Category: News

Within the framework of the events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Musa Dagh, pilgrims from all parts of the world visited the school after Franz Werfel in the village of Musaler.

The guests learnt about the history of the school, talked to students and teachers. Pupils staged excerpts from Werfel’s novel “40 days of Musa Dagh.

Yesayi Havatyan, chairman of the Central Body in charge of organizing the events dedicated to the 100^th anniversary of the Battle of Musa Dag expressed gratitude to the leadership of the school.

“We must always be proud of being Armenian,” he said.

The pilgrims headed for the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin to meet with His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.

Armenian GM Levon Aronian leaves the Chess World Cup in Baku.

Armenia’s leading chess player lost to Alexander Areshchenko of Ukraine in a tiebreak.

Other representatives of Armenia Gabriel Sargsyan, Hrant Melkumyan and Samvel Ter-Sahakyan had left the competition at an earlier stage.

The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia may meet in New York on Sept. 24-25 as part of the UN General Assembly, said Azerbaijani FM Elmar Mammadyarov, Trend reports.

He made the remarks Sept. 15 at a briefing with his Turkish counterpart Feridun Sinirlioglu.

Mammadyarov said that according to the format he and the Armenian FM each will first meet with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and then a joint meeting will be held.

Armenian businessman Levon Hayrapetyan, accused of appropriating the shares of Bashneft oil company, has been freed from house arrest, TASS reports.

Hayrapetyan has been released on his own recognizance connected with the expiration of the maximum term of detainment envisaged by law, the agency said.

France hopes that Azerbaijan and Armenia will spare no effort to ease tension on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, French Ambassador to Azerbaijan Pascal Meunier told APA on Sept.16.

The escalation of tension is leading to the death of both Azerbaijani and Armenian civilians, the ambassador said. “Recently, I have met with civilians in Azerbaijan, and they told me that Azerbaijanis and Armenians have lived in peace for hundreds of years. Many people hope these times will return. It also depends on external factors,” he noted.

The ambassador also commented on the possibility of holding a meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers. “I read about it. I am aware that the co-chairs are working on arranging a meeting of foreign ministers in New York. The main objective of this is to assist Azerbaijan and Armenia in finding a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Armenian French singer Charles Aznavour opened his show in Paris with the song “The Migrants” on Tuesday, a strong show of support of the refugees crisis hitting Europe in recent months, reports.

“The song was written thirty years ago, but it remains news,” said the singer. “What is happening with the refugees has affected me very much, I imagine my parents in this situation, when they left Armenia to come to France. This is why I will always take the side of the ones who knock the doors, not the ones who shut them.”

Aznavour also affirmed he was willing to welcome refugees in his secondary residence, where he could easily set up a mobile home for them. “I would sacrifice without any problem a couple of olive trees,” he said jokingly to the daily Le Parisien.

He also called to remember what immigrants had brought to the French nation, mentionning the cases of Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, the Egyptian composer Guy Beart, and the Romanian Emil Cioran. “This is an extraordinary opportunity for France. There may be among them future Aznavours, who knows?” he added.

Member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Moscow-led security alliance of former-Soviet republics, signed an agreement on military contingent and cargo transportation, Serzh Sargsyan, the president of Armenia, said on Tuesday, TASS reports.

“An agreement was signed on cooperation in the sphere of transporting military contingent and moveable property as well as military-purpose products,” Sargsyan told journalists following the summit of the CSTO member states in Tajikistan.

The Armenian leader added that the CSTO members also decided to extend an agreement on the logistics and technical support of railways in the countries of the post-Soviet security bloc.

Member-states the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) have approved a decision on introducing rotation of the post of the secretary general, CSTO chief Nikolay Bordyuzha said on Tuesday.

“It was considered useful to switch in the future to the rotation system of the general secretary’s post. The heads of states set the task to devise a respective draft decision by December and introduce changes to the legal basis and the CSTO Charter, what we will do now,” Bordyuzha said.

The Collective Security Treaty was signed in 1992 and the organization itself was set up 10 years later. Russia, which held the presidency in the CSTO, passed the rotating chair this year to Tajikistan.

The CSTO, which comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, regularly holds military drills on the territories of its member states.

A boat has capsized off the coast of Turkey drowning at least twenty two migrants attempting to reach the shores of the Greek island of Kos, Euronews reports.

The Turkish Coastguard says it was able to rescue a further 200 people and bring them back to shore.

The group was reportedly attempting to cross the Aegean Sea when it went down near the Datcha peninsula, not far from Bodrum, where Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi’s body washed up two weeks ago.

Greece is on the frontline of the migration crisis sweeping Europe.

The International Hrant Dink Award will be presented for the seventh time on Hrant Dink’s birthday, September 15.