Author: Kajoyan Gevork

ZHOGHOVURD: ARMENIA’S ECONOMY MINISTRY SPENDS AMD 0.5M ON WORKING DINNER WITH EU OFFICIALS

09:19 ~U 19.06.13

Armenia’s Ministry of Economy has reportedly spent about 0.5
million Drams ($1,500) on a working dinner held on the sidelines
of the EU-Armenia Nuclear Security, Transport and Environmental
Sub-committee’s recent session.

According to the paper, the Ministry has managed to organize all that
through the Renco Armestate Company, which provided the necessary
financial assistance. The paper says it contacted the Company on
Thursday to know more about its activities. It has turned out Renco
Armestate is engaged in architectural development and maintains
leading positions in the sector.

Armenian News – Tert.am

THE DESTRUCTION PROJECT OF LAKE SEVAN AND THE DECISION OF THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

June 18 2013

“Today, lake Sevan is not dying, it is reviving”,- announced Vladimir
Movsissyan, the Chairman of Committee to the President of Armenia on
lake Sevan problems during today’s meeting with journalist. Aravot.am
inquired from the director of “Ecolur” NGO Inga Zarafyan whether
she concurs with such observation. She answered,- “I’m curious what
justification is there for such a statement. I will ask whether
the quality of water is improved. Today, artificial food is filled
into lake Sevan for increasing the fish, which contains nitrogen
and phosphorus. Did anyone assess the pilot project as to how it
affected the ecosystem of lake Sevan? Did the Commission provide a
systematic approach? Agriculture We do not see anything good in lake
Sevan in terms of agriculture. We know that treatment plants are being
built, but they do not actually work. It is mine industry that has a
negative impact on lake Sevan. And if the water rises, it promotes the
process of self-purification to go. Only this, the remaining should be
explored. Serious studies have not been carried out, funds have not
been allocated. Funds are allocated to incomprehensible things. For
example, funds are invested for artificial multiplication of trout,
when the operation of the small hydropower plants disturbs the
natural reproduction of trout. The project proposal is submitted to
the National Assembly for one year that the small hydropower plants
can not be built on the basin of lake Sevan, but we have already
those of illegally constructed.” The President of Green Union Hakob
Sanasaryan said,- “To say that lake Sevan revives, I think it was
the wrong question. The state policy towards lake Sevan is tough
and unjustified. We should not politicize the issue of lake Sevan,
it is a dark issue, starting from the tunnel. If they are talking
about the lake Sevan, let them find out how it happened that the
Ministry of Environmental Protection gave a positive conclusion to
the gold-polymetallic mine located on Amul mountain. In fact, today,
the authorities of Armenia are implementing a destruction project of
lake Sevan. A dozen years later lake Sevan will become a dead lake. The
Commission should deal with this issue first”. Tatev HARUTYUNYAN

Read more at:

© 1998 – 2013 Aravot – News from Armenia

L’ARMENIE NEGOCIE AVEC LA RUSSIE LE PRIX DU GAZ

Le gouvernement armenien semble pret a vendre sa part des 20% du
reseau de distribution de gaz domestique a Gazprom, le geant russe,
afin de subventionner le prix du gaz naturel livre en Armenie.

Le geant russe de l’energie a revele lundi soir que son directeur
general, Alexeï Miller, a discute de cette question a Moscou avec le
ministre de l’Energie et des Ressources naturelles armenien, Armen
Movsisian. Le prix du gaz russe est passe officiellement a 270 millions
de dollars par millier de mètres cubes en avril. Une subvention de 30%
promis par le gouvernement permettra aux menages de payer moins cher.

Les fonctionnaires armeniens ont dit qu’Erevan cherche des ” fonds
russes ” pour financer la subvention. Mais ils n’ont pas donne de
details sur cet arrangement jusqu’a present.

Le gouvernement aurait deja cede sa part des 20% l’annee dernière pour
masquer une hausse secrète du prix du gaz russe et pour s’assurer que
les Armeniens ne soient pas affectes par celle-ci jusqu’a l’election
presidentielle de fevrier 2013. Les representants du gouvernement ont
nie cette allegation. Toutefois, les donnees douanières armeniennes
ont montre que l’Armenie a paye beaucoup plus pour le gaz russe que
ce qui etait officiellement declare en 2012.

Les deputes de l’opposition ont critique l’action du gouvernement qui
souhaite placer la societe armenienne sous contrôle russe. Gazprom
detient actuellement 80% du reseau de gaz. ” Cela montre encore une
fois que nos autorites ne sont pas capables de faire quoi que ce
soit “, a declare Artsvik Minasian de la Federation Revolutionnaire
Armenienne (FRA).” Ils peuvent declarer que nous allons obtenir une
subvention, mais nous ne l’obtiendrons pas. ”

Un autre opposant, Aram Manoukian du Congrès national armenien (HAK),
a affirme : ” Ils vendent leur part pour s’accrocher au pouvoir et
pour resoudre leurs problèmes politiques. ”

mercredi 19 juin 2013, Laetitia ©armenews.com

US REJECT CLAIMS THAT TURKEY PROTESTS PLANNED BY AMERICAN THINK TANK

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
June 18 2013

The US State Department has rejected reports in Turkish media which
claimed that the ongoing protests in Turkey were planned by the
American Enterprise Institute (AEI) with the help of the Jewish lobby
and the Armenians.

“We absolutely reject the accusations that US groups or individuals
are responsible for or have elevated — or escalated, I should
actually say — the protests in Turkey,” Jen Psaki, the US State
Department spokeswoman, at a daily briefing late Monday.

After consecutive statements were issued by the international
community expressing concern over nationwide protests, the Turkish
government reacted harshly to the Western powers and accused “foreign
fingers” of manipulating the demonstrations.

When Psaki was asked about the limits of a US ambassador, who is
working abroad, in terms of this interference within the domestic
policy of another country, the US spokeswoman said the ambassador,
referring to the US ambassador to Turkey, was calling for the same
things publicly and privately other US officials have been calling
for.

“Being on the ground is something entirely different. Working closely
with counterparts he’s known for a number of years is certainly
different. But one individual can’t change what’s happening on the
ground. He can just continue to add to the chorus of people who are
calling for restraint and calling for calm in handling this moving
forward,” Psaki added.

Psaki was also asked if the US thinks both sides, demonstrators and
the police, are using equal amounts of violence during the protests,
and she replied that the reported violence did not come from those she
termed the “peaceful protesters.”

“We have seen some incidents or some reports of violence or escalation
from all sides. So certainly we would encourage that from all sides,
but I’m not equating them,” she said, adding: “We believe and still
believe — and we said this, I think, on the first day — that the
vast majority of people here are peacefully protesting, expressing
their rights to freedom of speech. We are not on the ground. There
will be investigations into what happened on the ground. So we don’t
know all of the entities of it, but that’s how it started, and we
still feel the vast majority of people are doing just that.”

Psaki also maintained that the US was confident that Turkish
authorities will be able to do a “thorough and complete investigation”
regarding reports of police violence.

;jsessionid=1ACE1A49BF7CEA0B1BD90C1373F52B5C?newsId=318642&columnistId=0

ARMENIA SNUBS RUSSIA AFTER GAS PRICE HIKE

Business New Europe
June 18 2013

Clare Nuttall in Astana
June 18, 2013

An apparent Russian attempt to use energy supplies to force Armenia,
one of its closest allies, to choose membership of the Customs Union
over closer association with the EU, appears to have failed. With
a hike in the price of Russian gas coming into effect, Yerevan said
it’s looking at alternative suppliers like Iran and holding talks on
the sale of its largest hydroelectric power plants to a US company.

Armenia’s Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) announced
on June 7 that consumers will pay AMD156,000 ($374) per 1,000 cubic
meters of gas, 18% higher than the current rate of AMD132,000. This
figure is still well below the 60% price hike requested by gas
distributor ArmRusGasProm after Russia increased its wholesale gas
export price. Since Armenia generates some of its electricity at
gas-fired power stations, electricity prices are also going up in July,
sparking a wave of anti-Russian sentiment in this relatively poor
country. A small group of protesters gathered outside the Russian
embassy in Yerevan on June 5 and at the PSRC building on June 7,
calling for Gazprom to go home.

To avoid a more widespread popular backlash, the Armenian government
has been forced to introduce costly subsidies for energy customers,
with Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan announcing on May 16 that the
government would subsidise consumer gas prices by as much as 30%,
as well as providing support for poor families. There are also
concerns that the increase in energy prices will spark a sharp rise
in inflation.

Given Armenia’s high poverty rate, energy pricing is a highly
sensitive political issue. Opposition MPs have accused the government
of striking a secret deal with Russia not to increase gas prices
until after the 2013 elections. The government only confirmed the
widely anticipated price increase after Serzh Sargsyan was returned to
the presidency in February, and his party emerged victorious in the
May local elections. At a parliament session on June 12, Energy and
Natural Resources Minister Armen Movsisyan even claimed he couldn’t
remember when the agreement had been signed, Arka reported.

Choosing sides

The decision to raise the gas price is believed to be linked to
Armenia’s pursuit of an EU Association Agreement, which includes the
development of political, trade, social, cultural and security links
between the two. As Yerevan moves closer to Europe, the prospect that
Armenia will join the Russia-led Customs Union, which also includes
Kazakhstan, Belarus and soon Kyrgyzstan, becomes less likely. While
Ukraine is Moscow’s top target for Customs Union membership, Armenia
has long been one of Russia’s closest allies, so the move westwards
is a blow for Moscow.

“The gas price increase is part of a broader effort to switch to market
conditions and end state subsidies, but there is also a political
dimension,” Richard Giragosian, director of the Regional Studies Cente
in Yerevan, tells bne. “The scale of the price increase indicated that
Russia is using energy as leverage to deter integration with the EU.”

However, Giragosian believes that the pressure from Russia was “too
little, too late”, coming as it did when Armenia was already at an
advanced stage of negotiations with the EU. “Armenia has made it
clear to Moscow that it will proceed to the Vilnius summit,” he says.

Having chosen its path towards the EU, the Armenian government has
been looking for alternatives to the current dependence on Russian
gas imports. But because of the country’s geo-political situation,
these are limited.

Armenia’s neighbour Azerbaijan is one of the Caspian region’s largest
oil and gas producers, but the hostile relationship between the two
countries effectively rules out any gas from there. Azeri officials
seem to have enjoyed the plight of their neighbour, with the president
of Azerbaijan’s state oil company Socar, Rovnag Abdullayev, saying
in an interview with ANS TV that Azerbaijan had enough gas stored
in underground reservoirs to more than cover Armenia’s entire annual
consumption immediately. Socar followed up Abdullayev’s comments with
a June 10 statement that Armenia could “participate in regional energy
projects” if Yerevan changes its position on the occupied lands around
Nagorno Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave that lies in Azerbaijani
territory and over which the two fought a war in the 1990s.

Persian possibility

The chief option being discussed in Yerevan is whether to look to Iran
for gas imports. Armenia already imports some gas from its neighbour,
exporting electricity in return. Potentially, Armenia could ramp up
its imports of gas from Iran, but there are some obstacles, mainly the
fact that even following the Russian price increase, Iranian gas is
still more expensive. According to local press reports, ArmRusGasProm
CEO Vardan Harutyunyan told a press conference on June 7 that the
company would consider importing from Iran if the price was lower
than that from Russia.

Giragosian points out additional problems. “Iran is an alternative,
but there are questions about prices and the capacity of the pipeline.

Armenia is also very hesitant about expanding its energy relationship
with Iran at a time when sanctions are increasing.”

Armenian government officials are also close to negotiating the sale
of three of Armenia’s largest hydropower plants to US-based energy
company ContourGlobal – a surprising move in a sector previously
seen as Russian territory. ContourGlobal, which has assets in other
emerging markets including Latin America and Africa, said in a June 12
statement that commercial terms for the deal are still being finalised,
and the purchase price is expected to be “very significant”. Together,
the three hydropower plants on the Vorotan river account for over 30%
of Armenia’s electricity generation capacity.

FREEDOM HOUSE AGAIN REGISTERS DEMOCRATIC PROGRESS IN ARMENIA AND REGRESSION IN AZERBAIJAN

20:34 18/06/2013 ” SOCIETY

While neighboring Azerbaijan aggressively stifled political opposition,
Georgia and Armenia conducted parliamentary elections under new
electoral laws that emphasized equal access to campaign resources and
media coverage, the Freedom House new report on “Nations in Transit
2013” reads.

Freedom House report analysed progress of democracy of 29 countries
in the central Europe and Eurasia. According to the document the
authoritarian countries among which was Azerbaijan, adoted new laws
limiting the freedom.

It says that, for the first time, the Armenian National Congress,
which had formerly denounced all government institutions, won seats in
Armenia’s National Assembly and began participating in parliamentary
politics.

“The democracy gap between Azerbaijan and its Caucasian neighbors
continued to grow in 2012. The peaceful and more inclusive elections
in Georgia and Armenia contrasted sharply with the brutal suppression
of public gatherings in the run-up to the Eurovision song contest in
Baku,” the Freedom House writes.

When Hungarian authorities made a surprising decision to
repatriate former Azerbaijani army officer Ramil Safarov, who had
been imprisoned for brutally murdering an Armenian officer while
training in Budapest in 2004, the government in Baku gave him a hero’s
welcome and immediately set him free, thereby halting any progress
in Azerbaijan’s negotiations with Armenia over the disputed territory
of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Summing up, the organization notes, that in the sphere of civil
liberties and corruption, Azerbaijan has registered a regression
without achieving any progress in no area, while Armenia has provided
improvements in media freedom and has generally improved its democracy
along with the Czech Republic, Latvia, Georgia, Moldova and Kyrgyzstan.

Source: Panorama.am

DAVIT BABAYAN CONSIDERS POSITIVE THE JOINT STATEMENT OF OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIR COUNTRIES’ LEADERS

19:06, 18 June, 2013

YEREVAN, JUNE 18, ARMENPRESS: The joint statement of the Presidents
of USA, France and Russia on the settlement of Artsakh conflict is
positive and speaks about the unacceptability of settlement versions
with using force for them. “Armenpress” was told about this from press
secretary of president of Artsakh Davit Babayan. “The most important
idea in the issued joint statement is that in direction of solution
of the conflict must be implemented steps and that conflict must be
settled peacefully,” said Babayan. The press secretary of Bako Sahakyan
mentioned that three presidents highlight the unacceptability of any
version of settlement with using force.

Reverberating to the some elements of indirect obligation in the
statement Babayan mentioned that the statement is a call aimed to
peaceful solution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “They try to keep
the negotiating process. It is sometimes done in order to prevent the
negotiating process not to reach deadlock, without it the process is
in so called rehabilitation phase,” said Babayan.

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries Russia, USA and France issued
ajoint statement on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on June 18 calling the
sides to activate efforts in direction of settlement of the conflict.

MINI HYDRO PLANTS TURNING YEGHEGIS INTO DEAD RIVER
Kristine Aghalaryan

The Yeghegis River is turning into an ecologically dead zone.

Gone are the trout…victims to six mini-hydro electric plants built
up and down the river and its tributaries.

In the village of Shatin, in Vayots Dzor, there are already two plants
in operation and a third is being built.

The Yeghegis is a 47 kilometre tributary of the Arpa River.

Armenia’s Public Services Regulatory Commission has approved licenses
for another eleven to be built.

Local residents say that the Yeghegis has been transformed from a
mountain river into a series of connecting pipes.

“We keep talking about the environment. We remember what it used to
be like. Or else our grandfathers tell of how all this area was once
forest. We never saw that forest. Pretty soon, we’ll be telling our
kids about the water that used to run freely here,” lamented Shatin
Mayor Aris Smbatyan.

AIR ARMENIA AND ARMENIAN INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES LIKELY TO BECOME ARMENIA’S NATIONAL AIR CARRIERS

YEREVAN, June 18. /ARKA/. Levon Ghazarian from the presidential
Public Council said today two companies- Air Armenia and Armenian
International Airlines have good chances to become Armenia’s national
air carriers.

On June 6 the Armenian government announced that it will seek to
replace Armavia airline that ceased flights from April 1 with up to
three domestic carriers to be sel ected on a competitive basis. Levon
Ghazarian said today this move will result in lower prices for
airline tickets.

“After national airlines are chosen they will have to undergo a series
of procedures and meet a set of requirements and in all likelihood
they will be ready to begin operating flights g from the middle of
next year,” Ghazarian said.

One month after it stopped flights Armavia submitted written proposals
to the government asking it to help it avoid bankruptcy with tax
breaks and other measures that would support its renewed operations.

It particularly said it could resume flights if it were exempted fr
om a fixed $25 tax on all tickets, got a 30 percent price discount
for airport ground services and were allowed to import fuel for its
own planes. Armavia operated more than 40 cities in the former Soviet
Union, Europe and the Middle East which were discontinued immediately
after the announcement of the move on April 1.

Ghazarian said Armavia has all the necessary infrastructure and may
return to work under the guidance of a competent manager. But he also
reminded that the company is to face a long string of litigations
because of having more than 20 offices in different countries and
more than 33,000 contracts.

Air Armenia operates cargo charter flights to the CIS countries,
Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The company began operations
in 2003. At present, it runs 8 aircraft: An12, AN24, AN26, Yak40,
TU134, TU154, IL76 and IL86.

The Armenian International Airlines was a private
airline operating international passenger flights since
2002. In 2005 it merged with Armavia. -0- – See more at:

TIGRAN SARGSYAN: KEEP POSITIONS UNTIL NOVEMBER

The campaign against Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan is gaining
momentum. The offshore company registered to the name of the premier
may become the reason of his resignation which is beneficial to
those who don’t want that the Association agreement with EU is signed
in November.

There are a lot of such forces both in Armenia and in Russia. Now,
all of them will unite to stop Armenia’s movement (headed by Tigran
Sargsyan) to the EU. The information on the premier’s offshore assets
is actively inflated: speaker of the parliament calls the executive
power “stealers and devourers of the budget”, and today there were
rumors about the imminent return of Prosperous Armenia in the coalition
and Gagik Tsarukyan’s appointment as prime minister.

The government led by the prime minister has been so mediocre and
worked with so many violations that a little effort was needed to
catch the premier in illegal activities. Tigran Sargsyan has shifted
to the justifying protection, but it is obvious that he could not
refute the existence of offshore assets and corrupt practices in
the government. Tigran Sargsyan will leave, and the question is,
whether he will leave before or after November.

This question will be decided by Serzh Sargsyan. If Serzh Sargsyan
really wants to go until the end in the country’s relations with the
EU, then he will leave Tigran Sargsyan in the office until November
perhaps ordering to carry out checking and hence protract time,
and after the initialization of the agreement, he will dismiss the
prime minister.

There is another version: if Russia manages to force Serzh Sargsyan to
refuse somehow the European path, then he will convene a meeting and
will announce about prime minister’s resignation in the next few days.

Naturally, a person, who will lead pro-Russian policy, will be
appointed prime minister. By the way, it will hardly be Gagik
Tsarukyan.

Serzh Sargsyan and Tigran Sargsyan can have only one ally – the
publicity. They are not supposed to say that everything is fine,
that Russia exerts no pressure on us, but tries to take what it
wants with the help of caresses, but they should call things by their
proper names, point to those who put a spoke in the wheel, and take
the society as allies. Society is always an ally of justice – it is
now against the prime minister and his policies. Tomorrow it could
be his ally.

Naira Hayrumyan 15:37 18/06/2013 Story from Lragir.am News: