Author: Kajoyan Gevork

ARMENIA TO FACE TURKEY FOR GRECO-ROMAN WRESTLING CUP BRONZE

February 20, 2013 – 13:34 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenian team beat Belarus in Tehran-hosted
Greco-Roman Wrestling Cup to face off against Turkey in a struggle
for bronze.

Armenia’s Harutyun Hovhannisyan (55 kg), Aleksan Mikaelyan (60 kg),
Rafik Manukyan (74 kg), Hrach Hovhannisyan (84 kg), Sargis Tonoyan
(96 kg) won heir respective matches to bring the team a 5:2 victory.

The World Cup finals are due February 20 evening, with Russia to
fight Iran.

BAKO SAHAKYAN AWARDED ENEMY BULLET DEAD SERVICEMAN POSTHUMOUSLY

15:07, 20 February, 2013

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, ARMENPRESS: Contract serviceman Gor Ghazaryan
, aged 21, was killed by sniper’s bullet lied in ambush in the
north-eastern direction of the Line of Contact with the opponent
forces. Nagorno Karabakh Republic Defense Army press secretary
Senor Hasratyan told Armenpress, an investigation will be carried
out to determine the details refer to the incident. NKR President
Bako Sahakyan signed a decree on February 19 , according to which
contract serviceman Gor Ghazaryan was posthumously was awarded to
“Military Service” medal for his courage in defending Nagorno Karabakh
Republic state border .

THEY PLAYED AND NOW THEY GO HOME

Comments – Wednesday, 20 February 2013, 10:56

Raffi Hovannisian has appeared in a crucial situation. Prior to the
elections everyone was sure that everything was predetermined. It was
said that the authorities would rig the elections, the opposition
would call rallies but nothing would change. The observers would
recognize the election outcome. Adibekyan had predicted the results:
60% turnout, 60% for Serzh Sargsyan. Everything was clear. However,
the candidates did not want to understand it, noting that it is
“possible”, without explaining to the society how it is possible.

Andrias Ghukasyan, ex-candidate for president, called on the
candidates to withdraw and leave the Republican candidate alone, to
demand withdrawal of international observers and launch civil
disobedience. But the other candidates, mostly those whom Serzh
Sargsyan thanked for ensuring competition, insisted that they had to
fight, hence assuming responsibility for what is happening now.

Another observation – Andrias Ghukasyan refused closed meetings with
opposition members saying that decisions should be adopted publicly.

The question occurs what Raffi Hovannisian and the other candidates
who appealed to people to vote are going to do? The usual steps should
not be made. Candidates with most votes state their votes belong to
them and they will do whatever they want. They make decisions alone,
hold shadow meetings and reach shadow agreements without assuming any
responsibility. It is time to do the opposite. They should state that
the votes are not in their favor but against the ruling regime and
that they are accountable to the society for their every step. Shadow
meetings are ruled out and everything will happen in public. This is
the revolution of mind against which the ruling regime will be
helpless. Knowing beforehand the outcome of elections, the candidates
assumed responsibility to take part in the show. In other words, they
assumed responsibility for everything that is happening now. They
can’t just play and go home.

ARMENIAN SOLDIER SET FREE IN SYRIA

NEWS.AM
February 20, 2013 | 14:57

ALEPPO.- An Armenian soldier, who was taken hostage in mid January,
has been set free, representative of Armenian community said.

Jirair Reisian of the National Primacy of Aleppo of the Armenian
Apostolic Church told Armenian News-NEWS.am that solder Hakob Tudjyan
is currently in a safe place and has no health problems.

As reported earlier, an Armenian was among soldiers captured in Syria.

THE RESULTS OF THE ELECTION ASSESSED BY THE FORCES THAT HAVEN’T PARTICIPATED IN THE ELECTION READ COUNT:

February 19 2013

“The election has been rigged another time, once again, anew, and
every one of us knows about that. While the regime is in power in
Armenia, there will be no free and fair elections,” Zoya Tadevosyan,
a member of the Armenian National Congress (ANC), said during
a conversation with assessing the results of the
presidential election in Armenia. Then she added: “Not only we –
members of commissions and the mass media – but also the people
witnessed that. A situational phenomenon that is a fact and has
witnesses is more important than assessments, since a fact cannot
be assessed, it can be asserted. You can assert that the election
has been rigged. It has been rigged shamelessly and savagely. And
this is considered as high treason, a crime, for which officials
should hastily leave and be held accountable in accordance with the
legal procedure.” Ms. Tadevosyan also informed that 25 members of the
Armenian National Congress (ANC) had carried out a monitoring mission
on the election day, as a result of which they will make a statement
soon. Vardan Bostanjyan, a member of the Prosperous Armenia Party
(PAP), thinks otherwise. He said: “I haven’t seen a situation when
there was any obstacle to any of the candidates. I think that in
terms of objectivity, the election was held as it should be. The
results of the election convince me even more, since Bagratyan
and Raffi Hovhannisyan were candidates, and at the end of the day,
our political forces are represented at the moment. At least as far
as the above-mentioned persons are concerned, different levels were
represented. However, every one of us is convinced that the office of
presidency will be entrusted to the incumbent president insofar as he
has been an active participant in the process of liberalization and
has made contribution in that regard.” Anush Sedrakyan, the deputy
leader of the Free Democrats Party, in her turn, said regarding this:
“80 percent of the Armenian electorate had opposition sentiment, but
it didn’t fully conceive the essence of being opposition, as far as
the ideas are concerned. There wasn’t a choice between two ideological
programs. There was a choice between a bad social condition, unequal
economic competition, emigration, and some possible alternative.

Naturally, this distribution of votes was absolutely logical. It is
a different matter that the opposition hasn’t been able to explain
its ideology to the people for a long time, since the people’s agenda
doesn’t include the issue of an alternative ideology; they just want
a change of the situation. The results of the election showed that
the opposition camp can consolidate and jointly represent itself,
if there is some constructive ideology. It largely depends also on
Raffi Hovhannisyan’s steps, how he will direct the electorate that
trusted him.” Tatev HARUTYUNYAN

Read more at:

© 1998 – 2013 Aravot – News from Armenia

CAMERON: AMRITSAR MASSACRE “SHAMEFUL EVENT IN BRITISH HISTORY”

February 20, 2013 – 12:58 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – David Cameron has become the first serving UK prime
minister to pay his respects at the scene of one of the bloodiest
massacres in British history, BBC News said.

Cameron is visiting Amritsar in the state of Punjab on Wednesday
February 20, at the end of a three-day trade trip to India.

This was where hundreds of people at a public meeting were shot dead
by British troops in 1919.

The prime minister described the massacre as “a deeply shameful event
in British history”. Writing in the memorial book of condolence,
he added: “We must never forget what happened here.”

But he is not expected to offer a formal apology despite some calls
for him to do so.

The killings were condemned by the British at the time – War Secretary
Winston Churchill described them as “monstrous” in 1920.

During her visit in 1997, the Queen said it was a “distressing” example
of the “moments of sadness” in the history between Britain and India.

BETWEEN HUNGER AND FIRE: POWER AT THE EXPENSE OF LIVES – NEW DOCUMENTARY ON KARABAKH CONFLICT

14:02 20/02/2013

“Between hunger and fire. Power at the expense of lives” – a
two-series documentary, released in February 2012
(), is now available to the
English-speaking audience as well
(). The two-series
documentary film is about tragic events which took place in Nagorno
Karabakh between November 1991 and February 1992. 

The research group, composed of historians, retired politicians
and investigative journalists, presents compelling evidence about
that period, sheds a new light on the blockade of Stepanakert – the
nation’s capital — as well as on activities of the political elite
of Azerbaijan which let the tragic events of Khojaly (now Ivanyan)
happen. The archival materials, assembled during the investigation,
questions a range of traditional speculations and manipulations by
Azerbaijani government, the media and ‘expert community’.

The English translation of the documentary attracted unprecedented
interest among the international community. In less than a week,
more than 100.000 people watched the film on YouTube channel. 

Miro Khanzadian, who is the Director of Operations of GlobalHye
Information Services, resident of Los Angeles, CA, has been one of
many who disseminated the movie across international community.

“When we, Armenians, as people are united against injustice we will
prevail. Throughout history the Armenian people have reached victories
within short time and much less resources than our adversaries
when we have been united. Because history is on our side!”, said
Mr Khanzadian. The GlobalHye Information Services, at the words of
Mr Khanzadian, aims at reaching, educating and motivating as many
Armenians as possible through large Global Email database.

The facts and figures, shown in the documentary, are recollected
from archival materials found in diverse, including Azerbaijani,
sources, whereas residents of Stepanakert and Karabakh Defense Army
soldiers and officers speak of the blockade of nation’s capital and
the specifics of the operation to breach the blockade. 

Rich of first-time ever released materials,the documentary also
features a rare interview of first president of Azerbaijan, Ayaz
Mutalibov, where the latter argues the Khojaly tragedy was abused to
topple him. 

Overall, the film shows how the Aliyev regime, step-by-step, toppled
political opponents and seized the power in Azerbaijan and has been
ruling the country for two decades now, silencing all the courageous
individuals that dared to tell the truth about the incidents in
Khojaly village and around Aghdam region.

“YOU ARE LIKE GANGSTERS” READ COUNT:

February 20 2013

The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) MP says to journalists Aravot has
already informed that on the night of the election day, on the night
of February 18-19, an incident happened in the administrative district
of Erebuni, Yerevan, between reporters of Aravot and
and a youth who had come out of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA)
office, during which Aravot’s camera was damaged.

Journalists had gone to the administrative district of Erebuni tracing
the alerts received from the Heritage Party office; then we decided to
get clarification from the district office of the RPA, as well as to
get answers to questions regarding the electoral processes in general.

The calculation at polling places had started three hours before that.

By the way, the RPA district office was in the vicinity of the
neighborhood administration, on the third floor of an administrative
building that belongs to the city hall. When we visited the office
there was a gathering of cars of the Jeep family. While we were
trying to get to the third floor, where the office was, two youths
were inquiring who we were. Finding out that we were journalists,
they overran us, got into the office and locked the door from inside.

Apparently, something was going on inside, and it wasn’t clear why
they didn’t allow us to enter. Naturally, curiosity was great, and
we were knocking on the office door for quite a while, hoping that
someone will respond, nonetheless. A few minutes after, a youth came
out of the office and in response to our questions what was going on
inside, why they had locked the door, he tried to take the camera away
from the journalist of , talking brusquely and using bad
language. The youth claimed that there was no one in the office; the
office manager was not in the office. However, a few minutes later,
Mher Sedrakyan, the RPA MP elected from the administrative district
of Erebuni and a former head of that neighborhood, came out of the
office accompanied by a few people. In response to our questions why
the office door had been locked, what they were hiding, Sedrakyan first
said very calmly that they had nothing to hide. Then when we tried to
find out, clear up why his employee had behaved so arrogantly, Mher
Sedrakyan started, to put it mildly, to accuse journalists. We are
presenting the dialogue between Mher Sedrakyan and the journalists
without comments: * Why is the youth trying to impede journalists’
work? * But what are you going to ask? * Perhaps, we can come in;
we just wanted to ask about numbers. Did you see how your employee
was behaving? How that guy who has just gone downstairs behaved? *
Perhaps, it was the guard, right? * Does a guard have so many powers
to force journalists out of here? * I don’t know who has what powers;
neither you nor we have so many powers. * We don’t excel our powers.

We also behave politely. It is just that the electoral process is under
way, we had to come and ask you to tell us the numbers. * We don’t
have concrete numbers yet…. * Perhaps, you could invite us in….

* Ugh, I am telling you to come in, and you are standing on the stairs
and brawling. * We are not brawling, Mr. Sedrakyan. * Then what are
you doing? I am telling you to come in, and you are standing there
and scrapping with me. You are like gangsters. Come in. Andranik
Manukyan, the Armenian ambassador to Ukraine, a former minister and
MP, Eduard Madatyan, a former Rule of Law Party (RLP) minister, and
many youths were in the office too. Andranik Manukyan, knowing the
reporter of Aravot personally, tried to settle the issue, after which
Mher Sedrakyan promised to find and punish the youth who had shown
an arrogant attitude toward journalists. “We will not punish him in
your presence, because it will be too much for you. You don’t restrain
yourselves. If you don’t behave so impudently, we will do everything,”
Sedrakyan said, pretending that he hadn’t heard the observation that
we had behaved as journalists without any unnecessary steps. After
all that, Sedrakyan was trying to convince that we “are in safe hands.”

Other details

Read more at:

RAFFI HOVANNISIAN DID NOT WANT TO TALK TO PRESIDENT IN PRESENCE OF JOURNALISTS

ARMINFO
Thursday, February 21, 14:59

Leader of Heritage Party Raffi Hovannisian did not want to talk to
President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan in the presence of journalists. At
the beginning of the meeting the president asked: “Shall we be talking
in the presence of journalists?”

“I think, no,” Hovannisian said. At the beginning of the meeting
the two parties ‘politely’ exchanged several phrases: “You seem
upset,” the president said. “No, no, I am authorized and competent,”
Hovannisian replied. For his part, he asked about the health of Serzh
Sargsyan and Rita Sargsyan. Afterwards, they started the main talk
behind the closed doors.

To recall, Raffi Hovannisian who received 36.75% of votes and lost the
election to the incumbent president Serzh Sargsyan who received 58.64%
of votes. Hovannisian does not agree with the election outcome and
demands the president to cede the power. Dozens of thousands of his
supporters gathered in the Liberty Square earlier on February 19-20.

ARMENIAN ECONOMIC ENTITIES PAID TOTAL OF AMD 6 MLN FOR BREAKING LANGUAGE LAW IN 2012: STATE LANGUAGE INSPECTION

YEREVAN, February 21. /ARKA/. The Armenian economic entities which
violated “Language law”in 2012, were fined nearly 6 million drams
(14,700 US dollars), Head of State Language Inspection at Ministry of
Education and Science Sergo Yeritsyan told reporters, Novosti-Armenia
informs.

In 2012, the Inspection progressed nearly 75 administrative
proceedings. Protocols on violations were submitted to the court
for the further consideration, he said Thursday at a news conference
dedicated to International Mother Language Day.

Yeritsyan stated in half of cases the verdict met Inspection’s claims,
and total amount of penalties stood at nearly six million drams. He
also clarified some cases are still being considered in the courts.

However, less Language law violations have been reported in the
republic over the past two years, and the main infringements come
from ad posters only in foreign languages.

“Two years ago I believed even ten years were not enough to reduce
by half the number of violations. But today, two years later, I can
say that due to media and civil movement, the efficiency of our work
has risen by 50%,” Inspection chief said.

As to law breaches on TV and the radio, Yeritsyan noted the quality
of oral language in this segment had quite improved.

“As to online editions, sometimes we notice grammatical and stylistic
mistakes in the texts, but it happens because of the fast-speed
reporting.

However, these mistakes are later edited,” he said appealing to the
citizens to carefully use their mother language, protect and not
mar it.

International Mother Language Day is an observance held annually on
21 February worldwide to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural
diversity and multilingualism. It was first announced by UNESCO on
17 November 1999.

In 2005 the permanent parliamentary commission for education, science
and culture headed by current Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan
approved amendments to the law on holidays and memorable days.

Herewith, International Mother Language Day is celebrated in Armenia
on February 21. -0-