Author: nina hovnanian

ARMENIAN POLITICAL LEADERS CONDEMN ATTACK AGAINST PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

Vote 2013 | 01.02.13 | 09:29

Photo: Facebook.com/hayrikyanparuyr official page

Representatives of the Armenian leadership have strongly condemned
last night~Rs shooting incident that left an opposition presidential
candidate wounded, saying that it was a blow to the government that
hopes to hold the ~Qcleanest~R vote ever in Armenia.

Paruyr Hayrikyan, the chairman of the Union of National
Self-Determination Party, was taken to hospital late on Thursday after
an unidentified attacker opened fire at him in a central Yerevan
street, reportedly hitting him in the shoulder. Doctors said the
wound was not considered life-threatening.

Chief of the Armenian Police Vladimir Gasparyan said two shots
had apparently been fired at Hayrikyan, only one of which hit
the candidate. Speaking to reporters last night he stopped short,
however, of advancing theories, saying that efforts to establish the
circumstances of the attack and identifier the shooter were underway.

Meanwhile, Hayrikyan was visited by a number of senior officials,
including Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Parliament Speaker Hovik
Abrahamyan (both of whom represent the ruling Republican Party of
Armenia of incumbent president Serzh Sargsyan, who is seeking another
five-year term in office in the current election) and others.

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, in particular, condemned the attack
as a blow against the government.

Other opposition candidates, including Heritage Party leader,
ex-foreign minister Raffi Hovannisian, Liberty party leader, ex-prime
minister Hrant Bagratyan, former Karabakh foreign minister Arman
Melikyan, Radio Hay director Andrias Ghukasyan (who has been on
a hunger strike since January 21) have also visited Hayrikyan in
the hospital.

Some of them confirmed to media that Hayrikyan was in stable condition.

ARMENIAN EX- FM LEAVES MESSAGE ON FACEBOOK PAGE

15:37 ~U 01.02.13

Armenia’s ex-FM Vartan Oskanian left a message on his Facebook page,
sharing his impressions from his visit to the presidential candidate
Paruir Hairikyan.

Mr Oskanian and a number of members of the Prosperous Armenia Party
(PAP) visited Mr Hairikyan in hospital.

“We arrived at the hospital when he was brought out of the operating
room. He was asleep, and we could not talk to him. I wish Paruir
Hairikyan to recover as soon as possible. What happened is horrific
and deplorable. A person that loves Armenia even a little would never
venture such a thing because it first of all means damage to the
nation and the country’s reputation.

“One should be cautious in speaking of the case and wait for
law-enforcers to do their work,” says the message.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE GIVES DETAILS ON ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AGAINST HIM

February 01, 2013 | 10:35

YEREVAN. – Armenian National Assembly Deputy Speaker, ruling
Republican Party (RPA) Spokesperson Eduard Sharmazanov visited, on
Friday morning, presidential candidate, opposition National
Self-Determination Union Chairman Paruyr Hayrikyan, who is in hospital
as a result of a gunshot wound.

His [health] condition was much more stable as compared to last night;
he is no longer in a state of shock; he was speaking more comfortably,
Sharmazanov told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Also, Sharmazanov informed that he was able to find out from Hayrikyan
some details about the incident. The presidential contender had ruled
out the possibility that what occurred was related to domestic issues
and stressed that he has no enemies.

“He said, ‘I got out of the car, walked a little, [then] noticed
someone, I turned around, he raised his hand, [and] shot. The distance
between my hand and his body was 20-30 centimeters.’ He saw his face,
but he does not remember. He called for help after the gunshot, [and]
then he recalls nothing,” Sharmazanov said.

Also, the presidential candidate had told the RPA spokesperson that he
had heard two gunshots, but only one of them had hit him.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, an assassination attempt
was made against presidential candidate, opposition National
Self-Determination Union Chairman Paruyr Hayrikyan, on Thursday at
11:30pm in downtown Yerevan. Hayrikyan was shot in the chest and
hospitalized with a gunshot wound in the right clavicle. He is in
undergoing treatment at the intensive care department.

Numerous senior officials, politicians, and other presidential
contenders have come to the hospital.

A criminal case is opened in connection with the assassination attempt
against Paruyr Hayrikyan. It is launched on charges of carrying out an
assassination attempt against a statesman, political or public figure,
which-that is, the attempt-is carried out to end this person’s noted
activities. This crime is punishable by imprisonment for 12-20 years,
or life in prison.

The National Security Service is conducting the investigation.

Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am

TURKOLOGIST CALLS TURKEY’S SILENCE ON SAMATIA EVENTS “SILENT CONSENT”

Friday,
February 01

The Turkish state is unable to ensure the security of its citizens,
Turkologist Levon Hovsepian said at a meeting with reporters today.

In his words, “Turkish authorities have not yet expressed their
opinion about the Samatia events; I would call their silence a silent
consent”.

He said there can hardly be personal motives behind those murders,
they are ethnically motivated.

Levon Hovsepian noted that Turkey should respond to the Samatia events
as rapidly as possible, otherwise it is not ruled out that the events
may get out of control.

TODAY, 13:38

Aysor.am

AZERBAIJANI SECRET SERVICE’S FAILED ABDUCTION OPERATION IN NAKHCHIVAN

Vasif Talibov, chairman of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of
Azerbaijan is notorious for his Turkmenbashi style governance of
Nakhchivan
NAKHCHIVAN. January 31, 2013: Family members of Ashraf Hasanov,
opposition activist representing Public Chamber of the Azerbaijani
Opposition in Nakhchivan, reported about the failed abduction
operation of the officers of the Ministry of National Security (MNS).
On January 31, at about 15:30, a group of people broke into Ashraf
Hasanov~Rs yard in the village of Nehram, and tried to kidnap him,
Hasanov himself told Turan.
“A couple of days ago, a man phoned me and said that he was an
employee of the MNS of Babek district of Nakhchivan. He demanded that
I paid a visit to his supervisor at the local MNS office. When I asked
him why he called me, he told me not to argue, and come with him. I
refused, but two hours later 10-12 people attacked my house and tried
to take me by force,” said Hasanov.
Hasanov’s wife said the following: “A stranger knocked on the door; I
asked what they wanted, and they said that they had come to take my
husband and he was to go with them. I realized that they wanted to
arrest him, and I began to cry. At that moment, several people jumped
over the fence and knocked my grandchildren and me down. They tried to
break into the apartment, but the neighbors responded to my crying.
The eldest of them called someone, and said it was not possible to
detain Ashraf. But he added that they would soon return and arrest my
husband,” said Hasanov~Rs wife.
It has not been possible to get comments from the MNS of Nakhchivan.
Last week Ashraf Hasanov held a press conference in Baku and told
about the pressure on him by the employees of MNS because of his
political activities. Ashraf Hasanov is a member of the local branch
of the Public Chamber (Turan).

OLYMPIC BOXING CHAMPION VLADIMIR YENGIBARYAN DIES

Armenia,Sports,

Fri, 01 Feb 2013I

Yerevan (Armenia), Feb 1 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Olympic boxing gold
medallist Vladimir Yengibaryan has died in Los Angeles at the age of
80, the Armenian national Olympic committee said Friday.

Yengibaryan won gold for the Soviet Union in the welterweight class at
the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne and was also a three-time European
champion at light welterweight and welterweight between 1953 and 1959.

He moved to the US in the 1990s after spending 36 years as head of
Armenia’s national boxing academy.

The Olympic committee said a memorial service would be held Sunday in
Armenia and that he would be buried in the US.

No cause of death was given, although Yengibaryan had reportedly
suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.

–IANS/RIA Novosti

ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT IN ARMENIA THREATENS STABILITY

Fri Feb 1, 2013 6:08am EST

By Hasmik Lazarian

YEREVAN (Reuters) – An assassination attempt on a presidential
candidate in Armenia has thrown this month’s election into doubt and
could threaten stability in the volatile Caucasus region that carries
oil and natural gas to Europe.

Paruyr Hayrikyan, an outsider in the February 18 presidential vote,
was shot in the shoulder close to his home in the capital Yerevan on
Thursday night. Doctors removed the bullet on Friday and said his life
was not in danger.

The motive was not immediately clear but the election, in which
President Serzh Sarksyan is widely expected to secure a second
five-year term, could be postponed for two weeks under the
constitution if he is forced to pull out.

“It’s a blow to the leadership of the country and our statehood,”
Prime Minister Tigran Sarksyan told reporters.

Stability is vital for the former Soviet republic of 3.2 million to
woo investors and boost an economy devastated by a war with
neighboring Azerbaijan in the 1990s and then the 2008-09 global
financial crisis.

The attack will raise fears of a return to the violence that marred
the 2008 presidential election in the landlocked country, Russia’s
main ally in the turbulent south Caucasus.

Violent clashes broke out between opposition protesters and police in
2008, killing about 10 people and further damaging Armenia’s hopes of
recovery.

“I don’t think that this shot was against Mr Hayrikyan,” said
independent political analyst.

“This shot was aimed against the political development of the country
and was meant destabilize situation and mar the election.”

Any sign of instability in the Caucasus is a concern to investors
because although Armenia has no pipelines of its own, pipelines carry
oil and gas to Europe via Turkey through Azerbaijan, whose
relationship with Armenia remains fractious.

Russia has a military base in Armenia, which is a member of a
Moscow-dominated security alliance of ex-Soviet states.

Investors are already worried that violence could break out again over
Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave inside Azerbaijan that is
controlled by ethnic Armenians. A war in the enclave in the early
1990s killed about 30,000 people.

Relations with another neighbor, Turkey, are also fraught because
Ankara does not recognize as genocide the killing of Armenians in
Ottoman Turkey during World War One.

Hayrikyan, 63, is a Soviet-era dissident, who survived Soviet prison
and internal exile as well as forced deportation from the Soviet Union
to Ethiopia and the United States.

He is now the leader of a moderate opposition party, the National
Selfdetermination Union and ran for president in 2003.

Analysts were puzzled about the motive for the attack.

“I see the shooting as both a surprise and not necessarily politically
motivated … It may be the act of a frustrated, disgruntled lone
individual,” said Richard Giragosian, director of the Regional Studies
Centre think tank.

“And the key question – who gains from this act – remains unclear…

But it may also reveal the level of discontent lingering just below
the surface.”

Armenia was isolated and in chaos after the collapse of the Soviet
Union in 1991, and things got so bad in the 1990s that people cut down
all the trees in Yerevan to use as firewood.

Matters have improved since then but the 2008-09 global economic
crisis set back the recovery and the average nominal monthly salary is
still under $300.

(Additional reporting and writing by Margarita Antidze; Editing by
Timothy Heritage and Louise Ireland)

Iranian studies expert: Iranian-Armenian relations develop in
atmosphere of mutual trust

18:36 02/02/2013 » INTERVIEWS

The 21st anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations
between Armenia and Iran as well as the 34th anniversary of the 1979
Islamic revolution will be marked soon. Panorama.am held an interview
with Iranian studies expert Armen Israyelyan about Armenian-Iranian
relations, Iran’s position on Karabakh and other matters.

– How would you assess the current level of Armenian-Iranian political
relations?

– In 2012, we marked the 20th anniversary of the establishment of
diplomatic relations between Armenia and Iran. Over the course of
these years, the two countries successfully cooperated in the fields
of energy, transport, agriculture, tourism, culture, science and in
some other fields.

High-level mutual visits take place periodically. I think bilateral
political relations develop in an atmosphere of mutual trust and there
is no problem hindering the development of bilateral political
relations. Iran and Armenia efficiently cooperate within international
organizations; the two countries have close positions on regional
issues.

– What can you say about the economic relations between Iran and Armenia?

– Commodity circulation between Iran and Armenia amounts to about $500
million, with the officials from both countries aiming to double this
figure – up to $1 billion. Since Armenia’s independence, the two
countries have implemented a number of big economic projects. The most
important of them was perhaps the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline.

The foundation laying ceremony of Meghri hydropower plant took place
last year, attended by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. The
construction projects of Iran-Armenia railway, North-South Road
Corridor and oil pipeline are on the governments agenda.

– What is Iran’s position on Karabakh?

– As an authoritative member of the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation, Iran has a balanced policy towards Karabakh conflict
settlement, which creates a precedent for a number of Islamic
countries not to give way to Azerbaijan’s provocations aimed at giving
a religious coloring to Karabakh conflict, and to have a neutral
position on Karabakh.

Although Iran’s President and Foreign Minister state that Karabakh
conflict should be solved through negotiations based on the
fundamental principles of international law, Iran’s newly appointed
ambassador to Azerbaijan periodically makes statements running counter
Tehran’s official position, which is perceived by the Iranian embassy
in Armenia as a `personal position.’

Iran thinks the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group are inefficient,
with Tehran offering mediation to the conflicting parties.

– What can you say about the condition of Iranian Armenians?

– The Armenian community plays a big role in the strengthening and
development of Iranian-Armenian relations. According to Iran’s
Constitution, the Armenian community is a religious minority, with two
of its members represented in Majlis. Armenian churches, historical
monuments and educational centers are under the protection of Iran’s
government.

Although after the 1978-79 Islamic revolution the Armenian community
of Iran was given exclusive rights and opportunities, unfortunately,
due to objective and subjective reasons, the number of Iranian
Armenians has been decreasing in recent years.

Source: Panorama.am

Protest action in front of Azerbaijani Embassy in Poland

16:57, 2 February, 2013

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 2, ARMENPRESS: Action of protest of young local
human rights activists, and Azeris took place on Friday night before
the embassy of Azerbaijan in Warsaw. Thirty protesters demanded the
release of youth activists arrested during the protest rally on
January 26 in Baku.

According to the participant of the action Khalisa Shahverdi, who was
arrested on January 26, the blogger Emin Milli was to speak at the
conference in Warsaw, called Personal Democracy Forum.

