Month: June 2017

Chess: 17-year-old Armenian chess player Haik Martirosyan to be granted Grandmaster title

Hovik Karapetian
Panorama, Armenia

The junior Armenian chess players gained impressive results at European Individual Chess Championship 2017 held at Minsk, Belarus.

“Haik Martirosyan, Aram Hakobyan, Artur Davtyan and Arman Mikaelyan fulfilled grandmaster norm. It is quite a great achievement to fulfill that norm at such a young age,” Mikayel Andreasyan, General Secretary of the Chess Federation of Armenia, said at a press conference on Monday.

17-year-old Armenian player Haik Martirosyan will be granted the Grandmaster title already in October 2017.

Mr.  Andreasyan also added that before Haik, Samvel Ter-Sahakyan was the only young Armenian chess player to receive the GM title (15 years old).

“When I have a good start at a tournament, I achieve good results at the end of it,” Haik said, adding that he has played all the games confidently.

Education: Construction of TUMO Gyumri Begins

Emil Lazarian
The Armenian Weekly

By Contributor on in Armenia

GYUMRI, Armenia—The construction for the future TUMO Gyumri center, located at the city’s historic first theater, was launched earlier this month in a special ceremony.

A rendering of the TUMO Gyumri center (Photo: TUMO)

Present at the event were the city’s Deputy Mayor, other government officials, and members of the community. During the event, TUMO founder Sam Simonian and CEO Marie Lou Papazian spoke on the importance of the program and the renovation of both the invaluable cultural center and the adjacent park.

The government of the Republic of Armenia allocated both the building and the adjacent park for the use of the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies.

TUMO founder Sam Simonian speaking at the launch event (Photo: TUMO)

The TUMO Gyumri center, opened in partnership with AGBU and at the initiative of Shant TV, already has had over 2,000 active students in just two years. Each year, over 500 workshops and learning labs take place at the center.

TUMO CEO Marie Lou Papazian speaking at the launch event (Photo: TUMO)

After renovating the theater, the center will expand and allow for a capacity of over 3,000 students. The designs for the building, drawn up by world-renowned architect Bernard Khoury, creates numerous special opportunities for both the center’s students and the city’s residents.

The center will have workshop rooms, a recording studio, an open-air terrace for outdoor events and a cinema to be used for both student projects and public screenings. The cinema can also be converted into a stage, symbolizing the cultural rebirth of the historic theater.

A scene from the performance at the launch event (Photo: TUMO)

After the presentation, a concert was held across from the theater with a performance by TUMO band TmbaTa, led by their workshop leader and member of the noted band Bambir, Arik Grigoryan. Students from TUMO Gyumri joined the performance as well.

Construction of TUMO Gyumri Begins

BAKU: Status quo in Karabakh conflict must be changed: German envoy

Elizabeth Jabejian
APA, Azerbaijan

The status quo in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be changed, German Ambassador to Azerbaijan Michael Kindsgrab told reporters on Monday.

 

The German diplomat called for a negotiated solution to the conflict.

 

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.

 

A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.

 

The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.

 

Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the CSCE (OSCE after the Budapest summit held in December 1994) Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.

 

Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, the US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.  

 

Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.

BAKU: Co-chairs to brief Minsk Group members on Karabakh settlement process

Hovik Karapetian
APA, Azerbaijan

The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassadors Igor Popov of Russia, Stephane Visconti of France, and Richard Hoagland of the United States of America) will travel to Vienna on 3 July to brief the Minsk Group members about their latest visit to the region, says a statement made by the co-chairs on June 19, APA reported.

 

The co-chairs also plan to meet again soon with the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers to discuss modalities of the forthcoming work, reads the statement.

 

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.

 

A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.

 

The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.

 

Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the CSCE (OSCE after the Budapest summit held in December 1994) Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.

 

Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, the US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.  

 

Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.

 

BAKU: OSCE MG urges Karabakh conflict sides to reduce tensions

Tania Jagharian
Trend, Azerbaijan
18:40 (UTC+04:00)                

Baku, Azerbaijan, June 19

By Elmira Tariverdiyeva – Trend:

The OSCE Minsk Group (MG) encourages the sides of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to consider measures that would reduce tensions on the line of contact and the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, says a statement by the OSCE MG co-chairs, issued June 19.

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (ambassadors Igor Popov of Russia, Stephane Visconti of France, and Richard Hoagland of the United States of America), together with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, traveled to the region in June, says the statement.

The main purpose of the co-chairs’ visit was to discuss the position of the sides towards the next steps in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process after the trilateral ministerial meeting in Moscow (April 28), as well as the overall situation in the conflict zone, according to the statement.

The co-chairs met with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in Yerevan on June 10 and with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on June 19, as well as held consultations with the two countries’ foreign and defense ministers, says the statement.

In Baku, they also met with the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh.

In their talks in Baku, the co-chairs expressed deep concern over the recent violations of the ceasefire, resulting in casualties on the line of contact on the eve of their visit to Azerbaijan.

They appealed to the conflict sides to avoid further escalation, says the statement.

“In both capitals, the co-chairs called upon the parties to re-engage in negotiations on substance, in good faith and with political will,” according to the statement. “They underscored that this is the only way to bring a lasting peace to the people of the region, who expect and deserve progress in the settlement of the conflict. The presidents expressed their intention to resume political dialogue in an attempt to find a compromise solution for the most controversial issues of the settlement.”

The co-chairs will travel to Vienna to brief the members of the Minsk Group on July 3, says the statement. They also plan to meet again soon with the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers to discuss modalities of the forthcoming work.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

BAKU: Armenia disrupts negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Albert Nalbandian
Trend, Azerbaijan
19:52 (UTC+04:00)                            

Baku, Azerbaijan, June 19

Trend:

Armenia’s recent provocations on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops are deliberate and aim at escalating the situation and disrupting the negotiations, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told a meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in Baku.

The importance of changing the current status-quo, which is unsustainable and unacceptable, through substantive negotiations was emphasized at the meeting of FM Mammadyarov with OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Stephane Visconti, Igor Popov, Richard Hoagland and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said.

Elmar Mammadyarov noted that in line with the proposals on the table, the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan is crucial for achieving progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’s settlement.

He also mentioned the illegal activities, including establishment of settlements, destruction of cultural heritage, organization of illegal flights and other illegal economic actions conducted by Armenia in the occupied Azerbaijani territories. He added that such illegal activities by Armenia seriously impede the negotiation process.

At the meeting, the sides also noted the importance of intensifying the negotiation process.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

Sports: Mkhitaryan congratulates on Father’s Day

Edgar Tavakalian
news.am, Armenia

Armenian national football squad captain and Manchester United (England) midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan posted a comment on social media, on Father’s Day.

“One of the greatest gifts I have ever had was a Father like you! Memories will last forever. Happy Father’s Day to all of the amazing dads out there,” the 28-year-old Armenia international wrote, and posted one of his childhood photographs that was taken with his father, Hamlet Mkhitaryan.

Armenia national squad former player Hamlet Mkhitaryan died in 1996 at the age of 33, due to brain cancer.

Sports: European Boxing Championships: Armenia’s Tonakanyan beats Turkey opponent

John Hovhannisian
news.am, Armenia

YEREVAN. – Athletes representing Armenia continue winning at the European Boxing Championships being held in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

This time Karen Tonakanyan defeated İbrahim Gökçek (Turkey) and advanced to the round of 16 in the 60kg competition, informed the press service of the Boxing Federation of Armenia.

Four of Armenia’s representatives, who already have started their campaign in this tournament, have won all of their bouts so far.

Sports: Yura Movsisyan: I’ve faced racism myself in Russia

Hagop Kamalian
news.am, Armenia

Armenian national football squad and FC Spartak Moscow (Russia) former forward Yura Movsisyan, who now plays at his former club Real Salt Lake (USA), spoke about racism in Russia.

“Of course there’s racism in Russia. A lot of it. And I’ve faced it myself. But that same racism you see everywhere you go. I can’t wait for the World Cup so people see the beauty and the hospitality of the Russian people,” Los Angeles Times quoted Movsisyan as saying. “I can guarantee you that it’s probably going to be the safest World Cup that anybody can go to. They’re [Russians] friendly people. And they’re going to make sure that nothing happens.

“This will be the best World Cup, the friendliest World Cup.”
The 2018 World Cup will be held in eleven cities in Russia, from June 14 to July 15.

This event will be held in Eastern Europe for the first time.

Sports: European Boxing Championships: Armenia’s Darchinyan achieves impressive win

Bedik Zaminian
News.am, Armenia

YEREVAN. – Arman Darchinyan (Armenia) achieved an impressive win at the European Boxing Championships being held in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

He defeated Artur Zarva (Estonia) and advanced to the round of 16 in the 75kg competition.
The Armenian athlete had an apparent advantage, and his opponent’s corner discontinued the fight in the third round, informed the press service of the Boxing Federation of Armenia.

Five of Armenia’s representatives, who already have started their campaign in this tournament, have won all of their bouts so far.