Author: Kajoyan Gevork

MEPS CONDEMN AZERBAIJAN

16:40, 26 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 26, ARMENPRESS. A roundtable discussion on the
Human Rights situation in Azerbaijan was held on September 24, 2013
in the European Parliament, just two weeks prior to the October 9
presidential elections in Azerbaijan.

The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy informed
“Armenpress” that once more, several members of the European Parliament
criticized the non-protection of Human Rights and the absence of
Democratic values in the country. MEPs highlighted the fact that
politicians, journalists, activists are frequent “guests” of the prison
facilities of Azerbaijan and that the authorities violate basic Human
Rights such as the freedom of expression and the freedom of assembly.

“We want to see free and fair elections. Azerbaijan is the country
which has the highest number of political prisoners among all the
neighborhood countries even more than Belarus” said Ana Gomes (S&D,
Portugal). European External Action Service representative cited that
“Democracy is the main issue to have stable relationship and we will
continue to expect more from Azerbaijan”.

Fuad Muradov, an Azerbaijani MP stated that Europe has no proof to
support accusations about wrongdoings in Azerbaijan, while having the
fastest internet access should count as a sign of progress according
to his colleague and compatriot, Asim Mollazade. Those statements
were criticized sharply by the MEPs, as being far from reflecting
the true situation in Azerbaijan.

EAFJD President, Kaspar Karampetian stated that the blatant violation
of Human Rights in Azerbaijan was strongly highlighted yet again.

“How long will Europe keep its relationship with Azerbaijan on
the level of expectations and wishes? It is high time that Europe
transforms words into actions and starts demanding rather than just
hoping” said Karampetian.

NEWLY BUILT BUTCHERY OF KAPAN IS CAPABLE OF SLAUGHTERING 200 CATTLE IN 8 HOURS

10:00, 26 September, 2013

KAJARAN, SEPTEMBER 26, ARMENPRESS. Within the framework of the visit
to the Syunik Province, the President of the Republic of Armenia
Serzh Sargsyan was in the new butchery in the city of Kapan.

At the course of the conversation with the journalists the Director of
“Gyughart” CJSC Samvel Avetisyan stated that the butchery was built
by “Kapan’s Norogshin” LLC. As reports “Armenpress” the Director of
“Gyughart” CJSC Samvel Avetisyan noted::”The construction works
launched on September of 2012 and they were over in July of the
current year.” In addition the Director of the butchery emphasized
that the total volume of investments reached AMD 550 million.

Among other things the Director of “Gyughart” CJSC Samvel Avetisyan
underscored that the equipments and technologies of German production
were used for the construction of the butchery, which complies the
European standards. The company is capable of slaughtering 200 small
cattle in 8 hours.

L’ACTIVITE ECONOMIQUE DE L’ARMENIE AUGMENTE DE 3,8 POUR CENT EN HUIT MOIS

ARMENIE

Selon les donnees statistiques les plus recentes, publiees par le
Service national de la statistique, l’activite economique de l’Armenie
entre janvier et août 2013 a augmente de 3,8% par rapport a la meme
periode l’an dernier. Les prix a la consommation auraient augmente de
5,3%, tandis que les prix des biens industriels ont augmente de 4,6%.

Pendant la periode consideree, la production industrielle etait en
hausse de 6,2 pour cent en glissement annuel pour atteindre 764,1
milliards de drams, la production agricole a augmente de 7,1 pour
cent a 467 milliards de drams, le secteur de la construction a connu
une baisse de 8,5 % a 193 milliards de drams, le commerce interieur
a augmente de 2,5 pour cent a 1333,9 milliards de drams et celui des
services a augmente de 3,2 pour cent pour atteindre 651,7 milliards
de drams.

Le volume commerce exterieur entre janvier et août 2013 s’elève a
1503,6 milliards de dollars, soit une augmentation de 2,8 pour cent
par rapport a la meme periode en 2012.

jeudi 26 septembre 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

UN REFUSES TO INTERFERE INTO ISSUE OF ARMENIAN REFUGEES’ PLACING IN OCCUPIED AREA OF AZERBAIJAN

Azerbaijan Business Center
Sept 25 2013

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. UN High Commissioner for Refugees declined from
interference into the matter of placement of refugees of Armenian
nationality by Armenia in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

Today in Baku representative of the Office of the High Commissioner
for Refugees Doug Sigurdson has claimed that the Office of the High
Commissioner is informed about this process.

“We’ve received information on the placement of Armenian refugees
in the territory of Nagorno Karabakh and a report on this process
has been sent to the UN headquarters in Geneva and the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan. However, I personally think that
this question should be resolved without UN’s interference, as the
organization has no relation to it,” Sigurdson said.

Armenia has occupied 20% of Azerbaijan’s territory.

V. KOVALENKO: ARMENIA’S DECISION TO JOIN THE CU WILL IMPROVE RUSSIA’S POSITION IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Sept 25 2013

25 September 2013 – 6:16pm

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian
Federation, director of the regional programs of the Caspian
Cooperation Institute Vyacheslav Kovalenko told about Armenia’s
accession to the Customs Union . According to the expert, Armenia’s
accession to the Customs Union will be beneficial for all participating
countries of the CU. September 3, in the course of the Moscow talks,
the presidents of Armenia and Russia – Serzh Sargsyan and Vladimir
Putin – comprehensively discussed the state and prospects of bilateral
alliance partnership and issues of foreign policy cooperation . Heads
of State reaffirmed the focus of Yerevan and Moscow on the further
development of economic integration in Eurasia.

According to the joint statement , President Sargsyan said the
decision of the Republic of Armenia is to join the Customs Union and
make the necessary practical steps , and subsequently, to participate
in the formation of the Eurasian Economic Union . Russian President
Vladimir Putin supported the decision of the Republic of Armenia,
and the Russian side expressed readiness to cooperate fully in this
process. The Customs Union within the Eurasian Economic Community
is a form of trade and economic integration of Russia, Belarus and
Kazakhstan, providing a single customs territory, within which the
mutual trade shall not be subject to customs duties and restrictions
of economic nature , with the exception of special protective,
antidumping and countervailing measures . In addition, the member
states of the Customs Union share a common customs tariff and other
common measures regulating trade with third countries.

PM TO PERSONALLY COORDINATE CUSTOMS UNION ACCESSION TALKS

September 25, 2013 – 19:36 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – A committee led by Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan was
formed to coordinate activities for Armenia’s accession to the Customs
Union, Haykakan Zhamanak daily said quoting Deputy Economy Minister.

“The committee will focus on the discussion of issues to be agreed
with the Customs Union members,” Karine Minasyan said.

As Zhoghovurd daily reported earlier, citing own sources, upon return
from Sochi, President Serzh Sargsyan instructed to form a group of
economy experts and businessmen to assess economic risks for Armenia
in case of accession to the CU.

The group headed by the president of the Union of Manufacturers and
Businessmen (Employers) of Armenia Arsen Ghazaryan will travel to
Moscow September 25 to discuss usage of mechanisms of the common
customs zone with the board chair of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

“Considering the urgency the group was formed with, it’s probable
that Russia is in a hurry to complete Armenia’s accession to the
Customs Union,” the daily said.

YOUNG VILLAGER KILLED IN MINE EXPLOSION AT BORDERLINE REGION OF ARMENIA

YEREVAN, September 25. /ARKA/. Resident of Aygedzor village of
Armenia’s Tavush region was killed in a mine explosion Tuesday,
the press office of Armenian police reported.

According to the report received by the Tavush police department,
26-year-old Edvard Dallakyan was blown up by a mine, left his leg
and died Wednesday night.

“It turned out that around 15:30 on the same day Dallakyan led pigs
from pasture to the village and found himself on a mined area between
Armenian and Azeri positions and was blown up by a mine. He died when
being transported to the villages”, says the report.

Investigation is under way and a forensic examination is arranged.-0–

16:33 25.09.2013

MICHAEL BAGHDASAROV IS ANGRY

September 25 2013

“Armavia” owner ordered not to pay the salaries of the employees who
had applied to court with a claim to receive the bonuses “Armavia”
Air Company’ owner Mikhail Baghdasarov does not like that his former
employees make a demand against him, to the point, the demand is
legal: the former flight stewards demand their bonuses for 3 years
of work. In the conversation with “Aravot”, a group of employees of
“Armavia” told that Baghdasarov was so angry on his former employees
that he ordered not to pay the salaries of about 20 flight stewards,
just for the reason that they have appealed to the court to get their
per diems from “Armavia”. “Baghdasarov was in such a fury that he had
instructed the management not to pay the wages thereof. When this news
reached us, we could not believe, we went to the office to clarify,
one of the directors said that there is an order from above, it is
not our fault. Now, the rest of us are paid the salaries for March-
April, and we went to get ours, they did not give it to us”, – assured
a group of former employees of “Armavia” to “Aravot”. According to
them, they first did not have the intention to apply to the court, but
the persuasion to receive their per diems through the court came from
the State Labor Inspectorate and the RA President’s office, and they
have thought that if such an admonition is made by 2 state systems,
it might be the only way out to get what they earned. “We were told
from the Inspectorate that it would be difficult for them to prove
the bonuses, it would be better to apply to the court. We were also
told from the President’s office that we should resolve these issue by
the court, so, we have applied, but “Armavia” does not care for us,
the representative of “Armavia” did not appear before the court. But
the State Labor Inspectorate does not respond to our request, we wrote
three letters to the President of Armenia to give instruction to the
Inspectorate to give a proceeding to our application, after the 3rd
letter to the President the Inspectorate began to get involved with
our case,”- said the former employees of the airline. To the point,
in our conversation the flight stewards did not want to introduce
themselves, claiming that Michael Baghdasarov would get more furious.

“He has a habit of revenging. To one of our guts, as punishment, he
ordered not to pay salary, or at least pay the last. When this gut
was interested why, Baghdasarov had told ‘you show up by media quite
a lot.” The per diems requested by the former employees applied to
the court is about 500 thousand drams, which Mr. Baghdasarov want to
“wash off”. According to flight stewards, “Those 500 thousand drams
are of no value as of today, because 1-2 years ago this amount cost
at least something, but now we are in need for it, because we do not
have a job, we live in debts.” While the Court would decide the issue
of paying per diems to the formers flight stewards of “Armavia”, the
calculation and payment of workers’ salaries has remained unsettled.

The matter is that the State Labor Inspectorate, which should deal
with defining the salary scales, has been dissolved by the government
decree, and it merged to the sanitary anti-epidemic inspection. And
now, as far as the merging process of these two inspections is not
completed, we were unable to establish a contact with the Inspectorate
to find out at what phase is the issue of salary payment to flight
stewards. And, as the former “Armavia” employees assured, they had
applied to the Inspectorate to regulate the size of the amount of wages
for their work for recent months. According to the flight stewards,
“Armavia” has terminated its flights, and was not exempting us from
work, we were idle for a month and a half, we did not get the order to
be released, in the conversation with the lawyer of the Inspectorate
we found out that pursuant to the law, the salary for the months of
idleness is estimated according to the range of the average salary,
whereas “Armavia” had estimated by the the rate of the salary, which is
40 thousand drams, and our average salary is about 400 thousand drams
and one and a half month will be about 600 thousand drams. Now, there
is no Inspectorate, there is no one to get involved in our case. It
leaves the impression that the Inspectorate is shut down because of
us. Everything is expected to be in this country, the government
prefers to protect oligarchs rather than ordinary employees.” The
former employees of “Armavia” have decided to organize a protest
near the U.S. Embassy, so, as they say, to inform the international
community about how the workers’ rights in Armenia are violated. “So,
what else can we do, we turn to the government, they says that we
do not have leverage to influence, and if you do not have leverage,
write down a resignation letter and leave your office.” The former
employees of “Armavia”, even though they do not have high hopes that
there will be an entity in Armenia that can make a decision against
the businessman Mikhail Baghdasarov, however, to protect their rights
they are going to apply for all possible instances. “We are going to
write a letter to the Ombudsman if this instance also “washes off”
our case, then we’ll hold demonstrations every day.”

Nelly BABAYAN

Read more at:

MEETING OF ARMENIA’S THREE PRESIDENTS ALTERNATIVE TO REVOLUTION – GARNIK ISAGHULYAN

15:57 25.09.13

Chairman of the National Security party Garnik Isagulyan, who worked
with all the three presidents of Armenia, has arrived at the conclusion
that Armenia’s ruling elite has wasted the great potential and capital
it had during the first years of Armenia’s independence to ensure
its own reproduction.

According to him, the only way to salvation besides a revolution is
a meeting of the three presidents of Armenia to discuss the ways out
of the present situation.

“What do we have to do to accumulate national capital? We are faced
with most serious threats. Armenia has never seen a confrontation
between pro-western and pro-Russian forces, which is reflected in
society. It will lead to a split within society,” Isagulyan said.

He has decided to officially apply to the ex-presidents Levon
Ter-Petrosyan and Robert Kocharyan, as well as to Armenia’s incumbent
President Serzh Sargsyan.

“I am going to meet with them and propose a meeting. Thereafter,
I am going to meet with the ex-president of Nagorno-Karabakh Arkady
Ghukasyan and with incumbent President Bako Sahakyan and propose
that they join the format. If they do not consider my proposal to be
adequate, let them undertake,” he said.

He noted that Armenia’s ruling coalition is unable to propose any
solutions through discussions.

“All the claims that the decisions made on September 3 are the
result of serious discussions are, to put it mildly, untrue. The
only mechanism is as follows: an idea from above is supposed to be
mechanically reproduced. This is political incompetence. No one within
the ruling circles is able to raise his voice against the president’s
decision. We need to form a body capable of bringing the issue forward,
and it may be the presidents’ council,” Isagulyan said.

He has addressed his request to Armenia’s president and will reiterate
it in meeting with Serzh Sargsyan – to organize a meeting of Armenia’s
first, second and incumbent presidents.

“This is the only format that enables the proposal of solutions. It
may also be a 3+2 format, that is, the Nagorno-Karabakh ex-president
and incumbent president will participate. A 3+2+2 meeting may be
organized. Also, a meeting between two presidents may be held as well.

But it is not so important. In any case, any format will foster a
combination of ideas,” Isagulyan said.

For the past three years Armenia’s ex-presidents and incumbent
president have not had any contacts, he added.

Armenian News – Tert.am

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT TOURS ARARAT AND VAYOTS DZOR PROVINCES

15:06, September 25, 2013

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan visited the village of Ayntap in
Ararat Provice today to inspect the construction of a new two storey
kindergarten that can accommodate 144 children.

The largest rural community in the province with a population of 8,700,
Ayntap has never had a kindergarten.

Up till now, preschoolers were forced to attend kindergarten in
Yerevan’s Noragavit district or the neighboring town of Masis.

After Ayntap, Sarsgyan visited the newly renovated cultural center
in the town of Vedi and took part in its official opening ceremonies.

The Armenian president then headed to Vayots Dzor where he visited the
RA Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography,
Yerevan State University’s Cork College, and the University of
California’s Gotsen Institute of Archaeology.