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Author: Alex Jidarian

Azerbaijani press: Dangerous to fully trust accuracy of minefield maps provided by Armenia – Azerbaijani president’s special representative

Alex Jidarian
9 December 2021 15:10 (UTC+04:00)
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By Trend

It is dangerous to fully trust the accuracy of the minefield maps provided to Azerbaijan by Armenia, Emin Huseynov, the special representative of the President of Azerbaijan in the liberated territories [which were liberated from Armenian occupation during the 2020 second Karabakh war] within the Karabakh economic region, said in an interview with Xalq gazeti newspaper, Trend reports on Dec. 9.

“Only a year passed after the liberation of the city of Aghdam from occupation, but we managed to build a power line to the city. The territory along which the contact line passed was literally stuffed with unexploded ordnance, anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. It was very difficult to clear the territory," he said.

"There are many defensive fortifications and ramparts. Therefore, it is difficult to use special vehicles for mine clearance. These territories are mostly cleared of mines manually. Finally, a 20-meter-wide corridor was recently opened on the former contact line, thanks to which Azerenerji OJSC was able to build a power line from the village of Khindyrystan to Aghdam-1 substation. Power supply to Aghdam is provided, but the danger still remains," he said.

Asbarez: Long Awaited Groundbreaking for San Fernando Valley Armenian Center Takes Place

Alex Jidarian
by Ara Khachatourian

 

 December 9, 2021

 

in Community, Featured Main, Latest, News, Top Stories, Videos

Public officials, community leaders and stakeholders break ground on the new Armenian community center

BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN

An almost a decade-long effort by community activists, local officials and other stakeholders came to fruition on December 4 at a groundbreaking ceremony on the site of the long-awaited Armenian community center in the West San Fernando Valley.

Local and state officials, including LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, attended the event

In 2013, as a result of hard work and commitment to the Armenian community, Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz, along with his colleagues, the current L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and Councilmember Paul Krekorian were able to pass a motion granting the old firehouse on 5001 Balboa Boulevard to the Armenian Cultural Foundation for a 30-year lease to build an Armenian community center on the 5,000 square-foot property.

  • Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti
  • LA City Councilmember Paul Koretz
  • LA City Councilmember Paul Krekorian
  • Assmeblymember Jesse Gabriel
  • LA County Assessor Jeff Prang
  • Tony Royster, the General Manager of the LA Department of General Services

What was aptly called a “saga” by one official on Saturday, that spanned almost a decade, became a reality on December 2, when the lease agreement was finally signed by L.A. city officials and the West San Fernando Valley chapter of the Armenian Cultural Foundation.

Many of those involved and engaged in the process were on hand Saturday for an official groundbreaking event—a celebration—for the Armenian center, which will bring much-needed space for the Armenian community and the neighborhood to congregate.

  • ARF Western U.S. Central Committee Chair Dr. Carmen Ohanian
  • ACF Western U.S. President Avedik Izmirlian
  • ACF West San Fernando Valley Chair Garo Kamarian

Mayor Garcetti, who while serving on the L.A. City Council fought for the process, was joined by councilmembers Koretz and Krekorian to welcome and celebrate the results of their hard work on behalf of the Armenian community. Also attending the event and speaking were Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, L.A. County Assessor Jeff Prang and Tony Royster, the General Manager of the Los Angeles Department of General Services. Also attending the event was California State Senator Henry Stern.

Representing Congressman Brad Sherman was his district director, Scott Abrams, who presented an American flag flown above the U.S. Capitol as token from Sherman. In accepting the gift, ACF San Fernando Valley chapter president Garo Kamarian pledged that the flag will fly over the center, as soon as the flag poll are installed on the property.

The event began with a flag ceremony led by the Homenetmen marching band and the San Fernando Valley Massis Chapter scouts.

Rep. Brad Sherman’s district director Scott Abrams presents American flag that has flown over the U.S. Capitol

Master of Ceremonies, Greg Martayan, who is Councilmember Koretz’s Director of Public Safety & Special Assignments, invited the Very Reverend Muron Aznikian and Holy Martyrs Church parish priest, Archpriest Razmig Khatchadourian to perform the benediction and the blessing of the grounds. Very Rev. Aznikian was representing Western Prelate Bishop Torkom Donoyan, who was traveling abroad on that day.

Present at the event were representatives of all affiliate organizations—Homenemtmen, Hamazkayin, Armenian Relief Society and the Armenian Youth Federation—as well as the principals of the Holy Martyrs Ferrahian High School, Sossi Shanlian and the Holy Martyrs Cabayan Elementary School, John Kossakian, as well as the Director of the Holy Martyrs ARS Ashkhen Pilavjian Preschool, Vehik Gabrielian. Also present was chairman of the Ferrahian Board Vahe Benilian and and veteran community leader Khachig Yeretsian.

  • Blessing of the Ground
  • Master of Ceremonies Greg Martayan

Welcoming the initiative and congratulating the San Fernando Valley community was Armenian Revolutionary Federation Western U.S. Central Committee chair Dr. Carmen Ohanian, who, in her remarks, thanked the vision held by the city officials for making the center a reality.

Speaking on behalf of the ACF was the organization’s chairman Avedik Izmirlian, who underscored that the mission of the ACF has been to support the opening and operation of Armenian centers around the community, with the aim of serving the future generations of Armenians.

Kamarian, the West San Fernando Valley ACF chair, also emphasized the important role the center will play in educating and advancing the youth of the community. He especially thanked all the staff members at various city departments and council offices who worked tirelessly on making the center a reality.

The event culminated in the elected officials, the clergy, leaders and representatives of organizations all coming together and picking up their shovels to break ground on the new center.

The event was captured by the entire Los Angeles broadcast press corps and was livestreamed on Asbarez’s Facebook page.

Following the ceremony, the attendees were invited to a reception at the Ferrahian school grounds, where community member George Kalpjian made a $5,000 donation toward the renovation effort.

NAASR Hires Silva Sedrakian as New Executive Director

Alex Jidarian
 by Contributor

 

 December 1, 2021

 

in Latest, News, Top Stories
 0
Silva Sedrakian

BELMONT, MA—The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research announced that Silva Sedrakian will serve as its next Executive Director, starting on December 1. NAASR is one of the leading nonprofit Armenian Studies organizations in the world, founded in 1955.

Sedrakian is an accomplished non-profit manager, having worked for nearly 15 years at Oxfam America, an international organization addressing urgent humanitarian needs and striving to end poverty and injustice. As NAASR’s new Executive Director, she will manage the day-to-day operations. Sarah Ignatius, who is retiring as Executive Director, will serve as Executive Advisor during the transition and into 2022.

“Silva is an outstanding choice. We are eager to welcome her as Executive Director,” said Yervant Chekijian, Chairman, NAASR Board of Directors. “She has an excellent combination of skills and experience well-suited to NAASR’s next phase of expansion, collaboration, and growth, speaking several languages including Eastern Armenian, working for many years in various areas, including academia, nonprofit, and corporate, and having an international background and receiving her undergraduate degree in Armenian Studies in France, and earning an MBA from Northeastern University. During our five-month search, we were impressed by the caliber of the candidates and are delighted Silva will be joining NAASR as the new Executive Director.”

“NAASR will benefit immensely from Silva’s expertise in nonprofit management, her experience in building international partnerships, and her fluency in multiple languages to help NAASR serve its global mission,” said Judith Saryan, First Vice Chair, NAASR Board of Directors. “We were also impressed with her strong commitment and enthusiasm for NAASR’s mission, her dedication to Armenian Studies, as well as her leadership style rooted in respect, humility, hard work, integrity, and humor. She has a rare combination of skills that will serve the organization extremely well, and we look forward to working with her.”

“I am honored and thrilled that the Board has put their trust in me,” said Sedrakian. “I am impressed by the talented and dedicated Board and staff and am eager to work with them and the many NAASR members and supporters around the world,” she added.

At Oxfam America, Sedrakian specialized in program planning, monitoring and evaluation, led strategic planning processes, developed grant proposals, defined new partnership strategies with local and global organizations, and improved organizational practices and metrics aligned with Board strategy. She is also an adjunct faculty at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, VT, teaching monitoring, evaluation, and learning concepts and practices for sustainable development programs.

She received her Bachelor of Arts in Middle Eastern Civilization, Classical Arabic, Armenian & Japanese Studies at the National Institute of Oriental Languages in France. She earned a Master of Business Administration from Northeastern University.

She also has a certificate in Impact Investing from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and a Certificate in Community Management from the World Bank.

She speaks English, French, Armenian, and Farsi and has some knowledge of Arabic and Japanese. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Armenian Heritage Park and is a member of the Armenian Relief Society.

The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research was established in 1955 to advance Armenian Studies through a broad range of educational activities, and serves as a global center for Armenian Studies, offering excellent public educational programming, assistance to scholars, conservation of rare books in its Mardigian Library, and an online bookstore.

Armenian high-tech minister, Belarusian Ambassador discuss cooperation development opportunities

Alex Jidarian

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 12:54, 4 December, 2021

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Minister of High Technological Industry Vahagn Khachaturyan received on December 3 Ambassador of Belarus to Armenia Alexander Konyuk, the ministry reports.

The minister presented to the Ambassador Armenia’s technological potential, the programs and works being carried out by the ministry aimed at forming and developing technology-based economy.

Vahagn Khachatryan highly appreciated the experience and achievements of Belarus in the technology sector, expressing confidence that there are all preconditions to strengthen the new cooperation opportunities in this field.

The Ambassador thanked for the meeting and touched upon the partnering ties between Armenia and Belarus in different areas. He said that the Belarusian side is interested in strengthening the cooperation especially in the high technology field.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

№13 kindergarten of Etchmiadzin Municipality to be renovated with assistance of Japanese Embassy in Armenia

Alex Jidarian

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 17:10, 1 December, 2021

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. On December 1, 2021, the signing ceremony of the Grant Contract for “The Project for Renovation of №13 Kindergarten in Etchmiadzin Municipality” in the amount of USD 90,181 within the framework of Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects was held at the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia.

The Grant Contract was signed between Mr. Fukushima Masanori, Ambassador of Japan to Armenia and Ms. Anna Soghomonyan, Director of №13 Kindergarten of Etchmiadzin Municipality.

The ceremony was further attended by Mr. Arkadi Papoyan, Head of Department for Foreign Relations and Diaspora of the Ministry and Mr. Mher Mkrtchyan, Deputy Mayor of Etchmiadzin.

The project aims to improve the learning and working environment for children and teachers of №13 Kindergarten of Etchmiadzin by renovating classrooms, sports hall, event hall, toilets, kitchen parts and balconies of two buildings of kindergarten. As a result, more than 420 people will benefit from the project.

Greek parliamentarians visit Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan

Alex Jidarian

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 14:44,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS. The delegation of the Parliament of Greece led by Chair of the Greek-Armenian Friendship Group Dimitrios Markopoulos visited today the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan on the sidelines of their working visit in Armenia, the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute reports.

The Greek delegation was accompanied by chair of the Armenian parliamentary standing committee on European integration affairs Arman Yeghoyan.

Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Harutyun Marutyan welcomed the guests and introduced the history of the creation of the Memorial.

The Greek parliamentarians laid flowers at the Eternal Flame and paid tribute to the memory of the innocent victims with a moment of silence. They also toured the Museum, got acquainted with the exhibits. At the end of the visit MP Dimitrios Markopoulos left a note at the Honorary Guest Book.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Capture the Flag Information Security Contest Takes Place With Technical Support of Ucom

Alex Jidarian

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 16:53,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. Оn November 27-28, 2021 with the technical support of Ucom “Capture the Flag” Information Security Contest, organized by the Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF), took place at the Microsoft Innovation Center. 

Teams from the largest and well-known IT companies like «Picsart», «Krisp», «Synergy», «Webb Fontaine», «LifeTrace», «Snap LLC», «Uxtankyun» and «Armath» took part in the contest. 

“White hat hackers should have many opportunities to constantly level up their skills, exchange their experience, and respond to new challenges altogether. I am glad that EIF and Microsoft Innovation Center have hosted this event with the technical support of Ucom”, said Ara Khachatryan, Director General at Ucom.

 “It has already become a tradition to organize the "Capture the Flag" contest at least once a year, and this year we decided to hold the contest among the teams of employees of different IT companies. We were glad that Ucom as one of the telecom sphere leaders, expressed its readiness to be the technical partner within the framework of the CTF-2021”, mentioned Mari Barseghyan, project manager at Enterprise Incubator Foundation.   

Let us note that after a two-day “hot battle” between the teams, the competition was won by the "Krisp" team with the most flags, while the "Uxtankyun" and "LifeTrace" teams took 2nd and 3rd places, respectively. 

Let us add, that “Capture the Flag”(CTF) is an information security contest. During the competition, participants must find vulnerabilities, investigate viruses and other malware, find information from open sources and overcome various challenges arising in the field of cybersecurity.

Armenia interested in new Russian helicopter gunships Ka-52M and Mi-28NE

Alex Jidarian

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 16:51,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has displayed interest in Russia’s cutting-edge Ka-52M and Mi-28NE attack helicopters, CEO of the Russian Helicopters rotorcraft manufacturer Andrei Boginsky told TASS on Monday.

Boginsky told TASS that Armenia, Kazakhstan and the UAE have shown a keen interest in these gunships at the Dubai Airshow 2021 international aviation exhibition held in the United Arab Emirates on November 14-18.

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"There were delegations from Armenia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mauritania, the UAE and Saudi Arabia [at the airshow]. Colleagues from Rosoboronexport [Russia’s state weapons exporter] are actively working on the promotion and we are satisfied with the result that we have," TASS quoted the chief executive as saying.

The demonstration of the Mi-28NE ‘Night Hunter’ gunship was a major world premiere at the Dubai Airshow 2021. Russia never showcased this combat helicopter at international airshows before. The Ka-52 ‘Alligator’ attack helicopter was also demonstrated at the Dubai Airshow for the first time.

The Ka-52M is an upgraded version of the Ka-52 ‘Alligator’ gunship. As the gunship’s designers say, the Ka-52M missile armament has been standardized with the weapons suite of the Mi-28NM helicopter, another state-of-the-art Russian attack gunship, which has helped increase the target destruction range considerably. The Ka-52M is also furnished with a new phased array radar station and longer-range missiles. The upgraded gunship prototype performed its debut flight on August 10, 2020, TASS reports. 

The Mi-28NE is designated to destroy aerial targets, tanks and armor and can also be employed for reconnaissance and patrols. Its armament includes a flexible 30mm gun, three types of anti-tank missiles with a range of 6 km and 10 km, air-to-air missiles, two types of rockets and air bombs weighing up to 500 kg. The gunship’s rotor blades can withstand strikes by 30mm shells. The attack helicopter operates two increased-capacity 2,400 hp engines, features enhanced survivability and the armored glass cockpit. The combat helicopter is capable of effectively accomplishing assigned tasks in hot climates with its new screen-exhaust and dust protection technology.

Decline in new cases of COVID-19 being noticed – Armenian minister of healthcare

Alex Jidarian

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 13:02,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Healthcare of Armenia Anahit Avanesyan sees a tendency of decline in the new cases of COVID-19 in the country, but she notes that the high mortality rate is still being maintained.

“We hope that the number of new cases will decline also in the coming week. The decline in the new cases allows us to provide the citizens with hospital resources, as we do not have any person waiting for hospitalization. All persons, who need to be hospitalized, are being hospitalized at this moment, which is very important in terms of providing proper and timely medical care”, she said.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Armenia expects diplomatic and military support from Russia – Secretary of Security Council

Alex Jidarian

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 14:58,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian authorities expect that Russia, as a strategic partner, will help resolve the issues pertaining to the situation which was created at the border as a result of Azerbaijan’s actions, the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan told Kommersant newspaper in an interview when asked what specific assistance Yerevan expects from Moscow as part of the 1997 treaty.

Grigoryan, who is in Moscow for the CIS Secretaries of Security Council meeting, noted that now the Azerbaijani armed forces are located on sovereign Armenian territory. “This is an act of aggression. In 1997 Armenia and Russia agreed to help one another in such cases. This is exactly why we applied to Russia,” he said.

Asked if Armenia expects military or diplomatic assistance, Grigoryan elaborated: “We are in favor of a diplomatic solution to the issue. But if this won’t be possible to do diplomatically, then the issue must be resolved militarily.”

Grigoryan said that in this matter Armenia prioritizes Russia and the CSTO. “But if a solution isn’t found we will start considering other opportunities too,” he said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan