Author: Harutyunian Christine

THE CAUCASUS RESEARCH RESOURCE CENTERS PRESENT THE 2008 ARMENIA CORRUPTION SURVEY OF HOUSEHOLDS

armradio.am
21.07.2009 18:26

On July 21st the Caucasus Research Resource Centers, a program of
the Eurasia Partnership Foundation in Armenia, presented the key
findings from the USAID Mobilizing Action Against Corruption (MAAC)
Activity’s 2008 Armenia Corruption Survey of Households. The survey
sample included 1,549 adults from all over the country.

The current economic crisis has had drastic effects on Armenia,
and the South Caucasus in general, but what persists throughout
both the global crisis and periods of prosperity is the presence
of corruption. The Corruption survey provides a unique and valuable
opportunity to examine the general perceptions, personal experience,
and perceptions of the government’s anticorruption activity.

The basic findings of the survey reveal that 86% consider corruption
a very serious problem. The level of corruption is perceived commonly
in the electoral system (66%), police (66%), healthcare (61%) and
education (58%).

Inside the public sector, 45% of respondents see corruption as more
severe among high-ranking public officials, whereas only 9% believe
it is most prevalent among low ranking public officials.

The overall perception of what constitutes corruption was assessed:
95% agreed that paying a judge to achieve favorable treatment was a
form of corruption, while only 37% considered using=2 0an office car
by a government employee for private purposes to be a corrupt act. But
there is some hope, though 53% of individuals reported they would pay
a bribe if asked, 72% stated they would not take a bribe if offered.

Surprisingly, punishment is not an effective way to prevent bribery
since only 5% of those who would not pay a bribe, and 11% of those
who would not take one, mentioned a high risk of being punished.

What is most concerning is that more than half of the respondents
believe there is nothing they can do personally to reduce
corruption. The data shows that from the respondents’ perspective the
government is doing very little, with 52% of Yerevan respondents and
about 30% of respondents from other cities and rural areas disagreeing
with the statement that the government has a sincere desire to combat
corruption.

Despite the government and societal inadequacies, the perceived level
of corruption in Armenia slightly diminished: 30% of respondents
of the survey believe it has decreased relative to the year before,
while 17% believe it has increased.

In the long run, this survey provides a unique tool for the Government
and NGOs in Armenia to create solid strategies to fight corruption
taking into account the public opinion and perceptions, as well as
empower citizens of in defending their rights.

PRESS RELEASE
Date: July 21, 2009
Armenian National Committee of America
Eastern Region
122 W 27th St, 12th Floor
New York, NY 10001

Contact: Raffi Karakashian
Tel: 917-428-1918
Email: [email protected]

ANCA EASTERN REGION FRESHMAN OUTREACH CAMPAIGN
FOCUSES ON REPS. KOSMAS AND SCHOCK

WASHINGTON, DC – Armenian National Committee of America Eastern
Region Interim Executive Director Raffi Karakashian and Florida ANC
activist Taleen Mekhdjavakian reached out to freshmen
Representatives Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL) and Aaron Schock (R-IL)
recently to rally support for Armenian Genocide legislation and
discuss a range of interests to the Armenian American community.

Mekhdjavakian, an Orlando, Florida resident, in the nation’s
capital as part of the ANCA Leo Sarkisian Internship program, urged
Rep. Kosmas to cosponsor H.Res.252, the Armenian Genocide
resolution, citing the growing number of freshman Representatives
supporting the measure. Rep. Kosmas serves on the Financial
Services and Science and Technology committees.

Karakashian and Mekhdjavakian then briefly met with Rep. Aaron
Schock of Peoria, Illinois, noting that his predecessor, Ray
LaHood, who currently serves as Secretary of Transportation, had
cosponsored the Armenian Genocide Resolution, H. Res. 106, during
the 110th Congress. Rep. Schock, the youngest Member of Congress,
currently serves on three House committees – Transportation and
Infrastructure, Small Business, and Oversight and Government
Reform.

The meetings were part of an expanding ANCA Eastern Region campaign
to educate freshmen Representatives on issues of concern to the
Armenian American community. Over the past several months, ANCA
representatives in Washington, DC and east of the Mississippi, have
been holding meetings in support of Armenian Genocide legislation,
expanded foreign assistance to Armenia and self-determination for
Nagorno Karabagh among other local ANC initiatives.

