Book Reviews
13:55, August 6, 2012
Hetq readers will remember our recent article exposing the fact that frozen Indian buffalo meat was being served at some Artsakh army bases. (See: Artskah Army Serving Frozen Indian Buffalo Meat; Criminal Case Underway)
A group calling itself “No to Injustice in the Army” had circulated statements alleging that frozen buffalo meat from India has shown up at army mess tables in Artsakh.
According to Army Depot Lieutenant-Colonel Hovhannes Sargsyan, a member of the group, and former Armen Gabrielyan, a former serviceman in the Defense Army, an investigative committee found that the frozen meat was being served instead of locally produced beef at Military Unit 2 in Martuni (Artsakh) in June of last year.
They note that Gegham Harutyunyan, President of the Social Council attached to the Defense Minister, who headed the investigative committee, never relayed his findings to RA Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan.
The RA Defense Ministry said that it had launched a criminal case into the matter, but in a recent reply to a Hetq query it refused to divulge any information about the case citing “military secrecy”.
Neither did their reply cite the name of the individual or company that supplied the frozen meat in the first place.
But the Defense Ministry does confirm that in the time period in question both frozen and fresh meat was supplied to a number of military bases.
Source: Hetq – Originial Article
Related posts:
- Artskah Army Serving Frozen Indian Buffalo Meat; Criminal Case Underway
- Armenia Defense Ministry Knew About Youth Who Went Mad in Army: Human Rights Defenders
- Croatian Police Uncover Meat Smuggling Network From Bosnia
- Defense Ministry condemns incident at Yerevan restaurant
- Gyumri citizens prefer fresh meat
13:55, August 6, 2012
Hetq readers will remember our recent article exposing the fact that frozen Indian buffalo meat was being served at some Artsakh army bases. (See: Artskah Army Serving Frozen Indian Buffalo Meat; Criminal Case Underway)
A group calling itself “No to Injustice in the Army” had circulated statements alleging that frozen buffalo meat from India has shown up at army mess tables in Artsakh.
According to Army Depot Lieutenant-Colonel Hovhannes Sargsyan, a member of the group, and former Armen Gabrielyan, a former serviceman in the Defense Army, an investigative committee found that the frozen meat was being served instead of locally produced beef at Military Unit 2 in Martuni (Artsakh) in June of last year.
They note that Gegham Harutyunyan, President of the Social Council attached to the Defense Minister, who headed the investigative committee, never relayed his findings to RA Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan.
The RA Defense Ministry said that it had launched a criminal case into the matter, but in a recent reply to a Hetq query it refused to divulge any information about the case citing “military secrecy”.
Neither did their reply cite the name of the individual or company that supplied the frozen meat in the first place.
But the Defense Ministry does confirm that in the time period in question both frozen and fresh meat was supplied to a number of military bases.
Source: Hetq – Originial Article
Related posts:
- Artskah Army Serving Frozen Indian Buffalo Meat; Criminal Case Underway
- Armenia Defense Ministry Knew About Youth Who Went Mad in Army: Human Rights Defenders
- Croatian Police Uncover Meat Smuggling Network From Bosnia
- Defense Ministry condemns incident at Yerevan restaurant
- Gyumri citizens prefer fresh meat
13:55, August 6, 2012
Hetq readers will remember our recent article exposing the fact that frozen Indian buffalo meat was being served at some Artsakh army bases. (See: Artskah Army Serving Frozen Indian Buffalo Meat; Criminal Case Underway)
A group calling itself “No to Injustice in the Army” had circulated statements alleging that frozen buffalo meat from India has shown up at army mess tables in Artsakh.
According to Army Depot Lieutenant-Colonel Hovhannes Sargsyan, a member of the group, and former Armen Gabrielyan, a former serviceman in the Defense Army, an investigative committee found that the frozen meat was being served instead of locally produced beef at Military Unit 2 in Martuni (Artsakh) in June of last year.
They note that Gegham Harutyunyan, President of the Social Council attached to the Defense Minister, who headed the investigative committee, never relayed his findings to RA Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan.
The RA Defense Ministry said that it had launched a criminal case into the matter, but in a recent reply to a Hetq query it refused to divulge any information about the case citing “military secrecy”.
Neither did their reply cite the name of the individual or company that supplied the frozen meat in the first place.
But the Defense Ministry does confirm that in the time period in question both frozen and fresh meat was supplied to a number of military bases.
Source: Hetq – Originial Article
Related posts:
- Artskah Army Serving Frozen Indian Buffalo Meat; Criminal Case Underway
- Armenia Defense Ministry Knew About Youth Who Went Mad in Army: Human Rights Defenders
- Croatian Police Uncover Meat Smuggling Network From Bosnia
- Defense Ministry condemns incident at Yerevan restaurant
- Gyumri citizens prefer fresh meat
13:55, August 6, 2012
Hetq readers will remember our recent article exposing the fact that frozen Indian buffalo meat was being served at some Artsakh army bases. (See: Artskah Army Serving Frozen Indian Buffalo Meat; Criminal Case Underway)
A group calling itself “No to Injustice in the Army” had circulated statements alleging that frozen buffalo meat from India has shown up at army mess tables in Artsakh.
According to Army Depot Lieutenant-Colonel Hovhannes Sargsyan, a member of the group, and former Armen Gabrielyan, a former serviceman in the Defense Army, an investigative committee found that the frozen meat was being served instead of locally produced beef at Military Unit 2 in Martuni (Artsakh) in June of last year.
They note that Gegham Harutyunyan, President of the Social Council attached to the Defense Minister, who headed the investigative committee, never relayed his findings to RA Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan.
The RA Defense Ministry said that it had launched a criminal case into the matter, but in a recent reply to a Hetq query it refused to divulge any information about the case citing “military secrecy”.
Neither did their reply cite the name of the individual or company that supplied the frozen meat in the first place.
But the Defense Ministry does confirm that in the time period in question both frozen and fresh meat was supplied to a number of military bases.
Source: Hetq – Originial Article
Related posts:
- Artskah Army Serving Frozen Indian Buffalo Meat; Criminal Case Underway
- Armenia Defense Ministry Knew About Youth Who Went Mad in Army: Human Rights Defenders
- Croatian Police Uncover Meat Smuggling Network From Bosnia
- Defense Ministry condemns incident at Yerevan restaurant
- Gyumri citizens prefer fresh meat
Commentary
14:52, May 13, 2013
The Hungarian Parliament adopted a controversial amendment to its Freedom of Information Act on April 30, a move that will make civilian and journalistic access to information more difficult, Atlatszo.hu reported. The amendment was passed less than 48 hours after its introduction.
The amendment severely limits citizens’ access to public information, as it limits the amount of data individuals may obtain. The amendment also requires that individuals justify requests for information related to court cases, public bodies, and public officials, all information that was previously in the public domain, according to Transparency International.
The amendment is allegedly meant to limit the number of “abusive” requests for information, but local organizations, including Transparency International Hungary, watchdog K-monitor, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, and OCCRP partner Atlatszo.hu have decried the sudden change. All four organizations quit the anti-corruption group formed by the Hungarian Ministry of Justice in protest.
The quartet also petitioned President Janos Ader to veto the amendment. While Ader vetoed the amendment, and said that it gave “public service entities excessive right to decide what qualifies as an ‘abusive demand’ of information, he did not send it to the Constitutional Court. Under Hungarian law, Parliament can revote on the issue, thus bypassing the veto and passing the law unchanged.
In a commentary on the amendment, Atlatszo.hu criticized the change and highlighted the importance of continued transparency.
Every citizen has the right to be informed about the spending of public money. Transparency is pivotal in any democracy, and the amendment voted on in Parliament calls that into question. Passing an amendment reshaping the sphere of freedom of information in only two days is unacceptable, the investigative reporting center added. Even more conspicuous is the fact that the amendment was proposed when civil society organizations requested access to the bids in a tender for tobacco retail licenses, which reportedly went to government party loyalists. This law will allow public decision makers to get away with bias and allow corruption to go unpunished, Atlatszo said.
Atlatszo added that the new, government friendly understanding of freedom of information enables users of public funds, mainly government offices and municipalities, to keep the allocation of public funds secret. The law contradicts the fundamental ethical norms of a democracy and places measures included in the Hungarian government’s anti-graft action plan into doubt.
Transparency International Hungary, K-Monitor watchdog for public funds, Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and Atlatszo.hu investigative portal are convinced that the amendment of the law on freedom of information discredits all previous stances of the government to stop corruption. We are still devoted to make Hungary a better society free of corruption, but we will not lend our reputation to the mockery our government orchestrated in the anti-corruption arena, Atlatszo said.
https://reportingproject.net
Source: Hetq – Originial Article
Related posts:
- Better Access to Republic of Armenia Government Information Through Freedom of Information Legislation Reform
- Armenians in Hungary to sue Government over Safarov extradition
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- Freedom of Information Center launches new website in Armenia
- Armenia blames Hungary over complications in Karabakh conflict
A portrait painter, whose subjects are imaginary, is one of four artists in contention for the 2013 Turner Prize, BBC News reported.Lynette Yiadom-Boakye joins French installation artist Laure Prouvost, Britain’s David Shrigley and the British-German performance artist Tino Sehgal on this year’s shortlist.This year’s Turner exhibition will be held at Ebrington in Derry-Londonderry, 2013′s UK City of Culture.The winner – who will receive £25,000 – will be announced on 2 December.The other shortlisted artists will each receive £5,000.Established in 1984, the Turner Prize is awarded to a contemporary artist under 50, living, working or born in Britain, who is judged to have put on the best exhibition of the last 12 months.Previous winners include Damien Hirst, Antony Gormley and last year’s recipient, the video artist Elizabeth Price.Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, who lives and works in London, is shortlisted for her Extracts and Verses exhibition at the Chisenhale Gallery.She is of Ghanaian descent and is the first black woman to be in contention for the award.Born in 1977, she attended Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, Falmouth College of Arts and the Royal Academy Schools.According to the prize’s organisers, her “intriguing” paintings “appear traditional but are in fact much more innovative”.Glasgow-based David Shrigley is best known for his humorous line drawings, but also makes sculptures, photographs, paintings and animated films.His work, which combines jokes and commentary, can be found on greetings cards, in books and in magazines, as well as in galleries.His words have been used in recordings by David Byrne and Franz Ferdinand and he directed the video for Blur’s 2009 track Good Song.Born in Macclesfield in 1968, Shrigley is shortlisted for his solo exhibition Brain Activity, at London’s Hayward Gallery.The exhibition, said the Turner Prize organisers, was a “comprehensive overview” that revealed “his black humour, macabre intelligence and infinite jest”.Born in Lille in 1978, Laure Prouvost won the fourth Max Mara art prize for women in 2011 for her short films and installation work.Based in London, she is shortlisted for her new work Wantee, featured in Tate Britain’s Schwitters in Britain exhibition, and her two-part Max Mara art prize installation.Her “unique” approach to film-making, said organisers, “employs strong story-telling, quick cuts, montage and deliberate misuse of language to create surprising and unpredictable work”.Born in 1976 and based in Berlin, Tino Sehgal has been shortlisted for his “pioneering” projects This Variation and These Associations.The latter, staged last year at Tate Modern in London, invited the public to interact with volunteers in a “live installation” staged in the gallery’s expansive Turbine Hall.”Both structured and improvised, Seghal’s intimate works consist purely of live encounters between people and demonstrate a keen sensitivity to their institutional context,” said organisers.”Through participatory means, they test the limits of artistic material and audience perception in a new and significant way.”This year’s jury is chaired by Tate Britain director Penelope Curtis and includes the curator Annie Fletcher and the writer and lecturer Declan Long.Long said the each of the four shortlisted artists represented “remarkable developments” in art.”There’s so much range here, it’s fantastic,” he told the BBC’s arts editor Will Gompertz.Bookmakers Ladbroke have made Shrigley 2/1 favourite to win the prize, ahead of Prouvost, Sehgal and Yiadom-Boakye, a 7/2 outsider.It is the first time the Turner Prize exhibition has ever been held outside England.
Source: Tert – Originial Article
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The Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), which boasts the second largest faction in the National Assembly, has so far remained tightlipped on its attitude towards opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian’s demand that President-elect Serzh Sargsyan admit election fraud and start transferring power to the people.
PAP spokesman Tigran Urikhanyan refused to provide any commentary on Hovannisian’s Tuesday rally and plans to stage more protests against the official outcome of the February 18 presidential election in which his party had chosen not to take part or endorse any candidate in the race.
The Monday ballot gave victory to incumbent President Sargsyan, who officially polled close to 59 percent of the vote. Hovannisian, his closest challenger, got nearly 37 percent of the vote and is currently disputing the official outcome of the election.
“We haven’t discussed this matter yet,” the party spokesman told Tert.am, also ducking the question on the possible support of PAP members to Hovannisian’s struggle.
Addressing his supporters in Yerevan’s Liberty Square last night Heritage Party leader Hovannisian, who declared himself to be the rightful winner and elected president, made it clear that if given a chance to form a government he would also cooperate with the broad-based opposition and “alternative” forces, including PAP, that did not contest the February election.
Source: Armenia Now – Originial Article
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12:14, February 9, 2013
Today, 9 days before the presidential elections, TNS opinion is presenting the results of its survey “Poll: Armenia on the Eve of Presidential Elections” describing the voting preferences and motivations of the Armenian voters, but also their views on the on-going campaigns of the various candidates. For this TNS opinion poll, implemented together with their local partner IPSC, 1 609 face-to-face interviews were conducted in all 10 regions (marzes) and 12 communities of Yerevan between 31 January and 5 February 2013, using the highest possible standards and extensive quality control measures, as outlined below. The poll was commissioned by European Friends of Armenia (www.EuFoA.org) in order to contribute to a factual debate ahead of the elections (see below for more details about our motivation and the organisations involved).
“Using a large number of quality checks, we carried out this poll in the middle of the campaign period and received very reliable and consistent data.” comments Dr Steve Schwarzer, Director for Methods and Statistics at TNS opinion, Brussels. “Now we see that President Sargsyan still has the most certain voters and almost twice as many as runner-up Raffi Hovhannisyan. However, the respondents say that so far Hovhannisyan’s campaign appears more convincing, focusing on programmatic campaigning around mainly economic topics. Strikingly, he now gains more support from the former Prosperous Armenia voters than the incumbent President, a clear change compared to our last poll.”
As a result, if presidential elections took place last week, Serzh Sargsyan would have scored 58,0% [-10,6% compared to our January 2013 poll] of valid votes (valid responses are without “Don’t know” and “Refuse to answer”; raw data with “Don’t know” and “Refuse to answer”: 40,2% [-3,8%]). The poll now rates Raffi Hovhannisyan at 33,0% [+12,2%] of the valid votes (raw data: 22,9% [+9,6%]). To evaluate the likelihood of a second round, TNS opinion also assessed the certainty to vote and analysed the characteristics of respondents who did not reveal their voting intentions. Following this analysis, Hovhannisyan currently is positioned in a bandwidth between 26% and 34%, while Sargsyan scores between 58% and 66%, looking very likely to win in the first round – based on the situation two weeks before the elections.
The voters of Paruyr Hayrikyan, a candidate who was shot into the shoulder under unclear circumstances on 31 January (after the first fieldwork day of this opinion poll), are now much more certain that their decision is final and his awareness among the public has strongly increased. However, the people intending to vote for him remain stable at 4,9% [+0,1%] of the valid votes. Hrant Bagratyan now stands 1,6% points lower than in January, scoring 2,8% of valid votes. As in January, the remaining four of the eight official candidates are largely unknown to the poll respondents and altogether score less than 1,5% of valid votes.
“Apart from the candidates’ ratings, we were positively surprised by voters’ trust in these elections, an aspect which is important for Armenia’s democracy and its political weight. More than 2/3 of the population believes that the upcoming presidential elections will be organised in a better way than previous elections and a similar number of people perceives media to report in a more neutral and fair manner than in the past. The number of people who are certain that they will turnout to vote is almost the same as in the very competitive elections in May 2012.” says EuFoA Secretary General, Dr Michael Kambeck.
The design of the random sample, fieldwork monitoring, survey implementation and quality control were developed together by TNS opinion and IPSC. Quality control measures were a particular focus, including call-backs and parallel visits, as well as extensive database consistency checks. For more details about this, please confer the background information below.
EuFoA has commissioned the poll for several reasons. In particular we want to:
Raise public awareness about the elections, issues important to the people, and public attitudes towards politics, political parties and their leaders.
Compare the findings of the poll on socioeconomic and political issues with earlier polls.
Contribute to a more meaningful debate, based on political content more than party political propaganda and myths.
Increase public transparency and trust in a realistic picture of political life in Armenia.
Increase pressure for a good technical conduct of the elections by providing comparative data for the assessments of international observers.
The complete poll report can be found in Armenian and in English on our website at www.eufoa.org/en/publications.
EuFoA is happy to provide commentary or background analysis in English, German, French, Italian, Polish, Russian and Armenian. Members of the Europe-Armenia Advisory Council may also be available for comments; for enquiries please contact our secretariat.
For more information on EuFoA and the Europe-Armenia Advisory Council, please visit our website at www.EuFoA.org.
High resolution picture material is always available on our website and upon request. It is free to use with a reference “Copyright:www.EuFoA.org”.
Methodology
A multi-stage, random (probability) sampling design was used. In the first stage, primary sampling units (PSU) were selected from each of the administrative regional units. This was agreed as best methodology between TNS opinion and IPSC .
1 609 interviews conducted face to face between 31 January – 5 February 2013.
Interviews were conducted in all 10 regions (marzes) of Armenia and in all Yerevan communities. The sample was distributed proportionally to reflect the population distribution in Armenia, with 34.4% of interviews conducted in Yerevan and 65.6% in the marzes.
· Interviewers selected households using the random walking method to ensure that there is no selection bias. To ensure a random selection, the person interviewed in each household was the adult whose birthday was closest to the day of the interview.
If a respondent was not immediately available, 1 to 2 call-back visits were done to conduct the interview later. If a call-back visit was not successful or if a respondent could not take part for other reasons, the interviewer approached the next randomly selected household according to the random walking method.
The sampling procedure was monitored by using a detailed contact sheet for each interviewer. The data base was analysed by TNS opinion in order to ensure that interviewers followed the instructions.
The data was weighted according to age and gender and is accurate to a maximum margin of error of ±2.4% for the overall sample.
Quality control
The design of the random sample, fieldwork monitoring, survey implementation and quality control were developed together by TNS opinion and IPSC.
22% of the interviews conducted were accompanied by IPSC quality control coordinators to ensure high quality and compliance with the standards agreed. All questionnaires were monitored by IPSC specialists to check the individual quality and logical consistency of the data. 6% of the questionnaires were checked by return visits. 25% of the entered paper questionnaires were double-checked in the database to ensure accuracy of processed data. Following all these checks, 31 interviews were rejected (1.9%) resulting in the aforementioned valid sample of 1 609 cases.
Route records were checked by TNS opinion and IPSC independently to ensure that interviews had been selected randomly.
33% of the sample was called back by IPSC to confirm demographic details and that the interview took place in the conditions recorded. Additionally, 15% of interviews were randomly selected by TNS opinion and called back to confirm key demographic information and two opinion questions. This consistency check-back resulted in the required compliance level with the originally collected data.
Extensive checks were conducted on the data file by TNS opinion to see if there were any logically inconsistent or inaccurate interviews, data points or invalid information. This was assessed positively and no case exclusions were made.
Source: Hetq – Originial Article
No related posts.
By the end of the week the campaign in the February 18 presidential election appeared to be getting more active as the main candidates contesting the number one political post held more meetings with members of the public to try to get their messages across.
Incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan, the leader of the Republican Party of Armenia, continued his campaign meetings in the regions, where he visited the Vayots Dzor province. In the town of Yeghegnadzor he met with citizens to tell them that if reelected for another five-year term in office he would make sure his government promoted agricultural cooperation and industries providing a high added value – grape and fruit growing.
“We have declared a common approach to the village and its agricultural problems as a key of our policy. We must create comfortable conditions for life in rural communities. We will make substantial financial investments in the planting and development of fruit orchards with the use of modern technologies,” Sargsyan said.
In the tourist center of Vayk the presidential candidate spoke about tourism and the rural economy in general, discussing issues with wine-makers and other farmers.
In Jermuk, Sargsyan also met with the provincial and municipal authorities as well as with representatives of health resorts, hotels, other service sector organizations to discuss the resort town’s socio-economic long-term development strategies.
The incumbent head of state also spoke about efforts to ensure the conduct of free and fair elections according to international standards, saying that Armenia has all prerequisites for such an election.
Another presidential candidate, chairman of the Liberty party Hrant Bagratyan left for the northeastern Tavush province early in the morning. During the day he had meetings with voters in the villages of Chinari, Aygedzor and Artsvaberd as well as the town of Berd.
In Chinari, which is a soft target for Azeri snipers and has experienced serious socio-economic problems because of its closeness to the border with Azerbaijan, Bagratyan pledged to open two enterprises there. He also said that residents of rural communities would not pay any tax for agricultural machinery.
In Berd, Bagratyan went to local shops, met with ordinary people in the streets and distributed his campaign leaflets. As part of his campaign Bagratyan was set to continue his tour of the Tavush province on Friday, returning to Yerevan in the evening.
Independent Armenia’s first foreign minister, Heritage party leader Raffi Hovannisian continued his campaign on foot in Yerevan’s streets. He greeted people as he walked through downtown Yerevan as well as visited some cultural places.
In particular, candidate Hovannisian visited the Yervand Kochar Museum, the Matenadaran, where he accidentally met with some Russian scholars and intellectuals visiting Armenia.
During his campaign on Thursday Hovannisian also visited the Chess House, talked to people playing chess there, and also visited the State Engineering University of Armenia, the National Library, and Yerevan State University, where he donated books authored by his son.
Candidate Arman Melikyan, who earlier this week announced he was suspending his campaign and engaging only in addressing the “legal aspect” of the elections, met with the head of the OSCE/ODIHR observation mission, Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini on Thursday.
During the meeting the two reportedly discussed Melikyan’s letter to the Central Election Commission (CEC) in which he demanded the release of information about citizens with voting rights who are absent from Armenia or have relinquished Armenian citizenship. The CEC, however, had refused to do so.
Candidate Andrias Ghukasyan continued his hunger strike in front of the National Academy of Sciences buildings, insisting that he felt good. He also presented some provisions of his election program to media.
“The main principle of my program is that the president should set a goal to himself to restore public confidence in statehood, to overcome the split that exists in society, regulate the domestic and foreign affairs of our country,” stated Ghukasyan.
Natioanl Self-Determination Union Chairman Paruyr Hayrikyan continued his campaign on Facebook, publishing interviews, presentations and video conferences through his account as well as providing commentary.
National Accord party leader Aram Harutyunyan and specialist in epic studies Vardan Sedrakyan continued meetings with media. Harutyunyan reiterated that he planned to withdraw from the race by February 8, while Sedrakyan said he intended to continue his struggle for presidency, but would not engage in active campaign until February 1.
Source: Armenia Now – Originial Article
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