Category: News

Gita Elibekyan
Public Radio of Armenia
Tbilisi

Armenian Genocide survivor Harutyun Masumyan is 101, but healthy and vigorous. He has one dream – to see Erzrum, his homeland.

Speaking to , Masumyan told the story of his survival.

Harutyun Masumyan was just one-year-old, when he was sent to death together with his father. Aware of what could happen, the father left him in the bushes.

“Turks killed my father. A relative of mine found me and returned to my mother,” he tells, while leafing through the family album.

Harutyun’s mother Satenik manages to survive on the grueling path of exile thanks to a few pieces of gold she had hidden under her youngest daughter’s dress.

“My mother was a heroic woman. It took her a year to pass the road of exile and reach Aleppo with her son and four daughters,” he says and shows the mother’s photo.

In Aleppo Satenik keeps Harutyun and the youngest daughter and takes the three other children to an orphanage.

“We spent five years in Aleppo. Then the refugees were given the freedom to leave. My mother chose Krasnodar, as she had relatives there, who had left Erzrum before 1915.

Harutyun then settled in Tbilisi. He participated in the World War Second and received a number of awards and medals.

He has been living in Russia for the past ten years, but has decided to move to Georgia again.

Speaking about the secret of his longevity, Harutyun, who says has never been ill, advises everyone not to smoke.

The 101-year-old survivor has one dream – to see Erzrum one day.

 

 

 

The problems caused by the lack of a shared border between Armenia and the Eurasian Economic Union are of technical character and can be solved over time, Armenia’s Deputy Finance Minister Emil Torosyan has said.

Issues related to the main directions of industrial cooperation between EEU member states were discussed at the Armenian Ministry of Economy. Sergey Sidorsky, member of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and Minister of Industry and Agriculture of the Eurasian Economic Commission participated in the industrial forum.

According to Emil Torosyan, Armenia has received support from all EEU member states on all issues.

The Deputy Minister said it’s still early to assess what the EEU membership can give the manufacturers. “Half a year is not enough for developing the industrial capacities,” he said. He added, however, that the formats and directions, in which Armenia can cooperate with EEU, are currently being discussed.

Sergey Sidorsky said Armenia has good construction materials and added that the branch is very promising.

“The EEU countries import construction materials from non-member states. Therefore, these should be replaced by Armenian materials,” he said.

The Turkish ASIMDER anti-Armenian organization intends to prevent the conduct of the annual liturgy at the Armenian St. Cross Church on Akhtamar Island in Lake Van, member of the organization Irfan Ermis has said.

Speaking about the reasons of the decision, Ermis noted that the Armenian authorities have not allowed them to perform namaz at the Blue Mosque in Yerevan, Ermenihaber.am reports, quoting the Turkish Milliyet daily.

Ermis said they will cooperate with local NGOs and the population of Van. He insisted that the St. Cross Church has been built by Christian Pecheneg Turks.

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Armenian international Gael Andoinian, 20, has signed the first professional contract with Olimpique de Marseille. The center back previously played at Olympique de Marseille 2 and his contract expired on June 30.

Speaking to the club’s official website, Andonian said he feels proud. “In the first team I will continue to develop as a player. We have to work hard to prepare for the new season,” Andonian noted.

The  Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and Syria will start talks on a common free trade regime after the end of the country’s civil war and internal violence, a representative of the union’s regulatory body said Tuesday, Sputnik reports.

Syria’s Prime Minister Wael Nader Halqi told Sputnik earlier in the day his country was considering membership in the EEU with its free customs zone. Syria has been torn apart by a civil war since Arab Spring uprisings ripped through the region in 2011. According to the UN, the humanitarian crisis is currently the world’s most severe, with over 220,000 people killed and over 11 million displaced.

The representative from the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) told RIA Novosti that Syria had already finalized consultations with the four EEU member states.

“Consultations have been concluded. All EEU countries were very positive about the proposal [to create an EEU-Syria free trade zone]. We are anxious to have the political situation in Syria stabilized to go ahead with negotiations.”

The Eurasian Economic Union is aimed at streamlining the movement of goods, services, capital and labor between Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia. The government of Kyrgyzstan has recently signed an accession treaty but the motion has yet to be ratified by all member states.

Syrian Economy and Foreign Trade Minister Humam Jazaeri spoke about his country’s readiness to join the EEU in early 2015.

The Moldovan opposition calls on people to hold series of protests against the hike of gas and electricity tariffs, TASS reports.

“It’s important to unite and follow Armenia’s example, where people held mass protests after the attempted 18% rise in electricity tariffs,” ex-MP, leader of the “Our Home — Moldova” Party Grigory Petrenko said.

He said the rallies should be held every day and invited the first one on July 22 at the National Energy Regulatory Agency. Petrenko urged other opposition parties to support the protests.

Last week the Regulatory Agency decided to increase the electricity and gas prices 30% and 15% respectively.

The Uniting Church in Australia has formally acknowledged that the Armenian massacres and forced deportations constitute a genocide.

The UCA is the third denomination at a national level to acknowledge the genocide that took place 100 years ago.

Carried out during and after World War I under the Turkish Government, the genocide was implemented in two phases – the wholesale killing of the able-bodied male population and subjection of army conscripts to forced labour.

This was followed by the deportation of women, children, the elderly and infirm on death marches leading to the Syrian desert.

Driven forward by military escorts, the deportees were deprived of food and water and subjected to periodic robbery, rape, and massacre.

The total number of people killed as a result has been estimated at 1.5 million. A further one million were displaced.

Rev. Dr Krikor Youmshajekian from St Andrews Longueville Uniting Church  and former minister at the Willoughby Armenian Evangelical Uniting Church of Sydney addressed the Assembly.

“In the years of 1915-1918, the Armenian people were under the grip of annihilation and the brutal plans of genocide – but God saved this first Christian nation from being wiped out, said Rev. Dr Youmshajekian.

Rev. Dr Youmshajekian said that many countries and many communities in Australia had been involved in providing support, relief, food, and safe places for the Armenian people to live.

“By accepting this proposal the assembly will keep the story of the first Christian nation alive,” he said, giving thanks to the many Uniting Church congregations who had held liturgies to commemorate the genocide.

Rev. Dr Chris Walker, National Consultant for Christian Unity Doctrine and Worship, told the Assembly that it was deeply fitting for the Uniting Church to make give this acknowledgement as the Armenian people mark the 100 year anniversary of the Genocide.

Rev. Dr Walker acknowledged that both the World Christian Council and the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA)had made statements acknowledging the massacre that took place and the suffering of the Armenian community.

“Accepting this proposal would be an act of ecumenical solidarity with the Armenian people who have suffered so much and continue to do so.”

After the proposal was adopted a prayer was offered by the NSW Moderator Rev. Dr Myung Hwa Park, both sung and spoken in Korean and English.

The 14th Assembly has also agreed to:

• commend the NSW and SA governments in acknowledging the Armenian Genocide and encourage the Federal and other state governments to do the same
• affirm the value of recognising a date on or near the anniversary of the Armenian genocide, as a day of observance and commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.
• Request the National Consultant Christian Unity, Doctrine and Worship to prepare

Toshiba’s chief executive and president Hisao Tanaka is to resign after the company said it had overstated its profits for the past six years.

He will be succeeded by chairman Masashi Muromachi, with vice-chairman Norio Sasaki also stepping down.

On Monday, an independent panel appointed by Toshiba said the firm had overstated its operating profit by a total of 151.8bn yen ($1.22bn), the BBC reports.

The overstatement was roughly triple an initial Toshiba estimate.

The finance minister, Taro Aso, said the case could undermine confidence in corporate governance in Japan.

He added the accounting irregularities at Toshiba were “very regrettable”,.

Japan’s government has been trying to regain global investors’ confidence with better corporate governance after Olympus, was found to have covered up $1.7bn in losses in late 2011, in what was until now Japan’s worst corporate governance scandal.

Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu has promised to boost security along the country’s border with Syria, after 30 people were killed by a bomb in the town of Suruc, the BBC reports.

Investigators think the blast was caused by a female suicide bomber from the Islamic State group.

Correspondents say Turkey is cracking down on the militants, after previously being accused of ignoring them.

But the blast triggered violent protest in Istanbul, with police using water cannon, teargas and rubber bullets.

Monday’s bomb hit a group of youth activists planning to cross into Syria to help rebuild the town of Kobane.

On 20 July Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan visited the Vank village in the Martakert region and met with representatives of the community.

Issues the village faced and ways of their solution were touched upon during the meeting.

President Sahakyan noted that Vank was among the most dynamically developing settlements of the republic, which became a recognized tourist center, adding that various programs would continue to be implemented in the community.