Armenian News... A Topalian... 9 editorials also video's
The Story of Armenia-Azerbaijan Enclaves
(switch on sub-titles for a simultaneous translation)
[this fascinating video concentrates on three areas out of many on both sides of the border]
Panorama, Armenia
March 4 2019
Brazilian samba school presents Armenian culture, history at São Paulo Carnival
The Brazilian samba school Rosas de Ouro presented Armenia at the São Paulo Carnival on Saturday, March 2
Held under the motto “Viva Hayastan”, the event featured five themes – Paradise, Armenian Heroes, Christianity, Culture and Armenian Square, Estação Armênia reports.
The front line made a reference to the Armenian Genocide.
The carnival presented different aspects of Armenian culture, including the Armenian alphabets, rugs, even referencing Charles Aznavour.
The Rosas de Ouro Society is a samba school that was founded in 1971.
Click on
Viva Hayastan song at about 5:20 and the Armenian tricolour at 9:52: you find the rest!
JAM news
March 3 2019
Armenian Prime Minister, Azerbaijani President agree to meet
The date of the meeting has not yet been announced. What do experts have to say?
The OSCE Minsk Group, which mediates the negotiation process in the Karabakh conflict, has reported that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev have agreed to meet.
They also assessed the decrease in the number of casualties on the line of contact in recent months positively.
The announcement follows a recent statement made by the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Elmar Mammadyarov in January in which both sides confirmed their readiness to ‘prepare both nations for peace’.
Pundits in both countries reacted with reservation, and urged the public not to expect immediate results.
Political observer Hakob Badalyan told JAMnews:
“…it would be naive to believe that this problem has a compromise solution. Both countries perceive the problem as a question of statehood. The statement about the need to prepare the nations for peace should be taken as a signal that the problem will not be solved in the near future. It can be interpreted as an intention to adapt the people to the situation that has developed so that there are no illusions in that a compromise solution can be reached.”
JAMnews political commentator in Baku, Shahin Rzayev, said:
“Each side hopes that the other will take the first step – but it seems to me that there will be no hurry. The Azerbaijani side places certain hopes on the new government of Pashinyan, if only because there is no such aversion at the personal level, which was the case with the former negotiators from the Armenian side, and there is a certain hope for hypothetical assistance from Russia.
“The Armenian side, of course, is interested in reducing the revanchist rhetoric from Azerbaijan. But, all this can work only if the parties have a plan and make a concerted effort to take action, and this is hard to believe.
“Either the parties must act simultaneously and in stages, or nothing will happen. Whoever takes the first step unilaterally will lose much in the ratings, including power.”
Panorama, Armenia
March 5 2019
Armenian khachkar consecrated in Canterbury Cathedral’s Memorial Garden
A new Armenian khachkar (cross stone) was consecrated in the Canterbury Cathedral’s Memorial Garden (England) on Friday March 2. The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby presided over the ceremony, Massis Post reports.
The khachkar was consecrated with Muron by Bishop Hovakim Manukyan, Primate of the Armenian Church in the UK. The two-metre tall, half tonne volcanic tufa stone was brought from Armenia and sculpted in Canterbury by Brigadier John Meardon and British-Armenian Vartan Moskofian, who had conceived the idea.
The Cathedral Dean, Robert Willis, noted that the khachkar commemorates the Armenian Genocide during WWI and is dedicated to the memory of Randall Davidson, the Archbishop of Canterbury 1903-1928, who at the time publicly spoke about the suffering of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
Above the cross, the letters «ՅԱ» (Armenian for 301) indicate the year of Armenia’s adoption of Christianity as state religion. At the foot of the khachkar, the inscription reads: «Ու ես կ’երթամ դէպի աղբիւրը լոյսի» (“And I go towards the source of the light”), a quote from poet Daniel Varoujan (1884-1915).
Armenpress.am
1 March, 2019
30% staffers at Armenian provincial governments to be laid off
The government of Armenia is planning to cut jobs at provincial governments to make administration more optimal and effective, Minister of Territorial Administration and Development Suren Papikyan told reporters.
“We have carried out studies and found out that 40% of staffers at provincial government’s are basically doing nothing. An average 30% of cuts will take place,” he said.
He elaborated that for instance in the Aragatsotn Province they might lay off only 28% of staffers, thus the number of staffers at the provincial government will be reduced from 121 to 87. He said the goal is solely to have more efficient governance.
“Experts who are professionals in their sectors should have the chance to work in the state administration system, and not those who at some point in time had a friend or relative,” he said, referring to cronyism practices.
Papikyan said they will soon submit a bill to parliament that will include the cuts in the staffs.
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
Reuters
March 4 2019
IFC arranges $202 mln financing for Armenia's power sector
TBILISI, March 4 (Reuters) - The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, said on Monday it had arranged $202 million of debt finance and a guarantee package for the construction of a 250-megawatt power plant in Armenia.
The combined-cycle gas turbine power plant, which is aimed at producing up to 2,000 gigawatt hours annually, will be built in the south of the capital Yerevan.
The plant will help to increase efficiency for gas-fired electricity generation and ensure a reliable power supply in the former Soviet country, which relies on ageing low-efficiency thermal power plants.
Two-thirds of Armenia’s electricity comes from imported fuel. The South Caucasus country of 3.2 million depends heavily on aid and investment from former imperial master Russia.
“This project is part of the World Bank Group’s fundamental efforts to help ensure a reliable power supply in Armenia,” said Jan van Bilsen, IFC regional manager for the South Caucasus.
The IFC is the lead arranger of the package, while World Bank Group member MIGA is providing a guarantee of up to $39 million to help manage non-commercial risks.
The funding is provided by the IFC, which will allocate $163 million, as well as the Asian Development Bank, the OPEC Fund for International Development and German development finance institution DEG.
ArmenPress, Armenia
March 4 2019
Azerbaijani propaganda attempt backfires in most humiliating way
Yet another Azerbaijani state sanctioned attempt of propaganda has backfired in the most embarrassing way possible. The Azerbaijani embassy in Iran hosted a photo exhibition regarding the Khojaly events, but one of the photo exhibits on the wall didn’t have anything to do with Khojaly – it was a more than 100 year old photo depicting a dying Armenian woman during the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. Apparently the Azerbaijanis were so much in a hurry to collect unrelated photographs depicting death that they didn’t even know what they are doing. This bizarre gaffe once more shows that the Azerbaijani government is carrying out a state-level fake propaganda on the Khojaly events, but this time their hasty attempt to choose a photo that would mislead the visitors ended in embarrassment. Seems like they simply wanted a photograph depicting distress, pain, death or any kind of misfortune regardless from what era.
The story was revealed by an Iranian media outlet, placing Azerbaijani Ambassador to Iran Buniad Huseynov in an embarrassing situation.
According to Iran-based Araks Armenian weekly, the Iranian Azariha online platform debunked and voiced about the incident by studying the photo.
“An unusual incident has taken place during this year’s photo exhibition organized in Tehran, that was organized by the Baku embassy and which was attended by the country’s ambassador and several former Iranian diplomats who have served in Baku. What’s unusual is that several photos exhibited at this gallery are stolen photos, which actually date back to the times of the Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire, which the government of Baku has presented to be Khojaly victims,” the Iranian media outlet said in an article entitled “The Lying Shepherd”.
Azariha added that a photo depicting a dead woman in a dry desert has been included in the exhibition, whereas Khojaly is located in a semi-mountainous cold and snow-covered area between Aghdam and Askeran.
“Studies of the photo showed that it depicts the forced deportation of Armenians to Syria, Aleppo in the Ottoman Empire: the photo has been taken from the US Library of Congress,” Azariha said.
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
Armenpress.am
4 March, 2019
Armenian goods to enter Iranian market with less restrictions by Iran-EAEU simplified trade deal
The Iran-Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) simplified trade agreement will be a great opportunity for Armenia to expand the trade with Iran, Minister of economic development and investments Tigran Khachatryan told reporters at a briefing in Parliament, reports Armenpress.
“The Iran-EAEU simplified trade deal will provide great opportunities for the entry of the currently operating companies in the EAEU, first of all, the Armenian companies to the Iranian market. The ratification of the simplified deal will free nearly 300 types of goods from the non-tariff regulation restriction. The value tariffs will decrease. This is an opportunity to export any goods produced in Armenia to the Iranian market with less restrictions and bans”, the minister said.
He informed that Armenia doesn’t have privileged trade agreement with Iran. He noted that after ratifying the Iran-EAEU agreement there will be a great opportunity for the expansion of trade.
The Armenian minister stated that this agreement also provides an opportunity for the Iranian producers for which the Russian, Armenian markets and those of the remaining EAEU states are important especially taking into account the current situation of the Iranian economy.
Tigran Khachatryan said the agreements are called free trade deals if the customs duties are reached to zero, but in this case not in all cases they will be reached to zero. “They have been reduced, but not reached to zero. Therefore, it is considered as a transitional agreement, I suppose the next stage is the deepening of the trade relations that the next agreement will be called free trade deal”, he said.
He informed that the agreement is already signed. 3 out of 5 states have already ratified it, Armenia will also ratify it soon.
Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
Panorama, Armenia
March 5 2019
Paylan inquires about demolition of Charents house in Turkey
Istanbul-Armenian MP Garo Paylan, representing the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has submitted an inquiry to Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy over the demolition of the native house of renowned Armenian poet Yeghishe Charents in the town of Kars, Ermenihaber reports.
Paylan asked Ersoy whether his ministry has implemented any project to renovate the house and turn it into a museum which could become a place of commemoration for Kars.
“Did you ever think that by demolishing it as an ordinary building you can inflict pain and big disappointment to people, since, as it is known, Charents was born there?
“What steps has your ministry taken or is going to take to properly treat the places related to the memory of Armenian artists and intellectuals and to preserve them as cultural heritage?
“I believe Charents’ house has been demolished because of his Armenian identity, do you agree with me?” Paylan said in the inquiry which he posted on Facebook.
4 Mar 2019
How Prince Charles's stately home restoration linked him to Russian money
Ruben Vardanyan, whose bank channelled $4.6bn to the west, helped fund restoration of Dumfries House
Banking leak exposes Russian network with link to prince
Juliette Garside
It was an intimate gathering.
A select group of Russian businessmen assembled for a black-tie dinner at Dumfries House, the stately home restored for the nation thanks to a major fundraising campaign by the Prince of Wales. The heir to the throne wanted to thank his donors in person.
One of them was Ruben Vardanyan.
A well-known philanthropist, he ran an investment bank, Troika Dialog, an independent arm of which moved vast amounts of private wealth out of Russia into Europe.
Troika is under the spotlight because staff from this independent division administered a network of shell companies that appear to have mixed legitimate and illegitimate money.
Vardanyan didn’t know anything about this. Neither did Prince Charles. There is no criticism of either of them.
But leaked banking records underline once again the problems created by opaque transactions that allow vast amounts of money to flow from Russia into the western banking system.
The relationship between the prince and the financier began in November 2009, when Vardanyan made a charitable donation of $100,000 to the Prince’s Charities Foundation – then a key fundraising vehicle for Charles’s charitable work.
The payment came not from Vardanyan’s personal account, but was transferred from an account at Ukio Bank in Lithuania belonging to a shell company registered in the British Virgin Islands – Quantus Division Ltd.
Via Lithuania, Quantus moved over $700m into the global banking system from its creation in 2006 until Ukio was declared insolvent and closed down by the authorities in 2013.
Two more payments to the foundation followed, from the same source. Quantus sent £38,000 in January 2010 and £25,000 in May 2011, with records showing the last donation was received at a branch of Coutts in the Strand, London.
In total, the foundation received $200,000.
Vardanyan says the payments were in support of a programme to “preserve architectural heritage in England”.
Explaining why they came from Quantus, he said: “I instructed my office to transfer funds to the Prince of Wales charity fund. I did not go into detail about which financial and settlement centre the transfer would be made through, but my office was in charge of these details.”
The prince’s foundation had been left with a big financial hole to plug. The cause? A £20m loan it had taken out to buy Dumfries House.
In 2007, after hearing it was to be sold to a private buyer, Charles stepped in. He raised £45m for the stately home, which contains a unique collection of Chippendale furniture. His intervention came not a moment too soon. Lorries were already carrying the antiques to the auction house. One day, at 1am, they were stopped on a Cumbria motorway and turned back.
The battle to rescue Dumfries did not end there. Soon, there were questions over whether the loan could be repaid.
In a documentary about the rescue, the prince told ITV: “You know you wake up in the middle of the night thinking, help … having done the actual deal, then a year later or two years later the bottom fell out of the market, didn’t it? … overnight, the value of everything went right down.”
Charles redoubled his fundraising efforts. In February 2010, he hosted Armenian dignitaries at a dinner at Windsor Castle. In 2013, Armenia hosted Charles on a private visit.
The networking paid off.
Through his UK registered charity, Vardanyan raised a further £1.5m to refurbish The Mains, one of the estate’s outbuildings, providing 16 luxury rooms that could be rented out to visitors. The money came from his own pocket, and those of other Russian donors – though not from the Troika Laundromat.
By then, Troika had been sold, with Vardanyan taking his share of the reported $1bn price.
In return for his generosity, the structure has been renamed The Dilijan Building, after a school in Armenia sponsored by Vardanyan. A 10-year partnership was created, with students from Dilijan attending regular courses at the estate.
Vardanyan’s website lists the Dumfries donors. Their photos are there too, shaking hands with the prince, presenting him with a gift, and later in tuxedos and evening gowns for the formal dinner Charles hosted in 2014 to mark the completion of the project.
It is understood Troika Dialog had never been fined by any regulatory body or law enforcement agency and had at all times observed international standards of transparency and compliance.
Vardanyan was never involved in the operations, management or activities of the independent arm of the bank that administered Quantus and other offshore companies. This division was, he said, created to help manage family money for private clients.
He did have an account and his own funds at the division, and it is understood he paid fees for the service set at a commercial rate.
“The Prince of Wales’s charities operate independently of the prince himself in relation to all decisions around fundraising,” a Clarence House spokesman said.
In a statement, the prince’s charities said they apply “robust due diligence processes” in accordance with Charity Commission and Scottish Charity Regulator guidelines and money laundering legislation. They said the donations in question had raised no “red flags” when checks were being made.
It was not unusual for donations to be sent through offshore accounts, the charities stated, adding that they would not rule out such payments in future – provided they adhere to all relevant guidelines.
Additional reporting by James Oliver.
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