Hundreds of children take advantage of the services at the Shirvanian Center in Gyumri
On July 11, 2016, the official grand opening of the Shirvanian Youth Center in Gyumri, a project led by the “We Are Gyumri” Committee of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation – Western US Central Committee, took place in the presence of hundreds of guests. Since its opening, the SYC has served as a hub for various community youth programs, including numerous educational, civic and cultural initiatives, serving thousands of local children thus far.
The project would not have been possible without the generous contribution by the late Hacob and Mina Shirvanian, for whom creating and advancing educational and cultural opportunities for the youth of Armenia was a life-long priority. Accordingly the center was named after them and their legacy lives on through the vibrant activities carried out at the center. Hacob and Mina Shirvanian traveled to Gyumri and were present at the ribbon-cutting and opening ceremony of the center. To celebrate the couple’s unwavering support, the “We Are Gyumri” committee decided to name its annual scholarship program in memory of Mina Shirvanian.
Hacob and Mina Shirvanian cut the ribbon to the Shirvanian Youth Center in Gyumri in July 2016
Armenia, similar to many other countries, is currently facing challenges battling COVID-19, with the pandemic affecting a broad spectrum of both public and private institutions and citizens. Following the directives of local government, the SYC currently remains closed for the safety and protection of staff, volunteers and the community. Despite the physical distance, the SYC’s educational mission continues undeterred.
All educational programs have transitioned to online platforms and have been continuing virtually. Although the SYC facility is temporarily closed, the We Are Gyumri committee has taken the principled stance of continuing efforts to keep staff employed, cover building expenses, and continue funding the scholarship initiative – activities they believe are vital to ensuring that the SYC remains a home away from home for the thousands of children it serves as soon as they are able to return, and that scholarship recipients will be able to continue their education without financial struggles.
Ahead of SYC’s virtual fundraising effort, “We Are Gyumri” Committee Chairman Shant Baboujian briefed Asbarez on the progress of the committee’s activities by responding to questions submitted by email.
The “We Are All Gyumri” campaign
ASBAREZ: Most of our readers are familiar with the background of the Shirvanian Youth Center and “We Are Gyumri” campaign. For those that are not, please provide an overview.
Shant Baboujian: The “We Are Gyumri” campaign was launched in 2013 as an initiative by the AYF Orange County Ashod Yergat and Juniors Aghpiur Serop Chapters. The mission of “We Are Gyumri” is to create a positive and lasting impact on youth in Gyumri, Armenia. The campaign has undertaken various projects over the years, including the restructuring and renovation of the Shirvanian Youth Center in Gyumri that had been destroyed during the 1988 Spitak earthquake. The campaign also funds a year-round functional program was created at the center to teach youth in Gyumri everyday skills, to provide them with the essentials they need for a brighter future, and to serve as a bridge between youth in Gyumri and their peers in the Diaspora.
The Mina Shirvanian Scholarship Fund is another component of the “We Are Gyumri” campaign. It was launched for the purpose of supporting residents of the Shirak Province to pursue their undergraduate education in their native region. To date, nearly 30 students have received scholarship (many covering all years of their education), and we plan to fund at least 10 more scholars in the upcoming academic year. The students who have received the scholarship study in diverse fields, from linguistics, to mathematics, to computer science. The scholarship covers full tuition for each year of their education.
“We are Gyumri” is an ARF Western U.S. initiative. We have received small and large donations and have been fortunate to have the support of the community in the Western U.S, most notably from the late Hacob and Mina Shirvanian, who were long-time community activists and benefactors. We are thankful for each donation and appreciative to each sponsor.
The 2019-2020 Mina Shirvanian Scholarship recipients
ASBAREZ: What has the committee worked on over the past year?
S.B.: The committee continues to fundraise and serve as benefactors for both the Shirvanian Youth Center and the Mina Shirvanian Scholarship Fund. This includes the full time employment of the SYC Manager and Program Coordinator Gohar Karapetyan and several part-time staff. Under her direction and with the support of many volunteers, the Center has continued to serve youth by offering free after-school classes and tutoring in English, Russian, computer, music, dance, chess, history and physics. The Center had served as the site for AYF Youth Corps day camps and now holds AYF Juniors activities, Homenetmen activities and other community events. Over the past 4 years, the number of youth, who benefit from the Center, has grown dramatically.
During the past year, our committee also worked on the renovation project of the Nanulik Kindergarten and Day School, as well as a book drive for their students.
In partnership with the ARF – Western US Homeland Initiative Program, the Orange County chapter of the Knights and Daughters of Vartan, and the Armenian Territorial Development Fund, we worked to collect the funding needed to renovate the school. The Nanulik Kindergarten was constructed after the Gyumri earthquake in 1988 with temporary wooden cottages that were connected to each other by concrete and stone corridors. Prior to construction, the temporary constructed cottages were totally exhausted. The micro-project at Nanulik Kindergarten and Day School removed the old cottages and constructed a new building at the same location. The new two-story building, built to meet current seismic requirements, has several play and rest areas, a sterile room for visiting doctors and nurses, classrooms, dedicated areas for children’s naps, a kitchen, and dining area.
Through a school-wide book drive and a generous donation from the library, Vahan & Anoush Chamlian Armenian School collected over 1,500 books for youth in Armenia. The books, in both Armenian and English, were donated to the Nanulik Kindergarten and Day School in Gyumri.
ASBAREZ: Are there any recent developments for the Mina Shirvanian Scholarship Fund?
S.B.: Each year, the scholarship fund intends to grant up to $3,000 to students to help complete their education at Gyumri universities. Scholarship recipients are selected through an application process that includes interviews, as well as questionnaires about the students’ field of study, personal achievements, their decision to pursue their education in the Shirak province, volunteer experience, grade point average, family circumstances, and military service and background. The committee is proud of these scholars and excited to see each student continue to excel academically and as members of their communities. Most importantly, the scholarship recipients spend their time volunteering at the Shirvanian Youth Center, where they pass their knowledge, experience, and love for their homeland to the future generation. We are currently conducting interviews to select the 2020-2021 scholarship recipients. These students will face difficulties in studying during a pandemic, but we want to ensure that financing their education is not one of their concerns.
ASBAREZ: What can you tell us about the committee’s upcoming virtual fundraising effort?
S.B.: We have launched an online campaign with a goal to collect $15,000. Proceeds will directly benefit staff expense, building maintenance and operations, and afford us the opportunity to continue with our scholarship efforts. Donations may be made at “We Are Gyumri” GoFundMe page. We know and fully understand that these are trying times for many individuals and families. There are many wonderful projects and initiatives to support our Homeland and we simply ask those, who are in a position to donate, to consider donating to the “We Are Gyumri” campaign. Donors will be eligible to receive notes and videos from the children who participate in the center’s activities, and the scholarship recipients, which is a small part of our efforts to maintain and strengthen the ties between Homeland and Diaspora. If your readers would like to sponsor a student for $750 per year or donate another amount, they can also do so by sending a check to ACF Shirak Youth Center, 104 N Belmont Avenue, Suite 300, Glendale, CA 91206.
We wish all of our brothers and sisters health and prosperity. As a people, we have always overcome different challenges and acts of aggression that we have faced. It is in the spirit of community and love for our Homeland that binds us together that has allowed us to triumph – today and tomorrow, we will continue our efforts with a renewed vigor for our common cause.
South China Morning Post By Serkan Yolacan After an 86-year pause, Friday prayers will resume at the Hagia Sophia this week, following Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decree to convert Istanbul’s iconic museum back into a mosque. The decision, which has been greeted with dismay around the world, has been interpreted by many as an Islamist attempt to undo Turkey ’s secularist legacy – Hagia Sophia’s status was changed from mosque to museum in 1934 by a cabinet order signed by the country’s secular founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. In Turkey, however, there has been little opposition to the move from Erdogan’s political rivals, even secularists. In fact, in a rare display of agreement with the government, all opposition parties save one have applauded it. This surprising response reveals a vein in Turkish politics that is more powerful than either Islamism or secularism, yet is overshadowed by both: the Turkish-Islamic Synthesis, a right-wing ideology which holds that Islam is indispensable to Turkish identity and that Turks have a privileged role in the spread of the religion. Hagia Sophia, known to Turks as Ayasofya, was inaugurated in 537 as the state church of the Roman Empire. It later became the patriarchal cathedral of the Eastern Orthodox Church before being ransacked by Latin crusaders in 1204. Some 250 years later, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II turned the majestic building into a mosque and built his seraglio, the Topkapi Palace, next to it upon conquering Constantinople. Until last week, these historic structures were by far the two most visited museums of Istanbul. No more – the church-turned-mosque-turned-museum is, once again, a mosque. Erdogan is not the first leader to open Hagia Sophia to Muslim prayer. That distinction belongs to Turgut Ozal, the former Turkish president whose centrist political legacy Erdogan openly embraced in carrying his party to power in the early 2000s. In 1991, Ozal dedicated the Sultan’s Pavilion, an 18th-century annex of the iconic building, to Muslim prayer without changing the Hagia Sophia’s status as a museum. Although this was a symbolic act, it went a long way towards showing how the long-held dreams of Turkey’s Muslim conservatives could be addressed without openly attacking Ataturk’s legacy. To walk this fine line, Ozal leaned on the Turkish-Islamic Synthesis. Although Ataturk and his secularist reforms sat uncomfortably within this ideology, its proponents, unlike the Islamists, did not take issue with the modern Turkish state’s founder. After all, he was the defender of Gallipoli, a major historical symbol for nationalists and Islamists alike, and saved Istanbul from allied occupation after the first world war. In their eyes, serving Turks meant serving Islam. Ataturk thus belonged to the pantheon of Turkish leaders who brought glory to Islam, never mind his secularist bent. The Turkish-Islamic Synthesis provided a bridge between Islamists and nationalists, and seeped into the mainstream over the past 30 years – nearly two-thirds of which has passed with Erdogan in a leadership role. It now defines the broad parameters of what passes as legitimate politics among both the right and left. Whether it is the conquest of Istanbul, the battle of Gallipoli, or the Hagia Sophia, such symbols of Turkish-Islamic Synthesis are now the cornerstone of majoritarian politics in Turkey. No political actor can openly defy the ideology without risking the chance to occupy the political centre – hence the broad acceptance of Erdogan’s move. But while this seems like a win-win situation for the president, it also signals trouble ahead for him. For one, Erdogan’s politics increasingly rely on polarisation, and consensus is not an advantage for him. The international opposition is also a worrying sign. The president has an image problem in the West, and this decision, if anything, will worsen it. More importantly, the country is reeling economically, and cannot afford any fallout. Erdogan knows this well. Last year, he dismissed suggestions to turn the Hagia Sophia into a mosque, saying it was a political trap. Yet he is now willingly entering the trap. Why? Of late, Erdogan has had nothing to offer but symbols. Some have come in the form of megaprojects, like the country’s biggest mosque in Camlica, Istanbul, completed and inaugurated in 2019. Another mosque is being completed in Taksim, the symbolic square of the republic which was the epicentre of the massive Gezi Park protests in 2013. The Hagia Sophia move is the latest example. In the meantime, the state he is running is tangled in webs of nepotism and is unable to arrest the economy’s free-fall. The patronage networks he has spearheaded have made Erdogan unpopular with the majority, and he is using symbols to touch base with his constituency and rally support. Erdogan knows he is on thin ice. In the past, as an unrivalled strongman leader, his favoured instrument of rule was the presidential decree. This time, instead of annulling Ataturk’s 1934 decision via this route, he chose to wait for the Council of State, the highest administrative court in the country, to act first. Although nobody mistakes the court’s decision for a legal proceeding independent of Erdogan, his decision to invoke the judiciary’s authority shows that he is uncertain of his ability to face down international pressures, and that he knows he does not have the political capital to take full responsibility for the move. Despite Turkish Islamists’ joy at the move, these are ever more uncertain times for Erdogan. When he was asked how he slept on the night of his historic decision, he said he could not sleep until first light. He did not say why. Dr Serkan Yolacan, a Turk, is a research fellow at the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore
Azerbaijani snipers fire at Armenian borderguards
18:07,
YEREVAN, JULY 21, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani snipers fired at the servicemen of the Armed Forces of Armenia, ARMENPRESS reports MoD spokesperson Shushan Stepanyan wrote on her Facebook page.
”The Azerbaijani armed forces have been informed about the possible consequences by relevant means of communication”, Stepanyan wrote.
She added that by now the situation on the border is relatively stable.
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
3 Armenians elected members of Syrian parliament
18:19,
YEREVAN, JULY 21, ARMENPRESS. Three Armenian politicians from Syria have been elected members of the parliament, ARMENPRESS reports Aleppo’s ”Gandzasar” periodical informs.
The Armenian MPs are Nora Arisian from Damascus, lawyer Lusi Iskanian and Jirair Reisian from Aleppo. Nora Arisian and Jirair Reisian had been elected also during the previous election.
The parlaimentary elections in Syria were held on July 19.
The Syrian parlaiment unanimously adopted the resolution recognizing and condemning the Armenian Genocide on February 13, 2020.
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
Russian FM meets with Armenian,Azerbaijani Ambassadors to discuss border situation
18:12,
YEREVAN, JULY 21, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov met with Ambassador of Armenia to Russia Vardan Toghanyan and Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Russia Polad Bülbüloglu to discuss stabilization of the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, ARMENPRESS was informed from the official website of the Russian MFA.
The meeting between the Minister and Ambassadors took place at the private house of the Russian Foreign Ministry in the sidelines of a working lunch. During the meeting issues related to the security in the Transcauscasus region, stabilization of the situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border and activation of efforts aimed at Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs were discussed.
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
19:42,
YEREVAN, JULY 21, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan sent a congratulatory message to Prime Minister of Belgium Sophie Wilmès on National Day.
As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister, the message runs as follows,
”I cordially congratulate you and the friendly people of Belgium on the occasion of the National Day of Belgium.
I highly value the high level of interstate relations between Armenia and Belgium and the achievements recorded in various spheres.
I am confident that due to our joint efforts the mutually beneficial cooperation between Armenia and Belgium will continue to develop and expand on bilateral and multilateral formats, including in the sidelines of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement between Armenia and the EU.
I wish you health and success, and lasting welfare and peace to the friendly people of Belgium”.
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
We have recorded some progress in the fight against coronavirus – PM Pashinyan
20:08,
YEREVAN, JULY 21, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said that Armenia has recorded some progress in the fight against coronavirus, ARMENPRESS reports Pashinyan wrote on his Facebook page, adding that people should not weaken vigilance.
”Our measures of preserving anti-pandemic rules should become more consistent for mitigating the intensity of the spread of the virus. Only doing so we will be able to significantly reduce the number of new cases”, Pashinyan wrote.
The PM once again called on the citizens to continue following the rules by wearing face masks, preserving social distancing and periodically disinfecting hands.
A total of 35,254 coronavirus cases have been recorded in Armenia. 273 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have been registered in Armenia in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 35,254.
704 more patients have recovered. The total number of recoveries has reached 24,206.
12 people have died in one day, raising the death toll to 662.
The number of active cases stands at 10,171.
The number of people who had a coronavirus but died from other disease has reached 215 (6 new such cases).
So far, 148,180 people have passed COVID-19 testing.
State of emergency has been prolonged until August 13.
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
”Full restoration of the ceasefire regime is a must – article by Armenian Ambassador
20:05,
YEREVAN, JULY 21, ARMENPRESS. Tigran Mkrtchyan, Ambassador of Armenia to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia authored an op-ed on the recent Azerbaijani aggression on the border of the Republic of Armenia, which today was simultaneously published in the largest periodicals of the three countries.
In Lithuania, Ambassador Mkrtchyan’s article was published in Lietuvos rytas (Lithuania’s Morning), country’s largest daily, as well as online – on the lrytas.lt website; in Latvia, on the cover of “Neatkarīgā” (Independence), one of the country’s biggest daily newspapers and on its nra.lv website, and in Estonia, in the print edition of “Eesti Päevaleht” (Estonian daily), which has the largest audience, and on its epl.delfi.ee webpage.
ARMENPRESS presents the translation of the article.
”Full restoration of the ceasefire regime is a must! On July 12th the Azerbaijani border forces started provocative actions on the state borders of Armenia in the north-eastern direction. Civilian population, gas pipeline, factories, including one that makes masks necessary to fight COVID 19 pandemic came under attack.
Anyone who has ever crossed the Armenian-Georgian border on a car knows that the situation in the region situated north east of Armenian-Azerbaijani border is extremely unpredictable. Azeri military oftentimes would start shelling the nearest areas, keeping the population tense. Travelers even might be asked to divert from their route so as not to endanger themselves. In spite of all this, we must admit that the last few days is a different story altogether. Targeting civilian infrastructures is a clear sign of violation of the international humanitarian law.
Still, a few days after the renewal of hostilities, which had to be responded by the Armenian side, we read the mind-blowing threat by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry about the possibility to launch missile attacks at the Armenian Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant. The threat was a flagrant violation of the International Humanitarian Law in general. Such actions are an explicit demonstration of state terrorism and genocidal intent.
There are members of the international community and organizations that have refrained from pinpointing who the aggressor is, and who the victim is in the absence of independently established facts. Such a stance, which might perhaps look like an appeasement for an aggressor, can be explained by the fact that there are no local ceasefire violation monitoring measures. And here we come to the biggest question mark of the entire situation. Why aren’t there any such measures on Armenian-Azerbaijani borders?
It would be unjust to blame the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs (the USA, France and Russia), the single internationally mandated organization which mediates between the sides seeking a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Diverting hereby I should emphasize that, in 1990s, Azerbaijan, even though it was fighting to gain control over Nagorno-Karabakh, annexed to it by Stalin’s authoritarian decision in 1921, eventually embarked on a total fight and blockade against Armenia. Armenian territory was shelled from all possible angles where it borders with Azerbaijan.
Armenia has repeatedly stated and continues to insist that there is no alternative to a peaceful settlement of the conflict. There are specific proposals for security and confidence-building measures, including an increase in the number and permanent deployment of international observers on the ground, a direct line of communications and the introduction of a mechanism to investigate alleged ceasefire violations. Their implementation will help to avoid further escalation renewals. (https://www.osce.org/mg/185746)
However, Azerbaijan has rejected these control mechanisms, the absence of which contributes to both an increase in civilian casualties and baseless accusations against the Armenian sides. I would like to emphasize that in the current situation, efforts to end hostilities, unconditionally and fully restore, preserve and strengthen the ceasefire regime signed between Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan are imperative.
After the outbreak of COVID 19 at the end of March, the UN General Secretary made an appeal “for an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world”, adding that “it is time to put armed conflict on lockdown and focus together on the true fight of our lives.” Hours later the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Zohrab Mnatsakanyan applauded and welcomed this idea. The Azerbaijani side chose to ignore this appeal, as well.
Moreover, over the years the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs have time and again reiterated that it is an indispensable need to prepare the societies for peace and refrain from war rhetoric. This is an extremely important point, not to be ignored by anyone longing for peace. The Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan soon after the Velvet Revolution in 2018 has adopted the audacious stance that any conflict resolution must be based on mutual compromises and be acceptable to the peoples of Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan.
This idea was never appreciated by Azerbaijan. Moreover, there have been continuous threats, often by the leader of that country claiming Armenia’s capital and other parts of this cradle of ancient civilization as “Azerbaijan’s historical lands” and demanding that “Azerbaijanis must return to these historical lands.”
The dangerous development of poisoned public opinion could be felt soon after the recent clashes between Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Tavush region. The mass rally in Baku where nationalist slogans of Armenophobia could be heard soon enough morphed into anti-governmental appeals, upon which it was immediately dispersed by the Azerbaijani police. Apparently freedom of speech in Azerbaijan is acceptable only when it includes expressions of hatred towards Armenians.
While majority of countries in the world and international organizations are appealing to both sides to refrain from any escalation and return to the table of negotiations, NATO member state Turkey adds fuel to the fire unconditionally supporting Azerbaijan and inciting further actions against Armenia.
Sometimes one may get the impression that the leadership of Turkey feels that the Armenian Genocide, perpetrated by the Young Turks in 1915, has not been “carried out” fully and that the Republic of Armenia should concede to every wish and whim of the Turks and their ethnic brothers, even at the cost of our total annihilation.
It is worth noting that even in the 21st century, Turkey chooses to build its policy in our region on the traditions of justification of the Armenian Genocide and the impunity of that crime. Turkey’s provocative and biased stance seriously undermines the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and proves that Turkey can’t be involved in any international processes related to the conflict and first and foremost within the OSCE framework. With its approaches, Turkey is an existential security threat for Armenia, and should revisit this dangerous behavior as soon as possible.
Summarizing, I would like to note that it is never too late to embrace the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs proposals on the establishment of ceasefire violations mechanisms and it is never too late to accept and respect ceasefire during and after the COVID crisis. For any conflict to be resolved we need political will of all leaders involved and constructive support of international players. History is a witness to this axiom! Tigran Mkrtchyan Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Armenia to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia”.
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