Author: Kajoyan Gevork

CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS LAUNCHED IN RELATION TO EXPLOSION AT YEREVAN PLANT

Interfax
May 30 2012
Russia

The police have launched criminal proceedings in relation to the
death of two workers in an explosion at Elektron plant in Yerevan.

The Armenian police told Interfax on Wednesday that a criminal case
of the violation of labor safety causing death by accident was opened.

A team of operatives and investigators from the police and National
Security Service was set up at instructions from the Prosecutor
General.

The explosion at Elektron on Tuesday destroyed part of the building
and killed two people – 67-year-old section chief Janibek Martirosian
and his 64-year-old deputy Azizbek Barbadian.

The causes for the blast have not been named yet.

Elektron has the Armenian Defense Ministry among its customers.

PRIME MINISTER DMITRY MEDVEDEV MEETS WITH ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER TIGRAN SARGSYAN

Russian Government News
May 30, 2012

Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Dmitry Medvedev: Mr Sargsyan, colleagues, I am very pleased to meet
with you today on the sidelines of the heads of government meeting
in Ashkhabad and to discuss our bilateral relations. The agenda of
today’s meeting is standard. So I have some idea of what you might
want to ask me, and I have prepared some answers to these questions.

But I am at your disposal, and we can certainly discuss any issues
related to development of economic and cultural ties between Russia
and Armenia. I am pleased to have this opportunity to meet and discuss
these issues with you.

Tigran Sargsyan: Thank you. Mr Medvedev, colleagues, thank you for the
opportunity to discuss some of the issues in our bilateral relations.

As you know, relations with Russia have a special significance for
Armenia. Russia is our strategic ally and our number one economic
partner. Russia accounts for over 60% of all investment in the
Armenian economy, far outpacing all other countries that invest
in our economy. We are certainly very interested in seeing these
relations grow and develop, and hopefully our meeting will contribute
to this goal.

Dmitry Medvedev: Thank you.

*****

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NATO BEHIND HOULA MASSACRE AND ATTACKS ON ARMENIAN CHRISTIANS AND CATHOLICS

16:53 . 31/05

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accuses Russia for the deepening
of the conflict between the opposition and Bashar al-Assad’s
government in Syria. The accusation comes after Russia and China
renewed opposition to tougher UN Security Council action: the veto is
not liable to change.

The rebels of the so-called Free Syrian Army have given Bashar
al-Assad’s government 48 hours to implement Kofi Annan’s peace
plan. Damascus was given the deadline through a video material
publicized in the internet. In the video material Qasim Sadedi, who
presents himself as an official of Syrian Free Army, says the
government must bring all the tanks, heavy weapons from the Syrian
cities and villages till Friday. Otherwise, the rebels announce their
army will not consider itself bound by Annan’s plan and will start
defending the peaceful population.

The US permanent representative to the UN, Susan Rice also addresses
another warning to Damascus. If the Syrian government fails to
implement Annan’s six-point peace plan, particularly, if it fails to
cease the attacks in Syrian cities, to withdraw troops and to negotiate
with the opposition on passing the authority, no alternative remains
but to take definite steps.

“The members of the Security Council and members of the international
community are left with the option only of having to consider taking
actions outside the Annan plan and the authority of this Council,”
Susan Rice has said.

Rice didn’t go into details as to what actions are meant. But it is
already clear. In the past, as it was in the case of Kosovo and Iraq,
US resorted to military intervention, which was authorized not by
the UN Security Council but by NATO. In her speech Susan Rice also
accused Iran for arming the Syrian governmental forces.

There is one more important fact. American analyst doctor Webster
Tarpley agreed with the opinion expressed by a number of politicians
and local population before that, and expressed his own opinion that
the massacre in Syrian city of Houla was organized by NATO. According
to the analyst, “NATO death squads have been brought in, in large
numbers, armed by the NATO states”, these fighters came in and started
targeting the local population and the Armenian Christians and the
Catholics. These are the same methods used by the Nazi Germany in
Gleiwitz on the Polish border accusing the Poles of the attack. It is
incredible that the authority troops would enter the city, open fire
on the hospital and peaceful districts, then would withdraw allowing
the media to enter the territory and witness more than hundreds dead.

Tarpley is sure their aim was realized: a hysteria rose in the
international press, and Bashar al-Assad was considered the only
one to blame for the massacre. Moreover, the facts were presented
distorted. While covering the information of the killings in Houla
BBC News website used a photo taken in Iraq in 2003 picturing killed
children.

59-AGED MAN DIES AS BUILDING COLLAPSES IN YEREVAN

news.am
May 31, 2012 | 16:33

YEREVAN. – An alarm was received at 3.03 p.m. on Thursday that a
building was ruined in Yerevan. It was the former building of the
Ministry of Justice, which was set in fire years ago.

A concrete panel fell on M. Khachatryan, 59, who was carrying out
dismantling. The rescuers pulled out the body from the debris, Armenian
Ministry of Emergency Situations informs Armenian News-NEWS.am.

To note, another similar case occurred on Wednesday, as A. Barseghyan,
53, was carrying out construction in Yerevan. He was hospitalized,
doctors say he is critical.

THE BEST SOLUTION FOR RUSSIA IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH ISSUE IS THE CONFLICT SIDES`S SATISFACTION

ARMENPRESS
31 May, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MAY 31, ARMENPRESS: Russian necessity is evident in the issue
of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Armenpress reports adverting Azerbaijani
Medias that this was announced by the special representative of Russia
with CIS countries Konstantin Kosachev in Baku.

“The best way of solution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for Russia is
the satisfaction of sides”,- said Kosachev.

The latter held a meeting with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham
Aliyev in Baku on May 31.

ARMENIAN FRENCH JOINT FILM PROJECTS TO BE LAUNCHED

ARMENPRESS
31 May, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MAY 31, ARMENPRESS: The draft on the film law will be
elaborated by group of experts from Armenia and France. Gevorg
Gevorgyan the director of the National Film Center of Armenia had a
briefing with the journalists on May 31, Armenpress reports.

The interlocutor noted he had three working meetings with the French
National Film Center director Erik Garando and its professional staff.

‘~R We have envisaged a number of important issues; the authoritive
right and the issues on films protection inclusive. By the end
of the year one-two producers are set to leave for France for the
professional training, starting from the next year technical experts
will also pay regular visits’~R the interlocutor noted.

Gevorgyan stated that in the next year the film centers of the
two national film centers will cooperate with their full extent,
particularly in the context of the mutual film production.In accordance
with the preliminary arrangements the responsible of the French
National Film Center will finance two new projects.

LEVON ZURABYAN TO HEAD ARMENIAN OPPOSITION BLOC’S PARLIAMENTARY GROUP

news.am
May 31, 2012 | 16:06

YEREVAN. – Opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) parliamentary
group will be headed by the ANC coordinator Levon Zurabyan, bloc’s
representative Aram Manukyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am adding he
would become the secretary of the group.

As the agency has earlier informed, as a result of the May
6 parliamentary elections in Armenia, six political parties
entered new parliament, including Republican Party of Armenia (69
mandates), Prosperous Armenia Party (37 mandates), Orinats Yerkir
(6), ARF Dashnaktsutyun (5), Heritage (5) and ANC (7), as well as
two independent MPs.

BOTH ULUDERE AND KOCATEPE ARE RESULTS OF THE SAME MISTAKE

Hurriyet Daily News
May 30 2012

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan’s group speech on Tuesday was
awaited with curiosity. He was expected to make important remarks.

However, we had already heard a bit broader form of what he had to
say on the same subject before. From time to time, I found myself
thinking how nice it would have been if Interior Minister Ýdris Naim
Þahin had taken speech lessons from his leaders.

I can summarize the prime minister’s speech thus: He said that not
only in our country, but everywhere in the world, security forces
could make mistakes. He gave examples, such as the sinking of our own
ship Kocatepe by our air forces during the Cyprus operation, and also
the clash of our own divisions with each other during World War I. He
said, “Yes, there has been a mistake. Justice will determine who is
responsible.” He emphasized that the security forces are under huge
pressure in these types of incidents, and that the government will
protect them.

He said the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) was the real
target of the recent attacks related to the Uludere incident. He said
the opposition and the media were exploiting this incident to wear
down the government, adding, “Why don’t you show the same reaction when
the PKK [the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party] is killing our people?”

There was no new element in the prime minister’s speech, but it
was significant for demonstrating the angle from which he views the
incident. In effect, the AK Party government is openly stating that
unless the PKK lays down its arms, it will not start the political
negotiation process.

Armenian border, Azeri visa Two very interesting deductions are made in
the interview Murat Arvas of daily Yeni Þafak conducted with Professor
Kamil Veli Nerimanoðlu, from Ýstanbul Aydýn University’s Turkish
Language and Literature Department. I wanted to share them with you.

Nerimanoðlu mentioned an extremely significant point. He said, in a
nutshell: “Markets in Armenia are jam-packed with Turkish goods.

Because the border is closed, the mafia is using Georgian, Iranian and
Russian roads. There are nearly 100,000 Armenian citizens illegally
living and working in Turkey. In this situation, there is no sense
in keeping the border closed. Open the border gate, sell more goods
and also make entry and exit easier. Let’s legalize a situation that
already exists in fact. This move would be very well thought of. This
step would also affect the viewpoint of Armenians.”

What a correct presumption, isn’t it? However, you would immediately
hear these words from politicians in Ankara: “The Azerbaijanis would
be very offended. We do not want to offend them.”

Well, then why are our Azerbaijani brothers offending us? For example,
despite having negotiated numerous times, their visa policy has not
been lifted yet. According to Nerimanoðlu, Baku will not lift the
visa because Iran does not want it to, and Baku does not want to give
offense to Tehran. Is that true? Is there such a concern?

It has been said that Azerbaijan has vetoed the Nabucco pipeline
project that would pass through Turkey to Europe in order to avoid
offending Russia.

I guess we are the only country available at present that Azerbaijan
can easily afford to offend.

UF STUDENTS TO FOSTER TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN TURKEY-ARMENIA BORDER REGION

University of Florida News

May 30 2012
FL

Filed under Announcements, InsideUF (Campus), Top Stories on Wednesday,
May 30, 2012.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Students and faculty from the University of
Florida’s College of Health and Human Performance will travel to
Turkey next month as part of an ongoing effort to promote peace
through tourism and cultural understanding.

They will research, create and implement tourism initiatives in
collaboration with students and professors from Dokuz Eylul University
in Turkey and Armenian State University of Economics.

This trip is part of a three-year cooperative agreement among the
three universities to strengthen tourism education, research and
industry outreach while bridging the gaps between cultures.

Historically, relations between the Turks and Armenians have been
strained by a number of political and societal issues that have
hindered efforts to unite the region. In October 2009, both countries
agreed to establish diplomatic relations, an effort that is still in
the early stages of development.

Asli Tasci, assistant professor in the department of tourism,
recreation and sport management, and Stephanie Thorn, Eric Friedheim
Tourism Institute Program manager, will travel with 11 UF students
over a 10-day period as they visit Istanbul and Kars and Ani. There,
they will collaborate on a project to employ regional tourism
development initiatives at the Ani Ruins, also known as the City
of 1001 Churches. The ruins are a major cultural and heritage site
significant in both the Armenian and Turkish cultures.

Students will use social media and online networking tools such as
Pinterest, Facebook, Flickr and WordPress to help promote tourism
within the Turkey-Armenia border region. In addition, participants from
all three universities will share presentations on various aspects
of their cultures, covering topics such as music and dance, cuisine,
religion and daily life.

This project is funded by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S.

Embassy in Ankara, Turkey and is sponsored by the EFTI at the
University of Florida.

The Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute is committed to building a bridge
between the tourism industry, organizations, destinations and higher
education through excellence in interdisciplinary research that
provides strategic information focused on a wide array of travel,
tourism and hospitality opportunities.

For more information, please contact Tasci at [email protected] or
352-294-1653, or Thorn at [email protected] or 352-392-3992.

KONSTANTIN ZATULIN: WE DO NOT CHANGE FRIENDS

arminfo
Wednesday, May 30, 22:40

We do not change friends and never leave them. Irrespective of the
domestic situation in Russia, its historical relations with Armenia
should be above all things, director of the CIS Countries Institute,
Konstantin Zatulin, said at today’s press-conference in Yerevan.

He said that the book of Armenian political experts, Aleksandr
Markarov, Narek Galstyan and Hrant Mikaelyan, “Open Russia: new
image in the era of information”, published in Moscow, is of a great
significance for historiography in general.

The elections have been recently held both in Armenia and Russia, and
a new stage of development has started in them. There are old and warm
relations between Putin and Sargsyan, which will undoubtedly affect the
bilateral relations. “The relations within the frames of the CIS are
very much important for all the post-Soviet countries. For instance,
Georgia being almost within NATO, has preserved about 70 contracts
with CIS countries, as this cooperation is necessary first of all in
the economic aspect”, – Zatulin said.