Author: Eduard Nalbandian

Yerevan says Russia capable of preventing Armenia-Azerbaijan war

Eduard Nalbandian
Public Television of Armenia
Yerevan says Russia capable of preventing Armenia-Azerbaijan war

[Armenian News note: the below is translated from Armenian]

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said that Russia has the "levers" to prevent a resumption of war between Baku and Yerevan.

Pashinyan was speaking at a news conference for Armenian journalists in Yerevan on 20 July. The news conference was carried live by Armenian Public TV.

Pashinyan also said that Azerbaijan was not ready to make concessions regarding the Karabakh conflict. He added that he saw no solution to the conflict without Karabakh's involvement in the peace talks.

Baku and Yerevan are locked in a conflict over Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, which, along with seven surrounding districts, came under the control of ethnic Armenian troops in the early 1990s. Peace talks between Baku and Yerevan have been mediated by France, Russia and the United States in their capacity as co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. The breakaway region is not a party to the talks.

Russia has the "levers"

"I think we all understand that as a super power the Russian Federation is capable of not letting war resume in our region. I cannot believe that Russia, which is Armenia's strategic partner and friend, will fail to use its levers to not let hostilities resume in the region," he said.

Pashinyan said that the situation on the border with Azerbaijan was tense, as was the military and political situation in general. He said that the threat of war existed and Armenia had to be prepared for war. At the same time, he expressed belief that Russia would not allow a new war to break out in the region. "I cannot believe that Russia will allow a war or that Russia will fail to use its levers to hold Azerbaijan back from provocation," he said.

Mutual concessions

Pashinyan said that it was wrong to talk about the resolution of the Karabakh conflict based on the idea of ceding territories around Karabakh to Azerbaijan in exchange for its status.

"Has anyone asked whether this solution is acceptable for Azerbaijan or not? … When we are saying mutual concessions, it means that there are two sides that are ready for concessions. I want to understand why we want to discuss our readiness to go for concessions if it is obvious that Azerbaijan is not ready to go for concessions," he said.

Pashinyan said that not only the government but the entire nation would decide on the "limits" of mutual concessions "if we get a message that Azerbaijan is ready for concessions".

"I rule out any solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that will not be acceptable for our people," he said.

Pashinyan said there could not be any government in Armenia that would solve the issue in this way. He stressed that one of the important goals of his government was to ensure public involvement in the making of state decisions.

Karabakh and peace talks

Pashinyan reiterated that there could be no solution to the conflict without Karabakh's direct participation in the peace talks.

"If we are talking about the final resolution of the Artsakh [Karabakh] issue, then Artsakh must be involved," he said.

Pashinyan said he was ready to hold discussions with the Azerbaijani president, which might be "useful" toward creating an atmosphere of trust. At the same time, he said that Azerbaijan's continuous "militant and aggressive" rhetoric was unacceptable.

Pashinyan argued that Azerbaijan's "increased aggressive behaviour" was due to its leadership's concern that democratic processes might move from Armenia to Azerbaijan.

Meeting with first president

Pashinyan also said that he had discussed the Karabakh conflict settlement with first Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosyan at the latter's initiative. He said Ter-Petrosyan wanted to provide him with information that he thought he might not possess.

Pashinyan said the conversation was "very useful" but that he learnt no new information since he was well-informed about all processes regarding Karabakh from the very first day he took office as prime minister on 8 May.

$ 100 million to be invested in repatriation project Build Armenia

Eduard Nalbandian
Arminfo, Armenia
$100 million to be invested in repatriation project Build Armenia

Yerevan July 20

Alina Hovhannisyan. Swiss businessman of Armenian origin, co-founder of the Swiss watch brand Franc Muller and chairman of the board of Armswissbank CJSC Vardan Sirmakes initiated a new project in Armenia – the Build Armenia Foundation, which was joined by more than a dozen Armenian Diaspora businessmen. According to preliminary estimates, about $ 100 million will be invested in the project at the initial stage, the businessman said in an interview with the First National Channel (1tv.am).

"I believe that the new energy that is reigning in Armenia today and the improvement of the legislative field will contribute to the investment inflow to the country, which will serve as the basis for large-scale repatriation of Armenians from around the world," he said. V.Shirmakes stressed that the returned compatriots will provide the place of residence, help with employment and in the near future will help in solving various problems. As explained by the businessman, for the returnees zones will be created in which they will be able to use health, educational and craft centers, in particular, in leather production, jewelry, etc. "A production chain will be created," stressed Sirmakes.

According to him, the activities of the Foundation will develop in accordance with European standards. "We will be open and transparent, so that everyone could follow our work and our target costs," the businessman said.

According to V. Sirmakes, more Diaspora representatives will join the Fund, in particular, from Russia due to close ties with Armenia. "I am confident that if we move in the right direction, we will be able to raise Armenia's rating at the international level and ensure a large-scale flow of compatriots returning to their homeland, who will be able to achieve new successes in the new Armenia," he concluded.

Armenian healthcare minister comments on scandalous revelations in military draft

Eduard Nalbandian
ARKA, Armenia
July 17 2017

YEREVAN, July 17. /ARKA/. Armenian Healthcare Minister Arsen Torosyan commented Tuesday on the disclosure of a corruption scheme that lets conscripts evade military service or gives them adjournment.  

The National Security Service has disclosed a corruption scheme, in which officials, doctors and military enlistment officers had been involved. 

“This is not the first case, but I hope it will be the last case, which will teach a lesson to doctors and all those who are involved in such illegal activity,” the minister said. “We saw that in fact, a criminal group was acting. There had been similar revelations also in the past, but stunning and outrageous is that such a thing could happen after the recent changes and at a time when crackdown is launched on illegal exemption from military service.”

Torosyan warned all doctors and medical workers against being involved in such processes.  
He didn’t rule out further revelations. 

“Everyone who commits the same in the future should be punished,” he said. 

In his words, to lessen room for fraud the ministry re-checks diagnoses.  

”Conscripts with health problems can be examined in a several stages, even after they start their military services,” Torosyan said. “If major pathologies are found, young people are exempted from military service or undergo free treatment. Our goal is to ensure objectivity at all the stages of medical examination of conscripts.” -0—


Talks on Karabakh can’t be hobbled by preparations for parliamentary elections in Armenia

Eduard Nalbandian
ARKA, Armenia

YEREVAN, July 16. /ARKA/. Preparations for parliamentary elections in Armenia can’t hobble talks on Karabakh, which will be based on OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, Tigran Balayan, the Armenian foreign ministry spokesman, said Monday at a briefing. 

On June 1, the new Armenian government presented its program, in accordance with which early parliamentary elections will be conducted within one year. The electoral code will be amended before the election.  

Balayan also said that no meeting arrangements were made between Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers at their recent meeting in Brussels. 

He said the meeting between Zograb Mnatsakanyan and Elmar Mammadyarov in Brussels was introductory in nature. 

“I can only say that there is an arrangement to continue contacts,” Balayan said. 
Karabakh conflict broke out in 1988 when Karabakh, mainly populated by Armenians, declared its independence from Azerbaijan.

On December 10, 1991, a few days after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a referendum took place in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the majority of the population (99.89%) voted for secession from Azerbaijan. 

Afterwards, large-scale military operations began. As a result, Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven regions adjacent to it.

Some 30,000 people were killed in this war and about one million people fled their homes.  

On May 12, 1994, the Bishkek cease-fire agreement put an end to the military operations.

The talks brokered by OSCE Minsk Group are being held over peaceful settlement of the conflict. The group is co-chaired by USA, Russia and France. -0—–


200,000 Children Born to Georgian Emigrant Families Since 1990

Eduard Nalbandian
Georgia Today

The Georgian organization Demographic Revival Foundation has released a report that estimates that since 1990, approximately 200,000 children have been born into Georgian emigrant families, as reported by Commersant.ge.

The figure is based on demographers’ calculations: official figures are not particularly reliable, as they do not account for the significant numbers of undocumented Georgian emigrants living in Europe and North America.

Tamar Chubinidze, head of the Demographic Revival Foundation, explains that most children born abroad to Georgian citizens will not return to their family’s historic homeland, instead building a life in the country of their birth.

"This is a serious loss for Georgia,” says Chubinidze, “The children of Georgians who were born abroad, show interest in their historical homeland, but as guests only. We can only hope that as the borders are opened, the attractiveness of Georgia will grow, and at least some of them will come to live here.”

Similar patterns are seen in many countries, including in other former Soviet states. The case of the Armenian diaspora is particularly notable. The global Armenian community numbers approximately 10 million, while the domestic population is under 3 million. The website of the President of Armenia writes that “there are Armenian communities in more than 100 countries all over the world” and that “Armenians of the Diaspora are mainly involved with issues concerning preservation of the national identity; they establish schools, churches, cultural homes and pan-Armenian organizations.” The Armenian Diaspora Ministry was established in 2008.

An Office of the State Minister of Georgia for Diaspora Issues was also established in 2008, but it was dissolved and its duties absorbed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in late 2016, although the website is still active, if outdated.

Chubinidze warns that Georgia’s visa-free regime with the European Union, established in March 2017, has a significant downside. She claims that the number of emigrants from Georgia to Europe is four times higher than before the regime came into effect.

In the final quarter of 2017, more Georgians citizens applied for asylum in Europe than from any other former Soviet state. The European Asylum Support Office reported that the number of Georgian asylum seekers increased 39% year-on-year to reach 10,465. Eurostat reported that 4,970 Georgians requested asylum in the European Union in the first quarter of 2018.

In the midst of Europe’s migration crisis, the increase was seen quite unfavorably. In February, German Foreign Minister Thomas de Maizière warned the Georgian government that if the flow of asylum seekers continued at that pace, they would be forced to consider reinstating visa requirements. At that time, Dorota Dlouchy-Suliga of the EU Delegation in Tbilisi was not worried, telling EurasiaNet, “In the past, we have had a similar experience with the Balkan countries. There was a bump at first…we hope that the number of applications from Georgia will go down.”

The predication was realized, as 2018 has seen decreasing numbers of asylum seekers each month. Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees reports that in January 2018, there were 745 asylum applications filed by Georgians in Germany, while in February there were only 595, March 490, April 350 and in May just 221.

Nine countries in the European Union have granted Georgia the status of ‘safe country’ from which no asylum applications are accepted. These countries are Ireland, Luxemburg, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Bulgaria, Lichtenstein, Austria and Iceland.

By Samantha Guthrie

Traffic offence fines totaling AMD 13.3 million to be forgiven in Armenia

Eduard Nalbandian
ARKA, Armenia
July 4 2018

YEREVAN, July 4. /ARKA/. The Armenian government approved Wednesday the draft law on amnesty on administrative fines. 

Artak Zeynalyan, justice minister, said that the law implies that those citizens who were fined for breaching traffic rules before December 31, 2017, will be exempted from payment of these fines.   

He said that the road traffic fines totaling AMD 13.3 billion ($27.5 million) will be forgiven. The amnesty doesn’t apply to drink-driving and providing license plates to other persons.  

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said the decision was prompted by the fact that citizens have not paid their fines yet, since they couldn’t afford it. 

“But this doesn’t mean that everybody will be exempted from fines and will drive as they want,” he said. “The thing is that the policy pursued before was not aimed at ensuring public order – it was completely fiscal in nature. Our main goal is to ensure road traffic safety, and therefore we are now discussing new principles.”

In particular, the premier stressed that the government, the justice ministry and the police are working out the draft law on administrative offices to ease fine burden for the population, and at the same time, to enhance drivers’ discipline. 

“Citizens should respect the law,” he said. “We are already working in this direction and the police’s proposals are quite interesting and effective.” -0—

Armenian military releases video of burning Azerbaijani post (video)

Eduard Nalbandian
PanArmenian, Armenia
July 2 2018
 July 2, 2018 – 13:36 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – On the evening of June 30 and the morning of July 1, Azerbaijani forces attempted to carry out engineering work aimed at strengthening their positions near the Nakhijevan-Armenia border, a spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry said in a Facebook post.

According to Artsrun Hovhannisyan, the Armenian armed forces fired back and did not allow the rival to carry out the work.

“As a result of the fire of the Armenian side, one of the rival’s positions was completely destroyed and burnt down,” Hovhannisyan said.

“During the exchange of fire, contract serviceman of the Armenian Armed Forces Vahagn Baghdasaryan (b. 1974) received a minor injury.”

Below is a video of the burning Azerbaijani post, released by the Armenian Defense Ministry.

View video at

Armenian-Indian duel in jermuk

Eduard Nalbandian
  • 14:34 | June 28,2018 | Sports
  • Հայ
  • Рус

At the 11th Karen Asryan Memorial Chess Tournament, which takes place in Jermuk, the games of the 8th round are to take place today.

At the moment the tournament table with 5.5 points is headed by our chess player Hrant Melkumyan and Indian GM S.P. Seturaman, who played draw in the previous round.

9 people, including our chess players Hayk Martirosyan, Aram Hakobyan, Manuel Petrosyan, Zaven Andriasyan and Samvel Ter-Sahakyan are following the leaders by 5 points each. The first place in the women’s category is taken by Kazakh Abdumalik Zhansaya, who has 4.5 points.

Today a peculiar Armenian-Indian duel will take place in Jermuk. Hrant Melkumyan will playwith white figures against Indian Krishnan Sashikiran, while Zaven Andriasyan’s opponent is SP. Seturaman.

168: Police Chief says testimonies incriminate MP Manvel Grigoryan’s wife

Eduard Nalbandian
| 13:17 | June 28 2018
Category
Society

Police Chief of Armenia Valery Osipyan assures that the poilice force is detaining suspects only in case of having sufficient grounds.

Osipyan was speaking to reporters regarding the arrest of Nazik Amiryan, the wife of MP Manvel Grigoryan, the former general who is remanded in custody pending trial.

The Police Chief says there are testimonies incriminating Amiryan. Particularly, testimonies whereby Amiryan indeed instructed the drivers to load trucks with military supply food from the headquarters of the Yerkrapah Union.

Earlier on June 18, anti-corruption officers of police discovered two vargo vehicles loaded with military food supplies in a Yerevan parking lot. The drivers of the vehicles, members of the Yerkrapah Volunteer Union – an NGO formerly chaired by the general – have claimed that they loaded the supplies – canned meat made for the military and not available for sale anywhere – at the instruction of Nazik Amiryan from the headquarters of Yerkrapah Volunteers Union on June 16. About 3000 cans were found in the cars.

Member of Parliament Manvel Grigoryan, the former general who is suspected in misappropriating military supplies and donations, as well as illegal possession of firearms, will remain in pre-trial detention for two months.