Category: News

“The U.S. supports a negotiated settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” Elizabeth Trudeau,Director of the State Department PressOffie, told a daily briefing.

“We continue to engage actively with the sides. We’re co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group. Our longstanding policy shared by the Minsk Group co-chairs is that a just settlement must be based on international law, which includes the Helsinki Final Act, the principle of non-use of force or the threat of force, territorial integrity, and self-determination,” she added.

“The responsibility for peace rests on the leaders of both countries, and we would reiterate their importance in finding a negotiated peace,” Elizabeth Trudeau said.

Pope Francis visited the earthquake-hit towns of central Italy in a surprise journey on Tuesday morning, praying with the residents of Amatrice on the feast day of his namesake, St. Francis, telling them to ‘move forward’ together for ‘there is always a future,’ reports.

His first visit was to the newly constructed ‘Capranica’ school, where the Pope met with elementary and middle-school aged children, who gave him several of their handmade drawings.

Pope Francis hugged them one-by-one and listened to their stories of the deadly earthquake in Amatrice where 231 of the total 297 people died.

During his visit, Pope Francis told the residents of Amatrice, “I thought long and hard in the first days of these many pains that my visit, perhaps, would be more of a hindrance than a help, a greeting. I didn’t want to be a bother so I let a little time pass, so that some things could be resolved, like the school. But from the first moment, I felt that I needed to come to you! Simply to express my closeness to you, nothing more. And I pray, pray for you! Solidarity and prayer: this is my offering to you. May the Lord bless you all; may Our Lady watch over you in this moment of sadness, pain, and trial.”

After blessing them, he said, “Let’s move forward; there is always a future. There are many loved ones who have left us, who fell here under the rubble. Let us pray to Our Lady for them; let us do it together. Always look ahead. Courage, and help each other. One walks better together, alone we go nowhere. Forward! Thank you.”

The Holy Father then went to the heavily damaged centre of Amatrice accompanied by the Mayor Sergio Pirozzi. There he paused for several minutes to pray.

A press release by the Holy See Press Office said, “Already on Sunday, during his inflight press conference on the flight from Baku to Rome, Pope Francis had said he would make this visit ‘privately, alone, as a priest, as a bishop, as Pope. But alone. This is how I want to do it. And I would like to be close to the people.’”

Nearly 4,000 people are living in tents near Amatrice after their homes were destroyed in the 6.0-magnitude earthquake.

Afterwards, the Pope stopped to have lunch with around 60 elderly people living in the ‘St. Raphael Assisted Living Facility’ in Rieti, whilst on his way to nearby Accumoli and Arquata del Tronto to bring his message of hope and solidarity to them as well.

Asbarez – On Friday, September 30, 2016, the 20th anniversary of enthronement visit of His Holiness Catholicos Aram I commenced with a youth gathering held at Glendale Civic Auditorium under the auspices of the Western Prelacy and organized by Homenetmen Western US Regional Executive Committee. Over 1,400 youth participated in the meeting with His Holiness, including Homenetmen scouts, Prelacy Schools’ and Sunday Schools’ students, and parishes’ youth group members. Clergy, Central Executive and Executive Council members, representatives of sister organizations, parents, and community members were among the guests in attendance.

The event began with the entrance of His Holiness in a procession guided by scouts. Following the flag ceremony by the marching band and scouts and the flag ceremony, the scouts’ choir sang the Pontifical anthem. Welcoming remarks were delivered by MC Moushegh Bedevian, after which remarks were delivered by representatives of Prelacy Armenian Schools, parish youth groups, Sunday Schools, and Homenetmen, all of whom welcomed His Holiness and touched upon the legacy of His Holiness as a prominent leader of our church, of ecumenical affairs, in the Armenian culture and the Armenian cause.

H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate, welcomed His Holiness and stated how pleased and proud he must feel to see the large gathering of youth and to hear them pledge their faithfulness to our faith and heritage. He then invited His Holiness to address the youth and guests.

His Holiness spoke in general on the absolute importance of preserving and fostering our religious and national values, in a Diaspora situation especially, emphasizing that “preserving the Armenian language is crucial to preserving and manifesting our Armenian identity, our particularity.” Addressing the youth representatives who earlier had delivered their remarks, His Holiness commended their self-understanding, self-perception, self-articulation, and self-expression as Armenians, of their sentiment that they are proud to be Armenians, stating that they are role models and exemplary examples of what it means to be Armenian. His Holiness spoke also on the pivotal role of the family in our identity and existence, stating that after the Genocide, when everything was lost, the family became a small Armenia. “Through our families, we not only preserved our Armenian identity, we also deepened our faith,” stressed His Holiness.

A question and answer session followed. His Holiness engaged closely with the youth, answering their questions in a serious yet witty manner on topics such as how the church can attract youth, the use of modern technology by the church, the role of the church in community life, the Sis lawsuit, and more. His Holiness iterated the importance of the church, school, and family triune; spoke on the vocation of the church to be with the people – to identity itself with the suffering, joy, concerns, expectations, and needs of the people; on the need for our schools to focus not only on education but on the Christian, moral, spiritual, and Armenian formation of our youth so that our youth comprehend the significance of our church in our history and today as our spiritual home. Speaking on the Sis lawsuit, His Holiness stated that the Catholicosate is committed to continuing the process, even though it is not a rosy one, for recognition and reparations are closely interconnected and it is high time to move our cause to the legal sphere.

The program concluded with the benediction by His Holiness and the Cilician anthem sung by the Homenetmen scouts’ choir.

Armenia has shown determination in fighting racism and intolerance, integrating refugees and supporting ethnic minorities. However, numerous legislation gaps, rise in hate speech and violence, and institutional shortcomings remain of concern, said the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) in its new report published today.

The report covering the period from December 2010 to March 2016 welcomed the efforts of the Armenian authorities to revise the Criminal Code and draft comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation, integrate a large influx of refugees from Syria and increase the financial support for the ethnic minorities.

However, the criminal, civil and administrative legislation and procedures still suffer from numerous shortcomings which make it impossible to adequately combat racism and discrimination. The report notes a rise in hate speech leading to violence, main targets being members of the LGBT community and non-traditional religious groups, and the stigmatisation of these groups in the political and public discourse.

As priority recommendations to be followed up in two years, ECRI calls on the authorities to streamline the various integration strategies for all vulnerable groups, and to amend the Armenian criminal law. The list of “prohibited grounds” should explicitly include colour, language, nationality, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation and gender identity. Besides, incitement to violence and to racial discrimination, as well as the public denial, trivialisation, justification or condoning of crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes should be criminalised.

Other recommendations include making homophobic/transphobic motivation an aggravating circumstance; giving more powers to the Human Rights Defender to enable him/her to deal with discrimination in the private sector; establishing an independent mechanism for dealing with complaints against the police; and encouraging the adoption of a code of ethics for media and a code of conduct for parliamentarians.

Photo: AFP

 

Six German lawmakers will visit a key airbase in Turkey Wednesday, a Turkish official told AFP, as the NATO allies seek to move on from a bitter diplomatic row, AFP reports.

The German parliament in June joined more than 20 countries in recognizing the Ottoman Empire’s World War I-era massacre of Armenians as a genocide, prompting fury from Ankara.

Turkey promptly banned German lawmakers from visiting the Incirlik base in southern Turkey, where Germany has around 240 troops as part of the international coalition fighting ISIS across the border in Syria.

A furious President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also accused German lawmakers of Turkish origin who voted in favor of the resolution of having “tainted blood”.

Ankara gave the green light last month for the visit to go ahead only after German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government clarified publicly that the Armenia resolution was “not legally binding”.

“Six German MPs will visit Incirlik air base Wednesday,” the official said Monday on condition of anonymity.

According to a decree signed by President Serzh Sargsyan, Vigen Sargsyan has been relieved of the duties of the Head of Staff of the President’s Office.

According to another presidential decree, Vigen Sargsyan has been appointed as Minister of Defense.

Armed terrorist groups keep shelling the Nor Kiugh, Soulemaneh and Telfon districts of Aleppo, the Armenian Kantsasar newspaper reports.

Two Armenians – Garlo Aram Fermanian (born in 1997) and his mother Naual Apto – have been wounded in missile attack on the Nor Kiugh neighborhood.

No casualties are reported.

Pope Francis on Sunday called for a “stable peace” as he visited mainly Muslim Azerbaijan, several months after pushing for an end to a festering territorial feud while in arch-foe Armenia, AFP reports.

The pontiff met in private with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev – who is accused by rights groups of ruthlessly stamping out dissent in the energy-rich country – before addressing a gathering of government officials.

The Pope – on the last leg of a Caucasus tour that also took him to Georgia – reiterated calls for peace to he made three months ago in neighbouring Armenia, with the two country’s locked in a long-simmering conflict over the breakaway region of Nagorny Karabakh.

“There is no alternative to patiently and assiduously searching for shared solutions by means of committed and sustained negotiations,” he said in a carefully worded statement that did not mention the disputed territory explicitly, expressing sympathy “to the many people who suffer the effects of bloody conflicts.”

Calling for “a new phase for stable peace in the region”, the pope invited all players “to grasp every opportunity to reach a satisfactory solution.”

By today’s decree of President Serzh Sargsyan, Vigen Sargsyan was relieved of his duties as the Chief of the Presidential Administration and appointed the RA Minister of Defense. Edward Nalbandian was appointed the RA Minister of Foreign Affairs. By another decree of the President of Armenia, Armen Gevorkian was relieved of his duties as the Secretary of the National Security Council and appointed the Chief of the Presidential Staff. By the Presidential decrees Yuri Khatchaturov was relieved of his duties as the Chief of Staff of the RA Armed Forces and appointed the Secretary of the National Security Council. Movses Hakopian was relieved of his duties as the Deputy Minister of Defense and Head of the Logistics Department and appointed Chief of Staff of the RA Armed Forces.

Today, the President of Armenia introduced the newly appointed Chief of the Presidential staff Armen Gevorkian to the leading staff of the Presidential Administration and informed about Vigen Sargsyan’s new position. “I would like to thank Vigen Sargsyan for the works conducted at his already former position and would like to add sincerely that the managerial abilities of Vigen Sargsyan at this position were revealed at their best, and nobody will deny that the manifestation of the best abilities was made possible through your direct participation and assistance,” said President Sargsyan.

The President highly valued works carried out by Vigen Sargsyan in recent years related to the coordination of multiple events of the pan-Armenia import and expressed confidence that as Minister of Defense he will be able meet all expectations. “Vigen, I once again congratulate you and wish you success. No need to say that the advancement of our country will be also conditioned by your work as will certainly the further enforcement of our defensibility.” With regard to the appointment of the new Chief of Staff, the President of Armenia said that Armen Gevorkian at the new position, just as on the previous position, will undoubtedly display his strong-willed qualities. “Armen Gevorkian will be able to further amplify capabilities of the staff working here and of our country in general. Armen, my congratulations and wishes for success,” said the President of Armenia.

Vigen Sargsyan thanked the President of Armenia for the great trust invested in him in carrying out in the last five years for the organization and coordination of the works of the Presidential Staff. He noted that considerable work has been done in recent years together with the professional and dedicated staff of the Presidential Administration, which comprises one team.

“These years, we have been able to coordinate and regulate even some automated processes which are related to the works of the President of Armenia such as issues related to citizenship, staff management and issues related to the organization of foreign visits and receiving foreign delegations. By your decision Mr President, Armen Gevorkian will again be working at the Presidential Staff. During his previous tenure, foundations for the works that were carried out later were laid. Part of the staff remained at their places as it should be with the civil service. I believe this is a splendid display of how the guarantees presented by the civil service can be augmented by the political dedication at the staff which should be manifested by everyone present here. Even though there exist political appointees and a group of civil servants, we always worked as one team, for one goal,” said the former Chief of the Presidential Staff Vigen Sargsyan.

The newly appointed Chief of the Presidential Administration Armen Gevorkian also thanked the President for trust and assured that he was fully aware of the tasks before him, their importance and significance for the development of the country, its progress and stability because we are entering a rather important period of time. “Please be assured that I will do my best to hold high the role and place of this institute for everybody to feel it. With your permission, I would also like to assure Mr. Vigen Sargsyan that we will do our best so that at his new position he feels our support and assistance at the daily level. I would also like to thank my colleagues present here today for carrying out their duties for years at a rather high level and with high quality. I hope we will continue our work together, preserving all the good traditions. As you have noted, Mr. President, we will do our best to raise it one step more and to justify your trust. Thank you. I hope that all of us have a very interesting and efficient road to travel,” said the Chief of the Presidential Administration Armen Gevorkian.

Photo: Reuters

 

Fifty-two people were killed and many more injured in Ethiopia’s Oromia region during a protest at a religious festival, the government says, the BBC reports.

Some died in a stampede after police employed tear gas, rubber bullets and baton charges, witnesses said.

Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said rioters had caused “pre-planned mayhem” that led people to fall to their deaths in ravines.

He denied reports that the security forces had opened fire.

In a national address on state TV, he praised their “great efforts” to protect the public and blamed “evil forces” for the deaths, vowing to bring to justice those responsible..

Thousands had gathered for the religious festival in Bishoftu, 40km (25 miles) from the capital Addis Ababa.

Some reports said police responded after anti-government protesters threw stones and bottles, but others said demonstrators were entirely peaceful.