Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 12-02-19

Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 12-02-19

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17:20,

YEREVAN, 12 FEBUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 12 February, USD exchange rate down by 0.23 drams to 489.62 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 1.68 drams to 552.00 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.01 drams to 7.46 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 2.99 drams to 629.01 drams.

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

Gold price down by 142.74 drams to 20564.89 drams. Silver price down by 1.30 drams to 247.22 drams. Platinum price down by 131.84 drams to 12451.64 drams.

Names of the merged Armenian ministries announced

Panorama, Armenia
Feb 8 2019

The Armenian government will have 12 ministries following the decision to merge three ministries to other government agencies. As Armenpress news agency reports, the names of the 12 ministries are as follows: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Emergency Situations, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Ministry of Nature Protection, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, Ministry of High Technology Industry.

To note, according to this structure, the Ministry of Culture is merged to the Ministry of Education and Sciences as a department, while the functions of the Diaspora Ministry will be passed on an Ambassador-at-large for relations with Diaspora.

The new government structure is set to be submitted to parliament for ratification. 

Music: Viken Arman’s poetic ‘Willow’ EP fuses jazz with club music

MixMag
Feb 8 2019

The Parisian-Armenian Viken Arman's new record is out now

  • Cameron Holbrook
  • 8 February 2019

The "creative traveler from the Caucasus' mountains", Viken Arman, has announced the release of his upcoming 'Willow' EP – set for release via his Denature Records imprint.

A full year after releasing his 'Aragatz' EP, the new record is a five-track journey that borrows from both jazz and electronic music culture to create "powerful musical dialogue" that bridges the two genres and leads Viken on a colorful sonic tour of self-discovery.

Identifying as Parisian and Armenian, musician and producer, Viken draws from a theme of "perception" that emanates throughout the EP and the stunning artwork – created by the Armenian painter Davit Yukhanyan – brings his dazzling, jazz-infused electronica sound into the forefront with an air of mystic exploration that goes beyond dance music.

The project has been divided into six parts. Each track has been given a poetic emotional perspective and piece of original artwork that is linked to show listeners that "the way we see ourselves is not only the way we live our lives but also the way we relate to others."

Listen to Viken Arman's 'Willow' EP below.

Theatre Review: Beast on the Moon review – portrait of a marriage and a massacre

The Guardian(London)
February 4, 2019 Monday 12:05 AM GMT
Beast on the Moon review – portrait of a marriage and a massacre
Finborough, London Richard Kalinoski's deeply touching play is about the fraught relationship between two escapees of the Armenian genocide living in 1920s Milwaukee
 
by Michael Billington
Star Rating: 3 stars of 5

   

 
Drama can tackle big subjects obliquely. That is certainly the case with Richard Kalinoski's play – first seen in America in 1995 and since produced in more than 20 countries – which has only four characters but is haunted by the memory of Turkey's systematic elimination of 1.5 million Armenians. I found its portrait of an immigrant marriage deeply touching, while wishing it told us more about the Armenian genocide of the 1910s and early 1920s.
 
Kalinoski sets the action in 1920s Milwaukee, where Aram, a young Armenian photographer who has miraculously survived the mass killings, meets his 15-year-old bride, Seta, who is a similarly orphaned refugee. Aram behaves like a traditional patriarch but Seta is too spirited and inquisitive to be a submissive consort. The marriage is also shadowed by Seta's inability to bear children. If the relationship is saved, it is through Seta's temporary adoption of a 12-year-old street kid, Vincent, who is in flight from persecution at a Catholic orphanage.
 
You can't fault the play, in Jelena Budimir's production, as a story of a relationship. George Jovanovic as Aram has exactly the right withdrawn testiness and his eyes, as Seta observes, are "a mountain of sadness". Zarima McDermott is highly impressive as Seta, mixing sparkiness and anxiety in just the right proportion. There is a fine moment when she counters Aram's use of Proverbs to justify male dominance with biblical quotations asserting the exact opposite. Hayward B Morse also doubles effectively as a beneficent narrator and the boy who becomes a surrogate son.
 
The play, however, raises nagging questions. It condemns the pursuit of Vincent by a pederastic priest while scarcely raising an eyebrow at Aram's marriage to a 15-year-old girl. It also leaves to the end an explanation of how Aram survived the slaughter, and the reason why his cherished family photo has no faces. The play performs a public service in reminding us of the Armenian slaughter which, to this day, Turkey refuses to call a genocide. In focusing so fixedly on an intimate relationship, however, it relegates the horrors of history to a backdrop.
 
At the Finborough theatre, London, until 23 February.

Azerbaijani citizen applies to Artsakh’s Foreign Ministry for granting him citizenship

Azerbaijani citizen applies to Artsakh’s Foreign Ministry for granting him citizenship

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21:01, 6 February, 2019

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 6, ARMENPRESS. A citizen of Azerbaijan, Rashad Alizade, has applied to the Foreign Ministry of Artsakh for granting him citizenship of Artsakh. ARMENPRESS reports a source close to Artsakh MFA informed, adding that no other information is available.  

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan




Azerbaijani press: Saliva samples taken from relatives of those missing during Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

7 February 2019 12:58 (UTC+04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 7

By Samir Ali – Trend:

The International Committee of the Red Cross, together with the State Comission of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons, has published statistics on saliva samples taken from the relatives of missing persons of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Trend reports.

Over the past year, 2,170 saliva samples were taken from the relatives of 775 missing persons.

Saliva samples are taken from relatives of the missing persons and are used for possible exhumation in the future.

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.


Governmental anti-corruption agency chief steps down

Governmental anti-corruption agency chief steps down

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10:32, 6 February, 2019

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 6, ARMENPRESS. Siranush Sahakyan, President of the Commission on Ethics of High-Ranking Officials, has resigned.

The Commission on Ethics of High-Ranking Officials is a governmental anti-corruption agency dealing with gathering asset declarations from officials, detection of conflict of interests, detection of violations of ethics rules by high-ranking officials and other functions.

Sahakyan took office in 2014.

In a resignation letter posted on the agency’s official website yesterday evening, she described the events that led to her decision to step down.

“After the 2017-2018 massive legislative reforms the strong and complete anti-corruption system became reality,” she said.  “The prevention of corruption, as a main direction of combating it, was placed on institutional foundations with required infrastructures and toolbox. New legislative solutions created duly prerequisites for financial transparency of officials, discovery of [possible] corruption crimes through analyzing [asset] declarations, managing and preventing cases of conflict of interests. These coherent efforts not only gained high assessments from international specialized institutions, but also served as grounds for ambitious proposals for further perfection of the system”.

She then noted that the prospect of continuity of reforms, however, required speedy further actions such as the creation of a Corruption Prevention Commission, new mechanisms, analysis and introduction of new asset declarations for combating illicit enrichment, as well as enhanced cooperation with law enforcement agencies.

“Whereas problems typical of a transitional time period did not receive solutions – the Corruption Prevention Commission was not formed. Moreover, by ignoring requirements of law, a competition for electing members of this body was not organized. From January 1, 2019 the content of [asset] declarations was amended. Therefore, the previous regulations concerning declarations became void. The Government did not confirm the new sample of declarations because it was to be proposed by the Corruption Prevention Commission. In addition, from January 1, 2019 asset declarations are subject to submission not to the Ethics Commission, but rather the Corruption Prevention Commission – meaning a body that still doesn’t exist”, she said, giving further descriptions of the problems, such as “concerns expressed by international organizations as well as the Commission’s actions for overcoming them” being ignored.

 “This situation is incompatible with my approaches regarding professional activities and the responsibility that I have for solving problems in the transitional phase”, she said, adding that she therefore steps down.

Sahakyan also thanked her colleagues for the joint work.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan




Ministry has no right to offer high salary

Gabriel Ghazaryan, First Deputy Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, told “A1+” about the cessation of financing of  grandmaster school named after Levon Aronian and Gabriel Sargsyan.

“The school was adjunct to the former “Mika” sports complex owned by the State Revenue Committee. The institution was able to provide coaches’ salary fund. Since this institution is now a non-profit organization, we cannot offer the same amount of salaries to our grandmasters. This is beyond the law. We have shifted these positions to a chess school adjunct to the ministry, but I do not think that GMs will agree with the amount of our salary, “said Gabriel Ghazaryan.

Victims of April war prevented a global disaster – Adam Sahakyan’s mother (video)

On the occasion of the 27th anniversary of the Armenian Army, the relatives of Robert Abajyan, Adam Sahakyan and Armenak Urfanyan, who died in the four-day April war, visited the Yerablur Military Pantheon.

Today, on January 28, Armenak Urfanyan would become 29 years old.

“I congratulate the officers of the Armed Forces and I want them to be always stable and powerful. They are the people’s trust, without them we cannot exist,” said Hamest Nersisyan, mother of Armenak Urfanyan.

Robert Abajyan’s grandfather, Gevorg Abajyan, mentioned that Yerablur complex has become a sanctuary for them.

“I feel both pride and pain,” noted he and adding that it is nice that people remember them. “I congratulate everyone who are on the border, who are serving and those who have completed their service.”

Adam Sahakyan’s mother, Gayane Sahakyan, with pain in the heart, appreciates that people are not indifferent to the war victims.

“Heroes, who died for the homeland are the heroes who are sacred, and they are all, they are the wealth of the people. The large crowd of people is not surprising. The victims of April war prevented a global disaster, and with their characters, they once again shook and woke up the Armenian people. They seemed to send a message to the Armenian people to keep their hands on the pulse.”

Asbarez: ARF Supreme Council of Armenia on Armed Forces Day

Soldiers of Armenia’s Armed Forces

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Supreme Council of Armenia congratulates the 27th anniversary of establishment of Armenia’s Armed Forces.

The army, which during its formation, carved a new victorious page in our modern history by liberating Artsakh. During the years, the Army has become a singular government institution, which the Armenian people unequivocally trust and support. The Armenian Army is the guarantor of our independence, our borders and liberated territories.

The large ARF family strongly stands by our army. We are dedicated to the “Nation-Army” principle and express our unwavering support to its realization.

Congratulations Armenian Soldier.

ARF Supreme Council of Armenia