Author: Mary Lazarian

Military-Sports Lyceum after Monte Melkonyan defends the occupied territory: The hotels and cottages are used by teachers and officers of the Lyceum.

Mary Lazarian
Arminfo, Armenia
Naira Badalian

ArmInfo. Management, faculty and officers of the Military- Sports Lyceum after Monte Melkonyan responded to the statement of the head of the Committee on State  Property Management of Armenia Narek Babayan about the unreasonable  misuse of the Ministry of Finance Training Center in Dilijan, in  which more than a dozen million dollars were invested.

As noted in the statement of the leadership of the lyceum received by  ArmInfo, they once again sadly state that the head of the Committee  on State Property Management, Narek Babayan, simply does not know the  situation and information.

The management, teaching and officers of the military-sports lyceum  closely follow the publications in the media regarding the lyceum. As  a result, they are ready to refute a number of statements, in  particular, Babayan that about 100 cadets study at the Lyceum. "The  2018-2019 school year began with 215 cadets, today there are 190.  Next year we plan to accept 250 cadets," they say.

In addition, as noted by the management of the Lyceum, the hotel and  cottages on the territory of the training center are not at all idle,  as Babayan claims. The teaching and officers of the Lyceum use them,  and from this year they will be used for their intended purpose. Only  in 2018, there were as many as two seminars and forums sponsored by  the EU at the Lyceum. "The lyceum has also become an indispensable  harbor for high-ranking guests of the Defense Ministry and for  conducting various programs," they note.

The cottages are also not idle: in 3 of them there are lyceum heads,  who are visited by family members from time to time, in one cottage  there is a first-aid post, and in the rest there are guests -  prominent military figures and intellectuals who come to the center  with lectures. At the same time, as they point out, Narek Babayan  should not doubt the managerial qualities of the management of the  lyceum, who has management experience in various structures.

Yesterday of the conversation with journalists, head of the State  Committee on Property Management, Narek Babayan, said that the  inappropriate use of the training center of the State Revenue  Committee of Armenia is unacceptable. According to him, Lyceum after  Monte Melkonyan should be provided with good conditions, but we do  not have the right to commit to inaction such a construction with  multi-million investments, for the preservation of which we continue  to allocate huge funds and not benefit from them.  At the same time,  as he pointed out, the hotel can claim the title of "luxury". "Of  course, lyceum cadets should be provided with good conditions, but  this does not mean that a lyceum with 100 students should be given an  area of 8 hectares with excellent luxury living conditions," he said,  urging to refrain from manipulating in the context of the fact that  the soldier worthy of the best conditions. The construction of the  training center of the Ministry of Finance caused in its time loud  discussions in connection with the costs that the Ministry of Finance  at the expense of state funds directs to its equipment. There and  spas, saunas, a restaurant, several cafes and tennis courts, a  separate hotel. Furnished object, to put it mildly, luxurious.  Only  according to official documents, 26 billion drams, or about $ 60  million, were spent on all this from the state budget. Let us say,  for comparison, that the construction in the center of Yerevan of a  huge hotel under an international brand required $ 23 million. 

Rep. Costa Recognizes 31st Anniversary of Massacres Against Armenians in Sumgait

Mary Lazarian
Targeted News Service
March 9, 2019 Saturday 8:38 PM EST
Rep. Costa Recognizes 31st Anniversary of Massacres Against Armenians in Sumgait
 
WASHINGTON
 
WASHINGTON, March 9 — Rep. Jim Costa, D-California, issued the following speech, which was published in the Congressional Record on March 7, recognizing the 31st anniversary of massacres against Armenians in Sumgait:
 
Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the thirty-first anniversary of the pogroms against people of Armenian descent in Sumgait, Azerbaijan.
 
In late February of 1988 the Armenian people of Nagomo Karabakh, more commonly known by its people and descendants as Artsakh, rose up in peaceful protest to demand their right to self-determination. This courageous call for equality and human dignity was met with murderous riots beginning on February 27, 1988, which lasted for three days. Scores of Armenians were killed, hundreds were wounded, and thousands were forced to leave their homes and livelihoods behind.
 
Undeterred by this oppression, the Armenian community and its dedication to democratic self-determination sparked a movement that finally helped bring an end to the dictatorship of the Soviet Union. The courage demonstrated by the people of Artsakh in demanding their rights even after all their adversity is admirable and should never be forgotten. The people of Artsakh continue to exhibit this strength and courage in the twenty-first century as they stride towards creating a better tomorrow.
 
On behalf of the thousands of Armenian Americans living in my congressional district, I ask my colleagues to stand with the people of Artsakh in remembering the lives lost during this tragic conflict. May their memory serve as a reminder for each and every one of us to continue advocating for human rights and democratic freedoms around the world.

Swallows and Armenians: Arthur Ransome’s forgotten inspirations revealed

Mary Lazarian
The Guardian, UK
March 9 2019
Swallows and Armenians: Arthur Ransome’s forgotten inspirations revealed

A new art project is exploring how the characters in the English children’s classic were modelled on a family from Aleppo

Alison Flood

Sat 9 Mar 2019 06.00 GMT

Mavis, Taqui and Susie Altounyan, three of the five children who inspired Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons, boating with a nanny in the early 1920s. Photograph: Guzelian

Arthur Ransome’s fictional Walker children – John, Susan, Titty and Roger – are quintessentially English, enjoying summers sailing in the Lake District with bread and marmalade for tea, and peppering their talk with regular “jolly good”s. But the Anglo-Armenian family who inspired the Walkers deserves to be more widely acknowledged, says artist Karen Babayan, who hopes to re-establish the connection through an Arts Council England-funded project spanning stories, dance, theatre and art.

The Altounyan children – Taqui, Susan, Mavis (known to her family as Titty), Roger and Brigit – lived in Aleppo, Syria. Their father, the half-Armenian, half-Irish Ernest Altounyan, had known Ransome since their school days at Rugby, and Ransome had unsuccessfully proposed to their mother, Dora Collingwood. Altounyan married Collingwood in 1915, and their friendship with Ransome was renewed when the Altounyan family took a summer trip to the Lake District in 1928. Ernest and Ransome bought two boats, named Swallow and Mavis, for the children and the group spent months sailing, fishing and walking together.

Ransome published Swallows and Amazons two years later, initially including a dedication in the novel, “To the six for whom it was written in exchange for a pair of slippers”, which referred to the Turkish slippers the Altounyans gave him when they left. Ernest wrote to him: “I especially marvel at your extraordinary accurate characterisation of the kids.”

But Ransome removed the dedication from later editions. The Independent’s obituary of the youngest Altounyan, Brigit, who was president of the Arthur Ransome Society for years and died at 73 in 1999, speculated that “as the Swallows and Amazons stories became increasingly famous, Ransome, incited perhaps by [his wife] Evgenia, became over-protective about the originality of his characters”.

Ransome’s autobiography described Ernest as merely “Robin Collingwood’s Rugby friend” whose “children had identified themselves (regardless of sex) with my characters”.

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Ransome with four of the five Altounyan children and their mother, Dora. Photograph: Arthur Ransome Literary Estate

Now Babayan, an Anglo-Armenian author and artist based in Cumbria, said she wanted “the contribution of the Altounyan family to be more widely acknowledged and celebrated, bringing positive awareness of different cultures in the Lake District”.

“In knowing the identity and ethnicity of the children, I believe young British readers of all cultural backgrounds would feel more connected to and excited by the works of Arthur Ransome,” she said.

Babayan’s book of short stories, Swallows and Armenians, is published on Friday. It draws from correspondence and diaries held in Leeds University library’s special collections to explore the Altounyans’ lives in Coniston and Aleppo. “In a curious way I’m echoing what Arthur Ransome did, but hopefully with an understanding of how displacement and being of a mixed cultural background may affect one’s sense of self, experience and reality,” she writes in an introduction to the book, which is published by Wild Pansy Press. “Art should reflect the concerns of its day and one of the main concerns of our world is the migrant crisis: this is what I am addressing through the perspective of an extraordinary family of artists, writers, poets and doctors, revealing a new seam in the already rich cultural geology of the Lake District.”

           

Her project also includes an exhibition at Theatre by the Lake, Keswick until 10 April, an Armenian circle dance on the shores of Derwentwater in honour of Ernest, and a showing of family portraits by Dora Altounyan, including one of Titty as a child that Ransome owned for years.

It remains unclear why Ernest and Ransome’s relationship cooled. But digging through the archives at Leeds University library, Babayan came across a letter from Ernest to Ransome, sent after the Ransomes had returned to the UK after a three-month visit to the family in Aleppo in 1932. In his autobiography, Ransome attributes his family’s departure to health problems. But Ernest’s letter reads: “I would only ask you to believe that Dora and I are acting in agreement and that I am not managing her in the least. I notice you also consider that I have been inconsiderate enough to keep her out in the East too long! The truth is that it will take a good deal to persuade her that either we and our children are so out of it as to feel like savages when we land in England … I cannot help thinking … however that the way you refer to their upbringing is that they have been under my influence too long. Why after years of apparent friendship you should suddenly decide that I am such a pernicious and underhand person I can’t think.”

Babayan commented: “Whether it was this disagreement in Aleppo or Ransome’s irritation with Ernest – who enjoyed and boasted of their family’s link to the books – which prompted the author to deny the children’s role in the inspiration for Swallows and Amazons in his autobiography, we will never know.”

Geraint Lewis from the Arthur Ransome Trust said Swallows and Amazons was “surely born in Ransome’s own formative love for Coniston”, but “the Altounyan children played a vital role by being the right inspirational ‘trigger’, in the right place, at the right time”.

“He certainly acknowledged the Altounyans’ importance at the time,” said Lewis, speculating that deterioration between Ransome and Ernest could reflect an element of romantic regret on Ransome’s part about Ernest’s wife Dora.

“Perhaps it would only be natural to look at the children and wonder what might have happened, had she not turned him down?” said Lewis. “Ransome also seems to have become increasingly protective of his fictional characters over time. I suspect this is quite natural for any novelist. While the Altounyans clearly provided significant inspiration for his fictional Swallows, the latter were surely only ever the real children in the first moments of creation.”

Sports: Premier League: Mkhitaryan among best XI for February

Mary Lazarian
News.am, Armenia
March 4 2019

Arsenal midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan is on Whoscored.com’s English Premier League best XI for February.
In the month that passed, the captain of the Armenian national squad netted 2 goals and made 3 assists in 2 appearances for the Gunners, so far in the current season of the Premier League.

As reported earlier, the 30-year-old Armenia international became the first Arsenal player to both score and assist a goal in consecutive Premier League appearances since Spain midfielder Santi Cazorla in February 2015.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has scored 6 goals and made 4 assists in 16 appearances for the Gunners, so far in the current season of the top tier in the English football league system.


Expenses of official travel will be increased to office of Prime Minister of Armenia

Mary Lazarian
Arminfo, Armenia
Feb 28 2019
Alexandr Avanesov

ArmInfo.The office of the Prime Minister of Armenia will increase the costs of official travel. The decision was made at the February 28 sitting of the RA  government.

As noted in the project's rationale, the Prime Minister's office has  already exceeded its quarterly spending plan. At the same time, wage  premiums, rental expenses and entertainment expenses will be cut. As  a result, the Prime Minister's office will be deprived of the  opportunity to receive wage premiums of 70 million drams, the cost of  renting property and equipment will be reduced by 50 million drams,  and representation expenses – by 15 million drams. Thus, 135 million  drams will be saved. At the same time, travel expenses will increase  by 70 million drams and other expenses by 20 million drams.

Armenia takes soft drinks under excise tax

Mary Lazarian

Armenia takes soft drinks under excise tax

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09:10,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 28, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government wants to introduce an excise tax on all types of soft drinks.

According to officials, the additional tax collection will to some extent solve the budget loss problem that will be caused by the reduction of revenue tax rates and other reforms. Officials also argue that the move will also have a positive healthcare impact.

Deputy Minister of Finance Arman Poghosyan told ARMENPRESS they first considered introducing the excise tax only on soft drinks that contain 5g or more sugar per 100gram of the ingredient.

“Our initial recommendation was this, it was later revised. Now, an amended bill suggests an excise tax on all carbonated beverages, excluding mineral [soda] water and alcoholic drinks, regardless of sugar level. Our observations showed that tax administration based on sugar level can be accompanied by certain difficulties because the labels of the drinks rarely include sugar level, while carbonation is a more visible and more controllable element and tax administration can be implemented more effectively,” he said.

Asked to elaborate on the goals of the bill, Poghosyan says on one hand its purpose is to provide additional tax revenue, and on the other hand it will limit ‘harmful consumption’. The deputy finance minister says carbonated drinks and beverages with high sugar levels are bad for health.

According to Poghosyan, they conducted detailed discussions with the healthcare ministry and the World Health Organization while drafting the bill. He said they suggest having a fixed excise tax rate for all excisable soft drinks.

It wasn’t immediately clear how the excise tax will impact the market prices of soft drinks in Armenia.

The government is also currently developing a new tax code.  

Timeframes of commencing the new initiative weren't immediately clear. 

By Anna Grigoryan

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan




Armenian Defense Minister visits north-eastern section of borderline

Mary Lazarian

Armenian Defense Minister visits north-eastern section of borderline

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20:15,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS. Defense Minister of Armenia Davit Tonoyan visited Tavush Province on February 26.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Defense Ministry, during the discussion at the Governorate the cooperation between the Defense Ministry and self-government bodies and the issues facing the bordering communities were touched upon.

The Defense Minister also visited the north-eastern borderline, military positions, got acquainted with the engineering works on site and gave relevant tasks.

Minister Tonoyan talked to the servicemen, assuring that the social and living conditions of the servicemen is in the daily focus of the military-political leadership.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan




Sports: Mkhitaryan leads Arsenal back into Top Four

Mary Lazarian
Yahoo! Sport
Feb 24 2019
 
 
Mkhitaryan leads Arsenal back into Top Four (video)
 
Nicholas Mendola
 
Lacazette redirects Mkhitaryan shot
Mkhitaryan adds goal of his own
 
Henrikh Mkhitaryan recorded a goal and an assist as Arsenal beat Southampton 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
 
The win pushed Arsenal back into the Top Four, while Southampton remains a point back of 17th place in the race to avoid relegation.
 
[ MORE: Watch full PL match replays ]
 
Nathan Redmond flew down the right side of the pitch to trouble Bernd Leno with a sixth minute effort.
 
Arsenal went ahead within a minute of that, with Lacazette redirecting a Henrikh Mkhitaryan shot into the goal.
 
Saints had a left-footed shot from Matt Targett blocked by Leno before play was stalled to treat a Sead Kolasinac head injury.
 
Arsenal doubled its advantage through Mkhitaryan, who took the honors himself this time with a low drive inside the near post following a cross through the 18.
 
James Ward-Prowse had an early second half effort rocket wide of the frame for Saints.
 

Asbarez: ANCA-Burbank to Host Legal Clinic

Mary Lazarian
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ANCA Burbank will host a free legal clinic on March 28

BURBANK—The Armenian National Committee of America, Burbank (ANCA-Burbank), in cooperation with experienced local attorneys, is offering a legal clinic to the community on Thursday, March 28 at the Burbank Youth Center located at 75 E. Santa Anita Ave.

The clinic is offered to members of the Armenian-American community who do not know where to turn for legal advice. Free of charge consultations with attorneys will be conducted in both English and Armenian, and will focus on legal topics including immigration, landlord/tenant, employment, and family law issues.

Registration for the clinic will begin at 6:30 p.m. on March 28, 2019, and individuals will be seen by the attorneys from 7 to 9:30 p.m. on a first-come, first-served basis.

“We are very excited to offer an opportunity to individuals and families to learn about their legal rights and responsibilities,” said Silva Kechichian, chairwoman of the ANCA-Burbank. “Several local attorneys have graciously volunteered to share their time and knowledge, free of charge, to this event because we all agree that it is important for the Armenian community to be informed and have an opportunity to ask questions and get answers from experts.”

The expert attorneys who have volunteered their time for consultations are: Ashkhen Ashley Gambourian, Raymond Hovsepian, Michael Akopyan and Taline K Boyamian.

Attendees should bring to the clinic documentation pertaining to their legal issues, such as agreements or contracts (signed or proposed), written rules or policies, court orders, papers served or filed with a court, all letters or emails to and from the person or business with whom the attendee has a disagreement, specific paperwork related to the case (rental agreement, lease, child support order, employee handbook, etc.).

For more information, please contact us at [email protected].

The Armenian National Committee of America-Burbank advances the social, economic, cultural, and political rights of the area’s Armenian community and promotes its increased civic participation at the grassroots and public policy levels.

Minister of Defense participates in International Defense Conference

Mary Lazarian
  • 17:09 | February 18,2019 | Official
  • Հայ

Armenia’s Minister of Defense Davit Tonoyan has participated in the Abu Dhabi International Defense Conference, as well as the IDEX 2019 exhibition.

The minister also visited the Armenian pavilion where the country’s military production is presented, the ministry said in a news release.

On February 17, Tonoyan met with Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE military Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as well as Ruler of Dubai, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. During the meetings the sides discussed possibilities for enhancing defense cooperation between Armenia and the UAE.

Speaking about prospects for developing bilateral military cooperation, Tonoyan attached importance to the necessity for placing the cooperation on planned and contractual bases.

In Abu Dhabi, Tonoyan also held a meeting with his Greek counterpart Evangelos Apostolakis.

Tonoyan congratulated Apostolakis on assuming office and invited him to pay a visit to Armenia.

The Armenian and Greek defense chiefs discussed a broad range of issues concerning military cooperation. Highlighting the significant achievements in defense cooperation, the ministers expressed readiness to enhance it.

Tonoyan, accompanied by Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Vahagn Melikyan, also visited the Armenian Embassy to the UAE in Abu Dhabi where they took part in a symbolic tree planting event. Tonoyan then visited the Abu Dhabi St. Martyrs Church, where the Ara Khanoyan National College is located.