Category: 2019

Armenia not ready to make unilateral concessions in Karabakh settlement

Garnik Tadevosian
ARKA, Armenia
July 3 2019

YEREVAN, July 3. /ARKA/. Armenia is not ready to make unilateral concessions in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan said at a press briefing today, adding that unilateral concessions on part of the Armenian side are ruled out

She said steps should be made to create an atmosphere conducive to the formation of peace, including reduction of risks, investigation of incidents along the line of contact and increase of mutual trust.

According to her, creation of an atmosphere conducive to the formation of peace is a priority for Armenia, since it is impossible to achieve efficiency in the negotiation process if there is tension on the line of contact. She reiterated that Armenia is not ready to make unilateral concessions in the name of peace, which may threaten Nagorno-Karabakh’s right to self-determination and security. 

She also added hat so far no new meetings are planned with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on the Karabakh settlement.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict erupted into armed clashes after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s as the predominantly Armenian-populated enclave of Azerbaijan sought to secede from Azerbaijan and declared its independence backed by a successful referendum.  On May 12, 1994, the Bishkek cease-fire agreement put an end to the military operations. 

A truce was brokered by Russia in 1994, although no permanent peace agreement has been signed. Since then, Nagorno-Karabakh and several adjacent regions have been under the control of Armenian forces of Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh is the longest-running post-Soviet era conflict and has continued to simmer despite the relative peace of the past two decades, with snipers causing tens of deaths a year. 

On April 2, 2016, Azerbaijan launched military assaults along the entire perimeter of its contact line with Nagorno-Karabakh. Four days later a cease-fire was reached. -0—

Fake letter to NATO leadership on behalf of Pashinyan circulated on social media

Boshkezenian Garik
Panorama, Armenia
July 3 2019

Information security expert Samvel Martirosyan informs about a dissemination of a fake letter written on behalf of Armenian Prime Minister and addressed to NATO leadership. Martirosyan posted on Facebook the screenshot of the letter, adding the document is widely circulated on social media. “Apart from reasoned suspicions there are no specifics and evidence about the author of the letter,” Martirosyan said in a post, adding one possible version about the author of the document could be it had been done out of Armenia’s territory.

Martirosyan also pointed to the content of the letter and the issues raised in it, dabbing them as absurd and incredible . To note, the letter, allegedly written by Pashinyan expresses Armenia’s readiness for a closer cooperation with NATO and discusses an implementation of a plan ‘to withdraw troops from the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone.’

Panorama.am asked Spokesperson of PM Pashinyan Vladimir Karapetyan to comment on the letter, asking whether the press office of the Prime Minister plans to issue official clarification over the document and reject it.

“I do not consider it appropriate for now [to comment on] as it is evident for all the document is nothing but absurdity. Commenting on absurdity is not reasonable,” Karapetyan said.

Armenia’s Karahunj village to host traditional mulberry festival

Hambardsumian Paul
Panorama, Armenia
July 3 2019

The traditional mulberry festival will take place in Karahunj, a village located 4 km south of the city of Goris in Armenia’s Syunik Province on 6 July this year.

The festival starts with a mulberry gathering competition and includes the full process of distilling mulberry vodka and making doshab (medicinal syrup for cough, cold and etc.)

Both locals and residents of the nearby communities will introduce their own products and traditional dishes during the festival. Thus, the participants will have an opportunity to taste the dishes of the Syunik cuisine. The festival will be accompanied by national Armenian song and dance.

Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, Director of Areni Festival Nune Manukyan said the traditional mulberry festival is aimed at raising awareness about Armenia and boosting tourism, including the domestic tourism.

“Our goal is that every region and community have their own brand. The mulberry vodka has an issue of achieving international recognition, while the festival will serve as a tool to labialize and propagate the drink,” she said.

Manukyan also noted the number of tourists visiting Armenia during festivals gradually increases, with many travelling to the country for specific festivals.

Anahit Voskanyan, a tourism development specialist at Armenia’s Tourism Committee, also said that the role of festivals in tourism is crucial since they tend to preserve and promote cultural values. According to him, the festivals are primarily aimed at the preservation and development of traditions that are of interest to tourists and contribute to domestic and inbound tourism.

Iran to swap gas for goods with Armenia

Greg Madatian
Mehr News Agency
July 3 2019

TEHRAN, Jul. 01 (MNA) – “Iran’s exports of gas to Armenia can be increased and multilateral negotiations are underway to start swapping gas for goods with the country,” Iranian Energy Minister Reza Akrdakanian announced.

Making the remarks during the 16th meeting of Iran-Armenia joint commission, Ardakanian said that Iran aims to increase ties with all countries in particular its neighbors.

“Iran exports gas to Armenia and Armenia can, in urgent cases, export electricity to Iran in exchange for that,” he said.

“The capacity of gas exports from Iran to Armenia can be increased,” he added.

“As agreed, multilateral agreements are to be made to increase gas exports to Armenia and swap of goods with the country,” Ardakanian said.

He noted that via Iran-Armenia cooperation and relying on Armenia’s political geography in Eurasia, both sides are trying to implement all the discussed issues during the held joint commissions.

He referred to the importance of bilateral cooperation between Iran and Armenia, the implementation of the third electricity transmission line, the signing of an MoU for the creation of a quadrilateral north-south corridor, making an agreement to cooperate on road and rail corridors, development of health cooperation and coordination for holding conferences as the positive steps that have been taken so far between Iran and Armenia.

According to the Iranian official, electricity exchange between Iran and Armenia is 350 MW presently.

“In the course of developing our communications with Armenia, we will complete the third line with a capacity of 700 MW of electricity transmission, which will improve the exchange capacity between the two countries to more than 1,000 megawatt by 2020,” he said.

The closing ceremony of the 16th Joint Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation between Iran and Armenia was held on Tuesday with the participation of Iran’s energy minister and Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Mher Grigoryan at Iran’s Ministry of Energy building in Tehran.

Armenia submits formal complaint to UNESCO on Azerbaijani actions

Karakhanian Suren
News.am, Armenia
July 3 2019
Armenia submits formal complaint to UNESCO on Azerbaijani actions Armenia submits formal complaint to UNESCO on Azerbaijani actions

13:35, 03.07.2019
                  

Armenia has submitted a formal complaint to UNESCO against the actions of Azerbaijan, spokeswoman for Armenian Foreign Ministry Anna Naghdalyan told reporters on Wednesday.

According to her, the Armenian side received an invitation from UNESCO to participate  in the 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Baku as an observer. The Armenian side appealed to UNESCO for security guarantees, given the anti-Armenian propaganda carried out by the Azerbaijani authorities.

A letter was received from the UNESCO Secretary General, informing that the Azerbaijani side refused to provide additional security guarantees. Thus, Azerbaijan prevented the participation of the Armenian delegation.

Turkish Press: Turkish president: Turkey, Japan share similar culture

Ophelia Vardapetian
Anadolu Agency (AA), Turkey
July 1, 2019 Monday
 
 
Turkish president: Turkey, Japan share similar culture
 
by Enes Kaplan |
 
 
Japan marks 2019 ‘Year of Turkish Culture and Turkey’
 
TOKYO
 
Turkey and Japan share similar cultural values such as hard work, courage, discipline, despite differences in language and distances spanning thousands of miles, the Turkish president said on Monday.
 
Speaking at a lunch gathering hosted by the head of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party, Toshihiro Nikai, in the Japanese capital of Tokyo, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said more than 170,000 Japanese people visited the “Treasures and Tradition of ‘Lale’ [Tulip] in the Ottoman Empire” exhibition.
 
Erdogan also said a photo exhibition featuring the works of renowned Turkish-Armenian photographer Ara Guler at the 800-year-old Tofukuji Temple in Kyoto would receive the same interest from Japanese people.
 
“We hope to introduce Turkey’s rich cultural heritage to our Japanese friends with the programs we will organize throughout the year,” Erdogan said.
 
Erdogan also emphasized the potential for cooperation not only in the political and economic fields but also in culture and science.
 
“One of the most critical projects between Turkey and Japan is the Turkish-Japanese University of Science and Technology, planned to be established in Istanbul. We are working to open this university in a short time,” Erdogan said.
 
Erdogan also received Oshima Tadamori, Speaker of the House of Representatives, at the Japanese parliament.
 
“Japan has a special place in the hearts of the Turkish people. In 2013, we crowned our friendship with a strategic partnership. I believe that parliamentary diplomacy plays an important role in the development of cooperation between countries,” Erdogan said in the meeting.
 
*Writing by Busra Nur Bilgic

Armenian President of National Assembly to pay official visit to Cyprus

Antonian Lara
Cyprus News Agency
July 2, 2019 Tuesday
Armenian President of National Assembly to pay official visit to Cyprus
 
 
President of the National Assembly of Armenia, Ararat Mirzoyan, arrives in Cyprus on Wednesday for a three-day official visit at the invitation of his Cypriot counterpart Demetris Syllouris.
 
Heading a delegation, Mirzoyan will be received by Archbishop Chrysostomos II. He will also hold talks with Syllouris who will host an official lunch in Mirzoyan’s honour.
 
The Armenian Speaker will address the plenary of the House of Representatives on Friday and will also hold a number of meetings at the House, including with the Armenia-Cyprus friendship group.
 
The delegation will also confer with Defence Minister Savvas Angelides and Nicosia Mayor Constantinos Georkatzis.
 
Mirzoyan and the delegation will also meet the Archbishop of Armenians in Cyprus and Armenian societies that operate in Cyprus.

Rock ‘n’ roll roots reach to Armenia

Kanayan Tamar
Blue Mountains Gazette
July 3, 2019 Wednesday
Rock ‘n’ roll roots reach to Armenia
 
by Jennie Curtin
 
 
Jon Dee has a heavy rock ‘n’ roll past. The Katoomba man better known for his sustainability advocacy once organised one of the world’s biggest hit records – the 1989 recording of Deep Purple’s Smoke on the Water by a mob of heavy rockers.
 
Rock Aid Armenia was recorded to support the people affected by a massive earthquake which shook the country in 1988.
 
Mr Dee, who produced the record, last month took a trip back to Armenia to mark the 30th anniversary of the event.
 
With him were Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan and Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath. They met the Armenian president, Armen Sarkissian, at a major event in Armenia’s main opera house.
 
Queen’s Brian May even sent a video message.
 
They also visited the Gyumri Musical School, which Mr Dee and friend Ara Tadevosyan built in 2014 to mark the 25th anniversary of the single.
 
In a widely varied career, Mr Dee has founded Planet Ark, DoSomething! and One Tree Per Child. He is host of Smart Money, a TV program showing businesses how sustainable practices can help their bottom line.
 
But he’s proud of his rocker past, which also featured the Earthquake Album in 1989, with tracks from a number of top names. It was the first charity UK album to go gold.
 
Mr Dee, who travelled with his daughter, Claudia, said it was a special occasion.
 
“When I started Rock Aid Armenia back in 1989, I never imagined that 30 years later we’d have 1,200 people and the president of Armenia joining us to celebrate 30 years of the initiative at the opera house in Yerevan. It was a really wonderful night.
 
“It was also really special that we were being supported on the night by the guys from Queen, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Yes.
 
“They’ve been supporting this project for 30 years now. Without their help, Ara Tadevosyan and I wouldn’t have been able to build our music school in the earthquake zone.”
 
He said the music school now teaches 220 children a year.
 
“And it’s become a key part of the community. Many of the kids performed a concert for us to showcase the skills that they’ve been learning there.”
 
Anahit Seyranyan, who has been working as a violin teacher at the school for 34 years, told Mr Dee: “We used to give concerts in these containers, on crushed stone, by the light of a petroleum lamp. Now we feel like we have moved from a shack to a palace.”
 
To continue raising funds for new instruments for the school, Mr Dee has launched a new album of ancient Armenian songs. Mashtots: Sacred Armenian Songs from the Fifth Century by Hasmik Baghdasaryan and Vahan Artsruni will be available via Apple, Amazon and You Tube.

Worldwide Armenians to reunion at St. Thaddeus

Alex Jidarian
Tehran Times
July 3 2019
  1. Society
July 3, 2019

TEHRAN – Hundreds of Christian worshippers are getting prepared to head for St. Thaddeus to observe a religious ceremony passed down from generation to generation.

For the 65th consecutive year, pilgrims from Iran, Armenia, Syria, Lebanon, the Netherlands, France, Austria, Germany, Canada and some other countries get together, this year from July 25 to 27, to observe a ceremony called Badarak in one of the world’s oldest monasteries.

Attendees commemorate the martyrdom of St. Thaddeus, one of the twelve disciples killed while he was preaching the Gospel. The legend says, a church dedicated to him was first built in 68 CE where Qareh Klise is standing.

The festivity is of high importance for Iranian-Armenians who mostly come from the cities of Tabriz, Urmia, Tehran, Isfahan and Qazvin, to stage the reunion in groups and families. It also provides them opportunity to go on holiday and visit distant relatives.

Baptism of children and youngsters along with performances of traditional songs and dances are amongst highlights the event.

Also known as the Qareh Klise (“the Black Church”), the church is one of the oldest surviving Christian monuments in the country. It is situated in West Azarbaijan province, some 20 kilometers form Maku, adjacent to the borders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey.

The ancient Church shows off elaborate bas-reliefs of flowers, animals and human figures on its façade and exterior walls. It bears verses of Old and New Testament in Armenian calligraphy as well.

Together with St. Stepanos Monastery and the Chapel of Dzordzor, Qareh Klise was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2008 under the name “Armenian Monastic Ensembles of Iran”.

All the three sites are located in West Azarbaijan and are of high significance from historical and cultural perspectives. They bear credible testimony to interchanges with the ancient regional societies in particular the Byzantine, Orthodox and Persian.

UNESCO says that the churches bear examples of outstanding universal value of the Armenian architectural and decorative traditions.

Court continues to disrupt Kocharyan’s trial, lawyer insists

Emil Lazarian
Panorama, Armenia
July 3 2019

The decisions of the Yerevan Criminal Courts of Appeals on the case of Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan were made in a ‘gross violation’ of the rules of trial procedure and human rights, one of his lawyers Hovhannes Khudoyan told a news conference on Wednesday.

“The violations persist even after the announcement of the verdict. The court continues to hinder the process by arbitrary interpretations,” the lawyer insisted, promising to elaborate on the mater soon.

Khudoyan says the court ruling, which takes effect from the moment of its publication, overturns the decision of a lower court to suspend the ex-president’s trial, ordering that the case be resumed from the moment of interruption by the same court.

“This means the first instant court must resume hearings in the case from the moment of interruption. But the problem is the Court of Appeals fails to return the materials of the case to the first instance court to resume the process,” he said.

The lawyer argues the defense team is often blamed for delaying the former president’s trial, while it’s the court that is protracting the process at the moment.

“For various reasons unclear for us, the materials of the case are not returned to the first instance court, the process is stalled at this point, without any legal basis,” Khudoyan insisted.

The Yerevan appellate court ruled to arrest Kocharyan for the third time on 25 June, granting the prosecutors’ appeals against the lower court’s decisions to release Kocharyan from custody and suspend his trial, forwarding the case to the Constitutional Court for review. Judge Armen Danielyan, presiding over the high-profile trial, announced the decision in the absence of ex-president Kocharyan and the members of his defense team.