Author: nina hovnanian

ANOC CHAIRMAN EXPECTS SERIOUS SUCCESSES FROM ARMENIAN ATHLETES

ARMENPRESS
APRIL 26, 2012
YEREVAN

Armenian athletes have registered a considerable progress in the
recent years and it is not by chance that people expect successful
performances at the Olympic Games, Gagik Tsarukyan, Chairman of the
National Olympic Committee of Armenia (ANOC) said during a meeting
with Armenia’s leading athletes and coaches in Moscow Cinema.

“If previously we did not have so many Olympic medals, in 2008 the
Armenian athletes brought 6 bronze medals from the Peking Olympic
Games, and now we have a task to achieve higher medals,” said
Tsarukyan, according to Armenpress.

He noted that the sport belongs to everyone, and athletes are not
engaged in politics: people expect success from them.

Tsarukyan stressed that only the best athletes will participate in
international competitions: “no factor of acquaintance or personal
sympathy will play a role here, and the athletes know it perfectly.”

Albert Azaryan, Honorary Chairman of the ANOC, multiple world and
European champion, legendary artistic gymnast, expressed gratitude
to Gagik Tsarukyan for contribution to the Armenian sport and said
Armenian athletes will do their best to justify the expectations of
Armenian people.

SARKOZY PROMISES TO SUBMIT NEW GENOCIDE DENIAL CRIMINALIZING BILL IN JUNE

/ARKA/
APRIL 25, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, April 25. /ARKA/. A new draft law criminalizing the denial of
the Armenian genocide in France will be submitted to the parliament
in June this year, Armenian TV channels reported citing France’s
president Nicolas Sarkozy, who spoke at a ceremony yesterday to
remember the victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Paris.

The ceremony was held at the monument to great Armenian composer
Komitas. Novosti-Armenia news agency said Sarkozy’s rival Francois
Hollande was also present at the ceremony.

President Nicolas Sarkozy had ordered his government to draft a new
law punishing denial of the Armenian genocide after France’s top court
struck it down as unconstitutional. France had already recognised
the killings as a genocide, but the new law sought to go further by
punishing anyone who denies this with up to a year in jail and a fine
of 45,000 euros.

However, the Constitutional Council labelled the law an
“unconstitutional attack on freedom of expression” and it said it
wished “not to enter into the realm of responsibility that belongs
to historians”.

GYUMRI: THOUSANDS OF FAMILIES STILL LIVING IN TEMPORARY HOUSING

hetq
13:17, April 26, 2012

6,500 families in Gyumri are still living in temporary trailer homes,
a consequence of the devastating earthquake that hit the area in 1988.

More than half of them, some 3,500 families, are not considered
eligible for new housing since the government does not view them as
direct victims of earthquake related damage.

According to research conducted by the RA State Statistical Service in
2010-2011, the highest rates of poverty, homelessness and unemployment
were registered in Shirak Marz, of which Gyumri is the regional
capital.

Poverty stands at a whopping 47.2% in Shirak. The median rate for
Armenia stands at 34.1%.

The child poverty rate in Armenia stands at 41.4%. This translates
into more than 300,000 children living under the poverty line.

Due to the high poverty and under-employment rates in Gyumri, families,
especially those with many children, are forced to live in squalid
conditions, many finding shelter in makeshift housing.

Take the six member Khachatryan family living in a trailer at 230
Manoushyan Street in Gyumri.

When you enter the hut, the stench of dampness immediately hits you.

Ashkhen Khachatryan, the mother, says the family could get by somehow
if only it wasn’t so damp and unprotected.

Two of her sons are now serving in the army.

AN INTEGRATED SOCIAL SERVICE INSTITUTE TO BE IMPLEMENTED IN ARMENIA

armradio.am
26.04.2012 13:57

An integrated social service institute will be introduced in Armenia,
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said at a conference in Yerevan titled
“Social work in the context of current social reforms: reality and
perspectives.”

“The social worker must be able to reveal the problems and issues of
concern for the family and suggest useful solutions. In this regard
the exchange of experience is of great practical importance for us,”
the Prime Minister said.

According to him, international experience shows that provision of
social services by the state is more effective, since any of the
120 thousand socially vulnerable families in the country has its
own peculiarities.

“Despite the fact that the global financial-economic crisis caused
a serious harm to the socially vulnerable layers of society, a more
targeted state policy allowed to decrease the number of extremely
poor families in our country, although the overall poverty index has
not improved in that period,” Tigran Sargsyan said.

Tigran Sargsyan attached importance to the implementation of the
social worker’s institute and noted that the government would keep
the issue of training of social workers in the spotlight.

According to the Prime Minister, reasons causing social inequality are
different, but first of all it is the inaccessibility of high-quality
education and lack of jobs.

“It’s the primary task of the state to make education accessible to
vulnerable layers of society and provide jobs to the members of those
families,” he added.

The Yerevan State University and the State Pedagogical University are
now preparing social workers. Tigran Sargsyan said “it’s necessary to
modernize the teaching methods, taking account of the international
experience.”

WHICH ARMENIAN ADMINISTRATION IS LYING? – NEWSPAPER

news.am
April 26, 2012 | 07:48

YEREVAN. – Armenia’s Customs Service publicized on Wednesday the report
on the country’s exports for the first three months of this year. And
according to the report, goods worth US$ 292 million were exported
from Armenia during that time period, Haykakan Zhamanak daily writes.

“This is a very noteworthy indicator, because a mere five days ago
Armenia’s National Statistical Service made public an altogether
another indicator, according to which the volume of export was $348
million in the same time period.

That is to say, two state administrations have two [different]
versions for the same indicator, and they differ from one another by
$56 million,” Haykakan Zhamanak writes.

TAVRAYAN GENOCIDE MEMOIR FILM PREMIERES IN SYDNEY

ARMENPRESS
APRIL 26, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, APRIL 26, ARMENPRESS: Sydney filmmaker Shahane Bekarian
has released a short documentary entitled ‘Genocide Memoir – Boghos
Tavrayan’, reports Armenpress citing Armenian National Committee
of Australia.

In the film Armenian Genocide survivor Boghos Tavrayan discusses his
experiences during the genocide and calls for an end to the Turkish
government’s continued denial.

Tavrayan, the grandfather of filmmaker Bekarian, describes the
atrocities of genocide and his life journey which began in historic
Armenia and which eventually led him to Australia.

The film premiered at the Armenian Genocide Commemoration held in
Sydney on April 24th, 2012.

AIRBUS IS RE-EXPORTED FROM ARMENIA

news.am
April 27, 2012 | 12:10

YEREVAN. – In line with the Armenian National Statistical Service
(NSS) report, exports from Armenia made up US$ 347.7 million in the
first three months of this year, but, according to the State Revenue
Committee (SRC) report, this was $293 million. The difference is
close to $55 million, albeit the NSS presents its data based on the
SRC’s information.

Consistent with the explanation posted on the SRC’s official website,
the reason for this discrepancy between the two indicators is the
Airbus A319111, which was re-exported from Armenia to Germany in March.

According to the explanation, unlike the NSS, the SRC does not consider
re-exporting as foreign trade and does not include it in the foreign
trade statistics.

TRAITOR, WHO CONDEMNS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE – OUEST

news.am
April 27, 2012 | 01:52

Armenian News-NEWS.am presents the article of Burcin Gercek published
in Ouest – France paper with some reductions.

“From April, 1915, the Turkish army and police killed more than one
million Armenians who were considered as the inner enemies of the
country. Hasan Cemal’s name constantly reminds him that he is the
grandson of Cemal Pasha a member of the triumvirate which was ruling
the Ottoman Empire during the genocide.

‘I learned to distinguish the history and my grandfather,’ the elegant
man says.

The famous reporter of Milliyet, 68-year-old Hasan Cemal is known as
‘the grandson of Cemal Pasha who kneeled in the Genocide memorial in
Yerevan, Armenia’. After that symbolic act in 2008 he participates
in world conferences and says that he shares the Armenians’ pain.

The realization did not come in one day. In his first articles in the
beginning of the 1980’s he was repeating the official disposition of
Turkey that ‘There was no genocide but mutual massacre’. Later with
the help of the books of Turkish Historian Taner Akcam he discovered
that the truth is different.

His meeting with Armenian reporter from Istanbul Hrant Dink had an
important meaning.

‘I started looking at history not with the eyes of the state but
tried to find out what had happened,’ he says.

When in 2005 the organization of the first conference on the Armenian
Genocide in Turkey faced threats from the government Cemal stood
against the ban. Part of the media called him traitor.

The murder of Hrant Dink in 2007 turned everything finally.

‘The death of Hrant deeply changed me. It was like all stones found
their places again. I saw all the other murderers in our history,”
he says.

After that without hesitation he uses the word Genocide which is still
problematic in Turkey. In the following year he went to the Genocide
Memorial in Yerevan. In 2009 he was one of the first to sign for the
apologizing action started by the Turkish elite.

Will he have the will to undo the damage done by his grandfather?

‘I did not act because of my family history. It is intellectual
responsibility and willingness to go to political fight,” the article
quotes Hasan Cemal.

ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY GIVES NO COMMENT ON DEATH OF 3 SOLDIERS

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 27, 2012 – 13:15 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Three Armenian soldiers were allegedly killed in
frontier Berd town in Armenia’s Tavush province on April 26 night.

Armenia’s Defense Ministry neither confirms nor refutes this,
abstaining from comments so far.

“I am aware of these reports; still, I cannot say anything for
now. An official statement is due to be published in an hour,” Mushegh
Aghekyan, employee of the Defense Ministry’s PR and media department
told PanARMENIAN.Net

THE VIRAHAYOTS DIOCESE HAS SUBMITTED A MOTION TO THE PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE DEMANDING THAT A LAWSUIT BE INITIATED AGAINST AZER SULEYMANOV

19:18 . 26/04

The aggressive response of the Azeri MP Azer Suleymanov during the
speech of the member of Georgian parliament Jondi Baghaturia on the
occasion of the 97th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide on April 24
continues to remain a subject of discussion in the Georgian circles
and among the Armenian community.

The message circulated by the Virahayots Diocese says Suleymanov’s
words are racist and are prohibited by the Georgian Constitution
and are liable to punishment under the corresponding article of the
Criminal Code of the Republic of Georgia.

On the fact, Georgia’s ombudsman has circulated an extraordinary
announcement on the same day, in which it is said: “Unfortunately, Azer
Suleymanov stressed his national origin with a derogatory, offensive
implication and in doing so tried to discredit the contradictor. The
fact that the author of those expressions is a member of the Georgian
parliament, on whom, in my opinion, a special responsibility lies in
this matter, brings about anger”.

At the same time, 35 organisations of the Armenian community in
Georgia have applied to the Georgian president so that the latter
takes measures within his competence and reviews the issue whether
Azer Suleymanov should be a member of the United National Movement
as well as the issue of excluding him from the party.

An application was also filed at Georgia’s prosecutor’s office making
a motion to initiate a criminal lawsuit against Azer Suleymanov under
Article 1421 of the Criminal Code of Georgia.