Author: Elizabeth Jabejian

On November 19, the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s Greek affiliate will kick off its sixth annual phoneathon. In the course of the two-day fundraising event, volunteers will make calls to close to 1,600 Armenian households in Athens and other Greek cities, to request donations toward the construction of the kindergarten of Karin Tak, a village in Artsakh’s Shushi Region. The kindergarten-construction project, now underway, is a joint initiative with Hayastan All-Armenian Fund benefactors in Argentina and Cyprus as well as the government of Artsakh. The project is slated to be completed in summer 2017.

“Although for a small Armenian community such as ours, it’s hard to sponsor major projects on our own, we continue to help implement them by teaming up with other affiliates of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund,” said Vatche Der-Garabedian, chairman of the fund’s Greek affiliate. “I think such collaborative efforts are marvelous symbols of pan-national unity. It’s thanks to this type of collaboration that projects such as the construction of the community center of Khachmach, a village in Artsakh’s Askeran Region, were made possible.” Der-Garabedian added that if, as he hopes, proceeds from the phoneathon in Greece surpass expectations, the Greek-Armenian community will go on to sponsor an additional development project in the homeland.

The total raised through the phoneathon in Greece, as well as the totals of proceeds from all 2016 Hayastan Fund fundraising campaigns worldwide, will be announced at the conclusion of the organization’s flagship annual event, the Thanksgiving Day Telethon, on November 24.

Emulating the successful model of the fund’s Pan-European Phoneathon, which is headed by the French affiliate, the Greek affiliate has held local phoneathons since 2010, to date raising a total of 140,000 euros for various projects in Armenia.

 

 

 

Donald Trump’s election as 45th President of the United States will not bringserious changes in the country’s long-established policy, but will lead to a shift in the country’s position at least on some issues, Head of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Bureau’s Hay Dat and Political Affairs Office Giro Manoyan said in an interview with Public Radio of Armenia.

He believes that the improvement of relations with Russia can open up opportunities for us.

However, he said “we have to take into consideration the relations between Turkey and the US, the President-elect’s relations with the Azerbaijani leadership, which will also inevitably influence the Armenia-US relations, and the US stance on the Karabakh issue and other Armenia-related issues.”

Photo: Reuters

 

The detention of journalists from independent newspaper Cumhuriyet, the closure of the remaining Kurdish media, and the jailing of elected mayors in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir in the space of two days is evidence of the deepening crackdown in Turkey, Human Rights Watch said today.

On the morning of October 31, 2016, police detained Murat Sabuncu, the editor of the independent Cumhuriyet daily newspaper and, during the course of the day, 11 more of its journalists and managers. There are warrants out for the arrest of at least three more, including former editor Can Dündar. The Istanbul prosecutor alleges that the newspaper has “committed crimes on behalf of” both the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and what the government refers to as the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization, led by the US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen.

“Targeting one of Turkey’s last independent opposition newspapers with ludicrous charges shows the depths of the Turkish government and president’s crackdown,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey director at Human Rights Watch. “Over 160 media outlets have been closed down since the failed coup, and there are few critical voices that have not been ruthlessly silenced.”

AFP Photo/Jonathan Alcorn

 

AFP – French singing legend Charles Aznavour, one of the 20th century’s most prolific songwriters who remains active at 92, was honored Thursday with a Hollywood star presented by California’s Armenians.

Aznavour, often dubbed France’s Frank Sinatra, said he was “deeply moved” by the recognition.

The star is not on Hollywood Boulevard’s main Walk of Fame but was dedicated by the Armenian community on a nearby stretch of sidewalk.

“I’ve been coming to Hollywood for years and I’ve worked a lot in the United States,” Aznavour told AFP. “America is the land of show business.”

Aznavour was born in France to Armenian parents. Some 1.5 million Armenians died in 1915-17 in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire in what Armenia, several foreign parliaments and many historians describe as genocide.

Turkey strongly opposes the characterization of genocide, calling the episode a collective tragedy in which an equal number of Turks and Armenians died.

“What I find very funny is that Turkey lost something. They don’t have a single great singer and I could have been a Turkish singer, while today I’m a French singer,” Aznavour said.

“Which goes to show that there’s no purpose to genocide as there are always survivors,” he said.

Aznavour has written hundreds of songs in a career that spans more than 80 years, with more than 100 million records sold worldwide.

He remains energetic and said he still feels excitement before crowds. Earlier in October he played Madison Square Garden in New York.

“I feel like I’m meeting my family, whether they’re Italian or Spanish or from elsewhere. The audience is part of my family. The stage is where I’m happiest.”

And he said he is not finished. “I always have 40 songs ahead of me. I write every day.”

The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan are not ready for the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, US Secretary of State John Kerry said, speaking The Atlantic and Aspen Institute, the informs.

He said there are some frozen conflicts in the world today, where one sees no solution right now “because the leaders aren’t ready, because the tensions aren’t there.”

Secretary Kerry referred to the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Syria crisis and other conflicts in the world.

Kim Kardashian has decided that she wants to go to law school, according to the .

During an interview for the cover of magazine, the 35-year-old reality star — who never went to college — said she hopes to get a law degree someday.

“If things slow down and I had time, I really want to go to law school — just something I can do in my older age,” Kardashian said.

Kardashian’s father Robert — who was part of the team that represented O.J. Simpson — was an attorney who got his law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law.

On behalf of the European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA), I extend my warmest congratulations to the Armenian people as it celebrates the 25th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Armenia, on September 21st.

On this special day, I reaffirm EuFoA’s unwavering and steadfast commitments to strengthen Armenia’s independence, and to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Armenia in their quest for democracy, justice and prosperity, and their legitimate aspirations for peace and security.

As an organisation seeking to support integration and build bridges between Armenia and Europe, EuFoA congratulates the citizens and leaders of Armenia on their achievements over the past quarter century, and wishes them success on their way to build a fairer, safer and more prosperous society, in cooperation with their European friends.

Long live Armenia and the Armenian nation!

One of Japan’s most active volcanoes is due for a major eruption within the next 30 years, say scientists who have studied a build-up of magma there, the BBC reports.

The Sakurajima volcano on Japan’s Kyushu island poses a “growing threat”, researchers at the University of Bristol say.

The volcano, located 49km (30 miles) from the Sendai nuclear plant, is also close to Kagoshima, a city of 600,000.

Sakurajima’s last deadly eruption was in 1914, when 58 people died.

The Japanese archipelago, which sits on the Pacific “Ring of fire”, has more than 100 volcanoes. Sakurajima regularly spews ash and there are many small explosions there each year, with the latest eruption being in February.

Photo: AFP

 

At least 33 tourists who spent a cold Thursday night trapped in several cable cars high above the French Alps have been rescued, officials say, the BBC reports.

The tourists were suspended above the glaciers of Mont Blanc at an altitude of about 3,800m (12,468ft) after wires carrying the cars became tangled.

They were among 110 people initially trapped when the cable cars ground to a halt on Thursday afternoon.

The cars are believed to have stopped after cables tangled in high winds.

Those trapped overnight were freed on Friday after rescuers managed to restart the cars by relaxing the tension of tangled cables.

Photo: AP

 

A man named Vladimir Putin – who is not the Russian president – has been arrested in a Florida supermarket on trespassing charges.

The 48-year-old man, who shares the same name as the Russian leader, was arrested on charges of trespassing and resisting an officer without violence at a Publix supermarket in downtown West Palm Beach last week.

Police said Mr Putin was screaming at employees and refused to leave the supermarket. He then left and returned again to scream some more.

Mr Putin was asked to leave the property again but sat outside on its patio instead, 

A police report said Mr Putin initially refused to give officers his name.

Mr Putin appeared in court on Monday morning and was released with another court date set for September.