Author: Kanayan Tamar

Vacant seats in Armenia’s higher schools: ‘student crisis’ or other
factors – opinions

20:08 * 25.07.14

Ashot Bleyan, Director of the Mkhitar Sebastatsi education center,
believes that 13,000 applicants for 17,000 seats in Armenia’s higher
schools is evidence of a “student crisis” in Armenia.

“That is, if there were no entrance examinations this year, all the
applicants would be admitted to higher schools. When you say 4,000
seats are vacant, I say ‘no, more seats are vacant.’ A similar
situation was last year and the previous year. There are some
‘prestigious’ departments – and I am sure they are artificially
created – while we can see a student crisis in Armenia. Hardly any
people want to pay for becoming students. In this case, entrance
examinations make no sense. And there is no need for the Government or
for the Ministry of Education and Science to deal with entrance
examination,” Mr Bleyan told Tert.am.

Ara Ispiryan of the Assessment and Testing Center does not account for
the lack of applicants for government-run higher schools by the higher
schools being in low demand.

“The government approves the number of seats in our higher schools
earlier than they receive applications. This is the reason why the
number of seats has been higher every year,” he said.

Director of Regional College #1 Paruir Santrosyan told Tert.am that
the issue should be viewed from different aspects. According to him,
the 12-year education system caused an increase in the number of
college students at higher schools’ expense.

“The demand for colleges and vocational schools – for professional
education – has been growing for the past 6-7 years. The government
policy changed, with more attention to professional education. People,
particularly parents, have changed their way of thinking as well. They
now prefer professional education, which is less expensive and even
free and does not take much time. After graduating from collages and
vocational schools, their children can start working.”

Missing French citizen contacts police

Friday, July , 201425

French citizen Jean P. who was reported missing since last evening has
just come to the Sevan police station, Armenian Ministry of Emergency
Situations (MES) said.

It was announced earlier that a French citizen went missing near Lake
Sevan in Armenia. According to the press service of MES, citizen K.N.,
a taxi driver, contacted the police on the night of July 25. The man
said that around 3:30 pm on July 24 a French citizen, J. P., asked him
to drive him from Yerevan’s Congress Hotel to Lake Sevan. Leaving his
things in the car, the Frenchman told the driver he would come back in
two hours and made his way to the peninsula, but he didn’t return.
Rescuers were sent to the scene.

TODAY, 15:13
Aysor.am

No special change in attitude to Armenians during Turkey elections – expert

16:00 * 25.07.14

Expert in Turkic studies Hakob Chakryan told reporters on Friday that
the presidential elections do not change the attitude to Armenians in
Turkey.

“In the 21st century, a murderer of an Armenian man feels proud there.
The Armenian community has no special influence on elections. And
elections do not cause any special changes in the attitude to
Armenians in Turkey,” he said.

According to Mr Chakryan, Turkish Premier and presidential candidate
Recep Erdogan will be elected after the first ballot.

“Besides bribery, human rights violations are committed in Turkey, but
Erdogan’s electorate does not care about it. Lower strata mainly
constitute his electorate,” the expert said.

Mr Chakryan cited a number of reasons for Armenians preferring Erdogan.

“Erdogan had a law adopted which prohibited seizure of Armenians’
landed property. Secondly, in contrast to his predecessors, Erdogan
has never made insulting remarks about Armenians.”

As to the statements by Erdogan and US President Barack Obama, the
expert said that Turkey’s policy is an impediment to US policy in the
South Caucasus.

Armenian News – Tert.am

Armenia’s three telecoms pay 21.3 billion drams in taxes for first six months

YEREVAN, July 25. / ARKA /. Armenia’s three telecommunications
companies – ArmenTel, VivaCell-MTS and Orange Armenia – have paid a
total of 21.3 billion drams in various taxes in the first six months
of the year, up from 19.9 billion drams paid in the same time span of
2013, according to the State Revenue Committee’s list of the 1000
largest taxpayers, released today.

According to the official data, some 20 billion drams were collected
by tax authorities, 455.5 million drams by customs authorities and
1.28 billion drams were paid as state duties and other mandatory
payments.

VivaCell-MTS is said to have paid 10.2 billion drams (the second
largest colportage taxpayer for the first half) ArmenTel (trading as
Beeline) paid 8.6 billion drams (4th place) and Orange Armenia paid
2.4 billion drams (18th place).

Overall, the 1000 largest corporate taxpayers paid 325.9 billion drams
in various taxes in the first half, up from 313.7 billion drams paid
in January-June 2013. Topping the list is Armenia’s national natural
gas distributor Gazprom Armenia, which paid 23.9 billion drams against
19.4 billion drams paid in January-June 2013.

ArmenTel is owned fully by Russian Vimpelcom. It provides fixed and
mobile telephony services as well as speedy Internet service.

Orange Armenia is a 100 percent subsidiary of France Telecom and
VivaCell -MTS is owned by Russian Mobile Telesystems (80 percent) and
Lebanese Fattouch Group. ($1 – 406.56 drams). -0-

– See more at:

President speaks against Public Council’s proposal to arm residents of
border villages

Karabakh | 25.07.14 | 14:38

GOHAR ABRAHAMYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

The recent sabotage attempts in Karabakh have given rise to various
opinions suggesting that border village residents should be provided
with weapons. The President, however, does not agree with this.

On Thursday President Serzh Sargsyan met Public Council members and
discussed issues regarding stabilization and safety of border
villages.
Enlarge Photo

Public Council President Vazgen Manukyan, after visiting border
villages recently, mentioned that the local residents should be
provided with weapons.

“We should create subgroups of local residents, people should be
armed, there should be regular trainings,” Manukyan said.
But according to President Sargsyan, there is no point is arming
civilians, because the Armenian Army is capable of providing
protection in provinces, and those who can carry weapons must be in
the army.

“I see no point in handing weapons to village residents, those who can
handle weapons are invited to serve in the Armenian Army, where all
conditions are created, 150,000 AMD (about $370) salary, also some
bonuses – and they serve only half of the month,” the President said.

Armenian Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan on July 17 said that the
question of allowing contract servicemen in Karvatchar to take the
weapons home is under discussion. The Minister said that these steps
are taken in order to enable contract servicemen to react properly in
situations like recent cases of sabotage.

Karvachar-based political analyst Alexander Kananyan on July 16
reflected on the recent events in Karvachar also mentioning that the
border village residents need to be armed.

“Border village residents, especially contract servicemen living
there, must be handed mild weapons – permission to keep the weapons at
home and an unlimited right to carry it in need,” Kananyan said.

Many residents of border villages of Tavush Province also expressed
desire to keep weapons at home, because if need be they will turn to
self-defense, however some think that weapons might become a problem
and cause shooting incidents.

Heads of rural communities in Tavush Province do not see the need in
keeping weapons, either, on the one hand trusting the Army, and on the
other having concerns about weapons bringing undesirable results.

ARMENIE
Des toilettes bio deviennent un sujet de plaisanterie à Tatev

Les deux toilettes biologiques achetés par le gouvernement pour
stimuler le développement du tourisme et placé à côté du monastère de
Tatev et de l’Eglise St Grégoire l’Illuminateur à Erevan, ne
fonctionnent pas.

Le panneau > est attaché dans les toilettes dans la
région du Syunik qui a coûté une fortune aux contribuables – les deux
ont été achetés pour 124 millions de drams (340000 $) et suscite un
intérêt encore plus élevé chez les personnes qui s’approche, l’étudie
et laisser penser >”. Les résidents du village de Tatev
qui gèrent de leurs petites entreprises à côté du monastère expliquent
pourquoi les toilettes n’ont marché que deux jours seulement avant de
s’arrêter.

a-t-il dit. Karine Danielian a dit qu’elle a fait des recherches sur Internet et
n’a pas trouvé de bio-toilettes qui coûterait plus de 1500 $.

>.

Par Gayane Lazarian

ArmeniaNow

vendredi 25 juillet 2014,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com
`254

RUSSIE
Six citoyens arméniens tués dans un accident de la route en Russie

Six citoyens arméniens ont été tués dans un accident de la circulation
jeudi soir dans la région russe d’Oulianovsk a annoncé le service de
presse du Ministère arménien des Situations d’urgence.

Ils ont été tués lorsque leur voiture Lexus a heurté un camion Iveco.
Tous étaient membres de la même famille y compris les enfants.

Les autres membres de la famille ont été emmenés dans un hôpital local
avec diverses blessures.

vendredi 25 juillet 2014,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

Locally Produced Devices Tried Out At Border

Lragir.am
Country – 24 July 2014, 17:59

Over the past year serious work has been done in the armed forces
towards anti-reconnaissance-in-force measures at all the sections of
the border. Aside from personnel training a relevant system of
engineering devices has been created which enables preventing attempts
at penetration, said the minister of defense Seiran Ohanyan in an
interview with Radio Liberty, speaking about border security.

It is possible to install technical devices in those sections of the
front line which are not subject to direct impact of the enemy and
positions are located far from each other, Ohanyan said. The minister
of defense says locally produced border security devices are being
tried out currently. “We do cooperate with all the organizations which
come up with proposals or carry out our orders. Namely, we cooperate
with IT companies,” he noted.

– See more at:

Trend, Azerbaijan
July 24 2014

Warlick: Nagorno-Karabakh settlement should be priority, even with
many global concerns

Baku, Azerbaijan, July 24

By Sabina Ahmadova – Trend:

The U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick has met with
the representatives of this organization.

“I reminded OSCE representatives that a Nagorno-Karabakh settlement
should be a priority, even with many global concerns,” he stressed.

Warlick said on July 23 that he is leaving for Vienna to brief Minsk
Group representatives and OSCE Secretary General on Nagorno-Karabakh
peace.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with the OSCE Minsk
Group co-chairs as part of the fifth meeting of the foreign ministers
of member countries of the EU Eastern Partnership in Brussels on July
22.

During the meeting the sides discussed the principles well known to
the public, as well as ways to accelerate the process of resolving of
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on the basis of statements voiced by
co-chairs.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result
of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent
of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven
surrounding districts.

The two countries 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.

Glendale News Press, CA
July 24 2014

Former Glendale resident looks to revive Armenian winery tradition

By Brittany Levine, [email protected]

July 24, 2014 | 5:51 p.m.

Not far from Varuzhan Mouradian’s Armenian vineyard, volcanic stones
from thousands of years ago dot the landscape of an ancient winery.

Armenia is home to one of the oldest-known winemaking facilities,
which researchers found in a cave a few years ago, but it’s by no
means a wine mecca.

That didn’t stop Mouradian, a former Glendale resident and wine
enthusiast, from buying open land in a valley there and planting grape
vines.

He dreams of turning his rows of Areni and Kakhet grapes, varietals
indigenous to Armenia, into a boutique winery fit with a Chateau
façade and tasting room — a rarity in the country. He fell in love
with boutique wineries in Napa and the Santa Ynez valleys when he
lived in California and he wants to bring that same kind of ambience
to his homeland, no matter the risks.

“One day, I went with my wife to an Italian restaurant, and I looked
at all these nice bottles of wine, and I said, ‘Look, one day, I will
be marrying wine. I will marry to the vine,'” he said from his home in
Yerevan, which is about 15 miles from his vineyard in the Ashtarak
Valley. “I am married to the vine and the wine is born from that
love.”

There are about 20 winemaking enterprises in Armenia, according to a
2012 report written by an Armenian think tank analyzing the potential
growth for the country’s wine sector. Comparatively, there are more
than 3,700 bonded wineries in California, according to the Wine
Institute, an advocacy group. Armenia and California are home to
roughly 3 million and 38 million people, respectively.

Most Armenian winemakers buy their grapes from small farms rather than
growing their own, according to EV Consulting’s report. Between 1976
and 1980, Armenian wineries produced 88.4 million liters of wine,
dropping to 6.8 million in 2011.

EV Consulting attributed the slide to Soviet rule. Some winemakers
still use outdated Soviet equipment and value quantity over quality,
the report states.

But Mouradian believes Armenia can improve its wine reputation and
export fine wines. The government is slowly creating tax incentives to
encourage the sector’s growth, he said, and a handful of vintners like
him want to create a tourist draw.

“We don’t have Armenia as a wine country on the map,” Mouradian, 48,
said. “I’m positive after five, six years, yes, Armenia will become
one of the wine countries known by the world.”

Mouradian was born in Armenia, but moved to Glendale when he was 24 in
search of job and life opportunities. He met his wife and they later
had four children. He had a successful career and invested some of his
money in Armenian land and property, with hopes of one day selling it
and making a profit once the Armenian economy improved.

But he became ill and could no longer take the stress of his job. He
always admired his clients in the creative sector and yearned for a
change of pace.

“I was missing something,” he said. “I thought I needed to do
something creative.”

He and his family picked up and moved to Yerevan, but his eldest
daughter, a student at UCLA, stayed behind. Soon after moving,
Varuzhan reached out to his Armenian cousins to help him convert the
open land he bought into a vineyard.

Mouradian has the land, the grapes and has made a few test batches of
blended wines, but he doesn’t have a name for his winery and he hasn’t
put any bottles on the market.

“We did a couple barrels just for testing purposes, that’s all,” he
said. “I think they are good. They are perfect. Next year, I think
we’ll go a little further.”

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