Author: Garik Boshkezenian

Nothing changed in Kut borderline village after elections, village mayor says

Garik Boshkezenian
Panorama, Armenia

"After elections no changes have taken place in Kut borderline village of Armenia's Gegharkunik province, as Azerbaijani servicemen are still deployed in the territory of Armenia and refuse to leave," the Head of Kut community Sima Chitchyan has told Yerkir Media daily. 

Chitchyan's comments came after reports suggesting the Azerbaijani forces were expected to leave the Armenian sovereign territory in Gegharkunik once the elections are over. 

"That is true. We hoped the they would leave the territories or would be forced to leave. We are waiting for the border demarcation process to start for us to continue our daily agricultural works. We hope the reports that the Azeris will leave after elections correspond to reality and we are waiting for that," Chitchyan has said. 

Asked whether representatives from relevant state bodies visit the village and what are the results of those visits, the head of the community said: "When Azeris stole the livestock, the governor of the province and his deputies visited the village and said they would address the matter. However, the livestock has not been returned yet and we have seen no results thus far. As you recall the Azeris even opened fire at our shepherds and it has turned out that our farmers can not even do agricultural work on their own land."

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs format continues to operate: the regional visit on agenda

Garik Boshkezenian

Save

Share

 16:26,

YEREVAN, JUNE 22, ARMENPRESS. Russia thinks that the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ format dealing with the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement has never stopped its activity and continues to act, Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergei Kopyrkin told reporters today, commenting on the question relating to the resumption of the negotiation process for the settlement of the NK conflict.

“Our approach is that the Co-Chairs’ format continues acting, there are issues which are on the agenda of the co-chairmanship format, and I think that here a lot will depend on the positions of the sides”, the Russian diplomat said.

He said that the upcoming regional visit of the Co-Chairs is on the agenda, but couldn’t mention the exact dates.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Robert Kocharyan promises to solve irrigation issues in a meeting with citizens in Vedi

Garik Boshkezenian

Save

Share

 19:23, 15 June, 2021

YEREVAN, JUNE 15, ARMENPRESS.  2nd President of Armenia, Prime Minister's candidate of Armenia Alliance Robert Kocharyan is confident that his team will be able to rapidly develop the country, ARMENPRESS reports he said in a meeting with the citizens in Vedi.

Listening to the citizens and the issues they raised, he talked about their plans in the sphere of agriculture. Particularly, he referred to irrigation issues, announcing that they will change the subsidization amount for a term of 3 years. ''The calculations are not yet final, but I think you will pay symbolic sums for irrigation for 3 years’', Kocharyan said, adding that he knows that many of them have loans and it's difficult to pay them back without assistance.  

Robert Kocharyan reiterated that they are the only political force that has experience, confidence, knowledge and will. ''If you trust us, we will stop this down-falling tendencies and will move forward in a fast pace. I am confident of that, otherwise, I would never take this responsibility. We will justify your expectations'', Kocharyan said.

Asbarez: Critical Inroads in State’s Turkish Divestment Efforts Announced

Garik Boshkezenian
by Ara Khachatourian

 

 June 16, 2021

 

in Community, Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories, Videos

Senator Anthony Portantino is flanked by Glendale city officials and Armenian community representatives as he presents a key inroad in efforts for divesting from Turkey

BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN

The recent passage of a State Senate measure allowing local agencies to divest from Turkey has elevated the importance of the matter for the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, which has taken concrete steps to begin the process of divesting its interests from Turkey. This was announced by State Senator Anthony Portantino, who spearheaded the measure in the Senate, during a press conference on Wednesday morning on the Artsakh Street Promenade in Glendale.

Portantino was joined at the event by Glendale city officials and representatives of community organizations that backed the effort in thanking CalSTRS for the decisive action, which will mean that the organization will be removed from the original bill, placing added pressure on the California State Public Employees’ Retirement System to follow suit.

Portantino announced that CalSTRS has placed restrictions on the three Turkish state-owned banks, which will prevent them from being included in the CalSTRS portfolio, through either internal management or through ownership by an external manager. “As a direct result of this policy change, one of CalSTRS’ external managers is selling an investment in one of these banks,” explained Portantino.

CalSTRS has also directed each of its external managers who have Turkish state-owned entities in their portfolios to re-evaluate each of these investments to assess their compliance with CalSTRS’ Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) policy.

“CalSTRS is conducting additional risk evaluation of a Turkish-issued treasury that is currently the only investment issued or controlled by the Government of Turkey that they hold internally. We will continue to monitor this evaluation and its outcome but due to the significant steps they have taken, we are confident that they will continue to do the right thing,” added Portantino.

“I was pleased to join an impressive group of speakers and organizations on Artsakh Avenue today to announce the three divestment steps CalSTRS is taking to curb investment in Turkey.  Proud that SB 457, jointly authored with Senator Wilk, is making a difference. I extend my deep appreciation to STRS for this important, appropriate and positive decision,” said Portantino. 

“It is unconscionable that state and school employees of Armenian decent or not have a portion of their hard earned salary invested in a country that denies the Armenian Genocide and fails to take responsibility for its actions.  Historians and human rights organizations are watching and we can now add CalSTRS to the list of organizations doing the right thing,”  added Portantino.

In his remarks, Portantino highlighted not only Turkey’s continued denial of the Armenian Genocide, but also its active efforts in aiding Azerbaijan during last fall’s war, saying that California residents should not be forced to pay for Turkey’s human rights violations, especially Armenian state employees, whose investment into the pension system, which funds the country that murdered their ancestors.

He also presented messages from Senate Republican Leader Scott Wilk, who introduced the measure, SB457, along with Portantino and Senator Andreas Borgeas, who has been a strong proponent of the effort.

The event was moderated by Glendale City Councilmember Ardashes “Ardy” Kassakhian, who in his remarks highlighted the importance of the step taken by CalSTRS and commended Portantino and other lawmakers who have been on the forefront of the Turkey Divestment movement. He also emphasized the role that the Armenian Youth Federation and Armenian Student Associations have played in initiated the movement on University of California campuses, all of whose student governments individually voted to divest from Turkey.

“For far too long the costs and consequences of the Armenian Genocide have been borne by the victims of this international crime against all of humanity,” said Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region Executive Director Armen Sahakyan, who was one of the organizational representatives speaking at the event.

“We thank Senator Anthony Portantino and all co-authors of SB457 for their leadership on this critical issue, and applaud CalSTRS on this meaningful step of restricting Turkish holdings. Especially in light of President Biden’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide and Turkey’s ongoing aggressive posturing against Armenia and Artsakh, we call on CalPERS to follow the lead of CalSTRS in disallowing California public funds from being used in funding an unrepentant, genocide denialist government of Turkey,” added Sahakyan.

Also speaking at the event were the President of the Glendale Unified School Board Shant Sahakian, the President of the Glendale City College Board Dr. Armine Hacopian, Glendale Teachers’ Association president Taline Arsenian, representative of the AGBU Taline Yacoubian and the director of the Armenian Assembly of America Western Region Mihran Toumajan.

Glendale Mayor Paula Devine welcomed Portantino, the guests and the community to Glendale and expressed her support for the initiative. Also president were Glendale City Councilmembers Vrej Agajanian and Daniel Brotman.

Azeris have stoled a cow and its new born calf from pasture in Verin Shorzha village – Ombudsman

Garik Boshkezenian
Panorama, Armenia

On June 16, at around 05:30, 9 Azerbaijani servicemen have stoled a cow and its new born calf from pasture in Verin Shorzha village of Gegharkunik province of Armenia. As the Human Right Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan reported, the  report was received at the Office of the Ombudsman on June 16. According to the source, the shepherd of Verin Shorzha pasture woke up in the morning after the Azerbaijani shooting. 

The shepherd saw that the Azerbaijani servicemen were shooting in the direction of his cattle in an open area new to his residence. 

The shepherd then rushed to his cattle and found out that a cow and its new born calf had disappeared. He  noticed that 9 Azerbaijani servicemen were driving away them to their positions. Along with other shepherds, he tried to bring back the cattle, however the Azerbaijani servicemen opened fire at the animals and injured the cow, preventing the animal to get back to the owner. There was shooting toward the shepherds as well.  

Four hours after the incident, the shepherd observed that the servicemen had slaughtered the cow.  

The Human Rights Defender of Armenia stresses that the incident has taken place in the sovereign territory of Armenia and that the Azerbaijani servicemen have come down from the positions which are illegally deployed in the sovereign territory of Armenia. 

"This crime once again comes to prove the urgent need for creating a security zone to ensure the rights of the RA citizens in the face of criminal actions of the Azerbaijani armed forces," the Ombudsman said in a message. 

Putin hopes meeting with Biden will be productive

Garik Boshkezenian

Save

Share

 17:13,

YEREVAN, JUNE 16, ARMENPRESS. Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed hope that the talks with his US counterpart Joe Biden will be productive, TASS reports.

“Mr. President, I want to thank you for your initiative of today’s meeting”, the Russian head of state said on Wednesday in his opening remarks at the Geneva talks addressing Biden.

“I know that you had a long trip, a lot of work. Nevertheless, many issues that require top-level discussion have accumulated in Russian-American relations”, Putin noted. “I hope that our meeting will be productive”.

The talks between the Russian and US presidents are taking place in the Villa La Grange library. Top Russian and US diplomats Sergey Lavrov and Antony Blinken as well as interpreters are in the library along with the two leaders.

Asbarez: Mesrobian School Seniors Celebrate College Acceptances

Garik Boshkezenian



Armenian Mesrobian School Class of 2021

Armenian Mesrobian School announced that its graduating high school seniors are once again celebrating acceptance to some of the finest colleges and universities and programs in the nation. The Mesrobian Class of 2021 persevered despite countless hardships, from the COVID-19 Pandemic to witnessing the new war facing the Armenian nation and Artsakh — all while applying to universities, taking exams, and culminating their high school careers.

Mesrobian Seniors were accepted to universities across California and out of state as well, to both public and private universities including:

  • Private or out-of-state universities such as Arizona State University, Chapman, Loyola Marymount, Occidental College, Pepperdine, Stanford University, University of Southern California, and Whittier College.
  • University of California Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz.
  • California State University Bakersfield, Channel Islands, East Bay, Fullerton, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Northridge, Pomona (Cal Poly), San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), and San Marcos.

Mesrobian Seniors also earned prestigious scholarship awards and acceptances to honors programs from schools based on their demonstrated academic excellence, high school academic program, grades, recommendations, and other academic criteria.

They were offered awards such as the UC Regents Scholarship, Occidental College —  President’s Scholarship, Chapman University — Dean’s Scholarship, University of Southern California — National Merit Scholarship, and Whittier College — John Greenleaf Whittier Scholarship. In addition, they were admitted into honors programs in various campuses of the University of California and California State University systems.

In addition to the scholarships offered by universities, Mesrobian School and its benefactors annually amass thousands of dollars in scholarship funds for graduating Mesrobian Seniors. A number of students also received state/federal scholarships and grants that help fully/partially cover their tuition.

Something that makes the community fostered between these graduating students so unique to an Armenian school as storied as Mesrobian is that six parents of the graduating seniors are also Mesrobian graduates themselves, and seven have attended Mesrobian school as “lifers.”

Armenian Mesrobian School, established in 1965, is fully accredited from Preschool through High School by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and is the nation’s first Armenian Elementary School. The college preparatory High School curriculum is certified to the University of California. Mesrobian School includes Ron and Goharik Gabriel Preschool (which serves students 2-5 years old), Elementary, Middle School and a college preparatory High School on the same campus.

Mesrobian School’s college counseling program is a very focused and tailored program. Mesrobian Seniors work closely with a dedicated team of academic advisors and their parents throughout the college application process. Preparing for college early is emphasized at Mesrobian School, beginning as early as middle school and progressing through each year of high school.

In addition, Mesrobian’s Alumni Network and Mentorship Program connects students with over five decades of alumni who have distinguished themselves in fields as diverse as education, science, business, medicine, music, law, dentistry, chiropractic, politics, art, marketing, engineering, veterinary medicine, and psychology.

Members of Congress demand answers from Biden Administration on Armenian POWs, waiver of restrictions on U.S. aid to Azerbaijan

Garik Boshkezenian
Public Radio of Armenia
June 9 2021
 

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez (D-NJ) told Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the Biden Administration’s waiver of Section 907 restrictions on U.S. aid to Azerbaijan gave the “green light” to the Aliyev regime to “act with impunity,” reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

The statement came during a June 8th Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing with Secretary of State Blinken on President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2022 foreign aid priorities. Secretary Blinken was also confronted with similar concerns regarding continued U.S. aid to Azerbaijan, the ongoing illegal captivity of Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) by the Aliyev regime, and U.S. ties with Turkey’s autocratic Erdogan regime during hearings before the House Foreign Affairs Committee and House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations this week.

“We join with our congressional allies in demanding an immediate stop to any and all US military aid to Azerbaijan,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “Not a single US taxpayer dollar should be shipped over to the oil-rich, racist, and violent Aliyev regime. Period. End of sentence,” concluded Hamparian.

During Senate Foreign Relations Committee questioning, Chairman Menendez explained, “I was disappointed that the Administration green-lighted the [Section] 907 waiver renewal despite Azerbaijan’s attack on Nagorno Karabakh. Now, after the 907 waiver, interfering with the actual territorial sovereignty of Armenia in the border issue, not releasing the actual prisoners of the conflict in violation of international law – I mean, I think that they [Azerbaijan] can act with impunity and I think when we waived it [Section 907], we gave them that green-light.”

Secretary Blinken stammered through a clearly strained response, stating “We have to continue to take a look at this. I have been working actively on this particularly, getting the return of the prisoners, getting engaged in an actual process discussion negotiation over an actual resolution and working on those things, and it was my hope that we would get a little bit of traction. But I think we have to continue to look at this and re-look at this in the future,” continued Secretary Blinken.

During the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, senior committee member Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), told Secretary Blinken, “the Administration has issued a Section 907 waiver to allow the sale of weapons to Azerbaijan and I hope that you would reconsider that in light of Azerbaijan’s violations of territorial integrity not of Nagorno Karabakh, although that is important, but of Armenia, itself, in unprovoked aggression.”

During the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations hearing, Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) noted that she would be submitting a question regarding Nagorno Karabakh and the waiver of Section 907 restrictions on aid to Azerbaijan and requested a written response from Secretary Blinken.

On Turkey, Senator Menendez argued, “There are more journalists and lawyers arrested in Turkey today and in jails. Turkey is constantly violating, in my perspective, international law when it threatens Cyprus and its exclusive economic zone, when it declares an economic zone going to Libya that is not recognized at all but interferes with Greece’s economic zone, when it engages in aggression against Armenia through Azerbaijan, when it’s playing a nefarious role in Libya. So, what are we doing to counter Turkey under Erdogan? And, I say Turkey under Erdogan because it’s not about the Turkish people, but it’s certainly about its leader.”

Secretary Blinken noted that, “We certainly share those concerns and have engaged Turkey directly on them.” When Secretary Blinken argued that the U.S. must keep Turkey “anchored to the West and aligned on some other critical issues,” Senator Menendez shot back: “I understand we want Turkey anchored to the West but you can’t be anchored to the West and drifting in every other direction further away on all the core principles we believe in as a NATO ally and also all the other ones.”

Children of Armenia’s ethnic minorities present their folk tales in the prodcast project "A Fairy Tale Together"

Garik Boshkezenian

Children of Armenia’s ethnic minorities present their folk tales in the prodcast project "A Fairy Tale Together"

Save

Share

 18:38, 1 June, 2021

YEREVAN, JUNE 1, ARMENPRESS. The children of 11 ethnic minorities of Armenia presented their folk tales in Armenian language in a joint prodcast project by ARMENPRESS news agency and Public Radio called ‘’ A Fairy Tale Together’’. ARMENPRESS reports the participants of the project presented Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish, German, Greek, Assyrian, Jewish, Georgian, Kurdish, Yezidi and Armenian folk tales – a total – 15 tales.

Video Player

‘’It was a great pleasure to work with each of the children. The tale was inside each of them which they presented to us’’, Director of ARMENPRESS news agency Aram Ananyan said, thanking the participant children for spreading kindness in the difficult period and gracing 15 bright moments.

According to head of the Division for Ethnic Minorities and Religious Affairs of the Prime Minister’s Staff Vardan Ascatryan, the project was a success. ‘’ The Armenian people have lived in this cradle of civilization since ancient times and have been able to build relations with all peoples. This initiative is an _expression_ of such a communication between peoples’’, Ascatryan said.

ARMENPRESS news agency and the Public Radio of Armenia are always open for such positive initiatives, representative of the Public Radio Edgar Amirkhanyan said, highlighting the educational aspect of fairy tales.

‘’ A Fairy Tale Together’’ project was brought to life with the organizational support of the Educational and Cultural Center for Ethnic Minorities  of the Prime Minister’s staff.

Photos by Mkhitar Khachatryan

According to the director of the Center Avag Hakobyan, the results of the ‘’A Fairy Tale Together’’ project and nearly one month of joint work once again proves the importance of books and reading.

The tales will be published in the Youtube channel of ARMENPRESS news agency starting from June 1 and will be broadcast on the children's channel of the Public Radio of Armenia.

UN Sustainable Development Partnership May Yield $230 Million for Armenia

Garik Boshkezenian

June 3, 2021



Armenia’s Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan (right0 and UN Resident Coordinator for the Republic of Armenia Shombi Sharp sign the agreement

Armenia and the United Nations this week signed a sustainable development partnership agreement, which may yield $230 million for Armenia through various UN agencies. The document is said to define the efforts all UN institutions in Armenia for the next five years.

The agreement, developed on the basis of national development priorities, summarizes the collective offer of 20 resident and non-resident UN agencies to the country, through which the UN will provide $230 million in financial assistance “for the benefit of the Armenian people,” according to the document.

Armenia’s Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan and UN Resident Coordinator for the Republic of Armenia Shombi Sharp signed the agreement.

In his welcoming remarks, Grigoryan stressed that all the directions and spheres mentioned in the document have a crucial role for Armenia, saying he believes that with the agreement Armenia “will further unite our efforts for implementing the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.’’

“The Partnership Framework is a new important guideline for the already deep cooperation between the Republic of Armenia the United Nations,” the UN’s Sharp said.

“This agreement sets out the ambitious, collective vision of all UN agencies in Armenia, which aims to improve people’s well-being and opportunities, to promote ‘green’ economic reforms, to strengthen an effective governance system, to promote gender equality without neglecting anyone,” added Sharp.