Author: Kalantarian Kevo

GENERAL MANVEL GRIGORYAN DECLARES 147.9 MILLION AMD IN REVENUES
Grisha Balasanyan

hetq
13:28, July 20, 2012

Manvel Grigoryan, the sacked Deputy Defense Minister who was also
dismissed from the Armenian military with the rank of general, won a
seat in the Armenian parliament in the May elections.

Ejmiatzin and surrounding villages have long been considered a de
facto fiefdom of Grigorian and another top army general, Seyran
Saroyan. They both have extensive business interests in the Ejmiatzin
area and other parts of Armenia.

Grigoryan, who also serves as Chairman of the Yerkrapah Volunteer
Union, owns a sprawling 995 square meter private home in Ejmiatzin.

As of March 2012, Grigoryan declared revenues of 147.9 million AMD.

Of this, 2.2 million was his military pension and 105.8 million were
dividends from the Ara and Aytzemnik Ltd. and 40 million from Luarlin
Ltd.

At the time, Grigoryan only declared 3.9 million AMD in the bank.

ARMENIAN OBSERVERS SATISFIED

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 12:37:00 – 20/07/2012

The Armenian parliamentary observation mission evaluated the NKR
election highly. 9 members of parliament formed the mission who held
a press conference today to share their impressions.

Armen Rustamyan, ARF, says the conduct of elections improves case
by case, and Artsakh proves its determination to go all the way to
international recognition of NKR. According to him, the statements
aimed to denigrate these elections were impertinent, and it is
not impertinent when these elections are linked with hindering the
negotiations.

Republican Eduard Sharmazanov, Vice President of the National Assembly,
says this election makes the democratic transition in NKR irreversible,
and can be set as a model to some countries. The NKR elections showed
that an independent and democratic state is built, and the people of
Artsakh decide their own destiny.

Member of Parliament Hrant Bagratyan, ANC, says no violations were
detected in the polling stations. He said he had tried to find out
whether people underwent pressure, there were shortcomings in the
voters’ register but no polling station reported such cases.

“Fortunately, vote buying is not understood and is not practiced in
Artsakh. The elections were normal,” Bagratyan said.

Member of Parliament Khachatur Kokobelyan, Heritage parliamentary
group, says the figures reported during these elections indicate the
irreversible process of democratic transition in Karabakh. According to
him, this process proves to the international community that Artsakh
is a de facto well-established state.

ONE OF YEREVAN’S DISTRICTS TO HAVE BUENOS AIRES GARDEN

news.am
July 20, 2012 | 13:52

YEREVAN.- Mayor of Yerevan Taron Margaryan met with Argentina’s
Ambassador Diego Ernesto Alvares Rivera to discuss relations between
Armenia’s capital and Argentinean cities.

“Yerevan and Buenos Aires are twin cities since 2000. Yerevan
hosted Mayor of Buenos Aires Mauricio Macri within the framework of
celebrations on Yerevan’s declaration by UNESCO as the 2012 Book
Capital of the World. The visit laid a good basis for development
and strengthening of cooperation between the cities,” said Margaryan.

The Mayor said a Buenos Aires Garden is being constructed in the
Armenian capital’s Ajapnyak district.

In his turn, Ambassador expressed hope that effective cooperation will
be established with the municipality during his mission in Armenia.

Taron Margaryan assured of municipality’s readiness to assist
implementation of mutually beneficial projects and cooperation in
various fields.

ARMENIA’S REPRESENTATIVES TO PARTICIPATE IN INTERNATIONAL MODEL AND DESIGN CONTESTS IN SPAIN

news.am
July 19, 2012 | 16:56

YEREVAN. – Armenia will participate in the international annual model
and designer contest International Best Male and Female Model World and
Costa Blanca Fashion Week for the second time, official and exclusive
representative of the contest in Armenia and the CIS states as well as
the coordinator of the Spanish Sukier Model International organization
David Gharibyan said at a press conference in Yerevan on Thursday.

Despite modeling business is not that developed in Armenia, a huge
group of people is working to promote Armenian models and designers
in the world market.

Gharibyan wants Armenia to become one of the world fashion industry
centers and it indeed has potential.

According to him, the goal of the festivals is to disclose new talents
in fashion business. Armenia’s Arthur Muradyan and Seda Tonoyan will
compete for being the best models, while Tumas Yeranosyan and Alisa
Harutyuyan will represent their collections at the design contest.

Armenia was first presented at the Costa Blanca Fashion Week and
International Best Male and Female Model World contests last year,
where beginner Seda Serobyan was declared the best in female model
category.

EBRD FORECASTS 4,5% ECONOMIC GROWTH FOR ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
July 19, 2012 – 16:38 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(EBRD) reviewed the forecasts for Armenia’s economic growth, EBRD
Resident Office in Yerevan said.

“Increase in forecasts for Armenia was conditioned by more optimistic
prediction on the economy of partner countries, particularly that
of Russia,” Valeriu Razlog told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, deeming
the new forecast at the level of 4-4,5% based on 2012 outcomes as
a product of anti-crisis fiscal policy by Armenian government and
monetary policy by the Central Bank of Armenia.

Mr. Razlog further noted that EBRD will follow both domestic and
international developments.

BODY PARTS OF MISSING MAN ARE FOUND IN ARMENIAN CANYON

NEWS.AM
July 19, 2012 | 10:07

YEREVAN. – Body parts of a dead person were discovered at Armenia’s
Byurakan Canyon. The Police press service confirmed this information
to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The Police received the information to this effect from an anonymous
person. According to the Police, ossified body parts of a man were
found, and clothes were discovered 50-60 meters away from the body.

The Police also informed that a nearly 85-year-old man had gone
missing in the year past. Subsequently, a criminal lawsuit was opened
on murder charges.

The missing person’s skull was discovered earlier and, now, his bones
are found.

RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL SON?: INITIATIVE LOBBIES FOR INTERPOL-WANTED VANO SIRADEGHYAN’S “RIGHT TO LIVE IN HIS MOTHERLAND”
By Gayane Lazarian

ArmeniaNow
19.07.12

A social network group calling itself “Yelk” (exit or way out) has
initiated a petition seeking the return of Vano Siradeghyan, the former
Minister of Internal Affairs and mayor of Yerevan who has been wanted
by authorities for 12 years in for his alleged involvement in crime.

A number of politicians and intellectuals have joined the initiative
calling for “the sake of greatly talented writer and state figure
Vano Siradeghyan’s right to live in his motherland”. This week the
Free Democrats party board has decided to also sign the petition.

“We are calling upon those citizens of the Republic of Armenia,
who care for the human rights and victory of justice in our country,
to support this initiative,” Free Democrats said in their statement.

In 1998, a criminal case was filed against Siradeghyan (Karabakh
Committee member since 1988, president of All-Armenian Movement
from 1997 to 2000, and member of parliament from 1996 to1999), for
organizing a number of planned murders. In 2000, the parliament
stripped Siradeghyan of his diplomatic immunity and then of his
parliamentary mandate. The same year (2000) he fled from Armenia and
has been wanted by international intelligence (Interpol) ever since.

Siradeghyan has been charged with almost a dozen articles of the
Criminal Code. Among other things, he is accused of forming an armed
criminal grouping (the “Armen Ter-Sahakyan’s gang”) during his tenure
as Minister of Internal Affairs, in the summer of 1992; of armed
assault and of assassination of individual citizens and officials.

He is allegedly the one who ordered the murder of Hovhannes Sukyasyan,
chairman of Ashtarak regional council’s executive committee;
the one who organized the murder of Hambardzum Gandilyan, head of
administration of Armenian Railways, his driver Hakob Unikyan and
passenger Zhora Isahakyan. Siradeghyan is also accused of preparing
and organizing the assassination attempt against Artur Hakobyan,
who was the head of RA prosecution’s criminal investigation department.

The parliament is scheduled to discuss an amnesty project by the
end of July; justice minister Hrayr Tovmasyan says the text has been
prepared by employees of the ministry and the presidential staff. An
opinion is circulated in the press that amnesty would also apply to
Siradeghyan, if he comes back to Armenia before then.

Parliament speaker Hovik Abrahamyan says he has no such information.

“I’m not expecting him; if he wants to come back, let him come,
it’s his business,” says the country’s chief lawmaker.

Heritage party member, political analyst Stepan Safaryan told
ArmeniaNow that all this indicates a decision made on the highest
level to allow Siradeghyan’s return to Armenia.

“He left Armenia during Robert Kocharyan’s presidency. If during the
current president’s tenure Siradeghyan is allowed to come back and his
wrongdoings can fall under amnesty, it means that the current president
himself has made a decision to drop the prosecution,” says Safaryan.

In his interview to Hayeli.am Ashot Bleyan, who signed the petition,
headmaster of Mkhitar Sebastatsi educational center, former education
and science minister, said that Siradeghyan’s return represents a
political solution, because the political leadership has to have
courage to take that risk.

“It also requires public consent. If Vano has to answer in law, he
has to answer to the Armenian society, has to answer to me. I can ask
him questions. And that has to be done in public, and Vano will find a
way to do so. Estranging Vano means being afraid of him,” says Bleyan.

Political analyst Yervand Bozoyan, in charge of Mitk (“thought”)
analytical center, told ArmeniaNow that if Siradeghyan had made a
statement himself, it’d be easier to comment on the issue.

Writer Sergey Galoyan believes that today Armenia needs Vano
Siradeghyan – “one of the best modern writers, a charismatic figure”.

“In the ’90s Siradeghyan did in Armenia what Benito Mussolini did in
1923, that is, he ‘uprooted mobsters,’ he said, claiming that six
months ago Siradeghyan’s criminal case disappeared during transfer
from one court to another.

In this connection RA Judicial department spokesperson Arsen Babyan
told media representatives that Siradeghyan’s case is in the judicial
department’s archive.

“TWO MOUNTAINS HAVE BEEN CUT OFF, IN ORDER NOT TO APPROACH AZERBAIJAN DURING A FLIGHT,” HOVHANNES TOKMAJYAN SAYS ABOUT THE STEPANAKERT AIRPORT (VIDEO)
Gohar HAKOBYAN

July 18, 2012 12:45

The Stepanakert airport, the existence of which concerns Azerbaijan –
and from time to time statements are made from there – will be ready
to carry out flights in a few weeks. Hovhannes Tokmajyan, the rector
of Yerevan State University of Architecture and

Construction, who had had a few flights already, although by
helicopter, said about this today.

The Stepanakert airport has been designed by Yerevan State University
of Architecture and Construction (designer: Tigran Barseghyan),
has been built under the guidance of Gagik Galstyan, a member of the
council of the same university and the president of the Republic of
Armenia Union of Constructors.

Hohannes Tokmajyan asserts that the airport reminds of a falcon or a
helicopter preparing to take off. In order to carry out the project,
serious engineering solutions have been made, even two mountains have
been cut off, in order to carry out a flight without approaching the
Azerbaijani territory.

“This is an unprecedented event for civil aviation. The supermodern
devises set up at the airport supervise a flight starting from a few
kilometers. One can see both Yerevan and Baku from the remote control,”
Mr. Tokmajyan says.

According to him, the government of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
intends to build a new building for the airport. “I think that the
Stepanakert airport has already played its role, although flights have
basically not been carried out yet. Only the fact that the symbols of
Artsakh – grandmother and grandfather – as well as the pictures of
the airport are on everybody’s, also our opponents’, websites means
that the airport has already played its political role. I don’t think
that there can be any sovereign state without an airport. From this
perspective, building the airport was a necessity and is one of the
best among the projects carried out in past years.”

AZERBAIJANI MINISTRY: SO-CALLED “ELECTIONS” IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH AIMED AT ANNEXATION OF TERRITORIES OCCUPIED BY ARMENIA

Trend
July 18 2012
Azerbaijan

The so-called “elections” in Nagorno-Karabakh are organized in order to
camouflage the policy of Armenia aimed at annexation of the occupied
territories and to promote the results of the continued occupation
of the Azerbaijani territories, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry
said today.

The so-called “presidential elections” are being arranged to take
place in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Republic of
Azerbaijan on July 19, 2012.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan
reiterates in this regard that the Republic of Armenia, having occupied
the Azerbaijani territories and conducted ethnic cleansing against
local Azerbaijani population, has established illegal authorities in
the occupied territories.

Such action, in absence of the original Azerbaijani population of
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and without necessary authorization
of respective structures of the Republic of Azerbaijan, gravely
violates the relevant provisions of the Constitution of the Republic
of Azerbaijan and the norms and principles of international law and,
therefore shall have no legal effect whatsoever.

Holding legitimate elections will be possible after the withdrawal of
the Armenian occupying forces, normalization of life in the region,
return of expelled Azerbaijani population and creation of necessary
conditions for restoration of the dialogue and cooperation between the
Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of the Nagorno-Karabakh region
of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said.

The Republic of Azerbaijan calls upon the Armenian side instead of
its destructive illegal steps, which does not have any prospects,
to withdraw its Armed Forces from the Azerbaijani territories, thus
opening prospects for sustainable peace, security and development of
the entire region.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France and the U.S. –
are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

MINISTER: AZERBAIJANI, ARMENIAN FMS MAY MEET IN NEW YORK

Trend
July 18 2012
Azerbaijan

Next meeting of foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia may be
held in New York within a session of the UN General Assembly in late
September, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said at a
press conference in Baku on Wednesday.

He said the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs made this proposal.

“The co-chairs also plan to hold individual meetings with Armenia
and Azerbaijan’s foreign ministers,” Mammadyarov said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France and the U.S. –
are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.