The National Assembly approved Pashinyan’s government program

June 7, 2018 By administrator

YEREVAN, JUNE 7, At the special session convened on June 7, the MPs approved the government program. As reports “Armenpress”, 62 voted for the government program and 39 deputies voted for it.

Before the extraordinary session, six MPs from the Republican Party of Armenia (Felix Tsolakyan, Arthur Gevorgyan, Artak Sargsyan, Shirak Torosyan, Arman Sahakyan, Samvel Alexanyan) announced their withdrawal from the National Assembly faction after the 2017 parliamentary elections. : Thus, in the National Assembly with 105 seats, the Republican Party lost the majority. Nevertheless, the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) has stated that it will not hinder the voting of the government program.

After more than a month’s rallies, Nikol Pashinyan was elected prime minister on May 8. On May 12, the new government was formed, which approved its program on June 1 and presented it to the National Assembly. This program is referred to as transitional by the expert circles and establishes the prioritization of snap parliamentary elections within one year.

ԵՐԵՎԱՆ, 7 ՀՈՒՆԻՍԻ, ԱՐՄԵՆՊՐԵՍ: ՀՀ Ազգային ժողովում հունիսի 7-ին հրավիրված արտահերթ նիստում պատգամավորները հավանության արժանացրին կառավարության ծրագիրը: Ինչպես հաղորդում է «Արմենպրես»-ը, կառավարության ծրագրին կողմ քվեարկեց 62, դեմ՝ 39 պատգամավոր:

Նախքան արտահերթ նիստը՝ 2017 թվականի խորհրդարանական ընտրություններից հետո Ազգային ժողովում մեծամասնություն (58 պատգամավորական մանդատ) ունեցող Հայաստանի հանրապետական կուսակցության վեց պատգամավոր (Ֆելիքս Ցոլակյանը, Արթուր Գևորգյանը, Արտակ Սարգսյանը, Շիրակ Թորոսյանը, Արման Սահակյանը, Սամվել Ալեքսանյանը) հայտարարել էին ՀՀԿ ԱԺ խմբակցությունից դուրս գալու մասին: Այդպիսով, 105 պատգամավորական տեղ ունեցող Ազգային ժողովում ՀՀԿ-ն կորցրել է մեծամասնությունը: Այդուհանդերձ, ՀՀԿ-ն հայտարարել է, որ չի խոչընդոտելու կառավարության ծրագրի քվեարկությանը:

Ավելի քան մեկ ամիս շարունակվող ցույցերից հետո՝ Նիկոլ Փաշինյանը ՀՀ վարչապետ է ընտրվել մայիսի 8-ին: Մայիսի 12-ին ամբողջովին ձևավորվել էր նոր կառավարությունը, որը հունիսի 1-ին հաստատել էր իր ծրագիրն ու ներկայացրել ԱԺ: Այս ծրագիրը փորձագիտական շրջանակների կողմից անվանվում է անցումային և որպես առաջնահերթություն սահմանում է մեկ տարվա ընթացքում արտահերթ խորհրդարանական ընտրությունների անցկացումը:

Armenia PM says he cannot negotiate on Karabakh’s behalf

June 7, 2018 By administrator

YEREVAN. – The talks on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict cannot be considered productive unless the leadership of Artsakh participates in them.

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday said the abovementioned at the special session of the National Assembly, as he presented the program of the new government of the country.

In his words, many people viewed this position as a novelty in the negotiation process, whereas there is nothing new in it.

“What is considered a novelty is just the well-forgotten old,” Pashinyan stated. “The fact that Artsakh is a full-fledged party to the negotiations was confirmed at the OSCE summit in Budapest in 1994. The negotiation process took place in that very format until 1998.

“The people of Karabakh don’t participate in the elections of Armenia. Instead, they have their own authorities, and the people of Karabakh can be represented [in these peace talks] solely by their [own] legitimate authorities. “

The Armenian PM noted that every time when such a matter is raised, Azerbaijan says representatives of the “Azerbaijani community of Karabakh” also must partake in these talks.

“This is a false argument because the legal status of the Azerbaijanis who lived in Karabakh underwent no change due to the conflict,” he explained. “They remain Azerbaijani citizens and continue to participate in Azerbaijani elections, as Azerbaijani citizens. It means that [Azerbaijan President Ilham] Aliyev is participating in the negotiations also with the mandate given [to him] by those people. It means that those people are already engaged in the negotiations, in the person of the Azerbaijan president.”

Also, Pashinyan said those who interpret these views of theirs as an attempt to terminate the Karabakh peace talks do not assess the situation correctly.

“I’m ready to negotiate with the Azerbaijan president, within the framework of the OSCE [Minsk Group] co-chairmanship,” he added. “But bringing the previously made arrangements to fruition is important in terms of increasing the effectiveness of the negotiations. It’s inconvenient to negotiate on new matters if the previous arrangements are not fulfilled. Each and every adventurism by the adversary will be met by our crushing counterstrike.”

Turkish actress Özge Borak turns down Azeri businessman’s $ 1 million offer for one-time sex

June 6, 2018 By administrator

YEREVAN, JUNE 5, Turkish actress Özge Borak has shown the letter of an Azeri businessman who has offered her 1 million dollars for a one night stand, haqqin.az reports.

“I am an Azerbaijani businessman, I live in Moscow, I will pay 1 million dollars to spend a night with you, tell me your bank account and I will make the transfer immediately,” the Russia-based Azerbaijani businessman said.

The actress said she posts only the most weird or ridiculous messages which have been sent to her on Instagram. She mentioned that she receives many love letters, but without disrespectful remarks.

“But I don’t even know what to say to this one. Dirty sham,” she said referring to the Azeri man.

She censored the name and picture of the businessman so the identity of the macho wannabe is unknown.

Donald Trump pardons Alice Marie Johnson after Kim Kardashian West plea

June 6, 2018 By administrator

President Donald Trump has pardoned Alice Marie Johnson, the great-grandmother whom Kim Kardashian West advocated for in a White House meeting last week, People has learned.

The White House announced the news in a statement on Wednesday, saying: “Ms. Johnson has accepted responsibility for her past behavior and has been a model prisoner over the past two decades.”

“While this Administration will always be very tough on crime, it believes that those who have paid their debt to society and worked hard to better themselves while in prison deserve a second chance,” the statement added.

The pardon comes after Kardashian West met with the president at the White House last week to plead for clemency for Johnson, a 63-year-old first-time nonviolent drug offender who in 1996 was given a life sentence without parole.

Garo Paylan: “We will never kneel”

June 4, 2018 By administrator

Garo Paylan: “We will never kneel”

The HDP candidate in the Turkish parliamentary elections of 24 June has galvanized an audience of nearly 2,000 people in the Phocaean city. Curtain up on a man of exception.

The doors of the Docks du Sud, a cultural and associative center of Marseilles, were open from 7 pm on Friday, June 1st, to host a meeting to support Garo Paylan. A member of the HDP (People’s Democratic Party), emblematic figure of the Armenian community, he seeks a mandate in one of the 81 provinces of the country, that of Dyabekir, June 24. The same day as the presidential election. HDP’s candidate, Selahattin Demirtaş, will campaign from his prison cell where he has been incarcerated since November 2016. A favorite of the elections, however, mistreated in the latest polls against the background of the economic crisis and the fall of the Turkish lira, the outgoing president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling party, the AKP, hope to establish a dictatorship with the legitimacy of the ballot box, legitimacy mingled with the media steamroller at their command, the independents having been banned or muzzled.

This large-scale event has been possible, once is not customary, by the joint mobilization of many organizations (Armenian, Kurdish, Turkish and French) and personalities: HDP Europe represented by Eyyup Doru, CCAF South (Coordinating Council of Armenian organizations in France), Solidarity & Freedom, CKDM (Kurdish Democratic Center Marseille), Marseille MPs François-Michel Lambert (LREM) and Pierre Dharréville (Democratic and Republican Left). All succeeded brilliantly in the tribune before giving way to the star of the evening, Garo Paylan, who came especially to France for this single meeting. One would have thought that the young 46-year-old speaker would find it difficult to hold the room in his speech in Turkish, requiring breaks for French translation purposes. It was not so, on the contrary. For many, who are wondering how and why Garo Paylan does not take refuge in Europe to escape the very serious risks to his security and freedom – he dared to mention in the Turkish National Assembly on 14 January 2017, ” the disappearance of four peoples between 1913 and 1923, Armenian, Greek, Assyrian and Jewish [in our country] “, using the terms” massacres “and” genocides “- it is enough to read the answer on his face transfigured on the podium, by the podium. He is an authentic tribune. He exults, he is as inhabited and astonishingly, he displays a disarming smile, which he undoubtedly draws from the conviction that his cause is just and therefore necessarily victorious. Garo Paylan drives the nail. “We politicians tend to present every election as a decisive deadline, but this time I tell you, this June 24 election is as important as the one that saw Hitler take power in 1933.” Rain of applause.

The hecatomb of arrests of HDP members and elected officials would have been right for any party in the world but the HDP did not burst. Do you know why ? He launches as a challenge to the audience. “Because we fight for honor, it’s a fight for honor. We never knelt and we will never kneel. The Western observer will seek in vain in the flow of his words, the bases of an economic, social, political program. It is that the stake is well upstream. Garo Paylan sees himself as one of the “fighters of freedom and peace”, opposed to the forces of “obscurantism and fascism”. As for the goal, it’s simple. Block “Erdogan’s dreams” by crossing the fateful threshold of 10%, sesame to enter the Assembly. “Every voice counts. Are you ready to mobilize? Without understanding either Turkish or Kurdish, one can guess the answer that is fuse.

Jean-Jacques Avedissian

NSS Director says stolen sums should be returned to state budget

June 4, 2018 By administrator

YEREVAN, JUNE 4, Director of National Security Service of Armenia Artur Vanetsyan has clarified why no one has been arrested after the exposure of tax evasion cases by major supermarket networks of Armenia. The NSS Director told the reporters at the parliament that they are not interested in arresting and imprisoning people. “We are more interested in returning the sums stolen from the state to the state budget”, ARMENPRESS reports Vanetsyan as saying.

Artur Vanetsyan assured that any official, incumbent of former that will appear in their view and if there will be enough grounds for bringing them to responsibility, they will stand responsible.

Vanetsyan said that it’s often said that this or that individual stands behind this or that case, but it’s rather difficult to prove it legally. “And the article of the criminal code says that in case of restoring the losses inflicted on the state the charges are dropped. This is not something we do arbitrarily, it’s not me to decide not to imprison. It is provided by the article of the criminal code. When someone returns the stolen money he is exempted from criminal responsibility”, the NSS Director said.

As part of anticorruption campaign the National Security Service of Armenia has exposed tax evasion mechanisms developed by the largest business entities of Armenia. The mechanism is based on the registration of hundreds of individual enterprises that are in fact engaged in false entrepreneurship.

“Alex Holding” LTD, being a accompany that pays value added tax, reached an agreement with the former leadership of the State Revenue Committee (SRC) of Armenia at the end of 2016 to implement the realization of agricultural products bought from farmers in the supermarket chain “Yerevan city” under the name of different individual enterprises the annual turnover of which does not exceed 115 million AMD. This gave “Alex Holding” LTD an opportunity to pay only 2% turnover tax instead of 20% VAT and income tax.

The leadership of “Alex Holding” LTD registered 461 individual enterprises at the same notary office in the name of the employees of their company and the family members of the employees. Some of the enterprises were registered without the knowledge of the citizens, using the identification documents or their copies kept at “Alex Holding” LTD. When the turnover of the false individual enterprises reached the threshold of 115 million AMD, they were dissolved and new ones were registered.

Taking advantage of the opportunities granted illegally and arbitrarily by the former leadership of the SRC, “Alex Holding” LTD sold also many other types of goods in addition to the local agricultural products in the name of the mentioned 461 individual enterprises, again paying only turnover tax.

Preliminary calculations show that the total sales implemented in the name of the 461 individual enterprises has amounted over 40 billion AMD, for which only 2% turnover tax was paid, while in case of legal operation “Alex Holding” LTD should have paid 20% VAT and income tax.

In addition, there is reliable information that the former leadership of the SRC has granted another 11 major companies engaged in network trade with an opportunity to operate under the same tax evasion mechanism, which obviously created unfavorable and unequal competition condition for many other companies paying VAT.

Checks are carried out in the mentioned 11 companies as well.

SRC Chairman Davit Ananyan has announced that agreements with the former authorities have no force and urged the entrepreneurs to work according to the new rules and in the framework of the law. On June 1 the owners of major supermarkets of Armenia, including Yerevan City and SAS, sent an open letter to the Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan asking for a meeting to discuss the ways of solving the problem. They offered to develop legislative mechanisms for solving the problem.

Nikol Pashinyan urges to stop protest actions in Stepanakert

June 4, 2018 By administrator

Nikol Pashinyan urges to stop protest actions in Stepanakert

YEREVAN, JUNE 4, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan touched upon the situation in Artsakh where rallies took place for several days due to the scandalous involvement of the security forces. As Armenpress reports, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia stated on Facebook during the live broadcast that there is no doubt that the behavior of representatives of the power structures is causing anxiety. “It is unacceptable for any attempt to solve the problem violently, no matter who it is. Of course, this situation should be solved very specifically and bring concrete conclusions and conclusions. I closely follow the developments in Artsakh. During this period, I have always been in touch with Artsakh President Bako Sahakyan. I am pleased to note that the President of Artsakh has met several times with the representatives of the demonstrators and reached concrete agreements, “Pashinyan stressed, as reported by Armenpress.

He added that the President of Artsakh stated that he is going to implement those agreements, carry out a full and complete investigation, and also make organizational conclusions. “During the meeting of the representatives of the demonstrators and the President of Artsakh, a mutual understanding on the direction and logic of future events has been achieved. And now, in essence, I think that there is a stage in which our respected demonstrators should allow the Artsakh President to implement those agreements. It is obvious and understandable that these arrangements should be carried out in a calm, non-nervous environment, and this continuing situation, the purpose of which is to make certain personnel and organizational conclusions, essentially it hampers the development of further processes, ” the Prime Minister.

Nikol Pashinyan expressed an opinion that it would be right if demonstrators now have the opportunity to realize the agreements reached during the recent meetings. “And if in the course of the events, the arrangements are not implemented, there are no conclusions, only then it will make sense to continue any protest action. The Artsakh authorities today state that they find it very logical to draw conclusions from this situation, and the logic of these conclusions seems to have been reached between the demonstrators and the authorities. Every day, several times I learn about the situation and this awareness allows me to urge our beloved demonstrators to stop the demonstration and allow the Artsakh authorities to realize the agreements reached between the demonstrators and the authorities. In his conversation with me, the President of Artsakh reaffirmed his commitment to implement those agreements, and in this case it is necessary to give that opportunity, “said the Prime Minister of Armenia.

Pashinyan did not want to go into details, to evaluate what happened because in this situation it is more important that the problem be resolved not in conflict, but in an atmosphere of agreement.

Wally Sarkeesian talking with His Eminence Archbishop Sebouh Chouldjian, Primate of the Diocese of Gougark

June 4, 2018 By administrator

Archbishop Sebouh Chouldjian

By Wally Sarkeesian,

Archbishop Sebouh was born on March 24, 1959 in Malatya, Turkey. He received his primary education at the Nersisian College of Istanbul. In 1969, his family repatriated to Armenia and settled in the city of Gyumri, where he continued and finished his primary education.

In 1978 he entered the Gevorkian Theological Seminary at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. He was ordained to the diaconate in 1985, by the Grand Sacristan of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Archbishop Hoosik Santourian. He successfully defended his final thesis entitled “The Translation Works of Lukas of Kharpert” in March 1986. Upon his graduation from the seminary he was appointed to serve in the Secretariat of the Pontifical Administration.

He was ordained as a celibate priest by Archbishop Nerses Pozapalian on June 7, 1987, the Feast of Pentecost, and given the priestly name Sebouh. Following his ordination, he continued his service in the Pontifical Administration.

Tom Catena and his wife visit Armenian Genocide Memorial

June 4, 2018 By administrator

YEREVAN. – Laureate of Aurora Prize 2017 Tom Catena and his wife Nasima visited Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan on Monday.

While placing a wreath at the genocide monument, Catena’s wife burst into tears.

Nasima was deeply touched by the memorial, Tom Catena told reporters adding that when there is a lot of pain in you, you are trying to suppress it, but being here, you immediately remember your own history.

Tom Catena and his wife planted a tree on Memory Alley and visited the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute.

Katena told Armenian News- NEWS.am he was deeply impressed by a photo of an Armenian boy showing his hands with traces of nails. He was crucified, but survived.

Doctor Tom Catena arrived in Sudan as a Catholic missionary from Amsterdam, New York. He has since saved thousands of lives as the sole surgeon permanently based in Sudan’s war-ravaged Nuba Mountains where humanitarian aid is restricted. It is for this service that he received the Aurora Prize, granted by the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, created on behalf of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and in gratitude to their saviors.

Israeli Knesset to vote on Armenian Genocide bill after securing majority

June 2, 2018 By administrator

Speaker of the Israeli Knesset Yuli Edelstein has said that the issue of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide will be brought to a plenary voting when the Knesset secures a majority for recognition.

Edelstein’s comments came in response to a letter by Archbishop Nourhan Manougian, the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, in which the Patriach expressed deep disappointment over media reports that the Speaker has pulled the Genocide issue from this week’s Knesset agenda.

“I regret that incorrect publications caused your disappointment. The discussion about the recognition of the Armenian Genocide was not scheduled for this week at all, so it was not pulled of the agenda. I did not remove the item from the agenda, not by insinuation and not in fact,” Edelstein said.

“I do not take one word back of what I said on the subject.

“I remain true to what I have said in the past years over and over again: the Israeli Knesset must recognize the Armenian Genocide because it is the right and moral thing to do- and not because of political or momentary diplomatic interests. I hope that I have reassured you.

“The moment we are convinced the Knesset will have a majority for recognition, we will bring it to a plenary voting.

“I will therefore do everything that is in my ability, and I hope that my efforts will bear fruits.”

The Knesset is still set to hold a vote on whether to recognize the Armenian Genocide, after approving Meretz chairwoman Tamar Zandberg’s motion to include the issue in the agenda May 23