Author: Mike Maghakian

Combating violence against women VS national values – Armenians protest ratification of Istanbul Convention

Mike Maghakian
JAM News
Nov 1 2019
JAMnews, Yerevan
Artur Xachatryan
November 1, 2019

A protest rally was held in Yerevan in connection with the visit of representatives of the Council of Europe, which are holding discussions on the convention

Photo/ pastinfo

A rally was held today against the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, which aims to prevent violence against women and domestic violence. The rally took place near the parliament.

Much of the Armenian public that domestic violence is not prevalent in the country.

The Armenian parliament held a discussion on the ratification of the convention with the participation of senior officials of the Council of Europe, and activists who are fighting to ensure that parliament does not ratify this document take to the streets again.

• Rejecting the role of the victim

Activists are convinced that the convention threatens traditional Armenian values.

The head of the Volia initiative, Vahagn Chakhalyan, announced that their rallies will continue:

“Citizens are ready to organize demonstrations of disobedience in different cities of Armenia.  We say that this is not yet necessary, since the document is not yet at the ratification stage.  And if the National Assembly of Armenia does not listen to the voice of citizens and goes against their opinion, then protests will be held in all cities.”

This time, the protest rally took place first in front of the parliament building.  A few hours later, it was decided to march along the streets of Yerevan.

Armenia joined the convention in January 2018, even under the former authorities, but then the issue did not cause such a scandal; Armenia did not ratify the convention officially.

The Istanbul Convention (or “Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence”) was signed in 2011 in Istanbul.

Of the 47 Council of Europe member states, 34 have ratified the Convention, and 11, including Armenia, have only signed.  Russia and Azerbaijan did not sign it, and Bulgaria generally recognized the convention as unconstitutional.

According to the government program, the Istanbul Convention was to be ratified in the second half of September 2019.

MPs from the Prosperous Armenia parliamentary party agree with the opinion of the activists; tThey even joined the collection of signatures against the ratification of the convention, organized by the Volia initiative.

According to MP of the Prosperous Armenia Party Gevorg Petrosyan, the Istanbul Convention contradicts the Armenian Constitution and the country’s value system.

The fact that in 2018 alone in Armenia more than 400 criminal cases were opened in cases of the use of violence against women, the MP commented on as follows:

“We have legislation that punishes domestic violence.  It is impossible to ratify under this pretext what, in essence, is aimed at the destruction of our national system of values.”

Gevorg Petrosyan means the “Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence, on the protection of persons affected by domestic violence and on the restoration of harmony in the family.”

It was adopted at the end of 2017 – again after heated debate and protests in general, it entered into force in January 2018, and began to be applied practically from July 1, 2018.

In connection with the intensification of the protests, the chairman of the parliamentary commission on state and legal issues Vladimir Vardanyan explained: at the moment, the ratification of the Istanbul Convention is not on the agenda of the National Assembly.

“But we need to clearly understand the following: Armenia is a member of the Council of Europe, and in a certain sense we should go in this direction.  There should be discussions of the (convention).”

The fact is that victims of violence generally do not report to the police.

Very rarely do women come forward to talk about violence against them; even rarer do people go to the police. This creates the impression in society that there is no violence against women in Armenia.

At the same time, as psychologist Anush Aleksanyan explained to JAMnews, victims of violence remain silent because they are afraid of the reaction of society:

“The society does not have the right attitude towards people who have been abused, there is no support.  Therefore, they simply remain silent or speak on condition of anonymity.  We also don’t have a culture of discussing such topics,” says the psychologist.

 Aleksanyan considers it a big problem that society often justifies the rapist and blames the victim.

The psychologist explains that people are silent about violence against themselves out of guilt – the inevitable consequences of violence.  After all, they are also carriers of the stereotypes of their society and often share the opinion of others that they have a share of guilt in what happened.

As regards sexual violence, the Armenian Penal Code does not provide for legal action at all if the rapist is the legal husband of a woman.


TCC – The Betrayal of the Armenian Fedayeen – 10/28/2019

Mike Maghakian

The Betrayal of the Armenian Fedayeen

Armenian News Network / Armenian News

The Critical Corner

By Eddie Arnavoudian

In the Armenian national pantheon, there should be a special place reserved for the armed Armenian freedom fighters known as the Fedayeen who in the late 19th and early 20th century battled to defend their homeland peasant and artisan communities against a rising tide of ferocious Ottoman attack. 

They deserve to be remembered well, for their example to this day has lessons for the common people of Armenia and the world. They deserve to have their slanderers from all sides rebutted.  Moreover, in view of the 1915 Genocide that uprooted and forever destroyed Ottoman occupied Armenian homeland communities a historical explanation of the failure of the Fedayeen movement is urgently demanded.   

To this end I submit the following preliminary notes for debate in defense of the Armenian Fedayeen. The notes unfold as a controversial proposition – that the Fedayeen were betrayed by the Armenian ruling elites who exercised commanding influence over the Armenian National Liberation Movement (ANLM) and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) in particular.

As always, when discussing the ANLM and its political parties a clear and strict distinction must be drawn between its leaderships on the one hand and those thousands of dedicated activists who sacrificed all in the struggle to free the Armenian people from imperial tyranny, oppression and exploitation. Thus, the critique offered here is directed only at the leadership of ARF and the ANLM, not their ranks. 

Part One

I. Fedayeen – the roots

II. Fedayeen – the successes

Part Two

I. Classes in the ANLM – peasants, Diaspora elites and the intelligentsia

II. Antagonisms – Fedayeen versus political parties

III. Debating the future

Part Three

I. Betrayal of the Fedayeen

            II. 1915 

The Betrayal of the Armenian Fedayeen 

Part One

The 19th and early 20th century Armenian Fedayeen guerrillas were the backbone of the Armenian National Liberation Movement (ANLM). ‘Born of the people’, they ‘were the pillars of the Armenian revolution.’ It was they who ‘kept the political parties on their toes’, it was they who ‘sustained both their authority and their popularity (Chormissian, 1974, p349).’ 

Emerging from the core of Ottoman-occupied rural Armenian homelands the Fedayeen were authentic revolutionary representatives of the peasantry – the vast majority of the Armenian people. The frequently epic battles they waged to protect Armenian village communities served to fortify a rising tide of resistance against the Ottoman State and its ruling classes’ ceaseless pillage, plundering, arson, land grabbing, massacre, ethnic cleansing and forced Islamization that were bringing life in rural Armenian communities to the brink collapse. 

Tragically the Fedayeen were never allowed to develop to its full potential; and that by none other than the political leadership of the ANLM! Across a decade from 1898 the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), now dominant in the ANLM, worked to first marginalize and then dissolve the Fedayeen. Supporting the 1908 Young Turk seizure of power, one of the ARF’s first steps was to disband the ANLM’s armed wing. Thus unarmed the Armenian people were denied the means to resist the 1915 Ottoman-Young Turk Genocide. 

The dissolution of the Fedayeen flowed inexorably from the ARF’s strategic project for alliance with the Young Turks then aspiring for Ottoman power. To this project the Fedayeen was an obstacle. The Young Turks representing an aggressively nationalist Turkish bourgeois and landlord class eyeing Armenian lands and wealth, would not countenance an armed Armenian force fighting for the peasantry. Still, intent on securing its accord the ARF pressed on with dismantling the Fedayeen. 

Often explained as political naivety or strategic blunder the ARF’s strategy had its roots in deep class oppositions between the ANLM’s two main battalions – the wealthy, relatively secure Diaspora economic-social elites that produced the bulk of the ANLM’s political leadership and Armenian peasant communities in their historic homelands that produced the Fedayeen. Profiting within the Ottoman Empire, the watchword of the Diaspora elites was compromise with its ruling political classes. A devastated Armenian peasantry had no interest in such compromise. Tragically the ARF’s political leadership bent the movement’s oar to the Diaspora elites and to accommodation with the genocidal imperial order.

I. Fedayeen – the roots

The Armenian Fedayeen was a direct reaction to the severe intensification of oppression and exploitation of homeland Armenian rural communities by Kurdish elite and Ottoman State forces. They were spontaneous, almost inevitable reactions of self-defense against forces determined to reduce, destroy and to drive the Armenian peasantry from its ancient lands. Within the ANLM the Fedayeen were the authentic representatives of the peasantry.

Fedayeen commanders such as Arapo (1863-1893), Mihran Damadyan (1863-1945), Hambardzum Boyajian (Murad the Great – 1860-1915), Hrair-Dzhoghk (1864-1904), Sepasdatsi Murad (1874-1918), Serop Aghbyur (1864-1899), Gevorg Chavush (1870-1907), Sose Mayrig (a woman Fedayeen – 1868-1953), Antranig (1865-1927) and many others together with their guerrilla units acquired Homeric reputations among homeland Armenians. Fighting for the common people they were beloved of the people with epics created in their honour, sung and told in Armenian, Turkish and Kurdish.  

The early origin of these Armenian freedom fighters known also as hayduks are traceable to ceaseless rural class struggle against the feudal Ottoman order, to ceaseless spontaneous acts of individual or collective defiance and resistance. Young peasant or artisan rebels for whatever reason at odds with the law often fled to inaccessible mountain hideouts, there to form outlaw bands. Often ‘robbing the rich to give to the poor’, wreaking revenge against tax collectors, government officials and local landlords they were ‘the products of material impoverishment, an _expression_ of discontent and want generated by (Ottoman) economic backwardness that afflicted all peoples (Chormissian, 1974, p136)’.

Initially a social and class phenomenon rather than a national or political one, until the mid-19th century such outlaw bands were multi-national frequently uniting Turkmens, Turks, Kurds, Armenians, Greeks, Lazes and others. With the rapid evolution of separate nationalist political movements these remarkable formations were to give way to others now organized on national lines. Yet even in their national uniforms Armenian rebels continued to display both class hostility to their exploiters and an admirable solidarity for all the Ottoman oppressed independent of nationality. National groups first known as Tchelos: 

‘…spread terror and fear among usurers, rich landlords, merchants and government circles. But among the… impoverished masses – whether Christian or Muslim they became figures of love and gratitude (Chormissian 1974, p137)’

The story of Torros Dzaroukian one of the first and most famous Armenian Tchelo commanders shows why. Torros would:

‘…block roads, rob the rich and many a government postal caravan too and then generously distribute takings both to Armenian and Turkish villagers (Chormissian 1974, p137).’ 

Over time these social warriors were absorbed into the political parties of the ANLM. Torros Dzaroukian and other Tchelo bands first joined the Social Democratic Hnchak Party (Hnchak). Others would later join the ARF and together they eventually became the Fedayeen, the nucleus of the armed wing of the ANLM. A telling account of the process of transformation is the remarkable story of Arapo’s transition from self-seeking bandit to guerrilla fighter defending his local Armenian peasant community (Rouben, 1974, Memoirs of an Armenian Revolutionary, Volume 3 p53-59 – see Note 1). 

Memoirs and histories repeatedly underline the Fedayeen’s local, native roots. Rouben’s ‘Memoirs of an Armenian Revolutionary’ reminds us that ‘all Serop Aghbyur’s soldiers were local villagers (Rouben, 1974, p149)’. Paraphrasing the Fedayeen leadership’s views Rouben writes that: 

‘Though the Armenian people began to gather beneath the ARF flag, it was not so much because of propaganda and education but as a result of living struggle whose embodiment was the Fedayeen…The Fedayeen, despite being outlaws, were the authentic children of the land…If they were to leave, a new generation of Fedayeen would immediately come forth given that state repression would continue and even intensify (Rouben, 1974, page 201-202).’

At its most progressive and dynamic the ANLM leadership worked to reinforce, supply and develop this home grown force with cadre and weapons from beyond Ottoman borders. Despite the movement’s detractors, this remained always an auxiliary, as backup to an essentially locally-rooted peasant fighting force. Such external reinforcements were always a minority. During the 1904 Sasun-Daron Uprising for example among the 200 Fedayeen, 120-130 were from the immediate region, 40 odd were from other areas of Ottoman occupied historical Armenia and some 30-40 were from Tsarist occupied Armenia. 

Though fighters for the Armenian national liberation movement, the Fedayeen were never to lose the social and class character of their predecessors. They never acted out of national hatred for Turk or Kurd or any other people. Their stunning adventures of derring-do tell of class solidarity with all common people whether Armenian, Turkish, Kurdish, Assyrian, and indeed even Azeri. Gevorg Chavush a remarkably successful Fedayeen commander ‘readily defended not just Armenian but Turkish peasants (Rouben, 1974, p).’ Serob Aghbyur too: 

‘…acted as defender of all the exploited delivering blows against all officials and criminals from whose hand Armenians and Muslims suffered. Though Armenian and Muslim judged him ruthless they deemed him just. So Serop’s operations did not produce inter-ethnic hatreds that the government was so intent on fomenting (Rouben, 1974, p155).’ 

In his biography of Antranig, Hrachig Simonian writes that Antranig and his guerrillas were ‘honourable and just to all irrespective of nationality.’ It was not unusual ‘for Kurdish and Turkish working people to turn to the guerrillas’ to right wrongs done them by their own elites (Simonian 1996, p92). Beyond Ottoman borders the Fedayeen protected Azeri villagers in Iran. Taking refuge in ‘the small Salmasd province of Iran’ when retreating from Sasun, Armenian soldiers defended not just local Armenians but Azeri villagers too. Their ‘mere presence was sufficient to restrain Kurdish brigandage (Rouben, 1972, p53-54).’

 

II. Fedayeen – the successes

In the historic western Armenian provinces there is little question that at their strongest and most vigorous the Fedayeen recorded significant and promising revolutionary achievements. For relatively long periods they held off and succeeded in tempering the brutality and thievery of Ottoman officials and Kurdish feudal lords. They successfully defended the lives and property of a section of the Armenian peasantry. In part this was due to the terrible fear instilled among Turkish and Kurdish officialdom by the boldness and fierceness of fighters from a people whom they regarded as little better than humble sheep. 

Among a peasantry subjugated and humiliatingly passive in the face of unending oppression and exploitation, among a broken and almost dehumanized rural mass, the appearance of the Fedayeen served to re-fire humanity, dignity and self-respect. In a moving passage Rouben writes that:

‘Through all the areas we visited, the locals would for the first time be seeing ‘Armenian police’. Initially they would be wary and fearful, but then with tearful eyes they would want to kiss us, to kiss our garments and our weapons. We did not forcibly pluck their chickens or demand money. We did not beat them nor did we extract taxes. We did not oppress them in any way…From being a beast (the peasant) begins to become a man (Rouben, 1972, p188-189).’  

Repeatedly the Fedayeen movement reigned in violence, indiscriminate pillage, the abduction, rape and murder that were the tragedy of life in the Armenian village. Scores of villages that in the past had passively watched as their property, their animals, their stocks of grain and food and even their women and children snatched before their eyes now took to arms in self-defense, and that with significant success. 

‘In the inaccessible corners of the Mountain Range region we developed such strength that the Kurds were forced to reckon with us and sought peace so as to avoid suffering at our hands (Rouben, 1973, p191) ‘As a result of Gaspar’s efforts the village of Mushaghen remained free of exploitation…They resisted the Kurds and refused to pay taxes. Bandits did not dare to plunder their property (Rouben, 1973, p237). Elsewhere the 150-family strong village of Artnonz that had earlier been serfs to the Kurds was now for almost 15 years mostly free of Kurdish whim and plunder…They had among them 80 armed (Fedayeen) (Rouben, 1972, p244).’ 

In the province of Daron, the home of semi-autonomous Armenian Sasun, the Fedayeen frequently managed to extend ‘liberated’ ‘no go areas’. A number of villages in the Shaddakh province ‘without any large confrontations or blood-letting succeeded in uniting with the province’s free belt…They did not bend to Kurdish whims or pay taxes (Rouben, 1974, p71).’ In Sasun itself, from 1894 ‘Armenians categorically refused to recognize any Kurdish elite authority and responded with arms to any assault or hostile demand (Rouben, 1974, p101).’  Across time ‘small groups of free villages were extending their influence (Rouben, 1974, p75).’

Gevorg Chavush’s operations as he built his Fedayeen forces and their authority in the Daron region (Rouben Volume 3, p337-352) is testimony to the revolutionary, progressive and plebeian character of this guerrilla movement. They were defenders of the common people whose use of revolutionary force protected Armenian villages from expropriation and from excessive and brutal exploitation and plunder.  

Fedayeen participation in the 1894 uprisings in the autonomous Armenian province of Sasun helped ensure that the region remained free from the 1889-96 nationwide massacres that wrought such death and destruction across Armenian homelands. In Van, during these massacres Fedayeen secured the safety of its Armenian population, though tragically their 600 strong contingents were trapped and slaughtered as they retreated from the city. 

Ending the third volume of his memoirs Rouben notes that by 1904:

‘Of course the people had not been freed from state oppression. But landlords, Turkish and Kurdish elites and other exploiters that threatened to forever suppress and drown the people – all of this had been restrained (Rouben, 1974, p356)

The Ottoman State and Kurdish lords naturally dreaded the Fedayeen. They especially feared that in Daron together with the historically armed and semi-autonomous community of Sasun they could become a hub of resistance threatening Ottoman control of historic Armenian lands. At some points indeed so powerful had the Fedayeen become that in their own internecine disputes Kurdish leaders sought their support.  ‘Having Fedayeen fighting in their ranks would spread terror among their opponents (Rouben, 1973, p242).’ Desperate ‘to restore their earlier colonial and feudal privileges and rights now falling to Fedayeen’ bullets  Turkish and Kurdish authorities  even resorted ‘to building their own Fedayeen units (Rouben, 1974, p240)’! 

To the rise of Armenian resistance the Ottoman state responded with the 1895-96 massacres of 300,000 Armenians. Ten years later it prepared for renewed assault on Sasun autonomy in 1904, an assault that though fiercely resisted was tragically successful. In fierce onslaughts one after another important Fedayeen fighters and ANLM political organizers were killed.

Yet despite the devastating 1895-6 massacre and despite the 1904 Sasun defeat the Fedayeen and ANLM recovered rapidly. 

‘The 1904-1908 period’ Rouben writes ‘witnessed the most comprehensive arming of the people and that on a scale that surpassed even the power of the local Kurds (Rouben, 1973, p160).’  

It will not do to indulge in romantic excess. The Fedayeen generally lived short and hard lives of sacrifice and early death. The movement was bedeviled by countless troubles. It was infected by a multitude of traitors and spies. The absence of an experienced and effective regional and national leadership caused bitter and sometimes fratricidal feuding among different contingents of Fedayeen that was compounded by damaging sectarian antagonisms between the different revolutionary parties of the ANLM. 

Nevertheless against all the slanders and the vilification of the Armenian guerrillas, their record reveals their critical, positive and necessary role. Any contemplation of Fedayeen triumphs would support conjectures that had the movement been allowed to survive and flourish the Armenian peasants’ and peoples fortunes in 1915 would not have been as catastrophic as they turned out. 

Yet at the behest of Diaspora elites the Fedayeen peasant defense force was to be disarmed by the political leadership of the ANLM. 

Footnotes: 

Note 1: Rouben was a leading ARF figure. His memoirs despite hints of self-serving apologia, despite disapproval of an independent Fedayeen movement and signs of unpleasant disdain for Antranig offers still an excellent insight into the Fedayeen movement and its relation to the travails of rural Armenian communities battling for survival. 

Sources 

Levon Chormissian, 1974, ‘Overview of a Century of Western Armenian History’, Volume 2, 576pp, Beirut

Rouben, 1972 ‘Memoirs of an Armenian Revolutionary’, Volume 1, 403pp, Beirut 

Rouben, 1973, ‘Memoirs of an Armenian Revolutionary’, Volume 2, 1973, 328pp, Beirut

Rouben, 1974, ‘Memoirs of an Armenian Revolutionary’, Volume 3, 1974, 373pp, Beirut 

Garo Sassouni, 1965 ‘A critical look at the 1915 Genocide’, 64pp, Beirut

Hrachig Simonian, 1996, ‘Antranig and His Times’, Volume 1, 752pp, Yerevan

Hrachig Simonian, 2009, ‘On the Paths of National Liberation’, Volume 3, 1128pp, Yerevan

—

Eddie Arnavoudian holds degrees in history and politics from Manchester, England, and is Armenian News's commentator-in-residence on Armenian literature. His works on literary and political issues have also appeared in Harach in Paris, Nairi in Beirut and Open Letter in Los Angeles.

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Mediators Want Final Resolution to Karabakh Conflict, Moscow Says

Mike Maghakian
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9 hours ago

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova

Russia has always urged the parties to the Karabakh conflict to approach matters in a constructive manner, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said, commenting on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s statement that “Karabakh is recognized by the entire world as an integral part of Azerbaijan.”

Zakharova emphasized that she isn’t Aliyev’s spokesperson and she has no idea what he meant. “We can give our assessment, but not comment,” she said.

She said that they are seeing many political statements in different emotional levels with different levels of connection to historic context and modern context. “We are moving forward from the negotiations agenda which we have on the table. Russia is working with the documents agreed between the parties and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs,” Zakharova said.

According to Zakharova, the objective of Russia and the other mediators is to achieve a final resolution of the conflict and contribute to a maximal acceleration of the process.

“From our side we have always made calls for constructive approach to the parties. And I can’t and wouldn’t want to suspect that this itself is their goal because they are all responsible politicians and are expressing their peoples’ expectations. During the entire period of this conflict the populations of the countries involved have always delegated the conflict resolution issue to their leadership. For this reason we are dealing with our role, as we think maximally and constructively, and we are calling on everybody to undertake constructive steps in this direction,” Zakharova said.

ARF Bureau Condemns Turkey’s Attack on Syria

Mike Maghakian
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6 hours ago

Armenian Revolutionary Federation

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Bureau of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation strongly condemned Turkey’s brutal attack on Syria, calling on the international community to combat Ankara’s destructive efforts that threaten the security of the region.

Below is the English translation of the announcement.

Once again, with complete disregard to internationally guaranteed rights of states and individuals, Turkey overtly has launched a military attack on northeastern Syria. The Turkish plan to establish a so-called security zone threatens not only Syria’s territorial integrity, but also the security of the Kurdish majority that lives in the area, as well as other national and religious minorities, among them Armenians, and aims to create a new demographic order in the area.

By sponsoring extremists groups in Syria for a long time, Turkey, under the guise of fighting terrorism, has opened the door to new dangers for the escalation of massacres, deportation, reactivation of terrorist groups and the beginning of a new humanitarian crisis.

It is of concern that all of this is taking place at a time that international efforts are underway to address domestic challenges and create an atmosphere of reconciliation and peace in Syria. A further cause for alarm is the incongruous reaction toward the genocidal government’s new criminal activities the by forces and organizations engaged in mediating the peace effort.

Thus, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Bureau:

  • Condemns the actions of the criminal Turkish regime which has declared war on sovereign nation with genocidal intentions toward the majority Kurdish population and national minorities in the area;
  • Pledges to contribute to efforts in securing the safety of our brethren who are in the immediate areas of the military operation and assist in relief efforts;
  • Expresses its solidarity with the friendly people of Syria and finds it imperative that nations engaged in the regional processes and the international community take resolute steps to halt the Turkish regime with the aim of securing stable peace in the region.

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 10/01/2019

Mike Maghakian 
                                        Tuesday, 

Iranian President Again Offers Closer Ties To Armenia


Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meets with Iranian President Hassan 
Rouhani in Yerevan, October 1, 2019.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani reaffirmed his country’s readiness to supply 
more natural gas to neighboring Armenia and deepen broader Armenian-Iranian 
relations when he visited Yerevan on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian reassured him that Armenia remains committed to 
closer ties with Iran despite U.S. sanctions against Tehran.

“Our position is that our relations with Iran must be beyond geopolitical 
influences as much as possible because we are neighbors and have many common 
interests and we need to cooperate for many more centuries and millennia,” 
Pashinian said during his talks with Rouhani.

Rouhani arrived in the Armenian capital the previous night to attend a summit 
of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a Russian-led trade bloc comprising five 
ex-Soviet republics. He met with Pashinian just hours before the start of the 
summit attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We attach great importance to developing and expanding relations with our 
friend and neighbor Armenia in all areas,” Rouhani said in his opening remarks 
at the meeting with Pashinian cited by the latter’s press office.

“We are ready to continue working with your government to devise and implement 
new projects and expand the volume of the gas-for-electricity program,” he 
added.

Armenia currently receives up to 500 million cubic meters of Iranian gas each 
year and pays for it with electricity supplied to Iran. This swap scheme 
mentioned by Rouhani is due to be significantly expanded after the construction 
of a third electricity transmission line connecting Armenian and Iranian power 
grids.

Work on the high-voltage line, which is mainly carried out in southeastern 
Armenia by an Iranian company, was supposed to be completed in September this 
year. Citing a senior Armenian official, the Sputnik news agency reported last 
week that the end of the construction has been delayed until the end of 2020 
due to a host of factors, including the U.S. sanctions.


Iran - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani greets Armenian Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian in Tehran, February 27, 2019.

Rouhani already offered to boost Iranian gas supplies to Armenia when he 
received Pashinian in Tehran in February. The South Caucasus country’s annual 
gas imports total roughly 2 billion cubic meters and mostly come from Russia. 
According to the current and former Armenian governments, Russian gas is 
cheaper than Iranian gas.

Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian was among Iranian officials accompanying 
Rouhani on his latest visit to Armenia. Ardakanian met with Armenian Deputy 
Prime Minister Mher Grigorian late on Monday. The two men co-chair an 
Armenian-Iranian intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation.

Meeting with Pashinian, Rouhani was also reported to hail growing 
Armenian-Iranian trade and say that Tehran looks forward cooperating with the 
EEU.

Iran and the EEU signed last year a preferential trade agreement which will 
come into force later this month. The deal was strongly backed by Armenia, the 
only member of the trade bloc that has a land border with the Islamic Republic.



Government To Fund Many More IT Labs In Armenian Schools


Armenia - Schoolchildren in Yerevan participate in the annual Hour of Code 
event designed to introduce them to computer programming, 10 December 2017.

In a move aimed at supporting continued rapid growth of Armenia’s information 
technology (IT) sector, the Armenian government has decided to help double the 
number of engineering labs in public schools across the country.

The Education Ministry announced on Monday that the government has allocated 
834 million drams ($1.7 million) in additional funding to the Yerevan-based 
Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises (UATE) for that purpose. It said the 
private association will use the money to open 284 more such labs before the 
end of this year.

The UATE began organizing extracurricular robotics and computer programming 
courses for schoolchildren in 2008 in an effort to alleviate a shortage of 
skilled personnel widely seen as the main challenge facing the Armenian IT 
industry. More than 7,500 students currently study at its 284 Armath labs 
equipped with computers, robot parts and 3D printers.

IT instructors running most of these labs are paid by the government. The UATE 
pays the wages of their colleagues working in the other schools.


Armenia - Schoolchildren take part in a robotics contest in Yerevan, 16 April 
2016.
According to the Education Ministry, the UATE will receive almost 1.2 billion 
drams in total government funding this year, sharply up from 180 million drams 
allocated to it in 2018.

“As a result, nearly half of Armenia’s schools will have Armath engineering 
labs by the end of 2019,” read a statement released by the ministry. This will 
include virtually all schools located in the country’s northern Shirak, Lori 
and Tavush provinces, it said.

IT is the fastest growing sector of Armenia’s economy, having expanded by over 
20 percent annually in the past decade. It employs more than 15,000 engineers 
and generates over 6 percent of Gross Domestic Product.

Industry executives and analysts say the sector would have grown even faster 
had the quality of education at IT departments of Armenian universities been 
adequate. According to the UATE, many of the children taking Armath courses 
will be skilled enough to work for tech firms right after finishing school.



Armenia Hosts Eurasian Union Summit

        • Sargis Harutyunyan

Armenia -- Leaders the Eurasian Economic Union's member states meet in Yerevan, 
October 1, 2019.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian praised the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) as he 
chaired a summit of the Russian-led trade bloc in Yerevan on Tuesday.

Pashinian, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of the other EEU 
member states -- Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan -- met in closed session 
before being joined by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Moldova’s President 
Igor Dodon and Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

“Our organization, which is already five years old, is getting stronger year 
after year,” Pashinian said in his opening remarks. “It has already proved its 
viability and attractiveness as an international integration grouping.”

“I am happy to note that Armenia is making its contribution to this process,” 
added the prime minister who criticized Armenian membership in the EEU when he 
was opposition to his country’s former government.

Putin likewise declared that the establishment of the EEU has sped up economic 
growth and boosted living standards in its member states. “The EEU is 
developing steadily,” he said at the summit. “A vast common market has been 
created and it is functioning with success.”

Putin went on to announce that Russia and its ex-Soviet allies making up the 
bloc will create a “common electricity space” by 2025. He said they are also 
planning a common oil and gas market. That requires the “harmonization of 
member states’ legislations on gas supplies and transport,” added the Russian 
president.

Pashinian touched upon this issue in his speech. He said the prices of Russian 
natural gas traded within the EEU should eventually be set in the national 
currencies of member states, rather than the U.S. dollar. Moscow is believed to 
have objected to this idea until now.

The session ended with the signing of a free-trade agreement between the EEU 
and Singapore. Armenia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan signed a 
similar deal with Iran last year. Rouhani’s presence at the summit underscored 
the deal’s importance to the Islamic Republic.

The Iranian president also used the summit to denounce the “inhuman” U.S. 
sanctions against his country. “We believe that the international community 
must counter the U.S.’s hostile and unilateral approach and take serious 
decisions and effective actions against it,” he said.

Rouhani also complained that some of Iran’s partners, notably Russia, have been 
“following the U.S.’s example” and ignoring international law and breaching 
bilateral agreements. He did not elaborate.



Press Review


“Zhamanak” describes as unprecedented the Iranian president’s and the Singapore 
prime minister’s participation in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) summit in 
Yerevan. The paper says the Armenian government should follow up on that by 
submitting concrete proposals to Russia and the other EEU member states.

Lragir.am reports that the Kremlin refuted on Monday Armenian media speculation 
that Russian President Vladimir Putin will avoid a one-on-one meeting with 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on the sidelines of the EEU summit. “The Kremlin 
insisted that a Putin-Pashinian meeting will take place,” writes the 
publication. “Also not confirmed are reports that the Russian president will 
announce an increase in the price of Russian gas price for Armenia during his 
visit.” It claims that “some Armenian circles prefer to side with Moscow” in 
actual or potential Russian-Armenian disagreements.

“Haykakan Zhamanak” dismisses opposition criticism of the arrest of two 
supporters of Robert Kocharian arrested on charges of harassing the judge 
presiding over the former Armenian president’s trial. The pro-government paper 
also rejects claims that the weekend arrest of a Justice Ministry official 
close to Hrayr Tovmasian, the Constitutional Court chairman, was politically 
motivated and constituted government pressure on Tovmasian.

“Hraparak” wonders “how a society that gave the Republican Party 700,000 votes 
in 2017 could wake up and wholeheartedly hate it” a year later. “What invisible 
hand forced people to sell their votes for 5,000-10,000 drams to a political 
force towards which there was so much hidden hatred?” asks the paper. “The 
former governments and parliaments acted with their active support. They 
tolerated all negative practices in our country. Of course some will counter 
that we did not elect [former governments] and vote irregularities and bribes 
played a role in the past. But we must not deceive ourselves. A large part of 
our society willingly elected, willingly accepted vote bribes and willingly 
contributed to the former regime’s reproduction, while the other part tolerated 
those who falsified elections, took voter bribes and served the former regime.”

(Lilit Harutiunian)


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2019 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org

«Centenary of Foundation of the History Museum of Armenia» collector coin issued

Mike Maghakian
News.am, Armenia
Sept 19 2019
«Centenary of Foundation of the History Museum of Armenia» collector coin issued «Centenary of Foundation of the History Museum of Armenia» collector coin issued

12:50, 19.09.2019
                  

The History Museum of Armenia (HMA) was founded in accordance with law №439 adopted on September 9, 1919 by the Parliament of the first Republic of Armenia. The HMA started on the basis of collections of the Armenian Ethnographical Association of the Caucasus, Nor Nakhijevan Museum of Armenian Antiquities, Museum of Antiquities of Ani, Vagharshapat Repository of Ancient Manuscripts. The first director of the museum was famous ethnologist Yervand Lalayan. 

The mission of the HMA is to preserve, replenish, study and publicize museum objects and collections, which represent the history and culture of Armenia and the Armenian people. 

The HMA preserves the national collection of around 400 000 objects, which are displayed in the departments of Archeology, Ethnography, Numismatics, and Documents and represent an integral picture of the history and culture of Armenia from prehistoric times to our days.

Since 1948, the HMA has been publishing reports on archeological excavations and scientific works on Armenian architecture, archeology, ethnography, and history. 

Obverse: objects from HMA collection – “Sculptural group with a chariot” (15th-14th centuries BC, Lori Berd, bronze, № 2728-12), “Figurine of a chamois” (13th-12th centuries BC, Artik, bronze, № 2173-553), “Four-wheeled chariot” (15th-14th centuries BC, Lchashen, wood, №2009-609), “Leather shoe” (Areni-1 Cave Complex, Trench 3, Copper Age, 36th century BC, №3194), “Ornamental plate with the image of a lion” (7th century BC, Karmir Blour, bronze, № 2783-193).

Reverse: the HMA building (architects – Mark Grigoryan, Eduard Sarapyan) and logotype, an Armenian ornament. 

Face value       1000 dram

Metal/fineness           silver 9250

Weight            33,6 g

Diameter         40,0 mm

Qualityproof

Edge    ribbed

Quantity          500 pcs

Year of issue   2019

Designed by Eduard Kurghinyan.        

Minted in the Lithuanian Mint.

Notice

Collector coins are made of precious metals and are issued to present to the society the national, international, historical and cultural, spiritual and other values of the country, to immortalize these values in the metal and to meet the demands of the numismatic market.

Like any other currency the collector coins have face value which makes them the means of payment. However, the face value of these coins is much lower that their cost price which includes the cost of the precious metal used for manufacturing of the coin, mintage and other expenses. Low face value and high cost price allow these coins to be considered as the items of collection and not the means of payment used in money circulation. The collector coins have also the sale price set by the Central Bank of Armenia.

As the items of collection the collector coins are issued in very restricted quantities and are not reissued. 

Numismatists, collectors and all interested persons can buy the Armenian collector coins in the sales salon “Numismatist” which is in the building of the Central Bank of Armenia and is open for everyone. 

Asbarez: Montebello’s Holy Cross Celebrates Feast of the Cross and its Name Day

Mike Maghakian
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11 hours ago

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross was celebrated in Prelacy Churches with Divine Liturgy, the traditional blessing of the four corners of the earth (antasdan) and blessing of basil this week.

Given that the feast marks the name day of Holy Cross Cathedral in Montebello, Western Prelate Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian celebrated Divine Liturgy and delivered the sermon at Holy Cross Cathedral. Vicar General, Bishop Torkom Donoyan, conducted services at St. Garabed Church in Las Vegas. The feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross also marks the commencement of Sunday Schools. Thus, Sunday school directors, teachers, and students attended Divine Liturgy at their local churches and received Holy Communion.

Prelate Mardirossian was assisted at the altar by parish pastor Rev. Ashod Kambourian. Parish dean, Very Rev. Muron Aznikian, participated, as well. During the service, the Prelate conducted the “antasdan” service and blessing of basil, after which he delivered his sermon.

The Prelate gave thanks to the Lord for the opportunity to once again collectively celebrate the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, to be spiritually fulfilled by the message of the Cross, strengthened by the power of the Cross, and renewed in our faith by embracing the Cross, and to commit to living our lives with faith, hope, goodness, sacrifice, devotion, and love.

“Every time we make the sign of the cross or lift up the Cross, we see in it strength, faith, hope, peace, sacrifice, loyalty, obedience, and love. Glory to the Holy Cross and glory to the Crucified One Who came to this world as the greatest manifestation of God’s love and shed His innocent blood on the Cross to liberate us from the binds of sin and grant us salvation, so that when we look to the Cross and believe, if we carry our cross and follow Christ as His faithful disciples, we too will be saved,” he stated.

Prelate Mardirossian joyfully greeted the parish family and, in particular, the Sunday school family, which begins a new year bolstered by the message of the Cross. He then gave a brief overview of the historical events relating to the recapture and return of the Cross to Jerusalem. The Prelate noted that we continue to celebrate this feast centuries on, for the Cross is the foundation of the Church and the hope of all believers; the Cross restored us from death to eternal life.

“This feast day is an opportunity to reflect and recommit ourselves to live according to the Way of the Cross, a life of love and sacrifice, turning to the Cross for comfort and haven in times of despair, strength and protection amid storms, light in the darkness, freedom from the binds of sin, spiritual nourishment in our hunger and thirst, and as an armor of protection against all enemies of our faith and nation. Furthermore, the message of the Cross invites us to emulate the faithfulness and obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ toward God the Father, to dedicate ourselves to our church and nation with faith and love, to make sacrifices for others, and to transform our homes and families into altars of God,” concluded the Prelate.

At the conclusion of Divine Liturgy, Prelate Mardirossian was led in a procession to “Bagramian” Hall for the blessing of the madagh. Afterward, attendees enjoyed the madagh luncheon hosted by the parish Ladies Aid. Fr. Muron conveyed welcoming remarks and members of the Cathedral youth group presented a program dedicated to the Cross. The Prelate once again congratulated the parish on its name day and urged all to continue their service to our church strengthened by the power of the Holy Cross.

Sports: Euro 2021: Armenia’s U21 football team suffers second defeat

Mike Maghakian
Panorama, Armenia
Sept 10 2019
Sport 15:05 10/09/2019 Armenia

In the second round of the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifier the Armenian youth football team lost 1-6 to Iceland in an away match.

At the match held in Reykjavik Karen Melkonyan scored the Armenian team's only goal in the 60th minute 11 minutes after which guests’ forward German Kurbashyan was sent off of the pitch, the Armenian National Olympic Committee's press service reported.

In the first round Antonio Flores’s team had lost to the Ireland U21 team with a minimal score in Dublin. The U21 national teams of Italy, Sweden and Luxenburg are also included in this group.

Pashinyan under pressure because of Kocharyan, Amulsar, and Karabakh…

Mike Maghakian
Vestnik Kavkaza
Sept 7 2019
7 Sep in 9:00 Mikhail Belyaev, exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza

Latest events in Armenia hit Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. In the context of domestic political situation, which is not in favor of the current head of government, it's becoming increasingly difficult for Pashinyan to timely respond to challenges facing his team. A lot of unsolved problems may turn out to be unbearable burden for inexperienced government officials, many of whom were hastily assigned based on principle of loyalty to new government.

Number one problem of Armenian Prime Minister is associated with fateful decision of the Constitutional Court of Armenia, according to which article of the Code of Criminal Procedure, based on which authorities tried to put second President of Armenia Robert Kocharian in jail, contrary to the Constitution. According to Armenian observers, basically this decision means only one thing: Robert Kocharian will be released from bail no later than September 12, when the court of first instance decides on preventive measure, and decision of Armenian Constitutional Court will inevitably be taken as the basis for the decision. Thus, Robert Kocharian will be released for the second time in six months, which will also be the second public humiliation for Nikol Pashinyan in front of the electorate. What will be the prime minister’s response – another appeal to supporters to block the courts throughout the country? But after all, the last time such an action did not bring much success: those who took to the streets turned out to be much less than expected, and therefore its repetition seems unlikely.

Another factor is alarming: literally immediately after the decision of the Constitutional Court, Nikol Pashinyan met with the leader of the Sasna Tsrer terrorist group, Zhirair Sefilyan, who was freed from him. Sasna Tsrer members, known for the capture of the PPS regiment in Yerevan in 2016 and the assassination of police colonel Arthur Vanoyan, actively oppose the "Russian occupation" and demand the withdrawal of the 102nd Russian military base from the country. If the Armenian leader, after the decision of the Constitutional Court on a matter of fundamental importance to the authorities, holds an official meeting with a terrorist known for his hatred of Robert Kocharian to discuss “issues of mutual interest”, then it’s easy to guess what or, more precisely, who could talk about speech. The whole question is whether Pashinyan is so inadequate as to decide to lower his "chain dogs" in the person of Sasna Tsrer to Kocharyan’s sworn political enemy, or is this another bluff with anti-Russian overtones to divert public attention for a while. Given that former journalist Nikol Pashinyan is prone to bluffing and informational "soap bubbles", but also has repeatedly shown emotional instability, even as prime minister, it is difficult to unequivocally answer this question. However, continuing the topic of the anti-Russian subtext of the government’s actions, it is noteworthy that recently in Armenia they granted political asylum to the Russian nationalist radical Vitaly Shishkin, which is perceived in the expert community only as a response to the refusal to extradite officials from Russia to Armenia, in in particular, ex-defense minister Mikael Harutyunyan. Recall that getting to Harutyunyan was extremely important for the Armenian authorities to “close” Robert Kocharian. In Russia, where Pashinyan had already been warned at a high official level against a "political vendetta," they probably decided not to play along with the Armenian prime minister. The only one who won in this situation is perhaps Vitaly Shishkin himself, whose profile on social networks is full of photographs from Yerevan and declarations of love for the fascist collaborator Garegin Nzhdeh, a monument to which is installed in the center of the Armenian capital.

Another issue that occupies the team of Nikol Pashinyan is the operation of the Amulsar mine, the second largest gold deposit in the country. On this subject, the Armenian authorities, faced with fierce protests of the local population, are under enormous pressure from the United States. "A further delay in the development of the Amulsarskoye field may completely destroy the investment attractiveness of Armenia," the American Chamber of Commerce in Armenia (TPAA) warned on September 2. At the same time, the statement of the Americans expresses bewilderment, since the Lydian project is the only one for which they have been forced to conduct 3 audits, and the road to the place of its implementation is still closed. "And this is in the case that the Lydian Armenia program meets the highest international environmental and social management standards of the International Finance Corporation and the EBRD," the statement said. The Prime Minister obviously understood the hint, after which he met with the director of Lidian Armenia and went to Jermuk, where he held talks with representatives of the local population. Meanwhile, the government did not make an official decision on the Amulsar issue following the discussions on September 4. “Until we are sure, we cannot risk our nature and security, as well as the authority and image of our state,” said the Deputy Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Alain Simonyan. Western partners obviously do not accept such an approach aimed at “preserving the problem”, and therefore, tension should be expected in the Amulsar issue, including the already difficult Yerevan-Washington relationship.

Finally, the third issue that has become a headache for Nikol Pashinyan is the need for substantive peace negotiations with Azerbaijan on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It is noteworthy that recently the Russian Foreign Ministry speaker Maria Zakharova in a rather diplomatic manner, but at the same time she very clearly warned the parties to the conflict from populist slogans aimed at the internal audience and harming the negotiations. Zakharova spoke about the “parties to the conflict”, but answered the question about Pashinyan’s phrase “Nagorno-Karabakh is Armenia and the point!”, And therefore it’s not difficult to understand who the barely veiled warning of the Russian Foreign Ministry was actually addressed to. Apparently, a shout from Moscow to Yerevan had a certain impact: Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan recently said that "the existing format of negotiations is the best." Thus, Pashinyan’s stillborn theses on the need to include the NKR separatist entity as an equal party to the negotiations were buried by the Armenian Foreign Minister. Obviously, the Armenian side had to “play back”, otherwise the negotiations would have been completely broken: in the publications close to the authorities in Azerbaijan, the topic of the need to refuse to conduct further negotiations with Armenia was already discussed because of recent destructive actions and statements by its leadership. In this situation, Baku will feel quite at ease in negotiations with Yerevan in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group. Amulsar’s cargo and sensitive Iranian issues are pressing on the Pashinyan’s government from the western direction, and from the Russian one – the question of Robert Kocharian and the unfriendly steps taken by the Armenian authorities towards Moscow.

Sports: ‘Armenia have already beaten Italy!’

Mike Maghakian
Football Italia
Sept 5 2019
'Armenia have already beaten Italy!'
By Football Italia staff

Armenia CT Armen Gyulbudaghyants is confident his country can spring a shock against Italy as ‘we beat them in a futsal match a few months ago.’

Italy are leaders in Group J of Euro 2020 qualifying with four wins from four, but Armenia are not far off the pace as they sit in third place with six points.

“The President of our federation said we could beat Italy,” Gyulbudaghyants said at a Press conference for Thursday’s game in Yerevan.

“He didn’t put me on the spot. We beat Italy in a futsal match a few months ago and we can do it on a bigger pitch.

“We know the Italian national team are very strong and that they’ve changed philosophy with Mancini.

“Now they attack with more bravery and play good football.”