Author: nina hovnanian

American astronaut Charles Duke declared persona non grata for
visiting Nagorno-Karabakh

arminfo
Wednesday, September 19, 18:36

Azerbaijan will include the names of American astronaut Charles Duke
and Swiss astronaut Cloud Nikolyan in the list of undesirable people,
because they visited Nagorno- Karabakh on the margins of the
conference entitled “Man and The Space”, which started on September
16.

APA quoted Spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan
Elman Abdullayev as saying: “The visit to the occupied territories of
Azerbaijan without special permission is prohibited. The names of
people who pay such illegal visit will be included into list of
undesirables”.

To note, Charles Duke participated in the expedition “Apollo-16” that
carried people to the Moon for the 5th time.

Hrant Bagratyan: the country goes down from 60th place to 110th

2012-09-20 12:56:07

Former PM, ANC faction member Hrant Bagratyan in an interview with
reporters today talked on achievements and shortcomings of 21 years of
independence.
According to Bagratyan in general the basic indicators are low. `let
it be GDP or index of human development, the country fell down from
60th place to 110th.’
`Those years weren’t definite. At first years the country was at war,
and now the indicators are going down. Some indicators have improved,
but indicators are low from figures we had 5 years ago. Five years ago
they took the authority in their hands,’ Bagratyan noted.
In his words we clearly see a democracy volcano: `In 90s it began to
fade, and now we don’t have any democracy. Tax system hasn’t also been
fixed within 21 years,’ Bagratyan stated.

`Zhoghovurd’: stabbing in Nubarashen prison

2012-09-20 06:53:11

On September 18 doctor’s surgeon attacked a prisoner Artak Hakobyan
with a knife in Nubarashen prison and tried to stick it into his
heart.
According to the daily newspaper sources another prisoner rushed to
help Artak, as a result of interference of which the direction of
knife was diverted and wounded Artak’s hand. Prison media responsible
Gor Ghlechyan denied it by saying: `Nothing like this occurred in
Nubarashen prison.’
The newspaper sources assure that it’s not excluded that the happening
has some connection with the criminal case launched against former
deputy chief of Goris prison Marek Harutyunyan. The thing is that
Marek Harutyunyan was sentenced to two years of imprisonment charged
with grasping $4000 from Artak Hakobyan and his relatives for the
purpose of giving bribe.

MilAz.info, Azebaijan
Sept 21 2012

Bayram Safarov: `Zhirinovsky is not only Azerbaijanis, but also all
Turkish people’s enemy’

21:34 21-09-2012

The chairman of the Public Union of Azerbaijani Organization of
Nagorno Karabakh Bayram Safarov commented on the terrorist statements
against Azerbaijan made by the chairman of Russian Liberal-Democratic
Party Vladimir Zhirinovsky at the meeting in Moscow.

APA reports that Safarov said that there wasn’t any need to speak
about Zhirinovsky at all.

`Zhirinovsky is not only Azerbaijanis, but also all Turkish people’s
enemy. Armenian special service bodies always threaten Azerbaijan.
Armenians continue committing terrorist acts through the world. They
deny to give up their terrorist policy even now’, – said Safarov.

He mentioned that Azerbaijan must be very careful in such situations:
`The security of mass media, different stations, airports, higher and
secondary schools must be bolstered. Every Azerbaijani must inform
law-enforcement bodies in case of any danger. Each of us must protect
Azerbaijan’.

The Messenger, Georgia
Sept 21 2012

Armenian Nuclear Power Plant Being Renovated

By Messenger Staff
Friday, September 21

On September 15th Armenia’s one operational nuclear power plant at
Metsamor temporarily closed. The Armenian government denies that the
nuclear power plant closed because of a terrorist threat, instead
insisting that the closure is a regular safety procedure that occurs
every four years. The plant will be closed until December 2012.
Metsamor supplies more than 40% of electricity for Armenia. At the
beginning of this year the Armenian Ministry of Energy and Natural
Resources took over operations at Metsamor from Russian energy company
Inter RAO. Metsamor is one of the few nuclear power plants in the
world built without primary containment structures and that combined
with its location in a region of powerful seismic activity have led
the governments of neighboring Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia to
express concern of over its continual operation. Metsamor is of the
same generation of Soviet-made nuclear power plants as Chernobyl,
where the world’s worst nuclear disaster occurred in 1986.

WPS Agency (Russia)
September 20, 2012 Thursday

COLLECTIVE NATIONAL DEFENSE

Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, No 193, September 20, 2012, p. 1
by: Vladimir Mukhin

CSTO, AN ALLIANCE OF SIX POST-SOVIET STATES, IS TO BE REORGANIZED; The
CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization is about to reorganized
into an analog of the Warsaw Treaty Organization.

The CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization, an alliance
comprising six post-Soviet republics (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan) is to be reorganized. CIS CSTO
Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha said at exercise Cooperation’2012
under way in Armenia that “CIS CSTO troops will be formed soon, ones
comprising all existing elements.” The United HQ will be enlarged and
reorganized too. CIS CSTO troops command will be supranational, just
like in the Warsaw Treaty Organization founded in 1955.

The reorganized CIS CSTO and Warsaw Treaty Organization (WT) will have
much in common indeed, particularly from the standpoint of command.

The WT included the Political Consultative Council comprising general
(first) secretaries of WT countries. The CIS CSTO will have the
Collective Security Council that is going to make decisions concerning
the use of the military component of the organization. This structure
will comprise presidents of member-states. The United HQ will be
commanded by a Russian officer, also just like in the defunct WT. As
matters stand, the United HQ is commanded by Colonel General Saken
Zhasuzakov of Kazakhstan, but he is about to be replaced with Russian
Airborne Troops Commander Colonel General Vladimir Shamanov.
Approached for comments, Bordyuzha confirmed Shamanov’s promotion.

According to Bordyuzha, the CIS CSTO troops will include
“peacekeepers, Fast Response Collective Forces, bilateral army roups,
Central Asian Fast Response Forces, and some other elements including
aviation assets.”

[Translated from Russian]

Emirates News Agency, UAE
September 20, 2012 Thursday 2:25 PM EST

President, VP congratulate President of Armenia on National Day

WAM Abu Dhabi, Sep 20th, 2012 (WAM) — President His Highness Sheikh
Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has sent a congratulatory cable to
President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan on the occasion of his country’s
Independence Day.

Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai His
Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has sent similar cable
to the President of Armenia.

WAM/HH/AM

“Sargsyan should have banged his fist on the table”

08:16 pm | September 21, 2012 | Politics

Armenia’s first President and HAK Leader, Levon Ter-Petrosyan was the
last to address the people gathered near the Statue of Saryan in
downtown Yerevan.

In his speech, the HAK leader said he does not like formal meetings
where people are taken forcibly, rather he likes small and cozy
gatherings which people attend willingly.

“”Of course, people are not satisfied with our state. Today we have
heard many bitter words in this connection. But it is not an
unsolvable problem to turn our country into a normal state,” he said.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan says today we need to address five major issues;
`everything else will be clear afterwards.’

Those problems include normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations,
settlement of the Karabakh conflict, elimination of blockades,
eradication of corruption and establishment of legitimacy.

While the solution of the first three problems depends on other
forces, that of the last two ones entirely depends on the good will of
Armenian authorities, he stressed.

Speaking about Serzh Sargsyan’s recent consultation at the executive
body, the HAK leader said that Mr. Sargsyan should have banged his
fist on the table and said, “Let us stop stealing!”

In conclusion, Mr. Ter-Petrosyan said ‘despite all the existing
problems independence is Armenia’s greatest achievement’ and
congratulated everyone on the holiday.

We didn’t have independence 21 years ago, but we had holiday –
Armenian political figure

news.am
September 21, 2012 | 13:19

YEREVAN. – We didn’t have independence 21 years ago, but we had a
holiday, and we have a holiday 21 years later, but we don’t have
independence, former Karabakh Committee member Ashot Manucharyan
stated during a press conference on Friday.

Yet he advised no to worry because if there is a problem, there also
is a chance to surmount it. In his words, a man is a man to the extent
that he is free.

`Since we are an astonishing people, we first became free and then
independent. But the opposite occurs with the [other] people,’
Manucharyan noted.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, Friday, September 21, 2012
is the 21st anniversary of Armenia’s independence.

The declaration of Armenia’s independence was adopted on August 23,
1990, and during session of the country’s then Supreme Council.

And on September 21, 1991 a referendum was held to decide upon
seceding from the ex-USSR and declaring independence. As a result,
2,050,000 people – or 94.99 percent of the total number of voters – said
`yes’ to independence. Solely 10,000 people voted against it.

And two days thereafter, the Supreme Council declared Armenia an
independent and a sovereign state.

Rep. Adam Schiff congratulates Armenians on Independence day

armradio.am
21.09.2012 16:00

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) issued a video message, congratulating
Armenians on the occasion of the 21st anniversary of Independence.

`As we recognize the 21st anniversary of the Independence of the
Republic of Armenia, I rejoice with the dynamic Armenian community,
which I represent, and proudly say `Urakh ankakhutyan or’ (Happy
Independence Day),’ Adam Schiff said in the message.

`Congratulations to the people of Armenia, to Armenians in America and
around the world on this joyous day. The road to independence has not
always been easy, but time has proven that Armenians are survivors,
survivors of foreign domination and survivors of the first genocide of
the 20th century,’ he said.

`To this day the American Armenians continue to illustrate what a
valuable asset they are to our society, breaking new ground
economically, socially and politically in California and across the
nation,’ he added.

`Over years I’ve been privileged to work with many individuals in the
Armenian community to end our Government’s tragic failure to recognize
the Armenian Genocide, to ensure the victims receive just compensation
and to secure aid to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.’

`As a friend to the Armenian community, I’m honored to join you in
commemorating this momentous anniversary. Congratulations to the
government of Armenia and to the global Armenian community,’ the
Congressman concluded.