Author: nina hovnanian

Our Solution Will Be Painful

Interview with Arthur Sakunts, head of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly
Vanadzor Office

Mr. Sakunts, the Customs Union is not looking forward to Armenia. The
presidents of Belarus and Kazakhstan said Armenia cannot join the
Customs Union soon. On the other hand, Armenia lost the chance to sign
the Association Agreement. Was Russia’s purpose to thwart the signing
of the Association Agreement?

Certainly, this fully fits the concept of Russian policy to abort the
signing of the Association Agreement with any of the countries of
Eastern Partnership. In particular, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia have
publicly reiterated their determination to sign the Association
Agreement with the EU. And Russia was expected to abort it, which was
done by putting forth the idea of the Customs Union. The Customs Union
or the Eurasian Economic Union were set up earlier but when those
structures were established, Russia did not display any willingness to
involve Armenia. Armenia did not take part in the establishment of the
Eurasian Economic Union or the Customs Union so it could not join
because the Customs Union was set up by part of the founders of the
EEU (Belarus, Russia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan). There were no claims
to Armenia, and this process began immediately before the signing of
the agreement with the Eastern Partnership. Hence, Armenia’s
membership to the Customs Union is something titular though besides
the September 3 statement the government decided to set up an
interagency commission to prepare the legal framework ahead of
membership. Interestingly, after October 25 it became clear that the
purpose is not membership to the Customs Union but making Armenia obey
Russia.

After Putin came to power in 2000, it became obvious that Russia has
adopted the policy of reanimation of the Soviet Union. He is a
totalitarian leader, and in order to hide his nude he does not want to
let a country with such resources to become marginal, like the Soviet
Union was for many years. Russia is up for creating a pact of
countries like Armenia to hide its totalitarian nude and justify its
existence in this civilization.

Unfortunately, we missed an exceptional chance to get out of the
history hole and face another civilization where we would stand a
chance to develop. The Association Agreement could be a peculiar
Marshall Plan for Armenia.

Why did we give up on it?

The government lacks political will. Even though we are trying to
understand external factors, Putin’s policy, internal factors are much
more important as they enabled the external factors. And the internal
factors are the underdeveloped democratic institutions, total
corruption and unpredictability of activities of the government. This
unpredictability enabled Putin’s dictatorial urge. This dual situation
is a serious challenge.

What should those people who are against Serzh Sargsyan’s decisions
do? Are there ways out? What should be done later after the summit in
Vilnius?

Mobilization of forces is needed. I don’t think we can change the
situation but it must be organized. The problem is that the political
institutions were supposed to resolve the problem of political
dependence on Putin’s Russia. This is the only political plan that may
exist for any political force. Besides, serious organizational work
should be done. I understand that it requires huge financial and human
resources. The first obstacle is disinformation and focus on
pseudo-issues. We must be able to get over it, which is hard work.
Meetings, discussions, public discourse is the way leading to change.
An agenda of debate should be formed.

Why is there no public discourse or consolidation? Are there too many ambitions?

The political forces lack a clear stance on the Customs Union. It is
weird that there is no attitude to such a challenge. In February 2013
the political forces refraining from the presidential election, which
was the same as refraining from politics. However, we would not
imagine that they would also refrain from a challenge that relates to
our independence.

Taron Margaryan stated that fare will rise. Will it be the last drop?

Everything is possible. Rise in fare may cause mobilization. But the
government learned a good lesson from the decentralized, spontaneous,
multi-layer civil movement of summer and they will try to prevent it.
As far as I understand, the government is making everything worse, and
the situation is getting out of control, and civic movements will grow
and intensify due to deterioration of social conditions and may lead
to the claim of Serzh Sargsyan’s removal. There are no unsolvable
problems. Simply this time our solution will be painful, we will lose
people. Armenia has no time, and we must be mindful. Challenges are
more serious than we could imagine.

Siranuysh Papyan
12:41 09/11/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:

“We Support Vardan Petrosyan” group created on Facebook

by Karina Manukyan

Saturday, November 9, 13:45

“We Support Vardan Petrosyan” group has been created on Facebook. The
group has received over 4,000 Likes within a day.

To recall, earlier this week Facebook users were asked to come out
against the decision to detain the well-known Armenian actor Vardan
Petrosyan in relation to the criminal case on the Oct 20 road
accident.

Fine art expert Levon Mutafyan and actress Karine Janjughazyan
expressed their condolences to the accident victims’ relatives. “No
one, especially the man of art, would like to be the reason of such a
tragedy”, they said. They also added that the pretrial investigation
authority had not yet filed any charges against Vardan Petrosyan, but
a decision had already been taken to detain him. They thought that the
law enforcers were trying to humiliate him in that way. Mutafyan and
Janjughazyan asked the citizens to urge the law-enforcers not to
choose detention as a measure of restraint against Petrosyan. “He is
psychologically depressed and his health has deteriorated”, they said.

To recall, on October 20 a BMW crashed into a VAZ 2121 on the
Yerevan-Yeghvard highway. 7 people were taken to hospital. Two of them
died in hospital. Vardan Petrosyan was among the injured. He underwent
surgery and was discharged from hospital on November 3.

The police have instituted a criminal case under Article 242 Part 3 of
the Armenian Criminal Code (traffic offence leading to vehicular
homicide), which envisages 4-10 years in prison. A decision has been
taken to detain Vardan Petrosyan.

REVUE DE PRESSE
Ankara accroît encore la répression contre la presse

Les organisations qui défendent la profession le rappellent chaque
année : la Turquie détient le record mondial du nombre de journalistes
emprisonnés, devant la Chine ou l’Iran. Depuis 2009, 183
professionnels des médias ont atterri en prison. Selon le décompte du
syndicat turc des journalistes (TGS), 63 y sont toujours, la plupart
dans l’attente d’un jugement. Mais en condamnant, mardi, trois
journalistes à une peine de prison à vie, la justice turque a franchi
un nouveau pas.

Après sept ans de procédure, la cour d’assises d’Istanbul a prononcé
une peine de perpétuité contre Füsün Erdogan, fondatrice d’Özgür Radyo
(radio libre), et contre deux journalistes de la revue Atilim, pour
tentative de « renversement de l’ordre constitutionnelpar la violence
». Ils sont accusés d’être des cadres du Parti communiste
marxiste-léniniste(MLKP),interdit et considéré comme une «
organisation terroriste » en Turquie.

Au total, 29 personnes étaient jugées pour appartenance à ce groupe
d’extrême gauche. « Ces condamnations d’une extrême sévérité viennent
clore un procès entaché par des violations des droits de la défense et
le prolongement insupportable de la détention provisoire des
principaux suspects »,a déclaré Reporters sans frontières. Elles
posent une nouvelle fois la question de l’utilisation de la très
répressive- loi antiterroriste contre les organes de presseles plus
critiques de la politique du gouvernement de Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Une loi répressive

« La cour n’a obtenu aucune preuve de l’appartenance de Füsün à ce
parti.C’est une journaliste d’opposition qui a été condamnée pour cela
», a commenté Zulfu Erdogan, l’avocate et soeur de la principale
condamnée. La représentante de l’OSCE(Organisation pour la sécurité et
la coopération en Europe) chargée des média, Dunja Mijatovic, s’est
déclarée « alarmée » par la peine prononcée. « La question est de
savoir si les droits de l’homme en Turquie répondent aux standards
européens ou moyen-orientaux. La Turquie est la plus grande prison
pour les journalistes », a déclaré Erkan Ipekçi, président du
TGS.Cette condamnation pourrait en appeler d’autres. Dans une affaire
similaire, celle du Conseil des communautés du Kurdistan (KCK),
supposé être l’organisation civile de soutien aux rebelles kurdes du
Parti des travailleurs du Kurdistan (PKK), 46 journalistes sont jugés,
dont 22 sont toujours en détention préventive, pour « appartenance à
une organisation terroriste ».

