Author: Kanayan Tamar

Yerevan city vote: Oppositionist explains reason for quitting coalition party

16:23 – 20.04.13

Gagik Baghdasaryan, a former lawmaker of the Rule of law Party, who
now heads the campaign headquarters of the Barev Yerevan (Hello
Yerevan) bloc, says he quit the coalition party on grounds of
ideological disagreements.

`I was in the Rule of Law when it was an opposition party and appealed
to an Armenian to build a country of law and justice. I am the bearer
of that ideology today,’ he told Tert.am, adding that the party has
now departed from the principles declared.

Instead, Baghdasaryan expressed more trust in Raffi Hovhannisian,
whose Heritage party coordinates the Barev Yerevan bloc.

Asked to what degree he is certain that Hovhannisian will not depart
from his ideas too, the politician said he makes no doubt about
Hovhannisian’s devotedness.

`He had more opportunities to be part of the government than did [Rule
of Law leader] Arthur Baghdasryan. He had chances to join the
authorities and guide himself by the principles dictated, to which I
disagree’ he added.

Such a scenario, according to him, would prevent Hovhannisian from
realizing his proposed reforms to a full degree.

The politician doesn’t think anything can force the Heritage leader to
choose Athur Baghdasaryan’s format of collaboration with the
authorities (after the 2008 presidential polls and the tragic
post-election violence that claimed 10 lives, the Rule of Law leader
accepted Serzh Sargsyan’s proposal for joining the government and was
appointed secretary of the National Security Council).

`He [Raffi Hovhannisian] moves ahead to build the kind of country he
imagines. And that will very soon turn real,’ he noted.

Speaking of the municipal council elections, Baghdasaryan said their
top candidate, Armen Martirosyan (Heritage party’s vice chair), has
very high chances for being elected a mayor. He said he expects
Martirosyan to be the kind of mayor proposing his unique style and
approaches to the Yerevan resident.

Armenian News – Tert.am

GENOCIDE ARMENIEN
Le 24 avril sera commémoré à Budva au Monténégro

Le 24 avril, dans un monastère de la ville de Budva au Monténégro, se
déroulera une cérémonie en souvenir des victimes du génocide arménien
de 1915. La manifestation est à l’initiative de la nouvelle
association « Initiatives démocratiques ». Une organisation présidée
par Arman Petrossian, crée récemment au Monténégro pour promouvoir «
l’amitié entre les peuples ». L’association fut crée en octobre 2012
lors d’une rencontre avec la participation des représentants
Ukrainiens, Arméniens et Russies vivant au Monténégro. Lors de la
naissance de cette association, des invités étaient également venus de
Belgique, de Pologne et de France. Le génocide arménien sera ainsi
commémoré l’une des premières fois au Monténégro dont la communauté
arménienne est réduite à quelques dizaines de membres.

Krikor Amirzayan

samedi 20 avril 2013,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

LITHUANIAN, ARMENIAN DEF-MINS ADDRESS COOPERATION

-LETA, Lithuania
April 18, 2013 Thursday

On April 18 through 19, Defence Minister of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan
will be a paying a formal visit in Lithuania. On Thursday the guest
will meet with Lithuanian Minister of National Defence Juozas Olekas,
the ministry said in a report.

At the meeting bilateral defence cooperation and its perspectives,
contributions to multinational operations, and Armenia’s relations
with NATO and the EU will be discussed, the meeting defence officials
will also exchange views on the security situation in the region.

Lithuania and Armenia have been developing defence cooperation since
signing a bilateral agreement in 2002.

Lithuania is supporting Armenia in military training area through
financing studies of Armenian officers at the General Jonas Zemaitis
Lithuanian Military Academy in Vilnius and the Baltic Defence College
(BALTDEFCOL) in Tartu, Estonia.

Lithuania’s defence attache to Armenia has been commissioned and
based in Tbilisi since late February of 2006.

EXPERT: FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF SERZH SARGSYAN AND THE RULING ELITE PRIME MINISTER TIGRAN SARGSYAN IS LESSER OF THE EVILS

ARMINFO
Friday, April 19, 17:31

>From the point of view of Serzh Sargsyan and the ruling elite Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan is lesser of the evils. This is the reason of
Serzh Sargsyan’s decision to leave Tigran Sargsyan at his position of
premier, political expert, Ruben Mehrabyan, told Arminfo correspondent.

“I think that the president is guided by the principle “one shouldn’t
change houses in midstream”. Of course, such an approach contains
certain internal contradiction. Nevertheless, one should take into
consideration that the ruling system contains numerous vulnerable
points, and any sharp movement will become a threat to the stability
of this system. For this reason, Sargsyan avoided sharp movements
and left Tigran Sargsyan at his position of premier”, – Mehrabyan said.

He said that today’s power system in Armenia consists of a certain
mixture of the checks and balances system between various groups
of interests and influence. Against such a background, a decision to
replace Tigran Sargsyan from the position of prime minister would cause
the unhealthy interest among all the interested groups which would
try to redistribute this balance in favor of themselves. Another not
less important factor in favor of Tigran Sargsyan’s remaining at his
position, are the talks on association agreement with the European
Union. “It is no secret, that they have started negotiating when
Sargsyan was a prime minister, and it would be expedient to end the
talks when the latter is still at his position. I think Sargsyan will
be hardly replaced before the ending of all these processes linked
with the EU, but the force-major situations”, – Mehrabyan concluded.

RAFFI HOVANNISIAN TO RESUME REGIONAL TRIPS NEXT WEEK

Saturday,
April 20

“We will not wait for five years. We don’t have so much time. We will
achieve a victory earlier,” Heritage Party leader, ex-presidential
candidate Raffi Hovannisian said during the meeting at Ani Plaza
Hotel today.

He then addressed the presidential residence, saying: “Let those
at the relevant address in Baghramian Avenue hear: Justice has its
amount and consequences which cannot be measured until it is too
late… Don’t delay the rejection of your office”.

In conclusion, Raffi Hovannisian announced that next week he would
resume his trips to Armenian regions.

19.04.2013, 22:19

Aysor.am

ARF-D REP SEES TWO WAYS FOR ARMENIA – VIDEO

22:52 ~U 19.04.13

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D) has made
consistent efforts for the post-election movement to get stronger,
Armen Rustamyan, an ARF-D Supreme Body member, stated at a meeting
Heritage party leader Raffi Hovannisian held at the Ani hotel in
Yerevan.

“Armenia’s authorities that the evil we must get rid of,” he said.

The first way is an opposition candidate’s post-election alliance in
the elections to Yerevan’s Council of Elders.

“If we turn the upcoming elections into a referendum to pass a vote
of no confidence in the authorities, we will have an opposition mayor
of Yerevan,” Rustamyan said.

Armenia’s authorities behave as if they did not realize the political
importance of Yerevan municipal elections.

The second way is putting an end to the presidential power and a
switchover to parliamentary government.

ARMENIAN CHESS PLAYERS IN LILLE

2013-04-19 23:43:54

GM Tigran Gharamian (France) and WGM Evgeniya Doluhanova (Armenia)
have scored 5,5 points each out of 8 before the last round of the
open that is being held in Lille, France, armchess reports.

The leaders with 6,5 points each are GMs Suri Vaibhav (India) and
Andrey Zhigalko (Belarus).

AIR TICKETS TO ARMENIA TWICE AS EXPENSIVE AS TICKETS TO GEORGIA

Friday,
April 19

Armenia needs a national carrier, without which it is impossible to
develop tourism, Director of Amistad Tour travel agency, a member of
the Board of the Union of Inbound Tour Operators Ms. Armine Adamian
said at the meeting with journalists today.

According to her, tourists often cancel their trips to Armenia because
of high prices of air tickets, which also happened prior to Armavia~Rs
bankruptcy.

Armine Adamian said that air tickets from a European country to
Armenia are twice as expensive as tickets to Georgia. She mentioned
the absence of direct flights as another serious problem.

It is noteworthy that the Armenian deputy minister of economy stated
at a press conference today that there have not been any complaints
about air carriers recently and other airlines have operated flights
instead of Armavia.

TODAY, 15:42

Aysor.am

CHECHENS FROM TURKEY ORGANIZED THE BOSTON EXPLOSION

16:40, 19 April, 2013

YEREVAN, APRIL 19, ARMENPRESS. The Boston Marathon explosion was
reportedly organized by two brothers of Chechen origin, who came to
the USA from Turkey. As reports “Armenpress” American NBC TV channel
stated this. Certain American media state that the two brothers are
Turks.

With a bomb strapped to his chest, one of the Boston Marathon suspects
was killed early Friday after he and his accomplice brother robbed a
7-Eleven, shot a police officer to death, carjacked a SUV and hurled
explosives in an extraordinary firefight with law enforcement. The
second suspect – the one in the white hat in photos released by the
FBI – was on the loose. Gov. Deval Patrick ordered the entire city of
Boston and some suburbs to stay inside during what he called a
“massive manhunt,” and police began a house-to-house search. Boston
shut down its buses and subway system.

The suspect at large, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is 19 and has a Massachusetts
driver’s license, they said. The dead suspect was identified as
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, age 26. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was run over by a vehicle
during the firefight, law enforcement officials told NBC News. Law
enforcement officials also told NBC News that the brothers entered the
United States with family in 2002 or 2003, and that Tamerlan Tsarnaev
became a legal permanent resident in 2007.

The chaotic sequence of events started six hours after the FBI
triggered a nationwide manhunt by releasing photos of the suspects,
believed responsible for detonating two bombs at the marathon finish
line Monday, killing three people and injuring 176.

ARMENIAN PSYCHOLOGIST SPEAKS OF GENOCIDE EFFECTS ON NATIONAL CHARACTER

15:25 ~U 19.04.13

The psychologist Samvel Khudoyan invited a press conference on Friday
to discuss psychological effects of the Armenian Genocide.

Genocide has a most serious effect on the national character.

“Many researchers link excessive maternal care with genocide.

Depressive national features show as well,” he said.

“Ani Kalajyan’s research showed the generation associated the
earthquake of 1988 with genocide, which is shocking,” he said.

The expert explains Armenia’s hostility towards Turks as “sublimation.”

“Analyses show it to be subconscious,” Khudoyan said.

On the other hand, he points out positive aspects. “For example, the
genocide survivors and their descendants show high adaptability and
resistance to hardships,” Khudoyan said.

Not only victims, but also perpetrators of genocides have genetic
memory. Turks think that they can blot out their memories by denying
the Armenian Genocide.

Armenian News – Tert.am