Author: Kanayan Tamar

ECONOMYPRESIDENT: FAVORABLE INVESTMENT ENVIRONMENT IS CREATED IN NAGORNO KARABAKH

/ARKA/
NOVEMBER 21, 2011
Stepanakert

STEPANAKERT, November 21. /ARKA/. Favorable investment environment
is created in Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Karabakhi President Bako
Sahakyan said Sunday at a gala event held as part of Telethon-2011
in Los Angeles.

This environment, he said, makes it possible to establish business
ties with well-known international companies.

“I have already said that Artsakh (Karabakh) is on the stable
development track now,” the president’s press office quoted him as
saying. “And these are not mere words. Our reforms have produced stable
economic growth that significantly exceeds past years’ indicators.”

Sahakyan also said that bribery and corruption have been rooted out
from some areas thanks to consistent efforts.

Pargev Martirosyan, head of Armenian Apostolic Church’s Artsakh
Diocese, Grigor Hovhannisyan, consul general of Armenia in Los Angeles,
David Babayan, chief of the Nagorno-Karabakh president’s press office,
Robert Avetisyan, permanent representative of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
in the United States and Canada, as well as clerics, politicians,
representatives of various organizations and benefactors from Armenian
communities overseas were present at the event.

BAKO SAHAKYAN: ARTSAKH ON ITS WAY TO STABLE DEVELOPMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
November 21, 2011 – 14:58 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – On November 20, President of Artsakh Republic
Bako Sahakyan partook in Telethon – 2011 Gala dinner party where he
delivered a speech.

As the President noted, Artsakh is currently on the path of stable
development. “Reforms fulfilled allowed a stable economic growth
that substantially exceeds the indices of the previous years. Due to
large-scale activities in a number of spheres we eliminated bribery
and corruption. We have created a favorable investment climate that
provides an opportunity to establish mutually beneficial partner
relations with leading international companies,” NKR leader stated,
noting water issue among the most crucial in Artsakh.

Primate of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church
Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan, consular general of the Republic
of Armenia in Los Angeles Grigor Hovhannisyan, head of the central
information department of the office of Artsakh Republic President
David Babayan, NKR permanent representative to USA and Canada Robert
Avetisyan, spiritual leaders, representatives of political forces,
representatives of Diaspora organizations and philanthropists attended
the event.

HEAD OF EU DELEGATION COMPLETES HIS MISSION IN ARMENIA

armradio.am
21.11.2011 18:15

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan received the head of the EU Delegation
to Armenia, Ambassador Raul de Luzenberger, who is completing his
mission in our country. Tigran Sargsyan noted that great was the
contribution of the Ambassador to the reinforcement and deepening of
Armenia-EU relations.

“Today we have registered great progress on that way. Your advices
and proposals have always been useful to us,” the Prime Minister said.

Hailing the cooperation with the Armenian authorities throughout his
mission, Raul de Luzenberger noted that “Armenia has the political
will to implement reforms in the country. He expressed willingness
to continue to cooperate with Armenian counterparts to contribute to
the further deepening of Armenia-EU ties.

MASHTOTS DIVISION OF THE PASSPORT AND VISA DEPARTMENT OF THE RA POLICE RENOVATED

ARMENPRESS
NOVEMBER 22, 2011
YEREVAN

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, accompanied by the Chief of the
Police Vladimir Gasparyan visited Mashtots division of the Passport
and Visa Department of the RA Police and got acquainted with the
created conditions and activity after its reconstruction.

Speaking to reporters, Norayr Muradkhanyan, head of the mentioned
department, said that for providing civilized, effective and
transparent services to the citizens, the department acquired new
computers. Electronic terminal accepting administrative fines, other
payments has also been placed.

As a result of the reforms the level of services will increase and
the corruption risks will be eliminated. The renovation and upgrading
of the department has been done by the state budget funds provided to
the RA police. About 59 million 642 thousand AMD were totally invested.

This year passport departments of Nor Nork and Ashtarak have been
reconstructed. Avan’s passport service is also expected to be
reconstructed by December 10.

HERITAGE LEADER CALLS FOR PRESIDENT’S EFFORTS TO ENSURE FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS

Tert.am
21.11.11

The leader of the opposition Heritage party, Raffi Hovhannisyan has
sent an official letter to the president, calling for urgent measures
to ensure free and fair elections in Armenia.

As important steps towards achieving that objective, the Heritage
leader particularly calls upon Serzh Sargsyan and other government
officials to resign as chairmen of different universitites’ trusteeship
boards and depoliticize universities’ student councils.

He further calls for withdrawing all the offices of the ruling
Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) from the territory of municipalities
and other local-self-government offices across Armenia, and removing
the RPA’s logo from those buildings and other institutions considered
public property (houses of culture, universities, schools etc).

Hovhannisyan demands the president’s strong measures to ban
party-oriented campaigns and political events in secondary schools,
and allow only the distribution of manuals educating students on
their civil rights.

The Heritage leader also calls for banning pro-Republican campaigns
at the presidential office.

As further measures to hold free and fair elections, Hovhannisyan
proposes, among other things, banning intimidations and pressures
against citizens in an attempt to restrict their constitutional
right to vote freely, and ensuring equal competition (including equal
funding) for all candidates running for election.

Sonya Orfalian alla Casa del Cinema di Roma

Casa del Cinema, Sala Kodak – Largo Marcello Mastroianni, 1 – Roma

MARTEDI’ 22 NOVEMBRE 2011 – h. 15.00 / 18.00

Nell’ambito del MedFilm Festival che si svolge a Roma dal 19 al 27
novembre p.v.,Sonya Orfalianprenderà parte alla “Giornata delle
Letterature Mediterranee” intervenendo nel corso di un incontro a più
voci assieme all’egiziano Magdy El Shafee (autore di”Metro”, il
graphic novelvietato in Egitto per la sua provocatoria critica al
regime), al poeta tunisino Jalel El Gharbi e ai giornalisti Giorgio
Vasta e Imma Vitelli. L’incontro si terrà presso la Sala Kodak della
Casa del Cinema di Roma, dalle ore 15 alle 18.

APA, Azerbaijan
Nov 19 2011

International Crisis Group: `New variants and alternatives on the
solution of Nagorno Karabakh conflict have to be considered’

[ 19 Nov 2011 11:49 ]

Baku. Victoria Dementeva – APA. The international community and
countries which have been involved in the peace process need to make
sure the two sides take a calm approach to the situation on the
ground, which is very fluid, which could be destabilized at any time.

Having said that, the status quo, with a significant portion of Azeri
lands occupied by Armenian forces, is not sustainable in the long run.
So in addition to short term steps to stabilize the situation, we need
to be looking at various alternatives and how to move forward without
disturbing the process that has been going on for 17 years. So if that
means stepping out of the box a bit and looking at alternatives which
haven’t been put forward previously, new approaches, this is what we
have to do. The status quo as it is now is not sustainable in the long
run, said the Crisis Group’s South Caucasus Project Director Lawrence
Sheets.

According to him, there were great hopes that the summit hosted in
Kazan, Russia, in June of this year by President Medvedev of Russia,
which included the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, could lead to
a breakthrough after 17 years of talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan
over the Nagorno-Karabakh question: `Unfortunately, we’ve not seen a
breakthrough, and the ongoing Minsk Group peace process over the last
17 years has slowed down dramatically. In addition, you have what is
essentially an arms race between the various sides, bellicose
rhetoric, ongoing military contingency plans, ongoing military
contingencies, and all this has raised the temperature between the
various sides’.

Speaking about possible restoration of Turkey, Iran and Azerbaijan
military operations he noted: `Our apprehension is that any new
conflict would not simply be a conflict between Azerbaijan and
Armenia. It could turn into a conflict involving regional actors. For
one thing, this is because of the existence of security obligations
between, on the one hand, the Russian Federation and Armenia, and on
the other hand, Turkey and Azerbaijan, which cooperate closely on
military and security matters. Iran, of course, shares a long border
with both Armenia and Azerbaijan. It’s unpredictable as to what extent
or how Iran could become involved, but obviously a conflict on its
borders would be hard for Iran to totally ignore’.

He also noted that, the two sides had far more weaponry than they did
in 1994, both offensive and defensive.

Turkish Cyprus-based Sourp Magar Armenian monastery on verge of destruction

November 20, 2011 – 17:04 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Through woeful neglect by the ‘authorities’ of
Turkish part of Cyprus, Armenian monastery of Sourp Magar,
1,000-year-old treasure and sacred pilgrimage site could soon fall
into rubble and succumb to nature, vandals and the swathes of litter
and used toilet paper that mar the area, Patrick Dewhurst said in his
article titled `A slice of history left to crumble.’

Nestled deep in the Plataniotissa forest SourpMagar is thought to have
been founded by Coptic Christians in memory of Saint Makarios the
Hermit of Alexandria in around 1,000 AD.

By 1425 it came into the ownership of the Armenian Church, becoming a
popular pilgrimage site and retreat for those en route to the Holy
Land, and by the time the Ottomans arrived it had taken on the name
`Blue Monastery’ after the colour of its wooden shutters.

Back then, pilgrims would have trudged through nearly 8,500 donums of
monastery owned olives groves from sea level to an altitude of 530m.

Its last use as a working monastery is thought to be around 1800,
after which it fell into a variety of alternate uses, including a
school, a safe house for Armenian refugees fleeing Ottoman massacres
in the 1890s, a summer camp for scouts and then, after the 1974
invasion, a mess for invading Turkish officers and refuge for
settlers.

Were any ancient Armenians to make the long hike today, however, they
would be surely be horrified by what it has become.

Asked about funding, Armenian community leader Vartkes Mahdessian
said: `There is no funding for SourpMagar monastery because it is
outside of our parameters, and in our thinking, the church in Nicosia
was more of an inter-communal place.’

The Armenian community has reached out to ‘authorities’ in the north
in the past, but, as Mahdessian says, funding was the key issue: `We
tried but they didn’t have the money. There is virtually nothing left
there and the problem we now face is how to maintain what is left,’
Cyprus Mail reported.

European Court rules in favor of a family evicted from home because of
a disputable construction project in the center of Yerevan

arminfo
Saturday, November 19, 22:07

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the Government of
Armenia should pay 18,500 EUR to Hovhannes Hovhannisyan and his family
evicted from their home as a result of a disputable construction
project in the center of Yerevan.

The Hovhannisyans were evicted from their house in Dec 2005 after
refusing to leave it for a $10,500 compensation.

According to the Court, that decision was contrary to the European
Convention on Human Rights.

The Hovhannisyans are the third family in Armenia to have received an
additional compensation following the European Court’s verdict. 20
more families are waiting for response.

AZERBAIDJAN
CH/Azerbaïdjan : Doris Leuthard évoque le projet d’oléoduc TAP à Bakou

La sécurité future de la Suisse en matière d’approvisionnement en gaz
naturel et en pétrole a été lundi au coeur des entretiens entre la
conseillère fédérale Doris Leuthard et les autorités azéries. En
visite officielle à Bakou, la cheffe du DETEC a évoqué le projet
d’oléoduc transadriatique TAP impliquant la société suisse EGL.

La cheffe du Département fédéral de l’environnement, des transports,
de l’énergie et de la communication (DETEC) s’est entretenue à propos
de TAP (Trans Adriatic Pipeline) avec le président d’Azerbaïdjan Ilham
Aliyev et les ministres azéris de l’énergie et de l’industrie, ont
indiqué ses services dans un communiqué.

Elle était notamment accompagnée par le directeur du Laboratoire
fédéral d’essai des matériaux et de recherches, Gian-Luca Bona, et le
directeur de l’Institut Paul Scherrer, Joël Mesot. La délégation
comprenait également des représentants des milieux économiques.

Berne et Bakou ont examiné les possibilité d’intensifier à l’avenir
leur collaboration dans le cadre de projets énergétiques concrets.

Les échanges entre les deux pays se sont déjà intensifiés depuis la
signature en 2007 d’un `Memorandum of Understanding`, qui a pour
objectif de faciliter la coopération et les investissements des
entreprises privées des deux pays dans le secteur de l’énergie.

GROSSE CONCURRENCE

Le projet TAP devrait permettre de faire transiter dès 2017 jusqu’à
dix milliards de mètres cubes par année de gaz de l’Azerbaïdjan vers
l’Italie en passant par la Turquie, la Grèce et l’Albanie. Il est
actuellement en concurrence avec quatre grands projets
d’infrastructures d’approvisionnement du gaz vers l’Europe.

L’entreprise zurichoise Electricité de Laufenbourg (EGL), filiale
d’Axpo, ainsi que le groupe pétrolier norvégien Statoil et le groupe
gazier allemand E.On-Rhurgras sont impliqués dans ce projet. Depuis le
1er octobre dernier, date d’échéance pour la remise des dossiers de
candidature, le consortium azéri Shah Deniz étudie TAP.

Le consortium, qui regroupe plusieurs entreprises commerciales,
exploite aujourd’hui le gisement stratégique du même nom en
Azerbaïdjan.

ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES

D’autres possibilités de collaboration faisant appel au savoir-faire
suisse en matière d’énergies renouvelables et d’efficacité énergétique
ont également été abordées lundi à Bakou.

dimanche 20 novembre 2011,
Stéphane ©armenews.com