Category: News

The Sarajevo Film Festival (Aug 14-22) is to pay tribute to Canadian Armenian director Atom Egoyan, who will receive Honorary Heart of Sarajevo for his contribution to film, reports.

The festival will screen three of his films: Exotica (1994), set in and around a fictional strip club; Cannes award-winner The Sweet Hereafter (1997); and Ararat (2002), a drama about the Armenian genocide.

Egoyan, who was born to Armenian parents in Egypt but moved to Canada aged two, has directed more than a dozen features, several TV projects, and shorts.

Following critical acclaim and accolades for Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter and Ararat, his films of the past decade have included crime drama Where The Truth Lies, starring Colin Firth and Kevin Bacon; true crime drama Devil’s Knot, again with Firth and Reese Witherspoon; and thriller The Captive, starring Ryan Reynolds.

Egoyan’s latest feature, Remember, starring Christopher Plummer, will screen at Venice and Toronto in September.

The 300-year-old Armenian monastery of Surp Astvatsatsin (Tomarza Monastery) has completely deteriorated in the Tomarza district of Turkey’s Kayseri province, with merely a few ruined walls remaining, the reports.

The monastery, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is situated in Kayseri’s Cumhuriyet neighborhood.

An important location for pilgrimage, the monastery also hosted famous British traveler and archaeologist Gertrude Bell in 1909.

Unfortunately, the monastery was looted and abandoned in 1915 (the Armenian Genocide).

A group of Armenian priests tried to use the monastery after the end of World War I, despite the severe damage the building had endured. However, they later had to abandon the monastery to its fate.

In the monastery’s ruins lie the Gregorian Armenian School, which had previously hosted the annual Festival of the Assumption with the attendance of central Anatolian and Lycian Armenians.

President Serzh Sargsyan took part today in the solemn opening ceremony of the 6th Pan-Armenian Summer Games at Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium. The president made an opening speech.

Remarks by President Serzh Sargsyan on the Opening of the 6th Pan-Armenian Summer Games

Dear compatriots,

I cordially welcome all the participants and guests of the 6th Pan-Armenian Summer Games. On behalf of all of us, I would like to say to our diaspora sisters and brothers welcome to the homeland, welcome to mother Armenia.

The Olympic Movement truly accomplishes a great and crucial mission in the present-day world. All countries and peoples consider it an honor to take part in that movement. Undoubtedly, the Olympic Games, too, are based on healthy competition, fair struggle and on the postulate that the winner is the strongest, where the most important principle is participation, not victory.

When organizing the Pan-Armenian Games, our first goal was to ensure the broadest participation so that sports and a healthy way of life reach every one of us. Moreover, it is very important for sports to unite people and become one of the realities consolidating our people all over the world.

Dear athletes,

I am confident that you keep these central values burning in your hearts. The sports teams that have arrived here to take part in the 6th Pan-Armenian Games come from different countries of the world.

Let us look and see what progress we have made over these 16 years. In relation to the first games held in 1999, the number of participating countries has increased by one third, rising from 23 to 36. The number of participating cities has grown two and a half times, rising from 63 to 175, and the number of athletes has increased six times, rising from 1141 to 6352. The number of sports categories has grown from seven to 17.

Many of you represent already the 4th or 5th generation born in the diaspora. There are people among you who have visited their homeland for the first time. There are people who find it hard to talk Armenian. But Armenia is always in their soul, and Armenia’s heart is open to them.

All the people present here are bound together by one commonality – the Armenian identity. No matter how many new and different additional strata of identities are added, Armenianness, being Armenians is our mother identity. It is that very identity that in this year marked by Armenian Genocide commemorative events makes us repeat the slogan of 2015 – “I Remember and Demand.”

Dear friends,

Today, representatives from the younger generations of different communities in mother Armenia, Artsakh and the diaspora are taking part in this solemn ceremony.

During the games, you must compete in a way befitting Armenians, i.e. fairly and justly, in a true Olympic spirit. During these days, you will find new friends, and will keep the fire of that friendship burning throughout your entire lives. I strongly believe that the flame of the Pan-Armenian Games will keep on guiding you for many years to come.

