Author: Ekmekjian Janet

There is risk of snow leakage

Ekmekjian Janet
  • 17:15 | December 25,2017 | Social
  • Armenian:
  • Rus

According to information received from the RA Consulate General in Rostov-on-Don, Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations installed tents, field kitchen, provided the RA citizens, gathered in Upper Lars checkpoint, with hot meals and other necessary assistance. The head of the Consulate General of the Republic of Armenia in Rostov-on-Don is also in the checkpoint, the Armenian Foreign Ministry reports.

In Georgia, at the Kazbegi checkpoint, snow removal is still going on. According to preliminary information, there is a risk of snow leakage, so additional information will be provided.

    Best three projects for “Rinnovate” tourism development-oriented competition named

    Ekmekjian Janet
    Panorama, Armenia
    Dec 22 2017
    Economy 15:36 22/12/2017 Armenia

    The Board of Trustees of the Development Foundation of Armenia (DFA), led by Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, summed up and selected the best three projects of “Rinnovate” competition announced for tourism development. The DFA organized the award ceremony and awarded the groups representing the three best projects, the foundation’s press service reported.

    The first prize, the equivalent of the $15000 has been received by the group of “The Eco-Houses in Armenia” project, which aims to develop a touristic path from Khustup to Sanahin and Haghpat monasteries linking Armenia’s historic and scenic sites.

    The second prize totaling to $10000 has been awarded to the group of “SevAp Resort” project, which have authored the concept of hotel construction and exploitation at 7 km distance from Shorzha village.

    The third prize worth $5000 has been handed over to the group of “Yerevan Lake Smart Park” project, which aims to create a wide choice of entertainment for tourists and locals.

    Prior to the awarding ceremony, the jury consisting of the representatives of international and state institutions chose the best five projects, first considering 60 ideas from Armenia and the Diaspora of the first stage, and at the next stages, discussing the 20 best business projects.

    “Regardless of the results of the last round, after the end of the competition, the DFA will assist all five teams reaching the 3rd round to develop and pack their projects as well as find investors for the realization of the projects,” noted the DFA CEO Armen Avak Avakian. 

    The project co-coordinator team thanks the Programs Evaluating Committee consisting of representatives from the EU Delegation, the United Nations Development program (UNDP), Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), State Committee for Tourism and the DFA for the cooperation in the previous three stages.

    The pilots of the Russian base fought battles with MiG-29 fighters against the conventional enemy

    Ekmekjian Janet
    • 22.12.2017

      •  

    • Armenia:

      •  

    • arm

      •  

    • rus

    2
     221

    The pilots of the “Erebun” air base of the Russian military base of the Southern Military District deployed in Armenia fought air battles against the conventional enemy’s planes. This was reported by the regional news service.


    It is noted that the practical training was conducted under the leadership of the commander of the military unit within the framework of the planned combat training of MiG-29 fighter pilots. Fighter crews carried out joint operations with anti-aircraft defense units, conducted conventional air battles, resisting conventional enemy aircraft attacks. 

    During the exercises, the pilots made about 30 scheduled flights, in which about 50 units of military land and aviation equipment and more than 150 servicemen, including pilots, representatives of the engineering and technical staff of military airports and air defense units participated.

    Two of Erdogan’s supporters plead guilty for attack on peaceful protesters in Washington D.C.

    Ekmekjian Janet 
    Armenpress News Agency , Armenia
 Friday
Two of Erdogan's supporters plead guilty for attack on peaceful
protesters in Washington D.C.
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. The two arrested Turks, supporters
of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who attacked peaceful
protesters outside the Turkish Ambassador’s residence in Washington
D.C., pleaded guilty, Voice of America reports.
The two Turkish-American men, Sinan Narin, 45 of McLean, Virginia, and
Eyup Yildirim, 50, of Manchester, New Jerseypleaded guiltyto the
charges of assault.
The prosecutor demanded one year and one day imprisonment for them.
They are two of 19 people federal prosecutors have accused of criminal
conduct after Erdogan’s May 16 visit to the White House.
The demonstration, which began at Lafayette Square at noon, was
organized by a coalition of organizations, including the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA) and the American Hellenic
Council. Several different groups, which included representatives from
the Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, and Assyrian communities, participated
in the protest, while President Erdogan met with U.S. President Donald
Trump at the White House.

    Sports: Artur Aleksanyan named Armenia’s best athlete of 2017

    Ekmekjian Janet
    Public Radio of Armenia
    Dec 20 2017
    16:25, 20 Dec 2017

    The Republican Federation of Sports Journalists of Armenia has named Greco-Roman wrestler Artur Aleksanyan as the best athlete of 2016. Alekasanyan clinched gold at the World Wrestling Championship and won a bronze medal at the European Championship.

    The top ten also includes also Maksim Manukyan (wrestling), Levon Aronian (chess), Simon Martirosyan (weightlifting), Hovhannes Bachkov (weightlifting), Gor Minasyan (weightlifting), Tigran Karapetyan (sambo), Sergey Mikayelyan (skiing), Artur Tovmasyan (gymnastics) and Andranik Karapetyan (weightlifting).

    Twenty-one sports journalists participated in the voting.

    Armenia’s agreement with the EU without confrontation with Moscow

    Ekmekjian Janet
     Netgazeti, Georgia
    Dec 11 2017
     
     
    Armenia’s agreement with the EU without confrontation with Moscow
     
    Mikayel Zolyan
    [Armenian News note: the below is translated from Georgian]
     
    How did Armenia and the EU sign the agreement without any complications?
     
    Armenia and the EU signed the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement on 24 November 2017. A pundit, whom I know, won a bottle of cognac. His colleague, who lost the bet, argued that the signing of the agreement would be thwarted.
     
    People in Yerevan were impatiently waiting until the last moment for what was going to happen at the Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels. When the news about the signing of the agreement was disseminated, Armenians had a joyful mood in social networks like the one they would have had Armenia’s national football team won a landslide victory. However, the rejoicings continued until Russian TV stations voiced humiliating messages regarding Armenians.
     
    For example, well-known Russian pundit Maxim Shevchenko referred to [Azerbaijan’s breakaway] Karabakh as Azerbaijani territory in the “Time will Tell” programme of a Russian TV station and in the “Meeting Place” programme of NTV, Russian experts compared Armenia with an unfaithful wife, because being a member of the [Russian-led] Eurasian Economic Union [EEU], it signed an agreement with the EU.
     
    Why did history not repeat itself?
     
    Why was such a stir raised over the technical document on 400 pages? The problem is that everyone remembers what happened in 2013, when the text of the association agreement between Armenia and the EU was ready. That agreement included Armenia’s joining the DCFTA [Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas]. On 3 September, Armenia expressed the desire to join the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, which made it impossible to sign the agreement with the EU.
     
    The Armenian government’s statement that they were ready to sign the association agreement without the DCFTA was nothing other than a clumsy attempt “not to lose face” and to place responsibility on the EU.
     
    However, it was clear to effectively everyone that the real reason for the refusal to sign the agreement was pressure on the part of Moscow, which the Armenian government failed to resist.
     
    Things were different this time, but now too, like in 2013, signals were received from Russia that they were not satisfied with developing relations between Armenia and the EU.
     
    The most vivid example of this was a TV programme broadcast by the Zvezda TV station affiliated to the Russian Defence Ministry, where the anchor said that “Armenia plans to join the EU”, accused Armenia’s national hero Garegin Nzhdeh [nickname meaning “pilgrim”, “emigrant” of Garegin Ter-Harutyunyan (1886-1955), who instrumented the establishment of the Republic of Mountainous Armenia, an anti-Bolshevik state and during World War II assisted the Armenian Legion of the armed forces of Nazi Germany, hoping that if Germany succeeded in conquering the USSR, they would be able to grant Armenia independence] of being a Nazi and calling him “Armenia’s [Stepan] Bandera, [the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army]”, [later, Zvezda apologised and deleted the programme from the YouTube channel] [second square brackets as published].
     
    There were several incidents, including programmes on ORT and NTV, after the agreement was signed, but all this has had no major results despite battles on the fields of Facebook and a certain rise in anti-Russian sentiments in Armenia.
     
    Moreover, Russia showed restraint at the official level and effectively left without reaction the fact that the agreement was signed. A few days ahead of the Brussels summit, [Armenian President] Serzh Sargsyan paid an official visit to Moscow and met [Russian] President Vladimir Putin there. This visit was supposed to show that “Armenia does not forget strategic partners and the development of relations with the EU is going to have no impact on relations with Moscow”.
     
    On the other hand, some analysts even said in their statements that the agreement between the EU and Armenia was in Moscow’s interests, as it fits well the logic that integration between the EU and the [Russian-led] Eurasian Union [EEU] is also possible.
     
    Why did Moscow not take any steps unlike in 2013 in order to halt the signing of the agreement? The thing is that the document of this year is essentially different from the document of 2013 and the agreements the EU signed with Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova.
     
    Armenia, a member of the EEU, cannot have even a theoretical chance of joining the DCFTA. Thus, the document signed on 24 November is not so ambitious and Moscow’s calm reaction is due to this.
     
    However, this is not the only reason. The current situation is fundamentally different from that in 2013 due to the dynamic of relations between Russia and the West. The future of Ukraine was decided in 2013 and each side was trying to “lure away” Kiev.
     
    In this context, it was important for Russia to hinder the agreement between the EU and Armenia and put Kiev under pressure in this manner and, at the same time, to show the EU that it is impossible to work with post-Soviet countries without taking Moscow’s interests into account.
     
