Author: Kanayan Tamar

ARMENIAN-AMERICAN SCIENTIST PROVES HARM FROM DIM LIGHT

news.am
July 25, 2012 | 20:46

The habit to watch TV or work on computer at night without switching on
the light may lead to depression, the Ohio State University researchers
claim, MEDdaily.ru reports.

The researchers checked the effect of dim light at the hamsters.

During the research, the focus group stayed for 8 hours in darkness
and for 16 hours in day light. At the same time, the second group has
lived for four weeks with day light for 16 hours, while with dim light
at nights. The outcome claimed that the animals of the second group
became less active in day time and they showed signs of depression.

Later the animals were returned to normal regime and in two weeks
their situation improved, RIA Novosti reports.

Researcher Tracy Bedrossian believes the fact that people do not sleep
in darkness has a negative impact on the statistics of prevalence
of depression.

RESPONSE TO ACTIVISTS’ SENTENCING: OPPOSITIONISTS SAYS RULING REGIME “FEELS THREATENED”
By Gayane Lazarian

ArmeniaNow reporter
24.07.12 | 12:40

Kentron and Nor Marash district court in Yerevan has sentenced the
four young activists of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) who
clashed with police last year at the Swan Lake in downtown Yerevan
to between two and six years in prison.

Tigran Arakelian, a leader of the HAK’s youth wing, who has been in
jail since August 9, 2011, has received the longest prison sentence –
6 years – for hooliganism and assault against police officers applying
life- or health-threatening and non-threatening violence.

Another defendant in the same case Artak Karapetyan was charged with
hooliganism and non life-threatening assault against an authority
representative and sentenced to three years. The other two – Sargis
Gevorgyan and Davit Kiramjyan – were charged with hooliganism sentenced
t two years in prison.

During the trial Gevorgyan stated that their conviction is a message
to citizens of Armenia saying that they will be punished whether
guilty of committing a crime or not, if they go against the regime.

“If someone hears these charges I am sure many people will be shocked
to know that, for example, while reporting a policeman’s illegality
you can get convicted by the same policeman’s testimony. Hence, we are
calling upon people to be even more active and report illegalities
of the police and cover them in press, which, I believe, can become
a preventive measure at least to some extent,” he said.

Kiramjyan spoke, too, saying that the verdict is too strict, because
none of them is guilty of criminally punishable activities.

“The prosecutor [Hakob Martirosyan] is trying to create an impression
that a just system has been established in Armenia and each is treated
in accordance with their deeds. But even in that case all of us should
have received the same sentence, if this were fair justice. If the
prosecutor were fair rather than corrupt and chained by those bribes,
if this trial was fair there wouldn’t be claims and reproof now,”
he said.

The ANC has released a statement in this connection, saying in part:
“The regime feels threatened by the activity build-up among civil
society, and the vivid proof of that is the public outrage in response
to Vahe Avetyan’s murder at Harsnakar. Among the active participants
of that public protest were some of the detained activists who were
later released.”

The statement also says that prior to the forthcoming presidential
run the authorities’ goal is to put psychological pressure on free
young people standing up for their rights, as well as other citizens
to keep them from fighting against this administration.

ANC faction member Nikol Pashinyan believes the conviction of his
party activists is clearly political persecution.

“The ultimate purpose of it is to terrorize ANC and civil movement
activists prior to the presidential elections. By this verdict Serzh
Sargsyan did not say anything new, by this verdict Serzh Sargsyan
and his criminal administration continue ruling over Armenia,” he
said adding that within a month they will be appealing the case at
the Court of Appeal.

Helsinki Citizens Association Vanadzor office has demanded an end
to ANC activists’ persecution, saying instead to start investigating
the violence applied by the police against the activists.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT RECEIVES RUSSIAN INTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER

news.am
July 24, 2012 | 20:41

YEREVAN. – President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan received on Tuesday
a delegation headed by the Russian Minister of Internal Affairs
Vladimir Kolokoltsev.

The sides stated that the high level of political dialogue and
military partnership between Armenia and Russia serve as a strong
base to develop and deepen cooperation in all fields and on various
levels, including the law enforcement agencies, presidential press
service informs Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Russian Internal Minister and his Armenian counterpart, Chief of Police
Vladimir Gasparyan presented to the President the cooperation outcome
and future plans between the law enforcement agencies of both states.

CASH FOR CONQUEST: OLYMPIANS HAVE $$ ON THE LINE AT GAMES IN LONDON

Sports | 24.07.12 | 11:38

or containing slander or offensive language will be deleted. You have
to be registered to be able leave your comment. Sign in or Register
now for free.

The National Olympic Committee announced on Monday that any member of
the Armenian Olympic Team who medals in the upcoming Games in London
will be reward in cash for his/her medal.

A gold medal will be worth $100,000; silver, $75,000; and bronze,
$50,000.

According to the Committee’s general secretary Grachia Rostomyan,
the Government of Armenia has also promised additional bonuses of
$50,000, $37,000 and $25,000 for the corresponding medals.

National Olympic Committee Gagik Tsarukyan has said he will pay
$700,000 to any athlete who scores gold for Armenia.

The Olympic Games begin this weekend.

RUSSIA IS PROUD TO BE ARMENIA’S ECONOMIC PARTNER – STATE DUMA SPEAKER

PanARMENIAN.Net
July 24, 2012 – 19:37 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan met with
the Russian delegation headed by State Duma speaker Sergey Naryshkin.

In the context of development of Armenian-Russian strategic
cooperation, Prime Minister Sargsyan attached importance to
diversification of economic ties and implementation of the new social
and economic long-term program by 2020.

“We are proud of being Armenia’s key economic partner. The two
countries’ parliaments stand ready to contribute to expansion and
further development of Russian-Armenia economic relations,” Mr.
Naryshkin said.

TIGRAN GHARAMIAN WINS FIRST PRIZE OF GRAND PRIX OF FRENCH CHESS FEDERATION

16:40 . 24/07

Armenian GM Tigran Gharamian scored 7,5 points out of 9 and took the
first prize at the rapid chess great open “Grand Prix of French Chess
Federation” that was held in Aix les Bains, France. 135 chess players
were taking part in the tournament.

After the open a tournament with knock-out system was held among
the participants who took the first eight places. Here Gharamian
was the fifth. The winner of this tournament was GM Loek Van Wely
(Netherlands).

TRABZON PORT CLOSE FOR ARMENIA UNLESS IT WITHDRAWS FROM OCCUPIED LANDS

News.Az
Tuesday, 24 July 2012 13:05

The port in Trabzon has never been used for cargo transportation to
Armenia and all reports of Armenian media in this regard are untrue.

The statement came from director of the Trabzon port Muzafer Ermish.

He said the Armenian side has repeatedly attempted to get permission
for cargo transportation but its request was dismissed all the time.

“We have the only answer to all Armenian appeals-any cooperation is
out of the question unless they withdraw from the Azerbaijani armed
forces. This is the position of our state and our people”, he said.

Meanwhile, Ermish noted that they are satisfied with cooperation
with Azerbaijan.

“Azerbaijan carries its cargo supplies from the Trabzon port and is
an important partner for us”, he said.

Earlier, Armenian media reported that the Trabzon seaport is already
used for cargo transportation to and from Armenia.

PUTIN CAN SHOWCASE HIS STRENGTH AND BECOME STAR OF PEACE IN KARABAKH – MICHAEL KAMBECK

tert.am
24.07.12

Michael Kambeck, European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA) organization
Secretary General, is in Armenia during these days. July 18-21 he
was in Nagorno Karabakh to observe the presidential elections.

Tert.am held an interview with Kambeck, who spoke about the Karabakh
polls, negotiations over the NK conflict settlement as well as
causes of postponement of EU donor conference scheduled to take place
in Armenia.

– Authorities in Nagorno Karabakh, as well as in Armenia, view
democratic elections in NK as a step forward towards NK’s international
recognition while EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine
Ashton said recently that presidential elections in NK must not result
in any change in NK’s status. How would you comment on this?

– The EU and the OSCE have both no longer ‘condemned’ the elections,
as they have sometimes done in the past. Everybody today understands
that in order to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict we need more
democracy, not less. Only this will prepare the societies for peace.

The good elections in Karabakh increased the pressure on Azerbaijan
to improve also their democracy and to stop threatening the democratic
breakaway region with war.

– Who else could be involved in Karabakh talks any time in the future
should the conflict not be resolved?

