WHAT WILL HINDER THE BROTHER OF SERZH SARGSYAN?: LEVON ZURABYAN’S QUESTION (VIDEO)
14:55 | February 5,2015
Levon Zurabyan
HAK deputy Levon Zurabyan thinks that the law on “Income tax”
is anti-market.
What will hinder the brother of Serzh Sargsyan to monopolize this
sector?, asks Levon Zurabyan- based on the thesis of the law.
LOOK WHO WAS ARRESTED BY ARMENIAN LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES!
Lragir.am
Law – 05 February 2015, 10:25
Yesterday Mnatsakan Alexanyan of Sarnaghbyur village was arrested. He
took part in the demonstrations in Gyumri on January 14-15 demanding
to hand the case and suspect of the manslaughter in Gyumri to the
Armenian law enforcement agencies. The demonstrators clashed with
policemen who were blocking the central street of the city where the
Russian Consulate is located.
The Armenian law enforcement agencies vowed to call on the Russian
side on this matter, as well as not to persecute the participants of
the demonstrations. However, a real hunt began on the following days
of the demonstrations. People were invited to the police stations,
underwent violence and were intimidated, as the press and the people
who experienced this reported.
And yesterday the participant of demonstrations was arrested.
According to Hetq.am, Mnatsakan served in NKR, completed his service
two years ago, has a lot of awards, fought against and pushed back
three Azerbaijani commandos, served in the military unit of commander
Artak Budaghyan. The same Budaghyan who was wounded, and his brother
was killed during the tragedy near Liska’s house. Liska’s son was
acquitted for this murder.
Mnatsakan’s father fought in the war in Artsakh. Now he is knocking at
the police doors trying to find out what is happening to his son who
merely stood up for the dignity of the same law enforcement agencies
to save their face.
ACADEMIC CONFERENCE: THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’S LEGACY, 100 YEARS ON
14:57, 05 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan
The University of Southern California Institute of Armenian Studies
has joined with the Centennial Project Foundation and the Netherlands
Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies to convene a
two-day conference at The Hague Institute for Global Justice, in the
Netherlands, on March 6-7, 2015, Massis Postreports.
This major interdisciplinary gathering will bring together academics
and professionals from various fields to discuss the impact of the
Genocide. Experts will examine such issues as impunity, sexual
violence, demographics, compensation, memorializing, political
discourse and media approaches.
Keynote speaker, Ronald Suny, Professor Emeritus, University of
Chicago and University of Michigan, will open the conference. He will
be followed by experts in the field of Law (Geoffrey Robertson – QC,
Susan L. Karamanian, Nolwenn Guibert, Sun Kim, Najwa Nabti, Alexis
Demirdjian, Hannibal Travis), historians Ugur Umit Ungor, Jakub Bijak,
Lorne Shirinian, experts in social sciences and humanities (Levon
Chorbajian, Seyhan Bayraktar, Nanor Kebranian, Ayda Erbal, Eugene
Sensenig-Dabbous, Anthonie Holslag), literature, media, education
and journalism scholars Barlow Der Mugrdechian, Lisa Siraganian,
Esra Elmas, Marie-Aude Baronian, Joyce Sahyouni.
Alexis Demirdjian, Director of the Centennial Project Foundation and
a trial attorney in the Office of the Prosecutor at the International
Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, said, “We are pleased
to partner with the University of Southern California Dornsife
Institute of Armenian Studies. We look forward to a conference that
is significant going forward beyond the centennial.”
DORTMUND HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH MKHITARYAN, WATZKE SAYS
16:39, 05 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan
The struggling Bundesliga giants downplay suggestions that the Armenia
international is unhappy at Signal Iduna Park amid rumours linking
him with Serie A side Juventus, Goal.com reports.
Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke insists that the club do
not have any problems with Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
The 26-year-old’s agent Mino Raiola declared recently that Mkhitaryan
has set his sights on a summer exit, with Juventus keeping a close
eye on his situation.
“Perhaps there is a problem between Raiola and Borussia Dortmund,”
Watzke told Kicker, “but there is definitely no problem between
Mkhitaryan and the club.”
DZIDZERNAGAPERT DANS LE CALENDRIER OFFICIEL DU MINISTERE TURC DES AFFAIRES ETRANGERES
TURQUIE
Le ministère turc des Affaires étrangères a publié a “tort” une photo
du mémorial dédié au génocide arménien de Dzidzernagaper comme
photographie pour le mois d’Avril dans un calendrier officiel,
préparé pour commémorer le 100e anniversaire de la bataille de
Gallipoli, a rapporté hier le quotidien Hurriyet.
Un responsable du ministère des Affaires étrangères a déclaré au
quotidien Hurriyet que l’image avait été “accidentellement incluse
avec d’autres photographies.”
Une enquête a été lancée concernant cette erreur et que la
personne responsable sera puni, a dit l’officiel, ajoutant que tous
les calendriers a ce jour n’avaient pas encore été distribués.
Le fonctionnaire a énergiquement réfuté les revendications que
l’image fait partie d’une nouvelle ” ouverture arménienne ” de la
part d’Ankara, soulignant que les éléments de toute ouverture sur
le dialogue avec les Arméniens sont livrés soit par le président
turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan ou le Premier ministre Ahmet Davutoglu.
jeudi 5 février 2015, Stéphane ©armenews.com
ARMENIA, TURKEY CONTINUE RSVP-FIGHT
EurasiaNet.org
Feb 4 2015
February 4, 2015 – 3:54am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
Not being invited to a big occasion usually causes bad blood, but,
in Turkey and Armenia’s case, it was actually mutual invitations that
started the trouble. After trading invites to anniversaries of two
major historic events, the two countries’ leaders are waging a war
of letters larded with testy remarks and history lessons.
Armenia on February 2 described as a “petty trick” Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s invitation to President Serzh Sargsyan to
attend Turkey’s April 23-24 centennial commemoration of the Battle of
Gallipoli, a critical World-War-I campaign in which Ottoman Turkey
repulsed an Allied invasion. The invitation is “amoral” and runs
counter to all norms of protocol, declared Deputy Foreign Minister
Shavarsh Kocharian.
Sargsyan earlier had invited Erdogan to come to Yerevan on the same
date to attend Armenia’s commemoration of Ottoman Turkey’s 1915-16
slaughter of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Armenians; deaths it
condemns as genocide.
As Yerevan no doubt knew, the chances were less than remote that the
increasingly sultanesque Erdogan would shuttle on over to see Turkey’s
Ottoman forbearers condemned for genocide.
His response was to ask Sargsyan to attend the Gallipoli memorial.
But Sargsyan, a chess-player who knows an attempted checkmate
when he sees one, angrily threw out the counter-invitation and
accused Erdogan’s administration of deliberately timing Turkey’s
battle-centennial to overshadow Armenia’s genocide-centennial.
In an open letter to Erdogan, the Armenian president wrote that it’s
not an Armenian custom to accept an invitation from someone who has
not yet responded to an invitation from the intended guest.
Batting the ball back, Erdogan’s office sniped in a lengthy
invective.that Armenia apparently cannot “appreciate Turkey’s sincere
steps.”
And so the rhetoric is likely to continue. While this exchange
may sound familiar, it again underlines that earlier attempts at
reconciliation have fallen flat and that, historic opportunity or no,
the neighbors are back to square one.
ARMENIA OPENS CONSULATE IN IRAQ
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Feb 4 2015
4 February 2015 – 4:04pm
Armenia is going to open a consulate in the Iraqi city of Erbil.
During the meeting with head of the Kurdistan Region in northern
Iraq, Nechirvan Barzani, Armenia’s Ambassador to Iraq, Karin
Gregorian, said the consulate will open in June, APA reports citing
trthaber.com.Gregorian also said that Armenia will conduct direct
flights from Yerevan to Erbil at the end of a month.
Nechirvan Barzani noted that all the conditions would be created for
Armenian businessmen in Erbil.
PRESS RELEASE
Date: February 4, 2015
ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA
Contact: Taniel Koushakjian
Telephone: (202) 393-3434
Email: [email protected]
Web:
ASSEMBLY ANNUAL MEMBERS MEETING WELCOME RECEPTION TO FEATURE AUTHOR IRENE
VOSBIKIAN
Annual Members Meeting & Banquet in Boca Raton, Florida March 13-14, 2015
WASHINGTON, DC – The Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) is pleased
to announce that Irene Vosbikian, author of the recently released novel
BEDROS, will present her book and sign copies at the Assembly’s Annual
Member Meeting Welcome Reception in South Florida on Friday evening. `We
are delighted to have Irene present her book and share this powerful story
on the Armenian Genocide,’ stated Assembly South Florida Regional Council
(SFRC) Chairwoman Carol Norigian.
BEDROS is the inspirational saga of a man who, having witnessed his
father’s murder, goes on to survive the first genocide of the 20th
century, and struggles to achieve greatness in the New World. BEDROS is
two stories in one because the main character lived two lives in one –
the victim struggling to survive and the entrepreneur, struggling to
realize himself. Bedros, in this epic novel based on the 1915 Armenian
Genocide carried out by the Ottoman Turks, is nourished by hope,
defiance, and courage, flowering at last in the streets ofPhiladelphia.
The story spans half a century and three continents. BEDROS is a
literary roller coaster. The reader is lulled, electrified, dropped
into a pit of despondence and then transported to a world of delight. It
is an inspiration to the descendants of all those persecuted immigrants
who dreamed and triumphed in America.
Irene was born in Philadelphia in 1944, a third-generation Italian
American. Her father was killed in WWII, just one month prior to her birth.
Her mother remarried and went on to have six more children. Born and raised
in Philadelphia, Irene graduated from Marple Newtown High School and
attended Temple University where she met her husband, Peter. Peter and
Irene have four married children and eleven grandchildren. Irene has
published two novels: The Carnation Tablet, a tribute to her father, and
BEDROS, based on Peter’s father’s life.
During the Assembly’s Welcome Reception on Friday, March 13, Vosbikian will
present her book BEDROS and sign copies for guests who purchase the
novel. Vosbikian has generously agreed to donate all of the evening’s
proceeds to the Armenian Assembly of America.
`The Assembly is grateful to Irene and the Vosbikian family for their many
years of service and support,’ stated Assembly Executive Director Bryan
Ardouny.
The Armenian Assembly’s Annual Member Meeting & Banquet will be held at the
Marriott Hotel at Boca Town Center, 5150 Town Center Circle, Boca Raton, FL
33486. Please call (561) 392-4600 to reserve your room and be sure to
mention the Armenian Assembly in order to receive the reduced rate of
$169.00 per night.
For tickets or additional information, please contact Assembly SFRC Chair
Carol Norigian at [email protected].
Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest
Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public understanding and
awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3)
tax-exempt membership organization.
###
NR: # 2015-007
Available online at:
ARMENIAN MP KEEPS ENDANGERED SIBERIAN TIGERS AS PETS: ‘THOSE IN THE WILD WOULD BE JEALOUS’
Grisha Balasanyan
11:25, February 4, 2015
It’s sort of become a fashion craze for the ultra rich and top
officials in Armenia to “domesticate” wild animals and keep them at
their restaurants and hotels as attractions.
Some, as the case throughout the world, keep wild animals at home
as pets.
We know that Prosperous Armenia party leader and MP Gagik Tsarukyan
has created a veritable mini-zoo, including lions and tigers, at his
sprawling home. MP Manvel Grigoryan keeps ostriches and tigers as
pets. MP Moushegh Petoyan has a pet bear.
Prosperous Armenia MP Rouben Gevorgyan, following in the footsteps
of his illustrious deader, also keeps a number of wild animals at home.
The legislator doesn’t conceal the fact and often posts photos of
the animals on the internet.
“Every person, I would say, has enjoyed keeping a pet from an early
age. Be it a dog or cat. Later, at a certain age, they keep pedigree
dogs, a trait which I believe characteristic of us Armenians,”
Gevorgyan told Hetq.
The MP argues that the conception of ‘wild’ animals is a wide one,
encompassing wolves and others. The animals he keeps at home are
Siberian tigers (Panthera tigris altaica), also known as the Amur
tigers.
The tigers are included on CITES Appendix Ibanning international
trade. All tiger range states and countries with consumer markets
have banned domestic trade as well. At last count, there are said to
be some 340 Siberian tigers in the wild.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora (CITES) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered
plants and animals. Appendix I includes some 1200 species that are
threatened with extinction and are or may be affected by trade.
Commercial trade in wild-caught specimens of these species is illegal
(permitted only in exceptional licensed circumstances).
“If they cannot multiply in their homeland, I am seriously interested
in breeding them here. And my efforts have succeeded. I have already
raised a third generation. Even the Russian association headed by
President Putin knows about this,” said Gevorgyan, referring to a
Russian organization engaged in preserving the Amur tiger.
MP Gevorgyan says nine tiger cubs have been born under his watch and
that the Russian environmentalists were amazed at the result.
Gevorgyan says they periodically come to Armenia to check on the
tigers.
Gevorgyan now keeps six tigers at his enclosure. He gave the others
as gifts to friends. One went to Gagik Tsarukyan.
Gevorgyan says he only gives the valuable tigers to people who can
properly take care of them.
The MP says he received the tigers five years ago from Russia and that
the paperwork is in order. When this reporter asked if keeping wild
animals in captivity isn’t in violation of international treaties
signed by Armenia regarding animal rights, Gevorgyan replied that
tigers in the wild would be jealous of the lifestyle of the tigers
in his care.
“They have a large swimming pool in which to bathe. They drink clean
water like we do. They have large tree limbs on which to sharpen their
claws. All the facilities equal to nature have been created. You
cannot call their enclosures cages. They measure 50 meters long by
15 meters wide,” said Gevorgyan.
Gevorgyan went on to argue that the Siberian tigers are a fickle
animal and can’t reproduce in their native environment and that’s
why they are disappearing. “In the climatic conditions of Armenia,
however, they have been multiplying,” he noted.
Gevorgyan claims he isn’t following a fad by keeping the tigers,
and that in addition to loving and doting over them, he keeps the
tigers to breed them.
“I do not sell the tigers, nor can I give them to people who cannot
take care of them. Harming or killing the tigers is a crime,” said
Gevorgyan.
The MP told me that he had kept a valuable lion for five years and he
then gave it as a present to Artsakh President Bako Sahakyan three
years ago. Sahakyan, in turn, donated the lion to theGandzasar Zoo
in the village of Vank.
RUSSIA BUILDS UP GOLD RESERVES TO CREATE SAFETY NET FOR ECONOMY – ANALYSTS
[ Part 2.2: “Attached Text” ]
195
February 04, 15:26 UTC+3
(C) Donat Sorokin/TASS
AUTHOR
TamaraZAMYATINA
Author profile
MOSCOW, February 4. /TASS/. Financial analysts polled by TASS attribute
Russia’s efforts to build up gold production and the CBR’s
(Central Bank of Russia) growing gold purchases to dwindling confidence
in the US dollar and a wish to establish a safety net for the national
economy.
On Tuesday, Natural Resources Minister Sergey Donskoy said:
“Russia’s gold production is soaring to new highs. According to
my estimates, the annual gold output will be up to above 300 tons in
2015. This will happen mostly with the involvement of gold deposits
in the Far East and in southern Siberia into production.”
At the moment, Russia’s gold reserves stand at 1,200 tons.
The Bank of Russia last year stepped up gold purchases considerably.
According to the WorldGoldCouncil (WGC), Russia since the beginning of
2014 built up its gold reserves by 115 tons. In contrast to this, in
2013, according to the CBR’s annual report, its gold assets went
up by 80 tons. As a result, according to CBR statistics, on January 1,
2015 monetary gold (rated according to the current CBR quotations)
stood at 39,989.9 troy ounces, or 10% of the country’s gold
and foreign exchange reserves.
“To say whether this amount – 1,200 tons – is big or small, one should
remember that various countries around the world have accumulated
approximately 22,000 tons of gold. The United States has the largest
gold reserve of all – 8,000 tons. Germany keeps 3.4 tons, France and
Italy, 2.4 tons each, and China and Russia, 1,200 tons each. In other
words, the wish to diversify the gold and foreign exchange reserves
is a general trend on the world financial markets, and Russia follows
it,” the head of Vneshtorgbank’s observer council, former CBR
governor Sergey Dubinin, told TASS.
“Growing gold production in Russia and build-up of the CBR’s
gold reserves is a sure sign the government’s financial segment
is keen to protect the available reserves from devaluation and other
negative phenomena stemming from the economic crisis and anti-Russian
sanctions,” Dubinin said.
“The dollar, just as the ruble, is credit money, with no gold
equivalent to rely on. The US authorities in 1976 abandoned the US
dollar’s pegging against gold, so certain distrust towards
the American currency remains. Gold is a highly liquid item taking
very little space to store. It is sold through electronic trading
and on finance markets, although its price is vulnerable to great
volatility. Nevertheless, respect for this precious metal, just as
to platinum, remains high. It is an investment instrument that has
stood the test of centuries,” Dubinin said.
“The gold has its weaknesses, though. It is not an alternative to
convertible currencies – the dollar, the pound sterling, the euro, the
yen and the Swiss franc. It is rather a safety net for the economy. It
is not accidental that China, while building up the production and
the amount of gold in its state vault, keeps $3.7 trillion in US
treasuries,” Dubinin said.
“The Central Bank is determined to strengthen the structure of its
international reserves by increasing the gold component. Gold as an
asset is rather stable during crises. Naturally, the CBR seeks to
increase its share by all means. The Central Bank’s intention
to ease Russia’s dependence on the dollar and the euro within
the framework of the gold and foreign exchange reserves is quite
reasonable in the current situation,” Deutsche Bank’s chief
economist in Russia, Yaroslav Lissovolik, told TASS.
“Russia today is one of the world’s leaders in terms of gold
reserves and judging by the CBR’s current policies, it has no
intention to quit its position,” he said.
“The Central Bank demonstrates its intention to increase the share of
gold in its reserves to the maximum extent and to minimize dependence
on foreign currencies, in particular, the mono-currency, the dollar.
The CBR has achieved a great deal in this respect: the dollar and euro
shares in its reserves are approximately equal. Also, considerable
assets in other currencies have been accumulated,” the president of
the Association of Russian Banks, Garegin Tosunian, told TASS.
“The intention to store more gold is reasonable not only for the
state, but also for the individual, because it is a reliable asset
“immune to corrosion”. Also, money emission and the stability of
the entire financial system depend on the size of gold and foreign
exchange reserves,” Tosunian concluded.