Author: Emma Nadirian

Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has convened consultations on the situation in Nagorno Karabakh. Senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, power structures and other bodies participated in the talks, Georgian Government’s Press Service reports.

The Prime Minister expressed concern over the aggravation of situation along the Nagorno Karabakh line of contact and resumption of military actions.

Kvirikashvili voiced hope that the hostilities would be ceased thanks to efforts of the international community and said ‘it’s important for the region.’

Renowned Armenian tenor Gegham Grigoryan passed away today aged 65.

World-famous tenor Gegham Grigoryan graduated from Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory, the class of People’s Artist of Armenia professor Sergei Danielyan. Grigorian made his first appearance on the big stage in 1971 at age 20, in 1972 he went to West Berlin to appear with solo concerts.

In 1975 he made his debut at the National Theater of Opera and Ballet of Armenia in the role of Edgar (opera “Lucia di Lammermoor” by Donizetti). This was followed by Saro (opera “Anush” by Tigranian), Tirith (“Arshak II” by Chukhajyan), Sayat Nova (“Sayat-Nova” by Harutyunyan), Count Almaviva (“The Barber of Seville” by Rossini), Faust (“Faust” by Gounod.)

In 1978 he took part in the competition of the School of Art in Milan at the theater La Scalaand was one of the four lucky winners who were invited to qualify for this school. During his traineeship in Italy, he participated in several concerts. In “La Scala” Gegham Grigoryan made his debut in the role of Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly by Puccini). After that performance, he signed a contract with the theater “La Scala” on the leading rols of the operas “Boris Godunov” and Tosca. The performances were conducted by Claudio Abbado, then he was principal conductor of La Scalla.

Unfortunately, the Soviet authorities, for unknown reasons, forbade him to act outside the territory of the Soviet Union for 10 years. In those years Grigoryan was in the list of so-called restricted artists to travel abroad.

In 1980, Virgilijus Noreika, artistic director of Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre invites Grigorian to work In Vilnius. There Grigorian worked with the famous conductor Jonas Alex. He sang in the operas “Eugene Onegin”, “Don Carlos”, “Boris Godunov,” “La Traviata,” “Madame Butterfly,” “Rigoletto” and many others.

Since 1989, at the invitation of Valery Gergiev he performed at the Mariinsky Theater as the lead singer.

Gegham Grigoryan was the art director of National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet after A. Spendiarian.

Title chasers in England and Germany meet on Thursday night as Tottenham Hotspur travel to Borussia Dortmund for the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie.

Spurs and Dortmund find themselves five points behind the current leaders – Leicester City in the Premier League and Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga – but still in the running.

The first leg in Germany will be head coach Mauricio Pochettino’s 100th game in charge at Tottenham.

“Borussia Dortmund have very good players, a very good team, a great coach – Thomas Tuchel is fantastic and he has showed that from the beginning of the season,” Pochettino said ahead of the match.

“I like the way they play but I think that it’s a good challenge for us. I think we play against one of the best teams in Europe,” he added.

“The strikers they have – Aubameyang, (Henrikh) Mkhitaryan, Gundogan in midfield, Hummels – they’re internationals and big players. They can stay here or go to Real Madrid or Barcelona,” the Tottenham manager said.

In continuation of the landmark case for the return of the historical Seat of the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia at the Monastery of St. Sophia in Kozan, Turkey, His Holiness Catholicos Aram I held a meeting with his legal team in Geneva on Saturday, March 5^th, to discuss progress of the case filed before the Constitutional Court of Turkey on April 27^th, 2015.

The claim of the Catholicosate is that it retains ownership rights over its historic Seat and that under international law, the 1923 Lausanne Treaty, the Government of Turkey is under an obligation to return this property so that it may be restored and used for religious worship.

In order to expedite the case, the lawyer of the Catholicosate in Turkey recently submitted a petition requesting a prompt hearing. If the Government of Turkey does not voluntarily return the Monastery, or if the Constitutional Court does not order its return, the Catholicos has previously indicated that the case will be taken to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, which has the jurisdiction to issue a legally binding decision against Turkey.

 

 

 

The peace established in Syria is too shaky and will not help solve the crisis. If the ceasefire fails to lead to reconciliation, expecting serious results is unrealistic, expert of Tukrish studies Hakob Chakryan says.

According to him, the ceasefire agreement pursues one goal – to prevent the advancement of Bashar Assad and therefore Russia, to preclude the reinforcement of the latter’s positions in Syria.

Speaking about Ankara’s negative attitude towards the truce, Chakryan said the latter wanted to enter troops to Syria and increase its influence in the region.

“The Russian airstrikes foiled all Turkish calculations,” he said.

According to Hakob Chakryan, Turkey wanted to involve NATO and the US in the implementation of its plans, but failed to do so. NATO is not willing to interfere with the Syrian war, while the US has hinted Turkey is not its strategic partner any longer.

“Assad’s departure is not a priority for the West any more, as it can lead to an uncontrollable chaos,” the expert said. “Americans may not be against chaos, as long as it is controllable,” he added.

Chakryan considers that Russia will stay in Syria for a long time. Moscow holds the initiative, but the crisis will not be solved without the United States, he concluded.

In a new published today, the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) notes that corruption remains an important problem for Armenian society, even though the fight against it has been high on the political agenda for years. The report specifically looks at the situation with preventing corruption among parliamentarians, judges and prosecutors.

The judiciary in Armenia appears to be particularly prone to corruption, the report says, and to suffer from the deficit of independence. There are also concerns about the lack of clear separation of powers, the weakness of the Parliament and insufficient transparency in public decision-making.

“Concerns about the current system of state powers and public governance should be addressed with a comprehensive and inclusive reform process,” said Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland. “Reform should be pursued with determination and without delay. Fighting corruption is a priority. We stand ready to assist Armenia in this process, and we trust the authorities will take our recommendations on board.”

GRECO specifically recommends that the rules on the acceptance of gifts by parliamentarians, judges and prosecutors, as well as on submitting regular asset declarations, on their control and enforcement be further developed and made more effective. Further improving the transparency of the parliamentary process, adopting a code of conduct for members of parliament, preventing circumvention of the restrictions on business activities by parliamentarians, are among other recommendations.

The existing procedures for recruitment, promotion and dismissal of judges and prosecutors, including the Prosecutor General, as well as disciplinary procedures need to be further amended. A deliberate policy for preventing improper influence on judges and prosecutors, as well as conflicts of interest and corruption within the judiciary and the prosecution service should be pursued. The immunity of judges should be limited to activities related to the administration of justice.

By the end of April 2017 the authorities of Armenia are to report back on measures taken to implement the 18 recommendations included in this report. GRECO will assess the effectiveness of these measures in a “compliance report” in the second half of 2017.

Beirut-based architecture and design firm Paul Kaloustian Studio is designing a education centre in the northern province of Lori in Armenia, according to

Commissioned by the Children of Armenia Fund (COAF), an initiative that creates opportunities for the rural areas of the country by implementing philanthropic, education and health projects, the Smart Centre is set to serve 2o villages in the area.

The Smart Centre is an education centre with a focus on information technology, arts and crafts as well as sports.

The structure’s organic form embraces the surrounding landscape of mountains by creating a sinuous ribbon-like walkway that gives shape to a 700m2 courtyard.

The single storey building is spread horizontally, following the topography of the site.

The project is made up of a program dedicated to education and community, complete with computer labs, classes, an auditorium and a restaurant while other adjacent facilities  include a sports field, open air workshops and an outdoor auditorium.

A separate smaller structure includes a day care and a nursery and another houses a guest house that is half underground, facing the southern sun featuring 14 rooms and amenities.

“The Smart Centre acts more like a landscape than a building, giving freedom to the visitors to create their own path to experience the indoors as well as the outdoors,” a release said.

The building is only partly enclosed by glass and concrete, creating an equal experience of indoor and outdoor space.

The project is set to be completed this year.

History is a continuous dialogue between the past and the present, but sometimes these interpretations of the past are subject to change in response to new political realities and perspective gains in terms of politics, a member of Armenia’s delegation to the PACE said today, reports.

In his speech at the Assembly’s Winter Session in Strasburg, Samvel Farmanyan called attention to the attempts of politicizing the past in the interest of specific political purposes.
“Sometimes – more often I would say, especially in our part of the world – history becomes politicized, serving concrete political perspectives of concrete governments.”

“Many governments are trying to consolidate more power, sometimes making applications to the mechanisms and tools which are contradicting to the very values of the Council of Europe,” the Armenian delegate noted.

Farmanyan further voiced concerns over autocratic regimes’ attempts of “revisiting the past”.
“Many governments are trying to make use of history – revisiting the past – not only to be a bridge between the past and the present but also between the present and the future. I am talking about consolidation of more power for many countries across Europe, and Turkey, believe me, is not an exception,” he said, adding that the list of such states goes beyond the Council of Europe member states.

Qatar Airways commences four-times weekly non-stop flights between Doha and Yerevan, the capital of Armenia from May 15, reports.

Akbar Al Baker, chief executive, Qatar Airways Group, commented that passengers on the new direct service to and from Yerevan will benefit from easier access to the rest of the world via Qatar Airways global network.

The airline’s expanding global reach, including its newest USA destinations in 2016 of Los Angeles, Boston and Atlanta, and significant growth of its modern fleet has enabled the airline to offer this new service to Armenia.

Akbar Al Baker, chief executive, Qatar Airways Group, “Qatar Airways has seen unprecedented growth in recent years, launching new destinations around the globe, while also establishing our new home and hub, Hamad International Airport. With the new service to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, Qatar Airways is again enhancing its worldwide footprint and expanding travel opportunities for business and leisure passengers alike.”

Passengers flying from Yerevan and onwards to any of Qatar Airways more than 150 destinations will enjoy a quick and convenient transfer at Hamad International Airport, the newest airport hub in the world.

The airline will fly the A320 aircraft direct to and from Yerevan on the four-weekly schedule, featuring a two-class cabin configuration comprising of 12 seats in Business Class and 132 Economy Class seats.

Services will depart the Qatari capital every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 2025 and arrives in Yerevan at 0040. The return flights will then leave the Armenian capital every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 0325 and arrive back in Doha at 0530.