Category: News

The documentary ‘We Are Egyptian Armenians,’ directed by Waheed Sobhi, relays the history of the Armenian community in Egypt as recounted by many of its members and supported with archival materials including photos, videos and paintings.

The film, created in cooperation with scriptwriter Eva Dadrian and researcher and executive producer Hannan Ezzat, was screened at the Cairo International Film Festival 2016.

The documentary also participated in the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam and the Karama Human Rights Film Festival in Jordan.

The film is set to be screened in Egypt, the US and Canada.

Ahram Online sat down for an interview with the filmmakers Sobhi, Dadrian, and Ezzat.

“There are many ways to make a film about the Egyptian Armenians. We chose to focus on their history in Egypt, and their contribution to Egyptian history and society. The film has many archival images and videos as well as information relayed by a narrator,” director Waheed Sobhi said in an interview with .

“We wanted to show the many different aspects of the Armenian community, their contributions to Egyptian history, and so on. It is like a panorama of the Armenian community in Egypt. This film may even invite more research and more work on the Armenian community in Egypt,” the director said.

For the full interview click .

Photo: AFP

 

The evacuation of Syrian civilians and rebels from eastern Aleppo is continuing round the clock, as a truce was reported to be holding overnight, the BBC reports.

More than 3,000 people were bussed out on the first day of the evacuation on Thursday, but the UN says as many as 50,000 are still trapped there.

Syria’s army, backed by Russia, has taken nearly all rebel-held districts.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday hailed the liberation of Aleppo after more than four years of fighting, saying that history was being made.

“The world is facing a growing threat of proliferation and use of the weapons of mass destruction by non-state actors, which is a serious challenge to global security,” Armenia’s Permannet Representative to the UN, Ambassador Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said at the UN Security Council open debate on stopping the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by non-State actors.

“The globalization has facilitated the opportunities of acquisition and use of chemical, biological, radioactive and nuclear weapons by non-state actors – terrorists and criminal groups. Although the existing technical barriers still prevent the production of contemporary means of their delivery, even small-scale attacks can lead to disastrous results,” Ambassador Mnatsakanyan said.

“Today’s imperative is to work out a national control and non-proliferation mechanism accompanied by international cooperation, to prevent the proliferation and use of those weapons by non-state actors – terrorists and other criminal groups,” Zohrab Mnatsakanyan added.

According to the Ambassador, Armenia attaches great importance to issues of nuclear security on domestic and international levels by working out corresponding internal legislation, ratifying and applying international legal agreements.

Zohrab Mnatsakanyan reminded about the 2015 decision of the Armenian government on the reinforcement of security of the physical and nuclear facilities of Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant. He added that “Armenia’s 2015-2020 program of national actions envisages concrete steps targeted at the review of current measures and elaboration of future actions.”

“We are actively involved in a number of programs aimed at preventing the proliferation of weapons. The Armenian Government keeps working in bilateral and multilateral formats against the smuggling of nuclear materials,” Amb. Mnatsakanyan said.

Armenian Deputy FM has lashed out at his Azeri counterpart for attempts to politicize the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization.

Addressing the 35^th meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of BSEC member states, Armenian Deputy FM Ashot Hovakimyan said “the attempts to politicize the organization are unacceptable.”

He noted that “BSEC is not the platform where one can try to raise issues in no way related to the mandate of the organization and.”

During the meeting in Belgrade the Council summed up the six months of the Serbian presidency.

Ashot Hovakimyan noted in his speech that “over the past six months Armenia has kept making efforts to promote multifaceted economic cooperation, implement the programs on the agenda of the organization, encourage investments.”

President Serzh Sargsyan received today the RF culture figure, the well-known musician and artist of the Armenian descent, director and producer Stas Namin – Anastas Mikoyan, who has arrived to Armenia to participate in the events to be held in Yerevan on December 14-20 on the occasion of his 65th birth anniversary conducted in the framework of the Armenian-Russia cooperation.

Welcoming the celebrated artist to Armenia, President Sargsyan noted that the Armenian people have a great respect towards their talented compatriot who has always stood by our nation in difficult times and today celebrates his anniversary in Armenia through a number of cultural events which will raise the spirits and will introducing the public to exceptional pieces of art.

The President hailed years-long activities of Stas Namin in different areas and added that he carries on worthily the best traditions of his wonderful family.

Stas Namin noted that the visit to Armenia is a great honor for him and underscored that in his perception Armenia has always been a fairytale land. He said that he was truly happy to be able to demonstrate here his works.

“I was raised in the Armenian spirit and I am profoundly thankful for the invitation and warm welcome,” said the celebrated performer at the meeting with the President of Armenia.

Photo: AFP/Getty Images

 

An 18th Century Chinese imperial seal has been sold for a record €21m ($22m) – more than 20 times its estimated price, the BBC reports.

The sale, to an unnamed Chinese collector, took place in Paris on Wednesday after a heated bidding war, Drouot auction house said.

The palm-sized seal is made of red and white steatite, a type of mineral rock.

It was one of hundreds owned by Emperor Qianlong, one of the longest serving Chinese emperors.

The previous record set for an auctioned seal was €14m in 2011.

Yahoo has said more than one billion user accounts may have been affected in a hacking attack dating back to 2013, the BBC reports.

