Life in Armenia

[ani]

Re: How do you imagine your ''Ideal Armenia''?

And my ideal Armenia is an Armenia without xxxxers like you.

Nicely put...

[ani]

Re: How do you imagine your ''Ideal Armenia''?

My ideal Armenia: with no hayastantsits in it

Wow.... Armenians like u r d reason y we will never be united as 1...

[Federate]

Re: Life in Armenia

Yerevan Metro Set For Modernization
10.03.2010
Hovannes Shoghikian

The Armenian government received on Wednesday 15 million euros ($20.3 million) in external financial assistance designed to modernize Yerevan’s disused underground metro system.

Finance Minister Tigran Davtian signed a relevant agreement with the head of the Yerevan office of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The London-based institution will finance one-third of the project.

Under the agreement, another 5 million-euro loan, repayable in 15 years, will be provided by the European Investment Bank. The European Union will allocate the remaining 5 million euros in the form of a grant. The government formally pledged to guarantee the repayment of those loans last August.

Officials said on Wednesday the money will be used for badly needed capital investments in the subway network built almost 30 years ago. In particular, the Yerevan metro plans to partly replace its aging fleet of rail cars, install new water removal pumps and upgrade its electricity supply systems. Use of electricity by the network is due to shrink by half as a result.

The metro, which has only one line consisting of ten stations, received 1.7 billion drams ($4.4 million) in government funding for capital repairs in 2008 and is expected to remain heavily dependent on state subsidies in the foreseeable future. Its limited reach has always put it in a disadvantaged position vis-à-vis other public transportation means, notably privately owned minibuses. Only an estimated 60,000 Yerevan residents presently use it on a daily basis.

Yerevan’s existing architectural master plan calls for the construction of four new metro stations by 2020, which officials say would cost some $160 million. The metro’s chief executive, Paylak Yayloyan, told RFE/RL that the government is negotiating with the Asian Development Bank to secure funding for one of those stations.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/1980055.html

[Haykakan]

Re: Life in Armenia

Yerevan Metro Set For Modernization
10.03.2010
Hovannes Shoghikian

The Armenian government received on Wednesday 15 million euros ($20.3 million) in external financial assistance designed to modernize Yerevan’s disused underground metro system.

Finance Minister Tigran Davtian signed a relevant agreement with the head of the Yerevan office of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The London-based institution will finance one-third of the project.

Under the agreement, another 5 million-euro loan, repayable in 15 years, will be provided by the European Investment Bank. The European Union will allocate the remaining 5 million euros in the form of a grant. The government formally pledged to guarantee the repayment of those loans last August.

Officials said on Wednesday the money will be used for badly needed capital investments in the subway network built almost 30 years ago. In particular, the Yerevan metro plans to partly replace its aging fleet of rail cars, install new water removal pumps and upgrade its electricity supply systems. Use of electricity by the network is due to shrink by half as a result.

The metro, which has only one line consisting of ten stations, received 1.7 billion drams ($4.4 million) in government funding for capital repairs in 2008 and is expected to remain heavily dependent on state subsidies in the foreseeable future. Its limited reach has always put it in a disadvantaged position vis-à-vis other public transportation means, notably privately owned minibuses. Only an estimated 60,000 Yerevan residents presently use it on a daily basis.

Yerevan’s existing architectural master plan calls for the construction of four new metro stations by 2020, which officials say would cost some $160 million. The metro’s chief executive, Paylak Yayloyan, told RFE/RL that the government is negotiating with the Asian Development Bank to secure funding for one of those stations.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/1980055.html

Cant wait to see what it will look like but why would it take 10 years to complete?

[Federate]

Re: Life in Armenia

Sweden’s socialist model fit for Armenia’s sustainable development
25.03.2010 12:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Sweden’s socialist model is fit for Armenia’s sustainable development, according to Artsvik Minasyan, member of ARF Dashnaktsutyun.

“This model is based on economic democracy, increase of social production, employment policy, reward distribution and social equality,” Mr. Minasyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. “Our party’s suggestion about reorganization of national policy came across an inadequate reaction of the government.”

Yerevan hosts a two-day conference on socialist approach to challenges Armenia is facing, upon completion of which a resulting document will be drawn up for further submission to the RA government.

The event brought together experts and politicians from Armenia, Sweden, Chile, Iran and Russia.

http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=44723

[Federate]

Re: Life in Armenia

Government Raises Pensions, Poverty Benefits

The Armenian government approved on Thursday more than ten percent increases in pensions and poverty benefits, citing the need to cushion the effects of rising consumer prices in the country.

Officials said the measure is primarily aimed at partly offsetting a 37.5 percent rise in the price of natural gas for Armenian households which will take effect on April 1. The government pledged earlier to consider compensating the most vulnerable segments of the population.

Meeting in the southern town of Artashat, it decided to raise monthly benefits paid to tens of thousands of low-income families by 15 percent from May 1. The pension rise, effective from November 1, was set at 11 percent.

“We are dealing with not only the increase in the gas price but a broader high level of inflation,” Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian told the cabinet meeting. “These decisions can substantially alleviate socioeconomic problems in Armenia,” he said.

According to official statistics, consumer price inflation in Armenia jumped to 8.2 percent in the first two months of this year, twice exceeding a full-year target set by the government and the Central Bank. Sarkisian said the authorities will do their best to cut the inflation rate to 6 percent by the end of the year.

The pension and benefit increases were not envisaged by Armenia’s 2009 state budget. Finance Minister Tigran Davtian said they will cost the government at least 6 billion drams ($15.2 million). Davtian assured fellow ministers that the government will succeed in raising this sum “including through savings.” He did not elaborate.

The gas tariffs already rose by 14 percent in April 2009, resulting in a 20 percent increase in the retail prices of electricity. State utility regulators said earlier this month that the energy fees will remain unchanged at least until August despite the increased cost of Russian natural gas delivered to Armenia. The gas is used for generating roughly one-third of the country’s electricity.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/1993882.html

[ashot24]

Re: Life in Armenia

Government Raises Pensions, Poverty Benefits

The Armenian government approved on Thursday more than ten percent increases in pensions and poverty benefits, citing the need to cushion the effects of rising consumer prices in the country.

Officials said the measure is primarily aimed at partly offsetting a 37.5 percent rise in the price of natural gas for Armenian households which will take effect on April 1. The government pledged earlier to consider compensating the most vulnerable segments of the population.

Meeting in the southern town of Artashat, it decided to raise monthly benefits paid to tens of thousands of low-income families by 15 percent from May 1. The pension rise, effective from November 1, was set at 11 percent.

“We are dealing with not only the increase in the gas price but a broader high level of inflation,” Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian told the cabinet meeting. “These decisions can substantially alleviate socioeconomic problems in Armenia,” he said.

According to official statistics, consumer price inflation in Armenia jumped to 8.2 percent in the first two months of this year, twice exceeding a full-year target set by the government and the Central Bank. Sarkisian said the authorities will do their best to cut the inflation rate to 6 percent by the end of the year.

The pension and benefit increases were not envisaged by Armenia’s 2009 state budget. Finance Minister Tigran Davtian said they will cost the government at least 6 billion drams ($15.2 million). Davtian assured fellow ministers that the government will succeed in raising this sum “including through savings.” He did not elaborate.

The gas tariffs already rose by 14 percent in April 2009, resulting in a 20 percent increase in the retail prices of electricity. State utility regulators said earlier this month that the energy fees will remain unchanged at least until August despite the increased cost of Russian natural gas delivered to Armenia. The gas is used for generating roughly one-third of the country’s electricity.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/1993882.html

This is great news indeed!

[Federate]

Re: Life in Armenia

Next ArmeniaFund should help this border village.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Where Life is Hell in “Heaven”: A visit to border village Yervandashat


Vazir Aloyan’s apricot orchard ends where the barbed wire of the Armenian-Turkish border starts. Arax and Akhuryan rivers can be seen in the distance. Aloyan’s newly built house is the last one in Yervandashat village (Armavir province), however his house is the nearest to the Armenian-Turkish border – some 300 meters.

Arax, Ararat, some Turkish villages, hardly visible from the other side of the border, seem randomly scattered over there. Mountains are endless in the horizon. However, Mount Ararat – so close and so distant – dominates the scene.

“I will never leave the village for the sake of this scene, if for nothing else, no matter how hard life here is,” says Vazir.

His nephew, Norik Harutyunyan, helped him to build his house.

Norik points at the Turkish side: “Look, there is a tower over there, hidden in the mountains. Did you see it? It is our historical Koghb town.”

Yervdandashat is one of Armenia’s border villages in Armavir province (some 90 km from Yerevan). Forty out of 198 houses of the village are empty. People have left the village, even more so, during the recent years, mainly for Russia.

“It is difficult to live here; everyone comes, admires our village and leaves. But will anyone come to reside here? No,” Norik says.

Yervandashat residents’ main occupation is gardening and cattle-breeding. Their orchards and fields are mostly in a neutral border zone. Villagers have special permits to enter and work in their own lands. If the situation is tense, border-guards do not allow villagers to enter..

In spite of the current situation, a great part of Yervandashat residents is against the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border.
Sanasar Harutyunyan, chief of staff at the village administration staff, says that, of course, all closed borders must disappear, but first the two nations must know each other.

“There is no dialogue,” he says.

Norik, in his turn, believes that the opening of the border will have a negative impact, especially on agriculture, leading to social problems.

“How are we going to sell our products if they [Turks] flood Armenia with their less expensive products?” Norik asks.

Yelena Avetisyan, resident of Yervandashat, confesses that she is afraid.

“It is necessary to prove that that nation [Turks] has changed. But the way I see there is no difference in the handwriting when I think about 1915 [when Ottoman Turkey committed Genocide against 1.5 million Armenians], Sumgait [Sumgait pogroms in February 1988], Gurgen Margaryan [Armenian officer axed by an Azeri in Budapest, in February 2004], Hrant Dink [Turkish-Armenian journalist and minority rights champion, editor-in-chief of Agos daily, murdered in Istanbul in January 2007],” she says, laying a small village table – with matsuni (Armenian natural yogurt) and lavash (Armenian traditional bread).

Avetisyan’s two daughters are students. The family manages to pay the tuition fees thanks to the apricot orchard. The 45-year-old woman also produces dried fruit and has some cattle.

“It is hard to live in the village. Can you imagine what will happen to me if I do not get a good harvest this year?” she says.

The most ‘oppositional’ family in Yervandashat is 80-year-old Hrant Abrahamyan’s. He and his wife, Pertchanush Harutyunyan, 77, live alone. Their seven sons have left the village. The old couple is against the opening of the border, they also complain about price hikes.

“You don’t go ahead by pressuring people. The people is the State, they [authorities] cannot take care of the country by ‘thick-necked people’. People’s wealth is the State’s wealth. Now they do not allow people to get rich. They raise prices of water, gas… ” says Abrahamyan, whose ancestors are from Mush (in Western Armenia).

The old man says he is “a Bolshevik without a ‘ticket’”.

“I was raised by them [Bolsheviks], and I do not like the new authorities. They say ‘Forward Armenia’ [pre-election campaign slogan of President Sargsyan], but we go backward. I was raised by communists. Communists were also misappropriating, but they were letting us live as well, whereas these ones. . .” the old man explains.

His wife, Pertchanush, recalls how she used to work with Azeri women in a cotton field. She points at a deserted area and says, “Their sanctuary was there. We have destroyed it. And why?” she asks.

And in spite of the anxious and hard situation, residents of Yervandashat are proud that they live in a place that once used to be a capital city Yervandashat – the last capital city of Yervanduni (Orontid) dynasty.

Historical Yervandashat was founded in III century B.C. by King Orontes (Eruand), in the crater of the Arax and Akhuryan rivers. The city had strong walls, and many wonderful buildings. During a short time, Yervandashat became one of the biggest cities of Ancient Armenia and center of the region. In the 360s AD (IV century), Yervandashat was destroyed by the army of the Persian King Shapuh.

The walls of the historical Yervandashat are currently in a neutral border zone; ruins of different buildings, complete architectural complexes are far away.
Harutyunyan, chief of staff at the village administration body, says with pride: “You see, when you are on your way to our village all you see reminds of deserts, but as soon as you enter Yervandashat, you suddenly find yourself in an oasis. This is the reason it was once called ‘Drakhtik’ [small heaven].”

http://armenianow.com/features/22584/armenian_border_village_yervandashat

[Federate]

Re: Life in Armenia

Watch, walk, drive: Driving directions for Armenia available on Google Map


A cell phone connected to the Internet and a Google Map program is now all that is needed to get driving directions through Armenia – on April 15 Armenia became one of 111 countries the driving directions of which had been included in the Google Map.

Prior to that, some 60 countries used the system, and after April 15 their number has grown to more than 170.

Experts say the emergence of a program providing driving directions in Armenia is important for the development of the tourism sector of the country. A tourist contemplating a trip to Armenia or already in Armenia may map out his or her route, for walking or driving, free of charge. For example, if someone wants to go from Yerevan to the Ararat province, the program immediately shows the roads both for driving and for walking.

“I am sure this will result in the rise of tourism quality and the reputation of Armenia in the whole world,” Karen Antashyan, director of IMEGA Tour & Travel, LLC Tourism Company, told ArmeniaNow.

It is remarkable that neighboring Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey do not have this service. Antashyan does not see a political context here. The reason, according to him, is obvious – the program was initially realized with the efforts of an Armenian community living abroad.

One of GPS companies (www.gpsarmenia.com), which provides such a program in Armenia, secures a driving map not only for Armenia but also for Nagorno-Karabakh. Tavros Babayan, GPS Executive Director, does not think that the new program will create obstacles for their company’s activity.

“First, our data are more accurate, besides no Internet is needed to use our device, the device simply needs to be charged with electricity to run,” Babayan told ArmeniaNow. The price of a GPS device provided by this organization begins from 100,000 drams (about $250).

http://armenianow.com/features/22528/armenia_is_included_in_google_map

[Tigranakert]

Re: Life in Armenia

A few minutes ago an Armenian girl in Yerevan threw herself from the sixth floor because she was not pleased with her ''7'' she got for her entrance exam. She died on the spot...