Armenian News... A Topalian... Armenia-EU Agreement!...
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March 22 2018
Government approves ratification of Armenia-EU agreement
The Armenian government approved the bill on ratifying the ‘Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Armenia, on the one hand, and the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their member states, on the other hand’.
Deputy foreign minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said this new framework agreement is important in a sense that it raises the Armenia-EU bilateral ties to a new partnership level and aims at regulating them in the upcoming years. It is more comprehensive and has been made in accordance with the essence and depth of the bilateral relations.
“The agreement complies with Armenia’s commitments assumed in other integration formats. The agreement will come into force when the last EU state notifies that it completed the inner-state procedures. As of now only Estonia completed these procedures. As for the separate provisions of the agreement the EU has completed the inner-state procedures, it will be possible to implement when Armenia as well completes the inner-state procedures. In this case it would be possible to start implementing that part of the agreement which can be applied before the agreement finally comes into force”, the deputy FM noted.
As a result of the adoption of the law the procedures envisaged for the November 24, 2017 agreement’s coming into force will be ensured.
“The agreement regulates the Armenia-EU dialogue in economic and political fields, sectoral cooperation and commercial relations. It highlights and promotes continuation of political and economic reforms. The agreement offers a qualitatively more thorough sectoral partnership planning a respective approach closer to the EU standards with several directions”, stated in the foreign ministry’s conclusion.
RFE/RL Report
Aliyev Insists On ‘Historic Azeri Lands’ In Armenia
March 20, 2018
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has stood by his claims that much of
modern-day Armenia lies in “historic Azerbaijani lands.”
“I have repeatedly said and want to say once again that the territory of
contemporary Armenia is historic Azerbaijani lands. There are numerous books
and maps confirming that,” Aliyev said on Monday at the start of official
celebrations of Nowruz, the ancient Persian New Year marked as a public holiday
in Azerbaijan.
“Let those who don’t know this know this,” he added, according to Azerbaijani
news agencies. “The Azerbaijani youth must know this first and foremost. Let it
know that most of modern-day Armenia is historic Azerbaijani lands. We will
never forget this.”
Aliyev has repeatedly made such statements in the last few years, most recently
on February 8. Speaking at a pre-election congress of his Yeni Azerbaycan
party, he pledged to “return Azerbaijanis” to Yerevan, Armenia’s southeastern
Syunik province and the area around Lake Sevan.
Armenia condemned that statement, with President Serzh Sarkisian saying it
shows that Baku is not committed to a compromise solution to the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It was also criticized by the Russian Foreign
Ministry.
The U.S., Russian and French mediators co-heading the OSCE Minsk Group urged the parties to the Karabakh conflict to avoid “inflammatory statements” in a joint statement issued on February 11. The statement failed to satisfy Yerevan.
Armenian officials called for an explicit international condemnation of
Aliyev’s claims.
“As expected, lack of proper international reaction to [the Azerbaijani
president’s] territorial claims towards Armenia inspired him to claim larger
territories,” Tigran Balayan, the Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman, tweeted
on Monday, reacting to Aliyev’s latest declaration.
The Azerbaijani leader, who inherited power from his father Heydar Aliyev in
2003, is seeking a fourth term in office in a snap presidential election slated
for April 11
March 22 2018
Government approves ratification of Armenia-EU agreement
The Armenian government approved the bill on ratifying the ‘Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Armenia, on the one hand, and the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their member states, on the other hand’.
Deputy foreign minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said this new framework agreement is important in a sense that it raises the Armenia-EU bilateral ties to a new partnership level and aims at regulating them in the upcoming years. It is more comprehensive and has been made in accordance with the essence and depth of the bilateral relations.
“The agreement complies with Armenia’s commitments assumed in other integration formats. The agreement will come into force when the last EU state notifies that it completed the inner-state procedures. As of now only Estonia completed these procedures. As for the separate provisions of the agreement the EU has completed the inner-state procedures, it will be possible to implement when Armenia as well completes the inner-state procedures. In this case it would be possible to start implementing that part of the agreement which can be applied before the agreement finally comes into force”, the deputy FM noted.
As a result of the adoption of the law the procedures envisaged for the November 24, 2017 agreement’s coming into force will be ensured.
“The agreement regulates the Armenia-EU dialogue in economic and political fields, sectoral cooperation and commercial relations. It highlights and promotes continuation of political and economic reforms. The agreement offers a qualitatively more thorough sectoral partnership planning a respective approach closer to the EU standards with several directions”, stated in the foreign ministry’s conclusion.
RFE/RL Report
Aliyev Insists On ‘Historic Azeri Lands’ In Armenia
March 20, 2018
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has stood by his claims that much of
modern-day Armenia lies in “historic Azerbaijani lands.”
“I have repeatedly said and want to say once again that the territory of
contemporary Armenia is historic Azerbaijani lands. There are numerous books
and maps confirming that,” Aliyev said on Monday at the start of official
celebrations of Nowruz, the ancient Persian New Year marked as a public holiday
in Azerbaijan.
“Let those who don’t know this know this,” he added, according to Azerbaijani
news agencies. “The Azerbaijani youth must know this first and foremost. Let it
know that most of modern-day Armenia is historic Azerbaijani lands. We will
never forget this.”
Aliyev has repeatedly made such statements in the last few years, most recently
on February 8. Speaking at a pre-election congress of his Yeni Azerbaycan
party, he pledged to “return Azerbaijanis” to Yerevan, Armenia’s southeastern
Syunik province and the area around Lake Sevan.
Armenia condemned that statement, with President Serzh Sarkisian saying it
shows that Baku is not committed to a compromise solution to the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It was also criticized by the Russian Foreign
Ministry.
The U.S., Russian and French mediators co-heading the OSCE Minsk Group urged the parties to the Karabakh conflict to avoid “inflammatory statements” in a joint statement issued on February 11. The statement failed to satisfy Yerevan.
Armenian officials called for an explicit international condemnation of
Aliyev’s claims.
“As expected, lack of proper international reaction to [the Azerbaijani
president’s] territorial claims towards Armenia inspired him to claim larger
territories,” Tigran Balayan, the Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman, tweeted
on Monday, reacting to Aliyev’s latest declaration.
The Azerbaijani leader, who inherited power from his father Heydar Aliyev in
2003, is seeking a fourth term in office in a snap presidential election slated
for April 11
.
RFE/RL Report
Armenian Parliament Refuses To Condemn 2008 Crackdown
March 21, 2018
The National Assembly rejected on Wednesday a draft resolution condemning the
use of lethal force against opposition protesters in Yerevan in the wake of
Armenia’s disputed 2008 presidential election.
The parliamentary resolution put forward by the opposition Yelk alliance says
that supporters of opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian protested against “the
falsification” of the results of the election that formalized the handover of
power from outgoing President Robert Kocharian to Serzh Sarkisian.
It describes as “crude and illegal” the forcible dispersal of those protests on
March 1-2 2008 which left ten people dead. The statement demands that
law-enforcement authorities at last identify and prosecute those responsible
for the killings.
The pro-government majority in the Armenian parliament agreed to debate the
draft resolution even though its standing committee on legal affairs gave a
formal negative assessment of the document last month.
Only nine members of the 105-seat legislature voted for the Yelk motion after a
debate on the parliament floor. All of them are affiliated with the opposition
bloc.
Fifty-six other lawmakers mainly representing the ruling Republican Party of
Armenia (HHK) voted against the motion. The nominally opposition Tsarukian
Bloc, which controls the parliament’s second largest faction, boycotted the
vote, thereby refusing to back the Yelk initiative.
Ter-Petrosian, who had served as Armenia’s first president from 1998-2008, was
the main opposition candidate in the February 2008 presidential ballot. He
rejected as fraudulent official vote results that gave victory to Sarkisian.
Many Ter-Petrosian supporters took to the streets to demand a re-run of the
vote. Thousands of them barricaded themselves in downtown Yerevan on March 1, 2008 after riot police broke up nonstop demonstrations organized by
Ter-Petrosian and his allies in the city’s Liberty Square.
Eight protesters and two police servicemen were killed as security forces tried
to forcibly end that protest as well. Ter-Petrosian urged his supporters to
disperse early on March 2, 2008 shortly after Kocharian declared a state of
emergency and ordered Armenian army units into the capital.
Dozens of opposition figures, including Yelk leader Nikol Pashinian, were
subsequently arrested and prosecuted. The parliamentary statement proposed by Yelk also demanded that Armenian prosecutors review those “fabricated” criminal cases.
Speaking in the parliament on Wednesday, Pashinian again demanded that
Kocharian be questioned by law-enforcement authorities that claim to be
continuing to investigate the worst street violence in Armenia’s history. He
said the ex-president should specifically be challenged to prove his March 2008
claim that some opposition protesters fired gunshots at security forces.
Gevorg Kostanian, a senior pro-government deputy who served as the country’s
prosecutor-general from 2013-2016, dismissed Pashinian’s demand. Kostanian said Kocharian’s claim was based on secret video filmed by security forces. He said they are not allowed to publicize it until their criminal investigation into
the unrest is complete.
Public Radio of Armenia
March 21 2018
Gregory of Narek statue installed in Vatican Gardens
A two-meter-tall statue of Gregory of Narek, a 10th-century Armenian priest, has been installed in the Vatican Gardens, Armenia’s Ambassador to the Holy See Mikayel Minasyan said in a Facebook post.
In 2016 Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan presented a small model of the statue to Pope Francis, as a symbol of the Pontiff’s “pilgrimage to the first Christian nation.”
President Sargsyan then voiced hope that a bigger statue would be installed in the Vatican in the future. Pope liked the statue and gave his consent, the Ambassador said.
“Soon afterwards a creative team headed by People’s Artist of Armenia, creator of St. Gregory’s statue David Yerevantsi started working on the project. Architect Mikael Hasratyan and project manager Vardan Karapetyan got involved in the work and my friend Artur Janibekyan, who is very devoted to promoting Narek worldwide, joined me as the second sponsor of the statue,” said Mikayel Minasyan.
The statue will officially be unveiled on April 5.
On February 23, 2015, Pope Francis declared St Gregory of Narek a Doctor of the Church, a title going to selected saints whose teaching and life have a special importance for the Catholic Church.
Panorama, Armenia
March 21 2018
The world's longest gata tasted in Yerevan
The world's longest gata - an Armenian traditional pastry made of flour, butter and sugar - was baked, exhibited, and tasted today in Yerevan. The unique pastry, which measured 4000cm long, 40cm wide and weighting in at 240kg adorned with dried fruit was prepared by a team of 30 pastry chefs.
The tasting event of the gata which was initiated by "Pandok Yerevan" restaurant chain, celebrating the fourth anniversary of one of its branches was attended by numerous locals and tourists.
Gata is considered one of the most important decoration of the Easter, and its many variations typical to specific towns or regions have their own version. It can be found in a variety of shapes, sizes and may be decorated or left unadorned.
One popular variety is gata with koritz (khoriz), a filling that consists of flour, butter and sugar. Gata can have other fillings such as nuts, most commonly walnuts. Some variations include placing a coin inside the dough before the gata is baked, and it is said that whoever receives the piece with the coin is to be blessed with good fortune.
A1+
RFE/RL Report
Armenian Parliament Refuses To Condemn 2008 Crackdown
March 21, 2018
The National Assembly rejected on Wednesday a draft resolution condemning the
use of lethal force against opposition protesters in Yerevan in the wake of
Armenia’s disputed 2008 presidential election.
The parliamentary resolution put forward by the opposition Yelk alliance says
that supporters of opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian protested against “the
falsification” of the results of the election that formalized the handover of
power from outgoing President Robert Kocharian to Serzh Sarkisian.
It describes as “crude and illegal” the forcible dispersal of those protests on
March 1-2 2008 which left ten people dead. The statement demands that
law-enforcement authorities at last identify and prosecute those responsible
for the killings.
The pro-government majority in the Armenian parliament agreed to debate the
draft resolution even though its standing committee on legal affairs gave a
formal negative assessment of the document last month.
Only nine members of the 105-seat legislature voted for the Yelk motion after a
debate on the parliament floor. All of them are affiliated with the opposition
bloc.
Fifty-six other lawmakers mainly representing the ruling Republican Party of
Armenia (HHK) voted against the motion. The nominally opposition Tsarukian
Bloc, which controls the parliament’s second largest faction, boycotted the
vote, thereby refusing to back the Yelk initiative.
Ter-Petrosian, who had served as Armenia’s first president from 1998-2008, was
the main opposition candidate in the February 2008 presidential ballot. He
rejected as fraudulent official vote results that gave victory to Sarkisian.
Many Ter-Petrosian supporters took to the streets to demand a re-run of the
vote. Thousands of them barricaded themselves in downtown Yerevan on March 1, 2008 after riot police broke up nonstop demonstrations organized by
Ter-Petrosian and his allies in the city’s Liberty Square.
Eight protesters and two police servicemen were killed as security forces tried
to forcibly end that protest as well. Ter-Petrosian urged his supporters to
disperse early on March 2, 2008 shortly after Kocharian declared a state of
emergency and ordered Armenian army units into the capital.
Dozens of opposition figures, including Yelk leader Nikol Pashinian, were
subsequently arrested and prosecuted. The parliamentary statement proposed by Yelk also demanded that Armenian prosecutors review those “fabricated” criminal cases.
Speaking in the parliament on Wednesday, Pashinian again demanded that
Kocharian be questioned by law-enforcement authorities that claim to be
continuing to investigate the worst street violence in Armenia’s history. He
said the ex-president should specifically be challenged to prove his March 2008
claim that some opposition protesters fired gunshots at security forces.
Gevorg Kostanian, a senior pro-government deputy who served as the country’s
prosecutor-general from 2013-2016, dismissed Pashinian’s demand. Kostanian said Kocharian’s claim was based on secret video filmed by security forces. He said they are not allowed to publicize it until their criminal investigation into
the unrest is complete.
Public Radio of Armenia
March 21 2018
Gregory of Narek statue installed in Vatican Gardens
A two-meter-tall statue of Gregory of Narek, a 10th-century Armenian priest, has been installed in the Vatican Gardens, Armenia’s Ambassador to the Holy See Mikayel Minasyan said in a Facebook post.
In 2016 Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan presented a small model of the statue to Pope Francis, as a symbol of the Pontiff’s “pilgrimage to the first Christian nation.”
President Sargsyan then voiced hope that a bigger statue would be installed in the Vatican in the future. Pope liked the statue and gave his consent, the Ambassador said.
“Soon afterwards a creative team headed by People’s Artist of Armenia, creator of St. Gregory’s statue David Yerevantsi started working on the project. Architect Mikael Hasratyan and project manager Vardan Karapetyan got involved in the work and my friend Artur Janibekyan, who is very devoted to promoting Narek worldwide, joined me as the second sponsor of the statue,” said Mikayel Minasyan.
The statue will officially be unveiled on April 5.
On February 23, 2015, Pope Francis declared St Gregory of Narek a Doctor of the Church, a title going to selected saints whose teaching and life have a special importance for the Catholic Church.
Panorama, Armenia
March 21 2018
The world's longest gata tasted in Yerevan
The world's longest gata - an Armenian traditional pastry made of flour, butter and sugar - was baked, exhibited, and tasted today in Yerevan. The unique pastry, which measured 4000cm long, 40cm wide and weighting in at 240kg adorned with dried fruit was prepared by a team of 30 pastry chefs.
The tasting event of the gata which was initiated by "Pandok Yerevan" restaurant chain, celebrating the fourth anniversary of one of its branches was attended by numerous locals and tourists.
Gata is considered one of the most important decoration of the Easter, and its many variations typical to specific towns or regions have their own version. It can be found in a variety of shapes, sizes and may be decorated or left unadorned.
One popular variety is gata with koritz (khoriz), a filling that consists of flour, butter and sugar. Gata can have other fillings such as nuts, most commonly walnuts. Some variations include placing a coin inside the dough before the gata is baked, and it is said that whoever receives the piece with the coin is to be blessed with good fortune.
A1+
March 23,2018
Fruit and Vegetable Export Volumes increased more than twice
As of Thursday, a total of 24,965 tons of fresh fruits and vegetables have been exported from Armenia, informed the Ministry of Agriculture.
According to the department data, this indicator is 13,970 tons more, as compared with the same period last year.
These Armenian agricultural products were primarily exported to Russia. Lesser amounts were exported to neighboring Georgia as well as to Belarus, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, and Romania.
Panorama, Armenia
March 23 2018
Tourist flows into Artsakh on the rise
The Artsakh Republic tourism sector has recorded growth in the 2017, according to the country's statistical service.
As the tourism department at Artsakh Republic Ministry of Economy reports, 22,453 tourists have visited Artsakh in 2017 which is 60,8% increase to compare with the data of 2016.
According to the released data, the vast majority of tourists has visited Artsakh for vacation and recreational activities, 75.5 % of all visitors have preferred Artsakh as a holiday destination, 24.5 % - for a business trip and 3 people for education purposes.
PanArmenian, Armenia
March 21 2018
French-Armenian boxer to fight for WBA Cruiserweight title
French-Armenian boxer Arsen Golulamirian and Ryad Merhy, a native of Côte d’Ivoire of Belgian nationality, will have a clash of undefeated boxers on Saturday, March 24 in Marseille, France, the World Boxing Association said.
Both boxers will fight to stay with the WBA Cruiserweight Championship, which is currently vacant.
Goulamirian, born in Armenia with French nationality, will try to maintain his immaculate record against Merhy. Goulamirian was the body’s continental champion of the weight division in the past, while Merhy has owned the intercontinental belt of the same division.
Goulamirian has 22 wins, no losses and 14 knockouts, while Merhy has a record of 24 wins, no defeats and 20 knockouts.
Fruit and Vegetable Export Volumes increased more than twice
As of Thursday, a total of 24,965 tons of fresh fruits and vegetables have been exported from Armenia, informed the Ministry of Agriculture.
According to the department data, this indicator is 13,970 tons more, as compared with the same period last year.
These Armenian agricultural products were primarily exported to Russia. Lesser amounts were exported to neighboring Georgia as well as to Belarus, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, and Romania.
Panorama, Armenia
March 23 2018
Tourist flows into Artsakh on the rise
The Artsakh Republic tourism sector has recorded growth in the 2017, according to the country's statistical service.
As the tourism department at Artsakh Republic Ministry of Economy reports, 22,453 tourists have visited Artsakh in 2017 which is 60,8% increase to compare with the data of 2016.
According to the released data, the vast majority of tourists has visited Artsakh for vacation and recreational activities, 75.5 % of all visitors have preferred Artsakh as a holiday destination, 24.5 % - for a business trip and 3 people for education purposes.
PanArmenian, Armenia
March 21 2018
French-Armenian boxer to fight for WBA Cruiserweight title
French-Armenian boxer Arsen Golulamirian and Ryad Merhy, a native of Côte d’Ivoire of Belgian nationality, will have a clash of undefeated boxers on Saturday, March 24 in Marseille, France, the World Boxing Association said.
Both boxers will fight to stay with the WBA Cruiserweight Championship, which is currently vacant.
Goulamirian, born in Armenia with French nationality, will try to maintain his immaculate record against Merhy. Goulamirian was the body’s continental champion of the weight division in the past, while Merhy has owned the intercontinental belt of the same division.
Goulamirian has 22 wins, no losses and 14 knockouts, while Merhy has a record of 24 wins, no defeats and 20 knockouts.
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