Author: Albert Nalbandian

Masha and Misha – the two bears from the Gyumri Zoo will be moved to Romania with the help of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation. The bears had been at the Yerevan Zoo from January 22 for treatment and rehabilitation. The three lions are now at the Urtsadzor rehabilitation center.

President of the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC) Ruben Khachatryan says the condition of the lions is satisfactory.

The noise around the Gyumri Zoo has brought forward the issue of animal welfare in Armenia. A task force has been established to develop amendments to the government decision on the rules of the content of wild animals, and animals included in the Armenian Red Book in captivity and semi-free conditions, Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection Khachik Hakobyan told reporters today.

“The legal regulations and the government support are important, but not enough for solving the issue,” said Elodie Jerome of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation. According to her, such issues are nearly “unsolvable” without public support and active participation of the civil society.

The Armenian community has not suffered as a result of the Ankara blast, Ara Gochunyan, editor-in-chief of the Istanbul-based Jamanak daily, told .

“First of all, there are not many Armenians living in Ankara. According to our information, there are no Armenians among those killed and injured,” Gochunyan said.

He dismissed the concerns that in times of trouble Armenians face double threats – both for being Armenian and because of the unsafe situation in the country.

“Being exemplary citizens of Turkey, members of the Armenian community do not have such concerns. Besides, officials also call for cold-bloodedness and internal unity,” Gochunyan added.

He stressed that the Armenian community is saddened by and worried about the terrifying events in the country, especially considering that yesterday’s blast was the second in a month. Ara Gochunyan did not rule out that such developments could lead to radicalism and extremism, but added that “there are no such concerns among the Armenian community.”

Armenians of Turkey share the pain of the people and the country, he said.

The blast in Ankara’s key transport hub of Guven Park left 36 killed, and more than 100 injured.

Armenia said immediately after that it deplores the attack and expressed condolences to the families of the victims.

Barcelona broke a 27-year old Spanish record by going 35 games unbeaten in all competitions with a 5-1 thrashing of nine-man Rayo Vallecano.

Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick – his 35th – as the hosts fell apart after Ivan Rakitic’s opener.

Diego Llorente and Manuel Iturra were both dismissed for Rayo, whose only goal was scored by Manucho.

Luis Suarez also had a penalty saved before Arda Turan completed the rout to move Barcelona eight points clear.

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.

Russia will launch negotiations with the Armenia on the latter’s accession to Defense Systems interstate financial and industrial group of Russia and Belarus established in 1996, RIA Novosti reports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted the government’s proposal to launch negotiations with Armenia on the latter’s accession to the Defense Systems interstate financial and industrial group. A corresponding decree was posted on the Russian official legal portal on Wednesday.

Photo: Getty Images

Oil ministers from three Opec countries, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela, as well as Russia, agreed to freeze oil output at January levels, as long as others follow suit, the BBC reports.

The announcement came after the four ministers met in Doha on Tuesday.

The move is designed to support the oil price, which has dropped sharply in recent months.

Oil prices have fallen about 70% from their recent peak of around $116 a barrel in June 2014.

The steep decline is due to oversupply, sluggish demand and worries about the global economic outlook.

Brent crude, which had been up more than 5% earlier, fell back to be 0.76% higher at $33.61 a barrel, while US crude was up 0.3% at $29.85

Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali al-Naimi said: “Freezing now at the January level is adequate for the market. We don’t want significant gyrations in prices, we want to meet demand. We want a stable oil price.”

Photo: AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis    

Russia will support a motion in favor of raising in the UN Security Council the question of Ankara’s provocative actions towards Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday, TASS reports.

“Moscow expresses the most serious concern over the Turkish authorities’ aggressive actions towards the neighboring state,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. “Russia will support a motion for putting the issue on the UN Security Council’s agenda. The Security Council should express its clear opinion of Ankara’s provocative polices, posing a threat to peace and stability in the region of the Middle East and outside it.”

According to the ministry, Turkey continues assisting the penetration of new terrorist groups into Syria.

“According to incoming information, the Turkish side continues assisting the illegal penetration of fresh groups of jihadists and mercenaries with arms into the territory of Syria to replenish the units of the Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State and other terrorist groupings battered in battles,” the ministry’s statement said.

“Wounded militants are being brought into Turkey across the border along with scattered bandit groups for rest and subsequent re-formation,” the statement said.

By Christopher Thornton

On a dimly lit side street in central Tehran, a bright yellow light shines above a wooden door. Step inside and you might imagine you had left the Islamic Republic. An unveiled woman greets guests and leads them to a spacious dining room, where other women have hung their veils and monteaux at the door. It is early summer, so sleeveless tops reveal bare arms and shoulders. When one patron produces a bottle of Scotch, a waiter brings him a tumbler with ice.

This is one of Tehran’s three Armenian clubs—informal “Islamic-free zones” where Armenian Christians can socialize without the constraints of Islamic law. There are other kinds of Christians in Iran—Assyrians and Chaldeans, Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox—but Armenians are the most numerous. It is estimated that there are three hundred thousand of them in Iran. They are allocated five seats in the religious-minorities section of parliament, freely attend services in the six hundred Armenian churches throughout the country, hold observer status on the powerful Guardian Council, and operate their own schools so that their children can be taught in the Armenian language.

Christianity has a long history in Iran. The Acts of the Apostles tell us that Parthians, Persians, and Medes converted to Christianity at Pentecost, and the Parthian kings allowed the new religion to spread throughout the empire. Christians fleeing Roman persecution found a safe haven there. But for the next fifteen hundred years the fortunes of Persian Christians were subject to the political conflicts that swept across Asia. The fourth-century Zoroastrian ruler Shapour II initially allowed religious freedom but then cracked down on both Christians and Jews. In the early centuries of Islamic rule, Christians enjoyed the status of a protected minority, but the Crusades revived old religious tensions. The early Mongol rulers converted to Christianity after they invaded in the thirteenth century, but when later rulers opted for Islam, Christians were again persecuted.

The Armenian community of Iran was formed in 1603, when Shah Abbas allowed five-hundred thousand Armenian Christians who were persecuted by the Ottoman Turks to resettle in Esfahan. Three centuries later, the Armenian genocide of 1915 led fifty thousand more Armenians to seek refuge in Iran, primarily in Tabriz, Tehran, and the enclave of Esfahan that had come to be known as New Julfa, after the city in Azerbaijan where the Armenians originated. As Reza Shah and his son Mohammed Reza Shah sought to modernize Iran in the twentieth century, Armenians rose to high positions in the government, as well as in the arts and sciences.

Since its construction in 1606, Vank Cathedral has served as the spiritual heart of the Julfa district. It is also one of Esfahan’s major tourist attractions. Christian pilgrims, foreign tourists, and visiting Iranians all pass through its gates. In one corner of the cathedral’s grounds stands a memorial of the 1915 genocide—a slender spire encircled by an apron of grass. Inside the Armenian Museum, photographs and documents offer a moving record of the genocide. Visitors, both Christian and Muslim, also gaze at handwritten Bibles, distinctive crosses, vestments, and chalices.

The main attraction is the cathedral itself, where the beauty of the Armenian religious tradition is revealed in all its glory. At the top of the central dome the creation story is painted in patterns of blue and gold. Winged cherubs, a traditional Armenian motif, decorate the stone columns, and traditional Persian imagery appears in the floral patterns that adorn the entrance ceiling.

The cathedral isn’t the only church in Julfa. Knock on the wooden door of the Church of St. Mary and a caretaker will open it to admit visitors to the inner courtyard. Built by a wealthy silk merchant in the seventeenth century, St. Mary’s was later expanded to accommodate overflow crowds. Then there is the Church of Bethlehem, where the life of Jesus is portrayed in seventy-two wall paintings. The crosses of both churches rise above their central domes to share the skyline with the local minarets.

Many Westerners think of Iran as a theocratic monolith. They would no doubt be surprised to discover Christians of various kinds living there comfortably. Some of these Christian communities are ancient; some arrived more recently, seeking asylum. But even the newcomers now regard Iran as their home. They think of the Shiite majority not as their hosts, but as neighbors with whom they have much in common. For example, Muslim and Christian Iranians are united in their enthusiasm for the recent nuclear deal, which will release their country from stifling economic sanctions. In an interview with the Fides News Agency, Hormoz Aslani Babroudi, director of the Pontifical Missionary Society of Iran, offered his endorsement of the agreement: “Christians, along with all the Iranian people, are rejoicing because their prayers were answered. From now on it will be easier for the world to have a positive view of Iran.” He added, “We do not consider ourselves foreigners but Iranians, and we are proud of it.”

Christopher Thornton teaches at Zayed University in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Photo: Sputnik/ Ilya Pitalev

The Syrian Army and the National Defense Forces have reportedly managed to liberate another strategic town in the western province of Latakia, Sputnik News reports.

Another key town has been taken back by the Syrian Army and the country’s National Defense Forces (NDF) after heavy fighting with militants in Latakia province in western Syria, media reports said.

Dozens of terrorists were killed and many more wounded after the Syrian troops finally took full control of the town of Bashoura, located in northern Latakia, sources said. Two days ago, it had been announced by Islamic Front-connected sources that Ahrar al-Sham, a coalition of multiple Islamist and Salafist units, had been targeting Syrian Army positions around the village.

The new offensive came after the Syrian Army and the NDF cleared the militants out of the strategic heights of Ziyaret al-Beidha, Zahra al-Beidar al-Mahrouq and Khandaq al-Shahour in Latakia.

Earlier this week, the Syrian forces managed to win back more villages and heights in northern Latakia near the border with Turkey, sources said, mentioning the villages of Dahret al-Baiday al-Mahrouq and Ard al-Kataf, as well as the hill of Ziyaret al-Beidha.

In another development, the Syrian Army continued their offensive in the northern province of Aleppo, regaining full control of the strategic town of Taana in the eastern part of the region.

The Syrian Air Force attacked terrorists’ positions in the towns of Hayan and Hraytan as the army continued to advance toward Tal Rafat in Aleppo.
Scores of terrorists were killed and injured in the army’s mop-up operations in the newly regained towns.