Author: Kanayan Tamar

MPS DISPLEASED WITH RUSSIAN FM’S SOME STATEMENTS

News.Az
Fri 06 April 2012 12:24 GMT | 13:24 Local Time

Several MPs have commented on statements made by Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov during his visit to Baku.

MP Gudrat Hasanguliyev noted that Russia also participated in the
occupation of Azerbaijani lands, Gun.Az reported.

However, Speaker Ogtay Asadov reminded that Russia was one of the
co-chairs of the OSCE Minks Group, and with the initiative of the
Russian president alone, Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents met 10
times a year.

MP Zahid Oruj touched upon the statement of Lavrov made in Armenia.

“Sergey Lavrov said in Armenia that the Karabakh people would determine
the fate of the Nagorno-Karabakh. This statement cannot skip the
attention. Armenia has adopted a law on Karabakh. We should also
adopt a similar law in order to remove the notion of “Karabakh people”.

Speaker Asadov invited Oruj to design such bill. “Then, design such
bill, if you can!”

ARMENIA’S ELECTIONS DIFFER FROM RUSSIA’S – POLITICAL EXPERT

news.am
April 06, 2012 | 14:35

YEREVAN. – Armenia’s elections differ from Russia’s elections,
and they are a very important test for Armenia, capital Yerevan’s
Regional Studies Center Director Richard Giragosian said during a
press conference on Friday.

“The [Armenian parliamentary] elections in May must register a serious
improvement from the previous elections. President Serzh Sargsyan’s
and PM Tigran Sargsyan’s personal promises must become a reality,”
Giragosian stated and added: “This is a challenge and a test for
Armenia’s authorities. This is also an opportunity to move forward
and to show that the promises are being kept.”

As per the analyst, elections are not just voting on election day,
but, also, raising the level of political discussions.

“LAND AND CULTURE” TO IMPLEMENT NEW PROGRAMS IN SYUNIK

ARMENPRESS
APRIL 6, 2012
KAPAN

KAPAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. French “Land and Culture” organization
this year will carry out programs in Syunik Region. The council of
the organization has already approved the plans, which will launch
as soon as the weather gets warmer. Young volunteers from Diaspora
will participate in the program.

Head of the Historical. Environment Protection Service of Syunik
province Astghik Hakobyan told Armenpress that this year comprehensive
and deep studies are going to be conducted in Sisian district
Angeghakot village Cemetery dated to 5 century; Vardan Mamikonyan
grave is possible to be there.

Next project will implement the works carried out still in two years
time in Goris St. Hripsime church. This project is implemented jointly
with Goris sister city Vienne in France.

Another project will enable the organizers to reconstruct Spitak
Khach Cemetery of Yeghvard village.

The organization has future plans connected with Kapan district
Shikahogh village church. Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine will
partially finance the project.

VIOLINIST JACK GLATZER PERFORMS ARMENIAN COMPOSER’S WORK IN TAOS

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 6, 2012 – 14:40 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Violinist Jack Glatzer, famous for soloing with the
Dallas Symphony at age 14, performed a concert in Taos, New Mexico,
U.S., on April 6, according to The Taos News.

His repertoire included the work of Armenian-American composer
Alan Hovhaness, whose music Glatzer describes as influenced by
Middle-Eastern elements, from the Islamic to the Jewish. Glatzer
also played Isaac Albeniz, whose folk music-inspired pieces include
Sephardic melodies, and whose “Asturias” is usually played on guitar,
although written for piano. And, Glatzer added, he could rarely resist
including the music of Italy.

Glatzer now lives in Portugal, and reckons he has played in 50
countries during his 40 years traveling the world.

RPA-BHP WAR: SHOOTING

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 10:25:35 – 06/04/2012

On April 6, at 7am, Samson Poghosyan who has been set free on probation
some recently and Republican Nahapet Gevorgyan’s son were witnessed
in a scuffle with the parliamentary candidate Meruzhan Mkhoyan. After
the scuffle, Meruzhan Mkhoyan left for his home town, Hoktember,
and continued the quarrel.

Witnesses say there was a shooting, wounding an unidentified person,
who was hospitalized. The victim is thought to be Samson Poghosyan’s
brother.

Samson Poghosyan was arrested for an attempt on Member of Parliament
Rustam Gasparyan, member of Prosperous Armenia Party, and was sentenced
to 8.5 years in prison and was set free a month ago.

Yesterday, according to witnesses, Arayik Alexanyan, chief of Armavir
inspectorate of the Ministry of Urban Planning who participates in
PAP election campaign, was severely beaten up by a group led by Samson
Poghosyan in Armavir.

ARMENIAN-AMERICAN POLICE DETECTIVE AWARDED $150K IN DISCRIMINATION CASE

epress.am
04.06.2012

A jury on Thursday awarded an Armenian American police detective
$150,000 for claims that he faced on-the-job discrimination and
harassment because of his ethnicity, his attorney said, the Glendale
News-Press reports.

The detective who filed the lawsuit, Steve Karagiosian, testified
in Los Angeles County Superior Court that detectives and sergeants
in the police department regularly used derogative terms – such as
“towel heads” – in referring to Armenians.

The decision comes two weeks after a jury awarded former Burbank
Police Deputy Chief William Taylor nearly $1.3 million based on
claims that he was fired in retaliation for refusing to sign off on
the terminations of minority officers and for raising concerns about
how a sexual harassment incident was being handled.

“The Burbank Police Department has been proven to have ethnic
harassment within its department,” said Karagiosian’s attorney,
Solomon Gresen, after the jury’s verdict came in. “Det. Karagiosian had
complained for years and the jury’s verdict should demonstrate to the
city that this is a problem that needs to be immediately addressed.”

Named “Officer of the Year” in 2007, Karagiosian is still employed
with the department. The lawsuit, Gresen said, was not about economic
damages.

And even with the jury coming down on his side, Gresen said his client
feared the verdict would create a whole new set of problems back at
the department.

“Mr. Karagiosian is gratified that the jury found in his favor, but
fears retaliation from the city attorney’s office and the Burbank
Police Department,” Gresen said.

While the jury must still make determinations on more specific
questions, Burbank City Atty. Amy Albano said the city was disappointed
with the verdict.

“What was interesting in the verdict, is that the amount awarded was
reduced,” Albano said, noting that the amount was lower that than
the suggested $225,000 because the jury felt Karagiosian could have
avoided some of the damages because some of the incidents were not
reported to the city.

“The city takes issues of harassment very seriously,” Albano said.

“When we are informed, we take appropriate action. That was done in
this case. If not informed about an issue of harassment, the city is
not able to take an action.”

Jurors deliberated Karagiosian’s case for about a day before delivering
a verdict.

“I think it’s appalling the city has spent millions of dollars in
defense costs to deny these claims when they could’ve spent far less
in training and dispute resolution and they would have already fixed
the problem,” Gresen said.

“We didn’t ask for $25 million,” Gresen added. “Why is the city
spending millions to defeat a $225,000 claim? It’s a horrible use of
taxpayers’ money.”

Karagiosian was one of five former and current officers in the
lawsuit. The part of the case involving Officer Cindy Guillen is
expected to start May 2.

The three other officers were dropped from the lawsuit, although
there is a separate case pending in federal court.

ARMENIAN COMMUNISTS SURE TO HAVE SEATS IN NEXT PARLIAMENT

news.am
April 04, 2012 | 16:51

YEREVAN. – The Communist Party of Armenia will hold meetings with
the voters in all the regions, the First Secretary of the Party Ruben
Tovmasyan said at a press conference on Wednesday.

According to him, the internet survey revealed that the party may
receive over 11% of votes.

“The ideas of the communism are not dead. The state should be returned
to the workers, while the farmers should not be slaves of their own
land. The nation is sick and tired of the incumbent authorities,”
Tovmasyan said adding the party has another mottos, including “Let
us return the authority and wealth to nation” and “Nation wins if
Communists win”.

The Communist Party of Armenia is running for the parliament jointly
with the Progressive United Communist Party.

In the period of Armenia’s independence the party was presented in
the parliament in 1991-2003. Ruben Tovmasyan is first secretary of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia. The party’s mottos
are ‘Nation wins if Communists win’ and ‘Socialism, homeland, victory.’

The party’s proportional list includes 75 names.

ANCA: TURKEY CAN’T BRIBE U.S. INTO SILENCE

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 4, 2012 – 13:38 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Both Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan
and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu have developed the bad habit of
taking for granted continued American support for Armenian Genocide
denial, Executive Director of Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA) said.

“Having exported their own Article 301 gag-rule to Washington,
Turkish authorities think that they can forever bully and bribe the
United States into silence on this human rights issue. Thankfully,
neither Erdogan nor Davutoglu – or for that matter Secretary
Clinton – has a vote in the U.S. Congress. It’s up to the elected
representatives of the American people to reject foreign pressure,
reaffirm American values, and reflect the views of U.S. citizens
by passing the Armenian Genocide Resolution,” Aram Hamparian told
PanARMENIAN.Net when commenting on U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton’s statement noting that the “Armenian Genocide resolution
won’t be put on America’s foreign policy agenda this year.”

Earlier, Hillary Clinton met with Turkish PM Erdogan and FM Davutoglu
in the framework of the Friends of Syria conference in Istanbul. The
Turkish officials stressed “the need to stop annual submittal of
Armenian Genocide resolutions to the U.S. Congress on the eve of
April 24.”

According to Turkish media reports, Clinton stressed that “the issue
bears sensitive character for Turkey and that such a resolution won’t
be put on U.S. agenda this year.”

On March 20, U.S. Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL)
introduced legislation, S.Res.399, calling upon the U.S. government
to properly recognize the Armenian Genocide and to use the lessons
of this atrocity to prevent future crimes against humanity.

“It is time for the United States to join the nineteen nations
including Belgium, Canada, France, Italy and the European Union
that have formally recognized the actions carried out by the Ottoman
Empire from 1915 to 1923 as genocide,” Senator Menendez said. “The
Armenian Genocide is a historical fact and was one of the incidents
upon which the Genocide Convention was predicated. Only by accurately
acknowledging the crimes of the past can we ever hope to move forward
in a legitimate manner and prevent such human rights crimes from
happening in the future.”

“The Armenian Genocide is well-documented and formally recognized by
11 NATO allies and the European Union. This resolution accurately
characterizes the events of 1915-1923 as a genocide, honors the
memory of the victims, and strengthens America’s moral leadership on
human rights and the prevention of mass atrocities around the world,”
said a spokesman for Senator Kirk.

BEYOND LAWS AND SMILE
HAKOB BADALYAN

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 13:31:15 – 04/04/2012

Introducing the new Commander of Police Internal Troops Levon
Yeranosyan, Chief of Police Vova Gasparyan said that he is a military
officer, with a rich experience and he hopes the police troops,
under Yeranosyan’s leadership, will undergo qualitative changes and
will serve for the solution of the issues.

According to the official statement of the police, Vladimir Gasparyan
dwelt on the shortcomings in the police and instructed the staff
to eliminate them in a short period paying major attention to the
healing of the moral-psychological atmosphere and the unconditional
fulfilment of the official duties.

As we know, Levon Yernosyan has moved to the Police from the army,
he was the commander of the Third army corps. Why does Vova Gasparyan
point out his being a military officer and having a rich experience,
considering them in the context of the solution of the issues that
the Police face?

How will the military rich experience of Yeranosyan promote the
qualitative progress in the solution of issues by the police? Against
whom is he going to use his rich experience? The police tasks deal
with the reaction of internal challenges of the country preserving
the public order or restoring the constitutional order.

Does the power see any threats which cause the necessity to appoint
a military officer with “rich military experience and biography”
Chief of Police Internal Forces? Does this mean that the power is
preparing so-called military actions for the police?

In this context, Vova Gasparyan’s observation that it is necessary
to pay major attention to the healing of the moral-physiological
atmosphere of the troops and the fulfilment of the official duties
is interesting.

This is a very noteworthy observation. How is the moral-psychological
state in the troops? Do the troops have moral-psychological problems
after the March 1, 2008 when the troops were forced to face the
citizens resulting in 10 deaths, including police officers? Have these
events influenced on the police troops making them think whether using
force and shooting against their citizens of their country is right,
if the citizens don’t pursue anything else but their constitutional
rights.

Will Levon Yeranosyan with his military experience and biography
remove these doubts from the police and inspire the hostile feeling
towards the citizens convincing them that if necessary the police
should do its duties unconditionally.

Police Chief Vova Gasparyan has recently stated that the police should
fulfil its election mission lawfully and smiling. What about the
post-election period? Nothing is said in this connection. Instead, the
law on the state of emergency is rapidly adopted, then a general with
rich military experience is appointed chief of internal police troops.

Interesting, in what frame does all this fit – law or smile?

OUR DELEGATION BOYCOTTS DINNER OFFERED BY MEJLIS CHAIRMAN IN BAKU

12:25 . 04/04

In Baku Armenian delegation yesterday boycotted the dinner offered
by the Azerbaijani Mejlis and didn’t participate in it.

To recall, after the rough expressions by Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev in address of Armenians in his speech during the Euronest
plenary session, the situation became tense. As we informed yesterday,
Armenian delegation head Vahan Hovhannisyan responded to Aliyev.

After the session the security of our delegation was strengthened
and the local mass media were prohibited to get into contact with
our delegation.

The Armenian delegation will return to Armenian today.