Category: 2020

Genocide Scholar Sees ‘Virtual Commemorations’ As New Way Of Reaching Out For 
Armenians
Ապրիլ 25, 2020
        • Harry Tamrazian
Armenia/USA - Henry Therialult, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at 
Worcester State University and President of the International Association of 
Genocide Scholars, is interviewed by Harry Tamrazian, director of RFE/RL's 
Armenian Service, April 23, 2020
Կիսվել
        • 24
Կարդալ մեկնաբանությունները
 Տպել
A leading U.S. specialist in genocide studies sees this year’s “virtual 
commemorations” of the Armenian genocide conditioned by the need to cope with 
the spread of a deadly virus as potentially a new additional way for reaching 
out for a stronger global recognition in the future. Henry Theriault, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at Worcester 
State University and President of the International Association of Genocide 
Scholars, spoke to RFE/RL Armenian Service Director Harry Tamrazian on the eve 
of April 24, which Armenians in Armenia and around the world mark as an 
anniversary of World War I-era killings and deportations of Armenians in Ottoman 
Turkey. Leading international scholars and more than two dozen governments in the world 
recognize the killings of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks as the first 
genocide of the 20th century. Turkey denies any planned Ottoman government 
effort to annihilate Armenians, ascribing the deaths that it claims were on a 
much lower scale to the consequences of civil strife, disease, and starvation. Instead of holding traditional annual mass events commemorating the genocide 
victims, including hundreds of thousands of Armenians’ marching towards a 
hilltop genocide memorial in Yerevan known as Tsitsernakaberd, Armenia’s 
authorities this year limited the remembrance events to ceremonies involving 
only officials. Instead, hundreds of thousands of Armenians sent text messages 
to a designated telephone number and their names were projected on the slabs of 
the memorial on April 24-25 night. The night before, in conditions of the 
stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus epidemic, street lights were switched 
off and church bells pealed across the country in memory of the victims. “I don’t think that one year of changing the form of remembrance of the Armenian 
genocide will have a very strong impact. Quite the opposite. I think that in 
fact it will allow Armenians to recognize and remember the genocide in a 
different way from how it was before and that will be a positive change,” 
Theriault said. “And I think also more practically it will help Armenians develop new ways of 
out-reaching regarding the Armenian genocide particularly in using electronic 
media in ways perhaps the community has not used before around the world, and 
that those tools will actually become very useful in the future. The idea of 
having very strong virtual commemorations alongside, I hope next year, very 
strong in-person commemorations will actually perhaps double the impact of the 
commemorations and allow for an even stronger global recognition of the Armenian 
genocide,” he added. Last year the U.S. Congress almost unanimously passed a resolution recognizing 
the Armenian Genocide. Theriault thinks it took the United States decades to adopt the resolution 
because of the political and military influence that Turkey had had in 
Washington as well as due to “a lack of commitment generally in the United 
States and elsewhere around the world for human rights issues.”
“That changed, I think, as the equation in the region in which Turkey sits has 
changed. Turkey has become less aligned with the United States in many ways. [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan has become more of a wild card and has 
pursued his own agenda at times with some animosity towards the United States. So, I think that that widened the gap between the U. S. political and military 
interests and Turkish political and military interests which opened the door to 
the possibility of this change,” the scholar said. Theriault believes that Turkey’s denial of the genocide today “does not have the 
power that it once did.” “People are not naive about denial anymore and so the 
effect of the Turkish government and its allies on efforts to stop passage of 
this bill, to deny the genocide in popular and academic circles really has 
decreased and so I think with all those factors together the time was right last 
year finally for passage of this resolution,” he said. Theriault believes that Ankara’s denial has two dimensions. “One is the obvious 
political and economic interest in preventing recognition because of fear, in my 
opinion, of reparations. I think Turkey is very afraid that if it admits the 
Armenian genocide, there will be legal consequences particularly around 
expropriated Armenian wealth… But I think at the same time – and this has 
actually become worse in the last five years – denial of the Armenian genocide 
is unfortunately tied very closely to a fragile Turkish national self-image, an 
image that often presents Turkey in an impossibly positive light. No country is 
free from human rights violations, but Turkey presents itself internationally as 
this incredibly untainted and perfect country. And the glaring truth of the 
Armenian genocide undercuts this image that it presents and its own self-image,” 
he said. In the scholar’s opinion the annual letters that the Turkish president sends on 
April 24 to the Armenian spiritual leader of Istanbul and in which he regrets 
the 1915 Armenian deaths but stops short of admitting they were part of a 
premeditated and concerted effort of the Ottoman government to exterminate are 
“a subtler form of denial.”
“I think it’s impossible to outright deny that Armenians suffered significantly 
in the late Ottoman Empire and in the early Turkish national period. I think 
that the historical record is so clear, so the best that Turkey can do to try to 
look credible in denying the Armenian genocide is to take the kind of line that 
Erdogan has taken, which is to try to relativize suffering to try to recognize 
without actually going as far as recognizing this as a case of one-sided mass 
violence by a government against the minority group that clearly qualifies as 
genocide,” he said.“I think Erdogan is a very shrewd politician. He knows that 
if he gave a naïve, extreme form of denial it would be apparent to everyone and 
he would not be able to have any credibility. So, he adopts a subtler approach… 
I still think it’s not very effective, even that subtler approach is not very 
effective at this point. Official Ankara on Friday reacted angrily to the statement by U.S. President 
Donald Trump in which the American leader, while not using the word “genocide”, 
described the 1915 Armenian killings as “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 
20th century.”
Theriault said, however, that as an American he was relieved that “Trump 
wouldn’t be the first sitting U.S. president to recognize the Armenian genocide.”
“I think that would carry some baggage for Armenians because his record on human 
rights both within the United States and internationally is extremely poor,” the 
genocide scholar said. “I think the fact that he does not recognize the Armenian 
genocide actually in one strange way is a confirmation of the importance of this 
case and the legitimacy of this case.”

AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Website: 
 
  
PRESS RELEASE
  
Monday, 
  
AGBU YOUNG PROFESSIONALS SOLVE FOR SOCIAL DISTANCING WITH LIVE STREAM SERIES
The Young Professionals of Los Angeles (YPLA) have launched an innovate virtual 
series aimed to unite individuals throughout the AGBU community during this 
global pandemic. With seven successful episodes under their belt and three more 
in the works, the Young Professionals are continuously working to keep the 
community engaged, entertained, and enlightened. From Armenian cooking classes 
in Madrid to a remote comedy show featuring YPs from all over the world, the 
live series has garnered over 300 avid participants with an ever-increasing 
audience.
"Even in the most isolating moments, we're able to connect with chapters around 
the world. We've met Young Professionals from other countries and chapters that 
we may not have met otherwise or have been able to connect with," noted YPLA 
Communications Manager Rita Chakrian. 
The idea for an episodic virtual series came to fruition during a virtual YPLA 
meeting when co-chairs Tenny Kachatourian and Carin Kellzi and Communications 
Chair Rita Chakrian realized that all future events would have to be conducted 
virtually. Rather than view this as a loss, YPLA leadership decided to keep 
their momentum going by orchestrating a virtual event they had long wished for: 
a global talent show. After reaching out to various chapters, YPLA leadership 
gathered musicians and dancers from all over the world to participate, engaging 
a global audience of almost 100 participants on their first episode. 
"This all happened within two or three days," said Chakrian. "We had the call 
with our YP Group and the mass chain started." The YPLA leadership credit the 
inspiration behind this series to the AGBU spirit of unity. "We launched YP Live 
as a way to bring everyone virtually together while we must physically stay 
apart," noted Kachatourian, adding that this initiative will continue as long 
this quarantine persists. "We will be continuing our YP Live virtual events for 
as long as social distancing measures last in any of our global YP communities 
so we can all be together, keep our spirits up, and learn some new skills while 
being safe." 
The first episode of the YP Live series, "YPs Got Talent" launched on March 28th 
and featured talent from all over the world. "We wanted it to be open to all the 
YPs, but we really didn't know it would become this huge event involving 
chapters in Buenos Aires to Toronto to London and all their communities," said 
Kellzi. After a successful first run, the YPs of Texas carried the virtual torch 
and kept the momentum going with a square-down tutorial, re-creating the YP 
Houston Hoedown that was cancelled due to COVID-19. "Every episode hits a 
different target audience. We figured every locality would have something unique 
to bring to the table, and we could use that for continual content," commented 
Chakrian. 
Shortly after came a Zumba tutorial from YPLA, an Armenian Cooking Class hosted 
by the YPs of Madrid, and a virtual game of "YPictionary" hosted by the YPs of 
Buenos Aires. Each episode is highly curated, with Kachatourian as the host and 
interactive messaging encouraged throughout the hour-long episode. 
One of the most recent episodes, "Coast to Coast Comedy," provided comedic 
relief and became one of the most highly attended virtual episode to date, 
eliciting laughs from Egypt to LA and New York. "The comedy show really proved 
that a lot of people would tune in because there were over 300 people." 
"We may be on the other side of the world, but even though we can't go out and 
see each other anyways, it feels like we're all two feet apart," mused YPLA 
co-chair Kachatourian. 
The AGBU Young Professionals (YP), a global network, strive to promote the 
Armenian identity and heritage for young Armenians between the ages of 22 to 40 
and empowered ambitious individuals to make a positive difference in their 
communities. It has grown to become one of the largest Armenian networks of its 
kind, with over 33 groups across the globe. 
Tune in to the next YP Live using this link:  bit.ly/AGBUYPLIVE. 
May 2: Young Professionals Live: Episode 10 - Music for the Soul
May 3: Young Professionals Live: Episode 11 - Boozy Brunch Recipes
The Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) is the world's largest non-profit 
organization devoted to upholding the Armenian heritage through educational, 
cultural and humanitarian programs. Each year, AGBU is committed to making a 
difference in the lives of 500,000 people across Armenia, Artsakh and the 
Armenian diaspora.  Since 1906, AGBU has remained true to one overarching goal: 
to create a foundation for the prosperity of all Armenians. To learn more visit 
 .

                                        Monday, 
Few Small Businesses Qualify For Cheap Credit
        • Naira Nalbandian
Armenia -- An empty street cafe in Yerevan, March 14, 2020.
Less than 500 small and medium-sized businesses have qualified so far for 
low-interest loans which the Armenian government hopes will help them remain 
afloat during a recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The commercial bank loans subsidized by the government are repayable in three 
years, with a grace period set for the first two years. They are meant for those 
Armenian firms whose annual revenues ranged from 24 million drams to 500 million 
drams ($50,000-$1 million) last year. The scheme is part of a broader 
coronavirus-related stimulus package approved by Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian’s cabinet late last month.
Government officials said on Monday that only 1,200 of some 70,000 small and 
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) registered in Armenia have applied for such 
cheap credit. They said the government has approved only 461 of those loans 
applications worth a combined 5.2 billion drams ($10.8 million).
Ruben Osipian, the head of a small business association, estimated that the real 
number of SMEs active in the country stands at around 5,000. Many of them 
register their workers as individual entrepreneurs to pay fewer taxes, he said, 
adding that this explains why the number of registered firms is much higher.
Osipian said that the number of loan applicants is very low even considering the 
actual number of SMEs. He claimed that many of them are unable to meet the 
lending criteria set by the government.
The requirements include only include not only the minimum annual turnover of 24 
million drams but also the absence of any delays in payment of taxes or loan 
repayments carried out last year.
Osipian complained that his own firm both had a smaller turnover and was fined 
by tax authorities for not submitting a financial report on time. For the same 
reason, he said, it is also not eligible for government grants to be provided to 
those small businesses that have not laid off any workers in recent weeks.
Pashinian announced on Friday that almost 11,300 entities have already received 
such grants totaling 1.8 billion drams. He said that the government has also 
approved 6 billion drams in cash payments to more than 86,500 employees of 
various private firms forced to halt their operations since March 13.
Pashinian put the amount of overall coronavirus relief allocated by the 
government to date at 43.4 billion drams ($90 million).
Armenian Health Minister Issues Coronavirus Warning
        • Harry Tamrazian
        • Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- Health Minister Arsen Torosian speaks at a meeting of a task force 
coordinating the Armenian government's response to coronavirus outbreak, 
Yerevan, .
As the spread of coronavirus in Armenia continued unabated on Sunday Health 
Minister Arsen Torosian warned that the authorities may soon be unable to 
hospitalize or isolate most infected people.
The Armenian government imposed serious restrictions on people’s movements and 
ordered the closure of most businesses in late March amid a rapid increase in 
coronavirus cases in the country. The daily rises in the number of such cases 
fell significantly afterwards, leading the government to reopen some sectors of 
the domestic economy already on April 13.
The government allowed late last week the resumption of more types of business 
activity and eased its restrictions on transport links between Yerevan and the 
rest of the country.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health reported a larger number of new coronavirus 
cases in the course of the week. It said on Monday morning that 62 more people 
tested positive for the virus in the past 24 hours.
The total number of cases thus reached 1,808, up from 1,339 cases recorded one 
week ago. The nationwide death toll from the virus rose from 22 to 29 in the 
same period.
In an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Torosian complained that because 
of the “multitude” of infection sources the health authorities increasingly have 
trouble tracing people who have come into contact with COVID-19 patients.
Torosian said that hospitals and healthcare workers treating patients are 
another cause of the continuing infections. “We are now concentrating on 
stopping the spread of the disease inside medical centers and protecting doctors 
as well as those patients that are not infected with coronavirus,” he said.
The minister also blamed the rising COVID-19 numbers on people’s increased 
movements inside the country. “We can see that their growing mobility is leading 
to new cases and are now preparing for a situation where we may not hospitalize 
all [infected people] or keep them in hotels,” he warned.
Armenia -- Workers disinfect an ambulance outside Surp Girgor Lusavorich 
hospital in Yerevan, April 8, 2020.
All people testing positive for the virus in Armenian have been taken to 
hospitals or hotels requisitioned by the authorities and turned into temporary 
medical centers. According to the Ministry of Health, 931 people were treated or 
monitored by medical personnel there as of Monday morning. Almost 850 other 
Armenians have recovered from COVID-19 to date.
The ministry said earlier that that it has set up 1,500 hospital beds for 
COVID-19 patients across the country.
“I certainly don’t want that day to come, but one day we will not be able to go 
after every case and it will not make sense to seal off any town or village 
anymore,” Torosian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
From that moment onwards, he said, the health authorities will stop 
hospitalizing infected individuals showing mild symptoms of the disease or none 
at all and will only treat patients who are in a serious condition. “We don’t 
know when that day will come,” he said.
Since the beginning of March, the authorities have also quarantined thousands of 
people who have been in contact with COVID-19 patients or returned to Armenia 
from other countries. They all have undergone coronavirus tests at the end of a 
two-week confinement.
In Torosian’s words, some 2,200 people remain in quarantine and about 3,000 
others are self-isolated in their homes at present.
Tsarukian’s Right-Hand Man Arrested
        • Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- Sedrak Arustamian, chief executive of Multi Group holding company, 
September 18, 2007.
The top manager of companies belonging to Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) leader 
Gagik Tsarukian was remanded in custody on Saturday after law-enforcement 
authorities brought fresh criminal charges against him.
A court in Yerevan allowed them to hold Sedrak Arustamian, the chief executive 
of Tsarukian’s Multi Group holding company, in detention for at least two months 
one day after his arrest.
Arustamian was charged with bribery and money laundering. Investigators gave no 
details of the accusations denied by him.
Arustamian’s lawyer, Hovik Sukiasian, said the accusations stem from about $20 
million which his client had lent to two other persons a decade ago.
“They [investigators] are telling him, ‘Since you did not earn interest [on the 
loans] it means that you paid bribes,” Sukiasian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. 
He insisted that Arustamian had lent the hefty sums for purely commercial 
purposes and simply agreed afterwards to delay their repayment.
The lawyer did not deny or confirm media reports that the charges are connected 
with a criminal case against Gagik Khachatrian, a former finance minister who 
was arrested on corruption charges last August.
Arustamian was already indicted earlier in two separate criminal inquiries 
conducted by the Investigative Committee.
The law-enforcement agency claimed last September that Tsarukian’s right-hand 
man helped a Chinese construction company building a 56-kilometer highway in 
northwestern Armenia evade 240 million drams ($503,000) in taxes. It said the 
company also paid an Armenian firm owned by Arustamian 117 million drams in 
fictitious consulting frees as part of the scam.
The Investigative Committee announced on April 8 that Arustamian is also 
prosecuted for his refusal to stop the “illegal” construction by Multi Group of 
a luxury hotel in downtown Yerevan launched in early 2018.
Arustamian rejects all accusations leveled against him.
Tsarukian is one of Armenia’s richest men. His BHK opposition party controls the 
second largest number of seats in the Armenian parliament.
BHK representatives have so far reacted cautiously to the criminal cases against 
Tsarukian’s close associate. The tycoon himself has not commented on them.
IMF Plans $280 Million In Emergency Funding For Armenia
        • Sargis Harutyunyan
U.S. -- A man walks past the International Monetary Fund logo at its 
headquarters in Washington, May 10, 2018.
The International Monetary Fund will likely disburse next month $280 million in 
emergency loans designed to help Armenia fight the coronavirus outbreak and 
mitigate its economic consequences, a senior IMF official said over the weekend.
Yulia Ustyugova, the fund’s resident representative in Yerevan, told RFE/RL’s 
Armenian service that the IMF is also planning $140 million in additional 
funding to Armenia.
The Armenian government announced last week plans to borrow around $540 million 
for cushioning the impact of an unfolding economic recession in the country. 
Finance Minister Atom Janjughazian said the government needs to offset a major 
shortfall in its tax revenues and to continue financing coronavirus relief 
measures.
Ustyugova said that IMF officials have recommended the $280 million disbursement 
to the fund’s executive board, which should approve it in the second half of 
May. She said the sum includes a $248 million “stand-by arrangement” which was 
allocated to Armenia in May 2019 and has not been used by the latter until now.
“Also, the [Armenian] authorities have requested additional financial help from 
the IMF to help pay for the economic support program and necessary healthcare 
expenditures in the current environment,” said Ustyugova.
“So $280 million will be available in the second half of May. The program itself 
will last until May 2022, and about $140 million will additionally be available 
after May 2020,” added the IMF official.
Armenia -- IMF Resident Representative for Armenia Yulia Ustyugova is inteviewed 
by RFE/RL, Yerevan, November 18, 2019.
She insisted that the emergency borrowing is justified even though it will lead 
to a sizable increase in Armenia’s foreign debt. “The measures that need to be 
taken right now will help to avoid more painful and prolonged socioeconomic 
damage in the future,” she said.
The Armenian government has promised a wide range of coronavirus-related 
compensatory measures, including cash payments to a large part of the 
population, financial assistance to businesses and loan subsidies for farmers. 
According to Janjughazian, it plans to spend $150 billion drams ($315 million) 
for this purpose this year.
Ustyugova praised the government’s “swift” response to the economic fallout from 
the global health crisis. “We welcome the package of economic policy measures 
that was announced by the authorities,” she said.
In its World Economic Outlook released earlier this month, the IMF forecast that 
the Armenian economy will shrink by 1.5 percent this year due to the coronavirus 
pandemic. The Armenian Ministry of Finance expects a 2 percent drop in GDP.
Ustyugova stood by the IMF projections. “We currently see the pandemic having a 
very sharp but also very short-lived impact on Armenia,” she said. “So we expect 
the peak of the shock to happen around the second quarter, with some slight 
recovery starting already in the third quarter [of this year,] and an 
acceleration of economic activity in the fourth quarter to 2021.”
The IMF cautioned at the same time that a prolonged COVID-19 pandemic would lead 
to a sharper GDP contraction. “There are lots of risks to these projections and 
the risks, I would say, are tilted to the downside,” she said.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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