Category: News

Photo: TASS

 

Russia continues to follow he fate of blogger Alexander Lapshin extradited to Azerbaijan, Spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova told reporters today.

“We’ll keep following the fate of the Russian citizen,” Zakharova said, reminding that the Foreign Ministry had earlier expressed its stance on the extradition in a statement.

“This issue and all other issues in bilateral relations should be solved in due course no matter which countries we are talking about,” Zakharova said.

“All issues connected with the fate of Russian nationals are a priority for the Russian Federation,” she stressed.

Alexander Lapshin, who holds Russian, Israeli and Ukrainian citizenship, was handed over to Baku on February 7 and escorted out of the airport by law enforcement agents.

On December 15, 2016, police in Belarus detained Alexander Lapshin, a popular travel blogger, for his prior visits to Nagorno Karabakh and for his criticism of the Aliyev regime.

On 20 January 2017 the General Prosecutor’s Office of Belarus decided to have Lapshin extradited to Azerbaijan.  An appeal to the ruling was denied by Minsk City Court.

The Supreme Court of Belarus ruled to leave the decision of the Prosecutor General’s office on Lapshin’s extradition to Azerbaijan in force.

Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan attended an event at the Government’s Reception House in Yerevan dedicated to the 38th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran.

Congratulating Ambassador Seyed Kazem Sadjadi and the friendly people of Iran on the Islamic Revolution anniversary, the Prime Minister of Armenia expressed the desire to further strengthen the Armenian-Iranian relations.

 

Armenian Genocide documentary “The Children of Vank” will premiere at Istanbul’s Beyoglu Cinema on February 9, Ermenihaber.am reports.

The documentary is a story about Armenian family that survived the Dersim Massacre in 1938. All members of the family were driven away and lived in different cultures and beliefs.

Zeynep is a schoolteacher who lives in Izmir. In 2000s, she accidentally learns that her mother is an Armenian woman born in Dersim (Tunceli). Following the 1938 Massacre, she was given out for adoption and her name was changed to Fatma Kiremitci from AslihanKiremitciyan, her ethnic identity and belief changed to Turkish and Sunni.

She organizes a reunion with some of her mother’s relatives in the village that her mother lived. She traces the stories of her mother and tries to feel and appreciate what she lived in her childhood. Zeynep learns more about the village named Vank and its monastery.

The documentary was screened in Yerevan as part of the Golden Apricot Film Festival in 2016.

The Armenian National Committee of America-Western
Region’s (ANCA-WR) Education Committee announced earlier today the honorees of the 2017 Armenian Genocide Education Award.  A diverse group of public school educators, the honorees, have shown exemplary use of technology, art, music, and/or theater in their lesson plans, while also empowering their students to apply in depth research on the specific topics within the context of the Armenian Genocide.

These extraordinary educators will be recognized on February 25, 2017, 11:00AM at the ANCA-WR Armenian Genocide Education Luncheon, at Dream Palace Banquet Hall in Glendale California.

“The ANCA-WR Education Committee was pleased with the overwhelming response to our request for nominations for this award. It is obvious many talented and dedicated educators see the importance of teaching the Armenian Genocide. We are convinced this award program will lead us to finding more outstanding educators in the years ahead. I would like to encourage every Armenian, who is the child, grandchild, or great grandchild of a Genocide survivor to attend the luncheon. It is time we thank those who teach our history,” noted Alice Petrossian, ANCA-WR Education Committee Chair.

The committee received countless nominations for educators across
California, who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to teach
about the Armenian genocide in the context of crimes against humanity within their classrooms.. The following 17 educators were selected to receive the Armenian Genocide Education Award:

Alicia Harris, Crescenta Valley High School

Brad de la Garza, Toll Middle School

Brent Beerman, Crescenta Valley High School

Christina Fahad,  Burbank High School

Erin Perusse,  El Camino High School

Frank Perez, San Benito High School

Gabor Kincses,  San Fernando High School

Genely Chan,  Pasadena High School

Grace Sheldon-Williams, Glendale High School

Heidi Suburu, Endeavour Elementary School

Kathi Chaplar Beerman, Crescenta Valley High School

Ken Rice, John Muir Middle School

Kevin Henry, Verdugo Hills High School

Mary Janzen, Emma Duncan Polytechnical High School

Mayte Hernandez, Pasadena High School

Peter Paccone, San Marino High School

William Jenkins, Pasadena High School

The committee plans to announce additional honorees in the coming week.

“Resources to help teach about the Armenian Genocide in public schools are not always readily available or offered by school districts for our teachers. We are proud to honor these model educators who took the initiative to obtain the resources and ensure that this significant part of both world and American history is passed on to the future generations,” said Elen Asatryan, ANCA-WR executive director. “The role of these educators is ever so important today as we forge ahead to continue our work with the CA Department of Education to incorporate the Armenian Genocide in textbooks,” added Asatryan.

“Alexander Lapshin’s detention and extradition cannot have any impact on the work of journalists and human rights defenders in Artsakh. This work has been and will be viewed as lawful, this is the principle,” Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan said in a statement.

“The fact of Alexander Lapshin’s extradition is an obvious infringement of human rights. The escorting by masked representatives of special forces upon Lapshin’s arrival in Baku and the wide coverage in the press come to prove the obvious forbidden attitude toward him,” the Ombudsman said.

He said “the promotion of visits by foreign journalists and human rights defenders to Artsakh, contributing to the participation of Artsakh’s democratic institutions in international meetings should be among the basic directions of the activity of any of us. There is no alternative to the work in this work.”

On February 7 Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan met with Frank Engel,  Member of the European Parliament from Luxembourg in Brussels.

During the meeting issues related to the freedom of expression, journalistic activities, as well as such actions in Artsakh were discussed. Frank Engel highlighted that the journalists’ activities in Artsakh have immense importance and should be enhanced. He stressed that the extradition of Alexander Lapshin cannot affect the further visits to Artsakh.

According to Frank Engel, henceforth visits to Artsakh must be even more frequent. In addition, MEP noted that the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh and the civil society should be involved in international discussions and meetings.

Arman Tatoyan stressed the importance of Frank Engel’s position and noted that “all effort are being exercised to contribute to the visits to Artsakh and the involvement of Artsakh’s democratic institutions.”

The parties reached agreement to cooperate towards that end.

During the meeting issues related to the human rights situation in Armenia, as well as the regulations of the RA new law on Human Rights Defender were discussed.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has hit back at critics who claimed that he chose to move to Manchester United for financial reasons, the reports.

The Armenian playmaker joined United last summer in a deal worth £30m, after three years at Borussia Dortmund.

But Mkhitaryan insisted that the deal was more about continuing his development as a footballer than boosting his bank balance.

‘I can not understand that, and that’s wrong,’ he told German newspaper Bild, when asked about moving for the money.

‘If it were just about money, I would have transferred from Shakhtar Donetsk to Anzhi Makhachkala and not to Borussia Dortmund.

‘But I did not want that. I wanted to develop further.’

The midfielder also had a retort for Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke, who has been a vocal critic of him since the move.

Watzke criticised the fact that Mkhitaryan did not take a penalty against Bayern Munich in the German Cup final last season, which Dortmund lost in a shoot-out after a goalless draw.

‘If he wants to evaluate me on the basis of one game, this is wrong,’ said Mkhitaryan.

‘He has probably forgotten what I did the whole season before. I would have scored a penalty in Berlin.

‘But there’s a coach and eleven players on the pitch, and we discussed who would take.’

Mkhitaryan is the second United player to arrive at Old Trafford from the Bundesliga in the last two seasons, following Bastian Schweinsteiger.

And although the German international fell out of favour at the beginning of Jose Mourinho’s time in charge, he is now back with the squad, to Mkhitaryan’s delight.

‘I’m glad he got another chance,’ added Mkhitaryan. ‘He knows exactly what needs to be done on the pitch.

‘I can only report positively about him, because he has a great character.’

“Belarusian authorities put political benefits above democratic norms and principles of legitimacy and justice,” the Foreign Ministry of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic said, commenting on the extradition of Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin to Azerbaijan.

“The verdict of the Supreme Court of Belarus, which upheld the decision to hand over well-known blogger Alexander Lapshin to Azerbaijan for criminal prosecution is not only an expression of outright support for the policy of intimidating foreign citizens pursued by the Azerbaijani authorities, but also a flagrant violation of the fundamental rights to the freedom of movement and freedom of speech,” the Ministry said in comments to Artsakhpress news agency.

“By handing Alexander Lapshin over to Azerbaijan at the request of Baku, based on the trumped-up and politically biased case, the Belarusian authorities demonstrate that they put political benefits above democratic norms and principles of legitimacy and justice,” the Foreign Ministry stated.

More than 500 members of one Chinese family have posed for the ultimate family photo, the BBC reports.

The pictures were taken at a Ren family reunion at Shishe village in China’s eastern province of Zhejiang.

It was held last week during the Lunar New Year period, which is usually marked by the Chinese with large family gatherings and meals.

Photographer Zhang Liangzong took the pictures with a drone in front of basalt formations near Shishe.

Village elders recently began updating the family tree records and managed to track down at least 2,000 living descendants spanning seven generations, Mr Zhang said.

They marked the family tree’s completion by holding a massive reunion, and managed to gather more than 500 people.