UNFPA Executive Director highly appreciates cooperation with Armenian government
11:37,
YEREVAN, MARCH 14, ARMENPRESS. Armenian minister of labor and social affairs Zaruhi Batoyan met with Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Natalia Kanem, the minister said on Facebook, reports Armenpress.
The minister said Dr. Kanem highly appreciated the cooperation with the Armenian government at three main directions (family planning, gender-based violence and reproductive health).
“I thanked the Fund for assisting in gender equality, fighting domestic violence and human rights protection, in this context recalling the adoption of the law on prevention of domestic violence and the upcoming processes aimed at improving it”, Zaruhi Batoyan said.
At the end of the meeting the UNFPA Executive Director invited the Armenian minister to attend the conference to be held in Nairobi, where the Fund will celebrate its 50th anniversary and the 25th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) which was held in Cairo in 1994.
Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
Armenian FM, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office highlight installation of mechanisms preventing incidents in conflict zone
21:31,
YEREVAN, MARCH 13, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan met with OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic Miroslav Lajčák on March 13.
As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia, Minister Mnatsakanyan welcomes the visit of Miroslav Lajčák to Armenia, assessing it important particularly under the conditions that due to the abuse of the principle of consensus in the organization, the representation of the OSCE in South Caucasus has been minimized.
Minister Mnatsakanyan highly assessed the effective cooperation in the sidelines of the OSCE in the process of moving forward the reform agenda of Armenia.
The sides mutually underlined the importance of taking measure aimed at raising the effectives of the OSCE and withstanding the challenges in the spirit of cooperation.
Referring to Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan reaffirmed the commitment and support of Armenia for the exclusively peaceful settlement of the conflict under the auspices of the Minsk Group Co-chairs’ format. In this context the sides highlighted the application of mechanisms aimed at reduction of risks and prevention of incidents, as well as implementation of confidence-building measures.
The Armenian and Slovak FMs refereed to a number of issues referring to bilateral and multilateral cooperation between the two countries, exchanged views on further expanding trade and economic relations, as well as political dialogue. In this context, the Armenian FM welcomed the decision of Slovakia to open and embassy in Armenia. The sides emphasized that it will give a new impetus the expansion of bilateral agenda.
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
LA CRESCENTA, Calif.—Western Prelate Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian on Saturday welcomed the chairman of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Bureau, Hagop Der Khachadourian, who was visiting the Los Angeles area to deliver the keynote address at the ARF Day Celebration, which took placfe on Sunday.
Der Khachadourian was accompanied by ARF Bureau member Dr. Viken Yacoubian and ARF Western Region Central Committee Political Chair Avedik Izmirlian. Joining the Prelate were Vicar General Bishop Torkom Donoyan, clergy members, Catholicosate Central Executive member Gaidzag Zetlian, Prelacy Executive Council Chair Garo Eshgian and other members of the board.
Following an exchange well wishes on the election of the new Bureau and Der Khachadourian as its Chairman, the discussion centered on the current affairs in Armenia, Artsakh, and the Diaspora and the vision for the future.
Der Khatchadourian expressed appreciation for the visit and productive dialogue, as well as commended the Prelacy’s and Church’s role in our collective life in which the ARF has been and remains a collaborator.
YEREVAN. – Sending a mission to Syria is a humanitarian action, and it’s legitimate, Minister of Defense Davit Tonoyan said on the air of Public Television of Armenia.
“I would not like to repeat those arguments that we have given; they were relating to the legitimacy, the right time to do such action within international relations,” Tonoyan stated. “One country reacts [to such action] positively, another country—not positively, or states that it doesn’t support our actions.
“Of course, it’s a matter of time, everything will be settled; our action [in Syria] is solely humanitarian.”
As reported earlier, the US embassy in Armenia had provided the US Department of State’s position on Armenia sending a team of specialists to Syria.
“We recognize the desire of other nations to respond to the humanitarian situation in Syria, and we share the concerns about protecting religious minorities in the Middle East,” the State Department had noted, in particular. “However, we do not support any engagement with Syrian military forces, whether that engagement is to provide assistance to civilians or is military in nature.”
An 83-member team—comprising deminers, doctors, and their security professionals—traveled from Armenia to Aleppo, Syria on February 8, to provide humanitarian and professional assistance to the Syrian people.
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
Relations between the U.S. and Armenia have sharply become colder. Washington cancelled the planned visit of Zohrab Mnatsakanyan to the United States, towards which the Armenian side had been working for a long time.
Recently, National Security Advisor to President John Bolton and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a telephone conversation. During the conversation, Bolton asked if the decision to send a mission to Syria was final and inevitable, and received a positive response.
Although the Armenian Foreign Ministry is trying to alleviate the situation and in particular to receive an invitation from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet with Mnatsakanyan, but still without result.
It is not excluded that Armenia will seek the help of lobbyists for the organization of this visit. The Armenian ambassador in Washington is not in a very good position as well.
The United States has repeatedly warned Yerevan against the need to stay away from Russian force missions. Armenia's former President Serzh Sargsyan perceived these warnings quite realistically and therefore did not succumb to the pressure of Moscow, which demanded that Armenia join its mission in Syria.
Nikol Pashinyan, because of inexperience and arrogance, sent to Syria a group of 83 so-called 'specialists'. After this decision, the Russian media restored its negative attacks against Azerbaijan.
However, this is nothing more than a pyrrhic victory.
It was clear from the statement of the State Department that the United States was very unhappy with the dispatch by Yerevan of Armenian troops to Syrian Aleppo. Since the summer of 2018, the American side made it clear at different levels to the Armenian side that its appearance in Syria as part of the Russian mission is unacceptable.
Even the fact that Pashinyan’s meeting with Donald Trump, which had been prepared for several months, did not take place just in the light of these discussions, the Armenian PM tried to ignore, counting on his “revolutionary” charm.
A group of Armenian specialists in humanitarian demining, medical personnel and ensuring the safety of the specialists themselves, arrived in the Syrian city of Aleppo to provide humanitarian specialized assistance to the Syrian people on February 8.
Sending humanitarian contingent to Syria was announced in September 2018. PM Pashinyan called the humanitarian operation in Syria an Armenian-Russian humanitarian project unprecedented in scale.
The U.S. Embassy in Armenia issued a statement in which the U.S. State Department expressed its position on the Armenian humanitarian mission in Syria on February 13. Washington did not support any interaction with the Syrian Armed Forces, regardless of whether it is about providing assistance to civilians or is of a military nature.
The Foreign Ministry of Armenia responded to the statement of the State Department, stating that after a relative truce and establishment of security, Armenia intends to continue its contribution to the humanitarian mission.
YEREVAN, February 15. /ARKA/. Armenia has a huge potential for the export of sheep, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a government meeting on Friday. According to him, the government has been discussing this issue with the private sector since last year.
"There is a huge demand for Armenian lamb and mutton outside the country, but our sheep breeders are unable to meet it and have to import mutton from third countries in order to re-export it," said Pashinyan.
According to Aram Gharibyan, an advisor to Prime Minister, Iran is ready to import 50,000 sheep a month from Armenia and pay 2,800-2,900 drams per kilogram of lamb meat.
He said there are about 700,000 sheep in Armenia, which implies 500 thousand potential lambs. ‘Considering the expansion of production by some farmers, I think it will be possible to ensure domestic production for several years," said Gharibyan.
He said increased lending to sheep breeders at profitable terms will encourage farmers to breed more sheep.–0–
ArmInfo.Armenian Finance Minister Atom Janjughazyan is surprised at how stubbornly many media continue to be interested in the size of the bonuses he received. He stated this on February 7 in the National Assembly of Armenia, where to a closed meeting the "My Step' parliamentary faction invited him.
Immediately upon arrival, the journalists asked Atom Janjughazyan about the purpose of the invitation. "The meeting is closed," he said. Earlier, the parliamentary majority invited the head of the State Revenue Committee Davit Ananyan, as it turned out, for clarification about the sensational awards. According to the media, the head of the Ministry of Finance will also discuss the proposed changes in the Tax Code.
"It surprises me that the media continue to be interested in the size of the premiums I received," Janjughazyan told journalists. According to him, his position over the past 20 years, the imperative procedure establishes a certain degree of publicity, including in terms of disclosure of income. Again, without going into details, the head of the Ministry of Finance said that, compared to 2017, his salary increased by 10%. "I think that his responsibility in 2018 also increased by at least 10%," he said.
When asked by a journalist that the amount of premiums, according to official information, amounted to more than half a million dollars and "is this not much for the Ministry of Finance?", Atom Janjughazyan first called for dramas in the Republic of Armenia, and further noted that it was not enough for him to judge this, or many. "I urge you to be guided by the law. The premiums paid were within the law, and their amount is not half a million dollars, but much more – 10% of the entire salary fund (for civil servants) plus 30% within the framework of the stipulated bonus fund," the minister explained.
Turkey on Feb. 6 strongly condemned French President Emmanuel Macron’s declaration of April 24 as a national day to mark the 1915 mass killing of Armenians.
“Allegations of a so-called Armenian genocide are political lies lacking any legal basis, contrary to historical facts. They are null and void for Turkey,” Turkish presidential spokesman İbrahim Kalın said in a statement.
“Those who ignore Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s call in 2005 to establish a joint historical commission to shed light on historical realities are trying to manipulate historical events,” Kalın added.
He also said that Macron, cornered by political woes and months of protests, is trying to rescue himself by using historical events as political fodder.
Macron on Feb. 5 declared April 24 as “the date France will commemorate the ArmenianGenocide.”
Macron said he informed Erdoğan about the decision beforehand, adding that he wanted to keep an open dialogue with Turkey.
“We have disagreements over the fight against the Islamic State, human rights in Turkeyand on the genocide,” Macron said, using another name for ISIL.
“We also have points of agreement such as the necessity for a political transition in Syria. As such, dialogue with Turkey is indispensable,” Macron said.
France officially recognized the killings as genocide in 2001.
Turkey accepts many Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War One, but says the figures are inaccurate and denies the killings were systematically orchestrated. It rejects to use the term “genocide” and says many Muslim Turks were also killed at that time.
But Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their people were killed during World War I as the Ottoman Empire was falling apart, with almost 30 countries to date having recognized the killings as “genocide.”