We are determined to be a force for good and to build long-term relationships in the countries that host us.
The law prohibits paid work, but creative work is not forbidden, so I might publish some articles addressing particular issues, to gain public and government attention.
We should not only balance and constrain the ruling alliance that received more than 80% of votes, but also cooperate to make the work as effective as possible.
Karen Antashyan, a Yerevan Council member from the Im Kayl (My Step) Alliance, is a writer who wants to see more green space in the Armenian capital and for residents to be more attentive to environmental issues.
Protesters opposed to further mining in the Kapan area of southern Armenia blocked the doors today at a scheduled public hearing in the town’s municipal building.
Yesterday, Russian Polymetal International plc, registered in offshore Jersey, has signed an agreement with Chaarat Gold Holdings Limited to sell Kapan Mining and Processing Enterprise CJSC.
Sipan Asatryan, a non-partisan Yerevan Council member from the Im Kayl (My Step) Alliance, became visually impaired at the age of four.
Lusineh Vardanyan, a mother of three boys, was only 15 when she married 24-year-old Hrant and moved from Gegharkounik Province to Hovk, a village in Armenia’s Tavoush Province,
The newly elected Yerevan Council of Elders, comprised of 65 members and elected for four years, held its first session on October 10. Hetq talked to Gayane Abrahamyan, a non-partisan Council member from the Im Kayl (My Step) Alliance.
A group of individuals blocked the Goris-Kapan highway today to protest the appointment of Hunan Poghosyan as Syunik Provincial Governor.
Arman is the cornerstone of Naira's life. All her dreams are about her son. "I want to have a house and a job to take care of my son, so that people do not pity me," says Naira.
Armenia’s Environmental Protection and Mining Inspectorate has launched a two-week investigation into the operations of the Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC) based in the southern town of Kajaran in Syunik Province.
1,800 people live in Tavush, a village in Armenia’s Tavush Province. The village is only 10 km away from the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, but unlike some other Berd community villages regularly shelled by the enemy, it’s quiet here.
Arsen Arzumanyan, a specialist in international studies and a diaspora researcher, who moved to Romania seven years ago, prefers provoking an interest towards the language rather than blaming people for not speaking it.
The Armenian government has granted a 29-year mining permit to Geghi Gold LLC, a company owned by former Syunik Provincial Governor Surik Khachatryan.
One of the largest tailing dumps in Armenia is only 800 meters from the Yerevan-Meghri highway, passing through Kapan, the provincial capital of Syunik.
Hetq will show the number of vehicles now used by the government’s seventeen ministries, their monthly gasoline expenses, and how many are slated to be cut.
Seventeen teachers and the principal of P.S.13, in the southern Armenian town of Kapan, have resigned from the Republican Party of Armenia since they agree with the position of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to depoliticize schools in Armenia.
All ten members of the council present at today’s special session approved the motion to strip MP Grigoryan, arrested on charges of illegal arms possession and embezzlement, of the award he received in 2003.
The Institute of Applied Problems of Physics (IAPP), a unit of Armenia’s National Academy of Sciences, faces a number of problems, but somehow manages to struggle on, staying true to its mission of innovation and discovery.
22 boxes of food, medical supplies and clothes donated by a Gyumri scientific research institute in for Armenian troops on the frontline line turned up yesterday when National Security Service staffers inspected the summer resort home of MP Manvel Grigroyan.
In the Soviet era, various factories operated in Yeghegnadzor, the provincial capital of Armenia’s Vayots Dzor Province, solving the issue of employment there. Now, only three factories remain.
It was not easy and it’s still not, but, she adds, “It is necessary to walk with optimism”.
Chanting “We are the owners of our mine” and “We are the owners of the bowels of the earth”, striking miners of the Kapan Metallurgy Kombinat today marched on the Kapan Municipal Building and the Syunik Provincial Governor’s Office to press home their demand for a pay increase.
One of the strikers, who wished to remain anonymous, telephoned Hetq saying that workers had raised the pay raise issue with company director Dmitry Ushkov months ago but to no avail.
Several Armenian officials and their relatives invest in the Czech Republic for various purposes.
"Yes, I opened my eyes and asked what had happened to Nikol. Then they told me that Serzh Sargsyan had resigned, oh, that was such a joy", he says, and constantly asks us to pass his greetings to Nikol if we see him
A few dozen workers staged a demonstration this morning outside the offices of the Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine in Kajaran demanding a pay raise.
Pashinyan also repeated his promise that he would do away with “monopolies” if elected prime minister.
Marineh, the boy’s mom, says she has to hide the scissors from him. “Turn you back on him, just for a second, and he’s got the scissors out cutting his brothers’ hair,” she says.
The news was confirmed by Amiryan’s press secretary Rouzan Khachatryan.
Armen Parsadanyan, President of Kapan’s Sustainable Development NGO, told Hetq that protesters have closed off several street in the town as well.
At today’s special parliamentary session slated to hold a vote electing Armenia’s next prime minister, Republic Party President Aram Sargsyan, a Yelk Faction MP, scolded his colleagues for speaking about everything under the sun except the country’s current political crisis.
Pashinyan said that he did not have enough expertise at the moment to reply about Nairit Plant. As for economic losses caused by the movement, he replied that, on the contrary, this movement has accumulated a great potential for the essential and flexible development of the Armenian economy, including large investments from abroad.
Around 580 settlements in Armenia have drinking water issues, according to the data of the RA State Water Committee. Some of them do not have drinking water at all, some use artesian or deep wells, some have springs, but there is no water supply network at all or it just doesn’t operate.
At an anti-government rally in Vanadzor today protest leader Nikol Pashinyan said the decision of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) not to nominate a candidate in the May 1 election for a new prime minister “isn't bad, but neither good”.
While anti-government protest leader Nikol Pashinyan says he won’t accept any election for Armenia’s next prime minister that takes place while the Republican Party of Armenia remains in control of the parliament, voting for the next head of government is scheduled for May 1.
“They built one hydro plant near us, and they took the water away via a pipe. I used to be able to net some fish and serve to guests. They’ve piped off the water. Where can I catch fish now? It’s the same with the mine. It’s all done in the name of personal gain,”
Hetq recently spoke to Boris Mourazi, who heads the Sinjar Yezidi National Union in Armenia. Mourazi travelled to Iraq to better understand the plight of Yezidis in the country.
“We have to participate in as many international projects as possible. We have to compete, in our own way, on the world stage regardless the amount of global technical investment.”
Many will perhaps remember Ghazar Galoyan, who heads the Laboratory of Petrology and Isotope Research at Armenia’s Institute of Geological Sciences, for voicing his concerns about the state of science and the plight of scientists during the annual general session of the National Academy of Sciences four years ago.
In 1960, at the height of the observatory’s Golden Age, a Schmidt-class 1m telescope was brought to Byurakan. An interesting historical side note is Adolf Hitler had presented the telescope to Mussolini as a gift. The aim was to establish an observatory in Italy. The project was never realized.
This is a story about a woman and her two daughters, their optimism and dreams.
The lowest poverty rate for children in Armenia during the period 2008-2016 was in 2008, when Sargsyan started his first term as president. Since then, it’s never been below 33%.
Kapan Mayor Ashot Hayrapetyan says that the company, AraratCement, never informed the municipality about its plans to build the plant near the town’s airport.
The woman says that although she’s 47 years old, she must climb onto the roof every day to try to stop the rain from leaking down. However, covering the roof with materials at hand doesn’t seem to work anymore. The rain constantly drips from the ceiling. When the heater is on, the damp smell becomes intolerable.
The institute also felt the effects of the 1988 Spitak Earthquake. The IGES’s former building, located at the same site, was destroyed.
“I was hoping for another outcome, a just decision, but I knew it was impossible,” Gharibyan told Hetq. The diaspora Armenian vintner says he will take the matter to the Court of Cassation.
"We are poor but can understand everyone. But the rich do not understand us," says Hasmik, and looks away.