Author: Kanayan Tamar

EURASIAN UNION COULD BECOME INSURMOUNTABLE OBSTACLE FOR ARMENIA – POLITICAL OPPOSITION PARTY

news.am
July 31, 2012 | 16:52

YEREVAN. – Armenia’s opposition Free Democrats Party released a
statement which specifically reads:

“In the current political context, Armenia is obligated to maintain
equal relations with other states, international political,
economic and security systems, which will contribute to our state’s
democratization, economic growth, and the raising of its international
standing.

In this case, Armenia’s membership in the Eurasian Union could become
an insurmountable obstacle before Armenia’s liberal development
and identity.

Greatly underscoring the further necessity to expand friendly relations
with the [Russian Federation] RF, at the same time the Free Democrats
Party is hopeful that these relations will develop under mutually
beneficial conditions for the two states.

At present, Armenia’s independent, liberal and democratic development
is a reliable guarantee for the sustainable development of the region.

In this context, we are convinced that Armenia’s further political
and economic growth is possible solely in the case of becoming a full
member of the European family.”

ARMENIA TO BAN FOREIGN FUNDING OF RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS

NEWS.AM
July 31, 2012 | 17:03

YEREVAN.- Armenia plans to ban foreign funding of the religious
organizations.

Such a requirement is included in the new law “On freedom of conscience
and religion” which is scheduled to be submitted to the government
on August 2, representative of Justice Ministry Edward Astsatryan
told reporters.

In addition, religious organizations will be prohibited from conducting
mass propaganda, coming up to the same person more than once. Religious
organizations also have to publish annual financial reports on their
websites or submit them to the government.

Unless they obey the rules, religious organizations will have to pay
a fine of nearly $1,000 (AMD 400 thousand).

However, the law contains a number of more liberal provisions,
including reduction in registration membership fee. The ideology of
the organization will not undergo an examination as well.

The latter caused disapproval of Vardan Markaryan, the head of the
religion department at the Armenian government.

“Even if Satanists appeal, we are forced to register them,” he
emphasized.

EXPERT: NO ARMENIAN MONUMENT HAS BEEN DAMAGED IN MILITARY ACTIONS IN SYRIA YET

arminfo
Tuesday, July 31, 14:20

Armenian monuments in Syria have not been damaged yet, Samvel
Karapetyan, Head of the Research on Armenian Architecture (RAA) NGO,
told ArmInfo.

He said that there are many Armenian cultural and historical monuments
in Syria, especially in Aleppo and in the Kesab region populated
by Armenians.

“Kesab is an integral part of the historical Cilicia. Armenians have
settled there centuries ago, therefore there are many Armenian cultural
and historical centers there. However, Arabs began to resettle in
Kesab,” Karapetyan said.

THEY DON’T “VISIT” TUMANYAN

02:03 pm | Today | Social

There are always many people visiting the sites worth seeing,
historical and cultural monuments and the local museums in Lori region
in the summer due to the high number of tourists visiting the region.

However, the home-museum of great Armenian poet Hovhannes Tumanyan
is an exception since there are few people visiting the home-museum.

There aren’t even any tourists.

Director of the museum Rosa Ghazumyan says this is due to the tourists’
lack of awareness.

She is certain that many guests visiting Lori region don’t even know
about the existence of this museum and adds that the museum mainly
hosts schoolchildren in the region and schoolchildren from Dsegh.

Autumn is the best season for visits at the Tumanyan Home-Museum
because several guests visit Dsegh village of Lori province to
participate in the already traditional event called “Tumanyan Day”.

According to Ghazumyan, the days devoted to Tumanyan’s fairy tales
help develop cross-cultural ties.

THE BRANCH OF THE ONLY ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN TV CHANNEL WILL BE OPENED IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH

ARMENPRESS
31 July, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JULY 31, ARMENPRESS: The branch of the first Armenian-Russian
TV channel TV ARM RU will be opened in Nagorno-Karabakh since August
15. Armenpress reports that about this informed about this from
“Kavkazsky Uzel”.

Since August 1 informational series about Nagorno-Karabakh will be
broadcasted on the same channel. The director of Armenian office of
TV ARM RU Vahan Ghazaryan informed during the presentation of the
channel in Stepanakert that the informational series will consist of
one or two reportages.

Previously for work in the channel from Yerevan will be invited
specialists of TV ARM RU after which reportages will be made by young
journalists who will take part in trainings in Yerevan.

TV ARM RU is the only Russian language TV channel on which news about
Armenia are broadcasted. “Armenians of Russia follow with great
interest the news about Nagorno-Karabakh. Our TV channel seeks to
complete the gap of news telling about Nagorno-Karabakh in the world”
mentioned Ghazaryan.

WHO COULD REPLACE BASHAR AL-ASSAD? – ARMENIAN ANALYST

news.am
July 31, 2012 | 12:18

YEREVAN. – A compromise figure who will replace Bashar al-Assad at
the helm of power is found in Syria, and that person is the former
Defense Minister’s son, Manaf Tlass, Arab Studies specialist Suren
Manukyan said during a press conference on Tuesday.

In his words, Tlass is al-Assad’s childhood friend and they are
connected with each other through very strong ties. At the same time
Manukyan noted that it seems there is consensus with respect to Tlass,
but this is difficult to carry out simply because many are involved
in this matter.

Against the backdrop of the developments in Syria, Suren Manukyan also
pointed to the Kurdish issue because the Kurds, whose number reaches
tens of millions, do not have statehood and they need to materialize
this somewhere.

The Arab Studies specialist also reflected on the foreign pressure
regarding this matter.

“It is not a domestic conflict issue in Syria. Otherwise, this problem
would have been resolved in one week. The [Persian] Gulf monarchies are
losing patience and they can ask their main ally, the United States,
to no longer follow-at least formally-the norms of international law.

But Russia is full of determination to defend Syria. We should also
note that the Russians have remained as the Syrians’ only hope. Iran
itself is in a very bad condition. [And] China will never go against
the US and other superpowers on its own. Furthermore, if the Russians
allow for a little chance to doubt their determination, there will
be a foreign invasion to Syria,” the Arab Studies specialist noted.

EXPERT DEMANDS PROBE INTO LOW-QUALITY SEED IMPORT

tert.am
31.07.12

Hrach Berberyan, the president of the Agrarian-Rural Union of Armenia
NGO, called to set up a special commission to find out why the wheat
stem stop growing after reaching few centimeters.

“The commission should comprise of farmers and not importers.

President of Russian Semena association Kuzmin should also be engaged
in it,” Berberyan said, adding that examination should be conducted
to find those in charge. “A crime has been committed and the guilty
should be punished,” he told at a news conference on Monday.

The expert stressed about the loss of 12-15 percent of wheat,
claiming that farmers have appeared in desperate situation, urging
the government to free them from water tax and the commitment to
return the wheat seeds to the state.

“There are 8 kinds of wheat seeds in Armenia, of which six have not
been tested for correspondence to our climate conditions,” said he.

Berberyan claims the seed imported from Russia does not correspond
to the climate condition of the region. The label on seed packages
states it is intended for North Caucasus. He said the importers were
either not aware of the issue or tried to do other thing.

Berberyan brought with him the labels, showing that there is no
contact and other necessary information on them.

ARMENIAN RESIDENTS OF SYRIAN ALEPPO CLEAN STREETS OF GARBAGE

tert.am
31.07.12

Armenian residents of Syrian town of Aleppo are distributing food to
the Arab people suffered from the recent developments in the town,
according to Aleppo News Network Fecbook page.

Earlier the Armenians were cleaning the streets of Aleppo of the
garbage as it is not being removed and may become a source of diseases.

There is enough food in the town but the prices have comparatively
gone up. There is no shortage of bread, though lines are formed in
front of bakeries. People hesitate to open trade centers, Aleppo News
Network says.

MATEVOSYAN’S NOVELETTES TO BE TRANSLATED INTO SPANISH

11:35 . 31/07

The novelettes Autumn Sun, Buffalo, The Bridge of Nana Princess by
Armenian writer, prose-writer Hrant Matevosyan will be translated into
Spanish. Armenpress was informed from the director of Armenian school
in Uruguay, Hovhannes Polukyan that he first started translating the
works of the Armenian writer in the 90-s.

“At first I translated only Autumn Sun, then I established contacts
with his son, Davit Matevosyan concerning copyright issues. He said
not only Autumn Sun, but all the other works of the writer should be
translated,” Polukyan said.

It is planned to translate Hrant Matevosyan’s works into Spanish
during the coming several years and the readers will be the people
of Spanish speaking countries – Uruguay, Argentina, and Spain.

“I have no doubt people will be interested in reading the works as
Matevosyan created works which are easy to understand” he said.

Earlier, Hrant Matevosyan’s works were translated into Russian,
Lithuanian, Moldavian, Georgian, Ukrainian, English, Bulgarian, German
and Czech languages. The films We and Our Mountains, Autumn Sun,
The Owner were shot based on Hrant Matevosyan’s works.

EUROPEAN YOUTH PARLIAMENT TO OPEN OFFICE IN ARMENIA

Vestnik Kavkaza
July 30 2012
Russia

The European Youth Parliament will operate in Armenia, Armenia Today
reports.

Armenia will be represented by Susan Shamakhyan and Ovsep Patvakanyan.

Armenia will attend the parliament’s session.

The European Youth Parliament welcomes members aged 16-24 to discuss
resolutions. They are then sent to the EU Commission as proposals. The
parliament has office in 35 European states.

A member of the EYP Alan Flaursan will visit Armenia on August 2.