Armenian Apostolic Church marks on March 28 the commemoration of St. Gregory the Illuminator’s torments and commitment to the pit. This feast is the first one among the three commemoration days dedicated to the memory of St. Gregory the Illuminator, the first Catholicos of All Armenians. According to the Armenian Church Calendar, it is celebrated on the eve of the Fifth Sunday during the period of Great Lent. The feast is dedicated to the torments which St. Gregory suffered during his imprisonment.
In 301 A.D., after spending 13 years in the pit, St. Gregory the Illuminator is freed from the dungeon and emerges to spread the Light of Christ in Armenia. He thus becomes the first pontiff of the Armenian Church, baptizes the royal family, and evangelizes the whole of the Armenian Nation. Armenia becomes the first nation in the world to officially proclaim Christianity as her state religion.
St. Gregory the Illuminator is recognized by all of Christendom as a Saint, and he is commemorated in all traditional Christian Churches.
Thu 19 Mar 2020 13:00 GMT | 17:00 Local Time
The statement reads: “March 31 – Genocide of Azerbaijanis should be particularly emphasized due to its large scale among the other acts of genocide committed by the Armenian nationalists against our people as a part of their policy of occupation, ethnic cleansing and genocides throughout the history. The Armenian vandals committed inhuman crimes as a result of bloody acts started with the first shootings on Muslims by Dashnak groups gathered near the Armenian church in Baku on March 30, 1918, and the attacks on the “Kerpichkhana” (Brick houses), “Mammadli” and other dwelling neighborhoods of Azerbaijanis by the Bolshevik-Dashnak groups committed a day after.
The Armenians committed the acts of genocide also in Guba, Shamakhi, Kurdamir, Salyan and Lenkaran provinces along with Baku. As a whole, on March 31 and April 1-2, 1918, massacres in Baku, as well as other cities and provinces, which were included into the Baku governorate, occurred on a large scale, where Armenian groups have killed more than 50,000 civilians. During those bloody events, the demolishing and burning of 110 villages in Shamakhi, 167 in Guba, over 150 in Karabakh, 115 in Zangazur provinces, and 98 in Kars oblast, plundering of numerous homes, killing of hundreds of innocent people, including women and children, are concrete facts and truth of bitter history that reflect the policy of the Armenian nationalists against our people. 199 villages in and around the Iravan city, as a part of historical lands of Azerbaijan, have been ruined; 132,000 Azerbaijanis have been mercilessly murdered.
Also, the burning of secondary schools, libraries, cultural centers, and “Ismailiyya” as one of the most beautiful architectural monuments of Baku and the demolishing of the “Achig Soez” (Free word), the editorial offices of “Kaspi” and “Baku” Newspapers, and minarets of Taza Pir mosque, belonging to Azerbaijanis are another example of the Armenian vandalism.
The criminal acts committed by the Armenians in 1918, are engraved in the blood memory of the Azerbaijani people forever. The Decree on the Genocide of Azerbaijanis of March 26, 1998, signed by President Heydar Aliyev, politically assessed those horrible events and March 31 was declared “The Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis”, which has been mourning every year at the state level.
As a result of conducted investigations, there have been collected numerous documents, and revealed the facts of mass killings committed by the Armenians during the 1918 incidents in Guba. The Guba Genocide Memorial Complex, created as a tribute to the memory of the murdered, displays visual evidences confirming the brutality of the Armenian murderers.
The atrocities committed by Armenian bandit attacks in 1918 against civilians in almost all parts of Azerbaijan are merely a crime of genocide. Thousands of peaceful Azerbaijanis were murdered just because of their ethnicity. The UN General Assembly Resolution 96 (I) of December 11, 1946 states that genocide is denial of the right to existence of entire human groups, as homicide is the denial of the right to live of individual human beings. The signs of a crime of genocide are enshrined in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution 260 (III) of December 9, 1948. According to the Convention, genocide means any act committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. Each of the acts, that were stated in this document, was committed by the Armenians against the Azerbaijanis during March-April 1918, which should be recognized as a genocide in accordance with international law norms and principles.
Historical facts show that the murder and genocide of Azerbaijanis by Armenians, as well as aggressive claims of Armenian nationalists also continued subsequently. As such, in Azerbaijan 48.000 Azerbaijanis were killed by the Armenians from May 1920 to November 1921.
Since 1988, Armenian nationalists again have become active. With the consent of the USSR administration, Armenia put forward territorial claims against Azerbaijan, started its occupation policy, committed crimes of genocide, and the harsh consequences of that military aggression continue to this day.
The ethnic cleansing and occupation policy of Armenia resulted in occupation of 20 percent of the territory of Azerbaijan, more than one million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), all fundamental rights of them were massively and severely violated. Over the night from February25-26, 1992, Armenian armed forces committed one of the most terrible acts of genocide of the 20th century against the Azerbaijanis in Khojaly and razed the town to the ground. The Armenian nationalists and terrorists committed acts of genocide and massacres in Karkijahan, Malibayli, Gushchular, Garadagly, Agdaban villages and other settlements, along with Khojaly.
Based on the international law norms and principles, we call the international community to recognize March 31 -Genocide of Azerbaijanis and to demonstrate a resolute and fair position. This should be imposed sanctions on Armenia that keeps the Azerbaijani lands, recognized by the UN, under the occupation and committed numerous acts of genocide pursuing an aggressive policy against the Azerbaijanis; the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, violated fundamental rights of the refugees and IDP compatriots shall be restored; perpetrators, who murdered civilian population, shall be brought to justice as soon as possible and subjected to deserved punishment.”
This statement is addressed to the UN Secretary-General, UN Security Council, UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Office of High Commissioner for Refugees, UN Human Rights Council, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, European Union, Council of Europe, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, International and European Ombudsman Institutes, Asian Ombudsman Association, Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Ombudsman Association of its member states, Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, European Network of Ombudspersons for Children, International Peace Bureau, different ombudsmen and national human rights institutions, embassies of the Republic of Azerbaijan in foreign countries and the foreign embassies in Azerbaijan, as well as to the Azerbaijani Diasporas.
21:07,
YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan convened a consultation on March 20 to discuss economic anti-crisis measures conditioned by the situation resulted by coronavirus pandemic.
As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister of Armenia, PM Pashinyan noted that their works will be divided into 3 main directions – urgent economic measures, urgent social measures and strategic economic measures.
Expressing confidence that Armenia will be able to find new economic prospects after this situation, Pashinyan said, ‘’In this stage our task should be not only supporting our businessmen and raising the competitiveness of our economy, but making it visible for the world that after overcoming the crisis Armenia is one of the best countries in the world for doing business. This will definitely be not an easy task but I am confident we will be able to carry it our’’, PM Pashinyan said, once again emphasizing that Armenia must overcome the crisis, becoming stronger and economically more competitive.
Referring to the program of social assistance, PM Pashinyan emphasized the importance of making targeted assistance, so as people who really need the assistance can get it.
‘’Today we will discuss our activities in the sphere of agriculture and there are already some preliminary understandings of our future activities’’, Pashinyan said, adding that after public discussions they will become decisions of the Government.
The anti-crisis measures in the sphere of agriculture were discussed at the consultation. The possible mechanisms and tools for assisting farmers and agricultural corporatives were discussed, including the possibility of micro-credits.
Chairman of the State Revenue Committee of Armenia Davit Ananyan presented some economic indexes, showing the impact of coronavirus on a number of separate spheres. Referring to the idea of tax holiday, PM Pashinyan noted that the Government will not give a tax holiday. ‘’People must be ready to pay their taxes and considering the crisis situation, the Government will also take measures to help the citizens pay the taxes’’, Pashinyan said.
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
20:39, 11 March, 2020
YEREVAN, MARCH 11, ARMENPRESS. The World Health Organization declared today that the global spread of the new coronavirus is a pandemic, ARMENPRESS reports Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced.
ArmInfo. Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Popov (Russian Federation), Stephane Visconti (France), Andrew Shaffer (USA) Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk paid a visit to Turkey.
As APA reports Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met with the co-chairs and Andrzej Kasprzyk.
A source informed that during a meeting with mediators Chavushoglu said that the OSCE Minsk Group should act more actively to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The Minister noted that the conflict should be resolved on the basis of sovereignty and within the internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan.
ArmInfo appealed to the Armenian Foreign Ministry to clarify the objectives of the visit of mediators to Turkey and is awaiting a response.
The award is given every year by the US Secretary of State
Azerbaijani lawyer Shahla Qumbatova and Armenian journalist Lucy Kocharyan are two of 12 laureates of the International Women of Courage Award.
This prize is awarded by the US Secretary of State annually since 2007 to women from around the world who have shown courage and leadership in the struggle for peace, justice, human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Shahla Qumbatova is one of the few Azerbaijani lawyers who defend human rights advocates, journalists, bloggers, activists, opposition members and representatives of the LGBT community, whom the state persecutes for their views or demands for respect for rights and freedoms.
At the same time, Qumbatova herself regularly faces threats and harassment for her activities.
Lucy Kocharyan is an advocate for the rights of children with mental illness and against violence against women and children.
She also faces harsh criticism and threats of lawsuits. The organizers took into account the efforts and courage of Kocharyan, who raised the topic of domestic and sexual violence in Armenia and insisted on the need for serious measures in this area.
The award ceremony will be held March 4 in Washington, at 10:00 local time.
The awards will be awarded by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, reports Voice of America.
13 soldiers died within a month and a half, causing indignation among inhabitants of the country. Military officials have been dismissed and military post inspections have been scheduled
Armenia has tightened control over the military. This happened after 13 military personnel in the Armenian armed forces were killed in the first two months of 2020 under peaceful conditions. The deaths outraged residents of the country and human rights defenders.
People were particularly upset about the fact that the latest tragedy occurred under unclear circumstances.
The following details are from a statement given by the general staff of the armed forces in response to the public reaction:
“Of the 13 dead … four died as a result of accidents, and four due to circumstances unrelated to their service (illness, personal problems). For the other five, criminal cases have been launched and the circumstances of their deaths are being investigated.”
However, human rights activists argue that investigations into the deaths of military personnel are not always carried out in full, and there are attempts to hide the causes of death and the real perpetrators.
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The first change made after the tragic incidents took place was in the personnel. The Chief of the Military Police and the head of the Department of Moral/Psychological Support were fired.
The Ministry of Defense reported this in connection to the deaths of the servicemen and they continue to investigate the mistakes made by the command staff.
On March 3, Deputy Minister of Defense Gabriel Balayan stated that inspections were underway in military units, the situation was tightly controlled, and that “the orders of the prime minister are being implemented.”
In particular, the prime minister demanded that the problems associated with criminal subculture in the army must be solved, and that they must increase discipline.
“More stringent controls are underway. Yesterday, we issued a statement regarding the seizure of prohibited items, such as smartphones,” said the deputy minister of defense.
He states that smartphones are prohibited “due to interpersonal conflicts, as well as to ensure the safety of personnel.”
All parcels are carefully inspected by the military. In particular, it is forbidden to send alcoholic drinks to soldiers.
“Can you imagine what could happen when young people are intoxicated and surrounded by weapons?” says the deputy defense minister.
At the same time, Balayan does not agree with the remarks that were addressed to the army and officers today:
“I am not saying that we have no shortcomings. But it is not necessary to represent an image to the public that the army, military personnel, officers, and generals as bad, and everyone else is good. Believe me, many of our citizens have something to learn from these generals.”
17:55, 4 March, 2020
YEREVAN, 4 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 4 march, USD exchange rate up by 0.25 drams to 479.12 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 1.62 drams to 534.51 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.08 drams to 7.29 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 0.13 drams to 612.41 drams.
The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.
Gold price вup by 257.02 drams to 24885.27 drams. Silver price down by 1.48 drams to 258.94 drams. Platinum price вup by 83.91 drams to 13278.3 drams.
Councilmember Jess Talamantes with ANCA Burbank chapter’s Executive Board members
BURBANK—The Armenian National Committee of America – Burbank chapter’s Executive Board met with Burbank City Councilmember Jess Talamantes on February 28.
Councilmember Talamantes discussed with the Board the ongoing issues that the Burbank City Council is working on such as the development of affordable housing, the ongoing Interstate 5 roadwork, and the upcoming Census 2020.
With the coronavirus issue on everyone’s mind, the ANCA Board provided the Burbank Youth Center facilities as a space for an educational town hall meeting to be held by the city regarding this issue.
Talamantes toured the center and observed the athletic activities while the ANCA Board shared with the Councilmember the variety of after school activities, as well as athletic and scouting programs, available through the Homenetmen Sipan Chapter. The Board also shared its commitment to find ways, with the city’s help, to expand the services the organization provides for the community.
It is worth noting that the City Council will present the Armenian Genocide Recognition Proclamation on April 21.
The Armenian National Committee of America – Burbank chapter advances the social, economic, cultural, and political rights of the area’s Armenian community and promotes its increased civic participation at the grassroots and public policy levels.