Author: Kalantarian Kevo

YEREVAN MAYOR TEMPORARILY SUSPENDS FARE HIKES, BUT CLAIMS INCREASES ARE “UNAVOIDABLE”

18:41, July 25, 2013

About one hour ago Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan issued a statement
saying that he would temporarily halt the transit fare hikes that
have set off several days of noisy street protests.

The statement is somewhat contradictory given that Margaryan continues
to claim that the 50% hikes for buses, minivans and trolleybuses is
a necessity in order to improve public transportation.

Margaryan says that he has followed the protests of young activists
and is pleased to see that people are coming together in a spirit
of help and cooperation. He also notes with sadness, however, the
defamatory and denigrating behaviour of some towards transit drivers.

Yerevan’s mayor says that he and his team worked long and hard to
come up with an acceptable solution to the transportation problem in
Yerevan and that this is why fares haven’t been increased up till now.

Margaryan admits that a few months ago he was under the impression
that the fares could be maintained but that market price increases
directly tied to the transit sector made such a desire impossible.

He says that permitting the fare hikes was a very difficult decision
for him to make, but that as mayor, he cannot avoid such difficult
decisions.

Margaryan also admits that the fare hike burden cannot be levied
on those sectors of society – seniors, students, and the needy –
and that, in this regard, the municipality is working on a system of
discounts that will take one year to craft and install.

His statement ends with a call for all Yerevan residents to unite in
the name of a better city.

BACK TO 100 DRAMS: YEREVAN MAYOR SUSPENDS HIS DECISION ON BUS FARE RISE

[ Part 2.2: “Attached Text” ]

NEWS | 25.07.13 | 19:58

Photo:

Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan has suspended his decision to raise
public transport fares until mechanisms are developed to ensure that
it does not hit the poor.

In an address to the public issued on Thursday in response to
continuing public protest against the 50-percent rise in minibus and
bus fares Margaryan described the unpopular measure as beneficial
for Yerevan in the long term, but acknowledged that its introduction
did not take into account the interests of the socially vulnerable
sections of the population.

Margaryan, who promised in late March, shortly before the municipal
elections in which he was reelected mayor that transport fares would
not go up in the near future, said that until early summer he frankly
believed that the existing tariffs could be maintained for a few
years, but price increases in some immediately related markets,
according to him, make it impossible to continue improvements –
even cosmetic ones – in the sphere without raising fares.

“On the one hand, there was the issue of organizing a safe and
dignified transportation of people, on the other hand there was the
heavier financial burden for our citizens,” he said.

“The fare of 150 drams is the price of solving these problems that,
unfortunately, we have to pay. We simply have no alternative,”
he added.

“At the same time, it is obvious that within the context of the
principles that we have adopted we cannot put the burden of higher
fare rates on socially vulnerable groups for which we have envisioned
privileged approaches within the framework of the establishment of a
unified system of payments,” said Margaryan. “The establishment of
the system will take about a year, meanwhile the decision that has
been made puts this load on pensioners, students, socially vulnerable
people already today. I have already instructed that a commission
comprised of specialists and interested persons be set up to elaborate
all those mechanisms… In the meantime, the effect of the decision
will be suspended by me.”

FARE FOR BUSES AND MINIBUSES RUNNING THROUGH 7-8 ROUTES MAY SURGE BY 10-12% IN ARMENIA, TRANSPORT MINISTER SAYS

YEREVAN, July 25./ARKA/. The fare for buses or minibuses running
through 7-9 interregional routes may rise by 10-12% in Armenia,
said Minister of Transport and Communications Gagik Beglaryan.

“Currently, there are about 170 interregional routes across Armenia,
only 7-8 of them will increase the fare, but the increase will be
not so high, just 10-12%,” Beglaryan said Thursday at the government
briefing.

Generally, these are the routes which are coordinated by the companies
that have won the tender recently. They have applied for higher
tariffs, but have been working at lower ones.

The minister has also noted the talks are currently held with these
companies. Beglaryan refused from commenting on the increase of public
transport fares in Yerevan.

Starting from 20 July, Yerevan residents have to pay 150 drams (36.5
cents) for bus and minibus tickets instead of current 100 drams (24.4
cents). The trolleybus fair will be 100 drams instead of current 50
drams, and metro fares are not subject to change (100 drams).

This raised a wave of discontent among the residents of the capital,
who have been protesting against the hikes. The main motto of the
protesters is “Won’t pay 150 drams.” Another campaign is called
Free Car. Famous showmen, politicians and journalists give a ride to
Yerevan residents for free.

The day before, ombudsman of Armenia Karen Andreasyan has sent a
message to Yerevan Mayor Taron Margarayan asking him to clarify the
issues related to public transport fare increase. He also said that
increase in public transport fares is possible only by the city
mayor’s decision and asked Margaryan to answer is it true that he
signed this decision and whether he made it public or not. Otherwise,
the decision is not valid. -0-

– See more at:

ARMENIA, CHINA TO CONTINUE TO BOOST BILATERAL RELATIONS

15:33 25.07.2013
Armenia, China

State Councilor Yang Jiechi met with visiting Armenian Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandian on Thursday, Xinhua reports.

Yang said China and Armenia have enjoyed healthy development in
bilateral relations, which have featured increasingly deepened
political mutual trust, expanded cooperation in all fields and sound
coordination on major international and regional issues.

He said China is willing to work with Armenia to continue to boost
bilateral relations.

Nalbandian said developing relations with China is one of Armenia’s
top priorities.

He said he hopes the two sides can further strengthen cooperation in
all fields and upgrade their ties.

They also exchanged views on international and regional issues of
common concern.

” LE CHEVAL DE TROIE AZERI EN FRANCE EST AU R.C. LENS “, PAR KRIKOR AMIRZAYAN

COURRIER À FRANCE FOOTBALL

Notre redacteur Krikor Amirzayan est en colère. Suite a la diffusion
par l’hebdomadaire ” France Football ” d’un large article sur le
milliardaire azeri Hafiz Mammadov, le nouveau co-proprietaire du
club de football R.C. Lens, K. Amirzayan avait reagi sur les propos
rapportes de Hafiz Mammadov et notamment son desir de ” lutter contre
les lobbies Armeniens ” ou sa critique de la France pour avoir reconnu
le genocide armenien…

Mais ” France Football ” a decide de ne pas publier cette lettre que
nous presentons a nos lecteurs. Krikor Amirzayan appelle par ailleurs
les membres de la communaute armenienne a reagir par une campagne
de courriers auprès de ” France Football ” et auprès des clubs de
supporters du R.C. Lens denoncant ” cette propagande azerie qui sera
dirigee a n’en pas douter contre les Armeniens “.

Courriers a adresser au Courrier des lecteurs de ” France Football
” : [email protected]

Ci-dessous la lettre adressee par Krikor Amirzayan a la redaction de
” France Football ”

Hafiz Mammadov veut donner des lecons a la France et aux Armeniens
de l’hexagone !

La page consacree a l’homme d’affaire azeri Hafiz Mammadov (France
Football du 9 juillet) le nouveau coproprietaire du RC Lens est
revelatrice de cette menace qui pèse desormais sur les 600 000
Armeniens de France. D’ailleurs Hafiz Mammadov est clair, l’une de
ses principales missions est de ” lutter contre les lobbies Armeniens
” en France et promouvoir l’image de son pays, l’Azerbaïdjan.

De plus, cet homme qui a fait fortune dans cet Azerbaïdjan, classe
parmi les pays les plus corrompus de la planète où la richesse
petrolière se fait toujours en accord avec le clan de la famille
regnante du president Aliev, donne des lecons a la France et notamment
de la Loi de la Republique qui reconnut en 2001 le genocide armenien
de 1915 qui fit 1,5 millions de victimes armeniennes. Genocide execute
par la Turquie. L’Azerbaïdjan turcophone en etait et reste l’un des
allies les plus fidèles la Turquie, l’axe negationniste (negationnisme
du genocide armenien) Ankara-Bakou etant en place. H. Mammadov se fait
ainsi le porte-parole quasi officiel de cet axe du mal qui rejette le
genocide armenien et qui donne des lecons a la France coupable a ses
yeux d’avoir reconnu le genocide armenien par une Loi. Que cet homme
puisse sauver le RC Lens par ses millions de dollars cumules dans
les affaires est une chose, mais qu’il se permette en contrepartie
de donner des lecons a la France et aux citoyens Francais d’origine
armenienne est une chose qu’on ne peut accepter.

D’autant plus qu’il n’est pas citoyen Francais ! Que les supporters
du RC Lens se rejouissent que cet homme qui a fait fortune dans un
pays où 2% de la population detient 95% des richesses, puisse aider a
remonter les comptes du club. Mais que cette ” aide ” soit au prix de
lecons de morale lancee en direction de la Republique francaise et qui
menace les Armeniens de France, non ! Car avant de critique les lois
de notre Republique, cet homme ferait mieux de voir l’application des
lois dans sa Republique d’Azerbaïdjan qui est une sorte de monarchie
dictatoriale dirigee par le clan du president Aliev et dont les
libertes les plus elementaires de ses citoyens, se sa presse, de son
opposition, sont largement bafouees ! De quel droit cet homme qui
vient d’une dictature, critique notre democratie francaise ?

L’Azerbaïdjan ” terre de feu ” comme l’indique sa publicite sur
les maillots de l’Atletico de Madrid est aussi une ” terre de sang
” pour les milliers d’Armeniens qui furent victimes de pogroms en
Azerbaïdjan en 1988 a Soumgaït puis a Bakou et Kirovabad en 1990.

Et si les Armeniens ont libere le Haut Karabagh du joug azeri au prix
d’une guerre gagnee qui fit 30 000 morts dans les deux camps, c’est
parce que les Armeniens chretiens du Haut Karabagh etaient soumis
aux injustices les plus flagrantes par cet Azerbaïdjan musulman. Les
Armeniens etant depuis la nuit des temps sur leurs terres historiques
qui fut offerte par Staline a l’Azerbaïdjan en 1920. Après 70 ans
de cette injustice de la periode sovietique, les Armeniens se sont
revoltes et ont libere leur territoire. Que l’Azerbaïdjan democratise
ses institutions avant d’envoyer des ” ambassadeurs ” tels que Mammadov
pour donner une image ideale de son pays ! Les supporters Lensois
doivent savoir qu’ils ont desormais a la tete du RC Lens un homme
dangereux qui attise les tensions en s’en prenant a la communaute
armenienne comme bouc emissaire des affres de son pays mis souvent
au banc des nations pour son irrespect des Droits de l’homme.

Que les supporters Lensois sachent que les 600 000 Armeniens de France,
ne resteront pas sans reactions sous la menace verbale de Mammadov…

Krikor AMIRZAYAN, Journaliste armenien (Valence, Drôme)

jeudi 25 juillet 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

KERRY, GO FIX KARABAKH!

The National Interest Online
July 24 2013

Alexandros Petersen
July 24, 2013

In late June, press around the world reported that Azerbaijan had
finally chosen an export pipeline for its natural gas to reach
European markets. This process took over a decade and involved
in-depth involvement by Washington in the form of the U.S. Special
Envoy for Eurasian Energy and the hard work of the new Bureau of
Energy Resources under Secretary Kerry at the State Department. Since
President Clinton’s first term, through Democratic and Republican
administrations, connecting Azerbaijan’s resources with NATO allies in
Europe has been a strategic priority, requiring stealthy maneuvering
around Russian-backed plans to scupper it.

Moscow sought to keep its former Central European satellites dependent
on its gas supplies and vulnerable to geopolitical manipulation through
mid-winter cut-offs, which occurred regularly in the mid-2000s. This
challenge has now been greatly reduced due to complicated energy
diplomacy conducted by Azerbaijan and the United States. But Moscow
has an ace up its sleeve.

The natural gas pipelines connecting Azerbaijan to Europe inevitably
have to snake around neighboring Armenia because of the intractable
conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. This so-called frozen conflict has
since the end of the Cold War become synonymous with the sort of
faraway, messy and unrewarding conflagrations that Washington does
not want to get mixed up in. But in this case, the far from frozen,
but rather simmering conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia is one
that will come back to haunt the United States if it does not do its
best to encourage a process towards conflict settlement.

With the fates of Egypt and Syria uncertain and Secretary Kerry stuck
in the perennial logjam of Israel-Palestine, Nagorno-Karabakh actually
presents the State Department with a conflict resolution process that
could become a major success story. As relations with Russia worsen
by the day, however, Karabakh could also be used as a pawn against U.S.

interests in a region bordering Iran, with important thoroughfares
for the military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Russia has long acted as Armenia’s patron, taking its side in the
active war with Azerbaijan in the 1990s and maintaining a major
military base in the country with treaty promises to defend Armenia
in case of attack. As Azerbaijan becomes an increasingly faithful
ally of the United States-assisting in both the Afghanistan and
Iraq theaters-Moscow has turned a cold shoulder to Baku, even as
Azerbaijani policymakers try to maintain cordial relations with their
rival’s closest ally.

If it wanted to disrupt the flow of strategically important natural
gas to America’s European allies-or simply assert its pugnacity
in a geopolitically contested region-Moscow could at any moment
reignite the Karabakh conflict, plunging Iran’s northern border and
Turkey’s east into tumult. Such a move is not without precedent: on
the pretext of intervening in a similar such conflict, Russian forces
invaded neighboring Georgia in 2008. Though at the time much was made
of Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili’s supposed eagerness for
confrontation, almost all serious postmortems have concluded that
the preplanned Russian invasion was aimed at ensuring that Georgia
did not get too close to NATO and the United States.

To his credit, Secretary Kerry has on numerous occasions recognized
the importance of moving towards conflict resolution on Karabakh.

During the recent visit of Azerbaijan’s foreign minister to Washington,
Kerry said that resolution was “critical” at this moment for many
of the reasons described above. Kerry is in fact uniquely suited
to shepherding a solution to the conflict. Azerbaijan is a close
partner of the United States, but Kerry in particular has the trust
of the Armenians, having long represented the interests of vocal
Armenian-Americans as a Massachusetts senator.

To achieve success during his tenure, however, Kerry must tweak his
approach. The crux of the disagreement over the contested territory
of Karabakh-which is within internationally recognized Azerbaijan,
but occupied by Armenia-is that the two sides cannot come to terms on
the final status of the area. However, trying to find some, informal
at least, agreement on final status as a pretext for negotiations is
a nonstarter. This is putting the cart before the horse.

Breakthrough on Karabakh, and a much needed foreign-policy success
for the Obama administration, will only come if Secretary Kerry
brokers high-level negotiations and some tangible progress on the
ground without preconditions. Following two decades of discussion,
a number of well-known plans are on the table for the settlement’s
final status. The two sides already have opinions on them and will
not agree as long as the status quo persists. There is no better
secretary of state in recent memory to convene such talks than Kerry.

Rather than a messy frozen conflict, Karabakh is an opportunity waiting
to be seized by this administration. And given Russia’s ability to
worsen the conflict to America’s disadvantage, it is an opportunity
that cannot be missed.

Alexandros Petersen is the author of The World Island:
Eurasian Geopolitics and the Fate of the West and co-editor of
chinaincentralasia.com.

ARMENIA: BUS PROTESTS GRIND ON WITH CARPOOLS AND CONSPIRACY THEORIES

EurasiaNet.org, NY
July 24 2013

July 24, 2013 – 11:43am, by Giorgi Lomsadze

Tempers over a hike in transportation fares in Yerevan cooled on July
24, but a carpooling protest to support residents boycotting city
buses continues.

Meanwhile, as some observers scramble to make sense of it all, the
time-honored Caucasian pastime of conspiracy theories has begun.

The website , however, remains very much in the here and
now. It allows car owners to provide boycotters with the routes and
schedules for shared rides, along with the models of their automobiles
and contact information. Several Armenian celebrities have been among
those car owners who are picking up and dropping off many residents
around Yerevan for free.

Meanwhile, Facebook users are joining the page “We Won’t Pay 150 Drams”
[the new fare for city buses, over 35 cents] and Twitter users are
tweeting updates with the #OccBusYrvn hashtag, a non-sequitur reference
to the worldwide “Occupy” protests.

The movement also comes in the form of street rallies. Separate groups
of protesters clashed with police on July 23 near the mayor’s office
and accused municipal officials of corruption.

The protest is yet another challenge for newly reelected President
Serzh Sargsyan, whose victory rival Raffi Hovannisian challenged
earlier this year with a streak of demonstrations. And it stems from
a similar cause — many Armenians’ inability to make ends meet. Over a
third of the country’s population of 2.94 million people is estimated
to live beneath the poverty line.

But, of course, in the Caucasus, a bus protest cannot be just a
bus protest. In a July 23 interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian service,
ruling Republican Party of Armenia Deputy Chairperson Razmik Zohrabian
posited that the boycott is the work of superpowers — and “not only
Russia” — interested in the question of whether Armenia will head
toward European integration or toward Russia’s Eurasian Customs Union.

And to one ArmeniaNow commentator, the logic makes sense.

Conspiracy theories aside, Russia already has made one cameo appearance
in this drama, via the increased price of its natural gas.

Most Armenian buses, as well as heaters and stoves, run on natural gas,
and Russia is the main supplier of it.

“Gas is so expensive now that the police can’t even afford to use
tear gas on protesters,” one Yerevan resident joked dryly.

— EurasiaNet.org correspondent Marianna Grigoryan contributed
reporting from Yerevan.

ARMENIA WILL SOON BECOME THE BRANCH OF “GAZPROM”

July 23 2013

[ Part 2.2: “Attached Text” ]

Who is to blame, the person who gives stupid commands, or the executor,
– asks the war veteran Norayr Shabazyan. For about 10 years, 1989-1999,
medical officer Norayr A. Shabazyan who served in the armed forces of
Armenia and in the regular army, in peacetime, prefers to be presented
not with the past, but with the present as an RA citizen. Norayr
Shabazyan is Jirair Sefilyan’s comrade, but unlike Sefilyan, he does
not conduct public activities, he does not participate in the protests
of demand-claim in solving social problems of freedom fighters. He
did not participate in the non-humiliating actions against the truck
driver Hrachya Harutyunyan arrested in Russia and brought in to the
court dressed in a bathrobe.

“Let the court decide the degree of Harutyunyan’s guilt. We proceed
based on two facts; there happened an accident and 18 victims,
and secondly, Hrachya Harutyunyan was sober. One victim is already a
tragedy. But let’s put sensitiveness aside. Brining a man to the court
dressed in a women’s robe is first of all an offense to Russia and
the Russian people. I do not think they were trying to make something
clear to Armenia. The price increase in gas was quite enough. 

A man that gives a woman’s robe of another man to wear is not a man
but unsatisfied in everywhere starting from geopolitical life up
to its private home. Russia should be the first to be concerned and
punish displayers of such behavior. It will not do, it’s up to it.

If it were an Azerbaijani instead of Hrachia Harutyunyan, I would not
be happy. Let’s not make any comment based on a report of a journalist
or reportage. The question is not in “yan” or “oghli”.

The question is the man. Russia showed that it does not care for any
human being, and Russian civilization is not a human the civilization,
it is a civilization of oil and gas”,- told Norayr Shabazyan in
the conversation with us. It is known that an Armenia attorney is
assigned to the case of Hrachya Harutyunyan. “As a man I do not know,
I can not give real comment on that, is it possible for Russia to
avoid liability. Our task is to do everything that the investigation
and judicial process be fair and Hrachya Harutyunyan’s dignity is
not offended. But it is a fact that a public noise is raised in
Armenia, and only after then the Embassy representatives visited
Harutyunyan.” Even before Hrachya Harutyunyan’s case many people
have noticed that Russia, with its attitude, is implementing changes
that were not agreed with us: gas price increase, selling weapons to
Azerbaijan and so on, and Armenia should review the terms of deployment
of the Russian military bases. Shabazyan recommends first to define
our place, accurately present the past and the history. “For example,
in 1603, when the world’s population was not one billion, the Persians
displaced 300 thousand Armenians from Armenia. Enormous number. There
were many victims. The demography of the territory was changed,
an empty space emerged, some nomadic came and inhabited. 300 years
later, 300 people would become millions. If the year 1603 were not,
would the year 1915 be? Who could have slaughtered? Or, yesterday,
“blessed is that time….,” damned is today… Russia’s attitude
towards us today and yesterday remained unchanged. Tomorrow, it will
be the same if we are not changed if we do not make them respect us.

” And the fact that the war veteran does not participate in actions
with a claim to solve the social problems of participants of the war,
Norayr Shabazyan said,- “We have fallen into a vicious circle and
stalled in one place. The solution of issues is not like that. To the
question of “What is corruption”, there are so many answers. Yet there
is a simple truth: corruption is the lack of economic management. The
economy is managed, but not in within the law and by the laws. We have
no problem with freedom fighters; we have a systemic problem. Once
they were saying: it’s time to face the villager. I am asking,
what was your pose before that. You do not respect your citizen,
you are not fair to your villager, and there is no proper treatment,
how can you demand such attitude from others.

Armenia will soon become the branch of “Gazprom”. Why did we appear
to this day? I always remember “The Little Prince”; who is to blame,
the person who gives stupid commands, or the executor. The person
who gives commands is one, the executors – hundreds. This speaks
about our quality. We are destroying our country and blame others? I
do not participate in the actions, because fighting must be for the
sake of, and not against. Should the knife reach the bone to love each
other? Should they humiliate and degrade to begin respecting?” Nelly
GRIGORYAN “Aravot” daily

Read more at:

SYRIAN ARMENIAN RELIEF FUND CALLS FOR CONTINUED SUPPORT

[ Part 2.2: “Attached Text” ]

Wednesday, July 24th, 2013

The HyeAID and HyeAID2 concerts raised money for SARF

GLENDALE-The Syrian Armenian Relief Fund on Wednesday issued an
announcement thanking the community for its generosity and calling
for continued support. Below is the announcement.

The Syrian Armenian Relief Fund (SARF) Executive Committee sincerely
thanks the generous public for closely following the ongoing calls
for humanitarian assistance in Syria. All of us are cognizant of our
moral obligation to sustain the Armenian communities in Syria.

We are thankful that you provided your financial support and joined
thousands by attending the dance concert, HyeAID2, held on June 9,
2013, which was a showcase of high artistry and provided much delight
to the audience.

The Executive Committee successfully worked with countless volunteers
backstage, numerous entities in the print and TV media, as well as
sponsors who pulled in small and large donations, to bring HyeAID and
HyeAID2 concerts to the stage. Your assistance in all aspects of our
efforts to continue the momentum for assistance was invaluable.

Unfortunately, a just solution and peace has not returned to Syria
yet, and fear and horror, together with the lack of essential foods
and supplies, continue to plague the population. Every penny counts.

With our continued awareness and assistance, each of us can do our
part for the survival of our sisters and brothers in Syria. They
need our help to keep the faith and continue to hope to persist as
individuals, as families and as communities.

This is a call for your help. Please lend a hand and join us for a
worthy cause, as a moral obligation to do your part day after day,
and send your tax-deductable contribution to

SARF: SYRIAN ARMENIAN RELIEF FUND P.O. BOX 1948, GLENDALE, CA
91209-1948

We are proud to rely on your sense of duty and generosity.

We hope that peace will soon reach the Armenian community in Syria.

Executive Committee Syrian Armenian Relief Fund

FROM ATTEMPTING SUICIDE TO SELLING A KIDNEY
Ararat Davtyan

15:35, July 24, 2013
Armen is 46 year-old. As a child, he damaged his right eye and it had
to be removed.

Last year, he sold his right kidney.

“I sold it to Vrezh Parvanyan, a friend of MP Vrezh Markosyan. I had
spent two months in Germany, at the home of the MP’s sister, Dunya
Markosyan. She too was making promises. She said that her son-in-law
in Moscow would help out and sell the house and all. He even spoke
via Skype, saying that there wasn’t any problem,” Armen recounts and
stresses that after he gave his kidney, all these generous promises
went up in smoke.

Republican Party MP Vrezh Markosyan, who owns the Tigran Metz printing
house, verified to Hetq that Dunya is his sister and that she lives
in Germany. As to who was her guest recently, he said he didn’t know.

“I don’t want you to upset my sister. She’s now gone to Moscow. Why
should I help you to contact her? What connection does my sister have
to this? It’s impossible that my sister made promises. Did that man
do this for free?”

He says that they haven’t paid $10,000, a part of the amount.

He’s lying.

Did they pay the entire amount?

I don’t know. But I do know that nothing of the sort happened. It’s
impossible.

MP Markosyan adds that Vrezh Parvanyan is the grandson of his mother’s
uncle’s son. “I know that he has a kidney problem and is undergoing
dialysis. I heard that they were going to give him a transplant. I
don’t know if he had the operation or not. I’ve heard nothing about
the sale of the kidney.”

Armen is a citizen of Russia and lived there from 1985 to 2002.

Returning to Armenia, he engaged in agriculture in his native village.

He has three children, two of which are now adults.

“We built a house in Kazan, but my mother took it,” says Natasha,
Armen’s Russian wife. “A big problem due to my mother. My husband went
to Germany for our medical bills, so that the kids would be alright,
and to solve the house issue. He took copies of the house documents.

He said they had promised to help to sell the house.”

Armen adds that the value of the house is $400,000 – $500,000. Two
years ago he left for Kazan and went to the prosecutor’s office,
but they advised him to take the matter to the courts.

“There were problems of hiring an attorney, receiving the documents and
registering. All these costs totalled $7,000. My wife and child have
health problems. At first they diagnosed my daughter with something
terrible, but later he found out it was a mistake. Her condition
isn’t bad, Armen continues. “I arrived in Moscow from Kazan looking
for work. I started going around the hospitals asking about the
kidney thing, about selling it. A few days later I found the right
channels but I needed someone familiar. I was already in a nervous
state. I’d phone the house. There was nothing to eat and there was
my daughter’s condition. I went to throw myself off a bridge but was
stopped by the police. They took me to the psychiatric ward. I stayed
there one week and then spoke to my wife. I convinced them to let me
go and went home.”

Sometime later, Armen again thought about selling his kidney. He says
he’s all thumbs regarding the internet and simply entered an internet
cafe in Yerevan, gave a girl 1,000 Dram and told her to circulate
an advert that he was selling his kidney. However, it turns out that
the potential buyers responded to the advert he affixed to the wall
of the Arabkir Medical Center.

“There were many callers, some from Moscow. Edgar Parvanyan, from
Abaran, called and we met for the first time near the Arabkir Medical
Center. Afterwards I negotiated everything with his brother Haykaz
Parvanyan,” recounts Armen. “Their father Vrezh Parvanyan was in
need of a kidney. At first, I demanded $35,000. They said they didn’t
have that kind of money and proposed that we would be brothers till
the end and that they would always help out with money. I told them
about the Kazan house and they said they would help out.”

Armen says they took him to some medical center for analysis and that
the results were sent to Germany. “But things got delayed for two
months. I told Haykaz that there were people calling from Moscow
offering $40,000 to $50,000. He responded that they would trick
me there and even kill me. They told me that they would pay less,
$28,000 to $30,000, but I would have any problems. He was dropping
names like MP Vrezh Markosyan, the boxer Artur Abrahamyan. I was taken
in by them due to my naivete. A call then came from Germany that the
results were good.”

Armen got a Hengan visa from the German Embassy in Yerevan in April,
2012. It was good until July 17. Armen says that the hospital in
Germany sent papers about the condition of Vrezh Parvanyan to the
embassy. “Naturally, they couldn’t mention the sale of the kidney.

They wrote that I was gifting my kidney to a friend. They asked
about my expenses and subsequent treatment, and I told them that
the Parvanyans would take care of it all. They never asked how I was
related to them. I got the visa and went.”

According to the Charite Camous Mitte Nephrology Medical Center,
Armen was admitted on June 25, 2012, and was discharged on July 3. His
right kidney was removed on June 27.

His wife Natasha says she only knew about the reason why Armen was
going to Germany a month before he left. She says the family tried
to dissuade Armen from going through with the operation.

Armen’s sister Hasmik says that the doctors didn’t want to perform
the surgery. “As I understand it, when they arrived in Germany they
forced him into it. Armen had called saying that the operation might
not go through because his eye might be damaged due to the kidney.” One
month before, she had taken her brother to the S.V. Malyan Eye Center,
where he was diagnosed with a developing cataract. The doctors there
said surgery costing 327,000 Dram was called for.

Armen says that before leaving Haykaz paid him $2,000 and that hours
before the operation transferred $13,000 to his son. . Vrezh Parvanyan
handed him 3,000 Euros in Germany to buy a gold locating machine.

“I was met by Jiro, our boxers’ manager. At first, we had agreed that
he was to take me to Munich to buy that machine for 5,000 Euro. Later,
they gave me less money and ordered some inferior machine over the
internet,” says Armen. He doesn’t know Jiro’s last name and says that
the man acted as his interpreter. (The manager of the boxer Davit
Graf, who lives in Germany, is one Jirayr Basmajian). Hetq has tried,
unsuccessfully, to reach him for clarification.

“We had also agreed that after returning home they were to pay me
$10,000 so that in six months I could go back to Germany to get a
check-up and treatment. At first, Haykaz told me to come back in six
months. Then he started dragging his feet and told me to wait until
they saw how their father was doing. I told them I need to get back to
Germany and that my creatinine levels were high. Haykaz then told me
they couldn’t pay anymore and that I should pay for my own treatment.

In response, I told him, ‘he’s your father. Why didn’t you give him
your kidney? The man’s been on dialysis for seven years'”.

Armen says the German clinic was openly engaged in the kidney trade.

“There were Russians and Turks there. They were talking in Russian
that the Turks were willing to pay 80,000 Euros for a kidney.”

Haykaz Parvanyan told Hetq that if we wanted to write “lies”, he had
nothing to say to us. When we wanted more specifics about what was
a lie, he got taken aback and said – “If you want to have dealings
with law enforcement and the law in general, then please go ahead
and try your fate.”

Armen has written to the Prosecutor General’s Office. A week ago he
got a response advising him to take Haykaz Parvanyan to civil court
over their disagreement about the medical expenses.

Hetq has spoken to several lawyers on the matter.

Attorney Hovik Arsenyan notes that it is based on such cases that
people ask him about Article One of the RA Constitution – where is
that legal state? “I am really pained. I can’t imagine that the
prosecutor’s office could give such an answer.” He says that law
enforcement should be taking immediate steps and that the first should
be a forensic examination.

Based on Armen’s statements, Hovik Arsenyan describes what took place
as trafficking. Armen has never heard the word and says that a crime
has taken place since they deceived him and has suffered in terms of
his health.

The German Embassy has yet to respond to Hetq’s inquiry. Sona Trouzyan,
advisor to the RA Prosecutor General, reports that her office has
reviewed Armen’s petition and has instructed the police to start
gathering relevant material.

P.S. The names of Armen, Natasha and Hasmik have been changed.