There is no need for long searches to taste Armenian wine, which liked the Pope, and other wines. The so-called “Vayots Dzor Wine Road” map leads directly to the wine-makers, and they try to meet the tourists in a unqiue style.
Five winemaking companies have joined the “Wine Path” project. This enables Vayots Dzor visitors to know the location of factories through the maps, get acquainted with the variety of wines offered, taste them in special rooms, and if they want, they can stay in Areni for a few days and enjoy the countryside benefits.
“Vayots Dzor Wine Road” has been developed within the framework of the “My Armenia” program.
Almost all winemakers assured that those in the region taste only pure wine, which is made of high-quality black aroma and golden grapes, and the fermentation process is also under way of natural cooling, not through concentrates.
Head of Trinity Canyon Gardens Hovakim Saghatelyan notes that they are also trying to mix the grapes of areni and golden grapes and make a wine.
“We work in two directions: one is the traditional winemaking in clay, another is classic winemaking, by way of freezing. We are the first ones in Vayots Dzor that tried organic winemaking, without chemistry,” he said and assured his “E “wine even liked the Pope and asked to send him for liturgy.
Also, despite the fact that in 2016, “Ginetun” factory won gold and silver medals in the exhibition in Germany, it also plans to develop Agrotourism in Vayots Dzor by bringing tourists here to personally participate in the harvest.
“Now we produce fruit brands that are exported to Russia and Europe,” said factory manager Narine Baghdasaryan.
Businessman Armen Khalatyan named his company after the old bridge on Silk Road. Presenting his wine types, he mentioned that it is necessary to have proper wine dishes.
“The same wine can have different tastes in different cups. We bought special glasses from the Austrian “Reiden,” which are labeled only for wine made from Areni black grapes,” he said.
One of the oldest companies in Vayots Dzor is Areni Factory, where the wine is produced since 1994. They produce 2000-250 thousand bottles annually, and export about 40% to Russia, China.
Director Rafayel Simonyan is dissatisfies with the fact that the wines are sold in Armenia at very high prices.
“Wine should be both good-quality and affordable. The self-value of a bottle of wine is around 2000 drams, how did it turn out to be 800,000?”
The Prosecutor General’s Office has rejected the motion of MPs on changing the precautionary measure selected against 2nd President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan.
“At the current stage of preliminary investigation, the grounds to remand Robert Kocharyan into custody are maintained and the selection of another precautionary measure not related to detention is still unable to guarantee the uninterrupted process of the investigation as a result of the proper conduct of the defendant”, Arevik Khachatryan, head of PR department at the Prosecutor General’s Office, said.
The Prosecutor General’s Office also released the list of MPs who signed the petition:
Wednesday,
Prosecutors Refuse To Free Kocharian
• Anush Muradian
Armenia - The main entrance to the Office of the Prosecutor-General in Yerevan.
Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General on Wednesday refused to release
former President Robert Kocharian from custody pending investigation into the
2008 post-election violence in Yerevan.
It rejected an appeal from Kocharian’s lawyers as well as 46 members of the
Armenian parliament. The latter guaranteed in writing that he will not flee
prosecution if set free.
A spokeswoman for the prosecutors, Arevik Khachatrian, said they believe that
the Special Investigative Service (SIS), a law-enforcement body overseen by
them, has sufficient grounds to keep the former president under pre-trial
arrest. His release would not guarantee “the unfettered course of the
investigation,” said Khachatrian.
Kocharian’s lawyers declined to immediately comment on the prosecutors’
decision.“When we get [a copy of] that decision, we will analyze and examine it
and then present our position, first and foremost in the form of an official
document,” one of them, Hayk Alumian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
The rejection of the appeal was condemned by deputy parliament speaker Eduard
Sharmazanov, one of the deputies who signed the petition. The vast majority of
those lawmakers are affiliated with the former ruling Republican Party of
Armenia (HHK).
“There is no justice in ‘new Armenia,’” charged Sharmazanov. “Political orders
rule ‘new Armenia.’”
“What would Kocharian do [if he was freed?] Would he flee? Kocharian didn’t
flee the Turks during the war [in Karabakh.] Why would he flee us?” he said.
A native of Karabakh, Kocharian governed the unrecognized republic during and
after the 1991-1994 war. He went on to serve as Armenia’s president from
1998-2008.
The 63-year-old ex-president stands accused of illegally using the armed forces
against opposition protesters who demanded a rerun of a disputed presidential
election held in February 2008.Eight protesters and two police personnel were
killed when security forces broke up those demonstrations on March 1-2, 2018.
Kocharian denies the accusations as politically motivated. But his arrest on
July 27 has been welcomed by political allies of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
and former President Levon Ter-Petrosian, the main opposition candidate in the
2008 ballot. Pashinian played a key role in Ter-Petrosian’s 2007-2008
opposition movement.
Kocharian’s lawyers and the 46 deputies have also submitted the same petitions
to Armenia’s Court of Appeals. The court is scheduled to open hearings on them
on Thursday.
Rights Campaigners Urge Release Of Jailed Activist
• Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia - Shant Harutiunian (L) clashes with another man during an
anti-government demonstration in Yerevan, 5 November, 2013.
Armenian human rights activists have called on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
to help ensure the release of a well-known political activist who was jailed
for organizing a violent anti-government demonstration in Yerevan in 2013.
In a joint letter to Pashinian, they described Shant Harutiunian as a political
prisoner who received disproportionately harsh punishment in an unfair trial.
A veteran nationalist activist, Harutiunian was arrested while leading several
dozen supporters who tried to march towards then President Serzh Sarkisian’s
offices in what they called a “revolution of values.” Riot police used force to
stop the crowd armed with sticks and homemade stun grenades from approaching
the presidential palace after rallying in Yerevan’s Liberty Square.
Harutiunian and a dozen other arrested men went on trial in June 2014, with
virtually all of them pleading not guilty to accusations of hooliganism brought
against them. They were sentenced to between 1 and 7 years in prison.
Harutiunian was given a 6-year jail term.
Pashinian pledged to help free all “political prisoners,” presumably including
Harutiunian, when he swept to power in May in a wave of peaceful mass protests
that brought down Sarkisian’s government.
According to Harutiunian’s lawyer, Inessa Petrosian, the jailed activist wants
to be formally acquitted and rejects other legal options for his release,
including a pardon.
“He expects the guilty verdict to be struck down,” Petrosian told RFE/RL’s
Armenian service. “At the same time he does not want that initiative to emanate
from himself.”
The lawyer said Pashinian should specifically tell Prosecutor-General Artur
Davtian to ask the Court of Appeals to acquit her client.
The court upheld the guilty verdicts in February 2015.
Armenian, Russian Troops Hold Joint Drills
Armenia - Armenian and Russian troops hold joint military exercises.
The Armenian and Russian armies are holding joint military exercises in Armenia
reportedly involving more than 3,000 soldiers and hundreds of tanks, armored
vehicles and artillery systems.
In a statement, Russia’s Southern Military District said the “joint
tactical-special exercises” began at two shooting grounds on Monday and will
continue until August 15. The participating troops have already simulated a
joint operation against a hypothetical invader, it said, adding that they were
backed up by warplanes, including MiG-29 fighter jets of the Russian military
base stationed in Armenia.
The Armenian Defense Ministry did not issue statements on the exercises as of
Wednesday.
Armenia and Russia have held such drills on a regular basis, highlighting their
close military ties. In 2014, their militaries targeted an imaginary invading
force codenamed “Ottomania,” a clear reference to neighboring Turkey.
Armenian leaders have repeatedly said that Armenia hosts Russian troops on its
territory primarily because of a perceived security threat from Turkey, rather
than Azerbaijan. From Yerevan’s perspective, the Russian military base in
Armenia precludes Turkey’s direct military intervention on Azerbaijan’s side in
the event of another full-scale war for Nagorno-Karabakh.
The latest wargames began three weeks after the Russian base held an exercise
around a village in Armenia’s northwestern Shirak province which scared many
local residents. The villagers had not been notified about the drill beforehand.
Although the commanders of the Russian base apologized for the incident, Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian condemned it as a “provocation against Armenia’s
sovereignty.” By contrast, Armenian Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan said a few
days later that Armenian officials are also responsible for the scare.
Press Review
“Aravot” blasts 46 members of Armenia’s parliament who have called for former
President Robert Kocharian’s release from prison, saying that they have thus
become “political kamikazes” and ruined their “political dignity.” “Democracy
in Armenia has no alternative and there will be no proscription lists here,”
writes the paper. “Forget about that. But Armenian politics is not a garbage
dump. It has filters that will inevitably be working.”
Lragir.am reports that a similar petition was also signed on Tuesday by over a
dozen members of Nagorno-Karabakh’s parliament. The online publication believes
that the move was agreed with Bako Sahakian, the Karabakh president. It notes
that the new Armenian government backed Sahakian when he recently faced
protests by local residents demanding his resignation. It says that Sahakian
has failed to deliver on his pledges to carry out major reforms in Karabakh.
“Zhoghovurd” reports that the chief of the Armenian police, Valeri Osipian,
said on Tuesday that his agency will go to great lengths to help ensure the
freedom and fairness of elections in the country. “The police chief told police
officers to be vigilant for neutralizing manifestations [of electoral fraud]
and stressed that police officers displaying inactivity on this issue would be
strictly punished,” says the paper. It says that the police have never received
such explicit orders and warnings before. Osipian’s remarks are another
indication that “serious changes have occurred in Armenia,” concludes the paper.
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2018 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
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AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Website: www.agbu.org
PRESS RELEASE
Wednesday, August 8, 2018
AGBU EXTENDS SCHOLARSHIPS TO APPLICANTS IMPACTED BY CLOSURE OF LUYS FOUNDATION
On August 7, 2018, AGBU announced its decision, in coordination with My Step
Foundation, to extend scholarships to select students recently accepted to some
of the top universities in the world. Many of these high achievers had been
counting on receiving scholarships offered by the Luys Foundation, a non-profit
established by key figures of the previous administration to help ensure that
top-performing Armenian students from around the world could fulfill their
dream of graduating from an elite learning institution and help strengthen
Armenia's competitive standing in the process. Luys announced its dissolution
soon after the new government was installed, leaving the applicants' academic
futures uncertain.
My Step Foundation was launched by journalist, activist and spouse of the new
prime minister Anna Hakobyan with the mission of finding solutions for issues
that cannot be fully addressed by government. The charity was set up to serve
as a connector, matching funds to projects either internally or
externally-generated. Hakobyan could not have anticipated that the first test
of the new model would be coming to the aid of these students who had little
time left to meet their financial obligations for the 2018-2019 academic year.
She promptly reached out to the international community and, shortly
thereafter, AGBU responded with $200,000 in scholarship funding. It also agreed
to assume responsibility for administering the scholarships directly with the
universities involved-Oxford University, Cambridge University and University of
Chicago among them.
Berge Setrakian, president of AGBU, noted that AGBU's decision to make such an
exceptional contribution this year was based on the reality that the academic
fates of these exemplary scholars were on the line. "We cannot let the goals of
the these hardworking and intellectually gifted students be impeded because of
circumstances beyond their control. We applaud My Step for reaching out so
promptly and we are grateful to all our education-minded donors who make it
possible for AGBU to extend the needed financial support."
Hakobyan expressed her thanks to AGBU for stepping up. "Partnering with AGBU
was a natural choice, given that it has awarded thousands of scholarships to
Armenian students over many decades. We unanimously recognized the potential of
this extraordinary pool of students to contribute their knowledge and skills to
help transform Armenia into the competitive nation it aspires to be in the
world economy. We are truly grateful that AGBU, among our other partners, was
so quick to affirm its longstanding commitment to higher education in this
unexpected way."
While My Step Foundation found a quick way to support some Armenian students, a
more sustainable solution is sought to streamline young people's access to
scholarships.
Established in 1906, AGBU 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. For more information about AGBU and its worldwide programs, please visit
www.agbu.org.
USA: M:funded by the Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by the Smithsonian Institution “My Armenia” program tomorrow on August 9, at 5:00 p.m Of Yerevan«club»in
(address: 40 Tumanyan str.) will herald the start of the Vayots Dzor wine route. M:hotelthe program will presentn:i’s new wine trail website, a brochure on the five member wineries, and other materialsabout the province։
Vayots Dzor wine route the authors were guided by two aspirations: to tell the history of ancient Armenian winemaking traditions to regional and international tourists, and to present a new business culture in Armenia along with traditional winemaking – wine tourism. The “My Armenia” program and participating winemakers hope that the wine route will help increase the number of tourists visiting Vayots Dzor and the region, stimulate the development of the region’s economy, and as a result improve the living standards of local communities.
The media are cordially invited to cover this event.
See attached Armenian Voice Issue No 71 Newsletter published in London since 1987.
regards
Misak Ohanian CEO
Centre for Armenian Information & Advice | Hayashen | 105a Mill Hill Road, Acton, London, W3 8JF | Tel: 0208 992 4621
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Raffi Sarkissian, the founder and former chair of the Sara Corning Centre for Genocide Education in Toronto, stands in front of a Sara Corning display following a presentation he gave at the Yarmouth County Museum and Archives on Aug. 3. – Tina Comeau
YARMOUTH, N.S.– Had Sara Corning been in the room, she would have been humbled by what was being said about her. She never went about her life’s work seeking fame. She simply did it to serve and help others.
But what the Yarmouth native accomplished and the thousands of people – mostly children – she helped is not to be forgotten.
During a special evening at the Yarmouth County Museum and Archives on Aug. 3, people reflected on what Sara Corning means to them, and to the world, and spoke about the steps that continue to be taken to ensure her humanitarian contributions are recognized and remembered.
So in a sense, Sara Corning was in the room after all.
Sara Corning. PHOTO COURTESY YARMOUTH COUNTY MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES
Corning, born in Cheggogin, Yarmouth County, in 1872, was a nurse and eventually worked with the American Red Cross. She joined the Near East Relief effort to aid refugees in 1919 and is credited with helping to save and care for thousands of Greek, Armenian and Assyrian orphans and refugees from the aftermath of World War One and the Siege of Smyrna in 1922. She continued her work with orphans in Greece and Turkey until 1930.
She returned to Chegoggin in her retirement, where she lived until her death in 1969 at the age of 97. Her headstone is inscribed with the words “She Lived to Serve Others.”
Raffi Sarkissian visited Corning’s gravesite while in Yarmouth last week. It was an emotional experience. Sarkissian is the founder and former chair of theSara Corning Centre for Genocide Education in Toronto. The educator and genocide education advocate is also a descendant of survivors of the Armenian genocide, the very people that Sara Corning helped. He was invited to speak about what Corning means to him and to the Armenian population. Gratitude spilled from nearly every sentence he spoke.
He said Corning was theobvious namesakefor their centre in Toronto. Thecentre’s missionis to disseminate human rights and genocide-related research to elementary and secondary school students in Ontario.
“The Corning Centre’s conviction is that human rights education is effective in ensuring that Canadian students become engaged in civic life, advocate for their own rights and those of others, and remain aware of the consequences of discrimination,” reads the mission statement on the centre’s website.
“No one is paid to do any of the work we do. Professional teachers that give their time, researchers, historians, accountants, lawyers, all pitch in their time and effort to run this organization . . . We wanted the name to represent that selflessness,” he said. “Sara was undoubtedly that person for us. That person that became mother to so many orphans.”
FAMILIES TORN APART
Sarkissian feels that he literally owes his life and his family’s history to Corning and others like her.
“My grandparents and great-grandparents where those people who were directly possibly affected by people like Sara, if not Sara herself, because one of my grandfathers was actually in a Greek orphanage,” he said.
“Our family trees are just a few branches,” said Sarkissian. “It is thanks to that generation of humanitarians that the Armenian people today continue to exist.”
Both of his grandfathers – as children – were survivors of the Armenian genocide. During that time families were removed from their homes and exiled. Many people died along the deportation route due to starvation and sickness. Others were killed away from foreigners’ eyes, he said. Families were usually separated to destroy the family unity and to make it easier to control the Armenia population. Many children ended up in orphanages
And yet to this day, he said, there denial among many that the genocide occurred.
With the survivors nearly all gone – given that this was nearly 100 years ago – he said it is important to the Armenian community that immortalization occur in other ways.
Which is why the centre for genocide education continues its work and why Sarkissian is so pleased to see Sara Corning being honoured and remembered by others.
David and Jennifer Chown say a life-size bronze statue of Sara Corning has been commissioned. It will be erected in the Town of Yarmouth. The goal is for an unveiling in the fall of 2019. TINA COMEAU PHOTO
This past November Sara Corning was also posthumously awarded the Outstanding Canadian Award by the Armenian Community Centre of Toronto.One such group is theSara Corning Societyin Nova Scotia, which has many past and present members in Yarmouth. The Society has worked diligently to ensure Corning’s life and humanitarian work is remembered and honoured. A street – Sara Corning Way – has been named after her in Yarmouth, and there are other methods of remembrance taking place in Yarmouth and Nova Scotia, with others planned. The Society shared publicly during the event at the museum that it has commissioned an artist to create a life-size bronze statue of Corning that will be erected in the Town of Yarmouth. The goal is for the statue to be unveiled in the fall of 2019 said society members David and Jennifer Chown.
READ: SARA CORNING: AN OUTSTANDING CANADIAN: Yarmouth Vanguard November 2017
Past recipients of this award have included former prime minister Jean Chretien, author Margaret Atwood, astronaut Roberta Bondar and filmmaker Atom Egoyan. At the Aug. 3 event at the museum – where work also takes place to honour Corning – the award was presented to the Yarmouth County Museum and Archives, and the local historical society, for display in Corning’s hometown.
“If alive, Sara Corning would not want to be recognized this way,” Sarkissian said, a reference back to her humble roots. “She lived her life in such in a humbled way that many people who lived with her and knew her didn’t know the extent to which she affected the international community.”
But Corning, he said, is an important part of the humanitarian roots of this country.
And that is a legacy and a part of the world’s history that must be shared, he said.
YEREVAN, August 8. /ARKA/. An Armenian economist said today that the Police and other law-enforcement bodies should hand the fight against corruption to a special anti-corruption body. Atom Margaryan, the head of the Center for Innovative and Institutional Research, argued that although the fight against corruption in recent months has been effective, it is not institutionalized.
Speaking at a news conference Margaryan said Armenia’s Constitution provides for the formation of a universal anti-corruption body. In his view, that body should become the spearhead in the fight against corruption instead of Police and the National Security Service.
In early July, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan unveiled that more than 20 billion drams (about $42 million) of unpaid taxes were recovered as a result of an active fight against corruption and the shadow sector.
Margaryan said today that making all citizens of the country, in addition to senior government officials, declare their income and expenditures would be instrumental in cutting corruption scale. He also believes that the fight against corruption must be addressed by preventive measures.
At the same time, he noted that the elimination of corruption schemes and bringing businesses to the network can affect prices. In particular, according to him, a number of local companies, owned by pro-government officials, were allowed not to pay taxes in full, which could not but affect the prices of many produces.
In general, Margaryan believes that the macroeconomic situation has been showing a positive trend despite the latest shocks and structural changes. However, fundamental problems in macroeconomics continue to persist, in particular, high unemployment rate and low investment activity.
“Investors are currently waiting for institutional changes and the legitimization of power after the parliamentary elections,” he said. -0-
YEREVAN, August 8. /ARKA/. The Armenian Prosecutor General’s Office declined today the motion filed by some MPs wanting former president Robert Kocharyan to be released, Arevik Khachatryan, the press secretary of the office told Novosti-Armenia.
On July 28, Kocharyan was charged with toppling constitutional order in collusion with other persons and detained.
The case dates back to late February and early March 2008 following the disputed presidential election, when then prime minister Serzh Sargsyan was declared the winner, angering the opposition, led by the first Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosyan and setting off 10 days of nonstop protests that led to a crackdown on March 1, in which 10 people were killed and more than 200 injured.
Kocharyan will remain in detention pending trial. -0—
City Council approves latest agenda items for Armenian American museum
By Michael Livingston
Aug 07, 2018
More improvements have been made to plans for the forthcoming Armenian American Museum and Cultural Center of California.
The Glendale City Council voted unanimously at its July 31 meeting to approve the following items in regards to the museum: exempting the project from the California Environmental Quality Act, a variance permitting the loading area to be partially located off-site, the Stage II design and the ground lease agreement.
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Councilwoman Paula Devine called the action a historical decision for the city.
“I am thrilled about having a museum in Glendale,” said Councilman Ara Najarian. “My support for this project was firmly based in the fact that the governance and the operation and the management was going to be shared by the different Armenian political parties, cultural organizations and churches.”
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The proposed ground lease terms include the museum’s parking garage to rise to three levels and have 262 spaces, said Darlene Sanchez, deputy director of economic development. The terms also include a demonstration kitchen, gift shops, a retail store, a restaurant and an auditorium.
Jay Platt, senior urban designer, said the three-story building will be “a large rectangular mass of metal-clad aluminum panels forming these kind of jagged openings.”
The museum is scheduled to be located in the southwest corner of Glendale Central Park. In April, council members agreed to a 55-year lease with 10-year renewals at $1 annually.
Councilman Vartan Gharpetian expressed his excitement for the project.
“This is indeed a historic moment. I’m proud to be part of it,” he said.