Author: Hunanian Jack

 

Manchester United have entered the fray for Dortmund’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan, according to the Daily Mail. The report says that the Armenian is set to leave Dortmund, as he is refusing to sign a new contract and any transfer fee would be worth £25 million.

Arsenal and Juventus have been in long discussions for Mkhitaryan, while it’s also believed that Chelsea and Liverpool have shown interest in the 27-year-old.

Dortmund are probably overjoyed, as that £25 million fee is set to explode now Man United have joined a range of other elite clubs wanting to sign Mkhitaryan. We’re two weeks into this transfer saga, and no closer to learning where he wants to go.

Champions League matches may put Arsenal and Juventus in the box seat, but United and Chelsea can pay top dollar to soothe the wait for top level European action.

“The wind of memories” – a film on Armenian Gneocide directed by Hamshen Armenian filmmaker Özcan Alper – has been named the best at the 8th Montreal Turkish Film Festival, reports, quoting the Turkish Evrensel daily.

Addressing the festival, Özcan Alper said, in part: “Not everything is lost as long as in this world, where many are homeless and in exile, the audience is still able to face the past together with Aram, one of the heroes of The Wind of Memories.”

“The current developments taking place on the territory of Turkey and in the Middle East are a result of the failure to properly face the events of the past and make conclusions,” the director said.

On 28 May Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan sent a congratulatory address in connection with the day of the First Armenian Republic. The message reads:

“Dear compatriots,

On behalf of the Artsakh Republic authorities and myself personally I cordially congratulate on the Day of the First Armenian Republic.

The 1918 battles of Sardarapat, Bash-Aparan and Gharakilisa occupy their worthy place in the heroic chronology of our people’s history.

During their centuries-long history the Armenians become convinced many times that the main guarantee of secure life is an independent statehood, its consistent reinforcement and faith in their own strength. The Four-day April war when Azerbaijan once again tried to carry out its genocidal policy towards the Armenian people has demonstrated this too. But, it faced the force and spirit of the Armenian army and was unable to carry out any of his aggressive goals.

Today it is everybody’s duty to keep alive the victorious spirit of our hero ancestors in the memory of generations to come, having before our eyes their example, guided by the national ideology and selfless patriotism, do everything possible for the two Armenian states develop day by day, become stronger and more powerful. The only way to accomplish this is a consolidated and cohesive work, aggregating the potential of world-spread Armenians and efforts of any individual Armenian for the benefit of the solution of paramount national issues. Only in this way we can forge new victories and go to a secure future.
I once again congratulate our whole people on the state holiday and wish peace and great successes.”

Photo:  Mikhail Pochuev/TASS

Agreements reached by the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents at their Monday’s meeting in Vienna are to put an end to the escalation in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, a Russian lawmaker said on Tuesday, TASS reports.

“Agreements reached by the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents yesterday in Vienna are to put an end to the so-called April crisis and the aggravation of the situation at the border. It is vitally important bearing in mind that the conflict [in Nagorno-Karabakh] is still simmering and is still claiming human lives,” Leonid Slutsky, the chairman of the committee for the affairs of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Eurasian integration and relations with compatriots of the Russian State Duma lower parliament house, told journalists.

From this point of view, “the Vienna agreements are to be a model of a global solution on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement,” he said. “I hope it will be found in a foreseeable future. This is the problem we have no right to leave to the next generation.”

Clark University History Professor Taner Akçam received the “Friend of the Armenians” award from the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern) at a banquet of the Diocesan Assembly on April 29 in Cleveland. Hundreds of Armenian Church leaders from around the country attended.

“It is deeply rewarding to be recognized as a friend of the Armenians,” Akçam said. “While power, not truth, reigns supreme in politics, it is truth that wins in the fields of education and scholarship. We need to train dozens of young academics who can express the truth not as an emotional plea but as a scholarly fact.”

In his speech, Akçam (pictured) recognized two scholars, and Ümit Kurt, who recently earned their doctoral degrees in Armenian genocide studies from Clark’s .

“The truth is that the more academics we have working in this field the less oxygen denialism receives. Education is where the real investment needs to be made,” he said.

Every year, the New York-based Diocese of the Armenian Church of America bestows its “Friend of the Armenians” award on an individual in the public arena who has been a heroic advocate for the Armenian-American community. Past recipients have included U.S. Ambassadors Harry Gilmore and John Evans; U.S. Sens. Edward Kennedy and Robert Dole; and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

The Diocese selected Akçam for the award because of his “history of courageous humanitarianism” and his “lifelong effort to reveal and defend historical truth of the Armenian genocide through his scholarship.”

“All of these things have done much to promote admiration, goodwill and affection for [him] throughout the Armenian-American community,” wrote Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America.

In recent years, Akçam has been honored with the Hrant Dink Spirit of Freedom and Justice Medal by the Organization of Istanbul Armenians, theHeroes of Justice and Truth Award from the Diocese and Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Churches of America and the Hrant Dink Freedom Award from the Armenian Bar Association. In 2006, he was recognized by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for his outstanding work in human rights and for fighting genocide denial.

Akçam is the Robert Aram, Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marian Mugar Chair in Armenian Genocide Studies. He received his doctorate in 1995 from the University of Hanover, with a dissertation on “The Turkish National Movement and the Armenian Genocide against the Background of the Military Tribunals in Istanbul Between 1919 and 1922.”

As a member and former Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Finland finds the escalation of the Karabakh conflict unfortunate and condemns all violence along the line of contact, Finland’s Foreign Minister Timo Soini said at a joint press conference with visiting Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

He urged the sides to respect the ceasefire. “We all know that there can be no military solution to this conflict, it must be solved in a political way,” the Minister said.

“Finland fully supports the current Co-Chairs – the United States, Russia and France, and all their mediating efforts,” Minister Soini said.

Photo: Civilnet.am

 

A bus exploded on Halabyan Street in Yerevan at 21:51, the Ministry of Emergency Situations reports.

According to preliminary information, one erson was killed, another six were injured in the blast.

The explosion occurred on the 63rd line of the municipal bus route. The injured have been transported to Armenia Medical Center for treatment.

 

 

 

 

 

The negotiation process cannot continue as long as there is shooting or threat of shooting in the direction of Nagorno Karabakh, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan told reporters today, as he commented on the results of the Russian Foreign minister’s visit to Armenia.

According to Kocharyan, the first and most important outcome was the reiteration of the fact that the 1994 ceasefire agreement remains in force, and the utmost goal today is to ensure peace and stability.

The Deputy Foreign Minister attached special importance to the statement that concrete measures reinforcing the ceasefire regime should be initiated not only by the Co-Chairs, but also the German Presidency of the OSCE.

Referring to Sergey Lavrov’s remarks on Kazan document, Kocharyan said: “There are two platforms. The first one is the Madrid document, which led to Kazan, which Azerbaijan turned down. The second platform are the proposals targeted at reinforcement of the ceasefire regime, implementation of confidence-building mechanisms,” Shavarsh Kocharyan said.

The Deputy Foreign Minister confirmed that the Madrid Principles envisage concessions, but it’s up to Nagorno Karabakh to make a decision. “No Armenian official will ever be able to solve the issue of territories and status for Artsakh,” he concluded.

“I’m gravely disappointed that President Obama will now leave office without fulfilling his commitment to recognize the ‎Armenian Genocide‬,” Rep. Adam Schiff said in a statement.

“For a President who knows the history so well, who spoke so passionately about the genocide as a Senator and Presidential candidate, and who has always championed human rights, the choice of silence and complicity is all the more painfully inexplicable. Remaining silent in an effort to curry favor with Turkey is as morally indefensible as it will be ineffectual,” Rep. Schiff said.