Author: Lilit Nahapetian

Gyumri’s Shirak Airport will make a 50% cut in the prices of air navigation services with a view of raising the attractiveness of the airport, the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia reports.

The decision is the logical continuation of the implementation of the airport’s development program, which aims to boost the interest of air companies and use the latters’ potential to contribute to the growth of economic activity in the north of the country.

The low prices will apply to all air companies that operate flights from Shirak airport.

Harlem Désir, French Secretary of State for European Affairs, received a delegation of the Armenia-France Friendship Group of the Armenian National Assembly.

They spoke about the development of bilateral relations and the prospects for the process of settling the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Harlem Désir recalled the commitment of France, whcih co-chairs the Minsk Group.

Photo: Getty Images

 

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that he will let hundreds of thousands of migrants travel on to Europe if pushed by the EU, the BBC reports.

He was reacting to a non-binding vote by the European Parliament to freeze talks on EU membership for Turkey.

The MEPs were alarmed by Mr Erdogan’s “disproportionate” response to a failed coup attempt in July.

The migrant numbers reaching the Greek islands have dropped since an EU-Turkey deal in March to curb the influx.

President Erdogan accused the EU of breaking its promises. As part of the March deal, Turkey was promised aid, visa-free travel for its nationals and accelerated membership talks.

“Listen to me: these border gates will be opened if you go any further,” he warned the EU on Friday.

A spokeswoman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ulrike Demmer, said the deal was in the “interest of all parties” and that “threats on either side are not helpful”.

By Harut Sassounia
The Califria Courier

Professor Taner Akcam struck a major blow to Turkish denials of the Armenian Genocide in a highly informative lecture at Ararat-Eskijian Museum-Sheen Chapel in Mission Hills, California, on November 20. Akcam, a Turkish scholar, is holder of the Robert Aram & Marianne Kalousdian, and Stephen & Marion Mugar Chair in Armenian Genocide Studies at Clark University.

In his recently published book, The Memoirs of Naim Bey and Talat Pasha’s Telegrams, Professor Akcam laid to rest persistent Turkish denials of Naim Bey’s existence and authenticity of the telegrams he sold to Aram Andonian, who published them in his book, “Meds Vojire” (The Great Crime), in the early 1920’s in English, French, and Armenian. Andonian, a genocide survivor, first met Naim Bey, an Ottoman official, in the concentration camp of Meskene, Turkey, in 1916, and later in Aleppo, Syria, in 1918.

In a crucial telegram dated September 22, 1915, Interior Minister Talat gave “the order that all of the Armenians’ rights on Turkish soil, such as the right to live and work, have been eliminated, and not one is to be left [alive] — not even the infant in the cradle; the government accepts all responsibility for this.”

In another cable sent to the Provincial Governor of Aleppo on September 29, 1915, Talat wrote: It “was previously reported that the decision to eliminate and annihilate all Armenians present in Turkey had been taken by the government, on orders of the Committee [of Union and Progress]… regardless of how horrible the annihilation measures, and without giving in to the pangs of conscience, an end will be put to their existence, be they women, children, or invalids.”

In 1983, the Turkish Historical Society published a book by Sinasi Orel and Sureyya Yuca, claiming that Talat’s telegrams published by Andonian were forgeries and that Naim Bey never existed. Orel and Yuca raised 12 arguments as to why they believed that these documents were fake. Although Dr. Vahakn Dadrian had published a detailed rebuttal to Orel and Yuca in 1986, some scholars remained doubtful of the materials included in Andonian’s book.

After a lengthy and painstaking research based on Ottoman archives made available in recent years, Professor Akcam was able to prove conclusively that Orel and Yuca’s accusations were wrong and baseless. In his newly-published Turkish-language book and November 20 lecture, Akcam asserted:

1) There was in fact a Turkish civil servant by the name of Naim Bey. Original Ottoman records confirm his existence. In fact, Volume 7 of the Turkish Military Archive published in 2007, contains a document that describes him as: “Naim Effendi, son of Huseyin Nuri Effendi, age 26, from Silifke, married, former dispatch officer at Meskene, currently employed as grain storehouse officer of the municipality (November 14-15, 1916).” Akcam confirmed that there are three other Ottoman records with Naim’s name; two of them are in the Boghos Noubar Library in Paris.

2) Akcam announced that he had in his possession a copy of the original memoirs of Naim Bey, handwritten in Ottoman Turkish. He found the memoirs in the archives of noted researcher Father Krikor Guerguerian who had photographed Naim Bey’s 35-page manuscript while visiting the Boghos Noubar Pasha Library in 1950. The original has since disappeared from the library.

3) The names of individuals and events Naim Bey had described in his memoirs are corroborated by materials Akcam recently obtained from the Ottoman archives.

