Thursday, February 8, 2017 Snap Election In Azerbaijan Unrelated To Karabakh Talks, Says Yerevan . Sargis Harutyunyan Armenia - Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharian holds a news conference in Yerevan, 23Nov2016. A senior Armenian diplomat denied on Thursday any connection between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's decision to call a snap presidential election and ongoing Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks on Nagorno-Karabakh. In a decree announced on Monday, Aliyev brought the date of Azerbaijan's next presidential election forward by more than six months, to April 11. He did not explain the reasons for the unexpected decision which swiftly drew sharp criticism from his beleaguered opponents. Some observers have suggested that the move may be connected with the Karabakh peace process which has intensified of late. "I don't think that Azerbaijan is a country where elections matter," Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharian told reporters. "Election results there are always predetermined. So I would link the earlier-than-expect holding of elections in Azerbaijan with their intra-clan relationships." "Of course, external factors may also be at play," said Kocharian. "If there is an internal struggle for power there, then any information to the effect that a rival side in that struggle may be backed by other states could also have an impact." Aliyev met on Wednesday with the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, who travelled to Baku at the start of their latest tour of the Karabakh conflict zone. According to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Aliyev and the mediators "reached an agreement on the continuation of intensive negotiations after the presidential elections in Armenia and Azerbaijan." The mediators were due to arrive in Yerevan on Thursday for similar talks with President Serzh Sarkisian. The latter will complete his second and final presidential term on April 9, two days before the Azerbaijani presidential ballot. Armenia's next president will be elected by the parliament in early March and have largely ceremonial powers because of the country's transition to the parliamentary system of government. Sarkisian is tipped to become prime minister later in April. Aliyev and Sarkisian pledged to step up the protracted search for a Karabakh settlement at their most recent meeting held in Geneva in October. Their foreign ministers held follow-up talks in December and January. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov described those talks as "positive." Minister Rejects Tax Cuts Demanded By Armenian Opposition . Hovannes Movsisian Armenia - Finance Minister Vartan Aramian speaks at a news conference in Yerevan, 25Sep2017. Finance Minister Vartan Aramian on Thursday dismissed opposition calls for the Armenian government to reverse recent increases in personal income and fuel taxes. The Tsarukian Bloc and the Yelk alliance are particularly critical of higher excise duties on fuel that came into force on January 1. The two opposition groups represented in the Armenian parliament blame them for recent weeks' sizable rises in fuel prices. The National Assembly is due to debate next week a Yelk bill that would repeal the new tax rates. Echoing statements by Prime Minister Karen Karapetian, Aramian insisted that their impact on consumer price inflation will be minimal. "When discussing [the recent amendments to] the Tax Code, we definitely took into account the impact of higher excise tax rates on [overall] prices," he told reporters. "It's estimated at just 0.5 percentage points." Aramian also made the point that tax cuts are a wrong way to reduce the cost of living in any country. "Tax legislation or taxes are not the right tool for helping socially vulnerable categories of the population," he said. "This is not done through tax rates around the world." The minister further argued that the government needs more tax revenue to finance greater budgetary spending planned by it. The government would be wrong to resort to internal or external borrowing for that purpose, he said. Yelk leaders say the authorities should boost their tax revenue by cracking down on tax evasion and corruption instead. They also claim that the higher income tax rates will hurt the middle class hard. Government officials counter that only those Armenians who earn well above the average wage in the country will be taxed more. They say 90 percent of workers will not have any additional sums deducted from their wages. Armenian Presidential Frontrunner To Meet Opposition . Ruzanna Stepanian Armenia - Former Prime Minister Armen Sarkissian visits the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies in Yerevan, 31 January 2018. The opposition Yelk alliance reiterated on Thursday that its parliament deputies will not vote for President Serzh Sarkisian's pick for the next head of state despite agreeing to meet him. Edmon Marukian, one of the bloc's leaders, told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) that the meeting with former Prime Minister Armen Sarkissian will take place on Friday. Marukian said Sarkissian was aware of Yelk's stance when he proposed the meeting. "We expect to hear from Mr. Sarkissian about his vision, about how he imagines his activities as president and how he sees Armenia's course given the existing challenges," said Marukian. The Armenian parliament is due to elect a new and less powerful president of the republic one month before Serzh Sarkisian serves out his final presidential term on April 9. The outgoing president offered Armen Sarkissian (no relation) to become the ruling Republican Party's presidential candidate late last month. Sarkissian, who currently serves as Armenia's ambassador to Britain, said he needs "some time" to decide whether to accept the offer. He said he will hold consultations with major political and civic groups before making the decision. The Republican Party (HHK) spokesman, Eduard Sharmazanov, suggested on Thursday that the nominee will make the decision after his meetings with the parliamentary opposition, which also includes businessman Gagik Tsarukian's alliance. "It will be difficult for him to make a final decision without meeting with the opposition," claimed Sharmazanov. "So I think our presidential candidate is right to meet with representatives of Yelk and the Tsarukian Bloc. Under the Armenian constitution, a presidential candidate has to be backed by a three-fourths and two-thirds majority of lawmakers in order to win in the first and second rounds of voting respectively. A simple majority of votes is enough to win the presidency in the third round. The HHK has such a majority. Nevertheless, President Sarkisian has expressed hope that the former prime minister will win outright in the first round. In that case, the latter would need the backing of at least 79 members of the 105-seat parliament. The HHK and its junior coalition partner, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), control 65 parliament seats. They will therefore need the support of the Tsarukian Bloc which holds 31 seats. New Armenian Government Post Sparks Controversy . Tatevik Lazarian Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian (L) and Prime Minister Karen Karapetian shake hands before an official ceremony at the Yerablur military cemetery in Yerevan, 28 January 2018. Opposition lawmakers denounced as unconstitutional on Thursday government plans to create the post of first deputy prime minister who will be appointed after Armenia becomes a parliamentary republic in April. Under a government bill debated by the National Assembly, the first deputy premier will be one of the members of a new security body to be headed by the next Armenian prime minister, the country's most powerful official. Edmon Marukian, a leader of the opposition Yelk bloc, argued that Armenia's constitution says only that the prime minister can have up to three deputies responsible for various policy areas. "The constitution does not single out any of them," said Marukian. "It doesn't say that one of them shall be first deputy prime minister while the two others just deputy prime ministers, which in essence means a hierarchy." "Unless we correct this now, we will have an unconstitutional law," he added during the heated debate. Artur Hovannisian, a deputy justice minister who presented the bill to lawmakers, denied that. "I absolutely do not agree with your position," he said. "The constitution does not contain any restrictions on this issue." Hovannisian did acknowledge, though, that the first deputy prime minister will have more powers than the two other vice-premiers. In particular, he or she will run the government "in the prime minister's absence," added the official. The planned creation of the new government post is seen by some opposition figures and pundits as another sign that President Serzh Sarkisian intends to stay in power as prime minister after completing his final presidential term in April. The outgoing president has shed little light on his plans so far. Nikol Pashinian, another Yelk leader, charged that Sarkisian has broken a pledge to let Prime Minister Karen Karapetian retain his post after Armenia's transition to the parliamentary system of government. "In order to mitigate this cheating process a little, he is giving [Karapetian] a consolation prize: the post of first deputy prime minister," he said. Pashinian also likened the constitution, controversially amended in 2015, and new laws stemming from it to a "suit tailor-made for Serzh Sarkisian." Press Review "Haykakan Zhamanak" is dissatisfied with the Armenian authorities' response to death threats made against Marianna Grigorian, the editor of the Medialab.am publication. The paper says that law-enforcement bodies only reluctantly opened a criminal case in connection with those threats. It says that they had just as reluctantly identified and prosecuted a man who beat up an opposition parliamentarian in Yerevan a few years ago. That man never went to prison. "This is a mentality befitting the Middle Age," says the paper. "Zhamanak" comments on a government bill that would seriously restrict the next Armenia president's power to grant pardons. "It is not accidental that there is bitter infighting in the higher echelons of power regarding who will control one of the main segments of the [ruling] system: the criminal underworld," claims the paper. Pardons granted in Armenia have never been about justice and humanism, it says. "Zhoghovurd" accuses the government of presenting misleading data to prove that Prime Minister Karen Karapetian has delivered on his pledge to attract at least $830 million in investments Armenia's public infrastructure and businesses last year. Karapetian said in the parliament on Wednesday that the actual investments exceeded that figure. The paper points to official statistics showing that foreign direct investment (FDI) in Armenia fell short of government projections and was mainly channeled into the Armenian mining sector. The government, it says, has used a flawed methodology to report a much higher investment total, which includes money spent by the government. "Hraparak" complains that Armenians are now unwilling to take to the streets and protest against their government in large number. The paper sees a sharp contrast with 1988 when huge crowds gathered in Yerevan to demand Karabakh's unification with Armenia despite stern warnings issued by the Soviet authorities. "People were not scared of the Moscow Politburo and the tanks brought by it," it says. (Tigran Avetisian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2018 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
Author: Chmshkian Vicken
Artsakh DM: Over the past week, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces fired more than 1,500 rounds at Armenian positions
ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia February 3, 2018 Saturday Artsakh DM: Over the past week, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces fired more than 1,500 rounds at Armenian positions Yerevan February 3 Ani Mshetsyan. The operational-tactical situation at the contact line between the armed forces of Artsakh and Azerbaijan from January 28 to February 3 remained relatively calm. According to the press service of Artsakh Defense Ministry, during this period, the enemy violated ceasefire about 150 times, having fired more than 1500 shots in the direction of Armenian positions. The foremost troops of the Defense Army of Artsakh largely refrained from responding by taking the necessary steps to organize a reliable defense of combat positions.
Music: Today marks Armenian composer Arno Babajanyan’s 97th birth anniversary
Panorama, Armenia
Jan 22 2018
Culture 18:55 22/01/2018 Armenia
January 22 marks the 97th birth anniversary of Arno Babajanyan, a renowned Armenian composer and pianist of the Soviet era.
Babajanyan was born on January 22, 1921, in Yerevan, Armenia. By age 5, his extraordinary musical talent was clearly apparent, and the composer Aram Khachaturian suggested that the boy be given proper music training. Two years later, in 1928 at the age of 7, Babajanyan entered the Yerevan State Musical Conservatory, the Music of Armenia reported.
In 1938, he continued his studies in Moscow with Vissarion Shebalin. He later returned to Yerevan, where from 1950–1956 he taught at the Yerevan State conservatory. It was during this period that he wrote the Piano Trio in f# sharp minor. It received immediate acclaim and was regarded as a masterpiece from the time of its premiere.
Subsequently, he undertook concert tours throughout the Soviet Union and Europe. In 1971, he was named a People’s Artist of the Soviet Union. As a composer, Babajanyan was active in most genres and even wrote many popular songs in collaboration with the leading poets such as Yevgeny Yevtushenko and Robert Rozhdestvensky among others.
Much of Babajanyan’s music is rooted in Armenian folk music and folklore. But generally, the way in which he uses Armenian folk music is in the virtuosic style of Rachmaninov and Khachaturian. His later works were influenced by Prokofiev and Bartok. Praised by Dmitri Shostakovich as a “brilliant piano teacher”, Babajanyan was also a noted pianist and often performed his own works in concerts.
He received the Stalin Prize of 1950 for his Heroic Ballade for piano with orchestra and the Order of the Red Banner of Labour. He was People’s Artist of the Armenian SSR (1956) and Soviet Union (1971). He was a laureate of two Stalin State Prizes of the USSR (1951, 1953) and two Armenian SSR State Prizes (1967, 1983).
Arno Babajanyan died on November 11, 1983, in Moscow.
Paylan’s Armenian phrase over Hrant Dink replaced with ‘X’ sign in Turkish parliament’s records
Panorama, Armenia
Jan 20 2018
Garo Paylan, an Armenian member of the Turkish Parliament representing the opposition People’s Democratic Party (HDP) has referred to murder case of journalist Hrant Dink on the 11th anniversary of his assassination in his address to Turkey’s Majlis (parliament).
At the parliament session held on Thursday, Paylan and his party submitted a proposal to the Majlis calling for an investigating of the developments following Dink’s murder and preventing such acts, however HDP’s proposal was not included in the agenda, Ermenihaber reported citing T24 news agency.
The Turkish source noted that at the end of his speech dedicated to Turkish-Armenian intellectual, editor-in-chief of Agos newspaper, Hrant Dink, who was shot dead with three bullets on Jan. 19, 2007 in front Agos’ then-headquarters, Paylan used an Armenian phrase, “Asdvadz hogid lusavi” (God bless your soul), thanking him in Armenian. However, an ‘X’ sign was used instead of his Armenian remarks in the parliamentary records.
Earlier the Arabic and Kurdish language phrases addressed to the Turkish parliament were also replaced with the ‘X’ sign in the records.
‘Artsakh is a real democracy,’ says French Mayor hosting ‘Days of Artsakh’
Aravot, Armenia
Jan 14 2018
“Artsakh is a real democracy,” said the mayor of this southern French city, which is currently hosting a “Days of Artsakh” celebration, which features festivals and events in 10 French cities that have establishment “friendship cities” with towns and cities in Artsakh, “Asbarez” reports.
The statement was made by the Les Pennes-Mirabeau mayor, Monique Slissa, who is hosting the latest of the “Days of Artsakh” festival. The event is part of series of events dedicated to Artsakh in 10 French cities that have established “Friendship Cities,” with towns and municipalities in Artsakh.
Slissa, speaking to the local La Provence newspaper, said that Artsakh’s democracy in unrivaled in the region. “For just this reason,” she said “that country deserves our support.”
“Armenian issues are close to my heart and for that reason Artsakh is also important for us. We decided to establish relations with Artsakh and Les Pennes-Mirabeau became the first French city to sign a cooperation agreements with the Martuni region of Artsakh,” Slissa told La Provence, adding that one of the first decision she made upon her election as mayor in 2001 was to dedicate the city’s main square to the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide
The Festival program included, an exhibition by famous French photographer Yvan Travert called, “Artsakh: the Spirit of the Land”; another exhibit by French graphic artist Sylvain Savoia called, “Pilgrimage to Artsakh”; the screening of the documentary “We are Our Mountains” by French-Armenian film director Arnaud Khayadjanian; as well as a lecture by attorney Gerard Gergerian, entitled, “Peoples’ Right to Self-Determination and the Legal Aspects of the Artsakh Conflict,” during which advisor to the Artsakh’s State Minister, Artak Beglaryan, made a presentation.
In addition Slissa, member of the French Senate, former Mayor of Les Pennes-Mirabeau Miche,l Amiel, members of the City Council and heads of municipal departments are attending the events. Also present at the celebrations are Beglaryan, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Artsakh to France, Hovhannes Gevorgyan, and representatives of the Armenian community of France.
Istanbul Patriarchate Slams False Statements by Ateshian
Archbishop Aram Ateshian
ISTANBUL—The Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul issued an official statement slamming remarks made by the Patriarchate’s former Vicar General, Archbishop Aram Ateshian, who during a recent visit to Yerevan claimed that official Ankara did not recognize the elected Patriarchal deputy—locum tenens—Archbishop Karekin Bekdjian.
Ateshian, who has close ties to the Turkish government and has been going out of his way to ensure that he will become the next Istanbul Patriarch, has been engaged in a smear campaign to derail the upcoming elections of a new church leader in Istanbul.
In its statement, the Istanbul Patriarchate said that Ateshian’s remarks prove that he continues his efforts to distort the truth even outside of Turkey and warned the archbishop of further muddying the waters.
After a tumultuous start earlier this year, the Patriarchate’s religious council finally held elections last spring and chose Archbishop Bekdjian as the locum tenens. Dismayed from the results, Ateshian stormed out of the meeting, only to return minutes later to produce a letter by the Istanbul Governor’s Office, which deemed the entire Patriarchal election process as illegitimate, calling into question the validity of the locum tenens elections.
In response to Ateshian’s latest outbursts, the Patriarchate said that he is obliged to respect the result of the election and to avoid making internal church affairs into public distpute.
“According to the decision passed in the assembly, which he [Ateshian] personally attended, he is bound to step down as General Vicar. On the contrary, he refused to resign, a step which has put us in a precarious situation,” said the Patriarchate’s statement.
“His conduct forces the Church Assembly, which had installed him in this post, to dismiss him, something which is an extremely upsetting fact. In addition, the state hasn’t issued any statement signaling that it doesn’t recognize the elected locum tenens,” added the statements.
“Our desire is that the Archbishop stops looking for faults and avoids clashes,” said the statement.
Officials in Istanbul have continued their intervention into the Patriarchal elections by not responding to official requests from the church body and ignoring deadlines. Ateshian’s public statements and private machinations have also added disrupted the process.
Armenian kids delight Hebrew Home audience
The Riverdale Press, NY
Dec 22 2017
Posted Friday, December 22, 2017 12:04 am
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With a set of pipes that could easily be mistaken for someone three times her age, Ani Margaryan belts out the first lines of Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.”
The 9-year-old’s stage was the carpeted floor of the library in the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, and its residents were her audience.
Margaryan’s backup band was an audio file of the hit single without Franklin’s vocals, and 14-year-old Aleksandr Avetisyan on saxophone, who picked up with silky smooth stylings during a vocal break for Margaryan.
Both Margaryan and Avetisyan are from Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia, a landlocked country in Asia that was once part of the former Soviet Union. The young musicians were in town with the Children of Armenia Fund, a non-governmental organization focused on education and economic development in rural Armenian villages.
Their performance at the Hebrew Home was part of a citywide series of performances over several days leading up to their annual fundraiser at the Manhattan restaurant Cipriani on Dec. 16. For Hebrew Home president Daniel Reingold, the decision to invite the Armenian children was a personal one.
“What struck me was the connection between the Armenian and the Jewish people,” he said. “Both are populations that have suffered a genocide.”
The Armenian genocide in 1915, a systematic killing of ethnic Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, is widely accepted as the first genocide of the 20th century. This is something Turkey — the successor state to the Ottoman Empire — vehemently denies by saying people on both sides suffered terrible fates.
Rather than focus on the past, however, the Armenian fund — which was founded in 2004 — focuses on the future and development of villages in far-flung areas of Armenia.
“Rather than bringing these people to the cities and centralizing all of the opportunities in big cities, we make it happen in rural areas,” said Ashot Margaryan — no relation to the young singer — who leads strategy for the fund. That means providing for villages with something more commonly found in cities: state-of-the-art technology in classrooms.
The fund is building up to a 2018 launch of what it calls a Smart Center in the village of Debet in the Lori region of northern Armenia. The Smart Center is a sprawling complex built into the verdant, hilly landscape that will provide Debet and neighboring villages with the latest technology for learning like digital libraries, computer labs and virtual classrooms.
Between the musical performances by Avetisyan and Margaryan, Hebrew Home residents met Nareh Galstyan, a 16-year-old high school student, who spoke at length about her experiences with the organization, and how she landed a spot in the Future Leaders Exchange Program, a U.S. government-sponsored program that brings European and Eurasian students to the United States for an academic year.
“In my school here, there are about 2,000 students, and back home in my town there are 2,000 people,” said Galstyan, who lives in Lernagog, a village in western Armenia where the fund has a heavy presence. That village, like others throughout the country, suffered heavily after the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991.
“We were part of a system that used to function throughout (the) Soviet Union,” said Hasmik Sargsyan, the fund’s marketing coordinator. “Once it collapsed, the factories closed down. People were left without any job opportunities. They couldn’t support their families, and most of them migrated to Russia or Europe or America.”
Villages where the Armenian fund has a presence have drastically improved, according to the fund, although there is still work to be done in villages where the organization hasn’t made inroads.
“You go from COAF village to non-COAF village, the difference is stark,” said Johannes Michaelian, an Australian medical student of Armenian descent, who volunteered with the fund teaching first aid throughout Armenian villages.
When Michaelian saw the difference fresh approaches to education made in places far removed from city life, he quickly understood the value in fostering young minds and building communities in his ancestral homeland.
As far as Avetisyan, the young saxophonist, is concerned, questions of policy and economic development are simply beyond him. It’s all about the music.
“I like the freedom in jazz,” Avetisyan said through a translator, just before taking the stage in a room full of Americans.
Dikranouhi Krikorian Joins Peter Akmajian as Armenian Assembly’s Arizona State Co-Chairs
ARMENIAN
ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA
PRESS
RELEASE
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: December
18, 2017
Contact:
Danielle Saroyan
Telephone:
(202) 393-3434
Web: www.aaainc.org
DIKRANOUHI KRIKORIAN JOINS PETER
AKMAJIAN AS ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY’S ARIZONA STATE CO-CHAIRS
WASHINGTON,
D.C. – The Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) welcomes Dikranouhi
“Dede” Krikorian who joins Peter Akmajian as the Assembly’s Co-Chair
for the State of Arizona.
“I look forward to working
alongside Peter to serve the Armenian community of Arizona in this new capacity
and continue my activism on issues of importance to Armenian Americans,”
Krikorian said.
A dedicated volunteer for several
Armenian organizations throughout the metropolitan Phoenix area, Krikorian is
an active member of St. Apkar Armenian Apostolic Church of Scottsdale. Since 2014, she has served on the Executive
Board of the St. Apkar chapter of the Armenian Church Youth Organization
(ACYO).
Last month, Krikorian and
Akmajian were joined by Armenian Assembly Western Region Director Mihran
Toumajan at St. Apkar’s annual “ArmeniaFEST,” where the Assembly
highlighted its advocacy initiatives, as well as its summer internship programs
in Washington, D.C. and Yerevan, Armenia.
The two-day festival attracted hundreds of attendees, including members
of the Armenian community from Tucson and greater Phoenix. Many people attended
St. Apkar’s Melikian Hall to “experience the sights, sounds, and flavors
of Armenia,” as the church so aptly highlighted. In partnership with St.
Apkar’s diligent Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Zacharia Saribekyan, and its lay
leadership, the Assembly endeavors to bolster its grassroots activities
throughout Arizona in 2018.
Krikorian is a recent graduate of
the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University (ASU). She is currently a law clerk at Price Law
Group, APC, where she practices civil litigation. While in law school,
Krikorian served as President of the Armenian Law Students Association (ALSA),
which provides a platform for community-building among Sandra Day O’Connor
College of Law students of Armenian descent, non-Armenian students, and faculty
interested in exploring Armenian civilization and legal history. Krikorian
completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Management and Business Law at ASU’s W.P.
Carey School of Business in Tempe, Arizona.
With over 30 years in the legal
arena, Peter Akmajian is a successful trial lawyer and partner at Schmidt,
Sethi & Akmajian, a prominent personal injury law firm based in the greater
Tucson area. Prior to his service as a
plaintiff’s attorney, Akmajian worked as a civil defense lawyer. Since 1998, Akmajian has been certified by the
State Bar of Arizona as a Specialist in Personal Injury and Wrongful Death, and
is a long-time member of the State Bar’s Commission responsible for vetting
potential specialists. In recognition of his outstanding trial work, Akmajian has
been inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International
Academy of Trial Lawyers, and the International Society of Barristers. He is also a long-time member of the American
Board of Trial Advocates, a prestigious trial lawyers organization. From 1984-1985, Akmajian served as a judicial
law clerk for Vice-Chief Justice Frank X. Gordon of the Arizona Supreme Court.
“Peter Akmajian has done an exemplary
job as the Assembly’s Arizona State Chair, and we are excited about the
addition of Dede Krikorian in this capacity. The Assembly is doubling its efforts in The Grand Canyon State, and we are
confident that both Peter and Dede will increase our advocacy efforts to energize
greater activism among Armenian Americans in Arizona,” stated Assembly Western
Region Director Mihran Toumajan.
Established in 1972, the Armenian
Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based nationwide organization
promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly
is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.
###
2017-079
Photo Caption 1: Armenian
Assembly Arizona State Co-Chair Dede Krikorian and Assembly Western Region
Director Mihran Toumajan at St. Apkar Armenian Church’s annual “ArmeniaFEST” in
Scottsdale, Arizona
Photo Caption 2: Armenian
Assembly Arizona State Co-Chair Peter Akmajian and Assembly Western Region
Director Mihran Toumajan at St. Apkar Armenian Church’s annual “ArmeniaFEST” in
Scottsdale, Arizona
Available online:
St. Apkar Akmajian.jpg
JPEG image
St. Apkar Dede Krikorian.jpg
JPEG image
The only formula to live well is to work, the only way to prosperity is economic growth – Armenian President
Category
Society
The Armenian government makes great efforts to ensure an economic growth, President Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview to ARMENIA TV, commenting on the government’s steps aimed at easing social tension in the country.
“The only formula to live well is to work and the only way to prosperity is the economic growth, and I think in this sense the government makes great efforts. We should do everything to have a tangible economic growth”, the President said.
President Sargsyan said much more goods should be produced and much more jobs must be created in Armenia. He highlighted the issue of highly-paid jobs as one of the most important issues. “If we say that salaries will not increase in 2018, it isn’t so, the rates will not rise, but people will receive more wages. It will be so as I said: increase of salaries was not envisaged for 2017, but in October of this year the average salary in the Republic is more than 4.8% compared to October of 2016. The same will be in 2018”, he said.
Serzh Sargsyan noted that the government led by Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan had a very concrete task which was the following – to achieve effective governance. “Yes, we didn’t put concrete tasks for economic growth since it was linked with certain issues happening in our integration processes and so on. But I think that Karen Karapetyan and the government led by him have set a task before them, and that task is to ensure 5-6% economic growth. If a person sets a task before him, if the government sets a task before it and that task doesn’t go into deep contradictions with your perceptions, whether it is obligatory to announce it? I think that it is not a bad figure. 5% economic growth will enable us to use the results of that growth, it will be visible and tangible”, the President said.
Iran determined to resolve Karabakh crisis
Mehr News Agency, Iran
Dec 11 2017
TEHRAN, Dec. 11 (MNA) – Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani told the visiting Armenian MP Vahram Baghdasaryan in Tehran on Monday that Iran is resolute to solve the problem of Karabakh.
“Iran will spare no efforts to resolve the Karabakh crisis and we hope the issue be resolved very soon with peace and friendship,” said Ali Larijani, the Speaker of Iranian Parliament on Monday.
The top law-maker made the remarks during his meeting with Vahram Baghdasaryan, an MP from the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, also referred to as the Parliament of Armenia, who also heads the Parliamentary Friendship Group of Armenia-Iran.
“We believe that peace and dialogue are the best ways out of political conflicts, because currently the region is fed up with conflict and rift and more call for war is not in the interests of any country,” underlined the Iranian top legislator.
“When Iran makes friends with a country, it will stand up to its friendship till the end and Iran is not like some countries who suddenly turn their positions 180 degress, and it proved this quality in the case of Iraq and Syria which were hit by terrorists,” affirmed Mr. Larijani.
Mr. Baghdasaryan, for his part, said that political and economic relations with Iran are the top objectives of Armenia’s foreign policy agenda.
“Good political ties with Tehran is the objective of our foreign policy and we do our best to enhance bilateral ties to their utmost capacity,” asserted the Armenian legislator after describing Iran as one very good neighbors of Armenia.
“In all these years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has tried hard to keep a balanced and symmetrical policy toward the regional issues and the Karabakh crisis,” said the Arminian MP hailing the role of Iran in stabilizing the region.