Author: Navasardian Karapet

ZHARANGUTIUN TO DISCUSS ISSUE OF RENOUNCING ITS DEPUTY MANDATES AFTER PACE JANUARY SESSION

Noyan Tapan

Jan 21, 2009

YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, NOYAN TAPAN. For the Zharangutiun (Heritage)
party it is too alarming that Armenia’s law enforcement system,
in essence, does not operate, and even during trials on civil cases
the legal anarchy of political trials continue." Vardan Khachatrian,
a member of the RA National Assembly Zharangutiun (Heritage) faction,
stated at the January 21 press conference. According to him, the courts
have received a carte blanche to act as they like when investigating
both political and civil cases. As V. Khachatrian predicted it,
if the justice level continues reducing swiftly as it is now, the
Armenian statehood will go to self-destruction.

The opposition fugure refused to comment upon RPA deputy
Rafik Petrosian’s statement that the Zharangutiun faction does
nothing in NA except bothering and NA will lose nothing from its
absence. V. Khachatrian only stated that Zharangutiun represents the
interests of the opposition mass making the huge part of Armenia’s
society and is the only parliamentary tribune of the opposition. "If
some people think that only pro-governmental forces should be
represented at the parliament, it is a way of thinking peculiar to
civilization out of this world," he mentioned.

V. Khachatrian also said that after the end of the PACE January
session Zharangutiun will convene an enlarged Board sitting, at which
the issue of renouncing the deputy mandates or not will be discussed.

NAME OF THE PARTICIPANT REPRESENTING ARMENIA IN "EUROVISION 2009" INTERNATIONAL SONG CONTEST TO BE KNOWN FEBRUARY 14

ARMENPRESS
Jan 20, 2009

YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS: The name of the participant who
will represent Armenia in "Eurovision 2009" international song
contest will be known on February 14. Responsible for the foreign
relations department of the Public TV Narek Adonts told Armenpress
that by February 7 the Armenian singers can present applications
for participation in the contest, who will present their song to the
audience on February 14. Arame, Mher, Inga and Anush Arshakians and
Tigran Petrosian have already presented applications for participation.

On that they by voting of TV viewers through sms-es and phone calls
as well as by the election of the jury the participant representing
Armenia in "Eurovision 2009" contest will be elected. Staff of the
jury is not yet clarified.

What about the news that the "System of down" group will probably
represent Armenia in the contest, N. Adonts said that the Public TV
got no application from the group by now.

"Eurovision 2009" international song contest will take place in Moscow.

CSTO AGREEMENT ON PEACEKEEPING ACTIVITIES TAKES EFFECT

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.01.2009 15:09 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The agreement on peacekeeping activities of
the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has come into
effect after the CSTO Secretariat received a written notification
on completion of essential procedures by the Organization’s member
countries, according to the decision taken during the Dushambe
summit on October 6, 2007, the CSTO information support office told
PanARMENIAN.Net.

The CSTO peacekeeping forces can participate in operations in the
territory of the Organization’s member states and in other regions,
by decision of the UN Security Council.

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APA, Azerbaijan
Jan 17 2009

Istanbul hosts international conference `Future of the South Caucasus and neighborhood’

[ 17 Jan 2009 14:00 ]

Istanbul. Mayis Alizadeh`APA. Two-day conference entitled `Future of
the South Caucasus and neighborhood’ kicked off in Istanbul, Turkey on
January 17. The conference was organized by LINKS, British Council and
John Smith Foundation, APA Turkish bureau reports. Representatives of
Turkey, Britain, USA, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova
and other countries, EU, as well as heads of media organizations and
NGOs are attending the conference. US Assistant Deputy Secretary of
State, OSCE Minsk Group co-chair Matthew Bryza, EU Special
Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby, member of the
Turkish parliament Suat Kiniklioglu also joined the conference.

Azerbaijani-Armenian relations against the backdrop of Nagorno
Karabakh conflict, post-Georgian-Russian war situation in the region,
Turkey’s role in the regional and European security are on agenda.

APA Director General Vusala Mahirgizi, `Day.az’ manager Elnur Baimov,
Radio Liberty Azerbaijan bureau chief Khadija Ismayilova and several
NGO leaders are among the representatives from Azerbaijan.

MP VARTKES MAHDESSIAN VISITS KALAYDJIAN REST HOME

Gibrahayer
January 7, 2009
Nicosia

Like every year The Armenian Representative in the Cyprus Parliament
Vartkes Mahdessian and his wife Maggie, accompanied by Archbishop
Varoujan Hergelian, visited The Kalaydjian Rest Home in Nicosia.

During their visit after Christmas Holy Liturgy, they had the
opportunity to listen and talk to the community’s elderly, to wish
them well, give them presents and slice the vasilopitta.

Daily News Egypt, Egypt
Jan 2 2009

With a Grain of Salt: Merci for your impartiality

By Mohamed Salmawy
First Published: January 2, 2009

CAIRO: I received a phone call from a French TV correspondent asking
me to comment on Gaza. A few minutes earlier, I had watched the
Israeli Embassy spokeswoman in Paris speaking on another TV program.
The presenter told her that the World Public Opinion calls for a
ceasefire on both sides. `You cannot put Israel and Hamas in the same
scale pan’ the spokeswoman replied. What applies to one cannot be
applied to the other; Israel is a democratic state committed to the
world order and its laws. On the other hand Hamas is an Islamic
terrorist organization which aims at bringing down the international
system and demolishing Israel.’ This being the last question, the
interviewer told her `Merci,’ ending the interview.

In my turn, I too say `Merci’ to the Israeli spokeswoman. Her reply is
more succinct than all ado in the Arabic satellite media. I said to
the French TV correspondent that what the Israeli spokeswoman uttered
is an arrogant racist view which holds that Israel is comparable and
equivalent to none. Its nature is totally different. Israel has a
unique history which no other people share, no matter how much is
persecuted and expunged. Neither the Armenian, the Kurds nor the Tutsi
tribes in Rwanda have the right to speak about the genocide they
suffered. If they absolutely have to, they are to choose another name
than the `holocaust,’ which is a brand name, confined only to the
Jews.

This is the logic of the Israeli policy, which views Israel as unlike
any other country and thus should be allowed what other countries are
not; namely, occupying the land of others, annexing these lands to its
territories after confiscating them and expelling their indigenous
residents. It is also allowed to persecute any Palestinian who refuses
to leave his land, wages regular genocide campaigns against the
Palestinians with a view to getting rid of the rest of them or driving
them to settle in neighboring Arab countries.

Now for the details of what the Israeli spokeswoman said: that Israel
is a democratic state. Since when did democracy mean occupation,
expansion, bloodletting, expelling the indigenous population and
discriminating against Sephardic Jews?

If Israel is truly committed to the international system, does this
commitment allow it to defy the resolutions adopted by the
international community represented by the UN and its specialized
agencies and hide behind the support of the US, which backs Israel in
its violation of the international legitimacy out of greed for the
Jewish vote? Does Israel’s commitment allow it to stock weapons of
mass destruction, chemical and nuclear alike, at a time when other
countries are threatened if they try to obtain such weapons?

Does this commitment allow Israel to refuse adamantly to sign
international agreements on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons? Does
Israel’s commitment to international laws make it, by means of wars
and acts of aggression, annex much more land than what was allotted to
it by the UN resolution based on which it came to exist; a resolution
which also stipulated the establishment of a Palestinian state on land
which has now been annexed by Israel?

Then comes her description of Hamas as a terrorist movement. According
to the official Israeli statistics, the number of rockets launched by
Hamas are finite. However, the country of democracy and international
laws [meaning Israel] has so far killed more than 400 Palestinians,
including children, women and innocent civilians and injured more than
1,500 others. So, who is the terrorist? If the terrorism of the former
is terrorism by a movement, we as Arabs have reservations about its
behavior, the latter’s terrorism is that of a state that has become
more barbarous and destructive.

Then, I leveled my criticism to the French TV correspondent saying:
`It could be understandable that the Israeli embassy’s spokeswoman
utter these falsities. However, it is not understandable that the
French TV broadcasts them with no comments.’ He answered: `We give
freedom [of speech] to each side to present his viewpoint.’

I said: `It is your duty towards viewers to present them with the
truth. But I have not heard once that the Palestinian people are under
Israeli occupation and that they are seeking to liberate their land
after more than 40 years of occupation. I imagined that France can
better understand than anybody else the legitimacy of resistance
movements. However, by accepting the descriptions given by the Israeli
spokeswoman, you are de facto accepting what the Nazis, who occupied
your country, said about the French resistance movement.’

Mohamed Salmawy is President of the Arab Writers’ Union and
Editor-in-Chief of Al-Ahram Hebdo.

ARMENIA OPENS NEW CHECKPOINT ON GEORGIAN BORDER

Armenian Public TV
Dec 27 2008
Armenia

[Presenter over video of the border checkpoint] A border checkpoint
has been opened on Armenia’s northern border, which is surrounded by
Azerbaijani-populated villages of Georgia like a peninsula. The locals
cut the Armenian forest especially in this area where they crossed
the border unimpeded. Officials of the National Security Service say
that they have managed to fully eliminate deforestation as a result
of last year’s work alone. The deputy head of the [National] Security
Service and guests, who arrived from Georgia, took part in the opening
of the Lalvar [town in Armenia’s Tavush Region on the Georgian border]
border checkpoint.

[Passage omitted: Lt-Gen Vrezh Arzumanyan, deputy head of Armenia’s
National Security Service, congratulates staff at the opening]

[Col Armen Abrahamyan, captioned as commander of the Border Troops of
Armenia’s Ministry of National Security, speaking to a journalist]
The peculiarity of this border checkpoint is that there are almost
no roads from this area to Lori Region. We can cross these mountains
in summer, but as you see, under the current conditions [in winter]
we have come here from Georgian territory. The task of this border
checkpoint is to control the whole territory; deforestation takes
place mainly on the territory of this border checkpoint.

New York Times, NY
Dec 27 2008

Aznavour Granted Armenian Citizenship

Compiled by Dave Itzkoff
Published: December 26, 2008

Charles Aznavour, above, the singer-songwriter and actor, was granted
citizenship in Armenia by the decree of that country’s president on
Friday, Agence-France Presse reported. Though known as the Frank
Sinatra of France, Mr. Aznavour, 84, was born Shahnour Aznavourian in
Paris to Armenian parents and has been an advocate of charity efforts
to benefit Armenia. He organized a series of benefit concerts after
the 1988 earthquakes there and is the country’s permanent delegate to
Unesco. He is also the first French performer to have a platinum
record in Europe, and his songs have been covered by English-speaking
singers from Elvis Costello to Liza Minnelli. The president of
Armenia, Serge Sargsyan, said in a statement that he had granted
citizenship to Mr. Aznavour, whom he called a `prominent singer and
public figure’ and `a hero of the Armenian people.’

LEVEL OF ARMENIAN-KAZAKH POLITICAL RELATIONS HIGH

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.12.2008 15:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Absence of direct communication is the main obstacle
for trade relations between Armenia and Kazakhstan, according to
Kazakhstan’s Charge d’Affaires in Armenia.

"The level of Armenian-Kazakh political relations is high, what is
proved by regular presidential meetings and consultations between
Foreign Ministries," Nurbolat Alimbayev told a news conference
in Yerevan.

"Kazakhstan’s foreign policy bases on pragmatism and balance. We enjoy
good relations with neighboring superpowers – Russia and China. Like
Armenia, Kazakhstan is a member of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization," he said.

"According to official data, the Armenian community of Kazakhstan
numbers 25 thousand. Actually, there are much more Armenians living
in our country, along with people of over 100 nationalities. At that,
our government managed to avoid inter-ethnic and religious conflicts,"
Alimbayev added.

VARDAN JHNAGIRYAN NEEDS REST CURE

A1+
[02:40 pm] 26 December, 2008

Today the police escort sent after Vardan Jhangiryan, the brother of
ex Deputy Prosecutor General Gagik Jhangiryan, returned to the court
without the defendant. Chief inspectors of Kentron and Nork-Marash
District Police Division Sayat Sargsyan and Anushavan Eghikyan
again found Vardan Jhangiryan in bed with a doctor injecting him
anaesthetic. Representatives of the Ombudsman’s Office, journalists
and advocates were at Jhangiryan’s place at that moment.

"It is the second time I have examined Jhangiryan this week, and I must
say that he needs bed rest. He feels pain at each movement. His state
is the same. He needs serious in-patient treatment," said district
doctor Irina Martirosyan.

Remind that Vardan Jhangiryan suffers from vertebral tuberculosis. His
health further aggravated after receiving a missile wound during the
detention on February 23.

Today at 11:00 Yerevan’s Criminal Court chaired by Judge Mnatsakan
Martirosyan reopened the trial of Vardan Jhangiryan which was
immediately adjourned because of the defendant’s nonattendance. This
time Judge Martirosyan didn’t even wait for the police escort or
the advocates. He confirmed the standing judgment on Jhangiryan’s
compulsory attendance and scheduled the next court sitting for
January 20.

Note that Advocate Lusine Sahakyan who was hurrying to the court
to submit a health certificate about her defendant’s state and
petition the judge to dismiss the case, was surprised to find the
trial completed.