Category: 2019

With Christian love and fatherly blessings I extend my greetings to you all, principals, administrators, educators, students, parents, and all devotees of the Armenian School at the commencement of the 2019 – 2020 academic year. It is my prayer and wish for this, and every, school year to abound with the Lord’s blessings, with success, productivity, and fruitfulness, for the instruction and enrichment of the minds and spirits of our youth.

After a restful summer, today, the heart of our communities—our schools—pulsate once again with the energy of our youth. Our schools are astir for a new year, which we welcome with high and hopeful expectations.

Let us thank the Lord for granting us the blessing of a new year and new opportunities to shape the minds of our youth with knowledge and wisdom and their hearts and souls with the values of our faith and heritage.

Dear students,

Your presence and vivacious spirit enlivens our schools. Always remember and appreciate the privilege of attending an Armenian school, which is not an ordinary place of learning but a distinctive institution where you grow and develop in your identity as Armenians. Take advantage of the unique instruction you are fortunate to be offered; learn our uplifting prayers and our language, learn about our rich history and heritage, our ancient faith and homeland, and think of how you can contribute to the advancement of our nation.

In the eloquent words of Moushegh Ishkhan, “The Armenian language is the home of the Armenian, in the four corners of the world, where every Armenian can enter as the landlord.” Our churches, schools, and language are our bastions throughout the Diaspora, through which our history and Armenia live on. Let us remain true to our rich and ancient heritage.

We commend all those who play a part in the continued success of our schools, the members of the Board of Regents, local school boards, principals, directors, faculty, and volunteers. May God pour His abundant blessings upon you all and upon our dear students.

Welcome back to school.

Prayerfully,

Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian
Prelate, Western United States
2019 – 2020 School Year Opening

Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, the personal representative of the OSCE Chairman in Office, was in Stapenakert where he held meetings with Artsakh President Bako Shahakian and Artsakh Foreign Minister Masis Mayilyan on Tuesday.

Sahakian briefed Kasprzyk about the latest developments on the Artsakh-Azerbaijan border, commonly referred to as the line of contact.

Kasprzyk, who is in Artsakh to take part in a regular OSCE monitoring mission, and Shahakian also touched on Artsakh and Azerbaijani troop movements along the border.

Mayilyan and Kasprzyk discussed the issue of Artsakh soldier Ara Ghazaryan, who last week abandoned his post at a military unit in Varanda (formerly Fizouli) and crossed the border into Azerbaijan. The two discussed the possibility of repatriating him. Mayilyan underscored the need for the parties to the conflict to fulfill their obligations on complying with international humanitarian law.

The sides exchanged views on the situation on the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Artsakh and Azerbaijan, as well as the monitoring missions conducted that Kasprzyk is scheduled to lead on Wednesday.

After strong backlash from environmental activists and the public, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan  announced Wednesday that his government was mulling another possible audit of the environmental impact of excavating a gold mine in Amulsar in the Vayots Dzor Province of Armenia. Pashinyan sent a recently released report to Armenia’s Environmental Protection Ministry, which will recommend whether a new audit is warranted.

Public criticism of the Amulsar mine project escalated Monday when Pashinyan gave the green light for the excavation of the mine, after the Lebanon-based ELARD company submitted results of its environmental impact audit, which deemed that the operation of the gold mine in Amulsar would not pose ecological and environmental hazards to residents of the nearby resort town of Jermuk and surrounding communities, including Lake Sevan.

He said the environmental protection ministry is tasked to determine “whether or not the conclusion [of the ELARD audit] contains information, which according to Armenia’s laws, require the need for a new environmental impact assessment for the operation of the Amulsar mine.”

After holding a series of meeting on Wednesday that included representatives of Lydian International, the British-American company that was grated the contract for the mine several years ago, Pashinyan took to Facebook to explain that all parties were set to move forward with the excavation at Amulsar, until a representative from the environmental protection ministry called for a more detailed study of the ELARD report, prompting the prime minister to task the ministry for a final conclusion.

“I was already about to end the consultation when a representative of the environmental protection ministry said that he nevertheless believes that the question should be answered after a more deeper study. After that I tasked the staff to forward the ELARD conclusion to the ministry with a specific task,” Pashinyan said in a Facebook Live post.

When green lighting the mining project on Monday, Pashinyan said the standards by which the project will move forward, will force other mining companies to elevate their standards.

”In the event that Amulsar is developed under existing conditions, it will be developed under unprecedented environmental standards for the Republic of Armenia,” said Pashinyan on Monday adding that the so-called high standards would force other mining companies to reform their practices.

“Now the government has to go to the low-level mines and tell them that they should elevate their operations to [comply with] the new standards. This is a political obligation,” Pashinyan said Monday. “Now the companies that are operating in lower levels will be forced to spend tens of millions of dollars elevate their standards and the government has the levers to force those companies to do so.”

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Supreme Council of Armenia on Wednesday issued an announcement calling for a referendum to determine the fate of the mining operations at Amulsar, in the Vayots Dzor Province of Armenia.

The ARF Armenia body cited “contradictory statements by the new government are causing tensions surrounding the operation of the Amulsar mine, as well as the lack of adequate ressponse on the part of the authorities to meet public expectations” as the reason for proposing a referendum.

“Taking into consideration the interests of the nation and the state, public accord and the safe exploitation of natural resources, the preservation of the ecological diversity of the environment and sustainable development of the country the ARF Supreme Council of Armenia is deeply concerned that the published data are not convincing enough and do not inspire confidence in both public and professional circles,” said the ARF statement.

“We urge the authorities to not consider the published expert opinion as the final basis for the development of the mine. Underlining the people’s concern about this issue and its potentially serious impact on the socio-economic and environmental development of the country, we consider it appropriate, as a result of public and professional discussions, to find an acceptable solution to this issue,” said the ARF announcement.

“We also believe that it is necessary to restore dialogue with a circle of experts and, through a referendum, make a decision that meets the interests of the state and one that is acceptable to the public,” concluded the announcement.