Month: February 2020

On the margins of the Munich Security Conference, Foreign Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan met on Friday with OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger, the Foreign Ministry’s press service reported.

The FM noted that Armenia attaches great importance to strengthening and expanding effective partnership established with the OSCE executive structures through new targeted programs and initiatives. In this regard, the sides discussed collaboration in the framework of the OSCE’s Armenian Co-operation Program and ways to enhance its efficiency.

Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Thomas Greminger touched upon the process of the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict and the recent meetings held within its framework

The Armenian foreign policy chief stressed the importance of direct engagement of Artsakh authorities in the peace process, especially on the issues related to the security and status of Artsakh.

The two officials highlighted the consistent steps aimed at strengthening the environment conducive to peace and preparing the peoples for peace, as well as the importance of OSCE’s role in that process. 

The Armenian Apostolic Church commemorates on Saturday, February 15, Pontiff St. Sahak Partev, Qahana.am reports.

St. Sahak Partev was the elder son of Catholicos St. Nersess the Great, and the last Catholicos of the Armenian Church who descended from the lineage of St. Gregory the Illuminator. He became Catholicos of All Armenians in 387 A.D., and reigned for an astounding 52 years. Being talented in music and educated in the rhetorical arts, philosophy and linguistics, St. Sahak greatly contributed to the development of Armenian national culture. He was the strongest advocate for the creation of an Armenian Alphabet, and became its chief patron.

Following the creation of the Armenian alphabet, St. Sahak and St. Mesrop opened a school for translators in the city of Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin). There they begin the translation of the Holy Bible into Armenian and did it so perfectly, that centuries hence the Armenian translation is called the “Queen Translation of the Breath of God”. The first sentence translated from the Holy Bible is the opening verse of the Book of Proverbs: “To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding.”

Adekvad party member Lilit Tumanyan denounced the summoning of Chairman of the Civil Consciousness NGO, activist Narek Samsonyan to the Special Investigative Service as “political repression”.

The opposition activist was summoned for questioning on Saturday following an article published on Antifake.am.

Speaking to reporters, Lilit Tumanyan said the activist has been charged as part of an investigation into an alleged false crime reporting case.

Tumanyan stated such charges have been levelled against no one in Armenia so far. She described the law-enforcement authorities’ move as ‘historical’ in negative sense.

“Now we need to understand whose interests we defend – the state, society, or government. Today we have ended up in a situation when these are different phenomena,” she said.

In Tumanyan’s words, not only Narek Samsonyan, but also other opposition figures who dare to criticize Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his government are facing political persecution in Armenia.

“Any authoritarian regime that seeks to concentrate power in its hands and exercise total control will never tolerate free and independent media,” she said. “After the overthrow of the legislative, executive and judicial powers, the next in line is mass media.”