Month: July 2022

The last fourth public discussion on the environmental impact assessment report on the open-cast mining at Armenia’s Meghrasar gold mine submitted by “At-Metals” LLC will take place in Syunik Province on August 3, EcoLur reported. 

Under the submitted project, the aforesaid company intends to extend the period of the mining permit for 6.76 years.

Under the project, the total area of land for mine operation is 73 hectares. The form of land use during construction and operation is laid down in the terms of the lease for a period of 7.5 years.

In the case of annual productivity of 50 thousand tons, the total amount of emissions will be 215.67 tons/year, out of which 82.15 tons/year will stem from explosions.

The company estimates the economic damage caused to the economy from emissions from the Meghrasar mine at ≈ AMD 34.43 million per year, and the stated amount does not cause any financial obligation. The impact on land resources caused by the economic activity of the enterprise is estimated at AMD 518.587 million per year, and the total economic damage from environmental pollution makes up AMD 554.93 million per year.

After Erdogan’s well-known words, it is an insult to human logic to say that Turkey does not have preconditions in its relations with Armenia. Political scientist Beniamin Matevosyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am this—and referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statement that Azerbaijan was the red line for Ankara from the very beginning in the process of normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations.

The political scientist is of the opinion that the more the process of Armenian-Turkish relations deepens, the demands increase that much more.

“Turkey implements its policy in our region through Azerbaijan, which is its proxy. An approach is widespread in the political-analytical circles of the authorities: compromises should be made to Azerbaijan, maybe the relations with Turkey will be normalized. The process of normalizing relations with concessions is a road of endless concessions. At the end of that road, the borders will not be opened, but the last page of Armenia will be closed,” he said.

Earlier, Serdar Kilic, Turkey’s special representative in negotiations for the normalization of relations with Armenia, had visited the Armenian-Turkish border. And on Tuesday, Eduard Aghajanyan, Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations of the National Assembly of Armenia, had assessed this visit positively and said that it speaks about the fact that the agreements are already entering the practical phase.

Beniamin Matevosyan, however, assures that new concessions will be extracted from Armenia in exchange for this visit.

“Until the substantive, political part of the issue is resolved, the Armenian-Turkish border will not be opened,” the political scientist concluded.

We are closely watching the unfolding situation in Armenia. Russian Foreign Ministry deputy director of department and press Ivan Nechaev said this when asked if Moscow thinks the Armenian authorities are persecuting pro-Russian activists in view of the situation around Mikayel Badalyan and the untimely death of producer Armen Grigoryan in the courtroom.

“We are sincerely interested in ensuring that our allied country develops in a stable and predictable manner in an atmosphere of peaceful and national harmony. All issues of inner-political life should be solved exclusively in the legal and constitutional framework within the framework of appropriate democratic procedures and, of course, without resorting to violence.

We welcome the call by a number of public and political figures in brotherly Armenia, among whom stands out Mika Badalyan, to develop and deepen our relations with Russia as a priority. We will continue to follow his case, as well as maintain close contacts with all responsible political forces in our friendly country. We are interested in the consolidation of the Armenian society, which would take into account the interests of all its groups. We attach great importance to further deepening of allied relations between Moscow and Yerevan, which is reflected in the joint statement adopted by the leaders of Russia and Armenia on April 19, 2022. At the request of Yerevan, Russia is ready to assist in solving problems facing the republic, including expert participation in the reforms of its system of state administration.

Recall that Mikayel Badalyan, head of the Azatagrum movement, was actively involved in the disobedience actions of the Resistance Movement. He was arrested on May 24 and charged with giving false information about terrorism. On July 18 his arrest was extended for another 20 days.

Last Friday,  Badalyan’s health condition rapidly deteriorated and he was taken to the Republican Hospital.

As previously reported, producer Armen Grigoryan died on July 15 during a court session. He had been kept under arrest since May 17 of this year, despite numerous signals that he had health problems which were incompatible with the conditions of his detention.

Armen Grigoryan was charged under Part 2 of Article 226 of the Criminal Code of Armenia for statements in an interview, where he called half of the residents of Shirak and the Ararat Valley “Turks”. We should also remind that international organizations have repeatedly criticized the criminalization of insult by the current Armenian authorities.

Political and public figure Avetik Chalabyan was released from Armavir penitentiary institution.

Chalabyan thanked all those present, the family members who supported him all this time, as well as the team of lawyers and media representatives.

“I want to thank all my like-minded people. We all, in fact, joined the fight for our homeland, for our ideals, for the realization of our aspirations, it just so happened that I was the victim this time, had to pay with my freedom. But I think that this is just a small episode on the panorama of a much bigger struggle, a struggle for which other people have lost their lives and their health. So I consider my small sacrifice as only a little crumb on the altar of my homeland,” he said.

Recall that Avetik Chalabyan is accused of attempting to financially interest students to participate in opposition rallies.

UN General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid deleted from his Twitter account the entry about his visit to Tsitsernakaberd.

Abdulla Shahid said in the post that he visited the memorial to the victims of the Armenian Genocide and laid a wreath. He also thanked the management of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute for organizing the tour.

The recording was deleted after the Turkish Foreign Ministry protested the visit of the chairman of the UN GA to the Genocide Memorial to the victims of the Armenian Genocide perpetrated in the Ottoman Empire.