Category: News

The documentary “Pure State of the soul” by Turkish Armenian director Ugur Yusuf Ires will screen at the cultural center of the Yerevan State University tomorrow. The film presents the story of the director’s family, namely his grandfather Harutiun Ires, who regained his identity at the age of 71, regained his ‘pure state of the soul after he was baptized as Christian Armenian.

The constant arguments between the director’s grandparents lie in the basis of the documentary. “Although they were speaking Zazaki, we could understand from some Turkish words that all disputes were about religion,” Yusuf Ires told reporters in Yerevan.

“For ten years grandma was trying to persuade her children and grandchildren that they were Turkish and Muslim. She was confident it would be easier for them to live with that consciousness. But there is a reality called genetic memory. This is what motivated the creation of the film,” the director said.

Harutiun’s daughter Karin Gulteki returned to her Christian roots three years ago. She was baptized in Germany, as the tax for baptism in Armenian Churches of Turkey is too high. “I’m glad to have found my true identity and individuality,” the Dersim Armenian woman said.

“Turkey does not miss any opportunity to pressure Armenians,” said Mihran Gulteki, founder of the Union of Dersim Armenians. He said “Turkey is implementing a special policy of repatriating Turks from foreign countries and settling them in Western Armenia, where an estimated 3-4 million hidden Armenians live. According to him, the number will even grow if it becomes safer for Armenians to live there.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has been voted Player of Matchday 23. Users of Bundesliga’s official website chose the midfielder from Borussia Dortmund as best actor in the nine games last weekend after his strong performance against Hoffenheim.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored the equalizer and provided an assist in Dortmund’s 3:1 win.  With his ninth goal of the season, he hit his personal season record in the league (2013/14).

Every time the Armenian has scored in the Bundesliga, Dortmund has won.

“Genocide after the Genocide,” a photo exhibition on Armenian monuments in today’s Turkey opened at the European Parliament on March 1.

An exhibition reflects on the state of Armenian religious monuments in Turkey before and after the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

The exhibition hosted by MEP Nikos Androulakis  was co-organized by the Research on Armenian Architecture NGO and the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy.

Iveta Mukuchyan will represent Armenia in the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest with her deeply emotional song LoveWave. Tonight her song has been premiered by the Public Television Company of Armenia.

LoveWave is based on Iveta’s inner world struggles and personal emotions, as she explains:

“I wanted to sing about a feeling we all know and crave for. A feeling that creates and destroys, empowers and weakens, rips and completes. A feeling out of space and time, that is unpredictable as an ocean and powerful as a wave. A feeling that is worth fighting for. Love.”

The music video is artistically abstract. We see emotions instead of actions, through a non-scripted scenario the struggling inner world of the characters is revealed.

LoveWave was composed by Lilith Navasardyan and Levon Navasardyan. Its lyrics were written by Iveta Mukuchyan and Stephanie Crutchfield.

The music video is the result of a co-production between AMPTV and German BLACKSHEEP communications. It was separately shot in Germany and Armenia, and it features Iveta Mukuchyan and Swedish top model Ben Dahlhaus, who is based in Germany and is most famous for his work with world leading fashion brands. The authentic looks used in the music video were created by Arevik Simonyan, the founder and chief designer of Kivera Naynomis.

Uefa president Michel Platini has taken his appeal against a six-year ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the BBC reports.

Platini and ex-head of world football’s governing body Sepp Blatter were barred from the sport after being found guilty of ethics breaches over a $2m “disloyal payment” between the pair.

Both men, who deny wrongdoing, had the bans upheld but cut from eight years.

Former France captain Platini, leader of European football’s governing body since 2007, wants the verdict annulled.

PACE President’s statement in Baku contradicts the wording used by the OSCE Minsk Group, as well as the spirit of the proposals on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict and are not conducive to the resolution of the issue, MP Samvel Farmanyan told

The comments come after PACE President Pedro Agramunt declared in Baku that “it is essential that solutions are found to the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and other regions of Azerbaijan.”

“It’s a pity that the President of the Parliamentary Assembly goes against the opinion of the international community and uses the wording used by official Baku.  In this regard, this is a problem not only for us, but also other Council of Europe member states, as Pedro Agramunt’s views do not reflect the opinion of the international community,” said Samvel Farmanyan, who is a member of the Armenian delegation to PACE.

“We must continue working, aware that Azerbaijan uses the statements of international organizations or their leaders for domestic purposes, especially under the conditions of the current socio-economic crisis. We should bring to our international partners that unilateral views are not conducive to the perspectives of the conflict settlement. On the contrary, they can serve a pretext for the Azerbaijani authorities for destabilizing the situation at the line of contact and the Armenian border,” Farmanyan said.

The Armenian St. Mary Church in Sinjar (Iraq) has been completely destroyed, reports, quoting its sources in Erbil.

According to the reports, tens of skeletons, thought to be those of Yazidi residents of the region, were recently found in the vicinities of the church.

The Armenian population had left the region before it was invaded by the Islamic State. The city of Sinjar in the north of Iraq is considered the main center of the Yazidi community.

Ending a two-day state visit to Azerbaijan, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Pedro Agramunt said “Azerbaijan continues to face the consequences of the deadlock over the conflict concerning the Nagorno-Karabakh region.”

“It is essential that solutions are found to the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and other regions of Azerbaijan. This conflict not only destabilizes both Armenia and Azerbaijan, affecting their economies and their societies, but it also adversely affects the capacity of these countries to progress in the fields of democracy, human rights and the rule of law,” he said.

Spokesperson for the NKR President David Babayan said in comments to that “the statement is a result of caviar policy and lobbying or lack of knowledge.”

“PACE and its representatives should have a strong immune value system, which should not yield to the amount of sum or products. If the immune system is week, the Parliamentary Assembly or other European structures may find themselves in a very hard situation,” David Babayan said.

“If the PACE President talks about expansion of relations with a state that glorifies axe-murders, it’s not good. We must not be too sensitive towards these issue, but at the same time we have to do our best to strengthen our security and not rely upon some corrupt officials. We must pursue our national interests,” David Babayan said.

There are five Armenians on 2016 World’s Billionaires list published by Forbes on March 1.

Founder and CEO of Magnit, Russia’s biggest supermarket chain and owner of football team Krasnodar (Arutyunyan) (219th) is the world’s richest Armenian with an estimated net worth of $$5.7 billion.

Other Armenians on the list include head of Taship Group  (549th), Argentinean Armenian businessman (810th), and (1275th), CEO of Rosgosstrakh Insurance Company.

Volatile stock markets, cratering oil prices and a stronger dollar led to a dynamic reshuffling of wealth around the globe and a drop in ten-figure fortunes for the first time since 2009. For our 30th annual guide to the world’s richest, the Forbes found 1,810 billionaires, down from a record 1,826 a year ago. Their aggregate net worth was $6.48 trillion, $570 billion less than last year.  It was also the first time since 2010 that the average net worth of a billionaire dropped – it is now $3.6 billion, $300 million less than last year.

remains the richest person in the world with a net worth of $75 billion, despite being $4.2 billion poorer than a year ago. He has been No. 1 one for 3 years in a row and topped the list 17 out of 22 years.  Also holding steady is at No. 3. Zara ’s moves up to No. 2 for the first time, displacing Mexico’s Carlos Slim, who slips to No. 4. Slim’s fortune fell $27.1 billion to $50 billion in the past year, as shares of his telecom business América Móvil tumbled.

Facebook’s had the best year of all billionaires. The 31-year-old added $11.2 billion to his fortune and moved up to No. 6 from 16. He and Amazon’s both make their first appearance in the top ten of Forbes’ annual ranking of the world’s wealthiest.