The internet giant said it appeared separate from a 2014 breach disclosed in September, when Yahoo revealed 500 million accounts had been accessed.

Yahoo said names, phone numbers, passwords and email addresses were stolen, but not bank and payment data.

The company, which is being taken over by Verizon, said it was working closely with the police and authorities.

Yahoo said it “believes an unauthorised third party, in August 2013, stole data associated with more than one billion user accounts”.

The breach “is likely distinct from the incident the company disclosed on September 22, 2016”.

However, the three-year-old hack was uncovered as part of continuing investigations by authorities and security experts into the 2014 breach, Yahoo said.

Account users were urged to change their passwords and security questions.

The California-based company has more than a billion monthly active users, although many people have multiple accounts. There are also many accounts that are little used or dormant.

Photo: AFP/Getty Images

A deal to evacuate the last rebel-held part of eastern Aleppo is back on, opposition fighters say, a day after a previous agreement fell through, the BBC reports.

Rebel fighters and civilians in the Syrian city had been due to leave early on Wednesday, but the truce collapsed.

Rebel groups said late on Wednesday that evacuations would take place in the early hours of Thursday.

But there has been no confirmation so far from the Syrian government or its major ally Russia.

On 14 December, the European Friends of Armenia organised a briefing to assess the current state of the play in the EU-Armenia framework agreement negotiations, one year into the process.

Garegin Melkonyan, First Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Economic Development and Investments of the Republic of Armenia, Dirk Schuebel, (EEAS) and Petros Sourmelis (DG TRADE) were the speakers at the Briefing, which was moderated by Dr Hrant Kostanyan, Researcher at CEPS – Centre for European Political Studies, and attended by more than 40 participants.

Mr Schuebel, Head of Division “Eastern partnership bilateral”, kicked-off the discussion, speaking about the political aspects of the negotiations: “I am very happy to see that Armenia is very ambitious in these negotiations, and positively surprised to see how much of the previously negotiated Association Agreement we will be able to keep”, he said. Mr Schuebel warned, however, “it is up to Armenia to decide how much of the EU acquits it is prepared to adopt”.

Mr Sourmelis, Head of Unit “Russia, CIS, Ukraine, Western Balkans, EFTA, EEA and Turkey”, spoke next. He confirmed that a positive atmosphere and quick progresses can also be observed in the “trade and investment” track of the negotiations and stated: “The new agreement will be closer to the defunct DCFTA (Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement) than to the existing PCA (Partnership and Cooperation Agreement); but the toughest issues are the ones left to the end”.

Mr Melkonyan was the last of the three speakers to take the floor. He explained that since this is not a Free Trade Agreement, total trade liberalization is not to be expected, but added that the new agreement will likely contemplate some tariff reductions. As for the timeline of the negotiations, Mr Melkonyan said: “We are more concerned about the substance, rather than the timeline. For us, the most important is to reach a good final outcome, and position Armenia as an ideal investment destination, with a strong and stable political, economic and administrative environment, and an easy access to markets such as the EU’s, the EEU’s and Iran’s”.

Answering questions from the audience, Mr Schuebel stated that, given the first signs of a successful implementation of the visa facilitation and the readmission agreements, the EEAS stands ready to start a dialogue with Armenia towards a Visa Liberalisation Action Plan. However, he also stressed that the Council must authorize such a mandate, and some Member States seem reluctant to do so at this stage, for reasons not directly related to Armenia.

While stressing that this is a bilateral agreement with Armenia, and therefore specific to Armenia, Mr Sourmelis added that it could somehow become a kind of a “blueprint” for future agreements with other EEU members, such as, for instance, Belarus. The panelists reminded, however, that the situation of Human Rights in Belarus does not allow the EU to envisage starting negotiations any time soon.

Mr Melkonyan closed the debate affirming that although Armenia has commitments and responsibilities stemming from other integration processes as well, “these negotiations showcase Armenia’s devotion to the EU, which has been, is, and will probably remain our main trading partner”.

Diogo Pinto, Director of the European Friends of Armenia, speaking after the Briefing, said: “This was a successful event, and I am happy to see that it attracted the interest of so many people. Even more importantly, this evening we heard many very positive things about the progresses already made in the negotiations between Armenia and the EU. I am confident that the ambition and the constructive approach shown by the two sides will allow for a very positive conclusion of the negotiations, and that the new EU-Armenia framework agreement will soon be signed. This is great news for EuFoA and all the European friends of Armenia, but also for Armenia and the EU too”.

Photo: Instagram

 

Oscar winner Leo DiCaprio  bought a work by hot painter Joe Bradley for $65,000 at the Children of Armenia Fund’s gala at Cipriani 42nd Street, according to .

DiCaprio’s friend, art dealer Tony Shafrazi, was the gala’s honorary chair, and Simon de Pury presided over the auction. Terry George and Eric Esrailian were honored.

On December 9th, the 13th Annual COAF Gala at Cipriani in New York raised $3.1 million to fund COAF’s extensive range of programs in Armenia.

Spanning education, health, wellness, science, technology, innovation, culture, art, communication and languages, COAF’s programming was created to empower a new generation of healthy, educated Armenians to significantly improve the future of their homeland on both a local and global scale