Author: Garnik Tadevosian

Armenia’s Pashinyan: If I’m guilty, execute me, and I’ll submit

Garnik Tadevosian
News.am, Armenia
Armenia’s Pashinyan: If I’m guilty, execute me, and I’ll submit
21:38, 10.06.2021

Today, all the former Presidents of Armenia blame me for not agreeing to see Nagorno-Karabakh have the same fate that Nakhchivan had. This is what acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during today’s campaign meeting in Lori Province.

“If I’m guilty, dear people, sentence me, execute me, and I’ll submit, but I believe I did everything possible and many people in Armenia did whatever they could to make sure Armenia and the Armenian side won the war. Army generals would receive phone calls telling them to not submit to the authorities, leave Artsakh and fight in Yerevan. When the President of Artsakh was telling people to go and defend Shushi since the enemy had approached Shushi, nobody went, and later, it turned out that those people were preparing to attack the government building. They should have gone and attacked in Shushi,” Pashinyan said.

Fair Armenia party says they are coming to establish national solidarity and internal tolerance if elected

Garnik Tadevosian

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 12:28, 9 June, 2021

YEREVAN, JUNE 9, ARMENPRESS. Fair Armenia party plans to restore the legality process, create a healthy atmosphere in the country in case of winning the upcoming snap parliamentary elections, party president Norayr Norikyan said during a press conference on the sidelines of the pre-election campaign.

“We aim at restoring the legality process in Armenia, create a healthy atmosphere. I would like to ask our compatriots to assess the situation soberly. The Fair Armenia party, which consists of intellectual people operating in different areas, is trying to change qualitatively the political atmosphere. We are coming to establish national solidarity and internal tolerance, otherwise we could face serious problems”, he said.

The electoral campaign for the snap parliamentary elections launched in Armenia on June 7.

The campaign will last until June 18.

The snap parliamentary elections will take place on June 20, but the electronic voting will kick off on June 11 until June 13.

26 political forces – 22 parties and 4 blocs, have been registered for participation in the elections, but on June 8 one of the parties has announced that they will not take part in the elections.


Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Serzh Sargsyan published an audio recording of Pashinyan confessing he used to pretend madness

Garnik Tadevosian
Panorama, Armenia
June 9 2021

Armenia’s third president Serzh Sargsyan has published an audio recording of Pashinyan speaking at one of the meetings, and confessing that he had often pretended to be insane during meetings with Putin, Nazarbayev and Lukashenko and thus  disrupted the pro-Armenian settlement of the Artsakh issue. 

Serzh Sargsyan had announced his intention to publish the recording on Tuesday in response to Pashinyan’s threats to come up with evidence about Sargsyan’s alleged involvement in corruption and other crimes. Sargsyan then gave 24 hours to present the facts about the claims, otherwise promising to publish the scandalous recording. 

At a meeting in Gegharkunik province on Wednesday, Sargsyan said that Pashinyan presented no fact thus as promised he would publish the recording.

CIS deploys observation mission for Armenian parliamentary elections

Garnik Tadevosian
BelTA, Belarus
June 1 2021

MINSK, 1 June (BelTA) – The CIS observation mission at the snap elections to the National Assembly of Armenia began monitoring the election campaign on 31 May, following the invitation of the country, BelTA learned from the mission headquarters.

As part of the monitoring of the parliamentary elections, head of the CIS observation mission Evgeny Kozyak met with Chairman of the Armenian Central Electoral Commission Tigran Mukuchyan to discuss the upcoming snap parliamentary elections. The CEC chairman spoke about the election campaign, and the work of the Central Electoral Commission in the conditions of a tight timeframe for preparing the elections.

For his part, Evgeny Kozyak noted that the mission will be working in strict compliance with the electoral laws of Armenia, independently, based on the generally recognized principles and norms of international law in the field of elections. The task of the mission is to assess the compliance of the election campaign with the national legislation and to assist in the conduct of free and democratic elections.

The mission is currently being formed. It is expected to consist of about 70 people. About 10 will be deployed on a long-term basis.

The snap elections to the National Assembly of Armenia are scheduled for 20 June.

BSTDB provides EUR 23 million loan to Ameriabank to boost SME financing in Armenia

Garnik Tadevosian

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 12:14, 2 June, 2021

YEREVAN, JUNE 2, ARMENPRESS. The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is providing a five-year EUR 23 million loan to Ameriabank to expand access to finance for Armenian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The BSTDB’s financing will support liquidity and working capital needs of industrial and agricultural SMEs, promote exports and facilitate the private sector growth and employment in Armenia.

“We are pleased to further strengthen our established cooperation with Ameriabank – a market leader in Armenia and BSTDB trusted partner since 2014. Thanks to our successful partnership, we have been able to reach out to many SMEs in the country and inject a total of USD 25 million, which otherwise we would not have been able to do directly. Our new financing is part of BSTDB’s continued efforts to help combat the impact of the coronavirus and support the post-pandemic recovery of Armenian economy and we are proud that it comes at a time when development support is most needed”, said Dmitry Pankin, BSTDB President.

“We are happy that our long-lasting effective cooperation with the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank has enabled us to implement a number of successful projects. The attracted funds give us the opportunity to provide long-term financing to small and medium enterprises operating in Armenia, thus contributing to development of the sector and enhancement of competitiveness and strengthening the SMEs’ position in the target markets. This is the third loan instrument issued to Ameriabank by the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank for the purpose of SME financing. We hope that cooperation between BSTDB and Ameriabank will be continuous, since implementation of target support projects developed for the SME sector is one of the most important directions both for our partners and us.”, said Artak Hanesyan, CEO of Ameriabank.

The new loan to Ameriabank will bring the total BSTDB’s assistance to the SME sector development in Armenia through local financial institutions to over USD 100 million. Ameriabank CJSC Ameriabank is a dynamically developing bank and one of the most stable and largest financial institutions in Armenia.

 Ameriabank CJSC is a universal bank rendering corporate, investment and retail services in a comprehensive package of banking solutions. Based on 2020 results, Ameriabank is the leader in the Armenian banking sector by its financial indicators (assets, liabilities, loan portfolio, capital). The principal activities are deposit taking and account management, lending, issuing guarantees, cash and settlement operations, transactions with securities and foreign exchange. For further information, please visit www.ameriabank.am or call (+37410) 56 11 11.

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is an international financial institution established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. The BSTDB headquarters are in Thessaloniki, Greece. BSTDB supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing loans, credit lines, equity and guarantees for projects and trade financing in the public and private sectors in its member countries. The authorized capital of the Bank is EUR 3.45 billion. BSTDB is rated long-term “A-” by Standard and Poor’s, “A2” by Moody’s and “A+” by the Russian credit rating agency ACRA. For information on BSTDB, visit www.bstdb.org or email: .

MP Naira Zohrabyan denounces authorities for failure to bring back captured soldiers

Garnik Tadevosian
Panorama, Armenia
June 4 2021

MP Naira Zohrabyan from the opposition Prosperous Armenia faction on Friday denounced the authorities for their failure to bring back the six Armenian soldiers captured by Azerbaijani forces on May 27.

“I would like to remind you that the General Staff chief announced that he gives Azerbaijan just one hour for them to return the captured Armenian boys, whereas 144 hours have passed since then and our soldiers remain in captivity,” Zohrabyan said at a parliament sitting.

The lawmaker said that the Armenian delegation, which left for Moscow to negotiate the release of the captives, returned empty-handed, as evidenced by the delegation’s “vague statement, which says that discussions and negotiations are going on.”

Naira Zohrabyan also noted that on 1 June the Azerbaijani law enforcement authorities completed the preliminary investigation of the criminal case against 14 Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) and forwarded it to a Baku court.

The MP recalled that the matter concerns the servicemen captured near the Hadrut region on December 13, saying despite the immense pressure of the international community Azerbaijan refuses to recognize them as prisoners of war.

She said that criminal proceedings have also been brought against the other Armenian POWs held in Azerbaijan.  

Sports: Sweden vs Armenia prediction, preview, team news and more | International Friendlies 2021

Garnik Tadevosian
SportsKeeda
June 3 2021
Sweden vs Armenia prediction, preview, team news and more | International Friendlies 2021

With UEFA Euro 2020 around the corner, participants Sweden will look to get a win under their belt when they take on Armenia in an international friendly on Saturday.

Sweden qualified for the Euros by finishing second in Group ‘F’ of the qualifiers. They accumulated 21 points from 10 games, winning six, drawing thrice and losing once. For Euro 2020, they have been pitted against Spain, Poland and Slovakia in Group ‘E’.

Sweden come into this game on the back of a 2-0 win against Finland in their previous friendly match. Robin Quaison and Sebastian Larsson registered their names on the scoresheet for the Blagult. With the win, Sweden made it four straight victories in all competitions.

Meanwhile, Armenia, who failed to qualify for the Euros, are coming off a 1-1 draw with 2018 World Cup finalists Croatia. Ivan Perisic opened the scoring in the 24th minute, but Wbemyar Angulo’s second-half strike was enough for the Armenians to earn a well-deserved draw.

Teams Sweden and Armenia will play for the first time on Saturday.

Sweden form guide: W-W-W-W-L

Armenia form guide: D-W-W-W-W

Activities of Armenia-Russia-Azerbaijan deputy prime ministerial task force do not continue at this moment – Grigoryan

Garnik Tadevosian

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 10:54, 1 June, 2021

YEREVAN, JUNE 1, ARMENPRESS. The activities of the working group led by the deputy prime ministers of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan, created for the implementation of the Karabakh armistice terms, specifically relating to the unblocking of economic and transportation communications in the region, do not continue, especially since the recent incidents on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, Armenia’s caretaker deputy prime minister Mher Grigoryan told Armenpress.

“As of today these activities do not continue. I have repeatedly stated that these works will be effective only if the background and the overall situation are at least stable. In such situation and also in such situation in the border I don’t think that a constructive work is possible in that platform. Contacts within this platform have been suspended in the past period”, Grigoryan said.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Garnik Tadevosian
News.am, Armenia
17:27, 28.05.2021

YEREVAN. – They say, “There are secret arrangements, there are secret documents;” but there is nothing. If there is any arrangement related to Syunik [Province], in particular—roads, Russian [military] posts—, I have spoken openly about them. Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia stated this at Friday’s meeting with the ruling Civil Contract Party supporters at Ajapnyak district of Yerevan.

“It is the only place where there are working nuances; but I have said it all verbally. Today, people—in the same Meghri [town]—with a group of provocateurs, are trying to accuse us of allegedly giving the Meghri corridor [to Azerbaijan], and they support the political force [led by second President Robert Kocharyan] that put the issue of handing over the Meghri region to Azerbaijan at the 1999 sitting of the Security Council of Armenia. We are told, ‘It is enough that you blame the former [Armenian authorities].’ [But] today it turns out that they are blaming us,” Pashinyan noted.

The acting premier announced that he will go the way of ruling out a new war. “I will go the way of opening an era of peaceful development for our people; I say this openly. Let others say what they will do in this situation. We should not be afraid of anything. Yes, we must draw the enclosures of our country,” Nikol Pashinyan added.

Aleppo, Archbishop Boutros Marayati appointed Patriarchal Administrator of the Armenian Catholic Church

Garnik Tadevosian
Italy –
Thursday,
Aleppo (Agenzia Fides) – Armenian Catholic Archbishop Boutros Marayati, at the head of the Armenian Catholic community of Aleppo, was appointed Interim Apostolic Administrator of the Armenian Catholic Church, after the death of the Armenian Catholic Patriarch Krikor Bedros Ghabroyan due to illness (see Fides, 26/5/2021). 

The news of the appointment was released on the afternoon of Wednesday May 26, by the Secretariat of the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate. The appointment took place on the basis of Article 127 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Catholic Churches, which states that during the vacancy of the Patriarchal See, the office of Administrator of the Patriarchal Church is assumed by “the eldest Bishop by ordination among the bishops of the Patriarchal Curia or, if there are none, among the Bishops who are members of the permanent Synod”. 

The main task of the interim Patriarchal Administrator will be to convene the members of the Synod of the Armenian Catholic Church to elect the new Patriarch. 

Boutros Marayati, born in Aleppo in February 1948, was ordained a priest in 1971 and in 1990 was consecrated Armenian Catholic Bishop of his hometown. In the long years of the Syrian conflict, he remained alongside the increasingly small Christian communities of Aleppo, a martyr city for a long time a battleground between military forces loyal to President Bashar al Assad and rebel militias, including jihadist militias. 

In January 2014, as Apostolic Administrator Sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis of the Armenian Catholic eparchy of Kamichlié (Qamishli), Archbishop Marayati disavowed the initiative “Adopt a parish in Syria” launched online by an Armenian Catholic Syrian priest as a project to raise funds for the suffering Christian communities in Syria. On that occasion (see Fides, 11/1/2014), Archbishop Marayati made it known through Agenzia Fides that the priest promoter of the initiative had “no faculty or authorization to organize fundraising in the name and in favor of the parishes or of the Christian schools of Syria”. (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 27/5/2021)