Category: News

The Chilean legislature known as the Chamber of Deputies rejected a promoted by Azerbaijani diplomats to “condemn the so-called “Khojaly genocide” and express “their firm condemnation of the military occupation of the territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan,” reports.

This occurred after the same Chamber issued a passed unanimously that condemned the “armed attack by Azerbaijan on the Nagorno Karabakh Republic” on May 18.

The rejected project sought to be a diplomatic response to the political setback that the Azerbaijani government suffered in May. The resolution even called to nullify “any other manifestation of a contrary intention expressed before.”

Armenian Ambassador to Argentina and Chile Alexan Harutyunyan was present during the voting because he traveled to present his credentials to President of Chile Michelle Bachelet. Harutyunyan sent a letter to all the Deputies signed by the Armenian community of Chile, Archbishop Kissag Mouradian, Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church for Argentina and Chile, and the Ambassador explaining the position of Armenia before the Chamber took the decision.

The project of the Azeri lobby was introduced by Congressmen Gabriel Silber Romo, Roberto Leon Ramirez, Ivan Flores Garcia and Aldo Cornejo Gonzalez of the Christian Democratic Party, Javier Hernandez Hernandez, Romilio Gutierrez Pino and Osvaldo Urrutia Soto of the Independent Democratic Union, Marcos Espinosa Monardes of the Radical Social Democratic Party, Lautaro Carmona Soto of the Communist Party and Daniel Farcas Guendelman of the Party for Democracy. Many of those who had introduced the project voted against it after receiving the letter of the Armenian community in their country.

At least 79 people have been killed by lightning strikes in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh, officials say, the BBC reports.

Fifty three people died in Bihar. Ten people were killed in the eastern state of Jharkhand, and at least 16 died in Madhya Pradesh.

Most of the people who died were working on farms during torrential rains on Tuesday, reports said.

Lightning strikes are common in India during heavy monsoon rains.

In Bihar, the deaths occurred in Nalanda, Aurangabad, Rohtas, Purnea, Munger, Gaya, Saharsa, Bhagalpur, Banka and Kaimur.

Pope Francis has sent a video message to the people ofArmenia, ahead of his visit to the country this weekend. In the message – delivered in Italian – the Holy Father says, “[It is] as a servant of the Gospel and a messenger of peace [that] I desire to come among you, to support [your] every effort towards peace – and I would share our steps on the pathway of reconciliation, which generates hope,” reports.

The full text of the message is below:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In a few days I will have the joy to be with you, in Armenia. Even now, I invite you to pray for this Apostolic journey.

With the help of God, I come among you to fulfil, as the motto of the trip says, a “visit to the first Christian country”. I come as a pilgrim, in this Jubilee Year, to draw on the ancient wisdom of your people and to steep myself the sources of your faith, which is steadfast as your famous crosses carved in stone.

I come to the mystical heights of Armenia as your brother, animated by the desire to see your faces, to pray with you and to share the gift of friendship. Your history and the events of your beloved people stir in me admiration and sorrow: admiration, for you have found in Jesus’ Cross and in your own wits, the wherewithal ever to pick yourselves up and start anew – even after sufferings that are among the most terrible in human memory; pain, for the tragedies that your fathers have lived in their flesh.

Let us not allow the painful memories to take possession of our hearts; even in the face of the repeated assaults of evil, let us not give ourselves up. Let us rather do as Noah, who, after the flood, never tired of looking to heaven and releasing the dove again and again, until one day it came back to him, bringing a tender olive leaf (Gen. 8:11): it was the sign that life could resume and [that] hope must rise.

As servant of the Gospel and a messenger of peace I desire to come among you, to support [your] every effort towards peace – and I would share our steps on the pathway of reconciliation, which generates hope.

May the great saints of your people, especially the Doctor of the Church, Gregory of Narek, bless our meetings, to which I look forward with tender longing. In particular, I look forward to embracing my Brother, Karekin, and, along with him, to give fresh impetus to our path towards full unity.

Last year, from several countries, you came to Rome, and at the tomb of St. Peter, we prayed together. Now I come to your blessed land to strengthen our communion, to advance along the path of reconciliation, and to allow ourselves together to be animated by hope.