    The situation is different today. The peak of the conflict has fallen behind. Russia has finally lost Ukraine [at any rate, in the immediate future] [square brackets as published], the West has introduced sanctions, and prices of energy resources have fallen. In these conditions, Moscow is unable to offer “crackers” to post-Soviet countries, including Armenia, and force them to renounce relations with the EU.
     
    At the same time, the policy of tough pressure has made relations with the EU more complicated and Russia does not want this today. In addition, Moscow is now working on the idea of “integrating integration” between the EU and the EEU. The agreement between Armenia and the EEU also fits in this plan.
     
    What is going to happen next?
     
    What benefits is Armenia going to receive from signing the agreement? This will first and foremost facilitate more financial support for Armenia. As the EU envoy [head of the EU Delegation] to Armenia, Piotr Switalski, said, EU’s financial support for Armenia is going to increase by 25 per cent next year and presumably, the figures will grow.
     
    Also, the agreement is going to create conditions for dialogue on visa-free travel. It is clear that there is much time left until Armenian citizens are able to travel to EU countries without visas like citizens of Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine – at least two or three years according to most optimistic estimates. However, the process has started.
     
    It was also announced at the Eastern Partnership summit that Armenia and the EU had also finalised the text of the agreement of air communications, which is supposed to make air travel to Europe more active [today, there are only a few flights from Yerevan to EU countries and most passengers travel via Russia] [square brackets as published].
     
    However, it is most important that the aforementioned agreement envisages major reforms in various spheres in Armenia, including administrative management, the judiciary system, economy, and education. Experience has shown that we should not rely on the government’s goodwill in this regard.
     
    Without pressure from society, these reforms are going to remain simply ink on paper. Therefore, the opposition parliamentary bloc Yelk [Way out] has already said that it intends to monitor the implementation of the agreement between Armenia and the EU.
     
    The attitude of civic society organisations is the same. It is difficult to say how efficient such monitoring can be, but one thing is clear: Prospects for progress have appeared for Armenia thanks to the agreement with the EU.

    Food: Cave dining in Armenia with Simon Majumdar: Sauté Magazine

    Ekmekjian Janet
    Pan Armenian, Armenia
    Dec 12 2017
    – 13:32 AMT
    Cave dining in Armenia with Simon Majumdar: Sauté Magazine

    British-born, food and travel author, and food television personality Simon Majumdar has unveiled the story of one of the best meals he has ever had during his recent trip to Armenia.

    Published on the Sauté Magazine, the article details Majumdar’s experience in the unlikely setting of a cave in Armenia.

    “The meal in question came towards the end of a three-week sojourn to the region of the Caucasus. By the time we reached Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, we were already convinced that this region was deserving of more time in the culinary spotlight, and what we experienced throughout this extraordinarily hospitable country served to confirm it even more,” he said.

    “On one of our early trips away from the capital, we had been fortunate enough to be given a tour of the Areni-1 Wine Caves, an archaeological dig that is uncovering the earliest known wine-making facility known to man, dating from some 6,000 years ago. We were still talking about what we had seen when our guide indicated to our driver that we should pull off the road into a small clearing, and announced to us that this was where we would be having lunch.

    “There was nothing much there, apart from a few benches under an awning to protect them from the sun and the rain, to suggest that this was going to be a premium dining location. Our guide led us across a small gurgling spring into a cool cavern where we met the owner, Vardges. He explained that “The Cave” was the result of years of plentiful hard work as he and his family cleared the wild undergrowth to reveal what was now the location of their kitchen and a small elevated private dining area.”

    According to the author, the lack of “big agriculture” defnitely has had a positive effect when it came to the quality of produce, which by default had to be seasonal in availability and locally sourced. In fact, as Vardges explained , much of what was put before us was grown by the family themselves.

    “There must have been at least fifteen different dishes on the table waiting for us. As well as the re-hydrated lavash, there were assorted cheeses, including a traditional string cheese laced with nigella seeds. There were plates of fresh meaty tomatoes, green peppers and cucumbers so dense they could barely be equated with supermarket versions you might find in the U.S. There were jet black olives, roasted vegetables and hot sauce with pickles that had a balance of sharp and sweet that I have been trying to recreate (unsuccessfully, I might add) since I returned home. Best of all, there was a bowl of thick, creamy and tangy matzoon, a sour dairy product, similar to yogurt, that seems to be at the heart of so many Armenian meals,” the article says.

    “The matzoon was served with a large mound of assorted fresh herbs, which included dill, tarragon, basil, parsley, wild oregano and mint, as well as a small number of fresh green onions, which like the herbs, had also been harvested that morning. As instructed by our dining companions, I began to fashion a roll comprised of a handful of herbs and onions, a layer of string cheese and a plentiful dollop of the matzoon. The first bite, which delivered an amazing combination of the freshness of the herbs, the saltiness of the cheese and the tang of the strained yogurt, was enough to convince me why Armenians like to begin every meal this way.

    “So taken was I with these hand rolls that I almost forgot about the lamb, which had been brought sizzling to our table. That would have been a shame, as it was every bit as delicious as Vardges had promised us.

    “I added some of the lamb to the rolls of herbs, cheese and matzoon. The sweet, crisp and charred lamb fat gave way to the meat below, which dribbled juices onto my chin as I dug in. It was a bite that confirmed everything that we had been excited about during our journey to the region, and one that confirmed that a meal in a cave in The Caucasus would go straight into the top whenever when people next ask me, “What is the best meal you have ever eaten?”

    Music: T. Hamasyan shares “Leninagone” video on anniversary of Armenian earthquake

    Ekmekjian Janet
    Public Radio of Armenia
    Dec 7 2017
    Tigran Hamasyan shares “Leninagone” video on anniversary of Armenian earthquake

    Tigran Hamasyan has shared the music video for “Leninagone,” a song from his album An Ancient Observer, which was release in March on Nonesuch Records. Hamasyan dedicates the song and video to the children who survived the devastating Armenian earthquake that hit his home town of Gyumri (its Soviet name was Leninakan) on December 7, 1988, twenty-nine years ago today, Nonesuch Records reports.

    “I come from the generation of children whose lives were directly affected by this tragic event, followed by the collapse of the Soviet Union three years later,” says Hamasyan.

    The video, directed and edited by Melanya Hamasyan, features video footage from the pianist’s second-grade end-of-the-year performance in 1995, capture on VHS tape by a member of the audience.

    “This is school N. 10, which at the time was a temporary school that the children attended while the real building was being constructed,” Hamasyan recalls. “When I found this tape in my parents’ video archives, I felt that this footage was the visual reflection of what I felt when I wrote the song ‘Leninagone.’ The video portrays the struggle and the hope of all the generations that lived through this apocalyptic time.”

    Armenian, Azerbaijani FMs agree to meet in Vienna – statement

    Ekmekjian Janet
    Panorama, Armenia
    Nov 16 2017

    The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stephane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America) met separately on 14 and 16 November with the Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian and the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov. The Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, also participated in the meetings, the Co-Chairs said in a released statement.

    “The Co-Chairs discussed with the Foreign Ministers concrete steps to implement the agreements reached by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan during the Geneva summit on 16 October 2017 as well as other items raised by the Co-Chairs in Geneva.

    During the meetings, the Co-Chairs and the Ministers reviewed a number of working proposals currently on the table.

    The Ministers agreed to hold a joint meeting on the margins of the December 2017 OSCE Ministerial Council in Vienna.

    The Co-Chairs will prepare the agenda for this meeting, which will include substantive issues of the political settlement, as well as specific measures to reduce tensions on the Line of Contact.

    Special attention will be paid to finalizing the expansion of the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson in Office,” reads the statement.

    Azerbaijani Press: Armenian MP resorts to provocation at Euronest PA committee meeting

    Ekmekjian Janet
    Trend, Azerbaijan
    Nov 7 2017
    7 November 2017 21:20 (UTC+04:00)

    • Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 7

    By Elchin Mehdiyev – Trend:

    Azerbaijani MPs Malahat Ibrahimgizi, Rovshan Rzayev, Agalar Valiyev, Rauf Aliyev, Faraj Guliyev and head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly (PA), chairman of Azerbaijan’s Parliamentary Committee on Youth and Sports Fuad Muradov were on a visit to Kiev to participate in the regular session of the Euronest PA, a source in the Azerbaijani Parliament said Nov. 7.

    Meetings of the Euronest PA committees on political issues, economic integration, energy security and social issues were held within the session, the source noted.

    Malahat Ibrahimgizi, co-chair of the committee on social issues, and Faraj Guliyev, member of the committee, took part in the meeting of the committee.

    Malahat Ibrahimgizi informed about the international conference titled “Involving Parliaments of the Eastern Partnership Member States in promoting gender equality and women’s health within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals”, held Sept. 22 in Baku. Other participants shared their positive impressions of the conference.

    However, a woman MP from Armenia, who participated in the conference in Baku, started to assert that the conference was turned into an “anti-Armenia propaganda”.

    In response to this, Malahat Ibrahimgizi spoke about the suffering of the Azerbaijanis expelled from Armenia, in particular women who became refugees, and noted that everyone was pleased with the conference, and this was stressed by each participant.

    In addition, all delegations, including the Armenian one, freely expressed their opinion when participating in the conference in Baku, she added.

    Then, Faraj Guliyev spoke about the plight of Azerbaijani women in captivity in connection with Armenia’s occupation policy and the forced involvement of the captured Azerbaijani women in the work at Zod gold ore deposit.

    The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

    The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.