Author: Ani Kharatian

Hawaii became the seventh state to rally in support
of the democratic development and right to self-determination for the
people of Artsakh today, voting unanimously to recognize the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic, reported the Armenian National Committee of America
– Western Region (ANCA-WR).

The Hawaii House of Representatives consideration of H.R. 167 took
place despite enormous pressure from the Azerbaijani Embassy to quash
the measure, with the key vote taking place just 24 hours before
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Washington, DC to join
President Obama and other world leaders in the nuclear summit.

The historic vote specifically voiced encouragement for Artsakh’s
(Nagorno Karabagh) continuing efforts to develop as a free and
independent nation and formally called the internal community to
recognize the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic as a free, independent, and
sovereign democracy.

“Today the people of Hawaii stood on the side of freedom and
independence for the people of Artsakh – standing strong against
powerful lobbying interests seeking to undermine fundamental American
and Armenian principles of democracy and self-determination. Our
heartfelt appreciation goes out to Representatives Angus McKelvey and
John Mizuno for leading this effort and the entire House of
Representatives for taking such a strong stance along with our
grassroots for their efforts,” stated ANCA WR Executive Director Elen
Asatryan.

The Nagorno Karabakh Republic Representative to the U.S. Robert
Avetisyan hailed the decision, stating, “I am grateful to the House of
Representatives of the State of Hawaii, Representative McKelvey,
Representative Mizuno, and all their colleagues who supported this
motion. It reinforces Artsakhtsis’ confidence that our achievements do
not go unnoticed; that a free and independent Nagorno Karabakh
Republic will eventually be recognized as such by the entire civilized
community of nations.”

Both Avetisyan and Asatryan offered special thanks to community
advocate Artur Artenyan, who worked tirelessly in support of the
measure, with the support of the growing Hawaii Armenian community.
In 2014, through local community efforts, the Hawaii legislature
publicly debated and then rejected a pair of Azerbaijan-initiated
anti-Armenian measures, dealing a high-profile setback to Baku’s
well-funded effort to enlist U.S. state legislatures in its
increasingly aggressive campaign against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.
Artenian and Rudy Dekermenjian were on hand at the state capitol
during the introduction and the vote.

In the days leading up to the unanimous vote on H.R.167, the ANCA
Western Region worked with Artenyan and key House legislators,
offering insights on Artsakh’s two decades of democratic development
and economic progress in the face of increased attacks by Azerbaijani
forces, which hit record levels in 2015.

Hawaii joins Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, Louisiana, California
and, most recently, Georgia in adopting legislation which supports the
independence of Artsakh.  Full language of the resolution may be found
online at

The Armenian Embassy in Brussels has set up hotlines after several explosions struck the Belgian capital this morning.

Citizens of the Republic of Armenia that suffered as a result of the Brussels attacks can call +32.2.3484406.

For information about relatives or friends at the Brussels airport call +32.2.7537300

Photo: AP

 

European Union leaders and Turkey have finalised a deal to try to halt the mass movement of migrants into Europe, the BBC reports.

European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted there was “unanimous” agreement between Turkey and the 28 EU leaders.

Under the scheme, from midnight Sunday migrants arriving in Greece will be sent back to Turkey if their asylum claim is rejected, EU sources said.

In return, EU countries will resettle thousands of Syrian migrants living in Turkey.

For Turkey, the deal will also bring financial aid and faster EU membership talks.

Photo: Aris Nalci

 

Architects, art historians and engineers from Turkey, Greece and Armenia have come together to review Turkey’s Greek, Armenian and Jewish heritage.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, project coordinator, Cagla Parlak, said that they aimed to reach an estimated 140 structures across Turkey which are at risk.

The group will document findings from their visits to sites in seven regions across Turkey, including the central Anatolian province of Kayseri, the southern region of Adana and Aegean Izmir.

Financed by the U.S. embassy in Ankara, the project took a year to come together and ran parallel with the foundation of the association in 2014.

The project has publicized its first results by publishing a book called ‘Kayseri: With Its Armenian and Greek Cultural Heritage’ in February.

The team conducted a risk assessment of 18 Greek and Armenian buildings in Kayseri such as the Surp Asdvadzadzin Church, Surp Stepanos Church, Sakis Gümüşyan School, the School in Molu and the Agios Georgios Church.

Kayseri, like many other parts of the country, was home to various minorities until the beginning of the 20th century but their numbers fell after the Armenian Genocide.

The Armenian population in the city was around 15,000 at the end of the 19th century, the book states. Today only one Armenian lives there, according to local media.

The group uses an inventory prepared by the Istanbul-based Hrant Dink Foundation, registration decisions by local heritage Protection Boards and literature reviews, Parlak said.

The Hrant Dink Foundation was founded in the name of a Turkish-Armenian journalist who was assassinated by a Turkish nationalist in front of his Agos newspaper in 2007.

The foundation worked for more than two years making an inventory to gather information about Turkey’s cultural heritage.

It found out more than 10,000 monuments across Turkey. According to the research, there are 4,600 Armenian, 4,100 Greek, 650 Assyrian and 300 Jewish structures across the country.

“Each structure is ranged in according to its risk rating,” she said: “If a structure is at the top of the list, this means that this building should have priority for restoration in that region,” Parlak added.

“Our main aim is to ensure the protection of ‘abandoned’ structures,” she said.

On a working visit to Geneva, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Commissioner hailed Armenia’s consistent efforts towards preventing new genocides, underlining that today the international community is more resolute to prevent crimes against humanity.

“As a nation that survived the first genocide of the 20^th century, we feel obliged to take steps to unite the efforts of the international community to exclude new crimes against humanity,” Minister Nalbandian said.

Issues related to minorities and violation of human rights as a result of the situation in the Middle East and the routes of their settlement were discussed. It was noted that Armenia has given refuge to about 20,000 thousand migrants from Syria.

The interlocutors discussed issues related to the protection of human rights in Armenia. Minister Nalbandian spoke of Armenia’s effective cooperation with international human rights organizations.

The Armenian Foreign Minister briefed the UN High Commissioner on the efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group towards the resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

The German Alliance 90/The Greens Party will make mention of the Armenian Genocide 100 years ago.

The bill to be presented by Cem Ozdemir, Chairman of the German Alliance 90/The Greens Party, notes that “the German Bundestag bows to the victims of forced displacement and massacre of the Armenians and Aramaeans, Assyrians and other Christian minorities of the Ottoman Empire, which began 100 years ago. It deplores the actions of the then Turkish government, almost full annihilation of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

The commemoration of the German Parliament will be an expression of special respect before Armenians as the oldest Christian nation on earth.

The bill states that “An honest appraisal of history is the most important basis for reconciliation It is given to a clear distinction between the guilt of the perpetrators and the

With the motion the German Bundestag will call on the Federal Government to encourage the Turkish side to face the history in order to lay the necessary foundation for reconciliation with the Armenian people. The German Government will be urged to continue to provide support scientific, civic and cultural exchange between Turkey and Armenia through budget resources, to actively support the Turkish-Armenian relations through scholarships for researchers, to encourage Turkish and Armenian government representatives to ratify the Zurich protocols signed in 2009 and resume diplomatic relations.

Tehran and Tbilisi are holding talks on the supply of 200 million cubic meters of Iranian gas to Georgia, Director General of the National Iranian Gas Exports Company (NIGEC) Alireza Kameli declared, TASS reports.

The statement was made after  talks in Tehran between Iranian Minister of Oil Bijan Namdar Zangeneh and Georgian Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze.

“Georgian state and private enterprises are interested in purchasing gas from Iran,” Kameli said. “The gas supply to Georgia is expected to start from next Iranian year (starts on March 21). According to him, the contract will be signed for seven months and will serve a basis for possible future cooperation. He further clarified that “Georgia will have to get a permission from Armenia for the transit of the Iranian gas through the territory of the neighboring county.”

“If the deal proves economically expedient, we’ll be able to speak about medium-term and long-term contracts for delivery of gas to Georgia,” Kameli concluded.

Georgia currently gets 88% of its gas from Azerbaijan. Another 12 % comes from Russia, as a free for transit of gas to Armenia.

According to a presidential decree of January 12, Tigran Sargsyan has been relieved of the duties of Armenia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States.

According to another decree, Grigor Hovhannisyan has been appointed to the position.

Remind that on December 21 Tigran Sargsyan was appointed President of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Union.

On November 21, presentation of unique series of seven-volume set of books by Father Georges-Henri Ruyssen was held in the Pontifical Oriental Institute of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. The event was organized by the Embassy of Armenia in the Holy See.

Rector of the Pontifical Oriental Institute David Nazar, founder of the Community of Sant’Egidio Andrea Riccardi, president of the Community of Sant’Egidio Marco Impagliazzo, clergymen of Armenian Apostolic and Catholic churches, representatives of public and political sector, members of Armenian community in Italy were among the participants of the event.

The publication presents all the documents on the Armenian Genocide from the period of the Hamidian massacres till the post-Genocide years of Kemalist rule, which were preserved in the Vatican closed archives, and gives a full picture of all the stages of this crime, from planning to implementation of the genocide.

During his speech Ambassador of Armenia to the Holy See Mikael Minasyan particularly stressed the fact that this seven-volume set is a significant achievement for Genocide studies and is a history which also that of the Turks. “The work by Father Ruyssen helps us to trace back the facts. It helps us to read the past thus learning the lessons for the future.”

At the event Ambassador Minasyan handed over to Father Georges-Henri Ruyssen the Order of Honour awarded by the President of Armenia for the development of the Armenian studies and for his significant contribution to dissemination of spiritual values.

An event was held today at the Mount Musa Memorial in Armavir Marz on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the Mount Musa Heroic Battle. During the event, President Serzh Sargsyan delivered a speech in which he touched upon the Paris attacks.

“Your Holiness,
Your Eminencies,
Honorable guests,
Dear compatriots,

Today we are here to celebrate the 100th jubilee of the Mount Musa self-defense. It was one of the heroic episodes of the 1915 Armenian Genocide to which our French brothers made an invaluable contribution. Hundred years has passed but our sense of gratitude has not weakened even a bit.

Dear compatriots,

Unfortunately, by the irony of fate we witnessed last night terrorist attacks, unprecedented terrorist acts by their scale, committed at the heart of France – Paris. All of us are deeply shocked by it.

I strongly condemn those terrific and ghastly actions which claimed multiple innocent lives.

In recent years, the growth of this kind of inhuman violence in different countries of the world gives rise to serious concerns. I am confident that each member of the civilized community will join the struggle against this evil facing of us. We must not allow violence, extremism and intolerance to prevail. We are obliged to make concerted efforts at revealing and eradicating all those factors which cause such horrible manifestations of extremism.

In this difficult time, Armenia stands beside the brotherly country of France and is ready to provide full support.

I express my deepest sympathy to French President Francois Hollande, the friendly people of France and to the victims’ relatives, wishing patience, strength and vigor to them and a speedy recovery to the injured.

Our prayers, hearts and souls are with the French people.”