Category: 2018

Azerbaijan issues arrest warrant for Dan Bilzerian for Karabakh visit

Emil Lazarian
Public Radio of Armenia
Aug 30 2018
15:42, 30 Aug 2018

The Investigative Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Azerbaijan has initiated a criminal case against American-Armenian Dan Bilzerian, Azerbaijani media report.

The famous poker player known as the “King of Instagram” is charged with “illegally” visiting Nagorno Karabakh, “illegally” acquiring grenades, a gun and other firearms and demonstratively opening fire.

According to the source, “Interpol will search for the criminal.”

Dan Bilzerian paid a three-day visit to Armenia, where he gained Armenian citizenship and registered for military service. He then headed for Nagorno Karabakh, where he demonstrated his shooting skills at a shooting range.

Some $50 million to be invested in Armenia’s fourth free economic zone in Hrazdan

Adrine Hakobian
ARKA, Armenia
Aug 30 2018

YEREVAN, August 30. /ARKA/. The government of Armenia has approved today an application of Ecos company for creation of a free economic zone in the town of Hrazdan, the administrative capital of central province of Kotayk.

Economic Development and Investments Minister Artsvik Minasyan said the government expects that the decision would stimulate foreign direct investment, increase the country’s investment attractiveness, create export-oriented IT products, new jobs and promote sustainable economic development of the country.

Ecos wants to attract as many as 200 companies to produce goods and services  in the free economic zone by 2043. The first 50 companies are supposed to come before 2021. Ecos itself is to create 22 new jobs at the initial stage and another 300 are to be created by the companies.

Minasyan said Ecos plans to invest $4 million in the creation of the free economic zone. Another $15 million are to come form the companies until 2021. Another $30 million are to come later.

Minasyan said also that the free economic zone will host IT companies, some of which will be engaged in mining of crypto currency, introduction of block technologies, processing of large databases and use of cloud technologies.

Ecos will be provided with two premises – 4.3 hectares in Hrazdan near the local Thermal Power Plant and an administrative office on 2 thousand square meters in Yerevan.

 Armenia has now the Alliance free economic zone with 13 companies, Meridian with 6 companies and another one in the town of Meghri, near the border with Iran. ($ 1 – 482.76 drams). -0-

China donates 200 ambulances to Armenia

Karakhanian Suren
ARKA, Armenia
Aug 30 2018

YEREVAN, August 30. /ARKA/. The Armenian government took a decision today on distribution of 200 ambulances, including 65 intensive care ambulances, donated by the government of China. 

Health Minister Arsen Torosyan said the ambulances will be distributed among hospitals in the capital city Yerevan and all major hospitals in provincial centers. The minister added that all regional hospitals will have intensive care ambulances. As a result, there will be no need to call such ambulances from Yerevan.

The minister said also that several of the currently operated ambulances will be handed to penitentiary institutions and many more to rural outpatient clinics for ensuring outpatient visits.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan expressed gratitude to the Chinese government for donation saying it once again underscores the high level of Armenian-Chinese relations. 

“I am confident that the level of cooperation between Armenia and China and trade and economic relations will continue to develop,” Pashinyan said.

In an interview with RFE/RL Armenian Service Armenian health minister Arsen Torosyan said last week the ministry was  negotiating acquisition of an ambulance helicopter for evacuating patients not only from remote and hard-to-reach regions, but also patients needing urgent surgeries. -0- 

Back to school: Some rural communities have few or no first graders in Armenia

Karakhanian Suren
Panorama, Armenia
Aug 30 2018

Schools across Armenia are opening their doors in front of some 39,000 first graders on 1 September, Ashot Arshakyan, the head of the General Education Department at the Ministry of Education and Science, told Panorama.am.

“This is not the exact number yet. It will become clearer on 5 September. A slight positive dynamics is observed compared to the past year,” he said.

However, some schools in Armenia’s rural communities will welcome only one or two schoolstudents this year, with some of them having none, which is not the first case at the beginning of the academic year

Arshakyan could not provide any information on the number of such schools, promising the education ministry will release exact figures on 5 September.

Panorama.am has reached some village school principals for comments on the situation in their communities. 

The general school of Yazidi-populated Arevut village in Armenia’s Aragatsotn Province will admit only two first graders this year, Khatun Harutyunyan, the principal of the school, told us, adding the situation has, however, improved this year compared to last year, when the school had only one first grader.

He said the school houses overall 13 students.

“The number of schoolchildren sharply dropped over the past ten years: people are living the village,” he said, meantime expressing hope for a better future since the number of newborns are growing in the village.

The village of Vardablur of the same region will welcome no first graders at the starting academic year. “The school has no problems. It is the village that is facing problems: unemployment is forcing people to leave, with the number of school students on the decline. The school intended for 192 children now has only 62 students. The migration continues. We also have no graduates this year,” Albert Nazaretyan, the headmaster of the local school, told us.

The basic school of Saravan community of Vayots Dzor region will also welcome only one first-grade student.

Headmaster Ashot Pandunts says the school, intended to educate some 80 children, has only 15 students, with classrooms of 2 children a common phenomenon for the school for a long time already.

A more improved situation is observed in Aygepar Secondary School in Tavush region, which will admit 6 first-grade students this year.

“We welcomed 7 first graders last year. Currently, our school has 55 students. The number of our schoolchildren keeps growing. The marriage rates among young people is also on the rise,” headmistress Arevik Arzumanyan told us.

Russia comments on Merkel’s statement on Karabakh settlement

Khoyetsian Rose
ARKA, Armenia
Aug 30 2018

YEREVAN, August 30. /ARKA/. During a press briefing today a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, commented on German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s statement on the Karabakh conflict made during a visit to Yerevan on August 24.

In Yerevan, Merkel said that Germany was ready to assume responsibility for the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. “It is necessary to resolve this conflict in a good atmosphere and Germany is ready to support Armenia in this matter, ” Merkel said

“This (the settlement) is to be decided by the countries that are directly involved in the settlement efforts and that should be done with an understanding of the effectiveness of the existing formats,’ Zakharova said adding that Merkel’s statement should be viewed in the context of these factors.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict erupted into armed clashes after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s as the predominantly Armenian-populated enclave of Azerbaijan sought to secede from Azerbaijan and declared its independence backed by a successful referendum. 

On May 12, 1994, the Bishkek cease-fire agreement put an end to the military operations. A truce was brokered by Russia in 1994, although no permanent peace agreement has been signed. 

Since then, Nagorno-Karabakh and several adjacent regions have been under the control of Armenian forces of Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh is the longest-running post-Soviet era conflict and has continued to simmer despite the relative peace of the past two decades, with snipers causing tens of deaths a year. 

On April 2, 2016, Azerbaijan launched military assaults along the entire perimeter of its contact line with Nagorno-Karabakh. Four days later a cease-fire was reached. -0—


Today marks the International Day of the Disappeared: 4,500 still missing after the Karabakh war

Karapet Navasardian
Public Radio of Armenia
Aug 30 2018
13:52, 30 Aug 2018

Today marks the International Day of the Disappeared aimed to raise awareness of governments, communities, media and public worldwide about the plight of people who went missing in conflicts and other circumstances, and the needs of their families. With 24 years passed since the signing of the ceasefire agreement on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, thousands of families of the missing are still waiting for news of their loved ones.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) acts as a neutral intermediary to support efforts of the conflict sides to determine the fate of those persons. In connection with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, there are over 4,500 missing people, both military and civilians, registered by the ICRC Delegations in Yerevan and Baku and its Mission in Nagorno-Karabakh. More than 400 of them were registered in Armenia. Since 2014, the organization has been collecting biological samples from the close relatives of the missing. In the future, in case of exhumation, these samples will serve as a complementary tool in identification of human remains.

The ICRC gives support to relatives of the missing by helping them improve access to medical, legal and administrative services. We provide economic and psychosocial assistance, and help with finding ways to commemorate their missing relatives and to sensitize communities around them.

“The needs of the families are the central focus of the ICRC”, says Dominique Liengme, head of ICRC Delegation in Armenia, “Families have the right to receive answers on the fate of their missing relatives. To ensure this right is the obligation of States under international humanitarian law. We stand ready to support the conflict sides to progress on this important humanitarian issue, and it is never too late or early to intensify efforts.”

