Armenia will have a new air carrier soon. The Alliance Airline has already purchased two Sukhoi Superjets, the company’s founding director Ararat Sargsyan told reporters today. The airline plans to buy another four planes by 2016.
The company will start working from March 27 after completing all procedures and receiving a permission to operate flights.
Ararat Sargsyan informed that the pilots have already been hired and will be retrained in Moscow in the near future.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has pledged to recognize the Armenian Genocide if elected, Turkish Yeni Safak newspaper reports.
The party presented its election platform today.
HDP Co-Chair Figen Yüksekdag stressed the need to apologize on the state level for genocides and massacres committed against different peoples over history.
The Party also promised that the national minorities will be granted the right to organize education in their native languages.
The HDP also vowed to open the Armenian-Turkish border without any preconditions, lift the economic blockade of Armenia and help reach a democratic solution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
Clovis Acosta Fernandes, a man whom football fans around the globe will recognise, has sadly passed away at the age of 60, joe.co.uk reports.
His name may not be familiar, but as the German national team subjected his beloved Brazil to a humiliating 7-1 defeat in the World Cup semi-final, Fernandes’ tearful face was beamed across the globe – thus becoming one of the most iconic images of the 2014 tournament.
According to reports in South America, Fernandes, a super-fan who was frequently seen through the years clutching a replica of the World Cup, died following a nine-year battle with cancer.
President Serzh Sargsyan received today Oleg Belozerov, the newly-appointed president of JSC Russian Railways which has assumed the trust management of the Armenian railway. Armenia’s president congratulated him on his appointment, wished him success and expressed the hope that Mr. Belozerov will use his professional experience and organizational skills to strengthen allied partnership between Armenia and Russia.
The president attached importance to promoting close multi-sectoral cooperation, e.g. transport, to develop and reinforce inter-state relations, and expressed his confidence that under the leadership of new President Sergey Valko, South Caucasus Railway CJSC will continue to consistently implement the works outlined in the concession agreement, thereby maintaining close cooperation on the implementation of promising and mutually beneficial projects.
President Serzh Sargsyan thanked the General Director of South Caucasus Railway CJSC, Victor Rebets, on the end of his tenure and for his constructive and effective work during his time in office aimed at the development of the railway infrastructure in Armenia and the increase of its security level.
Oleg Belozerov assured the Armenian president that he will continue the good traditions of effective joint working and will maintain and develop the positive dynamics of improving Armenia’s railway infrastructure, in which his company, according to him, is greatly interested and has clearly-defined projects.
At the meeting, the interlocutors touched upon the works carried out hitherto aimed at the modernization of the Armenian railway, its technical re-equipment and at the increase of its security level, as well as discussed the current programs, the existing problems and development prospects.
A total of eight people were killed in the floods that affected the Black Sea province of Artvin on Aug. 24, with one child still remained missing, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.
According to initial reports, Hacer Kara, 56, Altan Kara, 60, Funda Toksoy, 41, Sabri Acıbadem, 41, Nermin Demir, 59, Emniyet Gedik, 55, Ünsal Gedik, 41, and Erdal Eren Gedik, 17, were killed in the floods that hit the Hopa district after heavy rainfall.
Rescue work is ongoing to find the missing five-year old child.
Akunq.net reports that the region. is populated mainly by Hamshen Armenians.
On July 23 Armenian Minister Hranush Hakobyan received today Shake Mangasaryan, the founder of Radio AYK (United Arab Emirates), her sisters Seda and Lusin, and other members of the Radio AYK Board.
Minister Hakobyan hailed Radio AYK’s contribution to the preservation of the Armenian identity and national values.
“I’m glad to note your successful cooperation with the Hayern Aysor (Armenians Today) electronic paper, as well as the Armenian media outlets, namely Yerkir Media and Armenia TVs and the Public Radio of Armenia,” she said.
Hranush Hakobyan awarded Radio AYK with a prize for “Best publication ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.”
Shake Mangasaryan said the visit to the Motherland and the award will give new impetus to the whole staff of Radio AYK.
Italy defender Matteo Darmian has left Torino to join Manchester United on a four-year deal with the option of an additional 12 months, Goal.com reports.
The transfer sees the fullback end a four-year association with the Serie A club and follows United’s capture of midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger from Bayern Munich earlier on Saturday.
Darmian, 25, told United’s official website: “It is a dream come true to be joining Manchester United. I have loved the time that I have spent at Torino and I would like to thank the club and the fans for everything they have done for me.
“I am sure they can understand when the opportunity to join the biggest club in world came along it was something I had to do. To work with Louis van Gaal, a manager that has achieved so much in football is such an exciting prospect.”
Van Gaal added: “Matteo is a right-sided fullback with the versatility of also being able to play on the left.
“He is a strong defender and has the ability to go forward in the attacking positions which is a fantastic attribute to have and much needed in the fast rhythm of the Premier League. Matteo will be a great addition to the team. I am delighted to welcome Matteo to the club and look forward to working with him in the coming days.”
Torino announced first that the deal had been completed, a club statement read: “Torino Football Club announces that it has sold to Manchester United, outright, the rights of the player Matteo Darmian.
“President Urbano Cairo would like to thank Matteo Darmian for the seriousness, commitment and professionalism he has demonstrated in the last few years. From President Cairo to the youngest of the youth teams, all of Torino hopes Matteo has the best satisfaction for this extraordinary experience.”
Darmian has 13 caps for Italy and played in all three of his country’s games at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
The Socialist Party (PS) group of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives Wednesday filed a motion for a resolution to recognize the Armenian Genocide, Belgian La Libre reports.
With this resolution the “Socialist Party and all its MPs give a clear signal of their position on the Armenian Genocide,” while advocating rapprochement between the Turkish and Armenian peoples.
In this proposal, the Parliament “considers that the tragic events between 1915 and 1917, for which the government of the Ottoman Empire is responsible, should be classified as genocide.”
The recognition by the Parliament does not, however, entail legal consequences, notes the PS group.
The Chamber is not intended to replace court to rule on the legal characterization of those events. “It poses a solemn political act of recognizing that due to their nature and their specificity, the massacres of which the Armenians were victims fit the definition of genocide contained as defined in the 1948 Convention,” the resolution reads. It also encourages national and international courts to rule on the subject.
The authors of the resolution file their initiative in “a spirit of support and friendship for Turks and Armenians.”
They also highlight the efforts made within Turkish civil society on this issue.
The resolution has been signed by signed by MP of Turkish descent Özlem Özen, as well as Stéphane Crusnière, Philippe Blanchart and Gwen Grovonius.
The British Embassy in Armenia has issued a statement regarding June 22-23 protests in Yerevan:
A protest managed well by demonstrators and police over the past few days ended in violence this morning, with many arrests, including of journalists, and some injuries.
Many will have questions about how this could have been avoided. We are particularly concerned about reports on the use of force against journalists and the deliberate destruction or confiscation of their equipment; the widespread reports of men in plainclothes acting together with the police; and reports of excessive use of force against people who were not resisting arrest.
We call on the authorities to look urgently at these cases and take appropriate action, in accordance with the law.
On Sunday evening Kim and Kourtney Kardashian attended an event dedicated to their father Robert Kardashian, who passed away in 2003, following a long bout with cancer, the reports.
Along with their cousins, Kourtni and Kara, the two ladies pulled out all the stops to attend the Armenian Bar Association event held at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Sharing a picture of them standing in front of their father’s honour to Instagram, Kim wrote: ‘Thank you to The Armenian Bar Association for honoring my father last night!’
A second picture showed the girls cosying up to their cousins and the wife of rapper Kanye West also wrote:
‘Thank you to all of my cousins, aunts & uncle who came out to the Armenian Bar Association event last night! Kourtni, Kourtney, Kara & I!’
According to Asbarez, the Armenian Bar presented the award posthumously to the late attorney, Robert Kardashian, in recognition of the importance of those who champion the Constitutional rights to due process and equal protection under the law, even if in unpopular cases.
The site adds that gala banquet co-masters of ceremonies and Armenian Bar Board members Gerard V. Kassabian and Vanna Kitsinian said of the honour:
‘We are so pleased to be able to welcome the family of Robert Kardashian to accept the honor on his behalf and also to recognize their contribution to international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.’
The event ran from June 12-14 in order to celebrate the Armenian Bar Association’s 25 years of unifying the colourful and distinct fabric of the Armenian nation.
Robert Kardashian, who passed away in 2003 just eight weeks after being diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, passed on his pride in his heritage to his family, who have been vocal about their Armenian roots.
Robert’s ancestors fled the Armenian Genocide in the early 20th century, thanks to a ‘prophet’ who urged them to uproot to America.
Known at the time as the Kardaschoffs, in Russian style, the family made their way from their home village of Karakale in the late 19th Century to German ports. From there, they travelled to a new life in America on the passenger vessels SS Brandenberg and SS Koln.
By doing so, they escaped the triple horror of the First World War from 1914-18, the Armenian Genocide’ starting in 1915 – exactly a century ago this year – and the Russian Revolution in 1917.
Among those fleeing Erzurum – then in Armenia, and ruled by last Russian Tsar Nicholas II was family patriarch Hovhannes Miroyan and Kim’s great great grandfather, born in 1844. He married Luciag Chorbajian, born in 1853.
The couple wed in Erzurum, which is now in Turkey, in 1867 but escaped along with their daughter Vartanoosh Mironyan, born in 1886, in the early 20th century.
Vartanoosh’s daughter Haigoohi Arakelian – known as Helen, born in America in 1917, was Kim’s grandmother, who later married into the Kardashian clan.
The glamorous and ‘dynamic’ Helen wed Arthur who ran the largest meat-packing business in southern California.
Helen’s son Robert married Kris Houghton and fathered the 21st Century’s biggest reality TV stars Kourtney, Khloe, Robert Jr and most famous of all – Kim.
Their mother Kris eventually married Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner and together they raised two more TV personalities, Kendall and Kylie.