Artsakh people have implemented their right to self-determination flawless, deputy foreign minister of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan stated at a conference on Artsakh, stressing that this right cannot be opposed by any other, including by territorial integrity.
“The self-determination right exceeds all the other international documents and our duty is to support and be guided by these right,” Kocharyan stated.
He stressed the necessity of effective cooperation with civilized forces and be united.
Throughout the negotiation history we have registered one progress the 1994 treaty on ceasefire, Armenia’s deputy foreign minister Shavarsh Kocharyan stated at the conference of Artsakh’s Friends in Stepanakert.
“There is a document with which that time president of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev authorized the vice speaker of their parliament to meet with corresponding official of Nagorno Karabakh and prepare the meeting of leaders of the two countries. The remarkable thing in this document is that it is formed in Russia and while speaking about Artsakh the NKR (Nagorno Karabakh Republic) abbreviation was used. This document was signed by Heydar Aliyev,” Kocharyan said, adding that Azerbaijan accepted Artsakh as a negotiating side and conducted talks with it.
Now as far as Azerbaijan avoids from direct negotiations with Artsakh and moreover pretends that there is no such party it means it does not want any progress in the negotiations.
“Without Artsakh any progress in the negotiations is impossible. No one is authorized to speak on behalf of Artsakh. In reality Azerbaijan just pretends that it is negotiations, and implements propaganda war to prove the international community that here it is not the matter of right to self-determination but just territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” Kocharyan said.
“Today’s event will serve as a signal to the international community that isolating [Artsakh] and depriving its citizens of international cooperation opportunities is inadmissible,” Artsakh Republic Foreign Minister Masis Mayilyan said in his speech delivered at the “Cooperation for Justice and Peace” Forum of Artsakh Friends being held in Stepanakert on Friday.
According to the minister they strongly believe isolation is the continuation of war, while cooperation is the basis for peace.
“It is our common task to work on strengthening this foundation for the peaceful future of the whole region,” Mayilyan said.
The official expressed gratitude to the forum participants for backing Artsakh during its hardest times, contributing to the development of Artsakh’s international relations and supporting the aspiration of Artsakh Armenians for freedom and justice.
For years, while the Glendale Unified School District and other Jewel City public entities have observed Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day every April 24, Glendale Community College has remained open because of financial constraints.
That’s about to change, however, as Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 568 into law Tuesday evening, which allows the roughly 27,000-student community college to close its doors on April 24 without costing the school state funding.
The bill was sponsored by state Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge).
“Two years ago, I was honored to have been asked by GCC board members to help offset the cost of closing on April 24,” Portantino said in a statement released Tuesday evening.
“Today, I am very proud to have sent a bill to the governor to help our Armenian community, greater community, the faculty, administrators, and students of GCC solemnly and appropriately commemorate the Armenian Genocide without unnecessary financial pressure,” he added.
Glendale College board member Armine Hacopian was a key advocate in starting the process.
“When I first approached Sen. Portantino several years ago about this issue, he made a commitment to see it through as he appreciated its value for our students and employees to commemorate April 24th without causing loss of funding to GCC,” Hacopian said.
Prior to the bill, Glendale Community College held classes on April 24 because shutting down the campus would have cost approximately $500,000, according to school estimates.
“GCC will use this legal day of remembrance, and other opportunities throughout the year, to educate our students and communities about the Armenian Genocide to assure such atrocities never happen again,” said David Viar, superintendent/president of Glendale Community College, who spoke to lawmakers in Sacramento in June.
An important day in Glendale, April 24 is annually dedicated worldwide to commemorate the 1.5 million Armenians murdered by the Ottoman Turks between 1915 and 1923.
No other state in the country has a larger portion of the Armenian diaspora, with many calling Glendale home.
Approximately 37% of Glendale Community College‘s credit students and 49% of non-credit students are of Armenian heritage, according to staff reports, which is higher than the 39% of city residents and 36% of Glendale Unified students who are of Armenian descent.
“April 24 is of great significance to our student body and to know that our community leaders recognize this is of great importance to us,” said Sune Aghakian, Associated Student Body president at Glendale Community College, after Newsom’s approval of the measure.
“Acknowledging April 24th as a day of remembrance will allow us to educate and recognize the historic and significant perseverance of our Armenian-American community,” Aghakian added.
Portantino’s bill provides Glendale Community College with the same flexibility afforded the Glendale Unified School District.
Glendale Unified has recognized Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day since the 2013-14 school year as the California Education Code has allowed the district to swap the day of schooling with a holiday as long as the district completes 180 instructional service days.
Glendale Community College has a lower threshold and can now exchange the day as long as the institution completes a minimum of 175 instructional service days. Last school year, Glendale Community College totaled 178 days.
Glendale Unified’s board wasn’t passive, however, in its support of the change at the local college and mailed a letter to state Sen. Connie Leyva (D-Chino), chair of the senate education committee, in favor for SB 568 in August.
“We are extremely grateful that the senator championed this issue and enabled us to commemorate the Armenian Genocide by closing our campuses without incurring a financial penalty,” said Vahe Peroomian, Glendale Community College board president, in a statement released Tuesday evening.
Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan strictly condemned the speech of Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev in Ashkhabad at the summit of the council of CIS heads of states, describing it as disrespect toward the CIS heads of states.
“We are against biased interpretation of historic developments but unfortunately we have seen such attempts in the speech of Ilham Heydarovich,” Pashinyan said, in response to Aliyev’s claims that Armenian public, political and military figure Garegin Nzhdeh was a fascist.
“An impression from Ilham Aliyev’s speech is that Hitler had a secondary role in the Great Patriotic War and Garegin Nzhdeh was the leader of fascist movement,” the PM stressed, adding that Nzhdeh was fighting against Turkish occupation of Armenia, against Armenian Genocide organized and conducted by Turkey.
The Armenia PM also stressed that in 1918 with many Russian officers Nzhdeh was heading one of the important sectors of the front during the Armenian-Turkish war.
“The knowledge of objective assessment of the history is very important. It is said that Nzhed died in Vladimir jail. Many soviet figures died there. Do we consider all those convicted from 1937-1950 people’s enemies? If so many outstanding figures were convicted during that period and died in jails, but it does not mean that what they did is a fact,” Pashinyan said, adding that he considers improper to use this format for distortion of history to bring tension to the summit.
“The words of the Azerbaijani president is a manifestation of disrespect first of all toward Armenian people, heads of states and peoples present here. I am sorry for such tension, I am not the author of it,” Pashinyan said.
In his speech Aliyev said that Armenia glorifies fascism and the proof of it is the monument to “fascist Garegin Nzhdeh in the downtown Yerevan.”
Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev had a conversation in Ashkhabad today, PM’s spokesperson Vladimir Karapetyan told Aysor.am.
“The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan talked during the official dinner in Ashkhabad. Nikol Pashinyan and Aliyev talked about the prospect of Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement,” Karapetyan said.
Earlier Armenia’s PM reiterated that the settlement resolution must be acceptable for the peoples of Armenia, Artsakh and Azerbaijan.
The 7th CISM World Games will be held in Wuhan, Chine from 15 to 30 October 2019 with around 10,700 athletes from 105 countries expected to participate. As the ministry of education, science, culture and sport reports, Armenia will be represented by 15 athletes who will compete in 4 sports.
To note, the Military World S Games are a multisport event organised every four years, one year before the year the Olympic Games are organised. The event is based on the CISM and Olympic spirit, without political, religious and racial consideration nor discrimination.