The Other Armenia

[TomServo]

Re: The Other Armenia

point of view
13 June 2008

Planned Ter-Petrosian Rally ‘Banned’

The Armenian authorities have refused to authorize a widely anticipated rally which former President Levon Ter-Petrosian plans to hold in Yerevan on June 20, a top aide to the opposition leader said on Thursday.

Armenia’s main opposition alliance led by Ter-Petrosian formally notified the Yerevan municipality on Tuesday about its intention to rally supporters in the central Liberty Square for the first time since the bloody break-up on March 1 of its post-election street protests. Under Armenia’s law on public gatherings, the municipality must sanction or ban the protest within 72 hours.

“According to my information, the rally has been banned,” Levon Zurabian, a leading member of Ter-Petrosian’s Popular Movement, told RFE/RL. “I still don’t have a written copy of the decision. But we had a discussion in the mayor’s office this morning and it emerged that the grounds for the ban presented by the mayor’s office are absolutely illegal.”

Zurabian said municipality officials argued that they too plan to hold an unspecified event in Liberty Square on the same day and that it will go ahead despite the opposition plans. In his words, opposition representatives suggested another venue for the rally in downtown Yerevan but that proposal “seems to have been rejected too.”

The press service of Yerevan Mayor Yervand Zakharian declined to confirm or the claims. Ter-Petrosian has made clear through his associates that he will urge supporters to take to the streets even if the protest is not sanctioned by the authorities. Zurabian reaffirmed the ex-president’s intention to defy a possible government ban.

“Tomorrow we will give the authorities another chance and file another application,” he said. “Our intention is clear. Whatever the position of the authorities, we will hold our rally.”

“Whether or not they allow the rally, people will assemble,” said Stepan Demirchian, another opposition leader allied to Ter-Petrosian. “We must do everything to make sure the rally is peaceful.”

The municipal authorities have rejected just about every rally permission request filed by the Ter-Petrosian camp since the March 1 street clashes in Yerevan that left at least ten people dead and more 100 others injured. They have based those decisions on controversial amendments to the law on rallies that were passed by the Armenian parliament following the deadly violence. They allowed the authorities to ban opposition protests practically at will.

The Armenian parliament on Wednesday eased some of the restrictions on freedom of assembly under pressure from the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) and other international bodies.

The planned opposition rally will come three days before the start of the next PACE session in Strasbourg. The assembly is expected to discuss Yerevan’s compliance with its resolution on the political situation in Armenia adopted in April.

By Ruzanna Stepanian

[TomServo]

Re: The Other Armenia

The Mayor of Armavir Boasts, “No One Can Stand-Up Against Me”

Haykush Aslanyan June 16, 2008

The residents of Armavir state that their Mayor, Ruben Khlghatyan, treats the town like it was his own business. Resident Araik Mnatsakanyan says, “He treats the town like it was one of his properties.” Mr. Mnatsakanyan is one of the owners of the building located at 6 Hanrapetutyun Street. Years back four other individuals acquired property in this building and opened a variety of service agencies on the site.

One of the property owners, Vahram Kirakosyan, angrily states that when he was buying the building they’d reassure him that the 756 square meter parcel of land opposite the building wouldn’t be put up for sale as it was located in a “green zone” and was not permitted. “Believing that this land wouldn’t be used for construction purposes in the future, I purchased the building. Little did I know that Mayor Khlghatyan intended to sell the land to a buyer wishing to build on it. What sense is there to open a business here if the building’s exposure is to be cut off?” asked Mr. Kirakosyan who was taken for a loop when he heard of the land auction. By law the sale of this particular parcel of land by auction was not allowed. Of the 2,900 square meters of property registered at 6 Hanrapetutyun Street, the 756 sq. meter parcel was envisaged for restrictive usage according to Article 60 of the ROA Land Statutes, namely to be used solely as “green space” and various communications purposes.

According to Araik Mnatsakanyan, another of the building’s owners, the decision of the Community Council takes precedence over that of the government. “He declared the government decision to be null and void and at a Council session decided to parcel out community lands amongst his close circle of friends.” Mr. Mnatsakanyan also took part in the auction and leased 90 square meters of space at the above location. “I’ve maintained the green zone status of the place and improved it by planting trees and other plants to replace those destroyed.” he stated. The others lease holders, Melik Baghdasaryan, the Deputy Mayor (who is also the Mayor’s sister’s son) and Furman Hakobyan, a Deputy Department Head at the Armavir Property Registry, are preparing to construct a commercial center on the site.

