Author: Arpi Talalian

Turkey reaches out to foe Armenia in drive for Caucasus influence

Arpi Talalian
Financial Times, UK
Oct 26 2021

Erdogan tests waters with Yerevan a year on from Nagorno-Karabakh war with Azerbaijan

Ayla Jean Yackley in Shusha, Azerbaijan YESTERDAY

A new highway that cuts through land Azerbaijan captured from Armenia less than a year ago showcases Turkey’s growing economic presence in a region that has long been seen as part of Russia’s domain.

 Crews pouring asphalt on the Victory Road work around the clock for two Turkish companies close to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

 The road links Azerbaijan with the historic city of Shusha, the biggest prize Azerbaijan snatched from Armenia in a six-week war over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Thousands died in the 2020 conflict, in which Turkey supplied firepower to help Azerbaijan achieve a decisive edge.

 Now, Erdogan is reaching out to arch-foe Armenia as he tries to cement Turkey’s influence in the south Caucasus, where it vies with Russia and Iran. He has suggested diplomatic relations could be restored after a nearly 30-year rupture. Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia’s prime minister, has said he is ready for talks “without preconditions”.  

‘Positive signals’

Turkey sealed its border with Armenia in 1993 to protest against Yerevan’s takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly ethnic Armenian region that is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan.

Russia-brokered ceasefire terms in November 2020 handed Azerbaijan most of the land it had lost to Armenia in the 1990s conflict. Turkey has said the return of the territory eliminates the main obstacle blocking formal ties with Armenia, and in recent weeks Erdogan has said he could work to “gradually normalise relations”. Armenia says it is ready to reciprocate.

“As there are positive signals coming from both sides, it gives the opportunity at some point in the near future to start talks . . . on opening the border, starting economic relations and relations between the governments,” said Armen Grigoryan, Armenia’s security council secretary.

A thaw would allow trade and diplomacy to take root, but fully fledged reconciliation remains a distant prospect. The neighbours are haunted by the first world war-era genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, which Turkey denies was a state-orchestrated campaign.

Azerbaijan relaxes opposition

Critically, Baku is now less resistant to a breakthrough between Ankara and Yerevan. Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s president, foiled their last attempt to mend fences in 2009, when Erdogan sought to appease him by stipulating that Armenia first resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“The situation has changed tremendously since 2009 . . . Turkish-Armenian relations should be up to the two countries,” said Hikmet Hajiev, Aliyev’s foreign policy adviser. “We’d love to see a more inclusive process. Everyone should be in if you’re talking about long-term security and stability in the region.”

Since last year, Moscow has largely sidelined Ankara in the post-conflict diplomacy, said Richard Giragosian, director of the Regional Studies Center, a Yerevan think-tank. “We have Russian stage management [on] all regional restoration of trade and transport without Turkey at the table. For Turkey, Armenia normalisation is the way to get back a seat.”

Inserting Turkey into a regional peace initiative may help Azerbaijan counterbalance Russia, which maintains a military base in Armenia. “Allowing Armenia-Turkey normalisation and bringing Turkey back into the region is necessary to counter Aliyev’s vulnerability to the Russians,” Giragosian said.

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‘Frenemies’

An enhanced role for Turkey in the region could serve Russia too.

Erdogan and Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, support opposing sides in a series of armed conflicts but have crafted a complex security partnership, unnerving Turkey’s traditional western allies. On Saturday, the Turkish leader said he had ordered the expulsion of the ambassador to the US along with nine European envoys, threatening to send Ankara’s relations with western capitals plummeting to a new low.

Thomas de Waal, a fellow at Carnegie Europe, said the distrust of the west shared by Erdogan and Putin might compel them to co-operate in the Caucasus to keep the US and Europe on the margins. “They are frenemies that disagree on so many issues but they also talk the same language and have the same Great Power conception that they should sort things out between themselves,” he added.

Russia may also be persuaded by the opportunity to revive a Soviet-era direct physical link with Turkey on the railway it fully owns in Armenia, part of its push for greater control of commercial links in the region.

