Author: Jagharian Tania

Russia records over 70 daily COVID deaths first time since June 11

Jagharian Tania

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 14:16,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 24, ARMENPRESS. The number of COVID-19 deaths in Russia has increased by 72 over the past 24 hours versus 69 the day before, TASS reported citing the anti-coronavirus crisis center.

This is the first time since June 11 that Russia registered more than 70 fatalities in a day. In all, according to the crisis center, since the onset of the pandemic, 383,758 people have died.

The number of infections has increased by 40,231 versus 30,967 a day earlier with a total of 19,221,602 while the number of recoveries has risen by 32,876 versus 30,869 the day before, reaching a total of 18,370,612.

As many as 3,872 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day, 4.7% fewer than in the previous day. The number of hospitalized patients increased in 39 regions, while in 46 other regions the figure declined. A day earlier, 4,063 people were rushed to hospitals.

Moscow’s COVID-19 cases surged by 9,414 over the past day, versus 4,997 a day earlier, reaching 2,981,183, according to the anti-coronavirus crisis center. St. Petersburg’s COVID-19 cases increased by 4,406 over the past day versus 4,412 a day earlier, reaching 1,630,498.

NEW SOUTH WALES STATE GOVERNMENT MINISTERS COURE AND STOKES VISIT HAMAZKAINE GALSTAUN COLLEGE IN SYDNEY

Jagharian Tania
       Aug 24 2022
SYDNEY: New South Wales Minister for Multiculturalism and Seniors, the Hon. Mark Coure MP and Minister for Infrastructure, Cities and Active Transport, the Hon. Rob Stokes MP visited Hamazkaine Arshak & Sophie Galstaun College, partaking in a school assembly and touring the picturesque campus, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU).

The visit to Sydney’s largest bilingual, co-educational Armenian day school was facilitated by the Armenian National Committee of Australia at the request of the Minister for Multiculturalism, Mark Coure.

Minister Coure was accompanied by his parliamentary colleague and local Member for Pittwater, Rob Stokes on Tuesday 23rd August, when they addressed the student and staff body during assembly.

College captains Karny Bedrossian and Serly Boujekian welcomed the NSW Government Ministers to their school and thanked the NSW Parliament for their consistent and ongoing support of the Armenian-Australian community.

Principal Mr. Edward Demirdjian also welcomed the guests and highlighted the important role Galstaun College plays in providing students with an opportunity to excel academically whilst fostering and preserving the Armenian culture and traditions in New South Wales.

Minister Coure, who is also the Member for Oatley, noted the importance of getting involved in the Australian political system, having young voices heard and becoming active members of the local community.

Minister Stokes touched upon his personal connection to the Armenian diaspora and the assistance provided to his family by an Armenian refugee, who survived the Ottoman-committed Armenian Genocide.

Galstaun students showcased the rich and vibrant cultural traditions of the Armenian-Australian community, with several musical performances from high school students, Hagop Levonian and Aram Dermesropian.

Following the Assembly, Ministers Coure and Stokes toured the campus, visiting the Smoky Dawson Pavilion––named after the legendary former owner of the iconic property, as well as walking through the library and meeting with students from several primary school classes.

Their visit concluded with a private meeting discussing the ongoing needs of the school community and students at Galstaun College, including ways to enhance academic opportunities and infrastructure.

ANC-AU Executive Director, Michael Kolokossian thanked Ministers Coure and Stokes for taking the time to visit Galstaun College and highlighted the importance of Sydney’s Armenian day schools to the greater community.

“Galstaun College is the beating heart of the Armenian-Australian community. With over 320 students from all across Sydney walking through the College gates daily, this ‘little Armenia’ is one of our community’s most vital institutions,” said Kolokossian.

Leaders of the several Armenian-Australian community organisations were also present for the official visit including, Mr Heros Grigorian, Member of the Central Executive Board of Armenian Cultural and Educational Society (Hamazkaine) and Mr Hagop Gulumian, Representative of the Armenian Cultural and Educational Society in Australia (Hamazkaine Australia), as well as College Board members Khajaque Kortian and Vache Kahramanian.

Hamazkaine Arshak and Sophie Galstaun College is a co-educational, non-selective school located in Sydney’s Northern Beaches for students from Reception to Year 12. For more information about Galstaun College visit their website here.

http://www.anc.org.au/news/Media-Releases/New-South-Wales-State-Government-Ministers-Coure-and-Stokes-Visit-Hamazkaine-Galstaun-College-in-Sydney


Asbarez: ANCA Calls on Congress to Investigate Biden Administration’s Aid Blockade on Artsakh

Jagharian Tania
 by Contributor

 

 

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories
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National Chairman Requests Congressional Inquiry into Lack of Aid to At-Risk Families in Artsakh

WASHINGTON—In letters sent this week to Congressional leadership and rank and file members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, Armenian National Committee of America Chairman Raffi Hamparian called for Congressional inquiries into the Biden Administration’s effective blockade on humanitarian aid to Armenian families of Artsakh – an at-risk population facing aggression, ethnic-cleansing, the obstruction of access to food, water, fuel, and other vitally needed resources.

Citing the “Azerbaijani government’s ambition to see Artsakh’s Armenians starved out of existence,” Hamparian underscored that “the Administration has sent almost no humanitarian assistance at all to help Armenian families living in Artsakh.” “America must not be complicit in the ethnic-cleansing of Artsakh by Azerbaijan,” he stressed.

The ANCA letter called on legislators to demand answers from the Biden Administration – via Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power – to the following four questions:

— What specific actions has the Biden Administration taken to help at-risk Armenians living within Nagorno-Karabakh? (Please provide programs, partners, budgets, deliverables and other relevant information.)

— What specific plans does the Biden Administration have to help at-risk Armenians living within Nagorno-Karabakh? (Please provide programs, partners, budgets, deliverables and other relevant information.)

— Has the Biden Administration conducted a needs assessment of the humanitarian crisis facing the Armenian population of Artsakh?

— What budget range does the Biden Administration consider sufficient and appropriate to address the humanitarian crisis facing the Armenian population of Artsakh?

ANCA activists across the United States have sent tens of thousands of letters asking their U.S. legislators to appropriate robust U.S. aid to Artsakh, using the ANCA action portal: www.anca.org/aid.

The full text of the ANCA letter is provided below.

ANCA Chairman Raffi Hamparian’s Letter to U.S. Senate and House Members

Dear Senator/Representative:

I am writing to request that you investigate the Biden Administration’s refusal to provide meaningful levels of U.S. humanitarian aid to the vulnerable Armenian population living in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh).

As you know, the indigenous Armenians of Artsakh – victims of ethnic-cleansing and an ongoing genocidal drive by Azerbaijan and Turkey to drive them from their ancestral homeland – remain at-risk, isolated and effectively blockaded, seeking to survive without sufficient food, fuel, energy or other resources.

The Biden Administration has provided some token aid to Armenians driven from Artsakh into Armenia, and – as a result of Congressional leadership –provided modest funding for de-mining and UXO clearance. Consistent, however, with the Azerbaijani government’s ambition to see Artsakh’s Armenians starved out of existence, the Administration has sent almost no humanitarian assistance at all to help Armenian families living in Artsakh.

The Administration’s aid blockade stands in sharp contrast to established U.S. policy, which, since Federal Fiscal Year 1998, has provided tens of millions of dollars of direct aid to Artsakh, helping its peaceful inhabitants with maternal health care, clean drinking water, and life-saving demining.

In light of the escalating existential crisis facing the Armenian of Artsakh, I call upon you to ask the Biden Administration – via Secretary of State Antony Blinken and USAID Administrator Samantha Power – the following four questions.

— What specific actions has the Biden Administration taken to help at-risk Armenians living within Nagorno-Karabakh? (Please provide programs, partners, budgets, deliverables and other relevant information.)

— What specific plans does the Biden Administration have to help at-risk Armenians living within Nagorno-Karabakh? (Please provide programs, partners, budgets, deliverables and other relevant information.)

— Has the Biden Administration conducted a needs assessment of the humanitarian crisis facing the Armenian population of Artsakh?

— What budget range does the Biden Administration consider sufficient and appropriate to address the humanitarian crisis facing the Armenian population of Artsakh?

The survival of an ancient Christian nation on its indigenous homeland is at stake. Congress needs to act now  – demanding answers and delivering aid.

By all accounts, the Administration – under pressure from Azerbaijan – has effectively cut off desperately needed U.S. humanitarian aid to Artsakh. Without this aid, Azerbaijan will starve Artsakh’s at-risk Armenian population of food, water, and other life-sustaining resources. America must not be complicit in the ethnic-cleansing of Artsakh by Azerbaijan, an oil-rich regime that has received over $164,000,000 in U.S. military aid. Very simply, this dictatorship does not deserve a veto over U.S. humanitarian aid policy.

Please accept my thanks for your prompt attention to this ANCA request. I look forward to hearing from you regarding the Administration’s response to your inquiries and would welcome the opportunity to speak directly with you on this matter.

Sincerely

Raffi Hamparian
Chairman
Armenian National Committee of America

Man, 42, calls, threatens to blow up police building of Armenia’s Ashtarak

Jagharian Tania
NEWS.am
Armenia – Aug 22 2022
15:26, 22.08.2022

At 10:25pm on Sunday, a person called the Police of Armenia, and stated that if his acquaintance is not released by the Ashtarak city police in ten minutes, he will blow up the Ashtarak police building and harm this police department’s management, the police informed.

Within minutes, the Ashtarak police determined the identity and location of this caller.

This 42-year-old man was found on an Ashtarak street and detained 25 minutes after the aforesaid call.

Criminal proceedings have been launched.

This man was taken to the Ashtarak police detention facility.

An investigation is underway.

Armenpress: Fake bomb threat caller jailed

Jagharian Tania

Fake bomb threat caller jailed

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 10:27,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 17, ARMENPRESS. The Shirak Court of General Jurisdiction approved the prosecution’s motion to jail the Gyumri citizen who called in fake bomb threats on August 15 and 16 targeting the parliament building, the tax service building and other state agencies.

The caller was arrested on August 16.

The prosecutors asked the court to remand the suspect into custody on Article 314 paragraph 1 and 2 for making a false terror threat which caused panic and disrupted the activities of the tax authorities of Shirak.

The prosecution said in a statement that all fake bomb threats will be scrutinized and those guilty will be held to account.

CivilNet: Three border checkpoints may be set up on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Jagharian Tania
CIVILNET.AM

18 Aug, 2022 10:08

Armenia’s National Security Service submitted a bill to parliament that would authorize the government to set up three checkpoints along the border with Azerbaijan.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price reiterated the United States’ commitment to “a comprehensive long-term peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan” at a press briefing.

Argishti Kyaramyan, chairman of the Investigative Committee, said there is no evidence so far to suggest the Surmalu blast was the result of a terrorist attack or any other intentional act.

Source: Ruptly

Sports: European Championship: Armenia wins 6th medal

Jagharian Tania
NEWS.am
Armenia – Aug 17 2022

Armenia won its 6th medal at the European Youth Boxing Championships held in Turkey.

Alen Stepanyan (57 kg) also made it to the semifinals. In the duel with a Scottish athlete Oscar Steele, the Armenian won 5:0.

Hayk Ghahramanyan (75 kg), Tigran Hovsepyan (50 kg), Samvel Siramargyan (66 kg), Hamest Afrikyan (42 kg) and Vahram Dovlatbekyan (40 kg) reached the semifinals.

Turkish press: Ukraine, Armenia reject claims of involvement in Greek surveillance scandal

Jagharian Tania
Ahmet Gencturk   |07.08.2022


ANKARA

Ukraine and Armenia on Sunday rejected allegations of involvement in a surveillance scandal in Greece that has led to the resignation of the country’s intelligence chief as well as a top prime minister’s aide.

Reports emerged on Saturday of Panagiotis Kontoleon, the former head of Greece’s National Intelligence Service who resigned on Friday, alleging that the Armenian and Ukrainian intelligence services requested the surveillance of the socialist opposition PASOK party’s leader.

In response to the claims covered in local media, the Ukrainian Ambassador in Athens Sergii Shutenko said the allegations were “divorced from reality.”

“Let me point this out-Ukraine has never requested that from Greek counterpart,” Shutenko said on Twitter, adding that it was “a very convenient time to divert attention from the key issue – the Russian war in Ukraine.”

For its part, the Armenian Embassy in Greece took to Facebook to similarly deny the claims, which it called a “shameless lie.”

“Armenia has never asked any government to listen to anyone’s phone,” it added.

Meanwhile, Nikos Androulakis, the leader of PASOK at the center of the scandal, claimed on Twitter that not only was he monitored by the EYP, but that there was also an attempt to hack his cell phone by Israeli-made Predator tracking software.

In reference to the rejections by the embassies of Ukraine and Armenia, he accused the leaders of the ruling party Nea Dimokratia of being in close cooperation with right-wing extremists in spreading defamation.

“Our country and its institutions do not deserve this downfall for which Mr. (Prime Minister Kyriakos) Mitsotakis is solely responsible,” he said.

Surveillance scandal

On Friday, the former EYP head Kontoleon, along with prime minister’s general secretary Grigoris Dimitriadis, resigned over the scandal that erupted last week when the then-intel chief told a parliamentary committee that his agency had been spying on journalist Thanasis Koukakis.

The committee’s closed-door hearing came after Androulakis complained to top prosecutors about an attempt to hack his cellphone with Israeli-made Predator tracking software.

Alexis Tsipras, leader of the main opposition SYRIZA-PS party, said the resignations were an admission of guilt, while Prime Minister Mitsotakis is expected to make a statement on the matter on Monday.

Why are Armenians leaving the Lachin region? Opinions from Baku

Jagharian Tania

Aug 9 2022


  • JAMnews
  • Baku

Why Armenians are leaving the Lachin region

Inhabitants of the city of Lachin and the village of Zabukh (Aghavno), located in the Lachin corridor, must evacuate by August 25. This agreement was reached by Azerbaijan and Armenia via mediation with Russian peacekeepers deployed in part of Karabakh. Armenian experts are asking why these towns should be resettled at all.

  • Putin-Erdogan negotiations: agreements on the region and risks for Armenia. Opinion
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According to the terms of the tripartite declaration signed on November 10, 2020 by the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia and the Prime Minister of Armenia, the Lachin region passed under the control Azerbaijan. But because the Lachin corridor is the only road connecting Armenia and Khankendi (Stepanakert), the city of Lachin itself and the village of Zabuh (Aghavno), it has remained outside the control of the Azerbaijani army.

The State Agency for Highways of Azerbaijan has put an end to the dispute over who is building an alternative road to the Lachin corridor

Although, under the agreement, three years were allotted for the construction of an alternative road to the Lachin corridor, Azerbaijan has waited only two, and a new road will be put into service by the end of summer 2022. After that, the regional center of Lachin will be under Azerbaijani control.

Armenia has insisted on the literal fulfillment of conditions stated in the sixth paragraph of the agreement, and demanded that three years be allowed to pass first. The Armenian part of the road is, in fact, still in the design stage.

Provisional map of the Lachin corridor and alternative road. Source: www.eurasianet.org

After Azerbaijan conducted a military operation, called “Retribution”, last week, the process accelerated. The Armenian press, citing the Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures of the unrecognized NKR, Hayk Khanumyan, reported that Azerbaijan demanded the release of the city of Lachin and the village of Zabukh (Aghavno) by August 5, 2022. “As a result of negotiations, it was possible to postpone the transfer to August 25,” the report says.

Member of the Azerbaijani Parliament Vugar Bayramov cited data of the last population census, before the start of the First Nagorno-Karabkh War:

“The last population census in the Lachin region of the Azerbaijan SSR was carried out in 1979.

According to that census, 47,261 people lived in the region. The ethnic makeup of the population was as follows: 44,665 people (94.5%) were Azerbaijanis, 2,437 people (5.1%) were Muslim Kurds. According to the 1979 census, 34 people of Armenian nationality lived in the Lachin region.

“Muslim Kurds were expelled from the area along with Azerbaijanis during the occupation of the area by the Armenian armed forces.

“In 1992, 65,507 internal refugees from Lachin were settled in 59 cities and regions of Azerbaijan.”

According to Bayramov, Zabukh consisted entirely of Azerbaijanis. Because of the war more than 600 people, the indigenous inhabitants of this village, were internally displaced.

“In 2003, the Armenian diaspora built a church in Zabukh. Beginning in 2013, Armenians began to illegally settle in this village. The Ari Foundation, owned by Lebanese Armenians, has built more than 150 houses in the village,” added Vugar Bayramov.

Azerbaijan’s demand is based on the terms of the tripartite statement, Azeri political commentator Agshin Kerimov maintains:

“Azerbaijan only demands the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from the city of Lachin and the current Lachin corridor. Baku does not insist on the expulsion of the Armenian population thence.

“If desired, the Armenians who now inhabit Lachin and Zabuh can apply to the Azerbaijani authorities, obtain citizenship of the country, and continue to live in peace where they lived after the occupation of this region. But apparently they aren’t even considering that option.”

Military observer Asaf Guliyev cited anecdotes from his experience of communicating with residents of the Lachin region:

“I myself am from Karabakh, I was born and raised in this region. I know for sure that there have never been Armenians in the Lachin region. At any rate, before occupation in the early ’90s.

“They were relocated there later on preferential terms. I shot a film in Karabakh during the years of occupation and talked with people living in these villages of the Lachin at that time. Many were resettled from Armenia itself; they were given land for farming at zero taxation. Everything was done to ensure that the occupied lands were not empty.”

Kuliyev says the Lachin Armenians did not take up the offer of Azerbaijani citizenship:

“Baku offers Armenians who were residents of the NKAR the possiblity of Azerbaijani citizenship. The Armenians who now inhabit Lachin and the villages are not citizens of Azerbaijan, and so they must leave the occupied lands.”

NSW State Conference of Australian Liberals recognises the Republic of Artsakh and Armenian, Assyrian and Greek genocides

Jagharian Tania
Public Radio of Armenia
Aug 12 2022
, 11:21

 3 minutes read

The New South Wales Liberal Party State Conference has adopted a motion calling on the Federal Australian Government to recognise the independence of the Republic of Artsakh, as well as accurately characterise the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides committed by the Ottoman Empire in 1915, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU).

The Liberal Party is one of the two major political parties in Australia, and this motion was moved by Bennelong Branch member and City of Ryde Councillor, Trenton Brown on 6th August 2022. It was adopted without dissent by all voting delegates at the State Conference Annual General Meeting.

In line with motions previously passed in both houses of the New South Wales and South Australian parliaments, the motion called on Australia to recognise the rights to self-determination of the Armenians of the Republic Artsakh.

Significantly, this motion also condemned the war crimes committed by Azerbaijani petro-dictator Ilham Aliyev during the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh war against the indigenous Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh, which resulted in the occupation of 70% of the self-determined Armenian Republic of Artsakh.

Brown’s motion also called upon the Australian Government to accurately recognise the 1915-1923 Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire, which has also been recognised by the New South Wales and South Australian Parliament, and debated favourably by the Federal House of Representatives.

Prominent members of the NSW Liberal Party and Australian Liberal Party were present at the State Conference including NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, NSW Liberal Party State President and Australia’s former Minister for Immigration Hon. Phillip Ruddock, and NSW Liberal Party State Director Chris Stone.

“This is a historic achievement, one of Australia’s big two political parties in the country’s largest state has taken a principled stance on behalf of its 10,000-plus members to call on the Federal Government of Australia to stand on the right side of history on the Armenian Genocide, while declaring it stands on the right side of the present by recognising the rights to self-determination of the largely-occupied Armenian Republic of Artsakh,” said ANC-AU Executive Director Michael Kolokossian.

“As the people of Republic of Artsakh face their darkest days since the end of the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh War, the NSW Liberal Party has sent an important message of solidarity and hope from over 14,000km away to the 100,000 Armenians braving threats to their existence in Artsakh.”

“We thank Councillor Trenton Brown for his leadership in championing this issue, and sincerely thank every delegate present for supporting this motion,” added Kolokossian.

The motion’s success is attributed to the long list of Armenian-Australians who have played a pivotal role in shaping the NSW Liberal Party’s policies around these two major issues of concern for the Armenian-Australian community, including former NSW Premier and former ANC-AU Board Member, the Hon. Gladys Berejiklian, City of Ryde Councillor Sarkis Yedelian OAM, former Senior Advisor to Federal Government Ministers, NSW Liberal Branch Member and ANC-AU National Board Member, Gisele Kapterian, NSW Liberal Branch Member, Armen Arakelian and many others.

Similar motions supporting the people’s right to self-determination of the Republic of Artsakh and condemning the criminal behaviour of Azerbaijan have also been adopted by the NSW Young Liberals, the ACT Young Liberals and most recently the National Young Liberal Convention earlier this year in January 2022.

The 2022 NSW State Liberal Conference was held on Saturday 6th August 2022, at the NSW Rosehill Racecourse in Sydney’s Western Suburbs with over 200 party members present.

Read the full motion below:

THAT State Council calls upon the Australian Government to:

1. Recognise the independence of the Republic of Artsakh;

2. Call out and condemn Azerbaijan’s 2020 war crimes against the indigenous Armenians of the Republic of Artsakh.

3. Call on Azerbaijan and Turkey to respect the OSCE Minsk Group peace process for the Karabakh /Artsakh conflict, in particular the non-use of force and the right to self-determination.

4. Call on Azerbaijan to release all Armenian prisoners of war remaining in forced captivity and condemn Azerbaijan’s desecration of ancient Armenian Christian and cultural sites

5.  Recognise the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides perpetrated by the Ottoman Government between 1915 to 1923.