Category: News

Armenia has welcomed the liberation of Palmyra.

“We welcome the liberation of ‪Palmyra‬. World Cultural heritage should be preserved,” teh Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a facebook post.

Syrian government forces backed by heavy Russian air support drove Islamic State out of Palmyra on Sunday, inflicting what the army called a mortal blow to militants who seized the city last year and dynamited its ancient temples.

The army general command said that its forces took over the city with support from Russian and Syrian air strikes, opening up the huge expanse of desert leading east to the Islamic State strongholds of Raqqa and Deir al-Zor.

A celebration was held on March 22 in Buenos Aires for the 25 years of Episcopate of Archbishop Kissag Mouradian, Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church for Argentina and Chile, reports.

Pope Francis, an of the Armenian Archbishop, sent him a letter for the occasion.

“Dear brother,” said the letter of the Pope. “On March 22 the Armenian community celebrate your 25 years of episcopate. From here I join this celebration and prayer of thanksgiving. May the Lord reward all the good you did and keep doing. I thank God for your ministry and pray that it remains fruitful. And please, I ask that you do not forget to pray for me.Please give my greetings to the beloved members of the Armenian community.”

The celebration was attended by national government authorities, representatives of other Armenian churches, representatives of the Armenian Embassy in Argentina and members of the Armenian community.

Alberto Djeredjian, member of the Administrative Institution of the Armenian Church, said that Mouradian is “the backbone of our community.” In turn, the Archbishop said: “I was sent to Argentina for five years, but after I fulfilled that period and having full mutual agreement, I decided to stay. I hope we continue to work together for the welfare of the Armenian Nation and the Armenian Church.”

Among the Easter masses held around the world, a very special one took place in Montreal, where Syrian refugees celebrated the holiday for the first time since coming to Canada, reports.

“It is the first Easter for them in Canada and we would like to make it as joyous as possible and welcome them in Montreal and in Canada,” said Antranik Sirinyan, chairman of the St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Church in Outremont.

The service saw 250 Syrian families attending Easter mass. It’s a small piece of normalcy for those whose entire lives have been uprooted.

“Of course it’s difficult, but it needs time and in time I think everything will be okay,” said refugee Shoghig Kochakejian. “I’m happy because we have a great community here and we’re having fun, but you still think that we have relatives and friends still in Syria, so it’s happiness but it’s not complete.”

The newcomers expressed appreciation to their new country and to their fellow parishioners for making a rough transition much easier.

“I’m very thankful that Canada and Montreal gave us the opportunity to be here,” said refugee Hovesp Bogossian. “We’re happy to be serving our church and serving the community.”

New images have emerged from Palmyra, hours after Syrian troops recaptured it from the Islamic State group (IS).

The pictures reveal the extent of destruction wrought by the group during their 10-month occupation of the Unesco World Heritage site.

While some treasured monuments have been destroyed, much of the ancient city’s ruins are said to remain intact.

Syria’s antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim said authorities had been “expecting the worst”.

But he told the AFP news agency that “the landscape, in general, is in good shape”.

Photo: EPA

A Taliban splinter group says it carried out a suicide attack on a park in Lahore, Pakistan, which killed more than 70 people, including children, the BBC reports.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar said it had targeted Christians celebrating Easter, though police have said they are still investigating the claim.

There were scenes of carnage as parents searched for children amid the debris.

Pakistan’s president condemned the attack, and the regional government has announced three days of mourning.

At least 300 people were injured, with officials saying they expected the death toll to rise.

All major hospitals in the area were put on an emergency footing after the blast, early on Sunday evening.

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.

Mr Obama has turned down Mr. Erdogan’s request to join him for the inauguration of a Turkish-funded mosque in Maryland, and the US president has no plans for a formal one-on-one meeting with his Turkish counterpart, who is a vital ally in the fight against Islamic State, US officials told

The White House is instead expected to have Vice President Joe Biden meet with Mr Erdogan.
Senior US administration officials said the decision not to meet Mr Erdogan while he is in Washington shouldn’t be taken as a slight because the two presidents met in November at the Group of 20 summit in Turkey, and spoke by phone in February.

“The president has been in such regular contact with few other world leaders,” said a senior U.S. administration official. “When it comes to the NSS, there is not a robust [bilateral] schedule, so it’s not as if Erdogan is being excluded.”

