Author: Hambardsumian Paul

AEF Announces 2020-2021 Richard R. Tufenkian Scholarship Recipients

Hambardsumian Paul
Asbarez
Aug 21 2020

The Armenian Educational Foundation’s Board of Directors and Scholarship Committee announced the 2020-2021 Richard R. Tufenkian Scholarship Award recipients. Three $3,000 scholarships have been awarded to Armenian undergraduate students at accredited United States colleges or Universities. To qualify for this scholarship, students had to be of Armenian descent, have a minimum 3.0 grade point average, show financial need, and be actively involved in the Armenian community.

In total, 51 applications were received for the Richard R. Tufenkian Scholarship. The committee diligently reviewed and selected the following three students.

Arman Ghazaryan

Arman Ghazaryan (Vayk, Armenia)
Arman Ghazaryan was born in Armenia in 1998. He is a rising sophomore at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) majoring in Business Economics and minoring in Statistics with a 3.7 GPA. Arman graduated from Quantum College International Baccalaureate program in Armenia in 2016. While in high school he has received multiple awards including the annual educational award of the President of Armenia in IT sphere in the nomination of the best high school student of the year (2015), as well as the annual award of the Quantum College as the best college student of the year (2015).

Arman participated in numerous volunteering activities/projects in Armenia including providing training and support to the communities in the bordering areas with Azerbaijan that significantly suffered from conflict, tutoring children in the Nubarashen community of Armenia, and other community service projects organized by different Armenian and International organizations such as AGBU, Fuller Housing, Rotary and Rotaract Clubs Yerevan-International. He also interned with Gyumri TechnoPark and the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia.

Arman was admitted to UCLA in 2016, but after completing the first quarter, was called up to active military service by the Ministry of Defense of Armenia. He spent the next two years in the Armenian Armed Forces as a conscript. He returned to the United States in 2019 with deeper motivation and determination to finish his education and pursue a career in corporate finance with a particular interest in investment banking. Arman hopes to one day be able to support other young Armenians from our homeland to pursue their dreams and receive an education at a world renown university.

Kami Arabian

Kami Arabian (Glendale)
Kami Arabian was born in Glendale, California in 2002. He graduated from Rose and Alex Pilibos as one of the valedictorians for the class of 2020 with an unweighted 4.0 GPA. During his time at Pilibos, Kami served his classmates as a representative in the student council, later to be elected president during his senior year. Kami was involved in his school’s Model United Nations team, serving as its secretary-general. Through these experiences, Kami developed a passion for public service, and as a result, he decided to take an internship in the Office of Senator Anthony Portantino under the direction of the staffer who was responsible for representing environmental issues across the district. Kami supplemented this experience by later interning in the administrative division of the Glendale Department of Water and Power, where he developed an understanding of the policies that impact his local community.

Recently, Kami was admitted to Dartmouth College, an Ivy League institution located in New Hampshire, where he plans to double major in environmental engineering and political science and graduate by 2024. Upon completing his education at Dartmouth College, Kami intends to pursue a degree in law, with the goal of starting his own firm one day in the future. He is determined to give back to the Armenian community since he recognizes the important role that it plays in the success of future generations.

Anaida Fahradyan

Anaida Fahradyan (Yerevan)
Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Anaida Farhadyan has recently completed her freshman year at Wilson College in Pennsylvania, with a 4.0 GPA. Anaida is pursuing an undergraduate degree in Business Management, History and Political Science, and a minor in Spanish – her fourth language. She expects to complete her Bachelor’s in May of 2023. Anaida’s parents are both still living in Yerevan, with her mother unemployed and her father unable to finance Anaida’s education on an Armenian income. Anaida is the recipient of multiple awards and honors, including: President’s Volunteer Service Award, Valedictorian at her high school, Student of The Year Award, over 100 community service hours’ award, “best delegate” award at Euro Youth Parliament Yerevan Regional Session, Athlete Award in Cross Country and Track, Armenian Language Olympiad, and International Linguistics Olympiad.

