Author: Emil Karabekian

Homeland Salvation Movement representatives meet with President Sarkissian

Emil Karabekian

 16:54,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS. The Homeland Salvation Movement’s candidate for the prime minister Vazgen Manukyan, member of the Republican Party of Armenia Vahram Baghdasaryan and the President of the Fatherland party Artur Vanetsyan are meeting with President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian.

After the meeting the Homeland Salvation Movement will hold a rally outside the Parliament building today at 18:00 during which its representatives will present the results of the meeting with the President and their future steps.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Yeraz: the dreamy debut album fusing Armenian sounds from across the world

Emil Karabekian
The Calvert Journal
Feb 20 2021
 
Text: Lucía de la Torre

A new LP featuring emerging artists from Armenia and its diaspora has been released to support artistic initiatives that explore cultural identity.

YERAZ is named after the Armenian word for dream — an apt description for its soothing, lo-fi feel. Combining electronic beats with neo-soul tunes, instrumental sounds and folk melodies, the LP oscillates between upbeat and meditative across different musical styles including an Armenian traditional touch. “The most significant inspiration behind YERAZ was to set a new precedent for Armenian identity by illustrating it through these various musical contexts. By approaching this compilation as an “artefact” rather than a music album, it will mature over time into a reflection of this current moment, where we are still processing the losses of last year and are looking for means to rebuild our culture,” says Zach Asdourian, founder of Critique, the LA-based creative agency behind the album.

YERAZ is a collaboration between Critique and Kooyrigs, a non-profit organisation that implements community and educational projects both online and in-country. All of the proceeds from the album will be donated to Kooyrigs and used to support artistic initiatives in Armenia.

Following its digital release, YERAZ will also be launched as a vinyl in May 2021. While the side A-B hosts US-based diasporan artists, the side C-D features those based in Armenia. Among its most prominent names are LA-based Lebanese Armenian musician Bei Ru, neo-psychedelic singer Angel DEardoorian, and Yerevan club favourites KamavoSian and Melineh.

“Pressing YERAZ onto a vinyl record seemed very appropriate because the listening experience can become more of a ritual where the record is set, the needle is dropped and the listener is transported,” says Asdourian. “As they listen, I’d like for all people to meditate on the new paradigm being delineated by the album, where the past, present and future of our people’s history is illustrated through a new narrative.”

The vinyl, to be released in May 2021, is available for pre-order here.

Citizens demanding Pashinyan’s resignation are in Republic Square of Yerevan chanting ‘Nikol is a traitor’

Emil Karabekian
News.am, Armenia
Feb 20 2021
Citizens demanding Pashinyan's resignation are in Republic Square of Yerevan chanting 'Nikol is a traitor'
19:06, 20.02.2021

Citizens demanding Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan's resignation are in Republic Square of Yerevan chanting 'Nikol is a traitor'

Some of them blocked the crossroads paralyzing traffic downtown.

The Homeland Salvation Movement representatives announced that Pashinyan and his authorities will not have a day of rest – they start non-stop protests until the government's resignation.

Russia conducts over 108 mln coronavirus tests

Emil Karabekian

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 10:53,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. Russian medical workers have conducted more than 108 million coronavirus tests, Russia's Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing said , reports TASS.

“More than 108.3 million coronavirus tests have been conducted in the Russian Federation”, its press service said. As many as 374,000 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours.

According to the watchdog, about 604,300 people remain under medical supervision over suspected COVID-19.

Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 15-02-21

Emil Karabekian

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 17:30,

YEREVAN, 15 FEBUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 15 February, USD exchange rate up by 0.32 drams to 524.60 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 1.80 drams to 636.60 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.10 drams to 7.16 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 6.27 drams to 729.09 drams.

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

Gold price down by 381.64 drams to 30635.07 drams. Silver price down by 0.65 drams to 456.57 drams. Platinum price down by 240.28 drams to 20593.73 drams.

Armenia ombudsman on Khndzoresk incident: Villagers’ rights need to be guaranteed

Emil Karabekian
News.am, Armenia
Feb 14 2021
10:10, 14.02.2021

The unlawful taking constituting theft of 173 sheep by Azerbaijani armed forces from the shepherd of Khndzoresk village in the Syunik region on February 11 confirms what the Republic of Armenia (RA) Human Rights Defender has been cautioning and forewarning about for several months. Armenia’s Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan wrote about this on Facebook on Sunday morning.
“In particular, yesterday the Khndzoresk municipality announced that on February 11, a resident of the village of Khndzoresk in the Syunik region, had grazed a total of 185 small cattle in the pastures near the village. During the grazing, some of the animals approached the area controlled by the Azerbaijani soldiers, after which the Azerbaijani armed forces unlawfully took 173 of the 185 sheep and carried it away with the intent to permanently deprive the shepherd of his personal property, to wit, the sheep.
The animals were returned only after negotiations between the RA Border Troops and the Armed Forces Corps Command.
The referenced information was confirmed to the RA Human Rights Defender by a number of villagers and community bodies. To be clear, the Syunik regional subdivision of the Defender's Office discovered that the pastor himself, was not negligent in guiding his flock, but rather, was very careful, however, the incident happened because habitually the animals historically are accustomed to grazing in those areas; and, the relevant pastures are such that it is difficult and quite impractical to exercise sufficient control over the animals.
All of these factors confirm the need to guarantee the rights of the villagers, including their safety while making use of pastures, to protect their livelihood, and to safeguard against the dangers and/or violations of their property rights. In order to prevent this, responsible commission work and a correct assessment of the needs of the villagers are critical, to ensure an unequivocal and total elimination and neutralization of all such obstacles and concerns,” added Armenia’s ombudsman.

    

Municipality of Karabakh’s Stepanakert makes announcement

Emil Karabekian
Panorama, Armenia
Feb 12 2021
Municipality of Karabakh's Stepanakert makes announcement
20:14, 12.02.2021

The Municipality of Stepanakert (Nagorno-Karabakh) has made the following statement:

“Property tax and land tax payers of Stepanakert shall take note of the fact that the periods for payment of property tax and land tax for the year 2020 have been extended until February 20, 2021 for natural persons due to the consequences of the war, the periods for submission and payment of the property tax for organizations for the second semester of the year 2020 has been extended until February 20, 2021, and the penalties paid for property tax and land tax for the year 2020 will be offset to arrears or the obligations calculated for the year 2021.”

Russia reports 15,089 coronavirus cases in past 24 hours

Emil Karabekian

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 13:07,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. Russia has documented 15,089 COVID-19 cases in past 24 hours, with the overall case count reaching 4,042,837, TASS reports citing the anti-coronavirus crisis center.

The daily increase rate has reached about 0.38%.

In the past 24 hours, 2,139 COVID-19 cases have been documented in Moscow, 1,134 in St. Petersburg, 842 in the Moscow Region, 439 in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, 359 in the Voronezh Region and 345 in the Rostov Region.

Currently, there are 404,501 active cases of COVID-19 in Russia.

Navalny and Pashinyan are able to create chaos and feel comfortable in it – Robert Kocharyan

Emil Karabekian
Panorama, Armenia
Feb 6 2021

Armenia's second President Robert Kocharyan drew parallel between Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russia's opposition figure Alexey Navanly, insisting both have similarities in their actions. Kocharyan's remarks came in an interview with Sputnik news agency.  

"They have a lot in common – the lack of expericnce, the cynisicm as well as a talent to manipulate people. That is a talent, indeed, when a person creates a chaos and feels quite comfortable in it," Kocharyan said. 

In the words of the former president, the rise of such people is part of an anti-system trend which is generated from 'decentralization of information' through web and social media. 

"And all this contradicts to state thinking, and the basics of state-building, in general. By the way, the ground for it is much  stronger in Russia," added the ex-president. 

Ombudsman presents important historical fact about Artsakh Armenians’ right to self-determination

Emil Karabekian
Panorama, Armenia
Feb 5 2021

Armenia’s Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan has presented an important historical fact regarding the right of Armenians of Artsakh to self-determination.

“During the sovietization of Armenia in 1920 the Revolutionary Committee of Azerbaijan issued a statement on November 30, 1920 stating that there was no longer a border issue between Soviet Azerbaijan and Soviet Armenia, Zangezur and Nakhichevan passed to Armenia, and the mountainous part of Karabakh was given the right to self-determination. The decree was published in the Baku "Communist" newspaper on December 2, 1920. Moreover, the Revolutionary Committee of Azerbaijan thereafter announced: "From today, border disputes between Armenia and Azerbaijan are non-existent. Nagorno-Karabakh, Zangezur and Nakhichevan are considered parts of the Soviet Armenia." The decision-application was published in the 1920 issue of the Yerevan "Communist" newspaper in its December 7th issue,” he wrote on Facebook.

“It is an interesting fact that the Caucasian bureau of the Central Committee of the RC (b) on June 3, 1921, instructed the government of Soviet Armenia to declare "Nagorno-Karabakh belonging to Armenia" in a declaration. The decision of the Bureau was made unanimously, the chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of Azerbaijan N. Narimanov was among those who supported it.

“In fulfillment of the decision of the Caucasus Bureau, the People's Council of the USSR, Prime Minister A. Myasnikyan, adopted a corresponding statement on June 12 1921: “Based on the declaration of the Revolutionary Committee of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan and the agreement between the governments of the Soviet Socialist Republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan, it is announced that Nagorno-Karabakh is now an integral part of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia”,” Tatoyan said.