Author: Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS

Under baton of Sergey Smbatyan, Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and virtuoso Mischa Maisky mesmerize InClassica Dubai

Emil Lazarian

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 14:21, 21 September, 2021

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS. Cellist virtuoso Mischa Maisky and the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra lit up the stage at the Coca-Cola Arena under the baton of Sergey Smbatyan at the InClassica Dubai International Music Festival 2021 on September 16, performing Alex Vella Gregory, Tchaikovsky and Joseph Vella.

Inspired by the warm reception and ovations from the audience, who seemingly drifted away to the abode of spiritual pleasures from their love to classical music, Smbatyan said that the evening was special for him.

“What matters is that we had the chance to present the work of Maltese composers. It is always nice to perform Malta’s music,” Smbatyan said, adding that working with the renowned cellist Mischa Maisky was impressive.

“The experience of performing with Maisky on the same stage was simply amazing,” Smbatyan said.

Maisky himself admitted that he loved the concert because the Dubai audience is very emotional.

“I was actually surprised with such reception, given the fact that this is a non-orthodox arena for classical music. I was happy to perform together with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and Sergey Smbatyan, they have passion for music. We’ve had some discussions and made plans with Smbatyan. It  is possible that we perform in Armenia. I’ve already been to Armenia and I have very good memories,” Maisky said.

Reporting by Angela Hambardzumyan

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Photos by Alexey Molchanovsky

UK to continue supporting Armenia’s democratic and economic development – Minister Wendy Morton

Emil Lazarian

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 14:50, 21 September, 2021

LONDON, SEPTEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS. The UK Minister for European Neighbourhood and the Americas at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Wendy Morton released a congratulatory statement on the Armenian Independence Day.

“Congratulations to Armenia as it celebrates 30 years of independence!” Morton tweeted. “! I was delighted to visit Armenia in February, and the UK will continue to be a proud supporter of Armenia’s democratic and economic development.”

Sergey Lavrov congratulates Ararat Mirzoyan on Independence Day

Emil Lazarian

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 19:03, 21 September, 2021

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov sent a congratulatory message to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Armenia’s Independence, reaffirming the high level of Armenian-Russian allied relations and the close, deep-rooted friendship between the Armenian and Russian peoples, ARMENPRESS was informed from the MFA Armenia.

‘’Dear Ararat Samvelovich, I cordially congratulate you on the occasion of the National Day of the Republic of Armenia, the Independence Day.

Russia invariably values the allied relations with Armenia, and the close friendship of our peoples with deep historical roots.

We are happy with the success of the Armenian partners in the issues of complex development of Armenia and strengthening of its international position.

We hope that the multidimensional partnership between Moscow and Yerevan will further enhance the prosperity of the two countries.

We attach great importance to the rich dialogue between our foreign ministries; we are pleased to note that we have common position on current issues of bilateral and regional agendas, effective cooperation on international platforms, and fruitful cooperation within the framework of common integration projects.

Dear Ararat Samvelovich, I wish good health and all the best to you and the entire staff of the Foreign Ministry of Armenia’’.

Independence Day event was humble, tasteful and appropriate – Vice Speaker Ruben Rubinyan

Emil Lazarian

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 10:32,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. During the September 8 Cabinet meeting the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that a decision has been made to duly mark the 30th anniversary of Independence, albeit the non-festive mood. This decision caused much controversy in the political and public arena, and some were demanding the authorities to cancel the event, particularly because the Prime Minister had said that the event would be “colorful”.

The event did take place in Yerevan’s Republic Square on September 21. The Prime Minister said that the event was dedicated first of all to the independence, security and sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia and the memory of those who gave their lives for Artsakh.

ARMENPRESS talked with Vice Speaker of Parliament Ruben Rubinyan over the matter. The vision of opening an era of peace was also addressed.

ARMENPRESS – Mr. Rubinyan, the celebrating-not celebrating of Independence Day was being discussed a lot in the recent period. How would you assess yesterday’s event?

Rubinyan – I believe it was the right decision to mark the 30th anniversary of Independence this way, because after all, all our sufferings of not only these 30 years but several centuries were for independence. I think such discussions shouldn’t had taken place at all. We shouldn’t allow for any suffering, any loss to weaken our resoluteness to build a free and independent homeland. For hundreds of years our ancestors struggled for us today to be able to have this day, and to celebrate it, and I think yesterday’s event was humble, tasteful and appropriate.

ARMENPRESS – There is a lot of talk now about opening an era of peace, but we constantly see incidents which question as to what extent this is possible, for example the latest incident which took place with two residents of Kasakh near Vorotan.

Rubinyan – Indeed, unfortunately during this period we’ve witnessed numerous destructive statements and actions, which force us to think that opening an era of peaceful development is unrealistic. But I think we must have strong nerves and patiently advance our agenda based on our state interests. In this context perhaps we should try to give significance also to small positive steps. Let’s take the incident you mentioned. It is a negative fact that the Azerbaijani military or law enforcement agencies detained our lost citizens. But it was positive that practically after one and a half day Azerbaijan repatriated them, moreover, they [repatriated citizens] themselves testified that they haven’t been ill-treated in any way during their time in Azerbaijan. We hope that with such continuous steps an opportunity will be created to move forward with the agenda of peace.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Tagavard villagers in Karabakh demanded to ensure their safety

Emil Lazarian
Caucasian Knot, EU
Sept 23 2021

Residents of the Tagavard-Kaler village in Nagorno-Karabakh have demanded to set up posts of Russian peacemakers in the village and arm the men in order to ensure villagers’ safety.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that as a result of the 2020 autumn war the above village of Tagavard came under Azerbaijan’s control; and the lower part of the village, named Tagavard-Kaler, remained on the Armenian side. By February this year, 140 families returned to Tagavard-Kaler, but they were deprived of drinking water and opportunity to engage in agriculture and animal husbandry, since under the terms of the armistice, a part of the Tagavard village had passed to Baku.

Margarita Saakyan, the principal of the Tagavard-Kaler school, said that the building was badly damaged by missile attacks. She has noted that the school is clearly visible from the Azerbaijani combat positions; and she has to constantly remind schoolchildren about this.

Liana Stepanyan, the school librarian, said that four missile shells hit her house. While it is restored, she and her family have to rent housing. She hopes very much that the safety of the village will be ensured, because people would not like to leave their houses and their native village.

Apres Avagimyan, a father of four children, has stated that the number of Armenian and Russian posts around the village should be increased, so that Azerbaijani militaries could not try invading the village.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on at 09:23 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

See earlier reports:

Soldier wounded in a shelling attack in Nagorno-Karabakh, Karabakh Ombudsman accuses Azerbaijan of a shelling attack on a village, Karabakh residents accuse Azerbaijani armed forces of a shelling attack on a village.

Author: Alvard Grigoryan; Source: CK correspondent

Source: 
© Caucasian Knot

Miss World Armenia 2021 results: Liana Voskerchyan crowns Mirna Bzdigian in Yerevan

Emil Lazarian
Conan Daily
Sept 23 2021


BY CONAN ALTATIS ON SEPTEMBER 23, 2021 • ( LEAVE A COMMENT )
  • beauty pageant: Miss World Armenia
  • edition: 4th
  • date: September 21, 2021
  • venue: Jivan Restaurants, Yerevan, Armenia
  • number of candidates: 20

.

  1. Manan Hunanyan (Yerevan)
  2. Mane Baghirian (Vanadzor)
  3. Mirna Bzdigian (Aleppo, Syria)
  4. Marina Karapetyan (Yerevan)
  5. Lia Sargsyan (Vanadzor)
  6. Diana Lepejyan (Yerevan)
  7. Vivana Assatouri (Yerevan)
  8. Liana Yeghiazaryan (Yerevan)
  9. Preni Davtyan (Tehran, Iran)
  10. Alla Karapetyan (Martuni)
  11. Viktoria “Vika” Baloyan (Moscow, Russia)
  12. Lidia Zadoorian (Tehran, Iran)
  13. Annia Andriasian (Yerevan)
  14. Nane Avetisyan (Yerevan)
  15. Adriana Galstyan (Hrazdan)
  16. Amest Arutyunyan (Sisian)
  17. Natali Arutyunyan (Yerevan)
  18. Karolina Gevorgyan (Yerevan)
  19. Sona Hoveyan (Yerevan)
  20. Kristina Ayanian (Boston, Massachusetts, United States)

.

