Category: News

On February 9, in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; received Deputy Maya Goykovich, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and her delegation. She was accompanied by Mr. Eduard Sharmazanov, the Vice President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia.

His Holiness welcomed the guests and noted with satisfaction that due to recipricol visits at high state level, the friendly relations between the two nations are becoming increasingly closer. The Catholicos of All Armenians reflected on the Armenian community established in Serbia since ancient times and the historical Armenian-Serbian ties.

Taking the occasion, His Holiness expressed his appreciation to the Serbian people, for the assistance provided to the Armenians during the disastrous earthquake of 1988.

His Holiness also reflected on the existing warm relations and cooperation between the Armenian Apostolic and Serbian Orthodox Churches.

Deputy Goykovich spoke about the historical past and current cooperation between the two nations. She also stressed the importance of ecumenical relations between the two churches, noting that the church plays an important role in the life of society.

During the meeting, they also spoke about the challenges facing the countries and the support of the churches in overcoming them. In this regard, His Holiness affirmed that the Armenian and Serbian peoples, who profess the same Christian values, have survived all the trials during the centuries with hope and faith, and have realized their wishes and cherished dreams through the spirit of optimism.

His Holiness also conveyed his fraternal greetings to Patriarch Irineos of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Attended the meeting was His Eminence Archbishop Nathan Hovhannisyan, Director of the External Relations and Protocol Department.

 

 

 

Sweden sees the settlement of the Karabakh conflict through peace talks under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Sweden’s Foreign Minister Margot Wallström said at a joint press conference with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

“This visit provided an opportunity to better understand how you see the resolution of the Karabakh conflict. There is no military solution to the issue. We should do the utmost to prevent escalation,” Mrs. Wallström told reporters in Yerevan.

The Armenian FM said, in turn, that “Azerbaijan believes it can blackmail the Co-Chairs with primitive, provocative statements.”

“It’s strange that they do not learn lessons, because their statements produce the opposite effect. The opinion of the international community is getting more targeted year by year,” he said.

The Armenian Foreign Minister is hopeful Azerbaijan will finally come to understand that this stance gives it no privilege. As for Armenia, it will continue to work jointly with the Minsk Group with a view of reaching an exceptionally peaceful resolution to the Karabakh conflict, since there is no alternative to peace talks.”

Responding to Azerbaijani claims that Armenia wants to keep the status quo, Minister Nalbandian said: “Armenia and the Co-Chairs are interested in changing the status quo. It’s Azerbaijan ignoring the calls of the OSCE Minsk Group to reinstate the commitment to solve the issue in a peaceful way through negotiations. It’s Azerbaijan refusing to create a mechanism of investigation of border incidents. Baku insists that it [the mechanism] will contribute to the maintenance of the status quo.”

At a meeting in Yerevan the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Sweden discussed the opportunities of development of trade and economic, educational and cultural ties, cooperation in the field of healthcare.

The parties agreed upon the improvement of the legal framework and investment promotion. They attached importance to the Convention between the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the Government of the Kingdom of Sweden for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital signed between the two countries.

The sides agreed to continue the high-level political dialogue, hold consultations between two Ministries of Foreign Affairs on a regular basis to further deepen the cooperation. They highlighted the IT sector as an important field of cooperation.

Edward Nalbandian and Margot Wallström touched upon Armenia-EU relations, stressing the importance of negotiations on a new Armenia-EU framework agreement.

A historic Armenian building in Darende, Malatya has been destroyed, Ermenihaber.am reports, quoting the Turkish Sondakika website.

According to the source, the Mayor of Darende decided to dismantle all emergency and tumble-down buildings in the city.

The 200-year-old Armenian house known as “Demircilerin evi” (Blacksmiths house) has also been dismantled. The historic 20-room house had been empty for 20 years.

Its current owner Haci Ahmet Söylemez has said: “Our house was the oldest one in Darende. The doors and windows were made by Armenian woodworkers. It was a cultural heritage that was abandoned and then destroyed.”

Turkish pro-government Bugün newspaper has run a front-page story in the paper’s Tuesday edition targeting a spokesperson from the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Selin Sayek-Böke, for her Christianity, reports. 

The daily stated that one of their reporters phoned the Izmir parliamentarian and asked, “Are you Christian?” To which Sayek-Böke told the reporter to ask her party’s headquarters. The pro-government daily claimed that her Christian identity has caused “serious disturbances” within the party due to her high rank in the party.

The article also highlighted the Armenian Christian Orthodox beliefs of CHP deputy Selina Doğan, who is from Istanbul.

Social media users criticized the report, saying that it is targeting her religious identity. Journalist Ismail Saymaz stated, “The racists and religious people think Selin Sayek Böke being Christian is a ‘defect’ or ‘an offense’.”

Sweden’s Foreign Minister Margot Wallström visited the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial in Yerevan. She laid a wreath at the memorial to the Armenian Genocide victims and toured the Genocide Museum Institute.

 

The Azerbaijani side fired more than 600 shots from weapons of different caliber in the direction of the Armenian positions last night.

The NKR Armed Forces keeps control of the situation at the line of contact and confidently continue with their military duty.

Photo: ANCA

 

– American commercial broadcast television and radio network CBS’s Super Bowl 50 pregame broadcast on Feb. 7 was sponsored in part by Turkish Airlines. The company used its airtime to feature its media partnership with the upcoming film “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” As the “official airline partner” of the $200 million Hollywood production, Turkish Airlines debuted a series of commercials of fictitious ads urging travellers to visit the fictional cities of Gotham City and Metropolis—the settings of the popular Batman and Superman franchises.

The Turkish Airlines Super Bowl advertisements, which can cost up to $5 million for 30 seconds of air time according to a statement made in 2015 by a CBS network executive, feature cameo appearances by famed Hollywood actors Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne and Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor.

“Turkish Airlines, which was launched in 1933 as part of Turkey’s Ministry of Defense and is still 49.12 percent officially owned by the Erdogan government, strived mightily to polish an increasingly tarnished Turkish brand by running a series of Batman-themed Super Bowl ads, starring Ben Affleck,” read a part of a Facebook post shared by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

“This airline represents a major source of revenue for a government that remains complicit with ISIS, obstructs justice for the Armenian Genocide, illegally blockades Armenia, militarily occupies Cyprus, brutally suppresses the Kurds, jails record numbers of journalists, and violates the human, civic, and religious rights of its own citizens—destabilizing the Middle East and representing a material threat to peace around the world. Flying Turkish Airlines funds a government complicit in ISIS brutality and guilty of both regional aggression and domestic oppression,” read the post.

In a separate Facebook post, the ANCA highlighted the fact that actor Ben Affleck has been an outspoken critic of human rights abuses in the Congo, but is being hypocritical by working for the airline, which is partly owned by the Turkish government. “Affleck is being hypocritical, calling out evil on the one hand, and enabling it with the other. All the while, enriching himself through ties with a government that he knows very well uses Super Bowl ads and movie tie-ins (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) to cover up its obstruction of justice for genocide and its escalating domestic repression and regional aggression,” read a part of the post.

Affleck is the founder of Eastern Congo Initiative (ECI), an advocacy and grant-making initiative focused on working with and for the people of eastern Congo. According to the organization’s website, the ECI “envision(s) an eastern Congo vibrant with abundant opportunities for economic and social development, where a robust civil society can flourish.”

Two passenger trains have collided in the German state of Bavaria, with police saying at least four people have been killed and scores injured, the BBC reports.

The head-on crash happened near Bad Aibling, a spa town about 60km (37 miles) south-east of Munich.

One of the trains was derailed in the crash and several carriages were overturned, German media reported.

Police said rescue teams were trying to free people still trapped in the wreckage.

On February 10, USAID will publicly launch its new Advanced Science and Partnerships for Integrated Resource Development (ASPIRED) project, which will help reduce groundwater abstraction rates in the Ararat Valley and reach sustainable levels.

In 2014, USAID conducted an assessment of the status of groundwater resources in the Ararat Valley, which produces about 40 percent of the country’s agricultural GDP. The study raised an alarming situation with the shrinking level of the area’s groundwater supplies, largely due to the poorly controlled growth of fisheries and use of water. USAID’s three-year ASPIRED project will assist with updating existing data on underground resources, install an automated control system on water extraction points at ten fisheries, and pilot water and energy efficiency technologies.

Recommendations will be provided to the Government of Armenia to optimizefees for underground water use by fisheries

The delegation led by Maja Gojkovic, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, visited the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial in Yerevan.

Members of the delegation laid a wreath at the memorial to the Armenian Genocide victims and paid tribute to their memory with a minute of silence.

The Serbian lawmakers visited the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, familiarized themselves with the materials and photos of genocide. Maja Gojkovic left a note in the Memorial Book.