Category: News

The protesters against electricity price hike again spent the night on Baghramyan Avenue.

Chief of Police Vladimir Gasparyan visited the site this morning and talked to the protesters.

 

Armenian and Czech Foreign Ministers Edward Nalbandian and Lubomír Zaorálek discussed a wide range of issues on bilateral agenda, including the political dialogue, cooperation within international organizations, the legal framework, trade and economic relations.

The parties attached importance to the reciprocal visits and development of inter-parliamentary ties.

Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Minister Nalbandian referred to the process of settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

He said “Azerbaijan uses the Nagorno Karabakh conflict to justify its authoritarian system and violation of human rights.”

He added, however, that the world is sick of Azerbaijan’s use of oil dollars. “A vivid example was a recent resolution adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where Azerbaijan failed,” he said.

“I think it’s time for Azerbaijan to return from the virtual world of oil and khavier to reality,” Nalbandian stated.

Award-winning Armenian jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan performed a concert on June 23 outside the Akhtamar Church on the historical Akhtamar Island in Van, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

The concert on Akhtamar Island was “vigorous,” said Tamar Nalci, the project coordinator at Anadolu Kültür (Anatolian Culture), a non-profit cultural institution that organized Hamasyan’s concerts in Turkey.

“Tigran Hamasyan is a reputable Armenian jazz pianist who performs mini concerts at historical sites and churches with the company of the state chamber choir of Armenia [Hover]. This is a concert of church music.”

Tigran Hamasyan is accompanied by a group of 25 musicians. This has been our second concert. It attracted much interest. The concert was vigorous,” Nalci said after the concert held on the historical island.

Van Deputy Mayor Cahit Bozbay and Gevaş District Mayor Sinan Hakan were among the attendees of the concert, along with a number of local residents.

Hamasyan will continue performing in various Turkish provinces until June 30 in a project called “Luys i Luso.” He will also perform in 100 churches in Armenia, Georgia, Lebanon, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Luxembourg, Russia and the U.S.

Hamasyan, 27, who started playing piano at the age of three and won the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2003 and the Thelonious Monk Institute piano contest at the age of 18, performs traditional Armenian music in his concerts.

Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan received today Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov.

The parties praised the level of Armenian-Russian friendly relations and attached importance to the deepening and expansion of bilateral economic-commercial relations.

The interlocutors referred to the activity of the Armenian-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission on Economic Cooperation.

A number of issues related to the deepening and intensification of bilateral ties were discussed.

President Serzh Sargsyan will leave for the Kingdom of Belgium tonight to partake in the Summit of the European People’s Party to be held in Brussels on June 25.

The Armenian President is expected to deliver a speech at the summit.

Works  by Armenian photographers are on display at Franz Kafka’s House in Prague within the framework of the Prague Quadrinale.

“The last room on the third floor of the Kafka house definitely makes one thing clear: Scenography is much more than stage design for theater. It is the art of combining images, sounds and objects to create something new,” writes.

The Armenian photographer Vahan Stepanyan and his three colleagues took 50,000 photos of schoolgirls with dolls in the ruins of a church and used 10,000 of them for an eerie film they show in Prague as part of the installation, “Red Hail… because it never ends.”

The photos are based on documents of the Norwegian missionary Bodil Katharine Biorn, who worked in Armenia in an orphanage in 1905. One year, she raised money in Norway to give each of the girls a doll for Christmas and photographed all the happy children with their new toys.

After the 1915 massacres of the Armenian people, Mother Katharine – as she was called – tried to find out what happened to those girls. She couldn’t find a single one of them. They had all been murdered. Altogether, 500,000 children were among the victims of the massacre.

“We’ve been wanting to work with these photos for a long time. Bodil Katharine Biorn’s grandson gave us access to the approximately 60 surviving shots in a Norwegian Archive,” explained Stepanyan. The black-and-white film they made also features sacred music specially written by the Armenian composer Tigran Hamasyan.

The soundtrack for the new staged pictures revives the atmosphere of the original ones, as if time had stopped and still held the laughter of these children. The result is a very aesthetic and moving work of art.

Actor Vardan Petrosyan, who serves sentence at “Nubarashen” penitentiary, has announced he’s starting a hunger strike in support of the “No to robbery” initiative protesting against the electricity price hike, Tert.am reports.

“I cannot be there personally, but I can express my support to all participants,” Vardan Petrosyan’s sister quoted him as saying.

The Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) has raised the ongoing human rights violations in Azerbaijan to Australia’s Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, and members of the Australian Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade.

In light of the inaugural European Games – currently taking place in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku – ANC Australia raised the deteriorating human rights conditions in that country and called on the Australian government to protest these grave violations in all official contact with Azerbaijani authorities.

In recent months, Azerbaijan has embarked on a global public relations campaign to try and cover up the country’s entrenched human rights issues, and has attempted to present what is a violence-preaching dictatorship in a positive light.

In its letter, ANC Australia made reference to the, as well as to Reporters Without Borders, and the Committee to Protect Journalists, who all strongly condemn Azerbaijan’s ongoing human rights violations.

Azerbaijan’s ongoing war-mongering against the Armenians of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Republic of Armenia were again brought to the attention of the Australian Foreign Minister.

The letter reads: “In addition to the ongoing violation of human rights, Azerbaijan has dramatically increased its ongoing military threats against the people of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh and the people of the Republic of Armenia.”

“Over the past six months there have been numerous military incursions by Azerbaijan resulting in over 20 Armenian servicemen being killed. I again reiterate the need for the Australian Government to continue to raise these serious human rights violations in all dealings with Azerbaijan and call on Azerbaijan to adhere to its obligations under international law and customs.”

ANC Australia’s Executive Director, Vache Kahramanian, said: “It is vital that Australia uses its position at the United Nations to raise these serious human rights violations with Azerbaijan.”

“For many years, Azerbaijan has attempted to use its petrodollars to conceal these issues, which have been put into the spotlight as a result of the European Games taking place in the country.”

ANC Australia will release any responses from the Foreign Minister and/or the Joint Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade.

Reports in Turkish media reveal the Armenian ancestry of a newly elected MP.

Mehmet Ali Aslan elected to the Turkish Parliament from the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) refused to utter the words “Great Turkish nation” at the oath-taking ceremony at the Grand National Assembly.

The MP said “The Great Nation” instead and was required to repeat the oath under the pressure of some MPs.

Reports in Turkish media reveal that Aslan is of Armenian descent, Akunq.net reports.

A British national working at the inaugural European Games was killed in a road crash in Baku, The Associated Press reports.

The Briton, who has not been named, was a passenger in a vehicle driven by an Azerbaijani, who was also killed in the incident on Tuesday, police spokesman Ehsan Zahid said.

Two more British nationals were hospitalized, and receiving consular assistance, British Embassy spokesperson Gunel Ahmedova told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

California-based company FiveCurrents, which is working on the opening and closing ceremonies for the games, said the Briton who was killed had been working for one of its subcontractors, and expressed “great sadness” at the death.

“Three other team members also required immediate hospital treatment after the incident, and will be repatriated so they can receive further medical attention,” FiveCurrents said in a statement released via games organizers.