President of Kazakhstan to visit Armenia

Posted on July 31, 2012July 31, 2012 by

According to the sources in Armenian Embassy in Astana, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev is scheduled to visit Armenia in September.

Trend reports that the visit will take place within the regular exercises of the CSTO member states.

CSTO exercises “Cooperation-2012” will take place in Armenia from Sept.3 to 8 at the Bagramyan military range on the topic “Using forces and resources of the collective security system in the Caucasus region with the participation of Collective Rapid Reaction Force of CSTO.”

Armenian Leaders Need to Review the Political Policy

Posted on July 30, 2012July 30, 2012 by

Today the Honorary President of the Switzerland-Armenia Association Sarkis Shahinian talked to “1in.am New and Analyses” about the Syrian Armenians. We asked him about the political policy that should be adopted by the government.

Mr. Shahinian noted that Syrian Armenian community has a great organizational talent which may be hurt because of the civil war in Syria. According to him Armenia is also in a very hard economical situation and is not able to meet the needs of its own people. But at same time Armenia is the motherland of Syrian Armenians and as such it is its responsibility to take care of the people who seek help. This may create problems by raising questions about the government helping the people coming from the outside and not doing the same for the people who actually live here. According to Shahinian, this means that the government policy in general should be seriously reviewed. “There is the need of the special program in order for us to understand what the current leaders of the country want and what Armenia should do”.

As for trying to raise awareness with the help of lobbing groups, Shahinian said that everybody should solve their own problem and not seek the others’ help. He believes the lobbing will be effective only if the Diaspora and Armenia are able to bring in a joint program, otherwise it is not going to be effective and the time spent on it will be useless.

Armenia is the Only Former Soviet Country Where the Suicide Rate is Low

Posted on July 30, 2012July 30, 2012 by

In Armenia, compared to the other former Soviet republics, the suicide rate is low. This was noted today during the Yerevan-Moscow-Astana-Kiev- Chisinau TV Space Bridge. Former Soviet Union country experts are worried about the high rate of the suicides in those countries. There is a rise in the suicide rate among the teenagers as well.

In Armenia, even though compared with the other countries, there is a decrease in the number of suicides; at the same time during the last two years there has been an increase in the number of people who attempt to commit a suicide.

According to the Head of the Armenian Sociological Association Gevorg Poghosyan, we have always had low suicide rate in Armenia because Armenians are eager to help each other both psychologically and when dealing with everyday issues and there is a tendency to integrate the vulnerable groups into social life. And the increase in the number of suicides during the last years is the result of hard socio-economic conditions. Compared to 2009, there was 9 percent increase in the number of suicides in 2010. And already in 2011 there was 30 % increase.
The experts also believe, men commit more suicides than women. From every ten people committing suicide, 6 or 7 are men. They also say that, in order to prevent suicides, there is the need of political service and a project not only in Armenia but also in the other countries.

The Need for Lustration

Posted on July 30, 2012July 30, 2012 by

Russia is evidently starting to increase the pressure on Armenia for adopting Putin’s idea of the Eurasian Union which is nothing but the modification of the Soviet Union. Russia’s high ranking delegations are coming to Armenia one by one. Among them were the head of Rossotrudnichestvo, Putin’s delegate Kosachev, Chairman of the Federation council Matviyenko, Chairman of the State Duma Naryshkin, also the minister of internal affairs of Russia.

There is no doubt many will still come, but it is understandable that only due to those who are coming and going the idea is not going to be accepted in Armenia. The idea is going to be moved forward by the ones, who are already in Armenia, by the ones who are always here, but who act the way it is told from there. Russian delegations will be seen only as controlling committees, inspectors, who will check everything that has been done in Armenia, will point to what still needs to be done and will assess the situation.

Thus in this situation, it seems there again rises the need for lustration in Armenia as an essential step for strengthening the national security and sovereignty of the country. That step should be taken based on the national interests of Armenia.

As we know last year the Heritage party raised that initiative in the National council, but as it was expected, the idea was rejected by the coalition forces. There is no doubt that in case of a new initiative it is also going to be rejected as not only the Republican party and Prosperous Armenia are against Lustration, but Armenian National Congress also doesn’t approve that idea.

But to bring in the idea is merely necessary, because that’s what requires the situation, that’s what requires the problem of sovereignty that’s what requires the public and state interest. That’s the only way for Armenia to oppose Russia’s infinite expansion attacks. It is clear that only the small part of political and governmental field is interested in the issue, but the social resonance is also important, that is to say it is important to know how the issue is interpreted socially.

The thing is, if with the help of the political power it is impossible to protect country’s national security and sovereignty, it should be done through the society, with the help of the social opinion. It is the high time to put the idea of Lustration for the public discussion; at least it is the time to discuss. The same way political forces and the authorities talk about the Eurasian Union, they propose just to discuss the idea and there is no need to reject it. The same way lets’ discuss the idea of Lustration, which also has a contextual direct link to the idea of Eurasian Union, because through that idea Putin indirectly but openly talks about the restoration of the Soviet Union. Thus if we are discussing it, then Lustration also must be discussed.