Author: Anna Tamamian

Chess: Armenia’s Levon Aronian draws round 6, still leads FIDE Grand Prix

Anna Tamamian
Pan Armenian, Armenia
Nov 23 2017
Armenia's Levon Aronian draws round 6, still leads FIDE Grand Prix

Armenia's Levon Aronian made a draw with Peter Svidler and remains the sole leader of the FIDE Grand Prix after six rounds.

Aronian was happy about his position after the opening but was disappointed with his decision of 20.Ng5: “While I was playing fast I was doing the right moves, than I thought for 25 minutes, got carried away and blundered 21…Rae8.”

The Armenian grandmaster will face Rapport Richard of Hungary in round 7.

Aronian is currently the only player to have collected 4.0 points and is closely followed by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Hikaru Nakamura (U.S.), Ding Liren (China), Peter Svidler (Russia), Pentala Harikrishna (India), Evgeny Tomashevsky (Russia) and Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia) with 3.5 points each.

The FIDE Grand Prix 2017 is a series of four chess tournaments that form part of the qualification cycle for the World Chess Championship 2018. The top two finishers will qualify for the 2018 Candidates Tournament.

Aronian who won the World Chess Cup in September, as well as Liren, who reached the finals, have already qualified for the Candidates Tournament.

Chamlian Participates in Candy Buyback Program to Benefit Troops

Anna Tamamian
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1 day ago

A group of Chamlian students with the collected candy

GLENDALE—This year, the Vahan and Anoush Chamlian school hosted its first candy collection drive to support the local YMCA association through the organization’s “Healthy Halloween Candy Buyback” program.

This is a great cause-driven program that encourages children to make healthy choices, while at the same time supporting deployed U.S. troops overseas.

From November 1 to 3, Chamlian students collected Halloween candy from the school’s kindergarten to 8th grade students.

Students who collected candy were entered into a raffle whose prize was this bicycle donated by the YMCA

For every pound of candy donated, students received one raffle ticket for a chance to win a new bicycle provided by the YMCA.

Most important, however, was that all the candy collected was donated to Operation Gratitude, an organization that annually sends care packages for deployed U.S. troops.

As part of Chamlian’s school mission to thrive as productive citizens, the school continues to contribute to local and global communities and fosters individuals of strong integrity. The school indicated that it would participate in this program next year and to “collect sweet treats for our dedicated troops.”

Azerbaijani press: Azerbaijan’s Los Angeles Consul General: Armenia weakest country in region

Anna Tamamian
3 November 2017 16:44 (UTC+04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 3

Trend:

Armenia has become the weakest country in the region because of its aggression against Azerbaijan and integration of Armenia into the large-scale regional projects would only be possible once it leaves the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan's Los Angeles Consul General Nasimi Aghayev said.

At the invitation of the West Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce (WLACC), Aghayev addressed the Chamber members on Nov. 1, 2017.

In his presentation, the Consul General spoke of Azerbaijan's path to independence and its rapid development as a free and independent nation since 1991.

Aghayev informed the participants about the economic reforms undertaken in the country and current efforts by the Government to diversify the economic development even more vigorously into such areas as tourism, IT, agriculture and transportation, among others, which are already beginning to produce positive results, strengthening Azerbaijan's position as the largest economy in the South Caucasus region.

Highlighting Azerbaijan's role in implementing projects of regional and trans-regional importance and magnitude, the Consul General spoke of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad that was inaugurated on October 30, 2017 and that is set to connect China with Europe through the shortest and most reliable route.

Informing the Chamber members of Azerbaijan-US economic and trade relations as well as the favorable business and investment climate established in Azerbaijan, Aghayev invited the Chamber members to invest in and trade with Azerbaijan.

Considered one of the most influential chambers of commerce in California, the WLACC has over 1,250 members representing many renowned companies, including some of the nation's largest corporate entities. Previous speakers of the WLACC included Los Angeles Mayors, members of U.S. Congress, California state elected officials and others.

The Consul General also informed the audience about the illegal military occupation and ethnic cleansing of around 20 percent of Azerbaijan's sovereign territory by neighboring Armenia.

He noted that this illegal occupation and the ongoing conflict with Azerbaijan has only damaged Armenia's well-being over the last 26 years of its independence, making it the weakest economy of the South Caucasus.

