Category: News

“New aggression against Artsakh unleashed in April 2016 struck a serious blow to the negotiation process and reinforcement of confidence-building measures between parties,” President Sargsyan said in an interview with Russian Izvestia.

He noted that the escalation of situation in late February came to prove the need for soonest establishment of control over the observance of the ceasefire regime, which the parties had agreed on earlier.

“It’s time for our counterparts in Baku to understand that Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries are speaking the same language: there is not alternative to negotiations in a civilized world,” President Sargsyan stressed.

Serzh Sargsyan said war is not an option for solving problems and dialogue is the only way to reach peace.

He noted that the Karabakh conflict should be solved on the basis of the principle of the right of peoples to self-determination.

Shushan Yeritsyan will represent the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (Artsakh Republic) at the contest.

The contest will take place in Spain May 5-15.

“It’s a great pride to represent free and independent Artsakh on the international arena,” Shushan Yeritsyan said in a .

She pledged to spare no effort to represent the country on the highest level and return with best results.

Joseph Castro, president of Fresno State University, has been named man of the year by the Knights and Daughters of Vartan for his support of the Armenian community, the reports.

In its announcement, the Knights and Daughters highlight Castro’s support for the Armenian Genocide Memorial monument on the campus, the only such memorial on a U.S. college.

The group also recognized his backing for the Armenian Studies program at Fresno State and his efforts to further initiatives between Fresno State and American University of Armenia.

He will be honored as the group’s second man of the year at a banquet to be held March 25 at Pardini’s Catering and Banquets.

The Knights is an Armenian fraternal organization. The Daughters is an organization that supports the Armenian culture and development of Armenian women.

– The primal confluence of food, flames and family simmers in high definition in “Barbecue,” a globe-trotting new documentary and cinematic love letter to cooking meat over an open fire.

The feature-length movie filmed in 12 countries had its global premiere at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas, not far from some of the barbecue joints that inspired Australian filmmaker Matthew Salleh and his partner Rose Tucker to explore the globe’s shared barbecue culture.

“Barbecue is this perfect combination of tradition, community and culture,” Salleh said in a weekend interview shortly after the film’s debut.

“We just started talking to people and everyone was passionate about their country’s version of barbecue,” Salleh said over a plate of barbecued brisket, beef rib and sausage in Austin.

“In the six or seven months that we researched it, we were pitched by people who said ‘you have got to come to my country,’” he said, adding they are shopping for a distributor for the film.

He and Tucker went on a 200-day shoot that took them from Sweden to Uruguay, with stops including Armenia, Mongolia, Japan and a refugee camp on the Syria-Jordan border.

While the barbecue craft varied from the hot stones used to cook marmot in Mongolia to the pit used to grill goat in Mexico, the message in each trip was the same. Communities and families came together around the food.

“We have vegetarians who have seen the film and you cannot deny the cultural significance in the world of eating meat over the fire,” Salleh said.

The film starts in South Africa, where racial divides of apartheid still scar the country, and shows the separate and similar barbecue tradition among blacks and whites. It includes Philippines family gatherings around roast pig and exiled Syrians trying to recapture a bit of home at a shawarma shop in a refugee camp.

After their trek, Salleh and Tucker says they have received gentle ribbing from people asking why their country’s barbecue did not make the cut and a persistent question of what barbecue was best.

“At this point we begin the politically correct process of saying how we loved them all,” Salleh said. Tucker added the answer can be more about the experience, then the taste.

“We had some of the best experiences in Armenia where you drink vodka with the first bite of meat,” she said.

Peace of Art () will display a message of peace on electronic billboards on seven locations in Massachusetts, calling on the international community to recognize the first genocide of the 20th century.

Daniel Varoujan Hejinian, Peace of Art president, explained: “April 2017 is the month of remembrance of the Holocaust and all genocides in the world, and on this occasion we are calling on Turkey to recognize the Armenian genocide by honoring the memory of the innocent victims of all genocides. The billboards reflect the historical moment, when His Holiness Karekin II, together with Pope Francis on behalf of the Armenian and Catholic community worldwide, released doves soaring towards Mt. Ararat, sending a message of peace to Turkey to recognize the Armenian genocide.”

Every year since 1996, Hejinian has been displaying the Armenian Genocide commemorative billboards. In 2003 Peace of Art, Inc., began to sponsor the Armenian Genocide Commemorative Billboards. In 2015, Peace of Art, Inc. launched its Armenian Genocide Centennial awareness billboard campaign, “100 Billboards for 100 Years of Genocide,” in the U.S. and Canada to commemorate not only the victims of the Armenian Genocide but also the victims of all genocides.

 

has circulated the copy of Ottoman Interior Minister Talaat Pasha’s telegram to Aleppo Governor dated July 15, 1916, as well as the Armenian translation of it.

In the telegram Tallat instructs the Governor to keep all Armenians in the places of exile, to deny them permits allowing to move to other locations. The instruction applies even to Armenians living in Muslim families.

US-based researcher Gevorg Hakobyan has retrieved the document from Ottoman archives, translated and provided it to Akunq.net.

Manchester United’s defence of the Emirates FA Cup came to an end on Monday evening, as the Reds were narrowly defeated 1-0 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Jose Mourinho’s men more than matched the Premier League leaders for much of the first half, but it was Ander Herrera’s dismissal on 35 minutes that proved the game’s pivotal moment.

It took six minutes of the second period for the home side to make their numerical advantage count, as N’Golo Kante fired home from the edge of the box, a goal which ultimately separated the sides.

Marcus Rashford, who came off his sick bed to play – with Zlatan Ibrahimovic suspended, and Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial injured, created United’s best chance for himself but Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois saved with his feet to set up a semi-final against Tottenham at Wembley.

“I don’t speak [about the red card]. I just want to say that I’m really proud of my players and Manchester United fans,” manager Jose Mourinho said after the match.

“Everybody can analyse from different perspectives but we all watch the match until the red card and after the red card. So we can compare the decisions of the two yellow cards, in this case with others which were not given,” he said.

Photo: Getty Images

 

Turkey said on March 13 that it would suspend high-level diplomatic relations with the Netherlands after Dutch authorities prevented its ministers from speaking at rallies of expatriate Turks, deepening the row between the two NATO allies, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

The sanctions – which include a ban on the Dutch ambassador and diplomatic flights from the Netherlands but do not appear to include economic measures or travel restrictions for ordinary citizens – mark another low point in relations between Turkey and the European Union, which it still officially aims to join.

“We are doing exactly what they did to us. We are not allowing planes carrying Dutch diplomats or envoys to land in Turkey or to use our airspace,” Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told a news conference after a cabinet meeting. “Those creating this crisis are responsible for fixing it.”

Kurtulmuş also said Turkey’s deal to stop the flow of migrants into Europe may need to be re-evaluated. He said high-level government meetings would be suspended between the two countries until the Netherlands atoned for its actions.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is seeking Turkish voters’ support in an April 16 referendum on constitutional amendments, has previously accused the Dutch government of acting like “Nazi remnants” for barring his ministers from addressing expatriate Turks to drum up votes.

The row is likely to further dim Ankara’s prospects of EU membership. It also comes as Turkey wrestles with security concerns over militant attacks and the war in neighboring Syria.

Children in Armenia start thinking about their careers at a very young age — around six months or so, Bryant Rousseau writes in . 

When an infant’s first tooth arrives, typically in four to seven months, a celebration takes place known variously as the “agra hadig” or “atam hatik.”

As part of the ritual, objects symbolizing different professions are arrayed in front of a child: a microphone for an entertainer, a stethoscope for a doctor, scissors for a tailor or money for a banker. Whichever object the baby chooses first is thought to be a sign of where the child’s professional aptitude lies.

With the appearance of teeth, a child can begin to eat solid food, and the acquisition of this skill is believed to be a propitious time to foretell what the future holds, said Yulia Antonyan, a professor in the department of cultural studies at Yerevan State University in Armenia’s capital.

There are no obligatory objects, but sets available for purchase will often include traditional artisan tools and choices epitomizing a more modern lifestyle. Parents are free to add to or omit from the mix as they wish.

The ceremony begins by pouring various cereal grains over and around the child. Typically but not always, the baby’s head is protected by a piece of fabric, a pair of hands or sometimes even an umbrella.

The ritual sprinkling is thought to ensure that the child will have healthy, even teeth. It could also have fertility associations, akin to throwing rice at a wedding, according to Levon Abrahamian, a cultural anthropologist in Yerevan.

Today, teeth-shaped cakes, toys, candy and balloons are popular party favors at these celebrations, which are widely practiced in Armenia and across the Armenian diaspora.

In the earliest written references to the ritual, from the 19th century, just two objects were put before the teething child. The prediction then was not about an adult profession but the sex of the next sibling: Grasping a knife meant a brother was on the way, a comb (or mirror) a sister.

“The divination for the future profession was developed much later in the urbanized and modernized environment of Soviet Armenia and the diaspora,” Professor Antonyan said, “when the future career would determine the baby’s life.”

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed she will ask for permission to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence, the BBC reports.

Ms Sturgeon said she wanted a vote to be held between the autumn of 2018 and the spring of the following year.

She said she would ask the Scottish Parliament next week for permission to request a Section 30 order from Westminster.

The move would allow a fresh legally-binding referendum to be held, if consent is granted.

Speaking at her official Bute House residence in Edinburgh, Ms Sturgeon said the people of Scotland must be offered a choice between a “hard Brexit” and becoming an independent country.

Ms Sturgeon said the UK government had not “moved even an inch in pursuit of compromise and agreement” since the Brexit vote, which saw Scotland vote by 62% to 38% to remain the EU while the UK as a whole voted to leave.

The Scottish government has published proposals which it says would allow Scotland to remain a member of the European single market even if the rest of the UK leaves, which Prime Minister Theresa May has said it will.