16:28,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. During today’s session the Board of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) made a decision to keep the refinancing rate unchanged, 5.5%, the CBA told Armenpress.
The Lombard repo rate provided by the CBA is 7.0%. The rate of funds attracted from banks by the CBA is 4.0%.
Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
ArmInfo. Head of the Public Council, Vazgen Manukyan, admitted that he was surprised at the criminal case against parliamentary Speaker Ara Babloyan. At a press conference on October 30, Manukyan said the charges are based on a < wrong semicolon>.
As for the head of the Constitutional Court, Hrayr Tovmasyan, it was stated here that the authorities were persecuting him in order to get this position. According to Manukyan, prior to his appointment, Tovmasyan was “checked by X-ray, and nothing was found”. “This means that this person is clean and not corrupt,” the head of the Public Council noted.
It should be noted that the Investigative Committee of Armenia found factual evidence of abuses committed by the current head of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia Hrayr Tovmasyan during his tenure as head of the Ministry of Justice. In the framework of the criminal case, in addition to Hrayr Tovmasyan, the charge under part 2 of article 308 of the Criminal Code of Armenia is an abuse of official powers, entailing by negligence, grave consequences were also brought against Norayr Panosyan, who in 2011-2014 held the post of head of the Inspectorate for the Legality of the Ministry of Justice.
In addition, according to the report of the Special Investigation Service, there is evidence that in March 2018, in the process of Gagik Harutyunyan’s resignation of the powers of the Chairman of the Constitutional Court, officials, based on group interests, personally and also through non-officials committed an official forging to appoint Hrayr Tovmasyan to the post of head of the Constitutional Court. In fact, a criminal case was initiated on usurpation of power, in the framework of which charges were brought against ex-speaker of the parliament Ara Babloyan and head of the parliament’s apparatus Arsen Babayan.
Armenian FM holds meeting with EU Special Representative Toivo Klaar
18:14,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 16, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Zohrab Mnatsakanyan received on October 16th EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar and the latter’s delegation.
“The parties exchanged ideas over the Armenia-EU partnership comprehensive agenda, as well as touched upon topical regional issues and steps aimed at further strengthening cooperation within the framework of the EU Special Representative’s mandate.
In the context of the NK conflict’s peaceful resolution process the Armenian FM briefed on the current situation around the peace process. In this context the EU’s support to the ongoing peaceful settlement process under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the exclusively peaceful resolution of the conflict was emphasized,” the foreign ministry said in a readout.
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
Ani Hovannisian’s “The Hidden Map” will premiere at both Arpa and Toronto film festivals
Arpa (Los Angeles) and Pomegranate (Toronto) Film Festivals have slated Ani Hovannisian’s new documentary “The Hidden Map” for their 2019 festivals in November. Prior to any public screenings, “The Hidden Map” has been recognized with an ImpactDOCS award in an esteemed international documentary film competition.
A broadcast journalist by education and training, Hovannisian directed and produced numerous true human-interest stories for television and other international audiences before setting out to make her first film. “The Hidden Map” was conceived when Ani, traveling through historic Western Armenia with her father, historian Richard G. Hovannisian, and a small group led by Armen Aroyan, had a chance encounter with an enigmatic Scottish explorer, Steven Sim. Camera always in hand, Ani began following the steps of the solitary explorer and learned that he had been documenting the relics of the lost Armenian past for 30 years. Though he had always traveled alone, almost invisibly, Sim agreed to set out together.
The Armenian and Scotsman trek through the layered landscape, digging beneath the surface of modern-day Turkey to uncover the crumbled remnants and buried stories of the forbidden past. He is consumed with finding and giving voice to the ruins before they disappear entirely. She is determined to come face to face with the ominous past, lifting long-silenced stories out of oblivion and people out of shadows as she reaches for home. Together, they reveal “The Hidden Map.”
Active in the American-Armenian community since her youth, Ani Hovannisian Kevorkian was an anchor and reporter at TeleNayiri and Horizon Armenian Television in Los Angeles for more than a decade. She has traveled to present-day Armenia since childhood, and seven years ago, rooted in the stories of her genocide-survivor grandparents and their entire generation, and shaped by the lifelong dedication of her own parents, Ani embarked on the first of several journeys into the historic Armenian homeland, where she continues to document living history through the stories of the land and the people.
Hovannisian will be a panelist on Saturday during the Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region’s Grassroots Conference, where she will present the trailer for “The Hidden Map,” and address the notion that despite experiencing massive losses–human, cultural, territorial–Armenians still have a living history and connections to the land.
“The Hidden Map” will be featured at the Arpa Film Festival at the historic American Legion Theater in Hollywood on Saturday, November 9 at 3:15 p.m.
Ani Hovannisian in Dzitogh, a village in Western Armenia
Hovannisian’s film will be shown at the Pomegranate Film Festival in Toronto on Sunday, November 17 at 1 p.m. followed by a discussion with the filmmaker.
Festival and film information for Arpa and Toronto film festivals are available online.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.6
Trend:
Concept of “the people of Nagorno-Karabakh” does not exist, said Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, addressing the plenary session of the 16th Annual Meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club held in the city of Sochi, the Russian Federation, Oct.3.
“One of the topics of ongoing discussion is the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Russia is a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, which has a mediation mandate. I should note that Nagorno-Karabakh and seven other districts of Azerbaijan have been under Armenian occupation for over 25 years. Nagorno-Karabakh is the original Azerbaijani land. In Soviet times, the Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous region was set up. I must say that in connection with the conflict there is a fairly wide range of opinions often not reflecting realities. Therefore, in order to clarify, I must say that in 1921 the decision of the Caucasian Bureau was literally “to leave Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan”, not transfer it, as the Armenian side often interprets it. Before the conflict began, the Azerbaijani and Armenian populations in the proportion of 25 to 75 percent lived in the Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous region of the Azerbaijan SSR. As a result of the conflict, the entire Azerbaijani population was expelled from Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as from seven other districts of Azerbaijan. In other words, ethnic cleansing was carried out.
Today there is no Azerbaijani population in the occupied territories, while most of the occupied territories are scorched and destroyed lands – destroyed houses, schools, public buildings,” said the head of state.
President Aliyev noted that as a result of the conflict, Azerbaijan has been faced with a humanitarian catastrophe.
“More than 700,000 IDPs from Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan, plus 250,000 Azerbaijanis were driven out of their historical lands in the territory of modern Armenia.
The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions, including resolutions requiring immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian forces from the occupied territories. For more than 25 years they have not been fulfilled. And here we come to the important issue of implementing the decisions made. The UN Security Council is the highest international body, and if the decisions adopted by the Security Council have not been implemented for more than 25 years, this raises a lot of questions about the effectiveness of this organization. We in Azerbaijan are concerned about the selective nature of the implementation of resolutions. Sometimes they are carried out in a matter of days, sometimes they are not required at all for certain military operations, in our case, the resolutions remain on paper,” said Azerbaijan’s president.
He pointed out that the solution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be within the framework of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, the UN Charter adopted by the whole world, resolutions of the UN Security Council and the Helsinki Final Act.
“I have to say that the Prime Minister of Armenia has often said recently that a solution to the conflict should be acceptable to the people of Azerbaijan, the people of Armenia and the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. I must say that the concept of “the people of Nagorno-Karabakh” does not exist. There is population of Nagorno-Karabakh, which consisted of the Azerbaijani and Armenian people before the conflict, and they have equal rights. As for a solution acceptable for Azerbaijan, it consists in restoring the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan recognized by the whole world and returning refugees and internally displaced persons to their original lands, including Nagorno-Karabakh. This is consistent with Security Council resolutions and the Helsinki Final Act.
I must say that the military aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan continues to this day. Yesterday, a civilian, a resident of Gazakh District which is located far from the conflict zone, on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, was killed by an Armenian sniper. I must also say that during the military provocation in April 2016, six civilians, including a child, a girl, were killed in Azerbaijan. I would also like to touch upon the statement of the Prime Minister of Armenia that has caused surprise not only in Azerbaijan. A corresponding reaction was also given to it by the Russian Federation within the framework of the Valdai Forum. The statement is as follows: “Karabakh is a part of Armenia, and full stop.” Well, first of all, it is a lie, to put it mildly. Karabakh – both upper and lower – is recognized by the whole world as an integral part of Azerbaijan. Armenia itself does not recognize this illegal entity. Karabakh is a historical and ancestral Azerbaijani land. Therefore, Karabakh is Azerbaijan, and exclamation mark!” said President Aliyev.
“Despite the occupation and the humanitarian catastrophe of the early 1990s, when an eighth of our country’s population were refugees, Azerbaijan has come a long way in development and creation. With the exception of the first years of independence when a puppet, anti-national and corrupt regime of the Popular Front ruled in the country, Azerbaijan has been living in a stable environment for 26 years. The key contribution to that was made by President Heydar Aliyev who managed to prevent civil war, stop the occupation, overcome chaos and ruin, and put Azerbaijan on a path of development. Thus, for 26 years, the Azerbaijani people have been living in the conditions of stability and development.
The international standing of our country is strengthening. One indicator of this is the election of our country as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council several years ago. A total of 155 states voted for us. It was not easy, it took us three days and 16 rounds but justice triumphed. I would also like to note that the Russian Federation and all other 154 countries provided us with great support,” said the head of state.
ArmInfo.The SOS Amulsar initiative posted a photograph on its Facebook page, which indicates the presence of large reserves of uranium at the Amulsar gold deposit. So, according to the record, the letter U of the yellow device indicates the presence of uranium in the measured material. The number “245” indicated opposite it indicates the density of uranium in one ton, in grams. Meanwhile, the norm should be 4 “, – noted in the record.
Earlier, ArmInfo, referring to the work of the famous Armenian scientist Petros Aloyan “Uranium bearing of geological formations in Armenia” noted that the Amulsar occurrence of uranium is located 4 km southeast of the village of Ketchut and 5 km northwest of the top of the mountain of the same name. Approximately 76 tons of uranium were calculated for five sections of the Amulsar manifestation, and taking into account uranium in the thorium section, its total reserves can be estimated at 100 tons. Moreover, according to the studies of another scientist, Professor G. Avagyan, according to 40 samples of Amulsar ore, there are 195 tons of uranium and thorium there. Meanwhile, the development of uranium deposits requires special permission from the government, which Lidian does not have.
According to the company, the deposit contains about 73733 kg of gold with an average grade of 0.78 g per ton, as well as 294.367 tons of silver with an average grade of 9.29 g per ton. At the same time, not a word about uranium itself. Lydian Armenia, which implements the construction of the field, is a subsidiary of British Lydian International. The total cost of the Amulsar project is $ 370 million. The field’s life will be 10 years and 4 months, with an average of 200 thousand ounces of gold being mined annually. Amulsar field is the second largest reserves in Armenia.