Category: News

Archeological excavations started at Teishebani (modern Karmir Blur) site in 2015, and 281 mausoleums have already been discovered in a short period of time. What do the new findings reveal? Will they provide an opportunity to review history?

 

 

 

Armenians have had four viceroy seats, one of them in Artsakh. Archeologists have discovered four viceroy bonze wands during excavations at Teishebani, archeologist Hakob Simonyan, Deputy Head of the Research Center of Historical-Cultural Legacy under the Ministry of Culture, told reporters today. He said the findings unearthed from the site shed light on disputable pages of history.

The excavations that resumed in 2015 have revealed that back in the Urartian period Armenia was divided into provinces, each ruled by a viceroy. After the death of the latter the highest symbol of power – the scepter– has also been laid at the mausoleum.

“What’s most important is that it’s now proven that Artsakh was part of the united Kingdom of Van in the 8th to 7th centuries BC.  The excavations come to refute all assertions that Artsakh has never been part of Armenia,” the archeologist said.

According to him, another importance of the findings is that they come to disperse the uncertainty regarding the origin of Urartians. “The Urartians were natives of the Ararat Valley,” he noted.

“I’m deeply confident that Urartu is an Armenian kingdom with its multi-layer population, where the Armenian element has been dominant,” Hakob Simonyan said.

A number of different interesting items have been unearthed during the expedition. These include jewelry (necklaces, bracelets, cufflinks, buttons), also as a whole arsenal of weapons.

The findings comprise a huge material for anthropological research. With DNA tests it’s possible to reveal the illnesses the locals suffered from, calculate their life expectancy, study their beliefs and rituals.

Hamburg University Professor Otto Luchterhandt delivered a report on “Azerbaijan’s Blitzkrieg against Artsakh and International Law” at the Youth Parliament adjunct to the NKR National Assembly.

The German Professor noted that “although unrecognized, the Artsakh Republic fully complies with standards of a state and has proved its viability during the years of independence.”

Otto Luchterhandt underlined that the basic principles of international law apply to all subjects of international relations irrespective of their status. He said the April war against Artsakh unleashed by Azerbaijan was a harsh violation of several fundamental principles of international law, namely the non-use of force or the threat of force.

According to him, the April war was an act of aggression against the people of Artsakh, which the political leadership of Azerbaijan bears full responsibility for.

– Each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace within and among all nations and peoples. On Sept. 22, the Association for Trauma Outreach & Prevention (ATOP) and Meaningfulworld will celebrate The International Day of Peace at the majestic Down Town Association located in trendy Tribeca.

This year’s theme is “Art for Peace” and the work of several accomplished artists will be available for sale through a silent auction. ATOP/Meaningfulworld will recognize and honor several organizations and individuals whose work deserves special recognition for their efforts made to achieve peace locally and globally.

This year Meaningfulworld is also celebrating its 26th Anniversary of healing, peace-making, transforming pain and generational trauma, and establishing Peace and Forgiveness Gardens globally in over 46 countries and 20 states in the United States.

Along with the auction fine art, distinguished guests will be honored with peace awards in recognition of their dedication and contributions to serving humanity and building peace. Distinguished peace award recipients include H.E. Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) of the Republic of Armenia; Ms. Ashley Tobias, the developer of an anti-bullying educational program; and the International Institute of Peace.

Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Mnatsakanyan is a graduate of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and holds a Master’s Degree from Victoria University, U.K., in Western European Politics.

Mnatsakanyan is decorated with the Medal of Mkhitar Gosh of Armenia (2011) for distinguished service in diplomacy. He is an advocate of human rights and an educator on genocide. He has played a critical role in the ongoing implementation of parliamentary resolutions, laws and declarations, which have led to the acknowledgement and assertion of the Armenian Genocide.

On Sept. 11, 2015, after years of persistent diplomatic efforts, the Republic of Armenia succeeded in having the UN General Assembly adopt by consensus a generic resolution on all genocides. The resolution establishes Dec. 9 as the “International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and the Prevention of this Crime.

Ambassador Mnatsakanyan spoke about his “sense of duty” while presenting the proposed resolution to the General Assembly on September 11. Paying tribute to Raphael Lemkin who had coined the term genocide, the Ambassador stated “For the victims of our past inaction, the International Day will render dignity. The denial to millions of the sanctity of life is ultimate injustice. Justice denied haunts generations of survivors. We speak from experience.”

On September 14, CSTO Permanent Council Session was held under the Chairmanship of Davit Virabyan, the Permanent and Plenipotentiary Representative of Armenia to the Collective Security Treaty Organisation.

Petko Draganov, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Head of United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA), as well as Marcel Peṧko, Director of the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre delivered speeches during the meeting.

The representatives of the UN and OSCE touched upon the activities of the institutions headed by them, the issues standing before them, perspective directions of the cooperation with the CSTO.

During discussions the promotion of the cooperation between the UN, OSCE and the CSTO in issues of mutual interest was highlighted. In this context Ambassador Peṧko stressed the efforts by the Armenian Chairmanship in CSTO aimed at development of the OSCE-CSTO practical interaction.

 

 

 

“There cannot be any progress in the Karabakh settlement process unless the agreements reached in Vienna and St. Petersburg summits are implemented,” Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan told reporters today.

He said the failure to implement the agreements is the reason of lack of progress in the talks.

“The agreements on the reinforcement of ceasefire regime and expansion of the OSCE monitoring group have not been called to life. Without that any progress is impossible,” Shavarsh Kocharyan said.

Photo: DHA

 

– A Turkish government-appointed trustee to the Municipality of Derik in the Kurdish province of Mardin removed the Armenian language from a multilingual signboard on the municipal building.

The Municipality’s sign used to be in Kurdish, Turkish, and Armenian before the weekend government seizure.

Derik is a population center of 20,000 people whose municipality, alongside 27 others mostly in the Kurdish region, was seized with a decree by the Turkish government on Sunday.

Before the early 20th century Armenian Genocide during the last years of the Ottoman Empire, Derik had a sizeable Armenian population, according to the Derik Municipality website.

The government appointed the town’s sub-governor as a trustee to run municipal affairs.

The elected mayor Sabahat Cetinkaya, who received 65 percent of votes in her hometown in the 2014 local elections, was arrested in February 2016 and subsequently removed from her post by the Interior Ministry.

Charged with accusations of terrorism, Cetinkaya of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Regions Party (DBP) remains in detention to this day.

Earlier this week, another government-appointed trustee removed a bilingual Turkish and Kurdish signboard, leaving only the Turkish name on the Giyadin Municipality in the province of Agiri.

After strong reactions from the public, Kurdish was reinstalled upon an order by Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu.

Newly-appointed Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan has instructed the State Revenue Commission to ensure the unconditional implementation of tax regulations by major manufacturers and importers.

Speaking at the first Government sitting he chaired, Karen Karapetyan stressed the importance of carrying out tax inspections exceptionally at entities considered risky, and to refer to small and medium-sized enterprises in extreme cases. He urged to exclude the possible biased behavior of tax inspectors and ensure transparency.

The Prime Minister also instructed the Public Services Regulatory Commission, the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to hold joint discussions and submit proposals on the review of gas and electricity tariffs. He called to maximally reduce the prices for socially vulnerable layers of society.

Photo: Reuters

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged Russia and the US to push all warring sides in Syria to allow safe passage for desperately needed aid, the BBC reports.

Lorries with a month’s food supply for 40,000 people are stuck at the Turkish border, 48 hours into a ceasefire.

Getting aid to civilians in besieged areas like the rebel-held eastern half of the city of Aleppo is a priority.

But disagreements between warring sides and concerns about safety are delaying emergency deliveries, the UN says.

“It’s crucially important [that] the necessary security arrangements” are made so the convoy can travel, Mr Ban said.

“I have been urging the Russian government to make sure that they exercise influence on the Syrian government, and also the American side to make sure that Syrian armed groups, they also fully co-operate.”

Asbarez – Aline Ohanesian’s book, “Orhan’s Inheritance,” is among 12 finalists announced for the 2016 Dayton Literary Peace Prize — half for fiction, half for non-fiction. A winner and runner-up in each category will be announced Oct. 11. Winners receive a $10,000 honorarium and runners-up receive $2,500.

Set against the backdrop of the Armenian Genocide, the book tells the story of Ohan, whose brilliant and eccentric grandfather, who built a dynasty out of making kilim rugs, is found dead in a vat of dye, Orhan inherits the decades-old business. But his grandfather’s will raises more questions than it answers. Kemal has left the family estate to a stranger thousands of miles away, an aging woman in a retirement home (Ararat Home of LA) in Los Angeles. Her existence and secrecy about her past only deepen the mystery of why Orhan’s grandfather would have left their home to this woman rather than to his own family.

Joining Ohanesian as finalists are “A Little Life” by Hanya Yanagihara; “Delicious Foods” by James Hannaham; “Green on Blue” by Elliot Ackerman; “The Sympathizer” by Viet Thanh Nguyen, and “Youngblood” by Matt Gallagher.

“Many of this year’s finalists explore the contradictory strength and fragility of the family bond, and the threat that external forces such as poverty, war, and prejudice can place on that bond,” said Sharon Rab, co-chair of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation. “Through these narratives we explore the sources of conflict within the family but also what our immediate relationships can teach us about healing and reconciliation in the larger world.”

The awards will be presented at a gala ceremony hosted by award-winning journalist Nick Clooney in Dayton on Nov. 20.

Last month, organizers of the event announced that novelist and essayist Marilynne Robinson will receive the 2016 Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award. Holbrooke was the U.S. diplomat who helped negotiate the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base that put an end to the three-and-half-year-long Bosnian War.

The finalists for nonfiction: “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates; “Find Me Unafraid” by Kennedy Odede and Jessica Posner; “Nagasaki” by Susan Southard; “Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America” by Wil Haygood; “The Reason You Walk” by Wab Kinew, and “The Train to Crystal City” by Jan Jarboe Russell.

Inspired by the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize was launched in 2006. It is the only literary peace prize awarded in the United States.

Finalists will be reviewed by a panel of prominent writers including Alexander Chee, Christine Schutt, Ruben Martinez and Evelyn McDonnell.

One of Japan’s most active volcanoes is due for a major eruption within the next 30 years, say scientists who have studied a build-up of magma there, the BBC reports.

The Sakurajima volcano on Japan’s Kyushu island poses a “growing threat”, researchers at the University of Bristol say.

The volcano, located 49km (30 miles) from the Sendai nuclear plant, is also close to Kagoshima, a city of 600,000.

Sakurajima’s last deadly eruption was in 1914, when 58 people died.

The Japanese archipelago, which sits on the Pacific “Ring of fire”, has more than 100 volcanoes. Sakurajima regularly spews ash and there are many small explosions there each year, with the latest eruption being in February.