"There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."
Buses with the slogan "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" will run in London from January.
BBCreports: The atheist posters are the idea of the British Humanist Association (BHA) and have been supported by prominent atheist Professor Richard Dawkins. [...]
Professor Dawkins said: "Religion is accustomed to getting a free ride - automatic tax breaks, unearned respect and the right not to be offended, the right to brainwash children.
"Even on the buses, nobody thinks twice when they see a religious slogan plastered across the side.
"This campaign to put alternative slogans on London buses will make people think - and thinking is anathema to religion." More...
Remember I posted a video on Unzipped which shows evidence of horrific bullying in Azerbaijani army? Remember how officials from the Ministry of Defence of Azerbaijan were casting doubts on that video saying that it was staged to discredit the Azeri army etc. etc. Well, they can no longer do so. Moreover, new evidence is emerging to confirm the systematic nature of the problem.
20 October 2008
"Heroes" of video tape about violence in Azerbaijani army, posted in Internet, arrested
A criminal proceeding has been instituted into the case of the video tape, recording humiliating actions against conscripts by older soldiers, posted on the YouTube website.
Two junior sergeant of N Military Unit of the Internal Force of Azerbaijan, dislocated in Hajiqabul, have been arrested, reports Day,Az with reference to the Yeni Musavat newspaper.Thus, the arrested are junior sergeants Vuqar Aliyev and Eldeniz Rehimov. It has already been five days that they are kept in the Bail investigation facility.Commander of the military unit Hamlet Gurbanov and his deputy on educational works Beyler Eminov have been dismissed.The press service for the Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan confirmed this fact, saying that the commander of the military unit and his deputy were dismissed.It should be noted that a video tape recording humiliation of conscripts by older soldiers in Azerbaijani army has recently been posted on the YouTube video sharing website.
"This is a smeary provocation against the army. This video tape is a "good" play. It seems that by wearing the military uniform and recording this on the cell phone, someone tried to create a material about violence in the army. I do not think that those who recorded it and those who posted it on the website are people, who love the Azerbaijani army", said spokesman for Azerbaijani Defence Ministry Eldar Sabiroghlu commenting on the fact that investigation revealed “no such incidents inside the Azerbaijani army”.
“Now Armenians try to use any, even insignificant, negative fact to throw shadow on Azerbaijan and its armed forces", said Mubariz Ahmedoghlu, head of the centre of political innovations and technologies.
"All military units had been inspected by Safar Abiyev's order but the "heroes" of the videotape about violence in the army have not been found"
“All military units, controlled by the ministry, have been inspected by the order of Azerbaijan's Defense Minister Safar Abiyev", said spokesman for Azerbaijani Defence Ministry Eldar Sabiroghlu. He noted that the results of investigation proved that the "heroes" of this videotape do not serve in any unit of the Ministry and there have not been any case, which has been recorded on the videotape.
I have an impression that this decision was made via some behind the door mediations, and may constitute a part of the deal. In any case, I hope that the opposition will use this hiatus to strengthen its organisational potential, and perhaps come up with the previously discussed UK–style shadow cabinet or other new ideas. They could not carry on like this any longer. I also hope that Armenian authorities would be wise enough to use this hiatus to sort out internal matters (release of political prisoners, March 1 inquiry, electronic media freedom...). Only strong democratic Armenia with healed internal wounds would be able to respond to external challenges.
P.S. It’s very telling that government-controlled Public TV’s main information programme Haylur was pretty objective and even sort of sympathetic (for the first time) in its report from the opposition rally tonight.
687 couples got married yesterday in Karabakh in a ceremony sponsored by bussinessman of Karabakh origin Levon Hayrapetyan. This constiutes around 1% of the total population. WOW! :)
I wonder, did they get married because they actually love each other and wanted to get married, or because of financial incentives promised by the businessman? Anyway, certainly a potential boost to the demography of Karabakh.
On 14.10.2008, following an alarm-complaint for the urgent attention of the RA Human Rights Defender, the quick response group of HRDO, based on the instructions of the Defender, set off for Yerevan streets (Tumanyan - Mashtots crossroad), where the Police officers prevented the procession of opposition activists announcing the forthcoming permitted demonstration that will take place on 17.10.08.
At the time when the representatives of the HRDO reached the crossroad there were about 50 people gathered. They intended to make a procession assuming that there is no beforehand permission required. The Police, however, persistently prevented them from making procession; moreover, the organizers of the procession informed the HRDO representatives that Police officers in civil clothes at first took the megaphone out of their hands and then pushed people making them to leave the place.
Soon afterwards the Police permitted to make a procession, but then forbade using microphone, which is not required by the RA legislation. As a result a bigger crowd formed; people insisted on continuing the procession. The Police officers pushed them and made them walk towards Northern Avenue; at the same time the representatives of HRDO quick response group noticed that Police officers took away the second megaphone.
All the information mentioned above is fully recorded by the representatives of the Human Rights Defender’s Institution and consequently its reality can not be put under suspicion. Thus Human Rights Defender Dr. Armen Harutyunyan calls upon the Police to act in accordance with the RA Constitution and the RA legislation and stop restrictions of the constitutional rights of the RA citizens.
It was defeat after defeat. It was total lack of the spirit on the field. It was total lack of winner's mentality. It was disastrous performance throughout. Not only Jan Poulsen, Armenia national team head coach, must go, and must go now, but the head of Football Federation Ruben Hayrapetyan must answer for his vision and decisions made too.
17 years ago, on 16 October 1991, we had the first and the only presidential election in modern Armenia considered as free and fair. Levon Ter-Petrosyan was popularly elected the first President of the newly-independent Republic of Armenia. All subsequent elections were flawed to various extent, and the last one (19 February 2008) had tragic consequences. It’s not personalities which matter to me this day. Forget about Levon or subsequent presidents. It’s free elections which I care about. It’s free elections which seem to me like hopeful memory from not so distant past. It was history in making which I participated in. Unfortunately, it did not transform into routine reality but remains a ‘history’.
Until we have in Armenia free and fair election again, this day will remain in my calendar as one of the most important dates to remember and to hope that one day it will become so routine that there will be no need to mark it.
It’s been a while that I started following news via Tert.am Armenian news portal too. I recommend it for Armenian news, as well as interesting selection of international news from various fields.
This film tells a story of ordinary people who were deprived of their houses and property rights to make a way for the construction of the Northern Avenue and elite flats in downtown Yerevan. According to the report and various evidence provided, people did not get adequate compensation and the whole process was conducted in breach of Armenian legislation. They tried using legal ways – applying to the courts, but as it’s common in Armenia, no single case was decided by the courts against the authorities. This fact was specifically mentioned in "Expropriation" by Armenia’s human rights Ombudsman Armen Harutyunyan.
Film has been banned from the main Moscow cinema in Yerevan despite an initial agreement to screen it.
As I posted earlier, another Sardarapat film by well known Armenian film director Tigran Khzmalyan suffered the same fate. You may read the full script of the documentary Sardarapat on Hetq Online. I wish we could watch Sardarapat on YouTube too.
Censorship should have no place in Armenia. Censorship should be (and will be) defeated.
Expropriation Written by Tigran Paskevichyan Directed by Karen Adamyan via A1+
For decades Turkey's armed forces have been virtually beyond criticism in a country where the military sees itself as a defender of the modern secular state.
But its status is being questioned after a senior commander was pictured playing golf hours after 17 soldiers were killed in clashes with Kurdish militants.
General Aydogan Babaoglu, head of the air force, took part in a golf tournament in the Mediterranean resort of Antalya last weekend after reports emerged of a deadly attack on a military outpost in Aktutun, near Turkey's border with Iraq, by the Kurdistan Workers' party (PKK).
He later claimed to have coordinated, the military's response from the golf course, which included air strikes against PKK bases in northern Iraq and ground manoeuvres inside Turkey. But he only returned to headquarters in the capital, Ankara, on Saturday evening, when the country was deep in mourning. More...
He was in hiding after 1 March events. He decided to come back, to his family, to his children, back to Armenia. It’s Sargis Hatspanian I am talking about, French-Armenian Karabakh war veteran, supporter of Armenia’s first president and opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan. He is now ‘blockaded’ in his own flat and faces possible extradition from Armenia. Circumstances of his case remain unclear, legality and actions by the authorities – questionable, to say the least.
Sargis Hatspanian visited his family members for the first time since he went underground after the events of March 1, however the police surrounded his home 10 minutes later. “I think the only reason for that is because I supported Levon Ter-Petrosian,” told “A1+ Sargis Hatspanian. Police surrounded the house and said that Sargis Hatspanian has an illegal status in Armenia and must be exiled.
Here are just few questions need to be asked:
Is there any law in Armenia which prohibits foreign citizens from peaceful participation in political life and actions, or from expressing their political views?
Could this be considered a warning to the Diaspora to stay away from the internal politics of Armenia?
If he got relieved of Armenian residency by a decree or executive order of the former president Kocharyan, why he was allowed to enter the country via Yerevan international airport, without any problems?
That Kocharian signed a relevant executive order shortly before he left office was confirmed by officials at President Serzh Sarkisian’s administration. Under Armenian law, such orders take effect only after the official notification of individuals affected by them. “I am absolutely not aware of that decision,” insisted Hatspanian. He said he has left and returned to Armenia since March and had no problems with immigration authorities. “I flew back to Yerevan as recently as on the night from October 6 to 7. They told me nothing at the airport,” he said. Armen Harutiunian, Armenia’s human rights ombudsman, said he is dealing with the case and already has questions to the authorities. “His residency permit was revoked by the president but he still managed to re-enter Armenia,” Harutiunian told RFE/RL. “If that is confirmed, we need to clarify how he entered the country without having the right to live there.” Harutiunian added that under Armenian law, the authorities can not kick out Hatspanian because he has underage children in the country.
Head of the Football Federation of Armenia (FFA) Ruben Hayrapetyan says “sorry” to Armenian fans for taking out the picture of Mount Ararat from the new logo of FFA. Many suspected that this move had been made to ‘please’ Turkish president Abdullah Gul ahead of his historic first ever visit to Armenia amid talks of “football diplomacy".
FFA president acknowledged that the change of the logo was a mistake and “apologised to all football fans and Armenian society”. According to Hayrapetyan, to get out of this situation, the Federation will introduce a new logo: «We are now working on a new logo, and I suggested depicting the image of Ararat there».
This should serve as a lesson to the Armenian army officials too: if you do not want to see similar videos from Armenia on YouTube or other internet sites, deal with the problem of bullying and violence in the Army NOW.
Is there violence in the Azerbaijani army? - VIDEO Today.Az
It is seen from the material that the newly recruited are beaten by other soldiers.
After this video material about possible fact of violence in the Azerbaijani army appeared, the Defense Ministry held its own investigation.
Spokesman for Azerbaijani Defense Ministry Eldar Sabiroghlu said commenting on the fact that investigation revealed no such incidents inside the Azerbaijani army.
"This is a smeary provocation against the army. This video tape is a "good" play. It seems that by wearing the military uniform and recording this on the cell phone, someone tried to create a material about violence in the army. I do not think that those who recorded it and those who posted it on the website are people, who love the Azerbaijani army", said Sabiroghlu.
The spokesman noted that if this really happened, a person, who recorded this video, should have presented it directly to the Defense Ministry. He said if the defense ministry has not reacted to it, they would have been right to post this tape for public review.
Sabiroghlu announced that it is currently not late to appeal to the Defense Ministry, if there are real facts and proofs.
"It seems that someone benefits from the provocation against the army in order to create a negative image of it. It is possible to say that violence in the army has almost been eliminated and the Ministry is operatively reacting and eliminating the problem in any negative case. It is impossible to conceal anything in Azerbaijan and if it was real, the people would have long been informed about his fact. The website, on which this material has been posted, is free and everyone can post any material on it and the authors of the provocation used it against the Azerbaijani army", said Sabiroghlu.
Via Tert.am, today saw the re-launch of the revamped official website of The President of the Republic of Armenia. Spokeswoman for the administration claimed that all efforts has been made using modern technologies to transform the presidential website into user-friendly and “the best source of information.”
I can’t compare with the previous one as I visited that site in past only very few times. I do not even remember how it looked like. However, I remember my general impression back then that the president’s website looked unimpressive, lacking much functionality and effectively useless.
I tried accessing the revamped version today.
Unfortunately, it takes too long to load, at least from London. I saw only the very first page, and after few tries I gave up trying.
Things are going from bad to worse in the ‘bright’ minds of Armenian MPs. This news could easily be considered among the most ridiculous news ever to come out from Armenia. Ironically, it comes from the head of parliamentary committee on science, education, culture, youth and sport. Well, it’s Armen Ashotyan - MP from governing Republican party - whose ‘creativity’ has no limits.
Currently, the discussions are underway on the possibility of building a church for Armenian MPs, said chairman of the parliamentary committee on science, education, culture, youth and sport Armen Ashotyan. «I have proposed to build a church back in 2005. The aim of this initiative - to bring the Armenian Apostolic Church closer to the official representative body, the National Assembly, and reiterate the distinctive mission of the Armenian Apostolic Church», - MP said at a press conference on Monday.
According to Ashotyan, newly elected speaker of the Armenian parliament Hovik Abrahamyan is engaged with the process and already raised the issue of church building. The likelihood of this initiative is very high, indeed. «Construction of the church on Baghramyan Avenue, where the residence of the president and the country's parliament building are located, is pretty symbolic.
As far as I am informed, orders have already been given out to prepare for the construction of the church», - said Ashotyan. […]
«I am confident that upon completion of this initiative it would be more comfortable to work in Armenian parliament», - he said.
What is next? Armenian patriarch as head of state elected by the National Ecclesiastical Assembly?
...and not only in Armenia.
Recent survey in Georgia shows that Georgians trust their orthodox church the most (91% of surveyed). It follows by independent media and human rights Ombudsman (no numbers are provided within the news report but I assume they came the distant 2nd and 3rd). The least trusted for Georgians are courts and the mayor of Tbilisi.
With this mentality and state of affairs, the future for the South Caucasus is not looking that bright, after all.
There was building here. That building, as far as I remember, did belong to the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia. (Years ago, I went to a foreign language course there.) It fitted nicely with Abovyan street. It probably needed renovation, from the inside, or may be outside too, I do not know, like any other old building. But this?.. Now the building is no longer there. It has been demolished. Instead, there are scenes of destruction there. The reason of demolition? Have a look at the picture again. Building up another ‘mini-empire’ by the Armenian church in the heart of Yerevan. As if they do not have enough buildings and churches. Well, that church was there for ages, but now they are building up something like office for the church or whatever.
And in general, during recent years, the face of my beloved Abovyan street in the heart of Yerevan has been gradually distorted by a number of ugly stores/constructions appeared right on the pavement.
Apparently, as Hetq Online reports, many Armenian oligarchs began transferring a significant portion of their capital to France. One of them, Hrair Hakobyan bought a castle in Cognac for 4.8 million euro in October 2007, and is setting up business there. He is the owner of Yerevan Champaign Wine Factory and other enterprises in Armenia.
1939 թվականին հիմնադրված Երեւանի շամպայն-գինիների կոմբինատը 1995թ. նա ձեռք է բերել շատ էժան գնով: Այսօր այդ ձեռնարկությունը Հայաստանի ամենախոշոր ալկոհոլ արտադրողներից է: Գործարանն արտադրում է գինի, օղի, կոնյակի տարբեր տեսակներ, կոկտեյլներ: Գործարանն ունի տարեկան 10 մլն շշալցման հնարավորություն: Իսկ թե այսօր իրականում որքա՞ն է արտադրվում` դժվար է ասել, քանի որ ալկոհոլային արտադրությունները Հայաստանում մեծամասամբ ստվերում են:
Շատընեյ դղյակը համարվում է Կոնյակ քաղաքի գոհարներից մեկը: Շաղանտ գետի ափին գտնվող Շատընեյ դղյակը շրջապատված է քառասուն հեկտար հողատարածքով, որից քսանմեկ հեկտարը՝ խաղողի այգիներ: Դա միակ խաղողի այգին է Կոնյակում: Դղյակի հարեւանությամբ օղեթորման գործարանն է, որը վերամշակում է կալվածքի բերքը:
Another Armenian oligarch - who is reportedly doing successful business in France - is the owner of Great Valley Brandy/Wine/Vodka Company, MP Tigran Arzakantsyan. He was repeatedly attacked in Moscow in 2006/07, with the latest incident in September 2007 when he got stabbed and shot at in a Moscow casino. Thanks to this background, he is under scrutiny of French media and officials.
«Գրեյթ Վելլի» կոնյակի գործարանի սեփականատեր Արզաքանցյանի նկատմամբ անցյալ տարի սեպտեմբերին Մոսկվայի կազինոներից մեկում մահափորձ ատարվեց: Այս դեպքից հետո Ֆրանսիայում սկսել են զգուշանալ հայ գործարարից.«... Տիգրան Արզաքանցյանի ներդրումները կոնյակի արտադրության մեջ մտահոգում եւ անհանգստացնում են կոնյակի պրոֆեսիոնալներին, դրանք նաեւ զգաստացնում են իշխանություններին, որոնք մտադիր են հետեւել նրա գործունեությանը Կոնյակում»,- գրում է «Կոնյակի երկիր» թերթը:
Անցած տարվա սեպտեմբերին Մոսկվայում մահափորձից հետո ԱԺ-ի նիստերին Տ.Արզաքանցյանը չի մասնակցում, սակայն դա նրան չի խանգարում Ֆրանսիայում իր բիզնեսը հզորացնելուն:
More than two-dozen prominent Armenians in the Diaspora have signed a statement supporting equality and justice for all in Armenia. Among th...
Quote of the moment
Մարտիրոս Սարյան: "Իմ կարծիքով, մեզ՝ որպես արևելյան ժողովրդի, չափազանց կպատշաճեր բազմագույն դրոշը, որն ի հայտ է բերում ինքը` չքնաղ և հավերժ գեղեցիկ ծիածանը:"(source)
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