John Malkovich in Armenia

Hollywood legend John Malkovich is in Armenia at the invitation of Sergey Smbatyan, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Youth Orchestra.

Actor, director, screenwriter and producer John Malkovich will be presenting a scene from Ernest Sabato’s “Heroes and Graves” novel, by Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra at the opening concert of the 5th Khachaturian International Festival. Pianist Anastasia Terenkova is the soloist.

“I and Sergey have an experience of such cooperation. Last year and two years ago we presented such format in Seoul and Buenos Aires. This is a unique format which should be combined with music and poetry. The text cannot compete with the music, it should be combined with it. In this case only text can make the music rich and complete. I think a lot before making decision about the text,” said Malkovich.

Malkovich likes listening to the classical music, particularly live performances. By the way, he used to play on the tube and the guitar. “I did not continue playing on the instruments as I realized my lack of talent,- confessed Malkovich, who, as he had said, likes professional approach to everything.- In the past, theaters were very important, and then films took that title. Now, I prefer directing. I  am also a producer. I do not always find scenarios I like, but I still work,” said the Hollywood legend.

In one of his interviews Malkovich said that he treated the profession of cinematographer as a work that needed to be done professionally, instead of dedicating yourself to such a degree so that one got a mental disorder.

As for performing in Armenia and how well Malkovich was familiar with Armenia, he answered that he had a lot of Armenian friends, he had not read special books about the Armenian history, but there was a book which he had read, there Zmyurnia is spoken about. He also knew about the Genocide. ” What can be said about that… One gets surprised on what awful things can people do.”

The Hollywood legend said that he had been looking forward to coming here. As always, he had already learnt what he wanted

Serzh Sargsyan will remain one of the most prominent political figures of the country after April 2018 – RPA faction head

Category
Politics

Being the leader of the political majority President Serzh Sargsyan will remain in the political arena and will be one of the most prominent political figures of the country, Vahram Baghdasaryan – head of the RPA faction, said in response to a question what will President Serzh Sargsyan do after April 2018.

“Serzh Sargsyan is the President of Armenia until April of 2018, and we have not had any discussion what will happen after April, time will come, we will discuss and will inform you. When time comes, Serzh Sargsyan personally will talk about it”, Baghdasaryan told reporters in the Parliament.

After the Constitutional reforms the parliamentary system of governance will come into force in Armenia starting from April of 2018.

Stir in Debate on Project against Domestic Violence (video)

During the public discussion of the “Fight against Domestic Violence. The work carried out and subsequent steps ” a little stirring took place.

Representatives of public organizations and individual citizens complained that the organizers of the discussion, the Ministry of Justice, did not let them speak up, did not want to hear the opposite opinion, thus making a stir in the Matenadaran hall.

Most representatives of the public sector came out of the hall, underlining that this law is against the notions of our Armenian traditional family, and they were not allowed to speak, their views were not considered. About 15 minutes the situation was unmanageable.

The discussion is going on at the moment. Some of the public organizations left the discussion, and the organizers went to the compromise so that the questionnaire started sooner.

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 10/09/2017

                                        Monday, October 9, 2017
Russian-Led Alliance `Ready' To Defend Armenia
 . Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov, head of the joint chiefs of
staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, at a news
conference in Yerevan, 7Oct2017.
Russia and other ex-Soviet republics making up the Collective Security
Treaty Organization (CSTO) are committed to jointly defending Armenia
against foreign aggression, the Russian-led security bloc's top
military commander said over the weekend.
Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov, head of the CSTO joint chiefs of
staff, stressed at the same time that such military intervention would
have to be approved by all member states.
"The armed forces of the organization are tasked with protecting the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of CSTO member states," Sidorov
told a news conference in Yerevan. "This happens at the request of the
leadership of a particular member state and the decision is made by
the Collective Security Council."
"I'm not going to tell you about our red lines now," he said. "I can
only tell you that if, God forbid, one of our states needs real
assistance then our collective forces # will be ready to come and help
accomplish tasks set in the [CSTO] statutes and decisions of the
Collective Security Council. I think that the Republic of Armenia must
have no doubts about that."
Sidorov specifically referred to a possible dispatch to Armenia of
troops from the CSTO's joint rapid-reaction force which was set up by
Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in
2009. In his words, the Collective Operational Reaction Forces (CORF)
currently number over 20,000 soldiers, most of them army commandos.
Armenia - Kazakh special forces take part in a Collective Security
Treaty Organization exercise at the Marshal Bagramian Training Center,
7Oct2017.
The Russian general spoke to reporters as about 1,000 reconnaissance
troops from the six CSTO member states concluded a two-day exercise at
the Armenian army's Marshal Bagramian Training Center about 50
kilometers west of Yerevan. A larger number of CORF soldiers as well
as Armenian army units and Russian troops stationed in Armenia began
joint wargames there on Monday.
The CSTO's Central Asian member states, notably Kazakhstan, have warm
ties with Azerbaijan have repeatedly signed pro-Azerbaijani
multilateral declarations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, prompting
strong criticism from Armenia. Kazakhstan also forced the cancellation
of a planned summit of the Eurasian Economic Union in Yerevan in the
immediate aftermath of the April 2016 fighting in Karabakh. The move
was widely construed as a show of solidarity with Azerbaijan.
Armenian, Azeri Leaders Agree To Meet, Say Mediators
Russia - President Serzh Sarkisian and his Azerbaijani counterpart
Ilham Aliyev start Russian-mediated talks in St. Petersburg,
20Jun2016.
The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to meet soon for
fresh negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, U.S., Russian and
French mediators said after their latest trips to Yerevan and Baku on
Saturday.
"Both Presidents confirmed their readiness to reengage in negotiations
with the purpose of reaching a peaceful settlement to the conflict,"
the three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group said in a joint statement.
"Information on the forthcoming summit will be released by the
respective sides in the near future," they added without giving any
dates.
The mediators met with Armenia's Serzh Sarkisian on Friday and
Azerbaijan's Ilham Aliyev on Saturday to finalize preparations for the
summit. According to the statement, they also spoke in the two
capitals about "possible topics" that will be on the agenda of the
Aliyev-Sarkisian meeting.
The two presidents most recently met in May and June 2016 shortly
after four-day deadly hostilities around Karabakh that nearly
denigrated into an all-out war. They agreed to allow the OSCE to
deploy more field observers in the conflict zone and investigate truce
violations occurring there. They also hinted at progress towards a
peaceful settlement.
The peace process again stalled in the following months, however. The
Azerbaijani government has since been reluctant to implement the
agreed safeguards against renewed fighting, saying that they would
cement the status quo.
The mediating powers hope a fresh Armenian-Azerbaijani summit will
help to break the current deadlock. It is not clear whether they have
made any further changes in a framework peace accord on Karabakh that
was originally drafted by them a decade ago.
Sarkisian announced in July a "preliminary agreement" on holding the
next meeting of the presidents this fall. "My expectations from the
meeting are not big," he said.
OSCE Official Praises Armenian Media, Civil Society
 . Harry Tamrazian
FRANCE -- French Secretary of State for European Affairs Harlem Desir
leaves the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, March
30, 2017
A senior official from the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe monitoring press freedom has heaped praise on Armenia's
"diverse and vibrant" media and civil society during a visit to
Yerevan.
In a weekend interview with RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am),
Harlem Desir, the OSCE representative on freedom of the media, also
expressed concern at violent attacks on Armenian journalists and urged
the authorities to hold their perpetrators accountable.
"We think that it's very important to avoid any impunity regarding
attacks against journalists," he said. "Any state of impunity will
just be an incitation towards more violence against journalists."
Desir singled out the July 2016 dispersal by riot police of an
opposition demonstration in Yerevan, which left over two dozen
reporters and cameramen, among them three RFE/RL correspondents,
injured. Virtually all of them were assaulted by plainclothes men.
Human rights activists believe that the attackers were police officers
or government loyalists. No policemen have been prosecuted in
connection with the violence.
Desir said he will convey his concerns to senior officials in
Yerevan. He was due to meet with Justice Minister Davit Harutiunian
and the chief of the Armenian police, Vladimir Gasparian.
Despite these concerns, Desir seemed encouraged by the Armenian media
landscape. "I think Armenia is a country where there is a strong
commitment to freedom of expression and freedom of the media," he
said. "There is a very diverse and vibrant civil society and media,
especially online media."
Asked about the U.S. watchdog Freedom House's continuing
characterization of the Armenian media as "not free," Desir said: "We
are always attentive to classifications and ratings by Freedom House
and other NGOs. But we are not doing our ratings. We are considering
that everywhere there is need for progress. Freedom of the media is a
strong pillar of democratic society."
"There have been tremendous changes in Armenia in the past years. The
public service in Armenia is transforming because of digitalization,"
added the former French government minister.
Freedom House and other critics point to a continuing strong
government influence on the news coverage of Armenia's Public
Television and leading private broadcasters.
Desir said he heard similar complaints from civil society figures and
journalists in Yerevan. "They think that public TV is not
independent," he said, adding that there is also an "issue of
diversity" among private TV channels.
Desir, who took over as the OSCE's top press freedom official in July,
insisted that the Armenian authorities are "aware of the need" to make
the public broadcaster more independent and keep up its ongoing
"transformation which began several years ago."
Armenian Archbishop Backs Fight Against Domestic Violence
 . Tatevik Lazarian
Armenia - Archbishop Mikael Ajapahian speaks at a public discussion in
Yerevan, 9Oct2017.
A high-ranking clergyman of the Armenian Apostolic Church voiced
support for government efforts to combat domestic violence as they
were angrily denounced by socially conservative groups on Monday.
The Gyumri-based Archbishop Mikael Ajapahian spoke during a heated
public discussion in Yerevan on a relevant law drafted by the Armenian
Ministry of Justice.
The bill would introduce criminal and administrative liability for
specific cases defined as domestic violence. It would also obligate
the state to protect female victims by providing them with special
shelters or banning their violent spouses from approaching them and
even their children.
The ministry invited non-governmental organizations supporting and
opposing tougher government action against domestic violence to
publicly present their arguments. The meeting descended into chaos as
the two sides bitterly argued over the wisdom of the proposed
legislation.
Representatives of several mostly obscure groups vehemently objecting
to the government initiative stood by their claims that the West and
the European Union in particular are forcing Armenia to enact the bill
in order to weaken Armenian families. One of them, Hayk Nahapetian,
questioned official statistics showing that more than 50 Armenian
women have been beaten to death and killed otherwise by their husbands
or other relatives in the last five years. The scale of the problem is
grossly exaggerated by pro-Western civic groups, he claimed.
Armenia - A public discussion in Yerevan on a government bill against
domestic violence, 9Oct2017.
Ajapahian disagreed. "Even if there is some foreign intervention or a
desire to please some foreign forces # why should we see a
non-existent conspiracy? I personally don't see any conspiracy," he
said.
"If I have a normal family, if I am a loving father, a loving husband
or a loving son, if I love and am loved, which article of this law on
prevention of domestic violence could harm me?" the archbishop went
on. "So do not create imaginary monsters, do not fight against
imaginary monsters, and be tolerant towards each other."
Ajapahian, who leads a church diocese encompassing Armenia's
northwestern Shirak province, at the same time urged the Ministry of
Justice to "take into account and allay" concerns expressed by
critics.
Justice Minister Davit Harutiunian, also present at the discussion,
was at pains to disprove their claim that the bill paves the way for
forcible separations of children from their allegedly violent
parents. "You haven't even read the law," he told a woman who
continued to claim the opposite.
Unable to convince their opponents, a visibly irritated Harutiunian
and some civic activists campaigning domestic violence walked of the
meeting hall moments later. The minister made clear that he remains
determined to send the bill, strongly backed by women's rights groups,
to the Armenian parliament for approval.
Press Review
(Saturday, October 7)
"The joint Russian-Armenian military force has been operating since
the 1990s," Pavel Felgenhauer, a Russian defense analyst, tells "168
Zham." "But the two sides have decided to trumpet its existence now in
order to deter their foes." Those may well include Azerbaijan, he
says. Felgenhauer also says that the importance of the
Russian-Armenian force should not be overestimated.
"Zhoghovurd" says that it is still not clear just when and where the
presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan are going to meet. "One can only
presume that the meeting will take place before the end of this year
because the international community seems very interested in achieving
progress in the negotiation process," writes the paper. "It will
therefore seek to accelerate the process, also taking into account the
fact that not much time is left until the end of Serzh Sarkisian's
[presidential] tenure."
"Zhamanak" says that the parliamentary debates on the opposition Yelk
alliance's calls for Armenia's exit from the Eurasian Economic Union
(EEU) had less public resonance than last week's reported brawl
between Yelk's Nikol Pashinian and Artashes Geghamian, a
pro-government politician known for his pro-Russia views. The paper
speculates that the authorities may have deliberately provoked the
incident in a bid to overshadow the Yelk initiative.
"Haykakan Zhamanak" reports that Ruben Hayrapetian, the controversial
chairman of the Football Federation of Armenia (FFA), is facing
renewed calls to resign following the latest humiliating defeat of
Armenia's national soccer team. The paper reminds that two years ago
Hayrapetian promised to step down if Armenia's qualifying campaign for
the 2018 World Cup in Russia ends in failure. "Hayrapetian did not
specify, though, what he would consider a failure," it says. "It may
be that he and football fans have different ideas of failure."
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2017 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org

The presentation of the 14 volumes published so far in the “Series of Memorial Books Dedicated to Western Armenia and Cilicia” took place.

Please find the attached press release of the Ministry of Diaspora.
Sincerely,
Media and PR Department:
( 374 10) 585601, internal 805
----------------------
Sincerely
Department of Press and Public Relations
( 374 10) 585601, extension 805


403. "Series of memorials dedicated to Western Armenia and Cilicia".docx

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The representatives of the “Let everyone in Armenia listen” program were hosted at the Ministry of Diaspora

Please find the attached press release of the Ministry of Diaspora.
Sincerely,
Media and PR Department:
( 374 10) 585601, internal 805
----------------------
Sincerely
Department of Press and Public Relations
( 374 10) 585601, extension 805


402. Representatives of the "Let everyone in Armenia listen" program were hosted at the Ministry of Diaspora.docx

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Press: relations between the Prime Minister and Tigran Sargsyan are strained, the reason is known

  • 07.10.2017
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VERELQ presents the most notable publications of the Armenian press.


“Publication” the newspaper writes. “The National Resistance Front preparers have high hopes that Seyran Ohanyan, the former Minister of Defense, head of the ORO Alliance, will possibly participate next week. Zhirayr Sefilyan with the proposal to prepare a national resistance front and a popular uprising. There are reports that one of the organizers of the resistance front called him the other day and told him about Sefilyan’s proposal. Seyran Ohanyan informed that he is not in the country, he will return in about a week. He said that it is not right to discuss such issues over the phone, he will come back and they will talk.”


“Publication” the newspaper writes. “Just the day before, we received information that the head of the “Vardashen” prison of the RA Ministry of Internal Affairs Hovhannes Hakobjanyan dismissed from the position held. It became known to us that there is an unpleasant story behind Hakobjanyan’s release. The point is that one of the detainees was released in exchange for the payment of the sum stipulated in the civil lawsuit, and the sum, about 1 million drams, was given to Hakobjanyan to pay. And since there were non-working days, he did not pay it for several days. The above learned about it. it turned out that the person was released without paying the money. And since the matter had reached Divanbash, they could not cover up this story, they decided to release Hakobjanyan, formulating according to his application. It should be noted that Hovhannes Hakobjanyan is one of the old residents of the prison system, he has been working for about 20-30 years. Previously, he was the head of the operative department of “Nubarashen” prison.


“Publication” the newspaper writes. “The ambitions of the Abrahamyans not to put a “zadni” in the Artashat elections, to make their candidate the mayor by any means, were prevented by the presidency. Argam Abrahamyan was invited Serzh Sargsyan about, after which there is no more silence regarding the elections in Artashat. Despite the claim that Argam left the president very impressed, according to some sources, he said in a tight environment: “In those days, I was supposed to become a deputy instead of my father on the RPA list.” However, he did not come to the parliament at the last session. Moreover, he does not answer his friends’ phone calls. According to our RPA sources, “perhaps they are still calculating why Abrahamyan the elder was called to the president, but the younger one.” And why? In order to emphasize once again that Abrahamyan-Avag has nothing to do in the political field? “You should ask the accountants about that,” said our interlocutor.


“time” the newspaper writes. “Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan Yesterday, he reluctantly participated in the 6th International Eurasian Partnership Conference organized by Ara Abrahamyan, the President of the Union of Armenians of Russia. Those who know Karen Karapetyan know that she does not take herself very seriously Do it to Abrahamyan: It turns out, however, that the Prime Minister is in a tense relationship with the former Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission, participating in that conference. Tigran Sargsyanwith Karen Karapetyan has learned that Tigran Sargsyan, who has a very warm relationship with the highest government circles of the Russian Federation, is lobbying against his plans in favor of Serzh Sargsyan, thus Surenich expresses his gratitude to Serzh Sargsyan for his current position, and also hopes that Serzh Sargsyan will not leave him unemployed in the future.


“time” the newspaper writes. Head of the “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund Ara Vardanyan announced that during the upcoming telethon, a businessman living in Russia Samvel Karapetyan promised a big surprise, without detailing what kind of surprise or how much money. It is no secret for anyone that Samvel Karapetyan is the main donor of Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan’s programs and the financier of his prime ministership. Samvel Karapetyan’s surprise next month is also within the framework of Karen Karapetyan’s prime ministerial ambitions. Let’s remind that S. Karapetyan also made a promise of 250 million dollars in 2008, responding to Serzh Sargsyan’s call and on the occasion of his 100 days in office.”


“time” the newspaper writes. “According to “Zhamanak”, the situation in YSU is becoming increasingly tense. Salaries of professors were reduced by 60 percent, which caused discontent among employees. Dozens of professors are going to be fired. They still haven’t received the salary for the month of September, whereas previously they received the salary for the previous month on the first day of the next month at the latest. It should be noted that despite YSU Rector Aram Simonyan’s repeated assurances that the significant reduction in the number of students will not affect the salary fund, the salaries of YSU professors have not only been reduced, but will continue to decrease.”


“Morning” the newspaper writes. “The government is considering banning the operation of right-hand drive cars. In a conversation with “Aravot”, a deputy of the “Yelk” faction Gevorg Gorgisyan said that he does not believe the statistics provided by the authorities, that most accidents happen with right-hand drive cars, therefore, thinking about people’s safety, they ban them. “I see another corruption deal here, someone from the RPA has put mud to change the steering wheel of the cars from right to left. They want to do someone a favor. What happened with the yellow numbers of taxis? They decided that fire extinguishers should be installed in all cars, people went and bought them, they brought that one batch, it ended, they said, it won’t happen, it will happen. I see a similar deal in this case. Maybe the minister or one of his relatives has such a business, wants to develop his personal business. Because I don’t see any serious justification.”


“People” the newspaper writes. “Still in 2013 former human rights defender in December Karen Andreasyan published a special report on the manifestations of corruption in the judicial system, presenting also the “price list” of bribes. According to that, in the courts of the first instance, a verdict is issued for 500-10,000 US dollars, in the appeal courts – for 2,000-15,000 US dollars, and in the highest instance – in the court of cassation – for 10,000-50,000 US dollars.


By an amazing coincidence, in the criminal cases of judges arrested on charges of taking bribes in the last year, it is these amounts that are “emphasized”. Judge Ishkhan Barseghyan of the court of general jurisdiction of Shengavit administrative district, according to the official accusation, took a bribe of 1000 US dollars. Judge Levon Arazyan of the Court of Common Jurisdiction of Ararat and Vayots Dzor Marz – 600 USD, President of the Court of Common Jurisdiction of Gegharkunik Marz Aghvan Petrosyan and Judge Vanik Vardanyan of the same court – 2 thousand dollars. And the surprising thing is that 4 years ago, the rates of bribes circulating in the court system presented by the former defense attorney have not changed: despite the inflation recorded in the country”.

All armed forces of the CSTO countries will be able to work harmoniously. Hakobyan

  • 09.10.2017
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  • Armenia:
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The joint military exercises of the combined groups of the CSTO and the Armenian-Russian groups started in Yerevan. Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the RA Defense Forces, Movses Hakobyan, said this today in a conversation with journalists at the “Baghramyan” military training camp.


“The units of all countries have presented themselves, today is the opening ceremony, and we are already moving to the stage of military exercises,” he said, according to tert.am.


Movses Hakobyan noted that this military exercise is aimed at ensuring that all the armed forces of the CSTO countries can work harmoniously within the framework of the CSTO and that the troops will be engaged in the organization of a harmonious operation on these three days.


“Both peacekeeping units and special units that will carry out special tasks will participate. “All military, missile, and aviation groups operating in the CSTO countries will participate, except for strategic weapons, all the rest will be used,” he added.

HSBC bank provided a loan of 55 million euros to the company “Electric Networks of Armenia”.

  • 09.10.2017
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  • Armenia:
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HSBC bank provided one of the largest loans during its activity in Armenia: EUR 55 million to “Armenia Electric Networks” (HETC) PB company. The funding marks a decade of partnership between HSBC and HEC. This is reported by the HEC.

The deal is based on mutual trust between the partners and their willingness to contribute to the stable operation and efficient management of Armenia’s electricity grid system. The loan funds will be used to restructure the loan of the former shareholder of HEP.

The CEO of HSBC Armenia, Paul Edgar, is optimistic about the strategic partnership with HEC. “This transaction is based on the trust and long-term cooperation between HSBC and HEC. This is also proof of our consistency, with which we want to contribute to investments aimed at the development of a stable and safe energy sector in Armenia. The transaction is part of a larger investment scheme of HEC aimed at ensuring the financial stability of HEC in the long term. This transaction will have a positive effect on the financial recovery of HEC. I consider it necessary to mention also that the loan funds are raised without a state guarantee. The financing will help to have a safer, more stable and more efficient company”, says Karen Harutyunyan, General Director of the HEC.

Edward Nalbandian is leaving for Russia

  • 09.10.2017
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  • Armenia:
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Armenian Foreign Minister Edvand Nalbandian is leaving for Russia.

The Foreign Ministry informs that Edward Nalbandyan will participate in the session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the CIS member states, which will be held in Sochi on October 10.