Vice-Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly, Head of the Armenia-Greece Deputy Friendship Group Edward Sharmazanov has left for Athens to participate in events dedicated to the anniversaries of the Armenian and Greek genocides.
Today Edward Sharmazanov is scheduled to meet with First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Anastasios Kourakis and representatives of the Greece-Armenia Deputy Friendship Group.
On May 22 he will have a meeting with Defense Minister Panos Kammenos.
Former Defense Minister of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Movses Hakobyan has been appointed Deputy Defense Minister of Armenia, Chief of the Logistics Department.
A corresponding decree was signed today by President Serzh Sargsyan.
President Serzh Sargsyan received today Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who has arrived in Yerevan to participate in the regular sitting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Yerevan.
President Sargsyan briefed the Russian PM on the results of the Vienna discussions. “We’ve reached an agreement on the monitoring of ceasefire violations and implementation of a mechanism of investigation of border incidents. We’re ready to do our best to exclude ceasefire violation, and I do hope that the Foreign Ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries will be consistent in implementing the decisions,” he said.
Dmitry Medvedev, in turn. expressed gratitude for hosting the meeting of the EEU Intergovernmental Council in Armenia and voiced confidence that the member countries would reach agreements necessary for boosting their economies.
He said Russia is closely following the developments in the Karabakh conflict zone and doing the utmost to help settle the current situation.
“It’s important to maintain the current ceasefire regime. In this context we welcome your meeting with the President of Azerbaijan in Vienna, and support the efforts within the framework of the OSCE Mink Group aimed at maintaining dialogue, and preventing such incidents in the future, taking into consideration of the agreements reached in 1994-1995 and with a view of ensuring stronger peace in the region and moving towards a final settlement to the Karabakh conflict,” Medvedev said.
“You can rest assured that Russia has always assisted and will keep assisting in the settlement of this complex issue,” the Prime Minister noted.
President Serzh Sargsyan had a phone talk with US Vice-President Joe Biden at the initiative of the American side.
Issues related to the current stage of settlement of the Karabakh conflict were discussed.
The parties attached importance to the full and effective implementation of the agreements reached at the Vienna meeting held on May 16 at the initiative of the Foreign Ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries.
The interlocutors agreed that the settlement of the issue is possible only in a peaceful way within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship.
A massive search is continuing for a second day for an EgyptAir plane that disappeared over the Mediterranean, the BBC reports.
Greek, Egyptian, French and UK military units are taking part in the operation near Greece’s Karpathos island.
Flight MS804 was en route from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew when it vanished early on Thursday.
Greece said radar showed the Airbus A320 had made two sharp turns and dropped more than 7,620m before plunging into the sea.
Egypt says the plane was more likely to have been brought down by a terrorist act than a technical fault.
Most of the people on board Flight MS804 were from Egypt and France. A Briton was also among the passengers.
So far, no wreckage or debris from the aircraft has been found.
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will leave for Brussels on May 23 to participate in the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of EU member states and Eastern Partnership Countries, Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.
Asbarez – The Armenian American Museum and Ararat-Eskijian Museum will co-host “Curator in the Spotlight: Illuminating the Armenian Middle Ages” at the Brand Library & Art Center at 7pm on Thursday, May 26. The event will present a lecture by Dr. Elizabeth Morrison, Senior Curator of Manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum.
Dr. Elizabeth Morrison will discuss the fascinating world of medieval Armenian manuscript illumination, which is admired across the world for its delicacy, vibrancy and sheer beauty. The luminous colors and complex figures of these precious relics made entirely by hand delight the eye and engage the senses. In addition to giving an overview of the illumination tradition, Dr. Morrison will focus on the work of T’oros Roslin, the most celebrated Armenian artist of the Middle Ages, whose innovations were integral to the conception of the painted page for centuries to come.
Dr. Elizabeth Morrison received her Ph.D. in the History of Art from Cornell University and began work at the Getty in 1996. She has curated numerous exhibitions and published articles on both Flemish and French illumination. She has served on the Board of Directors of the International Center of Medieval Art and is currently a counselor for the Medieval Academy of America.
This program is one in a series taking place in conjunction with “Armenia: An Open Wound” an exhibition presented by The City of Glendale and the Library, Arts & Culture Department in partnership with the Armenian American Museum and curated by the Museo Memoria y Tolerancia [Museum of Memory & Tolerance] in Mexico City. The exhibit will be on view at the Brand Library Art Galleries through June 11, 2016 during the library’s regular hours: Tuesday and Thursday 12-8pm, Wednesday 12-6pm, and Friday and Saturday, 10am-5pm. Docent-led tours are available every Tuesday, 6:30 PM and Saturday, 10:30 AM on a walk-in basis. All events are free and open to the public.
Territorial integrity cannot be opposed to the right of peoples to self-determination, Armenian deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan has said.
The comment comes after PACE President Pedro Agramunt declared at a meeting with Chairman of Azerbaijan’s Parliament that “all conflict must be solved within the territorial integrity of the countries.”
“It would be preferable for an international official of that level to be familiar with the fundamental document of the international law – the UN Charter, according to which the territorial integrity cannot be opposed to the right of people to self-determination,” Kocharyan said in comments to Armenpress.
The Vienna meeting created new realities in international relations, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Arman Navasardyan told reporters today. According to him, Russia has refused from from its dominant positions in the Karabakh issue, which has, in turn, led to intensified efforts on the part of the other Minsk Group Co-Chairs.
The Ambassador said “the three Co-Chairs seem to have a consensus on the Karabakh issue, and that’s good.” “The utmost objective at this point is to ensure the return of Nagorno Karabakh to the negotiating table,” he said.
Arman Navasardyan is “cautiously optimistic” about the results of the Vienna meeting. “Negotiations are better than war in any event. But are we sure the war will stop? I’m not confident Azerbaijan will not continue the military actions,” he said.
According to the Ambassador, the Armenian side should change its position on the lost territories. “Conceding a patch of land is a loss from all perspectives – psychological, physical and military.”
He does not rule out that the circumstances may force Armenia change the provisions of its military doctrine, shifting from a defensive to more offensive position.
“We deal with a country with a third country [Turkey] at its back, which pursues the policy of Armenocide, a policy of exterminating Armenians. This is an expression of neo-fascism on the state level,” he said.
Asbarez – Armenia Fund U.S. Western Region announces that a total of $1,102,357 was raised during the 6 hours of its Help Artsakh! emergency telethon aired on May 14 in Los Angeles.
“Armenia Fund is an organization that was born amidst a humanitarian catastrophe in Artsakh in 1992, when hundreds of thousands of Armenians from Artsakh and Azerbaijan became refugees with no shelter, food, heat or means to survive,” stated Maria Mehranian, Chair of Armenia Fund’s Board of Directors. “Armenia Fund stood by Artsakh through war and peace and will continue to do so. I would like to thank the world wide affiliates of Armenia Fund, specifically Armenia Fund in New York, Toronto, Paris, and Sao Paolo, for their participation in our Telethon with funds raised by their emergency fundraising activities that added $490,000 to the total raised,” added Mehranian.
Airing on all major Armenian American television stations, the emergency telethon highlighted stories of bravery, courage, and hope through the destruction of war. The video segments produced in Artsakh showed the massive damage caused by indiscriminate shelling of villages as well as the valor and bravery of young Armenian conscripts who courageously withstood a massive military aggression of the Azeri armed forces along the entire border with Artsakh in early April.
“Given the situation in Artsakh, this telethon was organized to solely provide short term humanitarian relief to the victims of war. Artsakh’s needs are immense ranging from immediate medical care for the wounded to rebuilding destroyed housing and infrastructure. I want to thank all Armenians for their wholehearted support of Artsakh,” said Sarkis Kotanjian, Executive Director of Armenia Fund.
Representatives from the greater Armenian-American community and prominent members of Congress and government appealed during the Telethon, voicing their strong support for Artsakh.
For the last quarter century Armenia Fund has been uniting the global Armenian community for the development of Armenia and Artsakh resulting in more than $350 million in large scale humanitarian relief and infrastructure development.