Author: Markos Nalchajian

Former US President George HW Bush has been admitted to hospital after breaking a bone in his neck in a fall at his home in Maine, the BBC reports.

His spokesman said he was in a stable condition and his hospital stay was expected to be brief.

Mr Bush, who has Parkinson’s disease and cannot use his legs, celebrated his 90th birthday last year with a sky dive.

He had to go to hospital at the end of last year with shortness of breath.

Spokesman Jim McGrath said Mr Bush, the oldest of the four living former US presidents, would need to wear a neck brace following his fall on Wednesday morning in Kennebunkport.

Tracinda Corp., the holding company founded by the late Kirk Kerkorian, has unveiled production company Survival Pictures with the Christian Bale-Oscar Isaac drama “The Promise” as its first project, has learned exclusively.

Survival is described as telling stories of “perseverance, endurance and the inextinguishable fire of the human spirit” to reflect Kerkorian’s values. Kerkorian, who bought and sold MGM and United Artists three times, died on June 16 at the age of 98.

“The Promise” will be produced and financed by Survival Pictures managers Eric Esrailian and Anthony Mandekic, with “Hotel Rwanda” director Terry George helming from a script he wrote with Robin Swicord.

The story is set during the last days of the Ottoman Empire, which was dissolved in 1922, with shooting in Portugal and the Canary Islands scheduled for the fall. Mike Medavoy (“Black Swan”) is producing for his Phoenix Pictures banner with Esrailian, Ralph Winter (“X-Men”) and William Horberg (“Milk”).

The script centers on a love triangle with a medical student, an American journalist based in Paris and a beautiful and sophisticated woman. Bale will play the reporter, and Isaac will portray the student, who’s conflicted by old-world traditions.

Bale was last seen in “Exodus: Gods and Kings” and stars in two completed Terrence Malick titles — “Knight of Cups” and “Weightless.” Isaac will be seen in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “X-Men: Apocalypse.”

Longtime Kerkorian attorney and spokesperson Patricia Glaser said, “Survival Pictures was born out of Kirk Kerkorian’s unwavering dedication to telling inspiring human stories for audiences around the world. ‘The Priomise’ will be a wonderful love story and will open the door to the championing of human rights. This film fulfills a longstanding dream for Mr. Kerkorian, who was thrilled to participate in the development and casting process.”

On July 7, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received Herbert Salber, the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia.

Minister of Foreign Affairs presented to the EU Special Representative the events dedicated to the Armenian Genocide Centennial and their message.

Interlocuteurs discussed the efforts by Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries aimed at moving forward the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.

Edward Nalbandian and Herbert Salber touched upon the support expressed in the Riga Summit Declaration to the efforts by the Heads of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries and Statements made by them since 2009 aimed at the resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

The EU Special representative Salber stressed that the peaceful resolution of the issue does not have an alternative, and reaffirmed EU’s support to the negotiation process within the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship format.

A 1,600-year-old century Armenian cemetery in Mush has been ruined by treasure hunters and state policy, reports, quoting the Dicle News Agency.

According to the source, there were 299 Armenian churches, 94 monasteries, 53 pilgrimage sites and 135 schools with 5,669 students in Mush before 1915.

Hayrettin Aslan, head of an Armenian union in Mush, calls attention to the fact that the Turkish state policy deliberately pursues the aim of erasing the Armenian trace from the region, thus erasing the historic memory of the city, as well.

Noting that the cemetery has a history of 1,600 years, Aslan noted that the history of a whole nation faces the danger of obliteration.

He said the treasure hunters also cause great damage to the cemetery. He noted that “Armenians and Kurds peacefully lived in the city before the Armenian massacres.”

“If we want to live in an atmosphere of peace, love and respect, we have to take care of the Armenian history,” he added.

He noted that there are other Armenian monuments in the region, which also face the threat of demolition and added: “Armenians had even built infrastructures in the mountainous regions of Mush before 1915. Now the Armenian churches, monasteries and schools are on the verge of disappearance, and the government and the political-social organizations should be sensitive towards the issue. A history of millennia is jeopardized.”

The 16^th sitting of the Armenian-Russian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation was held in Yerevan today co-chaired by Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan and Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov.

“I’m confident that the start of activity of the Eurasian Economic Union will serve an important impetus for the modernization of the two countries and the rise of competitiveness. We expect that the volumes of trade and investments, the employment level will increase in the near future, and we have all mechanisms to reach this,” Armenian PM Hovik Abrahamyan said in his opening remarks.

“Our countries are closely cooperating in key spheres like energy, transport and communication, agriculture, etc. A joint scientific-technical infrastructure has been formed, which will allow to actively develop the innovation element in the economic cooperation,” the Prime Minister said.

Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said, in turn, that 2014 was a milestone for the Armenian-Russian inter-state relations, as Armenia jointed the Eurasian Economic Union.

“From that very moment the cooperation between the two countries entered a qualitatively new stage, as Armenian businessmen got access to a market of 170 million.”  “Besides, the free movement of goods, services, capital and workforce is guaranteed,” Sokolov noted.

The participants of the sitting discussed issues related to the development of trade-economic relations, expansion of the legal framework, implementation of the long-term program of cooperation until 2020. Reference was made to the perspectives of cooperation in the fields of energy, transport and communication, industry, agriculture, migration, healthcare, education and science, culture, sport and tourism.

Armenia is building a multi-vector security system, taking into consideration the existing challenges, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan said at NATO’s Rose Roth seminar in Yerevan.

Besides the traditional threats, the Minister pointed to the rapidly aggravating challenges, such as trans-national terrorism and radicalism, which is “knocking the door of the South Caucasus.”

“In a short period of time the so-called Islamic State managed to expand the area under its control and continues to stretch in different directions,  automatically challenging the South Caucasus, as two of the latter’s neighbors – Turkey and Iran – are in some way involved in the developments around ISIS,” the Defense Minister said.

“Being a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Armenia actively cooperates with NATO and its member states and views the relations with NATO as an indispensible part of its security system,” Minister Ohanyan said.

The Defense Minister noted that “Armenia is the only CSTO member state and the only strategic ally of Russia, which has been actively involved in NATO-led peacekeeping missions.

Speaking about NATO’s role in ensuring security in the region, Minister Ohanyan said “being the guarantor of security in the Euro-Atlantic area, NATO should play a distinct role in defending the South Caucasus from outer challenges and support the negotiations on conflict settlement in different formats.”

“NATO’s involvement in the region should be targeted against challenges  common for all countries of the region, irrespective of the collective security systems they have chosen to join,” he added.

 

The Armenian  Church of St. Giragos in Diyarbakir has won a Grand Prix of the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage/Europa Nostra Awards.

In a ceremony in Oslo, Norway, the winners of the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards were celebrated and the winners of the Grand Prix and Public Choice Award were announced for the first time.

The Public Choice Award was chosen by an open online poll and the Grand Prix winners were selected by specialist juries. Grand Prix laureates receive a €10,000 prize.

Seven projects received the Grand Prix for outstanding efforts in the protection of cultural heritage:

• Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary
• Salt Valley of Añana, Basque Country, Spain
• Armenian Church of St. Giragos in Diyarbakir, Turkey

• Wonders of Venice: Virtual Online Treasures in St. Mark’s Area, Italy

• The Rundling Association, Jameln, Germany
• Churches Conservation Trust, London, United Kingdom

• Programme for Owners of Rural Buildings in Estonia, Tallinn, Estonia

The European Heritage Awards Ceremony was hosted by Tibor Navracsics, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport and opened by Fabian Stang, Mayor of Oslo.

The Armenian Church of St. Giragos in Diyarbakir may have been of 17th century origin, although some contend that it was completely rebuilt in the 1880s. The building suffered from appalling deterioration late in the 20th century following the decline in the local population of Armenians. The roof collapsed and the structure became derelict.

Its restoration, which has involved a good deal of totally new building, began a few years ago, thanks to the efforts of the St. Giragos Church Foundation, non-governmental groups and concerned individuals.

The European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage, or the Europa Nostra Awards, highlight some Europe’s best achievements in heritage care, and showcase remarkable efforts made in raising awareness about our cultural heritage.

Xi’an city, capital of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province established on Monday a friendly-city relationship with Gyumri, the second largest city in Armenia, with an eye to more in-depth cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, Xinhua reports.

Dong Jun, mayor of Xi’an, attended the ceremony in Gyumri Monday marking the signing the friendly city agreement as well as that on trade and economic cooperation, along with the Mayor of Gyumri Samvel Balasanyan, and the Governor of Shirak region, Felix Tzolakyan.

The two sides expressed the wish to expand bilateral cooperation in all possible spheres, including trade and economy, tourism, culture, and high-tech.

Xi’an and Gyumri are both located along the ancient Silk Road. Xi’an, as the starting point of the Silk Road, is not just a major transport hub linking China’s east with its west, but also the biggest city in the China section of the new Eurasian Continental Bridge. In his keynote speech at the Xi’an-Gyumri Economic and Trade Forum Monday evening, the mayor of Xi’an called for the establishment of various cooperation platforms between the two cities, to promote the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping when he visited Central Asia and Southeast Asia in September and October of 2013.

The Initiative refers to creating the modern Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road to boost international trade and expand global economic ties. The Belt and Road routes run through the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa, connecting vibrant East Asia economic circle at one end and developed European economic circle at the other.

Recalling Gyumri’s role along the ancient Silk Road, Balasanyan said he would like to see a revival of Armenia in the modern Silk Road Economic Belt.

The Xi’an delegation also visited Monday Gyumri’s Technological Park.

Gyumri, with a population of 146,000, is also a cultural capital of Armenia.

UEFA President Michel Platini has arrived in Armenia for a one-day visit. The prominent footballer said he decided to stop in Armenia on his way to Bulgaria to meet his friend Ruben Hayrapetyan, President of the Football Federation of Armenia.

The UEFA chief attached importance to the work with national federations, which contribute to the development of football.

At the Football Academy Michel Platini watched the training of young footballers.

On a visit to Washington, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan had a meeting with US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick.

“I was pleased to welcome the President of Armenia to my home city of Washington,” Amb. Warlisk said in a Twitter post.

“We were able to talk this evening about Nagorno Karaakh peace process,” he added.