Category: News

The agreement on the Iranian nuclear program opens new prospects for strengthening regional and international cooperation, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said on Friday, TASS reports.

“This agreement is important not only from the point of view of strengthening stability and security, but it also paves the way for developing mutually beneficial regional and international cooperation,” Nalbandian said at the opening of III International Forum of MGIMO (Moscow State Institute of International Relations) Graduates.

“We are now working with Iranian colleagues in several promising spheres,” the foreign minister said. “Iran’s more active international economic involvement can make the region much more attractive from the economic point of view,” he stressed.

On 23 October Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Armenia, Yervand Zakharyan and his deputy Levon Shahverdyan, Central Information Department of the Office of the NKR President reported.

A wide range of issues related to the economic cooperation between the two Armenian states were discussed during the meeting.

NKR minister of economy Andranik Khachatryan partook in the meeting.

Director of Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Hayk Demoyan delivered a lecture at the Faculty of Protestant Theology of the Charles University in Prague on “The History and memory of the Genocides Committed in the Ottoman Empire against Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians”.

The lecture marked the start of genocide courses at Charles University.

The course is intended for BA and MA students at the faculties of history, political science, theology, anthropology, philosophy, sociology, medicine and law in Charles University. The course is being held for the first time and the lectures will be continued until the end of the academic year. Foreign and Czech experts studying genocides are invited; including; specialist of Holocaust and other genocides in history Dr. Paul Levine, and Academician Gerhard Baumgartner. During this course the students will learn about genocide causes, mass violence, history of mass genocides, and crimes against humanity.

AGMI Director handed the publications of AGMI to the faculty library.

Agreement for future cooperation has been made between AGMI and Faculty of Protestant Theology of the Charles University. –

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian got a surprise 35th birthday party from her husband Kanye West. West gathered Kim’s mother Kris Jenner and sisters Kourtney Kardashian, Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner for a special movie screening at the Westlake Cinepolis theatre in LA, reported Us Weekly.

Keen to not let Kim feel like the odd one out, the rapper engineered the party so that all of her friends came dressed as their ‘best pregnant Kim’ so she could enjoy her birthday surrounded by fellow bumps.

And the reality TV star was so touched by his gesture, which included hiring out a cinema for her friends and family to enjoy as well as a lavish birthday cake, she took to Twitter to gush about how lovely her husband is, according to Metro.

Kim Kardashian gushed over the attractive birthday cake via an Instagram post and called it “the flawless chill yummy food birthday.”

President Serzh Sargsyan had a meeting today with the President of the European People’s Party (EPP), Joseph Daul, in Madrid. At the outset, Serzh Sargsyan congratulated Joseph Daul on being reelected as President during the EPP congress on 21 October and wished him success, expressing the hope that under the leadership of Mr. Daul, the EPP, as the most influential political force of Europe, will continue to fulfil its mission and meet the expectations of European voters.

The interlocutors discussed issues pertaining to the further promotion of cooperation with the EPP, the prospects of RA-EU relations, the strengthening of ties between the RPA and EPP, Armenia’s collaboration with its EPP partners in international platforms, as well as to common issues and challenges which will also be touched upon during today’s broadened summit of the EPP. The RA president and the EPP president reflected upon the current stage of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process within the frames of the OSCE Minsk Group and upon the existing problems. The interlocutors also exchanged views on the situation in the Middle East and on the refugee crisis.

Armenia’s president presented to Joseph Daul the process of RA constitutional amendments and the importance of making amendments to the fundamental law for our country.

President Serzh Sargsyan noted that he warmly recalls Mr. Daul’s visit to Armenia in April this year and his participation in the events to commemorate the Armenian Genocide Centennial, by which, Armenia’s president was certain, the EPP president reiterated his and his party’s loyalty to the universal values that underlie European integration. Stressing the importance of the resolution “The Armenian Genocide and European Values” adopted by the EPP Political Assembly, the president thanked the party leader and those EPP members of the PACE who endorsed that statement.

The RA president will also take part in the EPP broadened summit in Madrid.

Canadian Armenian filmmaker Atom Egoyan newest work, Remember, was presented at Festival du Nouveau Cinéma last week and attempts to bring a material reality to the unfathomable tragedy of genocide, reports.

After success at the Venice Film Festival, the Oscar nominee presents a tale that revolves around Zev Guttman (Christopher Plummer), a Holocaust survivor struggling with dementia. He tries to track down and kill the Nazi leader of his block at Auschwitz, who killed Zev’s family before escaping to North America under an assumed name.

Due to his failing memory, Zev must constantly be reminded of his mission through a letter written by Max (Martin Landau), a fellow Auschwitz survivor and the organizer for Zev’s journey.

“It focuses on the questions of memory and justice and how to deal with unresolved history. It’s fuelled by the notion of trauma. The two characters are both survivors,” said Egoyan.

Anti-Semitism and the formation of hate play a central role in Remember, exemplified in a powerful scene where Zev visits the home of a neo-Nazi (Breaking Bad’s Dean Norris). At first, the man believes Zev is a Nazi as well. After Zev is forced to admit that he’s Jewish, the man becomes furious, forcefully screaming threatening anti-Semitic profanities.

“It’s horrifying in that moment; we understand the mechanics,” Egoyan said. “We see what triggers hate. When the trust is betrayed, he has to find a reason for his sense of pain and it converts into this extraordinarily violent anti-Semitism.”

This is Egoyan’s second film with Plummer. Their first collaboration, Ararat, also focused on themes of genocide, specifically the Armenian massacre during World War I.

From 1915 to 1918, the former Ottoman Empire was responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in what is now the Republic of Turkey. Many of the persecuted were burned alive, drowned or given poisonous drugs. Others were subjected to death marches, where they were forced to wander toward the Syrian Desert, deprived of food and water. Raphael Lemkin used these events as a reference when he first coined the word genocide in 1943.

Egoyan said that as an Armenian, he can relate to Remember’s theme of mass murders left unresolved, especially since the institutional perpetrators have never admitted guilt, and the Turkish government still hasn’t recognized the methodical mass murders as genocide.

“I’m bringing my own sort of history, but I’m also understanding the persistence of what fuelled the Holocaust,” he said.

The Ottomans committed the Armenian genocide with the oversight of the German government. During his reign, many of Hitler’s key friends and policy makers could be directly connected to perpetrators in World War I. Evidence suggests that Hitler used tactics gleaned from the Armenian genocide as a template when executing his Final Solution.

More and more institutions are recognizing the Armenian genocide. Within the past year, Pope Francis acknowledged the genocide at his service in Rome, going as far as to say: “Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it.”

Egoyan is proud that the Catholic Church supports the plight of the Armenians, though he’s more pleased to hear that the German and Austrian governments have acknowledged their roles. He feels that their admission of responsibility has opened a new constructive dialogue.

“Some extraordinary things happened this year,” he said. “People are beginning to understand [the genocide] as a template for things that happened afterwards.”

“I used to always boycott Turkey,” said Egoyan.

As a young man, the Canadian director was passionately involved in a political Armenian student group at the University of Toronto, dedicated to bring awareness to issues of genocide and a destructively selective state memory. This year, however, Egoyan attended a wedding in Turkey for the daughter of Hrant Dink, the Armenian journalist assassinated by a Turkish nationalist in 2007.

When the director entered Turkey for the first time, he discovered a community of Armenians that were never driven out, a people on the frontline of forming a new dialogue around the genocide. At the time, these groups gave Egoyan hope for a new dynamic in the conversation between the Turkish government and Armenians.

“When I went in the summer all this seemed very possible. Literally three weeks after I got back it all went to hell. It’s very scary what’s happening in Turkey right now.”

Though the dialogue process may have broken down as political tensions in Turkey increased, Egoyan believes that there are enough progressive forces to shift the discussion, just as he has witnessed in the 28 countries who acknowledge the genocide around the world.

“Since I was a student, Canada has recognized the genocide,” he said. “That was an extraordinary moment. There’s a huge shift in contagiousness.”

A masked man attacked a school in southern Sweden on Thursday before being shot by police. Health authorities said one teacher was killed and two students seriously wounded in the attack, the Associated Press reports.

