Category: News

Members of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly realize that the Nagorno Karabakh issue should be considered within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship and understand that the Assembly is not a podium for discussions on conflict settlement, member of the Armenian delegation to Euronest PA Tevan Poghosyan told reporters at the National Assembly.

“We managed to bring to our colleagues that it’s not the right place to discuss the Karabakh issue. There is a different format for that, which we have accepted. We’ve agreed that any wording that can harm the conflict settlement process will not be considered at the Euronest,” Poghosyan said.

He added that the Euronest Co-Chairs plan to visit Baku in April to convince the latter to return to the structure. Baku has been boycotting the activities of Euronest for seven months now. According to Tevan Poghosyan, Azerbaijan has lost interest because of the failure to implement its programs, as every member has the right to “veto.”

The Armenian delegation wants Azerbaijan to participate in Euronest activities, head of the Armenian delegation Artak Zakaryan said. “We have always declared we want Azerbaijan to participate in the PA activities, for the Euronest to work in ‘half-format.’ We stand against the blackmail Azerbaijan periodically uses against the European Parliament,” he added.

In November Kolkata will witness the biggest congregation of Armenians in recent times. They will gather in the city to be a part of celebrations lined up by their alma mater – Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy (ACPA), which will turn 195 this year. The get-together of sorts will also help the community relive its past, connecting with old acquaintances now spread across the globe, the reports.

Amid all the hype, ACPA has embarked upon the most difficult task of creating a databank of Armenians from Kolkata. “This is the first such databank since 1956,” said Rev. Zaven Yazichyan, the India-Armenian Spiritual Postorate, ACPA.

Entrepreneurial and devout Christians, Armenians arrived here in early 1600s, some 60 years prior to East India Company. When Kolkata – then Calcutta – was the British capital, the Armenians poured money into colonial mansions, virtually transforming the wilting city into what Kolkata eventually became.

Though they called it their home, Armenians started leaving ‘Calcutta’ even before the British started moving out. For the last six decades, their numbers have dwindling alarmingly. The city of 4.5 milling barely has 150 Indian Armenians left now. According to the Armenian General Benevolent Union news magazine, the number of students dropped from 206 in 1961 to just six in 1998. Among the 68 students studying here now, only two are Armenian-Indians. The school relies on students from abroad – mostly immigrants from Iraq, Iran, Russia and Armenia – to fill its dormitories.

“Kolkata is the last surviving home to Armenians in India, and the 195-year celebrations will tell this to the world and bring to the fore the proud past that we Armenians have,” said Rev. Yazichyan.

The school is being renovated in a big way and several projects are being taken up. The Araratyan library has been computerized and its books are being preserved with modern methodology. The school has tied up with different international educational institutions. The swimming pool, which is the second oldest in Kolkata, is getting a new lease of life. The school has also started weekly online chat on Skype so that students can interact with their parents living abroad.

The Public Radio of Armenia has been awarded a Certificate of Gratitude from the British Council for successful cooperation within the framework of the 14^th British Film Festival.

The British Council, the UK Embassy in Armenia and the Beeline Company summed up the results of the Festival at a solemn closing ceremony today.

More than 25 thousand people participated in the 14^th British Film Festival held in capital Yerevan and three provinces. The Festival featured seven films presenting Britain, its diversity and innovation.

The Public Radio of Armenia was the information partner of the Festival.

A list of lands and buildings in Diyarbakir’s Sur district—including the Surp Giragos Armenian Apostolic and the Armenian Catholic Churches—have been expropriated by the Turkish government, according to reports.

Turkish-Armenian newspaper reported that an “urgent expropriation” cabinet decision was taken regarding 6,300 plots of land, citing the March 25 issue of the Official Gazette of the Republic of Turkey (T.C. Resmi Gazete), the country’s official journal that publishes new legislation and official announcements. Based on the report, the Surp Sarkis Chaldean Church, Virgin Mary Ancient Assyrian Church, and the city’s Protestant church have also been expropriated.

Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality Cultural Heritage Director Nevin Soylukaya told Agos that some properties belonging to the municipality have also been expropriated, and that the local government will initiate legal action. Soylukaya also said that some properties belonging to the municipality are also expropriated and they will initiate legal action. She also urged the owners of the expropriated properties to take legal action.

Armenian Weekly contributor and member of the Surp Giragos Church reconstruction project Raffi Bedrosyan said that there will be a strong effort to reclaim the lands. “All legal and political channels will be mobilized within Turkey and internationally to stop this legalized robbery,” Bedrosyan told the

The suspected hijacker of an EgyptAir airliner surrendered to authorities on Tuesday, Cyprus’s state broadcaster said.

The hijacker emerged from the aircraft with his hands in the air, state TV said.

The Cypriot foreign affairs ministry said the crisis has ended with the arrest of the alleged hijacker.

Its over. The arrested. # Egyptair

— Cyprus MFA (@CyprusMFA)

Photo: AP

Woody Allen’s latest work, Cafe Society, will open this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the BBC reports.

