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Author: Jalatian Sonya

Armenia’s Pashinyan: We reaffirmed with Azerbaijan president agreement on restoration of railway

Jalatian Sonya
News.am, Armenia
Dec 15 2021
03:16, 15.12.2021

During the trilateral meeting with President Charles Michel of the EU [European] Council and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, we reaffirmed with the president of Azerbaijan the agreement on the restoration of the railway. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia announced this on Facebook.

“According to that, the railway will operate in accordance with the internationally accepted border and customs rules, on the principle of reciprocity, under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the countries.

Armenia will get access by rail to the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation.

We also agreed to continue the contacts,” Pashinyan added.

Armenia ruling party MP fails to answer question about price to pay for normalization of ties with Turkey

Jalatian Sonya
News.am, Armenia
Dec 14 2021
16:05, 14.12.2021

There is no Turkish corridor. This is what Chair of the Standing Committee on Defense and Security of the National Assembly of Armenia, deputy of the ruling Civil Contract Party Andranik Kocharyan told reporters today, commenting on the statements of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Turkey and Armenia on the willingness to designate special envoys to discuss the actions for normalization of relations.

According to him, the public is assured every day that there are no discussions on a corridor. “There will be discussions on the region within the scope of Armenian-Turkish relations,” he clarified. Kocharyan expressed confidence that Armenian reporters need to serve the official news, even though most of them are serving the statements of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Cavusoglu declared that there is a need to speak to Armenia, and there are people who are designated by Turkey and Armenia. When the name of the person [special envoy of Armenia-ed.] is announced, reporters will have the chance to interview the official and receive answers to questions right from the start of the process,” he assured.

Kocharyan recalled that there was a group set up to discuss the Armenian-Turkish relations during the administration of Foreign Minister Alexander Arzumanyan, but the processes were suspended when the discussions became public.

The member of the ruling party didn’t answer the question whether the price for Armenian-Turkish relations is renunciation of the right of Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determination and recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Deputy PM Grigoryan presents scope of issues acceptable to Armenia-Russia-Azerbaijan working group

Jalatian Sonya

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 10:37, 8 December, 2021

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev’s statement about the “Zangezur corridor” was a surprise for the Armenian authorities, Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan said in an interview to the Russian news agency TASS, expressing hope that the Armenian-Russia-Azerbaijan deputy prime ministerial working group dealing with unblocking of regional communications will continue its work around the main principles which have already been agreed upon.

“Baku’s latest statement was a surprise to us. It was supposed that we would continue the work of the group in the coming days. I hope the situation will return to a constructive course, and we will continue the work around the main principles which are already agreed upon”, the deputy PM said.

He said that “as of now all sessions of the working group have been held in a format of constructive dialogue”. Grigoryan said that the sides “had a mutual understanding on the restoration of railway infrastructure and unblocking”. “There was also a perception according to which the sovereignty of roads will belong to the countries they will pass through, and that roads will in their turn be under the jurisdiction of the country they will pass through. There are still nuances on other issues”, deputy PM Grigoryan said.

The last session of the Armenian-Russia-Azerbaijan deputy prime ministerial working group was held in Moscow on December 1.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Armenia movie wins gold at Tokyo Film Awards

Jalatian Sonya
Public Radio of Armenia
Dec 7 2021
December 7, 2021, 13:30

 Less than a minute

The Armenian movie Light Drops directed by Arman Chilingaryan has been awarded the Golden Winner prize for Best Frama at Tokyo Film Awards, the Armenian Embassy in Japan informs.

The film is about the life in Armenia in 1990s. Tokyo Film Awards is a unique film competition organized by working professionals from film and TV industry. It is mainly focused on short films as its main mission is to promote young talent and their vision.

Turkish press: ‘Turkey, UAE have potential in defense industry cooperation’

Jalatian Sonya
 ANTALYA DEC 05, 2021 – 10:31 AM GMT+3

Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) Chairperson Ismail Demir speaks to journalists in Antalya province, Turkey, Dec. 4, 2021. (Courtesy of the SSB)

Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have the potential to work together in the defense sector, Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) Chairperson Ismail Demir said, indicating that Abu Dhabi has shown interest in the Turkish sector.

“When we look at our defense industry figures, we see that our defense industry relations continued even during times of crises. There was contact even when relations were not at their highest,” he said on the sidelines of the Global Strategies in Defense and Aerospace Industry Conference held in Turkey’s Antalya province.

“I would like to point out that these contacts will be better when relations improve,” Demir said, stressing that it is still early to make concrete predictions.

Abu Dhabi’s powerful crown prince visited Ankara in November, making his first official trip to Turkey since 2012 and the highest-level visit by an Emirati official since relations between the two countries hit a low point.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (MBZ), who’s seen as the de facto leader and the force behind the UAE’s foreign policy posture, oversaw the signing of nearly a dozen cooperation deals during the visit while a top Emirati official said the UAE has earmarked $10 billion (TL 137 billion) for investment in Turkey.

Bloomberg on Friday reported that Turkey has sold more armed drones to Ukraine amid Kyiv-Moscow tensions.

Demir clarified that Turkey has sold one batch of unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) to the country and that the current process is nothing new but a continuation of the initial agreement. “It has no connection to the latest developments.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Erdoğan Friday that Ukrainian forces are carrying out “provocative activity” using Turkish-made Bayraktar drones in the conflict zone in the Donbass region, sticking to “destructive” behavior.

Relations between Russia and Ukraine are in the spotlight as Kyiv says Moscow has amassed thousands of troops near the Ukrainian border and may be gearing up for a military offensive. Moscow denies plans for an offensive operation.

Ukraine has bought and deployed Turkish drones in the war against Russian-backed forces in its eastern Donbass region, angering Russia.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said Turkey could not be blamed for Ukraine’s deployment of Turkish-made drones.

In October, Russia accused Ukraine of destabilizing the situation after government forces used a Bayraktar TB2 drone to strike a position controlled by Russian-backed separatists.

On the other side, Demir highlighted that Turkey and Russia have a wide range of areas where they can cooperate, including the National Combat Aircraft (MMU). He stated that cooperation with Russia is possible in the progressive phases of the MMU.

“With time, there will be a gradual process of developing and changing specific systems by renewing and localizing them.”

The Turkish defense industry has exported 228 products to 170 countries in the last 10 years, Demir underlined, pointing to the progress in the sector.

“When we look at the point where our defense industry has reached in the last 20 years, as Turkey has made progress in every field, the numbers show this fact much better,” Demir said at the conference earlier.

“While only 62 defense projects were carried out nearly 20 years ago, today this number has exceeded 750. About half of these projects have been launched in the last five years.”

“While defense projects with a budget of $5.5 billion were carried out, the project volume of approximately $60 billion has been reached with an increase of approximately 11 times at the point we have reached,” he added.

Saying that the defense and aerospace exports increased by 40% in the first 11 months of this year compared to the same month of the previous year, reaching $2.79 billion,” Demir said: “We expect to complete 2021 with exports of over $3 billion.”

Turkey’s defense industry has been developing in leaps and bounds in recent years with local production, while the companies eye opportunities to expand their revenues with new export deals. Demir himself has recently played up the great potential of Turkey’s defense industry.

The country is in the process of rolling out new defense industry products and upgrading existing ones with new sophisticated systems as the number of countries interested is gaining pace.

According to the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM), defense and aerospace industry exports have already exceeded the overall sales seen in 2019, which also marked an all-time high.

Opposition ‘Armenia’ Faction MP: Premier Pashinyan gave best assessment of local elections

Jalatian Sonya
News.am, Armenia
Dec 6 2021
14:01, 06.12.2021

PM Nikol Pashinyan probably gave the best assessment of the local elections in terms of results, by admitting that the ruling Civil Contract Party (CCP) failed in this election. Artur Khachatryan, an MP of the opposition “Armenia” Faction of the National Assembly, told this to a press conference Monday.

According to Khachatryan, Pashinyan attempted—in his respective Facebook past—to justify this failure by saying that they are busy with external security challenges, had more important things to do, that’s why they registered worse results than they expected, as they did not buy votes and no electoral fraud was committed.

“But I want to recall that on the eve of these elections, the state had allegedly accidentally opened the ‘purse’ of social assistance to the provinces and communities. This is not just a coincidence. Also, the [community] enlargement ‘bouquets’ are designed in a way that they [i.e., the authorities] be able to collect as many votes as possible, which is also not a coincidence. Let me remind that before the elections, the opposition candidates were persecuted. Let me also remind that they had mobilized all their administrative resources. But despite all this, they have lost,” Khachatryan said.

He noted that in only 15 of the 36 enlarged communities the CCP managed to get enough votes to form a local government on its own, whereas in the other 21 communities the non-governmental forces can form a majority in eight of them, on their own, and in 13 others—in a coalition.

“We can record that after 2018, the authorities lost more than 200,000 votes in 2021, and continue their chain of defeats. The authorities have lost in Kapan, Gyumri, Meghri, Goris, Akhuryan, and this is an ongoing process. If this continues, they will very soon see that they have no support [at all],” the opposition lawmaker stressed.

Asbarez: Armenian American Museum Hosts Donor Appreciation Receptions

Jalatian Sonya
 by Contributor

 

 December 2, 2021

 

in Community, Latest, News, Top Stories
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Members of the Armenian American Museum’s Executive Board

GLENDALE—The Armenian American Museum hosted a series of donor appreciation receptions to celebrate the commencement of construction on the landmark center and honor the generous support of the museum’s Benefactors, Legacy Council, and Founder’s Circle members who have contributed to making the historic milestone a reality.

Executive Chairman Berdj Karapetian welcomed guests to the receptions on behalf of the Board of Trustees and Board of Governors, expressing the organization’s gratitude to the valued donors.

“The cultural and educational center dedicated to our history, culture, and heritage was once a mere idea,” stated Executive Chairman Berdj Karapetian. “Today, we celebrate the construction of the Armenian American Museum that is turning our dreams into reality – a milestone that would not be possible without your generous support.”

A scene from the Benefactors and Legacy Council Appreciation Reception

Executive Director Shant Sahakian provided a progress report on the development of the museum’s programming for the Permanent Exhibition, Temporary Exhibitions, Auditorium, Learning Center, Demonstration Kitchen, and Archives Center as well as the construction underway at the museum campus in Glendale Central Park.

“We are grateful to have the opportunity to provide an exciting progress report on not only the construction of a building but the creation of a world class institution that is going to serve and enrich the lives of students, families, and community members for generations to come,” stated Executive Director Shant Sahakian.

The receptions were sponsored by Edison International, a valued early corporate partner of the museum.

“Edison International is honored to continue its support of the Armenian American Museum and its mission to build a center that will showcase the Armenian American experience and create bridges between the many diverse communities in California,” stated Edison Director of Public Affairs Zanku Armenian. “Edison is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and this museum will stand as a testament to those values and the contributions of the Armenian American community.”

Scenes from the Founder’s Circle Appreciation Reception

The Benefactors and Legacy Council Appreciation Reception was held at Vertigo Event Venue on November 23. The Founder’s Circle Appreciation Reception was held at L.A. Banquets Brandview Ballroom on November 17.

To learn more about the museum’s donor programs and opportunities, visit the website.

The mission of the Armenian American Museum and Cultural Center of California is to promote understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Armenian American experience. The vision is a cultural campus that enriches the community, educates the public on the Armenian American story, and empowers individuals to embrace cultural diversity and speak out against prejudice.

Azerbaijani press: U.S, UK ambassadors visit liberated Aghdam [PHOTO]

Jalatian Sonya
3 December 2021 11:30 (UTC+04:00)
562

By Ayya Lmahamad

U.S. and UK ambassadors Lee Litzenberger and James Sharp have visited Azerbaijan’s liberated Aghdam region, the U.S. embassy reported on its Twitter page on December 2.

During the visit, the ambassadors met the Azerbaijani president’s special representative for the liberated territories, Emin Huseynov, and “saw first-hand the status of Aghdam city”.

Litzenberger expressed his condolences for the loss of lives and noted the challenges to rebuild the city.

Meanwhile, Emin Huseynov tweeted that during their joint visit to Aghdam, the ambassadors were shown the destroyed monuments and were informed in detail about the reconstruction plan of the city.

The country’s war-torn Aghdam region is seen as a glaring example displaying Armenia’s hatred and enmity towards Azerbaijan. Known as Hiroshima of the Caucasus, Aghdam shocks delegations from various countries with notorious scenes of destruction.

Aghdam was occupied by Armenian forces in the war in 1993. Azerbaijan regained control over the region under the November 10, 2020, trilateral ceasefire deal that ended last year’s war.

Under the general plan, the territory of Aghdam city is 1,750 hectares and gardens will be created around the city on a 2,450-hectare-area. The smart social infrastructure will be established, 15 schools and kindergartens will be built in the city.

Initially, a big forest park stretching 125 hectares will be laid out in Aghdam. The Aghdam Canal, which is being restored, will pass through the city and water will drain into the lake that will be created here.

The creation of the Industrial Park is already underway under the general plan in Aghdam. It will be divided into social and technical zones and will have the food, light industry, services sectors, and big industrial enterprises. The bases for the sale of building materials and a park for vehicles will be created in the Industry Park.

It is planned to open the enterprises producing building materials, meat and dairy factories, establish a wine and feed production, produce and process fertilizers, organize the packing of agricultural products, produce canned fruits and vegetables.

Aghdam’s strategic and geographical location will expand the possibilities to turn it into an industrial center of the Karabakh region.

1993: Armenia

Jalatian Sonya
Mississippi, Dec 4 2021

  • Kaveh Kazemi // Getty Images

    •  

  • Dec 4, 2021

Armenia was one of several countries whose economy fell on hard times after the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991. Unfortunately, this is not where Armenia’s troubles ended. In 1988, a devastating 6.8 earthquake killed 60,000 Armenians and left thousands of people homeless, according to the BBC.

After the earthquake, government leaders decided to shut down the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant, also known as the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant, which led to severe energy and supply shortages in the early to mid-1990s. These factors eventually led to a monthly inflation rate of 438% in November 1993, according to the CATO Institute, with prices doubling nearly every 13 days.

 

Prime Minister Pashinyan participates in annual meeting of Hayastan fund’s board of trustees

Jalatian Sonya

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 11:19,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is participating in the 30th session of the Board of Trustees of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, where he serves as member of the board of trustees.

The President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian, who is also the President of the Board of Trustees of Hayastan fund, as well as the President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan are also in attendance.

The meeting began with a moment of silence in memory of fallen soldiers.

The agenda of the meeting includes the discussion of the results of a study conducted into the government’s use of the 52,703,114,113 drams which was donated by the fund from October 8, 2020 to November 1, 2020; the re-appointment of Haykak Arshamyan as executive director and other reports.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan