Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will leave for Paris to participate in an international conference dedicated to the prevention of violence against ethnic and religious minorities.
The forum, scheduled for September 8, will bring together Foreign Ministers from about 60 countries.
The “Days of Armenian Culture” festival is to be held in Belarus in 2016 as part of a cooperation agreement between the Belarusian and Armenian culture ministries, the Calvert Journal reports.
The festival took place in Armenia in 2014 under the same agreement, which will be in effect until the end of 2017.
According to a statement published on the national Belarusian legal portal, the countries will also work together to facilitate exchanges between theatre, music and dance groups in Belarus and Armenia, and an exchange of artists in opera and ballet productions. In addition, the agreement incorporates film festivals celebrating the cinema of the partner country.
“Each party will promote direct contact between museums in their countries, and also take steps towards organising exhibitions from the collections of the two countries in Belarus and Armenia,” the statement reads.
There are plans to exhibit the works of Armenian artist Arevik Petrosyan in Belarus later this year, while the Armenian Culture Ministry will organise an exhibition of the work of Belarusian folk artist Mikhail Savitsky and Belarusian artists from the School of Paris.
Historians believe they have unearthed tombs dating back over 2,800 years in Van, present-day eastern Turkey, The Daily Mail reports.
The pithos burial chambers, which are like large ceramic jars, are thought to be from the Kingdom of Uratu, which ruled from the mid-ninth century BC until its defeat by the Medes.
Van was the capital of the Urartian Kingdom until it fell early in the sixth century BC.
Every summer a team of around 50 archaeologists take part in an annual excavation at Van Fortress in a bid to uncover treasures that have been buried for thousands of years.
With permission from the country’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism university teams have been working together.
They are currently working at the top of the fortress, where a palace was located, and the northern quarter.
Just 38km from Van excavation work is also taking place at Uratu Castle. This year they discovered part of the walls.
Urartu or Kingdom of Van was an Iron Age Kingdom in the Armenian Plateau.
By 9th c. BC the Urartu kingdom had established its regional power far beyond its capital at Tushpa (present day Van), invading Mesopotamia, and unifying the tribes in the Armenian plateau into one centralized state.
The rise of the empire of Urartu is centered around three kings: Menua, Argishti and Sardur I.
Remains of the Urartian Empire in Armenia include the citadels of Erebuni, Karmir Blur, Armavir (Argishtikhinili), and three fortified cities on Lake Sevan.
Russian businessman German Sterligov does not plan to cut ties with Nagorno Karabakh and intends to return there from time to time.
“The fact that we have returned to the Motherland, does not mean we’ll not go back to Nagorno Karabakh. It’s sort of native home to us now,” Sterligov told Interfax agency.
The businessman said he has got a small farm in Nagorno Karbakah, which his local friends will look after.
“We now have a small farm, we have a mill and grind flour there. Besides, I have a partner there, a local guy,” he said.
“Therefore, nothing is cancelled. My elder sons will look after the farm and I’ll visit there from time to time,” he added.
Last week the businessman returned from Karabakh, where spent a couple of months. Upon his arrival in Moscw, Sterligov was detained at Domodedovo Airport, but was released after a two-hour talk.
The Azerbaijani authorities blame the Russian businessman of launching ‘illegal’ activity in Nagorno Karabakh.
“The motives behind the Armenian Genocide were primarily economic, not religious. The material loss caused to Armenians as a result of the Genocide was four times larger than Turkey’s foreign debt at the time,” lawyer, political scientist Izabella Muradyan says. He research of Turkey’s legal documents reveals facts that often skip the attention of historians.
When planning the mass killing of Armenians in 1915, the Young Turk Government first announced Jihad. All Armenian living on the territory of Turkey were announced enemies and according to the Sunni law, the first one to kill the enemy would receive the latter’s wealth. Five percent of the Armenian property was thus to be transferred to the budget of the Young Turks, the rest would go to the murderer. Izabella Muradyan believes that with this very law the authorities involved a great number of Muslims in the mass killing of Armenians.
After the massacre, Turkey adopted a law, making it legal to seize the property of Armenians. It applied to both movable property and real estate, and the bank accounts.
“Turkey’s alley Germany simply copied some of the laws later and applied it against Jews,” the lawyer says. She’s assured that the main motive behind the Armenian Genocide was economic, not religious. She reminded the 1915 massacre of Hamshen Armenians, who had been following Islam since the 16th century.
The bankrupt Ottoman Empire stole the property of Armenians, but the land and its bowels where the most precious. “If we look closely at the geologic map, we’ll see that the first killings took place in areas rich in natural resources,” Muradyan says.
The lawyer is assured, that the Armenian Genocide has not been fully recognized and condemned not only because of Turkey’s ‘denialism’, but also due to the economic interests of the superpowers. “Turkey’s foreign partners have accumulated huge wealth on the areas previously belonging to Armenians, and refusing from it would be very difficult.”
Researcher at Matenadaran Institute Anahit Astoyan says the burden of plunder of the Armenian property lies not only with the Young Turks, but also the Kemalists, i.e. the modern-day Turkey. “By exterminating the Western Armenians the Young Turks and Kemalists got rid of a powerful competitor from the economic arena and created a huge capital by appropriating their property.
According to her, even some Turkish historians declare today that the economy of modern-day Turkey is almost completely based on the property grabbed from Armenians.
Despite the severe war conditions, the Ottoman budget had an unprecedented rise between 1914 and 1918. According to the data of the British intelligence, the Turkish authorities used the Armenian funds to cover the huge war expenses and pay off a considerable part of the foreign debt. The Kemalist Movement, which resulted in the creation of the Turkish Republic in 1923, also succeeded thanks to the Armenian wealth. “Therefore, the Turkish Republic cannot escape material responsibility,” Astoyan concludes.
An operative working for Islamic State has revealed the terror group has successfully smuggled thousands of covert jihadists into Europe, reports.
The Syrian operative claimed more than 4,000 covert ISIS gunmen had been smuggled into western nations – hidden amongst innocent refugees.
The ISIS smuggler, who is in his thirties and is described as having a trimmed jet-black beard, revealed the ongoing clandestine operation is a complete success.
The Islamic State operative spoke exclusively to BuzzFeed on the condition of anonymity and is believed to be the first to confirm plans to infiltrate western countries.
Islamic State, also referred to as IS and ISIS, is believed to be actively smuggling deadly gunmen across the sparsely-guarded 565-mile Turkish border and on to richer European nations, he revealed.
They are following the well-trodden route taken by refugees and migrants fleeing, travelling across the border of Turkey then on boats across to Greece and through Europe.
There are now more than 4,000 covert ISIS gunmen “ready” across the European Union, he claimed.
Britain has a duty to rescue Syria’s Christians, Lord George Carey, a former archbishop of Canterbury, writes in an article published by .
“The dramatic and disturbing developments of the past few days have introduced a new, heart-rending dimension to this refugee crisis. Undoubtedly, the most disturbing aspect is just how impotent Europe is proving itself to be. If the EU is not resilient in the face of this disaster, it could be torn apart,” the article reads.
According to the author, “Syria’s Christians are the most vulnerable and repeatedly targeted victims of this conflict.” “Indeed, a hundred years after the Armenian and Assyrian genocide, in which over a million Christians are estimated to have been killed by Ottoman Muslims, the same is happening today in the form of an ethnic cleansing of Christians in the region. Christians have been crucified, beheaded, raped, and subjected to forced conversion. The so-called Islamic State and other radical groups are openly glorifying the slaughter of Christians.”
“Britain should make Syrian Christians a priority because they are a particularly vulnerable group. Furthermore, we are a Christian nation with an established Church so Syrian Christians will find no challenge to integration. The churches are already well-prepared and eager to offer support and accommodation to those escaping the conflict,” Lord Carey writes.
Azerbaijan is building walls along the Armenian border in Tovuz’s Alibeyli village, APA reports.
A 500m wall has been constructed in the Hajalli village of Tovuz.
In the Alibeyli village, the wall is 700 to 800m in length but the construction process there still continues.
The walls are 4m in height and 80cm in width.
Tovuz’s Alibeyli village is the closest to the shared border with Armenia.
“Escalation is not the answer,” US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick said in a Twitter post, as he reacted to the recent tension at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan.
“There are credible reports both sides have used mortars recently resulting in civilian casualties. Escalation is not the answer,” Warlock said.
President Francois Hollande has ordered preparations to begin for air strikes on Islamic State militants in Syria, the reports.
He said France would start reconnaissance flights on Tuesday with a view to launching attacks on the group.
Speaking at his bi-annual news conference in Paris, Mr Hollande ruled out sending troops on the ground.
Mr Hollande said terror attacks had been planned from Syria against several countries, including France.
“My responsibility is to ensure that we are informed as much as possible on the threats to our country,” he said.
“So I have asked the defence minister that from tomorrow reconnaissance flights begin over Syria that will enable us to consider air strikes against Islamic State.”