Author: Kalantarian Kevo

Robert Kocharyan: The regime able to forget personal interests is
doomed to success

by Nana Martirosyan
Friday, August 29, 16:58

It is not clear so far how much Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian
Economic Union will affect the country’s regional economy [commodity
turnover with Iran and Georgia], Robert Kocharyan, the second
president of Armenia, says in an interview with Noyan Tapan.

Assessing the current economic situation in the country, Robert
Kocharyan said that there are neither internal nor external reasons
for optimistic assessment so far. “In addition, new global threats
have emerged, and their effects are yet to be assessed. How will the
West’s sanctions against Russia affect the global economy, Russia’s
economy? Will they increase sanctions? It is not clear so far how much
Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union will affect the
country’s regional economy [commodity turnover with Iran and Georgia].
And finally, is the single customs area technologically possible amid
the West’s sanctions against Russia. There are either no answers to
these questions, or there are just suppositions. This means that we
have entered a phase of negative anticipations,” the politician said.

Kocharyan thinks that economic growth and job creation is what the
government must focus on to recover the country’s economy, meanwhile,
they just seek to replenish the budget at any cost.

“There is need for a healthy competitive business environment, which
is impossible unless the economic is de-monopolized despite the
appetites of the influential statesmen and their relatives. It is
necessary to give a clear signal to the public that any business
initiative is welcome and will be supported, no matter whose interests
it will touch. To this end, it is necessary to create effective market
mechanisms. They should put aside their personal interests at least
for a few years, if forget them at all. Any regime able to do that is
simply doomed to success. By the way, they must stop breaking the
working weeks with numerous religious holidays. It is necessary to
return to the former clock zone. It is not normal to start the working
day at 9:00am in August, when it sunrise is at 6:00am and sunset – at
8:00pm. It is a forced slowdown, not acceleration,” he said.

5-10% price hikes seen at Armenia’s school appliances markets ahead of
new academic year

YEREVAN, August 29. /ARKA/. Prices for school appliances leapt 5-10%
ahead of the start of the academic year, Armen Poghosyan, chairman of
the Armenian Consumers Association, said on Friday.

“The prices grew in August 2014, compared with the previous month, but
in comparison with the same month a year earlier no changes are
visible,” he said adding that prices for flowers surged even 100%.

He said that the same happens every year in late August due to
relatively small size of Armenia’s market and the lack of control and
entrepreneurs’ marketing policy.

In his opinion, if entrepreneurs had marketing strategy and warehoused
goods, then no fuss would be seen in the market and entrepreneurs
themselves would sell their goods more effectively.

The expert paid special attention to quality saying that shoddy
products are abundant in the market.

“Consumers should appeal to appropriate institutions, such as the
economy ministry’s special agency that controls goods’ quality or
nongovernmental organizations protecting consumers’ rights,” he said.

Nongovernmental organizations say expenses for equipping a first-year
schoolchild with everything necessary for school amount to at least
$100, excluding sportswear.

According to the education and science ministry’s preliminary figures,
about 40,000 children will start attending schools in Armenia in 2014.

Yerevan schools have received some 10,500 applications by August 21. –0—

ARMENIA
The value of the natural resources of Armenia is about $ 120 billion

The Armenian Ministry of Nature Protection estimates that the total
value of all the natural resources of the country is about $ 120
billion, not including drinking water supplies, which are estimated at
about $ 9 billion.

Friday, August 29, 2014,
Stéphane © armenews.com

AZERBAÏDJAN
Bakou dénonce la résolution du Sénat de Californie

L’Azerbaïdjan a dénoncé avec véhémence la résolution du Sénat de
Californie du 28 août appellant le gouvernement à reconnaître le
Haut-Karabagh comme une République indépendante. Le Sénat californien
a adopté ce texte trois mois après son adoption par la chambre basse
du plus grand Etat américain qui compte une très forte communauté
arménienne, plus ou moins anciennement implantée.

La résolution indique que le Karabagh avait été “illégalement coupée
de l’Arménie par le pouvoir soviétique en 1921” et incorporé à
l’Azerbaïdjan alors qu’il a toujours été un “territoire historiquement
arménien”. “Depuis qu’elle a proclamé son indépendance [en 1991] la
République du Haut-Karabagh a enregistré des progrès significatifs sur
la voie de la démocratie”, indique le texte de la résolution.

“Le Parlement de l’Etat de Californie presse le président et le
Congrès des Etats-Unis de soutenir l’auto-détermination et
l’indépendance démocratique de la République du Haut-Karabagh et son
implication constructive dans les efforts de la communauté
internationale en vue de parvenir à une solution juste et durable des
problèmes liés à la sécurités dans cette région stratégiquement
importante”, poursuit le texte de la résolution qui a bénéficié d’un
soutien actif des groupes de pression arméno-américains.

L’ambassade des Etats-Unis a éludé ce vote embarrassant pour
Washington en rappelant, dans une déclaration du jeudi 28 août, que la
politque étrangère est la prérogative exclusive du gouvernement
fédéral à Washington. La politique américaine concernant le conflit du
Karabagh ne sera donc aucunement affectée par la résolution adoptée
par les législateurs de l’Etat de Californie, a souligné l’ambassade
américaine à Bakou dans ce communiqué cité par l’agence de presse APA.

Ce communiqué intervenait quelques heures seulement après que le
ministère azerbaïdjanais des affaires étrangères eut commenté le vote
du Sénat californien, traitant avec un mépris manifeste une résolution
présentée comme un vulgaire “bout de papier”. Le porte-parole du
ministère, Elman Abdullayev, a toutefois souligné devant les
journalistes à Bakou que c’était le fruit d’une active campagne du
“lobby radical arménien”. “Cette résolution est mensongère, elle est
en contradiction avec la politique étrangère américaine et justifie la
purification ethnique et l’occupation illégale [arménienne]”,
déclarait le consulat général de l’Azerbaïdjan à Los Angeles dans un
communiqué cité par l’agence de presse Trend.

De leur côté, le gouvernement de l’Arménie comme celui du Karabagh ont
bien sûr salué la résolution californienne, le ministre des affaires
étrangères d’Arménie Edward Nalbandian faisant une déclaration
spéciale pour l’occasion. M.Nalbandian a notamment déclaré que la
resolution adoptee par la Californie contribuera à “paver la voie à la
reconnaissance internationale de la République du Haut-Karabagh”.

Un porte-parole du président de la République du Karabagh, Bako
Sahakian, a pour sa part désigné l’adoption de cette résolution comme
un “grand et remarquable évenement pour tous les Arméniens” “On peut
dire que l’indépendance du Karabagh a été reconnue par l’un des plus
grands Etats de la planère”, a indiqué Davit Babayan à l’agence
News.am, en faisant référence à l’importance économique, politique et
démographique de la Californie dans les Etats des Etats-Unis.

Les organisations arméniennes des Etats-Unis voient leurs efforts
récompensés alors que la Californie se joint aux assemblées
législatives des Etats du Massachusetts, de Rhode Island, du Maine et
de Louisiane pour reconnaître le Karabagh et appeler les autorités des
Etats-Unis à en faire de même.

vendredi 29 août 2014,
Gari (c)armenews.com

Davutoglu Appoints Foreign Minister with Proven Anti-Armenian Track Record

August 29, 2014

Turkey’s new foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu

ANKARA–Turkey’s newly appointed Prime Minister and former foreign minister
Ahmet Davutoglu announced a new cabinet on Thursday, which appears to be
largely unchanged and strictly loyal to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the country’s
decade-long leader recently voted to become President.

Most noteworthy among the appointments, Turkey’s new foreign minister
Mevlut Cavusoglu, the country’s former Europe Minister, whose most infamous
deed was reintroducing a bogus subcommittee
on
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe (PACE) during Turkey’s chairmanship of the Council of Europe in
2011.

The head of Armenia’s parliamentary delegation at the PACE, Davit
Harutiunian, accused the Strasbourg-based assembly and its then-president
Cavusoglu of anti-Armenian bias. “The assembly has disgraced itself with
such an overtly biased approach,” he said.

The move was seen largely as a ploy by Turkey — Azerbaijan’s closest ally —
to draft an “anti-Armenian” resolution on the Karabakh conflict, as another
Armenian PACE delegate, Naira Zohrabian, explained.

A year after his boondoggle at the PACE, Cavusoglu set his sights on
Armenia’s international partners who dared to take a moral stand on
Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide. Cavusoglu, who was at the time
the leader of Erdogan’s ruling AK party, said in 2012

that
French President Francois Hollande was “more dangerous that Sarkozy” when
it came to the issue of criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide.

The remarks came when President Hollande reached out to the French-Armenian
community and reiterated his campaign pledge to shepherd a law that would
criminalize the Armenian Genocide.

Cavusoglu has also kept in line with Turkey’s thoroughly destabilizing
foreign policy agenda regarding all of its neighbors. When the European
Court of Human Rights ordered Turkey to pay a fine

to
Cyprus for its invasion of the country, Cavusoglu readily echoed
Davutoglu’s objections and vows to ignore the ruling while representing
Turkey in Europe.

But Cavusoglu is still somehow a figure seen as reassuring for the United
States and the European Union. According to Agence France-Presse, many
expect Cavusoglu to rebalance Turkish foreign policy which was condemned
for over-ambition under Davutoglu. An unrealistic expectation if there ever
was one.

Newly-appointed Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus put it succinctly
when he admitted, “The focus of the government has not changed. It is just
a partial modification.”

ARMENIE-ECONOMIE
L’ex-ministre de l’Energie, Armen Movsissian, disposerait d’un élevage
d’autruches au sud de l’Arménie

Le journal > écrit que l’ex-ministre de l’Energie et des
ressources naturelles, actuellement conseiller présidentiel Armen
Movsissian est également à la tête d’une exploitation d’autruches.
Selon ses sources, > affirme que l’exploitation dont dispose
Armen Movsissian se trouve au sud de l’Arménie au village d’Akarag
dans la région du Siyunik. La ferme d’élevage détient près de 500
autruches. Sous le nom de la société d’exploitation > elle
serait gérée par Vartan Mardirossian le fils du maire du village
d’Akarag. Outre sa viande, l’autruche est également prisée pour ses
oeufs et sa peau.

Krikor Amirzayan

samedi 30 août 2014,
Krikor Amirzayan (c)armenews.com

On September 2 “Karabakh Telecom” CJSC will perform a festive action

August 28, 2014 13:03

On September 2, from 16:00 to 20:00 “Karabakh Telecom” CJSC will
execute a festive action dedicated to Artsakh’s 23rd Republic Day. The
festive action will take place in Stepanakert, in the park named after
Stepen shahoumyan.

As ”Artsakhpress” was informed from the office of “Karabakh Telecom”
CJSC, special tents will be placed in the park where gifts will be
presented to visitors. According to the representatives of the
company, those present, if desired, will also be given free unlimited
mobile internet, which within the framework of the holiday will
operate till September 15.

Artsakhpress.am

Pedro Mouratian Elected to Head South American Anti-Discrimination Body

Thursday, August 28th, 2014

Pedro Mouratian

BUENOS AIRES (Prensa Armenia)–Pedro Mouratian, chairman of the
National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism
(INADI) and one of the sponsors of the National Law 26,199 that
declared April 24 as “Day of Action for tolerance and respect between
peoples” in Argentina, was elected president of the Latin American
Network of Organizations and Discrimination (RIOOD) at a meeting held
in the Argentinean Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday 27 August.

Mouratian said, “In the last 10 years there has been a clear and firm
policy in Argentina to address the issue of discrimination and human
rights,” and stressed that the importance of the RIOOD would be to
“take the public policy on non-discrimination in Argentina to other
international bodies.”

Orange Foundation concludes results of “Lunettes pour l’Arménie” program

YEREVAN, August 28. / ARKA /. Orange Foundation continues its activity
in the regions of Armenia. Following the projects implemented in
Tavush region, a number of initiatives are now taken in Gegharkunik,
which representatives of the Foundation have visited to conclude the
results of “Lunettes pour l’Armenie” program, dedicated to children
open an Integrated Development and Rehabilitation Center in Vardenis
town and a computer center in Akounk village.

In the frame of “Lunettes pour l’Armenie” program, free of charge eye
screenings have been performed for 6200 children of Gegharkunik
region, including Vardenis town and 32 communities. The program,
founded by “Union Médicale Arménienne de France de Paris” (UMAF) and
by Orange Foundation, aims at early identification and prevention of
sight issues of the children.

In the frame of the project, special eye screening trainings for local
nurses were organized and performed by the specialists of UMAF. After
examinations, 407 specialized examinations have been performed and
241 individualized glasses made and distributed by ophthalmologists of
UMAF.

“Orange Foundation puts a lot of importance to supporting children
and people with disabilities. Already for 4 years, together with our
partners, we implement the mobile hospital eye care project, in the
frame of which more than 50’000 inhabitants of 9 regions have
received free of charge eye care services and treatment. Now we are
very glad to support “Lunettes pour l’Armenie” program of UMAF, as we
believe that treating sight issues at an early stage will enable to
prevent further development and contribute to the quality of life and
future success of these children “, said Francis Gelibter Chairman of
the Board of Orange Armenia Foundation.

“”Union Médicale Arménienne de France de Paris” has implemented
“Lunettes pour l’Armenie” project since 2004. This year we have joint
our efforts with Orange Foundation concentrating on Vardenis and 32
communities of Gegharkunik region. Apart from examining the children
and providing individualized eyeglasses produced on place by our
specialists, we have as well trained the local personnel so they can
carry on with the periodic checkups and eye screenings of the
inhabitants of Gegharkunik region” said Dr Léon Artinian project
manager of “Lunettes pour l’Armenie” .
During their visit to Vardenis representative of the Orange
Foundation have inaugurated an Integrated Development and
Rehabilitation Center, equipped with special sports facilities,
teaching tools, games as well as computers and Orange internet
connection. The Center will enable local population, including around
180 children and young adults with disabilities, to have individual
training with the help of field specialists, to improve their health
and support the education process as well as get
professional/vocational education.. The center has been opened in
partnership with “Astghavard” Disabled children parents NGO.

“This project has been implemented in the scope of the special program
launched by the Orange Foundation, which supports philanthropic
initiatives of our employees. This time the grant has been awarded to
Azganush Davdyan and it is the 7th project in a row financed based on
proposals of Orange employees. We believe, this Development and
Rehabilitation Center will provide the necessary environment and
conditions to contribute to the integration of local disabled children
and young adults into the society. said Francis Gelibter Chairman of
the Board of Orange Armenia Foundation.

“We are very glad to open this newly equipped Development and
Rehabilitation center in partnership with Orange Foundation and
believe it will have a significant impact on the lives of these
children and their families. On behalf of the community we are
thankful to the Orange Foundation for the support and their activity
aimed at creating conditions for members of different vulnerable
groups to integrate into the society” noted Melanya Yepremyan, the
Chairman of the “Astghavard” Disabled children parents NGO.

During the day representatives of Orange Foundation visited as well
Akounk village, where a community computer room has been equipped in
partnership with Shen NGO. The newly opened center is equipped with
Orange MyFi 3G router, which allows up to 21.6Mbps download speed, as
well as computers, printer and furniture. Special educational computer
courses will be provided to further promote the use of Internet and
make Internet services more available for the inhabitants of the
village. It is already the 23rd computer rooms established in
different rural communities. -0-

Some 40,000 children in Armenia to go to school for first time in 2014
– minister

YEREVAN, August 28. /ARKA/. Some 40,000 children in Armenia will go to
school for the first time in 2014, Education and Science Minister
Armen Ashotyan said Thursday at a regular Cabinet session.

He said the final figure will be known by September 10, after final
data come from Yerevan and provinces.

In his words, preparations for the start of this academic year are
under way now – the ministry holds traditional sessions, provides
manuals and necessary materials to schools and repairs in schools are
already completed.

“We managed to avoid massive cuts of teachers’ jobs in schools this
year, since the problem was solved and even salaries were increased,”
he said.

Ashotyan stressed that high schools are planned to be completely
reequipped within the new academic year under the World Bank’s credit
program.

He also said that a pilot stage of a large-scale project will be
launched on September 1 in Vayots Dzor and Syunik provinces. Primary
school children will be provided with single meal as part of the
project.

In the first half of 2015 this program will be launched also in Ararat province.

The minister said a new patriotic upbringing concept will be applied
in schools this year in ten schools along with a new curriculum –
national songs and dances.

Besides, virtual laboratories on four basic subjects – Physics,
chemistry, biology and mathematics – will start functioning in high
schools.

Asjotyan said that a bill on obligatory 12-year education is on the
National Assembly’s floor now.

He said that the increase of government-paid available student space
in the country’s colleges by 50% this year has triggered an
unprecedented stream of applicants to colleges. —0—-