Category: News

The Tavush Regional Department of the Eco-Patrol Service is ready for operation. they announced the other day from the Eco-patrol service. Nikol Pashinyan was also present at the opening of this department in the city of Ijevan.

We were informed that the ceremony started with a live performance of the RA national anthem, for which Chekijian’s choir went to Ijeva.

We learn about the latter from the electronic procurement system.

Thus, the Eco-Parcel Service signed a contract with the “State National Academic Choir of Armenia” under a one-person non-competitive procurement procedure, delegating the presence of the choir and the performance of the RA national anthem within the framework of this event for 1.5 million drams.

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The political forces participating in the parliamentary elections on June 7 officially started the pre-election campaign on May 8. Most of the political forces started the campaign from marzes, some from Yerevan.

Gas technologist Armen Badalyan In other words, the political forces had unofficially started their campaign months ago, so it’s not like the start of the campaign was significantly different from the days of the unofficial campaign.

“All the forces started the campaign with the same methodology from the actual handwritten point of view, as months ago, there was no purely technological new development or some kind of start. Again, rallies, marches, meetings, that is, mass organizational events, which probably could not be otherwise, because when they start with the same methodology, they cannot give some intriguing process. Of course, they can do it, but they can’t, it’s not that easy.” of 168.am said Armen Badalyan in a conversation with

He found it difficult to say whether the campaign will be calm or whether there will be incidents, although it is possible that there will be tension during the campaign, because the “stakes” in the elections are quite high.

“The pre-election campaign of the ruling political force started on August 8, 2025, when the so-called “peace” document was initialed in Washington. And for other political forces, the pre-election campaign started from the end of last fall and the beginning of this year. When we observe the campaign during this period, we see that the political forces do not use their chances 100%, in many cases there are many mistakes, in many cases the methodology repeats the methodology of 1995.

Here the CP uses the “peace” methodology, says: “we came to power, it will be peaceful”, after that it uses the EU factor. In parallel, he says: “forget about Artsakh, let’s settle within the existing borders.” There are people for whom this is understandable and natural, following these slogans, they will vote for the government. There is a political force that promises to make the United States an ally for Armenia. The political forces of Samvel Karapetyan, Gagik Tsarukyan and Robert Kocharyan also offer different points: creation of jobs, reduction of drug prices, etc., added the technologist.

According to our interlocutor, none of the political forces at the moment has clearly shown the vision of what Armenia will have in case of the victory of their force. They do not show the picture of the country that they will build in case of their victory, so that people know what country they will vote for.

“The campaign should be conducted in such a way that it does not turn into “clownada”, it is beneficial only to the ruling political force. It is in the interest of the ruling political force to cheapen the electoral process as much as possible, that is, to trivialize it as much as possible, while these elections are of fatal significance: this will show the course of Armenia for the next 100 years,” emphasized Armen Badalyan.

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An early medieval church was discovered in the Kecharis monastery complex during the renovation works and the excavations carried out within their scope. We talked about the details archaeologist Tigran Aleksanyan with.

– The new church was discovered during the improvement works. in which part is it located?

– The church was opened in the central part of the monastic complex, next to the Catholic and Saint Grigor Lusavorich churches. In the past, there were well-maintained, green paths leading to the monastery, and there was never any doubt that there was a church there. The roads have been repaired regularly.

2025 according to the previously prepared plan, improvement works were undertaken in the territory of the monastery. During the earthworks, gravestones from the 11th-13th centuries were regularly found, and we did a short excavation to understand how widespread they are, what kind of environment there is in the surroundings. And when we realized that the graves continue and we are dealing with the cemetery, we stopped all kinds of construction works on the site, and started large-scale excavations.

– In other words, both the cemetery and the church were discovered.

– Yes, they are from different eras. Tombstones dating back to the 11th-13th centuries were discovered around the Catholic church, which is very legitimate, because it is the stage of the Kecharis monastery’s foundation and flourishing. The buried persons are related to the activities of the monastery. And already to the east, when we continued the excavation, the new church was accidentally opened, which was built earlier, in the 6th-7th centuries.

I should mention that it is completely new. A church was discovered, about which there was no information until now, neither in inscriptions, nor among historians, nor in previous researches.

– What is the reason that there has been no information until now?

– I can’t say. It is also strange for us, because in the 11th century, when they started building the Church of St. Grigor the Illuminator, there are extensive testimonies about the foundation of the church, construction stages, builders, rebuilders, but to our surprise, there is no word about the church that existed before that.

– There were inscriptions on the tombstones.

– Yes, a part is a protocol, from the 11th, 12th, 13th centuries. Some have names on them. We made an interesting discovery. was a record stone, which was later turned into a khachkar plinth… the content was something like this. left the leader of the monastery, Barsegh Anetsi, who later became a Catholicos. There is talk about the brotherly death of his brother, who was killed in the fight against the Seljuks and was buried in the territory of the Kecharis monastery. We have not found that grave yet.

– We opened about 106 tombstones. There is a large cemetery under the entire southern wall of the Catholic church. The area was completely covered with soil, and that too was unknown.

– Is it known who is buried there?

– Yes. They are mainly spiritual persons. priests, holy fathers who served in the Kecharis monastery in the 12th-13th centuries.

– Do all tombstones have inscriptions?

– To some. There are gravestones with well-crafted, ornate patterns, but without inscriptions. In general, they have many similarities with the tombstone art of medieval Armenia. there are minor peculiarities of some lines, patterns, plant decorations.

– A toaster was also found. Do the church and the bakery have anything to do with each other?

– When the church was bowed down, in the later period there were attached buildings on the western side, probably residential or utility rooms. We have partially opened and already, if we continue the excavation, new rooms will be opened, because the walls are already outlined. Presumably, they are living rooms of the abbots of the monastery, and the toaster was a necessary everyday item in the household.

– You were working with a lithologist. Are all the records decoded?

– All the records I mentioned have been deciphered. In general, the lithographs of the Kotayk region, particularly of the Kecharis monastery, have also been studied, and the newly discovered inscriptions are under study, and the details will be published soon. The newly discovered church, unlike the other structures of the monastery, is built of tuff. And the monastery is made of basalt. What is interesting? there is no tuff in that region.  Through preliminary studies, we found out that the tuff was brought from the mines of Agarak village of Ashtarak region. It is an interesting circumstance. the stone was specially taken and built.

It is a construction art characteristic of the early Middle Ages, 5-7 centuries.  It is made of large tuff slabs, is notched, strong, but with certain plan deviations, which we are also studying. Maybe it is a consequence of the earthquake, because there are deviations of the walls in both vertical and horizontal direction. In our opinion, in 1003, when the first church of Kecharis Monastery was started to be built, they saw the new church. it was partially destroyed, they cleaned the rubble, conserved the walls, but did not restore it, maybe due to some technical problems.

The church was no longer restored, instead, new churches were built next to it, which were supplemented with new structures in the 11th-13th centuries, and the Kecharis monastery complex was formed.

It is interesting that the monastery was built on the site of an older church.  There is such a point of view in Armenology that apparently, at least in the case of important monastic complexes, they are built on the site of old sanctuaries. The results of these excavations seem to confirm this view.

When I say old church, I mean earlier, 5-8 centuries. There are many such cases. The most significant is Tatev Monastery. There was an older structure, later they constantly either rebuilt or built a new one next to it, and monastic complexes were formed. The choice of place is actually not accidental.

– I think in the 1980s and 2000s, renovation works were done in that area, but they didn’t find anything.

– Since the 1930s, regular restoration works have taken place in the territory of the monastery. In the 1940s, 1950s, 1980s, too. The Kecharis monastery was completely restored in 1998, 2001, ahead of the 1700th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity. But, along with that, archeological excavations have never been carried out in the area. There is a reason for this, because none of our previous explorers have any words, descriptions, anything in the old photos about possible earlier structures.

There was no doubt that there were earlier layers in the area.  Usually, excavations are carried out before such works, but since they have been restored regularly and nothing has come to light, they did not even suspect it.  We carried out extensive excavations and, in fact, there were very important results.

– Did you find any things in the church?

– We found items from different periods. 5th-7th centuries related to the church itself, mainly construction pottery, tiles, and in the rooms opened next to it, everyday household, economic pottery of the developed Middle Ages, various vessels, dishes.

– Is it possible that one day the newly found church will be restored?

– I cannot say, that is also being discussed. When we continue the excavations this year and the ancient site is completely opened, we will discuss this issue with the architects. does its technical condition allow it or not, maybe the walls are weak…

Maybe we should just leave it like that, just fix the existing one, that is also very interesting.  It is a ready-made ancient site, where you can see a half-destroyed church. Geological, technical, architectural studies should be carried out, combined with archaeological data and we will understand what we will do in the end.

– What are your expectations from the excavation?

– We started the excavation last year in autumn, this year we will continue it more regularly and for a longer period of time. Then a project of improvement will be drawn up, we will move on to the construction phase, because the project that was there actually disappeared.  The alleyways of that section must be completely transformed. they will approach from another side, but at the same time we will ensure the visibility of the newly opened church. Then we will understand how we solve the conservation issue.

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Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz arrived in Armenia on May 4 within the framework of the 8th European Political Community Summit. At Yerevan Zvartnots International Airport, the Vice President of Turkey was welcomed by the Vice President of the National Assembly, the special representative of Armenia in the Armenia-Turkey settlement process, Ruben Rubinyan.

During the visit to Armenia, the Vice President of Turkey and Nikol Pashinyan signed the protocol for the joint restoration of the Ani Bridge. Even before this visit, on May 28, a meeting of Armenian and Turkish delegates took place in Kars to discuss the works of restoring the Gyumri-Kars railway.

The Vice President of Turkey announced 3 days after his visit to Armenia that with the development of the “Middle Corridor” and the opening of the “Zangezur Corridor” there will be both greater security and greater prosperity.

“We want peace in the South Caucasus. Armenia and Azerbaijan have made significant progress in this matter. We say, “Peace is now very near.” With the establishment of this peace, the South Caucasus will play a different role at the regional and global level as a region of extremely high strategic importance. Especially with the development of the “Middle Corridor” and the opening of the “Zangezur Corridor”, there will be both greater security and greater prosperity. had announced Vice President of Turkey.

Former director of the NAS Institute of Oriental Studies, academician, Turkologist Ruben Safrastyan summarizing the visit of the Turkish official to Armenia and the signed protocol, he noted that the visit is so important that a high-ranking Turkish official has come to Armenia, although many people in Turkey may not even know his name. However, this indicates that the “contact” between the two countries continues.

“Turkey’s vice president as a political figure does not represent anything, he is under Erdogan’s shadow. I don’t think that high-ranking officials from Turkey will come to Armenia in the near future, why, because if a high-ranking official comes, there should be a fundamentally important step towards regulating bilateral relations. However, I don’t see new fundamental steps aimed at regulating Armenian-Turkish relations, I think there won’t be any in the near future.

In my understanding, a decision was made in Turkey to regulate relations with Armenia. But taking into account the statements of the President of Turkey, by which he links the settlement of Armenian-Turkish relations with the signing of the “peace treaty” with Azerbaijan, I think that this is the main demand for the settlement.” 168.am–Ruben Safrastyan said in a conversation with

Continuing the thought, our interlocutor said, yes, there is a decision to normalize relations with Armenia in Turkey, which is due to the growing importance of the region, the South Caucasus, which is important for Turkey. There is also a second circumstance: Turkey always connects the settlement of relations with the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.

“Until the peace agreement with Azerbaijan is signed, Turkey will not take any principled steps to regulate relations with Armenia. Instead, he will take small steps of a technical nature to show everyone that he has a positive attitude towards the process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations,” added Ruben Safrastyan.

Regarding the steps towards the works of the Gyumri-Kars railway and Armenia’s financial capabilities in terms of making investments to restore the railway, Ruben Safrastyan said that it is difficult to say how much money will be required for all this, but it is an opportunity for Armenia and one way to connect with the world.

“The problem here is that, yes, there are opportunities and there are also risks and these risks must be manageable. What I am saying is the result of these tens of years, because the problems related to the Armenian-Turkish border have been discussed many times. There have been various research and professional groups that have seriously investigated these issues from time to time, and I myself have been a part of them. My general approach, which was formed while working in those groups, is as follows: there are opportunities, and they will be positive for Armenia, but there are also risks that must be managed,” Ruben Safrastyan emphasized.

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Davit Ananyan, member of the management board of the Unity Wings party, representative of the pre-election list, general director of the “DS-EY Consulting Group” company, former head of the RA State Revenue Committee (SRC), candidate of economic sciences.in the “Pressing” program also spoke about the regional visits of their team and the problems affecting the villagers.

“The people are primarily interested in the security of the country. They also raise issues related to agriculture, irrigation water, arable land, procurement issues. People are skeptical, disappointed. The people feel cheated and abandoned.

We see this clearly. It is unfortunate that a part of our people sincerely believes in Pashinyan’s theses that the former are responsible for this situation. In the event that Pashinyan is the greatest ex. But when you calmly explain to a person what is after what, even our compatriots who follow CP change their thinking, they understand everything very well.

Pashinyan’s blackmail with war does not work for the people of the villages, it works in the cities. Moreover, the higher the village is, the more sober is the thinking of its inhabitants,” said Davit Ananyan.

The latter noted that Pashinyan did not succeed in erasing Artsakh and patriotism among people.

“Our contacts show this. In general, our people do not accept the loss of Artsakh. And in many cases they demand us to say that we are going to bring back Artsakh. We explain that the priority today is the right of return of Artsakh residents, the protection of their other rights, and a dignified life. In such cases, we always tell our people that there is a time to throw the stones and collect the stones,” said Davit Ananyan.

Details in the video.

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“Lessons” program the guest Former vice-chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia, doctor of law, professor, honored lawyer of the Republic of Armenia Artur Ghambaryan is.

The main theses of the interview are below.

• The current government has entered a stage when it fights against symbols and does so in an extremely efficient and competent manner. We need to figure out how to counter it effectively. Public indifference is worrying and these issues should become the subject of sociological study. The new generation, the youth, is indifferent to processes.

• These elections are elections between two opposing ideological wings. In a month we will see if the society is at peace with what is happening or not. We will see if the people choose the path of eradicating Mount Ararat and destroying national institutions, or another path.:

• The current government now says everything clearly, they do not hide anything, they say directly what they will do. Understand, people, you need to understand what ideology this political force supports. If you think that Mount Ararat should be removed from passports and everywhere, the fight against the Church should continue, go and vote for this government.

• It is not a secret for anyone that this government is known for its disinformation, obvious lies, but they directly state their intentions on many painful issues and do not hide them. Let me be understood correctly: I’m not saying this government is honest, I’m saying it’s sincere, they’re saying what they’re going to do.

• Is there any doubt that the provisions dedicated to the Church in the CP election program are unconstitutional… Of course not. They know this too, but they wrote so that later they would be elected, they would say that they gave me legitimacy to fight against the Church, it was written about this in my plan, and people elected me. Do we want our clergymen to be taken into custody again, attacks against the Church to continue, so let’s choose that after 2 months they will say that we are fulfilling the will of the people. Today, only the Church remains the only institution of resistance:

• A scientist, as a creative person, should be oppositional. The speech should not be one of praise, but one that highlights the problems of the system, critical.

• A scientific conference is organized in one of the universities, where one of the scientists offers a report on the state-church constitutional relations, the report is not included in the agenda, they say it is a political issue. This is a scientific institution. The authorities should have come and said: what have you put on the agenda? Then they talk about scientific freedom:

• State-church relations are not regulated by the Labor Code, but what did the court of Armavir marz do, we all saw. New realities are emerging that have deep roots.

• It is possible to meet with the head of the country, I would also meet, but with what agenda? This is the question.

• The Prime Minister says: “Is there a judge who won’t do what I say?” The judicial system did not respond, considering it a political statement. I do not expect judges to be heroes, Monte or Vazgen Sargsyan, but I expect judges to at least maintain the minimum threshold of justice. We are not saying to be in opposition to the current authorities, but there is a limit below which one cannot go down, and understanding that the act does not contain an obvious crime, as in the case of Mikael the priest or Samvel Karapetyan. How can a restraining order be applied to His Holiness?:

• A citizen’s car was stolen, the state, with its legal system, cannot bring it back in a criminal case, but that citizen is told that he must pay property tax. But thank God, there are judges who practice moral justice, and there are judges who take the opposite position.

• I am a supporter of the institution of juries. There are decisions for society to make:

• Life has many more patterns than legal responsibility. Those judges who easily make illegal arrest decisions should spend a few hours in penitentiary institutions and undergo training there.:

• There are people who may be literate, but in their personal type they are cowards, they do not have the ability to make decisions on their own. But there are also investigators, judges and prosecutors with a lack of knowledge whom I have also allowed to come out into the legal community as a lecturer. The filters should be much stricter. we also have a share of sin. That they are illiterate, how did it get there? They do not understand that the legal profession has a public component.

• The judicial system has no immune system. Judges really can’t defend themselves. Remember the case of judge Boris Bakhshiyan. Weren’t the judges the ones giving permission to arrest him? An apparently innocent man was allowed to be detained without evidence, and later the man was acquitted. The head of the government made an incorrect expression: “grieving judges”. Food for thought:

• Hope should not be placed on the citizen’s self-awareness or rationality. Electoral technologies should be implemented adequately.

• If the current government is re-elected, a new Constitution will be written, in which there will be no reference to the Declaration of Independence, there will be new regulations related to the coat of arms and the church. This is a result of the fact that there was no public uprising at the time. Would you ever think that there would be a fight against the ghost of Mount Ararat? Society must respond to this.

Details in the video.

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