Russia won’t be building a new radar station on the site of the radar station in Azerbaijan’s Gabala, as it doesn’t consider it reasonable to build such systems abroad, RIA Novosti reports, quoting Major General Anatoly Nestechuk, chief of staff of the 15th Army aerospace special forces.
“I believe that the national system’s facilities should be in the territory of the Russian Federation,” he further commented.
The recent clashes between the Turks and Kurds in Sur administrative district of Diyarbakir (historic Tigranakert) have caused great harm to the historic monuments of the city.
The walls of ancient Diyarbakir Fortress, the Armenian St. Giragos and the Armenian Catholic Church have been damaged, Ermeenihaber.am reports, quoting Turkish evrensel.net website.
The Diyarbakir Fortress was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List on July 4, 2015.
Montreal’s Teesri Duniya Theatre is presenting its offering directed by Liz Valdez and written by playwright Rahul Varma. The play is called State of Denial and explores a very painful and often forgotten part of the history in the 20th century, the reports.
The play links the Turkish-denied Armenian genocide of 1915 with the 1995 genocide in Rwanda, connecting them through the Canadian diaspora experience. When Odette, a Rwandan-born Canadian filmmaker, travels to Turkey to investigate stories of genocide and hidden identity, she interviews Sahana, an elderly and respected Muslim woman who has devoted her life to assisting Armenian survivors. On her deathbed, Sahana confesses a chilling secret that challenges a long-standing state of denial that Odette promises to make public at any personal cost.
In the words of the Director Liz Valdez, “This is incredibly important at a time when we all seem to be so aware and informed, and yet here are these moments in history that most people don’t know anything about. Moments that actually lead to other moments in history. The truth that I had no idea of the similarities between what happened in Turkey in 1915-18 and the holocaust. How? Why? How did we not see it happening again when Hitler came to power? And since then, happening over and over in different horrific ways and for different reasons.”
“History has been written by victors who have the power to exclude what they do not wish the public to know. So learning about history is important, but history constitutes the background – the research that goes on is about peoples’ lives. Learning what history did to people tells us more about history,” playwright Rahul Varma (founder of Teesri Duniya Theatre) said in an interview with Sinj Karan of the Montreal Rampage.
“If we had learned from the Armenian genocide, we may have prevented the Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda and many other genocides,” he said.
“Today, the role of an artist is not to revisit history but to allow the public to learn important lessons from it, so horrible acts of history are not repeated. State of Denial is presented to draw attention to, and the elevation of, human misery and to create a world of diminished violence,” the playwright said.
The fictional State of Denial is derived from multiple true stories from the research project, Life Stories of Montrealers Displaced by War, Genocide and other Human Rights Violations housed at Concordia University. Varma affirms, “The stories of elsewhere are Canadian stories affecting all citizens. They go beyond biography and facts, revealing truth while instigating further inquiry. My aim is to address global issues locally.”
Armenia will host the 31st Ministerial Conference of the Francophonie October 10-11.
Invitations have been sent out to the Foreign Minister of 80 countries. About 500 representatives of the Secretariat of the International Organization of the Francophonie and the member states are expected to arrive in Yerevan to participate in the conference.
Urgent issues on the Francophonie agenda will be discussed. Reference will be made to urgent global and regional issues, corresponding resolutions will be adopted.
The conference will be followed by the official visit of Secretary-General of the International Organization of the Francophonie Michaëlle Jean to Armenia.
The Ministerial conference will be accompanied by a rich cultural program with Charles Aznavour’s concert on October 10 as a key event.
Musical groups are expected to arrive from France and Haiti. Concerts in Yerevan and Gyumri are planned.
The Istanbul City Hall will pay 111 850 000 Turkish lira (about $37 280 000) to the Surp Agop Armenian Hospital Foundation for the 4,474 sq km area belonging to the Armenian cemetery in Istanbul, Ermenihaber.am reports.
The Foundation had filed a suit two years ago. The First Instance Court of Istanbul obliged the City Hall to pay 111 850 000 Turkish lira, equal to the sum the area cost two years ago. The Court also ruled that some percentages of the sum should be paid to the Armenian foundation for the last two years.
According to Turkish cadastral records, an area of 41,430 sq km had been used as an Armenian cemetery since 1936. The land was seized by the state in 1971. The municipal authorities used 4.47 sq km of the land to build roads, underground passages and pavements.
Later on, under Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision to return the real estate belonging to national minorities to their rightful owners, the land was returned to the Surp Agop Armenian Hospital foundation without the 4.474 sq km piece used for roads and passages.
The annual International Forum for the Challenges of Peace Operations kicked off in Yerevan today. The Forum has brought together the international peacekeeping community from across the globe, including policymakers, practitioners and experts from different sectors.
The Challenges Forum is a global network of partners representing 47 peace operations organizations and departments from 22 countries, including the five permanent members of the UN Security Councul.
Addressing the forum, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan said “Armenia has not only heard about the cost of peace, it knows what needs to be paid for it.”
The Defense Minister said Armenia has always been a proponent of peace and is guided by the same principles as it participates in NATO and UN-led peacekeeping operation.
“Also, Armenia expands its capacities within the framework of the CSTO through military exercises, the latest of which was held last week. Armenia has passed a long way in the field of peacekeeping and gained considerable experience,” the Defense Minister said.
Buy hosting the Challenges Forum, Armenia yet again demonstrates its commitment to contribute to international efforts aimed at establishment and reinforcement of peace, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said.
The Minister said it’s possible to reach lasting peace through political solutions, not by force. “The decisions should be adopted with the participation of all parties to the conflict. Political solutions should decide and guide the format of peacekeeping operations and the possible deployment of peacekeepers.”
In this context Minister Nalbandian referred to the Karabakh conflict. “As the Minsk group is the format for the resolution of the conflict, all international efforts targeted at the settlement of the conflict should fit into this framework and its approaches. The Minsk Group Co-Chairs have declared on different occasions that the international security guarantees, including peacekeeping operations, are among the founding components of settlement of the Karabakh issue. The reinforcement of this mission can be beneficial from the point of view of reinforcement of stability.”
Minister Nalbandian added that preference should be given to the mediating efforts and prevention of conflict. He noted that the international mandate of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship envisages not only mediating efforts, but also practical mechanisms of conflict prevention. “The implementation of the trust-building and security mechanisms proposed by the mediators, particularly the mechanism of investigation of border incidents and the ceasefire violations can serve as a preventing mechanism,” Edward Nalbandian said, reminding that the Minsk Group Co-Chairs last made the proposal on September 28.
According to Minister Nalbandian, mandates and missions should not be based on common approaches and clichés. “They should rather be worked out to contribute to the implementation of political decisions. It’s necessary to develop individual approaches for every single situation,” Minister Nalbandian said.
The Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine has been split two ways for groundbreaking work on parasitic diseases, the BBC reports.
William C Campbell and Satoshi Omura developed a new drug against infections caused by roundworm parasites.
Youyou Tu shares the prize for her discovery of a therapy against malaria.
The Nobel committee said the work had changed the lives of the hundreds of millions of people affected by these diseases.
The mosquito-borne disease malaria kills more than 450,000 people each year around the world, with billions more at risk of catching the infection.
Parasitic worms affect a third of the world’s population and cause a number of illnesses, including River Blindness and Lymphatic Filariasis.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry has summoned Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov over an alleged violation of Turkish airspace by a Russian warplane, the ministry said in a statement Monday, RIA Novosti reports.
According to the statement, a Russian warplane violated Turkish airspace in the province of Hatay near Syria on October 3. The aircraft left Turkish airspace after being intercepted by two Turkish F-16 fighter jets.
“The Russian ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry, where a strong protest was voiced to him. The protest was also voiced by Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu in a phone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Sinirlioglu has discussed the incident with his counterparts from the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy and is seeking a discussion on the issue with NATO Secretary General [Jens Stoltenberg] and German Foreign Minister [Frank-Walter Steinmeier],” the statement reads.
The Turkish Hurriyet Daily News reports quoting Turkish military sources that Russia has informed Turkey that the violation of Turkish airspace near the Syrian border on Oct. 3 was due to a “navigation error.”
The Russian authorities informed the Turkish military attaché in Moscow about the error, Russian Embassy officials in Ankara told Hürriyet Daily News.
Armenian football legend, captain of “Ararat-73” Hovhanness Zanazanyan passed away on October 4 after a long illness.
Hovhanness Zanazanyan’s public funeral will take place at St. Hovhannes Church in Kond from 6-8 p.m. today.
A commission to organize Zanazanyan’s funeral has been established upon the instruction of Ruben Hayrapetyan, President of the Football Federation of Armenia.
Zanazanyan was born in Athens on December 10, 1946. He became Champion of USSR in 1973 as he led the legendary “Ararat.” The team also won the USSR Cup in 1973 and 1975.
Hovhanness Zanazanyan won the bronze with the Soviet team at 1972 Olympics.
On 5 October Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan issued a congratulatory address in connection with the Day of Teachers.
The address runs as follows:
“Dear teachers,
On behalf of the Artsakh Republic authorities and on my own behalf, I cordially congratulate you on the professional holiday.
This day is traditionally marked every year as an assessment of a teacher’s extremely significant and honorable work and a manifestation of our gratitude towards them. It is among the unique professions that has been always highly appreciated by people, enjoyed the love and respect of the public. Over the centuries teachers have not only educated and brought up the younger generation but also helped the people with their wise advices and recommendations in the most difficult situations. It is not accidental that in ancient times people named their prominent representatives as teachers.
Today too the teacher occupies his worthy place in our society. I am confident that all the disciples remember their teachers with love and warmth, those who remaining adherent to their noble title, diligently convey their knowledge and experience to pupils, help them become worthy individuals for their Motherland.
The state always keeps the sphere of education and science in the spotlight of attention, prioritizes solving issues existing here, implements various programs for building and reconstructing schools, creating conditions corresponding to modern standards, continuous raising the education level.
Dear friends,
I once again congratulate all of you on the Day of Teachers and wish peace, robust health, happiness and all the best”.