Author: Kanayan Tamar

CAUCASUS CORRUPTION LEVELS: IS AZERBAIJAN THE ONE TO WATCH?

EurasiaNet.org, NY
July 10 2013

July 10, 2013 – 12:58pm, by Giorgi Lomsadze

The results for Azerbaijan proved the big surprise from the South
Caucasus in this year’s Global Corruption Barometer by anti-corruption
watchdog Transparency International.*

Though Azerbaijan is repeatedly rated and berated as the region’s
most corrupt country, many of the 1,001 Azerbaijanis surveyed for the
poll by the Baku-based SIAR (Social and Marketing Research Company)
had a more positive assessment of their national corruption situation
than did respondents for neighboring Armenia and Georgia.

Azerbaijan long has had run-ins with allegations that senior officials
and members of President Ilham Aliyev’s family are cashing in on their
positions, but, apparently, most respondents believe the government
now is giving the corruption fight all it’s got. Sixty-eight percent of
respondents deemed the government’s actions “effective,” a rate which
topped Georgia, often described as the region’s main corruption-buster,
by 14-percentage points.

On perceptions of corruption in the public sector, Azerbaijan finished
a half point behind Georgia, roughly mid-range on a scale of one to
five, while Armenia settled firmly into the trouble zone at 4.4.

Similarly, both in Azerbaijan and Georgia, public perception of
corruption of political parties was 28 percent of respondents,
according to Transparency International (TI). The rate is noticeably
higher in Armenia, at 57 percent.

Azerbaijani respondents were also the least critical of their
essentially single-party parliament than Georgians and Armenians of
their multi-party legislatures. Based on the TI survey, Azerbaijani
respondents also have the least reason to complain about corruption in
the media, an unexpected result for a country repeatedly criticized by
both domestic and international press-freedom monitors for muzzling
media.

At the same time, though, results for some potentially telling
questions were omitted. No answers were provided for the query “To what
extent is this country’s government run by a few big entities acting
in their own best interests?” Nor was feedback given for respondent
identification of public services to which they had paid a bribe in
the past year and the usual reason for the bribe/s.

Reasons for these gaps in the survey, performed via computer-assisted
telephone interviews, were not provided.

Needless to say, Azerbaijani officials already are taking bows for
the results. And promise even more anti-corruption wonders after this
October’s presidential election.

ARMENIAN SPEAKER CALLS “RIDICULOUS” ATTEMPTS TO LINK HIM TO DIESEL FUEL SCANDAL

July 11, 2013 | 15:04

YEREVAN. – Armenian parliament speaker Hovik Abrahamyan called
“ridiculous” the attempts to link his name to former head of
agricultural department of Ararat region Tigran Virabyan.

Earlier Virabyan was arrested on suspicion of misappropriation of
state funds. Some press reports linked his name to Speaker of the
National Assembly Hovik Abrahamyan.

“I have commented on the issue several times. Nevertheless, I want
to say, hope it is for the last time, that I have no relation to the
government program on distributing of diesel fuel,” Abrahamyan told
Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Last month Armenia’s investigative service launched four criminal
cases against officials from Ararat, Gegharkunik, Kotayk and Shirak
regions. All the cases are referring to misappropriation of diesel
fuel and misuse of official power.

Hovik Abrahamyan once again noted that attempts to link his name to
Virabyan are nothing but “deliberately spread misinformation.”

“I think Mr. Virabyan will tell the truth,” he added.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

FUNDUKIAN-THOROSSIAN APPOINTED MONROVIA SUPERINTENDENT

Wednesday, July 10th, 2013

Dr. Kathy Thorossian

MONROVIA, Calif.-On Wednesday, June 26th, the Monrovia Unified School
District Board of Education approved the appointment of Dr. Katherine
Fundukian-Thorossian as Superintendent of Schools. Dr.

Fundukian-Thorossian will begin her duties on Monday July 1st.

Dr. Fundukian-Thorossian is currently serving as Assistant
Superintendent of Educational Services in the Glendale Unified School
District. She has served in this position since July 2008. Prior to
that, she was the Principal of Glendale High School from 2005 to 2008.

>From 1995 to 2005, Dr. Fundukian-Thorossian served as an Assistant
Principal and Counselor at Diamond Bar High School in the Walnut
Valley Unified School District. She also taught English in grades
9-12 at Diamond Bar High School from 1986 to 1995.

Dr. Fundukian-Thorossian earned her Doctor of Education Degree from the
University of Southern California in 2009. She also earned a Master
of Science Degree in Counseling from California State University Los
Angeles in 1986 and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from the
University of California at Los Angeles in 1984.

She also completed the Association of California School Administrators’
Superintendent’s Academy in 2009.

Some of her honors include the Davidian Mariamian Educational
Foundation Educator of the Year in January 2012 and the Glendale
Council of Parent-Teacher Association’s Honorary Service Award in
January 2011. In 2009 she was awarded the Armenian-American Chamber
of Commerce of Greater Los Angeles’ Women in Business Excellence award.

Dr. Fundukian-Thorossian is an active member of the Association of
California School Administrators. She has also served as a YMCA Board
Member, and is affiliated with the Sunrise Rotary International of
Glendale, the Glendale Healthy Kids Board, and the Glendale Adventist
Hospital Civic Advisory Board.

SCANDAL BETWEEN ARFD AND PRIME MINISTER OF ARMENIA: ARFD BLAMES TIGRAN SARGSYAN FOR BLACK-PR AGAINST PARTY
by Tatevik Shahunyan

Thursday, July 11, 16:22

Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan has openly declared war
against ARF Dashnaktsutyun Party, says Hrant Margaryan, ARFD Bureau
representative, in an interview with RFE/RL Armenia service.

He said that the ordered Mass Media articles slamming ARFD should be
considered in the context of the prime minister’s ‘war’. He is sure
that those items are financed by the prime minister. Markaryan means
a series of mass media reports on alleged split in the ARFD that
pursues a goal to depose Hrant Margaryan. He said that immediately
after the nation-wide elections wherein ARFD showed not good results,
to put it mildly, there was certain discontent inside the party.

However, he said, all the problems have been settled and there is no
longer any discontent inside the party.

“Mass Media rumors about alleged split of ARFD Party does not
correspond to reality and pursue a goal to collapse the party,”
Margaryan said. He thinks that Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan is behind
all that. He thinks that the prime minister began acting against the
party after it harshly criticized the absolutely inefficient economy
policy of the government and the prime minister.

“Only a weak-willed person can use such methods,” Margaryan said and
added that the prime minister told his surroundings that he announced
‘war’ against ARFD, and it is reliable information. Nevertheless,
Margaryan assured RFE/RL that with such actions the prime minister
damages himself rather than ARFD.

Commenting on Margaryan’s interview, Prime Minister’s Spokesperson
Haroutyun Berberyan expressed surprise at the ‘war’ announced
against ARFD.

“The prime minister has always respected the traditional Armenian
parties and considered them a national value. As regards the internal
problems of ARFD, it is their internal affairs. Tigran Sargsyan,
as Deputy Head of the Republican Party does not interfere with the
internal affairs of other political forces,” Berberyan said.

BY IGNORING THE SCIENTIFIC TRUTH, ARMENIA INCREASES THE THREAT OF BRAIN DRAIN, ARMENIAN ECONOMIST SAYS
by Elita Babayan

Thursday, July 11, 13:19

By ignoring the scientific truth, Armenia increases the threat of
the brain drain, Armenian economist, Head of the Alternative Research
Center Tatoul Manaseryan said during a scientific forum dedicated to
the post-crisis issues in Yerevan.

Manaseryan thinks that the research work of the scientists is not
in demand in Armenia, while China, for instance, has become one of
the leaders of world economy thanks to its skilful use of the human
capital. Following the successful example of China, Armenia would
be able to insure itself against serious losses in the future and to
build a national model of dynamically growing and competitive economy,
he said.

When commenting on the negative aftermath of the possible second
wave of the world crisis, the economist specified that its impact on
Armenia’s economy will not be big. “However, this should not comfort
us”, he said. Manaseryan believes that by neglecting the scientific
truth, Armenia is currently suffering “invisible” losses, which will
further be reflected in the tangible growth of the migration flow.

The first part of the forum was mostly dedicated to the success of
Chinese reformers, and in the conference hall the experts recalled the
economic authorities’ loud failures and several well-known Armenian
economists’ best ideas that would have solved the basic problems of the
Armenian economy. However, owing to the prospering official outrage
and impunity in Armenia, the smart ideas of the Armenian professors
are put in practice in foreign countries, which then become the best
examples for Armenia.

To note, the organizer of the two-day scientific forum is the
Alternative Research Center. Both local and foreign economists are
participating in the forum.

AURELIA GRIGORIU’S STATEMENT NOT IN LINE WITH MOLDOVA’S POSITION

July 11, 2013 | 13:29

YEREVAN. – Statements made by ombudsman Aurelia Grigoriu contradict
Moldova’s position, chairman of the Commission on Protection of Human
Rights Vadim Mishin said.

During the meeting, commission members stated the statement by
parliamentary advocate was politicized and is unacceptable.

“We understand how wrong was Grigoriu’s speech in which she gave
legal assessment of the Armenian and Azerbaijani side, instead of
talking about human rights in Moldova,” Publika.md quotes Mishin.

