Author: Karakhanian Suren

Armenia coronavirus cases reach 1,248

Karakhanian Suren

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 11:14,

YEREVAN, APRIL 18, ARMENPRESS. The number of people infected with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Armenia has reached 1,248, as 47 new cases have been confirmed in the past 24 hours, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention said today.

The total number of recoveries has reached 523.

1 more patient has died, bringing the total number of deaths to 20.

So far, 11,769 people passed testing.

At the moment, the active cases are 705.

Healthcare minister’s spokesperson Alina Nikoghosyan said that a 75-year-old patient has died from coronavirus on April 17. The woman also had a double pneumonia and accompanying chronic diseases.

Reported by Anna Grigoryan

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan




In trial by fire, Armenia pilots distance learning

Karakhanian Suren
EurasiaNet.org
Ani Mejlumyan Apr 15, 2020

   Lockdown in Yerevan. (Liana Karapetyan, used with permission)

Liana Karapetyan complains that she can’t even tiptoe around her three-room apartment without exasperating her family. Her husband is working from home during the lockdown, her three children studying. Everyone is glued to a laptop.

“Hush. I’m studying. Don’t cook. Don’t do the dishes,” she said, impersonating her kids.

Karapetyan’s eldest daughter, 13, “spends all her time in front of the computer and by evenings has migraines and a temperature. I don’t approve of my kids being so dependent on gadgets during normal life,” she said. The Education Ministry “should really think about cutting down the coursework.”

Around the world today, some 90 percent of children – over 1.5 billion kids – are home from school as their governments try to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, a UN agency says. Many of the 192 countries that have closed schools are seeing one thing come starkly into view: socioeconomic class divides.

Though she calls her situation a “madhouse,” Karapetyan counts herself lucky. Her kids have the equipment they need; her husband has a job he can do from home. Space is tight but could be worse. “Think about those who live in a one-room apartment with seven kids,” she said.

Two hours to the north, in Lori region, Koryun Melkumyan shares one room in an unfinished house with his wife, his mother and his seven children – the youngest a one-month-old baby girl. Like most residents of his village, Melkumyan lacks a regular job. His few animals produce yogurt and milk to sell at the local bazaar, and he receives about $150 per month in government assistance.

His children are also out of school. “They miss their classes. We don’t have smartphones or computers or the internet to be able to continue their education,” Melkumyan told Eurasianet. “Sometimes they do lessons using the [landline] phone.”

The school principal has promised to provide a computer and Melkumyan has inquired about installing an internet connection, though the provider told him it could not dispatch a crew until the lockdown ends.

According to the Education Ministry, about 80 percent of Armenia’s school-age children are engaged in distance learning during the nationwide state of emergency, which started on March 16 and includes shelter-in-place orders and travel restrictions. As of April 15, the country of 3 million had registered 1,111 COVID-19 cases and 17 deaths.

In a written response to Eurasianet’s queries, a representative said the ministry was “encouraging teachers not to overload students with assignments that involve the use of computers.” Which tools teachers use are up to them.

“Armenia has organized very quickly,” said Harutyun Tsatryan, founder of the Information and Education Development Network, a non-profit that develops higher-education teaching methodologies. “For example they [the ministry] decided to do lectures on Public TV and the quality is very impressive. They get good people to do them.” (The programming has aired since March 19.)

But Armenian teachers, like their colleagues around the world, are struggling, too, in this unprecedented situation.

In the northern Tavush region, a teacher in her 60s describes her crash course in teaching over the messaging app Viber (an analogue to WhatsApp or Facetime). “I only had Viber on my phone to talk to my grandchildren in Russia. All of a sudden we all have to teach with computers. I don’t even have one,” said the teacher, who requested anonymity, fearful she could lose her job for complaining publicly. “Some of my students are from very poor families and haven’t even seen a smartphone; of course they are missing classes.”

In a nearby town, mother of two Anna Manucharyan says that her school district is carrying on the regular school schedule, but remotely. “My 7th grader starts at 9 a.m. They do all their classes on Zoom [an online conferencing program] and some on Viber,” Manucharyan told Eurasianet. “In his class there is only one boy who doesn’t have the tech, so he goes to his uncle’s house and does it from there. My other son is in college. His classes also take place mostly on Viber … and last even longer than they are supposed to.”

Education Minister Arayik Harutyunyan says the current situation should be seen as a pilot, and that his ministry will study the results. “Some schools and teachers have already been doing distance learning. At the moment we can’t say we are providing all the [equipment], but this will become a national pilot program for distance learning,” he said on March 18.

While most people acknowledge problems with the current system, thrust so suddenly on teachers and students, Tsatryan of the student-exchange network sees the groundwork being laid for a post-coronavirus revolution in higher education.

“If the ministry follows up by preparing enough lecturers to teach classes online, that will change the whole idea about higher education in Armenia. Distance learning is cheaper and more accessible,” Tsatryan said. The cost of a university education “isn’t just the tuition, but also the living expenses. For families in the regions that can be unaffordable.”

 

Ani Mejlumyan is a reporter based in Yerevan.

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 04/12/2020

Karakhanian Suren 
                                        Sunday, 
Armenian Government Eases Economic Shutdown
Armenia -- Roadworks are underway in Lori province, September 25, 2019.
The government has decided to extend a coronavirus-related state of emergency 
but at the same reopen some sectors of Armenia’s economy.
The government ordered the temporary closure of most nonessential businesses, 
including cafes and restaurants, on March 24 amid an accelerating spread of 
coronavirus in the country. The order did not apply to agriculture, food 
retailers, public utilities and services, banks as well as food-processing, 
mining and cargo firms.
Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian, who heads a government task force 
enforcing the state of emergency, said on Sunday that companies that are engaged 
in open-air construction or manufacture cigarettes, cement and other 
construction materials will be able to resume their work on Monday. He said the 
temporary ban on engineering and scientific research will also be lifted.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian announced the impending easing of the economic 
shutdown on Saturday.
“We can’t shut [the economy] down completely,” he said. “That is why we have 
decided that amid the extension of the state of emergency some types of economic 
activity will be fully permitted starting from Monday.”
In a video address livestreamed on Facebook, Pashinian also said that the 
government may allow “after April 20” the reopening of textile factories 
employing thousands of people.
“For us the riskiest sector here is textile manufacturing because, as you know, 
it has been the main driving force of about 1,000 coronavirus cases that we have 
now,” he said. “But we also realize that people need to work, and we will hold 
more detailed discussions with textile industry entrepreneurs … so that they can 
organize manufacturing as safely as possible.”
The government made the decision after the rate of new coronavirus infections 
recorded by the Armenian health authorities dropped significantly in the course 
of the past week.
The authorities said on Sunday morning that the total number of coronavirus 
cases rose by 46 to 1,013 in the past 24 hours. It was higher than the daily 
numbers reported in previous days.
According to Health Minister Arsen Torosian, they carried out a record-high 680 
coronavirus tests on Friday. The daily number of such tests cited by Torosian’s 
ministry varied between 200 and 300 until then.
Pashinian warned that the government will restore the initial restrictions on 
economic activity in case of a renewed upsurge in the disease. “The fact that we 
have a relatively small number of infections and are reopening more areas of 
economic activity doesn’t mean that our epidemiological situation has improved,” 
he said. “No, our epidemiological situation has stabilized but not improved.”
Pashinian also made clear that the government will maintain serious restrictions 
on other people’s movements and will not lift its ban on public transport 
imposed in late March.
The state of emergency is due to expire on April 14. The government wants to 
extend it by one month and will convene an extraordinary session of the Armenian 
parliament for that purpose by Tuesday.
Easter Marked In Armenia’s Empty Churches
Armenia -- Catholicos Garegin II holds an Easter Mass at St. Gregory the 
Illuminator's Cathedral, Yerevan, .
Armenians celebrated Easter on Sunday while being barred, due to the coronavirus 
pandemic, from attending services held in churches across Armenia on the 
occasion.
Catholicos Garegin (Karekin) II, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic 
Church, urged them to display “national unity” and help their government contain 
the spread of the virus as he led a mass at an empty Saint Gregory the 
Illuminator’s Cathedral of Yerevan.
In a sermon read out during the liturgy, Garegin also said that the world must 
unite to defeat not only the pandemic but what he described as even greater 
evils such as “materialism,” poverty and armed conflicts.
The Easter mass held in Armenia’s largest cathedral was attended by only two 
dozen clergymen and a smaller-than-usual choir.
Sunday services in all churches have been held behind the closed doors ever 
since the Armenian government declared on March 16 a state of emergency to fight 
against coronavirus. The Armenian Church, to which the vast majority of the 
country’s population nominally belongs, instructed parish churches to 
livestream, if possible, liturgies online.
The ancient church’s Mother See headed by Garegin also restricted church 
attendance on weekdays and cancelled pre-Easter ceremonies involving large 
numbers of people. It urged its faithful to abide by serious restrictions on 
people’s movements imposed by the authorities.
Armenia -- Catholicos Garegin II (C) holds an Easter Mass at St. Gregory the 
Illuminator's Cathedral, Yerevan, .
In his Easter message Garegin said: “We once again call on the sons and 
daughters of our nation in the homeland and in the diaspora to give a helping 
hand to our government authorities in their efforts to overcome the difficult 
situation created by the pandemic, in caring for the patients, and the welfare 
of those sons and daughters of our nation who are in great distress by making 
your contributions to a special account opened for this cause.”
“Let us keep national unity and solidarity strong, as people … faithful to 
Christ,” he said. “Let us live with the faith of the Resurrection, with the zeal 
to fulfill the commandments of Christ.”
Garegin had a similar message to Christians around the world. “We believe that 
humanity will overcome this challenging situation of the pandemic and all the 
difficulties caused by it in the social, economic, educational, and public 
spheres,” he said. “However, it is of more importance that a permanent victory 
is achieved against all inhumane manifestations such as materialism, poverty, 
inequality, militarism, wars and other evils.”
“Humanity must realize that the guarantee of prosperity and happiness is the 
life lived by God, which turns into a blessing, power and source of strength,” 
he added.
Armenia -- Catholicos Garegin II blesses believers after holding an Easter Mass 
at St. Gregory the Illuminator's Cathedral, Yerevan, .
After the service broadcast live on national television, Garegin blessed a small 
group of believers, some of them wearing face masks, who gathered outside the 
cathedral. None of them was allowed to kiss a cross held by him.
On Saturday, Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian, who coordinates government 
measures against coronavirus, urged Armenians to stay at home and avoid trying 
to attend church ceremonies on Sunday.
“In any case, the police will prevent any gatherings,” Avinian warned on 
Facebook. “Let us demonstrate discipline and responsibility. Let us prevent the 
spread of the virus.”
The warning came amid an apparent Easter Eve shopping spree at food supermarkets 
in Yerevan. Photographs shared on social media showed scores of shoppers 
ignoring social distancing rules.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Armenia asks Russia for talks on reducing imported gas price

Karakhanian Suren
ETEnergy
March 31 2020

Armenia also wants the payment to be made in Armenian drams instead of U.S. dollars

  • Reuters
  • March 31, 2020, 18:18 IST
    • YEREVAN: Armenia has asked Russia to start talks on reducing the price of imported gas, the government said on its website on Tuesday.

    Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan had sent the request to Russia, it said.

    Armenia also wants the payment to be made in Armenian drams instead of U.S. dollars.

    The South Caucasus country currently pays Russia $165 for 1,000 cubic metres of gas.

  • https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/oil-and-gas/armenia-asks-russia-for-talks-on-reducing-imported-gas-price/74915257

Azerbaijani press: Pete Tase: So-called “elections” held in Nagorno-Karabakh is blatant act of provocation

Karakhanian Suren
NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT1 April 2020 11:40 (UTC+04:00)

BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 1

By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:

The so-called “presidential and parliamentary elections” held on March 31st, 2020, sponsored by the fascist government of Armenia inside the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan, is a blatant act of provocation, Peter M. Tase, strategic adviser on international affairs and public diplomacy to governments, universities and corporations in Europe and the Americas, told Trend.

He noted that Yerevan is scoffing the four UN Security Council Resolutions, and orchestrating a mockery to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

It demonstrates once again the aspirations of Armenian leadership to maintain the current status-quo inside the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan and foster ambiguous statecraft practices that encourage greater levels of poverty inside Armenia, the expert believes.

He said it is becoming a deep concern that the international community is not swiftly acting and making condemning public statements on this matter.

The policy pursued by Armenian authorities in this region of Azerbaijan is a serious threat to European security and serves as a dangerous precedent for other conflict zones in Europe, Tase believes.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

National Assembly President, Security Council Secretary honor memory of April war victims

Karakhanian Suren

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 17:51, 2 April, 2020

YEREVAN, APRIL 2, ARMENPRESS. President of the National Assembly of Armenia Arart Mirzoyan and chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on defense and security affairs Andranik Kocharyan visited Erablur Pantheon, where they honored the memory of the victims of the 2016 April war, ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the parliament of Armenia.

The Office of the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia informed that Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan also visited Yerablur Pantheon, honored the memory of the April war victims, National Hero of Armenia Monte Melkonyan, Commander Andranik Ozanyan and Sparapet (Defense Minister) Vazgen Sargsyan.

The war between Artsakh and Azerbaijan named April war or the 4-day war took place in 2016 when the Azerbaijani troops made a sudden large-scale attack against Artsakh. The war lasted 4 days and ended on April 5, when the Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a ceasefire agreement in Moscow. The borderline between Artsakh and Azerbaijan remained nearly  unchanged following the war, but the Azerbaijani troops suffered at least 5-fold more casualties than the Armenian side, estimated at 558. The Azerbaijani troops also committed various war crimes during this period, including a footage of how the Azerbaijani soldiers were showing the decapitated head of an Armenian soldier to a group of villagers and proudly celebrating their “heroic act”.  Some time later the official website of the President of Azerbaijan posted a picture where Ilham Aliyev was awarding the soldier who had committed that act of “heroism”.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan




Asbarez: Pasadena School Board Approves New Armenian Dual Immersion School

Karakhanian Suren
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11 hours ago

A screen capture of the Pasadena School Board meeting on March 26

Pasadena Unified School District Board on Thursday, in a vote of 4 to 3 gave a conditional approval for the establishment of a new Armenian Dual Language Immersion Program, which will operate from Blair High School and will enroll students for the 2020-2021 school year.

PasadenaNow.com reported that following nearly 90 minutes of discussion, PUSD members Dr. Elizabeth Pomeroy, Scott Phelps, Lawrence Torres, and Roy Boulghourjian voted in favor of the program, while members Kim Kenne, Michelle Bailey, and PUSD Board President Patrick Cahalan voted “no.”

The Armenian Dual Language Immersion Academy will be located on Pasadena’s East Blair campus, which is independent of the main Blair High School campus. Armenian language I, II, III, and IV, in both Western and Eastern Armenian, will be offered to students in 9 to 12, with additional Armenian history and culture courses also on the curriculum.

All students, regardless of their city of residency, may register for the Academy’s 2020 to 2021 school year. Students who live in different districts need to first request a release from their local school district. Once a release has been issued, they can then enroll at the Armenian Dual Language Academy, under PUSD.

The tentative dates for parents to apply for intra/inter district permits are Monday, April 6 to Friday, August 7.

The Armenian Dual Language Immersion Program is touted as the first public high school in Pasadena, as well as its surrounding cities–and the entire United States–to offer Armenian language, history, and culture courses to its students.

CIVILNET.Armenia Goes into Lockdown

Karakhanian Suren
CIVILNET.AM

22:06 
Armenia goes into lockdown. Armenia supports the UN’s call for a global ceasefire. China to donate medical equipment to Armenia. Armenian tycoon says he won’t pay workers on leave. United States to stop sending aid to Nagorno-Karabakh. And efforts continue to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the military.
 

Artsakh’s President convenes consultation with heads of regional administrations

Karakhanian Suren

Artsakh’s President convenes consultation with heads of regional administrations

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 19:08, 19 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 19, ARMENPRESS. Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan convened a working consultation with the heads of regional administrations of the republic and the mayor of Stepanakert on March 19.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of Artsakh President’s Office, issues related to projects being implemented in the regions and the capital were on the discussion agenda. Particular attention was drawn to the measures taken within the framework of fight against the new coronavirus.

The Head of the State highlighted the necessity of acquiring all the essential medical supplies and disinfectants and carrying out coordinated disinfection activities on sites. Minister of State Grigory Martirosyan and other officials participated in the consultation.