Tag Archives: Armenia

Two Canadian MPs banned from Azerbaijan

SEPT. 4 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry issued an official complaint to the Canadian foreign ministry after two Canadian MPs visited Nagorno-Karabakh as guests of Armenia. Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper said that Tony Clement and Rachael Harder had also been banned from travelling to Azerbaijan. They said that they had accepted an invitation to help make a documentary about the disputed region by a Toronto-based group called One Free World International.

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(News report from Issue No. 342, published on Sept. 7 2017)

EBRD extends financing in Armenia

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SEPT. 5 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — On a trip to Armenia, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said it was extending its scheme aimed at boosting lending to women and small and medium-sized businesses. It will lend Araratbank, one of the larger banks in the country, the equivalent of $10m in local dram currency, media reported.

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(News report from Issue No. 342, published on Sept. 7 2017)

Iowa recognises Armenian genocide

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AUG. 18 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The US state of Iowa issued a proclamation recognising the killing of up to 1.5m Armenians at the end of the First World War by Ottoman Turks as “the first modern genocide”. Turkey has always denied the genocide and said that Armenians were killed in the general chaos at the end of the war.

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(News report from Issue No. 341, published on Aug. 27 2017)

Fire damages forest in Armenia

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AUG. 15 2017 (The Bulletin) — A fire destroyed up to 2,750 hectares of ancient forest in Armenia, Russian news agencies quoted ecologists as saying. Firefighters and military water-carrying planes took four days to control the fire that spread quickly because of the unusually dry conditions. Much of the Khosrov forest, reportedly planted in the 4th century, is made up of oak trees.

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(News report from Issue No. 340, published on Aug. 20 2017)

Turkey says it is interested in joining Eurasian Economic Union

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AUG. 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkey’s economy minister, Nihat Zeybekci, said that the country was interested in joining the Eurasian Customs Union, the customs-free zone that includes the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). The comments underline Turkey’s drift away from Europe towards Russia and Central Asia. The Eurasian Economic Union is led by Russia and also includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. Importantly, Turkey did not say it wanted to join the EEU.

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(News report from Issue No. 341, published on Aug. 27 2017)

Remittances from Russia to Armenia rise

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AUG. 10 2017 (The Bulletin) — Remittances from Russia to Armenia increased by 15.5% in the first half of the year, compared to the same period in 2016, the Armenian Central Bank said, an important indicator that the economics of the region are beginning to improve. In total, flows from Russia, an important hub for Armenian migrant workers, hit $408m between January and June. The economies of the region are partly reliant on Russia to generate wealth for migrant workers.

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(News report from Issue No. 339, published on Aug. 13 2017)

A man shots dead people in Armenia

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AUG. 1 2017 (The Bulletin) — A man shot dead at least four people at a funeral in rural Armenia after a suspected row over loans, media reported. At least eight other people were injured in the shooting at the Yazidi funeral. The attack is potentially the worst mass murder in Armenia since a Russian soldier stabbed to death a family of seven near a Russian military base in the city of Gyumri in 2015.

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(News report from Issue No. 336, published on Aug. 5 2017)

Armenia accuses Kremlin of imperiallism

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JULY 12 2017 (The Bulletin) — Armenian lawmakers accused the Kremlin of outdated imperialism after its parliament passed a law which said that citizens of other Eurasian Union countries — Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia — could only work as commercial drivers in Russia if their countries recognised Russian as an official language. The only Eurasian Union country that doesn’t is Armenia.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

China-Armenia trade rises

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JULY 22 2017 (The Bulletin) — Trade turnover between Armenia and China in the first five months of the year was 28.4% higher in 2017, at $194.9m, than during the same period in 2016, media reported. The rise shows the impact of China’s “Belt and Road” policy, a drive to spread its influence through trade across Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

Analysts warn of Azerbaijan- Armenia war

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JULY 5 2017 (The Bulletin) — Azerbaijan and Armenia are drifting towards war over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, analysts warned after a shell killed a grandmother and her grandchild on the Azerbaijani side of the conflict. Azerbaijan accused the Armenian side of shelling civilians. Armenia-backed rebels said that Azerbaijan had deployed weapons deliberately close to civilians. Commentators have been warning throughout the year that tension in the region is close to triggering another major outbreak of violence. This last exploded in April 2016.

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(News report from Issue No. 336, published on July 16 2017)