Author: Antranik Varosian

Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister and Acting Oil Minister Anas Al-Saleh stressed the importance of boosting economic and technical relations with the Armenian Republic, especially in the fields of transportation and tourism, Kuwaiti News Agecy reports.

Al-Saleh said on Thursday, as he headed the Kuwaiti side at the second edition of the Kuwaiti-Armenian joint ministerial committee for economic and technical cooperation, that all meetings between the two countries were “successful.” He added that the success of these discussions will lead to strengthen bilateral relations and develop cooperation.

On his part, Minister of Territorial Administration and Emergency Situations of Republic of Armenia Armen Yeritsyan said that his country is looking forward for a “fruitful” cooperation in all domains with Kuwait, stressing that the joint committee meeting helped in converging of views in many economic and technical issues.

Yeritsyan called for establishing a direct air line between Armenia and Kuwait for a better closeness of ties.
In addition, he invited officials from Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) to visit Armenia to explore investment opportunities and to form strategic partnerships in several emerging economic sectors.

At the end of the meeting, the two parties signed two Memorandums of Understanding: the first, concerns cooperation in public health and medical sciences, and the second, focuses on cooperation in high education and scientific research for the years 2016-2020.

Employees of the Public Radio of Armenia, Liana Yeghiazaryan and Maria Balayan are visiting Germany under the program of “Expansion of cooperation of civil society in the Eastern Partnership countries.”

The program is financed by the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin and the German Embassy in Yerevan.

Liana and Maria were hosted at today. In an hour-long interview they talked about today’s Armenia, the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Nagorno Karabakh and even the Syria crisis.

Photo: Russian Defence Ministry

 

The Russian submarine Rostov-on-Don fired a salvo of Kalibr cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea against ISIS targets in Syria, reports.

The opposition in Venezuela has won a majority of seats in the National Assembly, overturning nearly two decades of dominance by the Socialists of President Nicolas Maduro, the BBC reports.

Five hours after polling ended, the National Electoral Council announced the opposition had won 99 seats.

President Maduro has admitted defeat, recognising “these adverse results”.

It is the worst-ever defeat for the leftist movement founded by former leader Hugo Chavez in 1999.

The Socialists have gained 46 seats, with another 22 yet to be declared.

Results arrived much later than expected, five hours after polls closed. Fireworks erupted over the capital, Caracas, soon after.

Photo: Sputnik/ Alexei Druzhinin

 

Syrian President Bashar Assad believes that by being passively supporting the al-Nusra Front and Islamic State terrorist groups, Turkey is playing a most destructive role in the Syrian crisis, reports.

“Turkey is playing a most negative role in our crisis. That’s related directly to [President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan himself and [Prime Minister Ahmet] Davutoglu, because they both reflect the real ideology that they carry in their hearts, which is the Muslim Brotherhood ideology,” Assad said in an interview with the French newsmagazine Valeurs Actuelles on Thursday.

The Syrian leader emphasized that, compared to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Ankara was playing the most dangerous role in general, by giving all possible assistance to the terrorists.

“Some countries support the Nusra Front, which is al-Qaeda, some other countries support ISIL, while Turkey supports both and other groups at the same time. They support them with, human resources. They support them with money, logistics, armaments, surveillance, information, and even the maneuvers of their military through their borders during the fights in Syria.”

“Even the money that’s being collected from the rest of the world passes through Turkey, and the oil that ISIS sells is through Turkey, so Turkey is playing the worst part of our crisis,” Assad was quoted as saying by the Syrian news agency SANA.

Conan O’Brien made history on November 17 as the first American late-night host to broadcast a show from Armenia.

O’Brien announced last month that he’d be traveling to the country with his longtime assistant Sona Movsesian, who is of Armenian descent. The two went to a market in the Armenian capital of Yerevan, where the talk show host explored local delicacies and practiced his Armenian with lines like “I want to eat your liver” and “I die on your body.”

The host herds sheep, learns a new language and lands a role on an Armenian talk show. He also visitsthe Armenian Genocide memorial with his assistant, Sona Movsesian.

An event was held today at the Mount Musa Memorial in Armavir Marz on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the Mount Musa Heroic Battle. During the event, President Serzh Sargsyan delivered a speech in which he touched upon the Paris attacks.

“Your Holiness,
Your Eminencies,
Honorable guests,
Dear compatriots,

Today we are here to celebrate the 100th jubilee of the Mount Musa self-defense. It was one of the heroic episodes of the 1915 Armenian Genocide to which our French brothers made an invaluable contribution. Hundred years has passed but our sense of gratitude has not weakened even a bit.

Dear compatriots,

Unfortunately, by the irony of fate we witnessed last night terrorist attacks, unprecedented terrorist acts by their scale, committed at the heart of France – Paris. All of us are deeply shocked by it.

I strongly condemn those terrific and ghastly actions which claimed multiple innocent lives.

In recent years, the growth of this kind of inhuman violence in different countries of the world gives rise to serious concerns. I am confident that each member of the civilized community will join the struggle against this evil facing of us. We must not allow violence, extremism and intolerance to prevail. We are obliged to make concerted efforts at revealing and eradicating all those factors which cause such horrible manifestations of extremism.

In this difficult time, Armenia stands beside the brotherly country of France and is ready to provide full support.

I express my deepest sympathy to French President Francois Hollande, the friendly people of France and to the victims’ relatives, wishing patience, strength and vigor to them and a speedy recovery to the injured.

Our prayers, hearts and souls are with the French people.”

Azerbaijan asks Interpol to find and arrest Swiss citizen Vartan Sirmakes, the CEO of Franck Muller Group, abc.az reports.

According to the source, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Azerbaijan informs that the national central bureau of Interpol under the Ministry of Internal Affairs has already started these activities.

“Yesterday, the Nasimi district court of Baku chose for Sirmakes a measure of restraint in form of detention in connection with a criminal case initiated against him under three articles of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan,” the Prosecutor’s Office said.

Sirmakes is charged under Article 281.2 (public calls against the state), 318.2 (illegal crossing of the state border of Azerbaijan) and 192.2.2 (illegal business). The charges were brought on the fact that Sirmakes, without official permission of Azerbaijan, visited Nagorno Karabakh, where, as the Prosecutor’s Office said,  he was involved in an illegal business and made open calls against the Azerbaijani state.

 

 

 

Ara Abrahamyan, President of the Union of Armenians of Russia, will create a new party. He revealed the plans at a press conference at the National Academy of Sciences today.

“A huge team, comprising not only Armenian and Russian, but also foreign specialists is working to elaborate the ideology and platform of the party,” he said.

Abrahamyan added he had discussed the plans of establishing a new party with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.

“Why not? The President told me. Create a party, try if you have decided to be helpful to Armenia,” Ara Abrahamyan said.

A new exhibition at Istanbul’s Depo gallery takes a closer look at personal and communal affiliations in the Armenian diaspora, “scattered like pomegranate seeds across the world.”

“Geandchildren, New geographies of belonging” opens on Sept. 3 at Depo in Istanbul’s Tophane neighborhood, and will run until Nov. 1, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

“In a global context where mobility and the virtual world challenge established identifications with national societies, ethnic groups or religions, Armenians can be considered a good example of a group with a long, cosmopolitan and globalized history,” Depo states about the show on its website. The exhibition includes works from Armenian artists based around the world. It is coordinated by Silvina Der-Meguerditchian and organized in cooperation with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Federal Foreign Office Germany, the Goethe Institut- Istanbul, Anadolu Kültür, the Cultural Academy Tarabya, and Heinrich Böll Stiftung.

The works of Achot Achot (Yerevan/Paris), Marian Bedoian (Buenos Aires), Talin Büyükkürkciyan (Istanbul), Hera Büyüktaşçıyan (Istanbul), Silvina Der-Meguerditchian (Buenos Aires/Berlin), Linda Ganjian (New York), Archi Galentz (Moscow/Berlin), Karine Matsakyan (Yerevan)  Mikayel Ohanjanyan (Yerevan/Florenz), Ani Setyan (Istanbul), Arman Tadevosyan (Gyumri/Nancy), Scout Tufankjian (New York) and Marie Zolamian (Beirut/Liege) are included in the exhibition.