Author: Mary Lazarian

Negotiations should begin as a result of combining proposals made by Armenia and Azerbaijan – Security Council Secretary

Mary Lazarian

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 14:03, 19 May, 2022

YEREVAN, MAY 19, ARMENPRESS. The position of the Armenian side is that the proposals made by Armenia and Azerbaijan over the normalization of the relations should be combined and the negotiations around a peace agenda should start as a result of, Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan said at a briefing today.

“Regarding the peace agenda, our approach, of course, is that the packages proposed by Armenia and Azerbaijan should be combined and then to start negotiations around a peace agenda. Of course, we have raised this issue in Brussels. What we have seen is that there is a perception by Azerbaijan that we must move forward. But recently, there have also been public statements over this”, he said.

He said the Armenian side hopes for coming to a common ground around the peace agenda at some moment. “Because the peace agenda could not be unilateral, the peace agenda must be bilateral. And that two packages of proposals should be included in this bilateral logic, which should be merged and then to move forward with that agenda”, he said, adding that they will continue the work.

“From the very beginning we understood that the peace process is a difficult process, and we will continue working on this direction. Our agenda remains the same, and we will try to move forward”, he said.

Sports: Mihran Harutyunyan wins 5th MMA victory

Mary Lazarian
NEWS.am
Armenia –

Vice-champion of the Olympic Games in Greco-Roman wrestling Mihran Harutyunyan held his 6th fight in MMA.

The Armenian athlete met with the American Arturo Hernandez and won in the third round. The fight took place in the USA.

Mihran Harutyunyan had 6 fights in MMA, won 5 and lost 1.

Harutyunyan held his previous fight in MMA on August 6, 2021, defeating Akhmedkhan Akhmedov.

Journalists not allowed into Yerevan hotel hosting democracy forum

Mary Lazarian
Armenia –

POLITICS 15:26 20/05/2022 ARMENIA

Reporters covering the ongoing anti-government protests outside the Armenia Marriott Hotel in central Yerevan were denied entry to the hotel hosting the Armenian Democracy Forum on Friday.

Organized by the U.S.-based watchdog Freedom House, the forum addresses, among other things, issues concerning freedom of speech. The hotel building is cordoned off by a large number of police officers.

They denied a request of reporters to be allowed into the hotel to attend the forum.

“We asked the deputy chief of police to convey our request [to organizers], but journalists were not allowed to enter the hotel and take part in the event. It was a very important event for reporters, as issues related to freedom of speech were to be discussed,” said Ani Gevorgyan, a journalist for MediaHub.am.

Archbishop Anoushavan re-elected as Prelate at National Representative Assembly

Mary Lazarian
 Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America Diaspora 0

His Eminence Archbishop Anoushavan

PHILADELPHIA, Penn. — The National Representative Assembly (NRA) of the Eastern Prelacy was hosted by St. Gregory the Illuminator Church of Philadelphia from May 12 to 14, 2022. On Saturday, His Eminence Archbishop Anoushavan was re-elected as Prelate for another four-year term. 

“I would like to thank you all for trusting me to serve as Prelate for a second term,” Archbishop Anoushavan said in a brief address to the Assembly after the election. “Together, we will carry out all the programs proposed at the NRA.” 

He also stressed that the parishes, the Prelacy and the Catholicosate were united in their vision, which was a source of strength for all of them. “May God always protect the Armenian church and the Eastern Prelacy of the United States, along with all its structures and sister organizations.”

National Representative Assembly, May 2022

Earlier on Saturday, there were elections for the religious and lay councils. Archpriest Fr. Antranig Baljian of St. Stephen’s Armenian Apostolic Church (Watertown, MA) and incumbent and Very Rev. Fr. Boghos Tinkjian of All Saints Church (Glenview, Il.) were elected to the religious council. Dr. Raffi Manjikian, John Kulungian, Aram Hovagimian (incumbents), Aram Sarafian and Richard Kanarian were elected to the lay council.

The theme of this year’s assembly was “Fortifying Foundations for the Future.” Sarafian and Janet Haroian were elected to serve as chairpersons of this year’s assembly. Very Rev. Fr. Boghos Tinkjian was the Armenian secretary; Dr. Nyree Bedrosian was the English secretary. Words of welcome were offered by Archpriest Fr. Nerses Manoogian, pastor of the host parish, as well as by Michael Injaian, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

His Holiness Catholicos Aram I, who addressed the audience in a videotaped message, stressed that the church is not an organization, but a mission: outreach, through which it fulfills its nature. The Prelacy’s projects are community-based, and the challenge, His Holiness said in his address, is “how you can make this interaction more relevant, more dynamic and more impact-making.” The role of the clergy is to take the church outside its walls to the people, he said. It is indeed through community-oriented pastoral engagements and social service that the church becomes a living reality in the lives of the people, His Holiness added.

In his keynote address, Archbishop Anoushavan, Prelate, thanked the Philadelphia community for hosting this year’s assembly. His Eminence spoke of challenges facing the church, saying: “As we leave the pandemic behind, one of the priorities of our Prelacy as well as individual parishes should be to reach out and to welcome the faithful.” He expressed his hope that the panels convening during the assembly “will pave the road to a stronger and brighter Prelacy.”

National Representative Assembly, May 2022

Eurovision: Armenia – Style over substance?

Mary Lazarian
May 5 2022
By

 Phil Colclough

 –

May 5, 2022

My first thought when the postcard ended was “Fucking hell – how many people wrote this song?” My second thought was “Why is she singing this in her bedroom?” Followed by ”That’s some damn prop she needs to play with”.

Rosa manages the skill, and it is a skill, of interacting with the background (which has lots of things to pull at and has the infinite ability to go horribly wrong at a moment’s notice), whilst singing a remake of Denmark 2020 (that no one other than us will care about).

I know what she is trying to achieve here. Rosa Linn is telling the story of the song that when she “snapped” she turned her life around. I just don’t know if setting it in a bedroom with Post-It notes that she rips off to reveal phrases is the way to go? She said the mix was too loud in her ears, a seemingly common problem throughout all of the first semi-final rehearsals, but to my ears it didn’t seem to bother her.

Her second run-through was as good as the first one, apart from the camera work focussing on the bits of the wall that she needs to remove being a beat out of sync with what Rosa was doing – it really distracted from what was a decent performance. This, again, highlighted the issue that Lesley Roy had last year – well one of them – if you over-burden a singer with too much shit to interact with and it goes wrong, or you forget something in the moment, or the camera is late by a beat then you end up with an unholy mess and your three minutes in the sun is ruined.

Overall, though, it was a performance trying to tell a story rather than focussing on the lyric of the song. My issue is whether the story telling aspect has been overplayed.

Armenian FM presents situation in Nagorno Karabakh to US Senator

Mary Lazarian

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 15:25, 6 May, 2022

YEREVAN, MAY 6, ARMENPRESS. On the sidelines of his working visit in the United States, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan met with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a press release.

The sides discussed the prospects of deepening and expanding the Armenian-American cooperation based on common values. Minister Mirzoyan highly appreciated the US continuous support to Armenia’s reforms agenda.

The regional security and stability-related issues were touched upon during the talk.

Ararat Mirzoyan presented the situation in Nagorno Karabakh to the US Senator. The importance of the mediation efforts of the US as an OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair country aimed at the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict was emphasized.

The Foreign Minister also presented details about the Armenia-Turkey normalization process.

He handed over the Mkhitar Gosh Medal to Mr. Mitch McConnell on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Armenia-US diplomatic relations, for his significant contributions to the strengthening and development of the Armenian-American friendly ties.

PM Pashinyan receives delegation of France-Armenia Friendship Group

Mary Lazarian

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 16:58, 3 May, 2022

YEREVAN, MAY 3, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received the delegation led by Chair of the France-Armenia Friendship Group in the French Senate Gilbert-Luc Devinaz, the PM’s Office said.

Welcoming the French delegation’s visit to Armenia, Pashinyan highly appreciated their contribution to the development and strengthening of the Armenian-French relations. He added that the legislative and executive authorities of the two countries are closely cooperating, and here the friendship group plays a big role. “Your visits to our country give a new and positive impetus to the constant strengthening of the Armenian-French partnership”, PM Pashinyan said.

Gilbert-Luc Devinaz thanked for the warm reception and stated that they will direct further efforts for the development of partnership. “We will continue to stand by Armenia and Artsakh”, he said, reminding that the resolution on recognizing the independence of Artsakh by the French Senate is broadly supported by senators.

PM Pashinyan said that the resolution adopted by the Senate has a huge political significance, which gives a great strength and trust in the context of international recognition of rights of Artsakh-Armenians.

The meeting also touched upon issues relating to ensuring the return of Armenian prisoners of war, hostages and other civilians held in Azerbaijan, the current situation in Nagorno Karabakh, the humanitarian problems, as well as the development of democracy in Armenia.