Author: Kalantarian Kevo

DEAR BAKU: STOP BEATING ACTIVIST. RELEASE HER. DROP TREASON CHARGE!

Amnesty International USA
Oct 8 2014

New York

Amnesty International USA has issued the following news release:

Arresting its loudest critic and charging her with “treason” doesn’t
seem enough for Azerbaijani officials. Last week, peace activist and
human rights defender

was beaten by Kurdakhany detention facility administration staff.

An April 2014 video shows Leyla Yunus confronting officials (in
Russian) about not having been allowed to use the toilet during an
unlawful detention for interrogation. Although officials eventually
allowed her to use a toilet (with a male guard watching her), Leyla
says she was not informed of charges against her.

Less than half a year later after the detention, Leyla (and soon
her husband Arif Yunus) were arrested and given ridiculous charges
of treason and tax evasion. Amnesty International considers both
Prisoners of Conscience and calls on Baku to release them immediately
and unconditionally (add your voice to our appeal).

Those familiar with the complex ethnic conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh
(which resulted in 30,000 deaths in the early 1990s) between ex-Soviet
neighbors Armenia and Azerbaijan will appreciate a US State Department
official’s statement that harassment against Leyla and Arif Yunus
presents “a chilling effect on any contact between Azerbaijanis
and Armenians.”

As the director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy (the office
of this organization was demolished without notice in 2011), Leyla
Yunus is one of few courageous activists in Azerbaijan who cooperate
on reconciliation projects with intellectuals in Armenia. Her husband
Arif also worked at the Institute.

While administrations in both countries use the nationalist card, the
president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has been accused of capitalizing
on anti-Armenian sentiments in order to maintain his family’s
several-decade-long rule and de facto control of oil resources.

(Amnesty International has recognized 23 people as prisoners of
conscience in Azerbaijan, jailed solely for peacefully exercising
their right to freedom of expression.)

In fact, an Azerbaijani official has stated that Leyla Yunus “is not
a woman… [but] Armenian.” Working for peace is not a crime. Please
take action to tell Baku that the world is listening to its loudest
voices for peace, even as they are beaten behind bars.

Days of Belarus Culture to start in Armenia

Saturday, October 11, 2014

A delegation of Belarusian Ministry of Culture along with Minister
Boris Svetlov will visit Armenia on October 15-20. A program of
cooperation for 2014-2017 between culture ministries of the two
countries will be signed during the visit.

Days of Culture of Belarus will start in Yerevan on October 17,
according to the press service of Armenian Culture Ministry.

TODAY, 16:01
Aysor.am

Rally Fallout: Ruling party members spurn opposition criticism

POLITICS | 11.10.14 | 13:51

NAZIK ARMENAKYAN
ArmeniaNow

GOHAR ABRAHAMYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

RELATED NEWS

Come Back For More: Opposition leaders promise to outline further
steps at next rally

Members of the ruling party in Armenia appear to remain undaunted by
the calls for an immediate power change made at the October 10 rally
of three non-governing forces that proved the largest in years. They
also point out the lack of a coherent message from the leaders of the
opposition.

The Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), the Armenian National Congress
(ANC) and Heritage held their joint political gathering in Yerevan’s
Liberty Square Friday night after staging eight rallies in provincial
towns across Armenia as part of a two-week campaign to drum up popular
support for the event.

Representatives of four opposition parties, including the People’s
Party of Armenia of Stepan Demirchyan that joined the trio, addressed
the crowd estimated at between 10,000 and 14,000.

Most speakers, including the leaders of the ANC and Heritage, Levon
Ter-Petrosyan and Raffi Hovannisian, called for a power change, but
Gagik Tsarukyan, the leader of the PAP that has largest parliamentary
minority faction, stopped short of such calls, saying that he would
speak at greater length at the next rally. No date for the next rally
was announced immediately.

Ruling Republican Party MP Hovhannes Sahakyan told ArmeniaNow that he
did not hear anything at the rally that could be commented on or
considered to be a policy pursuing long-term goals.

“The whole tragedy is that they work on gathering crowds, ensuring
quantity. One speaker was confused, he tried to check with his
partners what to do next, he left his speech unfinished [ed: a
reference to Heritage party leader Raffi Hovannisian), another said he
would speak next time [a reference to PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan], and
still another [a reference to ANC leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan) was
talking about things he talked about in 2007-2008, in the same style,
with the same dividing lines drawn even within the opposition,
speaking about things most of which concerned his partners that are
next to him today,” said Sahakyan, adding that he would like to hear
more meaningful and policy-related speeches so as to be able to have
debate and find “the golden mean” for the people.

Leader of the Republican faction in the parliament Vahram
Baghdasaryan, meanwhile, told Panorama.am that while he was not a new
person in politics, he still could not understand what the message of
the opposition was to the masses.

“When the moment comes to decide who should be the leader, there will
be a lot of noise, as there is no unity among them… And that’s why
they have nothing to tell the people, which we all very clearly saw
yesterday,” Baghdasaryan commented.

Yerevan-based Caucasus Institute director, political analyst Sergey
Minasyan told ArmeniaNow that he did not see any new step at the
October 10 rally and that it was like a political déjà vu.

“Perhaps after a big pause it was a rally that stood out, but,
unfortunately, most of its participants were residents of the Kotayk
province. And this, unfortunately, shows that it is not some new
political stage, but that the approaches of the opposition are not
that strong, because if you gather a 15,000-strong rally and more than
half of the people are from a specific region, it raises questions,”
the analyst said.

PAP leader Tsarukyan enjoys great popularity in Kotayk, which is the
fourth most populous province of Armenia with its population estimated
at over 250,000. But the Armenian opposition says it has supporters in
all regions of the country.

Armenia Exposed to Ebola and ISIS

Haikazn Ghahriyan, Editor-in-Chief
Comments – 11 October 2014, 13:12

Yesterday Armenia appeared in the Eurasian Concentration Camp. Its
locomotive – Russia – is undergoing tough international isolation. It
has been announced that at the end of October the Ebola epidemic will
break out in Russia which is currently spreading in Central Africa.
Besides, the representatives of the Islamic State have announced the
Russian territory, namely Chechnya, to be their next target.

Recently the U.S. president has proclaimed the three threats to
humanity: the Ebola virus, Russia and ISIS. In other words, these
three are threats to humanity and an international coalition has been
formed to fight them. In other words, these three will appear in the
margin and must be destroyed.

In addition, it is noticed that Russia has a “status” that is inferior
to Ebola and ISIS because two of the three threats, Ebola and ISIS,
threaten Russia.

Besides, Ebola and ISIS are superior by status because currently they
are active tools to use in the process of formation of the new world
order from which Russia has been left out and does not take part in
decision making and is actually one of the objects of the process.

It goes without saying that the participants of the pro-Russian
marginal projects are exposed to the same threats as the rest of the
humanity. Having appeared in pro-Russian projects, these countries
automatically become enemies of the humanities and are subject to
sanctions.

Such threat has been expressed for Kazakhstan, which forced Nazarbayev
to seek protection in the West. Belarus is also worried about such
prospects and is therefore trying to set up relations with legitimate
international organizations.

As to Armenia, while Belarus and Kazakhstan are aware of danger and
are trying to resist Russia, Armenia is passive. This supposed the
entire hookup of risks.

One cannot walk against global developments and tendencies otherwise
Ebola and ISIS will come to teach a lesson. It is noticed that when
the Russian threat is not sufficient, Ebola and ISIS are used.

Turkey’s first nuclear power plant construction to start next spring

October 11, 2014 – 18:02 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The construction of the nuclear power plant in
Turkey will start next spring, the country’s Energy Minister Taner
Yýldýz said, according to Hurriyet Daily News.

“We want to break ground on the Akkuyu nuclear plant in March or
April,” Yýldýz said, at a meeting where he also hosted Turkish
students set to travel to Russia for nuclear engineering training.

The nuclear plant, which is to be located near Akkuyu in the southern
province of Mersin on the Mediterranean coast, will require investment
worth $22 billion, Yýldýz added.

While the plant’s foundations will be dug in 2015, construction of its
four reactors will not begin until 2016. The plant is planned to
become partly operational in 2020 and fully operational in 2023, the
100-year anniversary of the Turkish Republic.

In 2011, Russian company Rosatom signed an agreement with the Turkish
Energy Ministry to build and operate the nuclear power plant.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s second planned nuclear plant was awarded to a
Japanese-French consortium last May.

Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and Itochu Corporation, with
France’s GDF Suez, will build the 4,800 MW plant in the Black Sea
coastal city of Sinop, at an estimated cost of $22 billion.

Japan is also bidding to build a third plant.

International school officially opens doors in Armenia’s resort town

15:57 * 11.10.14

The United World Colleges’ (UWC) first ever international school in
Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, UWC Dilijan
on Saturday held its official opening in Armenia’s north-eastern
resort town (Tavush region).

The school, which now has 96 students (aged 16-17) and only 25
pedagogues, is planning to increase its overload to by 2023 to involve
more young people and specialists in the system.

At a news conference held before the opening event, the school’s
founding partner, Ruben Vardanyan, thanked all the people who believed
and assisted in the project. He expressed hope that UWC Dilijan will
set a good model in the international education system, by helping
shape new standards and values.

Armenian will not be taught as a foreign language at the school whose
curriculum includes courses in mathematics and foreign languages, said
John Puddefoot, the acting principal. But he expressed hope that they
will manage to organize classes of Armenians in the near future. The
school will also engage in scientific projects.

The idea to launch the school came into life thanks to assistance by
donors from around 200 countries. The total cost of the development
activities is $115 million as of now. An additional $30 million will
be spent for the procurement of land lots, architectural-engineering
activities and infra-structure development.

The curriculum, offered in the Armenian language, is based on the
International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma program. Starting from 2017,
the school will admit students aged 13-14.

The opening ceremony was attended by Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan, President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Bako Sahakyan,
and other high-ranking officials.

REVUE DE PRESSE
Sculpture : Toros, 70 ans à l’épreuve du temps

Discret, Toros est aux antipodes de ses créations. Des sculptures le
plus souvent >, comme le reconnaît elle-même en
plaisantant son épouse, Marie. Sans aucun doute, à la hauteur du
talent de l’homme ! L’oeuvre et le génie

>,
confiait d’ailleurs, le président du conseil général, Didier
Guillaume. Car hier, derrière son atelier, dans sa salle d’exposition,
>, selon l’expression de ce même
Didier Guillaume, le sculpteur célébrait ses 70 années de créations. >,
rappelle sa femme. Dinandier, il tape fort sur le métal pour
oublier… Les obstacles de la vie forgeront le caractère de
l’artiste. Avec ses mains, il donne corps à ses idées, à ses émotions.
>, notait à propos, le
maire Marie-Hélène Thoraval. Devant l’oeuvre et le génie de Toros, le
préfet Didier Lauga retiendra surtout sa capacité d’ouverture. >

samedi 11 octobre 2014,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

LES ENVOIS DE FONDS DE RUSSIE EN BAISSE

ARMENIE

Les envois de fonds de plusieurs millions de dollars envoyes par les
Armeniens travaillant en Russie ont commence a chuter alors que la
croissance economique en Armenie ralentit.

Selon la Banque centrale d’Armenie (CBA), les banques commerciales
locales ont traite 585,5 millions de $ de transferts en espèces non
commerciales entrants en provenance de Russie, de mai a août, soit
une baisse de près de 5 pour cent sur un an. La somme representait
près de 85 pour cent des envois de fonds globaux, qui ont chute de
1,8 pour cent rien que dans cette periode.

Par comparaison, les virements non commerciaux en provenance de Russie
ont augmente de près de 12 pour cent a 1,61 milliards de dollars dans
l’ensemble de 2013 et ce chiffre etait equivalent a environ 16 pour
cent du produit interieur brut de l’Armenie.

Les donnees de la BCA montre que les envois de fonds en provenance
de Russie ont cesse de croître en Avril et ont commence a chuter de
plus en plus en Juin. Ils ont chute de près de 8 pour cent sur un an
en août.

La baisse intervient alors que des signes croissants montrent que
l’economie russe est en train de plonger dans la recession notamment
en raison des sanctions economiques imposees a Moscou par l’Occident
en raison de l’intervention de la Russie dans la crise en Ukraine.

Les envois de fonds ont longtemps ete une source importante de revenus
pour de nombreuses familles armeniennes. Ils permettent egalement que
le pays finance ses enormes deficits commerciaux et comptes courants.

D’où leur importance pour la performance macro-economique de
l’Armenie. Hrant Bagratian, depute au parlement et ancien Premier
ministre et critique du gouvernement armenien actuel, a declare que
la chute des envois de fonds va inevitablement etouffer la croissance
du PIB dans le pays. > a dit Hrant Bagratian au service
armenien de RFE / RL (Azatutyun.am).

GAGUIK TSAROUKIAN PREND DATE POUR LES PRESIDENTIELLES

ARMENIE

Le mercredi 8 octobre, le Parti republicain (HHK) au pouvoir en
Armenie s’interrogeait sur les ambitions politiques du leader du
parti d’opposition Armenie prospère (BHK), l’homme d’affaires Gaguik
Tsaroukian, laissant entendre qu’il n’avait pas clairement pris de
decision quant a son avenir politique. S’il a fait preuve d’une
certaine prudence avec le pouvoir dans son parcours politique,
y compris au sein d’une opposition dans laquelle il s’est range
toujours plus resolument alors qu’elle s’apprete a relancer l’epreuve
de force avec le president Serge Sarkissian, le leader du 2e parti
du Parlement armenien a tenu a mettre fin a ces interrogations le
lendemain meme, en evoquant la perspective de sa candidature aux
prochaines presidentielles.

A la veille du grand rassemblement antigouvernemental auquel ont
appele son parti et deux autres formations de l’oppositon pour le
10 octobre a Erevan, G. Tsaroukian a en exprime sa disposition a
briguer la presidence. “J’ai quatre ou cinq candidats en tete pour les
elections presidentielles, qui sont des personnes competentes et en
mesure d’engager le pays sur la voie du developpement et de regler les
problèmes”, a indique G.Tsaroukian devant les journalistes. “Mais si
mes partenaires politiques et le people choisissent l’un d’entre eux,
alors je serai pret a lui apporter mon soutien et a me ranger a ses
côtes”, a-t-il ajoute, en precisant “et si mes partenaires politiques
et le peuple devaient decider qu’ils avaient besoin de moi et de ma
candidature en ces moments difficiles, alors je serai aussi pret pour
cela”. G.Tsaroukian, qui est l’une des plus grosses fortunes d’Armenie,
n’a pas precise toutefois s’il se preparait a des elections anticipees,
ou s’il comptait laisser l’actuel president aller au terme de son
mandat. Ni lui, ni aucune autre personnalite de son parti, n’a joint
sa voix a celle des autres leaders de l’opposition pour appeler a
la demission de Serge Sarkissian. Il s’est contente d’assure qu’il
ameliorerait nettement la situation du pays s’il etait elu president.

“En quelques mois, les problèmes les plus pressents seraient regles
et le pays serait remis sur la bonne voie et sur les bonnes bases …

Dans tous les secteurs, les gens ressentiraient cette amelioration dans
leur vie quotidienne et leur travail”, a declare M. Tsaroukian lors
d’une conference de presse conjointe avec Thomas Bach, le president
du Comite international olympique (CIO) en visite en Armenie. Le
leader du BHK, qui est aussi le president du Comite national olympique
d’Armenie, a fait part de ses ambitions politiques devant la presse
alors que la grande manifestation organisee conjointement par son
parti, le Congrès national armenien (HAK) et le parti Jarankoutioun
doit donner le coup d’envoi le lendemain a Erevan d’une nouvelle
campagne de protestation de l’opposition, qui montre le visage de
l’unite, une fois n’est pas coutume.

Les trois partis ont prepare ce grand jour de moblilisation dans la
capitale en organisant des manifestations dans differentes localites
au cours des deux dernières semaines, sondant ainsi la disposition de
l’opinion a suivre leur appel en vue d’un changement de regime. Mais
ils n’ont pu s’unir autour de l’exigence d’un scrutin presidentiel
anticipe. En vertu de la Constitution armenienne, S.Sarkissian devrait
achever son 2e mandat de cinq ans en 2018. N’ayant pas la possibilite
de briguer un 3e mandat presidentiel, l’actuel president postule
un poste de premier ministre au terme de son mandat, et envisage de
modifier la Constitution en vue d’adapter la fonction a ses ambitions
politiques, autrement dit a parlementariser le regime. Le vendredi 3
octobre, G.Tsaroukian avait confirme qu’il serait present a la grande
manifestation du 10 octobre sur la place de la Liberte de Erevan et
qu’il prendrait la parole. Le leader du HAK, Levon Ter Petrossian, et
celui de Jarankoutioun, Raffi Hovannissian, devraient aussi s’adresser
a la foule lors de ce rassemblement.

R.Hovannissian a ete l’adversaire malheureux de S.Sarkissian lors des
dernières presidentielles en fevrier 2013. Il a refuse de reconnaître
la victoire de S. Sarkissian, l’attribuant a des frauds massives
qu’il a denoncees lors d’une campagne de manifestations qui n’a
ete que peu suivie, faute d’un soutien clair des autres composantes
de l’opposition. Quant a G.Tsaroukian, on le pressentait comme le
principal candidat de l’opposition dans ce scrutiny, mais il s’etait
retire de la course en decembre 2012, sans donner d’explication. On
avait alors attribue son retrait aux fortes pressions qu’aurait
exercees S. Sarkissian sur son ancien allie Tsaroukian, dont on avait
cru par ailleurs qu’il aurait cherche a soutenir la candidature de
l’ancien president Robert Kotcharian, qui a opere un retour critique
sur la scène politique. Le BHK est d’ailleurs toujours considere par
certains analystes politiques comme le parti sur lequel R. Kotcharian
appuie ses ambitions politiques. Debut 2012, il s’etait retire de la
coalition gouvernementale et s’est montre toujours plus critique a
l’encontre du president Sarkissian. Le parti de Tsaroukian contrôle
36 des 131 sièges de l’Assembler nationale d’Armenie.

vendredi 10 octobre 2014, Gari (c)armenews.com

CIS HAS SPECIAL ROLE IN ENSURING STABILITY AMID ESCALATION IN MANY REGIONS – ARMENIAN PRESIDENT

YEREVAN, October 10. /ARKA/. The Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS) has a special role in ensuring stability amid escalation in
many regions of the world, Armenia’s president Serzh Sargsyan said
at the CIS leaders’ meeting, as quoted by ITAR-TASS.

Amid political escalation and international tensions in many regions of
the world, cooperation within CIS should aim at peace and stability,
settlement of the pending and prevention of future conflicts through
exclusively peaceful means and in compliance with UNO regulations,
the president said.

At the same time, the president said, cooperation in the military,
law-enforcement and anti-drug measures remain a priority.

Sargsyan urged the respective CIS bodies to aim at achieving concrete
targets and tangible results. -0–