Sunday 26 August 2018

Armenian News... A Topalian... Independence day!!!

Public Radio of Armenia
Aug 23 2018
Armenia adopted the Declaration of Independence 28 years ago today

On August 23, 1990 the Supreme Council of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia adopted Armenia’s Declaration of Independence, ending decades of Soviet rule and beginning a new chapter in history.

The adoption of the Declaration marked the start of the process of establishment of independent statehood positioning the question of the creation of a democratic society based on the rule of law.
The country was renamed the Republic of Armenia and a year later, on September 21, 1991 Armenia became an independent state.

То guarantee the security of the country and the inviolability of its borders, the Republic of Armenia created its own armed forces, internal troops, state bodies and public security under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Council.

Under the Declaration, the Republic of Armenia guaranteed the use of Armenian as the state language in all spheres of the Republic’s life, created its own system of education and of scientific and cultural development.

This declaration served as the basis for the development of the constitution of the Republic of Armenia.


PanArmenian, Armenia
Aug 23 2018
Armenia: Belgium Royal family visit Holy Etchmiadzin - source 

The Royal family of the Belgium monarchy are visiting Armenia on an unofficial family vacation. 

While there is no official confirmation or refutation concerning their exact whereabouts or itinerary, a source tells PanARMENIAN.Net that the Royal family, including King Philippe, Queen Mathilde, Prince Gabriel, Prince Emmanuel, Princess Eleonore, and Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Brabant, are in Armenia and have been lodging at Grand Hotel Yerevan.

Belgium is among several European countries that have established absolute, gender-neutral primogeniture, altering the order of succession from “eldest son” to “eldest child.” As such, and as per protocol, the King and the Heir apparent, Princess Elizabeth, arrived on separate airplanes, and continue to visit various historic and cultural sites through Armenia in separate modes of transportation, the source said.

The Royal family, according to the person familiar with the itinerary, is said to have visited the sacred site of Etchmiadzin, the world’s oldest Christian Church, as well as the ArmAs Estate and Winery, for an extensive tour and lunch where they where introduced The Renaissance of Armenian Wine. The Aslanian family who reportedly greeted them were not available for comment.

It seems that the 10-day vacation includes cultural trips to Tatev Monastery, Noravank, and Cafesjian Museum of Art. Thus far, the Royal family is said to be rather impressed with the quality of food, wine and hospitality in Armenia.


Arminfo, Armenia
Aug 22 2018
The loco of new Armenia economy will be the high tech sector.
Alina Hovhannisyan. 

Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan today on August 22, via live broadcast on the official Facebook page, presented the priority areas of Armenia's economic development. In this regard, the head of government stressed that the economic strategy will become export-oriented and will be based not on the exploitation of the environment as before, but on its preservation.

"However, this does not mean that we will abandon the mining industry, but the priorities of state assistance will be elements of an inclusive, sustainable and ecological economy," Pashinyan stressed. First of all, as the priority direction and locomotive of the economy, the prime minister determined the production of high technologies. 

Noting that today in Armenia there are already certain enterprises engaged in high-tech production. Pashinyan stressed that the government intends to contribute to the process of increasing investment interest in this area. In this vein, the prime minister drew attention to the high investment interest in the production of solar panels.

"This sphere can be considered promising, as today we see significant progress in this direction. I believe that the sphere of solar energy will become an important one, "Pashinyan said. Armenia, he said, should become a high-tech state, as this will create conditions for the normal development of the military-industrial complex, which in turn will satisfy the requirements and raise the level of security. 

Moreover, it will create high-paying jobs. At the same time, the prime minister stressed that the authorities will continue to assist in the development of the information technology sector, considering that today the IT sector demonstrates serious progress. 

"In our working paper on economic development, we also noted an experimental branch open to ideas. Biotechnologies are developing all over the world, and our compatriots are involved in this field. On our part, we must try to convince them to open enterprises in Armenia, in particular in the field of pharmaceuticals, R & D (resource & development) and are ready to discuss new ideas, "he said.

The next priority direction Pashinyan named lapidary diamond production and jewelry business, which as a result of a sharp strengthening of the national currency in the second half of the 2000s and the liberalization of the market actually stopped their improvement. In this vein, the prime minister expressed readiness on the part of the authorities to assist existing enterprises in the above areas and develop them. Light industry, according to the prime minister, is of interest to investors today, in particular, from the point of view of launching new productions in the textile sector. He noted that the government will assist enterprises of light industry in the implementation of export activities. "Our market is small, so we can not expect to create high-paying jobs. Therefore, all spheres of the Armenian economy should be export- oriented, "he stressed, adding that the development of tourism will help the significant development of the production of knitwear, footwear, which has always been famous for its quality, other products that tourists will buy.

Following the light industry, the prime minister called education and health care. According to Pashinyan, the system of Armenianuniversities has serious problems. "The system of Armenian universities is far from reality. Today our students are not prepared for professional work after graduating from universities. Under the ministries and media there are academies that are engaged in retraining graduates of universities, and as a result it turns out that the state spends resources simultaneously in several places, "he said.

"Our education system must be transformed, and be aimed at attracting foreigners. Systemic changes in education are extremely important to ensure normal economic development. If we can not provide the market with specialists, then in the future we will face serious problems, "Pashinyan continued. The same policy, according to the prime minister, should be followed in the direction of development of the healthcare sphere.

The prime minister also named tourism as an important direction of economic development, having determined a big role in the promotion of the SME segment. In this context, he noted that the number of tourists who visited Armenia over the past three months exceeded the figure of a year ago by 35 thousand people. "I hope we can improve the infrastructure, but SMEs in turn need to provide a high level of service. Since in my opinion, the best advertising is the impressions of tourists about a particular country, which they share with their friends, in particular in social networks, " Pashinyan added. In this regard, the Prime Minister also touched upon the issue of migration. "In the period from May 10 to August 14 of the past year the difference of people leaving from Armenia and arriving citizens was - 6 thousand, whereas this year the indicator was fixed at the level of +29.9 thousand citizens, "he said. The head of government also spoke about the development of intensive agriculture, hothouse farms and livestock. At the same time, the winemaking will not be left out of the authorities' attention, which, according to the Prime Minister, registers serious growth. "There are problems with production volumes, however, we hope that this issue will be resolved. In any case, the government is ready to assist in any issues, "Pashinyan accentuated.

In conclusion, the Prime Minister stressed: "The new model of economic development, I mean the reference to the preservation of the environment, does not mean that other sectors of the economy should not develop in Armenia. The matter is that when the economy is based on the export of mining raw materials, this economic development is almost insignificant for the citizens of Armenia, therefore we want to create an inclusive model of economic development that will be first and foremost tangible and effective for the population."


Public Radio of Armenia
Aug 22 2018
Armenia wins 40th World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul

Armenia cemented its reputation as a chess superpower by winning gold at the Chess Olympiad, after defeating Hungary 2.5-1.5 in the final round of the World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul.

In the decisive round on Sunday Armenian men beat Hungary 2.5-1.5 to gather 19 points in the 11-round competition. Sergei Movsesian secured the crucial victory against Hungary’s Zoltan Almasi. Levon Aronian, Vladimir Akopian, and Gabriel Sargissian drew their games.

Russia defeated Germany 3-1, but fell behind Armenia on tiebreak. Ukraine beat China 3-1 and came third..

Armenia won the 2006 and 2008 Olympiads, and came in seventh in 2010. It came third in 1992, 2002 and 2004.


MediaMax, Armenia
Aug 23 2018
U.S. and Great Britain Armed Forces representatives in Armenia

Upon the invitation of Human Rights and Good Behavior Centre of Armenian Defense Ministry, representatives of the Armed Forces of the United States and Great Britain have paid a visit to Armenia, set for August 20-24.

According to the Armenian MoD, Head of Human Rights and Good Behavior Centre Aleksandr Avetisyan received the members of the group. 

 The visit is aimed at holding discussions on ways of preventing suicides and self-destruction in the Armed Forces, modernizing “hotline” operation, developing capacities for providing psychological support, creating equal opportunities and other topic for strengthening human rights. 

 The participants of the meeting reached preliminary agreements on expansion and development of collaboration agenda.


RFE/RL Report
Armenian Government Vows Tax Cuts
August 23, 2018
Sargis Harutyunyan

The Armenian government has promised major tax cuts that will benefit most workers as well as some small businesses.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said the government will initiate “very serious changes” in Armenia’s Tax Code in a Facebook video address aired late on 
Wednesday.“I can now say that we will opt for a simplification of the tax legislation and a reduction in personal income tax,” he said.

Pashinian declined to specify the extent of the new tax rates planned by the government, saying that “several scenarios” are still under consideration. He 
pledged to all but scrap the main tax levied some of the small businesses operating in the country.

Under Armenian law, companies with an annual turnover of up to 115 million drams ($237,000) are exempt from profit and value-added (VAT) taxes paid by larger businesses. They are only required to pay “turnover tax” equivalent to 2 percent of their revenue.

Pashinian promised to set a new and “symbolic” tax rate for small firms earning no more than 24 million drams annually. “In essence, that will mean the near 
absence of [turnover] tax,” he said.

Davit Ananian, the head of Armenia’s State Revenue Committee (SRC), was careful not to shed more light on the promised tax cuts when he spoke to reporters on Thursday. He said the government is still calculating “budgetary losses” that would result from lower taxes and is looking into ways of making up for them.

“In September the government will formulate a common position [on the issue] and inform the public,” Ananian said after a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan. The government hopes to push the amendments through the parliament before the 
end of this year, he said.

The Tax Code was already amended by Armenia’s previous government last year. The amendments raised from 26 percent to 28 percent the tax rate for monthly incomes ranging from 150,000 drams to 2 million drams ($310-$4,150). The rate for those who earn more was set at 36 percent. At the same time the tax rate for workers making up to 150,000 drams a month was cut from 24.4 percent to 23 percent.

Those changes, which took effect on January 1, met with strong resistance from opposition groups, notably Pashinian’s Yelk bloc. In February, the Armenian parliament voted down a Yelk bill that would repeal the higher tax rates.

But on April 12, Serzh Sarkisian’s government unexpectedly announced plans to lower income tax. The announcement came the day before Pashinian launched anti-government mass protests that eventually brought him to power.


RFE/RL Report
Armenian Police Forces Deployed On Azeri Border
August 23, 2018
Marine Khachatrian

The first large group of Armenian interior troops joined army units in guarding Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan on Thursday as part of an unprecedented 
redeployment ordered by the new government.

They headed to some sections of the heavily militarized border immediately after an farewell ceremony in Yerevan attended by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and other senior officials.

The troops that are part of the national police service have until now been tasked with only ensuring internal security and dealing with violent unrest in 
the country. Pashinian ordered them to also protect the Armenian-Azerbaijani frontier on a rotating basis shortly after coming to power in May.

Speaking at the ceremony, Pashinian described their new mission as “historic,” saying that they will not only help the Armenian military but also improve 
their public image. “Our objective is to ensure that Armenia’s citizens perceive the police and the police troops as protectors of their security, Armenian statehood and the constitution,” he said.

The Armenian police chief, Valeri Osipian, said earlier this week that police personnel will serve at the border on two-week tours of duty and receive 
additional payments for that. They look forward to their new task, Osipian told reporters.

Daniel Ioannisian, a civic activist who sits on new government commissions formed by Pashinian, welcomed the redeployment. “The public always wondered who the possible enemies of the police troops are, and this only deepened distrust 
between the public and the police,” he said. “That problem was somewhat addressed as soon as it was announced that the police troops will also be 
defending the country’s borders.”


RFE/RL Report
Chinese School Inaugurated In Armenia
August 22, 2018

China has built a state-of-the-art school in Yerevan where hundreds of Armenian children will study the Chinese language in addition to subjects taught in 
secondary and high schools across Armenia.

The Chinese-Armenian Friendship School was inaugurated on Wednesday at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Chinese Ambassador Tian Erlong.

Officials said that the Chinese government has spent over $12 million on building and equipping the school located in Yerevan’s northern Kanaker suburb. 
It is designed for up to 405 students aged between 10 and 18 who will have intensive language courses taught by Chinese teachers.

“Knowledge of Chinese opens up opportunities to access information about a huge layer of human history and civilization,” Pashinian said at the ceremony. “I hope that this school will become a channel through which Armenians will gain more in-depth knowledge of the enormous influence which China and Chinese civilization have had on the development of humankind.”

The educational institution, Pashinian went on, is also opening a “new page” in Chinese-Armenian relations which should now grow closer. China and Armenia have “many common interests” and like “strategic thinking,” he said.

Pashinian said that having many Chinese speakers is also an “economic necessity” for Armenia given a rising number of Chinese tourists visiting the 
country. Chinese investors are likewise showing a growing interest in the Armenian economy, he added.

According to official Armenian statistics, China has been Armenia’s second largest trading partner for the last several years. Chinese-Armenian trade 
soared by nearly 50 percent, to $342 million, in the first half of this year.

Political relations between the two nations have been cordial ever since Armenia gained independence in 1991. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his then 
Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian reported “mutual understanding on issues relating to pivotal interests and concerns of the two countries” after holding talks in Beijing in 2015.

Beijing further underscored its interest in the South Caucasus country last year when it started building a new and much bigger building for its embassy in 
Yerevan. The 40,000-square-meter embassy compound is due to be completed by the 
end of 2019. It will reportedly be the second largest Chinese diplomatic mission in the former Soviet Union.

China has provided at least $37 million in economic assistance to Armenia since 2012. It has also donated hundreds of public buses and ambulance vehicles to 
Yerevan. “The Armenian people highly appreciate that assistance,” said  Pashinian.


What Would Happen If an Armenian Diplomat Questions the term Holocaust while in Israel?
ARA KHACHATOURIAN

“The tragedy of the Armenian nation has never been questioned. There is a historical question of what to call it, but what has happened is a fact that everyone accepts. It’s not a matter of political discussion. Let historians decide what to call the tragedy.” This is what Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Ben-Zvi said on Tuesday when visiting the Dzidzernagapert Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex.

Upon reading this I thought what would happen if one of Armenia’s deputy foreign ministers visited Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, and paid tribute to the victims of Nazi Germany’s systematic annihilation of Jews and pussyfooted around using the word Holocaust.

Most likely, all hell would break loose.

I envision Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decreeing the immediate expulsion of the said diplomat from Israel and freezing the already cool diplomatic ties with Yerevan. World leaders would then chime in with their condemnation of Armenia’s insensitive and tone deaf approach to the Holocaust, while Jewish organizations, some of which just recently decided to call the events of 1915 “Genocide,” would be in an uproar renewing their lobbying to discredit efforts to pass a Genocide recognition bill in Congress. More important, the Israeli press would quickly pick up on the diplomatic gaffe and would mold Israeli public opinion against Armenia and Armenians. Not to mention the Israeli academicians, such as Israel Charny and Yair Auron to name a few,

Instead, according to the foreign ministry’s press office Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan “presented Armenia’s ongoing initiatives directed at prevention of genocides and crimes against humanity, noting that the third Global Counterterrorism Forum will be held in Yerevan on December 9 [and will be] dedicated to the role of education in the prevention of genocides. Referring to the process of international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, the Foreign Minister mentioned that it is a moral responsibility and a tribute to the memory of innocent victims, while at the same time it is an important contribution to international efforts to prevent genocide and crimes against humanity.”

Yet Ben-Zvi stands on the grounds of the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex and spits on the memory of the 1.5 million victims of the Genocide with no recourse or admonishment and walks away with the continued pledges of improving ties between Armenia and Israel.

And let’s look at those so-called “improving” ties.

Netanyahu, once again, halted the debate of a bill to recognize the Genocide in the Knesset in June, after the Israeli political apparatus, once again, decided to play the Genocide card when Turkey threated Tel Aviv after Israel attacked a Palestinian settlement in Gaza in May. The fact that the Genocide issue comes into play in Israeli politics only during spats with Turkey is proof enough that Israel does not necessarily want to become “a partner” with Armenia.

Then there’s that pesky issue of the estimated $5 billion in arms sales to Azerbaijan, whose army commanders urged a military contractor to “live test” an armed suicide drone directed at Artsakh military targets. While that military contract was allegedly suspended, again there has been no firm posturing from Armenia. Mnatsakanyan told Ben-Zvi that “our partners should abstain from all actions that could potentially result in arms race, as well as provoke instability in the region.”

Mnatsakanyan’s statements signal a more resolute tone toward Israel in comparison to his predecessor, Edward Nalbandian, who met with Netanyahu last fall with nary a mention of these thorny and contentious issues blocking normal ties with the Jewish State.

I am not suggesting that Mnatsakanyan should have started a diplomatic row with Israel, but he and other officials should consider what Israel would do if the situation were reversed and say Armenia were supplying arms to the Palestinians and disrespecting the Holocaust all at the same time.


Artsakh to host 2019 CONIFA European Soccer Cup

The Stepanakert Republican Stadium will be the site of the 2019 CONIFA European Soccer Cup

The Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) on Monday announced that Artsakh  will host the 2019 European Football Cup.

The tournament will be held in June 2019 in Stepanakert, the capital. Exact dates will be announced soon.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to build on the momentum of the 2018 Paddy Power World Football Cup,” said CONIFA President Per-Anders Blind. That tournament, hosted in London in June, saw unprecedented fan and media interest in CONIFA. Over 400 journalists were accredited from almost every major international media outlet, CONIFA’s Twitter feed recorded over 6 million impressions and 250,000 people watched the live-streamed matches. 3,000 people attended the final at Enfield Town FC, which saw Karpatalya beat Northern Cyprus on penalties.

“After the incredible success of London 2018, we are excited to be taking our next tournament to a beautiful and relatively undiscovered part of the world,” continued Blind. “During several official delegation visits to Stepanakert, CONIFA has received incredible hospitality. We are confident that participating teams, fans and travelling media will enjoy the same experience next year.”

Artsakh gained de facto independence following the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994, a conflict which also involved Armenia and Azerbaijan. It remains unrecognised by the international community. The Artsakh football league has prospered since 2009, and the Artsakh Football Federation was founded in 2012.

“Artsakh has been a member of CONIFA since our inception in 2013, and participated in our first-ever tournament in Sweden in 2014,” explained CONIFA’s European Director Alberto Rischio. “Given their long-term involvement in the CONIFA family, we were delighted when the Artsakh Football Federation first expressed interest in hosting the tournament.”

12 teams will contest the tournament. 2017 European Football Cup winners Padania, runners-up Northern Cyprus and 2018 Paddy Power World Football Cup winners Karpatalya will join the host team as automatic qualifiers. The remaining eight teams will be determined during CONIFA’s annual general meeting in January.

“It will be a wonderful celebration of sport, culture and friendship,” said Minister of Education, Science and Sport of the Artsakh Republic, Narine Aghabalyan.

CONIFA is the international football confederation for teams not part of FIFA. Its members include states, unrecognised states, regions, minority groups and sports-isolated territories. CONIFA is a strictly politically neutral charity, and is run by volunteers.

Further details about the 2019 European Football Cup will be released shortly.

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