Author: Toneyan Mark

Four Armenian cities – Sisian, Sevan, Dilijan and Gyumri – have joined the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC).

More than 1,000 cities and communities around the world have become or are in the process of becoming learning/educating cities. These cities are keen to benefit from participating in international policy dialogue, action research, capacity building and peer learning, and to effectively use learning city approaches to promote lifelong learning for their citizens.

The overall aim of the GNLC is to create a global network to mobilize cities and demonstrate how a city’s resources can be used most effectively to provide learning opportunities to citizens. The goal is to enrich human potential, promote equality and social justice, maintain social cohesion, and create sustainable prosperity.

The GNLC is intended to help cities create a better future for their citizens and the planet by transforming themselves into learning cities.

The UNESCO GNLC offers members the opportunity to be acquainted with best practice and tools to advance lifelong learning in their communities. Members of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities may also be motivated to aim for recognition for their actions by applying for the UNESCO Learning City Award. The next Awards will be conferred to cities that have shown exemplary progress in implementing the Key Features of Learning Cities in 2017.

President Serzh Sargsyan held a number of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Investment Forum in New York. The President of Armenia held discussions with the Vice-President of the Asian Development Bank Wencai Zhang, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lydian International Howard Stevenson, Executive Director of Contour Global International Company Joseph Brandt.

At the meeting with the Vice-President of the Asian Development Bank, President Sargsyan hailed the Bank’s mission and role in Armenia’s economic development and underscored that in ten years of Armenia’s membership to the ADB our country and the Bank have established efficient cooperation.

Serzh Sargsyan stressed the importance of the major investment projects implemented in Armenia through the financing of the Bank, including the development of infrastructures, assistance provided in different areas, programs financed by the private sector which are aimed at the increased competitiveness and sustainable economic development. Stressing the importance of attracting investments at this stage of Armenia’s economic development, Serzh Sargsyan expressed gratitude to the Asian Development Bank for the assistance to the organization of the investment forum in New York.

The interlocutors exchanged views on the Bank’s assistance to the development of Armenia’s priority areas to be realized in the framework of the ADB Armenia Partnership Strategy. Vice-President Wencai Zhang declared that the ADB will continue its assistance with the Armenian authorities and in addition to the projects already in progress will provide assistance also to the development of social infrastructures and economic corridors, reforms, innovative programs which, according to Mr. Zhang will attract new investments to the economy to Armenia.

President Serzh Sargsyan and President and Chief Executive Officer of Lydian International Howard Stevenson at the meeting discussed issues related to the current operations carried out by the Lydian International – a leading company in the area of discovery and development of natural resources, particularly to the works carried out by the Company at the Amulsar mine and development programs. The President of the Lydian International, which is the hundred percent share holder of the Lydian Armenian, assured President Sargsyan that the major mining project, which is carried out in full compliance with the ecological requirements and international standards, will promote the development of the communities and Armenia’s economic development in general and will have a positive impact on the country’s GNP. Howard Stevenson underscored that his Company through its works is striving to prove that it is possible to develop mining industry with the modern technologies which can be beneficial for all parties – the state, the private sector, and communities, and that Armenia is a country open for foreign investments.

On October 10, in New York President Sargsyan met also with Joseph Brandt, the Executive Director of Contour Global International Company which is working in the area of energy production. The parties discussed the results of the activities of the Contour Global Hydro Cascade, which opened its office in Armenia one year ago, and the preliminary works for the next phase of the investments of the Company which so far is the largest American investor to our country. The parties highly valued the level of cooperation, which in their opinion allowed the Company in a short period of time to achieve noticeable results.

Photo: Yekaterina Shtukina/Russian government's press service/TASS

Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov was appointed chairman of the state security service on Thursday by President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Reuters reports.

No new cabinet head was named. Deputy Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev will serve as acting prime minister, according to the order published by Nazarbayev’s office.

Under the constitution, Nazarbayev will now need to propose a new prime minister to the lower house of parliament, which is dominated by his supporters.

Masimov has run the government since April 2014, his second stint as prime minister after heading the cabinet in 2007-2012.

A man detained for seizing a bank in downtown Moscow and taking several people hostage on Wednesday evening has told investigators he had no plans of killing anyone, reports.

“During the interrogation, the detained man said he did not plan to kill anyone, but wanted to draw attention to the problem of [bankruptcy] by his actions,” senior aide of the head of the Main Investigative Department in Moscow Yulia Ivanova told TASS. On Thursday, the investigators plan “to bring charges against him and impose a pre-trial restraint.”

The 55-year-old man, later identified as Aram Petrosyan, a businessman from  Moscow region, seized the Citibank office located at 15 Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street, 800 meters from the Kremlin, at around 6.30 p.m. Moscow time (1530GMT) on Wednesday. He said he had been manufacturing first aid kits until recently before going bankrupt.

He had a box wrapped in yellow tape that he claimed was an explosive device and threatened to blow up the office. Police later said it turned out to be a fake bomb, makeshift box was filled with salt. The hostage taker demanded that the current law on personal bankruptcy be canceled and that “a personal bankruptcy institution” be established to address the problems of bankrupt businessmen. When the man entered the bank, there were six people inside: three clients, two cashiers and a security guard. By 10.00 p.m. Moscow time the perpetrator freed all hostages and surrendered to the police.

TASS Deputy Editor-in-Chief Gleb Bryansky was one of the hostages in the seized bank office. “The hostage taker did not look like a cruel criminal, but rather like a desperate person. He was very nervous, was constantly apologizing and smoking a lot,” Bryansky said.

EU diplomats are supporting the forces that “shake” the situation in Armenia, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said as it commented on the EU statement on developments in Yerevan, reports.

“During the briefing of the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs we gave assessment to the drama in Yerevan. We also called attention to the to Armenia issued in agreement with the EU Members States’ Heads of Mission in Armenia,” the Ministry said.

“Surprisingly, there was no space in the document for a direct and clear condemnation of the criminal actions – an armed attack on the premises of a police regiment, murder of a policeman and hostage-taking,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “Instead, there was an emphasis on the requirements from the authorities – to observe the principle of proportionality in handling public manifestations and call for a full investigation of all cases of alleged wrongdoing by the police.”

“It’s hard to get rid of the feeling that EU diplomats are openly supporting the forces in Armenia, which seek to “shake” the domestic political situation in the country,” the statement reads.

Five policemen are still being held hostage after gunmen attacked premises of a police regiment in Armenia’s capital Yerevan Sunday, Deputy Chief of RA Police Hunan Poghostyan told reporters today.

Two hostages – one policeman and one civilian – were released as a result of negotiations earlier today.

Hunan Poghosyan said nothing has changed in terms of demands on both parties. “We demand to release all hostages to avoid further aggravation of the situation and surrender to the authorities.

The Deputy Chief of Police said negotiations continue.

On July 5 the Knesset will hold a debate on the Armenian Genocide,” Israeli historian Yair Auron said in an interview with the Zoryan Institute.

“Israel refrained from allowing a public debate to have a free vote on the subject of the Armenian Genocide for fear of alienating the Turkish government, a key ally to Israel and the United States,” Dr. Auron said.

“On May 15, 2016, Jerusalem Post, reported that the Knesset speaker, Yuli Edlstein, had called on the government to recognize the 1915 genocide of Armenian people, by the Ottoman Turks, at a special debate on the subject in the parliament. ‘It is no secret that Israel has taken too ambivalent of a stance on the Armenian Genocide,’ Edlstein said. ‘There are many reasons, diplomatic and otherwise, for the Israeli stance being too hesitant and restrained, which downplayed the magnitude of the historical event. We Jews who are still suffering from the impact of the Holocaust cannot minimize the tragedy,’ he added.

“This year, on July 5th, the Knesset will hold another debate on this subject. This debate comes almost a month after Germany’s parliament voted to recognize the 1915 massacre of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman forces as ‘genocide.’ The Bundestag resolution admitted Germany’s historic role, as a military ally of the Ottoman Empire, in aiding the ‘organized expulsion and annihilation of the Armenians’ from their ancestral homeland and failing to stop ‘these crimes against humanity.’ The resolution also acknowledged ‘the German Reich’s complicity in the events,’” Yair Auron said.

“When we look at the recent German recognition of the Armenian Genocide against that background, a few lessons stand out. The modern Republic of Turkey is not the perpetrator state of the Armenian Genocide, but it is the legal inheritor of all rights and responsibilities of the Ottoman Empire. Rather than acknowledge that genocide, every successor administration of the Turkish Republic has gone out of its way to obfuscate and deny it. Moreover, it has used its considerable geo-political, military and economic leverage to coerce and co-opt other countries to go along with its denial policy, the historian added.

“Two of the most notable countries that have acquiesced in this are the United States and Israel. United States officials so thoroughly documented the Genocide, and the American peoples’ response was a massive and unprecedented outpouring of humanitarian aid for the ‘starving Armenians.’ Furthermore, the US has gone out of its way to honour the memory of another genocide, the Jewish Holocaust. Unfortunately, even today, certain academics and governments insist on the uniqueness of the Holocaust. I cannot accept that because the Holocaust is not unique, and needs to be studied as one example of genocide and not in isolation. Israel, a state born out of the Holocaust, is expected not to barter with the memory of the genocide of another people. In fact, there are moral strictures in the Talmudic tradition against ‘standing idly by the blood of your neighbour.’ (Leviticus 19:16) Yet, Israeli officials have explicitly denied that what happened to the Armenians is anything like what happened to the Jews,” he said.

“American presidents have produced high-sounding statements for April 24 every year, ostensibly to acknowledge the memory and lessons of the Armenian Genocide, but studiously avoid using the word ‘genocide.’ Israel has gone even further, not only denying the status of the Armenian Genocide, but honouring the tragic killing of a small group of Azerbaijanis at Khojaly during the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said at a commemoration in 1915, ‘We are gathered here today to talk about the necessity to combine the experience of Israel and Azerbaijan in order to prevent such tragedies in the future,’” the scholar said.

According to Dr. Auron, “when modern Germany admits the complicity of Imperial Germany in the Armenian Genocide, how can anyone go along with Turkish denial? Indeed, legally, this denial would make modern Turkey an accessory after the fact.”

He said “it’s past time that Israel officially recognizes the Armenian Genocide, if, as Foreign Minister Lieberman claims, we need to combine Israeli experience with that of others in order to prevent genocide in the future. Every year now, the Knesset debates this issue. The votes are there, but the government does not allow it to come to a vote. Let this year be different. Let the Knesset have a free vote on whether or not to recognize the Armenian Genocide.”

Dr. Auron completed his interview by stating: “Now that Israel and Turkey have mended fences and are about to renew their diplomatic ties, the Knesset must give a clear message that Israel’s relations cannot be held hostage to Turkey’s denial of these incontestable historical facts, especially after Germany’s admittance of its complicity, as an ally of Ottoman Turkey. It should further emphasize that Armenian Genocide recognition by Israel is not about friendship or enmity towards Turkey, but it is rather a moral responsibility of Israel. Furthermore, after Germany’s admittance of complicity, the failure of the Israeli Knesset to openly label the ‘events of 1915’ as ‘genocide’ is no longer only a simple moral issue, it is also a matter of credibility.”

Yair Auron is an Israeli historian, scholar and expert specializing on Holocaust and genocide studies, racism and contemporary Jewry. He is a board member of The Zoryan Institute of USA & Canada.

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been taken to hospital with a heart problem, according to a spokeswoman for his party, the BBC reports.

The 79-year-old’s condition was “nothing to worry about”, she added.

A statement by the San Raffaele hospital in Milan said the hospitalisation was necessary after what it called a “cardiac deficiency”.

Mr Berlusconi was Italy’s prime minister four times, but has since been convicted for tax fraud and bribery.

The leader of Forza Italia, who had a pacemaker implanted in a hospital in the US when he was 70, would undergo tests “in the next few days”, the hospital statement said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif voiced the country’s readiness to make whatever effort necessary for peace and security across the region, reports.

A Turkish nationalist politician has been jailed over controversial remarks suggesting “hunting for Armenians” after a concert last year by a renowned Armenian pianist in the ancient city of Ani in the eastern province of Kars, the reports.

Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Garo Paylan had filed a lawsuit against Tolga Adıgüzel, the Kars provincial head of the “Idealist Hearths” (Ülkü Ocakları), which has organic ties to the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), after Adıgüzel suggested “going out to hunt Armenians in the streets of Kars” as a counter-move after the concert.

The Kars third criminal court of first instance initially sentenced Adıgüzel to six months in prison, along with a pecuniary punishment of 11,240 Turkish Liras (about $3,800) on May 25 on charges of “overtly insulting some segments of the public based on difference of social class, race, religion, sect, sexuality or region.” The court then increased the sentence to seven months and fifteen days as the crime was committed via the media, which carries a heavier sentence.

Paylan described the court ruling as “hopeful” both for Armenians and for all parts of society in Turkey that believe in social peace and justice, vowing to fight against “all kinds of racist remarks and hate speech.”

World-renowned Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan and the Yereven State Chamber Coir gave a concert at Ani, on the Turkish border with Armenia, on June 21, 2015.

After the concert, Adıgüzel issued a press statement “strongly” condemning the performance, questioning its “aims,” and accusing its supporters of “treason.”

“Should we go out for hunting for Armenians in the streets of Kars? Can we give a concert at a place that they consider holy, or march our janissary band?” he had said.