Author: Kanayan Tamar

God punishes us for massacre of Armenians – father of killed Kurd VIDEO

December 29, 2012 | 00:04

The director of one of Armenian schools in Istanbul Karo Palian, who
attended the memorial event in memory of 34 Kurdish young people who
died on December 28, 2011, as a result of bombardment by Turkish
warplanes in Uluderey (Roboski) province of Sirnak, bordering with
Iraq, told an interesting case.

Karo Palian, presenting options of work to clarify the circumstances
of the massacre, described one event in a small Roboski village.

`When we went to the park, an old man, who was the father of one of
the killed boys told me: `This is – Karapet park, next to it – Petros
park, another – Hovhannes. This was an Armenian village. My
grandfather and our ancestors killed all the Armenians here. Tha is
why God is punishing us,’ the elderly man said, and began to cry,’
Karo Palian said, stressing that if the crime goes unpunished, it will
be repeated.

Middlesex County Sheriff wins award from Armenian government

Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian

By Emily Cataneo
Wicked Local Watertown

Posted Dec 28, 2012 @ 12:06 PM

WATERTOWN –
Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian won the Mkhitar Gosh Medal
from the Armenian government to commend him for his work as a public
servant. Koutoujian talked to the TAB about why he won the award,
meeting the Armenian prime minister and his Armenian heritage.

Can you tell me a bit about your family history?

My grandparents on my father’s side emigrated here during the
Armenian Genocide, fleeing the village of Marash even while many of
their friends, neighbors and relatives were not able to make it out
alive. While fleeing, my grandparents became separated with my
grandfather making it to the U.S. and my grandmother arriving in
Aleppo, Syria. They were eventually reunited in the U.S. and raised
their three sons and daughter here, forever grateful for the refuge
and opportunity the country provided them.

What was your reaction on finding out that you’d received the award?

I was just completely awestruck. I had no idea I would be presented
the medal so I was very emotional when Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan
pinned me. I have been blessed to have been born with Armenian blood
and to be recognized by the Republic of Armenia, to have people over
there taking note of what we are doing over here was a tremendous
honor.

What kinds of initiatives and activities have you pioneered during
your time as sheriff?

I think this is more of a lifetime achievement award than an award for
any one thing I did as a legislator or now as Sheriff. I have been as
active and as vocal as I can be on issues impacting the Armenian
community, but perhaps my greatest achievement was spearheading the
creation of the Armenian Heritage Park in Boston. To hold my
children’s’ hands and walk through the park and know it will be there
for them to walk through with their children is a very powerful
feeling.

Tell us about meeting the Armenian prime minister.

You could tell he was a very quiet man, but brilliant. His comments
were all on point and I was struck by that. He had great passion that
showed through as well.

Anything else we should know?

Another proud moment in my life similar to when I was presented the
Mkhitar Gosh Medal was in 2011 when I was honored to receive the Ellis
Island Medal of Honor from the National Ethnic Coalition of
Organizations (NECO). NECO’s mission is to honor diversity and foster
tolerance, respect and understanding by promoting the works of
Americans from all walks of life who have distinguished themselves by
making significant contributions to the nation. In past years, awards
have been given to U.S. Presidents, Supreme Court Justices,
journalists and outstanding athletes. To have stood on stage in the
company of great Americans like Medal of Honor recipient Staff
Sergeant Salvatore Giunta was something I will never forget.

Read more: Middlesex County Sheriff wins award from Armenian
government – Watertown, MA – Watertown TAB

Levon Shirinian: ARFD’s nationalist section will elect Raffi Hovannisian

Friday,
December 28

In all the elections held in recent years – be it a national election
or a local government election, Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) has
almost always been in second place by the number of votes received.
One of the most frequently asked questions in the political filed
recently is: Which force will receive BHK supporters’ votes in the
upcoming presidential election? In the opinion of political scientist
Levon Shirinian, `the BHK electorate’ oligarchic part which has always
favored the authorities’, will vote for authorities, while the section
in favor of changes will elect Raffi Hovannisian.

ARF-Dashnaktsutyun, which has the staunchest electorate sometimes
called `the army’, will not make any calls for voting for this or that
candidate, Shirinian said during a talk with the correspondent of
Aysor.am.

`I don’t think they will make official calls. Nevertheless, in my
opinion, their army will divide into three parts. Those who have
interests will back the current authorities, the nationalist section
will vote for Raffi Hovannisian, while the party’s intellectuals will
probably elect Arman Melikian. We should not forget that Melikian has
always taken a definite position on the Karabakh problem’.
The decisions that Armenian National Congress (HAK), BHK, and ARFD
have taken regarding the presidential election were `a retreat with a
song’, Shirinian said.

TODAY, 18:34
Aysor.am

Consumers Association of Armenia: Children’s toys imported to Armenia
should be certified

arminfo
Friday, December 28, 14:17

The Armenian toy market is full of a low quality production, chairman
of the Armenian consumers Association, Armen Pogosyan, said at today’s
press-conference.

He said that the government of Armenia says that availability of
certificates for toys is “desirable but not obligatory”. But such a
position of the executive power is unacceptable for the Armenian
market.

For her part, the head of the “Reima” company, Anna Alaverdyan, which
imports the brand toys and clothes, added that the problem of sale of
the low quality toys at the Armenian market is still relevant today.
“One should demand a certificate of a producer and a code certificate.
General testing must be also available. It says about the material,
which a toy is made from, as a contact with high-density metals is
very much dangerous for a child during the first days of his life”, –
she said. The toys imported to Armenia are also certified in the
republic. And the Inspection for Quality Control under Armenia’s
Economy Ministry has been controlling their quality.

Azerbaijani president not to reconcile with occupation of Nagorno Karabakh

Fri 28 December 2012 14:34 GMT | 14:34 Local Time

Bayram Safarov
The public union `Azerbaijani community of Nagorno Karabakh’ held an
event on occupation of Khankendi.
The statement came from the news service for the union.
At the beginning of the event the participants visited the Martyrs’
Alley, commemorated those who sacrificed their lives for their
homeland and laid flowers to their graves.
Chairman of the board of the public union, head of executive power of
Shusha Bayram Safarov noted that the Armenian state continues the
policy of aggression for already 20 years on the eyes of the world
community.
He said that the Azerbaijani state primarily gives preference to the
peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict. He especially noted that
head of state Ilham Aliyev will never reconcile with the fact of
occupation of Azerbaijani lands and the policy of ethnic cleansing.

News.Az

AREXIMBANK-GAZPROMBANK GROUP ANNOUNCES RESULTS OF “BEST FINANCIAL COMPOSITION” CONTEST

YEREVAN, December 27. /ARKA/. Areximbank-Gazprombank Group unveiled
the final results of its “Best financial composition” contest held
on Facebook from 20 November to 20 December.

The winners will be announced at the end of January at an award
ceremony.

To participate in the contest participants had to upload a photo; or
an illustration; or a painting; or post a poem; or a piece of music;
or comics; or a short film; or a video explaining the notion of a
bank and financial sector in general.

The entries were posted or uploaded on Areximbank-Gazprombank Group
Facebook page. The participants could also vote for the other entries.

The winners are those who collected the biggest number of “likes.”

“This is the first time the bank has initiated such a large-scale
campaign on social networks. Our group added over 700 new friends
on Facebook during the contest,” said Alexander Hakobyan, Head of
Marketing Division of “Areximbank-Gazprombank Group” CJSC.

According to him, the entries were various, starting with poems and
ending with some short cartoons. The bank is going to use the proposals
of some very successful entries in its further decision making policy.

The winners will receive discount MasterCard Gold cards, all the
other participants will get MasterCard Standard plastic cards.

The cardholders will get discounts in 200 service points (shopping
centers, hotels, insurance companies, medical centers and various
entertainment and recreational places) on the territory of Armenia.

Areximbank-Gazprombank Group was established in 1998 for supporting
entrepreneurship and serving financial flows between Russia and
Armenia.

Russia’s Gazprombank has been the sole owner of the bank since 2007.

The bank has successfully passed ISO 9001: 2008 certification on
compliance with international requirements. The bank has 16 branches,
including those in 9 regions of Armenia. Seven branches are located
in Armenia’s capital Yerevan. -0-

TOURISM GROWTH TO EXCEED 9% BY END OF YEAR

YEREVAN, December 27. /ARKA/. Tourism growth is expected to range
between 9.2% and 10% by the end of the year, Armenian minister of
economy Tigran Davtyan told a rpess conference Wednesday.

In the beginning of the year there were concerns that the projected
growth is not realistic as inflow of tourists from Iran was dropping.

Yet, tourism growth is expected to stand at about 830,000 tourists
or 9.2-10% by the end of 2012, the minister said.

Tourism grows as infrastructures, roads and communication services
are improving and hotel network is expanding.

A total of 20 new hotel complexes opened and will open in 2012 and
2013, including Tufenkian, Nationale, Nairi, Silachi and Tsaghkadzor
Marriott, the minister said.

Two new Hyatt chain hotels are expected to open in Jermuk and Yerevan,
and a Golden Palace hotel in Tsaghkadzor soon.

Some five hotel chain brands are currently present in Armenia,
another two will appear in the near future, Davtyan said. All hotels
are providing up-to-standard services, he added.

Another step is made to increase number of tourists visiting Armenia:
contractual base is being development to introduce special regimes
for Chinese and Indians to easily visit Armenia as tourists, the
minister said. -0-

ARMENIA TO START HARMONIZING ITS AGRICULTURE WITH EU STANDARDS IN 2013

YEREVAN, December 27. /ARKA/. Armenia will start harmonizing its rural
products with European standards in 2013, the country’s minister of
agriculture Sergo Karapetyan told ARKA Agency.

Serious efforts are currently made toward harmonization. The state
food safety service set up last year has departments dealing with
development of standards and compliance requirements, the minister
said.

The harmonization consists of three stages: first, training of
specialist, second, upgrade of technical facilities to make analyses
of any type, and third, approaching to the EU standards.

“First of all, this is important to ensure food safety for the
population and to ensure exports. We cannot say we don’t know what we
eat, but often products appearing on the stalls have no labels and
expire date on them, producers cheat sometimes, whereas this system
will help exclude cases like that,” Karapetyan said. -0-

Government to yet again auction Foreign Ministry building

December 27, 2012 – 14:54 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The government of Armenia resolved to yet again
auction the Foreign Ministry building with a total area of 14,2
thousand square meters.

As the head of administration for state property management Arman
Sahakyan noted, in view of major public interest to the process,
transparency of the deal is essential.

As of October 4, the building was transferred to Tango CJSC owned by
entrepreneur Eduardo Eurnekian.

The starting price of the building is set at $50,7 million, with the
land the building is located on added to the deal. The buyer will
have to compensate the building assessment charges, which brings the
total cost to $51,3 million.

JOURNALIST SHOCKED BY REACTION OF AUDIENCE AN ARMENIAN GENOCIDE PHOTOS

December 27, 2012 | 03:04

International correspondents of The Independent newspaper summed up
2012 events, describing the most memorable moments in the past year.

The most memorable event for Robert Fisk was the meeting with
representatives of the Armenian community in the Middle East.

According to him, he had never seen an audience more touched and
brought to tears than the one that appeared in front of him in
Sharjah last spring. At the meeting photographs of the Armenian
“death march” in Erzurum were shown: the elderly and young people,
who were condemned to death in Turkey.

“The four photos were taken by Victor Pitchman, Austrian soldier of
Turkish army, who could not know that these men and women will die
soon. They walk in a straight line down the road: women in headscarves,
overloaded donkeys through trees in the photo, with a pale line of
hills on the horizon. All Armenians of Erzerum were to die at the
hands of the Turks during the Genocide of 1915,” Fisk wrote.