The delegation led by St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko visited the Tsitsernakaberd memorial today to pay tribute to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims.
The Governor was accompanied by Deputy Mayors of Yerevan Kamo Areyan and David Ohanyan.
The US Missio to the OSCE has expressed regret over the closure of the OSCE Office in Yerevan.
“The United States regrets the impending closure of the OSCE Office in Yerevan. We lament the loss of the last OSCE field operation in the South Caucasus,” Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. Kate M. Byrnes told the Permanent Council.
The statement reads:
Field operations provide invaluable support to their host countries by helping to strengthen adherence to OSCE principles and commitments, providing early warning and crisis management, and promoting dialogue between government and civil society.
We appreciate the determined effort of both the German and Austrian Chairmanships to resolve the impasse over the extension of the mandate of the OSCE Office in Yerevan. We regret that Azerbaijan refused to agree to extend the mandate unless the Office ended its humanitarian demining-related activities. Armenia, in the spirit of compromise, agreed that the Office in Yerevan would end these activities. Despite months of effort by the Chairmanship, it could not find language satisfactory to all participating States regarding a Permanent Council decision extending the mandate of the Office.
We recognize the Armenian government’s cooperation with the OSCE. The Office in Yerevan has played an important role in supporting the host country with implementation of its OSCE commitments in all three dimensions. The Office’s promotion of community policing; assistance with tax and regulatory reform; and support for human rights defenders, women’s equality and media freedom, were bringing about positive results.
The United States encourages the OSCE to continue cooperation with the Republic of Armenia – with both the government and civil society. We call on the Chairmanship and the Secretary General to explore new ways of maintaining an OSCE presence in Armenia, and throughout the South Caucasus.
Finally, the United States would also like to thank Ambassador Avakov and his staff for their outstanding work and dedication, particularly during the past months of uncertainty over the future of the Office. We wish them the best in their future endeavors.
Historians and researchers will now have access to more than 5,000 publications on Armenian Genocide.
The Armenian Genocide Library of the Armenian National Institute (ANI) opened in Washington on April 5, reports.
The Armenian and English books here do not present the Armenian history and national identity, but provide detailed information on the most painful page of Armenian history – the Armenian Genocide.
Director of ANI Ruben Adalyan says the library currently hosts 5,000 books, but they hope to increase the number.
“We have created a system, which will allow researchers to use the precious collection acquired by the Armenian Assembly of American and the Armenian National Institute over the past 40 years,” he said.
Attending the opening ceremony was Hayk Demoyan, Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, who welcomed the creation of the library and the perspective of cooperation with Armenia.
“Opening of an Armenian information center in Washington is a very important event. The opening of such a center in the US capital is a huge achievement by itself,” Demoyan said.
He added that the center will become a venue for meetings, discussions and coordinated work.
George Clooney’s wife, Amal, is reportedly pregnant with twins, reports.
Hollywood’s power pair is expecting a pair of babies this June, according to well-connected “The Talk” host Julie Chen, who confirmed and announced the actor and the British human rights attorney’s life-changing event on today’s show.
Clooney’s rep did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for confirmation.
These will be the first children for both the Oscar-winning producer, 55, and his 39-year-old wife.
They are said to be expecting a boy and a girl, reported, noting that rumors about the pregnancy came up after Amal Clooney (formerly Alamuddin) was spotted with a baby bump in London last month while their Clooney Foundation for Justice hosted a screening of the Netflix documentary “The White Helmets.”
Amal “has let everyone in both families know quietly,” a source close to the couple told . “They’re all very happy.”
The Clooneys wed in Venice in 2014, despite several proclamations that the actor, a perennial bachelor, would never again wed or have kids.
The Karabakh conflict is a direct threat to the security of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry Mariza Zakharova told a press conference today.
She stressed that there is no alternative to the peaceful search for mutually acceptable solutions and this is what any initiative should be targeted at.
As for the perspectives of cooperation between Russia and the UN on the Karabakh issue under new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Zakharova said: “The contacts with Americans are still ahead, and any comments would be untimely now. Let’s what for these contacts.”
“The conflict is certainly a direct threat to the security, stability and future development of Armenia and Azerbaijan. We have to proceed from this,” Zakharova said.
Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit and the son of an undocumented US immigrant, says President Donald Trump’s immigration ban is both “deeply un-American” and “potentially unconstitutional.” Ohanian expressed his views in an posted to the official Reddit blog.
The tech industry figure describes himself as not only the son of an undocumented German immigrant, but also “the great grandson of refugees who fled the Armenian Genocide.” Ohanian says welcoming both groups — immigrants and refugees — is America’s “unfair advantage,” quoting a startup term for besting the competition. “Without them, there’s no me, and there’s no Reddit. We are Americans,” he writes. “Let’s not forget that we’ve thrived as a nation because we’ve been a beacon for the courageous — the tired, the poor, the tempest-tossed.”
The letter reads:
A little over a century ago, a Turkish soldier decided my great grandfather was too young to kill after cutting down his parents in front of him; instead of turning the sword on the boy, the soldier sent him to an orphanage. Many Armenians, including my great grandmother, found sanctuary in Aleppo, Syria—before the two reconnected and found their way to Ellis Island. Thankfully they weren’t retained, rather they found this message:
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
My great grandfather didn’t speak much English, but he worked hard, and was able to get a job at Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company in Binghamton, NY. That was his family’s golden door. And though he and my great grandmother had four children, all born in the U.S., immigration continued to reshape their family, generation after generation. The one son they had—my grandfather —volunteered to serve in the Second World War and married a French-Armenian immigrant. And my mother, a native of Hamburg, Germany, decided to leave her friends, family, and education behind after falling in love with my father, who was born in San Francisco.
She got a work visa as an au pair in the U.S., uprooting her entire life for love in a foreign land. After she and my father married, she received a green card, which she kept for over a decade until she became a citizen. I grew up speaking German, but she insisted I focus on my English in order to be successful. She eventually got her citizenship and I’ll never forget her swearing in ceremony.
If you’ve never seen people taking the pledge of allegiance for the first time as U.S. Citizens, it will move you: a room full of people who can really appreciate what I was lucky enough to grow up with, simply by being born in Brooklyn. It thrills me to write reference letters for enterprising founders who are looking to get visas to start their companies here, to create value and jobs for these United States.
My forebears were brave refugees who found a home in this country. I’ve always been proud to live in a country that said yes to these shell-shocked immigrants from a strange land, that created a path for a woman who wanted only to work hard and start a family here.
Without them, there’s no me, and there’s no Reddit. We are Americans. Let’s not forget that we’ve thrived as a nation because we’ve been a beacon for the courageous—the tired, the poor, the tempest-tossed.
Right now, Lady Liberty’s lamp is dimming, which is why it’s more important than ever that we speak out and show up to support all those for whom it shines—past, present, and future. I ask you to do this however you see fit, whether it’s calling your representative (this works, it’s how we defeated SOPA + PIPA), marching in protest, donating to the ACLU, or voting, of course, and not just for Presidential elections.
Our platform, like our country, thrives the more people and communities we have within it. Reddit, Inc. will continue to welcome all citizens of the world to our digital community and our office.
Six people have been found alive in Italy’s Rigapiano hotel, two days after it was buried in an avalanche, the BBC reports.
Rescuers said the six survivors had been discovered buried under snow, but had not yet been extracted.
They have now requested rescue helicopters to help with the efforts, Italian media reported.
At least four people have been confirmed dead, and about 20 are still missing, as the rescue effort continues in difficult conditions.
President Serzh Sargsyan sent today a letter of condolences to the President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambaev after an aircraft has crashed at the residential area near Bishkek and killed dozens.
President Sargsyan asked to convey his condolences and support to the families and friends of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to all injured.
A Turkish Airlines cargo plane from Hong Kong has crashed in Kyrgyzstan, killing at least 32 people, most of them on the ground.
The Boeing 747 crashed into homes near Manas airport, about 25km north of the capital, Bishkek.
The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stephane Visconti of France, and Richard Hoagland of the United States), released the following statement today:
Baku and Yerevan continue to accuse each other of a December 29, 2016 attempted incursion on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border resulting in casualties. Armenian Armed Forces are still holding the body of an Azerbaijan serviceman killed in the fighting.
Violations of the ceasefire are unacceptable and are contrary to the acknowledged commitments of the Parties, who bear full responsibility, not to use force. The Co-Chairs urge the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to strictly observe the agreements reached during summits in Vienna and St. Petersburg in 2016, including obligations to finalize in the shortest possible time an OSCE investigative mechanism. The Co-Chairs also urge the return, without delay, of human remains, in accord with the agreements of the Astrakhan Summit of 2010, bearing in mind the exclusively humanitarian nature of this issue. We call upon the Parties to cease mutual accusations and undertake all necessary measures to stabilize the situation on the ground.
The Co-Chairs extend their condolences to the families of the fallen soldiers and to all Armenians and Azerbaijanis for whom hopes for the New Year have been darkened with the grief of senseless loss.
Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan received a delegation representing the Institute of Public Security Studies at Tsinghua University of China and Chinese GSAFETY Company, headed by GSAFETY management board member Xue Hailong.
The sides discussed prospects of cooperation in terms of security systems in the transport sector. In particular, they touched upon the development of the Smart Town project and the possibility for implementing it in one of Armenia’s cities.
Xue Hailong presented the activities of the company and expressed willingness to cooperate in the field of public transport traffic management systems and traffic safety. Welcoming the Chinese company’s willingness to participate in investment programs in our country, the Prime Minister said Armenia can become a good platform for GSAFETY to enter the EEU market.
Prime Minister Karapetyan suggested discussing cooperation areas and specific projects in more detail with the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technologies of the Republic of Armenia.