Author: Ara Felekian

My Armenian Christmas reminds me how traditions are reinvented in times of crisis

Ara Felekian
Jan 6 2022

Armenians celebrate Christmas on 6 January – and this year we will make a virtue of necessity.

By Anoosh Chakelian

I approached Christmas Day, as I imagine many New Statesman readers did, with my eyes smarting from a swab up my nose, and an imaginary two-metre force field around my 89-year-old Nana. It was a jollier, better-attended celebration than the inaugural St Scrooge’s Day of 2020, but the build-up was laden with doom. Not only did the memory of the previous year’s 11th-hour lockdown weigh heavy, but warnings of a Brexit/Covid mix of supply-chain bottlenecks, rising prices and food shortages “cancelling Christmas” haunted the headlines.

As a rush on petrol caused chaos, Boris Johnson promised the nation we would “get through to Christmas and beyond”. It was a myopic approach to planning. Emergency visas for foreign lorry drivers and poultry workers (“truckers and pluckers”) – vital for keeping shelves stocked and solving the poultry shortage that closed around 50 Nando’s branches in the summer – were supposed to expire on Christmas Eve. (Eventually, they were extended until 28 February and New Year’s Eve respectively.)

Urging the public to book their boosters to “save Christmas”, the Prime Minister appeared to be fixated on staggering on until the big day – and not much further.

For the first time, I found myself looking forward to Armenian Christmas more than “English” Christmas. Armenians celebrate Christmas on 6 January. Until the fourth century, so did all Christians. When the Roman empire adopted Christianity, the date was changed to replace a pagan feast day on 25 December known as “Saturnalia”, which marked “the birth of the sun” – the days growing longer. Armenia, the first country to adopt Christianity as its national religion (in AD 301), already had an established church calendar, so stuck to the original day.

All this really means for my family is more hoovering, as our Christmas tree stays up longer than everyone else’s (alas – my sister and I never managed to wangle two sets of presents).

Although as a baby I was fully baptised as Armenian Orthodox (and they really dunk you in; home videos show my English relatives looking politely concerned amid the incense and chanting of St Sarkis church as I’m immersed, wailing, in holy water), our celebration of Armenian Christmas was always an improvised hotchpotch of tradition.

We’d pull leftover crackers, eat home-made Lebanese mezze, barbecue lamb and chicken kebabs – my dad brandishing tongs in the snow – and for pudding share galette des rois, a pastry cake served mainly in France for the Epiphany.

Even the language we use for the Armenian Christmas table is uniquely ours. Lamb kofte (spiced minced meat on a skewer) is “Armenian hamburger”, khobez (classic Lebanese flatbread) is “Arabic bread”. I describe lahmajun (a thin dough base topped with mincemeat, herbs and tomatoes) as “Armenian pizza”, and nickname loubia b’zeit (green bean and tomato stew) “bean surprise”. My dad’s signature aubergine dish is “the priest who fainted” (more commonly known by its Ottoman name imam bayildi, it is so delicious it supposedly made the imam/priest – delete according to heritage – who first tasted it swoon).

On 6 January 2019, the first Armenian Christmas after my dad died, we scrambled to establish a new tradition: I would now host the meal at my flat in east London. I lack winter barbecuing skills but I’ve taught myself some dishes over the years. Our smoke alarm regularly sends my boyfriend racing into the kitchen to find me charring four aubergines on the open flames of our gas hob, feeling connected to my roots but apprehensive about how net zero will affect the depth of flavour in my moutabal (smoky aubergine dip).

We had to skip this nascent tradition in 2021 during the January lockdown, so I’ve been tentatively planning a feast to make up for it this year, which includes both staples and innovations. Vegetarian and vegan guests mean no meat kebabs, and a huge pot of “bean surprise” becoming the focal dish. Tahini for hummus and pomegranate molasses for muhammara (a walnut and red pepper dip) will double up as ingredients for dairy-free brownies. As a stereotypical millennial observing Dry January, I’ll be toasting with Middle Eastern mint lemonade instead of the customary arak (a fiendishly strong aniseed spirit). Armenian coffee remains Armenian coffee: strong, thick and, once drunk, tipped upside-down to read fortunes in the grounds.

