Month: April 2016

Initiatives for Development of Armenia Foundation (IDeA Foundation) thanks all individuals and organizations that support 100 LIVES and the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity. We express our deepest gratitude to the partners of Aurora Prize Inaugural Сeremony: producer of the legendary Armenian brandy “ARARAT” – Yerevan Brandy Company, Armenia’s Leading Telecommunications Operator VivaCell-MTS and Panarmenian Media Group.

“We are grateful to the companies that have joined us in sharing the ideas and values of our initiative. This is especially relevant today, when the humanitarian challenges of the world are as urgent and important as a century ago, ” Edgar Manukyan, CEO of IDeA Foundation, noted.

“The idea of honouring heroes a hundred years later on behalf of all the survivors of the Armenian Genocide in gratitude to their saviours, and launching a new global initiative, is unique, and we are very delighted to contribute to its realization”, said Igor Arakelyan, Chief Operation Officer of Yerevan Brandy Company.

“Aurora Prize is a clarion call to go back to the core values of our human nature, to cherish once again the need of helping each other and save each other’s lives. We join Aurora Prize initiative to celebrate those people who are putting their lives at risk to save others,”stated VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian.

“It’s a great honour for us to be the main media partner of Aurora Prize. I hope that 100 LIVES initiative and Aurora Prize will make the world kinder and the people more humane”, Chairman of the Board of Panarmenian Media Group Armen Arzumanyan said.

The Inaugural Ceremony of Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity will take place on April 24 in Yerevan, Armenia.

The military aggression against the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, unleashed by Azerbaijan in the early hours of April 2, was accompanied by war crimes, flagrant violations of the laws and customs of war, as well as norms of international humanitarian law, the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

On April 2, as a result of the deliberate artillery shelling of civilian settlements, a 12-year-old boy, Vagharshak Grigoryan, was killed, and two other kids were wounded near the secondary school in the NKR Martuni region. In the village of Talish of the NKR Martakert region, three elderly members of the Khalapyan family, the eldest of whom was 92 years old, were brutally killed and mutilated by an Azerbaijani subversive group. Traces of torture and mutilation were also registered on the bodies of the deceased servicemen of the NKR Defense Army, transferred to the Nagorno Karabakh Republic by Azerbaijan on April 10.

This is not the complete list of the war crimes committed by the Azerbaijani army during the military aggression against the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. Grossly violating the norms of international humanitarian law Azerbaijan poses itself against the entire civilized world by openly challenging it.

In accordance with the norms of international humanitarian law, in particular, Article 1 of all Geneva Conventions, the High Contracting Parties undertook the obligation not only “to respect” the norms of the Conventions, but also “to ensure respect” in all circumstances.

The Nagorno Karabakh Republic is taking steps to provide the international community, including the specialized agencies, with  these egregious facts of inhuman acts committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces and will consistently seek to ensure not only the strongest condemnation of these crimes, but also holding the perpetrators accountable. There can be no justification for such acts committed by Azerbaijan.

Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan will visit Moscow April 12-13 to participate in the sitting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council.

PM Hovik Abrahamyan is expected to meet with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.

Two Russian military pilots have died after their helicopter crashed near the central Syrian city of Homs, the BBC reports.

The aircraft, an M-28H attack helicopter, was not shot at, Russia’s defence ministry said.

The crash happened in the early hours of Tuesday, the ministry said. The bodies were recovered and brought to Russia’s Hmeimim air base.

Russia joined the Syrian conflict in September, launching air strikes in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

To commemorate 101 years since the Armenian genocide, the Cyprus Committee on the Memory of the Armenian Genocide organizes a series of events to mark the dark anniversary, according to a press release on Tuesday, reports.

On Wednesday, April 20, a book in Greek and English that includes articles on the Armenian genocide in the Greek Cypriot press between 1914-1923 will be launched at the University of Nicosia’s UNESCO amphitheatre at 7pm.

On Saturday, April 23, at 5:30pm, the youth will walk from the capital’s Makarios Avenue to the Armenian Church on Armenias Street where they will be joined by community members for a remembrance event set for 7:30pm.

This will be under the auspices of House President Yiannakis Omirou who is the main speaker. The Armenian Archbishop and Mehdessian will also address the gathering.

The events aim to maintain remembrance for the 1.5 million Armenians who died at the hands of Turkey during the 1915 genocide, and to push for recognition of the genocide by Turkey.

President Serzh Sargsyan had a meeting with His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, and His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia.

The interlocutors discussed the situation established as a result of the recent Azerbaijani offensive along the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh.

They attached importance to the mobilization of the efforts of the state and the church for the sake of solution of the most important problems and challenges.

The Catholicoi spoke about their forthcoming visit to Nagorno Karabakh.

A team visited one of the artillery positions of the Nagorno Karabakh Army and spoke to the soldiers there.

The situation in Nagorno Karabakh will be discussed at the plenary session of the European Parliament today.

Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini will make a statement, which will be followed by a debate.

A prosecutor has demanded a 7-year imprisonment for prominent Armenian businessman Levon Hayrapetyan who stands charged with stealing $700,000 from the mother of former Bashkortostan senator Igor Izmestyev who was sentenced to life for terrorism, RAPSI reported on Tuesday from Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky District Court.

The prosecutor also asked the court to collect from the businessman 20.8 million rubles ($310,000) in damages in favor of the injured party.

Investigators believe that the businessman has misled the woman by promising a reduced sentence for her son. In practice, he could not influence the judgment. The maximum penalty for such crime is 10 years in prison.

Hayrapetyan has pleaded not guilty. According to his lawyer, the case has been framed up.

Hayrapetyan also stands charged with involvement in an embezzlement case under which Ural Rakhimov, son of the former head of Bashkortostan Murtaza Rakhimov, sold Bashneft, a midsized oil company he headed for three years, to the oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Sistema in 2009 at a huge “discount” of $500 million.

In early October 2014, Hayrapetyan was placed under house arrest. His defense attorney asked the court to release him, citing health problems.

 

 

 

“Azerbaijani suffered a military defeat, as it failed to reach the goals it had posed thanks to our officers and soldiers. Today we hold a trump card given us by the Armenian soldier, and we should use this in diplomacy, as well,” Hayk Demoyan, Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, told reporters today.

According to Demoyan, one of the reasons of the Azerbaijani aggression against Nagorno Karabakh is the end of the “oil honeymoon.”

“The military adventurism was not just Ilham Aliyev’s caprice, this means the weakness of the state of Azerbaijan needs to be saved, and at least a small victory on the Karabakh front is the only tool at this point,” Demoyan said.

According to him, it was meant to ensure unity, to create new myths and heroic stories, that cement artificial state and artificial ethnic communities.

However, Demoyan said, Azerbaijan failed to achieve the goals. “The cement
fell to the ground like spot putty,” he said.

“In the current situation the two Armenian states have to come forth with a joint statement outlining our expectations and making it clear what we are ready for. The Armenian side should insist that Azerbaijan must be held accountable for the launching of large-scale military actions, for the unprecedented violation of the ceasefire regime, or whatever it was.”

Demoyan believes it’s high time to review the National Security Strategy. “Nothing has changed in the documents since 2007, while we’re facing a new situation and new challenges today,” he added. According to AGMI Director, the recent developments have changed the situation, and this cannot but affect the negotiation process.