16:03,
YEREVAN, JULY 14, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan received European Union’s Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar, the deputy PM’s Office said.
The meeting was also attended by Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin.
The regional developments were discussed at the meeting. The sides exchanged views also on the current challenges and the opportunities to counter them.
16:24,
YEREVAN, JULY 14, ARMENPRESS. The government of Armenia will provide support to Armenians who have settled in different settlements of Iraqi Kurdistan due to crisis, as well as to Yazidi refugees living in camps, internally displaced Kurds and Assyrians.
The decision was approved today at the Cabinet meeting.
According to the explanation, many Armenians, who moved from Iraq’s central and southern regions, as well as from Syria to different settlements of Iraqi Kurdistan because of crisis situation, face heavy living conditions and need humanitarian aid. According to the data provided by Armenian community structures of Iraqi Kurdistan, the number of those Armenian families is around 250.
The local authorities, the Armenian Diocese of Iraq and international humanitarian organizations regularly provide these families with humanitarian aid, however, it is not enough for ensuring their living conditions as they constantly need food, medicines, warm clothes and first essentials.
In addition to Armenians, the Yazidi refugees living in camps in Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as the internally displaced Kurds and Assyrians also face heavy living conditions.
The decision proposes to provide 80,000 US dollars to the Consulate General of Armenia in Erbil. The Consulate will set up a commission to identify the lists of aid beneficiaries and other issues. The commission will consist of members of the leadership of the Armenian community. Around 250 Armenian families, in other words, nearly 1000 people, will be provided with first essentials – food, personal hygiene items, medicine, etc, at the cost of 100 US dollar per person. The rest of the money – around 30,000 US dollars, will be provided for acquiring heaters and blankets for Yazidi refugees and the refugees of other minorities.
16:54,
YEREVAN, JULY 14, ARMENPRESS. Russia invariably supports the process of normalization of the relations between Armenia and Turkey, which started on January 14 in Moscow with Russia’s mediation, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at a briefing today.
“We are ready to support the Armenian-Turkish dialogue in every way in the future as well, proceeding from the fact that it derives from the interests of the region’s stability and economic prosperity”, she said, reminding that the efforts of the Russian side aimed at normalizing the relations between Armenia and Turkey have a long history.
17:15,
YEREVAN, 14 JULY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 14 July, USD exchange rate up by 0.79 drams to 412.63 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 1.06 drams to 413.17 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.01 drams to 7.07 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 2.56 drams to 487.98 drams.
The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.
Gold price down by 36.96 drams to 22879.17 drams. Silver price up by 1.67 drams to 251.46 drams. Platinum price stood at 16414.1 drams.
The Armenian Diaspora Survey (ADS) provides valuable insights into diaspora public opinion and a snapshot of Armenians’ thoughts on a host of issues, such as identity, language, culture, community and the homeland.
ADS offers evidence-based knowledge to the public and valuable data to community leaders, activists and policy makers in particular, giving them a better understanding and analysis of their communities for the development of programs and projects.
This unprecedented research project, initiated and funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, is led by a group of scholars and researchers under the auspices of the Armenian Institute in London.
Any Armenian, aged 18 and older, living in the United States and Ontario, Canada can take the survey online. It takes about 15 minutes to answer 50 questions.
So far, the survey has been carried out in over 35 diaspora communities in 10 countries.
The results of the 2018 and 2019 studies have been published separately. In addition to English, the 2019 study is also available in Armenian and Spanish. All of the reports could be downloaded for free online.
Researchers have discovered grenades that were used in the time of the Crusades within the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. In a recent study, the remains of elements of the grenades were analyzed and explosive materials were found inside them.
In the analysis of the objects found in the Garden of Armenia in Jerusalem, these 900-year-old objects were identified to have possibly been hand grenades.
Researchers tested residues on sherds from four sphero-conical vessels, which they dated to the 11th or 12th century.
Chemicals indicative of medicine and oils were found in three of the vessels, but the fourth vessel contained a unique combination of plant-based oils, animal fat, and nitrates, indicating something that was built to explode.
The several sphero-conical vessels excavated from the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem between 1961 and 1967 are artifacts attributed to the Mamluks at the time, a group of enslaved soldiers that eventually won political control across swathes of the Middle East and fought the Crusaders.
Stanica Aurel-Daniel, a researcher at ICEM Tulcea said “Sphero-conical vessels were used as small containers for various substances, another hypothesis indicating even fermented beverages (beer)”.
“Certainly, the use of these containers for Greek fire or grenades remains topical,” the researcher said. She added that she was, however, unaffiliated with the research.
Though it’s not the first time the use of grenades in the Crusades has been suggested and there have been previous historical accounts of Saladin’s forces tossing explosives during the Siege of Jerusalem in 1187, the recent analysis lends more credibility to the idea.
The researchers confirmed that the chemical cocktail on the pottery sherd was not black powder, indicating that Crusades-era fighters figured out a way to build explosive, handheld weaponry locally.
In thinking about brutal Crusades weaponry, swords, bows, maces, axes, and flails probably come to mind, but according to a recent study, hand grenades were common, too.
Carney Matheson, a molecular archaeologist at Griffith University in Australia said: “An explosive has two main components: a fuel and an [oxidizer], as well as a vessel that applies pressure to allow the reaction to build pressure until it can cause an explosion.”
“If explosive ingredients are correct, then it advances our understanding of medieval weapons in the Middle East at this time because it shows that the explosive weapons described by the crusaders were a local invention,” said Matheson.
Matheson further added that “the chemical ingredients for these weapons were developed in the Middle East, not the adoption of black powder from China through the silk route.”
Weapons similar to the analysis of the objects were found nearly a century ago in Cairo, and that team found evidence of sulfur and potassium nitrate on the artifacts. However, recent work identified additional nitrates, which are believed to have mixed together to form an oxidizing agent in the heart-shaped ceramic grenades.
Disney+, which launched in Turkey last month, has warned its Turkish subtitle translators about the political atmosphere in Turkey, telling them to avoid hitting a nerve on a wide range of controversial issues that the Turkish government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan are sensitive about, the Gazete Duvar news website reported on Wednesday.
Disney+, The Walt Disney Company’s flagship direct-to-customer digital streaming service platform, has been offering Turkish viewers access to more than 1,000 movies and over 16,000 episodes from some 400 TV shows and 170 documentaries and exclusive content collections since it launched in the country on June 14.
Before it started broadcasting, the online streaming platform opened an office in Turkey in line with a social media law that went into effect on Oct. 1, 2020, setting forth progressive sanctions forcing social media platforms with more than 1 million connections a day to appoint a representative in Turkey with whom the Turkish authorities can resolve problems arising from cases of insult, intimidation and violation of privacy.
After initially refusing to comply with the law, giant social media platforms, which were subjected to large fines by Turkish courts, had to announce that they would appoint local representatives to Turkey.
Duvar said the Disney+ administration sent an e-mail to its Turkish translators to warn them about the political atmosphere in the country with respect to some of the productions that include religious, national and political references.
According to Duvar, translators were asked to inform the platform’s Turkey administrators about productions that deal with critical issues for Islam, the massacre of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire during World War I, which Turkey does not recognize as a “genocide,” the Kurdish issue, the Cyprus problem and LGBTI+s, topics that Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) government are sensitive about.
The Kurdish issue, a term prevalent in Turkey’s public discourse, refers to the demand for equal rights by the country’s Kurdish population and their struggle for recognition, while the Cyprus problem refers to an ongoing dispute between Greek and Turkish Cypriots about each other’s legitimacy on the island.
The e-mail also asked the translators to inform Disney+ administrators for Turkey about productions that “make Erdoğan look like a dictator,” according to Duvar, which added that authorities from the digital streaming platform hadn’t returned their calls for comment.
https://www.turkishminute.com/2022/07/13/warns-turkish-subtitle-translators-about-hitting-political-nerves-in-turkey/
ArmInfo.Turkey’s continued policy of maneuvering between the West and Russia will force the US and EU to put up with some of Erdogan’s decisions even further. A similar opinion was expressed to ArmInfo by Victor Nadein-Raevsky, Ph.D. in Philosophy, director of the Institute of Political and Social Studies of the Black Sea-Caspian region, senior researcher of IMEMO RAS (Russia), Turkologist.
“We see how Erdogan’s tactics of maneuvering not only between the Russian Federation and the West, but also in other areas demonstrate very definite successes. As a result, the Turkish president manages to get the West’s consent to some aspects of his own foreign policy today and enlist their readiness to turn a blind eye to such aspects in future,” he stressed.
According to the Turkologist, tracking Erdogan’s geopolitical overtures, Moscow, in turn, does not perceive Ankara’s consent to membership of Finland and Sweden in NATO particularly painfully. And it continues negotiations with Ankara, continuing to discuss a number of issues. In his opinion, Erdogan knows perfectly well what and from whom he can get. And he never takes a single step in any direction without first calculating what he can get in return.
In the opinion of Nadein-Raevsky, against such a Turkish background, the activation of another regional power, Iran, practically leaves no alternative for Tehran. The recent visit to Armenia by Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran Ali Shamkhani, his talks with the Prime Minister, Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, the analyst views in this light. ” Shamkhani’s statements in Yerevan are far from accidental. I think that, in contrast to Turkey, Iran is thus trying to position itself today as a country for which the territorial integrity of Armenia is a foreign policy priority. Thus, Tehran is trying to increase its own weight in relations with Baku and Tehran “, he remarked.
“All this opens up additional opportunities for Yerevan, of course, in the case of a flexible diplomatic line. The region is still in a geopolitical vacuum, which can instantly be replaced by threats. But all this simultaneously gives rise to opportunities for flexible diplomacy in the direction of confronting Armenia with the Turkic threat. “Certainly, Armenia has the opportunity, even in the current unfavorable geopolitical situation for Armenia,” the Turkologist summed up.
ArmInfo.The Investigative Committee of Armenia, based on the report of the Prosecutor General’s Office, is investigating the incident that took place with a resident of the village of Khachik, Areni community, Vayots Dzor region.
According to the press service of the department, during the preliminary investigation, information was obtained that a resident of the village of Khachik A. Kh. on June 3, at about 09:00 went alone to the Jaghatsi Dzor territory, located on the border with Azerbaijan for harvesting. There he was approached by three Azerbaijanis, whose identity has not been established, and against his will they took him to Nakhichevan. On June 12, he was again returned to the same territory from which he returned to the village of Khachik. Preliminary investigation of the case continues.
Armenian U-20 women’s basketball team met the German team in Skopje in the third round of the European Championships (Division B) and lost with a score of 30-101.
In the first round, Armenia defeated Georgia with 49-46, and in the second round, Armenia was defeated by Israel with 40-102 (3:19, 19:35, 9:29, 9:19).
The teams, taking the first two places in the group, will pass to the quarterfinals.