Author: Jane Topchian

Chess: 44th Chess Olympiad: Armenia’s men become silver medalists

Jane Topchian
NEWS.am
Armenia – Aug 8 2022

The Armenian men’s national team placed second, with 19 points, at the 44th Chess Olympiad being held in Chennai, India.

Uzbekistan, which defeated the Netherlands in the last round and also garnered 19 points, won the title for the first time.

The second team of India came in third, with 18 points.

Armenia defeated Spain in the last round. In previous rounds they beat Madagascar, Andorra, Egypt, Austria, England, India’s second team and the main team, as well as Azerbaijan, played draw with USA, and lost to Uzbekistan.

The Armenian men’s team is a three-time Chess Olympiad champion (2006, 2008, 2012), and a three-time bronze medalist (1992, 2002, 2004).

The women’s team of Armenia defeated Croatia in the last round and are currently in tenth place, with 16 points.

Azerbaijani President to meet Armenian PM in Brussels

Jane Topchian
MEHR News Agency, Iran
Aug 6 2022

TEHRAN, Aug. 06 (MNA) – President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev will hold a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Brussels, President of the European Council Charles Michel said.

The meeting was announced by Charles Michel in a Twitter message.

“Ahead of our next leaders’ meeting in Brussels, pursuing dialogue and achieving concrete progress on all items on the agenda is key. The EU remains committed,” he wrote.

Tensions in Karabakh between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces has escalated as the Armenian side accuses the other side of conducting drone attack on its forces.

The Armenian side of Karabakh said in a statement on Wednesday that “Eight Armenian soldiers wounded and another one killed in another gross breach of ceasefire by Azerbaijan.”

As the border clashes escalate, the forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan’s authorities announced on Wednesday that one of their soldiers was killed as a result of the shooting of the Armenian forces in the “Lachin” district.

MNA/FNA

EDB to finance construction of 11 solar power plants in Armenia

Jane Topchian

Save

Share

 13:11, 5 August 2022

YEREVAN, AUGUST 5, ARMENPRESS. The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) will provide up to US $37 million to finance the construction of 11 solar power plants with a total capacity of up to 65 MW in the Gegharkunik and Aragatsotn Regions of Armenia. The relevant documents were signed in Yerevan by Nikolai Podguzov, Chairman of the EDB Management Board, and Hayk Harutyunyan, President of the New Energy Group, the EDB said in a press release.

All the facilities are scheduled to be commissioned this year. The investment will be repaid from payments under electricity sales contracts between the borrower and the Electric Networks of Armenia.

Developing renewable energy sources (RES) is a priority of the Armenian government’s energy strategy. RES reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuels, which are fully imported. The priority of RES and the intentions of Armenia’s government for their development are enshrined in the nation’s 2021–2040 Energy Strategy.

The potential of solar power plants in Armenia is estimated at 8 GW. The average annual sunshine is 2,700 hours while the average annual solar radiation falling on a horizontal surface is about 1,720 kWh per sqm (the European average is 1,000 kWh per sqm). A quarter of the country is endowed with solar energy resources of 1,850 kWh per sqm per year.

“Today, Armenia’s energy system is based on thermal, nuclear and hydroelectric power. Natural gas remains the largest source of total energy supply and the main energy carrier in total final consumption. According to our strategy in Armenia, the EDB focuses on distributed solar power projects and the construction and modernisation of hydropower facilities. The Bank’s objective until 2026 is to help diversify the country’s sources of electricity generation. In doing so, we not only increase the reliability of the energy system, but also significantly improve the environment by reducing carbon emissions,” said Nikolai Podguzov, Chairman of the EDB Management Board.

Azerbaijani soldier crosses to Armenian side, handed over to Baku – Defense Ministry

Jane Topchian 
Public Radio of Armenia
Aug 3 2022
Azerbaijani soldier crosses to Armenian side, handed over to Baku –
Defense Ministry
 August 3, 2022, 00:30 Less than a minute
At about 1:30 today Armenian security guards spotted a soldier of the
Azerbaijani Armed Forces, private Kamiz Ibayev in the border zone of
Gegharkunik province, the Ministry of Defense reports.
As a result of the trespasser’s explanations, it was found that the
soldier had lost his way and ended up on Armenian territory.
Ibayev was transferred to the Azerbaijani side through the command of
the Russian peacekeeping troops stationed in Artsakh.

Armenian-Iranian Cultural Culinary Festival to be held in Syunik province

Jane Topchian

Save

Share

 17:12, 28 July 2022

YEREVAN, JULY 28, ARMENPRESS. Sisian town of Armenia’s Syunik province will host an Armenian-Iranian Cultural Culinary Festival titled “Navasard” on August 10-11, the Armenian Tourism Federation said.

The festival will be held for two days.

On the first day, the Armenian and Iranian teams will prepare various dishes and present the history of their cuisine. There will be music, dance, art works during the festival.

On August 11 a visit is scheduled to Zorats Karer site for stargazing.

The festival is organized by the Armenian Tourism Federation and the Preservation and Development of Armenian Culinary Traditions NGO with the support of the Tourism Committee, in partnership with the Governorate of Syunik, the Sisian municipality, the Iranian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, the Embassy of Iran in Armenia and its Cultural Center.

AW: Junior Eurovision winner Maléna receives Armenian scholarship to Berklee summer program

Jane Topchian
 Guest Contributor Announcements 0

Maléna (Image courtesy of the artist)

BOSTON, Mass. — Internationally recognized singer-songwriter Arpine Martoyan, known by her professional stage name Maléna, will perform in Boston this summer after receiving the Armenian Scholarship to attend a coveted Berklee summer program.

The 15-year-old emerging star will sing her hit “Qami Qami”—the song that won her the 2021 Junior Eurovision competition—at Armenian Heritage Park on the Rose Kennedy Greenway on Sunday, July 31, at 4:00 p.m. ET. Refreshments will be generously sponsored by Anoush’ella.

Through the scholarship, Maléna gained sponsorship to this year’s Aspire: Five-Week Music Performance Intensive, a prestigious program whose alumni include Charlie Puth B.M. ’13 and Meghan Trainor, and offers one-on-one instruction with leading Berklee professors as well as college credit.

“It’s only been two weeks, but I’ve already learned so much,” said Maléna about the Aspire program. “Not only have I sharpened my music skills by working with incredible Berklee faculty, but I’ve also learned to communicate with the different types of students from all over the world. We communicate through music, and that allows us to connect with each other in a deep way, which is incredibly uplifting to me.”

Inspired by the late Berklee professor, pianist and composer David Azarian, as well as the excitement surrounding visits to the college from genre-bending jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan, the Armenian Scholarship Fund at Berklee was founded in 2017 to bring more Armenian musicians to the college and to highlight the abundance of musical talent and innovation prevalent in Armenian culture. Past recipients include Arman Mnatsakanyan and Davit Paronikyan, both of whom are actively touring and performing in festivals worldwide.

The Armenian Scholarship Fund is currently raising money to sponsor its 2023 summer student.

To RSVP for Maléna’s free concert at Armenian Heritage Park on July 31, email [email protected].

Armenia ahead in anti-corruption, judicial independence areas compared to other Eastern Partnership countries

Jane Topchian

Save

Share

 10:10,

YEREVAN, JULY 22, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Minister of Justice Yeranuhi Tumanyants participated in the final conference on Judiciary Reforms and Access to Justice organized by the EU, the IRZ (German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation) and the Latvian Judicial Administration as part of the Consolidation of the Justice System in Armenia.

In opening remarks, Tumanyants thanked the EU and the IRZ, the Consolidation of the Justice System in Armenia Team leader Peter Gjortler and other international partners for the productive cooperation and positive results.

The final meeting of the program’s steering committee was held on the same day.

Deputy Minister Tumanyants underscored the importance of the work aimed at establishing an Arbitration Center and a new Correctional Facility in Armenia with close cooperation and support from the EU.

Tumanyants noted that by the 2020-2021 Eastern Partnership index, as a result of cooperation with the EU and the implemented reforms Armenia recorded positive progress in the areas of anti-corruption and judicial independence, surpassing all other Eastern Partnership countries.

The Deputy Minister said that parallel with the adoption of the Judicial-Legal Strategy, the Ministry of Justice will be consistent in implementing the outlined actions under the Consolidation of the Justice System in Armenia program and the strategy.

Ruben Rubinyan presents developments in Armenian-Turkish relations to European Parliament’s official

Jane Topchian

Save

Share

 19:29,

YEREVAN, JULY 22, ARMENPRESS. On July 22, Vice President of the National Assembly of Armenia, Ruben Rubinyan, received the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament David McAllister and the delegation headed by him, who arrived in Armenia on a regional visit.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the parliament of Armenia, Eduard Aghajanyan, chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, and Arman Yeghoyan, chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on European Integration, were present at the meeting.

Ruben Rubinyan presented the regional situation, presented the position of the Armenian side on the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

According to the Vice President of the National Assembly, the continuous provocative actions and maximalist statements of the Azerbaijani side are undermining the efforts aimed at establishing regional stability and peace.

At the request of the guests, Ruben Rubinyan presented the developments in the process of normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations and the agreements reached during the last meeting.

Azerbaijan Starts Return of People to Recaptured Areas

Jane Topchian

Voice of America

ZANGILAN, AZERBAIJAN — 

Azerbaijan on Tuesday began the process of returning its people to land recaptured from Armenian separatists in what Baku calls “The Great Return” following a 2020 war over disputed Nagorno-Karabakh.

The oil-rich country has vowed to repopulate lands recaptured in the six-week war with its arch-foe and Caucasus neighbor Armenia that killed more than 6,500 people two years ago.

President Ilham Aliyev had for years promised to retake lands lost in the 1990s, and the first returns marked a symbolic moment for Azerbaijan.

An official said almost 60 people moved back to a village they had had to flee in 1993, when ethnic Armenian separatists broke away from Baku, triggering a conflict that claimed around 30,000 lives.

Hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis quit the area during the fighting.

“Fifty-eight people returned to the district of Zangilan” recaptured by Baku in October 2020, Vahid Hajiyev, special presidential representative in the region, told reporters.

More than 30,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis fled Zangilan, near the Iranian border, in 1993.

“At this stage, a total of 41 families will return” over the next five days to the newly rebuilt village of Agally in Zangilan, Hajiyev said.

‘Native land’

The government has pledged to provide jobs for the returnees, Hajiyev said. It has already built dozens of houses in Agally equipped with solar batteries, a brand-new school and a kindergarten, he added. “Over the next months the village will be fully repopulated.”

Emotions ran high as repatriates stepped down from buses in Agally’s windswept central square, where a new fountain sparkled under a sweltering sun.

“We are so happy to be back,” one of the returnees, 64-year-old Mina Mirzoyeva, told Agence France-Presse. “This is our homeland, our native land.”

Rahilya Ismayilova, 72, said that back in 1993, she had been forced to ford a river into Iran with her small children, fleeing for her life from the Armenian separatist forces.

“May all the refugees return to their homes, just as we did today,” she said. “I fled my village with my four children, and today, I am back with my big family, with my nine grandchildren.”

Baku has vowed to spend billions of petrodollars on the reconstruction of Nagorno-Karabakh and nearby recaptured areas.

It allocated $1.3 billion in last year’s budget for infrastructure projects such as new roads, bridges and airports in the region.

But a large-scale return of refugees remains a distant prospect given the scale of the devastation and the danger from landmines.

Peace talks

In autumn 2020, Azerbaijan and Armenia went to war for a second time for control of Karabakh. The fighting ended with a Russian-brokered cease-fire agreement.

Under the deal, Armenia ceded swaths of territory it had controlled for decades, and Russia deployed some 2,000 peacekeepers to oversee the fragile truce.

Armen Grigoryan, chair of Armenia’s security council, said Tuesday that Yerevan’s forces would complete their withdrawal from areas that had been under separatist control by September.

This weekend, the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, for their first one-on-one talks since the war.

They were expected to build on an agreement which Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reached under European Union mediation in May to “advance discussions” on a future peace treaty.

The two leaders met in Brussels in April and May. European Council President Charles Michel has said their next meeting is scheduled for July or August.

Following its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, an increasingly isolated Moscow lost its status as the primary mediator in the conflict.

The EU has since led the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization process, which involves peace talks, border delimitation and the reopening of transport links.

https://www.voanews.com/a/azerbaijan-starts-return-of-people-to-recaptured-areas-/6665547.html

Sports: Exclusive: Armenia chosen by IBA to hold Extraordinary Congress after re-run of Presidential election ordered

Jane Topchian
 

  • By Duncan Mackay

    •  

  •  Friday,

    • Yerevan in Armenia will host the International Boxing Association (IBA) Extraordinary Congress, where a re-run of the vote to elect a President will be held, insidethegames can reveal.

    The Extraordinary Congress is due to held on a date to-be-decided between 24 September and 1 October and is set to be IBA’s second of the year, following on from the controversial meeting in Istanbul in May.

    The Netherlands’ Boris van der Vorst was one of five candidates deemed ineligible to stand by the Boxing Independent Integrity Unit (BIIU) on the eve of the election, allowing Russian Umar Kremlev to be re-elected as President unopposed.

    The BIIU ruled that van der Vorst and four Board of Directors candidates – New Zealand’s Steve Hartley, Sweden’s Per-Axel Sjöholm and United States’ Mike McAtee – had allegedly broken rules on breaches of collaboration between candidates and early campaigning.

    But, following an appeal, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that van der Vorst should have been allowed to stand, adding that a formal warning or no sanction at all would have been sufficient.

    Shortly after the Istanbul Congress, the International Olympic Committee announced that IBA would again not be in charge of organising the boxing tournament at Paris 2024 after sports director Kit McConnell claimed that “enough was enough”.

    IBA President Umar Kremlev, right, led the Board of Directors meeting which chose Armenia to host the world governing body’s second Extraordinary Congress of the year ©IBA

    Van der Vorst had called for the Congress to be held in the Olympic capital Lausanne as a “necessary measure to show commitment to integrity and transparency”.

    Earlier this week, van der Vorst had written to Armenian Boxing Federation President Ohanes Ovsepian to claim that visa requirements to enter Switzerland should not provide an obstacle to it hosting the event after he challenged the call for Lausanne to stage the Extraordinary Congress.

    The Netherlands were among several countries to submit bids, along with an unlikely proposal from Lviv in war-torn Ukraine, but Armenia was chosen following a meeting of the IBA Board of Directors.

    “After careful study of proposals from different countries [the Board of Directors] choose Armenia has as a host for the upcoming Congress,” Kremlev announced.

    “Armenia showed their great organisational skills during EUBC (European Boxing Confederation) Elite Men’s Championships in May this year. 

    “Government support, accessibility and simplified visa process helped the country to win.”

    Kremlev had met Armenia’s Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan during those Championships, claiming the “people here love boxing”.

    But the choice of Armenia, Russia’s only ally in the South Caucasus and which is home to military bases hosting 3,000 Russian troops opposing NATO’s eastern flank, will surprise several at a time many countries have imposed sanctions on Moscow following the invasion of Ukraine.

    Russia also officially protects Armenia’s airspace and state borders and is among Vladimir Putin’s closest allies.

    Armenia also has a long-running conflict with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region with the two countries at war as recently as 2020. 

    Visa requirements for Armenia, though, are fairly simple for travellers from most countries.

    It has become increasingly difficult, however, to travel to Armenia from many countries since sanctions were ordered again Aeroflot, Rossiya Airlines and Ural Airlines following the Russian attack on Ukraine.

    IBA have promised that the Extraordinary Congress will be live streamed to allow online participation for those who are unable to attend in person.