he Armenian Armed Forces have successfully test fired its Tochka Tactical Ballistic Missile System. The missile hit its designated target from 65 kilometers, caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Facebook.
The Zinuzh (Military Power) program of the Public Television has prepared a special coverage of the test fire and will air it on December 1, 21:45 local time.
The preview of the program is already available on the YouTube channel of the television program.
President of the Middle East Fashion Festival Walid Khalil spoke to Ahram Online about the one-day-event.
“This year, the festival showcased the work of three Egypt fashion designers: Omneya Hussein, Nadine Ezzat and Menna Agiza. Other notable names include Lebanese designer Anass Kadamani, Armenian designer Nuria, Moroccan Houda Benmlih and Jordan’s Heba Idris.”
The seven designers were presenting their latest designs for their fall/winter collections, 2018/2019.
Designs included haute couture, elegant soiree gowns and wedding dresses.
Make up-artists from Egypt Heba Magdi, Hend Helmy and Libya’s Souad El-Bakush and Bay Tree beauty salon participated in the show.
The festival entertained more than 1,000 attendees, including VIP American visitors, media figures, artists, ambassadors and communities from the US, Belgium, Tunisia and Lebanon.
The guests of honour were Egyptian singer Anouska, and actress Rojina, and Tunisian actress Aisha Ben-Ahmed.
Attendees enjoyed the musical performances of Egyptian singers Zizi Adel and Ahmed Zaeem, pianist Dalal El-Khamisy and violinist Ahmed Mokhtar.
“The festival aimed at integrating and incorporating different cultures and bringing people closer together,” Khalil explained.
The first edition of Middle East Fashion Festival was held in March 2018. It is intended to be held twice a year (summer and winter).
Prominent Armenian designer Nuria has been in Egypt for 10 years. In her new collection she presented 20 different examples of soiree and wedding gowns. Nuria used blue, green, yellow, purple, creamy and off-white colours.
Nuria, who is fond of handmade garments, said: “All my designs were handmade and high quality of fabrics and textiles. I embroidered dantelle and guipure fabrics with Swarovski crystals.”
“My designs were inspired by Armenia’s nature. Also, some designs reflected Middle East cultures,” Nuria added.
Nuria made use of peach in her bridal gowns. “Wedding dresses are not necessarily white or off-white. We can use pastel colours,” she commented
Moroccan designer Houda Benmlih presented the traditional kaftan — which is the pinnacle of Moroccan fashion — with a modern touch. “My main concern,” she said, “is reflecting Moroccan heritage or tradition in my designs. I tried to presented kaftans in modern way, and at the same time preserve its traditional shape as a kaftan, not as a dress.”
Benmlih’s collection presented 10 different pieces of kaftans using dark blue, red, olive, green and off-white colours.
She used old Moroccan embroidery techniques, using payette, precious stones and Swarovski gems.
Lebanon was present through Anass Kadamani’s brand, “Anskada.”
Kadamani described his collection as “prêt-a-couture”. “It is how to look like a star; to have an understated luxury. We gave every woman the look fit to her body shape.”
Kadamani added: “In the collection, we have 10 different looks, including off-shoulder backless princess cut of one ivory-beige bridal dress. We used pastel colours and feathers in all designs.”
Egyptian designer Omneya Hussein has been in field of fashion for 10 years. This is her first time to participate in the fashion festival.
“In my winter collection, all my designs have a simple look. They are semi-couture. All colours are vivid and cheerful. I broke the rule of using dark shades of colours for the winter season,” Hussein said,
“My bridal dress was beautifully set with pearls and embodied florals,” Hussein added.
Libyan make-up artist Souad El-Bakush highlighted her routine by saying, “I used dusty colours with a simple look. It gave a fresh and perfectly natural look.”
“Eyeliner and lip-liner are out of fashion. Contouring and sculpting the face are trending. A natural medium set of eyebrows is fashionable,” El-Bakush added.
By Trend
The France visit of the “head” of the separatist regime, created in occupied Azerbaijani territories, is unacceptable, Jean-Francois Mancel, President of the Association of Friends of Azerbaijan in France, told Trend.
He was commenting on the illegal visit of Bako Sahakyan to France.
“The Association has always demanded from the French government to prevent any links between the French local authority and representatives of the illegal regime created on Azerbaijan’s occupied territories,” said Mancel. “Sahakyan’s entry to France even with Armenian passport is unacceptable.”
He pointed out that the Association expects the French government to reaffirm its position which has always been perfectly clear so far.
Earlier, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that France’s constant double standards approach makes Azerbaijan reconsider its ties with that country.
Bako Sahakyan’s visit to France, presenting himself as the “head” of the separatist regime established in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, is another unsuccessful attempt to encourage that puppet entity at the international level, the Foreign Ministry said.
“France, which created conditions for that visit and accepted “representatives” of the illegal regime, by this step not only violates the spirit of bilateral relations and the signed agreements, but also demonstrates disregard for supremacy of norms and principles of international law and the undertaken obligations,” reads the statement.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
YEREVAN. – The founder of Sasna Tsrer party and Karabakh war veteran Jirair Sefilian will be granted the citizenship of Armenia, acting Justice Minister Artak Zeynalyan said.
“The citizenship is granted by the president, we have made a positive conclusion,” he told reporters.
Asked whether the matter is president’s focus right now, Zeynalyan said the problem was solved, and the citizenship will be granted.
Spokesperson for the party Hermine Mkrtchyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am that Sefilian’s application on granting citizenship post factum was declined.
Several Turkish organizations in France release a joint statement condemning ‘hate’ against Turkey, Turks
By Omer Aydin
PARIS
Turkish civil society organizations in France responded on Friday to an Armenian group’s call to exclude Turkey from a Paris forum marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.
Several Turkish organizations including the Turkish Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB), Union of International Democrats (UID), and COJEP France released a joint statement condemning the Co-ordination Council of Armenian Organizations of France for its “hate” against Turkey and Turks.
Underlining that French President Emmanuel Macron had invited his Turkish counterpart President Recep Tayyip Erdogan along with 80 other leaders to the inaugural of Paris Peace Forum to be held on Armistice Day on Nov. 11, the statement said that the Armenian group’s call contradicted the forum’s “spirit of dialogue”.
It added that Turkish organizations in France were “pleased” with the strengthening of the long-standing relations between France and Turkey.
The statement stressed that historical issues existing between the two countries could not be resolved through “hate and malice”.
“Whether those who plant the seeds of hate like it or not, we will always remain committed to the values of freedom, fraternity and equality,” it added.
The groups emphasized that Turkey had proposed for an international commission to be established to investigate the events of 1915, but that this was rejected by Armenia.
Turkey’s position on the events of 1915 is that deaths of Armenians in eastern Anatolia in 1915 occurred after some sided with invading Russians and revolted against Ottoman forces. A subsequent relocation of Armenians resulted in numerous casualties.
Ankara does not accept the alleged “genocide,” but acknowledges there were casualties on both sides during World War I.
Turkey objects to the presentation of the incidents as “genocide” but describes the 1915 events as a tragedy for both sides.
Ankara has repeatedly proposed the creation of a joint commission of historians from Turkey and Armenia plus international experts to tackle the issue.
Yelk faction MP Edmon Marukyan will lead the proportional list of Lusavor Hayastan (Bright Armenia) party in the upcoming early election of parliament on December 9.
ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: November 5, 2018
Contact: Danielle Saroyan
Telephone: (202) 393-3434
Web: www.aaainc.org
ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY ADDRESSES CHRISTIANS AT-RISK IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Experts Panel
Speaks of Ongoing Persecution
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Armenian American
leaders and activists from across the country gathered earlier this Fall in the
nation’s capital for the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) 2018 National
Advocacy Conference & Gala in a unified effort to strengthen congressional
support for United States-Armenia relations and to raise concerns in the House
and Senate. As part of its Advocacy Conference, the Assembly organized a full
panel of experts sharing their insights of the realities of the persecuted
Christians in the Middle East.
The conference attendees heard from National Council of Churches
(NCC) President and General Secretary Jim Winkler, General Board of Church and
Society of The United Methodist Church Director Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe, and
The Religious Freedom Institute (RFI) Executive Director Kent Hill, and asked
questions about what can be done on Capitol Hill to help this minority
community. The panel was moderated by Armenian Church of America (Eastern
Diocese) Diocesan Legate Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, former NCC President and
member of President Barrack Obama’s Advisory Committee on Faith Based Initiatives.
“I think this is an excellent contribution to this assembly
to know about the suffering of Christians in the Middle East – the forgotten
minorities,” Archbishop Vicken said.
RFI Executive Director Hill started the discussion by describing
his experience traveling to Armenia while representing the U.S. Government and
USAID, and expressed his admiration at seeing some of the oldest churches in
Christian history.
He then continued with daunting facts about the current Christian
population in the Middle East, and shared with the audience findings and
statistics that he prepared for congressional testimony this past June.
“Of the three million Christians who are estimated to have been living in
Iraq and Syria in 2003, 75-80% of them have been forced to abandon their homes
because of sectarian violence, civil war, the rise of the brutal Islamic State.
Of the 1.5 million Christians in Iraq in 2003, perhaps only 200,000 remain, and
many of them are IDPs (internally displaced persons),” he said.
“Despite repeated Administration promises and Congressional
pleas to respond quickly to be of assistance to the IDPs in the quest to return
home, this simply did not happen, though I am pleased to report that in recent
months there seems to be a commitment to do more in the future than has been
done in the past,” Hill added. “It is not too late to make a
difference. We are capable of moving much more quickly than we have been
moving, but that will never happen if we are not persuaded that this is really
a priority.”
Hill is part of an Advisory Committee to USAID mandated by
Congress, comprised of faith-based organizations. He ensured the conference
attendees that, according to Congress, more money will go to help the
minorities.
Rev. Dr. Crowe explained that she has “traveled to several
Middle Eastern regions throughout the years” and has “seen some of
the disastrous results of economic, political, and nationalistic aims. And,
very often, it does in fact affect religious minorities and indigenous
peoples.”
After speaking about updates in the region, she pressed the
participants to take the next step to help the Christian minorities.
“Being with the people and hearing the stories of what their lives are
like on the ground are very, very important. So, I urge you to continue to go
and see, and then to go back to your homes and tell the stories of the
Christians in the Middle East,” Rev. Dr. Crowe concluded.
The NCC President, who recently traveled to the region, encouraged
everyone in the audience to engage in public policy advocacy and fight for the
Christian population. “Life is harder and harder for Christians throughout
the Middle East, and Christians in the United States must stand and act with
solidarity on their behalf,” NCC President Winkler said.
“We believe that Christians in the United States must be made
more aware of the dire situation of our brothers and sisters in Christ in the
Middle East and that education about their situation must be our priority for
action,” he continued. “We believe that Christians of the United
States must engage in public policy advocacy – such as what you are doing –
that supports the well-being of our church members of the Middle East. This
includes constructive remedies for the extremist violence and responses to
human rights violations throughout the region.”
The Armenian Assembly has regularly testified about the need to
protect Christian and other minority communities at risk in the Middle East and
has supported legislation such as House Resolution 390, the bipartisan Iraq and
Syria Genocide Emergency Relief and Accountability Act of 2017, spearheaded by
Helsinki Commission Co-Chair Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Religious Minorities
in the Middle East Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA).
Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the
largest Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public understanding
and awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3)
tax-exempt membership organization.
###
NR#: 2018-048
Photo Caption 1: Archbishop Vicken Aykazian introducing panel
speakers on Christians At-Risk in the Middle East during the Armenian Assembly
of America’s 2018 National Advocacy Conference
Photo Caption 2: The Religious Freedom Institute Executive
Director Kent Hill at the Armenian Assembly’s 2018 National Advocacy Conference
Photo Caption 3: General Board of Church and Society of The United
Methodist Church Director Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe at the Armenian Assembly’s
2018 National Advocacy Conference
Photo Caption 4: National Council of Churches NCC President and
General Secretary Jim Winkler at the Armenian Assembly’s 2018 National Advocacy
Conference
Available
online:
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Kent Hill.jpg
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Jim Winkler 2.jpg
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Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received on October 29 OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stephane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.
Nikol Pashinyan welcomed the visit of the Co-chairs to Armenia and highlighted their activities as the only internationally authorized negotiation format for Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement. The acting PM emphasized that necessity of commitment of all the conflicting sides for a peaceful settlement.
The interlocutors referred to Nagorno Karabakh peace process following the recent political developments in Armenia. They exchanged views over the agreements receives between the Armenian PM and Azerbaijani President in Dushanbe this year. Nikol Pashinyan highlighted the implementation of the agreements that will foster the creation of an atmosphere aimed at raising mutual confidence and progressing the peace process. The sides outlined the future possible steps.
PARIS: Empires would fall, regions reconfigure, new countries form: the end of World War I overhauled the global balance of power and redrew the maps of Europe and the Middle East.
Here is an overview.
– Revolution in Russia –
The war rang the death knell for a Russian empire already in bad shape.
Repeated defeats, crippling military spending, famines, popular anger at the World War I bloodbath: all came together in the Marxist Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.
In March that year a first revolution lead to the abdication of Nicholas II, Russia’s last tsar, and the formation of a new government that proved unable to assert control.
In November the Bolsheviks seized power in a second revolution. They immediately sought an exit from the devastating war, in which Russia had sided with the Allies against the Central Powers coalition of Germany, Austria-Hungary and others.
By December Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin had agreed an armistice to end combat; in March he agreed to a peace treaty with Germany and its allies that saw Russia give up large swathes of territory at the cost of 30 percent of its population.
Four states were created from territory once held by Russia: Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania.
– Demise of old Austria-Hungary –
At the outbreak of war in 1914, the Habsburg dynasty’s Austro-Hungarian empire — which had dominated central Europe for five centuries — stretched from Switzerland to Ukraine, grouping within it a dozen nationalities and more than 52 million people.
By the end of the conflict, the empire had exploded into several new countries, amid a nationalist fervour for autonomy.
Czechoslovakia was the first to be created, proclaimed in October 1918, and followed immediately by Yugoslavia, made up of Slavs in the southermost parts of the empire.
Austria-Hungary’s break-up was sealed in November with its signing of an armistice with the victorious Allied powers led by Britain, France and the United States.
The Paris Conference of 1919, where the final post-war peace treaty was reached, recognised the new countries and also resulted in the birth of Poland, previously divided between Austria and Russia.
Hungary lost two-thirds of its land, with Italy getting a section of the Alps region of Tyrol. And “the rest is Austria”, as the French prime minister, Georges Clemenceau, famously put it.
The separated Austria and Hungary that remained were reduced to small, landlocked countries.
– Ottoman fallout –
When Ottoman sultan Mehmed V proclaimed the “holy war” against France, Britain and Russia in November 1914, siding with the Central Powers, his empire had already lost most of its European possessions.
The setbacks it went on to suffer on the Russian front from 1915 served as a pretext to turn on its Armenian minority, labelled as traitors and suspected of harbouring nationalist sentiment.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their people were killed during the war, and almost 30 countries have recognised the killings as genocide. Turkey refuses the term but accepts that massacres took place that, along with a famine, resulted
in the deaths of 300,000-500,000 Armenians and as many Turks.
The Ottoman defeat in World War I led to the final break-up of the once-mighty empire.
A first treaty signed with the victors in Sevres, France, in 1920 chopped off enormous parts of its territory, including Arab lands, and provided for an independent Armenia and autonomous Kurdistan and ceding other areas to Greece.
It was rejected by Turkish nationalists, led by Mustapha Kemal Ataturk, who
went on to topple the sultan and establish a Turkish republic.
They imposed a new treaty that was signed in Lausanne in 1923 and in which the republic retained Anatolia and areas around the Bosphorus Strait.
– Arab raw deal –
The British were able to triumph over the Ottoman empire thanks to the revolt of the Arab tribes in Mesopotamia and Palestine, for whom they held
out the promise of independence.
But Britain was also in secret talks with France to share out the Middle East between them, as set out in the Sykes-Picot Agreement signed in May 1916.
They decided that Lebanon and Syria were to go to France, and Jordan and Iraq to Britain.
The partition would feed Arab frustration. This mounted with the 1917 Balfour Declaration that
led to the establishment within Palestine of “a national home for the Jewish people”.
The state of Israel was created 30 years later, its troubled foundations causing a conflict that continues to disrupt the region today.
PARIS: Empires would fall, regions reconfigure, new countries form: the end of World War I overhauled the global balance of power and redrew the maps of Europe and the Middle East.
Here is an overview.
– Revolution in Russia –
The war rang the death knell for a Russian empire already in bad shape.
Repeated defeats, crippling military spending, famines, popular anger at the World War I bloodbath: all came together in the Marxist Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.
In March that year a first revolution lead to the abdication of Nicholas II, Russia’s last tsar, and the formation of a new government that proved unable to assert control.
In November the Bolsheviks seized power in a second revolution. They immediately sought an exit from the devastating war, in which Russia had sided with the Allies against the Central Powers coalition of Germany, Austria-Hungary and others.
By December Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin had agreed an armistice to end combat; in March he agreed to a peace treaty with Germany and its allies that saw Russia give up large swathes of territory at the cost of 30 percent of its population.
Four states were created from territory once held by Russia: Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania.
– Demise of old Austria-Hungary –
At the outbreak of war in 1914, the Habsburg dynasty’s Austro-Hungarian empire — which had dominated central Europe for five centuries — stretched from Switzerland to Ukraine, grouping within it a dozen nationalities and more than 52 million people.
By the end of the conflict, the empire had exploded into several new countries, amid a nationalist fervour for autonomy.
Czechoslovakia was the first to be created, proclaimed in October 1918, and followed immediately by Yugoslavia, made up of Slavs in the southermost parts of the empire.
Austria-Hungary’s break-up was sealed in November with its signing of an armistice with the victorious Allied powers led by Britain, France and the United States.
The Paris Conference of 1919, where the final post-war peace treaty was reached, recognised the new countries and also resulted in the birth of Poland, previously divided between Austria and Russia.
Hungary lost two-thirds of its land, with Italy getting a section of the Alps region of Tyrol. And “the rest is Austria”, as the French prime minister, Georges Clemenceau, famously put it.
The separated Austria and Hungary that remained were reduced to small, landlocked countries.
– Ottoman fallout –
When Ottoman sultan Mehmed V proclaimed the “holy war” against France, Britain and Russia in November 1914, siding with the Central Powers, his empire had already lost most of its European possessions.
The setbacks it went on to suffer on the Russian front from 1915 served as a pretext to turn on its Armenian minority, labelled as traitors and suspected of harbouring nationalist sentiment.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their people were killed during the war, and almost 30 countries have recognised the killings as genocide. Turkey refuses the term but accepts that massacres took place that, along with a famine, resulted
in the deaths of 300,000-500,000 Armenians and as many Turks.
The Ottoman defeat in World War I led to the final break-up of the once-mighty empire.
A first treaty signed with the victors in Sevres, France, in 1920 chopped off enormous parts of its territory, including Arab lands, and provided for an independent Armenia and autonomous Kurdistan and ceding other areas to Greece.
It was rejected by Turkish nationalists, led by Mustapha Kemal Ataturk, who
went on to topple the sultan and establish a Turkish republic.
They imposed a new treaty that was signed in Lausanne in 1923 and in which the republic retained Anatolia and areas around the Bosphorus Strait.
– Arab raw deal –
The British were able to triumph over the Ottoman empire thanks to the revolt of the Arab tribes in Mesopotamia and Palestine, for whom they held
out the promise of independence.
But Britain was also in secret talks with France to share out the Middle East between them, as set out in the Sykes-Picot Agreement signed in May 1916.
They decided that Lebanon and Syria were to go to France, and Jordan and Iraq to Britain.
The partition would feed Arab frustration. This mounted with the 1917 Balfour Declaration that
led to the establishment within Palestine of “a national home for the Jewish people”.
The state of Israel was created 30 years later, its troubled foundations causing a conflict that continues to disrupt the region today.