Author: Kalantarian Kevo

ARMENIA, CHINA DEVELOP MILITARY COOPERATION

ARMENPRESS
APRIL 13, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, 13 APRIL, ARMENPRESS: Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of general
staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), met with Levon
Ayvazyan, the visiting chief of the Department of Defence Policy of
the Armenian Defense Ministry, on the morning of April 10, 2012 in
Beijing, reports Armenpress citing Defpro.news. Ma Xiaotian pointed
out that there is profound traditional friendship between China and
Armenia and between the two peoples. Since the beginning of the new
century, the relations between the two countries have achieved new
development. The Chinese side highly commends the Armenian side for
its solid support on the Taiwan and Tibet issues, etc. In recent years,
the relations between the two militaries have been well developed. The
Chinese military attaches importance to the development of friendly
relations with the Armenian military and it hopes to make joint
efforts with the Armenian side to promote the pragmatic exchanges
and cooperation between the two militaries.

Evajan said that the Armenian side is satisfied with the achievements
made in the development of the relations between the two militaries in
recent years, thanks the Chinese side for its support and help in the
building of the Armenian armed forces and is willing to constantly
deepen and push forward further pragmatic cooperation between the
two militaries in various fields.

KOCHARYAN OR SARGSYAN: WORLD DOESN’T CARE
Naira Hayrumyan

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 17:19:09 – 13/04/2012

In an article published by Regnum entitled “Russia Is Squeezed Out
Of Armenia” Artashes Geghamyan who has appeared on the Republican
Ticket states desperately that the first and second presidents Levon
Ter-Petrosyan and Robert Kocharyan got an order from the West and
money from Turkey to squeeze Russia out of Armenia.

Artashes Geghamyan apparently calls on Russia to interfere and prevent
hostile West from defeating Serzh Sargsyan and Armenia.

The despair heard in this article is self-evident. Geghamyan felt
danger and is not confident about his future in parliament even though
he is number 7 on the list. However, the problem is not Geghamyan
himself. Apparently the only argument Sargsyan has in the political
scramble is referral to foreign forces.

The world actors are certainly interested in a certain outcome of the
Armenian election. The West wishes to see persons who would ignore
the taboo on the review of the relationship with Russia. Certainly
the West needs forces facing to Europe.

In the Armenian parliament Russia needs forces which will vote for
the Eurasian Union and bar the appearance of NATO forces in Armenia.

Besides, forces are needed which will not dare voice too much
dependence of Armenia on Russia.

Does the West or Russia see any difference between Robert Kocharyan
and Serzh Sargsyan in this context? Hardly so because both follow the
same line (two steps more or less). They are not desirable people for
the West but both are problems for Russia. Therefore, when choosing
between them the West and Russia will most probably refrain from
intervention, leaving them alone to settle their accounts with each
other. They do not care much who will eventually come to power.

They may intervene if other forces appear who can change status quo in
Armenia by their ideology and potential. There are no such forces in
Armenia yet or they lack sufficient resource. In any case, they could
not oppose to the bloc of Sargsyan and Kocharyan. On the contrary,
everything is done to unfold the battle between these two.

In this meaning, even though they try to impart the political battle
with geopolitical tones, it remains a banal race between two former or
(or present) allies and friends. The external forces have understood
this who are therefore passive, as well as the Armenian society has
understood which brushes aside the election campaign like flies. Only
politicians of other parties failed to understand whose tactics aimed
at weakening the Republicans automatically boosted the Prosperous
Armenia Party.

Meanwhile, Artashes Geghamyan understood everything who will not be
fine as soon as Kocharyan appears.

MEETING TO COMMEMORATE MARAGHA POGROM HELD IN YEREVAN

Tert.am
13.04.12

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Armenian massacres of
Maragha, the Azerbaijani SSR Refugee Assembly held today a meeting
to commemorate the innocent victims of the tragic events.

The discussion, entitled From Maragha to New Maragha, From Baku to
Bagaran, aimed to awaken the public memories of the true eevnts in
the Azerbaijani village.

Addressing the meeting, a representative of the Assembly, Susan
Melikyan, brought up details of the tragic killings, noting that
the Azerbaijanis perpetrated the violence in an attempt to commit
ethnic cleansings.

“But the Armenians did not retreat; they created a new Maragha,
resettling there those people who’d taken a narrow escape from the
killings,” he said, adding that the events in Maraga resulted in the
Karabakh war that caused regional instability and the tragedy of the
two nations.

“It is time for the Armenian political and ruling circles to
drastically revise the existing stereotypes of settling the regional
conflict and refuse to return any territory to Azerbaijan. And because
the refugees cannot return to Baku, they can go back to Bagaran.”

A lawmaker of the opposition Heritage party, Larisa Alaverdyan,
who was a chief expert of the Armenian Supreme Council’s (former
parliament) special committee dealing with Nagorno-Karabakh affairs,
said Maragha differed with its bigger territory and was the only
village in Karabakh that was situated on a plateau.

“But a bigger pogrom in the village was committed on April 24. We do
not keep silent about the events. We do have facts about them. It is
worth to mention that Maragha was a rare village,” she said, adding
that only non-governmental organizations addressed the tragic killings
until 2009.

Alaverdyan regretted to note that well-read people knowing about the
Khojalu events often turn out to be unaware of Maragha.

“We must inform the public of the events. We must be able to take
legal action as speaking and screening [films] are not enough to
prevent Azerbaijan’s racist policies,” she said.

The participants later watched a documentary featuring the village’s
former residents who recalled Azerbaijani’s killing people in Maragha
twenty years ago on these days.

The Azerbaijani troops perpetrated the Maraga Massacre on April 10,
1992. They set the villahge on fire, massacring its inhabitants,
and taking some away with them as captives. Those who could narrowly
escape found refuge in forests and spread all over the world.

Maragha is still under Azerbaijani control.

About 80-100 were assaulted, 40 wounded and 63 taken captive on
this day in Maragha. Seven of the captives were repatriated later,
17 were exchanged, one captive was bought back and one succeeded
breaking captivity and fleeing.

There has been news that 8 of the captives were killed, while the
fate of rest 29 is still unknown. One of the captives was killed
during the exchange, while another one was killed while fleeing.

FESTIVAL FALLOUT: VANYAN ORGANIZERS SHOW OF AZERI FILMS AT RESTAURANT OUTSIDE GYUMRI
Georgi Vanyan

13.04.12 | 15:40

A controversial festival of Azeri films was held at a private
restaurant outside Gyumri after some angry residents of Armenia’s
second largest city prevented its holding at a local media club by
staging a protest that also reportedly included an assault on the
festival’s organizer Georgi Vanyan.

A festival of Azerbaijani films called “Stop” was to have been held
in Gyumri on April 12, but it failed after dozens of protesters
blocked the entrance to the Asparez club, where the films were to be
demonstrated. The protesters demanded the organizer of the festival
should vacate the building and the city and pelted him with eggs.

Protests in Gyumri and Yerevan were organized against the festival
being organized by Vanyan, the director of the Caucasian Center of
Peaceful Initiative, who had received grants from the United States and
British Embassies for the project. Groups on social networking websites
have been set up to call for “forbidding this shameful initiative.”

In Gyumri, Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan slammed the authors of the initiative
saying “they have not descended from the Armenian nation” and “have
nothing to do in Gyumri.”

In Yerevan a group of protestors held posters saying “No to grant-taker
Vanyan and the anti-Armenian activity”. They handed in an open letter
to the Ministry of Culture which, in particular, said: “Armenia has
neither diplomatic nor cultural ties with Azerbaijan; therefore,
the organization of such festivals should be banned in Armenia once
and for all.”

According to Vanyan, the festival was meant to introduce to the
Armenian audience to the best samples of the contemporary Azerbaijani
film industry.

To avoid further incident, Vanyan and his colleagues were taken from
the city by a police vehicle accompanied by another police car.

In the evening the Asparez club issued a statement, condemning the
violence against Vanyan and calling the action “unbecoming of a
Gyumri resident”.

According to the journalistic club, the show of the films took place
at a restaurant on the Gyumri-Yerevan highway for people who went to
Gyumri from Yerevan and met Vanyan there.

OLIGARCHS’ MESSAGE TO THE SOCIETY
HAKOB BADALYAN

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 10:59:20 – 13/04/2012

Samvel Alexanyan and Ruben Hayrapetyan, more famous with their
nicknames, Lfik Samo and Nemets Rubo, are the interesting axis of
the parliamentary election campaign.

As we know, they are Members of Parliament and they are likely to be
re-elected from Constituencies 7 and 1.

These odious oligarchs have entered into an interesting play with each
other. Perhaps, it is their involvement in football – Hayrapetyan is
the president of the Football Federation and non-official sponsor of
Pyunik Football Club and Alexanyan is the official owner of Pyunik.

So, they were inspired by football spirit to start to play a beautiful
match.

They seem to be trying to trick the society. In reality, they are
doing a favor to the society. And it is not irony.

As we know, Hayrapetyan had decided not to run, then he stated that
only Samvel Alexanyan could persuade him and he did so after which
Alexanyan stated that he is vulnerable socially and can afford the
campaign so he launched fund-raising. Ruben Hayrapetyan handed him
50,000 drams, saying that he does not have more. They made a number
of odious statements such as Nikol Pashinyan is his “brother” so he
is ready to help him with election spending. The other stated that he
will not accept the offer for debate with Gayane Arustamyan because
he is polite enough to defeat a woman.

Samvel Alexanyan and Ruben Hayrapetyan are the salt of the Armenian
campaign headquarters.

Though most citizens say their behavior is cynical their behavior is,
nevertheless, a serious service to the society because they show who
the real masters of the situation inside the government are and what
the real meaning of the Republican slogan Believe to Change” is.

On the other hand, there is also the other side of the phenomenon.

Perhaps, they are more honest than those oligarchs who speak on behalf
of the people pretending to the role of the “father of democracy”.

They are what they are and with their behavior they remind the
society what can be changed and those who were born to be changed
cannot change.

BOOK ALLEY TO OPEN IN ISAHAKYAN LIBRARY

ARMENPRESS
APRIL 13, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. Within the framework of “Yerevan World
Capital of Book” program Avetik Isahakyan central library will come
up with surprises for book loving people. On April 20 “Isahakyan”
bookstore will open in the library. On the same day Book Alley and
the Yerevan Book club will be established. Speaking to Armenpress
director of the library Hasmik Karapetyan said all the programs to
be conducted within the framework of the project will be aimed at
guiding the young people to book and library.

“Isahakyan” book store will not differ from the rest ones: the
only difference is that it will sell books needed by students both
belletristic literature and educational.

The Yerevan book club will serve as a special bridge for cultural
figures, creative individuals. “Meetings with young writers, film
presentations, quizzes will be conducted,” Karapetyan said.

The Book Alley will afford an opportunity to the diplomatic
representatives accredited in Armenia and other well-known people to
plant trees in the library’s garden.

April 20 will be declared “Day of Library’s Friends”.

New book stores are intended to open in three branches of the library.

ON THRESHOLD OF ELECTIONS GYUMRI MORE SMACKS OF SICILY

arminfo
Friday, April 13, 13:20

Karen Yesyan, the 27-year-old fiance of Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan’s
daughter was killed overnight. Haykakan Zhamanak Daily writes that
Yesayan returned from the USA quite lately and his engagement with
Ghukasyan’s daughter was planned for April 13.

A resident of Gyumri found Yesayan dead of gunshot wounds in Mercedes
Benz near Memorial “Mother Armenia” in Sev Berd quarter and called
the Police.

Head of the Shirak Regional Department of the Armenian Police Karen
Babakekhyan and the officers of the Criminal Investigation Department
and the Department for the Fight Against Organized Crime of the
Armenian Police arrived at the spot. As of 11:30pm on April 12 the
regional police was holding closed discussions. The paper writes that
certain information emerged in the web later saying that the son of
the former head of the Ani district police is complicit in the murder.

He was allegedly seen on the scene of the crime. However, the given
information has not been confirmed officially.

U.S. ARCHAEOLOGISTS TO RESEARCH ANCIENT SITE IN YEREVAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 13, 2012 – 12:55 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The Cambridge-Yerevan Sister City Association (CYSCA)
is launching a fundraising effort to help support the ongoing research
into 4th-2ndmillennium B.C. history and culture at the Shengavit
archaeological site in Yerevan.

According to the Armenian Weekly, archaeologist Dr. Mitchell S.
Rothman, head of the department of anthropology at Widener University
in Pennsylvania, plans on returning to Armenia with a group of American
archaeologists and students this summer.

There, at the Shengavit Historical and Archaeological Culture Preserve
in Yerevan’s Shengavit district, his team, with Armenian colleagues,
will continue the work begun last summer. Namely, they will work to
uncover the story of the ancient society that was present at the
site from the 4th millennium B.C. This was before the formation
of Armenia and other nations in the region, although it is widely
believed the society living there at the time must have played a part
in the genesis of the Armenian people.

The site was initially excavated in 1936 by Armenian archaeologists.

This was the first site that exhibited what is often called “Shengavit
culture” or “Kura-Arax” culture. This culture had contacts throughout
much of the Middle East, as far as Mesopotamia and Palestine, and as
far west as Malatia in western Armenia (Anatolia). But there are still
many questions that archaeologists and historians seek to answer:
The U.S. archaeologists want to establish a more precise chronology
for the site using advanced dating techniques and to evaluate the
evolution of Shengavit’s social structure. They then hope to publish
a full history of Shengavit.

ASSASSINAT DU FUTUR GENDRE DU MAIRE DE GUMRI
Krikor Amirzayan

armenews.com
vendredi 13 avril 2012

Garen Yessayan, l’ami de la fille du maire de Gumri Vartan Ghoughassian
a ete assassine jeudi soir dans sa voiture de marque Mercedes, près
du memorial ” Mayr Haïastan ” (Mère Armenie) a Gumri.

Les policiers arrives sur place ont decouvert le corps du jeune homme
crible de balles. Garen Yessayan (27 ans) etait revenu des Etats-Unis
et devait se fil lancer vendredi avec la fille du Maire de Gumri. La
police scientifique mène l’enquete. Cet assassinat a secoue la ville
de Gumri.

L’OPPOSITION S’UNIT POUR LUTTER CONTRE LES FRAUDES ELECTORALES
Laetitia

armenews.com
vendredi 13 avril 2012

Le parti Zharangutyun (Heritage) a questionne mercredi 11 avril 2012
le chef du parti Armenie prospère au sujet de la lutte contre la
fraude electorale conjointement avec les trois principaux groupes
d’opposition.

Le vice-president du parti Zharangutyun, Ruben Hakobian, a demande
au chef de file Gagik Tsarukian du parti Armenie prospère de signer
personnellement une declaration pour la mise en place d’une ” force
anti-fraude commune “.

Le parti Zharangutyun, le BHK ainsi que le Congrès National Armenien
(HAK) et la Federation revolutionnaire armenienne (Dachnaktsoutioun)
sont parvenus a signer un accord pour la creation du Centre Inter-Parti
pour la surveillance publique des elections du 4 avril. Il a ete
signe par de hauts representants des quatre forces politiques,
y compris Hakobian.

Le parti Zharangutyun a exige par la suite que le document soit
egalement signe par leurs dirigeants. Hakobian a affirme que le BHK
et les deux autres membres de la coalition au pouvoir de l’Armenie
pourraient acheter des voix et faire d’autres pratiques illegales.

L’ancien ministre des Affaires etrangères Vartan Oskanian, qui
representait le BHK dans les negociations, a promis de transmettre
la demande a Tsarukian, tout en rejetant les preoccupations du parti
Zharangutyun. ” Le parti Armenie prospère investira des ressources
humaines et techniques dans la lutte contre la fraude qui va vous
surprendre “, a dit Oskanian.

Hakobian n’etait pas convaincu et la discussion s’est poursuivie en
son absence. Les trois autres participants ont convenu sur la plupart
des modalites pratiques du groupe de travail qui ont ete proposees
par la FRA de Armen Rustamian.

” Je veux faire appel a nos collègues du parti Zharangutyun ” “, a
declare Zurabian. ” Nous allons faire quelque chose qui va inspirer
notre peuple et la societe. ”