Category: 2020

Armenia President: I know that many of you at this time are looking for rescue buoy

Emil Lazarian
News.am, Armenia
May 1 2020

11:01, 01.05.2020
                  

City of Brea (California) declares 2020 Year of Armenian Genocide Commemoration

Boshkezenian Garik
Public Radio of Armenia
May 1 2020

The City of Brea in northern Orange County, California has declared 2020 as the “Year of The Commemoration of the 105th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.”  The proclamation also designated April of every year hereafter as Armenian History Month.

The proclamation was spearheaded by Armenian-American Marty Simonoff, Mayor of the City of Brea. Mayor Simonoff, a steadfast supporter of Armenian-American issues, was first elected into public office for the City of Brea in 1996 and  is currently serving his sixth term on the Brea City Council.

“The Armenian National Committee of America – Orange County chapter would like to extend its gratitude to the City of Brea and Mayor Marty Simonoff for their commitment to the ongoing remembrance and commemoration of the Armenian Genocide,” remarked Armen Garabedian, Chair of the ANCA Orange County chapter. “This powerful proclamation not only codefies the official remembrance of the Armenian Genocide and celebration of the Armenian-American community through the designation fo April as Armenian History Month, but highlights contemporary consequences of genocide denial through Turkey’s enabling of Azerbaijan’s physical and cultural genocide against the Armenians of Artsakh.”

Mayor Simonoff, a member of the Armenian-American community, has been a staunch supporter of genocide recognition, genocide education, and advocacy for the right to self-determinatio for the people of Artsakh. He has been instrumental in facilitating yearly Armenian Genocide Remembrances and Proclamations with the Orange County Board of Supervisor, and continues to work closely with the Armenian-American community – including the ANCA Orange County chapter – to address the interests and needs of the local community.

“We thank Mayor Simonoff for his support throughout the years in advancing our community priorities locally, and at a county level,” added Garabedian. “On this 105th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, we welcome this proclamation and look forward to continuing to work with the City of Brea and Mayor Smirnoff in advancing our community’s cause for justice. ”

The Proclamation reads as follows:

WHEREAS, Armenian have inhabited the Armenian Highland for over four millennia and have developed a unique, rich civilization in the region with a long and continuous history, including the establishment of many kingdoms and also the establishment of the Armenian Empire during the first century BCE; and

WHEREAS, the Armenian people were subjects of a systematic and premeditates genocidal campaign in their ancestral homeland, which began on April 24, 1915, at the hand of the Ottoman Turkish government from 1915-1919, and which continued at the hands of Kemalist government of the Republic of Turkey from 1920-1923, whereby on and one-half million Armenian men, women, and children were slaughtered or marched to their deaths in an effort to annihilate the Armenian Nation in the first modern genocide, while thousands of surviving Armenians were forcibly converted or Islamized, and hundreds of thousands more were subjected to ethnic cleansing during the period of the modern Republic of Turkey from 1924-1937; and

WHEREAS, during the same period the Ottoman Turkish authorities massacred over one million Greeks, Assyrians, and other Christian minorities as part of the planned complete eradication and genocide of the indigenous communities. These international crimes against humanity resulted in the permanent removal of all traces of the Armenians and other targeted peoples from their ancestral historic homelands, and enriching the perpetrators with the lands of confiscation of other property of the victims, including usurpation of several thousand churches. These international crimes against humanity still require justice; and

WHERAS, in response to the Genocide and at the behest of President Woodrow Wilson and the US State Department, the Near East Relief organization-as first Congressionally-sanctioned American philanthropic effort created to rescue the Armenian genocide survivors-was founded and provided unprecedented relief, delivering more than $117 million in humanitarian assistance between 1915 and 1930, and saving approximately one million refugees, including 130,000 orphans of genocide; and

WHEREAS, prior to the implementation of the Holocaust, in order to garner support from his follower, Adolf Hitler asked “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?” The Republic of Turkey continues its genocidal policy by showing no remorse for the crime and vehemently denying the veracity of the Genocide perpetrated against the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian nations; and

WHEREAS, the Republic of Turkey has long served as a destabilizing force in the region by illegally blockading the Republic of Armenia, among other gross violations of international law. The republics of Turkey and Azerbaijan proclaim each other as “one nation, two states.” From 1988-1990, the Armenian population in Soviet Azerbaijan was the target of racially motivated pogroms in the cities of Sumgait (February 27-29, 1988), Kirovabad (November 21-27, 1988), and Baku (January 13-19, 1990). 89 medieval churches, 5,840 ornate cross-stones and 22,000 tombstones in the formerly-Armenian region of Nakhichevan were systematically and covertly eradicated by the Azerbaijani government from 1997-2006 in order to erase the region’s indigenous Armenian past in what is now called “the worst cultural genocide of the 21st century.” Having suffered racial and economic discrimination under the Soviet Azerbaijani occupation, the citizens of the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Region declared their independence from the USSR in 1991 and established the free, independent, and democratic Republic of Artsakh; and

WHEREAS, republic of Armenian and Artsakh are bastions of freedom, liberty, and democracy in the region, serving as staunch US allies and defenders of Western Civilization.  Those citizens of Turkey who speak the truth about the Armenian Genocide continue to be silenced by violent means and/or imprisonment, in part due to a Turkish law which criminalizes any _expression_ which is considered to the insulting to the Turkish identity. The Armenian Genocide has been officially recognized by the US Congress in 2019 with the adoption of H. Res. 296 in the House of Representatives and S. Res. 150 in the Senate, officially reaffirming the US record on the Armenian Genocide; and

WHEREAS, both resolution set, as a matter of US policy to (1) commemorate the Armenian Genocide through official recognition and remembrance, (2) reject efforts to enlist, engage, or otherwise associate the United States Government with denial of the Armenian Genocide or any other genocide; and (3) encourage education and public understanding of the facts of the Armenian Genocide, including the Unites States role in the humanitarian relief effort, and the relevance of the Armenian Genocide to modern-day crimes against humanity. By recognizing and consistently remembering the Armenian Genocide and other genocides we help protect cultural and historic memory and ensure that similar atrocities do not occur again; and

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City of Brea hereby designates 2020 as “Year of Commemoration of the 105th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide” and the month of April of every year thereafter as “Armenian History Month” and in doing so will ensure that the Armenian Genocide and history is properly commemorated in the community at large. The City of Brea hereby commends the extraordinary service which was delivered by the Near East Relief to the survivors of the Genocide, including thousands of direct beneficiaries of American philanthropy who are the great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents of many Californian Armenian-Americans, and reaffirms its commitment to working with community groups, nonprofit organizations, personnel, and the student body to host campus-wide educational events dedicated specifically to these efforts and this important part of American history.  The City of Brea calls upon the US President to work toward equitable, constructive, stable, and durable Armenian-Turkish relations based upon the Republic of Turkey’s full acknowledgment of the facts and ongoing consequences of the Armenian Genocide, and a fair, just, and comprehensive international resolution of this crime against humanity, including reparations to the Armenian Nation.

Tigran Avinyan dismissed Avetiq Eloyan from the post of his adviser

Baghdasarian Karlen
Arminfo, Armenia
May 1 2020

ArmInfo. Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan dismissed his adviser Avetiq Eloyan. This decision was published on the website of the RA Government.

to dismiss  Avetiq Eloyan from the post of adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister  Tigran Avinyan>, the decision reads.  To note, Avetiq Eloyan was  appointed to the post of adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister in  February 2019, before that he served as chairman of the Urban  Development Committee (from June 2018 to February 2019) .

CIVILNET.Epidemic of Verbal Abuse and Physical Violence in Armenia’s Politics Highlights Fragile State of Democracy

Maghakian Mike
CIVILNET.AM

2 May, 2020 18:16 

By Mark Dovich

Armenia’s politics has seen a wave of violent threats and confrontations in the past two weeks, highlighting the vulnerable state of the country’s nascent democracy nearly two years after the landmark Velvet Revolution swept a reformist government, led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, into power.

Wave of Confrontation and Violence Hits Armenia’s Politics

On April 28, Alen Simonyan, the National Assembly’s Deputy Speaker, a representative of the ruling My Step alliance, and a close ally of Pashinyan, traded barbs with Edmon Marukyan, the leader of the opposition Bright Armenia party.

The argument began when Simonyan made derogatory remarks about a third lawmaker, Ani Samsonyan, who represents Bright Armenia, Marukyan’s party. Simonyan’s comments toward Samsonyan, which have been widely seen as sexist, led to a tense exchange between Marukyan and Simonyan, with each man hurling personal insults at the other.

Following the feud, both Marukyan and Simonyan posted apology videos on their Facebook pages. In his video, Marukyan apologized for his role in the incident, but also made a point of denouncing Simonyan’s comments toward Samsonyan. For his part, Simonyan focused on his remarks about Samsonyan, saying that he “respects all women” and claiming that his comments were made “in anger”.

Samsonyan also published a Facebook post in response to the incident, thanking her supports for the outpouring of support she has since received and calling for changes to the male-dominated “culture” that dominates Armenia’s politics. Three other female lawmakers from Armenia’s overwhelmingly male legislature—Taguhi Ghazaryan, Lilit Makunts, and Naira Zohrabyan—all make similar calls to “change the [male-dominated] culture” of Armenia’s politics.

Echoing their comments, human rights activist Zaruhi Hovhannisyan suggested that the National Assembly should convene an ethics committee to handle sexist and other discriminatory remarks made by lawmakers. Arman Tatoyan, Armenia’s Human Rights Defender, also commented on the controversy, condemning Simonyan’s remarks and underlining the importance of ensuring respect for women.

Just a day later, Simonyan then became involved in a physical altercation with Artur Danielyan, a vocal government critic, when the two men had a chance encounter in downtown Yerevan. Danielyan is a co-founder of Adekvad, one of Armenia’s most prominent emerging far-right groups, which has become well-known for its xenophobic, antifeminist, and homophobic positions. According to media reports, Danielyan began swearing at Simonyan, after which Simonyan physically assaulted Danielyan. Both men have been hospitalized for injuries sustained in the ensuing brawl.

Simonyan quickly published another Facebook video, apologizing for attacking Danielyan, but also asserting that he could not have let Danielyan’s insults go unaddressed. Additionally, Simonyan pledged to comply fully with law enforcement agencies in their investigation of the confrontation, which is being led by Armenia’s Special Investigative Service. Meanwhile, Danielyan’s lawyer, Tigran Atanesyan, has called on Simonyan to resign and has vowed to press charges against him.

The very next day, Pashinyan launched into a diatribe against Artur Vanetsyan, the former head of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS). Several days earlier, Pashinyan’s spokesperson, Mane Gevorgyan, accused Vanetsyan of abusing his former position as NSS head to buy a stake in the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine, Armenia’s largest mining enterprise, from Mikayel Minasyan, former President Serzh Sargsyan’s son-in-law.

Vanetsyan has denied the allegations, which he claims are part of an ongoing smear campaign against him organized by Pashinyan and his inner circle. In defending his claims, Vanetsyan points to a series of critical articles about him published in the Armenian Times (Haykakan Zhamanak) newspaper, whose editor-in-chief is Anna Hakobyan, Pashinyan’s wife. A defamation suit filed by Vanetsyan against the newspaper remains ongoing.

Earlier this month, Pashinyan made even more inflammatory remarks about Armenia’s pre-revolutionary authorities, suggesting in a Facebook video that they could have been “lynched”.

Political Violence in a Transitioning State

U.S.-based political scientist Anna Ohanyan has argued that one of the reasons the Velvet Revolution succeeded two years ago—“its strategy of remaining within the bounds of [the] constitutional order…established by the former authoritarian regime”—may ultimately prove an obstacle to future reform efforts. It is, after all, easier to remake a system from the outside than it is to reform a system from within.

This failure to fully dismantle the pre-revolutionary system has left Armenia’s democracy at an extremely vulnerable point of transition. Indeed, since coming to power, Pashinyan’s widely-publicized drives to rid Armenia of systemic corruption and reduce the political influence of the pre-revolutionary authorities have resulted in piecemeal reforms and ongoing criminal cases at best, falling far short of his supporters’ expectations.

The recent spate of social and political violence in Armenia underlines the challenges the country faces in navigating this difficult position. With the pre-revolutionary authorities doing everything in their power to frustrate and undermine Pashinyan’s reform program—from disseminating fake news to supporting anti-government civil groups—there is little left for many of Armenia’s politicians to do aside from insulting and attacking one another. At the moment, it would seem that confrontation and violence, are, unfortunately, among the few tools left at many Armenian politicians’ disposal. 

Scandal surrounding Ucom, the only local telecom operator in Armenia. Redistribution, takeover or seizure of property?

Alex Nanijanian
JAM news
May 2 2020
 
 
 
02.05.2020
 
Ucom, the only local telecommunication company in Armenia built with Armenian capital, is at the center of several scandals.
 
The scandal broke out a few weeks ago. The founders of the company, brothers Hayk and Alexander Yesayan, who own about 6 percent of the shares, stated that they had come into conflict with other owners of the company. Ucom CEO and co-founder Hayk Yesayan announced his resignation. As a sign of solidarity with him, more than 800 employees–that is, about half of the entire staff–also resigned.
 
At the same time, the National Security Service launched an investigation into Gurgen Khachatryan, one of the shareholders and chairman of the Ucom Board of Directors. In addition, he is the son of the former chairman of the State Revenue Committee, Gagik Khachatryan, who was arrested on charges of abuse of power and embezzlement on an especially large scale.
 
A petition for the arrest of Gurgen Khachatryan was filed in the court, and his house was searched on the evening of April 30.
 
The day before, Gurgen Khachatryan that he was facing pressure “at the state level,” as well as demands to give up control of the company. He said that these were accompanied by threats of arrest, and he demanded that accredited diplomats and international organizations turn their attention to the issue.
 
The issue is that Armenian authorities believe that if the Kachatryan family’s shares in the company are sold, the entire sum should be put into the state budget in order to offset the damage caused by Gagik Khachatryan during his years of service as chairman of the State Revenue Committee.
 
More details below on why the founders of the company abandoned their brainchild, why the Khachatryan family is being persecuted, and how the authorities are approaching the issue.
 
  
Details on the scandal
 
The buzz surrounding this company Ucom started on April 10, following the resignation of the Yesayan brothers–the founders, shareholders and CEOs of the company.
 
They had disagreements with the board of directors concerning a possible merger of Ucom and another telecom operator operating in Armenia, the Russian company Beeline.
 
It was already known that Ucom intended to buy all Beeline shares. There were also rumors that after the merger, the company would be managed by Beeline Executive Director Andrei Pyatakhin.
 
But the pertinent issue for the Yesayan brothers was the possible reduction in their shares that would occur as a result of investments in the event of a merger.
 
Hayk Yesayan twice suggested that other Ucom shareholders buy all their shares, that is, the remaining 94% – first for 22 billion drams ($45,000,000), then – 34 billion drams (about $70,000,000). And he was refused․
 
Currently, 29% of Ucom’s shares are owned by IU Telecommunicate, the brothers Gurgen and Artem Khachatryan each own 11.9% of the shares, and their other relative, Suren Khachatryan, owns 24%. The IU Telecommunicate shares are also owned by the Khachatryans.
 
The Russians also have their fingers in the company pie: 10% of the shares are held by Fora Bank, owned by Samvel Karapetyan, a Russian businessman of Armenian heritage.
 
On April 23, after leaving Ucom, the Yesayan brothers announced the creation of a new telecommunications company.
 
And the Ucom Board of Directors elected Ara Khachatryan as the new head of Ucom.
 
Arrest appeal and house search of Gurgen Khachatryan
 
The story surrounding the chairman of the Ucom Board of Directors and the future of the company began to gain momentum in late April, when Gurgen Khachatryan made a statement that “some of the country’s senior officials are demanding that Ucom be sold”:
 
“The threats reached the point where they promised to create an uncontrolled situation within the company, which, according to them, would force us to agree to sell the company at the lowest possible price. Seeing that this sabotage did not work, they made a direct demand for the seizure of Ucom assets and clearly stated that if we do not comply in the short-term, they would accuse me of committing a particularly serious crime and arrest me, followed by a similar situation with my brother and other family members and people associated with us.”
 
Gurgen Khachatryan says that the situation must be made public and that they must appeal to international structures, as they have already exhausted all of the legal resources to ensure their protection within the country:
 
“I am certain that we can rely on law and morality, and will not allow anyone to turn this 12-year-old institutional structure, in which both social capital and the well-beings of the employees involved are intertwined, into a bargaining chip, even under the most serious pressure. Ucom is not for sale, and our dignity is not in doubt.”
 
The chairman did not give information on who specifically is putting pressure on him to sell the company. However, a spokeswoman for the prime minister responded to his statement.
 
On her Facebook page, Mane Gevorgyan wrote that the family of Gagik Khachatryan expressed a willingness to return the embezzled funds and to compensate for the damage caused to the state:
 
“Gagik Khachatryan and his sons led the corrupt mafia system operating in Armenia for many years, as a result of which they illegally accumulated several hundred million dollars in state funds.
 
As for Ucom, the seizure of its shares under Armenian legislation is only possible with the consent of the government. After a dispute arose between the shareholders of the company and the issue of changing the composition of the shareholders appeared on the agenda, the position of the government was that the sale of Khachatryan’s stake could only happen if the entire amount from the sale was transferred to the state budget of Armenia.”
 
Immediately after this post was published, it became known that Gurgen Khachatryan had been charged and that the court had already filed a motion for his arrest. On April 30, Khachatryan’s lawyers stated that the charge was considered “gross interference in the free market and personal life by the state”:
 
“We consider it necessary to report that Gurgen Khachatryan has already been charged, and that part of his sentence included a restriction of travel measure. Now the charge has been changed. This new charge states that Gurgen Khachatryan is implicated in receiving a bribe, while both the case file and the explanations show that the amount indicated in the charge is a loan, the loan agreement is still valid, and that the amount must be repaid by the end of the term.”
 
That evening, investigators searched the house of Gurgen Khachatryan.
 
What they discovered is unknown. The whole country is closely monitoring the events surrounding the company as they unfold, and the company itself has divided into supporters and opponents of the Kachatryans. Media and experts have so far refrained from commenting.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Aram Orbelyan: Ucom General Director’s computer seized

Kajoyan Gevork
Panorama, Armenia
May 2 2020

The computer of Ucom General Director Aram Khachatryan was seized following the searches at his apartment, Lawyer Aram Orbelyan told reporters on Saturday. In his words, apart from the computer, number of documents were also confiscated.

“We pointed to certain issues and violations during the search,” Orbelyan said, adding instead of electronic documents, the computer was seized. Orbelyan expressed regret that the actions of the law enforcement bodies come amid developments around the company, suggesting it was a result of the ongoing controversy around the shares in the company and its owners.

Citing the preliminary investigation secrecy and the lack of information, Orbelian declined to provide further details about the criminal case in question.

“At first glance, we see issues related to redistribution of property and the state interference into the activity of enterprises and corporate disputes. We would not think so if the PM’s spokesperson hadn’t commented on this,” the lawyer added.

To note, searches conducted at the apartment of Ucom General Director Aram Khachatryan came in the wake of the persecution of Galaxy Group of Companies of which Ucom is part. On April 28, Gurgen Khachatryan, the co-founder of the group, reported that at the level of high-ranking officials of the country he had been demanded both directly and indirectly to alienate Ucom. He also informed that in case of non-compliance, he would be accused of committing a particularly serious crime, which would be followed by pressure on his businesses in quite a short period of time. On April 30, the Khachatryans’ house and offices were searched and a motion for arrest was filed in the court.

Attorney: Documents, work computer confiscated from car of new director of Armenia’s Ucom company

Maral Takmazian
News.am, Armenia
May 2 2020

17:39, 02.05.2020

YEREVAN. – A search was conducted at the home and in the car of Ara Khachatryan, the new CEO of Ucom company of Armenia, and a number of documents and his work computer were confiscated from the car. Khachatryan’s lawyer Aram Orbelyan told reporters about this.

“[But] the license plate of the car was different than the license plate of the car they searched,” he added. “The search warrant was worded ‘planning documents,’ whereas the computer was confiscated and, unfortunately, all this is happening amid these discussions about Ucom, which, based on the information available at the moment, gives me grounds to believe that this is a process in connection with the current Ucom shareholders’ dispute, or the management dispute, also taking into account the statement of the Prime Minister’s spokesperson that it should be seized, confiscated, and paid to the state budget.”

To note, on Tuesday, Gurgen Khachatryan, co-founder of the Galaxy Group of Companies—and the son of ex-Minister of Finance and State Revenue Committee former chairman Gagik Khachatryan, announced that senior officials in the country had demanded to sell Ucom—which is also part of Galaxy, but he added that they will not give in to these pressures and Ucom will not be sold.

This statement was followed by a large-scale investigation by law enforcement agencies, which conducted searches at the residences and business offices of the Khachatryan family.

In addition, a new charge was brought against Gurgen Khachatryan, and a motion to arrest him was submitted to the court.

Armenian engineers develop Thermal Scanner in response to Covid-19

Nahapetian Samvel
Public Radio of Armenia
May 2 2020

Armenian engineers have developed a thermal scanner – an AI solution that can be used for detecting elevated skin temperature in high-traffic public places through quick multiple target screening.

The Scylla Thermal Scanner provides AI-based analytics, which, combined with a state-of-the-art thermal camera, enables continuous contactless and non-invasive accurate temperature monitoring.

It can be used for preliminary screening in border checkpoints, airports, educational and government institutions, manufacturing warehouses, and hospitals.

“Such solutions are very expensive in the world, and the prices hit $20,000 amid growing demand due to the coronavirus pandemic,” the company’s technical co-founder and chief data scientist Ara Ghazaryan said in an interview with Public Radio of Armenia.

He added that what they offer is at least three times cheaper.

“We offer different solutions. In one case the camera fixes the temperature when a person walks in front of it. In a second case people need to stand before the camera to get their temperature measured. The second option is cheaper,” Ghazaryan said.

Ara Ghazaryan says Latin American and Arabic countries are most interested in purchasing the scanners. Columbia has already installed them at the entrances of hospitals.

As for Armenia, he says, the system is still too expensive for the country.

Scylla Thermal Scanner is used for preliminary screening purposes only and cannot be considered as proof or a basis for a medical diagnosis.

Scylla – a company with offices in Armenia and the US – is a leading developer of computer-vision based facial, behavior, and object recognition tools for first responders.

For the full interview in Armenian click here.

Armenia reports 125 new coronavirus cases, bringing total to 2,342

Emil Lazarian
Public Radio of Armenia
May 2 2020


Armenia has reported 125 more cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number to 2,342.

The results of 840 tests have been negative.

According to the data of the National Center for Disease Control, 33 patients have recovered; a total of 1.010 people have now been discharged from hospital.

Thirty-three deaths have been reported.

The number of active cases is 1,227.

Armenia defense minister visits Karabakh military units

Arsine Chaltikian
News.am, Armenia
May 2 2020

12:29, 02.05.2020