Author: Kalantarian Kevo

AZERBAIJANI ANTI-ARMENIAN PROVOCATION PREVENTED IN CAIRO

17:18 28/02/2014 >> SOCIETY

On 26 February the Azerbaijani embassy in Egypt organized a seminar on
“Legal Status of Minorities in international conflicts: analysis of the
Nagorno-Karabakh status.” The seminar aimed at spreading disinformation
on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Aghdam events taken place in 1992.

However, according to the Armenian community in Egypt, the presence
of the chairman of the Armenian General Benevolent Union’s Cairo
branch Perch Terzian, attache of Armenian embassy Vardges Hovsepyan
and Egyptian expert of Genocide studies Muhammad Rifat al-Imam ruined
the plans of the Azerbaijanis. At the request of the chief editor of
“Al-democracy” Bashir Abdel Fattah the Armenian side was allowed to
participate in the discussion.

Perch Terzian, Vardges Hovsepyan, Muhammad Rifat al-Imam took the
floor, in response to the speeches of the speakers, Director of
the Center of Political Science “Al-Hiwar” Imad al-Mahdi and the
Azerbaijani Ambassador to Egypt Shahin Abdullayev, whose performances
were full of anti-Armenian falsifications. The Armenian side criticized
the falsified information presented by the speakers, proving their
words by historical, legal facts.

The true causes of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict were presented to
the attendees in details, as well as the constructive disposition of
Armenia in the settlement process of the conflict, and the provocative
policy carried out by Azerbaijan. They also presented the real events
that took place in Sumgait and Aghdam, touched upon the official policy
of Azerbaijan of disseminating hatred towards the Armenians. As an
example they brought the murder of Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan
and the glorification of his murderer, Ramil Safarov, in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani ambassador was accused of misleading the audience.

The atmosphere in the room changed after the speeches made by the
Armenian party. Participants in the debate began to raise balanced
and unbiased questions.

The community also reports that at the end of the event that was
organized by the Azerbaijanis, the Armenian side, in response to a
question from the audience whether there is information source opposing
the Azerbaijani version, gave books with illustrations to everyone
present, with photos depicting the events in Sumgait and Aghdam.

Source: Panorama.am

BERNARD CHALLANDES NAMED NEW COACH OF ARMENIA FOOTBALL NATIONAL TEAM

February 28, 2014

Swiss coach Bernard Challandes has been appointed manager of the
Armenian national squad.

Challandes was coach of the Switzerland national U-21 football team.

He worked with FC Zurich, Servette and Young Boys.

NEWS.am Sport

AHMET DAVUTOGLU: CRIMEA IS TURKEY’S DOORWAY TO UKRAINE

February 28, 2014 | 16:48

Crimea as well as Ukraine’s territorial integrity is very important
for regional stability, Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoglu said during his
trip to Bulgaria.

During a joint press conference with his Bulgarian counterpart Kristian
Vigenin, Turkish Foreign Minister touched upon situation in Crimea,
adding that they had been closely following the situation.

Davutoglu said that Ukraine, including Crimea, is very important for
regional stability.

“For Turkey, Ukraine’s territorial integrity, stability and prosperity
are crucial. Crimea is of great importance to Turkey as it is the
doorway to Ukraine. It is also important due to the presence of
Tatars [a Turkic ethnic group] and Turkey’s cultural heritage. Our
greatest wish is the maintenance of stability in Ukraine,” Today’s
Zaman quotes Davutoglu.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

VICE SPEAKER OF ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT: THE REPORTS OF US DEPARTMENT OF STATE ARE NOTEWORTHY BUT THERE ARE MORE COMPETENT STRUCTURES SPECIALIZING IN HUMAN RIGHTS AND CONFLICTS

by Tatevik Shahunyan

Friday, February 28, 18:14

Certainly, the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
published by the US Department of State are noteworthy, but it should
be noted that there are also other more competent international
organizations specializing in protection of human rights and
settlement of territorial conflicts, Vice Speaker of Armenian
Parliament, Spokesperson for the ruling Republican Party of Armenia,
told ArmInfo when commenting on the US State Department’s assessment
on the situation in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

Sharmazanov said that right after the presidential election in Armenia,
the US President Barack Obama congratulated Serzh Sargsyan, thereby
acknowledging the legitimacy of Sargsyan and the legitimacy of the
electoral processes. “It is widely known that the world leaders do
not congratulate the illegitimate heads of states”, said Sharmazanov.

He added that Obama not only congratulated Serzh Sargsyan on
re-election, but also called him a leader who is capable to continue
the democratic reforms in Armenia. “I think no other assessments or
comments are needed here”, said the Vice Speaker.

When speaking of the provisions pointing at corruption and lack of
transparency in government, a well as human rights violations in a
variety of fields, Sharmazanov said that the Armenian authorities do
not only admit it but are also taking relevant measures to liquidate
the shortcomings. “The most important thing is that Armenia’s
authorities have the will and desire to solve the problems.

International structures, including the EU also stress that”, he said.

As regards the chapter saying that “Separatists, with Armenia’s
support, continued to control most of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven other
Azerbaijani territories”, Sharmazanov stressed that it is the statement
of the US President that matters. He added that the US President is the
head of a co-chair country of the OSCE Minsk Group, the only competent
organization engaged in settlement of the Karabakh problem. “Barack
Obama together with the Presidents of Russia and France stressed
at a summit in Northern Ireland that the parties to the Karabakh
conflict should be committed to the conflict settlement on the basis
of Helsinki Principles (people’s right to self-determination, non use
of force, territorial integrity – editor’s note). That says it all”,
Sharmazanov said.

To note, the 2013 Country Report on Human Rights Practices published by
the US Department of State says that in Armenia the most significant
human rights problems during the year were corruption and lack of
transparency in government, limitations on the right of citizens to
change their government, and the limited independence of the judiciary.

US DEPARTMENT OF STATE: MEMBERS OF ARMENIA’S SECURITY FORCES CONTINUED TO EMPLOY TORTURE AND INHUMAN TREATMENT REGULARLY

Friday, February 28, 16:33

While the law prohibits torture and other cruel, inhuman, or
degrading treatment or punishment, reports indicated that members
of the Armenian security forces continued to employ them regularly,
says the 2013 Country Report on Human Rights Practices published by
the US Department of State on Feb 27.

“Witnesses reported that police beat citizens while arresting and
interrogating them. Human rights NGOs made similar allegations but
noted most cases of police mistreatment were unreported due to fear of
retaliation. Most abuses reportedly took place in police stations,
because they were not subject to public monitoring, rather than
prisons and police detention facilities, which were. According to NGOs
many individuals that authorities transferred to prisons from police
facilities alleged that police tortured, abused, and intimidated them
while they were in police custody, mainly to extort confessions”,
the Report says.

“On March 13, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) presented
findings of a study by a number of domestic and international bodies
on the mistreatment and torture of juveniles in the juvenile justice
system, from their initial apprehension through the completion of
sentences. Interviews with 86 juveniles revealed that the most common
forms of mistreatment were beating and physical pressure exerted by
the police to extract confessions. Eight of the children attested
that they had personally experienced violence, and 51 percent of
those surveyed heard of the mistreatment of other children, including
beating, sexual violence, cursing, intimidation, and threats.

According to the report, the children were reluctant to report
mistreatment because they feared retaliation and did not trust
the system. Most victims considered the risks involved in making a
complaint–exposing themselves to punishment and retaliation–far
outweighed the possibility that the perpetrator would be punished”,
the Report says.

The annual report of the human rights defender (the ombudsman’s office)
for 2012, released in March, also stated that police investigative
bodies continued to subject individuals to cruel, inhuman, and
humiliating treatment in order to obtain confessions.

The Report points out that on March 14, the country’s police chief
appointed Ashot Karapetyan as the new police chief of Yerevan. Shortly
after the appointment, Grisha Virabyan, who successfully argued in the
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that Yerevan police tortured
him in 2004, announced that one of his torturers, identified during
the ECHR proceedings as A.K., was Karapetyan, who at the time was
deputy head of the Ararat regional division of the police.

Authorities defended the appointment; as of year’s end, no one faced
charges for Virabyan’s mistreatment. Human rights observers and media
criticized the Karapetyan appointment, noting that it reinforced
widely held beliefs concerning the lack of accountability for human
rights abuses by police.

“Within the armed forces, substandard living conditions, corruption,
and lack of accountability of commanders continued to contribute to
mistreatment and noncombat injuries. Although no reliable statistics on
the prevalence of military hazing were available, soldiers reported
to human rights organizations that abuses continued. Soldiers’
families claimed that corrupt officials controlled military units,
and human rights monitors and the ombudsman reported the government
continued to conscript soldiers with serious health conditions that
should have disqualified them from service”, says the Report.

ALUMINUM PLANT OF YEREVAN LIKELY TO KEEP INDUSTRIAL WASTE IN GORGE OF HRAZDAN RIVER

Lragir.am
Country – Friday, 28 February 2014, 13:22

The Armenian Time reported that Rusal Armenal is going to create a
cemetery of industrial wastes in the premises of the company located
in the gorge of the Hrazdan River. It is intended for a period of
ten years and will occupy an open area of 3300 square meters.

“The project may cause grave environmental issues, especially that the
plant and the future cemetery are within Arabkir District of Yerevan.

Wastes with 1-5 degrees of hazard will be kept at the cemetery,
namely used mercury lamps and mercury thermometers, led accumulators,
scrap black metal, bronze wastes, wastes of hardened heterogeneous
plastic mixtures etc. Environmentalists fear that wastes may poison
water of Yerevan,” the newspaper reported.

– See more at:

“KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF THE PREGNANT WOMEN’S POCKETS!” – HEALTHCARE MINISTRY RESPONDS TO WOMEN’S PROTEST AGAINST INTRODUCTION OF PAID MEDICAL SERVICES

by Karina Manukyan

Friday, February 28, 17:17

The healthcare system of Armenia faces a ridiculous situation. A couple
of days ago the media outlets reported that from now on citizens will
have to pay for inpatient treatment of pregnancy pathologies. In
addition, some medical services at polyclinics will also be on a
paid basis. The idea to introduce such a mechanism of payments was
conditioned by the anti- corruption fight, strange though it may seem.

Amid the hard socio-economic situation in the country, which has
recently been aggravated by the compulsory accumulative pension system,
the aforementioned decisions raise brows at least. On Feb 27 the press
service of the Healthcare Ministry made a vague statement that no
paid inpatient treatment of pregnancy pathologies will be introduced
“due to the need to specify the payment mechanisms”. It has turned
out that the decision was suspended even before coming into force.

This strange situation has made the civil initiative “Keep your hands
off the pregnant women’s pockets!” picket the building of the Armenian
Healthcare Ministry on Feb 28. Deputy Minister Vahan Poghosyan and
Head of the Ministry Administration Suren Krmoyan agreed to meet with
the civil initiative representatives and mass media.

During the meeting, Krmoyan said that the decision on pregnancy
pathologies is not only suspended, but also declared invalid. As
regards the paid diagnostics at polyclinics, it will be introduced
on July 1, not March 1.

“I can’t understand why the decisions concerning the health of future
mothers are taken without being discussed with the public. It is
unacceptable in our country, which faces a demographic crisis”,
said Lara Aharonyan, co-president of “Women’s resource center” NGO.

Poghosyan’s remark that the relevant information is regularly
posted on the official website of the Healthcare Ministry was also
criticized. “It appears that women must monitor your website from
morning till night”, said Aharonyan.

SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESSES’ INTERESTS ILL-PROTECTED IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, February 28. /ARKA/. Protection of small and mid-scale
businesses’ interests is insufficient in Armenia, Stepan Aslanyan,
chairman of the Armenian Union of Small Entrepreneurs, said Friday
at a news conference.

“Today small business representatives face difficulties in Armenia,
since their rights and interests are not protected properly,”
he said answering ARKA News Agency’s question. “As a result, large
entrepreneurs swallow small businesses and our businessmen leave the
country for better conditions.”

Aslanyan said that the Armenian law is favorable for SME development,
but there is no particular agency controlling observance of the law.

“I find it necessary to establish effective trade unions for protecting
small and medium businesses’ rights,” he said. “Besides, I propose
to exempt them from taxes temporarily to let them accomplish.”

Aslanyan also pointed out the necessity of creation of industrial
parks for uniting businessmen. He stressed that small and mid-scale
businesses should be protected from large companies, since they can’t
compete with them.

“Foreign investments are needed, foreign companies’ presence in
Armenia is welcomed as well in all areas but trade,” he said. “Trade
is the only area where foreign companies strike hard at local small
and medium entrepreneurs.” -0—-

– See more at:

VAZGEN SARGSYAN WAS GREAT MAN, SAYS YERKRAPAH LEADER

14:03 * 28.02.14

Photo by Mediamax

March 5 marks the birth anniversary of Vazgen Sargsyan, a late minister
of defense and prime minister of Armenia, and a great national hero
of the 1990’s who was famed posthumously as Sparapet (commander)

The great military leader would turn 55 today if alive.

On this occasion, Tert.am has interviewed General Manvel Grigoryan,
the leader of the volunteer’s union Yerkrapah (Defender of Land).

Mr Grigoryan, what day is March 5 for you?

The birthday of Sparapet Vazgen is a holiday for every Yerkrapah member
and every single Armenian. Vazgen is a great man; he has proven that
with his life, his deeds and the heritage left behind. Vazgen Sargsyan
managed to unite volunteer detachments, becoming the life and spirit
of the [Nagorno-Karabakh] liberation struggle. An attentive look
will reveal that the most accomplished institutions in Armenia today
are the ones founded by the Sparapet – the Yerkrapah Volunteer Union
and the army. So, no wonder that the Sparapet has been declared the
organization’s everlasting president. March 5 is a holiday. So I
congratulate the people in Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh),
the Armenians around the world, our martyred friends and our mothers
who gave birth to heroes.

How is the Yerkrapah going to celebrate March 5?

As it does traditionally. We’ll lay flowers at the Sparapet’s bust
erected in front of the Yerkrapah administrative building. The
Yerkrapah delegations in all the regions will visit the monuments
dedicated to the Sparapet and bow to their graves of all the guys
who perished. We’ll then head to Ararat [Vazgen Sargsyan’s birthplace].

We’ll mark the Sparapet’s birthday in his house, with his parents and
family members. We’ll also be in the Sparapet’s home museum and later
go to the [military pantheon] Yerablur to congratulate our martyred
friends who are always alive in our hearts. We have declared the
Sparapet’s birthday as an oath-taking day of the young Yerkrapahs.

And what specifically does the Yerkrapah do to protect Vazgen
Sargsyan’s heritage?

What about our young and junior Yerkrapahs? Aren’t they the successors
of Vazgen? We educate a generation, bringing them up as real Armenians
and giving the army prepared human resources who can become exemplary
soldiers. In addition, the Yerkrapah always keeps the issues of
the killed, missing and disabled freedom fighters under permanent
spotlight.

Today is the 28th of February, the day of commemorating the Sumgait
victims. So what would you say in that connection?

The Sumgait [pogroms] must be given an evaluation. That was a genocide,
the direct continuation of the uncondemned Genocide of 1915.

And by the way, 2015 marks the Armenian Genocide centennial. So the
Armenians have to unite their efforts in this direction to force
Turkey and its younger brother, Azerbaijan, to admit the fact that
they committed a crime of genocide against the Armenians. As for the
dates, February 28 and April 24 [the the Genocide Remembrance day]
should be days of revenge – not loud cries – for the Armenian people.

The most necessary thing for our nation today is consolidation. So
the Yerkrapah, as united organism, preaches consolidation today;
it lives and will live with the idea of consolidation.”

Armenian News – Tert.am

KREMLIN STARTS PRIVATIZATION OF ARMENIA IN TWO PARTS

Hakob Badalyan, Political Commentator
Comments – Friday, 28 February 2014, 17:18

Yerkir.am has reported that soon the Armenian Electric Networks will
announce its insolvency. Yerkir.am has learned that company is in
crisis behind which are some high-ranking officials. The newspaper
reported that currently Rosneft is interested in the Armenian Electric
Networks which is planning an investment expansion in Armenia.

Rosneft’s intentions seem legitimate in the context of developments
underway in Armenia.

Privatization of the Armenian Electric Networks was planned in 1999.

The World Bank helped with the tender. One of the conditions was to
privatize the networks to two companies to ensure competition in the
future. The Russian companies were left out because did not comply
with the requirements, namely regarding international audit.

Later, however, the tender failed for whatever reason, and one or two
years later, was sold to Midland Resources, an offshore company, which
did not have any experience in management of electric networks. The
Armenian press reported that the company belonged to the Republican
ex-MP Harutyun Pambukyan who works in Moscow now. A while later
Midland Resources sold the networks to Inter RAO UEN, a subsidiary
of the Russian energy giant RAO UES. The Armenian government approved
the deal.

The network was thus fully owned by Russians. Now the owner may change,
according to Yerkir.am’s information. Russia has a new giant, Rosneft
that competes with Gazprom. RAO UES has weakened in both economic
and political terms, which is reflected in Armenia.

At the same time, Rosneft’s competition with Gazprom supposes that the
company should ensure that it is represented in Armenia similarly to
Gazprom. In other words, if in the beginning the electric networks were
intended to be privatized in two packages, in the current situation
privatization of Armenia in two packages between Gazprom and Rosneft
may be concerned, both headed by the Kremlin.

As to the stake of Armenian high-ranking officials in these
developments as mentioned in the report of Yerkir.am, everything
is natural. The Armenian press report every now and then that
high-ranking officials owe for gas and electricity. Big amounts are
meant. Deferred utility bills is the “stake” of the Armenian officials
in the abovementioned deals therefore the deals receive state approval
instead of investigation.

– See more at: