Category: 2017

Kirkus Reviews (Print)
July 1, 2017, Saturday
CHOOSE TO RISE;
The Victory Within
FICTION; Historical
At the dawn of World War I, two brothers fight for survival in the
midst of the Armenian genocide in Mekaelian's debut novel. In 1971,
the Hagopian family gathers at a Chicago hospital after one of its
elders has a stroke. Vartan Hagopian is a professor in his 70s who
began his life in Armenia and now may end it in a hospital bed.
A doctor tells the family that Vartan called out for a girl named
Nadia during the attack that felled him. The name brings up painful
memories for his slightly younger brother, Armen, who decides to tell
the assembled family members the story of what he and his sibling
lived through years ago. The sweeping tale begins in 1913 on the
Hagopian family farm, located in the shadow of the Taurus Mountains
along the Euphrates River. With the sultan of the Ottoman Empire
deposed and the Young Turks in power, Armenians have been promised
more equality under the law. Armen's close-knit Armenian community
lives alongside Turks and Kurds in relative peace. The future looks
bright to teenage Armen and Vartan, who spend their evenings gazing at
constellations. Slowly, though, it becomes clear that the government
is overtaxing Armenians and brutally enforcing the practice with
violence. Vartan and Armen's father vows to stay, but as World War I
breaks out, circumstances deteriorate, and Armen must find bravery far
beyond his years. The most impressive aspect of Mekaelian's historical
tale is how it weaves together so many aspects of Armenian oppression
into one family's story without seeming implausible. The author
carefully depicts Kharpert as a pastoral place that also becomes the
setting of the worst things that humanity can offer, including forced
assimilation, deportation, and outright slaughter. The sensible,
memorable characters have an understandable dedication to their
territory, and although the subject matter becomes quite bleak, the
writing never does. The author shows Armen as a bright, humorous,
hardworking teenager faced with unthinkable realities, and the
wellsprings of courage that he draws from are seemingly limitless.
A tragic and beautiful story that manages to retain a wise and hopeful tone.
Publication Date: 2017-04-03
Publisher: Self
Stage: Indie
ISBN: 978-0-692-38516-6
Price: $19.99
Author: Mekaelian, M.N.
 

Armenpress News Agency , Armenia
 Friday
PACE prevents creation of separate group involving Turks and Azerbaijanis
YEREVAN, JUNE 30, ARMENPRESS. One of the Italian delegates at the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) wanted to
establish a joint group of Turks and Azerbaijanis, however, the PACE
bureau made a decision to postpone that process with 4 votes in favor
and 11 against, Arpine Hovhannisyan – head of Armenia’s delegation to
PACE, PACE Vice-President, told Armenpress.
“The overwhelming majority in Free Democrats group were Turks and
Azerbaijanis, as well as the author of report over Sarsang reservoir
submitted to the PACE, member of the Parliament of Bosnia and
Herzegovina Milica Marković. They obviously wanted to create that
group to gather some people under it, however, a decision was made to
postpone it for two reasons. They firstly said it was created from
June 1, whereas at that time 17 members were members of other
political group. Secondly, they also accused in
On June 26 the PACE summer session kicked off in Strasbourg.

Armenpress News Agency , Armenia
 Friday
'We should reach the level of governance Armenian citizen expects from
us today' – PM Karapetyan
YEREVAN, JUNE 30, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Karen
Karapetyan participated in the discussion on ‘Dialogue over local
economic development’ on June 30 within the frames of which the
presentation of manual ‘The development of economy in communities’ was
held, press service of the Government told Armenpress.
The manual has been developed by the Armenian Ministry of Territorial
Administration and Development and the GIZ.
The PM attached importance to holding this event, adding that it is in
accordance with the Government’s policy in territorial administration
field. “We have repeatedly said that we need to give new impetus to
government-governorate-communities three-level governance. Today’s
imperative in governance level is that the leaders must be modern and
work regularly on them. We have repeatedly stated that the
proportionate territorial development is a very important issue in our
Republic. The citizen of Armenia firstly tries to solve his/her
problems in the community”, the PM said.
He added that recently the American University of Armenia organized
lectures for governors which prove that the development of skills of
community leaders must be continuous. “In this sense we take certain
steps: at the end of last year we defined what development programs
the communities must present. We have received them from all
communities. Moreover, the communities also presented business
programs that can change the business environment and contribute to
creation of jobs. We have already started to assist some programs. The
quality of these programs, unfortunately, is away from latest demands.
We never must get tired and we need to confidently move forward being
convinced that at the end we will reach the level of governance today
the Armenian citizen expects from us, and this is just necessary”, the
PM added.
He thanked the international partners, the UNDP, the EU, the Council
of Europe, GIZ, USAID, Swiss development agency and others for the
support and cooperation in this process. The PM wished productive work
to the event participants .

Armenpress News Agency , Armenia
 Friday
AAAS's EurekAlert science magazine publishes article proving maternal
lineage continuation of Armenians
YEREVAN, JUNE 30, ARMENPRESS. EurekAlert – the science magazine
operated by American Association for the Advancement of Science,
published an article proving the maternal lineage continuation of
Armenians.
Pavel Avetisyan, director of the Archaeology and Ethnography Institute
of the National Academy of Sciences told a press conference that
anthropogenic materials discovered from monuments of the modern
territories of Armenia and Artsakh were used for the studies.
“It [studies] showed that the people living here since the 7th
millennia BC are within a lineal continuation. These are valuable data
for Armenian history and genealogy issues”, he said.
Avetisyan said soon similar research will be carried out regarding the
paternal lineage.

Armenpress News Agency , Armenia
 Friday
Use of forces by Azerbaijan serious threat to regional security –
Armenian Deputy FM
YEREVAN, JUNE 30, ARMENPRESS. OSCE’s Annual Security Review
Conference2017 took place in Vienna on June 27-29. Armenian delegation
led by Deputy Foreign Minister Ashot Hovakimyan participated in the
conference, “Armenpress” was informed from the press service of the
MFA Armenia.
In the opening remarks the Armenian Deputy FM referred to the factors
shaping the current environment of the European security, indicating
the contradictions over the issue of the security regime between the
main players in the OSCE area, the disability in the neighborhood of
the OSCE area and the use of force in the settlement of conflicts.
Deputy Minister Hovakimyan underlined that OSCE’s field capacity
reduction was another negative factor.
Ashot Hovakimyan noted that use of force can in no way be justified,
moreover, it thwarts the settlement processes that are underway in the
sidelines of the already agreed formats. The Deputy Minister specially
noted that the use of force against Nagorno Karabakh by Azerbaijan is
manifested by daily violations of the cease-fire agreement. Azerbaijan
also denies implementing the agreements reached in Vienna and St.
Petersburg. The Deputy Minister also highlighted that Azerbaijan was
not interested in ensuring the field presence of the OSCE and for that
reason it pursued the goal of suspending the field missions of the
OSCE in Baku and Yerevan.
Ashot Hovakimyan also gave a speech at the session on conflict and
crisis situations in the OSCEarea, security and confidence building.
He mentioned in his speech that the use of force by Azerbaijan is a
serious threat for the regional security.
Highlighting the unconditional implementation of the Vienna and St.
Petersburg agreements by Azerbaijan, Ashot Hovakimyan emphasized that
even the absence of the investigative mechanisms on the front line is
not an obstacle for detecting the initiator of the violations. In this
context the statement issued by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs
addressed to Azerbaijan about the ceasefire violation and shelling of
the military equipment of Armenia deployed along the contact line was
highlighted.
The Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia underlined that the top level
support of Turkey to Azerbaijan in regard to the cease fire
violations, as well as the closed borders in the region are additional
provoking factors. It was mentioned that Armenia has always made use
of the OSCE platform to engage in a dialogue with the OSCE participant
states, including Turkey, but the Turkish side has left the remarks
raised by Armenia unanswered.
The Deputy Minister stressed that OSCE’s involvement in the region
should be enhanced aimed at building confidence and ensuring security
during conflict and crisis situations.

Armenpress News Agency , Armenia
 Friday
First session of Armenia-Switzerland chamber of commerce takes place in Zurich
YEREVAN, JUNE 30, ARMENPRESS. The first session of Armenia-Switzerland
chamber of commerce took place in Zurich on June 28, “Armenpress” was
informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia.
During the session the chairman of the chamber of commerce,
Swiss-Armenian businessman, founder of “Azad” Pharmaceutical Company
in Armenia Mike Baronian presented the goals and the directions of the
activities of the newly established chamber.
In her opening remarks Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary Hasmik Tolmajyan referred to the geographical
similarities of Armenia and Switzerland, emphasizing that both states,
being landlocked, and poor in natural resources rely on innovative
technologies. Hasmik Tolmajyan highlighted the important contribution
of the Swiss-Armenian businessmen to the economic development of
Armenia and the strengthening of trade and economic cooperation.
Lucas Gasser,Ambassadorof SwitzerlandtoArmenia, drawing parallels
between the business circles of the two states, underlined the
significant potential of bilateral cooperation.
Director of the Development FoundationofArmenia AvakAvakian presented
Armenia’s economic indexes, development prospects, the business
environment, opportunities for investments.
Exhibition of Armenian productions was held at the session.