Author: nina hovnanian

PRESIDENT OF GEORGIA CONDEMNED THE RELEASE OF VAHAGN CHAKHALYAN

18:48, 25 January, 2013

YEREVAN, JANUARY 25, ARMENPRESS: Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili
accused Prime Minister of Georgia and Georgian Parliament in releasing
Armenian Vahagn Chakhalyan, “enemy of Georgian statehood”. Armenpress
reports this referring to “Gruziya online”.

“This action is against state and agent of Russian intelligence,
whose activity is aimed at complete disintegration of Georgia, has
been granted pardon,” he said.

He has underlined Chakhalyan doesn’t work for Armenia. “This is not
about ethnic origins. We have Armenians who faithfully serve to our
country. Ivanishvili has to understand that releasing a criminal on
the request of Catholicos of all Armenians Karekin II is not just a
mistake, it’s a crime against our statehood,” Saakashvili said.

Georgian President underlined that the action would yet have its
negative results as it had in the release case of Torez Kulumbegov.

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE RAFFI HOVHANNISIAN OFFERS ALTERNATIVE SYSTEM OF GOVERNANCE – HERITAGE PARTY REP

tert.am
15:58 ~U 25.01.13

Armenia’s presidential candidate Raffi Hovhannisian is participating in
the elections with alternative program and offers alternative system
of governance, deputy leader of Heritage party Armen Martirosyan said
at the discussion organized by the Armenian Center for National and
International Studies and National Democratic Institute of the USA.

He said in his program Raffi Hovhannisian focuses on the country’s
economic life, human rights protection.

“There is an assessment of the current situation and official
information has been used. Unfortunately, the ruling party’s candidate
had enough opportunities to bring into life the previous program,
it had the government, the NA to bring the reforms into life while
before the parliamentary elections it was promised that those with
nicknames will not enter the parliament but there are such ones there,”
Armen Martirosyan said.

According to the party’s deputy head, no matter how many positive
sides the Armenian president has and how much he says that he is a
thankful person, unfortunately, he is surrounded by such people in
case of expressing thankfulness to who gets wrong response.

Armen Martirosyan also noted that though they have stated that no
bear’s services will be accepted and the providers of such will be
punished, these steps have already started.

“We already know that passport information gathering takes place
and Yerevan mayor and head of municipalities comprehensive education
department have already met with the principals of the schools and
spoke about the elections. This means that Serzh Sargsyan’s words
will not correspond to reality,” Martirosyan said.

The party’s rep also rated high the personal qualities of the
candidate. “Only the passed path gives guarantee that the presented
programs will be implemented. Raffi Hovhannisian’s political path
shows that he will implement a wide-scale activity,” Martirosyan said.

Martirosyan said in case Raffi Hovhannisian’s program is brought to
life, Armenian citizens will live with dignity.

ROBERT EMMIYAN BELIEVES IN FUTURE OF ARMENIAN ATHLETICS

10:11, 25 January, 2013

YEREVAN, JANUARY 25, ARMENPRESS. The former outstanding representatives
of the Armenian sports keep believing in the future of the Armenian
athletes. Among them is Armenian long jumper from Gyumri Robert
Emmiyan. The European long jump record breaker, champion of Europe,
USSR, and Armenia is modest in his dreams and optimist in his projects.

In a conversation with “Armenpress” Robert Emmiyan stated that he is
hopeful that the Armenian athletes are capable of opening a new page
in the history of Armenian athletics.

– You left Armenia after 1992. Presently You spent the most time of the
year in the Armenian Federation of Athletics. Why did You come back?

– I have not even changed my passport and I still keep my Armenian
passport. I am still employed in the French Federation of Athletics.

One half of the year I spend here, an other in France. I spare no
effort to see the Armenian school of athletics in blossom again.

– After You departed the Armenian school of athletics has not recorded
a lot of notable achievements. Is it because of conditions alone?

