Author: Andranik Taslakhchian

The lineup of the Grand Final of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest has been announced.

Ten acts from each Semi-Final have gone through to Saturday’s Grand Final and join the ‘Big Five’ — France, Germany, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom and host country Ukraine.

The running order was proposed by UA: PBC and approved by the EBU Executive Supervisor, Jon Ola Sand and the Chairman of the Reference Group, Dr. Frank-Dieter Freiling.

The Grand final will take place on Saturday, May 13. Artsvik represents Armenia with the song Fly With Me. 

The running order of the Grand Final of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest:

1. Israel
2. Poland
3. Belarus
4. Austria
5. Armenia
6. The Netherlands
7. Moldova
8. Hungary
9. Italy
10. Denmark
11. Portugal
12. Azerbaijan
13. Croatia
14. Australia
15. Greece
16. Spain
17. Norway
18. United Kingdom
19. Cyprus
20. Romania
21. Germany
22. Ukraine
23. Belgium
24. Sweden
25. Bulgaria
26. France

Armenia and its inhabitants have a respectful attitude to cultures and languages; its legislation and regulations comply with the country’s obligations in promoting the use of regional and minority languages in public life.  However, more needs to be done to raise awareness of the country’s minority languages and cultures, to address the problem of the lack of funds, and to change the attitude of the authorities to protecting the languages.

These are the kney findigs of the new report published by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europetoday that looks at how Armenia implements its undertakings under the European Charter for Regional and Minority languages. The report covers the period up to the end of May 2016, and places special attention on the measures taken to promote the five languages that Armenia recognized as minority ones and protects under the Charter: Assyrian, Greek, Kurdish, Russian and Yezidi.

On the positive side, a number of measures were introduced to promote these languages; and progress has been noted in the publication of school textbooks. The situation of Russian does not give rise to any concerns: this is the only minority language in which bilingual education is provided at various educational levels.

In contrast, the situation of Greek does not comply with the obligations Armenia took upon itself. There is a danger that Pontic Greek will disappear as a minority language in Armenia. Resolute action by the public authorities is essential to support the Greek language.

There are certain shortcomings in the promotion of Assyrian, Kurdish and Yezidi languages. These three minority languages have only a marginal presence in the public and private media, despite favorable legal provisions. There is a lack of well-trained teachers. The shortcomings are primarily due to the lack of funds which particularly affects teaching and the media.

Support given to minority languages in Armenia, the report says, is often limited to folklore festivals or the provision of premises for various events initiated by the minorities themselves. The Council of Europe experts note a tendency on the part of the Armenian authorities to assign responsibility for implementation of the Charter to the local authorities and the national minority communities, and use this as justification for the lack of proactive measures. The passive attitude of the authorities gives the impression that the protection of the minority languages is the responsibility of the minorities themselves. However, the Charter places obligations on the authorities, and not the minorities, to promote and protect minority languages, the experts stress.

Armenia has joined the Charter for Regional and Minority Languages in May 2002.

The crew of Armenian Shnat TV Company came under Azeri fire in the northern section of the line of contact at about 6 p.m. Wednesday.

The rival opened fire at the vehicle carrying the crew using large-caliber firearms, Shant TV reports.

Cameraman David Atoyan was wounded in the incident. No additional details are reported.

Presidents of Armenia and Artsakh Serzh Sargsyan and Bako Sahakyan visited the Kashen mining complex of the “Base Metals” CJSC today.

The Presidents were briefed on the capacities of the mine, the problems connected with its exploitation, the achievements and development plans.

Photo: Getty Images

 

By Noubar Afeyan

Yesterday marks the official commemoration date of the Armenian Genocide, which occurred just over a century ago. A day which offers an opportunity to reflect on the unimaginable violence from which the nation is still recovering.

The Genocide triggered the 20th century’s first large-scale refugee population. Between 1915-1923, 1.5 million Armenians were systematically murdered, and 500,000 survivors were forcibly displaced. The survivors were left to flee as far afield as the United States, France and Argentina, with many settling in neighbouring states including Russia, Syria and Lebanon.

Whilst it is important to reflect on one of the darkest chapters in our recent past, we must also recognise the incredible rejuvenation of Armenia, and the Armenian people, that has occurred over the past 102 years.

In 1917, the total number of Armenians was estimated to be 284,157. Over the past century, this has risen to a population of 3 million in the country itself, as well as an estimated 10 million in the global diaspora.

Armenia is rebuilding itself into a cosmopolitan and forward-thinking nation. As it recovers from the economic devastation following the fall of the Soviet Union, the country is undergoing gradual economic growth, driven by a number of burgeoning industries. Agriculture, food processing, and information technology are some of the thriving sectors which are attracting both inbound investment, and a growing regional talent pool. Additionally, academic centres of excellence, such as the newly launched international school, UWC Dilijan, are attracting foreign students into the country.

The country has established a productive tourist industry, with major airlines committing regular flights to the capital. Over 1.2 million tourists visited Armenia in 2016, many of whom were from Europe.

Away from the state itself, Armenia’s diaspora has grown and thrived in a range of new host countries. Indeed, large Armenian communities now reside in the United States, Russia, France and Argentina. The extended Armenian community includes some of the world’s most noted businesspeople, scientists, academics, sportspeople and entertainers.

From Alexis Ohanian to David Ignatius, Andre Agassi, Cher or Henrikh Mkhitaryan, the Armenian people have made major contributions toward advancing their adoptive countries. Long ago, we learned to adapt to our host countries, to be loyal citizens, even as we maintain our common historic identity.

As we reflect on a time when a concerted attempt was made to wipe out our entire nation, we Armenians have much to celebrate and be proud of. Armenia continues to rebuild and grow. The future is incredibly exciting as we continue to transform into a vibrant, modern, secure, peaceful and progressive homeland for a global nation.

Those trying to eliminate our nation failed to succeed, as we are living a new revival today, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan says.

He believes it’s important for Armenia to draw lessons from the genocide to prevent any future crime not only against Armenians, but also the world at large.

Speaking to reporters at Tsitsernakaberd Memorial, Shavarsh Kocharyan said “recognition of the Armenian Genocide by any country is important, but the utmost objective is to reach recognition by Turkey.”

“Recognition by every country reminds the humanity that the threat of genocide is still there. “If uncondemned, a crime against humanity leads to new crimes,” Kocharyan said.

With the recent constitutional referendum Turkey further distanced itself from the European Union, which is a serious challenge to Armenia, he said

He noted that the ‘football diplomacy’ [initiated by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan] made it clear whether Turkey was striving to move towards the EU or not.

“Erdogan’s rejection of the policy meant Turkey was distancing itself from Europe and moving towards autocracy, and the constitutional changes were the last stone Erdogan and his party put on the road to Europe,” Kocharyan said.

Armenian Patriarch’s Locum Tenens, Archbishop Karekin Bekciyan has released a written statement after his meeting with VADİP (Cooperation and Consultation Platform for Foundations), Agos reports.

On April 19, Karekin Bekciyan and Bishop Sahak Masalyan came together with the Coordination Committee of VADİP. After the meeting, the Locum Tenens released a written statement. Saying that “the process of election should start now,” Bekciyan criticized the attitude of the foundation executives. Bekçiyan stated that he will launch meetings for forming the Electoral Committee and he criticized the current administration of the patriarchate.

Here are the highlights from the statement:

“In the last 5 weeks, I preferred to wait and hold some meetings to listen to opinions and recommendations of various authorities. There was a referendum ahead and the state advised us to be patient for a while. Though the patriarchal election is an internal matter of our church and society, we had to consider the recommendations and needs of the government. However, in my opinion, we should start the process for electing our 85^th patriarch now.

After the Locum Tenens election, I expected civil society and foundation executives to respect and support this election. I also expected the current administration of the patriarchate to act in accordance with the result of election. Unfortunately, I have to say that my expectations haven’t been met.

We held a meeting with Coordination Committee of VADİP and Bishop Masalyan accompanied me. I saw that the members of the committee respect the result of Locum Tenens election, but they hesitate over starting the process of patriarchal election and think that we have to wait for a while.

Nevertheless, members of the committee stated that relations with the patriarchate and the process of election would normalize within 10-15 days. Relying on this statement, I will work for forming the Electoral Committee.

On the other hand, it is clear that clerics who held the Locum Tenens election are under serious pressure. As the elected Locum Tenens, I have to urge the current administration of the patriarchate to stop this unfair and improper behavior and act in accordance with the ecclesiastical ethics.”

The Central Electoral Commission informs that 1,574,947 citizens or 60.86 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots in the parliamentary elections 2017.

The total number of voters was 2,587,706. The voting took place at 2009 polling stations in 13 electoral districts.

Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan has issued an address in connection with the anniversary of the Four Day April War.

The address runs as follows:
“Dear compatriots,

A year ago on the night of April the 1st Azerbaijan undertook the large-scale military operation along the whole perimeter of the Karabakh-Azerbaijani border.

The official Baku again tried to solve the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict by force, destroy the independent Artsakh statehood, and commit a new genocide of the Armenian people.

The enemy’s aggression completely failed and it suffered considerable human, material and moral losses unable to realize any of its treacherous programs.

The adversary faced our armed forces, our valiant soldiers, our population that had consolidated into an army, the entire Armenian people, the Mother Armenia and the Diaspora, who immediately stood next to Artsakh. The Armenian people have proved once again that free and independent homeland is the highest value for us and that we are capable of defending our state from any encroachments.

Unfortunately, in the result of the insidious and provocative actions of the adversary we had irretrievable losses. Dozens of servicemen and civilians perished.

Eternal honor and glory to all our martyrs! Their bright memory will always remain in our hearts, their bravery and heroism will become a guideline for the future generations.

Defeated in the battlefield, Azerbaijan has not abandoned its expansionist programs. It continues to conduct anti-Armenian policy, does not refrain from implementing offensive operations in political, information and diplomatic spheres, and keeps violating the ceasefire regime in different sectors of the borders almost on a daily basis. The authorities of Azerbaijan does not hide that it is pursuing a revanchist policy. Such a stance is nothing else than a terrorism, another heinous and inhuman manifestation of genocidal policy.

All these once again confirm a century-long truth for our people: we must always be strong and united, protect our freedom and independence and build a worthy future for the generations to come.

Dear people,
Our spirit is firm, our will is unshakable, our purposes are just. We defend our native land, our homes and families, develop our country by painstaking work. This is a sacred mission that our people will always carry out with dignity”.

Sandra Kardashian ad her husband Hratch Kardashian have opened an Armenian bakery in Taylor, reports.

Yes, they are related to the “other” Kardashian family.

That’s one of the first questions Sandra Kardashian gets asked by people who stop into her new business, Kardashian Bakery and Grill

Her husband, Hratch Kardashian’s father, was the second cousin of Robert Kardashian, the father of  the famous sisters.

The store is the first Armenian bakery in Michigan, according to Sandra Kardashian, and also has a large Italian menu.

“Why cook just one style of food,” she said. “That would get boring.”

She is of Italian descent, her parents immigrated from Naples, Italy, while her husband Hratch is from Armenia.

“I do all the cooking though,” she said. “My husband doesn’t cook.”

Sandra comes from a background working in a hospital, but gave it up to run the bakery after her husband found the location. Hratch works in the printing industry, and kept his job there.

Read the full story .