Author: Maral Chavushian

COVID-19 latest updates: China records just 1 new case in past 24 hours

Maral Chavushian

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 10:08, 8 May, 2020

YEREVAN, MAY 8, ARMENPRESS. The number of people infected with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) around the world has surpassed 3 million 917 thousand 944, according to the data released by coronavirus research centers.

The death toll is over 270,000.

1 million 344 thousand 260 patients have recovered.

US is leading in the world in terms of the largest number of infected people (1 million 292 thousand 850 confirmed cases). 76,938 deaths were reported.

Then comes Spain which confirmed 256,855 cases so far. The total number of deaths in Spain is 26,070.

Spain is followed by Italy which reported a total of 215,858 cases. 29,958 patients have died.

UK has confirmed 206,715 cases and 30,615 deaths. UK has reported most death cases in Europe, and 2nd in the world after the USA.

Russia has reported 177,160 cases, with over 11,000 new cases. Death toll is 1625.

The next is France with a total of 174,791 cases and 25,987 deaths.

Germany has confirmed 169,430 cases and 7,392 deaths.

Brazil surpassed Turkey with most confirmed cases (135,773). 9,190 people have died in Brazil.

Turkey has recorded 133,721 cases. The deaths comprise 3,641.

Iran recorded 103,135 cases. 6,486 people have died in Iran from coronavirus.

China confirmed a total of 82,886 cases. 1 new cases have been confirmed in the country in the past one day. The death toll here is 4,633. No death case has been registered in the past few days.

Georgia confirmed 615 cases of coronavirus and 9 deaths.

Among the Arab states Qatar overtook the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the most confirmed cases – 18,890. The death toll has reached 12 in Qatar. The number of infected people in the UAE is 16,240. 165 death cases have been registered here. Egypt reported 7,981 confirmed cases and 482 deaths. In Kuwait the number of confirmed cases is 6,567and that of the deaths is 44. Iraq confirmed 2,543cases and 102 deaths. 784 cases have been reported in Lebanon, the deaths comprise 25. Syria’s confirmed cases reached 45. 3 death cases have been registered.

In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. WHO declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus a global pandemic and named the virus COVID-19. 

According to the data of the World Health Organization, coronavirus cases have been confirmed in more than 212 countries and territories.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Azerbaijani press: Armenian FM’s attitude to Russian FM’s statement on Karabakh conflict is provocation

Maral Chavushian
POLITICS24 April 2020 14:20 (UTC+04:00)

BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 24

By Elchin Mehdiyev – Trend:

The attitude of Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan to the statement voiced by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov concerning the negotiations to resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict during the video conference on April 21 is a provocation, Head of the Azerbaijani Parliamentary Committee on International and Inter-Parliamentary Relations Samad Seyidov said.

Seyidov made the remark at the meeting of the Azerbaijani parliament, Trend reports on April 24.

“It is necessary to take measures so that it would be the last Armenian provocation,” the committee head added. “The international organizations know that Armenia will do everything to maintain the status quo. Armenia committed all crimes against humanity for the occupation of lands to be continued and the status quo to be maintained.”

The head of the committee emphasized that Armenia is fully responsible for the violation of the negotiation process.

“The OSCE Minsk Group has expressed its attitude towards this issue,” Seyidov added. “Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev also openly declared his position: “Karabakh is Azerbaijan!”.

“No international organization has recognized the so-called “election” held in the occupied Azerbaijani lands,” the head of the committee added. “President Ilham Aliyev put an end to another Armenian attempt to hold talks in trilateral format at the Munich Security Conference.”

Seyidov suggested holding hearings on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in parliamentary committees by inviting the representatives of Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry to these hearings.

Speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament Sahiba Gafarova said that the proposal will be taken into account.

Earlier, answering Trend’s question during the briefing, Russian foreign minister Lavrov stressed that of course, the UN Security Council’s resolutions on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are the well-known documents.

“They were adopted at the height of the hostilities, and envisaged, first of all, the complete cessation of hostilities and switching to the conflict settlement,” the Russian foreign minister added. “They confirmed the territorial integrity of the Azerbaijan Republic.”

“But they also demanded to stop the war and start negotiations,” Lavrov said. “Since then, the negotiations have started more than once. There were agreements in 2001 and subsequent agreements in different formats.”

“So far, the format of negotiations has already been established with Baku, Yerevan, the OSCE Minsk Group represented by three co-chairs and the personal representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office,” the Russian foreign minister added. “The format is useful and good. This format reflects the requirement of the UN Security Council about the necessity to end the war and begin to negotiate.”

The Russian foreign minister added that there are Madrid principles, there are documents that Russia prepared in 2010-2011, which is known as the Kazan document.

“There are the projects that were distributed at the meeting of the Russian, Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers with the participation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in April 2019 in Moscow and are now being actively discussed,” Lavrov added.

“These documents envisage phased settlement of the conflict, assuming at the first stage the solution of the most pressing problems – liberating of a number of districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh region and unblocking transport, economic and other communications,” the Russian foreign minister said.

“So I am convinced that when we will decide to sign these documents, this will be the most important step in the implementation of the UN Security Council’s resolutions that demanded to end the war and to start negotiations,” Lavrov said. “We have started negotiations, now we need to come to an agreement. We are striving for this as the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.”

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

World Singles Launched The new ArmenianPassion.com For Armenian Singles

Maral Chavushian
Benzinga
April 30 2020
PRWeb           
April 30, 2020 3:00pm                                                      

Turkish press: Ali Nihat Tarlan: Professor of classical literature in 3 languages

Maral Chavushian
 ISTANBUL PORTRAIT 
MAY 01, 2020 1:30 PM GMT+3
Standing from left to right, Mahir İz, Ali Nihat Tarlan, Abdülbaki Gölpınarlı, Şeyh Sadettin Nüzhet Ergün and sitting from left to right, Abdülbaki Baykara, Ömer Ferid Kam and Tahir Olgun.

These days, your average professor of Turkish language and literature rarely has a grasp of a Western language, while their skills in reading or speaking Eastern tongues – other than Ottoman Turkish or the Turkic languages of Central Asia – is even more of a rarity. This is mostly due to the fact that the Turkish language and literature departments haven’t offered foreign language courses to their students for a long time. Racist cultural policies, a symptom of the early Republican era, aim to steer the fledgling Turkish republic away from the thousand years of cultural ties it enjoyed with the Islamic world, leaving experts in the Turkish language and literature with superficial linguistic knowledge. As a result of such shallow aims, most of studies concerning classic Turkish literature reflect a mechanical standard focusing on stylistic or thematic interpretation. Turkish professors of our time generally lack the quality of critical and comparative reading of texts, which is stage one of every linguistic and literary criticism.

On the other hand, Turkish professors raised before the 1933 university reform, who had the chance to experience both the late Ottoman and early Republican eras, were generally fluent in at least two or three foreign languages, including French, Arabic, German and Persian. Ottoman secondary and high schools offered language classes including Arabic, Persian and French. For instance, Mehmet Fuat Köprülü, the founder of the modern Turkish language and literature department at Istanbul University, learned these three foreign languages at school before enrolling in law school. Perhaps the best example of a Turkish professor with a treasure of foreign language knowledge, however, was Ali Nihat Tarlan, who was awarded by the Pakistani and Iranian governments for his work concerning the literary traditions of both within the context of a wider understanding of Turkish literature.

Early life

Ali Nihat Tarlan was born in 1898 in the old Istanbul neighborhood of Vezneciler to a family of intellectual public servants from Dagestan. His grandfather, Pullu Hacı Ali Efendi, a rich man of Dagestan, migrated to eastern Erzurum province, where Tarlan’s father Mehmet Nazif Bey was born. Mehmet Nazif served as the military accountant for the Third Ottoman Army in the Macedonian province of Bitola.

Ali Nihat was schooled in Bitola while his father was stationed there. His father also taught him Arabic, Persian and an appreciation of literature in general. Ali Nihat enrolled at a private elementary school in Bitola. While at home, he was schooled in French by a private tutor. He recalled one occasion at the Rehber-i Maarif (Guide to Education) school, when he performed a theatrical play in French to local military staff. As a reward for his amateur performance, he was gifted some books – including volumes of Turkish poetry, fiction and nonfiction.

Ali Nihat enrolled in the Military High School in Bitola, yet had to move to a French college in Thessalonica when his father was transferred there in 1909. The following year, his father retired, and the family returned to Istanbul.

After graduating from the Vefa High School and serving as a military translator, he enrolled at the French, Persian and Turkish departments of the Darülfünun (Istanbul University). He earned his Ph.D. in Turkish literature with a dissertation on the legend of Layla and Majnun, a love story familiar to all Islamic languages – including Turkish, Arabic and Persian – thus became the first to hold a doctorate in literature in Turkey in 1922. Süleyman Nazif, a major poet, wrote a special article in praise of Tarlan’s dissertation.

Professor of three types of literature

Ali Nihat Tarlan taught Persian at the Mektebi Sultani (Galatasaray High School) during his years at the Darülfünun. After he earned his doctoral title, Tarlan began his career as a teacher of French and Turkish in various high schools in Istanbul, including schools belonging to the Armenian minority. He worked as a teacher for almost 14 years.

Tarlan received his professorship thanks to a special study on the poetry of Şeyhi, a 14th-century Turkish bard, at Istanbul University’s Department of Turkish Language and Literature in 1933, which was after the so-called university reform.

Tarlan became a full professor of Turkish in 1941, replacing İsmail Hikmet Ertaylan as head of the Old Turkish Department. He worked there until his retirement in 1972.

Tarlan was described as a hardworking researcher and a strict professor. His studies include many textual criticism and commentaries of many classical Turkish authors such as Şeyhi, Nefi, Nabi, Nedim, Şeyh Galib and Ali Şir Nevai, as well as the likes of Iranian and Pakistani authors, including Firdausi, Muhammed Iqbal and more.

Turkey’s Ministry of Education awarded Tarlan for his doctoral dissertation, while the Iranian government granted him the honor of Nişan-ı Ali Humayun (the Royal High Order) in 1973 and Pakistan honored him with the Nishan-e Pakistan (Star of Pakistan) in 1961 for his studies on Iqbal.

Ali Nihat Tarlan died on Sept. 30, 1978, in Istanbul leaving more than 20 works of criticism and commentary on the classical Islamic literature in Turkish, Arabic and Persian.

Coronavirus: Restriction on free movement of people across Armenia to be lifted starting May 4

Maral Chavushian

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 14:22, 1 May, 2020

YEREVAN, MAY 1, ARMENPRESS. The restrictions on citizens’ free movement will be lifted in Armenia starting May 4, but the ban on public transport operation will still remain in force, Deputy minister of economy Varos Simonyan said at a press conference today, presenting the package of new changes which will come into force on May 4.

“In particular, the restrictions on free movement will be lifted, in other words, all citizens will be allowed to move freely across Armenia. But the ban on the operation of public transport will remain in force, because there are some risky approaches connected with the spread of the novel coronavirus”, he said.

According to the package, almost all restrictions are being lifted, only some will remain relating to some types of economic activity. In particular, this relates to the wholesale and retail trade. There almost wouldn’t be restrictions in retail and wholesale trade, only the restriction in trade centers will be maintained. This means that the shopping malls, department stores will still remain closed. Only the groceries, pharmacies existing in their territory, as well as the agricultural markets will operate.

The processing industry will start operation with all activity types. Those restaurants, cafes and bars, which will have an outdoor space, will operate. Botanical gardens, zoos and specially protected areas, as well as the reservoirs will also open.

The operation of sports facilities will be allowed only with the participation of professional athletes for holding sports events, as well as the operation of sport clubs. Personal services, including washing, cleaning and dry cleaning services, hairdressing and beauty salons will also start operating from May 4.

 

Reporting by Anna Grigoryan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Armenpress: Artsakh Friendship Group of Dutch-speaking Belgian MPs congratulate president-elect of Artsakh

Maral Chavushian

Artsakh Friendship Group of Dutch-speaking Belgian MPs congratulate president-elect of Artsakh

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 19:20, 27 April, 2020

YEREVAN, APRIL 27, ARMENPRESS. The Artsakh Friendship Group of Dutch-speaking Belgian Parliamentarians congratulates the newly elected members of the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh, and President-elect of the Republic of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan.

”The first round of the presidential elections took place on 31 March 2020 during which none of the 14 candidates achieved more than 50% of the votes. On 14 April 2020 the second round was held, here Mr Arayik Harutyunyan, the former Prime Minister, was elected the next President of the Artsakh Republic. If all goes as planned, he will be assuming office on 21 May 2020. On 31 March 2020 Artsakh also held legislative elections. Five different political parties gained seats in the National Assembly, which is a positive result in terms of political plurality in a small country such as Artsakh.

The Friendship Group welcomes the commitment of the people of Artsakh to organize their society in a democratic way despite the imposed political isolation. The people of Artsakh have confirmed their commitment to democracy, a choice they already made since the first years of the country’s independence.

We want to emphasize the crucial necessity of the participation of the elected Artsakh representatives in the negotiations for a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Unfortunately, the independent international election observation mission planned by the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) as well as many other observation missions had to be cancelled due to the global health crisis caused by the COVID19 pandemic and the general lockdowns.

The Artsakh Friendship Group of Dutch-speaking Belgian Parliamentarians has always held very good contacts with President Bako Sahakyan and members of the previous National Assembly, and stresses its willingness to maintain this cooperation on the same level with the newly elected representatives of the Republic of Artsakh. 22 April 2020 Artsakh Friendship Group of Dutch-speaking Belgian Parliamentarians”, reads the statement.

Nicosia: Remembering the Armenian Genocide

Maral Chavushian
Cyprus Mail
 
 
Remembering the Armenian Genocide
 
By CM Guest Columnist
  
By Alexander-Michael Hadjilyra
 
 105 years ago, on 24 April 1915, about 250 Armenian notables of Constantinople were arrested and sent off to two holding centres near Ankara. This ominous incident was the prelude of a systematic and well-organised attempt to ‘cleanse’ the crumbling Ottoman Empire of Armenians and other gâvurlar (infidels), namely the Greeks and the Assyrians. The timing chosen to implement this unholy scheme was not random: World War I was monopolising the interest of the civilised world.
 
Among others, there were forced death marches to the inhospitable Der Zor desert, in East Syria; a network of extermination camps across the modern Turkey-Iraq-Syria border; widespread massacres; mass burnings and drownings (especially in the vicinity of the Black Sea); poisonings and medical experiments. Such was the cruelty of the Ottomans and the Young Turks that they would even rip foetuses out of their mothers’ wombs…
 
Although it is hard to be exact, it is commonly accepted that between 1915 and 1923 at least 1,500,000 Armenians were massacred or killed. While this figure has become engrained in the collective consciousness of the Armenian people, modern studies raise it closer to 1.7 million people, some of whom shall remain forever nameless, but not forgotten. On the centenary of the Armenian Genocide in 2015, its martyrs were canonised by the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church and their icon has since been placed in Armenian churches around the world.
 
In addition over 880,000 Armenians became refugees (80,000 were displaced within Turkey) and about 95,000 were Islamised, the ancestors of whom either ignore or hide their heritage, fearing stigmatisation and racism. Those who left their ancestral homelands initially fled to the Balkans and the Middle East, before scattering across the world and shaping the Armenian Diaspora as we know it. Aside from the psychological trauma, often overlooked is the cultural aspect of the Genocide: over 450 monasteries, 1,900 schools and 2,400 churches were seized, not to mention the countless libraries, works of art, relics and religious artefacts; additionally, the names of over 3,600 towns and villages have been Turkified.
 
Cyprus, one of their first destinations, widely opened its arms to welcome over 9,000 Armenian refugees, who arrived in Larnaca and all the other harbours, some by chance, others by intent; about 1,300 made the island their new home, bringing a new life into the old community and quickly establishing themselves in the arts, commerce, the letters and science, thus contributing to its socioeconomic and cultural development.
 
In Nicosia, the survivors of the Genocide erected its second-oldest monument in the world in 1932, which sadly itself fell victim to the Turks during the 1963-1964 inter-communal troubles. The new Genocide monument in Nicosia was erected in 1990-1991, while a second memorial was erected in Larnaca in 2006-2008.
 
Thanks to the initiative of Representative Dr Antranik L Ashdjian, in 1975 Cyprus became the second country in the world to recognise the Armenian Genocide. In 2015, thanks to the efforts of Representative Vartkes Mahdessian, Cyprus proceeded in criminalising its denial, and also issued a commemorative stamp, jointly with the Republic of Armenia, featuring the Melkonian Educational Institute, itself inextricably linked to the Genocide.
 
Currently, 32 countries recognise the Armenian Genocide; although this number may seem small, let us note that ten years ago it was just 20. It is unfortunate that some countries, fearing confrontation with denialist and unrepentant Turkey, allege that attributing the designation of ‘genocide’ should be an issue for historians, not legislators. However, there is still hope in that humanity will neither forget nor allow such shameful acts to be committed again.
 
Knowledge, research and awareness empower nations and preserve historical memory, acting as shields against convenient oblivion of the past and selective sensitivity of the great powers. Had Turkey been punished for the Armenian Genocide, Adolf Hitler would never have uttered the infamous “Who remembers the Armenians?” as a reassurance for perpetrating the Jewish Holocaust.
 
 
 
The book The Armenian Genocide through the Cypriot Press 1914-1923, with reference to earlier massacres, edited by Alexander-Michael Hadjilyra, was published in 2016 by the Armenian Genocide 100th Anniversary Commemoration Committee of Cyprus and is available at the Armenian Prelature of Cyprus and the Office of the Armenian MP

Armenpress: Joint statement by Armenian, Azerbaijani FMs and OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs

Maral Chavushian

Joint statement by Armenian, Azerbaijani FMs and OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs

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 00:22,

YEREVAN, APRIL 22, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, and the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stéphane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America) have held frequent consultations remotely since mid-March, including a joint video conference on 21 April. Andrzej Kasprzyk, the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, also participated in these consultations, Armenpress reports citing the OSCE website.

During the consultations, the participants discussed the impact of the global health crisis on the region and recent developments on the ground.  They also considered next steps in the Nagorno Karabakh settlement process in line with their joint statement issued in Geneva on 30 January 2020.

It was acknowledged that, due to the extraordinary situation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the implementation of previously agreed humanitarian measures was postponed.  The face-to-face Ministerial meetings and the visits of the Co-Chairs to the region agreed upon in Geneva have also been postponed.  Nevertheless, the necessary work to prepare these activities continues.

The Co-Chairs underlined the importance of observing the ceasefire strictly and refraining from provocative actions in the current environment and called on the sides to take measures to reduce tensions further.  They also expressed appreciation for the continued work of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office under the present circumstances and stressed the need for monitoring exercises to resume as quickly as possible.

Considering the great challenges now confronting all populations without regard to political boundaries, and which serve as stark reminders of the preciousness of every human life, the Foreign Ministers and the Co-Chairs expressed the hope that the resolve seen in the global pandemic response will bring a creative and constructive impetus to the peace process. The Co-Chairs drew attention to the 23 March appeal by the Secretary General of the United Nations for global ceasefire measures during the current health crisis and to the Co-Chairs’ 19 March statement.

The Foreign Ministers and Co-Chairs agreed to remain in close contact and to continue negotiations in person as soon as possible.

Armenian PM congratulates Syria’s Assad on National Day

Maral Chavushian

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 11:49, 17 April, 2020

YEREVAN, APRIL 17, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan sent a congratulatory letter to President of Syria Bashar al-Assad on the country’s National Day, the PM’s Office told Armenpress.

The letter says:

“I warmly congratulate you and the good people of Syria on the National Day of the Syrian Arab Republic.

Historically formed firm friendship, mutual sympathy, the spirit of cooperation and mutual support are typical to the Armenian-Syrian relations.

During the Syrian crisis Armenia showed its determined support to Syria, the vivid evidence of which is the activity of the Armenian humanitarian mission in Aleppo. I am convinced that the traditional dialogue between our countries will further expand and deepen in the future for the benefit of our two friendly peoples.

I am full of hope that Syria will overcome the current crisis and will enter into a new stage of progress and development. By using this opportunity I want to reaffirm our commitment to contribute to the restoration processes.

I wish you good health and success, and peace and progress to the friendly people of Syria”.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan




Armenia President signs changes to Judicial Code

Maral Chavushian
News.am, Armenia

                        

YEREVAN. – On March 30, the Law on Amendments and Addenda to the Judicial Code of the Republic of Armenia and the 13 related laws were submitted by the National Assembly (NA) to the President for signing, the President’s press service informs.

As per the source, the government initiated these laws on the grounds of increasing the effectiveness of anti-corruption measures.

According to a statement from the President’s Office, the President expects these laws to be applied unconditionally with high responsibility, excluding any pressure on or interference with the functioning of the judiciary.

The President’s Office discussed its respective concerns, considerations, and questions on these draft laws with the chairman of the NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs and the Minister of Justice, and received additional clarifications.

According to the RA President’s press service, President Armen Sarkissian on Sunday signed the aforesaid law and the 13 related laws.