Two soldiers of the NKR Defense Army Kamo Hovhannisyan and Temur Suloyan, born in 1997, were fatally wounded as a result of an incident in one of the military units located in the southeastern direction of the Defense Army at about 7 a.m. this morning, the NKR Ministry of Defense reports.
Probe into the details the case is under way.
The NKR Defense Ministry shares the sorrow of the heavy loss and expresses its support to the families and friends of the killed soldiers.
Idaho Armenian-American Community Defeats Pro-Azerbaijani Resolution In State Legislature In Less Than 48 Hours
The Armenian National Committee of America–Western Region announced Wednesday that it successfully defeated House Concurrent Resolution 37, which attempted to praise Azerbaijan’s interfaith tolerance and positive multiculturalism. The ANCA-WR led an advocacy initiative and mobilized Idaho’s local Armenian American community to defeat the measure in less than 48 hours.
“The quick defeat of Idaho’s resolution in praise of Azerbaijan is a testament to the strength of American democracy and yet another example that our well-organized grassroots efforts will have a stronger resounding effect than that of a foreign paid lobby ,” said Elen Asatryan, Executive Director of the ANCA-WR. “We are proud that the State of Idaho has joined the states of Hawaii, Colorado, California and others to reject the dictatorial regime of Azerbaijan, which is known for its oppression of citizens, press and its persecution of Christian communities.
“A dictatorship that has destroyed more Christian monuments than ISIS and is the world’s fifth most censored country should not be praised for anything, let alone interfaith tolerance.”
, sponsored by Representative Thomas Dayley, was introduced by the Idaho House State Affairs Committee on Feb. 11, 2016. Once alerted to the resolution, ANCA-WR immediately alerted the local Armenian American community, to all House members in opposition to the resolution and called upon all members to encourage the withdrawal of this resolution.
Earlier Wednesday, the Idaho House State Affairs Committee confirmed that the controversial measure had effectively been withdrawn killed.
“The sponsor of the resolution has requested that I hold the bill and not have a hearing on it,” stated Representative Thomas Loertscher, chairman of the committee, in an email. “That is what will happen and it will not advance and will not be considered for any further action.”
President Serzh Sargsyan will hold a series of consultations with Armenian Ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions in foreign countries and international organizations to discuss the opportunities of furthering Armenia’s economic interests, the perspectives of implementation of new projects, development of ties in a number of spheres.
The first meeting of the series was dedicated to issues on the agenda of Armenia-Iran relations, the ongoing programs and new initiatives. The discussion featured Armenia’s Ambassador to Iran Artashes Tumanyan, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Karen Chshmarityan, Minister of Transport and Communication Gagik Beglaryan, other officials.
President Sargsyan asked Armenia’s Ambassador Artashes Tumanyan to report on a wide range of issues on the bilateral agenda. “Naturally, the lifting of sanctions against Iran has opened perspectives for the implementation of new programs in a number of fields. I would like to know about Armenia’s chances of becoming a key transit route for Iran,” the President said.
Cooperation in the field of energy was the second important issue outlined by President Sargsyan. He stressed the need for establishment of additional infrastructures and generating capacities.
Another issue high on the agenda of today’s consultations was Armenia’s investment capacity, especially considering that it’s the only member state of the Eurasian Economic Union sharing a land border with Iran.
Ambassador Tumanyan reported that the constriction of the third high-voltage power line is under way and will be completed by 2018. He said that serving as a transport corridor is of fundamental importance to Armenia. He referred to a recent statement by Iran’s Transport Minister about his country’s state policy of “four corridors,” one of which passes through Armenia.
“Two important political events have taken place in the region. First, the economic and financial sanctions against Iran have been lifted. Second, our country has become a member of the Eurasian Economic Union. The two developments are fundamental for building our economic policy,” Artashes Tumanyan said.
At the end of the consultations, President Sargsyan gave instructions to the participants of the consultation and involved agencies.
Asbarez – Over 100 community members gathered at the St. Mary’s Church hall for a Community Rally organized by the Syrian Armenian Relief Fund.
The Rally’s guest speaker was Rev. Haroutune Selimian, President of the Armenian Evangelical Community of Syria as well as a member of the Central Committee of Syrian- Armenian Emergency Relief and Reconstruction Organization.
“It is important for our community to hear first-hand from individuals on the ground in Syria,” said Mher Tavidian, a member of the Syrian Armenian Relief Fund. “Rev. Selimian gave us a glimpse into what the Armenian communities in Syria need and the realistic effects of where the relief funds money is going.”
The rally started with opening remarks by SARF Committee member Vazken Madenlian which reminded the community of the SARF “Save a Life” Telethon which is set to take place this Sunday, February 21 from 2 to 8 p.m. Following his remarks, Rev. Selimian took the stage to discuss the situation in Syria for Armenians and the effects SARF has had on the community.
“Many in the community have asked how long we should continue to keep fighting for our Community in Syria instead of evacuating them,” exclaimed Rev. Selimian. “Of course we must keep the community alive. Today is the day that we stay, not the day that we leave. We must protect our communities, the war will end and our community will thrive again.”
Rev. Selimian continued by thanking every single Armenian-American community member who heeded the call for help and supported SARF and its activities and urged the community to support the SARF Telethon.
“SARF has supported thousands of families so that they can continue their lives not only in the present, but for the future as well,” said Selimian.
“The Last Inhabitant,” a film directed by Jivan Avetisyan is slated for release later this year. The film tracks the events of 1988-1989 and shows how the Sumgait massacre affected the human destinies.
The shooting of the film was completed last year. The soundtrack of the film is currently being recorded in Armenia.
The music scored by System Of A Down’s Serj Tankian will be performed by the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hover State Chamber Choir.
“The Last Inhabitant” is about an Armenian village that has been forcibly emptied of its residents. The film’s main character, Abgar, lives with his mentally ill daughter. After Azerbaijanis enter the village and attempt to rape his daughter, Abgar has no choice other than fighting to ensure her safety.
The film stars world-renowned Iranian actor Homayoun Ershadi, Sandra Daukšaitė, Armenian actors Sos Janibekyan, Aleksander Khachatryan, Naira Muradyan, Anne Bedian, Babken Chobanyan.
The film will be presented to public during the 2016 Golden Apricot Film Festival.
Members of the OSCE Minsk Group themselves should solve the issue of modifying the existing format on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, said Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson of Russia’s Foreign Ministry, Feb. 18.
She made the remarks in response to a question of Trend correspondent on the possibility of holding an expanded meeting of the OSCE Minsk Group.
“The current format has been approved, and it is widely recognized and effective in many ways,” said Zakharova. “Of course, everyone would like to have better results, however this format works.”
Earlier, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström said in Baku that Sweden offers to convene an enlarged meeting of the OSCE Minsk Group for settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“If there is a need for a meeting in a broader format for the conflict settlement, we, as an OSCE Minsk Group member, are willing to participate in it,” she added.
The Russian government and the Armenian authorities have signed an agreement providing a ten-year state export loan to Armenia with the payment deferral until early 2018, Russian media inform, quoting a report on the official legal data portal.
“The Russian side is providing the Armenian side with a state export loan of up to $200 million for financing the delivery of Russian military products in line with the list contained in Appendix No1 to this agreement,” the report said.
According to the Appendix, Armenia will buy Russian Smerch rocket launchers and ammunition, Igla-S air defense missile systems, Avtobaza-M ground-based radar jamming and deception systems, the TOS-1A heavy flame-throwing systems with transporter-loader vehicles, 9M113M guided missiles, RPG-26 grenade launchers, Dragunov sniper rifles, Tiger armored vehicles, engineering means and communication systems.
The list may be adjusted with the mutual written consent of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation and the Armenian Defense Ministry, the report said. Armenia will spend the loan on funding up to 90 percent of the cost of each contract for the delivery of military products, with the settlements to be done in Russian rubles. Upfront payments will amount to at least 10 percent of the cost of each contract and will provided done by the Armenian side to Russian authorized entities in Russian rubles.
Armenian Officer Gurgen Margaryan was murdered in Hungary on this day twelve years ago.
On February 19, 2004 Lieutenant of the Armenian Armed Forces Gurgen Margaryan was hacked to death, while asleep, by a fellow Azerbaijani participant, Lieutenant Ramil Safarov, in Budapest during a three-month English language course in the framework of NATO-sponsored Partnership for Peace program.
In 2006, Safarov was sentenced to life imprisonment in Hungary with a minimum incarceration period of 30 years. He was extradited on August 31, 2012 to Azerbaijan where he was greeted as a hero, pardoned by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev despite contrary assurances made to Hungary, promoted to the rank of major and given an apartment and over eight years of back pay.
Following Safarov’s pardon, Armenia severed diplomatic relations with Hungary.
The Governments of Azerbaijan and Hungary have been asked by the European Court of Human Rights to respond formally to a case brought by the relatives of Armenian army officer Gurgen Margaryan.
At least two thousand Syrian rebel fighters have re-entered the country from Turkey over the last week to reinforce insurgents fending off an assault by Syrian Kurdish-led militias, rebel sources said on Thursday, reports.
The rebel fighters, with weapons and vehicles, have been covertly escorted across the border by Turkish forces over several nights, before heading into the embattled rebel stronghold of Azaz, the sources said.
