Author: Bedik Zaminian

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending EUR 8 million to finance the first phase of improvements to the solid waste disposal system in Yerevan and four surrounding regions.   

The project concerns the construction of a sanitary landfill, closure of the existing landfill and the implementation of waste diversion measures in the capital of Armenia and surrounding regions, serving a population of 1.9 million.

EIB Vice-President László Baranyay, responsible for the Bank’s financing operations in Armenia, stated: “This is the first EIB loan supporting solid waste management in the Eastern Partnership region. It concerns key social infrastructure, highly relevant for the quality of life and health conditions of almost two million people. This project is an example of excellent cooperation between the EIB, regional players, the European Commission and partner IFIs.”

The project is co-financed by a EUR 8 million European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) loan with a EUR 1.9 million technical assistance grant, and a EUR 8 million grant from the EU Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF). The EIB is expected to provide EUR 17 million in total to support the project, the EUR 8 million loan signed today representing only the support for the first phase of the project.

H.E. Mr Piotr Antoni Switalski, Ambassador, Head of the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Armenia, said: “The European Union is committed to supporting initiatives that ensure improved solid waste management in Armenia and in the region. This is our third financial grant to the Armenian Government in this field. I am delighted that following regional initiatives in Kotayk and Vanadzor, we are now providing financial assistance to ensure improved living conditions for the citizens of Yerevan.”

To date, the EIB has signed 11 loans in Armenia totalling EUR 220 million. The portfolio is well diversified across transport, energy and water and waste treatment infrastructure as well as SME support.

The EU Council has authorized the European Commission and the High Representative to open negotiations on a new, legally binding and overarching agreement with Armenia, and adopted the corresponding negotiating mandate. This agreement will replace the current EU-Armenia partnership and cooperation agreement.

The EU is committed to further develop and strengthen comprehensive cooperation with Armenia in all areas of mutual interest within the Eastern Partnership framework. The official launching of negotiations is envisaged to take place before the end of the year.

The Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) has welcomed the election of Malcolm Turnbull as the new Prime Minister of Australia.

Turnbull challenged sitting Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, for their party’s (LIB) leadership in a spill that took place on Monday night in Parliament House. By winning the Liberal Party leadership, Turnbull immediately became Prime Minister-elect, and will be sworn in on Tuesday.

Turnbull, a long time friend of the Armenian-Australian community, has been a strong and vocal supporter of Armenian Genocide recognition by the Parliament of Australia. On 23 November 2013, in this capacity as Shadow Minister for Communications and Broadband, he addressed the House of Representatives in an impassioned speech calling for the formal recognition of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian genocides.

“They [ANC Australia Advocacy Week delegation] are assembled here, as we are, to lament what was one of the great crimes against humanity, not simply a crime against the Greeks, the Assyrians and the Armenians but a crime against humanity—the elimination, the execution, the murder of hundreds of thousands of millions of people for no reason other than that they were different. This type of crime, this sort of genocidal crime, is something that sadly is not unique in our experience,” Turnbull said.

He added: “We must own up to it. We must recognise it for what it is.”

He also called on the Republic of Turkey to acknowledge the genocidal crimes of their predecessors, the Ottoman Empire, to pave the way for reconciliation into the future, and live up to their multicultural past.

Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of Australia, Vache Kahramanian, wrote to the Prime Minister-elect congratulating him on his election as Australia’s 29^th Prime Minister.

“We welcome the election of Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister of Australia. His strong track record on Armenian related issues has been formidable and we look forward to continuing this strong relationship,” Kahramanian said.

“We also congratulate Tony Abbott on his service as Prime Minister Australia.”

ANC Australia has sought a meeting with the newly elected Prime Minister to discuss a wide range of issues important to the Armenian-Australian community.

Apple has unveiled a larger iPad tablet, a TV box with its own app store and new iPhones that can detect how firmly their screens are being pressed, the BBC reports.

The firm suggested the iPad Pro was suited to work tasks, video games and both editing and watching movies.

Sales of the company’s earlier iPads had been on the decline.

Apple said the “3D touch” feature of its new phones “transformed” the experience of using them by making it easier to use and switch between apps.

Last week, the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Atlanta adopted a commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, reported the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly).

Dr. Vahan Kassabian, Armenian Assembly State Chair for Georgia, presented the Armenian Genocide at the JCRC-Atlanta town-hall meeting on August 18. “It was an honor educating the Atlanta Jewish community about the Armenian Genocide,” stated Dr. Kassabian. “The unanimous adoption of this measure illustrates the growing importance of increasing anti-genocide advocacy in our local communities,” Kassabian said.

“The proposal calls for recognizing the genocide carried out by Turkey and for pushing the United States to call it genocide,” according to a report in the .

The adoption of the Armenian Genocide centennial resolution by the JCRC-Atlanta adds to the growing trend of Jewish American advocacy in support of U.S. reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide. In April, Dr. Kassabian helped organize the Armenian Genocide centennial commemoration of Atlanta which was hosted by the Berman Museum, and cosponsored by the Armenian Assembly of America, Hemshech, Interfaith Community Initiatives, and the Georgia Coalition to Prevent Genocide.

“We applaud the JCRC-Atlanta for adopting this important and timely measure,” stated Assembly Board Co-Chair Anthony Barsamian. “The JCRC has been a leading advocate of human rights across the U.S. and the full adoption of this resolution in October will be a fitting testament to the cause of genocide prevention,” Barsamian said.

The 300-year-old Armenian monastery of Surp Astvatsatsin (Tomarza Monastery) has completely deteriorated in the Tomarza district of Turkey’s Kayseri province, with merely a few ruined walls remaining, the reports.

The monastery, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is situated in Kayseri’s Cumhuriyet neighborhood.

An important location for pilgrimage, the monastery also hosted famous British traveler and archaeologist Gertrude Bell in 1909.

Unfortunately, the monastery was looted and abandoned in 1915 (the Armenian Genocide).

A group of Armenian priests tried to use the monastery after the end of World War I, despite the severe damage the building had endured. However, they later had to abandon the monastery to its fate.

In the monastery’s ruins lie the Gregorian Armenian School, which had previously hosted the annual Festival of the Assumption with the attendance of central Anatolian and Lycian Armenians.

By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier

Ruling simultaneously on the Sargsyan vs. Azerbaijan and Chiragov vs. Armenia cases, the European Court of Human Rights decided on June 16, 2015 that Armenia and Azerbaijan had violated the rights of refugees who had fled during the Karabagh (Artsakh) conflict.

Azeri government officials, however, misled their citizens, declaring that Azerbaijan had won and Armenia had lost.

Here are the details of both court cases: On April 6, 2005, six Azerbaijani Kurds filed a joint complaint against Armenia with the European Court. They claimed to have been forced to flee their homes during the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict in 1992, after Armenian troops took over the Lachin region which separated Armenia from Artsakh. The Azerbaijani refugees alleged that Armenia had violated their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights: 1) protection of property, 2) right to respect for private and family life, and 3) right to an effective remedy.

On August 11, 2006, Minas Sargsyan filed a similar complaint against Baku in the European Court of Human Rights. He charged that Azerbaijan had violated his rights, the same ones claimed by the six Azerbaijani refugees, since he too was forced to flee in 1992 from his native village of Gulistan in the Shahumian region, controlled by Azerbaijan.

Both parties asked that their property rights be restored and demanded fair compensation.

In March 2010, after years of inactivity, the Court forwarded both cases to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, consisting of 17 judges from Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Cyprus, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, and Ukraine. The Grand Chamber’s decisions are final and not subject to appeal.

A decade after the these cases were first filed, the Grand Chamber issued two identical judgments on June 16, 2015, finding that both Armenia and Azerbaijan had violated the rights of each other’s refugees. In a lengthy document of 221 pages, including the two verdicts and the dissenting and concurring opinions, the Court ruled that the 20-year long peace negotiations did not free the two governments from their responsibility to protect the rights of hundreds of thousands of refugees. The Grand Chamber noted that there are over 1,000 individual applications pending before the Court, filed by Armenians and Azerbaijanis displaced during the Artsakh conflict.

The six Azerbaijani applicants claimed they had suffered $9 million in monetary damages and $330,000 in non-monetary damages. They further estimated their legal expenses to be around $65,000 as of October 2013. The Azerbaijani applicants’ representatives requested that an expert be appointed to evaluate the total damages their clients had incurred.

On the other hand, the Armenian applicant Minas Sargsyan had requested the restitution of his property, including the right of return to his home. He claimed $415,000 in monetary damages and $210,000 in non-monetary damages, in addition to non-specified legal fees.

Acknowledging “the exceptional nature” of the two cases, the Court did not make a final determination on awarding compensation or “just satisfaction.” The Grand Chamber asked the Armenian and Azerbaijani governments and the respective applicants to submit their “written observations on the matter” within 12 months, and “to notify the Court of any agreement that they may reach.”

In my opinion, the European Court’s parallel decisions were aimed at pressuring the two governments to expedite a negotiated settlement that would resolve all outstanding issues, including rights of refugees.

One of the most significant, yet unexpected outcomes of these court cases were the two written opinions — 25 pages each — by Judge Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque of Portugal and appended to the court’s verdicts, in which he presented a strong legal case for Artsakh’s independence: “Whenever a part of the population of a State is not represented by its government and the human rights of that population are systematically infringed by its own government, …the victimized population may have recourse ‘as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression,’ to use the powerful formulation of the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” The Judge also wrote that when a State systematically abuses the human rights of a seceding population, it is lawful for another State to take military action in favor of the seceding population, after the latter has established control of its territory and declared its secession.

Russian billionaire German Sterligov has promised to explain the reasons of his decision to move to Nagorno Karabakh at a press conference Monday.

“I will tell the simple, clear truth, which many may dislike, but it’s better than all the wild guesses about my family and me,” Sterligov told Russian

He said Nagorno Karabakh is a marvelous land with a wonderful people. “Happy are those Armenians, who have such a Motherlland, such history and beauties.  I have traveled all over the world, but have not seen a place like this – such a beauty, such fertility, and, most importantly, such kind relations between people,” the businessman said.

“I’m happy to have brought my children here, because I told them how people should treat each other theoretically. Unfortunately, there is no such attitude in Russia, practically. Here they see it in practice. This is an extremely useful lesson for them,” Sterligov said.

He invited everyone to visit Nagorno Karabakh to understand what he’s talking about. “This is a unique place. This is a cradle of ancient human relations, which the Armenian nation preserves,”

Torino manager Giampiero Ventura has confirmed that Matteo Darmian will join Manchester United, the reports. 

The Italian international right-back has been in talks over a move to United and has reportedly now agreed personal terms on a £12million move.

The player is expected in Manchester to undergo a medical in the next day or so.

And Ventura says Torino couldn’t stand in the way of Darmian’s wish to play in the Champions League.

He told Sky Sports Italia: “Matteo Darmian will play for Manchester United. It’s a dream for him.

“It’s true, Darmian will play in the Champions League with Manchester United.

“Matteo deserves a top team and always dreamed of playing in the Champions League, so now that dream will be realised.

“In these four years we’ve gone from Serie B and a great depression to the top flight and the enthusiasm of the Europa League.

“We worked with Darmian for many years and it’s only right he should be given the chance to make his Champions League dream come true.

“A sale can happen, the important thing is that we’re able to plan an even stronger squad in future. We’re on the right track and as always the objective is to earn a place in Europe.”

 

Dozens of fighters from different nationalities have joined the ranks of the Kurdish forces in Syria and Iraq in order to combat militants of the Islamic State (IS/ISIS),  reports.

An Armenian fighter in the ranks of the Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), nicknamed Barkhodan, came to Syria nearly two years ago and joined the fight against ISIS.

“I am 55 years old, I came to Syria along with 70 Armenian young men, and we joined the ranks of the YPG more than two years ago,” he told ARA News, pointing out that they have been deployed on various positions at battle fronts in accordance with their military expertise. 

“We are fighting here in defense of the Armenian people from the risk of IS extremists, we do not differentiate between Arabs, Kurds, Christians and Muslims,” he said.

“The main reason for many foreign fighters to be here (northern Syria) is the necessity to eliminate the enemies of humanity (in reference to ISIS militants).” 

“ISIS is killing women and children. What happened in Kobane several days ago when they killed hundreds of innocent people is the biggest motivation for me to fight those barbarians, despite my old age,” Barkhodan told ARA News.

“When we fight alongside the YPG forces, this actually raises the overall morale among Kurds in the war on terrorism,” he added.

In Syria, hundreds of foreign members of the YPG have formed what is known as “Lions of Rojava” (Lions of Syrian Kurdistan). They combat ISIS in several areas in Syria’s Kurdish region alongside Kurdish forces. 

Recently, foreign fighters of YPG formed a battalion under the banner “World Freedom” in Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain), northeastern Syria, which includes dozens of fighters who were distributed at the anti-ISIS fighting fronts after having completed military training in YPG-held camps.