Author: Albert Nalbandian

On September 4, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the OSCE Mission conducted a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan in the northern direction of Kuropatkino settlement of the NKR Martuni region.

From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring was conducted by Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk and his Field Assistants Jiri Aberle (Czech Republic) and Yevgeny Sharov (Ukraine).

From the opposite side of the Line of Contact, the monitoring was conducted by staff member of the Office Peter Svedberg (Sweden) and Personal Assistant to the Personal Representative of the CiO Simon Tiller (Great Britain).

The monitoring passed in accordance with the agreed schedule. No violation of the cease-fire regime was registered.

From the Karabakh side, the monitoring mission was accompanied by representatives of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense.

On August 28th, U.S. Ambassador Richard M. Mills, Jr. and Armenian Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan attended the graduation ceremony for 12 trainers of military medics of the Armenian Army who are the first graduates of an innovative medical training course taught by members of the U.S. military.

For the past three months, six U.S. Army personnel have led classes for the Armenian military medics, who will now serve as instructors for the Armenian military paramedic school. The course is a collaboration between the U.S. Embassy’s Office of Defense Cooperation and the Armenian Ministry of Defense, designed to improve the medical treatment of Armenian military wounded.

“You will save lives. Thanks to you, more of your brothers and sisters in arms will return home from places that others fear to tread, dangerous places where you agree to go in the name of peace,” Ambassador Mills told the graduates.

The U.S. military’s training team of highly skilled and experienced U.S. Army sergeants and an officer led the Armenian military medics through an extensive course of the latest techniques, based on the same curriculum used to teach American military medics. Thousands of pages of material were translated into Armenian, marking the first time the course has been offered in a language other than English. As a result of this successful partnership, other nations are requesting the U.S. military conduct similar courses in their native languages.

“The strong American-Armenian partnership is once again demonstrating what we can achieve when we work together,” Ambassador Mills said. “Today’s graduation is, indeed, just the latest illustration of a bilateral relationship that continues to strengthen and grow. This training is one more example of our nations’ mutual progress, our joint friendship, and our strong trust and belief in one another. I know our partnership will strengthen as we continue to face international challenges to security and stability that cannot be solved by any one country alone. The challenges of today’s world require strong international cooperation between like-minded countries and this ceremony is evidence that U.S.-Armenian cooperation is alive and well.”

The partnership between the American military and the Armenian Peacekeeping Brigade is a long and important one. A platoon of the Armenian Peacekeeping Brigade deployed in 2004 as part of a NATO force to maintain stability and peace in Kosovo. Since that time, Armenian soldiers have actively supported NATO peacekeeping operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Last November, Armenia troops went to Lebanon as part of a UN International Peacekeeping Force.

 

A new 120 square meter Byzantine mosaic dating back to the 5-6th century C.E. containing a Bible verse in Greek as well as depictions of various animals living together in peace was discovered at an archeological dig in Turkey’s southern province of Adana, reports.

The mosaic depicts 16 wild and domesticated animals – including a wolf, sheep, leopard, goat, bull, lion, bear and snake – peacefully living together, sleeping side by side, sharing food and grazing.

The depiction of traditionally antagonistic animals co-existing peacefully is accompanied by a Bible verse written in Greek, Isaiah 65:25 – “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.”

The 15 meter by 8 meter mosaic was recently discovered at an archeological dig on private property being conducted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s Cultural Assets Directorate and the Adana Museums Directorate in the Karlık neighborhood of Adana’s Sarıçam district.

The mosaic has been moved for further study to the laboratory department at the 10,000 square meter museum complex being established at Adana’s historic National Textile Factory. Following restoration, the mosaic will be transferred for display to the new museum.

 

The delegation headed by Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan visited the Armenian Apostolic Church in Marseille.

The spiritual leader of the church Priest Aram Ghazaryan briefed the Mayor on the history of foundation of the church and its current activities.

Attaching particular importance to preserving the national culture and traditions and to the role and significance of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the Diaspora, Mayor Taron Margaryan thanked Priest Aram Ghazaryan for consistent work towards unity of the Armenian community of Marseille.

US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick has arrived in Moscow for consultations on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

“I will arrive in Moscow today and look forward to consultations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We are working together for peace in Nagorno Karabakh,” Warlick said in a Twitter post Sunday.

Lusine Avanesyan
Public Radio of Armenia
Stepanakert

Russian billionaire German Sterligov has settled in Shushi, Karabakh. The family does not make the address public, but never refuses to meet journalists. Sterligov and his wife Alyona avoid speaking about the reasons behind their decision to move to Artsakh, but promise to reveal the truth at a press conference Monday.

Speaking to , Alyona Sterligova said they have Armenian friends and were planning to visit Armenia, but never thought the circumstances would change and they would move to Artsakh.

“It was my husband’s decision,” Alyona said. “We were in Belarus. My husband came and said we immediately had to leave for the Caucasus because of some reason. These circumstances do not allow us to return to Russia at this point. I did not ask anything, as this was not the first such case in my life (we moved several times in 1990s).”

The most important thing for Alyena is to see her spouse and children safe and healthy. She’s not upset for being forced to start new life in a new place. Instead, she’s very inspired, and the nature and people of Artsakh are the source of that inspiration.

“I don’t know where else we could feel as comfortable and where our children would feel as safe,”Alyona Sterligova says.

What attracts her most in Artsakh is that everything is natural here: chickens are not vaccinated, products are pure, animals are healthy. “This is what German has been talking about for a few years,” Alyona says. They intend to create the replica of their famous ‘Sloboda’ in Artsakh. They are currently travelling in the country in search for a proper land.

The place, where they intend to found the ‘Armenian Sloboda’ should have beautiful nature, good climate and water and a mountainous river that will operate a mill.

Alyona has aalready opened a fashion house in one of the rooms of the carpet museum in Shushi. She says the future models should be suitable to Armenian taste. Inspired by the carpets, she has decided to copy the prints on fabrics and sew Armenian clothes.

The Sterligovs do not conceal they do not know how long they will stay in Nagorno Karabakh. “The decisions may be sudden,” Alyona says. That does not mean, however, that the ‘Armenian Sloboda’ will stop operating.

Lured by the nature of Artsakh and the Armenian traditions, Sterligova says “it’s possible to restore the ecologically clean economy in Nagorno Karabakh.” “In that case many people will express the desire to come here, and you’ll have a choice whether to allow or not.”

Irrespective of the reasons behind the Sterligovs’ decision to move to Nagorno Karabakah, their presence has aroused great interest. Many of their friends can be seen visiting Artsakh.

 

 

 

“All opportunities to study the Turkish archives in a legal way have been exhausted, while approaching the issue on the academic or amateur level is senseless,” political scientist Edik Hovsepyan told a press conference today.

“If any Armenian scholar declares he can go to the new building of the Turkish national archive and study any document, I will apologize,” he said.

According to Hovsepyan, irrespective of how often Turkey declares about the transparency of its archives and invites the Armenian side to study them, it’s obvious that all opportunities to familiarize with the Turkish archive documents in a legal way have been exhausted.

“After the signing of the Armenian-Turkish protocols, Abkara put its national archive under the control of the National Security Service and moved it to a new building,” the political scientist noted.

“This means all documents related to Armenians are under the control of the Turkish National Security Service,” Hovsepyan said.

He’s assured the Armenian state should seek to find other ways to familiarize with these archives. “What are we going to look for in those archives? Certainly, not an answer to the question of whether there has been genocide or not.”

According to Hovsepyan, the documents will help us ascertain what we have left in Turkey and what we should demand.

After 55 days spent in a small enclosure with no food and only jugs of water, a thinner and thick-bearded Agasi Vartanyan emerged from his perch Thursday, his voice weak but his spirit swelling with victory for a mission accomplished, reports.

Vartanyan needed no help as he used a ladder to climb down from a glass enclosure built on a high platform outside St. Leon Armenian Cathedral in Burbank. A flock of doves was released and a crowd of people clapped as he stepped on the ground, raised his arms to give the peace sign, then sat in a wheelchair. The 55-year-old Glendale man had entered the 12-foot-by-12-foot enclosure on April 3 promising to fast for 55 days to draw attention to the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

He went in weighing 224 pounds and emerged nearly 60 pounds lighter. After a quick check-up by a medical crew, Armenian television reporters swooped in and Vartanyan told the crowd he felt well and that he was grateful for all their support.

“I have great satisfaction,” the Armenian man said through a translator. “You wouldn’t believe the reaction I had from around the world.”

Vartanyan’s hunger strike was meant to cast global attention on what he and many have called an injustice to the 1.5 million Armenians killed under the command of the Ottoman Turks starting a century ago this year. From 1915 to 1923, Armenians were forcibly deported from their homes and killed as part of a systemic ethnic cleansing that also affected Assyrians and Pontic Greeks.

Vartanyan couldn’t participate in the March for Justice last month when more than 100,000 people walked for six miles through the streets of Los Angeles to mark the April 24 centennial. But he said he watched television and saw news reports and was filled with pride when he learned of the great outpouring.

His efforts were supported by the nonprofit Crimes Against Humanity — Never Again (CAHNA), which formed to raise global awareness on genocides past and present. The organization set up a live stream camera of Vartanyan, which drew some 19 million viewers.

That sort of attention will help the organization’s next goal, which will move away from trying to garner recognition of the Armenian Genocide to fighting for justice for those who are descendents, said CAHNA’s president Harut Sassounian, who lost relatives to the genocide. That includes pursuing legal actions against the Turkish government, which has refused to call the events of that time a genocide.

“We Armenians went through hell,” Sassounian said. “We’re continuing the struggle. We want to get back all the lands we lost, the churches that are gone.”

Vartanyan said his goal was to encourage the Armenians of the diaspora to keep fighting for justice. More than 200,000 people of Armenian descent call Los Angeles County home. It is the largest Armenian diaspora outside of the Republic of Armenia.

“I believe you’ll never achieve anything unless you fight for it, struggle for it,” he said. “I did this so that no one will forget the genocide that was committed against my people.”

Vartanyan said he prepared a year for this fast, although he had gone on a similar hunger strike almost 10 years ago in Russia. Back then, he abstained from food for 50 days, in part he said to break illusionist David Blaine’s 44-day fast in London.

It was unclear Thursday if Vartanyan broke any records.

“We do not have a current record holder as we do not currently recognize this category,” said a spokeswoman from Guinness World Records in an e-mail reply.

But those in the crowd said they were proud of him and inspired by his efforts.

“I was very worried about what he was doing,” said Hamlet Pogosian, Vartanyan’s cousin. “I didn’t like what he was doing for health reasons, but I’m proud of what he did for our nation.”

Vartanyan would not discuss the mental and physical struggles he endured, saying he preferred to let the public use their imagination. But halfway through the ordeal, he admitted to reporters he thought a lot about “meat, all kinds of meat.” The front of the enclosure where he spent all his time had one glass wall, allowing the public to see him day and night, though there was some privacy. He was given 55 gallons of water, a few clothes, a cot and a television. He often could be seen pacing back and forth or looking out on the street.

He also wouldn’t say what his first meal would be, but offered a hint through a smile.

“Whatever I eat will be the most delicious thing in the world,” he said.

The Minister of National Defense of Cyprus Christoforos Fokaides will arrive in Armenia on May 27 for an official visit.

Within the Framework of the visit Christoforos Fokaides will meet with Arfmenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan. The meeting will be followed by consultations with the participation of the delegation of the two countries.

The 2015 Military Cooperation Plan will be signed between the two countries.

King’s daughters, Patty King and Karen Williams, made the accusations in separate, but identically worded, affidavits filed over the weekend.

“I believe my father was poisoned and that he was administered foreign substances to induce his premature death,” they said in their affidavits. “I believe my father was murdered.”

King died May 14 in home hospice care in Las Vegas at age 89.

No investigation was conducted at the time of his death. And King’s attending physician listed the cause as multi-infarct dementia, which is caused by a series of small strokes.

But the daughter’s say that two of King’s associates gave him medication to induce diabetic shock.

John Fudenberg, the coroner for Clark County, Nevada, told CNN that initial autopsy results found “no evidence to substantiate the allegations.” But full forensic results will take six to eight weeks.