During her junior year of high school, Anaida was an exchange student in the state of Kansas through the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) Program. This cultural exchange inspired her to give back to her communities both in Armenia and the US by participating in and initiating community service activities, local clean-up projects, educational workshops, and leadership programs. She is the first of her family to pursue a degree in the United States and hopes to be successful enough to start her own scholarship fund in the future to make education accessible to all Armenians. In her free time, Anaida enjoys playing the piano, reading, and photography.

The Richard R. Tufenkian Scholarship Fund was established by Ralph and Savey Tufenkian in memory of their son Richard. The $230,000 endowed fund has provided over $470,000 in scholarships since 1991. Currently, $17,500 in scholarships is awarded each year, including $2,500 to a student attending the American University of Armenia and six full tuition scholarships for students attending public universities in Armenia.

AEF is most grateful to the Tufenkian Family for their commitment to helping Armenians globally through their philanthropy, unconditional love, and continued support of the education and advancement of Armenian youth in the United States and abroad.

As AEF looks with optimism toward the future, it hopes to be of even greater assistance to students of Armenian parentage pursuing higher education, as well as to continue providing financial help to institutions in Armenia, the United States and around the world.

The Armenian Educational Foundation is a non-profit organization, established in 1950, with the aim to render financial assistance to Armenian educational institutions, and to provide financial assistance to students of Armenian parentage.



Schools to reopen in Artsakh from September 14

Hambardsumian Paul
Panorama, Armenia
Aug 19 2020

On 19 August Artsakh Republic President Arayik Harutyunyan chaired a regular sitting of the Commandant office. As the Information Department at the President’s Office reported, Commandant, Zhirayr Mirzoyan presented the current situation with the novel coronavirus in the republic. He noted that on the previous day a new hotbed of coronavirus infection was detected in one of the catering facilities of the capital and now corresponding steps are taken to identify the circle of potential contacts of the infected people.

Referring to the issue of organizing the classes in the educational institutions in the new academic year, the Commandant mentioned that in case of manageability of the pandemic situation, classes in comprehensive schools will start on September 14 and those for undergraduate students on September 1 in compliance with all anti-epidemic rules. The online mode of education will be maintained for students in the Master’s program. According to Zhirayr Mirzoyan, activities towards providing the schools with necessary desinfection means and thermometers are already being carried out.

Artsakh Republic Minister of Healthcare Ararat Ohanjanyan presented the process of detecting those infected with the novel coronavirus and the health condition of the citizens receiving treatment. According to the Minister, 11 citizens are being treated at the moment.

President Harutyunyan instructed the heads of corresponding structures to strengthen the fight against the pandemic, tighten the control and continue taking measures towards keeping the anti-epidemic rules.

Referring to the cases of violation of anti-epidemic rules by several members of the Government, the President stressed that he had severely reprimanded the heads of a range of institutions. He also qualified as incomprehensible and unacceptable the behavior of those political figures who attend the meetings of National Assembly without face masks, while during the pre-election campaign demanded from the authorities to postpone the elections due to the pandemic risks or defiantly distributed face masks to the citizens.

Arayik Harutyunyan emphasized that it will be difficult to succeed in preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus by penalizing only workers of the state system. “To carry out an effective fight against the pandemic in the context of the resumption of the activities of comprehensive schools and universities, it is necessary to combine the efforts of all citizens. The risks associated with the coronavirus have not diminished, and therefore it is necessary to continue to strictly follow all the established rules,” noted the president.


Armenian CDC reports 276 new COVID-19 cases

Hambardsumian Paul

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 11:08, 14 August, 2020

YEREVAN, AUGUST 14, ARMENPRESS. 276 coronavirus cases were confirmed in the last 24 hours, the Armenian Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported. 267 patients recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 34164.

5 patients died from coronavirus complications over the past day, raising the total death toll to 814. The total death toll doesn’t include the deaths of 239 other people infected with the virus, who died from other pre-existing illnesses, according to health authorities.

The cumulative total number of confirmed cases stands at 41299.

As of August 14, the number of active cases stands at 6082.

A total of 181962 were conducted in the last 24 hours, of which 1465 in the last 24 hours.

