Author: Liana Toganian

ARF Bureau Chairman Meets with Cyprus President

Liana Toganian
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ARF Bureau Chairman Hagop Der Khachadourian (left) with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades

President Nicos Anastasiadis of Cyprus on Thursday welcomed a delegation to the presidential palace headed by Armenian Revolutionary Federation Bureau chairman Haop Der Khachadourian, who is in Cyprus to attend events celebrating the anniversary of Armenian Independence.

President Anastasiadis told the ARF delegation that the Cypriot government stands in solidarity with the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian people in Armenia and the Diaspora. He stressed that the Cypriot government through its work in international organizations, such as the United Nations and European Union, will always work tirelessly in defending the interests of the Republic of Armenia and the rights of the people of Artsakh.

Cyrpiot president Nicos Anastasiades presents memento to ARF Bureau Chairman Hagop Der Khachadourian

Anastasiatis confirmed that the Cypriot delegation at the European Parliament is already pushing for resolutions on issues related to Armenia and added that he has always enjoyed a positive working relationship with Armenia’s Ambassador to Cyprus.

Der Khachadourian thanked Anastasiatis for the particular attention his government pays to the Cypriot-Armenian community and assured him that the ARF, with its global organizational structure, is at the disposal of the Cypriot Administration to advance and assist in the just resolution of the Cypriot cause. He added that through the efforts Cyprus member of parliament Vartkes Mahdessian, during the last several years, massive efforts have been undertaken to strengthen relations between the government and the Cypriot-Armenian community. Der Khachadourian expressed confidence that the lasting relations will continue to strengthen.

Der Khatchadourian told Anastasiatis that the ARF, through its Hai-Tahd committees around the world enjoys relations with the Cypriot embassies, consulates, and diplomatic representatives, all of which work tandem to advance the Cypriot and Armenian causes.

The ARF delegation with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades

The chairman of the ARF Central Committee of Cyprus, Simon Aynedjian, briefed Anastasiatis about the number of meetings the ARF Bureau chairman has had with the newly-elected Cypriot Members of the European Parliament, assuring that the relations will also advance through the efforts of the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD), in order to advance the interests of the Cypriots and Armenians.

At the conclusion of the meeting, which lasted half hour, mementoes were exchanged between the two leaders.

In addition to Mahdessian and Ayndejian, Der-Khachadourian was accompanied to the meeting by Vahan Aynedjian and Raffi Mahdesian. The Government Spokesman Protromos Prodromu also attended the meeting.

Congressman Frank Pallone challenges barriers to U.S.-Artsakh travel and communication

Liana Toganian
Panorama, Armenia

Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ) took to the U.S. House floor Wednesday for a dialogue with House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) in support of his legislative efforts – via the U.S.-Artsakh Travel and Communication Resolution (H.Res.190) – to end arbitrary and outdated State Department restrictions on U.S. engagement with the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh), Asbarez reported, citing the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

“We must remain committed to strengthening the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, removing barriers to dialogue, and resolving status and security issues that have hindered discussions in the past,” said Rep. Pallone. “Allowing direct and open dialogue and allowing our diplomats to have a presence on the ground as necessary and when safe is the only way for the United States to help bring this conflict to a resolution.”

As part of the colloquy (a scripted exchange between legislators) Chairwoman Lowey committed to work with Congressman Pallone on this matter.

“We want to thank Congressman Pallone for his principled leadership in breaking down artificial barriers to the direct and open dialogue among all stakeholders that surely represent our best hope for a durable and democratic Artsakh peace,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “It’s time to give diplomacy a chance, to promote broad-based government-to-government engagement, and to deepen civil society contact and communication at all levels. It’s time to pass H.Res.190.”

Late last week, Rep. Pallone had filed a proposed amendment to the FY2020 foreign aid bill stating: “none of the funds made available in this Act may be used to enforce U.S. government restrictions or prohibitions on visits, travel, contacts, or communications with Nagorno Karabakh.” The Rules Committee, which screens amendments prior to their consideration by the full House, ruled Rep. Pallone’s amendment “not in order.” Joining Rep. Pallone in supporting this proposed amendment were fellow Congressional Armenian Caucus leaders Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Peter King (R-NY), Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Jackie Speier (D-CA).

During a March, 2019, interview with then-ANCA Government Affairs Director Raffi Karakashian, Rep. Pallone, who holds the record for number of Congressional visits to Artsakh, drew attention to the obstacles Members of Congress typically face when considering this trip.

Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 07-06-19

Liana Toganian

Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 07-06-19

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17:48, 7 June, 2019

YEREVAN, 7 JUNE, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 7 June, USD exchange rate is up by 0.04 drams to 479.61 drams. EUR exchange rate is up by 0.95 drams to 539.75 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate is up by 0.01 drams to 7.37 drams. GBP exchange rate is up by 0.91 drams to 609.68 drams.

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

Gold price is up by 8.66 drams to 20593.17 drams. Silver price is up by 1.79 drams to 230.6 drams. Platinum price is down by 384.44 drams to 12366.69 drams.

A1+: Syrian-Armenian convinces his Armenian wife which country’s cuisine is the best

Liana Toganian

June 3, 2019
"There is always a job for a worker. Who says that there is no, he gave up after one failure." This is the opinion of Syrian-Armenian Harutyun Ter-Baghdasaryan, who has been living and working in Armenia for the past seven years. He earns money and creates the necessary living conditions by making and selling jewelry in Vernisage.
 
His father helps him in jewelry making. They try to create things that are not common, though it says it is very difficult to do this during this "identical" period.
 
He misses the Syrian cuisine the most.
 
"Armenian cuisine is not one of the best. Those, who think so, have never tried Syrian dishes, and I believe that the best is Aleppo's cuisine. Even my Armenian wife is convinced of it," he says.
 
Syrian-Armenian Hakob Azelyan is well aware of this, and that is why he founded "Deryan" Syrian restaurant six years ago. He also came to Armenia when the Syrian war started. The restaurant's visitors are both Syrians and locals, and they try make tasty and interesting dishes for the demanding society. The preferred dishes of the client are the Syrian humus and kebab species.
 
He had difficulties with work at the initial stage, but eventually he succeeded.
 
"Armenia is an expensive country to live and work compared to Syria. There are no production here, everyone sells," he says.
 
However, he is glad that after a difficult time he was able to create a restaurant that always has visitors.


45% of agricultural land in Armenia is not used

Liana Toganian
Agriculture Monitor Worldwide
June 1, 2019 Saturday

45% of agricultural land in Armenia is not used

Forty-five per cent of agricultural land in Armenia is not used, said Armenian Deputy Minister of Agriculture Garnik Petrosyan during the conference Farmers' congress on Friday.

According to him, this is a result of the fact that problems were raised in the field of agriculture, laws were developed without discussion with the beneficiaries, without taking into account the opinions of villagers and farmers, and all projects were far from reality and ineffective.

Today we need new approaches. First of all, it concerns the increase of land productivity, increase of personnel potential, stimulation of production of high-quality products, solution of the problem of import, he noted.

As reported earlier, Farmers' congress conference funded by EU is being held in Armenia. The main goal of the project is to contribute to the sustainable development of agriculture in Armenia through the improvement of agrarian policy. 2019 Global Data Point.

Sports: Kim Kardashian labelled a ‘disgrace’ for not sticking up for Mkhitaryan in Arsenal Europa League final row

Liana Toganian
The Sun, UK
GETTING THE ARSE

The celebrity has Armenian roots and desperate Gunners supporters begged her to get involved

  • By Joshua Jones

HILARIOUS Arsenal fans have jokingly labelled KIM KARDASHIAN a "disgrace" for failing to help resolve the Henrikh Mkhitaryan Europa League final row.

Gunners supporters were hoping the TV celebrity would get involved because she has Armenian roots – like the playmaker – and would therefore use her massive social media following to try and influence the situation.

Rex Features
2

Arsenal fans have blasted Kim Kardashian for failing to support Armenian star Henrikh Mkhitaryan

PA:Empics Sport
2

The playmaker will not travel to Baku for the Europa League final because his safety cannot be guaranteed

Arsenal confirmed yesterday that Mkhitaryan would not be travelling to Baku with the rest of the squad for the Europa League final against Chelsea next Wednesday.

Due to political tensions stretching back three decades between Armenia and Azerbaijan, his safety could not be guaranteed.

But Arsenal fans are exploring every possible avenue to try and get their man to play – including messaging Kardashian on Twitter.

Quoting a tweet from the model and reality TV star, @1Walid1 fumed: "Armenian when it’s convenient, yet silent on the issue of Mkhitaryan playing in the Europa League final? You’re a disgrace to your federation."

Many found the tweet funny and one replied: "So disappointed in the Kardashians on this."

Another tweeted Kardashian and said: "Did u aware your brother from armenia @HenrikhMkh won't be playing in europa league final because of old history of war between armenia and Azerbaijan (baku) and the world is silent. Peace to the world."

And @RaveHawk2012 bizarrely appeared to genuinely appeal for support.

The user tweeted: "Hi Kim, not sure if this message will find you but, if it does, do you think you could help support Armenia’s football captain? He’s had to pull out of a final because he’s Armenian. Is there a way you could help Henrikh? Thanks."

Kardashian is yet to reply.

Meanwhile, on Reddit, more Arsenal fans continued to blast her.

User Bless_the_reign said: "Actually f*** this. She's influential. If you have Twitter make her aware. Keep blasting her.

"She might 'not care' but if the public have interest, she can jump on board and a single tweet from this ding dong could be damning.

"I mean, I'd bet a grand on Kim Kardashian not knowing who Arsenal are, let alone Mkhitaryan and even more so the Europa league."

User Kamzzyuk had hope. They wrote: "Apparently Mkhitaryan is more famous than the Kardashians in Armenia, so maybe she does know him loool."

And Up_Your_Chump also got in on the act: "Starting a petition to demand all Kardashians and Jenners go directly to Baku and support Arsenal by buying all the rest of the tickets and giving away Mkhitaryan kits to all supporters and attending the game and sitting on middle finger emoji thrones. F*** it, bring Kanye and don't forget about Rob and Caitlin."

Kardashian's ancestry to Armenia comes through her father's side and in April 2015 she visited the country with her family, which included a trip to the Armenian Genocide memorial.

But she is not a citizen of Armenia nor can she speak the language and so far, she has not weighed in on the debate.

Arsenal's club captain Laurent Koscielny blasted Uefa for their pathetic attempts to help resolve the totally-avoidable situation.

Koscielny said: “I’m not very happy because we need to leave one player behind and he can’t play in the final.”

He added, in an interview with the BBC: “When one country has a political problem with another then Uefa shouldn’t give the final to that country.

“We want Mkhi with us because he is an important player for Arsenal. But we know about the problems and if he thinks he can’t be safe it’s better for him to stay here.

“This final is very far for the fans of both teams and it’s difficult and very expensive to travel to Baku. We will play the game but it’s not the final we dreamed of.”

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/9127287/kim-kardashian-mkhitaryan-arsenal-europa-league-armenia/




Armenpress: Armenian minister meets Atos information technology company’s Vice President in Paris

Liana Toganian

Armenian minister meets Atos information technology company’s Vice President in Paris

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11:08,

YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s minister of transport, communication and information technologies Hakob Arshakyan met with Chief Commercial Officer and Vice President of Atos information technology company Robert Vassoyan on the sidelines of the VivaTech 2019 international technological exhibition in Paris, France, the ministry told Armenpress

The meeting was also attended by Armenia’s Ambassador to France Hasmik Tolmajyan.

Minister Arshakyan introduced Robert Vassoyan on the Armenian government’s policy in technology field and the ongoing actions on this path. The minister informed that Armenia has a new ministry of High Technological Industry and presented the structural changes as a result of which the field of high technologies will develop in Armenia.

In his turn Robert Vassoyan highlighted the efforts of the Armenian authorities aimed at technological development and touched upon Armenia’s potential in the field of high technologies. He said he visited Armenia few years ago and is impressed with the Armenian talents, adding that the Armenian companies of the technological field can compare themselves with the world’s leading companies that operate in China, India, US and Silicon Valley. He also expressed readiness to cooperate, contribute to the development of Armenia’s technological sector and assist the government’s all projects.

Minister Hakob Arshakyan thanked for the proposal to support and cooperate and invited Robert Vassoyan to take part in the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT-2019) which will take place in Yerevan on October 6-9.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan




Music: The team of the Opera and Ballet Theater is looking forward to a new meeting with Pashinyan in connection with the “unlawful“ dismissal of Konstantin Orbelian

Liana Toganian
Arminfo, Armenia
May 7 2019
Asya Balayan

ArmInfo.The team of the National Opera and Ballet Theater named after Spendiaryan again expressed a desire to meet with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to present him the true facts related to the scandal related to the dismissal from the post  of theater director Konstantin Orbelian.

 The soloist of the National Philharmonic Orchestra Levon Javadyan and conductor Harutyun Arzumanyan expressed this intention at today's meeting with  journalists. They explained that a month had passed since the meeting  with the Prime Minister, but the staff of the theater had not  received a clear answer yet.  Levon Javadyan, commenting on the  situation around <incriminating evidence> about a number of  violations allegedly committed by Orbelian, accused the former lawyer  of the Opera Theater Kristina Naghdalyan, who, in his opinion,  provoked Orbelian's resignation, publishing an article openly  accusing the maestro of being illegally in the position of director  of the theater and also told about the problems in the theater.

As Javadyan explained, by the order of the Ministry of Finance in  2017, a number of employees of the Opera Theater were reduced, and  Orbelyan has already been appointed director of the theater then. As  for Ms. Naghdalyan, she was dismissed due to official abuse, in  particular, the accumulated debts in 2014- 2016, he noted.

In addition, the opera theater team believes that the "contrived"  arguments of the lawyer served as the basis for the order to dismiss  Orbelyan, assuring that in the order given by the acting Culture  Minister of Armenia Nazeni Gharibyan the accusations that were  previously published in the media were literally copied.

According to the estimates of the theater staff, the misinformation  spread in the media mislead both the public and Nikol Pashinyan and  Nazeni Gharibyan themselves. In connection with this, the staff  demands a meeting with the prime minister so that Pashinyan hears the  truth and makes the right decision.  The theater team is confident  that the conflict around Orbelyan is caused by a clash of interests  and abuse of official powers, given that the husband of Christine  Naghdalyan is the head of the staff of the Ministry of Culture.

Employees of the theater consider the evidence collected against  Orbelyan as far-fetched, calling his dismissal from the post of  director unlawful, and condemn the decision of the Ministry of  Culture, believing that the department did not have the right to  remove Orbelyan from office until the contract expires in 2020.

In addition, Arzumanyan explained that after Orbelian's dismissal,  Gharibyan announced the appointment of a new director of the theater,  whose name remained secret for them, but only after meeting with the  Prime Minister and the Minister of Culture statement was made saying  that Karine Kirakosyan was appointed  Director of the theater.

Despite the fact that Kirakosyan temporarily acts as director of the  theater, the artists do not agree with the development of such a  scenario, noting that the question will cause concern until the  problem gets its final decision, while expressing the hope that  Orbelian will be able to reassume the position. 

To note, Konstantin Orbelian currently continues to be the artistic  director of the Opera Theater. On March 29, 2019, the world-famous  conductor was dismissed from the post of director of the theater  according to the decree of the Acting Minister of Culture of Armenia  Nazeni Gharibyan, the basis for which was Article 15 of the Law of  the Republic of Armenia "On State Non-Profit Organizations", which  states that a person appointed to the position of Director of SNCO  cannot occupy another position or perform other paid work, except for  scientific, pedagogical and creative work.  It should be noted that,  along with a brilliant pianist career, Orbelyan also developed a wide  range of activities in the opera field as a conductor and artistic  director. In particular, in 1991-2009, he was artistic director and  chief conductor of the State Academic Chamber Orchestra of Russia. In  2003, Orbelyan, a US citizen, the first foreigner who does not have  Russian citizenship, was awarded the honorary title of Honored Artist  of Russia. In 2012, he was awarded the Order of Friendship for his  great contribution to the popularization of Russian culture outside  Russia. 

A1+: Declaration by the High Representative, Federica Mogherini, on behalf of the EU on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day

Liana Toganian

May 3, 2019

On World Press Freedom Day we celebrate the essential role of a free press not only as a conveyer of reliable and accurate news, but as a pillar of democracy. The quality of democratic processes is linked to the state of freedom of _expression_ as well as media freedom and pluralism. There is no democracy without a truly free press.

While bearing the great responsibility to guarantee checked and correct news to the public, free, diverse and independent media are at the very same basis of a pluralistic and open society. Investigative journalism fulfils a necessary watchdog role that assists the public in holding governments and institutions, at all level, accountable for their actions and obligations. However, we see more and more attempts to curb the space for free media, also by systematically undermining their credibility, and too many journalists have lost their lives or have put their lives at risk for having exposed inconvenient truths.

This year's 26th worldwide commemoration addresses the current challenges faced by the media in elections in times of disinformation, as well as the media's potential to support democracy, peace and reconciliation. Disinformation has a high potential to negatively influence democratic processes and public debates all over the world, and the European Union makes no exception.

This is why we have launched the 'EU Action Plan against Disinformation'(*), that steps up the European response to strengthen the resilience of our societies against disinformation. The Plan focuses on improving detection of disinformation, coordinating and joining up actions by the Union and Member States, mobilising the private sector to deliver on its commitments, raising public awareness and empowering citizens. Healthy democracy relies on open, free and fair public debate and it is our duty to protect this space and not allow anybody to spread disinformation that fuels hatred, division, and mistrust in democracy.

The EU is promoting free and fair media not only at home but also globally in our relations with third countries, including by providing funding for targeted projects that enhance quality journalism, press freedom and access to public information.  With free journalism under increasing pressure, the EU reaffirms its determination to defend press and media freedom within its borders and worldwide.

  • (*) On 5 December 2018 the Commission and the High Representative adopted the Joint Communication setting out an “Action Plan against Disinformation”


Հրավեր – Հաքիմ Աբուլղասեմ Ֆիրդուսու մեծարման օր

Liana Toganian
ՀՀ–ում ԻԻՀ դեսպանության
մշակույթի
կենտրոնը,

ՀՀ ԳԱԱ  Մ. Աբեղյանի անվան գրականության  ինստիտուտի 
և

Երևանի
պետական
համալսարանի
իրանագիտության
ամբիոնի
համագործակցությամբ
կազմակերպում
են

 

Պարսկերենի պահպանության և

պարսից գրականության մեծանուն պոետ՝

Հաքիմ Աբուլղասեմ Ֆիրդուսու մեծարման օր

 

2019 թ. մայիսի 14 –ին`  ժամը 15։00

Հասցե՝ ՀՀ ԳԱԱ Մանուկ
Աբեղյանի
անվան
գրականության
ինստիտուտ

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