Armenian Government confidently moves forward creating maximally competitive field for business – Pashinyan received WB Vice President Cyril Muller
19:48,
YEREVAN, MARCH 15, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia Cyril Muller.
As ARMENPRESS was informed from the office of the Prime Minister of Armenia, highlighting the financial and technical assistance of the WB to Armenia, the PM noted that the Government is interested in deepening future cooperation and to raise the effectiveness of the projects implemented. Nikol Pashinyan noted that the goal of the Government is to transform the political revolution into an economic revolution and the active cooperation with the WB can foster economic activities in the country.
Speaking about improving business environment, Nikol Pashinyan emphasized that the Government confidently moves forward creating maximally transparent and competitive field for business.
Cyril Muller assessed the partnership with Armenian partners as effective and expressed the readiness of the World Bank to closely cooperate for the implementation of the reforms and priorities of the Government of Armenia and development of the economy, including the development of SMEs. The WB Vice President expressed confidence that fight against corruption and strengthening of democracy will ensure conductive environment for economic development and progress.
In the context of bilateral cooperation the interlocutors discussed issues referring to the expansion of cooperation particularly in the spheres of infrastructures, high technologies, education, and healthcare.
Nikol Pashinyan and Cyril Muller also referred to the strategic document of cooperation between Armenia and the WB for 2019-2023 and the priorities provided by it.
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
Spokespersons of Pashinyan, Putin meet in Moscow
09:46,
YEREVAN, MARCH 12, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s spokesperson Vladimir Karapetyan is in Moscow on a working visit, the Armenian Embassy in Russia said on Facebook.
On March 11, Karapetyan has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, according to the embassy. Armenia’s Ambassador to Russia Vardan Toghanyan also took part in the meeting.
During the meeting various issues regarding cooperation between the press services of the two sides were discussed. Particularly, the sides addressed the partnership between the press services of the Armenian PM’s office, the Kremlin and the Russian government, and the coverage of events taking place within the framework of the Armenian-Russian relations.
Karapetyan and Peskov agreed to hold regular consultative meetings that will contribute to exchange of experience and strengthening of ties in the news sectors. On the same day, Karapetyan also met with editors of leading Russian news media and representatives of Russian expert circles.
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
Whenever you drive along Abbeyhill at the foot of the Royal Mile, you pass a very unusual single storey sandstone building with cyrillic lettering above the doorway. But have you ever stopped to wonder what it is – or what it used to be?
Well, wonder no more, because we’ve looked into its history, and it was way weirder, more entertaining and unusual than we could ever have imagined. Think a real life Fawlty Towers, but with an Armenian twist. But let’s start at the very beginning.
55 Abbeyhill was built in 1896 as a police station in a unique style, with castle-like elements, corner turrets and animal figure gargoyles. It was used as a police station until at least 1932, as there are records of officers being based there at that time.
A group of Abbeyhill police officers taken outside the station in the early 20th century (Image: Creative Commons)
So far, so normal. But after the police service moved out of the property, the story of this building takes a fascinating twist.
From the 1980s until at least 2008, the small ex-police station became arguably the strangest and most mysterious restaurant in Edinburgh. It was called Aghtamar Lake Van Monastery in Exile, an Armenian eatery notorious for its random opening times and extremely eccentric owner.
For years, the restaurant was the stuff of legend. If you could track down the owner and make a booking (no easy feat – one reviewer says it took a “month of phone calls”) you could access some utterly amazing food in the form of a ten-course Armenian banquet that diners raved about.
The man behind this delicious spread was Petros Vartynian, an unusual business owner who had a reputation for throwing customers out of the restaurant for – amongst other things – asking for more food or wine, turning up a few minutes late (he would refuse to give people directions to the restaurant), or failing to join in with one of his Armenian dancing tutorials.
We were also told that Vartynian, who still lives in Edinburgh, would ask customers to help with the washing up, and if people didn’t finish one of their courses they weren’t allowed any more food.
The last online review for the Aghtamar was left in late 2008, so it seems likely it stopped operating regularly at that time, although there are some accounts of people dining there as late as 2011. However, the building has gradually fallen into disrepair since and is now classed as “at risk”.
“A giant moose head adorned the wall, and posters advertising the Armenian tourist board were scattered around”
According to a now-archived blog post by local writer Jonny MacFarlane, the interior wasn’t particularly welcoming. Jonny spoke to a friend who had the rare honour of eating there, who said:
“The main eating hall was vast, cold and dark with only candle-light to guide your steps. There didn’t appear to be electricity.
“A giant moose head adorned the wall and various different posters advertising the Armenian tourist board were scattered around.
“There was a ghetto-blaster in the corner playing what sounded like red army choir music from an old, scratchy cassette.
“The whole place had a Soviet era, beyond the iron curtain feel. There were no amenities like heating, menus or salt and pepper.
The Queen was recently spotted driving past the derelict restaurant (Image: Reddit)
“The best dish had minced pork and rice rolled up in cabbage leaves. The whole thing was steamed and served with a very nice salad with an amazing dressing. Dessert was also very memorable, a sort of fruit trifle, with very pungent flavors.”
One group once asked for Turkish instead of Armenian coffee – forgetting that Turkey and Armenia have serious historical beef. They instantly regretted it:
“In a sudden rage the owner unceremoniously threw out the entire group, ignoring their apologies and protestations. I think most saw the owner as part of the charm, temper and all. It wasn’t really about a meal, it was about an experience.”
The article also says that an Armenian newspaper reported in 2012 that the restaurant was going to be turned into an Armenian Cultural Centre. However, it’s currently on the Buildings At Risk Register and the Edinburgh City Council’s planning officer hasn’t added any information about planned renovations, so it’s fair to say that’s unlikely.
But whatever happens to it in the future, the next time you drive past this iconic building, you can imagine was it was like to dine at the bizarre Aghtamar Lake Van Monastery in Exile: Edinburgh’s most unusual and mysterious restaurant.
edinburghlive.co.uk
February 26 marks the anniversary of Khojaly events and the date is a good occasion to test the readiness of the Azerbaijani public for peace, Anzhela Elibekova, expert in the South Caucasus told Panorama.am during an interview. Over the past few days Elibekova has explored Azerbaijani media reports and has come to conclusion that an active anti-Armenian propaganda is conducted despite commitments to prepare the people for peace.
“They announce about readiness to get prepared for peace, yet at the same time continue ramping up anti-Armenian sentiments among the public. The peace agenda thus appears to be fake,” Elibekova said. The expert pointed to the intensity of anti-Armenian events happening both in Azerbaijan and abroad that has been the case with previous years as well. The hatred is reinforced by statements from officials and experts of various caliber that often-spread disinformation, hatred and insults.
During the time of working at the Public Relations and Information Centre SNC, Elibekova along with number of experts initiated the “Xocali.net” project that documents the real events in the beginning of the 90s and exposes Azerbaijani falsification and distortion of facts.
«A database of facts was created with documentaries and a special website “Xocali.net” that should be presented to the Armenian and Azerbaijani public as well as the international community. This should be done first of all through diplomatic channels in order to prevent Azerbaijani propaganda activities in different countries – be those protests, or adoption of various resolutions,” Elibekova said.
“Xocali.net” website discloses Azerbaijani side’s mass falsifications concerning the tragedy, in which peaceful inhabitants of the village of Khojaly were killed. The website features many materials, including photo and video, exposing the activities of Azerbaijani Propaganda Machine that had been misleading the international community over the death of peaceful citizens for many years.
This year a small group of experts have created a new publication titled “What happened in Khojaly” available in three languages that provides information about Khojaly in Q/A format and discloses Azerbaijani side’s mass falsifications concerning the tragic events.
“The tragic events definitely took place on the night of February 25-26 claiming human lives. The tragic cannot go unpunished and the real perpetrators should be held responsible instead of those who were blamed or wanted to be seen as the assailants,” the authors of the publication say.
Some inconsistencies about the Khojaly event disseminated by the Azerbaijani propaganda can be found here. .
https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2019/02/25/Anzhela-Elibekova/2077625
YEREVAN, February 15. /ARKA/. Armenia’s Minister of Economic Development and Investments Tigran Khachatryan had a meeting today with an IMF team, led by IMF Armenia Mission head Hossein Samiei to discuss the program of the government.
The press service of the ministry said IMF team members were eager to learn about how the government is going to fight corruption, secure social protection and improvement of the business environment. Hossein Samiei was quoted as saying that IMF was ready to continue to assist the government of Armenia in observing the inclusiveness of the economic growth, embodied in its plan of activity.
At the request of the guests, the minister elaborated on a several issues that interested IMF team. In particular, he clarified the specific actions of the ministry in these areas, also touched upon the upcoming steps to improve the business environment.
The parties were said to have agreed to continue cooperation in accordance with the list of priorities developed by the government.
The government’s plan of activity for 2019-2023 calls for "economic revolution" through inclusive economic growth that will provide an average of 5% GDP annual growth. -0-
A group of students from the YSU continue to demand rector Aram Simonyan’s resignation. Today they did an informing movement with the title “100 year without Aram”.
The students wanted to send a requirement letter to the Board of Trustees. They also collected signatures and signed the requirement letter.
With the letter the students require to call a session of the Board of Trustees and express their distrust to the rector of YSU Aram Simonyan.
The door of the Board of Trustees was closed, but the students waited for the clerk to come and accept the letter.
The students declared that on the next day since 9:30 in the morning, from the front of the headquarter of the university they will repeat their movement.
And they didn’t exclude that there may be some changes depending on the reply of the Board of Trustees.
Unsurprisingly, Turkey lambastes Macron for declaring April 24 Armenian Genocide Commemoration Day
15:07, 6 February, 2019
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 6, ARMENPRESS. Turkey was quick to respond to French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent announcement on France declaring April 24th to be a National Day of Armenian Genocide Commemoration.
Being committed to the infamous denial policy, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin labeled Macron’s statement about the Armenian Genocide as “a political lie” and “strongly condemned” it, Anadolu reported.
He even accused Macron in “trying to rescue himself by using historical events as political fodder”.
President Emmanuel Macron has said France will make April 24 “a national day of commemoration of the Armenian Genocide”.
Speaking to the Armenian community at a dinner organized by the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organisations of France (CCAF), Macron said: “France is, first and foremost, the country that knows how to look history in the face, which was among the first to denounce the killing of the Armenian people, which in 1915 named genocide for what it was, which in 2001 after a long struggle recognised it in law”, according to France24.
France "will in the next weeks make April 24 a national day of commemoration of the Armenian genocide," he added.
Macron said he has informed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the decision to declare April 24th a National Day of Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide in advance.
"We have disagreements over the fight against the Islamic State, human rights and civil liberties in Turkey and on the genocide," Macron said, according to Euronews.
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
Government eyes state-of-the-art missile systems, aviation and modern warfare capacities in Action Plan
16:34, 6 February, 2019
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 6, ARMENPRESS. The Government of Armenia has presented its defense policy in the draft Action Plan that is due to be submitted to parliament for debates.
According to the program, the government plans to equip the military will modern long-range precision guided missile systems, artillery and air defense complexes, multi-role aviation and automated and robotized aerial systems, thus enhancing deep reconnaissance abilities, troop mobility and fire range, precision and efficiency.
An important component of ensuring security will be the development of local military industry, and coherent re-equipment of the frontline with technical devices, efficiency of combat shifts and increasing security will remain in focus.
Actions will be taken in order for the command system to be maximally automated, having required tactics and operativeness for operating modern warfare, vitality, mobility, technological superiority, as well as necessary abilities for ensuring cyber-security, and be guided by the Command Through Order principle aimed at encouraging proactiveness, speedy orientation and decision making.
Education of servicemen will also be among priorities.
The morale, discipline, human rights protection in the military will also be significantly improved.
The government also plans to develop the social protection system for military families.
The government will also develop bilateral and multilateral military-political alliances and partnerships for the purpose of enhancing the opportunities of existing procedures of international cooperation and collective security.
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan