Author: nina hovnanian

ARMENIANS HOLD CONCERT ON 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF SHUSHA’S OCCUPATION IN TBILISI

APA
May 10 2012
Azerbaijan

Leadership of Gruzinform demands to punish the event organizers

Tbilisi. Nizami Mammadzadeh – APA. A concert on the 20th anniversary
of Shusha’s occupation was organized by Armenian organizations on May
9. APA’s Georgia bureau reports that the concert was held in Nodar
Dumbadze State Children’s Theatre.

Organization of Armenians of Tbilisi sent a statement to Gruzinform
website about the concert. Gruzinform website published a letter
protesting it. Editor-in-chief of the website Arno Khidirnegishvili
released “Shusha, Tskhinvali or Sukhumi’s occupation will be never
marked in Georgia” words and expressed his protest to the organizers
and initiators of the concert, at the same time analytic-information
agencies which supported the concert.

According to him, the event organizers held a provocative concert:
“The provokers must know that the Azerbaijanis living in Georgia are
Georgian citizens like Armenians. Georgia will never be a place of
interethnic conflict because of Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict”.

Gruzinform website also addressed Georgian prosecutor general and
ombudsman. The appeal says that the Georgian prosecutor’s office
must carry out a research on the fact and the functionaries must
be punished. The letter of protest demands Ministry of Culture and
Tbilisi Mayor’s office to dismiss the theatre’s leadership from the
post: “to what degree it is right to mark the 20th anniversary of
occupation of Shusha on May 9 – Day of victory over fascism? Who
is interested in “rubbing salt into wounds”, reminding a conflict,
tragedy between two people? In our opinion, it is a work of people who
try to destroy completely Georgia by instigating Armenia-Azerbaijan
conflict through fraternal Abkhaz and Osetin people in Georgia’s
territory in favor of neighboring country”.

Gruzinform also addressed the United National Movement Party to comment
the speech of MP Jondi Bagaturia on recognition of “Armenian genocide”
made on April 24 in the parliament.

TURKISH PM CONGRATULATES HOLLANDE ON HIS ELECTION AS FRENCH PRESIDENT

Anadolu Agency
May 10 2012
Turkey

Istanbul, 10 May: Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
congratulated on Thursday Francois Hollande on his election as the
new president of France.

Prime Ministry sources said Erdogan called Hollande and congratulated
him on his success on Sunday’s presidential election.

Socialist candidate Francois Hollande won the second round of the
French presidential election by gaining 52 per cent of the votes. He
is expected to take over the office from Nicolas Sarkozy on May 15.

57-year-old Hollande began his political career as the adviser to
Francois Mitterrand, who served as the president of France between
1981 and 1995.

Hollande, who supported the law criminalizing denial of Armenian
allegations regarding the incidents of 1915, has given the message
that he does no more welcome Turkey’s European Union membership saying
that negotiations have prolonged for so long.

The French Constitutional Council has rejected the law criminalizing
denial of Armenian allegations.

KATARA TO HOST 26 WORKS OF IRAQI-ARMENIAN ARTIST

Qatar Tribune
May 10, 2012 Thursday

CATHERINE W GICHUKI DOHA TWENTY-six exclusive art pieces by
Iraqi-Armenian artist Shetha Faraj Abbo al Numan are on display at an
exhibition titled ‘Between Gestalt and Structuralism’ at the Katara
Gallery, building 19.

The expo, which opened on Tuesday will run till June 9 and it showcases
a collection of paintings as well as designs engraved either on,
wood, plastic or aluminium by the artist.

The paintings which include such works as Brothers, The Rooster, Umi,
Tea-time, Samoon, Bastooga, The Sisters and others are done using
either oil on canvas, acrylic on canvas, water colour on canson and
black ink on canson.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Numan said that she chose
the concept of Gestalt and structuralism to discuss the relevance
between them in structuring the form of an artwork. She said that
her Iraqi and Armenian roots also inspired her because she wanted to
showcase her country and cultural legacy.

“The design is my new attempt, my new idea. I am launching it for
the first time today. I want to see the response of the audience. My
background is industrial design and I have always loved materials
especially wood, plastic and aluminium. I like high technology,
therefore I chose to introduce high technology in my art work,”
Numan said.

“If you look at my plastic art you can notice the Iraqi symbols are
very clear because of my dad. He was one of the renowned Iraqi artists
and he found the Academy of fine art in Iraq. He was one of the main
pillars of the Iraqi contemporary art founders and whenever I paint,
I find myself going back to the symbols, to the origin of the Iraqi
art,” she added.

Thanking Katara for exhibiting her work she said, “I am so proud of
the care that I have received from Katara and the audience. I am happy
because I found a place to deliver my message about my country as well
as my new idea.” Commenting about the expo in a recorded statement
Sidonio Costa, curator of Visual Arts Exhibition and Educational
programmes at Katara said, “This is exhibition explores different
themes through the cultural roots of the artist. Numan breathes life
into the paintings through her unique use of colour, creating some
eye catching compositions.”

ARMAVIA TO CONTINUE OPERATION OF THE SUKHOI SUPERJET

ITAR-TASS
May 10, 2012 Thursday 11:02 PM GMT+4
Russia

Armenia’s national air carrier “Armavia” will not suspend or give
up operation of the Sukhoi Superjet-100 aircraft, the company’s
spokesperson Nana Avetisova said.

“The plane’s operation is going according to schedule. There’s no
need to dramatize the situation and jump at early conclusions. We
don’t have any serious complaints about the Superjet. The aircraft
has minor shortcomings as any other plane,” Avetisova went on to say.

Armavia believes it’s necessary to wait for results of investigation
into the Indonesian crash.

Armavia has been operating the Superjet since April 19, 2011. The
plane has made more than 760 commercial flights with a total length
of more than 1,870 flight hours. It has carried more than 48,000
passengers and covered a distance of more than 1.4 million kilometers.

Flights were made from Yerevan to 34 airports in Russia, Ukraine,
Georgia, Western and Southern Europe, the Middle East, Moscow, St.

Petersburg, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Venice, Amsterdam, Athens and Dubai.

WELL-KNOWN DUTCH FITNESS COACH WILL ASSIST THE COACH OF ARMENIAN NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM

arminfo
Friday, May 11, 19:37

Well-known Dutch fitness coach Raymond Verheijen will assist the
coach of the Armenian national football team Vardan Minasyan.

President of the Football Federation of Armenia Ruben Hayrapetyan told
journalists on Friday that the contract with Verheijen has already
been signed. The Dutch coach has been hired till 2014.

Hayrapetyan said that Verheijen is a real professional and will
hopefully improve the physical conditions of the national team.

Raymond Verheijen has worked with a number of European clubs, like
Chelsea, Manchester City, Barcelona and has assisted such well-known
coaches as Guus Hiddink and Dick Advocaat.

COOPERATION BETWEEN HAYPOST AND POSTE ITALIANE: ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS MODERNIZATION

arminfo
Friday, May 11, 19:58

The cooperation between Haypost and Poste Italiane started this
week with the arrival of Poste Italiane managers Alberto Buttaroni,
Alberto Scaduto, Barbara d’Acierno and Chiara Cencioni.

The press service of Haypost reports that the company will adapt and
apply the highly successful business model developed by Poste Italiane,
one of the leading postal operators in the world.

The main goal of this cooperation is to turn Haypost into a modern
postal operator and the first multi-service and multi- channel company
by means of providing financial services, goods, and value-added
services to citizens and government.

The main fields of cooperation are:

– network optimization and organization of models;

– operational and commercial processes definition;

– sale channels and sales force management;

– definition and implementation of financial product portfolio;

– transactional products, current accounts and cards;

– relational products, loans, micro-loans and insurance.

Poste Italiane is in the fourth place in the Fortune magazine’s world’s
first admired companies list in 2011, with 21.7bln euros turnover,
with the net profit of 846,000,000 euros, more than 5,000,000 of
current accounts, 14,000,000 of debit and prepaid cards.

Poste Italiane is the largest life insurance provider of Italy.

The introduction of the new business models, new advanced technologies
and a large amount of investments on the renovation of the physical
infrastructure of post offices in the whole territory of Armenia are
aimed to achieve Haypost’s principles of modernity, international
projection and development.

ANTI-ARMENIAN BILL ON KARABAKH FAILS TO PASS LITHUANIAN SEIMAS

news.am
May 11, 2012 | 16:58

VILNIUS. – An anti-Armenian bill on Nagorno-Karabakh submitted by
the Azerbaijani side was on the Lithuanian Seimas’ agenda on Thursday.

However, based on principal positions of several MPs, the work of
the Armenian Embassy, Armenian – Lithuanian Parliamentary Friendship
Group and the Armenian community in Lithuania, the bill was rejected
by the voting.

Several Lithuanian MPs voiced the idea of Nagorno-Karabakh recognition
during the discussions prior to the voting.

Another anti-Armenian bill on Karabakh failed to pass to Seimas’
agenda on March 13.

ARF-D REP. SAYS STREET PROTESTS POSSIBLE

tert.am
11.05.12

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaksutyun (ARF-D) may not
give up the idea of taking to the streets to continue its struggle
against “the reproduced regime”, Armen Roustamyan, a member of the
party has said.

“Who says we rule out street [protests] after entering the National
Assembly? We will take steps both in and outsode of the parliament,”
he told reporters at the joint headquarters final session today.

Roustamyan noted their position, which was voiced before the election,
remains unequivocal.

“We stated clearly that regardless of the election outcome we had set
a task to fight the ruling regime and achieve a government change,”
he said.

The politician added that withdrawing the mandates is not a good
decision as that would mean fulfilling the authorities’ will.

“The authorities do not want losers in parliament after the election
and wish those disappointed to leave the country,” he noted.

Roustamyan said further that the number of mandates is not that
important for the party.

“As they say, no great loss without some small gain,” he said, adding
that a higher political level in the course of the 2013 presidential
election would enable them to combat the reproduction of the regime.

In that context, he stressed the importance of collaboration among
the opposition parties elected to the parliament.

“THEY WANTED TO KEEP AWAY FROM TROUBLE”

04:41 pm | Today | Politics

Unlike the elections of 2007 and 2008, this time the elections were
skillfully organized and well imitated. They had elaborated a good
scenario and had all grounds to imitate that press gave free and
unbiased coverage of the elections. They really succeeded in their
endeavours, President of A1+ Company Mesrop Movsesyan told a press
conference on Friday.

Asked why media became so easy to control, Mr Movsesyan said, “The
first factor was the atmosphere of fear. Second, they pursued their own
interests and wanted to stay out of trouble and pressure. Finally, many
of them wanted to earn money in an easy way without extra problems.”

For more details read the Armenian version here

ARF DASHNAKTSUTYUN NOT TO FORM COALITION WITH REPUBLICAN PARTY OF ARMENIA

news.am
May 11, 2012 | 15:47

YEREVAN. – ARF Dashnaktsuyun has no intention to form coalition with
ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), ARFD member Armen Rustamyan
said on Friday at the session of the joint headquarter controlling
the recent parliamentary elections.

According to him, ARFD has for many times stated that objective of
their participation in the election was complete change of power,
regardless of the election results.

“We should rely only on ourselves and no need to hope that rescuers
will come from the outside. At the same time people should take care
of their votes,” he said adding that their presence in the parliament
does not rule out struggle outside its walls.

The party got six MP seats as a result of the recent elections on
May 6.