Author: Kanayan Tamar

SCORES OF AZERI SOLDIERS DIE IN NONCOMBAT CIRCUMSTANCES – RESEARCH

April 2, 2013 – 21:34 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Azerbaijan’s losses in the sectors of security
and defense totaled 22 people in Q1 of 2013, Doctrine Journalists’
Military Research Center said.

18 soldiers out of 22 listed died in noncombat circumstances including
accidents, helicopter crashes, negligence, illegal actions, diseases,
suicides.

According to the Doctrine monitoring results, 20 more were injured
in the reporting period, SalamNews said.

GEORGIA MULLS EXPANDING MILITARY TIES WITH AZERBAIJAN, TURKEY

17:44 ~U 02.04.13

The Georgian authorities are considering possibilities of developing
military cooperation with Turkey and Azerbaijan, Georgia Online
reported, citing the country’s minister of defense.

“We now have a trilateral relationship format, and we intend to expand
it for conducting new joint military drills,” said Irakli Alasania.

The Georgian official noted that they had earlier organized exercises
for command headquarters, adding that the upcoming event will be
intended for battalions.

“Negotiations are now under way, with no planning going on. But the
prospects are positive,” Alasania said.

In the meantime, the minister did not rule out the possibility of
regional allies and the United States’ participation in the training.

The previous drills conducted in a trilateral format were aimed at
ensuring the security of oil pipelines.

Armenian News – Tert.am

RUSSIA WILL PROTECT ARMENIA IN CASE OF NEW WAR – EXPERT

April 2, 2013 – 18:46 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Russia has no intention to attack Azerbaijan;
however, Baku must realize that in case of hostilities against
Armenia, Russian forces will be protecting Yerevan in accordance with
agreements, a Russian expert said.

According to Andrey Yepifantsev, even in the case above, the nature
of modern war doesn’t envisage automatic involvement of all available
types of forces.

“Azerbaijan and Armenia have no common sea border so the probability
of the involvement of naval forces in this case is rather ambiguous,”
vesti.az quoted the expert as saying.

ARMENIA’S PROCESSING ENTERPRISES TO BUY OVER 86,000 TONS OF VEGGIES AND FRUITS FROM FARMERS IN 2013

YEREVAN, April 3. /ARKA/. The Armenian processing enterprises are
ready to purchase nearly 86,500 tons of fruits and vegetables from
farmers in 2013, Robert Makaryan, Deputy Minister of Agriculture,
told reporters on Wednesday.

“Our monitoring of the processing companies demonstrated they are
ready to purchase about 58,000 tons of vegetables (51000 tons of
which will be tomatoes) and 28,500 tons of fruits,” he said.

According to Makaryan, compared to 2012 the expected purchases will
rise by 27,000 tons this year.

He also noted in 2012 the processing enterprises and farms reached
6,900 agreements on purchases, 5,900 of them- on grape purchases.

“This year we will try to increase the number of the agreements
since the farmers will get a guarantee on selling their production,
and the processing enterprises- on getting raw products,” he clarified.

Makaryan appealed to farmers to demonstrate bigger activity in signing
agreements as it will help them to orient in choosing appropriate
enterprises. -0-

ARMENIANS ARE RESPECTED IN IRAN, SAYS IRANIAN MFA SPOKESMAN

15:03 03/04/2013 ” REGION

Iran is considered to be one of the best countries for Armenians
to live in, visiting spokesman of Iran’s Foreign Ministry Ramin
Mehmanparast said on the sidelines of his visit to the Institute of
Oriental Studies at the RA National Academy of Sciences on Wednesday,
according to Iran’s news agency FARS.

In a meeting with director of the Institute of Oriental Studies Ruben
Safrastyan, the spokesman said, in part, “Armenians are respected
in Iran and Iran is considered to be one of the best countries for
Armenians to live in. Iranian Armenians are part of our country’s
population. We will never allow anyone to encroach on the rights of
our citizens.”

As part of his visit to Armenia, the spokesman of Iran’s Foreign
Ministry has met with Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh
Kocharyan and visited Yerevan State University.

The spokesman is to meet with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian on Wednesday, Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA said.

Source: Panorama.am

CHELSEA, LIVERPOOL AND TOTTENHAM TOLD £30 MILLION IS THE PRICE

14:35 03.04.2013

There have been media reports revealing Shakhtar Donetsk have put
a £30 million price tag for Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan,
amid speculation he is being chased by a whole host of Premier League
clubs, according to Miusoccer.com.

According to reports it is a take it or leave it offer, in which the
Ukrainian club does not seem willing to let the highly-rated talent
leave in the summer.

He is being courted by several English clubs such as Chelsea, Tottenham
and Liverpool.

Mkhitaryan has an impressive goal-scoring record for Donetsk and has
hit nineteen goals already. Thus, the world can see just why he is
so highly-rated by the clubs chasing him, and why the Ukrainians are
very reluctant to sell.

ARMENIA POSTS 4,5% GROWTH IN PETROL PRICES IN 2013

April 2, 2013 – 14:37 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – 0,8% deflation was recorded in Armenia’s non-consumer
market in March 2013, with 0,6 and 1,1% growth in petrol and fuel
prices reported.

According to RA National Statistical Service, Armenia posted 4,5%
and 6,0% growth of petrol and fuel prices respectively in March 2013
as compared with the same period in 2012.

The following prices have been set: “Regular” petrol – AMD 490,
“Premium” petrol – AMD 510, “Super” petrol – AMD 540.

PEOPLE GATHER IN FRONT OF ARMAVIA OFFICE IN YEREVAN (PHOTOS)

April 02, 2013 | 11:10

YEREVAN. – At present, over thirty people have gathered in front of
the Armavia Airline Company office located in Armenian capital city
Yerevan. They demand either changing or refunding for the plane tickets
they had bought from the company, one of those who gathered-and who
was to fly to Moscow-told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

He informed that an Armavia representative had told him that they
will no longer work as of Monday and he should apply to the company
office to change his ticket.

“We are about thirty people [here]; half has gone but will return
shortly,” he said.

They are standing before the Armavia office and waiting for someone
to come out in order to resolve their problem.

To note, Armavia Airline Company, which is Armenia’s national carrier,
issued a statement recently and informed that its flights will end
on Monday and a bankruptcy process will commence.

Armavia has huge debts to its employees, Yerevan’s
ZvartnotsInternationalAirport, Russian companies, and Russian airports.

Photos by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

REPRESENTATIVES OF ARMENIAN, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRIES DISCUSS REGIONAL ISSUES

12:06 02.04.2013

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan received Ramin
Mehmanparast, the Spokesman and Official Representative of the Iranian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Shavarsh Kocharyan said that the Armenian-Iranian relations, which have
a history of millennia, are on a high level today, there is regular
political dialogue, economic cooperation, the cultural ties are active.

The parties discussed regional issues, underlining the importance of
their peaceful settlement.

The interlocutors exchanged views on the avenues of promoting the
cooperation between the mass media of the two countries.

BAKU PRESSURE BLAMED FOR VAN-YEREVAN FLIGHT CANCELATION

Monday, April 1st, 2013

BoraJet is the company operating the Van-Yerevan flights

ANKARA (Reuters)-Turkey has canceled the first ever scheduled Turkish
flights to Armenia, days before the first plane was due to take off,
officials have said, following fierce opposition from Azerbaijan.

The twice-weekly flights between Turkey’s eastern city of Van and
Yerevan were due to begin on April 3 and, encouraged by a U.S. push
for rapprochement, were meant to boost bilateral tourism and trade.

But with just over a week until the first flight, and with tickets
already on sale, Turkey’s civil aviation authority stepped in and
ordered the flights to be suspended.

Officials at Turkey’s transport ministry confirmed the flights had
been stopped but declined to give a reason. BoraJet, the private
Turkish carrier set to fly the 45-minute route, also declined to
comment on the stoppage.

One BoraJet official twice denied the Van-Yerevan flights had ever
been planned, even though the route was still available as a booking
option on the firm’s Web site on Monday.

Narekavank Tour, a Yerevan-based travel agency which has spent the
last three years organising the flights together with a Turkish travel
agency in Van, said the reason was political.

“The organizers were keen on staying away from politics. It is
very sad and discouraging that Turkish authorities were not able to
do the same and finally let politics interfere with this promising
initiative,” it said in a statement.

Asked if he thought this was due to specific pressure from Azerbaijan,
Armen Hovhannisyan, co-founder of Narekavank Tour, said: “Of course,
it’s part of the whole formula, and maybe they have been working
behind the scenes.”

Azerbaijan has voiced fierce opposition to the flights and last week
Ali Hasanov, a senior official at the president’s office in Baku,
said they amounted to support for “the occupant country” and only
prolonged the “occupation”.

“When such things are done by countries, which share the same
strategic interests with Azerbaijan, we take it twice as fervently.

It’s not just our attitude, but an attitude of the whole Turkish
society,” Hasanov told Reuters.

A Turkish foreign ministry official said he was aware the flights
had been canceled but did not know the reason.