Author: nina hovnanian

U.S. AMBASSADOR HOPES TO SEE ELECTIONS TO ELDERS’ COUNCIL OF YEREVAN WITHOUT VOTER BRIBERY AND USE OF ADMINISTRATIVE RESOURCE

ARMINFO
Thursday, April 18, 12:15

U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Heffern hopes that the ruling party
in Armenia and the other political forces will avoid voter bribery
and use of the administrative resource at the upcoming elections to
the Elders’ Council of Yerevan. The ambassador made such statement
in an interview with a local newspaper “168 Zham.”

The U.S. diplomat thinks that true competition implying consistent
opposition and the authorities avoiding use of the administrative
resource is an important component of elections in any democratic
state.

Ambassador Heffern said that at the past presidential election the
opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian made a good showing. The diplomat
hopes for a peaceful political struggle also at the upcoming municipal
elections.

To recall, March 21 was deadline for registration of political forces
and their candidates for the May 5 elections to the Elders’ Council of
Yerevan. Six parties and a union have submitted their party lists to
run to the Elders’ Council of Yerevan: Republican Party of Armenia,
Prosperous Party of Armenia, Orinats Yerkir, Armenian National
Congress, Mission, ARF Dashnaktsutyun, and “Barev Yerevan” Union.
Political parties will fight for 65 seats at the Elders’ Council.
The election campaign started on April 7. The elections will be held
on May 5. May 4 is a say of “silence” when campaign is prohibited. By
preliminary data, 261 observers will be following the elections.

INTERNATIONAL TOURISM LAWYERS TO DISCUSS TOURISM HARMONIZATION ISSUES IN ARMENIA

10:23, April 18, 2013

The National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia (NCFA), the
USAID-funded Enterprise Development and Market Competitiveness (EDMC)
Project, the Armenian Ministry of Economy, the and the International
Forum of Travel and Tourism Advocates (IFTTA) will hold an
international conference on “Harmonization and Issues in European
Travel and Tourism Law: Lessons for Armenia” on April 19-20, 2013 at
the Armenia Marriott Hotel in Yerevan. The conference will also serve
as the Spring Meeting of IFTTA Europe, which will attract 28 leading
tourism lawyers from across Europe and worldwide to visit Yerevan.

Experts are attending from Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Finland, Georgia,
Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Malta, Russia, Switzerland,
the UK and the USA.

The conference will focus on tourism law issues of particular
relevance to Armenia in an effort to help Armenia avoid the pitfalls
experienced in other countries harmonizing with the acquis
communautaire of the EU.

WHO: US Ambassador to Armenia John Heffern

Minister of Economy Tigran Davtyan

Chief Executive Officer of NCFA Arman Khachaturyan

President of IFTTA Michael Wukoschitz (Austria)

Three Emeritus Presidents of IFTTA, leading European tourism lawyers
and IFTTA members, Armenian government officials and the international
community.

National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia

BRAD SHERMAN URGED SECRETARY KERRY TO CLEARLY AND UNEQUIVOCALLY CONDEMN AZERBAIJAN AND ITS ONGOING THREATS TO SHOOT DOWN CIVILIAN AIRCRAFT

12:32, 18 April, 2013

YEREVAN, APRIL 18, ARMENPRESS: House Foreign Affairs Committee
senior member Brad Sherman (D-CA) Secretary Kerry to clearly and
unequivocally condemn Azerbaijan and its ongoing threats to shoot
down civilian aircraft linked with the impending opening of the
Stepanakert Airport. As reports Armenpress referring to Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA), while not referencing Azerbaijan
in his brief response, Secretary Kerry will have the opportunity to
offer broader responses in written form after the hearing.

On September 2012 Congressman welcomed news of the impending opening of
the Stepanakert Airport in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, and called
on Azerbaijani authorities “to guarantee it will take no violent
actions against flights into Artsakh.” Rep. Sherman referenced
a pattern of threats by the Azerbaijani government to shoot down
civilian aircraft to and from the Karabakh airport and called for
immediate U.S. action including to “cut off all aid, arms transfers
and to downgrade relations with Azerbaijan’s military.”

L’ARMENIE PRETE A NORMALISER SES RELATIONS AVEC LA HONGRIE SOUS CONDITIONS

L’Armenie a de nouveau pose mercredi 17 avril 2013 ses conditions pour
que les relations diplomatiques avec la Hongrie soient retablies. Les
relations entre les deux pays ont en effet ete gelees l’an dernier
suite a la liberation de l’assassin azeri, Ramil Safarov, d’une prison
hongroise.

” L’Armenie est prete a normaliser les relations avec la Hongrie si
celle-ci prend des mesures appropriees ” , a declare aux journalistes
a Erevan le ministre des Affaires Etrangères Edouard Nalbandian.

Lors d’une conference de presse commune avec Thorbjorn Jagland, le
secretaire general du Conseil de l’Europe, Nalbandian a refuse de
preciser ce que le gouvernement hongrois doit faire. L’Armenie a
suspendu ses relations diplomatiques avec la Hongrie en août 2012
immediatement après l’extradition vers l’Azerbaïdjan de Ramil Safarov,
un officier azeri qui purgeait une peine a perpetuite pour avoir
assassine l’Armenien Gurgen Markarian.

Safarov avait alors recu un accueil triomphal a son retour en
Azerbaïdjan. Il a ete grâcie par le president Ilham Aliev, promu au
grade de major, et a percu un revenu equivalent a ses huit ans de
prison. Le gouvernement hongrois a maintes fois defendu sa decision
d’extrader Safarov, affirmant qu’elle decoulait d’une convention
europeenne et ne visait pas a offenser le peuple armenien. Il pretend
aussi qu’il avait recu des assurances formelles de l’Azerbaïdjan
concernant le cas de Safarov. Ce dernier devait purger sa peine dans
une prison d’Azerbaïdjan.

Les dirigeants armeniens insistent, cependant, sur le fait que
Budapest savait que Safarov serait libere s’il etait extrade dans son
pays. Les responsables hongrois avaient egalement assure a plusieurs
reprises a Erevan que l’officier azerbaïdjanais ne serait pas
rapatrie.

La partie hongroise a depuis tente de reparer les relations
bilaterales. Dans une lettre en septembre dernier adressee a
Nalbandian, le ministre des Affaires etrangères Janos Martonyi a
averti des consequences graves que cela entrainerait et qui ne
serviraient pas les interets de l’Armenie. Le ministère armenien des
Affaires etrangères a rejete cette lettre et a declare qu’il attendait
des mesures claires de la part de Budapest. Pour l’heure, aucune
information supplementaire n’ a ete divulguee.

jeudi 18 avril 2013,
Laetitia ©armenews.com

TOP OFFICIAL: ‘STONE DREAMS’ NOVEL TO FURTHER UPSET AZERBAIJANIS

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
April 17 2013

The ‘Stone Dreams’ novel will cause even more upset for the Azerbaijani
people and the national and state interests of Azerbaijan in the
future, Head of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration’s Social
and Political Department Ali Hasanov said.

He was commenting on the translation of Akram Aylisli’s novel into
Armenian and the staging of it in that country.

“All subsequent generations in Azerbaijan will suffer the consequences
of this disgusting work. In each period the Armenian state with
its ideological structures and the Armenian Diaspora will use Akram
Naibov’s anti-Azerbaijani position against us. We should be ready to
respond to this with real facts,” Hasanov said.

The scandalous novel ‘Stone Dreams’ by Akram Aylisli (Naibov), which
distorts the historical facts, was published in the Armenian language
in Armenia.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made
territorial claims against the neighboring country. Since a lengthy
war between the two South Caucasus countries that displaced over
a million Azerbaijanis and ended with the signing of a precarious
cease-fire in 1994, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent
of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory, including the
Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Peace talks brokered by Minsk Group co-chairs representing the United
States, Russia and France have been largely fruitless so far.

The negotiations are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed
by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles, also
known as Basic Principles. The document envisions a return of the
territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control;
determining the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh; a corridor
linking Armenia to the region; and the right of all internally
displaced persons to return home.

CALL TO RECOGNISE SO-CALLED “ARMENIAN GENOCIDE” TO BE MADE AT GEORGIAN CONFERENCE

Trend, Azerbaijan
April 17 2013

Georgia, Tbilisi, April 17 / Trend, N.Kirtzkhalia /

The ‘Society of Irakli II’ and Assembly of Armenians of Tbilisi will
hold a conference during which a call will be made for recognition of
the so-called “Armenian genocide”, in the capital of Georgia on
Wednesday.

A memorandum of cooperation will be signed at the conference of
‘Society of Irakli II’ and the Assembly of Armenians of Tbilisi.

Along with the Georgian public, the conference will be attended by
Georgian public figures and famous Armenian public figures living in
Georgia.

Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that Turkey’s predecessor the
Ottoman Empire, committed genocide in 1915 against Armenians living in
Anadolu. Their efforts have achieved the recognition of the ‘Armenian
Genocide’ by the parliaments of several countries.

U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT REPRESENTATIVE CRITICIZED AZERBAIJANI AUTHORITIES FOR CLOSURE OF “FREE THOUGHT UNIVERSITY”

19:40 17/04/2013 ” REGION

“We urge the government of Azerbaijan to meet its international
obligations and to ensure the fundamental rights of citizens to
freedom of assembly and expression without fear of arrest,” the U.S.

State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrella stated during a briefing,
referring to the issue of closing of “Free Thought University” in
Azerbaijan. The statement is available on the website of U.S. State
Department.

Patrick Ventrella stated that this concern was clearly expressed by
the U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Richard Morningstar and quoted
him as saying that “respect for peaceful protests, independent
and transparent courts, and government engagement with citizens,
especially its young citizens, to address their legitimate concerns
are the best and most effective ways democratic governments can secure
their fundamental stability.”

In the evening on April 10 “Free Thought University” of Azerbaijan
circulated a message in Facebook stating that its doors are sealed by
the representatives of the Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan. On April
11, the U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Richard Morningstar met with a
group of representatives of the university: “I have been troubled by
the government’s reaction to protests this year, including the arrest
and interrogation of youth active in protests and in civil society
movements. I was particularly disappointed to hear that authorities
closed Free Thought University’s office just last night.”

Source: Panorama.am

AGAIN, REP. SCHIFF URGES OBAMA TO OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Glendale News Press, CA
April 17 2013

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) on Wednesday once again called on
President Obama to officially recognize the Armenian genocide of 1915
– a request that for years has gone unfulfilled amid political
pressure from a key NATO ally, Turkey.

The genocide of 1915 to 1918 claimed the lives of roughly 1.5 million
Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, which became the modern republic
of Turkey.

Modern day Turkey disputes that genocide took place, claiming the
victims were killed during the violent chaos of World War I and its
aftermath.

As a candidate, Obama used the term genocide to refer to the massacre,
but since taking office, has steered clear of the verbiage as a way –
critics say – to appease Turkey, an important military ally in the
Middle East.

Each year, Obama has issued a statement marking the anniversary of the
start of the first genocide of the 20th Century, and each year, the
chorus of criticism grows as thousands of Armenians take part in
commemorations around the world in late April.

Schiff, the lead sponsor of the Armenian genocide recognition
resolution in Congress, has asked that Obama finally call the tragic
event what it truly in an official capacity.

“I urge you to acknowledge the Armenian genocide in your statement
this year, to call genocide, genocide, and to stand with the
ever-dwindling number of survivors, as well as the descendants of
those who were lost, and who must otherwise continue to suffer the
indignity, injury and pain of denial,” Schiff said in his letter.

He pointed out that Obama has used the word genocide in the past and
the Armenian genocide has also been recognized by many governments the
world over.

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ROCKY FUTURE FOR MIXED MARRIAGES

Times of Oman, Sultanate of Oman
April 16, 2013 Tuesday

by: Saleh Al Shaibany

Muscat: Foreign spouses married to Omanis face cultural challenges,
and the majority of them are …

Muscat: Foreign spouses married to Omanis face cultural challenges,
and the majority of them are fighting a losing battle in trying to
be accepted by their in-laws as well as the community around them.

Some are lured into marriage by promises of a better life and riches,
while others get tragically ensnared by love only to end up leading
an unbearable life. Some marriages even end in tragic divorces.

Maryam Al Harthy, who changed her name from Alice Campbell after her
marriage, is one example of a daughter-in-law who was treated as an
outcast by the family of her former aeronautical engineer husband.

“For 11 years, I was British with an Omani passport, not fully accepted
by the rest of my husband’s family, even after I converted to Islam. It
put a strain on our marriage, and finally, we both agreed to go our
separate ways,” Alice told Times of Oman.

The obstacles in mixed marriages include methods of raising children,
dress codes, and the general lifestyle in Oman. But sometimes, it goes
beyond these boundaries, as Armenian-born Natasha Merzaban found out
the hard way. Her in-laws accused her of “snatching” away their only
son and introducing him to a “foreign” culture.

“My husband Faisal was expected to marry a nice Omani girl from the
same tribe. He was a disappointment to them, and I was the enemy. Our
marriage lasted only three years. He bowed to his parents’ pressure
and married his cousin,” Natasha explained.

But Natasha and her husband are still friends. He helped her to
start her own fashion business in Muscat to make up for the breakup
of their marriage.

Such marriages don’t always end amicably. The divorced foreign woman
would have her residence status cancelled and would be left out in
the cold in her native country. Even more sinister is the fact that
rich parents sometimes use their wealth to force their children to
divorce their foreign spouses.

“My former husband was told by his father that he would not inherit
anything. He had to choose between money and me. For six years, he was
not tempted. Then, his father had a stroke. Our marriage ended shortly
after that,” Pakistan-born Rukhsana Ahmed said. There are exceptional
cases; however, they are a precious few. Information Technologist
Badr Al Busaidy has been married to his English wife Sarah for more
than 30 years. “Our secret for being together? Simple. My husband
is strong-willed and is thoroughly committed to our marriage,” Sarah
said. Statistics of mixed marriages registered in Oman were not made
available to Times of Oman, but an official who spoke off the record,
said it was approximately nine per cent of all marriages in the
country. At the moment, at least 300 people are waiting for clearance.

LACK OF STATE FUNDS HINDER HEMOPHILIA TREATMENT IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, April 17. /ARKA/. Lack of funds to buy the necessary
medicaments remains Armenia’s main hindrance against hemophilia
treatment, Tanyan Khachatryan, Head of Armenian Association for
Hemophilia Patients, said Wednesday.

There are 238 people who currently suffer from hemophilia in Armenia,
of them 48 are children of up to 18 years old. The most common form of
this disease found Armenia is hemophilia A (174 patients). The State
allocates 99,000 drams per year for one patient treatment. Over the
past five years, only one patient died from a brain haemorrhage in
Armenia. The 70% of the patients have some type of disability.

“One patient annually needs from 10,000 to 12,000 International Units
(IU) of drugs, only 2,000 IU is imported to Armenia through budget
funds. Thus, the State supplies all hemophilia patients with only
400,000 IU,” Khachatryan said and added that the remaining part
is bought through humanitarian aid provided by some international
organizations such as World Federation of Hemophilia and other
charity foundations.

She also added at present thirty patients need surgery in Armenia.

Senior hematologist of Armenia Smbat Dagbashyan noted Armenia produces
drugs from blood plasma, but they are ineffective in severe cases.

He noted hemophilia patients who need surgery must be provided with
expensive pre-treatment (up to 50,000 dollars) and imported drugs.

Dagbashyan added the patients with severe cases still receive treatment
through humanitarian aid.

“Over the past 4 years nearly 20 surgeries have been made in Armenia.

We also plan to make 2 surgeries annually through budget funds,”
he informed.

Hemophilia s a group of hereditary genetic disorders that impair the
body’s ability to control blood clotting or coagulation, which is
used to stop bleeding when a blood vessel is broken.-0-