Category: 2022

 

 10:25, 24 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 24, ARMENPRESS. The New York Times’s wine critic Eric Asimov published an article about 10 grapes which are little known and worth knowing better. 

Armenian “Areni” type of grape is also in the list. 

In the article Asimov says the region South Caucasus is thought by many to be one of the points where wine originated. He says there are dozens of grapes in this region worth getting to know better, but he highlights areni from Armenia. 

“A red grape that I have had only a few times, but each time it was startlingly good — lightly tannic yet fresh with stony flavors of red fruits and great finesse. I don’t have a ready source for Armenian wines, I seem to find them by chance. But I’m looking forward to the next encounter”, he said.

Presenting these 10 grapes, Asimov said for many reasons, these varieties have either been unfairly dismissed or are little known outside their home regions. “But they make joyful wines”, he added.

Artsakh vows to ‘withstand no matter what’ amid Azerbaijani ‘humanitarian terrorism’

 10:27, 24 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 23, ARMENPRESS. In violation of humanitarian norms, Azerbaijan is carrying out a policy of terrorizing the Armenian population of Artsakh, but Artsakh is withstanding and will withstand no matter what, the Foreign Minister of Artsakh Davit Babayan told ARMENPRESS’s Aram Sargsyan in an interview as Azerbaijan continues to block gas supply to Artsakh, leaving over 120,000 people without heating in freezing cold.

Speaking about the humanitarian, socio-economic and overall morale situation in Artsakh, FM Babayan said the situation is difficult but Artsakh will withstand.

“The situation is difficult, but it is what it is, we are withstanding and we will continue to withstand no matter what,” FM Babayan said.

However, he said there’s still no news from potential timeframes of restoring the gas supply.

FM Babayan reiterated that Azerbaijan intentionally cut off the gas supply, among others also for political reasons.

FM Babayan describes Azerbaijan’s actions as terrorism against the Artsakh population in violation of humanitarian norms, or humanitarian terrorism.

In addition to cutting the gas supply to Artsakh, the Azeri authorities are employing other methods in their attempts to terrorize the peaceful population. For already a month, the Azeri forces deployed near the village of Khramort in Artsakh’s Askeran only 500 meters away from village homes are using loudspeakers to terrorize the farmers, ordering them to evacuate or else they will use force.

Speaking on the situation in Khramort, FM Babayan said the village is unfazed and will not be terrorized. He said Khramort stands and will withstand no matter what. He said the people of Artsakh are very well familiar with Azerbaijan’s tactics and will not be terrorized.

“One day this kind of incident happens here, the other day elsewhere. This is the Azerbaijani style, we are familiar with this for a long time now. This doesn’t terrorize us in any way,” Babayan said.

On March 8, the authorities of Artsakh said that the main pipeline supplying gas from Armenia to Artsakh was damaged and the supply was stopped.

The Artsakh authorities had said the area where the damage occurred was in Azerbaijani-controlled territory. It was reported that the Azerbaijani military deliberately damaged the pipeline.

The Azerbaijani authorities obstructed repair works for days. Only on March 16 the authorities in Artsakh announced that the Azerbaijani side itself began the repair work. However, days later, the gas supply was cut again. Authorities said they have reasons to believe that during the repairs the Azeri authorities installed a valve on the pipeline in order to shut it down whenever they want.

Meanwhile, the population of Artsakh is without gas and heating amid freezing temperatures and snowfalls. The Artsakh foreign ministry described Azerbaijan’s actions as humanitarian terrorism.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry said the current situation emphasizes the urgency of clear response of the international community towards preventing the humanitarian crisis.

On March 22 the Human Rights Defender of Armenia Kristinne Grigoryan and the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh Gegham Stepanyan issued a joint statement, calling on international human rights organizations to pressure Azerbaijan and eliminate its gross and continuous human rights violations against the Armenians of Artsakh.

On March 23, the FM of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan said they utilized all diplomatic efforts to resolve the situation.

On March 23, the European Union expressed its concerns.

On March 24, Freedom House  Azerbaijan to prevent humanitarian crisis and restore gas supplies to Artsakh.

 11:28, 24 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 24, ARMENPRESS. The citizens of the Republic of Artsakh are deprived of natural gas supply for already three days, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting. He said that the supply was cut off as a result of Azerbaijan’s intervention.

“As you know, on March 7 the pipeline supplying gas to Artsakh was blown up in Azerbaijani-controlled territory. Using the most various pretexts, Azerbaijan was not allowing repair works and eventually Azerbaijan itself repaired it. As a result, the information we have indicates that Azerbaijan installed a valve on the pipeline.

On March 18, 11 days later, after restoring the gas supply to Artsakh for 4 days Azerbaijan simply closed the valve without any explosions on March 21, thus proving that it was behind the March 7 explosion,” the PM said.

PM Pashinyan highlighted the fact that both cases of the supply cut-off happened in unique circumstances.

“On March 7, unprecedented amount of snowfalls in the last 30 years happened in Artsakh and unprecedented drop in air temperatures were recorded. New record snowfalls and freezing cold was recorded on March 21 and in some places the snowfalls reached one and a half meters, one meter in capital Stepanakert, and the temperature reached minus eight degrees. And in these conditions Artsakh was intentionally deprived by Azerbaijan from the vitally significant natural gas supplies for heating apartments, kindergartens, schools and hospitals,” PM Pashinyan said.

He emphasized that this is enough to understand that as a result of Azerbaijan’s actions Artsakh is on the verge of a humanitarian disaster.

Pashinyan said he has no doubts that the heroic people of Artsakh will overcome this trial as well.

“But with this realization I must also say for the record that with its actions Azerbaijan is also rendering a service to the people of Artsakh, because this episode concerning the gas pipeline is a very precise and brief description of the Artsakh conflict for the international community. With this episode, the international community can understand the essence of the Karabakh conflict without reading hundreds of pages and studying the nuances of history.

This unequivocally showcases Azerbaijan’s policy towards the Armenians of Artsakh: That is – to make their life in their own homeland impossible. For one and a half years now, Azerbaijan is boasting of its so-called glorious victory in the 2020 44-day war, but everything shows that the fact that after so much suffering and deprivations, today, right now over 117,000 Armenians live in Artsakh, Azerbaijan considers this fact its biggest defeat and has set an objective to complete its policy of ethnic cleansing in Artsakh,” PM Pashinyan said.

In this context, Pashinyan said the Azerbaijani foreign ministry’s latest statement is very symbolic and speaks volumes, because Baku said in this statement that the Artsakh gas supply issue is its internal affair.

“If we interpret this from diplomatic language, this means that they are saying – ‘international community, don’t look this way and let us complete our policy of getting rid of Armenians by genocidal policy and ethnic cleansing in Artsakh under the pretext of so-called anti-terror actions or simply without obstructions, quietly’. No such thing can happen, and the diplomatic service of Armenia, other government officials, political forces, media, NGOs and individuals should in detail and widely present to the international community through social media everything that happened in Artsakh in the past 15 days,” Pashinyan said.

 

On March 8, the authorities of Artsakh said that the main pipeline supplying gas from Armenia to Artsakh was damaged on March 7 and the supply was stopped.

The Artsakh authorities had said the area where the damage occurred was in Azerbaijani-controlled territory. It was reported that the Azerbaijani military deliberately damaged the pipeline.

The Azerbaijani authorities obstructed repair works for days. Only on March 16 the authorities in Artsakh announced that the Azerbaijani side itself began the repair work. However, days later, the gas supply was cut again. Authorities said they have reasons to believe that during the repairs the Azeri authorities installed a valve on the pipeline in order to shut it down whenever they want.

Meanwhile, the population of Artsakh is without gas and heating amid freezing temperatures and snowfalls. The Artsakh foreign ministry described Azerbaijan’s actions as humanitarian terrorism.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry said the current situation emphasizes the urgency of clear response of the international community towards preventing the humanitarian crisis.

On March 22 the Human Rights Defender of Armenia Kristinne Grigoryan and the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh Gegham Stepanyan issued a joint statement, calling on international human rights organizations to pressure Azerbaijan and eliminate its gross and continuous human rights violations against the Armenians of Artsakh.

On March 23, the FM of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan said they utilized all diplomatic efforts to resolve the situation.

On March 23, the European Union expressed its concerns.

On March 24, Freedom House  Azerbaijan to prevent humanitarian crisis and restore gas supplies to Artsakh.

 

 11:40, 24 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 24, ARMENPRESS. The policy adopted by Armenia on opening an era of peaceful development for the region has no alternative, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during the Cabinet meeting today, stating that although many react to the current gas problem in Artsakh by reminding and criticizing the policy of opening a peaceful development era for the country and the region. 

“Quite the contrary, with its actions, numerous provocations Azerbaijan is trying to divert us from our agenda of peace, to deligitimize that agenda in order to implement its policy of provoking new escalations, new wars in the region. But we must not give in to these and such kind of provocations. I have stated that for implementing the peace agenda we need firm nerves and we must not deviate from our declared strategy in any way. Strategy is a strategy that should guide us in all situations”, the PM said.

He reminded that after the first explosion of the gas pipeline, on March 10, a 5-point proposal on the settlement of the relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan was handed over to Armenia. 

“We have responded to these proposals in writing very quickly, on March 14, and have applied to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries, requesting to assist in organizing the peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan. And on March 21, 2022, the Foreign Minister of Armenia voiced Armenia’s overall assessment to the proposals presented by Azerbaijan, and that assessment is the following:

“There is nothing unacceptable for us in the proposals submitted by Azerbaijan. It’s another thing that these proposals do not address all issues on he Armenia-Azerbaijan comprehensive peace agenda. With our response, submitted to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, we have amended that agenda and thus, we are ready for the launch of peace talks on this base”.

On the day this position was announced, in the evening, Azerbaijan closes the pipeline supplying gas to Artsakh. Pay attention please, Armenia announces that the proposals presented by Azerbaijan are acceptable for Armenia, but Azerbaijan closes the gas pipeline, and this is the greatest proof that Azerbaijan’s policy is to divert us from the peace agenda”, Pashinyan said.

 

 11:42, 24 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 24, ARMENPRESS.19 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Armenia in the past 24 hours, the ministry of healthcare reported.

2231 tests were conducted on March 23.

The total number of confirmed cases has reached 422,401.

The death toll has risen to 8604 as 12 death case has been registered in the past one day.

The total number of recoveries has reached 409,635 (47 n past day).

The number of active cases is 2490 as of March 24.

 11:44, 24 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 24, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addressed what he described as the “radical opposition’s” criticism claiming that his administration has agreed to accept the principle of territorial integrity as the principle of normalization of relations.

Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting that this criticism is “more than strange.”

PM Pashinyan reminded a 1999 statement by then-President Robert Kocharyan, who said “If we speak about territorial integrity in general, we shouldn’t say that we oppose it. We also have territory, and we too consider that this territory requires adherence to such principle”. Pashinyan said Kocharyan made this statement after returning to Yerevan in 1999 from the OSCE Istanbul summit where he had voted in favor of the security charter in Europe, which defends territorial integrity.

“After him, Serzh Sargsyan also negotiated over the NK conflict settlement for many years, accepting the principle of territorial integrity, among others, as a fundamental principle for resolution. Therefore, speculations are inappropriate here. We believe that the Nagorno Karabakh has never been a territorial conflict and isn’t such now as well, it is an issue of rights and we will consistently defend all rights of the Armenians of Artsakh, also by not ignoring the rights of other nations, because, as Serzh Sargsyan once rightfully said in a latest interview – ‘we are not fascists’”, Pashinyan said.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan earlier also said that the “Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not a territorial issue, but a matter of rights.”

 11:45, 24 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 24, ARMENPRESS. “RASAMANJARI”, which means Spring Blossom- a Gala Live In Concert will take place on March 31, at 19:00 in the Arno Babajanyan Concert Hall. The concert bearing the symbol of colourful spring will become a reality at the initiative of the Indian Embassy in Armenia, Indo-Armenian Friendship NGO and Indian Cultural Centre Armenia.

The featured artist of the evening is the internationally acclaimed Australian-Armenian musician Peter Davidian, whose roots are from Kolkata, India, but he lives in Australia. Peter’s family moved to India from Iran, and so he was inspired to learn the Sitar, which he has mastered in the course of time. 

Here is a small interview with Peter about his career and future plans:

1. How did you start your musical career ? Tell us about your journey as a musician.

I have studied music from the early age of 8, in formal lessons for melody and rhythm. I am proficient for Sitar, Guitar, Harmonium, Drumkit(Jazz etc), Darabuka and Tabla. First semi professional performance was at 12 years old and has continued for more than 50 years. I had intensive studies with Indian music professor Ustad Ghulam Qadir Khan of the Jaipur Gharana(school) throughout the 1980s for Sitar and Indian music theory.

I have been involved in numerous musical projects and events over the years. From Sitar recitals, world music projects, film soundtracks, studio recordings and education. I am also a composer with over 10 albums of recordings featuring Sitar, Indian, Armenian and western musical genres. Most recent albums are ‘Instrumentalism’, ‘Artsakh’ and ‘The Armenia Suite’.

2. What do you like most in Armenia?

Armenia is my motherland and as a result of diaspora I am the first to return in 3 generations, from Australia.  My family’s ancestors were from Julfa, Nachijevan until early 17th century. Then to New Julfa, Isfahan, Iran, where my grandparents were born. They, like many from New Julfa, went to India. Subsequently moving to Indonesia and then to Australia after 2nd World War in 1946.

I like so many things in Armenia. The very welcoming people, the food, the beautiful mountain landscapes, the ancient churches and monasteries, the music and dance. The art, the culture. From the first time I arrived in January 2019 I felt that I had returned home at last.

3. Has Armenian music impacted you as a musician?

Yes, definitely. The melodic structures, the rhythmic cycles, the scales used. The instruments that touch my heart immediately upon hearing. The works of Komitas, Sayat Nova, Khatchaturian and all the current superb instrumentalists and composers. 

4. Tell us about your future plans.

To continue to strive to master the Sitar and further develop my understanding of Armenian and Indian music systems. As my great grand uncle was an Ashugh musician travelling from Isfahan/New Julfa I feel the music is deep in our family’s roots. There are many musicians in the younger generation of our large family in Australia.

I hope to return to Armenia on a yearly basis to continue the musical collaborations, that have now been established.  It would be wonderful to take these musical collaborations to the rest of the world, if possible.

5. Who do you look up to in music?

For Sitar the 3 masters of 20th Century, Vilayat Khan, Nikhil Banerjee and of course Ravi Shankar.

Current living sitar master Shahid Parvez Khan is also a great inspiration.  I also admire the great musicians and composers of the Jazz and Classical genres.

6. What is unique about sitar?

Sitar is a medieval period instrument that was designed by Amir Khusroo. He took the Persian Setar, Caucasian Tar and the Indian Veena and blended them into a new design with resonating strings under the main playing strings. With raised curved fretboard the player can perform many different embellishment techniques to emulate the human voice. It’s resonant vibrating tone is quite hypnotic to both player and listener and is equally suited to slow meditative playing up to very fast Melodic structured improvisation.

Sitar has established itself as a preeminent instrument of North Indian, Hindustani, classical music.

7. Tell us about the upcoming concert.

The upcoming concert is part of the Indo Armenian Friendship NGO activities in Yerevan and Armenia. It will be a major event of Armenian and Indian music, song and dance. To be held on 31 March, from 7pm, at the Arno Babajayan Concert Hall on Abovyan St. Yerevan. I will be performing solo Sitar recital, duets with Indian Classical vocals, another duet with Armenian Bhul flute, and an ensemble, performing my ‘Armenia Suite’ compositions for Sitar, wind and traditional percussion.

 

 12:01, 24 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 24, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says the social situation in Armenia is complicating, but adds that the whole world is in the same situation. 

During the Cabinet meeting today the PM said that the world is in an unprecedented high stage of inflation, and one can know about its reasons while getting acquainted with the news at any moment. 

“And Armenia is still in a good situation in this sense, compared to many countries. And what is the policy of the government in this respect, it was seen in 2019 when the prices of food were increasing globally, but Armenia was one of the unique countries where the opposite was taking place, the prices of food were declining. Because we eliminated the artificial monopolies, and Armenia today is a free country in terms of imports and exports, and as a result of the measures taken, the prices of several important goods are not increasing in Armenia, and in fact will not increase, in some cases we have declines in prices. I hope we will have it also in the future”, the PM said.

He said they understand that they need to carry out a policy of mitigating the social issues, and added that they do this as much as possible, as much as the country’s budget allows which is formed at the expense of the taxes paid by everyone. “And how we collected the taxes, the data of 2021, the most crisis year for us, show, when the state budget’s tax revenues have been overpassed by 147 billion drams than it was planned. And if we take into account the additional revenues received without legislative amendments, about 110 billion drams. In general, the tax revenues of our budget after 2018 increased by nearly 35%, as I promised during the peaceful, velvet, people’s Revolution”, the PM said.

He said that there are speculations that they are raising the salaries of law enforcement officers and are not increasing the pensions. “Yes, but two things must be taken into account. Firstly, it’s one thing to raise the salary of 500 people, 5000 people or even 20,000, but it’s completely another thing to raise the pension of 550000 or 600000 people. These are absolutely different budgetary expenditures, moreover, these expenditures are not one-time, they must be carried out forever. And we, of course, do everything possible to implement our pre-election promises and vital necessary decisions”, he added.

“In any case, you should know for sure, dear compatriots, that like in the past, today as well all your pains are in our hearts, all your needs are in our mind and all your dreams are in our souls”, the PM concluded.

 12:17, 24 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 24, ARMENPRESS. We are now at the most critical moment in the history of the Third Republic of Armenia, a point where the Armenian statehood appeared not once, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting.

“In order for us to be able to reach a desirable resolution from this same historic point, we need unprecedented flexibility, a complete and unemotional condition. We need new formulas of mentality. And we must sail our ship to a peaceful destination from this stormy geopolitical ocean that we found ourselves in. I am convinced that we will do this, and perhaps this is our historic mission,” PM Pashinyan said, emphasizing that what’s happening in the world now began with what happened to us and what’s happening today will directly impact us.

Speaking on economic issues, Pashinyan said: “I also want to speak about optimistic news. We must note that we have good grounds to maintain our economic activity. For example, with the data of the first 20 days of March against the same period of the previous year, the number of transactions recorded with point-of-sale machines in Armenia increased with 510,000, while turnover grew more than 60 billion drams. This certainly is not a fundamental indicator, but this is a positive signal which is connected to the fact that in 2022 we have a big flow of people into Armenia and this will create rather good economic effects.”

He added that in February Armenia recorded a record number of registered workplaces at 646,077 (10,3% increase against 2021 and 12,7% increase against 2019).

Average salary stood at 223,235 drams, which is a 9% increase against 2021 and 25,3% increase against 2019.

 

 12:39, 24 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 24, ARMENPRESS. The member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) are actively examining the issue of Armenia on getting a status of an observer in the organization, SCO Secretary General Zhang Ming said in an interview to TASS. 

“As for getting an observer status by Armenia and Azerbaijan, the SCO member states are actively examining it”, the Secretary General said. “In this sense I am personally optimistic, but I cannot mention the exact date at the moment”, he added.

The SCO Secretary General said the relations between the countries, of course, are an important factor which should be taken into account. “At the same time the SCO member states agree that the bilateral contradictions should not be brought to the organization. It is also an obligation that must be fulfilled by each country that seeks to join the SCO family”, he said.