Author: Elizabeth Jabejian

Sports: Henrikh Mkhitaryan bids ‘tearful’ farewell to Manchester United: source

Elizabeth Jabejian
PanArmenian, Armenia
Jan 20 2018
– 10:50 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan reportedly said a tearful farewell to his Manchester United team-mates and club staff on Friday, January 19 lunchtime as the final obstacle to United signing Sanchez was removed.

According to a source familiar with the matter, Mkhitaryan isn’t too happy with the way the deal “has been forced upon him,” The Daily Mail reports.

Alexis Sanchez will finally become a Manchester United player after Mkhitaryan agreed to join Arsenal in a swap deal.

The Armenian’s switch has been holding up negotiations after his agent Mino Raiola warned that he could scupper the Sanchez deal.

An hour after Jose Mourinho confirmed Mkhitaryan would be left out of United’s squad to face Burnley, MailOnline revealed that the player had said an emotional goodbye after his final United training session. “It was very tearful,’ said a source. “Henrikh has been a very popular figure here at United.

“We know he isn’t too happy with the way this deal has been forced upon him.

“He realises he has more chance of playing at Arsenal, but he would have preferred to leave on his own terms.”

Sports: Wins and fails of Armenian athletes in 2017

Elizabeth Jabejian
JAM News
Jan 12 2018
Gevorg Ghazaryan, Yerevan
Naira Martikian

A review of last year’s achievements. It’s time to determine the next steps


Last year can be regarded as a rather successful one for Armenian athletes. Achievements were made not only in sports, in which Armenia has traditionally been strong in, but also in sporting events where ‘success’ and ‘Armenia’ have been utterly incompatible until now, for example in cycling and basketball.

However, before we proceed to some particular achievements it should be mentioned that in 2017 Armenian athletes brought home 201 medals, of which 61 were gold. These were won in various sporting events at the world and European championships.

Artur Aleksanyan, three-time World Champion in Greco-Roman Wrestling

Major achievements of the previous year include: the world champion titles won by Arthur Aleksanyan and Maksim Manukyan at the Greco-Roman wrestling tournament; the gold success of Armenian boxer Hovhannes Bachkov at the European Boxing Championship; the victory of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and F.C. ‘Manchester United’ in the Europa League and chess player Levon Aronian’s victory in the FIDE World Chess Cup in Tbilisi.

Simon Martirosyan, an Armenian weightlifter (105kg weight category) who won the title of champion at the European Weightlifting Championship in Split, Croatia.

Levon Aronian at a news conference after the World Chess Cup.

Edgar Stepanyan, an Armenian cyclist, won the scratch race silver at the Track Cycling World Championship in 2017. After winning this tournament he has set a new goal – to make it to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The national basketball team which took part in the World Cup qualifiers also looked promising. It was one victory shy of being included in the list of top contenders. This achievement wasn’t without consequence though. The Armenian Basketball Federation organized a home championship league entitled ‘A League’, with seven teams participating in it.

Fans of the Armenian national basketball team attending the Armenia vs Bosnia game.

There is certainly room for failure and defeat in sports, and the most noteworthy would probably be the disqualification of the Armenian weightlifting team. Some Armenian athletes turned out to be involved in a doping scandal. As a result, the entire national team was prohibited from participating in the 2017 World Cup.

Armenian football is still facing a crisis. Poor performance at the national championships and the uncertain future of the national team has given cause for reflection: is Armenian football’s driving force heading in the right direction?

A couple of new teams failed to breathe new life into Armenia’s club football. Such attempts were made in the past as well, but they were equally unsuccessful. An effort to develop provincial football seems to be the only right solution to the problem, and such a project has already been launched. F.C. Lori, which currently plays in Armenia’s A League, has been set up in Vanadzor city.

Armenian national football championship: Gandzasar-Kapan vs Shirak

A list of the top 10 Armenian athletes was announced at the end of 2017 wherein athletes were selected through a new procedure. Henrikh Mkhitaryan, a football player, came in at 3rd place based on the votes received from sports journalists, but he was ranked 1st by sports fans via sms-voting.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan after scoring yet another goal as part of Armenia national team.

This decision has stirred up debates in sports circles. It’s been said that the Armenian sports ‘envoy to the world’ led the top ten list undeservedly because he didn’t make any particular achievements as part of the national team.

JAMnews reported about that at the end of last year in its article: ‘A list of top ten 2017 Armenian athletes provokes a lively debate’.

In view of the aforesaid, the people responsible for selecting the best athletes will likely have to develop a new approach. Some countries for example have an additional nomination in the year’s top ten athletes rating, specifically designed for those who perform abroad and who have achieved considerable success there.

Steady increase in dollar prices is the consequence of Central Bank’s dram stabilization policy. Bagratyan

Elizabeth Jabejian
  • 12.01.2018

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  • Armenia:

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  • arm

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The former Prime Minister of Armenia, former Member of the National Assembly Hrant Bagratyan presented an analysis based on statistical data, which shows that the result of the dram stabilization policy of the Central Bank of Armenia is the steady increase in dollar prices for years.


“In 2005, the dollar prices of goods and services in Armenia were higher than in Belarus – 10%, Kazakhstan – 31%, Kyrgyzstan – 52%, Azerbaijan – 55%, Molova – 20%, Ukraine – 20%. At that time, the prices in Georgia were higher than in Armenia by 3.5%, and in the Russian Federation they were higher than in Armenia by 26%. In 2015, the picture changed. RA is the most expensive. Our dollar prices of goods and services were higher than in Belarus – 29%, Kazakhstan – 1%, Kyrgyzstan – 29%, Azerbaijan – 33%, Moldova – 17%, Ukraine – 54%, Georgia – 8%, Russia – 4%.


In 2017, according to me, the situation worsened. All numbers are missing. But it is definitely known that the prices in Georgia are more expensive than in Armenia by at least 20%. This is the result of the Central Bank’s dram stabilization policy. It leads to a steady increase in dollar prices. Meanwhile, it is not necessary to stabilize the dram, but to encourage competition among suppliers of goods and services,” Bagratyan wrote on his Facebook page.

Sports: Jose Mourinho reacts to Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s latest Man United performance

Elizabeth Jabejian
The Sport Review
Jan 1 2017


The Armenia international’s future has been a source of relentless debate over the past couple of months after the attacking midfielder fell down the pecking order at Old Trafford.

The 28-year-old started his second Premier League game since a 1-0 loss to defending champions Chelsea on 5 November.

Mkhitaryan featured for a mere 45 minutes in a 2-2 draw with Burnley at Old Trafford on Boxing Day, while the Armenian playmaker lasted 65 minutes in a goalless draw with Southampton in their last home clash in 2017.

The former Borussia Dortmund midfielder has been linked with a potential return to the Bundesliga outfit in recent weeks, while Serie A giants Inter Milan have also been touted with an interest in the Armenian.

Asked about Mkhitaryan’s performances ahead of Manchester United’s dour goalless draw with the Saints, Mourinho replied: “He’s come on well with a good attitude, good dynamic and good enthusiasm.

“He gave something to the team in that second half [against Burnley last week] and so with Anthony Martial injured and Marcus Rashford playing 90 minutes of that match, it’s normal that I have to play other players when I can and have solutions in the squad to make that rotation.”

Manchester United brought in Mkhitaryan in a £30m deal from Dortmund in the 2016 summer transfer window after the attacking midfielder became the third signing of the Mourinho era.

The Red Devils are in third place in the Premier League table after Chelsea hoisted themselves above Mourinho’s side.

By The Sport Review staff

1 million 172.4 thousand tourists visited Armenia in January-September

Elizabeth Jabejian
  • 19.12.2017

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  • Armenia:

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During the nine months of the current year, 1 million 172.4 thousand tourists visited Armenia. Compared to the same period last year, the increase was 21%. Most of all, tourists from Russia, Georgia, Iran, Ukraine and the USA visited Armenia. Zarmine Zeytuntsyan, the chairman of the State Tourism Committee, announced this at the year-end press conference.


According to the official, first of all, the increase in the number of tourists was influenced by the facilitation of the visa regime with a number of countries, private-public sector cooperation and many other factors. But even today, the problem of making Armenia known to the world remains a priority, and the question of where Armenia is is still raised today.  


It was noted that in 2018, the amount allocated to the development of tourism in the state budget doubled to 400,000 dollars.


Earlier, VERELQ reported that tourism from Russia to Armenia increased by one third in 2017.

Millions of drams for “Gold” numbers

Elizabeth Jabejian
  • 14:07 | December 19,2017 | Social
  • Armenian:
  • Rus

Today, at 8 pm, Beeline’s premium auction will take place on bid.beeline.com.

This platform, from where one gets an opportunity to buy sim cards from closed list, will last for one month. The mentioned telephone numbers have their fixed market price which will be reduced at the moment when the auction starts. And the final price will be determined during the auction.

Native ads by Caramel

The auction will last 24 hours. After that the telephone numbers will be removed from the free sell-out.

Sim cards, costing AMD 3 000 000 will be delivered for free all through Armenia.

