Author: Kalantarian Kevo

LE PARTI ORINATS YERKIR ACCUSE LE HHK D’AVOIR ACHETE DES VOTES
Laetitia

armenews.com
mercredi 30 mai 2012

Un depute du parlement du parti Orinats Yerkir, un partenaire de la
coalition au pouvoir de l’Armenie, a accuse le parti Republicain au
pouvoir (HHK) d’avoir achete des votes pour remporter les elections
parlementaires.

” Vous savez très bien qui a donne et qui a pris des pots de vin “,
a declare aux journalistes Ishkhan Khachatrian, pointant du doigt
les forces politiques qui ont obtenu plus de voix. Khachatrian a pris
soin cependant de ne pas attaquer explicitement le HHK. ” Je n’accuse
personne “, a-t-il dit. Nous ne savons pas si ces remarques reflètent
la position officielle du parti.

La presidente du parti, Heghine Bisharian, a allegue que l’achat de
voix a ete largement repandue dans une interview accordee a RFE /
RL la semaine dernière.

Selon les resultats officiels des elections, Orinats Yerkir a remporte
5,4% du vote, juste assez pour entrer dans la nouvelle Assemblee
nationale dans le cadre du système de representation proportionnelle.

Il aura 6 sièges dans la legislature sur 131. Les Republicains ont
remporte 69 sièges tandis que le BHK en a 37.

Un membre du HHK, Hovannes Sahakian, a nie les accusations du parti
Orinats Yerkir. ” Ces forces politiques qui ont certains problèmes
en termes de nombre de voix … se referent a des pots de vin parce
que nous savons tous que l’achat de voix est une violation qui est
extremement difficile a prouver “, a declare Sahakian a declare a RFE /
RL .

FRENCH ARMENIAN DEEMS THE ACTIVITIES OF “HAYASTAN” ALL ARMENIAN FUND EXCELLENT

ARMENPRESS
30 May, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MAY , ARMENPRESS: The Diaspora wants to contribute to the
booming of Armenian and Artsakh. “Hayastan” All Armenian Fund enables
a chance to Diaspora entrepreneurs to become the participants in
homogenous events.

The member of the Board of Trustees Petros Terzyan had a briefing
with the journalists, Armenpress reports. “I have been involved in the
works of the Fund from the very first day of its establishment. It is a
unique cooperation between the Diaspora and Armenia” Terzyan concluded.

In the words of the interlocutor other nations have few examples of
Fund or do not have either.” Currently the results are vivid. We have
carried out hundreds of projects. Surely there is still a great deal of
work to be done taking into account the needs of Armenia and Karabkah.

Whereas thousands of people are attending the schools built by the
Fund, make use of the pipelines and charity programs established by
the means of the Fund” Terzyan concluded.

LIEBERMAN: EUROPEAN STATES TO UNDERTAKE MEASURES TO RESTRAIN TURKEY

Panorama.am
30/05/2012

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday in a meeting
with German President Joachim Gauck that despite Turkey’s vicious
tongue-lashing against Israel over the past few years, Jerusalem has
been behaving with “maximum restraint toward the Turkish provocations,”
Haaretz report said.

Lieberman added that despite Israel’s restraint, it will not allow
its officers and soldiers to be terrorized, for they acted completely
justifiably and in accordance with international law, as was also
determined by the UN’s international investigatory committee into
the Gaza flotilla.

“Israel will continue behaving responsibly and will not be drawn into
counter-provoking (Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip) Erdogan, out
of a care for peace and stability in the Middle East,” said Lieberman.

ARMENIA’S HISTORY CONTINUES TO BE DESTROYED

The Mashdots market

Yesterday I learned that the market at the end of Mashdots Street,
which is a historical landmark, was slated to be demolished. But today
on News.am, I saw a photo of the rear of the building completely
destroyed. The photo and story were published late Monday morning
(on Independence day of the First Republic). Hetq reported that
Yerevan Mayor Taron Markarian said the recent work undergone was
not authorized.

Two weeks ago while walking by the building I noticed that a steel
fence had been erected around the entrance of the building. I thought
that meant it was going to be restored since there are renovation
projects of building exteriors citywide. Turns out that the building
was sold to the oligarch and Republican member of parliament, Samvel
Alexanyan who is infamous for controlling a monopoly on sugar and
flour imports, gouging consumers, and selling inferior vodka as
genuine at high prices in his City Yerevan supermarkets, which are
popping up all over the place. He wants to convert the market into yet
another gigantic supermarket and destroy it in the process (he says
otherwise). People are already starting to protest the demolition
but it will take a lot of mobilization to stop him from completely
taking the market down, although the Ministry of Culture insists
that somehow the architecture will be preserved. Sounds a bit empty
considering that half the building is gone.

Questions begged to be asked: Who approved the sale of a historical
landmark and who was consulted before the building was sold? Did
the transaction occur in secret? If not, was there any movement to
stop the sale in the first place? Why weren’t concerned citizens
investigating the reason for the market’s closure, especially the
sellers? Who else knew about what was planned for the market, and
why wasn’t it discussed beforehand? Why didn’t the press break the
news sooner, long before the building was damaged beyond repair?

All sorts of unique architecture across Yerevan are being dismantled
without warning. Several years ago the Youth Sports complex and guest
house that was situated at the top of Abovyan Street on the hill
there was dismantled to construct a luxury hotel, which was never
built because the developer went bust apparently. About two years ago
a new hotel project was announced by the Armenian government with the
backing of a Japanese investment firm on the same site. Although the
area has been cleared, nothing is being built on the location. About
95 percent of Old Yerevan in the city center has already been wiped
off the face of the earth and there’s no telling when the remaining
buildings – all architectural masterpieces – will be raised.

In Armenia, there is no system of checks and balances, and there
doesn’t seem to be anyone with any ethical standards working in
government. Even when citizens do catch word about something about
to go drastically wrong, they don’t talk about it until it’s too late.

Then these same people complain that the country is not a country,
the laws don’t work, etc. There needs to be accountability. No one, no
matter how wealthy or “powerful” they are, should be allowed to touch
any historical landmark without the public being informed beforehand.

In this case, since the Ministry of Culture is making promises about
the market’s final transformation not being as bad as it seems,
Minister Hasmik Poghosyan, a Republican, is complicit in letting the
sale go through (so is Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian, yet another
Republican for that matter).

Petty carelessness, whimsical power wielding, and defeatism are
bringing the downfall upon the Republic of Armenia. This is applicable
to virtually all large-scale business projects sponsored by the
government or those with close ties to it. If those in power continue
to do whatever they wish without being held accountable for their
actions, Armenian citizens will have no one to blame but themselves.

AZERBAIJAN ATTEMPTS TO GAIN FAVOR OF WEST-EXPERT

news.am
May 30, 2012 | 03:47

YEREVAN. – Azerbaijan has been attempting to display itself as a
defender of interests of the West in the region, Armenian expert David
Jamalyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am commenting on the report in the
foreign outlets that Syrian rebels get weapon supply from Azerbaijan
as well.

According to the expert, the fact, which testifies for Azerbaijani
aspirations to run favorable policy for the West is due to deteriorated
relations with Iran and the high rental price for the Gabala military
radar station for Russia.

“These attempts are linked to the legitimization of the clan of the
Aliyevs. In this context, assistance to the Syrian rebels is not
ruled out in order to be liked by the West and show its pro-western
attitude. Taking into account the close relations between Azerbaijan
and Israel, it is quite logical,” he said adding earlier the Aliyevs
purchased their legitimacy through energy supplies, however, as
natural resources run out, an alternative way is necessary to show its
‘sympathy’ to the West.

LUC DEVIGNE: WE HOPE, ARMENIA WILL BE FULLY READY TO SIGN THE AGREEMENT

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 13:17:29 – 30/05/2012

The first stage of negotiations on Armenia-European Union free trade
agreement is scheduled on June 19-20 in Brussels, said the deputy
minister of economy Garegin Melkonyan, who is the negotiator from
the Armenian party.

