10:31,
YEREVAN, MAY 27, ARMENPRESS. On the occasion of the Georgian National Holiday – Independence Day – billboards in Yerevan were lit in the colors of the Georgian flag.
The homage was initiated by the Armenian Embassy in Georgia and Ambassador Ruben Sadoyan.
“Happy holidays, brotherly Georgia”, the embassy said.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
ArmInfo. RA Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Hemafin Gasparyan has submitted a resignation letter.
In his addressing, Gasparyan noted that during the team work all the foundations had been laid that increased the effectiveness of the body and its focus on citizens.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12
Trend:
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov took part in the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the CIS through videoconferencing on , the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told Trend.
“First of all, I would like to congratulate you on the 75th anniversary of the victory over fascism in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945,” the foreign minister added. “The people of Azerbaijan also made an important contribution to this common victory.”
“The memory of everyone who contributed to the victory in the war, one of the most terrible wars in the history of mankind, will live forever,” Mammadyarov added. “At the same time, I would like to emphasize that we are particularly concerned about the heroization of the Nazi movement and those who cooperate with the Nazi movement in our region in any form, including the erection of monuments. We consider it important to eliminate such disturbing tendencies by joint efforts.”
“I would like to note that our today’s meeting is taking place at a difficult time, amid coronavirus pandemic – COVID-19,” the foreign minister said. “A pandemic undoubtedly affects international activity. Due to the crisis, some meetings, visits, as well as international events were postponed. However, at the same time, we are witnessing the fact that many meetings are being held in a different format, as today – through video conferencing.”
“We are all witnessing that the pandemic has clearly demonstrated the need to increase the effectiveness of cooperation, mutual assistance, and coordination at the international level,” Mammadyarov said. “COVID-19 has become a kind of test of the world’s preparedness for the global crisis.”
“Azerbaijan plays an active role in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic both in the country and in the world,” the foreign minister said. “Demonstrating global solidarity, Azerbaijan has provided voluntary financial assistance to the World Health Organization in the fight against coronavirus in the amount of $10 million. Azerbaijan also provides financial and in-kind assistance to individual countries.”
“I would also like to bring to your attention information on the operational and preventive steps taken by Azerbaijan to prevent the spread of coronavirus within the country,” Mammadyarov said. “In accordance with the prevailing conditions, restrictive measures have been taken. So, in February, an operational headquarters was created under the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan to prevent the importation and spread of new coronavirus infection on the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan.”
“From the beginning of March, the educational process in all educational institutions was phased out in the country,” the foreign minister added. “All mass events planned in the country were postponed or cancelled. Since mid-March, a special regime was imposed, which included a series of measures of social isolation, and since the end of March, a special quarantine regime has been applied.”
“Today, the Government of Azerbaijan is taking all necessary measures to successfully overcome the unprecedented difficulties that have arisen,” Mammadyarov said. “All resources of the state are mobilized and effectively implemented in achieving the goals set.”
“The evacuation of our citizens, who found themselves abroad, to their homeland has become one of the most important tasks during the crisis,” the foreign minister said. “For the time being, in the current situation, all necessary measures have been taken for the return of our citizens from other countries. These measures are ongoing, and today, about 20,000 Azerbaijani citizens have been returned to their homeland.”
“The result of periodically toughened restrictive measures was positive, and for the past three weeks, there has been a positive trend in Azerbaijan,” Mammadyarov said. “I mean, there are more people who have recovered from the coronavirus than infected people. The relatively low mortality rate indicates that the work is carried out in a positive direction. Since May 4, Azerbaijan has proceeded to the second phase of the mitigation of restrictive measures.”
“I believe that the CIS is an important platform for discussing joint efforts to combat the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus infection, as well as for exchanging experience regarding the actions that we are taking at the national level, supporting each other at the right time and strengthening solidarity between our peoples,” the foreign minister said.
“Dear colleagues, the current agenda provides for the discussion of pressing issues in such areas of humanitarian cooperation as international youth cooperation, as well as the development of cooperation in the field of physical culture and sports,” Mammadyarov said. “Azerbaijan pays great attention to these areas. Traditional close ties in the humanitarian sphere and in the field of culture are fertile ground for strengthening cooperation between our countries.”
“In this regard, I would like to note the importance of signing at today’s meeting the Decision on the draft Strategy for the Development of Cooperation between the CIS member States in the field of physical culture and sports for 2021-2030,” the foreign minister said. “I am sure that this Strategy will allow us to significantly strengthen our cooperation in the field of physical culture and sports, to achieve important results in attracting citizens to physical culture and sports.”
“As it is know, in a very short time, Azerbaijan has turned into a center of sports competitions, where events at the various international levels are held,” Mammadyarov said. “The support provided by the state to sports, the implementation of state programs are highly appreciated by international sports structures.”
“Over the past five years, international events such as the European Games, Islamic Solidarity Games, the World and European Championships, World Cups and Grand Prix competitions in many sports have been successfully held in our country,” the foreign minister said. “This year, we again started planning to hold prestigious sports competitions. Four matches of the European Football Championship, including one quarterfinal, are among them. However, in connection with the coronavirus pandemic, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has shifted the dates for the European Championship from 2020 to 2021.”
“I am confident that the decision ‘On the draft Strategy for International Youth Cooperation of the CIS member States for 2021-2030’ adopted today will allow us to significantly expand international youth cooperation within the CIS, to more actively involve young people in solving the problems of socio-economic development of our countries,” Mammadyarov said.
“The realities prevailing today in the world require effective interaction and coordination of efforts of all states in countering new challenges and threats to stability and security,” the foreign minister said.
“However, the unresolved conflicts existing in the Commonwealth space, in particular the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, do not allow to fully and effectively realize the integration potential within the Commonwealth and are the main obstacle to closer interaction of the CIS member states in countering new challenges and threats,” Mammadyarov said.
“Recent statements by the Armenian leadership show that the Armenian side is doing everything possibleto impede the activation of the process of peaceful settlement of the conflict, thereby creating new threats to regional stability and security,” the foreign minister said.
“Azerbaijan is committed to an early political settlement of the conflict,” Mammadyarov said. “At the same time, negotiations cannot last forever and should not serve for continuing and maintaining the situation that arose as a result of the use of force, occupation, and ethnic cleansing.”
“I would like to remind once again that Azerbaijan has every right to restore its territorial integrity by all means within its internationally recognized borders, as enshrined in the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, the Charter of Paris and the well-known UN Security Council resolutions,” the foreign minister said.
“The earliest settlement of conflicts based on the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and inviolability of the borders of states will undoubtedly contribute to strengthening regional and international security, social progress, and economic cooperation in the region,” Mammadyarov said.
14:15,
YEREVAN, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS. According to the latest data, the number of people infected with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Iran has increased by 1,073, bringing the total number of cases to 93,657, the Armenian Embassy in Iran said on Facebook.
80 more deaths have been registered in the past one day. The death toll has reached 5,957.
2,965 coronavirus infected patients are in serious condition.
The number of recovered people increased by 1,352, raising the total number of recoveries to 73,791.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
12:16,
YEREVAN, APRIL 27, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian sent a congratulatory letter to His Majesty King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands on his birthday and the National day of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.
The message reads in particular:
“Your Majesty, I would like to convey my warm congratulations on the occasion of your birthday and National Day of the Kingdom of Netherlands.
We attach high importance to the Armenian-Dutch relations developing in an atmosphere of friendship and mutual trust, and we are interested in deepening and enhancing the mutually beneficial cooperation with the Netherlands in all possible fields.
Using this opportunity I would like to convey our sincere gratitude for supporting Armenia in the fight against the spread of coronavirus, both through bilateral and multilateral channels. I believe that through our joint efforts we will overcome this challenge.
I am convinced that the constructive dialogue between our countries will continue to develop and deepen for the sake of our peoples’ welfare.
In these difficult times full of challenges for all of us I would like to wish you and the friendly people of the Netherlands health and stamina”.
10:04,
YEREVAN, APRIL 24, ARMENPRESS. Italian lawmaker Paolo Formentini, the author of the bill which recognized the Armenian Genocide at the Italian parliament’s Chamber of Deputies years ago, has extended his support on April 24 to the Armenian nation, noting that his La Lega party and Italy are standing with the Armenian people in commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.
“April 24th marks the 105th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The entire Italy, the Lega party, are standing with the Armenian people, in order for this tragedy never to be forgotten and denied,’ he said in a video address to ARMENPRESS.
“What happened in 1915 was a premeditated extermination of a nation. Historians are now accepting that to some extent it was used as an example for the Holocaust. Rafael Lemkin even created the word to describe these horrific events by referring to the Mets Yeghern [Armenian Genocide]. To keep the memory of this horrifying bloodshed bright we must continue the struggle to achieve parliaments and governments entirely recognizing the Armenian Genocide to respect the memory of the victims. I am convinced that we must remember and condemn the genocide in order to prevent such horrifying events through recognition,” he said.
The MP also expressed hope that Turkey will also recognize the Armenian Genocide.
“I am deeply convinced that history cannot be erased – this itself is a crime and denial of a historic fact. 105 years on, the Armenian people must see recognition, we owe this to the 1,5 million victims,” he said.
Editing and translating by Stepan Kocharyan
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Friday is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, an annual commemoration usually marked by mass gatherings here in L.A., home to the largest Armenian community in the U.S.
But this year, local Armenians are finding other ways to join as a community and remember the systematic expulsion and mass killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turkish Empire more than a century ago.
Turkey refuses to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, instead claiming the deaths were the result of World War I. Last year, both houses of U.S. Congress approved resolutions formally recognizing the Armenian Genocide for the first time.
Tens of thousands typically gather in front of L.A’.s Turkish Consulate every April 24 to honor lives lost in 1915 and call on the government of Turkey and other nations to recognize it as a genocide.
Under normal conditions, there would be another march through Little Armenia in East Hollywood and a prayer service at the Armenian Genocide Martyrs Memorial Monument in Montebello, the first Armenian Genocide memorial built outside of Armenia.
But organizers have canceled those events because of the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, on the 105th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, they’re asking local Armenians to do things like donate meals to the hungry, and to tune in to livestreamed commemorations instead.
DONATING MEALS TO MORE THAN 1.5 MILLION HUNGRY AMERICANS
In lieu of public events, the organizers of L.A.’s annual “March For Justice” and other local Armenian community organizations are asking people for donations to provide 1.5 million meals to Americans in need, in honor of the 1.5 million Armenian Genocide victims.
The fundraiser launched March 17 and hit its goal within three days. The Armenian community has already helped provide more than 3 million meals to U.S. families through Feeding America, a hunger relief nonprofit.
Saro Kerkorian with the United Armenian Council of Los Angeles said it’s especially difficult as an Armenian American to see his neighbors struggle with food security during the coronavirus crisis.
“It creates all these visions in my mind of my ancestors dealing with the same issues,” Kerkorian said. “When my grandfather was on these death marches out of his hometown, he didn’t have enough food and he had frostbite on his feet.”
The fundraiser is also meant to celebrate a U.S. humanitarian relief operation from the time of the genocide that raised more than $100 million from the American people between 1915 and 1930 to provide assistance to victims.
Near East Relief was the nation’s first nonsectarian, international non-governmental organization. It undertook a major international relief effort to help refugees from the Ottoman Empire; the money it raised was equivalent to $1.25 billion in today’s dollars. This effort established hundreds of refugee processing centers, hospitals, vocational schools and orphanages, helping rescue more than a million Armenian refugees and tens of thousands of orphans.
“They literally saved 130,000 children from certain annihilation,” Kerkorian said. “My cultural identity was able to survive through those children. This is a chance for the Armenian community to give back for that benevolence that we saw from the American people.”
Thousands of people of Armenian descent and their supporters march through Hollywood’s Little Armenia neighborhood on April 24 last year. (Frederic J. Brown / AFP)
ALL-DAY STREAMING
Community groups are also inviting people to watch a virtual commemoration broadcast on Facebook as well as on local Armenian TV stations.
The livestream will be running from noon to 7 p.m. on Friday, featuring recorded messages from community leaders and political representatives, as well as music and other cultural performances.
Despite social distancing rules, organizers say it’s important that commemorative events foster community solidarity.
“That sense of community is at the heart of who we are as Armenians,” said Alex Galitsky, a spokesman for the Armenian National Committee of America — Western Region. “That sense of pride in our nation, our language, our culture, and everything that defines us. Because those are the things that enabled us to survive these 100 years without a nation, 100 years without recognition, 100 years without justice.”
A boy looks at a mural commemorating the 1915 Armenian Genocide on Hollywood Boulevard near a rally on the 99th anniversary of the event in 2014. (David McNew/Getty Images)
Congressman Adam Schiff, who authored last year’s successful House resolution to recognize the Armenian Genocide, is among the elected officials who’ve sent in recorded messages. The list also includes Congresswoman Judy Chu, Congressman Brad Sherman, L.A Councilmember Paul Koretz, David Ryu and Mitch O’Farrell, L.A. Deputy Mayor Nina Hachigian, and other state and local leaders, organizers said.
Speakers will be celebrating last year’s unprecedented Armenian Genocide recognition by Congress, something Armenian American advocates had been working toward for decades.
“The reason that there is an Armenian community in the United States is because of the genocide and forced displacement of our people,” said Galitsky. “When we see a refusal to acknowledge and recognize that historic injustice, that’s an affront to our community. Moving forward, we need to understand that those resolutions are just the beginning of the struggle for justice.”
The virtual event will include a moment of silence for genocide victims. Organizers are also encouraging Armenians around the world to light a candle in their windows as a solemn memory of the lives lost.
Armenians celebrate Christmas mass at St. Garabed Armenian Apostolic Church in L.A. on Jan. 6, 2011. (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
DON’T FORGET ABOUT CHURCH
The Armenian Apostolic Church has been at the core of L.A.’s Armenian diaspora community for a century and always plays a key role in Armenian Genocide commemorative events.
This year, the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church will celebrate (and stream) the divine liturgy in commemoration of of the holy martyrs of the Armenian Genocide at 10:30 a.m.
Archbishop Hovnan Derderian will be presiding from St. Leon Armenian Cathedral in Burbank.
Father Vazken Movsesian, who will deliver the homily from St. Leon, says April 24 took on new meaning on the 100th anniversary of the genocide in 2015, when the Armenian Church canonized the 1.5 million victims of the genocide.
“The Church made a very bold statement,” said Movsesian. “It said that the martyrs of the genocide are sanctified. They’re saints. And that today is not a day of mourning. It’s a day of us celebrating that we won, in the sense that we’re not only alive but thriving. We have resurrected. We are no longer victims. Today we’re going to be celebrating that, not just by words, but by reaching out to others and being a voice against genocide everywhere.”
Movsesian says some individual churches are also hosting their own livestreams of the service, as they have been doing for the past month.
St. Mary’s Apostolic Church in Glendale will display a beam of light in the sky Friday night after 8pm to commemorate the Armenian Genocide.
RECORDING ORAL HISTORIES
This will be the first time in more than 50 years that local Armenian Americans didn’t gather in public to call for recognition of the Armenian Genocide, according to Salpi Ghazarian, director of USC’s Institute for Armenian Studies.
“There has been something powerful about knowing that around the world, on the same day, hundreds of thousands of people are doing the same thing — reaffirming life, even as we remember loss,” Ghazarian said.
This year, the institute is asking Armenians to do that by participating in a do-it-yourself oral history project called #MyArmenianStory.
Ghazarian says people constantly ask her for guidelines on conducting interviews with family members. So she decided to use this unusual social situation to promote mass recording and archiving.
The Armenian diaspora is big and spread out. Ghazarian hopes the project can help capture the breadth of stories in her community’s history.
“This will include stories of Armenia’s independence, Middle East wars and migration, third and fourth generation Los Angeles and Fresno families who are part of the fabric of their cities,” Ghazarian said. “This is a long-term project that fits in perfectly with the isolating and sequestering that will be with us for a while to come.”
Armen Tavadyan, the owner of the Fifth Channel of Armenia, has filed a defamation lawsuit against Chairman of the Committee to Protect Freedom of _expression_ Ashot Melikyan.
The suit filed with the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction demands Melikyan to retract his defamatory statement and provide compensation for non-pecuniary damage, Panorama.am learned from DataLex, an online database providing information regarding court cases in Armenia.
The Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction accepted the lawsuit on April 10. The case has been assigned to judge presided Anna Pilosyan.
Speaking to Panorama.am, Tavadyan’s lawyer Hovhannes Khudoyan said that the lawsuit stems from an article published by Aravot.am, which reported Ashot Melikyan as saying: “I do not think that Armen Tavadyan was arrested for silencing the Fifth Channel. We know how he hit a demonstrator with a bottle and how he tried to offer a bribe.”
According to the defense lawyer, they demand 2 million drams in compensation for the damage.
Ashot Melikyan made the remarks during a discussion on real beneficial owners of media outlets at the Freedom of Information Center organized with the support of the British Embassy in Yerevan.