Author: Kalantarian Kevo

SALARY OF ARMENIAN JUDGES IS 2-3 TIMES HIGHER THAN THAT OF PRESIDENT – SOCIOLOGIST

15:44 25/10/2013 ” ECONOMY

Head of Sociometer sociological center, sociologist Aharon Adibekyan
commented on the proposal to raise state officials’ salaries at a
meeting with reporters today.

“The Prime Minister of Singapore is the highest paid state official
in the world – his salary amounts to USD 1 million. The U.S. President
receives about USD 400,000 in salary. The lowest presidential salaries
are in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Armenia,” he said.

The sociologist noted that Armenia has no right to economize on
salaries because productivity of work is dependent on salaries.

“Judicial workers are the highest paid in our country – the salary of
Armenian judges is about 2-3 times higher than that of the President,”
he concluded.

Source: Panorama.am

REGULAR OSCE MONITORING ON BORDER BETWEEN THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH REPUBLIC AND AZERBAIJAN HELD WITHOUT INCIDENTS

YEREVAN, October 25. /ARKA/. A regular OSCE monitoring on the border
between the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan, near Levonarkh
village, Mardakert province, has been held without any incident and
in conformity with schedule, the Nagorno-Karabakh foreign ministry’s
press office reported today.

“No violence of cease-fire agreement has been recorded,” the report
says.

Monitoring in Nagorno Karabakh’s side was held by Andrzej Kasprzyk,
Personal Representative of OSCE CiO, and his field assistants,
and monitoring on the opposite side was conducted by Evgeny Sharov
(Ukraine), Personal Representative of OSCE CiO, and other OSCE
officials.

Representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh foreign and defense ministries
were present at the monitoring process. .—-0—

– See more at:

AZERBAIJAN ACCUSES EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT IN AN ATTEMPT TO ORGANIZE RIOT IN COUNTRY

14:40 25/10/2013 ” REGION

The Azerbaijani delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the
“EuroNest” will suspend its activities in the organization, the head
of the Azerbaijani delegation to the PA “EuroNest” Elkhan Suleymanov
said in a statement, as the Azerbaijani news agency “Trend” reports.

This decision is due to the adoption of the 32nd point of the European
Parliament Resolution of 23 October 2013, where it is said that the
elections in Azerbaijan did not meet international standards and
concern is expressed about human rights violations in the country.

Suleymanov’s appeal reads that this paragraph “is a serious blow to the
reputation of the European Parliament on monitoring the presidential
elections in Azerbaijan.” The appeal is addressed to the President
of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, the OSCE chairman Leonid
Kozhara, the president of the Council of Europe Jean-Claude Mignon,
President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Ranko KrivokapiÄ~G and
all members of the European Parliament.

“At the beginning of July this year, Azerbaijan was not included
in the list of the countries observing the presidential elections,
and such a decision of European Parliament was regarded by us as a
result of absence of serious problems in our country,” Suleiman said.

However, as stated in the appeal of the head of the Azerbaijani
delegation, “today it becomes clear already that behind the decision
of the European Parliament in early July, of not sending election
observation mission to Azerbaijan, plans for organizing riots and
sabotage in our country were hiding.”

By not including Azerbaijan into the list of countries where it
was decided to send election observation missions, the European
Parliament, according to Suleimanov, “tried to discredit and undermine
the political authority of Azerbaijan in the international arena.”

“For some reason, later, in early September, the European Parliament
changed his mind and decided to send an election observation mission
to Azerbaijan,” he said.

As stated in the document “the positive assessments of the observation
mission enraged the leadership of the House of freedom and Unity,
which decided bring the 32nd paragraph as an amendment into the draft
of the European Parliament Resolution, according to which the election
failed to meet the standards and requirements of the OSCE.” According
to the Azerbaijani delegate, “The European Parliament should take
into consideration that the ODIHR is one of the many organizations
of the OSCE.”

The statement also read that the delegation of the European Parliament,
PACE and OSCE PA gave a positive assessment to the elections, and
the European Parliament adopted the resolution basing on the “biased”
resolution of the OSCE / ODIHR observing mission.

This, according to Sulymanov, causes a serious blow to the image of
the House of Human Rights, which is composed of Members of European
Parliament as well as PACE and OSCE.

According to the head of the Azerbaijani delegation the OSCE /
ODIHR report “was aimed at follow the orders of higher officials,
securing interests of powerful countries in Azerbaijan, formation of
a negative image of Azerbaijan in the international arena.” However,
as stated in the appeal, Baku will continue its policy.

As the head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the “EuroNest” thinks,
the European Parliament and other international organizations “continue
to deceive the people of Azerbaijan and the international community”
in the Karabakh conflict too. Thus, Suleymanov called the words of
the President of European Parliament Martin Schulz about “Azerbaijan
and Armenia solving this complex issue (Karabakh conflict.

– Ed.) by themselves” “absurd”.

“The persistent call of the European Parliament to base on the OSCE /
ODIHR resolution, regardless the assessments of the elections observing
mission of the European Parliament, is a part of the plans to organize
provocations and disorders. Presumably, they are very disappointed
because of the failed plans of sabotage after a positive assessment
of the elections, in particular of the attempts to turn Azerbaijan
into Libya or Syria,” the head of the Azerbaijani delegation said in
the statement.

Presidential elections held in Azerbaijan on October 9 did not meet
international standards, reads the resolution adopted on the eve of
the plenary session of the European Parliament. The organization
calls on Azerbaijan to stop harassment of oppositionist activists
as an indispensable condition for any agreement and to review the
strategic partnership with Azerbaijan.

“The European Parliament deplores for the fact that the presidential
elections in Azerbaijan, as the OSCE/ODIHR has concluded, has once
again failed to meet OSCE standards,” the document reads.

Source: Panorama.am

MOHAMMAD REISI, HRANUSH HAKOBYAN DISCUSS SHOOTING ARMENIAN-IRANIAN FILM

14:28 25/10/2013 ” SOCIETY

The Armenian community of Iran plays an important role in Iran-Armenia
relations, Iranian Ambassador to Armenia Mohammad Reisi has said at
a meeting with Armenian Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan, according
to IRIB news agency.

The Iranian envoy noted that Armenian-Iranian ties are constructive
and that they develop in all areas.

The two parties discussed shooting a joint Armenian-Iranian film and
a number of other issues of mutual interest.

Mrs Hakobyan thanked Ambassador Reisi for his activities aimed at
deepening the cooperation between the two countries as well as for
his attention towards the Armenian community of Iran.

Source: Panorama.am

LUKASHENKO TOLD ARMENIA A SECRET

The leaders of the Customs Union member states rushed to accept
Armenia’s application for membership to the Customs Union and the
Common Economic Area, the statement on the participation of the
Republic of Armenia in the process of Eurasian integration and the
Memorandum on Deepening Cooperation between the Republic of Armenia
and the Eurasian Economic Commission. “We agreed to set up a working
group which will prepare the road map within the shortest possible
time,” said the Russian President Putin.

Interestingly, the president of the country which submitted the
application did not show up to the journalists to hail this occasion.

Either he was not happy, or the application has been accepted without
Serzh Sargsyan or yet he was not allowed to show up in public in case
he utters something divergent.

The participants of the Second Eurasian Economic Council confirmed
their intention to sign the agreement on the establishment of
the Eurasian Economic Union which is supposed to be launched on 1
January 2015.

At first sight, everything is going well, especially that quarrels and
objections were expected. Lukashenko even confessed that he did not
expect such success. “I would not say that this is a breakthrough but
this is a leap that we took during our meeting today,” Lukashenko said.

In brief, there is no breakthrough, and some issues are pending. For
example, Nursultan Nazarbayev expressed concerns. He proposed accepting
Turkey to the Customs Union explaining it by concerns which people
often express whether “we are creating a USSR or something else under
Russia”. “Rumors might end if we accept Turkey,” Nazarbayev said.

This means that neither Nazarbayev, nor Lukashenko are going to obey
Russia, and the Customs Union will exist as long as Russia offers
customs preferences to its two big members. Lukashenko, for example,
demanded to exempt petrol from taxes otherwise he will leave the
Customs Union.

In addition, Lukashenko made a sensational statement. He confessed
that on entering the Eurasian Union the countries partly lose
their sovereignty. However, he said there is no need to be afraid of
delegating additional powers to the supranational level. “Sovereignty
is not an icon. Everything has a price, and we need to sacrifice
something to live better,” Lukashenko said.

So what next? Does the parliament, the Constitution empower Serzh
Sargsyan to delegate state powers to a supranational organization? Or
are the Constitutional reforms initiated to this aim?

Naira Hayrumyan 14:09 25/10/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:

PUTIN: ROADMAP WILL BE CREATED FOR ARMENIA’S AND KYRGYZSTAN’S ACCESSION TO CU

13:11 25/10/2013 ” POLITICS

The member states of the Customs Union have supported the intention
of Armenia and Kyrgyzstan to join the Eurasian integration project,
Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference following
the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Minsk.

Putin said that a working group will be set up soon which will create
a roadmap for Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.

The final documents will be signed in May 2014 and parliaments of CU
member states will ratify them within 6 months.

Source: Panorama.am

KARINE DANIELYAN: YEREVAN’S CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL MONUMENTS MEANINGFULLY DESTROYED

by Karina Manukyan

Friday, October 25, 12:29

Town planning in Yerevan has been destroying cultural and historical
monuments and damaging environment throughout the country’s
independence, Karine Danielyan, Head of the Association for Sustainable
Development, told ArmInfo.

“In Soviet time, when we were fighting for national identity, the
city was in a better situation than now,” she said, “We failed to do
anything to save the Indoor Market. Although to change something in
the building of the market, the decisions of the Ministries of Urban
Development and Culture, and Yerevan Municipality, were required, the
construction activities were launched and completed without relevant
permissions,” Danielyan said.

At present, experts are concerned over the old building of Zvartnots
Airport. Recently Armenia- International Airports CJSC has declared
that it will no longer spend money and time to keep the building,
as it “does not meet the modern standards of flight navigation.”

“The old building of Zvartnots Airport has been abandoned for several
years, that is why it has occurred in such poor state. I am against
dismantling of the building. It must be preserved as a historical
and cultural value. The Subcommittee of the Public Council for Town
Planning and Architecture shares our views,” she said.

US CRITICIZE COUNCIL OF EUROPE FOR ASSESSMENT OF AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

October 25, 2013 | 13:04

The U.S. criticized Council of Europe mission for giving positive
assessment of Azerbaijani presidential elections. The criticism was
voiced by Christopher Midura, Acting Deputy Chief of US Mission to
the OSCE, in response to the address by the CE Secretary General
Thorbjorn Jagland, Contact.az reported.

“Wile ODIHR and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly found ‘significant
problems throughout all stages of election day processes’ and found
that the election was ‘undermined by limitations on the freedoms of
expression, assembly and association,’ we were surprised that the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) assessed that
a ‘free, fair and transparent’ process prevailed on election day,”
the letter mentions.

He recalled that US had recently joined the Council of Europe’s Venice
Commission as a full member of and “looks forward to promoting human
rights and democratic governance through that important institution.”

“The US believes that the OSCE and the Council of Europe have
significant, complementary roles to play in strengthening respect
for human rights, fundamental freedoms, democracy, and rule of law,”
reads the statement.

Azerbaijani opposition accused authorities of paying bribes to the PACE
mission. The opposition claimed the talks were held in Hilton hotel in
Strasbourg. The Council of Europe did not respond to the accusations.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

IF ARMENIA IS A VASSAL

[ Part 2.2: “Attached Text” ]

[eng138268862538.JPG] After four weeks of doubts it is understood
that the development of relations with the European Union is out
of question. The EU pretends as if it is worried about the state
of affairs and is ready for new initiatives and continuation of
development of relations with Armenia. In reality, the Europeans
need not continue to attract attention to the September 3 scandal,
enter into a meaningless discussion with Russia, display lack of
political experience and inadequate understanding of the situation
in the South Caucasus.

The Europeans always want stability and predictability of developments
and processes, and it is better to have stability than too much
democracy. Currently the Euro-Atlantic community is trying to
demonstrate that it is not responsible for the security of Armenia
to convey a message to those who still may have illusions.

Something has been promised to Armenia in a highly limited format.

Now not impression but understanding is concerned. The European Union
does not know for sure what it should do next, and there is no wish
to understand this fully. The most important thing is to conserve
the problem in a sufficiently safe condition and prevent occurrence
of conflicts when the reason could be the policy of the European Union.

Washing hands is the proper name for the current position of the EU.

Serzh Sargsyan’s upcoming visit to Vilnius could be provided with
all the delicate details but in fact the EU will not desire this
visit. There may be a new topic, a more modest and less ambitious
one, but the most important thing for now is not to have this topic
at all. It must be closed at the earliest convenience.

Against the decaying relations with the EU it would be better to
understand what NATO intends for Armenia, letting understand that the
alliance has a different attitude to CSTO from the attitude of the
European Union to the Customs Union. And in this case the mechanics is
different but the message was for Russia, not Armenia, which explains
why Armenia cannot be the cause of a scandal or a political conflict.

Neither on Robert Schumanplein, nor on King Leopold Boulevard in
Brussels do they understand with who they should deal with in Yerevan,
why to do it and what to do. The collapse of the West’s policy was too
painful to pass to new topics so rapidly. They simply do not exist. The
Western subjects had contacts with even Chechnya because the goals
and objectives were clear. The Chechens sought for independence but
hardly anyone will go for serious relations with a vassal or a country
which does not mind being a vassal.

The Karabakh topic will be considered by the West as a means of
pressure on Russia which will sooner or later have to refuse this
resource.

The real Armenian society, unlike the government of Armenia, knows
for sure that in this outrageous situation all it wants to do is to
adapt. However, this time they will have to adapt to new situations
and sponging will not be so comfortable.

Turkey, Azerbaijan and their lobbies in Europe and the United States
are overjoyed, and they are not hiding their feelings. They need to
wait until Russia announced that it is no longer interested in the
South Caucasus. Or otherwise Russia will let understand that it is
interested in Azerbaijan more. Belorussia has announced about it,
while Russia had done so earlier.

Igor Muradyan 12:10 25/10/2013 [footer_logo.png]  Story from Lragir.am
News:

DES MANIFESTANTS PERTURBENT UNE CONFERENCE INTERNATIONALE DE HAUT NIVEAU A EREVAN

ARMENIE

Un certain nombre de manifestants ont dejoue le service de securite
et est entre dans la salle de conference de l’hôtel Armenia Marriott
a Erevan pour faire entendre leur message par les participants d’un
evenement international qui avait lieu la-bas.

La conference de haut niveau organisee par le ministre armenien des
Affaires Etrangères Edouard Nalbandian et le Secretaire General du
Conseil de l’Europe Thorbjorn Jagland est intitule ” lutte contre le
racisme, la xenophobie et l’intolerance en Europe “.

Les militants ont brandi des banderoles accusant le Parti republicain
d’Armenie au pouvoir (RPA) de ” xenophobie et racisme ” et soulevant
les questions des droits des femmes et les droits des personnes LGBT
en Armenie.

En particulier, ils ont accuse Edouard Sharmazanov membre du RPA ainsi
que les principaux representants de l’opposition Artsvik Minasyan
membre de la FRA de soutenir ceux qui ont pose des bombes dans un
bar LGBT a Erevan en mai 2012.

Les bannières ont egalement mentionne un autre membre de l’APR,
le vice-ministre des Sports et de la jeunesse Khachik Asryan, qui a
appele a brûler un opposant sur le bûcher en raison de ses commentaires
critiques plus tôt ce mois-ci.

Après avoir manifeste pendant quelques minutes les militants ont
quitte la salle.

vendredi 25 octobre 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com