Category: 2020

Trump’s spokesperson mentions “Armenian Genocide” while the administration does not recognise it as such

Emil Lazarian
AHVAL News
July 7 2020

  • Jul 07 2020 12:04 Gmt+3
  • Last Updated On: Jul 07 2020 12:27 Gmt+3

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany referred to the “Armenian genocide” during Monday press briefing in a move that goes against the US government’s official position on atrocities that took place before and during the World War One.

U.S. does not formally recognize the 1915 killings of Armenians as genocide, despite the fact that both chambers of the U.S. Congress passed the Armenian Genocide resolutions, recognizing the events as genocide in the fall of 2019.

MsEnany referenced an “Armenian genocide memorial” while citing monuments and memorials that have recently been vandalized amid nationwide protests over racism and police brutality.

“There seems to be a lack of understanding and historical knowledge when the Armenian Genocide Memorial, remembering victims of all crimes against humanity, including slavery, is vandalized,” McEnany said while mentioning “Armenian genocide memorial” as one of those memorials vandalized due to this lack understanding. However, McEnany’s administration currently does not recognise those events as genocide.

The White House did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment on whether the Trump administration recognised the World War I killings of Armenians as genocide.

The Turkish embassy in Washington also kept silence on the matter, Insider added.

Meanwhile, the Armenian Assembly of America head Bryan Ardouny appreciated in a statement the administration’s stance to underline the Armenian Genocide memorial vandalized in Denver.

The mass killings of Armenians committed by the Ottoman government in 1915 are recognised as a genocide by many states and commemorated on April 24 each year across the world. But the Turkish government vehemently rejects the mass murder of Armenians calling it a World War I atrocity.

In an effort to avoid angering Turkey, a NATO ally, the US government has generally referred to the killings as “mass atrocities,” stopping short of calling it “genocide.”


Get to know Armenian culture with contemporary folk beats, political documentaries and surreal novels

Emil Lazarian
The Calvert Journal
July 6 2020
6 July 2020
Text: Lucía de la Torre

Modern-day Armenia is a patchwork woven by centuries of migration, and contemporary diasporan influences, combining Middle Eastern, Turkic, Persian, Slavic, and Western traditions with a unique touch of pure Hayastan. The result? A booming creative scene that reflects the character of Armenia’s young generations, redefining their national culture and heritage as proud, diverse, and independent.

With the country’s upcoming tourist boom, as borders reopen, Armenia’s cultural complexities are about to hit the spotlight like never before — which is why we’re digging up the best of Armenian culture to take you beyond the tourist trail.

Since her debut representing Armenia in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest with her catchy single Qele-Qele, Sirusho’s fusion of traditional Armenian rhythms and energetic pop beats has brought in crowds across Armenia, Greece, and the Middle East, to shake their hips to the country’s own J Lo.

Sirusho often adapts songs from 20th century Armenian composer Komitas to become hum-worthy pop hits. Born and raised in Yerevan, Sirusho from the block often includes folk elements in her songs. Watch the video clip for Zoma Zoma: shot in Yerevan’s historic Kond neighbourhood, you can see Sirusho dance hip-hop and play backgammon while pulling off a flashy red tracksuit.

With members from Armenia, Turkey, France and the United States, six-piece urban diaspora band Collectif Medz Bazaar is a reminder of art’s great power for cross-cultural dialogue. Following a jam session in a Parisian barge in 2012, a group of Turkish and Armenian musicians got together to form a band and revive the shared cultural heritage of the two neighbouring countries, which have suffered from strained relations since the Armenian Genocide in 1915.

Almost 100 years later, Medz Bazaar blends Turkish and Armenian musical cultures, drawing inspiration from Middle-Eastern percussion, Iranian folk music, Caucasian rabiz, and even elements of Latin American music, operette, hip-hop, swing and bluegrass. A celebration of Armenia’s diverse culture and the power of music to build new bridges, Medz Bazaar is a feel-good pathway to understanding the complex layers of contemporary Armenian culture.

Pour yourself a glass of wine, sit back, and get ready for a dazzling poetic journey into Armenian culture. Known as the cinematic Holy Grail of iconic Soviet Armenian filmmaker Sergei Parajanov, The Colour of Pomegranates is a magical portrait of Armenian folk tradition. An immersive fusion between film, poetry and theatre, The Colour of Pomegranates is based on the life story of Sayat-Nova, an 18th-century Armenian ashug, or lyrical poet, who wrote in Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian and Persian. Featuring a quick dash tour of Armenia’s major historical sites and a tapestry of folklore references, The Colour of Pomegranates is not an easy watch, but, if you’re in the right headspace, it will take you on a bewildering journey across centuries of Armenian history in just 77 minutes.



Azerbaijan urges OSCE Minsk Group to return Armenia into Karabakh talks

Hovik Karapetian
Vestnik Kavkaza
July 7 2020
7 Jul in 13:00

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said that the republic expects more serious, targeted and goal-oriented statements on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict from the OSCE Minsk Group.

He added in an interview with local TV channel that Azerbaijan will not change its fair position over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in the same speech where he also said that the negotiations mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group are not yielding results.

“There is no change in our position, nor can there be any. That is because our position is the position of justice. Our position is based on both historical justice and the international law… No change in our position is possible. The conflict must be resolved within the territorial integrity of our country,” Aliyev said.

The president said that Azerbaijan expects the OSCE Minsk Group that negotiates the conflict to give “more serious and specific statements” with regards to the conflict and to respond to Armenia’s provocative actions.

“We are showing patience and trying to be constructive. However, today, in fact, the negotiation process is not going on. Video conferences between the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers have no significance. This simply shows that the Minsk Group is allegedly active… We will not carry out negotiations for the sake of imitation. We want to hold substantial talks,” Aliyev said.

The president reminded that a number of provocative actions by Armenia that undermine the negotiations have gone unanswered by the OSCE Minsk Group.

“The Armenian Prime Minister [Nikol Pashinyan] says that ‘Karabakh is Armenia… Why doesn’t Minsk Group responded to this? Why cannot they say that this statement is in fact destroying the essence of the negotiations that have been shaped by the Minsk Group? Armenia has been seeking to change the format of negotiations for two years now and has stated that Azerbaijan must negotiate with so-called leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh. Has there been a relevant response to this? No! It is answered with abstract words and beating around the bush. But those times are over. We demand clarity,” the president said.

The president also described as provocation the inauguration in occupied Shusha of the newly-elected so-called leader of separatist regime in Nagorno-Karabakh: “Why don’t they say that this is a provocation and Armenia will be responsible for this provocation?”

The president also said that Armenia is illegally settling population in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and the OSCE Minsk Group has neither issued a statement on this issue, nor sent a fact-finding mission to these occupied territories in the past ten years.

“Over the past few years, we have been urging them that a new mission must be sent. During these 10 years, Armenia has brought Armenians from Syria and other places and keeps them there by force. It [Armenia] changes the historical names of our cities and builds churches in the occupied territories,” Ilham Aliyev said.





Court hearings on Article 300.1 of Armenia’s Criminal Code fail to start amid lack of quorum

Emil Lazarian
Panorama, Armenia
July 7 2020

The Constitutional Court of Armenia on Tuesday failed to start hearings on the constitutionality of Article 300.1 of Armenia’s Criminal Code dealing with “overthrow of the constitutional order”, a provision which is at issue in former President Robert Kocharyan’s case, due to the lack of quorum.

“There is no quorum,” an employee of the court told reporters in the session hall, without elaborating further.

Earlier in July 2019, Robert Kocharyan and his lawyers, as well as judge Davit Grigoryan of the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction asked the highest court of Armenia to determine the constitutionality of Article 300.1.

The Constitutional Court in turn decided to request an advisory opinion on the matter from the ECHR and the Venice Commission, which offered their assessments in May and June this year, respectively.

In the meantime, Kocharyan’s lawyers decided to withdraw their appeal from the Constitutional Court on 25 June.  

VETO movement urges people to join rally against authorities’ ‘illegal work style’

Manouk Vasilian
Panorama, Armenia
July 7 2020

VETO social-political movement urges people to join a rally of its leader Narek Malyan against the Armenian authorities’ “illegal work style”. A statement issued by the movement on Tuesday reads:

“The power that has occupied the state restricts the right to freedom of assembly by serving the agenda of foreign agent network and hiding behind the state of emergency.

Over the past four months the ruling political force, taking advantage of the illegal forced absence of public resistance, openly served the anti-state, anti-national agenda: they fight against the Armenian Apostolic Church, ratify various conventions spreading perversion among children, consistently remove the armenology subjects from educational programs. Instead, by introducing sex education programs, they take transgender prostitutes under their personal protection and support their unimpeded activities

On July 13 of the current year, the government intends to illegally extend the state of emergency once again, restricting freedom of assembly.

In this regard, the leader of VETO social-political movement Narek Malyan will hold a rally with his car, on his own, from Khor Virap to Yerevan, which in no way contradicts the decisions and restrictions of the Commandant’s Office.

The rally will commence on July 13, at 11 a.m. from Khor Virap monastery complex, where St. Gregory the Illuminator brought the light of Christianity to Armenia after 14 years of struggle.

All those people, social and political forces, who are concerned about the government’s illegal work style and the situation in the country, can join the rally.”

Church leaders in Jerusalem: Israeli court ruling threatens Christian presence in holy city

Nahapetian Zhanna
WAFA – Palestine
July 7 2020
 
 
 
 
Jaffa Gate property of the Greek Orthodox Church sought after by Jewish settlement organizations. (WAFA Images)
 
JERUSALEM, Tuesday, July 7, 2020 (WAFA) – Church leaders in Jerusalem said today in a joint statement that an Israeli court’s ruling on property of the Greek Orthodox Church at Jaffa Gate of the occupied old city of Jerusalem threatens Christian presence in the holy city.
 
“We, the Heads of the Churches and Christian Communities in Jerusalem, stand united in our commitment to safeguard the historical Status Quo of the Holy Sites and rights of the Churches which are universally recognized,” said the church leaders.
 
“The case of Jaffa Gate threatens this Status Quo. We are concerned by the recent judgment of the District Court of Jerusalem, which dismissed evidence demonstrating the Greek Orthodox Church case. We strongly support the efforts of the Greek Orthodox Church in their plea for justice.”
 
The Greek Orthodox Church is battling in court Jewish settlement organizations seeking to take over its Jaffa Gate property under the pretext of ownership, a claim strongly contested by the church.
 
“We don’t see this case as a mere property dispute. We see the undertaking of radical groups to take control of properties at Jaffa Gate as a systematic attempt to undermine the integrity of the Holy City, to obstruct the Christian pilgrim route and to weaken the Christian presence in Jerusalem,” said the 13 church leaders.
 
They called on the Israeli government “to act in order to safeguard the integrity of the Christian heritage and patrimony in the Old City, as well as the Holy Sites and the rights of the residents of the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem.”
 
“These are places which over two billion Christians around the world look at as the very heart of their faith; which millions of Christian pilgrims visit each year; and in which the local Christians live out their faith,” they said.
 
The statement was signed by Patriarch Theophilos Ill, Greek Orthodox, Patriarch Nourhan Manougian, Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Patriarchate, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Apostolic Administrator, Latin Patriarchate, Fr. Francesco Patton, ofm, Custos of the Holy Land, Archbishop Anba Antonious, Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate, Jerusalem, Archbishop Gabriel Daho, Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate, Archbishop Aba Embakob, Ethiopian Orthodox Patriarchate, Archbishop Yaser AL-Ayash, Greek-Melkite-Catholic Patriarchate, Archbishop Mosa El-Hage, Maronite Patriarchal Exarchate, Archbishop Suheil Dawani, Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East, Bishop Ibrahim Sani Azar, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, Father Ephram Samaan, Syrian Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate, and Rt Rev. Joseph Nerses Zabarian, Armenian Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate.

Armenpress: 2.2 magnitude earthquake registered in Armenia’s Ararat province

Chatinian Lara

2.2 magnitude earthquake registered in Armenia’s Ararat province

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 10:01, 6 July, 2020

YEREVAN, JULY 6, ARMENPRESS. On July 6, at 06:17 local time, the Seismic Protection Survey Seismological Network of the Armenian ministry of emergency situations detected an earthquake at the northern latitude 40.030 and eastern longitude 44.530 geographic coordinates (Armenia, 6km south-east from Marmarashen village of Ararat province) with 2.2 magnitude and 10km depth, the ministry told Armenpress.         

The tremor measured magnitude 2-3 points at the epicenter area.

The earthquake was also felt in Dvin, Marmarashen and Vostan villages with magnitude 2 points.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

COVID-19: Armenia reports 330 new cases, 162 recoveries in one day

Jhanna Virabian

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 10:49, 6 July, 2020

YEREVAN, JULY 6, ARMENPRESS. 330 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 28,936, the healthcare ministry said.

162 more patients have recovered. The total number of recoveries has reached 16,302.

7 people have died in one day, raising the death toll to 491.

The number of active cases stands at 11,984.

The number of people who had a coronavirus but died from other disease has reached 159 (1 new such cases).

So far, 123,815 people have passed COVID-19 testing.

Reporting by Lilit Demuryan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Armenpress: Armenian PM congratulates 1st President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev on 80th birthday

Talar Tumanian

Armenian PM congratulates 1st President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev on 80th birthday

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 10:27, 6 July, 2020

YEREVAN, JULY 6, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has sent a congratulatory message to First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev on his birthday, the PM’s Office told Armenpress.

The congratulatory message reads:

“Dear Nursultan Abishevich,

Please accept my heartfelt congratulations on your 80th birth anniversary.

Significant progress has been recorded owing to your years-long efforts aimed at promoting Kazakhstan’s development and mutually beneficial integration processes within the Eurasian space.

Valuable is your personal contribution to the strengthening of Armenian-Kazakh relations. I reaffirm my readiness to further expand our multifaceted cooperation to the benefit of the peoples of our countries.

I learned with deep regret that you had tested positive for COVID-19. I am convinced that you will be back to your daily activities in the nearest future to complete the planned programs.

Dear Nursultan Abishevich,

I wish you a speedy recovery, robust health and all the best, as well as peace and prosperity – to the friendly people of Kazakhstan.”

Volunteers distribute face masks and introduce anti-coronavirus rules to citizens in Yerevan

Boris Nahapetian

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 11:22, 6 July, 2020

YEREVAN, JULY 6, ARMENPRESS. Information desks are placed in the streets of Yerevan where volunteers are distributing face masks and introduce the anti-epidemic rules to the citizens.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Facebook that the number of these desks will soon increase in the Republic.

“By the cooperation of the Armenian PM’s administration and the Armenian Red Cross such points have appeared in Yerevan where volunteers are distributing face masks to the citizens and also present the anti-epidemiological rules. At the moment the number of such points is 36, but they will also be placed in the provinces soon”, the PM said.

330 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 28,936. 162 more patients have recovered. The total number of recoveries has reached 16,302. 7 people have died in one day, raising the death toll to 491. Armenia made wearing face mask mandatory also in outdoor public places starting May 25.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan