Author: Kalantarian Kevo

MINISTRY OF EMERGENCY SITUATIONS TO COOPERATE WITH UK

10:56, 20 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 20, ARMENPRESS. The Minister of Emergency Situations
of the Republic of Armenia Armen Yeritsyan hosted the delegation led
by the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the UK to the
Republic of Armenia Jonathan Aves on September 19. The Ministry of
Emergency Situations of the Republic of Armenia informed “Armenpress”
that the Minister of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Armenia
Armen Yeritsyan welcomed the guests and introduced the structure
of the Ministry, its mission, realized programs, and international
cooperation. Among other things Minister Yeritsyan touched upon the
recent achievements of the Ministry and noted that in accordance with
the decision of the Government of the Republic of Armenia the bonds
of the Stepanavan Airport were passed to the Ministry of Emergency
Situations of the Republic of Armenia.

Previously, the Stepanavan Airport was under the authority of the
State Property Management Department adjunct to the Government of the
Republic of Armenia. In addition the Minister of Emergency Situations
emphasized that the Ministry employed a number of handicapped persons,
who are involved in the activity of the structure.

In turn, the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the
UK to the Republic of Armenia Jonathan Aves expressed his gratitude
for the invitation and underscored that the UK Embassy is willing to
expand cooperation with the Ministry of Emergency Situations and is
open for suggestions.

At the course of the aforesaid meeting Ambassador Jonathan Aves
introduced the newly appointed UK military attache to Armenia Nick
Wilkes.

© 2009 ARMENPRESS.am

SENIOR DESIGNER OF EMPORIO ARMANI MEN’S BRAND RIMA KAZUMYAN ABOUT FASHION AND ARMENIAN MEN

SEPTEMBER 20, 22:13

By Marina Adulyan

Few people know that one of the designers behind Emporio Armani men’s
collections is a girl with Armenian roots. Rima Kazumyan is a senior
designer of the world-famous fashion brand.

Despite her busy schedule Rima Kazumyan found time to answer the
questions of the NEWS.am STYLE correspondent.

How did you start your career of a designer?

Since my early childhood, I knew I wanted to be a designer. At the age
of 11 I started taking drawing courses in Atex fashion center. This
was followed by courses of graphics, design and fashion design.

My first experience was participation in First Step competition where
I won the first prize. I was only 17 years old then. Later there
was Grand Prix of the Russian Silhouette show followed by many other
prestigious competitions and awards.

Did you like to sew clothes for your dolls as a child?

Yes, of course, just as many other girls do. But, thanks to my family,
I immediately started doing it seriously and professionally.

Where did you study?

I graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Yerevan, then I studied
in London’s famous Central Saint Martins College. Then it was Florence,
Accademia Italiana, Arte, Moda e Design. I also graduated from Istituto
Marangoni, fashion and design institute in Milan.

How did you get to Emporio Armani?

After graduating from Istituto Marango, I was invited for an
internship at Frankie Morello, and then to Emporio Armani. First it
was a probation period, and then I became the assistant to a chief
designer of the brand. Later I was promoted, first working as a
designer and now as a senior designer

Why did you choose men’s fashion?

I think working in men’s fashion now is much more interesting. Men’s
fashion is developing intensively and there is more space for
imagination.

When will you present the next collection?

The closest Emporio Armani show will be at the Milan fashion week in
January next year.

What would you say about the way the Armenian men are dressed?

Unfortunately, the Armenian men are wearing one-color clothes. Using
this opportunity, I would like to encourage our men to use more bright
colors, pay attention to accessories and details. Incorrectly chosen
accessories often spoil the entire look. It is important for men to
look stylish rather than fashionable. This applies to women, too.

Find your own style, personality, and at the same time be trendy –
that is what our men should aspire. It is not very easy, you have to be
aware of the current fashion trends and have some knowledge of fashion.

When did you visit Armenia for the last time?

I usually come to Armenia for a vacation. I have a very busy schedule,
and, unfortunately, it happens not so often. But I really miss my home,
my family and friends.

And, finally what would like to wish the readers of NEWS.am STYLE?

I wish all our readers happiness and success in business and
prosperity!

NEWS.am STYLE

Thousands in Yerevan March on Presidential Palace to “Reclaim”
Armenia’s Independence

Narek Aleksanyan

20:02, September 21, 2013

This afternoon, on Armenian Independence Day, a few thousand marchers
took to the street in Yerevan in a civic initiative to reclaim
Armenia’s independence and to voice their opposition to President
Sargsyan’s recent announcement that the country intends to join the
Russian-led Customs Union.

The marchers, from various political affiliations and stripes,
assembled in Yerevan’s Liberty Square and then made their way down
Northern Boulevard to Republic Square.

As the ranks of the marchers swelled, they took over one half of
Amiryan Street despite the best efforts of the police to confine the
protestors to the sidewalk.

A number of minor scuffles broke out between the marchers and the cops
along the protest route.

More police were called in to confine the marchers along one sidewalk
of Mashots Avenue as the throng made its way towards Baghramyan Avenue
and the Presidential Palace.

The cops and Special Unit Forces were stretched to the limit as the
marchers, mainly young people, circumvented police barricades,
reaching the intersection at the National Assembly.

There a cordon of police formed a human chain and held back the
protestors from advancing further.

In the meantime, a convoy of black SUV’s was seen leaving the
Presidential Palace.

Once the convoy had fled the scene, the police opened the barricade,
allowing protestors to assemble opposite the now empty Presidential
Palace.

Rep. Schiff issues statement on 22nd anniversary of Armenia’s Independence

13:32 21.09.2013

Adam Schiff, Armenia, Independence

Rep. Adam Schiff has issued a statement on the occasion of the 22nd
anniversary of Independence of the Republic of Armenia. The message
reads:

`I’m so glad to join with the vibrant Armenian community that I
represent and proudly say `Urakh Ankakhutyan Or’ (Happy Independence
Day) as we celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the Independence of the
Republic of Armenia.

The road to independence has not been easy, but time has proven that
Armenians are survivors in the truest sense of the word, survivors of
foreign domination, survivors of the first genocide of the 20th
century.

Armenian Americans continue to illustrate what a valuable asset they
are to our society, breaking new grounds economically, socially and
politically across the nation, and enriching our customs, traditions
and the quality of life.

Over the years I’ve been privileged to work hand in hand with many
individuals in the Armenian community in a wide variety of issues that
concern the community such as securing aid to Armenia and Artsakh,
supporting self-determination for the people of Artsakh, ending the US
Government’s tragic failure to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

As a friend of the Armenian community, I’m honored to join you in
commemorating this important day and anniversary. Congratulations to
the people of Armenia, Armenians in America and to all Armenians
around the world.

ANCA-ER director joins Baroness Cox for visit to Armenia, Artsakh

September 21, 2013 – 10:28 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenian National Committee of America Eastern
Region (ANCA-ER) Executive Director Michelle Hagopian is in Armenia
accompanying Baroness Caroline Cox on her 80th trip to Armenia and
Nagorno Karabakh, the ANCA-ER reported.

Baroness Cox is the 2012 ANCA Freedom Award recipient and a major
champion for Karabakh, having opened up a rehabilitation center there
through her nonprofit, Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART). She’s
also a member of the British House of Lords.

Lady Cox asked Hagopian to attend when the pair met at the ANCA-ER
Banquet in December 2012.

`It such a thrill and an honor to join Baroness Cox on her 80th visit
to Armenia and Artsakh. Her dedication and love for the Armenian
people show in everything she does. We’re truly lucky to have a
humanitarian like her fighting for our cause,’ Hagopian stated.

`It’s my first time journeying to both Armenia and Artsakh, and it is
a pleasure to do so with Lady Cox.’

Hagopian arrived in Yerevan on September 20 and will be staying until
September 27. Members of her HART-United Kingdom team and other
colleagues of Cox are along for this trip as well. Among the items on
the group’s itinerary include visiting church clergy, meeting elected
officials, and traveling to Nagorno Karabakh by helicopter, which was
a gift provided from the Armenian government in honor of her 80th
trip.

The Lady Cox Rehabilitation Center is internationally recognized as a
`Center of Excellence,’ disseminating its wide-ranging therapeutic
repertoire far beyond Karabakh to other countries throughout the South
Caucasus. `The spirit of Armenia, which not only survives but creates
beauty from the ashes of destruction, is spreading hope and healing
for people with special needs not only in Karabakh and Armenia but far
beyond these lands,’ stated Lady Cox.

Baroness Cox’s humanitarian aid work has taken her on many missions to
conflict zones, including Nagorno Karabakh, Sudan, Nigeria, Uganda,
Burma, and Indonesia. She has also been instrumental in helping to
change the former Soviet Union’s policies for orphaned and abandoned
children from institutional to foster family care.

ARIF ALIYEV: THERE ARE 20 JOURNALISTS IN AZERBAIJANI JAILS

18:09 19/09/2013 ” SOCIETY

“It’s hard to talk about the independence of the press on
the background of the recent increase of arrests of Azerbaijani
journalists. There are a number of serious problems in this area. The
alread low level of media independence in the country is reducing
day by day,” told the head of the Azerbaijan Research Center of new
generation of journalists, media expert Arif Aliyev to “Factheber”
portal.

Arif Aliyev also noted that the reasons for the existing situation
are the excessive limited financial resources and the monopoly of the
advertising market in the media. “There are also serious problems
with the arrest of journalists. Azerbaijan is one of the countries
which has the highest number of imprisoned journalists in Europe. At
the moment, there are 20 journalists that are in prison,” he said.

The expert also expressed his attitude on the arrest of the employee
of “Bizim Yol” (“Our Way”) newspaper and the director of the site
“Moderator.az” Parviz Gashimli.

“It is difficult to say anything about it at this moment, as we do
not have serious facts. However, we were surprised by the way he
was arrested. Why should the editorial office of the journalist,
who is accused of attempting to smuggle weapons, be searched? How
the smuggling is connected with his professional activity? The mass
invasion of MNS to the journalist’s apartment and aggression towards
other members of the media who attempted to get closer to his home,
give rise to some questions and doubts about Parviz Gashimli’s arrest.

The final decision will be announced after the disclosure of additional
facts,” said the head of the Research Center of the Azerbaijani
journalists of new generation.

The employee of independent newspaper “Bizim Yol” (Our way) and
director of the site “Moderator.az” Parviz Gashimli was arrested on
17 September 2013 Azerbaijan. Gashimli was detained at the editorial
office of the site “Moderator.az” by the MNS officers. The MNS
officers entered Gashimli’s private house in Baladzhary village and
the editorial office of “Bizim Yol” newspaper at the same time. MNS
officers “found” 30 grenades and a pistol in Gashimli’s house. Wife
of the journalist noted that weapons were brought into the house by
the MNS staff.

Source: Panorama.am

ARMENIANS SAY HUNGARY MADE NO EFFORT TO RESOLVE FRICTION OVER AZERI MURDERER

10:42 20.09.2013

Over the past year the Hungarian government has made almost no effort
to resolve the friction that resulted from the repatriation of an
Azeri murderer who was freed after arriving home, the head of the
self-government of ethnic Armenians said, politics.ru reports.

Azeri officer Ramil Safarov, who was sentenced to life imprisonment
for killing an Armenian in Budapest in 2004, was transferred back to
his home country on August 31, 2012 under an extradition agreement.

Although Azerbaijan formally pledged that the life sentence handed down
to him in Hungary would be directly continued when he was returned to
his homeland, the Azerbaijani president granted him clemency. Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan announced the same day that Armenia suspended
diplomatic relations with Hungary.

Two days later State Secretary of Foreign Affairs Zsolt Nemeth summoned
the Azerbaijani ambassador to his office and condemned the Azerbaijani
step as unacceptable to Hungary in a diplomatic note.

The head of the Armenian self-government Sevan Sargsyan told the press
that it is still not known what advantage Hungary had gained from
the repatriation of Safarov. The European Union could put pressure
on Azerbaijan through the Eastern Partnership programme but Hungary
has made no steps to achieve this, he added. According to Sevan, the
“total lack of interest” demonstrated by Hungary in this matter is
“shocking”.

The Foreign Ministry said in response that the Hungarian government
had taken several steps to restore Hungarian-Armenian diplomatic
links, for instance Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi sent a letter
to Armenian counterpart Edvard Nalbandjan about this on September 7,
2012. The ministry also sent a diplomatic note to the Armenian ministry
to confirm the wish to restore relations.

The Foreign Ministry initiated dialogue with the officials of the
self-government of ethnic Armenians in Hungary right after the
repatriation of Safarov, the statement added.

“It is in Hungary’s interest that Hungarian-Armenian friendship
should further deepen and cooperation between the two countries should
strengthen and broaden in every field of life, including diplomatic
relations,” the ministry said.

The ministry also said that the standing of diplomatic links between
Hungary and Armenia must not, and does not, have any effect on the
situation of ethnic Armenians in Hungary. The ministry, moreover,
rejects charges by the Armenian self-government that the government
handled ethnic Armenians in Hungary as “traitors” and that they
cannot feel safe in Hungary anymore. The ministry also rejects the
claim that the ethnic Armenians in Hungary are left out of efforts
to restore diplomatic links between Hungary and Armenia.

In line with Hungary’s constitution, ethnic minorities are part of
the Hungarian political community and are state-forming elements,
and Hungary guarantees to nurture and protect the minorities’ language
and culture, the statement said.

LE GOUVERNEMENT ARMENIEN ANNONCE LE LANCEMENT DU PROCESSUS D’ADHESION DANS L’UNION DOUANIERE

ARMENIE

C’est dans un climat politique tendu que le gouvernement armenien
a annonce officiellement, jeudi 19 septembre, le lancement des
preparatiifs en vue de l’adhesion controversee de l’Armenie a l’Union
douanière constituee de la Russie, de la Bielorussie et du Kazakhstan,
a laquelle le president Serge Sarkissian s’etait rallie le 3 septembre
a l’issue d’une rencontre avec son homologue russe Vladimir Poutine
a Moscou. Le gouvernement de Tigrane Sarkissian a approuve le plan
des mesures prevues en ce sens qui devront etre appliquees vers le 10
octobre. La vice-ministre de l’economie, Karine Minasian, qui avait
presente un calendrier lors de la reunion du conseil des ministres,
a indique que M. Sarkissian avait constitue mercredi 18 septembre sept
“groupes de travail” charges de formuler la position de l’Armenie
dans les pourparlers a venir avec l’Union dirigee par la Russie. Mme
Minasian a precise aux journalists que l’un de ces groupes se penchera
plus particulièrement sur le regime douanier auquel sont soumis les
trois Etats deja membres de cette Union douanière qui devrait donner
le jour, a l’horizon 2015, a l’Union eurasienne voulue par M. Poutine,
ainsi que sur la compatibilite de leurs taxes douanières avec les taxes
commerciales pratiquees par l’Armenie. Malgre les critiques suscitees
par sa decision surprise, qui remet en cause le processus d’integration
renforcee de l’Armenie dans l’UE qui devait etre finalise au sommet
de Vilius, le president Sarkissian a prefere garder jusqu’ici le
silence sur cette question. Les responsables armeniens ont toutefois
indique que le processus d’adhesion a l’Union douanière pourrait
durer plusieurs mois et exigerait l’adaptation de dizaines de lois
et règlementations armeniennes.

vendredi 20 septembre 2013, Gari ©armenews.com

ICONS TAKEN FROM CYPRUS IN 1975 TO BE RETURNED

The Toronto Star, Canada
September 18, 2013 Wednesday

Valued at $200,000, the 16th-century paintings portray the four
apostles

The Dutch government seized four icons looted from a monastery in
northern Cyprus and will hand them to Cypriot authorities Wednesday,
according to Walk of Truth, an organization that campaigns to preserve
cultural heritage.

The 16th-century icons portraying the four apostles, valued at about
$200,000, were taken from the medieval Antiphonitis monastery in 1975.

Legal efforts by the Church of Cyprus to recover the icons failed
in 2002 after seven years. A change in Dutch law in 2007 allowed the
government to seize the artworks, said Tasoula Hadjitofi, the founder
of Walk of Truth.

“We have heard that the icons will be delivered to Cypriot authorities
within 48 hours,” Hadjitofi told delegates at a Sept. 16 conference
in the Hague. “The Netherlands should be congratulated for this.”

The Cypriot government says that as many as 100 Greek Orthodox and
Armenian churches in northern Cyprus were looted or vandalized after
the 1974 Turkish invasion. It estimates that more than 15,000 icons
are missing. Some objects have been recovered in western Europe and
the United States.

The four looted icons of the saints were bought by an elderly Dutch
couple from an Armenian dealer who visited their Rotterdam home. When
the couple tried to auction the icons in the 1990s, employees of
Christie’s International warned that they may have been stolen.

Litigation to recover them began in 1995.

A district court ruled that the Dutch purchaser bought the icons in
good faith and was therefore the rightful owner.

The Court of Appeals found that the claim was time-barred under
statutes of limitations in 2002, according to Rob Polak, the
Amsterdam-based lawyer who represented the Church of Cyprus in the
legal process.

Questions about the ruling were raised in the Dutch parliament, and
in 2007, the Cultural Property Originating From Occupied Territory
Act was passed.

The law bans the import and ownership of cultural property originating
from a territory that was occupied in an armed conflict after 1959,
and allows the Minister of Education, Culture and Science to seize any
such property. In cases where the owner is deemed to be a good-faith
buyer, he may receive compensation from the Dutch state.

ARMENIA SELLS $700 MILLION, SEVEN-YEAR BOND AT YIELD OF 6.25%, SOURCES SAYS

Wall Street Journal
Sept 19 2013

By Prabha Natarajan

Armenia came to market Thursday with a $700 million, seven-year bond
that sold to strong investor demand.

The country used the revived demand for emerging-market assets to
sell its debut bond deal.

The seven-year debt offering sold at a yield of 6.25%, and carries
a coupon of 6%, according to bankers familiar with the deal.

The initial yield talk was in the area of 6.375%.

Government borrowers from emerging-market economies have raised $17
billion this month, almost double the amount of bonds issued in the
previous three months combined, according to data provider Dealogic.

Deutsche Bank, HSBC and J.P. Morgan Chase are the banks running the
Armenia deal.

–Ben Edwards in London contributed to this article.