4) Akcam was able to confirm that Orel and Yuca’s main arguments about various aspects of Talat’s telegrams, including the type of paper used and coding techniques, were incorrect.

In his scholarly quest to prove that Talat’s telegrams included in Andonian’s book are authentic, and debunk Turkish claims that they are forged, Akcam has made a much more significant revelation. Talat’s September 22, 1915 telegram confirms that Turkish leaders had ordered the wholesale massacre of all Armenian men, women, and children, and not simply their deportation as Turkish denialists have falsely claimed for over a century. By authenticating these telegrams, Dr. Akcam has shown that Talat had a murderous INTENT — a crucial element in qualifying the Armenian mass killings as genocide, according to the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Germany’s centre-right Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced that she will run for a fourth term in officem, the BBC reports.

She told her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party in Berlin she expected her toughest campaign yet and would “fight for our values and our way of life.”

An election is due to be held next year after four years of coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD).

Mrs Merkel’s poll ratings have slipped since the height of her popularity but she retains wide support.

The chancellor, who has been in office since 2005, is also being challenged by the populist right-wing AfD party.

She announced she would stand again after meeting party leaders at CDU headquarters.

She told reporters that the decision to run for a fourth term had been “anything but trivial after 11 years in office.”

She added that she expected challenges from both the right and the left of the political spectrum.

On 11 November Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan.

Issues related to foreign policy and cooperation between the two Armenian states in this sphere were discussed during the meeting attended by Artsakh Republic Foreign Minister Karen Mirzoyan.

Trinity International Auctions offered a double treat at its tenth annual fall auction on October 15. The firm presented its staple selection of classic and contemporary fine art from around the world.

Leading the day overall was a work by Martiros Saryan (Armenian, 1880–1972). “Poppies and Camomiles,” an oil on canvas alive with color and verve, realized $67,375. Measuring 30½ by 24½ inches, signed lower left and dated 1959, the work was accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from the Expert Center of Culture Values, Ministry of Culture, Republic of Armenia, Daily reports.

Another Saryan work, “Spring in Yerevan,” 1955, oil on canvas, 20½ by 29¼ inches, was bid to $50,200.

It was not the first time Trinity has had success with this artist. In February of this year, Saryan’s vibrant “Still Life with Flowers and Fruits,” 1952, topped that sale as well, going out at $93,100.

Martiros Saryan was a founder of the Armenian national school of painting. A master of the still life genre, he was devoted to the glorification of nature, which both of these works so vividly exemplify.

Other Armenian artists achieved notable results in this sale. Realizing $24,500 was “Sultry Day,” 1960, anoil on canvas measuring 28 by 40 inches by Minas Avetisian (1928–1975), a colorful infusion of sunlight tones and buildings and trees. “Flowers and Fruit on a Blue Table,” 1961, by Harutyun Kalents (1910–1967) was bid to $17,150.

Pobeda Airline will start regular flights from Gyumri’s Shirak Airport to Moscow’s Vnukovo from the end of November.

The flights will be operated thrice a week.

The ticket prices will start from 10 thousand AMD.

The last king of Rwanda has died in the US aged 80 years old, the BBC reports.

Born Jean-Baptiste Ndahindurwa, King Kigeli V came to power in 1959 but was only king of Rwanda until 1961, when the monarchy was abolished and he was forced into exile.

He eventually settled in the US where he set up a charity helping Rwandan refugees and orphans.

A 2013 profile in Washingtonian magazine found him living off food stamps in subsidised housing.

His death was announced on his website on Sunday.

“He was a devout and dedicated believer and the last anointed African Roman Catholic king to reign over a full country,” it said.

It addd theat “the heir to the Royal throne of Rwanda” will be “announced in good order”.

Rebel-held eastern Aleppo in northern Syria may face “total destruction” in two months, with thousands killed, the UN’s Syria envoy has said, the BBC reports.

Staffan de Mistura told reporters that he was prepared to personally accompany al-Qaeda-linked jihadists out of the city if it would stop the fighting.

He also appealed to Russia and Syria not to destroy the city for the sake of eliminating militants.

The UN says 275,000 civilians are trapped in the war-torn east of Aleppo.

“The bottom line is, in a maximum of two months… the city of eastern Aleppo at this rate may be totally destroyed,” Mr de Mistura told a news conference in Geneva.

“Thousands of Syrian civilians, not terrorists, will be killed and many of them wounded.”

He added: “This is what you, we, the world will be seeing when we will be trying to celebrate Christmas, or the end of the year, if this continues at this rate, unimpeded. Homs [Syrian city] multiplied by 50.”

He said the UN was not willing to “be passive, resign ourselves” to genocides such as those in Srebrenica and Rwanda.