Month: February 2020

Armenpress: In some countries of Council of Europe journalists have to face life threats – Armenian MP

Maral Chavushian

In some countries of Council of Europe journalists have to face life threats – Armenian MP

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 10:05, 29 January, 2020

YEREVAN, JANUARY 29, ARMENPRESS. In nowadays in many countries even in Council of Europe space journalists who dare to speak the truth have to face life threats, get arrested, harassed, member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, My Step faction MP of the Armenian parliament Tatev Hayrapetyan said in her speech at PACE.

“Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air. These words belong to Henry Anatole Grunwald who was an Austrian-born American journalist and diplomat. Yes, journalism is about speaking up the truth, however unfortunately in nowadays in many countries even in Council of Europe space journalists who dare to speak the truth have to face life threats, get arrested, harassed. The horrible case of Daphne Galizia is a vivid example and this report perfectly reflects that reality”, the MP said.

She said the Freedom House, which releases an annual report ranking countries based on “Freedom on the Net”, has ranked Armenia in eighth place. The 2019 report says that “In Armenia, positive changes unleashed by the 2018 Velvet Revolution continued, with reformist prime minister Nikol Pashinyan presiding over a reduction in restrictions on content and violations of users’ rights. In particular, violence against online journalists declined, and the digital news media enjoyed greater freedom from economic and political pressures”.

“I think the example of Armenia’s PM Nikol Pashinyan when from the outspoken criticizing journalist and opposition politician he became the leader of revolution and the head of the country obviously shows how important and reality changing journalism can be. However, we face serious problems with journalism in our neighboring countries, particularly in Azerbaijan and Turkey where situation with media is a topic of serious concern, which is also mentioned in the following report. In Azerbaijan the cases of Khadija Ismayilova, Afgan Mukhtarli, Mehman Huseynov obviously show how ruling family reacts to criticizing journalism and how dangerous it is to bring up questions and conduct investigations showing the corrupted reality of Azerbaijan”, MP Hayrapetyan said, adding: “Of course we can’t be silent and indifferent towards these cases. From one side we deal with human rights issue, from other side with freedom of speech. I hope as PACE members we should be the most possible to be the guarantors of media freedom, we should be watchdogs towards member countries and make respective measures to prevent the persecutions against the journalists. So either we speak up today and do our best to put a stop to this trend or we will have to face the repetitions of such terrible cases in future. We have already chosen the first path and we need to be committed to this”.

Armenpress: “Armenia’s antisemitism? The truth is different” – The Jerusalem Post

Eduard Nalbandian

“Armenia’s antisemitism? The truth is different” – The Jerusalem Post

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 09:54, 29 January, 2020

YEREVAN, JANUARY 29, ARMENPRESS. Professor Yoav Loeff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who teaches Armenian history and culture at the University, recently published a detailed analysis in The Jerusalem Post, denying the fake claims of an anti-Armenian article published recently in the same newspaper obviously by the order of Azerbaijan.

The anti-Armenian article has been published in The Jerusalem Post on January 21, the author is Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman who regularly publishes articles praising Azerbaijan.

In his article published on January 28 Professor Yoav Loeff clearly states that Hoffman has not only used facts selectively, but even with some significant inaccuracies.

Professor Yoav Loeff in his article attaches importance to the fact that the President of Armenia participated in the recent World Holocaust Forum in Israel, then he passes to the topic relating to Garegin Nzhdeh, stating that the latter is a hero in Armenia not for cooperating with the Nazi Germany, but for fighting against the Ottoman Empire, later also against Azerbaijan for the independence of Armenia.  

ARMENPRESS presents partially Professor Yoav Loeff’s article:

“The article [of Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman] opens with the monument of Garegin Nzhdeh in Yerevan, giving the impression that the “antisemitic” Armenians chose to glorify his heritage as a Nazi collaborator. But Nzhdeh was first and foremost a military hero and a central leader of the Armenian liberation movement who sought to achieve independence for his nation after hundreds of years of occupation. He fought against the Ottoman Empire when it systematically slaughtered its own Armenian minority and played a major role in the establishment of the First Republic of Armenia (1918-1920) which, post-genocide, gave the suffering Armenian nation a short period of renewed hope.

That hope was brutally cut off by invasion by the Red Army in 1920, and the fledgling Republic of Armenia was annexed by the Soviet Union. During that invasion, Nzhdeh led a struggle to prevent a Soviet attempt to hand over major areas in the south of Armenia to the newly established Azerbaijan, a country that was created by the Soviets. That struggle was partially successful, though two historically Armenian areas, Nagorno-Karabakh and Nachichevan (Nzhdeh’s birthplace) were handed to the Azeris [Soviet Azerbaijan] as part of the Soviet policy of “divide-and-rule”.

It is true that Nzhdeh joined the army of Nazi Germany where he served for a short period. There is no justification for that collaboration, though it is quite clear that his motivation in joining the Wehrmacht had nothing to do with antisemitism, but an unrealistic hope that this collaboration might have led to re-liberation of the Armenian people.

Hundreds of thousands of Armenians served in the Soviet Army and took an active part in the victory against the Nazis. Nzhdeh is not praised in Armenia for his collaboration with the Nazis, but for his unceasing, lifelong struggle to liberate the Armenian people.

Jaffe-Hoffman goes on with her theory about antisemitism in Armenia. I travel quite a lot all over Armenia, both on my own and with other Jews and Israelis. I always make it clear that I am a Jew and an Israeli, and never heard a hint of antisemitic _expression_. If there is some criticism, it is usually about Israel’s hesitation to recognize the Armenian genocide that was perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire and led to the extermination of some 1.5 million Armenians during WW1, and was a kind of a “general rehearsal” for the Holocaust.

The other criticism is about Israel’s alliance with the Azeri dictatorship, Armenia’s enemy… Armenia’s small Jewish community never suffered antisemitism in their adopted homeland…

Jaffe-Hoffman refers to what she calls the “brutal invasion” of Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenia. She “forgets” to mention that this region has been inhabited since antiquity mainly by Armenians. They were still the majority there even after 70 years of Soviet Azeri sovereignty and Azeris striving to change that demographic situation.

She also ignores the fact that Karabakh’s Armenians demanded liberation after a long history of pogroms by Azeris in Baku, Shushi, Sumgait and other places, starting in the early 1900s, then around 1920, and again in 1988. History is a wonderful Hollywood-style movie with clear distinction between good guys and bad guys when you ignore facts that do not support your thesis.

I will conclude with drawing the attention to three facts. The first is that for many years now there is a monument standing in the heart of Yerevan with inscriptions in Hebrew and Armenian, commemorating both the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide. Unfortunately, there is no parallel such monument in Israel.

Second, Armenia sent its highest-ranking citizen to the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem, H.E. Armen Sarkissian, the president of Armenia.

The third is that Armenia has decided to open an embassy in Israel soon, regardless of whether Israel opens one in Yerevan. There could be no clearer statements that Armenia opposes anti-Semitism”.

President of Artsakh receives Chief of General Staff of Armenian Armed Forces

Arpi Talalian

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 10:27, 29 January, 2020

YEREVAN, JANUARY 29, ARMENPRESS. Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received on January 29 Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia Artak Davtyan, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.

Issues related to army building and cooperation between the two Armenian states in the sphere were on the discussion agenda.

Artsakh Republic defense minister Karen Abrahamyan also attended the meeting.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan




Artsakh soldier hospitalized for gunshot wound

Emil Lazarian

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 10:46, 29 January, 2020

STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 29, ARMENPRESS. An on-duty serviceman of the Artsakh military has sustained a gunshot wound in unknown circumstances around 02:55, January 28 in a military base located in the country’s south-eastern direction.

The Ministry of Defense of Artsakh said 20 year old Nver Avetisyan was immediately taken to a military hospital and is currently in serious condition.

An investigation is underway to determine the circumstances of the incident.

 

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan




Serzh Sargsyan indictment approved and sent to court

Arpi Talalian

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 11:16, 29 January, 2020

YEREVAN, JANUARY 29, ARMENPRESS. The General Prosecution has approved the indictment of ex-president Serzh Sargsyan and it has been sent to the Yerevan First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction, General Prosecution spokesperson Arevik Khachatryan told ARMENPRESS.

The former president was charged with embezzlement in December 2019 and a court imposed a signature bond as bail.   Former agriculture minister Sergo Karapetyan, businessman Barsegh Beglaryan and several others are also charged in the same case. Sargsyan is suspected in abuse of power and embezzlement of nearly half a billion drams during his tenure as president through the businessman.

 

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan




Seed to Table: Yeremyan Projects-Armenia’s top restaurant company introduces its innovative concept

Chmshkian Vicken

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 12:18, 29 January, 2020

YEREVAN, JANUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. Yeremyan Projects, the leading restaurant business company representing the most favourite and well-known Armenian restaurant brands of Yerevan citizens and tourists (“Tavern Yerevan”  chain of restaurants, “Yerevani Shaurma”  fast food restaurant chain, “Lavash, “Sherep, “Pandok Yerevan Reverside, “Smoking Chef, “Livingston”  restaurants),  has recapped 2019 by signalling the company’s new business development strategy and the new “From Seed to Table” concept.

We have talked with Yeremyan Projects  General Director Davit Yeremyan about the investments made in the agricultural sector, the development of farming businesses, ensuring healthy and organic food, the company’s business model and vision and the peculiarities and advantages of the From Seed To Table concept.

New Decade with New Concept: From Seed to Table

Since the very first day of operations, Yeremyan Projects adopted a clear principle: we work only with high-quality products. Today, ensuring a regular supply of high-quality natural products is a complicated process, and we proposed our strategic approach for solving this problem.

In 2019 our company implemented two major projects in the livestock sector. The goal was to lay the foundation for our company’s new business development concept and try to ensure an entirely closed-cycle for our organization’s operations.  

We opened a pig farm in Dilijan; we imported purebred Canadian types of pig breeds – Landrace, Yorkshire and Duroc. We have 380 sows on the farm and total productivity of 10000 pigs a year. The farm can house between 3,5 to 4 thousand pigs at once.

We have launched a livestock farm in Jermuk also, where cattle – purebred Fleckvieh, Holstein and angus – are kept. Today we have 320 dairy cattle and 100 beef cattle types here, and during this time we have already had 120 calves.  In terms of milk production, the figures are very impressive – 3000 litres of milk a day, the cattle farm’s yearly result is 1 050 000 litres of milk and 270 calves.

These figures aren’t presented coincidentally. For many years a stereotype has been intentionally or unintentionally circulating in Armenia claiming that agriculture is a non-profitable and costly business. Basically, we proved otherwise with the examples of our two farms. Thanks to effective management, accurate calculations and sophisticated organization of work we already have results today.

Our farms comply with all international standards of production and quality. From this perspective, our farm is exemplary for those carrying out similar activities or business, and we are sincerely willing to share our experience. We started a very important process by launching the feed mill , which enabled us to ensure that the feed supplied to the farms is ecologically clean, selected from correct ingredients and has passed special processing.

At our farms, animals aren’t simply well fed; they are kept in high-level sanitary conditions: disinfection, automated water supply systems, filters, powerful air conditioning.

In addition, we have a genetic laboratory, a powerful refrigerating business in the farms, and we have also built a slaughterhouse in line with all sanitary-hygienic norms.

For quality control:

Through opening the livestock farms, we are factually able to supervise the quality of the meat and dairy supplied to our restaurants. In addition to this, our goal was to create an exemplary business in Armenia, which can boost the development of farming businesses and, of course, develop local production.

The next important step for realizing our new development concept “From Seed to Table” was the re-launch project of the “Artsakh” kitchen-plant. We are completely re-constructing and upgrading it. We have added 3000 square meters of territory to the kitchen-factory’s area, we have founded and launched three new plants – milk production, sausage production and cannery. We have also increased the number of personnel – approximately 50-100 new workplaces.

Entirely closed-cycle: Final Touch

Overall, these projects required 5 million dollars in investments, but the result is invaluable – basically, we laid the foundation and launched the new business model of our organization’s future by ensuring an entirely closed cycle.

Look, today we are able to get the most sophisticated, most delicious meals in our restaurants from the very seed itself.  This is the essence of the From Seed to Table concept, a model which isn’t quite popular, and very few organizations around the world are guided by such an approach.

We are sowing the seeds, from which we get the animal feed, which then undergoes respective processing in the feed mill and is supplied to the livestock in the farms. The meat and dairy are then transported to the “Artsakh” kitchen-factory where it undergoes necessary processing and gets supplied to restaurants and handed over to the skilled and talented chefs.

Dream Academy

Let me speak about the chefs in more details. This complete cycle model of our business-development has another important circle, which was also one of the most demanded and interesting projects of 2019 of our company: the Yeremyan Projects Culinary Art and Hospitality Academy, which is the exclusive partner of Great Britain’s City of Oxford College.

Today the Academy is responsible for shaping new, professional staff, relaying modern and in-demand skills to our cooks and training them. The Academy hasn’t marked its first anniversary yet but already has graduates of a number of programs which have joined both Yeremyan Projects and the staff of HoReCa companies in the country.

So, by completing our business model, we are basically creating vertical expansion opportunities for our future development. We will open new conceptual restaurants in the future, we will increase agricultural projects, and this will all find its rightful place in our value chain. We already have very bold projects, and I can clearly say that 2020 will be a breakthrough.

United Arab Emirates confirms first coronavirus case

Jirair Kafian

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 13:07, 29 January, 2020

YEREVAN, JANUARY 29, ARMENPRESS. The United Arab Emirates has confirmed its first coronavirus cases, the Arab News newspaper reported.

The Emirati healthcare ministry has said the infected patients are a family from Hubei, the Chinese province which is the epicenter of the outbreak. The local authorities did not specify the exact number of the infected patients but said all are in stable condition.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

Georgia temporarily suspends direct flights with China to prevent spread of coronavirus

Kalantarian Kevo

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 13:09, 29 January, 2020

YEREVAN, JANUARY 29, ARMENPRESS. Georgia suspended direct flights with China until March 29 to prevent the possible spread of Chinese coronavirus in the country, the Georgian Civil Aviation Agency said, reports TASS.

The Chinese aviation authorities and respective air companies have been notified about the flight suspension.

The GCAA said this decision may be revised based on the spread rates of coronavirus.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan




British Airways suspends Chine flights as coronavirus spreads

Garnik Zakarian

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 13:42, 29 January, 2020

YEREVAN, JANUARY 29, ARMENPRESS. British Airways suspended all flights between the United Kingdom and China due to the new coronavirus outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan, reports TASS.

The company made the respective decision following the statement of the UK foreign office.

“We have suspended all flights to and from mainland China with immediate effect following advice from the Foreign Office against all but essential travel”, the company said.

The UK’s Foreign Office warned people against traveling to mainland China in all but essential cases.