Author: Emil Karabekian

 19:27,

YEREVAN, MAY 21, ARMENPRESS. Caretaker Foreign Minister of Armenia Ara Ayvazian gave a speech at the 131st session of the CoE Committee of Ministers, during which he referred to the necessity of adequate international reaction to the behavior of Azerbaijan.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Foreign Ministry of Armenia, Ayvazian said in his speech, ”This year was remarkable in terms of the 20th anniversary of Armenia’s membership to the Council of Europe. During these years the CoE contributed and continues to contribute to the strengthening of democracy in Armenia. We are committed to the ideologies and values of the Council of Europe.

But, on the other hand, in the broader context of European democratic security, we are witnessing the decline of those values and the moral defeat.

Last year Azerbaijan unleashed a bloody war against the people of Artsakh. The war was accompanied by massive violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. Those violations have been properly documented not only in Armenian but also in international sources, by organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Freedom House. The European Court of Human Rights has taken interim measures against Azerbaijan regarding hundreds of captives, whose captivity was confirmed by that country, demanding information about them, which, however, was not received. The Court even informed the Committee of Ministers in a public notice that Azerbaijan does not cooperate.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe also expressed deep concern  during the last plenary session. By refusing to return POWs, Azerbaijan continues to violate international humanitarian law and human rights”.

Highlighting the role of the CoE in addressing numerous humanitarian, cultural and religious issues in Artsakh, Ara Ayvazian said, ”So far, the Committee of Ministers has not adequately responded to the  blatant violations of statutory and conventional obligations by Azerbaijan.

The lack of a tough response to the massive and gross human rights violations in Nagorno-Karabakh encouraged Azerbaijan to pursue the same policy toward the Republic of Armenia in an attempt to occupy border areas and deprive the local population of its livelihood.

Mr. Chairman, the Council of Europe was established to build greater unity among its member states. In this regard, the Council of Europe has managed to unite almost all of Europe under one roof, to develop legal standards that guide cooperation between member states in various fields. However, there is a deep chasm between some Member States. And as long as perpetrators of atrocities are allowed to be on an equal footing with those who continue to believe in the values of democracy and human rights, that chasm will only deepen. If we do not give new impetus to our efforts to ensure democratic security throughout Europe, our most important goal of greater unity in Europe will remain an illusion, especially for those living in conflict zones”.

 14:12,

YEREVAN, MAY 19, ARMENPRESS. An interview with Jacob Claesson, Head of Operations, Evolution Georgia and Armenia. Evolution,

leading international B2B developer and provider of products for the online gaming industry, had

recently announced the opening of a broadcasting studio in Yerevan. In our interview with Jacob

Claesson we discovered the history of Evolution as well as the plans they have for Armenia.

Q: Tell us about the history of Evolution. How did it start and what are the key corporate milestones?

JC: Evolution is a Swedish company founded in 2006 on the notion to bring the experience from a land-based casino to an online environment. Evolution operates solely as a supplier to the online casino operators, the company does not sell anything directly to customers/players, all monetary transactions goes via the operators. This year, we celebrate 15 years of operation, recognizing our track record of ground-breaking news and industry leadership, including the establishment of a brand new product category with the Game Shows in 2012 and multiple examples of successful introduction of new combinations of game technology. 

During its 1,5 decade of operation, Evolution has become leading international B2B developer and provider of products for the online gaming industry with over 10,000 employees across 20+ locations working in the fields of product innovation, software development, game presenters and host as well as a range of support functions. Since 2010 Evolution has won the Best Live Casino Supplier of the Year at the EGR B2B Awards on an annual basis, which means Evolution has won that award EVERY year since it was initiated.  

Q: What makes Evolution stand out among its competitors? What makes Evolution special as an employer?

JC: We are recognized for providing an unparallel player experience through our advanced product innovation and technical solutions. We are a software company with A-Z product development in-house, including design, software and technical development. Evolution is also an equipment company: most of our games are innovated by us. It means that the physical equipment required to bring them to life often does not exist. So, we invent and build them ourselves. But first and foremost, EVO is a people company. Our people drive our innovation. Today we operate in more than 20 locations, with 10,000+ employers of about 80 nationalities. Our corporate culture with its strong and rooted values is what defines us as an employer.

• Evolution is an embodiment of ALIVE, an active, young organization, which is always looking for new opportunities and hungry for new things. We always go for 1^st
• We opt to do RIGHT – we aim to lead the way in fair gaming and contribute to the communities that we operate from.
• We work TOGETHER – our business model is based on teamwork, every part of the chain counts as our product is 50% IT and 50% human. We reward EVOlutioneers who step up for fellow colleagues and we strive to apply the human angle and support our people to grow and take on challenges.

Q: What benefits do you offer to your employees?

JC:  Most importantly, we offer an opportunity to take the first career step without any specific work experience. We offer an international and people-oriented atmosphere, an attractive and modern workplace and the opportunity to develop skills both within our Academy and further while working in Evolution, which are relevant for a future career, within Evolution or elsewhere. These include presentation technique trainings, English classes, as well as usage of internationally used tools and programs. Our employee becomes a member of our worldwide team and has the real opportunity to make career both in frames of local studio and across our other studios. Many in current management positions with us started in an entry-level job at Evolution. Becoming an EVOlutioneer means being alive, supportive and open to new opportunities. From our part we do strive to be an attractive, admirable and fair employer.

Q: Why Armenia?

JC: We chose Yerevan mainly for its availability of our desired workforce and the on-going development of the city. Like with our other sites, we want to become an attractive employer which can offer the Armenian youth the opportunity to take their first career step in an international company. As we train our teams in-house, we don’t require specific work experience, just a professional attitude to work and good level of English, since Yerevan’s studio will serve its operators all over the world with English speaking live dealer tables. We very much look forward to welcome our first group of motivated Armenian team members to their first training in our Evolution Academy.

Q: What are your plans for Armenia?

JC: Our plans for Armenia are longterm. With our increasing global demand for our services, we are expecting our Yerevan studio to be part of ensuring we meet the increasing interest in our services. By entering the Armenian market, Evolution will create 100s of entry-level job opportunities for local youth in Yerevan and its surroundings. Our aim is to be an attractive employer through offering our corporate culture, dynamic work atmosphere and benefits and by continue to grow the number of job opportunities that we offer the local market.

Open vacancies are found on Armenian career platforms, Evolution Armenia’s Facebook page, as well as Evolution’s career page https://www.evolution.com/careers/armenia/.

 14:05,

YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. Armenian government officials held a meeting with representatives of the UN Armenia Office and the diplomatic corps to discuss the preparation and holding of the June 20 early election of parliament, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a news release.

Prime Minister’s Office Chief of Staff Arsen Torosyan said at the meeting that all available resources must be utilized to hold the election on the highest possible standards with the purpose of ensuring democracy, transparency and credibility. Torosyan stated that the government and the central electoral commission will jointly make all efforts to hold free, transparent and fair elections and constantly improve the electoral process. “I am sure that through joint efforts we will be able to achieve this,” Torosyan said.

Torosyan emphasized the importance of the work of observer missions in the process of organizing the elections. He also addressed the need for properly organizing the election in terms of the ongoing pandemic. “The snap election contains an important challenge which we can’t ignore, it is time. In order to hold high-quality, transparent, free and fair elections we must use the entire set of tools, but in a twice shorter period of time,” Torosyan said.

Central Electoral Commission chairman Tigran Mukuchyan stressed the importance of having relevant technical equipment in district centers, as well as the need to organize training of specialists and employees. He also addressed the issue of raising awareness among the voters on the electoral code changes. Mukuchyan said guides and ads will be prepared. “We are also planning to have separate bulletins so that voters get informed and be ready to the specificities of the new voting type. As you know these changes were adopted quite recently, the changes make the electoral process easier but it is highly important to inform the voters about this all in a short period of time,” Mukuchyan said.

He added that the voter lists will be published, live transmission video cameras will be installed in polling stations for transparency, just like during the previous election.

The representatives of the international organizations and the foreign diplomats expressed readiness to support the process of holding free, fair and transparent elections.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 17:56,

YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS.  The Government of the Republic of Armenia submitted on May 9 an Inter-State Application against Turkey to the European Court of Human Rights claiming a number of Convention violations by Turkey by means of recruiting and transporting Syrian mercenaries to Azerbaijan and providing military support to Azerbaijan during the 44-day war, ARMENPRESS reports, the Armenian representation to the ECHR issued a statement.

In particular, the Armenian Government claims that during the 44-day war Turkey has violated the right to life, prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment, the right to liberty, the right to property, the right to personal and family life, as well as a number of other Convention rights of the population of Artsakh and Armenia.

The Government has submitted extensive evidence with regard to the recruitment and transfer of Syrian mercenaries by Turkey to the Republic of Azerbaijan, evidence regarding the supply of military equipment, weapons and ammunition to the Azerbaijani army, as well as other evidence on its involvement to the war.

 12:16, 6 May, 2021

YEREVAN, MAY 6, ARMENPRESS. Travelers having certificates of being fully vaccinated (green pass) against COVID-19 won’t have to take an additional PCR test upon entering Armenia.

The decision was made today at the Cabinet meeting.

Caretaker Healthcare Minister Avanesyan said many countries are now changing their policies. “We see that some countries already have such policy that a vaccination certificate is facilitating the process, and then the time will come when vaccination will be the only way to cross the border,” she said.

The government also cancelled an earlier decision requiring children below the age of 1 to undergo a PCR test.

Caretaker PM Nikol Pashinyan said that the tourism sector is showing very little signs of recovery. “And from this perspective I find it important to enable travelers who’ve been vaccinated to enter our country without any additional examinations,” he said.

Editing and translating by Stepan Kocharyan