Author: Kalantarian Kevo

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
March 8 2013

`I try not to make steps which can embarrass my family’

8 March 2013 – 9:59am

Interview by Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

The tendency of woman’s political role improvement is one the
hallmarks of our time. The chairwoman of the opposition party Gnchak,
MP from the Republican Party of Armenia Margarit Yesayan tells Vestnik
Kavkaza about the role of a woman in the Armenian political life and
the internal situation.

– The post-election processes in Armenia are accompanied by protests
initiated by the former foreign minister, the leader of Heritage Raffi
Ovannisyan. Can these protests turn into a wide socio-political
movement?

– Of course after the presidential elections, a part of society is
happy with the results of the elections, another part is unhappy.
Seven candidates took part in the elections, each of them had
supporters. Ovannisyan who took the second place gained much more
votes than the opposition’s leader in 2008. 539 672 people, or 36.75%
of voters, voted for Ovannisyan. They though that their candidate
would win. However, the current president Serge Sargsyan got more than
800 thousand votes.

I hope that Raffi Ovannisyan who is gathering people on the Freedom
Square now realizes that more than a half million votes were given not
to his personality, but against the policy provided by the
authorities. 37% reflects protest voting of the citizens who are not
happy with the socio-economic situation.

A significant role in this context was played by rejection of
participation in the election by more popular politicians – leaders of
the Armenian National Congress and Prosperous Armenia Levon
Ter-Petrosyan and Gagik Tsurukyan. I’m sure in case of their
participation the 37% would be shared between other opposition
candidates.

I don’t see any logic in Ovannisyan’s steps. He doesn’t speak about
using force for power capturing, he urges to act within the law. At
the same time, nobody from representatives of Heritage in the election
committees refused to sign final protocols. That is why Ovannisyan’s
suit to the Constitutional Court is doomed.

– Are statements on necessity of new parliamentary elections argumentative?

– I don’t know anybody who would make statements on new elections
today, except for Ovannisyan and other representatives of Heritage. If
Ovannisyan is speaking about following the law, he should know that
there are no legal reasons for dissolution of the National Assembly
and conducting new parliamentary elections. In the parliamentary
elections of May 6th, 2012, Heritage gained only 5%, but today
Ovannisyan and his supporters are surprised with such a high level of
public trust. I think Ovannisyan hopes that he would maintain these
37% in case of new parliamentary elections, but it is unfair to people
whom he gathered on the square. It would be fairer that Ovannisyan
would try himself in power and take part in a difficult process of
changing the socio-economic situation.

– Do the protest attitudes mean deficit of trust to the authorities by
the society? What is the main problem of the Armenian power today?

– It doesn’t matter who would be on Ovannisyan’s place, people would
come to the streets anyway because their life is so hard. If people
live poorly, the authorities have a lot of problems. To change life
for the best, the authorities must turn face to people’s problems.
They must learn about problems of common people, rather than
oligarchs, bureaucrats, criminal elements, and officials. I think
first of all we should create new jobs, increase salary rates. Social
equality to the law should be restored. The justice system needs
serious reforms.

– What skills compose a female politician’s image?

– Politics is not a man’s monopoly. Politics and state structures
benefit from active participation of women. There 14 female MPs in the
National Assembly today. It encourages more moderate relations between
opponents, decrease of tension during discussion of bills, women
create a calmer and more positive atmosphere. A female politician has
to be smart, cunning in a good sense, literate, having a delicate
moral system of values which would be strong. A female politician
should see a lot, but not to be a person of many words.

– In Armenia people continue to think politics is a man’s business.
Who among your colleagues fill confident in this sphere?

– Unfortunately, today not all women feel confident in politics. Some
of them lack experience, others – political informativeness.

– Do family and politics suit well?

– I have been working as a journalist for 30 years, and this job takes
a lot of time as well. Nothing has changed for me in the sphere of my
household responsibilities now. But when I was a journalist I was free
in my speeches and contacts. Now I experience certain restrictions.
Sometimes my speeches and interview in the mass media are interpreted
ambiguously by some political forces, and I am attacked. II have three
children, and they suffer from attacks at me. I feel responsibility
for my family and try to provide a balanced and independent position
and avoid steps which could embarrass my family.

Assyrian International News Agency AINA
March 8 2013

Armenian Genocide to Be Possibly Included in Australian School Curriculum

YEREVAN — Australia has launched a campaign in order to include the
topic of Genocide committed against Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians in
times of Ottoman Empire in the Australian school curriculum. The
campaign follows the decision of the country’s education council,
according to which from 2014 Holocaust will be included in 10th
grade’s educational programs, Armenpress reports referring to
dunyabulteni.net.

It has been also noted that calls of Armenian, Greek and Assyrian
organization in Austria have caused the Turkish reaction.

Turkish organizations, which are against the campaign, have published
statement in the internet, noting that some circles want to present
“controversial historical events” as Genocide.

Franco-German week kicks off in Armenia

NEWS.AM
March 08, 2013 | 16:59

YEREVAN.- The embassies of France and Germany in Yerevan are
organizing Franco-German week on the occasion of the 50th anniversary
of post-war reconciliation between France and Germany and signing of
Elysee Treaty.

The events will kick off in the building of the Yerevan State
University on March 11. On the same day French and German Ambassadors
will hold a press conference.

A series of events, including film screening, discussions, and a
concert during which French and German composers’ works will be
preformed, will be organized.

`All the Light There Was’ (Chapter I)
by Nancy Kricorian

March 8, 2013

The Armenian Weekly features Chapter I of Nancy Kricorian’s latest
novel, All the Light There Was. The novel will be released on March
12, 2013. All the Light There Was is the story of an Armenian’s
family’s struggle to survive the Nazi occupation of Paris in the
1940s. To pre-order, click here.

All the Light There Was is the story of an Armenian’s family’s
struggle to survive the Nazi occupation of Paris in the 1940s.
By the time my brother and I arrived at Donabedian’s Market, our
mother was waiting on the sidewalk outside the shop, having
commandeered the grocer’s wooden handcart, which was loaded with
gunnysacks of bulgur, net bags of onions, liter tins of olive oil,
along with miscellaneous brown paper parcels tied up with red string.

>From behind the plate glass window, Baron Donabedian waved to us as he
and his assistant were busily ringing ups sales. Half the
neighborhood’s housewives had joined the effort to empty his shelves.

`Missak,’ my mother said, `you and your sister take this cart home. I
have more errands to run. Maral, help your brother carry everything up
the stairs.’

My brother asked, `What’s all this?’

My mother said, `Food.’

`Right,’ he answered. `Are we starting a restaurant?’

`Don’t be smart,’ she said as she tugged at the sacks on the bottom,
checking that the pyramid of goods was securely settled on the cart.

`How did you pay?’ I asked.

She shrugged. `The money in the cracker tin.’

My brother and I exchanged glances.

As long as I could remember, at the end of each week my mother had
climbed the step stool in our tiny kitchen to put coins and small
bills into the gold and red cracker tin on the top shelf of the
cupboard. She was saving to buy an electric sewing machine that would
replace the ancient and venerable Singer pedal machine she used to do
piecework as a vest maker. She had a newspaper advertisement showing
the different electric models, one mounted on extravagant marble, one
with an elegant sewing table, and the one she had set her heart on,
which was a simple black model on wood that came in a leather-covered
carrying case. She coveted the small electric light affixed to the
body of the machine.

My mother said briskly, `After you take everything upstairs, Missak,
you return the cart to Donabedian as soon as possible. Maral, put the
spices in the jars, and the sugar on the top shelf. The rest goes
wherever you and Auntie Shakeh find space.’

That was how our war began. It didn’t start with blaring newspaper
headlines announcing a pending invasion, nor was it signaled by the
terrifying drone of warplanes overhead. Our war commenced that
afternoon when my mother stockpiled groceries so that, no matter what
the war might bring, her family would have something to eat.

***

As the trickle of people fleeing Paris turned into a torrent, my
father decided we would remain in our apartment in Belleville, an
eastern district that at the time still retained some of its character
as an outlying village. Schools across the city were closed and at the
order of the authorities, children were being bused out of town to
safety. Many stores were shuttered, and their owners loaded cars and
streamed towards the peripheral exits. My father wagered, however,
that staying where we had a roof over our heads and where he could
keep an eye on his cobbler’s shop was safer than wandering across the
countryside to God knows where. As he said, `We’re staying put. The
last exodus we saw led straight to hell.’

That afternoon Missak and I pushed the handcart up the hill on the
sidewalk past our neighbors – French from the Auvergne and other rural
provinces, along with Armenians, Greeks, and Eastern European Jews who
had flocked to France for its promised liberties, and all of them
looking for employment in Belleville’s factories, shoemaking ateliers,
and tailoring workshops. We wended our way though half a dozen
languages as street vendors and their customers engaged in commerce at
the end of the workday. As the war moved ever closer, most of the
residents of Belleville chose not to join the mass flight from the
city.

My brother and I made a number of trips up the five flights to our
apartment, where we deposited the provisions at my Auntie Shakeh’s
feet. She stood in our front hall anxiously wringing her hands. While
Missak went to return the hand truck, I climbed on the stool to put
the sugar on the top shelf, as my mother had instructed. Next my aunt
and I dragged the sacks of bulgur from the front hall to the bedroom
that we shared. With much effort, we wedged two of them under my bed
and the other two under hers.

`That’s a lot of bulgur.’ My aunt wiped perspiration from her face
with a hankie.

`Enough to last until we won’t be able to stand the sight of it on our
plates,’ I said.

`Don’t talk like that, Maral. We will be grateful for every bit.’ My
aunt’s tone was uncharacteristically severe.

Missak stumbled back in, panting under the weight of more packages,
having made his final trip up the five flights of stairs with my
mother at his heels. My father arrived just behind her.

`Do you feel better now?’ my father asked my mother.

She nodded. `I found some more rice, and I bought machine needles,
hand needles, and three dozen spools of thread. But I know there’s
something I’ve forgotten.’

`The animals,’ my brother said.

`What animals?’ my mother asked.

`You know, the pairs of animals two by two,’ Missak answered.

My mother waved him away with a toss of her hand. `Talk to me in two
months, Mr. Wiseguy.’

That night my mattress, which usually dipped slightly in the middle,
hit up against the hard bulk under my bed. I turned from side to side,
trying to find a position that felt less as though I were lying on top
of a boulder. I slept fitfully, waking a number of times in the night
worrying about the sacks of bulgur that seemed in the dark as sinister
as carcasses. Sometime towards morning I dreamed that I was standing
over a cooking pot someone had left on the stove in the kitchen. I
watched a bubbling lamb and tomato stew that rose and rose until, to
my horror, it overflowed the pot and like scalding lava spread over
the kitchen floor.

***

Ten days later when the Germans marched down the Rue de Belleville,
Missak and I watched through the slats of the closed blinds of the
Kacherians’ apartment, on the third floor of a building two blocks
>From ours. Missak; his best friend Zaven; Zaven’s brother Barkev; and
I were crowded around one window, while Mr. and Mrs. Kacherian with
ten-year-old Virginie between them were at the other.

As the first tank rolled down the hill, none of us breathed. The tanks
were followed by armored trucks and behind the trucks came tall German
soldiers in black uniforms, their boot heels hammering the
cobblestones in cadence. When Zaven leaned toward the window for a
better view, his shoulder pressed against mine. I had never been so
near to him before. I glanced at him sideways, so close that I could
see the beads of perspiration on his temple. I stayed perfectly still,
prolonging the contact between us, and wondering if he felt what I
did. When I noticed that his older brother Barkev was staring at me, I
was ashamed. I quickly turned to peer through the slats at the columns
of troops.

Suddenly Virginie exclaimed, `How handsome they are!’

Her father, who never raised a hand to his children, unthinkingly
slapped her face. `Handsome? They are the Angels of Death.’

***

At dinner that evening, my mother said, `You two have no consideration
for anyone else. How do you think we felt when we realized you were
gone?’

My brother said, `We only went two blocks to the Kacherians.’

`Only two blocks? You could go two steps at a time like this and have
disaster fall on you,’ my mother said. `I know you think you are a
grown man because you have a few wisps to shave, but let me remind you
that you are sixteen years old, and your sister is even younger.’

My brother rolled his eyes.

`And it’s done?’ Auntie Shakeh asked.

`Not a shot fired,’ my father answered. `Paris is an open city. I
couldn’t see the Germans from the shop, but I heard the boots. That’s
a sound you will never forget.’

And the sound of those boots reverberated in my head for months and
then for years, and sometimes even still. This is the story of how we
lived the war, and how I found my husband.

Aras Ozbilis scores during Russian club’s away win (VIDEO)

March 8

FC Kuban of Krasnodar defeated home team FC Volga Nizhny Novgorod, by
a score of 2-0, during Friday’s Russian Premier League football match.

Armenian national team and Kuban midfielder Aras Ozbilis scored his
club’s first goal in the 20th minute, as he struck the ball into the
Volga net with a beautiful assist from his teammate, Armenian national
squad and Kuban midfielder, Marcos Pizzelli.

Separately, Armenian national team and Volga forward Arthur Sarkisov
played the entire game for his club, Ozbilis played without being
substituted, and Pizzelli played for 76 minutes.

At present, FC Kuban of Krasnodar is fourth, whereas FC Volga Nizhny
Novgorod is thirteenth in the current season of the Russian Premier
League.

NEWS.am Sport

Will Opposition Forces Jointly Participate in the Yerevan City Council
Election?

March 7 2013

Applying to 4 political forces – the Armenian National Congress (ANC),
the Heritage Party, the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), and the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) – Levon Zurabyan, the ANC
coordinator, made an offer yesterday to jointly participate in the
Yerevan City Council election. has found out during a
conversation with the representatives of the above-mentioned parties
in what format they will participate in the city council election and
whether they are ready to accept the ANC offer. Ruben Hakobyan, the
Heritage Party parliamentary group leader, stated during a
conversation with us that they welcomed that offer and went into
detail: `If we unite, our movement will become stronger. We welcome
the idea to jointly participate in the city council election. We,
Raffi Hovhannisyan personally, have said that many times. Therefore, I
think that all constructive forces think that joining forces is a must
at this point.’ In response to our question whether negotiations on
this issue were in progress, Mr. Hakobyan said: `A negotiating process
is currently under way, and it progresses quite effectively. It aims
at rallying everyone around the movement.’ Naira Zohrabyan, the
secretary of the PAP parliamentary group, informed that the format of
participation in the Yerevan City Council election had not been
discussed in the PAP yet and added: `Let me not express my personal
opinion on this, since it is such an issue that a personal opinion is
not decisive. We will discuss the format of our participation in the
Yerevan City Council election in the party’s political council and
will make public our position. It will probably happen on March
11-12.’ Armen Hambardzumyan, the alternate representative of the ARF
Supreme Body, informed: `We haven’t made a decision yet. The
discussions are under way, and I think the offer will also be
discussed in that context. However, I cannot tell when we will make
the final decision.’ The ARF hasn’t discussed that issue with the ANC
yet. In response to our question whether he deemed negotiations with
the ANC probable, A. Hambardzumyan said: `We have our approaches and
views; if we deem them adequate to those, I don’t rule them out.
However, we don’t have any clear position on that issue yet, also
given the fact that the statement on behalf of the ANC initiative
group was made as late as yesterday evening.’ Lyudmila Sargsyan, a
member of the ANC parliamentary group, stated: `If there is a
possibility of broad consolidation of opposition forces, the issue of
participation in the city council election will be discussed. That is
the parliamentary group’s opinion. However, nothing is clear yet. If
it is possible to participate with a common list of the whole
opposition camp, then there is an opinion that it is worth
participating.’ There are opinions that the ANC made such an offer,
realizing that this election would be risky for it. In response to
this observation, Ms. Sargsyan said: `It is not so. We realize quite
well that the most important elections for our country are
presidential elections, during which the people are unprecedentedly
active. However, we realized that there was no possibility in the
country these days for the opposition to actually win. The opposition
has always defeated the government in presidential elections. As for
the city council election, it will also be an event, at which the
Republican Party will once again score a victory. It is my personal
opinion; there are also other opinions, according to which
participation is possible in case of broad consolidation. As for the
ANC, I don’t think there is any other powerful force in the opposition
camp, except for the ANC.’ Tatev HARUTYUNYAN

Read more at:

© 1998 – 2013 Aravot – News from Armenia

4 Plus Documentary Photography Center is announcing a competition for
exhibitions of works by female photographers who live in Armenia

13:11, March 8, 2013

The works selected in the competition will be presented in solo and
group exhibitions and in a catalog. The group exhibition will take
place at the Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art
(ACCEA), in July 2013. The solo exhibits will take place in the period
>From August-December 2013.

The selection and exhibition of the works will be done by invited
international curators. The group exhibition will be curated by
Svetlana Bachevanova – photojournalist, curator, founder and publisher
of Fotoevidence (fotoevidence.com).

In order to take part in the competition, please send the following
information and work to [email protected]:

– Name, last name

– Phone number

– Biography, max 200 words, include information about your solo
exhibitions experience.

– Documentary photographic project/photo story (1 or 2 stories),
maximum of 20 photos total, at least 1024 pixels on the longer side,
72 dpi compression. Multimedia works are also accepted.

– Description of your project/photo story, max 200 words, and captions
for each individual photo.

Please send your application in English. The deadline for applications
is March 18, 2013. Applications sent after the deadline or those that
are incomplete, will not be accepted.

4 Plus is an initiative by photojournalists and documentary
photographers, whose aim is to develop photojournalism and documentary
photography in Armenia, as well as to raise awareness of issues within
this field and the importance of photography in media.

The exhibition is made possible through the financial support of the
Open Society Foundations – Armenia Arts and Culture Network Program.
For additional information, please write to [email protected].

4 Plus Documentary
Photography Center

EU reiterates its support to Minsk Group efforts

14:02 08.03.2013

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received EU Special
Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia
Philippe Lefort.

The interlocutors discussed the results of the non-official summit of
the Eastern Partnership member states in Tbilisi, as well as the
preparations for the summit in Vilnius.

The interlocutors referred to the process of settlement of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict. The EU Special representative reiterated the
support of the European Union to the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group
Co-Chairs and the confidence-building measures between the parties.

ARMENIE
Felix Tsolakian nommé gouverneur de la province de Shirak

Le gouvernement arménien a approuvé jeudi 7 mars la candidature de
Felix Tsolakian au poste de gouverneur de la province de Shirak, au
nord-ouest de l’Arménie. Le poste était vacant depuis la démission de
l’ancien gouverneur, Ashot Gizirian, le 22 février, approuvée le 28
par le gouvernement. Felix Tsolakyan, gé de 61 ans, occupait à ce
jour la fonction de directeur adjoint du Service de sécurité nationale
d’Arménie. De 2003 à 2007, il a dirigé le Service des Taxes de la
République arménienne. M.Tsolakyan est lui-même originaire du Shirak.
vendredi 8 mars 2013,
Gari ©armenews.com

3 KIDS TO UNDERGO TREATMENT ABROAD DUE TO CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY INITIATIVE OF AMERIABANK

ARMINFO
Wednesday, March 6, 18:16

Ameriabank has summed up the results of the Corporate Social
Responsibility initiative under the slogan “Pay by Card and Help
Children!” held from Nov 1 2012 to 31 Jan 2013. The press service of
the Bank told ArmInfo that the 5.067 mln AMD raised within the frames
of the campaign has been handed to serious patients Nelly Petrosyan,
Gor Ghazaryan and Souren Poghosyan, who will go abroad to undergo
the relevant surgery.

To recall, all the cardholders of the Bank could take part in the
campaign by making noncash payments at any point of the world at any
trade outlet, as well as the cardholders of other banks, who made
payments at the trade outlets via the POS terminals of Ameriabank.

Ameriabank transferred 1 AMD from each 1000 AMD noncash payment to
the treatment of children.

Ameriabank has kept its promise and awarded 5 active cardholders
with iPhone 5 for their active participation in the campaign. The
Bank expresses its gratitude to all those who made a contribution to
this important initiative.