Prior to this, the 11th session of the RoA-EU trade, economic and
legal issue subcommittee is held in Yerevan with the participation
of an EU delegation headed by the Luc Devigne Head of Intellectual
Property & Public Procurement of the European Union.

Issues to be included into the free trade agreement package are
discussed concerning cooperation in different spheres, improvement of
the competition conditions, foundation of enterprises and other topics.

According to Garegin Melkonyan the European Union is already the main
trade partner of Armenia. 47% of Armenian goods is exported to the
27 countries of the European Union.

Luc Devigne said the start of the negotiations is based on the report
by the European Commission which runs that the Armenian authorities
have done the necessary steps towards reforms. The point is about the
elimination of technical obstacles in the trade sphere and perfection
of the competition and property spheres. We hope, the to-be-formed
government will go on the reforms and Armenia will be fully ready to
sign the agreement, said the European official.

Estonian World Review
May 28 2012

Chicago Summit: NATO Remains AWOL from Europe’s East (1)

Arvamus 28 May 2012 EWR Online

With the salient exception of Georgia, NATO basically ignored its own
immediate eastern neighborhood at NATO’s Chicago summit (May 20-21).
Europe’s East – a `gray zone’ of six countries bordering on NATO and
the EU – faces a deepening security vacuum and Russian re-expansion.
This region is the arena of protracted conflicts (Russia-Moldova,
Russia-Georgia on two fronts, Armenia-Azerbaijan), territorial
occupations, ethnic cleansing, massive Russian military bases
(prolonged in Ukraine and Armenia since 2010 for decades to come), and
failing tests of NATO’s open-door and partnership policies.

NATO seems to treat Europe’s East with benign neglect, which deepens
from one summit cycle to the next; NATO’s policy from Lisbon to
Chicago has confirmed the pattern. NATO/US disengagement and Russian
sphere-of-influence rebuilding are concurrent processes, mutually
reinforcing in this region.

Benign neglect tends to grow deeper and even becomes institutionalized
with the passage of time. In this region, it takes the form of
conceding primary authority on peacekeeping and conflict-mediation to
Russia, which acts within institutional formats that constrain the
West and exclude NATO outright. Except for a fleeting moment in 2002,
NATO has recused itself from a peacekeeping role in its eastern
neighborhood.

At the Chicago summit, NATO again urged all parties to the protracted
conflicts to respect those same institutional formats (meaning: 5+2 in
Moldova, the Geneva format in the case of Georgia, the `Minsk Group’
in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict) despite their ineffectiveness.
This summit’s communiqué called on `all parties to engage
constructively and with reinforced political will in peaceful conflict
resolution.’ Repeating a phrase from earlier communiqués, it declared
that `the persistence of protracted conflicts in [the] South Caucasus
and Moldova continues to be a matter of great concern for the
Alliance.’ But the concern seems to remain at the declaratory level
(Chicago Summit Declaration, May 20).

Overcommitted to failed expeditionary operations in distant theaters,
NATO has no security solution to offer in its eastern neighborhood;
and – as the Chicago summit confirmed – NATO lacks the collective
inclination to provide one. While some NATO partners become security
providers in the region, the Alliance itself has missed the chance to
become an effective security actor in Europe’s East.

Again, with the singular exception of Georgia, others are scaling down
their erstwhile ambitions for closer cooperation with NATO. The
Ukrainian government has regressed from membership aspirant during
Viktor Yanukovych’s first premiership (2002-2004) to staunchly
`non-bloc’ under Yanukovych’s presidency. At the Chicago summit,
Yanukovych limited his role to seeking business opportunities for
Ukraine in the context of NATO’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. He
offered to lease Ukraine’s Soviet-era, heavy-duty transport aircraft
for NATO’s reverse transit, and to repair Soviet-made military
equipment in Ukraine for the Afghan army’s use (UNIAN, May 22).

For its part, Azerbaijan joined the non-aligned movement in 2011 – a
move that precludes NATO membership aspirations, though still allowing
other forms of Azerbaijan-NATO cooperation. In the Karabakh conflict,
Russian-backed Armenia occupies territories of Western-oriented
Azerbaijan. Amid Western indifference to this situation, Azerbaijan
seeks political support among the non-aligned countries. Baku
continues to seek an upgraded individual partnership agreement with
NATO, but the Alliance procrastinates. Azerbaijan is a troop
contributor and a crucial way station for NATO forces operating in
Afghanistan. President Ilham Aliyev attended the Chicago summit in
that context. Armenian President Serzh Sarkisyan, on the other hand,
followed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s example and declined to
attend the summit.

Azerbaijan obtained a degree of satisfaction when the Chicago summit’s
communiqué endorsed Azerbaijan’s `territorial integrity, independence,
and sovereignty’ along with those of Georgia and Moldova (Chicago
Summit Declaration, May 20). This basically restates the formulation
from NATO’s 2010 Lisbon summit communiqué; but the restatement was in
doubt until the last moment, as diplomats involved in the
anachronistic `Minsk process’ sought to change the Lisbon formula to
Azerbaijan’s detriment. Turkey defended Azerbaijan’s interests in the
drafting process (Trend, May 21).

Presidents Dalia Grybauskaite of Lithuania and Traian Basescu of
Romania expressed concern over arms sales by certain Western European
countries to Russia. In their speeches at the Chicago summit,
Grybauskaite and Basescu noted that such arms sales can generate
security risks to NATO allies and partners. Basescu urged NATO to
introduce controls over arms sales by NATO member countries to
non-members (meaning essentially Russia). Such procedures should
involve advance notice to the Alliance and a certification that the
arms sales would not pose additional risks to allies and partners in
the region (BNS, Agerpres, May 21). France is going ahead with the
sale of Mistral-class amphibious assault warships to Russia. On the
eve of the Chicago summit, Italy delivered samples of Centauro tanks
and Iveco armored vehicles to Russia for testing and possible
procurement (RIA Novosti, Gazeta.ru, May 12; Izvestiya, May 16).

History’s most successful alliance seems painfully irrelevant to the
security of its own eastern neighborhood, from Ukraine to the South
Caucasus. Yet, this neighborhood sits astride the Alliance’s vital
energy supply routes to Europe and logistical corridors to Asia.
`Relevance’ is a particularly sensitive word in the NATO lexicon. From
the 1990s onward, NATO leaders serially insisted that NATO remained
`relevant’ and had to prove it. That proof, however, has yet to
materialize in Europe’s East.

Source: Vladimir Socor, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 9 Issue: 99
May 24, 2012

New York Times
May 27 2012

Azerbaijan Delights in Taking the Stage as Eurovision Host

By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Published: May 27, 2012

BAKU, Azerbaijan – Intent on making a flawless debut on the world
stage as the host of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest finals, the
government of Azerbaijan left nothing to chance.

As the big event approached on Saturday night, Baku, the capital of
this small, oil-rich former Soviet republic, went into a veritable
lockdown. Heavily guarded police barriers went up, barring anyone
without a ticket from driving downtown.

Tickets, costing as much as $300, were sold under similarly tight
circumstances – each matched to a passport or other identification
number to prevent scalping and to give the authorities a map of
exactly who would be sitting in each of the 23,000 seats in the new
Crystal Hall arena.

Each morning, city workers made sure every flower bed was perfect and
rubbish swept away. On three afternoons last week, security forces
arrested dozens of protesters seeking to draw attention to human
rights abuses.

But, in the end, even President Ilham Aliyev’s feared security
services proved powerless against the weather. Just as the British
finalist, Engelbert Humperdinck, sang the first note of the first
song, rain burst from the sky.

The downpour did not deter the thousands of people who could not
afford or otherwise snag tickets and who had gathered outdoors to
watch on a jumbo screen set up on the arcing promenade along the
Caspian Sea. Nor were they daunted by the late hour of the event,
which started at midnight here to maximize television viewership
across Europe.

While those in the know rightly predicted that Sweden’s raven-haired
Loreen would win the top prize, many in the giddy crowd said they were
rooting for a repeat victory by Azerbaijan, or Turkey, a cultural
neighbor. The crowd included families with children and hard partyers
wearing helmets built to carry two beer cans. When Sabina Babayeva,
the hometown contestant, took the stage, she prompted a rollicking
chant, `Ah-zer-bai-jan! Ah-zer-bai-jan!’

Russian Grannies Boogie

If Ms. Babayeva had home-field advantage, the overwhelming sentimental
favorite was a troupe of Russian grandmothers called the Buranovskiye
Babushki.

Eurovision is known for its over-the-top kitsch, but, even by its
standards, there was something remarkable about grannies from the
central Russian republic of Udmurtia, not far from where the Ural
Mountains border on Siberia.

The Babushki, with an average age of 75, finished second over all with
a jaunty pop song called `Party for Everybody.’

Wearing head scarves and traditional dresses and coin jewelry, they
bounced up and down, waving their arms, smiling mischievously. They
performed with a steaming oven as a prop on stage, and, at one point
during their stay in Baku, they baked trays of perepechi, a
traditional dish of meat and vegetable tartlets that they served to
the Eurovision press corps.

In Azerbaijan, the grannies, who first appeared in a Russian news
program in 2008, were treated as divas, with a constant security
detail. They stayed at a resort complex outside Baku as guests of Emin
Agalarov, the son of an Azeri-born Russian billionaire, Aras Agalarov.
Emin Agalarov is married to Leyla Aliyeva, the elder daughter of the
country’s president.

The hugely popular Babushki had more interview requests than they
could accommodate, and Russian journalists who interviewed them said
their only request was to stay in a house with running hot water and
no elevators.

Meanwhile, in the Babushki’s remote hometown Buranovo, a Russian
telecommunications company worked round the clock to install an
optical cable for high-speed Internet, Wi-Fi and an interactive,
digital television in the local school, so residents could watch the
Eurovision final.

In the crowd along the Baku waterfront, Latif Dzhangirov, 30, who
lived for a while in Moscow, said the Babushki had his vote. `Sweden
is great,’ Mr. Dzhangirov said. `But our culture has a respect for
older people.’

Elsewhere, Discontent

In Astara, 200 miles south of Baku, near the Iranian border, the dozen
or so men sitting in the dusty heat outside Viki’s Teahouse said they
were getting old before their time, with no jobs and nothing to do.
Eurovision, they said, may be good for the government but had done
nothing for them.

`I don’t care about Eurovision, because they don’t care about me,’
said Shiriyev el-Nur, 35, who said he had spent three years during the
mid-1990s as a soldier for Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia
over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh but who is now
unemployed.

That conflict with Armenia cast a shadow over Eurovision. Armenia
pulled out of the contest, preferring to pay fines rather than
participate with its enemy as host.

Elvin Kerivov, 29, a part-time musician who plays the synthesizer,
said he was glad the roles were not reversed. `It’s better for
Eurovision to be here in Azerbaijan than in Armenia. If Armenia won,
our delegation would have to go to Armenia to sing, which is not good
for our pride.’

Mr. Nur, who has four daughters ages 2 to 9, said he wished the
government would focus more on employment. `Look at us,’ he said. `We
are just drinking tea here because we cannot find a job. They claim
the nation is in good condition, but they do not find any position for
us.’

`Biggest Gay Event’

Eurovision has also been the subject of some tension between
Azerbaijan and Iran, its neighbor to the south, with Iranian Web sites
at one point suggesting that Azerbaijan was planning a gay pride
parade. That was not true, but Eurovision, in fact, does draw huge
numbers of gay fans.

`I think it’s increasingly known as the biggest gay event in the
world,’ said Thomas Molloy, who was in Baku with his partner, Fred
Medeiros, from Chatham, England, attending their fourth Eurovision.

Daniel Motiño Camúñez of the International Network of Fan Clubs of
Eurovision said there was no doubt. `I think it is the glamour, the
glitter, the excitement, the divas,’ he said, adding, `drag-queeny,
tacky stuff.’

Several gay men attending Eurovision said they had found the people of
Baku to be hugely welcoming. `They want to take pictures of us; they
want to hold us,’ Mr. Motiño Camúñez said. `I’m not even blond. The
blonds are having a really hard time with this.’

But not all of the attention has been positive. Michael Duncan, a
journalist who works on Eurovision-related Web sites, said several had
come under repeated hacker attacks with antigay statements posted on
the disrupted sites.

The sun was already up on Sunday when Mr. Molloy and Mr. Medeiros
arrived back at their hotel, exhilarated by Sweden’s victory. Mr.
Medeiros was draped in a huge Swedish flag. Mr. Molloy was wearing a
cowboy hat imprinted with the Azerbaijan flag.

`Next year in Stockholm!’ they said.

Young writers demand termination of construction of restaurant near
Kecharis monastery complex

tert.am
10:43 – 28.05.12

The participants of the 10th conference of young writers released a
statement demanding that the construction of a restaurant complex near
the Kecharis monastery complex be stopped.

The statement addressed to Catholicos of All Armenians, prime
minister, minister of culture, Kotayk governor and Tsakhkadzor mayor
came after the group visited the site and was disappointed to hear the
Armenian restaurant music coming from the partially built complex.

The young writers believe the construction of a restaurant complex
will noticeably devalue the historic significance of the cultural
monument and may have negative impact on the general spiritual and
moral environment of the territory.

`We demand the construction be stopped and expect consistency from the
bodies responsible for it,’ the statement says.

Kecharis is a 11-13th-century monastery, located 60 km from Yerevan,
in the ski resort town of Tsakhkadzor in Armenia. Nestled in the
Bambak mountains, Kecharis was founded by a Pahlavuni prince in the
11th century, and construction continued until the middle of the 13th
century. The main temple, the church of Saint Gregory, is the
monastery’s first structure erected by Grigor Magistros Pahlavuni in
1003. The interior of the temple is divided into three spaces by two
pairs of wall-attached abutments. The central (and largest) space of
the church is crowned by a broad cupola resting on spherical
pendentives. The cupola and pendentives were destroyed by an
earthquake in 1927, and reconstructed in 2000.

The Feat Of The First Republic

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 13:01:26 – 28/05/2012

On May 28, 1918, after centuries without an independent state, the
Armenian people established the First Republic of Armenia. The
establishment of the republic was preceded by the battles in
Sardarapat, Bash-Aparan, Ghalakilisa where the Armenian nation won and
saved itself from extermination.

The National Council of the Democratic Republic of Armenia based in
Tbilisi announced about the establishment of the republic in Tbilisi
and before moving to Yerevan the National Council headed by Aram
Manukyan operated in Tbilisi.

The first government of Armenia was formed on July 24, 1918 headed by Hovhannes

Kajaznuni. Aram Manukyan became the minister of internal affairs,
Alexander Khatisyan was the minister of foreign affairs. On June 21-23
the first parliamentary elections were held in Armenia in which the
ARF Dashnaktsutyun won. They received 72 of 80 parliamentary seats and
ruled for 2.5 years changing 4 governments headed by Kajaznuni,
Alexander Khatisyan, Hamazasp Ohanjanyan and Simon Vrastyan.

During 2.5 years of independence, the Armenian people had to fight
famine and epidemics; it was at war with neighboring Georgians, Turks,
Azeris, as well as Bolsheviks and the Russian Red Army. Finally on
November 29, 1920 the Red Army took the place called Ijevan from
Azerbaijan, and on December 2 Armenia became a Soviet republic. In the
morning of December 3, the Armenian government resigned and signed the
outrageous Armenian-Turkish agreement in Alexandrapol which put an end
to the Armenian-Turkish war but Armenia lost vast territories.

The Russian and Turkish governments destroyed the republic of Armenia
dividing its territories and sealing these territories by the Kars and
Moscow agreements.

Despite a short duration of 2.5 years, the First Republic of Armenia
was one of the greatest victories of the Armenian people, the
expression of the common will and goals.