Mayor Ruben Khlghatyan didn’t argue the fact that property restricted under Article 60 was nevertheless sold off. “There was an auction which was publicized. People came and some of their bids won out. The land was leased off for 25 year periods.” In his estimation, “Article 60 as yet doesn’t signify that construction isn’t allowed. We will build there.” According to the Mayor, a temporary pavilion will be built on the leased land.” Mr. Araik Mnatsakanyan countered that, “What temporary pavilion are they talking about? Armavir is full of such ‘temporary edifices.” Mr. Mnatsakanyan has also petitioned the Mayor not to build at #6 Hanrapetutyun Street and was dumbstruck by the Mayor’s response stating that, “It’s my personal right to do so and nobody can do a thing about it.”

The heated relations between the property owners and the Mayor finally reached a boiling point and round the clock fist fights broke at the building site out between supporters of the Mayor, including his nephews, and Mr. Mnatsakanyan. “He has it in his head that he’s the lord of Armavir and that we residents are his servants. If that’s the case, fine, he evidently suffers from a Napoleonic complex. But if he tries to convince residents of Armavir that he’s the local Napoleon, that dangerous. I believe that Khlghatyan is all powerful and that he can’t be fooled with.” says Mr. Mnatsakanyan. To protect his property rights he’s knocked on many doors and has received threatening phone calls from blocked numbers in response. “They threaten me and say I’ll wind up like the Village Mayors of Nalbandyan and Norapat” (Let us remind readers that the Mayors of these villages were shot dead and their killers have yet to be found).

Getting back to the illegal sale of Armavir land we should note those 2,000 square meters of playground land belonging to the kindergarten boarding school was sold to another relative of Mayor Ruben Khlghatyan to construct a commercial center which is now open for business. Sadly, the kindergarten children have been left without a place to play in. Lands next to the schools and in the “green zone” are now so full of unattractive and rambling kiosks and pavilions that the town reminds one of a large ramshackle market bazaar.

Circumventing the ROA law regarding “State Purchases” the Mayor is engaged in business transactions under the guise of the "Legenda" company that he owns by renovating and doing other repair work on multiple residential dwellings. The Ministry of Urban Development has been following the violations taking place in Armavir and has conducted an investigation of the matter, documenting evidence of official misconduct, including the above-mentioned incidents.

The Investigative Department of the Armavir Police has initiated a criminal case against Ruben Khlghatyan based on provisions of Article 308 of the ROA Criminal Code. It also can’t be ruled out that snap elections will be held in Armavir as well. It would appear that the criminal case against Khlghatyan should bring his illegal activities and ignominious career to a logical end. To avoid such a dishonorable fate the only alternative left to the Mayor would be to hand in his resignation.

[zeytuntsi]

Re: The Other Armenia

http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeniareport/report/en/2007/05/893E3B21-C963-4FCB-BFD6-72FB5DBFE850.ASP

Watchdog Concerned About Death In Armenian Police Custody

By Ruzanna Stepanian and Emil Danielyan

An international human rights organization has joined its Armenian counterparts in demanding a “thorough and independent” inquiry into last week’s death in police custody of a young man widely regarded as the latest victim of police brutality in Armenia.

Levon Gulian died on Saturday while being questioned at the Armenian police headquarters as a presumed witness of a deadly shooting that took place outside his Yerevan restaurant earlier last week. The police claimed that during the interrogation he tried to escape through a window but slipped and fell to his death from the second floor of the police building.

Gulian’s family vehemently rejected this theory, saying that the 30-year-old father of two was tortured to death by police investigators. Family members say his body carries numerous traces of violence and will not be buried until it is examined by independent forensic experts. More than a dozen of them, joined by Armenian human rights and other civic activists, demonstrated outside the national Police Service on Tuesday.

“We will go to the end,” said Gulian’s sister Armine. “We will do everything to have the guilty punished.”

“I suspect that Levon’s death was caused by torture. Let the police prove the opposite,” Artak Kirakosian of the Civil Society Institute, told an ensued news conference.

Aaron Rhodes, executive director of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF), described these suspicions as “legitimate” in a letter to Lieutenant-General Hayk Harutiunian, chief of the Police Service, sent on Thursday. Rhodes cited a “past record of suspicious cases of death in police custody in Armenia and the fact that torture and ill-treatment by the police remain serious problems.” He urged Harutiunian to “ensure that all the circumstances leading to [Gulian’s] death be investigated thoroughly and independently.”

The outcry already forced Harutiunian to order earlier this week an internal police inquiry into the extraordinary incident, which is also being investigated by Armenian prosecutors. The Office of the Prosecutor-General launched a criminal case under an article of the Armenian Criminal Code that deals with cases where individuals are forced to commit suicide.

The dead man’s relatives fear this is a sign that the prosecutors will clear the police of any wrongdoing. They wrote to Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian on Tuesday, asking him to prevent what they see as a high-level cover-up.

Sarkisian assured reporters on Wednesday that he took the relatives’ concerns seriously. “Once the [police] inquiry is over, relevant bodies will provide information to the public,” he said.

Gulian was the owner of a restaurant in Yerevan’s southern Shengavit district near which a man was shot dead on May 9 in a reported dispute between two groups of unknown individuals. Gulian was detained and questioned for two days at Shengavit’s police department. He was set free only to be again arrested by the Police Service’s Directorate General of Criminal Investigations. Family members say Gulian told them that he was badly mistreated by the Shengavit police before being driven to his last interrogation by Hovik Tamamian, deputy chief of the feared police unit.

Tamamian is known as a figure close to President Robert Kocharian who played a major role in a 2004 government crackdown on the Armenian opposition. He was sacked as chief of central Yerevan’s police department and given his current post last year, reportedly under pressure from the police leadership.

Sayad Shirinian, the chief police spokesman, chided the press on Wednesday for “speculating” about Tamamian’s possible involvement in the man’s death. “If it is established that Hovik Tamamian was involved, all of us will condemn him,” he said.

According to local and Western watchdogs, torture and mistreatment in custody are the most common form of human rights violations in Armenia. The practice seems to have continued unabated since the Armenian parliament’s ratification in 2002 of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and the European Convention on Human Rights.

(Family photo: Levon Gulian pictured with his two children.)

[zeytuntsi]

Re: The Other Armenia

MINE CONTROL: ARMENIAN GROUPS TRYING TO PROTECT THE TEGHUT FOREST CONFRONT A FAMILIAR OBSTACLE: THE GOVERNMENT
by Arpi Harutyunyan

Transitions Online

http://www.tol.cz/look/TOL/article_single.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue=274&NrSection=1&NrArticle=19688&ST1=ad&ST_T1=job&ST_AS1=1&ST2=body&ST_T2=letter&ST_AS2=1&ST3=text&ST_T3=aatol&ST_AS3=1&ST_max=3

June 17 2008
Czech Republic

YEREVAN | Earth-movers are already clearing swaths of trees in one of
Armenia's most pristine regions, but that has not stopped environmental
pressure groups from lobbying the National Assembly to scrap a mining
concession in the Teghut forest.

"We will be gathering here until the government deems the decision
on Teghut [mine] exploitation nullified," one protester said during
a recent demonstration at the parliament, amid shouts of "Keep Your
Hands off Teghut," "Green and Clean Armenia," and "Healthy Generation."

"We want to personally meet the prime minister and prevent the
exploitation at any expense, because it may otherwise destroy one
of the unique forests of Armenia and also threaten the health of
the future generations," said Sona Ayvazyan, a member of the Teghut
Defense Initiative and country director for Transparency International.

Many rural villages, like this one near Vanadzor in Armenia's
Lori region, struggle economically. But some residents fear mining
operations at Teghut will bring more problems than opportunity. Photo
by Timothy Spence

It is a familiar fight for conservationists in Armenia, where mining
for copper, molybdenum, and other metals has enjoyed resurgence
after production slumped in the years following independence from
the Soviet Union in 1991. The industry provides badly needed jobs and
export revenue but worsens the deforestation from illegal logging and
poor land-use practices. Armenian Forests, a conservation group that
works to restore threatened woodlands, estimates that the amount of
forested land in the country has fallen from 25 percent to 8 percent
in the last century.

In November the National Assembly approved a 25-year license to operate
an open-pit copper and molybdenum mine in Teghut, located in the
country's Lori province 190 kilometers north of the capital, Yerevan.

Teghut is being developed by the Armenian Copper Program, a
Yerevan-registered company backed by investors in Liechtenstein
and Russia. The mine has the support of senior government leaders,
including the president, who see the thousands of jobs expected to
be created as vital to helping the economically blighted region for
decades to come.

Mining opponents have urged Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan to stop
the logging and clearing of 357 hectares of forest in the ruggedly
picturesque Lori region and to review the governmental approval,
as well as develop a long-term strategy for sustainable development
of the country's considerable metal and mineral resources. Clearing
at Teghut began earlier this year.

Conservation groups are becoming more assertive in their activism. In
early June, some 50 people from Teghut and neighboring Shnogh village
went to Yerevan to demand an end to the clearing. Besides protests
at the National Assembly, on 9 May, the Teghut Defense Initiative
organized a bicycle marathon to Teghut, distributing leaflets urging
that the area be protected from exploitation. A rock concert was
organized in the northern town of Vanadzor in support of the Teghut
forest.

BOUNTIFUL REGION

The Lori region is a striking contrast to hot, dusty, and crowded
Yerevan, home to one-third of Armenia's 3 million people. The region
is blessed with abundant plant life, verdant forests, and fresh
air. Birds, animals, and fish flourish. The hills and mountains of
the southern Caucasus landscape are bathed in fresh green in the
spring and brilliant color in the autumn.

ACP will clear 357 hectares of forest to get to the copper and
molybdenum buried beneath Teghut. That translates into about 57,700
cubic meters of timber.

Company representatives say the work will comply with national
environmental laws, including one that requires massive replanting
of the forest.

Conservationists, however, say the project means more than the loss of
trees. Clearing steep slopes, they say, will cause erosion that will
threaten nearby rivers and gorges. And they say the tree loss will
be much greater, because the invasive type of mining also requires
vast areas to deposit ore tailings, the waste product from the mine's
sifting operations.

Hakob Sanasaryan, chairman of the Greens Union of Armenia, says more
than 170,000 trees growing on slopes of up to 45 degrees, including
pear, walnut, and apple, will be logged and the company plans to sell
the timber as firewood, at a price 10 to 20 times lower than the wood
would fetch as lumber.

Razmik Terteryan, who is monitoring the project for the Orinats Yerkir
(Rule of Law) Party, which has close ties to the governing Republican
Party, said, "Our estimates show about 2,000 hectares of forest will
be destroyed as a result of the mining and creation of the tailing
and engineering infrastructure. As a result Teghut will become a
landslide zone."

Bird-watchers from the American University in Armenia environmental
program search for a threatened species in the northern Lori
region. Photo by Timothy Spence

The 26 representatives of another anti-mining group, SOS Teghut,
say the approval of this project violates 77 laws and international
agreements, including provisions of the constitution and rules
on environmental protection, land-use planning, air quality, and
forestry. For example, Armenian law prohibits cutting on slopes steeper
than 30 degrees, while some of the slopes at Teghut are far steeper.

Silva Adamyan, chairwoman of the Ecological Public Alliance, claims
impact assessments from the Ministry of Environmental Protection differ
significantly from those provided by independent analysts. For example,
the ministry approved the Teghut mining plans presented by ACP and
its affiliated Institute for Mountain Metallurgy even though the plans
lacked such required details as the costs for environmental protection
and land compensation for villagers in neighboring Shnogh and Teghut.

Teghut's metal reserves were identified 30 years ago at a time when
Soviet Armenia provided one-third of the USSR's molybdenum, while
also producing nonferrous ores like gold and lead. Today, metals are
the backbone of the country's $1.2 billion in exports.

Ruben Papoyan, the Teghut mine regional director for ACP, says the
availability of commercially exploitable reserves of the metals was
confirmed in 1991 as the Soviet Union was nearing its end. Before
the government finally issued the license to ACP last year, plans to
exploit the site had been considered for years.

BY THE BOOKS

Vardan Aivazyan, a former minister for environmental protection, and
ACP executive director Gagik Arzumanyan have defended the approval
process. "Of course the natural landscape will be destroyed, but is it
a reason not to implement the project? Any kind of economic activity
implies some extent of damage. Roads, railroads are built today and
they also harm the environment; shall we say we don't need them?" said
Arzumanyan, a former deputy minister of finance and economy.

"People have spent serious sums to find out there's a large amount of
copper and molybdenum, plus other metals in that area," said Aivazyan,
adding the land-clearing planned by ACP is minor, especially as the
company intends to replant the forest cover.

Aram Harutyunyan, the current environment minister, has insisted that
the Teghut mining deal was done in accordance with the law and will
provide income for the state.

But some Armenians, including those most affected by the mining,
believe the government may be trading an irreplaceable treasure for
short-term gain.

"They say the forest in the neighboring areas will recover in 25
years. That's impossible, simply because the trees in Teghut are
centuries old. And we all know a sapling hardly becomes a tree in 25
years, let alone becoming a tree with a thick trunk and performing
all the functions of providing biodiversity," said Varsham Avetyan,
who lives in Shnogh.

Teghut is considered one of the last virgin forests of Armenia, with
55,000 rare and 45,000 valuable trees as well as 55 animal species,
some listed as endangered, according to WWF-Armenia branch director
Karen Manvelyan.

"The future of the northern part of Armenia is unclear: the forest
loggings and mine industry have already exterminated panther, chamois,
and red deer. And the north of the country was the natural habitat of
these animals," Manvelyan said. "Birds, mammals will leave the place
as soon as the mining starts. Significant damage will be caused to
reptiles and plants."

Armenia features stunning landscapes that make a sublime setting for
remote monastaries like this one near Noravank. But conservationists
fear mining, logging, and poor land use threaten to wipe out remaining
forests. Photo by Timothy Spence

The Teghut forest is a relatively small part of the expansive,
1,970 hectares of land that will be part of the mine and associated
operations. Some 380 hectares of the mining concession lie in
neighboring communities, including privately held land plots. Up to 180
hectares is reserved for a tailing area in the Pakasajur River valley.

Sanasaryan, of the Greens Union, is concerned with the chosen location
for the tailing area, which he fears can cause landslides. There is
also a concern about toxic runoff from the copper, molybdenum, sulfur,
arsenic, lead, zinc, and other metals bleeding into the Pakasajur.

ACP, which reported revenues of 24.3 billion drams ($79.5 million)
last year, is not a stranger to controversy. Health and environmental
officials have complained for years that its copper smelter in the
northeastern Lori town of Alaverdy poses a health risk. The privately
held company has acknowledged that the smelter's 100-meter, Soviet-era
smokestack lacks sufficient filters, leaving the town enveloped in a
smoggy pall, but cites the high cost of meeting modern environmental
standards for delays in reducing emissions.

Under ACP's government contract at Teghut, the ore will be extracted
through the open-cast method, which involves clearing the surface
and sifting through soil in search of ore.

To mitigate the environmental damage, some conservation groups have
suggest that Teghut be a closed mine - a far costlier option that
requires underground tunneling and intricate safety measures.

But ACP officials say that's not possible. Gagik Babayan, head of the
geological survey group at the Teghut site, said the mine is not of
a vein form, and therefore close-cast extraction would not work.

Papoyan defends plans for the mining operation, pointing out that it
will provide an estimated 2,000 jobs. That was also a point made by
then-Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan, who took part in the launch of
the mine on 3 November. Sargsyan, who is now the country's president,
acknowledged the environmental concerns but said ACP had met all
its obligations.

"I think there's no reason to worry, because the [Republic of Armenia]
governmental decision clearly sets the rules of the game, and we,
as the government, will be constantly watching this," Sargsyan said
at the time.

ACP is pumping a reported $250 million to $300 million into the project
and expects Teghut to produce 30,000 tons of copper and 800 tons of
molybdenum ore annually for at least 30 years. Demand for copper
has been growing at nearly 4 percent per year in the past decade,
and prices for the nonferrous metal hit record territory this year.

Molybdenum, a byproduct of copper mining, is valued for its
versatility. It can be purified and added to lubricants and mixed with
other metals. As an alloy, steel molybdenum's ability to withstand
extreme temperatures makes it useful for airplane parts and high-speed
cutting tools.

Even those who support the economic benefits of Teghut worry about the
impact on the 5,000 people who live in the Shnogh and Teghut villages,
whose bucolic life and fruit trees that grow on hillsides will change
when the mining operation is fully operational.

Harutyun Meliksetyan, who heads the Teghut village administration,
and Koryun Shahinyan, deputy head of the Shnogh administration, both
support the mine but share villagers' concerns about the potential
environmental costs.

"We are all concerned with preserving the forest, but more than the
half of these village people are unemployed," the Shnogh official
said. "We think they will at least get jobs by the exploitation of
the mine."

