Author: Garnik Zakarian

Armenian Ombudswoman calls on int’l organizations to clearly respond to Azerbaijan’s criminal behavior

Garnik Zakarian

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 10:52,

YEREVAN, MARCH 14, ARMENPRESS. It has been for over a week, the Azerbaijani side is not allowing the representatives of Artsakh to restore the alleged “disruption” of the gas pipeline, Human Rights Defender of Armenia said in a statement, adding that as a result, more than 100.000 people have been deprived of heating in cold weather conditions.

“In parallel, the electricity is being regularly cut. This further worsens the difficult humanitarian conditions which has been emerged during and after the war.

As a result, hospitals, schools, kindergartens, temporary shelters for displaced persons are deprived of their basic living conditions; it is impossible to exercise the right to health care of people, and the right of children to education.

Moreover, it has been a week since the Azerbaijani military forces have been shooting intensively in the direction of the peaceful villages of Artsakh; Khramort village and Askeran city of Askeran region, and Karmir Shuka and Khnushinak villages of Martuni region. In Khramort village, a peaceful civilian was injured.

All these are aimed at maintaining an atmosphere of fear and terror among the people living in Artsakh, with ultimate aim of making Armenians to leave and annihilate Artsakh from its indigenous Armenian population”, the Ombudswoman said.

“I strongly condemn the ongoing criminal policy of the Azerbaijani state. I call on international organizations to clearly respond to the situation and to increase the pressure on Azerbaijan to stop this criminal behavior.

Human Rights are universal, and they should be viewed outside the geopolitical framework.

This statement has been sent to international organizations and diplomatic missions”, she said.

Armenian Women’s Welfare Association Expands Senior Leadership

Garnik Zakarian

The following announcement was provided by the AWWA:

The Armenian Women’s Welfare Association (AWWA), a nonprofit health care organization dedicated to serving elders locally and internationally, and the sponsor organization of the Armenian Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, today announced an expanded senior leadership team at the top-rated skilled nursing center with the appointment of two experienced administrators: Greg Messina, Chief Operating Officer, and Jessica Brigham, Executive Director.

Messina and Brigham each bring more than a decade of health care experience to the 83-bed, nonprofit provider of high-quality long-term care and short-term rehabilitation. Messina will guide the Armenian Nursing & Rehabilitation Center’s strategic and planning initiatives, including the development of new services and programs, oversight of finances and collaboration with key health care partners. Brigham will lead the day-to-day operations, including the clinical care of patients and residents, management of staff, and communication with families.

“With these important leadership appointments and our continued commitment to strengthen our programs, we are well positioned to grow our mission of providing high-quality, person-centered care to the communities we serve,” said Martha Mensoian, President of the AWWA Board of Directors. “Greg and Jessica bring new ideas and a record of success in running a long-term care center, which will serve us well in these quickly evolving times.”

Messina previously served as a regional administrator for Whittier Health Network, a group of acute rehabilitation hospitals and subacute rehabilitation and nursing homes in Massachusetts.  Prior to becoming a licensed nursing home administrator, he had a career in business and marketing. Messina earned a bachelor’s degree in history and an MBA from the University of Massachusetts Boston.

“I am thrilled to join a nonprofit organization with such a rich history in serving its beneficiaries both locally and internationally, and a strong tradition of collaboration in health care with Boston’s world-renowned medical centers,” Messina said. “I look forward to bringing my experience in managing multiple skilled nursing facilities and helping our team build toward the future.”

Brigham has served as the licensed nursing home administrator for several nursing homes in Greater Boston, most recently as executive director of Brighton House Rehabilitation & Nursing Center. Prior to these leadership roles, she worked for many years as a nurse and nursing director in health care and in long-term care centers. Brigham earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Simmons University in Boston and is a registered nurse.

“I am excited to return to a nonprofit health care setting and to guide the high quality care and services that the Armenian Nursing & Rehabilitation Center is well known for providing,” said Brigham. “As a nurse who has worked in many roles and settings during my career, I look forward to bringing my skills and experience in support of clinical programs during these highly complex times.”

The senior leadership appointments at the Armenian Nursing & Rehabilitation Center followed the recent retirement of Scott Ariel, the AWWA’s Chief Executive Officer, from a decades-long career in health care administration, who was also serving as the interim administrator of the Armenian Nursing & Rehabilitation Center. The AWWA Board of Directors credited Ariel for his steady management, particularly navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, and for his overall dedication and service to the mission of the AWWA and the Center.

