Author: Hagop Kamalian

Turkey’s Patriotic Party (‘Vatan Partisi’ in Turkish) has reacted to Hollywood star two days ago during his interview in the South California Public Radio where he referred to 1915 as “Armenian Genocide,” reports.

Clooney said the events of 1915 constituted “genocide” and there was no argument about it. He said: “There was a genocide in Armenia in 1915.”

Reacting to Clooney’s remarks, the Patriotic Party’s international relations head member Onur Sinan Güzaltan said on Thursday, “The truth cannot be hidden,” and advised the Hollywood star to look at the European Court of Human Rights’ (ECHR) verdict in which Switzerland’s appeal to overrule the conviction of the party’s chairman (Doğu Perinçek) over the denial of the Armenian Genocide was rejected.

Grattan claimed that the Clooney family was “one of the toys used to manipulate the 1915 events.”

Armenia intervened in the Perinçek v. Switzerland  case as a third party and was represented by human rights lawyers Amal Clooney and Geoffrey Robertson. “The Grand Chamber ruling was  a victory for Armenia,” , as she commented on the judgement. 

The Italian Abruzzo region has recognized the Armenian Genocide.

At a sitting held on October 27 the Regional Council unanimously adopted a resolution, expressing solidarity with the Armenian people on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and with their struggle for the recognition of historic truth and protection of human rights.

“Today we wrote a beautiful page in the political history of our region,” author of the bill Luciano Monticelli from the ruling Democratic Party declared after the adoption of the document.

“The unanimous adoption of a resolution on such an important issue is an evidence of the maturity of the Council,” he said.

Abruzzo Regional Council became the 99^th self-government body in Italy to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

The agreement on the Iranian nuclear program opens new prospects for strengthening regional and international cooperation, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said on Friday, TASS reports.

“This agreement is important not only from the point of view of strengthening stability and security, but it also paves the way for developing mutually beneficial regional and international cooperation,” Nalbandian said at the opening of III International Forum of MGIMO (Moscow State Institute of International Relations) Graduates.

“We are now working with Iranian colleagues in several promising spheres,” the foreign minister said. “Iran’s more active international economic involvement can make the region much more attractive from the economic point of view,” he stressed.

Books on Armenian Genocide published in 2015 were presented within the framework of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2016.

The event was attended by Armenia’s Deputy Minister of Culture Nerses Ter-Vardanyan, Armenian Ambassador to Germany Ashot Smbatyan, book critics, journalists and representatives of the Armenian community.

The books presented at the fair include: Rofl Hosfeld’s “Death in the desert: the Armenian Genocide,” “The Armenian Genocide as Reflected in the German-language Daily Press 1912-1922” by Yetvart Ficiciyan, “Loss and Legacy: Armenian Genocide Survivors Recollect” by Mihran Dabag and Kristin Platt, “The Armenian Genocide – according to unpublished documents from the Vatican Secret Archive on the greatest crime of World War I” by Michael Hesemann and Jürgen Gottschlich’s “Genocide complicity: Germany’s role in the Armenian Genocide.”

Deloitte and Touche international audit firm has said the power price hike in Armenia was justified.

The company has presented the report on the first stage of consulting services to the Public Services Regulatory Commission.

“We analyzed the situation in Armenia, where the sole energy supplier stands at the verge of default, which is mainly connected with the inconsistency between the predictions of the system’s operator and the load capacity,” Deloitte and Touche said in the report.

“Power generating companies had already felt the influence of the scarcity of financial means of the company [Electric Networks of Armenia], which would threaten the whole energy system of the country in the short-term perspective,” the report reads.

“Under these conditions we consider that the decision of the regulatory body to stabilize the situation in the sphere and ensure reliable energy supply to consumers is justified.”

Four Armenians were injured in a rocket attack on Nor Geghi neighborhood of Aleppo, Kantsasar newspaper reports.

The district came under heavy shelling on September 21. The attack left nine killed and many injured, a number of buildings were collapsed, the source said.

The Democratic Party of Artsakh and the European Free Alliance have adopted a joint declaration. In the declaration co-signed by Mr. François Alfonsi, President of European Free Alliance, and Mr. Ashot Ghulyan, President of Democratic Party of Artsakh, the parties agree to work together to contribute to a peaceful settlement of the conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan, with the direct participation of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and on the basis of peoples’ right to self-determination, excluding any sort of agression or violence.

The full text of the declaration is below: 

• Taking note of the realisation by the people of Artsakh (the Nagorno Karabakh Republic) of its right to live in freedom and the European Free Alliance’s (hereinafter EFA) support of this democratic strive based on the principle of self-determination;

• Acknowledging that despite the isolation, the democratic processes in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic  have been successful and sustainable and are vividly manifested  in the free, fair and competitive elections that have become an inseparable part of Artsakh’s political culture;

• Welcoming the substantial democratic progress of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and the contribution of the Democratic Party of Artsakh (hereinafter DPA) that has been key to the implementation of a well-functioning European-inspired development model based on: fundamental freedoms; democracy; separation of powers; rule of law; sustainable peace.

• Stressing the commitment of both EFA and the DPA to European values and principles, as well as to a sustainable peace in the South Caucasus.

• Considering that the EU Institutions have on numerous occasions acknowledged the need to promote democratic values and peaceful cooperation in its neighbourhood and recognised the EU’s particular importance in this domain, EFA and DPA are committed to encouraging a greater involvement of the EU with the society of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic;

• Recognizing that the DPA and many of the EFA affiliated parties face similar challenges in terms of their fundamental freedoms, and in particular the right to decide on their own future, being acknowledged by the EU and the international community;

• Sharing a firm conviction that the established relationship should be considered in terms of mutual benefit, where the undersigning parties can be envisaged as substantial contributors and reliable partners in promoting basic European values and principles; thus, having a positive impact throughout the region.

EFA and DPA agree to associate aiming at:

• Sharing the experience of the independence process of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, achieving its sovereignty through democratic and peaceful means, to EFA and its member parties;

• Engaging the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in international processes, as well as, in the EU Institutions and bodies, and facilitating the participation of Karabakh representatives in those fora, backing to its international recognition;

• Contributing to a peaceful settlement of the conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan, with the direct participation of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and on the basis of peoples’ right to self-determination, excluding any sort of agression or violence;

Therefore, EFA and the DPA reiterate full dedication to being worthy and suitable partners in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and in the European Union.

– Mark Moogalian, who lives in Paris but is originally from Midlothian, Virginia, in the United States, is the previously unnamed man who came to the aid of “Damien A”, 28, a French banker who confronted El-Khazzani.

A 51-year-old Sorbonne professor, Armenian-American Mark Moogalian, has been identified by the UK’s The Telegraph daily as the first passenger to tackle gunman Ayoub El-Khazzani on August 21 aboard the Amsterdam-Paris train.

One of the passengers who helped disarm a suspected gunman on a high-speed train has a connection to Chesterfield. He is now at a hospital in the intensive care unit. “But I look at my husband through the seats at an angle and he looked straight at me and said, ‘I’m hit!’ …”

Mr Hollande presented Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos, Anthony Sadler and Briton Chris Norman with the Legion d’honneur at the Elysee Palace.

According to Sadler, the trio were initially sitting in a different carriage, but a bad wifi connection led them to get up and move to what became the scene of the attack.

Moogalian told his wife to “go” and then “rushed toward the gunman to remove… the Kalashnikov”, Risacher-Moogalian said.

“He kept pulling more weapons left and right”, Stone said, his arm in a sling from injuries suffered in the struggle. The attacker started jabbing at Stone with a box cutter and all three friends began punching and hitting him to subdue him.

“I’m impressed with them”.

“That gave me the impetus to get up and do it”, he said. “So human nature, we either fight or we flee and many of us our natural instinct was to dive under the tables and run away”.

“I am happy that no one got hurt”, he said. On Monday in Paris, the Americans received the French Legion of Honor, France’s highest honor.

 

Greece has taken a crucial step towards a bailout after its parliament passed a second set of reforms, the BBC  reports.

The passage of the measures means that negotiations on an €86bn European Union bailout can begin.

The reforms include changes to Greek banking and an overhaul of the judiciary system.

Thousands demonstrated outside of parliament as the bill was debated, with protests briefly turning violent as petrol bombs were thrown at police.

On 8 July Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan visited the Royal Institute of International Affairs Chatham House and delivered there a speech, Central Information Department of the Office of the Artsakh Republic President reports.

The President touched upon state building, domestic and foreign policy of Artsakh, the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement, regional developments and responded to the questions of the audience.

In his speech President Sahakyan noted that Chatham House’s mission to help build a sustainably secure, prosperous and just world was very much congenial to Artsakh, adding that those ideas were also part and parcel of our world vision.

According to the President, such meetings are useful both for Artsakh and different states and international structures.

Foreign diplomats, scientists and analysts were present at the meeting.