Reporting by Lilit Demuryan; Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Artsakh’s Defense Minister, Chief of General Staff of Armenian Armed Forces discuss defense issues

Hambardsumian Paul

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 20:14,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 11, ARMENPRESS. The delegation of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia headed by Chief of the Staff Lieutenant-General Onik Gasparyan visited the Republic of Artsakh on August 11.  

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Defense Ministry of Artsakh, accompanied by Defense Minister of Artsakh, Commander of the Defense Army Major-General Jalal Harutyunyan, Onik Gasparyan visited a number of military facilities in the eastern direction. The top level military officers observed the process of position fortification works, got acquainted with the living and service conditions of servicemen.

During the working visit a broad scope of issues of defense capacities of the two Armenian republics were discussed.

Editing and translating by Tigran Sirekanyan

AGBU raises over 2 million USD for Lebanese-Armenians

Hambardsumian Paul

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 21:08,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 11, ARMENPRESS. In the aftermath of the devastating explosion in Beirut that took place less than a week ago, AGBU Central Board engaged in worldwide appeals for urgent contributions to accelerate relief for Lebanese Armenians with a designated relief fund.  Immediate and generous support from across the globe resulted in over one million dollars raised over the weekend with both benefactors and grassroots donors rising to assist. The first million was doubled by a matching contribution from Chairman of the AGBU Council of Trustees, Vatche and Tamar Manoukian, with the additional commitment to match all subsequent funds generated in the coming weeks to this urgent effort, ARMENPRESS was informed from AGBU website.

Among the first large contributions received of $100,000 or more include: Elie and Elzbieta Akilian (USA), Yervant Demirjian (USA), Haig and Elsa Didizian (UK), Nigol Koulajian (USA), Levon and Claudia Nazarian, Joseph and Jenny Oughourlian (UK), Berge and Vera Setrakian (USA), Sam and Silva Simonian (USA), Sinan and Angele Sinanian (USA) and an anonymous donor (USA). 

AGBU expresses gratitude to all of the benefactors as well as our remarkable grassroots donors, including young professionals and supporters from around the world.  

“We have been impressed by the surge of impressive contributions in less than one week” noted AGBU President Berge Setrakian.  “It is together that we can address the vast needs on the ground through our dedicated volunteer AGBU Disaster Relief Unit executing unprecedented work on the ground.”

AGBU is appealing to all Armenians worldwide to be a lifeline to their compatriots in Lebanon by donating quickly and generously to maximize the matching gift opportunity.

Due to the current complications of regular checks in the mail, online or phone donations are appreciated. Learn more about the relief fund established at Citibank (NY) and the work it serves visit: www.agbugiving.org/lebanon or call 212-319-6383 (M-F, 9am to 5 pm EST). For wire transfers, email  [email protected].

Armenpress: 100 years later, Woodrow Wilson’s legally binding verdict on Armenia-Turkey border remains in force

Hambardsumian Paul

100 years later, Woodrow Wilson’s legally binding verdict on Armenia-Turkey border remains in force

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 09:18,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. Two years after the end of WWI, the victorious Allied Powers – including Armenia – imposed the Treaty of Sevres on the Ottoman Empire.

The treaty was signed on August 10, 1920 and abolished the Ottoman Empire and, among other obligations, provided for an independent Armenia with a 160,000 square kilometer territory.

Today, on – the 100th anniversary of the treaty, the Armenian National Academy of Sciences History Institute Director Ashot Melkonyan says the treaty is still in force and is subject to fulfillment.

“On behalf of Armenia, the treaty was signed by the head of delegation of the Republic of Armenia Avetis Aharonyan with a golden pen especially ordered for this occasion,” Melkonyan said.

“It is important that the victorious countries in person of the Allied Powers were recording the Armenian people’s right towards their historic homeland, the homeland where several years earlier the genocide and [forced deportations] had taken place, and the Republic of Armenia, as a members of the Allied Powers, was to become one of the large and powerful states comprising a 160,000 square kilometer territory in the region. Around two dozen countries had signed under this document, and after the colonial system’s collapse tens of new countries had emerged who became participants of the Treaty of Sevres, in turn officially stating the Armenian people’s rights for Western Armenia,” he said.

Melkonyan argues that the opinion claiming that the Treaty of Sevres wasn’t ratified by signatories, including Armenia itself, and thus makes it void – is simply not true.

He said the treaty wasn’t ratified because of the onset of the Turkish-Armenian war in late September of 1920, which resulted in Armenian defeat by the December 3 Treaty of Alexandropol.

“In this sense some historians argue that it doesn’t have legally binding force, but the problem is elsewhere. Articles 88-93 of the Treaty’s Section 6 entirely concern Armenia. According to clause 89, US President Woodrow Wilson had to define the Turkish-Armenian border, which had to include most of parts of the provinces of Trabzon, Erzurum, Bitlis and Van, meaning that Armenia had to have a maritime access. However, it wasn’t realized, because unfortunately the international situation abruptly changed in autumn of 1920, Soviet Russia was able to emerge out of civil war and in a hostile atmosphere with the Allied Powers – its former allies – it was forced to get closer with Turkey – which was struggling against the Treaty of Sevres – and the Soviet-Kemalist rapprochement took place on the basis of this general anti-Entente front,” Melkonyan said.

The rapprochement led to Russia giving consent to Turkey to attack the Republic of Armenia after the Congress of the Peoples of the East in 1920 and to Sovietize Armenia with its Turkish troops, however this also was not the reason for cancelling the Treaty of Sevres”.

“The Treaty of Sevres Article 89 was a legally binding verdict. It had to come into force without ratification. Turkey was obliged to immediately and unconditionally accept this document because a legally binding verdict doesn’t have to be ratified by this or that country. In terms of international law, from the very first day of presentation in November 22, 1920  the Treaty of Sevres remains in force up to this day, and de jure the Armenian-Turkish border isn’t defined by the current Akhuryan-Araks line, but actually the borderline including the major part of the provinces of Trabzon, Erzurum, Bitlis and Van, with Western Armenia’s 90,000 square kilometer territory and 70,000 square kilometer of Eastern Armenia – including the territory of the Republic of Armenia,” Melkonyan said.

Another fact which states the Treaty of Sevres’ active status, according to Melkonyan, is that the Allies of World War I, or the Entente Powers, are using this very same document against the Turkish government for any given interest even during present days.

“It’s no coincidence that from time to time the countries of Entente Powers are bringing this document to agenda in the event of worsening intergovernmental relations with Turkey and are reminding that the present-day de-facto Armenian-Turkish border is in legal terms not valid, while the valid border is the one defined by Woodrow Wilson’s legally binding verdict,” Ashot Melkonyan said.

Another misconception is that the treaty is becoming invalid after 100 years pass since its signing. Melkonyan says none of the signatories have announced that the treaty is null and void, thus it is still active. Moreover, the document doesn’t contain any deadlines or timeframes.

“Thus, 100 years later, it is equally actual”.

Reporting by Norayr Shoghikyan; Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan




More than 47000 coronavirus test kits produced and supplied by Armenian scientists so far

Hambardsumian Paul

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 10:26,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Institute of Molecular Biology has already produced and supplied more than 47,000 COVID-19 test kits to health authorities and the manufacturing process is proceeding normally, Director Arsen Arakelyan told ARMENPRESS.

“As planned, we are working within the framework of producing 2000 tests a day,” he said. “In case of necessity we can produce even more”.

Arakelyan said all pre-production trials were successful and the tests had an accuracy of 98% at the time of commencing production. No problems associated with the quality were reported so far, he said.

Before the production was launched, the potential export of the test kits was being discussed. Arakelyan says this requires certification and lengthy registration phase, which in turn requires legislative regulation. He reminded that his institute is not a production company.

“Our production of these tests is a one-time activity, aimed at assisting our country in the coronavirus response. As a scientific organization we delivered the result, while the respective companies ought to carry out the continuation. I would really want for Armenian companies to be able to use our experience in the future and advance the work in industrial-scale, because this is outside our circle, we are doing scientific research,” Arakelyan said, adding that he has noticed some interest from businesses, which, however, are still on-standby waiting to see the outcome.

“We hope that in the future the government will utilize the scientific community’s knowledge and opportunities more widely for resolving different issues”.

Speaking about reforms in the scientific sector, Arakelian pointed out increase of funding to be the expectation of the area.

“We will have stronger science and greater possibilities in the event of more funding”, he said, adding that young people are also displaying interest in science careers.  “What matters are the conditions and possibilities in order for this interest not to fade away. Young people must be given possibilities for them to be involved in research, trials. You can’t keep young peoples’ attention solely with lectures”.

Reporting by Anna Gziryan; Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Netflix acquires Armenian Genocide film The Promise

Hambardsumian Paul

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 15:10, 3 August, 2020

YEREVAN, AUGUST 3, ARMENPRESS. Netflix has acquired The Promise for streaming starting August 8, producer Eric Esrailian tweeted.

“We are thrilled to announce The Promise was acquired by Netflix for streaming starting 8/8. Thank you ALL for your support & we know it will now raise even more awareness. Thanks to the unparalleled generosity of our dear friend & mentor Kirk Kerkorian, our team specifically made this film & our historical documentary counterpart, Intent To Destroy, to get US legislators to recognize the Armenian Genocide once & for all. We accomplished that mission thanks to all of you & our social impact campaign. No amount of denial by human rights abusers or minions will undo that fact. We donated all of the downstream revenue from the films – & ongoing/unpublicized orders of magnitude beyond that – to charitable organizations in education, healthcare, science, human rights, social services, culture & more in the US, Armenia & around the world”, he said.

Set during the waning days of the Ottoman Turkish Empire and the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks, “The Promise” tells the story of a love triangle sparked between an Armenian medical student, Michael (Oscar Issac), Anna (Charlotte Le Bon), and renowned American photojournalist Chris Myers (Christian Bale).

Armenian-American philanthropist and billionaire Kirk Kerkorian envisioned the movie. He died before the filming began.

Reporting by Angela Hambardzumyan; Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Sports: Mori Kone is Armenia’s best player of 2019/20 season

Hambardsumian Paul
News.am, Armenia
Aug 3 2020

Football Federation of Armenia has revealed the results of the Best player award of the 2019/20 season in Armenia.

Mori Kone, FC Shirak forward is the winner with 137 points.

Maksim Mayrovich, FC Noah forward, is ranked second with 31 points.

Jonel Desire, Lori FC forward is third with 22 points.

In third place is Lori forward Jonel Desire (22 points).


Asbarez: Armenia’s Troops Placed on ‘High Alert’ (Video)

Hambardsumian Paul
July 31,  2020

An Armenia soldier during testing of Made in Armenia military equipment

Made in Armenia Military Equipment Tested and Demonstrated

Armenia’s Defense Ministry on Friday announced that Armenia’s Armed Forces troops in the frontline and other areas have been placed on high alerts as part of a “spot check” of their combat readiness.

This inspection was ordered by the Army’s Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Onik Gasparyan who will assess the troops’ ability to act quickly in certain situations, clarify the issues of cooperation between the various levels of military staff and conduct drill enacting operative-tactical scenarios.

This inspection comes as joint Turkey-Azerbaijan military exercises are taking place for a third day in various parts of Azerbaijan.

Earlier this week, Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan said that Yerevan will be closely monitoring the exercises and warned of escalation of military aggression on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.

In a related matter, Armenia’s High-Tech Industry Minister Hakob Arsahakyan said on Friday that the production of military hardware by the country’s military industrial complex has been showing good results.

Arshakyan shared photos of Armenian-made mortars and shells, some of them being tested, and said that the results of trials have been satisfactory.

Arshakyan’s ministry also release footage of combat unmanned aerial vehicles—drones— produced and manufactured in Armenia. The said drones were put into operation during fighting with Azerbaijan on July 13.

“July 13 will be remembered in history as the day, when the combat UAVs produced in Armenia were put into operation,” Defense Ministry official Artsrun Hovhannisyan said at the time. “For the first time, Armenian combat UAVs were used in combat and demonstrated excellent results.”