Author: Kajoyan Gevork

ALIKRAM HUMMATOV VISITS ARMENIA

APA, Azerbaijan
Sept 24 2013

[ 24 September 2013 12:21 ]

Later, he will leave for Nagorno Karabakh

Baku – APA. Alikram Hummatov, who declared “Talish-Mughan Republic”
in Azerbaijan’s southern region in 1993, was deprived of citizenship
after his arrest and deported from the country, is visiting Armenia.

APA reports quoting Armenia today that the visit aims to attend the
opening of “Talish studies” at the Department of Iranian Studies in
Yerevan State University.

It is reported that Hummatov will meet with representatives of academic
and political circles of Armenia. Following this, he will leave for
Nagorno Karabakh to deliver a lecture at “Artsakh University”.

ALL ARMENIAN BISHOPS TO GATHER TOGETHER

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Sept 24 2013

24 September 2013 – 1:26pm

Armenia’s Echmiadzin will host a meeting of bishops and will be
attended by Armenian Catholicos Karekin II and Catholicos of the Holy
See of Cilicia Aram I today, News Armenia reports.

Vagram Melikyan, spokesman of Echmiadzin said that such meeting had
been held in Jerusalem in 1651. Bishops will discuss a wide range of
problems: baptism, publication of mass book stored at the Matenadaran
Institute for Ancient Manuscripts, restoration of the tradition for
canonization (the Armenian Church stopped the procedure in the 15th
century), secular and ecclesiastic life.

Participants of the talks plan to set a common baptism ritual.

ARMENIA: FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE GETS 14 YEARS FOR ALLEGED MURDER CONSPIRACY

EurasiaNet.org
Sept 24 2013

September 24, 2013 – 3:42am, by Elizabeth Owen

One of Armenia’s stranger political dramas reached a concluding
chapter on September 23 with the sentencing of former presidential
candidate Vartan Sedrakian to 14 years in prison for the attempted
murder of fellow former candidate Paruyr Hayrikian.

The storyline might almost fit one of the Armenian epic poems in
which Sedrakian is a self-described expert. Hayrikian, a Soviet-era
dissident, was shot and wounded on a Yerevan street on January 31,
a few weeks before the February 18 presidential election. After
considerable vacillation by Hayrikian, the election was not delayed,
but speculation over the shooting simmered on.

Sedrakian, who, like Hayrikian, was never considered a prime contender
for presidential office, was arrested in March for allegedly arranging
the shooting. He maintains his innocence and, according to his
lawyer, plans to appeal the ruling against him to the Strasbourg,
France-based European Court of Human Rights, a body which many South
Caucasus residents tend to look on as a sort of US-style Supreme Court.

He charges that prosecutors never identified his motive and that
the two men who allegedly attacked Hayrikian later withdrew their
confessions, RFE/RL reported.

The duo, Khachatur Poghosian, the alleged gunman, and Samvel
Harutiunian, received 14 and 12-year prison sentences, respectively.

Sedrakian, an occultist who predicted his own arrest, earlier had
conceded that both men had worked for him as house painters. Reasons
for his admitting such a detail if he had commissioned them to kill
Hayrikian have not been made clear. He initially lay blame for the
shooting on the Freemasons.

Hayrikian, who claims that he has survived six previous assassination
attempts, said, of course, that he doesn’t believe Sedrakian is the
brains of the operation, but that, at this point, “I care very little
about” the court ruling, Aysor reported.

Some critics may say the reason for that indifference is all too
clear. In April, in what many claimed was an attempt to hush up the
outcry over the affair, the government handed over 20.5-million drams
(about $50,000) to Hayrikian in recognition of his “contribution to
[Armenia’s] independence.” Officials maintained that the money was
for treatment of his wounds. With the case against Sedrakian closed,
the government now may well be heaving a sigh of relief. The attempt on
Hayrikian did little to reverse Armenia’s reputation for election-time
violence. In 2008, ten people died during clashes between police
and a crowd protesting election results that named Serzh Sargsyan
as president.

Sargsyan again swept the polls this year. Hayrikian finished with
just over one percent of the vote, while Sedrakian did not make it
to one percent.

HAYRIKYAN ON SEDRAKYAN VERDICT: “. . . BACK TO IMPERIALIST RUSSIA”

NEWS | 24.09.13 | 17:15

Photolure

By SIRANUYSH GEVORGYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

The aggrieved party and the defendant in the attempted assassination
case against former presidential candidate Paruyr Hayrikyan are both
unhappy with yesterday’s court verdict meant to settle a criminal
case arising from last winter’s presidential election campaign.

The final court hearing on Monday ended with a guilty verdict,
sentencing defendant Vardan Sedrakyan, also former presidential
candidate known as an epos expert, to 14 years of imprisonment for
attempted assassination against Hayrikyan. The court found the other
two defendants, Khachik Poghosyan and Samvel Harutyunyan, guilty of
organizing and implementing the assassination attempt and sentenced
to 14 and 12 years, respectively.

While Sedrakyan’s defense attorney claims the court has brought
in an unfair verdict and failed to prove his client’s guilt, that
Sedrakyan had nothing to do with the crime he is now convicted for,
adding that he would appeal the verdict and take it up to the European
Court of Human Rights, Hayrikyan states his “disappointment with how
the case proceeded”.

During his Tuesday meeting with the press Hayrikyan did not rule out
the chance of him, too, appealing the verdict, however he would not
be challenging the sentence, because he believes it is the minimum for
such a crime. He says the court did not carry out full examination of
the case and that it should summon “those people who came as witnesses
during the preliminary investigation and who had given $100,000 to the
mastermind as a gift”. Hayrikyan believes that only by questioning
those people it would be possible “to come close to the person who
gave the order”.

Former Soviet dissident Hayrikyan, who regards Russian “imperialist
powers” and KGB as the mastermind behind the crime against him,
went even further today stating that “the supporters of reinstating
Russian imperialism started Armenia’s ‘voluntary’ membership in the
Customs Union (CU) by the gunshots fired at him on January 31, and
ended by Serzh Sargsyan’s September 3 statement on joining the CU”.

“The European Union is offering, the Customs Union is forcing, the
EU is advancing, the CU is regressing back to the USSR the Armenian
people gave up in September of 1991 by 94 percent of votes. Russia –
the axis of the CU – being Armenia’s strategic partner is supplying
mass destruction weapon to Aliyev threatening to resume the war against
Armenia,” Hayrikyan said, expressing his position on Armenia’s joining
the CU.

ARMENIA AND GREECE TO SIGN DEFENSE COOPERATION PROGRAM FOR 2014

September 24, 2013 | 15:43

YEREVAN. – Armenia and Greece will sign a defense cooperation program
for 2014 during the ceremony in Yerevan on Wednesday.

The delegation headed by Chief of General Staff of the Greek Armed
Forces, General Mikhail Kostarakos will be welcomed at the Armenian
Defense Ministry on Wednesday.

Later Mikhail Kostarakos is expected to meet with the Chief of the
Armenian Armed Forces, Major General Yuri Khachaturov. The sides will
issue a joint statement.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

NEW MEDICAL CENTER OPENS IN STEPANAKERT

13:53 24.09.2013

On 24 September President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Bako
Sahakyan participated in a solemn ceremony of opening the new complex
of the Republican Medical Center in Stepanakert, Central Information
Department of the Office of the NKR President reported.

According to Bako Sahakyan, the work of the state’s central medical
institution will give a qualitatively new impetus to the sphere of
healthcare development in Artsakh, prevention, diagnosis and treatment
of various diseases.

Bako Sahakyan expressed gratitude to national philanthropist Samvel
Karapetyan for constructing a new complex of the Republican Medical
Center, stressing that it was the best manifestation of patriotism
and devotion to the native people.

NKR second President Arkady Ghoukasyan, RA National Assembly speaker
Hovik Abrahamyan, First Lady of Armenia Rita Sargsyan, Primate of the
Artsakh diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Archbishop Pargev
Martirosyan, speaker of the NKR National Assembly Ashot Ghoulyan,
Prime Minister Ara Haroutyunyan, member of the British Parliament’s
House of Lords Baroness Caroline Cox, officials from Artsakh and
Armenia, numerous guests from abroad partook in the solemn ceremony,

ARMENIA CAN BECOME SCIENTIFIC-TECHNOLOGICAL CENTRE OF CUSTOMS UNION: ANALYST

12:30, 24 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has all chances to become
a scientific-technological centre and country of craftsmanship in the
Customs Union. Political scientist Levon Shirinyan stated this at the
course of the press conference held on September 24. The political
scientist touched upon the privileges and disadvantages of Armenia’s
decision to join the Customs Union.

As reports “Armenpress” among other Levon Shirinyan underscored that
Russia does not need poor and weak Armenia without willpower, hence
our development is inevitable.

