Author: Ani Tigranian

Armenia Withdraws From Eurovision, Greek-Armenian Singer Misses Opportunity Again

Ani Tigranian
Greek City Times
March 6 2021
by Paul Antonopoulos

Armenia has withdrawn from this years Eurovision competition, meaning Greek-Armenian Athena Manoukian, for the second year in a row, will not participate in the singing competition.

AMPTV said: “After careful and detailed discussions, the Public Television Company of Armenia has decided to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.

The television station considered that “the shortness of production time as well as other objective reasons […] make the proper participation of Armenia at ESC 2021 impossible.”

Martin Österdahl, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, said:

“The EBU (European Broadcasting Union) community is deeply sorry that AMPTV has decided to withdraw from participating in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

“Armenia have a great record at the Eurovision Song Contest and always bring excitement and quality performances to the stage.

“We understand the reasons for their withdrawal and we will miss their hard working and professional delegation in Rotterdam.

“We very much hope to welcome Armenia back in 2022.”

Manoukian, who was born in Athens, will once again miss out on participating in Eurovision as last year’s event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Athena Manoukian.

The 26-year-old was expected to perform her song “Chains On You.”

– Greek City Times

In 2018, Manoukian performed on The X Factor UK and impressed Ayda Field, Robbie Willians, Louis Tomlinson and most impressively, even Simon Cowell.

Earlier this year, she released the single “You Should Know.”

Asbarez: Burbank City Council Recognizes Artsakh; Rescinds Burbank-Hadrut Friendship City Status

Ani Tigranian

March 4, 2021



ANCA Burbank welcomed city council vote to recognize Artsakh

ANCA Burbank Commends the City Council and Welcomes the Move

BURBANK—The Burbank City Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to recognize Artsakh as an independent republic and at the same time rescinded the Burbank-Hadrut Friendship City status while the city remains under the illegal Azerbaijani occupation.

The Armenian National Committee of America Burbank chapter—representing the policy priorities of the city’s Armenian-American residents—has been advocating for the recognition of Artsakh Republic for months going back to the Azerbaijani-Turkish aggression against Armenia and Artsakh in September 2020.

“We thank the Burbank city council and the residents of Burbank for their continued strong support for the people of Artsakh in their struggle for freedom and self-determination,” said ANCA-Burbank chairman Sarkis Simonian.

“We also wish to thank Congressman Adam Schiff, California State Senator Anthony Portantino, State Assemblymember Laura Friedman, Burbank Human Relations Council, and many others who expressed their support by writing or calling the city council when they were approached by the ANCA Burbank,” added Simonian.

“Last night, the Burbank City Council took the difficult but necessary step of rescinding the official Friendship City status of Hadrut, and requested a resolution be brought back for further consideration to recognize the independent Republic of Artsakh. We deeply value the community input we received, and support our community members of Armenian heritage while hoping that peacekeeping efforts will lead to lasting stability in the Artsakh region,” remarked Burbank Mayor Bob Frutos.

“This was long overdue, we did the right thing by passing these two resolutions and sending a clear message that we will always stand up for the Armenian people and their right to freedom and self-determination which are ideals we live by here in Burbank. ANCA Burbank efforts in supporting the Armenian Community and Burbank in general are always valued and appreciated,” said Burbank Vice-Mayor Jess Talamantes.

“Last night, the Burbank City Council unanimously passed a Resolution Rescinding the Friendship City Status of the Town of Hadrut in Nagorno-Karabakh. I am grateful for the many Armenian members of the Burbank community, including the Armenian National Committee of America, who wrote and called the City Council encouraging us to take this crucial first step. This action will be incredibly meaningful to the Armenian members of our community who have been directly and indirectly impacted by the violence and loss of life stemming from the military aggression by Azerbaijan in the region,” noted Burbank Council member Nick Schultz.

“This is a strong message by the city of Burbank to the Azeri occupiers that the civilized world will not tolerate aggression and will not stand for the ethnic cleansing,” added Antranig Charshafjian of the Armenian Cultural Foundation Burbank chapter.

The Armenian National Committee of America – Burbank advances the social, economic, cultural, and political rights of the area’s Armenian community and promotes its increased civic participation at the grassroots and public policy levels.

Situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border remains stable

Ani Tigranian

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 18:01, 2 March, 2021

YEREVAN, MARCH 2, ARMENPRESS. A stable operational situation with no incidents has been maintained along the Armenian-Azerbaijani line of contact of the Armenian state border overnight March 1-2, the Defense Ministry of Armenia told ARMENPRESS.

According to the information provided by the Armenian National Security Service, no border incidents were registered in Vorotan-Davit Bek section of the Goris-Kapan inter-state road which is under the responsibility of the NSS border troops.

The Armed Forces of Armenia and the NSS border troops confidently control the border situation along the entire borderline.

Bizarre: Fly Armenia 737 Diverts To Iran, Goes “Missing”

Ani Tigranian
One Mile at a Times
March 2 2021
March 2, 2021 by Ben 19

Filed Under: Other Airlines

Well this is without a doubt the most interesting airline story of 2021, even though we actually have no clue what happened. 

Fly Armenia 737 Diverts To Iran, Goes “Missing” | One Mile at a Time

Fly Armenia Airways is a fairly new airline based in Yerevan, Armenia. The airline was founded in 2019, and only got its air operator certificate in 2020. The airline has a small fleet consisting of just two 737s:

  • There’s a 737-400 that’s 31 years old, with the registration code UR-CNP
  • There’s a 737-300 that’s 23 years old, with the registration code EK-FAA

Well, at the moment the carrier’s fleet is back down to one plane, as the 737-300 has gone missing in Iran. How could that happen? Well, on February 19 the plane was supposed to fly to Ukraine to undergo maintenance, after having been in storage for a while:

  • The plane took off from Tallinn, Estonia, where it had been stored; the destination was supposed to be Hostomel, Ukraine, where the plane was supposed to undergo maintenance
  • For unknown reasons, the plane instead flew to Varna, Bulgaria; this is especially strange because airplanes registered in Armenia are blacklisted from the European Union, so the plane shouldn’t have been allowed to fly there
  • The following day plans seemingly changed, and the decision was instead made to fly the plane to Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, for maintenance
  • The plane then “disappeared” over Iranian airspace, and interestingly Tehran had been listed as a diversion point for the pilots
  • Over Iranian airspace the crew declared an emergency — some sources suggest there was a technical issue, while other sources suggest there was a hijacking

It’s worth noting that flight tracking for this aircraft’s registration has intentionally been turned off, so it’s clear that something was being hidden here (and we’re not just talking about when the emergency was declared, but rather from the time the plane took off from Tallinn).

Today the airline posted the following message on Facebook, whatever the heck this means:

Fly Armenia 737 Diverts To Iran, Goes “Missing” | One Mile at a Time

Dear colleagues,

We inform you that today’s press conference will not be held. The reason for the delay of the press conference is not to arrive from the Islamic Republic of Iran. We apologize.

The leading theory as to what’s going on is that this was all an operation to try to sell a plane to an Iranian airline. Due to sanctions against Iran, Iranian airlines can’t purchase any planes with US-manufactured parts.

This is one of the reasons that Iranian airlines fly such ancient planes, which they largely purchase on the secondhand market through questionable means. That’s also why it seems likely that this is what’s going on here:

  • There’s simply no good explanation for the plane making an unscheduled stop in Bulgaria, then changing its flight plan, and then disappearing in Iran while claiming to be hijacked
  • One has to wonder to what extent Fly Armenia Airways is actually an airline, rather than a company with a different goal; the 737 that went “missing” has been in storage for a long time, while the other 737 has been operating flights on behalf of Yanair, a Ukrainian airline (though flight tracking shows the plane has largely been flying between Eritrea, Somalia, and Ethiopia)
  • Fly Armenia Airways only recently took delivery of this plane from GetJet, a questionable Lithuanian aircraft leasing company; was Fly Armenia Airways simply acting as a middle-man for this transaction?
  • There are reports that Iran’s Caspian Airlines plans to take delivery of a Boeing 737-300 soon, which might not be a coincidence

If this is in fact as it seems, was Fly Armenia Airways set up solely for this purpose, or what? Because realistically the airline is in a lot of trouble, having flown this plane into EU airspace, and then potentially supplying this plane to an Iranian airline, in violation of sanctions.

A Boeing 737-300 belonging to Fly Armenia Airways mysteriously went missing over Iran a bit over a week ago, and we haven’t heard anything about the plane since. While there’s a claim that there was an “emergency,” all signs point towards this being a creative way for an Iranian airline to buy a 737 and get around sanctions.

I guess we’ll see if a Caspian Airlines 737-300 magically enters service in the coming weeks…

Interesting stuff, or what?

Armen Minasyan: Ara Saghatelyan is a man who won information war against Azerbaijan

Ani Tigranian
Panorama, Armenia
Feb 23 2021

Employees of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) met with participants in a rally held in front of the NSS building on Tuesday in support of arrested former senior parliament staffer Ara Saghatelyan and asked them to hand over the books placed in front of the entrance of the building to the NSS reception.

One of the participants, political scientist Armen Minasyan, told reporters that the protest action was successful in some sense.

“You all know who Ara Saghatelyan is. Those gathered here are members of a team that took efforts to counteract the Azerbaijani propaganda, and led by Saghatelyan, carried out a great deal of work. It might sound kind of immodest, but I can say that we are talking about a person who won the information war against Azerbaijan before, during and after the April 2016 war,” said Armen Minasyan, who is an author and co-author of films exposing Azerbaijani lies.

Minasyan stressed that the rally is aimed to show that Ara Saghatelyan is the last person to be accused of negatively influencing the war. He considers it absurd that Saghatelyan is being accused of Armenia’s defeat in the recent Artsakh war. 

“Some act which has had a negative impact on the recent war is ascribed to him. The absurdity has reached the point where after assessing the outcomes of the war, the authorities decided that Ara Saghatelyan was to blame for the defeat. As if it was he who ordered the transfer of servicemen to frontlines by trucks, with the latter being killed in Bayraktar drone attacks halfway. We have ended up in this situation. Today a man has been arrested who, by his very nature and biography, cannot be accused of what he is being accused of,” he said.

Armen Minasyan, who was the deputy head of the Public Relations and Information Center SNCO during Saghatelyan’s tenure, noted that in those years a large analytical base was created, valuable books were published, films and websites were created that exposed the lies of the Azerbaijani propaganda. The materials collected and published by the center were used by the Foreign Ministry.

“They were also used by the current authorities, but this is what we got,” he said.

Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 18-02-21

Ani Tigranian

 17:20, 18 February, 2021

YEREVAN, 18 FEBUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 18 February, USD exchange rate up by 0.01 drams to 524.34 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 0.33 drams to 632.93 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.01 drams to 7.12 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 2.27 drams to 730.09 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 227.85 drams to 30018.9 drams. Silver price down by 7.75 drams to 457.1 drams. Platinum price down by 437.90 drams to 20886.96 drams.

Arrests taking place in Armenia ahead of opposition Saturday’s major rally: 4 people arrested

Ani Tigranian
News.am, Armenia
Feb 20 2021
Arrests taking place in Armenia ahead of opposition Saturday’s major rally: 4 people arrested
12:20, 20.02.2021

A number of people were detained Friday evening on suspicion of creating a fake account named Gagik Soghomonyan on Facebook.

Employees of the National Security Service detained the co-founder of Quartet Media Karen Bekaryan when he was home. A search was also carried out in the office of the former Chief of Staff of the Armenian National Assembly Ara Saghatelyan and two other adjacent offices, after which Ara Saghatelyan was brought to the National Security Service (NSS). Lawyer Mikael Shkhimyan wrote on his Facebook that his client, Mher Avagyan, was knocked to the ground and videotaped in the presence of the NSS building to stage a show.

Azerologist Anzhela Elibegova and constitutional expert Gohar Meloyan were also detained by the NSS but were later released. Friday night, Legal Way NGO co-founder Ruben Melikyan told reporters in front of the NSS building that Karen Bekaryan, Ara Saghatelyan, and Mher Avagyan had been arrested as well.

Immediately after this information became known, the fake user ‘Gagik Soghomonyan’ shared a post, shortly after which another person was arrested, Melikyan noted adding that the arrested person was also in the NSS building. Thus, the number of arrested has reached 4 at the moment.

    

Creation of interior ministry on agenda – Armenian PM on Police reforms

Ani Tigranian

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 15:09, 8 February, 2021

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. The issue of creating Ministry of Internal Affairs and Patrol police service is on the government’s agenda, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said at the consultation on Police reforms.

“We have talked many times that the judicial reforms are one of our most important actions for this year. In this context the Police reforms are also very important. The process of creating a Ministry of Internal Affairs is on our agenda. In line with this, we also must launch the creation of a Patrol police in Armenia this year. The process has already started, and today we should also discuss the urgent actions we need to take in this context so that this project will not be delayed further, because it has been postponed a little due to the war”, Pashinyan said.

The Armenian PM said this project should be implemented in 2021 as it has been planned.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Armenia-Russia-Azerbaijan government officials hold “expert subgroup” meeting on transport

Ani Tigranian

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 10:57, 9 February, 2021

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. The meeting of the expert subgroup on Railroad, Auto and Combined Transportation Issues of the deputy prime ministerial Armenia-Russia-Azerbaijan trilateral task force took place, the Armenian ministry of territorial administration and infrastructures said in a news release.

The meeting was held remotely.

Officials included in the relevant commissions of the three countries took part in the session.

Issues related to the condition of the existing railway network in the region for implementing transit transportation and the opportunities of automobile communication routes were observed. The sides exchanged preliminary viewpoints regarding these issues.

With results of the meeting, the subgroups will continue further discussions over the expert assessment.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Armenia government admits that it plans to lay off 10% of employees of state institutions

Ani Tigranian
News.am, Armenia
Feb 10 2021
20:07, 10.02.2021

The Government of Armenia will consider the possibility of cutting expenses for maintenance of the state apparatus. This is what Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan said in response to deputies’ questions during today’s question and answer session with government officials in parliament.

According to him, the government has data on the specific sectors in which shortcomings were recorded last year.

Grigoryan didn’t rule out layoffs of 10% of employees of state institutions, but failed to state the specific sectors. He also admitted that things were different when the parliament was considering the draft of the 2021 State Budget a few months ago.