Category: 2020

Regional governor: Prosperous Armenia Party doesn’t have public support and rating for change of power

Baghdasarian Karlen
News.am, Armenia
 
 
Regional governor: Prosperous Armenia Party doesn’t have public support and rating for change of power
 
 
I am very skeptical about the Prosperous Armenia Party’s calls for consolidation of the political opposition because I don’t believe the political party has the support of the public and the rating required for change of power. This is what Governor of Kotayk Province Romanos Petrosyan told reporters in parliament today.
 
“In Armenia, the people are the ones who will demand or not demand change of power. There can be calls for and attempts of change of power, and, of course, after the state of emergency, but I am very skeptical about that. There is a reason for the political party’s motivation. The Armenian government has declared that there is no oligarchy in Armenia. Today, oligarchs don’t have an impact on governance. When oligarchs are deprived of the opportunity to have an impact on public administration and have to pay taxes, they can feel discomfort and try to regain power.
 
Prosperous Armenia Party has no impact on public administration and can only have some impact through legislation that may serve a given businessman’s business interests,” the regional governor said.

COVID-19 disease is uncontrollable, Armenian doctor claims

Alex Jidarian
News.am, Armenia
 
 
18:57, 10.06.2020
 
COVID-19 disease is uncontrollable, said the deputy director of the Surb Grigor Lusavorich medical center for the treatment part Petros Manukyan.
 
According to him, many patients have accompanying diseases that complicate the course of the disease.
 
“We cannot predict the course of the disease, and today – both around the world and here – the applied medical methods do not yet have that clear evidence base that can clearly affect the outcome of the disease,” he noted.
 
Surb Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center is currently treating only severe and extremely severe patients. According to the deputy director, there is a war, health workers are fighting day and night to save lives. He urged to follow the rules of the commandant’s office.

Expert urges Armenian authorities to ‘quickly and effectively’ address Iran-related issue

Nahapetian Samvel
Panorama, Armenia

Author Lala Ter-Ghazaryan

Panorama.am spoke with Vardan Voskanyan, an expert on Iran and the head of the YSU Chair of Iranian Studies, about the recent rally in front of the Armenian Embassy in Iran, its possible repercussions and Armenia’s future moves.

Panorama.am: Mr. Voskanyan, how did Iranian media outlets react to the protest?

Vardan Voskanyan: Iranian media actively spread the reports on the demonstration in front of the Armenian Embassy. It was also covered by the Iranian state TV, which comes to show that the protesters, in fact, expressed the views of Iranian government officials, although it’s not spoken out.

Panorama.am: Who were among the protesters? Were they representatives of NGOs or activists?

Vardan Voskanyan: Iranian media identified around thirty protesters as students. Protesters chanted no anti-Armenian slogans, nor did they burn an Armenian flag. The slogans were anti-Israeli, partly anti-American and anti-British. They decried Armenia’s plan to open an embassy in Israel and handed over a letter to the Armenian Embassy, expressing concern over the deepening of its relations with Israel.

If interpreting these events, it becomes obvious that Iran, including its official circles, are seriously concerned over the deepening of Armenian-Israeli relations, considering it as a signal of anti-Iranian actions in Armenia. I think this concern must be dispelled quickly and efficiently. The problem that has emerged must be resolved very quickly; there is no need to further explain the importance of Iran for Armenia’s political, economic and security systems. Relations with our southern neighbor provide a certain part of our security not only in Armenia, but also in Artsakh. Therefore, these wrinkles should be smoothed out through diplomatic channels.

Panorama.am: Could Iran’s such a move be expected?

Vardan Voskanian: The Iranian response to the opening of an Armenian embassy in Israel was rather tough, as evidenced by some Iranian media reports some time ago. Iranians assume and have concerns that Israel is pursuing a policy of blocking Iran. Armenia is next in line within this policy.

Before taking such a step, Armenia had to work with all our partners so that we would not have such a reaction. Naturally, such reactions leave some negative impact on Armenian-Iranian relations, which is not in the interests of either Armenia or Iran. It’s beneficial for some states with hostile relations with us, and the fact is evidently used by those countries – Azerbaijan and Turkey. We need to develop more balanced approaches to this issue, as Armenia should never end up at the forefront of the Iran-Israel conflict or become a platform for such a conflict.

We had a certain level of relations with Israel, which is understandable and acceptable for Iran and our other partners. Let me remind you that Armenia has also established relations with Arab countries, which, I do not think, are excited about the deepening of Armenian-Israeli relations.

There is also a problem of communication here. It should be made clear to our society what Armenia benefits from this partnership, what losses the country may suffer or what possible challenges it may face.

Panorama.am: Can we conclude that the problem has stemmed from poor diplomatic work?

Vardan Voskanian: I just present my views and don’t consider it necessary to evaluate anyone’s work, but in this case the results of the work are obvious and they should be corrected as soon as possible, because we cannot have problems on our two open borders with Iran and Georgia. I reiterate that this problem must be resolved rather quickly and effectively, so that we don’t have such events fraught with bitter consequences in the future.

Panorama.am: Don’t you think that Iran’s protest is an attempt to meddle in Armenia’s domestic affairs?

Vardan Voskanyan: In general, any country runs its own policy, taking into account its opportunities. If Armenia has the opportunity to resolve this issue by following the logic you mentioned, it can do so. I think that at the moment Armenia lacks such an opportunity. Many countries in the world do not have this opportunity today; they generally avoid having additional problems with Iran. The world’s number one superpower also avoids confrontations with Iran. Therefore, any approach, including in the context of foreign policy, should be based on real assessment of one’s own capacities rather than arrogance. Otherwise, arrogance can lead to bad and hard-to-handle consequences.

Panorama.am: What steps should Armenia take under the current circumstances?

Vardan Voskanyan: The country should address the issue through diplomatic and other channels as soon as possible and eventually resolve the problem which we regularly come across in media, already at the level of protest actions. This doesn’t lie in the interests of either the Republic of Armenia or the Islamic Republic of Iran, nor does it fit into the logic of friendly and warm relations that have existed between our two countries in general since the independence.

Tbilisi: How can Georgia help Armenia in the fight against the coronavirus?

Hunanian Jack
Agenda, Georgia

  • More than 8,000 people are infected with COVID-19 in Armenia as of June 10. Photo: RIA Novosti.

Agenda.ge, 10 Jun 2020 – 11:48, Tbilisi,Georgia

Georgian health officials and ministers have stated that the country is ready to help neighbouring Armenia in the fight against the coronavirus.

Armenia has already registered more than 14,000 cases of COVID-19.

Photo: coronavirus live update.

Head of Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Amiran Gamkrelidze says that the NCDC has already, ‘verbally and officially,’ offered help to Armenia’s Disease Control Centre in carrying out testing.

Armenia is our neighbour country and we are ready to stand by them. We, the NCDC, are able to give them tests and carry out testing as well. It takes just four hours between Yerevan and Tbilisi and we are able to study 1,000 samples in 24 hours,” Gamkrelidze told TV Pirveli. 

Gamkrelidze stated that Georgia’s Health Ministry and the Ministry of Economy are also ready to support Armenia in terms of treatment or transportation of infected individuals or providing the country with face masks. 

  • Georgia reoffers help to Armenia ‘at any time’ in fight against coronavirus

We are able to provide support [them] in all directions. It is up to Armenia to decide what kind of support is more beneficial for them as of now,” Gamkrelidze said.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry stated last week that the country is ready to help Armenia ‘at any time.’

Photo: coronavirus live update.

As of today 8,650 people are infected with COVID-19 in Armenia, while the figure stands at 119 in Georgia.

227 people have died of the coronavirus in Armenia and 13 in Georgia. 

World Bank Cuts 2020 GDP Forecasts for Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan

Tambiyan Samvel
New York Times
June 9 2020
 
 
 
By Reuters 
June 9, 2020
 
TBILISI — The World Bank has cut its 2020 economic growth forecasts for Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia due to the coronavirus pandemic, but it expects the three South Caucasus nations to recover next year.
 
“Growth in the South Caucasus is projected to decelerate to -3.1% this year as the subregion faces growth headwinds from the COVID-19 pandemic and, subsequently, low commodity prices,” the World Bank said in a global economic prospects report.
 
Growth is projected to pick up to 3% in 2021, it said, as the impact of shocks related to the pandemic dissipates and tourism recovers alongside improving consumer and business confidence in Armenia and Georgia.
 
“Activity is expected to firm in Azerbaijan in 2021 as oil prices stabilise, but the overall recovery will be muted by lingering structural rigidities,” it said.
 
Georgia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected to fall by 4.8% in 2020 before rebounding to around 4% in 2021, the World Bank said.
 
The Georgian government has also revised its economic outlook forecast to -4% this year from a previous growth projection of 4.5%.
Georgia’s economy contracted by 3.6% year-on-year in the first four months of 2020, compared with 4.8% growth in the same period of 2019, as measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus took their toll.
 
The World Bank forecast Armenia’s economy would shrink by 2.8% in 2020 and then expand by 4.9% in 2021.
 
The Armenian government expects a contraction of 2%, down from an earlier projection of 4.9% growth.
 
GDP in oil-rich Azerbaijan is expected to contract by 2.6% in 2020, partly due to weaker crude prices, but should rebound by 2.2% next year, said the World Bank, which had previously predicted Azerbaijan’s growth would be 2.3% in 2020.
 
(Writing by Margarita Antidze; Editing by Gareth Jones)
 
 

Music: Armenian competition goes online

Garnik Zakarian
Classical Music
Armenian competition goes online

The 2020 Khachaturian International Competition responds to coronavirus with digital innovation


In a bold move signalling that the show must go on amid Coronavirus, the annual Khachaturian International Competition, dedicated this year to the violin, is placing its faith in technology by holding its entire 2020 competition online.

In a press conference on 6 June broadcast from the Armenian capital Yerevan, it was announced that 18 competitors from 13 countries would perform via a new app, both in the opening rounds, and during the concerto final.

Opening rounds will be straightforward enough, with competitors submitting performances via the competition website from their home countries to both online jury and audience. But it’s the final concerto round that has caused heads to be scratched. Bringing the Yerevan-based Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sergey Smbatyan, together with soloists scattered across the world will be a monumental challenge, but it is hoped that innovative use of artificial intelligence will help to synchronise the music.

This is the first time that a competition has announced an entirely online event – should the technology be a success, it’s hoped that it might be shared with other competitions around the world.

The Khachaturian International Competition runs until 15 June 2020 and can be viewed here. It has been held every year since 2003 and concentrates on four musical disciplines in rotation: cello, piano, violin and conducting.


Music: Music Evokes Emotions from Armenian Genocide

Andranik Taslakhchian
The Jewish News
By Suzanne Chessler
                            

The documentary “An Armenian Trilogy” is available on Amazon. (Photo courtesy of Dan Yessian)

Producer-musician Ohad Wilner and film editor Stewart Shevin grew up in Jewish families never forgetting the Holocaust, but they had no knowledge of the Armenian Genocide perpetrated years earlier by the Turkish Ottoman Empire.

Their knowledge came as they worked on musical projects with first-generation Armenian-American Dan Yessian, and the two enthusiastically helped communicate long-denied atrocities with an award-winning film.

<img class=”wp-image-195357 ” src=””https://thejewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/An-Armenian-Trilogy-Album-Cover-440×440.png” alt=”The three-movement classical composition, An Armenian Trilogy – Live in Yerevan, performed by the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra, is available on iTunes, Spotify and Amazon. ” width=”200″ height=”200″ srcset=”https://thejewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/An-Armenian-Trilogy-Album-Cover-440×440.png 440w, 880w, 768w, 1536w, 696w, 1392w, 1068w, 420w, 840w, 300w, 600w, 100w, 1600w” sizes=”(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px” />The three-movement classical composition, An Armenian Trilogy – Live in Yerevan, performed by the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra, is available on iTunes, Spotify and Amazon.

Milford resident Yessian generally immerses his business team in developing music for television shows, commercials, theme parks and game platforms through Yessian Music Inc., his music production company based in Farmington Hills with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Hamburg, Germany. Among Yessian’s many clients are the Ford Motor Company, Disney and Intel. But he entered into personally meaningful projects following a request from a religious leader at the Southfield church he attends.

Yessian was asked to create music expressing emotions associated with the 100th anniversary of the start of the atrocities in 1915, and the resulting symphony, “An Armenian Trilogy” as performed by the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra in 2017, became the center of a new documentary with the same title. The film chronicles Yessian’s journey from composing music for advertisements to writing his first classical composition in honor of the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

Prelude to the Holocaust

Wilner and Shevin readily associate the horrifying experiences of Armenians with the horrifying experiences of Jews, and Yessian agrees.

<img class=”wp-image-195358 ” src=””https://thejewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Ohan-Wilner-e1591639301429-301×440.jpg” alt=”Ohad Wilner” width=”200″ height=”293″ srcset=”https://thejewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Ohan-Wilner-e1591639301429-301×440.jpg 301w, 601w, 287w, 574w, 600w, 656w” sizes=”(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px” />Ohad Wilner

“The Armenians and the Jews went through a lot of the same things,” said the composer, who has also produced music for a fundraising project initiated by the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.

“And it’s not only Jews and Armenians through time. The story just goes on and on.”

The film, mostly via unscripted narration by Yessian, points out that in 1939, before invading Poland, Hitler expressed incentive for his horrific actions by suggesting no one remembered  the Armenian Genocide so no one would likely remember their actions either. And indeed, it wasn’t until 2019 that the U.S. Senate and House voted to recognize the mass Armenian killings that lasted until 1922 as a genocide.

The film invites viewers into the Yessian home to see where the music was created and to listen to comments from Yessian’s wife, Kathy, as she recalls her husband’s work. Historic film footage from Armenia dramatizes the symphonic sounds.

Creating the Tone

“This is the most serious [musical project] that I’ve done,” said Yessian, who works at a Steinway baby grand once owned by composer-performer Burt Bacharach. “It’s a complete, three-movement, classical piece.”

<img class=”wp-image-195360 ” src=””https://thejewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/film-editor-Stewart-Shevin-440×440.jpg” alt=”Stewart Shevin” width=”200″ height=”200″ srcset=”https://thejewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/film-editor-Stewart-Shevin-440×440.jpg 440w, 420w, 300w, 100w, 579w” sizes=”(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px” />Stewart Shevin

“The Freedom” presents the mood of the happier times before the atrocities began. “The Fear” delves into the dangers with galloping rhythms to represent soldiers on horseback leaning down to spear their victims. “The Faith” explores a sense of religious doubts before moving into a sense of hope for the future.

“I’m an ear musician, and I don’t really read music,” Yessian said. “The music [results from] whatever I’m imagining, and I get help with the notation. What I couldn’t play on the piano [for this piece], I would sing for the notation.”

Wilner, whose mother, Niva Wilner, teaches Hebrew at Hillel Day School, described his work on An Armenian Trilogy as doing whatever it took to come up with the finished film, and that involved being on set to help with camera responsibilities or directing, working on the audio mix and writing copy.

<img class=”wp-image-195359 size-medium” src=””https://thejewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Film-Still-Shot-3-780×440.jpg” alt=”A still shot from the documentary.” width=”780″ height=”440″ srcset=”https://thejewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Film-Still-Shot-3-780×440.jpg 780w, 1560w, 768w, 1536w, 696w, 1392w, 1068w, 747w, 1493w, 600w, 1920w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px” />A still shot from the documentary.

“I did have some parts in the film as we overdubbed,” said Wilner, an essentially self-taught, multi-instrumentalist musician who had piano lessons as a youngster. “I do some layers of electric guitar during the second movement, which is supposed to be very angry and emotional.”

He said the inspirational nature of the film resonated with him: “It’s about a man who is a first-generation American finding his way with a passion for music and making a living doing what he loves.

“I’m a kindred spirit as a musician and first-generation American. My parents are Israeli. I think this movie can serve as an inspiration for those who are seeking success through their passion.”

<img class=”wp-image-195365 ” src=””https://thejewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Dan-Yessian-1-color-scaled-e1591639764121-295×440.jpg” alt=”Dan Yessian” width=”200″ height=”298″ srcset=”https://thejewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Dan-Yessian-1-color-scaled-e1591639764121-295×440.jpg 295w, 590w, 768w, 1030w, 696w, 1068w, 282w, 563w, 600w, 1145w” sizes=”(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px” />Dan Yessian

Both Yessian and Wilner give credit for the film’s smoothness to Shevin, who has worked on projects for the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills.

“In working on this film, I was especially intrigued with the idea of someone looking for roots,” Shevin said. “It’s about what we all share and coming together.”

The film, shown at seven festivals, has received the Audience Choice Award at the Soo Film Festival in Sault St. Marie, the Best Score designation at the Northwest Ohio Historic Film Festival and the Exceptional Merit Award at the Docs Without Borders Film Festival.

“When this pandemic is over, I would like to have the musical piece flourish for live performance,” Yessian said. “Music gets to the heart.”

The documentary An Armenian Trilogy is available on Amazon. The three-movement classical composition, An Armenian Trilogy – Live in Yerevan, performed by the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra, is available on iTunes, Spotify and Amazon. Further music availability details and background information can be found at .

CIVILNET.Is COVID-19 A Global Equalizer? A Conversation With Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak

Karakhanian Suren
CIVILNET.AM

20:28

Dr. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak speaks to CivilNet’s host interviewer, AUA Adjunct Lecturer, Ph.D Narek Mkrtchyan about the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has posed to the world. 

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is an Indian literary theorist, feminist critic, postcolonial theorist. She is a Professor at Columbia University. Spivak is on the experts list of the World Economic Forum. Her work “Can the Subaltern Speak?” is one of the key theoretical texts in the field of postcolonial studies. Prof. Spivak was awarded the 2012 Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy and in 2013, she received the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award given by the Republic of India.

“Covid Talks” is CivilNet’s program where prominent international thinkers, scholars and policymakers present their views on the impact of COVID-19 on world politics and humanity. 

COVID-19: Georgian-Armenians donate 27 ventilators to Armenia

Frangulian Shushan

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 13:37, 9 June, 2020

YEREVAN, JUNE 9, ARMENPRESS. Several Armenians living in Georgia donated 27 ventilators to Armenia within the frames of the fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

The Armenian Embassy in Georgia organized the delivery of the devices to Armenia.

Healthcare Minister of Armenia Arsen Torosyan thanked the Georgian-Armenians for the donation. “Our patients really breath with these devices”, he said.

Former advisor to the Armenian prime minister Arsen Kharatyan also commented on the news, stating that the ventilators have been delivered to the Nork Infectious Disease Hospital.

According to the latest data, the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Armenia has reached 13,675, out of which 4,451 have already recovered. The death toll has reached 217. At the moment the number of active cases stands at 8,933.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan