Author: Badalian Vardan

Russia’s General Staff has provided information to France on Turkey’s role in stealing Syrian natural resources and financing the Islamic State , the Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday, reports.

“General of the Army Valery Gerasimov presented information on continued stealing of Syrian national resources, the proceeds from which are used to finance IS, as well as on Turkey’s role in this process,” the ministry said in a statement.

The head of the Russian General Staff has also agreed with France to set up an exchange of operative information to coordinate actions in the fight against the Islamic State, the Russian Defense Ministry’s press service announced Thursday.

“It has been agreed to establish an exchange of operative information to coordinate the actions for a more effective destruction of command points, military equipment, [arms] depots, paths for equipping militants, and other IS infrastructures in Syria,” the press service said in a statement.

According to Russian Defense Ministry’s press service, the head of the Russian General Staff has agreed with France to set up an exchange of operative information to coordinate actions in the fight against the Islamic State.

The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs issued the following statement after the meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents held in Bern today:

The President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsian and the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev held a summit today in Bern under the auspices of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, James Warlick of the United States of America, and Pierre Andrieu of France).  The Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk also participated in the summit.

The summit created an opportunity for the Presidents to clarify their respective positions during their one-on-one meeting.

The Presidents discussed recent violence and expressed particular concern about casualties, including civilians, caused by the use of heavy weapons.  The Presidents supported the Co-Chairs’ ongoing work on proposals regarding measures to reduce the risk of violence along the Line of Contact and Armenia-Azerbaijan border, including an investigation mechanism.

The Presidents confirmed their readiness to continue engagement on proposals regarding a settlement currently under negotiation.  They also reaffirmed their commitment to the Minsk Group format.

The Co-Chairs remain ready to work with the sides on mediating a peaceful, negotiated settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

US President Barack Obama has made a rare Oval Office address after the San Bernardino shootings that left 14 dead.

He said the killings were “an act of terrorism designed to kill innocent people,” the BBC report.

But “freedom is more powerful than fear,” said President Obama, warning that falling prey to divisiveness in American society would play into the hands of extremists.

He also said the US must make it harder for potential attackers to obtain guns.

Mr Obama vowed that the US would overcome the evolving threat of terrorism, but warned that Americans “cannot turn against one another by letting this fight be defined as a war between America and Islam”.

WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (44-4, 29 KOs) won a split decision over Martin Murray (32-3-1, 15 KOs) on Saturday night at the TUI Arena in Hannover, Germany, Fightnews.com reports.

Murray outworked Abraham early, the the champ came back in the middle rounds. Murray was warned for excessive holding. Murray rocked Abraham in round eight, but Abraham came back strong late in the round.

Murray was deducted a point for holding in round eleven. Most of the heavy shots came from Abraham. Scores were 115-112, 116-111 Abraham, 115-112 Murray. It was the fourth time Murray has challenged unsuccessfully for a world title.

Syrian government forces captured the village of Tel Hadya in the northern province of Aleppo on Friday, a monitoring group and state media said, in the latest territorial gains reported against insurgents in the area, Reuters reports.

The reported advance brought pro-government forces closer to the main highway that links Syria’s major cities, building on other gains made in the area with support from Russian air strikes.

There was no immediate comment from rebels, including al Qaeda’s Nusra Front, who have been in control of the area.

Fighting has intensified even as world and regional powers prepare to meet in Vienna in a bid to step up diplomatic efforts to the end the four-year-old conflict.

Syrian state TV reported the takeover of Tel Hadya and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict using sources on the ground, confirmed it.

The advance came a day after the Syrian army backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters,Iranian troops and Russia air raids took the nearby town of Al Hader, effectively bringing government forces in control of most of the southern Aleppo countryside.

“The southern Aleppo countryside is falling hill after hill… the army is advancing quickly,” the Observatory’s Rami Abdulrahman told Reuters.

The advances could provide a launching pad to push further against insurgent strongholds in mainly rebel-held northwestern Syria.

The Kremlin believes the Syrian army’s offensive is effective and that, with the help of Russian air strikes, the Syrians are making good progress, Russian RIA Novosti news agency said on Friday.

– 70-year-old Armenian ArArAt brandy was sold at a Sotheby auction in London for 80 thousand pounds—over $120,000.

The special auction was dedicated to the 50th anniversary of former United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s death.

The auction was sponsored by Albert II, Prince of Monaco. The organization of the auction was supported by Monaco’s Ambassador to the UK Evelyne Genta, Armenia’s Ambassador to the UK and former prime minister of Armenia Armen Sargsyan, and Saudi Prince Al Waleed.

Churchill’s favorite drinks, cigars and, clothing brands and various other items were put up for the auction.

During the auction, special attention was paid to Churchill’s bust by sculptor Oscar Nemon and 70-year-old brandy from an exclusive collection of the Yerevan Brand Factory, which was donated by Armen Sargsyan.

The amount raised at the auction will be donated in its entirety to charities supporting Prince Albert’s initiatives to reduce the impacts of climate change, biodiversity preservation, and combatting desertification.

Asbarez – Six months after Colorado became the first US state to memorialize the 1915-1923 Armenian Genocide with a khachkar monument on its capitol grounds, Google has added the prominent location to its .

On October 20, The Google Maps Team notified Simon Maghakyan that “the listing for [the] Armenian Genocide Memorial Garden has been added to the map.” As chair of Armenian of Colorado’s (AOC) Capitol Khachkar Committee, Maghakyan spearheaded the unparalleled effort to adorn the seat of Colorado’s government with the khachkar monument.

On April 24, 2015 Colorado’s Governor John Hickenlooper and AOC leaders unveiled America’s first capitol khachkar on the Centennial anniversary of Ottoman Turkey’s extermination of its indigenous Armenian population. The Capitol, which has been in use since the 19th century and has 250,000 annual visitors, memorializes several notable events on its grounds. Colorado’s generous response in helping Armenian Genocide survivors is noted in the plaque accompanying the khachkar.

The Colorado State Capitol Khachkar was added to the existing Armenian Genocide Memorial Garden, which the AOC established in 1982 and renovated in 2015. Khachkars are intricately-carved monuments that memorialize individuals and events. In 2010, UNESCO recognized the value and vulnerability of this Armenian art tradition by declaring it part of Intangible Heritage of Humanity. The Colorado State Capitol Khachkar was crafted in Armenia by Varazdat Hambardzumyan (Master Varo), and donated by Alexander Ter-Hovakimyan. It is a replica of a medieval Djulfa khachkar, destroyed by the Azerbaijan Army in December 2005.

“The addition of the Armenian Genocide Memorial Garden to Google Maps will bring even more visitors to the Colorado State Capitol Khachkar,” remarked AOC President Sona Hedeshian, “and more visibility to the need to remember, punish, and prevent genocides. We will gather at the Garden for a candlelight vigil on December 6, 2015 to conclude the Centennial Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, commemorate the 10th anniversary of the genocidal destruction of Djulfa, and shine a light on all genocides. For directions, the public can now go to .”

 

 

 

 

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party resorts to all means to get votes on November 1, political scientist Mushegh Khudaverdyan says. According to him, the decision to return Kamp Armen to the Armenian community also fits into this policy.

Turkey is currently living the most strained period of its modern history, Khudaverdyan told reporters today. “Surveys show the situation has not changed after the previous elections of June 7 and the ruling party will again fail to gain majority. Therefore, the chaos in Turkey will continue,” the political scientist said.

The expert does not exclude there will be an internal split in the Justice and Development Party after the failure, but the collapse of Erdogan’s party is unlikely.

According to Khudaverdyan, yesterday’s move to return the historic orphanage to the Armenian community was also a demonstration of “flattery.”

People, who struggled for Kamp Armen for 175 days, always hoped it would be returned, Anush Kazan Asaturoglu told Public Radio of Armenia. She did not exclude, however, that the motive behind the decision was to ensure the votes of Armenians at the forthcoming elections.

The deed to Camp Armen, a historic Armenian orphanage in Istanbul, was returned to its original owners after protests against the then owner  over the demolition of the site.

Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church Foundation, the first owner of the orphanage located in the Tuzla district of Istanbul, received the deed on Tuesday.

Islamic State militants have killed three captives in Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra by tying them to columns and blowing them up, activists say, the BBC reports.

The identities of those reportedly killed on Sunday have yet to be given.

But they are thought to be the first to have been killed in that way since the jihadist group seized the ruins in May.

IS has destroyed two 2,000-year-old temples, an arch and funerary towers at Palmyra, one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world.

The group believes that such structures are idolatrous. The UN cultural agency, Unesco, has condemned the destruction as a war crime.