– Currently we are doing our best to record new achievements. Since
2010 we have made an agreement in accordance with which our athletes
attend trainings in France three times each year. Unquestionably this
will have a positive impact on our athletics. Nothing happens at once.

We all are patient and hopeful that our athletes will have success and
it’s already close. We are looking forward to see new achievements
today or tomorrow. (THE FULL VERSION OF THE INTERVIEW IS AVAILABLE
IN ARMENIAN)

Interview by Varvara Hayrapetyan

ARMENIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE AND JINR IN DUBNA TO COOPERATE IN SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

YEREVAN, January 25. /ARKA/. Armenia’s National Academy of Sciences
and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna have
signed an agreement about cooperation in science, innovations and
education, the press service of the Academy reported.

The document was signed by president of the Academy Radik Martirosyan
and director of JINR Victor Matveyev.

Under the agreement, the organizations are to conduct joint studies
in physics of elementary particles, nuclear physics, condensed matter
physics, nanotechnologies, energy, IT, and to hold events on mutually
beneficial basis, as well as to set joint scientific teams.

According to Martirosyan, good preconditions for this cooperation
were laid down back in Soviet times.

“Armenian physicists are participating in implementation of JINR’s
projects; exchange of experience is under way”, Martirosyan said. In
particular, scientists from the Academy’s Institute for Information
Science and Automation work in JINR today.

Matveyev, in his turn, briefed the Armenian side on the promising
scientific fields prioritized in JINR and invited Armenian specialists
to take part in the current activities of the institute.

Martirosyan invited the director of JINR to attend the ceremony of
70th anniversary of Armenian Academy of Sciences to be held in October
2013. -0-

SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE HELD A CONFIRMATION HEARING FOR SENATOR JOHN KERRY

12:52 25.01.2013

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a confirmation hearing
to consider the nomination of Senator John Kerry (D-MA) to serve as
the next Secretary of State, reported the Armenian Assembly of America.

With the hearing, which was chaired by Senator Robert Menendez
(D-NJ), concluded, it is widely anticipated that Senator Kerry will
be expeditiously confirmed by the Senate. Additionally, questions
on Armenian issues will be submitted by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
and others for Senator Kerry to answer on the record.

“Senator Kerry is a long-time supporter of Armenian issues and a
staunch promoter of America’s fundamental values in the area of human
rights and minority rights,” said Assembly Executive Director Bryan
Ardouny. “Senator Kerry through his 29 years of service in the United
States Senate has a deep understanding of the issues facing Armenia
and Nagorno Karabakh, and we expect that as Secretary of State that
he will remain true to his extensive record,” added Ardouny.

During his tenure in the United States Senate, Kerry cosponsored
numerous resolutions on the Armenian Genocide, was instrumental in the
adoption of Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, which restricted
U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan until it takes “demonstrable steps to
cease all blockades against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh,” supported
the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act, the establishment of permanent
normal trade relations between the United States and Armenia, as well
as legislation regarding Hrant Dink.

In April of 2005, Senator Kerry, along with 31 of his colleagues
sent a letter to George W. Bush urging the president to reaffirm
“the United States record on the Armenian Genocide…”

In April of 2004, Senator Kerry released a statement on the anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide, which read in part: “I join Armenian
Americans and Armenians worldwide in mourning the victims of the
Armenian Genocide and I call on governments and people everywhere
to formally recognize this tragedy. Only by learning from this dark
period of history and working to prevent future genocides can we
truly honor the memories of those Armenians who suffered so unjustly.”

In addition, in January of 2004, Senator Kerry urged President George
W. Bush to call upon Turkey to comply with the Administration’s
long-standing position “that in order to restore economic, political
and cultural links with Armenia, Turkey should immediately lift its
ongoing blockade of Armenia.”

In April of 1996, Senator Kerry joined with 21 of his colleagues in
sending a letter to President Bill Clinton, which read in part: “the
Armenian people of the Ottoman Empire were subjected to a ruthless,
systematic and well-organized policy of deportation, confiscation
of property, slave labor, denial of basic rights and, ultimately,
murder…The world recognized at the time that a crime against humanity
had been committed. The United States condemned the brutal treatment
of the Armenians and rendered humanitarian assistance to many of the
survivors in the largest relief effort ever organized by this country.”

In a 1993 April 21st floor statement, Senator Kerry stated: “Elie
Wiesel, chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Council, has said that Adolf
Hitler had the Armenian example very much in mind when conceiving his
own sick plan for exterminating the Jews. Hitler was confident that
no one would care: ‘Who, after all, remembers the Armenians,’ he asked.

Sadly, the answer to that question in Hitler’s day was silence. But
the answer today is we do; we remember the Armenians. We remember
both those who survived and those who perished and we will not allow
the truth of their suffering to be obscured by distortions of history
or the passage of time.”

In December of 1992, Senator Kerry sent a letter to then Secretary
of State Lawrence Eagleburger urging that “high priority be given to
providing emergency humanitarian and economic aid to the Republic of
Armenia….” as “the people of Armenia are facing a grim winter as
a result of the continued economic blockade imposed by neighboring
Azerbaijan…”

In an April 1991 floor statement, Senator Kerry said in part:
“Ignoring the Armenian Genocide, extraordinary evidence of man’s
capacity for inhumanity, can open a Pandora’s box of selective morality
a virtual guarantee that similar tragedy will touch other people in the
future. Selective morality only leads to selective genocide. We must
never ignore the persecution and slaughter of any people…” and make
“a solemn vow that we must prevent genocide from ever happening again,
to anyone, anywhere, anytime.”

In February 1990, Senator Kerry expressed his support for enactment
of S.J.Res. 212, designating April 24, 1990 as a “National Day of
Remembrance of the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
of 1915-1923.” Kerry specifically stated that it “is imperative for
us to be guided by our collective consciences, rather than a sense of
political expediency…President Bush stated in 1988 that ‘the American
people, our government and certainly the Bush administration will never
allow political pressure to prevent our denunciation of crimes against
humanity….I would join Congress in commemorating the victims.'”

Also in February of 1990, Senator Kerry joined a bipartisan group
of Senators in writing to then Secretary of Defense, Richard Cheney
to express concern “about the pogroms and evacuation of Armenians
from Azerbaijan.”

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT HANDS A LAND PLOT TO HAYASTAN FOUNDATION FOR CONSTRUCTION OF KOMITAS MUSEUM

YEREVAN, January 24. / ARKA /. The Armenian government has decided
on Thursday to hand a land plot -3,400 square meters- to Hayastan
Pan-Armenian Foundation to build a museum of great Armenian composer
Komitas.

“The museum construction project was qualified as a charity by the
Charitable Programs Commission of the Government of Armenia”, Yerevan
deputy mayor Kamo Areyan said, introducing the draft decision.

The land plot may be used exclusively for the construction of the
museum and a Komitas Cultural Center. The land plot is located near
the Yerevan Pantheon. -0-

JAVAKHK-ARMENIAN MP NO LONGER PERSONA NON-GRATA IN GEORGIA

tert.am
11:37 ~U 25.01.13

The Javakhk-born Armenian lawmaker, who was banned from crossing
the Georgian border for around four years, is no longer considered
a persona non-grata in the country.

Speaking to Tert.am, Shirak Torosyan of the ruling Republican Party
of Armenia said he had heard about the Georgian authorities’ decision
from friends who had sent a request to Interior Ministry.

Asked whether the question was discussed with Georgian Prime Minister
Bidzina Ivanishvili, who was on a visit to Armenia last week, he said,
“I didn’t have a chance to have an official conversation with them,
but I was informed that the question had been raised at high-level
meetings.”

Torosyan thinks the former Georgian authorities’ policies in Javakhk
might have been behind their unfavorable attitude to him.

Person Having Relation To Dink’s Murder Becomes A Minister

12:47 ~U 25.01.13

Ex governor of Istanbul Muammer Guler, who according to Hrant
Dink’s lawyers, had relation to the murder of the chief editor of
Agos paper has been appointed Turkey’s Interior Affairs Minister,
Turkish Radikal reports.

One of the lawyers of Hrant Dink Ergin Cinmen commented on the
information, saying “Those who touched Hrant Dink are advancing.”

One of Hrant’s friends Hayko Baghdat stated, “We are living in a
country where we are forced to make choices between Interior Affairs
Minister Idris Sahin standing behind those with anti-Armenian posters
and head of the structure that threatened Dink – Muammer Guler.”

Chief editor of Istanbul-based Armenian-Turkish Agos newspaper Hrant
Dink was murdered on January 19, 2007.

During the trial his lawyers reminded that before the murder Dink
had been called to the Istanbul prosecutor’s office where two people
threatened him.

Dink’s lawyers demanded to open a trial against Istanbul governor
Muammer Guler, chief of Istanbul police Celalet Ceran and other
24 officials.

But the Istanbul court stated that there is ‘no organized band’
behind the murder and the case was closed.

AZERBAIDJAN : LA POLICE REPRIME UN RASSEMBLEMENT
Stephane

armenews.com
vendredi 25 janvier 2013

La police a brutalement disperse un rassemblement de milliers de
personnes qui protestaient contre les autorites locales a Ismailli,
dans le centre de l’Azerbaïdjan, ont indique jeudi des habitants et
la police.

Quelques milliers d’habitants se sont rassembles devant les bureaux
du gouverneur, reclamant sa demission, après des heurts dans la nuit
de mercredi a jeudi.

Selon les forces de l’ordre, des habitants de la ville d’Ismailli ont
mis le feu cette nuit au domicile du gouverneur local, ainsi qu’a
un hôtel soupconne etre un lieu de prostitution, et ont incendie
plusieurs voitures.

Joint par telephone par l’AFP, un habitant, Toural Mamedov, a declare
que la police avait interpelle plusieurs personnes et disperse la
foule a l’aide de gaz lacrymogène, de balles en caoutchouc et de
canons a eau.

Ces protestations font suite a un accident de voiture sans gravite
et a une dispute qui auraient implique le proprietaire de l’hôtel –
un proche du gouverneur – et un habitant, a precise la police dans
un communique, sans plus de detail.

Selon M. Mamedov, les habitants demandent depuis longtemps la fermeture
de cet hôtel, mais se heurtent a l’inaction des autorites.

“Nous ne voulons pas d’un bordel dans notre ville. La colère de la
societe a ete alimentee par l’incapacite des autorites a le fermer,
une chose que nous demandons depuis longtemps”, a-t-il explique.

La presidence azerbaïdjanaise a aussitôt reagi en accusant l’opposition
de vouloir exploiter ces evenements.

“Certaines forces politiques veulent utiliser ces evenements a leurs
propres fins (…) Elles veulent destabiliser la situation politique
et paralyser les institutions de l’Etat”, a declare dans un communique
un responsable de l’administration presidentielle, Ali Gasanov.

Les manifestations sont regulièrement dispersees sans menagement en
Azerbaïdjan, une ex-republique sovietique a majorite musulmane.

vendredi 25 janvier 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

“SARGSYAN DOES NOT WANT HIS VICTORY TO LEAP TO THE EYE”

08:06 pm | January 24, 2013 | Politics

For the first time in Armenia, the Republicans do not seek to garner
85% of votes in a presidential election, political analyst Alexander
Iskandaryan said on January 24.

All the presidential candidates, except Serzh Sargsyan, will face
difficulties in scoring votes. Therefore, Serzh Sargsyan would like
his challengers to hold active campaign rallies to get more votes so
that his victory does not leap to the eye.

The political scientist does not agree with the opinion that the
election lacks competition. “There is a struggle between Raffi
Hovannisian and Hrant Bagratyan,” he said.

Mr Iskandaryan considers Serzh Sargsyan, Hrant Bagratyan, Raffi
Hovannisian and Paruyr Hayrikyan to be favourites in the presidential
race.