Author: Kanayan Tamar

LA COMPAGNIE NATIONALE SYRIENNE SUSPEND SES VOLS VERS L’ARMENIE
Gari

armenews.com
mardi 15 janvier 2013

La compagnie aerienne nationale syrienne a decide de suspendre ses
vols hebdomadaires pour l’Armenie, qui etaient utilises principalement
par les Syriens d’origine armenienne fuyant le pays en proie a la
guerre civile, tandis que les les combats entre l’armee de Bachar Al
Assad et les rebelles font toujours rage autour de l’aeroport d’Alep,
deuxième ville de Syrie abritant une importante communaute armenienne.

Depuis le debut du mois, aucun vol de la compagnie Syrian Air n’a
assure la liaison avec Erevan. Le vol Alep-Erevan, qui etait prevu
pour le 8 janvier, avait ete annule pour cause de fermeture temporaire
de l’aeroport international d’Alep, selon le representant en Armenie
de la compagnie syrienne. Le vol suivant, prevu pour le 15 janvier,
n’aura pas lieu pour les memes motifs, a indique l’agence syrienne
de Erevan la veille. Jiraïr Reisian, un porte-parole du diocèse
syriende l’Eglise apostolique armenienne, a confirme la fermeture de
l’aeroport dans un entretien telephonique accorde a RFE/RL. J. Reisian
a indique que les autorites syriennes se seraient engagees a retablir
les activites dans l’aeroport dès que les travaux de reconstruction en
cours seraient termines, soit d’ici le 17 janvier. Il a tenu a preciser
que l’aeroport d’Alep restait sous le contrôle du pouvoir syrien.

“L’aeroport est en etat mais il y a des problèmes a ses abords”,
a indique pour sa part Krikor Zopian, un autre Syrien d’origine
armenienne residant a Alep, joint lui aussi par telephone. Selon lui,
les troupes gouvernementales ont tente de repousser les offensives
de l’armee rebelle qui cherchait a prendre le contrôle des routes
conduisant a l’aeroport. Citant des sources proches de l’opposition
syrienne, des agences de presse avaient indique au debut du mois que
les combats autour de l’aeroport d’Alep avaient gagne en intensite,
entraînant l’arret de la circulation aerienne entre la ville et
Damas au Jour de l’An. Les media officiels syriens, de leur côte,
ont affirme que l’armee du president Bashar al-Assad etait en train de
” nettoyer les zones environanntes des groupes terroristes “.

Syrian Air avait poursuivi ses liaisons avec l’Armenie en depit de
l’interdiction par la Turquie de son espace aerien depuis octobre
2012. Les vols Alep-Erevan survolaient depuis lors le territoire
iranien et irakien. La compagnie nationale armenienne Armavia, elle
aussi, assurait des liaisons hebdomadaires avec la Syrie, mais elle
avait dû les suspendre en septembre 2012 pour des raisons de securite.

Des milliers de ressortissants syriens, pour la plupart d’origine
armenienne, ont fui la Syrie pour l’Armenie a bord d’appareils de la
Syrian Air et d’Armavia depuis le declenchement de la guerre civile
en Syrie, en mars 2011. Beaucoup d’autres ont gagne la terre de leurs
ancetres par la route, via la Turquie et la Georgie.

mardi 15 janvier 2013, Gari ©armenews.com

DES CENTAINES DE GENS MANIFESTENT EN AZERBAIDJAN
Stephane

armenews.com
mardi 15 janvier 2013

Plusieurs centaines de personnes se sont rassemblees samedi dans le
centre de Bakou, la capitale de l’Azerbaïjan, pour protester contre
la mort, plus tôt ce mois-ci, d’un soldat conscrit.

De nombreux participants a cette manifestation, qui a ete organisee a
l’aide des medias sociaux, ont brandi des photos de Jeyhun Gubadov,
un jeune homme de 18 ans, qui, selon les autorites, est mort d’une
crise cardiaque. Selon la mère du jeune homme, toutefois, il a plutôt
ete victime de sevices corporels.

La police a ordonne aux manifestants de se disperser, avant
d’intervenir pour mettre fin a l’evenement. Aux dires de responsables,
plusieurs personnes ont ete arretees, mais le nombre n’a pas ete
precise.

Les manifestations antigouvernementales sont relativement
frequentes dans cet ancien Etat sovietique riche en pertrole, et ces
rassemblements sont pratiquement toujours disperses par la police.

Cette fois, le tout a ete entièrement organise en ligne, et n’a pas
implique l’un des partis d’opposition.

Reconnaissant sans doute l’indignation provoquee par l’affaire Gubadov,
des responsables du ministère de la Defense ont annonce l’arrestation
de deux personnes et des consequences pour plusieurs officiers de
haut rang en lien avec le decès.

Les manifestations sont rarement soulignees dans les medias d’Etat,
mais celle survenue samedi a attire l’attention de la presse, en plus
de susciter une reaction officielle.

Les autorites craignent les signes de mecontentement populaire,
particulièrement en prevision de l’election presidentielle d’octobre,
au cours de laquelle le chef d’Etat actuel, Ilham Aliev, devrait
facilement conserver sa poigne de fer sur cette nation bordant la
mer caspienne.

mardi 15 janvier 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

CBA puts into circulation commemorative coins

January 14, 2013 – 20:52 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) put into circulation
commemorative coins dedicated to famed culture and science workers.

According to CBA press service, gold commemorative coins marking
125th birth anniversary of famed Armenian actor Vahram Papazian,
silver coins dedicated to artists Stepan Aghajanyan and Ara Bekaryan,
Armenian astronomer Beniamin Markarian were issued.

Eduard Kurginyan is the author of Papazian and Bekaryan sketches. All
the coins were struck by Royal Dutch Mint.

BHK RANKS GROWING THINNER?

07:46 PM | TODAY | POLITICS

Naira Zohrabyan, a member of the Armenian delegation to the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), will raise the
issue of jailed ethnic Armenian activist Vahagn Chakhalian at the PACE
session to be held in Strasbourg on January 21-25. Georgian President
Mikheil Saakashvili is among the invitees to address the PACE session.

Some 3,000 prisoners have been released by the recent amnesty law
adopted by the Georgian parliament that bypassed Armenian political
prisoner Vahagn Chakhalian.

Armenian delegation is also going to speak of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict and the political situation in Armenia at the PACE session.

Talking to A1+, Naira Zohrabyan dismissed the allegations that the
Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) is losing its members.

“These are empty talks,” she said.

She also refuted the reports that the party is preparing for the
municipal elections.

SYRIAN ARMY ARRESTS 5 TURKISH NATIONALS IN ALEPPO

FNA
16:41 | 2013-01-14

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Syrian army arrested five Turkish nationals, who
were engaged in terrorist activities, in Syria’s second largest city
of Aleppo on Monday.

The army arrested the Turkish citizens in Aleppo’s Khan al-Assal
district as they were looting a warehouse in the area, the Syrian
newspaper al-Watan reported.

Last month, the Syrian army had arrested four Turkish fighter jet
pilots near the Koerc military airport in the Eastern Aleppo, but
later released them in a swap deal to free the 48 Iranian pilgrims
who had been abducted in Damascus in August.

The Syrian troops arrested the four Turkish fighter pilots as they were
about to attack the airport of the Northern Aleppo province on December
31. They were trying to sneak into the airport with an armed group.

Meantime, popular support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has
grown as 20,000 volunteers will join the Syrian army by next week.

This can help end the Syrian crisis in a shorter time, military
analysts say.

Terrorists have tried hard in the last few weeks to make Syrian
cities unsafe, specially for citizens, but the army has purged them
from most neighborhoods and districts, killed hundreds of them and
arrested many more.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized
attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border
guards being reported across the country.

Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have
been killed, when some protest rallies turned into armed clashes.

The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups
for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated
from abroad.

In October 2011, calm was eventually restored in the Arab state
after President Assad started a reform initiative in the country,
but Israel, the US and its Arab allies are seeking hard to bring the
country into chaos through any possible means. Tel Aviv, Washington
and some Arab capitals have been staging various plots in the hope
of increasing unrests in Syria.

The US daily, Washington Post, reported in May that the Syrian
rebels and terrorist groups battling the President Bashar al-Assad’s
government have received significantly more and better weapons in
recent weeks, a crime paid for by the Persian Gulf Arab states and
coordinated by the United States.

The newspaper, quoting opposition activists and US and foreign
officials, reported that Obama administration officials emphasized
the administration has expanded contacts with opposition military
forces to provide the Persian Gulf nations with assessments of rebel
credibility and command-and-control infrastructure.

According to the report, material is being stockpiled in Damascus, in
Idlib near the Turkish border and in Zabadani on the Lebanese border.

Opposition activists who several months ago said the rebels were
running out of ammunition said in May that the flow of weapons – most
bought on the black market in neighboring countries or from elements
of the Syrian military in the past – has significantly increased after
a decision by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Persian Gulf states to
provide millions of dollars in funding each month.

VISIT OF GEORGIAN PM TO ARMENIA TO MARK NEW STAGE IN ARMENIAN- GEORGIAN RELATIONS

arminfo
Tuesday, January 15, 16:57

The Jan 17 visit of Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili to
Armenia will mark a new stage in Armenian-Georgian relations, Deputy
Director of the Caucasus Institute, political scientist Sergey Minasyan
told journalists on Tuesday.

“The visit is crucial for not only bilateral relations but also for
the general situation in the region. Now that Ivanishvili is going to
revise Georgia’s relations with Russia, the Georgians may raise their
ties with Russia’s strategic partner Armenia to a new qualitative
level,” Minasyan said.

On the other hand, according to the expert, Georgian-Azeri relations
are worsening. One proof is the recent report in the Azeri mass media
quoting Georgian Patriarch Ilia II as saying that Georgia supports
Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict – an allegation that has
been disproved by the Georgians.

EXPERT: CHAKHALYAN ISSUE WON’T BE ON GEORGIAN PM’S VISIT AGENDA

January 15, 2013 – 17:15 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenia has every right to show interest in the
fate of its fellow countryman in Javakhk, which doesn’t mean we aim
to interfere in Georgia’s domestic affairs, an expert said.

At a January 15 news conference, Haykazun Alvrtsyan slammed Georgia
for violating the rights of national minorities despite a number of
international treaties signed.

“Thus, even after the amnesty, the release of the leader of United
Javakhk Democratic Alliance is still undecided. Vahagn Chakhalyan’s
release would suggest the new leadership promotes development of
national minorities,” the expert said.

As he noted, Chakhalyan’s issue won’t be included on the agenda of
Ivanishvili’s visit to Armenia.

CIVIC PRIMER: “DISOBEY, BECOME AN ACTIVIST”

11:22, January 15, 2013

The film “Disobey, become an activist” presents some principles and
tools for civic self-organization.

What are the values underlying civic struggles?; How to start an
initiative group (group of organizers)?; Issues of internal democracy;
strategic principles; power analyses; relations with the police. This
and other topics are presented by two young Armenian activists,
followed with documentary footage from local civic actions.

The film was made by Institute for Democracy and Human Rights
(IDHR NGO)

THE PROGRAM OF ARMENIA-GREECE MILITARY COOPERATION FOR 2013 SIGNED

Tuesday 15 January 2013 09:36

Photo: Press service of Armenian Defense Ministry

Yerevan/Mediamax/. The program of Armenia-Greece military cooperation
for 2013 was signed in Yerevan.

On January 14, the delegation headed by Chief of the Department of
International Cooperation at General Headquarters of National Defense
of Greece, Brigadier General Evangelos Konstas paid a working visit
to Armenia on January 14.

The delegation met with first Deputy Minister of Defense of Armenia
David Tonoyan and head of the Defense Policy Department of the Defense
Ministry Levon Ayvazyan. The bilateral cooperation in 2012 was summed
up and cooperation in 2013 was agreed upon.

Levon Ayvazyan and Evangelos Konstas signed a bilateral program of
military cooperation for 2013 envisaging a number of measures for
military-technical cooperation, fighting efficiency of the personal
staff and experience exchange.

CHIEF OF THE STAFF CHARGED WITH BRIBERY

Factinfo
Tue, 01/15/2013 – 14:08

The deputy commander, chief of staff of N military unit,
Lieutenant-Colonel Yurik Lazarian is charged with the bribery of
large amount with abuse of official position.

According to the information of “Pastinfo”, Lieutenant-Colonel is
charged with fraud of 3000 US dollars. The investigation found that Y.

Mkrtchayan promised Evelina Sargsyan to assure the military trainings
of his son in a particular military unit, than the move of the soldier
into the military unit, where he himself served, in 6 months.

According to the indictment, Y. Mkrtchayn received the money in 2
parts. On May 6, 2011, with the motion and in presence of Arthur
Grigoryan, Evelina Sargsyan gave him the first part of the money-
2500 US dollars, later on October 14, 2011, in his office of N
military unit, Y. Lazarian received the second part of the money,
250 US dollars, from Evelina Sargsyan, in the presence of her daughter.

Yurik Lazarian is charged with Article 178 of Criminal Code (bribery
with the use of the official power) and Arthur Grigoryan with Article
313 of Criminal Code (Bribery mediation).