Artsakh Defense Army Commander Levon Mnatsakanyan was transferred to “Erebuni” medical center today, October 9. This information was confirmed to news.am by the hospital.
It is noted that Levon Mnatsakanyan is undergoing a scheduled check-up, he will stay in the medical center today. The PA commander had a heart problem in the past.
Today, President Serzh Sargsyan received Viktor Krivopuskov, President of the Russian Association of Friendship and Cooperation with Armenia.
During the meeting, Victor Krivopuskov presented to the president of the republic the activities of the organization headed by him and the upcoming plans, talking in detail about the activities undertaken in the direction of organizing the cultural days of Armenia in Russia in the near future.
It is noted that the event will be held in the field of culture in 2016-2018. Within the cooperation program between RA and RF. The President of the Russian Association of Friendship and Cooperation with Armenia informed Serzh Sargsyan that in the framework of the cultural days of Armenia in Russia, events will be held in the regions of Russia in addition to the capital.
The President welcomed the activities of the Russian association aimed at deepening the Armenian-Russian relations and strengthening the friendship between the two peoples and wished success. The president assured that the state administration bodies of Armenia will provide all assistance to the association in the implementation of the above initiatives.
David Barsamian, founder of Alternative Radio, will speak in Taos on Tuesday (Oct. 10), 7 p.m., at at the Harwood Museum of Art, 238 Ledoux Street. The presentation is a collaborative event presented by the Harwood and KCIE 90.1 FM Cultural Energy Independent Radio.
The title of Barsamian’s talk is ‘Resistance in the Age of Trump.”
“Today in a country where magical thinking is heard at the highest levels of government, facts are up for grabs,” a statement on the talk from alternativeradio.org reads. “You have your narrative. I have mine. Recall Trump aide Kellyanne Conway’s now infamous ‘alternative facts’ comment. Are we sliding toward a dystopian future? Not necessarily. Informed and organized people, unafraid and willing to challenge power, can change the system.”
Barsamian has been called “one of America’s most tireless and wide-ranging investigative journalists” who has “altered the independent media landscape, both with his weekly radio show Alternative Radio, now in its 32th year, and with his books with Noam Chomsky, Eqbal Ahmad, Howard Zinn, Arundhati Roy, Richard Wolff, Tariq Ali, and Edward Said.”
His 11th book with Noam Chomsky, “Global Discontents” is coming out in November.
A press release states, “Barsamian is an investigative journalist, but in a unique way. He digs by finding often unheard of activists and then letting speak in their own voices in his hour long weekly radio shows, broadcast on more that 200 stations. His most difficult interview was one of the first he did with his mother, a refugee and survivor of the Armenian Genocide. Rebelliousness saw him drop out of San Francisco State and ship out on a Norwegian freighter to work as a prep cook until he in Asia and began an odyssey lasting five years, hitchhiking across borders and studying the sitar and Raga music to become a master musician in India.
“In 1978 he came to visit his sister in Boulder, and discovered the new public radio station KGNU, volunteered and quickly developed into a national broadcaster when he started Alternative Radio. Speaking five languages, including Hindi and Urdu, he continued to travel all over Asia, until seven years ago he was banned from India for his outspoken coverage of the repression of Adivasis, or the indigenous peoples of India, and the oppression of the people of Kashmir.”
In a statement, Barsamian says, “I have no degrees to speak of. Which in this work actually proves to be an advantage because I didn’t have to unlearn the propaganda that is primarily a lot of what ‘lower education,’ as I call it, provides. So I came to things pretty fresh, pretty raw. I’ve always been a rebel, even as a kid. I was asking lots of questions. Why? Why? I used to drive my mother crazy.”
Barsamian has spoken out for the environment, justice & free speech, crisscrossing the U.S, Canada, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, Armenia and Turkey, speaking at scores of universities, conferences, peace groups, bookstores, and benefit events, the release continues. By traveling to grassroots groups all around the world, he is able to find the up and coming leaders that he brings to his radio show, and keep in touch with those outside the media bubble.
Barsamian is the winner of the Media Education Award, the ACLU’s Upton Sinclair Award for independent journalism, and the Cultural Freedom Fellowship from the Lannan Foundation. The Institute for Alternative Journalism named him one of its Top Ten Media Heroes. He is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center. In 2017 the South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy presented him with their Lifetime Achievement Award for giving voice through alternative media to the oppressed communities and those fighting against repression.
He is also is a board member of Cultural Energy, the local organization that brought KCEI 90.1 FM to the air a year ago.
Tickets are $10 or $8 for Harwood Alliance members. They can be purchased through the Harwood Museum. Call (575) 758-9826, ext. 0 or visit harwoodmuseum.org.
Contact Cultural Energy, Robin Collier for more information at (575) 758-9791 or cell 224-0151 or David Barsamian at cell 303-725-8454 or by email at
ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia October 7, 2017 Saturday At the contact line with Karabakh in the period from 1 to 7 October, Azerbaijan did about 1100 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions Yerevan October 7 Tatevik Shahunyan. In the period from October 1 to October 7, 2017, the situation on the contact line of the Karabakh-Azerbaijani troops continued to be relatively calm. According to Artsakh Defense Army, the adversary in the reporting period carried out in the direction of the Armenian positions about 1100 rounds of weapons of various calibers. The foremost troops of the NKR Defense Army continue to confidently carry out their military service, keeping the situation on the contact line under control.
ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia October 7, 2017 Saturday Bako Sahakyan: Sooner or later Independence of Nagorno Karabakh will be recognized-it is just a matter of time Yerevan October 7 Tatevik Shahunyan. The independence of Nagorno-Karabakh will sooner or later be recognized - it's only a matter of time. This was stated in the interview to the newspaper "Noah's Ark" by the President of Nagorno-Karabakh Bako Sahakyan. Assessing the mediation efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group, Sahakyan noted that she is carrying out a large, very important work on the settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, maintaining peace and stability in the region. "Stepanakert highly appreciates the role and long-term work of the co-chair countries in this whole process," he said. Speaking about the possibility of Artsakh's return to the negotiating table, he noted that it does not depend only on Stepanakert's desire. "We have always advocated the restoration of a full negotiating format. But it was violated because of the destructive policy of official Baku. Moreover, there was a very specific situation. The format of the negotiations, where the Republic of Artsakh, along with Azerbaijan and Armenia, is recognized as a full-fledged party to the conflict, was determined through consensus at the 1994 Budapest Summit of the OSCE. The format change should also be approved at the OSCE summit again on the basis of a consensus decision. It was not. Thus, the destructive behavior of Azerbaijan rudely violates the political and legal basis of the negotiation process. Violates it and moral and ethical standards. The fate of Artsakh cannot be solved without his participation, "Saakyan said, while stressing that holding negotiations even in a distorted format is better than stopping them altogether. Nevertheless, the NKR leader emphasized, the restoration of the negotiation format is uncontested and is only a matter of time. He also stressed that one of the key components of the settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict is the maintenance of peace and stability in the region. "However, official Baku constantly violates the ceasefire, resorts to sabotage, subversive and terrorist actions. All this, of course, is stopped by the Army of Defense of the Artsakh Republic, but, unfortunately, it does not do without losses. Responsible for this is Azerbaijan, which by its actions causes serious damage to the negotiation process and the efforts of intermediaries, threatens the stability in our region. Even the numerous human losses on the part of Azerbaijan itself do not hamper the aggressive policy pursued by Baku, "Sahakyan said, stressing that the international community, through the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, must continue taking appropriate steps in this direction.
ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia October 7, 2017 Saturday Bako Sahakyan: Artsakh does not have special program for resettlement of Syrian Armenians Yerevan October 7 Tatevik Shahunyan. In Artsakh, there is no special program for the resettlement of Syrian Armenians, since their number is not large. This was stated in the interview to the newspaper "Noah's Ark" by Artsakh President Bako Sahakyan. At the same time, he stressed that Artsakh cannot be indifferent to the fate of the Armenians of Syria, and in any other region of the planet. "The Republic of Artsakh sent humanitarian aid to Syria. We also provided some assistance to some of our compatriots from Syria for their location in our republic. But there is no complete program for their resettlement, "Sahakyan summed up. To note, earlier the Azerbaijani social and political circles accused the Armenian side of the intention to implement a program for the resettlement of Syrian Armenians in the territories controlled by Artsakh.
Armenpress News Agency , Armenia October 7, 2017 Saturday "I don't see anything condemnable in my Artsakh visit" - Cetinoglu YEREVAN, OCTOBER 7, ARMENPRESS. Turkish scholar and activist Sait Cetinoglu, who visited Artsakh in September, says Baku’s stir and Azerbaijani chief prosecutor’s decision on issuing an international arrest warrant for him and his friends is totally ungrounded. In an exclusive comment for ARMENPRESS, Cetinoglu expressed concern over Azerbaijan’s actions – which are aimed at making other countries and international structures the tool of its manipulation. “In addition of being a historian and genocide researcher, I am first of all a lawyer and a human rights activist. I held a senior position in Turkey’s Human Rights Association. Back when Amnesty International didn’t function in Turkey, I was one of the people having an international status of the organization. And when Amnesty International decided to come to Turkey, I was one of their first coordinators. At the same time I was the speaker of the Freedom of Thought Initiative in Ankara. From this perspective my visit to Artsakh is seen more than natural. I accepted this proposal from my friend, Aragats Akhoyan, without hesitation. I find the terms “disputed” and “subject to discussion” territories to be strictly problematic. According to whom or what are they disputed? The answer to these questions is conjunctive and “realpolitik”. In other words, this is a political situation which doesn’t reflect reality. In the present days, when humanity has reached such valuable achievements, this is an absolutely unacceptable and retrograde situation. As a lawyer and activist I don’t see anything condemnable in my visit and research in the Caucasus’ Artsakh/Karabakh – which is called “disputed” and “problematic”. Next to the news about continuous clashes in the world’s agenda, I find my visit to be more than natural to this region, where gross violations of human rights happened in April of 2016, in order to understand what is happening in that region. Moreover, I have to confess that I became involved in this issue very late. Azerbaijan’s issuance of international arrest warrants against us, by violating international rights norms, is literally an act of violence. The second unacceptable demand is demanding us from our own country in order to punish us, which doesn’t have any legal basis and is absolutely unacceptable. Capriciousness. And that’s why this demand was ignored by our country. Another manifestation of violence by Azerbaijan is obstruction of my right to free movement by declaring me wanted. This situation is nothing but a violation of fundamental human rights, an attempt to make states and international organizations a tool of Azerbaijan’s vagary. They are attempting to limit our right to visit not only Artsakh, but also other countries. As we know, the right to free movement is one of the fundamental human rights. Proceeding from this principle, the International Criminal Court rules the limitation of the right to movement to be a crime against humanity. I will release the results of my research in Artsakh separately”, Cetinoglu said. Araks Kasyan
Armenpress News Agency , Armenia October 7, 2017 Saturday Italian investor establishes pizza production in Syunik, vows top quality food, job conditions KAPAN, OCTOBER 7, ARMENPRESS. Italian chef Nikola Di Mauro arrived to Armenia from Rome to establish a semi-finished/frozen pizza production in Syunik province. According to him, he is here to not only ensure high quality food but also to create quality conditions for the employees. “I’ve worked on a new project in Syunik for the past 1 and a half year. The pizzas will be exported to the Eurasian market. The semi-finished pizza will be prepared in an Italian style, however with exclusively local products. We will try to buy the products from adjacent areas of Syunik, which will contribute to the company’s financial savings”, the chef told a press conference. He said they plan to produce nearly 250,000 pizzas monthly. The minimal number of employees for 1-line production unit will be 50, while the maximum number for 3 lines is 150. “We tried to maximally minimize the automation of our production in order to create more jobs. Qualified personnel will work in the factory. The factory was been constructed with the highest international standard equipment. The equipment is entirely Italian, and will provide the highest result. Food processing will also be high level”, Di Mauro said. “I decided to realize this program in Syunik by taking into account the willingness of the local authorities and their attention for the locals. The leadership of the province is trying to solve all issues, which is a very important factor for foreign business”, he said.
Armenpress News Agency , Armenia October 7, 2017 Saturday More than 100 US Congressmen support Armenian Genocide resolution YEREVAN, OCTOBER 7, ARMENPRESS. The number of US Congressmen backing the House of Representatives N 220 resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide passed 100. The Armenian National Committee of America associates this fact with the success of the Armenian Genocide-themed movie The Promise, the public screening of the Architects of Denial documentary, and meetings with the Congressmen during summer. Noteworthy actions were taken in this work by members of the Congressional Armenian Caucus Jackie Speier and David Trott. ANCA director Aram Hamparian was pleased to note that the top ranking Republican and Democrat officials of the House are among the endorsers. The ANCA had more than 200 meetings with Congressmen and their representatives for this purpose. U.S. Representatives David Trott (R-MI) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) are the lead authors of H.Res.220. The Senate, Armenian Genocide Resolution, S.Res.136, was introduced simultaneously by Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) with the bipartisan support of Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Tom Udall (D-NM)
Emirates News Agency (WAM), UAE October 7, 2017 Saturday Qudwa 2017: Teacher talk session on opening day examines how mainstream schools can become more inclusive Qudwa 2017 / sessions ABU DHABI, 7th October, 2017 (WAM) -- Qudwa 2017 Global Teachers' Forum, an international symposium that aims to improve the future of education, hosted a panel discussion on day 1 titled 'Making Schools More Inclusive: Teaching Students With Special Needs' that examined ways to make mainstream schools more inclusive. Held in partnership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, the talk drew the participation of Aggeliki Pappa, Founder of I Love Dyslexia (Greece), Armina Gevorgyan, teacher at Anania Shirakatsy International Lyceum (Armenia), and Yasser Anass Sadek Ahmed, teacher at Al Sadara School (Al Ain, UAE). Moderated by Tarek Mostafa, Analyst, Early Childhood and Schools, Directorate for Education and Skills, OECD, the discussion focused on how students with special needs could be integrated within mainstream classrooms to make them more inclusive. The speakers also explored the challenges that educators are likely to face while providing equal opportunities to diverse groups of learners. Opening the session, Mostafa noted the findings of OECD's Teaching and Learning International Survey, TALIS, 2013, which show that 23 percent of teachers across all sampled countries have reported a high need for professional development in teaching students with special needs. He also highlighted that in such classrooms, teachers tend to spend less time teaching, indicating a critical issue in time management, which in turn negatively impacts the students' learning experiences. Offering her perspective, Aggeliki Pappa said, "Among the many challenges we face in the special needs teaching segment, I find that it is most difficult to direct the system to align with my philosophy, which essentially revolves around my love for children with dyslexia. I find it especially hard to break down the wrong beliefs around dyslexia – to convey that these children are not disabled but differently-abled. I also find that parents of students with special needs are often unable to accept that their children are perfect just the way they are. My constant effort has been to help people embrace these differences, to enable society's growth and the growth of the country. "On the issue of time management, I feel special needs teachers should first focus on fostering a genuine and compassionate relationship with their students. They also need to establish the ethos in the classroom, making it clear to every student that each of them matters. As teachers, we need to help students develop cognitive and meta-cognitive skills, teaching them how to learn using their own abilities, both within and outside the classroom." Gevorgyan further noted, "In my view, one the of the challenges in this space is the absence of the right atmosphere in the classroom. Children are not able to communicate with each other. In Armenia, one of the biggest challenges is that children with special needs are bullied by their fully-abled counterparts, making it difficult for them to find the support they need to develop their abilities. "When it comes to the professional development of teachers in special needs schools, we need to stress the importance of training. I, myself, worked with a team called Bridge of Hope in Armenia, with expertise in working with children with special needs. In addition to this, I had access to a psychologist who helped to find appropriate solutions for student development. Such training and support systems add to the development of teaching skills, which further helps with time management in the classroom." Highlighting what teachers can do to foster more support for special needs students, Yassed Sadek said, "From experience, it is clear that integration is key for children with special needs. At our school, we ensure that students are assigned to the right classes based on their specific needs, and also so that they have an opportunity to exchange views and grasp different behaviours. "On the other hand, professional development of teachers in special needs schools can be implemented through workshops on analytics strategy, time management and so on. In Al Ain, we rolled out a co-teacher format in the classroom and parent counselling systems to help manage these students in the best way possible. We also work with gifted students for whom teachers are trained to identify special skills and determine career opportunities based on their abilities."