Month: August 2018

Israeli Drone Maker Targeted Armenian Soldiers During Demo For Azeri Customers

David Nargizian
Defenseworld.net
Aug 30 2018


Our Bureau
03:23 PM,

Aeronautics Drone

Employees of an Israeli drone manufacturer, Aeronautics are facing charges for allegedly demonstrating its weapons targeting skills on Armenian soldiers at the request of potential Azerbaijan customers, various Israeli media outlets said.

"Aeronautics and 10 of its employees were informed that they were set to be charged, pending a hearing," the justice ministry said in a statement released to the Israeli media. Aeronautics chief executive Amos Mathan and other senior employees were suspected of "fraudulently obtaining something under aggravated circumstances" as well as violations of Israel's security export control law, the ministry said.

"The employees were investigated about a deal the company made with a substantive overseas client," the statement read without providing further details, noting a gag order over the affair.

According to media reports, in 2017 representatives of Aeronautics were working on a deal in Azerbaijan, where they were asked by their hosts to demonstrate their Orbiter 1K attack drone’s weapons on Armenian soldiers.

Two Aeronautics employees refused the request before a more senior official in the firm acquiesced, lightly wounding two Armenian soldiers, the media reports said.

Azerbaijan and Armenia are in dispute over the Nagorny Karabakh region, with frequent exchanges of fire along their volatile front line. Karabakh has been under Armenian control since it was seized in the early 1990s after the break-up of the Soviet Union. Azerbaijan has repeatedly threatened to take it back by force.

New free economic zone to be established in Armenia’s Hrazdan

Lara Antonian
Panorama, Armenia
Aug 30 2018

Armenia will establish a new free economic zone in the city of Hrazdan in Kotayk Province, with ECOS company named as its organizer, according to a decision adopted at today’s Cabinet meeting.

The move confirms Armenia’s policy toward basing its economy on high technological innovations, Minister of Economic Development and Investments Artsvik Minasyan said at the meeting.

He detailed the investment program presented by the company eyes involvement of some 50 operators by 2021 and 200 by 2043 in the zone. ECOS will open 22 new jobs, with some 200 new jobs set to be opened by the operators, the minister added. 

Moreover, according to Minasyan, the company plans to invest up to $4 million in the program, while the operators are expected to make $15 million investment by 2021 and another $30 million in the future.

The minister says that the free economic zone will have two main territories – the production area (4,3 ha) in Hrazdan and its office in Yerevan.

This will be Armenia’s fourth free economic zone, he added.

First Tourist Information Center Opens in Dilijan, Armenia

Tania Jagharian
Georgia Today
Aug 30 2018

The Armenian town of Dilijan got its first tourist information center this morning. The center opened on August 17 and will offer visitors to the region detailed information on how to get the most of their trip to Dilijan and the Tavush province. It is supported by the “Dilijan and Adjacent Communities Development Initiative,” co-funded by the European Union.

The center will promote the 240-sq. km. Dilijan National Park as a tourist destination, and to direct tourists to the other attractions nearby, including Lake Parz, Haghartsin Monastery, and Matosavank Monastery. It aims “to become a major platform for coordinating all tourism and recreation-related events” in the province, according to the EU Neighbors press release.

“The European Union is supporting the government to promote more balanced social and economic development in the regions of Armenia through creating new jobs and increasing economic competitiveness,” said Hoa-Binh Adjemian, the Head of the Cooperation section of the EU Delegation in Armenia.  He added that the project “reflects EU support in Armenia and builds potential in Tavush.”

According to EU statistics, at least 330 people and 120 businesses will economically benefit from the project. Its total budget is €1.195 million, and the EU is contributing €780,000.

Dilijan is a popular mountain resort town located in northern Armenia, approximately 126 km from the Georgian border by car, and 200 km from Tbilisi.

 

By Samantha Guthrie

Azerbaijan issues arrest warrant for Dan Bilzerian for Karabakh visit

Antranik Varosian
Public Radio of Armenia
Aug 30 2018
15:42, 30 Aug 2018

The Investigative Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Azerbaijan has initiated a criminal case against American-Armenian Dan Bilzerian, Azerbaijani media report.

The famous poker player known as the “King of Instagram” is charged with “illegally” visiting Nagorno Karabakh, “illegally” acquiring grenades, a gun and other firearms and demonstratively opening fire.

According to the source, “Interpol will search for the criminal.”

Dan Bilzerian paid a three-day visit to Armenia, where he gained Armenian citizenship and registered for military service. He then headed for Nagorno Karabakh, where he demonstrated his shooting skills at a shooting range.

Some $50 million to be invested in Armenia’s fourth free economic zone in Hrazdan

Vatche Chakhmakhchian
ARKA, Armenia
Aug 30 2018

YEREVAN, August 30. /ARKA/. The government of Armenia has approved today an application of Ecos company for creation of a free economic zone in the town of Hrazdan, the administrative capital of central province of Kotayk.

Economic Development and Investments Minister Artsvik Minasyan said the government expects that the decision would stimulate foreign direct investment, increase the country's investment attractiveness, create export-oriented IT products, new jobs and promote sustainable economic development of the country.

Ecos wants to attract as many as 200 companies to produce goods and services  in the free economic zone by 2043. The first 50 companies are supposed to come before 2021. Ecos itself is to create 22 new jobs at the initial stage and another 300 are to be created by the companies.

Minasyan said Ecos plans to invest $4 million in the creation of the free economic zone. Another $15 million are to come form the companies until 2021. Another $30 million are to come later.

Minasyan said also that the free economic zone will host IT companies, some of which will be engaged in mining of crypto currency, introduction of block technologies, processing of large databases and use of cloud technologies.

Ecos will be provided with two premises – 4.3 hectares in Hrazdan near the local Thermal Power Plant and an administrative office on 2 thousand square meters in Yerevan.

 Armenia has now the Alliance free economic zone with 13 companies, Meridian with 6 companies and another one in the town of Meghri, near the border with Iran. ($ 1 – 482.76 drams). -0-

China donates 200 ambulances to Armenia

Adrine Hakobian
ARKA, Armenia
Aug 30 2018

YEREVAN, August 30. /ARKA/. The Armenian government took a decision today on distribution of 200 ambulances, including 65 intensive care ambulances, donated by the government of China. 

Health Minister Arsen Torosyan said the ambulances will be distributed among hospitals in the capital city Yerevan and all major hospitals in provincial centers. The minister added that all regional hospitals will have intensive care ambulances. As a result, there will be no need to call such ambulances from Yerevan.

The minister said also that several of the currently operated ambulances will be handed to penitentiary institutions and many more to rural outpatient clinics for ensuring outpatient visits.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan expressed gratitude to the Chinese government for donation saying it once again underscores the high level of Armenian-Chinese relations. 

“I am confident that the level of cooperation between Armenia and China and trade and economic relations will continue to develop," Pashinyan said.

In an interview with RFE/RL Armenian Service Armenian health minister Arsen Torosyan said last week the ministry was  negotiating acquisition of an ambulance helicopter for evacuating patients not only from remote and hard-to-reach regions, but also patients needing urgent surgeries. -0- 

Back to school: Some rural communities have few or no first graders in Armenia

Vanyan Gary
Panorama, Armenia
Aug 30 2018

Schools across Armenia are opening their doors in front of some 39,000 first graders on 1 September, Ashot Arshakyan, the head of the General Education Department at the Ministry of Education and Science, told Panorama.am.

“This is not the exact number yet. It will become clearer on 5 September. A slight positive dynamics is observed compared to the past year,” he said.

However, some schools in Armenia’s rural communities will welcome only one or two schoolstudents this year, with some of them having none, which is not the first case at the beginning of the academic year

Arshakyan could not provide any information on the number of such schools, promising the education ministry will release exact figures on 5 September.

Panorama.am has reached some village school principals for comments on the situation in their communities. 

The general school of Yazidi-populated Arevut village in Armenia’s Aragatsotn Province will admit only two first graders this year, Khatun Harutyunyan, the principal of the school, told us, adding the situation has, however, improved this year compared to last year, when the school had only one first grader.

He said the school houses overall 13 students.

“The number of schoolchildren sharply dropped over the past ten years: people are living the village,” he said, meantime expressing hope for a better future since the number of newborns are growing in the village.

The village of Vardablur of the same region will welcome no first graders at the starting academic year. “The school has no problems. It is the village that is facing problems: unemployment is forcing people to leave, with the number of school students on the decline. The school intended for 192 children now has only 62 students. The migration continues. We also have no graduates this year,” Albert Nazaretyan, the headmaster of the local school, told us.

The basic school of Saravan community of Vayots Dzor region will also welcome only one first-grade student.

Headmaster Ashot Pandunts says the school, intended to educate some 80 children, has only 15 students, with classrooms of 2 children a common phenomenon for the school for a long time already.

A more improved situation is observed in Aygepar Secondary School in Tavush region, which will admit 6 first-grade students this year.

“We welcomed 7 first graders last year. Currently, our school has 55 students. The number of our schoolchildren keeps growing. The marriage rates among young people is also on the rise,” headmistress Arevik Arzumanyan told us.

Russia comments on Merkel’s statement on Karabakh settlement

Emil Lazarian
ARKA, Armenia
Aug 30 2018

YEREVAN, August 30. /ARKA/. During a press briefing today a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, commented on German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s statement on the Karabakh conflict made during a visit to Yerevan on August 24.

In Yerevan, Merkel said that Germany was ready to assume responsibility for the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. “It is necessary to resolve this conflict in a good atmosphere and Germany is ready to support Armenia in this matter, " Merkel said

"This (the settlement) is to be decided by the countries that are directly involved in the settlement efforts and that should be done with an understanding of the effectiveness of the existing formats,’ Zakharova said adding that Merkel’s statement should be viewed in the context of these factors.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict erupted into armed clashes after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s as the predominantly Armenian-populated enclave of Azerbaijan sought to secede from Azerbaijan and declared its independence backed by a successful referendum. 

On May 12, 1994, the Bishkek cease-fire agreement put an end to the military operations. A truce was brokered by Russia in 1994, although no permanent peace agreement has been signed. 

Since then, Nagorno-Karabakh and several adjacent regions have been under the control of Armenian forces of Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh is the longest-running post-Soviet era conflict and has continued to simmer despite the relative peace of the past two decades, with snipers causing tens of deaths a year. 

On April 2, 2016, Azerbaijan launched military assaults along the entire perimeter of its contact line with Nagorno-Karabakh. Four days later a cease-fire was reached. -0—


Today marks the International Day of the Disappeared: 4,500 still missing after the Karabakh war

Tatoyan Vazgen
Public Radio of Armenia
Aug 30 2018
13:52, 30 Aug 2018

Today marks the International Day of the Disappeared aimed to raise awareness of governments, communities, media and public worldwide about the plight of people who went missing in conflicts and other circumstances, and the needs of their families. With 24 years passed since the signing of the ceasefire agreement on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, thousands of families of the missing are still waiting for news of their loved ones.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) acts as a neutral intermediary to support efforts of the conflict sides to determine the fate of those persons. In connection with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, there are over 4,500 missing people, both military and civilians, registered by the ICRC Delegations in Yerevan and Baku and its Mission in Nagorno-Karabakh. More than 400 of them were registered in Armenia. Since 2014, the organization has been collecting biological samples from the close relatives of the missing. In the future, in case of exhumation, these samples will serve as a complementary tool in identification of human remains.

The ICRC gives support to relatives of the missing by helping them improve access to medical, legal and administrative services. We provide economic and psychosocial assistance, and help with finding ways to commemorate their missing relatives and to sensitize communities around them.

“The needs of the families are the central focus of the ICRC”, says Dominique Liengme, head of ICRC Delegation in Armenia, “Families have the right to receive answers on the fate of their missing relatives. To ensure this right is the obligation of States under international humanitarian law. We stand ready to support the conflict sides to progress on this important humanitarian issue, and it is never too late or early to intensify efforts.”

The ICRC is a neutral, impartial and independent humanitarian organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and other violence. The organization has been carrying out humanitarian work in the region related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict since 1992.

Armenian Police finds Turkish entrepreneur under US investigation

Albert Nalbandian
MediaMax, Armenia
Aug 30 2018
 
 
Armenian Police finds Turkish entrepreneur under US investigation
 
 
Kevin Oksuz
 
Yerevan /Mediamax/. On August 29 the Armenian Police found Turkish Kevin Oksuz, who is under investigation of the United States of America. He aimed at involving in entrepreneurship in Armenia by founding an LLC and starting its operation.
 
According to the Armenian Police, on August 23 international search was announced against Kevin Oksuz, who is suspected in violating U.S. Code.
 
Kevin Oksuz was the President of Turkish-American and Eurasian public nonprofit organization, which aimed at establishing close relations between Turks and Americans, organizing trips to Turkey and Azerbaijan.
 
In 2013 Kevin Oksuz together with other individuals invited several Congressmen to a private trip to Azerbaijan and Turkey.
 
As the alleged organizer of the event, Kevin Oksuz introduced fake blanks to U.S. House Committee on Ethics, claiming that the organization wasn’t funded by any direct or indirect source.
 
It turned out that Kevin Oksuz’s organization did not in fact pay all expenses and received financing, including from Socar oil company, owned by Azerbaijani government.
 
It was also revealed that 9 Congressmen and 32 members of staff received presents of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
 
Kevin Oksuz has presented certain details.
He is detained