Le gouvernement se défend de vouloir réduire la presse au silence et
argue que les journalistes sont détenus pour des crimes graves, tel
que le terrorisme. Mais Ankara se voit reprocher d’utiliser la loi
antiterroriste
votée en 2005, avec le soutien de l’Union européenne et des
Etats-Unis – afin de réprimer l’opposition. Son application dépasse
très largement le cadre initial puisque,selon le ministère de la
justice, 20000 procédures judiciaires pour « terrorisme » ont été
ouvertes durant les quatre dernières années.

Dans le même temps, la presse turque critique du pouvoir est sous
pression.Des dizaines de journalistes ont été arrêtés ou victimes de
violences durant les manifestations de la place Taksim, au printemps.

Mardi,le jour de la condamnation, le ministre des affaires
européennes, Egemen Bagis, était à Bruxelles pour signer avec le
commissaire européen à l’élargissement, Stefan Füle, l’ouverture d’un
nouveau chapitre des négociations d’adhésion, relançant ainsi le
processus après plus de trois années de blocage.

Guillaume Perrier

LE MONDE

samedi 9 novembre 2013,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

COMMUNAUTE-MARSEILLE
A Marseille, le Pavillon M de Didier Parakian a reçu son millionième visiteur

Structure éphémère de 3000 m² située sur l’esplanade
Villeneuve-Bargemon (Vieux Port), le Pavillon M est la vitrine de
l’excellence de Marseille-Provence pendant toute l’année 2013 où
Marseille est la Capitale de la Culture. C’est Didier Parakian,
adjoint au maire de Marseille qui a pris la charge de ce projet. Une
véritable réussite car le Pavillon M a reçu le dimanche 20 octobre son
millionième visiteur. L’heureux élu est un cadre bancaire de 42 ans.
Il fut accueilli par Didier Parakian et quelques élus qui luis
remirent des catalogues des expositions des Musées de la ville de
Marseille, et un billet d’une croisière pour deux personnes en
Méditerranée ainsi qu’un smartphone.

Didier Parakian qui est à l’origine de ce Pavillon M avait proposé ce
projet après un voyage qu’il a effectué à Shanghai en compagnie d’une
délégation marseillaise pour se rendre à l’Exposition Universelle. Sa
visite au Pavillon de la France a été décisive, « c’était un véritable
succès avec 10 millions de visiteurs ». Didier Parakian a rapporté le
concept et le Pavillon M a ainsi vu le jour pour MP2013. « C’est le
pavillon de l’excellence, `the place to be`, le guichet unique des 930
événements de MP2013 répartis sur le territoire » dit-il aux
journalistes venus nombreux pour le millionième visiteur.

Un succès tel que des pétitions ont même été signées par les visiteurs
pour demander que le Pavillon M ne soit pas démonté à l’issue des
manifestations de Marseille Capitale européenne de la Culture-2013.
L’Adjoint au maire annonce aujourd’hui que le Pavillon M « vivra d’une
autre façon ». Et, d’indiquer que de nombreuses villes qui se
préparent à être capitale de la Culture prennent modèle sur le
Pavillon M.

Krikor Amirzayan

samedi 9 novembre 2013,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com
‘509

Expo Photo
Les Idoles des sixties de Roger Kasparian – Photos

Dans la communauté, nul ne sait comme Roger Kasparian, Jacques
Barsamian et dans une moindre mesure votre serviteur, ce que furent
les fameuses sixties et seventies en matière de musique Pop-Rock, du
Golf Drouot à l’Olympia, en passant par la Locomotive et le Bus
Palladium.

Des années riches en explosions musicales qui ont vu éclore tant de
groupes et d’artistes appelés, pour les uns, les yéyés, et pour
d’autres les pères fondateurs de la Pop-Rock music.

cliquer sur les photos pour agrandir

C’est ce qu’à réussi à fixer sur argentique Roger Kasparian, pour la
mémoire et notre plus grand bonheur, en restituant ces centaines de
clichés, tous autant mythiques les uns que les autres en une
exposition à la Velvet galerie* dans le cadre du Festival de la Photo
2013 à Saint-Germain des Prés.

Enfin honneur est rendu à Roger, le photographe de l’instantané. Celui
qui, toujours discrètement, s’est immiscé dans la vie des uns et des
autres, empruntant pour l’éternité des instants de vie de ceux que
cette génération, et depuis un certain temps, les nouvelles,
considèrent comme étant les plus créatrices de l’histoire du Show
business.

Merci Roger.

Jean Eckian

Exposition à voir jusqu’au 30 novembre à la Velvet galerie, 11 rue
Guenegaud 75006

Comme je n’exposerai probablement jamais et que Roger ne semble pas
avoir été présent à ces événements, je vous offre ces photos.

Photo prise au Leica M3 offert par mon père

Photo prise au Canon FX 50mm (agrandie)

Photo prise au Canon FX 50mm

samedi 9 novembre 2013,
Jean Eckian ©armenews.com
‘625

APA, Azerbaijan
Nov 8 2013

Armenian Parliament Vice-Speaker: `Nagorno Karabakh is a part of our homeland’

[ 08 November 2013 13:34 ]

Baku. Anakhanum Hidayatova – APA. `Armenians have lived, live and will
live in Nagorno Karabakh region, because it is a part of our
homeland,’ said Eduard Sharmazanov, the vice-speaker of the Armenian
Parliament, member of the leading Republic Party, APA reports quoting
Armenia Today.

Touching upon Armenia-Turkey relations, Eduard Sharmazanov said there
are unacceptable points in this issue: `It is unacceptable to link
Armenia-Turkey relations with the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict.’

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Nov 8 2013

What defines the image of the Armenian authorities?

8 November 2013 – 12:12pm

By Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza

Armenia was shocked by plans to abolish unemployment benefit on
January 1, 2014. The government wants to replace the benefits with
re-training as new specialists, as stated in the first reading of the
employment law. According to Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, the
system of unemployment benefits worth 18,000 drams is inefficient for
a poor country, so funds of the budget of 2014 will instead be spent
on the creation of new jobs.

`94% of funds granted by the system could not reach their addressees,
i.e. the people in need of jobs,’ said the prime minister. Then who
stopped the authorities from making the money reach the addresses? It
appears that the lion’s share of the funds was given to people
tricking the government and gaining unemployment status via falsified
documents and corruption schemes, in other words, committing crimes.

Experts say that the government deprives people of food, and plans to
re-train them without caring to give a job. Artsvik Minasyan, a member
of the Dashnaktsutyun Party, believes that it is a harsh and pointless
initiative that undermines the ideology of a social state. `The
Constitution of Armenia protects a citizen from the seven basic social
risks: disability, unemployment, etc. The government is in fact
blatantly violating the Constitution, by taking this step,’ supposes
the Dashnaktsutyun member.

It seemed that, judging by the government’s step, the country became
poorer and had to abolish the unemployment benefit. But this appears
to go off-key with the upcoming increase of salaries of high-ranking
functionaries and MPs, as it can be seen in the bill on salaries of
functionaries. The bill has also been recently passed in the first
reading.

According to the budget, the basic salary cannot be 80% lower than the
minimal wage of 120% higher. It totals 45,000 drams or about $110 at
the moment. Salaries of functionaries will be determined by
multiplying the basic wage by the quotient set for them. The highest
quotient totals 20. The government plans to increase the salary of
President Serzh Sargsyan from 436,000 drams to 1,322,000 drams, the
salary of Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and Speaker of Parliament
Ovik Abramyan from 373,000 drams to 1,190,000 drams ($1 = 405 drams).

The poverty level in the country is excessive. The official data says
that 19% of the unemployed belong to the category of the poor.
Migration from Armenia continues. Over 35% of the economy is illegal.
In this context, the motivation to give functionaries higher salaries
seems very unconvincing. Explanations that higher wages would
encourage reduction of corruption seem unjustified as well. It is
clear that corruption control is a process organized systematically in
various fields. Solely raising the salaries is not a solution to the
problem. A few years ago, salaries of judges grew to $1,500-2,000,
yet, the field remains one of the most corrupted ones in Armenia.

Galist Saakyan, Vice Chairman of the Republican Party and head of its
fraction in Armenia, gave the most `reasonable’ explanation to why
higher salaries of functionaries was a matter of dignity and image of
the government. Maybe the philosophy of the ruling elite cannot digest
the fact that the growing number of emigrants, the poor and dropping
economic growth rate is what ruins the country’s image. Nonetheless,
the rusing salaries of high-ranking functionaries and abolishment of
unemployment benefits prove the philosophy which bases on the formula
`I am the power! I do what I want.’

TheBody.com
Nov 8 2013

Post-Soviet Countries, Including Armenia, Show Rise in HIV/AIDS Cases

>From U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

November 8, 2013

This article was reported by the ArmeniaNow.com.

Armenia Now recently reported that HIV incidence was increasing in the
former Soviet Union countries of Armenia, Ukraine, and Russia. Armenia
has registered more than 222 HIV diagnoses in 2013 alone, with a total
of 1,541 HIV diagnoses since 1988. Experts estimated that 70 percent
of HIV-infected Armenians were men and 30 percent were women. Ashot
Gevorgyan, International HIV/AIDS Alliance (IHAA) national program
officer for Armenia, attributed 58 percent of HIV transmission to
heterosexual intercourse, 32 percent to drug use, and 2.1 percent to
man-to-man sex. Many HIV infections in Armenia remained undiagnosed.

Ukraine’s IHAA Projects Director Lesya Khmel stated that incidence was
particularly high among migrant workers and women of reproductive age,
especially among prostitutes. Khmel attributed the region’s rising
incidence to ineffective state HIV prevention programming and lack of
coordination among countries in the region. As major international
donors shifted HIV funding to African nations, Khmel feared that
Russia, Ukraine, and Armenia would lack national funding to address
HIV/AIDS. Khmel reported Ukraine’s HIV incidence had decreased by 2
percent in 2012, primarily because of fewer HIV diagnoses among people
using syringes for drug abuse.

Armenia planned to participate in European HIV testing week, November
22-29, to increase public awareness of HIV/AIDS. Gevorgyan advocated
increased availability of free rapid HIV tests in Armenia’s capital
Yerevan and outlying provinces. Armenians typically had to go to a
clinic or laboratory for HIV testing and then wait a week for test
results.

Bonn International Center for Conversion BICC, Germany
Nov 6 2013

Global Militarization Index 2013: Rearmament in the Middle East and Asia

The Global Militarization Index (GMI) 2013 shows that the Middle East
continues to be the most highly militarized region in the world.
Experts of BICC (Bonn International Center for Conversion) point out
that Asia, too, is demonstrating a particularly strong trend towards
regional rearmament.

With Israel, Syria, Jordan and Kuwait, four countries in the Middle
East are in the Top 10 of the GMI. This reflects the high level of
militarization in this region, which is so rich in conflicts.
Furthermore, all the other states in the region, with the exception of
Qatar, are listed among the GMI’s Top 40. `This high level of
militarization, together with general rearmament projects involving
arms imports from all over the world, is contributing to a further
destabilization of the area and can lead to the use of violent means
to resolve internal as well as external conflicts, as in Syria’, Jan
Grebe, researcher at BICC, comments the results of the GMI.

Yet, certain European countries such as Russia and Cyprus also
continue to assert their positions in the TOP 10. Cyprus’s regular
place in the top set is due primarily to the conflict between the
island’s Greek and Turkish population groups, which has continued
unresolved for decades. Whereas Azerbaijan has already ranked high in
previous years, Armenia is a new entrant this year. (Since 2013, the
data for Armenia also includes reservists, which is why the country
now ranks considerably higher than in previous years.) The rapid
build-up of military capacities in the Caucasus is accompanied by
heated diplomatic rhetoric and the risk of rekindling the long-term
military conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

With Singapore and South Korea, two Asian states are also among the
TOP 10 of the GMI. While the ranking of Singapore has to be seen in
connection with the `Total Defense’ security strategy of the smallest
state in Asia, the militarization of South Korea takes place against
the backdrop of the continuing conflict with North Korea. (There is no
reliable data about the probably extremely high militarization of the
latter.)

Focus on regional rearmament: Middle East

`The scale of rearmament in the Middle East is unparalleled,’ Jan
Grebe underlines. Israel (GMI: 1st place) and the Arab states of Syria
(GMI: 5th place), Jordan (GMI: 6th place), Kuwait (GMI: 10th place),
Oman (GMI: 11th place), and Saudi Arabia (GMI: 13th place) are among
the most militarized countries in the region. This high level of
militarization is demonstrated among other things by the ratio between
military expenditure and Gross Domestic Product, which is well over
seven percent in some states in the region and thus far in excess of
the world average of approximately 2.5 percent (by comparison: the
figure for Germany is approximately 1.4 percent).

Military expenditures in the Middle East show a clear upwards trend.
In 2012, they amounted to US $128 billion, while in 2000, they came to
US $80 billion – a remarkable increase of 60 percent.

Militarization in Asia and Oceania

The rising militarization in this region is taking place against the
background of various unsolved territorial conflicts, mutual security
threats and rivalries between individual states. Although the ratio of
military expenditure to Gross Domestic Product is moderate in most
countries, military expenditure has nevertheless risen considerably in
absolute terms.

All in all, expenditure on the continent amounted to US $382 billion
in 2012. This compares with US $202 billion in 2000, an increase of 89
percent.

“At the same time, many states increase their weapons acquisitions,
which is particularly visible in the modernization and the expansion
of the naval forces,” Jan Grebe explains.

ITAR-TASS, Russia
November 6, 2013 Wednesday 06:49 PM GMT+4

Armenia, Eurasian Economic Commission consolidate interaction

YEREVAN November 6

– Armenia and the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) on Wednesday
concluded a memorandum to consolidate interaction. Armenian Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan and Chairman of the EEC Collegium Viktor
Khristenko signed the memorandum. “This fulfils the decision of the
four countries’ presidents to this effect,” Khristenko said.

“The memorandum is needed to implement the intention and the statement
about acceding to the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space
(CES) which Armenia made and which was supported by all the presidents
of the Custom Union’s countries,” Khristenko said.

The document is “an important element of Armenia’s accession to the CU
and the EEC,” Khristenko went on. “The memorandum ensures involvement
of all structures of the republic in the activity of the CU bodies:
from the highest – the Eurasian Economic Council – to the EEC and its
Collegium,” he explained.

“This means access to the information and the opportunity officially
to make proposals toward decisions made in the CU and the EEC, and
having a permanent representative at the commission with direct access
to the work within the CU and the EEC,” Khristenko said.

The presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia made the decision to
sign the memorandum at the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic
Council in Minsk on October 24. Upon the negotiations in Moscow on
September 3, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan confirmed Armenia’s
wish to accede to the Customs Union and to join in the process of
establishing the Eurasian Economic Union. As soon as on September 19,
the Armenian government started preparations for joining the CU,
endorsing the schedule of priority functions at the cabinet’s regular
meeting.

Immediately after Sargsyan’s statement about Armenia’s accession to
the CU, it was said in Brussels that the European Union expects
explanations on Armenia’s part in order to evaluate the consequences
of this step for Yerevan. The summit of the EU leadership and leaders
of member countries participating in the EU’s Eastern Partnership
program is due in Vilnius in November. It was expected that Armenia’s
EU Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade
Area was to be initialed at the summit. The agreement will not be
initialed now but the Armenian president will arrive for the Vilnius
meeting. Yerevan still aims for consolidating the political dialogue
with the EU and will try to solidify the progress achieved in three
years of the talks on the Association Agreement.