Students fled Thursday morning from the Kronan school in Trollhattan, near Goteborg, Sweden’s second-largest city. In a statement, police in Trollhattan said the attack took place in the school’s cafe area.

Health authorities in Trollhattan said in a statement that one teacher died after being wounded in the attack and two students, aged 11 and 15, were seriously wounded with cuts. They said the attacker was also in serious condition.

Police earlier said four students had been wounded. It was not possible to immediately rectify the differing accounts.

The school has 400 students, ranging from pre-school to high school.

Swedish media say the school held a meeting Thursday morning to discuss teachers’ worries that the school was too open, with a cafe for adults that meant the school could not control who comes in.

The Dagens Nyheter newspaper said students must go through the cafe to reach the school’s own cafeteria and other parts of the building.

Armenian National Assembly Speaker Galust Sahakyan met with the Chairman of the Syrian Parliament Mohammad Jihad al-Laham on the sidelines of the 133^rd assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Galust Sahakyan said it’s a great pain for Armenia to see the developments in Syria.

“We are more than friends with Syria. We never forget that Syria opened its doors for Armenians that fled genocide,” he said.

Speaking about the Armenian-Syrian inter-parliamentary cooperation, Mr.Sahakyan noted that Armenian MPs periodically visit Syria to learn about the situation on the spot and report detailed information.

Galust Sahakyan noted that wars with features of genocide continue today because the Armenian Genocide was not properly condemned by the world at the time.

The Speaker reiterated Armenia’s willingness to stand by brotherly Syria on all international platforms.

Mohammad Jihad al-Laham invited Galust Sahakyan to Syria.

The Chairman of the Syrian Parliament expressed gratitude for the meeting and said: “The Russian-Syrian coalition has already achieved serious progress.  We are grateful to you for supporting us. Please, convey President Bashar al-Assad’s thanks to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.”

Speaking about the assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Mohammad Jihad al-Laham said “it’s sad the international community is using double standards with regard to Syria.”

The has published an article titled “Armenian Genocide and Beyond: The Road to Deir al-Zor,” in which author Benny Morris refers to the Armenian Genocide, the comemoration of its centennial, Turkey’s move to mark Gallipoli anniversary on April 24. Below is an excerpt form the article:

This year Turkey moved its Gallipoli anniversary commemoration, traditionally marked on April 25—the day the Allies landed on the peninsula just west of Istanbul—to April 24. April 24, of course, is the day on which Armenians around the world have traditionally commemorated the slaughter of their forefathers by the Ottoman Turkish government. That day, in 1915, the police in Constantinople rounded up some 250 Armenian leaders for deportation and death. This act was followed by systematic mass deportations and massacres.

This year was the centenary of both World War I events. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with his wonted crudity and cynicism, moved the Gallipoli remembrance by a day in order to overshadow the Armenian commemoration and divert international attention away from the Turks’ crime against humanity, considered by most historians to be the first genocide of the twentieth century.

All Turkish governments since World War I have denied Turkish responsibility for the mass murder and, indeed, have usually denied that it actually took place, explaining that a much smaller number of Armenians had died (much, incidentally, as Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian “president,” in his PhD thesis claimed that “only” several hundred thousand Jews had died during the Holocaust). Instead, Turkish governments have claimed that the Armenians, a disloyal people, had rebelled against the country and tried to stab it in the back during the war; that the Armenian victims were the result of clashes between armed rebels and the empire’s security forces; and that, if massacres occurred, they were the doing of overzealous local officials and/or Kurdish tribesmen, rather than a product of the policy of the central government, which had merely ordered the removal of Armenians from war zones.

Few, if any, of the foreign dignitaries who attended Erdogan’s festivities at Gallipoli, including princes Charles and Harry from Great Britain and the prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand, whose troops had participated in the landings on the peninsula, were probably aware of the grim irony that undercut the Turkish celebrations.

Click for the full article.

The Azerbaijani side violated the ceasefire about 60 time last night, the NKR Ministry of Defense reports.

The rival fired more than 900 shots from weapons of different caliber, including 60 mm mortars in the direction of the Armenian positions.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army have given a worthy response to the rival’s actions and confidently continue with their military duty all along the line of contact.