Author: Chalian Meline

Lydian: 1,300 people lost their jobs in Armenia due to illegal blockade of roads leading to Amulsar deposit

Chalian Meline
Arminfo, Armenia
Jan 22 2019
Alina Hovhannisyan

ArmInfo. Due to the illegal blockade of roads leading to the Amulsar deposit, over the past 6 months, 1,300 people (of whom 460 are residents of communities  surrounding the mine) were employed by Lydian, and its contracting  companies lost their jobs. 

This is stated in the official communication of the company.According  to the source, Lydian continues to monitor the social situation in  the communities, which is a component of the company’s social  responsibility. The monitoring also includes migration indicators,  which were collected on the basis of data provided by employment  centers, community elders and employees of the company’s social  group. 

According to the data obtained, the outflow of the population for the  period starting from the time of the blockade of roads to this day  increased annually, whereas during the period of construction work on  the Amulsar deposit in Gndevaz, Goraik and Saravan communities there  were no cases of migration. So, at the end of 2018, 6 people migrated  from the community of Gndevaz, 12 from Saravan. Migrants on a  permanent basis from Jermuk, there are 64 people, against 34 people  in the same period a year earlier.

However, along with the completion of construction work, seasonal  migration has increased in all 4 communities. According to the data  received, the number of temporarily migrated citizens for seasonal  work from Jermuk was 219 people, against 80 people a year earlier in  the same period.The blockade of Amulsar roads not only led to the  loss of several hundred direct jobs, but also had a negative impact  on indirect jobs in these communities: , the  report says.Recall that Lydian Armenia is a subsidiary of British  Lydian International, whose shareholders are also major international  institutional investors from the United States, Great Britain, and a  number of European countries, including the EBRD. 

The Amulsar project is the largest industrial project in Armenia  today for the development of the Amulsar gold deposit with a total  value of $ 370 million. In August 2016, the project for the  construction and development of the deposit was launched. Preparatory  work has been going on since 2006. The life of the Amulsarsky deposit  will be 10 years and 4 months, with an average of 200 thousand ounces  of gold (about 10 million tons of ore) planned annually. The stock is  listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Amulsar deposit is the second  largest reserves in Armenia.Note that since June 2018. The roads  leading to the Amulsar deposit  are closed by a group of people  opposing the mine.

Music: Recovering Armenia’s Past Through Music

Chalian Meline
Eugene Weekly
17 Jan 2019
MUSICBY BRETT CAMPBELLPOSTED ON 01/17/2019

Cappella Romana is one of Oregon’s most famous classical music institutions. Founded in 1991, the Portland-based professional vocal ensemble has gone on to become the premier exponent and explorer of the musical traditions of Byzantium and other early Christian music.

Artistic director Alexander Lingas is one of the field’s leading scholars. He and other researchers have found and revived a long-dormant repertoire, which the group sings in its original Byzantine and Slavic languages. And Cappella has performed music of contemporary European and North American composers who draw on those traditions.

Although it’s based in Portland and performs several concerts each year there and in Seattle, the group draws singers from around the country, including the Bay Area, and has performed in Europe, Los Angeles, New York City, Canada and elsewhere, appearing on National Public Radio, various early music festivals and even at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Cappella earns glowing reviews wherever it sings, securing its reputations as one of the Northwest’s most accomplished musical institutions. 

Recently, the group has branched out into other Orthodox Christian music descended from Byzantine origins, including Russian, Finnish, Ukrainian and more. You’re unlikely to hear any of this music performed anywhere else. 

Now the Oregon Humanities Center is bringing Cappella Romana to Eugene to share its latest discovery: long-lost Armenian Orthodox liturgical music.

On Thursday, Jan. 17, in a free concert directed by Lingas and Haig Utidjian, a British conductor of Armenian descent, Cappella will sing traditional Armenian chants and later arrangements of them by 19th-century Armenian choirmaster Makar Ekmalian and his student, Komitas Vardapet, known as the savior of Armenian music.

Vardapat collected and transcribed thousands of works that would have otherwise been lost to history, including about the Armenian genocide perpetrated by Turks in the early 20th century. 

The 8 pm concert is at Central Lutheran Church. It’s a chance to experience a lost world through music.

Armenia’s Pashinyan appointed PM after ‘velvet revolution’

Chalian Meline
Agence France Presse
Monday 12:14 PM GMT
Armenia’s Pashinyan appointed PM after ‘velvet revolution’
 
Yerevan, Jan 14 2019
 
Armenia’s president appointed former protest leader Nikol Pashinyan as Prime Minister on Monday as the Caucasus country’s parliament met for the first time since an election last month.
 
Pashinyan won a landslide victory in the snap December parliamentary elections, cementing his authority after he swept to power in a peaceful revolution last year.
 
Speaking in the National Assembly, President Armen Sarkisian said the election had “endowed this parliament with a high legitimacy”.
 
Only parties who backed Pashinyan’s “velvet revolution” made it to parliament as a result of the vote which international monitors hailed as democratic.
 
Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party won 70.43 percent of the vote.
 
“The main political change expected in Armenia has already happened: power has been returned to the people and democracy has been established,” Pashinyan said in a meeting with the president according to the prime minister’s press service.
 
“Now there is another task: to strengthen this democracy with institutional guarantees.”
 
The 43-year-old former journalist has pledged to root out endemic corruption and address widespread poverty in the impoverished, landlocked ex-Soviet republic of three million people.
 
Pashinyan first became prime minister in May after spearheading weeks of peaceful anti-government rallies that ousted veteran leader Serzh Sarkisian.
 
But he resigned in October after efforts at reform stalled in the face of opposition from Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party. The move triggered a snap election which Pashinyan said would “bring the velvet revolution to its logical end”.
 
The Republican Party failed to clear the five percent threshold needed to make it into parliament.
 
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent Pashinyan a congratulatory note, the Kremlin said.
 
“I hope our dialogue and constructive joint work will further strengthen Russian-Armenian united cooperation,” a statement quoted Putin as saying.
 
“This is undoubtedly in the interest of our brotherly nations.”
 
While seeking reforms at home, Pashinyan has also pursued a balanced foreign policy during his first five months in office.
 
He has reassured Putin that Armenia would remain Moscow’s loyal ally but at the same time sought to charm Western leaders.
 
During an international summit in the capital Yerevan in October he danced traditional Armenian dances with French President Emmanuel Macron and wore matching socks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Beirut: Caretaker Minister of Education confirms closure of public and private schools on Armenian Christmas

Chalian Meline
National News Agency Lebanon (NNA)
January 3, 2019 Thursday
Hamadeh confirms closure of public and private schools on Armenian Christmas
 
 
NNA – Caretaker Minister of Education and Higher Learning, Marwan Hamadeh, affirmed that the memorandum issued by Prime Minister Saad Hariri on the closure of public administrations, public institutions and municipalities on Monday 7/1/2019 on the occasion of Christmas celebrated by the Armenian Orthodox community included the closure of both public and private educational institutions.
 
Hamadeh called on all educational institutions, without exception, to abide by the provisions of this memorandum, as it is considered a national religious holiday.

Woman charged for setting man ablaze

Chalian Meline

Woman charged for setting man ablaze

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10:08,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 26, ARMENPRESS. Detectives of the Investigative Committee’s Yerevan department have completed the investigation into the assault case involving a 50 year old woman from the province of Gegharkunik.

She is suspected in throwing petroleum on a 55 year old man and setting him ablaze. The incident took place in July of 2018 in a Yerevan apartment.

Authorities said the woman and the man are acquaintances and have a history of altercations and fights. The woman is charged with aggravated assault.

The victim had sustained severe life-threatening burns.

The suspect is confined to the country limits with a signature bond pending trial.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan



‘I had the impression that Lukashenko was satisfied with my responses, but I don’t know what happened’: Nikol Pashinyan

Chalian Meline
Aravot, Armenia
Dec 20 2018
‘I had the impression that Lukashenko was satisfied with my responses, but I don’t know what happened’: Nikol Pashinyan

“Lukashenko keeps mentioning what he said, but he neglects to talk about what I said. When they asked me to talk in detail about what we said during that discussion, I said that I cannot talk about it because I do not find it right to present the details of a closed session. But I also said that I am satisfied with the discussions. I will also say now that I am satisfied with those discussions, and I do not see the need to continue this discussion from my end. It is possible that there will be people who are not satisfied with this discussion, and that is why they need to talk about it,” Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told reporters in Dilijan regarding the controversial statements made by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Regarding Lukashenko’s criticism that Pashinyan does not dare to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin for selling the most weapons to Azerbaijan, Nikol Pashinyan said, “I assure that I gave correct and impressive responses to all of Lukashenko’s questions. I had the impression that Lukashenko was satisfied with my responses, but I don’t know what happened afterwards.”

Lukashenko accused Nikol Pashinyan of not daring to criticize Vladimir Putin a few days ago.

Arpine Simonyan

Bright Armenia party representatives acted from Nikol Pashinyan’s behind to make the movement fail: Tigran Urikhanyan promises details

Chalian Meline
Aysor, Armenia
Dec 15 2018

The Bright Armenia-Prosperous Armenia parties’ conflict on Facebook continues with PAP Tigran Urikhanyan and Vahe Enfiajyan responding to Gevorg Gorgisyan from Bright Armenia who stated that Tsarukyan is part of the old regime and has offered a deal to them.

