Author: Kajoyan Gevork

AMERICAN TV CHANNELS RECORD DISGRACEFUL FAILURE OF TURKISH DIPLOMACY

15:33, 5 March, 2015

YEREVAN, MARCH 5, ARMENPRESS. The leading American TV channels
displayed the disgraceful defeat of the Turkish diplomatic circles
in the City Council of City of Carson, which voted unanimously on
Wednesday to reject a measure to erect a monument to Kemal Ataturk
in the city, after lengthy debate during the regular city council
session. As reports “Armenpress”, the prominent American ABC7 aired
a piece of reporting online dedicated to the issue.

The vote came after hours of heated debate Wednesday over the tribute
honoring Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who was the first
president of Turkey.

“I want to celebrate my heritage. Ataturk is George Washington to
our country,” Vega Sankur said.

Opponents said Ataturk was a vicious dictator responsible for the
Armenian Genocide.

“I highly doubt that if a city was entertaining a German cultural
monument, the German government would recommend a monument of Adolf
Hitler,” Montebello Mayor Jack Hadjinian said.

“I’m here to vociferously oppose the donation, installation of the
statue to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk,” Glendale Mayor Zareh Sinanyan said.

Tempers flared when the Turkish Consul General addressed the city
council. Opponents standing turned their back on her as she spoke.

Carson is now looking for other sculptures to add to its garden.

Currently, the garden only has one piece of art.

As reports Armenpress citing Asbarez, more than 400 people opposing
the measure, led by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Western US
Central Committee, Armenian National Committee of America-Western
Region, the Armenian Youth Federation and the American Hellenic
Council flocked to the Carson City Hall, where a capacity crowd in
the council chamber spilled outside to protest the measure.

Speaking against the monument were Glendale Mayor Zareh Sinanian,
Montebello Mayor Jack Hadjinian, Glendale City Clerk Ardashes “Ardy”
Kassakhian, Professor Levon Marashlian and the Vice Chairman of the
American Hellenic Council Aris Anagnos. Although there were only six
speakers permitted per side, there were 298 speaker cards submitted
in opposition to the monument and 101 in favor.

California State Assemblymembers submitted a letter in opposition to
the monument, which was presented at the meeting by a representative
of Assemblymember and former Carson City Councilman Mike Gipson,
and co-signed by Assemblymembers Adrin Nazarian, Katcho Achadjian,
Scott Wilk and Mike Gatto.

The Turkish Consul General of Los Angeles Raife Gulru Gezer was one
of the six speaking in favor of the monument. Carson Mayor Jim Dear,
who initiated the monument proposal, in the end changed his vote.

CHORRORD ISHKHANUTYUN: SAMVEL BABAYAN TO UNITE KARABAKH OPPOSITION

11:26 05/03/2015 >> DAILY PRESS

Nagorno-Karabakh’s former Defense Minister Samvel Babayan intends to
unite the opposition in Artsakh, Chorrord Ishkhanutyun reports citing
its sources.

Nagorno-Karabakh will hold parliamentary elections on May 3 and Babayan
has decided to return from Russia after many years of absence since
he plans to run for the elections.

Rumors say Babayan intends to run against Karabakh’s former President
Arkadi Ghukasyan who reportedly also plans to run for parliament.

Source: Panorama.am

GYUMRI MURDER CASE: “RUSSIA DOES NOT RESPECT THE TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF ARMENIA”

03.05.2015 13:22 epress.am

The Russian Federation does not respect the stipulations of the
Armenian-Russian interstate agreements or the territorial integrity
of Armenia, said a statement by the Union of Informed Citizens NGO,
referring to the Russian General Prosecutor’sresponse to MP Zaruhi
Postanjyan’s letter. The response stated that Russian soldier Valery
Permyaov, accused of the murder of the 7 members of the Avetisyan
family in Gyumri, could not be handed over to Armenian law enforcement
due to Article 61 of the Russian Constitution and Article 57 of
the Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil,
Family and Criminal Matters, because he is a citizen of the Russian
Federation. Currently, Valery Permyakov is being kept at the 102-nd
Russian military base in Gyumri.

The Union of Informed Citizens notes that the first part of Article
61 of the Russian Constitution states that a Russian citizen can not
be subject to extradition or be handed over to another state when on
Russian territory.

“The 1995 agreement on “Russian Military Base on the territory of
the Republic of Armenia” and its other successive agreements clearly
imply that the 102nd military base is located on the territory of the
Republic of Armenia and nowhere in those agreements does it ever note
that the military base’s location belongs to the Russian Federation.

Thus, murder suspect Valery Permyakov is not on Russian but on Armenian
territory; therefore, the Russian Constitution’s limitation does not
apply here.

In addition, the statement made by the Russian side implies that Valery
Permyakov is currently in Russia. Which means that, according to the
Russian General Prosecutor, the 102nd military base is the territory
of the Russian Federation,” stresses the statement.

The authors note that the 102nd military base is the territory of
the Republic of Armenia, where the Russian Constitution does not have
authority. Furthermore, none of the agreements put the condition of the
Armenian Constitution’s authority over the military base into question.

“The main regulations of the military base’s activities are given by
approximately 10 Armenian-Russian interstate agreements, which are
superior to the Armenian legislation. Hence, Armenian laws work on
the Russian military base partially, however no one has revoked the
power of the Armenian Constitution on that territory.

Moreover, since the Constitution of Armenia has supreme legal force
in Armenia, in no way can the range of its power be reduced or be
revoked ‘in certain cases’,” says the statement by the Union of
Informed Citizens.

The Russian 102nd military base soldier Valery Permyakov is charged
by Armenia’s Investigative Committee for murdering 7 members of the
Avetisyan family in Gyumri and was arrested on January 13th near the
Armenian-Turkish border and was handed over to the Russian military
base by Russian border guards. The latter stimulated a protest of
thousands of people in Gyumri demanding his transfer to Armenian
law enforcement.

HRAPARAK: PROSPEROUS ARMENIA HAS SELECTED NEW CHAIRMAN AND DEPUTY CHAIRMAN

10:51 04/03/2015 >> DAILY PRESS

Prosperous Armenia Party selected a new chairman and deputy chairman
at a faction meeting two days ago, Hraparak writes.

Tsarukyan was not present at the meeting, which was conducted by
Prosperous Armenia faction secretary Naira Zohrabyan. Her candidacy
as the party’s new leader was approved by the Prosperous Armenia MPs.

It was decided that the position of the party’s deputy chairman
will be entrusted to former Minister of Urban Development Vardan
Vardanyan, who was earlier involved in a criminal case in connection
with large-scale violations recorded during the reconstruction of the
National Library. The MPs claimed that Vardanyan is one of the party’s
founders and he did not quit the party even after resigning his office.

Source: Panorama.am

ARMINFO’S SURVEY: BELARUS AND FRANCE WILL BE REPRESENTED AT HIGHEST LEVEL AT EVENTS TIMED TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL

by Tatevik Shahunyan and Marianna Lazarian

Wednesday, March 4, 14:07

Most of the countries invited to the Armenian Genocide Centennial
events in Yerevan have not yet responded to the invitation for not
having made up their delegations to Yerevan.

Talking to ArmInfo, Ambassadors of Switzerland, Georgia, Iran,
Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Japan, and Germany said Yerevan’s
invitation is still considered by the foreign ministries of their
countries to determine the composition of delegations. Nevertheless,
all the diplomats assured ArmInfo that their countries will send
official representatives to the events timed to the Armenian Genocide
Centennial.

Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia Traian Hristea told ArmInfo,
the EU has not made up its delegation to the Genocide Centennial
events in Yerevan. Meanwhile, Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan
Andrey Sorokin said the delegation to Yerevan will be headed by Ilkka
Kanerva, President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. The decision
may be changed and the OSCE may be represented at the above events
at a higher level.

Belarus has already made up its delegation. Talking to ArmInfo,
Ambassador Stepan Sukhorenko said the president of Belarus will
attend the events timed to the Armenian Genocide Centennial. France
will also be represented at the highest level.

Russian Ambassador to Armenia Ivan Volynkin said Moscow has already
made up its delegation. The diplomat did not reveal the composition
of the Russian delegation, saying the country will be represented at
an adequate level.

The survey revealed that some countries will not send any delegations
to Turkey – the country is going to celebrate the centennial of the
victory in the Gallipoli Battle on the same day – April 24. Others
will send their delegations for political reasons. The diplomats say
the centennials of the Armenian Genocide and the Gallipoli Battle
are morally incomparable events.

To recall, UK, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan have already accepted
Turkey’s invitation to the Gallipoli event and will be represented at
the highest level. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles will attend
the event.

CHARLES AZNAVOUR TO PERFORM IN BASQUE COUNTRY

14:34, 4 March, 2015

YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS: The legendary French Armenian
chansonier Charles Aznavour, 91, will perform a concert in the Basque
Country. Armenpress reports, citing the French sudouest.fr website
that the concert will take place on May 9 in the Kursaal Hall in
San-Sebastian. The website states that Aznavour will perform here
after the concert in Spain. Before that the legend of the stage will
perform at Barclaycard Center of Madrid on May 7.

Charles Aznavour (Shahan Vaghinak Aznavouryan) was born in Paris in
1924 to a family of Armenian migrants Mikayel and Knar Aznavouryans.

As a young man he was fond of theatre, but in 1940s he started to
give performances in cabaret with Pierre Roche.

Besides being one of France’s most popular and enduring singers, he
is also one of the best-known singers in the world. Aznavour is known
for his unique tenor voice: clear and ringing in its upper reaches,
with gravelly and profound low notes. He has appeared in more than
sixty movies, composed about a thousand songs (including at least
150 in English, 100 in Italian, 70 in Spanish, and 50 in German),
and sold well over 100 million records.

In 1974, Aznavour became a major success in the United Kingdom where
his song “She” went to Number One in the charts. His other well-known
song in the UK was “Dance in the Old Fashioned Way”.

Artists who have recorded his songs and collaborated with Aznavour
include Edith Piaf, Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra (Aznavour was one of
the rare European singers invited to duet with him), Andrea Bocelli,
Bing Crosby, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan (he named Aznavour among the
greatest live performers he’s ever seen), Liza Minnelli, Elton John,
Dalida, Serge Gainsbourg, Josh Groban, Petula Clark, Shirley Bassey,
Jose Carreras, Laura Pausini, Nana Mouskouri and Julio Iglesias.

Fellow French pop legend Mireille Mathieu has sung and recorded
with Aznavour on numerous occasions. In 1974, Jack Jones recorded an
entire album of Aznavour compositions entitled “Write Me A Love Song,
Charlie”, re-released on CD in 2006. Aznavour and Italian tenor Luciano
Pavarotti sang Gounod’s aria Ave Maria together. He performed with
famed Russian cellist and friend Mstislav Rostropovich to inaugurate
the French presidency of the European Union in 1995.

One of Aznavour’s greatest friends and collaborators from the music
industry is legendary Spanish operatic tenor Placido Domingo. In
1994, Aznavour performed with Domingo and Norwegian soprano Sissel
Kyrkjebø at Domingo’s third annual Christmas in Vienna concert. The
three singers performed a variety of carols, medleys, and duets, and
the concert was televised throughout the world, as well as released
on a CD internationally.

On 30 September 2006, Aznavour performed a major concert in Yerevan
to start off the cultural season “Armenie mon amie” in France.

In 2008, an album of duets, Duos, was released. It is a collaborative
effort featuring Aznavour and his greatest friends and partners
from his long career in the music industry, including Celine Dion,
Sting, Laura Pausini, Josh Groban, Paul Anka, Placido Domingo, and
many others.

Since the 1988 earthquake in Armenia, Aznavour has been helping the
country through his charity, Aznavour for Armenia. Together with his
brother in-law and co-author Georges Garvarentz he wrote the song
“Pour toi Armenie”, which was performed by a group of famous French
artists and topped the charts for 18 weeks. There is a square named
after him in central Yerevan on Abovian Street, and a statue erected
in Gyumri, which saw the most lives lost in the earthquake.

In 2004 Aznavour received the title of “National Hero of Armenia”
for his humanitarian work, Armenia’s highest award.

During a career that has lasted over 70 years, he has appeared in
over 60 films, composed over 1,000 songs and sold over 100 million
records worldwide.

LAWMAKERS RETURN TO HALF-EMPTY HALL, DISCUSS BILLS IN HASTE

14:32 | March 4,2015 | Politics

The NA hall was half-empty in the middle of work day.

At the beginning of the sitting, NA Speaker Galust Sahakyan announced
that the lawmakers would not have a break today in order to finish
the sitting quickly. However, MPs began to reappear in the sitting
hall after Galust Sahakyan urged everyone to hurry up and get ready
to vote on several bills.

All bills were discussed in haste.

MARY-JEAN O’DOHERTY-VASMATZIAN (AUSTRALIE) EST LE 5E MEMBRE DU GROUPE > QUI REPRESENTERA L’ARMENIE A L’EUROVISION-2015

L’ARMENIE A L’EUROVISION-2015

Le cinquième membre du groupe > formes de six membres
issus des cinq continents et de l’Armenie qui representera l’Armenie a
l’Eurovision-2015 avec la chanson sont Essaï Altounian (France-Europe),
Tamar Kaprelian (Etats-Unis-Amerique), Vahe Tilbian (Ethiopie-Afrique)
et Stephanie Topalian (Japon-Asie). L’objectif etant en cette annee du
100ème anniversaire du genocide des Armeniens de reunir les enfants
des rescapes du genocide des cinq continents (en plus de l’Armenie)
et d’appeler le monde a ne pas oublier le genocide et condamner le
negationnisme. Les demi-finales de l’Eurovision-2015 se derouleront
a Vienne (Autriche) le 19 et 21 mai et la finale le samedi 23 mai.

Krikor Amirzayan

mercredi 4 mars 2015, Krikor Amirzayan (c)armenews.com

GAGIK TSARUKYAN TO STEP DOWN AS CHAIRMAN OF PROSPEROUS ARMENIA PARTY AND TO RENOUNCE HIS DEPUTY MANDATE

by Tatevik Shahunyan

Wednesday, March 4, 16:23

At tomorrow’s congress of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), Gagik
Tsarukyan will announce his decision to not only step down as the PAP
chairman but also to renounce his deputy mandate, Mikayel Melkumyan,
parliamentarian from the PAP, told journalists.

He said that ex-foreign minister of Armenia Vartan Oskanian will also
renounce his mandate. Melkumyan added that at the March 5 congress
the PAP will finally determine its political stand.

PAP Faction Secretary Naira Zohrabyan will become the chairperson
of the party. Other members of Prosperous Armenia, particularly, MPs
Martun Grigoryan and Abraham Manukyan are also expected to officially
leave the PAP.

MPs Grigory Margaryan, Rustam Gasparyan, Melik Manukyan, Harutyun
Karagyozyan, Aragats Akhoyan and Karo Karapetyan have already left the
party. To note, the current situation is the result of discord between
the PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.

Tsarukyan and Sargsyan had a “reconciliation meeting” and the
“reconciliation” price was Tsarukyan’s withdrawal from the political
arena.

CO-PRESIDENT OF ARMENIAN ROWING FEDERATION KILLED NEAR NUBARASHEN PENITENTIARY

17:48 | March 4,2015 | Social

Co-President of the Armenian Rowing Federation Levon Ghazaryan was
killed by unknown assailants on March 4. He received a gunshot wound
in a skirmish near the Nubarashen Nubarashen penitentiary in Yerevan
on Wednesday and died on the way to a hospital.

The criminals were wearing masks and fled the incident shortly
afterwards.

Levon Ghazaryan was appointed Co-President of the Armenian Rowing
Federation in 2012 after President Hrachya Khudoyan submitted a
resignation due to health problems.

Three people were killed in a shoot-out near the Nubarashen Prison
on Wednesday afternoon. They have been identified as Levon Ghazaryan,
43, Drastamat Tadevosyan, 35, and Mesrop Melikyan.

Photo by armtimes.com