Author: Kalantarian Kevo

TURKEY WILL RETURN TO ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROTOCOLS TO GAIN DIVIDENDS – FORMER PM

news.am
Aug 24, 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – Turkey will return to the Armenian-Turkish protocols on
establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey only
to gain maximum political dividends from them, said the chairman of
Christian-Democratic Union, former Armenian PM Khosrov Harutyunyan
on Wednesday.

“The bills that were not discussed at the legislative stage in
parliament automatically declared invalid. The parliament can return
to the protocols, however, it is not a mandatory procedure,” he added.

President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan announced that Armenia suspended
the ratification process, because Turkey failed to establish
diplomatic relations with Armenia without preconditions as it was
required by protocols. However, Yerevan did not recall the signature
under protocols.

ARMENIAN LIBERALISM FAR FROM REALITY – EXPERT

news.am
Aug 24, 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – The idea of liberalism in Armenia is far from the real
liberalism, political scientist, vice president of the Caucasus
Institute Sergey Minasyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

“In reality liberal politics does not contradict principals of the
state. Many western states manage to have liberalism and strong state.

The reason is that they see it deeper than it takes place in Armenia,”
Minasyan said and added that in order to form free democratic
society with liberal values Armenia needs to have clever, educated
and experienced youth.

According to the expert, the idea of nationalism is also falsified
in Armenia. In order to succeed, one should understand the ideology
of the course through which the state runs.

THE IRISH ARE COMING, BUT CHRISTCHURCH NEEDN’T FEAR

Belfast Telegraph

Aug 24, 2011
UK

An exodus of Irish builders, from north and south, will help to
re-build earthquake-hit New Zealand, proving that emigration is still
a huge part of our story, writes Malachi O’Doherty

It’s a nice thought that, though the Irish never colonised any part of
the world, they have influenced most of it. In fact, it used to be a
proud boast of Irish nationalists that British colonisation could not
have proceeded without Irish people being on hand to do the spadework.

A verse in an old song, quoted by Daniel O’Connell in some of his
speeches, celebrates that smug thought:

At famed Waterloo

Duke Wellington would look blue

If Paddy was not there too,

Says the Shan Van Vocht.

Irish emigrants in New Zealand are contributing now to the
reconstruction of Christchurch, damaged by earthquake. The city needs
8,000 construction workers and one uncharitably phrased news report
in the country says Christchurch is about to be “overrun by Irishmen”,
as if that is something to be dreaded.

The construction companies are advertising on Irish websites, with
high expectations of finding eager builders who have been impoverished
by the economic collapse here. It is the old story; that employment
prospects for the Irish are often better abroad than at home. And a
workforce with that tradition is well-attuned to opportunities for
making big money in far-off places.

When I look at my own family, all of the four brothers have worked
abroad. One had holiday work on Butlins holiday camps. Another worked
on oil rigs in the North Sea. Another was a fitter for Mackies,
working in several European countries.

I picked fruit in England, taught English to the Libyan army in
Tripoli and took things at a more contemplative pace for a few years
in India. At a St Patrick’s night party in New Delhi, I drank Jameson’s
whiskey with grumpy Christian Brothers.

It seems that an essential part of growing up Irish has been to be
shaped by exile and nostalgia. Our songs are replete with that pining.

And future songs will be about repairing New Zealand while dreaming
of good stout, or the Atlantic breeze, for we do homesickness like
no one else can.

Of course, the construction workers will have less to complain about
when they can talk to home on Skype every night.

It may be that the old version of exile and estrangement has been
overtaken by technology and that the thousands heading south to rebuild
Christchurch will never be as decisively cut off from home as earlier
generations were. And maybe it won’t be possible to produce those
doleful songs of lonely nights under foreign skies when you’re just
a text message away.

The Irish workers have not always been loved. There is a hint of
the expectation that their arrival in New Zealand will not be warmly
received by everyone in that use of the word “overrun” in the newspaper
article. But why should anyone think that Irish builders who need
work and money would be a problem? It appears that the reputation
of the hard-fighting and hard-drinking navvy is pestering the New
Zealand imagination.

Irish navvies built the North American railways and buried many of
their own dead beside the track, but this is not remembered as heroic
endeavour and self-sacrifice. Instead, the stories and songs recall
fighting and drinking. It may well be that the cliche of the drunken
Irishman derives more from the behaviour of lonely and frustrated bands
of men in foreign countries than from the sights seen on Irish streets.

But surely that derives, too, from the unhappy condition of men
who were overworked and underpaid, who had no prospects of getting
home again.

William King’s wonderful novel, Leaving Ardglass, describes the
angsts and antics of Irish builders in London in the 1950s, many of
whom wasted their lives there, making only enough money to drown the
pain of separation, getting further each year from any prospect of
going back home with savings and dignity.

Many of those men were homeless and pathetic on the streets of London
for years afterwards, believing that no one back in Ireland would
welcome the sight of them on the step.

Ireland is misunderstood abroad if it is understood through the
legendary squalor of the migrants and pettiness of missionaries. For
the other stereotype is of our cloying religiosity. The most common
human export from this island was the missionary priest.

And the days of our exporting religion are not quite over, though
recruitment to Catholic missionary orders has virtually stopped.

We may not be exporting Catholicism anymore, but this country generates
an awesome enthusiasm for evangelical religion and literal readings
of the Bible.

When Armenia had an earthquake in 1988, Irish people flocked there,
too, but they were not all construction workers. They included fishers
of souls.

Years later, I was invited to meet the head of the Armenian Church,
the Catholicos Karekin II, when I was at a conference there.

I saw the ancient foundations of the historic church at Echmiadzin,
including the relics, among which was the blade of the sword that
pierced the side of Christ on the cross. Well, that’s what they
told me.

As soon as the Catholicos heard I was from Northern Ireland, the
man’s face darkened. He said people from here had taken advantage
of the earthquake to evangelise among Armenians and turn them away
from their church. He seemed afraid I might get up to the same kind
of carry-on myself.

And that’s why Christchurch fears being “overrun by Irishmen”;
because we are naively expected to be like those who went before us.

And some of us are and some of us aren’t.

TIGRAN SARGSYAN: “ROUND-THE-WORLD JOURNEY OF “ARMENIA” VESSEL EXPANDED THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE ARMENIAN NATION.”

Aug 23, 2011
Armenia

Today Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan had a meeting with the crew of
“Armenia” vessel, led by the head of the expedition Zori Balayan,
after their tour around the world.

The Prime Minister greeted the guests and congratulated them on the
successful completion of the journey, noting that he had followed
all the stages of the tour. “We are glad that you managed to carry
out everything that had been planned. You’ve had numerous meetings
with the representatives of the Armenian Diaspora, visited Armenian
historical-cultural centers in many countries, giving us an opportunity
to once again reinvent the rich historical heritage of our people
all around the world,” the Prime Minister said.

As the Prime Minister noted, the crew of “Armenia” vessel has expanded
the geography of the Armenian nation with their journey, discovering
long forgotten places, where Armenian life and spirit has been present
for many centuries. The Prime Minister expressed hope that the members
of the expedition would summarize the results of their tour in the
form of documentary materials as a report on the Armenian history
for the future generations by means of a round-the-world journey.

Zori Balayan told Tigran Sargsyan about the boating course,
the challenges they had encountered, as well as the achievements
of the expedition. According to the head of the expedition, the
journey has especially been of great importance to contribute to the
preservation of Armenian identity in Diaspora and to the accounting
and documentation of Armenian cultural values all around the world.

“Armenia” vessel started its round-the-world journey in 2009 March 28
from Valencia, Spain. The vessel crossed 23 countries, two equators,
42 miles, which is almost 82 thousand km.

FOUR MEN STABBED IN DONI ROSTOV ARE ARMENIANS

Tert.am
24.08.11

The four men hospitalized with heavy knife-inflicted wounds in
the Russia city of Doni Rostov on Monday are ethnic Armenians, the
Azerbaijani Vesti.az reported.

The four had been stabbed by two Azerbaijanis, following a skirmish
on Lenin Square in the city.

Earlier reports suggested that the scuffle took place on ethnic
grounds. However, a local police officer told the Vesti.az, that the
motives of the skirmish are still unknown.

The perpetrators have been arrested, and an investigation is underway.

DEPUTY AGRICULTURE MINISTER: UP TO 450,000 LAMBS BORN IN ARMENIA EVERY YEAR

/ARKA/
August 24, 2011
YEREVAN

Up to 450,000 lambs are born in Armenia every year. Some 220,000 to
230,000 of them are for export Grisha Baghian, first deputy agriculture
minister, said Wednesday at a news conference.

According to the sheep breeding development concept submitted by
the agriculture ministry to the government, the number of sheep in
Armenia would reach 1.5 million by 2020.

168 ZHAM: ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER LIKELY CANDIDATE FOR PREMIER

news.am
Aug 25, 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan’s resignation is
being discussed actively in political backstage, 168 Zham newspaper
reports.

According to the source, the two most likely candidates for the post
are Armenian Parliament Speaker Hovik Abrahamayan and Chairman of
Armenian Control Chamber Ishkhan Zakaryan.

The rumors had it Abrahamyan once said among his close friends that he
will be appointed to the premier’s post in September and has already
agreed it with the Armenian President.

According to the newspaper, Zakaryan enjoys support of Chairman of
Russian Accounts Chamber Sergey Stepashin.

CARZOU EXHIBIT TO BE HELD AT THE ZORAYAN MUSEUM

August 25, 2011

Carzou in his atelier.

BURBANK, Calif. – Born Karnik Zouloumian on January 1, 1907 in Syria
to an Armenian family, Carzou later created his name from the first
syllables of his first name and surname. Becoming a world traveler
at an early age, Carzou was educated in Cairo, Egypt before moving
to Paris in 1924 at the age of 17 to study art and architecture
in earnest.

Carzou mastered a number of mediums, though his line drawings and
engravings would become well known as illustrations for some of the
20th century’s most revered writers, including Hemingway, Albert
Camus, Ionesco and Rimbaud. Carzou produced stunning work of painted
glass and porcelain, in pencils, gauche and pastels as well as oils,
often choosing to work on textured or irregular fabrics and papers
rather than traditional canvas.

In July 1977, Jacques Chirac, the French prime minister, presided over
Carzou’s retrospective exhibition at the Château de Val in Corrèze.

There were also retrospective exhibitions in Switzerland, Luxembourg,
Rochecheouart, the Château des Hayes and Perouges, near Lyons. Carzou
was awarded the National Order of Merit by the president of the
republic. In December of the same year, he was made a member of the
Academie des Beaux-Arts, where he replaced Jean Bouchaud. On April 4,
1979, he became a member of the Institut de France.

One of the artist’s master works, completed in his 80s, was the
Apocalypse of Saint Joan in the Chapel at Manosque in Vaucluse, France,
which depicted not merely the passion of the saint and national hero,
but the ravages of war. Carzou, like his contemporaries Hemingway,
Dali and Picasso (though in an interview the artist criticized
Picasso for being “vulgar”), was part of a generation that witnessed
many wars. Haunted to the point of obsession by the horrors he had
witnessed, Carzou’s work went through a period where the artist
seemed to be desperate to remind the world of the holocausts past,
perhaps in warning. His work on the Chapel de Manosque, one of the
oldest churches in France, became his own fitting tribute when it
was dedicated as the Museum de Jean Carzou in 1995.

Under the auspices of Archbishop Hovnan Derderian and patronage of
Diocesan benefactors Antranik and Virginia Zorayan, the Zorayan Museum
will honor Carzou with an exhibition. The opening reception will be
held on September 15 at 7 p.m. at the Zorayan Museum of the Western
Diocese. For more information, visit

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW

AZG
26-08-2011

As Armenia’s capital Yerevan takes its first steps towards privatising
key public services, May or Karen Karapetyan tells COURTNEY FINGAR of
his priorities for this ancient city, and his hopes for improvements
in relations with neighbouring countries

——————————————————————————–

Q.Yerevan is not that well known globally, nor is Armenia generally.

Do you think there is a knowledge gap about what the city has to
offer businesses and how do you intend to raise its profile?

A. It is true that Yerevan and Armenia are little known. But I am
positive that we have a lot to say. I don’t know whether you know
that Yerevan is 50 years older than Rome and Babylon. It is one thing
to say that Yerevan is 2794 years old and another to say that it is
a contemporary of such famous cities as Rome and Babylon. Moreover,
one of our districts, Shengavit, is more than 6000 years old. It is
one of the more extraordinary areas in this region.

Armenia itself is the first Christian state; Noah moored his arc to
Mount Ararat during the floods. I agree that we do not communicate
in the right ways and we are little heard of. So, what should we do
about it? We should use all possible information channels.

The streaming of information nowadays provides great opportunities.

Take the Armenian diaspora, for example. There are two and a half
times as many Armenians living outside the country. They have their
own friends, colleagues and, of course, information channels, be
they diplomatic, diasporan or internet. What the City Hall wants to
do about this issue is to boost the brand awareness of Yerevan. We
want to communicate a range of information, including our history,
business and investments. To do this we have created a new department
that will be responsible for this work. We will be using the services,
support and help of certain organisations to do all this.

It is a fact that if we are little heard of, we are little known
about. If we are little known about, then we are little trusted.

Everything stems from that.

Q. What do you feel are the city’s unique selling points as an
investment destination?

A. Taking into account the current situation, Yerevan is a very
profitable market to invest in. I would say it is a good time to
invest as it is such a fallow market. Which sectors are best to invest
in? Almost all sectors connected with municipal services. It is the
aim of the City Hall team to create the utmost open and fair business
environment. We want to give the sectors that have business logic to
private companies, or to create public-private partnerships. These
sectors include medicine, hotel business, public transport and waste
management.

Moreover, we are ready to pass the management of our state-owned
enterprises to potential investors and partners where there is also
business logic. For example, YerCityLight, City Funeral Bureau, the
underground and City Landscape Gardening planting services. We are
more than sure that this will bring a stream of investments, reduce
the risk of corruption, develop these sectors and produce savings in
our budget. Very often we spend the budget on these sectors not as
correctly or optimally as we should.

These cost savings will let us invest more into those sectors where
there is no business logic, for example, road building, landscape
gardening and the provision of urban amenities. We are currently
implementing this policy intensively. Our main task is to gain
investors’ trust so in the near future we can pass our companies over
to them.

The new department I mentioned earlier is called the Department of
City Development and Investment Projects Support. Its main task is
the creation of a transparent business environment. We are ready
to support our investors and assist them any time they encounter
artificial barriers to business development, whether from a state body,
a monopoly or whoever.

To sum up: in my opinion Yerevan today is really interesting for
businesses, especially foreign ones because the norms of profitability
are very different from those in more established countries. Municipal
management is different from business management because it is
difficult to prioritise. Kindergartens are a priority, road building
is a priority. The solution to one problem could come at the expense
of solving another one. All the problems require a solution now.

Q. What are its weaknesses and what your priority areas for improvement
to make the city more attractive for foreign investors?

A. The fact we are not trusted is our major weakness. This is due
to multiple factors, primarily a lack of awareness. Business is
an environment where money is invested when there is stability and
confidence in the deal.

So our first challenge is to make the world aware of us. Then we must
create the right business environment. We have publicly announced
that we intend to eradicate corruption in the City Hall. I think the
public is already receiving the right signals about the sincerity of
our intentions.

Gaining permits and other documents has been massively simplified. We
cut out a lot of bureaucracy to make City Hall work better. Next,
we have to create an atmosphere in which our team will be motivated
to work towards the same goal. This is the problem that we have to
solve first of all. If we do not, there is the risk that deals will
be done illegally. It is very important for us to know that we are
trusted and this trust should also involve recognition and openness. I
am more than positive that we will be successful in achieving this.

Q. The region in which Armenia sits is one that is underexploited in
terms of business development, trade volumes and foreign investment,
yet in many ways is fragmented culturally and economically. Do you
feel that regional integration is essential to Yerevan’s success,
and to what extent is closer integration possible or even desirable?

A. I consider regional co-operation to be both necessary and
desirable. In our region, there are four countries, two of which we
do not have any diplomatic relations with and this is not good. Our
regional leaders’ understanding of this necessity is not at the
appropriate level.

Are we doing everything to create an environment of regional
co-operation? I don’t think so. Nonetheless, I think that very often
we do much more than our neighbouring countries, but it’s not enough.

We all have to be consistent and should never tire of dealing with it.

Co-operation is essential in all spheres.

Armenia is a small country and its market is so small that producers
should focus not only on internal consumers, but also on external
ones in order to secure a critical mass of sales. In which fields
could there be co-operation? Various ones, such as energy or medicine.

In the field of medicine, we should regionally agree on creating
smaller specialised clinics rather than bigger ones with multiple
specialisations because the market is small.

When I negotiate with potential investors in the field of medicine,
I tell them that they shouldn’t think of Yerevan just as a city
with a population of 1.2 million, but they should also take into
account the neighbouring countries of Iran, Georgia and the south
of Russia. To tackle this issue, the governments, the municipalities
and the businesses need to have the courage to start negotiations.

Before I became the mayor, I headed the gas company of Armenia and
before that the electrical networks company and we were determined
to start trade with Turkey and even with Azerbaijan. I hope you
know about the political problems with our neighbours. They seem to
have more complexes and to be more closed than us in trying to solve
this problem.

Does this mean that we should feel disappointed and discontinue the
attempts? Of course not. Does this mean that we should do it at the
expense of our dignity?

Of course not. It is God’s will for neighbours to live in friendship
and to reach a compromise. One cannot avoid it, one does not choose
neighbours. We need to find an acceptable way of communicating.

CONFERENCE IN TSAKHKADZOR TO FOCUS ON FUNDING IN SCIENCE

Tert.am
25.08.11

Armenia’s resort town of Tsakhkadzor will from August 26-28 host a
conference that will focus on possibilities of increasing funding in
science and ways of diversifying financial recourses.

The conference is organized by the Youth Foundation of Armenia and
the Association of the Graduates of US universities.

The conference aims at bring together young and elder scientists,
to exchange views, present thematic lectures in an attempt to find
ways of increasing financing in the sphere of science, as well as to
contribute to the creation of necessary conditions to diversify the
sources of funding.

The conference will be attended by scientists of both young and
elder generation.

Armenia’s Minsiter of Education and Science, Armen Ashotyan, as well
as representatives of agencies in chare will deliver speeches.