Author: Garnik Tadevosian

The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s 16^th annual Pan-European Phoneathon, led by the fund’s French affiliate, will take place during November 18-22. Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris, and Patrick Devedjian, president of the General Council of Hauts-de-Seine, will serve as the godmother and godfather of the Phoneathon, respectively, making appeals for support throughout the five days of the event.

Proceeds from the Phoneathon will be used to build community centers in Nagorno Karabakh, expand agricultural-development projects in Armenia’s Tavush Region, and provide assistance to Armenian refugees from Syria and Iraq.

Following the terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13, the fund’s French affiliate stated: “Today France, our country, lies wounded after being assailed at the hands of barbarians. We are in mourning. Many of the children of our own nation, which was subjected to similar atrocities in 1915, are now being forced out of their native communities in Syria and Iraq and once again taking the road of exile. The November 13 attacks in Paris were a blow to a civilization built on compassion, respect for human dignity, tolerance, and freedom. Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh are part of a civilization that shares those very same values. We must, therefore, safeguard the borders of the twin Armenian republics, and also support the tens of thousands of Armenians who need our urgent assistance. As agreed by Mayor Anne Hidalgo and Patrick Devedjian, the godmother and godfather of our Phoneathon, we will carry the event through, exactly as planned. The words ‘You don’t scare us,’ which are emblazoned on buildings at Paris, fully reflect our stance.”

The Phoneathon was preceded by an opening Gala Dinner on November 12, held at the Paris City Hall under the auspices of Mayor Anne Hidalgo.

In the course of the Phoneathon, more than 600 volunteers stationed in Paris, Marseille, Toulouse, and Lyon will call some 50,000 households, businesses, and organizations in France, Germany, and Switzerland to request their support. The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s other affiliates in Europe — including those of Britain, Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden, Romania, and Greece — as well as Cyprus will organize their own fundraising events in the run-up to the fund’s Thanksgiving Day Telethon on November 26.

Russia’s foreign minister says the next round of Syria talks expected to be held this weekend must not focus squarely on demands for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s resignation, AP reports.

Sergey Lavrov, speaking on a trip to Armenia on Monday, said some of the participants in the talks have kept pushing for Assad to step down, in what he described as a “simplistic approach.”

The first round of Vienna talks on Oct. 30 left open the thorny question of when Assad might leave power.

Lavrov said the talks should focus on reaching consensus on who should represent the Syrian opposition and who should be considered extremists. He said the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League should be invited to join the following round of Vienna talks.

Asbarez – The construction of the Armenian Genocide Memorial Monument at Sunset Park is coming to conclusion and the unveiling is scheduled for 10:00am on Saturday, November 14, 2015.

Sunset Park is the largest park in the City of Las Vegas, centrally located and close to the McCarran international airport. The park has over 4 million annual visitors.

The monument project is the initiative of the Armenian-American Cultural Society (AACS) of Las Vegas, with the participation of all Las Vegas Armenian churches and organizations.

The memorial monument will be a gift to the people of southern Nevada from the Armenian-American community.

H.E. Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Primate of Western Diocese and H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate of Western Prelacy, officials from Republic of Armenia and Republic of Lebanon as well as local city officials and State of Nevada Congressional Representatives, and the Nevada Consular Corps will participate in the unveiling.

The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) gives an additional motivation for the development of economies of its member states, Armenian Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandyan said on Friday, TASS reports.

“We assume that four freedoms underlying the EEU — movement of goods, services, capitals and workforce — offer an additional impetus for the development of the economies of its member states,” the foreign minister told an international forum of graduates from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) University.

“Economic integration processes are in the focus of close attention of the international community,” he added, saying there were some 20 economic unions in the world at the moment.

One of the divisions of the Azerbaijani armed forces stationed in Nakhijevan attempted to violate the state border with Armenia at about 22:30, October 1, the Armenian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

The incident took place at the south-western sector of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, in the direction of Yeraskh.

The Armenian armed forces were quick to detect the attack in the area between the military positions of the two countries and prevented the infringement attempt. The rival retreated as a result of exchange of fire.

The Ministry of Defense warns that any attempt to escalate the situation at the shared border in the direction of Nakhijevan will be strictly punished.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry announced yesterday that three of its troops were killed in clashes at the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh and claimed there were seven victims on the Armenian side. The NKR Defense Ministry latter dismissed the reports, saying “official Baku is trying to attribute its own losses to the Armenian side.”

As it becomes clear from the data obtained by the Defense Army, the Azerbaijani side incurred six more losses, the Ministry said. The Azeri soldiers were identified as Shahriyar Ali golu Uyadov, Eyub Abdullah oglu Ramazanov, Nijat Mehman oglu Yarayev, Ahmed Jivanshir oglu Eyubov, Elvin Mushru oglu Yusufoc and Samir Sabir oglu Ahmedov.

The rival continued to intensively violate the ceasefire regime last night, firing 1,600 shots from artillery weapons of different caliber, also as 60 and 120 mm mortars and HAN-17 grenades. The adversary also used Turkey-made TR-107 reactive rocket launchers.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army confidently perform their military duty and resort to punitive actions, when necessary.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB)  is extending assistance of $89.3 million to help Armenia build earthquake-resilient schools and scale up its capacity for responding to natural disasters in one of the most earthquake prone regions in the world.

“Since the massive Spitak earthquake in 1988, national authorities have taken numerous steps to develop emergency management and response systems and to improve building design and construction,” said Yong Ye, Principal Urban Development Economist in ADB’s Central and West Asia Department. “This  assistance will support ongoing government efforts to rebuild and strengthen school buildings to higher earthquake-resistant standards and to further develop the government’s capacity, ownership and initiative in the management of earthquake risks.”

Armenia has about 1,400 schools and around 1,000 of them require strengthening and reconstruction works at an estimated cost of $1.2 billion.

ADB’s loan and grant will support improvements to at least 46 priority schools. It will also help the target schools develop disaster preparedness and response plans, with earthquake awareness campaigns to be carried out in neighborhood communities for each school.

The assistance program incorporates lessons learned from ADB’s responses to natural disasters in other countries, including the recent Nepal earthquake. It will benefit around 58,700 students, teachers and other staff, as well as over 87,000 residents living near the target schools, who will have access to improved temporary shelters during earthquakes.

ADB’s assistance includes an $88.5 million loan from its concessional Asian Development Fund, and a technical assistance grant of $800,000. The government will provide counterpart support equivalent to $18.5 million. The program will run for 5 years with an estimated completion date of November 2020.

On the occasion of the holiday, President Francois Hollande of the French Republic has sent a congratulatory message to President Serzh Sargsyan:

“Mr. President,

I am glad to send you and the entire Armenian people my wishes of happiness, well-being and success as you celebrate the national holiday of the Republic of Armenia.

I am happy that I joined the Armenian people in Yerevan on the occasion of the Armenian Genocide Centennial on April 24.

That exciting ceremony fraught with an atmosphere of wisdom and unity showed Armenia’s willpower to create a brilliant future without burying in oblivion its historical tragedies.

I would like to reassure you that imbued with its special ties with the Armenian people, France will continue its friendship, solidarity and support of Armenia. Particularly, as a Minsk Group Co-Chair, France will continue its consistent mediatory efforts aimed at the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, hoping that the progress made at the Paris summit in October 2014 will contribute to the urgent settlement of the issue.

Please accept, Mr. President, the assurance of my highest consideration,” reads the French President’s congratulatory message.

The Armenian national team will face Serbia tonight in a Euro-2016 qualifier. The match will take place at Karadjordje stadium in Novi Sad and will kick off at 22:45 Yerevan time.

Armenia and Serbia are placed at the bottom of Group I with one point each.

On Monday, Armenia will host Denmark in Yerevan.

Azerbaijan has blacklisted Gianluca Marcianò, conductor of the 24/04 international orchestra and artistic director of the Al Bustan International Festival, press service of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reported.

Today Gianluca Marcianò will be present at the premiere of Verdi’s “Requiem in Stepanakert, Nagorno Karabakh. He has been invited by Armenia’s First Lady Rita Sargsyan.

“The project scheduled for September 1 speaks about peace through culture, and I’m glad to be part of that event,” the Maestro told reporters in Armenia before his departure for Artsakh.

“No political issues can hold me back. This is a cultural program that calls to open the borders, to leave in peace. Therefore, no artist will refuse to participate in such an event,” he said.

Gianluca Marcianò has posted photos of his visit to Artsakh on his .