The ICRC is a neutral, impartial and independent humanitarian organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and other violence. The organization has been carrying out humanitarian work in the region related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict since 1992.

Armenian Police finds Turkish entrepreneur under US investigation

Emil Lazarian
MediaMax, Armenia
Aug 30 2018
 
 
Armenian Police finds Turkish entrepreneur under US investigation
 
 
Kevin Oksuz
 
Yerevan /Mediamax/. On August 29 the Armenian Police found Turkish Kevin Oksuz, who is under investigation of the United States of America. He aimed at involving in entrepreneurship in Armenia by founding an LLC and starting its operation.
 
According to the Armenian Police, on August 23 international search was announced against Kevin Oksuz, who is suspected in violating U.S. Code.
 
Kevin Oksuz was the President of Turkish-American and Eurasian public nonprofit organization, which aimed at establishing close relations between Turks and Americans, organizing trips to Turkey and Azerbaijan.
 
In 2013 Kevin Oksuz together with other individuals invited several Congressmen to a private trip to Azerbaijan and Turkey.
 
As the alleged organizer of the event, Kevin Oksuz introduced fake blanks to U.S. House Committee on Ethics, claiming that the organization wasn’t funded by any direct or indirect source.
 
It turned out that Kevin Oksuz’s organization did not in fact pay all expenses and received financing, including from Socar oil company, owned by Azerbaijani government.
 
It was also revealed that 9 Congressmen and 32 members of staff received presents of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
 
Kevin Oksuz has presented certain details.
He is detained

Israel Accuses Drone Maker Of Bombing Armenian Soldiers

Maral Chavushian
The Financial, Georgia
Aug 30 2018
 
 
Israel Accuses Drone Maker Of Bombing Armenian Soldiers
 
The FINANCIAL — Israel has accused an Israeli drone maker of bombing ethnic Armenian soldiers in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region at the request of Azerbaijani clients during a sales demonstration, government and local media reported.
 
The accusation by Israel’s Justice Ministry on August 29 did not specifically mention Azerbaijan or Nagorno-Karabakh in its statement. But Israeli media said a complaint filed with the Defense Ministry, which promoted an investigation, made it clear that Azerbaijani officials and ethnic Armenian soldiers were involved.
 
The Defense Ministry complaint was leaked to the Maariv newspaper, which first reported the incident.
 
It was unclear who exactly filed the complaint.
 
In its statement on August 29, the Justice Ministry said it plans to indict the chief executive, deputy CEO, and other officials and employees of Aeronautics Defense Systems for the incident, which it said occurred in 2017.
 
The Aeronautics team was suspected of “fraudulently obtaining something under aggravated circumstances,” along with violations of Israel’s security export control law, the newspaper reported.
 
In response, the Yavneh-based firm said it is “convinced that after we first present our position at the hearing, the State Prosecutor’s Office will reach an informed decision that there is no reason to put the company or any of its officers in court and will order the case closed.”
 
An official at Azerbaijan’s embassy in Washington, D.C., declined to comment to RFE/RL on an Israeli legal proceeding, saying he did not want to interfere in another country’s internal matters.
 
No one was immediately available at the Armenian Embassy, and the Israeli Embassy said it could not immediately comment.
 
Maariv and The Times of Israel newspaper reported that the incident occurred in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijani territory that was seized in the early 1990s by Armenian-backed forces after a war that killed more than 30,000 people.
 
The reports said Aeronautics officials in 2017 were working on a potential $20 million deal with Baku, when Azerbaijani officials asked them to demonstrate their Orbiter 1K armed drone on Armenian soldiers.
 
The reports said two employees refused to carry out the attack before two higher-ranking executives eventually agreed to do it. They said the drone did not directly hit their targets, but two soldiers were injured in the attack.
 
The Times of Israel quoted Army Colonel Armen Gyozalian as confirming that two soldiers were lightly wounded in the incident.
 
Israel suspended Aeronautics’ export license after the complaint was filed with the Defense Ministry, the report said.
 
Sporadic fighting continues in Nagorno-Karabakh, despite three decades of diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict.
 
The Times of Israel reported that that drone was made by another Israeli firm, Aerospace Industries.
 

‘King of Instagram’ Dan Bilzerian Has Warrant Out for His Arrest in Azerbaijan

Nahapetian Samvel
People Magazine
Aug 30 2018
‘King of Instagram’ Dan Bilzerian Has Warrant Out for His Arrest in Azerbaijan
Steve Helling

03:27 PM

The country of Azerbaijan has issued an arrest warrant for Dan Bilzerian, the social media celebrity with the lavish lifestyle known as the “King of Instagram.”

PEOPLE confirms that the Investigative Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Azerbaijan has initiated a criminal case against Bilzerian, alleging he illegally visited Nagorno Karabakh, a region that is the subject of a conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Authorities allege that Bilzerian illegally acquired grenades and firearms before “demonstratively” opening fire at a shooting range.

The exact charges Bilzerian faces were not immediately clear.

The alleged incident occurred after a trip that Bilzerian, 37, made to the neighboring country of Armenia.

Bilzerian, who is of Armenian descent, arrived in the capital city of Yerevan on Monday. He and his brother took part in a naturalization ceremony where they became Armenian citizens. Per the laws of the country, he also registered for military service.

Bilzerian tells PEOPLE that after the ceremony, he traveled to Azerbaijan with a group of other people, though of that group, only Bilzerian has been charged with a crime.

A source in the Azerbaijan government told Armenian Public Radio that “Interpol will search for the criminal.” (Interpol is the international organization that facilitates cooperation between police forces.)

• Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

Bilzerian is the CEO of Ignite, a producer of cannabis products that are sold in licensed dispensaries in states where its sale is legal. He tells PEOPLE he thinks the arrest warrant was politically motivated.

“They only issued the warrant for my arrest, and nobody else on the trip,” he says. “I think it’s because I am a public figure and they want to try to make an example out of me.”

It appears that the country of Armenia is supporting Bilzerian.

PEOPLE confirms with the Consulate General of Armenia that the nation has contacted Interpol and urged them to dismiss Azerbaijan’s prosecution of Bilzerian as political.

Bilzerian vows to fight the charges, but says he’s focused on his work at Ignite. (He recently unveiled a search for spokesmodels for his new business, paying $1 million to models he hires.)

He tells PEOPLE that he has “no interest in ever going to Azerbaijan.”

Armenian theater head comments on culture minister’s remarks on Yengibaryan Int’l Mime Festival

Garnik Zakarian
Panorama, Armenia
Aug 30 2018

The VII Leonid Yengibaryan International Mime Festival was cancelled this year amid lack of financial support from Armenia’s Ministry of Culture.

Speaking at a news conference on 27 August, Minister of Culture Lilit Makunts said an agreement had been reached between Founder and Artistic Director of Yerevan State Pantomime Theater Zhirayr Dadasyan and former Culture Minister Armen Amiryan to hold the festival every two years since the annual financial support to the festival had been cut down to 8 million drams from 16 million.  

“This has been their joint agreement. This was the year when the festival was not to take place,” she said.

The theatre head, however, states no such agreement exists between the Pantomime Theater and the ex-minister. “We have not had such a deal. We have reached an agreement with Mr. Armen Amiryan to organize the festival with 8 million drams in 2017 by pressing its program. Mr. Amiryan promised for his part it would be organized in full in 2018,” he stressed.

Dadasyan stated when they realized the ministry did not plan to finance this year’s Yengibaryan International Mime Festival, they proposed to cancel it in order to ensure its proper conduct next year, at least.

He also commented on Minister Makunts’s proposal to rent the building of Metro Theater located in Yerevan’s remote district to present their performances, stressing it will further aggravate their situation, since the majority of the theater’s audience are foreign tourists, and the theatre should be in the central part of the city.

Founded in 1974, Yerevan Pantomime Theater gained a status of the state theatre in 1983. Lacking its own building, the theater offers performances in Yerevan State Youth Theatre on lease basis.