Environmental protest action in Yerevan. Present were... president, prime minister, parliament speaker. Well, kind of :)

*via A1+

Armenia's first ladies ‘oppose’ mining project endorsed by their husbands

When I first read the news yesterday, I thought it's an intentional (and cleverly made) provocation - a made up story - by environmentalist in Armenia to use names of current and former first ladies to attract more attention and publicity to their cause. Today with all these photocopies of signatures and statements (as per above and below), if confirmed (see, I am still cautious, want to hear confirmations from the first ladies themselves), this could be the most hilarious news of the day.

UPDATE: (4 June 09) First ladies retracted their signature. (see also comments section below)

*via RFE/RL:

Armenia’s current and former first ladies have signed a petition against a controversial mining project approved by their husbands, ecologists strongly opposed to its implementation said on Wednesday.

The country’s leading environment protection groups and other non-governmental organizations have for years been campaigning against plans by the Armenian Copper Program (ACP) company to develop a massive copper and molybdenum deposit in the northern Lori region. The Teghut deposit is estimated to contain 1.6 million tons of copper and about 100,000 tons of molybdenum.

The project, if implemented, will lead to the destruction of 357 hectares of rich forest, including 128,000 trees. Critics say that would wreak further havoc on Armenia’s green areas that have already shrunk dramatically since the 1990s. [...]

The non-governmental Committee to Protect Teghut launched last month a fresh campaign against the mining project, collecting signatures in support of its stance. It said on Wednesday that a relevant petition addressed to Armenia’s president, prime minister and parliament speaker has already been signed by about 5,000 citizens, among them First Lady Rita Sarkisian and Kocharian’s wife Bella.

According to Mariam Sukhudian, a member of the committee, the two women agreed to sign the petition as they visited a public park in Yerevan on Tuesday. “We noticed Kocharian’s wife and the current first lady, Rita Sarkisian, there” she told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “One of our girls, Arpine, approached Bella Kocharian. As soon as she learned what the matter is, she took the paper and signed it. Rita said, ‘Is it about that copper-molybdenum thing?’ and signed it too.”

“We can say that, in a sense, they have joined our movement,” said Sukhudian. “We will scan their signatures and disseminate them through the Internet.” [...]

"Stop killing" - environmental rally in Yerevan

There will be environmental rally in Yerevan, 30 April, 4pm, in front of the Armenian parliament.

 

"Stop killing" - this will be the main message of the rally. Along with general environmental concerns, "Armenia-Russia uranium deal" and "Save Teghut" will be the key target themes of the rally.

"Silence is a sign of agreement"

"Stop killing environment"

"Stop killing us"

"Cult of radiation"

*banners via Bnamard environmental blog

 

For background of the key issues to be targeted during the rally, see below relevant RFE/RL report.

 

Armenia-Russia uranium deal

22 April 2008, RFE/RL reports:

The Armenian and Russian governments set up on Tuesday a joint venture that will explore and possibly develop Armenia’s untapped uranium reserves concentrated in the southeastern Syunik region.
“The new joint venture will explore and ascertain our uranium reserves,” Armenian Environment Minister Aram Harutiunian said after signing a relevant agreement in Yerevan with Russia’s state-owned Atomredmetzoloto company, which mines and processes uranium.
In accordance that agreement, the Russian firm will have a 50 percent stake in the venture and invest about $3 million in exploratory work to be conducted in Syunik during the first year of operations. The mountainous region bordering Iran was explored by Soviet geologists in the 1950-1907s and is estimated to contain 30,000 metric tons of uranium ore. [...]
 

Save Teghut

5 October 2007, RFE/RL reports:

Minister for Trade and Economic Development Nerses Yeritsian [Unzipped: currently - Minister of Economy] voiced support on Friday for a multimillion-dollar mining project that, if implemented, will lead to the destruction of a rich forest in northern Armenia and is strongly opposed by environmentalists.
The Armenian Copper Program (ACP), the country’s second largest mining company, plans to invest $270 million in turning the Teghut forest rich in copper and molybdenum ores into a big mine in the next five years. The Liechtenstein-registered company is already making preparations for the start of open-pit operations in the 357-hectare area covered by some 128,000 trees. [...]
Yeritsian echoed ACP executives’ arguments that the planned development of the deposit will result in 1,400 new jobs. The private company has also pledged to build new schools and make other investments in the local infrastructure.
Environment protection groups insist that all of this would be trumped by the heavy ecological cost of the project. They say it would accelerate Armenia’s deforestation which began in the early 1990s and is increasingly threatening the national ecosystem.
Armenia’s mining and metallurgy sectors, dominated by foreign investors, have expanded rapidly in recent years on the back of soaring international prices for copper and molybdenum. Non-ferrous metals are currently the country’s number one export.