"Since 1991, Armenia has lost a million of its population to economic emigration," Aghayev said, adding that integration of Armenia into the large-scale regional projects involving Azerbaijan and the other South Caucasian nation – Georgia, would only be possible once Armenia leaves the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, allowing hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijani displaced population to return to their homes and lands.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

Rules must be same for everyone, says finance minister

Anna Tamamian
| 13:41 | October 31 2017
Category
BUSINESS & ECONOMY

The rules of gameplay must be equal for all businessmen, finance minister Vardan Aramyan said during parliamentary debates of the 2018 state budget draft.

“Especially business entities which have dominant positions in the market will be under our spotlight. If you pay attention, the main tax collection of 2017 was from major taxpayers, moreover in conditions when tax inspections were significantly reduced. This means that conduct has changed”, Aramyan said.

He added that regardless if the businesses are dominant or not, the rules must be the same for everyone, and everyone must pay their taxes.

The government is very careful in order to keep administration towards businesses within the legislation, because it very well realizes that causing negative expectations among businesses will affect economic growth. “We understand this very well. And in this context I must say that the objection platform institution is functioning very well. This platform is functioning under the PM, where the state revenue service is entitled to vote. The ministries of finance, justice and economic development and investments also vote here, as well as NGOs”, Aramyan said.

The finance minister says they cooperate with the state revenue service in order to improve legislations.

“The changes which we have initiated with the tax code will help to get rid of various misinterpretations and to create a normal life for our businesses, so that they invest”, he said.

Armenian President welcomes Mexican MPs` visit to Artsakh

Anna Tamamian 
ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia
 Friday


 Armenian President welcomes Mexican MPs` visit to Artsakh

Yerevan October 27

Mariana Mkrtchyan. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan received members
of the delegation of the Mexican Parliament headed by the head of the
friendship group Mexico- Armenia Blanka Margarita Kuata Dominguez. The
press service of the Armenian President told ArmInfo.

Sargsyan noted that representatives of friendly countries are always
welcome in Armenia, as such visits give new quality and substance to
bilateral relations, and are a good opportunity to discuss various
issues of the bilateral agenda. The Armenian President expressed his
belief that this visit will open a new page in the Armenian-Mexican
inter-parliamentary relations and will allow outlining the further
areas of cooperation between parliamentarians.

Sargsyan highly appreciated the formation of the Mexican-Armenian
friendship group in the Mexican Parliament and expressed gratitude to
Dominguez, for leading this group.

The Armenian President also welcomed the two-day visit of Mexican
deputies to Artsakh. According to him, this is a good opportunity to
get acquainted with the Artsakh conflict, the Artsakh people, the
history of Armenians living in this region for centuries, culture, and
see the life of people fighting for their freedom.

The Armenian leader also touched upon the natural disaster that
occurred last year in Mexico and expressed the belief that the Mexican
people and the authorities will make every effort to eliminate the
consequences of the terrible earthquake in a short time.

Dominguez assured that the group will do everything possible to
permanently deepen and strengthen the relations, as during their stay
in Armenia and Artsakh they felt the tremulous attitude of the
Armenian people and the desire to strengthen friendship: "We
successfully opened the door for friendship between our peoples. We
are honored to be in Armenia. We were also happy to visit Artsakh - a
small and exalted country that has already taken a firm place in our
hearts."

Art: Martiros Saryan artworks to be exhibited in Moscow

Anna Tamamian
Panorama, Armenia
Oct 27 2017
Culture 17:21 27/10/2017Armenia

The Armenian Cultural Days in Russia will kick off on 15 November with the opening of a grand exhibition of Martiros Saryan’s art pieces at the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the ministry of culture reported, citing Minister Armen Amiryan.

According to the source, Mr. Amiryan announced about it at the jubilee concert dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the activities of Martiros Saryan House-Museum, which was held at Arno Babajanyan Concert Hall on Thursday.

Director of Martiros Saryan House-Museum, Ruzan Saryan also informed that an agreement has been reached with the director of Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum in Moscow to jointly publish the painter’s album for theatrical and ballet performances.

To note, a conference launched at Martiros Saryan House-Museum on Thursday as part of the events marking the 50th anniversary of its establishment.

The two-day conference has brought together the representatives of those museums in Armenia and Russia, which keep and display the works of Martiros Saryan, one of the greatest Armenian painters of the 20th century.

