17:58,
Philip Lynch, Ameriabank’s Independent Board Member, has been in finance for over 30 years. His estimations and analysis of the Armenian economy are very interesting.
Can Armenia adopt the Asian development model, what challenges and development prospects do we have and how are we going to get over 2020 and revitalize the real economy?
To get the answers watch full version of the interview
[see video]
12:39,
YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is accusing General Movses Hakobyan of having attempted to surrender the 7th Defense District of Artsakh during the 2020 war.
He denied Hakobyan’s accusations that he had ordered to halt the mobilization during the war.
“Can you imagine a situation when you are calling for mobilization in a live address and then immediately take the phone and tell them to stop? This is absurd,” Pashinyan said. “When he [Hakobyan], being a high-ranking military official, was trying to surrender the 7th Defense District, at the presence of several people who are now in this hall I made a decision as a result of which the 7th Defense District is still under control of Armenian forces.”
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
Pro-Azeri Syrian mercenaries face international terrorism,murder charges in Armenia
15:56,
YEREVAN, APRIL 12, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian authorities have completed the investigation into the criminal case involving the two captured Syrian citizens who were fighting for the Azerbaijani Armed Forces as mercenaries in the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh war.
The Committee of Investigations said that the investigation gathered evidence substantiating that Muhrab Muhammad al-Shkher and Yusef Alabet al-Hajji were fighting for the Azerbaijani military as foreign mercenaries in the war of aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan on September 27, 2020. The actions of the mercenaries were aimed at killing civilians in Armenia and Artsakh, with the purpose of terrorizing the peaceful population and destabilizing the domestic situation of Armenia and Artsakh.
Yusuf Alabet al-Hajji is the Syrian terrorist who had testified that they ‘were ordered to slaughter every Armenian in the village’.
Muhrab Muhammad al-Shkher, also a Syrian citizen, had testified that he, along with many others, were recruited by the leader of the Suleyman Shah Brigade in Syria and taken to Azerbaijan via Turkey.
Criminal charges of Terrorism Activity Committed by an Organized Group, International Terrorism, Gross Violation of International Humanitarian Law During Armed Conflicts (murder of non-combatants, civilians) and Mercenarism were pressed against the two arrested Syrian mercenaries.
The indictment has been sent to the supervising prosecutor with a motion on forwarding it to court.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
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HOW IMPUNITY FOR PAST CRIMES OF GENOCIDE CAN MAGNIFY MODERN
DAY VIOLENCE
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Violence in Turkey: The
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Viewed through the
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Turkey’s historic
influence on the European Powers and their acceptance of
Turkey’s domestic
gross violations of human rights and mass killings of groups
such as Alevis,
Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks, Jews, Kurds, and Yazidis.
This panel will also
demonstrate
how impunity for past crimes and political expediency by the
international
community has allowed Turkey to repeat these patterns of
violence dating all
the way back to the 1830s, including the Armenian Genocide of
1915, to Turkey’s
latest involvement in the Artsakh war against Armenians.
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A year-long online sale of Armenian artwork is uniting artists from both the country and its diaspora.
You Cannot Escape from Destiny features 53 works by Armenian contemporary artists.
From the intimate nudes of Alisha Sofia, which celebrate the beauty of Armenian women, and Narek Barseghyan’s striking pop collages inspired by Yerevan’s street culture to Hagop Kalaidjian’s glicée prints of 35mm photographs of pomegranate motifs, all of the artworks offer a fresh take on contemporary Armenian art and belonging.
“The majority of artists selected grew up outside of Armenia, yet their work touches on the Armenian experience in different ways,” explains collection curator Lizzy Vartanian Collier, a London-based artist, writer, and curator.
Individual artworks will be available for purchase over 2021 on Auc Art, an online sales and auction house specialising in emerging artists.
14:20, 5 April, 2021
YEREVAN, APRIL 5, ARMENPRESS. On April 5, 2021 a memorandum of understanding was signed between Ucom and the National Olympic Committee of Armenia. The purpose of memorandum signing is the cooperation within the framework of programs, projects and events organized and implemented by NOC in the context of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. According to the memorandum, Ucom will finance the programs and events related to the Olympic Games and implemented by the National Olympic Committee.
“Our company has an experience of cooperation with the National Olympic Committee within the framework of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. I am convinced that the joint work carried out within the frames of Tokyo 2020 will also be fruitful. Ucom readily supports Armenian sports and contributes to the representation of our athletes in the international arena. We are hopeful that they will have serious achievements in Tokyo”, said Ara Khachatryan, Director General at Ucom.
Speaking about the work planned within the frames of the memorandum, the Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee of Armenia Hrachya Rostomyan said: “The most important thing for us is that all Armenians here in Armenia just get united during this period. And we are glad to cooperate with such a reputable Armenian company”.
Shurnukh village resident Gavrush Hakobyan’s barn in Shurnukh is located 500 meters on the road from Shurnukh to Kapan town. Naira Zohrabyan, an MP of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party, wrote this on Facebook.
“According to the famous GPS drawing, the Turk [i.e., the Azerbaijanis] is already positioned a few meters away from the barns. On Friday, the Azerbaijanis stole 13 of Gavrush’s mother cows and drove [them] to the Azerbaijani village of Seytaz. Following on the traces of the animals, the farmer’s son went to that [Azerbaijani] village with the Russian peacekeepers, where they said, ‘Ok, we will give your animals [back],’ and they have not returned [them] yet.
(…) Gavrush was told from the Syunik provincial hall, ‘Sit quietly, do not do anything, we have informed the Russians.’
That farm was the livelihood of the large family of Gavrush from Shurnukh (…).
(…) I hope they will at least try to take some steps to help the farmer from Shurnukh.
And since the ‘wolf chokers’ of the government do not inspire much faith, I have turned also to Rustam Muradov [commander of the Russian peacekeeping contingent stationed in the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict zone],” Zohrabyan added.
“The issue of unblocking the regional transit routes remains in the focus of attention of Russia and the West,” analyst Argishti Kiviryan told a press conference on Wednesday, commenting on the prospects of the regional cooperation in the South Caucasus after the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
In Kiviryan’s words, Moscow wants to complete the processes underway in the region at a time when the Biden Administration has not shown its presence in the regional affairs yet .
“In the occurred situation, we are not responsible for decisions made. We can not also decide by our own who are our enemies and friends. To be able to do so we need to get stronger, recover the army and the economy,” Kiviryan said.
He pointed to the recent statement from Azerbaijan about the use of Iskander missiles in Shushi, which, per him, shows relations between Baku and Moscow have strained.
As to the snap parliamentary elections in Armenia, the analyst said Pashinyan would rather avoid holding those elections if he had chances.
“If he steps back, there would be a major backlash from his supporters. Pashinyan himself does not trust anyone that is the reason he is touring every village to try to assess the real state of affairs and the mood of the population. The elections will show whether Pashinyan enjoys the trust of the people,” said Kiviryan.
As to the recent ruling of the Constitutional Court of Armenia which declared Article 300.1 of the Criminal Code as unconstitutional, Kiviryan said, the judges of the Court realized they were dealing with a ‘political corpse ‘
“Even pro-Pashinyan judges refused to make a different decision, knowing about the consequences of that unlawful act,” said the speaker.
ARF leader and coordinator of the Homeland Salvation Movement Ishkhan Saghatelyan speaks to reporters on Baghramyan Avenue on March 19
There is no evidence that the June 20 snap parliamentary elections announced by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will take place, said Ishkhan Saghatelyan, the coordinator of the Homeland Salvation Movement and chairman of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Supreme Council of Armenia during a press conference on Baghramyan Avenue on Friday.
Saghatelyan pointed out that in order for parliamentary elections to take place, first and foremost the prime minister must resign, the parliament must be dissolved and the president must announce parliamentary elections.
The Homeland Salvation Movement coordinator held the press conference to answer questions regarding the movement’s response Pashinyan’s announcement Thursday that snap parliamentary elections would take place on June 20.
Saghatelyan said that there are “sufficient reasons” that the elections will not take place, adding that Pashinyan’s announcement does not “does not instill trust in us.”
He cited Pashinyan’s continuous flip-flopping on the election matter. In December the prime minister said that there would be snap parliamentary elections, only to do a u-turn last month, when he and his My Step alliance claimed there was no public support for new polls.
“For 44 days during the war they fed us lies and falsehoods,” said Saghatelyan reinforcing the movement’s distrust over the snap elections.
Saghatelyan said that even if the snap elections take place, it will have fulfilled only one of many requisites put forth by the Homeland Salvation Movement, which has been calling for Pashinyan’s resignation and the formation of a national accord government headed by Vazgen Manukyan, the movement’s candidate.
“We find that snap parliamentary elections are a necessary condition for getting out of the current situation, but if Pashinyan continues to act as prime minister during the election cycle, there is a great risk that the elections will not be competitive and that [election participants] will not be on equal footing. And there is a great chance that such elections will be rigged. In that case, instead of becoming a way out of the current crisis, these elections may trigger a new crisis,” Saghatelyan explained.
The opposition leader said that the road map proposed by Pashinyan is the wrong course to bring the country out of the current crisis, insisiting that the road map proposed by the Homeland Salvation Movement is the best solution.
Saghatelyan said that Pashinyan’s announcement to hold snap elections was “an achievement” and the direct result of the Movement’s efforts and the pressure it and its supporters put on the authorities. He added that if Pashinyan were honest, he would resign right away. However, Saghatelyan said, Pashinyan made the announcement in order to slow down the momentum of the movement “so he can turn around and say that there is no popular demand for snap parliamentary elections.”
Of the 17 parties and organizations that make up the Homeland Salvations Movement, two parties have announced that they will take part in the June 20 elections. Gagik Tsarukyan’s Prosperous Armenia Party, which is represented in parliament and the Homeland Party, founded by former National Security Service chief Artur Vanetsyan.
“I find it very normal that Prosperous Armenia and Homeland parties have announced that they would take part in the elections organized by Pashinyan,” said Saghatelyan, emphasizing that while there are differences of approach by the various parties making up the Homeland Salvation Movement, there is 100 percent consensus that Pashinyan must resign. He explained that some in the movement believe that the fastest way to achieve Pashinyan’s ouster is by taking part in his proposed elections, and other believe that they can’t take part in elections organized by the prime minister.
“We are going to fight for the agenda that we have set forth. Even if we are left alone, we are going to fight so Pashinyan will leave as soon as possible,” said Saghatelyan referring to the ARF, which he said will make its decision about participating in the elections if the elections actually take place.
Saghatelyan vowed that the Homeland Salvation Movement will continue its civil disobedience efforts, but there may be “tactical changes” in its approach. “But at this moment to speak about snap parliamentary elections, which for all intents and purposes doesn’t exist—there’s just an announcement—would be futile,” said Saghatelyan.