An estimated 700,000 Brits isolated over Christmas in 2021, resulting in new festive routines (I know a house-share of 30-somethings who made Mexican food together for “fajismas”). British Muslims have had to adapt to celebrating Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha under restrictions, unable to break their fast with friends and family. Open-air prayer services established during lockdown continue in some local parks.

The “rule of six” in 2020 arrived days ahead of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), and some families attended an outdoor synagogue service, isolated in their cars, honking horns instead of the traditional blowing of the shofar(ram’s horn). Diwali fell in the second lockdown of November 2020, leaving Hindus, Sikhs and Jains to celebrate virtually – even turning to TikTok to watch and share Bhangra dances. Some parents, still fearful after restrictions were lifted, sent parcels of homemade Indian sweets instead of hosting their children the following year.

Customs change as we move away from home, lose those we love, or, nowadays, bump up against public health restrictions. Yet the old impulse to make a virtue of necessity thrives across Britain’s patchwork of communities. It is this spirit, every year, that saves Christmas, Eid, and maybe even Saturnalia, somewhere, too.

https://www.newstatesman.com/uncategorized/2022/01/my-armenian-christmas-reminds-me-how-traditions-are-reinvented-in-times-of-crisis

Armenpress: Armenia raises pensions and benefits for elderly, disabled, military and child care

Ara Felekian

Armenia raises pensions and benefits for elderly, disabled, military and child care

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 09:27, 3 January, 2022

YEREVAN, JANUARY 3, ARMENPRESS. The size of pensions and benefits has increased in Armenia starting January 1.

Minimum pensions, child care benefits (up to 2 years of age), old age pensions, disability and loss of breadwinner pensions have increased.

The minimum pension is set at 28,600 drams instead of the previous 26,500.

Disability pensions for Members of the Armed Forces (Privates) of Mandatory Enlistment were also increased – Category A – 43,000 drams instead of 40,000 drams, Category B – 33,000 drams instead of 30,000 drams, Category C – 30,000 drams instead of 27,000 drams.

If a family member of a killed serviceman (Private) loses the breadwinner they will receive a military pension of 30,000 drams instead of 27,000 drams.

Child disability pensions grew from 26,500 to 37,000 drams.

Child care benefits increased from 26,500 to 28,600 drams.

Azerbaijan looms over Turkey-Armenia normalisation push

Ara Felekian
The Arab Weekly
Dec 29 2021
If Turkey is truly hitching its own process with Armenia to this wagon, it too will remain at the station.
Wednesday 29/12/2021
Neil Hauer

In recent weeks, pronouncements that Turkey and Armenia are seeking to normalise ties for the first time in a generation has prompted at least some hope of reconciliation between the two. There is ample scepticism, for obvious reasons, over the possibilities of success, but the appointment of special envoys in each country devoted to the task seems to constitute some tangible progress.

But there is another external factor that is more likely to derail the process than even the century-long mutual recrimination between the two: the Baku-sized roadblock standing squarely between Yerevan and Ankara.

The long-standing enmity between Turkey and Armenia needs little introduction: a country is not likely to have good relations with the successor state of those who perpetrated a genocide against its people, especially when they continue to deny it (Turkey denies the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide). The two sides did enjoy a brief rapprochement after the Soviet Union’s collapse, as Armenia reemerged as an independent nation in 1991. This would be short-lived. Turkey promptly severed the nascent relations and sealed its border with Armenia just two years later in support of its Turkic ally Azerbaijan in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, a situation that persists to this day.

Two momentous events occurred last year that shook that state of affairs. First and most obviously, Ankara stepped in with the full military and political support of Azerbaijan as it reconquered most of the disputed territories held by Armenian forces following the war in the early 1990s. More interesting, however, is one of the externalities of that outcome: Armenia no longer controlled any of the seven regions of Azerbaijan around the former Karabakh province that it held until 2020. Turkey’s official rationale for severing relations (and keeping them that way) had always been Armenia’s occupation of those seven regions, not the Karabakh conflict itself. Suddenly, this precondition for restoring ties had become obsolete.

Feelers were put out earlier this year. A number of Turkish officials close to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made statements that Turkey was ready to normalise ties with Armenia, while in Yerevan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and others reiterated Armenia’s long-standing position of willingness to normalise without preconditions.

The question seemed to be ready to move forward, but with one unspoken caveat on which all hopes of progress would rest: how much, if at all, would Turkey care to placate Azerbaijan?

For Baku, its strategy since the end of last year’s war has been one of unbridled pressure toward its defeated neighbour. In an effort to force Armenia to both abandon the Russian-guarded rump of Karabakh entirely and to allow unfettered access between Azerbaijan proper and its Nakhchivan exclave, Azerbaijan has closed Armenia’s main north-south road, occupied parts of its territory and launched offensives into Armenia proper.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly stressed that “the Karabakh conflict is over” and that “the Zangezur corridor will be opened,” two goals he clearly hopes Turkey will help him with. For a time, it seemed unclear whether Ankara was on board with this provocative strategy, as many months passed without official Turkish comment on Baku’s actions along the Armenian border.

That question, however, appears to have been decided. In the last two months, Turkish diplomats have started to reference Azerbaijan repeatedly when describing potential rapprochement with Armenia. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu provides the prime example of this, with statements that Ankara will “act together with Azerbaijan at every step” in its Armenia negotiations and referencing the final settlement of the Karabakh conflict (something that is not remotely on the horizon) as coming alongside Turkey-Armenia progress. Whatever happened behind the scenes, Erdogan’s administration apparently decided it would rather keep Aliyev fully onside rather than risk any serious progress with Armenia.

Baku has torpedoed this process before. In 2008, Yerevan and Ankara began a series of negotiations on reopening the border, with a few high-profile football matches between the sides, before Azerbaijani pressure on Turkey led to its collapse. This time, however, Turkey is even openly signalling that it will not engage Armenia beyond the limits Baku sets for it, however, oppressive those may be. In the current case, Aliyev’s conditions for Armenia are both a clear non-starter for serious negotiations and something the Azerbaijani leader appears unwilling to back down from. If Turkey is truly hitching its own process with Armenia to this wagon, it too will remain at the station.

At the moment of writing, there were still more seemingly hopeful, yet ultimately noncommittal, signs of progress on the horizon: Pashinyan and Aliyev agreed at a summit in Brussels to reopen the Soviet-era rail link connecting the two countries, another tenet of last year’s cease-fire agreement. Russia remains a wild card: it continues to publicly push for the reopening of transit links between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as for Turkish-Armenian normalisation, but its sincerity is in question as the status quo of the region suits Moscow just fine. But until the railway ties are physically being laid across the Armenia-Turkey or Armenia-Azerbaijan border, all this remains empty talk and merely more verbal agreements for their own sake rather than anything tangible.

Written ByNeil Hauer

    Neil Hauer is a security analyst based in Tbilisi, Georgia. His work focuses on, among other things, politics, minorities and violence in the Caucasus.

    Armenia to host 20th Junior Eurovision in 2022

    Ara Felekian
    Eurovision TV
    Dec 21 2021
    TODAY, 10:00 CET

    The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and Armenian broadcaster AMPTV are pleased to announce that the 20th Junior Eurovision Song Contest will be staged in Armenia next year.

    The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and Armenian broadcaster AMPTV are pleased to announce that the 20th Junior Eurovision Song Contest will be staged in Armenia next year.

    This follows Maléna’s sensational win in Paris with the whirlwind of a song that is Qami Qami.

    It is Armenia’s second victory in the Contest and 2022 will see the country host Junior Eurovision for the second time after AMPTV staged the competition in Yerevan in 2011 following their triumph the previous year.

    Martin Österdahl, Executive Supervisor of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, said:

    'Armenia’s cool, classy, contemporary winner set a new standard for the competition. Their enthusiasm for the event is unmatched and we are excited that AMPTV want to host the 20th edition of the JESC next year. We look forward to working with them on planning a very special anniversary edition of the show.'

    EBU Director General Noel Curran added:

    'We were thrilled to see Armenia win their 2nd Junior Eurovision in Paris this weekend and congratulate Maléna and AMPTV’s hard working delegation on their stunning victory. We welcome the enthusiasm from our Armenian member for hosting the 20th Junior Eurovision Song Contest and are anticipating a great collaboration between the EBU and AMPTV over the coming months.'

    Hovhannes Movsisyan, CEO of Armenian Public Television said:

    'From the very first day we released Qami Qami we believed in Malena’s victory and were looking forward to hosting this major event. Armenians are very excited about our comeback into the Eurovision family, and even more thrilled to host this spectacular event next year. Welcome to Armenia!'

    The date and the venue for the 2022 Junior Eurovision Song Contest will be confirmed in the coming months.

    If you missed Junior Eurovision 2021, you can watch it on the official Junior Eurovision YouTube channel.

    Participant profile: Maléna

    In 2020, Maléna had been internally selected to perform Why at the Contest before Armenia withdrew. She will now fulfil her destiny with a brand new song.

    The young musician from Yerevan is a talented cellist, and has dreamed about representing Armenia for many years; she participated in her nation’s selection competition back in 2018.

    Maléna spends a lot of time in the studio, experimenting with different music genres and joining in with songwriting workshops… and we’ll soon see the results of her creativity!

     

    RFE/RL Armenian Report – 12/23/2021

    Ara Felekian 
                                            Thursday, 


Parliament Speaker Again Approves Hefty Bonuses

        • Astghik Bedevian

Armenia - Speaker Alen Simonian chairs a session of the National Assembly, 
Yerevan, December 8, 2021.


Sparking fresh controversy, parliament speaker Alen Simonian has allocated hefty 
holiday bonuses to members and staffers of the National Assembly for the second 
time in three months.

Simonian’s office said on Thursday that the year-end bonuses, equivalent to 
their full monthly salaries, will cost taxpayers 143 million drams ($300,000). 
It argued that payment of the so-called “13th salary” on the eve of the New Year 
and Christmas holidays has long been common practice in the Armenian parliament.

Parliament deputies did not receive such bonuses one year ago, in the wake of 
the devastating war with Azerbaijan. Then speaker Ararat Mirzoyan allocated them 
only to the staffers.

Simonian approved similar, albeit slightly more modest, bonuses on the occasion 
of Armenia’s Independence Day marked on September 21.

Both opposition alliances represented in the National Assembly criticized that 
decision as profligate and unethical Lawmakers representing them donated their 
bonuses to victims of the war and their families.

The Hayastan and Pativ Unem blocs are also critical of the latest allocation. 
Hayastan’s Artsvik Minasian said he and other deputies from the bloc will meet 
soon to decide whether to accept the bonuses.

Pativ Unem’s Hayk Mamijanian was confident that members of his faction will 
again use the bonuses for charitable purposes. “In one way or another, we give 
such money back to the people,” he told said.

Members of Armenia’s 107-seat parliament currently earn roughly 500,000 drams 
(just over $1,000). On top of that, they are paid 250,000 drams each to cover 
their job expenses.

The official monthly wage in the country stands at almost 200,000 drams.


Armenia - Deputies from the ruling Civil Contract party attend a parlament 
session, September 13, 2021.

Vahe Ghalumian, a senior lawmaker from the ruling Civil Contract party, defended 
the latest payouts.

“I find it normal that people working at the National Assembly get a 13th 
salary,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “We must strive to raise all 
pensions and wages in Armenia.”

Ghalumian would not say why the Armenian government is not planning such pay 
rises next year.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian significantly increased the amount and frequency 
of bonuses paid to civil servants and especially high-ranking government 
officials after coming to power in 2018. That prompted strong criticism from 
opposition figures and other government critics.

Pashinian has repeatedly defended these payouts, saying that they discourage 
corrupt practices in the government and the broader public sector.

Varuzhan Hoktanian, a program coordinator at the Armenian affiliate of the 
anti-graft watchdog Transparency International, dismissed the official rationale 
for hefty bonuses.

“It looks like they did the [2018] revolution to improve their lives,” Hoktanian 
said, referring to Pashinian and his political team. “At the end of the day, the 
state budget is losing money. While that was done illegally in the past, they 
now deduct public funds in a legal way.”



French Presidential Candidate Visits Karabakh


Nagorno-Karabakh - French presidential candidate Valerie Pecresse (center) 
visits the Center for Francophonie in Stepanakert, .


Valerie Pecresse, a major French presidential candidate, has visited 
Nagorno-Karabakh, prompting strong condemnation from Azerbaijan’s government.

Pecresse travelled to Karabakh on Wednesday from Armenia where she met with the 
country’s political and spiritual leaders during a trip which observers believe 
is connected with France’s forthcoming presidential elections.

The conservative candidate, who heads the Ile de France region of greater Paris, 
visited the Center for Francophonie in Stepanakert and met there with Ara 
Harutiunian and Davit Babayan, Karabakh’s president and foreign minister 
respectively. The Karabakh government issued no official statements on the 
meeting.

Pecresse was accompanied by French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier and Bruno 
Retailleau, who leads the conservative Les Republicains party’s group in the 
French Senate.

“Why does France not provide humanitarian aid on the ground for the return of 
refugees like other members of the [OSCE] Minsk Group do?” Retailleau asked in a 
tweet on their trip to Karabakh.

The French charge d’affaires in Baku was on Thursday summoned to the Azerbaijani 
Foreign Ministry and handed a protest note. The ministry condemned the trip in a 
statement, saying that it was part of the French presidential race and “directed 
at Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

“In Armenia, a brotherly country for France, I come to plead for the return of 
peace in Nagorno-Karabakh and the strengthening of French support in the 
economic and cultural areas and protection of religious heritage,” Pecresse 
tweeted before flying back to Paris on Thursday.

Speaking to journalists in Yerevan on Tuesday, she reportedly described last 
year’s Armenian-Azerbaijani over Karabakh as an “important warning to Europe.”

“We would be wrong to think that what happened here does not threaten us because 
the history of Europe is full of examples of threats emerging at times when they 
were underestimated,” she said.

France is home to an influential Armenian community. It was instrumental in the 
December 2020 passage by both houses of the French parliament of resolutions 
calling on President Emmanuel Macron’s government to recognize Karabakh as an 
independent republic.

Macron, Pecresse and other candidates are expected to vie for French-Armenian 
votes during the tight race. One of those hopefuls, controversial far-right 
figure Eric Zemmour, visited Armenia last week.

French commentators say that with their pro-Armenian gestures Pecresse and 
Zemmour are also reaching out to France’s non-Armenian conservative electorate 
attached to traditional Christian values.

Pecresse stressed in Yerevan the importance of “protecting Christians” not only 
in Armenia but also France and other European countries. They are facing common 
“dangers,” she said.

A French opinion poll released over the weekend showed Pecresse as the likely 
challenger to Macron in the second round of the presidential elections slated 
for April 2022.



Ousted Yerevan Mayor’s Allegations ‘Investigated’

        • Narine Ghalechian
        • Anush Mkrtchian

Armenia -- Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutian at a meeting on August 4, 2020


Prosecutors said on Thursday that they are looking into former Yerevan Mayor 
Hayk Marutian’s allegations that senior officials pressured him to fire his 
subordinates criticizing the government and ensure preferential treatment of 
their cronies doing business in the Armenian capital.

Marutian voiced the allegations on Wednesday shortly before the municipal 
assembly ousted him in a vote of no confidence initiated by its majority loyal 
to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.

He claimed that during his three-year tenure he routinely received phone calls 
from unnamed “various officials” asking for construction permits, land 
allocations, tax advantages and other privileges for “people close to them.” He 
did not name any of them, saying only that he rejected all such requests.

Marutian further alleged that Armenia’s “most high-ranking officials” repeatedly 
pressured him to sack municipal employees posting or “liking” comments on social 
media critical of Pashinian’s government. He said he withstood that pressure as 
well.

Leaders of the pro-government My Step bloc controlling the city council scoffed 
at the allegations, saying that the outgoing mayor has never told them about the 
alleged pressure before.

Daniel Ioannisian, a prominent civic activist leading the Yerevan-based Union of 
Informed Citizens, likewise rebuked the ousted mayor for not going public with 
his accusations earlier.

“This is part of a broader problem that we have, and Marutian’s case is not the 
first time we hear about such stories after the sacking of people involved in 
them,” he said.

Still, Ioannisian took Marutian’s claims seriously and submitted a relevant 
“crime report” to Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General.


Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian receives Yerevan's new Mayor Hrachya 
Sargsian, 

A spokesman for the law-enforcement agency told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that 
it is “examining” the report. The prosecutors did not announce a formal criminal 
investigation as of Thursday evening.