The Armenian National Committee of America Eastern Region (ANCA ER)
is part of the largest and most influential Armenian American
grassroots political organization. Working in coordination with a
network of offices, chapters and supporters throughout the United
States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA ER
actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community
on a broad range of issues.

#####

Photo Captions: Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL) with ANCA Leo Sarkisian
intern and constituent Taleen Mekhdjavakian.

Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) with ANCA Eastern Region Interim Executive
Director Raffi Karakashian.

Sturm defeats Gevor via unanimous robbery

Post-Fight Analysis

Bad Left Hook (The SB Nation Boxing Blog)
July 11, 2009

by Brickhaus

In Germany this afternoon, Khoren Gevor obliterated Felix Sturm, and
due to completely incomprehensible scoring, lost the
fight. Officially, Sturm won a unanimous decision, 117-111, 115-113
and 115-113. With the forces of the boxing universe conspiring against
him, Gevor was able to get inside on Sturm at will, and just unload on
his body in the early rounds. In the third, he even appeared to score
a flash knockdown that the referee ruled as a slip. The stockier Gevor
completely controlled on the inside, but within about 10 seconds of
getting there, the ref would step in every time and push the fighters
about 2 meters apart from each other. Was there holding? No. Was there
headbutting? Heads were touching, but there wasn’t anything that
looked like a butt, and neither fighter got cut. So why was the
referee doing this? I don’t know – I guess he was inventing his own
rules.

In the middle rounds, Gevor slowed down his workrate a bit, but he
still appeared to be throwing about 80 punches a round. After about
the 7th round, Gevor appeared to even control the action when they
were on the outside. Despite being the longer fighter, Sturm just
refused to use his jab to keep Gevor off of him, and Gevor was able to
bounce in, land a few jabs, land a few body shots, and bounce back
outside of Sturm’s range. Rounds 8 and 9 were the only rounds I scored
for Sturm, as Gevor really started to slow, and Sturm started to
finally land more effective shots. That, however, was short lived, and
Gevor came back out with a vengeance in rounds 10 and 11, resuming his
high workrate and just pushing Sturm around the ring on the
inside. The 12th was a bit of a toss-up, although, both fighters did
look like they were still trying to win the fight.

Throughout the entire fight, Gevor probably threw twice as many
punches as Sturm. He controlled the action for all but one round. He
land blocked about 85% of what Sturm threw at him, and although Sturm
probably blocked around the same percentage of punches, the sheer
volume of Gevor’s output means that he landed many many more punches
than Sturm. Gevor would come forward in a workmanlike manner, pounding
away, one or two shots at a time. Maybe twice a round, Sturm would
take a step back, land a flurry, and the extremely pro-Sturm crowd
would go wild. Still, winning 10 seconds of each round doesn’t mean
that he won a majority of the rounds, especially when Gevor was never
so much as stunned all fight.

On the bright side, this means we probably get to see Kelly Pavlik put
a loss on Sturm’s record. If Gevor had won, Pavlik would have been
left without a dance partner. With Sturm winning, Abraham vacating and
Williams unavailable due to Bob Arum’s vendetta against Al Haymon,
Sturm is the only fight that really makes sense for Pavlik, and the
chatter about that fight is too loud at this point for the fight not
to happen. I can’t wait for that fight to happen, just so I can see
Sturm flat on his back. Sure, Sturm got robbed in his own fight
against Oscar de la Hoya many years ago, but that mojo has just
carried too far at this point.

06/sturm-defeats-gevor-via-unanimous

OLGOTHA_07-19-09_P0F0TNU_v12.f7980f.html

Books: `Armenian Golgotha’ describes the Turkish massacre of Armenians

01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, July 19, 2009

By Phyllis Meras

Special to The Journal

In April, President Obama was asked to recognize the 1915-1918 Turkish
massacre of the Armenians as genocide. For political reasons, he
declined to do so. Turkey is an American ally that borders Iraq and
Iran. The United States has good commercial opportunities there as
well as access to an air base. These might have been in jeopardy if
the president had agreed to use the word `genocide’ to describe the
horrific killing of Armenians living in Turkey by the Turks in World
War. I.

Perhaps if he had read this book beforehand he might have acted
differently.

According to the Armenians, 1.5 million of their countrymen were
systematically massacred by the Turks at that time. The Turkish
government insists that only 300,000 were killed and that it was not a
`systematic’ killing of a whole country or an ethnic, religious or
racial group – the UN definition of genocide. But any reader of this
Armenian memoir, written by a priest who later became a bishop in the
Armenian Apostolic Church, and who managed to survive a nearly
year-long death march and finally escape his Turkish captors, would be
hard-pressed not to describe as exactly that.

In 1913, Grigoris Balakian was a young student of theology at the
University of Berlin. When World War I began, he returned to Turkey,
despite periodic massacres of Christian Armenians since the 1890s.

The outbreak of war led to heightened tensions in Turkey, which
entered into a secret military alliance with Germany. Armenian
Christians were suspected of being in league with the Allies, perhaps
spies for Russia. So it was that, in April of 1915, 259 Armenian
intellectuals, including Grigoris Balakian, were arrested and
imprisoned. The `genocide’ was under way.

It seems impossible that during the arduous events that followed –
being driven from village to village with no food except what he and
his fellow refugees could beg or occasionally buy from friendly Turks
– Balakian could have remembered his ordeal in such detail. But he
did, and recorded them in this book when he returned to Constantinople
at war’s end.

His account is alternately horrifying and inspiring. At one moment, he
is describing a landscape littered with bones of massacred
Armenians. A few paragraphs later, deeply moved by the beauty of the
countryside across which he and his companions are being driven, he is
describing the spring `when nature had begun to revive the trees and
flowers, wearing green and many other colors’

[email protected]

SOUTH CAUCASUS RAILWAY STARTS A SEASON OF PASSENGER OPERATIONS IN BATUMI DIRECTION

ArmInfo
2009-07-15 14:12:00

ArmInfo. On July 15 CJSC South Caucasus Railway (SCR) starts a season
of passenger operations to Batumi, Director of Yerevan Station of
SCR Bareghm Vardanyan told journalists, Wednesday.

According to him, at the first stage it is envisaged to launch a
train consisting of 4 compartment carriages, two sleeping cars and
2 open plan carriages. However, the scheme of the train is meant for
10 carriages.

Vardanyan assured that with growth of the number of passengers,
the number of carriages will also be increased. Today the first 120
passengers will make their journey. The train is equipped with all
the necessary things, including air conditioners, and it is capable
to serve 450 passengers. The ticket for a sleeping carriage costs 21
500 thsd AMD, for a compartment carriage – 10 680 thsd AMD, and for
an open plan carriage – 6 660 thsd AMD.

The season of operations to Batumi will last till September 15.

At the same time, on July 16 the Georgian railway will start carrying
out passenger operations in Yerevan direction. At the initial stage
the number of carriages from the Georgian party will be 6, taking
into account the shortage of vacant carriages.

SCR CJSC is the 100% branch of Russian Railway OJSC. SCR is the
concessional manager of the Armenian Railway. The term of the
concession agreement is 30 years, and it may be prolonged for 10
more years.

FRANCE – NOT THE ONLY COUNTRY QUESTIONING TURKEY’S EU MEMBERSHIP

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
13.07.2009 19:04 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ France is not the only country questioning the
appropriateness of Turkey’s EU membership, French Ambassador
to Armenia Serzh Smessov told journalists in Yerevan. "French
President Nicolas Sarkozy has more than once protested against
Turkey’s EU process," French diplomat said, expressing hesitation
as to the outcome of negotiations and future situation in Turkey

HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONER TO VISIT ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN

States News Service
July 6, 2009 Monday
BERLIN

The following information was released by the Federal Foreign Office
of Germany:

G¼nter Nooke, Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy
and Humanitarian Aid at the Federal Foreign Office, leaves today on
a trip to Armenia and Azerbaijan.

In Armenia he is scheduled to have talks with Foreign Minister
Nalbandian and Justice Minister Danielyan. He will also meet
representatives of the National Assembly, the Opposition and
civil society. His agenda will include the events surrounding the
presidential elections in February 2008 as well as issues relating
to freedom of the press and assembly. Before leaving for Armenia,
Nooke issued the following statement in Berlin:

"I welcome the recent extensive amnesty covering also individuals
sentenced in connection with the March 2008 demonstrations and civil
unrest as an important step towards national reconciliation. However,
the full truth of what happened following the presidential elections
has yet to be investigated and brought to light."

In Azerbaijan the Commissioner is due to meet Foreign and Justice
Ministry officials, the human rights Ombudswoman and independent
journalists and human rights activists. His talks in Baku will focus
on respect for freedom of the press, assembly and religion as well
as the laws governing the activities of non-governmental organizations.

In this connection the Commissioner commented as follows:

"A vibrant civil society is an essential part of any democracy. The
recently published bill on non-governmental organizations gave grounds
for concern in my view. I am pleased some of the planned restrictions
have now been dropped and trust that also in future civil society
engagement in Azerbaijan will continue to be possible."

IRANIAN GOVERNMENT RELEASED ABOUT 1,000 DETAINEES

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
09.07.2009 22:48 GMT+04:00

The Iranian Government has released about 1,000 arrested during the
riots in Tehran of opposition demonstrators. They talked about the
treatment they suffered during the arrest, and what were the conditions
of their release. 17-year-old boy who was arrested in Tehran told the
correspondent of the German DPA agency, that he and several dozen
arrested were draw up in the underground garage of the ministry of
internal affaires. Blindfolded detainees were forced to stand 48 hours,
they were periodically beaten with rubber truncheons. During this time,
each was given a piece of bread, but have not been given water. After
all the detainees signed a blank form, under the statement "I fully
agree with all of the above statements."

Using this kind of "confessions" the head of the Iranian police force,
General Ismail Ahmadi-Moqaddam already said that those arrested were
trained "sabotage abroad", and their foreign bosses’ purpose was
to organize the" velvet revolution in Iran, " MIGnews.com reports

K. KARAPETYAN SAYS "ARMRUSGASPROM" CONSISTENTLY CONTINUES ITS INVESTMENT POLICY

ARMENPRESS
JULY 9, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JULY 9, ARMENPRESS: Director of the "ArmRusgasprom" company
Karen Karapetyan visited the constructional area of 5-th energy unit
of Hrazdan heat and power plant, got acquainted with the process
of works talked with the specialists, got interested in the working
conditions of the workers. He assessed the process of the works as
efficient noting that first of all it is conditioned by the presence
of a skillful team, which shows great skill in organizing the works
in a timely and proper manner.

According to him, despite the impact and consequences of the financial
crisis, "ArmRusgasprom" consistently continues its investment policy,
the main load of which falls on the project of the accomplishment
and modernization of Hrazdan Heat and Power Plant.

On the whole, 200 million USD is intended to invest in Hrasdan
5th energy unit. According to K. Karapetian after the successful
implementation of the project "ArmRusgasprom" will get the opportunity
of participating in the production of electric power, which is one
of the profile forms of the company’s activity and will extend the
export of energy.

"The implementation of the project in the conditions of the financial
crisis is profitable for the company to some extent. Taking into
consideration the tendency for the decrease of product and service
prices in the international market, the leadership of Hrazdan 5 managed
to gain some necessary equipments on comparatively low prices and have
financial savings of about 8-9% in regard of some contracts. These
sums will be directed towards the implementation of the additional
technological projects", – K. Karapetyan said.

PRESIDENT CONCLUDES ARMENIA VISIT

Famagusta Gazette
FAMAGUSTA GAZETTE 08.JUL.09

Cyprus President Demetris Christofias has concluded an official visit
to Armenia, where he had talks on bilateral and international issues
with his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan. The two presidents
told a joint press conference in Yerevan that Cyprus and Armenia
are clearly in favour of the accession of a modern Turkey to the
European Union. During his visit, Christofias paid homage to the
victims of the Armenian Genocide by Ottoman Turkey and planted a
small tree in their memory. A joint press-release issued at the end
of the visit said that Armenian-Cypriot friendship is "anchored
on strong historical connections". It said the two presidents
had underlined the need "to further broaden the legal framework
of cooperation between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic
of Cyprus". The document expressed support to efforts to resolve
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by peaceful means and to the ongoing
negotiations aiming at achieving a comprehensive, just, viable and
agreed solution of the Cyprus problem. President Christofias described
Cyprus as "a stable friend of Armenia" in the European Union and and
"a firm supporter of its dialogue with the European Union on the
implementation of EU programs". – Copyright © Famagusta Gazette 2009