Author: Kajoyan Gevork

U.S. DOESN’T CONSIDER TSARUKYAN STRONG CANDIDATE

Story from Lragir.am News:

16:22 06/12/2012

The People newspaper informed that the U.S. Ambassador John Heffern has
met with the leaders of Armenian political parties ahead of his trip
to the U.S. and expressed his concerns about the lack of competition
in the Armenian elections which may have a negative impact on the
international image of Armenia.

This can hardly be a “journalistic fiction” but the important thing is
that the elections in Armenia may not be competitive. The upcoming
election will be the most strange one. Despite the fact that it
will be held in February, no one knows the exact day of voting and
the deadline for nominations, Serzh Sargsyan’s rivals are unknown,
just like it is not known whether there will be such or not.

Apparently, the U.S. ambassador is worried about this circumstance. He
would like a worthy rival for Serzh Sargsyan, most probably Vartan
Oskanian. But Serzh Sargsyan and Gagik Tsarukyan are blocking
Vartan Oskanian and even if Tsarukyan runs, the election will not be
competitive for the U.S. ambassador.

The feeling is that Tsarukyan has agreed with Serzh Sargsyan to
postpone his decision on running in the election in order to hinder
Oskanian’s nomination. The fact that the tax service and investigators
remembered about Oskanian’s “sins” means that Serzh Sargsyan “helps”
Tsarukyan to block Oskanian.

It is evident that Tsarukyan, even if he is nominated, is a more
desirable rival for Serzh Sargsyan than Vartan Oskanian. Apparently,
Heffern is convinced that Oskanian will not run, so he has already
called the elections uncompetitive.

We can only guess whether the precondition of a “strong” competitor
was among the agreements between Serzh Sargsyan and the West regarding
“democratic elections”. After all, the conference of donors and the
amount of investments will depend on the election.

RUSSIAN FM LAVROV URGES PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT

Panorama.am
06/12/2012

The Karabakh conflict should be resolved exclusively by peaceful
means, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated at the OSCE
Ministerial Council in Dublin today, a Panorama.am correspondent
reports from Dublin.

“I see nothing else than that the resolution should be achieved
through peaceful negotiations,” the Russian FM added.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is also attending the OSCE
Ministerial Council meeting, for the last time before she retires
in January.

WHO ELSE IS LEFT IN RUSSIA?
HAKOB BADALYAN

Story from Lragir.am News:

15:25 06/12/2012

Yerkir Media TV, which is very sensitive toward national and state
issues, showed a report from Russia the hero of which was the Russian
TV host Mikhail Leontief. This is the same Leontief who posted on
his blog several weeks ago his opinion that Armenia owes Russia for
its existence and if Russia didn’t help, Armenia would not exist today.

It seems that after this statement, Leontief would be a persona
non grata among the public and especially the media. A society
with a state and national dignity should be very sensitive to such
encroachments because the chain reaction is typical of the media of
imperialist societies and if no reply is given to the first statement,
it will continue.

In fact, Leontief is not a persona non grata but a celebrity. Yerkir
Media televised Leontief saying that Russia is coming to the Caucasus
for the security of Georgia and Armenia, and Armenia should choose
Russia’s help or the Turkish trap.

Is there no one else in Russia who could say something more reasonable
on the Armenian-Russian relations instead of repeating what has been
said for decades? Isn’t there anyone else in Russia to go beyond the
notions of good and bad relating to Russia’s policies in the Caucasus,
references to Turkish danger and stay tuned with time?

Isn’t there anyone in Russia who will try to view the Armenian-Russian
relations as a mutually useful relation? Isn’t there anyone ready
to say that Russia comes to the Caucasus not to save Georgians and
Armenians, as Leontief says, but to save itself? Isn’t there anyone
in Russia who could refrain from saying something about Armenia and
Armenians from the height of ambitious agony of the empire but would
speak instead on behalf of the state’s pragmatic positions viewing
Armenia as an important partner and ally?

Probably, there are. There must be a lot of such people in huge
Russia. The issue is not the lack of such people in Russia but the
psychology and dignity of nations that have lived as slaves for long
years. Decades of slavery do not result in free and creative partners.

There are such people in Russia, they just need to be sought for
and found and generated not only for Armenia but also for Russia to
render mutual relations a partnership between two sovereign states
where no one’s dignity will be violated.

Does Armenia need either Zhirinovsky or Leontief, like the carrot
and stick, to get pleasure from one and get sober and “pull ourselves
together” from the other?

ACCORDING TO PUBLIC OPINION POLL, ARMENIA IS NOT RUSSIA’S RELIABLE PARTNER

arminfo
Thursday, December 6, 13:21

Armenia is not Russia’s reliable partner at the world arena, Russian
residents, which took part in the public opinion poll held by the
All-Russian Centre for Study of Public Opinion, said.

Only 5% of respondents think that Armenia is Russia’s reliable
partner. According to them, Belarus (46%) and Kazakhstan (38%)-
the countries of the Customs Union, are the most reliable partners
of Russia at the world arena.

All the rest CIS countries lag behind the above mentioned ones, and
Georgia is the most unreliable partner of Russia at the post-Soviet
territory, respondents said.

The public opinion poll was held from 24-25 November 2012. The total
of 1600 people from 138 communities of 46 regions and republics of
Russia participated in the public opinion poll held by the All-Russian
Centre for Study of Public Opinion.

TURKISH AMBASSADOR: ‘AZERBAIJAN FULLY CAPABLE OF LIBERATING ITS TERRITORIES’

hetq
13:34, December 6, 2012

According to a December 5 report in APA (Azeri Press Agency), Turkey’s
Ambassador to Azerbaijan Alper CoÅ~_kun told reporters in Baku that
Azerbaijan was ‘fully capable of liberating its territories from
Armenian occupation’.

CoÅ~_kun had been talking to reporters about the role of the OSCE
Minsk Group in finding a solution to the Karabakh conflict.

The Ambassador is reported to have said that “Turkey supports the
actions of the Minsk Group co-chairs but that no serious progress
has been made in the past twenty years.”

He added that the current ceasefire must not be regarded as a
settlement and that Azerbaijani territory remains “occupied by
Armenia”.

Regarding the much heralded opening of the airport in Stepanakert,
CoÅ~_kun stressed that the airport is on territory belonging to
Azerbaijan.”No country can carry out operations there without the
permission of Azerbaijan,” he said.

RUSSIA CONSUMES 5.5 MILLION OUT OF 8 MILLION BOTTLES OF ARMENIAN BRANDY ARARAT

Thursday, December 6, 10:30

Some 5.5 million out of 7-8 million bottles of ArArAt Armenian brandy
production is consumed in Russia, Executive Director of Yerevan
brandy Company (YBC) Ara Grigoryan told RBC-TV. He said that 70%
of the company’s production is for the Russian market. Ara Grigoryan
said that 3 star and 5 star brandies are in demand in Russia due to
the classical “price-to- quality” ratio.

Asked what will the company do if the Armenian “cognac” is no longer
allowed to call a “cognac”, Grigoryan said that brandy is also cognac.

“Even in the Cognac Province when they do not manage to distill wine
till midnight of March 31, it cannot be called cognac, but brandy.

These are quite different criteria and I don’t think that our consumers
will be disappointed when they do not find the sign ‘Armenian cognac’
on our bottles,” he said.

As for counterfeit brandy, Grigoryan said that people buy counterfeit
products in doubtful markets and small kiosks for low price and naively
hope to get a good quality product. Nevertheless, the situation in
Moscow and throughout Russian is improving year by year and one can
hardly find counterfeit cognac or brandy in big supermarkets.

Commenting on the impact of alcohol advertising ban on the company’s
sales, Ara Grigoryan said that lack of an advertising market affects
mainly new unknown brands, while old brands are known everywhere.

“I don’t think that Yerevan Brandy Company has faced any problems
after that ban. Neither I think that people will drink less alcohol
after the ban on advertising. Quite on the contrary, we distract
people from high quality brands,” Grigoryan said.

To recall, Yerevan Brandy Company belongs to French Pernod Ricard
Group and is the biggest producer and exporter of Armenian brandy.

ARMENIAN GOVT. REJECTS ORINATS YERKIR OFFERS ON 2013 BUDGET – PAPER

December 6, 2012 – 11:58 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenian government has turned down Orinats Yerkir
parliamentary group offers regarding 2013 draft budget, Zhoghovurd
daily reported. Thus, their proposals are either worthless, or the
ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) simply ignores its only
coalition partner.

Orinats Yerkir suggested the pay gap between the parliamentary group
experts and the MPs’ assistants be eliminated, with the government
deeming the issue secondary.

“Our programs comprise a number of strategic principles, and their
inclusion in the draft budget is essential for us,” Orinats Yerkir
party member Mher Shahgeldyan told the paper.

MEETING IN “MESROP MASHTOTS” UNIVERSITY

NKR Government Information and
Public Relations Division
05.12.2012

Yesterday the NKR Prime Minister Ara Haroutyunyan had a meeting
with lecturers and students of “Mesrop Mashtots” university.He
congratulated them on 15thanniversary of its foundation and noted that
the university could overcome the difficulties of formation period
successfully and today functions in conformity with modern educational
requirements. The head of the Government presented tasks assigned
to it and gave importance to the role of students and lecturers
while solving these problems. Prime Minister mentioned that among
the projects being realized the Government gives a great priority to
the production of electricity and mining industry . Prime Minister
reverted to the measures taken for the state’s food security providing.

The head of the Government answered the questions raised by the
students and lecturers. New conditions of mortgage loan are in revision
phase. Questions about tariff policy of cellular comunication, the
necessity of having a centre opposing azerbaijani agitation machine
and others were raised during the meeting.

NKR Minister of Education and Science Slava Asryan participated in
the meeting.

FOUR ARMENIAN DENTAL CLINICS MAY LOSE LICENSES FOR VIOLATING SANITARY NORMS

YERAVAN, December 6. /ARKA/. Cases of four dental clinics where
greatest number of violations of the sanitary and licensing laws
was found are sent to the Administrative court for termination of
licenses, press service of Armenian Ministry of Health reported. Cases
of some other four entities to be sent to the court are currently
being prepared.

Nine economic entities received warning and were given time to rectify
the situation. Some other five entities were terminated because of
some specialists, says the report.

In June, the Ministry of Health started a large-scale survey in
relation to administrative prosecution of the dental clinics.

Among violations found were breaches of the licensing and the sanitary
laws, as well as lack of disinfectants, required specialists and
means of emergency medical aid. Other sanitary norm violations
were improper disinfection procedure, improper storage and use of
medical instruments, breaches of norms while storing, neutralizing,
transporting and burning dangerous medical waste, and etc. -0–

AFFAIRE PINAR SELEK. COMMUNIQUE DE PRESSE DU GIT FRANCE

Publie le : 06-12-2012

Info Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN vous
presente ce Communique de Presse du GIT France (Groupe de travail
international) sur l’affaire Pinar Selek publie le 1 decembre 2012.

GIT France

Samedi 1 decembre 2012

Affaire Pinar Selek

Communique de Presse du GIT France

Paris, le 1er decembre 1012

Nous, enseignants et chercheurs de France, membres du GIT, declarons
solennellement que nous sommes très inquiets pour les libertes
intellectuelles et pour celle d’entreprendre des recherches en
Turquie, après l’audience du 22 novembre 2012 instruisant un procès
politique contre notre collègue, la sociologue Pinar SELEK. Nous
appelons a la soutenir, et a travers elle, les libertes de recherche
et d’enseignement en Turquie, lors de la nouvelle audience qui aura
lieu le 13 decembre.

Pinar Selek, une des sociologues les plus renommees de Turquie, connue
pour ces travaux innovateurs sur les marges de la societe comme les
femmes, les homosexuel (le)s, les enfants des rue, les Kurdes… est
en danger.

En 1998, elle a ete accusee d’avoir place une bombe dans le Marche aux
epices d’Istanbul. Or, toutes les expertises ont clairement demontre
que l’explosion intervenue etait due au gaz. Elle a ete accusee en
raison de ses recherches et de ses engagements pour defendre les
exclus de la societe turque.

Au long d’un feuilleton judiciaire interminable, elle a ete
acquittee a trois reprises. Mais ces verdicts d’acquittement ont ete
systematiquement casses par la Cour de cassation. Le 22 novembre 2012,
un tribunal d’Istanbul (dont la cour a ete subitement modifiee dans
sa composition) a decide elle aussi de revenir sur les decisions de
justice, en cassant l’acquittement, d’une manière totalement illegale
dans la mesure où un tribunal n’est pas autorise a modifier un arret
definitif deja rendu. Par cette decision, le tribunal en question
s’est substitue a la Cour de cassation. A l’audience prevue du 13
decembre 2012, la cour aura la possibilite de revenir sur sa decision
et de confirmer l’acquittement. Dans le cas contraire, notre collègue
sera condamnee a la prison a perpetuite, alors que son innocence a
ete proclamee a trois reprises.

Pinar Selek mène actuellement ses recherches doctorales a Strasbourg.

Elle est un membre prestigieux de la communaute scientifique de
France. Nous declarons que nous sommes solidaires de notre collègue.

Nous demandons pour elle, et pour tous ceux et celles actuellement en
prison, inculpes ou menaces pour leur recherche ou leur enseignement,
une justice respectueuse des libertes elementaires et des droits
fondamentaux.

GIT France

Lire aussi sur l’affaire de Pinar Selek:

Le Collectif VAN soutient la sociologue turque Pinar Selek

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Source/Lien : GIT France