Author: Alex Jidarian

The Armenian community of Sydney will #MARCHFORJUSTICE in Sydney’s CBD (Central Business District) this Sunday, April 24th in remembrance of the 101st Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the Armenian National Committee of Australia reports.

Participating in the March for Justice will be clergy from all Armenian churches, Armenian political, youth, relief and cultural organisations, as well as schools, dance groups and the entire Armenian community. The March will be led by the Homenetmen Scouts Band.

Marchers will meet at the iconic Hyde Park Fountain at 2pm. They will walk through Hyde Park, then Macquarie Street, which will be partially blocked to traffic by local police. Wreaths will be laid by organisations at the NSW Parliament House Khatchkar (Cross Stone), erected in 1997 to honour the memory of the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide and victims of all genocides.

The march will continue through to the Royal Botanic Gardens, where a short program will be held with the backdrop of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

A statement from the organisers read: “This is an historic opportunity to express our united voice for justice as descendants of survivors of the Armenian Genocide, and remember what took place 101 years ago.”

“It is time, with Artsakh recently repelling another attack by Azerbaijan, for our community to join in numbers, show our solidarity with those in the motherland, and participate in what is a unique event that will be remembered for the ages.”

A number of Buses have been organised to transport participants to and from the City. They will depart from the Armenian Cultural Centre in Willoughby (1pm), the Armenian Apostolic Church in Chatswood (1pm), the Ararat Scout Hall in Ryde (1pm) and the Navasart Scout Hall in Smithfield (12:30pm).

The Sydney #MARCHFORJUSTICE is being held under the auspices of the joint Armenian Genocide Commemorative Committee, and is being organised by Homenetmen, the Armenian Relief Society, Hamazkaine, the Armenian Youth Federation, the Armenian National Committee of Australia, Armenia Media Inc. and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, with the participation of the entire Sydney Armenian community.

Armenia’s Hripsime Khurshudyan won a gold medal at the European Weightlifting Championships under way in Norway.

She lifted 113 kg in the snatch and 137 in the clean & jerk.

This was the third gold medal of the Armenian team. Andranik Karapetyan became the winner in the 77 kg weight category, with Tigran Martirosyan coming second. Nazik Avdalyan won the gold in the 69 kg weight category.

Simon Martirosyan (105 kg) won a bronze medal.

Azerbaijan distorts the essence of the Karabakh conflict, presenting it as a territorial dispute, NKR President Bako Sahakyan told a press a conference in Stepanakert.

“We are struggling for our Motherland, not territories,” the President said.

Bako Sahakyan said it’s impossible to reach a final solution to the conflict without the official participation of Nagorno Karabakh in the negotiation process. He said it’s not connected with mistrust in Armenia, which represents Nagorno Karabakh in the negotiations.

“Armenia has a strategic docmenet, which clearly mentions that it is the guarantor of Nagorno Karabakh’s security,” Bako Sahakyan said. He added, however, that there is no conflict in the world that could be solved without the participation of the main role-player.

“Inititiually there was no conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, it was a conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan. Armenia was later artificially dragged into it,” Bako Sahakyan said.

“I am grateful to the global community for the relative peace that lasted until April 2, but I have expressed my dissatisfaction that the format of the negotiations is flawed and it is not allowing to achieve real progress in the settlement process,” Sahakyan said.

The President added that “he would like to see interest in Artsakh not only during military actions, but also in peacetime. “We have chosen the path of determining our future, committed to the principles of democracy. We want to be a full-fledged participant of the international community,” Bako Sahakyan said.

Scores of people remain in intensive care following Tuesday’s suicide bomb attacks in Brussels that left 31 people dead, Belgium’s health minister says, the BBC reports.

Maggie de Block said that of about 300 wounded people, 61 were still in a critical condition, and suggested that the death toll could rise further.

Earlier, prosecutors confirmed they had identified two of the four attackers as brothers Khalid and Brahim el-Bakraoui.

Two other attackers have yet to be named. One died, another is on the run.

Brahim el-Bakraoui blew himself up in the attack at Zaventem airport that killed 11 people while Khalid struck at Maelbeek metro, where 20 people died, prosecutors said.

Unconfirmed reports say another of the attackers was the wanted jihadist Najim Laachraoui, who is thought to have links with last year’s attacks in Paris.

So-called Islamic State (IS) has said it was behind the attacks.

Tensions were high at the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan over the weekend despite the agreement between the parties to refrain from escalating the situation.

The rival fired more than 2,400 shots from weapons of different caliber in the direction of the Armenian positions over the weekend, the NKR Ministry of Defense reports.

The Azerbaijani side used artillery weapons of different caliber, as well as 60 and 82 mm mortars in the southern, southeastern and northern directions of the line of contact.

The NKR Ministry of Defense said in a statement the Defense Army keeps control of the situation all along the line of contact, simultaneously trying to prevent any provocative action by the rival.

American celebrity Kim Kardashian-West shared the second photo of her son with hip-hop mogul Kanye West on social media, Saturday (March 12, 2016), whom she referred to as the “sun” in her morning.

Kim first gave her followers a look at her youngest child last February 22, wherein baby Saint West can be seen sleeping soundly in a white onesie. In the latest photo of her son, Saint West can be seen with opened eyes.

“You’re the sun in my morning babe,” captioned Kim in her Instagram post which has immediately garnered millions of likes.

The 35-year-old television personality gave birth to Saint West last December 5, 2015. Saint is her second child with 38-year-old Kanye, following North West who is now two years old.

Photo: AFP

 

Turkish police have raided the offices of the opposition Zaman newspaper, hours after a court ruling placed it under state control, the BBC reports.

Police entered the building in Istanbul late on Friday, firing tear gas at protesters who had gathered outside.

Zaman is closely linked to the Hizmet movement of influential US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Turkey says Hizmet is a “terrorist” group aiming to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government.

Mr Gulen was once an ally of Mr Erdogan but the two fell out.

Many Hizmet supporters have been arrested.

The government in Ankara has come under increasing international criticism over its treatment of journalists.

 

Seventeen magnitude 0.5-1.4 earthquakes hit Armenia between 07:03 and 09:24 a.m. today, the National Survey for Seismic Protection reports.

The quakes measured 1-2 at the epicenter (10 km southwest of Gavar), according to the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

On 1 March Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received personal representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk.

The meeting addressed a number of issues related to the situation along the contact line between Nagorno Karabagh and Azerbaijan armed forces.