Author: Chatinian Lara

It is a question of simple efficiency, which did not satisfy me. the deputy minister resigned

Chatinian Lara
  • 07.02.2019

    •  

  • Armenia:

    •  

  • arm

1
 17

Hakob Avagyan, the former Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Investments of RA, posted on his Facebook page stating the reasons for his resignation. In particular, he wrote:


“Dear friends and colleagues of the SME community, I’m sorry that I’m late responding to your hundreds of calls and letters.


A few days ago, I myself wrote an application for dismissal. It is natural that I did not come to that decision in one day, but by combining a number of circumstances, facts, and realities.


Of course, I was always pressured and forced by the responsibility and trust that I had from you. There was no issue of resisting/not resisting, it has never been a problem for me and I can resist for the sake of the goal.


It’s a simple efficiency issue that I wasn’t satisfied with. I think everything is said in the text of my application.


Thank you for your trust and support.


We are moving forward.


In the near future, we will implement our dream programs in more effective formats.”

Armenia’s Police Chief objects to granting amnesty to participants of 2016 Yerevan police station attack

Chatinian Lara

Armenia’s Police Chief objects to granting amnesty to participants of 2016 Yerevan police station attack

Save

Share

13:33, 6 February, 2019

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 6, ARMENPRESS. Police Chief of Armenia Valery Osipyan objects to granting amnesty to the participants of 2016 Yerevan police station attack. ARMENPRESS reports judge Mesrop Makyan informed that the National Assembly of Armenia adopted a law on November 1, 2018 on announcing amnesty for criminal cases on the occasion of the 2800th anniversary of Erebouni-Yerevan and the 100th anniversary of the 1st Republic of Armenia. The amnesty law provides a separate point for the people who participated in Yerevan police station attack from June 17-31, 2016, but the amnesty also provides a reservation, according to which if the people who were taken hostage during those days or suffered physical damage object to granting amnesty, the investigation into the case will continue according to the standard procedure.

Police Chief of Armenia Valery Osipyan, who was taken hostage in 2016 by the gunmen when he was Yerevan Police Deputy Chief, objected to the granting amnesty. “I have lost friends. If I had not lost friends, maybe my position would be otherwise. I think everyone should be punished in line with the law”, Osipyan said.

To the question of the judge if he objects to granting amnesty, Valery Osipyan said, “Yes, I object”.

Only 2 of the 10 gunmen are currently kept in detention pending trial – Armen Bilyan and Smbat Barseghyan. The others have been released on bail or personal guarantee of MPs.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan




ARF-D representative surprised at absence of any reference to Armenian-Turkish relations in government’s program

Chatinian Lara
Aysor, Armenia
Feb 7 2019

ARF-D Bureau member, responsible for ARF-D political affairs office Giro Manoyan considers it strange that no reference was made to the Armenian-Turkish relations at government’s program.

As to whether it is equivalent approach if to consider Turkey’s zero interest toward regulation of relations with Armenia, Manoyan said, “It is not so, because if we do not refer to it, it means that it is not of any significance for us. In such case Turkey’s stance would have been justified. It will mean that the regulation of Armenian-Turkish relations is important neither for Turkey nor for Armenia. Of course, we do not have anything to concede but it will be right for us to always demand from Turkey non-hostile attitude toward Armenia, establishment of diplomatic relations and lifting the blockade,” he said.

Giro Manoyan refrained from any other comments, adding that the ARF-D will come up with an extended statement about the program of the government.

Music: Stars flock to funeral of legendary film composer Legrand

Chatinian Lara
AFP – RELAXNEWS (English International Version)
February 2, 2019 Saturday
Stars flock to funeral of legendary film composer Legrand
 
 
The legendary French film composer Michel Legrand was laid to rest Friday after a final standing ovation in a Paris theatre decorated to look like one of his favourite movies.
 
The musician who scored such French screen classics as “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” and “The Young Ladies of Rochefort” — both starring Catherine Deneuve and directed by Jacques Demy — died on Saturday aged 86.
 
Legrand won three Oscars for his work in Hollywood, most famously for writing “The Windmills of Your Mind” for “The Thomas Crown Affair” in 1969, as well as the music for Barbra Streisand’s “Yentl” (1984) and the “Summer of ’42” (1972).
 
A magic forest reminiscent of another Demy film, “Donkey Skin” — which also starred Deneuve — was created inside the Marigny theatre in Paris where his coffin was taken after a funeral service at the Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox cathedral.
 
Clearly on the verge of tears, Demy’s widow, the legendary French director Agnes Vardy, led the moving tributes to Legrand at the theatre.
 
After the audience had risen to give him one last standing ovation, she said, “Having to talk next to Michel’s coffin is a little difficult. The last time we saw each other we held each other’s hands and I felt transported back to our years together with Jacques Demy.”
 
– Musical genius –
 
The cream of the French music and showbiz worlds had earlier crowded into the church, with Deneuve recalling the genius and energy of the man, who was planning a concert tour for April when he died suddenly.
 
“We could feel the emotion that was coming straight from the music when we were recording ‘The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’,” she told French television on Thursday.
 
“I can still remember entire passages of the lyrics” from the hugely influential musical, in which every line was sung.
 
Brigitte Macron, the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, was among the mourners, with Legrand taken from the theatre for burial at the Pere Lachaise cemetery in the east of the city.
 
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo had a giant screen set up outside the city’s town hall to show the highlights of Legrand’s seven-decade career.
 
A musical prodigy, Legrand worked with the greats of jazz and popular music on both sides of the Atlantic from Miles Davis, Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra to Charles Trenet and Edith Piaf.
 
Born into a musical family near Paris, he started out by playing songs on the piano he had heard on the radio.
 
His father Raymond Legrand was a composer, and although he left the family home when his son was only three, he later helped him launch his career.
 
His mother, of Armenian origin, enrolled him at the Paris Conservatory at the age of 10. He was to spend seven years there, before graduating with top honours in 1949.

Armenian FM, EU Commissioner highly assess progress in Armenia-EU relations

Chatinian Lara

Armenian FM, EU Commissioner highly assess progress in Armenia-EU relations

Save

Share

19:57,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 29, ARMENPRESS.  Foreign Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan Pashinyan received Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Johannes Hahn on January 29. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia, the sides highly assessed the major progress recorded in Armenia-EU relations in the recent months.

The interlocutors discussed Armenia-EU multilayered agenda in detail, emphasizing the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) as a key legal base regulating bilateral relations.

In this context Zohrab Mnatsakanyan noted that the CEPA is an important tool for fostering the development agenda of the Armenian Government, emphasizing the strengthening of democratic institutions of the country.

The Armenian FM and the EU Commissioner assessed the 10th anniversary of the Eastern Partnership initiative a good opportunity for summing up the achievements of the initiative and outline future activities.

During the meeting the sides exchanged views on a number of pressing international and regional issues, a special attention was paid to the situation in Syria and the recent developments over Iran.

FM Mnatsakanyan presented to Johannes Hahn the recent developments over Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement process, the approaches and position of Armenia on NK conflict settlement.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan




Asbarez: Sanctions Relief Removes Obstacle to U.S.-Armenia Aluminum Trade

Chatinian Lara
  • Armenia

    •  

  • Featured Story

    •  

  • International

    •  

  • Latest

    •  

  • News

    •  

  • Top Stories

8 hours ago

An image from the Armenal aluminum foil plant in Yerevan’s Arabkir district

Armenal Employes 700 in Armenia; Exports to U.S. and Europe Markets

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Senate’s rejection Wednesday of a bid to block the easing of sanctions on Russian aluminum company Rusal PLC will have the practical effect of reducing pressure on an Armenian aluminum mill, reported the Armenian National Committee of America. The mill, owned by Armenal, employs 700 in Yerevan, indirectly supports thousands of area families, and exports products to U.S. and other international markets.

“While we did not take a position on the broader policy debate over the lifting of specific sanctions, we do welcome the net effect of today’s vote, which is to ease pressure on a successful, export-driven Armenian enterprise that employs over 700, supports many times that number of Armenian families, and exports products to U.S. markets,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Suren Hamparian. “The ANCA remains committed to working constructively with legislators from both parties to address undue, improper, or unintended consequences of U.S. regional sanctions on Armenia and the U.S.-Armenia trade relationship.”

Armenal, based in the Arabkir district of Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, supplies aluminum foil to packaged food, beverage, cigarette, and other export markets primarily in the U.S. and Europe. U.S. firms purchasing products from Armenal include Colorado-based Trinidad Benham Corp and Illinois-based Handi-Foil of America and Durable Packaging International.

According to Reuters reports in September of 2018, the Armenal plant, which produced over 33 tons of foil products in 2017, was set to cut output in 2018 following initial U.S. sanctions on Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska and several of the companies he controls. After extensive negotiations led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, three of these companies, including Rusal, which is affiliated with Armenal, now comply with U.S. sanctions laws, effectively lifting restrictions on exports. Supporters of the sanctions in the Senate questioned whether Deripaska’s divestment eliminated his actual control of these companies.

Senate efforts to block the Trump Administration’s decision to loosen sanctions against Rusal and the other two companies associated with Deripaska were blocked earlier today, falling just short of the 60 votes needed under Senate rules.

Turkish press: CHP’s candidate to use ‘universal rhetoric’ to appeal to Kurdish voters

Chatinian Lara
By BARÇIN YİNANÇ

Ekrem İmamoğlu praised Zakarya Mildanoğlu, an Armenian-Turkish architect, as being among one of the key figures who shaped his perspective on cities. “It is thanks to him that I started walking with my head up, looking at buildings and becoming curious about the fate of buildings from the past,” İmamoğlu, the main opposition party’s mayoral candidate for Istanbul Municipality, has said.

He also mentioned Halil İbrahim Şanlı, another architect with whom he worked together. Şanlı, whose motto is “an architect is not one who designs a house but a lifestyle,” has left a mark on him, too.

İmamoğlu comes from the construction sector, a field the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has nearly come to identify with in the course of the past two decades. Born in Trabzon, he comes from the Black Sea region, like the founder of the ruling party and current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) candidate is the son of a businessman who worked in the 1980’s as the provincial head of ANAP, a liberal right-wing party. As a pious student praying five times a day and, just like Erdoğan, a fan of football, he came to Istanbul with his family in the mid 1980s.

The similarities with Erdoğan probably end there. Thanks to his two years in university in North Cyprus, he started leaning towards social democracy. His acquaintance with Beylikdüzü, of which he is currently the mayor, started in 1990 as his job took him to this newly developing neighborhood near the western part of the city. At that time Beylikdüzü’s population was around 2,000-3,000. Currently, the population is around 350,000. He says he witnessed first-hand the making of a big province. In 2008 he became the head of the CHP’s provincial branch in Beylikdüzü, and after five years, won the municipality back from the AK Party in the 2014 local elections.

His plans were to run again from Beylikdüzü and then put forth his candidacy for Istanbul in 2024. “That appeared to me as the right process. But Turkish politics has a different rhythm,” he yesterday told a group of journalists who were convinced that he was obliged to half-heartedly accept the CHP leader’s proposal to run for Istanbul — a proposal which came rather late in the race. The time factor is crucial since he is not known to millions in Istanbul and will be running against Binali Yıldırım, the former prime minister and the most known political figure in Turkey after Erdoğan.

He relies on the success story he believes he has written in Beylikdüzü. The province had six square meters of green area per person; it now has 9.5 square meters per person and he has plans to increase it to 16.5 by 2030. It is known as the greenest province in Istanbul.

While the AK Party has been running on a ticket of “big infrastructure projects,” İmamoğlusaid he was not fond of this concept. He rather talked about the need to address 1.17 million children aged between 0 and 4. “Nearly 70 percent of them are from poor families. Add to that the children between 4 to 9, that makes up 2.5 million. We will serve their needs,” he said. One way will be to open daycare centers and another will be to take their mothers out from their houses since they are lacking any skills because they live confined in their houses.

In this sense İmamoğlu looks set to prioritize underprivileged women and children as their education and future remain a concerning preoccupation to many voters. This might appear odd for a local election agenda. “In the polls traffic/transportation appears to be number one problem of the voters. But when they go home, their daily concerns takes priority,” said İmamoğlu.

His team is also aware that ideology and identity politics have also become defining factors of the local elections. Personalities and projects which factored in more during localelections started to matter less especially during the last decade which has seen a tremendous rise in polarization in the society.

The CHP has been losing to the AKP with a small margin in the big cities. While it will remain highly difficult to attract voters from the AKP and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), İmamoğlu admitted that Kurdish voters will play a defining role. But as seen in the past, many CHP members believe messages directly targeting Kurdish votes can scare away potential votes from conservative swing voters, especially as the ruling party has often accused the opposition party of siding with “terrorists.”

İmamoğlu said he will not address any group by its ethnic affiliation. “I will use a universal language,” said İmamoğlu, adding that Kurdish voters are highly politicized and difficult to manipulate.

İmamoğlu trusts his as well as the CHP’s local organizations door-to-door campaign. An active use of social media will be the two communication strategies to compensate for their weak presence in traditional mainstream media, where the ruling party enjoys an overwhelming advantage.

Meeting with journalists at the office of Gülseren Onanç, a female nominee who wants to run for Beşiktaş municipality, İmamoğlu said he wants to work with as many women as possible if elected.

Ekrem İmamoğlu, Turkey elections 2019, local polls

Turkish Press: Lena Chamamyan reflects her culture with latest song ‘I am Syrian’

Chatinian Lara
Daily Sabah, Turkey
Jan 4 2019
ANADOLU AGENCY
ISTANBUL

Syrian artist of Armenian origin Lena Chamamyan is considered one of the best singers of her generation. Chamamyan, who blends traditional songs of the Middle East with Western instruments and interprets them in a unique style, started her music career with a concert that she gave at the age of 5. The artist, whose father is from Kahramanmaraş province while her mother is from Mardin province, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that Istanbul has a very special place for her, and she is always pleased to come to the city.

Explaining that many of her works that remind people of Damascus and Aleppo take place in Istanbul, Chamamyan added, “Istanbul has a special color and taste. This taste reflects on Turks and Syrians who live in Istanbul. Besides, people listen to music so much here. They have a fine ear for music. Wherever I go in Istanbul, the music played in streets and cafes are so quality.”

The young artist remarked that she is planning to give a concert in Istanbul again soon, after the tickets of her latest concert in the city were sold out very quickly.

Performing mostly in Arabic and Armenian, Lena Chamamyan has also worked on French and English songs recently. 

“I was so surprised when I saw the attention of the people in Istanbul in my first concert here in 2013. Although I perform only Arabic and Armenian songs, the interest was great. When I look at social media, I see that my songs are shared most from Istanbul. Mostly Turks share them not Arabs or Syrians living here,” she continued.

‘Music is a reflection of each person’s soul’

Lena Chamamyan emphasized that the works that she prepared with jazz, folk, oriental, fado, Sufi, African and Latin melodies carry traces of the Armenian culture, in which she was born and raised, underlining that she is always in search of innovation in music.

Adding that music is a reflection of each person’s own soul, the young singer stressed, “In my works, I can never leave aside the paintings in my mind and the sounds in my ear because of the culture I have. For me, these become an integral part of Eastern and Western music. If I have to explain, I try to reflect what is happening in my mind to my music.” When the young artist was trained in classical Eastern music and began to sing her works for the first time, she was criticized by classical music artists. She stated, “As time passed, I could understand better why they had criticized me. They thought that adding a new note into Arabic music destroy its sacredness. In the beginning, my family objected me to become a musician. When they see I am successful, they gave me support.”

Highlighting that she was trained by European and Russian musicians, Chamamyan mentioned that she provides education in order to transfer her own culture’s music to future generations.

‘I tried to go beyond the usual in everything I did’

The artist, who released her first album “Hal Asmar Ellon” in 2006, said, “After the 2000s, concerts were held in historical places in Syria. I was a student at that time. As a student, I took the stage in these concerts with various bands. After the concerts, many listeners started to ask me whether I have an album or not. This request helped me release my first album. If something is born in the heart and produced sincerely, it really reaches out to the hearts of listeners. I could not only do with Eastern music or only Western music in my life. I have always tried to go beyond the usual in everything I do.”

Noting that she is working on French and English songs, Chamamyan said, “I will reflect the Eastern music in these works as well. I will release my new projects as not albums but singles because they are of many different types. I do not want to collect them into one album. I will be in the studio for my latest song ‘I am Syrian.'”

‘We need to protect our identity’

The artist, who lives in Paris, also touched upon the issue of the civil war in Syria.

“Life is very difficult for those who are in Syria and migrate from Syria to other countries because nothing is the same as before. Nothing is left. However, I realized that our identity would be lost, and if this identity was destroyed, then there would be no country called Syria. Therefore, we need to protect our identity.”

Chamamyan asserted that she understood better during the time she spent in Europe that Eastern culture contains a great richness.

“I saw that in the West that everyone has respect for each other even though they have a different point of view. They continue to live together but the situation is not the same in the East now. We need to learn about living together first. Everyone should do whatever they can do to realize this aim. Music is always constructive. But this situation cannot be fed by only art or music. They cannot save or support alone. “

 

Artsakh’s economic activity rate increases by nearly 12% in 2018

Chatinian Lara

Artsakh’s economic activity rate increases by nearly 12% in 2018

Save

Share

15:14,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. Artsakh’s GDP in January-September 2018 comprised 197.6 billion AMD, by ensuring 12.2% real growth. 6.7% of this 12.2% growth has been ensured by industry, 4.3% by trade and services, Artsakh state minister Grigori Martirosyan said at a press conference summing up 2018, reports Armenpress.

He said it is expected that by the end of the year the nominal figure of the GDP will comprise nearly 303 billion AMD by ensuring double-digit economic growth. “The GDP per capita in 2018 is expected to comprise about 4260 USD against the 3845 USD of 2017. In January-November 2018 the economic activity rate increased by 11.7% compared to the same period of 2017”, the state minister said.

He added that the legislative changes will enable to improve the business climate and will facilitate the tax burden of small and medium enterprises starting from 2019.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan