Category: News

The bodies of the eight Armenians killed in a bus crash in Russia’s Tula region will be transported to Yerevan on a charter flight on November 5, the Ministry of Transport and Communication reports.

The plane is expected to take off from Moscow at 5 p.m. local time and land at Zvartnots Airport at 8 p.m. Yerevan time.

The plane will also transport the injured passengers, whose health condition is satisfactory. The names of the passengers that will fly to Yerevan will be published tomorrow.

Those, who are currently getting treatment at medical centers in Tula will remain there as long as needed.

Arzu Geybullayeva (photo from PEN International)

Azerbaijan-born journalist and blogger Arzu Geybullayeva has written for major news outlets like Foreign Policy and al-Jazeera. Yet it’s her work for Agos, a Turkish-Armenian newspaper, that has led to threats from her native land, according to the

For the Istanbul-based Geybullayeva, the criticism of her work for Agos began with small Azeri outlets, and spread to Azerbaijan’s state-owned media. Eventually, Geybullayeva, who frequently blogs about human rights in Azerbaijan, received death threats online. By 2014 she realized it was no longer safe for her to return to her home country.

Among the tactics the Azeri government has used against Geybullayeva is to apply pressure to her family in Azerbaijan, a strategy it has used against other journalists and dissidents.

The Turkish ruling party was expected to ensure the right to form a government on its own, Giro Manoyan, Head of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Bureau’s Hay Dat and Political Affairs Office, told a press conference today, as he cpmmented on the putcome of the parlaimentary elections in Turkey.

It was clear after the July elections that Erdogan would destabilize the situation in the country to make the public cast its vote for stability, i.e. the ruling party.

According to Manoyan, Erdogan will maintain the same policy line both on the domestic and foreign policy fields.

Giro Manoyan says Turkey is rather isolated today and doubts it will solve issues on the foreign policy front. Neither will it take steps towards improvement of relations with Armenia.

“If not the issue of Syrian refugees, where Turkey is seen by many European states see as a key role- player, the country’s alienation from the West would be even deeper. The domestic polarization in Turkey will also continue, because this is what that country’s policy is based on,” Manoyan said.

As for Armenian-Turkish relations, he expects no breakthrough in the coming four years, because Turkey has a lot of internal problems to solve.

Besides, according to Manoyan, Turkey’s continues to associate its relations with Armenia with those between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and is not likely to change the policy in the near future.

“The steps connected with the Armenian community of Turkey will also be formal, while actually the discriminative policy will continue,” he said.

Manoyan added that “the three Armenian MPs that retained their seats in the Parliament will hardly be able to properly defend the interests of the Armenian community.”

Serving and giving oneself for others may make one “seem like a loser in the eyes of the world,” but in reality that person is imitating Christ’s love and service, which conquered death and gave life to the world, Pope Francis said, according to the

“He who serves, saves,” the pope said. “On the contrary, he who does not live to serve does not serve to live.”

Pope Francis presided over Mass Nov. 3 in St. Peter’s Basilica in remembrance of cardinals and bishops who died in the past year. They included U.S. Cardinals Edward M. Egan of New York, Francis E. George of Chicago, William W. Baum of Washington, D.C., and Canadian Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte of Montreal.

Also remembered at the Mass were 99 archbishops and bishops from around the world who died in the past 12 months, as well as Armenian Catholic Patriarch Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni.

Recalling the lives of the deceased cardinals and bishops, the pope expressed his gratitude for their vocation of serving others and said that like them, we too, “are called to renew the choice of serving in the church.”

The pope explained that although it may be difficult to understand the mystery of Christ’s humility, the secret lies in the strength of a love “that lowers itself” and “assumes the condition of a servant.”

Jesus, he continued, “made the cross a bridge toward life” that “also allows us to conquer death with him” by choosing to love others with humility.

“It is a love that does not cry out and does not impose itself, but knows how to wait with trust and patience because, as we were reminded in the Book of Lamentations, ‘It is good to wait in silence for the Lord to save,’” he said.

In remembering the cardinals and bishops who have passed away this year, the pope said that the faithful are called to reflect not on what serves their needs, but rather what serves the needs of others.

Christians, he said, are “not called to be officials who perform services, but beloved children who give their lives for the world.”

Photo by Charles Lomodong, AFP

Five members of the crew of the cargo plane that crashed in South Sudan today were citizens of the Republic of Armenia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs.

“According to a preliminary information from the Armenian Embassy in Egypt, five crewmembers were citizens of the Republic of Armenia,” the Ministry said.

Further information about the identity of the victims will follow.

A cargo plane that was reportedly overloaded crashed along the banks of the Nile River after taking off from the South Sudan’s capital.

The Syrian Armed Forces have taken control over a strategically important highway in the north of the country, a military source told on Wednesday.

Terrorists controlled the highway for 10 days.

, a travel company located in Bristol, United Kingdom, is planning new group tours to Nagorno Karabakh.

Two tours are scheduled for May 6 and August 28, 2016. The trips will start from Armenian and last 11 days; visits to the cities of Shushi and Stepanakert, Gandzasar and Dadivank Monasteries, the Mayraberd and Tigranakert fortresses are envisaged.

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has said the trips are “illegal.” Spokesman for the Ministry Hikmat Hajiyev told APA that the Azerbaijani Embassy in the UK will inform the country’s state bodies about the “illegal” activity of the travel company and take necessary measures in this regard.

The travel company doesn’t organize trips to Azerbaijan.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) welcomes news that the negotiation of a U.S.-Armenia Double Tax Treaty, a longstanding ANCA policy priority, will be on the agenda of the upcoming U.S.-Armenia Economic Task Force meeting, an annual bilateral gathering taking place in Washington, DC on November 19th.

“An updated U.S.-Armenia Double Tax Treaty is long overdue and badly needed to establish a clear legal framework for investors and individuals that are conducting business activities in both jurisdictions,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.  “Beyond the immediate benefits of preventing double taxation and removing a key barrier to increased investment, such an accord would, more broadly, reinforce the friendship of the American and Armenian peoples, facilitate the expansion of bilateral economic relations, deepening Armenia’s ties to the West, and providing Yerevan with greater strategic options and independence in dealing with regional powers.”

In August of this year, the ANCA met with Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew regarding the Treasury Department’s role in the further growth of the U.S.-Armenia economic relationship, with a special focus on the mutual benefits of a new U.S.-Armenia Double Tax Treaty.

The Republic of Armenia has repeatedly asked for a new agreement to replace a 1973 U.S.-U.S.S.R. Tax Treaty. This outdated, forty year-old accord, which Yerevan no longer considers in force, was intended as a limited agreement, even by the standards of the 1970s, between two hostile superpowers. It is clearly insufficient to the needs of the present-day economic relationship with Armenia.  The lack of a modern treaty, acceptable to all parties, results in a lack of clarity and represents a substantial deterrent for potential U.S. investors. Without an updated Tax Treaty, U.S. businesses will continue to face significant burdens on investment and cross-border services and payments, as well as a lack of transparent information exchange and obstacles to cooperation on tax and related matters.

Prior to the November 19th U.S.-Armenia Economic Taskforce meeting, the first-ever meeting of the newly created U.S.-Armenia Trade and Investment Framework Agreement Council will take place on November 16th and 17th. This inaugural meeting is set to be chaired by the U.S. Trade Representative, Michael Froman, and Armenia’s Minister of Economy Karen Chshmaritian.  The signing of a U.S.-Armenia TIFA, the result of nearly a decade of ANCA advocacy and bilateral dialogue, took place this May in Washington, DC.