Monday 29 July 2019

Armenian News... A Topalian 10 editorials


JAM News
July 21 2019
An Armenian village living just 800 meters from the Azerbaijani border. Video

Despite the danger in Berkaber, there are young people starting business, exporting organic products and even trying to develop tourism – for thrills seekers who want to have a cup of coffee between the fighting
 posts of the conflicting countries

Click on 


Panorama, Armenia
July 20 2019
Traces of Armenian cultural heritage vanished in Bingyol

The traces iof the Armenian civilization in Bingyol, a city in Eastern Turkey, have gradually vanished during the period following the Armenia Genocide. Many places of worship are dismantled, while others turned  into stables, Demokrathaber.org news portal writes.

Bingyol (Armenian historical name Astghaberd) has preserved one Armenian church with unknown name and history to the locals. A mosque has been built next to the church. The only thing the residents know about the church it had once served as a place for Armenians to come and pray. The inscription on the church wall had been removed and replaced by wooden pieces.

Two other Armenian churches are located in the nearby Adakyl settlement which are partly destroyed and have long been subjected to attacks of marauders.

The author has toured the Armenian neighborhoods of the town. “The road leading to the church, the drinking fountains, the stone and the architecture style of the houses across the road speak of the long history of the Armenians in the settlement,” wrote the author.

The next stop is at the Church in Chermak village (currently Yelderimeni) another Armenian church left in a delipidated state. After the Armenian Genocide it has served as stable for the villagers. The only church that is relatively known to the locals is the  St. Gevorg located in Qghli district of Bingyol. The inscription on the building is not preserved and it served as cowshed once the Armenians were deported from the city.

 In 2016, Governor announced plans to start reconstruction works of the church yet four years later no progress has been made.


ARKA, Armenia
July 22 2019
Fighting with us makes no sense, since it is doomed to failure – Pashinyan 

Armenia needs such an army, such a state and society that can ensure an unconditional victory to it, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Monday as he attended the military educational institutions’ 2018-2019 academic year
 graduation ceremony at the Defense Ministry headquarters.

The premier congratulated the students on graduating from military educational institutions and being awarded the rank of officer, the press office of the government reports. 

Nikol Pashinyan handed out graduation certificates to a group of students. 

“We need such an army, such a state and society that can make the potential adversaries realize that fighting with us makes no sense, since any war waged against us is doomed to failure as it will lead to the unconditional victory of the Republic of Armenia, its people and its armed forces,” he is quoted by the government’s press office as saying at the ceremony. 

Stressing that Armenia is a pacifist state, the premier said that its armed forces are the main guarantors of peace.

“The Chinese military strategy believes that talented generals win without a war, and we need such peace,” he said. “And all of us, irrespective of our uniform, are dedicated to these victories, and each of us, from the National Assembly and to the House of
 the Government, should serve this noble mission. We all wear the epaulettes of our people, our history, our ancestors, our descendants. Long live those who wear these epaulettes with dignity.” 


Armenpress.am
 July, 2019
State budget revenues increase by 25% in Armenia in first quarter of 2019

The tax revenues accrued to the state budget of Armenia increased by nearly 25% in the first quarter of 2019 compared to the same period of 2018.

The State Revenue Committee published the volumes of tax revenues and state fees accrued to the state budget in January-June 2019, which comprised 713.3 billion AMD, against the 572.9 billion AMD of 2018.

The increase in accrued tax revenues is mainly due to the increase in VAT, income tax and profit tax revenues. In this period the revenues from VAT increased by 19%, from the income tax – 20% and the profit tax revenues – 16%.

The volume of tax revenues accrued to the state budget in June 2019 increased by 17% compared to June 2018.
Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan


Panorama, Armenia
July 23 2019
Number of Armenian migrants in Russia grows sharply


Russia’s migration inflow hit a record high between January and April 2019 to stand at 98,000 people, RIA Novosti reported, citing a study conducted by the Gaydar Institute experts. The number was 57,100 migrants in the same period last year.

The study revealed that the largest number of migrants in Russia arrive from Armenia and Ukraine.

In January-April 2019, a total of 12,800 Armenians migrated to Russia against 4,900 Armenians arrived in the country in 2018.
More than 49,000 Armenian citizens left for Russia as of January 1, the study revealed.

Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Tajikistan, and Armenia are named the key migration donors of Russia. 


Armenpress.am
20  July, 2019
Armenia must restore its has-been glory of an industrila country – PM Pashinyan

 Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan participated in ''My step for Shirak'' economic forum in Gyumri on July 20. The PM first toured in the expo-exhibition opened in the sidelines of the forum, got acquainted with the production
 of companies in Shirak Province.

As ARMENPRESS was informed fom the Office of the Prime Minister of Armenia, greeting the participants of the forum, Nikol Pashinyan noted that the event is a good chance to speak about the conceptual approaches of the economic policy of the Government one  year after the famous developments.

''Virtually I have to call these conceptual provisions conceptual provisions of economic revolution, which we will sum up in the near future and present as a full strategy of how we see Armenia's development and how we see the economic system of Armenia'',Pashinyan said.

The PM said that at this stage they have already managed to make an important step by carrying out amendments in the tax code, emphasizing that by the new tax code they established a new business layer, called microbusiness and starting from January 1, 2020  companies engaged in some particular activities with annual turnover under 24 million AMD will be exempted from all types of taxes. Besides, the people employed in those companies will not pay 23% profit tax as other do, but just 5000 AMD. ''We attach great
 importance to this for fostering business activities among our citizens. This is the support of the Government to the citizens of Armenia and a call addressed to them to finally carry out some activities, and we see this policy as a very important tool for overcoming poverty'', PM Pashinyan said, underlining that micro business will be in the center of the Government's attention.

The Prime Minister  also referred to the incidents in Ijevan, emphasizing that the Government will never compromise on any illegal activity and assessed surprising all the opinions that the Government takes tough measures to stop it, since they provide their families by illegal logging.

''I cannot understand this way of thinking. I am sorry but the traffic police officer who used to take 1000 AMD bribe he also provided his family», Pashinyan said, adding that the Government has created enough opportunities for the people to honsetly earn  money.

PM Pashinyan emphasized that the overcoming the current economic situation of Armenia will not be based on micro business. ''Our country must be an industrial country. In the near future we will focus in developing any type of industry'', Pashinyan said, underling the importance that people give preference to local production. ''Unfortunately, our local production is small and even a small support can have a significant result'', Pashinyan said, adding that today wears clothes of exclusively Armenian production and the tie is the only exception.

''I once said that like the industrial areas, enterprises turned into commercial territories during the past 30 years, in the same way during the upcoming 30 years the fairs must transform into industrial and production areas and the Republic of Armenia  must restore its has-been glory of an industrial country'', Pashinyan said.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan


News.am, Armenia
July 22 2019
France's Chamonix to establish deep friendly ties with Armenia's Dilijan 

During his working visit to Tavush Province, President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian visited today Dilijan Municipality where he had a meeting with Governor of Tavush Province Hayk Chobanyan and Mayor Armen Santrosyan, as reported the press service of the President of Armenia.

The President informed that the French city of Chamond, which traditionally hosts the prestigious Summit of Ideas, has expressed the desire to establish deeper friendly relations with Dilijan.

“Just a couple of days ago, I was informed that the Municipality of Chamonix wants to establish friendly relations with Dilijan. Of course, the first step was taken when the famous Summit of Minds in Chamonix now has its sister summit, which will be held  in Dilijan every year. 

The summit will be held in Chamonix in the fall, and Armenia decided to hold it in either late spring or early summer,” the President said, adding that the city council has decided to further deepen cooperation with Dilijan.

He mentioned that even though Chamonix is smaller than Dilijan and only has a population of 10,000, it receives 5,000,000 tourists a year. “It is almost as beautiful as Diljian and is an old city like Dilijan. There is a proposal for Dilijan’s representatives to visit Chamonix and consider the directions for cooperation soon. So, I congratulate us all and wish us success,” he said.

Governor of Tavush Province Hayk Chobanyan expressed gratitude to the President for this initiative.

“Thank you for this gift. We are positioning Dilijan as a city of intelligentsia, quality life and tourism where the main topics will be education, culture, science and innovation,” the governor said.

President Sarkissian welcomed the actions of the regional and municipal authorities aimed at restoring the reputation of Dilijan as a city of culture and tourism and expressed confidence that the cooperation with Chamonix will be effective, adding that the  French party has already expressed willingness to host a delegation of Armenian partners.


Armenpress.am
22 July, 2019
Young Armenian pianist receives 1st prize at Vienna International Arts Festival

Young Armenian pianist Laura Galstyan received the 1st honorary prize at the Vienna International Arts Festival (VIAF).

The Festival was held in Vienna from July 15 to 21.
Armenia was represented by Laura Galstyan among nearly 50 musicians competing in the Performing Arts category.
Laura Galstyan studies at A. Spendiaryan specialized music school.

She was born in Yerevan in 2003.

Galstyan will hold a solo-concert at the Komitas Museum-Institute on September 15, 2018.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan


OC Media
July 22 2019
Rural communities in Armenia give mining companies the boot
Samson Martirosyan

In 2018, a group of local residents in Armenia’s Tavush region decided to stand up to a mining company. Now other com­mu­ni­ties are following suit as a rev­o­lu­tion of ‘direct democracy’ seems poised to sweep the coun­try­side. 

Mining companies in Armenia’s hin­ter­lands have met with new forms of public resis­tance that some herald as the rebirth of local democracy in the coun­try­side.
Recent mining projects in the Armenian regions of Vayots Dzor and Tavush have provoked protest, boycotts, and petitions. Local residents and activists are lever­ag­ing Armenian leg­is­la­tion and local gov­ern­ment insti­tu­tions
 to kick mining companies off their land for good.
An important precedent

In early 2018, the Polymetal Armenia LLC mining company (part of Russian-owned Polymetal Inter­na­tion­al PLC) eyed up the Noyem­beryan and Koghb com­mu­ni­ties in the north-eastern Tavush Province as a location for future mining  activ­i­ties. They hoped to unearth deposits of gold, silver, molyb­de­num, copper, and other precious metals. But this would come at a cost: if their plans moved forward, upwards of 18,000 hectares of forest land would be lost.

However, before Polymetal could begin prospect­ing, they needed to first hold public hearings followed by an initial envi­ron­men­tal impact assess­ment. The hearings were never held.

As soon local residents heard of the mining company’s interest they launched a petition on social media. In less than two weeks it had gathered 2,000 sig­na­tures and was signed by a sig­nif­i­cant portion of local residents. They
 also announced a boycott of any public hearings.
Rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the local author­i­ties, including the heads of the Noyem­beryan and Koghb com­mu­ni­ties, expressed their support for keeping the company out of the area.

The campaign was suc­cess­ful. In March 2018, Polymetal Armenia pulled back and announced its  decision to suspend its activ­i­ties in the region.

But the decision didn’t allay people’s fears that such a situation could happen again.

A group of Noyem­beryan residents, as well as envi­ron­men­tal activists and the Restart Noyem­beryan student activist group, decided to initiate a more far-reaching process. Using the law on local self-gov­ern­ment, they started
 a petition with the aim of banning metal mining on the territory of Noyem­beryan community for the indef­i­nite future.

Gor Vahramyan, a Noyem­beryan local who helped organise the petition from Yerevan, told OC Media that the group decided ‘to use this occasion to protect the region, ensure that our lands won’t be  touched and that the people’s opinions are turned into action’.

In two months, local residents, with the support of envi­ron­men­tal activists, collected 3,074 sig­na­tures in Noyem­beryan — the majority of local residents. The petition was presented to the Noyem­beryan Municipal Council (the
 governing body for Noyem­beryan and eight nearby villages) and in May 2018, the Council voted in favour of a
 decision to ‘ban geo­log­i­cal prospect­ing and the exploita­tion of metal mines on the territory of the Noyem­beryan community’.

This process, and the Council’s decision, coincided with the Velvet Rev­o­lu­tion and was cel­e­brat­ed among locals and envi­ron­men­tal activists. Many called it an important precedent and a showcase of direct democracy: the
 power of local self-gov­ern­ment backed by popular support.

Jermuk takes up the initiative
Meanwhile, events around another con­tro­ver­sial mining project, the Amulsar mine, had reached a fever pitch.

By mid-summer 2018, locals had  blocked the three main roads leading to the Amulsar site — under con­struc­tion since 2016 — near the town of Jermuk. They put up three check­points, main­tain­ing a round-the-clock watch.
In addition to stopping the mine’s con­struc­tion, they hoped to engage decision-making at a political level and ensure that a similar situation would not happen again.Inspired by what happened in Noyem­beryan, Gor Hakobyan, a civic activist from Yegheg­nad­zor, wanted to organise similar petitions in the south-eastern Vayots Dzor Province, where local residents had protested mining companies
 in the villages of Yelpin and Gladzor, in 2010 and 2016, respec­tive­ly.

Against the backdrop of the Amulsar protests, Hakobyan saw an oppor­tu­ni­ty to put his idea into action.
After con­sult­ing with lawyers and Jermuk residents, Hakobyan, together with like-minded locals and envi­ron­men­tal activists began to organise new petitions — one for each of Vayots Dzor’s eight com­mu­ni­ties (which include
 within them 46 villages, three towns, and the regional admin­is­tra­tive centre of Yegheg­nad­zor).

‘We received feedback from people living in other com­mu­ni­ties saying that it could be possible to adopt the petition in all the com­mu­ni­ties of Vayots Dzor since people had fears around the high amount of uranium in the mountains
 and that mining could make [the area] unin­hab­it­able’, Arpine Galfayan, a local community organiser, told OC Media.

The Jermuk petition had two main demands. The first was to adopt a res­o­lu­tion banning prospect­ing and any metallic mining oper­a­tions in Jermuk Community.

The second demand was to develop a com­pre­hen­sive project to create an eco­log­i­cal­ly sus­tain­able and green economy for Jermuk and the wider Vayots Dzor Province, which would be imple­ment­ed by state author­i­ties and local
 gov­ern­ment bodies in coop­er­a­tion with local com­mu­ni­ties.
The process of door-to-door signature col­lec­tion kicked off in November 2018 and within a couple of weeks, the organ­is­ers had collected roughly 3,000 sig­na­tures, rep­re­sent­ing a majority of residents in the Jermuk Community.

In early December 2018, during his election campaign, then-acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited Jermuk and held a  meeting with local residents at one of the check­points blocking the road to Amulsar.

Aharon Arsenyan, a local resident and blockade par­tic­i­pant, presented the petition to Pashinyan as proof that the community ‘is against any metal mining in Jermuk’. Later, copies of the petition were given to the Jermuk Municipal
 Council and  to the national gov­ern­ment.

Later that month, the Jermuk Council discussed the petition and unan­i­mous­ly approved it, declaring Jermuk an ‘eco­log­i­cal economic area’ where metal mining is banned.
Vayots Dzor mobilises

But the petition process did not stop there. The door-to-door col­lec­tion of sig­na­tures and the advocacy campaign continued for the next four months.

Local residents, together with vol­un­teers, and envi­ron­men­tal activists from the Armenian Envi­ron­men­tal Front (AEF) collected sig­na­tures in the com­mu­ni­ties of Areni, Gladzor, and Yegheg­nad­zor.

The majority of residents in each munic­i­pal­i­ty signed the petition. Organ­is­ers report that many acknowl­edged a need to come up with alter­na­tive ways of devel­op­ing local economies without harming the ecology and agri­cul­ture
 in the area, espe­cial­ly con­sid­er­ing that the region is famous for its wines. 

On 29 April, the Gladzor Municipal Council followed Jermuk and approved  the petition, becoming the second Vayots Dzor community to ban metal mining.

Armenuhi Tsaturyan, a teacher from Areni who actively helped organise the petition in her community said that ‘95%’ of people she spoke with supported the idea. ‘I think it’s time for everyone to think about the future gen­er­a­tions,
 I am sure our council will make the right decision’, she told OC Media.

Several days after the Gladzor decision, Tsaturyan, together with Gor Hakobyan and other petition leaders, delivered the petition to the Areni Municipal Council.

That same day Gor Hakobyan delivered the petition to the Municipal Council of his hometown of Yegheg­nad­zor. ‘We are turning our vision to make Armenia a mine-free, eco­log­i­cal economic area into a reality from the grass­roots
 up’, he said.

Gor Hakobyan pre­sent­ing the petition to his hometown council in Yegheg­nad­zor (Samson Mar­tirosyan /OC Media)

Narine Grigoryan, a member of Yegheg­nad­zor Municipal Council, supported the petition. She told OC Media she had made up her mind to vote in favour of the decision because ‘people uniting around  an idea and organ­is­ing a petition is one of the best ways to make their voices heard’.
Three days after receiving the petition, the Areni Municipal Council unan­i­mous­ly approved it.

Yegheg­nad­zor Council followed shortly there­after and approvedthe  petition on 23 May.

As of pub­li­ca­tion, four out of the eight com­mu­ni­ties of Vayots Dzor Province are metal mining free areas. In July, the chief executive (marzpet) of Vayots Dzor addressed a letter to the Areni Municipal Council demanding
 that they annul their decision. The council held
 a meeting and voted to deny the request.

In January, the Ministry of Ter­ri­to­r­i­al Admin­is­tra­tion and Devel­op­ment sent  a similar letter to the Municipal Council of Jermuk, and in May, the chief executive of the Tavush Province demanded  the same of the Municipal Council of Noyem­beryan. In both cases, the municipal councils refused to annul their previous decisions.

‘Locals, vol­un­teers, and others say they are deter­mined to continue the process that started a year ago’, Arpine Galfayan said. ‘And reach their goals of making the whole region a mine-free area, pro­tect­ing nature, and building
 a sus­tain­able economy.’

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