Month: February 2015

Armenians must condemn Yezidis’ massacre, says community chief

14:19 ¢ 21.02.15

The President of the International Union of Yezidis calls for
Armenians’ active efforts towards condemning the massacres against
their compatriots in Iraq.

`Yezidis offered a great help to the Armenians during the war in
[Nagorno-]Karabakh and suffered many victims, proving that they are
the full-fledged fried of the Armenians. So they now expect adequate
steps by the Armenians,’ Aziz Tamoyan said at a news conference today,
adding that they expect a strong reaction by the friendly people.

Tamoyan complained that the recent mass killings against the Yezidis
receive little attention in Armenia now that the country amid
preparations of the Genocide centennial.

`It is necessary to speak about the Yezidi nation’s genocide. If
nobody knows about this, I will hand over these two books of mine,
which have been appproved by corresponding bodies, and the minister of
defense,’ he said.

`I have twice visited Turkey and been to the ill-fated sites where
hundreds of Yezidis were murdered. How is it possible to issue
statement saying that there is no literature about the Yezidis’
Genocide? It’s provocation.’

Tamoyan further spoke of their national feast, Khidir Navi, which is
celebrated today. He said the holiday is unconditionally observed by
all the Yezidis, including even the families that suffered a mourning
shortly before. `If one Yezidi has quarreled with another, they must
by all means reconcile on the Khidir Navi day. We are a small ethnic
group, so we must forget everything. That’s the accepted practice,’ he
added.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Arab, Indian and Persian students also recited Armenian poems

16:39 | February 21,2015 | Official

On February 21, the employees of the RA Ministry of Diaspora, under
the leadership of RA Deputy Minister of Diaspora Serzh Srapionyan,
visited Oshakan and laid flowers at the tomb of Mesrop Mashtots. The
visit was organized as part of the events dedicated to International
Mother Language Day held at the initiative of the RA Ministry of
Diaspora. Among those attending the event were Governor of Aragatsotn
Province Sargis Sahakyan, Director of the Hrachya Atcharyan Institute
of Language at the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of
Armenia (NAS RA) Victor Katvalyan, Head of the State Language
Inspectorate adjunct to the Government of the Republic of Armenia
Sergo Yeritsyan, as well as linguists, teachers and others.

A concert dedicated to International Mother Language Day was held at
the theological seminary adjunct to the local church. Greeting the
gathered, RA Deputy Minister of Diaspora Serzh Srapionyan mentioned
that this year’s events dedicated to International Mother Language Day
are unique in that all the efforts that Armenians have been making to
preserve the Armenian national identity for the past century are being
reinterpreted. In his speech, Srapionyan particularly said: `Ottoman
Turkey’s plan to eliminate the Armenian people and their culture a
century ago, failed because the only pillar for the Armenians deprived
of their homeland was the powerful pillar that they were able to use,
and that is our mother language. It was with that awareness that one
of our great Armenians, French-Armenian writer Shahan Shahnour sounded
the alarm, saying, `The language is declining, the language is
declining, the language is declining, pardon, Ararat’. His concern was
justified because Armenians named Petros became Pierre, and the `Hair
Mer’ (Lord’s Prayer) was said in French. Today, thanks to Minister of
Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan and the Ministry of Diaspora, a movement has
been launched for the preservation and eternity of the Mother
Language. Speak in Armenian! Pray in Armenian! Sing in Armenian! That
is the guarantee for our eternity and is the duty of every Armenian to
respect the memory of the innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide.’

Sergo Yeritsyan also greeted the gathered and expressed his gratitude
to those who are devoted to the preservation and the dissemination of
the Armenian language. The head of the State Language Inspectorate
praised the events dedicated to International Mother Language Day that
are organized by the Ministry of Diaspora and have already become a
tradition, as well as the several programs and events that have been
carried out in Armenia and in the Armenian Diaspora, contributing to
the preservation and the dissemination of the mother language.

The attendees were especially impressed by the Arab, Indian and
Persian students of Yerevan State Medical University after Mkhitar
Heratsi who recited Armenian poems.

Syrian-Armenian boys and girls recited poems and sang songs devoted to
the Armenian language. The event included performances by students of
Khrimyan Hairik Middle School in the Voskehat village of Aragatsotn
Province.

Afterwards, the participants of the event visited the Mesrop Mashtots
Institute of Ancient Manuscripts (Matendaran) and laid flowers near
the statue of Mesrop Mashtots, after which members of the Mesrop
Mashtots Speech Culture Center recited poems devoted to the Armenian
alphabet.

From: Baghdasarian

Starbucks Poster Photographer Apologizes to Armenian Community

A screen shot of Timothy Rose’s web site on mobile device

Friday, February 20th, 2015
BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN

Timothy Rose, the photographer responsible for a poster depicting
women in Armenian traditional garb under the Turkish crescent and
star, issued an apology to the Armenian community on his website
Thursday, saying his intentions were not to offend.

“To all the Armenian community, I wish to apologize for the photograph
taken for Starbucks from 2011. Neither I nor the photographer knew the
dancers were Armenian. We were traveling around the world shooting
photojournalistic images for the brand and captured this image during
a festival in 2011 for Ataturk. There was no Photoshopping or models
used. Once it came to my attention that this was rightfully offensive
to the Armenian community, I took the image down. I am in full support
of their plight and would never have knowingly supported any action
that would hurt either them or cause unnecessary pain. My deepest
apologies,” Rose posted on his web site.

The poster, which sprung up on several Starbucks locations around
Southern California and elsewhere in the country, angered Armenians
and prompted them to take to social media to voice their
disappointment at the largest coffee retailer in the world. The
Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region immediately
launched a social media campaign urging followers to document
locations and call Starbucks to complain with #BoycottStarbucks
message.

Starbucks issued an apology and pledged to remove all posters from stores.

In an email to Asbarez, a Starbucks spokesperson said: “Serving as a
place for the community to connect is core to our business and we
strive to be locally relevant in all of our stores. We missed the mark
here and we apologize for upsetting our customers and the community.
We have removed this art in our Mulholland & Calabasas store in
Woodland Hills and are working to make this right,” a Starbucks
spokesperson told Asbarez via email. The spokesperson said that the
company was “looking into this to ensure this image is not in any
other Starbucks locations.”

After the apology and during the entire process one question remained
unanswered: Why did Starbucks, a corporation known for its ethical
positions, opt to put up the posters? Another mystery is why didn’t
the posters show up in any of Starbucks’ Glendale locations, which
have high concentration of Armenian clientele. Several inquiries to
Starbucks on this matter were not answered.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Relatives of the Avetisyan family threaten to surround the Russian
military base: Aravot

16:25 | February 21,2015 | Social

Today is the 40th Day of the brutally murdered Avetisyan family. It is
impossible to describe the situation in front of their house. Only the
mourning of the relatives was heard from the house, who, on coming out
of the gates and seeing “Heritage” leader Raffi Hovhannisyan and the
NA deputy Zaruhi Postanjyan, started begging, “Find the real
murderer.”

“We want to know the real murderer, we beg to find, what can do one
person? You know who it was, but you don’t say. I am begging to say
who murdered our family. We are informed that you are satisfied with
the response, how? Say who it was so that we can calm down. We are
afraid of entering, approaching the gates. We will wait for some more
days, but if the case isn’t revealed, we will surround the Russian
military base… We have nothing to lose anymore, if you are unable to
resolve, we will apply to Russia… If Armenia can’t help us, if Serzh
isn’t standing by us, he even didn’t express condolences, what are we
to do?,” say two sisters of murdered Hasmik Avetisyan.

The whole article here

From: A. Papazian

Azerbaijani Side Reported 1 Soldier Killed

Lragir.am
Country – 21 February 2015, 11:42

The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense informed that the Azerbaijani
serviceman Zyalimkhan Eybali oghlu Javadov was killed at the line of
contact. According to the Azerbaijani side, he fell from a bullet shot
by the Armenian side. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense claims that
after the OSCE Minsk Group had left, the Armenian side carried out a
sabotage.

The Azerbaijan MoD does not specify the section of the line of contact
where its soldier was killed.

Meeting? No thanks!: Ter-Petrosyan says talks with Sarkisian “no
longer necessary”

POLITICS | 21.02.15 | 15:11

Reply Open Letter: Sargsyan ‘ready’ to invite Ter-Petrosyan for meeting

Opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan
no longer considers a meeting with President Serzh Sargsyan as
necessary, a spokesman for the opposition party said on Saturday.

Through ilur.am Arman Musinyan disseminated a report in which he said
that the first president was “fully satisfied” with Sargsyan’s reply
to his open letter that concerned some of the aspects of the
Pan-Armenian Declaration adopted ahead of the Armenian Genocide
Centennial.

In reply to this open letter made available to the media on Friday
President Sargsyan said he was ready to accept Ter-Petrosyan’s offer
for a meeting. Though, he categorically rejected the ex-president’s
claims that the document contradicts Armenia’s Constitution as well as
international legal documents.

“Sargsyan thinks that the Declaration is a wonderful document and that
it reflects the will of all Armenians. Meanwhile, Ter-Petrosyan thinks
that the Declaration is a document fraught with dangers for Armenia
and Karabakh and that it cannot express the will of all Armenians
unless it is adopted through a referendum. It is for the public and
generations to judge about all the rest,” Musinyan said. “Since this
is a public debate, Ter-Petrosyan no longer sees a need for a private
conversation.”

From: A. Papazian

Stepanakert rules out the release of Azeri saboteurs

19:11, 21 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

On a visit to Armenia US

US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs
Victoria Nuland called on the Armenian side to make a humanitarian
step and release the two Azerbaijani national convicted and jailed in
Artsakh. At the same time Nuland described the acts of the Azeri
saboteur a “horrible crime.”

“Official Stepanakert rejects the call of the Assistant Secretary,”
David Babayan, Spokesman for the President of Nagorno Karabakh, told
Public Radio of Armenia. He added that “they made a humanitarian step
by prosecuting the saboteurs in an open and transparent trial.

Babayan said Nuland’s call was at least strange to him. “Can you
imagine how the US would react if some organizations asked to release
the Boston terrorists?”

The Spokesman said the release of the saboteurs is possible only in
one case – “If they agree to exchange one of them for Ramil Safarov.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Yerevan Bestseller encourages love towards reading

16:57, 21 February, 2015

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. The Yerevan Bestseller exclusive
project introduced by “Armenpress” News Agency encourages love towards
reading. The Director of “Armenpress” News Agency Aram Ananyan stated
this at the end of the award giving ceremony held at the press centre
of “Armenpress” on the symbolic day of the Armenian Language, which is
marked on February 21.

“The idea of launching the project came, when Yerevan was declared the
World Book Capital. We developed the methodology of the project, so
that we could have the standards, due to which we make selection and
after we began the relevant activities. Then the number of bookstores
was expanded and the interest towards the project increased. This is
the second time that on February 21 we hold the ceremony of
appreciation of the books and authors, which occupied their unique
place at the literary process of the previous year,” Ananyan
underscored.

The Director of “Armenpress” News Agency found it difficult to give an
unequivocal answer to the question whether the project managed to
dictate taste or not.

Among other things, Aram Ananyan noted: “I guess the publishers and
those directly involved in selling books can answer that question, as
they can clearly see that shift. Notwithstanding, in my opinion, we
managed to introduce some trends in the literary process.” Ananyan in
convinced that reading must be a significant characteristic of the
Armenian people, if it is not so yet.

“Such projects are held all over the world and people calculate the
most demanded books. It was necessary to have such a project in
Armenia as well. It gave impetus to love towards reading,” Aram
Ananyan concluded. In addition, Ananyan noted that the national news
agency next year will also award those media, which will touch upon
the topics of book and literature and encourage publishing.

Azerbaijan again spreads disinformation

12:59, 21 February, 2015

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. The statement issued by the Defense
Ministry of Azerbaijan saying as if the Armenian side has carried out
subversive act is yet another disinformation. The Press Spokesman of
the Ministry of Defense of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Senor
Hasratyan stated this in a conversation with “Armenpress” reflecting
on the statement issued by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry on “the
attack of the subversive group of the Armenian Armed Forces” on
February 20-21, due to which an Azerbaijani soldier died.

Among other things, the Press Spokesman of the Ministry of Defense of
the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Senor Hasratyan underscored: “The front
units of the Defense Army of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic protect the
ceasefire regime and carry out their military duty along the entire
frontline. This is yet another Azerbaijani disinformation.”

In addition, the Press Spokesman of the Ministry of Defense of the
Nagorno Karabakh Republic Senor Hasratyan noted that Azerbaijan
regularly violates the ceasefire regime and the Defense Army of the
Nagorno Karabakh Republic carries out responsive actions only in case
of extreme necessity.

From: A. Papazian

Azerbaijan violates ceasefire regime for about 900 times in a week

13:23, 21 February, 2015

STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. In accordance with the operative
data of the Defense Army of Nagorno Karabakh Republic, within the
period ranging from February 15 to February 21, the rival violated the
ceasefire regime for about 900 times on the line of contact of
Karabakh-Azerbaijani opposing armies. More than 10 thousand bullets
were fired towards our troops during this period.

The Press Service of the Ministry of Defense of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic informed “Armenpress” that the frontier units of the Defense
Army gave relevant response to the rival’s actions and took necessary
steps to organize steadfast protection of the military positions along
the entire line of contact.

From: A. Papazian