La Turquie d’Erdogan plus que jamais divisée à l’aube de l’élection

TURQUIE
La Turquie d’Erdogan plus que jamais divisée à l’aube de l’élection
présidentielle

Le Premier ministre Recep Tayyip Erdogan s’apprête à annoncer sa
candidature à l’élection présidentielle d’août dans une Turquie de
plus en plus divisée par son discours intransigeant et la répression
systématique de la contestation de rue.

Officiellement, rien n’est décidé. Mais le doute n’existe plus.
L’homme fort du pays devrait dévoiler sous quinzaine sa participation
au scrutin des 10 et 24 août, disputé pour la première fois au
suffrage universel direct.

Dimanche, son vice-Premier ministre Bülent Arinç n’a fait aucun
mystère du nom du candidat qui portera les couleurs du Parti de la
justice et du développement (AKP). “Vous savez qui c’est, ne me le
faites pas dire”, a-t-il lché à des journalistes.

Les noms de ses successeurs potentiels à la tête du gouvernement qu’il
dirige depuis 2003, ont commencé à circuler dans la presse.

Parmi eux, les vice-Premiers ministres Ali Babacan ou Besir Atalay, ou
encore la patron des services de renseignement (MIT), Hakan Fidan.
Tous des fidèles. L’actuel chef de l’Etat Abdullah Gül, un modéré qui
a pris ses distances avec M. Erdogan, a confié qu’il n’était pas très
enclin à succéder à son compagnon de route.

Par tempérament comme par convictions, M. Erdogan a, lui, déjà fait
savoir qu’il n’entendait pas, comme M. Gül, se contenter d’inaugurer
les chrysanthèmes mais bien de continuer à diriger effectivement le
pays. “Il a déjà signalé qu’il ne serait pas un président comme les
autres, qu’il entendait user à sa façon des pouvoirs qui lui sont
attribués”, commente à l’AFP Serkan Demirtas, chef de bureau du
journal Hürriyet Daily News, “même s’il est haï par une bonne partie
de la population qu’il est censé représenter”.

Car si son prédécesseur à la tête de l’Etat a exercé son mandat en
rassembleur, le Premier ministre aborde la présidentielle avec une
image très contestée.

Depuis la fronde sans précédent qui a fait vaciller son régime il y a
un an, M. Erdogan a réprimé toute contestation, au prix de lois sur la
justice ou les réseaux sociaux jugées liberticides par l’opposition et
de nombreuses capitales étrangères.

‘Victimisation’ –

Eclaboussé pendant l’hiver par un grave scandale de corruption, il a
riposté en agitant la théorie d’un complot ourdi par ses anciens
alliés de l’organisation de l’imam Fethullah Gülen, qualifiés de
“terroristes” ou de “traîtres”, comme les manifestants de juin 2013.

Cette volonté de polarisation à l’extrême du pays fonctionne,
puisqu’elle a permis à l’AKP d’emporter haut-la-main les municipales
du 30 mai (30%).

“Cette stratégie populiste et opportuniste de la victimisation paie au
moment des scrutins car les Turcs aiment les perdants”, estime le
professeur Omer Taspinar, codirecteur du programme turc de la
Brookings Institution. “Mais l’AKP a remporté toutes les élections
depuis 2002”, ajoute-t-il, “alors pourquoi une telle agressivité et
une telle intolérance ?”

Le week-end dernier, comme c’est le cas presque systématiquement
depuis un an, la police a sévèrement réprimé à Istanbul comme à Ankara
quelques milliers de manifestants qui voulaient célébrer le premier
anniversaire des émeutes de Gezi.

Selon l’association des avocats progressistes (CHD), au moins 126
personnes ont été placées en garde à vue samedi rien qu’à Istanbul.

“La façon dont le gouvernement s’adresse à nous est de plus en plus
violente”, regrette un des porte-parole des manifestants, Tayfun
Karaman, “il ne sait plus quoi faire pour empêcher le peuple de se
mêler de la politique de son propre pays”.

De l’avis de nombreux observateurs, l’entrée en lice de M. Erdogan
dans la course à la présidence, sans adversaire en position de lui
contester sérieusement la victoire, devrait tendre encore un peu plus
un climat politique déjà électrique.

“Le Premier ministre veut se faire élire président mais il ne peut
simplement pas supporter que des gens commémorent en paix les victimes
d’une mobilisation citoyenne”, a regretté lundi l’éditorialiste Mehmet
Yilmaz dans le journal d’opposition Hürriyet, “il voudrait que tout le
monde se taise et l’écoute”.

AFP

dimanche 8 juin 2014,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

Book: A haunting love story set in a time of genocide

Irish Independent
June 7, 2014 Saturday

A haunting love story set in a time of genocide

Julia Kelly on a debut Irish novel about the Armenian holocaust

REVIEW

FICTION: Anyush
Martine Madden Brandon,
tpbk, (EURO)14.99, 380 pages
Available with free P&P on or by calling 091 709350

The inspiration for Martine Madden”s debut novel, Anyush, came from a
photograph of a woman”s naked, emaciated body by the road beside
those of her two dead children. Taken in secret by young German
soldier Armin Wegner during the massacre of Turkey”s Armenians in the
genocide of 1915, this devastating image stayed with Madden, then
herself the mother of several small children.

Along with the discovery of these photographs it was Madden”s
friendship with two Lebanese Armenians during the years she lived with
her husband in Abu Dhabi that gave her the idea for her novel. The
final impetus came when having returned home to Ireland, Madden sat at
her computer, composing a piece for the local primary school on the
treatment and prevention of head lice (of all things).

Putting words on a virtual page reminded her of how much she had
missed writing and, now her youngest had begun school, she found
herself with the quiet time to get back to it.

Armenians in the genocide of 1915, this devastating image stayed with
Madden, then herself the mother of several small children.

Along with the discovery of these photographs it was Madden”s
friendship with two Lebanese Armenians during the years she lived with
her husband in Abu Dhabi that gave her the idea for her novel. The
final impetus came when having returned home to Ireland, Madden sat at
her computer, composing a piece for the local primary school on the
treatment and prevention of head lice (of all things).

Written in deceptively simple language, this meticulously researched
and moving novel is based on the true stories of individuals who lived
through the terrible atrocities of the Armenian genocide.

It is told through a series of diary entries of Dr Charles Stewart,
who runs a local hospital with his wife Hetty, and interspersed with
third-person narratives of Anyush Charcoardian and Captain Jahan
Orfalea, whose dangerous love affair forms its central theme.

The eponymous main character, Anyush, is a young Armenian girl who
lives in the small village of Trebizond with her cantankerous mother
Khandut and her beloved grandmother Gohar.

Her strength of character is evident from the opening chapter where we
see her defiance and bravery. against the Gendarmes.

We follow her story as she witnesses the pure barbarism of war and as
she struggles with the destruction of her village, her mother”s
beatings, the lecherous advances of the village trapper, Husik, and
the immense difficulty of carrying on an affair with a Turkish
soldier.

Madden”s descriptions of the final journey, the death march of the
Armenians out of Trebizond, their malnutrition, suffering and
inevitable death are as every bit harrowing as the closing scenes of
John Steinbeck”s The Grapes of Wrath.

This is a significant work, and one that sheds important light on a
littletalked-about atrocity. It”s the sort of book that gets under
your skin and stays with you long after you have finished reading it.
Anyush is a haunting and beautifully written first novel.

Julia Kelly is the author of With My Lazy Eye. Her second novel, The
Playground, will be published by Quercus in September

It’s the sort of book that gets under your skin and stays with you long after .

www.kennys.ie

Armenians Worried By US Diplomat’s Karabakh Comments

ARMENIANS WORRIED BY US DIPLOMAT’S KARABAKH COMMENTS

Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #738
June 6 2014

Territories around Karabakh not “occupied”, but a consequence of war,
Armenian legislator insists.

By Yekaterina Poghosyan – Caucasus

A speech last month by James Warlick, a United States diplomat who
is part of the international group seeking a solution to the Nagorny
Karabakh conflict, may have been officially welcomed in Yerevan,
but many Armenians detected a shift of position that was not in
their favour.

In Nagorny Karabakh, the local Armenian leadership rejected the
ambassador’s comments outright.

Ambassador Warlick is the US member of the OSCE’s Minsk Group, which
also includes Russian and French co-chairs and which has for year been
trying to nudge Azerbaijanis and Armenians towards a workable solution
to a conflict that stopped in 1994 and has remained effectively frozen
since then.

In a speech at the Carnegie Centre in Washington on May 7 to mark
the 20th anniversary of the ceasefire, he focused on six principles
for a settlement which have been on the table since 2007, with some
modification since then.

The “Madrid Principles”, as they are known, would grant Nagorny
Karabakh an interim status pending a legally-binding referendum,
while restoring to Azerbaijan the adjacent territories that are also
under Armenian control. Refugees and internally displaced persons
would be able to return home, a land corridor between Karabakh and
Armenia would be maintained, and the international community would
provide a peacekeeping force.

“There can be no settlement without respect for Azerbaijan’s
sovereignty, and the recognition that its sovereignty over these
[surrounding] territories must be restored,” Warlick said. “The time
has come for the sides to commit themselves to peace negotiations,
building on the foundation of work done so far.”

Although the return of territories outside Karabakh is a principle
that US officials have expressed before, many Armenian politicians
and analysts saw a tilt in emphasis in favour of Azerbaijan.

Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan chose instead to focus on other
elements of the ambassador’s speech, and he criticised Baku for
refusing to grant OSCE monitors access to the “Line of Contact”
that separates Karabakh and Azerbaijan forces around Karabakh.

“Azerbaijan, unlike Armenia, has rejected and continues to reject
repeated suggestions from the co-mediating countries to strengthen
ceasefire arrangements, to withdraw snipers from the front line,
and create a mechanism for investigating incidents,” Nalbandyan said.

His positive spin on the speech was unusual in Yerevan, as most other
politicians saw nothing to like about it.

Artak Zakaryan, a member of parliament’s foreign affairs committee
from the ruling Republican Party, was highly critical of Ambassador
Warlick’s comments.

“They are largely unacceptable, particularly the fact that the security
belt around Karabakh is termed the ‘occupied territories’,” Zakaryan
said in an interview with Russia’s Regnum news agency.

“Everyone is very well aware that this is not an occupation, but
the result of the war that Azerbaijan brought to Karabakh. These
territories are a significant factor in providing security not just
for Karabakh, but for the whole region.”

In Karabakh, which has declared itself an independent state but is not
recognised as such by any member of the United Nations, the government
rejected the speech, saying the international community needed to
treat Karabakh and Azerbaijan as equal players. In the talks process,
Azerbaijan has refused to deal with Karabakh, talking only to Armenia.

“The Nagorny Karabakh conflict is the only one in the world where
for two decades, the parties to a conflict have themselves managed to
preserve peace and stability. I think that this very important and it
shows, among other things, that Azerbaijan and Nagorny Karabakh can
co-exist as two neighbouring sovereign states,” Karabakh president
Bako Sahakyan, said in an interview with News.am. “It is impossible
to achieve a solution to the conflict that will be acceptable to
everyone. This is clear to anyone who can see Baku’s destructive
policy. A full talks format has still not been created, but I am sure
this is just a question of time.”

One of the points made by Ambassador Warlick was that the Lachin area,
which lies between Armenia and Nagorny Karabakh, could not remain
wholly under Armenian control.

“There should be a corridor linking Armenia to Nagorny Karabakh. It
must be wide enough to provide secure passage, but it cannot encompass
the whole of Lachin district,” he said.

When a mission from the OSCE later travelled through Lachin, they
were blocked by a group of protesters.

Masis Mailyan, head of the Public Council on Foreign Policy and
Security in Karabakh, said the co-chairs needed to scrap the Madrid
Principles and start again.

“Armenian diplomats should have long ago rejected any discussion
of a document that not only contains many points that run counter
to Armenian interests, but also has great destructive potential,”
he told IWPR. “It’s time to relieve the international mediators of
their false ideas. This would allow them to create new regulatory
mechanisms that reflect current realities.”

Stepan Grigoryan of the Analytical Centre on Globalisation and
Regional Cooperation suspects that broader geopolitics are playing
a role in subtle shifts in the Western position on Karabakh. Last
year, Armenia abandoned plans to sign an Association Agreement with
the European Union and announced it wanted to enter the Moscow-led
Customs Union instead.

“In my opinion, this is a consequence of Armenia’s desire to join
the Customs Union. It’s clear that the United States and EU are
expressing their dissatisfaction with this decision, and they cannot
be pro-Armenia in their comments,” he told IWPR.

In response to the discussion his remarks engendered, Ambassador
Warlick used his Twitter page to say, “Thanks for comments, even
critical ones, on my @CarnegieEndow speech. Important to have honest
discussion about how to achieve #NKpeace.”

Yekaterina Poghosyan is a report for the Mediamax news agency in
Armenia.

http://iwpr.net/report-news/armenians-worried-us-diplomats-karabakh-comments

Nazarbayev Captures Armenia

NAZARBAYEV CAPTURES ARMENIA

Hakob Badalyan, Political Commentator
Comments – Friday, 06 June 2014, 14:43

During the summit of Turkic states in the Turkish city of Bodrum the
president of Kazakhstan Nazarbayev announced that Turkey may associate
with the Eurasian Union and there are no controversies between the
Turkic council and the Eurasian Union.

During the same summit Ilham Aliyev thanked Nazarbayev for relaying
its infamous stipulation to Armenia in Astana.

The president of Astana is obviously trying to transform the Eurasian
Union to a Turkic union. And this is a possible option, considering
the demographic picture in Russia where the Turkic factor is not just
big but a state-building factor. Nazarbayev spoke about the interest
of Turkey last October, during the Minsk summit.

Serzh Sargsyan attending the summit did not react in any way that if
Armenia is to become a member of the Eurasian Union, there will be
Armenian claims to Turkey if Turkey is interested as well.

However, Serzh Sargsyan is silent because this is not just Nazarbayev’s
wish but also Putin’s, and even if it is not related to membership,
it is at least related to starting and playing a game.

Back in December 2012 where Putin went to Moscow with a back injury,
his spokesman Peskov announced that in case Turkey expresses interest
in the Customs Union, they will welcome it. One year later, during the
Erdogan-Putin meeting, the Turkish prime minister expressed interest
in association.

Time will show how far the game with Ankara will get. Obviously,
however, the tendency to get hold of Armenia with the Turkic pincers
is obvious. The political pincers are meant, because Armenia has
already got caught in the physical or geographic pincers.

Interestingly, while Aliyev and his Turkic-speaking colleagues
were meeting in Bodrum, snipers of Nakhidjevan killed two Armenian
servicemen. Earlier there did not seem to be tragic incidents at the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border in Nakhidjevan. And suddenly it happens
along with the summit of the Turkic-speaking states.

In other words, someone seems to have needed to symbolize the pincers
and show that the second front against Armenia operates and fires.

In addition, official Yerevan seems to be worried. Armenia responded
differently to the incident of Nakhidjevan. The personal representative
of the OSCE CiO has been invited to the ministry of defense. It
is possible that the Armenian ministry of defense is changing its
style and methodology of responding to cases of violation of the
ceasefire. It is notable, however, that the change occurs after the
tragic firing from Nakhidjevan which killed two servicemen of the
Armenian armed forces.

Meanwhile, the security partners of Armenia are silent. Not only they
are silent but also they are going to send their foreign minister
and deputy-foreign minister to Azerbaijan to agree on the next
batch of weapons. And while the Armenian servicemen are killed at
the border with Nakhidjevan, the Russian foreign ministry official
Levkashevich announces that Azerbaijan is Russia’s strategic partner
in the Caucasus.

In an outrageous international isolation Russia has no other way out
but to rely on having at least a Turkic-speaking family. Everyone
assigns the role of the wife to Armenia.

– See more at:

http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/comments/view/32552#sthash.dF29DXfP.dpuf

Nagorno-Karabakh Issue Can Not Prevent Armenia From Joining Eurasian

NAGORNO-KARABAKH ISSUE CAN NOT PREVENT ARMENIA FROM JOINING EURASIAN ECONOMIC UNION

YEREVAN, June 6. / ARKA /. The unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
can not prevent Armenia from joining the Eurasian Economic Union,
according to Vadim Gigin, the chief editor of “Belarusian Dumka”
magazine, who spoke at a news conference today in Yerevan.

Speaking at May 29 summit of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan in Astana,
Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev cited the need to address
Azerbaijan’s concerns, expressed in a letter sent by its president
to the heads of the three countries, demanding that the forthcoming
accession treaty with Yerevan stipulate that Armenia is joining the
Eurasian Economic Union with its internationally recognized borders.

“The Karabakh issue has nothing to do with the Eurasian integration.

Armenia is a member of the UN, OSCE, Council of Europe, the CIS and the
Collective Security Treaty Organization and has had no complications
related to its borders,” Gigin said.

He said differences exist even between allies, for example, between
the EU and NATO and what is important is the ability to resolve them.

Semyon Uralov, a Russian expert, said products made in Nagorno-Karabakh
can safely enter Eurasian Economic Union’s market if labeled as
‘Made in Armenia.’

Uralov also urged Armenian authorities to launch a massive lobbying
campaign in Russia, Georgia, Europe and the United States to push for
the reviving the railway link across Georgia’s breakaway region of
Abkhazia. He said this task is facilitated by the fact that Armenia
has good relations both with Russia and Georgia.

“Given the Russian economic assistance to Abkhazia as well as its
military presence in the region Moscow can convince Abkhazia to allow
the resumption of the railway link through its territory,” he said.

-0-

– See more at:

http://arka.am/en/news/politics/nagorno_karabakh_issue_can_not_prevent_armenia_from_joining_eurasian_economic_union/#sthash.HRcW8Rl7.dpuf

From Yerevan To Cleveland: Nara Avetisyan’s Solo Concert In Armenia

FROM YEREVAN TO CLEVELAND: NARA AVETISYAN’S SOLO CONCERT IN ARMENIA

18:12 06.06.2014

Sona Hakobyan
Public Radio of Armenia

Young pianist Nara Avetisyan gave a concert at the Aram Khachaturian
Hall. The program featured works by Mozart, List, Granados and
Schumann. First Lady Rita Sargsyan, a number of renowned artists were
present at the concert.

Nara Avetisyan, 22, was destined to become an artist, not because
she was born and raised in the family of artists, but because of her
innate talent. Aged 22, she’s a laureate of different international
competitions. Nara was seven, when she received her first prize.

Naira Avetisyan began her first steps as a pianist at Spendiaryan and
Chaykovski Schools, and then continued her education at the Komitas
Conservatory. Since 2011 she has been studying at the Cleveland
Institute of Music.

Having performed in many countries of the world, Nara was particularly
excited about the concert in Yerevan. “Playing in Armenia is a great
responsibility, because people here have been following my growth
since childhood,” she said.

The standing ovations after the concert were the best reward and
the best proof of success. The young pianist’s mother Mrs. Ruzanna
was perhaps more excited than Nara herself. “I have mixed feelings;
I’m both proud and glad. I see the work has not been in vain, and
the path she has chosen is correct. What’s the most joyous is that
I think this is only the beginning,” she said.

http://www.armradio.am/en/2014/06/06/from-yerevan-to-cleveland-nara-avetisyans-solo-concert-in-armenia/

Two Armenian Communist Parties Agree To Form Consultative Council

TWO ARMENIAN COMMUNIST PARTIES AGREE TO FORM CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL

June 06, 2014 | 13:19

YEREVAN. – The Communist party of Armenia and the Progressive United
Communist Party of Armenia formed a common political consultative
council, the leader of Communist party Tachat Sargsyan said.

In a statement released on Friday, the parties expressed concern over
grave economic and social situation in the country, as well as over
growing unemployment rate, migration, social injustice.

Therefore, the parties decided to form a consultative council to
coordinate public and political activities.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

Why Are Shops of City Center Closing?

Why Are Shops of City Center Closing?

Roza Hovhannisyan, Reporter
Business – Saturday, 07 June 2014, 17:27

While Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan pledges favorable conditions for
SMEs, shops at the city center are closing one after another. One can
see the sign “to let” more frequently on most central streets.

The owner of a jewelry shop on Teryan Street told Lragir.am that they
cannot keep the shop any more.

They opened the shop 8 years ago. Their sales have dropped over the
past 4-5 years. According to him, emigration is felt more and more
strongly.

“Sales are dropping, we hoped to survive, we had expectations but we
cannot continue to keep the shop from our own pocket. People are so
disappointed with this government and there is no confidence even if
they try to do something good,” Vahagn Asatryan says.

Besides low sales, taxes and rent are high, and there is no fair competition.

“They strangle us, they don’t let us live. Our shop targeted at the
middle class but there is no middle class today due to the state of
the economy. Plus taxes and rent. People do not have money to afford
to shop,” Vahagn Asatryan says.

– See more at:

http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/economy/view/32560#sthash.18rRRCCy.dpuf

Le pape reçoit le président du Kurdistan irakien

VATICAN
Le pape reçoit le président du Kurdistan irakien

Le pape François a reçu vendredi Massoud Barzani, président de la
région autonome du Kurdistan irakien, province où vit une très
ancienne communauté chrétienne qui a grossi avec l’afflux de réfugiés
du reste de l’Irak et de la Syrie, a indiqué le Vatican.

Alors que la violence atteint des sommets en Irak –plus de 4.000 morts
dans des violences depuis le début de l’année–, cette région autonome,
après avoir été longtemps une zone de conflit à l’époque de Saddam
Hussein, est devenue une région plus sûre dans un environnement
particulièrement difficile.

C’est la première fois que le pape recevait M. Barzani qui est à la
tête de la région autonome depuis 2005.

La province du Kurdistan irakien accueille plus de 200.000 réfugiés
syriens, dont de nombreux Kurdes mais aussi des chrétiens.

Ceux-ci seraient plus de 30.000 dans la région. Parmi eux aussi des
chrétiens qui ont quitté Bagdad ou d’autres villes plus au sud pour
trouver une sécurité, une tolérance et une liberté plus grandes.

Selon Mgr Rabban Al-Qas, évêque d’Amadiya-Zahko, interrogé par Radio
Vatican, il souffle un air de “liberté” dans la région, même si ce
“n’est pas un paradis”, cette liberté attirant les entrepreneurs
privés et permettant un certain développement économique.

samedi 7 juin 2014,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

Arménie : le jeu taxe les pauvres

ARMENIE
Arménie : le jeu taxe les pauvres

Anush Nazarian, 38 ans, se souvient encore de la nuit, il y a
plusieurs années quand une voisine, bouleversée par les pertes de jeu
de son mari, a sauté de son appartement au 10ème étage.

> se rappelait
Nazarian, qui vit dans une grande banlieue de la capitale arménienne à
Erevan. Pendant l’ère soviétique, les casinos ou les salles de jeux
n’existaient pas en Arménie : les joueurs devaient lancer les dés à la
sauvette. Aujourd’hui, les possibilités de jeu sont partout dans ce
pauvre état du Sud-Caucase et la dépendance aux jeux de hasard fait
des ravages financier parmi de nombreuses familles.

Dix casinos et 100 salles de jeux existent maintenant dans la banlieue
d’Erevan. L’un des plus grands, Shangri-La, fournit même à ses clients
des cartes de visite de psychologues qui peuvent aider les problèmes
des joueurs. >, estime Samvel Khudoian, professeur de
psychologie à l’Université pédagogique d’Etat ayant une vaste
expérience clinique et de recherche dans ce domaine. , a
commenté Khudoian. Un phénomène similaire existe chez le voisin du
Nord économiquement aux abois de l’Arménie, la Géorgie.

Maintenant, deux députés arméniens tentent de faire face aux
conséquences sociales problématiques du jeu en élaborant une
législation qui restreindrait l’accès aux casinos. Une série
d’amendements proposés à la loi sur le jeu en Arménie va interdire aux
personnes de moins de 21 ans d’entrer dans un casino et permettre via
des décisions judiciaires de les interdire à des individus dont le jeu
peut causer des difficultés financières à leurs familles. Une
troisième mesure permettra aux casinos de refuser l’entrée à des
personnes à la demande les joueurs. Des restrictions pourraient durer
de six mois à trois ans, et s’appliqueront à tous les casinos en
Arménie. Les modifications devraient être soumises à la commission des
affaires économiques du Parlement pour discussion lors de la session
de l’Assemblée nationale du 9 au 12 juin. Le député indépendant Edmon
Marukian, l’un des sponsors des amendements, a dit que les appels à
l’aide de nombreuses familles touchées par la dépendance au jeu l’ont
amené, avec le député de l’opposition Alexandre Arzoumanian, à faire
pression pour des changements. Marukian a qualifié le problème de >.

Des articles dans les médias attribuent souvent les suicides – en
hausse de 3,8 pour cent en 2013 à 768 cas, selon les statistiques
officielles – à des pertes de jeu. Aucune étude n’a été faite à
l’appui de ces allégations. L’impact potentiel de la nouvelle
législation liée au jeu n’est pas simple, étant donné que le jeu est
devenu une source importante de revenus pour le gouvernement. En 2013,
le budget de l’Etat de l’Arménie a reçu de 7 à 8 milliards de drams (
16,9 à 19,3 millions de $ ) de recettes fiscales et droits de licence
des établissements de jeux de hasard. Même tout en déplorant la
dépendance au jeu, peu de politiciens sont susceptibles de vouloir
voir cette source de revenus se tarir.

Le représentant d’un casino, cependant, a exprimé son approbation aux
modifications proposées. >, a déclaré la personne, qui a requis
l’anonymat. >.

Le député Marukian a déclaré que le résultat des restrictions
d’auto-exclusion pour les casinos dans les >
comme Singapour et les Etats-Unis >.

Le psychologue Khudoian est d’accord. > a-t-il dit.

En réponse, Adibekian a sèchement rappelé un proverbe arménien : >.

Marianna Grigoryan

Eurasianet

samedi 7 juin 2014,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

http://www.armenews.com/article.php3?id_article=100548