12:31, 5 June, 2020
YEREVAN, JUNE 5, ARMENPRESS. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia rose by 8,726 to 449,834 in the past 24 hours, TASS reports citing the anti-coronavirus crisis center.
According to the crisis center, the country’s daily coronavirus growth rate has for the first time fallen below 2%, to 1.98%.
8,057 more patients have recovered in the past one day. The total number of recoveries has reached 212,680.
The death toll is 5,528.
13:04, 5 June, 2020
YEREVAN, JUNE 5, ARMENPRESS. The performance of the 2019 state budget met the criteria set by the fiscal rules. The tax revenues and expenditures grew in 2019, Deputy prime minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan said at the joint session of the parliamentary standing committees, introducing the report of the 2019 budget performance.
He reminded that in 2019 the economy of Armenia continued growing at faster rates compared to 2018 and a high 7.6% economic growth was registered compared to the previous year. In the same period the global economic growth comprised 2.6%, the average growths of the EU and the EAEU comprised 1.4% and 1.6% respectively.
“In 2019 the 12-month inflation comprised 0.7%, and the average inflation – 1.4%. The volumes of loans provided to residents by commercial banks and the deposits attracted continued growing at high rates in 2019, and the declining trends in interest rates of loans and deposits with the dram were obvious. The implementation of the 2019 state budget was in accordance with the criteria set by the fiscal rules. The capital expenditures of the state budget surpassed the amount of the state budget deficit”, he said.
In September 2019 Armenia successfully distributed foreign currency bonds worth 500 million USD for a 10-year term in the international capital market, with a 4.2% profitability.
In 2019, nearly 1.5 trillion AMD revenues entered to the state budget, which was an increase of 16.7% or nearly 223 billion AMD compared to the figure of the previous year. Tax revenues grew by 16.4% or 206 billion drams. Tax revenues-GDP ratio rate comprised 22.35%. The state budget expenditures in 2019 comprised nearly 1.6 trillion AMD, ensuring the annual program by 92.4%. In 2018 the budget expenditures grew by 12.6% or nearly 182 billion drams.
The deficit-GDP rate comprised 1% against the predicted 2.2%. As of December 31, 2019, the government’s debt comprised nearly 3.2 trillion AMD (6.8 billion USD or 50% of GDP).
Reporting by Anna Grigoryan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
13:25, 5 June, 2020
YEREVAN, JUNE 5, ARMENPRESS. The services branch and industry mainly contributed to the 7.6% economic growth registered in Armenia in 2019, Finance Minister Atom Janjughazyan said at the joint session of the parliamentary standing committees, discussing the report of the 2019 state budget performance.
“The field of services and industry were the main contributor branches to the 2019 economic growth. The population’s income also grew, the crediting volumes have increased. The increase of the external demand for some external industrial types also led to this growth”, the minister said.
The average inflation in 2019 comprised 1.4%. The prices of non-food products have increased by 1.5%. The price increase of food and non-alcoholic drinks comprised 1.9%.
The average monthly salary comprised 182 thousand 673 drams in 2019. Moreover, the salary at the public sector remains lower than that in the private sector. The average wage in the public sector is nearly 162,000 drams, whereas in the private sector it is nearly 193,000 drams. The employment rate grew by 4.3% in the reporting year.
Reporting by Anna Grigoryan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
French ambassador to the United Nations Jean-Bernard Mérimée played a key role in developing the final wording of the United Nations’ Security Council resolution 822 dealing with Karabakh, according to the State Department cable prepared in April 1993. The cable is among the documents dealing with the Karabakh conflict and recently published by the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The resolution drafted by U.S. diplomats and presented by then permanent representative at the UN Madeleine Albright initially referred to “Armenian forces” as occupying the Kelbajar district located between Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia proper.
According to the document “Amb. Mérimée (France) asserted that the language being suggested by, inter alia, the U.S., was too specific in view of the limited information Council members had about the situation.” The French envoy further suggested treating the Armenian capture of Kelbajar not under the UN chapter VII as an “act of aggression,” but chapter VI as a dispute that should be settled peacefully. The Resolution 822 adopted on April 30, 1993 referred to the “local Armenian forces.”
It is unclear to what extent the French diplomat may have been influenced by any contacts with Armenian diplomats or lobbyists. In 2005, Mérimée was charged in relation to the UN’s Oil-for-Food program dealing with Iraq. Among others involved, was Benon Sevan, a Cypriot Armenian who was the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs in the early 1990s. In 2016, Mérimée was sentenced to a fine of 50,000 Euros in the matter. Sevan, who denied charges against him, was never convicted.