The house-museum re-opened its doors in November 2016, after undergoing reconstruction, attracting some 30,000 visitors this year against the 4000 visits recorded previously.

Tourism: Top Armenian tourist sites in focus of digital preservation project

Anna Tamamian
PanArmenian, Armenia
Oct 25 2017
– 13:20 AMT
Top Armenian tourist sites in focus of digital preservation project

A new project of digital preservation has launched in Tumo aimed at scanning and processing Armenia’s Noravank monastery and Areni-1 cave.

A 13th-century Armenian monastery, Noravank is on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, whereas the Areni-1 cave complex is a multicomponent site where the earliest known shoe and the earliest known winery in the world were announced to have been found in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

Experts from CyArk, a nonprofit organization in California, have already arrived in the country and started the 3D scanning process.

CyArk’s official mission statement is “digitally preserving cultural heritage sites through collecting, archiving and providing open access to data created by laser scanning, digital modeling, and other state-of-the-art technologies.”

The initiative started on October 23 in cooperation with Tumo and The My Armenia Program funded by USAID and implemented by the Smithsonian Institution.

The group will visit Noravank and the cave nearby on October 25 to carry out three-dimensional filming and process the collected materials later on.

3D scanning is a popular technique for analyzing a real-world object or environment to collect data on its shape and possibly its appearance.

Azerbaijani Press: Armenian soldier killed in retaliation by Azerbaijani army

Anna Tamamian
APA, Azerbaijan
Oct 11 2017

An Armenian soldier was killed in retaliation by the Azerbaijani army following the ceasefire violation by Armenian military on October 10.

 

Armenian soldier Chaplin Markaryan (born in 1998) died of a gunshot wound at the combat post on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border on October 10, the Armenian Defense Ministry reported.  

 

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.

 

A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.

 

The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.

 

Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the CSCE (OSCE after the Budapest summit held in December 1994) Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.

 

Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, the US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.  

 

Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.  

 

Foreign Minister of Artsakh Received Members of California State Legislature

Anna Tamamian
  • 13:38 | October 9,2017 | Official
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On October 8, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh Republic) Masis Mayilian received members of the California State Legislature․

Welcoming the visit of the Californian MPs to Artsakh, the Foreign Minister stressed the importance of the resolution adopted jointly by the California State Assembly and State Senate in support of the independence of Artsakh, as well as expressed confidence that the international recognition of the NKR independence would become an important contribution to strengthening peace and security in the region.

Masis Mayilian noted that in recent years Artsakh and California have created solid basis for developing relations in different spheres, and it is time to put the cooperation on a practical track. In this context, the sides discussed the perspective areas for cooperation.

Touching upon the current situation in the process of peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, the Foreign Minister of Artsakh noted the need to create appropriate conditions for moving forward the peace process and to ensure its irreversibility.

Armenian president thanks French ambassador for development of economic component in interstate relations

Anna Tamamian
ARKA, Armenia
Sept 29 2017

YEREVAN, September 29. /ARKA/. President Serzh Sargsyan received Friday French Ambassador to Armenia Jean-François Charpentier, who is completing his diplomatic mission in the country, the presidential press office reports. 

Sargsyan thanked the Ambassador for his tenure-long efforts towards strengthening between Armenia and France, which is our country’s faithful friend and ally, as well as for the fact that his effective activities in this short period contributed specifically to the development of the economic component of interstate relations.

Sargsyan said that in addition to the active political dialogue, Mr. Charpentier made substantial efforts to boost the activities of the French Development Agency in Armenia, promote the involvement of French capital in different programs, among which the construction of Vedi Reservoir, the activities of Veolia company, etc.

He wished Ambassador Charpentier every success in his future activity and expressed confidence that he would leave the country with vivid impressions and warm memories, and will remain a friend of Armenia.

The ambassador thanked the president for appreciation and kind remarks, assuring that in his person Armenia will always have a faithful friend. Jean-François Charpentier said to be highly honored to have been entrusted with the highly responsible mission of Ambassador to the Republic of Armenia. He stressed that the past three years were filled with memorable and significant events that further strengthened the relationship of France with friendly Armenia.

The Ambassador expressed the hope that the Armenian-French economic cooperation will continue to develop to reach the high level of political relations between the two countries. –0—

12:46 29.09.2017