Author: Kanayan Tamar

CIVIL ACTIVISTS HOLD PROTEST ACTIONS IN FRONT OF EMBASSIES IN YEREVAN

ARMINFO
Tuesday, February 26, 20:02

Today several dozens of civil activists held protest actions in
front of the Embassies of France, Italy and Russia in Yerevan. They
expressed their discontent with the fact that the foreign states’
presidents congratulated Serzh Sargsyan on victory in the presidential
election in Armenia.

The number of law-enforcers guarding the building of the embassies
was higher than that of the protesters. The law-enforcers blocked
the pavements near the embassies. The protesters held posters saying:
“You congratulate the false president!”, “Don’t encourage a new March
1!”, “We want a Carrefour in Armenia”. One of the activists managed to
pass by the police and made his way to the building of French Embassy,
however, the police pushed him off, took his poster and tore it. The
poster said: “We present Serzh Sargsyan to you”. “They took away
my poster, swore at me and then mocked that I had no poster. I told
them to return my poster, and they replied that I had come without
any poster”, said activist Vahagn Minasyan.

As regards the Embassy of Italy, a representative of the Embassy took
a letter from the protesters’ hands. The protesters had managed to
approach the fence of the building before the police’s arrival. When
the activists approached the building of the Russian Embassy, the
number of law-enforcers increased, however, the protesters managed to
hand their letter. The letter expresses the activists’ disappointment
in the assessment of the presidential election. “In our opinion,
such assessment could be a result of two things: either the Head of
your state is unaware of the large-scale electoral fraud and bribery
of voters in the course of the presidential election in Armenia or
he supports the criminal oligarchs’ usurpation of power in Armenia”.

The letter also demonstrates the activists’ willingness to continue
the fight aimed at establishment of democracy. “We are determined to
do our actions and we have announced civil disobedience. We are not
going to obey the instructions of the non-elected president, including
the international agreements signed by him. We want you to remain
committed to democratic values”, says the letter. “You have no right
to devaluate the moral capital of Armenia formed among the European
peoples over years. Such policy will lead to the loss of our confidence
and creation of a barrier between Europe and Armenia”, the letter says.

RPA AND NA CENTERS OF POLITICAL CORRUPTION
Karine Ionesyan

17:20 27/02/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:

Interview with Chairwoman of Transparency International Anti-Corruption
Center Sona Ayvazyan

How it happens that parliamentary members accumulate such wealth with
their low salaries?

We know that parliament is composed of businessmen, who are rich and
their presence there guarantees complete immunity. I mean they are
not held responsible, though RoA Constitution sets parliamentarians
can’t engage in business activities. They, most probably, don’t pay
taxes so they get richer.

Do they get richer after assuming their office in the parliament?

Since everything has become more transparent only now, we have no
data from previous years relating to some parliamentarians and we
can’t compare. It will be possible to say in a few years.

Do NA activities help parliamentarians avoiding taxes?

They get political levers, they get the possibility to influence on
the adoption of laws which guarantee their business security. This
is a sort of political corruption.

According to our research, the richest parliamentary members are
Republicans, excluding PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan.

The Republican Party seems a union of businesses, it can hardly be
called a party, it is criminal group which appeared in the NA and
is now forming the political agenda proceeding from the interests of
several people.

MPs provide annual property declarations to Ethics Commission. Do
those numbers correspond to the reality?

We can’t know that. Only investigative journalists can. But it will
be difficult anyway because it is kept secret: high ranking officials
register their property at their relatives. The process of declaration
of property does not regard the relatives of parliamentarians, so
they are not held responsible.

Are there no supervision mechanisms?

First, Ethics Commission’s activities are technical and they don’t
study data. They don’t check whether the property of a certain figure
could be obtained with their salaries. Several years ago, we turned to
relevant bodies with the request to study Tigran Arzaqantsyan’s case,
since he has shares in some companies. Relevant bodies affirm that
if that person is not the executive director, he can’t be considered
involved in business. But it is their interpretation.

Has any MP been held responsible for doing business?

No. When investigative materials appear, we turn to the Ethics
Commission, but as a rule, the law enforcement bodies see no corpus
delicti. They don’t fulfill their duties being engaged in sponsorship.

Many declare their properties as real estate, and very often, it
is impossible to find out the real price. So you think they conceal
anything?

Full declarations and the published part are different. The data are
not fully released because it is a secret, so some important figures
remain out, such as the series of cars, the annual turnover etc. But
this is a shortcoming of the legislation.

What solutions do you propose?

First, the laws need to be amended to eliminate these shortcomings.

The commission of high ranking officials should not be under the
president. The illegal enrichment is not criminally punished: Armenia,
signed the UN convention on corruption fight, but signed the point
on the illegal enrichment with reservations. People should be held
responsible for illegal enrichment.

ARMENIA’S PRIME-MINISTER MEETS WITH US AMBASSADOR

YEREVAN, February 27. /ARKA/. Armenia’s prime-minister Tigran Sargsyan
met with the US ambassador to Armenia John Heffern, the government
press service reported. The meeting was initiated by the ambassador
Heffern.

The sides discussed a wide range of issues.

US embassy political and economic advisers have participated in the
meeting. -0–

HOVIK ABRAHAMIAN CHANGES HIS MIND: HE WILL NOT BECOME PRIME MINISTER

Wednesday,
February 27

“During the time I have held various offices, I have never intended
to become the country’s president,” National Assembly Speaker Hovik
Abrahamian assured reporters today.

In response to the remark that at one time he wanted to become prime
minister, Abrahamian replied that at one time he wanted to be prime
minister, but now he has changed his mind.

“The post of the National Assembly speaker is higher than that of
prime minister,” he said.

TODAY, 15:09

Aysor.am

JIRAYR SEFILYAN: SOCIETY IS FORMING PARALLEL GOVERNMENT

03:59 PM | TODAY | POLITICS

Jirayr Sefilyan, Commander of the “Shushi” special battalion, welcomes
students’ decision to join the nation-wide protests against the
fraudulent Feb. 18 presidential election and says we have appeared
in a situation where it is possible to achieve significant changes
in short periods of time.

“First of all, everything depend on people. Great is also Raffi
Hovannisian’s role, who is leading the nation-wide protests,” said
Mr Sefilyan.

He considers the thoughts expressed by the Heritage party leader
[Raffi Hovannisian] to be unprecedented and incomparable with the
classical practice.

“Ninety percent of the society is forming a parallel government with
all its institutions, preparing for the transitional period. The
collision would have been unavoidable if people had taken the former
path,” said Mr Sefilyan.

AGRICULTURE: FAVORABLE CONDITIONS AND BETTER SEED QUALITY EXPECTED TO INCREASE CROP PRODUCTION

ECONOMY | 27.02.13 | 15:01

Photolure

Hrach Berberyan
By SIRANUYSH GEVORGYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

Hrach Berberyan, heading the farmers’ union, believes this year will
be favorable for agriculture.

“Five days are left before the crop year starts: the layer of snow
was thicker this year as compared to last year, the only concern
now is the possible April frostbite, but there are numerous means to
“cushion” the negative climatic impact, they just need to be applied
in practice. As for the water issue, I can say that last year had no
deficit of humidity, but the water for some reason disappeared. This
year just let them claim there is no water!” Berberyan told the press
on Wednesday.

Berberyan praised the government measures aimed at supporting farmers,
however stressed that there is a need for serious legislative reforms.

The government last week approved the oat, corn, millet, sainfoin
(a forage grain) production development program for 2013, according
to which 850 tons of spring-planted oat seeds, 11 tons of corn
seeds, 37 tons of millet seeds and 530 tons of sainfoin seeds will
be purchased from foreign and local producers and distributed to
farmers at favorable terms. The government program is expected to
enhance the sowing fields, increase the gross volume of crops and the
farmer income. The government has allotted more than 700 million drams
(around $1.7 million) to the purchase of seeds.

“The selling price to the villagers will be lower than the market
price, plus we are going to subsidize 40 percent of it,” Prime Minister
Tigran Sargsyan stated.

Last year the government gave wheat seeds to farmers with a condition
to return by 2:1 kg ratio, however the seeds were low-quality, hence
did not yield good crops. Berberyan is hopeful this year things
won’t repeat.

According to Berberyan, the post-election unrest will not interfere
with villagers’ work. (There had been speculation that villagers may
get caught up in protests that might interfere with seasonal work.)

“Agriculture is stable, we don’t like tribulations. In Ararat plain the
land workers will be in the fields and orchards in some 10 days, so no
‘shocks’ can affect the development of agriculture. A villager wants
to work and earn his family’s living, nothing else,” said Berberyan.

ROBOTICS STARTS FROM SCHOOL

15:43 27/02/2013 ” ECONOMY

Today, a joint press conference was held at VivaCell-MTS Headquarters
on the theme “Robotics starts from school”. The conference was
presided by:
Karen Vardanyan, the Executive Director of the Union of Information
Technology Enterprises
Ralph Yirikian, VivaCell-MTS General Manager
Anna Sedrakyan, Cronimet Charity Foundation Director
ShaghikMarukhyan, World Vision Armenia Operations Manager

The Union of Information Technology Enterprises, in cooperation with
VivaCell-MTS, Cronimet Charity Foundation, World Vision Armenia and
Counterpart International Armenia, plan to set up robotics groups in 50
Armenian schools. The aim of this initiative is to raise interest among
pupils towards robotics, develop their engineering thinking, as well as
to prepare potential students for studying in technical universities.

“Year by year the number of students interested in robotics and eager
to participate in robotics competitions increases, and they, by the
way, have great success during the competitions. In order to promote
developments the Union has designed a robot set for the study groups.

Currently it is planned to carry out pilot project within the frames of
which 50 Armenian schools will be provided relevant sets of educational
robots”, said the UITE Executive Director Karen Vardanyan.

“The development of robotics is one of the prospects of strengthening
competitiveness in our country. VivaCell-MTS supports by all possible
means the initiatives meant for the development of the field. The
enthusiasm, interest, students’ own demand to learn new things make
schools an ideal environment for establishing a sound basis for
robotics field in Armenia. Certainly, many students would wish to be
specialized particularly in the robotics filed as an essential area,
thus becoming carriers of advantages for competitiveness in the word”,
said VivaCell-MTS Ralph Yirikian. “The development of robotics will
distinctly reduce the “brain outflow,”added VivaCell-MTS General
Manager.

The courses for school groups will start in September 2013. Within
the frames of this project it is envisaged to train the teaching
staff from respective schools in June – July. The programming of
educational robots will be implemented through Labview, Microsoft
robotics studio programmes.

Today there are robotics groups in the following schools of
Yerevan:”AYB” high school, Polytechnic basic college and Quantum
College, as for the regions, in Lori (Akhtala), Syunik (Sisian,
Kapan), Shirak (Gyumri) and Aragatsotn (Talin).

Source: Panorama.am

SUMGAIT POGROM VICTIMS COMMEMORATED IN ISRAEL

February 27, 2013 – 15:23 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Israeli city of Petah Tikva commemorated the victims
of the 1988 Sumgait pogrom at a Tuesday, February 26 event.

As the press attache of the Ararat Union of Armenians of Israel
Mendel Korsunski told PanARMENIAN.Net those gathered were briefed
on the history of the conflict and atrocities perpetrated against
Armenians in Azerbaijan.

“The Ordinary Genocide” documentary was screened at the event,
followed by a moment of silence for the victims of Sumgait massacres.

KONSTANTIN ZATULIN: SERZH SARGSYAN WILL HAVE TO REPLACE HIS PRIME MINISTER DURING HIS SECOND TERM

ARMINFO
Wednesday, February 27, 12:19

It is time for the political elite of Armenia to realize that the
current post- election situation may affect the country and it is
necessary to seek consensus with the opposition, says Konstantin
Zatulin, Director of the Institute of CIS Countries, in an interview
with ArmInfo.

He is sure that change of power would have harmful effect on
Armenia, as a spontaneous unmanageable force will come to replace
the legitimately elected authorities.

“Long-term destabilization of the domestic political situation is
inadmissible for Armenia, for the country is between two enemies,
Azerbaijan and Turkey. The political elite must realize this,”
he said. Zatulin stressed the necessity of a series of political
consultations between the authorities and the opposition.

As regards Raffi Hovannisian, Leader of Heritage Party, who took
the second place in the presidential election, Zatulin said: “Leader
of Heritage Party Raffi Hovannisian does not want to admit that he
received such quantity of votes just because there were no serious
opponents. He received also the votes of Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Gagik
Tsarukyan, who refused to run for president.”

The expert said that by shaking the political situation in the country
Hovannisian may lose the votes given to him. In addition, it is very
dangerous, he said.

Commenting on the rumors that Moscow is discontented at Prime Minister
Tigran Sargsyan who maybe replaced for that reason, Zatulin said
that such politician as Serzh Sargsyan, undoubtedly, realizes the
necessity of changes.

“President of Armenia realizes that he will have to replace the prime
minister during his second term. The country’s economic policy vector
for the coming 5 years and its cooperation with allies depend on
future prime minister,” Zatulin said.

AZERI EMBASSY INCITES BRAWL AT FRENCH PARLIAMENT

Tuesday, February 26th, 2013

The capacity crowd, among them members of the French Parliament,
turned out to mark the anniversary of Sumgait Porgoms

People affiliated with the Azeri Embassy in Paris begin brawl at an
event marking the 25th anniversary of the Sumgait Porgoms

PARIS-An Azeri delegation disrupted a commemoration event marking the
25th anniversary of the Sumgait Massacres taking place inside the
French Parliament Tuesday when they refused to stand in observance
of a moment of silence for the victims.

According to Mourad Papazian, chairman of the Coordinating Council
of Armenian Organization in France (CCAF), one of the Azeris punched
an event organizer, Hratch Varjabedian, who had approached them to
inquire about their show of disrespect.

Eyewitnesses reported that one of the Azeris shouted that he would
only stand to commemorate “the victims of Khojaly.”

After Varjabedian was punched, a group of young Armenians rushed to
the scene and a brawl ensued before audience members broke it up and
police cordoned off the room.

Surprisingly, Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to France, Elchin Amirbeyov
immediately arrived at the scene accompanied by other embassy officials
and issued a condemnation of the attack.

The APA news agency reported on its Web site that Armenians locked
the door of the auditorium and were accompanied by French members of
the audience in “brutally” beating them.

The event, entitled, “Sumgait events after 25 years: the present
situation and future prospects for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh”
was organized by French Parliament member Francois Roshebloun and
was attended by several parliament members.

The Nor Serount in France (AYF of France) cancelled a day-long
demonstration scheduled to take place Wednesday in front of the Azeri
Embassy in France for fear of more Azeri-initiated violence.