Category: News

Being the winner of Armenian national selection in December 2016, Artsvik will represent Armenia at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest with her song ‘Fly With Me’.

Shortly before the first rehearsal at Kyiv’s International Exhibition Centre Artsvik had no doubts about smooth running of the preparations. “I’m sure the rehearsals are going to be great, because there are a lot of professionals here, so I´m sure I´m in safe hands,” she said.

Artsvik made her way through the world of music and art through hardship and difficult choices. She initially decided to start her career as a speech therapist however later realised it was music that captured her soul. The singer believes that it is crucial to remain true to yourself, be honest with others and pursue the dreams no matter what happens. “Although I started to sing very late, I can say one thing, I know that dreams do come true and I want to encourage everybody to follow their dreams irrespective of age and profession,” said Artsvik.

Regardless of the results, Artsvik is here at Eurovision to share her music and reach new audiences with one key message; love is love. “I think nowadays world needs a lot of love,” said Artivik. The entry will incorporate colourful and mysterious graphics, fireworks as well as two dancers performing on the stage.

When talking to the Armenian participant underlined the importance of 2017 slogan Celebrate diversity that she finds very meaningful and important; “It really shows how so many different countries are united in one place by music”. Artsvik was so inspired by the slogan that even came up with her own idea of creating a Celebrate Diversity Challenge where she challenged other participants to sing traditional songs.

“I’m challenging other participants from other countries by singing folk songs from their countries and in response they sing something traditional from Armenia”, explained Artsvik. The challenge has already been accepted and undertaken by five countries.

Armenia’s second rehearsal will take place on 4th May. Artsvik will participate in the First Semi-Final on Tuesday 9th May.

Photo: Sputnik/ Sergey Guneev

 

Russian sappers from Russian military base in Armenia have started mine-clearing activities, the spokesman of Russia’s Southern Military District told Sputnik on Monday, Sputnik reports.

The sappers from the Russian military base in Armenia have started mine-clearing activities in the military training areas located in the mountainous areas of the Caucasian state, Col. Vadim Astafyev, the spokesman of Russia’s Southern Military District told Sputnik on Monday.

“The activities of the servicemen are conducted in the new Dublon protective suits along with… the [mine-sniffing] dogs and the use of advanced mine detectors… The military sappers would explore some 10 hectares [24 acres] of training areas,” Astafyev said.

He added that about 100 servicemen as well as over 10 pieces of military hardware are involved in the demining activities.

Russia has its 102nd Military Base in the city of Gyumri, located in northern Armenia. In line with bilateral treaties between Moscow and Yerevan, the base in Gyumri will run through 2044. The facility is on alert as part of the CIS Integrated Air Defense System.

Photo: EPA

 

The Indonesian man who claimed to be 146 years old – the longest living human ever – has died in his village in Central Java, the BBC reports.

According to his papers, Sodimedjo, also known as Mbah Ghoto (grandpa Ghoto), was born in December 1870.

But Indonesia only started recording births in 1900 – and there have been mistakes before.

Yet officials told the BBC his papers were valid, based on documents he provided and interviews with him.

Artsakh Defense Ministry reports 35 cases of ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani side on April 35 and the night of May 1.

The rival firearms of different calibers as it fired over 420 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions. The Azeri forces also used an automatic grenade launcher (2 shells) in the southern direction of the line of contact.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep the situation under control and confidently continue with the protection o military positions all along the line of contact.

 

Today, the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Ecuador to the Republic of Armenia Julio César Prado Espinosa (residence in Moscow) presented his credentials to President Serzh Sargsyan.

The President of Armenia congratulated the Ambassador on assuming his diplomatic mission and wished him every success. Serzh Sargsyan underscored that Armenia is interested in deepening relations with the Latin American countries including Ecuador and expressed hope that Ambassador Espinosa through his experience and active work will elevate the Armenian-Ecuadorian relations to a qualitatively new level.

Noting that Armenia is linked to the countries of Latin America mostly by common values and cultural ties, which at the beginning of the last century moved hundreds of thousands of the Armenians, who survived the Armenian Genocide, to seek refuge in these countries, the President of Armenia stressed the importance of strengthening the friendly ties and invigorating cooperation in different areas at the interstate level.

The Ambassador assured that during his tenure in office, he will do his best to deepen the relations between Armenia and Ecuador and cooperation in the bilateral as well as multilateral formats, in the framework of international organizations. Ambassador Espinosa also presented his proposals to President Sargsyan related to a full utilization of the existing potential of the Armenian-Ecuadorian cooperation in different areas.
The parties also stressed the importance of active contacts at the interparliamentary level.

Photo: Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee    

Asbarez – Senator Anthony Portantino’s legislation, SCR 25, which will install a sign at the Fair Oaks Avenue exit off Interstate 210 in Pasadena to direct the public to the Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial, passed the Senate Transportation Committee with unanimous support.

“Just a few short days ago, at the Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial we commemorated the 102nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Hundreds of community members came to the memorial to pay tribute to the victims and to remember the lessons learned from the first genocide of the twentieth century. This kind of community commemoration makes accessibility to this memorial so important. I am proud to carry this legislation that will install a freeway sign to help direct visitors to the memorial, and I am happy to have the unanimous support of my colleagues along the way. Installing a freeway sign will help direct visitors, raise awareness about the Armenian Genocide and serve as a reminder that fighting crimes against humanity is an ongoing process that requires our continuous attention,” commented Portantino.

The Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial was unveiled in April 2015 in the northeast corner of Memorial Park in Pasadena to honor the martyrs of the Armenian Genocide and all victims of crimes against humanity. The monument is a site of religious and cultural commemoration for more hundreds of thousands Armenian Americans of Southern California and a source of community pride. It was constructed by the nonprofit Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee with unanimous support from the Pasadena City Council. Senator Portantino served on the board of the nonprofit prior to joining the State Senate.  He was the only non-Armenian to have served on the Board.

Sen. Portantino represents nearly 930,000 people in the 25th Senate District, which includes Altadena, Atwater Village, Bradbury, Burbank, Claremont, Duarte, Glendale, Glendora, La Cañada Flintridge, La Crescenta, La Verne, Lake View Terrace, Los Feliz, Monrovia, Montrose, Pasadena, San Dimas, San Marino, Shadow Hills, Sierra Madre, South Pasadena, Sunland-Tujunga, and Upland.

The Foreign Ministers of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan Edward Nalbandian, Sergey Lavrov and Elmar Mammadyarov held a meeting in Moscow today.

The parties continued discussions on furthering the negotiations on the settlement of the Karabakh issue. They stressed the importance of implementing the agreements reached in Vienna and St. Petersburg in 2016.

The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan expressed gratitude to the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for the continuous efforts towards the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

The Ministers agreed to maintain discussions regarding all issues considered at the meeting.

After the trilateral meeting the Foreign Ministers of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan were joined by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office.

The interlocutors exchanged views on the process of settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

The Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), meeting in Strasbourg today, resolved that it has no confidence in Pedro Agramunt as President of the Assembly.

It further resolved that Mr Agramunt is not authorised to undertake any official visits, attend any meetings or make any public statements on behalf of the Assembly in his capacity as President.

“The President chose not to attend the Bureau today, and has not presented a letter of resignation. As a result, and in the context of the current Rules of Procedure under which the President cannot be compelled to resign, the Bureau felt it necessary to take these steps,” said Sir Roger Gale (United Kingdom, EC), Senior Vice-President of the Assembly, after chairing the Bureau meeting.

“The standards and principles of the Parliamentary Assembly are more important than any individual member, and the integrity of our Assembly must be upheld,” he added.

Marouane Fellaini was sent off for headbutting Sergio Aguero as Manchester City and Manchester United fought out an attritional goalless draw at Etihad Stadium to leave their hopes of a place in the Premier League’s top four still in the balance, the BBC reports.

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho will be the happier after they extended their unbeaten league run to 24 games, a feat achieved without Fellaini in the closing stages after he was dismissed for a senseless headbutt on Aguero.

Argentine Aguero came closest for City when he hit the post early on and manager Pep Guardiola was left with an injury concern when keeper Claudio Bravo was taken off on a stretcher after injuring his calf catching a cross in the second half.

City substitute Gabriel Jesus had a later header correctly ruled out for offside as they remain in fourth place, with United a point behind in fifth as both sides have five games remaining.

 

 

 

Turkish historian Taner Akcam has recently uncovered a telegram, which, he says, will force the Turkish government seek new ways of denying the Armenian Genocide.

“Are the Armenians who were deported from there being liquidated? Are the troublesome individuals whom you have reported as having been exiled and expelled being exterminated or merely being sent off and deported? Please report back honestly,” reads the telegram sent from Ezrum by Behaeddin Shakir to Kharberd Governor Sabit Bey.

The document dated July 4th, 1915 consists of two parts – the actual text on top and the coded four-digit Arabic numbers on the bottom.

Taner Akcam, a history professor at Clark University in Massachusetts, says the telegram is important for two reasons. “First, it is written on a paper with the letterhead of the Ottoman Ministry of Interior. Second, separate from the text there is a decoded message on the bottom,” he said in a phone interview with .

The historian has compared the coding system with that of other documents from Ottoman archives and  found matches with 24 documents from the same month. The same words are coded the same way. “So there is no escape for Turkish authorities, there is no way to say these are forgeries. And this is a very crucial document in that sense,” Akcam said.

This telegram is well known in Armenian Genocide research and has been quoted in main indictments in Istanbul military tribunals. This was one of the most important evidences that helped convict Behaeddin Shakir and sentence him to death. However, most of the court materials vanished at the time and Turkey has since been building its policy of denial on the argument that the original documents from postwar military tribunals that convicted the genocide’s planners were nowhere to be found.

Taner Akcam knew the telegram was in a the archive of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem , but in the end found a film taken from the document in a private archive in New York. Thus, two stories need to be recalled to shed light on how the photo of the telegram ended up in the United States.

The Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople was representing Armenians in military tribunals and had access to the court materials.  The judge presiding over the tribunals at the time handed the materials over to the Armenian Patriarch. With the Turkish nationalists about to seize the country in 1922 the Patriarch shipped a huge package of documents to Marseille and then to Manchester for safekeeping. The materials finally ended up in Jerusalem.

“Armenian Catholic priest, Krikor Guerguerian went to Jerusalem sometimes towards the end of 1960s. He filmed the materials there and a lot of other Ottoman documents one of which was this document.  He had a private archive, which was saved and secured by his nephew,” Taner Akcham said.

Despite the crucial importance of the document, the historian does not believe it will lead to changes in Turkey’s stance on the issue in the short-term perspective.

I’ve thrown a stone in the water, and waves go to the shore, it takes a long time until they hit the shore. The shore is the Turkish denialism. I don’t know when it’s going to hit the shore

Taner Akcam

According to the historian, the telegram is a strong evidence Ankara can hardly argue, but he’s confident that Turkey will find some excuses. He’s also confident that “Turkey will continue its denialist policy, but this will put the government in a very difficult position and will force it seek new ways of denying.”

Towards the end of the interview, Mr. Akcam emphasized one point. “As everybody knows successive Turkish governments would argue all the time that Armenian Genocide should not be politicized, that the Armenian Genocide should be left to historians. And I’m just really doing it. I’m a historian and regardless of the fact whether the Turkish government recognizes the genocide or not, I keep working on this topic, because as scholars, as academicians our job is to teach the young generation about the historic injustices, about mass atrocities in the past so that they are not repeated in the future.”

Taner Akcam believes that “it’s important for Turkey to face its history.” If Turkey faces its history and acknowledges the wrongdoing, it can develop a very good relation with Armenia and develop a democratic society,” he says.