Author: Arpi Talalian

Today in Yerevan, the EU Ambassador to Armenia Piotr Świtalski announced € 1.5 million Grant Scheme aiming at reinforcing civil society in Armenia and to provide Civil Society Organisations with alternative sources of financing. At the same time the EU is looking for innovative projects that will make Armenia healthier, safer, cleaner and more sustainable.

EU Ambassador noted: “We believe that the engagement of citizens is key in achieving social and behavioural changes related to our shared values. For this reason, the EU will also support, under this call, information campaigns run by Civil Society Organisation that aim at increasing public accountability while increasing the engagement of citizens”.

The new grant scheme “Reinforcing Civil Society in Armenia”, with a budget of € 1.5 million, pursues to (1) Increase monitoring capacity of civil society, (2) Increase public accountability through public awareness campaigns aiming at behavioural changes in topics such as nutrition, road safety, energy saving, environment, recycling, etc.  and (3) Reinforce civil society through financial diversification and sustainability such fundraising, crowdfunding campaign and promotion of social enterprises.

The call for proposals has objectives to finance a number of Civil Society Organisations aimed at increasing the role of civil society, promoting cooperation between EU and Armenia, as well as to ensure reforms monitoring and public accountability growth in the areas that include EU-Armenia agreements.

The EU is looking for innovative projects to make Armenia healthier, safer, cleaner and more sustainable. The global objective of this call for proposals is to finance a number of civil society initiatives aimed at enhancing the role of civil society in promoting EU-Armenia cooperation and monitoring reforms and increasing public accountability in areas covered by the EU-Armenia agreements. The call for proposal will complement the ongoing capacity building and re-granting programmes: (i) STRONG Civil Society Organisations for Stronger Armenia, (ii) Commitment to Constructive Dialogue, (iii) CSO 2.0 and (iv) Community development through social entrepreneurship.

This call will also complement the ongoing direct support to Civil Society Organization (CSO) via 30 grants contracts.

Sub-granting, the provision of financial support to third parties, will be a core characteristic of this call.

The overall amount made available under this call for proposals is of EUR 1 500 000 in the form of grants between EUR 150 000 and EUR 400 000.

On a visit to Artsakh, Arsine Khanjian, Serj Tankian, Atom Egoyan, Eric Nazarian and made a statement, urging the culture workers of the world to visit Artsakh and support the people of Artsakh who continue to write, compose, play and paint even when they are isolated from the world because of the war, reports.

“On these days a year ago, the Artsakh contact line again flared up when the Azerbaijani armed forces —in a sudden offensive—fired not only the frontline positions but also peaceful residents, schools and unarmed residents. The Artsakh self-defense forces calmed this aggression for the twentieth time, the only result being new human and material losses on both sides. Since 1988 or the day when Artsakh or Nagorno-Karabakh people decided to create their own fate and exercise their right to free self-determination, having overcome the bitter spirit of the Soviet Union and international laws, Azerbaijan has been opposing this by displacements, attacks and large-scale military actions. However, despite all this the Artsakh people have been able to defend its ancestral lands, organize an independence referendum and establish a state.

On this historical land parcel, where there are more news on ceasefire violations, victims and wounded than any other information, thousands of children are deprived of their fair right to create, since the country remains blocked, the ceasefire being fragile. Thousands of gifted people are obliged to take weapons instead of a pen and brush and go to the front to defend their homes and homeland.  Because of the Azerbaijani attacks and these forced attacks, these youths are deprived of the right to create and discover their talents. Numerous pupils living in border settlements listen to the sounds of exploding bombs and firing instead of songs and music.

But despite this, there are lots of artists, who continue to write, create, play music and paint. They are in blockade because of the war, unfortunately having very little opportunity to communicate with their colleagues worldwide. The blockade and isolations reduce the mutual visits, communication and exchange of experience. The opportunities of opening themselves to the world and knowing each other are limited for these creative talents.”

President Serzh Sargsyan has left for the Republic of Malta to participate in the meetings and the Summit of the European People’s Party (EPP).

Heads of state and government of the EU and Eastern Partnership member states, whose parties are also members of the EPP, are invited to take part in the Summit.

Armenia beat Kazakhstan 2-0 in a 2018 World Cup qualifier held at Hanrapetakan Stadium in Yerevan.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored the opener on the 73rd minute, Aras Ozbiliz made it 2-0 two minutes later.

Kazakhstan was left with 10 men after Sergey Maliy was sent off for a foul against Mkhitaryan on the 65th minute.

Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on the conflict dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference made the following statement:

“At the request of the sides, a humanitarian operation to retrieve the remains of Azerbaijani servicemen from the heavily mined no man’s land took place on Monday, 27 February with my staff fully mobilized in support of this operation.

The aim of our presence was to ensure the strict observance of the ceasefire by the sides through security guarantees, and to guarantee that the operation was carried out as agreed between the sides.

I would like to stress that my Office was consistently supported by local commanders in the field as well as representatives of the military authorities.

With their support, and with the International Committee of the Red Cross present, the operation was concluded successfully in the afternoon.”

Photo: Sputnik/Sergey Pyatakov

 

The chief of the Georgian Orthodox Church Patriarchate’s Property Management Service, priest Georgy Mamaladze has been detained on charges of plotting the murder of a church hierarch, Georgian Chief Prosecutor Irakly Shotadze said Monday, reports.

The Rustavi 2 TV company reported Sunday about a possible attempt to poison Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II. According to the report, Mamaladze was detained at Tbilisi airport on Friday night, later he was arrested.

“Georgy Mamaladze had a systematic relationship with the Catholicos-Patriarch and his entourage. The investigation established that Mamaladze had been preparing the murder of a person and that was why he had bought from an unknown person the poisonous substance cyanide,” Shotadze told reporters.

The chief prosecutor added that the detained official of the Georgian patriarchate had planned to take the poisonous substance to Germany, where Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II is undergoing treatment.

The Parliament of Denmark voted 89 to 9 with 11 abstention today to adopt an Armenian Genocide resolution, according to the website of the Danish Parliament.

On January 19 the Parliament had 2.5 hours of discussion on the document brought to the agenda by Nick Hækkerup (S) , Søren Espersen (DF) , Michael Aastrup Jensen (V) , Henrik Dahl (LA) , Martin Lidegaard (RV) , Naser Khader (KF).

The document reads, in part: “The Parliament confirms its decision no. V 54 of 19 May 2015 on the tragic and bloody events that took place in eastern Anatolia in the period 1915-1923. The Danish Parliament finds that the best path to reconciliation will be an open dialogue about the story on the basis of a free and uncensored history research, including the release of all official documents from the period. The Parliament regrets that Turkish law prohibits citizens and media to use the term “genocide” about the events, and considers this to be an unreasonable restriction of both academic freedom as freedom of expression relates to the use of this term. Parliament maintains its parliamentary tradition not to issue judgments about historical events.”

 – New South Wales Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian confirms she will stand for the state’s top job, as outgoing Premier Mike Baird says: “I haven’t backed anyone”.

Mike Baird announced his resignation, citing the need to support his family.

A partyroom meeting is planned for Monday and a leadership spill is expected to happen on Tuesday, but it is unlikely there will be a ballot, as the ABC has been told the leadership positions will be decided by the partyroom earlier.

On ABC News, Mr Baird said he had not backed anyone.

“Gladys Berejiklian would be outstanding, no doubt about it,” he said.

“There is an incredible, talented group of ministers, many have huge potential both short-term and long-term.”

In a statement confirming she would run for the top job, Ms Berejiklian said she was “deeply saddened” by Mr Baird’s decision to retire.

“Mike has been an inspiring leader and a man of enormous integrity who has left an outstanding and indelible mark on the state of NSW,” she said.

“Today is Mike’s day — but I would like to make it clear that I will be standing for the leadership.”

It is likely that Dominic Perrottet will be the deputy leader of the NSW Liberal Party.

The ABC understands Transport Minister Andrew Constance is also considering running.

While it was expected that Planning Minister Rob Stokes would also run for the leadership, he has since confirmed he will bow out of the race.

These are the likely frontrunners who may contest the leadership positions:

Treasurer and the Deputy Leader of the NSW Liberal Party, Ms Berejiklian is considered the frontrunner to be the next Premier.

Ms Berejiklian is part of the Liberal Party’s moderate faction and was elected unopposed as Mr Baird’s Liberal deputy in April 2014.

The 46-year-old former Commonwealth Bank executive was elected the Member for Willoughby, on Sydney’s lower north shore, in 2003.

She was appointed transport minister after Barry O’Farrell led the Coalition to a landslide win in 2011, a position she held until Mike Baird appointed her Treasurer after the 2015 election.

She is NSW’s first female Treasurer.

In October 2016, Ms Berejiklian declared the state debt free with a final surplus for the 2015-16 financial year of $4.7 billion.

Labor attributed the debt-free status to the sale of infrastructure assets including the partial sale of Ausgrid, but the Government pointed to investment in other projects such as Sydney’s WestConnex and the light rail.

Ms Berejiklian is the daughter of Armenian migrants and a granddaughter of victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide.

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Karen Nazaryan and MEP Frank Engel discussed the Armenia-EU relations at a meeting in Yerevan on January 9.

During the meeting reference was made to the negotiations on a new framework agreement, the ongoing dialogue and other issues. The Armenian Deputy FM briefed the guest on the current status of Armenia-EU relations and the perspectives of their development.

The parties stressed the importance of permanent support for their implementation on the legislative and executive levels.

In the context of elimination of consequences of Azerbaijan’s April aggression against Artsakh and the efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to thfurer the negotiation process, the interlocutors attached importance to raising awareness in the European Parliament and among the European community, at large.

The parties exchanged views on the latest regional and international developments.

On December 28 the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia will be heading on tour to China, where the musicians will celebrate the New Year.

The Youth Orchestra received an invitation from the Beijing Culture and Entertainment Corporation. The orchestra will have two concerts on December 31 and on January 2 in Haikou (China).

The Armenian musicians will present arias from well-known Italian operas (Verdi, Puccini), as well as pieces by Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Bizet and Chinese composers.