His Holiness Aram I reminds about confiscation of Armenian Churches by Turkey after the genocide
Azeris Say Two Soldiers Killed in Fighting on Armenian Border
Two Azeri soldiers were killed and five others injured in fighting that broke out with Armenia on the border, the Azeri Defense Ministry said in a website statement.
The fighting, which started Sunday afternoon, is still raging, the ministry said, accusing Armenians of breaking the cease-fire the countries signed in 1994.
Azeri forces attempted to capture an Armenian army position on the border at around 1:30 p.m. on Sunday but were forced pull back, Shushan Stepanyan, a spokeswoman for the Armenian Defense Ministry, said in a Facebook post. The Armenians suffered no losses, she said.
The sides accused each other of using artillery during the fighting.
Armenians seized the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts from Azerbaijan in a war that broke out after the breakup of the former Soviet Union in 1991. While major hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered cease-fire, no peace agreement has been signed.
— With assistance by Sara Khojoyan
Greek political party calls for Ataturk’s house in Thessaloniki to become a genocide memorial museum
A Greek political party has called for the birth home of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in Thessaloniki to become a museum commemorating the Greek Genocide in the Pontus region on the Black Sea, Greek City Times reports.
The Greek Solution (Ελληνική Λύση) suggested to convert Ataturk’s house into a genocide memorial museum.
“No Turkish court can desecrate the over-chronic character of the Hagia Sophia,” the party said in a statement just one day before Turkey decided to turn it into a mosque.
“On the contrary, Greece can and must turn Kemal’s house into a museum of memory and honor of the victims of the [Greek] Pontian genocide,” Greek Solution said.
Although Turks think of Ataturk fondly as the founder of the modern Turkish Republic, Greeks, Armenians and Assyrians remember him as one of the main perpetrators of genocide against Christian minorities in the Ottoman Empire, that led to the systematic extermination of around 3.5 million people.
With about a million Greeks exterminated on policies made by Ataturk and his predecessors, more than 1.2 million Greeks were forcibly removed from Turkey in 1923-1924 as a result of the the Treaty of Lausanne, decimating thousands of years of Greek life in Asia Minor, Pontus and Eastern Thrace.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan signed a decree on Friday opening Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia as a mosque after a Turkish court annulled a 1934 government decree that had turned it into a museum
On Friday, Erdogan also announced that Hagia Sophia mosque will be open for prayer on July 24.
RFE/RL Armenian Report – 07/12/2020
Sunday, Deadly Fighting Reported On Armenian-Azeri Border (UPDATED) Armenia -- Soldiers pictured during a military exercise in Tavush, March 26, 2019. At least three Azerbaijani soldiers were reportedly killed and several others wounded in heavy fighting that broke out at a section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border on Sunday. The spokeswoman for Armenia’s Defense Ministry, Shushan Stepanian, said Azerbaijani forces shelled an Armenian army outpost in the northern Tavush province during a failed attempt to seize it. Stepanian said they suffered casualties while being repelled by Armenian soldiers stationed there. “There are no casualties on the Armenian side,” she wrote on Facebook. According to Stepanian, earlier in the afternoon a military vehicle carrying Azerbaijani soldiers tried to cross into Tavush “for reasons unclear to us.” The soldiers fled and left the vehicle behind after warning shots fired from the Armenian side, said the official. For its part, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said that Armenian forces backed by artillery fire attacked its border posts in Azerbaijan’s western Tovuz district bordering Tavush. It said two Azerbaijani servicemen died and five others were wounded as a result. The ministry reported a third Azerbaijani combat death later on Sunday. The fighting reportedly continued into the early hours of Monday. The Defense Ministry in Yerevan said Azerbaijani troops are using a battle tank and mortars to continue shelling the same Armenian army post. “Gunfire is periodically continuing with various intensity,” Stepanian, the ministry spokeswoman, said shortly after midnight. No Armenian soldier has been killed or wounded, she added. The Azerbaijani military claimed, meanwhile, that Armenian forces are firing mortars on not only at Azerbaijani border positions but also a nearby Azerbaijani village. Stepanian insisted in another overnight Facebook post that Armenian army units are targeting only Azerbaijani military facilities. Armenia -- A view of the Tavush province bordering Azerbaijan, November 6, 2018. Each side blamed the other for the escalation. Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry accused Yerevan of heightening tensions in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone and seeking to “seize more territory.” The Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Anna Naghdalian, insisted that the fighting was sparked by the Azerbaijani “attempts to infiltrate into Armenian positions.” Naghdalian also tweeted that Armenia’s foreign and defense ministers are “in constant contact” with the U.S., Russian and French mediators co-heading the OSCE Minsk Group over the latest escalation. The mediators urged the conflicting parties to strengthen the ceasefire regime during a June 30 video conference with the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers. In a joint statement, they reiterated that “there is no military solution to the conflict.” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev rejected that assertion and lambasted the Minsk Group co-chairs last week. He also threatened to pull out of “pointless negotiations” with Yerevan. Both conflicting parties had reported deadly ceasefire violations in the same border area early this year. In March, the Armenian military claimed to have thwarted two incursions attempted by troops from Azerbaijan’s State Border Guard Service. No major incidents were reported there in the following months. Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Armenia ex-President Sargsyan follows via video link restoration at Amaras Monastery of Karabakh
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18:48,
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U.S. House panel implicitly backs lagislation for continuing USAID funding for demining in Artsakh
18:50,
YEREVAN, JULY 10, ARMENPRESS. A key U.S. House panel has approved legislative report language indirectly calling for continued USAID funding for humanitarian demining in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh), ARMENPRESS reports, citing the official website of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
“We certainly welcome this report recommendation as a step in the right direction,” said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. “However, in light of this Administration’s all-out attack on Artsakh demining, it’s clear that Congress will need to do more in the underlying foreign aid bill to ensure continued U.S. support for a mine-free Artsakh.”
Support for Artsakh demining was included in the House Appropriations Committee report accompanying the Fiscal Year 2021 Foreign Aid Bill, as follows: “The Committee recommends funding consistent with prior years for USAID’s Humanitarian Demining program.” The only USAID funded demining program currently in operation is in Artsakh, where The HALO Trust has successfully removed over 61,000 mines and cleared some 62,000 acres of land, ensuring a safer future for over 80% of Artsakh’s population. Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ), who visited Artsakh last year and met with representatives of The HALO Trust, was a strong proponent of the report language, along with his Armenian Caucus colleagues, including Co-Chairs Jackie Speier (D-CA) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Representatives Judy Chu (D-CA), Devin Nunes (R-CA), Jim Costa (D-CA), Brad Sherman (D-CA) and others.
Congress has consistently pushed back against efforts to stop demining assistance to Artsakh, with over 30 Senators and 75 U.S. Representatives calling on key Appropriations Committee members to continue the assistance program, in letters sent in April and March of this year. Last year, 22 Senators and 89 Representatives cosigned bipartisan letters defending the USAID-funded HALO-Trust demining program in Artsakh. In 2017 and again in 2019 the U.S. House passed amendments supporting continued U.S. aid to Artsakh. In the lead up to today’s vote, one-third of U.S. House members testifying before the House Appropriations Committee cited Artsakh demining as a key priority for inclusion in the FY2021 Foreign Aid Bill.
The United States has been funding humanitarian programs in Artsakh since 1998, providing clean water to rural communities, support for maternal and child health, and life-saving demining assistance. Artsakh assistance has been long under attack by Azerbaijan’s Aliyev regime, and over the past two years, aggressively targeted by the Trump Administration, even as it ramps up U.S. defense and security aid to Baku.
Continued aid to Artsakh to support demining and rehabilitation efforts has been a key part of the ANCA’s 360-degree policy priorities to ensure Artsakh security and freedom. In testimony to the House Appropriations Committee earlier this year, ANCA Government Affairs Director Tereza Yerimyan argued that “The U.S. aid program to Nagorno Karabakh may require only a small expenditure, but it represents a major American investment in peace.” She went on to note that despite exceptional progress in The HALO Trust’s effort to make Artsakh mine-free, more needed to be done. “While the exact percentage of territory requiring clearance remains uncertain, The HALO Trust’s village-by-village resurvey has already identified 1.8 million square meters of additional contamination in the highly populated Martakert region, a figure that will certainly increase as the re-survey continues. All told, 385 people have been killed or injured by landmines or other explosives in Nagorno Karabakh since 1995, including several HALO trust employees in just the past few years,” explained Yerimyan.
Over 10,000 advocates have contacted Congress in support of continued U.S. demining assistance to Artsakh through the ANCA’s online action portals. ANCA Leo Sarkisian and Maral Melkonian Avetisyan Summer program participants have been rallying nationwide constituent outreach in support of continued Artsakh aid. Letters to Senate and House members can be sent by visiting anca.org/aid. Constituents can be directly connected to their U.S. Representative by phone through the ANCA’s Quick Connect system by visiting anca.org/call. Grassroots outreach to Congressional offices will continue until the FY2021 Foreign Aid Bill is finalized.
The FY 2021 Foreign Aid Bill and its accompanying report were approved by the Appropriations Committee by a vote of 29 to 21 and is scheduled to be taken up by the full House of Representatives soon. The Senate Appropriations Committee will be taking up its version of the FY2021 Foreign Aid Bill in upcoming weeks. The current measure did not specify amounts for direct aid to Armenia or Azerbaijan, allowing the State Department latitude to define funding levels and programs.
Garo Paylan comments on Turkish government’s decision to turn Hagia Sophia into mosque
Garo Paylan comments on Turkish government’s decision to turn Hagia Sophia into mosque
21:44,
YEREVAN, JULY 10, ARMENPRESS. Garo Paylan, an Armenian member of Turkish Parliament representing the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) commented on the decision of the Turkish authorities to grant Hagia Sophia a status of a mosque.
ARMENPRESS reports Paylan wrote on his Facebook page, ”Sad day for the Christians and all those who believe in pluralistic Turkey. The decision of turning Hagia Sophia into mosque will make the life of Christians here and Muslims in Europe more complicated. Hagia Sophia was the symbol of our rich history’’, he wrote.
Turkey’s top administrative court on Friday annulled the 1934 government decree that turned Hagia Sophia into a museum, paving the way for Hagia Sophia to be reconverted into a mosque.
Editing and translating by Tigran Sirekanyan
Artsakh reports no new case of COVID-19 in past 24 hours
11:22,
YEREVAN, JULY 11, ARMENPRESS. No new case of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed in the Republic of Artsakh in the past 24 hours, the ministry of healthcare said.
The total number of confirmed cases in Artsakh stands at 146.
3 more patients have recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 119.
The number of active cases is 27.
So far, 2,639 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in the Republic.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan