19:10, 2 February 2024
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 2, ARMENPRESS. Davit Balayan has been elected as a candidate for the judge of the Constitutional Court by the General Assembly of Judges, Supreme Judicial Council spokesperson Lilit Shaboyan said on social media.
19:59, 2 February 2024
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 2, ARMENPRESS. The agenda of Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to Türkiye has been announced, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, the Anadolu news agency reports.
He said that Putin will discuss the situation in Ukraine with his Turkish counterpart.
The leaders will also discuss bilateral issues and the regional situation.
20:47, 2 February 2024
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 2, ARMENPRESS. The Spring Festival, Chinese New Year, was solemnly celebrated at the Chinese Embassy in Armenia. China's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia, Fan Yong, addressed the audience, extending his best wishes to all the Chinese individuals working, studying, and living in Armenia, including teachers, students, employees of enterprises financed by China and their families.
"During the past year, thanks to the involvement and joint efforts of both sides, bilateral relations between China and Armenia have developed in a new way. Governments, academic institutions, enterprises, as well as cultural and art figures of the two countries, have continuously engaged in close exchanges and visits. The cooperation in various fields has flourished. China remains Armenia's primary trade partner, main export market, and source of imports. January-November 2023.The volume of trade between China and Armenia reached 1.93 billion US dollars, increasing by 23.1% per year," Fan Yong said.
The Ambassador highlighted the projects implemented by China in Armenia, which play an important role in improving the quality and modernization of Armenia's infrastructure.
"Chinese language learning is on the rise in Armenia, and interest in the Chinese language and culture continues growing," said the Ambassador.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to the People's Republic of China Sergey Manasaryan noted: “The year 2023 essentially marked the first year of the post-COVID period, with intense contacts at all levels being recorded, and somewhat frozen programs were resumed. The preceding year was also significant for trade and economic relations, as the regular session of the intergovernmental economic commission was convened. If the current pace of cooperation is maintained, this year we will exceed the threshold of two billion dollars in turnover. The political dialogue in the format of international organizations has also seen positive development, brilliantly demonstrating the high level of stable, friendly relations," said Manasaryan.
22:12, 2 February 2024
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 2, ARMENPRESS. The US Embassy has eased travel restrictions for its employees in the territory of the Republic of Armenia, the Embassy said on social media.
“Notice to U.S. citizens: The U.S. Embassy loosens travel restrictions for its employees. This represents an easing of restrictions since the last notice had been issued,’’ reads the message.
The restrictions apply to Gegharkunik region east of Vardenis, Syunik region east of Goris, Syunik region south of Kapan. The travel through Yeraskh village in Ararat region is allowed, but stopping is not.
As the March 5th Primary Elections quickly approach, the Armenian National Committee of America Western Region announced its list of endorsed candidates who are running for election in the Greater Los Angeles Area — all of whom have demonstrated a tried-and-true commitment to advancing Armenian-American policy interests.
ANCA Western Region List of Endorsed Candidates:
Paramus, NJ–The Armenian Missionary Association of America (AMAA), in collaboration with the Evangelical Church of Armenia (ECA), held a series of Christmas Joy Programs for children and youth throughout Armenia.
From December 23 to January 15, some 60 Christmas Joy Programs were held in more than 30 towns and villages of Armenia, including the border villages, where more than 10,000 children and youth heard the Good News of the Savior’s birth and received Christmas gifts.
The AMAA/ECA Vardenis team visited 14 villages, 12 of which are near the border. In Sisian, the AMAA/ECA team transported children from nine border villages to the city, where they watched a Christmas play about the joy, love and care that come from Christ.
In all regions of Armenia, the Good News of Christmas was conveyed by the children and youth through unique performances, during which they proclaimed: “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” (1 John 4:9)
The highlight of the Christmas Joy Programs was a play held at AMAA’s Yerevan Center in the ECA Yerevan Church Hall, where over 2,200 children and youth heard the Good News of Christmas through a unique play held in seven sessions in two days. On January 11 and 12, the “Hayasa” theater troupe of AMAA and ECA presented the play “Nativity in the Forest” directed by scriptwriter Nune Abrahamyan.
At the play’s conclusion, when the Christmas carol was played, one of the characters lit a candle, followed by the whole forest in the play and then by the children in the audience. The dark hall immediately lit up with small lamps, symbolizing that each of us will become the bearer of Christmas light when we know Jesus and follow His commandments.
The children attending the programs took home with them the candles symbolizing the light of Jesus, as well as Christmas gift bags full of interesting items and games, while announcing to each other: “Christ is born and is revealed. Good tidings to you and to us.” The same play was also repeated at the Evangelical Church of Armenia in Ijevan during its Christmas Joy Program.
“The light that emanates from the Manger at Christmas Joy lit the minds and souls of the children of Armenia, who in turn will grow up to illuminate the Homeland. AMAA donors ignite the spark,” said Zaven Khanjian, AMAA Executive Director/CEO.
We thank all our donors who partnered with us by donating to our Christmas Joy Programs and brought smiles and fun celebrations to thousands of needy children of Armenia and Artsakh.
Friday, February 2, 2024
Armenian Official Rejects Aliyev’s ‘New Precondition’ For Peace
Armenia - Bright Armenia Party leader Edmon Marukian speaks with journalists,
Yerevan, June 11, 2021.
Azerbaijan is not serious about signing a peace treaty with Armenia, an Armenian
official said on Friday, citing Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s demands for
Yerevan to enact major constitutional changes.
Aliyev said on Thursday that Armenia should change its constitution and other
documents if it wants to make peace with Azerbaijan. He specifically objected to
the current Armenian constitution’s reference to a 1990 declaration of
independence which he said “infringes on Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.”
Edmon Marukian, an Armenian ambassador-at-large, said Aliyev thus set a
“completely new precondition” for the peace deal that has been discussed by the
two sides for the last two years
“Azerbaijan avoids signing the peace treaty and continuously raises new demands
during the whole process of negotiations, thus torpedoing the peace process,”
tweeted Marukian. He said the “endless demands” prove that Baku “does not want
peace in the region.”
It was not clear whether Marukian expressed the Armenian government’s position.
The government did not officially react to Aliyev’s latest demands as of Friday
evening.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian stated on January 18 that Armenia must adopt a
new constitution reflecting the “new geopolitical environment” in the region.
Critics believe he first and foremost wants to get rid of the current
constitution’s preamble that makes reference to the declaration cited by Aliyev.
In a radio interview broadcast on Thursday, Pashinian did not deny Armenian
opposition claims that he wants to change the constitution under pressure from
Azerbaijan. He reiterated his criticism of the 1990 declaration.
Opposition lawmakers say his unilateral concessions will only lead to more
Azerbaijani demands and increase the risk of another war. In recent weeks, four
of them have been allowed by the Armenian Foreign Ministry to see written
proposals regarding the treaty exchanged by Yerevan and Baku.
In a joint statement issued on Friday, they said they visited the ministry
earlier in the day to take a look at the most recent Armenian proposals that
were sent to Baku on January 4.
“We note that there is no significant progress in the negotiation process and
all the concerns we voiced after getting acquainted with the previous packages
of proposals, which are related to Armenia not receiving any additional security
guarantees … and new concessions imposed on Armenia with the threat of force,
remain,” they said.
They also said that the Foreign Ministry and an unnamed security service suspect
them of breaking their pledge not to publicize the information made available to
them. They rejected the government “threat” and said they will continue to raise
public awareness of the negotiation process.
Ruling Party Moves To Oust Opposition Members Of Yerevan Council
• Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia - Andranik Tevanian, leader of the Mayr Hayastan bloc, speaks to
reporters outside the Yerevan municipality, February 2, 2024.
The two opposition groups represented in Yerevan’s municipal council accused the
Armenian authorities on Friday of trying to stifle dissent after the ruling
Civil Contract party moved to oust five of their council members.
They include former Mayor Hayk Marutian, whose party finished second in last
September’s municipal election, and four councilors representing the radical
opposition Mayr Hayastan alliance.
Civil Contract and its local coalition partner, the Hanrapetutyun party, want to
strip them of their seats on the grounds that they have skipped most of the
council votes. The city council will meet to discuss the initiative on Monday.
Isabella Abgarian, a Marutian ally, dismissed the absenteeism claims, saying
that the opposition councilors simply boycotted council sessions and votes for
tactical reasons. She said boycott is a legitimate tool of political struggle.
“The ruling party itself has used this tool, twice failing to attend a council
session so that it doesn’t take place,” Abgarian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s political team, she said, is simply trying to
silence Marutian, who has stepped up his criticism of the municipal
administration lately.
Armenia - Former Mayor Hayk Marutian votes in a local election in Yerevan,
September 17, 2023.
“We regard this as an act of political terror by the authorities,” Andranik
Tevanian, the Mayr Hayastan leader, charged for his part.
Tevanian said that the authorities are seeking to punish “active members” of his
bloc in a bid to discourage others from challenging Mayor Tigran Avinian, who is
a senior member of Civil Contract. “They will fail to achieve that,” he said.
Civil Contract declined to respond to the opposition claims.
Pashinian’s party fell well short of a majority in the city council as a result
of the September polls. Together with Hanrapetutyun, it controls only 32 of the
65 council seats. Marutian’s National Progress party and Mayr Hayastan hold 26
seats between them.
The remaining 7 seats are controlled by the Public Voice party that was until
recently led by a controversial video blogger based in the United States.
Although the small party campaigned on an opposition platform, it decisively
helped Civil Contract install Avinian as mayor. It now also holds the key to the
removal of the five opposition councilors which has to be backed by the council
majority.
Incidentally, Public Voice’s nominal chairman, Artak Galstian, has not attended
any council session because of being held in pre-trial detention on charges of
blackmail and extortion. The authorities have made no attempts to strip Galstian
of his council seat.
Indicted Ex-Official Moved To House Arrest
• Artak Khulian
Armenia - Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian (left) and his deputy Ani Ispirian
attend a news conference in Yerevan, January 8, 2024.
A former Armenian deputy minister of economy was moved to house arrest on Friday
two days after being detained and charged with abuse of power.
Ani Ispirian was taken into custody along with several other government
officials and business executives prosecuted over a procurement tender
administered by the Ministry of Economy last summer. She was sacked just hours
before her arrest.
It is still not clear whether Ispirian denies or admits the accusations. Her
lawyer, Mamikon Muradian, refused to comment on them when he was approached an
RFE/RL correspondent following a Yerevan court’s decision to allow the house
arrest.
Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian effectively denied the corruption charges
brought against his current and former subordinates when he spoke to reporters
on Thursday. Kerobian refused to comment further on Friday.
The ministry officials are accused of illegally disqualifying an information
technology company, Harmonia, from a procurement tender to make sure that it is
won by another, larger firm, Synergy International Systems, which set a much
higher price for its services. Synergy’s founder and two current and former
employees are also under arrest. One of them, Ani Gevorgian, is the wife of
parliament speaker Alen Simonian’s brother Karlen.
Law-enforcement authorities opened a criminal case into the tender even though
an Armenian court invalidated it last August following a lawsuit filed by
Harmonia. Synergy did not win a fresh tender called by the ministry shortly
afterwards.
This fact, coupled with the authorities’ decision to arrest the young woman
related to Simonian, fueled speculation about political motives behind the
high-profile case. Some media outlets claimed that the controversial speaker,
who is a senior member of the ruling Civil Contract party, is increasingly at
odds with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s political team. The party’s deputy
chairman, Vahagn Aleksanian, denied this.
Simonian himself has not publicly commented on the arrests so far. Still, he
made a point of posting a photograph of him, his brother and arrested
sister-in-law on his Facebook page on Thursday.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2024 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
The Literary Armenian News
Angst
Give me German philosophy
French gab, wine, poetry
Italian cuisine, belle cantos, scenery
Spanish painters, dancers, guitars Olé
Japanese fighting styles, haikus, sushi
Russian novels, laments, morbidity and me
Alcohol spilled in silent forests of envy
African suns come rise and sigh
Black Slavery and Indian castes
As Nazis seek manual scavenger
Book burner, oiled submerger
Cleaning society excrementally
Expose Poland, Turkey, Hungary, Israel
Brazil, Egypt, Iran, North of the DMZ
Batshit crazy, Putin beating a tin drum silly
Brotherhoods of tyranny, China be my baby
And now unto us a Trump is forgiven
And Trump our own brief grief stricken
Border walls and dungeons fester
White folk be just fine again mein dump
Bundestag burning – its marshmallow time
Bedros AfeyanPalo Alto, CA1-15-2020
© Copyright 2024 Armenian News Network/Armenian News and the author.
The homepage for The Literary Armenian News is at: groong.org/tlg/
"I wonder, does our state policy have to be based on the decision by the National Council of Nagorno-Karabakh and the (Soviet era) Supreme Council of Armenia, according to which Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh should be united, as stipulated in the (1990 Armenian) Declaration of Independence? If so, it means that we are going to have a war now, we will not achieve peace," Nikol Pashinyan told Armenian Public Radio in an interview.
At the same time, he said that Armenia must have a combat-ready army to defend its territory "within the borders of the former Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic."
Pashinyan also criticized the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Russia-led military bloc, for not helping in the issue of Karabakh, not mentioning how the organization was established to defend its member countries in case of aggression while Karabakh is an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan.
Armenia criticized Russia's refusal to fight for Armenia, and said that after the events in Karabakh "for a number of reasons, the Russian Federation cannot be Armenia's main partner in the defense and military-technical spheres."
Relations between Armenian and Azerbaijan have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.
Azerbaijan liberated most of the region during a 44-day war in the fall of 2020, and last September, the Azerbaijani army initiated an anti-terrorism operation in Karabakh, and liberated the rest of its territories, ending 30 years Armenian occupation.
Azerbaijan on Thursday said a “de facto peace” exists with archrival Armenia but a formal treaty is needed to finalize the normalization of bilateral ties.
"In order to bring this process to a logical end, a peace treaty must be signed and Armenia's territorial claims against Azerbaijan must end," Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev told those attending a meeting with Inter-Parliamentary Union Secretary-General Martin Chungong in Baku.
Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.
Azerbaijan liberated most of the region during a 44-day war in the fall of 2020, which ended with a Russian-brokered peace agreement, opening the door to normalization.
Last September, the Azerbaijani army initiated a counterterrorism operation in Karabakh to establish constitutional order, after which illegal separatist forces in the region surrendered.
Last month, the sides swapped prisoners of war, a first step toward normalizing relations.
The European Union, the United States and regional powers Türkiye and Russia praised the move as a "breakthrough." The pair also discussed the withdrawal of troops from their shared border, but no concrete decision followed.
The prisoner exchange raised hopes for reviving face-to-face talks between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Aliyev.
The pair have met several times for normalization talks mediated by EU chief Charles Michel. But the process has been on hold since October.
Traditional regional power broker Russia bogged down with its dragging Ukraine offensive, has seen its influence wane in the Caucasus.
Aliyev said Armenia still claims Azerbaijani territory in official documents such as its constitution, adding that peace could be achieved if Yerevan stops making the claims and makes changes to its legal documents.
"Stating the importance of this to be implemented in Armenia as soon as possible, the head of state emphasized that the initiation of internal discussions on this issue in Armenia is considered a positive step and it can create a good opportunity for the peace process to be concluded soon," the statement read.
Similarly, on Thursday, Pashinyan also argued his country’s decades-old claims on Karabakh hinder the establishment of peace in the Caucasus region.
"I wonder, does our state policy have to be based on the decision by the National Council of Nagorno-Karabakh and the (Soviet era) Supreme Council of Armenia, according to which Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh should be united, as stipulated in the (1990 Armenian) Declaration of Independence? If so, it means that we are going to have a war now, we will not achieve peace," Pashinyan told Armenian Public Radio in an interview.
At the same time, he said that Armenia must have a combat-ready army to defend its territory "within the borders of the former Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic."
Pashinyan also criticized the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Russia-led military bloc, for not helping in the issue of Karabakh; however, he did not mention how the organization was established to defend its member countries in case of aggression and that Karabakh is an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan.
Armenia criticized Russia's refusal to fight for Armenia, and said that after the events in Karabakh "for a number of reasons, the Russian Federation cannot be Armenia's main partner in the defense and military-technical spheres."
Pashinyan has also angered the Kremlin by questioning the foundations of the alliance, saying “Because Moscow has repeatedly let Armenia down so, Yerevan must think about forging closer ties with the United States and France.”