Category: 2020

Armenian ombudsman calls for ‘special attitude towards our symbols’

Albert Nalbandian
Panorama, Armenia

Armenian Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan expressed concerns over hate speech on social media and called for urgent measures to deal with the issue.

His remarks came in response to a question by opposition MP Ani Samsonyan on the level of hate speech in the country in 2019 against 2018 while presenting the 2019 Annual Report of the Human Rights Defender at the parliament on Monday.

According to the ombudsman, new legislative tools have recently been adopted to prevent hate speech, but he also highlighted public behavior in the fight, stressing citizens should not be involved in hateful online discussions.

“Public figures should behave in a way not to cause insult or hatred. This applies to everyone, indiscriminately,” the human rights defender said.

Tatoyan touched upon the recent wave of tensions between the Armenian church and authorities.

“I think we should join our efforts to prevent it, because the Armenian Apostolic Church, led by His Holiness, has played a unique role in the life of the Armenian people. This has been the case historically. We must have a special attitude towards our symbols,” Tatoyan said. 

UAE sends medical aid to Armenia to fight coronavirus

Jagharian Tania
Middle East Online
Gulf state sends seven tonnes of medical supplies to Armenia as part of its ongoing international humanitarian efforts to help countries fight coronavirus pandemic.
Monday 27/04/2020
The medical supplies will cover 7,000 medical professionals combatting the COVID-19 outbreak

ABU DHABI – The United Arab Emirates sent Monday seven tonnes of medical supplies to Armenia as part of its ongoing international humanitarian efforts to help countries fight the coronavirus pandemic.

The medical supplies will cover 7,000 medical professionals combatting the COVID-19 outbreak.

UAE Ambassador to Armenia Mohammed Issa Al Qattam Al Zaabi said that “the UAE is honoured to carry out its commitments to aiding other nations in their respective fights against COVID-19.”

“The leadership and people of the UAE stand in solidarity with all those working together to put an end to this crisis, recognising that the international community can only defeat COVID-19 while unified in action and intention,” said Al Zaabi.

The UAE has so far sent over 314 tonnes of aid to more than 27 countries, including Iran and Syria.

iLiveMap shows Artsakh as part of Armenia and Donbass as Russia

Lilit Nahapetian
Greek City Times
by Paul Antonopoulos

iLivemap.com is an Interactive Live Map for wars and conflicts in the Mediterranean and surrounding region. It provides the latest updates and news from the region, and is one of the most reliable sources out there on the Syrian and Libyan conflicts.

Although usually focusing on the conflicts in Syria and Libya, it has now broadened its range to include the conflicts in Donbass and Artsakh.

However, most interestingly is that iLiveMap has included Donbass, a region internationally recognised as part of Eastern Ukraine, as a part of Russia.

In another surprising move, the interactive map website has recognised the Armenian-majority region of Artsakh, or more commonly known as Nagorno-Karabakh, as a part of Armenia, despite being internationally recognised as a part of Azerbaijan.

Although neither Donbass or Artsakh have claimed to be a part of Russia or Armenia respectively, they are both unrecognised republics independent of Ukraine and Azerbaijan respectively.

Although Donbass has the backing of Russia, meaning it has huge support with weapons and financial needs, Artsakh affords no advantages like this.

In one of the many questionable moves by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, he had given the Armenian-majority province of Artsakh to Azerbaijan to appease Turkey in the hope one day Turkey too would join the Soviet Union. The Azerbaijaini’s are Turkic people with a near identical language and culture to Turks – the only major difference being that they are majority Shiite Muslims instead of Sunni.

As the transfer of Artsakh to Azerbaijan was not a major issue because the Soviet Union was like the European Union with movement between the different republics, the fall of the Soviet Union meant that there would be a hard border between Armenia and Azerbaijani-controlled Artsakh, which could not, and should not, be tolerated.

The Armenians against all odds, receiving assistance in weapons and finance from only Greece, and to a lesser extent Russia (who also supported Azerbaijan), prevailed against the Azeri Turks and won their liberation in 1994.

Despite their well earned independence and liberty, they have not been able to unite Artsakh with Armenia, and the Republic of Artsakh remains unrecognised and as a part of Azerbaijan.

Currently only a few individual states in the United States and the state of New South Wales in Australia recognises the Republic of Artsakh as an independent country – nowhere else in the world recognises their independence, including the Federal government’s of the USA and Australia, despite the reality that it operates independently with no Azerbaijani interference.

There is also one Greek village in Artsakh named Mehmana (Μεχμανά, Armenian: Mehmana) with just a few residents.

Is the world slowly waking up and realising that Artsakh is not a part of Azerbaijan and rather Armenian?


Armenian community donates over 5 million meals to families impacted by COVID-19

Chatinian Lara
FOX 11 News, Los Angeles
By Alexi Chidbachian
article

LOS ANGELES – The goal was to donate 1.5 million meals to help families struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic. But thanks to the Armenian American community over 5 million meals have been donated to Feeding America. 

Friday, April 24, 2020 marked the 105th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide but due to Stay at Home orders commemorative events throughout Los Angeles were canceled… but that didn’t stop people from honoring the lives lost. 

In place of the annual March for Justice demonstration the Armenian Genocide Committee, along with Unified Young Armenians and United Armenian Council for the Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide – Los Angeles launched a humanitarian fundraiser in support of Feeding America to honor Near East Relief and provide 1.5 million meals to Americans in need. 

“The project is about neighbors helping neighbors and paying it forward by honoring the past,” said Armen Sahakyan, Executive Director of the ANCA Western Region. 

Their goal of 1.5 million meals signifies the 1.5 million Armenians killed during the 1915 genocide. 

The campaign goal was far surpassed and over 5 million meals were donated. 

“Feeding America estimates that one out of eight Americans is facing hunger these days, so this is a way for us to band together during these trying times. This is a way for the Armenian community to also honor all of Americans who were instrumental in saving the Armenian Nation during genocide from 1915-1930 through Near East Relief,” said Sahakyan.  

All donations made to Feeding America will be matched by Tony Robbins through the One Billion Meal Challenge which organizers say will provide twice the impact.

Notre Dame professor uses nuclear physics to fight COVID-19 in Armenia

Karagyozian Lena
The Observer (Student paper of Notre Dame Uni)
 
 
ND professor uses nuclear physics to fight COVID-19 in Armenia
 
Emily Hunt | Monday,
 
Through the use of nuclear medicine, ozone generators and ultraviolet lamps, Ani Aprahamian and her team have successfully initiated a program to combat COVID-19 in Armenia.
 
Aprahamian, a professor of experimental nuclear physics, has taught at Notre Dame for 30 years and also serves as the director of the Alikhanian National Science Laboratory in Yerevan, Armenia. Having recently been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to continue her research in Armenia, Aprahamian, along with her team, developed an ozone generator which can sterilize areas of up to 140 cubic meters every hour to help fight COVID-19.
 
“It depends on exposure time, [and] how long you turn on it, then bigger places can be sterilized,” program engineer Ando Manukyan said.
 
Courtesy of Ani Aprahamian
 
The ozone generator nuclear physics professor Ani Aprahamian and her team at the Alikhanyan National Laboratory in Yerevan, Armenia created sterilizes rooms by using ozone gas.
 
Aprahamian said the prototype for the generator was built in three days by piecing together scrap parts in the laboratory, and the team confirmed the success of the prototype by testing it on live viruses.
 
“Everybody worked day and night … They were working until four or five, every morning,” Aprahamian said. “This is a project we started to help Armenia given the coronavirus.”
 
In less than two weeks since the start of the initiative, Aprahamian said the device was delivered to the Armenian Ministry of Health, which was invested in its creation.
 
“We delivered [the prototype] to The Ministry of Health two weeks ago … The Ministry thought it was useful and asked us to build 20 more,” Aprahamian said.
 
The additional generators were “much better quality” than the prototype, Aprahamian said, and can now be used to sterilize hundreds of spaces.
 
Aprahamian’s team consists of eight people working remotely. While the shelter in place order in Armenia has made collaboration challenging, the various expertises of the group have allowed them to execute the various aspects of the project in a timely fashion while still maintaining social distancing.
 
The inspiration for the program originated with a patent on an old ozone generator from one of Aprahamian’s colleagues.
 
“I gathered a group of [people] and said, ‘Can we think about something to do?’,”  Aprahamian said. “Together they looked at the old [generator] and improved the designs … They built something so much better.”
 
The ozone generator sucks the air from a room and then exposes it to high voltage which breaks down oxygen to ozone gas. While ozone protects the earth from space radiation, it also breaks down viruses and bacteria by oxidation. The molecule itself then breaks down in 10-30 minutes. However, ozone is harmful to breathe. The generator must be placed in an empty room to sterilize for an hour, and the generator must be removed for an additional hour to give the ozone time to fully break down so people can safely enter later.
 
