Category: News

Turkey’s Christian minority will be represented in the Turkish parliament in greater number after a long absence as four members of the community will become deputies after the June 7 elections, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

The results of the parliamentary election, one of the most critical and closely fought in years, ended the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) 13-year one-party rule, while also propelling four members of the Christian minority to the legislature.

Markar Esayan, an Armenian-Turkish journalist for the pro-AKP daily Yeni Şafak, entered the parliament on an AKP ticket as the 12th candidate from Istanbul’s second election area.

Selina Doğan, from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), was elected as the first deputy candidate from the second election area of the CHP’s Istanbul list. Doğan, who is of Armenian origin, practices law as an attorney.

CHP head Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said while introducing Doğan as a candidate that her candidacy was an important message for the world.

“We do not want division in this society. We want to grow and develop together,” Kılıçdaroğlu said in early April.

Two Christians will also enter parliament from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) ticket, one from Istanbul and the other from the southeastern province of Mardin.

Garo Paylan, who ran for parliament as the second nominee from the HDP’s third election area in Istanbul, holds Armenian roots and is listed as a trainer on the Supreme Election Board (YSK) candidate list.

Erol Dora, who is a member of Turkey’s Syriac community and a lawyer, was the HDP’s third deputy candidate from Mardin and an incumbent in the legislature.

In addition to the four Christians, two members of Turkey’s small Yazidi community were also elected for the HDP – Feleknas Uca from Diyarbakır and Ali Atalan from Batman.

Spanish police have seized €45,000 from Cristiano Ronaldo’s mother after she tried to leave the country without declaring the cash, the reports.

Dolores Aveiro was stopped at Madrid Airport and forced to hand the money over after Civil Guard officers discovered the fortune in her hand luggage, leading Spanish daily El Mundo claimed today.

The newspaper said the mother-of-four, who lives between her native Madeira and Madrid, had the cash confiscated in mid-May after being unable to prove its origin.

Ms Aveiro, who helps Ronaldo raise his four-year-old son Cristiano Jr, is said to have been allowed to fly to Portugal with the remaining €10,000 she was carrying.

Travellers entering or leaving Spain with more than €10,000 in cash or cash equivalents have to declare the money under a new anti-money laundering and tax evasion law introduced in 2007.

The declaration has to be made in writing using a form which can be downloaded from the Internet or obtained from Treasury and customs offices.

Cash seized from those who breach the rules is held until they can prove its origin and pay a fine.

Ronaldo’s mother was not arrested and simply detained for a few minutes before being allowed to continue her journey, El Mundo reported.

The breach was described as an ‘administrative error’ rather than a crime.

Russia hopes the UN General Assmebly will give an observe’s status to the Eurasian Economic Union at the 70th session, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after a meeting with his Belarussian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

“We hope that the Eurasian Economic Union will be granted observer’s status at the 70^th session of the General Assembly in September, Lavrov said. “We are working with our partners to promote such a resolution at the UN. Organizations such as CIS, SCTO, the Arab League, the European Union hold a similar status at the UN.

Lavrov said also that the EU is getting more interested in signals coming from the Eurasian Union.

Seven people died as a result of a road accident on the 10^th kilometer of the Tashir-Stepanavan highway.

The Volkswagen Tuareg went off the road shortly after midnight, hit a tree and caught on fire.

The victims of the accident were residents of Tashir city and were identified as Vanik Mardoyan, Karen Khachatryan, Gevorg Poghosyan, Arman Tonoyan, Gaspar Ghukeyan, Vahag Albertyan (all from Tashir city) and Arthur Balyan from Yerevan.

A criminal case has been launched at the Lori branch of the Investigative Committee. Probe into the details of the case is under way.

 

 

 

The first “Guide to Armenian Winemaking and Armenian Wines” has been published with the support of the “Antares” publishing house and the Armenian Association of Winemakers.

The author of the book Anik Petrosyan says it will provide thorough information about Armenian wines to tourists.

The publication consists of two parts. The first one presents the history of Armenian winemaking, the second is dedicated to Armenian wines.

Head of the “Antares” Media Holding Armen Martirosyan says the guide is a considerable achievement for presenting Armenia to tourists.

Five hundred copies of the guide have been published. They will be available in bookstores and will cost 6-7 AMD.

 

 

 

The recent reports suggesting there are only 3,000 Armenians remaining in Syria do not correspond to reality, says Aleppo Armenian Vazgen Mesropyan, Vice-President of the Social-Democratic Hunchagian Party of Armenia. According to him, even under today’s conditions Syrian Armenians are not willing to leave the country.

“We – Aleppo Armenians are against migration. We don’t want to move, we don’t want to follow Turkey’s policy. The displacements are the result of Turkish policy. We don’t want a second dislocation. All our property, our estates and archives are there,” Mesropyan told a press conference today.

The main archives of Syrian Armenians were kept in the Forty Martyrs Church destroyed by the Islamic State a few months ago. There is no exact data, but part of the archives documents are believed to have been preserved.

“The terrorists had digged tunnels to reach the church and blast it. Part of the archive materials has been saved. There are rumors that they will be brought to Armenia, but that’s not 100 percent certain,” he said.

Besides the archives, Armenians in Syria are trying to preserve their national identity. Children continue to attend Armenian schools even under shelling.

Tamar Kaprelian — one-sixth of Armenia’s Genealogy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 — has won Wiwibloggs’ search for Eurovision’s Next Top Model 2015.

After collecting more than 140,000 votes in the semi finals and final, Wiwibloggs has announced the winner.

In a video Tamar thanks her fans for their support, and reminds  that her new EP “Yours to Keep” is available on iTunes now.

The Lost Origin Sounds Series has released “Forty Martyrs: Armenian Chants from Aleppo at the centenary of the Armenian Genocide, the bloody Ottoman campaign that drove many Armenians to the centuries-old community in Aleppo,  reports.

The  video Forty Martyrs: Armenian Chanting from Aleppo presents a unique new recording of sacred Armenian music.

In one of Aleppo’s oldest neighborhoods rests a church, once a focal point and a haven. The head priest there, The Very Reverend Yeznig Zegchanian, agreed to chant, but he was going to do it now and he was only going to do it once. Jason Hamacher, a drummer from Washington DC who had developed a serious fascination with Syria’s endangered spiritual traditions, dashed back to his hotel to get his equipment.

The result, recorded in the resonant Forty Martyrs Armenian Orthodox Church, captures a time, place, and endangered language. The city is entrapped in Syria’s agonizing civil war. The church’s congregants, descendants of several waves of Armenian refugees, have been scattered throughout the region and beyond. The language of the chants, West Armenian, once spoken in what is now Turkey, seems destined to die out in a generation.

EU Ambassador to the United States David O’Sullivan says that EU six Eastern Partnership nations will not be expected to join the Union’s sanctions against Russia, Sputnik News reports. 

The European Union’s (EU) six Eastern Partnership nations will not be expected to join the Union’s sanctions against Russia, EU Ambassador to the United States David O’Sullivan told Sputnik.

“In none of these cases do we expect alignment on European Union foreign policy, that is expected of [EU]candidate countries,” O’Sullivan said on Thursday.

O’Sullivan noted that only EU candidate countries are expected to come in line with the sanctions policy, “which is not yet the case for any of the Eastern Partnership countries.”

In a Thursday speech to the Atlantic Council, EU Commissioner for European Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn said relations with the six Eastern Partners were “not black and white.”

Hahn cited Armenia as an example “to demonstrate that it is possible to be a member of the Eurasian [Economic] Union, but also to explore… the scope of cooperation with the European Union.”

Princess Charlotte, the baby daughter of Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate, will be christened by the Archbishop of Canterbury next month, her father’s office announced on Friday, REuters reports.

The ceremony for Charlotte, who was born last month, will take place on July 5 at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham where William and Kate, known officially as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, have a country home on Queen Elizabeth’s estate in eastern England.

It will be conducted by Archbishop Justin Welby, the spiritual head of the Anglican Church, who also oversaw the christening of her elder brother Prince George, who will celebrate his second birthday next month.

The newest member of the British royal family, whose full name is Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, in a nod to her late grandmother Princess Diana and her great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth, has not been seen in public since she left hospital with her parents on May 2.