Category: News

Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Armenia, and Nepal have been admitted to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on a partner status, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday, Sputnik News reports.

“Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, and Nepal have joined the SCO family as partners in dialogue,” Putin said during his opening speech at the extended meeting of SCO’s Heads of Governments Council in the Russian city of Ufa.

Earlier, the SCO had three dialogue partners — Belarus, Sri Lanka and Turkey.

The SCO summit launched the procedures to accept new members, India and Pakistan, the president added. India and Pakistan, currently holding observer status in the organization, applied to join the SCO as full members in September 2014.

The SCO is a political, economic and military alliance founded in 2001 by Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

 

Germany now plans to return the skulls of ethnic Herero victims of 19th-century colonialism in south-western Africa. Their skulls were transported to what was then the German Empire for “medical research,” reports. 

Was it murder and expulsion, or should it be called genocide? The terminology becomes political when talking about the victims of German colonial rule in south-western Africa, mainly Namibia, around the turn of the 20th century. The deaths that occurred back then have not yet been clearly defined in the history books.

The proper term has been debated for decades, not unlike the disputed genocide against the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. For Israel Kaunatjike from a Berlin NGO against genocide, the Namibian skulls represent a chapter in German history that should have been rewritten long ago. “The first genocide of the 20th century took place in Namibia,” he told DW, “and we are listening carefully to what German politics is saying about that.”

Kaunatjike was born in 1947 as the son of Herero survivors in southwestern Africa. He has lived as a political refugee in Germany since 1970. His family’s past is closely interwoven with Germany’s colonial history. “My grandmother was employed by a German family back then – Otto Möller’s family. And that’s where my mother was born. I found that out much later,” he said.

On July 9, 1915, Germany’s colonial rule in southwestern Africa came to an end. A century later, this forgotten slice of Germany’s history is finally gaining attention. The president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Herman Parzinger, recently commented on the situation, referring specifically to a large collection of skulls which Berlin’s Charité hospital recently gave the Heritage Foundation. The precise origin of the skulls has not yet been determined.

For Parzinger, intensive provenance research is necessary. “It’s especially crucial to separate remains from pre-historic graves in Germany from those that came from German colonial territories in the 19th and early 20th centuries which may have been illegally brought to Berlin,” he told the epd news agency. Parzinger sees the scientific research as the first step to returning the remains. “However, it must be clear who the lawful recipient is,” he emphasized.

Kaunatjike has a different priority. “For us, it’s very important that the remains are brought back home. We estimate that approximately 3,000 Hereros and Namas from Namibia are here in Germany. These people were killed, expelled into the desert, or were put in camps – women, children, men.”

The skulls had likely been sent to the Charité hospital for “racial research” – a disturbing racist practice that was not uncommon in Western Europe at the time. Kaunatjike described exactly how the remains were prepared. “The Herero women had to scrape the skulls with glass shards, and wash and boil them,” he explained. “Then they were brought here – like ostrich eggs. That is inhuman. And we don’t know whether these people were beheaded.”

For Kaunatjike, the provenance research on the skulls is secondary. “These remains don’t belong in the archives of German universities and other medical institutions. They are still being used for research. That hasn’t ended.”

Helmut Parzinger has recommended that Germany’s colonial past – and the crimes committed during that time – be included in the presentation of exhibits of artifacts. “Among the German public, knowledge about these events has been overshadowed by the crime of the century – that is, the Holocaust – and World War II,” he admitted. The forgotten colonial area is to become part of the exhibitions in the planned Humboldt-Forum, which is to be part of the newly reconstructed Berlin Palace. “That has to change if we are to participate in earnest, eye-level discourse with others,” added Parzinger.

For the current generations of Hereros, like Israel Kaunatjike, the decisive point lies elsewhere: Germany’s long-overdue official apology has yet to happen. Nevertheless: “I’m very glad that the President of the Bundestag Norbert Lammert said that it’s high time that this part of Germany’s history be recognized,” said Kaunatjike.

A number of examples of hate speech have turned into hate crimes in Turkey in recent weeks and no prosecutor has so far taken the initiative regarding these statements and crimes, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Istanbul deputy Garo Paylan has stated, the reports.

“Each hate speech crime going unpunished pushes people targeted by hate speech to the ‘dove’s skittishness’ and lays the ground for hate crimes,” Paylan said  at a press conference at parliament.

“Dove’s skittishness” is a phrase used by slain Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in his final article in his bilingual Agos newspaper, expressing his feeling of being terrorized just days before he was killed on Jan. 19, 2007.

“The recent discourses aiming to create hatred and enmity against the Armenian community in Kars and Ankara and LGBTI individuals in Ankara constitute a clear and imminent threat against the right to life,” Paylan said, also referring to recent attacks against Korean tourists in Istanbul, mistaken by Turkish ultranationalists for Chinese people.

“It is obvious that ‘poisoned’ phrases and discourses have prepared the ground for murders in Turkey’s recent history,” Paylan said, listing a number of incidents including the killing of Father Andrea Santoro in February 2006 as he prayed in his church in the Black Sea city of Trabzon, as well as the killings at the Zirve Publishing House in Malatya in April 2007, when three missionaries were tied up and tortured before having their throats slit.

Paylan also referred to four particular recent incidents, including when the head of the local branch of the far-right “Idealist Hearths” (Ülkü Ocakları), which has close links with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), that his group would “hunt for Armenians” in Kars after world-renowned pianist at the nearby ruins of Ani, on the border with Armenia.

“What should we do now? Should we start a hunt for Armenians in the streets of Kars?” Adıgüzel asked reporters on June 24, three days after the Hamasyan concert.

Paylan said he would file a complaint about Adıgüzel later, while calling on prosecutors to take action against other hate speech.

Meanwhile, on July 2, Adana Mayor Hüseyin Sözlü of the MHP targeted Armenian members of parliament elected in the June 7 election by referring to late Turkish-Armenian brothel owner Matild Manukyan.

“Manukyan’s nephew living in Adana must be happy. The children of their three aunts have also entered parliament from the AKP [Justice and Development Party], the CHP [Republican People’s Party] and the HDP.

No matter how proud they are now, it will never be enough,” Sözlü wrote on his Twitter account.

Along with the HDP’s Paylan, two other Turkish citizens of Armenian origin entered parliament as MPs in the June 7 general election: AKP deputy Markar Esayan and CHP deputy Selina Doğan.

The leader of Armenian Catholics in Eastern Europe has described how the suffering inflicted by the 1915 genocide has echoed down the generations to today.

Armenian Catholic Archbishop Raphael François Minassian of Eastern Europe has praised the Pope’s recognition of the scale of the massacre carried out against Armenians by Ottoman forces during the First World War.

Speaking in April during a Mass at St Peter’s in Rome to mark the centenary of the massacre, the Pope used the word “genocide” in a reference to the killing of nearly 1.5 million Armenian Christians.

In an interview with , and other suffering Christians, Archbishop Minassian said: “We were certain that the Pope would remember the genocide, and his courage has changed the attitude of the entire world.”

The Archbishop gave his ACN interview during his visit to Rome for the plenary annual session of ROACO (Riunione delle Opere di Aiuto per le Chiese Orientali), an international symposium of aid agencies for the Oriental Churches.

Referring to the Pope’s statement during the Armenian Mass at St Peter’s, the archbishop stressed that Francis “had encouraged us to pursue reconciliation – an act of the highest educational, spiritual and human value, which helps us also to recover what we have lost.”

Archbishop Minassian, who is responsible for the Armenian community in Georgia, Armenia and the Russian Federation, described how even Armenians who did not directly witness the massacre of 1915 nevertheless still suffer the consequences.

He said: “Some psychological attitudes, such as the instinctive fear at the sight of an armed guard, have been passed down even to the second and third generations.”

Describing the situation in Armenia, Archbishop Minassian called cooperation with the Armenian Apostolic Church “perfect” despite a notable lack of suitable
infrastructure within the Church itself.

He said: “In the parishes there are no church halls or offices, everything has to be done inside the church itself,” he admitted, “Often the priests are obliged to celebrate the Sacred Liturgies in school halls, with the result that we risk being looked upon as a sect.”

Lusine Avanesyan
Public Radio of Armenia
Stepanakert

Russian billionaire German Sterligov has settled in Shushi, Karabakh. The family does not make the address public, but never refuses to meet journalists. Sterligov and his wife Alyona avoid speaking about the reasons behind their decision to move to Artsakh, but promise to reveal the truth at a press conference Monday.

Speaking to , Alyona Sterligova said they have Armenian friends and were planning to visit Armenia, but never thought the circumstances would change and they would move to Artsakh.

“It was my husband’s decision,” Alyona said. “We were in Belarus. My husband came and said we immediately had to leave for the Caucasus because of some reason. These circumstances do not allow us to return to Russia at this point. I did not ask anything, as this was not the first such case in my life (we moved several times in 1990s).”

The most important thing for Alyena is to see her spouse and children safe and healthy. She’s not upset for being forced to start new life in a new place. Instead, she’s very inspired, and the nature and people of Artsakh are the source of that inspiration.

“I don’t know where else we could feel as comfortable and where our children would feel as safe,”Alyona Sterligova says.

What attracts her most in Artsakh is that everything is natural here: chickens are not vaccinated, products are pure, animals are healthy. “This is what German has been talking about for a few years,” Alyona says. They intend to create the replica of their famous ‘Sloboda’ in Artsakh. They are currently travelling in the country in search for a proper land.

The place, where they intend to found the ‘Armenian Sloboda’ should have beautiful nature, good climate and water and a mountainous river that will operate a mill.

Alyona has aalready opened a fashion house in one of the rooms of the carpet museum in Shushi. She says the future models should be suitable to Armenian taste. Inspired by the carpets, she has decided to copy the prints on fabrics and sew Armenian clothes.

The Sterligovs do not conceal they do not know how long they will stay in Nagorno Karabakh. “The decisions may be sudden,” Alyona says. That does not mean, however, that the ‘Armenian Sloboda’ will stop operating.

Lured by the nature of Artsakh and the Armenian traditions, Sterligova says “it’s possible to restore the ecologically clean economy in Nagorno Karabakh.” “In that case many people will express the desire to come here, and you’ll have a choice whether to allow or not.”

Irrespective of the reasons behind the Sterligovs’ decision to move to Nagorno Karabakah, their presence has aroused great interest. Many of their friends can be seen visiting Artsakh.

Real Salt Lake has ended their interest in Yura Movsisyan during this transfer window, but that doesn’t leave the club without options to improve the team in the short-term, according to rslsoapbox.com.

In an interview on ESPN 700, RSL technical director Craig Waibel said that Movsisyan, at Spartak Moscow, will be staying in Russia after his club underwent a coaching change.

“Yura will not be joining us in this window,” Waibel said. “I had a great conversation with him, he’s in a good situation with Spartak.”

That ends Real Salt Lake’s interest in Movsisyan during this transfer window, Waibel said.

“Unfortunately for me, that’s an easy conversation,” he said. “I’m happy for Yura that he’s got a nice home and a place that wants to play him, but unfortunately, it wasn’t the answer that I wanted.”

Thanks to some vigilant action by students of Armenian descent at Andover High School, an Armenian flag is now flying from the rafters and new books portraying their history and culture are found inside the library, the reports.

Their actions coincided with a recent genocide presentation at the school in commemoration of the 1.5 million martyrs lost in 1915 at the hands of Ottoman Turkey, and another million uprooted from their homes.

Noticing there was no Armenian tricolor represented in the library’s “League of Nations,” the students moved forward, secured a flag, and were part of a presentation ceremony before their peers.

The books were donated by Lucine Kasbarian, author of Armenia: A Rugged Land, an Enduring People—a perfect read for students.

“Flags from every other country were displayed in our library and we wanted to be included, especially this year with the anniversary,” said junior Ani Minasian. “Turkey was there. Afghanistan was represented. But not Armenia. It could have been an oversight, but not anymore.”

Brendan Gibson, a social studies teacher, regularly engages his students on genocide history and awareness. More than 100 filled the library for a presentation earlier this spring.

“It was an honor having members of the Genocide Education Committee [of Merrimack Valley] here to educate students,” said Gibson. “This tragedy is still relevant today. We hope that greater awareness will result toward a shift in United States policy. It’s critical that Armenia is recognized by the League of Nations. By having the flag and books here, it’s one more vital step toward universal recognition.”

John Berube, a library media specialist at the school, was surprised by the missing Armenian flag, noting that one was displayed many years ago, but “somehow disappeared.”

“I knew we were missing some but didn’t realize that one was an Armenian flag,” he said. “This presentation could not have occurred at a better time, with the Centennial observance. The students must be commended for bringing this matter to our attention.”

A computer check showed only three Armenian books on file. Given the number of students taking genocide and human rights classes, more could be used.

“It’s a hugely important subject in our curriculum,” Berube added. “Because we operate on a fixed budget, we cannot afford a lot of books and rely on outside contributions. Many students do take advantage of the library.”

Joining Ani Minasian in the presentation was her brother Richard, Michael Mahlebjian, Anna Shahtanian, all of St. Gregory Church, North Andover, and Christopher Berberian, of the Armenian Church at Hye Pointe, Haverhill.

Earlier this year, Noah Aznoian of North Andover donated an Armenian flag to the Pingree School in Hamilton, where he’s a freshman, and helped organize a program for Armenian Martyrs Day on April 24.

“Our mission is not only to educate students on the genocide but to get them involved in moments like these,” said Dro Kanayan of North Andover, chairman of the Armenian Genocide Education Committee of Merrimack Valley, which has been delivering programs to local schools over the past seven years.

“We want them to become young ambassadors for the Armenian Cause and use what education they are taught to benefit their communities,” he added.

Five airports in Indonesia have been shut, including those in the tourist hotspot Bali, because of a volcanic eruption, transport officials say.

Mount Raung in East Java has been spewing ash into the air for nearly a week, raising concerns it could interfere with aircraft safety.

A spokesperson for state airport operator Angkasa Pura said Indonesian that Denpasar would be closed until at least 21:30 local time (13:30 GMT).

However, Indonesian transport ministry official JA Barata said the re-opening of the airports would be based on the activity on Mount Raung, which is about 120km from Denpasar airport.

The four other affected airports are the International Airport in Lombok, Selaparang Airport also in Lombok, Blimbingsari Airport in Banyuwangi, East Java and Notohadinegoro Airport in Jember, East Java.

Scores of flights have been postponed indefinitely or cancelled by airlines, including Jetstar and Virgin Australia who have halted all flights in and out of Denpasar Airport.

 

Asbarez – The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, Thursday, following the lead of Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL), voiced its continued support for direct U.S. aid to Nagorno Karabakh, a program that has, with bipartisan backing, provided humanitarian aid to the citizens of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic since 1998, reported the Armenian National Committee of America.

“We want to thank Senator Mark Kirk for his leadership in support of the Nagorno Karabakh aid program,” said ANCA Chairman, and Illinois resident, Ken Hachikian. “This aid program meets pressing humanitarian needs and stands as a powerful statement of American solidarity with the democratic aspirations of the citizens of Artsakh. We were very pleased that Senator Kirk was able to work so successfully with Chairman Graham and his other colleagues on this vital matter.”

The report accompanying the Fiscal Year 2016 (FY16) State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill states that: “The Committee recommends assistance for victims of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in amounts consistent with prior years, and for ongoing needs related to the conflict. The Committee urges a peaceful resolution of the conflict.” The legislators also approved report language stressing the importance of continuing and expanding demining efforts in the interior (non-border) regions of Artsakh, including in farmlands and residential areas previously considered off-limits. “The Committee recognizes that Nagorno-Karabakh has a per capita landmine accident rate among the highest in the world, and that mine clearance programs have been effective where implemented. The Committee is concerned with territorial restrictions placed on demining activities in the region and recommends continued funding for, and the geographic expansion of, such programs.”

The Appropriations Committee, in a departure from a recent trend away from setting country-specific aid levels, made specific recommendation of $20.06 million in economic aid to Armenia, $1.7 million in foreign military financing and $600,000 for International Military Education and Training (IMET). Azerbaijan and Georgia were allocated $8.778 million and $54 million in economic assistance, respectively. As in previous years, Senate Appropriators called for parity in military assistance to Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The report makes special mention that the Appropriations Committee is concerned about “democracy, human rights, and corruption in Azerbaijan,” and calls for the State Department to submit a report detailing their efforts to seek the “release of prisoners of conscience in Azerbaijan, including Khadija Ismayilova, Anar Mammadli, Leyla and Arif Yunus, Rasul Jafarov, and Initigam Aliyev.” These concerns were echoed in a letter to Azerbaijani President Aliyev, spearheaded by Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and cosigned by over 15 Senate colleagues, calling for a “more tolerant environment for free media like RFE/RL and to immediately release those journalists, activists and civil society leaders currently detained.”

$195 million Allocation for Syria
The Senate Appropriations Committee addressed the ongoing crisis in Syria with a $195 million allocation for in-country efforts and additional funds for ongoing refugee assistance in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. The in-Syria assistance will also fund a “new program to build the capacity of Syrian diaspora-led organizations and local Syrian civil society to address the immediate and long-term needs of the Syrian people inside Syria.” Armenia was not identified as a specific target for assistance to help transition those fleeing Syrian conflict, despite the fact that as many as 17,000 have fled to Syria to Armenia.

The House Appropriations Committee considered its version of the foreign aid bill in June, staying silent on a majority of Armenian American foreign aid priorities. Following full House and Senate consideration of their respective measures, appropriators from both houses of Congress hope to convene a conference to work out differences, prior to sending a reconciled version of the legislation to the President for signature. Alternately, if they fail to get to the conference phase of this process, legislative leaders may roll foreign aid spending into a larger omnibus spending measure.

Earlier this year, the ANCA’s Kate Nahapetian testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee, outlining the Armenian American community’s foreign aid priorities.

In February, the Obama-Biden Administration released its FY2016 budget which calls for yet another reduction in U.S. economic assistance to both Armenia and Azerbaijan, while maintaining parity in appropriated military aid to these two countries.

The President’s proposal of $18,360,000 in Economic Support Funds for Armenia in Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 would, if approved by Congress, represent a record low in such aid since Armenia’s independence. The White House’s proposal for Armenia is over $2 million less than FY 2014’s actual economic aid allocation, and less than half of the $40 million requested in a Congressional Armenian Caucus letter and ANCA Congressional testimony submitted last year.

Representatives Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Jackie Speier (D-CA) – the two U.S. Representatives of Armenian heritage – have called for a vote on the Armenian Genocide Truth + Justice Resolution, a bipartisan genocide-prevention measure they describe as “a principled and practical approach to fostering improved relations between Turkey and Armenia,” reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

In a letter to Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Eliot Engel, Ranking Member of this panel, Reps. Speier and Eshoo noted that they had recently traveled to Armenia as part of the U.S. Presidential Delegation for the April 24th Centennial. Stressing their unique role as “the only Members of the U.S. House of Representatives of Armenian heritage, descendants of survivors of the Armenian Genocide,” they called on the Committee leadership to hold a hearing and vote in the Foreign Affairs Committee on H.Res.154, the Armenian Genocide Truth and Justice Resolution before the August District work period.

H.Res.154, a bipartisan measure spearheaded by Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairman Robert Dold (R-IL), Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA) and David Valadao (R-CA), and Armenian Caucus Co-Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), has over 60 cosponsors. It builds upon the substantial record of U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide by calling upon the President work toward improved Armenian-Turkish relations based upon the Republic of Turkey’s full acknowledgement of the facts and ongoing consequences of the Armenian Genocide, and a fair, just, and comprehensive international resolution of this crime.

Dear Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel,

Earlier this spring on Capitol Hill we came together as colleagues to honor the women and men who died during the Armenian Genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923. In April, several of us traveled to Armenia as part of an official presidential delegation to participate in the 100th anniversary memorial events. We were honored to be part of this historic delegation, but remain disappointed Congress has not to this date recognized the Armenian Genocide, which President Obama recently called “the first mass atrocity of the 20th century.”

As the only Members of the U.S. House of Representatives of Armenian heritage, descendants of survivors of the Armenian Genocide, we ask you to hold a hearing and vote in the Foreign Affairs Committee on H.Res.154, the Armenian Genocide Truth and Justice Resolution.

This bipartisan genocide-prevention measure represents a principled and practical approach to fostering improved relations between Turkey and Armenia, which remains a priority of U.S. foreign policy. The adoption of this resolution would send a clear and powerful signal to those committing atrocities against minorities today that the United States will never compromise our moral stand against genocide for reasons of political expediency.

The first subcommittee hearing on the Armenian Genocide was held by Rep. Chris Smith in 2000 and Chairman Howard Berman convened a hearing and vote in 2010. Former and current Members have at length during special order hours and other debates on the genocide. As of this year, twenty-eight countries and 43 states have recognized the genocide, including Canada, England, France, and Russia. During Sunday services in April, Pope Francis called the massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians the “first genocide of the 20th century.” It is not the first time that the Pope has described the Armenian deaths as a genocide – Pope John Paul II did so in a written statement in 2001.

Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel, we respectfully ask you to bring the resolution to the Committee for a vote before the August District work period. We stand ready to meet with you to discuss the matter further and explore avenues for the timely adoption of this resolution.