Author: Markos Nalchajian

Sports: UEFA Nations League: Armenia beat Liechtenstein 2-1

Markos Nalchajian
PanArmenian, Armenia
Sept 7 2018
September 7, 2018 – 10:44 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenia beat Liechtenstein 2-1 in their first UEFA Nations League fixture on Thursday, September 6 in Yerevan.

In the first half of the match, midfielder Marcos Pizzelli shot from outside the box to the top left corner of Liechtenstsein's net after Aras Özbiliz, an Armenian winger, assisted.

Minutes later, Liechtenstein's Sandro Wolfinger shot from the left side of the six yard box to the bottom left corner for an equalizer.

In the second half, Armenian midfielder Tigran Barseghyan, again with an assist from Özbiliz, netted a second goal for Armenia to help the team win the game.

Next, Armenia will face Macedonia on September 9.

Armenian president dismisses Ambassador to Ukraine

Markos Nalchajian
| 17:35 | September 3 2018
Categories
Official
Politics

Armenian President Armen Sarkissian has dismissed Ambassador to Ukraine Andranik Manukyan.

“President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian has signed an order of September 3 on recalling Armenia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ukraine Andranik Manukyan from his position,” Sarkissian’s office said in a statement.

Manukyan was serving as Ambassador to Ukraine since 2010.

Armen Ashotyan: The new Armenian authorities are obliged to make every effort in order to maintain post of CSTO Secretary General for Armenia after this scandal

Markos Nalchajian
Arminfo, Armenia
Aug 28 2018
Armen Ashotyan: The new Armenian authorities are obliged to make every effort in order to maintain post of CSTO Secretary General for Armenia after this scandal

Yerevan August 28

Ani Mshetsyan. "In his recent interview, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko stated that he was against the candidacy of Yuri Khachaturov as Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and proposed other candidates, but I think that the President of Belarus did not fully reveal this issue, I think that Belarus was against Armenia's chairmanship in this organization as a whole. " This was reported on the page of the social network Facebook by the chairman of the permanent commission of the National Assembly on foreign relations Armen Ashotyan.

The Ambassador noted that this problem is probably not related to Khachaturov's personality, because if membership was transferred to Armenia, then the leaders of other countries could not nominate their candidates for this post.

In particular, Ashotyan wrote: "This whole situation shows how much effort former Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan made for our country in order to resolve the issue of the CSTO Secretary General in our favor." As it became clear, the case against Yuri Khachaturov affected the case the point of view of the CSTO member countries and somewhat spoiled the credibility of the organization.The issue of maintaining our positions in the CSTO is becoming increasingly important, against the backdrop of the fact that we can become an observer country in the CSTO, In conclusion to all that has been said above, it becomes obvious that there were problems on the military political agenda of Armenia, which had not existed before. It is obvious that the new Armenian authorities, irrespective of the case instituted against Yuri Khachaturov, are obliged make every effort to preserve the post of Secretary General of the CSTO for Armenia after this scandal, "Ashotyan concluded.

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview with Belarus-1 that Belarus offered other candidates for the post of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Secretary General, and was right. "We looked deeper on this issue – from the point of view of the new leadership of Armenia, the policy pursued by Nikol Pashinyan and his government, we discussed our joint actions in the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the problems that now exist in the CSTO itself, as well as those areas of action for which are the responsibility of the members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, "Lukashenko said.

Secretary General of the CSTO Yuri Khachaturov is accused of overthrowing the constitutional order in the so-called "March 1, 2008 case." At that time he held the post of the head of the Yerevan garrison. By a court decision of July 28, he was arrested and then released on bail in the amount of 5 million drams. In the same case, the second Armenian President Robert Kocharian and former Defense Minister Mikael Harutyunyan are on the wanted list.

On August 2, the Special Investigative Service stated that the preventive measure chosen against Yuri Khachaturov is not an obstacle for him to absent himself from Armenia for some time. At the same time, the CAS did not detail the permissible period of its absence.

Official Yerevan invited CSTO colleagues to consider the possibility of replacing the candidacy of the CSTO Secretary General from Armenia in connection with the criminal prosecution of Yuri Khachaturov.


A1+: Bucharest-Yerevan regular flights to be operated

Markos Nalchajian
  • 16:05 | August 27,2018 | Politics
  • Հայ

The talks between the Armenia International Airports CJSC and Romanian Tarom airline have been completed.

The two sides signed an agreement according to which the Tarom airline will carry out Bucharest-Yerevan regular flights starting from September 5.

As ARMENPRESS noted Bucharest’s geographical position is very convenient for transit flights in main European destinations.

Environmentalist: It is good that the members of the government are worried about the issues voiced by us (video)

Markos Nalchajian
  • 14:15 | August 24,2018 | Economy
  • Հայ

Today, environmentalist Karine Danielyan told a news conference that it is encouraging that for the first time the government discussed issues that have been voiced for years, referring to yesterday’s government decision on release of water from Lake Sevan for irrigation purposes.

“We have said this for years, but we have not seen any change. It was good that yesterday, the members of the government were worried about the issues voiced by us,” said Karine Danielyan.

According to experts, Lake Sevan is in extreme condition and the new amount of release of water from Lake Sevanwill further deteriorate the lake’s condition.

“We cannot consider Lake Sevan any time. We must save the Ararat Valley, but Sevan is not an option,” says Evelina Ghukasyan.

According to her, after the death of algae, the amount of oxygen will be very small, which will affect the lake’s fauna.

More information is in the video.

168: Public should feel that it receives real benefits from the use of national wealth – PM Pashinyan

Markos Nalchajian
| 15:24 | August 23 2018
Category
Politics

The Armenian government approved the action plan ensuring the implementation of the mining industry development concept.

During today’s session minister of energy infrastructures and natural resources Artur Grigoryan said the mining industry, as one of the key sectors of the Armenian industry, still doesn’t have a concrete policy and strategy which will enable to have a vision and implement concrete actions for ensuring the sustainable development of the field.

“It is expected to develop a mining industry development strategy which first of all requires some diagnostic studies. Based on the research, the directions for solving the issues revealed and the financial assessment for ensuring reforms will be mentioned in the strategic document”, the minister said.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said today the mining industry is one of the key sectors for Armenia’s economic growth. “One of our government’s key tasks is to change the model of the economic growth not because that the talk in this case relates to the sale of our subsoil. The economic growth formed as a result of the funds generated by the sale of that subsoil is not inclusive, in other words, the citizens of Armenia do not feel the impact of that economic growth on themselves. On the other hand, we need to take all measures to set a great control on the mining industry, making it more qualified and responsible and defining such operation rules that the public will really feel them: the national wealth is used so that the state and the public receive so much benefits as they really need to receive”, PM Pashinyan said.

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 08/15/2018

Markos Nalchajian 
                                        Wednesday, 

Dashnak Leader Won’t Rule Out Cooperation With Kocharian

        • Sargis Harutyunyan

Armenia - Hrant Markarian, a leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, 
attends a conference in Yerevan, 9 December 2015.

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) might again cooperate 
with former President Robert Kocharian, a top leader of the party represented 
in Armenia’s current government said on Wednesday.

In an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Hrant Markarian also said that 
both Kocharian and another former president, Levon Ter-Petrosian, are to blame 
for deadly street violence that followed a disputed presidential election held 
in 2008.

“We are prepared for cooperation with everyone, with all Armenians, but we have 
neither a decision nor an agenda to specifically cooperate with Kocharian,” 
said Markarian.

Asked whether he is not ruling out cooperation with Kocharian, he said: “Why 
should I? I neither intend [to cooperate] nor exclude that.”

Markarian would not say whether his party expects the ex-president to return to 
the political arena. “It’s up to him to decide, I really don’t know,” he said.

Dashnaktsutyun was allied to Kocharian throughout his 1998-2008 rule. The 
latter lifted Ter-Petrosian’s controversial ban on the party’s activities in 
Armenia shortly after becoming president.

Dashnaktsutyun, which is particularly influential in Armenian communities 
abroad, also reached power-sharing deals with Kocharian’s successor, Serzh 
Sarkisian, in 2008 and 2016. It went on to receive two ministerial posts in the 
current government headed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.


Armenia - A police car is set on fire in Yerevan, 1 March 2008.

Dashnaktsutyun criticized as politically motivated Kocharian’s arrest late last 
month on charges stemming from the breakup of the 2008 post-election protests 
in Yerevan which left eight supporters of Ter-Petrosian and two police 
personnel dead. Commenting on the criticism at the weekend, Pashinian said 
Dashnaktsutyun is free to decide whether to remain part of his cabinet.

Kocharian, who was released from custody on Monday, stands accused of using the 
armed forces against the protesters in the wake of the disputed ballot in which 
Ter-Petrosian was the main opposition candidate. He strongly denies the 
charges, saying that Pashinian is waging a “vendetta” against him. Pashinian 
played a key role in Ter-Petrosian’s 2007-2008 opposition movement.

“The blame for those 8-10 victims, regardless of who shot at them, lies with 
everyone: with Levon Ter-Petrosian and also Robert [Kocharian,]” said 
Markarian. “It doesn’t matter who opened fire. What matters is who created that 
situation.”

“At that time we warned both the [Ter-Petrosian-led] and Robert Kocharian not 
go down that dangerous path but they didn’t listen to us … They deliberately 
opted for that and got what they got,” he said.




Armenian Ministries Evacuated After Bomb Alert

        • Anush Muradian

Armenia - A government building in Yerevan that houses the Ministry of Health.

Hundreds of employees of the Armenian Ministry of Health and other government 
agencies were briefly evacuated on Wednesday after what turned out to be a 
false bomb alert.

The Armenian Ministry of Emergency Situations said security forces joined by 
rescue workers and demining experts were rushed to the ministry building in 
downtown Yerevan after an anonymous caller threatened to blow it up. They found 
no explosive devices in the building that also houses two other ministries.

“The alert was false,” a senior Armenian police official, Suren Khudoyan, told 
RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “The police carried out searches and found nothing 
dangerous. The employees are now returning to work.”

A police spokesman said shortly afterwards that law-enforcement officers have 
already identified the person who made the bomb threat. But it was not 
immediately clear whether the suspect was detained.

False bomb alerts made over the phone have not been uncommon in Armenia. They 
have targeted government institutions, at least one private firm, Yerevan’s 
Zvartnots international airport and even a school in the Armenian capital. In 
virtually all of those cases, the callers were identified and prosecuted by the 
authorities.




Press Review



“Zhoghovurd” praises Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s video address that 
followed the disruption of a news conference planned by former President Robert 
Kocharian on Tuesday. He said that “all individuals who committed crimes 
against the state and the people will be held accountable.” “Although Pashinian 
did not name any names it is obvious that his remarks also applied to these 
events [related to the probe of the March 2008 unrest,]” comments the paper. It 
says at the same time that Pashinian has still not directly commented on 
Kocharian’s arrest and subsequent release.

“I am not afraid of Robert Kocharian,” writes the editor of “Hraparak.” “I 
don’t see a danger emanating from him. I do not feel sorry for him or defend 
him. But nor do I consider him the main cause of our misfortunes. I do not 
think that had it not been for him we would have had a better country. I also 
do not think that only he is to blame for [what happened on] March 1. But I can 
understand those people who have been looking for a single guilty individual, a 
single enemy and are now venting their negative emotions on that person. I 
realize that it’s a natural phenomenon and that Kocharian himself had formed 
this attitude with his activities … But I am totally opposed to the concept of 
repression in principle, no matter who is targeted by it.”

“Aravot” sees a geopolitical “fire” escalating around Armenia. “In essence, 
Russia, Turkey and Iran are entering a period of very serious crises,” writes 
the paper. “At least in the case of Russia and Turkey, we can assert that there 
is an unprecedented crisis in their relations with the U.S. Armenia has no 
reason to share this trio’s hostile attitudes towards the West. It actually has 
many reasons to do the opposite.” It says that in order to better cope with 
these geopolitical challenges the Armenian authorities should speed up the 
conduct of snap parliamentary elections and thus cement internal stability. The 
paper also calls for a “restart” of Armenia’s relations with the West.

(Tigran Avetisian)



Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2018 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org

Armenian government postponed consideration of "Armoil" company’s application until clarification of problems with environmental inspection body

Markos Nalchajian
Arminfo, Armenia
Aug 9 2018
Armenian government postponed consideration of "Armoil" company's application until clarification of problems with environmental inspection body

 Yerevan August 9

Naira Badalian. Armenian Minister of Economic Development and Investments Artsvik Minasyan on August 9 presented the investment program of Armoil company on construction of a crude oil processing plant in the town of Yeghvard in the Kotayk region, asking to prolong the previously adopted government's decision to grant a deferment on payment of import customs duties on technological equipment in the framework of the investment program. The government considered the draft decision, and in view of the environmental tasks, decided to postpone its adoption for a week.

As the Minister pointed out, 250 new job places will be opened in the framework of the investment program instead of the current 100. At the same time, according to the Minister, a certain unpleasant attitude towards the plant has been formed in the society, since there is a wrong opinion that instead of a plant for processing crude oil, construction of refinery is planned, which does not correspond to reality.

Meanwhile, as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted, before the meeting of the government, he became aware that the nature protection and inspection body on mineral resources had decided to stop the construction of a small oil refinery in the town of Yeghvard, Kotayk region (on July 16, ed. note). "Do we have information related to to the assessment of the impact on the environment?" the Prime Minister asked. In response, the Minister of Nature Protection Erik Grigoryan stated that the inspection body carried out research and suspended construction of the plant. At the same time, research was carried out on the construction of an oil refinery, and not a plant for processing raw materials, in connection with which there is a legal gap. Nevertheless, the plant did not receive positive results of expertise and environmental impact assessment. As a result, even despite the proposal of Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan to approve the project, and then try to solve the problem with the environmental department, Nikol Pashinyan proposed to postpone for a week the approval of the company's application for deferment of customs payments on imported goods. "The environmental concept should be very clearly set in the core of our actions. This does not mean that there will be no refinery in Armenia, however all the actions should be exclusively within the framework of the law," he concluded.

To recall, earlier within the administrative proceedings launched on July 10 in the inspection body, it was found out that Armoil CJSC had not carried out an environmental impact assessment in accordance with the RA Law on Examination and Assessment of Impact before the construction of an oil refinery in the Nati district of Yeghvard, Kotayk region. On the basis of the abovementioned, on July 16 head of the Nature Protection and Inspection Body on mineral resources Artur Grigoryan, decided to stop the construction of the oil refinery until a positive response based on the documents on the relevant expertise and environmental impact assessment are ensured. Almost ayear ago on October 18, 2017 the inspection body had already made a decision to stop the construction of the plant. It was that time the company was obliged to make an expertise and strategic evaluation of environmental impact.

However, on March 22 in a talk to ArmInfo's correspondent General Director of the company Alfred Abadi stated that already in two-three months the oil refinery plant in Yeghvard wil become a reality. "The area and the capacity of the plant have been enlarged compared to the initial plan", he said.

Meanwhile, back in March 2016, in an interview with ArmInfo, the general director of Armoil (the official representative of the Lubreks brand in Armenia and the CIS countries and importing engine oils from the UAE-ed.note) Alfred Abadi noted that the main goal of the company is the production of petroleum products with labeling "Made in Armenia".

The investment package was supposed to be initially implemented in three stages, the total volume of investments – $ 35 million. The first stage of the project involves the construction of an oil refinery in Yeghvard. According to the business plan, the production capacity of the enterprise for the first time will amount to 15 thousand tons of engine oil and 6 thousand tons of tar per year. In the future, the plant will also have the opportunity to process used engine oil and use it as raw materials, which in turn will help maintain the cleanliness of the environment and ecology. The company intends to produce production amounting to 100 million drams for selling on the domestic market alone. The plant, whose area is 5 thousand square meters with further expansion to 15 thousand square meters, will also have underground and land bases, which are necessary for storing 4 thousand tons of diesel fuel, 2 tons bitumen, and 2-3 thousand tons of raw materials for the production of various oils, as well as 20 thousand tons of finished products. About $ 15 million were to be invested to implement the first stage of the program (it was planned to be completed in August 2016),. The whole program was planned to be completed within three years.


CSTO Gen-Sec Yuri Khachaturov returns to Moscow

Markos Nalchajian
| 15:38 | August 4 2018
Category
Politics

Secretary General of the CSTO Yuri Khachaturov returned to Moscow on August 4 and has resumed the implementation of his duties. ARMENPRESS reports CSTO’s press secretary Vladimir Zaynetdinov told TASS.

“CSTO Secretary General returned to Moscow from Yerevan on August 4 and has fully resumed the implementation of his duties”, he said.

Turkish Press: Turkish minorities ‘free’ to follow faith

Markos Nalchajian
Anadolu Agency (AA), Turkey
Tuesday
Turkish minorities 'free' to follow faith
 
Joint declaration by minority groups says allegations of victimization baseless
 
By Murat Paksoy and Hanife Sevinc
 
ISTANBUL
 
Representatives of minority communities on Tuesday said they were free to follow their faith in Turkey, denying allegations that they were being victimized.
 
In a joint declaration, Turkey's minority community representatives — including followers of the Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches — said that people of different faiths live "freely".
 
"We as religious representatives and foundation directors of societies of different religions and beliefs, who have been settled in this country for centuries, are free to follow our beliefs and practices," the declaration reads.
 
"Statements that claim and/or imply that there is pressure [on people of other faiths] are totally unfounded and misdirected," it added.
 
"Many difficulties and unjust treatment experienced in the past have been resolved over time."
 
The statement added they are "constantly in consultation" with the government which resolves their problems through "mutual goodwill".
 
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