Monday, September 7, 2020
Indicted Ex-Speaker Allowed To Leave Armenia
• Marine Khachatrian
RUSSIA -- Armenian parliament speaker Ara Babloyan gives a press conference in
St. Petersburg, April 13, 2018
Former parliament speaker Ara Babloyan was allowed by a Yerevan court on Monday
to temporarily leave Armenia despite standing trial on charges rejected by him
as politically motivated.
Babloyan said he needs to travel to Belgium on a short trip related to his
current work as head of Armenia’s largest children’s hospital.
“I’m glad that I received permission to leave because [the trip] is necessary
not for me but our country, our people and those children who are treated at the
Arabkir Medical Center,” he told reporters. He said he will return to the
country on October 4, well before the next session of his trial slated for
November 18.
Babloyan’s lawyer, Aram Vartevanian, said trial prosecutors did not object to
the permission granted by the judge presiding over the trial.
In Vartevanian’s words, the judge had already allowed his client to travel to
Switzerland earlier this year. The 72-year-old pediatric surgeon cancelled that
trip because of the coronavirus pandemic and his hospital’s involvement in the
Armenian authorities’ efforts to contain it, said the lawyer.
Babloyan and one of his former aides, Arsen Babayan, were charged last October
with abusing their powers and forging documents to help Armenia’s former
leadership install Hrayr Tovmasian as chairman of the Constitutional Court in
March 2018. Babayan was arrested but freed on bail three weeks later.
The Special Investigative Service (SIS) indicted the two men as Tovmasian faced
growing government pressure to resign. It claimed that the former Armenian
parliament elected him court chairman in breach of the country’s constitution.
The SIS said that Babloyan illegally accepted and announced the resignation of
Tovmasian’s predecessor, Gagik Harutiunian, before receiving a relevant letter
from him. It said that Babayan, who was the deputy chief of the parliament staff
at the time, backdated the letter to enable Tovmasian to head the Constitutional
Court before the entry into force of sweeping amendments to the Armenian
constitution.
The amendments introduced a six-year term in office for the head of Armenia’s
highest court. Tovmasian, 49, became chief court justice under the previous
constitution which allows him to hold the post until the age of 70.
Both defendants strongly deny the accusations. Babloyan, who served as
parliament speaker from 2017-2018, claimed to be subjected to “crude political
persecution” at the start of their trial in May. He accused the SIS of
committing “pathetic and blatant violations” of the due process.
Toxic Alcohol Claims More Victims In Armenia
• Susan Badalian
Armenia -- Homemade vodka sold on a roadside.
Health authorities continued to hospitalize people at the weekend as a result of
Armenia’s worst-ever alcohol poisoning which has left 17 people dead and nearly
30 others seriously ill.
According to the Ministry of Health, eight hospitalized people remained a
critical condition on Monday. Some of them have lost the vision in their eyes, a
ministry spokeswoman told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
The ministry reported mass intoxications and the first 11 deaths caused by them
on September 1. Six more people died in the following days.
Most of the victims lived in Armavir, a small town 45 kilometers west of
Yerevan. Law-enforcement authorities believe that they died after drinking
bootleg vodka purchased from another local resident, Ashot Hovsepian. He was
arrested on September 1.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee arrested two other people a few days later on
suspicion of supplying Hovsepian with methanol, a highly toxic alcohol used for
industrial purposes. According to the law-enforcement agency, Hovsepian diluted
it with water before selling the poisonous drink to local residents.
All three arrested men deny any wrongdoing, saying that they thought they are
buying and selling ethanol alcohol used in vodka production.
“Laboratory tests have determined that all Armavir victims had purchased the
alcoholic beverage from the same place,” said Romela Abovian, a senior official
from the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It also emerged that the [intoxication] cases in Yerevan were also caused by
methanol,” Abovian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
Russian, Armenian Army Chiefs Meet Amid Joint Drills
Russia -- Top Russian and Armenian military officials meet in Moscow, September
5, 2020.
Russia’s and Armenia’s top army generals met in Moscow over the weekend as
troops from the two countries began a joint military exercise near the
Armenian-Turkish border.
Lieutenant-General Onik Gasparian, the chief of the Armenian army’s General
Staff, held talks with his Russian opposite number, General Valery Gerasimov,
after attending the closing ceremony of the annual International Army Games
organized by the Russian Defense Ministry.
Official Armenian and Russian sources said the two men discussed close military
ties between their nations but gave very few details.
In a statement, the Russian Defense Ministry cited Gerasimov as calling Armenia
Russia’s “ally and key partner in the Transcaucasus.” For his part, Gasparian
described Russia as his country’s “strategic ally” and stressed the “special
significance” of Russian-Armenian relations for Yerevan.
According to the statement, he also thanked the Russian military for helping to
contain the spread of the coronavirus among Armenian and Russian military
personnel serving in Armenia. Moscow sent a team of Russian army medics and
special equipment to the South Caucasus state for that purpose in April.
Later on Saturday, Russia’s Southern Military District announced the start of a
fresh Russian-Armenian exercise held at two training grounds in northwestern
Armenia. It said the drill will involve about a thousand soldiers of the Russian
military base headquartered in Gyumri, 200 tanks, artillery systems and other
military hardware as well as two dozen Russian and Armenian warplanes.
A statement released by Russia’s Southern Military District on Monday said
Russian MiG-29 fighter jets engaged in imaginary dogfights with enemy aircraft
and struck ground targets as part of defensive and offensive operations
simulated by the two militaries. It said the jets, which are normally stationed
in Yerevan, then landed at an airfield in Gyumri, Armenia’s second largest city
located just 10 kilometers from the Turkish border.
The Armenian Defense Ministry did not issue any statements on the drill as of
Monday afternoon.
Armenia -- Armenian and Russian troops hold a joint military exercise, April 12,
2019.
Armenia hosts up to 5,000 Russian soldiers as part of its military alliance with
Russia. Successive Armenian governments have regarded the Russian military
presence as a crucial deterrent against Turkey’s possible military intervention
in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The likelihood of such intervention appears to have increased after deadly
hostilities that broke out on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in July. Turkey
blamed Armenia for the escalation and pledged to boost Turkish military aid to
Azerbaijan.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on July 16 that the Armenians “will
certainly pay for what they have done” to his country’s main regional ally. In
what appears to be a related development, Turkish and Azerbaijani troops held
last month joint two-week exercises in various parts of Azerbaijan.
The Armenian government responded by accusing Ankara of undercutting
international efforts to resolve the Karabakh conflict and posing a serious
security threat to Armenia. Armen Grigorian, the secretary of Armenia’s Security
Council, said on August 2 that Yerevan counts on Moscow’s support in its efforts
to counter that threat.
Armenian Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan clearly alluded to Turkey when he
denounced the “expansion of some countries’ ambitions” in the South Caucasus in
a speech delivered in Moscow last Friday.
“The Russian presence in the region as well as the deepening of
military-political cooperation between Armenia and Russia are a very important
deterring factor that helps to maintain regional stability and security,”
Tonoyan said at a meeting of the defense ministers of several former ex-Soviet
states, China, India and other countries.
Tonoyan addressed the meeting during what was his second visit to Moscow in less
than two weeks. He met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and attended
the opening ceremony of the International Army Games on August 23.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Month: September 2020
The California Courier Online, September 10, 2020
1 - President of European Court Receives
Honorary Doctorate from Istanbul Univ.
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- Despite Statements by Mayor Antaramian, Pres. Trump Visits
Embattled Kenosha
3 - Armenian Parliament Passes Bill on Coronavirus Restrictions
4- Armenian Eagle Scout Ani Hovanesian Makes History
with Space Camp Service Project
5- Dr. Simon J. Simonian Receives 2020 Sparkle Award
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1 - President of European Court Receives
Honorary Doctorate from Istanbul Univ.
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
Robert Spano, President of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR),
visited Turkey last week at the invitation of the Turkish Justice
Minister. Spano also met with Pres. Erdogan and gave a lecture at the
Turkish Justice Academy.
While the President of ECHR has the right to visit any country he
wishes, it is highly inappropriate that he accepts an Honorary
Doctorate in law from Istanbul University. Several prominent Turkish
human rights activists wrote lengthy columns criticizing Spano for his
visit and his acceptance of the Honorary Doctorate.
Former Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen stated that Spano “is not fit to
preside [over] the ECHR.” Cenkiz Aktar, a political scientist and
academic, called Spano’s visit “scandalous” and urged him to resign.
Exiled Turkish journalist Can Dundar wrote that Spano “destroyed the
30-year reputation of the ECHR in three days.” Ahval News quoted
several other critical comments from prominent Turks regarding the
unfortunate Spano’s visit to Turkey.
Mehmet Altan, one of those critics, is among the 192 professors of
Istanbul University who was fired at the instigation of Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Altan, jailed for his non-existent
membership in the banned Gulen religious group, filed a lawsuit
against Istanbul University to reverse his firing. Erdogan also
dismissed over 150,000 civil servants from state jobs and investigated
close to 600,000 Turkish citizens, arresting 100,000 of them under the
false pretext of belonging to the Islamist Gulen movement which was
accused of orchestrating the coup attempt against Erdogan in 2016.
The Turkish Ahval News website posted on August 31, 2020, an article
titled, “ECHR chief may receive controversial honorary doctorate from
Istanbul University.”
Ahval reported that Altan, in an open letter addressed to Spano and
published on the website of Turkish journalism platform P24, urged him
not to accept the Turkish invitation. “I do not know how much pride
there is to be an honorary member of a university that condemns
hundreds of lecturers to unemployment and poverty by unjustly
expelling them from school,” Altan wrote.
Altan told Spano: “The University from which you will receive a
doctorate is included as the ‘defendant institution’ in the lawsuit of
academics, like me, who were dismissed by decree…. These cases are
still ongoing and it is likely that they will come before the ECHR,
which you preside over.”
Altan continued: “On March 2018, the second section of ECHR, presided
over by you, set a precedent in universal law and ruled that my right
to personal liberty and security and my freedom of _expression_ had been
violated. Turkey was convicted…. Ergin Ergul, who was appointed on
behalf of Turkey to that case and was the only judge dissenting, put
forward such arguments that you wrote ‘a dissenting vote’ against a
dissenting vote, for the first time in the history of ECHR, if I am
not mistaken. And the other members followed you.”
Ahval reported that there were over 60,000 individual complaints at
the ECHR for violations of rights and freedoms in Turkey.
Yavuz Aydin, who was also dismissed from his profession along with
4,500 judges and prosecutors, wrote an article titled, “ECHR president
faces a test of honor in Turkey,” which was published in Ahval on
Sept. 2, 2020. Aydin wrote: “President Spano is certainly aware of the
deterioration of rule of law in Turkey. As a man of honor who has been
adjudicating on Turkey-related files at the ECHR for years, the
purpose of his visit cannot be thought of as anything other than
openly and courageously shouting out facts in the faces of government
authorities.”
Aydin continued: “The ECHR president knows very well that the
government in Turkey translated to one-man rule by President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan since the constitutional amendment of 2017. As openly
criticized by the Venice Commission, Spano knows that the separation
of powers and judicial independence no longer exist in Turkey. Besides
this, he cannot be unaware of Resolution 2156(2017) of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which downgraded
Turkey to the league of countries under monitoring status for the
first time in European history. This decision implies that Turkey no
longer meets the famous Copenhagen Criteria, and thus cannot be
regarded as eligible for accession negotiations with the EU [European
Union].”
Aydin then made a series of suggestions that he hoped Spano would
follow during his visit to Turkey:
— Call on Erdogan to return to democracy and restore the rule of law
in the country.
— Remind the Turkish leaders of the decision to remove from the
Turkish Council of Judges and Prosecutors their observer status in the
European Network of Councils for the Judiciary. He should also remind
the candidate judges at the Turkish Judiciary Academy [TJA] why the
European Judicial Training Network expelled the TJA from observer
membership status in 2016.
— Tell them that the existing judges as well as the 10,000 new judges
appointed after the coup attempt are often politically biased in
applying the law, and call on them to ignore political pressure from
the Palace, Constitutional Court and other high courts.
— Remind them that for the first time in history Turkey was found in
breach of Article 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
— Tell the leaders in Turkey that they should immediately release the
hundreds of judges still in solitary confinement and reinstate all
4,000 of their purged colleagues.
Aydin urged Spano “to decline the honorary doctorate even before
stepping onto Turkish soil, conveying a very strong message to all
parties before meeting with them in person. Otherwise, the good will
exerted through Spano’s visit would not only be wasted, but serve as a
trump card for the government and Erdogan, who will use the gesture as
a sign of appraisal and legitimization of the illegalities taking
place in the country under his rule.”
Regrettably, Spano ignored all the good advice provided by Turkish
human rights activists and thus undermined his own reputation as well
as that of the European Court of Human Rights.
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2- Despite Statements by Mayor Antaramian, Pres. Trump Visits
Embattled Kenosha
By Brian Naylor
(NPR)—President Trump visited Kenosha, Wis., a city roiled by unrest
following the police shooting of Jacob Blake last month in a state
seen as crucial to Trump’s reelection prospects in November.
Trump on Tuesday, September 1 visited an emergency management center,
met with police and toured a section of the city damaged by rioting
that followed the shooting of the 29-year-old Black man.
Trump said Monday that he did not plan to meet with Blake’s family
because he said such a meeting would include the family’s attorney.
Asked again whether he would meet with them on Tuesday before boarding
Air Force One, Trump said, “I don’t know yet. We’ll see.”
Two people were killed during the subsequent protests against racism
and police brutality last week. Seventeen-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse
has been charged with six criminal counts, including first-degree
intentional homicide. Rittenhouse, who is white, is a staunch law
enforcement supporter.
Trump appeared to defend Rittenhouse on Monday, saying, “He was trying
to get away from them, I guess, it looks like.”
While an investigation into the shooting is ongoing, Trump said, “I
guess he was in very big trouble. He probably would have been killed.”
Trump did not elaborate on what kind of trouble Rittenhouse may have
been in.
As for the police shooting Blake multiple times at close range, which
left Blake paralyzed from the waist down, Trump has avoided directly
condemning law enforcement actions. In an interview with Fox’s Laura
Ingraham on Monday, Trump compared the police shooting to a mistake in
a golf tournament.
“Shooting the guy in the back many times,” he said, “I mean, couldn’t
you have done something different, couldn’t you have wrestled him? You
know, I mean, in the meantime, he might’ve been going for a weapon.
You know there’s a whole big thing there, but they choke. Just like in
a golf tournament, they miss a 3-foot putt.”
Trump, who has been campaigning on a “law and order” theme, blamed
local officials for the unrest in Kenosha and other cities this
summer. Demonstrators across the country have been protesting police
violence and systemic racism.
Wisconsin’s governor and Kenosha’s mayor urged Trump to put off his
visit, saying the city needs time to heal.
Mayor John Antaramian said it was "too soon" for President Trump or
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to be visiting the city.
“Realistically, from our perspective, our preference would have been
for him not to be coming at this point in time,” Antaramian told NPR’s
Weekend Edition on Sunday, August 30. “All presidents are always
welcome and campaign issues are always going on. But it would have
been, I think, better had he waited to have for another time to come.”
Before Trump visited Kenosha, he said of Antaramian: "I saw last night
where these radical anarchists were trying to get into the mayor's
house and lots of bad things were happening to this poor, stupid, very
foolish mayor. How he could be mayor I have no idea, but all he has to
do is call and within 10 minutes, their problem will be over. As you
know, they have to call us. They have to call and request help."
Trump claimed that protesters descended on the Mayor's house, but
Antaramian said the opposite in a statement rebutting the claim. In a
statement, Antaramian said: "I want to dispel the President’s
statement that angry mobs were trying to get into my house last night.
Nothing of the sort happened. The statement in the President’s video
is completely false."
Speaking to NPR, Antaramian said the situation in Kenosha was “not the
situation, I think, that people perceive — that the people in Kenosha
are rioting … they are protesting and absolutely have every right to
protest.” He said the city supports peaceful protest, but not the
“damage and destruction.”
“Peaceful protests are not a problem,” Antaramian said. “Our biggest
problem really did come from people coming from outside the area and
causing a great deal of damage and destruction,” he said. Antaramian
said that protests in Kenosha had been very peaceful, with a prayer
vigil led by Blake’s family just a week after he was shot seven times
in front of his three children by a police officer. Blake was left
paralyzed from the waist down, sparking the protests.
The demonstrations turned deadly on Tuesday, August 25, when a
17-year-old from Illinois allegedly shot and killed two protesters and
injured a third. The teen, Kyle Rittenhouse, was arrested Wednesday
and now faces six criminal counts, including homicide.
In a video recorded before the shootings, a person who appears to be
Rittenhouse described himself as part of a local militia whose job was
to protect Kenosha businesses. In the aftermath of the shooting,
police in Kenosha have faced criticism for not stopping Rittenhouse
sooner. “The police chief does have my confidence,” Antaramian said.
“But I think the other part of it is, is that you have to remember at
the time that this was going on, officers were responding to shots
fired all over the area. And I don’t believe they understood at the
time what was happening with actually someone down at the moment.”
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3 - Armenian Parliament Passes Bill on Coronavirus Restrictions
The National Assembly approved on Friday, September 4 a bill allowing
the Armenian government to continue to enforce coronavirus-related
safety rules and restrictions after lifting a state of emergency
declared in March.
The bill passed in the first reading by 80 votes to 28 involves
amendments to several Armenian laws.
They empower relevant authorities to impose nationwide or local
lockdowns, seal off communities hit by COVID-19 outbreaks, close
Armenia’s borders and isolate people infected with the disease. The
authorities can also ban or restrict public gatherings in the country.
The government drafted the bill to avoid extending the state of
emergency again on September 11.
The government lifted the ban last month. It at the same time set
strict physical distancing requirements for organizers and
participants of rallies.
The government used the state of emergency to impose a nationwide
lockdown in late March. It began easing lockdown restrictions already
in mid-April.
With the number of coronavirus cases in the country growing rapidly in
the following weeks, the authorities put the emphasis on the
enforcement of safety rules requiring Armenians to practice social
distancing and wear face masks in all public areas.
The daily number of new coronavirus cases has shrunk by more than half
since mid-July. Citing this downward trend, the government decided
late last month to reopen universities and schools on September 1 and
September 15 respectively.
As of Monday, August 24, Armenia has recorded a total of 44,845
COVID-19 cases. A total of 40,121 of these patients have since
recovered while 3,824 remain active.
The death toll as a direct result of complications from COVID-19 stands at 900.
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4- Armenian Eagle Scout Ani Hovanesian Makes History
with Space Camp Service Project
Hoping to become recognized among the historic first group of female
Eagle Scouts, Ani Hovanesian, a 10th grader at Laguna Beach High
School and St. Mary Armenian Church Sunday School in Costa Mesa, chose
her required service project to focus on teaching critical thinking
and problem solving skills to elementary age kids in a fun Space Camp
pilot program to benefit participants of the Boys & Girls Club Laguna
Beach.
“Along with several other girls in Troop 35, I’m really excited at the
possibility of being among the world’s first female Eagle Scouts.
Putting on a space camp as my eagle project made perfect sense for me.
I was lucky enough to go to NASA’s space camp in Huntsville, Alabama,
home of the Saturn 5 rocket that went to the moon. It was incredible
to be on site where history was created and to learn from challenging
projects all related to my love of science. I wanted to share this
experience in some way with kids in Laguna who can’t go to space
camp.”
The Boys & Girls Club, which has a long-standing STEM (science,
technology, engineering, and math) initiative, thought Space Camp
program would be perfectly aligned. Boys & Girls Club CEO, Pam Estes
said, “Ani’s Space Camp was the timely and a perfect gift to our Club
members at the Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach. Creating excitement
about science and engineering among our kiddos, equipping them with
problem-solving skills, and modeling volunteerism are important
priorities.”
Hovanesian first gained approval for the project from Scouts BSA, the
organization formerly known as Boy Scouts, which began admitting girls
to the organization in February 2019. She first led her fellow Scouts
from Troop 35 in practicing the lesson plans and assembling kits of
materials for the students. Next, over the last week in July, the
Scouts under Ani’s leadership did a trial run of 4 days of camp for
Cub Scouts, who are of similar age to the intended participants at the
Boys & Girls Club.
All classes were conducted live and in-person but socially distanced
outdoors at local parks with no more than ten participants, and
everyone wearing masks and using lots of hand sanitizer. Each of the
four classes had three activities, like the design and building of
rockets powered by air or Alka-Seltzer, designing zero-gravity
astronaut living quarters, and creating a simulated “Mars Rover”,
which competed in speed and distance traveled. One experiment involved
constructing heat shields of different materials, like aluminum foil
and copper mesh. Each “engineer’s” design was tested under adult
supervision with a blow torch to see how long the marshmallow
“astronauts” could survive. Through the messy and fun modules,
participants learned about the engineering process, magnetism,
aerodynamics, propulsion, acceleration, heat capacity and even how
moon craters were created. All activities were developed by Ani’s
experiences at Space Camp and from ideas on the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory website. One participant, Malachite Campbell said, “The
rover was my favorite part because I could test out different wheels
to see what would work in the grass or pavement.”
After trying out the programs on Cub Scouts with her helpers, fellow
Scouts May Chapman and Chloe Duong, Ani then held four classes for
Boys & Girls Club live and in person just after its re-opening in
mid-August. One of her youngest campers, Kindergartener Phoenix
Aguilera remarked, “My favorite part was making beautiful rockets! I
liked how the people in space live and how fast rockets fly. The best
part was all of the fun experiments!” Yaretsi Mendoza, who directs the
STEM initiative for the Boys & Girls Club expressed her excitement
over continuing the Space Camp program. “It was a wonderful program
that got the Kinders all the way to the third graders excited and
looking forward to the following day! I cannot wait to roll these
projects out to more kids at other Boys and Girls Club locations and
throughout the school year.”
Asked about the historic significance of Ani potentially being among
the first female Eagle Scouts, she answered, “I think what is
significant is lighting the spark in kids to love science for years to
come.” She jokingly continued, “It’s really not hard. It’s just rocket
science.”
More information about ScoutsBSA and Troop 35 can be found at www.lb35.org.
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5- Dr. Simon J. Simonian Receives 2020 Sparkle Award
Simon J. Simonian was among the first five honorees to receive the
Sparkle Award—for the embodiment of aging as a celebration of
cumulative wisdom, life of scientific medical research for the
betterment of human kind and the freedom to go for it—from jointly The
Los Angeles Oasis for Wise and Healthy Aging Committee and the Love of
Aging Committee.
Ms. Candace Shivers, The Oasis Events and Activities Manager of Wise
and Healthy Aging introduced Simon J. Simonian—a Harvard University
alumnus and professor, who is a globally respected surgeon, research
scientist, innovator, educator, spiritual and evolutionary growth
leader.
From 1951 to 2006 for 55 years, with his collaborators he has
innovated six major medical fields.
In London University, the creation of a vaccine for the eradication of
smallpox, the first and only disease eradicated in history, saving
five million lives each year permanently. It is recognized as the most
important achievement in the history of medicine and public health;
Simonian has been nominated three times for a Nobel Prize in Medicine.
In Harvard University, the creation of an agent of immunosuppression
which made organ transplantation successful, saving lives; his senior
collaborator received the 1990 Nobel Prize in Medicine.
In the University of Chicago, the creation of an agent of
immunotherapy for targeting cancer cells, saving lives. At the Vein
Institute in Washington, D.C., improvement in venous and lymphatic
vascular diseases, saving lives.
For relieving pain and suffering and saving the lives of eight million
people each year permanently. Already, since 1977, approximately 340
million lives—equal to the total population of the United States—have
been saved.
From 2009 to the present, with collaborators he is working to form a
World Union for the expected, desirable and deserving justice and
peace for all.
The Sparkle Award ceremony was conducted through Zoom, on August 21,
2020. The occasion was the First Annual Global Celebration of Aging
and World Senior Citizen Day. There were worldwide participants, who
spoke from Asia, Australia, Europe, Canada, North and South America.
When asked what were the enjoyments of living longer, Simon J.
Simonian said: his wonderful wife Arpi of 55 years; their three great
sons and three daughters-in-law; and their eight grandchildren. He
offered his profound gratitude to his parents, three sisters and many
teachers; the 2,000 medical students he trained now practicing as
valuable doctors; and the 500 doctors he trained now practicing as
worthy surgeons and researchers. He expressed his profound
appreciation to his collaborators for saving eight million lives each
year in perpetuity. His described his expectation with his
collaborators for the creation of a World Union, completely
collaborative with supranational laws—to make the world safe,
non-violent and free of weapons—while satisfying the social and
economic needs of all people with cooperative continual evolutionary
betterment and growth.
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CivilNet: Ukraine Eases the Entry of Armenian Citizens As the Covid-19 Situation Improves in Armenia
CIVILNET.AM
7 September, 2020 21:58
✓According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, the positive dynamics of the covid-19 situation in Armenia convinced Ukraine to allow more freedom of movement for people traveling from Yerevan to Kiev.
✓The Armenian National Assembly voted 80 to 28 today to adopt a government-proposed package that will not allow it to extend the state of emergency after it comes to an end on September 11.
✓The Armenian National Assembly voted 80 to 28 today to adopt a government-proposed package that will not allow it to extend the state of emergency after it comes to an end on September 11.
Armenia completely ratifies Lanzarote Convention
Malaysia Sun
Sept 7 2020
PanArmenian.Net
08 Sep 2020, 04:07 GMT+10
Chess: A statement by Serzh Sargysn, President of the Armenian Chess Federation
ChessBase
Sept 7 2020
A statement by Serzh Sargysn, President of the Armenian Chess Federation
I like it! | 0 Comments
9/7/2020 – During the final of the FIDE Online Olympiad between Russia and India, the internet connection was not always stable, which affected the outcome of some games. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich intervened in a solomonic way and declared both teams, Russia and India, as winners of the event. At the semi-final between India and Armenia there had been similar problems but the verdict had been different, and Armenia withdrew under protest. In an open letter to FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, Serzh Sargsyan, President of the Armenian Chess Federation, addresses the issue.
In one game of the semi-final of the FIDE Online Olympiad between India and Armenia, the Internet connection broke down and as a result the Armenian player lost on time. The tournament organizers came to the conclusion that the Internet connection of the Armenian had not been working properly and declared the game won for the Indian player.
The Armenian team then withdrew from the tournament in protest. But in the final between Russia and India, connections again were not stable and broke off occasionally. Now FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich intervened and in a Solomonic verdict he declared both teams, Russia and India, as winners.
The Russian team was somewhat dissatisfied with this verdict, because they felt that they could have won the final. The Armenian team was very dissatisfied and the issue led to heated discussions on social media.
With a statement Serzh Sargsyan, the President of the Armenian Chess Federation, once again explained the Armenian position and tried to calm the waves.
It is now known that the cause of the broken Internet connection was probably a major server failure in an Internet node, which severely affected global Internet traffic (see ZDNet article, below).
Cheating is a big problem in online tournaments but the problem of a possible disconnect also remains unsolved. After all, the players usually do not cause the disconnections, but they are held responsible for them. Often the cause of a disconnection is complex and cannot be determined as quickly as is necessary. Unfortunately, the Internet is not (yet) as technically advanced as it should be for a problem-free execution of official tournaments.
To: FIDE PRESIDENT
MR. ARKADY DVORKOVICH
Dear Mr. Dvorkovich,
On behalf of the Armenian Chess Federation, I express my gratitude to FIDE and to you personally for organizing the inaugural Online Chess Olympiad amid the ongoing pandemic situation.
Strong with 190 member nations and in its capacity of the most important chess authority in the world, the International Chess Federation is vested with great responsibility in terms of developing and disseminating chess across the globe. The Online Olympiad was an attempt to bolster international chess activities and offer another chess festival to chess fans and chess players around the world.
In an effort to turn the tournament into reality, FIDE and its partners exerted a lot of effort and dedication. The Armenian Chess Federation appreciates FIDE’s and your personal contribution to the tournament.
I should note with much regret that perhaps due to some rush and insufficient assessment of key organizational issues, a number of problems occurred during the tournament, mostly because of regulatory shortfalls, which obviously could have been foreseen despite the fact that the tournament was being held for the first time.
The situations that emerged in the quarterfinal Armenia – India match and in final Russia – India match, as well as several problems in the group stage were due to said regulatory shortfalls. The problems faced in the group stage were not deeply analyzed and taken into consideration.
In this regard, I express my deep concern and anxiety over FIDE’s latest decisions. Even a minor manifestation of injustice causes confrontation among chess community and chess players. This was the reason behind our team’s decision not to play a second match against India. The discontent of players escalated after FIDE made an opposing decision in the same situation.
The Armenian team suffered from a deplorable use of double standards. As a matter of fact, FIDE failed to abide by its own decision, which constituted a precedent. FIDE did not deeply evaluate the Armenian Chess Federation’s statement that the Internet had not been interrupted on the Armenian side and we obviously had faced a force majeure situation.
I regret some FIDE officials’ behavior in social media: they interpreted the situation in an incomplete and distorted way, which was immediately followed by our chess players’ response. I think that players should have expressed their opinion in an appropriate manner, without emotional formulations, but I also believe that FIDE should be twice as much refined and cautious in addressing chess players and refrain from humiliating their dignity.
Desirous to preserve the positive atmosphere in the big chess family, I hope that in the future FIDE will act according to its “GENS UNA SUMUS” motto, where one’s failures, defeats and troubles are the failures, defeats and troubles of everyone.
Respectfully,
SERZH SARGSYAN
PRESIDENT OF THE ARMENIAN CHESS FEDERATION
CPP’s Armenian Student Association fundraises for wounded soldiers overseas
Sept 7 2020
BY: DIANA VASQUEZ | @dsvasquezz
This summer, Cal Poly Pomona’s Armenian Student Association fundraised toward the Armenian Wounded Heroes Fund in response to the overseas conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the bordering territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Sept. 2 marked the 29th anniversary of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s, though there continue to be many disputes over the territory including the recent clashes in July, which prompted the Azeri to protest in the capital of Baku and call for war against Armenia.
The president of the Armenian Student Association, fourth year civil engineering student, Talar Galoustian said she keeps communication with presidential cohorts from other universities and through these conversations learned of the Armenian Wounded Heroes Fund. The organization provides first aid kits, infrastructure upgrades and mental and physical rehabilitation to Armenian soldiers.
“I think we raised our total amount within 24 hours,” said Galoustian. These funds help the organization provide medical kits to soldiers in the field.
ASA members socialize and bond on their annual Big Bear trip. (courtesy of Andre Nazarian | ASA Photographer, Winter 2018)
The club focuses on social issues and keeping Armenian culture alive through activism and education at CPP, according to Galoustian. ASA members encourage others to sign petitions, fundraise and spread awareness through their Instagram account.
The ASA would have normally celebrated the republic’s declaration with a festival during this time, but such a celebration was not possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to ASA Treasurer Soseh Thomasian.
Reflecting on the overseas conflict, Soseh Thomasian, a second-year civil engineering student said, “Sometimes it does feel depressing or sad how there is some people who just don’t know Armenians, unless they know Kim Kardashian or any other celebrities…because there’s more to Armenians. Our ancestors and family members have gone through a lot for us to be where we are today.”
Thomasian visited Armenia and has seen firsthand the consequence of conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and how it affects families of fallen soldiers.
“We’ve met these people, or we’ve seen the situation that they are living in and how difficult it is for them,” said Thomasian
According to history professor Mahmood A. Ibrahim, whose areas of study include the Middle East and Islam, the border dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan dates back centuries to when the territory, then called the Transcaucasian Federation, was controlled by many empires until the beginning of the 20th Century.
It was in the early 1920s, that the Soviet Union created a federation of the three modern day regions of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The area was recognized as three socialist republics aimed to dissolve nationalities among Armenians and Turks and to spread socialism. Joseph Stalin created the region of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan, but disregarded the area’s ethnically Armenian population.
“As a Palestinian man myself, I have suffered the same sort of redrawing of the maps and giving the territory to some other people who are outsiders. I lost my village, I lost my land, and I lost my country,” said Ibrahim.
Ibrahim added that during the collapse of the Soviet Union, ethnic Armenians in this territory declared their independence from Azerbaijan and sparked what is known as the Six Year War lasting from 1988 to 1994.
The overseas tension hit home for Talar M. Kilijian, a third-year industrial engineering student. Kilijian lives near the Krouzian-Zekarian-Vasbouragan Armenian School whose campus has been vandalized with hateful words.
“I’m in San Francisco right now and that school is down my street, literally, and I went there for like 12 years,” said Kilijian, “I was shocked that there were people with that kind of mindset.”
Kilijian is distance learning from the Bay Area but said that the ASA is a community at CPP that has helped her feel more at home for the three years she has been involved in the organization.
“The first club that I joined was the ASA because I really didn’t know anyone in Pomona, and I wanted to make friends,” said Kilijian. “It has helped me make better connections for sure.”
Students interested in joining the Armenian Student Association can email Galoustian at [email protected] or visit the ASA’s contact page at https://mybar.cpp.edu/organization/Hayer/roster.
Students who wish to learn more about the history of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic can email Ibrahim at [email protected] or visit
https://thepolypost.com/news/2020/09/07/cpps-armenian-student-association-fundraises-for-wounded-soldiers-overseas/
Iran rejects reports of sending Russian arms to Armenia
Mehr News Agency, Iran
Sept 7 2020
TEHRAN, Sep. 07 (MNA) – The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Republic of Azerbaijan on Monday strongly rejected some media reports about the transfer of Russian military equipment to Armenia through Iran.
Some media reports about the transfer of Russian weapons and other military equipment through the Norduz border crossing to Armenia are baseless and false, the Iranian embassy said in a statement.
The release of this news is a sabotage of the hostile forces opposing the closeness of the relations between the two countries of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, it added.
The news aims at undermining the developing cooperation and friendship relation between the two countries, the embassy said.
ZZ/IRN84030075
Ancient Armenian fortress surfaces from under Lake Van
Public Radio of Armenia
Sept 7 2020
Armenia parliament deputy speaker on proposed fines against insult and defamation
News.am, Armenia
Sept 7 2020
18:04, 07.09.2020
The Armenian Diaspora Survey and the “components” of Armenian identity
News.am, Armenia
Sept 7 2020
What does the Armenian Diaspora think? What are the “components” of Armenian identity in the 21st century? The Armenian Diaspora Survey (ADS) has tried to find answers to these questions.
The survey was carried out by the Armenian Institute in London with financing from Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
“We often hear that “the Diaspora thinks this” or “the Diaspora wants that”, but we do not have evidence to support these claims. This survey of Armenian Diaspora presents facts about that the Diaspora really thinks and wants and what it has to achieve,” said Razmik Panossian, Director of Armenian Communities Department at Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
The survey was undertaken in 18 cities of four countries in 2019 – Argentina, Canada (Montreal), Lebanon and Romania.
Photo: REUTERS
The 175-page long report presents the opinions about 3,000 Armenians about identity, language and culture, religion, engagement in community life, and relations with Armenia.
“We included all community organizations: political parties, churches, companies, etc. We also invested a lot of time and effort to reach out to people who do not engage actively in community affairs, so we have a wide range of respondents.
ADS formed teams of experts, scientists and community leaders, who are well-aware of local issues, in each place of survey. In addition, we collaborated with a small team of local researches,” said Director of ADS Hratch Tchilingirian.
Answering the question about how they define their Armenian identity, 68% of the respondents said it was through family, 59% through Armenian language and 46% through Armenian culture.
53% of the respondents said they were “fluent” speakers of Armenian, while 15% thought they were at the “intermediate” level and 10% said they had basic knowledge of Armenian language. Interestingly, 78% of Armenians living in Canada and 77% of Lebanese Armenians said they were fluent in Armenian.
As for political positions, 38% of respondents identified as liberal and 17% – as conservative.
Photo: REUTERS
68% of 3,000 surveyed Armenians said they were Christian, while 13% of respondents identified as atheist or agnostic. Nearly 80% of respondents believe that Christianity is “Very/fairly important” important to Armenian identity today.
42% of respondents consider Armenia their homeland, while 57% consider their homeland the country where they were born, and 30% see as their homeland the country where they live.
The majority of respondents – 61% – visited Armenia or Artsakh at least once and 35% want to visit.
The top concern is lack of visionary leadership in the community (36%), followed by lack of events that interest young people (34%), followed by mixed marriages (29%).
42% of respondents believe their communities need lectures and activities related to Armenian history, language, culture, food and other relevant topics. 35% of respondents highlighted the need for cultural activities, summer camps and scout groups for children, 28% – the need for a professional network, and 28% – for Armenian schools.
Photo: REUTERS
The majority of respondents – 78% – wants to or has already enlisted their children in day school or after-school classes. 71% expect their children to learn Armenian language there. 59% send their children to Armenian schools for quality general education and 47% – for encouraging the commitment to Armenian identity.
The Diaspora should help the Republic of Armenia develop economy and create jobs – that is the opinion of 62% of respondents. According to the surveyed, Armenia also needs Diaspora’s assistance in education (46%) as well as strengthening of human rights protection and democracy (35%).
Diaspora has expectations of Armenia as well, particularly in terms of providing sufficient information to tourists (47%) and organizing cultural programs (42%) and training programs for teachers (34%).
Photo: REUTERS
The questionnaire for the 2019 survey had 50 questions, plus up to 5 questions that were relevant to the given community.
For instance, 58% of the Armenians surveyed in Lebanon in October 2019 said they might leave the country within five years. President of Haigazian University in Beirut Paul Haidostian has noted that the index would have been much higher if the same question was addressed now. However, that is not a purely Armenian issue – many Muslims as well want to emigrate from Lebanon now.
The full report of survey results is available here.
Lusine Gharibyan