About the Armenian Nursing & Rehabilitation Center

The Armenian Nursing & Rehabilitation Center is an 83-bed, nonprofit skilled nursing center located at 431 Pond St., next to Larz Anderson Park, in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood.  The Center offers long-term care with a person-centered approach in a highly skilled clinical setting, as well as comprehensive post-acute care and rehabilitation services including physical, occupational and speech therapy. The Center’s dedication to excellence has earned it an overall rating of high performing in “Best Nursing Homes” by U.S. News & World Report.

About the Armenian Women’s Welfare Association

The Armenian Women’s Welfare Association (AWWA) is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to serving elders locally and internationally through the sponsorship of elder service programs. Founded in 1915 and drawing on the rich history of the Armenian community, the AWWA operates the Armenian Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Boston and supports an elder clinic and outreach program that provides medical care, food, fuel assistance and social support as well as visiting nurse services for the homebound to hundreds of elderly people who are alone in the Republic of Artsakh.

For more information, visit www.awwainc.org.


‘Our aspiration must be to achieve stability in region’ – candidate for President of Armenia

Garnik Zakarian

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 12:31, 2 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 2, ARMENPRESS. There will be economic successes, achievements in social life in Armenia only when the security systems work and when the public feels that the borders are protected, Candidate for President of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan said in the Parliament.

Serving as the Minister of High Technological Industry, Mr. Khachaturyan said the security issue, raising the defense capabilities are priorities for Armenia, and those are issues that must be solved as soon as possible, he added.

“When we fell that we have stability, that there is an environment in the region that there will be no threat of war, the borders will be open. In other words, our aspiration must be to achieve stability in the region, and the best guarantee for that is to have security systems”, he said.

Armenian FMA doesn’t have a decision concerning participation in the Antalya Diplomacy Forum

Garnik Zakarian

Armenian FMA doesn’t have a decision concerning participation in the Antalya Diplomacy Forum

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 17:52, 2 March, 2022

YEREVAN, 2 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. There is no decision concerning the participation in the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, ARMENPRESS reports, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan said at the National Assembly during the Q&A session answering to the question of MP Sargis Khandanyan of “Civil Contract” faction about the position the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the participation in the Antalya Diplomacy Forum.

“I hope that you will agree that in the world, let me say, events develop very rapidly and change  every day, every second. And when the deadlines approach, we will make a decision”, said Mirzoyan.

Earlier Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu informed that Armenia also is invited to the diplomatic forum of March 11-13 to be held in Antalya. Ministers of Foreign Affairs participate in the forum. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan announced at the press conference that Armenia will very likely accept the invitation of participation in the Antalya diplomatic forum , but everything depends on the situation at that moment.




Meeting of Euronest PA bureau was held in Yerevan

Garnik Zakarian
ARM INFO
Feb 21 2022
Marianna Mkrtchyan

ArmInfo. On February 21, a meeting of the bureau of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly was held in Yerevan.

According to the press service of the RA National Assembly, the meeting was attended by the heads of the delegations of the parliaments of Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine, as well as the political groups of the European Parliament from the countries of the Eastern Partnership.

During the meeting, the MPs of the Eastern Partnership countries provided information on the political processes taking place in their countries. Issues related to the security and political situation in the EU and the Eastern Partnership region were also discussed.

It is also noted that on February 22, at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex, meetings of the commissions of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly on political issues, human rights and democracy, energy security, economic integration, social issues, education, culture, civil and public issues will be held.

Kiev enters defensive phase, says mayor

Garnik Zakarian

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 16:41, 25 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 25, ARMENPRESS. Kiev is now in a “defensive” stage and the situation is difficult, according to the Ukrainian capital’s Mayor Vitaly Klitschko.

“The city entered a stage of defensive operations. Sounds of gunfire and explosions are heard in some districts. Ukrainian armed forces are neutralizing the Russian sabotage groups. Unfortunately, some of these sabotage groups already entered Kiev. The enemy wants to bring us down to our knees and destroy us,” Klitschko said.

He added that the Ukrainian military are defending Kiev on a perimeter.

“The situation is difficult, but we believe in our military. We support and help them,” he said.

Deputy PM Grigoryan speaks about the forthcoming meetings of the trilateral working group

Garnik Zakarian

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 20:01,

YEREVAN, 17 FEBRUARY, ARMENPRESS. The works of the trilateral working group on unblocking all economic and transport ties of the region chaired by the Deputy Prime Ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia will continue on that platform, ARMENPRESS reports Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan told reporters, answering the question whether trilateral working group meetings are planned in the near future.

“At the moment I will not say anything about specific dates, but presumably, yes, the work will continue on that platform,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.

Mher Grigoryan also gave a positive answer to the question on cooperation with Russian Railways.

“Yes, there is cooperation with Russian Railways OJSC, because, regardless of the work of the triplateral platform, we need a lot of discussions in bilateral relations, because, as you know, regardless of the issue of unblocking, the subsidiary of Russian Railways is our operator, the concessionaire. This means that all types of technical documentation related to design, further operation, of course, should be discussed with partners. After all, they will be the exploiters”, the Armenian Deputy PM said.

Out-migration in Armenia increasing

Garnik Zakarian
EurasiaNet.org
Feb 10 2022
Ani Mejlumyan Feb 10, 2022
Boarding at Yerevan’s Zvartnots Airport. (iStock/Getty)

Nearly 44,000 more Armenians left the country in 2021 than returned, a record figure for the last several years, according to newly released official data. 

The theme of out-migration has been a hot topic and highly politicized issue in the country, and the recent numbers confirm what many believed: that many more Armenians are leaving – in particular for migrant labor abroad – than coming home. 

In total, 43,874 more Armenians left than entered the country in 2021. That reversed a trend of three straight years when the country recorded positive balances: 15,317 in 2018, 10,506 in 2019, and 12,092 in 2020. 

The migration figures did not come as a surprise, as Armenians struggled both with a declining economy and a deteriorating security situation following the 2020 defeat in the war with Azerbaijan. On top of that, loosening COVID pandemic restrictions meant many people who had wanted to leave before that were finally able to. 

“Out-migration for employment to Russia averages 60-70,000 a year,” the head of the country’s Migration Service, Armen Ghazaryan, told RFE/RL. “Those people didn’t go anywhere in 2020 and naturally we had to have these people leave in 2021.”

The figures indicated that many Armenians, as expected, did return in the last quarter of 2021. In the first three quarters of the year about 103,000 more Armenians left the country than returned, 64,000 of those in the first quarter alone. 

Migration figures in Armenia tend to track perceptions of economic and political stability. Following a 1998 attack on the country’s parliament that killed the country’s prime minister, the speaker of parliament and six other lawmakers, net migration topped 60,000 in 2000 and 2001. Following the 2008 global financial crisis, the figures topped 40,000 in both 2010 and 2011. 

But the current government, which took power in the 2018 “Velvet Revolution,” had made it a point of pride that more Armenians who had sought their fortune abroad were returning home. 

There are no precise numbers of how many people actually live in Armenia. The last census was conducted in 2011, and counted 3,018,854 people. The country was supposed to conduct another census in 2020 – the law requires one every 10 years – but it was delayed because of the pandemic. The state Statistics Committee has been testing a system to conduct an online census in 2022. 

The national police also track data of people who register or unregister at addresses; in 2020, 33,203 people unregistered from their addresses, and that number jumped to 38,932 in 2021. Not everyone who moves abroad reports when they leave an address. Nevertheless, that data still offers a more precise picture of people who have definitely left the country, said Anna Hovhannisyan of the Armenia office of the UN Population Fund in an interview with RFE/RL.

 

Ani Mejlumyan is a reporter based in Yerevan.

Reports about Artsakh President’s resignation denied

Garnik Zakarian

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 17:47,

STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS/ARTSAKHPRESS. The reports being spread in some Armenian media outlets according to which President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan has recently expressed readiness to resign have nothing to do with the reality, President’s spokesperson Lusine Avanesyan said.

She reminded that such a readiness the President has expressed for several times in the post-war period, stating that he will go to that step when national elections are possible to be held in Artsakh.

“These days the process of constitutional reforms has been launched in Artsakh, which will give an answer to several questions. I will refrain from commenting on all other discussions until this process ends”, she said.