Category: News

The documents of the crew members of the downed Azerbaijani military helicopter were presented to the Military Attachéof the foreign Embassiesaccredited to Armenia.

The documents come to prove that the helicopter had been flown to the frontline from Baku region a few days ago and had concrete targets it had to hit during its combat flights.

This is actually the final proof of the fact that the large-scale military actions had been pre-planned, Spokesman for the Ministry of Defense Artsrun Hovhanisyan wrote on Facebook.

 

The Basque Parliament has adopted a statement, condemning the recent Azerbaijani attempts to solve the Karabakh conflict in a military way.

The statement was adopted unilaterally by all political forces represented in the Parliament.

The statement notes that on 2 April 2016, Azerbaijan unilaterally launched an unprecedented attack along the entire line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh. This attack has caused dozens of deaths, including four civilians, one of them a child.

The Basque Parliament shows its deep concern at the breakdown of the ceasefire in force since 1994 in Nagorno-Karabakh and expresses sorrow for the victims that the attack has caused.

The Parliament welcomes the resumption of truce the two sides announced on April 5 and hopes it will be respected.

The lawmakers demand to implement an international mechanism for investigation of border incidents proposed by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

They reject the use of force to resolve the conflict and call on the parties to take practical steps to immediately cease military actions and withdraw the troops to the positions held prior to April 1, 2016.

The Basque Parliament also supports the need to return to the negotiation process mediated by the Minsk Group of the OSCE where Nagorno Karabakh must have a place, as already agreed this Parliament.

Photo: AFP

 

Italian researchers say they have identified 35 living people who are related to Leonardo da Vinci, using genealogical records, the BBC reports.

They include the acclaimed film director Franco Zeffirelli.

The Renaissance polymath was born in the Tuscan town of Vinci in 1452.

He never married and left no direct descendants, so historians Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato sought to find those who are descended from his siblings.

Leonardo’s remains were lost in the turmoil of the 16th Century, so DNA research was not used in their work to construct a family tree, which began in 1973.

Most of those identified are still living in Tuscany, reports say.

But, as La Stampa reports (in Italian), a connection to Leonardo da Vinci may not come as a surprise to Franco Zeffirelli. The director made reference to a family connection when he was presented with a Leonardo Prize by the Italian president in 2007, the newspaper says.

Head of the Armenian Mission to the OSCE, Ambassador Aram Kirakosyan briefed the OSCE Permanent Council on the violations of the international humanitarian law by Azerbaijan.

The Ambassador noted that Azerbaijan targeted populated areas and civilians, including children and elderly people, in Nagorno Karabakh during the recent large-scale attack. One of the first victims was Vagharshak Grigoryan, 12, who was killed as a result of shelling from Grad system on his way to school, while two other children were injured.

The Ambassador referred to the torture and cruel killing of three members of a family in the village of Talish. He added that servicemen Hayk Toroyan, Hrant Gharibyan and Karam Sloyan were beheaded in a style peculiar to the Islamic State terrorist organization.

The Azerbaijani social media were flooded with photos of tortured Armenians soldiers. The bodies that Azerbaijan returned to the Armenian side with the mediation of the ICRC and the Office of the Personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office had signs of mutilation.

Ambassador Kirakosyan stressed that such barbaric acts contradict the elementary norms of the civilized world, constitute violations of the basic principles of international documents, including the Universal declaration of Human Rights, the Convention of Children’s’ Rights, the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocols and amount to war crimes.

Arman Kirakosyan informed that criminal cases have been launched by the Karabakh authorities to investigate all circumstances. He stressed the importance of condemnation of the crimes and the punishment of the perpetrators.

The Tbilisi University after Ivane Javakhishvili will host a discussion on “The Karabakh Conflict and Journalism” today.

The event will feature lecturers of the University, representatives of popular TV Companies Rustavi 2 and Imedi-1.

A threatening note was left for a family in Tujunga because they hung an Armenian flag from their home, according to detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department, reports.

Hasmik Chatalyan contacted police at about 12:30 p.m. on Thursday after the threatening note was discovered in her family’s mailbox.

The married mother of two said she hung the flag on her house in the 10000 block of Pinyon Avenue in honor of her fallen heroes in Armenia.

At one point, the note reads, “You will be hurt.”

“Being threatened in my own home, it was shocking,” Chatalyan said.

Detectives took the note into evidence and said they would test it for fingerprints.

Officials said the act was being investigating as a “hate incident” and that hate crime charges could potentially be brought in the future.

“My kids are home and I don’t know who is going to come up to my house and try to put the flags down or break-in and hurt me, because in the letter it says, ‘You’re going to get hurt,’” Chatalyan said.

Neighbors on the same block said their car was egged last year after they put an Armenian flag on their vehicle.

“Violated, angry and frustrated,” Tujunga resident Adelaida Yian said. “Why do people have so much hate in their hearts?”

In response to the suspect’s threats, the Chatalyan family kept the Armenian flag up and hung a second flag as well.

They also called on other Armenian families to place flags on their homes.

“I grew up here, but I’m also from Armenia and I’m proud of my country and I will not let anybody put that down,” Chatalyan said. “I will not let anybody tell me how to love my country.”

 

 

 

Armenian delegates to the Parlaimentary Assmebly of the Council of Europe will have a serious work to do next week, when PACE spring session kicks off on April 18. Three requests for current affairs debate on Nagorno Karabakh have been submitted by French, Azerbaijani and Armenians delegates. The Bureau will decide which of the three requests will be considered. The Armenian delegates are resolute to bring the truth about the four-day war to the attention of the Parliamentary Assembly.

The first request titled “The recent and tragic escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict” was submitted by French MP Francois Rochebloine, Head of the Armenian delegation to PACE Hermine Naghdalyan told Public Radio of Armenia.

Immediately after that the Azerbaijani delegation submitted a request for a debate on “The tragic escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan.” This was followed by a proposal of the Armenian side to discuss the “War crimes committed by Azerbaijan during the recent aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh.”

“These are proposals to discuss the same topic under three different titles. Obviously, the choice of the title will affect the debate.  The struggle of the proposals is going to be very interesting. Some proposals are being brought to the agenda in order to harm the other ones, to foil their consideration at PACE,” Hermine Naghdalyan said.

Therefore, it’s clear that the Parliamentary Assembly will hold a current affairs debate on Nagorno Karabakh, but it’s not yet clear which of the proposals will be preferred. After one of the three requests is chosen by the Bureau, the issue will be discussed at the plenary sitting.  The author will have ten minutes to present the issue and his/her approaches, which will be followed by 90-minute debates. After the debates the Bureau is authorized to decide whether the topic will be summed up by one discussion or will be considered further with a view of developing a report.

At least nine people have died and more than 250 are injured after a powerful earthquake hit southern Japan, toppling buildings and cutting power supplies, the BBC reports.

Officials say more people could be trapped under collapsed buildings.

Thousands fled their homes and many people spent the night in the open in the town of Mashiki, near Kumamoto city on the island of Kyushu.

Troops have been sent to the scene but rescue operations are being disrupted by aftershocks, officials said.

No tsunami warning was issued after the magnitude 6.4 quake struck at 21:26 on Thursday (12:26 GMT) east of Kumamoto.

Nuclear reactors on the island are not reported to have been affected.

The two Sendai nuclear reactors on Kyushu were operating as normal while the three Genkai nuclear reactors still in operation were already closed for routine inspection.

Turkey should stop shooting at Syrian civilians fleeing fighting and immediately allow them to cross the Turkish border to seek protection, said today.

Renewed fighting between the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, and armed opposition groups in Northern Aleppo has displaced at least 30,000 people in the past 48 hours, with Turkish border guards shooting at some of them as they approach Turkey’s new border wall.

Turkey’s border remains firmly shut, a year after the authorities started rejecting all but the most seriously injured Syrians. Turkeyhas previously indicated it wants to create a “safe zone” in Syria to which Syrians could ostensibly flee and Turkey could return Syrian refugees. In its March 8, 2016 deal with Turkey, the European Union said it would work with Turkey to “allow for the local population and refugees to live in areas which will be more safe.”

“As civilians flee ISIS fighters, Turkey is responding with live ammunition instead of compassion,” said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The whole world is talking about fighting ISIS, and yet those most at risk of becoming victims of its horrific abuses are trapped on the wrong side of a concrete wall.”

According to international aid workers in Turkey and heads of six of the 10 displaced persons camps east of Azaz near the Turkish border, ISIS advances on April 13 and 14 have forced out at least half the camps’ 60,000 residents. They have fled to other camps, to the Bab al-Salameh camp on the Turkish border and to the nearby town of Azaz. Three of the camps – Ikdah, Harameen and al-Sham – are now completely empty of the 24,000 people previously sheltering there.

On April 14, Human Rights Watch spoke with the representatives of six of the 10 camps and seven displaced Syrians who had been living in camps that had been taken over by ISIS or that were close to the fast-changing ISIS front line. All of the residents said they wanted to flee to Turkey but that the closed border meant they had nowhere to escape to. Some said they had stayed in the camps under ISIS-threat because they were afraid they wouldn’t be able to find shelter elsewhere, knowing other camps along the Turkish border were completely full. Others said they had returned to their nearby home villages even though they were still unsafe.

The head of Ikdah camp, on the Turkish border, said that ISIS had taken over the camp, which sheltered just under 10,000 people, early on April 14, fired shots in the air, and told residents to leave.

Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley will preside at a 4:00 p.m. prayer service for the first ever Archdiocese of Boston commemoration of the Armenian Genocide at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 23, the  reports.

Among those present will be Archbishop Khajag Barsamian of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan from the Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and vicar general Msgr. Andon Atamian, who will be representing Bishop Mikael Mouradian, of the Armenian Catholic Eparchy of the United States and Canada.

Nationally-acclaimed performers of the Armenian national instrument, the Duduk, will open the service, and a combined Armenian guest choir under Maestro Artur Veranian will sing, organizers said.

“With Cardinal Seán’s vision and support, the archdiocese is pleased to offer this occasion of joint prayer in remembrance, witness, and in Christ’s promise of resurrection with our Armenian brothers and sisters,” said Bishop Arthur L. Kennedy, director for the Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.

Last year, Pope Francis made headlines when he referred to the 1915 mass killing of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks as “genocide.” Turkey denies the slaughter was a genocide, although a number of countries have officially recognized it as such.

The Vatican confirmed this month that Pope Francis will visit Armenia in June following invitations from Catholicos Karekin II, the Catholicos of All Armenians, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

“Pope Francis put the moral weight of the papacy behind this cause of human dignity — the least we owe those who have suffered a genocide is the recognition that it happened, especially when they are our brothers and sisters in Christ and the first nation to accept Christianity in 301 AD,” said Vito Nicastro, associate director for the Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.

Nicastro said the Boston commemoration service will make the pope’s message present on a local level.

“The service is not only of remembrance but also of resurrection. By standing with (the Armenian people), we share in the defeat of evil — ultimately it is an expression of the Easter mystery,” said Nicastro.