Author: nina hovnanian

NEW STAGE OF CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT STARTS

Naira Hayrumyan, Political Commentator
Comments – Thursday, 05 June 2014, 14:26

The non-governmental circles of Armenia are preparing for the next
wave of change of government. Apparently, this is the reaction of
these forces to Serzh Sargsyan’s intention to the join the Eurasian
Union. If Serzh Sargsyan’s positions on membership to the Eurasian
Union and Karabakh are not disputed, only change of government remains.

The “domestic scramble” of the recent years has one peculiarity. The
claim for change of government is the only “weapon” of the political
forces. This necessity is explained by different reasons at different
times which are objectively studied at the president’s administration.

Afterwards the president’s administration works out steps aimed at
formal elimination of those reasons, and the political forces set
out to seek for other reasons.

For example, during European integration Serzh Sargsyan was accused
of spoiling relations with Russia, then for the mandatory funded
pension introduced by Tigran Sargsyan’s government. Serzh Sargsyan
dismissed Tigran Sargsyan, renounced association with the EU and
“set up” full relations with Moscow.

Appeals for change of government have resumed. The non-governmental
forces have a new scheme. Serzh Sargsyan has spoiled relations with
Moscow to such an extent that Putin made friends with Aliyev. Armenia
needs a new government which will regain Russia’s trust. In other
words, the purpose of the change of government is to regain Russia’s
confidence.

Besides, Armenia joins the Eurasian Union on humiliating conditions,
deprived of its voice, not as an equal partner.

The demands of political forces and Serzh Sargsyan’s readiness to meet
their demands for the sake of sustainability of his administration
ended up in loss of sovereignty of Armenia, an incapable government,
loss of support of the West and the Diaspora. Most men have left the
country waiting until someone changes the government.

In his latest article Levon Ter-Petrosyan has set a new deadline. He
wrote that the upcoming referendum on constitutional reforms must
be used as the last refuge to vote no confidence to government. This
means that the plan has changed because a few months earlier the plan
was to vote down the government program and disband the parliament.

Apparently, Gagik Tsarukyan has decided to give time to his relative
prime minister, and now the revolution is postponed for an indefinite
period. It means there is no need to expect a change of government
if the referendum on constitutional reforms is not held.

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‘IF YOU HAD DONE SOMETHING, I WOULDN’T HAVE GONE TO COURT’: FATHER OF DECEASED 2-YEAR-OLD TO DOCTORS

06.05.2014 17:29 epress.am

In the opinion of Arabkir Joint Medical Center doctors Lilit Vardanyan
and Zarine Ayvzyan, accused in the death of 2-year-old Lia Misakyan,
they are accused only because they are young doctors. “But when young
journalists write about us, their written words are not questioned,”
said Ayvazyan today at the Court of General Jurisdiction of Arabkir
and Kanaker-Zeytun Administrative Districts of Yerevan.

Recall, according to the case materials, Lia Minasyan’s parents took
their daughter to the Arabkir Joint Medical Center on Dec. 31, 2013,
at around 8 pm, but on Jan. 2, 2014, the child died, according to
the expert, from pneumonia.

Expert Gagik Harutyunyan continued to be questioned in court today.

Ayvazyan’s attorney, Yerem Sargsyan, tried to prove that the conclusion
was wrong, and his client gave the correct diagnosis: the child did
not have symptoms of pneumonia. Sargsyan, in particular, said the
child had hyperventilation of 30-32; meanwhile, to be considered a
symptom of pneumonia, there must be more than 40 breaths.

The expert said it’s not only breathing that indicates the existence
of pneumonia.

“The child refused to eat; for 3 days, her temperature did not drop.

She had […]; her lips were blue; [she was] vomiting,” said the
expert.

Sargsyan implied that the expert is unreliable. He recalled that the
examination carried out by Harutyunyan in another case of death (of
Mariam Arshakyan) was later rejected. The attorney also said that
the expert failed to conduct a bacteriological examination; thus,
he cannot confidently assert that the liquid from the child’s throat
was pus. Since Yerem Sargsyan had a lot of questions, presiding Judge
Avetisyan urged the witness to respond only to questions directly
related to the conclusion.

The child’s father, Georgy Miskayan, intervened during the
questioning. “You act as if my child is sitting next to me, and I’m
here, engaging in monkey business. Within two days, the child was
gone. If you had done something, I wouldn’t have come to court,”
he said, addressing the doctors.

Speaking to Epress.am during recess, Lilit Vardanyan’s attorney,
Givi Hovhannisyan, said when the child was admitted she didn’t have
pneumonia, but was diagnosed with acute respiratory infection, and
the treatment was carried out accordingly. In the attorney’s opinion,
the child subsequently acquired fulminant pneumonia.

YEREVAN’S ANASTAS MIKOYAN ST. CHANGED TO ‘ENVER PASHA’ – VIDEO

06.05.2014 16:48 epress.am

Social activist Vilen Gabrielyan today “renamed”Anastas Mikoyan
St. in Yerevan to “Enver Pasha” by spray-painting over the original
street name in the Yerevan district of Davtashen with the name of the
Ottoman military officer regarded as one of the main orchestrators
of the Armenian Genocide.

Recently, there has been much discussion on social networking sites
and in local media concerning the municipality’s decision to erect a
monument to Soviet leader Anastas Mikoyan. Many public and cultural
figures, academics, and civil society activists are against the
decision.

ALEPPO’S ARMENIAN NOR KYUGH NEIGHBORHOOD DECLARED A DISASTER ZONE

09:10 05.06.2014

The Armenian Press Office in Aleppo has issued an urgent call to
all Armenians.

We do hereby declare the Armenian “Nor Kyough” neighborhood in Aleppo
a DISASTER ZONE.

We appeal to our fellow Armenians all around the world to support the
immediate stopping of continuous inhuman rocket attacks on our area.

We need your support, by all means, for the physical security of
our people.

Armenian Press Office in Aleppo

The continued rocket fire by rebel forces in the direction of the
mostly-Armenian-populated Nor Kyugh neighborhood of Aleppo has forced
officials to declare the area a disaster zone, and threatens the
survival of the city’s Armenian community.

Incessant rocket fire from rebel forces, a significant number of which
are reportedly Turks or radical Islamists, continued in Nor Kyugh,
endangering civilians and causing massive destruction.

Residential buildings in Nor Kyugh have been destroyed or partially
demolished, while Armenian community centers and local businesses
have been damaged as a result of continued shelling.

Nor Kyugh residents are fleeing the neighborhood, some heading toward
the seaside city of Latakia, which is already overflowing with Armenian
refugees from the insurgence of Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist groups in
Kessab earlier this spring. Others are seeking refuge in other parts of
Aleppo that are not currently under heavy rocket fire, while some are
relocating to the basement of the St. Gregory the Illuminator Church,
which was damaged earlier this week as a result of the rebel attacks.

Armenian community institutions in Nor Kyugh have also sustained
heavy damages, among them the Karen Jeppe Jemaran, the Zavarian and
Sahakian schools, as well as the Zavarian and Sahakian kindergartens,
the Armenian Catholic Holy Trinity and Zvartnots School, the Arevelk
print shop, the Armenian Relief Society’s clinic and social service
center and residential building that are owned by the Prelacy.

Armenian-owned businesses and stores, as well as residences are either
in complete or partial destruction, making life unbearable for the
citizens of the town.

AZERI-ARMENIAN MEETING MUST MARK STARTING POINT IN NEW PHASE OF KARABAKH TALKS – OSCE

Interfax, Russia
June 3 2014

Necessity has arisen to hold one more meeting between the presidents
of Azerbaijan and Armenia within the framework of the talks on the
peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Organization
for Security and Cooperatiion in Europe’s Chairman-in-Office, Swiss
President Didier Burkhalter said.

Burkhalter said, while making a joint statement with Azeri President
Ilham Aliyev following bilateral talks on Monday, that the goal of
his arrival in Baku was to hear different views and, possibly, to
find ways of ensuring progress in the negotiating process.

He also said that his attitude to the settlement of the Armenian-Azeri
conflict as the OSCE’s chairman-in-office, is obvious.

Consistent steps should be made towards peace, he said. This means,
he continued, that two main things should be done. First, dialogue
should be intensified, he said. Dialogue was underway already, but
necessity has arisen to hold a new meeting between the Azeri and
Armenian presidents, Burkhalter said.

A proposal is on the agenda to organize such a meeting in Paris,
he said.

The OSCE supports this idea and wants the meeting to be held in the
near future, Burkhalter said, adding that the meeting must become
the starting point for a new phase in the talks.

On the other hand, it could be a structured negotiating process
leading to a peace agreement, he said.

This negotiating process must proceed on the basis of the model
principles, Burkhalter said.

The second thing to be done is to strengthen the ceasefire regime,
he said. The mechanism of investigating incidents, approved by all
the parties in the past, but never implemented, remains the most
important issue, he said.

Burkhalter said that Switzerland is ready to assist the peaceful
negotiating process for the sake of settling the Armenian-Azeri
conflict.

FREE ECONOMIC ZONE ON ARMENIA-IRAN BORDER TO BE FOCUSED ON JOINT ENTERPRISES’ WORK

YEREVAN, June 4. /ARKA/. The free economic zone projected to be
created on the Armenia-Iran border will mainly be focused on the work
of joint enterprises, Armenian Economy Minister Karen Chshmaritsyan
said on Wednesday.

“This is still just a project, but I think it is quite promising,
since Iran was and is our friendly neighbor and development of
any economic cooperation with Iran is very beneficial for Armenia,
especially if it be a free economic zone ….,” he said.

Chshmarityan said entrepreneurs from Armenia and Armenian communities
overseas as well as foreign partners have expressed interest in
this idea.

The minister said that in accordance with preliminary arrangement,
the operator of the zone will be the Armenian Commerce and Industry
Chamber.

Sarkis Aghabekyan, head of the chamber’s investment commission and
president of Syunik council of the free economic zone, said earlier
that creation of the free economic zone infrastructure in Syunik
province is estimated to cost $15 million.

According to the project, creation of a preliminary infrastructure
will last no longer than three years, and after that a longer process
will be launched for creating more powerful industrial facilities.

Armenia already has two free economic zones – one, IT free economic
zone, was launched on August 1, 2013 at Mars plant in Yerevan and at
the Yerevan Mathematical Machines Research Institute and the other,
for jewelry, diamond-cutting and watch industries, is at AJA Holding’s
territory. -0—-

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ARMENIANS HAVE BRAINS AND SHREWDNESS, WHILE AZERBAIJAN ONLY HAS MONEY (VIDEO)

16:10 | June 4,2014 | Politics

The Artsakh war showed that Armenia needs to have its military
production, says the Executive Director of the Union of Information
Technology Enterprises.

“If in 2000 we had 30 companies, today their number has reached 500.

We have 11 000 engineers who offer new solutions in the IT sector
worldwide. We have about 70 companies whose solutions can be applied
for the protection of Armenia’s security. The spectrum of these
solutions is very broad. It is up to the Ministry of Defence to decide
which option to choose. The main benefit that the software industry
can give is a program capable of managing and controlling ammunition
and troops,” Karen Vardanyan told reporters on Wednesday.

He introduced Armenia’s new technological achievements, which can
be used in the detection and prevention of Azerbaijan’s subversive
actions. They offer solutions for ensuring security in border bases and
outposts as well. “For example, we can monitor the enemy’s territory
and spot the changes there. Armenian experts have created a remote
device managed by phones and tablets that can remove snipers or leave
them without arms,” he said.

Asked whether Azerbaijan does not have all the aforesaid, Mr Vardanyan
said the difference between Armenia and Azerbaijan is that Azerbaijan
has money and can buy similar devices and systems, while Armenians
have brains to make them. “Besides, our soldiers are savvy and apt
at learning things much easier.”

CONCERN OVER SEVAN: ENVIRONMENTALISTS CALL FOR RATIONAL USE OF WATER RESOURCES

Environment | 04.06.14 | 16:42

By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter

Environmentalists warn again that irrational use of water resources
noticeably harms the Armenian environment.

Still in April Armenian lawmakers voted 96 to 15, with 4 abstentions,
to adopt a controversial bill that allows additional water drainage
from Lake Sevan.

On Wednesday at a meeting with reporters the head of For Sustainable
Human Development NGO Karine Danielyan, addressing the problem of
water drainage from Lake Sevan, said that there is an obvious problem
of water shortage in the Ararat basin, but it is very wrong to solve
that problem on the account of the Sevan.

“In the Ararat valley it is very important to regulate fisheries’
actions, because they haven’t been properly isolated and now there is
water waste, and swamps appear right in that region, in other parts,
at the same time, there is a threat of desertification. Water must
be used twice, before developing fisheries all conditions must be
studied,” said Danielyan.

Head of the Sociometer sociological center Aharon Adibekyan said that
we need to modernize agriculture in terms that saving water is not
harmful, rather useful.

“Water is in the list of limited resources. Annually Armenia receives
seven billion cubic meters of water, of which, except the Sevan, we
collect 2-2.5 billion in dams, and the rest flows into the Caspian sea
through rivers, we can collect and use that as well,” said Adibekyan,
adding that we need to create a systematized structure, which will
be responsible for the usage of those waters. “Agriculture is under
special care in the world, and here it is left to the will of the
fate, that’s why the government faces critical situations once in a
while and decides to sacrifice either water from Lake Sevan or the
wellbeing of Ararat valley residents.”

AZERBAIJAN SITE OUTRAGED BECAUSE OF ITS COMPATRIOTS WEARING T-SHIRTS WITH WORDS “KIM KARDASHIAN”

18:06 04/06/2014 >> SOCIETY

Azerbaijani site “Haqqin.az” sounds the alarm: at Baku counters
appeared T-shirts with the following inscription “Kim Kardashian”. As
the website notes, t-shirts with the name of the actress and model
of Armenian origin are sold at a Sederek and Bean fair. This fact
has outraged the Azerbaijani website.

The author of the article admits that “as the observers say, these
shirts are of great demand among the population, especially among
the female half of Baku.” The Azerbaijani journalist poses question
to those who wear these shirts: do they know that Kardashian is
an Armenian?

DRINKING AND IRRIGATION WATER LOSSES IN ARMENIA REACH 60- 75%

YEREVAN, June 4. /ARKA/. Drinking and irrigation water losses
in Armenia reach 60- 75%, Volodya Narimanyan, chief of the nature
protection ministry’s agency for supervising administration of water
resources, said Wednesday at a news conference.

he said.

Narimanyan stressed that certain measures are being taken now to
lessen water losses to 30-40%.

Armenia has five water supply operators – Yerevan Jur, Armenian Water
Company, Lori Water Company, Shiral Water Company and Nor Akunk.

-0—-

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