Author: Elizabeth Jabejian

Armenia acting PM: New government has supported country’s demographic growth

Elizabeth Jabejian
News.am, Armenia
Armenia acting PM: New government has supported country's demographic growth
15:43, 10.05.2021
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Armenia’s new government has supported the country’s demographic growth. This is what acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said during today’s discussion on election of Prime Minister in parliament.

According to him, the government has increased childcare benefits and introduced programs for support to families through mortgage loans. Pashinyan added that even though many citizens are discontent and say the outcome of the justice reforms wasn’t the outcome that the authorities were seeking to achieve, the reforms are revolutionary, and the judiciary has never been independent before the revolution.

Third wave of COVID-19 shows stabilization signs in Armenia, Caretaker PM says

Elizabeth Jabejian

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 12:19, 6 May, 2021

YEREVAN, MAY 6, ARMENPRESS. The third wave of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Armenia is showing some signs of stabilization, Caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting, adding that the government has managed and manages the pandemic quite well.

“To put it mildly, some storms were being created around our steps in fighting coronavirus. I advise to all those people to see what has taken place in the countries which were shown to us to date, to see the dynamics, the number of cases and the situation of the healthcare system, the information is open. We had up to 2000 daily cases during the most crisis period, but the situation has never gone out of control”, he said.

Caretaker minister of healthcare Anahit Avanesyan reported that as of yesterday the number of people who have been vaccinated in Armenia against COVID-19 has reached 7,100.

Pashinyan praised this fact and recalled that most of the Cabinet members have been vaccinated.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Caretaker economy minister reaffirms his promise on ensuring double-digit growth

Elizabeth Jabejian

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 17:04, 5 May, 2021

YEREVAN, MAY 5, ARMENPRESS. Caretaker economy minister of Armenia Vahan Kerobyan has reaffirmed his promise on ensuring double-digit growth in the country.

“I can promise that in case of moving on with such pace we will fulfill our double-digit economic growth”, he said during a Q&A session in the Parliament, in response to the question of opposition Bright Armenia faction member Karen Simonyan.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Armenpress: Artsakh foreign ministry highly appreciates Biden’s recognition of Armenian Genocide

Elizabeth Jabejian

Artsakh foreign ministry highly appreciates Biden’s recognition of Armenian Genocide

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 10:54, 25 April, 2021

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. The ministry of foreign affairs of the Republic of Artsakh highly appreciated the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by US President Joe Biden, the ministry told Armenpress.

“President of the United States of America Joe Biden by his April 24th address, in fact, recognized the Armenian Genocide.

The Republic Artsakh Foreign Ministry highly appreciates this important humanitarian and political step taken by the President of the United States towards giving a due assessment of the atrocities committed by Turkey against millions of Armenians.

This is a moral victory, a victory not only for the Armenian people, but for the whole civilized humanity.

This significant victory is also the result of the consistent and purposeful work of the Diaspora organizations.

We hope that the stance of the President of the United States will pave the way for the condemnation and prevention of further genocides and crimes against humanity”, the ministry said in a statement.

Armenian diplomat denounces Azerbaijan’s attempts to weaponize issue of UN agencies’ access to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone

Elizabeth Jabejian
Panorama, Armenia

Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Mher Margaryan delivered remarks at the UN Security Council high-level open debate on “Protection of objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population”.

“While in many parts of the world the Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire has been instrumental for reducing of tensions, in our region, the pre-planned large-scale war launched by Azerbaijan in September 2020, with the direct support of Turkey and involvement of foreign terrorist fighters, has been the biggest military escalation in times of pandemic. From the first day of the hostilities, the Azerbaijani armed forces launched deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on the civilian objects, residential buildings, and infrastructure in 170 communities of Artsakh, including the capital city Stepanakert, as well as in Martakert, Shushi, Martuni and Hadrut, causing injuries, loss of lives and displacement of thousands of people and inflicting a major humanitarian crisis,” the diplomat said.

He pointed to Azerbaijan’s use of prohibited weapons and targeted attacks on medical facilities and educational institutions, including kindergartens, in Artsakh.

“The violations of humanitarian law by Azerbaijan have been widely documented by various international humanitarian and human rights organizations, including the Human Rights Watch,” Margaryan said.

“In the aftermath of the aggression, hundreds of cluster bomblets and sub-munitions and other explosive remnants of war spread across civilian settlements and agricultural lands continue to cause serious security risk to the lives of civilians, with a long-lasting adverse effect on the humanitarian and socio-economic situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Azerbaijan’s use of incendiary munitions, such as white phosphorus, which inflicted massive forest fires in Nagorno-Karabakh, causing severe physical and psychological injuries and major environmental damage, necessitates appropriate response to ensure redress and accountability measures.

“Armenia appreciates the activities of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Humanitarian Response Centre of the peacekeeping forces of the Russian Federation, which have been critical for addressing the immediate life-saving needs of the conflict-affected population. It remains a crucial priority to ensure adequate rehabilitation of the damaged infrastructure, such as the medical facilities, water systems, power networks and communication lines and to address the issue of extensive contamination by explosive remnants of war to deliver comprehensive and long-term humanitarian response.

“Azerbaijan’s attempts to weaponize the issue of safe and unhindered humanitarian access of the UN agencies to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone are not compatible with the fundamental humanitarian principles and are explicitly aimed at undermining the international efforts to conduct comprehensive assessment of the humanitarian, protection and early recovery needs and human rights situation of the affected population,” the Armenian diplomat stated. 

Government aims to vaccinate as many as possible citizens – Armenian acting Deputy PM

Elizabeth Jabejian

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 18:39,

YEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. The Government of Armenia is interested that as many as possible citizens get vaccinated and the state-policy in this direction will be persuading and encouraging more and more people to do that, ARMENPRESS reports acting Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Avinyan said in an interview with reporters following being vaccinated with AstraZeneca vaccine.  

Tigran Avinyan, acting Healthcare Minister Anahit Avanesyan, her husband and sister, General Director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Artavazd Vanyan got vaccinated with AstraZeneca. They will receive the second dose after two months.

Almost 5.7 million people contracted coronavirus worldwide in past week — WHO

Elizabeth Jabejian

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 10:59,

YEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. Almost 5.7 million novel coronavirus cases were registered worldwide in the past week, which is 8% more than during the previous seven-day period, the World Health Organization (WHO) said a weekly bulletin released in Geneva late on Tuesday, reports TASS.

Mortality grew by 5% in the reported period, with about 87,000 deaths registered worldwide, the global organization said.

“Globally, new COVID-19 cases increased for the ninth consecutive week, with nearly 5.7 million new cases reported in the last week – surpassing previous peaks. The number of new deaths increased for the sixth consecutive week, with over 87 000 new deaths reported”, the WHO said.

On April 19-25, the global organization was informed about 5,695,277 new cases all over the world, and 87,826 COVID-related deaths. As of April 25, 146,067,511 cases and 3,092,497 COVID-related fatalities were reported worldwide.

The most noticeable growth in cases (up 49%) was registered in Southeast Asia, which, according to the WHO classification also includes India. Cases declined by 12% in Europe, by 9% in Africa, by 8% in North and South America.

Mortality spiked in Southeast Asia (up 81%), Eastern Mediterranean (up 17%), but declined in Western Pacific (down 10%), North and South America (down 7%) and Europe (down 5%).

In the past seven days, over 1.46 million people contracted the infection in Europe, over 25,000 patients died. The number of cases in North and South America increased by over 1.4 million in the reported period, while fatalities grew by 36,000. In Southeast Asia, doctors registered over 2.26 million new cases of novel coronavirus, over 17,000 patients died.

India accounts for the majority of cases registered on April 19-25 (2.17 million new cases), followed by the United States (over 406,000), Brazil (over 404,000), Turkey (over 378,000), France (over 211,000), Argentina (over 166,000), Iran (over 161,000), Germany (over 145,000), Colombia (over 121,000), Italy (over 92,000), Ukraine (over 78,000), Poland (over 70,000), the Philippines (over 63,000) and Russia (over 60,000).

For victims of the Armenian genocide, Biden designation a ‘momentous occasion’ | PBS NewsHour Weekend

Elizabeth Jabejian
PBS Newshour
APril 24 2021
Apr 24, 2021 5:17 PM EDT

President Biden recognized the mass killings of Armenians more than a century ago as genocide, in a test of America’s somewhat strained relationship with Turkey. For more on the significance of Biden's statement, Alex Hinton, Director of Rutgers University’s Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights and author of "It Can Happen Here: White Power and The Rising Threat of Genocide in the U.S." joins.

  • Hari Sreenivasan:

    For more on the significance of President Biden's statement, I spoke with Alex Hinton, Director of Rutgers University's Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights.

    He is also the author of "It Can Happen Here: White Power and the Rising Threat of Genocide in the U.S."

    Professor Hinton joined us from Newark, New Jersey.

    Alex, the big picture question is, why does it matter that President Joe Biden makes this declaration that what happened decades ago was, in fact, a genocide?

  • Alex Hinton:

    So in one sense, this is absolutely momentous for the victims. But I think more broadly, it's something that's momentous for all of us, you know, in terms of human rights. One of the principles that guides us and guides our countries, it's centered around respect for the dignity of the person. So if we talk about dignity and respect, that starts with, if lives are lost, massive human rights violations take place, we need to acknowledge, that the descendants need truth, and there needs to be more broadly an acknowledgment that, sort of looking ahead, also is a signal to other potential leaders that this can't be happening. You can engage in a campaign of denial that will, again, sort of perpetuate this.

  • Hari Sreenivasan:

    This is at a time when the United States is grappling with the plight of Black Americans at the hands of police and we have been all summer and in the wake of a different administration that had perhaps a different set of values.

  • Alex Hinton:

    You're pointing to something that's absolutely key, that in the U.S., there's also this demand that we recognize the truth and we think about the disempowerment of certain groups we consider structural racism, but we consider the atrocities of the past and what led us to the current moment. And in Turkey, and sort of the point is, if we think about this reckoning with the past, it's never taken place for Turkey, WWI, with the formation of the modern Turkish state, you know, that moment which is intertwined with genocide, is the beginning of the nation.

    And so from the very beginning, the narrative in Turkey has been that Armenians rebelled and they sort of legitimate what took place with that canard. In addition, they minimize the numbers or a number of moves they had made. But again, if you sort of think about it, it's paradoxical, because perhaps if the Turkish government recognized the genocide, people wouldn't be talking about it. It wouldn't be as big of an issue. And so in some sense, they add fuel to the fire.

  • Hari Sreenivasan:

    What does this do strategically to our relationship with Turkey, who has been an important ally?

  • Alex Hinton:

    Yeah, certainly historically they've been an important ally. In recent years that relationship has definitely frayed in terms of geopolitical interests. It's no longer quite as central. So that strategic partnership is one that I think needs to be reimagined and reinvented.

    You know what might happen? No doubt there will be at least a public protest, a diplomatic protest. There might be some sort of sanction, something or another that's mentioned along those lines. But if you actually look, I really think in the long term, this will be something that passes by. And again, in areas where there are common interests, the United States and Turkey will continue to collaborate.

    You know, the one difference is that the U.S., you know, in terms more broadly, its recognition of the genocide is significant for many other countries. And there are other countries such as Israel and Britain who have not recognized it. And so hopefully this may serve as a catalyst for other countries to recognize anyone who has a commitment to democracy and human rights needs to acknowledge a massive human rights violation, one of the first that took place at the beginning of the 20th century.

  • Hari Sreenivasan:

    What is President Erdogan likely to do?

  • Alex Hinton:

    I think in the short term, he's likely to speak out to say it was a mistake, perhaps to make some warnings of steps that will be taken and the long term, it's not in Turkey's interest and certainly not in the U.S. interest to have a long-standing conflict. So there will be some noise that's made initially, but after that, I'm confident that both partners will continue their relationship. Maybe it'll be slightly different, but maybe in the long term, perhaps it could even strengthen the relationship of the two countries.

  • Hari Sreenivasan:

    Alex Hinton from Rutgers, thanks so much.

  • Alex Hinton:

    Thank you.

Thousands commemorate Armenian Genocide by Ottoman Turkey

Elizabeth Jabejian
Arab News, Saudi Arabia

People take part in a torchlight procession to commemorate the 106th anniversary of mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in Yerevan, Armenia, . (Reuters)

  • Some 10,000 people marched – holding torches and singing patriotic songs – from Yerevan’s Freedom Square to a hilltop genocide memorial that overlooks the capital
  • Biden set to announce the genocide designation on Saturday — a move which would further inflame Washington’s tensions with NATO ally Turkey

YEREVAN: Thousands of Armenians marched Friday in Yerevan to commemorate WWI-era mass killings of their kin by Ottoman forces, the bloodletting which US President Joe Biden is reportedly set to recognize as genocide.

The annual torch-lit march was held on the eve of the 106th anniversary of the massacres in which — Armenians say — up to 1.5 million ethnic Armenians were killed during World War I as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

Yerevan has long demanded from Ankara the financial compensation and restoration of property rights for the descendants of those killed in the 1915-1918 massacres, which Armenians call Meds Yeghern — the Great Crime.

Last year, Turkey backed neighbor and ally Azerbaijan in its war with Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Ankara’s arms supplies helped Azerbaijan’s army win a decisive victory in the six-week war and under a Russia-brokered truce — which was seen in Armenia as a national humiliation — Yerevan ceded to Baku swathes of territories it had controlled for decades.

Armenians have long sought to have the killings internationally recognized as genocide — with the support of many other countries, but fiercely rejected by Turkey.
On Friday evening, some 10,000 people marched from Yerevan’s Freedom Square to a hilltop genocide memorial that overlooks the capital, holding torches, and some singing patriotic songs or beating drums.

Activists of the nationalist Dashnaktsutyun party — which led the march — burned Turkish and Azerbaijani flags.

The New York Times and Wall Street Journal have reported that Biden is to announce the genocide designation on Saturday — a move which would further inflame Washington’s tensions with NATO ally Turkey.

“If Biden recognizes the genocide, that will be a huge moral support for our people,” march participant and unemployed 46-year-old Hasmik Martirosyan told AFP.
“I hope that other nations will then find the courage to follow the great country’s suit.”
Turkey denies the killings’ genocidal nature, arguing that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians rose up against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops.

Aurora Co-founder Vartan Gregorian dies aged 87

Elizabeth Jabejian
Public Radio of Armenia
April 16 2021

Co-Founder and member of the Aurora Prize Selection Committee, an outstanding Armenian-American humanitarian, scholar, author, educator and mentor Vartan Gregorian passed away today aged 87, Aurora Humanitarian Initiative informs.

Born in Tabriz, Iran, Vartan Gregorian overcame countless challenges he faced as a young immigrant to the United States and went on to build a remarkable career that spanned several decades and crossed the lines of academia, philanthropy, and culture within and beyond his adopted country. He was an ardent advocate of education and enlightenment, seeing books as “stations of hope, education and better future.”

In 1956, he enrolled at Stanford University, where he majored in history and the humanities, graduating with honors in 1958. Vartan Gregorian was awarded a Ph.D. in history and humanities by Stanford in 1964 and received the Danforth Foundation’s E.H. Harbison Distinguished Teaching Award in 1969. In 1972 he joined the University of Pennsylvania faculty and was appointed Tarzian Professor of History and professor of South Asian history. He was founding dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania in 1974 and four years later became its twenty-third provost until 1981.

In 1981–1989, Vartan Gregorian served as President of The New York Public Library and was widely credited with restoring the status of the library as a cultural landmark. In 1989, he was appointed president of Brown University. Brown became both more global, more academically competitive, and more financially secure under his leadership: during his tenure, he led a campaign that raised over $500 million, bringing the institution’s endowment past the $1 billion mark. Since 1997, Dr. Gregorian served as the twelfth president of Carnegie Corporation of New York. In 1998, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Clinton, and in 2004 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civil award of the United States, by President Bush.

Vartan Gregorian was a man of great inner strength, a reservoir of compassion and infinite wisdom. He was awarded numerous fellowships, including from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Social Science Research Council, and the American Philosophical Society. In addition, he has received scores of honorary degrees and has been decorated by the French, Italian, Austrian, and Portuguese governments.

In his lifelong mission to achieve global prosperity and peace, Vartan Gregorian always spoke up on behalf of the most destitute and disenfranchised. Committed to the eradication of genocide, discrimination and persecution, he has become a mentor and a beacon of hope for all inspired by his empathy and determination. He guided the younger generation with kindness and acuity, changing lives and constantly leading by personal example of selflessness and commitment.

A prolific author, Vartan Gregorian published several books, including The Road To Home: My Life and Times, Islam: A Mosaic, Not a Monolith, and The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan, 1880-1946.

In 2015, together with Noubar Afeyan and Ruben Vardanyan, he co-founded the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative on behalf of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and in gratitude to their saviors.  The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative and its flagship program, the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity, seek to transform this experience into a global movement by addressing on-the-ground humanitarian challenges around the world with the focus on helping the destitute.

As Co-Founder of Aurora and member of the Aurora Prize Selection Committee, Vartan Gregorian has worked tirelessly to help bring that vision to life and give a second chance to those who need it the most. We are forever grateful for his expertise and vision and his invaluable contribution to the creation and development on the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative.

Aurora mourns the passing of Vartan Gregorian’s and sends prayers and support to his family and to everyone who has benefited from his remarkable work and wisdom. His legacy lives on and will live on in eternity.