Author: Kalantarian Kevo

RUSSIA BETTER CHOICE FOR ARMENIA – MP

21:17 ~U 01.11.13

Armenian National Congress (ANC) parliamentary group member Lyudmila
Sargsyan believes that Armenia’s membership in the Customs Union has
no alternative.

Although Armenia’s future is uncertain, the Customs Union is more
predictable than the West.

“What happened on September 3 proved a surprise for everyone,” Ms
Sargsyan told journalists on Friday.

However, Armenia had no choice. “Given our country’s geographical
location, as well as who controls our economy, who is guarding our
borders, which state is actually guarantor of our security.”

‘We should have implemented a balanced policy toward both the European
Union and Russia,” Hakobyan said. However, quite the opposite was done
and neither the EU nor Russia considers Armenia a reliable partner.

As regards the Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in Vilnius,
Armenia should not hold any expectations, Ms Sargsyan said. But
Armenia may sign a declarative document.

Armenia had no alternative. “If Serzh Sargsyan intended to initial an
association agreement with the EU in Vilnius, he would found himself
in a much more difficult situation, being well aware of which state
was guarding our borders, of the course the Nagorno-Karabakh peace
process might take. We must realize the fact that we are a country
on the brink of war, surrounded by enemies,” Ms Sargsyan.

Armenian News – Tert.am

SDHP CENTRAL COMMITTEE DELEGATION MEETINGS IN LEBANON

By MassisPost

Updated: October 30, 2013

BEIRUT – A delegation of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party Central
Committee Board headed by SDHP Central Committee Chairman Hagop
Dikranian visited various Lebanese Armenian religious and political
institutions.The delegation paid visits to the; Catholicos of the Great
House of Cilicia; Aram I, Patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church;
Nerses Bedros XIX, President of the Union of Armenian Evangelical
Church; Rev. Megredij Karakozian, as well as the Armenian Democratic
Liberal Ramgavar party Central Committee.

The topics discussed at the meetings focused on local, regional and
national development issues important to the Armenian community
including; the current political and social state of affairs in
the Republics of Armenia and Artsakh, the preparations for the
commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, and
the state of the Syrian Armenian community within and outside of Syria.

The SDHP delegation included the SDHP Central Committee Vice Chairman
and Lebanese MP Sebouh Kalpakian, former Lebanese MP Dr. Yeghia
Jerejian, and Mr. Shavarsh Aginian along with Chairman of the S.D.

Hunchakian party Executive Committee of Lebanon Mr. Alexander
Keushkerian.

“KARABAGH: AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE”

By MassisPost

Updated: October 31, 2013

FRESNO – Dr. Arsen Saparov (University of Michigan-Ann Arbor) and Dr.

Ara Sanjian (University of Michigan-Dearborn), will speak on Karabagh
at 7:30 PM on Friday, November 15, 2013, in the University Business
Center, Alice Peters Auditorium, Room 191, on the Fresno State campus.

Dr. Saparov will speak on “Drawing Borders in the Caucasus the Early
1920’s” and Dr. Sanjian will speak on the topic of “Irredentism at
the Crossroads of Nationalism, Communism and Diverging Interpretations
of the Soviet Experience: The Armenian Diasporan Press on Mountainous
Karabagh, 1923-1985”

The lecture is part of the Armenian Studies Program Fall Lecture
Series and is co-sponsored by the Armenian Students Organization at
Fresno State and is supported by the Leon S. Peters Foundation.

The Soviet leadership often stands accused of deliberately drawing
internal frontiers in the Caucasus as to create leverage against union
republics. Violent conflicts that broke out in the 1990s in Abkhazia,
Nagorno-Karabakh and South Ossetia seem to prove this perception. In
his presentation, Dr. Saparov will discuss the logic of the Bolshevik
boundary-making in the South Caucasus. Dr. Saparov was educated at
Central European University in Budapest and received his Ph.D in
International Relations from the London School of Economics.

The formation of the Mountainous Karabagh Autonomous Region within the
territory of Soviet Azerbaijan in 1923 coincided with the emergence
of the post-genocide Armenian Diaspora. The vast majority of political
organizations and political-minded activists in the Diaspora envisaged
a future Armenian state, which would encompass within its borders
not only Western Armenia but also the Armenian-inhabited regions
of Nagorno-Karabakh, Nakhichevan, and Akhalkalak, which had become
recently part of Soviet Azerbaijan and Soviet Georgia. In this
latter case, the political realities exacted that the demand should
be focused on their immediate annexation to Soviet Armenia.

However, because there was a sharp divergence among the Diasporans
in the attitude toward Communism as an ideology and in evaluating
the Soviet experience in Armenia, the demands for the annexation of
Mountainous Karabagh to Soviet Armenia raised in different Diasporan
periodicals were pursued at varying degrees of frequency and intensity,
and the arguments put forward by these periodicals were at times
different.

Dr. Sanjian, Director of the Armenian Research Center at the University
of Michigan-Dearborn, will discuss the differing approaches of the
news media to the Karabagh issue.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Free parking is available after 7:00PM in Lots A and J, near the
University Business Center. For more information on the lecture please
contact the Armenian Studies Program at 278-2669.

ARMENIAN WRESTLERS TO PARTICIPATE IN EUROPEAN NATIONS’ CUP

November 1, 2013

By Shushanik Hakobyan

Armenian national wrestling team will participate in European Nations’
Cup, an international tournament to be held on November 8-11 in
Moscow, Russia.

Greco-Roman and Freestyle wrestling teams will be represented by
young athletes, the managers of the teams toldNEWS.am Sport.

Freestyle wrestling team:Ohan Gikinyan (55 kg), Volodya Frangulyan (60
kg), Sergey Hovsepian (66 kg), Grigor Grigoryan (74kg), Vahe Tamrazyan
(84 kg), Victor Kazishvili (96 kg), Andranik Galstyan (120 kg).

Greco-Roman wrestling team: Ruben Lazarian (55 kg), Karen Aslanyan
(60 kg), Arthur Lazarian (66 kg) and Eduard Sargsyan (74 kg), Argishti
Abgaryan (84 kg), Sargis Tonoyan (96 kg), Vachik Yeghazaryan (120 kg).

NEWS.am Sport

YEREVAN RESIDENT THREATENS TO CUT VEINS FOR BEING REJECTED VISA

16:54 ~U 01.11.13

A resident of Yerevan’s Malatia-Sebastia administrative district was
reported Friday afternoon to be threatening to cut his veins because
of being rejected a visa.

The incident was reported to the district police department 3:45pm
local time.

The policemen who went to the scene found Gurgen H in the apartment,
whom they later invited to the precinct station for testimony

A subsequent probe revealed that the man had applied to the district
passport desk earlier in the day for having a residence permit in
Ukraine prolonged but was rejected on account of a torn page in the
identity document. He was asked to submit an application for a new
passport but didn’t do so and left discontented. He later again turned
to the passport desk several times with the same request, but was
rejected again. Later in the day, an employee of the Malatia-Sebastia
police department said the man was threatening to harm himself.

In a written explanation, Gurgen H said he had resorted to such a step
at a oment of anger, without having a serious intention to inflict
a physical harm on himself. He said that he had been notified of the
due procedures for changing the passport, adding that he did not have
any serious complaints and demands.

Armenian News – Tert.am

ARMENIAN OLIGARCHS MAKE BODYGUARDS WORK 24 HOURS BUT PAY LITTLE

November 01, 2013 | 15:16

YEREVAN. – Although bodyguards are entitled to work up to 12 hours
a day, they work up to 24 hours in Armenia, and with little pay.

Vahe Darbinyan, who heads a security agency, noted the aforesaid
during a press conference on Friday.

“They walk behind an oligarch every day, but they [i.e., their
employers] don’t comprehend that these guys are not robots; they are
human, and they get tired.

“And the oligarchs do not comprehend that a bodyguard has the right
to rest, eat, go home, see family members, [and] take [home] money.

“But no, and they give very little money to our bodyguards and security
guards, so they can just make ends meet,” Darbinyan added.

In his words, the security guards receive a monthly salary of 60,000
drams (approx. $147) in Armenia, $1,500 in Russia, and ~@1,500
in Europe.

As a result, the Armenian security guards and bodyguards likewise
wish to leave Armenia.

“I worked in Europe, and the minimum salary [there] was ~@3,000,”
Vahe Darbinyan noted.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

HUNGARIAN CHURCH REPRESENTATIVES CONDEMNED AUTHORITIES FOR SAFAROV’S EXTRADITION

13:25, 1 November, 2013

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS: In the framework of the 10th assembly
of the World Council of Churches held in Busan, South Korea, on October
31 His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All
Armenians met with the representative of the Hungarian Catholic Church
and the secretary general of the Hungarian Council of Churches. The
Press Service of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin informed Armenpress
that during the meeting the parties discussed the issue related to
the extradition of the Azerbaijani assassin Ramil Safarov by the
Hungarian authorities to Azerbaijan. His Holiness Karekin II stated
with pain that the incident put a shadow on the Armenian-Hungarian
relations, adding that such phenomena are unacceptable. In their turn
the representatives of the Hungarian churches condemned the step made
by the authorities.

During the meeting the delegation of the Hungarian churches expressed
their readiness to assist the events to be held by the Armenian Church
ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Earlier it was reported that His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch
and Catholicos of All Armenians, extended his message to 4000 assembly
participants during the opening ceremony blessing of the 10th assembly
of the World Council of Churches in Busan, South Korea.

Before offering his message on the occasion of the assembly, His
Holiness greeted the WCC 10th assembly participants, conveying the
1700 year old blessings of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin for
their mission of illuminating each corner of the world with Christ’s
light. His Holiness Karekin II also extended his blessings to the
hospitable country of Korea and its people.

On February 19 2004 in Budapest the Azerbaijani assassin Ramil Safarov,
who axe-murdered the Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan while sleeping
with 16 blows, when they were participating in NATO English Language
Courses in the capital of Hungary, was sentenced to life imprisonment
without right to be pardoned for 30 years. On August 31 2012 Safarov
was extradited from Hungary to Azerbaijan and was pardoned by the
President Ilham Aliyev. The murderer was advanced to major, provided
with an apartment and given “national hero” and compensated for the
8 years of the imprisonment in Hungary.

Armenia suspended diplomatic relations with Hungary. The extradition,
pardoning and release of Safarov were condemned by many countries
and authoritative organizations of the world

LEVON ARONYAN IS NUMBER TWO IN FIDE RANKING OF TOP 100 CHESS PLAYERS

by Nana Martirosyan

ARMINFO
Friday, November 1, 11:33

Levon Aronyan is number two in the FIDE ranking of top 100 chess
players.

Aronyan (rated 2801) is back to the Club 2800. Magnus Carlsen (Norway)
is number one (rated 2870).

Sergey Movsesyan (2700, number 49), Vladimir Hakobyan (2681, number
63), Gabriel Sargsyan (2676, number 71) and Tigran Petrosyan (2660,
number 89) are also among the top 100 chess players.

MEMBERSHIP TO CU IS A CORRECT DECISION, PROSPEROUS ARMENIA MP SAYS

14:42 01/11/2013 ” POLITICS

Armenia’s decision to join the Customs Union is a correct one. It will
be good for Armenia as Armenia has always had good relations with
Russia, member of Prosperous Armenia parliamentary faction Abraham
Manukyan told a press briefing in parliament.

Meanwhile, he said that Armenia should also consider the EU
integration. According to Manukyan, there are opportunities both in
the Customs Union and in the European Union.

Source: Panorama.am

ARMENIAN, GERMAN FMS DISCUSS BILATERAL RELATIONS

12:31 01.11.2013

Within the framework of the visit to Berlin Armenian foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandian met with his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle.

Greeting the Armenian Minister, Guido Westerwelle said Armenia and
Germany enjoy brilliant relations and underlined that the bilateral
cooperation is on a high level thanks to effective joint work. “As a
true friend, Germany will continue to support Armenia’s development,”
he said.

Minister Nalbandian noted, in turn, that an active political dialogue
has been established between the two countries, cooperation in a
number of spheres has reinforced and depended over the past years.

The Ministers expressed confidence that the bilateral relations would
further develop thanks to consistent bilateral efforts.

Minister Nalbandian briefed his German counterpart on the latest
developments in the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the
efforts of Armenia and the international community in that direction.

The parties referred to Armenia-EU relations, the cooperation within
the framework of Eastern Partnership Initiative and the upcoming
summit in Vilnius.