  1. Vika Martirosyan (Yerevan)
  2. Arthur Vardapetyan (Yerevan)
  3. Ruzanna Tarannik (Florida, United States)
  4. Aga Kankayan (Yerevan)
  5. Tigran Arakelian (France)
  6. Talia Aibedullina (Russia)
  7. Kamo Mirzoyan (Russia)
  8. Jama Asangulova (Kyrgyzstan)
  9. Edgar Saakyan (Russia)

Azerbaijan files case alleging ‘ethnic cleansing’ by Armenia

Emil Lazarian
Washington Post
Sept 23 2021

By Mike Corder | AP

Today at 4:02 p.m. EDT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Azerbaijan on Thursday filed a case at the United Nations’ top court accusing neighboring Armenia of a “policy of ethnic cleansing” targeting Azerbaijanis.

The case was lodged at the International Court of Justice a week after Armenia filed suit against Azerbaijan at the same Hague-based world court, accusing Baku of a “state-sponsored policy of Armenian hatred.”

Both cases focus on the two countries’ decades long territorial dispute that erupted into armed conflict again last year, leaving hundreds dead.

Referring to that eruption of hostilities, Azerbaijan alleged in its written filing that “Armenia once again targeted Azerbaijanis for brutal treatment motivated by ethnic hatred,” the court said in a statement.

“Armenia’s policies and conduct of ethnic cleansing, cultural erasure and fomenting of hatred against Azerbaijanis systematically infringe the rights and freedoms of Azerbaijanis, as well as Azerbaijan’s own rights,” the case alleges. It accuses Armenia of breaching an international convention aimed at eradicating discrimination.

Armenia last week cited the same convention in bringing its case to the court, which handles disputes between nations. Both countries have signed the convention.

The legal dispute is the latest battle over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan that has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by the Armenian government for more than a quarter of a century.

The predominantly Armenian-populated region had an autonomous status within Azerbaijan during the Soviet era. Tensions between Christian Armenians and mostly Muslim Azeris boiled over as the Soviet Union collapsed. Conflict broke out in 1988 when the region tried to join Armenia, and escalated into war after the 1991 collapse of the USSR, leaving an estimated 30,000 dead and displacing about 1 million.

Azerbaijan asked the court to urgently order so-called “provisional measures” aimed at compelling Armenia to “protect Azerbaijanis from the irreparable harm caused by Armenia’s ongoing conduct.” Armenia made a similar request last week aimed at protecting its interests while the case is heard.

Cases at the court often take years, but hearings on the two requests for provisional measures will likely be scheduled in coming weeks.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/azerbaijan-files-case-alleging-ethnic-cleansing-by-armenia/2021/09/23/372ba558-1ca9-11ec-bea8-308ea134594f_story.html
Also 

Freedom House reports decline in Armenia’s internet freedom

Emil Lazarian
PanArmenian, Armenia
Sept 23 2021
– 16:46 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenia’s score in the Freedom on the Net 2021 report by Freedom House has declined by 4 notches, dropping from 75 in 2020 to 71 this year, though the country continues to be classified as Free.

Scores are based on a scale of 0 (least free) to 100 (most free).

Internet freedom in Armenia declined significantly as a result of restrictions on the free flow of information the government adopted during the war launched by Azerbaijan against Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in fall 2020, the report says.

“The implementation of martial law in late September 2020 placed broad restrictions on the media’s ability to report on the fighting, including by banning speech deemed to endanger national security, permitting authorities to demand content removal, and mandating fines for noncompliance. A number of Turkish and Azerbaijani websites with .az and .tr domains were inaccessible for several weeks. Users also reported problems accessing TikTok. Prominent news sites also faced technical attacks, including distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, leaving many of them temporarily inaccessible during the conflict. In a positive move, a measure that had required telecommunications companies to provide authorities with subscriber metadata in order to facilitate contact tracing, adopted in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, was lifted in September 2020 alongside a virus-related state of emergency,” the report says.

“The government of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has pledged to deal with long-standing problems including systemic corruption, opaque policymaking, a flawed electoral system, and weak rule of law. Despite the government’s reformist stance, concerns about political interference in the judiciary and hostile rhetoric toward the media from government officials persist. In 2020 the country’s politics were seriously destabilized when armed conflict with Azerbaijani forces broke out over control of the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.”

With a score of 77, neighboring Georgia too is classified as Free, while Azerbaijan (35), Iran (16), Turkey (34) and Russia (30) are classified as Not Free.

Freedom on the Net 2021 covers 70 countries in 6 regions around the world. The countries were chosen to illustrate internet freedom improvements and declines in a variety of political systems.

PRESS RELEASE – AUA Launches Capital Campaign on Its 30th Anniversary

Emil Lazarian
PRESS RELEASE

AUA Launches Capital Campaign on Its 30th Anniversary

September 21 marked the 30th anniversary of both the declaration of independence of the Republic of Armenia, as well as the founding of the American University of Armenia (AUA). Since its inception in 1991, AUA has advanced in an unfaltering path of service to the country, educating generations of Armenian students who have walked through its doors and preparing them to build a better future for themselves and for their communities. Keeping pace with changing times and assuming fitting responsibility to Armenia’s needs in today’s dynamic global climate, the University has embraced new ways to accelerate students’ reach of progress, success, and innovation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). To reach that vision, the University has launched the ‘Build a Better Future With AUA’ capital campaign.

This AUA capital campaign aims to raise $15 million for the construction and furnishing of a new Science and Engineering Building deemed imperative for advancing science and technology and keeping pace with the rapidly changing technological landscape in Armenia and beyond. The planned construction accommodates cutting-edge laboratories designed to realize innovative drone solutions, pioneering outcomes to chemical-mechanical challenges, electrical engineering transformations, machine learning-based innovations, renewable energy solutions, and other discoveries through Geographic Information Systems (GIS). With the addition of this research and innovation center, AUA will augment its involvement and impact in engineering the future of Armenia by measurably boosting the country’s development potential and advancing its prosperity and resilience.

Over the past 30 years, the University has continuously enriched its teaching and learning processes, growing from one building at its inception to an expanded campus that now accommodates 16 graduate and undergraduate academic programs and five certificate programs, enhanced learning and research platforms, and spaces for interdisciplinary collaborative endeavors. Moving into the fourth decade, the need to advance STEM education has become higher than ever before, driven by the visibly widening societal and educational gaps, and issues of economic stability and national security.

“In this era of advanced technologies, we have the unique responsibility to grow Armenia’s human capital by preparing and educating multi-skilled and competent leaders who are adept at turning information and knowledge into innovation, insight, and impact on a large scale,” remarks AUA President Dr. Karin Markides.

In advance of the launch of the ‘Build a Better Future With AUA’ capital campaign, AUA has successfully raised half of its $15 million goal. “We are incredibly grateful for the remarkable generosity of our growing donor community and proud of what we have been able to accomplish together. The results we have achieved to date speak to our strong influence as a first-class institution of higher learning and to the belief that AUA supporters hold in the mission of our University and this new capital campaign,” says Gaiane Khachatrian, Vice President of Development. Articulating her enthusiasm for attaining the set goal, she expressed confidence in the goodwill and commitment of individual visionaries in the diaspora as well as other benevolent foundations who will help AUA reach the finish line.

To learn more about the campaign, visit: in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia, affiliated with the University of California, and accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission in the United States. AUA provides local and international students with Western-style education through top-quality undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs, promotes research and innovation, encourages civic engagement and community service, and fosters democratic values.

—

Margarit Hovhannisyan | Communications Manager

Margarit Hovhannisyan|: Communication manager

+374 60 612 514,  

mhovhannisyan@  

__________________________________________

American University of Armenia

Republic of Armenia, 0019, Yerevan, Marshal Baghramyan Ave. 40:00

40 Baghramyan Avenue, Yerevan 0019, Republic of Armenia


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