Category: 2024

Prime Minister receives the Coordinator on Global Anti-Corruption of the US State Department

Tatoyan Vazgen

 20:08, 15 January 2024

YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS.  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received Richard Nephew, Coordinator on Global Anti-Corruption of the US State Department, the PM's Office said.

According to the source, the Prime Minister emphasized close cooperation and its continuity with the US administration in the fight against corruption and the development of democratic institutions. Nikol Pashinyan noted that the anti-corruption policy and promotion of the reform agenda is a priority for the Armenian government and the executive is consistently moving towards the development of anti-corruption mechanisms and increasing the efficiency of institutions. In this context, the Prime Minister emphasized the further implementation of programs with partner states, active cooperation, exchange of experience and capacity building.

It is noted that Richard Nephew noted that the US administration will continue to support the Armenian government in strengthening democracy, effective implementation of reforms in the field of justice and fighting corruption. According to the Coordinator on Global Anti-Corruption of the US State Department, the USA highly appreciates the steps taken by the Armenian government in the above directions. Richard Nephew added that within the framework of his visit to Yerevan, he had effective discussions with Armenian partners with the goal to give a new impulse to further cooperation.

Issues related to the digitalization process, as well as the implementation of joint programs in other directions were also touched upon at the meeting.

Armenpress: Blast at Azerbaijani furniture workshop kills six

Manouk Vasilian

 21:30, 15 January 2024

YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. An explosion at a furniture workshop in Azerbaijan's capital Baku on Monday killed six people and injured two dozen others, officials said, reports Agence France-Presse.

"The bodies of six people have been found and removed from the rubble," the prosecutor's office said.

It is noted that at least 24 people were injured, three of whom were pulled from the rubble, it said earlier.

The cause of the blast was not immediately clear but prosecutors said they had lanched a criminal investigation into a breach of "fire safety regulations".

The California Courier Online, January 18, 2024

Andranik Taslakhchian

The California
Courier Online, January 18, 2024

 

1-         Israel’s
Foreign Minister Tweets the Term Armenian
Genocide: ‘Too little, Too Late’

            By Harut
Sassounian

            Publisher, California Courier

            www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

2-         2024 Rose
Parade: ‘Armenian Melodies’ Float Wins Grand Marshal Trophy

3-         Teni
Melidonian Named Chief Oscars Officer

4-         Armenia
Artsakh Fund, American Armenian Businessmen Coalition Deliver
$483,000 of Medicines, Medical Supplies to Lebanon

 —————————————–

1-         Israel’s
Foreign Minister Tweets the Term

            Armenian
Genocide: ‘Too little, Too Late’

            By Harut
Sassounian

            Publisher, California Courier

            www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

 

Israel’s
Foreign Minister Israel Katz reminded Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the
Armenian Genocide after the Turkish leader supported South
Africa’s complaint with the International Court of
Justice (World Court)
that Israel was committing genocide
against the Palestinians in Gaza.

Foreign Minister Katz tweeted on January 12, 2024: “The
president of Turkey Erdogan, from a country with the Armenian genocide in its
past, now boasts of targeting Israel
with unfounded claims. We remember the Armenians, the Kurds. Your history
speaks for itself. Israel
stands in defense, not destruction, against your barbarian allies.”

Within the larger context of the Israel-Hamas conflict, Israel’s reference to the Armenian Genocide to
attack Turkey
raises a number of important issues. After refusing for decades to acknowledge
the Armenian Genocide, Israel’s
Foreign Minister all of a sudden remembered the Armenian Genocide when it
suited his country’s interests. Here are my comments on his tweet:

1) Israeli Foreign Minister’s reference to the Armenian
Genocide cannot be considered a formal recognition which can only occur when
the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) adopts a resolution acknowledging the Armenian
Genocide.

2) This is not the first time that an Israeli Minister has
referred to the Armenian Genocide. Three other past Israeli Ministers had made
similar acknowledgements when they were serving in the government:

– Minister of Education Yossi Sarid stated on April 24,
2000, “I join you, members of the Armenian community, on your Memorial Day, as
you mark the 85th anniversary of your genocide. I am here, with you, as a human
being, as a Jew, as an Israeli, and as Education Minister of the State of
Israel.”

– Minister of Justice Yossi Beilin stated on April 24, 2000:
“Something happened that cannot be defined except as genocide. One-and-a-half
million people disappeared. It wasn’t negligence, it was deliberate.” Earlier,
when serving as Deputy Foreign Minister in 1994, Beilin made a similar
statement on the Armenian Genocide.

– Minister of Immigrant Absorption Yair Tsaban attended the
Memorial Day ceremonies of the Armenian community in Israel in 1995 and urged the
recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

3) Nevertheless, Israel’s Knesset attempted several
times in recent decades to adopt a resolution to recognize the Armenian
Genocide. Each time, the government of Israel
blocked the resolution to appease Turkey.

4) It is unacceptable that Israel
is using the Armenian Genocide as a bargaining chip in its problematic relations
with Turkey.
The State of Israel, as a nation of Holocaust survivors, should have been the
first country, hopefully not the last, to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

5) Equally unacceptable is the Israeli government’s excuses
for its denial of the Armenian Genocide. When relations are good between Israel and Turkey,
Israeli officials say: “We don’t wish to ruin our good relations with Turkey because
of the Armenian Genocide.” And when the relations are bad, as it is now, Israel declares: “We do not want to make our
relations with Turkey
worse by recognizing the Armenian Genocide.” Israel has thus tarnished its
reputation in the international community as a genocide denialist.

6) Contrary to the Israeli government’s denialism,
individual Jews have been some of the leading voices calling attention to the
Armenian Genocide: Henry Morgenthau, U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
(1913-1916); Franz Werfel, Austrian Jewish novelist, author of: “The Forty Days
of Musa Dagh”; Raphael Lemkin, Polish Jewish Lawyer, who coined the term
genocide; Reuven Rivlin, former President of Israel when he was the Knesset
Chairman; Professors Israel Charny, Yair Auron, and Yehuda Bauer; and Nobel
Peace Prize Winner Elie Wiesel.

7) For years and more recently, Erdogan has used very harsh
words to insult the Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
likening him to Hitler, and accusing him of being a ‘war criminal and
terrorist’ who is committing genocide against the Palestinians. However, as in
past conflicts, when the current crisis is over, Israel
and Turkey
will return to their earlier lovey-dovey relationship. Even at the height of
this existing hostile situation, the two countries have continued their
billions of dollars of trade, exchange of intelligence, and tourism.

8) Western Europe and the United States, by ignoring the
Turkish leader’s misdeeds within NATO and his warmongering in several regional
conflicts, have spoiled Erdogan to such a degree that he knows he would be able
to get away with anything he wanted to do without facing any consequences. Back
in 2010, when a Turkish humanitarian flotilla was approaching Gaza
to break Israel’s blockade, Israel’s
military attacked the Turkish ship killing 10 Turks. Thereafter, Netanyahu
issued an apology to Erdogan and paid $20 million in compensation to the
victims’ families.

9) Even if Israel
recognizes the Armenian Genocide, Armenians will not forget the billions of
dollars of lethal weapons that Israel
sold to Azerbaijan
to kill and injure thousands of Armenian soldiers during the Artsakh War.
Shockingly, even in the midst of the Israel-Gaza war, Israel has continued to sell additional
sophisticated armaments to Azerbaijan,
as several Azeri cargo planes have been seen leaving Israel loaded with such weapons.

The “Israel Hayom” newspaper published on January 14, 2024,
an article by Nadav Shragai, titled: “Recognize the Armenian genocide now.” The
author boldly wrote: “The Israeli government’s refusal to acknowledge the
Armenian genocide is a clear case of blatant moral bankruptcy.”

Back in 1989, when Netanyahu was Deputy Foreign Minister and
had not yet lost his moral compass, had said: “There are issues that go beyond
politics and diplomacy. Genocides are a clear case of this particular
category.”