Starring Kristen Stewart, Jesse Eisenberg and Steve Carell, the movie centres on the buzzing cafe society of 1930s Hollywood.

It makes Allen the first director to present three opening-night films at Cannes.

Hollywood Ending opened the annual festival in 2002, and Midnight in Paris in 2011.

According to the festival organisers, Cafe Society tells the story “of a young man who arrives in Hollywood during the 1930s hoping to work in the film industry, falls in love, and finds himself swept up in the vibrant cafe society that defined the spirit of the age”.

It marks a romantic reunion for Stewart and Eisenberg who appeared together in American Ultra.

Cafe Society will screen out of competition at this year’s event, which runs from 11 to 22 May, ahead of its release later this year.

Jodie Foster’s Money Monster starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney, and Steven Spielberg’s The BFG are already confirmed to screen at the festival.

The full official selection will be announced mid-April.

On 2 April, the commemoration day of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, with the blessing of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; the Mother See will solemnly transport the relics of St. John the Baptist from the Gegharkunik Diocese.

The 14th century cross reliquary will be taken to the Gavar Diocese, the Holy Mother of God Church. From there, at 10:30 a.m., the clergy and faithful will walk by procession, and take the relic to the St. Karapet Church, where a Divine Liturgy will be offered.

At the end of Holy service the relic will be used for the service of the blessing of the four corners of the world (Andastan).

The relics of St. John the Baptist will remain in the Church narthex until 5 p.m. for the faithful to have the opportunity to be blessed by the sacred relics.

Eros Ramazzotti has cancelled the concerts in Russia, Estonia and Armenia, TASS reports quoting the Trident Music Srl Company.

The Perfetto 2015/2016 producing company – the organizer of Ramazzotti’s world tour – accuses the Russian party of violating a number of provisions of the agreement.

The Company says the Russian Global Communication OJSC has violated the financial commitments on many occasions.

The concert in Yerevan was scheduled for April 26. The Armenian Forpostart Production is holding additional talks with Trident Music Srl, trying to ‘save’ the Yerevan concert.

On March 28, President Serzh Sargsyan started his working visit to the United States of America. In Massachusetts, President Serzh Sargsyan visited Watertown, which has many residents of the Armenian descent, who is last two centuries established there strong national structures. First, President Sargsyan was hosted at the Armenian library-museum of America which was founded in 1971. The Museum is an important structure which presents Armenian cultural heritage – coins, articles made of ceramics, pottery, carpets, religious articles, stamps, textile, metal work, maps, printed works and a rich collection of medieval miniatures. The President toured the premise of the library-museum, familiarized with the exhibits, and conversed with the staff about the activities of this cultural establishment. The President of Armenia augmented the collection of the museum with a picture of Jansem which he presented to the museum.

Afterwards, Serzh Sargsyan visited Paykar Center of Ramkavar Liberal Party and Hairenik center of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, familiarized with the activities of these two Armenian traditional parties and conditions they work in. Hairenik Center of Boston is the oldest Armenian center on the East coast. The East coast ARF office, headquarters of the Armenian Relief Society, Hairenik radiostation, editorial staff of Armenian Weekly and Hayrenik Weekly papers are functioning here. The ARF party archives are also kept here – in Hayrenik center. It contains materials related to the activities of the Party during the First Republic of 1918-1920 and subsequent decades. At the Center, the President of Armenia met with the representatives of the ARF. Serzh Sargsyan greeted and stressed the equal importance of the patriotic activities of the traditional parties and wished them all the best.

On the first day of his visit to the United States, President Sargsyan visited also the Armenian Churches of Saint Stepanos and Saint Trinity. In 1991 at the proposal of the Armenian community of Watertown, the Saint Stepanos street was renamed into Artsakh street, while on August 6, 2012 the House of Representatives of Massachusetts adopted a resolution urging the President of the United States and Congress to support independence of Nagorno Karabakh and its right for self-determination.

The visit to the Saint Trinity Church concluded the first day of the working visit of the President of Armenia to the US. In the Book of Honorary Guests of the Saint Trinity Church, Serzh Sargsyan made an inscription and stressed the special role of the Armenian Church in the preservation of the Armenian identity and highlighted the importance of its historic mission.

There are no citizens of the Republic of Armenia or ethnic Armenians on board the hijacked Egyptian airliner, the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports, quoting the Armenian Embassy in Cairo.

The Embassy closely follows the developments and will provide additional reports.

Most of the passengers on board a hijacked Egyptian airliner that was forced to divert to Cyprus have been freed, the airline says.

EgyptAir Flight MS181 was taken over after a passenger said he was wearing an explosives belt.

EgyptAir said negotiations at Larnaca airport had resulted in the release of all those on board, apart from the crew and four foreign passengers.

Latest reports from Cypriot media suggest there is just one hijacker who was motivated by “personal reasons” – his ex-wife is said to live in Cyprus – and may be seeking asylum, although this has not been confirmed.