[TomServo]

Re: The Other Armenia

An Award for a Parliamentary Deputy who Violates the Constitution

June 23, 2008

The Constitution of Armenia prohibits Parliamentary Deputies from engaging in business. According to Chapter 4, Article 65 - “A Deputy may not be engaged in entrepreneurial activities, hold an office in state and local self-government bodies or in commercial organizations, as well as engage in any other paid occupation, except for scientific, educational and creative work.”

Despite this prohibition on June 13th a ceremony took place in the National Assembly that would seem to encourage all Deputies to vigorously engage in such commercial enterprises.

According to a reader survey conducted by the “Business-Planet” magazine published in Yerevan, Gagik Tzarukyan, head of the “Prosperous Armenia” political party and National Assembly Deputy, came out on top in the following three categories: “The Most Successful Entrepreneur in the Business World”, “The Most Charitable of Entrepreneurs” and “The Most Appealing Entrepreneur in Women’s Circles”. Based on these findings, on June 13th one of the founders of the magazine awarded Mr. Tzarukyan with a Certificate of Commendation at a National Assembly reception packed with guests.

“I’m grateful and moved that you and others who follow what is going on have seen fit to give credit where credit is due. You may not like the individual but the most important is to appreciate what they have done.” stated Mr. Tzarukyan.

When asked by reporters if politics didn’t get in the way of business Mr. Tzarukyan answered, “The country’s stability is the desire of all businessmen. If such stability is lacking a businessman can’t operate at effectively. Factories and plants are the columns supporting the government and they require stability to operate at optimal levels. Businessmen don’t wish to move their assets elsewhere. If the people live will the lot of the businessmen also improves. The two are linked.”

Apparently, it never occurred to either to those who presented the award, or to the Deputy, that such a ceremony actually serves to encourage violating the provisions of the Constitution.

[zeytuntsi]

Re: The Other Armenia

ARMENIA WILL NOT HAVE PROBLEM OF EMIGRATION IF IT BECOMES COUNTRY OF LAW, RESIDENTS OF YEREVAN THINK

NOYAN TAPAN
JUNE 19

The subject of Noyan Tapan's June 19 blitz survey was Problems of
Emigration in Armenia. The survey was conducted in Yerevan. Below
are the respondents' answers completely and without editing:

IN YOUR ESTIMATION, DOES EMIGRATION FROM ARMENIA CONTINUE, HAS IT
STOPPED, OR ARMENIANS GRADUALLY START RETURNING TO ARMENIA?

- Though slowly, nevertheless emigration still continues.

- It continues and will continue.

- In my opinion, it still continues: personally I have emigrated from
this country for already 10 years and I am in Armenia for a short time.

- Unless bribery and other illegal things are prevented in this
country, I think emigration from our country will grow for even more.

- Until Armenia becomes a country convenient for living, no return
of our compatriots to this country can be spoken about, and under
such conditions, clever people, certainly, leave if they have such
a possibility, and do a right thing.

CURRENTLY WHAT IS THE REASON OF LEAVING THE HOMELAND?

- I think the main reason is social conditions.

- The main reason is lack of jobs.

- People have started to realize that in other countries human rights
are protected, money for daily bread is earned comparatively easily,
etc., therefore, they leave this country.

- I think leaving the country people don't have much pleasure, they
just go to where it is more favorable for living and surviving.

- They leave Armenia, as this country is not a place to live: whatever
you initiate, they fail it, human rights are violated at every step,
and there is no hope that it will be well in the near future.

WHY DO OUR COMPATRIOTS RATHER PREFER LIVING ABROAD MISSING ARMENIA
AND FEELING ALIEN THAN RETURNING TO ARMENIA?

- I think any Armenian living abroad will return with pleasure if
the social conditions are even if satisfactory here.

- I think in difference to Armenia, law operates abroad, and living
in a law-abiding country, naturally, is easier: therefore, they do
not return.

- For a very simple reason: in our country we do not have the
conditions foreign countries have.

- Maybe it is a genetic tradition: neighbor's bread has always been
tasty for us, therefore Armenians have always emigrated and never
wished to return.

- As they see that they can create a future for their children abroad,
why should they come to Armenia then?

WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN FOR ARMENIANS TO RETURN TO ARMENIA?

- They will return when there are jobs and high salary in Armenia.

- They will return in case they are convinced that their children
will have a future in this country.

- Laws need to operate in Armenia, and people should feel completely
protected in this country.

- Bribery need to be liquidated in Armenia.

- They will return when taxes are not high and people are able to
quietly do business or other activity here.

AND WHEN IS IT POSSIBLE?

- We are just a 17-year-old independent country and I think that it
will take us nearly two 17 years to record some positive steps.

- I am an optimist, I think Armenia will have these positive features
in the near future.

- When we have a normal power and country.

- I do not have a hope that our country will have disinterested
leaders.

AND WON'T ALL ARMENIANS LIVE THE COUNTRY BEFORE THAT?

- Whatever happens, in my opinion, our country will not be faced by
that danger.

- I am convinced that there will always be people, who will not
leave their country whatever happens, and all Armenians will not
leave Armenia.

- If of course the emigration rates continue like this and it is not
prevented, in a few years some of us will have to close Armenia's
doors.

- I do not think that today we are faced by a danger that all Armenians
can leave the country.

- Irrespective of anything, for instance, I will not leave my country,
I think many people think like me in Armenia, therefore, I do not
think there is such a danger in Armenia.

[Armanen]

Re: The Other Armenia

Problem is that there needs to be more immigration TO Armenia. There also seems to be a trend among the Armenian diaspora that the mafia will steal business' crap like that. Though there should be Little to no mafia for a nice clean stable government. There is many business opportunities in Armenia and slowly the diaspora will start to realize. Already many Armenians from Russia are going to their homeland.

"Those who had once left are now returning"

We all know and realize that. But there are members here, such as the bot zeytunci and tom servo who only like to focus on the negative, it must make them feel like they are doing something with their lives...

[Siamanto]

Re: The Other Armenia

Problem is that there needs to be more immigration TO Armenia. There also seems to be a trend among the Armenian diaspora that the mafia will steal business' crap like that. Though there should be Little to no mafia for a nice clean stable government. There is many business opportunities in Armenia and slowly the diaspora will start to realize. Already many Armenians from Russia are going to their homeland.

"Those who had once left are now returning"

ՀամովՀոդով,
I won't be surprised to hear that both TomServo and zeytuntsi agree with you; if I understand the purpose of this thread correctly, they want us to be aware of the "other side of the token," the darker side that we wish did not exist, but does exist.

An individual cannot be cured, if he/she does recognize the illness; an individual cannot improve itself unless he/she recognizes his/her shortcomings etc. etc.
The same applies to nations, and nations become stronger and healthier when they have the courage to face and address their shortcomings.

[Armenian]

Re: The Other Armenia

Do any of you see what a xxxxed up situation we Armenians are in today?

Take a close look at this thread; it's simply meant to attack the Armenian Republic without taking into any consideration geopolitical factors, socioeconomic situation, regional history, objectivity, rational, human nature, etc. So, the problem seems to be, in essence: Armenia did not transform itself overnight into a happy-go-lucky Switzerland...

How dare there be corruption and inequality in the fairytale land of Armenia...

I guess for the dying diaspora Armenia was/is a lab experiment gone bad. Gone bad, in the sense that Armenia no longer meets the expectations/conditions of the disconnected, diverse and much confused diaspora. So, for these types of diasporans, it's time to abandon the Republic and move on with life I guess. But before they do that, they will first try to bend over to any foreign entity that is attempting to overthrow the authorities in Yerevan. They will courageously support any attempt to destroy the vile/corrupt dictatorship in the Caucasus we call the Armenian Republic, in the hopes that maybe in the future they rebuild an ideal wonderland in the Caucasus with the help of Washington DC and Ankara.

Nonetheless, asswipes posting here only reveal their inner self-hate, dishonesty, self righteousness, egomania, lack of character, and a total/utter ignorance of the world in which they live in.

On one hand we have a spoiled snot-nosed twenty year old with a Turkish core named TomServo trying to make a point, then we have a psychotic/obsessive shemale called Siamanto joining him to spite, and now we have a brand new totally ignorant asswipe named Zeytuntsi - who signed into this forum simply to express his anti-Armenian rants and colorful brainfarts. Soon, these intellectual dwarfs with serious emotional and psychological problems will be joined by an annoying assclown called FreakyFreaky, and perhaps the self-centered hippy name Sip, and the deranged oldfart with a serious case of senility named Ara Baliozian... Only God knows what other irrational self-hating vermin is waiting to jump in and express their hate of the Armenian Republic as well.

And idiots in our community still talk about unity...

The hell with unity amongst Armenians. Will never happen. Most Armenians, in Armenia and in the diaspora, are worthless trash. Until we eradicate this trash, as proudly represented by the aforementioned cancers in our communities, our nation-state will never mount to anything. The biggest obstacle of the Armenian Republic today is Armenians.

Armenia needs political evolution, not a western funded revolution.

[TomServo]

Good News for People Who Like Bad News

Echoes of Nobel Peace Prize Reach Armenia

Levon Gevorgyan June 23, 2008

In 2007 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to experts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and former United States Vice-President Al Gore.

Recently, Martiros Tsarukyan, an employee at the Armenian Ministry of Nature Protection’s Department of Atmosphere Protection who is also a longstanding member of the IGPCC, was awarded with a copy of the Nobel Prize certificate along with a congratulatory letter which reads in part, “…I am happy to send you a copy of the Nobel Peace Prize certificate awarded to the IPCC. The respect embodied in this lofty award belongs to you band our other colleagues who made such a significant contribution to the work of the IPCC during the years since the organization’s founding…”

One can state that due to the efforts of this Armenian expert our republic has also made its small contribution in the awarding of the Nobel Prize. Mr. Tsarukyan was nominated the Armenian expert of the IPCC team back in 1995 and has participated in the organization’s activities ever since. He also is systematizing the work for the national registry of greenhouse gases.

Mr. Tsarukyan, what exactly is the IPCC and its stated mission?

In 2007 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the IPCC and former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore, "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.” During the last twenty years our group has periodically analyzed and collated information regarding man-made climate change and Al Gore has edited all this data culminating from years of research into a documentary film entitled, “An Inconvenient Truth”, which has captured public attention the world over.

Man-made causes of climate change and the problem of its potential consequences is an issue that has concerned mankind and international organizations for quite sometime. The vital question to be asked in this regard is what will be the effects of global warming for the planet? Will humankind be able to survive in a new set of conditions it itself has created? This was the concern at the end of the 20th century, a period which witnessed a rapid rise in industrial development that forced world public opinion to take specific action. In 1988 the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) established the IPCC whose stated mission, “is to assess on a comprehensive, objective, open and transparent basis the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.”

In 1990 the IPCC published its first assessment report of the results of its work which proved the existence of global climate change and its human-induced nature. This report served as the basis of The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international environmental treaty, signed by a majority of world governments, produced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The treaty is aimed at stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. It was at this historic meeting that an Armenian delegation, headed by the Republic’s First President, participated for the first time.

The Rio Summit opened a new page for all humankind since the signatory nations assumed a set of serious responsibilities as a result. Understandably, highly-developed industrial nations, that’s to say those producing huge amounts of greenhouse gases, were obligated to monitor the exhaust they produced, while developing nations, including Armenia, assumed a relatively modest share of responsibility in this field. To date, the IPCC has published four overall assessment reports regarding climate change, in addition to summary reports and reference guides on the subject. As a result of the work carried out by the IPCC almost all nations of the world are convinced that climate change is human-induced and that there’s no alternative but to take measures to combat the problem. I have served as the IPCC specialist in Armenia since 1995.

What work is being conducted in Armenia in the field of climate change and to what extent should the consequences of global warming be of concern to our Republic?

In Armenia, as of 1996, the national project entitled, “Armenia - A Country Study of Climate Change” was undertaken. Its aim was to study the issue within the parameters of Armenia. The project published its first report in 1998 which presented, in detail, the potential consequences of global warming for Armenia and approaches to counter them. These can be seen in certain areas of the country, specifically the intensified process of desertification in the Ararat Plain, the decrease in forested areas, and vulnerability of water resources which will leave its mark on the Lake Sevan issue given that evaporation amounts will greatly increase, etc.

Taking this sad reality into account, that’s to say that the environment in Armenia has long been viewed as a resource to be exploited rather than protected, is it thus correct to consider the negative effects of global warming, that always aren’t clearly manifested, as so alarming?

If you are talking about illegal acts of deforestation, the short-sighted exploitation of Sevan’s water resources and a host of other undesirable occurrences we should not forget that these are directly caused by human intervention and that however reprehensible they may be they can also be undone by humans as well. People can at least partially restore the damage inflicted and make compensation for the losses. But when the forests and water resources are imperiled by the climatic causes, that’s to say by changes to their natural conditions, it becomes much more difficult to restore them, and at times impossible.