Author: Kalantarian Kevo

ANC AND PROSPEROUS ARMENIA: COUNTER MOVEMENT

Vestnik Kavkaza
Nov 9 2012
Russia

Susanna Petrosian, Yerevan. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza

An awareness campaign focusing on the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP)
and in particular on its attitude towards the format of participation
in the upcoming presidential election, was launched in Armenia. The
initiators of the campaign, which was accompanied by a barely
concealed nervousness, were representatives of the ruling Republican
Party of Armenia (RPA), state-controlled “independent” experts and
“independent” media.

The excitement was caused by two factors. Firstly, the PAP maintained
a stubborn silence about its participation in the elections. Secondly,
the coordinator of the opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC),
Levon Zurabyan, named the ANC and PAP as two most influential
political forces in Armenia, which through cooperation can bring
about the elimination of the existing regime.

According to numerous statements made by the Republican Party, in
the presidential election the PAP will not be able compete against
the Republican Party and Serzh Sargsyan will win the elections. In
addition, the party functionaries of the RPA believe that a memorandum
signed in February 2011 by three former members of the ruling coalition
– the Republican Party, PAP and the “Rule of Law” party remains in
force. According to the memorandum, these forces have pledged to vote
for a single candidate. The ruling party believes that a statement
about the participation of its own candidate in the presidential
elections would actually be a denouncement of the memorandum of
support for a single candidate – i.e. Sargsyan.

The vice-chairman of the Republican Party, the Minister of Education
and Science Armen Ashotyan, said that the memorandum was signed
by PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan and it will become invalid only if
Tsarukyan declares it invalid, which he has not done yet. Armenian
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan did not rule out that the RPA and
PAP will sign a new memorandum or agreement to support the current
president in the upcoming presidential election.

For a long time the PAP representatives did not respond to any of
the allegations of the Republicans, experts and publications in the
state-controlled media claiming that PAP will support the candidacy of
the president. However, the mention of the existing memorandum forced
PAP to break the silence. A member of the parliamentary faction, Vahe
Hovhannisyan, said that in light of the growing popularity of the party
among the population the coalition memorandum is just part of history.

The secretary of the Prosperous Armenia party, Naira Zohrabyan, said
that although PAP had not yet taken the decision to advance its own
candidate at the presidential election, she would suggest thatGagik
Tsarukyan should run for the presidency.

The statement by Levon Zurabyan has also shaken the authorities and
created a surge in the number of articles aimed at discrediting the
cooperation between Zurabyan and Tsakuryan. It is already a year since
the famous political analyst Ter-Petrosyan urged all political forces
in the country to unite in order to fight the regime of Sargsyan.

On 6th May 2012 Prosperous Armenia participated in the parliamentary
elections on its own, despite the memorandum signed on 17th February
2011, according to which it was supposed to participate in the
elections together with the Republican Party. As a result of the
parliamentary elections, PAP refused to join the ruling coalition and
declared itself to be an alternative political force to the Republican
Party in the autumn municipal elections. The experts think that an
alliance between the ANC and PAP is highly possible.

SYRIAN ARMENIANS TO RECEIVE 4% OF TELETHON 2012 BY HAYASTAN ALL-ARMENIAN FUND

tert.am
09.11.12

The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund will hold Telethon 2012 on November
22, with 4% of the raised funds to be directed to resolving Syrian
Armenians’ problems, Ara Vardanyan, Executive Director, told Tert.am.

The Fund has a special account for Syrian Armenians’ needs, he added.

Mr Vardanyan noted that the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund organized a
fundraising dinner last December.

This year, the Fund has organized a fundraising dinner in Moscow and
made a relevant announcement.

With respect to the U.S. $12m donations – if it is “much” or “little”
– Vardanyan said: “Once more I would like to urge everyone not to use
‘much’ or ‘little’ because this is the result of donations by one or
two persons. Last year, Eurnekian promised U.S. $12m, but this year
he has not.”

In this context, Vardanyan said that the funds donated by Mr
Eurnekian have been used on the purchase of laptops for students in
Nagorno-Karabakh and on water-supply programs.

At the fundraising dinner in Moscow, the Argentine-based businessman
Eduardo Eurnekian donated U.S. $11m of the total U.S. $18,635,000
raised.

This year, Samvel Karapetyan, brother of Karen Karapetyan, ex-chief
of the RA presidential staff, donated U.S. $1m. This year, he has
promised U.S. $1.5m.

About 50 big businessmen took part in the 2012 fundraising dinner at
the Golden Palace restaurant complex, owned by Konstantin Manukyan,
who covered all the expenses.

AZERBAIJAN NOT TO IMPROVE ARMY EVEN WITH MILLIONS OF DOLLARS – EXPERT

news.am
November 09, 2012 | 23:40

YEREVAN. – The Azerbaijani army will hardly be improved, modernized or
efficient in combating even by investing millions of dollars, military
expert Arkadiy Grigoryan told Armenian News-NEWS.am in request by
the agency to comment on the statement about the creation of drones
based on Israeli models.

“The so-called Azerbaijani drones are no longer new, but are only
copies of Israeli models. In addition, the Azerbaijani army will
not be improved even if millions of dollars are invested. They have
forgotten about the most important thing: aspiration and dream. Army
is not built based on money but on a will and spirit,” the expert said.

ANC RESPONDS TO PROSPEROUS ARMENIA

tert.am
08.11.12

The opposition bloc Armenian National Congress (ANC) has responded
to the Prosperous Armenia Party’s proposal for a switch-over to
parliamentary government and relevant political discussions.

The ANC believes that the agenda should contain a program of
consolidation of political and public forces in opposition to the
ruling regime in the forthcoming presidential election.

The following points should be on the agenda:

1. A transformation of the election system to ensure free expression
of popular will through the adoption of the ANC-proposed bills and
creation of mechanisms of supervising the forthcoming presidential
election.

2. Joint steps to apply parliamentary mechanisms of voting no
confidence in the authorities.

3. Organization of mass events aimed at intensifying popular activity.

4. Development of a joint program of eliminating illegal economic
monopolies and privileges, as well as system corruption.

THE TELEGRAPH: WHY IS A CRUCIAL CONFERENCE ON INTERNET FREEDOM TAKING PLACE IN A DICTATORSHIP?

Panorama.am
08/11/2012

It’s of deep concern that a conference on internet freedom is being
held in one of the world’s most tawdry dictatorships, writes Mike
Harris, Head of Advocacy at Index on Censorship, according to The
Telegraph.

“For Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev, the hosting of the Internet
Governance Forum (IGF) in Baku is yet another propaganda coup in a year
marked by the Eurovision Song Contest and the launch of Azerbaijan’s
bid for Baku to host the 2020 Olympic Games. The regime is slick –
it spent an estimated $500 million on Eurovision alone, hires the
smoothest spin doctors, and takes British MPs on all expenses paid
trips to see “the real Azerbaijan” (as opposed to the Azerbaijan
where their Parliament contains not a single opposition MP),” writes
the author.

According to the author, Azerbaijan is also a country with a track
record of persecuting internet activists, such as bloggers Emin Milli
and Adnan Hajizada.

“Elnur Majidli, a Strasbourg-based blogger and internet activist,
was threatened with a 12 year jail sentence for “inciting hatred”
after setting up Facebook groups that facilitated rare public protests
in Azerbaijan during 2011. Because of his online activism, police
officers turned up at his family home. His father was held for eight
hours by the police, then swiftly lost his job in the state shipping
firm Caspar, all because his son set up a Facebook group. Majidli
junior cannot return to Azerbaijan,” writes Harris.

The article says that state TV broadcasts programmes that allege
Facebook and Twitter cause criminality among Azerbaijan’s young
people. Just last year, the country’s chief psychiatrist warned that
social media caused mental disorders.

“This is the country that will host the IGF (a United Nations
initiative) and help set the framework for the future of internet
freedom. While a bitter irony for brave people like Majidli, it’s
more worryingly symbolic,” says the author.

As the Arab Spring has shown, writes the author, the internet
is helping to free people across the world from the iron grip of
autocracy. The leaking of cables by Tunisian dissident website Nawaat
exposed the corruption of former President Ben Ali and helped topple
his dictatorship. The internet made it easier than ever before for
activists from across the Middle East to organise during the Arab
Spring, hence the former Egyptian government attempting to hold back
the revolutionary tide by turning it off.

“So it’s of deep concern that the Internet Governance Forum, one
the most important global conferences on internet freedom, is being
held in Azerbaijan – one of the world’s most tawdry dictatorships,”
writes Harris.

BUSINESSARMENIA, IRAN IN TALKS TO BUILD OIL PRODUCTS PIPELINE

RIA Novosti
08/11/2012
YEREVAN

Armenia and Iran are discussing joint projects to build a rail link
and an oil products pipeline, Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan
said on Thursday.

“I’ll see together with [Iranian Energy Minister Majid] Namjou that
the implementation of these two major programs currently at the stage
of working discussions begins as soon as possible,” Movsisyan said.

Movsisyan and Namjou are co-chairmen of the Armenian-Iranian
inter-governmental commission on economic cooperation.

“The implementation of these two projects will raise the level of
economic cooperation between the two countries,” Movsisyan said.

Armenia and Iran initially planned to start the construction of the
oil products pipeline in 2011 and finish it in 2014. The pipeline
will deliver gasoline and diesel fuel from Iranian refineries and
other Persian Gulf countries to the Armenian town of Yeraskh via
Iran’s Tabriz

The pipeline will allow Armenia to import petroleum products from
the Persian Gulf region at exchange-traded prices that are much lower
than European market prices and considerably cut transport expenses
compared with transportation by rail.

Armenia will invest $100 million to finance pipeline construction on
its territory.

The North-South (Iran-Armenia) railway will allow Armenia to use an
alternative route for the transportation of energy products and other
commodities and gain access to external markets.

SECOND PLANE TRANSFERRING AID TO SYRIA SUCCESSFULLY LANDED

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS: Another plane transferring
humanitarian aid to Syria on initiation of “Help your brother” program
successfully landed in Syrian Airport. As reports Armenpress quoting
Kiro Manoian the director of ARF Bureau’s Hay Dat and Political Affairs
Office, the examination of the plane in Erzurum was very strict and
lasted several hour.

Relevant Turkish authorities took the samples from the delivered
products. Turkish press was prompt to publish information on the
landing of the airport, but this time almost all the agencies avoided
to publish sensational information, as they did last time when the
first Armenian plane with humanitarian cargo of about 15 tones flying
to Syria landed on October 15, and later it was clarified that the
landing was not forced by the Turkish side but was a preplanned one.

After being examined it continued its flight.

The second plane with a cargo of 2 tones was sent by Syrian airlines
and initiated by “Help your brother” bypassed Turkey. The cargo
arrived to Aleppo over Iran and Iraq.

Vahan Hovhannisyan the coordinator of the initiation informed that
this time the plane transferred about 13 tons of cargo containing
exclusively food. Due to the weather conditions it was possible to
transfer cheese and powdered milk.

The plane with humanitarian cargo successfully landed in Aleppo
airport at 2 AM Armenian time.

LIVERPOOL JOINS CLUBS WISHING TO SIGN MKHITARYAN

NEWS.AM
November 8

Liverpool joined the European clubs wishing to sign Armenia and
Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

åyefootball website claims Liverpool is ready to offer a huge amount
for 23-year-old player “but negotiating a fee for the midfielder
could prove a potential stumbling block for the Reds.”

Mkhitaryan is reportedly a target for Juventus and Bayern Munich.

SERZH SARGSYAN: AZERBAIJAN WAITING FOR AN OCCASION TO START A CONFLICT

10:15 09.11.20121

Armenia’s president is increasingly concerned about what he sees
as neighboring Azerbaijan’s willingness to engage in armed conflict
over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, he said in an interview,
warning that Armenian forces would deliver a disproportionate blow
should conflict erupt between the neighbors.

In comments to The Wall Street Journal, President Serzh Sargsyan said
Armenia’s government would continue to push for a negotiated settlement
to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which has simmered for nearly
two decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union. But he also tapped
the rising tensions in one of the world’s key energy corridors.

“Unfortunately, I believe Azerbaijan is waiting for an occasion to
start a conflict,” President Sargsyan said Thursday. “I am confident
such a mistake would harm the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia
but that most harm would come to the people of Azerbaijan….We
won’t stand aside when the population of Nagorno-Karabakh is going
to be destroyed.”

The Armenian president also said that his government was pushing
forward to tackle rampant corruption and that Armenia’s economy had
posted a 7% expansion in the year through September. That signals
Armenia’s emergence from an economic crisis.

The Wall Street Journal reminds that “the war of words intensified in
August, when Azeri President Ilham Aliyev offered a hero’s welcome
to Ramil Safarov, an Azeri officer convicted of hacking an Armenian
to death with an ax on a NATO course in Hungary in 2004. The affair
prompted a diplomatic storm, and Armenia withdrew its ambassador
to Hungary.”

“What is the reason for establishing such a xenophobic atmosphere and
hatred against Armenians in Azerbaijan?” President Sargsyan said. “It
is easier to create such an atmosphere, to encourage hate speech,
rather than deal with the consequences of that atmosphere and turn
the tide back.”

“Washington and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have watched
developments with mounting alarm. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton warned of the threat of a “much broader conflict” when she
visited Armenia in June. NATO Secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen
has expressed his “deep concern” in September over the dramatic
escalation in rhetoric between the capitals,” the papaer writes.

President Sargsyan’s statements underscored the need for the
international community to engage more actively, analysts said.

President Sargsyan also warned that the prospect of a military strike
against Iran, with which Armenia shares a border, was an issue of
“extreme concern” which could set off a sequence of events that could
also trigger a conflict between Yerevan and Baku.

He said deeper international engagement in the region was vital to
help reduce tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia. “If we had been
living in an isolated region where there was no international impact,
war would have already begun,” he said.

IRAKLI KVIRKADZE TO LECTURE DIRECTOR SCRIPT TO ARMENIAN STUDENTS

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS: Russian renowned screenwriter and film
director Irakli Kvirkadze is scheduled to come forth with lectures
in Yerevan in coming weeks. He will arrive in Armenia in the frame
of “Film directing high courses” organized jointly by Yerevan State
Institute of Theater and Cinema and Arm Art Cinema company.

Armen Mazmanyan, rector of Yerevan State Institute of Theater and
Cinema stated in the briefing with Armenpress, Kvirkadze writes
scripts for European cinema.

“For a week he will lecture writing skills and directing scripts to
seven students of the course. It is very important as the scenarist
writes yet the director often elaborates the scenario” Mazmanyan
noted. In his words due to the accumulated skills the students will
learn not only correctly construct their speech but write down their
ideas. Mazmanyan informed simultaneously with “Film directing high
courses” launched since November scheduled master classes are being
held: students may receive professional suggestions.

Throughout the year the students will be enabled a chance to
participate in master classes by Artavazd Peleshyan, Emir Kusturica,
Luc Besson, Wim Wenders, Pedro Almodovar and Kim Ki-duk and other
world known film directors. Roman Balayan, People’s Artist of Ukraine
is the director of the courses.

Popular filmmaker, documentary film director Peleshyan had an open
class in Yerevan State Institute of Theater and Cinema on November 8.