ArmInfo.President of the Republic of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan attended the Divine Liturgy at the Hakobavank monastic complex. Vrtanes Abrahamyan served the liturgy, the Office of the Artsakh President reports.
Mr Harutyunyan highlighted the restoration of the complex, stating relevant instructions have been issued.
ArmInfo.Tumo |Boxes have been opened in Martuni and Askeran, Republic of Artsakh (Nagoro-Karabakh).
GOOD NEWS! Today we launched two new Tumocenter Boxes in Artsakh/NagornoKarabakh regions – Askeran & Martuni. Together with Stepanakert center & Martakert box it is a strong network to be expanded soon. Tech education is under our attention. Thanks to TUMO team & donors!” Artsakh State Minister Artsak Beglaryan tweeted.
About 1, 000 children can attend three Tumo Boxes in Martakert, Martuni and Askeran. The Stepanakert Tumo Center will organize practical training for 1,000 children in 14 fields.
“With CEO Marie Lou Papazian have arranged to open another two Tumo Boxes in large settlements,” he wrote.
Attending the opening ceremony of the Martuni and Askeran boxes were Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan and Minister of Education Anahit Hakobyan, President of the National Assembly Artur Tovmasyan, regional governors, CEO Marie Lou Papazian, & head of development Pegor Papazian.
In line with this mission, TUMO leadership and Artsakh officials discussed plans to further expand the Artsakh educational network, starting with a box in Karmir Shuka.
TUMO has established the foundation for its entire education network in Artsakh. In addition to the Stepanakert center & the recently opened Martakert box, the new TUMO boxes that launched today in Martuni and Askeran will provide cutting-edge education to teens in Artsakh.
ArmInfo. The leaders of the Resistance Movement held a meeting with the leadership of the opposition political forces of Artsakh. This was announced by the coordinator of the Movement, vice-speaker of the RA parliament from the “Armenia” opposition faction, ARF member Ishkhan Saghatelyan.
“We discussed the challenges and threats facing Armenia and Artsakh. We touched on the manifestations of the existing political crisis in Armenia. We agreed to continue more organized meetings and discussions on such a scale, as well as work in Artsakh, Armenia and the Diaspora to expand the Movement,” Saghatelyan said.
It should be noted that since May 1, the Resistance Movement has been holding actions of disobedience throughout the republic demanding the resignation of the current Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and his team. The Movement is convinced that the current government in Armenia is pursuing a policy that is disastrous for the Armenian state and Artsakh, and cannot represent the interests of the country in the international arena.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the entire state apparatus of Armenia need considerable and consistent staff renewal. Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan said this during Monday’s preliminary debates on the execution of the 2021 state budget, at the joint meeting of the standing committees of the National Assembly.
According to him, in 2021 there was no influx of new staff at the foreign ministry. There are several reasons: the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the situation when the MFA was without leadership for two months.
Also, Mirzoyan pointed to the further changes in the composition of the foreign ministry leadership.
“In the light of the mentioned events, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia has already held the first competition this year,” the FM said.
Today we met with the leaders of Artsakh’s opposition political forces, Deputy Speaker of the Armenian Parliament from the opposition Ishkhan Saghatelyan wrote on his Facebook page.
“We discussed the challenges and threats created around Artsakh and Armenia. We also discussed the manifestations of the current political crisis in Armenia. We agreed to continue more organized meetings and discussions in such a format, as well as to work in Artsakh, Armenia and the Diaspora towards the expansion of the Movement,” he noted.
Armenia is a small nation in the Caucasus with few natural resources. There are no ports here; it’s not on the way somewhere. You can’t even visit or depart Armenia from the east or west. Due to hostilities, Azerbaijan and Turkey have bitter ties, resulting in long-closed frontiers. All the nation does have is human capital, which is increasing as high-tech R&D has become a key focus. Essentially, this goal is to link and conduct business with the outside world and breach the blockade forming around it.
Armenia has been working to expand its high-tech industry for many years. But, it wasn’t until the Velvet Revolution (News – Alert) of 2018 that genuine motivation began to build. Suddenly, the tiny nation lying deep in the center of the globe map was full of optimism and looked forward to a bright future.
A new perspective was developed, and one of its driving reasons was the power of technology. IT, software development, and other companies would become the foundation of the re-emerging nation.
The Tech Industry in Armenia
Technology is currently the most important foreign investment in Armenia. Several of the world’s most significant technology companies, including Intel, Google, Microsoft, IBM (News – Alert), Synopsys, and Cisco, have a physical presence there. Armenia’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has been impacted by Armenian diaspora companies. Service Titan, for example, is currently valued at almost $1 billion. Local Armenian startup Shadowmatic received the Apple (News – Alert) Design Award in 2015.
PicsArt was an incredible success in Armenia’s startup industry. As we all know, it is now one of the world’s best picture editing applications. Co-founder and CPO Mikayel Vardanyan stated he and Hovhannes Avoyan conceived the idea when Avoyan’s daughter was unhappy with an editing tool she uses. That was back in 2010 when the Google (News – Alert) Play Store was quite empty.
Other notable examples include Zoomerang, a video editing app that rivals Tik Tok with 100,000 downloads every day and 10 million users. Armenians use GgTaxi instead of Uber in Armenia. The app is also accessible in Georgia and Russia.
Although the Armenian government does not give much direct help to entrepreneurs, it does grant tax exemptions tailored only for IT enterprises and startups. They pay no income taxes and a 10% payroll tax, along with various privileges and incentives.
2022 has also been a great year for Armenia’s IT industry. NVIDIA (News – Alert) has announced its arrival in Armenia. With $27 billion in sales and over 20,000 people globally, NVIDIA is establishing a second office in Yerevan with 100 engineers. GridDynamics Holding, which has 22 operations globally, is launching a 100-person office in Yerevan.
ManyChat, located in San Francisco, is establishing a research and development office in Armenia. CoinStats validated $3.200.000 in investments. EasyData, a Dutch IT business, has opened an office in Armenia. In addition, Semrush is opening an office.
Multiple police officers and protestors were injured in Armenia’s capital city Friday during protests over the Armenian government’s handling of the Nagorno-Karabakh border dispute with Azerbaijan. Thirty-four police officers and 16 protestors were hurt during the Yerevan demonstrations. The Armenian Ministry of Health confirmed that four people are still hospitalized for their injuries but all the other injured have been treated and released.
Armenian police claim protesters started the violence by throwing “bottles, stones and metal objects” at law enforcement. However, Ishkhan Saghatelyan, Vice President of the Armenian National Assembly and member of Armenian Revolutionary Federation party, claims that police began the violence, stating “[t]he allegations against the arrested and detained citizens are baseless or unlawful. In parallel to this, the entire internet and media are swamped with evidence confirming the lawlessness, atrocities and inhumane treatment of police officers.” In an update from the police issued Sunday, the police deny Saghatelyan’s claim, saying they did not resort to any violence, using only lights, sounds, and tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Friday’s protest is one of many over the government’s approach to the the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War with Azerbaijan began in 2020, when Azerbaijan began bombing the region. Nagorno-Karabakh is officially recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but has been claimed by the Armenian-backed breakaway state of Artsakh since the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1988. Armenia and Azerbaijan reached a ceasefire in November 2020, which included the surrender of occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan.
Protests began immediately after the ceasefire, with protesters breaking into and occupying government buildings and calling for the removal of the Prime Minister for surrendering the region. They have continued since, with rallies growing in attendance significantly starting in April 2022, led in part by Saghatelyan. Saghatelyan has been criticized for his role in Friday’s protests by many in the opposing Civil Contract party, with the party’s leader, Vahagn Aleksanyan, saying:
Ishkhan Saghatelyan…provoked the protesters to take obviously illegal, provocative and condemnable actions. After his call “women and children should go aside, there is no closed street in front of us, we are going to the National Assembly” the protesters started pushing, hitting, throwing stones and other objects in the direction of the police. There are dozens of hospitalized policemen who received injuries of different severity from thrown stones and other objects. Undoubtedly, Ishkhan Saghatelyan and the other leaders are fully responsible for what happened.
The 18th Khachaturian International Competition is scheduled to launch on Monday, June 6 marking the 119th birth anniversary of prominent Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian.
“It’s an amazing honor and pleasure to serve in the greatest possible way the music of Aram Khachaturian,” famous violinist Eduard Wulfson, who heads the jury of the competition, told a news conference ahead of its opening ceremony.
“Today is a great day for classical music not only in Armenia but over the world, because Aram Khachaturian belongs to the whole world,” he said.
“Our goal is to find the best possible next generation artist, that’s what we are aiming,” Wulfson said, stating it will help develop classical music.
“I am sure that the winners will be very well served,” the musician noted, adding it will be a “great festivity”.
The jury has picked 20 participants from around 16 countries for the Khachaturian International Competition which focuses on the cello this year.
“Thanks to this competition, today 5,000 musicians from around the world perform Khachaturian’s concertos,” said Armen Smbatyan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Khachaturian International Competition.
Today, June 6, marks the 119th birth anniversary of prominent Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian.
The 18th Khachaturian International Competition is scheduled to launch on the traditional date of June 6 to commemorate the anniversary of the great composer. This year, the competition will focus on the cello.
Aram Khachaturian was one of the most prominent composers of the 20th century classical music whose renown was recognized worldwide and works performed by a great number of celebrated orchestras. Not only was Khachaturian’s music nourished by his Armenian origins but his identity always remained infused with the native spirit of Armenian musical and cultural heritage, even though he lived most of his life away from Armenia.
Born and raised in Tbilisi, the multicultural capital of Georgia, Khachaturian moved to Moscow in 1921 following the Sovietization of the Caucasus. Without prior music training, he enrolled in the Gnessin Musical Institute, subsequently studying at the Moscow Conservatory in the class of Nikolai Myaskovsky, among others. His first major work, the Piano Concerto (1936), popularized his name within and outside the Soviet Union. It was followed by the Violin Concerto (1940) and the Cello Concerto (1946). His other significant compositions include the Masquerade Suite (1941), the Anthem of the Armenian SSR (1944), three symphonies (1935, 1943, 1947), and around 25 film scores. Khachaturian is best known for his ballet music—Gayane (1942) and Spartacus (1954). His most popular piece, the “Sabre Dance” from Gayane, has been used extensively in popular culture and has been covered by a number of musicians worldwide. His style is “characterized by colorful harmonies, captivating rhythms, virtuosity, improvisations, and sensuous melodies”.
During most of his career, Khachaturian was approved by the Soviet government and held several high posts in the Union of Soviet Composers from the late 1930s, although he joined the Communist Party only in 1943. Along with Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich, he was officially denounced as a “formalist” and his music dubbed “anti-people” in 1948 but was restored later that year. After 1950 he taught at the Gnessin Institute and the Moscow Conservatory and turned to conducting. He traveled to Europe, Latin America and the United States with concerts of his own works. In 1957 Khachaturian became the Secretary of the Union of Soviet Composers, a position he held until his death.
Khachaturian composed the first Armenian ballet music, symphony, concerto, and film score. He is considered the most renowned Armenian composer of the 20th century. While following the established musical traditions of Russia, he broadly used Armenian and, to lesser extent, Caucasian, Eastern and Central European, and Middle Eastern peoples’ folk music in his works. He is highly regarded in Armenia, where he is considered a “national treasure”.
Khachaturian went on to serve again as Secretary of the Composers Union, starting in 1957 until his death. He was also a deputy in the fifth Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (1958–62). In the last two decades of his life, Khachaturian wrote three concert rhapsodies—for violin (1961–62), cello (1963) and piano (1965)—and solo sonatas for unaccompanied cello, violin, and viola (1970s), which are considered to be his second and third instrumental trilogies.
Khachaturian died in Moscow on 1 May 1978, after a long illness, just short of his 75th birthday. He was buried at the Komitas Pantheon in Yerevan on 6 May, next to other distinguished Armenians. He was survived by his son, Karen, and daughter, Nune, and his nephew, Karen Khachaturian, who was also a composer.