Tehran’s Armenian church holds requiem in honor of Beirut explosion victims
16:42, 10 August, 2020
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. A requiem was held in honor of the Beirut blast victims at the Saint Sarkis Armenian Cathedral in Tehran, the Armenian Embassy in Iran said in a statement.
The requiem was served by Prelate Archbishop Sebouh Sarkissian.
Ambassador of Armenia to Iran Artashes Tumanyan was in attendance.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
Pashinyan congratulates Lukashenko on re-election as President of Belarus
17:18, 10 August, 2020
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan congratulated Alexander Lukashenko on his re-election as President of Belarus on August 10.
“I congratulate you on your re-election as President of the Republic of Belarus. I wish success and new achievements to you in the position of the state’s leader,” the Armenian PM told Lukashenko in a telegram.
“I am convinced that through joint efforts we will continue strengthening the friendship between our peoples and enhancing the mutually beneficial cooperation between our countries both bilaterally and as part of international organizations and integration unions. From my side I am ready to spare no effort in order to completely realize the entire potential of the relations between our peoples and countries. I would like to take this opportunity, dear Mr. Lukashenko, to wish robust health to you and peace and welfare to the brotherly people of Belarus”, Pashinyan said.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
Some of the graves in the Armenian cemetery of either the Surp Pırgiç or Karasun Manug church foundation in the Sincan district of Ankara have been desecrated amid a growing climate of hostility and repression towards minority groups in Turkey, the Kronos news reported.
The incident was first reported by Diana Yayloyan, a researcher working on Armenian-Turkish Normalization Projects for TEPAV, an Ankara-based think tank. According to her account, the graves were probably vandalized during an attempt to find items of value such as gold teeth.
Talking to Kronos about the incident, İstanbul deputy and vice chairman of the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) Mustafa Yeneroğlu said it was an embarrassment that the graves were vandalized and that the bones of the deceased were scattered. “The bones need to be buried again and the area must be secured. To be civilized one has to preserve cemeteries and cultural heritage,” Yeneroğlu said.
The attack reflects a growing climate of hostility and repression towards minority groups in Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In May a pro-government magazine, Gerçek Hayat, published a special 176-page edition that accused Armenians and other Christians in Turkey of terrorist activities and of participating in a failed coup in 2016.
On May 23 a man ripped a cross from the gate of the Armenian Surp Krikor Lusaroviç (Saint Gregory the Illuminator) Church in the Kuzguncuk district, on the Asian side of İstanbul. Less than three weeks before this attack a man had attempted to set fire to the gate of the Dznunt Surp Asdvadzadzni Church in İstanbul’s Bakırköy district.
Yeneroğlu said, after learning about the incident on social media, he had discussed the issue with Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş. According to Yeneroğlu, Yavaş is personally following the matter. “I would like to thank him,” he said. “Preserving the memory of all those who lived in these lands is among our most important responsibilities to the next generations.”
Ankara’s Sincan district was in the news last week with the rescue of a 24-year-old Yazidi slave by her relatives. The woman was originally abducted from Iraq by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants during the Sinjar massacre in August 2014 and sold to an ISIS militant who brought her to a house in Sincan, where she lived with his two wives and four children. Her family was able to broker a deal with the militant for her release.
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Help is needed to identify a man police say was involved in an assault during a protest at the Azerbaijan Consulate in Brentwood last month.
Armenian Americans demonstrated on July 12 outside the consulate over border tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijani, leading to a melee involving about 100 protesters and counter-protesters. Police say they are investigating at least three of the assaults as hate crimes.
(credit: LAPD)
Los Angeles police released images Wednesday of one man who was accompanied by two others in hitting someone in the head with their fists and throwing him to the ground.
All three suspects were described as Middle Eastern men in their mid-20s to 30s. Police say the man whose image was released is believed to be between 25 and 35 years old, between 5-foot-5 and 5-foot-8, about 160 to 180 pounds and had a bald, shaved head, and a black beard. He was photographed wearing a light orange or pink-colored shirt and wore an unknown-type wrist band on his left wrist.
The other two suspects wore black T-shirts and blue jeans. No further information was released about them.
Police did not say if this incident is one of the three being investigated as a hate crime.
Anyone with information about the suspect or the assault can contact LAPD Officer Jason Perez at (310) 444-1532.
Museums and libraries will reopen in Armenia as the government is gradually easing the Covid-19 restrictions imposed in March, Deputy Prime Minster, Commandant Tigran Avinyan told the parliament on Wednesday, presenting the decision to extend the state of emergency for another month unanimously approved by the government earlier in the day.
The guidelines on the activity of museums and libraries will be made public in the next few days, he said.
Restaurant singers and musicians will be allowed to perform at open-door events, the commandant added.
“The requirement to wear face masks in private cars will be lifted, but wearing masks will remain mandatory in public transport and taxies. In some public places, including forests, nature settings, the rule of wearing masks will be removed,” Avinyan noted.
According to the decision, the ban on protests and other assemblies will be lifted, but they must be organized in strict compliance with all coronavirus safety rules, including wearing face masks and practicing social distancing.
The ban on the entry of foreigners into Armenia will also be lifted, but they will be required to self-isolate. People will be allowed to hold family occasions and other entertainment events featuring up to 40 participants.
Avinyan reiterated that schools, primary and secondary vocational education institutions, music and art schools are set to reopen in Armenia on 15 September, adding the decision on universities will be announced next week.
As for the opportunity for Armenians to visit other countries, the commandant said it depends on regulations in specific countries.
He once again called for strict compliance with all sanitary and hygiene rules to return to normal as soon as possible.
For many around the world, California’s happy and easygoing image was unexpectedly overshadowed by ethnic violence during the July 21 protest against the Azerbaijani Consulate General in Los Angeles.
On that sunny California day, some of the 3,000 Armenian protesters attacked a group of a couple-dozen Azerbaijanis, causing injuries that required urgent medical care. A Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer was hurt as well. The LAPD has since launched a hate-crime investigation, while U.S. Embassies in Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as several Jewish groups, including the American Jewish Committee and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, made statements condemning the violence.
The protests in California and elsewhere around the world by Armenians and Azerbaijanis followed the recent attack by Armenia across the border with Azerbaijan, which killed 12 people and threatened Azerbaijan’s pipeline infrastructure, a vital source for Europe’s energy security. This latest flare-up is another reminder that the protracted three-decade-long Armenia- Azerbaijan conflict remains a major threat to peace and security in the wider Eurasia region. Despite mediation efforts co-chaired by France, Russia and the U.S., no progress has been achieved, and Armenia continues to occupy some 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territories in violation of four U.N. Security Council resolutions and numerous other international documents.
Vivid images and videos of violence in California are disturbing to watch. They are an especially painful sight for me since I served as Azerbaijan’s first consul general in Los Angeles before my posting in Washington. The California I know enjoys a rich mosaic of diversity and is a welcoming home to many cultures. Monterey in particular maintains a warm partnership with its Azerbaijani sister city, Lankaran. My many Californian friends are equally proud of their identities and open-mindedness toward others. Therefore, I never expected to see such ethnically induced violence in broad daylight and the LAPD’s failure to adequately protect counter-protesters.
Based on my own experience, I trust that overwhelmingly, Armenian-Americans are appalled by these hate crimes. I hope that Armenian-Americans will join the growing number of Jewish-American groups and others in condemning these violent acts as well as online threats against Azerbaijanis in California.
The confrontation in California did not occur in a vacuum. Both Armenia and the Armenian communities abroad have long been plagued by extremist ideologies, political violence and a complicated history with anti-Semitism, Nazi collaborators and Middle Eastern radicals. In the 1980s, Turkish diplomats were assassinated by Armenian terrorists in Los Angeles and, in recent days, Azerbaijani embassies in Europe have been under attack by Armenian groups.
Just like the conflicts with neighbors and the unsustainable occupation of Azerbaijani lands undermine Armenia’s own future, the self-serving agenda of radical political groups hurt the larger Armenian-American community. Their radical agenda offers neither peace nor prosperity to Armenia; instead, it perpetuates isolation and confrontation.
In recent months, America has undergone a thorough and, at times, traumatic soul-searching about race, discrimination and equality. From anti-Semitism to racist practices to Islamophobia, these are notions that have real-life consequences for real people. Clearly, hate crimes affect not just victims of violence. They have much wider implications for society as a whole.
Therefore, it is imperative that all Californians, including the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities, speak up and urge their elected leaders to uphold the Golden State’s traditions of openness, inclusiveness and welcoming hospitality by rejecting all hate crimes. The best way to prevent and deter such violence against any community or individuals in the future is the pursuit of justice and prosecution of the perpetrators.
There should be no place for hate in California. Rather, the state should continue celebrating love, friendship and creativity under its ever-shining sun.
Elin Suleymanov is Azerbaijan’s ambassador to the United States.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Aug.12
By Asif Mehman – Trend:
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov’s visit to Turkey continues, Trend reports on August 12.
Bayramov gave an interview to CNN Turk TV channel, in which he touched upon Turkish-Azerbaijani relations, the latest hostilities on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border and other issues.
The minister, reminding about recent provocation of the Armenian armed forces in the direction of Tovuz district on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border since July 12, stressed that this provocation had very clear political and military goals.
According to him, by creating a new hotbed of tension on the border between the two countries in the region outside Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian state tried to involve the political organizations of which it’s a member, as well as other member states of these organizations, in the issue.
“At the same time, by creating a new source of conflict, the Armenian leadership attempted to distract its population from the socio-economic tension as a result of the [COVID-19] pandemic’s impact on the country,” Bayramov said.
On the other hand, Armenia intended to create this escalation exactly in the direction where major regional projects are located, he added.
The minister noted that as a result of the decisive rebuff by the Azerbaijani army, the Armenian military units were repelled back, and the provocation was prevented.
“Unfortunately, as a result of the Armenian provocation, Azerbaijani servicemen were killed. I express once again my condolences to their families, relatives and the people of Azerbaijan,” he said.
“During this provocation, the Armenian side once again revealed its terrorist essence. The Armenian army shelled the settlements, killing a 76-year-old villager. However, this is not the first such case. These are actions that, as a rule, are resorted to by Armenian military units. This once again testifies to the terrorist nature of the Armenian state,” stressed the minister.
“This is the same Armenia that has committed many terrorist acts around the world, supporting ASALA and other terrorist organizations. Brotherly Turkey has also become a victim of these terrorist attacks. Armenia widely used terrorism during the occupation of Nagorno Karabakh and adjacent territories,” added Bayramov.
As earlier reported, the minister’s official visit to Turkey began on Aug. 11. He held meetings with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Aug. 12
By Asif Mehman – Trend:
As the Azerbaijani side, we are supporters of a political settlement of the [Armenian-Azerbaijan’s] Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through negotiations, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said, Trend reports.
Bayramov made the statement during his interview to CNN Turk TV channel during his visit to Turkey.
The minister said that there is a sufficient international legal base for a political settlement of the conflict.
Bayramov reminded that back in 1993, four UN resolutions were adopted.
According to these four resolutions, the withdrawal of illegal military formations from the territories of Azerbaijan and the return of Azerbaijani internally displaced persons (IDPs) to these territories are required, said the foreign minister.
“At the same time, a demand was put forward to restore the internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan. The same requirements are reflected in documents, resolutions and decisions of various international organizations. In this case, the issue of settlement through political dialogue is obvious,” Bayramov emphasized.
“We believe that serious pressure should be exerted on the Armenian side by international organizations and states. Azerbaijan’s position on this issue is changeless and unwavering. These resolutions must be fully implemented,” said the minster.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Aug. 12
Trend:
Armenia has recently announced its new National Security Strategy to the public, Assistant to Azerbaijan’s President – Head of the Foreign Affairs Policy Department of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan Hikmet Hajiyev said, Trend reports.
“In the notes written as a preface to the strategy, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan broadly refers to the history of Armenia, touches upon the Armenian highlands, Hayk, King Artashes, Arshakids, the Kingdom of Van as well as to ‘genocide’ and other similar historical moments of a mythical nature, which is not entirely compatible with such documents in terms of format,” Hajiyev said.
“Generally, the National Security Strategy of Armenia is like a fake history textbook. Typically, such documents do not make so many references to the history. It is felt that Armenia still remains a hostage of the past, and its inferiority complex has been manifested itself in this document too,” he added.