Author: Kalantarian Kevo

FALLOUT: CONCERN IN SOME PARTS THAT CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY IN LEBANON WILL SUFFER
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan

ArmeniaNow
News | 22.10.12 | 16:00

Photo: Via Photolure

A car bombing of an official in Beirut has sparked concern in Lebanon

Armenians of Lebanon have nothing to do with the recent incidents
there, hence they are not viewed either as party, or as a target,
says Shahan Kandaharian, editor-in-chief of Azdak Armenian daily
published in Lebanon.

“Nonetheless, as part of the Lebanon society they are troubled by
these events,” he told ArmeniaNow.

Meanwhile, experts in Yerevan think the situation formed in Lebanon
after the Friday car bomb blast, which left the nation’s intelligence
chief and seven others dead and led to public protests, can be alarming
for the country’s Christian Armenian community.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry has confirmed that an Armenian woman
was also killed in the car bomb blast in Beirut’s Christian district.

Lebanon’s intelligence chief Wissam al-Hassan’s death led to
anti-government protests in central Beirut since Saturday. On Sunday
the protesters clashed with security forces after a funeral for
al-Hassan. Clashes have been reported in other cities, too.

Protesters, many of them allied with Sunni coalitions that have long
been sharply critical of the Lebanese government’s perceived closeness
with the Syrian regime, blamed the country’s Prime Minster for not
preventing Friday’s deadly blast. Al-Hassan had been investigating
the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, whose
slaying led to the expulsion of Syrian forces from Lebanon. CNN reports
that al-Hassan was the “polarizing figure,” drawing the support of
anti-Syrian factions in Lebanon, but antagonizing pro-Syrian ones.

Gagik Harutyunyan, head of “Noravank” think tank in Yerevan, says
the latest developments in Lebanon are surely bad for the some
254,000-member Lebanese Armenian community.

“Especially so, because I believe Christian communities have no future
in the Middle East. In Lebanon there is a unique balance of forces
among the national and religious sectors, but everything is being done
[by the East, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar] to draw Lebanon into
the Arab Spring,” Harutyunyan told ArmeniaNow.

Kandaharian says the situation in Beirut today is more peaceful,
despite the continuing political tensions: the opposition keeps
demanding the prime minister’s and the cabinet members’ resignations,
which he says “is not likely to happen”.

NA VICE-SPEAKER: MILITARY SOLUTION TO KARABAKH CONFLICT UNACCEPTABLE

PanARMENIAN.Net
October 22, 2012 – 18:42 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – RA parliament vice speakerEduard Sharmazanov reported
the results of the meeting with the Secretary General of the IPA CIS
Council Alexey Sergeev at Monday, Oct. 22 news conference in Yerevan

According to Sharmazanov, Saint Petersburg-hosted meeting focused
on further deepening of CIS integration processes and regional
developments.

RA parliament vice speaker noted at the meeting that Yerevan shows
active interest in CIS integration processes, citing ratification of
CIS free trade zone agreement as a proof.

Dwelling on the current stage of Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement,
Eduard Sharmazanov deemed military solution to the problem and
Azerbaijan’s unconstructive position inadmissible.

National Assembly vice-speaker reiterated Armenia’s official stance,
noting that peaceful resolution of Karabakh problem must be based on
OSCE Minsk Group efforts.

Alexey Sergeev, in turn, highly assessed Armenian MPs’ active
participation in CIS inter-parliamentary assembly, voicing hope that
the effective cooperation will continue.

As for the upcoming presidential race in Armenia, the official
expressed CIS inter-parliamentary assembly’s readiness to deploy an
observer mission.

EXPERT: TURKEY WILL NOT LAUNCH A LARGE-SCALE MILITARY OPERATION IN SYRIA

arminfo
Monday, October 22, 18:53

Turkey will not launch a large-scale military operation in Syria,
expert Sargis Grigoryan told journalists on Tuesday.

“Even though Turkey is much stronger than Syria, it will not be able
to handle the operation alone. It will need support from its NATO

HEAD OF OSCE OFFICE IN YEREVAN: MUCH WAS DONE DURING LAST PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA BUT THAT WAS NOT ENOUGH

arminfo
Monday, October 22, 19:07

It is very hard to compare the past parliamentary elections in Armenia
and Georgia, but there is one fact that can be pointed out and is
welcome – the winner in Georgia was the country’s constitution, Head
of the OSCE Office in Yerevan Andrey Sorokin said during a briefing
on Monday.

Sorokin does not mean that the elections in Georgia were so democratic
that they must taken as a model but he cannot but respect Saakashvili
for doing something that was very hard to do – for admitting his
defeat.

Sorokin believes that there is lack of public confidence in Armenia
and the goal of his office is to foster reforms in the local election
system and to raise public awareness and confidence.

He said that the project on support to two electoral cycles in Armenia
launched by the OSCE Office and the European Union in Feb 2012 was
aimed at providing comprehensive support for the improved efficiency
of election administration and transparency of the electoral processes
in line with international standards.

The project is being implemented in close cooperation with Armenia’s
Central Electoral Commission, Police Service, Ombudsman and relevant
state and non-state actors involved in electoral processes.

The first phase of the project was implemented in the period of Feb-
July 2012. Now the organizers are starting the second phase aiming
at ensuring democratic elections in Armenia.

Sorokin believes that much was done during the parliamentary elections
but that was not enough. The main thing, according to Sorokin, is
that President Sargsyan has promised that during the forthcoming
presidential elections they will keep in mind all the remarks of the
ODIHR and he can only welcome this.

The cost of the project is 1,704,237 EUR. The project is planed to be
carried out in two phases with the first one covering assistance for
the parliamentary elections and the second one focusing on support
for the conduct of the presidential elections of 2013.

EURO UNION AND OSCE RECORDED A DYNAMIC PROGRESS IN ELECTION PROCEDURES IN ARMENIA

ARMENPRESS
OCTOBER 22, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 22, ARMENPRESS. There is a great progress in election
procedures and transparency of the elections if compared with previous
years. This was announced during the press conference by the Head of
the OSCE Yerevan Office, Ambassador Andrey Sorokin, who said that
the goal of realization of “Support to the Two Stages of Election
in Armenia” program initiated by OSCE Office on February, 2012 was
meant to support the development of election system of Armenia.

As reports “Armenpress” Ambassador Sorokin said: “I must mention
that the program cannot and could not substitute the work of local
institutes. We are here to assist you to realize reforms, we can give
you “bricks”, but the main role belongs to the state”. The Ambassador
emphasized that besides the work of governmental institutions
involvement of civil society in these procedures is also of a certain
importance.

According to the Head of the OSCE Yerevan Office, Ambassador Andrey
Sorokin this program largely supported defense of human rights. Quick
reaction forces have been created during this period, “what makes more
operative responding if human rights are being violated”. Cooperation
with mass media is also very essential for these reforms.

Among other things the head of the Euro Union Delegation to Armenia,
Ambassador Traian Hristea said: “Now Armenia is in the stage of
dynamic developments, what supports deepening relations with Euro
Union. Euro Union is expecting the Armenian elections to be in accord
with international standards”.

NKR MINISTRY OF CULTURE MOVES TO SHOUSHI

ARMRADIO.AM
12:38 22.10.2012

On October 21 President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Bako Sahakyan
attended the solemn ceremony of opening the new building of the NKR
Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs in the town of Shoushi.

President Sahakyan noted the importance of transferring different
institutions to Artsakh~Rs ancient cultural capital considering it
a significant factor for further development of Shoushi.

The President underlined that it will contribute to the protection
of historical buildings, as well.

Primate of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church
Archbishop Pargev Martirossyan, Speaker of National Assembly Ashot
Ghoulyan, Prime Minister Ara Haroutyunyan and other officials
participated in the event, Central Information Department of the
Office of the NKR President reported.

THERE ARE AZERIS AND TURKS AMONG THE REBELS IN SYRIA FIGHTING AGAINST THE PEACEFUL CITIZENS: JIRAYR REISYAN

ARMENPRESS
OCTOBER 22, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 22, ARMENPRESS. The situation in the Armenian district
of Aleppo is calm. Spokesman of Armenian National Primacy of Aleppo
Jirayr Reisyan said this in a conversation with “Armenpress” adding
that although they can still hear shooting and bombing, but both
of these are far from the Armenian districts. Reisyan mentioned,
that continuous shooting and bombing did not damage Armenian
institutions. People are trying to return to their former lifestyle.

Talking about the parcels of humanitarian aid from Armenia to Aleppo
Reisyan said that it has already been several days that they are
distributing that all to the people. The main part of the parcels
has already been distributed.

Several days ago Syrian mass media spread information according to
which there is an Azeri among the killed rebels. In this respect
Reisyan said, that among the dead rebels there was an Azerbaijani
citizen Khadin Kazli. He also added that there are Turks among the
rebels as well.

Syrian SANA agency informs that the clashes continue in the region
of Homs. A large number of rebels were killed in Souloutania district
at night on October 22. The authorities confiscated their weaponry.

Authorities keep fighting against the rebels in Der Zor too. Clashes
in Houseynia village caused the death of large number of rebels. Also
vehicles for transporting weaponry were destroyed.

Clashes in Syria lasting for already 18 months caused the death of
more than 30 thousand people, including more than four dozen Armenians.

DOES SERZH SARGSYAN WISH TO CLOSE CIVILITAS AND NEWS AGENCIES OPERATING UNDER ITS AUSPICES (VIDEO)

October 19, 2012 15:34

The workers of the Civilitas Foundation organized a protest outside
the Attorney General’s Office today demanding to stop persecution of
the Civilitas Foundation and Vartan Oskanian and handed an appeal to
stop persecution with citizens’ signatures to the Attorney General.

“We demand justice in our country. The persecution of the Civilitas
Foundation and its founder Vartan Oskanian testify to the inability
of democracy in Armenia and its gradual weakening. This case is not
the first precedent; it is another manifestation of permissiveness in
our country. This is not an issue of one politician, one organization,
this proves the unhealthiness of legal, political and all fields in
the country,” Seda Grigoryan, a worker of the foundation said.

Tatul Hakobyan, a journalist of the Orakarg newspaper, also added
that President Serzh Sargsyan and the team advising him had a strong
desire that both Civilitas and news agencies

operating under its auspices were closed as soon as possible, “Such
projects may be a start of a bigger process and the government will try
to nip in the bud using rigorous methods. We will try not to allow.”

E_5
E_4
E_3
E_2
E_1
E_6
E_1

Details in the video

Arpine SIMONYAN

ARMENIAN MILITARY OFFICER DIES IN ROAD ACCIDENT

NEWS.AM
October 22, 2012 | 12:10

YEREVAN. – An Opel went off road, at Armenia’s Yerevan-Sevan Highway
in Kotayk Region, and crashed into trees and rolled over, on Monday
at around 5:40am.

As a result, the automobile’s 27-year-old driver Grigor Grigoryan
died on the spot. Grigoryan had the rank of captain in Armenia’s
Armed Forces and he was company commander in a military unit, the
Police press service informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Also, the vehicle was completely destroyed by the ensuing the fire.

The preliminary report on the accident will be forwarded to the
Military Prosecutor’s Office.

EXHIBITION OF WORKS BY PARAJANOV IS HELD IN MOSCOW

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Exhibition of works by world known
film director Sergey Parajanov entitled “The Home, Where I Live” in
“New Manejka” in Moscow will be open for visitors till the end of
November. There are more than 71 works by Parajanov in the exhibition.

In a conversation with “Armenpress” director of Memorial-Museum of
Sergey Parajanov Zaven Sargsyan mentioned that after a break lasting
9 years exhibition of works of the prominent film director is a
great success.

Sargsyan said: “First exhibition of works by Parajanov in Moscow
took place in 1993, ten years later in 2003 and the last one entitled
“The Home, Where I Live” was held 9 years before this”.

In Zaven Sargsyan’s opinion the choice of the title is not accidental:
it has been chosen to look more familiar to the people. Sargsyan added:
“Alongside with the exhibition movies “The Color of Pomegranates”,
“The Shadows of the Forgotten Ancestors” by Sergey Parajanov and
a documentary movie about the great film director have been shown
in Moscow”.

Photo exhibition of works be Sergey Parajanov was held in the city of
Busan, South Korea on October 5-11. They are also planning exhibitions
in Krasnodar and Vilnius.

In frames of the 35th International Movie Festival in San Paolo the
exhibition of works by Sergey Parajanov in 2011was proclaimed as one
of the outstanding events in the cultural life of the city.

Sergey Parajanov was Georgian-born Armenian film director and artist,
who significantly contributed to Ukrainian, Armenian and Georgian
cinema.