Category: News

A Service of Commemoration of the Armenian Martyrs of 1915 will be held at Westminster Abbey at 7.00pm on Wednesday 28^th October.

The service will be attended by His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, His Excellency Dr Armen Sarkissian, the Armenian ambassador to the Court of St James, and members of the Armenian Government.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport John Whittingdale discussed the preparations for the event at a .

 

 

 

 

The violence and tensions on the line of contact and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border will be high on the agenda of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs’s meetings in Yerevan and Baku.

“We are concerned about these tensions, in particular, the use of heavy weapons, including mortars. We are concerned that this leads to increasing violence, heightened tensions and civilian deaths,” US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassador James Warlick told reporters in Yerevan.

“Our message in both Yerevan and Baku is to respect the ceasefire and reduce tensions.”

Warklick said the mediators will discuss with the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan the principles behind a comprehensive settlement and will talk about the possibility of organizing a summit meeting before the end of the year.

“Both Presidents have committed themselves to an intensified dialogue. They signal that they do want to meet with each other, and we’d like to use this visit as an opportunity to identify the possible dates and begin to make arrangements for the summit,” Warlick said.

The third reason the mediators are in the region is to talk about building trust and respect for security. “It comes to confidence-building measures and people-to people programs,” Amb. Warlick noted.

The US Co-Chair said that negotiations have been going on in one form or another for 20 years now, and added that “time has come for more structured negotiations.”

As for the Royce-Engel letter, Mr. Warlick said: “We fundamentally agree with the recommendations Congressmen Royce and Engel are making. Honestly, they are not new. Those are the ideas and issues the Co-Chairs have been working with for quite some time.”

The Ambassador stressed the importance of resuming discussions on an OSCE investigative mechanism, which would be helpful along the line of contact and the international border.

“We need an investigative mechanism so that we don’t see one side accusing the other and have no bases to know who committed particular acts of violence,” he added.

Warlick reiterated his earlier statement that recognition of Nagorno Karabakh by Armenia would be seen in Baku as a provocation. “Neither side should take steps that will incite violence or provoke the other side.”

Turkey’s top police intel chief and two former police intel unit heads may face up to 25 years in prison each in the investigation launched into the murder of prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, the reports.

Turkish National Police (EGM) Intelligence Department head Engin Dinç and former police chiefs Reşat Altay and Ahmet İlhan Güler have been accused of “helping commit deliberate murder,” weekly Agos reported Oct. 25, as a new indictment was presented to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Dinç and Güler were intelligence unit heads of the police departments in Trabzon and Istanbul, respectively, at the time of Dink’s murder, while Altay was Trabzon Police Department head. Dinç, Güler and Altay may receive up to 25 years in jail if the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office accepts the investigation for trial.

The indictment was presented by prosecutor Gökalp Kökçü in an investigation launched against a total of 25 suspects, including Dinç, Güler and Altay, over charges of negligence on public duty after Dink was killed outside his office building on Jan. 19, 2007.

Meanwhile, former EGM Intelligence Department head Ramazan Akyürek and former Istanbul Police Department Intelligence Unit head Ali Fuat Yılmazer may face life in prison on the charge of “committing deliberate murder,” if the indictment is accepted, as both Akyürek and Yılmazer were on duty at the time of Dink’s murder.

In addition, former Istanbul Police Department head Celalettin Cerrah and former Intelligence Unit head Sabri Uzun will appear in court on the charge of power abuse while on duty, the indictment stated.

Dinç, the current EGM Intelligence Department head and former intelligence unit head of the Trabzon Police Department, allegedly had known about an assassination plot by Yasin Hayal and his illegal organization against Dink since Feb. 15, 2006. However, he failed to notify the Trabzon Governor’s Office, the Trabzon Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), claimed Hakan Bakırcıoğlu, the Dink family attorney.

Erhan Tuncel, the perpetrator of a bomb attack in Trabzon, reportedly became a police informant at the time Dinç was the Trabzon Police Department Intelligence Unit head, from Aug. 26, 2004 to Sept. 19, 2007.

Hayal and Tuncel were accused of encouraging Dink’s murderer to commit the act.

Dink, who was editor-in-chief of Agos, was shot dead outside its office building in Istanbul’s Şişli district on Jan. 19, 2007 by 17-year-old Ogün Samast.

Relatives and followers of the case have claimed government officials, police, military personnel and members of Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency (MİT) played a role in Dink’s murder by neglecting their duty to protect the journalist.

From reinforced trenches reminiscent of World War One, Azeris and Armenians watch each other intently through binoculars. Separated by 300 meters of ground dotted with land mines, they’ve recently witnessed mounting casualties caused by ever-more powerful arsenals of weapons, Bloomberg writes.

“Their shooting is increasing,” said Simyon Sarayan, a 25-year-old front-line soldier from Nagorno-Karabakh. “We’re always on alert and ready to give a proper response.’’

While fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan would bring more turmoil to the region – and potentially disrupt a new energy corridor between Central Asia and Europe – analysts say the risks of a full-blown war dragging in other powers are limited.

“A calculated escalation to a full-scale war is still unlikely at this point,” Laurence Broers, co-editor-in-chief of the Caucasus Survey journal, told Bloomberg.  “The various constraints and risks are too great.” The international interests at stake in the region and “the exploitation of Caspian oil and gas militate against a fully-fledged military campaign.”

The agency reminds that the confrontation dates back to the dying days of the Soviet Union and adds that military spending in Azerbaijan increased 30-fold in the past decade and is planned at $4.8 billion in 2015, more than Armenia’s entire state budget.

That doesn’t deter Nagorno-Karabakh’s defense minister, Levon Mnatsakanyan, who says one of the first targets of any new war will be a BP-operated oil pipeline that’s less than 50 kilometers from the conflict zone and carries as much as 1.2 million barrels daily from Baku to Turkey’s Ceyhan.

“This is a very serious financial resource for Azerbaijan and we need to deprive them of these means,” he said in an interview in the capital, Stepanakert. “If we’d known the situation would be like this today, we’d never have signed that truce 20 years ago.’’

Azerbaijan has begun “a new stage of escalation of the situation with the use of heavy artillery,” and “violates fundamental international obligations” of resolving the conflict peacefully, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said at a conference in the capital, Yerevan, on Friday.

“The risk is that there will be a really bad incident and we’ll end up with a small war by miscalculation,’’ Tom de Waal, senior associate at Carnegie Europe, said by e-mail. While mediators “are trying to maintain the cease-fire” and keep talks going, “few believe in the chances of genuine conflict resolution.”

Nagorno-Karabakh President Bako Sahakyan equated weapons sales to Azerbaijan with similar supplies to Islamic State, now facing Russian air strikes in Syria. Even so, Armenians don’t want fighting to escalate and “we’ll do everything possible to secure our state,’’ he said in an interview last month.

Stretching out the status quo may be the Armenians’ best strategy. “Time is working for us,’’ Karen Mirzoyan, Nagorno-Karabakh’s foreign minister, said in an interview last month. “The more time passes and the more successful we are in strengthening our statehood, the closer we are to international recognition of our independence.’’

With Azerbaijan vowing Nagorno-Karabakh “will remain an inalienable part of’’ it, increased violence remains possible. Greater use of heavy weaponry has led to the “worst casualty rate since the 1994” truce as Azerbaijan seeks to challenge the outcome of the war, though “the conflict remains politically choreographed,” IHS Jane’s Intelligence Review reported on its website Tuesday.

In the Armenian trenches, senior-lieutenant Gegham Grigoryan points to evidence of that challenge left by shrapnel in the wall of a hut used by soldiers. “A mortar from a Turkish-made howitzer landed just behind here last night,” he said. “The types of weapons used here and their caliber has changed. They’re getting bigger.”

Once again, the Armenian community in Egypt added a new chapter to their rich history which thousands were recently proud to witness, according to . 

Last week 250 Armenian community leaders and members hit the road to Port Said, to take part in the inauguration ceremony of a memorial dedicated to the Armenian refugees who fled the genocide to settle in Port Fouad camps after the heroic battle of Musa Ler, or the Mountain of Moses, as translated from Armenian.

The memorial was built on a mass grave that was previously found in the city’s Orthodox cemetery where refugees who lived in the camps from 1915 to 1919 were also buried. Primate of the Armenian Orthodox Church in Egypt Bishop Ashod Mnatsaganian led the services dedicated to those who died.

In his spiritual address, Mnatsaganian highlighted the importance of organising and constructing such a memorial which proves how the Ottoman Turks failed to annihilate the Armenian nation, “since we still live, will live and multiply” he said.

Citing the example of the Battle of Musa Ler, Mnatsaganian explained how the people at the time had a purpose in life, not only to survive but had an eternal struggle for survival.

“For survival,we must fight ,this is what we aim for. We should educate the new generation so as to survive through them. We owe it to those who fell in the battle and to those who fled to Egypt seeking life. It is because of them that we are here today, to remember and memorise, to prove that we will continue our mission in life, on this land”.

On the occasion, 14 Lebanese-Armenians from the town of Ainjar came especially for the memorial opening. Their ancestors were among the refugees who settled in Port Said in 1915. On their behalf, Yessayi Havatian, head of Musa Ler Battle’s 100 anniversary committee, gave an expressive speech in which he considered the occasion the most important of all the commemorations this year “because we returned to the land where our ancestors settled”.

Havatian, whose grandfather was among the refugees and whose father was born in Port Said in 1919, said that French warships which transported the Armenian refugees first asked Cyprus to host them, but were refused. When Egypt was asked to do so, the Egyptian government immediately accepted the idea of hosting them for which they are still  grateful and touched.

Moses Mountain was the site of an Armenian resistance story in 1915 when the Turkish government conducted violent operations in the region.

Five thousand of the population climbed the mountain to revolt and escape the deportation; 250 of them took part in a battle that lasted 53 days.

French naval forces in the Mediterranean sighted the survivors as they prepared rescue banners for attention. On 15 September 1915 four French warships, including the Guichen and one British naval vessel, evacuated Musa Ler and transported 4,231 refugees to Port Fouad where they lived peacefully and securely until they were able to return to their homes in November 1919. Some of them resettled in Lebanon, in the town of Ainjar, located in the Bekaa Valley, and established a 100 per cent Armenian-populated town in 1939. Today Ainjar is inhabited by 5,000 people.

Born in Ainjar, Egyptian-Armenian jeweller Varouj Chilinguirian, a member of the Musa Ler Battle’s 100 anniversary committee, and coordinator of the group which visited Egypt, was relieved once he stood on the land where his maternal grandfather settled in 1915.

“I’ve been dreaming of this moment since 2008 but then the revolution came and I had to practise patience. We owe it to the community’s church committee who finally made such a memorial come true,” Chilinguirian told Al-Ahram Weekly. His grandfather, who later became a priest, was 17 when he arrived in Port Fouad Camp. In 1919 he left to Musa Ler then settled in Ainjar.

The memorial is designed by Egyptian-Armenian architect and archaeologist Nairy Hampikian. “It is a mixture of the Sartarabad Battle and the genocide memorials found in Armenia,” stated Hampikian. Construction work started in autumn 2014 and was completed in February this year. The memorial, sitting on a mass grave of the remains of around 400 refugees, is made of Italian black and white karara marble.

“I consider the memorial a revival of the remains of those refugees who settled in Port Fouad camps,” Hampikian told the Weekly.

Historical events in Musa Ler inspired Austrian Franz Werfel to write his novel The Forty Days of Musa Dagh in 1933. A movie of the same name was released in 1982.

Head of the Armenian Catholic Church in Egypt Bishop Krikor- Okosdinos Coussa, Ambassador of Armenia Armen Melkonian, representatives of the Coptic Church in Port Said and Mayor of Ainjar Garabed Pamboukian attended the memorial’s opening.

Egypt received large waves of Armenian refugees from the Hamidian Massacres, the CUP (Committee of Union and Progress) Ottoman genocide and the Kemalist wars.

After the prayers and before leaving the cemetery, members of the community and ancestors of the Port Fouad Camp refugees laid red roses on the memorial in respect to their souls.

A local award ceremony for an EU Cultural Heritage/Europa Nostra Award prize in the category of Conservation will be taking place in Nicosia on Tuesday, recognising the work performed on an Armenian church and monastery in Cyprus, reports.

Italian architect Paoli Vitti led the restoration team and wrote an article on the project, which was kindly shared with the media by Italy’s Ambassador to Cyprus Guido Cerboni.

In the article, Vitti describes the ancient Armenian Church and Monastery of Nicosia as “a pearl or gothic architecture of Cyprus” and outlines the role the Italian School of restoration played it is restoration.

Excerpts from Vitti’s article and a photo showcasing the restoration, which was also recognised in an Oslo ceremony in June, can be seen below:

“The site at stake is located in the northern part of the walled city of Nicosia, close to the “Green Line” which keeps the island divided in two parts to the present day. It is composed of a number of buildings which constitute true architectural gems, as they hold precious memories of the urban life of both the Catholic and Armenian communities, relating to a historical period spanning from the 1300’s to the 1900’s. In fact, many aspects of the site recall essential historical moments of the island, pertaining to the Lusignan, Venetian, Ottoman and British periods.

Thanks to the help of the USAID (US Agency for International Development) funds, the direction of the operations on behalf of the UNDP-ACT (United Nations Development Programme – Action for Trust) and the participation of an important Italian group of prominent architects specialized in the restoration and conservation of ancient structures, the Armenian Church and Monastery have been saved from a gradual deterioration that threatened to erase the memories that they have guarded until the present day. Moreover, this intervention has allowed the recovery and conservation of unique historical documents contained within the structures. The restoration project was commenced in 2007 and was finally concluded in 2012,” Vitti wrote.

He notes historical records corroborate the great significance of the Monastery, which was dedicated to the Notre Dame de Tortose and contained an icon of the Virgin Mary that is believed to have been painted by St. Luke.

He also noted: “The history of the Monastery is also closely tied to the Kingdom of Cyprus. Indeed, the pavement of the Church is encrusted not only with the tombstones of clerics, but also with the ones of knights and nobles of the respective period. Unfortunately, in 1960 the Department of Antiquities granted permission to the Armenian community to substitute the tombstones in question with a modern flooring. As a consequence, many of the gravestones at stake have gone lost. Luckily, however, a fundamental relic concerning the Cypriot funerary architecture was recovered, namely the monument of Abbess Echieve de Dampierre”.

Vitti added: “The restoration was not only aimed at the recovery of the architectural identity of the site, but also at the rehabilitation of the memories stolen from the Armenian community in the 1963 events. The Armenians have been finally able to celebrate a Mass in the site on the 11th May 2014 for the first time after fifty years. The Armenian community was at last reunited in its original place, steeped with memories of its past. After many decades parents were able to show their children the place where they have been baptized, where they have married, and where they have studied. In brief, the Armenian community was ultimately capable to claim back the site, and will hopefully succeed in the reintegration of its communitarian life. In the meantime, an agreement between the Armenian community and Evkaf, the Islamic religious organization which at the moment guards the site, has allowed for the use of the monastic buildings on behalf of Institutions which respect the history of the place and carry out instructional activities in the historical centre of Nicosia. The walled city is finally ready, also thanks to the presence of the Armenian Church, to reawaken and, hopefully, to ultimately overcome the barriers which still divide it”.

Azerbaijan’s claims to Nagorno Karabakh are void of any historic, legal, political or moral ground, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said at the Third Forum of International Forum of MGIMO (Moscow State Institute of International Relations) Graduates.

“The people of Nagorno Karabakh are struggling for their indisputable right for self-determination, a right enshrined in the UN Charter and other founding documents of international law,” the President said.

“Nagorno Karabakh has proven its right to exist through a persistent centuries-long struggle. Nagorno Karabakh has never been part of independent Azerbaijan,” he added.

“A new formation called Azerbaijan appeared on the political map of the South Caucasus after the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1918. Therefore, the claims that Nagorno Karabakh belonged to Azerbaijan before 1918 are absolutely improper, since the state never existed before. The League of Nations turned down newly-formed Azerbaijan’s bid for membership because of the uncertainty of its borders. Azerbaijanis tried to annex Karabakh by force. Between 1918 and 1920 the Azerbaijani military units committed a massacre of the Armenian population. Over 40 thousand Armenians were killed or deported from Shushi, the regional cultural center, only in March 1920. This terrible massacre left a deep and bleeding wound,” the Armenian President said.

President Sargsyan added that at the moment of collapse of the Soviet Union, there were two independent and equal subjects formed on the territory of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan – the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and the Republic of Azerbaijan.”

“Azerbaijan, which had a second chance to create an independent state, repeated the attempt of 1918, launching an aggression against Nagorno Karabakh, shelling peaceful cities and villages, killing and deporting Armenians,” he said.

The President reminded that the negotiations on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict are being held within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group – the only body authorized with an international mandate. He noted, however, that Azerbaijan constantly turns down any proposal on the resolution of the conflict and the confidence-building measures.

Bu inciting tensions at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan not only violates the international commitments to refuse from the use of forces or the threat of use of force enshrined in the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act and the Declaration on Principles of International Law, but also the commitments assumed under a trilateral ceasefire agreement, ignoring the numerous calls of the heads of state of the Minsk Group co-chairing countries.

To conclude with, Serzh Sargsyan reiterated Armenia’s commitment to solve the Karabakh conflict exceptionally in a peaceful way.

A concert in Miami will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Joe Zeytoonian and his wife Eli will perform a concert at Arts At St Johns, Miami Beach, on November 7, the reports.

Douglas Kalajian’s father was 3 when his mother was killed during the Armenian Genocide. Now, 100 years later, Kalajian will share stories about his family’s experience, accompanied by performers Myriam Eli, Alique Mazmanian, Reza Filsoofi and Joe Zeytoonian.

When Kalajian was 8, a professor on TV started talking about the Armenian Genocide. His father broke down.

“I asked my mother, ‘Why is daddy crying?’ She said it was ‘because the Turks killed his mother.’ Until that moment, I had no idea. And from that moment, I wanted to know the rest of the story,” Kalajian said.

Kalajian discovered that it was a difficult topic to discuss; his mother discouraged his search, telling him never to ask his father about it “because it made [his father] too sad.”

He kept searching for answers, though, and documented his search in his novel, Stories My Father Never Finished Telling Me. Kalajian will read from his book during the event and will take questions from the audience.

The story of loss and silence isn’t rare for Armenians. Throughout the genocide, an estimated 800,000 to 1.5 million lives were lost.

Major facets of Armenian culture also were lost in the wake of the genocide. In an effort to preserve this culture, Arts at St. Johns and Harmonic Motion will host an Armenian Commemorative Concert to observe the 100th anniversary of the genocide.

Zeytoonian and his wife Eli were approached by Arts at St. Johns to put together the concert. Zeytoonian will play the oud (a traditional Armenian instrument) and his wife will dance and play percussion instruments.

“When musicians play these songs, they’re preserving this culture. It’s a gift not only to me, but to the whole world,” said Kalajian.

Zeytoonian also was deeply impacted by the genocide; both sides of his family were devastated. His grandfather was killed when his grandmother was eight months pregnant with his father. He decided to convey the loss his family felt through his music.

“Armenian music has a particular nostalgia in its sound. My sound is a combination of that and the Anatolian roots of my parents who were driven from their homes in Maras, Turkey,” Zeytoonian said.

The performances will consist of songs, dances and narratives. The aim is to inform people who may not have even been alive during the genocide.

“As with most heavy issues, simple awareness is crucial. In her book, A Problem from Hell, Samantha Power, ambassador to the United Nations, points out that the Armenian Genocide was the first of the 20th century. With muted reaction from familiar nation states, Hitler’s boldness became manifested just 30 years later,” Zeytoonian said.

The concert is called Hye Doun, which means Armenian home. It is part of the Arts at St. Johns 2015-2016 season theme, “Places We Call Home.”

Armenia will join the world on October 24 to mark the 70^th anniversary of the United Nations.

Zvartnots Cathedral will be lit in blue from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Some 250 sites around the world will be lit in ‘UN blue’ beginning on Friday as part of the global celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the United Nations.

The celebration will kick off in New Zealand and from there a wave of blue – the official colour of the UN – will move across countries and continents as monuments around the world take part in the event to commemorate UN Day, October 24.

The Day marks the anniversary of the entry into force of the UN Charter. With the ratification of this founding document by the majority of its signatories, including the five permanent members of the Security Council, the Organization officially came into being.

Among the famous landmarks taking part in the ‘Turn the World UN Blue’ campaign will be the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, the Great Wall of China, Russia’s Hermitage Museum, and the ancient city of Petra in Jordan.

Participants of the Third International Forum of MGIMO (Moscow State Institute of International Relations) Graduates visited the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial today to pay tribute to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims.