Author: Kalantarian Kevo

ARMENIA TO HOST BUSINESSGAME, WINNER TO GET AMD 100 000

March 27, 2013 – 20:44 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – For the first time Armenia will host Businessgame
innovative-intellectual game. Students enrolled in marketing,
advertisement, business, PR and similar departments are eligible for
the game.

The game will kick off on April 6, with the main round due on April
13. Those remarkable for their active participation will receive
certificates and diplomas. The winner will receive AMD 100.000, the
second and third place holders to receive AMD 50.000 and AMD 25.000
respectively. The final round has been scheduled for April 14. The
game has been organised by Armenian Youth Foundation and “Armenian
Marketing Club” NGO.

FOOTBALL FEDERATION CHIEF DECLINES ARMENIA COACH’S RESIGNATION

March 28, 2013 – 18:20 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The coach of Armenian national team Vardan Minasyan
sent in his resignation following a 0:3 loss of the squad in a 2014
World Cup qualifier against Czechs.

The head of the Football Federation of Armenia Ruben Hayrapetyan,
however, refused to accept his resignation, FFA website reported.

FFA Executive Committee will discuss Minasyan’s application on Friday,
March 29.

Armenia suffered 3 losses in the World Cup qualifiers to land in the
bottom of group B.

HUNGER-STRIKING OPPOSITIONIST REGRETS ‘DISTORTION’ IN PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESMAN’S STATEMENT

VOTE 2013 | 28.03.13 | 10:46

Former presidential candidate Raffi Hovannisian, who has been on a
hunger strike in Yerevan’s Liberty Square since March 10 protesting
the outcome of last month’s elections, has declined to comment on a
presidential spokesman’s statement regarding the ongoing efforts to
set up a political dialogue.

In his comments made available to the media on Wednesday Armen
Arzumanyan, in particular, said that President Serzh Sargsyan could not
meet Hovannisian’s request for a meeting in the square since it would
be against protocol under which such meetings are planned in advance
and are to be held at the presidential compound. He stressed, however,
that the current head of state still considered his proposals made to
Hovannisian about ending his hunger strike and engaging in talks valid.

At the same time, the spokesman warned that the “language of ungrounded
ultimatums being made from the square is reducing the relevance of
these proposals by the hour.”

Asked about his reaction to this message from the presidential
administration later that day, Hovannisian again stressed that he
did not comment statements made by spokespersons.

At the same time he described Arzumanyan’s statement as “another
distortion that we feel sorry about.”

“Our proposal remains in force as well,” Hovannisian told reporters.

The opposition leader sent a letter to President Sargsyan listing a
number of conditions on which he was ready to recognize his ‘de-facto
presidency’. In particular, he demanded early parliamentary elections,
a drastic electoral reform and a number of key positions in the
future government.

In his letter addressed to Hovannisian on Monday Sargsyan agreed, in
principle, to start a dialogue around these demands, which, though, he
said contradicted the ideas of state governance and the Constitution.

But he first urged his challenger to end his hunger strike.

In reply, Hovannisian insisted that his hunger strike was no obstacle
to talks and said he would end his protest at the time of his own
choosing.

BANAL SUBSTITUTION OF INTERESTS

Igor Muradyan
11:23 28/03/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:

It is well-known that the Armenian “intellectuals” traditionally have
a doctrine-based attitude to such a category as “national interests”.

In other words, interests of some pseudo-elite groups or individuals
are perceived as “national interests”.

Without going deep into the remote past, one can see that the Karabakh
movement was an evident demonstration of this substitution which
led to misery of the greater part of the population. In addition,
the representatives of “national interests” were not only political
leaders but a number of “titans of intellect” and all kinds of
authorities with different levels of influence.

As the Russian-Armenian relations are getting worse, and a
Europe-Eurasia dispute is imposed artificially, it becomes known that
the political problem that has emerged is in line with the interests
of an entire cohort of authors and henchmen of different political
groups. In Armenia the ethnic, cultural and social conditions have
resulted in a group of authors who have understood that they will have
no place in the Western community where they will never be paid for
their services. They cannot imagine how they can crawl up the narrow
“corridors” of Western political initiatives. Russia is different. It
is used to the services of simple, and even plain and simple people
with a mentality of total obedience.

Some natives of Yerevan who do not pretend to any arena but have
materials on the history of the urban community could state in detail
the genetic causes of this motivation, considering that the source
of this ugly conformism is in the recent past of these families with
a KGP background and present.

The classic representative of this mentality is Noravank Fund of Public
Education the curator of which is Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan,
as well as the ruling Republican Party. Apart from this indecent
game the actors are popular clowns who seat at the National Assembly
with a clever expression of the face. At the same time, one needs to
understand that this game will not last long. The Western community
has sacrificed a lot and will demand a “fair” play which supposes a
large-scale cleansing of human resources.

It is clear that President Serzh Sargsyan understands it is impossible
to continue to carry on this foreign policy with the present team. It
has not been understood what Vigen Sargsyan is doing at the president’s
administration and what Arthur Baghdasaryan is doing at the National
Security Council. It would be good not to lose precious time to replace
the head of the National Security Service. The military command is
more or less adequate but the army still has problems.

The hangout political class is facing fiasco due to Russia’s provincial
style, which favors us.

Russia is ready to change its style of interaction with Armenia but it
has been unable to find new partners in Armenia. There is none. These
hangout officials prefer pseudo-buddy-buddy relations which lead our
country to subjection and mortal state.

The political leadership of Armenia must understand the decision on
mass redundancy of this company which is called a political class for
whatever reason. In addition, the first thing to be done is to propose
to the actual opposition of the square posts in the cabinet which soon
will end up in disgrace and failure of the idea of alternative. There
is no alternative and there will not be. However, we will have to go
through this period.

Raffi Hovannisian’s obviously immature group could be a sponge for
cleaning of the current team, not more. Now the preamble of the new
foreign policy is in place, the move to the next stage will require a
new dialogue. The places and roles have been arranged, one can take
a breath and start human resource cleansing within the team and an
early parliamentary election could be a radical method. Nobody will
allow us into a “proper society” with such a team.

HENRIKH MKHITARYAN IS LIVERPOOL’S PRIMARY TRANSFER TARGET

March 28

England’s Liverpool has joined the list of the football clubs that
want to acquire Armenian national team and Ukraine’s FC Shakhtar
Donetsk midfielder, Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

In summer, Mkhitaryan will become the primary transfer target of the
18-time English Premier League champs, Sportbox.ru reports. Shakhtar
and Liverpool will commence the 24-year-old midfielder’s transfer
talks either in April or in May.

At present, Mkhitaryan’s transfer value is estimated to be 25-30
million euros. To note, however, English Premier League clubs,
London’s Chelsea F.C. and Manchester City, likewise are interested
in the services of the Armenian international.

NEWS.am Sport

ARMENIA 0 CZECH REPUBLIC 3

PA Newswire: Sport News
March 26, 2013 Tuesday 6:15 PM BST

Matej Vydra kept the Czech Republic in the hunt for qualification
from Group B with a well-taken brace to down Armenia in Yerevan.

The Udinese striker, on loan at Watford, won the Championship player
of the season award this week and celebrated by heading his country
ahead two minutes after half-time.

Vydra has impressed English football fans with his performances in
the second tier, where he has scored 20 goals, and his impressive
81st-minute strike was further evidence of the young Czech’s burgeoning
talent.

Substitute Daniel Kolar then scored to rubberstamp a win that moves
Michal Bilek’s men on to eight points in their bid to reach next year’s
World Cup, while Armenia remain in fifth place with three points.

Armenia’s Edgar Manucharyan tested Petr Cech with a swerving shot
before Czech defender Tomas Sivok scooped over the crossbar in the
early exchanges.

Home keeper Roman Berezovsky fumbled a Jaroslav Plasil corner to
safety before the break, but two minutes after the restart, the Czech
Republic took the lead.

When Plasil lofted the ball across the box to Vydra at the end of a
flowing move, the 20-year-old headed across a stranded Berezovsky.

And with nine minutes left to play it was Vydra who put the result
beyond doubt with a splendid solo effort as he span his marker to
smash the ball home from the edge of the area.

Armenia were beaten but there was still time for Kolar to convert
Tomas Hubschman’s left-wing cross five minutes into stoppage time.

SOCCER: ARMENIA SUFFER DEFEAT IN WORLD CUP QUALIFIER AGAINST CZECH REP.

SOCCER | 26.03.13 | 22:01

Armenia missed a few chances to score in the first half of Tuesday’s
2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier against the Czech Republic only to
concede three goals and lose the match in the second.

The final score of 0-3 only partially reflected the balance of forces
on the pitch at Yerevan’s Republican Stadium where the Armenian
defense committed three blunders in the last 45 minutes of play to
let the visitors take all three points.

The defeat leaves Armenia in fifth place in qualifying Group B that
also involves Italy, Denmark, Bulgaria and Malta.

Armenia’s next competitor is Malta in Yerevan on June 7.

HOW MUCH MONEY DOES YEREVAN MAYOR HAVE?

06:36 PM | TODAY | POLITICS

Yerevan mayor and his three deputies did not acquire new property,
be it real, personal estate or expensive property in 2012. They did
not have securities and other investments. The next common thing is
that all the representatives of the authorities gained their incomes
exclusively from their salaries. However, all their families have
had significant financial resources.

Thus, Mayor of Yerevan Taron Margaryan’s funds, according to the
property and income declaration stipulated for senior officials of
the Ethics Commission in 2012 amounted to 50 thousand euro, 50 dollars
and 115 million dram, while his wife’s money was 50 million dram.

Deputy Mayor Vano Vardanyan’s funds at the beginning and at the end
of the year amounted to U.S. $ 1 thousand to 21 million, while his
wife’s money, 30 million AMD, U.S. $ 10 thousand and 5 thousand euro.

In the case of deputy Mayor Kamo Areyan and his wife in 2012 there
was a year of expenses. K. Areyan at the beginning of the year had
500 thousand dram, at the end of the year, 450 thousand drams, and
his wife, at beginning of the year 500 thousand dram and 206 thousand
340 U.S. dollars, however at the end of the year she had 300 thousand
dram and 139 thousand 340 U.S. dollars.

“Pastinfo”

RESULTS OF SEGREGATED MEDIA

16:00 – 27.03.2013

On March 25thm at the British House of Commons, a round table took
place based on a topic: “25th anniversary of Karabakh movement: battle
for Independence and justice”, which was organized by British-Armenian
Parliamentary group of parties and the RA embassy in GB.

Conservative politician in the United Kingdom, Shadow Secretary of
State for Culture, Media and Sport, John Whittingdale was presiding
the event.

RA NA MP Vahan Hovhannisyan, NKR deputy MFA Felix Khachatryan as
well as head of Territorial research center NGO Richard Kirakosyan
made speeches, after which they had answered to the questions of
participants.

Baroness Caroline Cox, members of the House of Lords, accredited
diplomats, representatives of the Armenian community, territorial
annalists, historians and students also took part at the round table.

This is the press release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which
was posted in the ministry’s official web-site, which was distorted by
some media representatives. Especially the name of Vahan Hovhannisyan
was missing from the text.

This short press release was significant with one feature. Vahan
Hovhannisyan’s name was not mentioned at all as if he was not present
at the event, while he was the first to make a speech. Is it an
accident? Not likely, if we remember the way official media reported
the Uruguay Parliamentary delegation’s visit to NKR.

Head of the delegation was again Vahan Hovhannisyan and he was missing
from official scenes. And it was obvious that the editors made gigantic
efforts to erase his part and even made changes in the material.

AMBASSADORS’ TOUGH STATEMENT REGARDING CIVILITAS CASE

15:29 27/03/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:

The U.S. embassy is not worried about the programs implemented by the
Civilitas on the money of American taxpayers, said the U.S. ambassador
to Armenia John Heffern. He noted that the programs under investigation
by the National Security Service are also American, which have been
fulfilled duly.

John Heffern said that they cannot see any victims, no one has
complained. We are sure there is nothing to investigate either by
the NSS or any other body, Heffern said.

In answer to the question whether the case is politically motivated,
Heffern said that he cannot judge about the motives. I think this is
not a legal investigation but I can’t say what it is, said the U.S.
ambassador.

The German ambassador to Armenia Reiner Morell said that the Civilitas
introduces positive changes in terms of democracy. He noted that
Germany has also funded the Civilitas programs adding that the latter
acts in accordance with law.

Morell added that investigation should have real grounds, while he
cannot see real grounds. He says that in such cases the country’s
positive image is harmed amid political developments and ahead of the
Association Agreement. He said happy with these processes expressing
hope that they will be finalized.

Similar statements were made by the ambassador of Switzerland and the
consul of Norway. They added that their concerns are also appeals to
the Armenian authorities.

The National Security Council launched a criminal case against
Civilitas Foundation last May.