As reports Armenpress, referring to contact.az, participants in this
event, bloggers, human rights activists and representatives of civil
society organizations from different countries, came to the
Azerbaijani embassy to protest against the arrest of Emin Milli and
demand his immediate release, as well as all the other prisoners.

Representatives of Azerbaijan: Shahverdi Khalis, Arzu Geybullaeva, and
Mubariz Rahimli also participated in the protest action. They made
posters in Azerbaijani, Polish and English languages demanding to
ensure the democracy and human rights in Azerbaijan.

During the Personal Democracy Conference, the participants adopted a
declaration which expressed concern about the situation in Azerbaijan.
The text of the statement was presented to the participants to the
Azerbaijani by the participants of the picket.

Marsel Chifteyan: nothing can stop him

02-02-2013 08:41:29 | |

Marseille Chifteyan was born in 1931 in Saint Barnabé district of
Marseille and was one of 5 children of a modest family. He was doomed
to have no ordinary fate at all. During his school years, he used to
be outraged by exclamations like `filthy Armenian’ and would state
that it was hard to bear `an immigrant’s son’ status on his shoulders
in such a chauvinistic country like France which repudiated its
newcomers. Marseille faced the same discrimination when he joined the
army at the age of 18 and was insulted when his captain called `bad
Frenchman’. This made young Marseille fly into an outage and give the
captain a sharp blow. After spending several months in military prison
and cherishing his dream about Africa, Chifteyan returned to the city
of Marseille where he learned tailoring. “I hated that craft”
Marseille admits. Four months later he sailed to Dahomey… “I liked
watching films about Tarzan and it was exactly how I had imagined
Africa to be,’ adds Marseille and it makes him laugh to this day.
However, in Abidjan city of Côte d’Ivoire, he encountered colonists’
cold-hearted attitude towards “strangers”.

“I was rejected and I started suffering and wandering in quest of
abode. Then I met an Armenian by the last name of Grigoryan, who was
involved in the commerce of a shirt trademark. He gave me 50,000
francs and bought me a ticket to Dahomey. I will never forget this
humane act of my compatriot whom I never saw again!”. In Cotonou
(Dahomey), the Headquarters of the French Military Servants’ Club
prohibited Chifteyan from visiting the same localities as the
Europeans did. Repelled by the whites and without any protection,
Chifteyan went through suffering again, but was luckily housed by an
old African woman. “Several months later a Bretonian employed me as a
tile-worker for 25 francs meager salary per day. It was miserable!”
Chifteyan recalls. After two years of tiling, he set to management of
the Brosette Valor shop, which was specialized in construction
materials. In 1960 he married “a girl from Rheims” whose family had
immigrated to Cotonou. A year later, they had a child named Jean-Loque
who was born the same yearthat Dahomey declared its independence. By
fate, Chifteyan met another French Armenian by the last name of
Kasajyan, who presented “Astral” paintings for Africa. “I sold a
painting for him and in 1972 I built “S. A. Sobepec” painting plant in
Cotonou.’ It was the first modern plant in West Africa with 15 000 sq
m footage and would later employ 150 Beninese and Europeans. The
output was exported to Togo, Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad. In
1993 Marseille and his son constructed the “Casa Del Papa” luxurious
hotel complex comprised of 60 suites and targeting foreign guests.
Situated in the coastal zone that is 40 km away from Cotonou, the
complex consisted of small villas based on wooden support. In 2008
Marseille Chifteyan the “Armenian” began construction of the largest
West African hypermarket “Yerevan” with an area of 13 000 sq m and
designed for African and European customers. The construction of the
trade center cost roughly 60 billion francs. The opening ceremony of
the center took place on September 25, 2009 and was attended by
president of Benin Yayi Boni and other officials. It was also in the
spotlight of the Beninese mass media. “I called my hypermarket
“Yerevan” because the Beninese know little about Armenia. I always
thought of my parents and “Yerevan” is the tribute to Armenia which
fascinated me as I recently discovered it for myself. Although there
is no Armenian community in Benin, we often mention Armenia in our
talks with the Beninese. Next to the “Yerevan” trade center I built a
private residence with the Armenian tricolor flag on the top. That is
the Consulate of Armenia in Benin and I have the honor of being the
head of that consulate,’ Mr. Chifteyan proudly states.

Marseille Chifteyan’s wish is as follows: `I went through a lot when I
was young. I also want to help my family. This country gave me much
and now it’s my turn to do the same’.

These words belong to a person who was eager to found a cardiovascular
care hospital in Cotonou already named `Benin-Armenia-France’. It will
be directed by experts invited from Armenia. In his eighties, Mr
Chifteyan is still a fighter who will keep fighting until the last day
of his life to give mankind what he bears in himself.

The article was printed in

`Nouvelles d’Arménie’ Review.
–
News from Armenia and Diaspora – Noyan Tapan