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

Armenian Ambassador, Kazakh deputy FM discuss regional and international issues

Emil Lazarian

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 14:15,

YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. Newly-appointed Ambassador of Armenia to Kazakhstan Armen Ghevondyan presented the copy of his credentials to Deputy Foreign Minister Yermukhambet Konuspayev, the Embassy of Armenia in Kazakhstan reported.

The sides exchanged ideas about the current situation of the Armenian-Kazakh mutual partnership and the development prospects, including within multilateral and integration unions.

They also discussed the timetable of contacts over bilateral inter-state cooperation mechanisms.

The relevant issues of the regional and international agenda were also touched upon.

The Kazakh deputy foreign minister wished the Armenian Ambassador success in fulfilling the priorities of Armenia’s diplomatic mission in Kazakhstan.

Shell to launch network of filling stations in Armenia

Emil Lazarian

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 16:56,

YEREVAN, MAY 12, ARMENPRESS. The British-Dutch oil and gas company Shell will launch a network of filling stations in Armenia this autumn, the Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan told ARMENPRESS.

“The Shell filling station network will be launched in Armenia already in autumn,” Kerobyan said.

Kerobyan said the filling stations will be of new quality and standards. The plan to open the gas stations existed since last year.

Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers discuss normalisation

Emil Lazarian
 

ByIsmi AghayevandAni Avetisyan

The foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia have met in Dushanbe to discuss the normalisation of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The discussion between Armenia’s Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijan’s Jeyhun Bayramov took place on Thursday on the sidelines of a meeting of the Russia-led Commonwealth of Independent States.

It comes after almost two weeks of opposition protests in the Armenian capital Yerevan sparked by fears the Armenian government planned to make concessions over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh in a peace agreement with Azerbaijan.

In their statement on the talks, the Azerbaijani foreign ministry said they had discussed ‘the conclusion of a peace agreement between the two countries’.

In a post on Twitter following the meeting, Yerevan-based political analyst Tigran Grigoryan pointed out that the Armenian and Russian statements did not mention any ‘peace agreement’, which he suggested could mean they intended to separate normalisation from the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Mirzoyan also emphasised that he reiterated Armenia’s position on the ‘rights of Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and the status of Nagorno-Karabakh’ during the meeting.

Both sides mentioned that fulfilling the terms of the 9 November ceasefire agreement was discussed, including normalising relations, border delimitation, and the opening of transport links.

The issue of a peace agreement has led to unrest in Armenia, with the opposition attempting to topple the government of Nikol Pashinyan.

On 6 April, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met with Pashinyan in Brussels, along with EU Council President Charles Michel.

Readouts of the meeting said the parties agreed to start work on a ‘peace agreement’ and establish a joint commission on the delimitation of borders.

Pashinyan’s statement following the April meeting, as well as a speech to Parliament hinting at concessions on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, sparked outrage in Armenia, leading to the protests that are still ongoing.

On 11 May, during a call with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, President Aliyev reportedly said that Armenia had accepted a five-point peace agreement proposed by Azerbaijan and that steps were being taken to implement this.

Armenia disputed this, claiming they had sent an additional six-point proposal to Azerbaijan to be included in the peace talks.

Blinken reportedly stressed that the United States was ready to support the delimitation and demarcation of borders between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the opening of transport links.


iGorts: 300 Diaspora specialists apply for work in Armenia’s public sector

Emil Lazarian
Public Radio of Armenia
, 11:19

 1 minute read

Nearly 300 Diaspora Armenian professionals from 31 countries have applied for participation in the iGorts program, the Office of the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs reports.

Applications have been received from Russia, the United States, Lebanon, Ukraine, Belgium, Iran, Canada, France, Germany, Belarus, Argentina, Switzerland, Norway Italy and other countries. Professionals from the Netherlands, Jordan, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, and New Zealand have applied to the program for the first time.

The program provides an opportunity for specialists from the Diaspora to work in more than 25 departments in Armenia and Artsakh for a year, bringing their experience and knowledge, initiating new programs, and starting their careers in their Homeland.

All applicants have a bachelor’s degree with at least five years of professional experience or a master’s degree (or higher) with three years of professional experience. This year the applicants include graduates from Harvard, Bradford University, MSU, Columbia University, and UCLA.

This year the oldest applicant is 77 years old, and the average age of candidates for the program is 35 years.

After the final round, 50 specialists from the Diaspora will begin their career in Armenia in September 2022. The government of the Republic of Armenia will offer a round-trip air ticket, a monthly stipend of 336.000 AMD AMD to cover living expenses, emergency medical insurance, and a one-year residency status fee for the participants.

Over the past two years more than 100 specialists started their work in the public sector of Armenia and Artsakh, 70% of them decided to repatriate.

iGorts is the only state program in the history of Armenia that invites specialists from the Diaspora to help change Armenia’s administration system using their skills.

His Holiness Aram I receives Armenian and Russian Ambassadors to Lebanon

Emil Lazarian
Public Radio of Armenia
, 22:01

 

On Friday, May 13th, 2022, His Holiness Aram I received the Russian Ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Rudakov, and the Armenian Ambassador to Lebanon, Vahagn Atabekyan respectively, in Antelias.

Armenia and the war in Ukraine were the focus of the hour-long discussion with the Russian Ambassador. His Holiness presented his ideas and concerns.

Ambassador Rudakov, in turn, clarified Russia’s position on the Ukraine issue and Russia’s effort to seek mutually understandable solutions between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

It should be noted that a few days ago His Holiness had received a personal letter from the head of the Russian Church, Patriarch Kirill, with whom Catholicos Aram I has been friends for many years.

In the afternoon, the Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to Lebanon, Vahagn Atabekian, also visited the Patriarch. The meeting was an occasion to make a general reference to the issues concerning Armenia.

Artsakh flag raised in Ryde, Australia

Emil Lazarian
Panorama
Armenia –

POLITICS 13:00 13/05/2022 WORLD

On Monday 9 May 2022, the most Armenian populated municipality in Australia, the City of Ryde raised the flag of the Republic of Artsakh at Kissing Point Park, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU).

The flag of Artsakh, which is currently under occupation after a brutal 44-day offensive launched against the self-determined Armenian Republic by the Azerbaijani and Turkish dictatorships, will fly alongside the Australian flag for the next two weeks after a solidarity motion was passed by the City of Ryde Council.

The motion was moved by Mayor Jordan Lane with the support of Armenian-Australian Councillor Sarkis Yedelian reaffirming the City of Ryde’s commitment to friendship city, Artsakh’s capital Stepanakert. The Resolution can be viewed here.

The formal ceremony took place in the presence of over 30 Armenian-Australian community leaders as Armenians worldwide and the people of Artsakh celebrated the anniversary of the liberation of Shushi, currently one of the many ancestral Armenian towns under occupation by Azerbaijani forces.

Councillor Yedelian welcomed attendees and commenced the ceremony’s formalities with a minute’s silence honouring the thousands of innocent Armenian victims who lost their lives in the 44-day Nagorno Karabakh war. Mayor Jordan Lane affirmed Council’s support for the Armenian-Australian community of Ryde and the people of Artsakh in their fight against modern manifestations of the 1915 Armenian Genocide.

Armenian-Australian community leaders who were present at ceremony also heard from the the Republic of Artsakh’s Permanent Representative in Australia, Kaylar Michaelian, ANC-AU Political Affairs Director Michael Kolokossian and Archbishop of the Armenian Diocese of Australia and New Zealand, His Eminence Haigzaoun Najarian

Michaelian thanked the City of Ryde Councillors for their ongoing commitment to the Armenian people of Artsakh.

“We express our deepest appreciation to Mayor Jordan Lane, Councillor Sarkis Yedelian and all the City of Ryde Councillors for this special event, which will bring pride and joy to the people of Artsakh, who are comforted knowing 14,000km away in Australia there are good people who value the importance of human rights,” he said.

ANC-AU Political Affairs Director, Michael Kolokossian echoed these sentiments.

“The City of Ryde remains the yardstick among cities around the world saying no to illegal occupation by force, and no to Azerbaijan’s trampling over the indigenous Armenian people of Artsakh’s human right to self-determination, independence and democracy,” Kolokossian said.

The ceremony concluded with the official raising of the Republic of Artsakh flag conducted by Homenetmen Ararat Scouts member George Keshishian.

In 2019, the City of Ryde unanimously voted on a resolution to form a Friendship City with the capital of Republic of Artsakh, Stepanakert.

Councillor Jerome Laxale, a candidate for the Federal seat of Bennelong and the City of Ryde’s Mayor when the Council recognised Artsakh’s independence and formed the Friendship City relationship with Stepanakert, declared his pride at this latest show of solidarity.

“I am proud to be part of a City Council that has always championed the rights to self-determination of the Armenian Republic of Artsakh. As Mayor, I seconded motions recognising Artsakh and forming a Friendship City with its capital Stepanakert,” Laxale said.

“Today, the City of Ryde raised the Artsakh flag at Kissing Point Wharf, in support of the occupied Republic. I salute the people of Artsakh, which is always Armenian,” added Laxale.

Simon Kennedy, also a candidate for Bennelong, added: “We have a proud Armenian community here in Bennelong and Monday’s flag raising event was a powerful symbol of the bond between our local community and the people of the Republic of Artsakh.”

“I congratulate everyone involved in this initiative, particularly the Armenian National Committee for their advocacy and the City of Ryde for this powerful symbolic gesture,” added Kennedy.

Lawyers seek closure of Open Society Foundations office in Armenia

Emil Lazarian
Panorama
Armenia –

A group of lawyers plan to apply to a court to end the operations of American billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundations in Armenia, famous lawyer Tigran Atanesyan said in a statement on Friday.

He accused the foundation of “sowing the seeds of division and destruction all over the world.”

“The example of our state makes it clear that, in fact, this foundation and its beneficiaries are extremely far from the real goal of building civil society. The foundation actually seeks the destruction of a specific state with far-reaching and calculated political goals,” Atanesian wrote.

He highlights that supporters and beneficiaries of the foundation backed the 2018 “revolution” in Armenia, while now they remain silent about violations of the rights of the opposition.

“These days, Soros’ hirelings are making ordered statements advocating the handover of Artsakh to the enemy. The first step to get Armenia out of the current situation should be to take legal action to ban the operations of the Soros foundation and liquidate it in Armenia,” the lawyer stated.

“A Yerevan court of first instance is now hearing a criminal case in which a beneficiary of Soros’ foundation is accused of inciting ethnic hatred between Yezidis and Armenians. The perpetrator received a tidy sum from corrupt oligarch Soros. His foundation has now taken up the defense of its colleague in a panic which is not surprising, since in a normal country such a criminal prosecution may server as a legal basis for recognizing the operations of the Open Society Foundations illegal and dangerous for the public, thus banning them.

“Although the court has not yet issued a verdict in the case and the defendant is entitled to the presumption of innocence, given the crucial moment and the imperative to immediately stop the activities of a foreign network of agents in the country, I and several of my colleagues have decided to apply to a court to demand that the operations of the Open Society Foundations in Armenia be halted,” he said.

Head of Migration Service of Armenia participates in meeting of high-ranking officials of Prague Process in Vienna

Emil Lazarian

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 17:47,

YEREVAN, MAY 12, ARMENPRESS. On May 12, Armen Ghazaryan, Head of the Migration Service of Armenia, took part in a meeting of high-ranking officials of the Prague Process organized by the International Center for Migration Policy Development in Vienna.

ARMENPRESS reports the Migration Service of Armenia informed, noting that representatives of 26 countries of the European and Eurasian region took part in the discussion. The meeting is convened to discuss the Ministerial Conference Prague Process Action Plan for 2023-2027.

The documents are based on six directions:

prevent and fight against irregular migration and migrant exploitation,

develop the capacity of actors in the field of asylum and international defense;

encourage readmission, voluntary return and sustainable reintegration;

encourage readmission, voluntary return and sustainable reintegration;

target regular migration and human mobility, emphasizing labor migration;

encourage the integration of migrants legally residing in host countries;

turn migration and human mobility into a positive development resource.

“The points mentioned in the Action Plan are mainly in line with the principles and directions of the Armenian Government’s action plan related to migration,” said Armen Ghazaryan, Head of the Migration Service, presenting the priorities of the Service and the main directions of its work.

In this context, he attached importance to the digitalization of processes in the field of migration, cooperation with the Armenian office of the International Center for Migration Policy Development, and presented the work on migration policy, return and reintegration, legal migration.

The discussion will continue on May 13, the documents to be discussed will be presented at the ministerial meeting in Prague in October this year.

Congressional Support Grows for Armenian Genocide Education Act

Emil Lazarian
 by Contributor

 

 

 

in Community, Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories
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Support continues to grow for the Armenian Genocide Education Act (H.R.7555)

ANCA-Backed measure, led by Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Gus Bilirakis, Seeks $10 Million in Funding for Armenian Genocide Education

WASHINGTON— Bipartisan Congressional support for the Armenian Genocide Education Act (H.R.7555) continues to grow, with 62 U.S. Representatives from across the country cosponsoring the measure spearheaded by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), reported the Armenian National Committee of America.

The landmark ANCA-backed legislation, introduced on the eve of the international commemoration of the Armenian Genocide on April 24th, seeks to provide $10 million in funding over five years for the Library of Congress to help educate Americans about Ottoman Turkey’s systematic and deliberate state-sponsored mass murder, national dispossession, cultural erasure, and exile of millions of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Arameans, Maronites, and other Christians, between 1915 and 1923.

“The ANCA welcomes the growing momentum for swift passage of the Armenian Genocide Education Act (H.R.7555), a bipartisan measure to ensure that educators have the resources they need to teach about the Armenian Genocide in the framework of human rights and genocide prevention,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “Our ANCA regional and local teams are working hard with a broad coalition of educational, ethnic, and human rights groups to build Congressional and Administration support to enact this landmark bill.”

Armenian Genocide Education Act lead author Rep. Maloney, who is a former teacher, explained the importance of genocide education during moving remarks at the April 27th Capitol Hill Armenian Genocide Observance.  “People are not born with hate; they learn it. But through education, we have to teach understanding and acceptance, and we have to teach the truth about the Armenian Genocide. Last year, President Biden made it clear that it is the official position of the U.S. that these systematic killings were ‘genocide,’ and it is now imperative that we ensure Americans have access to the resources they need to learn and teach about this atrocity.”

Rep. Maloney’s complete remarks at the Capitol Hill Armenian Genocide Observance

The most recent congressional cosponsors of H.R.7555 include Representatives: Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Judy Chu (D-CA), Veronica Escobar (D-TX), Steven Horsford (D-NV), Jared Huffman (D-CA), James Langevin (D-RI), Susie Lee (D-NV), Edwin Perlmutter (D-CO), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Michelle Steel (R-CA), Haley Stevens (D-MI), and Tom Suozzi (D-NY).

They join lead authors Rep. Carolyn Maloney and Rep. Gus Bilirakis and original cosponsors, Representatives: Nanette Barragan (D-CA), Karen Bass (D-CA), Tony Cardenas (D-CA), David Cicilline (D-RI), Katherine Clark (D-MA), Lou Correa (D-CA), Jim Costa (D-CA), Danny Davis (D-IL), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), John Garamendi (D-CA), Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Josh Harder (D-CA), Brian Higgins (D-NY), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Young Kim (R-CA), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), Brenda Lawrence (D-MI), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), James McGovern (D-MA), Grace Meng (D-NY), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Joe Neguse (D-CO), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Scott Peters (D-CA), Katie Porter (D-CA), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), John Sarbanes (D-MD), Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Christopher Smith (R-NJ), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Jackie Speier (D-CA), Eric Swalwell (D-CA), Dina Titus (D-NV), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Lori Trahan (D-MA), David Valadao (R-CA), and Juan Vargas (D-CA).

In addition to the ANCA, the Armenian Genocide Education Act already has the support of a diverse and growing coalition of ethnic, faith-based, and educational organizations, including the American Friends of Kurdistan, Armenian Assembly of America, Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights, Armenian National Institute, Assyrian Policy Institute, The Genocide Education Project, Hellenic American Leadership Council, Hindu American Foundation, In Defense of Christians, International Association of Genocide Scholars, Middle East Forum, and UCLA’s Promise Institute for Human Rights.

Building upon the 2019 passage of H.Res.296 and S.Res.150 – which specifically rejected any official U.S. association with Armenian Genocide denial – and President Biden’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the Armenian Genocide Education Act seeks to counter discourse and propaganda that claims that Ottoman Turkey’s systematic and deliberate state-sponsored mass murder, national dispossession, cultural erasure, and exile of millions of Christians between 1915 and 1923 did not take place.

Encourage members of Congress to cosponsor and work for the passage of this measure.