Category: News

On September 28, in the framework of the working visit to Belgium Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Karen Mirzoyan met with Director of the European Friends of Armenia NGO Diogo Pinto. During the meeting, the sides discussed a range of issues related to joint projects and their realization.

Later in the day the NKR Foreign Minister had a working lunch with member of the Belgian Parliament and PACE Piete De Bruyn. The sides touched upon the existing situation of the peaceful settlement of Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, the large-scale military aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against the NKR on April 2-5 as well as its consequences.

On the same day, Karen Mirzoyan participated in an event dedicated to the 25^th anniversary of Armenia organized by the Embassy of Armenia in Brussels.

The working visit of Minister Karen Mirzoyan to Belgium has ended.

Newly appointed Minister of Culture Armen Amiryan has pledged to work “transparently and openly.”

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Government sitting, Minister Amiryan urged them to participate in all consultations of the Ministry of Culture or follow the website, where the videos of all consultations will be posted.

The George C. Marshall Center (GCMC) of Security Studies hosted an alumni outreach event in Yerevan, Armenia on September 29^,  2016.  Thirty alumni and guests from multiple Armenian institutions attended the event which was led by GCMC staff.  The event featured two distinguished GCMC alumni – Ms. Hayarpi Mkhitaryan from the Armenian National Security Council and Ms. Yelizaveta Margaryan from the Ministry of Finance – who presented their views on the topic of “Corruption as a National Security Threat.”  Their presentation was followed by a question and answer session.

U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Richard M. Mills, Jr. welcomed the Marshall Center alumni and congratulated them on the important role they have played in “collectively contributing to a better and more robust understanding in Washington and many European capitals of the unique security and defense challenges facing Armenia and the Caucasus region.”  Ambassador Mills added that “the intersection of corruption and national security is an issue of critical importance in Armenia and around the world, and I am pleased to see these two professionals, and the distinguished alumni and guests who have gathered here today, address this subject with such seriousness.”

The U.S. and German-sponsored George C. Marshall Center of Security Studies offers a unique opportunity to examine global and regional trends, contemporary security issues, national security strategies, defense planning, approaches to crisis management, countering corruption, and other related areas.  Armenia has participated in this program since 1995, sending 15 students per year on average to the GCMC.  Currently there are approximately 240 GCMC alumni in Armenia who hold a broad range of positions within the Armenian government, as well as other agencies and institutions.  GCMC carries George C. Marshall’s vision into the 21st century, following the motto “Democracy through trust and friendship.”

On September 28, Edward Nalbandian, the Acting Foreign Minister of Armenia, delivered a lecture entitled “Nagorno-KArabakh: Is Solution Visible” at Stanford University’s Institute for International Studies.

Professors, fellows and students of the Stanford University attended the meeting. In his opening remarks Michael McFaul, the Director of the Institute, mentioned that is a profound honour to launch the series of lectures after the opening of the academic year by hosting the Foreign Minister of Armenia to get first-hand information on the current situation in the process of settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

In his speech Edward Nalbandian, particularly, said:
“Ladies and Gentlemen,

One year ago a well-known academic magazine “Politique Internationale”, published in Paris my article entitled Nagorno-Karabakh: Is a Solution Visible?

I stressed in it that the conflict cannot be solved until Azerbaijan gets rid of its illusion that it can gain unilateral advantages through military means. It took only a year to witness the vivid demonstration of that reality.

This April Azerbaijan unleashed a large scale preplanned aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh, with the use of offensive weaponry – aviation, heavy artillery, rocket systems, tanks – accompanied by gross violations of international humanitarian law, such as indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas, DEASH-style mutilation of bodies and beheadings. It goes without saying that these actions that resulted in hundreds of casualties from all sides, have seriously undermined the negotiation process.

So, it is about a very complex situation that I am going to address you today and the April escalation is only the last act of the long conflict. In a few words I would like to present the essence of the conflict for those who are not much familiar with it and then I will try to address the main issue: what are the prospects of the settlement.

Nagorno-Karabakh – historically one of the regions of Armenia and always having an overwhelming majority of Armenian population was arbitrarily annexed to Soviet Azerbaijan in 1921 by Joseph Stalin.

70 years passed, on the eve of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh voted at the referendum for an independent statehood in line with the then existing legislation and international norms.

Years later on the Kosovo case the International Court of Justice would consider that general international law contains no applicable prohibition of declarations of independence.

However, Azerbaijan in defiance of the international law, its norms and principles which first of all urge to refrain from use of force or threat of use of force, tried to suppress the aspirations of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh for self-determination through coercive measures. It started with Armenian massacres in late 80s – beginning of 90s in Azerbaijani cities of Sumgait, Kirovabad and capital Baku. Many were killed, hundreds of thousands were expelled from their homes. Nobel Peace Prize winner and famous human rights defender Andrei Sakharov on the pages of the New York Times called it a threat of a new genocide of the Armenian people.

Azerbaijan continued with large scale military offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh committing new atrocities.

The May 1991 US Senate resolution condemned the attacks on innocent Armenian children, women, and men in and around Nagorno-Karabakh. Previously adopted US Congress resolution reads that the United States supports the fundamental rights and aspirations of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. A similar resolution was adopted by the European Parliament.

During the war against Nagorno-Karabakh Azerbaijan used mercenaries from Afghanistan closely linked to notorious terrorist organizations. That was widely reported in the international media outlets, including the Washington Post. The heavy, indiscriminate use of force, massacres and ethnic cleansing perpetrated by Azerbaijan against the Armenian population was yet another confirmation that the struggle of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh was existential and legitimate.

The hot phase of the conflict ended in May 1994 when Azerbaijan was obliged to negotiate a truce due to its military loses and sign a cease fire agreement with Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. In July 1994 and February 1995 new trilateral agreements were signed on consolidation of the cease fire. The terms of these agreements do not expire and they are in force till now. The July 1994 document stipulates to maintain the ceasefire regime until signing of the big political agreement.

However, as a rule Azerbaijan has been regularly violating those agreements. Baku instead of engaging seriously in the negotiation process has concentrated its efforts on military buildup having in mind the illusion of military option for conflict resolution.

A clear case of negotiations at the barrel of a gun. Its military budget reached $4.8 billion in 2015, a 30-fold increase since 2003, when Ilham Aliyev succeeded his father as the Head of State.

We warned – if there is a gun on the stage, it will fire. And that gun fired many times and most recently as I mentioned this April.

Armenia together with the mediators, the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – the USA, France and Russia exert efforts for exclusively peaceful settlement. Several times in this framework parties were close to the resolution, but at the very last moment Azerbaijan made a step back derailing the process. This was the case with Paris principles of 2001, negotiated with active involvement of the then French President Chirac, when President Heydar Aliyev backtracked. Another example was the round of negotiations with active mediation of the then Russian President Medvedev, when at the Kazan summit of 2011, the son Aliyev backtracked again. To mention just two examples.

As you see there has never been a deficit of high-level international interest in solving the issue. Moreover, starting from 2009 the presidents of the U.S.A., Russia and France made five statements on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution. They proposed a package of basic principles, which constitute an integrated whole, as a foundation of future comprehensive agreement. Unlike Azerbaijan, Armenia accepted it as a basis for negotiations.

The Presidents of the Co-Chair countries have proclaimed a rather civilized formula for the settlement – ballots instead of bullets. The proposal stipulates determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not resolved yet, since one of the negotiating parties, namely Azerbaijan is not ready to go along with this proposal and by all means strives to undermine the peace process. The mentality that supports medieval barbarism, demonstrated again in April, can hardly accept the civilized approaches of the modern world.

The leadership of Azerbaijan which adopted a xenophobic, aggressive anti-Armenian stance. Baku frequently uses the slogan – “Armenians of the world are our enemies number one”. History knows such cases of ethnic hatred, including in the recent past, isn’t it? The eleventh year textbook of Azerbaijan’s school reads “Armenians are the generic enemies of the Turkic peoples”. It is the generation raised under such propaganda that committed despicable crimes during the 4 days aggression this April. It is this generation that witnessed the glorification of an Azerbaijani officer who killed by axe a sleeping Armenian officer in Budapest while both were at the NATO training course. Subsequently the murderer was handed over to Azerbaijan where he was proclaimed as a hero and example for youth.

Most of Armenian historic, cultural and religious monuments have been destroyed in Azerbaijan, including a masterpiece of the medieval Armenian art – the cemetery of thousands of cross stones in Jugha. American Ambassadors to Azerbaijan were several times refused by Baku authorities to visit the site. A prominent Azerbaijani novelist was ostracized and persecuted for writing about the Armenian massacres in Azerbaijan and for the calls of reconciliation. All those civil society representatives who have been engaged in people to people contacts with the civil societies in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia were put behind the bars as “Armenian spies”. The leadership of Azerbaijan tries not only to mute the independent voices from within the country but from the outside world as well. More than hundred journalists have been included in the so called Azerbaijani black list just for visiting Nagorno-Karabakh and writing about it. Indeed, as the Washington Post wrote the Azerbaijani leadership not only crushes individual lives but tries to imprison the very concept of freedom itself.

This doesn’t come as a surprise for the state considered to be among the 10 most censored countries in the world.

If there are any proven remedies for conflict settlements then the preparation of the public for peace and not war should stand in the center. This is what the Co-Chairs are continuously urging. Building trust and confidence is another important dimension again strongly encouraged by the international mediators, especially after the April escalation. To restore the trust in the process of the conflict resolution, measures should be taken to prevent use of force and create conditions conducive to the advancement of the peace process.

This was the main aim of the two Summits on Nagorno-Karabakh held in Vienna in May organized by the U.S. Secretary of State and in St. Petersburg in June hosted by the Russian President. First of all, it is a necessity to implement what was particularly emphasized and agreed upon in the framework of these Summits – the full adherence to the 1994-1995 trilateral ceasefire agreements, the creation of mechanism for investigation of ceasefire violations, which can serve also as a mechanism for prevention, the expansion of the capacity of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, which monitors the ceasefire.

These proposals are not new, they have been reiterated by the Co-Chairs many times, Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia have accepted them, Azerbaijan rejected. It is interesting to note that House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce and Ranking Member Eliot Engel together with more than 80 other Congressmen have endorsed these and some other confidence building measures. They urged to publicly condemn specific acts of aggression along the line of contact. Indeed, the party which violates the ceasefire, which rejects the confidence building measure, which refuses the proposals of the mediators should stand accountable. Otherwise impunity will encourage to continue destructive policy. Baku criticizes the Co-Chairs, including the United States for islamophobia, and conspiracy against Azerbaijan, calling the mediators useless tourists.

Ladies and gentlemen,

By establishing the independent United States through the Declaration of Independence 240 years ago the founding fathers of this great country proved that nothing can deprive peoples of their right for independence. This is what the people of Nagorno-Karabakh have been aspiring for – the liberty to freely organize their life in a democratic manner, based on the principle of self-determination. This right is enshrined as the purpose of the United Nations Charter and in many other international documents. The visible solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict goes through ballots not bullets.”

Following the remarks Edward Nalbandian answered the numerous questions of the attendees.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s £15 million private jet has crashed while trying to land in Barcelona, it has emerged, the  reports.

The Real Madrid and Portugal ace was not on board the plane when the crash happened at El Prat airport on Monday evening.

It is understood the plane’s landing gear broke on impact, and a runway at the airport was closed.

The pilot was treated for minor injuries, but no one was seriously hurt.

The 31-year-old football ace often rents the plane, a Gulfstream G200 which he bought last year, to private clients, and none of the star’s friends or family was onboard when the crash happened.

A source close to Ronaldo told The Mirror: ‘The plane is normally rented by companies and it was in use by one of them.

‘Cristiano Ronaldo, his family or friends were not on the plane. The incident had no major consequences.’

When the crash happened, Ronaldo was in Germany ahead of Real Madrid’s Champions League match with Borussia Dortmund.

He opened the scoring in a game which would finish 2-2.

Thousands of people are expected to pay their final respects to former Israeli Prime Minister and President Shimon Peres, who died at the age of 93, the BBC reports.

His coffin will lie in state in front of the parliament building in Jerusalem throughout Thursday.

US President Barack Obama and some of the world’s most powerful figures will attend his funeral on Friday.

Mr Peres was one of the last of a generation of Israeli politicians present at the nation’s birth in 1948.

He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 for his role negotiating the Oslo peace accords with the Palestinians a year earlier, a prize he shared with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Mr Peres had suffered a stroke two weeks ago and died on Wednesday in a hospital near Tel Aviv.

He will receive a state burial at a ceremony on Friday at Mount Herzel Cemetery in Jerusalem.

A commuter train has crashed into a rail station in the city of Hoboken, in the US state of New Jersey, the BBC reports.

The New Jersey emergency management system reports more than 100 people have been injured and others are trapped.

Emergency crews have arrived. Photos on social media show extensive damage to the train carriage and station.

A local radio station anchor said the train went through ticket barriers and “into the reception area”.

Hoboken is seven miles outside New York City. Many use the station to travel into Manhattan.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has broken his silence on his absence from Manchester United’s squad by revealing that he is still working towards regaining full fitness.

Mkhitaryan last featured for United in their 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on September 10. The Armenia international has been sidelined with a thigh problem since then.

And now, Mkhitaryan has revealed via Facebook that he has returned to training ahead of his return: ‘Really happy to have started training with team and I am on my way to getting fully fit!

Pope Francis is wrapping up a Caucasus pilgrimage that began in June in Armenia and ends this weekend with a visit to two other countries with tiny Catholic communities: the Orthodox Christian bastion of Georgia and the largely Shiite Muslim nation of Azerbaijan.

Given the itinerary, Catholic-Orthodox and Christian-Muslim relations will be high on Francis’ agenda. But geopolitical concerns will also lurk behind the scenes during the three-day trip starting Friday in Georgia, one of the world’s oldest Christian lands, the Associated Press reports.

According to the source, Georgia is keen to use the trip to highlight its European and Western aspirations, and also draw attention to what it considers the Russian “occupation” of the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Francis is unlikely to get involved beyond general calls for peace and reconciliation, given a reluctance to offend Russia or the Russian Orthodox Church after his historic meeting with the Russian patriarch in Cuba earlier this year.

The Georgian ambassador to the Vatican, Tamara Grdzelidze, said she wasn’t optimistic Francis would use the term “occupation.”

“But in Armenia he spoke about ‘genocide,’ so you never know with this pope,” she said, referring to the Ottoman-era slaughter of Armenians.

Adding to the geopolitical mix, Francis will make a strong appeal for peace in Syria and Iraq, where Christians are being attacked and driven from their homes by Islamic extremists. A special event is planned Friday in the Chaldean Catholic church in Tbilisi.

“The message is going to be a message of peace,” said Vatican spokesman Greg Burke.

A more subtle message is one of steadily improving ties between the Holy See and the two former Soviet republics.

Ramaz Sakvarelidze, an independent political analyst in Tbilisi, said the papal visit should help to underscore Georgia’s aspirations for greater Western integration, including its sought-after membership in the European Union and NATO.

“The visit will certainly have a positive impact on Georgia’s image, it will help underline its Euro-Atlantic aspirations and a desire to embrace the principles of the Western world,” he said.

After Georgia, Francis heads to Azerbaijan, completing the visit he had hoped would have begun in Armenia and ended in Azerbaijan to show a symbolic bridge between neighbors bitterly divided over Nagorno-Karabakh.

While in Armenia in June, Francis called for reconciliation and for all sides to “resist being caught up in the illusory power of vengeance.”

Francis will spend only about 10 hours in the Azeri capital of Baku, using the time to highlight the country’s interfaith mix, meeting with the sheik of Caucasus Muslims, as well as representatives of Azeri Jews and other religious communities.

And he will celebrate Mass for the Catholic community which represents less than 1 percent of the population: There are about 200 Azeri-born Catholics and about 15,000 Catholic foreigners who live in Baku.

 Asbarez – Arpa Foundation for Film, Music and Art (AFFMA) will present its 19th Arpa International Film Festival (AIFF) from November 3 to 6 at the historic venue in the heart of Hollywood, the Egyptian Theatre, located at 6712 Hollywood Blvd, in Los Angeles.

This year, AIFF will be screening one of the best selection of international films at the festival. 10 feature and feature length documentary film premiers by world class contemporary international artists such as Dominique Pinon, John Savage, Karren Karagulian, Maria Furtwangler, Albert Kodagolian, Onur Turkel, Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, Yana Drouz, Ashot Adamyan, Marija Karan and Jesse Williams.

A total of 55 independent films from 23 countries will be screened. Films such as: “Lost in Armenia” from award-winning director Serge Avedikian, recipient of the Cannes “Golden Palm” short film Award, “Booger Red,” a narrative documentary from acclaimed Indy director Berndt Mader, U.S. premiere of Albert Kodagolian’s “Somewhere Beautiful,” world premiere of Levon Minasian’s “Bravo Virtuoso,” and 25 years after the premiere of his masterpiece debut movie “Lost Paradise,” which screened at the prestigious AFI Film Festival, we are honored to have David Safarian back with his amazing U.S. premiere of “Hot Country Cold Winter.”

Special Screening of award winning and nominated short films from critically acclaimed festivals such as: Tribeca, Berlin, Venice, Moscow, Tallin, Golden Apricot, etc.

Gregor Zupanc, AIFF Artistic Director stated: “Our vision is to create a vibrant Hollywood melting pot for passionate international filmmakers, whose innovative voices and socially engaged stories inspire and nurture the cinematic experience. In addition, we will have exclusive screenings of the forgotten masterpieces of Armenian cinema in collaboration with film schools and engage students from institutions with well-known universities such as California State University Northridge (CSUN).”

Arpa’s programming team has hand-picked socially engaging films with emphasis on issues in the U.S. such as Immigration, LGBT, sex trafficking, transgender and racial biases. “This year our focus has been to promote and support young Californian filmmakers by presenting the best student films from Los Angeles, “stated Gregor Zupanc.

The Festival’s prestigious Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian award will be presented to Emmy winning director Bared Maronian’s documentary “Women of 1915.” It is AIFF’s distinct honor to present 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award to a world renowned film and television actor Dominique Pinon, the recipient of the Molière Award for Best Actor in 2004. This year’s recipient of the Career Achievement Award is world renowned singer, composer, and activist Serj Tankian of System of the Down, and Albert Kodagolian will receive Arpa’s Breakthrough Artist Award for his creative vision as director and cinematographer.

Heading our industry showcase this year will be Roger Kupelian of “Lord of the Rings,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” and numerous other Hollywood productions.

For the past 19 years Arpa International Film Festival continues to cultivate cultural understanding and global empathy, creating a dynamic forum for international cinema with a special focus on the works of filmmakers who explore the issues of diaspora, exile and multi-culturalism. A strong emphasis is placed on ideals of independent thought, artistic vision, cultural diversity and social understanding.