Sports: Armenian cyclist to participate in international tournament in Portugal

Elizabeth Jabejian
Pan Armenian, Armenia
Dec 12 2017
Armenian cyclist to participate in international tournament in Portugal

Leading Armenian cyclist Edgar Stepanyan will take part in an upcoming international ranking tournament in Portugal on December 15-16. Stepanyan will perform in the scratch event.

The cyclist’s personal trainer Armen Gyozalyan said that they have also applied for the 4km pursuit race. It will become clear on the spot, however, whether to participate or not.

“It’s the end of the season but Edgar is in good shape. The important thing is that he is very well-tuned and is in combat mode. He will try to score points,” Gyozalyan said, according to the National Olympic Committee.

Tehran: Cafe Naderi maintains integrity with big dose of nostalgia

Elizabeth Jabejian
Tehran Times
Sunday
December 9, 2017

TEHRAN – Any move to split or transform premises of the nostalgic Cafe Naderi, an erstwhile hangout for intellectuals and literati in downtown Tehran, has been thwarted.

Late last week, unendorsed stories circled at social media networks, noting its landowner is about to divide the cafe’s garden by erecting a wall.

Form early hours of Thursday, patrols from District 12 as well as protection unit of the Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization scouted around the historical site, ISNA reported.

On the same day, Rajabali Khosroabadi, Tehran province’s CHTHO director, paid a visit to the cafe to make sure no damage has been caused, the report said.

“I talked to the owner’s representative by phone while visiting the cafe, warning any tampering is legally prohibited and any conservation plans should be carried out under the CHTHO supervision,” Khosroabadi added.

A national cultural heritage site, the cafe is situated on the ground floor of the Hotel Naderi on Jomhouri St.

Khachik Madikians, an Armenian immigrant, opened the café in 1927, it soon became a bustling rendezvous of the literary and intellectual elites.

AFM/MQ/MG

Armenians feel moral obligation to contribute to international efforts for prevention of genocides – FM Nalbandian

Elizabeth Jabejian 
Armenpress News Agency , Armenia
December 9, 2017 Saturday
Armenians feel moral obligation to contribute to international efforts
for prevention of genocides – FM Nalbandian
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS. Armenian foreign minister Edward
Nalbandian issued a statement on the International Day of
Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and
the Prevention of this Crime, the foreign ministry told Armenpress.
The statement says:
“As we mark today the International Day of Commemoration of the
Victims of Genocide we join our voice with all those who strive to
ensure that “never again” is a solemn promise that is universally
respected and kept.
As a people that passed through the horrors of Genocide, Armenians
feel moral obligation to contribute to the international efforts for
prevention of genocides, crimes against humanity. In 2015 due to the
efforts of Armenia the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a
unanimous Resolution on the Genocide Prevention while again on our
initiative the UN General Assembly assigned December 9th as an
International Day of Commemoration of the Victims of Genocide.
Since 2015, 9 December has become a solid platform for manifestation
of our collective resolve against the recurrence of this crime. It
also bears an important mission of raising awareness and promoting
education about the crimes against humanity.
On the next December 9th the International Commemoration Day will gain
even more significance since it will coincide with the 70th
anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. It will provide an opportunity to
once again reaffirm the importance of the Convention.
However, 70 years passed the world is not immune from this “odious
scourge”. It is imperative to redouble the international efforts aimed
at reinvigoration of the prevention agenda.
We hope that the 70th anniversary of the Convention will give a new
impetus to the international efforts in this regard”.

Union of Armenians of Russia blasts TV channels for spreading disinformation, causing anti- Armenian stir

Elizabeth Jabejian 
Armenpress News Agency, Armenia
December 1, 2017 Friday
Union of Armenians of Russia blasts TV channels for spreading
disinformation, causing anti- Armenian stir
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. The Union of Armenians of Russia
issued a statement condemning the anti-Armenian stir of Russian
politicians and certain news agencies after Armenia signed the
agreement with the European Union.
The Union states that certain circles falsely present the agreement to
be a change of political course of Armenia. The Union emphasized that
it is difficult to comprehend what is prevailing here – ignorance or
the drive to serve to those foreign powers which would like to create
tension not only in the Armenian-Russian relations, but also among
CSTO and EEU partners.
“If those pseudo-experts weren’t lazy enough and had actually read the
agreement, it would be instantly clear for them that it was signed in
accordance to all commitments assumed by Armenia towards its partners,
it doesn’t imply Armenia’s entry to the single economic area with the
EU and doesn’t threaten whatsoever to the interests of EEU member
states”, the statement said.
The Union addressed relevant structures demanding to remove so-called
experts, corrupt reporters and pseudo-politicians from TV airtime,
which spread disinformation and harm first of all those channels.