Author: Kalantarian Kevo

INCREASE IN PRICES FOR ELECTRIC POWER IN ARMENIA MAY DRIVE FOOD PRICES UP

YEREVAN, June 13. /ARKA/. Babken Pipoyan, the head of Informed and
Protected Consumer NGO, commenting today on the Public Services
Regulatory Commission’s intention to raise electric power prices,
said this increase may drive food prices up.

“Stores’ expenses will grow and they will be left with no option but
to raise prices for goods,” he said.

Speaking about frequent increases in electric power prices, Pipoyans
said that not a single increase had been justified and not a single
problem had been solved by raising electricity prices.

“Every time when power prices rise, either voltage fluctuations or
unexpected power disconnection remain and thing are not put right,”
he said.

The Public Services Regulatory Commission of Armenia is going to raise
consumer prices for electric power by 3.8 – 4.3 drams per one kWh
(including VAT) on August 1, 2014.

The Commission has already raised consumer prices for electric power
just one year ago from 30 drams to 38 drams per one KWh (including VAT)
for daytime consumption and from 25 drams to 28 drams for nighttime
consumption. The then decision took force on July 7, 2013.

($1 – AMD 412). –0—-

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ARMENIAN OLIGARCH MP TO OPEN NEW MALL – NEWSPAPER

June 14, 2014 | 08:44

YEREVAN. – In all likelihood, oligarch and Armenia National Assembly
member Samvel Aleksanyan has found it difficult to cope with the
fact that larger malls have opened in capital city Yerevanthan the
YerevanCity supermarkets which he owns, Aravot daily reported.

“So, he decided to be the largest among the malls, too.

“The Malatia Mall will open in 2016; it will be a huge five-story
building whose two stories will be underground.

“[But] this mall definitely will not have empty kiosks, since the
[current] Malatia mart is planned to be disassembled in the near future
and the local merchants will move to Malatia Mall,” Aravot wrote.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

IRAQI ARCHBISHOP, PRIESTS FLEE TO VILLAGES AMID JIHADIST ADVANCE

Assyrian International News Agency AINA
June 13 2014

Posted 2014-06-13 20:03 GMT

Mosul — “Now in Mosul jihadist militants control the city and the
situation is calm. But we do not know who they are and what they want
to do now”. His Excellency Amel Shamon Nona, Chaldean Archbishop of
Mosul, describes to Fides Agency the climate that now reigns in Iraq’s
second largest city, which was captured two days ago by the rebels
of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Jihadist
faction also active in the Syrian conflict. The Chaldean Archbishop
confirms that the vast majority of the 1,200 Christian families have
left the city.

He himself and his priests have found shelter in villages in the
Nineveh Plain such as Kramles and Tilkif, a few tens of kilometers
from Mosul. At the same time, His Excellency Ninth denies rumors of
attacks on churches operated by men of the ISIL. “Our church dedicated
to the Holy Spirit”, the Archbishop refers to Fides, “was depradated
by gangs of robbers yesterday and the day before yesterday, while
the city was captured by the ISIL. But Muslim families living in the
surrounding area have called their Islamist militants, who intervened,
putting an end to the looting. The same Muslim families phoned us to
let us know that they themselves are controlling the church, and will
not allow the jackals to return”.

The construction site of an Armenian church still under construction
was involved in the clashes and damaged just because it was next to
an army base attacked by jihadists. After their entry in the city,
Islamist militias manifest the intention to maintain public order under
strict control. Archbishop Nona does not confirm the rumors about the
alleged imposition of the Islamic veil on Christian women made by the
jihadists and points out that Christians in Mosul, locked up in their
own homes, are mostly elderly unable to escape because of their age
and health conditions. He also points out that, among the hundreds of
thousands of residents who fled Mosul, the vast majority are Muslims.

Mgr. Nona’s doubts regard the pliancy shown by the Iraqi army and
police forces before the arrival of the Islamists: “What I can say”,
said the Archbishop, “is that what has happened is a mystery. It is
not known how soldiers and police managed to leave the city in less
than an hour, leaving weapons and means of transport. All this raises
many questions”.

The Chaldean church in Mosul dedicated to the Holy Spirit is where
Father Ragheed Ganni was killed along with three deacons on June 3,
2007 and where Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, was abducted, whose
lifeless body was found on March 13, 2008.

ARFD: THE STATEMENT MADE BY KISELEV ABOUT THE LINK BETWEEN THE STATUS OF THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE IN ARMENIA AND RUSSIAN SECURITY GUARANTEES IS A BLACKMAIL

by Tatevik Shahunyan

Friday, June 13, 16:34

The statement made by the head of the Russian International Agency
“Russia Today”, Dmitri Kiselev, about the link between the status
of the Russian language in Armenia and Russian security guarantees
is a direct blackmail, secretary of the ARFD parliamentary faction,
Aghvan Vardanyan, said at today’s briefing in the parliament.

He said that Russia always had such a position, but it has never made
such a sharp statement. “I have got an impression that the relations
between Armenia and Russia do not have a nature of the strategical
partnership and are not regulated by the inter-state agreements. They
remind us of the relations between a master and his vassal”, –
Vardanyan said and added that such statements are inadmissible and
high ranked officials of Armenia should make adequate conclusions.

For his part, secretary of the Armenian National Congress parliamentary
faction, Aram Manukyan, said that Kiselev’s statement is a response
at the humiliating policy conducted by the authorities of Armenia.

To note, during yesterday’s regular meeting of the Armenian-Russian
Friendship Club in the Armenian parliament, a remarkable conversation
took place between Director General of Russia Today news agency
Dmitry Kiselev and a member of the parliament from the ruling RPA,
Hayk Babukhanyan. When Babukhanyan hinted that Russia should recognize
the independence of Nagorno Karabakh, Kiselev replied: “Start with
yourself”. He then touched upon the problem of the Russian language
in Armenia, saying that there are no Russian schools, people are not
fluent in Russian and he could not even communicate with a taxi driver
in Russian. He also added that direct meddling of Russia with the
Karabakh conflict will automatically result in the war. He said that
if Armenia wants security guarantees from Russia, it should stimulate
much spreading of the Russian language in Armenia. “When declaring
about Armenia’s desire to join the Eurasian Union, President of Armenia
Serzh Sargsyan said that the integration should be implemented taking
into consideration the political component and security component. But
integration in the context of security is impossible without the
cultural component. They are inter-related”, – Kiselev said. For his
part, former ambassador of Russia to Armenia, Vyacheslav Kovalenko,
added that Armenia should determine its political priorities, and
if it has chosen Russia, in that case the Russian language should
be disseminated in Armenia, though it causes displeasure in the
Armenian society.

VTB BANK (ARMENIA) FINANCING CONSTRUCTION OF MODERN GUEST COMPLEX IN DOWNTOWN YEREVAN

YEREVAN, June 13. / ARKA /. VTB Bank (Armenia) said today it is
financing the construction of a modern guest complex in downtown
Yerevan that will comprise apartments, office space, retail trade
outlets, restaurants and a fitness center.

“The amount of funding is 8 billion drams. The construction company
is D&H Group. The project is scheduled for completion in 2016,”
the bank said in a press release.

Bank VTB (Armenia) CEO Yuri Gusev was quoted as saying that the
construction of the new guest complex will create new jobs during
the construction and during the complex’s operation.

D&H Group was established in 2007 to implement Dalma Plaza project. In
2013 the company was acquired by a group of companies Logicon.

VTB Bank (Armenia) is owned fully by Russian VTB Bank. It runs 67
branches across Armenia. -0-

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TOURISM MAY START DEVELOPING IN ARMENIA ONLY AFTER ESTABLISHMENT OF SPECIAL CADASTRE – EXPERT

YEREVAN, June 13. /ARKA/. Tourism may start developing in Armenia
only after establishment of a special cadastre, Robert Minasyan,
the head of the Armenian Tourism Institute, said on Friday.

He said this agency will identify problems in tourism grounding on
analyses. “It is impossible to develop tourism with closed eyes,
it is necessary to think over creation of a cadastre that will be
taking stock of tourism, the amount of its revenues, paid taxes and
the number of people employed by the industry,” he said.

Minasyan said that first of all human factor is important for
development of tourism. It means specialists here should be skilled
and the interests of the tourists traveling to Armenian should be
known very well.

“Many hotels, restaurants and leisure facilities appeared in the
country in a few years, which are very important for tourists, but
human factor shouldn’t be forgotten …” he said.

In recent days, Economy Minister Karen Chshmaritsyan said that
957,240 tourists have visited Armenia in 2013 and that this is
13.5% more than in 2012 (843,330). In his words, AMD 46 million of
the planned AMD 50 million was spent in 2013 on ensuring Armenian
and Nagorno-Karabakh travel agencies’ participation in tourist
expositions in Madrid, Berlin and London. .-0—- – See more at:

RELATIVE OF ARMENIAN POLICE OFFICIAL STILL WANTED BY POLICE

June 13, 2014 | 14:50

YEREVAN. – A criminal case involving relative of Armenian police
official will be considered by Erebuni investigation department,
the lawyer of defendant toldArmenian News-NEWS.am.

As reported earlier Sedrak Osipyan, a nephew of Yerevan deputy police
chief Valery Osipyan, was charged with causing severe bodily injuries.

He may face up to seven years in jail.

“The case will be considered by Erebuni investigation department. I
have no update,” lawyer Kromvel Grigoryan said, adding that Osipyan
is on wanted list.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

Hraparak: Mika Cement employees demand unpaid salaries

11:55 14/06/2014 » DAILY PRESS

Mika Cement plant was declared bankrupt in 2013 and its employees have
not received salaries for 7 months. One of the employees told Hraparak
that the management promised to pay wage arrears by June 15, but in
reality hopes are scarce.

Source: Panorama.am

NEWS RELEASE
Armenian Bar Association
Contact: [email protected]
P.O. Box 29111
Los Angeles, CA 90029
Tel: 323-666-6288
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

The Armenian Genocide resulted in the loss of life and land and also
in the misappropriation of personal property, including works of art
belonging to the victims and survivors of the Genocide. Their
families and heirs remain the rightful owners of the plundered
artwork, some of which is in the illegal possession of Turkish
government-owned or controlled museums. If a pending Congressional
bill is enacted into law, the art and antiquities which were stolen
during the Armenian Genocide will enjoy undeserved protection from the
claims of their legal owners.

The United States Senate is now considering a bill (the Foreign
Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act), approved
overwhelmingly last month in the House of Representatives, which would
block legal claims to artworks on loan from abroad. The bill would
divest U.S. federal and state courts of all jurisdiction, with one
major exception and one monumental omission.

The exception is Nazi-looted artwork belonging to Jews. The omission
is Ottoman/Turkish-looted artwork belonging to Armenians.

The Armenian Bar Association questions why the Holocaust alone, among
atrocities affecting ownership, is being afforded special treatment.
To be sure, the lending and borrowing of artworks has been viewed as
the essence of cultural exchange between museums in the United States
and abroad. So prevalent is the practice that the U.S. government has
traditionally protected it with laws that shield the artworks from
being seized by anyone with a claim to legal ownership while the
artwork is on display in this country.

Nevertheless, in view of the potential denial of the property rights
of the descendants of the victims and survivors of the Armenian
Genocide, the Armenian Bar Association has requested that the bill’s
sponsor, Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, act responsibly to
defeat the bill or to put Armenian Genocide-related claims on equal
footing with Jewish Holocaust claims.

Our letter to Senator Feinstein is attached above and appears below.

Armen K. Hovannisian
Chairman of the Board of Governors
Armenian Bar Association

_______________________________________________________________

Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20150

Dear Senator Feinstein:

The Armenian Bar Association is writing you to express
our concern about a pending bill, the “Foreign Cultural Exchange
Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act.” We understand that the
art museums in the United States especially wish this bill passed.

When a museum owned by a foreign government lends
artwork or other cultural property to a museum in the United States,
it runsthe risk that an American citizen will claim title to that
artwork or cultural property on the grounds that it was stolen from
that citizen or his or her ancestors. We appreciate the hesitation
that foreign state museums have in lending anything to an American
museum if there is any danger that they will have to fight such claims
in court.

However, we are more concerned with the rights of
American owners. We are primarily concerned with the fact that an
American cannot easily seek to recover stolen property while it is in
a foreign country. Only if the property physically arrives in the
United States can an American citizen truly bring a claim.

The bill exempts foreign state-owned museums from these claims, with
the sole exception of claims for property stolen during the Holocaust
from 1933-1945. Notably, the bill does not similarly except claims of
property stolen during the Armenian Genocide from 1915-1923 which
should be afforded viability to the hundreds of thousands of your
Armenian-American constituents.

We know that many Americans of Armenian, Greek, and
Assyrian descent can bring colorable claims against Turkish museums
for property stolen from their ancestors. Moreover, many Americans who
have roots in countries once under Soviet Communist domination can
also bring colorable claims.

Why should this bill deny the right to bring claims to
all Americans except those regarding Holocaust claims? We think such
a singling out of one group could well be unconstitutional under the
United States Supreme Court cases of AIA v. Garamendi (Holocaust
insurance claims) and Movsesian/Arzoumanian v. Victoria Versicherung
(Armenian Genocide-era insurance claims).

Moreover, why indeed should the United States want to
grant exemptions to foreign museums at all? It is true that many
foreign state-owned museums might refuse to let property travel to the
United States unless they could obtain immunity. There would be a
loss to the Americans who would like to see these objects here.

However, we believe it is more important to protect the
rights of American citizens to have their and their families’ property
returned to them. This bill would place the interests of foreign
museums over the interests of American citizens.

Very truly yours,

Armen K. Hovannisian
Chairman of the Board of Governors
Armenian Bar Association

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Message from His Holiness Aram I

Dear Dr. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro,
I am writing to you as the Head of the Spiritual Head of Armenians in
Syria and many communities in the Diaspora.
I read your 29 July 2013 report to the General Assembly of the UN on the
situation in Syria, which you made as the Chairman of the Independent
International Commission of Inquiry for Syria. I still remember your
statement that “Syria is in free-fall” and your description of a “fragmented
society” in which “fighters are changing allegiances.” I would add that
minorities are also the victims of violence perpetrated by all sides.
With great grief I have been observing the victimization of my community.
The late events in Kessab, facilitated by Turkey, demonstrate the free hand
with which third-party countries are exploiting the situation. As we prepare
to commemorate in 2015 the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
perpetrated by Ottoman Turkey, modern Turkey has forced another tragedy upon
our people. Our community in Kessab, which have been displaced from their
historical land of Cilicia, have lost everything and have become refugees
once more.
I am currently on an official visit to Pope Francis I in the Vatican. I
would like very much to meet with you and share our concern personally.
However, my representative in Switzerland, Ms Teny Pirri-Simonian is
available to brief you on the situation of our people in Kessab. I would
appreciate if you could meet her personally (She can be reached either
through the current email or by phone: 022 362 66 24 or Mobile 079 255 28
83). If that would not be possible, I propose that we forward to you
information concerning the situation of the Armenian community in Syria.
I pray that the report of your commission will touch the heart of all
those contributing to the disintegration of Syria and the victimization of
helpless minorities.

I look forward to hearing from you through our representative.

Prayerfully,
Aram I
Catholicos of Cilicia

His Holiness Aram I received the Ambassador of The United States of America

Antelias – On Wednesday 11 June 2014, Ambassador David Hale visited His
Holiness Aram I. During the meeting they discussed the situation in the
region and most importantly in Syria and Lebanon.

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