Author: Karagyozian Lena

Former US Ambassador to Armenia John Heffern has assumed the responsibilities of the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs after Victoria Nuland’s resignation.
John Heffern had been the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary since August 2015.
The assignment is tempoorary, he said in a Twitter post.

Thanks for all the good wishes. This is temporary assignment as the new team gets in place. Look forward to working w European partners.

— John Heffern (@AmbHeffern)

John Heffern, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, served as the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia from 2011-2014. His prior experience included Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) at USNATO, Brussels; DCM in Jakarta, Indonesia; and, Executive Assistant to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs.

Other previous posts include: USNATO; Tokyo; Malaysia desk officer in Washington; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Abidjan, Ivory Coast; and Guangzhou, China. From 1994-1996, Heffern served as a Pearson Fellow on the Asia Subcommittee for the House International Relations Committee.

Prior to entering the Foreign Service, Heffern served in the office of Senator John C. Danforth (R-MO) as the Senator’s Office Director and Research Assistant.

Asbarez – Over 600 people gathered in the Armenian Community Centre of Toronto on January 22, 2017 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Hrant Dink, prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist and Editor-in-Chief of the bilingual Agos newspaper.

Dink was assassinated on January 19, 2007, in front of his newspaper’s office in Istanbul, triggering an unprecedented surge of solidarity and pro-democracy activism in Turkey after more than 100,000 people attended his funeral. Hrant Dink’s assassination is now memorialized in the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg.

The keynote speaker was Cem Özdemir, a German parliamentarian of Turkish descent and the current co-chair of the German Greens Alliance Party. Özdemir spearheaded the resolution in the German Bundestag to formally classify the 1915-1923 massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

Prominent politicians, diplomats and public figures were also in attendance for the commemoration, including the Premier of Ontario, Honorable Kathleen Wynne, Consul General Peter Fahrenholtz of the German Consulate in Toronto, famed Canadian-Armenian director Atom Egoyan, as well as local members of the Canadian Parliament and Ontario Legislature.

In his keynote address, Özdemir spoke of Hrant Dink’s bravery and his continued legacy.

“Because of Hrant, Armenians in Turkey talk about the Armenian Genocide. Because of Hrant, Turks who have never heard about the Armenian Genocide talk about the Armenian Genocide. People afterwards started to question what they had learned,” said Özdemir.

Furthermore, Özdemir revisited throughout his address the theme of reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey, and realized the importance of Turkish society embracing the ethnic and religious minorities of their country to allow for this. A significant change, he opined, would be for Turks to disavow the masterminds of the Genocide, who are revered to this day by some for being leaders of the once-powerful Ottoman Empire, despite the fact they oversaw the murder of their own citizens through genocide.

“You have children, I have children and we want our children to be good people and good citizens. Christian, Jews, Muslim or Atheist, whatever we are, we want that. So when you talk to your children, do you not talk about role models, and people you want your children to look up to and maybe take them as examples? I don’t tell my children follow the path of people that betrayed their neighbors… So I ask you: who is a better Muslim, one who looks aside when Armenians are killed, or the one that says ‘attacking an Armenian is like attacking me? Killing them is like killing me,’” said Özdemir, when recounting his discussion with a group at a Turkish mosque in Berlin.

In her speech to attendees, Wynne expressed her gratitude to Özdemir for being present and the need for continued discussion about the Armenian Genocide.

“I wanted to be here today to honor Hrant Dink. Even though it’s been over 100 years since the Armenian Genocide began, the passage of the century has not dulled the horrors of those events. As we remember Hrant Dink, we also remember those Armenians who perished,” said Wynne.

Zohrab Sarkissian, Chair of the Armenian National Committee of Toronto, commented that Dink continues to serve as an example for activism on issues that beleaguer society today.

“Today, Dink has become an exemplary icon of freedom and human rights activism in Turkey, across Europe and across the world. Dink’s memory serves as a constant reminder for intellectuals, activists and the wider public to challenge prejudice and division among people, such as the rising tide of intolerant nationalism in Turkey,” Sarkissian remarked.

 

 

 

The cold currents have not disrupted Armenia’s air communication. The changes in the flight schedule  ave not caused any concerns from the perspective of security; no reserve airports, not even that of Gyumri, have been used, spokesperson for the Armenia International Airports CJSC Gevorg Abrahamyan told .

All scheduled flights from Zvartnots Airport have been operated, some with delay. “Disruptions of the schedule have been registered because of the arriving planes, mostly those flying from Russia,” said Satenik Hovhannisyan, Press Secretary of the General Department of Civil Aviation said.

According to her, the Istanbul-Yerevan flight that had been cancelled on January 7 because of heavy snowfalls in Turkey has already been operated.

Armenian athletes have won 170 medals in European and World Championships in 2016, including four Olympic ones.

Greco-Roman wrestler Artur Alekasnyan won the first Olympic gold for Armenia after a break of 20 years. Greco-Roman wrestler Mihran Harutyunyan, weightlifters Simon Martirosyan and Gor Minasyan won silver medals.

The Armenian athletes have won 10 gold, 11 silver and 20 bronze medals in world championships.

37 gold, 46 silver and 42 bronze medals have been won at European championships. There are 7 athletes with disabilities among the medalists.

Jose Mourinho admits he is “very pleased” that Henrikh Mkhitaryan is off the mark for Manchester United after the Armenian scored his first goal for the club on his return to Ukraine, according to United’s official website.

The former Shakhtar Donetsk star dribbled through the Zorya Luhansk defence to open the scoring on an icy pitch in the second half in Odessa and Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s late clincher set the seal on a victory that takes the Reds through to the knockout stages of the Europa League.

“It was a strong mentality,” said the boss when asked about Mkhitaryan’s attitude. “He was determined to fight against his difficult adaptation.

“He worked hard physically and tactically – the talent was there, we knew that when we bought him. Now he’s playing good – in the Premier League, Europa League and EFL Cup, and now the goal means a little more happiness for him, so I’m very pleased.”

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with OSCE Chairman-in-Office, German Foreign Minister Frank-Water Steinmeier on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Hamburg.

The parties exchanged views on the activity of the OSCE and referred to issues on the agenda of the OSCE Ministerial Council.

Minister Nalbandian hailed the support of the German presidency to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chais’ efforts towards the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

Edward Nalbandian called Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s attention to the fact that Azerbaijan refuses to implement the agreements reached the Vienna and St. Petersburg summits and keeps aggravating the situation at the line of contact.

Justin Trudeau wiped away tears during a roundtable with Syrian refugees and sponsors, as one newcomer recalled being greeted by the prime minister when he arrived in Canada one year ago, reports.

Trudeau and Vanig Garabedian were among a small group of people who gathered at a Toronto restaurant last week to reflect on the first year of the Syrian refugee program.

Addressing the prime minister, Garabedian recalled the moment last December when he stepped onto a Toronto-bound plane in Beirut, Lebanon, and shook the hand of a Canadian who was greeting passengers as they boarded.

“He shook hands with me and said, ‘Go and make Canada a better place.’ So that was the very last person I shook hands with in the Middle East. Then we landed at Pearson airport, and the very first person we shook hands was the prime minister,” Garabedian said, prompting Trudeau to grab a napkin off the table and wipe his eyes.

Garabedian said landing in Toronto not only meant that he and his wife — as well as their daughters — were safe, it also meant they had taken on “the responsibility of joining the Canadian family and trying to build this Canada, this country, this great nation.

“When I met Mr. Prime Minister at that moment, he said two words: ‘Welcome home.’ So imagine you are living in a warzone, you are leaving your home and you are welcomed by two words: welcome home,” said Garabedian, a gynecologist by trade.

“So my memories of that moment went back to Syria before war, our life, our happiness there, and the horrible moments we went through during war. So I felt myself that I’m proud to be here.”

Trudeau noted that he had only been on the job for about a month, and throughout the federal election campaign Canadians’ expressed interest in doing more to help refugees.

“I felt that being there in the name of all Canadians to welcome people was really important,” he said.

He also said the Syrian refugee issue reminded him of the power of the office of prime minister, noting the legacy of his father’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the legacy of the prime ministers who came before him.

“Watching you and your girls walk through this airport toward me was a moment in which I understood just the kinds of things that we can do as a country and that I get to help this country do,” he said.

“You wouldn’t have been walking on Canadian soil that night if I hadn’t said, ‘We can do this together’ and made it done. And that for me was as strong and clear a reinforcement that I was going to be okay in this job. It was, on a personal level, it was very, very touching for me.”

Manchester United will not finish in the top four unless they start playing Henrikh Mkhitaryan, according to former England international Owen Hargreaves, reports.

Mkhitaryan was overlooked for the United matchday squad against Burnley by Jose Mourinho for the fifth game running since the domestic schedule resumed two weeks ago.

The Armenian returned to training almost five weeks ago but his prolonged absence has mystified supporters and United have taken a paltry six points from a possible 21 in the Premier League.

United are eighth in the table and seven points off fourth, and Hargreaves insists Mourinho needs to recall Mkhitaryan and Michael Carrick if Old Trafford is to host Champions League football next season.

“What are they eighth in the Premier League? You’ve got to play him,” Hargreaves said on BT Sport.

“What he’s tried now so far – he doesn’t believe he’s been given time – hasn’t worked so at some point get one of the best players you have on your team into your team.

“I think the back four is very strong, best goalkeeper in the country. I think you play Carrick, I think you play Herrera to the right, Pogba to the left, Rashford off the left and Mkhitaryan off the right.

“And I think as a team, I genuinely believe it’s a a good a team [as any] in the Premier League. “But right now that team as it is, I don’t think they can finish in the top four.”

Mkhitaryan has not played since he was substituted on his full debut against City on September 10.

Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly Galust Sahakyan, Deputy Speakers Edward Sharmazanov and Hermine Naghdalyan, Members of Parliament paid tribute to the memory of the victims of the 1999 shooting in the Parliament.

Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, National Assembly Speaker Karen Demirchyan, Deputy Speakers Yuri Bakhshyan and Ruben Miroyan, MPs Armenak Armenakyan, Mikayel Kotanyan, Henrik Abrahamyan and Minister Leonard Petrosyan fell victim to an act of terrorism committed at the Session Hall of the National Assembly on October 27, 1999.

On October 12 Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe Paruyr Hovhannisyan had a meeting with Pedro Agramunt, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Congratulating the Armenian representative on appointment, PACE President wished him productive work and expressed his willingness to contribute to the efforts aimed at the development of parliamentary cooperation.

The interlocutors referred to the agenda of Armenia-PACE cooperation. Ambassador Hovhannisyan expressed his support to PACE’s “no hate, no fear” (#nohatenofear) initiative launched in June within the framework of fight against terrorism.