– The problem of solving the conflict is not stuck because of the
mediators or the OSCE Minsk Group format, it is stuck because of the
conflict parties, mainly Azerbaijan. Therefore, no change will make
sense and nobody who really wants to solve the conflict wants to burn
their fingers and get newly involved. But I can imagine that the US or
France may start making new initiatives within the Minsk Group, such
as the series of talks initiated by the Russian President Medvedev.

Maybe, if Russia wants to keep this in its own hands, we will also
see a new initiative by Vladimir Putin. He could use and showcase
his strength and become a star of peace, before the Sochi games.

– What is your vision of the settlement of the Karabakh conflict?

– The Kazan meeting had a very balanced text which was very difficult
for both sides. Any peaceful solution will be very close to that, and
without the last-minute amendments of President Aliyev, the first wave
of IDPs would now move back into Aghdam, while Karabakh would have an
interim status and international security guarantees and peacekeepers,
amongst other measures. If Aliyev really cannot imagine any solution
very close to that compromise, the conflict will follow an irrational
path, including war and bombs on Baku and Yerevan. But I believe that
the oil-rich circles in Baku will pull the break and replace him,
before he becomes even more like Gaddafi or Assad. They will not want
to risk their wealth.

– There have been various speculations on the date of the organization
of the EU-backed donor conference in Armenia. You have declared about
the probability of holding it after presidential elections in Armenia
in 2013. What are the main processes that can change that date?

The date is not so relevant. What use is a conference which is
organized in haste and then will bring a weak result? It is more
important for Armenia that all international partners will have
excellent and credible documents and that they have enough time to
prepare. This is possible until around November, but I think that
most participants will say that this is too close to the Presidential
Elections.

– What significance may a donor conference in Armenia have in addition
to financial assistance?

– It is an international recognition of the maturing state of the
Republic of Armenia. It will also be a signal that this country
is moving dynamically and has a strong will to not only talk but
actually implement.

– Other than logistics, what else should Armenia do to host the
donor conference?

– Above all, there must be no Greek-style dream figures. The EU is now
hyper-allergic to falsified or unrealistic statistics and financial
plans and they will verify this intensively. The better the prepared
documents will be, the faster will be this process of verification
and the higher will be the willingness to donate. The Prime Minster,
as ex-chief of the Central Bank, has a better reputation than his
South-European counterparts and this could help.

SERGEY NARYSHKIN HIGHLY ESTIMATED THE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN ARMENIA AND RUSSIA

ARMENPRESS
24 July, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JULY 24, ARMENPRESS: Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran
Sargsyan hosted the delegation headed by the Chairman of the State
Duma of Russian Federation Sergey Naryshkin. “Such meetings are good
opportunities to discuss the most important issues and principles of
Armenian-Russian relations and the range of those issues which will
form the further agenda of bilateral cooperation” said Tigran
Sargsyan.

Armenpress was informed from Information and public relations
department of Armenian Government that the Prime Minister stressed the
importance of the works which are directed to diversification of
economic relations in the work of giving new stimulus to
Armenian-Russian strategic relations. In this context the head of the
executive body informed that at present Armenian and Russian
Governments work on the long-term program of social-economic
cooperation between the countries.

Thanking Tigran Sargsyan for reception Sergey Naryshkin highly
estimated the current strategic partnership between Russia and Armenia
the most important element of which are bilateral trade-economic
relations. “We are proud for being the main economic partner of
Armenia. The Parliaments of two countries are ready to do everything
for further development of economic relations” mentioned Chairman of
the State Duma of Russian Federation.

The interlocutors also reverberated to integration processes in the
framework of Eurasian Economic Union and deepening cooperation between
the regions of two countries.

FRANCE’S NEWSRING POLL: IS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL NECESSARY?

PanARMENIAN.Net
July 24, 2012 – 14:03 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – A poll conducted on Newsring French news agency
website measured French society’s attitude to a possible adoption of
a bill criminalizing Armenian Genocide denial.

Current results of the poll show 87000 (60%) to favor the law, while
60000 (40%) are opposed to the bill.

On January 23, the French Senate passed the bill criminalizing the
Armenian Genocide. The bill envisaged imposing a 45,000 euro fine and
a year in prison for anyone in France who denies this crime against
humanity committed by the Ottoman Empire.

Later, the French Constitutional Council ruled that a bill adopted
by the French Senate making it a crime to deny the Armenian Genocide
was anti-constitutional.

In July, French President Francois Hollande confirmed plans for a new
law criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide with representatives
of the Armenian community.