Author: Jirair Kafian

Armenian PM stresses “great importance” of strengthening relations with Georgia

Jirair Kafian
Georgia – July 18 2022
Agenda.ge, 18 Jul 2022 – 11:15, Tbilisi,Georgia

Armenia has “always attached great importance” to the development and strengthening of relations with “friendly Georgia”, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Sunday in a congratulatory message to his Georgian counterpart Irakli Garibashvili on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Pashinyan stressed the past 30 years was “just a moment in the centuries-old history” of the Armenian and Georgian peoples, noting the recent decades had been characterised as the “most important” period of establishing “neighbourly interstate relations”, the Armenian Government Administration said.

Armenia has always attached great importance to the consistent development and strengthening of relations with neighbouring and friendly Georgia, and the intensity of high-level meetings between the two countries proves our firm commitment to further expand the existing mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas”, Pashinyan said.

The head of the Armenian Government expressed confidence that the “mutual desire” to develop Armenian-Georgian relations and reliable dialogue at the official level would continue to “determine” the common efforts for the benefit of the two peoples.

 

Asbarez: EU Signs Gas Deal With Azerbaijan to Double Exports by 2027

Jirair Kafian
by Asbarez Staff

 

 

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (left) signed an MoU with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan


The European Commission signed a memorandum of understanding with Azerbaijan to double imports of Azerbaijani natural gas to at least 20 billion cubic meters a year by 2027, Al Jazeera reported on Monday.

“Today, with this new memorandum of understanding, we are opening a new chapter in our energy cooperation with Azerbaijan, a key partner in our efforts to move away from Russian fossil fuels,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday.

She said the European Union is seeking to double gas imports from Azerbaijan as it seeks non-Russian suppliers after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Azerbaijan is a crucial energy partner for us that has always been reliable,” von der Leyen said at a joint news conference with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev following the signing ceremony in Baku, the Azeri capital.

Through the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, Azerbaijan is “delivering currently more than 8 billion cubic meters of gas per year and we will expand its capacity to 20 billion cubic meters” by 2027, she said.

The Azeri gas imports will already increase to 12bcm next year, which “will help compensate for cuts in supplies of Russian gas and contribute significantly to Europe’s security of supply,” she added.

Aliyev stressed that “issues of energy security today are more important than ever before”.
He added: “Long-lasting, predictable and very reliable cooperation between EU and Azerbaijan in the field of energy is a big asset.”

The Southern Gas Corridor transporting Azeri gas to the EU has been operational since 2020.

Ahead of the visit, the European Commission said: “Amid Russia’s continued weaponization of its energy supplies, diversification of our energy imports is a priority for the EU.”

In May, EU leaders agreed to stop most Russian oil imports by the end of the year, as part of unprecedented sanctions they slapped on Moscow over the military action in Ukraine.

Armenia and Turkey reaffirm their desire for “normalization”, according to Yerevan

Jirair Kafian
The Saxon
July 11 2022

By

 Teilor Stone

 –

July 11, 2022

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the recent NATO summit.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan exchanged a rare phone call on Monday, during which they called, according to Yerevan, for easing relations between their long-time sworn enemy countries.

In a statement, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said that MM. Erdogan and Pashinyan had agreed on the importance of a bilateral process to normalize relations.

This talk comes as Ankara and Yerevan have succeeded in the 1st July a diplomatic breakthrough: they agreed to allow the direct transport of goods by air between their countries and to open the crossing of their common land borders to citizens of third countries.

The two leaders hope that the July 1 agreements will be implemented in the near future, Armenian diplomacy said on Monday.

The two countries do not ;have never formally established diplomatic ties and their common border has been closed since the 1990s, forcing trucks to transit through Georgia or Iran.

Armenians estimate that one and a half million of their people were systematically killed during the First World War by the troops of the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey, from the dismantling of the empire in 1920, recognizes massacres, but rejects the term genocide, evoking a civil war in Anatolia, coupled with a famine, in which 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and as many Turks are dead.

Armenia’s defeat in Nagorny-Karabakh after six weeks of war in November 2020, in favor of Turkey’s ally Azerbaijan , however, now makes possible a rapprochement between Yerevan and Ankara.

This improvement is strongly desired by Armenia, in the grip of economic difficulties, and encouraged by its Russian ally.

On January 14, special envoys, Serdar Kiliç on the Turkish side, and Ruben Rubinyan for Armenia, met in Mosc Where. The following month, commercial flights resumed between the two countries, the first in two years.


https://thesaxon.org/armenia-and-turkey-reaffirm-their-desire-for-normalization-according-to-yerevan/1659/
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Turkey, Armenia leaders hold rare talks on bilateral ties (alaraby.co.uk)
https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/turkey-armenia-leaders-hold-rare-talks-bilateral-ties

FM Mirzoyan arrives in Tbilisi on working visit

Jirair Kafian

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 11:12,

YEREVAN, JULY 15, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan arrived on a working visit to Tbilisi, Georgia, ARMENPRESS reports, the Foreign Ministry of Armenia informs.

Earlier, the Foreign Ministry of Armenia informed that on July 16, the meeting between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov will take place in Tbilisi.

Ucom provides high-speed internet to a number of ACF "SOS – CHILDREN’S VILLAGES" centers

Jirair Kafian

Ucom provides high-speed internet to a number of ACF “SOS – CHILDREN’S VILLAGES” centers

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 14:01,

YEREVAN, JULY 13, ARMENPRESS. From now on, with the technical support of Ucom, a number of centers of the Armenian Charitable Foundation “SOS – Children’s Villages” will be provided with a high-speed internet access.

Internet access is necessary to meet the educational needs of the students of those centers and organize their pastime. In particular, online classes and seminars will be organized as necessary, and children will also have access to information available on the internet for a faster organization of their educational process and completion of the homework assigned.

“As supporters of innovative methods in education, we have always tried to support educational institutions operating in different parts of Armenia as much as possible, so that every child would not be left out of the most modern educational programs and materials available on the net. That is why we responded to the proposal of the SOS – Children’s Villages Foundation very promptly and with great readiness,” said Ara Khachatryan, Director General at Ucom.

“Cooperation between the Armenian Charitable Foundation “SOS – Children’s Villages” and “Ucom” CJSC is important and provides ample opportunities to support children and their families in difficult life situations. In particular, as a result of cooperation with “Ucom” CJSC, children in difficult life situations and their families are provided with the opportunity to benefit from the internet services using uninterrupted communication tools, which makes it possible to provide services faster and more efficiently, in particular, in the area of online education for children, online counseling, raising awareness in various fields, which has a direct impact on the self-sufficiency of the above-mentioned children and their families,” said Spartak Sargsyan, the national director of the Armenian Charitable Foundation “SOS – Children’s Villages”.

The Armenian charitable foundation “SOS – Children’s Villages” began its activities immediately after the devastating Spitak earthquake in 1988. The Foundation is a child-centered organization whose mission is to help children in difficult situations in a family-like environment.

Newspaper: Armenia parliament session to deprive opposition MPs of their mandate to be convened on July 14

Jirair Kafian
NEWS.am
Armenia –
09:53, 13.07.2022

YEREVAN. – Hraparak daily of Armenia writes: The day before, an official document was publicized on the NA [(National Assembly)] website in the form of a draft, according to which the [ruling majority] CC [“Civil Contract”] Faction [of the NA] decided to call a session of the NA Council to petition to the Constitutional Court on the matter of depriving all deputies of the 2 opposition factions of [their parliamentary] mandates.

After a short time, the draft was removed from the website, but that matter is on the agenda of the ruling CC.

The NA Council will hold a session on the last day of the set period: on July 14.

It is also noteworthy that at the CC, according to some information, the session was scheduled for the evening hour. The NA Council will have a few hours to make a decision on the matter of depriving the opposition [MPs] of their [parliamentary] mandates.

The thing is that the parliament will go on vacation as of July 15, and [therefore] the MPs can no longer carry out activities and make decisions [after that].

 (…) the 33 [opposition] MPs, it turns out, have exceeded the permissible threshold of absences [from NA sessions], and on that basis they [i.e., the CC] will attempt to deprive them of their [parliamentary] mandates.

That is, [NA speaker] Alen Simonyan will call a session of the NA Council on July 14, inform the opposition [MPs] in writing, and the NA vacations will begin on July 15.

In an interview with us, Tatul Soghomonyan, head of the secretariat of the NA staff, said: “Yes, the NA president is obligated by the [NA] regulation to convene a session of the council within a week of receiving the notification. If the opposition MPs do not come [to this session], the matter is postponed for a week, then they [i.e., the CC MPs] can discuss [the matter] without them. But here, yes, there is a problem that I don’t know how it will be interpreted. Parliament will go on vacation. This means that if the members of the NA council went on vacation, or if one—the NA president—remained, it is natural [that] they cannot do a council session because they are on vacation.”

Newspaper: Why US Congress members did not come to Armenia?

Jirair Kafian
NEWS.am
Armenia – July 5 2022
09:47, 05.07.2022

YEREVAN. – Hraparak daily of Armenia writes: A visit of US Congress members to Armenia was supposed to take place at the end of June. We had written that they were planning meetings with both the President of the National Assembly [(NA)] and the leaders of the three NA factions (…).

However, June 30 passed, whereas the Congress members never arrived in Armenia. It turns out that the visit of the Congress members has been postponed. NA press speaker Tsovinar Khachatryan told us that the cause was Covid. Moreover, at first it was decided that they would come with five people, then the makeup of the delegation increased—becoming to 17, but in the end they informed that they could not come to Armenia at the moment.

“They informed us that the visit is postponed due to the illness of the aircraft crew. But they have not specified who are infected with Covid—possibly the pilot as well,” said the NA press speaker. Also, she noted that the Congress members had petitioned to the NA President with a request for a meeting on June 30, which, in fact, did not take place.


15-year-old American-Armenian boy installs free book boxes across Armenia

Jirair Kafian

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 15:57, 6 July 2022

GYUMRI, JULY 6, ARMENPRESS. At the initiative and direct support of Levon Alyanakyan, 15, who was born and grew up in the United States, free book boxes have been installed in Armenian town of Vedi, Gyumri city and rural settlements of Shirak province.

Everyone can use the book box for free, take a book, read it and then return back to the same or other book box.

Levon says his goal is to spread the culture of the famous Little Free Library also in Armenia, by promoting the book exchange and reading.

“The idea came when I saw a little free book box near our house in Laguna Hills, California. I took a book and thought it’s a good idea that could be implemented in Armenia, especially in provinces where books are expensive and the libraries are few. With this initiative I want the youth of Armenia to have an opportunity to read and be educated. The libraries should be available to all”, he said, adding that they started the initiative in Vedi where 7 book boxes were installed, then they moved to Shirak province, Gyumri and the rural communities of the province.

“A lot of people have books at home which they have already read. They can bring these books to the box and take another one instead for reading. We hope it will serve its goal, the boxes will be supplemented by new books which will have many readers. I think if a person likes this box, he/she will bring 10 or 20 books. I hope the boxes will always be full of books”, Levon said.

The 15-year-old American-Armenian is regularly visiting Armenia. “I love traveling and geography a lot, I have visited 45 countries. This is my 12th visit to Armenia. I have been in villages and liked them a lot. I like reading as well, especially historical, geographical books. Of course, I also read fiction, Saroyan is my favorite author”, he said.

The boxes contain different types of books – fiction, professional, in Armenian, Russian, English and French depending on their location.

The next station of Levon’s initiative is Lori province. A total of 30 book boxes are expected to be installed in Ararat, Lori and Shirak provinces, and 23 are already installed.

Fundraising was carried out for implementing this initiative in Armenia and each book box has its sponsor family.

Reporting by Armenuhi Mkhoyan




Turkey, Armenia agree to start direct cargo trade at earliest date, Ankara says

Jirair Kafian
July 1 2022
By Reuters News Service

Turkey and Armenia agreed in normalisation talks between special representatives that the neighbours would start direct air cargo trade between each other at the earliest possible date, as they work to mend ties after decades of animosity.

Turkey has been working to normalise relations with Armenia in coordination with Azerbaijan since December. The neighbours held a fourth round of talks in Vienna on Friday, following the first meeting between their foreign ministers in years in March.

In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Ankara and Yerevan had also agreed to allow third-country citizens to cross their shared border at the earliest date possible and decided to initiate the necessary process to that end. The special envoys also discussed other possible steps for “full normalisation”, it said.