The head coach of the Armenian national team Joaquin Caparros explained why he didn’t call Roma midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan to the Armenian national team.
The national team of Armenia is preparing for the UEFA Nations League clashes against the national teams of North Macedonia and Estonia. Earlier, Caparros announced the starting lineup.
“”First of all, I would like to speak about the reasons of Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s absence. He spoke to me on the phone and told me that he could not join the national team at the moment. Last time he played was against Sevilla on August 6, he is on vacation nor, hasn’t trained and is not fit. Henrikh added, that he could not fully show his abilities and promised to join national team in October and make a full contribution to the team.
I spoke to Gevorg Ghazaryan and Sargis Adamyan as well. Unfortunately Gevorg is is injured, while Sargis is on his way to recover. We don’t want to risk and decided not to call them this time.
The new players were invited because they deserved it. We have watched a lot of games in the stadiums or on TV. All of them are very competetive and simplu the best in their positions. I have spoken to all of them and know everything about their abilities.
We are in a permanent touch with Armenian U-21 head coach Antonio Flores. We have a list of 60 players who are canidadates for the national team. The decision of having 2 Armenian players in the teams’ squads, made by FFA will have its positive impact as well. I think, that the list is optimal, taking into account all the circumstances,” the Football Federation of Armenia Caparros.
ANN/Armenian News Week in Review – 08/30/2020
Armenian News Network / Armenian News
Armenian News: Week in Review
ANN/Armenian News
Table of Contents
Introduction
Subscribe and Listen to us on…
Your Hosts
Resident Panelists
Lightning Round
Armenian POW Gurgen Alaverdyan
Armenia’s Humanitarian Aid to Aleppo
Serge Sargsyan’s Interview and the Four-Day War Deliberations
National Awards
Vagharshak Harutyunyan appointed chief advisor to PM Pashinyan
Headlines in the News
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Greece / Turkey in the Eastern Med
People in the News
Vartan Kupelian
Eva Gevorgyan
Wrap-up
Hello, and welcome to Armenian News Network, Armenian News, Week in Review.
Before we begin, we appreciate your help in reaching a wider audience, so please don’t forget to subscribe and like us on whatever platform you’re using to listen to us. Also help spread the word by sharing this podcast on your social media channels. Thanks in advance.
In this episode, our resident panelists address a number of topics that have been popular in the headlines in the past week:
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We begin with Armenian POW Gurgen Alaverdyan, covering the details around his capture as well as the fate of other POWs and civilian captives currently in Baku;
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We’ll discuss Armenia’s Humanitarian Aid to Aleppo within the wider context of Armenia’s foreign policy;
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Serge Sargsyan’s press conference on the events surrounding the April 2016 war made a lot of headlines this week. We’ll try to filter out the PR spin and understand the objective facts surrounding this topic;
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We’ll take a look at Armenia’s, and Artsakh’s policy around handing out national awards;
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And finally, Vagharshak Harutyunyan was appointed as chief advisor to Nikol Pashinyan. Who is he and what is the significance of this appointment?
YouTube Apple Google Spotify Facebook
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Hovik Manucharyan
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Asbed Bedrossian
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Asbed Kotchikian
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Emil Sanamyan
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Alen Zamanyan
Welcome to our Week in Review everyone. We’re joined today by our resident panelists, Asbed Kotchikian, Emil Sanamyan and Alen Zamanyan.
Asbed Kotchikian is a senior lecturer of political science and international relations at Bentley University in Massachusetts.
Emil Sanamyan is a senior research fellow at USC’s Institute of Armenian Studies specializing in politics in the Caucasus, with a special focus on Azerbaijan.
Alen Zamanyan is a software engineer in Los Angeles, who follows and has analyzed Armenian affairs for over a decade.
Hello and welcome everyone!
Last weekend Armenian army officer Gurgen Alaverdyan was captured near the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Armenia claims that Alaverdyan got lost in very bad weather, while Azerbaijan claims that they thwarted a commando raid into their territory. It is notable that this incident happened during Russian DM Shoigu’s visit to Baku.
In recents weeks, Syria in general and Aleppo in specific witnessed a steep rise in Covid-19 cases while dealing with severe shortages of medical supplies. The Armenian community left in the city has also been hit by the pandemic. Armenia delivered 2 tons of medical supplies for Aleppo hospitals, after it provided 12 tons of medical and food supplies to the survivors of the Beirut explosion. How can we evaluate Armenia’s new humanitarian foreign policy?
Last week former president Serge Sargsyan finally gave his press conference where he discussed his thoughts about the April 2016 war. There has been a lot of vitriol in Armenian media about this topic and frankly it’s distressing to see so much partisanship injected in a matter of such high national security value.
So this week I noticed many articles about various awards being awarded to military officers, or citizens.
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April 2016 War hero Capt. Urfanyan will receive a posthumous Hero of Artsakh title;
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Arthur Mkrtchyan will receive a Hero of Artsakh award by the Pres. of Artsak;
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Captain Ruben Sanamyan will be awarded with the title of National Hero;
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Four more servicemen back in July, posthumously;
…and many more. What is the history and background for these awards? Why are they important? Why now?
On August 18, former Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan was appointed by Prime Minister Pashinyan as his Chief Advisor. There wasn’t a lot of media coverage on this other than the news of the appointment itself. Who is Vagharshak Harutyunyan? What is the significance of his appointment?
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The gross salary fund of employed citizens in Armenia was AMD 127.4 billion in July 2020, up from 120.8 in June 2020, and from 117.6 in July 2019. This is the payroll base upon which income tax is calculated.
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The Armenian military launches planned command-staff exercises
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Iran’s has announced that its next presidential election will be held on June 18, 2021
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USAID has announced additional assistance to Armenia to respond to COVID-19 – $1.436 million.
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The Oldest Armenian Church in Bulgaria marks 400th anniversary
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Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) will modernize Armenia’s fleet of SU-25’s. In addition, Russian and Armenian DM’s are discussing an additional batch of Su-30SM generation 4+ fighters for the Armenian Defense forces.
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The annual Mass at the Holy Cross Armenian Church on Akhtamar Island will be held behind closed doors this year due to safety concerns.
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12 teams have qualified for the next stage of the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad Top Division: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, China, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and USA. Play-off starts on Aug 27.
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Armenians and Azerbaijanis clash in Javakhk due to grazing rights of sheep
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Australian MP Trent Zimmerman has condemned Azerbaijani aggression and nuclear threat against Armenia
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Lydian Armenia files lawsuit against MP Arman Babajanyan for slander. Meanwhile, a Lydian Armenia security subcontractor may lose its license due to illegal possession of firearms.
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A June poll conducted by the World Bank shows that 54% of Armenians say that they’re financially worse off since the pandemic started; 51% of parents also report that they would send their children to school amidst the pandemic; and 66% of respondents consider that economic considerations should prevail over health ones.
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Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense has claimed to have captured an Armenian soldier who crossed from Nagorno-Karabakh into Azerbaijan’s Goranboy District. Armenia’s Defense Ministry said the junior officer, Gurgen Alaverdian, lost his way due to “extremely unfavorable weather conditions” as he was about to inspect an Armenian frontline position.
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Berlin will become the second European capital after Paris to host a TUMO center, a free innovative digital school for young people.
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A protest rally in front of Ministry of Education demanded Minister Arayik Harutyunyan`s resignation
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The official Facebook page of the RA Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan is no longer available, earlier the Minister also closed his personal Facebook page.
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Due to popular demand, the Dali & Picasso exhibit at the National Gallery has been extended until August 30.
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Caucasus Wildlife Fund transfers about 87 thousand euros to Khosrov Forest Reserve, for a total of 180 so far in 2020.
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Robert Kocharyan has sued the Armenian government for breach of privacy: AMD 2 Mil.
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Valer Karbalevich gives an analytical update of the ongoing protests in Belarus.
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Turkey has successfully tested a heavy-duty reconnaissance drone and is ready to produce and export them to Azerbaijan.
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Healthcare Minister Arsen Torosyan will take a vacation from Aug.31 to Sep. 18. His deputy Anahit Avanesyan will replace him during the vacation. There are reports of a heated argument between Torosyan and Pachinyan.
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The planned preventive maintenance (PPM) of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant 3rd Power Unit’s 3rd and 4th turbo generators has been completed and the facility was re-connected to the country’s unified energy system.
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China is using Azerbaijan to open up access for belt and road projects. The main project involving Azerbaijan is the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, a land transport network stretching from China and Southeast Asia to Europe.
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US Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) has joined the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues.
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Belarusian agricultural machinery manufacturer Gomselmash has made the first supplies of grain harvesters GS12A1 to Armenia.
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Israeli Historian Stefan Ihrig to speak on “the Armenian Genocide and the 20th Century” at 5pm EDT on August 30.
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The families of two Lebanese-Armenian doctors have moved to Shushi city.
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President of Artsakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan will award Arthur Mkrtchyan the title of Hero of Artsakh posthumously.
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Aeroflot will start operating 2 flights a week from Yerevan
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A gas explosion in an apartment building in Yerevan has caused the building to partially collapse.
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Vahe Jilavyan has been appointed acting deputy minister of environment.
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Armenia has made progress in list of highly digitized government countries
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Armenia’s national postal operator Haypost is launching subsidiaries in China, US and Russia.
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Environment Minister orders immediate investigations over killing of endangered brown bear cub.
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Armenia school children will remain in classrooms during recess as precaution against COVID-19.
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In Chess, Carlsen, Kasparov Will Clash For The 1st Time In 16 Years, during September.
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Georgia and NATO countries will launch multinational military exercise in September.
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With a market value of €20m, Henrikh Mkhitaryan is ranked number 1 among all players from Armenia and 372nd worldwide. He is ranked 30th among attacking midfielders.
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As part of Army-2020, An air show and a ground display of aviation equipment will take place at Erebuni Airport in Yerevan on August 28..
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The MoD has called for the creation of a nationwide militia that would reinforce Armenia’s armed forces in times of war.
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Former finance minister Gagik Khachatrian and his nephew went on trial on August 26, one year after being arrested on corruption charges.
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Economic activity index increased by 9.7% in July compared with June. But the January-July economic activity index declined 5.7% YoY 2019.
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DM Tonoyan condemned footage released by Azerbaijan about officer Gurgen Alaverdyan, in a conversation with Kasprzyk.
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TUMO center opened in the Russian capital, Moscow on August 26.
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The government signaled that it plans to lift a state of emergency when it expires on Sept. 11. The PM’s cabinet has approved powers to manage the situation without a state of emergency.
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Horasis China Meeting 2020 in Armenia delayed due to COVID-19, will take place in 2021.
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2016 April War hero Capt. Urfanyan will receive posthumous Hero of Artsakh title.
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Heart Surgeon Hrayr Hovagimian Awarded Title of Armenia’s “National Hero”.
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Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not join the national team for the upcoming UEFA Nations League matches. He has not played since early August and is not in top shape for the first round.
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Nine more Lebanese Armenian families will settle in Artsakh, Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan informs.
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The government will Relocate the Armenian Village of Jradzor to accommodate an Irrigation Dam.
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Acting deputy minister of environment Vardan Melikyan has been relieved from the position.
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On the occasion of the Emirati Women’s Day, an online discussion titled Women’s Empowerment in the UAE was held with the participation of Emirati and Armenian women diplomats and politicians.
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DM Tonoyan awarded Russian servicemen for major work aimed at preventing COVID-19.
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The NSS said “thief-in-law” crime boss Gevorg “Oshakantsi Gevorik” Melikyan has been jailed amid an ongoing criminal investigation.
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Armenia withdrew from the FIDE online Chess Olympiad semis, after its appeal over one of its players losing their game due to a bad Internet connection was rejected. India will enter the playoffs in place of Armenia.
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Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory (BAO) of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences has initiated the creation of an Astro Tourism Webpage for the region.
The Greece vs. Turkey animosity has been escalating in the past weeks. We will dedicate a section here to the headlines we’ve seen building:
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The Drilling Wars of the Mediterranean, Explained
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Turkey continues violating Greek airspace despite the lira tumbling
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While Turkey Provokes Greece, NATO, EU Look The Other Way
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Greece-Egypt EEZ deal doesn’t sit easy with Turkey
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Greece & Cyprus call for EU help over Mediterranean resource row with Turkey, but Brussels shows a lack of spine – as always
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Greece is once again on high alert after Turkey sent ships to conduct energy research and exploration in an area within Greece’s continental shelf
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Turkey marks 100 years since Treaty of Sèvres with renewed hostilities against Greece
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Mediterranean WAR: Greece and Turkey on collision course as furious Athens attacks Erdogan
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Israel stands behind Greece in escalating energy dispute with Turkey.
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Armenia reiterates unequivocal solidarity with Greece and Cyprus
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Erdoğan is both a bully and a menace. Europe ignores him at its peril
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Azerbaijan backs Turkey’s activities in Eastern Med
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‘This isn’t Lake Sevan’ – Turkish FM reacts harshly to Armenia’s statement on former’s exploration in Mediterranean
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Cyberwar resumes as Anonymous Greece brings down several Turkish websites
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Kurdish rebel leader: Erdoğan created a crisis with Greece because he could not defeat us
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Armenia, Turkey Exchange More Diplomatic Salvos Over Regional Affairs
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Turkey-Greece conflict in eastern Mediterranean is less about gas than vacuum left by Trump
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If Trump says Erdoğan listens to him, why hasn’t he demanded Turkey end hostilities with Greece?
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Trump says Biden can’t stand up to ‘world-class chess player’ Erdoğan
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Greece-US Relations? No Conflict Here, Trump is Erdogan’s Guy
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US Warship Arrives in Crete as Greece-Turkey Standoff Escalates
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Retired Turkish General: Do not underestimate the Greeks, they can attack Ankara (VIDEO)
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Greece must prepare for the worst
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Turkey’s maritime doctrine author has dire warning for France
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Nordic Monitor: Turkish intelligence recruit assets from Greece’s Muslim Minority to spy
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Turkey extends seismic survey in Eastern Mediterranean as tension with Greece escalates
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Israeli military and intelligence assessments see Turkey as growing threat
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Greece to conduct military exercises in east Med amid tension with Turkey
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Greece may talk to Turkey, but not under ‘military pressure’, Athens says as rival drills begin in Eastern Mediterranean
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Turkey-Greece rival military exercises due as oil tensions rise
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Greece, France and Cyprus to conduct joint 3-day exercise
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Germany urges Greece-Turkey talks to avoid ‘catastrophe’ in East Med
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Greece plans to extend fence along Turkish border
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Erdogan warns Greece that Turkey will ‘never compromise’ on Mediterranean energy reserves
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EU weighs options to pull Greece and Turkey back from brink
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The Eastern Mediterranean tinderbox: Why Greek-Turkish rivalries have expanded
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The Brief – The EU faces ‘brain death’ over Turkey.
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East Med naval manoeuvres widen to Cyprus as U.S., Germany warn Turkey
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Turkey will keep searching for oil & gas in Mediterranean, attempts to turn it away are ‘pipe dreams’ – defense chief.
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Turkey, US conduct joint military exercise in East Med.
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Greece v Turkey latest: Ankara issues war warning over Athens’ plot to extend waters.
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Turkey Seeks to Sideline EU in Maritime Disputes With Greece.
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Europe’s tense standoffs with Turkey and Russia.
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EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN: Turkey announces new gunnery drill after naval exercises with US, Italy
Vartan Kupelian, a long-time Detroit News reporter who spent decades as one of the most respected golf writers in the country and who figured he had covered 168 major championships spanning all the tours throughout his career, died on August 20. He was 73.
Pianist Eva Gevorgyan won 1st Grand Prize at Chicago International Music Competition which was held July 25 – August 25, 2020 online.
That concludes our program for this week’s Armenian News Week in Review. We look forward to your feedback and suggestions for issues you’d like to hear us cover. Contact us on our website, at Armenian News.org, or on our Facebook Page “ANN – Armenian News”, or in our Facebook Group “Armenian News – Armenian News Network”.
Special thanks to Laura Osborn for providing the music for our podcast. I’m Hovik Manucharyan, and on behalf of everyone in this episode, I wish you a good week. Thank you for listening, and talk to you next week.
Healthcare Minister takes vacation from Aug.31 to Sep. 18
14:28,
YEREVAN, AUGUST 25, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has signed an order August 25 authorizing a brief vacation from August 31 to September 18 for Health Minister Arsen Torosyan, the government reported at e-gov.am.
Torosyan’s deputy Anahit Avanesyan will replace him during the vacation.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
Armenian President congratulates Ukrainian counterpart on national day
14:26,
YEREVAN, AUGUST 24, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian sent a congratulatory letter to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on the country’s national day – the Independence Day, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.
“I am confident that with joint efforts we will be able to expand the agenda of the Armenian-Ukrainian relations and mutually beneficial cooperation”, the Armenian President said in his letter.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
Belarusians can learn a lot from Armenia’s Velvet Revolution
First batch of Armenian-made Kalashnikov rifles ready to be delivered to the Army
Film: Oscar-nominated Filmmaker Atom Egoyan Explores Grief, Guilt In ‘Guest Of Honour’
In the sprawling melodrama Guest of Honour, Oscar-nominated writer and director Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter) tells the story of Jim (David Thewlis), a health code inspector whose daughter, Veronica (Laysla De Oliveira), is accused of a crime she didn’t commit.
The screenplay, which is nonlinear like many of Egoyan’s previous films, skips back and forth to reveal a narrative centered on hefty themes like memory, guilt and grief and the relationship between a father and daughter that is tearing from the seams.
While the dramatic elements are plentiful and much too complicated to delve into fully, some of the most fascinating scenes of Guest of Honour are the moments viewers get to see Jim inside the restaurants he is scoring on their cleanliness and safety. It is a profession Egoyan found fascinating because of the difference between Jim’s job responsibilities and how he handles his day-to-day life.
“[Jim] goes into these places to see that they are conforming to code and following rules,” Egoyan said in an interview by phone last month. “He sees that a way of managing all these divergent cultures and traditions is somehow only possible if being regulated. Meanwhile, he’s dealing with a mess of things in his own life that have not been tended to properly.”
It is during these restaurant inspections that Jim, while his life is far from perfect, can dictate what it means for the owners of these venues to be able to continue operating their businesses. He takes his job seriously and it shows in the attention to detail he gives each establishment he visits.
“There is something that gives him space to reflect on his life,” Egoyan said. “He’s very obsessive about his work. It’s an outlet for these other issues that he’s dealing with.”
Grief is one of those issues. It’s a subject Egoyan has confronted many times before, including in dramas like 1997’s The Sweet Hereafter, which tells the story of a horrific school bus accident in a small town; 2002’s Ararat about the Armenian genocide; and 2008’s Adoration, a film based partly on the true story of a failed terrorist bombing on a flight to Tel Aviv from London in 1986. As a writer who is Armenian, Egoyan said there is already a natural “backdrop of extreme grief” present when he starts to tap into a script’s difficult emotions.
“Then, there are the people that you lose on the way [and] the relationships you have,” he said. “All the normal things that I think call to the sense of how frail the connection we have to each other actually might be and how important it is to hold onto every moment as long as possible.”
Although Egoyan has not found the same level of critical acclaim that he did for The Sweet Hereafter 23 years ago, he considers it a film so special that it would be impossible to recreate.
“I was at a certain point in my life and a certain point in my creative development,” he said. “There were things that I explored and not explored. I got to explore them with a cast that I completely trusted. All those things come together and you feel it.”
Guest of Honour is currently available for purchase on Blu-ray, as well as rental on VOD platforms, including iTunes and Amazon Prime.
Kiko Martinez is a film journalist and critic based in San Antonio, Texas.
Coronavirus: Armenian Doctors Fuel Fake News
Anahit Martirosyan recently recovered from coronavirus. But the 48-year-old, who lives in the city of Echmiadzin in western Armenia, did not actually believe that the virus was even real until she became infected herself.
“I went out without a face mask and I thought that the problem did not exist in reality,” she said. “I believed officials and doctors who were, and still are, agitating against wearing face masks and lockdown measures, on the grounds that Covid-19 is a myth. I didn’t know that doctors could also spread disinformation.”
Martirosyan ended up developing severe bilateral pneumonia.
She was just one of thousands of Armenians who have fallen victim to fake news stories that spread about Covid-19. Disinformation and unverified facts have become a serious danger to public health.
These false narratives also come from people seen as having expertise on the subject.
Marina Khachatryan, a neurosurgeon and former member of the Yerevan Council of Elders who now heads the Healthy Society NGO, initially claimed that the coronavirus was a part of a conspiracy led by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and later linked it to the 5G system.
In May, Khachatryan organised a Yerevan march to identify 5G stations that had apparently been secretly installed during quarantine. All three Armenian telecoms operators subsequently issued a statement claiming that there was no 5G network in Armenia.
In June, she initiated an online petition against compulsory vaccination.
“The vaccine will be deadly,” Khachatryan said. “Soon, according to my information, the minister of health will present a draft law on compulsory vaccination.”
The head of local NGO the Paracelius Medical Center Nune Nersisyan also openly questions the danger of the virus.
“I don’t wear a mask, I only advise infected people to wear it,” she said. “Masks cause allergies, cardiovascular problems, eczema, rashes, the cases of fungal diseases have increased. I want to understand whether they are trying to protect people with these masks or increase the rate of incidence?”
Nune Bakunts, deputy director of the ministry of health’s National Centre of Disease Control and Prevention, urged the public to listen to official sources of information rather than these supposedly alternative theories.
“The means to fight the disease have already been proven,” he said. “Just because someone does not believe it, doesn’t mean that the virus will just disappear.”
Bakunts said it was hard to believe that some doctors were spreading doubts about key regulations meant to contain the virus.
“Those people took the Hippocratic Oath and I feel sorry for the doctors who allow themselves to question whether to wear a mask or not,” he said. “They are not only campaigning against the measures taken by the health ministry, but are also confusing others.”
The Armenian media.am website publishes weekly digests on Covid-19, debunking fake news and disinformation. According to its fact-checker Arshaluys Barseghyan, fake news could usually be traced back to a Russian source.
He added that narratives had evolved as the crisis continued. Those who disseminated fake news about Covid-19 at first used to say that it was a lie; now they say that the virus exists but is not dangerous.
“Then they came after masks and now started a campaign against vaccination,” Barseghyan continued. “When the ministry of health said that they were negotiating with different companies, they were spreading rumours about its threats. For example, that the vaccine developed by Moderna was untested and lethal. When the minister Arsen Torosyan recently called for restricting lockdown measures, they explicitly called for the opposite.”
Information security expert Samvel Martirosyan argued that it was essential to regularly supply the public with official information.
“The information about the dangers of Covid-19 provided daily by the ministry of health is inconsistent,” he continued. “The same with the WHO, sometimes it changes its position on conceptual issues twice a day. This creates a fertile ground for all kinds of conspiracy theories, doubts and alternative opinions. The only solution to this is a media-literate society.”
He said that manipulative information around Covid-19 was being used as a political tool and created additional layers of danger.
“Fake news is spread by people who do it deliberately in pursuit of specific political goals,” he concluded.
Barseghyan agreed that the phenomenon was fuelled by ake news was spread by people who had their own agenda and intend to target a specific audience.
“They refer to unsubstantiated sources and spread conspiracy theories, which seed fear and controversy. Fake news is a lie that always hides something,” he said.
While this process had begun on social networks, it had gradually spread to television, for example in stories featured on ArmNews, Kentron and TV5 channels.
News anchor Abraham Gasparyan, who has his own show at ArmNews TV and also heads its news and analytical programmes department, said the broadcaster had the duty to provide an alternative source of information.
“We allow for free speech in its primary form, but we also pursue our own policy, which supposedly cannot be even a little opposed to official information,” he said. “The whole country is talking about the decisions of the commandant’s [deputy prime minister Tigran Avinyan] office, which we also broadcast. But does the country really have no right to hear a different opinion that would challenge the official position? Of course it does.
“Our guests have the right to freely express their opinions, the media should not suppress freedom of speech, and ArmNews is a platform for differing opinions.”
He said that he had invited guests on his show who talked about their belief that 5G and coronavirus were connected, for instance.
“In my TV programme, I am trying to show that there is another opinion, which we analyse and present to the public. It means that we discuss everything at the analytical level,” he continued.
However, others believe that almost every media outlet in Armenia plays a political role.
Lawmaker Gayane Abrahamyan said that fake news was being spread for purely political purposes in an attempt to discredit the current government. The situation had deteriorated since the Velvet Revolution, she continued, since the majority of the media was still controlled or owned by former officials or oligarchs.
“The messages about Covid-19 are intended to influence public behaviour and mainly come from the opposition space,” she said. “Their goal is to… blame the government for its failure.”
On June 16, the Armenian parliament adopted a draft audiovisual media law, largely in response to Covid-19, designed to regulate the activities of television and radio companies.
Its co-author, lawmaker Vahagn Tevosyan, stated during the debates that this was an attempt to introduce a model in which freedom of speech will not be affected.
Legislation was vital, he said, “because you can’t just say to the public that Covid-19 is a lie and you should not wear masks.”
Ashot Melikyan, a chairman of the Committee to Protect Freedom of _expression_, said that more oversight was needed.
“Everything is so politicised, the media is so polarised and Armenia is so small that everyone knows from which camp this or that media outlet is nourished,” he said. “The person expressing the opinion must support it with facts. If a person makes judgments with reference to facts, then, yes, it is his right and no one should suppress his freedom of _expression_.
“But it is necessary to oblige the media to involve the official or opposite opinion in such TV shows. When the law comes into force, the regulatory agency will have the right to intervene.”
Asbarez: Western Prelacy Announcement on Beirut Tragedy
Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America logo
“He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”
(Psalm 91:2)
Our hearts are filled with sorrow following the explosion which rocked Beirut on the evening of Tuesday, August 4, 2020, resulting in hundreds of fatalities, thousands wounded, dozens still missing, and catastrophic destruction. The blast affected the Armenian community as well, which suffered loss of life, injuries, and damage to community institutions including the Catholicosate of the Holy See of Cilicia, Churches, schools, community centers, homes, and businesses. Lebanese authorities have declared Beirut a “disaster zone.”
Immediately following the blast, Western Prelate Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian issued a statement through the Western Prelacy Facebook page, praying for the souls of those who perished and healing to the wounded, as well as for peace, stability, and brighter days for the nation.
The Prelate also contacted His Holiness Catholicos Aram I to express solidarity and support on behalf of Prelacy Clergy, Religious and Executive Councils, and faithful to collectively overcome this tragedy. “We await direction from His Holiness to facilitate relief efforts,” stated the Prelate, advising our community to follow future announcements.
On Sunday, August 9, during Divine Liturgy in all Prelacy Churches, “Der Voghormya” prayers will be offered for the full recovery of the wounded and for the peace and wellbeing for Lebanon and its people, and requiem prayers will be offered for the souls of the deceased.
WESTERN PRELACY EXECUTIVE
Armenia’s political authorities, current NSS director have issues with understanding the law: Artur Vanetsyan
Former director of the National Security Service, leader of Homeland party Artur Vanetsyan said outside the NSS building today where he was summoned for interrogation in the sidelines of a criminal case that the accusations voiced in his address were not confirmed.
Speaking about the essence of the case, Vanetsyan said that in 2018 one of the ex-employees was restored in his position which, according to the NSS’ interpretation he had no right to.
“But I guess they have some issues with the interpretation and understanding of the law, I mean not the NSS officials and investigators but Armenia’s political leadership and today’s director of the NSS. Because if they had read it till the end, they would have understood that there was no violation of the law,” he said.