In the result of the negotiations on September 3, 2013 in Moscow
the Presidents Sargsyan and Putin confirmed the aim of the Republic
of Armenia and the Russian Federation in the direction of further
development of economic integration processes in the Eurasian
territory. In that context the President of the Republic of Armenia
Serzh Sargsyan announced about the Armenia’s decision to join the
Customs Union and the necessity of implementation corresponding steps
for that aim and in future about participating in formation of the
Eurasian economic union. The President of the Russian Federation
Vladimir Putin expressed his support to the abovementioned decision
of Armenia and informed about the readiness of the Russian side to
support the process.

THE BISHOPS’ SYNOD OF THE HOLY ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH COMMENCES AT THE MOTHER SEE OF HOLY ETCHMIADZIN

13:31 24.09.2013

On September 24, in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, His Holiness
Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians;
and His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia,
presided over the opening of the Bishop’s Synod of the Armenian
Church. Present at the meeting were 62 Archbishops and Bishops from
the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and the Great House of Cilicia.

Attending the opening ceremony was Mr. Serzh Sargsyan, President of
the Republic of Armenia. Following the recitation of Lord’s Prayer,
the clergymen then extended their prayers to God, exhorting repose for
the recently departed souls of Archbishop Shahan Svajian, Archbishop
Artvazd Trtryan and for the souls of all the deceased clergymen. The
Catholicos of All Armenians then welcomed the clergymen and invited
Mr. Serzh Sargsyan to address the participants of the Synod.

Following the President’s speech, His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos
of All Armenians; His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of Cilicia; and His
Eminence Archbishop Aram Ateshyan, Patriarchal Vicar of Constantinople,
gave their opening remarks.

ARAVOT: EUROPE WOULD GIVE US NOTHING IN COMING 10 YEARS

12:53 24/09/2013 ” DAILY PRESS

“We did not expect great results with Europe. Europe exports high
technological goods, while Armenia only exports raw materials, which
are cheap and do not provide big income. Besides, Europe is our second
partner with which we have commodity circulation, mostly made up of
raw goods. Europe would give us nothing new. This could be possible
in the future, but we would have no benefit in the coming 10 years,”
member of Armenian National Congress (ANC) party’s political council
Zoya Tadevosyan told Aravot.

Source: Panorama.am

SARGSYAN BLASTS MILITARY ALLIES OVER PRO-AZERI STATEMENTS ON KARABAKH

NEWS | 24.09.13 | 11:43

Photo:

By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan made some tough statements at a
session of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Council
in Sochi on Monday, criticizing some members for their statements on
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Sargsyan, who was on a working visit to Russia accompanied by Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian, said that “contrary to the decisions
adopted by ourselves some Member States at other platforms and in
other organizations make statements on the same matter that are not
consonant with the decisions made within the framework of the CSTO.”

“Let me give you just one example: in our documents, including in
the Moscow statement issued in December last year, we underlined
the importance of settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict peacefully
through the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on the
basis of the UN Charter, principles and norms of international law
that specifically relate to the nonuse of force or threat of force,
equality of peoples and self-determination, and territorial integrity,”
said Sargsyan, according to the official website of the President. He
added that in recent years documents have been adopted that, including
at the presidential level, selectively, based on suggestions of the
Azerbaijani side, single out the principle of territorial integrity.

President Sargsyan made the statement perhaps taking into account
the fact that three of the CSTO member states, namely Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, are also members of the Islamic Conference
organization, which has a distinctly pro-Azerbaijani position in
the Karabakh issue. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are also members of
the union embracing Turkic states and their officials have stated in
Baku that the Karabakh problem must be settled within the framework
of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.

Russia and Belarus, the other two members of the CSTO apart from
Armenia, also have friendly relations with Azerbaijan. These two
states have regularly sold weapons to Azerbaijan.

“Naturally, many countries have their own interests with Azerbaijan,
but we cannot in any way agree that this relationship leads to the
adoption of documents that affect the security interests of CSTO member
states and, in general, are against the organization’s reputation,”
said Sargsyan, adding that the subject is particularly topical in
view of the Azeri president’s anti-Armenian rhetoric and against the
backdrop of constant threats from the Azeri leadership to use force
against civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Referring to the Syrian crisis, the president of Armenia confirmed
that he welcomes the Russian- American agreements aimed at the peaceful
resolution of the conflict.

In his speech Sargsyan also sought support from CSTO member states for
Armenia’s acquiring the observer status at the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO). Sargsyan confirmed Armenia’s interest in that
organization, which, according to him, has a great contribution in
promoting peace, security and stability.

The SCO was founded in 2001 and its members are Russia, Kyrgyzstan,
Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, China and Uzbekistan; among those having
observer status at the organization are Afghanistan, India, Iran,
Mongolia and Pakistan. Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan
expressed Armenia’s desire to have an observer status at this
organization during his recent visit to China.