Month: April 2016

Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday that U.S. President Barack Obama’s comment on the 1915 incidents represented a “one-sided interpretation of history,” Anadolu Agency reports.

President Obama described the 1915 ikilling of Armenians within the Ottoman Empire as “Meds Yeghern”, an Armenian term meaning “great calamity” in a

In a written statement ,Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Obama’s statement was a new example of a one-sided history telling of the “pain suffered during the World War I”.

“Turkey has shown the will to build a joint future with peace based on the shared living experience for centuries between Turkish and Armenian nations. It is sad that friend and ally countries encourage the circle that [aim] to deepen the conflict instead of answering [Turkey’s] call. It is obvious that the efforts to politicize the pain suffered in history do not do any good to anyone so far.”

“While this is the situation, the circles that aim to profit from the positions that third-party countries would take on the different dates of the year not only harm the hope for friendship and peace but they also disrespect the pain suffered during those days.”

“We invite the U.S. government to evaluate the historical facts based on a fair memory while taking into consideration the pain of all sides and adopt an objective, reasonable and constructive approach.”

The Armenian Genocide is not just part of the Armenian history, it’s not the pain of a particular country or people, it’s part of world history, George Clooney said at the Second Global Forum against the crime of Genocide under way in Yerevan.

It’s been a long struggle to have things called by their names, Clooney said. He said it’s hard because we live in a complex world, but added that “one cannot deny what has happened.”

“When someone is trying to annihilate a whole human race, culture, people, that’s genocide, there can be no other version of it.”

Time and time again we repeat “Never again” after Germany, but after that we have had Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, Darfur. The truth is that it happens over and over again.

“What we are doing today has two objectives. First, we have to look back into the past and remember that  it’s not the pain of a particular country or people, it’s part of world history. Second, we need to move forward,” Clooney added.

The essence of the Aurora Prize is that the founders are trying to value the heroism of people, who risk their lives to ensure a better life for others, he stressed.

EBU Members in six different countries pay an eclectic musical tribute to William Shakespeare on the 400^th anniversary of his death (23 April 2016). The Public Radio of Armenia joins EBU to mark the anniversary. 

The New Shakespeare Songbook project brings together Members in Austria, France, Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland and the UK to celebrate the renowned English poet and playwright in seven new short films.

Some of Europe’s best known musicians responded to the challenge to set Shakespeare’s texts to music. These include French rapper Oxmo Puccino, Norwegian singer-songwriter Ane Brun and UK electronic musician Matthew Herbert.

Austria’s Eva Jantschitsch aka Gustav, singer Gregor Volk, piano trio Trio Rêverie, tuba player Goran Krmac and accordionist Janez Dovč from Slovenia and Swiss actress Anahì Traversi together with cellist Zeno Gabaglio are also taking part.

ORF, France Televisions, NRK, RTVSLO, SRG SSR and the BBC commissioned song settings from musicians in their respective countries, while viewers will be challenged to produce their own contributions and share them using the hashtag #newshakespearesongbook.

EBU Media Director Jean Philip De Tender said “Shakespeare is one of the pillars of European culture and the richness of his texts is reflected in the wonderful creative responses from EBU Members working with some of today’s most imaginative artists.”

UK

Switzerland

Slovenia

Norway

France

Austria

EBU project Shakespeare Songbook

President Serzh Sargsyan, who is participating at the Second Global Forum Against the Crime of Genocide convened at the K. Demirjian Sport and Concert Compound, during the break between the sessions conversed with the participants of the Forum, exchanged views with the delegates, and presented Armenia’s views regarding a number of issues.

Speaking about the difficulties posed by the geographical location of our country, President Sargsyan said in particular, “It is true that two out of Armenia’s four neighbors are conducted hostile policy toward our country. Nevertheless, since independence we have adopted a multi-vector policy trying to develop relations with all our neighbors. Even with Turkey, we were the initiators of reestablishing the relations without preconditions. It was an initiative which revealed to the world why the Armenian-Turkish is closed, who is setting preconditions and why the Turkish-Azeri “one nation- two states” formula is a real factor. Those who until now have not yet comprehended the political essence of that formula, in their calculations have missed an important element. We are a peaceful nation. We hate no one and do not build our relations on animosity or hatred toward anyone. Our people don’t like to fight but we do it when we are forced to. We are forced to fight for one simple reason: we want to live on our own land and we want to be free.”

The President spoke also about Russia’s role in the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh issue. “Yesterday I received Minister of Foreign Affairs Lavrov, who was on a visit in Yerevan. I presented to him our position regarding the situation which has been established after the large-scale offensive unleashed by Azerbaijan. Russia as the OSCE Minsk Group member state is actively involved in the Nagorno Karabakh peace process. For years, we were a responsible member of that process, were trying to find mutually acceptable solutions, were trying to be constructive. Obviously, the blunt violation by Azerbaijan of the 1994 Ceasefire Agreement has thrown the peace process far back. We were convinced that the problem could be solved through exclusively peaceful means, however today the situation is different. Ceasefire and supporting agreements have been violated, five statements of the Presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair states – US, France, and Russia – were violated, bloodchilling war crimes were committed, and now we are telling everyone – point your finger to the aggressor, expose the aggressor so that lessons are learned, so that we can move forward,” said President Serzh Sargsyan.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received today survivors of genocides and crimes against humanity from Cambodia, Rwanda and Iraq, who have arrived in Armenia to participate in the Second Global Forum Against the Crime of Genocide.

Minister Nalbandian emphasized the participation of outstanding scholars, political and public figures, artists and especially survivors in the global forum.

Minister Nalbandian attached importance to the joint efforts of the international community targeted at the prevention of genocides and elimination of their consequences. He noted that the Global Forum held in Armenia for the second year in a row has become an important platform for struggle against genocides and crimes against humanity.

Nadia Murad of Iraq presented the violence against Yazidis and the story of the barbaric killing of her family. She asked for Armenia’s support in raising awareness about the issue.

Minister Nalbandian assured of Armenia’s committment to maintain efforts towards raising the issue of the genocide of Yazidis on different international platforms.

The participants of the meeting hailed Armenia’s role in preventing genocides. Edward Nalbandian briefed the guests on Armenia’s initiatives and efforts in that direction.

On 23 April Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan visited the town of Hadrout and held there a working consultation to discuss issues relating to the army’s activity and implementation of operational tasks by the Hadrout regional administration’s departments in this sphere

The President gave concrete instructions towards proper fulfillment of the discussed issues.

NKR deputy defense minister, head of the Artsakh Union of Freedom Fighters, Samvel Karapetyan, chairman of the “Yerkrapah” Volunteers Union organization’s board Manvel Grigoryan and other officials partook in the consultation.

Roughly 30 individuals joined hands on the steps of Sproul Hall on Friday afternoon to commemorate the 101st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the reports.

The annual event, called United Hands Across Cal, was hosted by the Armenian Students’ Association, or ASA, to bring attention to the history of the killing of about 1.5 million Armenians in 1915, an event that is widely viewed by historians as a genocide.

Despite the heavy rain, students came together for an hour of speeches, poetry and special singing performances conducted in both English and Armenian. Members clasped one another’s hands, with some attendees crying, throughout the event.

“Holding hands was important because instead of being a bunch of people by ourselves, we were united as one,” said ASA president and campus senior Maria Elvajyan.

The Armenian Genocide typically refers to the deaths that began with the killing of a large population of Armenian intellectuals living within what was the Ottoman Empire, which is now modern-day Turkey. The official date associated with the beginning of the Armenian killings is April 24, 1915.

Turkey and other countries, including the United States, do not use the word genocide to describe the killings. To date, more than 20 countries worldwide have officially recognized the massacre as a genocide.

“The purpose of the event today was to denounce denial,” said Levon Korganyan, cultural chair of ASA and a campus senior. “Mostly it is a celebration of our resounding presence here and the fact that we are still thriving and so alive and so passionate about both the past and also the perpetuation of our culture into the future.”

Many wore matching T-shirts for the event and hung an Armenian flag to honor their ancestors. Behind the circle of people stood 10 painted wooden boards that formed a world map depicting other genocides and crimes against humanity.

“There is a sense of injustice that Armenians feel,” said Hasmig Seropian, campus Armenian language lecturer. “And this will not go away no matter what generation it is.”

The Friday event occurred toward the end of Armenian Genocide Awareness Week, a weeklong event hosted by ASA each year. Members of ASA camped out on Memorial Glade at night all week and hosted a number of events, including a cultural show and movie screenings.

The theme of this year’s event is Mnayun, which translates to “eternal”  in Armenian. It also means “We are. We will always be,” Elvajyan said.

ASA ended the event on an upbeat note, with a group dance to an Armenian song.

“We are celebrating the fact that we are here after 101 years … dancing to our music and appreciating our culture,” Elvajyan said. “Our culture is alive and we are very proud of it.”

The negotiation process cannot continue as long as there is shooting or threat of shooting in the direction of Nagorno Karabakh, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan told reporters today, as he commented on the results of the Russian Foreign minister’s visit to Armenia.

According to Kocharyan, the first and most important outcome was the reiteration of the fact that the 1994 ceasefire agreement remains in force, and the utmost goal today is to ensure peace and stability.

The Deputy Foreign Minister attached special importance to the statement that concrete measures reinforcing the ceasefire regime should be initiated not only by the Co-Chairs, but also the German Presidency of the OSCE.

Referring to Sergey Lavrov’s remarks on Kazan document, Kocharyan said: “There are two platforms. The first one is the Madrid document, which led to Kazan, which Azerbaijan turned down. The second platform are the proposals targeted at reinforcement of the ceasefire regime, implementation of confidence-building mechanisms,” Shavarsh Kocharyan said.

The Deputy Foreign Minister confirmed that the Madrid Principles envisage concessions, but it’s up to Nagorno Karabakh to make a decision. “No Armenian official will ever be able to solve the issue of territories and status for Artsakh,” he concluded.

On 2 April 2016, Defense Army of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic downed an Azerbaijani Air Force Mi-24G attack helicopter, which was carrying out a combat flight during the military aggression of Azerbaijan against the NKR. The following has been collected from the crash site of the downed helicopter:

–       flight maps;

–       pilot tablets;

–       user manual for night vision equipment;

–       personal notebook of one of the pilots;

–       VHF ACR500-A 30-420 MHz radio;

–       ARK-U2 automatic radio compass;

–       – SARPP-12 flight data recorder with a cassette;

–      –  part of the helmet-mounted night vision device;

–       – 10 links with eight 20 mm cannon shells;

–       – optoelectronic module with a gyro-stabilized platform.

The analysis of data from the seized property (flight documentation) revealed that:

1. between 31 March and 1 April 2016, the downed Mi-24G as part of a squadron flew from Baku “Kala” air base to “Zhdanovsk” with a stopover at “Kyurdamir” air base;
2. the route and the specified targets on the flight map indicate that the crew was tasked to attack targets in the territory of NKR, at a depth of three to ten kilometers from the Line of Contact;
3. according to the flight map, an advanced landing ground had been prepared to reduce the time for aircrafts to go into combat;
4. in the area of mount Lyalya Ilyagi, a grid was applied with the possible directions of aviation spotters’ work with a group of army aviation helicopters;
5. the total duration of flight of the downed helicopter is about three hours;
6. objective control data contain records of three separate flights, including the last one.

The NKR Defense Ministry earlier provided this information to the Ministry of Defense of Armenia to introduce it to military attaches of foreign countries accredited in Yerevan.

According to radar reconnaissance of the NKR air defense forces, during the 4-day aggression up to 60 aircraft-flights of the Azerbaijani armed forces were recorded, of which 40 with the use of various types of weapons on the positions of the NKR Defense Army. This is confirmed by the analysis of the armaments, technical equipment, flight maps, pilot`s notebook, as well as the transcript of the SARPP-12 data found at the crash site of the Mi-24G. In the first 12 hours of aggression by the Azerbaijani armed forces, 40 army aviation helicopters were involved.

The actions of the Azerbaijani armed forces, as well as the documents seized from the downed Mi-24G show that the 4-day military aggression of Azerbaijan against the Nagorno Karabakh Republic was planned in advance by the Azerbaijani leadership.