Category: News

“The Council of Europe does not have a direct role in the negotiations, and always refers to, and supports the role of, the OSCE Minsk-Group. However, we are concerned about the humanitarian aspects of the conflict,” CoE Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland said in a statement.

“I am aware that the violations of the ceasefire on 29 December resulted in casualties, and that the Armenian Armed Forces are still holding the body of an Azerbaijani serviceman killed in the fighting,” he said.

“I urge the parties to respect the ceasefire, and I fully support the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group’s call for the return, without delay, of human remains – in accordance with the agreements of the Astrakhan Summit of 2010 – bearing in mind the humanitarian nature of this issue,” the Secretary General added.

A seven-member family was killed in Gyumri on this day two years ago. Soldier Valry Permyakov from the Russian military base #102 in Gyumri entered  Avetisyans’ house and killed six. The youngest member of the family, Seryozha Avetisyan succumbed to injuries days later.

On August 23, a court in Armenia sentenced Permyakov to life in prison. He was found guilty on all accounts including murder, assault related to robbery and attempt to cross the border illegally.

The family, including a six-month-old baby, was killed as a result of an armed assault on January 12, 2015. Valery Permyakov, a soldier at a Russian base in the Armenian town of Gyumri, was arrested and later charged with the murder of two or more persons under the Armenian Criminal Code.

On August 12, 2015, Permyakov was found guilty of desertion, theft of weapons and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The murder case was singled out for considering it in a separate procedure and passed to the Armenian authorities.

On October 13, 2015, Permyakov was found sane despite certain deviations. According to experts, he was not in the heat of passion while committing the crime and could recognize the consequences of his actions.

On October 16, he was additionally charged with armed assault, home-invasion robbery and attempted border crossing.

The Armenian government has approved the President’s draft degree on the opening of a Consulate General in Dubai, considering the progress in the relations and multilateral cooperation between Armenia and the countries of the Gulf.

Dubai is currently one of the most important commercial-economic centers of the world.

According to estimates, about 2,500-3,000 citizens of the Republic of Armenia currently reside in the United Arab Emirates.

Along with the diplomatic services, the opening of the Consulate General will allow to launch activity targeted at the deepening and development of trade-economic ties and investment projects.

Manchester United have triggered a clause in Marouane Fellaini’s contract that will keep him at Old Trafford until 2018, the BBC reports.

Fellaini signed a four-year deal with the option of a further year when he joined from Everton for £27.5m in 2013.

United boss Jose Mourinho has activated the option despite uncertainty over the 29-year-old midfielder’s future.

Fellaini was booed by his own fans last month but scored in the EFL Cup semi-final win against Hull on Tuesday.

The Belgium international ran to Mourinho to celebrate his goal in what seemed to be a show of recognition for the faith shown in him after a difficult period, which included giving away a costly penalty at Everton on 4 December.

Speaking after Tuesday’s victory, Mourinho said: “He has a very strong mentality and has coped well.

“He knows he is a very important player for me.”

The Museum for Islamic Art is hosting Dor Guez’s solo exhibition in Jerusalem. The project’s title, The Sick Man of Europe, quotes a term coined in the 19th century to describe the disintegrating Ottoman Empire, accoding to .

Using this term, Guez examines the culture and history of some of the nation states that have emerged from the Ottoman debris. He appropriates this metaphor by reconstructing “the sick man” as a historic figure. Each section of the project recounts the story of an individual who embodies a subject fallen victim to military conditions,

The exhibition is centered on a film in which Guez presents the story of Hagop, an Armenian composer whose family was expelled from Kütahya during World War I. Guez accompanies Hagop on his first visit to sacred sites in contemporary Armenia. Along the way we hear an archival conversation between Komitas and Suni, two renowned early Armenian composers. The two compare composing to a journey, and point out a connection between the art of composition and Armenian topography.

The exhibition also includes a series of photograms featuring ground plans of Armenian churches, ceramic objects from Kütahya that Guez traced and extracted from the museum’s collection, and showcases containing prints reproduced from glass slides, documenting the Ottoman army during WWI, among them, a slide showing Enver Pasha, one of the principal perpetrators of the Armenian genocide.

Three people have been released without charge by French police investigating a Paris jewellery robbery that targeted TV reality star Kim Kardashian West, the BBC reports.

They include her chauffeur in Paris, Michael Madar. The three were among 17 people arrested in co-ordinated raids across France on Monday.

The driver’s brother is still being questioned by police, reports say.

Kardashian West was held at gunpoint and tied up by the robbers while staying at a hotel in Paris in October.

She was targeted at the exclusive flat near Place de la Madeleine while her bodyguard looked after her sister at a nightclub.

The gang stole €9m of jewellery, including a diamond ring valued at around €4m.

Gazprom Export has offered a guaranteed income from service on gas transit to Georgia, the company said in a .

A meeting between Director General of Gazprom Export LLC Elena Burmistrova and the Minister of Energy of Georgia Kakha Kaladze took place on January 10, 2017, in Minsk. The terms of gas transit to Armenia through the territory of Georgia, as well as gas supplies to Georgia were discussed at the meeting.

“Gazprom Export has made a package proposal to Georgia under optimal and mutually beneficial conditions, which will allow the Georgian party to raise guaranteed income from transportation services and improve the reliability of gas supply in Georgia,” Director General of Gazprom Export LLC Elena Burmistrova said.

Georgia serves as a transit country to transport Russian gas to Armenia.

Previously, Russia paid Georgia for gas transportation by supplying natural gas in the amount of 10% of the transported gas volume.

“In the global practice of gas trade they no longer apply payments with raw materials. The Russian party has proposed to the partners switching to money payments for gas transportation services on the basis of the rates used in the EU,” the statement reads.

“Gazprom has made an interesting proposal,” Georgia’s Minister of Energy Kakha Kaladze said, reports. He stressed that the offer ‘is a final one.’

Speaking to Imedi TV, Kaladze said the previous meetings had produced no result because of the difference between the positions of the sides.

The Minister called the latest offer “interesting” and said the decision would be made after discussions of the issue at the government.

Photo: Reuters

 

President Barack Obama has called on Americans to defend their democracy in his farewell speech in Chicago, the BBC reports.

“By almost every measure, America is a better, stronger place” than it was eight years ago when he took office, he told thousands of supporters.

But he warned “democracy is threatened whenever we take it for granted”.

He implored Americans of all backgrounds to consider things from each other’s point of view, saying “we have to pay attention and listen”.

The country’s first black president, now 55, was first elected in 2008 on a message of hope and change.

His successor, Donald Trump, has vowed to undo some of Mr Obama’s signature policies. He will be sworn into office on 20 January.

Raucous chants of “four more years” from the crowd were brushed aside by the president. “I can’t do that,” he said with a smile. US presidents are limited to two terms by the constitution.

“No, no, no, no no,” he said, when the crowd booed the prospect of Mr Trump replacing him.

Striking an upbeat tone, Mr Obama said that the peaceful transfer of power between presidents was a “hallmark” of American democracy.

But, he outlined three threats to American democracy – economic inequality, racial divisions and the retreat of different segments of society into “bubbles”, where opinions are not based on “some common baseline of facts”.

 

 

 

The visit of His Holiness Aram I, the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, to Syria was a source of great inspiration for Aleppo Armenians. The Catholicos’ call for reconstruction of Aleppo became a guarantee of restoration and survival for the community.

Avo Avoshyan, lecturer at the Yerevan State University’s Chair of Diaspora Studies, says “it’s hard to estimate the percentage of Armenians that have stayed in Aleppo.”

According to him, there could still be 6-8 thousand Armenians living there despite the cruel five-year war. He’s confident the visit of the Catholicos will inspire Aleppo Armenians to return.

Administrator of the “Aleppo Armenians Facebook page Sosy Mishoyan-Dabbaghian considers that those, who have settled in Armenia or the West, will hardly return to Syria, but believes that the families that have moved to safer places in Syria are likely to return to their homes in Aleppo.

Both hope the support for Aleppo Armenians will be maintained and the community will be reorganized.

His Holiness Aram I visited Syria earlier this month. The Catholicos had a meeting with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and representatives of the Armenian community.

His Holiness Aram I celebrated the Christmas Liturgy at the Holy Mother of God Church, assisted on the altar by Archbishop Shahan Sarkissian, the Diocesan Bishop, and Bishop Norayr Ashekian, a member of the brotherhood accompanying the Catholicos.

Catholicos Aram I focussed his sermon on the biblical verse, “Do not be afraid, for God goes with us,” assuring the community of the solidarity of Armenians everywhere. He said that in their history, Armenians have overcome persecutions through their faith in Jesus Christ. He then invited the community to pray that the Good News of the Prince of Peace will renew them in their faith, inspire new hope and fill their lives with the love of God.

Jose Mourinho moved a step closer to a major trophy in his first season as Manchester United manager as goals from Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini secured a first-leg victory over Hull City in the semi-final of the EFL Cup, the BBC reports.

A near full-strength United struggled to break down resilient Hull in a first half in which the hosts had just two shots on target – Mata forcing a good save out of goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic, who also tipped over Paul Pogba’s long-range effort.

The visitors had chances of their own against a side who had won their eight previous games in all competitions, Robert Snodgrass causing problems from set-pieces.

However, Mata got the breakthrough just before the hour mark when he tapped in from Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s knockdown.

Substitute Fellaini scored a second late on, heading in from Matteo Darmian’s cross to put United in command heading into the second leg on 26 January.