For its part, Baku hopes the promise of trade with its neighbours will lure Armenia to open an overland corridor for Azerbaijan to reach its exclave of Nakhchivan and Turkey. “It’s for Armenians’ own benefit to transform from a landlocked country to a transit country,” Hajiev said.

Armenia appears unswayed by economic enticements, arguing a peace agreement must come first. “The problem . . . between Armenia and Azerbaijan is not economic. It is the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” Grigoryan said.

While Pashinyan and Aliyev say they want a peace process, they remain as divided as ever over the fate of the rest of Nagorno-Karabakh that remains in ethnic Armenian hands. Yerevan wants them to retain self-determination while Baku rejects any autonomy for the region.

Both sides continue to reinforce positions along the new front line, and skirmishes flare despite the presence of 2,000 Russian peacekeepers.

‘Imagine when this city rises from the ashes’

Even if Turkey is not at the negotiating table, its companies are snapping up contracts in reconstruction projects that could total $15bn over the next decade.

Aliyev pledged that companies from countries that were “friendly” during the war would benefit, and Erdogan proved his closest ally. This week he is due to accompany Aliyev at the inauguration of an airport that Turkish companies helped build.

Azerbaijan is rebuilding Shusha, the nearby former manufacturing centre of Agdam and other areas destroyed by three decades of hostility, to pave the way for the return of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis to areas they fled a generation ago. Last year’s war displaced 35,000 Armenians.

Emin Huseynov, the Azerbaijani official overseeing plans for an ultra-modern city to replace the ghost town of Agdam, believes prosperity will ultimately deliver peace. “Those are the villages where Armenians live in poverty,”

Huseynov said, pointing to a cluster of houses visible across the Russian-patrolled ceasefire line. “Imagine when this city rises from the ashes. They will see it and come knocking for jobs and to be friends. It’s the best politics. You don’t even have to fight.”

  

Statue of "the best Armenian athlete of the 20th century" Albert Azaryan to be erected in Yerevan

Arpi Talalian
Panorama, Armenia
Oct 26 2021


The council of elders of Yerevan, the self-government body of the capital city, approved on Tuesday a decision to erect a monument to the legendary Armenian gymnast Albert Azaryan. The statue will be put near the Youth's School of Gymnastics of Olympic Reserve after Albert Azaryan in downtown Yerevan. The relevant proposal had been submitted by National Olympic Committee of Armenia. 

To note, Albert Azaryan is the 1956 and 1960 Olympic Champion on the still rings. Azaryan is the first gymnast to become an Olympic Champion in Rings twice. During the gymnastics competitions held in Leningrad in 1953, Albert Azaryan carried out his most famous trick on the rings called “Azarian Cross.” The exercise could almost lead him to be disqualified, however later the same tick paved him a way to the USSR team. 

Throughout his career, Azaryan has won 42 gold, 42 silver and 10 bronze medals and became USSR champion for 11 times. Azaryan was voted the top Armenian athlete of the 20th century by journalists from the Armenian Federation of Sport Journalists. 

Art of Armenian writing added to UNESCO’s cultural heritage list

Arpi Talalian
Panorama, Armenia
Oct 27 2021

CULTURE 13:23 27/10/2021 ARMENIA

The art of Armenian writing and its cultural expressions have been added to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the Armenian National Commission for UNESCO reported.

“'To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding’: This translation from the Proverbs of Solomon was the 1st sentence written in the Armenian alphabet.

“The art of Armenian writing has been inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity,” it said.

Armenia has been a member of UNESCO since 1992. For the first time it has submitted its candidacy to the UNESCO Executive Board for 2021-2025.

Azerbaijan prepares for Karabakh resettlement in “smart villages”

Arpi Talalian
EurasiaNet.org
Oct 20 2021
Heydar Isayev Oct 20, 2021
President Ilham Aliyev and his wife Mehriban Aliyeva inspect plans for a smart village in Fuzuli district this week. (photos: president.az)

As Azerbaijan prepares to resettle hundreds of thousands of its citizens in the territory it retook during last year’s war, it has embraced a new development concept: “smart villages.”

The idea has become popular around the world; it envisages small communities using the latest technologies like digital connectivity, automation, and renewable energy to maximize economic development. 

The Azerbaijani government tentatively explored the idea before the war: a State Program of Socio-Economic Development of Regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan 2019-2023 called for two pilot “smart villages” to be created. 

But the idea has gained momentum following last year’s war, in which Azerbaijan retook more than 8,000 square kilometers of territory in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, about 75 percent of the land it had lost to Armenian forces in the first war in the 1990s. More than 600,000 Azerbaijanis were displaced in that war; many of those now hope to return.

In February, President Ilham Aliyev said that the first smart village project would be implemented in Uchunju Agali, in the Zangilan district. In a September interview with Turkish media, Aliyev said that the first displaced people would return to a pilot smart village in Zangilan “by the end of this year or early next year,” though he didn’t name the village. On October 17, he formally laid the foundation for another smart village in the Fuzuli region.

The Ministry of Agriculture has explained that the smart villages will introduce agriculture based on “modern technologies and joint management and control,” but that the concept goes beyond simply farming methods. “The concept consists of ‘smart’ street lighting, cold- and heat-resistant homes, management of household waste, the installation of hydro and solar power stations and biogas energy,” the ministry told the Turan news agency.

The government is spending $1.3 billion this year alone on building “smart cities and villages,” Aliyev told a September meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. 

Azerbaijani state-affiliated media have covered the smart village concept extensively, repeating government talking points that the use of automation will reduce the need for human labor.

But analysts are divided on whether the government's enthusiasm for "smart villages" is warranted. 

Gubad Ibadoglu, an economist and opposition politician, said that the government could have implemented projects like "transparent villages" or "accountable municipalities" instead of smart villages. 

"But in this case, corrupt officials and businessmen will take control of the allocated money, and the work they do will only be an imitation," Ibadoglu told local outlet Toplum TV, adding: "Then it will turn out that there are no smart people or smart government to manage the ‘smart villages.’”

The Aliyevs watch plans in Fuzuli this week.

Critical attention also has fallen on another of the government’s plans for redeveloping rural Karabakh: the expansion of the country’s “agropark” system.

Agroparks are large-scale, government-backed agribusiness enterprises that started operating in Azerbaijan in 2012. A total of 49 agroparks have already been established in Azerbaijan, and a recent journalistic investigation by the independent news agency Turan identified the owners of 38 of them, who were primarily businesspeople connected to the government. The largest single operator of agroparks was Pasha Holding, owned by Aliyev’s two daughters, which owns nine agroparks around Azerbaijan. 

Agroparks in Azerbaijan are "sustainable businesses because the government creates all the infrastructure necessary and provides subsidies for them to operate," Ibadoglu told Eurasianet. 

Turan found that two of the agroparks were in Karabakh, in Sugovushan and Hakari. The outlet did not identify who the owners were.

The government signaled its interest in expanding the agroparks into Karabakh shortly after the end of last year’s war. In March, the Economy Ministry told state-affiliated cable Space TV that research is “being carried out in the liberated territories regarding the creation of agroparks and proposals are being prepared.” 

While there have been no further details announced, during a visit this month by Aliyev to the Jabrayil region, the president was briefed on a new 50-hectare agropark there.

Ibadoglu said that the agroparks in the newly retaken territories likely will be controlled by powerful people, as well. "Those with a high degree of loyalty to the ruling family are prioritized, and Karabakh won't be an exception," he said. 

Other analysts, though, emphasize the potential efficiency of the government’s development model. The “smart village” system will allow all government services in Karabakh to be organized in one centralized system, said Elmir Safarli, another economist. "And this in turn will pave the way for the best tech projects in the region to be applied and facilitate the flow of investments into Karabakh in the future," Safarli said. 

While Azerbaijan faces challenges implementing the smart village (and the related “smart city” concept), Karabakh is an ideal place to experiment, wrote urbanist Anar Valiyev in an article for the Baku Research Institute. “The whole territory is devastated, and there is no infrastructure now; therefore, it should be built from scratch, and certain types of innovations should be implemented,” he wrote. “While doing this, the needs and demands of the population should be the primary consideration.”

The attitude of would-be returnees – many of whom fondly recall their previous, non-“smart” form of small-scale agriculture – is another variable. 

After the war, the government announced that it was conducting a major survey among displaced people to find how many are interested in returning to the region and what they would like to do there; results of the survey have not yet been made public. 

But Bakhtiyar Aslanov, a researcher and national coordinator for Germany’s Berghof Foundation, and himself a displaced person from the first war, said attitudes on the “smart village” concept appear to be changing. 

"In the beginning, people were uncertain about the idea, partly because the concept is new to Azerbaijani society, but also because most were imagining their homes just like they left them 30 years ago," Aslanov told Eurasianet. 

Many of the displaced are concerned that the government is planning to allot them smaller plots of land than the ones that they had fled a quarter century ago, a fear that is fed by news about the “smart village” system, Aslanov said.

"To resolve that, government agencies responsible for the planning of ‘smart villages’ need to provide the public with detailed, in-depth information and welcome public discussion" about the issue, he said.

 

Heydar Isayev is a journalist from Baku.

Armenian Ambassador presents credentials to President of Turkmenistan

Arpi Talalian

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 16:20, 8 October, 2021

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s Ambassador to Turkmenistan Ruben Kharazyan presented his credentials to President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, the foreign ministry of Armenia reports.

The Turkmen President congratulated the Ambassador on assuming office and expressed hope that his activity will contribute to further strengthening the bilateral relations and effective partnership between Armenia and Turkmenistan.

The Ambassador conveyed to the Turkmen President the greetings of Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Armen Sarkissian and assured that he will make all efforts to further develop and expand the Armenian-Turkmen cooperation.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Four Children: New Armenian Genocide play premiers in Kansas

Arpi Talalian
Public Radio of Armenia
Oct 8 2021
October 8, 2021, 10:37

 1 minute read

Despite the challenges of Covid-19, Kansas City Actors Theater presented its play, Four Children, Massis Post reports.

Based around eye-witness accounts of four genocide survivors, including Vahram Dadrian’s “To the Desert: Pages from My Diary,” this play focuses on the horrors of genocide and its enduring impact on survivors and their descendants.

Vahram Dadrian was exiled with the rest of his family from Chorum to Jersh (Jordan) in 1915. An aspiring writer, he kept notes of his experiences and wrote them out into a full diary after WWI. His account gives voice to his own experiences, as well as those of others he saw around him. These included the emaciated remnants of deportation convoys and other inmates of death camps.

“This is a powerful play that keeps the Armenian experience in focus in the United States,” said Anoush Melkonian of the Gomidas Institute. “We thank Kansas City Actors Theater for this timely and bold production.”

Lithuanian president calls on Armenian PM to step up implementation of democratic reforms

Arpi Talalian
The Baltic Times
Oct 5 2021
  •  2021-10-04

    •  

  •  BNS/TBT Staff

VILNIUS – Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on Monday called on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to step up implementation of democratic reforms.

The Lithuanian leader pointed out during a bilateral meeting that, during the elections, the democratic government led by Pashinyan had received a strong mandate from Armenian people for the implementation of reforms.

According to Nauseda, the European Union’s involvement in strengthening institutions and deeper economic ties with Armenia was an aspiration.

He also stressed that Lithuania supported Armenia on the challenging path of democratic reforms and offered Lithuania’s assistance in implementing reforms in the law and order, fight against corruption and other areas, the presidential office said in a press release.

“The upcoming Eastern Partnership summit, that will draw cooperation guidelines between this region and the EU, is important to Lithuania. We are ready to share our experience and send experts to assist Armenia in making firm steps along the path of democracy,” the press release quoted Nauseda as saying.

He also noted that, thirty years ago, Lithuania was the first country to recognize Armenia’s independence and that this year was special for Armenia and Lithuania as it marked the 30th anniversary of the established diplomatic relations.

America Can Still Broker an Elusive Armenian-Azerbaijani Peace

Arpi Talalian
The National Interest
Sept 27 2021

One year after the war between Armenian and Azerbaijan, there is no peace and the potential for renewed conflict remains.

by Robert F. Cekuta

The ceasefire Russian president Vladimir Putin brokered between the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders in November 2020 may have stopped full-blown fighting between the two European states, but it has not stopped their militaries from crossing the border into each other’s territory. Furthermore, the agreement has not prevented their forces from firing on each other, nor has it alleviated any of the hatreds that grew during the decades Armenian-backed forces occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and neighboring chunks of Azerbaijani territory. Azerbaijanis point to the nearly complete destruction and depopulation of Agdam and other towns and cities in the areas Armenians occupied for decades; Armenia recently filed a complaint with the International Court of Justice charging Baku with government-sponsored programs “directed at individuals of Armenian ethnic or national origin” in violation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

The ceasefire agreement provided the basis to put Russia’s troops onto Azerbaijani territory and to increase Russia’s presence in Armenia. Yet continued hostilities and the lack of progress towards a lasting resolution also serve Russian interests. It is no secret that Russia uses, and even stimulates, conflicts within and between countries on its periphery to try to re-assert control over the states of the old Soviet Union, to discredit the United States, to degrade the rules-based international order, and to enhance its global status. As in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and elsewhere, Russia has used—and continues to use—the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia for its own ends.

Moreover, despite what U.S. leaders say about curbing Russian, Chinese, and Iranian ambitions, officials, academics, and members of the public in the region repeatedly state that the United States is needed, but sadly absent. Many in the region feel that they have no choice but to deal with Moscow.

This situation does not have to persist.

The United States has both the proven experience and capability to engage and help Armenia and Azerbaijan move towards peace, to help them improve their security and prosperity, and to show the strength and benefits of the international rules-based system Americans long fought to build and uphold.

There are a number of specific steps the United States can easily take. One is to engage in more visible diplomacy. While in-person visits by top-level U.S. officials would be ideal, virtual interactions and phone calls can yield excellent results, and given the realities of the Covid-19 pandemic, these forms of communication have become a widely accepted diplomatic norm. Such things seem mundane to an American audience, but phone conversations, as well as other engagements, between national leaders and senior Washington or Moscow officials are national news in many countries. In addition, more energetic U.S. public diplomacy flagging such high-level conversations would get the American message out to a wider audience. Furthermore, given the recent U.S. military pullout from Afghanistan, frequent, visible, and high-level contacts will re-assure the broader region as well.

Second, the United States should use its influence with both Baku and Yerevan to help build a climate in each country in which the publics will support actions their leaders agree to take for peace, prosperity, and lasting security. Decades of conflict, of inflammatory statements, and of outright hatred and fear of the other side mean sizable numbers of Armenians and Azerbaijanis do not know, let alone trust, each other. This limits both the Armenian and Azerbaijani governments’ abilities to move towards a peace agreement and eventual reconciliation. The United States should work with Armenia and Azerbaijan to establish people-to-people contacts to examine specific issues and to develop possible approaches to address them. As the experience in Northern Ireland and other conflicts shows, such Track II programs can pay important benefits.

Third, the United States should work with both Armenia and Azerbaijan to open new transportation and communication action links across the two countries and the South Caucasus. Such efforts will engender business opportunities, boost economic growth, and further the well-being of Armenians and Azerbaijanis. These transportation and communication links could be especially important for Armenia, which has isolated itself from Turkey as well as Azerbaijan due to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. And these projects will also stimulate the broader Caucasus and Central Asia, serving as an answer to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Importantly, none of these actions by the United States would entail sizeable outlays of resources. They just require a bit of initiative and commitment.

And the payoffs will be significant. Actions the United States took this past spring support this point. Following a phone call by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, a visit by the then acting head of the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs and the U.S. Minsk Group co-chair helped broker an agreement for Azerbaijan to release a group of Armenian prisoners of war and for Armenia to provide Azerbaijan with maps showing where landmines were placed in the territory Armenia had occupied before Azerbaijan won it back in last year’s war. The action won appreciation by both Armenians and Azerbaijanis and was something Russia had been unable—or unwilling—to do.

As a top official from the region said recently, “If the United States wants to push back on the Russians and trim their sails, then it should help make peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.” What could be more in the American interest than that?

Robert F. Cekuta is a member of the advisory board of the Caspian Policy Center, an independent, nonprofit research think tank based in Washington DC. He was formerly U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan from 2015 to 2018, and previously principal deputy U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources, as well as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy, Sanctions, and Commodities.

Armenian community celebrates 30th anniversary of independence

Arpi Talalian
The Record
Sept 28 2021



WATERVLIET, N.Y. — Members of the city’s Armenian community recently gathered with city officials in front of City Hall to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Armenia’s independence. The celebration was marked with songs, speeches, and a flag-raising ceremony.

On Sept. 21, 1991, the supreme council of the socialist republic of Armenia declared independence from the collapsing Soviet Union. The declaration allowed for the re-establishment of diplomatic ties between Armenia and the US, which had been disrupted due to military and political conflicts in Europe. The country’s path to freedom has not been an easy one, and even today citizens are troubled by ongoing struggles.

“Armenia continues to have significant challenges to its freedom and independence, including an illegal war last September in Artzakh,” remarked Dr. Ara Kayayan. “We call upon the US Congress to continue to support and uphold Armenia’s hard-fought independence. We are proud of the accomplishments of the 30-year-young Armenian Republic.”

The independence celebration was attended by Watervliet Mayor Charles Patricelli and members of the city council, who stood beside the members of the Armenian community in support and solidarity.

“I have a great deal of admiration for their pride and their welcoming community,” said Patricelli. “They’re our residents and friends. Any time we can remember their history, it’s a plus for us and for them. It’s a way to keep their history alive.”

“It’s so good to see us standing in solidarity,” said Professor Philip DiNovo, a strong supporter of the Armenian community. “Every free-loving people should want to support democracy and freedom. We should stand in solidarity to support that freedom around the world. I hope that all people will enjoy the freedoms that we have someday.”

“It’s difficult to enjoy being an Armenian in 2021,” said Father Stepanos Doudoukjian, who offered a prayer of hope and guidance. “While we enjoy freedom here in America, back in Armenia our people continue to be persecuted.”

During the brief ceremony, the American national anthem was sung and then the American flag was lowered from the pole in front of City Hall. The Armenian flag was raised in its place and the Armenian national anthem was sung. Then followed some short speeches, including a brief history of Armenia, and the singing of “God Bless America.” The singing was led by local personality Rafi Topalian, known to many as Rafi the Singing Jeweler, who is of Armenian descent and very active in his community. Patricelli has stated that the flag will stay up for the week.

“Today is a celebration of democracy,” Topalian commented. “We are commemorating 30 years of freedom. We hope and pray for our country. We celebrate our Armenian roots and pray for them. We’ve endured, and we will continue to endure. God willing, we’re going to continue to thrive.”

The Armenian community of St. Peter Armenian Apostolic Church invites the public to join them for their annual Festival this weekend, at 101 Spring Ave. Hours are Saturday 12-8 and Sunday 12-5.

lebrates-30th-anniversary-of-independence/

Armenpress: Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 30-09-21

Arpi Talalian

Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 30-09-21

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 17:37,

YEREVAN, 30 SEPTEMBER, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 30 September, USD exchange rate up by 0.71 drams to 484.20 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 2.56 drams to 561.43 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.01 drams to 6.66 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 2.58 drams to 651.39 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 192.82 drams to 27042.89 drams. Silver price down by 2.43 drams to 347.54 drams. Platinum price down by 245.37 drams to 15053.67 drams.