Author: Kajoyan Gevork

New veterinarian laboratory opens in Karabakh

NEWS.AM
October 15, 2012 | 13:39

STEPANAKERT. – Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) – or Artsakh – President
Bako Sahakyan on Monday attended the official opening of the NKR
Ministry of Agriculture’s new veterinarian laboratory building.

According to the President, this institution, which meets modern-day
standards, is highly demanded in NKR and it will contribute greatly to
the development of agriculture and ensuring food safety in the
country.

Sahakyan stressed the importance of the agricultural sector for
Nagorno-Karabakh, and noted that the sector needs contemporary
technological equipment to achieve desirable results.

On the same day, President Bako Sahakyan also toured a number of
buildings being constructed in capital city Stepanakert and got
familiar with the ongoing activities.

Primate of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church
Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan, NKR Prime Minister Ara Harutyunyan,
Armenian General Benevolent Union President Berj Setrakian, and
several officials accompanied the President.

CONSEIL DE L’EUROPE
Une commission de l’APCE demande l’abrogation de l’article 301 du code pénal turc

La Commission de la culture, de la science, de l’éducation et des
médias de l’APCE, dans un vaste tour d’horizon sur l’état de la
liberté des médias en Europe, exhorte les Etats membres du Conseil de
l’Europe à enquêter véritablement sur les attaques à l’encontre des
journalistes d’investigation et des personnes qui travaillent pour
eux.

Le rapport, préparé par Mats Johansson (Suède, PPE/DC), approuvé la
semaine dernière par la commission et rendu public aujourd’hui,
contient des recommandations spécifiques à l’intention d’un certain
nombre d’Etats :

Russie : la commission d’enquête de la Présidence russe, créée en
2011, devrait poursuivre les travaux des précédents organismes
d’enquête, publier ses travaux et créer des règles relatives à la
surveillance judiciaire afin de lutter contre l’impunité des auteurs
de nombreux meurtres de journalistes et de militants des droits de
l’homme.

Turquie : l’article 301 du Code pénal turc devrait être abrogé
immédiatement, la révision de 2008 n’ayant pas remédié à la
possibilité d’appliquer de manière indue cet article à des
journalistes et d’autres personnes. Par ailleurs, le nombre des
enquêtes pénales ouvertes à l’encontre de journalistes – en
particulier pour leurs reportages sur la conspiration d’« Ergenekon »
– est en soi le signe qu’il y a eu « une grave violation de la liberté
des médias ».

Hongrie : les amendements apportés récemment aux lois sur les médias
adoptées en Hongrie en 2010 n’empêchent pas d’abuser de ces lois pour
restreindre la liberté des médias ; les changements demandés par le
Commissaire aux droits de l’homme en février 2011 devraient être
pleinement mis en `uvre.

Bélarus : la disparition en 2000 du journaliste et photographe Dmitry
Zavadsky et la mort en 2010 du fondateur du site internet « Charte 97
», Aleh Byabenine, devraient faire l’objet d’une véritable enquête ;
Ales Bialiatski et Anton Suryapin devraient être libérés immédiatement
et il faudrait lever les peines et abandonner les poursuites à
l’encontre d’un certain nombre d’autres journalistes.

La commission déplore aussi l’application excessive des lois pénales
sur la diffamation en Azerbaïdjan et en Turquie, ainsi que les
procédures judiciaires excessives en Arménie, Bulgarie et Moldova. Il
devrait être remédié à la partialité de l’environnement médiatique
constatée, en lien avec les élections, en Arménie, Azerbaïdjan,
Russie, Turquie et Ukraine.

lundi 15 octobre 2012,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

Environment Minister – “I believe we should halt construction of the
Getahovit hydro-plant”

hetq
17:55, October 11, 2012

After meeting with all sides in the Getahovit hydro-plant debate, RA
Minister of the Environment Aram Harutyunyan declared that `I believe
that it is necessary to cease construction of the plant.’

Getahovit residents and local activists had earlier staged a noisy
protest outside the ministry to voice their opposition to the plant
and to highlight the damage being caused to the local environment.

Village residents also claimed that the work had deprived them of
drinking water for the past twenty days and that the local river had
dried up as a consequence.

Minister Harutyunyan directed his office to organize a working group
comprised of government officials, civic groups and local groups to
conduct an inspection of the site and report their findings within ten
days.

R. Hovhannisyan: Kokobelyan issued his next lieLeader of

Saturday,
October 13 Politics / WorldSociety / CultureEconomyLawSport / Entertainment

`Heritage Party’ Raffi Hovhannisyan issued a statement over the
disagreements with Khachatur Kokobelyan.

`Khachatur Kokobelyan has personally published his lie, his usual lie
which makes me feel really sorry.

I am sorry for those wonderful, promising young people from Free
Democrats, Heritage Party who completely devoted themselves to the
previous campaign.

The united straggle was not wrong. It was an innovation and was
somewhat risky, but in the same time was sound and directed to the
future.

The mistake was the lie of only one person and the groundless
confidence of the others in his word.

The latter doesn’t exist if it ever did. The rest is between him and
the Law of God.

I could keep silent motivated by political expediency. However, I
decided to bring the truth out to the light after patiently waiting,
as it is the call of my responsibility in front of my compatriots.

And at the end I would like to mention, his support in any issue is
not desirable,’ the message said.

R. Hovhannisyan and Kh. Kokobelyan had decided to put down their
mandates but Kokobelyan, however, didn’t keep his promise.

12.10.2012, 20:40

Aysor.am

La Croix, France
Oct 13 2012

La mort du patriarche arménien orthodoxe de Jérusalem

Le patriarche arménien orthodoxe de Jérusalem, sa Béatitude Torkom II
Manougian, est décédé vendredi 12 octobre à l’ge de 93 ans. Ses
funérailles auront lieu le 22 octobre dans le cimetière arménien du
Mont Sion à Jérusalem.

Élu 96e patriarche arménien de Jérusalem en 1990, Torkom Manougian
dirigeait les communautés arméniennes orthodoxes d’Israël, des
Territoires palestiniens et de Jordanie. Né en 1919 dans un camp de
rescapés du génocide arménien à Baqouba, en Irak, il avait été ordonné
prêtre en 1939. Il était ensuite parti aux États-Unis en 1946, pour
devenir évêque arménien de New York et primat du diocèse oriental de
l’Église arménienne d’Amérique du Nord.

L’Église arménienne orthodoxe de Jérusalem, une fraternité monastique,
se partage la garde des lieux saints avec l’Église grecque orthodoxe
et l’Église catholique romaine, ainsi qu’avec les Églises syriaque et
copte. Près de 2 000 Arméniens vivent aujourd’hui à Jérusalem. Ils
étaient 16 000 en 1948, au moment de la création de l’État.

Argophilia Travel News
Oct 14 2012

Armenia & Russian Agree on Cultural Cooperation

Published on Oct 14, 2012 by Delia Gavrilescu

Last Friday a program of cooperation between the ministries of culture
of Armenia and the Russian Federation was penned at Armenia’s Ministry
of Culture in Yerevan. Armenia’s Minister of Culture, Hasmik Poghosyan
(at left) and Russian Federation Minister Andrei Busygin appeared for
the press at the announcement.

According to the news, the eighteen articles of the cooperation set in
motion a collaborative effort between the two countries across cinema,
museum, library arts from between 2012 and 2015. Also last week,
Poghosyan met with Kuwaiti Ambassador to Armenia Bassam Mohammed Al
Qabandi to discuss cultural cooperation between the two nations.

As early as late last month, Poghosyan announced renovation projects
for some of Armenia’s regional centers. Also, ancient stone pictures
in Armenia are to be listed in the UNESCO World Heritage list, news
last month reflecting an archaeological cooperation between Germany
and Armenia at Jermuk and Sisian. That project, led by Saxony-Anhalt
state Professor Harald Meller and Director of Archeology and
Ethnography Institute, illuminates what many believe is is the
Armenian `Stonehenge’, a place of extraordinary interest.

Meller’s work, including his study of the so called Nebra Sky Disc in
Saxony, is well known to be of paramount importance to the world of
archaeology and ethnology, not to mention Germany and Armenia culture.
As for the Armenia, Meller and other archaeologists have made breaking
discoveries there.

For visitors to Armenia, many of these wonderful cultural and
archaeological sites are in remote areas, for all intents and purposes
inaccessible to visitors. This is, in part, one of the big initiatives
of Poghosyan’s minsitry, to promote and help facilitate the building
of roads and infrastructures to allow for tourism to Armenia.

TendersInfo
October 13, 2012 Saturday

Armenia : ELECTRIC NETWORKS OF ARMENIA unveils MICROSOFT developed new
automated system

Electric Networks of Armenia CJSC has unveiled a new automated system
to upgrade network s work.

The network will utilize Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP),
which is developed by Microsoft, to boost management.

The energy system s material and technical basis and manufacturing
capabilities were developed in 60-70s of the last century and they are
already damaged. The production of electricity needs a reliable and
trouble-free operation of the equipment. And hence, maintenance and
repair of the equipment is a significant issue.

Yevgeni Bibin, Director General of Electric Networks of Armenia, said,
ERP introduction will allow us to work more efficiently, make better
management decisions based on accurate and timely data, plan and
simulate various options for the development of the company, to
quickly and effectively address the issues of control over financial
flows, analyze costs and control deviations, actual costs, revenues
and profits.

ITAR-TASS, Russia
October 13, 2012 Saturday 11:31 PM GMT+4

Inter-regional coop to boost Russia-Armenia relations – minister

YEREVAN October 13

Inter-regional cooperation will boost bilateral relations between
Russia and Armenia, primarily economic ones, Russian Transport
Minister Maxim Sokolov said.

“Given historically close economic and cultural ties between our
countries, a serious effect can be achieved through intensified
interaction and mutually advantageous use of the potential of Russian
and Armenian regions,” Sokolov said at the 2nd Russian-Armenian
inter-regional forum “Russia and Armenia” Inter-Regional
Dialogue-2012″ on Saturday.

He leads the Russian part of the inter-governmental commission on
economic cooperation between Russia and Armenia. “In order to
coordinate this work and its serious aspect we have created with the
Inter-governmental Commission the working group on inter-regional
economic cooperation,” the minister said.

It convened for its first meeting in Gyumri in March of this year.

Sokolov believes that the inter-governmental commission “is an
effective tool for creating favourable conditions for developing
contacts between the authorities, businesses and regions”.

“The objective of the inter-governmental commission is to summarise
the work done in the field of trade and economic cooperation, expose
problems, determine prospects for the development of industries or
concrete projects and support these projects,” the minister said.

The inter-governmental commission traditionally meets in Russian
regions. It has held its latest sessions in Yaroslavl, Yekaterinburg
and Rostov-on-Don.

Forza Italian Football
Oct 13 2012

Armenia reveal Italy’s offensive limitations

You wouldn’t think of a team that scores three goals that they are
playing without an offensive department. And yet that was pretty much
the case for the Italian team we saw yesterday night, battling against
Armenia in a stadium half-empty but not too silent for that.

In fact, were it not for the goal by Pablo Osvaldo ten minutes from
the final whistle, it would be hard to speak of the offensive players
at all. Italy took to the field with coach Cesare Prandelli’s 4-3-1-2,
the same formation he used for (most of) the last Euros, but with a
fresh attacking duo. No longer Mario Balotelli (ill) and Antonio
Cassano (obsolete – apparently), but Sebastian Giovinco and Pablo
Osvaldo. The two new players have potential but it is to be hoped they
up their game in the next few years. Both of them were unable to
return and cover, and neither provided any kind of support to the
midfield.

Their absence was so perspicuous, in fact, that all of the most
notable things in the game were done by the midfielders. The first
goal was the result of a penalty earned by Riccardo Montolivo (ups and
downs from the Milan midfielder, but is anyone not getting used to
it?) and kicked in by Andrea Pirlo. Italy’s second goal came from a
cross by Pirlo, converted by a bull-headed rush by Daniele De Rossi.
And it was De Rossi again who provided the assist for Osvaldo’s goal.
So good to have you back, Danny boy.

It’s actually worth going out on a limb for the briefest of moments,
because what we are witnessing is a small miracle. De Rossi and Pirlo,
Italy’s best midfielders at least since Albertini, have never played
well together. Their roles and abilities did not appear to be
compatible, which seemed like a shame until Prandelli finally had them
fit together in 2012. If there’s anything that yesterday taught us,
it’s that De Rossi and Pirlo have not lost their chemistry. If
sustained over the next two years (big if, we know), this could be
huge for Italy. As of now, only Spain can boast a midfield duo
comparable to these two gentlemen.

In fact, for all of Prandelli’s injection of new and kind-of-new faces
into the Azzurri, this is still a team sustained by the veterans.
Along with the great midfielders, keeper Gianluigi Buffon also showed
good form. His save on Manoyan’s shot was brilliant, and he was
confident when called upon.

The same cannot be said of those players who needed to prove
themselves, from Domenico Criscito (fizzy and insubstantial like a
glass of lemonade) to Andrea Barzagli, who failed to hold back the
impossibly named Armenian forward, Mkhitharyan, on the occasion of the
opposition’s only goal. Stephan El Shaarawy was also looking to
impress, but despite demonstrating some vitality, he did nothing
concrete – and concreteness, as we all know, is what the Azzurri are
all about. Better luck next time.

On the whole Italy showed some signs of sufferance, particularly in
the middle part of the game, but this is part of what the Azzurri
notoriously do. They suffer against small teams, they do not always
show beautiful football, but in the end they bring home the three
points. They are congenitally unable to play as favourites. There is
nothing worrying about that.

What is a little more perplexing is the fact that the new names are
showing no signs of integrating themselves very well, and the strikers
in particular were dreadful. There’s a long way until that flight to
Brazil, but it wouldn’t hurt to start showing some positive signs
sooner than that. This Tuesday against Denmark, for example.

Don’t Silence Another 60

October 13, 2012

My next trip to Armenia is in December, but if it were tomorrow, I
wouldn’t be very excited to get on the plane. In fact, right now I
want to be as far away from Armenia as possible. And in this moment, I
understand why hundreds of thousands of people have left during the
last 20 years.

Currently, Vartan Oskanian, Armenia’s former minister of foreign
affairs, faces charges of money laundering, embezzlement, and who
knows what else. Many people thought Oskanian a likely challenger to
Republican incumbent President Serge Sarkisian in February’s
presidential election, unless, of course, Oskanian is tied up in
court, or worse. Seemingly to correctly prove the hypothesis that the
charges are politically driven, the ruling Republicans and their de
facto proxy party voted 64-6 to remove Oskanian’s immunity and leave
him open to charges, which followed a week later. Every political
party boycotted the vote except, you guessed it, the ruling majority
and its friends. Interestingly, a party historically loaded with
parliamentarians sporting shoddy attendance records somehow managed to
convince 96 percent of its membership to show up and remove Oskanian’s
immunity. Meanwhile, Georgia just completed a legitimate election and
power transfer, further widening the democratic gap between the two
neighboring former Soviet states. And yet, this isn’t even the
beginning of my frustration…

Oskanian is also the founder of the Civilitas Foundation, a think tank
promoting an active civil society. The money laundering charge stems
from a charitable donation made to the foundation by U.S. businessman
Jon Huntsman, Sr. The foundation’s roughly 60 employees are
predominantly young, multilingual Armenians working to improve their
country by focusing on issues such as women’s rights, the rule of law,
and the environment. Their main vehicle is the news and public affairs
website, civilnet.am, which started from scratch with a team of
inexperienced future journalists, and has since developed into a real
source for independent, analytical news and dialogue. Unfortunately,
that mission sometimes interferes with the establishment’s suppressive
interests. During my 14 months producing for Civilnet, I learned twice
as much as I taught about advocacy journalism and became exceedingly
optimistic about Armenia’s future. Civilitas is an oasis for
free-thinking creativity, safe from the desert of anti-progressive
thought that sometimes pollutes Yerevan.

`Civilitas is an oasis for free-thinking creativity, safe from the
desert of anti-progressive thought that sometimes pollutes Yerevan.’
This all matters because the Armenians with whom I worked at Civilitas
are extremely talented and mobile. They’ve turned down
full-scholarship opportunities in the U.S. and the U.K., believing
they could improve their home country if they only stayed in Armenia.
Even those who have left Civilitas and Armenia, including U.S.
citizens such as this article’s author, have pledged to return and
make Armenia their long-term home. But now, Civilitas is under fire,
facing potential interference from the government, which claims it
wants to `protect’ Civilitas. Nobody knows what that means and nobody
is optimistic about it either. While everyone is still fighting for
Civilitas’ survival, some of my former co-workers and friends are
second-guessing their desire to remain in Armenia.

At September’s Armenians and Progressive Politics (APP) Conference in
New York, one attendee astutely described Armenia as an unstable
balloon that inflates with each repressive event, such as the one
happening now with Civilitas. But as the balloon expands and seems
ready to explode, people simply move out of the country, thus
diffusing the pressure. We’ve seen it after elections and other events
that sully the public. It’s why today Armenia’s population is
definitively less than 3 million people. So I suspect we’ll see more
frustration and migration with this episode and the upcoming February
election. And, unfortunately, the educated and mobile will be the ones
to leave, further exacerbating the brain drain epidemic.

I will get on that plane in December, and my long-term plan to live in
Armenia has not changed. I am excited to enjoy the city I love and see
the friends I left behind a few months ago. I only hope some of them
will still be there to greet me at the airport.

Greg Bilazarian is a first year MBA student at the Yale School of
Management. He was the producer for civilnet.am in Armenia from May
2011 to July 2012. Bilazarian worked for four years as a television
news reporter in the U.S. before moving to Armenia. He grew up outside
of Philadelphia.