In the “One Window” offices of Yerevan City Hall and administrative districts, 179322 applications and letters were received from citizens and legal entities during the year 2018. Necessary documents or response letters have been provided to them within the prescribed time limit.
More detailed statistics can be found in the Reporting subdivision of the Information Center section of the official website of the municipality.
OSCE MG Co-Chairs propose to hold meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani FMs in January – MFA spox
13:50, 8 January, 2019
YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs proposed a meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers in January, Armenian foreign ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan told Armenpress.
“There has been a proposal by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to hold a meeting of the foreign ministers in January. The meeting statement will be made in a coherent order”, she said.
Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
In Greek mythology, the Caucasus were one of the “pillars” supporting the world. The diverse wonderous region was central to world culture: the place where fire was forged, the site of the mystic mountains, and the place where Jason and the Argonauts sailed to seek the Golden Fleece.
While these fantastic origins once defined the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, the Caucasus of today, situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, is one of the world’s most overlooked areas for investment thanks to some very different modern myths. Western investors, unfortunately, dismiss its economic potential because of lack of independent analysis, media bias, and concerns over Russia’s growing influence in what used to be entirely Soviet terrain. Worries about the region’s nascent capital markets and its long, complex history of ethnic conflicts have given Western institutions pause. Although not devoid of some truth, these exaggerated fears have caused us to overlook truly compelling economic trends taking place today in the Caucuses.
The Caucasus’ republics have made major efforts in enacting positive economic change, quietly empowering a regional renaissance in this opportunity-filled terrain. Abundant natural resources, diverse agriculture and growing tourism are making strides in restoring the Caucasus and turning its constituents into free market economies. Its continued growth will lead to the region becoming a formidable new contributor in the global economy, and first movers into the region are poised to benefit the most.
While the Caucasus has a history of economic and political instability, its nations have found rapid economic growth in recent years through purposeful action. Georgia’s transition into a free market economy, for instance, has led the World Bank to brand it as the world’s number one economic reformer, and it reported a 5.5% GDP increase in Q2 of this year, continuing its upward growth.
Oil-rich Azerbaijan, similarly, was named one of the top 10 economic reformers by the World Bank in 2008, and by 2012, it had increased its GDP 20-fold since 1995. Presently, Azerbaijan has exported $12.9 billion in the first half of the year and has experienced an expansion of 1.3% in the first part of 2018. Armenia has also worked to steadily stabilize its economy, earning it foreign financial support; since 1993, Armenia has received approximately $1.1 billion in loans that helped solve deficit issues. Now, the nation is primed to improve its financial sector, advance tourism, and streamline its trade with neighbors.
The mysterious Chechen Republic is in the process of quietly rebuilding itself. Its capital, Grozny, has been restored and modernized, mostly through efficient self-governing initiatives. In fact, the entire republic is making strides to become a robust economy. According to a 2017 economic analysis prepared for institutional investors by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the Chechen state as it stands now offers social and political stability for willing investors. Chechen Republic’s tremendous natural resources present compelling opportunities for investment in such industries as oil and gas, tourism, agriculture, medicine, and construction. It has come a long way from a land mostly known for conflict with Russia into a welcoming place for tourists and investors. Railways and highways, pipelines of international importance pass through this mountain fiefdom integrating important strategic concerns in the Caucuses. Having a favorable location, connecting the South of Russia and the countries of Transcaucasia, Chechnya is now striving to become an international logistics center.
The Chechens are now organizing international exhibitions and sports events. Business tourism is on the rise there, and the advent of well-known hotel chains, including the premium segment categories are imminent in the Chechen state.
Chechnya, as the republic is often referred to, has a great interest in foreign investment, focusing on IT, the financial sector, building materials industry, agriculture, energy, and sports. Many world stars of boxing, wrestling, mixed martial arts, and weightlifting have been surprised by Chechen hospitality and passion for sports.
There’s no question that the nations of the Caucasus have been quietly reinventing themselves, but for those paying close attention in recent years, it’s hardly a surprise. These dynamic shifts were brought about primarily because of deliberate heavy economic reform in the wake of the USSR’s disintegration. This enabled the Caucasus countries to catalyze their industries, giving the region its foundation for economic success.
Agriculture is one of the most growth-ready industries in the Caucasus, as the region is rich with fertile soil and potable water. It already produces an enormous variety of agricultural products like cotton, tea, citrus fruits, vegetables, tobacco, corn, and grains. Perhaps most prominently, the Caucasus is known for its production of grapes. Georgia, a longtime ally of the U.S., in particular, has a celebrated and historic wine industry, exporting millions of bottles to surrounding countries in Eastern Europe and Western Asia. In the future, Georgia may rival other major wine-producing countries across the world.
Agriculture consists of 52 percent of employment in Georgia, while Azerbaijan has the highest quantity of agricultural land in the Caucasus, at 54.9 percent. For Armenia, agriculture represents approximately 20 percent of its GDP. The region continues to strengthen this industry and plans for land amelioration combined with economic reform work to make farmed land more resilient, increasing the amount of arable land and further boosting the agriculture industry as a whole.
And that’s only the beginning for these fertile lands.
Azerbaijan and the Chechen Republic possess substantial oil reserves and other strategic natural resources. Oil deposits, natural gas, and coal are in abundance throughout the region. Two-thirds of Azerbaijan is rich in such commodities, possessing the largest energy industry in the region. The Chechen Republic also holds a tremendous natural reserve of oil and gas, providing more than 800,000 tons of oil to Russia’s state energy company in 2011. The Chechen state also houses a substantial amount of minerals: copper, molybdenum, manganese, gold, lead, tungsten, volcanic tuff, and more.
The Caucasus directly borders Eastern Europe and Central Asia and has access to the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. With its abundance of resources, it is in a prime position to facilitate trade routes for these valuable resources to the surrounding area and beyond. Western enterprises that can appreciate the economic potential of this developing part of the world are likely to reap economic benefits incommensurate to the overstated geopolitical risks that have long led to the confusion and fear of this historic, hospitable, and culturally diverse domain.
The region’s natural ecosystem ranges from majestic mountains to vast pastures to gorgeous coastal locations, making it an attractive destination for tourism. In this regard, the Caucasus has already begun to demonstrate its potential. Approximately 3.4 million people visited Georgia in 2017, creating a revenue equivalent to $2.8 billion, which represented about 18 percent of the GDP that year. Azerbaijan is second in the world among countries with the greatest growth in visitors, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council in 2015.
The Caucasus features hundreds of historical sites and unique cultural experiences, such as mineral springs and the Naftalan crude oil baths, and houses a multitude of tourist centers, ski resorts, and hotels along the Caucasian Riviera. The historic mountain settlements there are mostly unexplored. The ancient Hoy Village in the Chechen Mountains is one such site to behold. Tourism is already gaining momentum in the Caucasus, and it demonstrates that the region possesses the potential to become a globally sought-out tourist destination. Robust tourism has completely transformed the tiny island nation of Iceland. There’s no reason it cannot do the same for the picturesque nations of the Caucuses. For investors and world travelers alike, the Caucasus offer formidable opportunities.
Don’t just take my word for it. The World Economic Forum is already thinking about ways that the Caucasus can stand among the giants of the global economy. In a 2014 report, the group presented a plan for the nations of the region to maximize their energy resources, integrate into global supply chains, create a diversified economic base, and develop a high-standard workforce by 2035. With an eye on even greater expansion, The Japanese International Cooperation Association (JICA) also published a study encouraging investing in the Caucasus to link its natural resources with Europe and Asia.
Existing investments in the Caucasus have already brought about significant growth to the region. For instance, the major Chinese company Hualing Group was Georgia’s biggest investor in the first three quarters of 2014, focusing their investments on real estate, with plans to expand into the agriculture and wine industries. The U.S., too, could greatly benefit from investing in the Caucasus, particularly in lucrative resources such as the wealth of oil and natural gas in the Caucasus and Caspian Sea reserves, estimated to be worth $2 to $4 trillion at current market prices.
Many current investment proposals revolve around transforming the Caucasus into the modern day “Silk Road,” an essential hub and connective region for trade in Europe, Asia, and the rest of the world. From its venerated place in antiquity, the Caucasus once served as an aspirational destination. The thoughtful observer must wonder, then, if it could occupy a similarly exalted position in modernity – in a world strongly influenced by economics rather than mythology. For those willing to partake in the region’s infrastructure development, tourism, and oil and gas sectors, lingering stereotypes will give way to economic windfalls.
Artsakh’s Foreign Ministry in Stepanakert
STEPANAKERT—A memorandum prepared by the Artsakh Foreign Ministry focusing on missing persons resulting from the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict was disseminated in the United Nations and placed the organization’s website.
The Memorandum notes that the issue of missing persons in the context of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict emerged long before the full-scale war, which was unleashed by Azerbaijan against the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh Republic) in 1991. Individual cases of hostage-taking and kidnapping of persons of Armenian nationality were taking place in Artsakh already in 1988–1989. The issue of hostages and missing persons became more acute as the conflict escalated. The practice of taking hostage persons of Armenian nationality became widespread during “Operation Ring” for the deportation of Armenian villages of Artsakh in 1991.
“Throughout the territory of Artsakh people were kidnapped, whereupon they found themselves in Azerbaijani prisons and other places of detention, where they were subjected to torture and other forms of cruel and inhuman treatment.
For eight months of 1991 only, 640 peaceful residents from different villages of Artsakh were illegally arrested or captured by Azerbaijani authorities; 127 Armenians were captured and sentenced on the ground of false accusations to different terms and 31 of them died as a result of widely practiced regular torture in Azerbaijani prisons and concentration camps”, the document reads.
The Memorandum also contains many well-documented facts about the torture of Armenian hostages and prisoners of war by the Azerbaijani side during the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict and after the signing of the 1994 ceasefire agreement.
The document also notes that by raising the issue of missing persons and at the same time rejecting any cooperation to address it, Azerbaijan is obviously pursuing a hidden agenda.
In particular, the Azerbaijani side is trying to manipulate the issue of prisoners of war and missing persons with a view to justifying crimes, committed by citizens of Azerbaijan Dilham Askerov and Shahbaz Guliyev, in the territory of the Republic of Artsakh.
This campaign is part of a state policy of incitement of Armenophobia in Azerbaijan and promotion of hate crimes against Armenians that has penetrated all spheres of public life. The existence of racism and xenophobia towards Armenians in Azerbaijan has been also confirmed in the documents of several international organizations.
Holy Martyrs Church service. “This holiday gives us another chance to be thankful for all that we have,” said Fr. Abraham during his Thanksgiving weekend homily. “We are thankful for our material gifts, but most importantly we are thankful for our faith, the greatest gift of all. God is not against material goods because these things make us happy. But, we also need to feed our soul. The message of today’s Gospel reading (Luke 12:13-31) is that spirituality must be a priority in our lives.” On Sunday. November 25th, I relived my 2018 Pilgrimage to Armenia, including the unrecognized Armenian Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) at the Armenian Church of the Holy Martyrs in Bayside.
Armenians ranks second among 34 European countries in having the most religious citizens, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center.1
Romanians, and Georgians occupy the first three places on the survey. The Orthodox service was moving. I noticed the banner of the Virgin Mary and Christ, Byzantine crosses that I see in Greek Orthodox churches, the Nikolaevsky Palace, known as the Vodka Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. The church interior reminds me of early Christian churches I visited in Acquileia and Ravenna, Northern Italy. I do not know Armenian. I was able to follow the Orthodox service because of its universality in the Orthodox Christian world.
A friend pointed out that parishioners were having confession, before having Holy Communion. This is a common practice in the Russian Orthodox liturgy, that I witnessed in the Kimisis Tis Theotokou Greek Orthodox Church of the Hamptons, before the October 15th, 2018 Russian Orthodox Church schism with the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Refreshments followed in the church hall. A slide presentation of the 2018 parish pilgrimage to Armenia was shared with the church family during Fellowship Hour. Over 100 pictures were displayed with narration from pilgrimage participants: Fr. Abraham, Aram and Lara Ciamician, and Zarmi Megherian. The thirty three persons attended the 13 day Pilgrimage.
“We saw a young couple preparing for a wedding in Shushi, Artsakh Republic,” said Aram Pilgrimage members. Ciamician, Pilgrimage leader. “In the afternoon, we met the same couple at the All Saviors Church. A few days ago, a Queens newspaper published an article on this same wedding. The couple could never imagine that their wedding in Artsakh could be read about on the other side of the world in the Queens Gazette.” This weekly newspaper, with 32,000 readers a day, has published all my articles on the Greek/Byzantine influence in Sicily, Northern Italy, Russia, Asia Minor in Western Anatolia, Armenia, Albania and Greece. In 2018, the Queens Gazette presents their daily life not seen elsewhere.
“You are joining a group whose families were destroyed by the Armenian Genocide 100 years ago,” said Rev. Father Abraham Malkhasyan. “My family is from Van, Western Armenia (Turkey). My father was a brilliant engineer who went to the top and lost all in 1991, when the Soviet Union was dissolved. My mother was a professor of Modern Russian Language and Literature in Yerevan (Armenia capital). In 1991, during this upheaval, I entered the seminary in Jerusalem at 14 years old. My older brother, Ignatios, joined me in the seminary. He is an archimandrite assisting His Holiness Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians at Echmiadzin, Armenia.” I have heard similar stories from my University students and persons in Albania and Russia. The slide presentation showed us the major landmarks, culture, religious and business centers of Armenia.
Why did I join this pilgrimage? The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic says on its website that “Greece was one of the first countries to recognize Armenia upon independence (21/9/1991). There is a Greek Embassy in Yerevan (since 1993) and an Armenian Embassy in Athens. Relations between Greece and Armenia are very strong both emotionally and historically, due to the co-existence of Greeks and Armenians during the Byzantine period and under the Ottoman Empire.
Rev. Fr. Abraham personally presented this writer with a khachkar in appreciation of her articles on Armenian culture.Greece is one of the countries that officially recognize the Genocide of the Armenians by the Ottomans in 1915. Our country grants development and humanitarian assistance to Armenia and has supported Armenia’s rapprochement with European institutions. Since Armenia’s declaration of independence, the two countries have cooperated within the framework of International Organizations (United Nations, OSCE, Council of Europe, BSEC), while Greece firmly supports the further development EU-Armenian relations.
Due to the Greece’s long-standing cultural influence (up until the 5th century A.D., the Armenians were using the Greek alphabet), Armenian interest in Greek culture is strong. Today, the Greek community of Armenia numbers a few thousand people. The dwindling number of Greeks in Armenia of recent years is mainly due to mass migration to Greece and former Soviet Republics.
The Greek language is being taught as a second foreign language at the University of Yerevan, at the Brassov Linguistic University, the Theological School and Military Academy.2 Rev. Fr. Abraham presented this photo/journalist/educator with a Khachkar (Armenian cross-stone) in appreciation of her articles “In the Footsteps of Byzantium: Armenia”.
At the conclusion of the program, Rev. Fr. Abraham personally presented this writer with a khachkar, also known as an Armenian cross-stone, in appreciation of her articles on Armenian culture.
References:
1. https://greece.greekreporter.com/2018/12/09/greeks-are-fourth-most-relig…
2. https://www.mfa.gr/en/blog/greece-bilateral-relations/armenia/
Links:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/43zvKVhfqCYgiwQdA photo album Nov. 25th
YEREVAN. – The Acting Minister of Defense of Armenia, Davit Tonoyan, on Saturday attended the events devoted to the 77th anniversary of the 102nd Russian Military Base in Gyumri.
Congratulating the soldiers of this military base on this anniversary, the acting defense minister noted that this military base’s deployment in Armenia stems from the long-term strategic and political interests of the two countries, the Ministry of Defense of Armenia informed Armenian-News-NEWS.am.
Also, Tonoyan underscored this military base’s role in maintaining regional stability, and expressed a conviction that the close cooperation will be strong and fruitful, from now on, as well.
On the same day, Davit Tonoyan visited a military unit of the Armenian Armed Forces, too, and got familiarized with its daily military service. And at the end of his tour of this military unit, he gave several instructions and recommendations to its command staff.
‘Armenia is on the right track’ – WATCH President Sarkissian’s interview to WION TV
17:17,
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian says he is sure that Armenia is proceeding on the right pathway. Sarkissian gave an interview to WION TV (World Is One News), speaking about the developments in the country.
“Changes started in April, amazingly it started after my inauguration” Sarkissian tells Palki Sharma Upadhyay for the WION’s flagship Global Leadership Series.
“What we are facing is not only one revolution which has the name of the velvet one which is a great achievement by our nation. I would like to emphasize nation not only individuals, although individuals like the leader of the opposition Mr. Pashinyan had his own contribution of this revolution happening in a peaceful way. I would add also that former president and prime minister Serzh Sargsyan also had his contribution, choosing the path of resigning and not confronting that would cause a problematic situation”.
Watch the full interview below.
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
Speaker of the Parliament of Armenia Ara Babloyan had meetings with President Armen Sarkissian, Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and His Holiness Garegin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, on the eve of completion of his term in office.
During the meetings the role of the Parliament in the country’s progress was emphasized, in particular in the directions of improving the legislative field, conducting control functions, development of political forces and civil society, ensuring transparency of legislative activity and etc.
The legal activities of the Parliament of 6th convocation, the works carried out in international platforms and parliamentary structures have been summed up and appreciated.
The officials expressed hope that the newly-elected Parliament will continue the parliamentary traditions aimed at boosting the activity of the legislative body.
The video above presents the fantastic goal which Willem II midfielder Aras Özbiliz netted during their Dutch KNVB Cup Round of 16 clash against AFC.
Willem II won the match by a score of 3-0 and advanced to the quarterfinals of this football competition.
The Armenia international scored this goal in the 39th minute.
After the game, Özbiliz said playing in the number-10 (attacking playmaker) position was nothing new to him.
Aras Özbiliz was among the Willem II starters, and he played for 62 minutes.