Congratulating all of us, I would like to announce the opening of the 6th Pan-Armenian Games.

Thank you.

The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved a US$40 million loan for the Additional Financing of the Lifeline Road Network Improvement Project (LRNIP) for Armenia. This project will further assist the Government of Armenia in its on-going efforts to improve accessibility to markets and social services through the rehabilitation of an additional 155 km of the lifeline road network, and enhance employment opportunities,mostly for the rural population. It will also help Armenia to strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Transport and Communication (MoTC) in road safety and management of the road network, including disaster risk preparedness.

Despite visible improvement since 2009, about half of the lifeline roads in Armenia remain in poor condition and there is still an important investment backlog for rehabilitation and maintenance. Trade facilitation and connecting local production to markets remain paramount in reducing rural poverty and promoting economic growth. Trade fromrural areas is less than optimal due to restricted connectivity to markets as a result of the poorcondition of roads. This has hindered trade facilitation for rural farmers, resulting in substantialcrop losses for some communities due to an inability to get produce to markets on time.

“As in the case of the original project, rehabilitation of additional lifeline roads would create temporary jobs in rural areas, and improve access to basic social services,” said Laura E. Bailey, World Bank Country Manager for Armenia. “It is vitalthat rural infrastructure is improved and maintained to promote agricultural trade, thus stimulating economic growth and local employment for the future.”

The implementation of the original project has progressed well.The proposed additional financing will raise the total length of roads to 360 km, 73km of which have already been rehabilitated. Since the launch of the Lifeline Road Improvement Project (LRIP) in 2009, the previous series of projects, there has been a noticeable improvement in localemployment, while journey time has declined on average by 40 percent. The World Bank-financed LRIP for a total amount of US$101.6 million has already upgraded 433 km of lifeline roads across the regions.

The Additional Financing of the LRNIP has two main components. First, it will support lifeline road improvementwith rehabilitation of 155 km of roads, located across the regions including through rehabilitation and maintenance contracts, which have been successfully piloted. A new Contingent Emergency Response (CER) sub-component is being introduced, as a precautionary measure that would allow the Government and the Bank to quickly channel the loan financing for emergency recovery efforts following an adverse natural or man-made disaster.

Secondly, in terms of institutional strengthening, it would finance: (i) preparation of a social monitoring and impact evaluation study; (ii) preparation of a strategic development plan for the lifeline road network; (iii) lifeline road network data collection for the Road Asset Management System (RAMS); (iv) development of a new road safety action plan and the implementation of selected activities; (v) technical assistance with regard to disaster risk preparedness for the road sector; (vi) purchase of road laboratory equipment for determining the chemical composition of bitumen; and (vii) installation of road safety signs.

“The sections of rehabilitated network help farmers and small businesses in rural areas to bring their produce to market more easily and at a lower cost,” added Maria Carolina Monsalve, Head of the World Bank project team. “The project will also continue supporting the “Safe Village” program through small road safety civil works combined with awareness campaigns at community level. While four schemes were envisagedby the end of the original project, a total of thirteen have been completed to date.”

The first year program of road works is comprised of seven road sections located in five regions,with the remaining road sections tobe identified during project implementation. The seven road sections total 50.5 km: all roads are bituminous roads in poor to very poor condition and serve in total 183,446 persons.

Total financing of this project is US$45 million, of which US$5 million will be the Government’s contribution. The World Bank will provide a US$40 million IBRD loan of variable spread, with a 14.5-year grace period and atotal repayment term of 25 years.

Since joining the World Bank in 1992 and IDA in 1993, the commitments to Armenia total approximately US$2,158.730 million.

An Armenian-Australian is preparing to trek Mount Ararat to help raise funds for the thousands of Armenian-heritage children caught up in the violence in Syria,  reports.

It is estimated more than 15,000 Syrians of Armenian background have found refuge in Armenia.

Sydneysider Sassoon Grigorian, who leaves for the trek next week, said the it was also in homage to the Australian effort after the Armenian genocide 100 years ago, when Australia was the first to set up an orphanage for refugees in Lebanon.

Mr Grigorian said a small team was making the trek for charity Mission Armenia and United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.

He said the Syrian-Armenian families were doing it tough.

“So even though they’re of Armenian heritage they’re moving to Armenia, which is a completely different country and [they have to make] a lot of major adjustments so they need all sorts of help,” Mr Grigorian said.

He said climbing Mount Ararat — which can be seen from Armenia — had been a lifetime dream.

“Mount Ararat is a very symbolic mountain. It’s the highest mountain in Turkey but for Armenians it has a very significant influence,” he said.

“It’s supposedly the resting place of Noah’s ark and it’s basically a national symbol for Armenians around the world.”

Historian Peter Stanley, from the University of New South Wales in Canberra, said the trek symbolised the close relationship between Australia and Armenia.

“I think it’s an extraordinary throwback to a huge Australian effort to relieve the sufferings of the victims of the Armenian genocide during the First World War, but into the 1920s and 30s,” Professor Stanley said.

“There were church men and women involved right across Australia, especially from the evangelical churches, but the Anglicans and the Catholics were also active.

“But it went beyond the churches too, there were Australian humanitarians who were deeply committed to the idea of the league of nations coming out of the tragedy of the Great War of course.”

He said there was a wide variety of people involved.

“War widows — a woman called Edith Glanville whose son was killed on Gallipoli, she went to help the Armenians,” Professor Stanley said.

“Jessie Webb, who is famous in Australian women’s history, became very active in supporting the league of nations.

“Ex-war nurses — a woman called Isabelle Hotan who went to look after refugee camps, and in fact there was an Australian orphanage in Beirut supported for years by Australian fundraising.”

Mr Grigorian said his children’s great-grandfathers were saved in that very orphanage.

“Two of those survivors were my children’s great-grandparents — and a lot of funding was raised from Australia to help those orphans,” he said.

“In fact there was an orphanage in current day Lebanon which my children’s great-grandfathers went to.”

Mr Grigorian said many Australians of today might not be aware of that history.

“I remember speaking to the late Gough Whitlam and he told me when I was at a community event ‘my mother used to tell me when I was having dinner’, he would say, ‘remember the starving Armenians’, ” he said.

“So this is something that many Australians from that generation who just came back from World War I, despite the difficulties they were in, found it within themselves to conduct this major humanitarian relief campaign.”

The Latin American Parliament() approved on Friday June 31 a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide. The Panama-based body that was created in 1964 with the Declaration of Lima, and is composed by the National Congresses and Legislative Assemblies of all Iberoamerica, reports.

This new recognition of the crime against humanity perpetrated by the Turkish state, adds to the resolutions adopted by Parliaments in South America this year, as was the case of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile, the Federal Senate of Brazil and the State Legislature of Rio de Janeiro.

“Among many other topics covered by Executive Board of the Latin American Parliament and the Caribbean Declaration, the recognition of the Armenian Genocide was supported almost unanimously (with one abstention),” National Deputy of Montevideo Alfredo Asti a few minutes later. “Uruguay was a pioneer in the world in this recognition 50 years ago and today we strongly supported this position.”

For the first time, teams from Diyarbakir and Dersim will participate in the Pan-Armenian Games in Yerevan, the  reports.

They join 57 other teams this summer from cities in Armenia, Russia, Georgia, Lebanon, Iran, France, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, the United States, and more. The players from Diyarbakir and Dersim will participate in futsal, which is a variant of soccer that is played on a smaller field and considered as a version of five-a-side soccer. Soccer teams from Sasun and Istanbul will also be participating for the second time.

The organizers of the Diyarbakir group are members of the Surp Giragos Dikranagerd Church Restoration Committee. Since the restoration project was a global initiative with many donors and supporters from North America, Armenian athletes from the U.S. and Canada with roots in the region were invited to be part of the team. Five players from Turkey and five from North America (two from Canada, and three from the United States, including the captain of the U.S. Eastern Region Homenetmen soccer team, Asadur Tufeckgian) make up the team.

“I was honored to be invited on the team by the Church Restoration Committee,” said Toronto resident Daron Bedrosyan, who will represent Diyarbakir at the games. Speaking to the Armenian Weekly, Bedrosyan said that participating in the Pan-Armenian Games in the year of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide was especially meaningful for him. “My family’s history in Dikranagerd [Diyarbakir] dates back as far as we can trace our roots—at least two centuries back. This has been a historic year for all of us as Armenians with everything that transpired for the Centennial commemorations. The Pan-Armenian Games will also be a significant commemoration in this regard,” he said.

A group from Diyarbakir and Dersim will also travel to Yerevan to support the athletes and participate in the Ari Tun program organized by the Armenian Ministry of Diaspora. This will be the second time that Armenians from the region will participate in the program. The main objectives of Ari Tun are to introduce Diasporan Armenian youth to Armenian history, culture, public life, religion, and family traditions. Participants will visit historical and cultural sites in Armenia, and attend concerts, festivals, exhibitions, and plays. Courses will also be offered in Armenian language, literature, dance, history, and church traditions.

Three months after the unveiling of the Armenian genocide monument at Fresno State, the structure has been vandalized, the reports.

“The souls of the victims are disturbed,” said Berj Apkarian, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Armenia in Fresno.

Someone yanked one of the panel from the monument Friday, Apkarian said.

Fresno State said they’re investigating the tampering of the plaque. It was unbolted but not taken, and they said it will be re-installed this week.

“The panel had a lot of history,” Apkarian said. “It’s very heartbreaking and I’m so disappointed.”

“I am saddened by the recent vandalism attempt at our beautiful Armenian Genocide Memorial Monument,” said Joseph Castro, President of Fresno State. “I ask the campus and community to join together in protecting our historic monument.”

Apkarian plans to work with Castro and police to find out who vandalized the monument. The panel is made of Spanish steel, Apkarian said.

“This is a hate crime,” Apkarian said. “It must be taken very seriously, and it can’t be tolerated.”

The monument was unveiled in April to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of the Armenian genocide.

“The monument has a symbolic and historic importance for the community,” Apkarian said. “The community must take steps to not tolerate such acts.”

The midfielder says BVB’s new coach convinced him to stay at Signal Iduna Park this summer

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has revealed that he opted to stay at Borussia Dortmund so that he could learn fromThomas Tuchel, insisting the coach has “great potential,” Goal.com reports.

The 26-year-old insists he is staying put this summer and is looking forward to working with the new boss.

“I don’t want to talk about all these rumours,” he told Bild. “I just want to look forward. I like being here and that is what counts.

“It is true that Tuchel has influenced me positively. But in the end it was my decision to stay at Dortmund. I have many goals and I want to give everything to prove to everyone that I am a good player. I want to make the BVB fans and myself happy.

“It was important that Tuchel and I had an intense talk. I immediately felt that he has great potential as a coach. He understands and lives football.

“He knows how to build up a game and how to defend. Afterwards I thought to myself: ‘Maybe it is the best to stay and learn from him.’”

The Armenia international is hopeful of improving on last season’s seventh-placed finish because the club have not lost too many players.

“Tuchel was not the only reason for me to stay. It was important to me that other players decided to stay. The team did not break apart despite difficult season.

“I never felt that it was a mistake to come here. This is a great club with a team in harmony. But of course there were difficult times. I tried everything to get out of this situation as quickly as possible.”

Representatives of have claimed victory in the first squash tournament between media representatives held at “Grand Sport” sports complex.

Aram Manukyan, sportscaster at Public Radio of Armenia, won the men’s competition. Journalist at armfootball.com website Rafael Khalatyan came second. Representative of Aravot daily Ashot Hakobyan was third.

Another representative of Public Radio of Armenia Sona Ghukasyan defeated Marina Karapetyan of Yerkir Media in the final round and claimed victory in the women’s competition. Araks Simonyan from the press service of the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs came third in the competition.

Next month Armenia will host an international squash tournament.