 

************************************************
2-         2024 Rose Parade: ‘Armenian
Melodies’ Float Wins Grand Marshal Trophy

 

PASADENA (Combined
Sources)—“Armenian Melodies” has won the “Grand Marshal” award for Most
Outstanding Creative Concept and Float Design in the 135th Tournament of Roses,
which took place in Pasadena
on Monday, January 1, 2024.

The 55-foot-long float created by the Armenian American Rose
Float Association (AARFA) featured many aspects of Armenian culture, symbolism,
history, and current events. It’s the sixth year the association has
participated in the annual Rose Parade, whose theme this year was “Celebrating
a World of Music: The Universal Language.”

Inspired by the strength of Armenian matriarchs throughout
history, “Armenian Melodies” features dynamic Armenian mother and daughter
figures dressed in vibrant, traditional garb. Armenian birds played a
significant role on the float, with the crane, chukar, and little ringed
plover, which are indigenous to the Armenian Highlands, nestled around the
mother and daughter. Armenian instruments also featured prominently in
“Armenian Melodies,” with traditional wind instruments native to Armenia,
including the duduk, shvi, blul, and parkapzuk, and percussion instruments such
as the dhol and nagara. Along with AARFA’s tricolor logo, Armenian symbols were
placed throughout the float. A bushel of pomegranates represented good fortune
and abundance; apricots (whose scientific name is prunus Armeniaca); the
“arevakhatch” or sun cross, symbolized eternal life.

The intricate and historic patterns woven on the mother’s
dress, called a Taraz, were designed with red Christmas mums, whole
pomegranates, dried apricots, cranberry seeds and green Ti leaves. The crane
and other birds were decorated with orange lentil, blue and purple statice, red
cranberry, lima beans, kidney beans and yellow strawflower. Drums seen on the
front and back of the float were made of flax seed, blue and pink statice,
black onions, ground rice and other materials.

Float designer Johnny Kanounji, one of the founders of
AARFA, said, “The mother symbolizes everything to the Armenian community. She
is the root of all that holds the family together. Mothers show daughters what
Armenian culture, music, and everything is; passing the torch from mother to
daughter.”

Kanounji, a Pasadena
resident, said that each year’s parade entry has aimed to highlight different
aspects of Armenian culture, lifestyle, and even Los Angeles County
— home to over 500,000 Armenians.

This year’s float called for “nearly $350,000” of
fundraising, a feat Kanounji said “wasn’t easy.” But with the amount of money
used towards the project, Kanounji said he wants to make sure to design thoughtful
floats each year.

Past parade entries from the American Armenian Float
Association have also won awards — including the President’s trophy — in 2015,
2017 and 2018, respectively.

 ‐——————————–

3-         Teni Melidonian Named Chief
Oscars Officer

(Deadline)—The Academy
of Motion Pictures Arts
and Sciences (AMPAS) announced that Teni Melidonian was named to the newly
created position of Chief Oscars Officer, Deadline reported on Tuesday, January
9.

According to the entertainment news outlet, Melidonian will
lead strategy, talent relations, special events and production teams for all
awards programs and events.

This is a promotion for the longtime AMPAS executive, who as
the lead liaison with Disney/ABC—the Academy’s broadcast distribution
partner—headed Oscars ad sales, marketing, advertising and synergy strategies
supporting audience growth opportunities globally, according to Deadline.

In her new role, Melidonian will collaborate closely with
the Oscars producers and show host, Disney/ABC and Academy leadership—including
the Board of Governors and its committees—and oversee the teams involved in
developing and executing the Oscars for a global viewing audience, Deadline
reported.

The announcement was made Tuesday by Academy CEO Bill
Kramer, who also announced the promotion of MaryJane Partlow to Executive
Vice-President of Awards Production and Special Events.

“Teni is creative and forward-thinking—and her years of
Academy experience and strong knowledge of our awards are a huge asset for our
organization during this exciting and historic time. She played a critical role
in the success of last year’s show,” Kramer said in his announcement.

Melidonian was most recently Executive Vice-President of
Marketing and Oscars Strategy. She began her career at AMPAS in 2005 as a
publicist, advancing to head communications and publicity and overseeing brand
strategy and marketing before moving over to lead the Oscars Strategy team.
Prior to the Academy, Melidonian worked in Washington,
including at Armenia’s
Embassy to the United States.

———————————-

4-         Armenia Artsakh
Fund, American Armenian Businessmen Coalition Deliver
$483,000 of Medicines, Medical Supplies to Lebanon

The Armenia Artsakh Fund (AAF) in partnership with American
Armenian Businessmen Coalition (AABC) and MAP International delivered $483,000
of medicines, medical supplies and emergency aid to Beirut, Lebanon
in a 20 ft. container.

This valuable shipment included much needed medicines which
included various types of antibiotics, diabetes and blood pressure medicines,
First Aid Kits, medical supplies, thermal blankets and eyeglasses.

The medications and supplies will be distributed to
disadvantaged Armenians in Lebanon
free of charge. In the past 34 years AAF has delivered to Armenia and
Artsakh a total of over $1 billion worth of humanitarian aid on board 158
airlifts and 2,577 sea containers.

For more information, call the AAF office: (818) 241-8900;
————————
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RFE/RL Armenian Service – 01/15/2024

Raffi Khondkarian 
                                        Monday, January 15, 2024


No Agreement Reached On Armenian-Azeri Talks In Washington
January 15, 2024
        • Harry Tamrazian

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosts the Armenian and Azerbaijani 
foreign ministers for talks in Arlington, Virginia, June 29, 2023.


Azerbaijan has still not accepted a fresh U.S. proposal to organize talks 
between the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers in Washington, a senior 
Armenian diplomat said at the weekend.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had originally been scheduled to host the 
two ministers on November 20. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov 
withdrew from the trilateral meeting in protest against what his office called 
pro-Armenian statements made by James O’Brien, the U.S. assistant secretary of 
state for Europe and Eurasia.

O’Brien visited Baku in early December in a bid to convince the Azerbaijani 
leadership to reschedule it. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s top foreign 
policy aide, Hikmet Hajiyev, said afterwards that Washington must reconsider its 
“one-sided approach” to the conflict before it can mediate more peace talks.

The U.S. State Department kept trying to organize the talks that would focus on 
an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty. Its special envoy for the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace process, Louis Bono, visited Yerevan for that purpose 
last week. Lilit Makunts, Armenia’s ambassador to the United States, confirmed 
that no new date was set for the talks as a result.

“There is no clarity, no agreement at the moment,” Makunts told RFE/RL’s 
Armenian Service.

Significantly, Bono did not proceed to Baku from Yerevan. According to some 
Azerbaijani media outlets, Azerbaijani officials refused to meet with him. The 
U.S. embassies in both South Caucasus nations did not deny the snub.

Bayramov offered late last month to meet with Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan 
on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border without third-party mediation. Hajiyev said 
afterwards that Baku and Yerevan do not need third-party mediation in order to 
negotiate the peace treaty.

Armenian analysts have suggested that Baku does not want Western mediation 
anymore because it is reluctant to sign the kind of agreement that would 
preclude Azerbaijani territorial claims to Armenia.




Pashinian Rejects Azeri ‘Territorial Claims’
January 15, 2024
        • Ruzanna Stepanian
        • Karlen Aslanian

Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pasinian speaks at a meeting in Gavar, january 
13, 2024.


Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has accused Azerbaijan of undermining prospects 
for an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace accord with effective territorial claims to 
Armenia.

In a weekend speech, Pashinian pointed to Baku’s continuing reluctance to 
recognize his country’s borders certified by Soviet maps and renewed demands for 
an extraterritorial corridor to the Nakhichevan exclave that would pass through 
a strategic Armenian region.

“I consider recent statements from Baku to be a serious blow to the peace 
process. The first impression is that … Azerbaijan is trying to generate 
territorial claims against Armenia, which is unacceptable,” he told members of 
his Civil Contract party at a meeting held in the eastern town of Gavar.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his senior aides have said in recent 
weeks that Baku and Yerevan should sign a bilateral peace treaty before agreeing 
on how to delimit the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Aliyev made clear on January 
10 that Baku continues to reject Yerevan’s insistence on using the most recent 
Soviet military maps printed in the 1970s as a basis for the border delimitation.

In that regard, Aliyev again accused Armenia of occupying “eight Azerbaijani 
villages.” He referred to several small enclaves inside Armenia which were 
controlled by Azerbaijan in Soviet times and occupied by the Armenian army in 
the early 1990s. For its part, the Azerbaijani side seized at the time a bigger 
Armenian enclave. It also occupied other Armenian border areas following the 
2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Earlier this month Baku renewed its demands for the so-called “Zangezur 
corridor.” Aliyev insisted that people and cargo transported to and from 
Nakhichevan through Armenia’s Syunik province must be exempt from Armenian 
border checks. Another senior Azerbaijani official said on January 5 that 
Armenia has an “obligation” to do so under the terms of the Russian-brokered 
ceasefire that stopped the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war.

Pashinian countered that it contains no provisions calling for an 
extraterritorial corridor to Nakhichevan. He also charged that Azerbaijan and 
Russia effectively scrapped the truce accord with Baku’s September 19-20 
military offensive in Karabakh that restored Azerbaijani control over the region 
and forced its population to flee to Armenia.

“There is no way that document can no longer be valid for two parties [that 
signed it] but continue to be valid for the third party,” he said.

Meanwhile, Armenian opposition leaders on Monday portrayed the latest verbal 
exchanges between Baku and Yerevan as another vindication of their claims that 
the peace treaty touted Pashinian’s administration would not be a safeguard 
against another Armenian-Azerbaijani war. They said Pashinian’s stance is only 
encouraging Aliyev to seek further Armenian concessions even after the recapture 
of Karabakh.

“If those two key provisions -- the border delimitation and the unblocking of 
regional transport links -- are left out of the treaty, it will not eliminate 
the existing threats [to Armenia’s security] in any way,” said Tigran Abrahamian 
of the Pativ Unem bloc. “That could lead to an escalation of the situation, 
including the outbreak of fighting, at any moment.”

“If Nikol Pashinian had normal structures that would assess the 
military-political situation in a proper and timely way, they would quickly see 
that Azerbaijan's offer of peace is a deception,” said Seyran Ohanian, the 
parliamentary leader of another opposition bloc, Hayastan.




Armenian Road Deaths Up In 2023
January 15, 2024
        • Artak Khulian

Armenia - The scene of a car accident in Yerevan, March 31, 2023.


The number of officially registered traffic deaths in Armenia rose by about 17 
percent to 362 in January-November 2023 amid a continued expansion of the 
country’s new, Western-funded road police.

Official statistics publicized on Monday by the chief of the national police 
service, Aram Hovannisian, also shows a 6.3 percent year-on-year increase in the 
number of all vehicle accidents.

Hovannisian and other senior officials from the Armenian Ministry of Interior 
said that a key reason for the increased number of fatalities and other traffic 
violations is that the Patrol Service was only recently expanded to all regions 
of Armenia. They expressed confidence that the new police force will reverse the 
upward trend this year.

The Patrol Service was set up in 2021 with financial and technical assistance 
provided by the United States and the European Union. It was meant to introduce 
Western standards in road policing, street patrol and crowd control.

Critics regularly accuse newly trained officers of the Patrol Service of 
incompetence. The first chief of the Patrol Service, Artur Umrshatian, was 
sacked in February 2023 after his subordinates took more than 20 minutes to stop 
a car racing chaotically through Yerevan’s main square.

Lenient and inconsistent road policing seems to be another factor. In 
particular, anecdotal evidence suggests that most Armenian motorists have 
stopped fastening their seat belts over the past few years. Few of them are 
fined for such violations.

Armenia - The first division of the Patrol Service is inaugurated in Yerevan, 
July 8, 2021.
Nevertheless, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and other Armenian officials 
regularly portray the Patrol Service as a successful example of police reforms 
carried out by the current authorities in Yerevan.

Deputy Interior Minister Arpine Sargsian on Monday listed the creation of the 
service among “big achievements” of those reforms. The mostly structural changes 
have already produced “quite serious results,” she told a joint news conference 
with Interior Minister Vahe Ghazarian and Hovannisian.

During the 2018 “velvet revolution” that brought him to power, Pashinian 
repeatedly lambasted Armenia’s former government for aggressively enforcing 
traffic rules with fines. His government forgave thousands of car owners that 
had refused to pay such fines and also reduced most of the legal penalties for 
traffic violations. But it toughened some of them after traffic deaths surged 
from 279 in 2017 to 343 in 2018.

Armenia’s overall crime rate has also increased since 2018. The police recorded 
35,052 various crimes in January-November 2023, up by 5.3 percent year on year. 
The increase was primarily driven by drug trafficking cases which more than 
doubled in the eleven-month period.

The rapid rise in such cases observed in recent years is widely blamed on 
increasingly accessible synthetic drugs mainly sold through the internet. It has 
prompted serious concern from not only opposition politicians but also 
parliament deputies from Pashinian’s Civil Contract party. Meeting with those 
lawmakers last October, Ghazarian called for criminalizing drug addiction in the 
country.





Azeri Court Upholds Jail Term For Karabakh Armenian
January 15, 2024

Azerbaijan -- Vagif Khachatrian goes on trial in Baku, October 13, 2023.


An appeals court in Azerbaijan confirmed on Monday a 15-year prison sentence 
given to an ethnic Armenian from Nagorno-Karabakh who was arrested by 
Azerbaijani security services last summer during his aborted medical evacuation 
to Armenia.

The 68-year-old Vagif Khachatrian was among Karabakh patients escorted by the 
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to Armenian hospitals for urgent 
treatment. He was detained at an Azerbaijani checkpoint in the Lachin corridor 
and then charged with killing and deporting Karabakh’s ethnic Azerbaijani 
residents at the start of the first Armenian-Azerbaijani war.

During his trial, Khachatrian repeatedly denied any involvement in the alleged 
killings of 25 Azerbaijanis from the Karabakh village of Meshali captured by 
Karabakh Armenian forces in December 1991. He had lived in another village close 
to Meshali during and after the 1991-199 war.

A military court in Baku sentenced him to 15 years in prison on November 7. 
Khachatrian, who refused to be represented by an Azerbaijani 
government-appointed lawyer during the trial, appealed against the verdict. The 
appeal was predictably rejected by the higher Azerbaijani court.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry condemned the “sham trial” late last year. It 
demanded the immediate release of Khachatrian and other “Armenian POWs and 
civilians still held hostage in Baku.”

They include eight former political and military leaders of Karabakh who were 
arrested at the Azerbaijani checkpoint during the mass exodus of the region’s 
ethnic Armenian population resulting from Azerbaijan’s September 19-20 military 
offensive. They are facing various grave accusations rejected by the Armenian 
government as well as current Karabakh officials.


Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2024 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Iran claims responsibility for blasts near US consulate in Iraq

Jhanna Virabian

No American facilities or nationals were hit in the ballistic missile attack.

BY ZOYA SHEFTALOVICH
JANUARY 16, 2024 12:40 AM CET

Multiple explosions were reported near the U.S. consulate in the Iraqi city of Erbil, with Iran's Revolutionary Guard claiming responsibility for missile attacks on what it claimed were Israeli "spy headquarters," according to state media.

"Ballistic missiles were used to destroy espionage centers and gatherings of anti-Iranian terrorist groups in the region late tonight,” the Revolutionary Guard said in a statement Monday, according to Reuters. ABC News reported Iran had targeted eight locations near the U.S. consulate, with four people killed.

Erbil is the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, which Tehran claims is used as a staging ground by Iranian separatist groups and houses bases belonging to Israeli intelligence agency Mossad — which the Kurdistan regional government denies.

No Americans were among the casualties in Monday's attack, and U.S. facilities weren't impacted, Reuters reported.

Tehran also struck sites in Syria on Monday night, claiming it was targeting Islamic State militants in retribution for recent terror attacks in Iran. The strikes appear to be Tehran's retribution for the two blasts earlier this month near the tomb of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in southern Iran, which were claimed by ISIS.

Armenpress: Nicolas Anelka to visit Armenia to discuss opening football academy

Emil Karabekian

 09:45, 16 January 2024

YEREVAN, JANUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. Nicolas Anelka, the French professional football manager and retired player will visit Armenia on January 16-20 at the invitation of the French-Armenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI France Arménie).  

The Paris Saint-Germain F.C. ambassador will discuss, among other issues, the establishment of an international-standard football academy in Armenia, CCI France Arménie said in a statement.

Lionel Messi wins ‘The Best FIFA’ men’s player of year award, beating out Mbappe, Haaland

Vanyan Gary

 09:55, 16 January 2024

YEREVAN, JANUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. Lionel Messi has been crowned The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2023, retaining the title he won in 2022.

The Argentina superstar has been bestowed with the honour once again following another qualifying period where he dazzled football fans across the globe. Messi was recognised for his achievements at The Best FIFA Football Awards™ ceremony in London, having come out on top in the voting ahead of finalists Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe, FIFA said in a press release.

Messi topped an incredibly closely-contested poll which was voted for by national team coaches and captains as well as expert journalists and supporters across the globe.

With the 2022 World Cup winner and Norway international Haaland locked together on 48 scoring points, they were separated by the number of first-choice nominations which Messi received in votes from national team captains, as per the Rules of Allocation (article 12). France striker Mbappe finished third with 35 points.

Reconstruction worth $114,000,000 carried out in Armavir Province in 2018-2023

Ani Basmajian

 10:32, 16 January 2024

YEREVAN, JANUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. Various reconstruction works worth over 46,6 billion drams (equivalent to $114,000,000) were implemented in the Armavir Province in 2018-2023, the government said in a statement.

In particular, 111,4 kilometers of roads, 87,4 kilometers of lighting, 143,5 kilometers of gasification, 336,2 kilometers of water lines and 28 kindergartens were either built, reconstructed or repaired.

Parliament adopts exoneration options for draft evaders

Emil Lazarian

 10:50, 16 January 2024

YEREVAN, JANUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. The contentious legislation seeking to introduce several options for draft evaders for exoneration was adopted by parliament on Tuesday. The bill passed with 61 votes in favor, 27 against and 6 abstentions.

The legislation is authored by MP Hayk Sargsyan from the Civil Contract party.

Men who’ve evaded mandatory military service and are above the conscription age limit (27) are prosecuted and could face a prison term of up to 5 years under the current regulations.

Under current law, draft evaders who are now above the age of 27 can’t serve in the military even if they wanted to and they certainly face criminal prosecution.  

MP Hayk Sargsyan from the ruling Civil Contract party drafted a bill that would give draft dodgers the option to have their criminal charges dropped by either enlisting into the armed forces and serving a full 2-year term, or serving a 1-year term and paying 2,5 million drams, or serving for 6 months and paying 5 million drams, or serving 1 month and paying 8 million drams, or not serving at all and paying 15 million drams to the government.

Men above the age of 27 who would obtain Armenian citizenship will also be eligible for mandatory military service and will only have the opportunity to use option 2 (serving a 1-year term and paying 2,5 million drams) if applicable.

According to Sargsyan, today there are over 10,000 fugitives on charges of draft evasion. Over 5,000 of them are above the age of 27.

Most of them are abroad and do not return to Armenia in order to avoid imprisonment. Sargsyan argued that if his bill wasn't adopted the draft evaders who are now abroad would wait until they are above the age of 37 to return to be cleared of the charges on the basis of statute of limitations.

Sargsyan said earlier at a parliamentary debate that the legislation seeks to give those who haven’t served and are now wanted the opportunity to be useful to their country.

“I wouldn’t want us to ever declare amnesty for these people again,” he said, referring to a 2021 amnesty declared by the Armenian parliament which cleared of criminal charges over 1300 draft evaders. “But I also wouldn’t want to sentence five thousand citizens to five years in prison, because by doing so, not only wouldn’t our country benefit, but we’d spend a lot of money on finding, sentencing and detaining them,” Sargsyan said.

“That’s what this legislation is about, to give these people the chance to be useful to their country, instead of becoming a burden.”

Multiple men would repatriate to Armenia if the bill passes parliament, according to the MP.