Author: Kalantarian Kevo

BOY’S HEALTH AND GOVERNMENT’S 56,000 DOLLARS

Hakob Badalyan, Political Commentator
Society – 27 March 2015, 14:50

Radio Liberty prepared a report on Gevorg Yeghiazaryan, 23 who was
wounded severely by the enemy’s bullet at the Armenian-Azerbaijani
border four years ago and could not move at all.

He had a treatment in Israel with the support of the Ministry of
Defense and can now move in a wheelchair. However, the treatment was
interrupted due to lack of money, and the boy’s state is getting
worse. He has to take painkillers all the time. The communication
officer of the Ministry of Defense said the ministry cannot finance
the young man. The parents say they need 56,000 dollars.

The Ministry of Defense has a lot of generals who ride in big cars
that cost tens of thousands of dollars. Yerkrapah Union of Volunteers
which is teaching patriotism in schools together with the Ministry
of Defense has dozens of members who ride in cars worth tens of
thousands of dollars, live in mansions, enjoy the fruits of the
victory of the nation.

I wonder if during the joint lessons of patriotism organized by
Yerkrapah Union and the Ministry of Defense they teach children that
they have to end up safe and sound after a clash with the enemy or
die because in case of severe injuries they may end up as a beggar,
like the 23-year-old young man.

Had he died, he would be a hero now. His photo would be posted
and reposted on the internet, he would be praised, an army of
the profession of patriots would have destroyed the “internal” and
“external” enemy on his behalf for several times, more and more teams
of sworn patriots would have been self-accomplished through his memory,
completing lessons of grandiloquence with high scores.

However, the young man was “unlucky” to survive the wounds caused by
the enemy’s bullet and now the entire state cannot raise 56,000 U.S.

dollars to treat the soldier who risked his life for the state.

A state whose high-ranking officials from the president to ministers,
deputy ministers, generals and colonels are millionaires. A state where
the repair of the office, the office car and one business trip abroad
would cost 56,000 dollars. A state where the municipality scatters
benches worth 400 dollars each all over the streets, paints arches for
2000-3000 dollars but cannot get money for the soldier who risked his
life for the state. A state which buys a car worth 21 million drams
for the Investigative Committee, a winter car worth 40 million drams
for the speaker, a state where high-ranking officials hold at least 50%
of shares of different companies, and there is no money for treatment
of soldiers who risked 100% of their life for the state.

Let us assume that the Ministry of Defense does not have enough money.

After all, the ministry has allocated 70,000 dollars for the first
treatment. I wonder if there is no time to bomb the government with
requests until the treatment of the young man is financed. After all,
it is the honor, reputation and reliability of the Ministry of Defense,
the Armenian army. These components are provided with not only defense
capability and brilliant military operations. The armed forces are
a system where every detail matters for a long-term and permanent
public reputation and reliability.

>From this point of view, the ministry should not be the stakeholder of
a specific case but generally and lobby for that case. And the problem
which must be regulated by legislation must envisage the government’s
responsibility to fully finance the treatment of wounded soldiers,
as well as lifelong social security of the families of killed and
wounded soldiers.

HOTEL PRICES IN YEREVAN UP 15-20% AHEAD OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CENTENARY

YEREVAN, March 27. /ARKA/. Accommodation in Yerevan’s hotels became
15-20% more expensive ahead of the centenary of Armenian Genocide,
Sona Yeghiazaryan, head of Joel Travel Agency, said on Friday.

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT OFFICIAL RECEIVES GREEK DELEGATION

17:35 27/03/2015 >> SOCIETY

Armenian National Assembly Deputy Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov on Friday
received members of the World Council of Greeks Abroad Foti Chitlidis,
Vadim Anastasiadi, Sophia Prokopidou, Arkady Khitarov, Anna Khitarova,
Eduard Polatov and well-known Greek historian Konstantinos Fotiadis,
the press service of National Assembly reports.

The members of the delegation thanked the Armenian National Assembly
and the authors of the initiative for the NA statement “On Condemning
the Genocide of Greeks and Assyrians Perpetrated in the Ottoman Turkey”
unanimously adopted on March 24.

Welcoming the delegation, Eduard Sharmazanov noted that the adoption
of the NA statement was not an aim in itself: recognizing the genocide
perpetrated in the Ottoman Turkey against the Greeks and Assyrians,
the Armenian Parliament condemns all genocides ever perpetrated. In the
NA Deputy Speaker’s words, unless the genocides have been recognized
and condemned, the possibility of their repetition cannot be excluded.

In this context, Mr Sharmazanov and the guests highlighted the
necessity of recognition and condemnation of genocides perpetrated
against different nations in different times and the restoration of
the historical justice.

The interlocutors emphasized the strengthening of relations between
the Armenian and Greek fraternal peoples and the intensification of
cooperation in common issues.

The guests handed the NA Deputy Speaker books on the genocide
perpetrated against the Greek people.

WHAT IS TURKEY’S FINAL ANSWER?

NEWS | MARCH 26, 2015 12:36 PM
________________________________

By Raffi Bedrosyan

Turkey has announced that the annual commemoration of the Gallipoli
Dardanelles battles of World War One, which were traditionally held on
March 18, will now be held on April 24 this year. President Erdogan
has invited over 120 world leaders, including President Sargsyan of
Armenia, to attend the Gallipoli ceremonies. The reason for the date
change is apparent to all Armenians.

There is a term in Turkish, Sark kurnazligi, meaning Oriental slyness.

The term is used to define someone who resorts to cunning to deceive
someone, but both the deceiver and the deceived person know that there
is trickery involved, and more cynically, the deceiver does not care
if the deceived person is aware of the deceit.

Already a few state leaders have announced that they will attend,
including “Turkey’s little brother” Azerbaijan, some African and
Muslim states, and notably, the Queen and Prince Charles.

It is worthwhile to remind to these people, and all the
English-speaking world, another Turkish scheme involving trickery of
dates which happened eight years ago.

The Holy Cross Church and monastery complex on Akhtamar Island in Lake
Van in Eastern Turkey was in ruins since 1915, and in fact, was being
willfully destroyed by the Turkish Army in the 1950s. Only interference
by famous Kurdish author Yashar Kemal (whose hidden Armenian roots
were revealed recently) had prevented the complete destruction of
the last remaining church and the Turkish government had decided
in the 2000’s to restore the church as a museum. The restoration
was completed in early 2007 and the government announced the date
of the opening of the museum to be April 24, 2007. The Istanbul
Armenian Patriarch of the time, Archbishop Mesrob Mutafyan forcefully
protested that by choosing this date the government was attempting to
create political gains using the Armenians’ pain, and that he would
refuse to attend the opening ceremony if this insensitive decision
was not revised. The government appeared to appease the patriarch,
but continuing to employ tactics of Oriental slyness, announced that
the date would now be April 11, 2007. The government was fully aware
that April 11 was also equally significant and unacceptable to the
Armenians, as this is the same date as April 24 in the old calendar
in effect at 1915. In fact, in 1919, the famous Armenian journalist
and himself a survivor of the 1915 massacres, Teotig had compiled
a list and biographies of 761 Armenian intellectuals arrested and
subsequently murdered, in a booklet called Houshartsan (Memorial) to
April 11. The first April 24 commemoration had taken place in 1919,
with the opening of a memorial sculpture called “April 11 Houshartsan,”
in the Istanbul Armenian Cemetery in Taksim, since then expropriated
and converted in the 1930s to become the famous Taksim Square, the
scene of recent protests against the government. All these facts,
known to both the Armenians in Turkey and the Turkish government,
were revealed in an editorial in the Agos newspaper questioning
the wisdom of using these dated for the Akhtamar opening, using the
headline: ‘Are you sure? Is this your final answer?’. The headline was
copied after the often-repeated question heard on the then popular TV
quiz show, “Who wants to be a millionaire?'” The date of that Agos
editorial? January 19, 2007… the day Hrant Dink was shot in front
of the Agos newspaper offices.

The Akhtamar Museum was opened on March 29, 2007. Patriarch Mutafyan
reluctantly attended, and shortly thereafter, he became incapacitated
with a still unexplained debilitating mental disease and he still
lives in a vegetative state. In the meantime, eight years after Hrant
Dink’s murder, the real perpetrators and conspirators of the murder
are still not caught nor tried.

Therefore, it is now appropriate to again ask the Turkish government
who sent the Gallipoli invitations for April 24, 2015, and any state
leaders who choose to ignore the real significance of this date:
“Are you sure? Is this your final answer?”

(Raffi Bedrosyan is a civil engineer and concert pianist, living
in Toronto, Canada. He has donated concert and CD proceedings to
infrastructure projects in Armenia and Karabagh, in which he has also
participated as an engineer. He helped organize the reconstruction of
the Surp Giragos Diyarbakir/Dikranagerd Church and the first Armenian
reclaim of church properties in Anatolia after 1915. He gave the
first piano concert in the Surp Giragos Church since 1915.)

NUMBER OF RUSSIAN TOURISTS VISITING ARMENIA EXPECTED TO RISE 23% IN 2015

YEREVAN, March 26. /ARKA/. The number of Russian tourists visiting
Armenia is expected to rise 23% in 2015, Arman Khachatyan, acting
executive director of Armenian Development Fund, said on Thursday.

According to the National Statistical Service, Armenia hosted 1,203,746
tourists in 2014 accounting for 11% year-on-year growth.

