Author: Kalantarian Kevo

TOMORROW AT 2PM: BOHJALIAN TO SPEAK, SIGN BOOKS AT BOSTON KERMESSE

Armenian Weekly
July 20, 2012

WATERTOWN, Mass. (A.W.)-New York Times best-selling author Chris
Bohjalian’s 22-city book tour promoting The Sandcastle Girlsarrives
in Watertown this weekend, as Bohjalian delivers remarks and signs
books at Boston Kermesse on Saturday, July 21, at 2p.m. The event is
free and open to the public. The Hairenik Bookstore will be selling
copies of the book on site.

Chris Bohjalian The third annual Boston Kermesse Armenian Festival
will be held in Watertown from Fri., July 20 to Sun., July 22 at the
Armenian Cultural and Educational Center (ACEC) and will showcase
Armenian culture and cuisine-with live music by internationally
renowned musicians, art exhibits from local artists, traditional
Armenian food, and gourmet tastings from local food vendors including
Tutunjian Wines, Eastern Lamejun, Massis Bakery, and Fastachi.

Last year, the open-air festival attracted over 5,000 guests from
the Greater Boston area and beyond, raising proceeds to benefit the
ACEC, a non-profit organization tasked with sustaining and nourishing
Armenian culture and education through the community center.

This year, the event will feature performers Harout Pamboukjian, Arman
Hovhannisyan, the John Berberian Ensemble featuring Onnik Dinkjian,
the Arev Armenian Folk Ensemble, the Karen Kocharyan Quartet featuring
Jerry Bergonzi, and Classic Groove. Festival-goers will be able to
experience authentic Armenian cuisine with cooking demonstrations
from local chefs including Ani Catering & Takeout and Armenian Market
Bakery, and shop the latest collections of bangles and necklaces from
Alex and Ani Jewelry.

Perfect for kids of all ages, the festival will also include a meet
and greet by Wally of the Boston Red Sox, as well as a Gladiator
Joust and Bounce House.

The weekend-long festival is open from 6-11 p.m. on Fri., July
20; 12-11 p.m. on Sat., July 21; and 12-7 p.m. on Sun., July 22,
at the ACEC, 47 Nichols Ave. in Watertown. There’s free admission
to children’s entertainment, exhibits, vendors, and food. Ticketed
admission is for the entertainment portion only: $25 for adults and $10
for children for admission to Harout Pamboukjian performance on Fri.,
July 20; $30 adults, $10 children for admission to Arman Hovanisyan
event on Sat., July 21; and $15 adults, $10 children for admission
to John Berberian Ensemble on Sun., July 22. Two-day ($45 adults,
$15 children) and three-day ($55 adults, $20 children) all-access
passes are available.

To purchase tickets or for more information, visit

YEREVAN HOSTS SEMINAR ON EU-ARMENIA FREE TRADE AREA TALKS

PanARMENIAN.Net
July 20, 2012 – 14:55 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – On July 20, EU Advisory Group, in collaboration
with Economy Ministry organized a seminar focusing on challenges and
opportunities in EU-Armenia negotiations on Deep and Comprehensive
Free Trade Area. The seminar aimed at analyzing the opportunities
and challenges on the way to achieving a free trade area with the EU.

As Armenian Economy Minister Tigran Davtyan said, opening the seminar,
“Armenia is ready for a liberal trade regime with all of its trade
partners. Significant progress was reported with CIS states, with a
free trade area agreement signed.”

A ‘zero-round’ preparatory meeting was held in early May followed
by the first stage of EU-Armenia negotiations on Free Trade Area was
held June 19-20 in Brussels, with 2 more planned in Yerevan and the
Belgian capital.

“We believe the talks will be finalized in a short period, enabling
a free trade regime between Armenia and 2 major economy systems-EU
and CIS,” the Minister said.

The Acting Head of the EU Delegation in Armenia Onno Simons, in turn,
added that the agreement finalization depends on the effectiveness
of Armenia-conducted reforms in product safety and phytosanitary,
as well as struggle against corruption.

PASSPORT PROCESS: OFFICIAL SAYS PREVIOUS PROBLEMS HAVE BEEN SOLVED
By Gohar Abrahamyan

ArmeniaNow
20.07.12 | 15:11

At Thursday’s meeting of the Government, Deputy Chief of Armenia’s
Police Arthur Osikyan said that problems that had slowed down the
passport application process have been eliminated, despite a dramatic
increase in the number of requests.

Typically during this time of year, the passport department has
been overwhelmed as people apply for travel documents. One newspaper
reported that the process was being artificially slowed in order to
discourage Armenians from traveling outside the country for holiday.

Police deny any such claim.

According to Osikyan, 171,000 people applied for passport issuance
in the first six months of 2011. This year, the number has reached
201,000.

“Even during non-working days and hours, working shifts have been
organized to serve people. Besides, a new batch of passports has
been received, and therefore this matter can be considered solved,”
Osikyan stated.

Osikyan also reported that, despite expectations, only 800 people have
applied for the new biometric passports. The passports are designed
to include one’s essential identification information, including
fingerprints, and are intended to make foreign travel easier. The
passports have been available since June 1.

THE INTERNATIONAL EXPERT CENTER FOR ELECTORAL SYSTEMS (ICES) OBSERVATION MISSION CONSIDERS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN NKR IN LINE WITH INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS OF ELECTORAL LAW

arminfo
Friday, July 20, 15:42

The International expert Center for Electoral Systems (ICES)
Observation Mission considers presidential election in NKR a
successful democratic act of free expression of the people’s will
meeting international standards of the electoral law. In its report,
ICES Mission registers democratic and competitive fight of candidates,
high turnout and correspondence of the election to the principles
and standards of the international electoral law. All the fundamental
rules ensuring freedom of expression, calculation of votes at polling
stations and summary of the voting result were observed during the
election process. At the same time, the Mission made a point of the
serious commitment of the NKR leadership to democratic and transparent
elections. For that purpose, a big number of international observers
from the U.S., Europe and Asia were invited to the country. Dr. Laszlo
Kemeny Professor of political science (Hungary), a member of ICES
Observation Mission outlined three key moments characterizing
the presidential election in NKR. He thinks that NKR has proved
the world that it is a recognized country as its people recognize
it. Elections showed that the people of Nagorno Karabakh do not need
external assessment and have no intention to defer to the interests
of foreign superpowers that try to protect their own interests in the
region. The second factor is that the NKR people demonstrated high
activity. High turnout means that the people feel high responsibility
for their country and ready to protect it both with lethal force and
through voting for their leader. The third moment is that presidential
contenders will work together irrespective of the voting result. The
members of the Mission highlighted that NKR exists as a country
and NKR people are building their life on the basis of democratic
processes and procedures independently of international recognition.

ARMENIA AND NKR ARE DIFFERENT WORLDS – FORMER PM – NEWSPAPER

news.am
July 20, 2012 | 08:56

YEREVAN. – In an interview with Irates De Facto newspaper, opposition
Armenian National Congress MP and former PM Hrant Bagratyan, who is
in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR)-or Artsakh-on an observation
mission for the NKR presidential elections on Thursday, noted that he
visited the polling stations of the four villages of NKR’s Martakert
Region and he did not see any violations.

‘”We spoke with the opposition candidate’s proxies, they did not point
to [any] problems connected with the [voting] lists, election bribe,
[and] pressuring,’ the former PM said, and added that the Artsakh
elections have no common ground for comparison with Armenia’s recent
[parliamentary] elections.

‘They are different worlds. It’s impossible to compare. Here [in the
NKR] no one is complaining about the voting lists, election bribe,’ the
opposition figure said. ‘Perhaps the reason is the military situation,
which unites the people, perhaps it’s the Artsakh people’s character,'”
Irates De Facto quotes Hrant Bagratyan as saying.

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY SHOULD BE INTERESTED IN HAVING TIES WITH NKR’S ELECTED AUTHORITIES – ARMENIAN FM

news.am
July 20, 2012 | 12:29

YEREVAN. – Thursday’s free, fair, and competitive presidential
elections in Nagorno-Karabakh, or Artsakh, bespeak the latter’s
authorities’ and people’s allegiance to democracy and the rule of law,
Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian told Armenpress News
Agency.

“The presence of several dozen international observers-according to
whom the elections were conducted in organized fashion, transparently,
[and] in keeping with international standards-in the elections is
welcoming.

I do not believe any democratic country could dispute the need for and
importance of forming a government by way of democratic elections.

Naturally, the international community should be interested in having
ties with the authorities elected by the people of Nagorno-Karabakh,
especially since this is envisioned by the mandate of holding the OSCE
Minsk Conference.

With these elections, the people of Artsakh yet again proved their
determination to control their destiny through democracy,” Armenia’s
FM stated.

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.