Category: News

Photo: Reuters

Iraqi forces have retaken a former government compound in Ramadi from where Islamic State (IS) group militants have been resisting an army offensive, the military has said, the BBC reports.

The complex was “under complete control” and there was no sign of IS fighters, a spokesman said.

He said this heralded the defeat of IS in the city, although he admitted there could be pockets of resistance.

The government has been trying to retake Ramadi for weeks.

The mainly Sunni Arab city, about 55 miles (90km) west of Baghdad, fell to IS in May, and was seen as an embarrassing defeat for the army.

On 28 December a solemn ceremony of awarding individuals registered outstanding achievements in various spheres of the republic’s life and a group of the Defense Army’s servicemen and freedom fighters took place at the Artsakh Republic President’s residence. Artsakh sportsmen who registered high results in 2015 were handed in financial rewards.

In his speech President Sahakyan underlined that the state valued and appreciated very much the patriotic activity and service expressing hope that the awards would give impetus to raising the work efficiency on a consistent basis.

The Head of the State congratulated the attendees on the coming New Year and Christmas wishing everyone peace, robust health, happiness and all the best.

Primate of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan, National Assembly chairman Ashot Ghoulyan, premier Arayik Haroutyunyan and other officials partook at the ceremony.

Hovhannes Hambardzumyan and Artak Dashyan have pledged their future to Vardar after recently agreeing to new contracts with the table leaders in Macedonia, according to .

Vardar rewarded Hovhannes Hambardzumyan and Artak Dashyan with improved contracts to keep them at the club for the foreseeable future. The new deals were confirmed by their agent, Rouben Vesmadian, of Bucket Group Sports Management.

Hambardzumyan has been the best right-back in Macedonian league ever since he joined Vardar. Vesmanian told us that the extension will make Hovhannes the highest paid player in Macedonia, passing the likes of Ferhan Hasani and Tome Pachovski. Furthermore, his agent informed us that Hambardzumyan was drawing interest from Watford and Anderlecht. Those are top division sides from England and Belgium, respectively.

As for Dashyan, Vardar values his versatility. Dashyan has shown the ability to play in defensive midfield, attacking midfield or on the wings. So, Vardar locked him up by identifying Artak as a key piece for now and the future. Vesmadian, the agent of Dashyan as well, told us that Shkendija also showed strong interest in the 26-year-old player. Dashyan will sign his new contract on January 11 when he returns to Macedonia from his vacation.

Vesmadian, the CEO of Bucket Group, also formerly represented Cesar Romero. The key word being formerly since Bucket Group cut ties with Romero due to personal issues with the Mexican-American striker. Vardar actually released Romero since he committed numerous discipline violations. Cesar is looking to resume his career in Mexico now that he is a free agent.

President Serzh Sargsyan sent a congratulatory message on the occasion of New Year and Holly Christmas to the leadership of a dozen of the Armenian educational establishments in Syria, which continue to function in war conditions, to their employees and students and wished them productive work and perpetual energy in their dedicated work for the benefit of the Armenian nation.

The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh region causes serious concern, the sides should evade further escalation of the conflict, Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha said Sunday, reports.

“We are greatly concerned about the situation in the Caucasus, especially in connection with the Karabakh conflict, where on the contact line heavy weapons, tanks are used, there are casualties,” Bordyuzha said in an interview to Rossiya-24 television.

He added that political resource of the CSTO states should be used to prevent further destabilization of the situation.

“To ensure that this conflict, that is already in a fairly hot stage, does not turn into a large-scale military clashes,” Bordyuzha stressed.

Turkey’s main opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (CHP) faction has submitted a bill to the parliament, which offers to provide Turkish citizenship to the heirs of those exiled from the country starting from 1914 and those deprived of citizenship because of some reason, Ermenihaber.am reports, quoting haberaktuel.com.

If the bill passes, citizenship will be granted to Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians who lost their homeland during the genocide, as well as their heirs (up to the fourth generation).

The bill also applies to Armenians, Greeks and Jews that suffered as a result of the massacre in Istanbul on September 6-7, 1955, also as their heirs.

Should the bill turn into law, the Armenian Genocide survivors and their generations can apply for Turkish citizenship if they present the following documents: passports of the time, church protocols, protocols of the minority organizations, Ottoman documents, documents from the countries of residence, which prove they arrived from Turkey.

A similar bill was submitted by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), but was rejected by the Turkish Parliament.

Kurdish groups in southeastern Turkey have called for self-rule, separate from Ankara, as heavy fighting between them and the Turkish Army continues, Reuters reports.

Over 200 Kurdish militants were killed on Sunday during a security operation by the army.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had cancelled a planned meeting with the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) on Saturday, saying its politics were rooted in violence.

The call came at the tail end of a summit of the Democratic People’s Congress (DTK), a coalition of non-governmental Kurdish groups.

“To form a democratic autonomous region including one or several neighbouring provinces, one needs to take into account their cultural, economic and geographic affinities,” said Hatip Dicle, Leader of Kurdish Democratic People’s Congress.

The final resolution of the meeting called for the formation of autonomous Kurdish regions, including several neighbouring provinces.

As another year draws to a close, the looks at some top holiday destinations for 2016 and offers to visit Armenia, among others.

“Armenia is a Christian nation on Asia’s edge, where east and west collide, bordering Turkey, Georgia, Iran and Azerbaijan,” explains Kerry O’Neill, of Secret Compass, which organizes the Armenia: Fables, Myths and Legends expedition.

“This team expedition across the rugged ridge lines of its Southern Caucasus mountains was tough but not impossible, totally wild and ultimately very satisfying.

“The 12-strong team got on brilliantly, working in small teams to set up camp and cook every night.

“We exchanged travellers’ tales and learned about Armenia’s turbulent history from our guides, the cloudline sometimes below us, sometimes above. The mountain peaks rippled out as far as the eye could see, southwards into Iran, eastwards into Azerbaijan.”

“We experienced the incredible hospitality – and ferociously strong alcoholic shots! – of our kind hosts near Tatev Monastery at our adventure’s end. Used to the normally conservative nature of travel in the Middle East, Armenia offered a breath of high-altitude fresh air.”

Highlights include: Scaling two mountains above 3,200m in the very remote and wild Arevik National Park; visiting Tatev Monastery, perched precipitously on the side of the Vorotan Gorge, Armenia’s deepest gorge; and exploring Yerevan afterwards, a buzzing capital city.

The Lincolnshire Echo offers to follow in Kerry’s footsteps on the Armenia expedition from August 27 to September 4, 2016.

The organizers of the International Music Festival of Muhammad, the Prophet of Kindness (S) plan to honor three prominent, world renowned musicians during the closing ceremony on Monday, reports.

French composer Maurice Jarre (1924–2009), mostly known for his composition for Syrian-American director Moustapha Akkad’s “The Message” (1976), Oscar-winning Indian composer A. R. Rahman, the composer of “Muhammad (S), the Messenger of God”, Majid Majidi’s epic on the Prophet of Islam, and Iranian-Armenian composer and conductor Loris Tjeknavorian are the three honorees.

The Art and Cultural Organization of the Tehran Municipality has established the festival to celebrate the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad (S), which falls on December 29 this year, music director of the organization Babak Rabukheh told the Persian service of MNA on Saturday.

“A number of musicians attending the festival will be performing a new composition of the music from the film “Muhammad (S), the Messenger of God”, with my own arrangement at the closing ceremony,” Rabukheh added.

The closing ceremony will be held in Bahman Cultural Center on the eve of the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad (S) on Monday.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has visited the families of Iranian Christian martyrs on the occasion of Jesus Christ’s birth anniversary, reports. 

In a picture  [email protected]/* */_ir twitter account on Saturday, Ayatollah Khamenei can be seen during a meeting with the mother of a Christian martyr who lost life during the Iraq-Iran war.

“Soldiers’ endeavor roots in mothers’ endeavor,” the Leader said.

“The Christian minority – both Armenian and Assyrian – emerged honorably from the [1978] revolution and the [1980s Iraqi-imposed] war, as loyal, wise, insightful and brave Iranians,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

“Jesus has undoubtedly no less value among Muslims than his stature in the eyes of those who are fully devoted to Christianity,” read another tweet on Christmas Day.