“One of the ‘political changes’ of Bright Armenia – Gevorg Gorgisyan – continuing the parade of bright changes decided to again refer to Prosperous Armenia party,” Urikhanyan wrote, stating that the latter during the very first days of Nikol’s campaign was in all TVs and mass media claiming that Pashinyan betrayed his colleagues and was making senseless steps.

Urikhanyan also said that throughout all campaign Bright Armenia’s big and small representatives were meeting with Republicans in cellars discussing how to destroy Nikol’s movement, Urikhanyan wrote, saying that Gorgisyan was one of them.

“At the time when Pashinyan’s victory was unavoidable, they suddenly remembered that they are Nikol’s colleagues, expressing their assistance but at the same time continuing acting from behind impeding the movement of new Armenia,” Urikhanyan wrote, saying that no one has remained who does not know the golden sponsor of Bright Armenia and whose legitimate interests they will be representing in the parliament. Urikhanyan promised to present other remarkable details about the Bright Armenians.

Another member of the PAP said Bright Armenia will very soon become a political corpse, one of the youngest in the political field.

Gevorg Gorgisyan in response wrote that after big political debates Gagik Tsarukyan assigned his subordinates to blacken the party and involved Kentron TV channel in that works.

“Our approach remains unchanged, oligarchs must not spoil the politics which for us is a way to make people happy,” Gorgisyan wrote.

Vachagan Ghazaryan is ready to transfer 6 million dollars to the state

Chalian Meline
  • 12.12.2018

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  • Armenia:

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Serzh Sargsyan’s former chief of security, Vachagan Ghazaryan, who is now detained, made a statement.


“I presented to the body implementing the criminal proceedings the sources of the origin of the cash funds that have been in my and my wife’s bank accounts for about ten years, as well as those seized during the search of our apartment. In particular, I have informed that most of them belong to my close friend, a well-known businessman and philanthropist living outside RA, whose data I do not consider appropriate to publish at this time. The sources of the origin of those funds are legal, and evidence was presented to the body conducting the proceedings.


Those amounts were received before the criminalization of illegal enrichment, that is, before July 1, 2017. In order to confiscate the mentioned sums in favor of the state, on the instructions of the body conducting the criminal proceedings, various state bodies are trying to connect a number of companies, businesses with me and my family members in various ways, the properties and funds belonging to the persons related to me by kinship and in-law are under illegal arrest. Tax audits are being carried out in companies unrelated to me, the results of which are being tried to be linked to my name or the aforementioned funds.


I think that the subjective position of the judicial authorities is due to these circumstances, which continue to reject all our well-founded petitions to release me on bail and take as a basis the unfounded arguments of the body conducting the proceedings. In such conditions, I am afraid that without sufficient grounds the court will extend the terms of keeping me in custody.


Regardless of all this, my friend and I are ready to transfer all the above-mentioned funds in the amount of about 6/six million dollars to the state for the implementation of programs aimed at strengthening the security of Armenia and Azerbaijan, or for other state needs, in case of the agreement of the body implementing the criminal proceedings.


Let’s remind that Vachagan Ghazaryan is accused of illegal enrichment. He is now in custody. Vachagan Ghazaryan was already arrested on June 28, but he was released on bail of 1 billion drams set by the decision of the Court of Appeal.

Citizen’s Decision Party highlights social-economic situation, says parliament is additional tool for struggle

Chalian Meline

Citizen’s Decision Party highlights social-economic situation, says parliament is additional tool for struggle

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12:59, 26 November, 2018

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 26, ARMENPRESS.  The Citizen’s Decision social-democratic party will tour electoral districts to interact with voters and distribute booklets about their programs, as well as mandarin oranges – the symbol of their party.

The party is running for parliament with its “The Future is Yours” motto.

Citizen’s Decision Executive Body member Michael Nahapetyan told ARMENPRESS that the mandarin orange symbolizes the values of justice and unity of the equality of those alike.

Asked why they are starting the campaigning from the Mashtots Park in Yerevan, Nahapetyan said they have returned to where they started from. “The Mashtots Park is a place where the representatives of the civil society that are today participating in formal political processes have developed. It is here that in 2012 the struggle for the public area began,” he said.

 Nahapetyan said citizens who highlight public solidarity and social justice will vote for them.

“The social-economic condition of Armenia speaks about the fact that those who should raise the issue of social justice are in the hundreds of thousands in Armenia,” he said.

Nahapetyan said they even if they don’t overcome the threshold for passing to parliament they will still be actively engaged. “It’s not a problem for us to work outside the parliament, the parliament is an additional tool for us. If citizens of Armenia will find it appropriate for us to possess this tool, we will take the pathway of utilizing it, if not, we will struggle for our ideas through the extra-parliamentary pathway,” he said.

 

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan