On November 19, the Armenian St. Gevork of Mughni Church in Tbilisi collapsed after years of neglect. “If nothing is done, the next to collapse will be St. Nishan’s,” declared Archbishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan, Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Georgia.

St Gevork of Mughni was built in 1356. It had a large dome and three smaller domes along three sides of the structure. One was used as the belfry. »»»»»

Stangaciu Cornel Constantin, Sentenced to 12 Years for Bank Fraud, Speaks to “Hetq”

In August of last year, the RoA National Security Service rounded up a known international criminal gang that had defrauded a number of bank cash machines in Armenia out of more than 80 million AMD by using bogus ATM cards. »»»»»

Back in the early 1980’s, the arsenic waste effluents produced at the Alaverdi Mining and Metallurgical Plant were dumped into a site locally nicknamed the “graveyard This toxic dump is located on the edges of the road leading to the town’s “Len-Hanker” neighbourhood, a mere one kilometre from the district. According to information supplied by area residents, back in 2008 iron and kapron (a type of synthetic fiber) sealed drums belonging to the Armenian Copper Programme (ACP) were brought to the site by dump trucks. »»»»»

During November, there were three incidents of tree pruning and cutting in Yerevan that caught the attention of “Hetq” and the public at large.

We first got word of tree pruning on Gulbenkyan Street that was causing a great deal of concern among environmental circles. The ecological group “Ecolur” went so far as to issue a statement regarding the incident. »»»»»

“Hetq” interviews Jirayr Sefilyan, Coordinator of the “Armenian Volunteers’ Union” national-political initiative

How would you describe the current state of domestic politics in Armenia?

The political field in our country today is worse off than ever. The question remains if a political field even exists given that the despotic regime in power has done everything to prevent the formation of a political field as classically understood. »»»»»

At a session of the Shirak Regional Council held in the provincial town of Amasia this past November 18, Gevorg Hovakyan, mayor of the tiny rural hamlet of Jradzor, made the following peculiar request of Shirak Regional Governor Lida Nanyan. Mayor Hovakyan, half-jokingly asked, “Mrs. Nanyan, won’t you please rebuild our village? I am ready to change its name to “Lida”, in your honor. »»»»»

Here are some excerpts of the speech given by RoA President Serzh Sargsyan at the 12 Congress of the Republican Party of Armenia now taking place in Yerevan.

“The signing of the Armenian-Turkish protocols and the establishment of relations with Turkey has nothing to do with the process of recognition of the Armenian Genocide. On the contrary, I’m confident that by normalizing relations with Turkey and establishing contacts with the Turkish society, it will be possible to accelerate the process of recognition of the Armenian Genocide inside Turkey and in the whole world.” »»»»»

An article in yesterday’s edition of APA( Azerbaijani Press Agency) reports that Elkhan Polukhov, spokesperson for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, ridiculed the latest All-Armenia Fund Telethon, arguing that, “With such actions, Armenians will not be able to really improve the living conditions of the Armenian community there.”

Mr. Polukhov basically derided the $16 million raised by the Telethon as too little, to late. According to the ministry spokesperson, after all the lands occupied by Armenia are liberated, and Azeri and Armenian communities return to the homeland to live in peace, the Government of Azerbaijan will carry out restoration and rebuilding activities there and raise the standard of living in Nagorno Karabakh to the level of living in Azerbaijan.

With financial assistance from the British organization “Conflicts Resources”, the Stepanakert Press Club is carrying out a project entitled “Kino Dialogues” with the participation of the “Internews Armenia” and “Internews Azerbaijan” organizations.

Five Armenian and five Azerbaijani films have been produced that are designed to help assist in the peaceful resolution of the conflict via the medium of film. Harutyun Mansurian, who head the Production Unit at “Internews Armenia”, stated that while it is difficult to quantify the level of dialogue that was created as a result, at least people could see what was actually taking place on the border. »»»»»

RoA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan met with a delegation headed by the Defense Minister of Poland, Bogdan Klich. PM Sargsyan expressed the hope that the delegation’s visit to Yerevan would assist in the strengthening of ties between the two nations, especially in terms of military cooperation.

PM Sargsyan also expressed his thanks regarding the recent Armenian Genocide recognition draft bill accepted for review in the Polish parliament. »»»»»