The article was originally published on Focus on Karabakh, a project of the USC Institute of Armenian Studies
In picture: UN Security Council meeting in 1993 (Wikicommons)
The New Persian language has been written in various scripts throughout its long history (from the 8th century onwards): Arabic, Hebrew, Latin, and Armenian characters.
In the 8th century in Samarqand, in the heart of northern Central Asia, a new form of Persian now known as New Persian became the spoken language. The Samanids, a local dynasty that ruled the northern region of the Amu Darya River and part of eastern Iran between the 9th and 11th centuries, revived Persian as a language of literature, scholarship, and historical chronicles, utilizing the Arabic script to write it.
The earliest Persian manuscript in Arabic script is the Ketāb al-abnīa by Abū Manṣūr Heravī (10th century). The copy was made by the poet Asadī Ṭūsī in 1055-1056 and is preserved up to the present. In this manuscript, we can observe the principles of the adaptation of the Arabic script to render Persian phonetically.
There are two main innovations for rendering the Persian phonemes that are not found in Arabic. New letters were created for the four Persian consonants p, č, g, and ž. In final position, Persian short vowels are always represented by consonantal letters: final o by “w”, and both final e and a by “h”.
New Persian written in Arabic script began to flourish in the 9th century and continues to do so to this day.
Persian was also written in Hebrew script in a form known as Judeo-Persian. It was utilized for centuries by the Jewish community of Iran. There was never one form spoken by all Jews and the variety of spoken forms is reflected in the early Judeo-Persian literature that began to be used in the 8th century. In fact, the Judeo-Persian material that has been discovered from that time provides important information about early forms of New Persian itself.
Judeo-Persian literature includes both religious and secular texts.
The Latin alphabet also was used to write Persian. One of the most important Latino-Persian texts is the Latin-Persian-Turkish /Cuman/ dictionary of Codex Cumanicus. It contains rich Persian material written in the Latin alphabet. The authors of the aforementioned dictionary were probably Franciscans active in the Crimea in the first half of the 14th century.
The manuscript of the Qur’ān written in Latino-Persian and kept in the Vatican Museum also provides evidence regarding Latino-Persian literature. This manuscript was probably written by a Spanish Carmelite who was a member of the missionary expedition to Persia from 1608-1624.
Latin transcriptions of many Persian words and sentences are included in 17th-century European grammars of Persian.
The Persian corpus written in the Armenian script is comprised of literary and religious texts. The Armenian script was used by the Armenian Christians of Iran to write down mainly Persian translations of scripture. Armenian poets used Persian poetry fragments written in the Armenian script in their works.
The Persian codices written in Armenian script are kept in the collection of Armenian codices of the Research Institute of Ancient Manuscripts of Yerevan — the Matenadaran. In general, the literary Armeno-Persian texts of the Matenadaran can be divided into the following classification system:
1) Works and fragments of a religious nature,
2) Persian poetry fragments used by Armenian authors, ashughs or troubadours,
3) Bilingual dictionaries used as manuals of Persian.
In the Fund of Armenian manuscripts of the Matenadaran, there is a large number of religious fragments written in Armenian script interspersed amongst the Armenian manuscripts. The oldest fragment is the Armeno-Persian Lord’s Prayer from 15th century that is in the MS 7117. Armeno-Persian fragments of the New Testament make up the majority of the Armenian manuscripts.
Two Armeno-Persian codices of the Gospel are also kept in the fund of Armenian manuscripts: MS 3044 and MS 8492, written in the 18th century by Armenian scribes. The two codices have the following structure: the introduction, the four canonical Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and the content of the passages. These manuscripts were written for Persian-speaking Christian Armenians.
Matenadaran collection, Ms 3044, f. 10r
Matenadaran collection, Ms 8492, f. 187r
Armenian authors and ashughs used passages from Persian poetry in their works without changing their content but wrote them in the Armenian script. Many Persian literary passages and sentences written in Armenian script are stored amongst the Armenian manuscripts of the Matenadaran. This phenomenon is evidence of the spread of Persian among Armenians.
In the educational system of the Middle Ages, bilingual dictionaries and philological works were used in foreign language instruction. The Persian-Ottoman Turkish dictionary Tuhfe-i Šāhidī (The Gift of Shahidi) (921/1514) is a work that includes the vocabulary of the Masnaviye ma’snavi of Jalal ad-din Muhammad Balkhi (13th century), one of the most studied and copied works. In the Fund of the Matenadaran, one of the manuscripts of this bilingual dictionary is written in the Armenian script (18th century). One of the most important dictionaries written in Armenian script is the Persian-Armenian dictionary of Gevorg Dpir Ter-Hovhanissyan (known as Palatatsi), again written in the 18th century.
Armeno-Persian literature is the result of the cultural interactions of the Armenians in the Persianate world.
A brief on the Armenians of Dhaka: Regardless of the absence of any definitive chronicle on the advent of the Armenians in Bengal, particularly to Dhaka, historians today unanimously agree that the Armenians started to arrive in Bengal, from the late 17th century onwards. It was the lure of trade and commerce which attracted them to come here during the Mughal, Nawabi and the colonial periods – Company and the British Raj. Towards the end of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb’s reign, Job Charnok of the East India Company, the founder of Calcutta, is said to have enlisted the services of the hardy and industrious Armenians, then newly arrived migrants to Bengal. Their pontifical seat was in Julfa, Isfahan, in Persia (Iran). Although Christian by faith, their fluency in the Persian language, and familiarity with the Persian culture (Shiite Muslim) greatly facilitated their assimilation in Bengal, since the court and official language, that is, the lingua franca of the society, was Farsi or Persian up until 1835. However, even after the introduction of English as the official language, the larger society and local communities in the urban areas and even in the hinterland, carried on with their daily interactions as usual in Persian, Hindustani, Urdu or Bengali, to the advantage of the multilingual Armenians in Dhaka, and elsewhere in Eastern Bengal.
The provenance of the early presence of Armenians in Dhaka is borne by the fact that there are two known existing old graves of Armenians dated between 1714 and 1795, within the premises of the historic Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Rosary at Tejgaon, built in 1677. The earliest Armenians in Dhaka settled in Tejgaon. There was once a small ruined wooden Armenian chapel in Armanitola over which the Armenian Apostolic Church of the Holy Resurrection, was built later in 1781. The site on which the Church stands today, was once part of an old cemetery. This property was owned by an Armenian called Agha Catachik Minassian (Minas), who donated the land for building of the church. The mortal remains of his wife Sophie, who died in Dhaka in 1764, lie interred inside the church.
The Armenians were classified as Europeans in India during the British rule. The census of 1866 listed 107 Armenians in the town of Dhaka. According to the census, there was one clergyman, five zamindars, thirty merchants, five shopkeepers and four government servants at that time in Dhaka, who were Armenians. The Armenians were a favoured community of the British, since they were not only Christians, but an intrepidly enterprising people, imbued with a pioneering spirit, and guided by a strong work ethic. They also became readily anglicised. Thus, they blended well with other Europeans and were often members of the exclusive British social clubs in Dhaka, Narayanganj and in a few district towns of Eastern Bengal, prior to the partition of British India in 1947.
The Armenians initially traded in rawhides, salt, spices, precious stones, saltpetre, calico and indigo. Later they prospered in the 19th century as the foremost pioneers of the lucrative jute industry in Dhaka and Narayanganj, setting up mechanised factories dealing in jute and cotton textiles, thereby, becoming manufactures and retailers, initiated steam navigation businesses, dealt in wholesale trading in essential commodities, were the first to establish and operate super-shops which sold luxury European goods, and set up small shops including thrift stores, confectionaries and boarding houses (hotels). By the early 19th century quite a few had speculated wisely and invested capital in land, becoming wealthy zamindars (landholders), and notable philanthropists. In recognition of their commendable services, the Mughals, the Nawabs of Bengal and the British conferred on them the variously spelled appellations of Khajeh, Khojah or Khaja derived from the Persian honorific title of Khawaja or Khwaja, meaning lord or master. This was often corrupted or anglicised to Coja. They also carried another honorific prefix to their names, that of Agha (also Aga), signifying their Iranian antecedents.
Some of the noteworthy surnames of Armenian families of Dhaka in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries were the: Minassians/Minas’s, Aminus’s/Emnias’s, Merkers, Servorgs, Georges, Petrus’s/Petros’s, Pogoses, Kevorkes, Aratoons, Manooks/Manuks, Davids, Catchatoors, Stephens, Highcazonys, Mackertichs, Bagdassors, Nahapiets, Painotys/Paneatis, Harneys, Lazarus’s, Lucas’s, Agacys, Michaels, Sarkies’s/Cerkes’s, Joakims and Thomas’s. They once wielded great influence in Dhaka society, especially in the 19th and early 20th centuries as notable zamindars, merchants, financiers, philanthropists, institution builders (Pogose school and Dhaka Bank) and as community leaders of the civil society in local politics (municipal bodies), art and culture (horse racing, club). In Dhaka, many of them lived in the Armenian quarters in Armanitola or elsewhere in Old Dhaka, in beautiful garden houses in Ramna, Fulbaria, Motijheel and in palatial mansions along the banks of the river Buriganga in Dhaka, as can be seen from the alluringly picturesque booklet, “Panorama of Dacca”, 1840.
The Harneys are a notable Armenian family of 19th to mid-20th century Dhaka. My friend Macquir Harney, a successful hotelier in Dhaka, is a fourth generation direct descendant from his great-grandfather. This compelling story thus begins with the great-grandfather of Macquir, named William Harney (1830-1901), who was born in Belfast, Ireland, and came to Dhaka probably in the late 1840s. What actually impelled the young man to come to India (Bengal) is not clear, except to assume that he had travelled all the way to try his luck.
However, not long after his arrival in Dhaka, he volunteered and fought on behalf of the East India Company in the short-lived, abortive rebellion of the native sepoys of the Company at the historic Lalbagh fort in Dhaka in November 1857, following the failed Indian Rebellion of May 1857, in upper India starting in Meerut and ending with the fall of Mughal Delhi in September 1857. There is also a dearth of information on his life and times spent in Dhaka, besides that he married a lady named Heripsima (1843-1893) and raised a family. The older generation of the Harneys have all passed away. Sadly, they have not left behind any family chronicle. However, William along with his son Thomas William are credited for introducing the hackney-carriage – a four-wheel, horse-drawn covered carriage driven by a coachman (garwan) – to the streets of Dhaka, as an efficient mode of public transport. William died in Dhaka in 1901, and lies buried in the Armenian Churchyard along with his wife and eldest son. He and his wife had two sons: William Harney Jr (1863-1891) and Thomas William Harney (1872-1952), who was Macquir’s grandfather.
Thomas William Harney seemed to have done well in life, and became wealthy enough to eventually acquire a sizeable zamindari estate in Dhaka and Bhola. He was liked by Nawab Sir Salimullah of Dhaka, for his social refinement. He charmed the Nawab with his fluency in Farsi and Urdu. Thomas built two large houses in old Dhaka. The first one still stands today in a dilapidated condition at Harney Street, Armanitola. The second house, also an old one, can be visited at 64, Sarat Chandra Chakravarti road, in Mahuthtolly. This house was once known locally as the “Saab Kuthi” (Saheb Bari). The celebrated Bangla poet Shamsur Rahman was once a close neighbour and friend of the Harneys here. The young poet respectfully addressed William as “Bobby Saheb”. Both these houses were disposed of by the Harneys long ago. Thomas had also built a garden-house in Padma Pukur, some 122 miles south-west of Dhaka. He established The Dacca Cotton Mills in Postagola, Old Dhaka, nearby the river Buriganga. The land of the factory was leased from a Hindu family. Thomas married a lady named Teresa and had five sons, Harold, Gerald, Edward, Peter Lawrence and Charles Wilfred, and three daughters, Mary, Margaret and Carol.
Thomas William Harney and his family left the Orthodox Armenian Church and became Roman Catholics. Therefore, on their death he and his wife were buried at the Narinda Christian cemetery in Wari, instead of the Armenian Churchyard. He was the first Harney to break with the Armenian family tradition. However, he never severed his connection with the Armenian Church completely, but continued with his patronage and support, by occasionally visiting the church, and making handsome donations.
The youngest son of Thomas William and Teresa was called Charles Wilfred (1920-1975). Charles married Irene. They had two sons, Macquir and James, and a daughter, Rita Rose. The abolition of the zamindari in 1950 in East Bengal (Bangladesh), saw a steady decline in the fortunes of the Harneys. The zamindari estate in Bhola was lost and so was the property at Padma Pukur. After the Indo-Pak war of 1965, the Harneys’ cotton mill at Postagola, which was originally leased from a Hindu family, was acquired by the then Pakistan government as enemy property, since the Hindu owner of the land suddenly decided to leave for India permanently. On their deaths, Charles and Irene were buried at the Narinda cemetery in Wari.
The eldest son of Charles Wilfred and Irene, Macquir Harney (b.1961), is married to Teresa Kumkum. They have two sons, Joseph Wilfred and Charles Isidore Arnob, and two daughters, Rebecca Juliet and Jennifer Antora. As mentioned earlier, Macquir is a businessman about town. Before he became a hotelier, he worked for a while with Mother Teresa’s organisation, Missionaries of Charity, in Islampur, Dhaka. For his devotional social work, he was awarded a certificate by the legendary Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Macquir is of an amiable deportment. He is soft-spoken and an engaging conversationalist, once you get to know him. He is trying his best to keep the Harney family legacy and the Armenian heritage alive. Over the years, almost all the Harneys have emigrated overseas, having left Dhaka and Chittagong for good. They now live in Kolkata, Australia, USA and Canada.
Macquir, too, is of the Roman Catholic persuasion, initiated first by his grandfather. Consequently, he does not regularly attend the Armenian Church. Nonetheless, he has a strong emotional connection to the church in Armanitola, where his Armenian ancestors lie buried. Moreover, he is the sole representative of the once thriving and vibrant Armenian community of Dhaka. As someone with the notable surname of Harney, he is the last link to the past amongst all those memorable surnames of the remarkable Armenian families listed above, who had once enriched the history and heritage of Dhaka manifold, the remnants and memories of which continue to intrigue us!
I am grateful to Macquir Harney, for generously sharing the images and the basic family information. His help and cooperation were invaluable.
Waqar A Khan is the Founder of Bangladesh Forum for Heritage Studies.
TEHRAN- The governor of Armenia’s Lori City announced that the city is prepared to facilitate trade for the businessmen from Iranian northern province of Mazandaran, IRNA reported.
Speaking in a video conference with the Mazandaran governor, Andrey Ghukasyan said Lori is ready to fulfill Iranian and Armenian businessmen’s demands in line with reinforcing economic ties.
The Armenian official further vowed for facilitating and accelerating clearance of goods from the customs for the Iranian businessmen.
Investment in Mazandaran is an opportunity for Armenian businessmen, he noted.
He also underlined Mazandaran’s good infrastructures in the trade and tourism fields.
“We will spare no efforts for satisfying Mazandaran businessmen”, Ghukasyan reiterated.
He went on to say that Mazandaran enjoys the good garden, food, and dairy products which can fulfill a considerable part of Armenian provinces’ needs.
He referred to signing an MOU between Mazandaran and Lori, saying we are committed to implementing these MOUs.
The MOU was signed last year aiming to develop economic interactions between Lori and Mazandaran.
Iran has resumed exports to its neighbor Armenia since early April.
“The exports are conducted via Iran’s northwestern Norduz border in a limited quantity”, Rouhollah Latifi, the spokesperson of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), announced at the time, adding, “With 250 trucks passing through the border on Aras River, trade with the neighboring country is normalizing after weeks.”
“Armenia imported over $430 million worth of Iranian goods in the past Iranian calendar year [ended on March 19] to become the country’s second export destination among the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU)’s member states after Russia,” he said.
Iran’s preferential trade agreement with the EAEU has had a significant impact on the country’s trade relations with Armenia, according to the head of Iran-Armenia Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“The two sides are applying tariff discounts offered based on the agreement and there has been no problem in this regard”, Hervik Yarijanian said in January.
According to the official, the volume of trade between the two countries has witnessed an outstanding rise since the agreement became effective last October.
Iran mainly imports red meat from Armenia, while Armenia imports polymer raw materials, machinery, industrial gases, manufactured artifacts, leather, and leather goods from Iran, he said.
He further noted that Iran has a much greater export capability compared to Armenia, adding that traders have not yet gotten used to the idea of the preferential trade agreement and hopefully with the expansion of this deal, more Iranian traders will be attracted to the Armenian market.
Iran and Armenia have been emphasizing the need for preserving and expanding trade relations between the two countries since the preferential trade deal between Iran and EAEU was implemented.
While the U.S. renewed sanctions on Iran are aimed at isolating the Islamic Republic both politically and economically, Iran’s relations, especially in the economic sectors, with its neighbors are seemed not to be affected by the sanctions.
The northwestern neighbor Armenia is one of the countries preserving and expanding its economic relations with Iran regardless of the sanction condition.