Author: Bedik Zaminian

Ukraine’s Supreme Rada has ruled to designate October 25, 2016 as the day of commemoration of the 70th anniversary of elimination of the Armenian Catholic Church of Western Ukraine, Interfax reports.

According to the source, the bill was backed by 240 national deputies at a parliamentary sitting today.

The Armenian Catholic Church of Ukraine – one of the Eastern Catholic Churches – was established as a result of the union of part of the Armenians with the Roman Apostolic See in 1742.  The Churches uses the Armenian Rite during liturgies.

In the first half of the 20th century there were approximately 5,500 Armenian Catholics in Galicia. They had 9 churches and 16 chapels. The archeparchy included three deaneries: Lviv (parishes in Lviv, Berzhany and Lutsk), Stanislaviv (parishes in Stanislaviv, Lysts and Tysmenytsia), and Kuty (parishes in Kuty, Horodenka and Sniatyn).

The deanery of Lviv existed until the end of World War II and was eliminated by the Soviet authorities.

Following Ukrainian independence, the Armenian Catholic Church has been gradually reviving, with the first community registering in 1991 in Lviv.

Archeological excavations started at Teishebani (modern Karmir Blur) site in 2015, and 281 mausoleums have already been discovered in a short period of time. What do the new findings reveal? Will they provide an opportunity to review history?

Armenians have had four viceroy seats, one of them in Artsakh. Archeologists have discovered four viceroy bonze wands during excavations at Teishebani, archeologist Hakob Simonyan, Deputy Head of the Research Center of Historical-Cultural Legacy under the Ministry of Culture, told reporters today. He said the findings unearthed from the site shed light on disputable pages of history.

The excavations that resumed in 2015 have revealed that back in the Urartian period Armenia was divided into provinces, each ruled by a viceroy. After the death of the latter the highest symbol of power – the scepter– has also been laid at the mausoleum.

“What’s most important is that it’s now proven that Artsakh was part of the united Kingdom of Van in the 8th to 7th centuries BC.  The excavations come to refute all assertions that Artsakh has never been part of Armenia,” the archeologist said.

According to him, another importance of the findings is that they come to disperse the uncertainty regarding the origin of Urartians. “The Urartians were natives of the Ararat Valley,” he noted.

“I’m deeply confident that Urartu is an Armenian kingdom with its multi-layer population, where the Armenian element has been dominant,” Hakob Simonyan said.

A number of different interesting items have been unearthed during the expedition. These include jewelry (necklaces, bracelets, cufflinks, buttons), also as a whole arsenal of weapons.

The findings comprise a huge material for anthropological research. With DNA tests it’s possible to reveal the illnesses the locals suffered from, calculate their life expectancy, study their beliefs and rituals.

On 8 September Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received judge advocate general, deputy attorney-general of the Republic of Armenia Artavazd Harutyunyan, NKR President’s Press Office reports.

Issues related to cooperation between the corresponding structures of the two Armenian states were discussed during the meeting.

NKR prosecutor general Arthur Mosiyan and deputy judge advocate of the Republic of Armenia Arsen Sardaryan were present at the meeting.

Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili visited the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial today to pay tribute to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims.

The Prime Minister laid a wreath at the memorial, toured the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute and left a note in the guest book.

Giorgi Kvirikkashvili also planted a fir tree at the Memory Alley.

Photo: EPA

Turkey has bombarded so-called Islamic State (IS) targets in northern Syria amid reports Syrian rebels are to launch an offensive against the group, the BBC reports.

Artillery positions inside Turkey fired on IS as well as Kurdish YPG militia targets in the towns of Jarablus and Manbij.

Some 1,500 Turkish-backed Syrian rebels are thought to be in the Turkish town of Gaziantep waiting to attack.

This follows a bomb attack on a wedding there that killed more than 50 people

A request submitted by independent MP ‎Mostafa Bakri has called on parliament and ‎the government to recognise the the death of 1.5 ‎million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman state in 1915 as a ‎‎’genocide,’ reports.

Independent Egyptian MP Mostafa Bakri said that ‎he and 336 MPs have called on parliament ‎to approve a draft resolution in favour of ‎recognising the death of 1.5 ‎million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman state in 1915 as a ‎‎”genocide.” ‎

‎”Parliament must hold a special session on ‎this subject because it was a crime of mass ‎extermination that should be ‎condemned by all world parliaments,” said ‎Bakri.‎

“New historical evidence has ‎exposed the slaughter of 1.5 million ‎Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks ‎between 1915 and 1922,” Bakri said, adding that his proposal “comes after the German ‎parliament voted last month in favour of ‎recognising the 1915 massacre as ‎a genocide, and many other countries ‎are expected to follow suit.”

Turkey does not officially recognise that the Armenian genocide took place. Following Germany’s recent recognition of the genocide, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recalled Turkey’s ambassador to Germany for “consultation,” with the Turkish government saying that the move by Berlin was “null and void.”

Bakri concluded that “while the Ottomans ‎committed the 1915 massacre, the Erdogan regime is now moving to commit ‎another crime against his political ‎opponents and minorities that seek ‎independence.”‎

The proposal comes after another Egyptian ‎MP, Emad Mahrous, demanded on Sunday that the ‎government grant political ‎asylum to exiled Turkish opposition figure ‎Fethullah Gulen. ‎

Mahrous accused Erdogan of exploiting the failed coup ‎against him this month to detain hundreds ‎of his political opponents and turn Turkey ‎into a Muslim Brotherhood dictatorship.‎

Talaat Khalil, an MP who supported Bakri’s ‎draft resolution, told reporters that ‎genocide should be condemned by ‎all world governments and parliaments. ‎‎

“Besides, the perpetrators ‎must admit their crimes or even apologise ‎for them,” Khalil added.

‎”But it is clear that the arrogant Erdogan ‎regime will never admit that this massacre ‎[took place] because he believes himself to be a new ‎Ottoman sultan,” said Khalil.‎

Khalil added that Egypt had close relations with both the ‎Armenian people and the Turkish people. ‎

‎”Egypt has always been a shelter for the ‎Armenians since the 1915 massacre,” said ‎Khalil, arguing that “out of its political ‎responsibility, Egypt’s parliament must move ‎to recognise the [genocide] against ‎Armenians.”‎

Khalil concluded by saying that “this should ‎not be taken as a hostile move by the ‎Egyptian parliament against Turkey, but ‎should be seen as a move that comes out ‎of purely humanist considerations.”‎

Relations between Turkey and Egypt have been strained since the 2013 ouster of Egypt’s Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood group and a close ally of Erdogan’s AKP government. Erdogan has repeatedly slammed Morsi’s removal as an “unacceptable coup.”

President Serzh Sargsyan sent today a letter of condolences to the President of the Federal Republic of Germany Joachim Gauck on the occasion of the terrorist attack, which took place in Munich.

“The tragedy which has befallen friendly German nation stressed once again the importance of international unity to eradicate all the manifestations of extremism. At the grave time of grief and loss, I express my deepest condolences to you, the friendly people of Germany, and wish fortitude to families of the victims and a speedy recovery to the injured. Our hearts and prayers are with you,” reads the letter of condolences of the President of Armenia.

United States Secretary of State John Kerry cautioned Monday (July 18) that Turkey’s membership in  Nato could be jeopardised if it  abandons democratic principles and the rule of law in a post-coup crackdown, the Washington Post reports.

“Nato also has a requirement with respect to democracy,” Kerry told reporters after European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini warned Turkey not to execute coup plotters. She noted that countries with the death penalty cannot join the European Union, as Turkey has sought to do.

Kerry said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has repeatedly assured him that the government will respect democracy and the law.

Kerry warned that Nato will “measure” its actions. “Obviously a lot of people have been arrested and arrested very quickly,” Kerry said. “The level of vigilance and scrutiny is obviously going to be significant in the days ahead. Hopefully we can work in a constructive way that prevents a backsliding.”

No developments were reported on Khorenatsi Street overnight, no incident was reported at the site of the attack on police premises, either.

Chief of Police Vladimir Gasparyan, other high ranking policemen were at the scene at night.

First Human Rights Defender Larisa Alaverdyan and MP Nikol Pashinyan also visited the site,m but were not allowed to enter the building.