The Republic of Armenia, and by extension its worldwide diaspora, is at an exciting crossroad between the past and future.

More than a thousand residents of Vank village in Nagorno-Karabakh have signed an open letter to Armenian businessman and philanthropist Levon Hayrapetyan, who is currently in custody in Russia, and to Armenians worldwide, Artsakh Today reports.

A technology business park in Gyumri, Armenia’s second largest city in the northwestern province of Shirak, is set to officially open in September, Bagrat Yengibaryan, head of Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF), said in an interview with Arka news agency.

A treaty on Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan will be signed in late October, Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian said on Thursday.

“We are shocked by the tragedy of the passenger plane crash that claimed the lives of 298 people,” Spokesman for the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tigran Balayan said in comments to news.am.

“I would need much more than one wish to make this village alive again.” This was how the mayor of Ditavan, Seyran Sargsyan, responded years ago when asked which issue he would want solved if he was granted one magic wish.

After the signing of the ceasefire agreement in 1994, Azerbaijan has been constantly escalating tension at the line of contact by opening fire in the direction of Nagorno Karabakh and undertaking infringement on its territory, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian said at a government meeting today.

Members of the informal minority coalition in the Armenian parliament intend to contest the constitutionality of the amended law on funded pensions portions of which were already recognized as unconstitutional earlier this year.

The recent, tougher sanctions against Russia announced by Washington on Wednesday, targeting major banks and energy companies, will not affect the financial stability of Gazprombank, Areximbank-Gazprombank Group, Gazprombank’s Armenian subsidiary, said Thursday in a statement.

On June 30, ONEArmenia launched a community bus that doubles as a creative space.

The arrest, on Tuesday, of prominent Karabakh businessman and philanthropist Levon Hayrapetyan in Moscow could have political motivations led by Azerbaijan, according to a statement released by General Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan, commander of the Karabakh forces during the liberation of Shushi.

Authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh insist they have “serious grounds” to assume that an Armenian teenager who was found dead on Tuesday, after a long search, had been killed by Azerbaijani “saboteurs,” RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) reports.

The remains of the a 17-year-old Karvachar resident, Smat Tsakanian, believed to have been abducted from his home by Azerbaijani commandos earlier this month was found in Nor Erkedj, reported Armlur.am.

“The United States attaches great importance to its relationship with Armenia,” said US President Barak Obama on Tuesday as he ceremonially accepted the credentials of Armenia’s new ambassador to the United States, Tigran Sargsyan, who served previously as Armenia’s prime minister.