Pope Francis will meet with descendants of Armenians who fled persecution by the Ottoman Empire a century ago during his visit later this week to Armenia, according to the.

The meeting will take place at the Tsitsernakaberd monumentin Yeevan which commemorates the approximately 1.5 million Armenians victims.

The encounter will be “a very moving” event and one of the most important activities during the pope’s trip next weekend to Armenia, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said.

Francis will lay a wreath at the monument and will greet a group of children who will show him pictures and items related to the “Medz Yeghern” (The Great Evil).

The pope will then enter the monument within a circle enclosed by 12 huge, slanted stone walls and will stand before the eternal flame that honors the victims.

Francis will attend the planting of a tree that will memorialize his visit to Tsitsernakaberd.

Later, Pope Francis will meet a dozen descendants of the 400 Armenian orphans who were rescued in 1915 and lodged at the papal Castel Gandolfo residence near Rome.

Francis’s visit to Tsitsernakaberd is expected to be the highlight of his trip to Armenia, the 14th journey outside Italy during his papacy.

In April 2015, Pope Francis celebrated a Mass at the Vatican to commemorate the centennial of the massacres, calling them “the first genocide of the 20th century.”

German public broadcaster ZDF said Wednesday that a Turkish television channel has ended a partnership with it over Germany‘s decision to officially designate the Ottoman killings of Armenians during World War I as genocide, e reports.

Turkey‘s Kanal D will no longer show the ZDF children‘s news segment “logo!” due to numerous complaints from viewers about last month‘s Bundestag decision, which at the time prompted Turkey to recall its ambassador to Berlin and summon the German envoy to Ankara.

Photo: AFP

A jaguar has been shot dead shortly after it was used in an Olympic torch relay at a zoo in the Brazilian city of Manaus, the army said, the BBC reports.

The female jaguar escaped its handlers after the ceremony on Monday and attacked a soldier, a spokesman said.

Four tranquiliser darts failed to stop it and a soldier shot it with a pistol.

Organisers for the Rio Games said it had been a mistake to exhibit the Olympic torch next to a chained wild animal.

Animal rights groups have condemned the killing, with some questioning why the animal was involved in the Olympic event.

President Serzh Sargsyan received today the President of the National Bank of Argentina Carlos Melconian.

The President welcomed the guest to our country and using the opportunity once again congratulated him on his appointment as President of the National Bank of Argentina. President Sargsyan wished Carlos Melconian all the best on that responsible position. The President of Armenia noted that in Armenia we always respond with joy and pride to the achievements of our compatriots residing abroad because their accomplishments bring honor and good reputation to the entire nation, promoting and deepening also our bilateral relations. According to the President, in the strengthening of the Armenian-Argentine high level relations the role of prominent representatives of the Armenian community is significant and among them the input of the famous businessman Eduardo Ernekian. Serzh Sargsyan expressed hope that the visit of the President of the National Bank of Argentina will contribute to the establishment of a close cooperation between the banking systems of Armenia and Argentina.

The interlocutors stressed the importance of such visits which, according to the parties, give a new impetus to the bilateral relations and provide a good opportunity to discuss various issues pertinent to the interstate cooperation.

Carlos Melconian conveyed to the President of Armenia warm greetings from the President of Argentina Mauricio Macri and his great desire and readiness to deepen and strengthen the Armenian-Argentine relations.

At the meeting, the President hailed the significant contribution of the people and authorities of Argentina to the international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide.

In the context of the bilateral cooperation, the President of Armenia and President of National Bank of Argentina stressed the importance of expanding and enhancing the bilateral trade and economic ties. They concurred that towards that end the National Bank of Argentina can play a considerable role.

Carlos Melconian noted that the visit to Armenia was important for him not only from the professional and ceremonial points of view, but also emotionally since he was visiting the land of his ancestors who at the beginning of the previous century as a result of the Armenian Genocide had been forced to find refuge in the distant Argentina. The President of the National Bank of Argentina spoke with pride about the Armenians residing in Argentina who, according to Carlos Melconian, enjoy great respect and influence in the Argentine society.

Garo Paylan, a member of the Turkish Parliament of Armenian descent, has filed a complaint against the Grey Wolves Turkish nationalist organization.

Mmebers of the organization took to the streets immediately after the German recognition of the Armenian Genocide on June 2. About 200 protesters rallied in front of the German Consulate in Istanbul waving Turkish and Azerbaijani flags and chanting “The best Armenian is the dead Armenian.”

“These slogans constitute obvious public expressions of hate speech, open threats to Armenians. I have filed a lawsuit to the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office against these hate crimes,” Garo Paylan said.

By Harut Sassounian
The California Courier

As if Turkish President Rejep Erdogan did not have enough headaches, he now faces a new accusation that he may have forged his college diploma. If true, he would be forced to resign from his presidential seat and possibly go to jail or into exile.

Rumors have been circulating for some time that Erdogan may not have a college degree which would disqualify him from his presidential position according to Article 101 of the Turkish constitution which requires that presidential candidates “have completed higher education.”

Journalist Cengis Candar, in an Al-Monitor.com June 15 article titled: “Is Erdogan’s university diploma forged?” exposes the serious suspicions regarding the validity of the Turkish President’s college diploma.

As Candar explains, “Erdogan went to an imam-hatip school, a high school-level institution that educates religious preachers. During the 1970’s and 1980’s, graduates of those schools could pursue their higher education only in theology.” Nonetheless, when Erdogan ran for President in August 2014, he presented to the Higher Electoral Board a photocopy of his diploma claiming to have received a college degree in 1981 from the Dept. of Economic and Administrative Sciences of Marmara University.

The problem here is that Marmara University was founded only in 1982, making it impossible for Erdogan to have graduated a year before the University came into existence. Since the Dept. of Economics was established only in 1983, Erdogan could not have graduated from that department in 1981, as he claimed. Unfortunately, none of these suspected allegations can be thoroughly investigated in Turkey by the media or civil society in view of the dictatorial nature of the Erdogan regime which routinely shuts down newspapers and prosecutes all opponents.

The President’s aides are adamant that the accusations against Erdogan are not valid, as they emanate from members of opposition parties. The first complaint came from former judge Omer Faruk Eminagaoglu who presented to the Higher Electoral Board his suspicion that Erdogan did have a college degree because of the existing discrepancies in the photocopy of his diploma. The Electoral Board promptly rejected the judge’s appeal.

A second challenge was mounted by extreme Turkish nationalist Gokce Firat who presented detailed arguments to support the claim that Erdogan’s diploma is a forgery. Firat demanded to see Erdogan’s original diploma rather than the photocopy he had submitted to the Higher Electoral Board. The Turkish nationalist accused the President and Dean of Marmara University of aiding and abetting in the crime of forging Erdogan’s diploma. He claimed that the signatures of the President and Dean of Marmara University seen on the copy of Erdogan’s diploma do not match the ones on Firat’s own diploma from the same university. He also questioned the validity of the sequence of the number found on Erdogan’s diploma. Finally, Firat claimed that even the design of the Turkish President’s diploma is different from the ones held by other graduates.

Earlier this month, the pro-Kurdish HDP Party submitted an official parliamentary inquiry, asking Education Minister Ismet Yilmaz “to clarify the mystery surrounding the validity” of Erdogan’s university diploma. In response to a similar request to the Higher Electoral Board, the HDP received a notarized copy of the Turkish President’s diploma. However, the HDP announced that it will continue to challenge the validity of the diploma.

In his article, Cengiz Candar raised serious concerns about Erdogan’s legitimacy as President of Turkey should it be proven that his diploma is forged: “If taken seriously, the follow-up to the controversy could create monumental legal questions in Turkey. If it turns out Erdogan was never qualified to be elected president, whatever he has signed or implemented would have to be considered null and void from a purely legal point of view. Politically, it would provide an armory of ammunition to his critics whose numbers abroad are rapidly increasing. And if Erdogan’s university diploma proves to be a forgery, that would naturally provide ammunition to his international opponents to bring up the argument of whether his title is legitimate.”

While President Erdogan is demanding a DNA test to verify the ethnic origins of the 11 Turkish members of the German Parliament who voted to recognize the Armenian Genocide, it may be more appropriate to carry out a chemical analysis of his diploma. Erdogan should also undergo a psychological examination to evaluate his persistently irrational psychotic behavior!