“We have been allowed to move everything from light weapons to heavy equipment mortars and missiles and our tanks,” Abu Issa, a commander in the Levant Front, the rebel group that runs the border crossing of Bab al-Salam, told Reuters giving his alias and talking on condition of anonymity.
“There is tight security on the four-hour drive from one border crossing to the other,” he added, saying rebels being transported excluded the hardline Nusra Front fighters and other jihadist groups.
On Sunday, the Syrian government had said Turkish forces were among 100 gunmen who had entered Syria accompanied by 12 pick-up trucks mounted with heavy machine guns, in an ongoing supply operation to insurgents.
The route across Turkey has become the only path for rebels to their north Aleppo enclave after recent Syrian army advances closed the main route into rebel territory.
The UK’s Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence across the war torn-country, also confirmed that hundreds of rebel fighters had already crossed with weapons via a border crossing into Azaz.
Another rebel source said the Turkish military have stepped up delivery of munitions and heavy military hardware in the last two days to bolster rebels facing the major offensive launched by the Syrian army and its allies.
– Approximately 60 people filled the chapel at the Granoff Family Hillel Center last night to hear survivors of genocide share their stories as a part of Tufts Against Genocide’s (TAG) 6th annual Survivors Speak panel. The event was held as a component of the Cummings/Hillel Program for Holocaust and Genocide Education.
Senior Shoshana Weiner and sophomore Mariel Kieval, both interns for the Cummings Foundation, introduced the event with a joint speech about the importance of remembrance. Weiner and Kieval organized the event in conjunction with TAG President Caroline Atwood. In their speech, they said that while the phrase “never again” is often used while discussing such atrocities, events of genocide continue to happen to this day.
The first panelist to speak was sophomore Nairi Krafian, the great-granddaughter of Hagop Madoian, a survivor of the Armenian Genocide.
“My experience is so different from [his],” she said.
Krafian shared snippets of her great-grandfather’s fractured childhood working as a forced gravedigger, who recorded the surreal experience of living among the dead in a journal. “Nobody would pay any attention,” she shared from his journal. “People died, and deaths went unnoticed.”
Krafian said that the repercussions of the Armenian Genocide, where masses of Armenian people were murdered in 1915 by the Ottoman government, have been passed onto her, and “that discomfort influences [her] life.” She said she maintains a deep connection to her Armenianidentity, and takes pride in what she describes as the failure of the Turkish people to extinguish her own.
The next panelist, Holocaust survivor Jack Trompetter, said that genocide stems from a process of demeaning and dehumanizing another people.
“To have a genocide, you need to have ‘the other.’ Once you have that other, the path is clear for an atrocity to occur,” he said.
Trompetter was born in Nazi-occupied Holland in 1942, and was separated from his family as they split up to avoid persecution, ultimately reuniting with his family at the close of the war.
“When people went into hiding in those days, nobody had any idea how long it would be,” he said. “I was one of the lucky children.”
The next panelist, Edina Skaljic, spoke about living in constant fear during the Bosnian Genocide, where ethnic cleansing in the late 1990s took the lives of thousands of Bosniaks. Skaljic said she remembered being given a shopping bag by her mother, and being told to pack only what she needed while leaving their home.
“I didn’t understand. Why did I have to choose?” she said. “That was the moment my childhood ended.”
Skaljic said out of fear of danger, she was forced to assume a new name and hometown to shield the truth of her heritage. She recalled arguing with her mother at the time about pretending to be something she was not.
“Your name could actually mean life or death in Bosnia at that time,” she said.
The last panelist to speak was Claude Kaitare, a survivor of the Rwandan Genocide, where the Tutsiswere being targeted and slaughtered by the Hutu majority in 1994. Kaitare said the conflict began without warning; suddenly, neighbors were turning on neighbors, and weapons and checkpoints were sprouting up everywhere.
He recalled a time when a Tutsi boy went up to
a checkpoint and was beat by the guards with the blunt ends of their machetes. One guard hit the boy with the wrong side of the blade, drawing blood, he said.
“Once they start seeing blood, it’s like open season,” Kaitare said.
After the boy fell to the ground, the guards announced they were taking him to the hospital, which was really “a mass burial place,” he said.
The survivors on the panel all spoke about the importance of remembering genocide.
“In telling you these stories, that makes you witnesses,” Trompetter said.
Students should now carry the burden of preserving his history, he said. Skaljic echoed this sentiment, expressing her fears that their stories of death and survival would go untold.
“Silence is betrayal,” she said. “We say we have to forgive, but not forget.”
The panelists also discussed the difficulty in the healing process after surviving genocide. All of them said that no survivor can ever fully recover, but that educating the next generation helps survivors personally come to terms with their difficult histories.
“There is nothing more amazing, there is nothing more healing for a genocide survivor than to see people who actually care,” Skaljic said.