as a
society, must adopt a mood of great undertakings, get ready for great
changes, properly assess the process of our state building, and walk
the road of healing our society from the diagnosis to the cure.
Never forget that you are the free citizens of independent Armenia,
and today we are writing together the new page of our history. What
will be written on that page depends not only on the President but on
all of us. Next pages will be written by our children and
grandchildren. What kind of pages we will leave them depends greatly
on us, on our country.
I want them to live in a free country, in a democratic, developed and
powerful Armenia and that is the objective of my work.
And we will build that Armenia together.’
IvyLeagueSports.com, NJ
July 19 2008
Yale’s Harutunian to the USFA Hall of Fame in 2009
Created: 7/19/2008 12:27:07 PM
Courtesy of Yale Sports Publicity
Yale Fencing Head Coach Henry Harutunian was elected for induction to
the United States Fencing Hall of Fame in the summer of 2009.
Harutunian, who has coached at Yale since 1969, will join Gilbert
Rosiere, Jose Velarde, Arkady Burdan and Sherry Posthumus in the 2009
enshrinement.
"It is the highest honor," said Harutunian, who has served as coach
for the U.S. Olympic Fencing team. "Being selected represents a
lifetime recognition. I’ve done whatever I can in my life to serve
this country, and they have recognized that by putting me in the hall
of fame. I am honored to join the great ones of the past."
For more than 30 years, Yale fencers with the will have been counting
on Harutunian to hone their skill.
Harutunian has produced numerous All-Americans and an NCAA men’s foil
and women’s sabre champion during his tenure. Remarkably, a number of
those honored had never touched a weapon before coming to Yale. The
men are 238-125 (.656) under his guidance and captured the NCAA sabre
title in 1994. The women, meanwhile, have a 269-69 record (.796) and
have won three national titles (1982, 1984, 1985).
Harutunian, the 1996-97 USFCA Coach of the Year, had a distinguished
career as a fencer and coach in his native Armenia. He was named
eminent coach of the Republic of Armenia in 1963, while serving on the
coaching staff for the Soviet national team from 1962-1966.
One of his pupils made the U.S.S.R. Olympic team in 1956 and went on
to become the first Soviet to claim the individual epee title at the
Junior World Championships in 1958. Harutunian came to the United
States in 1966 and coached at Brandeis for three years prior to
joining the Yale staff.
Before long, Harutunian had joined the U.S. coaching elite. He began
working with the American national team in 1977, and in 1984, he
served as one of three U.S. Olympic coaches. He also coached the
Americans in the 1979 and 1983 Pan American Games and in the 1979,
1981, 1983, 1991 and 1993 World University Games.
Harutunian was named Coach of the Year by the National Intercollegiate
Women’s Fencing Association in 1982 and by the IWFA in 1984 and 1985
at the NCAA Championships. In 1986, the U.S. Men’s Fencing Coaches
Association selected him Coach of the Year.
He has also choreographed stage fencing for both theater and the
screen, and has acted in films. Harutunian’s philosophy of fencing is
guided by the following passage from The Works of Moliere: "The eyes
which watch and warn, the brain which evaluates and decides, the hand
which executes the decision must harmonize precision and speed to give
real life to the sword."
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