Author: Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS

STARMUS VI: Brian May and Serj Tankian to perform Queen’s The Show Must Go On in Yerevan

August 31, 2022August 31, 2022 Emil Lazarian

15:42,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. In a few days Armenia will host the 6th edition of the STARMUS festival.

STARMUS Founding-Director, astrophysicist Garik Israelian told reporters at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex – the venue of the festival – that the festival’s format will be unique and one-of-a-kind.

“All Starmus festivals were unique and amazing and we tried to do everything for this festival which will be held in Armenia to be historic and memorable and as good as the previous ones,” Israelian said.

In addition to the lectures and discussions the festival will feature two concerts: STARMUS co-founder, Queen guitarist Brian May will deliver a performance. May performed at virtually all previous festivals, playing one or two pieces, but in Armenia he will deliver 5 and more performances.

Brian May and System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian, together with a choir, will perform Queen’s The Show Must Go On. During the musical part of the festival a special tribute will be paid to the late duduk master Jivan Gasparyan.

Israelian did not disclose further details but noted that very interesting surprises await the participants.

Other noteworthy events at the festival include the Stephen Hawking Medal awarding ceremony, the 108 Minute Round Table featuring Nobel laureates, the Star Party at Garni where telescopes will be installed.

Over 7000 participants are expected to attend the Discover the Cosmos and Change the World conference during STARMUS VI.

The main lectures, concerts and discussions will be held at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex in Yerevan.

STARMUS VI festival features presentations by legendary Astronauts, Nobel Prize Winners, prominent figures of science, technology, culture and arts.

Every edition of the festival is organized around a particular theme related to space exploration, and this year’s topic is 50 Years on Mars.

STARMUS VI will take place 5-10 September, 2022 in Yerevan.

Portuguese football star Luis Figo in Armenia to join Digitain as brand ambassador

August 31, 2022August 31, 2022 Emil Lazarian

17:00,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. Portuguese retired football player Luis Figo is now the brand ambassador for Digitain, the award-winning global sportsbook software and iGaming platform provider.

Speaking at a press conference in Yerevan, Luis Figo said he will do his best to advance the company’s projects and plans to visit various countries for business meetings in the next 6 months.

Photos by Gevorg Perkuperkyan

“It is a big honor for me to join the Digitain family, to return to Yerevan. The last time I was here I was participating in the Legends Match,” Figo said, referring to the 2018 July all-star Europe vs. Latin America exhibition football match.

“When you come to play football you don’t have much opportunity to see and get to know the culture of the country and to meet people. You just come to the airport and then to the hotel. That’s why I am very happy to return to Armenia, now I have time to get to know the country,” Figo added.

Journalists and fans got the chance to ask Figo various questions from his career, his personal life and upcoming plans.

“Playing football was my dream and I never expected to reach such level. I think that in football, just like elsewhere, if you don’t have teamwork you can’t succeed as an individual. Success depends on certain people. There can be exceptions but what matters is team spirit and team victory,” Figo said.

The Portuguese football star said he considers himself to be lucky because he’s had the chance to play in the world’s best teams with the world’s best players.

Asked in what team he’d prefer to play if he had the chance to chose, Figo said he’s been watching the matches of Liverpool since childhood, but during his career he didn’t succeed to play in England.

“They didn’t let me play in England, I think I’d play in Liverpool,” Figo said.

Comparing the football of his time to the present-day football, Figo said that life, society and technologies have developed and the difference is very big.

“I think everything has changed, there is difference in the training of the footballers, the equipment, boots, staff, technologies, there is very much information these days, but nothing has changed in terms of emotions,” Figo said.

Figo added that he’s never wanted to become a coach.

“I wanted to be a manager but not a coach,” Figo said.

Chief of General Staff of Armenian Armed Forces, Head of the ICRC delegation refer to repatriation of Armenian POWs

August 31, 2022August 31, 2022 Emil Lazarian

19:14,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. On August 30, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia, First Deputy Minister of Defense, Major General Edward Asryan received Thierry Ribo, head of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Armenia.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia, during the meeting, the issue of the speedy release and repatriation of the Armenian prisoners of war and civilians held hostage in Azerbaijan was discussed, as well as the work being done to find the missing persons.

A number of issues of cooperation were discussed, an agreement was reached to continue the participation of representatives of the Armenian armed forces in international humanitarian law courses.

The California Courier Online, September 1, 2022

August 31, 2022August 31, 2022 Emil Lazarian

The California
Courier Online, September 1, 2022

1- Before
Reconciling with Turks, Armenians

Need to
Reconcile with Each Other

By Harut
Sassounian

Publisher,
The California
Courier

www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

2- 27-year-old
becomes first Armenian appointed District Governor in Turkey

3- Letters to
the Editor

4- Turkish
intellectuals call on government

to reveal
assassination plot against Paylan

5- Armenia Continues Fight Against
COVID-19

************************************************************************************************************************************************

Before
Reconciling with Turks, Armenians

Need to
Reconcile with Each Other

By Harut
Sassounian

Publisher,
The California
Courier

www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

Can’t the Armenian government do anything right? Not a day
passes without additional bad news from Armenia and Artsakh! Rather than
blaming our enemies, we need to look at our own shortcomings and stop
inflicting more wounds on ourselves.

In the midst of the severe crisis in Armenia after the
devastating defeat in the 2020 Artsakh War, one would think that Armenian
leaders would have the wisdom to unite the nation and strengthen the military
to prevent further attacks on the country.

Surprisingly, Armenia has embarked on a course of
action that is further dividing and weakening the nation. Armenian leaders are
too incompetent to run a country with so many critical issues. Rather than
trying to minimize Armenia’s
losses, they are determined to add to the damage inflicted by its enemies.

For four years, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has been
dividing Armenians into “blacks” and “whites,” Artsakhtsis and Hayastantsis,
former leaders vs. the current one, and Armenia vs. Diaspora, at a time
when Armenians desperately need to be unified. He has threatened to slam into
the wall or the asphalt his domestic political opponents. He even went on the
campaign trail last year holding a hammer in his hand, promising to smash the
heads of those who oppose him.

Not only is Pashinyan too incompetent to lead Armenia, so are
his cabinet ministers and advisors. An incompetent leader cannot make competent
appointments.

Take for example, Pashinyan’s appointment of Zareh Sinanyan
to the post of “High Commissioner of Diaspora Affairs.” Sinanyan’s only
qualification is that he is a blind supporter of the Prime Minister.
Consequently, Sinanyan has hardly accomplished anything worthwhile during his
three years on the job, except for wasting the government’s meager budget on
his and staff’s frequent travels around the world.

Sinanyan just announced that his office will hold a “Global
Armenian Summit,” at the end of this October. One would have expected that he
would have the common sense to invite to the “Global Summit” the representatives
of all Armenian organizations and prominent individuals in Armenia and the
Diaspora, regardless of their political affiliation.

However, Sinanyan’s and the Prime Minister’s only goal is to
give the impression that they are busy doing something rather than actually
accomplishing anything useful for the nation. Sinanyan shortsightedly decided,
with the blessing of his boss, to invite to the “Global Armenian Summit”
Armenians who are the regime’s supporters, leaving out those who have dared to
oppose the current leaders. The government of Armenia is actually engaged in
dividing, rather than unifying the Diaspora.

In any other normal country, an employee like Sinanyan would
have been fired long ago for being incompetent and wasting the government’s
precious resources. However, this Prime Minister will not fire an underling who
is more incompetent than he is! Regrettably, Sinanyan does not even know his
job description. He has foolishly advocated inviting Arab immigrants to Armenia, not
realizing that his responsibility is dealing only with Diaspora Armenians, not
Arabs or other nationalities. In his frequent TV interviews, Sinanyan
constantly engages in partisan politics, criticizing major Armenian
organizations, and creating further divisions in the nation. He does not
understand that his job is not to act as a propagandist for Pashinyan’s regime,
but be a government employee who is getting paid a salary to be a bridge
between Armenia
and the Diaspora.

If the excuse of Pashinyan and Sinanyan is that their political
opponents would have refused to attend the “Global Armenian Summit,” that would
have been a good reason to invite them. Those who reject the invitation would
have looked bad and the government would have looked magnanimous rather than
petty. The Armenian government cannot behave like a thug who wants to settle
scores. Regrettably, it does not possess the maturity to rise above the fray. Armenia is the
home of all Armenians, not only those who agree with the regime. A small and
weak nation surrounded by powerful enemies cannot afford to splinter itself
into smaller fragments.

Rather than embracing all Armenians worldwide, the
government has rejected in recent weeks the entry of several prominent Diaspora
Armenians whose sole guilt is that they are opponents of the supposedly
“democratic” regime! Meanwhile, Turkish members of the Grey Wolves terrorist
group are allowed to enter Armenia
and insult the memory of the Armenian martyrs on the grounds of the Armenian
Genocide Memorial in Yerevan!

In the past 20 years, Armenia has organized several
Diaspora-Armenia conferences. None of them accomplished anything useful.
Sinanyan’s planned “Summit”
will have the same result. Pashinyan has repeatedly talked about allowing
Diaspora Armenians to assume high-level positions in the Armenian government.
Regrettably, beyond paying lip service, he has not taken any step in that
direction. Similarly, Sinanyan announced with much fanfare around a year ago
that his office will appoint Diaspora commissioners in Armenian communities
around the world. Until now, he has not appointed a single such commissioner.

When Pashinyan came to power in 2018, he pledged to increase
Armenia’s
population from less than 3 million to 5 million by the year 2050. Regrettably,
Armenia’s
population in his four years in office has declined, not increased. Beyond just
talking about encouraging repatriation to Armenia, nothing has been done.

It is high time that all Armenians unite to defend the
homeland against the powerful enemies on both sides of the border. Before
reconciling with Turks, Armenians first need to get along with each other.

************************************************************************************************************************************************
2- 27-year-old becomes first
Armenian appointed District Governor in Turkey

YEREVAN (Armenpress)—An
ethnic-Armenian Turkish lawyer is set to become the first ever Armenian to hold
the post of district governor in Turkey
after his appointment as the District Governor of Babadag, a city and district
in the Denizli Province, aynahaber.net reported.

Berk Acar, born in 1995, will soon assume the position.

He attended Private
Sahakyan Nunyan
Armenian Secondary
School and Luys
High School.

************************************************************************************************************************************************
3- Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor:

Vahakn Dadrian wasn’t just a professor and great scholar. He
was an Armenian hero who devoted his entire life to the Armenian Genocide and
was able to provide devastating evidence about that heinous crime. I read his books.

It’s shocking what they did to his grave (The California
Courier, August 18, “Taner Akcam alarmed by neglected grave of celebrated
Armenian scholar”). It is inexcusable to have his grave in Yerevan’s
Tokhmakh Cemetery. They should have buried him in
the Komitas Pantheon.

It is disgusting that they committed such disrespect to that
great man. What a shame to all of us to allow these traitors to insult Dadrian
and all Armenians who care about honor and appreciate our heroes. Dadrian was a
hero. We should consolidate our efforts to get approval for his grave to be
placed at Komitas Pantheon. How did diaspora Armenians not pay attention to
this blatant, maybe intentional criminal act?

It’s a shame that Prof. Taner Akcam had to bring it to our
attention. We should demand from the Armenian government to correct quickly
this outrageous failure. Dashnaks in Armenia should have raised hell
about it. All Armenian organizations should be ashamed for being silent. Why
not attack the government for this embarrassing situation? Let’s not forget our
main goal. After somehow electing a nationalist government, we need to go after
Turks for reparations. Dadrian’s life was devoted to genocide and its victims.
How can we tolerate anybody to treat our hero like this? If the government of Armenia doesn’t
react, we should expose them as traitors.

Stefan Martirosian,

Glendale,
CA

**********************************************************************************************************************************************
4- Turkish intellectuals call on
government

to reveal assassination plot against Paylan

YEREVAN
(Armenpress)—424 Turkish intellectuals signed a statement on August 26 urging
the government to reveal the planned assassination attempt against Garo Paylan
in 2016, which was never implemented, ARMENPRESS reported the Istanbul-based
Armenian “Agos” newspaper. Over 400 writers, journalists, politicians and
artists signed a joint statement and called on the government, political
structures and the whole of Turkey
to take steps against the Deep state and mafia forces and reveal the plan of
the assassination attempt against Garo Paylan that was prepared and left
unfinished in 2016.

“What reinforces the recklessness of these dark forces is
their confidence that they will not be subject to criminal sanctions, even if
they threaten everyone. This confidence is fueled by the current political
climate. This atmosphere must be changed immediately,” the statement said.

Last week, Garo Paylan’s lawyer noted that in 2016, some
groups brought weapons into the Turkish parliament to kill Paylan, but were
thwarted by another group.

***********************************************************************************************************************************************

5- Armenia Continues Fight Against
COVID-19

More than 2.2 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine have
been administered in Armenia
since commencing the vaccination program a year ago, authorities said on August
29. COVID-19 has deeply affected Armenia's economy. Armenia has
recorded 432,274 coronavirus cases as of August 29.

Armenia
has recorded 8,648 deaths.; 412,661 have recovered.

************************************************************************************************************************************************

California Courier Online provides readers of the Armenian News News Service with a
few of the articles in this week's issue of The California Courier. Letters to
the editor are encouraged through our e-mail address, .
Letters are published with the author’s name and location; authors are required
to disclose their identity to the editorial staff (name, address, and/or
telephone numbers for verification purposes).
California Courier subscribers can change or modify mailing addresses by
emailing .

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 08/30/2022

August 31, 2022August 31, 2022 Emil Lazarian

                                        Tuesday, 


New Armenia-Karabakh Road Opens


A section of a new road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.


A new road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia was opened to traffic late on 
Tuesday four days after Armenian withdrawal from the nearby Lachin corridor.

The five-kilometer-wide Lachin corridor became Karabakh’s sole overland link to 
Armenia following the 2020 war with Azerbaijan. Armenian forces pulled out of 
the rest of the wider Lachin district under the terms of the Russian-brokered 
ceasefire that stopped the six-week hostilities.

The truce accord called for the construction by 2024 of a new Armenia-Karabakh 
highway that will bypass the town of Lachin and two Armenian-populated villages 
located within the corridor protected by Russian peacekeeping troops.

Bowing to strong Azerbaijani pressure, the Armenian side agreed earlier this 
month to evacuate them by August 25 and start using a new bypass road 
constructed by Azerbaijan about a dozen kilometers south of that area. 
Azerbaijani troops entered those settlements on August 26 following the 
evacuation of their last ethnic Armenian residents.

Russian peacekeepers stayed on to guarantee the safety of vehicles travelling 
between Armenia and Karabakh. The Lachin corridor was officially shut down on 
Tuesday evening.

A view of the village of Aghano in the Lachin corridor, April 16, 2022.
Karabakh’s top leaders were reportedly the first to inspect and use the new 
highway leading to Armenia.

“The Russian peacekeepers have already deployed there and will control the safe 
passage of citizens,” the Karabakh police said in a statement issued earlier in 
the day.

The Karabakh leaders arrived in an Armenian border village through a 5-kilometer 
road that links up to the highway built by the Azerbaijani side. The temporary 
road will function until Armenia builds its section of the new corridor. 
Government officials in Yerevan have said that work on that section will be 
completed by next spring.

The authorities in Stepanakert revealed the Azerbaijani demands to switch to the 
new corridor as they accused Azerbaijani forces of attacking Karabakh Armenian 
army positions in early August. At least one Azerbaijani and two Karabakh 
Armenian soldiers were killed in the fighting.

Yerevan initially rejected Baku’s demands as “not legitimate,” arguing that the 
truce accord gave Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia three years to work out a joint 
“plan” for the construction of the new Armenia-Karabakh road. The Azerbaijani 
Foreign Ministry said, however, that the three sides agreed on the “route” of 
the new corridor early this year.



Baku, Yerevan Hold More Talks On Border Demarcation

        • Astghik Bedevian

Armenia - A view of an area in Armenia's Syunik province where Armenian and 
Azerbaijani troops are locked in a border standoff, May 14, 2021. (Photo by the 
Armenian Human Rights Defender's Office)


Senior Armenian and Azerbaijani government officials met in Moscow on Tuesday 
for the second round of negotiations on demarcating the long and heavily 
militarized border between the two states.

The officials make up an Armenian-Azerbaijani commission formed for that purpose 
in May. The commission is co-headed by Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian and 
his Azerbaijani counterpart Shahin Mustafayev.

“The parties discussed organizational and procedural issues, exchanged detailed 
views on regulations for joint activities of the commissions and further work,” 
the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It gave no other details of 
the meeting which was also attended by Russian officials led by Deputy Prime 
Minister Alexei Overchuk.

The Russian Foreign Ministry reported, for its part, that the meeting took place 
“with the advisory assistance of Russia.”

“The Russian delegation expressed its readiness to continue to provide advisory 
and technical assistance in the negotiations between the delegations of 
Azerbaijan and Armenia on the delimitation of the state border between the two 
countries,” it said.

Overchuk, Grigorian and Mustafayev also co-chair a Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani 
working group dealing with practical modalities of opening transport links 
between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The group was set up shortly after the 
Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped the war in Nagorno-Karabakh in November 
2020.

Deputy Prime Ministers Mher Grigorian (left) of Armenia, Alexei Overchuk 
(center) of Russia and Shahin Mustafaev of Azerbaijan.
The demarcation process is meant to end long-running border disputes and 
skirmishes between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces that have broken out 
regularly throughout the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Armenian government insisted until this spring that the delimitation and 
demarcation of the border should begin after a set of confidence-building 
measures, notably the withdrawal of Armenian and Azerbaijani troops from their 
border posts. Baku rejected that demand.

Vigen Khachatrian, an Armenian pro-government parliamentarian, said on Tuesday 
that Yerevan was right to start the demarcation talks despite Baku’s stance.

“I think that this is going to be a very long process,” Khachatrian told 
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “There will be enough time to discuss [the troop 
withdrawal.] This is a very delicate issue and we should avoid preconditions.”

But Tigran Abrahamian, a senior opposition lawmaker, reiterated Armenian 
opposition concerns over the outcome of the process. He claimed that Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian may agree to cede large chunks of Armenian territory to 
Azerbaijan.

“This haste is certainly not in Armenia’s interests because due to this 
government Armenia is currently not in a position to secure favorable terms for 
itself,” said Abrahamian.



EU’s Michel Phones Armenian, Azeri Leaders Ahead Of Summit

        • Lusine Musayelian

Belgium - European Council President Charles Michel, Armenian Prime Minister 
Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev begin a trilateral 
meeting in Brussels, April 6, 2022.


European Council President Charles Michel spoke with the leaders of Armenia and 
Azerbaijan by phone on Tuesday one day before holding another trilateral meeting 
with them in Brussels.

Michel, who heads the European Union’s top decision-making body, reported the 
“preparatory calls” on his Twitter page. He gave no details of the conversations.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s office said he discussed with Michel the 
agenda of the Brussels talks slated for Wednesday. For its part, the Armenian 
government said Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and the EU leader expressed hope 
that the talks will be productive.

The previous meetings of the three men took place in April and May. Michel 
reported major progress after them. In particular, he said on May 23 that Aliyev 
and Pashinian agreed to “advance discussions” on a comprehensive peace treaty 
between their countries.

Aliyev’s chief foreign policy aide, Hikmet Hajiyev, said over the weekend that 
the upcoming summit should result in the formation of a working group tasked 
with drafting the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty. Pashinian’s office did not 
confirm or deny that.

Baku wants the treaty to uphold Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh. Yerevan 
has said, for its part, that such a document should address the disputed 
territory’s status.



Hundreds Of Armenians Still Missing After 2020 Karabakh War


Armenia - Kristine Grigorian addresses the National Assembly shorly before being 
elected Armenia's new human rights defender, Yerevan, January 24, 2022.


More than 300 Armenian soldiers and civilians remain unaccounted for after the 
war in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia’s human rights ombudswoman, Kristine Grigorian, 
said on Tuesday.

“According to data presented by the International Committee of the Red Cross in 
August 2022, 303 persons are still considered missing as a result of the 44-day 
war in 2020,” Grigorian said in a statement marking the International Day of the 
Disappeared.

The figure presumably includes ethnic Armenian residents of Karabakh. About two 
dozen local civilians were listed as missing as of September 2021. According to 
the authorities in Stepanakert, most of them lived in Karabakh towns and 
villages captured by Azerbaijani forces during the six-week hostilities stopped 
by a Russian-brokered ceasefire in November 2020.

“The lack of cooperation by Azerbaijani authorities makes it impossible to 
accurately estimate the number of missing persons, obtain credible information 
about their fate or whereabouts, and ascertain whether they are still alive,” 
read a separate statement released by the Armenian Foreign Ministry on the 
occasion.

Grigorian similarly accused Baku of providing “distorted or no information at 
all on the prisoners of war, civilian captives, and missing persons” in breach 
of international humanitarian law.

Armenian soldiers are thought to make up a majority of the missing persons. Baku 
has acknowledged holding only 39 prisoners of war and civilian captives.

Human rights lawyers in Yerevan say they have documentary evidence suggesting 
that at least 80 other Armenians were also captured during the war. The Foreign 
Ministry statement described the Armenian prisoners as hostages.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, as many as 4,900 
people from both conflicting sides have been missing since the start of the 
first Armenian-Azerbaijani war in 1991.


Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2022 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

European Women’s Individual Chess Championship: Armenia’s Maria Gevorgyan 2nd in standings after 8th round

August 30, 2022August 30, 2022 Emil Lazarian

European Women's Individual Chess Championship: Armenia’s Maria Gevorgyan 2nd in standings after 8th round

09:49,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. At the 8th round of the European Women's Individual Chess Championship in Prague, Team Armenia’s Maria Gevorgyan, Elina Danielyan, Mariam Mkrtchyan, Lilit Mkrtchyan and Susanna Gaboyan all recorded victories while Anna Sargsyan lost.

Maria Gevorgyan is ranked 2nd in the standings with 6,5 points.

Poland’s Monika Soćko is leading the ranking with 7 points.

Elina Danielyan and Lilit Mkrtchyan have 6 points each.

125 chess players are competing in the 11-round tournament which will end on August 31.

Iranian-Armenian pastor begins 10-year prison sentence

August 30, 2022August 30, 2022 Emil Lazarian

Aug 30 2022

An Iranian-Armenian pastor has today begun serving a 10-year prison sentence for holding church services in his home.

Joseph Shahbazian, who is 58 years old, was yesterday given 24 hours to hand himself in to the authorities at Tehran’s Evin Prison, and did so today at around midday, Iranian time.

Meanwhile, a Christian convert sentenced to six years in prison for her involvement in Joseph’s “house-church” was given a stay of execution, because she is still recovering from a broken leg.

Mina Khajavi, who is 59 years old, also received a summons to prison yesterday, but was today told by the prison authorities that she could return home until she has recovered.

Mina’s leg was broken in three places as a result of a recent car accident, and she was only released from her cast two days ago. The authorities at Evin told her that a government-certified doctor must now review her medical records and confirm her condition, upon which she may be given up to six weeks’ recovery time before being required to serve her sentence.

Two other Christian converts, mother and daughter Masoumeh Ghasemi and Somayeh (Sonya) Sadegh, were also summoned yesterday to pay within 24 hours fines of 24 million ($950) and 40 million ($1,275) tomans, respectively.

Masoumeh and Sonya had also been handed prison sentences of one year and four years, respectively, but were permitted by the judge to pay fines instead.

The same was true for two other converts in the case, Farhad Khazaee and Salar Eshraghi Moghadam, who again were sentenced to one year and four years, respectively, but permitted to pay fines instead.

The seventh Christian in the case, 48-year-old convert Malihe Nazari, also faces a six-year prison sentence, though it is not yet known whether or not she has been summoned.

Left to right: Malihe Nazari, Mina Khajavi, Joseph Shahbazian, Sonya Sadegh, and Masoumeh Ghasemi.

The seven Christians in the case were among at least 35 Christians arrested or interrogated by intelligence agents belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in a coordinated operation over two days and across three cities in the summer of 2020.

They were eventually sentenced in June this year, and their appeals were rejected just two weeks ago.

Another Iranian-Armenian pastor, 60-year-old Anooshavan Avedian, is also awaiting a summons in a separate case to serve a 10-year sentence on similar charges.

Meanwhile, an elderly man with Parkinson’s disease, Homayoun Zhaveh, and his wife, Sara Ahmadi, recently began serving their own prison sentences, of two and eight years, respectively, also as a result of charges relating to their involvement in a house-church.

In Iran, while Christians are one of three officially recognised religious minorities, converts are not recognised as Christians and are not permitted to attend the churches of the “recognised” Christians of Armenian and Assyrian descent – Christians like Joseph and Anooshavan, who themselves are not permitted to proselytise.

At the same time, Iran is a signatory of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which enshrines freedom of religion, including the freedom to change one’s religion and to share it with others.

However, in reality, there is no such freedom, as seen clearly in the above-mentioned cases, which all relate to Christians worshipping together in their homes because Persian-speaking Christians have no place to worship, as highlighted in the Place2Worship campaign.

Last week, eight UN experts called on the Iranian authorities to stop “persecuting and harassing” members of religious minorities, including Christian converts.

On the same day, the British Ambassador to Iran, Simon Shercliff, tweeted a message in the Persian language promoting religious freedom, including freedom to share one’s faith with others and to change one’s belief.

“Everyone should be free to choose any religion/belief, practise it freely, share their religion … and also freely change their religion/belief,” he wrote.

Also that same day, 22 August, which is the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief, the Secretary-General of the Spanish Evangelical Alliance, Emilio Carmona, wrote to the Iranian embassy in Spain about the cases of Joseph, Anooshavan, Mina and Malihe.

“These people were simply exercising their freedom of thought, conscience and religion, as well as their freedom of _expression_, as defined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ratified by their country,” he wrote.

“This case leads me to ask you: if Christians cannot meet in their homes, where should they meet to worship? I know there are many Christians in Iran, so they should be able to meet somewhere. Can Christian believers be safe when they go to a church to worship together?”

Earlier this month, Article18 joined partner organisations CSW, Open Doors, Middle East Concern and the World Evangelical Alliance in sending a joint report to the UN’s Human Rights Committee on the situation of Christians in Iran, in which we asked the committee to demand that Iran answers that very question:

“Please clarify how Persian speakers in Iran, whatever their ethnicity, may freely gather to worship, as envisaged by Article 18 of the [International] Covenant [on Civil and Political Rights],” we wrote.

We continue to await an answer.

https://articleeighteen.com/news/11617/

Reprinted at

NATO must expand presence in Arctic, says Stoltenberg

August 30, 2022August 30, 2022 Emil Lazarian

12:18,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. NATO must prioritize its military presence in the Arctic, the military alliance's chief Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday, DW reports.

Stoltenberg’s comments come amid heightened concerns in the West about Russia's increasing military activity in the polar region.

In an interview with Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Stoltenberg said the Arctic was of "great strategic importance" to NATO.

"NATO must increase its presence in the Arctic," Stoltenberg was quoted by DW as saying.

He said the defense alliance is "already investing in maritime reconnaissance aircraft to be able to get a clear picture of what is going on in the far north. But we will continue to step up our efforts."

Stoltenberg said that Russia has recently intensified its activities in the resource-rich area by "reopening Soviet-era bases" and "stationing and testing new state-of-the-art weapons there, such as hypersonic missiles."

China, too, is increasingly interested in the Arctic, he added, noting how the region is becoming increasingly important for shipping due to climate change.

France congratulates Philip Reeker on appointment as new United States Co-Chair of OSCE Minsk Group

August 30, 2022August 30, 2022 Emil Lazarian

12:24,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. France congratulated Philip Reeker on his appointment as the new United States Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group.

“Congratulations to Philip Reeker on his appointment as Senior Adviser for Caucasus Negotiations and as Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group for the United States,” the French Mission to the OSCE said on twitter.

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken appointed Ambassador Philip T. Reeker as Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations, who will also serve as U.S. OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair.

EAEU countries discuss creating Eurasian Agency for Strategic Initiatives

August 30, 2022August 30, 2022 Emil Lazarian

15:32,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is considering the idea of creating a Eurasian Agency of Strategic Initiatives, reports TASS.

The issue has been discussed by the economy ministers of the Union’s member states and has been presented to the Eurasian Economic Commission in the platforms of the Eurasian Inter-governmental Council.

EEC Minister of Integration and Macroeconomics Sergei Glazev said that it is proposed to build the work based on the consortium of national strategic planning agencies. “The purpose of the activity of that consortium could be the development of a general methodology for the assessment of investment projects, on raising the investment attractiveness and preparing investment projects”, he said.

The sides agreed to continue the work in that direction and proposed the EEC to develop a concept for creating the Eurasian Agency for Strategic Initiatives and a draft agreement.