The number of Russian tourists in Armenia rose 28%. Khachatryan said
that his forecast is grounded on the agreements Armenia signed earlier
this month after participation in ‘Trips and Tourism’ international
exhibition in Russia, which attracted more than 2,000 companies from
over 200 countries.

In his opinion, Armenia’s participation in international tourist
exhibitions intensifies the flow of tourists to Armenia.

“Since the beginning of this year Armenia has taken part in three
large tourist exhibitions in Spain, Germany and Russia,” he said.

“Therefore, we expect that the number of tourists from Spain will rise
5-7 percent, from Germany 18 percent and from Russia about 23 percent.”

FITUR 2015 tourism exhibition was opened in late January in Madrid
and ITB Berlin in early March in Berlin.

According to the figures received from hotels in 2014, tourists from
CIS countries made up 31%, those from EU countries 30.1% and from
other countries 38.5% of the total number of the tourists Armenia
hosted in 2014. —0—-

MOTION TO BE INTRODUCED IN CANADIAN PARLIAMENT TO DECLARE APRIL AS GENOCIDE REMEMBRANCE MONTH

18:39, 26 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Motion to be Introduced in House of Commons to declare April Genocide
Remembrance, Condemnation and Prevention Month

The Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC) has worked closely
with Mr. Brad Butt, Member of Parliament for Mississauga – Streetsville
(Conservative) on a motion to declare April as Genocide Remembrance,
Condemnation and Prevention Month and, among other things, to mark
April 24 of each year as Armenian Genocide Memorial Day, Horizon
Weekly reports.

The ANCC urges all Canadians dedicated to the cause of preventing
future genocides and properly recognizing past genocides to make
their voices heard by writing or calling their Members of Parliament
and asking them to vote for this motion.

ANCC President Dr. Girair Basmajian said “This motion reaffirms
Canada’s commitment to the important cause of genocide prevention
and recognizes that the first step to prevention is to ensure that
we remember and condemn past genocides.” Dr. Basmajian further stated
“We are very grateful that this motion designates April 24 as Armenian
Genocide Memorial Day so that all Canadians can join with the Armenian
community to work to prevent future genocides, which is especially
important in light of the religiously and ethnically motivated violence
against minorities currently taking place in Iraq and Syria.”

The Genocide Remembrance, Condemnation and Prevention Month motion
was published on the Notice Paper today, which is the first step that
must be taken before the motion can be introduced in the House of
Commons and then brought to a vote. It is expected that the motion
will be formally introduced in the House of Commons next week by
Mr. Butt. It is also expected that other Members of Parliament will
speak in favour of the motion at that time. It is not yet clear when
the motion would be approved.

The Genocide Remembrance, Condemnation and Prevention Month motion
recalls that Canada has officially recognized four genocides (the
Holocaust, the Holodomor, the Rwandan Tutsi Genocide and the Armenian
Genocide) and that three of these genocides have a memorial day
in April, so it is appropriate to designate April of each year as
Genocide Remembrance, Condemnation and Prevention Month. The ANCC
notes that the designation of April 24 of each year as Armenian
Genocide Memorial Day in this motion is the first time that any
Canadian federal government body has formally recognized April 24 as
Armenian Genocide Memorial Day.

‘MADE IN ARMENIA’ EXHIBITION TO BE OPENED IN ARMENIA SOON

YEREVAN, March 26. /ARKA/. ‘Made in Armenia’ large exhibition will
be open in Armenia from April 26 to 28, Arman Khachatryan, acting
executive director of the Armenian Development Fund, said on Thursday.

“Almost all the companies producing goods or providing services in
Armenia will take part in the exhibition, and 1,500 foreign delegations
are expected to visit it,” he said.

The exhibition will allow companies to present their goods and services
to potential buyers and investors.

Companies producing foods, natural juices, refreshing drinks, mineral
water, wine, brandy, beer and cigarettes will display their products
here.

There will be also companies of light, woodworking, chemical,
glassware, pharmaceutical, jewelry, diamond, watch-producing,
metallurgy, IT, tourism and mining industries, which constitute more
than 90% of Armenia’s industrial capacity. –0—-

ANTI-ARMENIAN ACTS ON THE RISE IN TURKEY

Thursday, March 26th, 2015 | Posted by Asbarez Staff

Graffiti on the wall of St. Mary’s Church in Istanbul says ‘1915,
a blessed year’

ISTANBUL–Anti-Armenian hate speech graffiti appeared on the walls
of an Armenian church, around the same time as the Mayor of Ankara
called Armenians “disgusting.” All this ahead of the 100th anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide.

The St. Mary’s (Sourp Astvadzadzin) Church in the Bakirkoy neighborhood
of Istanbul was desecrated with hate speech graffiti that read “1915,
a blessed year,” reported Today’s Zaman newspaper.

Another message on the church was read: “What does it matter if you
are all Armenian when there is already one Ogun Samast,” referring
to the convicted killer of Hrant Dink, after whose death many Turks
took to the streets with placards that read “We are all Dink. We are
all Armenian.”

Another insciption on the church wall reads: ‘What does it matter if
you are all Armenian when there is already one Ogun Samast’

Today’s Zaman wrote that its reporter visited the site on Wednesday
morning and found that the graffiti had been painted over. But an
administrator at the church said, “This type of thing happens all
the time.” The Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul refused to comment
on the matter. No criminal complaint has been filed.

The incident comes hot on the heels of another racist slur against
Armenians in Turkey. It was reported on Tuesday that Ankara Mayor
Melih Gokcek had filed a criminal complaint against Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hayko Bagdat on defamation charges after Bagdat posted
lighthearted tweets on his Twitter account referring to the mayor as
an Armenian after the March 2014 local elections.

Gokcek appears to believe it an insult to be called an Armenian
as his lawyer petitioned the Ankara Prosecutor’s Office, saying,
“The statements [by Bagdat] are false and include insult and libel.”

Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek

Ankara mayor says being called an “Armenian” is an insult Ankara Mayor
Melih Gokcek has filed a criminal complaint against Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hayko Bagdat on defamation charges, after the latter
jokingly posted tweets referring to him as an Armenian after the
March 2014 local elections.

According to the Diken website and the state-run Anadolu news agency,
Gokcek’s petition to the Ankara Prosecutor’s Office stated that Bagdat,
who has more than 300,000 followers on Twitter, wrote a series of posts
in the wake of Gokcek’s victory in last year’s March elections. One
of Bagdat’s messages said: “It is official; they gave the capital
city to an Armenian. What a shame!” according to the petition.

The petition also said a Twitter hashtag “melihgokcekermeniymis”
(Melih Gokcek turns out to be Armenian) was allegedly used by Bagdat
in his tweets on the social media website.

Gokcek’s lawyer said in the petition that the mayor is “a citizen of
the Turkish Republic who loves his country and his nation” and that
Bagdat is aware of this. “The statements [by Bagdat] are false and
include insult and libel,” the petition said.

In addition, the mayor filed a lawsuit with the court claiming that
he was insulted by being called “Armenian.”

Gokcek also sued Bagdat in civil court, demanding compensation of
10,000 liras for psychological damages. Bagdat announced the lawsuit on
Twitter, saying: “Turns out Melih Gokcek sued me demanding 10,000 liras
for calling him “Armenian, dude. We are going to have so much fun.”

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT TO TIGHTEN GRIP UPON MEDICAMENTS

YEREVAN, March 26. /ARKA/. Armenia’s government gave today its approval
to amendments to the law on medicaments and other related law.

Health Minister Armen Muradyan said the current law was adopted yet
in 1998 and now it is in need of amendment to be in tune with modern
approaches.

Muradyan said.

In his words, the amendments also imply bigger administrative fines
for breaching the law.

Under the amended law, Armenian pharmaceutical industry will be
brought to conformity with international standards, and this will
allow local producers to enter international markets.

Muradyan said that mechanisms of governmental control over price-making
process are implied here as well.

In particular, he said, there are medicaments that are sold in the
Eurasian Economic Union member countries at lower prices, and a way
will be found for making them available in Armenia’s territory.

Muradyan said.

Speaking about the lack of some medicaments in Armenia, the minister
said that 5,400 varieties of medicaments are registered now in the
country, and this exceeds the basic package of medicaments 2.5 times.

–0—–

SERIOUS CONTROL OVER NGOS AND MASS MEDIA GETTING MONEY FROM ABROAD ESTABLISHED

16:30 / 23.03.2015

Months ago the Armenian Noah’s Ark Russia-based magazine conducted
an interview with the Russian ambassador to Armenia Ivan Volynkin
who said that Russia must more actively state about its presence in
Armenia’s information field.

“It is necessary to neutralize the NGOs acting in Armenia and trying
to harm Armenian-Russian relations in other way. For instance in
Russia a law has been adopted which clearly regulates the activity of
the NGO. It is obvious that those who direct their activity against
Russian-Armenian friendship do not want anything good to Russia and
Armenia,” he said.

This interview raised a big noise in Armenia with a number of NGOs
conducting different actions.

According to Nyut.am sources corresponding services have started
carrying out serious control of the NGOs and mass media getting money
from abroad, like for instance SOROS Foundation getting money from
the West.

Supposedly, it was a ‘request’ of the Russian authorities. There is
also an opposite tendency as well with the West asking to be careful
with Griboyedov Club etc. Soon noisy developments just like the one
which happened with Vardan Oskanian. In short, soon we will hear
about the money laundering cases.