He said no one banned anyone from expressing his/her opinion but it
must be professional and depoliticized. Contrary to this, Grigoriu’s
speech was unprofessional, Mishin said.

“You can not pull the pieces of the whole document. If it is a UN
document, it should be studied as a whole, and not out of context,
which may play a negative role,” he added.

During last week’s international forum that was held in Armenia’s
capital city Yerevan, Grigoriu had said: “Armenia has occupied 20
percent of Azerbaijan’s territories committing genocide against
Azerbaijanis.”

This statement caused a negative reaction in Armenia and in Moldova,
alike. The statement was condemned and it was considered a provocation
aimed at exacerbating the situation.

In addition, the Armenian community of Moldova informed about its
intention to formally demand from the Moldovan parliament the remove
Aurelia Grigoriu from office.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

SERIOUS CONTROVERSIES WITHIN ARMENIA’S RULING CIRCLES – RUBIK HAKOBYAN

14:01 ~U 11.07.13

Rubik Hakobyan, Head of the Heritage parliamentary group, believes
that political developments will enter a new stage in Armenia this
autumn, to be crowned with success.

According to him, controversies within the ruling circles are not of
ideological nature.

“One thing is clear. The authorities’ policy has failed and has no
prospects,” Hakobyan told Tert.am, pointing out a number of subjective
and objective reasons.

“On the one hand, external forces set a task of deciding before
Armenia. Their requirements are now contradictory and have put
Armenia’s authorities in a rather difficult situation,” he said.

On the other hand, Armenia’s society largely mistrusts the authorities
and is inclined to believe any claims discrediting the authorities.

“This is a serious political factor, when people lose confidence in
the authorities, which does not promise anything good,” he said.

“When the external resources the authorities use to retain power
expire, the authorities turn to their internal resources, and
we can witness this process now in the form of intraparty fight
and re-alignments. We witnessed a similar process after the rigged
elections of 1996, when a crisis developed within the ruling circles,
which resulted in re-alignments,” he said.

“Actually, Armenia has not seen a change of power during its
23-year-long independence, which hinders the state’s natural
development,” Hakobyan said.

With respect to the controversies, he said that “they are neither
ideological nor political. Rather, they are group controversies.”

“If you focused on what happened during and after the presentation of
the Control Chamber’s report, offshore scandal and other developments,
you must have noticed that both the accusers and the accused were
members of the power pyramid,” he said.

WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF ITS CULTURAL PROGRAM FOR THE YEAR 2013, THE ITALIAN EMBASSY, IN COLLABORATION WITH THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA, WILL PRESENT A SPECIAL CONCERT IN “ZVATRNOTS” TEMPLE BY THE “ENSEMBLE VIVALDI” OF THE ITALIAN WO

10-07-2013 17:33:17 | Armenia |

Within the framework of its cultural program for the year 2013, the
Italian Embassy, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture of the
Republic of Armenia, will present a Special Concert in “Zvatrnots”
Temple by the “Ensemble Vivaldi” of the Italian world famous Orchestra
“I Solisti Veneti”.

Special pieces drawn from the Italian Baroque and Classic Musical
Repertoire will be proposed to the Armenian public during the Concert.

Tomaso Albinoni, Antonio Vivaldi, Giuseppe Tartini, Gioacchino Rossini,
Aram Khachaturian, Nicolo’ Paganini and others are the composers
purposely chosen for this special performance in Yerevan.

The Concert will take place in the “Zvartnots” Temple area on Friday,
July 12, 2013 at 19:30.

Italian Embassy Yerevan, Armenia

News from Armenia and Diaspora – Noyan Tapan – See more at:

PROSPEROUS ARMENIA PARTY LEADER RECORD-HOLDER IN PARLIAMENTARY ABSENCES – NEWSPAPER

July 11, 2013 | 06:49

YEREVAN. – Prosperous Armenia Party Chairman Gagik Tsarukyan holds
the record in most number of absences from the National Assembly (NA)
sessions, Hraparak daily reports.

“He virtually has not ‘visited’ the parliament during the fall
session, and [he attended] the spring session three or four times,
and on those days when ‘bulk’ voting was to take place, so that the
matter of absences and mandate revoking would be considered resolved
to some extent.

‘And has he submitted a sick leave for the ‘rest’ [of the absences]?’
we asked our NA source.

‘Tsarukyan is a healthy, vigorous man; he has never submitted a
sick leave.’

And what did he submit? ‘Well, he often went on a business trip, [but]
he informed the NA leadership about this in writing,'” Hraparak writes.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL’S GLOBAL CORRUPTION BAROMETER 2013: 43% OF RESPONDENTS SAY CORRUPTION IN ARMENIA HAS INCREASED OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS
by Samvel Sarksyan

Wednesday, July 10, 13:01

Varuzhan Hoktanyan, Executive Director of Transparency International
Anticorruption Center in Armenia, introduced the Transparency
International’s Global Corruption Barometer 2013 (GCB) on July 9.

He said that 43% out of 1068 respondents in Armenia thought corruption
level has increased over the last year, while only 19% thought it
decreased. He said that 82 respondents thought corruption a serious
or a very serious problem for Armenia, and only 3% said corruption is
not a problem. Nevertheless, 21% of the polled said the government
actions to fight corruption are effective or very effective (vs. 27%
in GCB-2011 on Armenia ) and 53% said the government actions are
ineffective.

57% of people in Armenia thought that political parties were affected
by corruption, 57% of people in Armenia thought that parliament /
legislature was affected by corruption, 51% of people in Armenia
thought that business was affected by corruption, 47% of people in
Armenia thought that military was affected by corruption, 32% of
people in Armenia thought that NGOs were affected by corruption, 37%
of people in Armenia thought that media was affected by corruption,
39% of people in Armenia thought that religious bodies were affected
by corruption, 58% of people in Armenia thought that education systems
were affected by corruption, 69% of people in Armenia thought that
judiciary was affected by corruption, 66% of people in Armenia thought
that medical and health services were affected by corruption, 66% of
people in Armenia thought that police were affected by corruption, and
68% of people in Armenia thought that public officials and civil
servants were affected by corruption. 48% though the government is
run by a few big entities acting in their own best interests, and only
16% did not think so. 48% though personal contacts are important for
thinks do be done in the public sector, while 9% said the personal
contacts are not important at all.

Hoktanyan is very concerned over the fact that only 37% of respondents
strongly agreed that ordinary people can make a difference in the
fight against corruption. This indicator is lower only in the Ukraine,
Serbia, and Tunisia. Only 43% of the polled expressed desire to fight
corruption, and this made Armenia an outsider. In addition, only 33%
of them are ready to report on corruption cases to relevant
organizations and agencies, though they think it will change nothing.

This indicator is lower only in Ukraine, Yemen, Libya, and Hungary.

Hoktanyan said that 18% of respondents in Armenia said they gave
bribes mostly to the healthcare establishment and police. They said in
most cases bribes were given as a sign of gratitude, while another 27%
had to give bribes to settle problems. In addition, 28% of the
respondents said they were demanded a bribe and another 62% said they
refused to give bribes.

Clarifying the situation with the corrupt judiciary and police in
Armenia, which are set to fight corruption, Hoktanyan said that in
conditions of the system-wide corruption, the judicial and police
cannot fulfill the constitutional provision on independent work. At
the same time, judicial and police are inefficient also for lack of
human resources and sufficient rewards. He outlined also the low level
of transparency and reporting. In addition, judiciary and police do
not perceive their work as a service for the people.

Hoktanyan thinks the above data should not be taken as absolute
reality, given the atmosphere of cautiousness in Armenia. There is
such atmosphere also in Azerbaijan, where no one admitted that he has
ever given bribes or that the government is run by a few big entities
acting in their own best interests. For conclusion, he said that that
GCB-2013 reports of certain stagnation in the fight against corruption
in Europe, but it is not a dangerous phenomenon for European countries
that have effective institutional structures and mechanisms. On the
other hand, he said, political parties and NGOs are also responsible
for the people’s unwillingness to fight corruption.

Hoktanyan explained that The Global Corruption Barometer 2013 is a
survey of 114,000 people in 107 countries and it shows corruption is
widespread. The survey was conducted by WIN/GIA and its subsidies in
the period from Oct 2012 up to Mar 2013. The report does not cover
Belarus, Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. The survey was
held only in 8 towns in Kyghyzstan. 27 per cent of respondents have
paid a bribe when accessing public services and institutions in the
last 12 months, revealing no improvement from previous surveys. Still,
nearly 9 out of 10 people surveyed said they would act against
corruption and two-thirds of those who were asked to pay a bribe had
refused, suggesting that governments, civil society and the business
sector need to do more to engage people in thwarting corruption. 36
countries view police as the most corrupt, and in those countries an
average of 53 per cent of people had been asked to pay a bribe to the
police. 20 countries view the judiciary as the most corrupt, and in
those countries an average of 30 per cent of the people who had come
in contact with the judicial systems had been asked to pay a bribe.

The Global Corruption Barometer 2013 shows a crisis of trust in
politics and real concern about the capacity of those institutions
responsible for bringing criminals to justice. In 51 countries around
the world political parties are seen as the most corrupt institution.

55 per cent of respondents think government is run by special
interests. Around the world, people’s appraisal of their leaders’
efforts to stop corruption is worse than before the financial crisis
began in 2008, when 31 per cent said their government’s efforts to
fight corruption were effective. This year it fell to 22 per cent.