The Armenian Report, 287 S. Robertson Blvd. #362, Beverly Hills, CA (2022)

12/20/2021

Last week Veterans of Armenia gathered community members at Stars on Brand in Glendale, CA for a game of poker. The committed diasporans raised approximately $60,000 within hours while socializing and playing cards.

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About Veterans of Armenia:

A group of close friends came together during the 2020 Artsakh War to brainstorm ways in which they could give back to the veterans of Armenia and Artsakh.

The LA based childhood friends created a board and formed the non-profit organization, Veterans of Armenia (VOA).

“When we first started, the name of [the organization] was supposed to be Veterans of Armenia and Artsakh and when the board was deliberating we realized that Artsakh is Armenian so we decided we’re not going to separate it,” board member Armen Adamyan tells The Armenian Report.

VOA has partnered with Zinvori Tun, where they help fund a rehabilitation center, prostatic center, Home for Heroes Project, and a new hospital. In addition, VOA is also working on other projects but they prefer to “build in silence.” (To learn more about the silent projects, contact them directly to get involved.)

Adamyan tells The Armenian Report that they monitor all the organizations they assist. “We have a monitoring process in place. Everything that we do and every dollar that we collect, we have to be accountable for. So we do all the vetting and back-end work to make sure our donors trust us.”

All board members also pay monthly dues to cover additional expenses that the organization acquires. They all have full time jobs and family responsibilities in addition to VOA. The board is divided into five groups and each group has its own mission and project that they’re accountable for.

In addition to assisting VOA by donating and/or sharing their mission — you can also choose @veteransofarmenia as your Amazon Smile choice of non-profit organization. AmazonSmile is a program that donates 0.5% of your eligible purchases on Amazon to a charity of your choice. All you need to do is start your shopping at smile.amazon.com. The donation will be made at no extra cost to you and you can choose VOA as your choice of charitable organization.

12/20/2021

On December 18, 2021, two trespasser servicemen of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces were detained in the guard posts of one of the military units of the Armenian Ministry of Defense.

On December 20, mediated by Russia, the mentioned servicemen were returned to the Azerbaijani side for humanitarian reasons reports the Armenian Defense Ministry today.

photo credit: Armenian Military Portal

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12/19/2021

Ten Armenian prisoners of war have returned back from Azerbaijan through the mediation of the President of the European Council Charles Michel, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs.

“Based on the agreement reached at the Brussels meeting of the President of European Council Charles Michel with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, the EUSR Toivo Klaar brought 10 Armenian servicemen from Baku to Yerevan today. An important humanitarian gesture follows the efforts by EU to work with both countries to build on mutual trust,” writes European Union in Armenia in a statement.

The names of the prisoners are:
Galstyan Hrachik Dolanyan Mkrtich Harutyunyan Gagik Poghosyan Radik  Ghevondyan Andranik Nazaryan Artur Shahinyan Marat Petrosyan Sevek Stepanyan Karlen Vasilyan Hayk

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12/19/2021

Armenia has won Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021.

14-year-old Maléna represented Armenia with the song “Qami Qami”.

Nineteen performers around the world competed in the contest and Armenia was crowned winner today.

This was the first time the contest was held Paris, France.

Maléna’s song “Qami Qami” has impressed both viewers and judges, earning Armenia a grand total of 224 points, which was enough to finish in first place.

The runners up included Poland and France with 218 and 187 points respectfully.

A total of 4.3 million valid votes were cast.

This is Armenia’s second win, after Vladimir Arzumanyan won in 2010 with “Mama”.

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12/18/2021

Armenian guitarist Suren Arustamyan is back on stage after nearly a two year hiatus due to the pandemic.

The legendary musician has two live concerts at the iconic Catalina Jazz Club in the heart of Hollywood.

The second performance is scheduled for Saturday, December 18 — tickets are still available for those who want to attend. (Link for tickets http://ticketmicket.com/detail.phtml?event_id=1636510708)

Arustamyan is known to play the guitar with his mouth like legendary rockstar Jimi Hendrix. When Arustamyan picked up the guitar as a young boy, his uncle told him he will be considered a real guitarist if he can learn to play the guitar with his mouth.

Tonight’s performance will be Arustamyan’s last live concert before he releases is first solo album.

Arustamyan has been dreaming of releasing his very own album — and he’s making his dream come true with his musical idol Eric Clapton’s team.

Grammy winning music producer Tim Carmon who is producing Arustamyan’s new album asked him who would be his dream team? And Arustamyan said, Steve Gadd on drums and Nathan East on bass.

The highly anticipated album featuring Arustamyan’s dream team with three Grammy winning artists Carmon, Gadd, and East is expected for release April-May of 2022.

We’re being told that Arustamyan mixes a lot of Armenian tunes especially Komitas into his original tracks on the album.

You can see Arustamyan live in concert tonight at the Catalina Jazz Club in LA and lookout for his upcoming solo album in the new year.

For tickets: http://ticketmicket.com/detail.phtml?event_id=1636510708

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12/17/2021

Citizens in Artsakh are experiencing mobile connection disruptions.

The disruptions of the cellular communication are caused by frequency jamming from Azerbaijan, the Artsakh authorities report.

“We are taking measures to solve the issue through negotiations,” the Artsakh Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures said in a statement.

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12/17/2021

The Human Rights and Public Affairs Committee of the Armenian Parliament approved the candidacy of First Deputy Minister of Justice Kristinne Grigoryan to replace Arman Tatoyan as the country’s Human Rights Defender when his tenure expires in early 2023.

Grigoryan was nominated by the ruling Civil Contract party.

Ruling Civil Contract party MP Vladimir Vardanyan praised Grigoryan’s experience while introducing her at the committee. “We know Kristine Grigoryan’s principles in human rights protection. She has many years of serious professional experience especially in areas relating to the ombudsman’s functions,” he said.

Opposition Hayastan faction MP Areknaz Manukyan countered that Grigoryan doesn’t satisfy the requirement of “being a personage of high prestige” needed for the job.

Vardanyan responded that the parliament would assess Grigoryan’s qualifications via an election and added that the candidate was active in the human rights field.

Grigoryan promised that if elected, she would be impartial.

She has been serving as Deputy Minister of Justice since 2019 and was promoted to First Deputy Minister in 2021.

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12/17/2021

Armenia’s Varazdat Lalayan won the Silver Medal today in the men's +109 kg competition at the 2021 World Weightlifting Championships held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Lalayan’s combined total of 457 kilograms (211 kg in the Sn**ch and 246 kg in the Clean & Jerk) won him the second spot behind Georgia’s Lasha Talakhadze with a combined total of 492 kg.
Armenia’s Gor Minasyan took the bronze in the men's +109 kg competition with a combined total of 448 kg.

Talakhadze was so dominant he finished 35kg ahead of his nearest rival who, for once, was not Gor Minasyan - the Armenian who was the last man to beat Talakhadze at the 2012 European Junior Championships.

Talakhadze broke the world record he achieved in Tokyo (August 2021) of 488kg.

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12/17/2021

Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan says he has no intentions of cooperating with any political party.

Addressing the residents of Yerevan and all compatriots, Marutyan said he has three important things to say so that “no one tries to mislead” them.

The Mayor wrote on Facebook:
* I have never met Robert Kocharyan under any circumstances, even by accident
* If I had time for meetings outside of work, I would meet my kids
* I do not have the intention or wish to cooperate with any political party.

The ruling My Step faction of the Yerevan City Council has initiated a no-confidence motion against Mayor Hayk Marutyan and will nominate incumbent Deputy Mayor Hrachya Sargsyan for the post.

According to the Law on Local Self-Government in the City of Yerevan, the no confidence motion passes if the nominated candidate receives the majority of votes of the City Council.

The Yerevan City Council will convene a special sitting on December 22, 2021, in line with the Law on Local Self-Government in the City of Yerevan.

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12/17/2021

Armenia’s current ruling party, My Step faction says it wants to replace the mayor of Yerevan, Hayk Marutyan.

My Step faction of the Yerevan Council has initiated a no-confidence motion against the current Mayor and will nominate incumbent Deputy Mayor Hrachya Sargsyan for the post, the Civil Contact Party informs.

The faction, in a statement released today, says that Marutyan, who was elected mayor of Yerevan in 2018 on the My Step alliance ballot, severed his ties with the Nikol Pashinyan's Civil Contract party in December 2020 and has since failed to implement the party’s campaign obligations.

The faction says Marutyan “has not sufficiently fulfilled the most important mission of eliminating systemic corruption from the Yerevan Municipality.”

The Yerevan City Council will convene a special sitting on December 22, 2021, in line with the Law on Local Self-Government in the City of Yerevan.

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