Category: 2017

First buckwheat processing factory to open in Armenia

Emil Lazarian
Public Radio of Armenia

July 14 2017
10:37, 14 Jul 2017
Siranush Ghazanchyan

The first Armenian buckwheat will be available in the local stores soon. Armenia, that has been importing buckwheat since its independence, will have locally produced buckwheat thanks to the European Neighborhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD) and the “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund.

Since 2015, ENPARD “Producer Group and Value Chain Development” project, financed by the European Union and Austrian Development Agency, works with 53 primary producer and processing cooperatives.

551 farmers from 67 communities are involved in 34 cooperatives of buckwheat production in Shirak, Lori, Aragatsotn, Kotayk and Gegharkunik Marzes. They supply buckwheat to the factories in Tsovagyugh and Bavra, the latter uniting 28 cooperatives from Shirak, Lori and Aragatsotn in one cluster.

In 2016 the project provided the primary producer cooperatives with buckwheat seeds and fertilisers, and the processing cooperatives were provided with factory machinery. As a result, 520 ha area was sowed, and an average of 1.2 tons of buckwheat harvest per 1 ha was recorded in 2016.

Besides, with the support of the project, local and international experts have provided the farmers with trainings on buckwheat sowing, fertilizing, harvesting, storage, processing, as well as buckwheat-related beekeeping and honey production.

The construction of Bavra factory premises was funded by “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund, while the works were implemented by the cooperative.

“Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund, being an advocate for the development of Armenia and Artsakh for more than 25 years, attaches great importance to the agricultural sector and acknowledges the relevance of ensuring sustainable income by the farmers. As such, since 2011 the Fund operates “Himnatavush” development foundation in Tavush Marz, through which around 500 thousand Euro investments are being channeled to agriculture annually.

Recently, 100th greenhouse, dedicated to 100th family of Tavush, was opened in in Tavush with funding of Argentinian-Armenian and Australian-Armenian philanthropists.

Karabakh peace mediators diminish value of peace talks by planning new meeting as part of UN General Assembly

Hambardsumian Paul
Tert, Armenia

July 14 2017

15:35 • 14.07.17

By planning to arrange the next round of ministerial talks over Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the OSCE Minsk Group is diminishing the value of the entire process, according to Sergey Shakaryants, a Yerevan-based political analyst.

“The OSCE Minsk Group’s mandate was determined on a higher level – that of the UN Security Council. So that diminishes the mandate’s significance and influence,” he told a news conference on Friday, commenting upon the mediators’ statement issued after the recent talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers.

Shakaryan said he finds the co-chairs’ remarks somewhat surprising against the backdrop of the regional developments.

“They do not make any sense at the moment, with the ceasefire being repeatedly violated in the conflict zone. Yet the co-chairs keep making calls for a new meeting,” he added.

BAKU: Armenian woman visits graves of Azerbaijani civilians killed in Alkhanli

Nahapetian Zhanna
APA, Azerbaijan

July 14 2017
 

Oksana Altunyan, an Armenian woman who has joined the Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Platform and is in Azerbaijan for the first time in the past 30 years, has visited the graves of the Azerbaijani toddler and her grandmother, both of whom were killed in an Armenian shelling of Fuzuli’s Alkhanli village, the Peace Platform’s press service told APA.

 

On July 4 at about 20:40 (GMT+4 hours), the Armenian armed forces, using 82-mm and 120-mm mortars and grenade launchers, shelled the Alkhanli village of Azerbaijan’s Fuzuli district. As a result of this provocation, the residents of the village Sahiba Allahverdiyeva, 50, and Zahra Guliyeva, 2, were killed. Salminaz Guliyeva, 52, was injured.   

 

Oksana offered her condolences to the families of the victims and condemned the aggression against the civilians.

 

She was born in Baku and lived in the Azerbaijani capital until 1987 but moved to Moscow afterwards. She could not return to her homeland because of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

 

On the first day of her visit to Azerbaijan, Oksana has also visited the graves of Heydar Aliyev, Muslum Magomayev, and Rashid Behbudov in the Alley of Honor.

 

Oksana called on intellectuals from both sides to unite their efforts to restore peace and good neighborly relations.

 

Oksana Altunyan then paid a visit to Baku’s Armenian Church, where she was shown copies of exceptional books, manuscripts, and unique examples of Armenian literature. The Armenian woman thanked the library for the preservation of rare Armenian books and manuscripts.

 

She could not hide her amazement at how beautiful Baku has become since 30 years ago, noting that she was very happy to finally be in the city she had been unable to tread for decades. 

BAKU: Lawmaker Zhirinovsky: United Russian-Armenian military group should be under Russian command

Emil Lazarian
APA, Azerbaijan

July 14 2017

The united group of Armenian and Russian Troops should be under the Russian command, the leader of Russia’s Liberal Democratic Party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, said at a State Duma meeting on Friday, APA’s Moscow correspondent reported on Friday.

 

He noted that the joint command of military bases and joint troops outside Russia is unacceptable: “The joint command should be subordinate to General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief,” said the lawmaker.  

 

According to him, the joint command can lead to unforeseen negative consequences. “Without our knowledge, they will begin some military operations, and we will automatically be dragged into them”, he explained.

 

The Russian State Duma ratified today the agreement on joint group of forces with Armenia signed in Moscow on November 30, 2016.

BAKU: Azerbaijan pins hopes on France’s efforts in fair Karabakh conflict settlement

Vorskanian Yeghisabet
Trend, Azerbaijan

July 14 2017
14 July 2017 16:55 (UTC+04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, July 14

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has sent a congratulatory letter to President of France Emmanuel Macron.

“On behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own behalf, I extend my heartfelt congratulations to you and through you to your people on the occasion of national holiday of the French Republic,” Ilham Aliyev said in his letter.

“We attach special importance to Azerbaijani-French relations, which have rich traditions. I am pleased to note that over 25 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties our bilateral relations have acquired a new meaning and gone through a path of dynamic development. Today our political, economic, cultural relations successfully develop and expand.”

“I believe that we will make joint efforts to more effectively use the current potential of our mutually fruitful cooperation on bilateral and multilateral formats,” said President Aliyev.

“We also pin great hopes on efforts of France, as an OSCE Minsk Group co-chair, and your efforts personally, Mr President, in the fair and peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict based on the principles of international law and within the framework of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity in order to put an end to Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijani territories and ensure the return of more than one million our fellow countrymen, who became refugees and IDPs as a result of this occupation, to their ancestral lands.”

“On this remarkable day, I wish you robust health, success in your activities and the friendly people of France lasting peace and prosperity,” Ilham Aliyev added.

BAKU: Minister Hasanov: Armenia cannot compete with Azerbaijan in terms of economic, demographic and military potential

Markos Nalchajian
AzerTag, Azerbaijan

July 14 2017
14.07.2017 [12:34]

Baku, July 14, AZERTAC

“Armenia cannot compete with Azerbaijan in terms of economic, demographic and military potential,” said Azerbaijani Minister of Defense Zakir Hasanov in an interview with RIA Novosti news agency.

Hasanov emphasized that Azerbaijan strengthens every year from economic, demographic and military points of view. He said that despite global economic and financial crisis, Azerbaijan increases its military budget on a yearly basis.

“This year the growth is about 20 per cent. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev attaches great importance to strengthening the army and supplying it with state-of-the-art weapons. We have reached a qualitatively new level in army building. We are now challenged to further modernize and strengthen our army,” Minister Hasanov added.

The Valley’s Armenia: Saroyan House Museum Plans

Arsine Chaltikian
Your Central Valley, CA
July 13 2017

The Valley’s Armenia: Saroyan House Museum Plans

By: Stefani Booroojian

Posted: Jul 13, 2017 08:05 PM PDT

YEREVAN, Armenia –    He’s an important name in Fresno, and literary history worldwide:  Pulitzer Prize winning playwright and author William Saroyan.  He’s the namesake of our downtown theater — a bust of his likeness is displayed outside.  And in Yerevan, Armenia more than 7,000 miles away, a full Saroyan statue is prominently displayed;  larger than life on a busy city street.

  William Saroyan was born in Fresno in 1908.  Although he lived many places and traveled extensively, he died in Fresno in 1981.  A house on West Griffith is where Saroyan spent the last 17 years of his life.  And in August of 2018, to mark what would have been his 110th birthday, there is a plan to restore it and re-open it as the Saroyan House Museum.

   Avag Simonyan is with the Intellectual Renaissance Foundation in Yerevan, Armenia.  A non-profit with a mission to develop Armenian Heritage — even 7,000 miles away, in Fresno, California.  Simonyan says the foundation has been studying William Saroyan and his work— much of which embraced his Armenian Heritage.  The foundation formed a Saroyan club and holds events to celebrate the writer.   Simonyan says when founder, Artur Janibekyan got wind of the poor condition of Saroyan’s last Fresno home,  he moved in.  “They didn’t preserve Saroyan’s heritage.  When our founder heard about that, he decided to bought it immediately.  And we bought the house,” Simonyan says.

   Janibekyan is financing the entire project, to create a new type of museum.  An out-of-the-box tribute that will include Saroyan’s belongings, archives of his work, even a 3-D hologram of the writer himself that visitors can interact with.  It’s a concept created through a design contest in Armenia.  

    A unique tribute to a unique man who took pride in his heritage .”He give us a gift, the whole world a very important heritage because we have to preserve this heritage all over the world,” says Simonyan.

   The preservation will begin in the place of Saroyan’s birth:  Fresno, with more Saroyan tributes planned elsewhere in the future.

Video at

Sports: Mkhitaryan puts Armenia on the map

Emil Lazarian
MARCA.com

July 14 2017


Music: ‘What Have You Done for Artsakh?’ Benefit Concert Held in New York

Alex Jidarian
The Armenian Weekly

July 14 2017

By Contributor on July 14, 2017 

NEW YORK—On June 14, the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) Performing Arts Department held a benefit concert for music schools in Artsakh entitled “What Have You Done for Artsakh?” at the Yamaha Piano Salon in New York.

Volinist Sami Merdinian, pianist Hayk Arsenyan and mezzo-soprano Solange Merdinian. (Photo: Linda Ravul)

The performers included mezzo-soprano Solange Merdinian; violinist Sami Merdinian; as well as pianist and AGBU Performing Arts Department director Hayk Arsenyan, and boasted a varied program with traditional Armenian pieces and lullabies alongside Argentine tangos and Afro-Cuban dances.

The concert, which raised nearly $4,000 to purchase instruments for music schools in Artsakh, is part of a series of benefit concerts initiated by the Armenian Ministry of Diaspora and launched by AGBU Buenos Aires in May through the efforts of AGBU Buenos Aires vice president Antonio Sarafian and artistic director of the series, duduk player Gagik Gasparyan.

Concerts have been held in three cities across Argentina, the proceeds from which have already been used to buy three school pianos. Concerts are scheduled for São Paulo, Brazil on July 27 as well as Yerevan on Sept. 22 in collaboration with the National Folk Instrument Ensemble and the Armenian State Dance Ensemble. During the week of the concert, from September 18 to 23, an art exhibition will be held at Yerevan City Hall to raise money for the cause. The goal of the series is to purchase more than 250 instruments for schools.

Concerts have been held in three cities across Argentina, the proceeds from which have already been used to buy three school pianos.

“Being part of this incredible project means a lot to me personally. Concerts like this one remind us of how lucky we are to be using our music and passion to contribute to bettering society, to making the world a better place. While I was playing, I felt a stronger connection to my roots and ancestors who sacrificed so much and went through all kinds of hardship so our generation could have a better life. In a way, this concert symbolizes my gratitude to them, to all Armenians around the world, for keeping our identity and culture alive. When we work together, we are stronger. I’m humbled to be a part of this world concert tour and team of musicians who are donating their talent to bring smiles to children and contribute to a brighter future in Artsakh,” said Sami Merdinian.

For more information on the AGBU Performing Arts Department, visit in 1906, AGBU (www.agbu.org) is the world’s largest non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through educational, cultural and humanitarian programs, annually touching the lives of some 500,000 Armenians around the world.