The Armenian national basketball team beat Iran 77:73 in the second match of the SADA CUP international tournament under way at Karen Demirchyan Sport and Concert Complex.
Andre Spight Mkrtchyan earned 26 points and was named player of the match.
Armenia will face Syria in the final match on Sunday, June 26.
Armenia beat tesm USA 94։59 in the opening match.
Armenia’s opposition groups will continue protests aimed at ousting Nikol Pashinyan and will renew their efforts to expand the resistance movement launched in early May, opposition leader and deputy parliament speaker Ishkhan Saghatelyan told a rally in Yerevan’s France Square on Friday evening.
“Rallies and marches will continue. At the same time, we will carry out organizational work to give new impetus to the movement and prepare for a more decisive and crucial stage of the struggle,” he noted.
Saghatelyan says coordination commissions have already been set up in around five regions of Armenia as promised earlier and the protest movement is proceeding according to the plan.
In a change of tactics, the opposition announced plans last week to hold anti-government rallies in Yerevan on a weekly basis.
Public debates are planned every Wednesday, while opposition rallies are scheduled for Fridays.
“If necessary, we will hold urgent rallies as we did last week. You should always be ready for urgent rallies and acts of disobedience,” Saghatelyan said.
Five off-duty contract soldiers of the Artsakh army were involved in a traffic accident in Armenia late on Friday.
One of them, identified as Nikolay Sargsyan (b. 1981), was killed in the crash which occurred at around 10։30pm, the Artsakh Defense Ministry reported on Saturday.
The four other servicemen were hospitalized with severe injuries.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known.
An investigation is underway.
The relatives of those killed and wounded in a fatal shooting in a village near the town of Aparan in Armenia’s Aragatsotn Province on Saturday staged a protest outside the Aparan police station, demanding a fair probe into the case.
Two Aparan residents, Hamik Mikayelyan and Tigran Harutyunyan, were killed and five others were injured in the shooting in the village of Nigavan on June 19, which the Investigative Committee said was sparked by a dispute between two groups of young men. The shooter, a 32-year-old resident of Yerevan, has been arrested.
Politik.am reported that the men responsible for the shooting are the relatives of Matevos Asatryan, an MP from the ruling Civil Contract party, and the cousin of Deputy Aragatsotn Governor Edgar Parvanyan. The media outlet claimed that the Aparan men were attacked because of swearing at Nikol Pashinyan. The law enforcement agencies likewise insisted that the shooting was not politically motivated.
Speaking to reporters at the protest, Hamik Mikayelyan’s uncle demanded that police properly investigate the bloody incident and hold those responsible for it, including the pro-government MP and the deputy governor, to account.
“I don’t think that the dispute was politically motivated. Now I am applying to Nikol Pashinyan to ensure a fair investigation into the case. Aparan has always been a quiet place, but as long as they [the attackers] remain here, there will be no peace,” the man said.
The father of the other killed young man, Tigran Harutyunyan, also demanded justice in the case.
“A week on, only one man has been arrested. All those responsible [for the shooting] must be arrested and held accountable,” he said.
The Armenian presidential palace is hosting the 31st sitting of the Board of Trustees of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund.
Activity report of the foundation for 2021 is to be presented at the meeting which began on Saturday morning.
Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II, Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan and third President Serzh Sargsyan as well as former Artsakh leaders Bako Sahakyan and Arkadi Ghukasyan are not in attendance.
Famous French pop singer Zaz is in Armenia and is ready for her first solo concert in Yerevan, which will be held at Hrazdan Stadium on Saturday evening as part of the Haya Music Festival.
The singer shared her feelings about the Armenia trip at a news conference ahead of the concert on Friday.
“I’m super excited to be in Armenia, because this is Charles Aznavour’s homeland,” she said. “I feel great responsibility to perform in his homeland.”
Remembering the legendary French-Armenian chansonnier, Zaz said that Aznavour gave her many good pieces of advice.
“One of them was to learn English, which I never did,” the singer said.
Speaking about her three-year career break, Zaz said she took it to take care of her personal life.
“Last time I was in Armenia was years ago on the sidelines of the Francophonie. I did not spend much time in Yerevan, but I immediately felt the warmth of the people,” she said, adding she loves the Armenian duduk.
Zaz promised the Armenian audience a good time at Saturday’s concert.
“I want to make it a great holiday for the Armenian audience so that everyone is full of positive energy at the end of the concert,” said the French singer.
Armenia must be fully ready for “imminent war” with Azerbaijan, expert on Iran Vardan Voskanyan said in his new Telegram series concerning the conflict.
“Is it possible to avert war in such a region and with such an enemy as Azerbaijan? Yes, it is but only in the case of actual surrender. But is this the vision of the millennia-long program of the Armenian statehood? Of course no!” he wrote.
“Accordingly, there is only one way to avoid war: not to fear it and surrender, thus destroying the dream of our ancestors, our dream and the dream of our generations, but to be prepared for war in the broad sense,” Voskanyan said.
He underscored that the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict is a matter of existence for Armenians and cannot be settled through some territorial concessions.
“Therefore, in order to move in the right direction, it is necessary to take the following key circumstances into account:
1․ The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict is an existential matter, thus it cannot have “technical” settlement.
2. War can be avoided only in case of unconditional acceptance of the enemy’s plan for the “peaceful destruction” of the Armenian statehood.
3․ War can be averted or won only if we are completely prepared for it in every sense,” Voskanyan said.
An Armenian woman living in Gandza, a village in Georgia’s Ninotsminda region, has given birth to her 14th child, Sputnik Armenia reports.
Varduhi is from Armenia’s second largest city of Gyumri. She got married at the age of 19 and moved to Ninotsminda to live with her husband.
The woman admits that her dream was to become a mother, although she never thought about having so many children.
She gave birth to her first child when she was 20. Now Varduhi’s oldest son is 23 and her youngest child is a few days old. Two of the 14 children are already students, while the rest go to school and kindergarten.
The children’s names are Hakob, Aleksan, Hovhannes, Manuk, Nare, Harutyun, Davit, Arfin, Mariam, Gohar, Mkrtich, Lusine, Angelina and Daniel.
The Ghazaryan family lives off agriculture and raises livestock. In addition, they also receive state assistance for the children.
YEREVAN. – Zhoghovurd daily of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: According to the data by Ministry of Finance, at the end of May 2022, the national debt of Armenia amounted to about 9 billion 581 million [US] dollars, which increased by 355 million dollars—or 3.8%—compared to the beginning of the year.
The foreign debt amounted to 6 billion 533 million dollars. Domestic debt increased by 18.2%, amounting to 3 billion 047 million dollars. If the dollar exchange rate is lower at the end of this year compared to the beginning of the year, Armenia’s national debt will be lower in [Armenian] drams; so, the government’s debt/GDP indicator will be lower than the projected 60.2%. When the dollar falls, the burden of national debt is somewhat lightened for the state.
The bulk of Armenia’s national debt, about 70%, is foreign debt. It is mainly received and repaid in dollars. But for that, the amount provided from the state budget is naturally in RA drams, and therefore, the cheaper the dollar is, that much less money is directed to the main amounts of national debt and interest payments. The dram has been appreciating at a rapid pace against the dollar since the end of May, especially in the first two weeks of June.
The situation in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) is quite stable compared to February-April. Artsakh Minister of State Artak Beglaryan told about this to Armenian News-NEWS.am.
According to Beglaryan, the aforesaid is thanks to the preventive and restraining actions of the Artsakh Defense Army and the Russian peacekeepers, as well as the additional geopolitical guarantees—mainly by Russia.
“However, on the other hand, Azerbaijan does not refrain from nor has abandoned in any way its anti-Armenian and Armenophobic policy. And [Azerbaijani president] Aliyev does not hide that he can launch a new aggression, not only against Artsakh, but also against the Republic of Armenia, as needed. This means that the situation cannot be considered long-term safe or stable,” the Artsakh official added.
Referring to bringing the “era of peace” to the agenda, Artak Beglaryan said. “The position of the authorities of the Artsakh Republic is that, yes, we want peace in the whole region. But that peace must be through the unlimited, unconditional exercise and respect of our rights, our freedoms, including our right to self-determination. And there can be no peace simply by debasing the Armenians of Artsakh and Armenia and striking at our vital interests. From this point of view, I still do not see any positive preconditions that Azerbaijan is ready for a dignified peace.”
And referring to the statement by Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan that the state budget of Artsakh has increased by an unprecedented amount in the last two years, and this is because of the financial assistance provided by the government of Armenia, the Artsakh Minister of State said, in particular: “The Republic of Armenia has provided quite considerable assistance in the restoration of post-war Artsakh and the ensuring of social stability.”