Author: Kajoyan Gevork

ESC Daily (EuroVision Song Contest)
March 7 2012

Armenia: AMPTV withdraws from Eurovision 2012

Published at 09:12, 07 March 2012

Armenian Public Television, AMPTV, has announced their withdrawal from
the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. This has been confirmed by
Eurovision.tv who reports this morning the broadcaster will no longer
participate in Eurovision this year.

`We are truly disappointed by the broadcaster’s decision to withdraw
from this year’s Eurovision Song Contest,’ said the Contest Executive
Supervisor Jon Ola Sand on behalf of the EBU. `Despite the efforts of
the EBU and the Host Broadcaster to ensure a smooth participation for
the Armenian delegation in this year’s Contest, circumstances beyond
our control lead to this unfortunate decision.’

Therefore we are left with 42 countries for the upcoming Eurovision
Song Contest, where 18 countries will participate in each semifinal.
France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom will of course
automatically participate in the final as members of the big five,
plus of course host country Azerbaijan.

EuroVisionary
March 7 2012

Armenia withdraws from the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest

Posted 7 March, 2012 – 12:02 by Charlotte Jensen

After days with speculations about what Armenia would do with the 2012
Eurovision Song Contest the official annoucement of the country’s
withdrawal came this morning. As Armenia was drawn in the second
semi-final this leaves two semi-finals with 18 each.

As soon as Azerbaijan won the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest held in
Düsseldorf, Germany last year the possibility of a contest without
Armenia became a talked about issue. Though EBU tried to assure the
country of their safety in relation to this year’s Eurovision Song
Contest in Baku in May, the Armenian broadcaster waited a long time
with revealing anything about their plans for finding an entry that
fans started speculating about when the withdrawal would come.

This morning EBU officially announced that Armenia has withdrawn from
the contest due to “circumstances beyond our control lead to this
unfortunate decision”, as Jon Ola Sand, Executive Supervisor puts it.

As Armenia was drawn in the second semi-final with 19 participants
this leaves two semi-final with 18 each for the 2012 Eurovision Song
Contest. Last year Armenia was represented by Emmy singing Boom Boom,
which for the first time in the country’s Eurovision history did not
make it to the final. That song you can see below.

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
March 7 2012

Russia has no solution to Nagorno-Karabakh

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has won the recent presidential
polls, inspiring new discussions of Russian foreign policy of the
upcoming six years. Putin called the CIS the absolute priority.
Political analysts believe that the policy will include realization of
the Eurasian project, development of South Caucasus, efficient
relations with Baku and Ankara. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is one
of the issues.

Sergey Mikheyev, Director General of the Center for Political
Conjuncture, believes that Putin’s presidency would not give a boost
to the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. The situation is at a
stalemate, because Baku and Yerevan do not want to make concessions.
Putin’s international mediation would not make much difference,
because Europeans, Americans and Russia have reached no major progress
so far. But certain changes may occur. President Dmitry Medvedev paid
special attention to the problem.

Yevgeny Minchenko, Director of the International Institute for
Political Expertise, expects a military resolution of the conflict.
Elites of both Azerbaijan and Armenia are likely to provoke a military
conflict for domestic mobilization. Azerbaijan has spent a lot of
finances on military modernization, purchases of weapons. Armenia has
very serious domestic problems and needs a foreign enemy to
consolidate voters. This is why there is a risk of war and a military
operation against Iran could become an additional factor of
destabilization. Chances of war are 10-15%, the political analyst
says.

Civil initiatives join forces to save architectural monuments of Yerevan

ARMINFO
Wednesday, March 7, 22:28

The civil initiatives have joined forces to save architectural
monuments of Yerevan.

At today’s press conference, well-known activist, architect Sarhat
Petrosyan expressed his concern over the fact that over the past 20
years nearly 30 historical- architectural monuments have been
dismantled in Yerevan, and 9 more monuments will be moved to another
place.

Petrosyan pointed out that the members of the initiative “Let’s Save
Yerevan” are going to collect signatures on a number of urgent
problems of the Armenian capital. The activists demand suspending to
give permissions for construction in the center of Yerevan, excluding
possible construction at the expense of green zones, as well as
launching the process of restoration of the architectural monuments
dismantled from the Abovyan, Byuzand, Koghbatsi and Aram streets.

Prices for Books to go down, Chairman of Armenia’s SCPEC convinced the PM

11:20, 7 March, 2012

YEREVAN, MARCH 7, ARMENPRESS. The prices for books will be the same
they used to be, chairman of the State Commission for the Protection
of Economic Competition (SCPEC) Artak Shaboyan said at the cabinet
sitting today presenting the results of the research conducted in the
book market with the assignment of the Prime Minister of Armenia. “We
have studied the issue, we met with the businessmen of the sphere and
found out that the increase of the prices for books occurred as a
result of wrong perception of the companies operating in the sphere
related to the changes in the tax legislation. At the same time the
monitoring showed that tariffs of only limited number of books has
increased,” Shaboyan said.

He said the Ministry of Finance has provided an official explanation
about the changes made in the legislation. “As a result, the companied
will make changes in their registration procedures. During the coming
days the prices for books will become the same. In opposite case I
call on the customers to apply the SCPEC,” Shaboyan said.

The Prime Minister assigned to keep the issue under the limelight.

News about the EU’s new initiatives connected with the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict settlement misinformation of Azerbaijani press

16:14, 7 March, 2012

YEREVAN, MARCH 7, ARMENPRESS. The information about the EU’s new
initiatives connected with the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement
stated by the head of the EU delegation to Baku Roland Kobia is
another misinformation of the Azerbaijani press, spokesperson for the
Foreign Affairs Minister of Armenia Tigran Balayan told Armenpress. He
noted that in any case it is a nonsense. Negotiations are being
conducted with the mediation of the Minsk group co-chairs. There were
and are no suggestions from other establishments. The EU is fully
assisting the efforts of the co-chairs and it has many times been
stated about it on the highest level. Last time it was done on March 6
in Brussels.

Armenian youth launch active campaign to return Goddess Anahit’s statue
16:39 – 07.03.12

Over 20,000 young people from Armenia and the Diaspora launched a
petition earlier this year to return the bronze-gilded statue of
Goddess Anahit to its historical homeland.

A crowd of young people gathered on Wednesday outside the British
Embassy in Yerevan, carrying the signatures and a written address to
the British authorities. Minister of Education Armen Ashotyan and
President of the Armenian Youth Foundation Karen Avagyan submitted the
documents to the Embassy officials.

It is noteworthy that the campaign date, which coincides with the eve
of Women’s International Day, was not selected randomly. Speaking to
the crowd, Avagyan revealed that symbolic link between the two events.

`We cannot renounce Anahit,’ Minister Ashotyan said, admitting that he
had numerously raised the issues at meetings with his British
colleagues both as an official and a politician, and as a citizen of
Armenia.

The petition was launched in one of the social networking sites upon
the initiative of Ashotyan. Earlier, the minister raised the issue on
his Facebook profile. The British Ambassador responded to his appeal,
not ruling out the possibility that the sculpture might be brought to
Armenia for a temporary showcase.

The fragments of the Goddess’ statue were discovered in Western
Armenia in the late 19th century. They were subsequently taken to
England and have been ever since kept at the British Museum.

Anahit was the pagan goddess of fertility and healing, wisdom and
water in Armenian mythology. In early periods she was the goddess of
war. By the 5th century BC she was the main deity in Armenia along
with Aramazd.

Tert.am

Except for OSCE Minsk Group, no other organization made proposals over
Karabakh issue – Armenian MFA

news.am
March 07, 2012 | 16:14

YEREVAN. – Upon the request of Armenian News-NEWS.am, MFA Press
Secretary Tigran Balayan commented on the Azerbaijani media news,
according to which Roland Kobia, Head of the EU Delegation to
Azerbaijan, allegedly stated that EU has new initiatives with respect
to the settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

`I believe this is yet another misinformation by the Azerbaijani
media. A misunderstanding, in any case. The [Karabakh peace] talks are
being conducted under the brokerage of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

No proposals have been made by any other organization. EU fully
supports the efforts by the Co-Chairs, and this is announced, on
numerous occasions, on the highest level; last time on March 6 in
Brussels,’ Tigran Balayan stated.

Armenian president delivers speech at Konrad Adenauer foundation in Belgium

15:52 – 07.03.12

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, who is on a working visit to
Belgium, was hosted at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

The Armenian leader delivered a speech and answered the attendees’ questions.

President Serzh Sargsyan spoke of the previous work and plans aimed at
Armenia’s European integration. This is the Armenian people’s natural
choice, the Armenia leader said. The Armenian people is reviving its
ancient democratic traditions, Serzh Sargsyan added.

European integration is not only domestic reforms, but also foreign
policy agenda for Armenia. Armenia attaches importance to the Eropean
Union’s presence in the South Caucasus not only because the EU is a
global actor, but also because it is the most successful model for
peoples’ peaceful and stable co-existence. Armenia’s view of the South
Caucasus development is based on the values that enabled Europe to
succeed. The Armenian president expressed the confidence that a common
system of values can serve as a basis for a secure and steadily
developing region.

The Armenian leader expressed the confidence that Armenia is close to
Europe and its value of system not only in state construction, but
also in its behavior, as a reliable partner in both regional and
international contexts. Armenia is for resolving all problems by means
of peaceful negotiations, respecting the interests of all the
conflicting parties. Armenia is ready to do its utmost to prevent
further disasters, conflicts and dividing lines, proving its serious
intentions by practical steps, Serzh Sargsyan said.

The Armenian leader also spoke of regional problems and challenges,
Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and Armenia-Turkey relations.

President Serzh Sargsyan stressed that irrespective of the current
regional problems Armenia embarked on a truly democratic way of state
construction. Armenia is seeking to construct a state that would truly
respect human rights, with a truly independent judicial system, with
equal political and economic competition, and true democracy, the
Armenian leader said.

In Brussels, the Armenian president also held meetings with Martin
Schulz, President of the European Parliament, Wilfried Martens,
President of the European People’s Party.

President Serzh Sargsyan is also scheduled to hold a meeting with
Stefan Fule, Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood
Policy.

Tert.am

Azerbaijan fails to lead OSCE mission to its front-lines

news.am
March 07, 2012 | 13:04

STEPANAKERT. – In accordance with the earlier agreement with the
authorities of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic NKR), the OSCE Mission on
Wednesday held a scheduled monitoring of the Nagorno-Karabakh and
Azerbaijani armed forces’ contact-line near the village of Seysulan,
in Mardakert region.

>From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring was held by
Field Assistants Antal Herdich (Hungary) and Christo Christov
(Bulgaria) of the Personal Representative of the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office.

On the opposite side, the monitoring group was headed by the OSCE
Office Coordinator Peter Kee (Great Britain), and Field Assistants
William Prior (Great Britain) ) and Marius Puodziunas (Lithuania) of
the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman in Office, NKR MFA
informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

No ceasefire violation was registered during the monitoring. But the
Azerbaijani side did not lead the OSCE mission to its front-lines, and
as a result it was conducted from a farther distance.

>From the Karabakh side, the monitoring mission was accompanied by
representatives of the NKR Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense.