Author: Ani Tigranian

No swine flu in Armenia, official says

Ani Tigranian
ARKA, Armenia
Jan 8 2019

YEREVAN, January 8. /ARKA/. An Armenian health ministry official has denied today media reports claiming that about 10 people in the country had “swine flu”.

Fears in Armenia have been prompted by reports from the neighboring Georgia where, according to official information, 10 people have passed away from swine flue this winter. On January 8, five hospitals in Tbilisi have switched to round-the-clock working regime.

Liana Torosyan, the head of a department at the Armenian health ministry overseeing infectious diseases, said patients in Armenia have the usual seasonal H1N1 flu.

According to the ministry, as of January 8, some 642 citizens asked for medical help of whom 597 were diagnosed with acute respiratory illness. -0-

Demonstration to be staged outside Russian military base in Gyumri

Ani Tigranian
News.am, Armenia
Jan 8 2019
Demonstration to be staged outside Russian military base in Gyumri Demonstration to be staged outside Russian military base in Gyumri

12:37, 08.01.2019
                  

The European Party of Armenia on Saturday will stage a mourning and a protest rally outside the 102nd Russian Military Base in Gyumri.

The demonstration will be held on the occasion of the four-year anniversary of the Avetisyan family murder and the 40th-day anniversary of the murder of Julieta Ghukasyan, European Party of Armenia Founder Tigran Khzmalyan wrote on Facebook.

The Avetisyan family as well as Julieta Ghukasyan of Gyumri were killed by the soldiers of the aforesaid Russian military base. 

FINCA Impact Finance subsidiary in Armenia issues $2.8 million bond offering

Ani Tigranian
PRNewswire (press release)
Jan 3 2019


Bond issuance in local currency to support on-lending to small businesses

News provided by

FINCA Impact Finance

Jan 03, 2019, 09:00 ET

YEREVAN, Armenia and WASHINGTON, Jan. 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ – FINCA Armenia announced the issuance of AMD 1.4 billion (USD 2.8 million) in nominal, non-documentary coupon bonds, further diversifying its funding base. Each three-year coupon bond has a nominal value of AMD 10,000 and a semi-annual coupon rate of 10.5%. The issuance is the first of three tranches the institution plans to issue over the next year, with a total value of USD 10 million.

The new issuance was listed on the NASDAQ OMX Armenia secondary list of bonds (Bbond). As in previous issuances by FINCA Armenia on the NASDAQ OMX, the bond offering was oversubscribed, with the purchasers being local banks, pension funds and individual investors. The funding will support on-lending to small businesses throughout the country.

FINCA Armenia, one of 20 banks and microfinance institutions that make up the FINCA Impact Finance (FIF) network, has been operating since 1999 and is one of the country's leading microfinance institutions. It serves more than 35,000 clients through both traditional and branchless banking channels, including online banking. The issuance is the third by the FIF subsidiary in the past two years, following the issuance of tranches worth USD 4 million and AMD 1.5 billion, respectively, in 2017.

"The success of this bond offering is a testament to FINCA Impact Finance having earned the confidence of local investors in the markets where we operate," said Roman Hingorani, FIF CFO. "We are shifting from a heavy reliance on international borrowing to more local funding sources. This helps mitigate foreign exchange and geographic risks and strengthens our relationships with local investors."

FIF's bond offerings are attracting growing interest from the investment community, including issuances by subsidiaries in Pakistan and Nicaragua. FIF, which provides responsible finance to low-income people in 20 countries, is diversifying its sources of funding and using the proceeds from bond issuances to broaden its offering of financial products and services.

About FINCA Impact Finance

FINCA Impact Finance is a network of 20 microfinance institutions and banks that provides socially responsible financial services to enable low-income individuals and communities to invest in their futures. For more information, visit www.FINCAImpact.com and follow on Twitter @Fincaimpact.

SOURCE FINCA Impact Finance

http://www.fincaimpact.com

Armenpress: Robert Kocharyan’s lawyer says document for applying to ECHR ready

Ani Tigranian

Robert Kocharyan’s lawyer says document for applying to ECHR ready

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13:17,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. It’s a matter of 1-2 days to apply to the ECHR over the case of 2nd President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan. The complaint is fully ready, ARMENPRESS reports Kocharyan’s lawyer Hayk Alumyan told the reporters.

“Right now the complaint to be sent to the ECHR is in my office, fully ready. Some other documents are necessary. It’s a matter of 1-2 days for it to be sent to the ECHR”, Alumyan said.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan




Armenia’s Pashinyan: Consensus is more important to CSTO content

Ani Tigranian
News.am, Armenia
Dec 22 2018
Armenia’s Pashinyan: Consensus is more important to CSTO content Armenia’s Pashinyan: Consensus is more important to CSTO content

15:46, 22.12.2018

We have said that we have a candidate and the matter should be decided by consensus.

The Acting Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, on Saturday told the aforementioned to reporters. He noted this, as he commented on the most recent developments regarding the appointment of the next Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

“We need to attempt to reach a consensus [on this matter],” Pashinyan said. “It’s not like the CSTO Secretary General’s position is permanently reserved for Armenia. 

“The task for us is the CSTO content and the specifying, clarifying of mutual obligations, and to reach a consensus on this matter,”

The acting PM said he was satisfied with the past and future discussions at the CSTO.

“Very open and frank discussions have taken place, which has never taken place in the CSTO,” he added. “We need to comprehend our security environment.”

Asked whether Armenia will use its veto power should Belarus nominate its candidate as the next CSTO chief, Pashinyan responded: “Consensus is more important to the CSTO content than the Secretary General’s matter. We [Armenia] have always been constructive, and we will be constructive—hoping for the same constructive…We don’t want from others more than what we are ready to do.”

As for whether Armenia will host Belarus’ CSTO Secretary General candidate in capital city Yerevan, Nikol Pashinyan said: ‘As long as the discussions continue, we haven’t found it expedient. We haven’t rejected, but we have said that they are not expedient at this phase. The discussions will continue.”

Ambassador Kopirkin: Russia using “soft power” in Armenia is complex matter

Ani Tigranian
News.am, Armenia
Dec 18 2018
Ambassador Kopirkin: Russia using “soft power” in Armenia is complex matter Ambassador Kopirkin: Russia using “soft power” in Armenia is complex matter

15:41, 18.12.2018
                  

YEREVAN. – The factor of Russia using “soft power” in Armenia is a complex, systematic matter that requires daily work, Russian Ambassador Sergey Kopirkin stated at a press conference on Tuesday. In his words, there are considerable resources in this regard.

“The basis for this ‘soft power’ is the ties that have united the peoples of Armenia and Russia for centuries,” Kopirkin explained. “They are the very close human relationships that are the foundation of interstate relations between the two countries.”

But the ambassador noted that the respective steps being taken today are not enough, and active work should be carried out with civil society and the media.

“My speaking today is a demonstration of its awareness,” the diplomat noted. “The [Russian] embassy and Russian organizations that operate in Armenia are inclined toward raising [Russian-Armenian] bilateral relations to a new level.”

In Sergey Kopirkin’s view, the growing tourist attraction of Armenia also plays a part in this regard, since this enables a large number of Russians to get familiarized with the country and makes it possible for Armenia to continue to develop its economy.

Russian-Armenian businessman donates $2.8 mln to Hayastan Fund

Ani Tigranian
PanArmenian, Armenia
Dec 15 2018
– 12:56 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Hayastan All-Armenian Fund summed up the results of the fundraising telethon held in late November, revealing that the owner of the Tashir group of companies, Samvel Karapetyan, has donated $2.8 million in addition to the more than $11 million raised with the help of Armenians around the world.

“Karapetyan donated $2.8 million, the major part of which will be sent to Karabakh," the director of the Foundation, Haykak Arshamyan, told a press conference in Yerevan.

"Approximately $1 million of all the funds will go to families who have a fourth child ($4000 for each family). A youth center is also being built there, the construction of which will be completed by the HayastanFund with the remaining funds."

Arshamyan also said that the total amount of donations at the moment stands at $14.11million dollars.

On the eve of Telethon 2018, Artur Vanetsyan, Head of the National Security Service, visited Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s Yerevan office with his son.

The National Security Service made a contribution of some AMD 9,5 million (approx. $20,000) to the Fund, while Vanetsyan donated his monthly salary.

President of Armenia, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Fund Armen Sarkissian too visited the office of the Fund on the eve of the event and signed a donation ticket for more than AMD 5.7 million (approx. $12,000) which makes his salary for six months.The President will also donate his salary for the next six months to the Fund.

Acting PM Nikol Pashinyan, meanwhile, donated AMD1 million from the Prime Minister’s fund and AMD 500,000 from his own funds ($3000 in total).

The biggest donations came from an anonymous benefactor ($2.5 million), Iranian-Armenian philanthropists Henrik and Adrine Ter-Ghukasyan ($1.34 million) for the renovation of a key road in Artsakh, Grand Holding owners Karen and Mikayel Vardanyan (AMD 60 million or approx. $123,000) for the renovation of the road connecting the Armenian towns of Dilijan and Ijevan, while U.S.-based Armenians Andranik Baghdasarian and Albert A. Boyajian have donated $1 million each.

Alex Holding donated $200,000.

Ղարաբաղյան հակամարտության խաղաղ կարգավորումը ՀՀ գլխավոր առաջնահերթությունն է. Փաշինյան

Ani Tigranian
  • 14.12.2018

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Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի հակամարտության խաղաղ կարգավորումը շարունակում է մնալ Հայաստանի գլխավոր առաջնահերթությունը: Այս մասին Twitter-ի իր միկրոբլոգում գրառում է կատարել ՀՀ վարչապետի պաշտոնակատար Նիկոլ Փաշինյանը:


«Մենք կշարունակենք խաղաղ գործընթացը՝ ի բարօրություն տարածաշրջանի խաղաղության և անվտանգության: Կարգավորումը պահանջում է բոլոր կողմերի ջանքերը»,- գրել է Փաշինյանը:

Residents in Armenia’s Debed Canyon Face Stark Choice between Poison and Destitution

Ani Tigranian
IndraStra Global
Dec 6 2018


Residents in Armenia’s Debed Canyon Face Stark Choice between Poison and Destitution

In February 2018, with its Danish state-sponsored backers having pulled out citing health and safety violations, the Vallex Group open-pit mine at Teghut in Armenia’s Debed Canyon laid-off over a thousand workers. Families have been ripped apart as husbands and sons emigrate to look for work, whilst local farmer’s lands have been rendered infertile by the tailing dam from this and other mines pouring straight into the Debed River. Combined with the Vallex-operated copper smelting factory in the region’s main town of Alaverdi, the project at Teghut had accounted for 80% of employment opportunities in the region, leaving residents facing a stark choice between poison and destitution.

Replete with UNESCO sites, the Debed Canyon in Northern Armenia is a region rich in history. Copper smelting in the region dates back to the eighteenth century. By 1903, output accounted for 13% of the total produced in the Russian Empire. Massive construction works during the Soviet-era saw Alaverdi become a key hub of metallurgy and the chemical industry. With the influence of Moscow declining, when the smelter closed in 1988, parts were sold off, including filters which had mitigated the effects of caustic emissions. When the plant reopened in 1997, nothing was done to replace the missing filters.

Image Attribute: Oleg Dulgaryan at the Center for Community Mobilization and Support in Alaverdi / Photo: Klaus Richter
Oleg Dulgaryan is the Executive Director at the Center for Community Mobilization and Support in Alaverdi. Operating since 2009, his NGO is engaged in project implementation, advocacy and protecting the environment.

"In our region, many people complain about health problems such as headaches, difficulties with breathing and blurred vision," he told IndraStra Global. "An inordinate number of serious diseases plague our town. According to a report from 2016 by the World Health Organization, Armenia is second only to Zimbabwe in terms of tuberculosis, and our province is the epicenter". 
"At the moment, the Debed River is at risk from tailing dams. We shot a video three days ago at Akhtala," he said, reaching for his phone and pointing out the luminous yellow run-off. "People in the villages use this water. In our region, experts have found that the heavy metal levels in fruits and agricultural products are ten times the safe limit. In 2014, the American University in Armenia conducted an examination on the blood of children and found that the content of heavy metals was ten to twelve times the standard amount. There are many cases where gardens watered by tributaries of the Debed are now barren… There have been incidents where all the fish were floating dead on the surface".

Image Attribute: Polluted water in a tributary of the Debed River / Photo: Klaus Richter

From the peak of a dirt track near the village of Shnogh, the sprawling gray landfill site and the destruction reaped on the environment by the copper and molybdenum mine at Teghut is immediately visible. Due to the closure of the mine, the residents of Shnogh are overwhelmingly female; just a few listless men loitering on the streets.
"There are around 3,200 people in Shnogh, of which around 500 worked at Teghut," a shopkeeper who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of jeopardizing her family’s chances of future employment told IndraStra Global. "Only about 30 still have their jobs. It’s been very bad for the community. Many people took loans from the banks based on their jobs for health treatments, buying a car and so on. Their lands are not fruitful because the project bought their fertile lands extremely cheaply. Many people have had to leave Armenia because they couldn’t afford food, not even bread. So the men left and their families stayed behind. The husbands feel depressed about the situation, so they leave for Russia. In some cases, it’s led to divorces".
"I hope the mine will reopen; most people here do. Even now, in my shop, people can’t settle their bills, so it’s not possible for us to take care of our needs. For us, the environment isn’t an issue. It’s better to work and have environmental problems than to be unemployed."

 Below the village, at an orchard on the banks of the Debed River, Ara Babayan surveyed his decimated peach grove.

Image Attribute:  Ara Babayan at his decimated orchard  / Photo: Klaus Richter
"The run-off from Teghut has affected the land horribly," he told IndraStra Global. "There’ll be a harvest this year, but very small. With the mining, the trees are dehydrated, and year by year it’s getting worse. The poison also comes down from the smokestack into the river. I took a $60,000 loan to buy this land; how can I pay it back? If the product is poisoned, no one will buy it. The Germans used to be big customers, but they won’t buy fruit from this region anymore".
"Almost every day the water here is silver. That’s from the tailing dam at Akhtala, whilst the one from Teghut has a terrible smell like rotting flesh. Despite promises they’d only be used in case of emergency, Teghut had two pipes flowing directly into the river. We had the water analyzed; the metal content is very high, but the mines and the factory say it’s got nothing to do with them".

Image Attribute: A mile away from the smelter smokestack, fumes obscure the view of Alaverdi / Photo: Klaus Richter

On the streets of Alaverdi, where the population has halved since 1989, the part-derelict front of the smelter stretches for over half a mile. Beyond its broken windows and barbed wire, atop a mountain at the back of the plant, a soaring smokestack belches a haze of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, which becomes trapped in the gorge, poisoning the town’s residents. In 2003 alone, 1,389 children under the age of fourteen were diagnosed with respiratory illnesses.

"My father used to work at the copper smelter, but he lost his job," a twenty-year-old girl called Arminka told IndraStra Global. "When the last big layoff happened, the company gave a small amount of money, 20,000 Dram ($40 U.S.) per person to the regional administration, but no one who was made redundant received it. Before the factory, my father used to go to Russia to look for work. We were so happy when he got a job at the smelter, but now it’s the same situation where he needs to go to Russia. We keep putting off his departure hoping he’ll get his job back."


Image Attribute: Arminka at the tailing dam near Akhtala / Photo: Klaus Richter
When operations at Teghut were suspended in February 2018, the Vallex Group claimed it would reopen the mine shortly on a larger scale, but in October 2018 the Russian commercial bank, VTB gained control after Vallex failed to repay hundreds of millions of dollars in outstanding debts. Visiting Alaverdi as part of his election campaign on November 27th, 2018, acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Teghut would be ‘exploited’ again once the tailing dam had been renovated at a cost of US$ 14 million. "Now our compatriot, Russian-Armenian Norik Petrosyan has set to work… after which the mine will again operate," he told the crowd. Environmental groups strongly oppose the reopening of the site. Elections in Armenia are scheduled for the 9th of December.
About the Author:
Stephen M. Bland is a freelance journalist and award-winning author specializing in Central Asia, the Caucasus and South-East Asia. His articles have appeared in numerous publications including The Diplomat, Vice, EurasiaNet, and Motherboard. You can view a selection at www.stephenmbland.com Twitter: @stephenmbland

About the Photographer:

Klaus Richter is a freelance photographer currently living in and working from Lithuania. For more photographs, visit www.klausrichter.at

Cite this Article:

Bland, S.M, Richter, K., "Residents in Armenia’s Debed Canyon Face Stark Choice between Poison and Destitution", IndraStra Global Vol. 4, Issue No: 12 (2018), 0010, , ISSN 2381-3652.

Lusavor Hayastan Party kicks off campaign in Yerevan’s Nor Nork district

Ani Tigranian

Lusavor Hayastan Party kicks off campaign in Yerevan’s Nor Nork district

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12:49, 26 November, 2018

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 26, ARMENPRESS. The Yerevan campaigning event of Lusavor Hayastan (Bright Armenia) Party kicked off at the city’s Nor Nork district.

The party is campaigning on three levels – provincial, Yerevan, and district.

Mane Tandilyan, number two on the proportional list, and Gevorg Gorgisyan, number 4 of the proportional list, were leading the campaign.

They walked across the streets and neighborhoods of the districts, talking to citizens and presenting their program.

Tandilyan said that Lusavor Hayastan, during its brief history, has been able to realize their vision of shaping a state of dreams.

“The path that our party has passed is short, but substantial. Edmon Marukyan, Mane Tandilyan, Arman Babajanyan, Gevorg Gorgisyan – the honest and clear struggle of these politicians has brought to the reality of the current new Armenia. The election of national assembly is highly important. This is the first post-revolution general election, that will decide in what kind of Armenia we will live in,” Tandilyan said.

She called on citizens to vote for them, and said that the party considers its mission to be ensuring the prosperous and dignified life of citizens.

Photos by Gevorg Perkuperkyan

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan