Author: Emil Karabekian

Armenian PM urges gold mine protesters to lift blockade

Emil Karabekian
Reuters
Jan 25 2020
 
 
 
 
 
(Reuters) – Armenia’s prime minister called on Saturday for environmental protesters to end their 18-month-old blockade of a foreign-owned gold mine, saying the protest was not in the national interest.
 
The Amulsar gold mine, which is located in a remote mountainous region, has been in development by Anglo-American mining firm Lydian International since 2016, with an investment of nearly $500 million so far.
 
The company says the project meets all the legal and environmental requirements, and would generate hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenues.
 
But a group of local residents and environmental activists have prevented access to the mine by blocking a road to the site since June 2018, putting pressure on the government to act in order to safeguard a major foreign investment.
 
“I consider their (protesters) actions are not logical … and not in the interest of Armenia,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told a news conference. “This issue will not be resolved as long as the roads are blocked.”
 
Pashinyan said he suspected there were some hidden economic interests stirring up the protest.
 
“They hope that some changes will happen in the stock exchange so they can get shares, but we will not let such processes happen,” he said.
 
Toronto Stock Exchange said earlier this month it would delist Lydian from Feb. 5 because the company did not meet the necessary requirements. The firm has been granted temporary protection from creditors’ claims as a result of the blockade.
 
Lydian said last year that the blockade had forced it to cut more than 1,000 jobs and caused losses of more than $60 million.
 
The protest has divided locals. Some say the mine will provide much-needed employment in Jermuk, a town of about 3,000 people, and to rural communities in the area about 170 km (105 miles) southeast of the capital, Yerevan.
 
Minerals and metals make up about half of Armenia’s exports.
 
(Reporting by Nvard Hovhannisyan; Writing by Margarita Antidze; Editing by Helen Popper)
 
 
 
 
 
 

Armenian Government vows full exposure of circumstances of Kutoyan’s death – PM’s Office

Emil Karabekian

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 16:36,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 18, ARMENPRESS.  The Government of Armenia will spare no efforts in the limits of its powers to fully expose the circumstances of the death of former Director of the National Security Service of Armenia Georgi Kutoyan, the press service of the Office of the Prime Minister of Armenia told ARMENPRESS.

“The Prime Minister of Armenia feels sorrow for the death of Georgi Kutoyan and extends condolences to the mourning family of the Kutoyan’s. He also guarantees that the Government will spare no efforts in the limits of its powers to fully expose the circumstances of Georgi Kutoyan’s death”, the official from the PM’s Office said.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan

There was no decree to dismiss Ararat Mirzoyan from post of Armenia deputy PM

Emil Karabekian
News.am, Armenia
Nov 2 2019
There was no decree to dismiss Ararat Mirzoyan from post of Armenia deputy PM There was no decree to dismiss Ararat Mirzoyan from post of Armenia deputy PM

17:15, 02.11.2019
                  

YEREVAN. – Armenian National Assembly (NA) President Ararat Mirzoyan received a deputy mandate, and then was elected NA President without being dismissed from the position of First Deputy Prime Minister. There is no document on the termination of his powers as such. The Office of President Armen Sarkissian has informed this in response to a respective query by Pastinfo.

Pastinfo had written to the President’s Office asking to inform when Mirzoyan was dismissed from the post of First Deputy Prime Minister—which no longer exists.

The decree on appointing Ararat Mirzoyan as First Deputy PM was signed on May 11, 2018, and as a result of the snap parliamentary elections that took place in December, he was elected an MP and then speaker of the NA.

“The Armenian president did not receive a proposal from the government to dismiss Ararat Mirzoyan from the post of First Deputy Prime Minister, and, consequently, the corresponding decree of the President was not adopted,” the response from the presidential office reads.

In fact, Ararat Mirzoyan had held two incompatible positions – the First Deputy Prime Minister and the President of the National Assembly – at the same time, according to Pastinfo.

Verelq: About 1,500 shots were fired at the Armenian guards. week on the front lines

Emil Karabekian
  • 26.10.2019

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 169

In the period between October 20 and 26, in the contact zone of the Artsakh-Azerbaijani conflict troops, the enemy violated the cease-fire regime more than 170 times, firing about 1,500 shots from different caliber firearms at the Armenian position guards.


The vanguard military units of the Defense Ministry are in control of the operational-tactical situation and continue to confidently carry out the combat task set before them.

Former justice minister: Armenia pursues policy of using vulgar double standards

Emil Karabekian
News.am, Armenia
Oct 18 2019
Former justice minister: Armenia pursues policy of using vulgar double standards Former justice minister: Armenia pursues policy of using vulgar double standards

16:46, 18.10.2019

Armenia implements a policy of using vulgar double standards, said ex-Justice Minister, Arpine Hovhanissyan during the ‘Legal Challenges of Armenia’ discussion on Friday.

“If you describe in a word what is happening in the country from the point of view of law, then I would call it a policy of using vulgar double standards. Double standards have always been, they are in the assessments of international structures. They are legitimate. But what is happening in Armenia today is not the application of double standards in the name of any interest, state, or idea,” Hovhanissyan said.

“If you do what the authorities want, then you meet all the standards. You are the best lawyer, you are a brilliant human rights activist, you are the most outstanding politician, you are a talented person. And when you don’t do it, then you are the worst, most corrupt, thief, etc.,” she added.

Bureau of Armenian Revolutionary Federation issues statement condemning Turkey’s attack on Syria

Emil Karabekian 
ARKA, Armenia
Oct 11 2019
Bureau of Armenian Revolutionary Federation issues statement
condemning Turkey’s attack on Syria
YEREVAN, October 11. /ARKA/.The Bureau of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation issued a statement on Thursday strongly condemning Turkey’s
brutal attack on Syria and calling on the international community to
curbing Ankara’s destructive actions that threaten the security of the
region.
In its statement, the ARF Bureau says that once again, with complete
disregard to international rights of states and individuals, Turkey
has launched a military attack on northeastern Syria. The Turkish plan
to establish a so-called security zone threatens not only Syria’s
territorial integrity, but also the security of this area's Kurdish
majority as well as ethnic and religious minorities, including
Armenians, and aims to establish a new demographic order in the area.
By sponsoring extremists in Syria for a long time, Turkey, under the
guise of fighting terrorism, has created room for new threats of new
military tension escalation, massacres, migration, reactivation of
terrorist groups and a new humanitarian crisis.
The ARF Bureau finds it very alarming that this is taking place at a
time of international efforts to ease tension in Syria and create an
atmosphere of reconciliation and peace in the country.
Inadequate reaction of the organizations involved in the mediation
process to the criminal acts of the country that has committed a
genocide.
Thus, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Bureau condemns the
actions of the criminal Turkish regime which has declared war on
sovereign nation with genocidal intentions toward the majority Kurdish
population and national minorities in the area, pledges to contribute
to efforts in securing the safety of our brethren who are in the
immediate areas of the military operation and assist in relief efforts
and expresses its solidarity with the friendly people of Syria and
finds it imperative that nations engaged in the regional processes and
the international community take resolute steps to halt the Turkish
regime with the aim of securing stable peace in the region.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday Turkey would
launch a military offensive against the Kurdistan Labor Party and the
"Islamic State". Turkish troops have launched their offensive in
northern Syria, and ethnic Armenians in northern Syria are under fire
now. -0---

Kocharyan requires surgery, says lawyer

Emil Karabekian

Kocharyan requires surgery, says lawyer

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 10:49, 8 October, 2019

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Former President Robert Kocharyan has been taken to a hospital for a medical examination again, Ministry of Justice department of corrections spokesperson Nona Navikyan told ARMENPRESS.

She said Kocharyan has been taken to Izmirlyan Medical Center in Yerevan.

This is the third time in one week that Kocharyan is being taken to the same hospital for a medical examination.

Kocharyan is currently jailed on charges of Overthrowing Constitutional Order and bribery in the trial of the 2008-post election unrest, known as the March 1 case.

One of Kocharyan’s lawyers Hovhannes Khudoyan told ARMENPRESS that the former president requires surgery.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan