Author: Chalian Meline

Armenian PM’s spouse hosted at Nice City Hall

Chalian Meline

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 14:58,

YEREVAN, JUNE 28, ARMENPRESS. Anna Hakobyan, the spouse of the Armenian prime minister, was hosted at the Nice City Hall on June 28 on the sidelines of her visit in France, her Office said.

She was welcomed by First Deputy Mayor of Nice Anthony Borré, who said that the Mayor of Nice is currently in Paris on a working visit.

Anthony Borré said that Nice and Yerevan are sister cities, but the firm ties of Nice with Armenia have been established after the 1988 earthquake.

“The Armenian community of Nice is one of our prides, because ethnic Armenians, being as full and law-abiding citizens of France, preserve their Armenian values and roots, the vivid evidence of which is the Parsamian College”, Anthony Borré said.

He noted that they highly value the efforts of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in eliminating corruption, adding that the development of democracy in Armenia is obvious after his election.

In her remarks Anna Hakobyan thanked for the warm welcome and stated that the Armenian-French relations are exemplary in all areas, be it political, diplomatic, educational, cultural or healthcare.

“I think there is a big potential to expand and deepen the cooperation with Côte d’Azur especially in areas of exchange of tourism experience and innovative technologies, which are also sharply developing in Armenia. I hope the sun-lover residents of Nice will have new experiments and rich impressions after selecting Armenia as a tourism destination”, she said.

Anna Hakobyan also thanked the city authorities for the special care to the Armenian community of Nice.

“Really being law-abiding citizens of Nice, the representatives of the local Armenian community are strongly connected with the Homeland, the language and history. They are Armenia-Nice bridge, which, I am sure, will strengthen with new initiatives and productive meetings”, Anna Hakobyan said, inviting the Nice city authorities and the meeting participants to Armenia.

At the end of the meeting Anna Hakobyan visited the park near the City Hall dedicated to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims. The representatives of the Armenian community said that the Nice City Hall will soon renovate this park.

US Ambassadors to Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan discuss policies and programs in the three countries

Chalian Meline
Public Radio of Armenia
Armenia – June 23 2022

While in Washington DC at the Chiefs of Mission Conference at the State Department, Ambassadors Tracy, Degnan, and Litzenberger exchanged ideas and coordinated policies and programs in Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.

They underscored our commitment to strengthening our partnerships, supporting independence, and promoting a more secure, stable, and prosperous future for the people of the region.

The Government consistently supports the inclusion process. Prime Minister

Chalian Meline

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 18:03,

YEREVAN, JUNE 24, ARMENPRESS. Today, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received members of the Coalition for Inclusive Legal Reforms. Representatives of interested state agencies and institutions took part in the meeting, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Pashinyan welcomed and encouraged such meetings, which are an effective platform for discussing issues related to the inclusion process and ways to resolve them.

Coordinator of the Coalition for Inclusive Legal Reforms Mushegh Hovsepyan welcomed the Government’s policy of keeping the inclusion process in the center of attention and supporting the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities through legislative initiatives. Referring to the activities of the coalition, he noted that founded in 2017, it is a union of 14 organizations operating in Armenia and provides legal assistance to persons with disabilities.

Content-related, legislative and technical issues related to inclusion were discussed at the meeting. The members of the coalition presented to Nikol Pashinyan a number of issues related to the establishment of independent resource centers for people with disabilities, access to education, access to infrastructure through subsidy programs, increase of day care services, mental health strategy, development of assistive technologies, etc. They expressed satisfaction with the availability of public transport in Yerevan, noting that there is need to increase the availability of public transport in the regions.

Touching upon the observations, the Prime Minister noted that the Government is consistent in supporting the inclusion process, for this purpose 4 billion AMD have been allocated from the state budget this year. Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Narek Mkrtchyan presented the state programs and the steps taken in the context of the issues raised.

During the exchange of views, the current reforms and joint actions to promote inclusion were discussed.

The Prime Minister noted that since 2018, there has been no program that was not implemented due to lack of funds, so it is necessary to focus on the implementation of substantive programs, focusing on education and employment components. The Prime Minister proposed to inventory the existing needs in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor and the National Assembly to develop the state support strategy according to those needs.

Based on the results of the discussion, Nikol Pashinyan gave instructions to those responsible, as well as suggested to the NGO representatives to come up with proposals for solving the problems.

Following war, Russian Jews congregate in Yerevan

Chalian Meline
June 15 2022
Ani Mejlumyan Jun 15, 2022

Since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, tens of thousands of Russians have fled to the Caucasus. Among them are members of one unexpected community: hundreds of Russian Jews who have relocated to Yerevan. 

Nathaniel Trubkin, a 40-year-old Muscovite, moved to Yerevan on March 8, about two weeks after Russia launched its war in Ukraine, setting off a wave of repressions and international sanctions. 

Like many Russians, he chose Armenia for its relative ease: It’s visa-free for Russians, most people speak Russian, and it’s simple to find a short-term apartment and set up a business. He also had some friends in Armenia who helped him get settled.

But still, it wasn’t easy. “I didn’t have a lot of money, whatever I had in my pocket when I arrived, and that was the case for many people,” Trubkin told Eurasianet. After a hasty search, he ended up in a “horrible” apartment. 

The rough experience inspired him to set up Yerevan Jewish Home, which now assists other Russian Jews with their apartment searches, opening new bank accounts and setting up businesses. Since starting its work in April, the organization has helped about 200 Russian Jews relocate to Yerevan, he said. 

Jews have a long history in Armenia. The 5th-century Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi wrote that the 1st-century-B.C. King Tigranes the Great brought back 10,000 Jewish captives to Armenia after a war in the Levant. 

“Greater Armenia historically has been a place where significant Jewish communities have lived,” Yerevan’s chief rabbi, Gershon Meir Burshtein, said in a recent interview. He said that in contrast to many other places where Jews have lived, in Armenia they never suffered from pogroms or other persecutions. 

“In this context Armenia is not tainted with these kinds of memories, which means it can be a hope for creating, uniting efforts on the spiritual and material bases.” 

The large majority of Armenia’s Jewish population left for Israel in the late Soviet and early post-Soviet period, and before this new wave of migrants, Armenia’s Jewish community was between 800 and 1,000 strong. 

In the post-Soviet period, Israel has built close ties with Armenia’s rival Azerbaijan, and Armenians have frequent complaints about Israel’s arms sales to Azerbaijan or its failure to recognize the Armenian genocide. 

But those tensions don’t spill over into how Armenians treat Jews, Trubkin said. “People here don’t treat me any differently when they find out I’m a Jew,” he said.

Now, Yerevan Jewish Home is helping the new arrivals form a new community together. It has funding from the charity American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, which also helped set up similar efforts in the Georgian cities of Tbilisi and Batumi.

The organization has begun Hebrew-language classes and is working to set up Armenian lessons for new arrivals.

“Many [Russian Jews] came to Armenia and Georgia and were separated” from the Jewish community in Russia, Trubkin said. “It’s important to recreate that Jewish context for them, so what we can do now is to make them feel like they are among their own people.” He said that this “closeness” is one thing that Armenians and Jews, with long histories of persecutions and dispersals, have in common. 

The new arrivals are not isolating, though, but rather integrating in and engaging with broader Armenian society.

Hidden in an alley just off central Yerevan’s busy Saryan Street sits a lively new restaurant, Hummus | Kimchi, offering a fusion of two cuisines relatively unknown to Armenian palates: Israeli and Korean.

“Since my wife is Korean and I’m a Russian Jew I thought it would be cool to mix two very different cuisines,” said Dmitriy Shangareov, the chef and owner. 

Shangareov became familiar with Armenia when his sister married an Armenian and he moved to Yerevan before the war to set up the restaurant. “The plan before was to open a restaurant, hire some locals, teach them and move back to Moscow,” he told Eurasianet, taking a break from the kitchen and sporting a black T-shirt with the word “Ukraine.” But he was on a visit to Russia to pick up some equipment for the restaurant when the war started. He returned to Yerevan on February 28 and hasn’t left.  

The restaurant opened in April and now has become a favorite of Yerevan’s many new Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians, whether Jewish or not. It also has attracted a clientele of curious locals, especially at lunchtime. “We didn’t expect to turn a profit in the first month and a half, but we have exceeded our expectations,” he said. 

A recent performance at Mama Jan (Mama Jan/Facebook)

Another popular hangout is Mama Jan, a Russian Jewish-owned cafe in central Yerevan. It opened in 2021 and has become popular with the diaspora crowd. 

Now, in partnership with Yerevan Jewish Home it has recently become a cultural hub for Jewish-themed poetry readings, mixed stand-up comedy events and shabbat observances.  

At an open mic event one recent evening, the jokes alternated between English and Russian. Much of the comedy relied on broad stereotypes, and more than one performer cracked that “Armenians are like the Jews without the money.”

After the second repetition of the joke, there was an uneasy reaction from much of the crowd, and Trubkin raised his eyebrows in dismay.

But another Russian-Armenian spectator tried to smooth things over. “There’s no need to get angry,” he said. “Let’s see it as a chance for us to learn about each other.”

Ani Mejlumyan is a reporter based in Yerevan.

CSTO Security Council Secretaries arrive in Armenia

Chalian Meline
Public Radio of Armenia
Armenia – June 16 2022
June 16, 2022, 19:29

 

Secretaries of the Security Councils of the Russian Federation, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan Nikolai Patrushev, Marat Imankulov and Nasrullo Rakhmatjo arrived in Armenia on May 17 to participate in the regular sitting of the CSTO Security Council Committee.

Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan welcomed his colleagues at Zvartnots International Airport in Yerevan.

Minister Avanesyan attaches importance to introduction of health insurance system in Armenia

Chalian Meline

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 11:18, 7 June 2022

YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. Although the budget in healthcare sector has drastically increased in recent years, but its gradual increase is not a solution, Minister of Healthcare of Armenia Anahit Avanesyan said at the joint session of parliamentary standing committees.

“We see a drastic increase in healthcare budget in several years, which has been significant, and we didn’t have a decline in our services during these crisis years, the trust of our citizens to the state-funded services has further strengthened, which is also proved by the increase in their applications”, the minister said.

However, she says that the healthcare system should pass to a prepaid healthcare budget, that is the introduction of a health insurance system.

“As you know, we have included the development of insurance system concept in our program aimed at gradually introducing it in Armenia. This is very important, and we have worked on this important reform for years, but, unfortunately, it has not been introduced yet”, she said.

Biden’s NSA Chief Praises Yerevan-Baku Diplomatic Efforts

Chalian Meline
by Asbarez Staff

 

 June 7, 2022

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan


National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that the United States is committed to peace, security, and prosperity in the South Caucasus region.

“Mr. Sullivan conveyed the commitment of the United States to peace, security, and prosperity in the South Caucasus region,” NSC Spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement. Sullivan reportedly made the remarks during meeting with Azerbaijan’s presidential advisor Hikmat Hajiyev.

“He praised the significant and historic diplomatic efforts between Azerbaijan and Armenia toward a lasting peace.  Mr. Sullivan expressed support for talks hosted by President of the European Council Charles Michel.  He conveyed the readiness of the U.S. to engage closely and support progress through a variety of means, including in our capacity as a Co-Chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group,” Watson added in her statement.

On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan met with U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Lynne Tracy and discussed the latest meeting of a Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani commission to unblock transit between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Grigoryan represents Armenia in these talks and he met with his Russian and Azerbaijani counterparts on Friday in Moscow. He told reporters Monday that approaches to opening transit routes were clarified during Friday’s meeting.

Grigoryan and Tracy also discussed issues related to U.S.-Armenia cooperation, the government press service reported.

Reportedly, the two also exchanged view on direction of police reforms in Armenia, including the tasks of a patrol service and the creation a proposed interior ministry in Armenia.

No explosive found at Zvartnots International Airport

Chalian Meline
Public Radio of Armenia
Armenia – June 8 2022
June 8, 2022, 18:00

 Less than a minute

No explosives were found at Zvartnots International Airport.

At 2:54 today the Crisis Management Center was alerted about an explosive device placed at the airport.

Fire-fighters, psychologists, cynologist and engineers were dispatched to the scene.

No explosive device was found during the search.

Beatifications of martyred priests lift Lebanese mired in poverty

Chalian Meline
June 7 2022
JUN 7, 2022 VOICES

 

BY DOREEN ABI RAAD
Capuchin Fathers Leonard Melki, top left, and Thomas Saleh, bottom right, are Lebanese priests who were martyred by the Ottoman Turks in 1915 and 1917 respectively. The were beatified in Lebanon June 4, 2022. (CNS photo/Archives of the Vice Province of the Capuchins in the Middle East, Mteyleb, Lebanon)

Like a light piercing through the darkness of despair in beleaguered Lebanon, two martyred Lebanese Capuchin priests were beatified on the eve of Pentecost.

The beatification comes as Lebanon is drowning in a catastrophic economic meltdown in which poverty is now a reality for nearly 90% of the population.

The new blessed martyrs – Capuchin Fathers Leonard Melki and Thomas Saleh – were persecuted and killed in Turkey under the Ottoman Empire, in 1915 and 1917, respectively.

Thousands gathered for the June 4 beatification Mass presided by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, in the courtyard of the convent and psychiatric hospital complex of the Franciscan Sisters of the Cross in Jal El Dib, overlooking Beirut and the Mediterranean.

The order was founded by the blessed martyrs’ fellow Lebanese Capuchin – Blessed Abouna Yaccoub, who was beatified in Lebanon in 2008 – whose tomb lies in the adjoining Church.

Prelates participating on the altar included Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops; Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai, patriarch of Maronite Catholics; Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan; and Archbishop Joseph Spiteri, papal nuncio to Lebanon.

“Even today and in many parts of the world, injustice wounds humanity and causes great suffering,” Cardinal Semeraro said in his homily.

The two martyrs were “victims of a wave of hatred that repeatedly swept through the end of the Ottoman Empire and mingled with the tragic events of the persecution of the entire Armenian people and against the Christian faith,” he said.

“Humanly, they were victims, but from the perspective of the Christian faith they were victors,” the cardinal said, who noted that it was the Holy Spirit who gave them courage.

Attracted by the missionary example of friars from the Capuchin order serving in their village of Baabat, Lebanon, Father Melki was just 14 and Father Saleh was 16 when they left their homeland in 1895, entering the minor seminary of San Stefano, a district of Istanbul. In their mission, they served Christians of all rites, including Armenian, Syriac and Chaldean.

They were ordained in Turkey in 1904.

When Turkish soldiers raided Father Melki’s monastery in Mardin, he hid the Eucharist. Imprisoned and subjected to barbaric torture, he stood strong and remained faithful when offered mercy if he agreed to convert to Islam.

From Mardin, Turkey, where he served, Father Melki was forced to march to a desert with more than 400 Christian prisoners, including the Armenian Catholic bishop, Blessed Ignace Maloyan, who was beatified in 2001. All refused to convert to Islam. They were massacred on June 11, 1915, the feast of the Sacred Heart. Father Melki was stabbed with a dagger in the heart.

After sheltering an Armenian priest during the Armenian genocide carried out by Ottoman Turks in 1915-1918, Father Saleh was arrested, sentenced to death and deported in the middle of winter under the escort of a platoon of soldiers. He died Jan. 18, 1917 in Marash, repeating with courage: “I have full trust in God, I am not afraid of death.”

Danny Saleh, 67, traveled from Tyler, Texas, to attend the ceremony honoring his great-uncle, the martyred Father Saleh.

Saleh’s grandfather, who was the brother of Blessed Father Saleh, immigrated to the United States from Baabdat, Lebanon at the age of 14.

“I’ve always wanted to come to Lebanon,” he told Catholic News Service. “Now is the time. I couldn’t miss this important event. To die for your faith, that’s amazing to me. Faith has got to be the strongest thing you can have.”

“I’m just stunned, looking at how many people are here,” Saleh said smiling. “I thought it was going to be a couple hundred people, but everyone has come. This is huge.”

Lebanese from near and far also attended the ceremony. The Order of Capuchin Friars Minor provided 30 buses to allow people from throughout Lebanon to travel to the event.

For Fares Melki, 70, who resides in Baabdat, the village where his great-uncle Blessed Father Melki was born, “I was always sure that one day he would be a saint, in my lifetime,” he told CNS.

When people of Baabdat in particular express to him their pride about the future saints from their village, Melki said he tells them: “It’s not enough. You, too, must be a saint.”

To a chorus of bells from the two Churches on the convent grounds, the crowd erupted into cheers at the conclusion of the beatification Mass with many women ululating, a sign that their burdens of a difficult life had been removed – even if only temporary.

Dede Zghaib, from the nearby town of Biyaout, expressed the exuberance as she left. “I am very happy,” she said. “I hope our Lebanon will keep this joy we have today. This is Lebanon, the land of saints.”