An unknown assailant(s) attempted to blow up a VTB Bank ATM terminal in Yerevan today and steal the cash inside, this according to the country’s Investigative Committee (IC).
Aras Özbiliz, an Armenian footballer born in Istanbul who now holds dual Dutch and Armenian citizenship, will not have to serve in Armenia’s military so that he can play for Armenia’s national team in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
Armenia’s government today backed a bill proposed by Minister of Education and Science Levon Mkrtchyan to allocate 60 million AMD (US$124,000) to the Youth Foundation of Armenia.
As it now stands, top officials in Armenia often disclose large amounts of asset purchases based solely on meager state salaries. The ethics committee set up to look into such matters has never investigated such financial inconsistencies.
Tensions flared today in Armenia’s parliament during the second hearing regarding a bill that would introduce a 1,000 AMD monthly tax to fund compensation for soldiers killed or disabled during military service.
The agreement envisages the three parties participating in the parliamentary elections and those for the Yerevan Municipal Council as a unified electoral alliance.
Many of the graves are unkempt; the metal adornments broken and the tombstones damaged. The grounds are strewn with garbage.
The musician said that the Armenian diaspora was fairly divorced from the political, economic and social developments in Armenia and that this situation must change.
Egoyan said that the incidents of July, when the armed Sasna Tzrer group seized a Yerevan police building and the ensuing public protests, were a wake-up call exposing how human rights are violated in Armenia.
At a press conference today at Yerevan’s Media Center, Arsinée Khanjian said that while two months had passed since the Justice Within Armenia movement had made a public call for positive change in the country, the new government has yet to present a specific package of reform.
Nazarian said that while the diaspora had come to the aid of Armenia in its time of need, in the end, the diaspora doesn’t have a voice in the country.
Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan has instructed Artur Davtyan, the country’s prosecutor general, to pay attention to court cases regarding soldiers who have died in non-combat circumstances.
A Yerevan court yesterday denied bail to Sasna Dzrer member Martiros Hakobyan, and extended his pretrial detention for another two months.
“The second reason is that any government must have a political base and our government, first of all, has been a government of the Republican Party of Armenia,” Karapetyan noted.
Arakelyan said that while membership in the party isn’t obligatory, he’s a team player and that the ideology of the party is close to his own.
A Yerevan court today denied bail to Arayik Khandoyan and Armen Bilyan, members of the Sasna Dzrer group that seized and occupied a Yerevan police station in July.
Zurabyan said that it made greater sense to discuss the state budget and to then discuss a government bill that would mandate people pay 1,000 AMD per month in tax for a fund to injured soldiers.
Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan instructed the justice and finance ministers to assist the mayor of Yerevan in negotiating with Parking City Service CJSC and Locator CJSC and to present legal solutions within one week so that the total management and control of their functions, including revenue flows, revert to community structures.
The former ASALA member told reporters that their main aim is to ensure a decolonized and sovereign Armenia, the de jure unification of Artsakh with Armenia, and the creation of a vibrant, sustainable country.
Mayor Stepanyan notes that while he’s aware of how the mayor’s office functions, he’ll have his uncle to advise him at the beginning. He’s now drafting a program to address improving conditions in Azatashen.
The minister noted that the budget for the social sector has constantly rises over the past few years and that no social program has been, or will be, cut.
At a special session of Armenia’s parliament today, HAK MP Nikol Pashinyan told colleagues that during a recent trip to Vardenis local potato farmers complained that buyers for the country’s defense ministry were making huge profits while paying next to nothing for the tubers.
Of the five killed, 3 were ethnic Russians, citizens of Russia. The two Armenians killed were citizens of Armenia. One was the driver of the bus.
Armenia’s Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Armen Asatryan told reports today in Yerevan that the government had reduced social risks to the minimum and that it’s priority would be to offer accessible and quality services to citizens.
A group of people with hearing disabilities protested outside the government building in Yerevan yesterday, demanding that Grigor Grigoryan, president of the Union of Deaf People in Armenia NGO resign.
Margaryan said that the savings would go towards presenting gifts to 2,798 families.
ZaRRian, a southern California company, has created an Armenian “emojis” app that the creators say portrays Armenian cultural traditions and unique characteristics both within the Armenian community and outside it.
Yegnukian is also protesting the fact that a Yerevan judge recently denied him bail and extended his detention by two months. (Yegnukian has already spent two months behind bars awaiting trial.)
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan will soon consider whether or not to sign a bill passed by the parliament dismissing Surik Khachatryan as provincial governor (marzpet) of Syunik.
Arguing that Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan’s description of Armenia’s economic situation as “complex” shouldn’t lead to negative expectations, Aramyan noted that many developing economies were in the same boat as Armenia.
While admitting that Armenia’s new government has yet to be finalized, Artak Zakaryan, President of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, boasted that it has specified the problems facing the country and that the revamped ministries signal the direction to be taken to resolve them.
Newly appointed Armenian Minister of Agriculture Ignaty Arakelyan told reporters today that he is drafting a strategic program whereby the government would be facilitating ways to help villagers engaged in farming.
Disgruntled former workers at Yerevan’s Nairit chemical plant demonstrated outside the Government Building in the Armenian capital today demanding that the Soviet-era complex be reopened.
256 communities will go to the polls to elect both mayors and municipal council members. 36 communities will only elect mayors and 83 only municipal council members.
A Yerevan court today lengthened the pre-trial detention of Smbat Barseghyan, a member of the Sasna Dzrer armed group that seized a Yerevan police building in July.
A Yerevan court today lengthened the pre-trial detention of Andreas Ghukasyan, charged with fomenting public disorder, by another two months.
Newly appointed Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, addressing a government cabinet session today, said that the country had a great reserve of resources that must be utilized.
During the two-week siege, Manukyan was shot in the legs by police and underwent a series of operations at the center.
Looking back on 25 years of Armenian independence, Amenian National Congress (HAK) Secretary Aram Manukyan said: Let god grant the Armenian people brains and power, determination and stubbornness, so that this will be the last time we celebrate the nation’s independence.”
Yesterday, 27-year-old Tovmas Shahverdyan was elected mayor of Ashtarak, a town of 18,000 about a 30-minute drive northwest of Yerevan.
Armenia’s National Assembly, by a vote of 97 to 3, today appointed Artur Davtyan as the country’s new Prosecutor General.
Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan was tight-lipped as to whether he and his boss, Edward Nalbandian, would be replaced by newly appointed prime minister Karen Karapetyan.
“Pavlik says that his health is relative to the state of the country.
10,649 crimes were registered in Armenia during the first six months of 2016, 820 (8.3%) more than the same period in 2015, this according to police data.
A Yerevan court today refused bail for Gagik Mikayelyan who was arrested on charges of using violence against police officers during protests stemming from the July 17 seizure of a police building by the armed Sasna Dzrer group.
Lambaryan, injured in the July two-week stand-off at a Yerevan police building, is awaiting surgery at the convicts’ hospital.
The Sasna Dzrer Fund, named after the armed group that seized a Yerevan police building on July 17, will provide financial and legal assistance to 68 individuals it regards as political prisoners.
Georgy Hayiryan, NKR Deputy Minister for Water Distribution told Hetq that water is again flowing to residents in Karvatchar.
Today a resident of Karvatchar, capital of the Artsakh district of Nor Shahumyan, wrote on his Facebook page that residents hadn’t had any drinking or irrigation water for the past sixteen days.