His Holiness Katekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, has defrocked Fr. Koryun Arakelyan for improper conduct and anticanonical behavior.
The priest participated in anti-Catholicos protests and was given a week to repent.
Erzsébetváros is not just a district in Budapest, but also a town in Romania. The settlement was known as Ebesfalva until 1733 but was renamed Erzsébetváros after Saint Elizabeth of Hungary.
At the end of the 17th century the city, near Szamosújvár, was a major Armenian center.
The Armenian Catholic Church in the main square of Erzsébetváros
The majority of the Armenians left the settlement in the middle of the 19th century and it was soon populated by the Saxons. Today, 550 Hungarians live in the town, currently known as Dumbrăveni, alongside more than 7,000 Romanian inhabitants. Even now, the urban area is not much bigger than a hundred years ago.
Fortified church of Erzsébetváros
The two most famous buildings in the town are the main Armenian Catholic Church and the Apafi Castle, built in 1552, which includes an Armenian historical exhibition. From the outside, both are in depressing condition.
Some interesting sights can be found around the town, such as the many public education boards placed by the Romania authorities. These boards illustrate how to renovate the old, traditional peasant or Saxon houses while still taking historical conservation into account.
A proper way to renovate Transylvanian historical heritage sites.
Although homeowners may wish to preserve the area’s cultural heritage in their own way, the government officials saw the need to offer design suggestions.
Via: Mandiner.hu
PanARMENIAN.Net – President of the National Assembly Ara Babloyan at a meeting with Egyptian ambassador to Armenia Tareq Ebrahim Mohamed Maaty on Tuesday, July 17 thanked the House of Representatives of Egypt for the work in the process of the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide.
The envoy visited the parliament on Tuesday on the completion of the diplomatic mission.
Welcoming the guest, Babloyan the Ambassador for his efforts aimed at the development of the Armenian-Egyptian relations.
Weighing in on the historical traditions and friendship between the two peoples, Babloyan stressed the development of cooperation in different areas and called for deeper inter-parliamentary cooperation.
Also, Babloyan said he greatly values the balanced position of Egypt in the most important issues for Armenia.
The Ambassador said, in turn, that the Armenian-Egyptian relations have become closer due to the Armenian community of Egypt which plays a key role in the development of the country.
The series includes three detailed texts. This time around, we’ll talk about the details of forming the new government in Armenia. The second issue will touch on measures being taken to fight corruption. The third will discuss election reform
In 2018 a change in power took place for the first time in the history of independent Armenia as a result of a revolution. The long period of demonstrations was headed by opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan who was later elected Prime Minister on 8 May by parliament.
The following is the first installment in a series which will look at the first steps of the revolutionary PM. This article will touch on a number of details concerning the 15th government of Armenia formed by Pashinyan.
T
he constitution gave the PM 15 days to form a cabinet, though he made the appointments within a week. On 21 May, the new government was sworn in and began carrying out its responsibilities.
There are three vice-PMs in the government and 17 ministers.
Nikol Pashinyan announced his principles for the formation of a new government before he was elected PM:
Judging by the number of resignations and dismissals, it would seem that there wasn’t a lot of potential among the former staff.
A majority of the government leaders are members of Nikol Pashinyan’s ‘Civil Contract’ party.
The youngest faces in the government are VP Tigran Avinyan (29) and Minister of the Diaspora Mkhitar Hayrapetyan (28).
Nine ministers are younger than forty years old, and the oldest, Minister of Foreign Affairs Zograb Mnatsakanyan, is 52.
PM Nikol Pashinyan is 43 years old.
It’s not just the ministers that have ‘gotten younger’, but other state leaders as well. For example, the head of Lusashokh village is now a 25-year-old student, Narine Galstyan.
There have been some mixups along the way though. Vagarshak Hakobyan (27) was appointed adviser to the Minister of Diaspora. The Armenian media wrote at the time that according to the law ‘On public service’ he could not occupy the position until he turned thirty.
The ministry replied that Hakobyan’s candidacy was appropriate given his qualifications, though he was replaced in the position and made an assistant to the minister.
The following positions have been taken up by key figures from the revolution:
Out of 20 members of government, 12 received an education abroad: in the UK, the Netherlands, Greece, the USA and also in Russia.
Their records appear to be spotless.
The new cabinet has a vibe of being ‘poor and honest’. In their declaration of income and assets, some even said they had nothing in their bank accounts. This is true of the Head of the State Oversight Service, David Sanasaryan.
This cabinet has little experience, which is a result of the age of its members. However, it seems they enjoy the trust of the public which is putting aside its doubts and fears and expects effective work.
However, not all of the PM’s appointments have been inspiring.
In particular, the appointment of Valeri Osipyan as police chief has been met with a number of different opinions. He was formerly the deputy head of the Yerevan Police Department, and he personally oversaw the situation on the ground during the protests against the former authorities.
The prime minister had to explain his decision to the public, which he did during one of his regular Facebook addresses:
“Valeri Osipyan is not corrupt, and this is rare for the police system. He is also not a member of some ‘clan’, including the police clan.”
However, certain appointments to the State Revenue Committee and to the police have left certain questions unanswered.
Only three ministers from the old cabinet have remained ministers – however in different positions:
There are no members of the former ruling Republican Party in the new cabinet. The party has passed a resolution allowing its members to ‘freeze’ their membership in the party and to work in the new government. However, only the Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection Khachik Hakobyan made use of this possibility.
There is an unwritten coalition at play in the new government, too.
In addition to the Yelk political bloc represented by Pashinyan, the Bright Armenia and Dashnaktsutyun parties are also in the government. There are even non-affiliated ministers in the cabinet.
Bright Armenia has one Vice PM, four ministers and governors of four regions in the government. The Dashnaks have two governors and two ministers.
Pashinyan’s son recently joined the army. Earlier, the PM called on Armenians living abroad to return home to go through military service. Around 320 responded to his call and returned home for the summer draft and entered the military service.
However, there are quite a few in the new government who have not served, including the first Vice PM Ararat Mirozyan, Vice PM Tigran Avinyan, the Minister of Education and Science Araik Harutyunyan, the Minister of the Diaspora Mkhitar Hayrapetyan and the Minister of Economic Development and Investment Artsvik Minasyan.
Nikol Pashinyan has not served in the army either.
He explained this fact in the following way:
“According to the law in 1991, the state simply did not draft me and sent me to do something else. It was said: given that two older brothers are serving in the army, we won’t take the third. There are two different situations. The first is one of a person who solves the problem of how not to serve, and the second, in which the state said: ‘Dear citizen, in this situation we want you to do something else other than serve in the army’.
“If it is discovered that a government official avoided army service or other responsibilities, he will be fired.”
The government is often reminded of the fact that it has rejected statements it made earlier.
In particular Yelk, which was represented by Nikol Pashinyan, demanded in 2017 that Armenia exit the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). However, before being elected Prime Minister, Pashinyan stated that the new government did not intend to exit the EAEU.
The question of the country’s external alignment has come up on multiple occasions: is the country pro-West or pro-Russia? There is no concrete answer to this question yet. The PM himself has stated on several occasions that he is neither a pro-Russian nor a pro-West politician: he is pro-Armenian.
Representatives of the European Union have stated that they are ready to support his government in all its endeavors. Russia, in turn, has welcomed the activities of the new PM.
The public is mostly interested in an improvement in socio-economic conditions in the country and a real fight against corruption.
The first needs time, and the public is patient. The second expectation that the government fight corruption is being realised through a series of anti-corruption measures, investigations and high-profile arrests. Simultaneously, large sums of money are being returned to the treasury.
PM Pashinyan recently stated it like this:
“We will remediate the damage done to the state to the very end, we will not turn from this path.”
An Armenian artisan decided to remove the aggression from war remnants
The peaceful message of weapons
“I wanted to remove the aggression from the cartridge cases, I changed their energy. These cases do not kill, they are not clots of aggression, but beauty that adorns women,” says Artak Tadevosyan, an artist from the Armenian city of Gyumri.
His idea, turning weapons into ornaments, has already grown acclaim in some fashion circles. The artist has long sought to do this, and it is thanks to his wife he did.
The way out of a hopeless situation
Artak Tadevosyan lives in Gyumri, Armenia, with his wife Ayarpi Gevorgyan. He went to Russia for work where he was engaged in the design of private houses for several years in a row.
“The family needs a head, and a child a father next to him,” was the thought he returned with. However, the couple could not find a job in Armenia’s second largest city.
When it seemed that there was no way other than to pack up and leave the country, new ideas appeared – creative ones. Ayarpi began to knit dolls while Artak started to make jewelry from copper wires.
“Artak’s jewelry became more interesting and more attractive. He began to complement it with stones. A few lucky breaks inspired us even more, and our work began to sell more,” says Ayarpi.
Artak recalls that once during a walk outside the city after military exercises [Gyumri hosts a Russian military base – JAMnews], he and Ayarni found empty ammunition cartridges on the ground. They brought them home and decided to make jewelry out of them to try and make something unprecedented. Today, these accessories are very popular in Gyumri as they sell under the HayAr brand started by Ayarpi and Artak.
Artak turns cartridges, bullets and remnants of mines into earrings, rings, bracelets and pendants. What’s more, he creates them with tools of his own making and improvised means. He melts, bends and cuts various parts of the discarded military equipment in his basement, which became a workshop.
Ayarpi suggests how to make jewelry more comfortable and what women prefer more, while Artak chooses the patterns, trying not to distort and change their original appearance.
“I use different patterns. I often take them from miniatures, elements of Armenian letters, or Sanskrit symbols. I’m studying every dash at the Matenadaran [the repository of ancient manuscripts in Yerevan – JAMnews] and try to develop my work in different formats. True, I create jewelry, but I try to develop. It is important for me that each work is exclusive, so that the earrings are not alike – by nature, energy,” says the jeweler.
HayAr in France
“These are people who survived the genocide, but they have no violence in them. Weapons turned into an ornament, a work of art by the hands of an Armenian,” says Artak on how his works are most often seen in France.
An exhibition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War opened several months ago in the exhibition hall of Pole Bijou in the French city of Baccarat. Of the works of 550 artists who applied for participation in the exhibition titled In War, 14 were chosen, including those by Artak Tadevosyan.
“There were very interesting works, and I was very impressed with the work of Sarah Shahag: she made a necklace from the numbers of Palestinian prisoners. There were works made in the trenches of the French and Germans fighting against each other that came down to us from those times. The work of the famous Belgian artist Vurgen Herman was interesting – a pendant made from a cartridge case. When your works are exhibited in such company, it’s already a victory,” says Artak.
He immediately received an invitation to participate in another exhibition, at the Boteka hall Metz, France. The artist is very proud of this, but he dreams of more: to organize exhibitions in countries and regions where there are conflicts, including Karabakh:
“You understand that you are too little of a man to change something in the world, at the same time, at least you can try to do something through your work so that people think for a minute. You cannot have much hope, but you are doing something so that there is no violence, so that more people will hear the call for peace.”
Artak and Ayarpi no longer look for materials in places of military exercises. They are now brought to him by friends and strangers, hunters and policemen. People seem happy to help the artist who creates decorations from weapons, bringing his call for peace to many.
Established by the UN General Assembly, the World Refugee Day is celebrated every year on 20 June. Under the 1951 Convention, refugees have the right to work, housing, education, government and public assistance. As a result of Armenia’s aggression and occupation, Azerbaijan has become one of the countries with the largest number of internally displaced persons per capita. Today their number has exceeded 1.2 million people. Over the past 20 years, Baku has spent $6 billion to ensure the social welfare of these people, that enabled to significantly reduce poverty and unemployment. More than 250,000 IDPs have been provided with new houses and apartments in Azerbaijan.
On the other hand, many people who left Azerbaijan during the active phase of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remained in Armenia. However, many of them have lived in dormitories for 30 years already – the government has no money to provide refugees with housing. On June 20, refugees living in Armenia gathered in front of the UN office building. According to Hetq.am, the head of the Refugee Voice public organization Oksana Musaelyan handed over a letter to the office, after which the picketers went to the government building, demanding a meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. They held banners reading: “We have been refugees for 30 years”, “We have waited for an apartment for 29 years”, “Stop ignoring us”. “We want a revolution in our lives as well… The government is waiting for us to die, and then this issue will be finally solved,” the assembled said.
However, housing is not their only problem. According to the same publication, after the adoption of the 1995 citizenship law, the process of “voluntary” naturalization of Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan has been started with the granting of citizenship, which gave them the right to be elected, vote and leave the country. Twenty-five years later, according to the State Migration Service of Armenia, about 20,000 refugees from Azerbaijan still retain refugee status. But those refugees which received Armenian citizenship as a result of the naturalization program – about 83 thousand people – are also convinced that naturalization was forced. They consider themselves victims of the trap set by the country’s migration policy. Such sentiments are associated with unjustified hopes that acquiring citizenship would radically change their situation. Nevertheless, making them de facto citizens was not enough. Both naturalized citizens and those who have retained refugee status remain the poorest, most marginalized and vulnerable segments of the population, for whom problems of housing, education and employment remain unresolved in the vast majority of cases.
At the same time, Yerevan pursues a policy aimed at settling the occupied territories of Azerbaijan by Syrian refugees. Observers say that it can be regarded as evidence of Armenia’s attempts to use human suffering for illegal purposes. The Armenian government’s silence about refugee problems and avoidance of their presence on the territory of the country is viewed by them as a cynical policy that turns people into pariahs.
Today, the UN proceeds from the premise that “refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants are not the problem; the problem lies in conflict, persecution and hopeless poverty.” The only solution to the problem of internally displaced persons is a just solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the safe return of people to their homes.
Mkhitar Hayrapetyan, RA Minister of Diaspora and HE. Piotr Antoni Świtalski, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Head of EU Delegation to Armenia will attend the event.
From July 2018 to June 2021, the IRIS-programme will contribute to the National Integration Policy that aims to guarantee a dignified life for Syrian Armenians in Armenia through full protection and integration. This shall be achieved by improving social and economic resilience of Syrian Armenians and host population and by strengthening institutional capacities for economic growth in Armenia.
In concrete terms this means: enhancing access of up to 9’000 Syrian Armenians to existing health and social services, improving housing conditions for some 300 families, increasing economic opportunities for 200 entrepreneurs, and enhancing integration and resilience of up to 3’000 children in Armenian society.
With an overall budget of EUR 3.300.000 and lead by the Austrian Red Cross, the programme is funded by the European Union’s Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis with EUR 3.000.000 and co-funded by the Austrian Development Cooperation. Building on extensive experience in support of Syrian Armenian refugees, the programme is implemented by Armenian Caritas, Armenian Red Cross Society, Centre for Coordination of Syrian Armenians’ Issues NGO and the SME Cooperation Association.
PanARMENIAN.Net – The 64th annual religious ceremony of Armenians in St. Thaddeus Monastery in Chaldoran, northwest of Iran started on July 14 and continued for three days, Front Pafe Iran reports.
In the course of the ceremony, Bishop Krikor Chiftjian, the Prelate of the Diocese of Iran’s East and West Azarbaijan provinces, referred to Iran as a great model for peaceful coexistence among monotheistic religions in the world.
Chiftjian said next week during his speeches in the US, he will serve as Iran’s cultural ambassador to inform the whole world of the deep respect paid by the Islamic Republic to religious minorities in the country.
“Iranian government officials are attempting to provide religious minorities with prosperity,” he was quoted as saying in a report by IRNA.
There is mutual respect between these religions in Iran, he noted, adding that Iranian Armenians attach significant respect to religious sites.
Each year, Qara Kelisa honours the memory of St. Thaddeus and his faithful followers.
Scores of Armenians, Assyrians and Catholics from Iran and other countries attend the annual event as part of their pilgrimage on the Day.
The ceremony is known as one of the largest religious ceremonies held by Armenians.
The St. Thaddeus Monastery is one of the oldest and most notable surviving Christian monuments of Iran that has a great significance for the country’s Armenian community.
Armenians believe the monastery is the world’s first church constructed in 68 CE by one of the apostles of Jesus, St. Thaddeus. According to Armenians, he had traveled to Armenia to preach the teachings of Jesus Christ.