Author: Kajoyan Gevork

MEDICATION FOR MILITARY SERVICEMEN SOLD IN CIVILIAN PHARMACIES?

epress.am
09.28.2011 11:44

One of the most popular “departments” of the Armenian Armed Forces
is known to be the medical department, which in certain circles, is
known as the most important link to getting “released” from the army
– where it is determined if a young man is fit for service or not,
writes local daily Chorrord Inqnishkhanutyun (“Fourth Self-Authority”),
reporting on the fraudulent activities in this area, particularly in
connection with the sale of medication set aside for servicemen.

According to the daily, in the army huge sums are spent on medication
and securing medical service. The paper then goes on to describe
in detail the structure of the army’s medical department, noting
the first point of contact is the dispensary and for more serious
ailments, military officials are sent to the hospital, which is the
second level of treatment.

However, very often, according to the paper, such medication can be
found in the military unit that is supposed to be for pathologies
treated in the hospital and which, naturally, are not administered
by the doctors at the military unit’s dispensary. For instance,
medication for cardiovascular ailments and liver disease can be found
in the dispensary as well as very expensive antibiotics.

“At the military unit level, where it’s impossible to offer specialized
care and the necessary equipment for diagnosis doesn’t exist, why
are there such medication, which by not administering them in the
military unit’s dispensary, pass their expiry date and go in the
garbage. There is, however, a second version, which is also widely
applied. The thing is, the medication signed off to the dispensaries
is taken out of the military units and appear in civilian pharmacies
for sale. The profit, you yourselves judge in whose pockets it goes
to,” concludes the newspaper.

LE SOUDAN AFFIRME ETRE PRET A CONTINUER LES PROCESSUS DE PAIX EN COURS

Collectif VAN

28-09-2011

Le Collectif VAN vous propose cette information publiee sur le site
de l’ONU le 27 septembre 2011.

Legende photo : le Ministre des affaires etrangères du Soudan, Ali
Ahmed Karti.

ONU

27 septembre 2011 – Dans un discours prononce a l’Assemblee generale
des Nations Unies, le Ministre des affaires etrangères du Soudan,
Ali Ahmed Karty, a souligne mardi que son gouvernement avait montre
son attachement a la paix tout au long du processus de negociations
menant a la creation de l’Etat du Soudan du Sud et dans le processus
de paix au Darfour.

Le Soudan est le premier pays a avoir reconnu l’independance du Soudan
du Sud, a rappele M. Karty. Il a felicite le Soudan du Sud, qui a ete
reconnu par les Nations Unies comme 193e Etat membre. Affirmant que
la separation entre les deux pays ne signifie nullement la fin des
partenariats, il a ajoute que les discussions se poursuivaient pour
regler les differends, notamment a propos du Kordofan meridional et
du Nil bleu.

Concernant le Darfour, le Ministre a rappele que des accords de
paix ont ete signes a Doha, au Qatar, et sont en train d’etre mis
en oeuvre. Son pays, a-t-il dit, a ete mis au ban de la communaute
internationale, comme le demontre le mandat d’arret emis par la Cour
penale internationale contre le President du Soudan, Omar Al-Bashir,
a insiste M. Karty.

Le Ministre a demande le soutien de la communaute internationale,
comme elle le fait pour les pays sortant d’un conflit. Il a, dans ce
contexte, souligne que le Soudan comptait de nombreuses ressources
minières et de vastes terres arables qui n’attendent que d’etre
exploitees.

Le Soudan et le Soudan du Sud comptent trois Missions des Nations
Unies sur leur territoire, la Mission des Nations Unies au Soudan
du Sud (MINUSS), la Force interimaire de securite des Nations Unies
pour Abyei (FISNUA) et la Mission conjointe de l’Union Africaine et
des Nations Unies au Darfour (MINUAD).

Evoquant le conflit israelo-palestinien, le Ministre soudanais des
affaires etrangères a estime que les Nations Unies ont ete incapables
d’apporter une solution malgre les resolutions adoptees, et c’est dans
ce cadre qu’il a soutenu la demande de la Palestine a etre reconnue
comme Etat libre et independant.

Retour a la rubrique

LA POLICE ARMENIENNE ARRETE LES MEMBRES D’UN GANG ORGANISE
[email protected]

armenews.com
mercredi 28 septembre 2011

ARMENIE

La police armenienne a annonce avoir arrete plus d’une dizaine de
membres d’un gang très organise specialise dans les braquages et
autres vols en tous genres a Erevan. Au moins 4 des 16 personnes
arretees auraient ete aussitôt incarcerees pour banditisme. Trois
des inculpes auraient un casier judiciaire assez charge. Le chef de
la police de Erevan Nerses Nazarian a indique au service armenien
de RFE/RL lundi 26 septembre qu’il detenait des preuves nombreuses
montrant que les suspects seraient impliques dans des vols et
extorsions visant des personnalites toujours en poste ou ayant exerce
des responsabilites. Les attaques a main armee rapportees par la
police auraient vise les domiciles de 5 riches hommes d’affaires
lies au gouvernement, dont un ancien depute et un ancien maire de
l’arrondissement de Malatia-Sebastia de Erevan. Le mode operatoire
etait le meme, les agresseurs masques penetrant dans les demeures
tôt le matin, rouant de coups les maîtres des lieux et leur derobant
argent et objets de valeur. Le chef de la police armenienne, le
Lieutenant-General Alik Sargsian, s’etait engage le mois dernier a
tout mettre en ~uvre pour mettre fin au plus vite aux agissements de
ce gang. Le vaste coup de filet opere par la police le 23 septembre
s’est solde par la mort de l’un des criminels presumes. Le chef de la
police de Erevan n’a toutefois pas voulu commenter les rumeurs selon
lesquelles on aurait trouve, lors de persquisitions aux domiciles des
membres du gang, la liste de leurs prochaines victimes, dont un homme
d’affaires influent et des personnalites en vue. Il s’est contente de
declarer que l’operation de police avait permis d’eviter de nouveaux
crimes et delits. Ni la police, ni le parquet, n’ont bien sûr commente
les informations diffusees par certains medias selon lesquelles les
fils de certains responsables seraient au nombre des suspects.

LES ETATS-UNIS ET LA QUESTION DE GENOCIDE
[email protected]

armenews.com
mercredi 28 septembre 2011

ARMENIE-USA

Un ancien amabassadeur des Etats-Unis en Armenie pense avoir ete
demis de ses fonctions pour avoir utilise le mot “genocide” et a fait
l’eloge du president Barack Obama pour avoir adopte son point de vue
en reconnaissant les evenements de 1915.

” Le president Obama a fait une declaration en 2009 qui pourrait
conduire vers une pleine reconnaissance de ce qui s’est reellement
passe en 1915 “, a declare John Evans lors d’une interview au service
de RFE / RL mardi.

Suivant le modèle de ses predecesseurs, le president americain Barack
Obama a fait marche arrière sur une de ses promesses faite lors de
l’election a la communaute armenienne americaine, car il s’est abstenu
d’evoquer le mot genocide lors de son premier rapport annuel le 24
avril. L’expression armenienne Mets Yeghern, ou grande calamite,
a ete utilisee a la place pour decrire ” l’une des plus grandes
atrocites du 20e siècle “.

Cependant, durant sa campagne electorale, Obama a mentionne a plusieurs
reprises le massacre 1915-1918 concernant plus d’un million d’Armeniens
et a evoque le mot genocide.

“Le genocide armenien n’est pas une allegation, une opinion personnelle
ou un point de vue, mais plutôt un fait largement prouve par une
ensemble de documents historiques”, at-il dit lors d’une declaration
en janvier 2008. “L’Amerique merite un dirigeant qui dit vrai sur le
genocide armenien. J’ai l’intention d’etre ce president. ”

“Dans sa declaration, en avril 2009, Obama est alle beaucoup plus loin
que n’importe quel president des Etats-Unis en affirmant clairement
son propre point de vue”, a commente Evans a Erevan où il a assiste a
une discussion ouverte au public et qui a ete organisee par la think
tank Civilitas.

Evans, qui a ete ambassadeur americain en Armenie de 2004 a 2006,
est soupconne d’avoir ete rappele par l’administration de l’ancien
president George W. Bush pour avoir publiquement decrit le massacre
de genocide. Evans a explique plus tard qu’il avait prononce le mot
genocide pour exprimer son opinion personnelle.

Les groupes armeno-americains avait fait pression sur les membres
du Senat americain pour bloquer la confirmation de la nomination de
Richard Hoagland comme remplacant d’Evans qui avait ete proposee par
la Maison Blanche, sous l’administration Bush.

Hoagland et la personne nommee ulterieurement, Marie Yovanovitch, qui
a termine sa periode d’affectation a Erevan il y a quelques mois, a
refuse d’appeler les massacres armeniens de genocide lors des audiences
de confirmation devant le Comite des relations etrangères du Senat.

Le diplomate John Heffern, qui est susceptible d’etre nomme comme
nouvel ambassadeur americain en Armenie après l’obtention du soutien
du Comite des affaires etrangères du Senat americain, a egalement
refuse de decrire les massacres comme un genocide au cours d’une
audience du comite tenue en Juillet.

Evans estime que le futur ambassadeur americain a Erevan devrait aussi
considerer que la position du president Obama sur les evenements de
1915 est beaucoup plus sincère “que celles des presidents anterieurs”.

ARMENIAN STATE COMMISSION ON ECONOMIC COMPETITION IS MORE UNYIELDING

news.am
Sept 27 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – In the first 9 months of 2011, the Armenian State Commission
for the Protection of Economic Competition (ASCPEC) authorized 87
penalties, and total fines comprised 230 million drams ($604,980
US). ASCPEC Chairman Artak Shaboyan stated during a briefing with
news reporters on Tuesday. In his words, in the past year the number
of such decisions were 30 and the fines were not more than 10-15
million drams ($26,303-39,455).

According to Shaboyan, businesses now appeal the majority of these
decisions, and this trend is especially striking this year, since
the penalties for violating rules of competitiveness have become
substantially severe. And as per Artak Shaboyan, that is why the role
of the judicial system is extremely important.

To note, EU experts and Armenian judges jointly held, in Yerevan
on Tuesday, a seminar discussion devoted to competitiveness in the
judicial system.

Administrative Court of Armenia Judge Argishti Ghazaryan also gave
some clarifications on this matter, and expressed a conviction that
Armenia’s judicial system is fairly competent with respect to issues
concerning competitiveness. And with regard to the fact that some court
cases on unfair competition last fairly long-more than 1 year-Ghazaryan
noted that each case requires objective examination, and there is no
such boundary which sets aside the particularity of the case.

AZERI PARLIAMENT’S SPEAKER MEETS ARGENTINE MPS

Today
Sept 27 2011
Azerbaijan

Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament, Milli Majlis, Ogtay Asadov
has met today head of the Azerbaijan-Argentina interparliamentary
friendship group, chief of the permanent commission on labor
legislation at the Argentine Chamber of Deputies, Roberto Mario
Mouilleron. Asadov said Azerbaijan places great emphasis on
strengthening relationship with Argentina. He expressed hope that
the visit would contribute to boosting cooperation between the two
countries in various spheres.

The Speaker noted Azerbaijan and Argentina enjoy good potential to
expand bilateral cooperation. He also underlined the role of the
parliamentary diplomacy in development of relations between the two
countries. Asadov said Azerbaijan had a leading role in South Caucasus
and the country`s economy accounts for 75 per cent of the region`s
GDP. He also added Armenia`s aggressive policy against Azerbaijan
hinders the country to achieve more accomplishments.

Roberto Mario Mouilleron, in turn, thanked the Azerbaijani government
and people for the hospitality. He said Azerbaijan had achieved
significant successes since it regained independence. “We hope that
this development will further continue.” Roberto Mario Mouilleron
noted Azerbaijan had rich culture and natural resources`.

Touching upon the Nagorno Karabakh conflict he said “We understand
your problem. In the first day of our visit to Azerbaijan, we visited
the Alley of Martyrs, and this is an indicator of our position on
the issue.” The sides also discussed other issues of mutual interest.

NAGORNO KARABAKH SETTLEMENT ‘STALLED’

AzerNews
Sept 27 2011
Azerbaijan

Negotiations on settling the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno
Karabakh are “stalled”, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz
Azimov has said.

Azimov said no steps forward have been taken to resolve the
long-standing dispute after the Kazan meeting of Azerbaijani and
Armenian presidents in late June mediated by the Russian leader.

“Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has recently met with the
[mediating] OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in New York, but I do not
believe that any progress will be achieved, as the co-chairs understand
that Armenia should change its position,” Azimov told journalists
last Saturday.

“Certainly, co-chairs of the Minsk Group and representatives of other
international organizations will be aspiring to get something done,
but my personal observations suggest that the co-chairs are trying to
choose the easy way, as usual,” he said. “I suppose that the co-chairs’
potential is limited.”

During his meeting with the OSCE mediators, Minister Mammadyarov
noted that Armenia has backed down from the updated Madrid principles,
a peace outline proposed by the mediators, thus putting at risk the
negotiating process on Karabakh settlement.

“Substantial progress [in the peace process] can be achieved only
if the Armenian side accepts the official document submitted by
the [Minsk Group] co-chairing countries [United States, Russia and
France] to Azerbaijan and Armenia in December 2009,” Mammadyarov said,
according to Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry.

The Minsk Group co-chairs initially proposed the Madrid Document in
the Spanish capital in November 2007. In Athens in December 2009,
the updated version of the document was submitted to the sides.

Azerbaijani officials, including President Ilham Aliyev, have
repeatedly said Baku accepts the renewed Madrid Document with some
exceptions.

Deputy Foreign Minister Azimov said that according to incoming data,
Armenia has imported a considerable amount of offensive weapons from
neighboring countries.

“These include rockets, anti-tank weapons, 78,000 AK rifles and other
weaponry,” he said. “So, the question arises: is this country getting
ready for talks or war?”

Azimov said further that the Karabakh conflict should be considered
“not in separate, but in terms of the South Caucasus strategy”.

“It is not just a local conflict between the Armenians and
Azerbaijanis, but a conflict that has been taken advantage of from
the viewpoint of politics, one that is manipulated well and controlled.

There are still aspirations to subdue the South Caucasus states. I
understand that these games are not over yet. From the viewpoint
of geopolitics, providing Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity is a
significant issue for international security.”

The Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 due to Armenia’s territorial
claims. Azerbaijan and Armenia waged a brutal war which claimed some
30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. A ceasefire
accord was signed in 1994, but peace talks have been largely fruitless
so far.

‘stalled’

ARMENIA WILL WORK TO ENSURE NAGORNO-KARABAKH’S RECOGNITION – PRESIDENT SARGSYAN

Interfax
Sept 26 2011
Russia

Yerevan will seek international recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh’s
independence, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said.

“Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence and the Nagorno-Karabakh people’s
right to self-determination cannot be called into question. It has been
and will be our goal to make sure that Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized
internationally, including by Azerbaijan,” Sargsyan said at a reception
in New York organized by the Armenian Embassy to the U.S.

Negotiations on settling the conflict will continue with the mediation
of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, he said.

“I would not call these negotiations inefficient, but on the other
hand, Kazan [the venue of the last OSCE Minsk Group meeting] has
become a good example to show that Azerbaijan is not notable for
constructiveness. Groundless unilateral concessions are impossible,
of which we have said on numerous occasions. We are confident that, to
achieve a tangible result, steps and actions improving the atmosphere
of confidence between the conflicting parties are necessary,” the
Armenian presidential press service quoted Sargsyan as saying.

Armenia has still not recognized Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence
because it is trying to achieve some positive result through
negotiations, he said.

“At the same time, we should understand that any provocative step on
Azerbaijan’s part and any step taken outside the OSCE Minsk Group
framework will advance the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s recognition
by Armenia,” he said.

PERSONA NON GRATA: JOURNALIST BARSAMIAN REFUSED ENTRY TO INDIA
by Rajesh Joshi

Pacific Free Press
Sept 27 2011

‘In Free India I Was Denied Entry’

David Barsamian is an Armenian-American radio broadcaster, writer,
and the founder and director of Alternative Radio- the Boulder,
Colorado-based syndicated weekly talk program heard on some 125 radio
stations in various countries.

He was deported on arrival from the Indira Gandhi International Airport
on September 23/24, i.e he was denied entry into India and was put
on a return flight to the US. The authorities said the action was
taken because he had been misusing his tourist visa. Mr Barsamian is a
regular visitor to India, speaks fluent Hindustani, and has also been
learning music from Delhi-based sitar maestro Pandit Debu Chaudhuri.

Mr Barsamian has done several radio programmes criticising India’s
position on Kashmir and has commented on the Maoist movement in
central India. He is also a fierce critic of US foreign policy and
is best known for his series of interviews with Noam Chomsky, which
have been published in book form and translated into many languages.

According to Khurram Parvez, coordinator of Association of Parents
of Disappeared Persons (APDP),

Mr Barsamian was scheduled to travel to Srinagar this week to report
on over 2000 unmarked graves found in north Kashmir recently. After
being deported, he gave his first interview to Rajesh Joshi of the
BBC Hindi service.

Excerpts: What were the circumstances under which you were denied
entry into India?

I landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi, on Friday
morning at 12:30 by Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt and I went to
the immigration counter, handed my passport to the officer. He said
” wait here” and went away. After coming back, he kept looking at the
computer screen and my passport. Then he went away again and came back
with other officers and asked me to accompany them. That is when I got
worried and anxious. They put me in a room with a couch and a chair.

Ten minutes went by, fifteen minutes went by, I kept getting up every
once in a while and said what’s going on? Kya ho raha hai? I spoke to
them in Hindi and then one of them casually said you may have to go
back on the same plane by which you came. I said what? What’s going
on here? Can I get an explanation? I had to go to the bathroom and
one officer accompanied me. There were five or six officers standing
outside the room I was being held in. They were not rude or anything.

One of them told me: ‘You have been denied entry into India. You are
on the banned list and you may not enter the country’. They waived
a piece of paper at me: ‘This American citizen can’t enter India and
he is on the banned list’. I was then taken from that room and had to
walk all the way back to the gate where they photographed my passport
and put me on the plane. It was a very Kafkaesque situation.

India is a democracy where people are free to express diverse
opinions. There must be some reason why action was taken against you?

This is a political decision because in the view of the government
I am a dangerous man. Maybe because I speak a lot about Kashmir and
I have done programmes on Kashmir, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh. I have
reported the revolutions that are happening in India for the people of
America. I think this arbitrary action by the government of India in
preventing me from entering the country is not a sign of strength of
Indian democracy; it’s rather a sign of weakness. A healthy, vibrant
democracy should include a rainbow of different opinions, different
perspectives, different points of view and it should happily embrace
those kind of differences rather than seeking to impose a uniformity
of thought and opinion. I remember a prominent journalist in Kashmir
telling me in February – I am not going to give his name for obvious
reasons because there is worry that something will happen to him –
that India is in a precarious situation in Kashmir and elsewhere and
that democracy is being eroded with more and more restrictions and
prohibitions and the like. So, it’s a sign of weakness and not a sign
of strength. In the scale of things, I am an independent journalist
based in Colorado; I am not a very important figure and they are
spending this amount of time and energy on me. I think that’s very
revealing.

But the authorities say you misused your visa.

I was in India but nobody said anything to me. I was there six months
ago in February. I am angry that the government of India didn’t inform
me that if you want to come to India, you get your visa changed. I
have lost a lot of money and my work has suffered. I am deeply pained.

Every week, I do one-hour special interviews on current affairs, on
topics like free trade, the tea-party movement etc. I have won awards
as well. The interesting thing is that I have travelled to Iran,
Pakistan but in free India I was denied entry. I have been to Syria,
Lebanon, Egypt but I never faced any problems there. So, how can I
accept this decision? There are a lot of problems with this democracy
as there are in the US. This is not a 100 per cent free democracy.

This is a weakness of any government if it puts ban on freedom of
movement.

Do you think as an American tourist it was proper on your part to
comment on political issues?

Free speech is very important for any country. I haven’t done
anything. Famous Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz said:

Bol, ke lab aazaad haiN tere: Bol, zabaaN ab tak terii hai…

Bol, ke sach zindaa hai ab tak..

[Speak, for your lips are free; Speak, your tongue is still your own..

Speak, for truth is living yet –]

What are your thoughts about today’s India?

India is facing a lot of revolutions. Some people want to separate
from India. Others want to change the government. A lot of atrocities
are happening. Especially what is happening in Kashmir is not good.

Many people have been killed at the hand of government, many have
disappeared. People are dying. We support freedom. People want to
know what’s happening in the largest democracy of the world. But it
-that India is the world’s largest democracy- has become a sort of
advertisement to show off to the tourists.

On the other hand India is also being praised everywhere including
by your president Barack Obama?

Yes, indeed. What’s the reason? Obama went to India last year and he
sold military hardware to India. He wants to make an alliance with
India against China. This is his long term conspiracy. Obama has no
idea what’s happening in Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and the northeast. He
has no idea.

Do you support those movements?

Yeh kahna meri auqaat naheen hai. (It’s not my station to say it)
I just observe these movements and report on them. If they want to
change their circumstances, it’s their right. Who am I to advice them?

Given a chance, would you like to come to India again?

Aur kya (What else?) I love India. I have a very close relationship
with its culture, its music. I have friends there. My guruji is there.

I am feeling restless thinking what would happen if can’t go there.

ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN EXPRESS VIEWS ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH DURING UN DEBATE

United Nations News Center
Sept 27 2011

27 September 2011 – Top officials from Armenia and Azerbaijan have
expressed views on their long-running dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh
region, which is part of Azerbaijan but occupied by Armenian forces,
during the General Assembly’s annual general debate.

President Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia, speaking on Friday, said the
people of Nagorno-Karabakh had two decades ago made a choice “by
exercising their right to self-determination, by withstanding the
war unleashed by Azerbaijan, and surviving bloodshed to earn their
right to live in freedom.”

He said conflict settlement talks are continuing under the mediation
of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE)
Minsk Group co-chairs.

Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan, speaking today, said
Armenia had flagrantly violated the UN Charter and other documents
of international law and perpetrated aggression against his country.

“As a result of this aggression, almost 20 per cent of the territory
of Azerbaijan continues to remain under occupation and about one
million Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs)
are unable to return to their homes,” he said.

Mr. Mammadyarov said Armenia’s leadership “continues to publicly
incite the future generations to new wars, violence and aggression
and propagate by all means the dangerous ideas of animosity and hatred
towards not only Azerbaijan, but also other peoples of the region.”

Exercising his right of reply, a representative of Armenia said the
comments of Azerbaijan were Cold War-style propaganda that did nothing
to bring about a resolution of the dispute.

He said Mr. Mammadyarov had misinterpreted the UN Charter and several
Security Council resolutions, and was creating artificial delays to
any settlement.

In response, a representative of Azerbaijan said Armenia had been
“carrying out ethnic cleansing on a massive scale” in Nagorno-Karabakh,
and would be eventually forced to “cease its provocative policies.”

The Nagorno-Karabakh peace process was also the subject of discussions
during a meeting between Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Mr.

Sargsyan last Friday, held on the margins of the Assembly’s general
debate.