The prosecutors claimed to have still not received a separate report filed by 
Ioannisian earlier this week. It stems from allegations about government 
pressure exerted on city council members refusing to impeach Marutian.

Two such members affiliated with My Step claimed to have been blackmailed ahead 
of the vote of no confidence.

One of them, Lusine Mkhoyan, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Tuesday that 
council majority leaders threatened to strip her of her seat for absenteeism if 
she continues to support Marutian. Mkhoyan said she skipped many sessions of the 
municipal council because of her maternity leave and infection with COVID-19.

The other member, Grigor Yeritsian, claimed to have been forced to resign from 
the council. “I would have never thought that my colleagues could warn me that I 
will have to go if I don’t vote against [the mayor,]” he said.

Marutian pointed to these allegations in his farewell speech on Wednesday. “With 
‘good old’ methods, they literally threatened to fire one member of the Council 
of Elders and cut funding to another,” he charged.

Armen Galjian, the council majority leader, denied the accusations.

My Step, which is controlled by Pashinian’s Civil Contract party, holds at least 
54 seats in the 65-member council. The motion of no confidence in Marutian was 
backed by 44 council members.



Armenian Opposition Refuses To Meet Pashinian


Armenia - Leaders of the opposition minority in the Armenian parliament talk 
during a failed session boycotted by the ruling Civil Contract party, Yerevan, 
November 15, 2021.


Armenia’s two leading opposition forces said on Thursday that they have turned 
down Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s offer to meet behind the closed doors to 
discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Hayastan and Pativ Unem alliances said their parliamentary groups received 
the offer through speaker Alen Simonian.

“The opposition factions replied that they will attend the meeting only in open 
and equal conditions involving accountability to the people, which was rejected 
[by Pashinian,]” they said in a joint statement.

The opposition blocs insisted that “the format of closed-door meetings on issues 
relating to the Armenian people is unacceptable to begin with.” They also 
claimed that Pashinian has repeatedly “manipulated and distorted” such 
discussions which he held with opposition members during last year’s war in 
Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Zhoghovurd daily quoted a spokeswoman for Simonian as confirming that 
Pashinian communicated such an offer to the parliamentary opposition and that 
the latter said the meeting must be open to the press. She said the prime 
minister was ready to discuss with his political opponents Armenia’s ongoing 
talks with Azerbaijan.

The paper added that the offer was made “several days ago.”

Pashinian twice met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev during a visit to 
Brussels last week. The two leaders reportedly made progress towards easing 
tensions on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and restoring rail links between the 
two nations.

Following the Brussels talks the Armenian and Turkish governments appointed 
special envoys for upcoming talks on normalizing Turkish-Armenian relations.

Armenian opposition leaders regularly accuse Pashinian of planning to make 
sweeping concessions to Baku and Ankara. The joint statement by Hayastan and 
Pativ Unem denounced his “secret” and “suspicious” talks.


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

    Russia, China jointly develop high-tech weapons — Putin

    Ara Felekian

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     15:23,

    YEREVAN, DECEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. Russia and China are jointly developing high-tech weapons as they cooperate in the security area, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, reports TASS.

    “We cooperate [with China] in the security area”, he said during his annual news conference. “China’s armed forces are equipped with the most advanced weapons systems to a large extent”.

    “We are even developing together certain high-tech types of weapons”, the president went on to say. “We are working in space, aircraft areas. On planes and helicopters”.

    The armed forces of the two countries also cooperate, Putin said.

    “It’s joint exercises, participation in joint international war games, joint patrols at sea and in air”, he said. Russia and China have "an absolutely comprehensive partnership of strategic nature”, he said.

    Turkish press: Georgia has taken effective steps to ensure lasting peace in region: Premier

    Ara Felekian
    Davit Kachkachishvili   |23.12.2021
    Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili


    TBILISI, Georgia 

    Georgia has taken effective steps with Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia to ensure lasting peace in the region, the country’s prime minister said Wednesday. 

    “It is extremely important for us to establish lasting peace in the region,” Irakli Garibashvili said during the online Conference of Ambassadors.

    Noting that he has met with the leaders of the countries in the region, Garibashvili said the Georgian side made a "peaceful, neighborly" initiative in the talks.

    Underlining that he held very effective meetings with Turkish, Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders, he said: "I also had a very successful meeting in Turkey. We were welcomed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the highest level and we took very effective steps in this direction."

    Referring to security issues, he said they prioritized ensuring the territorial integrity of the country and ending the occupation in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

    "We do not forget for a moment and do not lose our focus because the real dream and goal for us is to re-establish the territorial integrity of our country and liberate it from occupation," he added.

    Tbilisi fought a five-day war with Russia in 2008 over Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Georgia lost control of both areas and Russia later recognized both South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.

    *Writing by Gozde Bayar

    COVID-19: Armenia reports 180 new cases, 18 deaths in one day

    Ara Felekian

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     11:07,

    YEREVAN, DECEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. 180 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Armenia in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 343,157, the ministry of healthcare reports.

    7571 COVID-19 tests were conducted on December 15.

    470 patients have recovered in one day. The total number of recoveries has reached 327,029.

    The death toll has risen to 7874 (18 death cases have been registered in the past one day).

    The number of active cases is 6767.

    Armenian FM, OIF Secretary General discuss regional security-related issues

    Ara Felekian

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     11:55,

    YEREVAN, DECEMBER 10, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan met on December 9 with Secretary General of the International Organization of la Francophonie Louise Mushikiwabo on the sidelines of his working visit in Paris, the foreign ministry reports.

    The sides discussed the implementation process of the initiatives within Armenia’s chairmanship at the Organization.

    Ararat Mirzoyan and Louise Mushikiwabo discussed the prospects of strengthening the Armenia-OIF cooperation, particularly through the implementation of programs in economy and youth fields.

    FM Mirzoyan said that Armenia supports Louise Mushikiwabo’s proposed reforms agenda of the Organization.

    Louise Mushikiwabo presented to the Armenian FM the report of the OIF mission which observed the 2021 June parliamentary elections of Armenia.

    The sides then exchanged ideas about the preparation works ahead of the 18th Francophonie summit to be held in Tunis in 2022.

    FM Mirzoyan also presented a number of issues relating to regional stability and security to the OIF Secretary General.

     

    Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

    Turkish press: 4 Turkish firms display defense products at Colombia’s Expodefensa

    Ara Felekian
     ISTANBUL DEC 01, 2021 – 2:30 PM GMT+3

    Visitors try out guns and weapons during the Defense and Security Industry Fair "Expodefensa," in Bogota, Colombia, Nov. 30, 2021. (EPA Photo)

    Turkish defense giants STM, Aselsan, Machinery and Chemical Industry (MKE) and Otokar are showcasing their latest products at the Expodefensa 2021, one of the largest defense industry fairs in Latin America and the Caribbean.

    The three-day exhibition in Bogota, Nov. 29-Dec. 1, is organized in association with the Colombian Defense Ministry.

    Its aim is to "help governments and armed forces face their operational and capability challenges while playing a role in building a safer Latin America." International exhibitors present their systems and products to respond to a growing regional demand. Expodefensa's first edition was held in 2009.

    In an earlier statement, the STM said it will promote its naval platforms and tactical mini-unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The firm said it will introduce its tactical mini-UAV product family – which includes Alpagu, Kargu and Togan – to South America, along with its MILGEM (National Ship) Ada-class corvettes as well as the I-class frigate, which is Turkey's first national frigate project.

    Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano Aponte visited the STM booth at the event, and was briefed on the ongoing projects.

    Colombian President Iván Duque also paid a visit to the fair with an accompanying delegation, receiving information from Aselsan on their products.

    “We are proud to host the President of Colombia and foreign delegations in our booth at Expodefensa 2021, Bogota, Colombia,” read a tweet shared by the Aselsan’s Twitter account on Nov. 30.

    Otokar, a company of Turkish conglomerate Koç Holding, meanwhile has presented its armored land vehicles at the fair.

    Otokar General Manager Serdar Görgüç said in an earlier statement that Otokar, which achieves new successes in the world defense industry day by day, continues to make a name for itself with its global knowledge, engineering, research and development (R&D) and technology transfer.

    “By participating in fairs held in five continents, we represent Turkey’s defense industry in the best way around the world, and we see these fairs as an important tool to come together with our current and potential users,” he said.