Aprahamian’s team consists of division leader professor Albert Avetisyan, engineers Ando Manukyan, Gevorg Hovhannisyan and Vahan Elbakyan, graduate student Kim Hovhannisyan, physicists Arthur Mkrtchyan and Armen Gyurjinyan and instruction writer Hripsime Mkrtchyan.
 
“They have different areas, they’re doing different kinds of work,” Aprahamian said. “… Everyone here works at the [National Science Institute of Armenia] … on the cyclotron, a new thing that’s starting nuclear medicine in Armenia.”
 
A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator which can be used to create radioactive isotopes which can be applied in nuclear medicine, agriculture, fisheries, cognac production and testing objects for cultural heritage.
 
The team has also built an ultraviolet C sterilization box to sanitize used masks and personal protective equipment, and they plan to develop an improved and accessible respirator system to alleviate the respiratory distress of afflicted patients.
 
“This kind of project is very important nowadays,” Mkrtchyan said. “I think it will change a lot of things, including the view of the government towards science … here in Armenia. When you are doing something useful for the entire country, all of them are starting to be interested and take notice.”
 

Biden Pledges to Recognize Armenian Genocide. So Did Obama (He Didn’t)

Ani Kharatian
CNS News
 
 
Biden Pledges to Recognize Armenian Genocide.
So Did Obama (He Didn’t)
By Patrick Goodenough | | 3:55am EDT
 
 
Then-Vice President Joe Biden and Recep Tayyip Erdogan –€“ then prime minister, now president — “ in 2013. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images)
 
(CNSNews.com) – Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden promised on Friday to support Armenian Genocide legislation as president, but was silent on President Obama’s broken pledge on the matter during the Obama-Biden administration.
 
Instead, Biden has focused on his record in the U.S. Senate, where he co-sponsored a number of measures on the subject, and his endorsement last fall of bipartisan resolutions that passed in the House and Senate.
 
An Armenian American leader, while also critical of President Trump’s position on the matter, challenged Biden to come clean on his stance while vice president.
 
“If Joe Biden agreed with the Obama-Biden administration’s betrayal of its promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide, then he should step up and take ownership of that decision,” said Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) executive director Aram Hamparian.
 
“If he disagreed – but was overridden by President Obama – then he should say as much,” she added. “Either way, he needs to do more than promote a resolution that Congress has already adopted or recycle a promise that he and President Obama have already broken.”
 
Asbarez, a 112-year-old Armenian-American publication in California, called Biden’s statement “tone-deaf.”
 
“While Biden touts his record as a senator supporting efforts for a Congressional recognition of the Armenian Genocide, he does not cite his abominable record on the issue when he was vice-president,” it said.
 
The Biden campaign did not respond to an invitation to comment.
 
The issue is a particularly sensitive one in the relationship between the U.S. and Turkey, which disputes that the mass killings of Armenian Christians in Ottoman Turkey in 1915 constituted a genocide. Genocide is legally defined as the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, along with actions designed to achieve that goal.
 
Armenian American advocates sometimes refer to Ankara’s stance as a “gag rule,” with which U.S. president have complied.
 
April 24, 2015, is the day marked as the beginning of the atrocities, and on Friday, President Trump and Biden both issued statements marking the 105th anniversary.
 
As he has in previous years, Trump used the Armenian phrase Meds Yeghern, meaning “great evil” or “great calamity.”
 
“Today, we join the global community in memorializing the lives lost during the Meds Yeghern, one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century,” he said. “Beginning in 1915, one-and-a-half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in the final years of the Ottoman Empire.”
 
By contrast, Biden’s statement did use the word “genocide.”
 
“It is particularly important to speak these words and commemorate this history at a moment when we are reminded daily of the power of truth, and of our shared responsibility to stand against hate – because silence is complicity,” Biden said. “Failing to remember or acknowledge the fact of a genocide only paves the way for future mass atrocities.”
 
“If elected, I pledge to support a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide and will make universal human rights a top priority for my administration,” Biden said.
 
Biden served in the Senate from January 3, 1973 until January 15, 2009, and then served as Obama’s vice president until January 2017.
 
A review of Armenia Genocide legislation shows that Biden co-sponsored measures in the Senate – none of which advanced – in 1984, 1987, 1989,  in 2002, 2003, 2006, and 2008.
 
The Obama-Biden administration, however, shied away from references to genocide. In his annual April 24 statements, Obama referred initially to “the first mass atrocity of the 20th century,” and later also used the Meds Yeghern term.
 
He was not the first:  Although President Ronald Reagan – in a 1981 Holocaust Remembrance Day proclamation – formally described the mass killings of Armenian Christians as “genocide,” President George H.W. Bush referred to “terrible massacres,” President Clinton to “massacres” and “one of the saddest chapters of this century,” and President George W. Bush to an “appalling tragedy” and “one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century.”
 
But Obama, when running for the White House, said unambiguously that he would call the episode a genocide, declaring his “firmly held conviction that the Armenian Genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion, or a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence.”
 
“[A]s President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide,” he said.
 
It was a pledge Obama failed to keep, and Biden with him.
 
One senior member of that administration who did use the politically-sensitive word “genocide” in connection to Armenia was Samantha Power, ambassador to the U.N., in the closing weeks of Obama’s presidency.
 
Eight years earlier Power – who won a Pulitzer Prize for a 2002 book on genocide – had urged Armenian Americans to support Obama for president, underlining his pledge and assuring them he could be “trusted.”
 
Once out of office, Power tweeted in April 2017, “I am very sorry that, during our time in office, we in the Obama administration did not recognize the Armenian Genocide.”
 
Granting Erdogan a ‘veto’
 
ANCA’s Hamparian also criticized Trump’s position, saying in a statement he had “copied and pasted the transparently euphemistic, patently offensive April 24th evasions issued by Barack Obama and his other predecessors.”
 
“Despite last year’s near-unanimous Congressional recognition of the Armenian Genocide, President Trump has, once again, granted Turkish President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan – an openly anti-American dictator – a veto over honest U.S. remembrance of Turkey’s WWI-era genocide of millions of Armenians and other Christians,” she said.
 
Still, Turkey’s foreign ministry rejected Trump’s statement, saying it was “based on a subjective narrative which Armenians try to turn into a dogma.”
 
“This statement, made with domestic political considerations has no validity for us,” it said. “We reject the claims put forward in this statement.”
 
Turkey officially disputes that the mass killings were orchestrated or intentional. It says between 250,000 and 500,000 Armenians, along with a larger number of Muslims, died amid intercommunal violence, disease and starvation, amid World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
 
In a unanimous 1997 resolution, the Association of Genocide Scholars reaffirmed “that the mass murder of over a million Armenians in Turkey in 1915 is a case of genocide which conforms to the statutes of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.”
 
The U.S. House passed a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide last October by 405-11 votes, and the Senate in December passed its version by unanimous consent – a step Ankara called “one of the disgraceful examples of politicization of history.” 
 
 
 
 
 
 

AntiFake.am: Armenia PM’s office bonuses for 1st quarter amounted to about $46,000

Emil Lazarian
News.am, Armenia
AntiFake.am: Armenia PM’s office bonuses for 1st quarter amounted to about $46,000 AntiFake.am: Armenia PM’s office bonuses for 1st quarter amounted to about $46,000

15:13, 27.04.2020
                  

YEREVAN. – The Republic of Armenia (RA) Prime Minister’s Office’s bonus fund for the first quarter defined by the 2020 state budget amounted to 106,879,300 RA drams. AntiFake.am writes about this, which had asked the PM’s Office to provide the total amount of bonuses allocated within this body during the first quarter of 2020.

“In response to the inquiry, Armen Khachatryan, Acting Head of the Personnel and Staff Management Department of the Prime Minister’s Office, stated that the Prime Minister’s Office’s bonus fund for the first quarter defined by the 2020 state budget amounted to 106,879,300 RA drams. The total amount of the bonus paid during the first quarter was 22,292,800 RA drams, which is equivalent to about 46,000 US dollars,” the website wrote, in particular.

This year’s experience will be used during Armenian Genocide anniversary physical march next year, PM says

Andranik Taslakhchian
News.am, Armenia
This year’s experience will be used during Armenian Genocide anniversary physical march next year, PM says This year’s experience will be used during Armenian Genocide anniversary physical march next year, PM says

10:11, 27.04.2020
                  

In my opinion, our events on April 24 this year were not 100% perfect, although the event on the evening of April 24 was very close to perfect. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this Monday on his live Facebook broadcast, referring to this year’s Armenian Genocide commemorations in Armenia, and their message.

“We were also discussing that if we do not use the components of this year’s virtual march in the coming years, in the case when the traditional Tsitsernakaberd [Hill where the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan is located] march takes place, the April 24 yardstick may drop,” he said. “Now, we are also thinking about next year. We hope that next year there will be no coronavirus, and we will all go up to Tsitsernakaberd with hundreds of thousands of physical marches like before, but this year’s experience will be used to make the events more and more impressive with each [passing] year.”