Category: 2019

ACNIS reView

Kajoyan Gevork
Pass of the week   

AUGUST 09 2019 
 

S:Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with Nagorno Karabakh President Bako Sahakyan in Tepanakert on August 5. According to the official report, the two leaders discussed a wide range of issues related to the cooperation between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Prime Minister Pashinyan was in Artsakh to participate in the opening ceremony of the 7th Pan-Armenian Games. The Prime Ministers of Armenia and Artsakh made a speech at the event, which was held in Stepanakert’s Revival Square.

To participate in the opening ceremony of the 7th Pan-Armenian Summer Games, the delegation headed by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ararat Mirzoyan, left for Stepanakert on a working visit on the same day.

…the most discussed topic in the Armenian media and social networks since August 5 Nikol Pashinyan’s extensive speech at Stepanakert’s Revival Square was, which will be discussed in this commentary. Perhaps one of the most remarkable episodes of the speech 2050 daten: to be carried out strategic goalswas the description of which elements of mob rule were not lacking. Thus, it is planned during that time Q:I will explain population deliver at least 5 million of a person, create 1 million 500 a thousand workplace, solve 2,5 million of a person employment question and: eliminate poverty: The Prime Minister considers it quite realistic after three decades Q:H to makeindustrial country, fifteenfold of the state gross internal the result, to have 10 billion the dollar surpassing at least 5 Armenian technological company, sevenfoldmedium salary, of the army fighting ability with index place occupy of the world leadingcountries at least first in the twenties, and so on.

It is difficult to say what kind of professional calculations these impressive numbers are based on. Nikol Pashinyan then sees an opportunity of education and of sciencefinancing twentyfold, tourists the number deliver 15 million, times of Armeniafootball the team to make of Europe and/or of the world of the championship medalist, conquer 25 olympic golden medal and: of chess of the world individual of the champion the rank. «Convinced եմ՝now from you many ask are, and why? Artsakh about nothing said not: The answer: a lotsimple is: becauseand: Artsakh Armenia: is, and: over!»,- extracame out Pashinyan: P:festive Baku, by the way, strictly condemnedcame out of Armenia prime ministerin: in Stepanakert done the statement that “Artsakh Armenia: is and: that’s it»: That about to say is Azerbaijan of the president staffexternal connections department boss Hikmet Hajjand:the: «Mountainous Ղարաբաղը՝ that Azerbaijan is: That ourhistorical and: inseparable the land is»,- yeswill return is Hajjand:the: His խոսքով՝ like «provocative» with callsof Armenia management spread outthe region put is of crisis on the edge: «Let it no who? no doubt, thatAzerbaijan will restore in:r: territorial completeness: Backand:thingsresponsibilityn: fallwhose Armenian side on»,- to say is Azerbaijan of the presidentstaff high rank the official: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the neighboring country also issued a condemning statement` noting, that RA: of the Prime Minister the statement«contradict is of the conflict regulation around carried away long-term of negotiationsto the essence»:

Local media and observers were also not late about Pashinyan’s speechgrades. “First News” in the commenter’s view, it can be debated for a long time whether the strategic goals are realistic to be about which he spoke in the capital of Artsakhl is Pashinyan. “Naturally, from the point of view of professional reasons, the promises made by the prime minister seem populist, because it is not visible, for example, by what miracle Armenia can have 5 million people in 2050 population,” comments the commentator of the news channel. According to him, The most important part of Pashinyan’s speech is about the so-called national consensus topics, some of which directly or indirectly refer to the next year’s elections in Artsakh. As always, there was no lack of mutually opposing opinions, and that is natural. If according to the interpretation of the “First News” commentator: The Prime Minister of Armenia considered “any manifestation of revolution” in Artsakh unacceptable, then “Civilnet” analyst Tatul Hakobyan, on the contrary, Nikol Pashinyan evaluates the speech as a step “in terms of establishing revolutionary trends in Artsakh”.

The dominant opinion, however, is that the rally in Stepanakert was about its unity atmosphere, with a national agenda, it was a strong blow to the old Armenian system and its Moscow patrons, and at the same time to the adventurers who secretly hope to turn Artsakh into a testing ground for the revolution. According to some observers, Pashinyan’s speech was a “yellow card” for those forces. According to their belief, the next time, without a doubt, the harsh opposition of the government will follow, “if the conspirators of different caliber do not take action”.

RA: As a result of urgent investigative, judicial and operative investigative measures undertaken by the Abovyan department of the Kotayk regional investigative department of the investigative committee, the circumstances of the explosion that took place on the Yerevan-Sevan highway on August 2 were revealed. As part of the criminal case initiated in connection with the case, three persons born in 1963, 1966 and 1974 were arrested on suspicion of committing a crime under Article 34-104, Part 2, Clause 6 and Article 235, Part 1 of the RA Criminal Code.

…According to preliminary data, in 2019 On August 2, at around 12:30, the person who apparently committed the crime placed an explosive substance under the bridge in the 15th km section of the Yerevan-Sevan highway and detonated it during the journey of businessman Melik Manukyan’s (Shshi Melo) Range Rover and accompanying Nissan and Patrol cars, but the crime was not completed. by circumstances beyond their control.

According to information circulating in the press, the arrested are residents of Gyumri. According to the news reached by Armlur.am, they had problems with the former deputy and tried to settle old accounts by placing explosives under the bridge and blowing up his car. Fortunately, the calculation was made incorrectly and the car of the former MP did not explode.

The official miserly information is already enough to make the real picture clear: some people wanted to kill “Sshi Melo”, who was actually the main target of the unfinished crime. Although Manukyan has been a member of parliament for many years, he obviously has no political background and is mostly known to the public for a number of criminal stories that are similar to the actions and biographies of the “heroes” of our troubled times.

It is not so interesting who exactly wanted to “clear the score” with “Sshi Melo”, because he is one of those people who could “bring hundreds of others out onto the highway”. It can be confidently asserted that this will not be the last such case in post-revolutionary Armenia. The problem is that after the revolution, the criminal oligarchy was not only removed from power, but also experienced a certain transformation in the context of new realities. The previous agreements and connections do not work now, the former odious faces of the system, for objective and subjective reasons, can’t or don’t want to appear in the “public eye” anymore, preferring to stay “in the shadows” and act from there. Therefore, internal conflicts are almost inevitable. The authorities, particularly the law enforcement agencies, play an important role here.

Our society and the state should never become the scene of bloody “battles” of people and groups who are aligned with the previous system. It is very important for the guardians of the law to be able to quickly respond to possible risks and implement preventive functions. In the past, Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan carried out such an illegal function, settling such disputes not with legal mechanisms, but with the rules typical of the criminal world. The representatives of the Armenian criminal and semi-criminal environment are used to such a way of relating, and it will be difficult to “convert” them. Therefore, the revolutionary government must act very patiently, carefully, strictly, but within the limits of the law. As the famous movie says, “A thief must go to jail.”

Gevorg Lalayan commented

 

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was on a working visit to Kyrgyzstan on August 8-9. The Prime Minister of Armenia participated in the regular session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Cholpon-Ata, had meetings with the President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbai Jeenbekov and the Head of the Russian Government Dmitry Medvedev. Within the framework of the visit, Pashinyan attended the opening of the annual international music festival “Tengri Music Fest – 2019” together with the prime ministers of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has received the application of the Constitutional Court in the case of the second president of RA, Robert Kocharyan, and will consider it in order of priority. Let’s remind that on July 18, the CC made a procedural decision to suspend the proceedings of the cases on determining the compliance of Article 300.1 of the Criminal Code with the Constitution based on the applications of the General Jurisdiction Court of Yerevan and R. Kocharyan, and applied to the ECHR and the Venice Commission for an advisory opinion on these cases.

Most of the documents that disappeared from the National Security Service (NSS) were recovered and were included in the investigation of the “March 1” case. Director of National Security Service Artur Vanetsyan said that in a briefing with journalists. According to him, these documents mainly refer to the “March 1” case. “In relation to the disappearance of the documents, an official investigation was carried out in the National Security Service, most of the documents were recovered and transferred to the Special Investigation Service (SSI) and joined the investigation of the March 1 case,” the director of the National Security Service told reporters.

 

The BBC reports that more than 600 people were arrested during an unauthorized protest in Moscow. The demonstration was organized in the Russian capital after the authorities deprived a number of opposition candidates of the opportunity to participate in local self-government elections.

The Guardian writes that many protesters claim they took part in the Moscow action, angered by the police’s violent crackdown on last week’s protests.

The New York Times later reported that Russian authorities said they had opened a criminal prosecution against an anti-corruption organization run by Russia’s most prominent opposition figure, Alexei Navalny. According to the report of the periodical, the Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case against the latter’s organization, the Anti-Corruption Fund, for obtaining 1 billion rubles (about 15 million dollars) by “criminal means” and using it as a salary.

Prepared by Marina Muradyan


 


 

 

ACNIS reView #25, 2019: Editorial

Tambiyan Samvel
Editorial  

09 AUGUST 2019 
 

Today’s Armenia is in an ideological impasse. The current government, represented by the Prime Minister, says that they do not have “isms,” that is, they do not profess any ideology. On June 14, during the election of a new board of the Civil Contract party, he said:

“We are often called liberal or centrist, but this is a misunderstanding, because we are a party that rejected “isms,” because in the modern world there are no more stereotypical ideologies. Politically, we are not liberals, we are not centrists, we are not social democrats, we are a civic party. What does this mean in practice? This means that we put ourselves outside ideological standards and form a new ideological plane based on four key pillars: statehood, citizenship, national identity, individuality.”

The four “pillars” mentioned by the Prime Minister can become a base for the right, left, green, and nationalists, even pacifists, depending on who and how interprets these “pillars”. Simply put, pointing to the “pillars” means nothing.

Political parties that have not yet had time to recover, or those who are still showing signs of life after last year’s change of power, criticize the Prime Minister, saying that the absence of “isms” means the absence of the political line that the government should follow. There are other opinions that the current government, nevertheless, has a certain “ism,” and this is populism. Our goal is not to interfere in the debate, but to try to understand whether political ideologies have exhausted themselves, even in the form of “non-stereotypical” ones, or not.

If you look at the parties registered in the European Union, you will see that the “isms” are well represented there:

  • Liberals: Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, European People’s Party;
  • Socialists: European Christian Political Movement, European Socialist Party, European Left Party;
  • Greens: European Green Party;
  • Conservatives: European Party of Conservatives and Reformists, etc.

The list goes on: there are centrists, nationalists, Eurosceptics and many others.

By the way, without ideology, the Civil Contract party cannot decide which European party to become a part of.

Political ideologies are considered in two dimensions:

  • how should society be organized;
  • how to achieve this goal.

As we have shown, in the modern world social ideologies still exist. oreover, the lack of ideology, particularly in Europe, means the absence of ideological partners, which is problematic for Armenia. But this is another topic for discussion.

In the new round of intra-Armenian political struggle, the central debate will mainly concern the direction of the country’s development: how we imagine the form of organization of society in Armenia in the future, and how will it be achieved, that is, what will be the future state program, development paths, roadmap? If the ruling party continues to pursue a policy of rejecting “isms,” then the debate will take place without its participation, no matter how strange this situation may be.

The big step was made for the establishment of the advocacy institute. About a hundred lawyers have opted for an independent judiciary. They should be thanked.

Now it is the judges’ turn. If judges can also come together to defend their independence, this will be a huge step towards creating an independent judiciary.

Special thanks should be expressed to Nikol Pashinyan, who through his unprecedented unconstitutional actions in relation to the judicial system contributes to the creation of a legal and judicial system. This is his only promise, for the fulfillment of which he takes concrete and consistent steps.

Thanks also to Gagik Dzhangiryan and Vahe Grigoryan for blurring the clearly defined separation of “black and white,” which made people start to perceive life not emotionally-instinctively, but to judge by principles.

 

 

 

ACNIS reView #25, 2019: Weekly Update

Emil Lazarian
Weekly Update   

 
09 AUGUST 2019 
 

BBC informs that more than 600 people have been detained over an unauthorized protest in Moscow, amid reports of police violence.

Protesters had gathered in the Russian capital after authorities disqualified a number of opposition candidates from standing in local elections.

The Guardian writes that a number of protesters said they attended Saturday’s demonstration because they were angry about the violence that overtook last week’s protests.

The New York Times writes that the Russian authorities announced they had opened a criminal money-laundering investigation against an anticorruption organization led by Russia’s most prominent opposition activist.

The case against Aleksei A. Navalny’s organization, the Anti-Corruption Foundation, was opened by the Investigative Committee. It involved funding for the anticorruption group’s work of 1 billion rubles (around $15 million) in “money obtained by criminal means.”

The money-laundering case is a sharp escalation in the Kremlin’s drive to silence Mr. Navalny, the driving force behind a surge of public dissent in recent weeks, and to snuff out opposition to President Vladimir V. Putin, whose popularity has slumped as Russia’s economy continues to stagnate.

Prepared by Marina Muradyan


https://acnis.am/en/weekly/25-2019-en 


 


ACNIS reView

Albert Nalbandian
Free chair     

AUGUST 09 2019 
 Since the formation of independent Armenia, we have been under total blockade. Only Georgia and Iran give us the opportunity to communicate with the outside world. Azerbaijan and Turkey are consistently and purposefully doing everything to isolate us as much as possible. It is natural that our government is constantly looking for ways to overcome the blockade by two neighboring states and mitigate its consequences. On the one hand, the transport veins connecting Armenia to Georgia and Iran, and on the other hand, the country’s energy security and self-sufficiency occupy a primary position in this matter. High voltage between Armenia and Georgia the laying of power transmission lines, as well as the synchronization of many actions of Armenia and Iran, can greatly contribute to increasing the security of Armenian electrical networks in order to prevent such global accidents as occurred during this summer. The construction of a new nuclear power plant is also an important strategic issue, because its presence not only increases energy security, but also significantly raises the international ranking of Armenia.

It should be noted that Azerbaijan is not sitting idly by. Thus, the tripartite summit of Baku, Tehran and Moscow will soon be held in Sochi, the agenda of which includes the construction of the North-South energy corridor, which should ensure the synchronization of the energy systems between Iran and Russia through Azerbaijani infrastructures. Energy security expert Vahe Davtyan believes that such a development of events will harm Armenia’s interests, as a situation is created in which the North-South Energy Corridor project with Armenia’s participation may simply lose its urgency. “In my opinion, this the aforementioned North-South Energy Corridor project, which will allow Armenia to act as a major electricity exporter and an important transit zone for electricity, can face the policy. Thus, the North-South is an integration challenge for Armenia, and the passive behavior shown towards it is unacceptable and extremely dangerous,” said the expert.

In terms of Armenia’s security, the construction of the North-South highway is equally important. This transport corridor has the most important strategic importance for Armenia. The 550 km long road will provide access to the Black Sea and European countries, providing a connection with Iran and Georgia. Moreover, this road will halve the sea route of cargo carriers from industrialized Asian countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea, provided that container ships pass through the Suez Canal, which has a very limited capacity. If we count the delivery of containers from those countries to the Georgian port of Poti the traditional way (bypassing the African continent), then it is reduced by 3.5 times. Just look at the map to see for yourself. With the development of our economy, cargo transportation through Iran and the Persian Gulf will decrease by 2-3 times, which will significantly lower the price of Armenian products both in our country and abroad. We can become a transit country for transporting goods from Asian countries to Europe through Georgian ports, significantly shortening their delivery route. The problem of building a railway connecting Armenia and Iran also lies in this dimension. Our neighbors were aware of the unprofitability of the railway line from Azerbaijan to Georgia took the step, knowing that it would further isolate Armenia, be a lever of pressure on Georgia and pass through the Armenian-inhabited areas of Georgia, thereby justifying the presence of Turkish troops to protect the railway where Armenians live.

The statements of some of our “experts” that these projects are ambitious and not profitable are worrying. But even if the implementation of these projects is not covered, we are still obliged to implement them, because the existence of energy and transport corridors fully ensures not only the economic but also the political security of Armenia.

 

Karapet Kalenchyan


 


 

 

ACNIS reView

Maghakian Mike
Editorial   


 AUGUST 09 2019
A debate about the future without the participation of the ruling party?

Today’s Armenia has found itself in an ideological impasse. The current government, represented by the Prime Minister, declares that they do not have “isms”, that is, they do not profess any ideology. During the elections of the new board of the “Civil Contract” (CP) party on June 14 of this year, he said:

“We are very often called liberal or centrist, but this is a misunderstanding, because we are a party that has rejected “isms”, because hardened ideologies no longer exist in the modern world. In the political sense, we are not liberal, we are not centrist, we are not social-democratic, we are a civil party. What does this mean in practice? This means that we put ourselves outside the ideological standards and form a new ideological dimension, which is based on 4 key pillars: statehood, citizenship, national identity, individuality.

The four “pillars” mentioned by the Prime Minister can be a support for the right, and the left, and the greens, and nationalists, even pacifists, depending on who interprets those “pillars”. Simply put, pointing to “pillars” still means nothing.

After last year’s change of power, political parties that have not even recovered or those that still show signs of life criticize the prime minister, saying that not having “isms” means not having a political line along which the government should move. There are also other opinions according to which the current government still has an “ism”, that is populism. Our goal is not to get involved in that dispute, but let’s try to understand whether political ideologies, even if not in a “hardened” form, have exhausted themselves or not.

If we look at the parties registered in the European Union, we will see that “isms” are present there.

  • liberals. Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, European People’s Party,
  • socialists. European Christian Political Movement, Party of European Socialists, Party of the European Left,
  • greens. European Green Party,
  • conservatives. Party of European Conservatives and Reformists, etc.

The list can be continued: there are centrists, nationalists, Eurosceptics and others.

By the way, CP party, having no ideology, cannot decide which union of European parties to become a partner.

Political ideologies are considered in two dimensions.

  • how society should be organized
  • how to achieve that goal.

As we have shown, social ideologies still exist in the modern world, moreover, not having an ideology, we are talking about Europe in particular, means not having ideological partners, which is problematic for Armenia. But this is a topic for another discussion.

In the new round of the Armenian political struggle, which is about to begin, the central debate will, as a matter of fact, be about the direction of the country’s development. How do we imagine the way society will be organized in Armenia in the future and what will be the way to achieve it, that is, what will be the plan of the future government, the ways of development, the road map? If the ruling party continues to adopt a political course of abandoning “isms”, then that debate will take place without its participation, however unusual such a situation may be.

A great step has been taken for the establishment of the Bar Institute in Armenia. About a hundred lawyers made their choice in favor of establishing an independent judicial system. They should be thanked.

It’s the turn of the judges. If the judges can also unite to protect their independence, it will be a huge step in establishing an independent judicial system.

Special thanks should be given to Nikol Pashinyan, who with his unprecedented anti-constitutional actions against the judicial system contributes to the establishment of the legal and judicial system. It is his only promise, for the fulfillment of which he takes concrete and consistent steps.

Thanks also to Gagik Jhangiryan and Vahe Grigoryan for blurring the halal-zulal separation of “black and white”, thanks to which people began to perceive life not in an emotional-instinctive way, but to judge by principles.

 
 
 

Sanitek International LLC and Armenian branch of Sanitek LLC owe Armenia about 600 million drams

Emil Lazarian
Arminfo, Armenia
Aug 13 2019
Naira Badalian

ArmInfo. According to preliminary  estimates of the State Revenue Committee (SRC) of Armenia, Sanitek  International LLC and the Armenian branch of Sanitek LLC owed the  state about 600 million drams. SRC Deputy Chairman Edward  Hovhannisyan stated this on August 13 at a press conference.

In particular, according to Hovhannisyan, in January-September 2018,  Sanitek International LLC did not pay taxes to the state budget in  the amount of 299.918.392 drams (VAT), and the unpaid taxes of the  Armenian branch of Sanitek LLC amounted to 280.429.121 drams.

As the deputy head of the tax and customs committee showed, it turned  out that the company, which, according to its type of activity, was a  payer of value added tax (VAT), for some reason, presented the  transport of waste as a cargo transportation activity. Meanwhile,  according to Hovhannisyan, sanitations of territories or snow removal  are subject to VAT. “We believe that transport of waste should not be  considered as cargo transportation. In addition, the activities of  the transport of waste company do not meet the criteria for cargo  transportation,” he said. At the same time, as the deputy chairman  pointed out, the company is also in arrears regarding environmental  tax payments.

According to the deputy head of the Committee, at this stage, Sanitek  International LLC and Yerevan branch of Sanitek LLC appointed complex  tax audits.  Earlier, ArmInfo reported that the Investigative  Department of the State Revenue Committee is continuing to  investigate a criminal case against Sanitek on the fact of tax  evasion on an especially large scale.  According to the press service  of the SRC, the case, according to the second part of the 205th  article of the RA Criminal Code, was initiated on February 22, 2019.  According to the source, there are no persons passing as defendants  in the framework of this criminal case.

Construction of a new vehicle customs in Gyumri will be entrusted to "MOSCOW AREA" OJSC. Who is the "promoter" of this company- SRC is not known

Ani Basmajian
Arminfo, Armenia
Aug 13 2019
Naira Badalian

ArmInfo.The construction of a new vehicle customs in Gyumri will be undertaken by the “MOSCOW AREA” OJSC. Deputy Chairman of the SRC of Armenia Edward Hovhannisyan stated this on August 13 at a meeting with reporters.

“To be honest, I’m not informed who is the “promoter” of this  company,” Hovhannisyan noted.  According to him, traditionally,  contractors of such projects, taking into account its urgency, are  selected without a tender – by purchasing services from one person.

Earlier, ArmInfo reported that a program was launched in Armenia to   open a new vehicles customs clearance center in Gyumri. The total   cost of the program is 2.2 billion drams. The intentions to transfer   the customs clearance point for imported cars from the customs   department in Noragavit to Gyumri come from the order of the Prime   Minister of the Republic of Armenia in connection with an   unprecedented increase in the import of motor vehicles from countries   that are not members of the EAEU. It is planned to build a car   customs in Gyumri on the territory of 21.5 hectares owned by the   Ministry of Defense. 4.5 hectares from this territory will be   allocated for the establishment of a customs and police service   center. Cabinet has already allocated 966.4 million drams for the  construction. During the meeting, head of SR$C David Ananyan stated  that the  “MOSCOW AREA” OJSC would design the construction of the  station, and the monitoring of the work would be carried out by Shin  Industry CJSC. David Ananyan assured that procurement of services  from one person will not affect the quality and terms of the program.

Meanwhile, rumors are circulating in the media that the  “MOSCOW  AREA” OJSC belongs to the father of  deputy of the Council of Elders  of Gyumri Artak Adamyan from the “Balasanyan” faction (the faction is  headed by mayor of the city Samvel Balasanyan). ArmInfo managed to  find information on the presence of “MOSCOW AREA” OJSC on the website  of the electronic register of legal entities, where only the date of  its establishment is indicated – April 26,1995. 

Marutyan: We made a mistake by providing only one company with a garbage collection function

Talar Tumanian
Arminfo, Armenia
Aug 13 2019
Asya Balayan

ArmInfo. The previous authorities of Yerevan made a mistake by providing only one company with the function of garbage collection, thereby not leaving “airbags” for  themselves. On May 13, Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan said this during  meeting broadcasted live on Facebook initiated by the Prime Minister  Nikol Pashinyan.

Reporting to the prime minister about the current situation with  garbage collection, Marutyan called one of the reasons for the  failure of Sanitek company, which, in his opinion, does not own  experience in this field.  He also said that the information about  the company having any experience in garbage collection is  contradictory.

To Pashinyan’s question whether the municipality performed its  functions in a timely manner, Marutyan assured that the municipality  clearly and on time transferred the necessary funds to the company.   According to the mayor, Sanitek cannot work, first of all, because   the fleet is in poor condition.  “Under the contract, the company   was supposed to supply 16 thousand metal trash bins, but now the  total number of the company’s trash bins in Yerevan barely reaches 5  thousand”, he explained.  The mayor also reminded that after Sanitek  entered the Armenian market, the previously existing sanitary sectors  were liquidated, however trusting such a business to only company  always carries risks.  In turn, Pashinyan drew attention to the  Lebanese origin of the company, noting that the authorities so far  prefer not to talk about the real owners of the company.

”We do not tell for now brother of  which former senior official is  connected with Lebanon. These are issues that we do not touch upon  yet”, said Pashinyan.  It should be noted that the brother of Serzh  Sargsyan Levon Sargsyan for many years was the Ambassador of Armenia  to Lebanon.

Earlier it became known that according to preliminary calculations of  the State Revenue Committee (SRC) of Armenia, Sanitek International  LLC and the Armenian branch of Sanitek LLC owed the state about 600  million drams.

At the meeting of the Council of Elders, it was also decided to  allocate 1 billion 726 million drams to resolve problems with garbage  collection. It should be noted that the problem of garbage collection  has been acute in Yerevan since last summer. Yerevan Municipality and  Sanitek cannot agree on the proper organization of waste collection,  periodically making mutual accusations. The city authorities  repeatedly fined the company (for a total of 150 thousand dollars),  and recently Sanitek went to court, demanding compensation in almost  the same amount.

Set, costume designer Edna Zeinalian to get lifetime achievement award

Ani Basmajian
Tehran Times, Iran
Monday
Set, costume designer Edna Zeinalian to get lifetime achievement award
 
Photo: Set and costume designer Edna Zeinalian in an undated photo. (Honaroline/Gata Ziatabari)
 
TEHRAN – The Iranian-Armenian set and costume designer Edna Zeinalian will be honored for her lifetime achievements on Wednesday.
 
She will receive an award for her long brilliant career in theater during a special ceremony, which is scheduled to be organized at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall by the Stage and Costume Designers Society of Iran.
 
She began studying in costume design at Tehran’s Alzahra University in 1972 and started working as a stage and costume designer at the Rudaki Foundation in 1978.
 
She has worked in over 100 theaters during her career spanning over 40 years.
 
The Stage and Costume Designers Society of Iran also plans to unveil a prize named after Zeinalian during the ceremony. The prize will be presented to a top stage and costume designer every year.
 
She deems herself deeply indebted to her parents. “I was really lucky to have good teachers, the best of them was my mother,” she once said in an interview published in 2016.
 
“I also learned from my father to accept my failures and to try a new beginning in good spirits,” she added.
 
A string orchestra, which will be conducted by the renowned Iranian-Armenian maestro Loris Tjeknavorian, will perform a concert at the ceremony, which will be organized in collaboration with the Rad No-Andish Art and Cultural Institute.
 
“I called the concert ‘A Dialogue between Two Brothers’,” Tjeknavorian said in a press release published on Sunday by the institute.
 
“As a part of a large musical project, the concert is a special dialogue between the music of the East and West,” he added and noted, “I am really hopeful that the project can succeed and we will expand the project if everything goes well.”
 
Celebrated pianist Bardia Sadrenoori will accompany the orchestra during the performance.
 

Sports: Diaspora is unhappy as participants from Armenia are winning Pan-Armenian Games’ all medals

Emil Lazarian
News.am, Armenia
Aug 13 2019

By Lusine Shahbazyan

All medals of the Pan-Armenian Games are won by participants from Armenia, a member of the World Committee of the Executive Committee of the Pan-Armenian Games Sepu Baghdoyan told reporters.

Earlier, participants of the 7th Pan-Armenian Games on Tuesday visited the Armenian Genocide memorial complex in Yerevan.

“We have been participating in the Games since 2003. We are glad that the opening ceremony of the Games was held in Artsakh. It was important for us that Artsakh also join.

The participants from Armenia and Artsakh are professionals, we have no chance to win. Something needs to be done so that the Diaspora Armenians could win,” he said.