Author: Kalantarian Kevo

Kajaran governor back to ruling party to endorse president

tert.am
19:51 – 27.01.13

The governor of Kajaran (Syunik region) has resumed his membership in
the ruling Republican Party of Armenia after around a year’s interval
to endorse Serzh Sargsyan in the upcoming presidential polls.

Together with his community members, Rafik Atayan extends support to
the incumbent president who banned the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum
plant from exploiting the village’s lands for mining purposes.

`Yes, I had withdrawn from the party, but they said no one is going to
harm the village, so I am back. It isn’t as though the president had
said `I stand behind your backs as a mountain’, so we stand by him. I
have always pinned great hopes on my president,’ the governor told
Tert.am.

The president’s earlier decision to hand over the Kajaran lands to the
Copper Molybdenum Plant had sparked a wide discontent in the village.
Yielding to the protests, Sargsyan later issued a decree for not
implanting the decision.

Atayan, who recently attended Sargsyan’s campaign meeting in Kajaran
said his village has no other expectations from the president.

He denied the subsequent media reports that the Kajaran residents
asked the president to develop mining industries in the village.

The Kajaran governor said their population is unlikely to draw
benefits from mining. `We’d better breed our cattle,’ he explained.

Commenting on the reports that Syunik Governor Surik Khachatryan has
signed a bilateral economic cooperation agreement with his counterpart
of Iran’s East Azserbaijan province (over the rent of a pasture for
5,000 cows in return for Iran’s Iran’s agricultural equipment and
fertilizers), Atayan said he isn’t aware of such a deal and ruled out
the possibility of such a practice in his village.

First week of presidential campaign in Armenia was `fun’ – Dashnaktsutyun

news.am
January 27, 2013 | 19:19

YEREVAN. – ARF Dashnaktsutyun that has not nominated a candidate for
the presidential elections in Armenia, a few days before the
elections, scheduled for February 18, will make a special appeal to
their supporters, an ARF member Arsen Hambardzumyan informed Armenian
News-NEWS.am.

He noted that now intraparty debates are in progress and approaches
are discussed.

`At the moment, our approach is the following: we will turn to our
supporters to actively participate in the elections, regardless of the
fact that we do not participate in them, as we appreciate the
importance of the electoral institution, and have no right to
discriminate against it. We once again ask our supporters to vote
based on the call of conscience. Exclude the incumbent president, but
if there is no candidate checked, the ballot will be found invalid,
because our legislation removes the option `against all’,’ Arsen
Hambardzumyan said.

He also noted that the issue of support for a candidate is not a goal in itself.

The first week of the campaign Arsen Hambardzumyan described in one
word `it was fun.’ None of the candidates’ campaigns has impressed the
party.

Samatya residents protest attacks on Armenians
All the speakers condemned the police department and accused it of
covering up the reality behind the attacks.

27 January 2013 Sunday

World Bulletin / News Desk

Residents, civil society groups and political party representatives
gathered in the central square of Ä°stanbul’s Samatya neighborhood on
Sunday to protest a number of attacks committed against elderly
Armenian women in their homes over the past few months, one of which
resulted in a death, with police failing to capture the assailants.
`Don’t touch my neighbor’ and `I will not let you hurt my brothers and
sisters’ read some of the signs held by the protesters. Dozens joined
the rally, including Mersin independent deputy ErtuÄ?rul Kürkçü and
Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Ä°stanbul deputy Sebahat Tuncel. She
attended in her capacity as a representative of the Peoples’
Democratic Congress (HDK), a Kurdish civil society organization that
also organized Sunday’s rally.
The crowd also lay carnations in front of the apartment building of
one of the victims, presumably that of Maritsa Küçük, who was brutally
murdered in her apartment.
All the speakers condemned the police department and accused it of
covering up the reality behind the attacks.
Five women were attacked in the past two months. Police say there is
no ethnic targeting, claiming that only three of the women attacked
were Armenian. But civil society groups insist that the events were no
ordinary cases of robbery, as nothing valuable was taken from the
houses of the attacked women. There were also claims that the attacks
could have been perpetrated by construction mafia seeking to prevent
elderly homeowners from holding up new constructions in the region.
However, the message in Sunday’s march was clear, with most protesters
saying they did not buy the police’s interpretation of the events.
On Saturday, a group of 30 members of the Freedom and Democracy Party
(Ã-DP) protested the attacks in front of the KocamustafapaÅ?a Train
Station. Ã-DP Ä°stanbul provincial branch secretary Çiçek Çatalkaya in a
speech she made here referred to the attacks as `racist and fascist,’
and asserted that these were not isolated incidents. `We know that
these attacks are not related to profit seekers from urban renewal
projects. We know this because the blood that was shed on this land
100 years ago has still not dried,’ Çatalkaya said, in reference to
the 1915 massacre of Armenians in Turkey’s Southeast.
The first attack in the past few months was on Nov. 1, 2012. A woman
named Gönül A. was beaten by an intruder, and her valuables were
stolen. On Nov. 28, Tuivat A. (87) was attacked inside her house. She
lost one eye in the attack and her valuables were also taken. On Dec.
28, Maritsa Küçük (85) was brutally murdered in her house, where she
lived alone. In the fifth attack, Sultan Aykar (80) was stabbed as she
entered her house.

Hollande to visit Armenia on April 24
PARIS

President Francois Hollande. ABACA photo
French President François Hollande is planning to visit Armenia on
April 24, the date Armenians commemorate the alleged Armenian genocide
in the last days of the Ottoman Empire, daily Hürriyet has reported,
citing sources in the Elysee.

Hollande accepted the invitation of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan
in November 2012 to visit Armenia in 2013, the report said, adding
that Hollande aims to issue a `strong genocide message’ to the
Armenian community living in France before local elections in 2014.

However, the French president will not bring forth the bill that
criminalizes denial of Armenian genocide allegations to the Senate due
to `technical difficulties’ in the Constitution. The French
Constitutional Council annulled the bill last year.
January/27/2013

PHILATELIE ARMENIENNE
Un bloc timbre dédié au 300e anniversaire de la naissance de Sayat-Nova

Le 27 décembre la Poste arménienne émettait un bloc timbre a
l’occasion du 300e anniversaire de la naissance de Sayat-Nova
(1712-1795). Le bloc timbre d’une valeur de 560 drams est émis en 30
000 exemplaires représente une sculpture dédiée à Sayat-Nova. Né à
Tiflis (l’actuelle Tbilissi) Sayat-Nova fut tué par les troupes perses
dans le monastère de Haghpad. De son vrai nom Haroutioun Sayatian,
Sayat-Nova fut le troubadour auprès de la cour d’Irakli II (Héraclius
II de Géorgie) chantant l’amour et la beauté.

Krikor Amirzayan

dimanche 27 janvier 2013,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

TURQUIE
La Turquie a lancé jeudi un appel d’offres pour construire un aéroport
géant à Istanbul

La Turquie envisage de construire le plus grand aéroport mondial à
Istanbul, alors que le gouvernement cherche à faire de la ville un hub
international, a déclaré mercredi le ministre turc des Transports,
Binali Yildirim.

Le nouvel aéroport occupera un espace de 77 millions de mètres carrés
au bord de la mer Noire, dans la partie de la ville située sur le
continent européen. Il aura une capacité de 150 millions de passagers
par an une fois achevé, a précisé le ministre lors d’une conférence de
presse à Ankara. Le processus d’appel d’offres sera lancé jeudi au
moyen d’une campagne d’information dans les journaux nationaux.

Le gouvernement truc commencera à accepter des offres et entamera le
processus de sélection le 3 mai, a indiqué le ministre. L’aéroport
sera construit sur un modèle construction-exploitation-transfert,
l’opérateur sélectionné obtenant le droit d’exploiter les nouvelles
infrastructures pour une durée de 25 ans, a ajouté Binali Yildirim.
Selon les prévisions du ministère, le projet devrait coûter 10
milliards de livres turques (4,2 milliards d’euros).

Le premier opérateur aéroportuaire de Turquie, TAV Airports, qui a
vendu en mai une participation de 38% dans son capital au français
Aéroports de Paris (ADP.FR) pour 655 millions d’euros, a fait savoir
qu’il serait candidat à l’appel d’offres. Parmi les autres opérateurs
intéressés figurent Limak Holding AS et Alarko Holding AS (ALARK.IS).

Le ministre avait précédemment annoncé que la première phase de cet
aéroport serait mise en service en 2016.

dimanche 27 janvier 2013,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

ARMENIE
La production de brandy arménien en hausse de 30 pour cent à 12,2
millions de litres

La production de brandy en Arménie au cours des neuf premiers mois de
2012 a bondi de 30,4 pour cent à 12,23 millions de litres, selon les
derniers chiffres publiés par le Service national des statistiques.

La production de vin s’est contracté de 27,5% à 3 millions de litres.
La production de vodka et de liqueurs entre janvier et septembre a
bondi de 43,2 pour cent par rapport à l’année précédente à 4,890
millions de litres.

La production de vins mousseux s’est réduite de 40,4 pour cent à 125 800 litres.

La production de bière a connu une baisse de 13 pour cent à 12,6
millions de litres et la production de boissons non alcoolisées a
augmenté à 29,7 millions de litres, une hausse de 6,2% par rapport à
l’année précédente.

dimanche 27 janvier 2013,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

REVUE DE PRESSE
Macha Gharibian

Son seul nom est une invitation au voyage. Il renvoie à ses racines
arméniennes et à sa grand-mère paternelle. Il évoque aussi celui de
son père, Dan, le guitariste de Bratsch (groupe aux influences
tsiganes), avec lequel elle monta sur scène quelquefois. On retrouve
d’ailleurs ici un autre enfant de Bratsch, le contrebassiste Théo
Girard (le fils de Bruno). A chaque génération, sa bohème. Pianiste de
formation classique, amoureuse du répertoire populaire arménien, dont
elle reprend deux titres, Macha Gharibian a trouvé dans le milieu du
jazz new-yorkais de quoi élargir son horizon et a introduit une note
bleue mystérieuse dans son univers folk.

Le résultat est un premier disque bourré de charme, truffé de petits
détails qui ravissent l’oreille : des arrangements feutrés ; une voix
enveloppante un peu pop (la sienne), qui s’étire avec lenteur sur le
rêveur Ritual Prayer d’ouverture ou swingue élégamment sur un poème de
William Blake (Night) ; des ornements de piano orientalisants,
délicatement entêtants, sur Byzance, le plus joli instrumental de
l’album ; ou encore une guitare électrique frottée à l’archet, qui
nimbe La Douceur d’un voile d’étrangeté émouvante. – Anne Berthod

| 1 CD Bee Jazz/Universal.

Anne Berthod – Telerama n° 3289

dimanche 27 janvier 2013,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

Tourism infrastructure of Tavush must develop

January 26, 2013 | 19:07

YEREVAN. – Tourism infrastructure of Tavush region should be
developed. This was stated by the presidential candidate of Armenia,
the incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan, at the meeting with voters in
Ijevan, Tavush region.

According to him, the current government, realizing the importance of
tourism potential of the region, will continue to upgrade the
infrastructure. For the tourism industry, special attention will be
paid to Tavush nature protection. The government will take efforts to
develop alternative energy resources.

`Republican Party of Armenia, and the Parliament majority imputes
their duty to improve the quantity and quality of the reforms.
Symmetrical development of the country comes from our policy line.
This line is in demand, and we will continue to implement it in the
next five years,” S. Sargsyan said.

The presidential elections in Armenia will be held on February 18. The
campaign was launched on January 21.

Turkish Police Issue Sketch of Suspected Assailant of Armenian Women in Istanbul

18:27, January 26, 2013

The Turkish press reports that the Turkish police have released a
sketch of the suspected assailant of 80 year-old Sultan Aykar, the
latest Armenian woman to be attacked in Istanbul’s Samatya
neighbourhood this past Tuesday.

The sketch is based on camera footage showing a man smoking outside
the building where Aykar was attacked.

On Friday, the Istanbul branch of Turkey’s Human Rights Association
(HRA) claimed that the recent attacks on Turkish Armenian women in
Samatya weren’t merely incidents of violent robberies.

In its report on the attacks, the HRA said they could be part of an
`ethnic cleansing’ campaign and called for the immediate apprehension
of the culprits.

The organization sent its report to the Turkish Ministry of the Interior.

Meanwhile, Agos newspaper Chief Editor Rober Koptas told Today’s Zaman
that the ministry should establish a commission to conduct a
comprehensive investigation of the matter.

`None of the politicians and state officials has released any
statement on the issue yet, which also increases the concerns of the
Armenians living in Samatya. The interior minister, the Istanbul
governor or the Istanbul police chief should give detailed information
to the public regarding these incidents,’ Koptas said.

Garo Paylan, an Armenian community activist told Today’s Zaman that he
found it surprising that Turkish police have yet to track down the
attackers despite the numerous security cameras in the neighbourhood
and the increased police presence.

`We are deeply concerned that these incidents are an organized crime
targeting Armenians. This is why the police department should be more
attentive to these assaults. The fact that no concrete development has
taken place regarding the assaults gives us doubt about the sincerity
of the police,’ Paylan noted.