Author: Kanayan Tamar

Photos by Public Radio of Armenia
Photos by Public Radio of Armenia

“France welcomes the results of the meeting held on May 16 in Vienna on Nagorno-Karabakh, which helped to restore dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan after the deadly clashes on April 2 to 5,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France said in a statement.

“Presidents Sargsyan and Aliyev, in the presence of Harlem Désir, Secretary of State for European Affairs, John Kerry, US Secretary of State, and Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, reiterated their commitment to respect the ceasefire and to a solve the conflict in a peaceful way. They also agreed to the establishment of confidence-building measures, including a mechanism to investigate incidents,” the statement reads.

“These commitments are important. France calls on the parties to respect them and pledges to continue to play its role of an OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair together with its Russian and American partners,” the Ministry said.

Photo: Reuters

 

Three bomb blasts in Baghdad have killed at least 53 people, medics say, the latest in a series of attacks in the Iraqi capital in the past week, the BBC reports.

A female suicide bomber is believed to have targeted a market in the northern, mainly Shia Muslim area of Shaab.

The other bombs went off at a market in the neighbouring predominantly Shia district of Sadr City and among shoppers in Rashid, to the south.

The jihadist group Islamic State (IS) said it carried out the Shaab attack.

Photo by Danny Liao

 

By Liz Ohanesian

Sona Movsesian applied to be a production assistant on Conan O’Brien’s late-night talk show — and ended up becoming his assistant. The San Gabriel Valley native has been a part of the famed comedian’s team beginning with his West Coast stint on NBC, through the live tour that followed his well-documented breakup with the network, and through the move to TBS, his show’s current home. “Honestly, it has not stopped being one of the best experiences I’ve ever had,” Movsesian says.

A television obsessive, Movsesian says she watches “a staggering amount of television,” adding that she once watched five seasons of Friday Night Lights in a week. When she was a student at USC, Movsesian thought she would work in film. Then she landed an internship at NBC and fell for the small-screen life. From there, she got into the network’s page program and her career path was set.

She never intended to be on camera, but Movsesian has become a familiar face to the Conan audience. She’s the assistant whose fury over a missing coffee mug sparked O’Brien’s interrogation of the show’s staff. Her apartment was the starting point for a Magic Mike XXL girls’ night out that the boss and a camera crew joined. Movsesian’s star turn, though, came last fall when Team Coco headed to Armenia.

Movsesian, who is of Armenian heritage, inspired the episode. “I wish I could take credit and say that I pitched going to Armenia, but it wasn’t me,” she says. “It was Conan.”

Born in Montebello and raised in Hacienda Heights, Movsesian is the daughter of ethnic Armenian parents who immigrated to the United States from Turkey. “It’s not that I’ve been very vocal about being Armenian, but I think when you’re a first-generation Armenian-American, it’s very hard to hide the fact that you’re Armenian,” she says. “I think that Conan just absorbed the fact that I’m very in tune with my culture and I had never been to Armenia.”

The trip was a big deal for Movsesian, a chance to make an excursion that’s seen as a pilgrimage of sorts for members of the Armenian diaspora. It also was a project that made her a little nervous. She was the only Armenian involved in making the episode and worried that something might inadvertently offend those who share her heritage. “My concern was, what if this thing is a huge disaster and I’m excommunicated from the Armenian community completely?” she says.

That didn’t happen. In fact, the positive reaction was greater than she’d expected. “Now, the amount of Armenians from all over the world who contact me, who tweet at me, who send me Facebook messages,” she says, “I never anticipated that in a million years.” Movsesian became Armenian-famous, something that became fodder for a joke on the show after she rode on the “Discover Armenia” float in the 2016 Rose Parade.

While Movsesian has received a lot of attention for “Conan in Armenia,” she gives the credit for the episode’s success to others on the team. “The fact that they did it without having been part of the culture, to me, is really the success of the episode,” she says. “I think that, to me, was the most touching part of it.”

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement in remembrance of one hundred and one years since the beginning of the Armenian Genocide:

“More than a century ago, starting in 1915 and lasting nearly a decade, more than 1.5 million innocent Armenian children, women, and men were systematically slaughtered during the horrific genocide committed by leaders of the Ottoman Empire.  Today, we remember the victims of this brutal, inhumane period of ethnic cleansing.  We honor their memories by acknowledging the past.

“We must never forget this wretched campaign that destroyed lives, upended communities, and attempted to eradicate an entire culture.  Too often the tragic crimes of history have been ignored, minimized, or denied.  We owe it to future generations to confront the painful past so we can create a more hopeful future.

“On this solemn anniversary, we must embrace the truth.  It is our moral responsibility, every day in every community, to work together to speak out against the bigotry, discrimination and hatred of difference that too often fuel acts of violence.”

The Peace of Art, Inc. has installed a billboard dedicated to Artsakh in Massachusetts.

One of the seven digitals billboards of this year, which were dedicated to the 101st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, was replaced by a new message “Support Peaceful Solutions to the Current Conflict in Artsakh” with a web address “Help-nkr.com” directing to the official website of the government of Artsakh, where there are links to make money transfers to accounts “, explained “Peace of Art, Inc.,” president Daniel Varoujan Hejinian.

Note that the remaining six digital billboards dedicated to the 101st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide will be up on following Massachusetts highways; Rte. 1, Lynnway; Rte. 1, Malden; Rte. 495, Haverhill:

All seven digital billboards will remain until the end of April.

 

Photo: Reuters

 

Oil prices tumbled on Monday after a meeting by major exporters in Qatar collapsed without an agreement to freeze output, leaving the credibility of the OPEC producer cartel in tatters and the world awash with unwanted fuel, Reuters reports.

Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran were blamed for the failure, which revived industry fears that major government-controlled producers will increase their battle for market share by offering ever-steeper discounts.

“OPEC’s credibility to coordinate output is now very low,” said Peter Lee of BMI Research, a unit of rating agency Fitch. “This isn’t just about oil for the Saudis. It’s as much about regional politics.”

Morgan Stanley said that the failed deal “underscores the poor state of OPEC relations,” adding that “we now see a growing risk of higher OPEC supply,” especially as Saudi Arabia threatened it could hike output following the failed deal.

Oil prices have fallen by as much as 70 percent since mid-2014 as producers have pumped 1 to 2 million barrels of crude every day in excess of demand, leaving storage tanks around the world filled to the rims with unsold fuel.

Sunday’s meeting in Qatar’s capital Doha had been expected to finalize a deal to freeze output at January levels until October 2016 in an attempt to slow that ballooning oversupply.

But the agreement fell apart after top exporter Saudi Arabia demanded that Iran, which was not represented, should also sign up.

The Armenian community of Argentina massively demonstrated outside the Embassy of Azerbaijan in the country to denounce the Azeri aggression against the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh on the night of Tuesday, April 5, reports.

After an intense awareness campaign in the Argentine society, all institutions of the community called for peace and recognition of self-determination of the people of Artsakh. The rally was attended by several community representatives and Archbishop Kissag Mouradian, Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church for Argentina and Chile.

“Azerbaijan has embarked in recent years in the process of expanding its military arsenal and the externalization of their convictions to achieve their goals through weapons. The continued aggressive attitude of Azerbaijan against the civilian population of the Nagorno-Karabakh confirms that a peaceful resolution of the conflict will only be possible respecting the right of self-determination of its people,” reads the statement signed by all community organizations.

“The Armenian community of Argentina expresses its solidarity with the authorities of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, supports its self-defense forces and reaffirms its commitment to the struggle begun by its people in 1988 that culminated in the declaration of independence in 1991.”

“Given the serious situation in question, we ask the authorities of Argentina to urge the parties to circumscribe the conflict settlement within the framework of the negotiations held in the Minsk Group, and thus avoiding a regional explosion with unpredictable consequences,” ends the statement.

At a special meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, Ambassador James Warlick, representing the three Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group, and the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, informed the 57 OSCE participating States about recent developments in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Warlick and Kasprzyk welcomed news about the cessation of hostilities and urged the sides to respect the ceasefire. They stressed that it is important to return to the political process on the basis of a sustainable ceasefire. OSCE participating States agreed  that the latest escalation is deeply worrying and that it is necessary for the OSCE to continue playing a central role in facilitating a peaceful settlement. All participating States should support the activities of the Minsk Group and those of its Co-Chairs.

The Co-Chairs announced that they will travel to the region shortly, together with Ambassador Kasprzyk. Ambassador Kasprzyk will also travel to the areas affected by the military escalation as soon as the situation permits.

In Berlin, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said: “Reports on the cessation of hostilities are encouraging. Our immediate efforts must now focus on stabilizing the ceasefire and preventing any new escalation. Hostilities must stop in an effective and lasting way. In this regard, I welcome the early visit of the Co-Chairs to the region. I remain in close contact with the sides and other international actors.”

Eros Ramazzotti has cancelled the concerts in Russia, Estonia and Armenia, TASS reports quoting the Trident Music Srl Company.

The Perfetto 2015/2016 producing company – the organizer of Ramazzotti’s world tour – accuses the Russian party of violating a number of provisions of the agreement.

The Company says the Russian Global Communication OJSC has violated the financial commitments on many occasions.

The concert in Yerevan was scheduled for April 26. The Armenian Forpostart Production is holding additional talks with Trident Music Srl, trying to ‘save’ the Yerevan concert.