Author: Kajoyan Gevork

RA Prosecutor General: No Response Yet from Cyprus Regarding “Off
Shore” Investigation

13:55, August 3, 2013

In response to a Hetq inquiry, Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s Office
has stated that is has yet to receive any written reply from the
Cypriot Prosecutor General regarding its requests for assistance in
the recent offshore financial imbroglio involving Armenian Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan and a high ranking Armenian Church clergyman.

Hetq broke the story in June, after uncovering documents showing
Sargsyan and Archbishop Kjoyan as shareholders in a Cypriot registered
company.

On July 2, RA Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan personally handed
some twenty legal requests to his Cypriot counterpart, Petros
Clerides, asking that Cypriot law enforcement agencies look into the
matter.

At the time, Clerides was visiting Yerevan to attend a meeting of the
chief prosecutors of several European and former Soviet states.

The Armenian Diocese in Georgia
18, Armazi Street, 0103, Tbilisi, Georgia
Phone: +995322546411
Cell: +995593397170
Fax: +995322751790
Email: [email protected]
Website:
Facebook:

Diocese of Armenian Apostolic
Orthodox Holy Church in Georgia
Press release / 3 August 2013

Donations Collected by Tbilisi Armenian Community to Help the Syrian
Armenians Were Transferred to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin Some
Armenian non-governmental organizations of Tbilisi, responding to the
call of His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, to help
our brothers and sisters – Armenians of Syria, organized a variety of
events during which the amount to help the Armenians of Syria has been
collected. RA Embassy to Georgia, the `Hayartun’ Cultural Center at
the Armenian Diocese in Georgia, Gary Davtyan Puppet and Culture
House, online magazine `Armenian Art Hall’, non-governmental
organization `Community of Armenians in Georgia’, the branch of the
International Association “Pan-Armenian Games” in Georgia, the clergy
of the Diocese, the businessmen, artists and the members of Tbilisi
Armenian community also participated in the charitable
activities. 5000 U.S. dollars donated in total, with the blessing and
through the mediation of the Primate of the Diocese, His Grace Bishop
Vazgen Mirzakhanyan, were transferred to the Mother See of Holy
Etchmiadzin.

The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin has already given 200 thousand
U.S. dollars to Syrian Armenian Relief Fund, and then delivered
another 200 thousand U.S. dollars, where the donations of the Armenian
community of Georgia made a small portion.

Levon Isakhanyan
Adviser to the Head of the Armenian Diocese in Georgia
Head of the Legal Department of the Diocese
18, Armazi Street
0103 Tbilisi, Georgia
Phone: +995 32 2546411
Cell: +995 597 313313
Fax: +995 32 2751790
Email (personal): [email protected]
Email (professional): [email protected]
Skype: levon.isakhanyan

Writers’ Union chairman was skeptical whether civil society would form
in Armenia

August 03, 2013 | 12:56

YEREVAN. – Before the last protests in capital city Yerevan, Writers’
Union of Armenia Chairman Levon Ananyan was skeptical on whether or
not there would ever be samples of a civil society in the country.

Ananyan himself noted the aforesaid during a press conference on Saturday.

He also stated that what recently occurred in Yerevan was not
instructed, but rather something spontaneous.

`That is, it did not occur from the perspective of political
interests. All that was a spontaneous clear blink, which our
government fortunately took into account,’ Levon Ananyan added.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, the Yerevan Municipality
recent decision to increase the public transport fares in the city had
brought about outbursts, several groups were formed in the social
networks, and the initiatives were staging protests and distributing
pamphlets against this decision. In addition, the Free Car initiative
was launched, along the lines of which Armenia’s numerous well-known
personalities, MPs, and ordinary residents were providing – with their
own vehicles – free transportation to the people.

And on July 25, Mayor Taron Margaryan suspended the decision on the
fare hike; but the wave of the aforesaid movement is still alive. The
activists demand that the persons, who made the decision on raising
the transport fares, be brought to account, and those officials, who
used violence against and cursed at the activists, be punished.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

40,000 Armenians Did Not Return By Air

During the first half of this year 363,009 people left Armenia via
Zvartnots Airport. According to the General Civil Aviation Department
adjunct to the government, 330,484 people arrived in the same period.
The negative balance is 32,525.

In Shirak Airport of Gyumri, 19,693 people departed and 12,339 arrived
during the first half of the year. The negative balance is 7,354.

13:26 03/08/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:

WHO MADE A THREATENING PHONE CALL TO A HETQ REPORTER?

19:19, August 1, 2013

Four months after Hetq reporter Ani Hovhannisyan received a threatening
phone call from a number registered in Russia, Armenian police have
made little headway in tracking down the culprit.

On May 8, the caller threatened Hovhannisyan, saying that if she
proceeded to “stick her nose in things that don’t concern her it
would turn out badly for her and her family members.”

The police got a court order obligating telephone providers ArmenTel,
VivaCell and Orange Armenia to say whether or not they had issued
roaming status to the telephone number in question.

If so, the companies were requested to provide a transcript of all
incoming and outgoing calls and other related data. It turns out that
ArmenTel was able to provide transcripts of all incoming and outgoing
calls made by subscribers to the number in question. As a result,
five people were interrogated by police.

Armenian investigators then contacted Russian law enforcement,
requesting that they reveal who actually is the prime owner of the
telephone number.

Armenian investigators told Hetq that the pre-investigation is still
underway. Given this unacceptable delay, Hetq is asking the assistance
of the public.

The telephone number is 0079260042178. If anyone has information
regarding this number please contact the Hetq office at +374 10 563363

ARMENIA’S GOVERNMENT DETERMINES SOCIAL HOUSING BENEFICIARIES

YEREVAN, August 2. /ARKA/. Armenian government approved the list of
citizen categories entitled to public welfare homes at its meeting
Thursday.

The minister of labor and social affairs Artem Asatryan said the
list comprises of four categories – orphans, socially vulnerable
families that are guardians of under-aged, lonely pensioners with no
job and one-parent families (if the second parent died or the first
one adopted the child).

The social housing program started in 2003.

“In 2003 we had 599 orphans needing housing. Under the program 236
of them received homes”, the minister said.

Armenia’s premier Tigran Sargsyan instructed the minister to get NGOs
involved in the public welfare home program to avoid misuses.

As of the end of June, a total of about 114,000 families (418,000
people) were receiving social benefits and one-time payments.-0-

– See more at:

A DANGEROUS MYTH

August 1 2013

The false assertion of NKR Defense Army commander Movses Hakobyan
that Levon Ter-Petrosyan visited Karabakh for the first time in 1996
fully fits in the “concept” adopted by the government in 1998, and
so far used by the authorities, the goal of which is to derogate the
role of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces in the Karabakh
war. While there should be some kind of Articles on immunity where
contemporary political situation does not penetrate; distortion of
the national liberation struggle, the current official mythology
directly hit not “previous authorities”, but the self-consciousness
of our people. Living without legends, of course, is impossible. Levon
Ter-Petrosyan and his fans also have their own mythology. According to
it, in 1990-1998 there was a constitutional order operating in Armenia
(just for this reason the goal of their program is “to restore it”),
the authorities was not corrupt, they were holding free and fair
elections, and no one was pursued for political views, there was
a freedom of rallies and speech. This tale is honestly belived not
only by the young parties (ANC members) that were little kids at the
time (which is normal), but also by those who were in power at the
time and definitely knew that the aforesaid ‘pink’ assertations
do not meet the reality. But, knowing on the level of conscious
and accepting spiritually-heartedly, as we know, are different
things. Other parties are not also apart from the myths. For example,
the Dashnak party and the PAP party think that Robert Kocharyan has
been elected president twice, and during his tenure there was such an
economic well-being that people were blessing their president and the
government every hour. And now Paruyr Hayrikyan and his followers,
based on Hayrikyan’s character, build myths around “Hayrikyan”
phenomenon: he has always said and did the right things, he has
established and predicted everything, and all the other politicians,
when they were listening to his prophecy, everything was good, but
when they were not listening to him, the things were going bad. But,
I repeat, all of these myths are more innocent and inoffensive than
the tales that the representatives of the authorities coming to power
after 1998 were inventing about the Artsakh liberation war and the
role of the first president of Armenia. Because, this “modern”
mythology directly discredits our most important achievement, and,
thus, is directed against our national security. And, in general,
not just politicians and political parties have their own mythology,
but also we, ordinary people, all of us without exception. It has
one ‘antidote’: without giving rise to superstitions, with open
eyes and hearts adopt what is contrary to our ‘private’ mythology.

ARAM ABRAHAMYAN

Read more at:

ARMENIE LA FOI DES MONTAGNE

La Nouvelle Republique, France
31 juillet 2013

Indre et Loire – du vendredi 06/09/2013 au mercredi 25/09/2013

En Armenie, premier Etat chretien du monde, l´Evangile s´enracine
dans une antique civilisation du Proche-Orient et resiste, jusqu´au
martyre et meme au genocide, a tous les assauts de l´histoire.

Aujourd´hui on compte 8 millions de chretiens armeniens dans le monde.

En Armenie, ils representent 98% de la population. Ce parcours
didactique et largement illustre nous entraine aux sources d´une
histoire nationale, a la rencontre d´un peuple et d´une culture
toujours bien vivante.

Une invitation aussi a mieux connaître l´Œuvre d´Orient et
ses missions, aux côtes des eveques, des pretres et des communautes
religieuses d´Armenie et des paroisses armeniennes dans tout le
Moyen-Orient depuis plus d´un siècle.

UKRAINE PARLIAMENT SENDS BACK BILL ON ALLEGED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Aug 1 2013

1 August 2013, 20:22 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova

Ukrainian Rada (parliament) has refused to discuss the so-called
Armenian genocide issue.

The human rights and interethnic relations committee of the Ukrainian
parliament refused to submit a draft law on the recognition of the
alleged World War I-era genocide to the legislature for discussions.

Ethnic Armenian members of the Verkhovna Rada, Arsen Avakov (Yulia
Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna or Fatherland party) and Vilen Shatvoryan
(the ruling Party of Regions), had prepared the draft resolution and
the bill was registered by the Rada secretariat.

The parliamentary committee deemed adoption of such a document by
the Ukrainian parliament as “contrary to the reality.”

Members of the committee pointed out that such documents could be
passed only after historians study the issue and arrive at a common
decision. Moreover, passage of such a document could undermine the
friendship among the nations living in Ukraine, they said.

In this regard, a message signed by a group of Rada members has been
sent to the Ukrainian Azerbaijanis Congress. The message says the bill
was sent back and there is no need for any discontent of Azerbaijanis
and other Turkic-speaking peoples living in Ukraine.

In June, the Congress of Ukrainian Azerbaijanis (CUA), Azerbaijani
Youth Association of Ukraine and representatives of the Azerbaijani
Council of Elders in Ukraine sent a statement to Ukrainian President
Viktor Yanukovych. The statement said the draft resolution is of
serious concern to the Turkic-speaking peoples living in Ukraine,
especially the Azerbaijanis.

Armenia commemorates the alleged “Armenian genocide” on April 24 each
year. Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that Turkey’s predecessor,
the Ottoman Empire, committed genocide in 1915 against Armenians,
an allegation dismissed by Ankara.

Their efforts have even resulted in the recognition of the “Armenian
genocide” by the parliaments of several countries.

Historians note that during those developments, Armenians began an
uprising, taking up arms against Turkey. To counter those actions,
the Ottoman Empire decided to resettle the Armenians. The latter claim
that their predecessors were subjected to genocide in the process.

TURKISH SHEPHERD SHOT DEAD BY ARMENIAN SOLDIERS AT BORDER

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Aug 1 2013

KARS – Anadolu Agency

A Turkish shepherd who crossed into Armenia from the eastern province
of Kars has been shot dead by Armenian soldiers patrolling the border,
Kars Gov. Eyup Tepe said today.

Mustafa Ulker, 35, had illegally passed to the Armenian side from
the province’s Arpacay district after reportedly going to retrieve
a lost sheep.

“One of our citizens has lost his life. The Armenian side wants to
return [his body]. Our brigade commander assistant and district
governor is at the border. We will receive our citizen’s [body]
probably from the east gate,” said Tepe.

“We can say that there is a use of excessive force when we consider
that he [Ulker] had no gun,” Tepe said.

Ulker crossed over the border on foot to bring back one of his lost
sheep when he was shot by Armenian soldiers late July 31.

Akyaka District Gov. Osman Ugurlu previously said late July 31 that
Ulker returned to the border when he realized that one of his animals
was missing. “The animal was probably giving birth there. This incident
took place when he returned to retrieve the animal.”

August/01/2013