Author: Mike Maghakian

Massive police forces deployed in Yerevan amid the opposition rally

Mike Maghakian
Panorama, Armenia
Feb 20 2021

Large number of police forces and vehicles have been deployed in capital city Yerevan as the opposition Homeland Salvation Movement is holding a nation-wide rally demanding the resignation of PM Pashinyan. 

As Mediaport Telegram Channel reports, a truck with barbed wire fence is parked near the National Assembly building. Buses with riot police officers have been stationed near the residence of Pashinyan. 

To remind, a rally organized by the Homeland Salvation Movement, a coalition of 17 opposition parties, will take place at Yerevan’s Liberty Square on Saturday, February 20. A number of political, public and cultural figures have urged the people to join today’s rally. 

Armenia records 1.5% growth of agricultural output

Mike Maghakian

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 21:44,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. The growth of agricultural output in Armenia in 2020 amounted to 1.5% against 2019 thanks to the 2.3% growth of crop production, ARMENPRESS reports Artak Kamalyan. Member of the Board – Minister in charge of Industry and Agroindustrial Complex wrote on his Facebook page.

‘’Agroindustrial Complex is a strategic sphere for the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union’’, Kamalyan said, adding that investments in agricultural sphere increased from 10.7 billion USD in 2015 to 16 billion USD in 2019 in the Union.

Foreign Ministers of Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan to meet in Baku

Mike Maghakian

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 19:48,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. A trilateral meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia will take place in Baku on February 19. ARMENPRESS reports the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry informs that the Turkish FM will arrive in Baku on February 18, while the Georgian Deputy PM and Foreign Minister will arrive on February 19.

The Azerbaijani FM is also scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with his Turkish and Georgian counterparts.

Azerbaijan hands over bodies of 106 Armenian soldiers killed during 44-day war

Mike Maghakian

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 21:05,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. In the sidelines of the humanitarian cooperation, the Azerbaijani side handed over bodies of 106 soldiers killed during the 44-day war under the mediation of the Command staff of the Russian peacekeeping units in Artsakh, ARMNPRESS reports President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan wrote on his Facebook page.

Harutyunyan added that the searching works of bodies and survivors of the 44-day war still continue. ''In addition, we have started making joint efforts for discovering the bodies of Armenian and Azerbaijani victims of the war of the 1990s'', he wrote.

Asbarez: Dzovinar Christian Education Building in Armenia Refurbished

Mike Maghakian

February 15,  2021



Students at the Dzovinar Christian Education Center in Ghegharkounik Province

Dr. Neshan Tabibian and his son Dr. Hagop Tabibian, of Burbank, California, have made a donation of $35,000 to refurbish the Dzovinar Christian Education Building located in Armenia’s Geghargunik Province. The building is used by more than 100 children daily who receive Christian education.

Father Kevork Ter Parseghyan, the parish priest in charge of this Christian Education Project started teaching the students in a home in Dzovinar. As the number of students grew the city gave the project a building that needed a great deal of repair to make it usable. Over the years parishioners of St. Paul Armenian church and other parishes in the United States helped to fund some improvements to the building and the play yard.

Doctors Neshan and Hagop Tabibian donated $35,000 to refurbish the facility

Dr. Neshan Tabibian visited Dzovinar and was very impressed with how the children were learning under difficult conditions and as a result he and his son decided to create a modern and safe environment for the children to learn in every day after school.

With the generous $35,000 contribution that the Tabibians made in the past year the project truly came to reality. The painting and repair of all floors and walls, windows, electrical, etc. quickly took place. Once that phase was completed, then desks, chairs, computers, bookcases and all other furniture needed to make the classrooms and meeting hall totally usable were placed in the building in their appropriate rooms.

Today, each day after school students from elementary to high school age gather to use the facilities to learn more about their Armenian Christian beliefs.

CSUN’s Armenian Studies Program Accepting Scholarship Applications

Mike Maghakian
SCV News
Feb 9 2021
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE | TUESDAY, FEB 9, 2021
CSUN is accepting applications for a scholarships available to any student interested in studying or working with the Armenian community through advocacy, humanitarian, cultural or philanthropic work. Photo by Lee Choo.

 

California State University, Northridge is accepting applications for a scholarships available to any student interested in studying or working with the Armenian community through advocacy, humanitarian, cultural or philanthropic work.

The Armenian History and Cultural Scholarship Fund was created last year by an anonymous $3 million gift to the university to support Armenian studies and students. A majority of the gift, $2.5 million, was designated for scholarships, while the rest was earmarked to support activities within CSUN’s Armenian Studies Program.

“This generous gift will benefit a broad segment of CSUN’s student population, and will promote Armenian history and culture, thereby becoming yet another venue for mutual understanding and appreciation among the various constituent groups of our society,” said Vahram Shemmassian, head of the Armenian Studies Program.

Scholarships of up to $15,000 per year are available to undergraduate CSUN students — currently enrolled or planning to enroll at the university in fall 2021 — who have demonstrated financial need and maintain at least a 3.0 grade point average. The scholarship money can be used to defer the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board. Scholarship recipients can apply again in subsequent years, as long as they meet the criteria and funding is still available.

Those interested in applying for the scholarship can click [here] for details.

Scholarships will be awarded to students who best meet one or more of the following criteria:

– Is a descendent of an individual who survived or was killed in the Armenian Genocide of 1914-1924;

– Can demonstrate a commitment to the support of and advocacy for the Armenian community through humanitarian, cultural and philanthropic work, or athletic programs and endeavors;

– Is minoring in Armenian studies;

– Is a language and cultures major with Armenian language or studies as a concentration and/or

– Is a liberal studies major with Armenian language or studies as a concentration, or is enrolled in the Integrated Teacher Education Program in CSUN’s Liberal Studies Program, with a minor in Armenian studies.

For more information about the scholarship, visit https://csun.academicworks.com/opportunities/2777.

Armenia closes its market to Turkish goods until end of the year

Mike Maghakian

Feb 9 2021

CHRISTIAN FERNSBY ▼ | February 9, 2021

Turkish goods will remain banned in Armenia at least until the end of the year, and most likely, the embargo will be maintained until Armenian importers replace them with goods from other countries or establish domestic production, Armenian Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan said.
"I think we will extend the ban for another six months, unless, of course, the diplomatic or geopolitical environment makes it impossible. If possible, we will extend it. Our enterprises, which have already started the import substitution process, need time to create competitive goods," Sputnik Armenia cited him as saying.

Topics: ARMENIA TURKISH

Thus, Armenia chose to respond to the post-war process of unblocking the borders in the South Caucasus for the free movement of people and goods by closing the domestic market from producers from the neighboring country, despite the fact that during the years of the Karabakh war, Turkish goods were freely supplied to Armenian counters through Georgia.

In addition, Kerobyan clarified, commenting on reports that Turkish goods are still sold in Armenia, that anti-Turkish sanctions do not apply to raw materials for Armenian enterprises – they were introduced only against end products. The minister added that the list of the embargo includes elevators that Armenia also imported from Turkey – Yerevan intends to replace them with Belarusian-made elevators. ■
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Armenia’s DM refuses to answer whether Defense Army will be dissolved or not

Mike Maghakian
Aysor, Armenia
Feb 5 2021

Armenia’s minister of defense Vagharshak Harutyunyan is in the National Assembly.

The minister refused to answer to all the questions of the reporters, urging them to send the questions to the MOD press service.

Asked whether the Defense Army will be dissolved, the minister gave no answer.

The minister neither commented the words of My Step faction deputy that Armenia did not have army for the past 30 years.

Sports: FC Ararat Yerevan score second victory in Dubai

Mike Maghakian
News.am, Armenia
Feb 2 2021

In Dubai FC Ararat Yerevan played a friendly match with FC Liwa, which represent the second division of the United Arab Emirates, and won 4-1.

FC Liwa’s center-back made own goal after Davit Khurtsidze made a pass from the edge at the 21st minute. At the 28th minute, Edgar Malakyan bypassed the competitor on the right edge and made a wonderful pass, after which Dimitriye Pobulic scored a goal.

At the 62nd minute, FC Liwa earned the right to an 11-meter kick. After the pass made by Serozh Titizyan, who came out as a replacement, Uros Nenadovic scored a goal at the 65th minute and scored a double five minutes later, FC Ararat Yerevan’s press service reported.

On January 30, FC Ararat Yerevan beat Atletico Arabia 7-1 in Dubai. FC Ararat Yerevan’s training in the UAE will end on February 12.

Garo Paylan demands clarifications regarding demolition of Armenian church in Turkey

Mike Maghakian
Public Radio of Armenia
Jan 27 2021  

Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Diyarbakır MP Garo Paylan has submitted a Parliamentary question regarding the demolition of the Surp Toros Church despite being designated as an “Immovable Requiring Protection” by the Kutahya Regional Board of Cultural Heritage Protection, Bianet reports.

The historical Armenian church in Turkey’s western province of Kutaya was demolished after it came into the possession of a person.

In the Parliamentary question to the Speaker’s Office to be addressed to Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, HDP MP Paylan briefly said “dating back to 1603, the church had an important place in the city’s memory. The church was considered to be an important site of memory as it was the church where musicologist Gomidas was baptized.”

“The church was lastly used as a wedding hall and a movie hall; the authorities remained indifferent to the Armenian community’s calls for its restoration or, at least, its use as a cultural center,” Paylan said.

Paylan also referred to the remarks of Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said, “We did not, do not and will not interfere with the belief, worship or the sacred of anyone.”

Paylan noted that “this demolition, despite Erdogan’s remarks, has deeply saddened and hurt all Christians, especially the Armenian citizens.”

Accordingly, Paylan asked the Minister the following questions:

  • How was the Kutahya Surp Toros Armenian Church demolished despite the protection order?
  • Has an investigation been launched against the person who demolished the church?
  • Has an investigation been launched against the public officials who made way for the demolition of the church under protection?
  • Why do you remain silent to the destruction of Armenians’ cultural heritage?
  • Will you take any action to ensure that the church will be rebuilt to its original?

After the Surp Toros Church in Turkey’s Aegean province of Kutahya passed into the ownership of a person, it was completely destroyed. There is now a flat ground in the place of the historical church.