Author: Kajoyan Gevork

DE NOMBREUX EXPERTS DISENT QUE LES RECENTES HAUSSES DE PRIX NE SONT PAS LOGIQUES

ARMENIE

L’Armenie a affiche les taux d’inflation les plus eleves des dernières
annees au cours des 12 derniers mois et cette inflation qui est bien
au-dessus de son niveau prevu est consideree par de nombreux experts
comme anormale.

Selon le Service national de la statistique (NSS), en août, le taux
d’inflation sur 12 mois a atteint 9,3 pour cent, ce qui est bien
au-dela des 4 pour cent projetes par la Banque centrale.

Selon le NSS, la hausse des prix des denrees alimentaires a ete de
10 pour cent, les prix de l’alcool et du tabac ont augmente de 5,9
pour cent, l’inflation sur les produits non-alimentaires a ete de
4,3 pour cent, tandis que les services ont augmente de 11,2 pour
cent. Par rapport a Juillet les prix ont augmente de 0,3 pour cent,
avec des prix des denrees alimentaires en baisse de 1 pour cent,
en raison de la baisse des prix des produits agricoles, du sucre,
de l’huile et de la farine.

Toujours en août, le Conseil de la Banque centrale a decide d’augmenter
le taux de refinancement de 0,5 points le fixant a 8,5 pour cent,
dans une tentative de contrôler l’inflation.

au gouvernement actuel.

Le president de l’Union des consommateurs Armen Poghosyan pense qu’en
realite le taux d’inflation est beaucoup plus eleve que presente
officiellement par le NSS, car les enquetes de l’organisme surveillent
700 noms de produits, produisant un indice de l’inflation en general
beaucoup plus faible que, par exemple, une liste de 20 produits de
première necessite , qui representent la majeure partie des depenses
du budget de la famille en Armenie et qui ferait l’affaire.

> a declare Armen Poghosyan
a ArmeniaNow. Il a ajoute que recemment, il a egalement recu des
rapports sur l’augmentation des prix des aliments pour bebes.

Babken Pipoyan fondateur et president de l’ONG > a dit a ArmeniaNow qu’en raison de la taxe
d’accise recemment introduite sur le prix des boissons ces produits
ont aussi augmente. Les prix des produits laitiers, du pain, des
oeufs ont egalement augmente, a-t-il dit.

> a declare Babken
Pipoyan, ajoutant qu’aucune raison n’explique la hausse des prix des
produits laitiers et sur le marche des oeufs, par exemple.

Alors que beaucoup relient les recentes hausses de prix a la hausse
des tarifs pour le gaz naturel et l’electricite, Babken Pipoyan a dit
que l’inflation actuelle est disproportionnee par rapport aux prix
eleves de l’energie et dans de nombreux cas, les prix de certains
biens se sont eleves 10 fois plus qu’ils auraient dû si les coûts de
l’energie n’avaient ete que seulement pris en compte.

Par Gohar Abrahamian

ArmeniaNow

mercredi 3 decembre 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com

LES MAIRES DES COMMUNES FRONTALIERES OPTIMISTES

ARMENIE

Les maires des villages de Movses et Chinari dans la province du
Tavush, situes a 300-500 mètres de la frontière armeno-azerbaïdjanaise
pensent que les deux dernières lois adoptees par l’Assemblee nationale
devraient alleger le fardeau des villageois et permettront aux
entrepreneurs de penser a investir dans leurs villages.

Le 15 Novembre, le gouvernement a adopte la loi sur “l’aide
sociale au sein des communautes frontalières”, ce qui implique une
compensation partielle par le budget de l’Etat pour 31 communautes
limitrophes. La loi implique une compensation partielle pour le
gaz naturel, l’electricite et l’eau d’irrigation consommee pour les
residents permanents.

L’autre est la loi “sur les exonerations fiscales pour l’esprit
d’entreprise dans les communautes de villages frontaliers”, avec
laquelle ils vont essayer de stimuler l’activite economique dans ces
communautes et ameliorer l’environnement des affaires en exemptant
les societes des principaux impôts, ce qui devrait couter environ 30
milliards de drams (environ 7,3 millions de $) de recettes de moins
versees au budget de l’Etat.

Si de nouveaux emplois sont crees beaucoup de choses vont changer dans
le village, a declare Samvel Saghoyan, le maire du village de Chinari.

Il est sûr que la nouvelle loi fera venir les hommes d’affaires
armeniens a Chinari, alors que jusqu’a present tous les projets de
la communaute ont ete menees principalement par des organisations
internationales.

LES ETATS-UNIS EXHORTENT LES PARTIES AU KARABAGH A RECENTRER LEURS EFFORTS SUR LES POURPARLERS DE PAIX

USA

L’incident avec la destruction d’un helicoptère armenien souligne
une fois de plus la necessite d’un règlement pacifique du conflit
du Haut-Karabagh a declare le porte-parole du Departement d’Etat
americain Jeff Rathke lors d’une conference de presse a Washington
se referant a l’evènement du 12 novembre qui a augmente les tensions
dans la zone du conflit.

“Les Etats-Unis exhorte les parties au conflit a s’abstenir d’actions
qui pourraient conduire a une augmentation de la tension le long de
la ligne de contact. Nous exhortons egalement les parties a recentrer
leurs efforts sur les negociations de paix et parvenir a un règlement
durable du conflit du Haut-Karabagh ” a dit l’officiel.

La declaration a souligne que les Etats-Unis, en tant que co-president
du Groupe de Minsk de l’OSCE, sont prets a aider les parties dans
cette direction.

Lors d’une rencontre avec son homologue suedoise Margot Walstrom a
Stockholm le 24 Novembre ministre armenien des Affaires Etrangères
Edouard Nalbandian a egalement parle des efforts de l’Armenie et
les mediateurs internationaux en vue d’une resolution pacifique
de la question du Haut-Karabagh. Il a declare :

RECOGNITION OF ARTSAKH’S INDEPENDENCE THE ONLY WAY TO ESTABLISH LONG-LASTING PEACE IN THE REGION

13:51, 03 Dec 2014

“The establishment of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic has gone through
a very difficult and painful path,” Speaker of the National Assembly
of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Ashot Ghulyan said at the Capitol
Hill celebration of the 23rd anniversary of Artsakh’s independence.

” Stepanakert, the capital city of Artsakh and many other settlements,
were being heavily shelled and bombarded for months, thousands of
people were subjected to violence that escalated into a blatant
military aggression by Azerbaijan. However, the people of Artsakh
succeeded in protecting their right to freedom and decide own future,
acting in line with all the norms and principles of the international
law,” he added.

“In February, 1988 the people of Artsakh were the first in the Soviet
reality to raise the flag of freedom, were the first to struggle for
their rights. Until 1991, we were waiting for a peaceful and just
solution to the issue. It with regret that I have to note, that the
Soviet central government was not receptive towards the legitimate
and natural demands of the people of Nagorno Karabakh, and Azerbaijan
unleashed a large-scale war in response. And the peaceful population
was chosen as the target,” Ghulyan said.

“The consequences of the war are well-known: it is the reality
we have. For my people the past two decades marked the efforts
towards elimination of consequences of the Azerbaijani aggression,
restoration of the economy and infrastructure; democratization of
the state governance and formation of civil sector, spiritual and
cultural revival. Speaking about the elimination of the consequences
of war, people of Artsakh always remember the allocations the US
Congress authorizing since 1998. The assistance, which is possible
due to tireless efforts by our Congressional friends – members of the
Armenian Caucus, allows to implement a number of targeted programs
giving solutions to pressing issues. The people of Nagorno Karabakh,
are deeply grateful to the congressmen and the friendly people of
the US,” the Speaker noted.

“The people of the Artsakh Republic highly appreciate and are inspired
with the continued political support demonstrated by the legislatures
in various states across the USA (namely Rhode-Island, Massachusetts,
Louisiana, Maine and California) in the form of resolutions in support
for the right to self-determination and democratic independence of
our people.”

“We would not exaggerate if we say that our country faces unique
challenges: despite permanent threats of renewed aggression by
Azerbaijan, the existing difficulties caused by blockade, we, however,
were steadfast in our political will to reform the state governing
system. The Referendum on Adoption of the NKR Constitution of December
10, 2006, has become the culmination of the road behind. It is yet
another manifestation of my people’s will to live in freedom and
sovereignty, manifestation expressed in constitutional terms that made
the independent of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic an irreversible fact,”
Ashot Ghulyan said.

“In Artsakh, we remain firmly committed to the democratic
values. And even in conditions of constant attempts to isolate
the NKR from international processes, various international human
rights organizations (such as Freedom House) and experts pointed at
strengthening of the democratic traditions in our republic. May 2015
we are having the regular parliamentary elections, and we will be
happy to receive observers from the United States,” he added.

“The people and authorities of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic highly
appreciate the mediation efforts of the United States as a Minsk
Group co-chair country. We support a fair and peaceful settlement to
the conflict, which, unfortunately, is not adequately perceived the
opponent. Moreover, year after year we witness a significant increase
of hatred towards everything Armenian, and bellicose rhetoric which
has become a state policy of Azerbaijan,” the Speaker said.

“Azeri leadership spares no effort to undermine the negotiation
process. Vivid examples were the dangerous escalation of tension and
repeated ceasefire violations in July and August this year along the
line of contact, as well as the international border. Another example
was the downing of an Artsakh Defense Army Air Force helicopter
during a training flight near the line of contact several days ago,
on November 12, 2014. We strongly believe that the abovementioned
developments are conditioned by the upright disregard of Azerbaijan
towards the commitments taken when accessing to international
structures, in particular, the all-permissiveness of uncontrolled
military build up, the widespread violations of human rights throughout
own country, and the inadequate reaction of international structures
to all those developments, which caused a false sense of impunity in
Baku (in Azerbaijan), the Speaker said.

He noted that “in this situation the only way of establishing
a longlasting peace and stability in the South Caucasus is the
international recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic de facto
independence andthe provision of international security guarantees.”

“In Nagorno-Karabakh Republic we know the price of independence and
the price of security and peace for the people that struggled for it.

Once Franklin D. Roosevelt reminded the American people that: ‘Every
period is a dying dream or a dream that is going to be born’. Nowadays
in our region the sense of that philosophy is nothing else but a
struggle for freedom against tyranny. The liberation of Artsakh from
the tyranny of Azerbaijan was a dream that became a reality. Having a
free and independent state was a dream that has also became a reality.

And the new generation of Artsakh also has its own dreams: that is the
vision of becoming a legitimate part of the community of civilized
nations where we can freely and fully express our identity within
that diversity,” the Speaker said.

JAZZ. TIGRAN HAMASYAN VENDREDI AU CARRE MAGIQUE

Le Telegramme, France
Mercredi 26 Novembre 2014

Plus de trois ans après la sortie remarquee de ” À Fable “, couronne
aux Victoires de la musique en 2011, le pianiste Tigran Hamasyan,
a propos duquel Herbie Hancock declara qu’il etait devenu son elève,
revient avec ” Shadow Theater “, un disque ” dans lequel se combine une
subtile harmonisation des musiques medievales armeniennes, du jazz a
l’ecole de Chick Corea et d’un rock inspire par Led Zeppelin “. Il se
produira vendredi, a 20 h 30, sur la scène du Carre Magique, a Lannion.

Un theâtre d’ombres musicales

” Ce natif de Gyumri, en Armenie, s’est retrouve catapulte a l’âge
de 19 ans sur le devant de la scène a la faveur d’un premier prix
au prestigieux concours Thelonious Monk. En duo avec son piano ou en
quintet, accompagne des meilleurs musiciens new-yorkais, ce prodige
du jazz ouvert a toutes les influences, depuis le folklore du Caucase
jusqu’au jazz fusion de Return To Forever, refuse d’opposer Deep
Purple a Duke Ellington, les Beatles a Miles Davis. Inventeur d’un
nouveau son instruit de musiques electroniques et de pop, il dessine
un univers onirique qui doit autant au cinema de Tim Burton qu’a
la tradition du theâtre d’ombres. Un art en apparence simple où des
silhouettes s’animent derrière une toile sous l’effet d’un faisceau
de lumière. (…) Tigran s’affirme comme un ebouriffant compositeur
double d’un chanteur au timbre fragile. ”

Pratique

Tigran Hamasyan, vendredi, a 20 h 30, au Carre Magique. Duree : une
heure 30. Tarif B : 23 EUR, 19 EUR, 13 EUR. Concert precede d’un ”
instant musique ” au bar du theâtre, a 19 h, avec l’ensemble jazz de
l’Ecole de musique du Tregor.

EARTHQUAKE CITY JOINS UNISDR CAMPAIGN

States News Service
December 1, 2014 Monday

YEREVAN

The following information was released by International Strategy for
Disaster Reduction:

The Armenian city of Spitak, at the epicentre of the devastating 1988
earthquake, is a reminder of why current efforts to forge an ambitious
post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction are so important.

The city in northern Armenia is an inspiring symbol of what
international cooperation can achieve when there is a collective will
and capacity – even in the most difficult of times.

Spitak proudly acknowledges that solidarity: several municipal
districts bear names such as “Estonian’ “Italian’ “German’, “Swiss’,
and “Uzbek’, in recognition of the support that poured in after the
earthquake from many parts of the world.

“It was a very bad and bitter experience, which I and many of the older
surviving residents lived through at the time but we came through it
and we continue to be determined to build a safer city for our people,”
said Deputy Mayor Vardan Sahakyan.

The 7 December 1988 earthquake is estimated to have killed at least
25,000 people, injured 19,000 and left 500,000 people homeless across
northern Armenia.

The recovery effort in Spitak has tried to absorb the hard lessons
of the tragedy despite many challenges. A safer city has emerged:
the new buildings are more robust, the design of the city has been
modified and key infrastructure has been relocated.

A week ahead of commemorations to mark the 26th anniversary of the
disaster, Deputy Mayor Sahakyan attended a UNISDR Urban Resilience
workshop, hosted at the Armenian Academy of Civil Defence, in Yerevan,
under the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

The forum, organized by UNISDR’s Global Education Training Institute
(GETI), based in Incheon, Republic of Korea, brought together DRR
policymakers and practitioners from five Armenian cities: Aparan,
Akhtala, Gyumri, Spitak and Vanadzor.

Deputy Mayor Sahakyan was suitably impressed; at the closing of the
event he signed up his city of 15,000 people to UNISDR’s Making Cities
Resilient campaign “so that we can share our experience with others
as well as learn from them”.

“Strengthening the resilience of Spitak is a necessity for us and we
also want to reach out to others, as others reached out to us during
our time of need,” Deputy Mayor Sahakyan said.

“We really appreciate the partnership approach and the support it
brings: look at our city with all those different districts named
in honour of countries who supported us; as well as a school built
with support from the Czechs; a hospital built with support from the
Norwegians … I could go on.”

A majority of the 25,000 killed in the 1988 earthquake were children
or adolescents, many of whom were at school at 11.41am, the time
the earthquake occurred. In Spitak and Gyumri – two of the worst hit
cities – 105 out of 131 schools and kindergartens were destroyed.

The Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai,
Japan, in March 2015, is set to launch a global safe schools initiative
and will call on countries and stakeholders to join forces to increase
the safety and resilience of schoolchildren and their schools.

The Making Cities Resilient Campaign now has 2,441 member cities,
which use the campaign’s Ten Essentials checklist as a guide to
reduce the disaster risk of their municipalities. Areas of focus
include organization and coordination with citizen participation;
risk assessments; infrastructure that reduces risk such as flood
drains, safety of schools and health facilities; building regulations
and land use; education; ecosystem protection; emergency management
and recovery.

CROSSING THE TURKISH-ARMENIAN DIVIDE

Los Angeles Times
November 30, 2014 Sunday
Home Edition

BOOK REVIEW;

review by: Lorraine Ali

There Was and There Was Not A Journey Through Hate and Possibility
in Turkey, Armenia, and Beyond Meline Toumani Metropolitan: 304 pp.

At the Armenian American camp Meline Toumani attended each summer in
Massachusetts, she and her fellow campers knew exactly what bonded
them as a people. And no, it wasn’t just their adult-sized noses,
at least one of which elicited the nickname “Gonzo” back at school.

It was the need for recognition — from Turkey and the world —
that the Armenian genocide had indeed happened. Even by grade school,
Toumani knew certain truths that others denied or were oblivious to:
One and a half million Armenians were killed under Ottoman Turkish
rule in 1915. Others were driven out, scattering around the globe in
a huge diaspora.

Toumani, a New York Times reporter who was born in Iran after her
family fled Armenia and raised in New Jersey, spends the first half
of her memoir establishing how central the fight for recognition is
to her people — and how much it shaped her early life.

But as she reaches adulthood, the Turks Are Evil refrain has grown
tired. Toumani writes that she “could no longer stand to attend
any Armenian gathering, because it seemed that whether it was a
poetry reading, a concert, or even a sporting match, it was always,
ultimately, about the genocide.”

So Toumani decides to move to Istanbul as part of a “project”
(this book) in which she’ll try to view the Turks as people rather
than the monsters she’d been told about. The cast of characters she
meets includes Turkish scholars, laymen, snobs and journalists. Some
entirely ignore her when they discover her ethnicity, others become
allies, a few struggle to find something nice to say: Armenians are
good cooks! Above all, they prove to be surprisingly human, with
varying degrees of empathy and denial.

Her impressive reporting and research skills add context as she
takes us through old Armenian ruins and new interpretations of
Turkish history.

At the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara, she describes
a timeline that marks the “shift and jolts” of 3,000 years’ worth
of civilizations. Aegean migrations, the divide of the Roman Empire
and the rise of Byzantium. Then it suddenly skips from 330 to 1071,
to the Seljuk Turks.

“In other words,” she writes, “the hundreds of years that comprised
the height of Armenian civilization in Anatolia — the rise and fall
of several Armenian dynasties and kingdoms — were left out of the
time line all together.”

It’s one of Toumani’s many examples of the country’s seemingly official
stance on Armenians: They don’t exist.

A flood of history, politics and too many characters confuses
Toumani’s goal of a “soft reconciliation,” as she puts it. But it
also dilutes the emotional impact of this book at points. The fiber
needed to bind this together is Toumani herself — and rather than
convey the personal thrill of discovery, she sometimes gets lost in
academic interludes. When this happens, “There Was and There Was Not”
does resemble more of a “project” than a personal journey.

After all, some of the book’s best moments are its least assuming. In
one chapter, Toumani sketches a scene at the Istanbul airport when she
can’t seem to find the designated gate for her flight to Armenia. Then
she spots a familiar crowd of people who “less resemble passengers
in a check-in line than practiced Soviets jockeying for the last loaf
of bread.” Armenians.

Older women with “puffs of blue-black and purple-gray hair,” who wore
“calf-length skirts and smooth blouses, armored bras aiming their
hefty bosoms at ninety degrees, challenging anybody to dare block
their path,” she writes. “There were also a few slender Armenian
girls in skintight jeans, amply rouged, with silky long hair, wearing
stiletto heels and tank tops, fake breasts distorting fake logos. . .

. Yes, here they were, my people.”

Toumani’s final analysis about her experience/experiment in Turkey
is sure to spur arguments on both sides. But with this book, she
gives her people a bit of what they are asking for — recognition —
while considering that there is always another side to the story.

BRAZIL AND URUGUAY SHIFT FROM GREENBACK TO NATIONAL CURRENCIES IN THEIR TRADE

YEREVAN, December 2. /ARKA/. As from Monday December 1, Brazil and
Uruguay are making and collecting bilateral trade payments in local
currencies based on the agreement signed on November 2 by the heads
of the countries’ central banks Alexandre Tombini (Brazil) and Alberto
Graña (Uruguay).

The idea is to strengthen inter-regional trade, RIA Novosti reports.

According to Professor Carlos Francisco Teixeira da Silva from
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, it is a step forward and the
best opportunity for South American countries to get rid of old
US-imposed economic mechanisms.

If successful, this practice will be used also by Paraguay, Bolivia
and Venezuela, da Silva said. -0–

TURKEY, RUSSIA COVERING UP POLITICAL DISCORDS BEHIND ECONOMIC PRAGMATISM

11:17 * 02.12.14

The recent dynamics in the Turkey-Russia relations demonstrates a high
degree of economic interdependence against the backdrop of apparent
conflicts and disagreements over political and military-political
issues, an Armenian expert has said, commenting on Russian Presiden
Vladimir Putin’s working visit to Turkey.

Speaking to Tert.am, Turkologist Levon Hovsepyan said he believes
that the two countries are thus trying to compensate the existing
difficulties in the political domain.

The Turkey-Russia trade-economic and energy cooperation was earlier
reported to be on the agenda of the bilateral council meeting to
be attended also by Russian President Vladimir Putin (who started a
working visit to the country on Monday).

“The economic pragmatism can be said to be covering up the political
discords. Hence the two sides are still trying their utmost to turn
a blind eye to the bilateral conflicts,” Hovsepyan noted.

Asked whether such a scenario is possible given that Russia and
Turkey pursue different political interests and objectives as leading
stakeholders in the Black Sea region and Middle East, the expert said
he thinks that the crisis in Ukraine adds to the Syria conflict as a
major regional problem, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
repeatedly voicing his criticism over what the West perceives as the
annexation of Crimea.

“And Russia is trying to attract Turkey to its side though a close
economic cooperation; Turkey, for its part, is using the Russia
factor as a kind of alternative to its relations with the West. This
problem has been characteristic of the Russian-Turkish relations
in the recent years,” he said, adding that the sides are mutually
trying all their best to offer each other support without hampering
political objectives.

Hovsepyan said he finds that Turkey’s negative stance on the Western
sanctions against Russia signals the logic behind such policies.

Armenian News – Tert.am

NKR PRESIDENT MEETS WITH ITALIAN SENATOR LUIGI MANCONI IN ROME

12:27, 02 Dec 2014

Within the framework of his working visit to Rome Artsakh Republic
President Bako Sahakyan met in the Italian Senate with chairman of
the standing commission on human rights of the Senate Luigi Manconi.

Issues related to the Artsakh-Italy relations were discussed during
the meeting. Special attention was paid to the cooperation in the
sphere of human rights protection.

President Sahakyan highlighted the close cooperation with Europe in
the sphere, emphasizing Italy’s role in this context.

Ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Republic of
Armenia to Italy Sargis Ghazaryan and other officials partook in
the meeting, Central Information Department of the Office of the NKR
President reported.