Author: Hovhannisian John

Legendary French Armenian singer Charles Aznavour will participate in the “Aurora” Award ceremony in Yerevan on April 24, the singer’s spokesperson Christina Sargsyan told Armenpress.

“We are planning to visit Armenia to be present at the award ceremony of the “Aurora” Prize,” she said.

The co-founders of 100 LIVES and the Aurora Prize Selection committee – co-chaired by Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel and Academy Award-winning actor and humanitarian George Clooney – will honor the Aurora Prize finalists for their exceptional acts of humanity with a weekend of events from April 22 through April 24, 2016.

On behalf of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide, and in gratitude to their saviors, the Aurora Prize celebrates the strength of the human spirit that compels action is the face of adversity.

Recipients will be recognized for the exceptional impact their actions have made on preserving human life and advancing humanitarian causes. On behalf of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and in gratitude to their saviors, an Aurora Prize Laureate will be honored each year with a US$100,000 grant as well as the unique opportunity to continue the cycle of giving by nominating an organization which inspired their work for a US$1,000,000 award.

The Aurora Prize will be awarded annually on April 24 of each year in Yerevan, Armenia.

Artsakh welcome the adoption of the resolution on the recognition of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic by the House of Representatives of the State of Hawaii, Spokesperson for the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ani Sargsyan said in comment to Artsakh Public TV.

“Hawaii has become the 7th U.S. State to recognize the independence of the NKR. We also express our gratitude to all those who have contributed to this cause,” she said.

“The international recognition of Artsakh is one of the highest priorities of our foreign policy, and we will continue our efforts towards new achievements in this process,” the Spokesperson said.

“We are convinced that the international recognition of Artsakh’s independence will give additional impetus to the further development and strengthening of the statehood of Artsakh in general and its democratic institutions in particular. It will also have a positive impact on the process of the peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, ensuring its irreversibility and allowing to focus on developing the necessary mechanisms and conditions of peaceful coexistence of two independent States – Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan, which have resulted from the collapse of the Soviet Union and Azerbaijan’s aggression,” she concluded.

UEFA has fined Russian midfielder Dmitry Tarasov 5,000 euros ($5,600) for wearing a shirt bearing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s face at a Europa League game, the Associated Press reports.

The Lokomotiv Moscow player took off his team shirt to reveal the Putin T-shirt while on the field following a 2-0 loss to Turkish club Fenerbahce last month.

Beneath the image of Putin wearing a Russian navy cap were the words in Russian: “The most polite president.”

UEFA said the shirt broke rules on displaying political slogans or advertising on undergarments.

The match took place with tensions running high between the Russian and Turkish governments after Turkish forces shot down a Russian warplane in November, saying it violated Turkish airspace on the border with Syria.

Photo: Al-Masirah

 

At least 41 Yemeni civilians were killed when Saudi-led coalition warplanes hit a market Tuesday in the rebel-held northern Hajja province, medics and tribal sources said, AFP reports.

An official at a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said the facility had received the bodies of 41 people killed in the raids, along with 35 people who were wounded.

A health official in Hajja said the casualties were civilians and included children, adding that “the toll could rise”.

Local officials and tribal sources told AFP that coalition warplanes carried out several raids on the market in the town of Mustabaa.

Turkey’s former international football star Hakan Sukur risks up to four years in jail after being charged with insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in posts on Twitter, reports said Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reports.

Prosecutors have charged Sukur with posting Tweets from his account @HakanSukur containing “insulting content against Mr President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his son,” the private Dogan news agency reported.

In his defence, Sukur, 44, said he did not intend to target the president in his posts, the content of which was not made clear.

But that was rejected by prosecutors, who claimed that the tweets were “clearly related” to Erdogan, the news agency said.

If convicted, Sukur faces up to four years in jail, according to the charges. As the indictment has been approved, a first hearing is expected in the coming weeks.

Sukur, a striker whose football career stretched from 1987-2007, was by far the most prolific goalscorer in the history of the Turkish national side, finding the net 51 times in 112 appearances.

He is also remembered for his electric performance in the 2002 World Cup, where Turkey registered its best ever performance of third place.

After football, the high-profile Sukur went into politics and was in 2011 elected MP from Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

But he resigned in 2013 after a vast corruption probe that targeted Erdogan and his inner circle, siding with the movement of his arch-foe, the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen.

The legal case is one of a string of others targeting journalists, bloggers and ordinary people who land in court on charges of insulting Erdogan and other top officials.

Photo: Getty Images

 

Vienna is the world’s best city to live in; Baghdad is the worst, and London, Paris and New York do not even make it into the top 35, according to international research into quality of life.

German-speaking cities dominate the rankings in the study, with Vienna joined by Zurich, Munich, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt in the top seven.

Paris has tumbled down the league, falling 10 places to 37th, just ahead of London at 39th, almost entirely because of the city’s vulnerability to terrorist attacks.

US cities perform relatively poorly in the study, largely because of issues around personal safety and crime. The highest ranking city in the US is San Francisco, at 28th; Boston is 34th. Canadian cities, led by Toronto, far outrank their US rivals in the table.

Armenia’s capital Yerevan is ranked 182nd among 230 cities. The list includes two Russian cities –Moscow and Saint Petersburg, ranked 167th and 174th respectively. Georgia’s capital Tbilisi is 188th, Azerbaijan’s Baku is placed 197th. Istanbul (122^nd) is the only Turkish city included in the ranking.

The capital cities of Armenia’s partners in the Eurasian Economic Union are placed as follows:  Minsk – 190th, Almaty – 176th, Bishkek – 210^th.

The study examined social and economic conditions, health, education, housing and the environment, and is used by big companies to assess where they should locate and how much they should pay staff.

“The victims of genocide or crimes against humanity are as aggrieved as the ones who died in a war, car crash or natural disaster. Denying this fact is to perpetuate the crime,” historian Yves Ternon said in an interview with . Working especially on Rwanda, Jewish and Armenian genocides, Ternon worked as a physician for year and then devoted himself to historical research.

Asked whether it’s proper to make a comparison between Holocaust and Armenian genocide, he said: “Of course we can and in fact, we should. All genocide studies complement each other. Though there are some differences between these two genocides, there are also a lot of similarities. First of all, both of them were based on an ideology. Holocaust was grounded on racist ideology, which is based on anti-Semitism, or colloquially, on “hate of Jews”. A similar ideology was prevalent among the Young Turks: Turkism, meaning Turkish nationalism and panturkism. At the end, these ideologies went so far that the idea of getting rid of everyone who is not Turk prevailed. I mean, getting rid of Christians, for instance, Armenians.”

“On the other hand, there is an important difference between two genocides. One of them was a pure racist ideology; this is what happened in Holocaust. Comparing the Armenians in Ottoman Empire and Jews in Germany, Jews hadn’t been constituting a problem; I mean, there wasn’t any religious-ethnic problems or territorial issues. However, Armenians had an autonomy problem in Anatolia and they had always been subjected to discrimination, because they are Christians. In this sense, Armenians constituted a “threat” in Anatolia. They had to eliminate it, but how? By annihilating the Armenians. The frameworks of these two genocides is different, but both of them were based on an ideology and resulted in a genocide,” he said.

Soeaking about the denial of the Armenain Genocide, the historian said “it is more than denial, it is an ignoring policy.” “Today, Turkey doesn’t only deny the annihilation of Armenians, but also ignores their existence. As Taner Akçam said, Turkish identity is based on the non-existence of Armenians. If Turkey accepts the genocide, it would also accept their existence. This means that Turkish identity would be harmed in part. This is of course really hard. Thus, I think that the denial will go on for years. Turkey also denies the existence of Kurds. Turkish identity doesn’t accept Kurds with their Kurdish identity; they want to see them as Turkish, which is not true. We have to acknowledge that Turkish identity is problematical and it constitutes the foundations of Turkish Republic. Unsettling these foundations is not easy; it requires efforts that will last for years. Thankfully, there are a lot of scientists who work on this issue and some of them in Turkey, which is a good thing.”

Referring to the perspectives of social transformation in Turkey, Yves Ternon said: “Turkey is still being governed by the Young Turks mentality. Unionist policies remain. I mean, there is change, but it is not enough. In short, there are 3 reasons why I think that the denial of Armenian Genocide will continue. First reason is the impossibility of reconstitution of Turkish identity. Second one is the problem of compensation and the third one is the impossibility of a transformation in Kemalist or İslamist political ideology. Thus, if there is no democracy in Turkey and a radical change, a social transformation is difficult. On the other hand, there are political parties like HDP which are ready to accept the Armenian Genocide. There are minority, but they are there. There might be a change, if the number of such parties increase.”

The has named Germany-based Armenian World Champions Arthur Abraham and Susi Kentikian as “Boxers of the Year.”

WBO Middleweight Champion Abraham was voted the best by readers of the magazine and the jury. WBA Flyweight Champion Kentikian received the most votes among the boxers.

Abraham’s coach Ulli Wegner has been named “Coach of the Year” for the 13^th time.

Member of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assmebly to the Council of Europe delivered a speech at PACE plenary sitting. The full text of the speech is below:

Mr. Chair,

Dear Colleagues,

May I thank both rapporteurs, Mrs. Mailis REPS and Mr. Yves Cruchten for the massive work laying behind the reports and draft resolutions submitted to our consideration and this joint debate today. It is another example that this House is consistent to address its core values unless they are safeguarded in a sustainable manner across the Council of Europe.

It is evident that the existence of dynamic civil society is crucial to a democratic state, and respect for fundamental rights, particularly, the right of free expression, the right to freedom of assembly and the right to freedom of association is vital to the proper functioning of civil society. In this respect, the growing tendency to limit NGOs’ activities and attacking and politically prosecuting or jailing human rights defenders in a couple of member states, more drastically in the neighboring Azerbaijan, an increasing black spot on the human rights map of Europe, is more than concerning.

Both reports illustrate in the way best possible where we stay there in Azerbaijan in terms of democracy: heavily increased legal and administrative restrictions for NGOs, ongoing crackdown of the germs of civil society, dozens of politically motivated cases of prosecution and jailing of all those who are critical of the Azerbaijani government and Aliyev family. One may become surprised at this House of Democracy to hear about the legal restrictions posed on civil society organizations in Azerbaijan. In order to establish a local branch the international NGOs are legally oppressed to conclude an agreement with the Ministry of Justice about respecting “national moral values” and “not getting involved in political propaganda”. It is obvious and the rapporteurs confirm it, that it is impossible to define these provisions clearly, which in fact serves a pretext for criminal prosecution of all those who demonstrate any criticism towards Aliyev regime.

All the proactive international NGOs, which have done a lot, along with the Council of Europe and European Union for nursing the germs of civil society in post-soviet area, including Armenia, namely Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Transparency International and others are labeled by the government and our Azerbaijani colleagues sitting next to us here at the Assembly to use double standards towards Azerbaijan, making false claims in their reports thus trying to argue the validness of the harsh restrictions of their activities in Azerbaijan. Even more, civil society organizations are deliberately denied of access to foreign funding: it is legally binding to get the permission of the Minister of Justice to get funding exceeding the amount of 180 Euros let alone the policy of turning down applications of all those NGOs for registration which are critical of the government of Aliev’s autocratic regime.

Colleagues,

Making reference to our region, one may say that the reports are not about the inappropriate restrictions on NGOs’ activities and the human rights defenders being prosecuted but also about the perspectives of peace. In the case of our region democracy means more. Let me be clear. The dominating Goebbels-style state propaganda, when Armenians are declared to be the enemies of the Azerbaijani nation world-over, and having murderer Ramil Safarov declared to be a national hero and an true example for younger generations, all those who speak about peace and the need to find a diplomatically negotiated solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem are labeled and treated as “betrayers of Azerbaijan spying for Armenia”. State propaganda puts all these people to be betrayers of Azerbaijan refreshing our memory back from the brutal Stalin era. My time will not be enough to name all these victims.

We should send a clear message President Aliyev, one of the last dictators in our continent, to put an end to systematic repression of human rights defenders, the media and those critical of his government and his family.

Colleagues, again, democracy means more in our region.

Many thanks for your attention.

Laval’s 18-year-old Tina Garabedian, who has been with the Laval Figure Skating Club since she was four, along with her partner Simon Proulx-Senecal walked away with a bronze medal in Croatia last month at The Golden Spin of Zagreb tournament, according to .

“It was an amazing thing to see the Armenian flag raised,” Garabedian’s father John Garabedian said. “With tears in my eyes, I witnessed something I had not seen before. My mother nation’s flag slowly being raised alongside the Italian (first place) and the US flag (second place).”

Garabedian and Proulx-Senecal will be competing on Jan. 23 in the European Championships in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. The duo hopes to be wearing the colours of Armenia in the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Garabedian holds dual citizenship granted to her when the Armenian skating federation enthusiastically accepted that she represent the country at the international level.

“As a proud Armenian, she jumped at the opportunity to represent Armenia when her coach, Shawn Winters, suggested the idea. Tina is very proud of her heritage. She went to Armenian school up to the Grade 7 at École Armenienne Sourp Hagop,” the proud father boasted.

The duo has begun a fundraising campaign to raise money for their competitions.

“Each international competition costs between $6,000-10,000. With no support from Armenia we need to be self-financing,” John explained. “There are Armenians all over the world. We are trying to encourage them to support the team so they can make sure the Armenian flag stands out on the world stage. They did it in Zagreb and I am certain they can do it again.”

According to John, the website donation page has already collected over $5,000 from Los Angeles, Lebanon, Toronto, Yerevan and London.

Learn more about the team or donate to their Olympic dream on their Facebook page @Ice Dance Armenia or see their donation page at