Delegations from 51 nations are expected to attend the summit, which begins Thursday. Mr Obama has only one planned one-on-one meeting—with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Turkey is at the center of the fight against Islamic State, the struggle to end Syria’s civil war, and the global refugee crisis, making Mr. Erdogan a key partner for Western leaders.

Mr Erdogan has alienated some allies by overseeing a crackdown on domestic critics and waging a new fight with Kurdish insurgents. The allies’ need to work with the Turkish president has tempered their public criticism.

“This is one of the least bright spots for Mr. Erdogan’s foreign-policy agenda, said Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “He took a stellar personal relationship with the US president and look where it is today.”

The US and its allies need Mr Erdogan’s help in clamping down on Islamic State extremists leaving Syria and containing the migrant crisis stoked by the war in Syria.

Turkish officials have been trying for months to lay the groundwork for a meeting in Washington with Mr Obama.

Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili visited an Armenian church in Tbilisi on Sunday to celebrate Easter together with Georgia’s Armenian citizens, reports.

Armenians are one of the largest ethnic minority groups in Georgia.

Kvirikashvili congratulated them on Easter and wished them peace and prosperity in the country.

The Prime Minister talked about the long-lasting friendship between the two nations and said: “Our friendship is very precious and deserves to be taken care of.”

“Georgia is proud of its Armenian sons and daughters and we are happy that we together are building a country which is a very good example for the world of being a home to so many cultural diversities.”

His Excellency Serzh Sargsyan will arrive in Boston and deliver messages at MIT, Harvard’s’ Kennedy School and the Fletcher School of Diplomacy beginning on March 29th, prior to traveling to Washington, D.C. for an International Nuclear Energy Summit, according to

New England is the home of the second largest Armenian American Community in the country and the President will also be visiting major Armenian institutions and churches in Watertown, the community boasts a number of churches, schools, organizations and the Armenian Museum of America and two weekly newspapers. Watertown and Worcester Massachusetts were the first communities settled by Armenians before and after the Armenian Genocide. The first Armenian Church is America is still in existence in Worcester Massachusetts.

This is the 25th Anniversary of the Independence of Armenia which was established in 1991 subsequent to the breakup of the Soviet Union. Sargsyan has served as the countries civilian defense minister before becoming President. Armenia shares a warm relationship with the United States, the European Union and is part of NATO’s Partnership for Peace and participates in U.N. Peace Keeping deployments around Armenia is strategically important as it also shares a border with Iran, Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan in the South Caucuses.

On the 29th of March, the President will begin by visiting the Old North Church in Boston with an ecumenical prayer service hosted by the Massachusetts Council of Churches and presided over by Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church and Archbishop Oshagan Chaloian, of the Eastern Prelecy of the Armenian Church, the service will be hosted by Rt. Rev. Gayle Harris, Suffragan Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

The Armenians share a long standing relationship with the Episcopal Church as Christians coming to America they were offered a place to worship in the Episcopal Church. Also on April 23rd, Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley will host the first Armenian Genocide Commemoration at Holy Cross Cathedral in the south end. His Holiness Pope Francis celebrated Mass last April in Rome and commemorated the 100th year of the Armenian Genocide.

The Armenian Presidential will also make his first visit Heritage Park on the Rose Kennedy Greenway and place a wreath at the Armenian Genocide Memorial. He will then make an official visit to the State House and have lunch with Governor Charlie Baker and constitutional officers.

President Sargsyan will then travel to Washington, D.C. with heads of state for the Nuclear Energy Summit energy summit hosted by President Barak Obama. Armenian-Americans number over 1,000,000

Photo:  Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin has won the FIDE World Chess Candidates Tournament held in Moscow. He will now play with the incumbent world champion, Norwegian Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, in a match for the world chess crown in the United States in November 2016, TASS reports.

In the final Round 14, the Russian grandmaster beat with white Fabiano Caruana of the United States. The other games of Round 14: Svidler (Russia)-Anand (India), Giri (the Netherland)-Topalov (Bulgaria), Nakamura (US)-Aronian (Armenia) – ended in a draw.

Karjakin scored 8.5 points, Caruana and Viswanathan Anand 7.5 each, Hikaru Nakamura, Levon Aronian, Peter Svidler and Anish Giri have 7 points, while Veselin Topalov – 4.5

Karjakin and Carlsen will play in New York on November 11-30.