Author: Kanayan Tamar

AZERBAIJAN`S RETALIATORY FIRE SILENCES ARMENIAN TROOPS

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Oct 25 2013

25 October 2013, 13:13 (GMT+05:00)

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported that subunits of the Armenian
Armed Forces were silenced with a retaliatory fire after they shattered
ceasefire with Azerbaijan on October 24-25.

According to the ministry, the Armenian Armed Forces started shooting
from Paravakar village of Ijevan region, Barekamavan village of
Noyemberyan region and Mosesgerkh village of Berd region of Armenia at
the positions of Azerbaijani Armed Forces in Kohnagishlag village of
Aghstafa region, Gaymagli village of Gazakh region, nameless hills
of Tovuz region, Tap Garagoyunlu village of Goranboy region, Marzili
and Javahirli villages of Aghdam region.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing
of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were
killed and over 1 million displaced as a result of the large-scale
hostilities. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied
20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh
and seven surrounding regions. Armenia continues the occupation in
defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate
and unconditional withdrawal.

Peace talks brokered by mediators from Russia, France and the U.S.

have produced no results so far.

BELARUS-ARMENIA POSTAGE STAMP CANCELLATION CEREMONY HELD AT MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF BELARUS

Belarusian TV & Radio
Oct 25 2013

The event was dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the establishment
of the diplomatic relations between the countries. The ceremony
was attended by First Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus Alexander
Mikhnevich and Ambassador of Armenia to Belarus Armen Khachatryan.

The postal unit consists of a stamp and two coupons. Traditionally,
the stamp dedicated to the establishment of diplomatic relations
depicts state emblems. The coupons feature art reproductions. Belarus
is represented by “Belarusian landscape” by Vitaly Tsvirko. Armenia’s
artwork is “Ararat at Spring” by Martiros Saryan.

TURKEY IS INTERESTED IN CUSTOMS UNION – NAZARBAYEV

Interfax, Russia
Oct 24 2013

MINSK. Oct 24

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said some countries are
interested in joining the Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic
Union, which is now being created.

“They say Syria wants to join [the Customs Union]. Turkish Prime
Minister Erdogan has asked me if turkey can enter the Customs Union,”
Nazarbayev said at the meeting of the Eurasian Economic Council held
in Minsk on Thursday.

Nazarbayev also said he is often asked on visits to foreign countries
“Are you recreating the Soviet Union?”

“Maybe we should accept Turkey [in the Customs Union] and the questions
will stop?” he said.

Nazarbayev also pointed out issues relating to Armenia’s statement
on its plans to join the Customs Union. Recalling Kyrgyzstan’s wish
to enter the Customs Union, Nazarbayev said: “Let’s do the same with
Armenia.” Specifically, Nazarbayev said there is a need to develop a
“roadmap” for joining Armenia and Kyrgyzstan to the Customs Union.

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EURO-CAUCASIAN CONGRESS OF CARDIOLOGY KICKS OFF IN YEREVAN

16:42 25/10/2013 ” HEALTH

The 4th Euro-Caucasian Congress of Cardiology opened today in Yerevan.

The congress is organized by the Armenian Diaspora Ministry and the
Health Action Armenia-France organization.

About 50 cardiologists from various countries of the world and 180
from Armenia and Artsakh take part in the congress, Armenian Diaspora
Ministry’s press service reported.

“I am confident that with coordination of scientific potential and
practical skills and efficient cooperation between local and foreign
specialists, the congress will become a unique source for exchanging
experience,” Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan said in her opening
remarks.

“The aim of the congress is to consolidate the potential of all
Armenian cardiologists and to boost cooperation between cardiologists
from Armenia, Artsakh and Diaspora.”

Source: Panorama.am

“NO FISH, NO PROBLEM”: CAN THE DAMAGE DONE BY SHPS IN ARMENIA BE REMEDIED?

Kristine Aghalaryan

14:26, October 25, 2013

Armenia’s rivers and streams are drying up. The culprit is greed in
the form of small hydro-electric plants. They’re popping up all over
the place.

Not only are the sprouting like mushrooms, but the owners seem bent
on using every last drop of water available, leaving a mere trickle
to flow downstream. It’s an environmental nightmare.

That was the picture painted by Inessa Gabayan today in her report
“The Prospects of Low Carbon in Armenia” delivered at today’s session
of the 5th Renewable and Clean Energy International Conference and
Exhibition in Yerevan.

Gabayan is the director of HydroEnergetica, a Yerevan-based firm
offering environmental and engineering evaluation and expertise,
among other services.

During her talk, Gabayan presented her firm’s program for the sustained
development of SHPs (small hydro plants), that is being implemented
with financing from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The program, launched in 2011 seeks to identify the various social
and environmental issues associated with SHPs and proposes a number
of remedies.

Gabayan drew parallels with Norway, which has developed the SHP sector
for the past thirty years.

There, as opposed to Armenia, local communities are brought into the
decision-making equation. Gabayan says the same can be done here,
although she confesses that it won’t be easy to adopt the Norwegian
model given conditions in Armenia.

Nevertheless, she said that certain steps can be taken so that
community residents actually derive a benefit from the construction
of SHPs. For example, projects that assist the development of
local infrastructure, like the construction of waterways, should be
promoted. Later on, a SHP can be built.

Projects that will have a minimal impact on the local environment
should be given priority, Gabayan noted. She proposed that residents
of a community where a SHP is built should receive cheaper electricity
rates. In Armenia, residents of many communities aren’t even informed
that a SHP is to be built in their backyard.

Focusing on the environmental impact of SHPs, Gabayan noted that the
biggest problem is to ensure that adequate ecological outflows are
maintained so that the river ecosystem is maintained. She said that
one solution is to install equipment now being used in Norway.

Addressing the problem of diminishing native fish populations in
Armenia, Gabayan argued that the first step should be to compose a
national atlas of the country’s waterways that would specify SHP
free zones. In Norway, the government has banned SHPs on salmon
spawning rivers.

She also presented the results of a study conducted by her husband,
Grigor Gabayan (now travelling abroad) which states that there
isn’t one fish ladder/fishway in Armenia today that ensures normal
migration upriver. Mrs. Gabayan said her husband inspected a total
of 200 such facilities.

At this point, someone in the audience exclaimed, “No fish, no
problem. That’s the operating principle.”

Mrs. Gabayan said it is also necessary to publicize how Environmental
Impact Assessments (EIPs) are drafted, as there are no real guidelines
or manuals on the subject.

She said that while there has been an increase in the construction
of SHPs in Armenia over the past ten years, their socio-economic and
environmental impact remains unclear.

Mrs. Gabayan noted that it was time to review the legal aspects and
regulations regarding EIPs, pointing out that the process for SHPs
is basically the same as for atomic power plants.

HEY, ANYONE HOME? MY QUICK-FIX SOLUTION FOR GOVERNMENT PAY HIKES

Edik Baghdasaryan

12:10, October 25, 2013

They were at a wedding a few days ago…

Amidst the merry-making, they also talked a bit about affairs of state.

They understood that giving 18,000 to the unemployed was unnecessary,
and were sorry that they hadn’t decided to pull the payments sooner.

They have come to the realization that ever since the last election,
a full five years, these payments to those without work, have been
squandered; down the drain.

So now, our government officials have decided to use the money more
wisely and productively – to give themselves pay raises.

These officials have heard about the rampant poverty in Armenia,
but they don’t know what it is exactly.

In the reports of various international organizations, they have
read about the numbers; that 32.5% of the population lives under the
poverty line.

Of course, this number isn’t credible. But at least they admit that
poverty exists in Armenia. They could have even denied this, declaring
that poverty doesn’t exist.

My friend, who fought in the Artsakh War, became infuriated when he
heard about the pay hikes for state officials. He says that we must
change the forms of struggle. I agree. He goes on, saying:

– We must stage huge acts of civil disobedience. For example, we all
stop using electricity at the same time.

I smile and ask, “And next?”

– Next, we all sit down on the street. It doesn’t matter where.

– And next?

– Next, we block off all the streets at the same time. In villages,
cities, the highways. We don’t move.

– And next?

– Next, they’ll call out the army and police. But they can’t send
enough troops all over the place.

– And next?

– If we can hold out for one week, the army and police will come over
to our side, to the side of the people peacefully protesting.

– It won’t work.

– Why?

– The motivating force has to be the students, but there aren’t any
in Armenia.

“You are mistaken,” replies my somewhat befuddled friend.

I don’t know. Perhaps I am mistaken.

The officials know that there are still people living in Armenia and
that they can squander the budget.

And now a little about the pangs of anxiety felt by the government…

If the government wants to increases wages, it can do so another way –
by cutting the ministries in half.

Why do we need, for example, a ministry of economics, of culture,
or the diaspora…and so on?

Do away with them and use the money to raise the salaries of civil
servants.

If you want to raise the salary of the president, then fire all the
various advisors.

Why do we need a 131 member National Assembly? Cut the number of MPs
in half, to 65.

It would be so easy to do.

Give the MPs a fifth grade homework assignment and fire all those
who make five or more mistakes.

If my calculations are correct, we’ll probably end up with 65 in the
best case scenario.

ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES MAY SACRIFICE NAGORNO-KARABAKH TO RETAIN POWER – OPPOSITION MP

14:38 ~U 25.10.13

Secretary of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) parliamentary
group Aram Manukyan is concerned over the possibility of Armenian
authorities’ sacrificing Nagorno-Karabakh only to retain their power.

“I am afraid of the thought that Nagorno-Karabakh may be the next
sacrifice, and they are preparing the background,” Mr Manukyan told
a press briefing in Armenia’s Parliament.

Neither the Customs Union nor Eastern Partnership or organizations
dealing with the Nagorno-Karabakh problem or with the Armenian
Genocide are serious about Armenia’s authorities. “Even one of the
most authoritarian states in the world, Belarus, is now scoffing at
Armenia,” Mr Manukyan says.

“Armenia’s authorities did not behave properly. Why are they concealing
all the documents? Because they cannot be proud of anything,” he said.

“I fear all the secret processes. I say again that the ANC has no
document at its disposal,” Mr Manukyan said.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT ATTENDS THE SESSION OF THE EURASIAN ECONOMIC SUPREME COUNCIL IN MINSK

10:23 25.10.2013

President Serzh Sargsyan participated in the session of the Eurasian
Economic Supreme Council in Minsk together with the the Presidents
of Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Ukraine.

At the session presented for discussion were three documents pertinent
to the preparatory works on Armenia’s accession to the Customs Union
and Common Economic Zone which were approved.

These documents include: a draft decision on Armenia’s accession to
the Customs Union and Common Economic Zone, declaration on Armenia’s
participation in the Eurasian integration processes and memorandum
on deepening cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Commission
and the Republic of Armenia.

GEORGIAN-ARMENIANS TO VOTE FOR RULING PARTY’S CANDIDATE IN PRESIDENTIAL POLLS – OPINION

11:13 ~U 25.10.13

The Armenians of Georgia are very likely to cast their ballots in
favor of Giorgi Margvelashvili, the candidate of the ruling Georgian
Dream coalition, in the upcoming presidential election, says Vahagn
Chakhalyan, an activist from the Armenian-populated region of Javakkhk.

Speaking to Tert.am, the activist noted that it has become a kind of
tradition for the Georgian-Armenians to always give their preference
to a representative of the governing political force.

“The president-led Georgian National Party’s candidate will receive
no more than 5% of votes, in my opinion. They say they are seeking to
register up to 30% of ballots in their favor,” Chakhalyan told Tert.am.

Twenty-three contenders are running in the Georgian presidential
election slated for October 27. Margvelashvili and two other nominees
– David Bagradze (Georgian National Movement) and Nino Burdjanadze
(People’s Movement for United Georgia) – have the highest chances
of election.

Chakhalyan thinks this election will be different from the previous
ones with its higher level of freedom and without a likely intervention
by the law enforcers and the military.

“The opposition forces manage to carry on their campaign, without the
people facing constraints; they are free in their choice,” he said,
adding that there have been absolutely no restrictions against the
ethnic minorities, including the Armenians.

Vahe Sarggsyan, the director of the Yerevan-based Mitk analytical
center also believes that the Georgian-Armenians’ will give preference
to the ruling party’s candidate.

“The previous parliamentary election and the opposition’s victory broke
the stereotype that the authorities are invincible in the country. So
many Javakhk-Armenians head to elections today driven by their own
calculations. Anyway, the ruling force remains the leading one,”
he said.

Armenian News – Tert.am

REVUE DE PRESSE N°1 – 25/10/13 – COLLECTIF VAN

Publié le : 25-10-2013

Info Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN [Vigilance
Arménienne contre le Négationnisme] vous propose une revue de presse
des informations parues dans la presse francophone, sur les thèmes
concernant la Turquie, le génocide arménien, la Shoah, le génocide
des Tutsi, le Darfour, le négationnisme, l’Union européenne, Chypre,
etc… Nous vous suggérons également de prendre le temps de lire ou
de relire les informations et traductions mises en ligne dans notre
rubrique Par
ailleurs, certains articles en anglais, allemand, turc, etc, ne
sont disponibles que dans la newsletter Word que nous générons
chaque jour.

Pour la recevoir, abonnez-vous a la Veille-Média : c’est gratuit !

Vous recevrez le document du lundi au vendredi dans votre boîte email.

Bonne lecture.

MESA 2013 : un pas historique pour l’étude du génocide arménien Info
Collectif VAN – – L’historien turc Taner Akcam
a récemment recu le Prix 2013 du Livre Hourani de l’Association
des Etudes du Moyen-Orient (MESA) pour son livre Le crime des
Jeunes-Turcs contre l’humanité : le génocide arménien et la
purification ethnique dans l’Empire ottoman. ” Ce prix revêt une
importance particulière a la lumière de l’histoire de l’approche
de MESA concernant les études sur le génocide arménien ”, note
The Armenian Weekly. ” Il n’y a pas si longtemps, il était pratique
courante de fuir ceux qui essayaient d’aborder le sujet [du génocide
arménien] lors des réunions annuelles de l’Association des Etudes
du Moyen-Orient, l’organisation qui regroupe les chercheurs. ”
avait justement écrit Taner Akcam dans l’introduction du livre que
MESA vient précisément de récompenser. La célèbre association
universitaire qui considérait – selon Taner Akcam – que ” ignorer
les déportations de masse et l’annihilation étaient une vertu
académique et un acte noble ” a donc changé son fusil d’épaule. On
ne peut que se féliciter de ce pas historique qui marginalisera les
pseudo-historiens négationnistes. Le Collectif VAN vous invite a
lire la traduction d’un article en anglais publié sur le site The
Armenian Weekly le 15 octobre 2013.

Turquie: l’” insulte a l’arménité ” devant les tribunaux Info
Collectif VAN – – En juin dernier et pour la
première fois, a débuté en Turquie un procès visant a pénaliser
les agresseurs de deux citoyens turcs d’origine arménienne. Levon
Balcıoglu et son fils Artun avaient en effet subi les menaces et
les insultes de Yusuf Polat et de son frère Mehmet. Traités d’ ”
infidèles ”, les Balcıoglu ont soumis l’affaire a la Cour pénale
d’Istanbul.

Yusuf Polat les avait par ailleurs menacés en ces termes : ”
Arméniens, ce pays est a nous. Je vais vous tuer, je vais briser vos
jambes. ” Yusuf Polat risque jusqu’a deux ans de prison. S’il est
sanctionné a la suite du procès, il sera la première personne
condamnée en Turquie pour un crime défini comme ‘insulte a
l’arménité’. Les autorités judiciaires d’Istanbul ont affirmé
que ” le résultat du procès servira d’exemple ”. Espérons donc
qu’il y aura bien une condamnation… Le Collectif VAN vous propose
la traduction d’un article en turc, paru dans le journal Sabah,
le 29 juin 2013.

Darfour : la MINUAD se dit préoccupée par la situation sécuritaire
Info Collectif VAN – – “” La situation en
matière de sécurité au Darfour et les menaces contre la MINUAD
et le personnel humanitaire continuent de représenter une source de
préoccupation grave ”, a déclaré, ce matin, devant le Conseil de
sécurité, le Représentant spécial conjoint de l’Union africaine
et des Nations Unies et Médiateur en chef conjoint pour le Darfour,
M. Mohamed Ibn Chambas. Lors d’un exposé par vidéoconférence depuis
Khartoum, le Chef de l’Opération hybride Union africaine-Nations
Unies au Darfour (MINUAD), qui présentait le rapport du Secrétaire
général sur la question, est revenu sur les incidents qui se sont
produits au cours des trois derniers mois. Il a également abordé
les progrès réalisés dans la mise en Ŕuvre du Document de Doha
pour la paix au Darfour -Document de Doha-, adopté en 2011 par le
Gouvernement du Soudan et par le Mouvement pour la libération et
la justice.” Le Collectif VAN vous propose ce communiqué de presse
publié sur le site de l’ONU le 23 octobre 2013.

En Turquie, le feu de la contestation couve encore Des étudiants
a Ankara contestent un projet de construction de route devant
passer au milieu de leur campus. Cette opposition a un grand projet
d’infrastructure rappelle celle contre les travaux dans le parc Gezi
et sur la place Taksim d’Istanbul a l’origine de l’immense vague de
protestation qui a secoué le pays en juin dernier.

A Grenoble, une famille arménienne menacée d’expulsion La famille
Vardanyan, installée en France depuis 2010, serait-elle une nouvelle
affaire Léonarda ? Le collectif RESF est en tous les cas bien décidé
a mettre tous les moyens en Ŕuvre pour soutenir cette famille menacée
d’expulsion a Grenoble.

Création d’un parti turc héritier des manifestations de Taksim Le
parti Gezi (GZP) a été baptisé du nom du parc stambouliote dont le
projet de réaménagement a été l’élément déclencheur des grandes
manifestations antigouvernementales de la place Taksim en juin dernier.

Union douanière: Nazarbaïev propose d’admettre la Turquie “Le
président turc m’a adressé une demande d’adhésion a l’Union
douanière. Admettons la Turquie!”, a déclaré M.Nazarbaïev qui prend
part a une réunion du Conseil économique supérieur eurasiatique
dans la capitale biélorusse.

Echange d’otages : les autorités syriennes libèrent 61 détenues Les
autorités syriennes ont relâché 61 femmes, détenues dans la prison
d’Adra au nord-est de Damas, dans le cadre d’un échange d’otages.

Samedi, les rebelles syriens ont libéré 9 Libanais après dix-sept
mois de détention. En échange, deux pilotes turcs enlevés a Beyrouth
ont été relâchés.

L’Arménie et le Kirghizstan adhéreront a l’Union douanière (Poutine)
“Nous avons appuyé l’intention de l’Arménie et du Kirghizstan de
rejoindre notre projet d’intégration”, a indiqué M.Poutine a l’issue
d’une rencontre des présidents des trois pays.

Le contrat militaire entre Ankara et la Chine inquiète les USA Les
Etats-Unis ont fait part aux autorités turques de leurs inquiétudes
liées a la décision d’Ankara de recourir a une entreprise chinoise
pour se doter d’un système de défense antiaérienne et antimissile,
a annoncé jeudi l’ambassadeur américain en poste en Turquie.

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