The funeral of Armenian writer Mıgırdiç Margosyan was held today (April 7) at the Kumkapı Patriarchate Church in Fatih, İstanbul.
Several politicians, local governors, journalists and writers attended the funeral. After the ceremony, Margosyan was laid to rest at the Şişli Armenian Cemetery.
Photo: Surp Haç Tıbrevank Armenian High School/Twitter
Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputies Sezgin Tanrıkulu and Turan Aydoğan, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputies Garo Paylan and Züleyha Gülüm, Labor Party Chair Ercüment Akdeniz, Princes’ Islands Mayor Erdem Gül, Kadıköy Mayor Şerdil Dara Odabaşı, DİSK Basın İş union Chair Faruk Eren, and writer Şeyhmus Diken were among those who attended the funeral.
Margosyan passed away on Saturday (April 2) at the age of 84.
Writer and novelist. He was born in Diyarbakır’s Hançepek Neighborhood (The Neighborhood of Giaours) on December 23, 1938.
He graduated from the Philosophy Department of İstanbul University Faculty of Literature. Between 1966 and 1972, he was the manager and a teacher of philosophy, psychology and Armenian language and literature at the Surp Haç Tıbrevank Armenian Church in Üsküdar, İstanbul.
Later, he quit teaching and went into business. He continued his literary works without interruption.
Some of the Armenian stories he wrote for Marmara newspaper were made into a book entitled “Mer Ayt Goğmerı” (Our Neighborhood) in 1984. With this book, he was granted the Eliz Kavukçuyan Literary Award in Paris in 1988.
Aras Publishing House published several other books by Margosyan. Compilations of his articles for Evrensel and Agos were also published as books.
His last book, The Journal of God (Tanrı’nın Syir Defteri), was published in 2016. (AÖ/VK)
Armenia and Azerbaijan are preparing for peace talks, officials in both countries said yesterday, after a flareup last month in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region over which they fought a war in 2020.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met on Wednesday in Brussels for rare talks mediated by European Council President Charles Michel.
The meeting came after a flareup in Karabakh on March 25 in which Azerbaijan captured a strategic village in the area under Russian peacekeepers’ responsibility, killing three separatist troops.
During the meeting, the two leaders “ordered foreign ministers to begin preparatory work for peace talks between the two countries,” the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
“An agreement was reached during the meeting” to establish a “commission on the issues of delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijan border, which will be in charge of ensuring security and stability along the frontier,” it said.
Azerbaijan also said that works are under way to begin peace talks, adding that a peace treaty would be based “on the basic principles proposed earlier by Azerbaijan.”
Michel “noted both President Aliyev’s and Prime Minister Pashinyan’s stated desire to move rapidly towards a peace agreement between their countries,” the EU said in a statement.
“It was agreed to instruct Ministers of Foreign Affairs to work on the preparation of a future peace treaty, which would address all necessary issues,” the statement said.
After the March incident, Moscow and Yerevan accused Azerbaijan of a ceasefire contravention, a charge Baku has rejected, insisting its troops are in Azerbaijan’s sovereign territory.
Yerevan also called on Baku to start peace talks “without delay.”
Baku agreed, saying it had put forward such a proposal a year ago.
Baku in the middle of last month proposed a framework for the peace agreement that includes both sides’ mutual recognition of territorial integrity, meaning Yerevan should agree on Karabakh being part of Azerbaijan.
Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan sparked controversy at home when he said, commenting on the Azerbaijani proposal, that for Yerevan “the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not a territorial issue, but a matter of rights” of the local ethnic-Armenian population.
Long-contested between the Caucasus neighbours, Karabakh was at the centre of a war in 2020 that claimed more than 6,500 lives before it ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement.
Armenia in the pact ceded swathes of territories it had controlled for decades in what was seen in Armenia as a national humiliation, sparking weeks of mass anti-government protests.
Several thousand opposition supporters on Tuesday rallied in Yerevan to warn the government against concessions on Karabakh.
Ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The ensuing conflicts claimed about 30,000 lives.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to start preparations for peace talks to resolve three decades of conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met in Brussels on Wednesday alongside European Council President Charles Michel.
Michel said in a statement that both leaders “have expressed their willingness to move quickly towards a peace agreement”.
The announcement came after a resurgence of tensions in March. The latest war in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 left an estimated 6,500 people dead.
After their talks in Brussels, Pashinyan and Aliyev ordered their respective foreign ministers to “start preparations for peace talks between the two countries,” Armenia’s foreign ministry said on Thursday.
“An agreement was reached at the meeting […] to set up a bilateral commission on border demarcation issues,” it added.
The commission will ensure security and stability along the border between the two countries.
Last week, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry announced that work was underway to start peace negotiations.
Russia has welcomed the “very positive” news, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stressed that “it is clear that the process will take a long time”.
In November 2020, a Kremlin-mediated ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan ended a six-week war between the two former Soviet republics.
The conflict ended in defeat for Armenia, which was forced to hand over large areas of the breakaway region it had controlled since the early 1990s.
Russia had accused Azerbaijan in late March of violating a ceasefire negotiated by President Vladimir Putin to end the 2020 conflict.
Last month, Armenia accused Azerbaijani forces of firing on residents inside Nagorno-Karabakh and said three people had died.
Yerevan has also accused Baku of cutting off the gas supply to Nagorno-Karabakh during the winter. Azerbaijan has dismissed these accusations, insisting on its sovereignty over the region.
On the eve of the meeting between Pashinyan and Aliyev, thousands of Armenians marched through the capital to protest against further possible concessions.
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April 6 (Reuters) – Armenia and Azerbaijan on Wednesday agreed to peace talks to address tensions over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which borders both nations, the office of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said.
Pashinyan’s office released a statement after he held talks in Brussels with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev. The two men also agreed that by the end of April they would set up a bilateral commission to delimit the joint border, the statement said.
“The Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of Azerbaijan instructed their foreign ministers to begin preparations for peace talks between the two countries,” the statement said. European Council President Charles Michel also attended the Brussels meeting.
Both Russia and the United States had expressed concern about recent developments.
In 2020, Azeri troops drove ethnic Armenian forces out of swathes of territory they had controlled since the 1990s in and around Nagorno-Karabakh before Russia brokered a ceasefire.
Armenia said last month it expected Russia to take action to make Azerbaijan withdraw troops from an area of Nagorno-Karabakh policed by Russian peacekeepers. Azerbaijan said the area was its sovereign territory. read more
Pashinyan’s office also said the two sides agreed to create “a bilateral commission on the delimitation of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which will also be authorized to deal with questions of ensuring security and stability along the border.” It did not give details.
EC President Charles Michel will host a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Armenia and Russia accuse Azerbaijan of violating the Russian-mediated ceasefire that ended the region’s war. Armenia’s security council claimed that Azerbaijan is preparing for an attack on the region and warned of a potential humanitarian disaster after natural gas supplies were cut off last month for several days.
Amid the invasion of Ukraine, Azerbaijan has benefitted from Russia’s absence in the South Caucasus by pressuring Armenia into signing a peace deal, which would likely include delimiting the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and demining the territories retaken by Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan and its primary ally, Turkey, are interested in gaining access to the Armenian territory for transit.
In return, Azerbaijan has offered to mutually recognize the territorial integrity of both countries, meaning that Armenia would acknowledge Azerbaijani territory over Karabakh. Azerbaijan would also likely offer special cultural rights for Armenians in the region.
The EU relies on Azerbaijan for its energy resources and gas exports and hopes to establish peace and stability through negotiations and humanitarian aid, while balancing against Russia’s influence in the region.
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Aim-listed Chaarat generated revenue of $92.4-million from concentrate sales for the 12 months ended December 31, 2021, with $72.8-million relating to own ore revenue and $19.6-million to third-party ore revenue.
Group earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) were $13.5-million – 45% higher than in 2020.
The group loss after tax was $3.6-million, an improvement of 84% from a loss after tax of $22.4-million in 2020.
Cash and cash equivalents increased from $6.9-million to $11.1-million year-over-year.
Net debt decreased from $77.2-million to $39.6-million owing to a debt-to-equity conversion and equity raise in February 2021, as well as the ongoing repayment of the Kapan acquisition loan.
Highlights during the period included ongoing reviews to assess the best available technologies for the project regarding environment control and energy savings.
At the Kapan mine, in Armenia, Charaat finished the year with production of 63 000 gold-equivalent ounces (GEOs), including 14 000 GEOs from third-party ore production, above its 2021 guidance of 57 000 oz.
At the Tulkubash construction project in the Kyrgyz Republic, an updated bankable feasibility study was released in May 2021, confirming robust project economics.
Charaat also successfully completed a 4 835 m drilling programme including infill drilling and initial exploration drilling on new target areas.
It also advanced camp construction, main construction preparation work and the exploration programme, with about $8.5-million invested in 2021.
At the Kyzyltash development project in the Kyrgyz Republic, Charaat successfully completed a 3 508 m drilling programme to obtain representative core of the Kyzyltash deposit ready for metallurgical testing. The core has been sent to SGS Lakefield in Canada for a full suite of metallurgical test work as part of assessing the preferred processing route for the project.
POST-YEAR END
Mike Fraser started as new CEO and member of the board on January 17, and since then completed a comprehensive strategic and operational review. Key elements of the strategy will be implemented within this year.
The Kapan mineral resource estimate (MRE) and ore reserves were updated in 2021 and signed off in April.
The 2022 MRE was developed on a constrained basis. The application of the constraining factors and a 2 g/t cut-off grade limits any direct comparison to the previously reported unconstrained resource in 2019.
A resolution of the Kumtor mine situation was announced in April and Chaarat is restarting financing discussions on the Tulkubash project as planned.
OUTLOOK
The conflict in Ukraine and associated sanctions against Russia have the potential to impact the supply chain, costs and commodity prices in Charaat’s region and, therefore, it notes that it is monitoring the developments closely.
So far, the conflict has had no direct impact on the group’s operations, and the group does not expect there to be a material impact this year.
At Kapan, Charaat confirmed mine production guidance of 50 000 oz to 53 000 oz of own-ore production and an additional 6 000 oz to 9 000 oz of third-party ore production based on 100 000 t milled during the year.
At the East Flank, resource definition drilling is ongoing as part of preparing an initial MRE expected in 2023.
At Tulkubash, updated mineral resource and reserve statements are expected to be released in the first half of this year. Given the resolution of Centerra’s Kumtor situation, debt financing is expected to close in the second half.
Ongoing project work will focus on engineering completion and appropriate construction activities to optimise full activities once debt financing is secured.
At Kyzyltash, metallurgical test results are expected back from SGS Lakefield in the third quarter of this year to enable the company to perform an economic assessment on the best processing route in 2023.
Chaarat will continue to review its existing balance sheet structure with a view to further reducing its interest costs and improving the balance sheet structure.
EDITED BY: CHANEL DE BRUYN
CREAMER MEDIA SENIOR DEPUTY EDITOR ONLINE
LOS ANGELES – Born and raised in Los Angeles, Ara Zada found himself drawn to the kitchen at an early age.
“I started in the kitchen when I was five… I honestly wanted to play with knives, and that was the only way my mom would let me play with knives, so I started cooking,” Zada recalled. He is now the Chef and co-author of a cookbook called “Lavash.”
However, he didn’t start out as a chef. Zada first got involved in the family business, yet always found himself back in the kitchen.
“I went to culinary school and started my process. Cooking has always been a passion of mine, and it’s been something that I enjoy doing so that was kind of my journey into it,” he said.
That journey eventually lead him to Armenia.
“I was always told that when you go to Armenia, you’re going to have this different feeling inside of you, a different kind of experience. I wasn’t really sure about it until I first set foot there. One of the main things that I noticed is I didn’t really know much about the food; the cuisine was completely different than what we know as being Armenians here in LA,” said Zada.
Ara partnered up with TUMO, a free educational program for teens, and taught cooking classes.
He met and teamed up with John Lee who was teaching food photography and Kate Leahy, a cookbook author from San Francisco. The three of them decided to put together an Armenian cookbook.
“We said ‘we’ll put our boots on the ground in Armenia, we’ll get recipes from villages and nobody can deny the fact that this is what they’re making in Armenia’. So, it’s more of like a timepiece— this is what people are cooking in Armenia at that time,” said Zada.
It took four trips and four years to put their book together. They went with the name “Lavash” — because you will find lavash at the heart of every Armenian table.
“Lavash is a beautiful flatbread that’s cooked in a ground oven called a tonir. They basically slap this thin dough that‘s stretched out over the walls of this tonir,” said Zada.
There are over 60 recipes in the book, which are sectioned off by experiences. Those experiences lead the three of them to try things they had never imagined.
“You’ve got to think about Armenian cuisine in that region as hundreds and hundreds of years ago where borders weren’t drawn. There were villages, there were kingdoms and people were making food from the land, and that food is going to cross. So dolma (grape leaves) is Armenian to me, and if you go to Armenia they’re going to tell you that dolma was Armenian, but you can go to Greece and they’re going to tell you that dolma is Greek. So it’s regional— the flavors are different,” said Zada.
“The beauty of Armenian cuisine and Armenians in general, is that if you go to Armenia, you can be walking through a random village and someone will spot you out, they’ll bring you into their home, they’ll feed you, they’ll make you stay the night—and this is somebody you don’t even know!”