Author: nina hovnanian

MEETING IN THE NA STANDING COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, EDUCATION, CULTURE, YOUTH AND SPORT

27.06.2012

On June 27 Artak Davtyan, Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on
Science, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport received the Extraordinary
and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus to the
Republic of Armenia Stepan Sukhorenko and his first Deputy Valery
Gorelko.

The Ambassador congratulated Artak Davtyan for the recorded successes
in the parliamentary elections.

In the course of the meeting the interlocutors touched upon the
perspectives of development of mutually beneficial cooperation in
international organizations of the two countries. Issues regarding
the cooperation of delegations of the two countries within the CSTO
framework were particularly discussed.

The interlocutors also referred to further works of Armenia-Belarus
Inter-Parliamentary Committee and the opportunities of enlivening
the relations between the parliaments.

The Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Science, Education,
Culture, Youth and Sport wished success to the Belarus people in the
parliamentary elections being held in September.

OSCE HEAD CONCERNED OVER LACK OF POLITICAL WILL IN ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN

news.am
June 27, 2012 | 13:09

OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier is concerned over the lack
of political will in Armenia and Azerbaijan to come to an agreement
to settle the Karabah conflict.

“There have been very robust efforts, political efforts to really try
to move things forward. The sides have been very close to agree to
a set of common principles on the basis of which they could build a
solution… But it’s not moving,” he said in an interview with RIA
Novosti on the margins of the 2012 OSCE Security Days conference
in Vienna.

As to the recent incidents at the line of contact, OSCE head called
them a “worrying sign”.

He believes that work with public opinion and political forces in
Armenia and Azerbaijan is “one way of strengthening the ability of
leaders to make these difficult decisions.”

TBILISI-LOCATED ST. GEVORG ARMENIAN MONASTERY TO BE RESTORED

PanARMENIAN.Net
June 27, 2012 – 13:55 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Restoration of Tbilisi-located St. Gevorg Armenian
monastery will start in near future, the head of the Georgian Diocese
of the Armenian Apostolic Church said.

As Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan told a news conference, with restoration
project ready, the financing is also on the way.

~SThe project for Surb Nshan monastery restoration has also been
prepared,~T the Bishop said.

According to the Bishop, there are about 40 acting and 300
nonfunctioning Armenian monasteries in Georgia.

In conclusion, the Bishop gladly reminded that Georgian Diocese of
the Armenian Apostolic Church has been granted a legal status.

THERE IS NO BETTER DRUG FOR ME THAN MUSIC – ARMENIAN ROCK MUSICIAN

news.am
June 27, 2012 | 11:49

YEREVAN. – Marking the International Day Against Drug Abuse and
Illicit Trafficking, an event with the theme “I Want to Live” was
held Tuesday at Charles Aznavour Square of Armenia’s capital, Yerevan.

“As compared with other countries, the number of drug users in Armenia
is not that much, but the number of drug addicts is growing here, too,
and such events aim to inform the public about the devastating affects
of drugs,” Youth Foundation of Armenia Chairman Karen Avagyan noted.

Also, he considered it troublesome that forty percent of Armenia’s
drug addicts are until the age of 35.

The event was accompanied with a concert, during which the country’s
renowned rock band “Dorians” campaigned against drugs.

And the band’s lead singer Gor Sujyan said there is no better drug
for him than music.

A MUSICAL ON CHER TO BE STAGED IN BROADWAY

ARMENPRESS
27 June, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JUNE 27, ARMENPRESS: Cher tweeted Monday that producers are
hard at work writing a musical about her life, reports Armenpress
citing The Huffington Post. Cher wrote, in a series of tweets, that
there will be three Chers represented in the musical. One before she
met Sonny that continues through the Sonny & Cher years, another
after she left that follows her through the Believe tour, and the
present-day Cher. All three Chers will talk and sing to each other.

She also tweeted that she is helping to write the show — which will
feature her own music — “cause I was there & know stories that no1
knows but me!”

Who will play the many faces of Cher is yet to be discovered, but the
goddess of pop did mention that she could play herself. ‘I could be
old Cher’, she wrote.

LEVON TER-PETROSYAN ADDRESSED ANC RALLY

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 12:19:12 – 27/06/2012

Addressing the rally of the Armenian National Congress yesterday,
the first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan began with the
Karabakh issue.

He noted that the wording of the recent statement of presidents of
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group in Los Cobos on Karabakh differed
essentially from previous statements.

The recent statement expresses regret that the presidents of Armenia
and Azerbaijan have not made progress and calls to refrain from
radical positions, observe the ceasefire of 1994 and avoid escalation.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan thinks that the statement sounds harsher, and it
means that the presidents of France, the United States and Russia
are indignant that Aliyev and Sargsyan did not undertake steps,
keep to their radical positions, escalate the situation. In brief,
their patience is wearing thin, and they are likely to talk to the
presidents in another language.

The other language, as experts say, is the possible dissolution of the
OSCE Minsk Group, work with the societies, otherwise – a war. Experts
think that the external forces need to start to servicing their own
interests and go beyond the limits of mediation. Levon Ter-Petrosyan
thinks that as a result Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev will have
smaller room for maneuvering.

In regard to internal issues, Levon Ter-Petrosyan announced that
the discussion of the program of government has been followed by a
different situation.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan stated that the pre-election expectations of
skeptics came true, and Prosperous Armenia fully cooperated with the
opposition. In addition, he noted that a lot of people still continue
to cause doubts stating that Robert Kocharyan is discerned from behind
the PAP, implying that PAP is not opposition.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan announced that constant intimidation that
Robert Kocharyan will return aims to present Serzh Sargsyan as the
lesser of two evils because there is no such threat as such, and
Kocharyan himself is scared for October 27 and March 1. In addition,
he disapproves the wording of PAP calling itself “alternative”, “not
opposition”. Levon Ter-Petrosyan noted that some figures, including
those who left the Congress, pushing the party into the hands of
Serzh Sargsyan and enabling reconstruction of the monolith of power.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan noted that the government is already using tax
and other instruments of pressure to return PAP. The PAP must be
able to resist this pressure. If the party announces loyalty to
Serzh Sargsyan, that will be the end of being a political factor,
Levon Ter-Petrosyan thinks.

He noted that for the first time since 1999 Armenia has a parliament
in which 4 opposition parties have 54 representatives. The opposition
must continue to vote against all the bills presented by the government
except the ones which will relieve the social burden of the citizens
and demand more social guarantees. National unity is possibly only over
the bills concerning the security of the country, Levon Ter-Petrosyan
said.In addition, he promised to speak about the upcoming presidential
election in the next rally in September.

DES MILITAIRES TURCS JUGES EN LIEN AVEC LE MEURTRE DE TROIS MISSIONNAIRES
Stephane

armenews.com
jeudi 28 juin 2012

Plusieurs militaires turcs, dont certains sont deja accuses
d’appartenance a un groupe putschiste, vont etre juges par un tribunal
de Malatya (est) en lien avec le meurtre en 2007 de trois missionnaires
protestants dans cette ville, a rapporte l’agence de presse Anatolie.

Le tribunal d’exception de Malatya a accepte l’acte d’accusation
additionnel qui lui a ete transmis debut juin par le ministère public,
accusant 19 personnes d’implication dans le meurtre en avril 2007 de
trois chretiens evangeliques, dont le missionnaire allemand Tilmann
Geske, qui travaillaient dans une maison d’edition chretienne,
selon Anatolie.

Le parquet met en cause aujourd’hui la Section pour la strategie
nationale et les operations en Turquie (Tushad) creee en 1993 par le
general Hursit Tolon, ancien commandant du regiment de gendarmerie de
Malatya. Sont egalement accuses le colonel a la retraite Mehmet Ulger,
et le commandant d’active Haydar Yesil, et plusieurs autres militaires
d’actives, tous designes comme les ” chefs d’une organisation
terroriste “. L’unite militaire serait aussi responsable de la mort
du P. Santoro

L’ex-general Tolon est deja en cours de jugement pour son
implication presumee dans un reseau qualifie de putschiste par
les autorites, Ergenekon. Ce reseau fait depuis 2007 l’objet d’une
serie d’enquetes qui ont conduit des centaines de personnes, dont de
nombreux militaires, derrière les barreaux. Ses membres sont accuses
d’avoir tente de semer le chaos en Turquie notamment en commettant
des attentats pour preparer le terrain a un coup d’Etat militaire
contre le gouvernement islamo-conservateur.

Selon le journal Taraf l’unite creee par le general Tolon serait
egalement responsable d’autres meurtres de chretiens dont celui du P.

Andrea Santoro, en fevrier 2006 a Trebizonde (nord-est) et du
journaliste armenien Hrant Dink egalement en 2007.

Le tribunal de Malatya doit a present choisir une date pour l’ouverture
du procès des 19 nouveaux suspects, ou choisir de joindre leur dossier
a celui de neuf prevenus deja en cours de jugement, dont les auteurs
presumes des assassinats.

L’armee, qui se considère comme la garante de la laïcite, a deja
renverse quatre gouvernements depuis 1960. L’enquete sur Ergenekon
est souvent percue en Turquie comme s’inscrivant dans une lutte de
pouvoir entre le gouvernement islamo-conservateur et l’armee.

AZERBAIJAN CONTINUES TO PREVENT THE RAPPORTEUR OF PACE COMMITTEE ON LEGAL AFFAIRS AND HUMAN RIGHTS FROM ENTERING THE COUNTRY

19:25 . 27/06

Since 2009, Azerbaijani authorities have been preventing the rapporteur
of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights on political
prisoners in Azerbaijan Christopher Strasser from entering the
country. Strasser himself said this.

At its session on June 26, the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and
Human Rights approved Christopher Strasser’s report, according to
which presently there are 89 prisoners of war in Azerbaijan. Strasser
expressed hope that now after the Committee’s approval of the report,
the Azerbaijani authorities will comply with the responsibilities
assumed before PACE in the direction of human rights and fundamental
freedoms. With the report the rapporteur intended to bring the
seriousness of human rights situation in Azerbaijan to the attention
of the Assembly, and if the Azerbaijani authorities wish to record
political progress, according to Strasser, they must be ready for
cooperation.

The official Baku granted amnesty to 66 prisoners of war a few days
before the PACE report perhaps in order to ease the pressures of the
international community and international human rights organizations.

“I think, the noise raised by local political parties, the opposition,
individual MPs and the press also became a reason for our release.

During this time they kept demanding our release,” the deputy chairman
of Musavat Party Arif Hajil has said.

The prisoners were released by the amnesty decree signed by
President Ilham Aliyev. 9 activists arrested in the anti-government
demonstrations in the spring of 2011 were among those released. More
than 1000 people were reported in advance to have participated in
that unauthorized anti-government demonstration, and the number of
the arrested reached 200.

“While I was in prison, I never stopped my political activity and
starting from tomorrow I will continue to work already in freedom, I
will continue the fight for the establishment of democratic reforms,”
Musavat’s deputy chairman said.

In May of the current year, Azerbaijani authorities again gave way
to the pressures of the West and released several journalists and
bloggers and authorized opposition rallies. On those days Eurovision
Song Contest was being held in Baku and the international community
was particularly following Baku’s behaviour, especially when billions
of dollars were being spent to prepare for the international song
contest and to show off in front of the world.

OSKANIAN’S APPEAL TO AUTHORITIES

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 16:52:20 – 27/06/2012

The ex-foreign minister Vartan Oskanian posted on his Facebook wall
an appeal to the Armenian government to support the Armenian community
in Syria.

“Yesterday Syria’s Bashar Assad admitted that his country is at
war. A civil war is meant, of course. Considering Syria’s ethnic and
religious structure, as well as the current arrangement of forces,
there is a credible danger for a large-scale civil war to start.

Over 60,000 Armenians live in Syria of which 45,000 live in Aleppo.

The Armenian community of Aleppo is referred to as a “mother community”
because it was the first community that occurred after the Genocide,
which later grew and divided into different other communities in the
Near East and elsewhere,” Mr. Oskanian wrote.

“Today the Armenian community of Syria is seriously threatened. The
developments are unpredictable,” he warns.

Coming from Aleppo, he contacts his friends and relatives there and
he has learned that in the past eight years not a single Armenian
official has visited Aleppo or Syria. The unions, organizations,
the community of Aleppo in general do not feel the support of Armenia.

“I think, even though late, this shortcoming must be attended to
immediately because the situation is getting more and more complicated,
and the community does not know what to expect. Official Yerevan must
take some urgent steps.

First, hold a National Security Council meeting and identify
the possible developments and scenarios and what kind of tailored
assistant should be provided for each particular case. Second, without
any publicity, the envoy of the president must leave for Aleppo,
unite the representatives of Armenian organizations based there,
leaders of religious communities, listen to them, and as a result
a joint plan of actions must be worked out to reduce losses of the
community in case of undesirable developments.

The Armenian state does not have the right to linger,” Oskanian wrote.

YEREVAN TO HOST DENTISTRY CONFERENCE IN OCTOBER

Panorama.am
27/06/2012

Yerevan will host a Dentistry Conference on October 1-3, 2012. The
conference was initiated by the Armenian Association of Dentists,
Armenian International Dental Association, Ministries of Health of
Armenia and NKR.

Conference delegates will leave for Artsakh on October 4. Stepanakert
will host a one-day conference on October 5.